In the Beholders Eye

Written By Sarga

May/June 2006

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters, I'm just taking a theme and running with it...

Chapter 4: The Body Human

Kagome writhed on her sleeping mat, and Inuyasha thanked Kami that she was unconscious for this. He knew the pain of transformation, it was a stronger form of the same thing he felt every new moon. He had learned long ago that to fight the demon blood's changes lead to more pain, and she was obviously fighting. She let out another moan and he grimaced, ears flattening against his head as if he had been scolded. He plopped down against the wall across from Kagome and just stared at her.

Miroku lay at her side, obviously worried – he hadn't tried to grope her since she got back. He had used every sutra he could think of for expulsion of a possessing demon, but none of them would work. This was obviously strong magic and he wasn't sure there was anything that could be done, by him or by someone more powerful.

After the initial chaos of their arrival, Miroku had asked what had happened. Inuyasha didn't have the heart to tell him of his selfish wish so he just lied. "She just started screaming, then she started turning into a half-demon."

Sango had looked at her friend and immediately knew the source of the change; Inuyasha. She didn't know how, but she suspected the Shikon jewel. 'But why would he wish for her to turn into a half-demon? He's always hated that form.' Without a word she walked up to Inuyasha and slapped him hard across the cheek, Miroku being too occupied with Kagome's suffering form to notice.

She had growled at Inuyasha, narrowing her eyes at the hanyou, "I'm going to find Kaede." She then ran out of the hut to find Kaede who was traveling to a nearby village.

Thinking about Kagome, Inuyasha still stared at her suffering form. She seemed to be relaxing a little and he could tell by her scent that her transformation was nearly complete. Her hair had been drained of all of its natural colour, surrounding her in a silvery cloud. Her ears, shorter and darker than Inuyasha's, twitched in her unconsciousness.

During her transformation, Inuyasha had sensed Kagome's miko powers grow. Her aura, full of agony, emitted strong waves of energy, even in her unconscious form. She would be a powerful hanyou, the unlikely combination of her natural miko powers and her unnatural half-demon body would leave her with much more power than before.

Miroku stood and sat next to his downcast friend. "She seems to be past the worst of it. The only thing we can do now is wait."

Inuyasha's ears drooped lower, shame burning his face. He knew that Sango would tell everyone when she got the chance.

"It's my fault..." he murmured, barely loud enough for the monk to hear. Miroku raised an eyebrow and turned toward his friend with questioning eyes. "I..." Miroku stared harder. "I made a wish with the jewel."

Miroku jumped up. "You wished for her to turn into a demon?!" He practically yelled. "After all she's done for you..."

Inuyasha snapped back defensively, "Hey, I didn't mean it! The stupid jewel twisted my wish! I didn't want this!" He gestured wildly, throwing the Shikon jewel towards Kagome. Inuyasha stood. "I tried wishing her back to normal but the damn thing wouldn't do it."

Miroku sneered in anger. "You can't undo a wish with another wish, the magic only works one way. You'll never be able to wish Kagome into any other form with that magic. You'd have to find something more powerful, but I doubt something like that exists. If it did, Naraku would have went after it long ago."

Both stopped their argument at the sound of a growl. Turning to Kagome they both saw her rise from the mat, Shikon jewel in hand. Her voice, more guttural than usual, spoke with obvious anger. "Inuyasha, you bastard. What the hell have you done to me!" He could smell the anger, stronger than any emotion he had smelt from her human form. He slunk forward, ears plastered to his bowed head.

"Kagome," he whispered, too quiet for the monk to hear, but loud enough for her new heightened senses to easily pick up. She growled in response and he knew he had to do something or her demon side would go into a frenzied blood-rage. He stood before her in pure submission and heard the one word he never knew could hurt so much.

"SIT!" The force behind her voice, the pure loathing with which she screamed it caused the hanyou to break through the raised floor. With her duty done, Kagome collapsed to her sleeping mat, once again falling into oblivion.

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"She's going to be like that for a while, child," Kaede's voice cut through Kagome, jolting her awake. "Whatever ye do, make sure she stays calm. She has not had the years of practice that a normal half-demon would. She knows not her weaknesses nor how yet to control them. Aye, even Inuyasha with his years of practice cannot always keep his demon side at bay."

'What? I could become a killer?' Kagome bolted into a sitting position, nearly jumping at the hand that grazed her shoulder.

"They don't think we can hear them," Inuyasha whispered.

A rage bubbled up from Kagome and she swat Inuyasha's hand away, eerily similar to the way he did with Shippo. All of these intense new smells were getting to her. Unsure of where her knowledge came from, she recognized them all. 'Sango – angry and fatigued. Shippo – scared. Miroku – horny' She rolled her eyes. '...and concerned. Kaede – fatigued. Kilala – hungry. Inuyasha,' she growled as she shifted further from him. 'sorrow, regret. At least the bastard feels bad about it,' she thought with disgust.

Fighting to keep her new blood from taking over, Kagome realized that the old woman was right. She could loose it and kill them all. Resigned to the fact that the Shikon jewel held greater power than any other, Kagome pushed her anger, her hatred, to the wayside. 'I have to get this under control, and there's only one person who knows what this is like.' She sneered at Inuyasha, baring a fang as she spoke. "You WILL show me how to control this...this..." she searched for the right word to express how much she despised her new form. "...this monstrosity." Inuyasha flinched, she had unwittingly confirmed his fears that Kagome would show the same self-loathing that he had felt when he was a teenager.

Kagome stood, flattening her ears to her head, trying to block out the sounds coming from everywhere. Even in this darkened hut, she could see everything as if it were broad daylight. She could hear an infant crying elsewhere in the village, could even tell how far away she was from it. These new senses gave her more information than she had ever thought anyone could have. She glanced at Inuyasha, an awe suspending her anger.

"Do you always feel this way?" her feelings of betrayal momentarily forgotten.

He cringed. 'Yup,' he thought. 'I always FEEL this way.'

"Female dog-demons, half or full, are more sensitive than the males of our kind," He informed, head bowed. 'Our kind' he thought. 'Your just like me now.' Despite himself, he felt a certain part of himself sigh in relief. 'Not alone!' it cried before Inuyasha shoved it down with a dose of regret.

'I wasn't alone...'

'But you would have been.'

Hearing the conversation inside, Miroku and Kaede entered the hut. Kagome stumbled back a step as she was impacted with a wave of smells from the two humans before her.

"I see that ye be awake Kagome," Kaede spoke as she entered the hut. She had barely believed her own eye when she first saw the miko-turned-half-demon. Sango had spoke to Kaede of her suspicions on their way back, which had quickly been confirmed by Miroku when they arrived. This magic was strong, and would be difficult, if not impossible, to negate.

Kagome's eyes bulged from her head. The smells drove her to the edge of nausea. Eyes watering, she roughly pushed past the humans, running from the closeted space full of their stench.

End of Chapter

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