Even when the she finally lowered the barrier, no one came close to her; purity poured off her in waves, crashing acutely against youkai senses, and even the few humans in the courtyard were hesitant to approach her.
She looked ethereal, standing there with that lovely pink glow, and earthy, with the obvious bump of her belly. Her skin was flushed, her eyes heavily lidded. Her hands were held out before her, cupped to hold the jewel. All around her, ashes and particles of what had once been her husband fluttered, adding to the scene. It should have been grisly, but it wasn't.
As to Kagome, she was lost in the haze of power, slowly accustoming herself to the new levels of strength, and the not quite pleasant feeling of knowing she was no longer alone in her own body. It's not that there was another voice, or another soul, just a presence of never being alone. It was like having another pup besides the two she already carried, but knowing this one would never leave her. She couldn't quite put to words, even in her own mind, exactly what it was like, just that she wasn't alone, not even in the truest sense of the word.
There was no more pain in her body, either. Whatever magic she had called on had healed the wounds Jirōbō had inflicted, and the pups seemed unaffected by the extreme burst of purity. Of course, she had known almost instinctively that they would be, and hadn't hesitated to use these new powers.
Slowly, the pink glow of her aura started to shift, though she was unaware of it, and was filtered through with gold. At first she thought it was because of the pups, because of Sesshoumaru, but that thought was dismissed almost as soon as it was formed. Whatever it was that was with her now was changing her. Kagome thought maybe she should have been scared of this new change, but she wasn't.
Every nerve was singing a subtle song of pleasure, of power, of growth. It echoed in her mind, in her heart, in the minds of her pups. It was heart wrenching as much as it was joy giving, and would have brought tears to her eyes, if it hadn't brought a smile to her lips.
To any watching, the transformation was almost too subtle to note. Her eyes, which had almost always been too old for her, were not just aged now, but wise. There was a more mature tilt to her features, as if she had changed from child to woman in the course of a moment, even though she was already a woman; she was more now, though what that more was, was indecipherable. Her very scent sang with power, her power danced with ages-old knowledge, and the knowledge made her dangerous. Dangerous not just to youkai, but to humans, to creatures both alive and not.
Of them all, only Fuiasu understood, for she had seen this once before in her long life. She had come out of the vision just in time to see the ashes of the girls abuser shatter in the wind, and she was glad for it. Violet eyes closed in sorrow, in joy, in fear, and opened again to face the girl, the girl that was not quite just a girl any longer. It was on the tip of her tongue to speak of what had happened, but she held it back. She held all of it back, because this was knowledge that could become dangerous to everyone in the courtyard, knowledge that could become dangerous because of all those gathered, and even those who yet knew nothing.
o.O.o
Word Count - 621
