Oneshot:

Flipped

Disclaimer : Inuyasha is copyright to Rumiko Takahashi and all affiliated distributors.

It was a hot, humid, and most uncomfortable day.

Almost as uncomfortable as the human teenager walking behind her.

She tried to drown out the incessant chattering between him and the little auburn fox. Her eyebrow twitched, 'they're like birds,' she thought bitterly.

Everything about him irked her. Since the moment he woke her from the spell bound katana, she'd smelled a different scent, seen a different face, heard a different voice.

But it was clear, Inuyasha was not him.

Kagome's mood was sour. But really, who could blame her? She was currently traveling with some twit from the future that wore the face of the man she -

Her folded arms tensed, 'that traitor'.

Squeezing her hands, she found comfort in the sting her claws brought her skin - better than the sting she felt clouding her eyes, she amended. Kagome blinked the liquid fog away. Her forehead ached in the spot her eyebrows creased, a testament to how long she'd been frowning.

Unbidden, a face came back to haunt her. A face she once trusted, put hope in... but everyone always betrayed her in the end. It was best to just keep them all far, far away.

But that didn't stop the memories from flowing through her.

Pockets of sunlight filtered through the trees. She squinted her golden eyes, and in that blinding moment, like a spell woven by the sky itself, she was in a different place, a different time, with a different man.

...

"Say, Inuyasha?" Shippo leaned his tiny hand against the teen's cheek.

"Yeah?" He shouldered a backpack over one arm while the kit perched on his other. His white button up blouse was pretty airy, but on a day like today, he preferred keeping the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His pants - which were also a part of his school uniform - were a different story. He shook a leg mid-step to ease the discomfort, hoping some cool air would somehow breeze it's way up his skin.

"Is it just me," Shippo thought out loud, "or is Kagome acting different?"

Inuyasha blinked, turning his brown eyes to the silver haired half demon who had stopped walking ahead of them. He wanted to shrug and say it was nothing, but he'd noticed it too. Ever since that day...

Eyebrows furrowing behind messy dark bangs, he hollered out to her. "Oi! Kagome!"

Warm stuffy air danced around branches, leaves singing back to him were the only response he received. Inuyasha frowned, "yo!"

Like a tree, she stood there unmoving, her hair swaying around her like clouds.

Concerned, Inuyasha marched over to her, voice softening as he approached the distracted girl. "Hey-"

He was stricken by the look on her face, her glazed eyes, her crumpled brow.

Kagome hadn't always been pleasant. From the moment she'd awoken, she'd attacked him and refused to call his name. But there were moments where she'd be kind, thoughtful, and like now, she'd be like an open book, completely vulnerable and easy to read.

Without looking away from her, he shrugged his pack off his shoulder, found a plastic bottle, and handed it to Shippo, "oi runt, get 'er some water."

With a quick nod and a quiet 'kay, Shippo scampered away.

The quiet that followed after was deafening, and Inuyasha couldn't help but stare at the girl that usually had her walls locked and fortified. The expression she wore wretched something deep in his chest, and he couldn't help reaching out for her wrist to comfort her. "Kagome."

Her reaction was instantaneous. Sad golden eyes fluttered, she turned her head slightly to look at him. Tears clung to her lashes, rolling down her cheeks with secrets she'd never dare speak of.

"Inuyasha..."

And in that moment, with her face tinged like roses and eyes dripping like the sea, he realized he'd never seen anyone lovelier.

The hand on her wrist tightened, and he whispered her name anew. "Kagome, are you -"

But as her name rolled off his lips, he broke the spell, and her eyes cleared. She took a step back, their arms extending between them, locked. She glanced down, recognizing the warmth that held her so gently and firm.

That familiar feeling she once had so long ago, but still felt so fresh and so broken and so betrayed about, rolled up her flesh and throughout her body. Eyes going wide at the sudden realization, she jerked her hand away and took another step back. Panicked eyes looked up to his very human ones, and she searched them, hoping he hadn't seen what she felt.

With a worried frown, Inuyasha stepped towards her and tried to close the distance. Not even two syllables into her name was he, when she shook her head, silver locks tangling against her skin, before turning her back, and like a white leopard, took off into the trees.

Inuyasha watched silently as she slipped from his fingers. A grim expression settled on his face as her body disappeared through the green canopy above.

Ever since that day... That day the old witch hag brought back Kagome's friend from the dead, she'd been acting different. Almost as if she.. as if...

He didn't know how long he had been standing there, staring at the spot in the trees she leapt through. But he ignored the loud ticking emanating from his watch, and he ignored the sweat collecting on the skin where his neck and loose bun met.

He also didn't hear when Shippo returned, full bottle in hand.

All he could focus on was the very ugly feeling creeping up his gut, twisting almost painfully in his chest.

That other man... had she ... had she been in -

His uniform pants pulled at his ankle, and Inuyasha frowned, looking down at an angry Shippo.

"Inuyasha! What did you do this time? Where's Kagome?!"

...

Dejected and concerned, Inuyasha walked back to Kaede's village with Shippo. The young kit was restless and jittery. He wanted to find Kagome, but Inuyasha was just a school punk from the future, he had no special skills or heightened senses like them, he had no way of finding and bringing her back.

He idly wondered what it would be like to have dog ears and long silver hair...

Later that night, he slept restlessly. Tossing and turning with thoughts of the broken jewel Kagome was so desperate to collect, thoughts of how she wanted to become full demon despite her amazing strength, thoughts of the man who had somehow survived that cliff fall, because deep in his body, he felt half of his soul was still gone.

The pitter-patter of rain began hitting Kaede's roof top. Inuyasha turned in his sleeping bag, welcoming the cool air that starkly contrasted that morning's heat.

Resting his head on a bent elbow, he blinked at an open window. He stared, unseeing, as it began to pour, the rain falling like the tears on Kagome's flushed cheeks.

That expression she had worn was nothing he'd ever seen her give before...

It was deeper, more intimate, like he'd seen a part of her soul shatter.

He frowned, now realizing that he disliked Kaede's brother. That man was the one who had impaled Kagome with a sword, trapping her in a spell for fifty years.

He glanced at the sheathed weapon with resentment. That sword which had protruded through her heart, was the very one he carried with him now.

Something possessive and intense grew inside of him, and as he lay there, looking at the vacant spot Kagome usually slept in, he vowed to himself that he would protect her.

Her face flashed before his eyes, recalling how positively lovely she had looked even amidst her melancholy and gloom, but he thought, how much lovelier would she be if she were happy, with a smile that really reached her eyes?

Kagome had never let him down. She was fierce, strong, and loyal. When she smiled, it was always a sad but kind one.

His eyes grew heavy as he stared at the wall where she should have been.

He wondered when he started feeling like this?

When had he started missing her?

...

The next day, Kagome had arrived a little before noon. She marched around, up and ready for their next trip. It was like if nothing had happened, like if she hadn't bared her soul to Inuyasha for those few consuming moments.

Everyone else might have been fooled, but not him. He had been ready since day break, and as he watched her talk to Kaede and help get Shippo's things together, he noticed one thing.

She was avoiding him.

Not once had she spoken to him. Not once had her striking eyes looked his way.

Grip on his backpack tensing, he frowned. "Oi!" He watched her freeze mid motion, but she refused to turn. His eyes grew hard, and he fought against the forlorn feeling swimming in his gut, "let's get going already!"

From the distance, he saw her smile faintly, a soft sad and lonely smile, before she picked Shippo up and leapt past him.

She was fast as always, leaping in a wide high arc. But her descent was close, and as she glided by him, their eyes locked. Time slowed for the briefest of moments, and he found himself growing angry at the man who'd stolen the other half of his soul. For Kagome's eyes were swollen and red. Like she had cried herself to sleep throughout the night.

The strap of his bag pressed tight into his crushing palm, and he wished he could tear it apart. With a serious face, he watched her turn away, hiding herself with her cotton white hair before bounding further away.

...

Little moments. That's what their time was made up of. As their group grew bigger, he and Kagome grew closer. They were all whispers, soft touches, and lingering glances.

With each month that passed, Kagome's strength multiplied, and ever so slowly, she was opening up to him, becoming more tender when they were alone, becoming more trusting.

It was he that comforted her, he that protected her, he that worried and fretted over her.

Kagome was fierce with her demon bow heirloom. One arrow multiplied to kill hundreds of demons at once. The seemingly innocent slivers flew into the air, blotting out the sun before casting their final blow.

All the while he stood in front of her, behind her, beside her. His weak and very human katana transforming with a blazing purifying light. He'd also grown stronger. But he couldn't help wonder, 'what if I was as strong as her, stronger than I am now? I could protect her better.'

Again he found himself thinking, 'what would it have been like if I had dog ears and long silver hair?'

...

Kagome's heart was torn between the two... that man he refused to name and himself, but her loyalty was fierce and incomparable, and Inuyasha swore to himself that he'd love her with the same ferocity.

Through dirt and grime and demon bowels and bones, he would stand beside her, after all, he promised he'd never leave her side, and she had accepted him, even though her soul belonged to another, her heart belonged to him.

So he gave her a soft smile, watching as her broken heart manifested on her face. He took in her glassy eyes as he stepped away from the well to grab her hand. The look of unbridled wonder took hold of her, lips parting in a small gasp, as if she didn't deserve his kindness.

He glanced at the soft peaks on her head, at her pretty silver hair, and wished he was stronger.

Quietly, with the forest singing around them and the sun shinning with their hopes of tomorrow, he thought, 'I want you to be happy. I want you to laugh a lot. I don't know exactly what I'll be able to do for you, but I'll always be by your side, Kagome'.

...

Black darker than night surrounded Inuyasha. His weary and exhausted body was suspended in the air. His messy bun was coming undone in wisps of ink.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, he realized his watch had stopped working. Hours felt like days, days felt like weeks.

How much time had passed by?

The taunting jewel woke him, its voice echoing in the void.

Opening his tired eyes, his mind even more so, he looked at the swirling colors in the shikon with his sword protruding through it. He wished it would just go away. His eyes felt swollen and red and raw. Maybe they were sunken and gray?

But he had heard Kagome's voice, the last strand of hope he clung to.

How long ago had that been?

"Make a wish," it repeated, breaking into his thoughts and eating away at him, reading the darkest parts of his soul. It saw the golden eyes and silver hair he yearned for. "In another life," it continued, weaving its lies and empty promises, "you can protect her with that same power".

It went silent, letting him ponder its words. Inuyasha imagined it, his dark hair silver, with dog ears on his head, red robes instead of the white and green Kagome wore. His sword strong and large, filled by the power of demons he would one day slay.

He was so tired. More time passed, so he closed his eyes and began to dream. The darkness swirled and morphed until he saw his own body impaled to that tree, the Goshinboku. It was he who'd been betrayed, he who'd been orphaned and torn from his family, slaughtered at such a tender age. It was he who had endured the abuse, the treachery, the loneliness.

His chest ached, almost like a memory, a nightmare.

"Make the wish."

"Make the wish!"

"Inuyasha!"

His dark eyes flew open something owlish, drinking in the sight of Kagome soaring through a rip in time and space, her bow in hand and arrows flying behind her like wings, they spread out and away. Her white kimono hovered around her, the delicate green design of birds caught what little light illuminated from the jewel to shine like gold, accentuating her sparkling eyes.

Like an angel, such a welcoming sight was she.

Kagome, with the strength of a demon, the heart of a human.

That very same heart which scrunched her very pretty face, she was on the brink of tears. He swallowed hard, opening his dry lips, and reached out for her, "Kagome".

"Inuyasha," she whispered back.

His blunt and very human hands tangled with her silver hair, falling and lapping over his fingers like waves. He felt her claws clutch at his buttoned shirt, cutting through and prickling at his skin, scorching him like fire.

Inuyasha dipped his head, and they met each other like the land and the sea, strong and smooth and desirous.

In that moment, as he tasted her for the first time, Inuyasha realized that he didn't care, it didn't matter. He didn't need to be half demon to protect her, he didn't need the silver hair, the dog ears, the golden eyes and extra strength to be with her. For in any world, in any time, and in any vessel, they would always meet. And in fleeting glances, and touches, and moments, they would always, always fall in love.

For Kagome was born to meet Inuyasha..

and Inuyasha was born for her.

Fin.

(A/N)

(Written for Feudal-Prompts on tumblr).