A/N: Well, chapter 2 is finally up. Hey, guess where I'm writing this! My English class! We're supposed to be doing a critical reading assignment, but I don't feel like doing it right now. Besides, I have all weekend. Procrastinating is fun! ^_^

Chapter 2: An unexpected change

Botan looked at the speechless Jusenkyo guide in front of her and raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, climbing out of the spring and wringing out the sleeves of her kimono. The guide considered for a moment, then ran back inside his hut, returning soon afterwards with a mirror and holding it up in front of Botan.

"KYAAAAAAA!!!!!" screamed Botan as she ogled at the mirror, willing the image to go away. She looked frantically up to where Inuyasha was still floating above the spring staring at Botan and gaping like a fish. As he slowly regained the ability to speak, he uttered

"Why the fucking hell do you look like me!"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?!" Botan growled back at him.

The guide looked confused. Why was this woman talking to thin air? Not wanting to get caught up in the heated argument (even if he couldn't see who Botan was yelling at) the guide slunk back inside his hut.

Inuyasha was furious. He was dead, and now he was floating over a cursed spring talking to Botan, who looked identical to him save the ponytail, the oar, and the pink kimono. Yes, it was official, he was living…well, not really…in hell.

Botan was tired of shouting at Inuyasha. It would accomplish nothing. She had to figure out a way to reverse this! Feeling tears welling up in her eyes and throwing Inuyasha one last look of hatred, she jumped onto her oar and flew off to spirit world, leaving Inuyasha behind.

"KOENMA!!!" roared Botan as she walked through his large TV screen. Koenma jumped at the unfamiliar voice calling his name, and practically fainted when he saw Botan.

"Wha- you- how?" he stuttered, trying to maintain consciousness. This was too weird.

Before him stood Botan, except she…HE…had long silver hair tied up in a high pony tail, amber eyes, DOG ears, claws….and was wearing her (his?) usual pink kimono.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE JUSENKYO CURSED SPRINGS!!!" screamed Botan at the top of his lungs, his face turning an interesting shade of maroon.

Koenma stuttered for a second, then bolted, returning moments later with some hot water. As he poured it over Botan, she returned to her normal self, but the scathing mask of anger remained unchanged.

"B-botan…" said Koenma meekly, shrinking under her severe gaze.  "I-I didn't think you would go for a swim."

Botan's hands were around the toddlers neck in mere seconds as she bellowed the story of what had happened at the springs. Koenma was quite blue in the face when she finally let go of him.

"I see." he said, still a bit flustered.

Botan had calmed down somewhat now, and wasn't seething with anger anymore.

"I think I know what to do." said Koenma, looking through some large stacks of paper on his desk. "Here we go!" he exclaimed triumphantly as he excavated the files of a certain Higurashi, Kagome.

"How is that going to help?" asked Botan curiously as she eyed the large folder filled with important looking papers as Koenma handed her a map with some sloppily written directions on the back

"Ms. Higurashi may be the key to reversing your condition." stated Koenma matter-of-factly. "She has close ties with Inuyasha, and she has unfolded some of the mysteries of time travel."

"Time travel?!" exclaimed Botan, looking quite shocked at the idea.

"Yes, with her help, you should be able to fix this mess up in no time. Meanwhile, PLEASE stay away from cold water, and I'd suggest you wear clothes that wouldn't look so…strange when you …um…transform…"

Botan glowered at Koenma for a second, but then sighed and walked out of the toddler's office.

About an hour later, she was walking down the streets of Tokyo, now wearing a loose pair of jeans and a large red T-shirt with a black Nike logo in the front. Looking down at her map with a bemused expression, Botan scanned the directions to the Higurashi shrine once more.

"That's odd, it should be right here…" she thought, until she realized the problem. The map was upside down.

Botan let out an exasperated sigh and sat down heavily on a nearby bench. She turned the map around and read the directions again before continuing her search.

It was mid afternoon when Botan finally found the Higurashi shrine. Smiling to herself, she climbed up the many stairs and ran to the house, knocking on the front door excitedly. She frowned when no one answered. Feeling utterly defeated, Botan began making her way back to the road when suddenly she heard someone shouting.

"I wonder where that's coming from?" she thought, stopping in her tracks so she could listen. It sounded like a girl was laughing, and someone else, a boy, was shouting at her.

Just then, two people came running out of the well house. The first, a teenage girl with long black hair wearing a green white and red school uniform, was carrying several water balloons and sticking her tongue out at the boy while she ran. The boy, who was sopping wet, was shouting curses at her.

Botan blinked in confusion, then ran after them. Unfortunately, Kagome chose that time to throw a water balloon at Inuyasha, missed, and caught Botan right in the face. Kagome and Inuyasha stopped running when they heard someone yell. At first it sounded like a girl, and then it had suddenly changed to sound oddly like …Inuyasha.

The two of them turned around to see Botan looking shocked and startled, and, well, looking very much like Inuyasha.

A/N: Sorry for the wait. School got in the way.