06/17/06: This chapter has been edited. Again, I made it longer and made it easier to read. Enjoy
Chapter 2 – What?
Inuyasha woke up, his head hurting a bit; it was like he had fought with Kagura and received her Dance of Blades right on the head.
He opened his eyes. At first, things were a bit foggy. Then it became clearer and clearer, but strangely, everything was a bit bigger for him. Somebody was holding him. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was only able to babble. Then the person whom was holding him looked down and said: "Oh my good one! He's waking up!" That voice. He knew who it belonged to; it was Chikara's. But why was she the one who was holding him?
She smiled widely and looked at the baby when she felt it moving in her arms: "Oh little one! I'm so happy to see that you're awake! Mommy was so afraid that-that..." Then she started to cry again. But this time, it was because she was happy. She wiped her tears with the sleeve of her free arm.
Inuyasha stared at her and tried to tell her that she didn't have the right person. 'What's wrong with her? he thought. 'Maybe she's gone nuts. Oww, my head hurts.' As he said that, he brought his hand to his head and saw something he couldn't believe; his hands and claws were so small and he had stripes, just like Takato's, that were never there before. As he wondered how did that happened, he felt Chikara lift him up and give him a small kiss on the forehead.
"I missed you Takato." She cuddled the infant closely to her.
"What? I'm not Takato! Oh no! That sorceress will pay, that's for sure!" Inuyasha started to panic and cried.
"What's wrong, baby? Is everything alright? Please stop crying. Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of…" Chikara tried to calm whom she thought was Takato.
'If that's what she thinks, then she mustn't have seen yet that I'm not her son. If only she knew, she wouldn't say that there's nothing to be afraid of,' Inuyasha thought.
He wailed so loud that he woke up Takato, whom everyone thought that was Inuyasha; the demon opened his eyes and sat straight up. With the sudden movement, his head started to spin a bit so he brought a hand to his forehead and grumbled, not knowing that he could talk.
"Huh? Inuyasha? I'm so happy that you're awake!" Kagome said, turning to face the demon. She hugged him so tight that Takato had to get her off him: "Kagome, what are you doing?" She was about to answer him when she saw the expression of surprise on his face.
She leaned a bit toward him: "Inuyasha? Are you okay?"
Takato finally snapped out of it: "I talked? Woah…"
"Don't be silly, Inuyasha" Kagome said, frowning because she thought that he was joking around.
Takato started to get frustrated: "By all gods, Kagome, I'm not INUYASHA! So stop calling me like that…" with that, he sniffed and started to cry, much to everyone's surprise.
Chikara tried to calm him, by wrapping her free arm around the demon: "Now, now…" she was about to say Inuyasha, but held it back, "if you're not Inuyasha, then who are you?" she said, with her nicest tone. At first she thought that Inuyasha had it rough during the fight and simply was a bit confused.
Takato sniffed, and slowly stopped crying, feeling more comfortable in Chikara's arms: "I'm… I'm Takato, mother. Don't you recognize me?" he told her, while looking directly into her red eyes.
This answer made everyone laugh except for Chikara. The goddess sent a menacing glare at everyone before looking at Takato and taking a deep breath: "You mean that you are my son… in Inuyasha's body?"
Takato shrugged his shoulders, meaning he didn't really know. "Well, it looks like it, because I don't feel much at ease in this body."
Miroku, sensing the situation was a bit awkward, spoke up: "But it seems that you are more than just 'inside' Inuyasha's body. It looks like you got his mental age too."
Chikara frowned, associating what was happening with what happened earlier: "That cursed witch! She- That would mean that Inuyasha's trapped in Takato's…" she closed her eyes, sensing anger rising in her.
Kagome and Sango laughed, still not believing what had been said. "You mean you really bought his crap?" Kagome said to Chikara.
The others stared at Chikara for a moment. It was so quiet that even Inuyasha, who was still in the goddess' arms, was staring at her. Everyone was uneasy about what the goddess had stated. It couldn't be true, right?
The girls had stopped laughing, sensing that Chikara wasn't joking about the situation.
Chikara had to prove it to herself. She checked opened her eyes and with a bit of power from the moon above them, she looked at the soul of both concerned ones; Inuyasha's body had the soul of a full demon, and her son's body held captive the soul of a half-demon. That only fuelled more her inner anger at the old sorceress. But in the exterior she tried to maintain a stable figure, although that wasn't an easy task, knowing what was happening.
She gulped difficultly: "Inuyasha?" she whispered calmly. The young in her arms looked at her and the other one in Inuyasha' body didn't move. She hoped everyone understood the message from the lack of response from the one that normally was Inuyasha.
"But why? Why did this have to happen!" she yelled and started to cry again, her emotions all messed up with all this.
The baby was immediately affected by the goddess's question. "I don't know why. But in some way, it's my entire fault; I should have moved when I had the opportunity. I could have then seen her attack coming my way. Oh no… It's all my fault…what did I do?"
Baby Inuyasha wanted to cry again and Chikara saw that she did an error: "Oh, I'm sorry little one. I didn't mean to scream at you. Don't cry, please. Shh… shhh… it's okay" she cuddled him and rubbed his little back to soothe the baby.
Inuyasha slowly stopped crying and everyone sighed. A crying baby is a real pain for the ears when it wailed like that.
"Mother," Takato moved himself closer to his mother, although he had a bit of trouble, trying to adjust to his new physique: "I'm sure that if we chase that witch, she'll be able to reverse that spell… or should I say curse" he said, emotions all messed up, as well.
Sango spoke up, wanting to cheer them up, but having only bad news: "Guys, I think you should know that a changing spell like that one is not permanent." A few exhaled. Some pounds got off the shoulders.
Knowing what would be next wasn't good news, Miroku continued: "But…"
Sango bit her lower lip, not really wanting to continue: "… But it will be if we can't change them until the next new moon, which is in three days, counting tonight."
"How do you know if this is true Sango? Please tell me it's only a tale." Kagome asked in a pleading way, looking at both Inuyasha and Takato.
Sango gave her friend a look that meant everything. That could only mean, sadly, that it was true. After all, Sango is a demon exterminator. She had a lot of knowledge in demon magic. They had to find that old woman and get her to reverse that spell on Inuyasha and Takato within the next three days, or they would stay like this for ever and that's not how they wanted it, that's for sure.
"I need time to think about all this. Since it's still not morning, let's go back to sleep… or at least try to relax" Chikara said, trying to think, but unable due to the lack of serenity, which was a bit understandable.
Everyone nodded at the goddess' statement and they all headed back to an agitated sleep.
°°°
A few hours later, while the sun was hidden through a thick layer of clouds, everyone had dozed off a bit, but not enough to slumber deeply. Chikara had transformed into her day form as they were all taken back from their dreams when baby Inuyasha started to complain loudly.
Chikara, whom had been wandering in her thoughts, rose from her sleeping position to sit: "What's wrong little one?" But she was only answered by some gibberish talk. "Are you hungry?" She got a reaction when his little stomach made a loud noise: "I guess I was right. Huh? Come here" she smiled, trying to at least bring a bit of security to someone in the group.
She was going to open her kimono like she does normally when she feeds her son, only to be stopped by Takato: "Wait, what are you doing? You're not supposed to feed him. It's Inuyasha!" he said, with a tint of jealousy in his voice.
Chikara frowned a bit: "So? What does that mean?"
Takato was taken by surprise as he blurted something as an excuse: "He's not a baby, he's… a grown up."
The goddess smiled, feeling the resentment of her son: "Pardon me, but you're the mature one now, my son. You can catch your own food and defend yourself, just like the others. And since Inuyasha is defenceless now, I'm going to take care of him and protect him, just like he would be my own child. Don't be jealous, now" she said, patting her hand on the ground to invite him to sit beside her.
The demon did as she asked, so she petted his hair with her free hand, trying to show him some affection.
"Your mother is right, Takato. Come with me, we'll go fishing for breakfast, while the girls get the wood" said Miroku, trying to make this a bit more fun for the young dog demon; while he would be gone, Chikara would be able to feed Inuyasha in peace.
°°°
While eating their breakfast, Chikara was trying to put Inuyasha to sleep as she was singing a lullaby.
Sitting around the tiring fire, everyone was quiet and sending worried looks to one another. They were uneasy talking about the spell, but they had to, if everything was expected to return to normal: "What about starting to search east, then west, north and finally south. Like this, we cover all the areas and will surely be able to find that sorceress" Miroku spoke first.
"But why east first? I don't understand your point of view Miroku" said Shippo.
The monk shrugged and answered: "That's because it's in that direction that Kagome sensed a Shikon shard. I guessed that's where she went."
The gang saw that they simply didn't know where to start; the area was very large to cover and they only had three days before the spell becomes permanent. That's when Kagome spoke: "Why don't we get help? I'm sure Koga and his pack wouldn't mind assisting us" she told them, a bit of hope in her voice.
"But how could we locate him? Normally, he's the one that finds us", said Sango, stating the obvious.
"Plus, we haven't seen him in weeks", added Miroku.
They were out of solutions to their problem. Takato, who hadn't spoken, letting the older ones analysing the possibilities, started to think that he would be staying inside Inuyasha's body for eternity. He panicked when he realised he wouldn't get his mother's attention like she was giving him before and that he would have responsibilities, like hunting and protecting the others. That made him understands that being a grown-up had its down sides.
He didn't even know he was crying when Chikara wiped his tears with her finger. He looked at her, threw himself on her and cried even more. "Oh mother!" She understood everything. She let him cry on her shoulder, while trying to soothe Inuyasha who had been startled by this sudden outburst from Takato.
She hugged him with one arm, trying to comfort him: "Come on Takato, even if you are physically Inuyasha for ever, I'm still going to be your mother. No one's going to steal my son, even if they make fun of us, since that body is not a product of your father and I."
Takato didn't seem to be happy about that. Then Chikara got an idea: "Here take my necklace. It will protect you from bad spirits and I'll know where to find you if you ever get lost." She put around his neck the said pendant, which was made from a half-sun and a half-moon, the symbol that united her powers.
Sango felt sorry for Takato, so she put a hand on his shoulder and tried to cheer him up: "Don't worry Takato, we'll find a way to get you back to your own body. I bet-"
At that same moment, a tall figure from the shadows of the forest emerged.
"Inuyasha", said a cold voice, "get away from her. She's mine."
The gang prepared themselves for battle. As it came out of the dark, they all saw that it was Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands. Chikara stiffened as she saw her husband.
But what was he doing here? They didn't have any time to lose with his things like that…
