InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Y Cyfnewidiad ❯ Yr Adferiad ( Chapter 2 )

Y Cyfnewidiad

Cyhiraeth

Story Summary: Sesshoumaru has always looked down upon humans, but what happens when by some cruel twist of fate, he is forced to become one. And as for Inuyasha, is this a dream come true, or his worst nightmare? Sess/Kag

Chapter Summary: With an unexpected and badly injured guest, Inuyasha and the gang aren't quite sure what to do next…

Well, journal, it's me again. I know it was just yesterday when I last wrote, but don't expect to get entries like this for much longer. Writing's never been my forte. At least, that's what my teachers have told me. Kami-sama, look at me. I'm talking to a diary. I guess that shows just how worried and upset I am.

But I'm no psychologist. I can only tell my story, I can't begin to analyse my own part in it. I would leave that to a scholar, except I would get myself committed to an insane asylum. I know that no one outside of the family would ever believe any of this. Hell, I'm still not sure that I do.

I said this wasn't going to be easy, and I was right.

When I went back to the Sengoku Jidai, Inuyasha wouldn't even speak to me. He wouldn't even look at me. I had thought he would have forgiven me, but I was wrong. I've never been so angry with him, not even after I saw him speaking with Kikyou, or kissing her. I never felt the way I do now. Betrayed, yes. But this is almost more. Maybe I could have understand his anger if it hadn't been for Kikyou.

Miroku has been much more understanding, and I'm grateful for that, but I'm not sure if Miroku's understanding is even a good thing. I know the way he thinks of love, at least the way he does right now. Eventually hope he'll change; he has a good heart, if only he would listen to it. But if Miroku, the lecher that he is now, understands me, could that mean I have some of the same flaws that he does? I never thought of it that way before, but…

Yesterday I couldn't bear to stay in the Sengoku Jidai. Not with Inuyasha staring at me like I was some sort of three headed monster. Not with the others, trying to understand even though they can't. Not really. And not with…

Chapter 2: Yr Adferiad

Even an outsider would have understood that something was wrong.

For Kagome and the others, the tension was obvious. The three humans were seated in a semicircle, silently trying not to look at each other. Sango was staring at nothing in particular, and for once, Miroku was not making any sort of advances on her. Instead, he alternated between staring at the still unconscious former youkai lying on the ground in front of the three and the anxious looking hanyou pacing beside their little group.

"Damn it, Miroku," Inuyasha was saying, his voice halfway between annoyed and hysterical, "You've got to have some explanation…"

"Inuyasha. I don't know what could have caused this."

"Could it be Naraku…?" Shippou questioned, jumping down from Kagome's shoulder and looking around warily, as if he expected their enemy to simply jump out of the woods and attack them.

"Keh," was Inuyasha's reply. "If Naraku had this kind of power…"

He trailed off uncertainly, but Kagome knew full well what the rest of his thought had been. 'If Naraku had this kind of power, he would have destroyed us long ago.' Her eyes drifted towards the pacing hanyou's face as she wondered what he might really be thinking about this bizarre turn of events. 'What if something like this could happen to him too?' she had to ask herself, remembering how defensive and helpless he had been the night before, the night of the new moon.

"…we would be in a lot of trouble," Sango finished aloud, her eyes worried all the same.

Kagome nodded, fully agreeing with that assessment. 'That's a relief, at least. We don't have to worry about Naraku this time.'

"It would be easier if it was Naraku," the monk finally said. "I always prefer the enemy I know to the one I don't." He shrugged, the gesture detracting from his wise appearance. "Now we have someone else to worry about."

Inuyasha laughed bitterly at that, "I wouldn't be so sure of that. In my mind, an enemy of Sesshoumaru is probably a friend of mine."

Miroku smiled slightly. "I can imagine he has made many enemies that are not after our heads…" he began.

"Inuyasha," Kagome broke in, pulling herself from her thoughts and joining the conversation. "Don't forget, Naraku and Sesshoumaru were hardly friends," she said, remembering the time the two half-brothers had been forced to fight together against Naraku.

"So what?" Inuyasha demanded stubbornly.

"So we don't know that whoever did this is our friend."

"Kagome has a point," Sango added. "And if Naraku finds out first, we could have serious problems ahead."

'Great,'Kagome thought. 'But when don't we? Every time I turn around, it seems that someone's trying to kill me or my friends. I wonder what my life would be like if I'd never fallen into the well…' She shook the thought away from her mind. As much as she sometimes wanted to be a normal high school student, Kagome knew that she would be eternally grateful for meeting her friends in the Sengoku Jidai. The past might be far more dangerous, but it was much more rewarding as well. She regretted nothing.

"Well then, what are we going to do now?" Miroku asked, directing his question towards the hanyou, but watching the still form of Inuyasha's half brother.

Inuyasha snorted, "Isn't it obvious? Find out whoever did this, thank him, and then ask him for help against Naraku."

"Inuyasha," Miroku began in a voice strained for patience. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

The half demon gave him a blank stare.

"Inuyasha, you idiot!" Kagome practically screamed, "We have a half dead not-quite-demon lying in front of us! What do you plan to do? Just leave him here?"

For a moment, Inuyasha looked about ready to start yelling back into her face, then he drew back and smiled. 'No,' Kagome thought, looking at the expression on her friend's face. 'That's no smile. It's too ugly…'

Her thoughts we're cut off when the hanyou decided to speak, "It's tempting, but I'd like to see the look on his face when he wakes up and realises…" He barked a laugh before continuing, "Imagine if he didn't even know! This is too damn good! High-and-mighty Sesshoumaru-sama. A weak and pathetic human."

His mood suitably lightened, Inuyasha flung himself to the ground and began staring at his older brother as if the once taiyoukai was going to wake up on command. But never in the past had Sesshoumaru done anything simply to humour Inuyasha, and even unconscious, had no intention of starting now.

"This should be interesting," Miroku murmured to himself.

Kagome barely heard his whispered comment, turning towards her newest patient. 'Inuyasha might not care about the situation-who am I kidding? He revels in it-but I do.' Kagome found it rather hard to think of the unconscious creature in front of her as a cold and bloodthirsty demon… especially now that his blood was quite obviously human. 'And how did that happen anyway, I wonder? Nothing I've ever heard of could do something like this, except the Shikon no Tama…'

"Inuyasha?" she began, looking at the half demon, "If the Shikon no Tama could turn you human or demon, it could do something like this too, right?"

"Why the hell not?" Inuyasha replied gruffly, only half listening. A moment later, he seemed to have realised what Kagome just said, "Wait a minute. Damn it, Kagome, you can't be suggesting that he would actually…"

"No. Just thinking out loud. And anyway, it's impossible," she added, gesturing to the couple of jewel shards they still had left. "As long as the jewel's not complete, I don't think it would work like that. And Naraku and… well, he hasn't stolen all the jewels from us." Kagome winced, wishing she had thought before speaking. 'And Naraku and Kikyou,' she had almost said before stopping herself. They were going to have enough trouble with Inuyasha as it was, it would be best to not bring Kikyou into it.

Luckily for Kagome, if Inuyasha had picked up on that slight hesitation, he was ignoring it. Instead, he levelled a look towards his brother and complained, "Great. What a waste of time. While we're stuck babysitting this jackass, Naraku can collect the rest of the shards."

'Is he even the least bit disturbed by this?' Kagome wondered. He had seemed slightly upset at first, but whatever concern Inuyasha had originally harboured towards his brother had disappeared with the morning mist. What had happened between these two to make Inuyasha so… callous? She shook the thought out of her head, unzipped her bag, and lined up all the medications she had brought beside her.

"Kagome, I hope you have brought a lot of remedies from the future," Miroku murmured. "I don't know if anything I have will be sufficient."

The monk and the exterminator had both moved out of the semicircle and were now kneeling in front of Inuyasha's half brother. "I have far more experience with killing youkai than saving them," Sango commented dryly.

"I don't think we can consider him a youkai anymore," Kagome replied, sorting through her medicines.

Miroku was silent for a moment before pointing out, "A human body does not make one human. We will see how much he has changed once he wakes…" The monk frowned slightly before adding, "assuming he wakes."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Inuyasha demanded hostilely, showing that despite his apparent indifference, he had been closely following their conversation. Kagome hid a smile, wondering if perhaps he was more worried about the situation than he would ever admit.

"It means, Inuyasha, that your brother"-Miroku glared when the hanyou interrupted him to murmur the word 'half,' then continued as if nothing had happened-"is in a very bad state. I don't understand how any of this could have happened, but a great deal of his strength has been drained. He may not survive."

Everyone seemed at least somewhat startled by the strangled sound that Inuyasha emitted. Kagome recovered first, and picking out one of the bottles in front of her (wishing all the time she had paid more attention in health class) walked over towards the hanyou. "Don't worry, Inuyasha," she said with an understanding smile. "I'm sure these will help."

"Keh. You think I give a damn what happens to him?" Inuyasha grumbled. "I want him to see firsthand what a 'weak mortal' is, then he could go to hell for all I care."

"I see," said Kagome, her tone less than convinced. She decided, however, not to press the hanyou any further, and instead walked over towards the other two humans and sat across from them, eyeing their patient critically.

'It's not fair,' she decided silently. 'He's not even a demon anymore, but he's no less beautiful than he was before. No human should be allowed to look like that…' With a sigh, and no little effort, she shut the thought out of her mind. Sheer jealously was pointless here, and would not help her at all.

Still, it was true. The white hair was now black, and the markings had faded from his face, but Sesshoumaru seemed as exotic as he ever had before… perhaps even more so now that that beauty couldn't be associated with the fact that he was a youkai. A human with such perfect features just didn't seem natural.

Kagome frowned. Perhaps 'perfection' was an overstatement. His clothes were unrecognisable as the pristine white kimono he had always worn in the past, so she couldn't decide whether or not it was even the same outfit. And the scent of blood…even her inferior human senses could easily pick it out.

Miroku was right. He definitely looked like he might not survive.

Silently, Kagome swallowed her fear. Despite the fact that Sesshoumaru was now human and considerably harmless, in her mind she could not help but remember the many times he had tried to kill her and the others in the past. "Kagome, are you okay?" Sango asked, apparently picking up on her uneasiness.

With a fake smile, Kagome turned to her friend, "I'm fine." 'Get a grip, Kagome,' she kept on telling herself, 'There's absolutely no reason to be afraid…none at all!' "It's just…"

"Don't worry, girl," Inuyasha said, sensing her fear and moving closer to the group again. "The bastard won't hurt you. I'll see to that," he added, flexing his claws.

'Great,'Kagome thought, sure that this day was going to end in bloodshed. 'But maybe it would be more accurate to say that the day started with bloodshed,' she corrected, looking back towards the former taiyoukai. 'I'm going to need a lot of water.'

"Do you need help, Kagome?" Miroku asked, also aware of her nervousness.

"Some water would be nice," she replied, peeling back the remnants of Sesshoumaru's shirt with a grimace. She had played the part of nurse before, almost regularly since she had come to the Sengoku Jidai, but had never worked on anyone so severely injured before. "Inuyasha…" she began uncertainly.

"Keh," the hanyou snorted before grabbing one of Kagome's strange, futuristic water bottles and stomping over to where she was working. Kagome looked over her shoulder and was somewhat surprised to see a strange, slightly perturbed look cross his face. "Move out of the way, wench," he hissed at her, "you'll only mess things up worse than they are."

Without complaining-honestly, she didn't want to be responsible for whatever happened next-Kagome moved out of the way and let Inuyasha take over. Miroku walked over to her and half murmured, "Do you think he might actually be worried?"

"Nah," Shippou said, jumping back into his surrogate mother's arms. "Probably just jealous."

"Jealous?" Miroku asked, surprised by the very notion. "Why would he be jealous?"

The young kitsune shrugged, "I don't think he wants Kagome even touching his brother."

Kagome's eyes widened, 'Could he actually be right…?' The idea was strange, but was it completely outlandish? She remembered how Inuyasha always acted whenever she tried to help Kouga. Kagome had never even considered a situation like this one.

"Don't be an idiot, fox," Inuyasha said, looking away from his brother for a moment. Kagome blushed, realising he must have been listening to their entire conversation. "What could the wench do if he decided to wake up? She can't exactly purify him anymore," he said, seeming somewhat annoyed by that fact.

'As if I could have ever purified him,' Kagome thought, rather self-deprecatingly, in response. Her miko powers had never exactly been a sure thing. Often, shooting purifying arrows seemed to be the only thing she could actually count on being able to do. 'And even those arrows never seemed to work well against Sesshoumaru,' she reminded herself with a shudder.

"He's not exactly a demon anymore either," Sango reminded the hanyou dryly.

"So?" Inuyasha demanded. "He's probably the most dangerous human you'll ever meet… And that wench is useless and helpless."

"Inuyasha! Sit!" Kagome yelled, angered. Helpless? Was that all Inuyasha thought of her? By now, hadn't she proven her strength to him countless times?

"What the hell was that for, wench!?" Inuyasha demanded. "Don't you see I'm trying to work here?"

"Then shut up and work!" 'I'm not useless,' Kagome told herself. 'The whole time I've been in the Sengoku Jidai, I haven't been useless! I've done as much work as everyone else, and no one else can sense jewel shards…'

Her thoughts trailed off, and exhausted and depressed, Kagome turned her attention back to Sango and Miroku. The taijiya was glaring at the hanyou, and if looks could kill, Kagome knew that Inuyasha would be splattered all over Japan. Miroku was alternating between eyeing his hand and a particular place on the exterminator's anatomy… Kagome shot him a look that said, 'don't even think about it,' and the monk smiled sheepishly.

"What are we going to do now?" Sango asked, turning her gaze towards Miroku, the unofficial intellect of the group.

The monk sighed and let his hand drop harmlessly to the ground. "Hard to say. I would not want to leave him here, but I don't know how wise it would be to bring him with us…" He levelled a look at Inuyasha when he said that, clearly wondering if the two brothers could coexist without killing one another. "Then again," he added with a shrug, "I don't know if he would even want to stay with us."

Kagome nodded at that. "But where would he go?"

The question was answered by silence.

Grumbling to himself, Inuyasha turned away from the girl who had just 'sat' him, and stared once more at his brother, wondering why he hadn't given someone else this unenviable task. If he hadn't been so quick to write off Kagome, she would see to this, and he could do as he pleased.

The hanyou had never been especially good with medicines. He healed far too quickly to need any human remedies, and his usual response to problems was the straightforward approach: attack.

Unfortunately, Inuyasha knew that Tetsusaiga would not work in this situation. Even if he wanted to kill his brother, Tetsusaiga would not change into its true form. However, as much as the hanyou would deny it, he didn't really want to just slay Sesshoumaru.

'Oh, yeah?'a small, dark voice deep within him said, 'You know full well the sword would work. He's human now, Tetsusaiga wouldn't even need to transform. If you want him dead, this is your best chance…'

Inuyasha shook the voice aside, wondering all the time why he didn't just follow that nefarious advice. It would rid him of a dangerous irritant that had bothered him his entire life. 'But there would be no honour in that,' he told himself, slightly amused that Sesshoumaru's constant rants about honour, pride, and dignity seemed to have affected him as well. 'If I ever kill him, I want it to be because of my strength. Not his weakness.'

With a canine growl, and no idea what else to do, Inuyasha began cleaning his brother's wounds, glad that the scent of Sesshoumaru's blood was subtly altered. 'I don't think I would be able to do this if he smelled the same.' Inuyasha would never admit it to anyone else, but even the scent he associated with Sesshoumaru filled him with terror. "Miroku!" he called, turning around. "A bit of help here."

The monk looked up from the two girls and then began shuffling forward. "What do you need, Inuyasha?" he asked.

"I… um, I…" Inuyasha started hesitantly.

"Let me guess," Miroku began. "You have no idea what you are doing, and want to ask me for help."

"Yeah, well…"

"Move aside," Miroku interrupted with a sigh. "You're as likely to kill him as save him." He hesitated, and then directed a knowing look Inuyasha's way, "Unless, of course, that is what you want."

"What…? Hell, no, Miroku!"

The monk shrugged, "You haven't seemed too friendly in the past."

"This ought to be damn entertaining."

"I see," Miroku said, his tone of voice indicating that he was not very pleased by what he saw. "Well, you might as well leave."

"Not likely. I want to be here when he wakes."

Miroku shrugged. "It's your life," he murmured.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Inuyasha, you do realise the possibility that a human could kill you…" At Inuyasha's annoyed sound of denial, Miroku sighed, "I didn't say it was probable. But Sango or I…"

"You couldn't have killed me. And besides, you're hardly the average human…"

"Precisely. Sesshoumaru wasn't exactly the average demon. You already warned Kagome away from him…"

"I can take care of myself better than that wench can…"

"…but I think that you would be in even more danger than she…"

"What the hell are you talking about…!?" demanded the half demon.

"…since as far as I've seen, it is near instinctive for you and your brother to attack one another," Miroku finally concluded despite the interruptions.

To that, Inuyasha had no viable response except for his customary, "Keh."

He did, however, follow Miroku's advice and backed away somewhat, though he still fixed suspicious eyes on both the monk and his half brother. "I hope you know what you're doing, Miroku," he warned darkly.

The monk smiled sheepishly and looked at the numerous herbs that he himself knew how to use, as well as the strange medications that Kagome had brought back from the future. The miko had begun to teach him how to use the odd remedies, and he could only hope that he knew enough now to be of any help. It would probably be better if Inuyasha would allow Kagome to administer these cures herself, but one glance at the hanyou convinced him that such a thing would never happen.

With no small amount of trepidation, Kagome watched as Miroku examined the different bottles she had brought through narrowed eyes. She would have gone to help, but knew that Inuyasha was in a bad enough mood to begin with. 'He already looks about ready to kill Sesshoumaru as it is. Better not bother him.'

With some satisfaction, Kagome saw that Miroku had figured out which medicines to use, and the miko forced herself to relax. "Does he know what he's doing?" Sango asked, coming up from behind and sitting down next to her.

Kagome nodded, "Yep. I think he's figured it out now."

The taijiya made no indication as to whether or not she was happy about that news. She simply watched the monk with a strange expression in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Sango?" Kagome asked.

The slayer shook herself from the trance and looked up at Kagome, "Yes. I… Inuyasha's right, he's dangerous, Kagome. Don't forget that."

'Is she worried that Miroku might get hurt…?' "I know, Sango. It's just that I think he's a victim of all of this too…"

"He's a demon," the slayer reminded her softly. "Whatever has happened to him…"

"Shippou's a demon too," Kagome replied. "And as for Sesshoumaru… he hardly looks like a demon anymore."

"You're right. But we have run into humans who are enemies also. Remember."

The miko from the future nodded, knowing that whatever happened from this point on, she would have to be careful. She could never let her guard down.

The two young women sat there in silence, both fully aware of the possible consequences of their act of charity. After some time, they saw Miroku get up and walk over to Inuyasha, his expression thoughtful. The two men exchanged words that were spoken too softly for Kagome to understand, though she couldn't have possibly missed the look of extreme annoyance that passed across Inuyasha's face.

Then Miroku walked over towards them, and smiled slightly. "Thank you for the medicines, Kagome," he said, dropping the bottles into her hand and sitting down between the two girls.

"Of course," Kagome replied brightly, looking over towards Inuyasha, who was still glaring at his brother. "Will he be alright?" she asked.

"I don't know," the monk replied. "But he will not die from his wounds."

The monk turned away from Kagome and looked at the exterminator. "Why, Sango," he exclaimed, "you look worried."

"I… it's nothing," she replied, but her face betrayed the emotion she so desired to hide.

"You need not fear," Miroku responded, a slight smile crossing his lips. "I am quite experienced in dealing with demons of all types."

The worry Sango had attempted and failed to hide slowly bled from her face, and the slayer allowed herself a brief smile. From Miroku's other side, Kagome groaned softly, seeing that the tender moment was about to be cut short, like always. She watched as Miroku's roving hand failed in its attempt to keep to itself…

…and winced at the sound of hiraikotsu crashing against bone, and the bloodcurdling scream of, "HENTAI!"

A/N: Alright, I'm sorry if anyone thought that chapter was slow or anticlimactic (since I know it was). I know a lot of you probably expected Sesshy to wake up here, but don't worry, next chapter I assure you he will (and ten things should get really interesting)! I thought it would be best if I didn't jump right to that. I mean, I wanted to show how everyone was reacting. Realistically, I don't think that everyone would be like, "Look, Inuyasha! It's your brother, and he's human!" La de da. Especially Inuyasha himself. So I decided to show a bit of inner conflict.

Reviews Responses:

HeavenlyDragon-thank you so much! And I can assure you…he won't be happy!

insaneAUTHORESS-I'll continue as soon as I can. I have no Internet access at home, and my stupid, idiotic school has banned this site.