InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Longing ❯ One more trick up his sleeve ( Chapter 30 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi.


It was late evening when Kagome and Inuyasha finally returned to Kaede’s hut. Sango, Miroku, and Shippo had returned several hours earlier, and were starting to worry about their friends before their sudden, and belated return. They all watched as Kagome waddled straight over to her sleeping bag and sunk down onto it with a sigh. ‘I swear…I’ll never be able to walk again.’, she thought, wincing slightly but still smiling like an idiot. Inuyasha watched his mate with a big, smug smile of manly pride on his face, just loving the reason for her present condition, and the fact that it was because of him that she couldn’t walk right. He heard Miroku snicker from the corner of the hut, and glanced over at him and waggled his eyebrows. He was just in too good of a mood to berate the monk for being a pervert right now.

Shippo ran over to Kagome and threw himself into her lap. “What happened to your neck, Kagome?”, he asked, looking up at her with large, innocent eyes. Kagome flushed a little, having forgotten that she was practically covered in hickies. “Ummm….”, she couldn’t think of a satisfactory explanation to give the kit right now, that wouldn’t offend her sense of priority.

“Leeches, brat.”, Inuyasha supplied for her. Kagome let out the breath she had been holding, and gave Inuyasha a look of gratitude.

“Leeches?”, Shippo cocked his head, and scrunched up his face a bit as if he was thinking very hard. “Those musta been some pretty big leeches…”, he pondered.

“Drop it, runt.”, Inuyasha cut in gruffly. Shippo turned his attention to Inuyasha, and gave him a smug, almost knowing look, before he hopped out of Kagome’s lap and went back to his coloring . Inuyasha looked back at him with a slightly confused expression. ‘Something’s not right here…he’s hiding something.’, Inuyasha thought as he glared suspiciously at the little fox demon.

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“That was a wonderful meal, Kaede-sama. I must be going now, it was great to meet all of you.”, Shippo said as he got up from the table and prepared to leave. “And, just where do you think you are going?”, Kagome asked the kit with an amused expression on her face.

“Sesshomaru’s.”, he responded casually.

“Sesshomaru’s.”, Inuyasha repeated incredulously. “Why?”

“My job here is done.”, Shippo responded simply, as he packed up his belongings and prepared to leave.

“Shippo, why do you want to leave us?”, Kagome asked, now starting to worry about why her little Shippo would want to run away from home.

“Well…”, Shippo paused, seeming to be coming to a decision about something, “…my mate is about to give birth, and I would like to be there for it.”

“WHAT!!!!!!!”, everybody exclaimed in unison.

Shippo smirked, and suddenly morphed into a full-grown fox demon, complete with five tails. “I said,”, he addressed the shocked room, “that my mate is about to give birth, and I would like to be there.”

Kaede, Sango, Miroku, Kagome, and Inuyasha all sat and stared at Shippo with mouths agape, completely unable to form words in their present shocked states.

Kagome finally broke the silence, “Why?”, she asked in a barely audible, incredulous voice.

Shippo sighed, ‘I guess I’m not getting out of this without an explanation, am I?’ “I agreed to do a favor for Myoga, and now that I have succeeded in helping him, I must return home to my mate.”, he explained patiently.

“So…let me get this straight,”, Inuyasha tried, recovering a little from his initial shock, “you live with Sesshomaru?”, he asked, not wanting to believe that the little kit that they all knew so well, was actually connected in some way to his asshole brother.

“Ummm….it’s more like I work for him, actually.”, Shippo responded. “I’m a guard at his castle, I worked for your father, before him.”

Kagome stared at Shippo in disbelief, “How old are you?”, she breathed, still unable to fully recover her voice.

Shippo chuckled at his ‘surrogate-mother’ , “I am 427 years old.”, he said, looking down at her fondly. Inuyasha’s jaw dropped to the floor at discovering that the fox was more than twice his age. Shippo noticed Inuyasha’s present state of shock and explained, “My father before me was a soldier in your father’s army, and Sesshomaru and I were playmates when we were young, when I grew up, your father gave me a position as a guard, and that is where I have remained since, with the exception of the two years that I have been traveling with you.”

“But,…”, Miroku started thoughtfully, “…how is it that your mate is pregnant, if you have been with us this whole time?”

Shippo chuckled again, “Kuri is also a fox demon, and is almost as good as I am at disguising herself. Do you remember all of the little girls I have found to flirt with in the villages that we visited?” The group nodded dumbly. Shippo smiled widely, “We’ve had plenty of opportunities to be together.”, he said smugly, earning a blush from both girls.

“Can’t you at least stay for a couple days, so we can get to know you better as an adult?”, Kagome pleaded.

“I suppose a couple days couldn’t hurt.”, Shippo said thoughtfully, “Myoga…”

“Yes Shippo?”, the flea responded as he came out of hiding.

“Could you please travel to the castle and tell Kuri that I will be a couple more days?”, Shippo asked, then added with a devious gleam in his eyes, “And, tell her not to start without me.”

Myoga chuckled, “As you wish, Shippo.”, and promptly left to fulfill the fox demon’s request.