~ I want to say a huge thank you to people for putting up with my procrastination and writer's block. That said, I should also apologize for how freaking long it took me to get back to this one. ~
Chapter 2
Being stuck in the body of an eleven-year-old girl was strange, Kagome decided as she sat next to Inu Yasha. Then again, being stuck in the body of an eleven-year-old girl while sitting next to her seventeen-year-old body and between two half-brothers that wanted to kill each other was...very strange. Kagome sighed mentally, 'Why does this weird stuff always happen as soon as I get back here?' At least Jaken had been sent back to Sesshomaru's palace; that would make things a little quieter.
Everyone was gathered in Kaede's hut as the priestess looked between Rin and Kagome with a confused and worried expression. Sesshomaru was seated next to Rin, protectively guarding a body he would, under normal circumstances, have been more than willing to sink his poisonous claws into, and it was a similar situation with Inu Yasha and Kagome. Kaede glanced over at Kagome, "Child, do ye remember what happened?"
Kagome frowned a bit, "I remember I was at home studying for an exam when I saw a light in the shrine." Her glance shifted to Inu Yasha and became irritated, "I thought it was a certain someone coming to bring me back here, but it was Rin." Inu Yasha opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by a firm glare from Kaede.
Sesshomaru's gaze shifted between Kagome and Rin, "Rin, what were you doing?"
It was an odd sight to see her body shifting nervously (dare she say squirming?), and Kagome wasn't sure if she should answer for Rin. The shifting stopped and she spoke up quietly, "I was going to give Kagome-sama a pretty stone I found in the forest."
The youkai lord's eyes narrowed at the same time as Inu Yasha's and both spoke at the same time, "What was it?" Sesshomaru gave his half-brother a dangerous glare, but said nothing.
The girl shifted uncomfortably and moved closer against Sesshomaru's side, "Rin doesn't know, but it was pretty." She paused for a second and reached into the pocket of Kagome's shirt to pull out a shard of the Shikon no Tama, a proud little smile lighting her face.
Inu Yasha impulsively darted forward to grab the shard and Sesshomaru reacted by pushing Rin behind him and drawing his sword. The conflict was averted, however, by a shout from both girls, "Osuwari!" The ground muffled Inu Yasha's indignant curse, which was good since Kagome would have happily introduced his face to the ground again if Rin had heard his foul language.
Sesshomaru looked over at Kagome and found that he didn't like seeing a frown on Rin's face. To be honest, he didn't like the image of Rin so close to Inu Yasha. It made him want to tear the impetuous hanyou to pieces. He felt a hand tug on his sleeve and glanced at Rin, an eyebrow arched in his way of telling her to speak. She smiled shyly, "Rin went through the Bone Eater's Well to visit Kagome, and when we came back through..." She trailed off with a frown.
Kagome tensed slightly, the Bone Eater's Well was supposed to be a secret that none but a select few knew about. Kaede glanced at the young miko, "What happened when ye returned?"
"It's a bit hazy...I remember that it felt strange, and then it felt like being torn in half..."
Rin nodded, "And then we woke up and you were there." She glanced at Sesshomaru as she fell silent.
Miroku, who had remained unusually silent until then, spoke up, "That's where we should start then. I'll bet someone's behind this." His teeth clenched with anger, "Probably Naraku again."
Kagura smiled in satisfaction as she entered the hall. She had placed the Mirror of Souls as ordered and the trap had worked...as far as she could tell anyway. She had sensed the approach of Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru and had not wanted to get into a fight with both at the same time. She approached her master's chamber and knocked on the door, "I have returned."
The door opened and Naraku eyed her coolly, "You placed the Mirror in the Bone Eater's Well as I instructed?"
She nodded, "Yes, and the trap has already been sprung."
A faint smile curved his lips, "And the results?"
Kagura hesitated, not wanting to mention that she hadn't exactly stayed long enough to see the results. "...The results were as we expected."
Naraku's smile faded and was replaced by displeasure, "You didn't stay to see the results. I assume you have a good reason?"
"I would have been discovered by Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru, and would not have escaped to report back." She replied quietly.
"Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru? What were they both doing at the Well?" Naraku couldn't hide his curiosity. News of Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru being in the same vicinity and not trying to kill each other was very interesting indeed. Interesting enough that he might not kill Kagura for her failure.
Seeing that he was interested, Kagura relaxed slightly, "I'm not entirely certain, but Rin and Kagome were both caught in the trap we set."
His smile returned, "Wonderful."
As the group headed back through the forest to the Bone Eater's Well, Rin decided to stretch her legs and see how fast this new body could go. She ran ahead of the group, barely holding back delighted giggles at the speed these longer legs could produce. Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru allowed her to get ahead of them a bit with one simple thought in mind: 'We can see her, we're right nearby. What could happen?'
The answer to that appeared in the form of a wolf demon named Kouga. Upon seeing a cheerful Kagome (which was actually Rin), he ran up with a smile, "Hey Kagome! Long time no see!"
Kagome grimaced at the sight of the persistent wolf demon, "Kouga. Great, this just keeps getting better and better." Inu Yasha's response was the usual running at Kouga and yelling at him to back off, while Sesshomaru approached the wolf demon with a cold and decidedly homicidal expression on his face.
At the sight of both brothers approaching with murder in their eyes (and ignoring the look of naive curiosity from Rin), Kouga smirked and scooped up "Kagome" before running off at top speed.
Rin looked back at Sesshomaru with panic, "Sesshomaru-sama!"
Kouga almost stopped in his tracks. Kagome calling for Sesshomaru? Something was wrong here. Very wrong. He looked down at her, "Why are you calling for him? I thought you would be calling for Inu Yasha."
She looked up at him, "Let Rin go!"
Before he could respond to that, Inu Yasha and his half-brother had caught up to him and he had to dodge to avoid the Tetsuiga and poison claws. He held the girl in his arms and narrowed his eyes at Inu Yasha, "What the hell kind of trouble have you gotten Kagome into this time, you stupid half-breed mutt!"
Inu Yasha bristled at the insults, "Kouga, I'm going to kill you!"
Kagome sighed and rolled her eyes, "Inu Yasha, osuwari."
As the hanyou's face was introduced to the ground yet again, Kouga looked over with curiosity at the small child approaching him. The only person he had ever seen do that to Inu Yasha was... "Kagome?"
She nodded, "Yes, Kouga. Now please let Rin go, you're scaring her."
Sesshomaru advanced on the wolf demon, intent on tearing him limb from limb, but stopped as Rin was released and ran into his arms. Inu Yasha muttered something about hurting someone as he pulled himself off the ground and glared at Kagome. Sango sighed and the others caught up to the group, "It would seem that we need to explain the situation."
The wolf demon's eyes shot to the female hunter, "You're damn right you do. What's going on here?"
"Kouga, watch your language." Kagome scolded him as she approached. She sighed, "This is going to be a very long day if we keep running into people and those two -" Her eyes flicked between the half-brothers with irritation, "- keep wanting to kill each other."
"So basically, Rin and I have switched bodies and we're headed to the Bone Eater's Well to see if we can find a clue there." The miko summed up as they sat in a small clearing to have some lunch.
"I'll come with you since I obviously can't trust a certain half-breed -" He shot Inu Yasha a dark glare, "- to keep you safe." Not that he trusted him anyway. The stupid hanyou thought he was tough enough to take on anyone that tried to get in his way and always ended up getting Kagome hurt or in danger.
Sango and Miroku shared a look; they knew full well that these three demons (well, demon-blooded individuals), did not get along. So much for a peaceful day. Not that it had started out peaceful anyway, with the current situation. The hunter sighed and closed her eyes to try and relax so she wouldn't get a headache. Mere seconds later, her eyebrow twitched as she felt an aggravatingly familiar hand on her posterior. "Miroku..." She growled in a one second warning before slapping him.
Kagome watched the two and sighed, "Every time. Every. Single. Time. And he never learns." She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose to try and fight off a headache.
Sesshomaru found it odd to watch his ward's body performing an action he had seen the miko do on several occasions. "Miko."
Startled, she looked up at him, "Yes?" His head was tilted ever so slightly to the side as if he was...curious? Huh. She didn't know he had enough emotion to be curious. Putting her hands on her lap, she explained, "I do that to fight off an impending headache. I suppose I don't need to in Rin's body."
The youkai lord's eyes shifted to Rin as she roamed the clearing before returning to the miko, "Does it help?"
"With Inu Yasha around?" She snickered at that, "Not as often as I would like."
Said hanyou appeared behind her, "Kagome..."
Rin walked up behind him and whispered, "Osuwari." Inu Yasha gave a startled yelp as his face was introduced to the ground and glowered at the girl as she started giggling.
Everyone else in the clearing paused. Miroku was the first to speak what everyone seemed to be thinking, "Wait, does this mean both Kagome and Rin are able to use those miko powers?"
Kagome eyed Rin, "Huh. Well, that could come in handy." A wicked little smirk curved her lips as she considered the uses of this new knowledge. Her thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in the bushes that was quickly followed by two familiar fuzz balls bursting out of the leaves and rushing to their respective humans.
Shippo jumped into Kagome's arms with a happy laugh, "Kagome! Kagome!" Kilala, in the meantime had curled up on Sango's lap with a contented purr.
The miko looked at him in surprise, "Shippo, how did you know...?"
Inu Yasha glowered at the little kitsune, "Yeah runt, how did you know that was Kagome?"
"I was watching and I heard what happened." He replied as he snuggled into Kagome's arms to seek protection from the hanyou.
Miroku spoke as he helped Sango clean up from the meal, "We need to get moving so we can get the ladies back to normal as soon as possible. It isn't good for the body or the soul to be switched like that." Everyone agreed and soon the meal was cleaned up and they were on the move again.
It was late afternoon by the time they reached the Well and a search of the perimeter had yielded nothing of note. Sesshomaru approached the Well and looked down through the darkness. His eyes narrowed as he caught a faint glimmer of light shining off of...something, though he didn't know what it was. Reaching in carefully, he grabbed the strange object and pulled it out, snapping the strings holding it in place. "Miko."
Kagome gave him an annoyed frown, "You could call me by my name, you know." Putting her irritation to the side, she walked over and looked at it, "A mirror? That's odd. What was that doing in there?"
Rin came over to look as well, but paused and gave a small whimper, "Bad. Evil. I don't like it!" She rushed over to Sango and clung to the hunter, looking frightened.
Kouga frowned; whatever it was, evidently it wasn't good. It was odd to see Kagome's body reacting and know that it was actually Rin responding to the mirror. Made a wolf demon all kinds of confused.
Shippo voiced the question they were all thinking, "What is it?" There was only one way to know for sure; head back to Kaede.