InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Transformations ❯ Changes ( Chapter 1 )

Okay, this story was deleted for some odd, stupid reason, so I have to do it all over again. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. I'll try my best to get it up again and as well written as the first, but the second never really is better than the first, is it? *Sigh*

Anyway, here goes. And this time I'm keeping individual chapters and will be trying not to confuse people.

Chapter One

(What's she *doing*?) Inuyasha thought while following Kagome. She'd just walked away from Kaede's hut and into the surrounding forest. Her smell had woken him up, and something told him to follow her.

She stopped at a hot spring, but obviously not for a bath. She just sat and looked into the water. After another few moments, she sighed.

Inuyasha was watching Kagome from a tree, wondering what in the world she was doing out and wandering and what she was thinking about alone at two in the morning.

Kagome wasn't really thinking, though. She watched the water ripple and contemplated her future, as she had done many times before, about what would happen after all the shards were collected. Sighing again, she leaned more towards the water and thought of Inuyasha for the zillionth time. His image in her mind was so real she could even see his reflection. . .

(Wait a minute. . .) "Sit, boy!" she snapped and spun to see Inuyasha land face-first on the ground, making an Inuyasha-shaped crater. "What do you think you're doing, following me?!"

He sat up painfully, rubbing the back of his neck. Those stupid prayer beads are going to cut of his circulation one of these days. . . "I should be asking you what you're doing out at - get down!"

Confused, Kagome blinked. But then, Inuyasha was staring behind her, at something else. And this time he left Tetsusaiga in the hut where demons wouldn't look, hoping for one night's sleep without a demon attack for the sword or the shards. He leapt up and Kagome got down like he said, spinning to see what was happening.

A huge dark blue dog demon was there, long fangs, dripping mouth, flattened ears and swishing tails - four of them. And Inuyahsa, her savior on more than one occasion, was fighting it head-on without using his sword for once.

But something was poking her side. Reaching down she remembered what it was. Just in case, Kaede had said when she handed it to her. . .

"Inuyasha, catch!" she said, unhooking the long, dangerous looking dagger and tossing it to him. Once he caught it the fight was won, even if the dog demon didn't know it.

Before Inuyasha had a chance to use it the demon flung him off and went straight for the shards around Kagome's neck. And she left her arrows behind. . .

She screamed instinctively and then the demon did. A second later it stood on its hind legs and roared, revealing Inuyasha ripping the dagger up its chest. He hopped around and stuck the dagger in its back, dragging it along. The demon was dying - she remembered Kaede saying it was made with herbs that were fatal to a demon, but only a full-blooded one - if it got under its skin, and it started working instantly.

But the demon flung Inuyasha off again and snapped at Kagome, catching her right arm between its teeth and sinking down, hard. Kagome screamed again and then the demon was gone, but just before it did, Kagome heard something like its voice, but not quite, and only to her ears: I will live on, if only through you, girl.

Inuyasha was next to her now, the dagger dropped and forgotten. His arm was around her, and he was inspecting the wounds. Rather large, gaping holes littered her upper arm with two on her forearm. She turned her face away from the sight, feeling herself get weak and felt her face meet with Inuyasha's hair. He lifted her arm and sniffed it.

"It's some kind of venom."

"What will it do?" Kagome half whispered, half whimpered.

"I don't know. I don't think I've ever found any like this."

"Does that mean you can rule out the usual death?"

Inuyasha drew back slightly, looking in her face. "I don't know what that means," he said, almost gently.

Somehow, that felt like Kagome had taken some step over an invisible line. And that there was no way of knowing what would happen after. Feeling an urge to cry, Kagome dropped her head to Inuyasha's shoulder, her arm throbbing with pain but not really being noticed. His arms tightened around her before he spoke. "We should go back to Kaede's."

Kagome nodded. She bent down and grabbed the dagger, putting it back in the sheath. She forced a smile for Inuyasha when she looked up again. "Lead the way," she tried to say lightly, knowing it failed.

After a moment he nodded, turning to walk back. He kept an arm around her waist the entire time, though.

Hardly noticed, a shake had started in her arm. Kagome felt it but didn't really analyze it. If she did, she would see that her hands no longer had simple clear fingernails - now it had black claws like Inuyasha's.

Kagome laid down in her sleeping bag in the hut as soon as she got there, and Inuyasha stepped back outside with the Tetsusaiga, keeping watch for any more attacks.

It wasn't too long until they were both relaxed enough by the relative quiet to sleep - the normal quiet.

~*~ Kagome's dream ~*~

Something was after her, trying to catch her. She was screaming for Inuyasha, but the words never really formed. Something with four legs and a long snout, and with very sharp teeth. . .

It was catching up, and fast. But it wasn't solid, just a shadow, a gust of wind - a bit of black smoke that had form.

It was all around her now, shrinking as it spun around her, mixing with her very core. She screamed, but not in pain - in fear. Her right arm was leaking green liquid like blood, in the same spots the demon had bitten her. The form entered her body through her mouth, her nose, her ears, even. It was changing her, making her different.

Making her into something she didn't want to be. . .

~*~ Six in the morning ~*~

Kagome was moaning in her sleep, quietly. With a gasp and an urge to wake up, she was sitting up in her sleeping bag. Something felt different about this room instantly, and she had a strange feeling what was different - out of place - was she. Everyone else was still asleep, though.

Miroku was sitting, head bent, across from Sango, who had a certain kitsune curled in her arms, and Kirara right above her head. Inuyasha was still outside and, Kagome guessed, still asleep.

Consulting her watch told her it was now just after six, an hour before she usually woke up.

Getting up anyway she walked outside, feeling more energy in her now than ever before. Inuyasha was sitting beside the door in the same position as Miroku, with his sword over his shoulder.

His nose twitched and she caught that, somehow. Another twitch and his eyes opened slightly. "Kagome?" he said, quietly. His nose wrinkled like he was trying to determine the scent that hit his nose. He tilted his head up then, looking at her. His eyes went wide and he stood.

"What?" she asked, feeling something in her mouth that wasn't there before. Touching it with her tongue she got one hell of a shock - she had fangs!

"You're - not you, anymore!" he said, astounded. He touched her hair, like trying to see if she was really there or not. "You're hair's blue, and longer, and you have dog ears!" He stepped back, looking her over to see what else was different. "You're eyes are green! You have fangs - and a tail! Your nails are black! Your lips are black," this last as just confusing, like he was asking a question.

"Oh, no," she said, lifting her hands to her mouth. She remembered, suddenly, the hot spring, and ran there, feeling Inuyasha close behind. Once she got to the spring she hesitated, not sure if she wanted to see her reflection or not.

After a few moments she decided she should and stepped up to it. Her reflection showed a rather beautiful half-demon girl, young and shapely - more so than a fifteen-year-old should be - and with amazing green eyes. Her tail moved behind her, and she lost balance.

She fell back, but Inuyasha caught her. Once she was up again she spun to face Inuyasha. "How did this happen?" she asked, almost desperately.

For a moment Inuyasha looked like he wanted to ask the same thing. Then he seemed to figure it out. "The venom!" he said. "That must be what it was! It changed you - at least physically," he added, gesturing her new attributes. "And don't be surprised if Miroku hits on you, thinking you're someone else," he half-laughed. "You look like a different person."

"Oh. Oh, no. I can't go back! They'd all freak if they saw me like this!" Kagome looked around suddenly, like she was trying to find a way out of a round room. "I have to get out of here!" she said, turning to leap away like Inuyasha always did. But said person caught her before she could.

"Let go!" she snapped, trying to jump out of his arms. Which is kind of hard when your feet don't reach the ground.

"No!" Inuyasha snapped back. "Look, they all accepted me, so why wouldn't they do the same for you?"

Kagome quit struggling and thought. That was true. Although dealing with Miroku would probably be the hardest part, she thought she could handle it. Especially if Sango was on her side.

"Alright," she sighed, finally giving in. Inuyasha let her go and started back for the hut. Kagome was behind him, but not very close. She didn't know why she wanted distance from him, but she felt it would be easier for the others to take this way.

They took their time getting back, taking around twenty minutes. The others ought to be up by now - and probably wondering what happened to them.

As if summoned, they were. Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kirara were all calling for them or looking for them - but not going too far from the hut. When Inuyasha appeared they all seemed to relax a bit.

"So where's Kagome?" Sango asked.

"Did you kill her or something?" Miroku asked.

"No way!" Shippo cried. "I can still smell her! Only - Inuyasha, why does she smell a little better?"

(Better?) Inuyasha hadn't really thought of it, but her smell was a little sweeter now than it was before - not that it'd been a bad smell before.

"I'm here," Kagome said, still hidden behind a tree. She waited for Inuyasha to say something else, though.

"You guys are probably going to go into shock, and Miroku - " he looked at the man - "you keep your hands off!"

"Alright!" Miroku said, his hands raised in defense.

"Okay, Kagome. Come out," Inuyasha said. A second later she stepped into the small clearing. A few gasps were heard.

"Hi, guys," Kagome said, almost shyly.

Then Miroku laughed. "Nice try, Inuyasha. Who is she, really? We all know Kagome's not a hanyou."

"She is now," Inuyasha said.

"It's a long story," Kagome said, although it really wasn't. She just didn't want to explain.

"What's to explain?" Miroku said, suddenly glaring at Inuyasha. "We all knew some time or another Inuyasha would take you as his mate."

Kagome and Inuyasha fell over anime style.

"Are you kidding?!" both yelled once they got to their feet. Neither would admit that it was a nice idea, or that they wanted it to happen.

Inuyasha crossed his arms, eyes closed. "I did not take her as my mate. And I never will. A demon bit her and injected her with some type a venom I couldn't identify. It changed her into a hanyou. The end."

Kagome laughed, rubbing the back of her head. "Long story short," she said.

"You mean? . ." Shippo went up to Kagome. "Are you going to stay like this?"

Kagome shook her head. "I don't know for sure."

Shippo's eyes widened as he thought of his adopted mother being like this - a half demon - forever. His mouth turned into a smile as well. "Yay!" he cried, jumping into her arms.

"But I wonder," Sango said, looking Kagome over, "Is this a good thing or a bad thing?"