Surprise

Kagome awoke from her nap several hours later. Sitting up slowly, she took a deep breath and then froze. Hesitantly, she inhaled again and quickly noticed that something was different. After several more test, she realized with a jolt what was wrong; she could smell everything. Eyes wide, she reached up and touched her nose. The appendage remained unchanged she was relieved to discover.

After a few moments of slightly anxious theorizing, Kagome finally decided to just chalk it up to some strange magic or power that existed in Sesshomaru's castle.

Shrugging off her worry, she stumbled out of bed and quickly realized that she was still wearing her dirty clothes. Looking around, she spotted a small dresser. She approached it and pulled open the top drawer. It screeched loudly, causing her to cringe away and let out a low whimper of pain. She felt like she had a hangover; all her senses felt supercharged.

Once her ears stopped ringing, Kagome looked inside the drawer and found a pair of jeans and a black tank top. Shrugging, she picked up the clothes and went through a small side door into the private bathroom she had discovered before going to bed.

Quickly, she peeled off her dirty clothes and got into the shower. As she reached up to comb out her hair under the water, she nicked the side of her head with a fingernail. Letting out a hiss of pain, she looked at the offending nail and then did a double-take. Her once short, carefully filed fingernail was now long and pointed, like a claw. A quick inspection told her that the rest of her nails had gone through the same transformation.

Kagome stared at her hands in confusion for several moments as the water rained down on her. After considering her new claws and her strangely sensitive senses, she was struck by a sudden suspicion. Reaching up, she hesitantly felt along the tops of her ears; both were now topped by points. Eyes wide, she slowly brought her hand to her mouth and ran a finger over her teeth. She immediately determined that she had fangs as well.

Her suspicions confirmed, Kagome froze for a second before leaping out of the shower, screaming in horror. She threw open the door, ran through her room, and out into the hallway. She only took three or four steps before Ilyo appeared in front of her, a look of extreme worry on his face. She jumped into his arms and started sobbing uncontrollably. He held her for a second and calmly asked what was wrong. Her reply shocked him.

"I'm a demon, I'm a demon, I'm a demon!" Eyes wide, he pulled back slightly to get a better look at her. Immediately, he noticed how her ears had become pointed and two small fangs were poking out of her mouth. A second later, he also realized that she was naked. His eyes widened and he quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

Ilyo quickly came to the conclusion that she had indeed been altered. Her smell was the same as before, but now he could smell the demonic energy residing in her. And it was doing things to him. Her being separated from him by only a leather jacket didn't really help matters. She didn't seem to notice his distraction though; she was too busy crying. Then, present day Sesshomaru happened to pass by. He smiled to himself, but outwardly remained emotionless.

"What has happened to you, Kagome?" he asked innocently. She looked up at him tear-stained eyes.

"I'm a demon," she sobbed.

He forced a concerned look onto his face. "Cheer up, Kagome. Think of it like this; now your lifespan matches Ilyomaru's. That is a good thing, right?"

Kagome sobs instantly began to slow as she considered that. She thought about that for a moment and then looked up at Ilyo happily. He smiled down at her, then gave her a hand and hauled her to her feet.

"I believe that you should get dressed," Ilyo suggested quietly. She giggled and nodded. Ilyo turned and made his way back to his own room. Kagome watched his retreating back happily, and when she turned around, Sesshomaru had disappeared.

When Kagome went to re-enter her room, she could have sworn she heard Sesshomaru's voice. "Consider it a gift exchanged, Kagome; your happiness for my arm." She smiled and started getting dressed.

Meanwhile, Ilyo was pacing the floor in his room. I should be happy,he reasoned. He had known instantly that it had been Sesshomaru who had caused Kagome's transformation. He could smell his brother's scent coming from her room. Now, he thought, I could love her. See can stay with me forever.

Unfortunately, now he couldn't help but think about the horrors she would now have to face. She would be different from her friends, she would feel bloodlust; she would kill. It was inevitable. Demons killed. He himself had killed humans before. He hadn't enjoyed it, but it had been done. Oh well, he thought, there is nothing I can do now. I might as well make the best of the situation.

At the same time, Inuyasha woke up from the large bed he had been sleeping in. He looked around and noticed his sword was lying on a small dresser across the room from his bed.

As he grew more awake, he began to remember where he was and how he had gotten there. He remembered returning to Kagome's house after they met up with her friends. He remembered seeing a long, black car pull up to Kagome's house. He remembered hearing the driver conversing with Kagome's mother. Then, the driver approached him and brought him to a castle. He could recognize the smell that permeated the air; Sesshomaru. Immediately, he had realized that it was the residence of the future version of Sesshomaru.

Dragging himself out of bed, he returned the Tetsusaiga to its sheath and crept out into the darkly lit hallway outside his room. Moving to the end of the hallway, he encountered a huge set of stairs. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to head up and explore a bit. Up he went, to the top floor.

Finding himself in a long hallway, Inuyasha began to sniff around. Immediately, he picked up the scent of Kagome mixed in with all the other smells. He stealthily followed the scent, which led him to a door that was partially open. He could here Kagome humming quietly on the. Suddenly, he noticed that there was something different about her scent.

Pushing open the door, Inuyasha walked in and found Kagome lying on her bed, with her eyes closed, humming happily to herself.

Inuyasha, without thinking, just called out her name, loudly. "Kagome!"

Her eyes flew open, and she looked at him in surprise. "Inuyasha, when did you get here?"

The half-demon looked at her strangely for a moment. He could tell something was different about her, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. So he answered her question. "I got here a few hours ago. Some guy came to your house and brought me back here with him. I assume this is Sesshomaru's castle?"

"Yeah," Kagome confirmed. She nodded once, which caused her hair to move slightly. The shift revealed her ears to Inuyasha for the first and he gasped; they were pointed. Eyes wide, he looked at her mouth and immediately noticed that she now had fangs.

He quickly came to the realization of what was different about her scent. "You're a demon," he gasped.

Kagome nodded, waiting to see how he would react. She expected disbelief, anger even, but that wasn't what happened.

Inuyasha's legs buckled and he fell to the floor, his head in his hands. Kagome's eyes widened as shock overwhelmed her. "What's wrong?" she asked, worried.

He didn't move look up as he provided her with an answer. "For decades, I've been attempting to become a full demon and in one night you succeed where I've always failed."

Kagome couldn't believe it. Here she was, a human who mysteriously transformed into a demon, and all Inuyasha could do was moan about how it should have been him.

"Listen here, mister," she said, frowning heavily, "it isn't all that great. I'm not significantly changed from how I was before. Sure, now I can smell everything, my hearing is better, and I'm a little bit stronger, but I don't feel all that different." She had been hoping to cheer him up, but instead, all he did was snort.

"That's because you haven't been tested yet," he said sadly. "The only way to truly measure the power of a demon is to place them in mortal combat. This forces all of their abilities to come to the front." Kagome was surprised into silence. Inuyasha returned to his moping.

Pondering for a minute, Kagome once again spoke up. "Is there any other way to cultivate these powers? I would really like to know what I could do." Inuyasha looked up at this.

"Well, I suppose I could help you." Kagome grinned. He got to his feet, and they both exited the room. Leading Inuyasha down the staircase, she quickly opened the main doors and they made their way outside. As she looked around for an empty place where they could train, Inuyasha was possessed by a sudden thought.

Looking around, he noticed a large tree. Perfect, he though. Leaping up into it, he broke a large branch off and turned toward Kagome.

"Kagome!" he called, before hurling it at her. She whirled around and immediately spotted the incoming missile. Shrieking in shock, she cringed and closed her eyes, throwing up her arms in a weak attempt to ward off the branch. To her immense surprise, the expected collision never occurred. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes, only to see the huge piece of wood laying on the ground, neatly sliced into two pieces.

"Why the hell did you do that?" she screamed at Inuyasha. Anger clouded her vision and before she could stop herself, she had launched herself through the air, landing up in the tree beside Inuyasha.

The half-demon looked directly into her eyes, which were tinged slightly red and shuddered slightly. He shifted away from her, trying to put some distance between himself and his enraged friend.

Seeing Inuyasha cringing away from her helped Kagome bring herself back under control. She was still angry however, and her face showed as much.

Inuyasha, seeing the rage clouding her features, quickly explained. "I was just trying to force you to respond with your powers. And it worked."

Kagome didn't understand. "What do you mean? What did I do?"

Inuyasha grinned at her. "You know that energy whip thing that Sesshomaru used to use before he got Toukijin? One of those came out of your hand."

Kagome's eyes widened and she looked at her hand, curiosity flooding through her. I'll have to ask Sesshomaru about that one, she thought. Then she grinned at Inuyasha, drew back her fist, and smashed him in the nose.

He grunted in surprise and pain as the blow caused him to fly out of the tree and land on the ground, quite far away from the base of the tree. Rubbing his sore nose, he got to his feet, only to hear Kagome's laughter. "Payback is a bitch," she called to him.

Realizing that he had just gotten made a fool of by a female, Inuyasha started to get angry. Then he thought about how hard she had hit him. She's already got control over her strength, he thought.

Inuyasha was about to suggest she start learning how to properly summon her whip, but before he could, a cold voice interrupted him. "Perhaps you should get something for your nose, little brother. It looks a little crooked." Sesshomaru was standing there; past Sesshomaru.

Inuyasha growled in response. "What do you want?" he snarled at his brother.

Sesshomaru, who had changed back into his Feudal Era clothing, merely glared at his brother."I came to offer my help in training the girl." Inuyasha and Kagome were dumbfounded by this announcement.

Kagome was the first to recover from the surprise, so she asked a question. "Why? What's the difference between Inuyasha training me and you training me? And why do you even care?"

Sesshomaru glared at her coldly. "There are many reasons why I choose to do this. And as for your other questions, the difference in being trained by me and being trained by Inuyasha is I am a full demon, and in case you haven't noticed, your powers are very similar to mine." She couldn't argue with that point; it was painfully obvious. "As for why I care…I don't. A difficult battle is coming however, and I would prefer to have the best possible allies. If I train you, you will be a strong ally."

As he said this, Kagome nodded her head in agreement. Inuyasha said this and opened his mouth to process, but Kagome cut him off. "He's right, Inuyasha. It would be more beneficial to have him train me. But don't worry, I'll come and find you later."

Inuyasha shut his mouth, but he still looked pissed off. He turned to Sesshomaru. "Make sure that you don't hurt her. If you do I'll—"

Sesshomaru cut him off there. "You'll what? Scream at me. Tell me off. Face it, half-breed, you are powerless against me." Inuyasha got red in the face, and looked like he was about to jump Sesshomaru, but the next sentence halted him. "Do not worry, little brother, I will not hurt her. She has a new protector now, and I would prefer to remain on good terms with him."

Inuyasha looked confused at this, but Sesshomaru turned and motioned for Kagome to follow him. Smiling apologetically, Kagome fell into step behind the demon Lord, leaving Inuyasha standing there, scratching his head.