This chapters a lot of background type information, so bear with me. While it's interesting, there's not a lot of action.

Kagome had intended to go straight inside to confront her mother about this changing into a half-demon business, but when she arrived on her side of the well and climbed out into the well-house, she found she just couldn't do it yet. Not only was she not emotionally strong enough, she was so overwhelmed by the now intense smells she encountered once she passed through the well, that she just couldn't think straight. She'd adjusted to the natural scents in the Feudal Era gradually and quite easily, but in modern-day Tokyo, the air was just so polluted in comparison that her powerful nose was assaulted.

She tucked herself into a dark corner of the well-house to wait for her thoughts to return to her. Maybe then she could formulate some sort of plan for breaking the news to her mom and figure out the questions she should ask her.

"Oh, I wish Inuyasha was here," she mumbled to herself, once again on the verge of tears.

Kagome tucked her knees against her chest, resting her arms on top of them. She buried her face in them hoping to drown out some of the scents.

She wasn't sure how long she sat like that, but it seemed like an eternity. The smells were becoming more bearable, but they were still overwhelming her poor nose.

"I can't keep stalling for much longer…" Kagome mumbled into her arms. "I've got to tell her." She began running through ways she could possibly use to break the news to her mother. Most of the opening lines she came up with were completely lame.

"Yeah that'll totally work," she sarcastically uttered to herself. "Hey mom, you know how you love Inuyasha's dog ears so much? Well, guest what, now there's a chance your grandchildren will have them one day!" The sarcasm of her twisted joke immediately wore off as thoughts of who she could make little dog-eared children with flitted into her mind. Her face turned beat red and she could feel the heat spread all the way to the tips of her ears. God she was as bad as Miroku!

Suddenly Kagome sensed a shift in the environment. Her nose picked up a scent previously foreign to her era. It smelled much more natural than anything she'd smelled since she arrived here. Her ears flicked in response to a faint sound from around the well. Kagome's head jerked up just in time to see Inuyasha leap out of the well. Her eyes widened in shock and all her previous embarrassment flew out the window as her heart filled with joy at the thought that he had come after her.

As Inuyasha arrived in the well in Kagome's era, he knew that she was still in the well-house; he could smell her scent, strong and fresh, as well as old tears. He jumped out of the well and saw her face still tear-stained and Kagome in an almost fetal position, but looking straight at him though there'd hardly been any indication to his arrival.

Inuyasha asked worriedly, "Kagome?"

She looked at him a moment before flinging herself at him practically hysterical. "Oh Inuyasha, I just don't know how I'm going to break this to my family! I'm so glad you're here." He soothingly wrapped an arm around her slender waist.

"Don't worry, Kagome. Your mother will understand."

"How can you say that? No mom can be that understanding!" she sobbed into his chest.

"Look at all we've been through this past year. It can't come as that much of a shock, considering all she's seen," Inuyasha countered. "Besides she may actually know something about this."

He had a point. "I'm still nervous."

"If she's anything like you, then she'll accept you no matter what you are."

Kagome looked up into his eyes, her own eyes watering a bit, while squeezing him tighter. "Oh Inuyasha."

~*~One Hell of a Surprise~*~

After their tender moment, Inuyasha pep talked Kagome for a bit longer until she felt slightly more confident. He helped her up on shaky legs and guided her out of the well-house and across the courtyard to the door of her house. Kagome paused at the stoop before the sliding door, taking a deep, collecting breath. Inuyasha didn't try to rush her; he understood that she needed this.

She glanced up at Inuyasha, who questioned, "Ya ready, Kagome?"

She nodded her head once. She reached forward and slid the door open. They entered the house with Inuyasha following slightly behind Kagome.

As Kagome looked around her living room and the rest of her house, she noticed things in a whole new light. Her keen senses only enhanced what made the house her home. Her ears flicked at a noise from the kitchen, so Kagome headed in that direction, hoping it was her mother and not Grandpa or Souta. She wasn't disappointed as she peeked around the corner and spotted her mom standing over a sink full of soapy dishes.

Kagome stepped around the edge of the wall and onto the tiled flooring. "Okaasan…" she tried tentatively to get her mother's attention.

Mrs. Higurashi's posture straightened and her delicate hands paused from their labor. She looked over her shoulder at where she thought she'd heard her daughter's voice come from. "Oh it is you dear. We weren't expec-" her words cut off as her expression changed to surprise and she dropped the plate she still held in her hand onto the pile of dishes in the sink. The cacophony created by the dishes caused Inuyasha's ears to flatten, but it hurt Kagome's unaccustomed ears far worse.

Her mother turned the rest of the way around and took a few slow steps toward her child. "Kagome…what's happened to you?"

"Oh Mom!" Kagome cried as she ran to her mother and held onto her tightly. Mrs. Higurashi wrapped her arms securely around her.

"Kagome, shh…" her mother comforted. "Calm down and tell me what's happened." She led her daughter over to the table and set her down in a chair. As she sat in the chair next to her, she motioned for Inuyasha, who was barely visible around the corner, to do the same.

As Mrs. Higurashi took Kagome's hand in hers across the table, Kagome began to tell the story with a shaky voice. "I don't really know where I should start. Umm…basically when I got to the Feudal Era, there was a small celebration for me. Afterwards, Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, Shippo, and I went to relax in the shade. That's when it happened; we all sensed it. The wind picked up and then I blacked out. Maybe Inuyasha should tell this part…"

Inuyasha got a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look to him, not having expected his sudden involvement in the conversation.

"Uh…" he clumsily began. "There's not much to it really. Everybody noticed something wasn't right with her. She looked almost like she was in a trance. The wind started whirling around and lifted her off the ground. Then she transformed into what she looks like now. The wind died and she fell on the ground unconscious."

"I woke up a few minutes later," Kagome continued. "We talked it over and Miroku said that he didn't think an outside force did this to me, so I came here to talk to you about it."

"Oh dear," her mother began rather calmly. "I should have known this day would come."

Inuyasha and Kagome exchanged extremely perplexed looks with one another.

"Kagome, Inuyasha, come with me."

Mrs. Higurashi led them outside and into their storage area for all the shrine's trinkets and family heirlooms. Standing up on the ladder, she scanned the top shelf until she found whatever it was she was looking for.

"Ah, here it is," she muttered to herself. She descended with a long rectangular box, which she crossed the room with and placed on a table.

"Kagome, there are some things you don't know about your father; things I should have told you long ago." She paused but when no one moved to speak she continued. "Higurashi Akira, the man who raised you, was not your biological father, Kimura Kisho was."

"What? Why haven't you told me this before?" Kagome demanded, shocked and somewhat angry.

"We thought it would be for the best, dear. We thought maybe you'd be able to live a more normal life."

"So Dad is really Souta's father, just not mine?"

"That's right, sweetheart, but-"

"Mom, how could you?" Kagome angrily sobbed. "How could you do that to Dad?" she backed away from her mother, hurt.

Inuyasha felt greatly out of place, like he was intruding on some private family matter, but he knew he couldn't leave Kagome.

"Honey, it's not what you think," Mrs. Higurashi defended, "Just let me explain."

Kagome sat down on a nearby bench, not sure what else the day had in store for her. Inuyasha joined her and tried to be as comforting as he could manage. Her mother sat on a small stool across from them, tenderly placing her hands on Kagome's knees.

"Kagome, I loved Souta's father and the man who's been a father to you as well, very much, but he wasn't my first love. I met your real father nearly eighteen years ago. We fell in love almost instantly. He had the most remarkable green eyes, actually the same color as you have now," she reminisced with a smile, "and silvery blue hair. It was a bit odd, but I just thought he died it until I found out what he really was.

"Anyways, after a few months of serious dating, we moved in together. So many people said we were moving too fast, but I knew it was the real deal. Shortly after that, he sat me down and told me he was a dog-demon. As it turns out, there's a small number of demons that have survived until now. Most of them spend their lives blending in with the humans, but some operate in an underground network trying to bring the demons back into power. We'll come back to that in a minute though.

"Needless to say, it all came as a bit of a shock to me, and I didn't speak to him for several days, taking refuge at a friend's house. Finally, he tracked me down, quite literally, and I realized that it didn't matter what he was, because I still loved who he was."

'That's definitely where Kagome gets it from,' Inuyasha thought fondly. He glanced over at Kagome, who looked like she was having trouble processing all of this.

Kagome's mother continued on with her story, "We made up and not too long after he asked me to be his mate, as I'm sure you know is the demon equivalent of a spouse. We lived very happily for about a year, then you were born, which only increased our euphoria. Though it was shocking, we saw it as a blessing that you didn't seem to be born with any demonic features; it would make it easier for you to blend into society.

"Things went well for about a year, with you maturing slightly faster than most children. That's when things started going wrong. You see he was a powerful demon and would have been a great commodity for the underground demons I told you about a minute ago. As the last known remaining member of the Kimura Inu-youkai tribe, they wanted him to aid in their demonic world conquest. He blatantly refused their 'offer', for he had accepted his place in the human dominated world.

"After that, the demons continually attacked our house and us, forcing us to move many times and try many different methods of evading them; but nothing worked. You father couldn't stand the idea of putting you and I in such danger, so he sent us away to this shrine, to stay with Grandpa. He said he was going to put an end to the fighting, and that he would come get us when it was over, but…he never came.

"All I can assume is that he died from the injuries he probably got from the battle. I've heard rumors supporting that theory, too."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha at this point, 'so my father died the same way yours did, Inuyasha.' She linked fingers with him, not sure what exactly urged her to be so bold, but knowing it had something to do with the connection she felt with him just now. Inuyasha blushed profusely, but didn't move to pull away.

"What I do know, though," her mother went on, "is that we haven't been bothered since and that I was completely devastated when so much time had passed and he still hadn't come back for me. In my heart, I knew he was gone, I could feel it. The only thing that kept me going was you." Mrs. Higurashi smiled affectionately at her daughter, then briefly at Inuyasha as well, reminded of her first love.

"I never thought I'd be able to love again, until I met Souta's father. I met him about a year after your father died. You and I were still living here and helping your grandfather take care of the shrine. Akira was a regular customer and we talked frequently. He asked me out once, but I was still so devastated, I declined. We were wonderful friends over the course of about two years and he was so great with you, I finally took him up on his offer. We dated casually for a while, and I never expected it to go as far as it did. After almost two years of dating, we were married. I knew your father would have wanted me to make the best life possible for you and I, so I knew it's what he would have wanted. Plus Akira made me happy and I cared for him deeply. About a year later Souta was born. Then when you were eleven, Akira got sick and died shortly after."

"Didn't he ever want to tell me he wasn't my real father, though?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, yes, yes. How could I have forgotten. After he proposed I told him everything, I felt I owed him that much; it was hard to convince him I was telling the truth at first, but eventually he believed me. We decided that it would be in your best interest not to tell you he wasn't actually you father. Unfortunately we didn't know you'd end up living a double life fighting evil demons in the Feudal Era."

Kagome sighed; this was just so much to absorb in such a short time. Within about the last hour, she'd transformed into a half-demon, been told the man she'd thought was her father for the past sixteen years of her life, actually wasn't, and that her real father was a powerful modern-day dog-demon, who'd been killed basically by a youkai mafia trying to protect her and her mother. To say the least, she was doing much better than any other sixteen-year-old girl would have done.

In the middle of reviewing this in her head, she had an epiphany. "Wait a minute…if I've been a half-demon all this time, why did I just now transform? I mean my guess would be something about the well, but that's been a whole year ago now."

"Hmm…that's a good point," Kagome's mother uselessly added.

Their attention was drawn to Inuyasha when he suddenly spoke; apparently his presence had been forgotten by the two. "Don't forget Kagome's a reincarnated miko…" Kagome cringed at the statement, which went unnoticed by Inuyasha, but not by Kagome's mother. 'How could I possibly forget I'm her reincarnation,' she thought solemnly to herself. Inuyasha continued as though nothing had happened, for in his dense perception, nothing had. "I bet that's what's kept her demon powers sealed all this time, that and the Shikon Jewel."

Both women looked at him, amazed by his insight.

"Oh my gosh! Inuyasha you're brilliant!" Kagome exclaimed, despite her earlier thoughts.

"Bout time you noticed, wench," Inuyasha arrogantly retorted.

Mrs. Higurashi continued on as if that remark had never been made. "Yes, it makes perfect sense! Your miko and youkai sides kept each other balanced and therefore virtually dormant. Since your heart's so pure, your priestess powers kept the jewel purified."

"And then," Kagome picked up, "when Mistress Centipede pulled me through the well, my miko powers awakened in self-defense, plus the Jewel was taken from my body. That still doesn't explain why it took so long for my demon powers to catch up…" she concluded disappointedly.

All three pondered that for a moment before Inuyasha proclaimed his revelation. "Kagome, your miko powers came out full force and it took you a while to get the hang of them. They were probably keeping your demon side purified, well sorta; and even if that's not why, if it had of come out, you probably wouldn't have been able to handle it. Since your miko powers are stable now, maybe that's why your demon form came out."

"I guess that makes sense," Kagome agreed, still thinking it all over. "I suppose there's no way to know for certain anyways." She glanced off to the side where her eyes found the box from earlier.

"Hey mom," she began, "what's in that box you got down earlier?"

Mrs. Higurashi, who had been deep in thought, started slightly. "What's that dear?" she asked absentmindedly, but then followed her daughter's gaze. "Oh yes, of course. I almost forgot." She walked over to the box and motioned for Kagome and Inuyasha to gather around the table.

"This Kagome," she said as she untied the string securing the box and removed the lid, "is one of your father's swords." She lifted it carefully from the box and held it out to Kagome.

"I don't know how much use it will be to you yet, but perhaps Inuyasha can help you master both your own powers and those of the sword."

As Kagome reached out to the sword, she pulsed; if she would have taken the time to notice, she would have observed the sword doing the same.

"It recognizes your blood, dear," Kagome's mother explained. "It accepts you."

Kagome's eyes shifted to her mother momentarily, signaling to her that her explanation had been heard. She grasped the sword's sheath with her left hand, lifting it out of its box. She pulsed again. She grabbed its hilt and slowly began to slide it out of its encasing. Pulse. The sword's full length was revealed as she lowered her left hand down by her side, examining the blade. It was beautiful. It didn't have the seemingly rusty and useless appearance that camouflaged Tetsusaiga; it simply shone. It was also slightly larger than Tetsusaiga in its untransformed form.

'I wonder if it transforms as well?' Kagome mused to herself.

"You might want to return it to its sheath for now, Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi advised. Kagome did as she was told, all the while wondering why. "As Inuyasha can probably confirm, that sword emits a distinct aura when outside its casing. It will undoubtedly attract the attentions of any remaining youkai in this era. It would probably be best for the two of you to return to Inuyasha's time with the sword for now. I'm sure your friends are worrying about you anyways," she added with a warm smile.

"I guess you're probably right. Thanks for everything mom!" Kagome hugged her mother fiercely, still clutching her new sword in one hand. "I'm just going to run upstairs really quick for a few supplies."

Kagome dashed into the house, still not used to her new speed. She set out a couple of more practical outfits, before heading to use the bathroom—Kami did she miss indoor plumbing. As she walked into the room, she caught sight of herself in the mirror and stopped dead in her tracks. Her hair had grown straighter and slightly longer, with a blue sheen that intensified as it neared the tips. Her eyes were now a startling shade of green and her complexion had smoothed out perfectly, apparently pimples were not something demons had to worry about. Throw in the traditional kimono and she felt she was looking at a completely different person staring back at her.

After a moment she turned and dashed back downstairs, all bathroom needs forgotten as her thoughts focused on getting the hell away from any mirrors for a while.

"I'll come back again soon!" she called out to her mom, as she and Inuyasha headed for the well.