Rose slowly awoke but didn't open her eyes. Instead, she enjoyed the feel of the cool breeze as it wrapped around her. She listened to the sounds of pleasent birds singing and water lapping upon the banks of a possible lake. She reveled in the feel of the soft, lush grass beneather her and the firm, smooth tree trunk that supported her back, keeping her sitting up. Then it hit her. 'What am I doing outside?'

Rose's eyes opened quickly but closed just as quickly at the blast of sunlight that hit them. A few blinks and she was adjusted and ready to get up, which she did. Rose looked down at her body and blushed. She didn't know wether to be relieved or embarrassed that she was still wearing her night gown.

"Ah! You're awake." Rose's head jerked up to see Loralie standing by the edge of a lake, watching her. Rose looked around and realized she was in a very large forest. Half of the lake was in the beautiful glade, but the other half slipped into the trees opposite where she lay. The sun shown brilliantly above, marking the time to be around noon.

'How long did I sleep,' she thought, but her thoughts were broken as she noticed Loralie now stood beside her, her hand extended palm up. In her hand rested a shard of a jewel.

"Is that...?" Rose asked as she stared at the pure gem.

"It is. This is how you will walk amongst the people and demons of this time freely."

"But why am I here?" Rose looked to Loralie's face to see her become solemn. A sigh escaped those pink lips, indicating a long story ahead.

"You know os Sesshoumaru and how he saved the human girl-child calle Rin?" Rose nodded. "Back then, he knew of emotion and would show it but rarely. Now...now he is on the verge of loosing all emotion with his heart. Soon, emotions will be nothing but a memory to him. The only one he could ever possibly feel at that time is rage, rage towards everything that will eventually consume him. I know it is unusual for someone to care about a youkai, but I've been watching both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha since they were pups. I don't think I could bear seeing Sess turn out that way. That is why I found you. He needs someone to show him kindness and maybe even love to break the curse that is his stone heart."

Rose nodded, but her gaze left the dark eyes of Loralie to return to the shard that lay in her hand. "But what would the shard do for me, mere human?"

"If you accept this mission, I will insert the shard just above your heart. It will draw energy from your heart, and you will be able to change your outer form to match your inner demon."

Rose nodded; this felt like something she had to do. Besides, how often do you get the chance to be a demon? "I accept."

Loralie placed the jewel above Rose's heart and pressed it lightly against her fare skin. The jewel slowly embedded itself within her, disappearing beneath her skin.

At first, Rose felt nothing thus causing her to wonder if it was working. As soon as the doubt entered her mind, pain shot through her every vain causing her to fall to the ground. Rose pressed her hands over the area that the shard now resided in in an attempt to cease the suffering. Behind her cries of torment, she heard Loralie's voice. "The first transformation is always painful." Rose then passed out.

Rose awakens to find that night had fallen. Slowly, fighting the dizzyness that threatened, she sat up.

"She awakes!"

Rose looked in the direction of the male voice to see a strange yet familiar group sitting around a campfire not far away. It was the dark haired monk, Miroku, who had spoken as he watched her from across the fire. Under a tree and to Miroku's right sat the dog-hanyou Inuyasha, his gaze also turned toward Rose though it was more of a glare than the undressing stare of the monk. Across from Miroku sat the demon slayer, Sango, and the modern priestess incarnate, Kagome, with the two demons, Shippo and Kirara, sitting in thier laps; all four had turned to see Rose awaken. But the most surprising was who sat across from Inuyasah. There three wolf demons, Koga and two of his tribe mates, sat; the two lackeys stared at Rose but Kouga merely glanced at her before looking back to the fire.

Kagome waved Rose over kindly. Rose stood and joined them, sitting beside Inuyasha. The group went through introductions, and Rose let them even though she knew their names already. She'd decided to be polite.

"It is rare to see such a lovely wolf demoness like yourself to be without a tribemate. What are you called by?" Miroku asked.

"I am Rose." Then his words hit her. 'Wolf demoness? I'm not any kind of demon!' To see what they were seeing, she excused herself from thier company and stood at the edge of the lake, seeming to be looking across it. Truthfully, she was looking down into her reflection.

There, looking back at her, was a female wolf demon. Her body was now slim, agile, and graceful. Her nightgown had changed to a dress of white wolf wolf fur, the skirt reached her mid-thigh and the top was sleeveless; the whole thing clung to her curves yet allowed freedom of movement. Her nails were now claws, her ears pointed, and her teeth sharper to focus on a diet of meat. Her hearing and sense of smell were hieghtened to match a wolf's. A white wolf tail idely swayed behind her, and her skin, once pale, now had a slight tan to it as if she lived outside most of her life. Her short hair was now long, to her mid-back, and a silvery-gold color. Her eyes were still the same deep brown they'd always been.

Rose returend to the group, shocked by this change but not showing it in her face; she was used to hiding her feelings. Conversations took up most of the night as she got to know the others better, hear of their achievements first-hand, and joke along side them. Everything was going well until they started asking about her.

"Rose, you don't have the scent of any pack I know of. What pack are you from?" Koga asked.

"I don't have a pack. I'm a loner," Rose replied, not looking at Koga.

"She doesn't even have the scent of a demon," Inuyasha mumbled.

Rose looked to Kagome, sensing her gaze. She found Kagome watching her with intrest, her eyes mainly on where the shard was embedded. "Are you alright?" Rose asked, jolting Kagome out of her thoughts. This brought everyone's attentiong to them.

"Rose, if you don't mind my asking, how did you come upon that jewel shard that is in your chest?" Kagome asked sheepishly.

Both Koga and Inuyasha jumped to thier feet, exclaiming, "She has a jewel shard!"

Rose nodded slowly, not looking at anyone. Her mind was racing as she searched for an excuse. 'I found it? No, too easy. I took it from a dead enemy! No, they'd see through it. It was given to me? Yeah, that has some truth in it.' "It was given to me as payment for guarding over a traveler," she finally answered. "They didn't realize what it was."

Inuyasha and Koga sat down slowly, and everyone was quiet for a while. It was Sango who spoke next, breaking the ackwardness of the situation. "It's late. Why don't we get to sleep?" Everyone agreed and chose thier places.

Rose just stood and went back to the water's edge, staring out over it without really seeing it for she was lost in her thoughts. She could feel Inuyasha's suspicous gaze on her but didn't care. Her mind was one what she must do, who she must get close to. She had always like Sesshoumaru's character when watching the anime; now she was in the world and had to get close to him. His image entered her mind. That long, silvery-white hair; those beautiful, amber eyes; that amazing body; everything about him just overwhelmed her, and she was only imagening!

Inuyasha watched Rose cautiously; he didn't quite trust her. He noticed her far off gaze and called to her, curiousity getting the best of him. "What are you thinking so deeply about?"

"Your brother..."

"What!" Inuyasha jumped up as if he would attack Rose, who had answered without thinking. Kagome stirred near Inuyasha, rolling over and muttering in her sleep. Inuyasha found himself laying on the ground, sprawled out. He grumbled as he got back up and sat down at the base of the tree again, looking quite grumpy. When he spoke again, he kept his voice down so not to bring about another 'Sit'. "Why are you thinking of Sesshoumaru?"

Rose was alert now, having turned to see Inuyasha be 'sat'. She realized her mistake and knew she had to cover it. "Who said I was?" she asked with a shrug, walking over to another tree and sitting down.

"You did!" Inuyasha cringed as he felt Kagome stirred and lowered his voice again. "You said you were thinking about my brother."

"I did?" Rose asked as though she was surprised. She shrugged again. "I must have mistaken you for someone else. I don't even know this Sesshoumaru you speak of." With that she lay down, curled up. She could hear Inuyasha muttered to himself before going to sleep. A smile rested on her lips as she let sleep take her for the third time in twenty-four hours.