Timeless Love

Chapter Ten: Torture

One day was all that it took to turn Shippo’s life up side down. For the first time he was now unable to follow Chiyoko. Not in fear that even if he did transform she would know it was him, but because he didn’t trust himself. He couldn’t trust he would keep his distance. He couldn’t trust himself not to ask her all the questions that now flowed through his mind. He couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t want to kiss her luscious lips again.

What made things even harder for him was knowing that both Haruki and Rei now had an open relationship with Chiyoko and he was now the only one still in hiding.

After quitting his job at the café Shippo had more time to spend at the training school. What ever time he didn’t spend teaching he spent training. He even joined Haruki and Inuyasha’s class during the day. Once the school was closed for the night he would sit and burry himself in paper work. He spent so much time at the school that there had even been nights that he had slept there.

Simply put his apartment was too close to Chiyoko’s house. It hurt him to be that close to her, when she knew he was ignoring her. He hated himself for hurting Chiyoko like that but it was something he had to do. Their future depended on it.

As hard as the last three weeks had been for Shippo they went by fast. Before he even had time to realize it, the day Inuyasha and he was to battle in the past had come.
* * * * * * * * * * *

Shippo was sitting in his office processing files when Inuyasha came into his office. “Hey, you didn’t train with the rest of my class today. I missed you; I mean… the students did. You know how they like you to help them. I thought when I didn’t see you that maybe you went home, but I see your still here.” Inuyasha plopped down on a pile of mats that was in the corner of the office. “Shippo, I’m really worried about you. You haven’t left this building all week. And for the past few weeks all you do is work in this office and train. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy you helping out with my classes but don’t you think it’s time to get out of this school, go home and get some rest?”

“I can’t do that right now. I’m about to go through all of the files from the last forty years and put them in a ne…”

“What the hell is going on Shippo? Talk to me would you!”

“I can’t. I’ve got work to do. I don’t have time if I don’t get started now I’ll be here all night.”

“Get real, going that far back you’ll be here working on it for a month and that’s without taking any time for breaks and sleep. For some reason I think that’s what you want. What are you hiding from?”

“Nothing.”

“BULL SHIT!” With one jump Inuyasha landed right in front of Shippo’s desk. Swinging his hand across the desk Inuyasha knocked all of the papers and the two boxes of files on to the floor.

Shippo just stared at his newly cleared desk. His expression was emotionless. Inuyasha had just about as much as he could take. They were best friends why wouldn’t Shippo talk to him. More importantly why was Shippo acting this way? Balling up his fist he swung again hitting Shippo on top of his head. A large bump formed instantly. Yet Inuyasha didn’t so much as get an Ouch from Shippo. “Would you snap out of it! Say something, do something, anything! What’s wrong with you?”

Hearing Shippo mumbling Inuyasha strained his ears to try and catch what it was he was saying. “What’s wrong, what’s wrong, everything and nothing at all. What’s wrong, it’s harder to go through these last three weeks then the last five hundred years. What’s wrong, I’m going to loose someone I look up to so I can have the one thing in life that would make me whole again. What’s wrong…”

“Shippo, your mumbling nonsense to yourself. Do I need to knock some sense into you?”

Drawing up his hand Inuyasha swung once again aiming at Shippo’s head. This time however Shippo grabbed Inuyasha’s fist just as it was about to make contact. “Go home Inuyasha, you worked hard today and you still have to go train with me in the past. You also have a family at home who is waiting for you. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

“Feh, like I’m going to believe that.”

Shippo released Inuyasha’s hand and was still staring at the desk intently. “I said go. I have work to do.”

“No, I’m not leaving and you’re not doing any more work. Both of us are going into the gym and you’re going to let your feelings out in battle. If you can’t talk about it with me then tell me with your body language. Come on! Your choice of fighting style. I’ll even go easy on you; after all, I don’t want to kill you.”

The moment the words ‘I don’t want to kill you’ left Inuyasha’s lips Shippo’s head snapped up. Shippo’s eyes were wide with an awakened knowledge. “What’s today?” He asks with urgency in his voice. Getting up and walking over to a small box that was in one of the file cabinets. Shippo dug into his pocket and pulled out a key. Inuyasha stood quiet as he watched Shippo frantically open the box.

Shippo shifted threw the papers and finally came to the one he was looking for. Pain ripped at his heart as he read over the paper. Some years back Shippo had written a timeline of events connecting the past and the future. The memories of that night was something that still hunted him to this day. The night Inuyasha almost killed him.

Trembling Shippo placed the paper back into the box. “Inuyasha, the time has come.” Inuyasha stared at him with confusion in his golden eyes. Locking the box and putting it back in the cabinet Shippo turned around “I don’t believe I’m the one who told on me.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Are you feeling okay?”

Shippo didn’t respond instead he pulled out two mats and placed them on the floor. Sitting down he pointed to the other mat and told Inuyasha to have a seat. Inuyasha still wasn’t sure what was going on but listened to Shippo and sat down on the other mat.

“Inuyasha I’m giving you two weeks off of work starting tomorrow.”

“Look if this is about me hitting you over the head and throwing everything off of your desk…”

“It’s not. And don’t worry your time off will be with pay.”

“What’s going on Shippo?”

“What I’m going to tell you is very hard for me. Just thinking of it… I want you to know that I understand if afterwards you decide not to work here anymore.”

Inuyasha was now becoming nervous. What could be so bad that it would cause him to stop working at a place he loved? And why in the world was Shippo giving him two weeks off with pay if Shippo thinks he won’t want to come back anyway?

“I need you to do something really important Inuyasha. When you go back through the well tonight you have to tell Miroku that…that…I’m going to be in desperate need of his assistance.”

“What you need his assistance for? What ever it is I can help you out. Don’t worry Shippo I got your back no matter what it is. As for this whole job thing, I’m not going anywhere.”

“You don’t understand. You can’t help me this time. Tomorrow I’m going to renew my vow by kissing Chiyoko.” Shippo’s heart started to beat faster hoping Inuyasha wouldn’t try and fight him now. He watched Inuyasha’s face as a stone cold deadly look crept over it.

“What gave you the ridiculous idea to do that Shippo? How stupid can you be? ARE YOU TRING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED?”

“She’s going to tell me how she feels about me. She tells me to take my time because she’ll wait for me. It was like she made a vow to me and sealed it with a kiss. When I walk her to the well you’re going to see me give her a good night kiss. When I gave it to her I thought to myself it was going to be the last kiss I give her until I find away to make her mine. Instead…”

“Why are you telling me this? If you weren’t planning on sealing the vow I don’t see why you want me to catch you.”

“You know as well as I do that whether or not I had planed to seal it makes no difference. By youkai law I challenged you.”

“What if I decide not to show up tomorrow?”

“Then she will come home with my scent on her and you will have to come through the well and fight me anyway. Either way the out come will be the same. I will need Miroku’s help.”

“I Spoke with Myoga some years back. He said there’s only three ways out of your vow, you die, you forfeit, or I forfeit. What if I forfeit my right to Chiyoko and just let you have her. Then none of this has to happen.”

“You know you can’t forfeit without a battle.”

“I’ll let you win.”

“Then you will dishonor me and yourself.”

“I don’t care! I can’t hurt you Shippo, I just can’t.”

“You have to fight me fair. If you don’t then you’re saying Chiyoko isn’t worth a damn and I would not let you do that to my woman.”

“YOUR woman!?!”

“You have to understand this is the way it has to happen. Beyond tomorrow night I don’t know what’s going to take place, but I’ve come to understand something. She told me to stop forcing myself to grow at her rate, and that she will wait for me. I didn’t understand it then but I do now. She knows I’m in this time. The thing is I can’t have her in both times. I need you stop me from…” The words were hard to say and they stuck in his throat. “from…seeing… her!”

It was him who had sentenced himself to five hundred years of torture. Not Inuyasha. If it was left up to Inuyasha he would have pretended not to have smelled Shippo’s ownership kiss.


“And how am I going to stop you from seeing her in the past?”

Shippo couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. “Tell her she is not allowed to go through the well anymore.”

“How come I have to be the bad guy?!”

“Because you’re her rightful protector and if you’re not on guard I’ll steal her from you. And we both know if I steal her and make her my mate you will loose ALL claim to her. You and Kagome will NEVER in your life be able to see Chiyoko again.”

Suddenly Shippo’s head lowered in shame. The expression on his face was one of sorrow. “I wasn’t going to tell you this but I guess I have no choice. I knew I was no match for you. Although I didn’t know what my vow meant I knew you wouldn’t let me have her without a fight. You need to know as a fox our instincts are to get what we want with out getting hurt. To trick and steal from right under your nose. That night right before you interrupted us I was going to… ask her… to be my mate. I knew she loved me and was one hundred percent sure she would have said yes. If you don’t stop me you’ll never see her again.”

“I don’t believe what you’re telling me. You we’re going to steal my daughter. I thought you just said you knew it was the last kiss until you found a way to make her yours?”

“And I did. Stealing her would make her mine.”

“Myoga didn’t say anything about stealing your way out of the vow.”

“That’s because not all youkai do it. Only the sly ones do. You should be well aware of the trick, it’s the one Koga tried but wasn’t sly enough to pull off. He must be friends with a fox demon. Myoga has background knowledge on many kinds of youkai but manly dog. He’s not around many foxes so he probably didn’t know that loop hole even existed.”

“And how did you know about this loop whole.”

Shippo answered with a hint of pride in his voice. “That’s how my father got my mother. In our culture the more sly you are the more honor it brings to the family. My father was one of the most honorable foxes known to our kind. If Chiyoko willingly went with me I would have been deemed the highest fox, because I would have stolen her from the one and only Inuyasha who defeated Naruku. Not only that but I would have tricked the strongest priestess. To top it off you both were comrades. No one would ever be able to top that. I would have been like a king with Chiyoko as my Queen. We could have been legends. The only problem with the plan was that…”

“I would of hunted you down and killed you.”

“No. Youkai law says I would be untouchable. Plus I think you would be mad but you would leave us alone because you know that we both truly love each other.”

“If you already know that then why are you trying to stop yourself from stealing my daughter?”

“Because the plan had one big flaw, we wouldn’t be able to see her family ever again. I don’t think I could live with that.”

“Shippo think about this fully before you send me to do something that can’t be undone. I don’t want to hurt you and I will freely give you Chiyoko. I can let you steal her from me. It will hurt but I’ll know both of you will be happy. We don’t have to fight. Ever!”

“Thank you Inuyasha, but I couldn’t do that to Kagome. Everything that she has ever done for me was with kindness and love I can’t repay her by taking away her first child. I’ve made up my mind. I want you to stop me.”

“If you really want me to force you to forfeit instead so be it. And if you want a fair fight then that’s what I’ll give you. Just know I won’t go easy on you.”

“I know! Just make sure Miroku is where he should be at about ten thirty when the clouds cover the moon other wise I’ll be sure to die.”

Shippo drew out a small map of where everything was going to happen. He even made sure to write down the time Inuyasha had to be in place.

It was still a shock that he had ratted himself out. All those years he has blamed Inuyasha and it was him pulling the strings. He knew the next five hundred years would be torture for him. He also knew it was going to be torture for Inuyasha to fight him until the point of death. But it was torture that the two of them would have to face if things were to turn out right.

“Make no mistake Inuyasha, I will fight until deaths hands grabs hold of me, and when that happens I will fight with death himself.”
* * * * * * * *

Inuyasha looked smuggly into the wide eyes of the stanger "review now!" he yelled out, hoping the person reading this would listen.