InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Role Reversal ❯ In Which the Canines Confront... ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Notes: Oh no… I always said to myself that I would never do the cliché plot, but yet again, I seem to have been swept along with the rest of them. Never mind, just sit back and enjoy ^_^ (or run away screaming, your choice)

Role Reversal

Chapter One

In which the canines confront…

"What's the matter with him?" Shippo said with a not-so-discreet wink in the direction of Inuyasha. The Hanyou in question was stomping off ahead of the travelling group - or trying to, considering he stomped with a bit of a limp. Kagome could practically see the steam rising from his ears.

"He just stepped on a piece of bone from that demon we shattered earlier." She leant down and told the kit who sat in her bicycle basket. "Must have hurt his foot… not that he'd ever admit it." That said, Inuyasha suddenly turned a withering glare on her. Despite being at least twenty metres ahead of them, he seemed to have heard every word. Kagome and Shippo suddenly became unnaturally interested in the trees off to the side of the road. Ellipses

With an annoyed tutt Inuyasha turned forward again and the group continued in stiff silence.

Typical, Kagome thought with a mental huff. Just because he's not having fun doesn't mean we have to be miserable too.

She pulled her bike to a stop. "I think we should take a break and have something to eat," she announced to the group, remembering that ramen was usually the way to cheer Inuyasha up.

"I agree." Sango joined in, shifted Hiraikotsu on her back. "We haven't eaten since yesterday."

"And maybe you should take some weight off that foot, Inuyasha." Miroku added helpfully.

"There's nothing wrong with my foot!" Inuyasha shot back fiercely, but he didn't seem to be protesting too much as he limped after the others as they left the road in favour of settling on a grassy verge nearby on the edge of the forest.

He brooded sulkily on a fallen log as the group settled down and Kagome began building a make-shift fire. "Inuyasha?" she called and glanced up at him with a smile. "Would you like some ramen?"

"Keh." He shrugged.

Translation: yes please, it would help ease the pain in my foot and put me in a better mood and thus improve everyone's day.

Or that was how Kagome saw it anyway. She ignored his terse attitude as she heated the ramen. Sango occupied her time by petting Kirara as she talked to Miroku about something to do with Youkai in the spring time. Shippo was rummaging around a mushroom patch… as you do.

Eventually the food was done and Kagome transported it over to Inuyasha's lap. "Here you go." She smiled pleasantly.

He took it without a word of thanks and began stuffing his face.

Kagome's eyebrow twitched lower ever so slightly, but her temper held admirably. "Maybe I should take a look at that foot of yours?"

"Why?" he said round a mouthful of noodles. "There's nothing wrong with it."

"You've been limping bloody footprints ever since we left that clearing back there." She argued, her tone growing harder.

"So?" he said defensively.

"Don't be embarrassed," Shippo said, sitting up to look at Inuyasha from his mushroom patch. "It's not your fault you tripped over your big feet and stepped on a poisonous bone from… stop looking at me like that… ok, ok… I'll shut up…"

"It's just a scratch." Inuyasha said with finality, ever the valiant hero. "Just leave it."

"If you keep walking around on it, it'll get infected." Kagome warned.

"If you keep going on about it then it will!" he snapped.

"What does that mean?" she frowned.

"I don't know!" he snapped with conviction.

Miroku and Sango had trailed off their conversation as they looked towards Inuyasha and Kagome as the argument escalated.

"Would it kill you to accept that you hurt your foot?!" Kagome gasped in exasperation, getting increasingly irritated by the way he was stuffing his face while she was trying to argue with him. "If you don't let me put a plaster on the damn foot it'll turn septic and drop off - OR it may give you blood poisoning and you'll die slowly in the most painful way possible!"

"So?" he spoke with a mouth full.

"So stop chewing your food with your mouth open - it's like watching a washing machine go round on spin!" she threw up her arms and stalked away from him. "You're so disgusting!"

"You're such a bitch!"

"Sit!"

The dust eventually cleared… the argument was over. Kagome and Inuyasha sat on opposite sides of the clearing, both smouldering quietly in their own corner. Miroku turned back to Sango pleasantly, as if the violent argument had never taken place. "So I hear that Ohaka demons have no jaki?"

And so went Kagome's morning out the window. It was just typical of Inuyasha to ruin her day with his bad attitude. But maybe she'd just been a little touchy recently, especially sensitive around Inuyasha. After all, only two days ago they had come across Kikyo.

It had been quite unexpected. One minute they were leaving a town after spending a peaceful night boarding in the local inn, and then the next they were facing off with the undead miko. Kagome had to admit that every time she saw Kikyo, something inside her tightened. It was just because she knew that meetings with Kikyo tended to always leave a bad impression.

As per usual Inuyasha had gone off with her to talk, not out of sight, but far enough to be out of ear-shot. Kagome had tried not to stare at the pair and had instead tried to occupy herself by entertaining Shippo and Kirara with the gameboy she'd nicked off her brother, but every now and then she'd looked up to see the couple engaged in a deep, meaningful conversation.

She couldn't help but notice how ironically right they were for each other. Both jaded by a tragedy fifty years earlier… both not quite of this world. Where did average, out-of-this-world Kagome fit into the equation?

Not something Kagome wanted to think about.

Inuyasha had eventually returned, Kikyo had departed and they'd set off on their journey again. Kagome hadn't talked to him for the rest of that day, trying to figure what he'd talked about with the miko. He seemed to be taking the conversation for granted… so maybe they hadn't discussed anything all that important. Probably just leads and clues to Naraku's whereabouts.

I shouldn't be so jealous, Kagome reprimanded herself. If I start getting paranoid about every little thing Kikyo and Inuyasha do I'm going to turn into Inuyasha and his feelings about a certain wolf…

That train of thought disappeared as a slight shudder ran down her spine. Something nibbled on the edge of her consciousness and she looked around quickly, trying to identify the feeling.

"What's the matter?" Inuyasha was always quick to notice when something was wrong.

"I…" Kagome paused a moment as the feeling multiplied. "Shikon shards… two of them coming right for us."

"Kouga." Sango said assuredly, getting to her feet with Miroku.

"Dammit…" Inuyasha hissed as he got to his feet. Kagome glanced at him with a disparaging look. No doubt he was going to make the confrontation difficult…

It wasn't long before a rumbling could be heard in the trees behind them. The group turned to face the oncoming wolf. He arrived sooner than anyone anticipated.

A blur darted out of the trees, bowling Inuyasha over like he wasn't even there and stopped right before Kagome.

The wind swept Kagome's hair around her face as she quickly craned her neck up to see Kouga's face. "Oh, Kouga-kun!" she exclaimed happily. "It's been so long since I last saw you!"

"Likewise, Kagome. I've missed seeing your beautiful face." Kouga smiled happily, grasping her hands between his.

Kagome wasn't told she had a beautiful face everyday, so it was only natural that she found herself blushing.

"Alright!" Inuyasha hobbled over, after having picked himself up from the ground. "What the hell do you want wussy-wolf?!" he shoved himself forcefully between the pair. Kagome dropped her hands with a sigh and frustration. Every time he did this! How would he like it if she did that to him and Kikyo for once?

Now there was a thought for their next encounter with the dead miko…

"I don't want anything." Kouga stated simply. "The clan is on the move," he jerked his thumb behind him. "There's something strange in this forest and we're not staying to mingle with it."

"So you're like moving house?" Kagome peeked around Inuyasha.

"Seems a little hasty to run away with the tail between the legs so soon." Inuyasha glowered at Kouga.

"Actually it's not." Kouga glowered right back. "Our clan in the east encountered the same strange energy… let's just say they're not encountering anything else anymore."

"A strange energy?" Miroku said, picking up on the topic. "I don't sense anything in this forest."

"Me neither." Sango added.

"I don't sense any energy…" Kagome told him.

"I do." Shippo piped up.

They all looked down at him. Inuyasha eventually broke the silence. "You liar."

"What? I do! You just don't sense it because you're all human…" he gave Inuyasha a considering look. "…ish…"

"Well, for Kagome's safety, you better leave this area, dog-turd." Kouga said sharply. "I'll never forgive you if you lead her to harm!"

"It seems like she only ever gets near real harm when you're around!" Inuyasha shot back savagely, cracking his knuckles in anticipation.

"Stop it!" Kagome said sharply, causing both canines to glance at her in surprise. She moved to stand between them. "This is ridiculous, every time you two meet you start bickering over something or other. Why can't you two be adults and get over your differences like normal people?"

Both Inuyasha and Kouga voiced their angry response at the same time. "Because he's a stupid idiot!"

"Hey!" Kagome placed a hand on each chest, bracing them apart. That's when it happened.

A strange, almost electric like shock ran through Kagome's body and down both arms. It wasn't painful, but definitely unpleasant and made her feel slightly queasy and in the moment after the shock had passed her head spun sluggishly and she swayed.

Kouga and Inuyasha swayed with her… then for no reason whatsoever simultaneously dropped into two unconscious heaps by her feet.

Kagome's head cleared and she gaped down at the two unconscious boys. What the hell had she done…?

"Uh… Kagome?" Sango stepped forward, staring in fascination at the unconscious pair. "I think that was a little unnecessary…"

"You didn't have to knock them both out." Shippo poked the Hanyou gingerly. "Only Inuyasha maybe…"

~*~

His head swam annoyingly when he began to come around. He wanted to sit up and look around but the lethargy clouding his mind prevented him from moving much. A small groan escaped his throat and he shifted slightly in an effort to banish the incredibly exhausted feeling from his limbs. He could barely move…

"Hey, he's coming around!"

Inuyasha opened his eyes, but he was having trouble keeping them open and all he saw above him were blurs of white and grey.

"How are you feeling?" the grey blob on his right asked.

"You had us worried, we thought we'd never be able to wake you up." The darker grey blob on his left told him.

Inuyasha managed something that sounded similar to 'what?' but even his throat felt tired and to his own ears his voice sounded strange.

"Prop him up against that tree." A girl said from nearby. Hard fingers clasped around his arms and he was dragged backwards, but he could barely feel the touch his flesh was so numb. Eventually they stopped moving him and he let his head loll forward as he tried to recover from the complete loss of energy.

Cool hands touched his forehead, a soft feminine touch that made him want to lean into it. Kagome…he thought, this time grateful for her unwavering care for him.

The energy slowly began seeping back into body and warmth returned, as did his scrambled senses.

The first thing that struck him was the overpowering stench of wolf.

"What's… going on…?" he managed weakly, lifting his head, expecting to find his companions standing over him.

All he saw were wolf-men. More wolf-men and then the odd wolf-woman. And then there were the wolves themselves.

And they all seemed to be in black and white.

Instantaneously Inuyasha flattened back against the tree. He was surrounded… no escape. This did not look good. Where was Kagome? The others? Why weren't they nearby? Why couldn't he smell them?

"You look like you saw a ghost." The wolf man who'd first spoken to him leaned down to peer at him with concern. "You ok?" Inuyasha recognised him as one of the two wolf-men that followed Kouga around all the time. His spiky haired friend stood next to him.

"What…?" Inuyasha wasn't understanding anything at all.

"Maybe he hit his head." The girl he'd originally thought was Kagome was looking at him curiously. But she was just another one of them.

"What the hell is going on?!" he demanded loudly. "Where's Kagome?!"

The girl sniffed in an offended way and turned her head. The patchy haired wolf-man pointed into the distance. "She's leaving already."

"What?" Inuyasha struggling to stand and see where he was pointing, but his body had yet to catch up with his mind. The two wolf-men rushed in to balance him and he almost lashed out at them to keep their hands off.

But what he saw made him stop altogether.

Kagome was walking away in the distance with the others. She was steering her bike with her hands behind the rest of them. She wasn't even looking back.

She's leaving me… she's really leaving me here…

Miroku and Sango didn't seem to be holding too many regrets about leaving either. But maybe they were too busy carrying his body. Inuyasha cocked his head slightly, trying to understand what he was seeing.

He was having a very bizarre out of body experience… because for some reason it looked like he was watching his group walking away carrying Inuyasha with them.

The weirdness of the situation finally struck him. He looked down at himself and saw bristly wolf skin pelts wrapped around his waist and limbs. An armoured chest plate enclosed his torso and a pathetically standard katana lay in its scabbard at his side.

Odd… it was almost as if he and Kouga had traded clothes…

A terrible idea struck him and he raised hands shaking with fatigue to his head. His ears were gone… but lower down he found a fleshy more human pair on either side of his head, slightly pointed as if he was mid-transformed on a new moon. His hair was scraped back in a high tie, and when he pulled the tail forward he stared at it bleakly on his shoulder.

Black hair.

The dizziness finally caught up with him again, and unconsciousness descended over him like a warm blanket of emptiness.

~*~

"I'm so worried… what if I really hurt him?"

"I think he's only unconscious… he should be ok when he wakes up, Kagome-chan."

"I think it's best we were leaving any way. The energy Kouga told us about has peaked my interest… but we had better not hang around areas where strange things happen by day."

"I hope he wakes up…"

Kouga shifted slightly as the voices around him turned from barely intelligible mumbles to actual words. A cool hand rested against his forehead and he shifted towards its comforting owner. He knew that it was his Kagome from the gentle tone of her voice. "Kagome…"

"I'm here." Her soft voice said from above him, her tender hand brushing the hair back away from his face.

"What happened…?" he mumbled.

"Well… I-I don't know." She sounded slightly guilty. "I just touched the two of you and then this static shock kinda passed through me and you both just passed out. Maybe I've been gathering too much static recently… I should learn to pick my feet up more."

"You walk like a graceful feline, Kagome, don't worry, it wasn't your fault." He assured her quietly. She seemed stunned into silence for a moment and it gave him time to soak in what his senses were telling him.

For some reason his hearing seemed sharper than usual… but he put that down just acute sensitivity after what had just happened. He opened his eyes and blinked rapidly for a moment, then fixed his gaze on Kagome's lovely face above him. She was worrying her lip between her teeth.

"I think he hit his head real bad…" she said to someone behind her. "He says I'm graceful."

"Brain damaged obviously." The monk came into voice with his dry comment.

Kouga flicked a confused between him and Kagome. "Where's the pack?"

"The pack?" Kagome echoed uncertainly. "Well… they're back there… we left Kouga with them."

"Kouga?" Kouga said.

"Yes…" Kagome said slowly.

"But I'm…" he stopped himself short as he caught sight of his own garb. Red?! Since when would he ever wear something as loud as red?! Hang on… white hair… rusty, but quite deadly katana at his side…?

Kouga managed one last thing before he passed out, and he said it with complete feeling. "Oh fuck."

AN: The golden possibilities to play with this are unlimited…. Hehehe…