Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha or Ranma ½. They both belong to Rumiko Takahashi, and I highly recommend you read both.

Author's notes:

I adore Jaken, but he does get abuse from Sesshoumaru, and it is apart of his charm. There is a little Jaken abuse in this chapter, but nothing heavy, and it is not an indication of any lack of affection for the little imp, it just felt right.

Oh, and it just occurred to me that I saw Shippo floating on his back in a hot spring in one of the movies, so he's probably capable of staying on the surface, but for the purposes of this story, he doesn't know how to swim.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love reviews! I love comments, suggestions, recommendations for ideas for this story, or for a different story that you think I should write, or a story that you've read that you think I would like or just about anything.

Anyway:

When splashed with cold water:

Sesshoumaru  young human girl

Miroku  twins

Inuyasha  cat

On w/ the chapter!

Ch.4- Laughter and Tears

Everyone was staring intently at the spring. Even Sesshoumaru is curious (though none of the Inuyasha group could tell, for he held the same expression… or rather lack of expression.)

A very different Sango surfaced, shocking everyone. The lecherous twins screamed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Yes, it was sad but true. The once beautiful young demon slayer had, in fact, fallen in the cursed spring of drowned pious man. Sango made her way back to the shore, looking rather concerned by her new condition. The Miroku twins were crying. Shippo, on the other hand, found the whole situation hilarious. He just could not bring himself to take all this seriously, inspite of the somber faces of his companions. Finally, he couldn't take it, and let out a very childish, uninhibited, laugh.

Inuyasha was furious. He immediately lunged at the kitsune, chasing him all over the place. Shippo, in hopes of escaping the furious furball, jumped onto the nearest pole and began jumping from pole to pole.

"Shippo, Inuyasha, stop this! You guys shouldn't mess around near those springs, there's something wrong with them and Shippo can't swim! You guys!"

The boys were obviously ignoring them. Rin, however, being protective by nature, had been listening, and instantly felt the need to protect Shippo. Sesshoumaru would have stopped her, but he was busy instructing Jaken to go to the castle library and fetch every book on curses and ancient springs he could find. Jaken sputtered about the size of the royal library and was promptly kicked for it. Jaken then bowed profusely and apologized again and again before mounting Ah Un and flying away. Sesshoumaru then turned to check on the disturbingly quiet Rin, but by then he was too late.

As Shippo jumped from pole to pole, Inuyasha was quickly gaining on him. Shippo was one swift jump away from dry land, choosing to jump much closer to Sesshoumaru's direction than he would have liked, but before he could reach dry land the cat pounced on him, then landed on dry land. Shippo, however, had plummeted into the water.

"Shippo!" cried Rin, just as Sesshoumaru turned to her. She immediately jumped into the water to try and save Shippo.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Wow. These chapters are getting short. I had expected this one to be longer. Oh well. It's not like I'm about to add a bunch of filler details just to keep it from being short. I should warn you though that the point where my outline runs out is coming up fast. I have one more chapter written down, and then I don't know what I will do. I don't think it will come to me today, so I'm going to hold off on writing that last chapter so that I can use that to start up my momentum when I do decided to tackle this issue. Now more than ever, I beg of you, make suggestions. I do not want a repeat of the end of Rin is Bored (which I really liked. I recommend reading it, but just skip the last chapter. I adore the first 9 chapters, it's the 10 that came out flat.). Please, tell me what you think. How can I end this story? I already know what Shippo, Rin, and Kagome will turn into. I need a way to end the story though. I don't want to have everyone just get up and leave, that's just lame. So I need a good ending. Anyone with ideas, even bad ideas, any ideas at all that you are willing to share, please, please do.