Wait'll you see what Kagome is wants to do in this chapter! Read and review, please!

Changes

Kagome sat up in her bedroom, looking up at the full moon, waiting for InuYasha. Around 10:00, she heard him come in quietly, and she turned around to look at him.

InuYasha said to Kagome "What happened? You didn't tell the rest of us everything when you got back. Something happened, and it scared you."

She sighed, and looked down at the floor, then said "I had a run-in with Tachi today."

It took a few minutes for InuYasha to figure out what that probably meant. Kagome filled in the blanks for him and told him everything that had happened, from Tachi spotting her on the bus, to him pulling her into an alleyway to threaten her, to Shippo coming in the nick of time and saving her.

"I'll kill that bastard! As soon as I see him, he is dead!"

"InuYasha." Kagome spoke very quietly

His anger faded instantly when he heard her tone. She was still scared, and wanted comfort, not anger from him. He went to her and pulled her into his arms. Just like he had when he stole the Shikon shards from her, but this time he didn't try to steal anything. He just held her. After a few minutes of just enjoying the strength his embrace offered, Kagome said "I've been thinking."

"About what?"

"Well, today showed me that you're not always going to be able to protect me from things. To do that, you would have to follow me everywhere I go, and that's not something either of us would enjoy much."

InuYasha just listened for now, not knowing where she was going with this train of thought.

"We've been talking about, when we finish the jewel, turning you into a human so you and I can be together, but we humans are weak, and we have such short lives. I was wondering," she looked up at his face, and he looked down at her with a quizzical look in his eyes, "if there was some way to turn me into a hanyou, so I can protect myself when I need to and we could be together for ages."

Her suggestion blew his mind for a few minutes. He just stood there, looking at her, the depth of what she was asking sinking in. When it had, he let go of her and turned around. "Are you sure about this? I'm more than willing to give up my youkai powers for you, but are you sure your willing to give up your full humanity for me?"

"I am sure, InuYasha. I am as sure as I could ever be." Kagome went up to him and put her arms on his back. "Please. If there is a way, I want to do it, to be with you."

"There is a way, but there's no way to reverse it if you change your mind, and it isn't a pleasant experience."

"InuYasha, I would be willing to endure anything to be with you forever. You know that. I want to do it."

"…Ok."

20 minutes later, they were sitting on the floor, facing each other, as InuYasha prepared himself and Kagome, more mentally than anything else, for what she was about to experience.

"What you are asking for is called the Rite of Youkai Blood. To perform it, one with youkai blood must mingle their blood with a human's blood, in the human's body. This will change the human's body into the body of a hanyou, with the night after it is performed being their night without powers. Or the night it occurs in, as the case may be," he added, looking at the night sky. "If you go through with this, then you will be like me, losing you powers once a month, only for you it will be the night of the full moon."

"I understand."

"First, I will use my own claws to open a small cut on my palm. Then, I will do the same on yours. Then, we must put those cuts together, so that my youkai blood will pass into you. You will feel a slight burning sensation in your hand when it begins, which will spread throughout your body. We must keep our hands together until it is complete, or else it may kill you."

Kagome gulped at that, but still she wanted to do it. So, InuYasha did as he had told her. He cut his palm open, then hers, and they pressed their hands together. Kagome gasped when she felt the heat of his youkai blood flowing into her veins. It burns! It burns! was all she could think. It took all of her focus to keep her hand pressed against InuYasha's. Strangely, she seemed to draw strength from it, knowing that he did not want to hurt her, but this was the only way. When the fires of his blood had spread through her, from head to toe, she passed out, collapsing against InuYasha, who caught her lovingly, and placed her gently on her bed, before returning to Souta's room to get some sleep himself.

The next morning, InuYasha was awake not long after dawn, well before anyone else. He walked into Kagome's room, as quietly as only a hanyou can, making certain not to disturb her. She was going to need all the rest she could get after last night. He saw the transformation was complete as he looked on her, now with prominent canine ears similar to his own, only black in color. Her fingernails, so delicate before, have lengthened into claws like his own, and she smiled as he stood there, catching his scent. Her teeth were definitely sharper, more fang-like. He nodded grimly and walked out of the room, still careful not to wake Kagome up. Now, he had the task of trying to figure out how to tell the others that Kagome was not the way she used to be anymore. Even worse, how was he going to convince her parents that this had been her idea, and he hadn't forced it on her? This was going to take some deep thought. Unfortunetly, he wasn't exactly one for deep thought. Fortunetly, he knew someone who was. He walked out of the house, and went into the building that housed the Bone-Eaters Well in this time. It was time for a long chat with Kaede.

"So, ye performed the Rite of Youkai Blood on Kagome, did ye?"

"Yeah, at her insistence. And now I need to know what I should tell her family. Her mother's gotten to like me better, but I doubt she'll take this sudden, drastic change very well."

"Hmm." Kaede thought for a few minutes, quiet. Then she said "Ye might want to try simply being nice to her and trying to gain her favor before ye break the news to her. After all, she is the woman ye have to impress if ye want to keep seeing Kagome."

"I suppose that might work, but I'm gonna have to work fast, if I'm gonna get her to think better of me before she sees Kagome. Thanks." InuYasha stood up and quickly left the room, and headed back for the Bone Eaters Well and Kagome's world. I don't have much time, I better think of some stuff to do to get her to like me, and fast. Maybe Kagome can suggest something.

Back in Kagome's room, she was just beginning to stir from a very deep, restful sleep. She sat up in bed, noticing a lot of things she had never noticed before. Such as how loud the birds outside her window were, and just how noticeable the smell of paint was in here. Wait a minute, I've never been able to smell the paint in here before. Then last night wasn't a dream? She stood up and walked quickly and quietly to the bathroom mirror, being careful not to wake anyone else. When she looked in the mirror, surprise and joy filled her when she saw that last night hadn't been a dream, and now she could protect herself when InuYasha wasn't around. And, she could connect with him deeper than a normal human would ever have been able to, because now she understood him better than a normal human could! She smiled. Wait'll the rest of them see me now. They are going to be so…, her mind went to the logical conclusion of that thought. Souta would probably be thrilled at what had happened, and gramps would be confused but supportive, they both liked InuYasha. But her mother was another story. When InuYasha had first met her, he had played the role of jealous hanyou-suitor a little to well and frightened her to the point she was going to say that Kagome couldn't go back to their time anymore! She had managed to patch things up with her for the most part, but she still didn't trust InuYasha very much. She'll probably think he made me do it, that I didn't want to and he forced it on me.

At that very moment a sound came from the door to the bathroom. "So you're finally awake, eh?" She turned around, and there was InuYasha, framed against the doorway.

"Yeah. You know, I just thought of something I wish I had thought of last night, before we did this."

"So you could warn your mother about it?"

"Well, think about it. It will be a bit of a shock to her to see me with dog ears all of a sudden. And you know you're not exactly her most favorite person in the world. Fortunetly, I have an idea."
"Kaede suggested that I try to get on your mom's good side, but I think it's a little late for that."

"Not entirely. If you can get on her good side, and I just stay out of her sight for a while, we might be able to break this to her gently. Come on down to the kitchen, I'll help you make her some breakfast in bed."

Twenty minutes later, InuYasha was standing outside the door to Kagome's mother's room, with a tray of Kagome's omelets, pickled daikon and rice, waiting for the sounds of someone waking up to come from inside the room. Damn, I hope this works, or else I'm gonna be walking around with her footprint on my ass for a long time to come. After a few minutes standing there, sounds started to come from inside. Well, here goes everything. He knocked on the door, just loud enough to be heard, and opened the door a little bit. "Can I come in, Mrs. Higurashi?"

"Yes, InuYasha, I'm decent. Now what do you want?" She didn't sound displeased to see him, but you could tell there were other faces she would rather wake up to.

InuYasha walked into her room carrying the tray before him, and said "I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot, and I was hoping to make it up to you. Care for some breakfast?" He gently put the tray down in front of her, and backed off from the bed a bit. She looked at the tray, a curious look in her eye, like she wasn't quite sure she should trust InuYasha's cooking, though he had learned how to operate the stove, so she knew it shouldn't be too bad. After a second, she speared a slice of omelet on her fork and gave it a tentative sniff. Not noticing anything out of the ordinary, she started to eat.

InuYasha gave a sigh of relief, and started to walk out of her room when her next comment stopped him dead. "Make sure to thank Kagome for helping you in the kitchen." When she saw the look on his face as he turned around, she smiled. "You didn't think I wouldn't recognize my own daughter's recipe for omelets, did you? I was the one who taught her how to make them."

"Right. Listen, I was wondering something." InuYasha turned around again and looked her square in the eye. "What can I do to show you that I do have the best intentions for your daughter?"

Speaking around a mouthful of pickled daikon radish, she replied "Well, that's a good start. But really, just my seeing how you treat her has been enough for me to figure that out. Sorry for how I acted last time, I just didn't want to put her in any danger, and you seemed like you would be dangerous. Either to her, or to anyone who tried to associate with her."

"Heh. I've actually matured a lot since then, now that I know I have nothing to worry about."

She put down her fork, and crossed her hands in front of her. "InuYasha, what happened? I know you well enough to know when you're trying to hide something from me."

InuYasha sighed, and asked "Promise not to freak out?"

She just looked him square in the eye and said very slowly, "What. Have. You. Done?"

InuYasha looked like he'd rather be taking on swarms of Naraku's youkai than facing this one human woman right now, but he said "Look, just remember, it was her idea, alright? She wanted this, I just went along with it." He walked over to the door and opened it. "Kagome, come on up. She knew something was up." Pause. "I did! She recognized your recipe for omelets, and she says she knows me well enough to know when I'm trying to hide something." Pause. "Look, just come on up and show her, alright? You can explain it to her, I'll just fill in where needed."

Needless to say, Kagome's mother was a little confused by this conversation, until her daughter slowly walked in her room. To her credit, the only sign of surprise she showed was her eyes widening slightly.

"Mom, I can explain," Kagome said quickly. "You see, Tachi, you remember my telling you about Tachi, right? Well anyway, Tachi spotted me on the subway when I was coming back from Shippo's office, and followed me. He tried to hurt me, and if Shippo hadn't shown up when he did, I don't know what would have happened to me. I realized that InuYasha wasn't always going to be around, so I asked him if there was a way he could turn me into a hanyou like him. He was reluctant to, at first, but I convinced him I was sure of it. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, otherwise I would have warned you first. I'm sorry," tumbled out of Kagome's mouth quickly, but not so quick that she was babbling. Quite.

Kagome's mother nodded, taking her eyes off Kagome's ears for the first time since her daughter had walked in. "Well, it's definitely a change, and I assume it's one I'm going to have to get used to, as there's probably no way to reverse it." Kagome and InuYasha nodded. Her mother sighed. "Well, I suppose I'm going to have to get used to it. It's actually quite attractive, if you think about it." She looked at InuYasha. "However, that does not mean you are off the hook, mister. To start off with, you and Kagome are going to be making breakfast for everyone, not just me. And make sure you make a lot of food, since Lina will be joining us. I swear, if she stays much longer, she'll eat us out of house and home. Anyway, you will handle the cooking whenever you are here until further notice, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Both of them chorused in perfect "little kid bein' scolded" voices.

"Good. Now get to work, I'll wake up everyone else when I finish with this lovely breakfast here."

They both left the room with their tails between their legs, but realized that this was actually pretty good, because she could have reacted much worse.

About fifteen minutes later, Kagome's mother walked into their guest room to wake up their guest.

"Lina," she said with a gentle shake.

Lina turned over and mumbled "C'mon, Nahga, quit flaunting them around. Put them away!"

A little confused, Mrs. Higurashi shook Lina a little harder, saying "Lina, wake up. We've got omelets for breakfast."

That got her. Lina's eyes shot open and she said "Omelets? Cool. I'll be right down."