Because she hadn't packed another pair of pants that would be sturdy enough for travel, her one good pair had to be washed. All she could smell on them was an aroma of blood and sulfur, not to mention that there was…crusty…stuff…splattered across the denim. There was nothing that could be done for it, and if Kagome were brave enough to speak her thoughts at the moment, she'd have claimed that Inuyasha wanted to try on one of her skirts.

He'd lie through his teeth, but he was the one that was standing there twirling to see how high he could get the fabric to rise up.

It would've been funny if it wasn't making her feel things. Weird things.

Kagome should have thought that it was strange that he hadn't made a fuss about it as she reached into the bag and pulled out the old green skirt from her middle school days. It still fit around the waist, but she'd been debating trying to let out the hemline for a little more length. Her hips, as she could clearly see now from a new perspective, had widened. 'I'd planned to wear shorts under those,' she pursed her lips. 'I don't even know if I packed a pair, oh man…"

Inuyasha was oblivious to her inner musings, since he was too amused with what he was doing at the moment. She suddenly found that she didn't have the heart to bring it up, even if there was a set of shorts in her bag. He looked like he was having fun, and she wasn't going to take that away from him. Ever since they'd talked in the hot spring, there was something different between them. Kagome couldn't place it, but it felt like some of their anxieties had been soothed?

Maybe it was a blend of her own insecurities and his that she felt, but if Inuyasha also felt like she did, then no wonder he was in a better mood.

"Haha! I fucking did it!"

Kagome blinked, focusing on Inuyasha at the best and worst possible moment. She saw the complete look of satisfaction in his expression as he spun, but then her gaze dropped and saw the pleated skirt rise up high enough to blatantly flash her own panties at her. Her mouth dropped open, ready to reprimand him because that was still her body he was exposing to the world, but no sound would come out. Why wasn't she shrieking at him?

It might have had to do with the twitch she felt in her hakama.

It was so subtle that if she'd been moving, she wouldn't have noticed. The fundoshi had been put back in its place, to the best of her ability, and she'd made a point to strap everything in. It wasn't the neatest job, but it hadn't come loose yet. That penis still wiggled, and Kagome had to accept that it being contained was out of her control. She didn't get anything out of seeing her panty-clad back end on display, but Inuyasha did?

Oh good, she was finally able to make a sound again. It took the thought of Inuyasha staring at her to elicit a response. It wasn't a great response – it was more like a squeak – but it was something. And she shouldn't have been surprised, should she? After all, Inuyasha had told her outright that he had looked at her years before at the monastery. He'd said that he wanted her to live with him one day. He'd even told her that she was perfect, so why did the penis she was currently sporting freak her out because it noticed?

Because it happened at all, that was why. Kagome was still in that gray area of being aware of a guy's bodily functions and witnessing them, but now she was thrust into experiencing them. She'd already had to pee in his body, and then she had to bathe it. Anything else was beyond her ability to process so soon. What was she supposed to do if it did rise up? She couldn't tell it to lay down, and if she tried to play it cool and ignore it, she'd act so strange that Inuyasha would want to know what her problem was. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have with him!

When he did ask her out loud what was wrong and why did she squeal, Kagome nearly shouted out "Penis!" to her horror. "I…uh…it's just… we're supposed to act like each other, right?" She was going to try to kindly ask Inuyasha not to expose her to the world, but she didn't want to upset him. "Actually, never mind. Why…why were you trying to get the skirt to go up like that?"

Maybe learning why he did the things he did was better than trying to get him to stop.

Inuyasha shrugged, reaching down to lift one of the pleated edges. "I dunno. It just felt like something to try? How come you've never done it?"

Kagome almost wished she'd shouted "Penis!" out loud, even if it made no sense. It would have been better than trying to explain that it wasn't something girls usually do in a short skirt. "W-well…I…I grew up being told that it wasn't very appropriate in mixed company, and the last time something like that happened, you nearly beat that old man senseless."

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah." She was very thankful that he'd stood up for her honor, even if he'd gotten a full view of her panties that day. 'And now he's seen the whole thing…'

"We're mixed company," he pointed out.

"We are."

"If you want to do it, you can too."

"…Uh…?"

"When we're normal again," Inuyasha looked down at himself as he made the skirt sway back and forth. "If you want to put on this thing and make it fly around, I'll kill anyone that tries to look. You shouldn't have to feel like you've got to hold back if there's something you wanna try, you know?"

Kagome's heart skipped a beat. That was incredibly sweet, even though it was essentially the pot calling the kettle black. Holding back was something they were both guilty of for years for a lot of things, and it looked like this body switching fiasco was the final straw in fate's eyes. She didn't have to ask if he meant it; she knew he was good at keeping his word.

She wanted to thank him again, but a slight breeze had tickled her nose with a scent she couldn't place. It was weird. Kagome couldn't put her finger on it, and not because she wasn't in her own body. She really couldn't figure out what that smell was. Inuyasha appeared not to notice, having turned back to look in her backpack for something. He had no idea that she'd started towards him, lightly sniffing the air around her.

She knew where the smell was coming from - her. Or rather, her body.

Inuyasha wasn't a slob. He was meticulously clean, and it wasn't like it was a bad smell. Just…different. It had her puzzled enough to sniff her own neck from behind, which ended up making a new scent appear and for Inuyasha's body to feel funny as a result.

"W-what are you doing?" he squeaked.

"You smell funny. I…I can't figure out what it is."

A few moments passed. "I - oh…" Inuyasha turned bright red and looked away. "That's…that's how you…you s-smell…to me," he mumbled. "You do have my senses now, remember?"

Inuyasha couldn't believe that Kagome felt she had to hold back on things. The skirt twirling wasn't appropriate, he knew that obviously, but it was a fun little thing that amused him. It also felt kind of freeing to feel the air whoosh up underneath the fabric across his thighs when he spun. He thought Kagome would enjoy it if she were to do it, but she looked appalled at the idea. For Kagome to not do it on her own sounded like it was a rule ingrained in her as a child, and that wasn't fair.

That was why he insisted that he maim anyone who tried to interfere if she wanted to do something dumb and fun for once. He thought she needed to be allowed the security of being able to do whatever the hell she wanted without someone telling her that she couldn't.

He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he had no idea that Kagome was coming up behind him. Inuyasha may not have had his heightened hearing, but Kagome hadn't mastered being light on her feet yet. He should have heard her approach before he felt something cold press against his skin. The sound he made wasn't something to be proud of even if he was currently in a woman's body.

"W-what are you doing?"

"You smell funny. I…I can't figure out what it is."

Then she did it again, and holy shit his nose was cold! Why had he never noticed that when he was in his own body?! And why was she sniffing him?! More than that, why the fuck did it tickle him all over?!

Boy, did it tickle.

Kagome telling him that he smelled funny to her connected the pieces together so fast that he felt dizzy. She had no idea what her natural scent was like! Between the dirt, dust, blood, and other bodily oozes they'd picked up in the monastery, her natural scent was packed down under the grime. And now that they'd bathed…

Inuyasha visibly shivered when the soft puffs of air brushed across his neck again. Kagome had done it again. It felt like some magic spell had run down his skin on either side, reaching places he never expected to tingle. Like his thighs, and…upwards. Was that supposed to feel like that? He had no idea, and he wasn't sure he could ask after the subject of those lips were brought up. Inuyasha could feel the heat of his larger frame being pressed against him as Kagome leaned in to sniff at the other side of his neck.

Apparently Kagome was intrigued by her own scent.

That made two of them.

Back when he'd given Kagome his suikan to wear and she'd turned it into a makeshift dress, it had been agonizing to have to wash it afterwards. Even with the smell of his blood and sake from the bath, he could still smell her, and if it hadn't been reeking of anything else, he wouldn't have washed it for as long as he could get away with it.

The idea sounded disgusting, and it probably was, but this was Kagome. He'd have told anyone to fuck off if they had a problem with it. That particular bath had been exceptionally long, simply for the fact that he stood naked in the water just sniffing the fire rat robe before her scent washed away.

Fuck, he had it bad even back then.

But now he had a new problem, and it had him biting his bottom lip so he could keep a moan down. Why did he even want to do that?! The body heat felt comforting, sure. The tickling…well, tingled… but there was nothing about this that should have screamed intimate like his brain was feeling.

Wait.

That…that wasn't him.

This reaction was all Kagome.

Holy fuck.

Before he started to answer her question, Kagome had moved away, breaking the spell between them. He still felt tingly, and he knew his face was hot, but he couldn't stop thinking about the fact that Kagome's body had the ability to shiver on the inside. What was that? Did this happen when she gave off that tangy scent he'd noticed on previous occasions? Inuyasha knew the tangy scent was arousal, so what did this tingly feeling mean? Were they connected at all? Inuyasha involuntarily pressed his thighs together tighter, letting out a sigh, but it didn't make the feeling go away. He felt warm, tingly, and wished Kagome would come back and get up close to him like that again so he could…what?

It was like it was on the tip of his tongue, this concept that he wanted to see through, but he couldn't find the words for it. This didn't seem like arousal - he was all too familiar with that feeling when he'd woken up harder than a tree trunk when he was in his own body. Miroku had once lamented that it was both a curse and a beauty that women took more time to "get ready". Could…could that be what he was feeling? Did this mean Kagome was interested in being aroused by him?

He sure as hell hoped so, but if that's what this tingly feeling he was dealing with was, then he was fucking screwed. He'd already felt this once when he'd seen Kagome turn around naked and face him at the hot spring.

At least they were on the right track to living together eventually.

It was usually Inuyasha that caught any meat they had for dinner, but there were times she had been able to take down a hare with her bow. When it came to demons, there was no hesitation, but Kagome struggled to kill what she felt was an innocent animal so that she could eat. Inuyasha had finally talked with her about it, reminding her that she'd need energy from the meat to fight.

Knowing they were dying for a purpose didn't make it easier, but it helped. She wasn't a vegetarian by any means; she'd been known to inhale a Wacdnald's burger on the weekends, but being the one to do the dirty work wasn't something she'd ever find easy.

Being in Inuyasha's body meant that getting dinner had fallen to her. He had attempted to use her bow and in the process lost one of her arrows in the trees. She'd found it, fortunately, but this essentially answered the question about whether they could handle a surprise attack. Inuyasha remained at their camp, setting up the fire for her return, while she circled the area and kept her ears open for any small prey.

Catching the hare had been an embarrassment. Kagome wasn't as stealthy as she'd thought herself to be, but she was proud that she'd managed to track the russet-colored creature until she caught it in a leap. She'd turned her head and shuddered when she made quick work of breaking its neck, offering a silent prayer of thanks for keeping her and Inuyasha fed until they found their friends. She sighed as she cradled the hare in her hands on the walk back to Inuyasha. How he managed to hunt meat for them, she had no idea. Maybe it was a guy thing, to be able to separate the task from the concept of taking a life?

"Why are you handing it to me?" Inuyasha asked, looking at the limp hare Kagome was holding out to him with a grimace. "You killed it, you clean it."

He saw the white fuzzy ears droop. "Then…can I have my pocket knife from my bag?" It was more of a utility knife that she carried for their travels, but she had used it on occasion to skin and clean dinner.

Inuyasha started to reach for it, then looked back at her. "You've got the claws," he pointed out. "You can do a quicker job with those than this knife." As he watched her expression change from the grimace to anxiousness, he started to wonder if this was for the best. 'It has to be this way. We can't risk letting just anyone know what happened to us, so the more we can act like each other, the better off we'll be until we can get to the others.'

Kagome moved to the outer edge of their camp with the hare, and Inuyasha turned to observe. He knew she'd look to him for guidance, and he didn't mind walking her through it if he was asked. Inuyasha saw her raise a claw and begin the incision across the belly, pulling upwards slowly until she reached the ribs. Inuyasha got up from his seated position and walked over to her. The entrails would have to come out next, and he could take care of that part for her, knowing how bad the smell would get if they were discarded too close to their camp.

Kagome looked like she was doing okay, or so he thought. It wasn't until he stood a few paces away that he saw her clawed hands shake uncontrollably. Some of the entrails had been dumped onto the dirt next to the hare, but he was more concerned with how pale those hands were. "Kagome?"

A sniffle.

Oh no.

Kagome's body lurched as she scrambled to her feet, running to the nearest patch of brush to vomit. He winced, hearing a mix of her expelling the contents of her stomach and the start of sobs she was trying to conceal. Inuyasha closed the gap and began to pull the silver hair from her face, not saying anything. Kagome had started to shake harder, using the sleeves of the suikan to dry her cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha. I –"

"It's alright, Kagome. I wasn't thinking –"

"The hare…I can –"

"Go sit down," he told her. "Drink some water. I'll finish this." When she started to protest – of course she would, he'd insisted that she be the one – Inuyasha gave her a look. He'd fucked up making her clean the kill the way he'd always done it, and he needed to make things right.

Inuyasha was trying to get her to eat. She wasn't sure she could swallow instant noodles even if there was a cup in her backpack.

"You need to eat," he urged, sliding closer to her. The…meat…was sitting in the portable cooking pot with the few pieces of things they could find in the area and anything in her backpack that worked. It wasn't going to be the most appetizing thing to eat to begin with, but… "Kagome. You've got an empty stomach now. It won't do any good to skip –"

"How do you do it?" Her throat still felt sore from earlier. Half-demon healing abilities had its perks, but when that much acid came up quickly… "How do you not think about what you're doing when you have to hunt? When you go to…to…"

Inuyasha slid closer and put his arm around her shoulders, which felt a bit strange since he was now smaller than her. Kagome still leaned into his embrace all the same. "Trust me, I don't care much for it," he spoke softly. "But I think about it as something that's necessary, and that makes me keep going. When I was a kid on my own, I couldn't go up to any random villager and ask for something to eat. I had to learn to hunt to survive. Now it's not just me that I hunt for, but you and Sango and Miroku. Sure, you guys are capable of feeding yourselves, but what if you're not able to? Sango's with child and the further along she gets, Miroku won't leave her side. It's something that I can do to provide for everyone."

Kagome let out a sigh. "And here I thought I had gotten so much better about things like this." She felt humiliated. "I…had to break its neck, because I couldn't bring myself to dig in with these claws," she admitted. "That's why I wanted to use the knife, aside from being familiar with it."

"The hide was so tender that your knife would have risked shredding the meat."

"Yeah, I noticed that when I made the first cut…" She hadn't felt her stomach roll until she'd pulled the incision open wider and the scent of blood hit her full on. But Kagome had held it down as she'd begun to pull the entrails out. She'd almost gotten all of it without risking splitting an organ on her claws, but a thought about the hare's last moments struck her. It was only trying to survive, and she'd been doing the same, but it had to sacrifice its life for hers, and…then the tears started. After that, between being upset and the smell, her body started to heave. She couldn't keep from being sick, but she wasn't going to let the meat she'd procured be ruined.

Now Inuyasha was handing Kagome her portion of dinner, and she knew she didn't have a choice. "I promise from here on out that I won't make you do anything you don't want to do." She knew he wasn't talking about skipping out on dinner.

"I've got to learn somehow," she reasoned. "What if we run into a fight? We don't know that we can use each other's abilities." Kagome wasn't going to point out how bad of a shot Inuyasha was with a bow, but with practice, she figured he could do well.

"We'll run."

"But –"

"Nope," Inuyasha cut her off. "I ain't putting your life at risk while you're trying to act like me. I've already made you cry twice without meaning to; if you were to get hurt in a battle…"

It wasn't something Kagome wanted to think about either. "We'll just have to travel faster then. Make sure we can get back to our friends before anything tries to attack us."

The sun had long since disappeared behind the horizon, and neither Inuyasha or Kagome wanted to sleep. Despite being in a half-demon's body now, Kagome was mentally exhausted. Her mind needed the rest, but the demonic instincts were firing off, keeping her looking around the area for any signs of intruders. It was almost like the worst kind of caffeine rush.

Inuyasha was dealing with a similar feeling, only it was Kagome's body that was exhausted. He wasn't used to feeling this run down, even on his human nights. At least then he was conditioned to keep himself awake, but this was worse. His eyes would droop shut, only for his mind to wake him back up. There was no way he could physically take on anything that charged into their space, but he was so accustomed to playing night watch…

"You should sleep." They echoed off of each other. "No, you -!"

"I know you're not used to sleeping so much, Inuyasha. But you're in my body and it can't pull all-nighters all the time!"

"Feh. You're the one that needs sleep! After how upset you got earlier? I know you're worn out."

It was stupid to pout, but Kagome did. She didn't want that being brought up again, even if he was right. "Your body won't let me sleep," she insisted. "As soon as I close my eyes, I feel my whole body start to…buzz! And the feeling freaks me out and makes me think something is wrong, so I look around and can't find anything –"

"Oh. Yeah. That's normal," Inuyasha shrugged. "It's how I've slept most of my life. I go down just enough to get rest so that I can function, but I don't sleep hard enough to where I won't hear something that could threaten me or the group."

Kagome could only stare at him with concern. He sacrificed his own body's rest for protection? "When…when have you not slept like this?" she asked softly.

"Before my mother died, and…your house."

"Inuyasha…"

"Don't get all mushy! It's not a big deal!"

"Of course it is, you jerk! Inuyasha, this is a very big deal! You can't keep doing that to yourself!" She wanted to berate him for not trusting them for years, but now that she knew him, she understood why he didn't. The point was, they had all become used to doing without decent rest on their travels. He went out of his way to pick the most secure spots for camping so they could sleep. That should have included him, but he was too used to doing without. 'It's not like he's going to listen to words,' she thought, getting up from her seat on the log. Inuyasha was already taking out her sleeping bag, no doubt under the impression that she was going to be the one to use it.

Not a chance.

Kagome didn't want to use her newly acquired strength for this purpose, but Inuyasha would have protested. In a few quick steps, she had scooped a hand under each armpit and lifted him off the log he sat on, then dragged him backwards until they were sitting at the base of the very large tree, him leaning back against her chest. Inuyasha had let out a squeak of surprise, but his mouth didn't start moving until he came to a stop.

"What the hell, Kagome?!"

"Don't start with me, Inuyasha! You've picked me up without warning a lot over the years!"

"Not by the pits!"

Kagome let out a huff and shrugged out of the suikan. He was still gripping the sleeping bag like a vice. "Get over it. I'm tired, you're tired, and I've got a plan." She pulled the suikan across his smaller frame. "Unzip the sleeping bag completely," she told him.

There was mumbling and some swears, but he did as she asked, and minutes later both sets of legs were covered by the sleeping bag. "What about you?" he grumbled, irritated and still settling between the makeshift covers and the warmth at his back.

"I'll just do this." Kagome didn't hesitate to slide her arms under the suikan and across Inuyasha's midsection, careful not to snag her claws on the modern clothes. She shifted around, pulling Inuyasha closer to her so that only small amounts of her body were exposed to the night air. He was now covered up to his chin. "See? Now you can sleep."

"How am I supposed to sleep after you just felt me up?!"

"Hello? You did this to me before we even went into the monastery! The only difference is that we're not in a tree –"

"There's at least two differences besides that and you just about grabbed them both!"

"They're mine so suck it up!"

In their arguing, Kagome had clearly forgotten that her voice was not her own, and the gruff sound of staking claim over her body came out sounding far more inappropriate than she intended. She'd felt Inuyasha shiver against her, which didn't do her body any favors because parts of her twitched, and things were awkward enough without her penis deciding to join the conversation. She tried to clear her throat, willing herself to think of anything but how soft the smaller body felt as Inuyasha shifted against her.

"Still don't see how I'm gonna sleep after that," Inuyasha mumbled, but he still turned onto his hip and pressed his cheek against her chest. She could feel the soft puffs of air sneak through the folds of the kosode.

"Me either," she whispered, suppressing a shiver as Inuyasha's cheek shifted. Now Kagome could really feel his breath hit the small patch of skin that was exposed. It was a delightful tickle that she didn't need, even if her body appreciated it. 'It's not my body, but…I guess it is' she reminded herself, tightening her hold around Inuyasha. 'Only for a little while, I suppose.' As she tried to let her mind rest, she knew that it would have to be sooner rather than later that they address the way their bodies were reacting. If they didn't, fate would find a way to make them, she was certain of it.