InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Security? ❯ Spring Breeze and Summer’s Temper ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: ok, so it's been a while since the last chapter… I doubt the things that occurred to delay this instalment will happen again anytime soon. I do have a beta now so this is the first beta-ed chapter out of the many that will follow. I will begin work on the 4th chapter after the holidays unless I get a lot of reviews that then inspire me to write more. You may go read now. And make sure to leave a constructive review.

Security?

Chapter 3: Spring Breeze and Summer's Temper

Summer was nearly full upon the warring states era. Summer was fluffing the pillows and starting to dry the sheets that spring had washed. Summer was getting ready

Spring was still around enough though. It brought the gentle cool breeze that kept summer's temper in check for the time being. Helping summer a long the way you might say. The same could be said about two demons by the Bone Eater's Well, minus the helping.

Shippo sat sedately on the lip of the well with his eyes half shut. After a full two hours of listening to Inuyasha's temper rise from under his scroll sealed statue spell nothing Inuyasha threatened scared him and frankly he wasn't hearing much of it all any more. Not that it stopped Inuyasha from yelling, however, Inuyasha was never one to be deterred by someone merely not listening.

"Take it off! Take it off NOW Shippo!" Inuyasha yelled with the fury of indignation, embarrassment, and numb hands. Two hours under the statue and he was amazed that his fingers hadn't fallen off yet. At least he would have been if he wasn't so embarrassed to be caught under the third statue spell of the day. That little runt can be really tricky and damn well good at hiding when he wants to be¼"Damn it Shippo!"

In response Shippo let out a long suffering sigh and laid on his back balancing on the lip of the well. All this time yelling. You'd think by now he'd have given up¼or his voice would've at any rate. "Mom told me not to let you go through, so I'm not letting you." With that Shippo stretched, flexing his fingers exuberantly, and closed his eyes.

 "Shippo¼ I'm warning you one last time. Take this off now or else!" Inuyasha growled hoarsely.

'Bout time his voice started to go¼! With any luck he'll work himself mute soon¼'Shippo let out another sigh and opened one eye lazily to regard him, "Really Inuyasha? And you won't beat me to a pulp for keeping you there for the last couple hours?" every word dripped with sarcasm. "I'm a kid and may not know a whole lot but I know better then that! You're going to kill me if I let you go. I think I'll just wait for Sango or Miroku to come to protect me before I remove that one."

"Why you little brat! You think anyone can protect you from me? Ha! Now you're really kidding yourself!" Realizing that he wasn't about to be released when Shippo merely closed his eye and turned his head away in response, Inuyasha banged his head repeatedly against the statue in frustration. Shit. Damn. Bloody fucking hell¼and the string of obscenities continued in time to the beat to his head hitting the statue until Shippo's shaky voice broke him from his masochistic entertainment; he had worked up a decent headache by that time anyway.

 "Inu-" Shippo gulped down the nervousness threatening to choke him with tears and started again, "Inuyasha? Did-did you really mean what you said? That you d-don't want me arou-around?" try as he might Shippo couldn't keep his lip from trembling and tears to pool in his eyes though he didn't turn his head. Inuyasha already told him once that men don't let others see them cry.

Inuyasha snapped his head around to look Shippo in the eye as best he could from his position of facing nearly an entire one-eighty degrees from where he wanted to be looking. It would have been a lot easier had he been part owl demon instead of dog, but he still managed a good imitation. Is he¼? He took a tentative sniff of the air smelling the salt of tears which confirmed his suspicions. He's crying! "No crying!" he bellowed.

"I'm not crying!" Shippo responded indignantly wiping his eyes and face clear of the moisture that looked mysteriously like tears. Sitting up to face Inuyasha he tried his best imitation of Inuyasha when we he wanted answers from Kagome, "Answer my question, Inuyasha!" Now that he had asked he needed an answer; good or bad he needed it.

"I never said that!"

"You did! You told Kagome that I would never leave! You made it sound like a bad thing! You don't like me-e-e!" he was doing well at not letting any of the hurt show until the last part. When the thought of Inuyasha actually not liking him hit him, a flood of tears erupted from the meagre dam he had built.

He was now bawling so loud that Inuyasha had to pin his ears flat against his head just so he wouldn't go deaf. Gah! That kid has a good set of lungs on him! "Shippo! Shippo! Stop that right now!"

"Y-y-you h-h-hate me-e-e!!" Shippo squeaked in between sobs, he was trying to calm down but wasn't having much success.

"I do not! So just shud-up! and let me explain!"

Shippo tried to get himself under control and through the hiccups, "B-but you-u do-o! You wa-want me-e t-to le-le-leave!"

"I DO not!" Inuyasha yelled with such force that it made Shippo stop crying his protests leaving him to sniffle in his misery and wait for Inuyasha's explanation.

Inuyasha watched Shippo warily for a minute, "You done?"

Shippo nodded and sniffling, wiped at his face.

Shit now what do I tell him¼? Um¼"You sure?" he stalled

Shippo took a deep, nearly un-shaking breath and nodded again.

"Alright then.First, I don't hate you and I don't want you to leave. Ok?" he waited for Shippo's breathing to go back to normal before he would continue. 

"You really mean that?"

Inuyasha shifted trying to get his back to stop aching from it's twisted position and nodded.

"Then why-"

"I'm getting to that!" He shouted then took a deep breath, I have no clue what to tell him! Shit! Inuyasha's mind raced to figure out something to tell him. I said those things but hell if I know why¼! I'm always saying things without reasons behind them. Shippo's been around long enough to know that! Why does he expect a Reason?!

Inuyasha's silence and continued squirming started to make Shippo nervous. He's making up a lie¼he's going to lie to me! To me!  This thought made Shippo angry again, "Don't lie to me Inuyasha!"

"What?! I haven't said anything yet."

"But you're thinking of one! I can tell! You keep squirming and you're taking too long in telling me anything. You're thinking up a lie! You do want me to leave!" tears started to pool again but this time out of hurt anger. "You do hate me! Stop lying to me and tell the truth for once. Why keep stringing me along like that!? You hate me so tell me so! Stop pretending! Stop lying to me!!" Shippo's face was never redder then it was now from his yelling. Tears were streaming freely from his face and he couldn't see anything more then a red and white smear in a back drop of greens where Inuyasha was pinned and cringing from the convicted venom spewing from the small bouncing Shippo.

"I'm not lying to you! Do you hear me!? I'm not lying!" Inuyasha pleaded, desperately trying to get Shippo to calm down. Damnit! Me and stupid fucking mouth! If I can get out of this I'm never talking again! Ever!

"You are! You Are! Why else take so much time to tell-you're a LIAR!!"

"I'm a what!? I am not!" Inuyasha strained to get to Shippo from under the statue to shake some sense into him. No wonder it was so easy for Naraku to trick Kikyo if Inuyasha's mouth was even half as free then as it was now. He had gotten himself backed into a corner this time for sure. "Shippo! Clam down and listen to me!"

This continued yelling was taking it's toll on Inuyasha's already damaged voice and it came out more of growl then anything else. It made Shippo pause in his angry hops on the well rim and stopped him from yelling but it didn't change his view on the matter. "How can I have been so stupid to believe you before¼? All you ever did was be mean to me and hit me and call me names. I should have seen this coming. I knew you didn't like me but I didn't think you hated me enough to want me to leave. I guess I know better now." His eyes were far away and his voice grew quieter and more sullen as he went on; in the end he was only thinking out load.

Shippo's sullen voice and dry eyes scared Inuyasha more then Shippo's vile yelling. What the HELL!? What is going on? He was just yelling a second ago¼Quietly as if talking to an easily startled but vicious dog Inuyasha entreated, "Shippo? Are you ok? I wasn't lying to you. I don't want you to leave. I like you, I really do. Shippo? Shippo?"

While Inuyasha was talking Shippo had slipped off the well and quietly walked over to the statue and Inuyasha with his head down. Without lifting his head and hardly pausing in his step he peeled off the seal and pocketed the statue. That done he then turned and went back to the well, over the rim and down.

The blood rushed to Inuyasha hands causing them to prickle in cold pain but he didn't notice. Something was terribly off with Shippo and all Inuyasha could think was that it his fault and he had to fix it somehow. Shippo's actions stunned him long enough to watch him go over the side of the well. He can't go through. What's he doing? If he hadn't been so concerned with Shippo he would have laughed at how much Shippo acted like Kagome during the entire fight. As it was Shippo's uncharacteristic mood swings had severely unnerved the hanyou causing the hairs on his back to bristle in confusion and concern.

The absence of the sound of a thud from the well was like a trigger, Inuyasha was up and at the edge of the well in one fluid motion. He couldn't see anyone at the bottom and as always the smell of rotting demon corpses overpowered most all other smells. He began to panic. What! Where is he? I can't see him.  Curse those stupid dead demons. Why do they have to stink now!? Did he go through? Did he actually get through?? "Shippo? Shippo!?!? Answer me!" Inuyasha called out frantically. When there was no answer he flung himself over the side. The well lit up in its purple light and in the blink of the eye he was at the bottom of the well in the well house. "Shippo!? Shippo?  Are you here? Shippo!" in his panic he didn't notice any of the smells around him including Shippo's.

The quiet awe struck voice from a dark corner of the well had Inuyasha turning on his heel. "Is this where mom lives?"

"Shippo!" Inuyasha was in front of Shippo and had him gripped in both hands his feet dangling well off the ground and at eye level with Inuyasha.

"Ah! Inuyasha!"

"Don't do that again! Ever! What the hell were you thinking!? I don't hate you, you twerp! And I'm not a liar!" Inuyasha yelled with force enough to blow Shippo's hair.

But Shippo wasn't paying much attention as his eyes adjusted to the gloom, taking in the details of the roof above him and his nose was in over drive taking in the strange smells of the city all around. "Where am I Inuyasha?"

"What?"

Shippo looked at Inuyasha his eyes full of curiosity and question. "Where am I? How did I get through the well?"

Inuyasha looked up at the ceiling at let the scents and noises from the outside world drift back to his delicate senses. Yeah we're in Kagome's time alright. He looked back to Shippo, but how did he get here? He  shrugged, "We're in Kagome's time. Don't know how you got here though." I'm here might as well go up now that I'm here. He set Shippo more comfortably in his arm and leapt out of the well.

They went up to the top of the well house stairs one by one with Shippo still held in the crook of Inuyasha's arm. Shippo was too busy trying to figure out all the different smells and that strange hum sound in the distance to rake any notice of how tenderly the hanyou was holding him.

Inuyasha watched Shippo whose mouth was open to take in the scents better trying to figure out if he should still explain himself form before. "Hey, kid." He said jostling Shippo slightly, his other hand on the door to the well house, "You're gonna catch flies like that."

"What? Oh." Shippo closed his mouth.

A moment or two passed in near silence broken only by Shippo's sniffs, as Inuyasha tried to decide if he wanted to continue the "conversation" from the other side of the well. Inuyasha never liked talking about these things and would have much rather let everything be but Shippo's tantrum and trip through the well had him disturbed. Things were beginning to change in the fox that didn't settle well with him.

Decided, Inuyasha removed his hand from the door and took a seat on the top step of the well house with Shippo still held gently in the crook of his arm. "Did you hear what I said in the well?"

"Yeah" Shippo grunted distractedly mouth open again and eyes nearly shut as he focused on all the strange smells.

"Do you want to hear what I was going to say before you called me a liar or do you still believe that I am?" Inuyasha questioned, turning his head to look at Shippo. He reached over with his free hand and tapped lightly under Shippo's chin causing him to close his mouth and catching his attention¼ somewhat.

"I didn't really mean it you know. I was just mad. I don't think you're a liar. What is that humming sound?" Shippo replied cocking his head to the side to better catch the sound.

"It's cars¼like horseless, metal, noisy wagons. Do you want to hear what I had to say now?"

He's really pushing this¼"Ok" Shippo's attention was finally fully caught and he looked first to the arm wrapped around him then to Inuyasha. ¼andhe's acting weird!

"I don't hate you." Inuyasha stated flatly.

"I know" Shippo replied in kind.

"You sure didn't sound like you did a few minutes ago. " Inuyasha added darkly.

"I was mad." Shippo replied with the same eerie calm.

"And I don't want you to leave." Inuyasha continued.

"I wouldn't have left had you wanted me to anyway." Shippo responded in the same serious yet nonchalant way of Inuyasha.

"Figures¼" Inuyasha groaned, then before Shippo could reply, "When I said that stuff to Kagome..." Inuyasha stalled feeling the heavy awkwardness in the air. Gods I hate talking!

"Yeah?" Shippo prodded.

Inuyasha took an audible breath then continued, "Well, I didn't mean it then either. I was just surprised that she would do that, adopt you I mean."

"Why would you be surprised? She's been acting like my mom for a long time." Shippo was getting confused. Inuyasha sounds so calm and he's holding me so nicely¼he didn't even hit me for calling him a liar earlier¼what's going on¼?

"Well yeah¼" Inuyasha replied and then the thought hit him like a ton of bricks. "Wait. You don't know what being adopted as a demon means do you?" And neither does Kagome¼his heart filled with dread and his mind raced back over long hidden memories. ¼shit¼

"Sure I do! Mean's I'll have a family again, and not a pretend one either." Shippo answered cheerfully unaware of Inuyasha's dark thoughts. "I'll have a mom again and I won't be alone anymore. I'll have someone I can call "mom"!"

"Well¼ yeah¼ but it's more then that..." Inuyasha frowned.

"What do you mean? What else could it be?" Shippo's earlier cheerfulness evaporating quickly at Inuyasha's dour expression. More so when noticed the scent of apprehension emanating from Inuyasha in waves.

Where's Myouga when you need him? Never around that's for sure. He's much better at this stuff then me! He placed Shippo in front of him suddenly feeling self-conscious and crowded.  How do I explain this¼ He took in another deep breath releasing it as he spoke, "Look, this was explained to me a long time ago alright?"

Shippo nodded and moved to sit down next to Inuyasha.

"When I was little after my parents had been dead for a few years I got pretty badly hurt and an old human couple found me. They took me home with them on the very outskirts of a village near the woods and tended to my wounds; cared for me." Inuyasha began his eyes focused on the middle distance.

"Really?" this was surprising, Inuyasha never talked about anything in his past. it added to the uneasiness in Shippo's stomach but was disregarded as his curiosity took over. "What were they like? Did they-"

"Who's telling the story?" Inuyasha snapped back. "They were very nice ok. Now more interruptions or I'm not going to go on and you can figure everything out the hard way."

"The "hard way", what do mean? What's so hard about being adopted?" Shippo questioned quietly. This whole conversation was strange and only getting stranger.

"I'm trying to tell you!" Inuyasha growled out, getting irritated. It was hard enough talking about this to begin with.

 "Ok, no more interruptions. Go on." Shippo quickly amended. This was really started to worry him. What could be so hard about being adopted? I get to call Kagome mom and I don't get left alone again¼ Buried memories of the few months he had to fend for himself before he met up with Kagome and Inuyasha tried to make an appearance coaxed out as they were by all the awkward strangeness and talk of parents. Shippo tamped them down as quickly as he could but knew that he was in for a very long night tonight none the less.

Inuyasha shook his head then continued, "When I was healed they asked me to stay with them. It had been a long time since anyone had been kind to me, human or demon; except for Myouga but he didn't stay around for long. So I was unsure of these people, but because they had been nice to me all the time it took me to heal and because I had no one else, I decided to stay.

"I was there for a year maybe a bit more. Myouga even started to hang around more, then they asked to adopt me; for me to stay with them like their own son. They had already been treating me like one and I had gotten used to them being around. Their children had all died of disease or bandit attacks and they had believed that the gods meant for them to never have a child grow to adulthood and it sadden them a great deal; aging them beyond their years. But then they saw me and thought that the gods had given them another chance. It didn't matter to them that I was a hanyou, they were just happy to have another chance at a family. I took them up on their offer.

"Myouga came by again maybe a month later. When I told him what had happened he told me a few things." He paused and looked directly at Shippo where before he had being looking almost sadly into the middle space. "Shippo, you and I are demons, Kagome is a human and there are many differences between us. One of them is ageing. I'm nearly 152 years old not including the time I spent on the Goshinboku. For a dog demon that's not that old Sesshoumaru is probably somewhere around 228¼wait, no¼ 278 with my time on the tree, and even that isn't that old. Humans age much faster then any demon and different demon types age differently. How old are you, Shippo?"

"43, but that's not old for kitsunes I'm still another 57 years away from my first century. I don't understand. Kagome is older then I am. You look at her and you can tell that." Inuyasha wasn't making sense to Shippo at all.

"Well if you were born a human she would be. You would be somewhere around 6 I think, well if you were I dog demon, I don't know how fast kitsunes age. I would be somewhere around 17 or 18 the same as Kagome. For humans Kagome and I would be adults. I'm still another 48 years before my Howling Age, before other dog demons will see me as an adult. If Kagome was your age she would be almost as old a Kaede."

Inuyasha paused in his speech and regarded Shippo's cocked head and puzzled expression. At least he's trying to understand. Ok, I'll try it this way, "Look, my point is that by the time you reach your Howling or whatever kitsunes call adulthood-"

"It's called the Trickster Age and I'll be that at a 100."

"Oh. Fine¼ok so by the time of your Trickster Age Kagome would be long dead or very old. From what I can tell, in Kagome's time most humans don't live a whole lot longer then 80 or 90 years and that's a whole lot longer then in our time."

"How do you know all this? Does that mean Mom is going to die soon?" Shippo asked with a tremor in his voice; he was getting really worried. I finally get a family and it's going to be gone before I'm a grown up!? I'm going to lose another mom so soon!?

"Well, not soon and I'm not finished, there's other conditions to consider too. This is what Myouga told me when I was being adopted, and between him and my adoptive parents I learned a bit about math and aging."

 "So if the aging speed isn't that important then why did you tell me about it?"

"I didn't say it's not important. There's ways around it but they come with a price and doesn't always work. If the ritual doesn't work then the aging speed is important." Inuyasha explained calmly. He had never kept his temper for so long or told someone so much since he was child; mind you he never had anything this important to explain. Shippo and Kagome could be getting into a lot of trouble this way. Damnit why couldn't she have told me what she was going to do¼? He could feel his patience draining and with that his ability to remain calm.

"What ritual? My real parents never told me about any of this." Shippo looked at Inuyasha with suspicion. Maybe he's trying to scare me. Maybe none of this is real. But why would Inuyasha do that?

"They probably didn't think they needed to. I doubt they planned on dying so soon let alone that a human would want to adopt their child. I didn't know anything about it 'til I was being adopted." Inuyasha explained with withering patience. He took a deep breath as he had seen Kagome do when losing her patience and growled, "And I'm getting to the ritual!"

Shippo wisely remained quiet.

Damn it! Why do I have to explain this shit!? Argh! That's it. After this is over I'm killing them both! Inuyasha let out another frustrated breath. "Damn it! This is the last time you two decide to anything without telling me first! Got that!?"

Inuyasha didn't wait for Shippo to respond, "This ritual is dangerous. You could both die from it if you're not careful but without it Kagome would never live long enough to take care of you to begin with. You have to exchange blood but you have to bite on a certain spot. It's very easy to go too deep and either of you could bleed to death. You're both idiots by the way! This would not be nearly as big a problem if you had let a demon adopt you!"

Now Shippo was officially worried and applying for scared. Die!? I could kill Kagome? I don't want to kill mom! I don't want to die either! His application for being scared had just been approved and he started to shake with the force of it as images of Kagome's lifeless body filled his mind.

Inuyasha wasn't looking at Shippo but instead at the well directly in front of him nor was he really paying attention with his other senses, so caught up was he in his own memories of the day he went through the ritual and his telling of it. "And you're already starting to change! The declaration and acceptance are the first two parts of it and without the final rite of blood exchange you'll continue to change; to become more moody and generally nasty to be around, even aggressive if it's not taken care of in time. Damn it, damn it, damn it! Look you guys have to at least try it other wise you'll become wild and a danger anyway." He finally faced Shippo and noticed his tremors and the beginning of tears in his eyes. Shit! Well at least he's paying attention now¼but how the heck to I get him to stop crying!? Oh! They are so dead when this is over! Dead. Dead. Dead!

"Don't you dare start crying! Shippo! What'd I just say!? No Crying!!" Inuyasha may be the tough guy fighting off demon five times his size and laughing about it but when it came to people crying and children he was a push over; combine them and he was doomed.

Shippo let out a big sniffle and managed to keep from going into a full blown wail, "I can't help it! I'm going to kill her! I don't want to die Inuyasha!" Though Shippo wasn't crying he was whimpering and it made what he wanted to sound strong only a fearful plea.

"You guys aren't going to die! I'll be right there and no way am I letting that happen, you idiot!" Inuyasha tried calming down and using an indoor voice when he saw that his loud voice wasn't working. "Look! I didn't kill the ones that adopted me and with milk teeth as small as yours you won't have a chance. I'll show you where to bite and you only need to bite hard enough to get a little bit of blood. It's not like you're trying to drain her dry!

"And if it works you're demon blood will calm down you'll be back to normal while Kagome will live long enough to care for you. It's if it doesn't work that there'll be problems"

"What happens if it doesn't work?" Shippo was getting a better control of himself and though he was still scared he wasn't scared enough to cry about it. Inuyasha won't let me hurt her. Of course he would let me hurt her. Those thoughts brought a mental sigh of relief.

"I'm done explaining this! If it doesn't work I'll take you to talk to Myouga!" Inuyasha had had enough of this discussion. He was uncomfortable with this subject to begin with and Shippo just kept asking the all the wrong questions. Though admittedly Inuyasha didn't want to answer any questions to begin with so all that were asked were wrong.

"But-" Shippo began.

"I said we'll worry about it if it happens. This discussion is over!" with that Inuyasha stood up in one fluid motion grabbing Shippo by the back of his shirt on the way and turned back to the door and out into the court yard of the shrine grounds.

********************************

Review Notes:

Babmidnight-- Alright I'm sorta of reviewing as I go... To start you can really tell there is a difference between the first few chapters and this one. Thoguh it hits me as it's not your style after the last two chapters. I really didn't think the other two chapters were all that bad on there own. I don't know if they're been edited or not since you first posted them or not. The start of the chapter almost seemed like how you were start a new story, not a new chapter. and while I don't think your grammar is all that bad. I did notice that your beta did miss some grammar errors or used them incorrectly. "Not that, that stopped Inuyasha from yelling however; Inuyasha was never one to be deterred by someone merely not listening." It should read "Not that it stopped Inuyasha from yelling, however, inuyasha was never one to be deterred by someone merely not listening. See the difference? small change but does make a difference in how the reader reads it. "his voice stared to go!" should be started not stared. :) The rest is good for the most part. Didn't catch any more mistakes that really stood out to me. I do like the ending to this chapter, especially since you gave us info that we needed to know for part of this story. Though I really want to know more on Kagome about what's going on with 'this principal' and how inuyasha will react when he finds about the 'rape' and how he's going to react. I imagine Kagome will shy away from him, him being male and all. or on the other hand she could run into his arms, though most victims shy away from guys and try to tell themselves and others that they are okay when they really aren't. Need any info on rape victims, just watch a few episodes from law and order, special victims unit. my favorite. :)
Brenda

This chapter was originally intended to be longer but by the tie I got to this ending I realized I needed to stop before my head exploded. The bulk of this was written during a very stressful time in the year for me so I was worried it might be a bit disjointed from the others. The abrupt beginning was intentional however some days are meant to have passed since the last chapter. And the rest you will find out more about in the fullness of time.

Thank you for mentioning those errors. Neither my beta or caught them.