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Background
May. 11th, 2015 04:43 pmVery little of Shippo's backstory pre-series is known, but what little there is can be taken directly from what he says and how he thinks. He lived peacefully in a forest with his father, and was brought up without hostility towards humans. Being a young fox, he'd been learning illusion-based magic that's pretty standard for foxes, tanukis, and smaller demons like monkeys. He also apparently had a little bit of trouble with bigger demons, most likely due at least in part to his often condescending attitude.
He was close to his family, especially his father, and things were fine until his father found a shard of the Shikon Jewel. Soon after, he was murdered by a pair of demons known as the Thunder Brothers as they were actively collecting the shards. It's unknown what happened to his mother, because he never says and doesn't mention her that often, but it's possible that she was already gone before it happened, because Shippo never mentions anything about her having been killed by the Thunder Brothers and is only looking to avenge his father. His plan was to collect use the Jewel Shards to draw the brothers out and challenge them.
Shippo doesn't appear until somewhere after at least ten days after the Jewel was originally shattered, and the series doesn't specify how or when his father found the jewel shard or how long ago he was murdered for it. It also doesn't tell how Shippo himself learned that Inuyasha and Kagome had any shards, despite later it being shown that he can't tell a real shard from a similar looking type of stone. Regardless of how he lfound out though, Shippo's first appearance was him attempting to steal the shards. He tried to scare them using fox fire and his balloon form, and once caught did manage to get his hand on the bottle of shards, but Inuyasha clobbered him before he could escape and he was forced to explain himself.
Inuyasha was convinced he could beat the Thunder Brothers, but Shippo called him out on being half-demon and told him to stay out of demon matters. This got him a few lumps on the head, but Shippo trapped Inuyasha's hands under a Jizo statue with a spell tag and then stole the shards and escaped. He ran into the younger brother by accident and almost had the shards and his life taken right there, but Kagome saved him. They attempted to run, but were nearly blasted and Kagome was knocked unconscious. Shippo tried to wake her, but hid in fear to avoid capture when he couldn't, resulting in her being taken away. His first response was to go save her since she had done the same, but realizing he couldn't alone he returned to Inuyasha and promised to free him as long as the half-demon stopped hitting him. Naturally, he was not only beaten up, but the shards were forcibly taken, and he was made to both acknowledge that he'd been a coward in letting Kagome be taken (which he was already feeling) and swallow his pride even more than he'd already had to by getting on his knees to show humility before Inuyasha agreed to help him save her.
When they found the brothers, or rather were attacked while arguing by them, Inuyasha fought the elder, Hitan, and Shippo used the chance to try and reach Kagome and the younger, Maten. He was able to distract Maten with fox magic, but in trying to help Kagome take him down, he was kicked aside as she was being strangled. When his attempt to save her was met with mockery and the threat of sharing his father's fate as a fur worn as decoration, Shippo reacted by latching on to the Maten's neck with his teeth and refusing to let go. He was beaten into unconsciousness for his stunt, and when he woke up he was laying on his father's fur after Inuyasha had slain Maten. The Hitan was fully on the offensive though and to help Kagome disable his movement Shippo transformed into a bow so that she could shoot one of the wheels their enemy used for flight.
To further help Inuyasha, Shippo volunteered to be the one to get him his sword. Kagome followed with his father's fur, and her cries for him to stop because it wasn't safe caught Hitan's attention which resulted in them being blasted by him. While they were knocked out for a short time the blast and flames didn't harm them, and Shippo realized that somehow his father's spirit had protected them both with fox fire. After an awkward moment involving Inuyasha having mistaken them for ghosts, Shippo decided to stay with them despite bickering with Inuyasha. It ended up being that the next couple of days were just them bickering near Kaede's village mostly, especially because Inuyasha didn't have the patience for Shippo's attempts to play with him to pass the time that Kagome was gone.
When they were finally able to resume the search for the jewel shards, it was down the river by boat. Shippo wasn't used to traveling on the water ad got seasick as they floated into an area covered in spiderwebs. Inuyasha saved a young girl named Nazuna from a Spider Head, but she was rude to him and Shippo because they were demons. Since Kagome felt sorry for her she suggested they look into the demon attacks in the area, but Inuyasha didn't want to. She convinced him that they should at least see her home safely, and they returned Nazuna to her temple where the head priest offered them shelter for the night.
A good meal improved Shippo's opinion of Nazuna somewhat, but before they could settle in for the night and properly tease Inuyasha they were attacked by Spider Heads. For some reason Inuyasha was unable to fend them off alone and was caught in their web, so Shippo helped them escape with his fox fire and they fled.
In a clearing outside the temple they learned that Inuyasha's odd behavior was because he was rendered human for the duration of the new moon, as all half demons had a period where this was the case. While he and Kagome bickered about the lack of trust in not telling them, Shippo tried to summon his courage in the belief that it would be up to him to protect his friends through the night. This failed immediately as a rustling in the bushes sent him scurrying to them for safety, though it turned out to only be Nazuna. She came to beg their help in saving the head priest from the demons and it became a necessity to return anyway because the jewel shards had been left behind as well. Leaving the sword with Kagome because it was useless in his human state, Inuyasha picked up Shippo and returned to the temple.
They found that the head priest was actually a demon and had scared them away to get the shards and increase his power. Shippo attempted to collect them but the priest attacked to scare him off before sucking up the shards that he hadn't picked up. When Inuyasha couldn't take the priest on Shippo tried to help with his fox fire, but it had no effect and he was swatted aside easily. After the priest took his true form he poisoned Inuyasha, and it was only because Kagome arrived that they were able to get away. With Spider Heads blocking their escape, they had to hide in a room in the temple with the Tetsaiga acting as a barrier. Shippo passed out on the floor soon after, worn out from the stress and late hour.
Not long before sunrise, the priest woke them up by destroying the temple roof and used the opening to grab Shippo and take the shards that he'd stolen. Inuyasha recovered from the poison and returned to his half-demon form as the sun rose, destroying the demon easily and leaving behind the shards which had fused together in his body. They gave Nazuna a lift to her village before setting off down the river again.
One night sometime later he was briefly awoken by Kagome knocking him sideways as she slapped Inuyasha for something or other. He returned to sleep quickly, only to be forced out of bed soon after because Inuyasha suddenly wanted to go back to Kaede's village quickly. While he caught up on missed sleep, Inuyasha and Kagome learned what had happened in their absence. Later they accompanied Kaede on her journey to retrieve her sister's ashes from a demon that stole them the night before. Shippo noticed that Inuyasha and Kagome were acting strangely, but didn't know why and didn't mention it even when it continued into the next day.
As they were crossing a rickety bridge that would lead them to the demon, they were attacked by clay soldiers from ahead and behind. Shippo tried to use his fox fire, but it had no effect on unfeeling clay. The demon attacked them suddenly as well, slicing the bridge and leaving them to fall to their deaths while she made off with Kagome. Shippo was able to save himself and Kaede by using a giant leaf to float them to the ground where they reunited with Inuyasha by landing on him. After Inuyasha destroyed the surviving clay soldiers, Kaede looked over them and realized what the demon was up to, insisting they hurry after telling them. Shippo tried to encourage Inuyasha to be considerate of Kaede's age and injuries as they climbed out of the gorge, but was reminded they had to hurry to save Kagome.
They were too late to stop the demon, who was able to resurrect the priestess Kikyo with her ashes and Kagome's soul. Shippo tried to get Kagome to respond, but she was lifeless as long as Kikyo had her soul, and Kikyo's hatred for Inuyasha made it impossible for even Kaede to reason with her. It was only when Kikyo tried to kill Inuyasha that Kagome was able to call her soul back. Kikyo left with what was left and Inuyasha tried to follow, but he returned injured and moody. For some time after this, Shippo worried about Kagome a lot, but he did also spare some time to provoke Inuyasha from his moodiness by being a brat and scolding him.
Once they got back to their travels, they stopped at a hot spring and Shippo was going to join Kagome for a bath and invited Inuyasha before it occurred to him that they didn't bathe together like his mom and dad. This prompted him to ask how far they'd gotten even though he didn't understand more than adults got flustered by him asking. Inuyasha punishing him for that was interrupted by Kagome's scream, but she beaned Inuyasha in the head with a rock when they hurried to check on her.
The hot spring dispute that followed continued into the next day, when a demon attacked Inuyasha and shippo out of nowhere. A monk started to make off with Kagome until Inuyasha was ready to kill the demon, which was only a tanuki. To help him, the monk used a strange power before releasing Kagome and leaving with her bike and jewel shard. When they realized what he had done, they immediately tried to track the monk down, eventually finding him at the geisha house in a nearby village. Inuyasha attacked and overcame him, but after shouting a warning for the villagers to escape the monk used his power again. A hole in his hand began sucking up everything nearby and he warned Inuyasha to give up before he was sucked in as well. Kagome realized he didn't want to hurt humans and threw herself in the way, forcing him to seal off his hand while her flying into him knocked him out.
Miroku was willing to explain himself after he woke up, telling them that he was collecting the jewel shards because an evil demon called Naraku was after them. This demon had cursed his grandfather with a hole in his hand that would not only consume him one day, but would be passed on to each of his descendants until Naraku was killed or there were no more descendants. Kagome suggested that they work together but the conversation very quickly devolved into them squabbling, leaving Shippo feeling exasperated over the whole situation.
They traveled with Miroku a bit until they reached the site of a massacred likely performed by a demon with a jewel shard, but Inuyasha's unwillingness to cooperate led to Miroku leaving to search on his own. Inuyasha began to harass anyone they encountered who had ink on them, as that was the scent he'd gotten from the massacre site. This left an annoyed Kagome and Shippo to follow because he was going to keep at it to get the shard before Miroku. He did find the culprit, an artist capable of creating living demons from ink, but he escaped after summoning an orge to attack them. Inuyasha destroyed it easily, but he was overcome by the strong odor of ink and blood and fainted while Shippo didn't because his nose wasn't as keen.
That evening they pursued more ink demons to an estate where they found Miroku staying the night. He already had jewel shards and offered for them to join him. The estate guards tried to kill Miroku later that night for his shards, their lord having overheard them and also left to get the artist's shard himself. They all went to confront the artist and Inuyasha was able to destroy the ink pot, but the artist let himself be consumed by the ink rather than give up on the happiness he thought it could give him. Afterwards Miroku decided to rejoin them as a full-time companion.
He was close to his family, especially his father, and things were fine until his father found a shard of the Shikon Jewel. Soon after, he was murdered by a pair of demons known as the Thunder Brothers as they were actively collecting the shards. It's unknown what happened to his mother, because he never says and doesn't mention her that often, but it's possible that she was already gone before it happened, because Shippo never mentions anything about her having been killed by the Thunder Brothers and is only looking to avenge his father. His plan was to collect use the Jewel Shards to draw the brothers out and challenge them.
Shippo doesn't appear until somewhere after at least ten days after the Jewel was originally shattered, and the series doesn't specify how or when his father found the jewel shard or how long ago he was murdered for it. It also doesn't tell how Shippo himself learned that Inuyasha and Kagome had any shards, despite later it being shown that he can't tell a real shard from a similar looking type of stone. Regardless of how he lfound out though, Shippo's first appearance was him attempting to steal the shards. He tried to scare them using fox fire and his balloon form, and once caught did manage to get his hand on the bottle of shards, but Inuyasha clobbered him before he could escape and he was forced to explain himself.
Inuyasha was convinced he could beat the Thunder Brothers, but Shippo called him out on being half-demon and told him to stay out of demon matters. This got him a few lumps on the head, but Shippo trapped Inuyasha's hands under a Jizo statue with a spell tag and then stole the shards and escaped. He ran into the younger brother by accident and almost had the shards and his life taken right there, but Kagome saved him. They attempted to run, but were nearly blasted and Kagome was knocked unconscious. Shippo tried to wake her, but hid in fear to avoid capture when he couldn't, resulting in her being taken away. His first response was to go save her since she had done the same, but realizing he couldn't alone he returned to Inuyasha and promised to free him as long as the half-demon stopped hitting him. Naturally, he was not only beaten up, but the shards were forcibly taken, and he was made to both acknowledge that he'd been a coward in letting Kagome be taken (which he was already feeling) and swallow his pride even more than he'd already had to by getting on his knees to show humility before Inuyasha agreed to help him save her.
When they found the brothers, or rather were attacked while arguing by them, Inuyasha fought the elder, Hitan, and Shippo used the chance to try and reach Kagome and the younger, Maten. He was able to distract Maten with fox magic, but in trying to help Kagome take him down, he was kicked aside as she was being strangled. When his attempt to save her was met with mockery and the threat of sharing his father's fate as a fur worn as decoration, Shippo reacted by latching on to the Maten's neck with his teeth and refusing to let go. He was beaten into unconsciousness for his stunt, and when he woke up he was laying on his father's fur after Inuyasha had slain Maten. The Hitan was fully on the offensive though and to help Kagome disable his movement Shippo transformed into a bow so that she could shoot one of the wheels their enemy used for flight.
To further help Inuyasha, Shippo volunteered to be the one to get him his sword. Kagome followed with his father's fur, and her cries for him to stop because it wasn't safe caught Hitan's attention which resulted in them being blasted by him. While they were knocked out for a short time the blast and flames didn't harm them, and Shippo realized that somehow his father's spirit had protected them both with fox fire. After an awkward moment involving Inuyasha having mistaken them for ghosts, Shippo decided to stay with them despite bickering with Inuyasha. It ended up being that the next couple of days were just them bickering near Kaede's village mostly, especially because Inuyasha didn't have the patience for Shippo's attempts to play with him to pass the time that Kagome was gone.
When they were finally able to resume the search for the jewel shards, it was down the river by boat. Shippo wasn't used to traveling on the water ad got seasick as they floated into an area covered in spiderwebs. Inuyasha saved a young girl named Nazuna from a Spider Head, but she was rude to him and Shippo because they were demons. Since Kagome felt sorry for her she suggested they look into the demon attacks in the area, but Inuyasha didn't want to. She convinced him that they should at least see her home safely, and they returned Nazuna to her temple where the head priest offered them shelter for the night.
A good meal improved Shippo's opinion of Nazuna somewhat, but before they could settle in for the night and properly tease Inuyasha they were attacked by Spider Heads. For some reason Inuyasha was unable to fend them off alone and was caught in their web, so Shippo helped them escape with his fox fire and they fled.
In a clearing outside the temple they learned that Inuyasha's odd behavior was because he was rendered human for the duration of the new moon, as all half demons had a period where this was the case. While he and Kagome bickered about the lack of trust in not telling them, Shippo tried to summon his courage in the belief that it would be up to him to protect his friends through the night. This failed immediately as a rustling in the bushes sent him scurrying to them for safety, though it turned out to only be Nazuna. She came to beg their help in saving the head priest from the demons and it became a necessity to return anyway because the jewel shards had been left behind as well. Leaving the sword with Kagome because it was useless in his human state, Inuyasha picked up Shippo and returned to the temple.
They found that the head priest was actually a demon and had scared them away to get the shards and increase his power. Shippo attempted to collect them but the priest attacked to scare him off before sucking up the shards that he hadn't picked up. When Inuyasha couldn't take the priest on Shippo tried to help with his fox fire, but it had no effect and he was swatted aside easily. After the priest took his true form he poisoned Inuyasha, and it was only because Kagome arrived that they were able to get away. With Spider Heads blocking their escape, they had to hide in a room in the temple with the Tetsaiga acting as a barrier. Shippo passed out on the floor soon after, worn out from the stress and late hour.
Not long before sunrise, the priest woke them up by destroying the temple roof and used the opening to grab Shippo and take the shards that he'd stolen. Inuyasha recovered from the poison and returned to his half-demon form as the sun rose, destroying the demon easily and leaving behind the shards which had fused together in his body. They gave Nazuna a lift to her village before setting off down the river again.
One night sometime later he was briefly awoken by Kagome knocking him sideways as she slapped Inuyasha for something or other. He returned to sleep quickly, only to be forced out of bed soon after because Inuyasha suddenly wanted to go back to Kaede's village quickly. While he caught up on missed sleep, Inuyasha and Kagome learned what had happened in their absence. Later they accompanied Kaede on her journey to retrieve her sister's ashes from a demon that stole them the night before. Shippo noticed that Inuyasha and Kagome were acting strangely, but didn't know why and didn't mention it even when it continued into the next day.
As they were crossing a rickety bridge that would lead them to the demon, they were attacked by clay soldiers from ahead and behind. Shippo tried to use his fox fire, but it had no effect on unfeeling clay. The demon attacked them suddenly as well, slicing the bridge and leaving them to fall to their deaths while she made off with Kagome. Shippo was able to save himself and Kaede by using a giant leaf to float them to the ground where they reunited with Inuyasha by landing on him. After Inuyasha destroyed the surviving clay soldiers, Kaede looked over them and realized what the demon was up to, insisting they hurry after telling them. Shippo tried to encourage Inuyasha to be considerate of Kaede's age and injuries as they climbed out of the gorge, but was reminded they had to hurry to save Kagome.
They were too late to stop the demon, who was able to resurrect the priestess Kikyo with her ashes and Kagome's soul. Shippo tried to get Kagome to respond, but she was lifeless as long as Kikyo had her soul, and Kikyo's hatred for Inuyasha made it impossible for even Kaede to reason with her. It was only when Kikyo tried to kill Inuyasha that Kagome was able to call her soul back. Kikyo left with what was left and Inuyasha tried to follow, but he returned injured and moody. For some time after this, Shippo worried about Kagome a lot, but he did also spare some time to provoke Inuyasha from his moodiness by being a brat and scolding him.
Once they got back to their travels, they stopped at a hot spring and Shippo was going to join Kagome for a bath and invited Inuyasha before it occurred to him that they didn't bathe together like his mom and dad. This prompted him to ask how far they'd gotten even though he didn't understand more than adults got flustered by him asking. Inuyasha punishing him for that was interrupted by Kagome's scream, but she beaned Inuyasha in the head with a rock when they hurried to check on her.
The hot spring dispute that followed continued into the next day, when a demon attacked Inuyasha and shippo out of nowhere. A monk started to make off with Kagome until Inuyasha was ready to kill the demon, which was only a tanuki. To help him, the monk used a strange power before releasing Kagome and leaving with her bike and jewel shard. When they realized what he had done, they immediately tried to track the monk down, eventually finding him at the geisha house in a nearby village. Inuyasha attacked and overcame him, but after shouting a warning for the villagers to escape the monk used his power again. A hole in his hand began sucking up everything nearby and he warned Inuyasha to give up before he was sucked in as well. Kagome realized he didn't want to hurt humans and threw herself in the way, forcing him to seal off his hand while her flying into him knocked him out.
Miroku was willing to explain himself after he woke up, telling them that he was collecting the jewel shards because an evil demon called Naraku was after them. This demon had cursed his grandfather with a hole in his hand that would not only consume him one day, but would be passed on to each of his descendants until Naraku was killed or there were no more descendants. Kagome suggested that they work together but the conversation very quickly devolved into them squabbling, leaving Shippo feeling exasperated over the whole situation.
They traveled with Miroku a bit until they reached the site of a massacred likely performed by a demon with a jewel shard, but Inuyasha's unwillingness to cooperate led to Miroku leaving to search on his own. Inuyasha began to harass anyone they encountered who had ink on them, as that was the scent he'd gotten from the massacre site. This left an annoyed Kagome and Shippo to follow because he was going to keep at it to get the shard before Miroku. He did find the culprit, an artist capable of creating living demons from ink, but he escaped after summoning an orge to attack them. Inuyasha destroyed it easily, but he was overcome by the strong odor of ink and blood and fainted while Shippo didn't because his nose wasn't as keen.
That evening they pursued more ink demons to an estate where they found Miroku staying the night. He already had jewel shards and offered for them to join him. The estate guards tried to kill Miroku later that night for his shards, their lord having overheard them and also left to get the artist's shard himself. They all went to confront the artist and Inuyasha was able to destroy the ink pot, but the artist let himself be consumed by the ink rather than give up on the happiness he thought it could give him. Afterwards Miroku decided to rejoin them as a full-time companion.
