~ Gail: Where's Kurane? Isn't she supposed to be introducing her new fic now?
Kara: Yes, but whatever, I'll just get this out of the way. Hello everyone. Your authoress is being lazy again, so it is left up to me to introduce this chapter.
Kurane: Who are you calling lazy?
Gail: There you are; we were looking for you.
Kara: Good. You can introduce your fic.
Kurane: Fine fine fine. Anyways, this is my first Inu Yasha fic and I hope you like it. ~
Soul Switch
Kagome Higurashi sighed; she had been studying for her math final for the past three hours. Closing her books, the young woman rubbed her eyes, 'I wonder how Inu Yasha and the others are doing. They've probably gotten themselves into more trouble...Ack! Now is not the time to be worrying about them! I have to study for my final or I'm gonna fail for sure!!'
She grabbed a drink and sat down at her desk again, opening her books with a heavy sigh. Kagome was about to resume studying when she saw a faint glow from the shrine door. A vein pulsed in her temple, "That had better not be Inu Yasha coming to demand that I return to the Feudal Era." Her eyes widened when a familiar little girl in an orange and white checkered kimono walked nervously out of the shrine.
----
Jaken looked around the clearing, his panic rising. He frowned, 'Where could that fool child have gotten off to?' Rin caused trouble for him on a regular basis, but this was the worst. The girl had wandered off while his back was turned, and Sesshomaru would be returning soon. "M'lord Sesshomaru is going to kill me for this when he finds out." The toad demon groaned. With that grim certainty in mind, he resumed his search with greater energy.
- Flashback –
"Oooooh, this is pretty!" Rin exclaimed from somewhere behind Jaken, he was honestly not paying her much attention. A frown crossed his face; Sesshomaru had left him to baby sit the child again, a job he hated.
There was a rustling of bushes and Jaken's frown deepened, "Don't leave the clearing!"
"...Kagome-sama..." Was all he heard from the bushes as the sound faded into silence.
- End Flashback -
He stopped in mid stride, "Kagome? Isn't that the wench with...?" Jaken's eyes widened and another groan escaped his lips.
"Jaken." The quiet voice startled him, and as he registered who the voice belonged to, he began to tremble.
He turned to his lord, "Y-yes M'lord Sesshomaru?"
The tall demon's eyes narrowed as he looked around the clearing to confirm what his senses had already told him; Rin was missing. Catching her scent faintly on the air, Sesshomaru walked past Jaken without a word or glance. There was another scent in the air, faint, but still detectable. Inu Yasha.
----
Kagome ran tearing down the stairs to the yard and Rin. She stood, staring at the child for a moment before speaking, "Rin, what are you doing here? For that matter, how did you get here?"
The little girl, ignoring the questions, squealed happily and glomped her, "Kagome-sama!!" The high school student recovered after a moment, and hugged her back. After a few minutes, Rin let go and was led to the kitchen by a concerned Kagome.
Handing her a cup of tea, the young woman had to get the answers to her questions, "Rin, why did you come here?"
"A-are you mad with Rin?" The child asked, her eyes watering and voice quivering.
"No, of course not. I'm just curious as to why you came to visit."
A triumphant grin lit up the girl's face, "Rin found something for you Kagome-sama, and went looking for you. Good thing Rin fell into the Bone Eater's well!"
Kagome blinked in surprise, 'The only thing that could have allowed her to pass through the well without my help is...' She smiled at the child as she was handed a piece of folded cloth, but one thought continued to nag at her.
The little girl smiled as Kagome opened unfolded the small bundle, "Rin wrapped it in cloth so it wouldn't break."
----
Inu Yasha paced impatiently near Lady Kaede's hut, 'Where the hell is Kagome? What's taking her so long?' Miroku looked over at the pacing hanyou, "Relax Inu Yasha, she's in her own time, what could happen? Besides, she said she needed to study for a test of some kind."
"Who says I'm worried about that wench? I'm after jewel shards, and the longer she stays in her time, the longer it's going to take to collect them all." He reminded the priest with a growl.
Sango rolled her eyes at the two, and continued petting Kilala, 'She's probably fine, but I get this feeling that something's wrong.' Her eyes traveled warily to Miroku as he moved to sit next to her. The echoing sound of someone getting slapped didn't come as a surprise to anyone. What did come as a surprise was the sudden appearance of a certain demon.
Sesshomaru approached the hut with Jaken running along to catch up to him. He paused as his eyes settled on Inu Yasha and those with him, "Inu Yasha."
The hanyou glared at his older half-brother, "Sesshomaru! What the hell do you want!?!"
Jaken bristled, "Mind your tongue around M'lord Sesshomaru, you worthless half-breed!"
Lady Kaede came out of her hut, eyes widening at the sight of Sesshomaru. The demon spared the priestess a glance before returning his attention to Inu Yasha, "Where is Rin?"
"Feh. How would I know?" He growled quietly. In all honesty, he was a little curious about this new development.
Sango stiffened faintly, her instincts had told her something was wrong, and they had been right evidently. She turned to the hanyou, "You should go see Kagome, she might know something."
Two sets of amber eyes turned on Sango; Inu Yasha's filled with annoyance, and Sesshomaru's filled with the mildest curiosity. "Fine. I'll go see what that wench is up to." He grumbled as he rose. There was a faint grumble of "Probably got herself into trouble…again." as he left.
----
Much to Inu Yasha's annoyance, the short trip to the well was not made alone. He turned and glared at his older half-brother, "Why the hell are you following me!?!" Sesshomaru arched an eyebrow as if the answer should have been obvious, which it was if the hanyou thought about it.
As they entered the clearing at the well, Inu Yasha's growls of irritation cut off abruptly as his mind registered the prone forms of two very familiar females. He rushed over to Kagome and shook her shoulder, "Wake up! Kagome, wake up already!" He decided to ignore the relief he felt as her eyes slowly opened to gaze up at him in what he figured was sleepy confusion.
Sesshomaru, meanwhile, was at Rin's side, cradling her small frame as he waited for her to wake up. The confused look she gave him didn't worry him as much as the startled shriek she gave moments later as she bolted out of his arms and hid behind Inu Yasha.
Turning a murderous glance on the hanyou, Sesshomaru's voice was a bare growl that held several nasty implications, "Inu Yasha…"
Inu Yasha's reaction to the tone was instinctive and, as Kagome may have worded it, single-minded. He drew the Tetsuiga and pushed Kagome behind him protectively as he prepared to fight.
"Osuwari!" Rin's voice shouted suddenly and to Inu Yasha's surprise, he ended up face first in the dirt.
"Rin?" Sesshomaru's voice held confusion, something not heard before (or at least not that anyone could remember) from the youkai lord.
"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?" These words came from Kagome's throat and elicited very confused glances from both demons. Something was very weird about all of this.
"I think we'd better go talk to Kaede." Rin's voice murmured quietly into the confused silence.
(A/N: Yes, I'm finally posting again! With any luck, I'll be able to continue posting stuff for you wonderful people. As you can guess, I don't own Inu Yasha or the characters, only the plot for this fic. See you next chapter!)