THRU HIS EYES.

It had taken far longer then needed to find the cave that was being used for their campsite.
Sesshomaru had lost his way twice.
Being inside of Akane's body had him in a panic filled state.
Remaining calm was not easy.
Having no clue how to use any of her abilities could get him killed.
On top of that, she had left him to find his way on his own.

Every sound had him jumpy as hell.
But thankfully, the dragon inside Akane had been of use.
Her instincts were not as strong as his own, but they were helpful.
It was also those instincts that kept warning him he was being followed.
But whatever it was kept at a distance as if it was merely watching.

Right when he was starting to wonder if it was Naraku, he became distracted by the site of the cave.

"Thank god!" He breathed out a sigh of relief as he ran to the entrance.

The sun had gone down and he was far too cold in this skirt then he liked.
Changing clothes was going to be his first business once inside.

However, what he seen once inside was not what was expected.
Sesshomaru had assumed Akane would have informed both of their small companions of the situation...
That did not seem to be the case.

A small fire was going, and Jaken was attempting to cook a rabbit.
The imp glanced over to him with a rude glare, and stuck his tongue out before looking away.
What the hell?

"Lady Akane, welcome back!" Rin came up to him with a concerned look in her brown eyes.

She leaned close and whispered loudly, making him wonder the point of even whispering to begin with.

"Did you and Sesshomaru-sama have another spat? He's been real sulky since he came back."

He just blinked at the girl.
What was Akane doing?
Why hadn't she told them?

Rin was now tugging at his shirt.

"Is that why your late?"

"Well... yes." He looked over at Akane.

To anyone else, it looked like Sesshomaru was leaning against the cave wall, next to where Ah-Uhn was sleeping, staring into the fire with empty eyes.
She really did look like him at the moment, and that wasn't a good thing. Because it was clear she was brooding over their last conversation.

"I see, that explains it then." Rin gave a firm nod of her head, crossed her arms and looked at up at him.

"Are you going to say sorry? Cause even Jaken-sama says he hasn't seen him this upset in a long time."

Sesshomaru felt his face heat at the young girls hard stare.
When had Rin grown so?

"This one attempted to say sorry before being left behind." He admitted.

Only after it was said did he realize he had spoken like himself.

"I-I mean that, I tried to-"

"He left you behind?" Rin sounded a bit annoyed by that.

"Umm, yes?"

"But normally its you who takes off..."

Rin was pondering this far to long.
He was getting nervous.
Ack, she was right.
Akane was to one to take off most of the time...

"True, but I was the one who said something wrong this time, so-"

Rin stomped her foot suddenly.

"Yeah but to leave you behind when it was getting dark isn't nice!"

Sesshomaru smiled at the pouty tone of voice she had.
He glanced over to Akane, knowing she must be able to hear all this.
Sure enough, she was watching them.
But she went back to the flames the moment he had caught her eye.
A deep sigh escaped him.
What was he to do?
To his surprise, Rin left his side and went over to whom she thought was Sesshomaru with bold determination.

The distance was enough to where he could not hear the conversation.
Rin seemed nervious, but was speaking her mind it seemed.
He could tell she was telling her lord about how rude it was to leave a girl alone to wonder in the dark.
Akane's gold eyes locked onto the girl coldly at first, but soon that was replaced by a warmth that made the male seem like a father as he reached out and played with the girls dark hair with a half smile.
He really was handsome...
A warm feeling built up inside Sesshomaru's heart at the site of it. But when he realized he was being once again attracted to himself, and that he had just thought of Akane as a male, he shook his head like crazy and slapped the sides of his face.

"Knock it off!" He hissed to himself.

What the hell was wrong with him? Was this an effect of being in Akane's body or something?

"What nonsense are you doing now?"

He looked down to find Jaken glaring up at him with arms crossed.
The urge to step on the imp for daring to speak to him that way filled him up.

"Don't go glaring at me, young lady! Now you listen here, whatever the hell you said to my lord, you better take back right away." Jaken waved a finger at him.

Ah, yes, he thinks he's talking to her...
With a sigh, Sesshomaru pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
For whatever reason, he had to act like Akane for now.

"Jaken, it's none of your concern-"

"Like hell it isn't!" The imp yelped.
"He is so bothered that he didn't even step on me or anything when he returned after looking for you."

He gaped, and blinked down at the creature in supreme confusion.

"It BOTHERS you that he didn't do anything to hurt you?"

What an odd imp...
Jaken looked up with wide teary eyes.

"OF COURSE IT DOES YOU FOOL!"

He wiped at his eyes and glared.

"My lord only completely ignores me like that if something is truly the matter with him."

Sesshomaru just stared in wonder.
Clearly, the imp payed more attention to him then he ever thought.

"Now DO something, woman!" Jaken then began to kick dirt at him.

He couldn't help but smile.
He waved his hands in surrender as he backed away from the dirt being kicked his way.

"Okay, alright, I'm going."

It was unbelievable what Akane put up with from the imp.

Sesshomaru slowly approached Akane and Rin, who stopped speaking the moment he was spotted.
Rin waved to Akane before leaving and as she passed by him, gave a thumbs up with a grin.
He smiled at the child as she went by, hoping she didn't see his worry.

Akane just looked him over with a bored expression.
Those golden eyes reflecting the firelight in a way that made it hard for him to think right...
He gulped.
What was he to say at this point?
Why was he so fucking nervous?
He hadn't even realized he was pulling at his hair until a strand came off.
With an embarasst look, he shoved both hands behind his back.

"You look cold."

His face heated at the sound of the male voice.
Did he really have such a strong effect on Akane, or was he just not used to her body yet?

"Yes, it's cold..." He felt stupid saying that. Like it wasn't obvious.

Akane went over to the sleeping dragon horse and pulled open the pack on it's back.

"You should change clothes then."

He sighed.
Her tone was empty.
Cold.
She was still mad.

"Akane-"

He was cut off by a sudden glare.

"Silence." She snapped.

God, she sounded just like him.
She walked over, shoved a bundle of clothes into his arms, and leaned in to whisper coldly in his ear in English.

"You are Akane. I am Sesshomaru. Part of the spell is that none can know the truth of things."

Heat spread all over his body at her breath in his ear.

"Oh..."

Dang it, why was he so tense?

"If they figure it out, it becomes a perminent switch. And I would hate for you to be stuck in a decaying body."

The ice in that voice gave him chills. He tried to speak, but was unable.
She had him speechless.
Akane stood back up, and a really eerie smile crossed her face before she shoved her way past him.
With that, she left him standing there.
NOW he knew what smile she kept telling him he gave when ticked off...
Creepy as hell.

He watched as she left the cave without looking back.
Damn it all, he hadn't even been given a chance to try and apologize...
Sesshomaru felt pissed, but also to his surprise, the urge to cry was starting to take form.
Were girls always so full of mixed up odd feelings?
With a shaky sigh, he went to change into warmer clothes.
After all, he wasn't going to go chasing after her in this stupid skirt.

Akane growled as she went further into the trees.
Her mind a mess of thoughts.
Fuck, just seeing him blush like that, looking all worried, it was enough to make her want to kiss him.
But he had pissed her off.
And that made her want to punish him.
Let him worry.
And by making it so that he had to act like her for the next two days was the best thing she could think of.

"Damn. Naraku must be rubbing off on me or something. For me to pull something that sneaky on Sesshy..."

She sighed as she ran her claws down the trunk of a tree, peeling it.

"Rubbing off on you? I hope so."

She didn't react to the smooth male voice behind her.
Naraku had been with her since she left the cave, hiding.

"But I must say, having it so that he has to play you? What wonderful torture to place on him. I should have thought of that part myself, ashamed not to have actually." The other male purred as he leaned up against her back, his warmth and scent filling up her senses.

"Back off," She snapped as she turned and pushed him away.

"I'm not in a good mood."

"Poor puppy." Naraku teased.

She just growled in a pure animal way. If she had fur in this form, Akane was certain it would be standing up.
Raising his hands in surrender, he walked back a bit with a coy smile.

"You seem more at ease in his body then he is inside yours. You should have seen him, all jumpy and scared while walking thru the trees. If it had been you, it might have been cute, but given the fact it was him just made it funny as hell. The guy was even talking to himself..."

Naraku paused when he seen the glare she was giving him.

"What?"

"I am so NOT at ease in this body!" She snapped with a clenched fist.

He gave a confused blink.

"Okay..."

Akane flung her hand in the air.

"When this man feels anger, it turns to rage within seconds. When he wants to punish someone, the desire is deep. Even I know I shouldn't be this mad at him for his freakout earlier. But I am. He may have a strong hold on his emotions, but when they get loose they are ten times more powerful then anything I've ever felt. And I don't have the skill to hold them in."

Naraku frowned and walked up to her, just now seeing how hard those shoulders of hers were shaking.

"Hey, calm down." He said.

"How can I calm down when I'm torn between tearing your throat out and kissing the fuck out of you?" She said with another growl, shoving at him.

"Oh?" He laughed. "So the dog wants to kiss me does he?"

"No you moron, I want to!" She snapped. "And my thoughts are mixing with his the longer I stay like this."

Akane felt her head was going to split.
It was hard enough remembering that Sesshy wasn't a girl, when the animal in this body wanted to kiss her...
Naraku was making things worse.
The animal was confused.
It felt Akane's hidden desire for the man, and was starting to mistake that for it's own feelings...

Dear god, that last thing she needed was Sesshomaru getting this body back and start liking Naraku!

She groaned and clutched at her head.
It was easier when she was alone.
Or even with Rin and Jaken, because her feelings were close enough to Sesshy's when it came to them that she didn't have to fight as hard to keep control of herself.

But despite her protests, Naraku did not leave her alone.
Instead, he shocked her by pulling her into his arms.
She froze.
Naraku was embracing Sesshomaru...
Oh this had to look fucked up.
For some reason, it did help.
The shock of his kindness had the animal calmed down to the point that Akane's own thoughts once again took main control.

She took in a breath.
He really did smell good.

"Better? Are you... You?" His voice was calming, even when worried.

"Hn."

She blinked at her own response.
What did that sound even mean? She was even inside the man and still didn't know what it meant.
A small laugh escaped her.
Naraku released her, backing away slowly, worry in his amazing eyes.

"I didn't think of how something like this might mess with your head. Maybe you should just not fight those desires, but just go with them?" He said in a worried tone.

She stared at him like he was crazy.

"Well not the one to kill me!" He said with a shaky laugh.

"But y'know, to just go with it.
Since it hurts to fight between you and what's left of him. And now that he thinks you have to act like each other it would be easier on you both, yes?"

She frowned.
It would be so much easier to just go with it rather then fight.
But who knows what that would lead to down the line?
She already wanted to kiss her own body, could she actually do it?

"Just think of how fun it would be to see him have to deal with the way your body reacts to his?" Naraku said with a playful grin.

Akane nodded at his words in silence.
To make that man feel everything he made her feel everyday?
To treat him like some weak thing...
To make him aroused and leave him?
Whatever face she made had Naraku laughing as he patted her shoulder.

"Oh yes, evil little dragon. You have two days to do as you please. I shall be watching from the shadows until you switch back."

Without another word, he vanished.
Akane wanted to ask why so soon, but then she knew the answer.
Sesshomaru was coming.
A smile crossed her face.

Sesshomaru was out of breath when he found Akane.
He had not had such a feeling in many years to be honest.
His heart was pounding and he was actually sweating in places...
Like between his breasts.
How irritating.
But he had been running to find her.
While his new sense of smell was lacking, Akane's strange power to sense people came in handy as he followed what he assumed was his own yokai aura.
He thought someone was with her, but he found her alone under a tree.

The desire to call out her name was strong, but he recalled what she had said before...
None was to know.
And who knew how many ears were about in these woods?
Surely, she would let him know if it was safe or not, like it seemed to have been in the clearing before.

The two stared in silence as he caught his breath and noticed the claw marks in the tree behind her.
That was something he did when he was thinking over something.
How fast she was adapting amazed him, but then again, he too had begun to do things that were not his nature.
He wanted to ask her so much, but did she even have the answers...

"Do you need this one for something?"

The sound of his own voice made every single part of Akane tingle.
It was most interesting for him.
Sesshomaru ignored it as best he could while he focused on her tone.
Her voice was a bit less cold then before, but was clearly annoyed.
With a gulp, he just let loose.

"I'm sorry, okay? For what I said before in the clearing. I was panicking, not thinking, and just blurted stuff out. My wording could have been much better to say the least, I know that..."

She just raised an eyebrow at him.
That was the only reaction.
Geeze, that was annoying as hell.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, and you have every right to be upset, but I really am very sorry."

Still no reaction.
Just an empty face and blank eyes.
What the hell?
He crossed his arms.

"Are you still mad about the whole necklace part? Because you know I have no idea how that even happened and you know it."

Nothing but silence.

"SAY something!" He spat.

"Hn."

Sesshomaru just stared wide eyed at that simple response.
Granted, he himself had done that on more often then not, but still he had never known how annoying it was.

"Hn, is not an answer!" He whined.

Goodness, the urge to cry was becoming hard to fight at this point. And he wasn't even sad, just simply beyond frustrated.

Suddenly, Akane was in front of him.
He jolted as she took his hand and pulled it up to her face.
Those golden eyes almost glowing.

"Your cute when annoyed."

Face red, he gave a pathetic squeek when she kissed his knuckles.
What the hell was going on?
Had she forgotten who she was?

"A-Aka-"

He was cut off when she pulled him closer and captured his mouth.
Sesshomaru completely froze as he tasted his own lips.
Heat formed in his belly and spread as the kiss went on.
Torn between disgust and pleasure.
He tried to pull away, but wasn't allowed as a tongue made it's way past his lips and into his mouth.

A whimper escaped him before his tongue responded despite himself.
Those lips tasted so good...
This was all so familiar.
Somehow.
Without thinking, his hands were buried in that silky white hair.
His mind went blank when the male kissing him touched his breast.
A shiver went thru him as he relaxed.
The two were practically melted into each other at this point.
And when the male paused to nip at his neck, Sesshomaru came out from being under some kind of spell.

He shoved Akane off of him with a yelp of shock, making her laugh.
Sesshomaru was beyond horrified.
His lips were swollen, and the heat pooling between his legs made him back away with growing humiliation.

How in the hell could he have just made out with himself?!
What made it worse, was how this body was responding to that...
Totally turned on.

Was Akane really this easy to please?
Did he always have this effect on her?
The desire to go back for more was just as strong as the desire to run.
What was she thinking?
Dear god, for a moment he had forgotten she was a female.
Had forgotten everything.

Akane was giving him a smile that said she had won some kind of game.

"You are forgiven, Akane." She said with a smug look in her eyes.

He gaped at her.
All that had been to stop him from saying her name?
Words escaped him at the moment...
He just stood there gaping, as she smiled down at him.
Tilting her head, she gave a quisical and nearly innocent look.

"Is something the matter?" She asked.

He knew he was still red.
Unable to stand it, he looked away.

"Nope. Nothing. What would be wrong? So what, are we going back?"

"Hn."

He sighed and began to move, only to be held back by a firm hand.

"You liked it, I can tell." Akane teased in a husky tone before taking a step ahead of him.
Doing what he would normally, by taking his place ahead of her.
He watched that white hair sway as she walked away from him.
Those words of hers only made the feeling in his gut worse.
Because he HAD liked it.
Or this form did, causing him to feel things he otherwise would not.
Akane knew that would happen, and had done it anyway.
It was some strange punishment, to have him react this way.
Wrapping his arms around himself in shame, he followed behind her.
Still blushing red.

Akane was nearly beaming with pride at the adorable reaction her mate had given to her simple kiss.
The blood had been rushing with the fast pace of the girls heart.
Akane had wanted to taste that blood so badly too...
Wait.
No, that wasn't right.
Sesshy was a guy.
He just looked like a girl.
And what about the blood?
Since when did Sesshomaru drink blood anyway?
But she had wanted to so badly...

Akane glanced over at her mate.
They had been back for a while now.
The two small ones had fallen asleep, happy to see the two had made up.
Sesshy was tending the fire, and doing everything in his power not to look her way it would seem.
As he had done since their return.
It was funny.
Akane never knew her face was so easy to read. Or was that just because he was in her body?
It was clear he was still pouting at the way she had turned him on before.
Not that Akane knew why it was a bad thing really. They were a couple after all so why would a body swap change things to much?

It hadn't bothered her one bit.
As a matter of fact, it had been interesting to feel things from his side as they had kissed.
But the part about the blood was kinda freaking her out.
It was nearly time for her body to be getting tired, so Akane went and pulled out the MP3 and slowly made her way to the pouting yokai male...

"Hey." She whispered behind him.

He jolted to a standing position, and refused to look at her.

"What is it?"

Akane just smiled at his actions.
He was acting like her.
Did he even notice that?

"You need sleep, and I want to listen to music, so it's a double win here."

He glanced his blue eyes up at her for a fraction of a second.

"You can listen alone tonight."

Now it was her turn to pout.

"Come on, surely you can't be upset that we kissed of all things."

His face went pink at the reminder.

"You meant it as a punishment."

Akane blinked.
Had she?
Well, maybe at first...

"We kiss all the time." She stated.

He turned to her with a look that said he thought she was joking.

"This is not the same."

"How is it not?"

"I do not wish to kiss myself." He snapped like it should have gone without saying.

Akane stared at him.
Wow, his pride was beyond words.

"So what, if we were stuck like this, your saying you would stop being my mate? That's cold bro."

He gaped at her like a fish.

"And you would be fine?" He sputtered.

"Duh, I'm fine now." She rolled her eyes.

"Your crazy." He stated.

Akane dropped the MP3 in a mock heart attack.

"Oh how you wound me..." She whined.

A small smile played out on his face, just what she was going for.

"Stop that, your making me look silly."
He said with a sigh, picking up the music player.

When Sesshomaru looked at her again, the confusion and curiosity on his face was all the more cute with the way he bit at his lower lip.

"It really doesn't bother you? To touch and desire your own body?"

She thought for a moment.
Still not seeing how it bugged him so. Akane leaned down so that they were face to face, making him gulp.
She forced herself to have a serious expression up until she flicked his forehead with a claw.

"All I see is the one I love." She said before licking his cheek.

When she pulled away, he was red.

"I see..." He rubbed at the spot she had flicked while thinking it over.

"By the way, when were you going to tell me about the blood thing?"

A surprised guilty look came over his face as he blinked up at her.

"Oh."

"Yeah, big fucking oh." She teased.

Poor guy seemed stumped on words there for a while as he toyed with a strand of hair.

"Well, it was going to be the next time we had intimate time together." He said with a blush of scarlet.

Akane had wondered that.

"Hn."

Sesshomaru looked at her in the eyes.

"It's a thing done while having sex between mates. I planned on easing you into the idea."

"I should hope so. Cause I might just have freaked out if you randomly bit me one night." She teased with a grin.

Akane could tell it was a touchy subject, so she would save it for a time when he wasn't so emotional.

"Well, good to know. Anyways, you need sleep. We're moving tomorrow."

Sesshomaru frowned at her.

"Why?"

"Duh, Naraku is close by. Gotta be so he can watch us right?"

"Your not hunting him." He stated with a very serious look.

Akane gave her best version of his 'you don't give this one orders' stare.

"Sure as hell not gonna sit around for two days until we switch back. What fun would that be? Especialy since I'm in this kickass body."

He crossed his arms, paused to frown down at them, uncross them again and glare up at her.

"That is exactly what you are to do, sit around until we switch back."

The tone he put in her voice was very close to his own demanding one.
She growled at him.

"Make me." She dared.

The two stared for a long time.
He didn't want her getting his body hurt, or her get hurt by not knowing how to use his powers.
And he still didn't want to be left alone. She could still sense that fear in him.
But if he thought she would just obey him like that made him crazy.

Asking was one thing. But to give orders to her at this point?
Foolish.
Her new male pride was pissed that he even dare TRY and tell her what to do.
This yokai took no orders.

Somehow, he seemed to see all this in her stone expression.
With a sigh of defeat, he began to unravel the earbuds to the MP3.

"I'm too tired for this." He said.

Akane just smiled in victory.

"And stop that." Sesshomaru added as he went over to where they were to sleep together.

"Stop what?" She asked as she joined him on the ground, using the fur as a pillow while pulling a blanket over.

"Making me smile like that, it makes me look younger somehow."

"Well, you do have a cute smile when your realy happy about something."

He sat next to her with a look of pure horror on his face.

"So I actually look like that, and it's not just because it's you?"

With a fang showing grin, she pulled him to her chest, armor removed.

"Yup!"

"Drats..." He pouted.

"No worries, you never smile in public anyway." She teased.
He really was all about how others seen him wasn't he?
Had to be a refined all the time for some reason.
What an odd man.

With a humph, he settled against her.
It was odd, but still felt right too.

"So..." He paused. "Why are you so calm with all this?"

"We got two more days." She said as if that were an actual answer.

Akane felt him sigh as he searched for whatever music he was in the mood for on her device.
Soon they both had music playing.
Both drifting off at the same time.

"Two more days..." She heard him say to himself quietly.

And she smiled to herself.
This could get fun.