Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha™ nor do I own any of its characters or its original plotline. They are the intellectual property of Takahashi Rumiko and will remain so forever. My small claim on this work of fiction is in its creation of the alternate universe plotline, which I assert to the best of my knowledge to be an original product of my imagination. Any similarity to persons(other than the aforementioned characters belonging to Takahashi Rumiko) or events either real or previously imagined is completely coincidental and please excused.
A/N: This story came about from a strange dream I had involving the rumored (unsubstantiated) change back to brown Class-A uniforms for the Army and the Inuyasha gumi…I woke up with a clear image in my head of a black and short haired, human Inuyasha in a brown enlisted-man's uniform circa 1943. The thought occurred to me, 'If only I was as intimidating and commanding in uniform as that image is.' Yes, I am a guy; no, I do not have an Inuyasha fetish—although I envy him for seeing Kagome nude by chapter two of the manga, volume one—and as a result of being a guy, there will not be any 'fluff' in this fic. Although, you will get a man's take on the IY/Kag romance; but again: no 'fluff.' Even if I wanted to, I can't write that crap—makes me feel like some kind of cheesy latin romance novelist. Anyway, here it is: Enjoy!
P.S. I will not, repeat NOT litter my stories with A/N's, this is the only one you will get, EVER. You may applaud now…
He frowned deeply as he stared at his uniform.
The new rank had obviously never been shined…but then, what would you expect of a Private, especially at this stage in the war? The lack of sheen on the rank, however, was not what displeased him at all; it was the rank itself: Private First Class.
As he leaned forward with a rag to begin buffing the tarnished brass, he willed himself to believe that this was a cake assignment, a nice break from the rigors he was so used to. He failed to swallow the tripe, and nearly gagged at the thought of his current assignment.
The newly christened PFC, recently demoted from his previous rank as Corporal, and before that demoted from Sergeant, and before that from Staff Sergeant, resigned himself to making things different this time. Hell, there was only a 'this time' because his brother (who was a Major), for some unknown reason had taken the liberty to stand up in his defense and save him from a Court Martial.
'Somehow,' Inuyasha deluded himself, 'this almost seems worse.'
After disobeying a direct order and striking a superior officer, the dark-haired young man had spent two weeks in the brig, trying to figure out how he was going get out of this one without being sent stateside for good. Just as he was starting to formulate a good story, his older brother Sesshoumaru had opened up the door to his little room, and informed him of his third, and last, chance.
"Well, you really screwed the pooch this time, didn't you?" Sesshoumaru had barely contained a laugh at that pun on his name.
"Piss off," had been the simple reply.
"Is that any way to talk to your savior?" Sesshoumaru inquired. "You don't even know why I'm here, do you?" After getting no response, he continued, "Somewhere deep in my rather oversized heart," Inuyasha scowled at that, "I found it hard to deny you the simple pleasure of doing what you like to do best, and asked for one more chance on your behalf. In light of the conditions under which you got yourself in here, it wasn't too difficult to convince the General to let you have one more stab at it. But," Sesshoumaru added as the young man's features suddenly brightened, "you have to prove yourself worthy of this second, er, third chance that has been given to you. As such, here is your next assignment," and he handed him a brown personnel file.
And now, here he was; polishing nearly useless brass rank, in preparation for a useless assignment. Previously he had been an Infantryman, a fighting doughboy. He had been a reconnaissance scout in the 82nd Airborne Division, the All Americans, because of his keen senses of sight, hearing and smell. He had seen battle in Sicily, and Salerno. He had been hoofing it up the Italian peninsula before he had been sent back here, to England. He was bitter to say the least. The biggest insult of the whole situation was that, to him, Infantrymen fight for each other, for their brothers, for their families back home. Not for a single person, not for the President of the United States, not for some general, but for all of the people who are important to them personally. He had been betrayed. He had been made a bodyguard.
As he finally got the brass looking presentable he turned his attention to the brown file he had thus far refused to look at since his brother had informed him of the assignment three days ago. He was mildly surprised at the portrait-sized photo that greeted him in the very front of the file. Her name was Kagome Higurashi, and, Inuyasha grudgingly admitted, she was very striking. Wavy dark hair, large expressive eyes, perfectly shaped nose and cheekbones, and full lips surrounding possibly the best smile he had ever seen. Most of this was lost on him, however, as he reviewed his orders. Kagome was on a USO tour, making appearances at Allied bases all over Europe. His job was to protect her while she was in transit from one USO show to another.
'Not too bad,' he concluded, glancing back at the picture. 'She's probably one of those stuck up celebrity types, though. Oh well, how hard can protecting one little girl be? I wonder what color her eyes are though…'
He shrugged off that last thought and set the file aside. He picked up his uniform to put it on, still frowning at the pitiful state of his brass, and thinking that brown really wasn't his color. Moments later he gathered the file, his cap, and his pistol to go meet his new charge.
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His brother, being on the General's staff, was already out at the airfield to greet the taxiing C-47 when Inuyasha pulled up in his jeep. Sesshoumaru sent a look of disapproval over his shoulder when he heard his brother approaching. The two were in stark contrast to each other. One had jet-black hair, stood somewhere under six feet but no shorter than 5'8", and had a lanky, but muscular build. The other had hair couldn't be mistaken for anything but white, stood well over six feet in height, and carried himself as if he was some kind of royalty. The only similarity between the two was the uniform, and even that was a stark contrast. Sesshoumaru, spending most of his time away from the daily happenings of war had an evenly and primly pressed uniform, with ribbons and brass dressed up to look as if they had just been made. Inuyasha, almost never wearing the stifling brown uniform on the other hand, looked as if he had dug his out of the bottom of some long-forgotten footlocker (in fact, he had) and had it pressed quickly. While the effort showed, it still made for a pitiful appearance, and Inuyasha knew it.
The plane came to a halt in front of them, and even as the engines were winding down, the door was opened and a staircase was put in place. The first occupants to leave the plane were a group of very stern looking older gentlemen, all with multicolored ribbons and lots of silver on their collars and shoulders. Sesshoumaru greeted all of them in the same professional and stoic manner, bidding them toward the waiting automobiles a few meters away. Inuyasha noted the number of Colonels and one-star Generals coming out of the plane, snapping a salute to each as they passed. Finally, out of the plane came a very plainly dressed, dark haired girl, escorted by an elderly woman; presumably the liaison assigned to visiting entertainers.
As Kagome made her way across the tarmac to where Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were standing, Inuyasha had to stifle a sudden urge to gape. She looked absolutely nothing like the portrait he had been given of her. In the picture her hair had appeared glossy and permanently styled, her face heavily made up, whereas in person she looked as if she had just freshened up to get ready for daily life—she looked nothing like the porcelain doll he had been expecting.
She smiled as she approached them, and then addressed Sesshoumaru. "You must be Major Kusanagi. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." She extended her hand towards him and he eyed it for a brief second before taking it nonchalantly and returning her greeting.
"A pleasure to meet you as well Miss Higurashi," he replied without any hint that he truly meant what he said.
"It's good to see that our country still appreciates those who are willing risk their lives for it, even with a heritage most people are prejudiced to."
"Yes, well, as you know we are forbidden from any news from the Pacific Theatre, though most of the time we are too concerned with what is happening on this side of the world."
"Being an American of Japanese descent is difficult these days to say the least," Kagome stated, eyeing both of the Japanese-American soldiers in front of her. 'Odd to see two of them in the same place,' she thought, 'There aren't many in the first place.'
"If it weren't for my brother having volunteered for service in the Navy, I'm sure my family and I would have been interned like most other Japanese-Americans these days," she continued.
"Ensign Higurashi, isn't it? Souta Higurashi?" Sesshoumaru inquired in his usual stoic tone. "I've heard of him. Serves aboard an Escort Destroyer, doesn't he? He was involved in that battle last month. If I remember correctly, he wound up in command of the ship after the bridge was destroyed by the deck gun of the U-boat. He managed to sink that U-boat before his ship went under. How is he doing?"
Kagome nodded her head in response to his inquiries. "He's doing alright under the circumstances," she said. "After spending the night in the Northern Atlantic he got sick with pneumonia, not to mention the broken leg he suffered releasing the last of the lifeboats. He seems to be in good spirits though, and his condition is improving."
Nodding with approval, Sesshoumaru added, "Your brother is quite an officer. You should be very proud."
"Thank you, I am."
To this point, Inuyasha had felt somewhat unnecessary and was debating whether or not he should leave when Sesshoumaru suddenly turned to him.
"Miss Higurashi, may I introduce my younger brother, Inuyasha Kusanagi." As they shook hands and exchanged greetings, he continued, "He has been assigned to be your guide and bodyguard while on your tour of the European Theatre."
Kagome suddenly frowned. "I thought it was understood that I did not want an escort. I prefer to maintain a low profile."
Sesshoumaru shook his head slightly before responding. "Miss Higurashi, I am sure you are aware of how dangerously close to the lines your tour will take you, not to mention that you will be flown through enemy airspace to get there. We could either allow you to make your stops as planned with an escort, or we could restrict your itinerary to England and Sicily, where it is safe."
Kagome shook her head in resignation and sighed. "All right then. I will go with an escort." Suddenly she frowned and said, "But I don't have to like it."
Inuyasha almost winced at the tone in her voice, returning at once to his previous opinion of the entertainer. If she didn't have to like him, he sure as hell didn't have to like her either…
"No one said you did. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must attend to our visiting officers. If you would please step to the car, we can deliver you to your lodgings," and he turned to the cars.
"Wait," Kagome called after him and he stopped as she asked, "What about Inuyasha?"
The young man once again had to restrain his reaction. 'What is going on here?' he thought. 'One minute she's declaring her dislike for me, the next she seems almost…concerned? Something's off about this girl…'
Sesshoumaru looked toward the Private and replied, "Private Kusanagi has been briefed as to your lodgings and will meet you there one hour prior to your show. He has his own transportation to get him to and from his barracks to your quarters." With that he motioned towards the cars and turned to go to them.
"If it's all the same to you, I think I would rather ride in Private Kusanagi's jeep." Sesshoumaru looked confused, so she continued, "I've heard a lot about them and I've wanted to ride in one for a while. Besides," she added, somewhat sheepishly, "big cars make me somewhat uncomfortable…"
"As you would like. Private Kusanagi," he turned toward Inuyasha, who was having trouble containing his surprise. 'What kind of girl would want to ride a dirty, bumpy, green, jeep?' he asked himself.
"Private Kusanagi?" Sesshoumaru asked again, somewhat perturbed this time.
"Yessir?" Inuyasha replied mockingly.
"You will escort Miss Higurashi and her Aide to their quarters, and remain confined to yours until it is time to meet Miss Higurashi for the show this evening."
"Yes Sir!" Inuyasha returned even more mockingly as he snapped his obviously annoyed brother a salute. Sesshoumaru stalked off to the waiting vehicles and they drove off, with Inuyasha smirking after them.
'Ya big jerk…I'm starting to think you did this to me on purpose. You knew how much I would hate it and just seized the opportunity to throw a little more agony my way…' he mused, completely unaware of the person addressing him.
"Mr. Kusanagi? Inuyasha?" Kagome inquired gently, not really wanting to disturb the icy looking young man, but doing so anyway for the sake of a few more important matters.
"Huh?" he finally looked up and settled a harsh look on his face. "What?" he asked gruffly.
"Um…" the girl started more than a little uncomfortably, "can we get going? See it was a really long flight, and well, I…umm…"
"Well come on, spit it out already!" he barked.
"I have to go to the bathroom, okay?!" she finally exclaimed, much to the amusement of the older woman behind her.
Inuyasha looked dumbfounded as he shifted his gaze from the direction the cars had gone over to the girl standing a few feet away from him. He dazedly waved his arm towards the jeep, and reached for her only bag as she stepped over to the vehicle.
He shook his head as he turned to the jeep. 'What kind of girl would want to ride in a smelly, dirty, beat-up, bumpy…' he suddenly grinned evilly as he restated his earlier question. 'So, she has to go to the bathroom, huh?' He grinned wider as Kagome looked over to him from her seat in the jeep and mistook his grin as one of contentedness and smiled back.
"By the way, I almost forgot. This is Kaede," she said lifting a hand to the older woman getting in the back of the jeep. "She's here to help me get around the whole USO show madness." As he deposited her bag in the back of the jeep and nodded to Kaede, Kagome turned back to him and fixed him with the same dazzling smile that she had displayed in the photo he had of her.
His mischievous grin quickly disappeared from his face while she beamed at him. He forgot all previous thoughts of giving her a 'fun' ride to her quarters as they were replaced by a single thought that played through his mind as he started the jeep and drove off towards the Visiting Officers' Quarters.
'Wow,' he thought, 'Maybe brown's not such a bad color after all,' thinking of her eyes.