The Mysterious Magic by Trouble In Shangri-La

Chapter One

A/N: Hello again everyone. I'm amazed with the attention my first two fics Flowers on the Moon and Lord Sesshoumaru's Hair have received. I'm in the process of writing another long one, but took a break from it when another cute idea hit me. So here's another short something to make everybody smile.

Afternoon sun beat down across the forest of Feudal Japan. Birds sang, animals went about their daily business and all seemed peaceful.

Two figures giggled in the small forest clearing. One a human female wearing a green skirt, the other a tiny red headed fox demon with a bushy

tail.

"Again!" Shippou cried, leaping up and down.

Kagome laughed, "Okay!"

She dipped the little plastic ring into the soapy bottle, lifted it to her lips and blew. Shiny bubbles came spiraling forth to surround the little

redhead fox. Shippou laughed and popped as many as he could reach. The wind carried most just beyond where his tiny hands could grab.

"Will you two stop messing around and come on?" Inuyasha snarled from out of sight.

"Calm down, Inuyasha!" Kagome dipped the wand back into the bottle, "The next shard isn't that far away."

"Bitch! I said - "

"Inuyasha? SIT!"

A resounding thud echoed throughout the clearing.

Kagome turned to Shippou, smiled and resumed their game.

"Lord Sesshoumaru! Lord Sesshoumaru!"

Sesshoumaru fixed his golden eyes on the voice he'd come to know all too well, "What is it, Rin?"

Rin ran up to the tall demon lord with an armload of wildflowers. "Rin was picking flowers when Rin saw magic come from the trees! And Lord Sesshoumaru ALWAYS told Rin to come back if Rin sees anything strange."

A shorter, much greener form leapt up from behind a log, shrieking and waving a staff topped in heads, "You stupid child! How dare you disturb Lord Sesshoumaru's repose!"

"Jaken, be silent."

Jaken backpedaled. "Yes, milord! Please forgive this Jaken's impudence!"

Turning back to Rin, Sesshoumaru flattened his pencil-thin eyebrows into a line, "Rin, show me where you saw this magic." His silver hair shifted

as he turned to Jaken, "Jaken, you remain with Ah-Un for now. I will send Rin back if I deem this problem dangerous."

"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru." Jaken bowed again.

Ah-Un merely snorted and resumed drinking from the stream.

"Jaken, please watch Rin's flowers!" And before the toad could protest, Rin dumped her armload all over his head. She giggled and jogged up the path with Sesshoumaru not far behind.

It was a mild day out. The wind blew towards Sesshoumaru and Rin, stirring their hair and clothes. Sesshoumaru felt grateful for that. At least the wind provided cover for their scent as they approached. Unfortunately, that meant his nose detected Inuyasha, his group and the jasmine of that

oddly-dressed female.

And then a shiny, floating glass sphere swirled from between the trees. Sesshoumaru inclined his head. The sphere swirled right towards him. Perceiving it as a threat, he sidestepped, glancing back to find it disappeared!

"There's more!" Rin cried. She reached out for one. "Pretty!"

"Rin, don't touch them, we know not what they will do."

Instantly Rin froze and the clear ball zinged past her brown eyes. It hit the ground and vanished. Oddly it didn't shatter or generate blasts of energy. Sesshoumaru knelt to examine the ground where the sphere landed. Nothing! Just a faint, odd-smelling residue! It didn't seem poisonous. Perhaps they only caused damage when they contacted flesh.

What is this?

"Lord Sesshoumaru! There's one headed right for you!"

Sesshoumaru jerked his head up. Too late! A sphere bumped straight into his nose and popped into nothingness. He opened his eyes when he felt no pain, arched a brow and blinked.

Rin blinked up as well, confused. "Are you hurt, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

Ignoring Rin's question, Sesshoumaru placed a hand on Toukijin and walked towards the trees. He wanted to find out the cause of this mysterious magic before the day's end.

With the trees as cover he crept up to peer into the clearing.

There stood Inuyasha's wench, the nice-smelling human who always perplexed him. She dipped a bright pink wand into a purple vial, brought it to her lips and blew into the hole on the end. Immediately a cloud of shiny spheres swirled forth. They surrounded the little fox demon, making him laugh. He seemed unafraid of the floating balls. In fact he chased them. Leaping about, swatting, giggling in delight when they exploded into nonexistence.

Strange, perhaps it is some sort of battle training magic.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha called again. His silver head emerged from the foliage, white ears twitching indignantly, "If we're going to fool around here,

you might as well cook some ramen."

"Ask nice and I'll think about it." Kagome replied, sending a cloud of floating spheres in his face. Sesshoumaru nearly broke out laughing

when he saw his brother sneeze and swat them away.

"Keh! C'mon, you've been playing with those stupid things all day!"

Shippou leapt over the stump Kagome was sitting on. "Aw, Inuyasha...I was having fun."

"Quit your whining, we can goof off later."

Kagome set the wand back into the odd vial. She stood up, frowning as she brushed leaves off her skirt. "I am a little hungry, come to think of it. Let's have some lunch. Shippou, where's the lid?"

"Uhh..." the little fox wagged his bushy tail, "I dunno..."

"Then we'll have to leave the bottle here for now. It might spill on the food and make it taste yucky."

Inuyasha's eyes widened at that. "Yeah, leave it there. We can come back." And then he took off to get a fire started.

Kagome smiled endearingly at his retreating red form. She gave Shippou a little nudge into the forest and followed close behind.

Sesshoumaru's curiosity got the better of him. If this magic agitated Inuyasha, it was worth investigating. He stepped cautiously from between

the trees and approached the abandoned vial sitting on the old stump. Bending down, he lifted the vial, finding it wasn't made of glass or wood. He sniffed

it and peered inside. The clear, slightly thick liquid smelled foreign to his sensitive nose. Setting the odd container down on the stump, Sesshoumaru dipped a finger into the substance. Clear as water and slippery as soap.

Rin approached from his left. She wiped some dirt off her cheek and peered up, "Does Lord Sesshoumaru know what it is yet?"

"It seems little more than a concoction of soap." the demon lord felt something else floating around in the odd liquid. He glanced inside again.

His eyes beheld the pink wand the wench used to produce the magic spheres. His brows furrowed as he hooked his fingers around the wand and lifted

it from the vial. It, too, seemed made of a foreign material.

She seemed to control it with her breath. thought Sesshoumaru while he examined this odd wand. On the end it had a large ring with clear film in the center. I see...the human channeled the magic into this end and sent it forth with her breath.

With that, Sesshoumaru tilted his head back and blew into the ring. A swirl of transparent spheres trailed forth. He tried to will them into

a ring around his form, but they refused to listen. Instead they fluttered wherever the wind took them. How useless!

Rin stood surrounded by a cloud of them. They popped all over her hair and clothes. Sesshoumaru was alarmed for a moment...and then the little girl laughed. She started chasing them around the clearing. "They don't hurt!"

If they don't harm Rin, they must be safe. Perhaps I'll indulge her for a little while.

Sesshoumaru dipped the magic wand and leaned over, sending a second wave straight at Rin. He watched in secret amusement as she danced happily among them with outstretched arms. Each time the spheres ebbed, Sesshoumaru lifted the magic wand to his mouth and sent out more.

Kagome finished her ramen first. Everyone else was still eating, lost in various stages of ramen, rice or sweet desserts brought back from her modern time. She smiled especially at Inuyasha. Could that boy ever eat politely?

Then Inuyasha caught her staring and slurped a noodle into his mouth.

"I'll be right back, guys. I need to find the lid and cap that stuff before an animal knocks it over."

"We'll be right here," Inuyasha mumbled. Behind him, a slap sounded as Sango whacked Miroku for laying hands on her rear end.

Some things never change. Amused, Kagome put her bowl down and slipped from the group. Heading for the clearing. She was almost there when a child's laughter reached her ears. Her curiosity won over her fear and she crept closer for a better look.

There sat Sesshoumaru on the stump, one leg bent and the other straight while he blew bubbles for little Rin. He held the plastic wand delicately between his claws like a single chopstick and puckered his small lips to blow gently into the hole. Every time he did, Rin resumed her little dance around him, her face flushed with laughter.

Kagome watched silently, smiling. Sesshoumaru was always so severe, so serious, it was strange to see him on the verge of a smile.

Then she found herself caught in his golden eyes. A second later the demon came towards her. He always moved without seeming to have taken a step. She braced herself.

"I believe this is yours," said his velvety deep voice.

Kagome blinked down at his hand. He was holding the bottle of bubbles out to her. The purple plastic looked foreign between his long, sharp nails.

She peered up at his elegantly striped face, where the breeze blew his bangs against his crescent moon. Then to the side at the little human girl

who looked on eagerly. The same look Shippou gave when his turn with the bubbles was cut short.

"You know what?" Kagome found the strength to smile, "Keep these, you two seemed to find them a lot of fun. I have another bottle in my bag."

The little girl gave her lord a hopeful look.

Sesshoumaru's eyes glinted. "Are you sure?"

"Mmhmm." the miko's heart fluttered at his proximity. "I'll just tell the others I couldn't find the bottle. They won't know the difference."

"Tell me the name of this magic."

Kagome almost choked on her own spit. He thought it was magic? She couldn't contain her mirth. "Bubbles."

Gilded eyes remained fixed on her, two lasers drilling into her skull. Finally Sesshoumaru shifted back to his previous position on the log. Rin

resumed her concentric circles around him. She squealed in delight when her master released a fresh cloud of bubbles for her to chase. Some even

landed in Sesshoumaru's shiny silver hair. They didn't always pop right away, so for a few seconds his hair appeared covered in jewels.

Smiling at the image, one she promised herself she'd never forget, Kagome left them there and jogged off to rejoin her friends in the forest. She

was the only one that noticed when a stray bubble drifted from the clearing and popped against the sun.