Feudal Diaries:

Wild

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

Summary- After an encounter with a demon witch that turns her into a dog, Kagome finds herself forgetting what she might leave behind.

The wind blew around her black fur as she ran through the forest, her white paws slowly turning green and brown with dirt and moss. She panted, her tongue lolling out of her open jaws as she continued to gallop, bursting through bushes and leaping over rocks and logs. Her tail wagged behind her as she ran as fast as her new four legs could carry her.

Kagome didn't think it was possible...but she actually enjoyed this. She actually liked being a dog.

The witch that she...and those people she was with. Who were they again? She knew they were familiar, but she couldn't quite figure out why.

In fact...what was she before this?

It didn't matter. She was happy. She felt like she could run forever. A happy yip escaped her mouth as she ran through the trees, but the night air did not even feel cold against her thick fur.

She didn't remember what she was before...she didn't care, either.

She actually wanted to thank that witch. She didn't even realize what it was she was missing.

"Kagome..."

Kagome stopped and turned for a moment. Strange...she thought she heard someone call her, just now. It felt like they were right nearby...and the voice sounded familiar.

But this voice...the one was making her run. It was calling louder than the other voice, so she just kept running.

How long would she run? How far would she go?

She wanted to see. She wanted to know where this new body of hers would take her.

As she broke through the forest, Kagome found herself standing atop a grassy hill, staring up at the countless stars in the sky and glistening full moon above...and beyond the horizon was a wide-open valley.

Her tail wagged even faster, if that was possible. She wanted to go. She wanted to explore it all!

"Kagome?"

Kagome turned...only to see the very sad face of a little boy with a bushy little fox tail. His turquoise eyes were wet and misty as he sniffled at her.

"Are you...going away?" he asked her.

"...Shippo," Kagome whispered before she looked up at the sky. "...Yes...I'm leaving."

"But why?" Shippo asked, trying his hardest not to cry.

"I have to," Kagome answered. "Something's calling me."

"Calling you from where?"

"I don't know...somewhere up ahead."

"...Is that...really what you want, Kagome?"

"...Yes...I think so..."

Shippo sniffled as he wiped his eyes, trying to put on a brave face as he looked at the priestess-turned-dog.

"Then...I'll go, too!" he declared.

"...No, Shippo," Kagome told him. "You shouldn't come with me...you belong with the others."

"But...what about you?" Shippo asked, his eyes welling up all over again. "Don't you belong with us, too, Kagome?!"

"...Us?" Kagome repeated. "Who is...?"

"...Kagome."

Kagome gasped before she turned around...only to meet the golden yellow eyes of a dog with majestic, silvery-white fur that blew in the wind. The blue and white beads that hung off his neck rattled in the gale as he approached the female...causing her to approach him, too.

"...Are you...really going to leave me?" he asked.

"...Inuyasha...!" Kagome whispered.

"...I guess I can see why you'd want to be this way," Inuyasha replied. "Being a dog means you don't have to worry about anything...no more hunting for jewel shards...or having to deal with that 'school' of yours."

Kagome's eyes went wide.

Yes...she remembered now. She had a particularly trying day today. She had failed yet another makeup test earlier that day...and then, during the group's travels, Kagome had gotten into another argument with Inuyasha about searching for the jewel shards and how she was late in coming back to the Feudal Era, again. In a huff, she ran off...only to encounter a beautiful woman...wearing black robes and had thorns that she seemed to wear as some sort of jewelry.

"It seems that someone is rather upset with her life, isn't she?" the witch asked her, almost coyly. "What if I fixed that for you?"

Before Kagome knew it, she was surrounded by smoke...and her body suddenly ached as it transformed. When she woke up, the witch was gone...and she found herself in this new form.

'That's right...' thought Kagome. 'I think what I wanted most at that time...was to just run away and forget everything.'

"But...Inuyasha...why are you...?" Kagome asked.

"I don't know what you're going through, sometimes," Inuyasha replied as he stood before her. "I searched for that witch and I asked her to turn me into a dog...so that I could see why you wanted this." His ears drooped against his head. "Kagome...you wanted to get away from me...didn't you?"

"No!" Kagome argued. "That's not what I..." She trailed off as she suddenly cast her eyes to the ground. Shippo only stood nearby, not saying a word.

"...Kagome...I'm sorry for not understanding," Inuyasha replied. "I want to be able to understand. I want to be able to help you...otherwise, you'll leave...and if you leave...I'll be alone, again." He closed his eyes. "I don't want to be alone."

There was a momentary pause...but then, to his surprise, he felt not warm fur...but warm fingertips gently stroking his cheek, causing his eyes to open up wide.

There was Kagome...her human face smiling at him, her body clothed in that same sailor fuku uniform as she wrapped both of her arms around him.

"...I don't wanna be alone, either," she whispered...and not long after she did, she found herself being covered by two strong, red-clothed arms, holding her close to the half-demon she loved so dearly.

Shippo smiled, his tears of relief rolling down his cheeks.

"...Let's go home," Kagome said.

"...Yeah..." Inuyasha replied as they soon headed back to the village...his hand wrapped tightly around hers.

Okay, so this more or less was inspired by that Fox Skin scene from The Ancient Magus' Bride, but still, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out!

Review, please!