Near the stairs of a small shrine, with a simple arch with 'Dusk Shrine'
stretched across it a small girl hopped among brightly colored chalk
squares drawn into the tiles which the outside of the shrine was composed.
The wind rustled the charms on the massive and old tree that stood not far from one of the shrine's small buildings. If the mother had looked out at her child at that instant she would of seen a glimmer of something as it passed the tree.
The child, Kagome hopped down the recently drawn hopscotch squares, as she hummed the rhyme for the game she had played at school, she really liked it because it had her name in it.
Quietly she began to chant the words.
Kagome Kagome, Kago no naka no tori wa, Itsu itsu deyaru? Yoake to ban ni. Tsuru to kame ga subetta, Ushiro no shoumen dare?
She grinned to herself happily as she turned around to go the other way, she liked to think herself like that; mysterious and all.
Pausing and crouching as low as she could go she hopped up in a leap as high her small legs could manage as she prepared to continue her solo game of hopscotch.
Never noticing the slight ripple in the air around her as she reached the apex of her jump, when the ripples in the air seemed to tighten around her. She let out a muffled gasp as she noticed she hadn't landed and that she was actually still moving up.
She felt something binding her arms to her side as she struggled, it felt like something was wrapping itself around her, invisible smooth scales glided over her and tightened around her and as she attempted to let out a shriek for her Mama when another invisible snake-thing wrapped around her throat causing her to choke.
As she began to struggle harder for breath, her legs kicking weakly, she could make out the things holding her slowly becoming visible.
It was like a snake crossed with a fish with six insect-like legs just below the base of the head. All around her others flew some with glowing balls of streaming light.
Just before everything went black a strange thought intruded in her mind.
'Inuyasha!'
*****
A woman in the tattered remains of what was once a simple set of old fashioned miko clothes studied the girl that her creatures had brought.
"Yes she is the one who sets everything in motion." She shook her head slowly as she looked the girl over.
"As much as I'd like too I can't kill her, her reincarnation will simply go in her place."
The woman sighed. "I will have to prevent her freeing Inuyasha another way. But first."
She slowly stroked the girls head once, then twice then moved her hand down the girls side until she reached the area just above her hip. Her fingers tightened, digging into flesh and meeting a small, hard ball, which she jerked out in a spray of blood.
"Shikon no Tama. The source of all my troubles, if you had never came I would have lived the life of a normal girl and I would never had met the one who destroyed me."
She noticed one of her Shini-dama-chuu begin to fade, the one she had created right after her experiments with the bone-gobbling well, trying to discover its secret.
She nodded to herself; she had little time, though with the Shikon-no-Tama she would be able to do this much quicker.
Focusing her power onto the jewel she began to shape the youki in it and force it in the girl in front of her. Slowly the girl's skin darkened and short, black hair began to grow all over her tiny body.
The nails of her hands and feet began to lengthen, and toughen and her slightly opened mouth showed her canines lengthening. The miko smiled and began the final steps when she noticed her hands cupping the Shikon-no-Tama were growing transparent.
She frantically looked around for souls to support her and noticed all her servants had also faded, along with their burdens.
"No! I'm not finished! I have to transform her mind as well as her body!"
Concentrating she began to mold the child's mind into that of a beast. She met resistance, her waning power clashed against the child's own, undeveloped and un-awakened it struggled to protect itself against the instincts and mind of the youki-beast that her body had been changed into.
It was enough.
"Noooooooooo!"
The undead miko's voice trialed off as she became increasingly transparent.
With a small cling as the Shikon-no-Tama fell to the floor as the outline of the long-dead miko faded finally into nothingness, hate, anger and madness disappearing, returning the souls of countless souls of the dead to eternal slumber.
*****
A man clothed in a baboon skin woke with a start. He smiled, as his demon servants were absorbed into himself.
"Five hundred years hmmm. my how the humans have changed."
*****
A dragon, long sealed, stirred slightly before slipping deeper into a magic slumber.
*****
Deep within the mountains a tribe of Gokuraku-Chou sprang into existence and was immediately joined in battle with a tribe of wolk-youkai.
*****
A young girl practiced the ancient forms of a Taiji-ya.
*****
A young Buddhist monk paused just as he was about to grope a young woman and clenched his hand, hurriedly reaching into his pouch and drawing out a string of prayer beads that he wrapped around his hand.
"Naruku is back!" He whispered hatefully.
Nearby his son watched worriedly, then glancing at his own hand as it began tingling.
*****
A small temple, deep within the wilds near Tokyo a monk-looking Youkai grinned.
*****
A pair of kitsune smiled at each other and growled playfully.
*****
A man with white hair looked up and frowned before turning to the young woman beside him.
"Rin, tell all my associates if they go after the Shikon-no-Tama I will be. displeased."
The woman smiled and nodded her head.
"Yes Sessoumaru-Sama."
"You don't have to call me Sama Rin."
"Yes Sessoumaru-Sama."
A small laugh emerged reluctantly from the man's lips. The sword at his side pulsed, waves of energy washing over them unseen.
*****
Yura of Hair looked up from her nest of hair and frowned.
*****
A simple crow Youkai began to caw.
*****
In the ancient well a glimmer appeared, then faded into nothingness. There was a small rustle of bones against bones.
*****
Far away in a shrine up a set of stairs a figure appeared, he was pinned to the tree with a single arrow through his chest, long white haired and dog- ears, clothed in red. Rapidly massive vines crawled over him and finally hid him from sight.
*****
The man's eyes glimmered as he moved away from his resting place.
"Shikon no Tama. so it starts again."
"KUKUKUKU!"
*****
A simple, marble-sized glowing ball of pink stone collided with a child's leg and brilliant blue-gray eyes opened, wide and frightened.
"MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
*****
The small form of the girl emerges from the cave; the fur beneath her eyes is slightly damp. She carried her hands in front of her, looking at them fearfully. The claw on one of them is slightly wet with a drop of blood and there is a small trail of dark blood down her cheek though no wound is visible. In her other hand she is clutching something tightly.
She whimpered as she looked around. A whispered 'Mama' slightly despairing emerged from her lips; somehow she knew that her mother wouldn't answer.
Wandering deeper into the forest, though that wasn't hard, there wasn't much of a clearing around the cave she had been in; she looked around, gaining little confidence when nothing attacked her.
"Where am I?" She wondered out loud, ignoring the fact that she really didn't look human at the moment. Her stomach growled and she pouted cutely.
"More importantly I'm hungry. Where can I find something to eat?"
Her eyes caught a flash of brown and before she was aware of it her body was moving. A quick slash of her hands and she stared wide-eyed at the rabbit in her hands, its blood dripping down her hands and off her claws.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" She screeched as she dropped the rabbit.
She stared at the dead animal panting. Why had she just down that? She had just killed an innocent creature for no reason at all.
Her stomach growled.
Her eyes widened even further.
"Eat THAT?" Disgust was apparent in her voice as she argued with her stomach pointing at the carcass lying in front of her.
Her stomach gave a protesting rumble.
"But it isn't COOKED." She protested, her imagination made that her stomach seemed to shrug in response and she jumped as it growled again, sounding more like a vicious animal then a thing that digests food.
She knelt by the rabbit's corpse and prodded it with her finger, scrunching her face slightly in disgust. Prodding it again harder this time she gave a startled sound as her claw sunk into it.
Moving her hand, nose twitching as she caught the scent of cooling blood, as her claw easily cut through the fur and into the meat beneath.
She blinked as the scents all around her became more apparent. She hadn't noticed it before but every smell seemed sharper, more defined.
Hesitantly she brought her bloody claw in front of her face and sniffed it delicately. The smell was. not unpleasant. Frowning then nodding to herself she began to cut away the fur as delicately as she could. Cautiously taking out a piece of the meat sniffed it once again and popped it in her mouth.
She chewed, her face once more scrunched up, this time in consideration. She brightened noticeable when the taste of raw rabbit meat actually agreed with her and fell on the rest with a vengeance.
*****
The girl had spent several days getting used to the changes. She had discovered that she had a strong hunters instinct, especially when hungry. Her senses were expanded, sight, smell, sound, all had been enhanced, she could smell almost anything around and she was still getting used to it.
Her ears seemed the same though everything seemed a lot louder.
Her sight on the other hand wasn't just better. She could now see things she knew she would never have thought possible. Not only were there strange creatures that only existed in stories but also everything had a slight aura around it, rocks and plants included.
Rocks seemed to have the least amount of aura, a slim sheathing of mixed grays. Brown and green swirling auras seemed to surround the trees, bushes and grasses. The larger the plant the larger the aura though all of them were only slightly larger the stones.
The animals on the other hand billowed with energy; the few deer she had seen had auras that reached out almost a foot away from the deer though rabbits were much less.
Her own aura though. it had astonished her when she focused on it, her natural curiosity getting the better of her when she had discovered the faint glows weren't caused from going out in the sun from the dark cave. It was gigantic, swirling and a mix of pink, blue and a strange black.
The black seemed to be contained by the pink, which expanded and contracted to some hidden heartbeat.
The pink marble she had found in the cave. was strange. Unlike other stones its aura seemed to reach out to her, both sides of her, he scary side that had killed the rabbit so easily and wanted her to do it again just to feel her claws slide through flesh and her normal side. She noticed it seemed to affect her aura also. The strange black aura grew larger as did the pink one. It made her feel a strange sense of wanting, even as she held it; she hadn't let it go since she had found it.
She had been following a strange scent for the last few hours. It smelt like smoke and other things, which made her nose wrinkle in disgust. At least it did until she realized what it was. Human! A person. Maybe she could ask him to get home! Soon after she had found the scent it had joined a beaten dirt path.
Ever since she had realized that she had been running as fast as possible, the landscape disappearing into a blur.
She stopped as she came as the beaten trail came to an opening that allowed her to see the large highway.
Suddenly she was seized by a bout of homesickness the strangeness of her situation hadn't let her feel until now. She whispered her desire quietly.
"I want my mommy. I want to be normal."
Tears began pooling in her eyes. Longing to be what she had been before this filled her and something clenched. Suddenly everything dulled around her, not much but enough to be noticeable.
She looked at her hands in awe, no more black fur. Normal colored skin!
She noticed that the claws were still there but the seemed shorter, not as dangerous looking.
Suddenly she felt a wave of exhaustion pass through her and the fur returned, as did the acuity of her senses.
Slipping into the trees, feeling an abiding need to sleep she curled p against the base of one of them and fell deeply asleep, the first rest she had had in days.
*****
When she woke up the first thing she noticed was the tugging of something on her hand. She looked down and saw one of the things that should only exist in books. It was trying to get to her pink marble-thingy!
"Mine!" She clutched the thing in her hand tightly as she gave off a dangerous yet cute growl and then swiped at the creature with her claws, instinctively using the unfamial weapons. Without a sound the thing broke apart and disappeared.
After sitting for a few seconds trying to figure out why seeing her fur covered hands gave her a sad feeling she remembered the day before. She closed her eyes and tried to remember if it had been her imagination.
Then she thought of the strange clenching feeling just before her fur had disappeared. Struggling to bring that feeling again she felt something twinge slightly, it didn't feel like anything she had felt before last night and she grinned.
She almost had it!
Focusing solely on that feeling she felt the same clenching feeling, as if something was being pushed back. She hadn't really noticed it before, she had been paying more attention to the loss of some of the sensitivity of her senses, though she only had them for a few days she had grown used to them.
Opening her eyes she gave off a shout of joy, as her skin appeared normal with no black fur covering her.
For several minutes nothing happened, then a feeling of something being released and then of exhaustion as it once again passed through her, though it wasn't as bad as last night.
Fighting off the tired feeling she tried to turn normal again but the clenching feeling didn't return.
*****
It was several days later, she had been hugging the tree line following the large highway once puzzling out the words of one of the signs. She knew she lived in Tokyo and that the kanji for Tokyo looked like that.
Her father had tried teaching her to read early on. Which was now a blessing though she hadn't thought so at the time. It had been rather boring especially since she loved the outdoors and had wanted to play.
She had discovered she could only turn normal once a day, though each time it seemed longer then the last.
Her small figure darted in between the shadows of the trees, moving at a steady pace, her form blurring slightly if anyone should manage to catch a glimpse of her.
The trees were thinning, and soon she reached the last of them. She paused and looked back hesitatingly. She remembered how the boy in class had been treated simply because he was a gaijin. If she left the forest it could be worse.
Her mouth tightened and her heart clenched at the thought of not seeing her mother again.
She would find a way!
*****
Kagome looks a few years older as she crept through a deserted alleyway. For five long years she had been seeking home, even though the face of her mother was slightly blurry. During the day she spent all the time she was normal playing with other children reveling in the feelings of happiness and joy. Then she would sneak into the schools and listen to the teachers drone on, wishing she could stay normal long enough to actually go in there.
She smiled slightly at her moody thoughts after all it wasn't all that bad. Being fast and agile she loved playing by her self almost as much as she enjoyed playing with the children in the parks she visited.
She fingered the bag around her neck, her good luck charm, the Shikon no Tama lay within, it seemed so many of those strange creatures wanted it. They called themselves youkai and most of them seem to be disgusted with her for some reason, calling her half-breed and freak. That is if they didn't attack her first, she usually ran away from them, she was always faster and more agile. Not only that but she could climb anything she wished, her claws could bite into stone and steel easily.
Her thoughts broke off as a faint stench of decay and death caught her nose. She gave a cry of disgust as a man suddenly bolted out of the shadows, the stench almost overpowering her. Stunned by the abrupt attack she didn't react fast enough when the man jerked the bag holding the Shikon no Tama off her neck while grasping her wrists in the other.
"No! That's mine."
The man clumsily spilled the Shikon no Tama onto the ground and bent down. Stiff fingers grasped the small ball and the man gave a grin.
"Shikon no Tama!" The monotonous voice emerged from the slightly rotten man
Suddenly the man stiffened and with a caw a black thing with three glowing red eyes shot out of chest seizing the Shikon no Tama in its tooth-rimmed beak. Immediately Kagome jerked free and blurred after it.
The crow-youkai was already starting to grow, its size increasing as it began to fly down the street.
Grasping onto the growing crow youkai's back she despaired briefly then growled. She wouldn't give up.
The Shikon no Tama was HERS.
She concentrated on the feeling of the thing that turned her normal and instead of forcing back the youki she pushed back the thing that suppressed it, letting youki invade her being.
Her eyes were the first to change. Blue-gray human eyes became cat-shaped amber.
Claws lengthened and a rumbling snarl built in her chest as her ears grew to sharp points. Her hair on her back lengthened to her toes and the fur on her became thicker.
As soon as her transformation was complete she was driven into the undeniably need to destroy this thing for taking what was hers.
Raising one set of claws she plunged it straight for where she sensed the Shikon no Tama. The giant crow, also finished changing gave off a screech of pained shock as she jerked her hand back clutching the small ball. As the crow began to shrink it desperately turned around and bit the arm holding the Shikon no Tama.
"It's mine!" Kagome said just before she swiped her free claws through the neck of the bird-youkai with a crunch.
Dropping down into the surprising deserted street she shook her head and then glanced down at her hand.
"It's safe." Was her whispered comment as she held the Shikon no Tama close to her chest.
"Not for long. You need a guardian." The cold voice startled Kagome.
Still deep within the youkai instincts Kagome spun around with a growl.
Eyes glowing she looked over the regal looking man, noting immediately the way he looked, completely human in an expensive suit, but there was something that screamed youkai. Not just any Youkai but one stronger then any other she had seen so far.
"This Sessoumaru is impressed; a young hanyou like you handled her self very well."
He then threw something at her feet then began to walk into the doorway of a building calling over his shoulder at her.
"Put the Shikon no Tama on that hair, it will not break. This Sessoumaru also promises you a guardian."
Kagome relaxed and let her stronger blood ebb sighing in relief before she crouched to examine the object in front of her. It was a thin white hair threaded through a gold chain. She held it up and grew puzzled, how was she supposed to put her Shikon no Tama on the hair. Smiling slightly she put the chain around her neck and admired it.
It was quite nice looking.
Playfully she put the Shikon no Tama against the bottom of chain. The white hair threaded through and around the chain seemed to actually slip inside the jewel.
Surprised she tugged on it and gasped when the necklace came with the jewel. "Oh!" She exclaimed then smiled. Maybe that strange youkai was actually a nice person.
*****
Sessoumaru stood in front of an ancient tree, its trunk covered in thick vines. He was wearing his white silk clothing with his sword by his side.
With a single swipe of his claws he tore away the vines, revealing Inuyasha.
"Brother you are so pathetic. Kept in slumber for five hundred years. So pathetic I, Sessoumaru shall free you."
Smiling in contempt he reached for the arrow that held his half-brother in enchanted sleep. Settling his face back in its neutral expression his face didn't twitch when smoke came from his hand as he grasped the arrow.
"Truly this Sessoumaru is amazed, for a miko's spell to last this long, she must have put her entire soul into sealing you."
Twisting his hand slightly there was a slight snap as the arrow disintegrated into nothing.
*****
"Keh! Why should I protect her?"
"Because I Sessoumaru has commanded it." Came Sessoumaru's unimpressed voice.
"Keh, fat chance of that arsehole."
"Do you forget that has been close to six centuries since you have last fought while I Sessoumaru have been fighting for that time? I Sessoumaru, have reached the prime of my life while you, dear brother, still an infant, the sleep you were locked was timeless, meaning my stupid brother you are still the age you were when you were sealed. Even if you get the Shikon no Tama and use it I, Sessoumaru, will be able to defeat you."
"Keh!"
"Come now brother, she is a hanyou who knows nothing of the world; her worst enemy has been a crow demon. Even in this day I, Sessoumaru, am scorned behind my back for being mated with a human."
"I still can't believe that, the 'Great Sessoumaru', who loathes all who are mortal and riled on me day in and day out for my 'impure heritage' mated with a human girl."
"Indeed my dear brother, now shall you do as I ask?"
"Fine! Keh!"
*****
AND so begins another wonderful tale of Inuyasha and Kagome
The wind rustled the charms on the massive and old tree that stood not far from one of the shrine's small buildings. If the mother had looked out at her child at that instant she would of seen a glimmer of something as it passed the tree.
The child, Kagome hopped down the recently drawn hopscotch squares, as she hummed the rhyme for the game she had played at school, she really liked it because it had her name in it.
Quietly she began to chant the words.
Kagome Kagome, Kago no naka no tori wa, Itsu itsu deyaru? Yoake to ban ni. Tsuru to kame ga subetta, Ushiro no shoumen dare?
She grinned to herself happily as she turned around to go the other way, she liked to think herself like that; mysterious and all.
Pausing and crouching as low as she could go she hopped up in a leap as high her small legs could manage as she prepared to continue her solo game of hopscotch.
Never noticing the slight ripple in the air around her as she reached the apex of her jump, when the ripples in the air seemed to tighten around her. She let out a muffled gasp as she noticed she hadn't landed and that she was actually still moving up.
She felt something binding her arms to her side as she struggled, it felt like something was wrapping itself around her, invisible smooth scales glided over her and tightened around her and as she attempted to let out a shriek for her Mama when another invisible snake-thing wrapped around her throat causing her to choke.
As she began to struggle harder for breath, her legs kicking weakly, she could make out the things holding her slowly becoming visible.
It was like a snake crossed with a fish with six insect-like legs just below the base of the head. All around her others flew some with glowing balls of streaming light.
Just before everything went black a strange thought intruded in her mind.
'Inuyasha!'
*****
A woman in the tattered remains of what was once a simple set of old fashioned miko clothes studied the girl that her creatures had brought.
"Yes she is the one who sets everything in motion." She shook her head slowly as she looked the girl over.
"As much as I'd like too I can't kill her, her reincarnation will simply go in her place."
The woman sighed. "I will have to prevent her freeing Inuyasha another way. But first."
She slowly stroked the girls head once, then twice then moved her hand down the girls side until she reached the area just above her hip. Her fingers tightened, digging into flesh and meeting a small, hard ball, which she jerked out in a spray of blood.
"Shikon no Tama. The source of all my troubles, if you had never came I would have lived the life of a normal girl and I would never had met the one who destroyed me."
She noticed one of her Shini-dama-chuu begin to fade, the one she had created right after her experiments with the bone-gobbling well, trying to discover its secret.
She nodded to herself; she had little time, though with the Shikon-no-Tama she would be able to do this much quicker.
Focusing her power onto the jewel she began to shape the youki in it and force it in the girl in front of her. Slowly the girl's skin darkened and short, black hair began to grow all over her tiny body.
The nails of her hands and feet began to lengthen, and toughen and her slightly opened mouth showed her canines lengthening. The miko smiled and began the final steps when she noticed her hands cupping the Shikon-no-Tama were growing transparent.
She frantically looked around for souls to support her and noticed all her servants had also faded, along with their burdens.
"No! I'm not finished! I have to transform her mind as well as her body!"
Concentrating she began to mold the child's mind into that of a beast. She met resistance, her waning power clashed against the child's own, undeveloped and un-awakened it struggled to protect itself against the instincts and mind of the youki-beast that her body had been changed into.
It was enough.
"Noooooooooo!"
The undead miko's voice trialed off as she became increasingly transparent.
With a small cling as the Shikon-no-Tama fell to the floor as the outline of the long-dead miko faded finally into nothingness, hate, anger and madness disappearing, returning the souls of countless souls of the dead to eternal slumber.
*****
A man clothed in a baboon skin woke with a start. He smiled, as his demon servants were absorbed into himself.
"Five hundred years hmmm. my how the humans have changed."
*****
A dragon, long sealed, stirred slightly before slipping deeper into a magic slumber.
*****
Deep within the mountains a tribe of Gokuraku-Chou sprang into existence and was immediately joined in battle with a tribe of wolk-youkai.
*****
A young girl practiced the ancient forms of a Taiji-ya.
*****
A young Buddhist monk paused just as he was about to grope a young woman and clenched his hand, hurriedly reaching into his pouch and drawing out a string of prayer beads that he wrapped around his hand.
"Naruku is back!" He whispered hatefully.
Nearby his son watched worriedly, then glancing at his own hand as it began tingling.
*****
A small temple, deep within the wilds near Tokyo a monk-looking Youkai grinned.
*****
A pair of kitsune smiled at each other and growled playfully.
*****
A man with white hair looked up and frowned before turning to the young woman beside him.
"Rin, tell all my associates if they go after the Shikon-no-Tama I will be. displeased."
The woman smiled and nodded her head.
"Yes Sessoumaru-Sama."
"You don't have to call me Sama Rin."
"Yes Sessoumaru-Sama."
A small laugh emerged reluctantly from the man's lips. The sword at his side pulsed, waves of energy washing over them unseen.
*****
Yura of Hair looked up from her nest of hair and frowned.
*****
A simple crow Youkai began to caw.
*****
In the ancient well a glimmer appeared, then faded into nothingness. There was a small rustle of bones against bones.
*****
Far away in a shrine up a set of stairs a figure appeared, he was pinned to the tree with a single arrow through his chest, long white haired and dog- ears, clothed in red. Rapidly massive vines crawled over him and finally hid him from sight.
*****
The man's eyes glimmered as he moved away from his resting place.
"Shikon no Tama. so it starts again."
"KUKUKUKU!"
*****
A simple, marble-sized glowing ball of pink stone collided with a child's leg and brilliant blue-gray eyes opened, wide and frightened.
"MAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
*****
The small form of the girl emerges from the cave; the fur beneath her eyes is slightly damp. She carried her hands in front of her, looking at them fearfully. The claw on one of them is slightly wet with a drop of blood and there is a small trail of dark blood down her cheek though no wound is visible. In her other hand she is clutching something tightly.
She whimpered as she looked around. A whispered 'Mama' slightly despairing emerged from her lips; somehow she knew that her mother wouldn't answer.
Wandering deeper into the forest, though that wasn't hard, there wasn't much of a clearing around the cave she had been in; she looked around, gaining little confidence when nothing attacked her.
"Where am I?" She wondered out loud, ignoring the fact that she really didn't look human at the moment. Her stomach growled and she pouted cutely.
"More importantly I'm hungry. Where can I find something to eat?"
Her eyes caught a flash of brown and before she was aware of it her body was moving. A quick slash of her hands and she stared wide-eyed at the rabbit in her hands, its blood dripping down her hands and off her claws.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" She screeched as she dropped the rabbit.
She stared at the dead animal panting. Why had she just down that? She had just killed an innocent creature for no reason at all.
Her stomach growled.
Her eyes widened even further.
"Eat THAT?" Disgust was apparent in her voice as she argued with her stomach pointing at the carcass lying in front of her.
Her stomach gave a protesting rumble.
"But it isn't COOKED." She protested, her imagination made that her stomach seemed to shrug in response and she jumped as it growled again, sounding more like a vicious animal then a thing that digests food.
She knelt by the rabbit's corpse and prodded it with her finger, scrunching her face slightly in disgust. Prodding it again harder this time she gave a startled sound as her claw sunk into it.
Moving her hand, nose twitching as she caught the scent of cooling blood, as her claw easily cut through the fur and into the meat beneath.
She blinked as the scents all around her became more apparent. She hadn't noticed it before but every smell seemed sharper, more defined.
Hesitantly she brought her bloody claw in front of her face and sniffed it delicately. The smell was. not unpleasant. Frowning then nodding to herself she began to cut away the fur as delicately as she could. Cautiously taking out a piece of the meat sniffed it once again and popped it in her mouth.
She chewed, her face once more scrunched up, this time in consideration. She brightened noticeable when the taste of raw rabbit meat actually agreed with her and fell on the rest with a vengeance.
*****
The girl had spent several days getting used to the changes. She had discovered that she had a strong hunters instinct, especially when hungry. Her senses were expanded, sight, smell, sound, all had been enhanced, she could smell almost anything around and she was still getting used to it.
Her ears seemed the same though everything seemed a lot louder.
Her sight on the other hand wasn't just better. She could now see things she knew she would never have thought possible. Not only were there strange creatures that only existed in stories but also everything had a slight aura around it, rocks and plants included.
Rocks seemed to have the least amount of aura, a slim sheathing of mixed grays. Brown and green swirling auras seemed to surround the trees, bushes and grasses. The larger the plant the larger the aura though all of them were only slightly larger the stones.
The animals on the other hand billowed with energy; the few deer she had seen had auras that reached out almost a foot away from the deer though rabbits were much less.
Her own aura though. it had astonished her when she focused on it, her natural curiosity getting the better of her when she had discovered the faint glows weren't caused from going out in the sun from the dark cave. It was gigantic, swirling and a mix of pink, blue and a strange black.
The black seemed to be contained by the pink, which expanded and contracted to some hidden heartbeat.
The pink marble she had found in the cave. was strange. Unlike other stones its aura seemed to reach out to her, both sides of her, he scary side that had killed the rabbit so easily and wanted her to do it again just to feel her claws slide through flesh and her normal side. She noticed it seemed to affect her aura also. The strange black aura grew larger as did the pink one. It made her feel a strange sense of wanting, even as she held it; she hadn't let it go since she had found it.
She had been following a strange scent for the last few hours. It smelt like smoke and other things, which made her nose wrinkle in disgust. At least it did until she realized what it was. Human! A person. Maybe she could ask him to get home! Soon after she had found the scent it had joined a beaten dirt path.
Ever since she had realized that she had been running as fast as possible, the landscape disappearing into a blur.
She stopped as she came as the beaten trail came to an opening that allowed her to see the large highway.
Suddenly she was seized by a bout of homesickness the strangeness of her situation hadn't let her feel until now. She whispered her desire quietly.
"I want my mommy. I want to be normal."
Tears began pooling in her eyes. Longing to be what she had been before this filled her and something clenched. Suddenly everything dulled around her, not much but enough to be noticeable.
She looked at her hands in awe, no more black fur. Normal colored skin!
She noticed that the claws were still there but the seemed shorter, not as dangerous looking.
Suddenly she felt a wave of exhaustion pass through her and the fur returned, as did the acuity of her senses.
Slipping into the trees, feeling an abiding need to sleep she curled p against the base of one of them and fell deeply asleep, the first rest she had had in days.
*****
When she woke up the first thing she noticed was the tugging of something on her hand. She looked down and saw one of the things that should only exist in books. It was trying to get to her pink marble-thingy!
"Mine!" She clutched the thing in her hand tightly as she gave off a dangerous yet cute growl and then swiped at the creature with her claws, instinctively using the unfamial weapons. Without a sound the thing broke apart and disappeared.
After sitting for a few seconds trying to figure out why seeing her fur covered hands gave her a sad feeling she remembered the day before. She closed her eyes and tried to remember if it had been her imagination.
Then she thought of the strange clenching feeling just before her fur had disappeared. Struggling to bring that feeling again she felt something twinge slightly, it didn't feel like anything she had felt before last night and she grinned.
She almost had it!
Focusing solely on that feeling she felt the same clenching feeling, as if something was being pushed back. She hadn't really noticed it before, she had been paying more attention to the loss of some of the sensitivity of her senses, though she only had them for a few days she had grown used to them.
Opening her eyes she gave off a shout of joy, as her skin appeared normal with no black fur covering her.
For several minutes nothing happened, then a feeling of something being released and then of exhaustion as it once again passed through her, though it wasn't as bad as last night.
Fighting off the tired feeling she tried to turn normal again but the clenching feeling didn't return.
*****
It was several days later, she had been hugging the tree line following the large highway once puzzling out the words of one of the signs. She knew she lived in Tokyo and that the kanji for Tokyo looked like that.
Her father had tried teaching her to read early on. Which was now a blessing though she hadn't thought so at the time. It had been rather boring especially since she loved the outdoors and had wanted to play.
She had discovered she could only turn normal once a day, though each time it seemed longer then the last.
Her small figure darted in between the shadows of the trees, moving at a steady pace, her form blurring slightly if anyone should manage to catch a glimpse of her.
The trees were thinning, and soon she reached the last of them. She paused and looked back hesitatingly. She remembered how the boy in class had been treated simply because he was a gaijin. If she left the forest it could be worse.
Her mouth tightened and her heart clenched at the thought of not seeing her mother again.
She would find a way!
*****
Kagome looks a few years older as she crept through a deserted alleyway. For five long years she had been seeking home, even though the face of her mother was slightly blurry. During the day she spent all the time she was normal playing with other children reveling in the feelings of happiness and joy. Then she would sneak into the schools and listen to the teachers drone on, wishing she could stay normal long enough to actually go in there.
She smiled slightly at her moody thoughts after all it wasn't all that bad. Being fast and agile she loved playing by her self almost as much as she enjoyed playing with the children in the parks she visited.
She fingered the bag around her neck, her good luck charm, the Shikon no Tama lay within, it seemed so many of those strange creatures wanted it. They called themselves youkai and most of them seem to be disgusted with her for some reason, calling her half-breed and freak. That is if they didn't attack her first, she usually ran away from them, she was always faster and more agile. Not only that but she could climb anything she wished, her claws could bite into stone and steel easily.
Her thoughts broke off as a faint stench of decay and death caught her nose. She gave a cry of disgust as a man suddenly bolted out of the shadows, the stench almost overpowering her. Stunned by the abrupt attack she didn't react fast enough when the man jerked the bag holding the Shikon no Tama off her neck while grasping her wrists in the other.
"No! That's mine."
The man clumsily spilled the Shikon no Tama onto the ground and bent down. Stiff fingers grasped the small ball and the man gave a grin.
"Shikon no Tama!" The monotonous voice emerged from the slightly rotten man
Suddenly the man stiffened and with a caw a black thing with three glowing red eyes shot out of chest seizing the Shikon no Tama in its tooth-rimmed beak. Immediately Kagome jerked free and blurred after it.
The crow-youkai was already starting to grow, its size increasing as it began to fly down the street.
Grasping onto the growing crow youkai's back she despaired briefly then growled. She wouldn't give up.
The Shikon no Tama was HERS.
She concentrated on the feeling of the thing that turned her normal and instead of forcing back the youki she pushed back the thing that suppressed it, letting youki invade her being.
Her eyes were the first to change. Blue-gray human eyes became cat-shaped amber.
Claws lengthened and a rumbling snarl built in her chest as her ears grew to sharp points. Her hair on her back lengthened to her toes and the fur on her became thicker.
As soon as her transformation was complete she was driven into the undeniably need to destroy this thing for taking what was hers.
Raising one set of claws she plunged it straight for where she sensed the Shikon no Tama. The giant crow, also finished changing gave off a screech of pained shock as she jerked her hand back clutching the small ball. As the crow began to shrink it desperately turned around and bit the arm holding the Shikon no Tama.
"It's mine!" Kagome said just before she swiped her free claws through the neck of the bird-youkai with a crunch.
Dropping down into the surprising deserted street she shook her head and then glanced down at her hand.
"It's safe." Was her whispered comment as she held the Shikon no Tama close to her chest.
"Not for long. You need a guardian." The cold voice startled Kagome.
Still deep within the youkai instincts Kagome spun around with a growl.
Eyes glowing she looked over the regal looking man, noting immediately the way he looked, completely human in an expensive suit, but there was something that screamed youkai. Not just any Youkai but one stronger then any other she had seen so far.
"This Sessoumaru is impressed; a young hanyou like you handled her self very well."
He then threw something at her feet then began to walk into the doorway of a building calling over his shoulder at her.
"Put the Shikon no Tama on that hair, it will not break. This Sessoumaru also promises you a guardian."
Kagome relaxed and let her stronger blood ebb sighing in relief before she crouched to examine the object in front of her. It was a thin white hair threaded through a gold chain. She held it up and grew puzzled, how was she supposed to put her Shikon no Tama on the hair. Smiling slightly she put the chain around her neck and admired it.
It was quite nice looking.
Playfully she put the Shikon no Tama against the bottom of chain. The white hair threaded through and around the chain seemed to actually slip inside the jewel.
Surprised she tugged on it and gasped when the necklace came with the jewel. "Oh!" She exclaimed then smiled. Maybe that strange youkai was actually a nice person.
*****
Sessoumaru stood in front of an ancient tree, its trunk covered in thick vines. He was wearing his white silk clothing with his sword by his side.
With a single swipe of his claws he tore away the vines, revealing Inuyasha.
"Brother you are so pathetic. Kept in slumber for five hundred years. So pathetic I, Sessoumaru shall free you."
Smiling in contempt he reached for the arrow that held his half-brother in enchanted sleep. Settling his face back in its neutral expression his face didn't twitch when smoke came from his hand as he grasped the arrow.
"Truly this Sessoumaru is amazed, for a miko's spell to last this long, she must have put her entire soul into sealing you."
Twisting his hand slightly there was a slight snap as the arrow disintegrated into nothing.
*****
"Keh! Why should I protect her?"
"Because I Sessoumaru has commanded it." Came Sessoumaru's unimpressed voice.
"Keh, fat chance of that arsehole."
"Do you forget that has been close to six centuries since you have last fought while I Sessoumaru have been fighting for that time? I Sessoumaru, have reached the prime of my life while you, dear brother, still an infant, the sleep you were locked was timeless, meaning my stupid brother you are still the age you were when you were sealed. Even if you get the Shikon no Tama and use it I, Sessoumaru, will be able to defeat you."
"Keh!"
"Come now brother, she is a hanyou who knows nothing of the world; her worst enemy has been a crow demon. Even in this day I, Sessoumaru, am scorned behind my back for being mated with a human."
"I still can't believe that, the 'Great Sessoumaru', who loathes all who are mortal and riled on me day in and day out for my 'impure heritage' mated with a human girl."
"Indeed my dear brother, now shall you do as I ask?"
"Fine! Keh!"
*****
AND so begins another wonderful tale of Inuyasha and Kagome