Chapter Five
The figure before Inu Yasha walked into the shrine and up to the well where Inu Yasha had one leg swung over it's end, foot on the roped ladder.
"What now?" he grumbled under his breath.
"You! Demon! What have you done to Kagome?" the figure demanded and held up a the end of a wooden rod to Inu Yasha's face.
Inu Yasha stared at the figure in disbelief. 'Wha...? Who is this person and how does he or she know about me being in Kagome's body?'
"Answer me, demon! What have you done to my daughter?"
'Daughter...?' Inu Yasha blinked. "What a second..." He squinted in the shadows. The figure before him became familiar.
"Ek! You're Kagome's mom!" Inu Yasha realized almost falling in the well. "But..." He then noticed that the rod held before him had strips of material hanging from it's end.
"A mop?" Inu Yasha would have laughed if Kagome's mom didn't have such a threatening and chilling look in her eyes. 'Oh boy...But how does she know? Did Souta tell him? Why would he?'
At that moment Souta's voice echoed in the air. "Mom! Mom! Wait!" he said between breaths giving away the fact that he was running. He came to a halt by the open doors, bending over to catch his breath.
"Be careful Souta!" His mom said grasping the mop tighter. "Some demon had entered your sister's body. Stay back!"
Souta lifted his head and straightened up. "I know mom. That's what I came to tell you."
'Wait...' Inu Yasha thought. 'Kagome's mom had no idea that Souta also knows about what's going on. Did she figure this out all on her own? Talk about mother daughter bond. I never knew Kagome's mom could be so scary...'
"It's Inu Yasha, mom!" Souta called out.
Kagome's mom eased and looked at Kagome. She then brightened and her usual warm smile visited her lips. "Ah I see now. Any other demon would have probably killed off your sister by now."
Inu Yasha was taken back by her words, his eye twitching. 'Such a comforting thing to say...'
"But mom, how did you know?" Souta came running up to the well and stood next to his mother.
She looked down at him and smiled. "It was a mother's intuition to her children. Kagome was acting a bit...different. I just sensed something was wrong and confronted it."
'Confronted it!' Inu Yasha couldn't believe how different Kagome's mother's words were now that she had calmed down. 'She would have found a way to kill me with that mop to save her daughter! That's it! No more! I'm outta here!'
Inu Yasha swung his other leg over and secured it on the ladder. "Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm off. I've gotta find a way to fix this. Later!" He then dropped himself, Tessiaga in hand to the bottom of the well.
Souta leaned over and waved. "Take care!" Kagome's mom just smiled.
"Are you sure?" Kagome asked.
"Aye, I heard he be in the second village north of here. But I can not guarantee you that what I heard is the truth," Kaede said.
"But it's worth it. Besides it's not far from here. Thank you, Kaede. I'll tell the others," Kagome ran off and left Kaede standing by her hut.
"Did thou hear my words, demons?" Kaede said to the trees that loomed by. They swayed in response though there was no wind.
Kikyo suddenly emerged and stood before her sister.
"Does thou also wish to accompany Kagome and the rest?" Kaede asked her undead sister.
"No, and although Naraku and Sesshomaru did hear your words, neither do they. They do not wish to act in such conditions." Kikyo lips slithered into one of her sly grins, giving the child body of hers a menacing appearance. "Hardly the 'dangerous' demons they claim to be."
"Sister, once this demon has been found, thee can finally rest-"
"No!" Kikyo scowled, further twisting the innocence that Rin's face used to possess. "I shall not rest until Inu Yasha is dead and in hell with me. This situation, once out of the way, will not stop me." She turned and returned to the shadows that she had earlier seeped through.
Kaede sighed. "Even through the body of a child, thou's nature is true to its cold self, sister. But even so, this situation does also confine thee from thou's fulfilment. No different than the demons I am afraid."
Sango sat in front of Kagome, accompanied by Shippo and Miroku.
"Well, do you guys want to go?" Kagome asked.
"Of course!" all three of them exclaimed at the same time almost causing Kagome to fall down from the boulder she sat on.
"Alright then, we can leave tomorrow morning, that way we can give Inu Yasha another day to arrive. I'm sure he would want to go too."
Kirara, who was comfortably laying on Sango's lap, showing her awareness of the situation, sniffed the air with a raised head. Leaping from Sango's lap, a high-pitched 'meow' escaped from her throat.
Sango, mimicking Kirara's action also sniffed the air. "I can smell Kagome's scent."
Inu Yasha soon came into view, sword in hand.
"Inu Yasha!" Kagome exclaimed, followed by greetings from everyone else.
"How was your trip to Kagome's era?" Miroku asked.
Immediately, a dark shadow cast over Inu Yasha. The black waves of horror almost seemed to be visible, radiating from his body. A slight twitch formed in his left eyebrow. "I rather not talk about that..."
"Oh...Okay..." Miroku said in a small, frightened voice from the bush he and the rest had backed up to.
"Either way, you arrived with great timing," Kagome said. "Tomorrow we're leaving to the village north of here. Kaede told me there we might find some help with our situation."
"Is it far?" Inu Yasha asked.
"No, I don't think so."
"Then what are we waiting for? If we leave now, we'll be able to make it before nightfall." Even before those words left Inu Yasha lips, he began his pace northward.
Inu Yasha's words ran true...to an extent. They arrived in the village in less than an hour but not because they began their journey as soon as Inu Yasha began but because they rode Kirara over to the village, clearly the intelligent thing to do.
It was past mid day and the village's streets were full of people. In fact there was so much activity present, most of the villagers paid little attention to Sango, who was in Inu Yasha's half demon body.
"Oh! So many beautiful women!" Miroku cried out. "Why was I cursed to be in this woman's body? Why? Even being Naraku's body would be better than this monstrosity!"
"Monk!" Sango turned towards Miroku.
Immediately he turned to run but was soon caught by Sango, using the amazing speed Inu Yasha's body supplies. She picked up the squirming monk by his shirt, failing to realize it was her own clothes the claws were digging into.
"Now, now Sango! Be careful. Don't let Inu Yasha's temper be your own!" Miroku said, his feet off the ground.
"Hey!" Inu Yasha protested to Miroku's comment but his word went unheard.
Sango gripped the shirt tighter, further cutting the cloth into strips.
"Sango..." Miroku said in panic. "You're shirt..."
"I don't care Monk!"
RIP!
Miroku feel to the ground on his butt, a new hole in the garments he wore. Sango gazed in awed confusment at the cloth she now held in her hand.
Miroku glanced down to see the shirt, without the collar and shoulder pieces of it to hold it together, slowly slide down to his waist.
Both Sango and Miroku screamed, though for different reasons.
Sango quickly sprang to Miroku and lifted the shirt up to cover her body.
At this point, the busy villagers had gathered a circle around the demon slayer and monk.
"You there! Demon! What are you doing with your hands on that poor innocent woman's bosom?" demanded one of the male villagers.
"Ah!" Sango looked down to realize that he was right. In her desperate attempt conceal her body from Miroku, she did not realize her actions.
'Oh God!' she thought in horror. 'I'm groping myself!'
Sango blushed a furious red and released her grip, causing the shirt to fall again.
This time it was caught by Kagome who, along with Inu Yasha and Shippo finally managed to get through the crowd to aid their friends. She pinned up the shirt with the safety pins that were retrieved from her backpack.
"See there, demon? You should be more helpful like that young lady there!"
Kagome was then the one to develop a twitch on her eyebrow. 'Sure I'm really a girl, but can't they see this body is a guy's?'
"Alright you guys! Show's over! I'll take care of this! Come on go!" an older male villager emerged shooing the crowd away with his hands. When they dispersed he turned to Kagome and the rest and smiled. "Switched souls, eh?"
"How...How'd...?" they questioned.
"Just follow me," he said and placing his hands behind his back lead them to his small hut.
Surrounding the fire that was cooking the after mid-day meal, Kagome and the rest listened to the old man, whose name turned out to be Kenshin.
"Yeah, since I saw you walk in the village I could tell you were victims of that soul switching witch," he said.
"How is it that you know that?" Miroku asked.
"Once you experience it yourself, you can see it in the eyes of the victims."
"You too suffered from this demon's powers?" Sango questioned, surprised.
"Sure did. With my wife. Wasn't all that horrible. The only problem arose whenever I had to go to the bathroom. Kept on forgetting I was a woman..."
"Fascinating..." Inu Yasha spoke.
"But please," Kagome broke in. "If you suffered from this soul switching and are back to normal, that must mean you know the demon's real name. Can you please help us?"
"Yes! Please! We really need your help! We aren't the only ones effected by this curse!" Shippo pipped in.
Kenshin smiled. "Of course! Always glad to help the oncoming generation. Make them smarter so they won't screw up the soil we older generation worked so hard on."
Everyone relaxed into warm smiles.
"The demon's true name is Hokaje."
"Oh thank you so much!" Kagome spoke.
"Anytime. Always glad to assist a young lady!" Kenshin smiled.
"Uh...yeah...right..."
"Before you leave, you all can help yourselves to the stew boiling in the fire," Kenshin said and stood up. "Now if you don't mind, I'll be leaving. It's time for me to visit my wife's grave."
AHHHHHHHH! I AM SO SORRRRRYYYYYYYY! I haven't updated in centuries! so sorry! please forgive me! phew, now that we have that cleared and spring break is in session (oh yeah . ) I will for sure have updates on this story. There is only one thing I can think of to comment on this chapter...I can't remember if Kirara is a guy or a girl... what kind of Inu Yasha fan am I if I can't even recall such a fact! not a really good one who said that...well if you know, which you probably will...please drop me a line! Thank you for reading and leaving your reviews! Love them all! Please stay tuned.
NEXT CHAPTER: I've actually have it planned proving I will update soon! Kouga shows up on the trip back to Kaede's village. So how will he react towards this? And how will Inu Yasha react when Kouga tries to hold his hand, thinking he's Kagome? Don't miss it!