SWITCHING ROLES
By Kurozuki Sakigake
Chapter 1- The Usual Problem and the Fates's Problem
The sky was a beautiful clear and cloudless blue. The birds and wildlife were all milling about and full of life. The afternoon sun was high and at a pleasant temperature. The day was prefect. Nothing could go wrong.
"SIT!"
Or not.
"I'm going home and that's final!" yelled a voice of a girl none too happy.
In a clearing some few yards away stood; one old well, three humans, two small demons, and one large crater containing what looked to resemble a silver haired hanyou. The young girl who had yelled out 'sit', stood impatiently and angrily dressed in a green and white sailor uniform. Her hands fisted at her sides with a huge yellow backpack slung over her shoulders.
"I told you once and I'll tell you again, Inuyasha," Kagome bit out slowly, "I have to go home to restock on supplies and take a really important Math test!" 'Even though I totally hate math and stink at it.' Kagome thought unhappily to herself.
Said hanyou, crawled irritably out of the crater with golden eyes narrowed in anger before yelling back, "I said you ain't goin' back, you stupid wench! Is your brain broken or something?"
Inuyasha huffed in anger while sitting crossed legged and crossed armed on the ground. His head turned up arrogantly and to the side while peering at Kagome through one golden and slightly slitted eye. A scowl clearly marked on his tanned features.
"Inuyasha," Kagome said dangerously.
Inuyasha's ears instantly flatted.
"Sit boy."
SLAM
"Inuyasha," Kagome sighed irritably, " I'll just be going home for two or three days at most, alright? I swear I'll come back by then. You have to promise me that you won't cross over and try to bring me back, okay? " And at that, she waited for an answer.
Silence greeted her question.
When she didn't hear a forthcoming answer, she sighed 'sit' and stared at the hanyou sized crater. Kagome sighed again, while crossing her arms, and thought, 'When will he ever learn?' However, before she could continue on her thoughts, a voice interrupted her.
"Um, Kagome-chan?" Sango asked to her slightly brooding friend, "Why don't you just leave right now? Since Inuyasha is out cold, Houshi-sama and I could keep an eye on him. I promise we won't let him get out of our sights."
"Yes, rest assured Kagome-sama; Inuyasha will not be out of our sights. Isn't that right Sango?" Miroku added in while scooting closer to Sango.
SMACK
"Hentai!"
"Why my dear Sango, why ever did you hit me for? I was merely trying to dust away some dirt that was clinging so persistently to yourself." Miroku stated innocently while sporting a fairly large red handprint on his left cheek.
"Humph!" was all that Sango could reply while turning beat red.
'Those two...' Kagome thought merrily.
"Yeah Kagome! We won't let Inuyasha get a hundred feet of the well!" Shippou added in cheerfully, completely ignoring Miroku's usual lecherous ways.
Kagome stared thoughtfully at her friends for a moment before replying. "You know, that sounds like a good plan you guys. But, try to be extra careful this time. I have a feeling that he may be sneakier than last time." She gave a pointed look at Shippou.
"But Kagome," Shippou whined, "how was I supposed ta' know he was lyin' when he said he had a stash of chocolate?" Shippou pouted cutely with huge puppy dog eyes complete with the quivering lower lip.
'Oh no, Shippou,' Kagome thought to herself, 'that's not gonna work on me this time!' But before Kagome could say something back, Shippou topped it off with an adorable twitch of his tail and slight watering of his eyes. Kagome gave in. 'Awwww.'
"It wasn't all your fault Shippou." Kagome said gently, "Inuyasha was just being trickier than usual, that's all."
"So, you don't blame me for it?" Shippou asked innocently from under his lashes.
"No, not at all." Kagome replied with an ironic smile while shaking her head at his childish ways. And at herself for falling for them.
Shippou smiled happily and launched himself at Kagome, nearly blowing her over from the impact alone. He automatically attached his arms around her neck giving it a tight squeeze.
"So does that mean you'll get me some chocolate when you come back?" Shippou asked hopefully with small stars in his eyes.
Kagome couldn't help but giggle at the question she knew he would ask. "Of course Shippou! Well, that is if you can handle Inuyasha while I'm gone." Kagome added in thoughtfully.
"Don't worry! You just go and do your test-thingy and have a good time! Don't even think about Inuyasha at all! " Shippou answered sternly.
"If you say so Shippou, if you say so," Kagome murmured to him.
Kagome put Shippou down and faced her other two friends.
It seemed that while Kagome was talking to Shippou, Miroku had managed to get himself slapped two more times. And it looked to her that Sango was just about to unleash her hiraikotsu on the thick headed monk.
Kirara looked disapprovingly at her master and the monk. That is, if the little fire neko could look disapprovingly.
Before Sango could unleash her hiraikotsu, Kagome called out to her.
"Sango! I think that's enough punishment for Miroku right now!"
Sango stopped mid-throw and turned toward Kagome's voice. "Kagome-chan?" Sango questioned as she absently reattached the hiraikotsu to her back, "I thought you left already. You should get going before Inuyasha recovers."
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE WENCH!"
"Or perhaps I spoke too soon?" Sango spoke with a tilt of her head.
"I SAID YOU AIN'T GOIN' ANYWHERE YOU WENCH, AND I MEAN IT! WE HAVE SHARDS TO FIND AND NARAKU TOO!"
Kagome buried her face in her hands for a moment before looking back up and glaring at Inuyasha.
"SIT! Do you know how long I've been away from home! I'll tell you! FOUR WEEKS AND TWO DAYS! My family probably thinks I'm dead by now! You and your stupid little tip about Naraku being up North! And guess what? You where WRONG! We gallivanted all over Northern Japan just to get another tip that Naraku is in the South! Then we traipsed from the North to the South only to find he isn't there either! Well, you know what! I'm going home to assure my family that I'm not dead and won't be dying any time soon! And let's not forget! Sit, SIt, SIT! Stop calling me a 'wench' already! I would think after two years of traveling together, you would at least learn and use my name!" Kagome vented out angrily, her face flushed a bright pink.
"Kagome is scary like this." Shippou whispered to Miroku and Sango who both nodded slowly in agreement.
" I'm sorry Inuyasha, but screaming and sitting you seems to be the only way to get my point across." Kagome spoke after calming down, "And just so you know, I've decided to stay home for four days. Remember, don't come for me unless it's an emergency. And no, you wanting ramen is NOT an emergency."
Kagome turned on her heals, gave a 'goodbye' and hung to everyone in the group, which included slapping Miroku for groping her, and proceeded to jump down the well.
After the moment Kagome lept down the well, Miroku turned to Shippou with his most innocent face. He regarded the kit for a second before speaking.
"So... Shippou... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Shippou looked questioningly at the houshi, but grinned evilly when he noticed Miroku's pointed look at the lightly twitching form of the hanyou.
"I am if you are," Shippou spoke in cheeriness, "if it happens to be about a certain hanyou, my kitsune magic, and your ofudas."
"Why Shippou!" Miroku exclaimed in shocked tones, "How do you think I, a humble servant of Buddha, would think such a thing!" He considered the kit before slyly smirking. "Ah, but it seems that we do seem to be thinking alike."
Both strolled over to the Inuyasha sized hole, wearing overly cheerful faces and calling out in overly cheerful voices, "Oh Inuyasha!"
Sango looked shamefully at the two before crossing her arms and mumbling, exasperated, "Males."
Inuyasha never knew what hit him.
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"OUCH! Stupid thorns! How do mortals survive like this!" yelled a female youkai entangled in a unbelievably large thorn bush.
"Come on! You're a demon for crying out loud! Tear your way out of it! And to add salt to the wound, HOW COULD YOU NOT SEE THE FREAKING BUSH!" raged a livid, and lightly amused, male youkai a few meters from the female.
"Well, I just didn't see the bush." The female youkai growled lowly, but before the male could interrupt, the female continued. "Why? you may you ask? Oh, I can answer that. BECAUSE IT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE YOU FUCKING UNSEEING UNABLE!"
The male was too shocked at the outburst from the female to notice the thorny vine creeping around his ankle. Before the male could react, the female let out a wail of a scream at the same moment multiple vines shot around his ankles and began hauling him towards the wailing female.
"NOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE IN THIS YOUKAI AND ALMOST IMMORTAL BODY! I HAVEN'T EVEN LIVED SIX HUNDRED YEARS YET! NOOOO!" wailed the female pathetically.
The male youkai only rolled his eyes at being dragged towards the bush and the blubbering female. 'Will she ever shut up! Kami! I think I'm going to lose my hearing! And there is no freakin' way am I going to die in this mortal youkai body to a freakin' POSSESSED THORN BUSH!' And with that last thought, the male youkai began slashing his way thought the vines.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
The 'thorn bush' let out a squeal at every vine slashed away by the male youkai. It thrashed and sent more vines to capture the youkai who was evading the attacks by a hair's breadth .
"OCHIBA!" yelled the male youkai, "Get your hands free and claw this weed at it's roots! And stop wailing! It's pathetic just to think about it!"
The Ochiba, the female youkai, finally stopped wailing with a look of being highly offended. With a growl of repressed anger, Ochiba tore through her vine restraints and plunged her claws into the heart of the bush.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
The bush thrashed and thrashed in pain or anger, the male youkai didn't know. It's limbs flailed in every which direction smacking, hitting, and snapping everything in reach. 'Damnit!' Thought the male youkai, 'At this rate, every demon in the vicinity will be wondering what's going on! Grrrrrrrrr!' He dodged another flailing limb aiming for his head when a thought came to him. 'Ochiba! I need Ochiba!'
"OCHIBA! De root that weed and chuck it towards me!" He yelled out.
Without second thought, Ochiba de rooted the bush and sent it flying towards the male youkai with all her strength. A second later the bush burst into flames and crashed into the ground still writhing and wailing in pain.
Ochiba plopped herself on the ground while the male youkai landed near her. He observed the 'bond fire' of the bush before turning his gaze towards his companion. Ochiba looked a little worse for ware. Since changing into a youkai, Ochiba changed her hair color to dark blue and her eye color to pale green with slitted pupils. On her head, she had two triangular ears and a long tail the deemed her to a be neko youkai. She had on a simple white gi with a pair of black hakamas that where slightly dirtied and torn with a pair of black leather boots.
'All in all, she doesn't look all that bad.' the youkai thought to himself.
Ochiba looked from her place on the ground to her companion to find him studying her. She gave him a once-over before saying, exasperated, "Why don't you just stop with the 'I-must-check-if-she-is-alright' thing. And dang it Kessho, do you always have to ruin your clothes fifteen minutes after you get them?"
Kessho looked skeptically at her before glancing at himself. His dark grey gi was heavily covered in dirt when he was dragged and soot from his fire attack on the monstrous bush. Kessho was also quite sure the rest of him didn't look any better either. He conjured a mirror and took in further account of his appearance. He had changed his hair to burgundy with streaks of red and orange weaved though out and jewel like emerald eyes. His ears where elfin pointed and he had a bushy tail of burgundy-brown tipped with cream. Kessho didn't look all that bad of a kitsune youkai, but he had smears of soot and grime on his face, his hair and tail that kept him from looking presentable in any way.
"Well at least I actually fought instead of wailing that they where going to die like somebody I know." remarked Kessho sardonically.
"Hey!" Ochiba yelled indignantly, "Well at least I saw that demon bush unlike somebody who totally bypassed the thing!"
"And your point Ochiba? If we had bypassed that nutty demon bush, we wouldn't be looking as we do now would we?" Kessho delivered back smartly.
"Hey! Like I said before, that bush came out of nowhere! I can't help it if it just jumped out at me like that!" cried Ochiba.
"Really now?" replied Kessho sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, "I should believe this from a female who just happened to, if I remember correctly, trip on the hem of her robe just awhile ago?"
"Those robes are really long and dangerous sometimes you know! And hey! That marble flooring is really slick and you could slip on it real easily too!" Ochiba shrieked nastily while crossing her arms.
Kessho took a moment to gather himself up before leaning down to Ochiba's level and replying with a glare, "One; if your robes are really that long and dangerous, get a tailor. Two; if the floor is really that slick, wear shoes with traction. And three; if you are done arguing with me, we have an initiation to complete."
Ochiba's reaction was so priceless, Kessho almost lost his will to keep his glare instead of laughing out right in her face. Ochiba had her face frozen in such absolute flabbergasted shock, that her eyes were the size of saucers and that her mouth had to be unhinged to be reaching her knees. Though the more Kessho thought about it, the more he could understand her shock.
Kessho, in every way that he was, was not the type to ever have a hold over Ochiba. Where she was serious, he was the one who would lay back. Where Ochiba was direct in command and opinion, Kessho was variable and was one to skirt around subjects. 'It seems the tables have turned,' Kessho thought pensively. 'She seems to be rubbing off on me. Hm... I have got to get away from her. This cannot be healthy for me.'
It was then that Kessho and Ochiba, who had just come out of her shock and Kessho out of his ponderings, realized something in that moment.
The forest was eerily silent.
Ochiba and Kessho shared a look of complete understanding for a moment before they made their decision.
They seemed to evaporate into thin air. Any indication that they had been in the clearing had just disappeared, save for the remains of the charred demon bush and the remains of the ruined plant life.
A figure in a kimono of white and red descended into the clearing just seconds after.
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He landed into the clearing with his usual grace in all the things he did. Yellow-golden eyes took everything into account impassively.
A few minutes ago, he had felt the rush of youki (that suggested an attack of a demon) while patrolling his borders. Normally, he would think nothing of it. It was quite normal to feel spurts of youki and he would normally not find the source if it was weak. But this attack... This attack was fairly powerful with a hint of something that did not entirely suggest it was all youki. And so, with a second of consideration, he decided to locate the cause.
And here it had taken him to this clearing. Or, what it had appeared to him; a newly made clearing.
The clearing itself was roughly 50-70 yards in diameter and nearly in the shape of a circle. Several large trees that had been rooted in the near most center had been de-rooted and thrown about the area and the surrounding forest. Several other trees had simply been hacked to pieces and their roots had remained intact. The soil, undergrowth and other vegetation didn't look much better. And situated in the outer edges of the clearing towards the sun, was the still slightly smoldering remains of a considerably large bush. 'A demon bush if I scent it correctly...' thought the youkai to himself.
He strode over to the bush to examine it, while stepping over destroyed foliage in the process. He stood regarding the remains while, at the same time, taking a few breaths into his olfactory senses to be processed. 'Hmmm...' considered the youkai for a moment. 'It does indeed seem to be a demon bush of a reasonably high level and it seems that it has also been ignited by fox-fire not long ago. Though, I cannot register if it had been male, female or any other that I know of. It seems that this youkai is powerful enough to mask their scent and partially their youki as well...'
The youkai raised his head slightly and looked about the clearing for any sign of the youkai. His long moon blue hair of mid-thigh, ruffled lightly on the faint breeze. In the corner of his eyesight, the youkai spotted two sets of prints marked in the dirt. He walked over and inspected them before determining that the prints where separate and also male and female. 'It seems that I will have to be watchful for a pair of new youkai in my lands...' he thought before making his leave. Though before exiting the clearing, his ears twitched at the faint rustle of leaves above him.
He stopped for a moment to listen for any other sound before he took notice of another faint noise. His yellow-golden eyes briefly flickered in amusement. His face was emotionless as he spoke seemingly to no one in a disinterested tone, "The next time you and your companion decide to destroy a demon in my lands, consider eradicating it completely." He continued to walk away while throwing back nonchalantly over his shoulder, "Also consider improving your sealing spells. The next time I hear your hearts beating, this Sesshomaru won't be so liberal as to let you survive." And with those words, he disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
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The two figures of Ochiba and Kessho, that were hidden in the canopy of the trees, stared at each other in mirrored shocked silence. They then turned their attention below them to the exact spot that Sesshomaru, the Taiyoukai of the Western lands, had stood just moments before. They once again turned to stare at each other in shocked silence.
After a few moments, Ochiba spoke in a dazed tone with her eyes wide and hand shaking as it rose towards her mouth, "He actually penetrated the sealing spell. He knew we were here. Oh kami..."
"You know," Kessho started out thoughtfully later with his fingers slightly stroking his chin and eyes slightly perplexed, "he's really prettier in person than he is through the Seeing Well... Huh, go figure."
And with that, Ochiba promptly fell out of the tree with Kessho asking in bewildered tones, "What? Did I say something wrong?"
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KS: Heh heh. Um, gomen nasai (bows) I couldn't update earlier. The characters just don't want to cooperate with me. Especially a certain moon blue haired Taiyoukai...
Sesshomaru: (sneakily gets behind KS) What did you say KS?
KS: Se-Sesshomaru! Oh, nothing at all! So! Um... How 'bout you get yourself ready for the next chapter, huh? I promise to get you in longer in the next chapter...
(Sesshomaru gives KS an impassive look before following it up with a glare then walking back to his dressing room.)
KS: Holly Hell was that close...
Kessho: Hey, KS? What's moon blue hair?
(Rest of cast slaps palms to foreheads)
Ochiba: You really don't know?(Kessho nods) Well, um, moon blue hair is Sesshomaru's hair color for one. And I guess it's like silvery-white with a tint of light blue... I think...
Kessho: Oh.
Inuyasha: Feh! Even I knew that!
Kagome: Now Inuyasha! Don't be mean to him!
KS: That's right! Though I could/should have made Kessho blonde... Well, can't change anything now! Bye now and please review!
Next Chapter -
Things don't seem to be getting along with Ochiba and Kessho in their 'mortal' youkai bodies. Who thought those bodies were a good idea anyways? But on the bright side; Kagome has come back to Sengoku Jidai and Sesshomaru seems to be close to the area... Will Kessho and Ochiba finally be able to get the chance to at least start their initiation?
Chapter Two: More Problems and the Switch