A/n: Hey guys! Back with another chapter and I hope you like it! Thanks for the many reviews I got on this ^_^ It makes me feel special.
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Operation Switching Bodies
By: dragon fire onna
Chapter Two: Souta's Insight
"Get up, Kagome! Time for us to go back!" Souta opened his eyes to find Inuyasha staring down at him.
"What? What are you doing in my room, Inuyasha?" Souta rubbed his eyes and yawned, looking at the clock beside his bed. "It's seven in the morning! What are you thinking? Shouldn't you be waking up my sister and not me?" Inuyasha gave him a weird look.
"Still dreaming there?" he mocked with a smirk.
"What are you talking about . . ." Souta jumped out of bed, but something felt different at that moment. He looked around the room, but it wasn't his room. It was Kagome's. Just then, Souta realized that his prayer had been answered. "No God! I didn't mean this way! I meant help me by putting them together yourself! Have the fates do it, anything but this!" Inuyasha only raised an eyebrow and stared speechlessly as 'Kagome' ranted around the room. "No! Come on, anything but this!"
"Hey Kagome, snap out of it! We gotta go shard huntin' today!!" Inuyasha couldn't think of anything else to say to her.
"No! Why me? ANYTHING BUT THIS!" Souta continued to shout. He couldn't believe that he was inside of Kagome's body . . . then, suddenly, it hit him. He was in Kagome's body, and that meant . . . that meant that he could pretend to be her, giving him the chance he needed to get them together. Sure, it wasn't as perfect as if the fates had put them together and plenty more work for him, but he was willing to adjust to the situation. Now if they could just get out of there and get to Feudal Japan before his sister woke up . . .
A shriek filled their ears from the room next to theirs.
'Oh no, if Kagome barges in here and says that she's Kagome, Inuyasha will start to believe her! I've got to think of something fast . . .'
"Let's go to the Feudal Era now, alright? I think we should get started right away." Souta tried to look up convincingly at Inuyasha, but he failed miserably.
"What's wrong with you? You never wanted to go before . . ." Inuyasha narrowed his eyes in suspicion, and Souta slightly winced under his intense gaze.
"I . . . want to get this whole thing over with so I won't have to go back anymore!" He knew as soon as the words were out of his mouth that that was not going to help the situation between Kagome and Inuyasha any, but as of that minute, he didn't have time to try and fix it; he would later. Right now he just needed Inuyasha to believe 'Kagome' was feeling better, and that he was her . . .
"But shouldn't you check on your brother? He just screamed." Inuyasha looked towards the closed door of Kagome's room as both 'Kagome' and Inuyasha heard the footsteps of 'Souta' getting closer each second.
"No!—I mean, I'm sure sh-he's fine! Let's hurry!" Souta grabbed Inuyasha by the wrist and lead him to the bedroom window. The window was already open because Inuyasha had jumped in earlier, so Souta pushed Inuyasha out of it onto the large tree right outside the window and jumped out after him. "Hurry up!" Souta called down as he dropped down from the lowest branch of the tree. He dragged the baffled Inuyasha towards the well. Inuyasha shrugged off the confusion and picked up Kagome. He then hopped in with Kagome in his arms.
"Alright, hold on tight," Inuyasha said as they fell through the well into the chaotic past. Soon after a lightshow they were on the other side and were greeted by a monk wearing a long, purple robe and a demon slayer with a large—boomerang? Souta had never seen them before, but he figured that these were the other people that Kagome had mentioned she traveled with at dinner when she was able to come home.
"Hey Kagome," said the girl carrying the rather large boomerang on her back. Souta climbed off Inuyasha's back and landed on his feet.
"Hey . . ." he didn't remember what Kagome called her. . . Songo, or Sanyo, something like that. Luckily, Souta was smart enough not to chance being wrong. He kept quite as she swung her arm around his shoulder and began to lead him somewhere, most likely towards the village that his sister said was just outside the well.
"Ready to go? Kirara and Myouga gave us a lead on a couple of shards from the Shikon Jewel. They're held by weak demons so they should give us no problem. We decided that we could split up into pairs and find the shards since they're divided up among four demons," Miroku announced.
"We?" Sango raised an eyebrow. "Who said that I agreed on that?"
"Well sweet, dear Sango," he said, almost seductively. Souta noted her name so he would remember it later. "You didn't object to it. That means you don't care, and since you didn't care, I took it upon myself to care enough for the both of us!" Sango rolled her eyes and playfully pushed him away, trying to hide the amusement in her eyes.
"Fine, Kagome and I will go together with Shippo, and you and Inuyasha will go find the other two, alright?" Sango smiled triumphantly as a look of desperation crossed Miroku's face. He turned to Inuyasha for help, but Inuyasha just scowled and shrugged.
"I can go with Inuyasha," Souta said, trying to get him and Inuyasha alone so he could start his plan to get them together. Like he said before, he would do anything to keep Hojo's sister, Sora, and Hojo himself away from him and Kagome at all cost . . . well, almost anything. He wouldn't kiss him . . . Souta gagged at the thought.
Sango gasped. Not only was she shocked that Kagome would put her with the perverted monk, all alone, but also that she had volunteered to go with Inuyasha. Inuyasha seemed to be sharing the same astonishment as the others. Even Miroku seemed too shocked to grin.
"Kagome?" said the flabbergasted Sango. Souta then remembered that Miroku was some sort of perverted human that couldn't keep his hands to himself. Souta sweatdropped.
'Let's see . . . Kagome wouldn't make her go by herself with him, so . . . wait! The fox demon thing! What was his name again . . . Shippo?'
"Shippo can go with you!" Souta said quickly, praying to God that granted his 'wish' that he didn't mess up on the name.
"But-" Sango began to say, but Miroku cut in, with a wide grin plastered on his face.
"We've got to stop by Kaede's village and check up on Shippo. He's not feeling very well. It must have been something he ate because he was feeling fine until after dinner last night . . . that means that you and I, darling, are to go together . . . alone." Sango groaned, but Miroku seemed oblivious to it. He was too thrilled to even care.
Souta sweatdropped again and smiled nervously because Sango sent a cold, vengeful glare his way. He waved his hand in front of his body to break her death glare.
"Now that that's settled, let's go. We'll stop by the old hag's place, so don't worry about it." Inuyasha bent down so Kagome could climb onto his back. "You guys know the exact location of those two shards, right?" Sango nodded.
"Yeah, besides, Kirara's coming with us and she can help a bit. We'll be fine without you two." Sango then called out the name of her pet Kirara, which, to Souta's amazement, had suddenly grown ten times the size before, and jumped onto its back. Miroku was about to climb on too, but he made a big mistake when he fell 'accidentally' onto her, so Sango forced him to walk beside them. She didn't trust his hands when they had a mind of their own.
Inuyasha and Kagome took this opportunity to leave. They jumped from tree to tree towards the old village.
"Hey Kagome, what's gotten into you today? You always go with Sango. And what the hell were you tryin' to pull this morning . . . " Inuyasha paused as he landed onto the ground on the outskirts of the village. Souta was ready to get off his back, but this time Inuyasha didn't put him down.
"I—wasn't feeling very well this morning, that's all—and—" Souta racked his brain for another excuse to add to that, "and the dream I had last night felt so real that when I woke up, I still thought I was dreaming . . . ya know?" Souta watched Inuyasha's facial expression change from a puzzled one to that of a smug, amused one.
Souta finally got off of him and started sauntering into the village, Inuyasha right behind him. Souta began to take in all he saw . . . he knew that they were looking for this woman called Kaede, but he didn't know where she was. She sounded old and important, though, leading him to believe that she might have been in one of the houses over on the other side of the village.
"Where do ya think you're goin'?" Inuyasha laughed tauntingly behind him. Souta froze.
"Uh—nowhere?" he replied timidly.
"Stupid wench—" Souta cringed. He had never heard Inuyasha call his sister that before, (even though Inuyasha said it to Kagome while they were driving, Souta was inside the car and couldn't hear what he said), "have you forgotten where the old hag lives already?" Souta turned around to face Inuyasha. Maybe he wasn't the person he thought he was . . . maybe Inuyasha was exactly what Kagome called him; a bastard. Souta's anger boiled up inside of him. He couldn't just stand there anymore!
"Don't you ever call my sister that again!" Souta shouted, drawing a lot of attention to them from the village people. Inuyasha seemed to back off a bit after that.
"What do ya mean, 'sister'?" Inuyasha inquired, and Souta froze, but then the hanyou suddenly scowled. "Why are you calling Kaede your sister? I know you're Kikyo's reincarnation and Kaede is Kikyo's sister and all, but . . . I mean, Kaede is old, and . . ." Inuyasha seemed sorry, Souta decided, even though he was sorry for the wrong thing.
"Don't worry about it," Souta waved it off. He was grateful that Inuyasha hadn't noticed what he really meant by 'sister'.
"Inuyasha! Kagome! Ye must come here now, so I can tell ye what kinds of demons ye will be facing," called an old woman standing in front of an old temple.
And just because he was still angry with Inuyasha, Souta mumbled under his breath (so only the half-breed could hear), "Inuyasha, your village wants their idiot back." Inuyasha muttered something, but Souta's delicate ears didn't seem to catch it.
Kaede had light gray hair, pulled back into a very loose bun, and a patch over one eye. Souta followed as they walked causally into the shrine.
'This is pretty cool!'
They all took a seat around a bed, where a fox laid unmoving.
"Kagome can locate the shards. We don't need you to tell us were they are," Inuyasha stated, but Kaede shook her head.
"Not for the shards of the jewel, Inuyasha, but for Shippo," she said, pointing to the fox. Shippo stirred slightly, but was suddenly as still as a cold stone again. His fur was thin, and he was limp.
"Is he alright?" Souta asked her, but she shook her head again. That wasn't the answer that he wanted to hear. "But—"
"Don't worry child, ye can save him from certain doom if ye catches the demon that poisoned him and ye bring the antidote that the demon was carrying back here before sunset." Souta gazed down at the trembling fox. He wanted to help the little demon.
"Alright," he looked at Inuyasha. "We'll get the antidote before we go find the shards . . ." Souta wasn't sure exactly what a shard was, but he did hear a little bit about it from Kagome. He also knew that his big sister could locate them because one time he had tried to hide the jewel from her, but she was able to locate it very quickly even though he had buried it outside in the backyard…
"Ye not need to worry about Inuyasha disagreeing. A shard is with the demon that holds the antidote." Inuyasha stopped grumbling and stood up suddenly, as if he had been sitting on fire.
"Alright, then what are we waitin' for? Let's go," he said, starting to leave the room. "I want to get this over with—besides, the brat doesn't look like he'll last much longer." Inuyasha added.
'Inuyasha DOES care about his friends, even though he calls them names. That's just the way he is, I guess . . .'
"Not that I care!" Souta sweatdropped. Inuyasha swooped down and picked him up. "You're walkin' too slow. It'd be faster if I carried you."
Souta stared down at the back of Inuyasha's silvery-white hair, deep in thought.
'Inuyasha really isn't that bad of a person. I still think he's better for Kagome than that Hojo guy, anyways. There was just something wrong with him . . . and Inuyasha and Kagome . . .'
It just felt right as he said it. Besides, it wasn't everyday that you get to meet someone as cool as the hanyou, and get to hang out with him. If they did hook up, Inuyasha would probably be hanging around more often, which was something that Souta liked.
'As long as he treats Kagome with the respect she deserves, 'cause I want her to be happy. She's the best sister in the whole world, and she deserves the best.'
"Do you sense a shard nearby?" Inuyasha asked him, glancing back as they jolted through the trees. Souta closed his eyes and began to concentrate. He should be able to locate a shard. Kagome could, and he was in her body . . .
"Over there," he said with certainty. "By the mountains . . ."
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A/N: PLEASE review! It really means a lot to me and all… critiques are always welcomed. Also, if I make a big mistake about anything in this fic, like if I got some of the Inuyasha anime wrong, or if I say something was going to happen, but it didn't, please feel free to tell me this so I can hopefully fix it. Any questions you have just email me at kawaiianime88@hotmail.com, or just leave it in a review with your email somewhere.
*cough* anyways, I'd really like to thank my editor, CP (a.k.a. ceramicprincess). Btw, check out her GREAT fics! (especially my fav., The Careeohke Machine, which she KNOWS is spelled wrong, and it is for a reason). It's REALLY good and well-written.
