How it all began….

Shippo's true adventure begins today. It has been one year now that Shippo met Inuyasha and Kagome by trying, and failing, to steal their jewel shards.

It was this very day a year ago that Inuyasha had helped avenge Shippo's father by brutally killing the Thunder brothers, so one could call this a very memorable day for the miko, half dog demon, and kitsune.

Having time to sit and think, Shippo comes to one conclusion. He is horrible!! What kind of help was he to the gang? He was always scared when a demon attacked, his fox fire was pathetic and his fox magic was no better!! He couldn't even beat up a weak lizard demon without help! Sure, he's just a kid (9 years old, almost 10), but he should have tried harder!

Starting now, he's going to change that. The determined kitsune is going to try his best to help Inu, Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Kilala defeat Naraku once and for all! But little does he know, things are about to drastically change for him, like it or not, could his dear departed mother be the cause?

Yo!!! This is a re-write of this story! That's right, grammar, spelling, and the way this story was written is being dramatically fixed! *insert crowed cheering here* but do NOT worry, I am NOT changing the story's ideas, simply helping it out! So I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it and fixing it up!!!

DISCLAMER: I Minipower, do NOT own Shippo nor the Inu gang!!! We All know who does...*pouts* OH AND I DON'T OWN those Push Pop candy either...

Oh, I also took some reviewer's advice and decided to put the author's note at the beginning of the chapter, like right here lol: Now if anybody from else somewhere else across the world that is reading this story, I call the game soccer and not football, sorry!

Also, during the repairs of these chapters, I might change some things around, like the way some of my characters look; I just find it goes better with the story!

Enjoy people!!

-SHIPPO'S DESTINY!-

CHAPTER 1: Shippo...Is that really you?

Shippo was feeling bored. Sure it was kind of interesting when everybody's (yeah right) favorite monk, Miroku, had tried to group Sango's and Kagome's behind at the same time and in return, had received a seriously painful hit on the head by the Hirakos, a harsh bash to the head by Inuyasha ,a strong slap to the cheek from Kagome, as like Sango, and had screamed "PERVERT!!!! DO YOU EVER STOP!?" It had been funny to see him fall unconscious, saying, "But it's these cursed hands!! Not meeeeee..."

They had been staying near Kaede's village too protect the villagers if any more demons decided to attack them, which had been happening a lot lately, and Kagome was getting worried, so she had convinced Inuyasha (or more like forced him, by threatening to sit him 1000 times if they didn't) and the others to stay for the night...And now having an unconscious Monk, a very mad demon slayer, a priestess trying to calm her down, and make sure she didn't try and kill the Monk while she was at it, and a sleeping two tailed cat demon, it got very boring. Then who was left to annoy?

"Ummmm...I know!! I'll annoy Inuyasha!!!...Wait is that really a good idea? I'll just get bonked on the head 20 times if I'm not careful...But it's fun annoying him!!!The look on that guy's face is hilarious!!!! I'll wait a little longer till Sango calms down and then in case he does try to hurt me, I'll call for Kagome, and give her my innocent look and all. It never fails!!" Shippo looked around curiously as he thought up his little "master" plan.

They were staying just outside the village's borderlines tonight. Having made a campfire, everything was set. Kagome's red sleeping bag was placed neatly next to the tree Inuyasha was going to sleep in tonight, they had placed Miroku as far away as possible from Sango and Kilala, who were going to sleep very near Kagome and Shippo.

It was getting late and the sun had just barely gone down.

Shippo had spent most of the day thinking over everything the gang went through this last year. Had it really been one year that Kagome and Inu had come in Shippo's life, this very day? .If it wasn't for them passing by, and Shippo trying to steal their shards of the Shikon jewel, He would of never been able to avenge his father's death by the hands of those idiotic Thunder Brothers. Also, he probably would of been died of hunger, for he never learned how to hunt nor to fend for himself. To think, the day his father was kill, he was going to learn very important things from his dad! And what happens? Hi's murdered!

So Shippo was glad that Kagome had adopted him. He thought of her as his big sister. Someone who would look after him, care and play with him. And Inuyasha, even though he didn't show it,The young fox demon knew the half-demon cared for him. He thought of him as his big brother who one day, when he was trully ready, would teach him how to fight and to hunt. But obviously Shippo still like to torture Inuyasha a lot.

Earlier on, when the kit had walked around the village, he wondered what his life would of been like without them, not to mention, Sango, Miroku, and Kilala.

No way, he couldn't imagine life without them! It just didn't seem right or possible to him.

When he came upon a thick tree, he jumped as high as he's little fox paws would let him onto one of the branches, he realized something. What did he give in return to them? He always needed protection, his foxfire was pathetic and his fox magic never lasted long enough! He couldn't even beat up a weak lizard demon!

He sat down on one of the branches, letting out a big fat sigh as he sadly came to the conclusion that he was a disgrace to himself, his fox demon kind, and to his friends.

He looked up at the bright blue shy filled with very little white, fluffy clouds.

"Mother...I miss you and father so much! Why am I so useless?! Please give me the strength I need!!" He pleaded to his deiced parents.

"That's ENOUGH! This year I'm gonna train so much it's gonna hurt for weeks! In like 4 days I'm going to be turning 10 years old and no way will I be the weak little demon I am now!! Naraku still rums the earth...I'm gonna help kill him! Then that will prove I'm no longer a weakling!" Growling softly, he took out of his pocket his fateful smashing top and studied it for a while. The sun shinned smoothly on its surface through the packs of leaves. Then a single tear fell upon it.

Shippo was heartbroken. It hurt so much to take in the fact that you were no help what so ever!

He clinched he's eyes tight to get rid of the coming tears, anger building inside of him like a humongous flame ready to destroy a village, when...

"Hey!! Shippo!!! What are you doing up there?" Asked Lance.

A bunch of village children gathered around with a round white ball with black spots all over it, ready to play that sport Kagome had taught them.

Shippo looked down to see a boy with honey colored eyes and shot, jet black hair with its untamable bangs, who was calling him and had snapped him back to reality.

He climbed the tree rather quickly to get a better look at Shippo.

"Hey Lance..." Shippo replied numbly.

"Hey now Shippo, what are you doing up here all alone? Why don't you come play some -what's it called again? Oh ya!- Soccer with us? We could use the help. Hitaru's sick today." The boy asked.

"But...I suck at that game, Lance!!! The balls to big for me...I'll just be in the way..."Shippo complained sadly as he remembered the last time he tried playing. Tripping over the ball and almost getting squished by Manga had NOT his definition of fun and good times.

"Are you kidding me, Lance?? You guys are that desperate that you've asked the pathetic excuse of a demon to play?? HA! This will be easier than I thought!" Yelled Manga. He, unlike Lance, was really fat and cruel, your typical bully.

Shippo hated that guy! He barely fit into his own clothes that his whole body stuck out grossly for Kami's sake!! He was so gigantic that Shippo was always scared that one day he would trample him!

"Shut up Manga!!! Just because you're the captain this month for your team, doesn't make you boss!! Nor can you get on everybody's nerves, you hear!!" Lance snapped back at him like a true friend.

Everybody, including Shippo, was terrified of Manga, but not Lance. He cared about everybody, including demons.

"Come on Shippo! We need you! And it will be fun, don't worry! Besides you look like you could use a game right about now." Shippo looked at Lance, surprised. Had he really just said that they needed him or else they couldn't play??

Not wanting to ruin the children's day, he accepted the offer, surrendering, and the excited , young villagers cheered happily, expect Manga of course.

Most of the village children were around 8 to 9 years old, expect Manga, who was 10 and Lance, who had just turned 11.

Right now they were twelve children in all thanks to Shippo. Every month for Manga's team, they switched Captains and this month it was the bully's turn, even though everybody was against it for plenty of reasons.

However, Lance stayed captain for his team because he was a born leader, which Hitaru, Hideo, Soga, Rini, and Emiko totally approved.

Lance let go of the branch he was holding onto, landing gracefully as if he had done this plenty of times before, and Shippo jumped down as well. They were ready to play!"

"Okay Shippo, you'll take Hitaru's place, so your center offence, okay?" Lance instructed as the others nodded, after all it seemed only fair because the team were great where they were and didn't want to change places or challenge Manga, who was the other team's defense. Only Lance and Hitaru dared to approach him really (You can all guess why!).

They were all in place on the grassy field, with the white painted lines to indicate were the soccer field was.

Shippo was determined to play his best this time, considering this part as his training as well.

Lance screamed out, "TIME TO PLAY!!!!"

When he heard the signal to start playing, Shippo dashed for the ball as quickly as possible, earning some shocked expressions from the other players because last time he played, he keep trying to run away from the ball!

Lance followed the fox demon at full speed, while the others on the team went to preoccupy their temporary enemies.

They were half way across the field now, the territory where only Lance and usually Hitaru dared to approach.

Manga's teammates along with Lance's team was watching, waiting to see what would happen next. Without Hitaru to back Lance up when he needed it, they were beyond curious to see what would happen this time .Sure the others played, sometimes they even forced Manga off the field so everybody could have a turn in the spotlight, but most of the time they even went to get a second ball to play among themselves when Lance and Hitaru were really at it!

Manga's team's goley, Linko, was he's really good at blocking the ball. Ironically, he was Lance's best friend besides Hitaru. They were on different teams simply because they wanted to challenge themselves and make the teams somewhat more equal in strength and speed.

Manga saw what the little kitsune was doing and wanted to put a stop to it now, not liking his sudden boost of confidence. So he ran (more like forced his fat body to slowly move) and started charging towards Shippo menachingly, thinking it would scare him far, far away from here.

Unfortunatly for him, he was dead wrong. Shippo saw this tacktic and felt beyond weird. The flame he had felt before was starting to spark within him and his senses were increasing as if screaming to him what to do next instead of running away or freaking out. He stopped running and looked around to see that everybody was watching him.

'There all looking at me, probably thinking something like i'm gonna run away like I always do...Well sorry people, not this time!!!" He thought angrily. Suddenly he knew exactly what to do, but he needed to make

sure it was allowed first.

"Hey Lance!!" Shippo yelled as he started running again, but slower than last time.

"Yeah?" answered Lance, continuing to run next to him with the ball.

"What are the rules about fighting?"

"Ummm it's simple, no punching, kicking, scratching...But you're allowed to push someone if they're bigger then you!" Lance replied with a smirk as he dodged Manga and realized the big dummy was going after Shippo. Shocked and confused eyes where starring at Shippo, wasn't he going to run away, like now?

With a grin, Shippo exclaimed "Perfect" loudly enough for everybody to hear.

He dashed by running on all four paws and in turn, charged towards Manga with the most determined expression in his eyes.

Manga was startled for a second, but kept advancing towards Shippo.

Shippo increased his speed as he was getting very close to Manga, He was in perfect range now.

"A little push never hurt" he thought.

Gathering all his strength, using full power he leaped at Manga and shoved him rough fully to the ground. Manga was sent flying backwards as Shippo landed gracefully, grinning proudly.

One of Manga's teammate took the opportunity to try to steal the ball from a dumbfounded Lance, hoping to score for his team, but agile boy was too quick and dodged around annoyed boy to make sure he couldn't get it.

Manga sat up slowly, still trying to catch his breath. He just couldn't and wouldn't believe this little runt had actually pushed him like that!!

"Shippo!! HERE!!" yelled Lance, passing the kit the ball.

Shippo flinched when he saw the ball rushing towards him. What was he suppose to do!? He'd never succeeded in kicking that thing correctly before! How was this time going to be any different??

Burying his fear, he closed his eyes and let the flame inside of him rage stronger, boosting his confidence.

Praying this worked, once his ears told him the ball was very close now, he kicked it as hard as possible, forcing it to return to Lance.

By now, he had everybody's attention caught for sure, questions swelling into their young minds: How'd he do that? Why isn't he running away?? Why didn't Manga just pass out…

Lance received the ball, confused the hell out of Tito and then scored!!!!

Hideo, Soga, Rini, and Emiko cheered like maniacs while the other children smiled, hopeing he'd actually taught Manga a lesson.

Manga slowly got to his feet with major difficultly and glared furiously at Shippo.

"ALRIGHT ALREADY!! SO HE SCORED 1 GOAL, BIG DEAL!! I WAS GOING EASY ON YOU SHRIMP!!" cried Manga, trying to come off as cool, but instead caused the opposite reaction.

"Yeah whatever you say, Manga" Shippo easily replied.

The game went on for another half hour; Lance's team was winning five to three. Shippo was honestly having the best time of his life, having helped Lance make all the goals so far. Manga was getting extremely pissed off at the game and still letting out steam for what the little runt did to him before. Well that brat made fun of him for the last time!!!!

The game would soon be over. Shippo knew Kagome would come looking for him soon, probably with some treats for everybody.

Although, Shippo had a funny feeling something bad was going to happen before the end of this game…Little did he know he was actually correct.

They all got ready to play again, expect it was only Manga, Shippo, Lance, Linko, and Soga who were playing this time (Manga refused help from the others this time, besides Linko).

They were now in position. Manga had the ball and charged towards Lance's side of the field. Lance ran after him, with Shippo following close behind. Not before long, Lance was right in front of Manga and quickly snatched the ball away from him, but Manga would not let this action go unpunished.

Using his left, big, fat arm, he curled his hand into a fist and punched Lance HARD right in the stomach!!! Lance yelled out in pain as he fell to the ground, curling up and clutching his stomach...

Manga laughed evilly while the other children gasped in fear and shock. Shippo himself was stunned still, but quickly snapped out of it when he saw that Manga had the ball again and just kept running with it, chuckling to himself, obviously not caring Lance's pain.

Linko ran to Lance, helping him sit up, and asking in a worried tone if he was okay. Still clutching his stomach, Lance looked towards Shippo and yelled, gasping for air, "I'M...FINE...KEEP...GOING!! YOU CAN...DO...THIS, SHIPPO!!!!!!"

Nodding, Shippo growled at Manga, letting his anger fuel the inferno inside of him, when an idea came to his devious mind.

He dashed towards to ball, getting ready to smack it away from the bully. Manga, annoyed, saw that the kitsune had no intention of quitting now and forced his body to move faster, although the ball creped away from him. The fatso was thinking evil thoughts of what he wanted to do to Shippo as he tried to keep up with the speeding rapidly away ball, royally not caring what kind of trouble he would get in after the game, at least for now.

Shippo, being quicker on his feet then Manga, got to the ball 1st and started his plan. He kicked the ball upwards into the air with full strength, sending it so high you couldn't even see it anymore! Manga stopped dead in his tracks, watching for the ball to return in dismay, and thinking: 'what's that brat scheming?'

Shippo took the opportunity and bolted towards Manga, stopping fast enough to bend down and jump onto the thick headed idiot's head, startling the bully. The impact forced him to bend forward reluctantly. The ball was coming into demon eye site now. Shippo, who was on Manga's bent over back, leaped into the air, meeting the ball halfway and kicked it downward extremely hard, sending the round object flying towards Manga's empty -of-a-goalie- net in a flash. Manga was screaming his head off, warning and threatening Linko to run like hell and block that thing, but nobody, including the goalie, was listening to him.

All eyes were on the ball.

Just as Shippo landed on the ground, the ball meet its target so hard it almost made a whole trough the net! Shippo had scored his 1st goal ever!!! The kitsune yelled in victory as he ran to Lance, who was thankfully breathing normally again, unlike Manga, who was on the ground, gasping and struggling for air and words to express his anger.

"Lance!!!! I did it!!! I DID IT!!...A-Are you ok?" Shippo asked, worried. However inside, he was boasting with pride.

"Well I've been better, but great job Shippo!!" Lance replied with a weak, but strong smile. Shippo was grinning happily as they high fived.

Hideo, Soga, Rini, and Emiko came running towards them, followed by everybody else, except Manga who looked like he was having a heart attack.

A rush of words erupted around Lance and Shippo as the children asked with worried voices if he was alright, which he was.

Then Hideo gently picked up Shippo, holding him high into the air and started cheering along with the others. Lance, with Linko's help, got up and also started cheering, throwing a fist into the air.

The adults' who had gathered around to watch the match, just smiled, scowled at Manga disapprovingly, and continued doing their last minute chores.

Kagome was also smiling proudly at Shippo. She had been watching the game from behind a couple of trees with a small bag of treats in her hand. When Shippo had pushed Manga to the ground, he had shocked everybody, especially her for that matter. So she had decided to stay hidden until the game was over.

Seeing that the game was clearly over now, Lance's team winning six to zero, the miko walked up to the little cheering group and called out to him. "Hey Shippo!!!"

Shippo looked over and saw Kagome, his grin growing as he jumped into her arms, hugging her. Kagome giggled and hugged him back, telling him how he played like a pro and she was very proud of him.

Then Kagome handed everybody their well deserved lollipops, Push Pops, chocolate bars...you name it, she had it! Of course right after she handed each one tooth paste and a bright colored tooth brush, so she wouldn't be blamed if they got cavities like last time...

Together, they all sat by some trees, except Manga, who Kagome had given a piece of her mind to, farther loudly at that, and told him he was going to be sorry for what he did to Lance, refusing to give him treats when he timidly asked for some. After that, he had cursed under his breath and had gone to sit by another tree by himself, waiting for who knows what. Although he did have a scared look on his face…

Lance took a bit of his chocolate bar and winced in pain, holding his stomach with his other arm gently. He received sympathetic looks from the worried children. Shippo softly jumped on Lance's lap and once again asked if he was okay. Lance nodded, a smile on his face as he continued to eat his chocolate bar. Kagome offered him some herb medicine or pain killers, but he shook his head again, saying he had to learn the value of pain one way or another.

Suddenly, heavy footsteps were heard miles away, approaching at a quick paste. Manga started freaking out big time, which meant only once thing. The bully's mother came marching right up to Manga and started yelling his head off, pointing around dramatically. Like mother like son, she was on the fatter side, but looked kinder then her son, except when she was angry, like at this moment.

"MANGA!!!!!!" She howled.

"Y-Yes mother?" He barely managed to reply.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!!! THOSE INNOCENT CHILDREN JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AND YOU HAVE TO RUIN IT FOR THEM EVERY BLOODY TIME!!!?? For Kami's sake, Manga, you're a disgrace to this family! I've heard so many bad rumors about you from the other parents!!! And now you went way over the line boy! Hitting Lance like that!!!You are in sooo much trouble, you hear me young man!!!!?? You're grounded for 4 months!! And you are going to be Lance's personal servant from now on until you make amends for trouble you've caused!! And don't even THINK you're going to be harassing these children ever again!!! YOU'RE NEVER TO PLAY SOCCER WITH THESE CHILDREN AGAIN!!!" She continued angrily rambling on, grabbed Manga by the ear, and walked right up to lance, dearly apologizing to him and the other children, then continuing to yank him by the ear, walking back to her house, saying something like "Just you wait till your father hears about this you idiot of a son!!Your also going on a big diet you hear me!!?? I SAW that breathing problem you had!!!"

A small, terrified reply could be heard from the deeply to be punished boy hear.

Everybody couldn't believed their problem was gone for good and thanked Shippo for everything he had done today.

Sometime later, Kagome and Shippo waved good bye, promising to visit more.

Now heading back to the camp, Shippo rested on Kagome's shoulder and sighed.

"Kagome...Do you hate me?" Shippo questioned.

"What?? Where did this idea come from?? I could never hate you, Shippo!" Kagome answered with a warm smile.

"Well, y-you should!!! I'm nothing but a weakling!! All I've ever done is cause trouble!! I'm a demon and yet I'm nothing...I can't even p-protect the people I care about!! I couldn't even avenge my own dad without Inuyasha's h-help!!...I'm just in the way... "A couple of tears fell down Shippo's cheeks as his voice broke when he told Kagome his feelings. Having listened carefully to Shippo, Tears flowed down her cheek as she shook her head gently.

"Shippo...Nobody thinks this of you! Not even Inuyasha!..." She gasped. "Oh… it's today, isn't it...The day of your father's death...Also the day you met me and Inuyasha...Shippo I promise it's okay really!! Yes I know you're a demon, but your only a kid! It's the same for everybody...Inuyasha, when he was your age, he couldn't defend or fight as well as he can now either!! Just give it time Shippo. With just a bit of training, you'll be as great as Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango and Kilala one day!." Kagome told him, gently brushing away the tears on his cheek, looking Shippo straight in the eyes.

"But Kagome!" protested Shippo

"You're really strong too!! Those arrows off yours are really powerful!! Sure at 1st you had trouble hitting your target, but now it's been a whole year! You almost never miss your target now!!"

"Thanks Shippo" Kagome blushed, remembering all those times she had missed...

"Alright let's keep going, I promised Inuyasha we would be back by now...Are you going to be alright now?" She asked him kindly.

"Yes, I think so, thanks for caring Kagome" Shippo answered truthfully, smilling.

BACK TO PRESENT TIME!!!!

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Shippo snapped back to reality when the memory was over.

Sango was sitting, calmly stroking Kilala, who was on her lap, still sleeping peacefully, as she glared death rays at a still blacked out Miroku. Kagome was sitting next to her, trying to prevent another fight. And Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen!

The sun was fully set, replaced by bright starts and the shining quarter moon, shinning off a soft silver light, which mixed with the fire's blazing glow.

"Hey kagome! Where did Inuyasha go? And what time is it?

-END OF CHAPTER ONE!!!!-

PHEW!! That took ages to re-write!!!!! 16 freaken pages!!!!! Hope you guys enjoyed that! I think I did a very good clean up of this chapter! I'll start working on the rest of the chapters shortly, and then actually continue writing this sucker!!! Now for the people that reviewed this chapter already, I know you won't be able to again, but if you have time, just send me a message telling me if it's improved or now, okay? And if there's any new readers out there, REVIEW XP see ya soon!!!

Next time: Shippo's talent and Inuyasha's defeat???!!

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