Disclaimer: I don't own anything I didn't create.

A/N: This is my first Inuyasha fic, which I wrote as something to distract me from my boredom in English class and to actually hone my skills in writing a little bit. I hope you like it. ;)

I must be dreaming. I had barely even tasted the liquid the witch had been tipping down my throat before my brother had attacked her- releasing me from the crone's freezing spell and allowing me to run away. I cowered against the trunk of the tree I was sitting in, watching my hands in fear. I can't believe it! I screamed fearfully in my mind. That witch is turning me into a Yokai! I'm human! I'm a normal, human woman! I can't change! I have a life! I shook in fear as I watched my fingernails as they quickly turned into claws, and I could feel the muscles in my hands growing stronger, creeping speedily past my wrists and shooting up my arms and past my neck, numbing my ears as my fear heightened steadily. I started to hyperventilate as I howled in pain and fear.

"NOOOO!!!!!!"

* * *

My blade froze barely an inch from the old hag's neck as my twin sister's scream of pain and fear reverberated through the forest, my blood running cold, my eyes wide with fear. Akai… The hag tried to evade my sword, and fury erupted through every cell of my body like a burning flame as I pressed the blade to her neck, pinning her to the wall.

"What did you do to my sister!?" I snarled into the witch's face, but the hag only cackled evilly, regardless of the silver blade at her throat.

"The potion!" She cackled and she choked and wheezed as I pressed the blade harder into her neck, as she started to bleed from the small cut I had made. I glared into her eyes and she grinned toothlessly wide. "She's changing, she's changing!" she cackled gleefully, and I leaned into the blade, making her gasp painfully with wide eyes. "She's turning Yokai." She whispered, her eyes going blank as I leaned away- shocked by what she told me as she fell to the ground dead.

She turned my sister into a Yokai. A Yokai. A demon. My twin sister. I heard Akai howl again in the near distance, but quieter and in less pain. I felt tears pricking at my eyes as I fully realized the grim reality. Demons were ostracized from all feudal villages, ignored in some and hunted in others. In the wrong village my little sister would be killed thoughtlessly. She would be killed and I wouldn't be able to save her, breaking the vow we had made to each other to always protect each other no matter what happened.

The cursed potion bottle that caused this was sitting undisturbed on the floor by the witch's feet. I blinked, and in an instant I had taken a single stride towards it and had swept it up in one smooth movement into my hand. I held it for a split second, looking at it before I made an instant decision.

If I couldn't save her, then I would join her. My beloved sister. I threw my head back and let the liquid flow into my mouth before my eyes widened and I impulsively spat the foul-tasting liquid out, crushing the clay bottle in my tightening grip. I had never tasted anything so foul in my life, and I collapsed to all fours as the pain of the on-setting transformation took a firm hold of my body. I gasped as I tucked my head in between my arms, and I howled with the pain.

"AKAI!"

* * *

I lay panting against the side of the tree on the grass, having fallen out of its branches earlier. I was EXHAUSTED, and my entire body was shaking like I had run a mile, done twenty sit-ups, fifty push-ups and a 10-minute plank without resting. It was that kind of a feeling, and I put my hands shakily to my face, to check if everything was there. My face felt normal, but when I moved my hands to the side of my head, I felt nothing there, and I froze in surprise. I had thought that my ears had just gone numb, but they weren't even there anymore. So where- a twig snapped behind me, and I felt two somethings on top of my head rotate to face the sound to hear the scurrying of a raccoon. My eyes widened. Oh…my…god… I thought apprehensively, and I slowly reached up to the top of my head where I had felt the movement. There! My eyes widened. I had two fluffy little dog ears on top of my head. My mouth dropped open in surprise, and then one of them twitched. I gasped as I snapped my mouth shut, then- I couldn't help it-

"Awwwww!" I couldn't help but coo at the fuzzy little things. They were just too cute! I had to go and look in a river or a brook soon so that I could see my reflection, and I lowered my hands so that I could look at them as my new ears moved all on their own, picking up sounds I couldn't have heard before this change happened. My fingernails were now claws, and boy, were they sharp! I turned to the tree behind me and poked it. My claw sunk in as if it was as soft as soap. I pulled my finger down, and the wood split like a hot knife through butter. My eyes widened in awe as I pulled my claw out and looked it then back at the tree. Wow. I thought. I didn't feel that at all. I inhaled through my nose, and sharp scents filtered through. I swallowed. I can smell everything… the trees, the grass, the animals around me and everything else. It smelled so natural. I could smell water, and without thinking twice about it, I stood up before falling over again with a soft howl of surprised pain. What?! I rolled over onto my back as I realized that the pain was coming from my feet. My shoes! They're too small!

I caught my foot and started to wrestle with it until my claws seemed to lose their patience and dug into the leather, ripping it to shreds. I blinked. Well that's convenient. I thought, and I went about slicing my other shoe off in a more orderly way.

"AKAI!" I was on my feet and scanning the woods in a second when I heard my brother's pained howl, and I learned that I now had super-fast reflexes. I squinted slightly in the direction I had heard my brother's voice come from, and I seemed to be able to see in between the trees to the witch's hut with my new eyes, and they narrowed in anger. If that old hag had done anything to my brother, she would pay for it dearly!

I was already running by this time, fueled by anger and anxiety, and I just barely noticed how fast I was going, weaving through the trees at an unimaginable speed like it was second nature. I felt like I was flying with no time to be elated, my feet barely even touching the ground, and I was at the hut in no time, fangs and claws bared, ready for a fight.

Except there was no one to fight, and I slowly realized I was growling as I slowly lowered my guard and took in my surroundings. The air stank with the sharp, coppery scent of blood and on-setting decay as my eyes found the dead body of the witch slumped against the wall, and then my brother curled up in pain in the center of the room, transforming like I did as a new scent hit my nose that I knew instinctively. My brother's pain, and it sent my adrenaline rushing with a spike of worry, sympathy, surprise and regret as I took a step to my brother's side and went to my knees beside him, laying a soft hand on his back. He was quivering from the pain as I looked at him sadly. You'd condemn yourself for me? I could smell the ghastly scent of the potion on his tongue, and I could see the shattered remains of its bottle by his hand. I sighed sadly.

"Koto…" He whimpered in pain as I watched his human ears vanish to be replaced by little black dog ears streaked with brown and white, like mud and snow on a sakura tree. I sighed as I watched his hair change color. My older twin brother, Koto- often did things of a similar nature to this for me. If I was wounded in a fight and had to fall back, he would protect me until I was safe, and then sit by my bedside after the battle until I was better. In return, I would do whatever I could for him when he needed me, for we had only had each other since we were children, when our mother had died of an illness. It was a promise I'd never regret making, since he was my everything. I sighed lightly and slid Koto's sword into his sheath before ducking my head under his arm and pulling him to his feet. I blinked in surprise. He's much lighter than he was before. I thought, and then shrugged it off before heading towards the door. Must've been the transformation. My goal at the moment was to get him out of that blasted hag's hut before he finished transforming and the smell got to him. It definitely wouldn't be daisies he'd be smelling when he woke up if I didn't get him out of there.

Bright sunlight hit my eyes when I left the hut, and it gave my new eyes a flash of pain as I closed them quickly to adjust to the new light source as I felt for the grass with my feet. I took in a deep breath of fresh air when I had gotten us far enough away from the stench of death and crouched to gently lay my brother on the grass on his back- and not a moment too soon. There was a thunderous crack and an earth-shaking rumble as I spun on the balls of my feet just in time to see a cloud of dust rise from the dead witch's hut as it leaned to the side and collapsed on top of her. It was a spectacular sight to see as I gradually leaned on my knees and then sank to my bottom next to my brother as I felt him press his side solidly to my back.

I watched the dust settle like the mist from a waterfall before turning to face my brother and start to rub his back like our mother used to do. I smiled and gently touched one of Koto's new ears, making it twitch. I couldn't help but grin, and I stroked it again. It was so soft, and beautiful. I hope mine are just as pretty. Mother would've loved them. We had never known our father. I had just assumed that he had died in some war I had never heard of. Mother never spoke about him. Maybe she hadn't loved him. It wasn't that unusual in arranged marriages. She did love us though. With every fiber of her being. I quirked a sad smile. We had been absolutely devoted to her, Koto and I, and we had been absolutely heartbroken when she wouldn't wake up one day, and we had worried the neighbors with our heart-broken wailing. So the neighbors had sadly explained to us what had happened, and buried her for us under her favorite tree and had taken care of us until we had grown enough to take care of ourselves.

We had become part of the village's fighters then, being strong enough to fight, and strong-willed enough not to shake with fear when faced with death. It was easy for us, because by then we had no one but each other to live for. I sighed. The village would never take us back the way we were now. We'd have to let them assume that we had died on our mission to kill the witch. At least they'd remember us as heroes. I knew we'd be able to find someplace new to live, if such a place existed.

Koto went rigid under my hand, and I focused on him in an instant. He was bristling like a cat faced with water, and his face was a mask of pain as he wasn't breathing. I blinked and smelled him. His transformation is nearly over. It was the most painful at the end for me too. I remembered, and I rubbed his back more quickly as the seconds ticked by. Then suddenly he gasped, and he went limp on my lap, breathing raggedly. I smiled and cradled his head and shoulders in my arms, lowering my face to his ear.

"Well done." I complimented him in a whisper, and he smiled exhaustedly. It was over. He was fully transformed and the pain had left him. He was like me now. I sighed lightly and stroked his hair, thinking of my own transformation- and I blinked before looking at Koto's feet. He was wearing shoes, and I knew that they must be too tight for him now. I smiled at him and made a comforting noise before lifting his shoulders and slipping out from under him before I laid him on the grass, crawling over to his feet.

I took his right foot and placed it on my lap before patiently setting to work on the knots in the leather straps that held the leather of his shoes to his ankles. I may have shredded mine in my desperate attempts to get them off my feet, but I doubted that Koto wanted his treated the same way. I just knew that they wouldn't fit his feet anymore, and slipping that shoe off, I set it on the grass next to me and went to work on the other one as Koto propped himself up on his elbows and watched me.

"Akai…" He whispered my name, and I looked up at him and was transfixed. His eyes were now the color of white gold, and he looked just as surprised as I was, looking into my eyes. I wondered what color mine had changed to, and we stared at each other for a few moments until he shakily broke the silence, his eyes wide with wonder. "Akai, you're-"

"WAH! Kagome, Inuyasha hit me!"

"Shaddup runt." A childish wail broke through what Koto was trying to say, followed quickly by a more masculine, deeper voice, and we both jerked our heads around to look in the direction of the steadily approaching voices. There a sound of something fleshy being kicked with a resulting wail of pain from the first voice, and I could track it's progress from the ground in an arch-like fashion into the air, and it was heading straight for me. Before I could blink, a young kitsune with ginger hair and a bushy tail flying towards my face, and he looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see him as he flew up over the hill, and I reached up on a reflex and caught him. I hadn't thought about the speed he was flying at until his momentum had me sprawled out on the ground with a gasp in surprise- his little body held safely between my two hands over me as if we were playing airplane..

"OSWARI!" A female voice yelled, and a solid-sounding thump followed half a second later as the little kid and I looked at each other with wide, surprised eyes, and the little guy's eyes lit up and he started to slowly grin as he heard the other voices down the hill. I blinked as the little guy controlled his grin and managed a little smile instead.

"You look like Inuyasha." My eyes widened at his cute little voice, and I smiled as my eyes softened. My heart had just melted. He was just too cute! I wanted to cry, he was so adorable! I had to let it out somehow.

"-and you're ADORABLE!" I squealed, and the little kitsune grinned as I heard my brother's amused laugh, my head full of cuteness.

* * *

I laughed at my sister's antics as she held the little fox kid over her, squealing away, and I sat up to finish taking off my shoe, which was rather uncomfortable once I paid attention to it. I think my feet got bigger. I smiled to myself. Akai was still the same person she had always been, even after our transformations- melting as soon as she saw something irresistibly cute.

I looked over the hill once my shoe was off to look at the kitsune's friends, and I blinked when I saw how many there were. There was a white-haired boy in red with dog ears like Akai had, spitting dirt out off his mouth and yelling at a girl in strange green and white clothes that was unbelievably revealing with a bow over her shoulder, and having just as much of a yell at the dog-eared boy as he was having at her. What a strange couple… I blinked and looked behind them. There was a young-looking monk shaking his head and smiling, a young woman in a kimono frowning at the first two, and a little fire cat demon that was looking straight at me but without any threat in it's body language. Then there was a slap and I looked up to see the monk holding his face and smiling to himself as the woman in the kimono yelled at him. Apparently he had groped her. What a strange group…

"My name is Shippo, what's yours?" I heard the little fox demon ask in his squeaky little voice, and I turned around to see Akai sitting up and smiling at the little guy who was now standing in front of her. "-and thanks for catching me, by the way." I smiled at him as Akai glowed.

"I'm Akai, and this is my brother Koto." Akai introduced herself and motioned to me as she mentioned me, and Shippo looked at me, so I smiled at him and nodded. He did the same and I kept his attention.

"So who are your friends?" I asked, and Shippo turned to face me. His face lit up a little.

"Who, them?" he asked, pointing over the hill, and I nodded. He smiled a small smile. "They're like my family." He said and started to explain. "Kagome is the one in the strange clothing, and Inuyasha is the one in red, he's a half-demon. We found each other soon after my father was killed, and she took me in and cared for me. Miroku is the monk, and he's always groping Sango, who is the one with the huge boomerang. Kira is her fire demon." I blinked and thought back. The woman who had slapped the monk did have a huge boomerang on her back, so she must be Sango. I nodded absent-mindedly, rubbing my fingers with my thumb in an odd habit I had.

"You have one strange family…" I said absent-mindedly, and Akai nudged me, making me blink and come back to the present. She gave me a knowing smile, and I lifted the corner of my mouth in a half-smile for her. I looked back at Shippo in the eye. "I took a look over the hill, and they should be almost here." I said, and he nodded understandingly.

"Damn straight." I heard, and I turned to look at the half-demon I now knew as Inuyasha as he looked at me in surprise, the rest of his friends coming up behind him. He took a good look at me and his gaze turned suspicious when he took a good sniff and turned and did the same with Akai. He growled low in his throat, and I ignored him. Shippo looked nervously between Inuyasha, Akai and I before jumping up to Kagome's shoulder, where he settled in and grinned happily.

"Hey Kagome!" He said cheerfully, and Kagome turned her head as much as she could towards him without knocking him off her shoulder. "This is Akai-" He pointed his finger at my sister as he said her name, and I frowned, and he glanced at me before motioning towards me with his entire hand. "-and this is Koto. They're siblings!" He said joyfully, and I smiled at little at him.

"You are cute kid. How old are you?" I asked, and the little guy blinked before puffing up his chest proudly.

"I'm seven!" He said proudly before deflating curiously. "You?"

"Nineteen." I responded easily, and everyone's eyes except for Kagome's and Akai's widened in surprise. "So is Akai. We're twins." I mentioned off-handedly, and Shippo's mouth dropped open as he looked between me and my sister in surprise. His was gaping at us while his friends circled around us curiously, watching us, and I couldn't help but eye them warily. I slowly returned my gaze to Shippo as he blinked and slowly closed his mouth.

"Really?" He asked me innocently, and I tilted my head to the side, prompting him to elaborate. "Are you really only nineteen?" I nodded, and he frowned.

"In human or demon years?" I turned to look at Inuyasha as he spoke.

"What?" I turned to look at Akai, who had voiced the question, and was now kneeling next to me. I looked back at Inuyasha who was frowning at us curiously.

"Demons live longer than humans, so 19-year-old inu-hanyous like you two would only be puppies in our eyes…" He let his words trail off as he looked at me suspiciously and then at Akai before leaning slightly forward and taking a large sniff. His eyes narrowed, and his grip on his sword tightened, making me jump into a half-kneeling position and put an arm out to shield Akai behind my body. He just reeked of a threat at that moment, and I slowly rested my hand on my own sword- which the other half-demon seemingly ignored as his friends went for their own weapons without drawing them- except for Kagome who had just remained silent the entire time. Inuyasha leaned back and frowned curiously. "Something's fishy here though. You react like demons, but smell human."

I heard Akai shuffle through the grass on her knees to press against my back comfortingly, and I felt my gaze darken. Akai was feeling intimidated by this group of people surrounding us, and was coming to me for comfort. I could smell it coming off of her. I blinked, surprised, but masking it well. I can smell it? I can smell her fear? I was glad that I could feel her there, but I was also worried for her. She could be quite delicate sometimes. I heard her sigh.

"We were human…" she sighed and entire group's attention snapped to her like a released bowstring. I growled almost inaudibly in my throat, and Inuyasha's ear flicked in my direction. "-up until about an hour or so ago." She sighed again, and began our story of how we got to be like this. "I had been taken unawares from our camp only a few hours or so ago by the demon witch, and she had somehow managed to get a little of some sort of transformation potion down my throat before Koto attacked her, allowing me to escape- but…" she sighed, and I reached back slightly to comfort her. I was saddened, and disappointed with myself as well. If only I had gotten there a little sooner… "-he was already too late. I ran into the woods and had only just managed to get half-way to our camp before the pain hit." I could hear her swallow as I listened to her story carefully. I hadn't been there for this part. "When the pain stopped, my senses were sharper, and my body had changed to look like this. It seems like shortly after that, Koto had decided to join me…" she paused, and rested her chin on my shoulder. "-and part of me is glad that he did, for I don't know what I'd do without him." I smiled as she said the last part softly, and I reached up to gently ruffle her now somewhat gingery hair. I looked around the group now, and they had all relaxed by now, either looking at us sadly or sympathetically, although Kagome had a soft look in her eyes that said that her heart had just melted- the same kind of look Akai sometimes wore. I looked curiously up at her, and she smiled at me.

"Say," she spoke for the first time, and I felt something on top of my head rotate to face her as I heard her soft, sweet voice. I blinked. "Would you like to join us? We're looking for the shards of the Shikon Jewel while trying to find ways to defeat Naraku." Inuyasha started yelling at her, and she didn't miss a beat. "Sit." THUD. I blinked, and tilted my head slightly to the side as Akai used my shoulders to help her stand up before pulling me to my feet as well. Shikon Jewel shards…?

"Jewel shards?" Akai asked, and Kagome looked at her and nodded amicably. Akai 'hm'ed as she reached into her kimono and drew something out. I blinked. Oh those… I thought as I saw the little velvet bag, remembering what was inside. Kagome stiffened in surprise, and Inuyasha stopped sulking as Akai held the little bag out to Kagome who took them in confusion. "Do you mean these?" She asked as she dropped her arm, putting her weight comfortably on one leg. Kagome looked at us with wide eyes before she opened the little bag and gasped. Inuyasha jumped to his feet and rushed to her side.

"What is it? He asked quickly, and the monk and Sango drew closer to them, Shippo having been standing on Kagome's shoulder all this time. Kagome stuttered in surprise.

"J-jewel shards. Twelve of them." The resulting stench of surprise made my eyes water.