InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reversed Roles ❯ Morning Bath ( Chapter 8 )

Reversed Roles

Chapter Eight - Morning Bath

By Crow Skywalker

----------

Disclaimer - I don't own Inuyasha, nor do I claim to. He belongs to the original creators, and I'm not getting paid anything from writing this fanfic.

Author's Notes - Well, its been a long time since I updated this fic. I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but it seems I've grown tired of Inu/Kag and I'm not really interested in continuing this fic anymore. I'll attempt to anyway, though expect updates to be short and far apart. Anyway, yeah…the long awaited next chapter of Reversed Roles! R/R and enjoy ^_^ Sorry for any errors, I didn't have time to read it over.

Other Notes - This fic will be Kagome/Inuyasha, though it will hint to past Kagome/Sesshomaru romance. Other than that, this fic is rated PG-13 because of language, blood, and violence. I probably should up the rating, but we'll see how things go.

Summary - Roles are switched, and Inuyasha releases the hanyou Kagome, who's been sealed to a tree for 50 years. When the Shikon no Tama is broken, they're forced to work together to find the shards before evil does.

----------

It was a beautiful morning out, the sun having just begun to rise and the animals with it. In the morning warmth birds awoke from their sleep, chirping happily as they greeted the new day and welcomed the sunlight. Below them, wild animals began to awake and emerge from the burrows, wandering off in their daily routine. In the rivers and ponds fish swam soundlessly, jumping out of the water only to nip at a passing insect. One by one birds awoke, their singing growing louder as they flittered from tree to tree. It was the start of a brand new beautiful day in the Sengoku Jidai -

"Will you shut the fuck up?!" A loud yell sounded through the forest, causing birds to take to the air in fright.

Inside the small hut in the village, Inuyasha pulled his blanket over his head, grumbling something about stupid birds being too loud. The blanket, however, did not keep out the wilderness noise outside, a noise he was not used to growing up in the city, and he tossed and turned on the mat that he had been given the night before. Finally he settled for lying on his stomach and staring out from under the covers, glaring at his surroundings.

The old man, who really didn't have a name besides 'Gramps' and had an obsession with charms and other talismans, was sitting up now, having been disturbed from his sleep. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes," Inuyasha snapped irritably, rolling over and covering his face with his arms. There was a rustling noise as the old man got up, and Ash looked over at him with his eyes narrowed. "Now what're you doing?"

The Elder gave him an odd look saying, "We always get up with the sun."

Inuyasha groaned as the Elder went about his daily routine, which basically consisted of decorating the walls with different charms. Was he never going to get any sleep in this place? Inuyasha slowly got to his knees, kicking at the blankets angrily.

"Now would be a good time to bathe," The Elder told him, "If you wish to do so, that is."

Looking down at his injuries and feeling the dirt and grit in his hair, Inuyasha nodded. The sooner he washed and got clean, the better. Plus he could probably wash his torn and bloodied clothes while he was there as well. Before he could even stand the old man had shoved something into his hands, and Inuyasha stared down at the clothes he had been handed.

"These were my brother's. I figured you might want to change out of those clothes of yours," said the Elder. "They should fit, you seem to have the same build as him."

Inuyasha muttered his thanks, leaving the hut and wincing as the morning light hit him. When his eyes finally adjusted he started to head off in the direction of - wait a minute, he didn't even know where he was going! Turning back to the hut, he found the Elder pointing down the road.

"Follow the road till you hit a path, it will lead you to a small waterfall and river. You can bathe there."

Raising a hand and saluting the old man, Inuyasha followed his instructions.

-----

Kagome's ears flickered as she swatted at a fly, lying down on the roof of the Elder's hut. She'd been up most of the night, watching over the hut in case of trouble, though nothing happened besides the appearance of the Crow Demon. Still, she had stood her on guard, just in case. Now she was lying on the roof, basking in the morning glow as she yawned contentedly. The sound of voices could be heard within the hut, but she paid little attention to it. When the strange human made to leave, however, she quickly jumped down from where she perched and followed him at a safe distance.

It turned out he was heading towards the water hole, where most of the villagers seemed to get their water and where they went to bathe. She followed him a bit more closely as he started off down the path, keeping a watchful eye on the forest that surrounded them as she jumped from tree to tree, her feline grace allowing her to jump and perch swiftly and quietly, her long nails digging into the bark so that she had no worries of falling.

They finally made it to a small clearing, the river just a few feet away from where the strange human sat down on a rock, fiddling with his clothes. Kagome paid little attention to this, immediately taking off to scope out the surroundings. She wasn't going to take any chances - no one was getting that jewel from the strange boy, not when it was so rightfully hers!

Sniffing the air, Kagome finally decided that it was safe enough, that no demons were suddenly going to jump out and try to kill the human and take her jewel, so she returned to the water hole, this time by foot. Though the boy was nowhere to be seen, his clothes were left carelessly on the rock that he had been sitting on earlier.

Kagome's ear suddenly twitched as she realized something. Perhaps the human was carrying the jewel in the pocket of his clothes? Her eyes turned to slits and she gazed at the weird looking garments sitting on the rock. Would he be as stupid to leave it there unprotected?

Prowling the area, Kagome kept low so that she wouldn't be seen as she made her way towards the clothes. The boy was nowhere to be seen, and the rocks surrounding the water hole ensured her that he would not catch her peeking around. With a smirk on her face, she carefully reached into what she assumed were the pockets, her hand moving silently as she searched.

The first pocket turned up nothing, and with a small frustrated growl she went for the other pocket, finding a small round object within. With a grin upon her face she brought forth the jewel, which glinted a purplish pink in the sunlight. Her breath hitched and a surge of triumph ran through her. With one leap she was on top of the rock, ready to laugh at the strange human as she made her getaway.

Opening her mouth to speak, it soon snapped closed as she took in the sight before her. The strange human she'd met the night before was swimming in the waterhole…with not a thing on. A blush made its way across her face as she stared, unable to move her mouth or any other part of her body, her face feeling like it had been set on fire.

"Oi!"

Kagome suddenly realized she'd been caught staring.

"See anything you like?" He gave her a cocky smirk. This infuriated Kagome and she finally snapped out of her daze, raising the jewel to show him.

"I'll be taking this now!" She called, and turned to jump into the nearest tree. She managed to take one step on the rock before the boy suddenly said the four letter word, which sent her falling backwards into the water. Being a cat demon, however, she managed to land on her feet - though not quite, since she was stuck in her new subdued position.

Inuyasha was beside her now, half covered as he grinned wickedly down at her. "Thought I'd let you get away with that, didn't you?"

Kagome scowled, hacking at the water she'd managed to get in her mouth. She hated the water! When the spell wore off, she was going to kill that boy!

He was putting on the clothes that the Elder had given him now, the usual garb of a priest. It was mainly white, but the pants were a dark blue. Kagome turned her head away, realizing where those clothes had come from and feeling a stab of pain in her heart at the memories those clothes brought her.

Her angry mood was not to last, however, when she felt a hand on her head, which moved to scratch her behind the ear. Her eyes closed automatically, a purring noise coming from deep within her chest. That was, until she realized who was touching her and immediately pulled away, glaring up at him. He ignored her, picking up the jewel that had fallen into the shallow water.

"Give it to me!" She hissed angrily, her eyes following the jewel.

He patted her head again to her displeasure. "We already went through this."

"Please," she lowered herself to begging, "It's only going to bring you more trouble than its worth."

Inuyasha threw the jewel up into the air and caught it, putting it in his pocket. "No."

"I'll follow you until I get it!" She threatened.

"I don't care," he replied over his shoulder, growing tired of this conversation. He started back in the direction that he had come, leaving behind the cat hanyou who was only just being allowed to move once again. She got out of the water, frowning in disgust at her wet clothes.

No matter, it'll dry soon enough! She took off after him, keeping to the trees above.

After a few minutes of having her jumping from branch to branch above Inuyasha grew annoyed. "Stay!"

There was a thump behind him as the cat landed on the ground.

"That hurt you bastard!" She whined.

"Well stop following me!"

"But you said you didn't care if I followed you!" She shot back.

Inuyasha gritted his teeth. "Yeah, but I meant if you followed quietly! You're making enough noise to wake the dead up there!"

Kagome snorted indignantly. She was a cat demon, she didn't make noise! She was taught to hunt silently, and she knew better than to make a big commotion. She'd learned that mistake when she was small and on her own, and now this boy was trying to tell her she was noisy?

A flock of birds suddenly took to the sky, and Inuyasha watched them pass overhead, his usual scowl upon his face. "See that? You even drove the damn birds away!"

Kagome furrowed her brows, watching the birds fly. She knew she hadn't done that because the birds had been too far off. Unless they had sensed danger nearby - Kagome suddenly sniffed the air, her fingers curling in the dirt. There was an odd smell in the air - it reeked of death.

"It wasn't me," Kagome answered Inuyasha calmly, her eyes looking past him in the direction the birds had flown from, "Something's coming."

Inuyasha turned to look in the direction she was looking.

"Something bad."

To Be Continued…