Disclaimer: You all know what's supposed to go here...at least I hope you do. If you don't, I'm just saying that I do not own Inuyasha or anything about it except for my original character(s). :) So HA! You cannot sue me! Hahahahaha!

A/N: I'm sorry if some of you aren't really all that thrilled with Original Characters (I'm not really, myself) but I'm adding a new OC to the mix. I made her up a while back. She's supposed to be the older, long-forgotten sister of Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. If you all want, I'll post something that explains the history and origins of my OCs. If you're not thrilled with the ideas of the OCs, just please bare with me because I'm not focusing the fic on them. Please Enjoy!

:SWITCHED:

Chapter Five

The day passed on slowly for the Inuyasha crew and Kaede wasn't going to be back from the neighboring village for at least a day or two, so they were left in charge of the village. Inuyasha was still sulking around, but he was smart enough to stay close to the village in case danger aroused. He despised the need to depend on others, but Kagome was pretty strong, right? Inuyasha scoffed at that idea and looked up from the ground for the first time since he began wandering. He didn't feel much surprise when he found himself at the site of the old Bone Eaters well that transports Kagome between her time in the future and feudal Japan. Inuyasha gazed at the old wooden well with somber eyes and moodily knelt down before it, running his hand along the weather-worn wood. Inuyasha spent long minutes in front of the well, just staring at it as he slowly sifted through old memories that he had acquired since Kagome summoned him from the tree. A variety of emotions played across his face as he watched each memory, happiness, confusion, anger, sorrow, and other unreadable emotions.

Inuyasha sat there for over an hour. As he leaned against the old well a ray of warm sunlight bathed him and he soon found himself beginning to doze. His eyelids lazily began to droop over his new chocolate eyes and the lush green forest sprinkled with a dusty, golden sunlight melted together into one big painting. In his half conscious state Inuyasha could swear that he heard voices from the forest, softly singing and humming to him a lullaby. It was a beautiful arrangement of perfectly pitched choirs and soft stringed orchestras with the occasional solos and trios from woodwinds and brass here and there. Lost in the forest's enchanting serenade, Inuyasha fell into light slumber with the warm sunlight washing over his face and body.

Nearby, Uraiz stood partially concealed by thickets and leafy, low hanging braches. She watched Inuyasha with an unreadable expression in her dark green eyes. Her eyelids met as she slowly closed her eyes and smirked.

"Yumeko, I think that you've overdone it this time," the black vixen said and slightly twitched her dull, silver tipped tail.

As she spoke another demon walked out from behind some other older trees and bushes farther behind Uraiz. She looked stunningly alike to Sesshomaru, minus the blue crescent moon adorned on his forehead. She pulled a small twig from her hair that was ensnared in her long braid and flicked it aside. Her golden eyes flashed as she directed her dancing golden orbs toward Uraiz and smiled humorously.

"Come now, it isn't my fault that I'm always caught by the forest's song," her voice was light and was similar to Uraiz's voice, every word that spilled from her lips resembled a soft melody.

"You weren't exactly supposed to send him into sleep," Uraiz pointed out and quietly chuckled. "Next time you manipulate the forest make sure to keep him awake."

Yumeko smiled and averted her gaze to the sleeping form of Kagome. After a moment she turned back to her friend and said, "You want me to wake him up?"

"No," Uraiz said thoughtfully and paused. "I think that maybe...we should invade his dreams to get the message to him. But we must act swiftly."

The female dog demon seemed briefly hesitant but agreed with a nod and summoned her powers to link their minds to Inuyasha's blissfully slumbering mind. Since Inuyasha was in a human body there wasn't much of a barrier protecting his mind. Suddenly his subconscious was aroused and he tiredly made an effort to blink away the fog clouding his vision. When he succeeded, his eyes wandered over the setting. He was no longer in the forest, but similar to the place where he and Kagome met the nothing woman Sesshomaru controlled and fooled him into thinking that it was his mother. All the colors of the serene landscape had a soft glow and the colors were light. The atmosphere was hazy and everything was dream like, well...it was a dreamscape so...what can you expect?

"Inuyasha," a familiar voice floated through the hazy air and danced around Inuyasha's ears. Inuyasha's body became stiff and breath was suspended in his throat. He began to cautiously to turn around and his mind was fiercely searching for a face to go with the voice.

'I know I heard that voice somewhere before!' Inuyasha thought rapidly as he turned to face the owner of the voice. His eyes widened as they locked with a pair of green eyes and with a pair of golden eyes. Memories of his encounter with Uraiz suddenly flooded back to him. For a few dreadful moments Inuyasha panicked, for what reason he did not know.

"You!" Inuyasha gasped and stumbled backwards. "It's you!"

"I'm glad that you've remembered me," came her honest reply and stared intently at Inuyasha as his unexplainable panic transformed into anger.

"You're the one who switched mine and Kagome's souls!" Inuyasha shouted and pointed an accusing finger at Uraiz and instinctively reached for his Tetsusaiga, but he was greatly saddened and terrified when he found it was missing from his hip. Something was odd but he ignored it He tried to mask his face and glared at the two demons. "I don't know what you did, but you better change us back!"

"Inuyasha, I ask for your forgiveness," Uraiz said and dipped her head slightly. "I was just following Naraku's orders."

"So you DO work for Naraku! Why did that bastard want you to force my soul to switch bodies with Kagome?" Inuyasha interrupted and demanded.

"It's not like that!" Uraiz suddenly shouted forcefully. Inuyasha wavered under her glare. The other demon also stared at him with intensity.

"There isn't much time for us to tell you everything right now, but we will return later. We will visit both you and Kagome privately tonight when the rest of the village is lost in slumber. Then I will justify my actions to you and inform you of my plight," Uraiz explained, gradually calming.

Inuyasha was confused non-the-less, but nodded dumbly. He looked down at his feet, but was shocked when he saw that he had his body back. His eyes widened in disbelief and he inspected himself. Then he reached for his Tetsusaiga, but it still wasn't there. The confusion continued to pile up and his brain was feeling the effects of the pressure. He looked up to the two demonesses.

"What's going on? Where's my Tetsusaiga?" Inuyasha asked Uraiz with a calmness that surprised even him. All he got in return was a shrug from Uraiz.

"No one is able to easily control or explain the things that happen in the dream realm," Yumeko explained.

Inuyasha stared at her in bafflement and before he could press them further the landscape started to fade, as did the two demons. He slowly began to drift back into his slumber with Uraiz's voice echoing in his ears.

"We'll be back later tonight"

Then Inuyasha drifted into a confused slumber.

Later that same day, Kagome was strolling through the village, asking and looking around for Inuyasha. Finally she came across an old man tending to the field and chatting with a traveling merchant. Kagome had to ask for 'Kagome' because the villagers did not know of the situation between her and Inuyasha. The old man kindly said that they saw Inuyasha walking past the field and they tried to call to him and say hello, but he was deep in thought. Kagome thanked the men and ran off. After a few minutes of running she stopped dead in her tracks and smacked a palm to her forehead.

"Why don't I just try to sniff him out?" Kagome said to herself. "It can't be that hard, can it?"

Kagome set around and tried to pick up a scent. Finally she found one that stood out from the others. It distinctly smelled like her herbal shampoo and Kagome knew that she had found him. She briskly jogged down the dirt path, venturing deeper and deeper into the lively forest. Soon Kagome found herself coming upon the site of the Bone Eater's well.

'Wow!' Kagome thought to herself. 'I sure got her a lot quicker in Inuyasha's half-demon body.'

Kagome walked into the clearing and found Inuyasha sleeping against the well. She smiled happily, glad that she had found him and that he was safe. Slowly she made her way to him, trying not to wake him up. When she neared him she realized something smelled weird. She couldn't describe it, but it smelled like two other people were just recently there. She brushed it off as another smell reached her nose. Inuyasha was starting to smell slightly of B.O. Kagome crouched in front of him and sighed.

'This is going to be a problem. My body really needs a bath before I really start to stink,' Kagome self consciously thought. 'But there's no way I'm going to let Inuyasha take a bath in my body!'

Kagome debated with herself and after a while decided that something had to be done. She was so into her little debate that she failed to notice Inuyasha wake up. His eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times. Inuyasha was shocked to see Kagome sitting in front of him and jumped slightly. He mentally cursed to himself to allowing himself to fall asleep in the forest, completely unprotected. Kagome looked up and smiled when she found him staring at her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, sneaking up on me," Inuyasha demanded flatly.

Kagome brushed aside his rude welcome and poked his shoulder, careful to make sure that the claws caused him no harm.

"Hey, we've got a small problem," Kagome announced.

Inuyasha became alert and looked at her with concern in his eyes, asking what was wrong. Kagome silenced him and spoke quietly, as if embarrassed.

"We need to take a bath," Kagome said plainly and tried to hide her blush.

Inuyasha stared at her in confusement and then his mind started to come up with other suggestions that may have been implied by that statement. His mind whirled and he cursed the fates who continuously rained confusion upon him.

"W - what?" he stuttered.

"We need to take a bath," Kagome repeated. "We're starting to stink and that presents a problem because I don't exactly want you to bathe in my body."

For some reason Inuyasha was slightly disappointed.

"Is that it?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome cocked her head to the side and arched an eyebrow.

"Nothing" Inuyasha said curtly and turned he gaze away from her.

"What?" Kagome demanded.

"It's nothing! I just don't understand why bathing is such a big deal to you," Inuyasha grumbled.

"It's a big deal," Kagome explained. "How much would you like it if I took a bath and I had the opportunity to completely trash your modesty and see you in the buff?"

Inuyasha blushed and looked up at Kagome.

"Would you take the opportunity?" Inuyasha questioned sheepishly.

Kagome's cheeks suddenly began to burn with such intensity that she felt light headed. The question burned in her mind. Would she take the opportunity? Her mind screamed 'Eww! No way!' but part of her meekly said, 'Sure, why not?' Kagome was lost in her thoughts, as was Inuyasha. Before long they both addressed the matter once again. Something had to be done.

"Okay, here's an idea," Kagome said hopefully, but still blushed. "How about we take a bath together?"

Inuyasha nearly fell over.

"W-w-w..." he couldn't even say 'what' because the proposal shocked him so much.

"I know it isn't the best option in the world, but what else can we do?" Kagome asked shyly.

Inuyasha thought about this for a few moments and realized that it probably was the only thing they could do.

"But why together?" Inuyasha asked sheepishly. Kagome sucked some breath in, her blush still wasn't fading.

"Well...I figure that if we only concentrate on our own bodies then we can both get our bodies clean and keep what modesty we have left safe," then she added. "Besides, we'll be doing it as friends."

That was partially true.

"Yeah, I guess. Besides, it's not like we would do anything under these circumstances. Hell, like we'd do anything at all!" Inuyasha crossed his arms, regaining his composure.

Kagome oddly felt slightly disappointed by his words. They were true, she supposed. She stared at him for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going through his head.

Skipping to the bath scene

Inuyasha and Kagome walked out of the village together in the direction of the hot springs. Kagome had explained the situation to Sango, whom was sympathetic and understood their problem so didn't ask any questions of where Inuyasha and Kagome were going. Miroku, on the other hand, was uninformed and suspiciously asked the duo where they were heading off to.

"Hey you two, where are you off to? That's the direction of the hot springs, you're not planning on bathing together are you?" the lecherous monk asked slyly. Then he beamed brightly and cheered for Inuyasha. "Whoo! Inuyasha, you really are a dog, aren't you? Enjoy yourself!"

Inuyasha hurled a fairly large stone at Miroku's head, even in Kagome's body. Kagome's jaw fell slack and she stared at Miroku in disbelief.

"You perverted idiot! I've got two things to say to you," Inuyasha growled dangerously. "Why the hell would we do that under this damn curse and why the hell would we do that in the first place?"

"Eh he he, well...You and Lady Kagome sure do act like you two lik-" Sango's hand flew his mouth and she chuckled and she pinched his nose as well and began to cut off his air supply.

"Um, why don't you two just get going and get it done as quickly as possible? I'll deal with Miroku," Sango glared daggers at the monk who was quickly turning blue in the face and dragged him into the hut.

Inuyasha and Kagome shrugged and walked to the hot springs in an awkward silence. Soon they turned their backs to each other, undressed, tried not to look down at their bodies, and slipped into the steamy water. They bashfully made their way over to each other and it was a few moments before Kagome quickly grabbed her supplies and handed Inuyasha a washcloth.

"Just think of it as washing yourself, in a...erm...slightly different manner." Kagome said and put soap on the washcloth. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and followed the same procedure. After a few strange moments with a few short conversations here and there. Kagome instructed to turn around so she could wash his back and noticed that he seemed lost in thought.

"Inuyasha, are you okay?" she asked with concern.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha paused.

"What?" Kagome's concern grew.

"That demoness Uraiz paid me another visit today, but this time there was another demon with her," Inuyasha explained the whole event and Kagome listened intently as she began to wash his hair. After they were both finished bathing each other they just sat down in the water, only their shoulders and necks were exposed to the evening air. They sat in the steamy water for quite a while, talking about the encounter.

"They're coming back tonight?" Kagome asked.

"All they said was that they were going to come back when everyone was asleep," Inuyasha said and stared up at the sky, watching the dark blue overtake the bright orange of the setting sun. Both were silent for a few more minutes before they decided to get dressed and walk back to the hut. When they arrived they found Sango curled up with Shippo and Kirara. Miroku was tied hand and foot and had bumps all over him. Most likely being perverted and lecherous, nothing new.

And so, they awaited the visit of the two demonesses. The night passed slowly and before long both Inuyasha and Kagome nodded off into a slumber. On the roof of the hut Yumeko and Uraiz sat and were patiently waiting to make sure that they were asleep. Soon enough, Yumeko summoned her demonic powers and linked their minds to Kagome's and Inuyasha's.

A/N: Hey everyone, thanks for the reviews and replies to my e-mail. I can't really type much because we had a snow day today and I've been on the computer ever since this morning and it is now almost 3 in the afternoon and my sister is complaining like the little wench she is. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter and thank you so much for reviewing. Oh yea, that reminds me...Review for this chapter as well! SMILE Good bye, my lovely reviewers!

Krissy119