Three years later…
Kagome was beginning to see signs of her body changing, as her mother had assured her it would. She had grown in the past three years, nearly reaching her mother's shoulders. She looked in the mirror in her bedroom, dressed in a sports bra and panties, as she studied her reflection. Every so often she'd reach out to poke a section of her body, frowning at how pliant it was under pressure.
Her breasts had begun to grow in the past year, but it wasn't much to be proud of, seeing as how many of the girls in her class had begun to fill out the summer before. Her hips lacked the roundness the other girls had gained as well, and she wondered if this was her lot in life on more than one occasion. Was she doomed to be the one to get the table scraps while the rest of the world got first dibs on the main course?
She sighed through her nose, holding her hands up to her chest to see if she could make her chest appear larger than it was. Maybe…just maybe if she could…would people not see the pudge of her stomach?
'Can't let Inuyasha hear me say anything like this,' she thought to herself. 'He'd be furious at me if he knew half the things I thought about myself.'
Each weekend for the past three years Inuyasha made it a point to tell Kagome that she was perfect. It didn't matter when during his visit, he'd sneak it in. She was mortified thinking back on that first month of this new tradition, where each time he said it she'd begin crying into his shoulder. He didn't make fun of her for it, and she was grateful for that. Instead he'd hold her until the tears subsided, and they'd go on about their business. It was still something she had trouble accepting, but now she didn't cry when he said it.
Kagome reached up and smacked her cheeks lightly, bringing her attention back to the present. 'I can't let Inuyasha see me in my underwear either,' she chided herself, turning to the closet. 'He may think I'm perfect, but he still wouldn't want to see all of me on display.' She reached up for one of her old band t-shirts and a pair of shorts. The collar on the shirt had worn away, leaving it gapped, but it was too comfortable to retire.
She was just pulling the shirt over her head when she heard her mother shout from downstairs. "Kagome, dear! Inuyasha's here to see you!"
Inuyasha sat on the back porch, watching Kagome demonstrate the newest dance she had learned. He'd never admit it to her, but he didn't see how these dances were as much dancing as they were gesturing wildly. It made her happy, and that was what mattered.
As she kicked up dust across the yard, he couldn't help but take in her appearance. She still wore baggy shirts and shorts, but these weren't as long as the ones she wore as a child. When she twisted her upper body, the shirt would gap and move about, exposing her mid drift for the briefest of moments. He wasn't sure if she knew her shirt was doing this. He also wasn't sure if he should point it out, either. Doing so would imply that he had been deliberately looking, which he was not.
He wasn't. He was just watching his friend dance.
Kagome had become more limber in the last three years. Moves that she hadn't been able to execute as swiftly then were flawless now. In a way it was like watching a moving piece of art.
Maybe that's how he ought to tell her that she was perfect this time.
"What do you think?" She asked suddenly, and to his horror he realized he had spaced out at the end of the dance.
"I think you looked great," he said, clearing his throat. "Like art in motion. It was perfect."
Kagome raised an eyebrow as she walked up to join him on the porch. "Is that how you're motivating me this week?"
"Depends. Is it working?"
She laughed, leaning against his shoulder. "Yeah, I think it is."
They fell into their familiar silence after that, just enjoying being in the other's presence. Some visits they barely said more than a handful of sentences to each other, because it wasn't needed. It would have looked odd to anyone who didn't know them, but sometimes it wasn't necessary to fill the void with noise. There were only so many times Kagome could go on about school, and Inuyasha felt limited in what he could say.
He tried not to let his expression show as his mood dropped. It had been almost three years to the day that he approached his mother for advice about helping Kagome, and she had suggested that he tell her the truth about himself. As she had predicted, Toga agreed on the matter, and both had given him permission to reveal his secrets to Kagome and her family when he felt ready.
The problem was getting up the nerve to actually tell Kagome. It never felt like the right time to drop a secret like that on the girl, and he knew the longer he held it in, the worse the fallout could be. Would she even want to be his friend afterward? Would she be furious that he had been omitting part of his life for the last six years? That's assuming that she didn't run for the hills screaming, of course. And telling this particular secret to the wrong people could lead to danger to his people. He knew Kagome wouldn't purposely try to hurt him, but it was her family that he was unsure of still. Not that they'd hurt him themselves – he had no doubts about that – but would they be able and willing to keep the secret among themselves? He didn't want Kagome to lie to her family, so if he was going to tell her, he wanted to know that her family knew as well.
So how the hell was he supposed to tell her?!
"Inuyasha?" Kagome nudged him gently. "You okay? You look like you got something you on your mind."
He made a face, cursing himself for letting his emotions get away from him. "I…yeah," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Listen, Kagome…you ever not tell your school friends something for a long time, and then pluck up the courage to tell them?"
"I think so. Why? What brought that up all of a sudden?"
"Please don't be mad, Kagome." Inuyasha turned to face her, slipping her hands in his. "There's something I haven't told you about me, and it's kind of a big thing. I just… I didn't know how to tell you before now, and I needed to make sure my parents would be alright with me telling you and-"
"Inuyasha, what's going on?" Kagome started to feel uneasy with the way he was talking. She began to think that something may have been wrong, her mind whirling with ways that she could help him.
"Kagome," he cut her off. "What I need to tell you cannot go past your family; it's kind of a big secret about my family. Would your family be okay with this?"
"Yes, my family adores you Inuyasha. What's wrong?"
"Wrong?" He shook his head, looking around the back yard. "Nothing's wrong, 'Gome. But… it might be easier to show you. Get you to believe me better when I tell you. Will you come with me to the beach?"
Kagome had allowed Inuyasha to lead her down to the beach, far off from where she typically frequented. She recognized the stone wall as the barrier that was put up to prevent tourists from getting hurt, but she was surprised when he tugged her around the other side. Only people really familiar with the island's landscape went past the wall. She knew where to step, of course, but she didn't venture back here very often because she had no real need for that kind of solitude. "This area's not very stable," she began to say, but he cut her off.
"I know where to step."
"Y-you do? I thought you were new to the area when we met?"
Inuyasha didn't respond until they were concealed by the stone wall. The beach wasn't very populated, but he still peeked over the edge to make sure there were no people nearby. Anyone else could have seen two teenagers disappear behind the wall and think there was something more risqué happening. He wasn't stupid, and he sure as hell wasn't about to risk Kagome's reputation either. When he turned back to her, he braced himself for what he was almost certain would be a bad response. "In a sense, I was," he started, rubbing the back of his neck. "My family lives nearby, but…we don't live on the island."
It was clear she was confused. There were no other islands close to this one, so how was that possible?
He tried again. "Have you heard of the legend of the merfolk?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "My grandpa blames them for his bad luck when he fishes. Mama and Papa say that they're guardians of the island."
He tried not to snort at her grandpa's opinion. "What do you think?" he asked uneasily. Part of him was afraid of the answer.
"I think…guardians sound nicer than what Grandpa thinks. I can't imagine that they'd keep people from being successful fishing, especially the ones that make a living doing it. Why did you change the subject, Inuyasha? We were talking about you- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Kagome had been staring out at the ocean as she mulled over how to answer Inuyasha's question, and when she turned back to him she shrieked, throwing her hands over her eyes. He was taking his clothes off! Right in front of her! Fortunately for her, she had covered her eyes just as his shirt came off, so she only glimpsed his bare chest. Still, she felt heat gather in her cheeks at the image in her mind. He was trim, and it appeared that his tan was natural.
"Will you keep your voice down!" he hissed, dropping his shorts and boxers next to the shirt on the sand. "We don't need anybody to hear us!"
"Easy for you to say! You're the one taking your clothes off! I don't know what you think you're doing, but- what was that sound? Inuyasha?" Kagome had been about to rip into her friend for startling her, but the sound of water splashing caught her attention instead. When he next spoke, it sounded like he was a little further away from her.
"You can open your eyes, Kagome."
Was he laughing at her? Did he find her embarrassment funny? "Nice try, Inuyasha. I'm not looking anywhere near you until you're covered up."
"I'm covered up. Trust me."
Kagome took a deep breath, slowly removing her hands from her face. She was expecting to look across from her to see Inuyasha, but her gaze moved downwards to find him sitting in the sand where the ocean washed up and receded. His expression was nervous as he looked at her, and as she took him in, she understood why.
The deep red tail that formed past his hips was a big clue.
"Y-you…you're a…a…merman?" She took two steps towards Inuyasha, dropping to her knees next to him. "It's true?"
Inuyasha was expecting Kagome to scream, to run from him. The fact that she came to him and sat down gave him hope, but she was looking at him like she was dreaming. Maybe she was still trying to process what she was seeing. "We're real," he said, gingerly taking her hand. "I'm real." When he was certain she wouldn't pull away, he guided her hand to rest on the shimmering scales where his knee would have been. He thought maybe if she felt it, it would help it sink in.
Kagome's head was spinning. Inuyasha was a merman. One of the merfolk. He had a tail. She gulped as she felt the scales shift under her touch. It was bizarre, but…it was also fascinating. The scales were a dark red, almost like the darkest parts of a ruby. They were smooth, and she almost let her hand wander down the length of his tail. Almost. This was still Inuyasha. She removed her hand, muttering apologies. "You're a merman."
"Yeah."
"And merfolk are real."
"Exactly."
"H-how?"
Inuyasha looked at her. "Is that something we really need to go into? I'd rather not think about my parents-"
"Sorry! Sorry!" Kagome waved her hands to stop him. "That's not what I meant- I- I mean… oh, I don't know what I mean." She folded her hands in her lap as she looked at him. Except for the tail, he still looked the same. "You weren't kidding when you said it was a big secret, huh?"
He nodded, watching her carefully. She wasn't reacting at all like he had expected her to, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't. Still, he had to know. "I'll understand if you'd rather not talk to me again, Kagome. I know this is a lot to take in and-"
"Wait, hold up. What are you talking about? Do you really think I'd throw our friendship out the window because you're a merman?"
"Well I-"
"No!" Kagome cut him off this time. "Just because you're a merman doesn't mean that I'm going to stop being your friend, Inuyasha. So what if you're a merman? It doesn't bother me that you've got a tail. I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that the legend is true! That's what I'm hung up on!"
Inuyasha was baffled. This girl was really something else if she could look past him being a whole other creature but still be surprised that his people actually existed. "You're still my friend?" he asked softly.
"Of course, you dummy!" she laughed, giving him a light shove. "You're my best friend, Inuyasha."
He smiled, feeling a weight lift off his chest at her words. "And you're mine," he replied, knowing the words were true as he said them. His friends in the sea were good friends, and though he had known them all his life, there was something about Kagome's friendship that felt timeless. Maybe it was that she had taken to him so quickly those six years ago, or maybe they had just clicked like puzzle pieces. Whatever it was, she was his best friend. "You won't tell your friends about my secret, will you?"
"Like they would believe me," she scoffed. "But my family…"
"They can know," he assured her. "My parents said that you and your family could know the truth. They trust you."
Kagome shook her head. "They've never met me or my family!"
"But I've told them about you," Inuyasha pointed out. "And they'd like to meet you all. I'm not sure when, but they've spoken with me about it."
She shifted in the sand to sit next to him, extending her legs out in front of her. "Does it hurt?" she asked suddenly. "Going from legs to a tail, I mean. How does that happen?"
Inuyasha shrugged. "It doesn't hurt, just…feels strange? I'm not sure how to describe it exactly; I've never really thought about it. When I go into the ocean, I have to get deep enough to swim before my tail completely forms or I'll fall."
"Is it water that makes your tail form? Like if someone dumped a bucket of water on you, would you transform?" She was struck with the sudden thought of the Wicked Witch of the West getting wet and melting in that Oz movie.
Her horrified expression must have been visible because Inuyasha laughed as he told her that was not the case. "Only ocean water. So unless that bucket of water is from the sea, I won't transform spontaneously."
"Don't laugh," she pouted, "I'm new to this."
He tried to contain his laughter, but her pout was both amusing and cute, two things he absolutely would not tell her for entirely different reasons. "Well," he pressed on, clearing his throat, "when I come up on land, in order to gain my legs I have to get dry. So I cover my tail in the sand to speed it up. That way if a human ever came up on me, they wouldn't see my transformation."
Kagome nodded, taking this in. "And that's why you started stripping earlier? So you wouldn't rip your clothes?"
This time it was Inuyasha who looked embarrassed. "Before I met you, there was one time I didn't remove the clothes before I transformed. It's not easy trying to pull shorts off with a tail, because you can't move the same way if you had legs. If they hadn't been big on me, I'd have had to swim home like that to ask for help." He still smiled, recalling the memory. His mother had instructed him on what to do, and being a child, wondered why she insisted that he undress beforehand when he could undress afterwards. He had to learn the hard way, naturally.
"Um, Inuyasha?"
"Yeah?"
"Your…uh… your tail is glowing."
"Glowing?"
Inuyasha snapped out of his memory to see that his tail had taken on a brighter sheen. He let out a string of swears that would have made Kagome laugh any other time, but his next words halted that. "Pants! Get my pants!" He hastily tried to scoop sand over himself before his transformation was complete. In the entire time they had talked, he had forgotten that the sun was drying him out, despite the ocean water coating the sand underneath him. He couldn't completely cover his tail, but he was damn determined to cover the important bits.
"Here!" Kagome's voice squeaked from behind him, dropping his pants and boxers into his lap. He knew she had turned around immediately after, so as soon as he could stand he was stepping into his underwear and pants. When Inuyasha turned to look for Kagome, she was only a few feet away, back turned and covering her eyes. He tapped her shoulder as he passed to retrieve his shirt, telling her it was okay. Kagome was still hesitant to look at him directly until he pulled his t-shirt over his head.
"Thanks," he said at last, straightening out the shirt and dusting the sand off of himself.
"No problem, she replied. "That…that was close."
"Yeah. That was close."
