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.

Despite Coolidge's intimation that the three agents would be leaving the instant the meeting was over, there were a lot of preparations to make. When everything was laid out and set into motion it would be a full week before they were ready to leave, which was fine since they weren't due in North Africa for another week anyway.

Inuyasha bore the brunt of the preparation work for the mission. His first task—which was his idea—was to prepare two packs for himself and two for Kagome: one to contain his 'official' uniforms, equipment and paperwork, and another pack to contain his mission sensitive materials, like unmarked uniforms, forged German paperwork, compact weaponry and survival equipment, and so forth. The idea behind having two packs being if an unforeseen opportunity should arise for Inuyasha and Kagome to make an attempt at infiltrating the Third Reich they would be prepared and would only need to grab the appropriate pack and leave. Coolidge and Wellesley were impressed and fully endorsed the idea. All Inuyasha said was, "Well, combat zones are uncertain, so it's best to be prepared for the unexpected."

Before any packing could be done though, Inuyasha's living quarters needed to be arranged. It was decided that Inuyasha could not continue his residence in the barracks if he was going to be doing so much preparation for the mission during "off-duty" hours—it would undoubtedly draw unwanted attention. Of course the idea that he reside with Kaede and Kagome in their VOQ was also nixed almost immediately, given that his overnight stay had already attracted enough attention and besides that, as Sir Wellesley eloquently stated, "It's just not proper." Because he needed to be close by to communicate and coordinate with Kagome and Kaede, Inuyasha came up with another solution.

When Inuyasha arrived at Miroku's quarters, he found Miroku pacing rapidly in the sitting room of the house and mumbling to himself.

"Miroku? Hey buddy, are you alright?"

"Inuyasha, I finally found you!" Inuyasha quirked an eyebrow at this which caused Miroku to look at his whereabouts. "Oh, well I guess you found me, but it doesn't matter. I've got something really important to tell you."

"Well that's okay, because I have an important favor to ask of you." Inuyasha steeled himself, he didn't like having to lie to people he knew and trusted, but it was really only a partial lie. Really. "You remember Kagome, next door? Well there was an incident last night with a drunken pilot and it was decided that it would be a good idea if I stayed close by in case anything happened in the next week. So since we already know one another I was wondering if I might…"

"Hey, when did you get your stripes back?" Miroku interrupted, pointing at the newly sewn on Staff Sergeant rank.

"Uh…" crap, now this was going to be difficult to explain. Why hadn't he thought of this before?

"Does this have something to do with Kagome's secret mission into Germany?"

Inuyasha was dumbstruck. Then it hit him. "You've spoken to Myouga, haven't you, Miroku?" He'd almost forgotten about his request to Miroku the previous day.

"Yeah, it turns out Kagome's on a secret mission for the OSS-"

"Miroku, I already know. To make a long story short I woke up in a jail cell this morning, was marched to the Colonel's office, made a Staff Sergeant again and reassigned to OSS." Seeing the stunned and confused look on Miroku's face, Inuyasha seized the opportunity to ask his favor. "Miroku, I can't stay at the barracks anymore and I certainly can't stay with the two ladies, but I need to be close by. Could I room with you for the next week?"

Miroku, still somewhat dazed by the amazing luck of his friend, answered slowly, "Sure."

Inuyasha smiled, "Thanks buddy! I knew I could count on you. I'll be back later with my footlocker." Inuyasha clapped his friend on the shoulder and strode out of the VOQ.

All Miroku could do was stand there and marvel to himself. 'Boy, some people have all the luck. Not only does he get un-demoted and reassigned, but now he's going on a secret mission with a beautiful girl. Sheesh, he probably doesn't even realize how lucky he is.'

After moving his gear and personal affects from the barracks to Miroku's VOQ, Inuyasha quickly set about making a task list for the week.

Field Training

Being the middle of January, there really wasn't much field training they could accomplish in a week, but given Inuyasha's relatively long suspension from being able to fire a rifle, they decided the least they could do was visit the marksmanship range.

It took a day to arrange but they managed to sneak in at the range with another unit, after thoroughly disguising Kagome's femininity to avoid awkward questions. Inuyasha and Kagome had requisitioned their weapons of choice through OSS and brought them and a set of binoculars to the range so they could work in tandem as a spotter and shooter.

Kagome had chosen an M1903-A4 bolt action rifle with a sniper scope. Inuyasha was impressed by her selection, but couldn't resist needling her a little. "Are you sure you're going to be able to handle that, little girl? The kick is likely to toss you back from the firing line about a hundred feet ya know."

Kagome merely glared at Inuyasha and set up to shoot from the prone position.

"Are you going to want some sandbags to lay that rifle down on, little girl?"

Kagome was quickly becoming annoyed with Inuyasha's chauvinist attitude, but simply replied, "Just watch the target meathead. And don't call me 'little girl'—you're attracting attention to us."

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder, slightly chagrined at having forgotten their difficult situation, and then lay down on the ground next to her to spot the target. Shifting to his professional mode so as not to make any more mistakes, he started.

"Okay, let's get your rifle zeroed; fire." Kagome, who had already sighted downrange squeezed the trigger and let her first round fly. "Good, adjust for windage 3 clicks right, elevation 2 clicks down." Kagome took a moment to adjust the alignment of her scope and waited. "Fire…okay, adjust windage 1 click right, elevation 1 click up." Kagome adjusted as instructed and fired her third shot. "Dead center," Inuyasha told her. "Fire again…dead center. Fire again…dead center."

After loading another five rounds and hitting the target dead center all five times, Inuyasha whistled. "Well, it seems like you won't be having any problems with that rifle after all. I stand corrected," Inuyasha admitted.

Kagome grinned and said, "Your turn."

After handing over the binoculars to Kagome, Inuyasha reached for his own weapon: an M1A1 Carbine semi-automatic rifle that fired from a 15-round magazine. Kagome set up to spot the target, but before Inuyasha started zeroing he did a full check of the rifle, starting with the safety and the bolt and finishing with the sight adjustments, setting them to what he thought should be appropriate for the weapon.

"Are you ready yet?" Kagome asked mockingly.

Inuyasha only glared and said, "Shut up and watch the target wench."

Inuyasha fired his first shot and Kagome called out, "Windage: 1 left; elevation: 1 up." Inuyasha adjusted as instructed and fired again. "Dead center," Kagome called out. Inuyasha fired again and again Kagome called out, "Dead center." After his 15-round magazine was exhausted they stood up and moved to a part of the range that had a strange addition made to it. At the spotter's station behind the shooter there was a table full of levers all connected to cords leading out onto the range.

Inuyasha quickly explained how the system worked. He had designed it when he was an instructor at the Paratrooper School. "When you pull one of these levers it pops a target up off the ground, like this," he said as he pulled a lever and a white target popped off the ground. "You should only leave it up for about four seconds, and then push the lever back down," which he did and the target laid back down on the ground. "If the shooter hits the target it'll fall back down on its own. Do you want to spot or shoot first?"

Kagome was impressed. "I think I'll shoot first," she said as she took her place in the shooter's spot. Inuyasha sat at the table and waited until she was ready. "Okay start it up."

After five targets fell in rapid succession, Inuyasha decided to get tricky, so he raised two targets at the same time, the furthest and the nearest. They fell rapidly as well, frustrating Inuyasha somewhat, so he raised three, then four, then five. Kagome was easily able to get as many targets as he could throw at her with time to spare. When she had fired about forty rounds she stood up and smiled a little too sweetly at him. "You're turn."

Inuyasha shook his head and got down into his firing position. 'Boy can that girl shoot.'

Establish Operating Procedures

In the evenings Kagome and Inuyasha would sit down and develop their operating procedures that would define how they would act and react in particular situations. They discussed how they would communicate in public and when in tactical situations. They also covered contingency plans for worst case scenarios.

"Okay, what is the absolute worst thing that could happen to us once we're making our attempt at infiltration?" Kagome posed the heavy question.

"Hmmm," Inuyasha pondered. "That's good to consider, but I think we should look even more generally. As soon as we leave this base this coming Saturday we'll be in a position where our circumstances and opportunities will change without warning. I think our absolute worst case scenario would be if our plane were downed over German territory and we lost all of our equipment and were separated by a large distance. That would really be a problem."

"Well the first thing to do would be to reconsolidate. We stand a better chance of getting anywhere if we stick together."

"I agree. After that we'd have to try and make contact with the local underground and get supplies from them, or ambush a German patrol. I like the first option better, given that we'd have no weapons to ambush a patrol with."

Kagome nodded grimly, "Yeah, let's hope we don't have to deal with a situation like that."

"We can do better than that. We can plan as if that were the way it's supposed to happen."

Jump Practice

Inuyasha had tasked a practice jump for himelf and Kagome after their discussion about worst case scenarios. Fortunately he knew some of the officers in his regiment's sister unit in the 101st Airborne Division, which was currently "relaxing" as most of the troopers in Inuyasha's old unit envisioned it. In truth they were on a rigorous training schedule and took part in many field exercises. As a result, sneaking two extra troopers onto a C-47 wasn't that difficult.

"Okay, I used to be an instructor at the Airborne School, so I can help you through all of this."

"Inuyasha…"

"It's normal to get nervous as you're boarding the plane—I still do. The most important thing to remember is that if you just stay focused you'll be okay. Listen to the instructions of the jumpmaster…

"Inuyasha."

"What? I'm trying to help you here, if you'd just listen and stop interrupting me."

"Inuyasha," Kagome calmly interrupted, "I've jumped before. I actually have 11 jumps already."

Inuyasha stopped in his tracks. "Oh. Well, never mind then."

Once on board the plane Kagome started to wish she had just let Inuyasha talk. When she had jumped there had only been two or three other people jumping with her. Being packed so tightly in what looked from the outside to be a very large plane made her a bit uncomfortable. Still, she knew the procedures well. The jumpmaster called "TEN MINUTES!" just like in training and then they all stood on his command "STAND UP!" and hooked up on "HOOK UP!" The only uncomfortable part of the jump was when the jumpmaster called "SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!" and when the sound-off was being passed up the plane the trooper behind her—Inuyasha was in front of her, so she couldn't blame him—slapped her bottom much too hard. She almost cried out but remembered that girls aren't supposed to be in Paratrooper units and continued to pass the call.

Finally the Jumpmaster shoved the first trooper out the door the line started moving forward. When Inuyasha got to the door he didn't give the jumpmaster the chance to shove him out, he just jumped out immediately. Kagome wasn't so fortunate and wound up nearly getting tossed because she was so light. The shove sent her spinning and spiraling in the engine wash and when her parachute opened it was all twisted up—she was falling much too fast. Before she could panic she remembered Inuyasha's words about staying focused and she pulled her reserve parachute exactly the way she'd been taught and had a smooth landing about 100 ft. from Inuyasha. He looked surprised when she landed with her reserve open, but didn't say anything.

Kagome looked up from packing her chute when he walked over to help and said, "Well, that was fun. What do we do next?"

Study Maps and Terrain and Collect Equipment

Once the other tasks had either been completed or at least scheduled Inuyasha concentrated on gathering all of the equipment they'd need and information on their most likely routes into Germany. Inuyasha had developed nothing short of a survivalist's wish list for the equipment he thought he and Kagome would need on their long trip into Germany. It included things like extra ammunition, sleeping rolls, iodine tablets for water purifying, salt to preserve hunted game meat, compasses, binoculars, pistols, more extra ammunition—his worst fear was a German patrol stumbling on to them and not having enough ammunition to eliminate them.

All of these things were given to him, and he split them appropriately between his and Kagome's packs. Day by day the packs grew heavier until Kagome was worried she wouldn't be able to carry hers. Inuyasha proved her wrong by making her try it on and showing her she could—but just barely. This resulted in a promise from Inuyasha that he would not pack any more equipment in Kagome's pack, which actually turned out to be a decent size.

In between deliveries of requested equipment Inuyasha studied all of the maps and aerial photographs he could requisition. He often stayed up late looking over them and plotting landmarks and routes through dangerously open terrain. Once when Kagome suggested he take a break he almost got angry.

"Stupid girl, do you realize that if we want to get anywhere we need to know where we're starting from. Knowing your exact location is the key to survival on the battlefield. If you don't know then it doesn't matter what equipment or how much time you have. A lost soldier is a dead soldier, and I'll be damned before I let us get lost. I may be expendable, but you're not." After that, Kagome never questioned his obsessive nature regarding the maps again.

Study Languages

Finally Inuyasha had to find time to learn both French and German so they could get through the places they would pass through on their way to Germany. At first the task seemed so daunting that Inuyasha almost flat out refused, arguing that Kagome already knew enough French and German for the both of them. After seeing the look on Coolidge's face and, even more convincingly, the look on Kaede's face, he relinquished and agreed to study the languages.

By the end of the week Inuyasha found that studying multiple languages wasn't that much different from learning one language. He was a long way from being fluent, but as Kagome suggested if he really needed to talk to someone he could just pretend that he was deaf and dumb.

While Inuyasha was not encouraged much by that remark, Wellesley was much more optimistic about his progress.

"You see Arthur? I told you that boy would be alright. I doubt we'd be this far ahead of the game by now if he hadn't come on board."

"Yes Robert, he has proved to be very adaptive and has a lot of foresight. We'll have to wait and see how he performs when the game gets real though."

"Honestly Arthur I don't know how you can wake up in the morning if you always think about things so pessimistically. I'm the English one here, I'm supposed to be the morose one, I think."

When the following Saturday finally arrived Inuyasha was eagerly looking forward to a long relaxing plane ride to North Africa followed by a short hop to Sicily a few days later. After the flurry of activity in the previous week he was ready for some down time since the only thing he still had to do was study languages. With any luck he'd be able to speak well enough to get Kagome into Germany and get himself back to England, or at least to the French Underground.

At 0700 Inuyasha put the two sets of packs that he had put together for himself and Kagome into the jeep they would take to the airfield. Kagome, of course, had packed her own clothes and personal items, but as far as the packs made specifically for the infiltration, Inuyasha had carefully put those together and rigged them for attachment to a parachute harness—part of the worst case scenario contingency.

Miroku had woken early (relatively) to see his friend off. "Well buddy, I guess this is it. I'll be seeing you." Inuyasha snorted derisively, causing Miroku to wonder, "You are coming back aren't you?"

"Well, I am if I've got anything to say about it, but I've got a feeling it's going to depend on how well the French are able to understand me."

"Well," Miroku waggled his eyebrows at Inuyasha, "you know there's one language that all of God's children know…"

"You…"

"…the language of love."

"…pervert."

They laughed and embraced quickly before Inuyasha got in the jeep and honked the horn. "Oi! Kagome, let's get a move on! Our pilot's gonna leave without us if you don't move it."

Kagome struggled with her suitcase to the doorway of her VOQ. 'Amazing how he lets me carry this stuff myself now that he knows what I'm really capable of. Still, a little help would be nice.' No sooner had she finished the thought before Inuyasha grabbed the luggage from her hand and tossed it in the back of the jeep. 'Oh, well never mind then…'

"Isn't Kaede coming with us?" Inuyasha asked, suddenly noticing the matronly woman's absence.

"No, she left yesterday on a transport carrying some bigwigs—they had better seats than the mail plane we'll be flying in."

"Right. Well, let's get to the airfield then." Inuyasha started the jeep and drove back to the airfield that Kagome had arrived at one long week ago.