"I'd thought we would move on to barriers and shikigami today Kagome," Kaede told the younger miko. The elder priestess' stature was crimpled and shrunken with age. A patch lay over her right eye covering a childhood accident. Her long grey hair was tied back in traditional miko fashion accompanied with the red and white garbs of a proper village priestess.
Kagome, a young woman of 19, was anything but traditional. Her long black hair lay haphazardly down her back and her bangs were always just a little bit too long so she constantly was blowing them out of her eyes. Her clothing was an odd mix of color and a distinct lack of fabric. Far from typical warring states period dress. She was currently wearing a blue capped sleeves t-shirt with a calf-length white skirt. Her feet were barely covered in lime green flip-flops. It was odd but it was a far cry from the short and almost indecent school uniform she wore when she first crossed over into feudal Japan.
"Sure Kaede. Just tell me what I need to do." She said as her blue eyes lit up with enthusiasm.
She had been working on taking her priestess powers much more seriously now that the completed jewel hung around her neck. They had defeated Naraku, the evil half-demon that had possessed most of the jewel, almost a year and a half before hand. After putting a good eight months into her schooling, and finally graduating from high school with more than decent marks, Kagome had all the free time in the world to perfect her spiritual powers. Kaede had been more than happy to train her, hoping to retire soon, and had begun teaching the young woman to harness and manipulate the vast amount of power she possessed. Kaede had been adamant that they not move on to a new technique without first having mastered the one they were working on. After covering and slowly perfecting different types of arrows, spells and sutras that a miko usually uses, purification and healing; they were working now on pushing Kagome's power into the physical world. This would be the hardest lesson of all.
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Inuyasha watched from afar as the girl he secretly loved learned another way to defend herself, effectively pushing away the need for his protection. He tried not to think of it that way, he knew that this was necessary, but even now as he watched her practice a small barrier his fluffy white dogs ears buried themselves into his thick silver mane of hair. Brushing a leaf off his red fire-rat kimono, his mood soured even more when he sensed the approach of his half-blooded brother who was a full-blooded demon.
Though they had a truce after the demise of Naraku, they were far from friends. The alliance between them was based on the success against a common enemy and Sesshomaru's realization that without an heir Inuyasha would inherit the Western lands and therefore needed to be included in it's goings-on's. So he frequently stopped in, to give Inuyasha an update, which usually led to a 'light-hearted sparing match' between the brothers. But Inuyasha could sense that Sesshomaru was in a mood as well. It would be interesting to see how this particular meeting turned out.
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"Ye have a good grasp on basic barriers child. Soon enough ye will be able to divide those powers into protecting those ye want protected, and containing those ye want to contain. But now it is almost time for lunch. Afterwards ye will work on developing shikigami."
"Will that be any harder Kaede?"
"Aye, it is very different from barriers. Shikigami can contain aspects of the creators personality or can be infused with a completely separate soul. But it is difficult. If a priestess makes a mistake in the creation, shikigami can be more than a nuisance. Accidentally capture a friends soul and use it in a shikigami, the friend will die if the shikigami is destroyed before the soul is returned. The key is to recognize the soul for what it is, a corporeal form of a body, and safely transporting it into the shikigami."
"I'd rather not work with souls right now if you don't mind. Let's kept it as simple and mistake free as possible."
"Do not worry child, ye will do just fine."
"Right."
Kagome was startled by a loud crash. She had recognized Sesshomaru's aura earlier but it was rare that his encounters with Inuyasha led to fights anymore. 'What have they gotten into now?' she wondered. Pinpointing their location, she ran for them to see if she could calm them down.
"I'll be right back Kaede." She yelled over her shoulder.
She arrived at the scene to see the two brothers in an all out brawl. Inuyasha was bleeding from numerous cuts and even Sesshomaru had a few leaking a small amount of blood. Angry beyond reason at the brothers stupidity, Kagome raised barriers around them without thinking. She was shocked when they both seemed frozen within a strangely connected barrier that made it almost look like a peanut. It wasn't what she was going for but at least they weren't fighting anymore.
"What is wrong with you two?" She growled out in frustration, her barrier never wavering.
When neither answered she glared. "Inuyasha what did you do?"
Inuyasha slanted his glare away from his brother and gave an Kagome indignant expression. "ME? Why would you think that I did anything?"
"Because Sesshomaru isn't one to act without provocation." Thinking over that statement she added, "Much."
"Keh! Shows what you know."
"What happened Inuyasha?"
"I don't KNOW ok? We were talking about some stupid clause that father had left for Sesshomaru during his rule and when I said it sounded good the bastard attacked me."
Sesshomaru finally spoke up. "I will not risk my rule over some ill-conceived act of charity or some ungrateful half-breed who gets everything handed to him."
"Kagome let me go so I can hand Sesshomaru HIS ASS!"
"Ok whoah, whoah, whoah. What are you talking about Sesshomaru?"
Sesshomaru glared daggers at her but said nothing. Sighing she turned back to Inuyasha. Glaring at him again she added, "Well?"
"Fine!" The hanyou yelled. "Sesshomaru shows up saying the old man had left some sort of clause stating that if Sesshomaru wasn't mated and if I was of age he was to name me heir before the courts. When I said that it was ok with me, he flies off the handle and decided he would TRY to 'beat some sense' into me."
"The only thing I require from you Inuyasha is your revocation of claim on the Western territories and this Sesshomaru is no longer obligated to uphold this ridiculous notion of fathers."
"Nothing doing Sesshomaru. If father says you should do it you should do it!"
"It would start an uprising in the courts. A unnecessary one."
"Well if it does then we'll kick their ass!"
"I will not punish my subjects for having a justifiable aversion to half-breeds."
"And I won't listen to the demands of a stuck-up ass!"
"Shut up!" Kagome said effectively interrupting their triad. "You two are always at each others throats! For two people so much alike I'm shocked you don't get along!" She ranted not noticing that her barrier was turning an odd shade of blue. "You guys should just try walking around in each others shoes for a while and then maybe, you'd see that neither one of you ever had it easy. I-" Kagome was interrupted when her barrier collapsed and shot the three of them apart.
All three looked shocked for a moment but surprisingly Inuyasha was the first to recover. "What have you done?" He said while advancing on her.
But before Inuyasha could get to her Sesshomaru was before her after having effectively smacked Inuyasha into a tree. "Don't touch her!" He growled.
Momentarily confused as to why Sesshomaru of all people would attempt to protect her, she didn't notice the murderous look in Inuyasha's eye or the way Sesshomaru was looking at his claws as if he was seeing them for the first time. Shaking her head she spoke, "Um, Sesshomaru, it's ok. Inuyasha would never hurt me. You didn't have to do that."
Sesshomaru slowly turned and looked at her. His face was a open book of pure shock. It scared her. She'd never seen so much emotion in his face. Then he spoke. "Kagome, it's me."
It took her a second. Sesshomaru NEVER called her by her given name but the way he said 'it's me' made something in her click. And it hit her. "Oh no. No. No. No. NO! I didn't- Oh KAMI!" Standing up she looked Sesshomaru straight in the face. "Inuyasha?"
"What did you do Kagome?" Was all he said.
Looking at Inuyasha, no Sesshomaru, who was still against the tree glaring she shook her head. "I don't know."
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"And then they were in each others bodies." Kagome finished looking absolutely miserable. She had done something that caused the brothers to switch bodies. Inuyasha, who was in Sesshomaru's body, sat beside her looking rather shocked. Sesshomaru stood rigidly by the door glaring daggers at her but in his half-brothers form was unable to do much since Inuyasha was now faster.
They all watched as Kaede processed everything her student had just told her. Admittedly, she had never heard of anything like this ever happening. Switching a dead soul to a live body was possible but this, this was beyond her understanding. As it was she had a few theories.
"I am unsure as to what passed but it sounds like ye took the concept of shikigami, added it with spell casting, and fused it with the barrier."
"But we never got around to practicing shikigami!"
"It is my belief that my explanation was enough to put the concept in action. The general understanding allowed ye to act off of what ye knew."
"Can it be undone?" Kagome asked looking hopeful.
"I am not sure child. Souls are very difficult things to transplant and it would be extremely dangerous to try again. If either of their souls were to stray from their path, even for a moment, it would be very difficult to get it back into the proper body."
"This is all my fault." Kagome practically wailed while dropping her head to her knees.
"Now, now child. Do not fret. Perhaps ye should visit Miroku and Sango or call on Myoga. They may have more information for ye that this old woman is unaware of."
"There's an idea Kagome," Inuyasha said.
"Ugh, please don't talk Inuyasha. It just sounds so weird when it's Sesshomaru's voice saying all those…. nice things. At least when Sesshomaru insults me with your body it sounds natural."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, hal- little brother, you are always uncouth and rude. This Sesshomaru is never nice." He stated.
"Yeah, but I never sounded that hoity-toity."
Sesshomaru growled.
"Ok stop it." Kagome interceded. "Now is not the time and I really don't think your bickering is going to help things. We have a plan of action and I suggest we follow it and hopefully come up with a solution."
Everyone seemed to be in agreement. As they were getting together the things they needed for the journey to the old Demon Slayers Village, Kaede watched them. Yes it was very odd to see the body of Sesshomaru so animated with Inuyasha's spirit. And seeing Inuyasha's form so calm, so quiet, was even more of a disturbance. As she waved them off Kaede could only hope they found a solution fast. For this did not bode well, this did not bode well at all.