Disclaimer:  I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters, but this is my idea, so please ask before putting it on your website or taking it away (though, if the fanfic is different from my own, I can do little to nothing to stop it).  Okay, scratch that idea…I'm not getting paid for this, I just got really bored one day and started playing with ideas in my mind.  Okay?  Okay.  REVIEW, PLEASE!

Chapter One

Power Switch

Inuyasha walked in front of the group, his arms folded over his chest, glaring ahead and speaking to nobody.  It just wasn't fair.  After all, it wasn't his fault that the Shikon no Tama shattered—that was Kagome's doing.

And it had been two years—two years, for goodness's sake!—since he and Kagome started looking for the jewel's scattered shards, and they still didn't have all of them.  It had helped little when she made him help take care of Shippo, who was too young to do much damage in a battle, and pretty much useless otherwise, too.  When Sango and Miroku joined them, it had helped, but sometimes the two other humans had problems that set them off-track.

He fought back a growl as he thought about it, but couldn't suppress the flattening of his dog-like ears.  And if anyone in the group side-tracked them, it was Kagome herself.  Not only was it all her fault to begin with, but she was always having to go back to her time through the well to take her tests and go to school. 

Personally, he didn't see what a girl needed an education for.  And she could do a lot more in this time working as a priestess—like Kikyo.  She could even get a little better at using a bow and arrow—though, he begrudgingly admitted that she was a lot better than she had been before at it, when she couldn't shoot down the bird-demon.

But Inuyasha couldn't even make her stay and help them, because whenever he tried, she said that word—that HUMILIATING command—"sit."  First off, it was a command he'd seen most humans give to dogs.  He was sure she'd used that word because he was a dog-demon, but that wasn't the same thing.  He didn't go wagging his tail, begging to his master.  In fact, he didn't NEED a master, but Kagome was his superior.  Inuyasha didn't work well underneath somebody else.  It just wasn't befitting to him.

"Something wrong?" he heard Kagome ask, a worried tone to her voice.

"Feh," he grumbled. "Nothing."  Just you, he added silently, but knew the comment would spark the word of his collapse—a collapse, that is, into the ground with a mouthful of mud.  He then looked up at the sky.  It was dark, and he was sure the humans were all tired, and Shippo, too.  He looked back at Kagome and saw that Shippo was already asleep in the basket of her "bicycle." 

He turned back to the front and stopped as he reached the clearing.  "We'll camp here."

Inuyasha immediately seated himself on a thick tree branch, stretching out and relaxing a bit.  Sango and Kagome were starting supper—Chinese ramen noodles.  The smell of the food drifted to where Inuyasha was sitting.  He allowed himself to relax and think a little bit.

Of course, then he thought about Kikyo.  They hadn't heard from her in a long time.  He closed his eyes and smelt the air.  For a moment, he let himself think that it was her he smelled, but it was Kagome.  Kagome also smelled like the lavender-perfumed soap and shampoo she was always using, so she smelled a little bit sweeter than Kikyo.

Again, he felt torn between the two women.  He already loved Kikyo, and she had loved him back—up until when she thought he'd betrayed her.  He had feelings for Kagome as well, though she sometimes annoyed him beyond what he had thought possible, but he was sure she had some guy in the future to turn to.  Truthfully, the thought infuriated him.  When she said she had tests, was she really wasting time with one of those human weaklings?

He saw Kagome wake Shippo up to eat.  Inuyasha also jumped down from the tree.  He ate the ramen noodles without talking, though the other four were carrying on a conversation.

"…computers?  What do they do?" Sango asked, clearly mystified.

"Well," Kagome said slowly. "Computers are like these…boxes, I guess you could say.  They use electricity to power them, and they do a lot of the work for you."

"Like what?" Shippo asked curiously, leaning forward.

"You don't have to write long reports by hand because you can just type them on this thing called a keyboard and it'll print it out on a piece of paper."

"Doesn't that make people lose their jobs?"

"No, because then there are people that have to make the computers.  You can also play games on them."

"Lady Kagome, the inventions from your time are truly amazing."

Kagome glared threateningly at Miroku.  "Could you please remove your hand?!"

Miroku moved his hand off of her rear, eating silently while he not notice Inuyasha's glares.

After dinner, as was the usual schedule, they went directly to bed.  Kagome, Miroku, and Sango rolled out futons for themselves, little Shippo slept in the same bag as Kagome, and Inuyasha contented himself with the tree branch.  The half-demon let himself fall into a slumber…

***

In the middle of the night, Inuyasha's ears perked up at a slight sound.  He looked up and noticed Kagome was missing.  Of course, he was irritated.  What was that human doing wandering around at this time of night?

Sure not to make a sound even loud enough for his own sensitive ears to hear, he followed after her scent.  She wasn't far off.  In a couple of seconds, he saw her by the river, taking her shoes and socks off and putting her feet in the water.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes.  He got closer and closer until he was right behind her.  He saw his reflection in the water just behind hers, and she did, too, looking startled.  "And just WHAT do you think you're doing?" he demanded as she started to turn around.

Kagome still looked surprised.  "I…I was going to take a bath."

"What is it with you and baths?" he groaned. "You just had one yesterday, for cryin' out loud!"

"I happen to like to be clean, thank you very much."

"Feh.  You're clean enough."

"Maybe if I take enough baths," she threw back, "I won't smell so terrible!"

You don't smell terrible, you smell good—I lied about that, he thought, but glared.  "Believe me, it doesn't help!" he said, motioning to the shampoo and bar soap. "And if that was your motivation, you might not have bothered at all!"

"Don't flatter yourself, Inuyasha, that wasn't my motivation—it was just persuasion!"  She glared at him.  "You're so difficult sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm especially difficult for you," he retorted. "After all, Kikyo was never this stupid."

Kagome's eyes widened, then her face grew angry like it always did whenever he started comparing her to her previous incarnate.  She opened her mouth to say the magic word.

Before sound came out of her mouth, Inuyasha held a hand over it, preventing her from speaking.  "What is it, can't deal with any problems without making me 'sit?'  Kikyo could.  She always knew how to talk to me.  And she wouldn't have been running back to the future all the time to take these stupid tests—she'd have stuck to her duty!"

Kagome bit his hand and he drew it back from her mouth.  "In case you haven't noticed, I'M NOT KIKYO!"

"Isn't that what I've been sayin' all this time?" he growled. "Honestly, Kagome, you're so slow."

"Why do you care?" Kagome snapped. "Kikyo's just walking dead—she's not even the same person she was before, so SHE IS DEAD."

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" Inuyasha shouted, his amber-yellow eyes glowing with anger. "I hugged her, I felt her warmth—she's alive!"

Kagome turned around, preparing to walk the other way.  "I'm not even going to continue this."

"Hey!  Hey, where are you going?!  Hey, I'm not finished yet!"  Inuyasha grabbed her arm, pinning her in place as he hissed in her ear, "If you want to find the rest of the Shikon jewel shards at all, stop going back to your time."

"Let go of me!" Kagome yelled.

"Gladly!"  He pushed her forward.  Kagome stumbled and Inuyasha saw everything go in slow motion.

He hadn't intended for her to lose her balance.  In an effort to keep from falling into the cold water, Kagome grabbed onto Inuyasha, or more precisely, onto the prayer beads around his neck that controlled him.  A loud snapping noise sounded, and the next thing Kagome knew, she was in the water, shivering.  Inuyasha was still standing there, staring at her in shock, then he looked down at the ground.  Kagome followed his gaze, then gasped.

The prayer beads, broken and useless, lay on the ground near Inuyasha's feet.  Kagome no longer had any control over him.  Just the thought scared her, even though she knew he wouldn't kill her since he needed her abilities.

But still, the corners of Inuyasha's mouth quirked up, spreading into a slow grin.  He jumped on the edge of the grass and leaned forward so his face was directly in front of Kagome's.  "You're not going home again," he whispered, softly but threateningly. "Not until we find the rest of the jewel shards."

Kagome's gray eyes widened, her mouth open in shock at what had just transpired.  But it was obvious to her that she wouldn't see her family or friends for a very long time.  She just looked down, away from the half-demon who was now HER master.

Good?  Bad?  TELL ME, PLEASE!  Again, if I haven't mentioned it before, my e-mail address is [email protected].  But that's only if you even do really care to send me any comments/compliments/criticism.  Thanks!

Kat Yuy