InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ To know you is to know myself... ❯ The body remembers… ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.


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Chap ter 6 – The body remembers…


They both fell asleep fairly easily, but what would ordinarily have been a peaceful night’s rest, was interrupted, by the most vivid dreams either had ever recalled. What was especially disturbing, is that they each dreamed they were the other person!


***Kagome’s Dream***

The world is so big around him, he’s small, he’s a child. He sees some older people playing with a ball, and wants to join them. They see him coming and knock the ball away, he goes running after it happily, thinking they’ve invited him to join them. But when he grabs it and heads back, he sees them all leaving in disgust, mumbling curses. They call him a half-breed….but he’s never heard that before, and doesn’t know what it means. Running up to his mother, he asks, innocently. “Mother, what’s a half-breed?” and for the first time, he sees his mother’s tears

***Inuyasha’s Dream***

She’s running late for class, as she hears the final bell ring and she’s still scampering down the hall trying to make it. Coming to the door to her English class, she opens it, and sees all eyes on her, as she mumbles her absent minded apologies. The teacher lets it slide, to her relief, and she joins the class with their lesson. They’re learning basic nouns today. Inu is Dog, Neko is Cat, etc. She quietly curses to herself, not understanding why she had to learn any English, when she never planned on leaving the country. But it was a required course, so she quietly sighed and went about her lesson.

***

They both woke with the sun, and rubbing the sleep from their eyes, stared at each other in confusion, until they remembered who they were, and who’s body’s they were currently residing in.

“I had the most disturbing dream……” Kagome quietly mumbled, more to herself, except even with his human ears Inuyasha heard her, and commented back

“I don’t think they were dreams.”

“Wha…what do you mean?”

“I think they were memories.” He continued, quite sure of himself. After all, how else could he explain the English he now knew? He went on to tell her of his dream, as it was fairly uneventful, but when he recited the English words he remembered learning, and Kagome confirmed that he was right, that diminished any doubt that they weren’t true memories.

“Then that means…..what I dreamt…..really happened, too.” She said it with such sadness in her voice, Inuyasha almost didn’t want to ask.

“What’d you dream?”

“You were a small boy, and some people were playing ball……” Kagome could smell the sudden change in Inuyasha’s scent, as he was suddenly saddened.“They called you….” She chocked on forming tears, but he continued for her

“A lowly half-breed……”

“Inuyasha….” She sobbed, “I’m so sorry…..”

“Keh, for what? Not like you did anything, it’s in the past.”

He tried to sound reassuring, but Kagome knew he had remembered from his own memories, the part of the dream she hadn’t mentioned out loud, his mother’s tears. But Inuyasha was brought away from thoughts of his mother crying, when he saw Kagome was crying as well, and again, he lightly wiped the tears from her face, this time before she had a chance to cut herself with those claws. He’d have to teach her how to use those things properly, if they’re going to be trapped in each other’s bodies for a while. Why would it take a whole week anyway?

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Back in the past, Kaede worked furiously on preparing the herbs she had picked the day before. She required the mold that grew off of one of said herbs for her potion, and it would take about 5 - 10 days for the amount she needed to develop. In the mean time, she was researching the magic portion of the spell she’d need to cast, memorizing it, word for word, and memorizing it again. If she uttered a single incantation wrong, the spell would not work.

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After a moment of silence, Inuyasha finally mumbled “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, trying hard to stop crying.

“How could we dream each other’s memories?” he pondered aloud.

“I don’t know….” She paused, then thinking of something, continued. “Maybe….” He looked up to meet her gaze when he heard her considering a possibility. “Maybe not all of our own souls left our bodies, after all. Maybe some of ourselves remain, but it’s so small and weak, that it can only reach out in our dreams.”

Interesting theory….

“So…” he started, making sure he understood. “Like what, our souls merge with each other in our dreams, and that’s why we think we’re the other person?”

“I guess…”

“Well, it’s as good an explanation as any.” He consented. He was going to say something else, but just then, his human stomach growled, reminding him that it was currently empty. Kagome chuckled, having been able to hear it loud and clear with her hanyou ears, and suggested that they get ready to go down for breakfast.

After breakfast, Kagome and Inuyasha headed out together, with all of their supplies in tow. Kagome’s mother had reminded them of her math test that was in one week, and she cringed inwardly as Inuyasha tried to bluff his way through saying he’d try his very best to be back in time, both of them knowing all the while, there was no way she could make her test, if Kaede hadn’t switched them back yet. But they couldn’t tell her that without explaining what had happened, and if she were to be expecting Kagome back, and then she didn’t return, she’d get worried thinking something bad had happened……. Well, they had a week to worry about that, they’d deal with it later, even if it meant coming clean about their ‘conditions’. Hopefully, they’ll have already switched back, in which case, what Mrs. Higurashi doesn’t know, wouldn't hurt her.

The others weren’t expecting them back for another day, so they decided to make use of this alone time, to finish acquainting themselves with, themselves. Luckily, nobody had been by the well when they returned, so they immediately headed out into the woods.

“Okay,” Inuyasha spat, as soon as Kagome put him down in the clearing, “You’re going to need to learn to fight, or at least, defend yourself.”

“But I’ve never used a sword in my life!” she protested

“Keh, can’t practice with Tetsusaiga without getting noticed, and most attacks don’t work without an enemy to throw it at anyway, so let’s work on those claws of yours for now.”

Kagome remained silent, but stared down at her clawed hands, recalling all the times she’d seen Inuyasha slice right through solid trees, or solid youkai, for that matter. It couldn’t be too hard, could it? A new gleam of determination in her eyes, and Kagome walked right over to one of the trees, swiping at it without a second thought. She took out a big chunk, but hadn’t chopped the thing down like she thought she would.

She turned back to Inuyasha, a confused look on her face.

“You have to call the attack…..” he said calmly.

“Oh, right…..”

“Feel the attack…..” he added, “Want the attack…..” She looked at him with confusing again. “Put as much feeling into it as you would your arrow.”

That she understood

“Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!” she bellowed, slicing at another tree, blades of youki energy emitting from her claws, cutting it clean in half, as it fell effortlessly to the forest floor.

“Well done!” he cheered, genuinely impressed. “I think you got that down already, so let’s try Blades of Blood.”

“Bu….but….don’t I have to be injured to use that one?”

“Just cut your shoulder or something, you’ll heal, that’s what I did. You need to learn the attack, Kagome.”

She was just about to, but hesitated, she just couldn’t bring herself to cut herself, even knowing that it’d heal up just fine, it’d still hurt! Reluctantly, Inuyasha let it slide, for now. But he feared, without knowing proper defense techniques, it wouldn’t be long before Kagome became injured, anyway.

“Okay, you’re turn.” She said suddenly, causing Inuyasha to jump up in shock, as he saw Kagome handing him her bow and quiver of arrows.

“I…..I doubt I have your miko powers.” He mumbled

“I have your powers, why wouldn’t you have mine?”

Curse her logic.

Inuyasha took the bow, and after fumbling with an arrow for a moment, managed to notch it, and then, he took aim at one of the trees, imaging a spot on the bark he intended to hit. When he released the arrow, not only did it not glow pink, which neither were really expecting, he wasn’t trying to purify anything, but the arrow also missed the intended target, sailing right passed the tree, until it landed a few feet behind. Kagome ran and retrieved it, which only took her a second with her hanyou speed, and assisted Inuyasha with again notching the arrow. She then proceeded to help him aim.

“Sight along the arrow.” She mumbled, to which he replied “Well duh” but he was accepting of her assistance, though his mouth suggested otherwise.

After correcting his posture, and figuring out exactly where to hold the arrow in conjunction with his face, as he tried to aim it again, he released, only this time, to have the arrow smack precisely where he’d intended it to hit.

“There ya go, now do that 400 more times, and you’ll have it down.” Kagome chuckled, as she recalled her own poor marksmanship back in the early days.

“Too bad we can’t test your theory on my miko powers until an enemy strikes.” He mumbled.

“Let us hope an enemy doesn’t strike.” She commented back, remembered what would then be required of her, and the Tetsusaiga.

“Agreed.” He stated bluntly.

They each practiced the attacks they learned a few more times, to make sure they got it down, but found them surprisingly easy, on both parts. Once Inuyasha was told how to hold the bow and arrow properly, he almost never missed, and Kagome was also flawlessly releasing her claw attack, over and over again. She also practiced jumping and running, testing her new demonic muscles, to see just how much she could accomplish. Kagome accidentally put herself in the line of fire for a moment, and though Inuyasha spotted her, and had no intentions of firing the arrow, as soon as it was aimed at his demonic body, a pink aura began to glow around it. Well, that answers that question. Kagome unsheathed Tetsusaiga, to find that the fang did respond to her, and grow into its demonic form, and she could even sense the wind scar whipping around the blade. Sliding it back into its scabbard, she felt about as pleased with herself, as she discovered Inuyasha also felt, as he was putting his arrows away, a large grin on his face.

“Maybe we won’t be useless in battle after all.” Kagome mumbled. “I know Kaede said we should put the quest on hold, but if you want to continue looking-”

She was cut off, when she heard a gasp come from Inuyasha, who clinched his human hand to his human chest, and proclaimed

“I….I think….I think I sense a jewel shard!”

“Where???”

“It’s getting closer…..”

Suddenly, Kagome’s nosed picked up a distinctive scent, one she’d smelled before, only never this strongly.

“Check again…..” She grumbled, “…and I think you’ll find it’s two shards.”

“What?!” He snapped, realizing what she meant.

Kagome contemplated grabbing Inuyasha and running away, but it was too late, as a whirlwind suddenly came streaming into the area, and dissipated, to reveal Koga in its wake.