Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha and company, only three purple bunnies from the moon and a blue bunny from Mars. Lauren and Eva insist that they aren't owned by anyone (they are real people) and I own their 'children' all of which are my characters that I made up.

Warnings: Rated R for cussing, violence, and later on a smothering sense of sexuality. AU, non-yaoi (. Lauren wouldn't let me), and no Sango or Kagome (Death to the bitches!).

Author's Rants: I wrote this as a favor to my friend Lauren. More or less a thank you for being an muse when my own doesn't want to work. Especially with Inuyasha, my muse doesn't like half- demons.

Please review! Oh, and this is a reminder that all flames will be used to burn Sango and Kagome at the stake. Even if Lauren threatens to hit me.

Anywayz, on to the story.

Chapter 2: Identical Strangers

"Mistress Kaede, Lord Inuyasha, it is indeed a great honor to meet you both," Inutaisho bowed low to the ground. The two approaching appeared more than a little startled. Lauren merely arched an well-formed eyebrow.

And she watched as the old woman, Kaede, followed her example. But when Kaede's one good eye fell to rest on the string of beads around Inutaisho's pale column of a neck, however, she stopped cold.

Inuyasha paused to look over the two newcomers before him. And while Inuyasha was studying Lauren, Inutaisho took the opportunity to make his gigantic wings vanish. Then Inuyasha turned to face to face the boy that looked so much like him, yet he was aware of the fact that they'd never met each other before. And he wondered how the boy knew who he was and who Kaede was.

Lauren looked back and forth between the puzzled Inuyasha and the humble yet smug Inutaisho. The teenage girl stepped closer and circled the two almost identical boys. She peered first into one startled face and then into the other. Even their eyes were virtually identical except for the color. They both stared at her with bored expressions, yet the tension between them seemed to make the very air crackle.

"WOW! It's like dog-boy comes into two colors!" Inuyasha and Inutaisho both sweat dropped, nearly falling over. Kaede just giggled.

"Aye, indeed it does. And ye-"

"Wait! Why do you look so much like me?" Inuyasha asked of Inutaisho, pausing to sniff the still air. "You even smell sort of like me, but different!"

Inutaisho smirked and bowed even lower than the first time. His eyes never leaving Inuyasha's golden ones.

"Unfortunately, I am unable to disclose who or even what I am." Inuyasha's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Lauren blinked blankly, confused, and Kaede looked thoughtful.

"Why under the eight heavens not?" Inuyasha demanded, heatedly.

"I swore an oath. To both monk and priestess, and on my grandfather's grave, that I would say naught of myself. A holy oath that binds me as surely as the beads around your neck, Inuyasha," he motioned to Kaede's handiwork, "binds you under someone who can wield the word of power."

Inuyasha touched the beads around his neck, a slight blush crossing his pale cheeks. Kaede put a hand over her mouth, at least trying to struggle against the smile that threatened to creep onto her old, weathered face. Lauren, on the other hand, just stood there with her head tilted to the side, confused about the meaning of it all.

"How do you know that about me? Something that only a Kaede and I know!"

Inutaisho smiled, "There is a lot that I know about you that you think is a secret."

Inuyasha paled.

Lauren cleared her throat, catching Inutaisho's gaze. She looked into his eyes, hesitating.

"I don't know what's going on about that!" she said pointing at Inuyasha in general. "But you told me your name. Isn't that considered to be breaking this 'holy' oath that you say you swore?" Lauren asked. Her eyes resting on Inutaisho like a fiery touch.

The boy shook his head and smiled broadly, his fangs coming into clear view.

"No, I was commanded by the one that gave me my task to tell you my name." His eyes twinkled with a mischievously brilliant gleam.

"The same way I was commanded to cast a spell over you. A spell designed to keep you from telling anyone else anything and everything I told I have told you. I cast it over you in the dark depths of the well."

Kaede's head had snapped up at the mention of a spell and glanced over Lauren. She seemed to be studying the girl as she circled around her. Kaede's eye widened and she looked up at Inutaisho to nod. A smile twisting her old lips as she motioned to the teenage girl.

"'Tis indeed a mightily spun spell and very finely made. Ye weave exceptionally well for one so young. This old eye nearly missed the subtle pulsing of the-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"What the hell!" Inuyasha drew Tetsusiga from it's leather sheath and turned towards where the sound was coming from. The other three on the lake's shore turned as one to where the shouting was getting louder and closer to them.

Suddenly a young man in purple and black monk's robes burst from the woods and into the lakeside meadow. A mob of young men and women from the village right behind him. The mob gave the impression that they were determined to catch the monk.

Inuyasha snorted loudly and sheathed his powerful blade. Kaede and the smiling Inutaisho just shook their heads. The pony-tailed monk was running as fast as he could with a long staff held above his head.

Lauren and Inuyasha could only watch with a morbid sense of curiosity. The amusing spectacle entertaining all four immensely.

The monk ran across the field and paused long enough to bow shortly to Kaede, panting as he did so.

"Morning, Mistress Kaede! Such a lovely day isn't it. I'm sorry but I can't stop to chat for long. I have got to be going! Good-bye!," he said pleasantly. He winked at Lauren and took off running again. The mob getting close enough that the group could now hear their fevered cries.

"Stop groping OUR women!"

"Pervert!"

"Flirt!"

The mob ran past them as if they weren't even there, following the monk around the lake's sandy edge. Kaede burst into laughter when the pursued monk turned to blow kisses to the prettiest girls in the mob. And succeed in getting rocks chucked back at his head.

"Who the hell was that?" Lauren asked.

She stared after the monk until he dived back into the trees of the forest. And she wondered why any 'monk' would wink at her, blow kisses, and be called a groping, flirtatious pervert.

Probably not a very good one! She thought.

Lauren decided then and there that, while the monk was sort of cute in a bad boy kind of way, he definitely was not her type.

"That, girl, was a monk named, Miroku. He's a traveling holy man that says he's on a quest. If they don't kill him, ye can meet him later. And I'll be warning ye now, never turn ye backside to him. Or ye'll be regretting it."

Lauren blinked at Kaede's warning.

Inuyasha, however, just snorted.

"And there is, after all, a very slim chance that they won't at the very least try to kill the blasted monk. Miroku just doesn't learn." Inuyasha said with a smirk.

Lauren stared at the white-haired teenager a moment. She then realized that she had seen his smirk before. It was the same smirk she had seen plaster to Inutaisho's face earlier.

She glanced over at the other boy and became conscious of the fact that he hadn't spoken for a while. He was just standing there, silently watching the other three. She noticed that Inuyasha was waiting for a response to his statement from her.

She just nodded.

Lauren felt a bead of sweat drip off of her nose. She was sweating heavily in her black woolen jacket, being way too warm for comfort. The summer sun was beating down with all it's might now. She only half listened as the other three continued to talk.

Lauren unzipped her jacket and pulled it off, tying the sleeves around her waist. She was glad that she had worn the black tank top now, instead of the long-sleeved turtle neck thing that her mother had told her to wear that morning.

It got quiet suddenly and Lauren looked up. Her eyes met golden-yellow ones and she realized that Inuyasha was blushing. She glanced over at Kaede and Inutaisho who were also staring at her as if she were out of her mind.

"What? It's just a tank top for Pete's sake!" Lauren started to get irritated as both Inuyasha and Inutaisho shifted from one foot to the other, trying to look anywhere but at her.

Lauren blushed furiously as it dawned on her what was wrong. To them it was like she had almost stripped naked in front of them. Kaede pulled something from her robe's pocket and held it out to Lauren.

It was a lightweight shawl-like piece of cloth the color of the noon-day sky. Lauren took it reluctantly and wrapped it around her shoulders. Kaede nodded with satisfaction before clearing her throat.

The two teenage boys looked more than a little relieved when they saw that Lauren now had a shawl. This made Lauren blush a little brighter.

"Now. Since we've gotten more than a little off the main topic, I suggest we go back," Inuyasha stated gruffly.

"Aye. Why are ye two here?"

Lauren opened her mouth, but before she could say a single word Inutaisho stepped in front of her. Efficiently cutting her off.

"I'm here solely to declare that I've completed my mission. I have now delivered this girl into your hands. With Lord Inuyasha destined to protect her, I am obliged to return to where I belong, to return to my own home."

Kaede nodded, Inutaisho bowing low before her.

"Wait! WHAT!?! You kidnapped me from my school, not that I mind that so much, and brought me to somewhere I've never been before, and now you're going to leave me with and under the protection of two people I've never met before. And who I know absolutely NOTHING ABOUT!?!"

Kaede and Inuyasha watched wide-eyed as Lauren paced back and forth. A vein on her forehead pulsing dangerously as she vented at the subdued red-headed teenage boy.

Inutaisho glanced over at Inuyasha and winked rakishly before stepping closer to the very pissed off Lauren. She paused her pacing as she saw the smile on his lips.

"Of course I will," he said nonchalantly. Lauren took a deep breath, getting ready to scream at him again. He reached for her hand, pulling her into his strong arms.

Lauren's face caught on fire, her heart beating wildly and her eyes widening in shock. The boy's arms tightened around her and his lips brushed against her cheek.

Inuyasha's jaw dropped and his ribs seemed to tighten within his chest. He suddenly felt the urge to use his blade, but clenched his fists instead. Besides he didn't even know the girl's name yet.

Kaede chocked back a chuckle at Inuyasha's expression.

Lauren was wondering if she should push away or say something when Inutaisho finally spoke again.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. And I've completed the task set to me by you. Good-bye, Mother."

TBC. . .