A/N: Sigh. Here is my first Inuyasha fic. I know I shouldn't post it
because I will have like no time to update soon, but I will try to make it
weekly. (as in once a weekend) ^^ For some background on me, I mostly have
Fushigi Yugi fics, but have always been a fan of Rumiko Takahashi. I love
Ranma and Maison Ikkoku (ahh I cannot remember how to spell it) and now I
love Inuyasha also! Oh, and if things seem confusing, that is because I
have no cable, and my only source of Inuyasha is the Viz English comics. ^^
So if I spell something weirdly, its probably because that is how it is in
the comics. Also, they have only printed the first 12 graphic novels so I
had to make up the rest of it. Just pretend it is an alternate universe
that takes place after the series. ^^
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, sorry to say.
Part One: A fox demon and a little monk
"Shippo!" a voice called. "Shippo!?" It was a feminine voice, pretty, soft, and far away. Shippo turned towards it, searching his memory for who it belonged to. He strained his ears, wondering at the likeness to someone close to him, someone from his childhood.
"SHIPPO!" The fox demon sat up fast, falling from the limb of the tree he had been sleeping on. He hit the ground with a splat, and then jumped to his feet to confront the person who had woken him up.
"I told you not to sleep in the trees! What if we were attacked while you slept and you couldn't hear us?" the speaker was a boy, about 14 years old. He frowned deeply, but there was a grin in there somewhere.
"Why'd you wake me?" Shippo demanded. He stood up to his full height of five feet nine inches and glared down at the boy. He had grown considerably over the past years, into a tall gangly demon with formidable powers. Currently he was hired out to take a band of monks from the mountain to their shrine in the village a few days away. They were mostly old men; incapable of fending for themselves, but one was a young lad who had been taken in by them as a child. Something about him made Shippo tolerate him more than he might have otherwise. He too had been looked after by friends when orphaned. They were two of a kind.
"Listen kid, I'm a demon. Full blooded fox demon at that. I can handle anything that would want to attack you and your old band of monks. Just cause I sleep in the trees doesn't mean I'm not watching out for you." The boy glared back. The demon the monks had asked to protect them was no more than a youth, tall, skinny, and red-haired. The only thing that convinced anyone that he was indeed a demon was the pointed ears and fox feet and tail. But none of those features gave him a shred of evidence of power. It was a gamble that the old monks were willing to take. A young fox demon for protection was better than none at all. The only one with any opinion about it whatsoever was the young boy. He didn't like demons at all.
"I hate demons." He told Shippo.
"Me too." Shippo said. He smiled at the boy, yawned, and began climbing back up the tree to finish his nap.
Later on, they were traveling together, Shippo in the lead, the lad a few paces behind, and the old men slowly taking up the rear, when there was a loud growl a few meters away, to the right. Shippo slowed to a stop, hushing the others. They crowded to a halt, looking around uneasily.
"YAAAAAAHHHH!!!" a shriek filled their ears, sending the humans into a wild panic. They seemed to have forgotten that they had hired Shippo at all. The fox demon, however, was standing quite still and calm, his green eyes glaring at the source of the loud shriek and his ears twitching.
Suddenly he snapped into motion, speeding into the source of the sound and jumping gracefully over some shrubbery. The enemy demon revealed itself with another ground shaking yell and burst into action trying to take down the young fox.
It was a type of centipede demon, human headed and after something particular. This sort didn't belong on a deserted path in the mountains.
"FOXFIRE!" Shippo forced it to eat green fire, surveying it's massive legged self and taking time to yell directions to his charges.
"Get in a group so I can defend you easier! Stay back and if I go down, run for it!" The old men huddled together, but the boy stayed in the front, eyes wide with awe and fear. The centipede saw him and drew back to strike.
"After me centipede butt!" Shippo yelled in attempt to remove its attention from the boy. It failed, and before he could move the centipede had the human in its grasping upper legs.
"Yoouuu haaaveee itttt." The demon was not one of speech, but managed to utter those words.
"AAUUUGGHH!" Shippo used claws to slash at the centipede's back, causing it to loosen its grip on the boy.
"Help me!" the boy said, dangling from the grasp of the centipede. Shippo growled and launched another attack.
"Leaves of death!" he yelled. There was a bright flash as the leaves surrounded the surprised enemy, then a boom, as each individual leaf exploded into a mini demon-expulsing burst.
Shippo stood, regaining his breath, and set the boy down in front of him. He had grabbed him from harms way as he released the leaves of death. There was a tense moment and a two-way glare.
"What do you have that that demon wanted?" He asked frankly. The boy stared wide-eyed, and didn't answer.
"WELL?!" he asked.
"Please sir, do not punish the lad. He knows not what he carries." The speaker was an old man, a monk, with white hair and wrinkles around his eyes. Shippo tilted his head at him, and then shot the lad a glare.
"Oh?"
"Yes, he carries with him a jewel of great power. We did not tell you because we believed you might steal it from us."
"What makes you think I won't anyway?"
"You are a kind lad."
"What!?" Shippo grabbed the kid by the back of the shirt and held him above the ground. "Let me see this jewel of great power!" he shook the boy, and then noticed that around his neck was half of rosy pink crystal. "No way." Shippo snatched the jewel and let the boy fall to the ground with a plop.
"Hey give that back!" the boy jumped up and tried to grab it back, but was too short. Shippo fended him off easily.
"You have seen this then before sir?" the monk asked. Shippo stared at the jewel in wonder.
"Yes, but not in a long time.not since I was but a kit." The boy glared at Shippo with a new loathing, not the grin filled glare of youth, but a vengeful hatred.
"That's mine give it back!" Shippo didn't answer, but stared at the jewel. The last time he had seen it was when Kagome left for her time with Inuyasha so many years ago. But she had only left with half of the jewel. The only obvious conclusion was that this was the other half of the legendary Shikon jewel, and that it must be returned to Kagome.
"Listen kid, monks. This jewel is very dangerous, and very powerful. I know a priestess who can purify this and will take it too her free of charge if you wish." Shippo felt too many years with Miroku showing through in this bribe, but it was too important to use any other method. The boy jumped from the ground, angered.
"No way you demon! I would never let you have that! It belonged to my father, a very noble monk!"
"Well then, I'm sure he'd approve of me taking it back to the priestess." The old monk nodded.
"So be it, young sir. I feel only good intentions from you. But in return I must ask of you one thing."
"Sure."
"Please take this young boy Miroku II with you on your journey."
****
"Why the hell did I ever agree to take YOU with me to find the priestess." Shippo wondered aloud, trying to get some reaction out of his new companion. Miroku II grumbled, stared at the ground, and tried to ignore the demon. It was common knowledge that demons were evil, traitorous, and sly. This one was bound to be no different. Besides, the monks had no right to send him off like this, at least one of them was certainly glad to be rid of him and that jewel.
"What was your father's name?" Shippo asked. The likeness between Miroku II and the Miroku that he knew was.stunning. After a few calculations he decided that this boy was indeed young enough to be related to Miroku.
"Why would I tell you?" the boy said. Shippo was indignant.
"Well we are on a journey together, you could at least be polite. Want me to tell you about my family?"
"No."
"Alright then, my parents were as you know, full blooded fox demons. They took care of me when I was a kit, but they died early on. This priestess girl that we're going to find, she helped to raise me after my father was killed by some demons. They were after this very jewel that you so pride yourself in keeping. My mother was killed for the same reason, by humans."
"So you hate demons now? Or humans?" Shippo smiled at his ability to get the boy's attention.
"Neither actually. I know now that everyone, demon or human, deserve a chance to prove their selves as good or evil. Your turn. Tell me how you ended up with a bunch of old monks?"
The boy furrowed his brow, staring at the ground. What good was there in telling a demon about his past? It wasn't like they would ever get along. But then he looked up at Shippo and saw a sincerely curious look in his eyes, like someone who cared more about him than just what obligatory duty required.
"I.well my father was a noble monk, but I didn't know him well. He died when I was small, and deposited me in the care of these monks. They seemed to owe him some sort of favor, and so they cared for me. I hated it there. My mother, I really didn't know her either. I remember that she was strong... The monks told me a demon killed her, and that my father went to slay that demon, and that he died trying to avenger her. That's why I hate demons."
"What about the jewel?" Shippo asked. The boy looked at him, surprised.
"What about it?"
"Do you know where it comes from?"
"My father gave it to me to protect. He killed a great demon to get this, that's all I know."
"Well I'll tell you the real origin." and he did. He told the lad about how it was formed from the souls of the demon and the priestess not far from a certain village, how they still battled inside this jewel, this crystallized soul, and whoever possessed it determined the nature, good or evil, of the jewel.
The lad listened intently to the story, not interrupting until the very end. "How did it get split in half?" he asked. Shippo sighed, and looked up at the clear blue sky. It was split when the reincarnation of a great priestess shot an arrow at it. Into many shards, that Shippo himself helped gather up. And then it was whole, after a great battle, and then, before them was another great battle and it was split again, but only in half. The priestess was gone though, and the whereabouts of both the shard and the priestess , Kagome, were unknown.until now, He thought. But Shippo was silent. He didn't quite feel like explaining the details of that story just yet.
"I don't know." He said. A white lie. A kind lie. A selfish, horrible lie. They walked along in silence for a while, until it got dark, then they stopped for the night.
****
"Can you sleep on the ground tonight?"
"Scared?"
"No!" Shippo grinned. "Sure I will. But are you sure you want me to? I thought you hated demons?"
"I do. But.some of them aren't so bad.I guess." He gave Shippo a mock glare. Shippo laughed. It had been a long time since he had company like this, innocent company that didn't wish anyone dead, or alive. He was certain by now that this young boy was Miroku's son. He found himself thinking that he was indeed talking to a younger, more innocent version of the monk himself.
At camp, the fire, lit of foxfire, was under careful observation by Shippo late into the night. Miroku slept soundly on Shippo's vest and coat. The fox demon persuaded him that demons didn't need a shirt to sleep. His hair was short and dark, his cloak dark violet; the lad had no staff or weapon, but he clutched the jewel tightly in one fist. Shippo sighed. So Miroku was dead, and certainly Sango must be the woman who was killed by 'a powerful demon'. Miroku's description of her as 'strong' was a likely clue. And who else could have kept hold of such a powerful jewel for so long? Only a boy with powers like Miroku's and Sango's.
Then there was Kagome. Shippo remembered her and Inuyasha with sharp detail. They were practically his foster parents, after all. But the location of the well.now that was a mystery. It seemed that Shippo blocked that small fact from his memory after that last great battle and that last sad goodbye. The only other person who might have known, the lady Kaede, was dead ten years ago. And even Miroku and Sango were dead. It seemed he was the only one left of that old band of jewel hunting travelers. Except.this boy, that is. Shippo again glanced at his sleeping form, wondering how much of today's story was truth. Having known Miroku for so long, he doubted that that was everything the boy knew of his parents or the jewel. Time would tell.
Shippo leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. For a moment he considered killing the boy and taking the jewel to Kagome by himself.but only for a moment. He didn't want any angry demon exterminator or monk souls after him. Besides, it wasn't like Shippo could bring himself to break a promise.
****
Author: please review and tell me what you think! ^^ Thanks!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, sorry to say.
Part One: A fox demon and a little monk
"Shippo!" a voice called. "Shippo!?" It was a feminine voice, pretty, soft, and far away. Shippo turned towards it, searching his memory for who it belonged to. He strained his ears, wondering at the likeness to someone close to him, someone from his childhood.
"SHIPPO!" The fox demon sat up fast, falling from the limb of the tree he had been sleeping on. He hit the ground with a splat, and then jumped to his feet to confront the person who had woken him up.
"I told you not to sleep in the trees! What if we were attacked while you slept and you couldn't hear us?" the speaker was a boy, about 14 years old. He frowned deeply, but there was a grin in there somewhere.
"Why'd you wake me?" Shippo demanded. He stood up to his full height of five feet nine inches and glared down at the boy. He had grown considerably over the past years, into a tall gangly demon with formidable powers. Currently he was hired out to take a band of monks from the mountain to their shrine in the village a few days away. They were mostly old men; incapable of fending for themselves, but one was a young lad who had been taken in by them as a child. Something about him made Shippo tolerate him more than he might have otherwise. He too had been looked after by friends when orphaned. They were two of a kind.
"Listen kid, I'm a demon. Full blooded fox demon at that. I can handle anything that would want to attack you and your old band of monks. Just cause I sleep in the trees doesn't mean I'm not watching out for you." The boy glared back. The demon the monks had asked to protect them was no more than a youth, tall, skinny, and red-haired. The only thing that convinced anyone that he was indeed a demon was the pointed ears and fox feet and tail. But none of those features gave him a shred of evidence of power. It was a gamble that the old monks were willing to take. A young fox demon for protection was better than none at all. The only one with any opinion about it whatsoever was the young boy. He didn't like demons at all.
"I hate demons." He told Shippo.
"Me too." Shippo said. He smiled at the boy, yawned, and began climbing back up the tree to finish his nap.
Later on, they were traveling together, Shippo in the lead, the lad a few paces behind, and the old men slowly taking up the rear, when there was a loud growl a few meters away, to the right. Shippo slowed to a stop, hushing the others. They crowded to a halt, looking around uneasily.
"YAAAAAAHHHH!!!" a shriek filled their ears, sending the humans into a wild panic. They seemed to have forgotten that they had hired Shippo at all. The fox demon, however, was standing quite still and calm, his green eyes glaring at the source of the loud shriek and his ears twitching.
Suddenly he snapped into motion, speeding into the source of the sound and jumping gracefully over some shrubbery. The enemy demon revealed itself with another ground shaking yell and burst into action trying to take down the young fox.
It was a type of centipede demon, human headed and after something particular. This sort didn't belong on a deserted path in the mountains.
"FOXFIRE!" Shippo forced it to eat green fire, surveying it's massive legged self and taking time to yell directions to his charges.
"Get in a group so I can defend you easier! Stay back and if I go down, run for it!" The old men huddled together, but the boy stayed in the front, eyes wide with awe and fear. The centipede saw him and drew back to strike.
"After me centipede butt!" Shippo yelled in attempt to remove its attention from the boy. It failed, and before he could move the centipede had the human in its grasping upper legs.
"Yoouuu haaaveee itttt." The demon was not one of speech, but managed to utter those words.
"AAUUUGGHH!" Shippo used claws to slash at the centipede's back, causing it to loosen its grip on the boy.
"Help me!" the boy said, dangling from the grasp of the centipede. Shippo growled and launched another attack.
"Leaves of death!" he yelled. There was a bright flash as the leaves surrounded the surprised enemy, then a boom, as each individual leaf exploded into a mini demon-expulsing burst.
Shippo stood, regaining his breath, and set the boy down in front of him. He had grabbed him from harms way as he released the leaves of death. There was a tense moment and a two-way glare.
"What do you have that that demon wanted?" He asked frankly. The boy stared wide-eyed, and didn't answer.
"WELL?!" he asked.
"Please sir, do not punish the lad. He knows not what he carries." The speaker was an old man, a monk, with white hair and wrinkles around his eyes. Shippo tilted his head at him, and then shot the lad a glare.
"Oh?"
"Yes, he carries with him a jewel of great power. We did not tell you because we believed you might steal it from us."
"What makes you think I won't anyway?"
"You are a kind lad."
"What!?" Shippo grabbed the kid by the back of the shirt and held him above the ground. "Let me see this jewel of great power!" he shook the boy, and then noticed that around his neck was half of rosy pink crystal. "No way." Shippo snatched the jewel and let the boy fall to the ground with a plop.
"Hey give that back!" the boy jumped up and tried to grab it back, but was too short. Shippo fended him off easily.
"You have seen this then before sir?" the monk asked. Shippo stared at the jewel in wonder.
"Yes, but not in a long time.not since I was but a kit." The boy glared at Shippo with a new loathing, not the grin filled glare of youth, but a vengeful hatred.
"That's mine give it back!" Shippo didn't answer, but stared at the jewel. The last time he had seen it was when Kagome left for her time with Inuyasha so many years ago. But she had only left with half of the jewel. The only obvious conclusion was that this was the other half of the legendary Shikon jewel, and that it must be returned to Kagome.
"Listen kid, monks. This jewel is very dangerous, and very powerful. I know a priestess who can purify this and will take it too her free of charge if you wish." Shippo felt too many years with Miroku showing through in this bribe, but it was too important to use any other method. The boy jumped from the ground, angered.
"No way you demon! I would never let you have that! It belonged to my father, a very noble monk!"
"Well then, I'm sure he'd approve of me taking it back to the priestess." The old monk nodded.
"So be it, young sir. I feel only good intentions from you. But in return I must ask of you one thing."
"Sure."
"Please take this young boy Miroku II with you on your journey."
****
"Why the hell did I ever agree to take YOU with me to find the priestess." Shippo wondered aloud, trying to get some reaction out of his new companion. Miroku II grumbled, stared at the ground, and tried to ignore the demon. It was common knowledge that demons were evil, traitorous, and sly. This one was bound to be no different. Besides, the monks had no right to send him off like this, at least one of them was certainly glad to be rid of him and that jewel.
"What was your father's name?" Shippo asked. The likeness between Miroku II and the Miroku that he knew was.stunning. After a few calculations he decided that this boy was indeed young enough to be related to Miroku.
"Why would I tell you?" the boy said. Shippo was indignant.
"Well we are on a journey together, you could at least be polite. Want me to tell you about my family?"
"No."
"Alright then, my parents were as you know, full blooded fox demons. They took care of me when I was a kit, but they died early on. This priestess girl that we're going to find, she helped to raise me after my father was killed by some demons. They were after this very jewel that you so pride yourself in keeping. My mother was killed for the same reason, by humans."
"So you hate demons now? Or humans?" Shippo smiled at his ability to get the boy's attention.
"Neither actually. I know now that everyone, demon or human, deserve a chance to prove their selves as good or evil. Your turn. Tell me how you ended up with a bunch of old monks?"
The boy furrowed his brow, staring at the ground. What good was there in telling a demon about his past? It wasn't like they would ever get along. But then he looked up at Shippo and saw a sincerely curious look in his eyes, like someone who cared more about him than just what obligatory duty required.
"I.well my father was a noble monk, but I didn't know him well. He died when I was small, and deposited me in the care of these monks. They seemed to owe him some sort of favor, and so they cared for me. I hated it there. My mother, I really didn't know her either. I remember that she was strong... The monks told me a demon killed her, and that my father went to slay that demon, and that he died trying to avenger her. That's why I hate demons."
"What about the jewel?" Shippo asked. The boy looked at him, surprised.
"What about it?"
"Do you know where it comes from?"
"My father gave it to me to protect. He killed a great demon to get this, that's all I know."
"Well I'll tell you the real origin." and he did. He told the lad about how it was formed from the souls of the demon and the priestess not far from a certain village, how they still battled inside this jewel, this crystallized soul, and whoever possessed it determined the nature, good or evil, of the jewel.
The lad listened intently to the story, not interrupting until the very end. "How did it get split in half?" he asked. Shippo sighed, and looked up at the clear blue sky. It was split when the reincarnation of a great priestess shot an arrow at it. Into many shards, that Shippo himself helped gather up. And then it was whole, after a great battle, and then, before them was another great battle and it was split again, but only in half. The priestess was gone though, and the whereabouts of both the shard and the priestess , Kagome, were unknown.until now, He thought. But Shippo was silent. He didn't quite feel like explaining the details of that story just yet.
"I don't know." He said. A white lie. A kind lie. A selfish, horrible lie. They walked along in silence for a while, until it got dark, then they stopped for the night.
****
"Can you sleep on the ground tonight?"
"Scared?"
"No!" Shippo grinned. "Sure I will. But are you sure you want me to? I thought you hated demons?"
"I do. But.some of them aren't so bad.I guess." He gave Shippo a mock glare. Shippo laughed. It had been a long time since he had company like this, innocent company that didn't wish anyone dead, or alive. He was certain by now that this young boy was Miroku's son. He found himself thinking that he was indeed talking to a younger, more innocent version of the monk himself.
At camp, the fire, lit of foxfire, was under careful observation by Shippo late into the night. Miroku slept soundly on Shippo's vest and coat. The fox demon persuaded him that demons didn't need a shirt to sleep. His hair was short and dark, his cloak dark violet; the lad had no staff or weapon, but he clutched the jewel tightly in one fist. Shippo sighed. So Miroku was dead, and certainly Sango must be the woman who was killed by 'a powerful demon'. Miroku's description of her as 'strong' was a likely clue. And who else could have kept hold of such a powerful jewel for so long? Only a boy with powers like Miroku's and Sango's.
Then there was Kagome. Shippo remembered her and Inuyasha with sharp detail. They were practically his foster parents, after all. But the location of the well.now that was a mystery. It seemed that Shippo blocked that small fact from his memory after that last great battle and that last sad goodbye. The only other person who might have known, the lady Kaede, was dead ten years ago. And even Miroku and Sango were dead. It seemed he was the only one left of that old band of jewel hunting travelers. Except.this boy, that is. Shippo again glanced at his sleeping form, wondering how much of today's story was truth. Having known Miroku for so long, he doubted that that was everything the boy knew of his parents or the jewel. Time would tell.
Shippo leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. For a moment he considered killing the boy and taking the jewel to Kagome by himself.but only for a moment. He didn't want any angry demon exterminator or monk souls after him. Besides, it wasn't like Shippo could bring himself to break a promise.
****
Author: please review and tell me what you think! ^^ Thanks!