Okay, I admit, I do NOT own Inuyasha or any of the other characters!

Phew

It feels good to have that off my chest. Sighs in relief

Thanks to Night Kitsune for helping me with all of this! Oh, and she warns everyone not to read this while in algebra class! Or in any other, as it is distracting....well, at least to her. But hey, like we pay attention anyway.

Chapter 1: Thirsty?

They had been walking all day. They were all thirsty, but Miroku and Inuyasha were especially. Kind enough to share half their water with Sango and Kagome, they forgot about Shippo and Kirara. Surely the little fox and the cat deserved a little refreshment....Miroku and Inuyasha didn't fully agree when all the water was drank by them. Finally, after what seemed to be days under the sun, when it had only been three hours, they found shelter under the trees at last. Kagome, Sango, Shippo, and Kirara started to make camp in a forest opening, while Miroku and Inuyasha went to fill up the water bottles. After following Inuyasha's nose, they found a nice little fountain spring.

"It's about time!" Inuyasha shouted before gulping the clear liquid. Silently agreeing, Miroku followed suit. After fulfilling their thirst, they went back to camp, almost forgetting to refill the bottles. On the way back to camp, they began to feel funny and the water bottles seemed to get heavier. They were almost to the camp when Miroku tripped and fell on Inuyasha, spilling the bottles everywhere.

"Get off me you damned monk! What the hell are you trying to do anyway?!"

"Sorry Inuyasha. My foot got caught on some—"

Miroku stared at Inuyasha. Inuyasha stared at Miroku. Inuyasha could probably guess what Miroku tripped on, the bottom of his robes. Both his and Inuyasha's outfits were both too big. Mostly because they themselves had shrunk. They stood still, pointing at each other and opening their mouths to close them again, saying nothing.

"Are you sure you heard them Sango?" Kagome asked. She and Sango stepped through the bushes, stumbling upon the scene. All four of them froze.

"What happened to you two?!" Sango asked wide eyed.

"We're not sure. We were bringing back some water when I tripped on my robe and fell." Inuyasha and Miroku realized they were still pointing at each other and lowered their arms. This proved to be a bad idea. Miroku's hand had shrunk and his prayer beads didn't fit as well as they had.

When the prayer beads fell onto the ground in front of Miroku, the wind tunnel was unleashed. Catching him by surprise, Miroku toppled backward, exposing everyone else to it. Kagome grabbed onto a tree and held Inuyasha tightly to her.

"Miroku, put on your beads!" Kagome yelled.

"I don't know where they went!" he yelled back. Miroku pointed his hand upward, hoping to stop sucking too much in, especially his friends. Kagome had a strong tree to hold on too, and no way was she going to let go of Inuyasha. She took the break that Miroku gave her to get a better hold. Shippo and Kirara were back at the camp site, so no need to worry about them. And Sango was...where was she?! He racked his brain trying to remember where she found safety. She did, didn't she? He couldn't remember....

"Where's Sango?!" he yelled toward Kagome.

She yelled something back, but he couldn't hear her. He was about to try again when someone grabbed his left hand and put something in it. He recognized that hand, it was Sango's! What's more, she had found his prayer beads! He quickly wrapped his hand tightly.

"Nice going Monk." said a cross Inuyasha.

"Leave him alone Inuyasha." Kagome insisted.

"Why should I? He was the one that almost sucked us up!"

"But he didn't mean too!"

"Like that matters!"

"What do you mean, 'like that matters'? Of course it matters! He's human, he makes mistakes!"

"Which proves my point that all humans are stupid!"

"You're half human!"

"Right. HALF! It's not the same!"

"ARGH! OSUWARI!"

The now chibi Inuyasha fell on his face. Kagome immediately felt bad and picked him up and hugged him.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried, squeezing him.

Inuyasha was shocked. "W-what are you doing?!"

Kagome looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"You've never acted this way when you osuwaried me before, why now?"

"Because you're so sweet and innocent looking!"

"HEY!" Inuyasha yelled, scrunching up his face a tad.

"Actually, I'd have to agree with her." Sango teased giggling.

"Feh."

"Sango! Kagome! Where did you two go?" Shippo shouted, close to where everyone was. Sure enough, Kirara and Shippo came into view. Just like the rest of them, he froze in stared. Then he began to laugh uncontrollably. Inuyasha pulled him out of Kagome's grip and started to go towards Shippo to hit him. He didn't take four steps till he tripped over his own cloths, making Shippo laugh more.

"Can you three stop gawking at us and figure out what caused this please?!"

"I think Inuyasha is right." Miroku agreed quickly.

Kagome and Sango nodded.

"Why don't we retrace your steps! That usually works." Kagome suggested.

But they soon found a problem with that. Inuyasha and Miroku couldn't walk much without falling down over their clothes.

"What are we going to do about this?" Sango wondered.

"Even if we could scrunch it up, they would still trip." Kagome mentioned. "I know! What if we cut the bottoms?! They could walk then!"

"You are not cutting my clothes! Besides, what if we turned back into our full size with cut clothes?!"

Sango and Kagome lightly blushed while Miroku shook his head and muttered something about Inuyasha's vulgarity.

"Fine then!" Kagome stood, walked over to Inuyasha, and picked him up.

"Kagome, what are you doing?!" protested Inuyasha

"You can't walk, you won't let us cut your clothes, so, you'll have to be carried!"

"But. . . ."

"No buts! I'm carrying you whether you like it or not! Besides, this way I can repay you for all the times you carried me!" She added cheerily.

"I bet you weigh more." He mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Kagome asked through clenched teeth and a popping vein.

"Nothing. But if you insist on carrying me, at least don't do it like I'm weak!"

"Hmm...I know! I'll give you piggy back rides! Just like my mom used to give to me!"

With Sango doing the same with Miroku, they retraced the steps back to the fountain spring.

"We came here and filled the bottles and then headed back to camp." Inuyasha explained.

"That's it? Nothing else?" Sango asked.

"Well, we might have taken a few sips. . . ."Miroku confessed.

"Hmm. That sounds familiar." Kagome said sitting down on a rock thinking. She immediately stood back up saying, "That's it!"

"What is it Kagome?" Shippo asked.

"The Fountain of Youth!" When everyone just stared at her, Kagome sweatdropped and started to tell them about it. "The legend of the fountain of youth is that when you drink from it, you become younger. Many people search for it, but with no success."

"And yet these two idiots just had to follow Inuyasha's nose." Shippo commented, hiding behind Kagome.

"Okay, now that we know how we turned like this, how do we turn back?!" Inuyasha demanded to know.

"I'm not sure. I don't remember anything about a Fountain of Age....."

"So, Inuyasha and I are stuck like this?" Miroku asked with a slight panic in his voice.

"Well, we may not know anything, but maybe Kaede would!" Sango suggested.

"That's a great idea! Kirara can take us to the village, so we wouldn't have to worry about being attacked or anything. Right Kirara?"

Kirara nodded.

"Alright Kirara! But before we leave, it might be smart to take some samples back with us. Um...where are the water bottles guys?"

"We dropped them in the forest when. . .we realized something was wrong." Miroku told them, avoiding eye contact.

"Don't worry about it Miroku. Kirara and I will go find them!" Shippo said as they ran off.