Okaa-san

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

Chapter 1

A/n:  I promise to make this one long to make up for that weak prologue…. Read, enjoy, and review…

~*~

Inuyasha awoke to a cry of surprise. Shit! He'd fallen asleep! Jolting up, he found Kagome staring at him as he opened his eyes. Inuyasha blinked. Why did she look so dull to his vision? Sniffing, he noticed that he couldn't catch Kagome's scent. He blinked again. "What?" he asked gruffly. He blinked a third time. Why did that sound so soft to his usually acute senses? Speaking of hearing… Why couldn't he feel the constant twitch of his ears? He looked at the surprised girl urgently. "Kagome, what is it?! What's wrong with them!??" The hand that was reaching up to feel for his ears stopped in his line of sight, His eyes widened. "What the hell?!" Human nails! The dull ones!! Where were his claws?! The hand continued to his head. No inu ears!! Human ears!! His eyes went wider if possible. "Kagome," he started cautiously.

"Huh?" Kagome responded numbly.

"What color are my eyes, Kagome?" he asked carefully. Please say amber! Please say golden! Please don't say violet!! He urged silently. Please!! Anything but violet!! I don't want to be human—

"They're purple, Inuyasha," Kagome answered softly.

Inuyasha cursed loudly. Or purple… He closed his eyes tightly and breathed deeply. He clutched a lock or silky hair in his hand. My only hope! Please be silver… he begged inwardly. Pulling the strand in front of his face, he took another breath and slowly inched open his eyes. Once it was visible, he clenched them tight. It wasn't silver… Inuyasha groaned secretly. It was black… "Kagome," he spoke softly.

"Yes?"

"I'm human, Kagome; something went wrong."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Inuyasha," she said dryly. "What's your point?"

The hanyou-still-human looked down. "I can't protect you," he answered below a whisper so Kagome couldn't hear. "What are we going to do?" he asked so she could hear.

Kagome frowned in thought. "I don't know, Inuyasha," A gasp of surprise attracted the girl's attention away from Inuyasha and to Sango, who stood frozen in the doorway. "He… he's… he's still—!!"

"Yes, Sango, he's still human. I noticed," Kagome filled in helpfully. She sighed softly and turned to go wake the sleeping kitsune.

Sango sat at the opposite wall, still staring at the human hanyou as he looked away to avoid her gaze. It was… new… to the taijiya, seeing Inuyasha human. Sango struggled to remember the last time she'd seen Inuyasha around while he was human… And during the day, no less! What went wrong?

Miroku paused at the door, "Well, it seems you're in quite a quandary, Inuyasha," he pointed out, trying to sound wise. The smirk tugging at his lips gave it away.

Inuyasha glared at the monk.

Miroku held up his hands in an innocent gesture. "I'm only pointing out the evident, Inuyasha," he explained lightly. "What happened?" he asked solemnly, sitting himself down near Sango. The taijiya scooted away for safe measure. As his hand slithered over, she managed to swat it away.

"I don't know," Inuyasha answered truthfully.

Gasping silently as an idea settled in her head, Kagome picked up Shippou as he awoke. "Inuyasha!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, what?"

"I had a dream last night!"

"And?"

"And it was weird because you were human and there was this spirit… there was glowing, Inuyasha! She, the spirit, that is, chanted this kind of spell or something; I don't remember it. But, did anything odd happen last night?" she asked enthusiastically, turning around with the fully awake Shippou.

Before Inuyasha could answer, a burst of giggles erupted from Kagome's arm. Kagome frowned and looked down, giving the small kitsune a scolding look.

Inuyasha simply settled for a human-like growl and a frigid glare.

Shippou had laughed at the site of Inuyasha. He thought the hanyou looked hilarious as a human. And a growling human, at that!! The kit never would have imagined Inuyasha in black hair and dark eyes. The first time he saw it, he'd planned to get a kick out of it every time and pay for it later! It was just so entertaining! When he looked at Kagome, his laughter stopped rather abruptly and he felt himself pale rapidly. Kagome was creepy with that gaze, the disappointment assorted with anger. Shippou looked down, ashamed, though he could still feel laughter building in his throat and twitching at his lips.

Looking from the staring monk and to the growling hanyou-gone-human and then to the kit, trembling with contained laugher, Sango sighed. The opposite race. She'd never understand. Sango looked to Kagome. The girl was sending glares between the three boys.

Miroku was totally oblivious to her silent threats; he was too busy gazing adoringly at the taijiya. Only if he could just reach out and—

As if reading his thoughts, Sango smacked Miroku over the head, earning a surprised howl of pain. The taijiya glared dangerously.

The yell caused Kaede to break away from her private meditation and peek in on them. She sighed semi-patiently at Miroku and Sango. Turning to Inuyasha, she gasped quietly. "Oh my, Inuyasha, what happened?"

Inuyasha stood with a frustrated noise. He stalked out the door and went to go find a tree. With a sigh, Kagome gently set Shippou on the floor and started out the door, grabbing her bow and a quiver of arrows on the way out. She'd learned not to go anywhere without a weapon. The youkai had made sure of that. Kagome walked through the village. The first place she planned to check was his favorite tree, the Go-Shinboku tree.

~*~

"Inuyasha!" The human-hanyou heard someone call from his preferred branch in the God Tree. He ignored it; Inuyasha decided he'd rather be alone at the moment. Besides, it was only Kagome. That girl was too predictable… He sighed privately. One day, he knew that would get her into trouble; he knew it! His eyebrow twitched with annoyance as the calls continued but he refused to reveal his hiding place, pouting.

Kagome stood at the trunk of the Go-Shinboku tree, hands firmly planted on her hips and a scowl plastered to her face. This pose, she'd learned from Inuyasha. "I swear I'll say it if you don't get down here this instant!" she warned, "I need to talk!"

Inuyasha relented slightly, shifting on his branch to give away his position. Though it was funny listening to Kagome yell in the other direction, he knew she'd hurt him worse later if he didn't help her out.

Kagome looked to the brush of leaves and frowned hard. "Ooooh! You enjoyed that, didn't you?! I swear…" the girl threatened though renounced from using the s word because of the, hopefully, momentary change in species for Inuyasha. She knew that if she used it from that branch, there'd be serious damage… She didn't want that no matter how mad she was.

Inuyasha smirked smugly despite his present mood. "Just talk!" he ordered.

Kagome fumed in rage and clenched her fists. She bit her tongue so that word wouldn't slip out. "Inuyasha," she started calmly.

She heard Inuyasha snort from above. "Yes, Kagome?" he answered lightheartedly.

She quaked in fury. Here she was, trying to help, and he mocked her! Oooh! She was getting so close to letting that word just slip past her lips… Accidentally, of course…

Kagome let an evil grin take over her face and darken her features. "Why don't you come and sit down here with me…" She hid a smirk as he hit the earth with a thunderous bang but hastily contorted it into surprise and she faked a gasp. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed, mock rather clear in her voice. Inuyasha pried himself off the ground long enough to curse her then gave into the spell as it pulled him to the ground.

~*~

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Remember me…

--Nikumu