{Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, so don't sue me. College has a strict hold on my wallet anyway.}

Vengeance

By Striking Falcon

Chapter Seventeen: Changes

"Let me go!" Kagome growled as she was yanked by her wrists out of the well. It had taken the group a full week to get back to Kaede's after the tournaments. (It wouldn't have taken so long if Sesshoumaru had waited on them.) She waited until the blue potion of Sesshoumaru's faded from Inuyasha's blood before going back to her time. Her mother instantly asked what took a month for her to do.

Kagome came up with the old "Kaede was sick, so I stayed to help the others look after her and to keep Inuyasha from worrying her further."

This earned her a loving pat on the head and a "my daughter is always thinking of other's before herself" before her mother finished doing the laundry. Kagome spent a week in her time before begging to go back for one night to "check on" Kaede. No sooner was she on the other side before a clawed hand, clad in red, reached down into the well, grabbed her by the wrists, and yanked her up. Inuyasha smirked, but kept her dangling in front of him as he lifted her bag with the other hand.

"What will you do to me if I don't?" Inuyasha teased, walking toward the village with her in front of him like a prize.

"I'll beat the shit out of you."

Inuyasha stopped mid stride, a look of mock surprise on his face. "Such language, Kagome. I think I'll tell your mother." He turned back to the well.

Kagome stuck her tongue out at him. "You go right ahead! I know who'll she'll blame!"

She shot him a dirty look. Inuyasha dropped her bag and stared at her in innocence. "You can't tell me that she'll think its MY fault!"

Kagome nodded. "Yes, she will! Don't you remember the couple of times you slipped in front of her? You tell her and she'll never let me back here again!"

Inuyasha scowled. "We can't have that now can we?"

He chose instead to wedge Kagome between himself and a nearby tree, keeping her hands above her head and his body away from her kicking range.

"Stop that! I want to ask you something!" Inuyasha hissed as her feet barely missed him. Again. Kagome tried one more time, missed, and decided it might be best to see what he wanted. Inuyasha sighed when she finally stopped. "Thank you. I was starting to worry about my chance of having pups in the future."

"What do you want to ask me?" she asked, letting her gaze fall to the setting sun instead of responding to his comment.

"Did you kiss me because I spared Kouga, or because of what the blue potion of Sesshoumaru's did to my face?" He leaned closer, his grip on her hands loosening. "Or was it both?"

Kagome considered it a moment before speaking. "I don't think either had anything to do with it, really. I was just so glad to see you, knowing that you were alright…"

"You were worried about me?"

She scowled. "Of course I was, dummy! You took off without giving us reason, and we thought something was wrong with you!" She looked down thoughtfully. "You never did tell me exactly why you left."

Inuyasha set her back down on the ground gently, releasing her hands as he did so.

"Well, that's a story for another time."

Kagome smiled up at him and reached up to scratch his ears with her right hand, her other one going to rub her left eye. Inuyasha growled before slumping over her slightly.

"You have no idea how good that feels," he purred, his head falling to her shoulder. Kagome giggled and raised her other hand to his ear. Inuyasha nuzzled his head in her neck, whispering in her ear "Can I ask you another question?"

"Shoot."

"Do you love-" A small shiver went down his spine and he drew in a sharp breath. Kagome looked own at him, a small smile on her face.

"You're changing, Inuyasha."

He looked down at his hands. The claws were slowly retracting to the short human nails he hated so much. He sighed. 'I totally forgot. I should have asked Sesshy for some of that blue stuff.' Kagome hissed suddenly, her hands flying to rub her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

She giggled slightly, her hands rubbing away. "Nothing. Just something in my eyes."

Inuyasha snorted. "Humans! So weak! Bothered by something a tiny as an eyelash!" Kagome gave him a half-hearted swipe before returning to her rubbing. "Don't laugh! It hurts, you jerk!"

Inuyasha tilted his head slightly, as if this was news to him. He reached for her.

"Which one hurts? Let me see."

Kagome fanned her eyes with her hands. "They both do, but the left one started first."

"What do I do if I see the eyelash?"

"Blow it out, genius."

Inuyasha grumbled something about "stupid word girl says that all the time" before placing his fingers gently around her left eye. His shortened nails were coming in handy, as if he were still demon he would have surely popped her eye out. He gently pried her eyelid open, searching for the cause of the trouble. He gasped suddenly, drawing his hand back as Kagome snapped her eye shut.

"Come on!" he hissed, grabbing Kagome and running to the village. "We have to get you to Kaede!"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, trying to bat at him and rub her eyes at the same time. "Don't you think you're overreacting?" He didn't answer her, instead he ran to the village as fast as he could with his usual speed draining as he went. He burst into Kaede's hut, surprising the others inside. He set her down in front of Kaede as the others crowded around.

"You won't believe it if I told you, old woman," Inuyasha said, pointing to Kagome's face. "Look at her eye."

Kaede ignored the old woman comment, and reached to grasp Kagome's chin. "Open your eyes, child."

"It hurts," Kagome gasped, her eyes squeezed shut. Kaede nodded. "Open them one at a time, if it will help."

Kagome did as she was told, opening her left eye first, blinking timidly. As the right opened, the others gasped.

"What?" she asked, trying to register what it was she saw in their faces. It was a little astonishment and a little…horror? Kagome blinked again.

"Wow, my left eye stopped hurting, but the right is still going strong."

Sango let out a breath before reaching for Kagome's pack. "Look in the mirror."

Kagome tilted her head slightly, then opened the compact. What she saw almost caused her to drop it, shattering the contents into a million pieces.

Her left eye, once a gunmetal gray, was now sparkling gold.

The right was filling with that some color, like water flowing from a carafe to a glass. Kagome glared at Inuyasha, who shared the same look as the rest of them.

"What happened?" she asked him. He shrugged. "I haven't got a clue."

A hoot in the distant forest caught Kagome's attention, and she looked out the window for its owner. She suddenly gasped and patted her head, frantically searching. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she breathed a sigh of relief before balling her fist up at Inuyasha.

"If I get ears on my head, Dog Boy, I'll pound you."

Shippou burst into laughter at the growled threat, Kagome sounding every bit like Inuyasha when he said it. Inuyasha raised his hands in defense. "Why the hell are you blaming me?"

Inuyasha crossed the room and sat on the far side against the wall, his arms and legs crossed and his nose in the air. He stared at her out the corner of his eye.

"I don't think you will , Kagome." Miroku piped in. "Inuyasha's already human, and it seems there are no other changes in your appearance."

Kagome glared at him and shook her fist anyway. "If it changes at all, you are so toast. I'm glad I talked my mother into letting me come back here. Can you imagine what she'd have said if she saw me running down the steps to dinner like this!"

She checked her hair to make sure it was still black. It was. Kagome stopped fussing when something particularly interesting caught her attention. She sniffed around until she figured out what it was, not in the least surprised that her sense of smell had improved. Kagome smiled at Inuyasha lovingly, sending a cold chill to his stomach. She yawned.

"Seeing that my present condition is somehow your fault, I feel like making you suffer for it."

She moved to her hands and knees and crossed the room toward him. When she reached his lap, she crawled into it, her back to the others. She crossed her legs behind his back, crossed her arms behind his head and lowered hers to his shoulder. Inuyasha blushed, his arms at his sides desperately trying to figure out if they wanted to wrap themselves around her or push her off.

"How am I supposed to sleep, Kagome?" he stammered. Kagome shrugged her shoulders, not showing any signs of moving. "I haven't the slightest idea, but I'm comfortable, and that's what counts."

Miroku grinned. "You lucky dog, Inuyasha! I wish girls would come so easily to me!"

Inuyasha glared at him.

---------

SF: Kagome, you go girl!

{Kagome and Inuyasha blush as SF and the others cheer.}

Sango: Its about time!

Shippou: I know!

SF: What are you doing up? You're supposed to be asleep!

Shippou: I heard all the noise! What's about time?

SF: Not for you to know!

SF's muse: I want to know too!

Rin: Yeah, Rin wants to know too!

Sesshou: Rin…

Rin: Um, I want to know too?

Sesshou: {::nods::}

{Rin grins and latches herself as Shippou and SF's muse stare at SF expectantly.}

SF: No. Go to bed, you little runts! {Children pout and retreat offstage.} Whew. The review and the responses are below.

P.S. Nobody freak and go 'Oh my God, she stole someone else's idea!'! I didn't steal it, I borrowed it. I love 'Turnabout is Fair Play' and I can't wait to see what Kagome does to Inu in the next chapter. In this story, Kagome is NOT going to become a youkai. So is everybody chill? Did I just duck a bunch of unnecessary flames? I hope so. As it says below, Sesshou did an experiment on our favorite girl, so stick around and don't flame me for Kagome's change. Lord, why me?

Chapter Eighteen: Sesshoumaru's Experiment

"Why should I help you?" Sango asked. She felt lips graze her neck and she unwittingly tipped her head to the side in permission. The same lips smiled against her skin.

"Because I might be inclined to help you."

Responses:

Glory230: Glory230's back people! I've missed you! Thanks for the review!

SesshoumaruFanCall911: I'm coming with the next chapter soon! If you ever need to know how soon, check my bio page. I often get 'Vengeance' and 'Unexpected Allies' confused, so beware!

Tenshi no Yami: Man, Mom is hell. For real. You just don't know. Anyway, before I conjure up the woman, I think I read the same story you did. Something about Kagome's birthday, right? It ticked me off too, but I liked it! That just shows how twisted I am. I think I just reviewed 'Forgotten Memories' but if I didn't let me know and I will. I'm such an airhead. As for my brother, I got him back. I ran in his room with my supersoaker at 5 in the morning and soaked him with ice cold water. Payback's a bitch.

Badgerwolf: Yup, Sesshou's a nut! I try to tell him that, but he doesn't listen to me. I like a stand-up Kagome too! If you really want a shock, read chapter ten of 'Unexpected Allies'. I promise you won't be disappointed!

Em Starcatcher: No, this isn't the last time Sesshou comes around. He needs a favor and he only has one person to ask.

Sailor-X: Thanks for the love! {::blushes::} Really, I hang all the love I get on my wall.

Alanna: Doesn't it suck when younger siblings are right? My brother tells me all kinds of stuff, and I hate it when he's right. Oh well. Its mostly about guys, so I guess its a good thing. I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself. As for Sesshou, I do believe we'll have to fight over him, b/c Sesshou is mine. Sesshou: Now now, there is enough of me to go around. SF: {::rolls her eyes::} On second thought, you can have him.

Chaos Kid: Thanks for the review!

Some Fan Person: Thanks for all the love and the review, even though you probably went through the entire thesaurus!

OK, b/c I'm so nice, and b/c I don't want a lot of people pissed at me, I decided to go ahead and catch ff up with mm on this story. So push the purple button for the last chapter.