The Prankster Youkai's Revenge

Chapter 1: Don't do it Shippo!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any other of the following characters.

Japanese (correct my spelling please I've never taken Japanese in my life!):

Gomene: I'm sorry

Osuwari: sit

Ohio: good morning

Arigato: thank you

Taijiya: demon exterminator

Houshi/ Houshi-sama: Buddhist monk

Miko: priestess

Hanyou: half-demon

Kit/ kitsune: fox

Uruse: shut up/ be quiet

Itadekimas: umm not sure on literal meaning, its traditional to say before eating, especially a large meal

Youkai: demon

The sun was especially bright that morning, and soon every member of a group of travelers had awoken but one: Kagome; again. Inuyasha, his stomach growling, tried to wake her up in hopes of some Ramen or other ninja food, only to receive a sleepy osuwari instead. Hearing the dramatic thud next to her, her eyes fluttered open. Still groggy, and completely unaware of her part in the matter, she mumbled "Ohio… Ne, Inuyasha, why are you still sleeping? The sun looks like it's been up for 3 hours at least!"

"You're the only one still sleeping here damn it! You just gave me the sit command while I was trying to wake you up! What the hell was that for anyway!?" Inuyasha barked.

"Gomene Inuyasha! I was having a dream where you were bullying Shippo is all. I hope you realize it was just an accident. Please forgive me?"

"Keh, forget about it," he muttered, uncomfortable with the warm sincerity of her apology. "Anyways, do you still have that Ramen from last night? I'm hungry!"

"Umm, let's see," she pursed her lips while groping in her backpack. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, she stopped, realization dawning on her face. She immediately turned around and sighed "No, because you ate it all! Don't you remember?"

"Well…umm…well neither did you!" he spluttered, embarrassed at his poor memory.

"Stop it, both of you, or we won't have breakfast till noon at least!" Sango intervened. Kagome, all past guilt forgotten, glared at Inuyasha, infuriated by his response, but silent for the moment. Sango sighed; she was grateful she'd stopped it before it had escalated further. Once those two got started fighting it would sometimes take days to blow over. "So, Kagome-chan, do you have any other food left? Some of the stuff your mother sent perhaps?" Sango queried hopefully.

"No, all the food I brought over is gone now, thanks to this walking stomach over here!" she responded angrily, looking pointedly at Inuyasha. Sango sighed inwardly at her own naievity in believing she had ended the argument.

"It's not my fault I eat more than you! I do all the work around here, I deserve to eat more!" he yelled back.

Miroku gritted his teeth, unable to bear the noise any longer. "URUSE! There's a town up ahead, and if we leave now we can make it there by lunchtime. We still have some money left from the last exorcism I did, so when we get there we can buy more food."

"Oh, that's a good idea! I wish I'd had a real futon to sleep on last night…I would have slept so much better if I hadn't kept rolling over onto rocks!" Kagome said, entirely distracted from her previous indignance.

"Keh," Inuyasha muttered, not so quick to forget his anger, "we're going for food and she assumes we'll stay the night!" but he was hungry and knew the more he argued with Kagome the later he'd get to eat and so he kept his comments under his breath.

Soon the group was on its way toward the next village. Inuyasha would have gladly gone hungry instead if he had known just how much time they would waste in it. Let alone how much humiliation they were all in store for.

The Village:

"Itadekimas!" Kagome and Shippo happily exclaimed as they began their belated meal. Inuyasha had already started digging in, too hungry to care for such formalities. Or perhaps he was simply too single-minded, unlike the man sitting beside him. Miroku turned to thank the village headman for the generous (free) meal. "Arigato. May I enquire as to why you have invited us, simple travelers and strangers, to dine with you?"

"Well, seeing as you asked so politely, of course not! It so happens that my town is in desperate need of an exorcism. A very wily and clever youkai has been plaguing the townsfolk, playing humiliating pranks and other nasty tricks on them, stealing food and occasionally valuables as well. When I saw you travelers at the edge of town, I thought such a worldly looking taijiya and Houshi would have to be able to help us. Will you do the exorcism? We will of course supply you with free food and lodging while you are here, and food for your journey onward." the headman pompously answered.

"Well, we are in need of food for our journey, and as you guessed we are world class exorcists" Miroku purred "so I think…"he paused for dramatic effect "we will stay long enough to deal with this troublesome demon. Although," and now Miroku began to whisper to prevent a certain taijiya from hearing "some female companionship might be necessary as further paymen-" he was cut off by the feeling of a hole burning through the back of his head. Apparently his whisper hadn't been quiet enough to escape Sango's hearing. "Ano," Miroku began, desperately trying to think of some excuse. He was saved by a quarrel between Inuyasha and Shippo.

"Stop it! That's mine you meanie!" Shippo squealed.

"Well its mine now so stop complaining!" Inuyasha snickered, holding the dumpling above his head, obviously enjoying taunting the little kit.

"Kagome! I saw it first and Inuyasha won't give it back!" Shippo wailed, appealing to his perpetual defender.

"What, you can't get it back for yourself?" Inuyasha teased before popping it into his mouth "Guess not."

"Just you wait Inuyasha I'll get back at you!" Shippo swore under his breath. He immediately began to form a plan to get revenge on Inuyasha. He began snickering, his idea was so good!

"Is something wrong Shippo?" Kagome asked, a worried look spread over her face. She had never known Shippo to laugh when Inuyasha got the better of him.

Shippo decided to put his plan into action immediately "Oh, not a thing! I was just thinking how nice a bath would be after so much traveling!"

"So you're not mad at Inuyasha for taking your dumpling?" Kagome asked, taken aback at Shippo's attitude, as it was so different from how he had acted in all similar situations in the past.

"Only someone as immature as Inuyasha would get angry over something as stupid as that. But getting back to the baths, don't you want to get clean and relax a little before we tackle that demon? The headman did say it only came out at night" Shippo subtly (he thought of it as subtly), and with only minimal lying, steered the conversation back to the baths, after getting a jibe in at Inuyasha's expense.

"Want to say that to my face, runt?" Inuyasha growled, his fist raised.

"Stop it Inuyasha he's just a kid after all. Don't let him get to you so easily." Kagome quickly admonished. "And I think a bath is just the ticket to get me feeling like myself again! What do you think, Sango-chan?"

"I think a bath sounds like a great idea. I've been a bit tense lately," (Sango here glared at Miroku). "When do you two want to go?"

"How about we go now? We've already eaten and the demon won't come out until later anyway." Kagome said. "Although," she added as an afterthought, "We really ought to tell the guys where we're going…"

"Don't worry about them!" Shippo quickly answered. Kagome was about to ruin his plan entirely! "Inuyasha's busy pigging out (another 'subtle' jibe) and Miroku's busy talking to the headman –we don't want to disturb them! We'll be back before they know it!" He smiled winningly, praying they'd take the bait.

"Well I suppose they do seem rather busy…"Kagome thought out loud, still unconvinced.

"And if we tell Houshi-sama he'll just peep!" Sango angrily added. That clinched it. "All right Shippo, we'll be ready in a minute just let us get our things and we'll meet you outside!" Sango finished, Kagome nodding happily, already dreaming about her bath.

"Oh, don't bother waiting for me; I have some things to get too! I'll meet you at the hot spring!" Shippo hastily added. His plan wouldn't work if he bathed with them as he usually did! Fortunately it worked. They took the bait, hook, line, and sinker, leaving almost immediately to retrieve their towels, spare clothes, and whatever else they might need. Shippo watched them leave, snickering gleefully, already imagining his triumph and the look on Inuyasha's face when his prank was complete! This would be the best one he'd pulled off yet!

A/N: Well, here's my first story I hope you all like it! Please R&R, and try not to be too critical; this is the first piece of fanfiction I've ever written before…Tell me my mistakes, just don't be so surprised I made them- I promise to at least get better. Chapter 2 will be up very soon and I hope to update weekly from now on. Enjoy!