A/N: YAY STORY NUMBER THREE!

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Small But Fierce

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"Oh god dammit," Inuyasha cursed under his breath as he flicked his hand trying to remove the blood and guts of the latest demon he'd managed to slay. It'd been a bitch to kill and the damn thing had exploded upon it's death drenching every inch of his body in thick hot blood and green ooze. Crouching down he tried to shake himself off but merely managed to get his blood and gut soaked hair plastered onto his face much to his companion's amusement.

"Oi! It's not fucking funny! I just saved all your pathetic lives. Give me a break," Inuyasha grumbled as he struggled to remove the long white hairs from his face. Finally he seemingly gave up the idea and stormed off into the treeline as he bellowed over his shoulder, "I'm gunna take a bath. Anyone got a problem with that?!"

At first, his extended absence hadn't bothered anyone. There had been copious amounts of nastiness covering his entire body after all. However, as the sun set and Inuyasha still had failed to return, an uneasy feeling settled in everyone's guts that only magnified when Miroku went to fetch the missing hanyou only to return with the still filthy fire rat in his hand.

"Kagome-chan, I'm sure he's fine," Sango mumbled unconvincingly, "He can take care of himself. I'm sure he'll be back by morning but it's too dark to go find him right now."

"If you say so," Kagome sighed as she crawled into her sleeping bag before whispering quietly to no one in particular, "Inuyasha please be safe."

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It was still early the following morning when Kagome felt Shippo crawl into the sleeping bag with her, probably due to some nightmare or something spooking him. Groaning slightly at the unexpected interruption, the miko adjusted herself to lay on her side and drew the small boy closer to her chest before lazily opening her eyes to glance down at him. In her sleep deprived mind it took an awkwardly long time to realize that the small boy in her arms was most definitely not Shippo. Sitting bolt upright, she held the small terrified looking toddler out in front of her and stared at himincredulously as he cowered and stuck his clawed thumb securely in his mouth. In so many ways he looked just like Inuyasha. His tiny amber eyes, white hair and small dog ears were almost identical. Blinking stupidly at the child, Kagome pulled his tiny face closer to her own before her eyes widened in understanding and she nearly dropped him in surprise.

"Inu…Inuyasha?" Kagome croaked. For a minute, the little boy stared at her anxiously, thumb still securely in his mouth as he slowly nodded.

"Do you…do you know who I am?" the miko tried to ask in a soothing tone of voice but it instead came out as a dry rasp. The boy slowly shook his head as his ears pinned back on his head. Seemingly doubting his life choices, he mumbled, "I dunno but... but you smell like me. You're my friend, yes?"

"I am your friend," Kagome cooed affectionately, giggling softly when his little ears perked up again and he reached out his tiny arms towards her in a silent request to be held. As Kagome took pity on his imploring puppy eyes and pulled him tightly to her chest, her mind raced to try to find any rational explanation. The problem was that - one - it was freaking early and -two- it was hard to think straight when the love of your life shows up as an insanely cute, naked toddler.

As he snuggled closer, Kagome hummed softly and scratched his little ears, loving when he cooed in approval and leaned into her touch. The adorable little thing seemed almost as exhausted as she felt. Yawning loudly, unintentionally showing off his itty bitty fangs - he adjusted himself to be more comfortable and nuzzled her gently. Rocking him gently in her arms, Kagome couldn't repress a soft smile when his small golden eyes drifted closed and his little fists bunched up the fabric of her nightshirt. Kagome tried her best not to disturb the now sleeping child as she laid back down into the sleeping bag and closed her eyes. She might as well try to get a little more sleep. By the looks of things, it was gunna be a long, exhausting type of day but she counted her blessings. It could've been much worse. At least Inuyasha had managed to come back to her in one piece.

Well...sorta.