InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Second Chance ❯ Fox Day Afternoon ( Chapter 33 )

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

Disclaimer: No!. Don’t own it. Oh well. Le Sob! Le Cry! Le Whimper!!



She screamed and jumped backward, her hands flailing wildly as the little blue flame grew in his small palms. He continued to laugh, unaware of her fear as the flame leapt from his hands and engulfed her trembling form.


He panicked at her reaction, the terror that corroded her scent finally reaching his nose.


“Kagome,” he said as the flames continued to lick at her skin. “It doesn’t hurt. Don’t be scared.”


She looked down and found him waiting, watching her as his calm finally settled into her own.


“Father always said that I would learn it once I had someone to protect. I do now . I want to protect you Kagome.”


The pearl blue enveloped her, the scorching heat she expected surprisingly absent. Instead a gentle, comforting warmth settled in its place. He watched as awe struck orbs looked down at him, a smile on the little kit’s face as her scent calmed.


“I don’t want anyone to hurt you Kagome, not my mom, not those jerks on the Council, not anybody,” Shippou admitted to his flaming blue angel. “You’re my best friend.”


(I)


Emerald green eyes were serene in the early morning light, thoughtful orbs distant as they followed the raindrops that streaked down the glass of his bedroom window. He sat on a small bench underneath the window sill, still dressed in his Spiderman pyjamas with the only sounds in the room the gentle gurgling of his fish tank and the soft whirl of the central air conditioning. He watched the rain drip from the sky, his mind was deep within memories of the past. Though most of his sixty years of living had been painful, there were sprinklings of time that were happy, times that shone in the darkness like brand new coins in the moonlight.


Most of all he remembered his father, and he smiled as memories of the taiyoukai replayed in his mind’s eye. Jininji once told him that his father was powerful, that the only youkai who managed to outsmart him in combat had been the Inu of the West. It wasn’t that his father was a large male. He was five foot ten inches, fairly short in comparison to a species of creatures where the males were normally between six and seven feet tall. What his father lacked in muscle, or brute strength he made up in brains and was the cleverest youkai in the land.


Yet his father had been a humble youkai, denying Shippou’s mother’s wish to live in grandeur in favor of a cozy little house in the hills outside Osaka. Shippou remembered the house well, and the happy times that were spent there, and sighed.

‘There was a picture in Dad’s study,’ Shippou said to himself while the rain continued to fall. ‘It was over the fireplace, behind his desk.’


*“Daddy?” a much younger Shippou asked as he pointed over his father’s shoulder from his seat on the older youkai’s lap. Long, auburn locks shifted slightly, the ends loose to tumble over the back of the massive chair.


“Yes? What is it?”


“Who’s that lady behind you?” Teeny claws grasped his father’s shoulder tightly and it was the older youkai’s quick movement that prevented the young kit from climbing onto his shoulder. Shippou’s father turned around, emerald orbs so much like his son’s shimmering in memory as he reached up and caressed the painting’s burnished metal frame. The painting was of a woman, no older than her thirties, dressed in an ancient kimono. Shippou knew without asking that the picture was old, far older than he was, and was one of his father’s prized possessions. Shippou sniffed at the melancholy in his father’s scent but remained silent as nostalgia kept its grip on the taiyoukai.


“That,” Shippou’s father finally said as he reached out to trace the human woman’s shoes. “Was my mother. She died a long, long time ago, long before you were a twinkle in this Ryu’s eye.” *


That painting, along with so many other things, was the first his mother destroyed when Shippou’s father passed away. He looked down at his scarred palm and sighed, remembering the burn and the miasma his mother injected into the wound so it would remain etched on his skin.


‘So I wouldn’t forget,’ Shippou said to himself with a heavy sigh. ‘That all humans, the weak and the strong, don’t deserve our compassion. They’re food and amusement, nothing more.’ Yet he couldn’t find a single human that deserved to be totally hated. His friends at school were human, his grandmother was human and Kagome. . .


‘Kagome’s human too, and she and Grandma love me.’


Shippou grinned, both at the thought and at the sun as it began to shred it’s way through the dark clouds. They loved him, his Grandma and Kagome, and even though they weren’t blood he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that their love only paled (to him) to the love his father once had for him. He felt protected by them, felt safe with them and it was for them that he continued to work so hard on his magic.


“Hey!” he remembered suddenly and jumped from the small bench. “Today’s Saturday! I’d better get to work!” Saturday was when Mrs. Takisai turned everything upside down and dusted, moped, cleaned and washed almost everything in the house. Shippou scurried around the room quickly, his little paws snatching various toys and clothing off the floor. He yanked a pair of his boxers from his bedpost and dumped them (and everything else) into a nearby Cars- theme laundry basket. It took him less than twenty minutes to straighten everything out before he left the room in search of the vacuum cleaner. Shippou passed by Mrs. Takisai’s bedroom and paused, curious at the clicking sounds coming from inside.


He knocked then came inside at her admission. He found Mrs. Takisai sitting at her computer desk, her laptop closed as she turned her chair around and opened her arms. “How’s my birthday boy this morning?” she asked as Shippou settled happily into her lap.


“Aw Grandma,” Shippou groaned when she gave him a loud, smacking kiss on his forehead. “That’s embarrassing!”


“No it’s not,” she disagreed teasingly. “Besides, there’s no one here but us. Now, have you cleaned your room?”


“Yes, Grandma.”


“Have you pulled those boxers of yours off your bedpost?”


“Yes Grandma.”


“Did you pick up all of your video games and put them inside the shelf underneath your TV?”


“Yes Grandma, jeez.”


“And-“ Mrs. Takisai said and set him back on the floor. “Have you cleaned Sakana-Eyes Kyo’s tank?”


Shippou groaned and rolled his eyes. Sakana-Eyes Kyo was the name of one of the fish inside the tank Kagome gave him for Christmas. It was a large, bubble eyed black fish that ruled over the other fish. It swam like a shark and ate almost all of the food to the point where Shippou had to shake Kyo’s food onto one side of the tank so the other fish could eat on the opposite end. “Yes, Sakana-san’s tank’s been cleaned. I just need to find the vacuum cleaner.”


“Aren’t you a sweet boy.”


“Yeck!” Shippou groaned when she kissed him again. “Jeez Grandma, lay off. I’m a man now, remember?”

“Oh please,” Mrs. Takisai replied with a wave of her hand. “Just because you’re one, one year older than me doesn’t mean that you’re a man all of a sudden.”


“Oh yes it does.”


“Really?” She laughed at his expression, his arms crossed and his nose tipped up rather arrogantly. “I see. Forgive me Shippou-sama.”


“Don’t call me that,” he huffed angrily. “You know you don’t have to call me that Grandma. Hey, what are we doin’ today, huh?”


“Oh, I don’t know,” Mrs. Takisai shrugged and raised the laptop’s lid. “How about we meet a couple of your friends at the park later on?”


“OK!”


“But you have to finish cleaning up!” she called after him as Shippou sprinted from the room. “Oh, that child. He has turned an important age. I just hope he’s ready. . .” She opened the page she had been looking at, her fingers skimming along the screen as they trailed down the list of names. ‘I hope I can find someone kind, someone decent, someone he can love. . .and that will love him in return.’


(II)


“Wow, Shippou!” called a little voice from underneath the jungle gym. Shippou looked down and grinned at the upside down images of two of his best friends. He waved to the little girls, grinned when they waved back and allowed his legs to slide from the iron bar above him. He flipped in mid air, landed on his feet, and bowed when the girls applauded.


“That was so amazing, Shippou-kun!” Rin exclaimed. “I didn’t know you could do that!”


“Me either,” Kanna replied, her snow white curls bouncing like little springs as she jumped up and down around him. “Do you think you could teach us how to do that?”


“Um. . .well...” Shippou blushed sheepishly, bashful for only a moment before he reached out, grasped Rin’s and Kanna’s hands and began to run (slowly!) across the playground toward the swings.


“Come on!” he shouted above their giggles. “You two swing and I’ll push you!” He grinned when they agreed and continued across the playground, glancing back momentarily before running onward.


The pair trailing along behind him were his closest friends. He’d known Kanna the longest when she and her family moved to Japan from Ireland two years ago. Shippou had just moved into his grandmother’s house at the time and they both were new to the school. The other kids used to tease and bully Kanna for her hair and accent, but that didn’t last long under Shippou’s protection. One well placed black eye on the kitsune’s part made sure the students knew to leave the little girl alone or else.


Rin came along at the beginning of this school year and again Shippou had to keep the other students away, this time because of the lazuline blue dog collar she refused to take off. She wore the collar around her neck proudly, and endured her classmates cruel words so bravely that Shippou couldn’t help but step in when one of her bullies tried to lay hands on her. That lesson was less violent but a lot more fun. One growl from Shippou was all it took for the entire crowd to scatter like cockroaches in the light and the little girl remained in his tight little group ever since.


‘She’s not wearing the collar today,’ Shippou noted as they released his hands and continued on without him. ‘I don’t think she’s had it on for a while.’ “Hey Rin!”


“Yeah?” she hollered back as her brunette hair bobbed against the side of her head.


“What happened to your-OMPH!” He fell backward with a thud, the sand softening the blow as something heavy settled on his stomach. He hollered when that same something smacked him in the face, but quickly blocked the rest of the attack as Rin and Kanna ran to his rescue.


“Get off!” he heard his friends scream as they struggled to remove the weight from his stomach. Above him a little dark-haired girl screeched like the possessed and continued to do so well after the girls managed to pull her off of him.


“Shame on you!” Rin cajoled with a shake of her finger while Shippou stood back up. “You know Shippou-kun doesn’t hit girls!”


“So? I don’t care!” the little girl shot back, then glared at Shippou. “I don’t know how you did it, but you got me in trouble! I had detention the last day of school and it’s your fault!”


Shippou smirked mischievously, remembering what he did to the little girl to make her so angry. She’d hit him in the chest during lunch, spilling chocolate milk all over himself and the cool Naruto cosplay hat Kagome bought him. In retaliation he managed to sneak one of his crying mushrooms into her bookbag.

“Well that’s what you get Souten!” he shouted back with his arms proudly folded over his chest. “You spilled milk all over my hat!”


“And?” Souten growled back and stomped closer to him. “What’s so special about that dumb ole hat anyway?”


“Don’t say things like that to Shippou-kun!” Kanna chirped angrily as she and Rin stepped between the warring pair. “Shippou-kun’s a very nice boy and wouldn’t do something like that!”


“Well, see that’s not exactly-“


“Shame on you Souten-san, for spreading lies!”


“I’m not lying!” Souten cried with an angry stamp of her foot. “He did get me in trouble! He did!” Souten sniffed, her bottom lip quivering uncontrollably as she began to cry. “He-he-“ she stuttered helplessly with her little hands balled against her closed eyes. Rin and Kanna stood by, unsure of what to do until Shippou stepped by them and wrapped the smaller girl into a hug.


“I’m sorry Souten,” he whispered and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You’re right. A hat’s not worth it if it made you cry.”


“Shippou!”


Shippou looked up, rounded pupils slanting as he scanned the playground for the source of the voice. Jininji stood on the opposite side of the gate, a small bag draped across his chest as he waved. “Come on kid! We gotta go!”


“OK!” He released Souten and ran for the gate, stopping only to wave to the other girls before throwing the gate open. Shippou appeared at Jininji’s side almost instantly and together they walked across the street to Jininji’s waiting car.


“What’s going on?” Shippou asked as he scrambled into the front passenger seat. “Where are we going?”


“Don’t you remember?” Jininji asked, lime green orbs shining at Shippou’s excitement. “Today’s your sixty-first birthday and you’re the reigning prince!” He sighed at Shippou’s clueless gaze. “Today’s your Tsunuke-Kane!”


Shippou nodded, his excitement renewed as he began to squirm in his seat. The Tsunuke -Kane was the taiyoukai version of a coming of age party, where lords from the three reigning lands (and from lands overseas) came to not only pledge their allegiance to the future tai but to present the young prince with gifts. There was food, song and lots of celebration. . .and Shippou could hardly wait!


(III)


“Oh man,” Shippou groaned as he slumped down in his seat. “This sucks! I’m so bored I can’t even see straight!”


The banquet that he thought would be so much fun hours ago turned out to be less than such, with Shippou restrained to his seat while everyone else partied around him. The gifts, if you could call them that, were positioned along the table in front of him, and Shippou looked down at them and groaned. Among the gifts were a gilded (decorative) dagger from a taiyoukai from Brazil, a shield from the taiyoukai of Ireland, stocks from the three tai from America and the most useless (and the most embarrassing) was the promise from the Great Taiyoukai of India to allow Shippou first consideration should the young kitsune ever choose to court the camel-youkai’s daughter.


‘As if,’ Shippou thought with a quiet “yech!”. ‘I don’t wanna court nobody and definitely not a stinky, smelly camel!’


“Eastern-sama,” Jininji leaned over from Shippou’s right side and whispered. “You must sit up. You will offend the other lords if you continue this way.”


“Eh, whatever.” But Shippou sat up, the thin golden circlet adorning his loose auburn locks playfully cocked to the side as if it were only a hat. The Symbol of the East, a blazing ruby stone, shone from the center of the circlet above the tiny red flame mark that blazed from the center of his forehead. He was dressed in a green kimono made from fine silk, the hakamas a darker forest green than the jade green haori. He wore white tabi socks and white brocade zori sandals that he constantly kicked off. Even now they were laying underneath the table, his feet swinging freely, his toes wiggling happily and his fiery tail swaying from between the wooden bars along the back of the dining chair.


“Who are we waiting on?” Shippou groaned miserably. “I’m tired and bored.”


“Don’t say such things aloud Eastern-sama!” Jininji whispered moments before a white haired inu hanyou approached the table. “Someone could hear you!”


“Eh, let the brat talk,” the inu hanyou grinned, his fangs flashing in the sparse light. “I don’t blame ‘em. I remember when Sesshoumaru had to do this crap too. If you think this is bad now, kid, just wait until you have to do the Walk of the Warrior.”


Shippou groaned and once again slid down into his chair. The Walk of the Warrior was an exhibition where the taiyoukai-to-be displayed their fighting or magic prowess to the other tai. It was as much showing off as it was a promise, not only to do their best once the prince became tai but to bring honor to those that would ally themselves to him.


“Hey kid, don’t be mad,” the hanyou growled with the snowy white ears twitching on the crown of his head. “Here, here’s something from the Western Sets.” He tossed a small package onto the table and disappeared, leaving Shippou and Jininji to shrug before Shippou ripped into the marbled tan wrapping. Inside were two smaller packages, both covered in the same marbled wrapping. Shippou grasped the rectangular box while Jininji took hold of the oval shape left behind.


“Oh wow!” Shippou gasped as the wrapping fell away to his claws. In his hands was a copy of the hottest new racing car video game. Shippou oooed and ahhed over the game for the longest, deep green eyes absorbing each detail of the game’s cover. . .before he tore through the package like a jackal through the flesh of a gnu to reach the little booklet inside. “Grandma look!” he exclaimed to the silent woman on his left side. “Look what the Western Sets gave me! Isn’t it awesome!” He stopped, his face wrinkled slightly as he watched her. Mrs. Taiksai looked tired, her breath wheezing in short pants and her eyes closed with her hand pressed lightly to her chest. “Grandma, what’s wrong?”


“Wrong? Oh, nothing Shippou darling,” Mrs. Taiksai replied with a gentle, breathless grin. “What’s this?” she asked as Shippou silently passed her the video game. “You say this comes from the Western Sets? My, how thoughtful of them.”


Shippou remained quiet, wide orbs narrowed suspiciously as she read the back of the game’s cover.


‘When she was panting and wheezing and stuff, I thought she smelled different. . .


He smiled when she smiled back, then turned when Jinichi tapped his shoulder.


‘I thought for a second there that she smelled of sickness. . .and death.’


(End Chapter)


Kagome: Uh-oh. That’s not good.


SF: You’re right that’s not. Shippou’s beginning to suspect you guys.


Shippou: Suspect what?


Sango: Nothing little one. Now go play.

Shippou: OK! Come on guys! (::runs off with Rin and the Little Muse::)


SF: Well, that’s that! Oh, and the next chapter’s summary is below.


Chapter Summary: The story moves again, this time to Sango as she helps the FBI locate a missing child. She soon becomes wrapped further into the investigation, leading Sango into the dangerous world of a child abductor with plans for both Sango and his little captive. Sesshoumaru plays detective, but is he fast enough to reach Sango in time?


Next chapter-Chapter Thirty-Four: Sango’s Suffering


SF: Oh, and the bio page is updated too!!


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