InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Creature Comforts ❯ Down the Rabbit Hole ( Chapter 2 )

Author's Notes: I know the first chapter was a little confusing, but I can assure you that this chapter clears up a lot of that. Especially regarding Miroku and Sango…

Creature Comforts

Chapter Two

Down the Rabbit Hole

Kagome absently patted Buyo's head as the cat came waddling forward to greet the bowl of food she'd just set down on the kitchen floor. With a soft sigh, she straightened and moved to pick up the school bag that she'd dumped on the table. "Has anyone called about Beau?" she asked her mother who had been sat beside said bag, reading a newspaper.

"Not yet, Honey."

Kagome wondered if her mother would even bother telling her if someone found Beau. Her mother was not exactly a dog person and she and Beau hadn't gotten along very well. How a woman could pick a fight with a dog was incredible, but it had happened. Beau and Kagome's mother weren't on speaking terms, despite Mrs Higurashi having the mildest, most tolerable nature in the world.

Mrs Higurashi was probably happy that the dog was gone.

Although… Kagome couldn't help but worry if her poor little puppy was lying in a ditch somewhere, having been hit by a car.

Beau had simply followed her home one day after school, and after that, they had been inseparable. Kagome considered herself very much a dog person, even though she loved Buyo very much. A dog was just much more interactive and fun, and Beau had been no exception…

But for some reason, he'd just vanished off the face of the earth. Kagome had only turned away for a moment. When she'd turned around again, her dog was gone, and the only thing being presented to her was some streaker's backside.

"I wonder if someone's picked him off the street and stolen him…?" Kagome wondered as she sat down beside her mother. "Because he was a pedigree… and he was quite lovely…"

"I'm sure he will turn up." Mrs Higurashi looked up from her newspaper and soothed her hand over Kagome's hair. "With all the posters that Souta has tacked up around the district, I'd be surprised if no one called. Beau was a very distinctive little dog. Someone is bound to recognise him."

"I guess…" Kagome watched as Buyo finished his food and began sniffing around for any extra titbit that he'd missed. Satisfied that he'd eaten everything available, the fat cat began to slink away. "And where are you going, mister?" Kagome scooped up the cat into her arms.

"Going? I'm going to go laugh at a stupid mutt trapped down a well. Unhand me, woman."

But the cat's comments fell on deaf ears.

"Ooh…" Kagome frowned as she bounced Buyo in her arms. "Do you think he's gained weight again?"

"It's glandular!"

"I don't know…" Mrs Higurashi eyed the cat. "We could probably do with putting him on a diet again…"

"What was that about a diet?!"

"Perhaps." Kagome nodded before she noticed that Buyo was struggling rather intensely to be put down. She released him quickly and watched him slide off her lap and onto the floor in a heap. "Oh, Buyo… when will you learn that cats are supposed to land on all fours?"

"Weak ankles…" the cat responded, and began toddling toward the door. He looked back over his shoulder. "Oh, by the way, there's a dog trapped down the old well."

But Kagome wasn't listening at all. She'd gone back to talk to her mother about some kind of assignment she'd been set by her Geography teacher. Buyo discreetly rolled his eyes and sauntered out again, making his lazy way back to the well house.

He slipped through the open door into the dank interior and falolloped down the steps like a furry water balloon. He then managed to haul himself, with some difficulty, onto the well's lip and peer down into it's depth with sharp, yellow eyes. He sniffed in contempt at the dog twitching and snuffling below him.

"Excuse me," He cleared his throat - a sound not dissimilar to a fit of hairballs.

The grimy dog went on sleeping.

Buyo sucked in a sharp breath of air… and let it out in one mighty yowl - the "Dear god, stop swinging me around by my tail" yowl. It was ear-splitting, and undoubtedly the two women in the house would have heard. But it had been aimed at the dog, and Buyo watched with a small tail-flick of triumph as it jerked awake with a startled 'woof'.

"Pleasant dreams?" he purred down.

The dog struggled to sit up. It was a bit too large for the well it was stuck down. "Where's my help?!" it demanded.

Very aggressive… there must have been some Rottweiler in the mix somewhere. Maybe even some Bull Mastiff…

"Patience, my friend." Buyo rolled his tail lazily from side to side. "They'll be here any minute after that racket I just made."

True to his word, the front door of the house crashed open. "Buyo!" It was Kagome, anxious to know what had caused her pet to give such a pained scream. "Buyo - where are you?!"

Buyo yowled a little more gently this time, but no less urgently. "Quick! Timmy's trapped down the well!" He chortled at his own joke - but when the dog growled, he looked down disdainfully. "What? You never watched 'Skippy'?"

Before the dog could form an intelligent reply (which evidently took a lot of time, judging from Buyo's experience with dogs), Kagome the wonder girl had arrived. "What's the matter?" she panted, placing a hand on the unruffled cat. "I thought you were in a fight or something… what on earth is the matter with-"

"Woof!!"

The girl toppled back with a short scream, throwing her hands up as if expecting some monstrous animal to leap out of the well in one bound and fasten hideous fangs around her throat. When nothing happened, she lifted her head, darted a look at the deadpanning cat, and started to stand shakily on her own two feet again. Hesitantly, she crept over to the edge of the well and slowly peered down into it's murky depths.

Two disks of pale gold shone up at her out of the pitch darkness.

"Well… that's not creepy at all." she whispered to herself as the little specks of light blinked at her. Then whatever monster was down there shifted, and the glowing disks were gone. Only an animal had eyes that reflected light that strongly…

"Woof!"

Kagome skittered away again. "Stop doing that!" she cried. She wasn't normally scared of dogs - not even the large variety - but she knew that whatever was down there, it couldn't have been an ordinary canine.

Then she heard it's soft, pitiful whine, and the scrabble of its claws against the rocky innards of the well… and she realised what had happened. Stepping forward, she gazed down at the glowing eyes. "How on earth did you get down there…?" she asked gently, as if there was a chance it could talk back. But the dog only whined. "I hope you haven't broken anything…" Injured dogs always tended to be aggressive towards their rescuers; they just didn't know any better.

"And…how do I get you out of there?" She started looking around her. Perhaps it would be wise to call the fire brigade… they were getting cats out of trees all the time - getting a dog out of the ground would be no different. And Kagome would rather that the dog bite well prepared firemen than her.

But there's a ladder -Kagome narrowed her eyes as her gaze fell on the long wooden structure, pinned to the wall with a couple of pegs - If I could just tempt him up the ladder with a bit of food or something… I'm sure he's big enough to climb…

"If this doesn't work…" Kagome said aloud as she hauled the ladder off the wall, "then I guess it's your own fault for falling down the stupid well."

It took a little effort - but in no time at all, Kagome was carefully lowering the ladder down the well shaft, mindful not to prod the monster dog and get him mad at her. Judging by the odd growl, she wasn't always successful.

Finally, the end of the ladder hit the bottom and stuck. Kagome stepped back and dusted off her hands. "Right, now I'll just go and get some bait to tempt you-"

She stopped herself short as the ladder gave a hefty shudder. Buyo watched in a lazily amused sort of way, but Kagome could only look on in horror.

That thing was climbing up already!

"Wait - I'm not ready yet!" Kagome cried. Couldn't she at least have the chance to find her full-body suit of armour?!

The dog wasn't going to wait around for anyone, so Kagome could only back away carefully as the ladder bumped and jumped this way and that while the beast climbed one step at a time, rather unsteadily.

At one point there was a crunch of wood, and for a brief moment, Kagome was worried that the dog would simply fall back into the well. But that didn't even seem to slow it down. In the next second, an enormous shaggy bear of an animal surged out of the well and landed jerkily on the dusty foor. It was only two steps in front of her…

That dog was a monster…

It was lanky… too thin and too long, with the face of a wolf and a narrow nose. Masses of matted black hair covered it's body, so dark that it seemed to absorb all light that touched it - there wasn't even the slightest shine to its coat. It stood like an aged animal, old and battered… but when it took the smallest step towards her, she could instantly detect the presence of a limp.

And the eyes were odd… they broke up the cold, terrifying image that stood before her. They were warm, like small molten puddles of amber flecked with gold. However, they were also sharp and cold, but in a tangible human way that belied the almost supernatural feel to the creature…

It didn't seem to like the way she was staring at it. Pearly fangs were beginning to bare, all the way to the dark gums - a stark contrast of white tooth against black fur.

But Kagome was saved by a loud, irritable hiss from her cat. Buyo was now balanced precariously along the edge of the well, back arched with his ears plastered back against his head. The monster dog turned to look at him with a hint of a growl rumbling in the back of its throat.

Kagome didn't want them to start fighting on her account… she didn't fancy Buyo's chances one bit. He was obese, after all.

It was to her intense relief that the dog decided enough was enough. It suddenly dashed away up the steps and out of the open door, limping heavily with every bound. Kagome quickly ran after it - scared for a moment that her mother would be outside and in the dog's way - but her fears were for nothing. The dog steered towards the Shrine steps and in an instant was gone from sight.

It was only then that Kagome realised how hard her heart was pounding.

What a terrifying creature…

Buyo appeared at her ankles, rubbing his plump little body against her socks in earnest. Bending down, she lifted him into her arms and cuddled him protectively while he purred happily. "Don't start picking fights with dogs on steroids, Buyo. It's not healthy."

Neither was five tins of "Whiskers" a day, but no one heard Buyo complaining…

………………&hel lip;……………………&hellip ;………

At least he'd made it out of the well alive. But, as usual, any situation involving Inuyasha was destined to turn nasty. Strange how that cat had changed its tune the moment he'd popped out of the well.

"And what kind of dog are you supposed to be?" Buyo had demanded, hackles raised and tail poker stiff. "The Grim Reaper's pet?"

Inuyasha had turned away from the annoying, staring girl to glare at the cat. "And what are you - an incarnation of Buddha, you fat little furball!"

Buyo hadn't liked that.

Inuyasha hadn't cared. After gaining the last laugh, he dove out of the well house and made a run for it. It troubled him that the well he'd emerged from didn't seem to be the same well that he had entered…

Although… wasn't that the village Shrine he was dashing past?

Perhaps he'd been knocked unconscious for longer than he'd thought…?

After loping his way down the steps, Inuyasha tried to frown as he came out onto the road - problem was, dogs didn't actually have many muscles in the face to express themselves with - so he ended up just squinting slightly. His more pressing concern was that there was now a grey rock road where there had once been dirt, trees and little huts.

A metal carriage went roaring past him, showering him with noxious gas and a suffocating stench. He sneezed twice and retreated to sit close to the mailbox at the foot of the steps. He watched the traffic in wonder for a moment, listening to the details that his nose told him.

There were many scents around this strange place, the most predominate one being poison, or some other chemical smell. Beneath that he could smell all kinds of other things - urine, sweat, dust and many more different poisons. There weren't any rabbits or birds to be scented… but he definitely caught the whiff of other dogs, and maybe even a few cats.

It was a very foreign place… like he'd emerged into a totally different world.

But in the same way, it wasn't all that strange.

The carriages that roared past every now and then were obviously some kind of transport… he could see the humans inside every time they passed by. The smooth, grey stone that these carriages moved along were obviously roads. He'd seen the occasional gravelled road back home, although there was nothing as advanced as this.

The clothing was what baffled him. A mother and her two children on the other side of the road weren't even wearing the customary style of clothes. Their clothes fit and fastened together in all kinds of weird and wonderful way, in all kinds of strange and stylish patterns and textures. But the moment they saw him, the mother seemed very anxious to hurry her children along.

The only other life on the road was the two identical black cats sitting on a wall opposite. They were both staring at him rather openly.

Inuyasha ignored them and looked around some more. This time he noticed the colours - or rather - the lack of them. The world seemed muted, like someone had taken a painting and watered it down till it was a murky grey.

Oh, he could still see some colours. When he looked up, the sky was still blue, and when he looked at the yellow fire hydrant, it was still yellow. But the trees - while their trunks were a vague, greyish tan - their leaves ranged from grey to pale grey, and even to white

It was an odd, bleached world that he was looking at, but he suspected that this was more to do with his new eyes than anything else.

These new eyes turned back to the pair of cats on the wall.

They were still staring.

"What?!" he barked at them, literally.

"Nothing at all!" one of them, a male by the sound of it, crowed back. "We were just admiring your lovely coat!"

"My ass!" Inuyasha snarled back, feeling particularly irritable.

"That too!" the other cat, a female, called over with a dry humour.

Were all cats this smarmy and sarcastic? Perhaps that was a given…

"Forgive me, friend," The male tipped his elegant head. "But you seem a little lost."

That was one way of putting it. "I don't need directions from a bunch of stinking cats!" Inuyasha snapped angrily.

"Oh, we're the smelly ones?" The female was covering her nose with a delicate paw, in a not-so-discreet way. That wasn't a very catty gesture… that was more of a human thing to do. "I can smell you from all the way over here, dog." she called again.

Inuyasha pulled his lips back, baring his teeth in warning before starting to limp away down the road.

"If you ever change your mind - me and Sango are here all day, aren't we, Sango?"

"Unfortunately, yes we are, Miroku."

Bah… crazy cats. Who needed them? Inuyasha was on a mission - to find his body and reverse whatever spell he was under…

But why was instinct telling him that there was little chance of finding his body snatcher around this place… wherever this was.

With no where else to go, Inuyasha tottered through the streets aimlessly, sniffing at the occasionally interesting scents he found along the way. His exploring didn't turn up much, other than prove to him that this place was practically the same all over.

He passed by an alley once - an alley where a scraggy little stray mongrel was rooting around for it's dinner. The moment it saw Inuyasha, it whimpered and ran away with it's tail between it's legs. It hadn't said a word to him…

So just when Inuyasha was beginning to wonder if dogs really were as stupid as the fat cat had suggested, he wandered past a chain link fence, penned around the garden of one of the 'houses'. A bitch was playing in the yard, but the moment she spotted him, she was up and galloping over to greet him.

"Hello! How are you?! Do you want to play with my ball - my human got it for me today! Wow, you're big aren't you?! Come play with me!"

Inuyasha blinked slowly at her, not at all impressed. She was way too bouncy for his dour mood. Her tail wagged too enthusiastically and she was laughing in that hushed, unobtrusively doggish way.

Well, at least she could talk. But Inuyasha was in no temper to play with that purple ball, and so passed on without a word, determined to get more results on his search for the body snatcher… if only he could stop getting so distracted!

He even spent a good five minutes sniffing an unidentifiable brown liquid that was leaking from a bottle into a gutter before he realised that he wasn't being very productive at all.

He was going no where… other than a rather busy part of the 'town'.

More people were mooching along the roadside here, but all were eager to give him a wide berth. Inuyasha ignored them and they, as shakily as they could, ignored him in return. Before long, Inuyasha planted his furry rear down on the ground outside one of the buildings - but this building was different. Its whole front was made of glass, and on the other side of this window pane were little boxes with flashing images. His eyes were quick enough to catch the flickering frames.

Most of the boxes were showing off some kind of moving artwork, but the others featured real people. Inuyasha honed in on one in particular that had words running across the bottom of the screen.

"…missing newspaper boy turns up after disappearing for three months. Boy is said to be suffering severe trauma, but is otherwise unharmed. Police have yet to uncover the reason for his disappearance…"

"Hey!" A man appeared in the doorway beside the big window. "Go away, you big brute."

Out of sheer contempt, Inuyasha kept his posterior firmly fixed in place. "Make me." he challenged.

The man didn't seem to hear him. "Beat it, mutt! Go sit by Suzuki's shop - he deserves to have a big brute like you sit under his window and scare off his customers!"

Inuyasha's response was to simply ignore him and lie down, curled up, with his head on his paws. He was far too big for that one man to move - and if he so much as tried to shift Inuyasha, he would only get a bite for his trouble.

Rather unwisely, Inuyasha drifted off into a nap…

A mistake.

When he woke up, he was being advanced upon by six men in matching uniforms. Each of them carried a long pole with a wire-like noose protruding from the end.

"'Ey! He's awake!" one of them said.

"Don't let him get away - we need to get this brute off the streets!"

"What kind of moron let an animal like him out? He's a monster!"

"Just take him back to the pound and put him to sleep. That's best."

This didn't look good. Inuyasha couldn't quell the panicking dog instincts that welled up within him. He wanted to blunder up and break into a run, but his hanyou nature knew that this instinct would probably get him into trouble. They were expecting him to jump up and run, weren't they? Well… Inuyasha would have to do the opposite.

As naturally as he could, Inuyasha let out a soft groan and sank back down to the ground like a lifeless rug.

Let them think he was as weak and ill as he looked.

"I don't think he's feeling up to the fight…" one of the men said.

"He looks pretty old to me."

Inuyasha felt their tense auras begin to relax as they stepped closer with a little more confidence. He continued to loll on the ground like a witless fool as they approached. Soon they were all gathered around him, close enough for him to bite if he wished to do so. But he didn't react to their presence.

He had to get them to let their guard down completely…

"Poor thing, I think he's already been done in." another said somewhere above him.

One of them was leaning down to take a closer look at him.

That was when Inuyasha finally made his move.

In a flash, Inuyasha lurched up and snapped his jaws shut inches in front of the crouching man's nose. The poor man let loose a high-pitched scream and fell backwards, opening up the perfect hole through which Inuyasha could escape.

The Grim leapt aptly over the fallen man and started to pelt his way down the pavement. He may have been 'done in', injured, and tired, but he could still move when he put his mind to it. People screamed as they hastily scrambled to get out of his way. Inuyasha paid them no mind as he dodged between the many bodies, letting the world flash by in a blur.

He dived down side roads, meandered down alleyways, and finally began slowing down when he realised that the men couldn't possibly have followed him…

And by then, he was back at the Shrine. Grumbling under his breath, Inuyasha sank to the ground, panting, and wished that his paws didn't hurt as much as they did.

"Ah, look who's come to join us again!"

Inuyasha cracked open an eye and peered up at the triangular, black face peeking down from the wall behind him. "Aw, shit…"

"You look like you've seen a ghost, my friend." The male cat nimbly dropped off the wall and came to sit beside Inuyasha's head.

"I am not your friend." he ground out at the cat. Right then, he could have reached out and bitten the sleek animal in half. Why wasn't it afraid of him?

"Well then, we had best get acquainted. My name is Miroku, and my friend here is the gorgeous Miss Sango."

The female cat was no where near bold enough to join her friend beside the dog's head. "Hey." she greeted simply from her safe position on the wall.

"I don't like cats. Leave me alone." Inuyasha grouched. He was too tired to get up and leave in order to end the conversation.

"That's nice. But we're not cats." Miroku's tail twitched against his foot.

"Could have fooled me." Inuyasha scowled.

"We're actually human. Or… we were." Miroku looked distant. "At least I think we were… I can't really remember…"

"Oh, we were." said Sango from above. "I can't remember how long ago it was, but I definitely remember having hands."

"Cats don't have very good memory." Miroku said, almost apologetically.

Inuyasha lifted his head and stared at the tom cat. "You used to be human?" he asked sharply.

"One hundred percent human." If cats could grin, Miroku did so.

"So…" Inuyasha tried to make sense of this development. "Did you have your bodies swapped with some kind of evil cat?"

Sango seemed to finally summon the courage to come down and join in the discussion. She sat close to Miroku's side as the tom looked at Inuyasha in bewilderment. "Heavens, no - at least… I hope not… I don't remember."

"I do." Sango glanced at her companion. "I remember that we were human - and then we were transformed into cats."

"Oh yes!" said Miroku, as if remembering a vague detail. "I don't think there was any body swapping involved."

"Oh…" Inuyasha was somewhat disappointed. This meant that they couldn't help him. They hadn't been caught in the same spell… and they were cats after all. Not even remotely similar to him.

"Why do you ask?" Miroku chirped, his tail now openly swinging behind him in a friendly mood.

Inuyasha grunted and let his eyes close. "Because I used to be a hanyou, but I was cornered by a mangy black Grim… the dog stole my body and is now walking around as me."

"Ah. I see." Miroku looked thoughtful.

"Oh - and now you're walking around as the mangy black Grim instead." Sango concluded.

Bingo! Inuyasha didn't have the energy to confirm her conclusion.

"That's not really the way it usually happens." Miroku said wisely. "All the ex-human dogs we know were all dogified by one particular tosspot. No swapping, just shrunk and given extra body hair."

"The same prick who turned us into cats." Sango added.

"Really, Sango?" Miroku blinked at her.

"Yes, Miroku."

"Oh… if you say so." Miroku turned back to Inuyasha. "But since you were tricked by an actual dog… I'm not sure we can help you."

"Yeah, we would have suggested you go spend some time with the Shrine maiden." Sango pointed her nose towards the shrine steps behind her. "It's rumoured that her presence alone has already cured dogification. We saw it ourselves when that mutt Kouga transformed back into his normal self."

"Really…?" Interesting… but this cure seemed to be for a different kind of problem…

"But you might want to try her out anyway." Miroku urged. "It can't hurt, can it?"

But did Inuyasha really want to traipse around after that annoying, rubbernecked girl? He was reluctant to do so, because it meant he would be expected to act like a dog. Inuyasha wasn't sure he could sink that low. Yet. So he said, "Does she cure catification, too?"

"No idea." Miroku rolled his head carelessly. "We're trying to find out, but that Buyo fellow is awfully territorial and very possessive of the girl."

"Won't even give us a look in…" Sango sighed. "Unless I go alone when I'm in heat."

The tom cat looked at her sharply. "Which you will not be doing."

"Never said I would."

"But you've thought about it."

"So have you."

"When?"

"We talked about it the other day!"

"I don't remember any such conversation, Sango dear."

"Well, you don't remember much of anything these days, Miroku."

Inuyasha clamped a paw over an ear. A cat fight of all things. They were beginning to hiss and spit at each other, fur standing on end as if about to come to blows. Couldn't they just leave him to sleep in peace?! One doggish instinct was telling Inuyasha to give up and take another nap after his hard run, but another was skittishly reminding him that now might not be a safe time. It was hard figuring out which instinct to listen to… so he went with the latter.

All of a sudden, the cat fight was over, and the pair of felines were rubbing heads apologetically. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you." Sango was purring.

"I don't even remember what we were arguing about." Miroku responded, equally content in his purring.

What a sickening display of affection. Inuyasha sat up on his elbows. "So if I go and spend some time with the girl, I might change back into my old self?"

"What -oh! Possibly." Miroku broke away from Sango. "No guarantees… and no money back if you're not satisfied within three months."

"Hmm." Inuyasha wasn't convinced. He was leaning more towards the option of jumping back in the well to see where that took him - hopefully back to where he'd started. But the whole trouble it took to climb out of the well was deterring him. There was no sure bet that there would be any smarmy cats and gullible human girls on the other side to help him out again.

Almost to stall for time to think, he pursued the cats for information. "So who was the tosser who turned you both into cats?"

"Oh god… don't remind me." Miroku gave an irritated flick of the tail.

"Nothing can remind you, Miroku." Sango told him dryly. "Even I barely remember… all I know was that he hit on me, you simply hit him, then the next thing we knew we were being accused of being very catty and then we were strolling around on all fours with whiskers, talking to the birds and the bees."

"Yes, but do we remember who it was?" Miroku pointed out.

"Um…" said Sango.

"Um…" said Miroku. "White haired man… young, though. Really unnerving pale eyes and his nails could have done with a manicure. See this scar?" He presented a furry shoulder (one with no hint of a scar). "He did that with his nails - claws they were!"

"He gave his name, didn't he?" Sango reminisced.

"Ah yes… what was it again?"

"Oh… Inuyatta… Kinuyara… something like that."

Inuyasha's blood ran cold. "You mean, Inuyasha?"

"Probably." Miroku swayed loftily, a bit like a cat version of a shrug. "Something odd like that, anyway."

A hard, bitter tasting lump had settled in his doggish stomach.

He was here…!

And not only had the bastard stolen his body, but he'd stolen his name and identity as well!

There was only so much humiliation one man… or one dog could take.

To make matters worse, Inuyasha heard himself start to whine.

"What's the matter?" Miroku demanded. "What are you crying for?"

"I'm not crying!" Inuyasha huffed angrily - he was not crying! Except… whining was basically the canine equivalent. "I'm just depressed!"

"Why?" Sango wondered.

Miroku flicked an ear. "Well, it completes that grunge look that he's got going there..."

"That bastard - that Inuyasha - he's the one who stole my body! That is my body he's using - and my name! My name is Inuyasha and that is my body - he stole it!"

Both cats were inching away.

"He's the one who used to be the Grim - he swapped with me!" But something didn't seem to add up. The swap had only taken place yesterday, right? So why were there cats and dogs walking around who seemed to have been transformed for a while now…?

Inuyasha's brain simply wasn't up to the challenge of figuring it out.

"Well, then…" Miroku was saying. "I guess you want your body back in that case?"

"Well, obviously."

"No need to be rude." Sango told him curtly. "But before you can even think of going after him, you had better take a good look in the mirror-"

"-because the dog looking back at you will be you - I don't care what you will think - and he's not looking in the best of shape right now." Miroku finished.

Even Inuyasha was aware that he wasn't the fittest of dogs. He was always hungry, his ribs were prominent under the masses of tangled fur, and his limping was more due to stiffness than his bleeding paws. It was a wonder how the Grim had managed to capture him in such a state (to add insult to injury). The only thing this body was good for was running… and that was only because there was not an ounce of fat on his body to weigh him down… but not much muscle either.

The body had been starved and mistreated for years, hadn't it? But as the Grim had said, this body couldn't die… so what was the point in taking care of it?

"You may want to improve your chances and get a little meat on your bones." Sango cautioned.

"How?" Inuyasha asked.

Both cats blinked at him, and then in unison looked up at the Shrine. Inuyasha followed their gaze. "You mean… her?"

"Yep." Miroku smirked. "She has a thing for animals - she takes in strays without too much trouble. Kouga went to her and was treated like a little prince the entire time. Of course… you being as big as you are… and as ugly as you are… you may need to work a little harder at getting into her heart than Kouga did."

"Oh, joy…"

"Think of it as a challenge!" Sango encouraged him. "And your reward is a few good square meals a day and a relaxed life without worrying about the pound people."

So that's what those men had been…

"I'm not so sure…" Inuyasha stalled again. His mind wasn't able to keep up with the options being presented to him.

Cats, on the other hand, were much faster, even if it did cost them a lot of their memory. "Or you could simply go face him as you are and end up being slaughtered." Miroku told him coolly. "I doubt he'll be open to negotiations with his former body. You aren't in any shape to fight him - and he's a strong magic user by the looks of things."

True… all true… but Inuyasha didn't want to be someone's pet.

But did he even have a choice?

It was obvious what he had to do…