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Chapter 14: Night of the New Moon

Most of their friends were well aware of Inuyasha's night of weakness, the night he turned human. Not everyone in the village knew, but Tamako, Sango, Miroku, Kaede and Shippo. Everyone else was really left in the dark about that little detail about their hanyou friend. And all the while Tamako had never received a night of weakness the way her father did. Which was strange. All half demons had a night of weakness.

It was the day of the next new moon, the first one right after her sixth birthday. Her father was on edge as always during the night of the new moon. She never usually felt unnerved about the night of the new moon. Things like that didn't usually bother her, they were always okay, and it was just one night. But her father still insisted on not sleeping during these nights.

But tonight, she felt so unnerved. Her whole body felt tense and agitated all afternoon since she'd gotten home from Kaede's. And Kouga usually didn't come by the nights of the new moon. He didn't completely know why, but she'd warned him against coming without really revealing her fathers secret. She knew it was not a secret he wanted his enemies knowing...even Kouga. Though she didn't view Kouga as an enemy to either her or her father.

Sitting on the edge of the river on a rock by herself, she leaned her knees up, resting her elbows against her knees as she watched the sun descend in the skyline. She'd gotten so used to the nights in the feudal era, she did not even remember what the sunset looked like in the future. The only thing she could remember was that the nights here were so much more beautiful, the sky held an unnaturally beautiful tone of colors as the sun sank into the horizon.

As she watched the suns descent, she shifted nervously, moving her legs down a little and resting her hands on the rock slowly on either side of her legs. Her ears twitched as she heard her father call her name, wanting her to be more within the hut when the sun sat for the evening.

"I'll be there in a minute otou!" she answered.

Letting out a sigh as she watched the sun for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip. A nervous feeling rested low in her stomach, and she was confused about it. Taking in the sight of the sun before she slid off the rock, her feet landing in the water below her. Her kimono was rolled up so it wouldn't get soaked in the water. She no longer fit into the clothes she brought to the feudal era almost two years ago now, so all she wore were kimonos and similar clothing the other village girls wore.

The rock she'd been sitting on was only a bit off the sore, and she walked through the water before stepping up onto land. Shaking her feet off a little bit before slipping into her sandals, walking up to the hut. Moving the flap of the front door open and stepping inside, sliding out of her shoes again before stepping up onto the wood, looking towards her father.

"You feelin' weird yet?" she asked.

Seeing him nod, his eyes were closed as he seemed tense. Sighing a bit as she moved and sat down at the side of the fire, looking down at the flames, closing her eyes halfway. "The suns coming down..." she said in a soft voice, though she had a feeling he already knew that.

"Keh, I know. Come on, eat your dinner. I put your bowl down over there." he told her.

Nodding a little, she sat up a little to take the bowl from the small table, taking her chop sticks to start eating slowly. She had that unnerving feeling in the pit of her stomach. After taking a few bites, she frowned. "I'm not hungry.." she announced, resting the bowl down in front of her.

Opening his eyes, he glanced to her. "Why not? You can't be sick...you're no human child..."

Shrugging to her father, looking up at him. "I don't know really. I'm just not. I'll eat it a bit later." she promised and he only gave her a nod.

It was a calm silence as they both sat there. Tamako busied herself with her stitching that Sango had been trying to teach her. She had to learn to sew her own kimono. Sango had said something about it being a good skill for a woman to have for their husband. But, she doubted that she would need it with Kouga being her husband.

The thought of Kouga made her blush as she shook her head, looking down at her fabric. She was horrible at it, always pricking her finger with the needle. Though because of her demonic blood the needle didn't break skin or draw blood, it just hurt to be stuck in her fingertips.

While she was a hanyou, she was still a woman, and both Sango and Kaede were trying to teach her how to properly care for a household when she might have one. A good wife needed skills they must know. And most human girls would start learning at her age, so she must too. Some of the human customs at this time shocked her. How young girls got married to older men and how they didn't seem to have a choice. Most girls were about thirteen or fourteen when they got married. She liked the idea of demon custom a lot better. The way she understood it from what Kouga had said, the girl always had an option to refuse a mate.

But she still practiced these things that Sango and Kaede insisted she knew. Sitting there sewing the under hoari she'd been working on as the sun finally began to set. As soon as the sun went down from the sky, an unfamiliar pulse moved through her body. Letting out a gasp, her head went up and her eyes went wide, her entire body feeling strange. What was going on?

A pulse went through her body as she dropped the fabric and the needle she'd been holding onto the floor.

Inuyasha, used to his change by now looked up at his daughter with his chocolate human eyes, his hair flowing into a black color. He looked at her just in time to see the gold fade from her eyes, seeing them sink into a full chocolate color. Her dog ears slowly started to vanish with another pulse of energy, and another one brought her a set of human ears. Her fangs and claws shrunk, and then her hair turned from a dark silvery color to a completely black color.

Watching the change in his daughter made his eyes widen a little. He'd never seen the change in another hanyou before...he'd always been alone, and hanyou's weren't exactly that common. And not all hanyou's had the same cycle. But, it'd seem that since she was his daughter, she would have the same cycle as him.

But the look in Tamako's eyes showed her fear. The first change was always the most confusing. Slowly her fingers moved up to touch her human ears, running her fingers to rub them a little. She'd been disguised as a human in Kagome's time, but never had her fake human ears worked like this. Her senses felt so dulled. She couldn't hear as well, or smell as well. Trying to move her ears the way she could move her dog ears, and she couldn't, it made her whine.

Glancing up at her father, seeing him through the flicker of the fire. Her eyesight was now that of a normal human, and it felt so...dulled. She could see almost perfectly in the dark with her demon powers. But now, she needed the fire in order to view anything. And the moon was dark, so there wasn't even moonlight.

Her human eyes looked at her father, wide in fear, her heart racing. What was happening to her? What was this? "O-O-Otou..." she cried softly, tears starting to well up in her eyes. She hadn't felt so vulnerable since she first came to the feudal era.

Hearing her cry, Inuyasha stood up, sitting his tetsusaiga down on the floor where he'd been sitting before moving over to her. Sitting behind her and bringing her into his lap, hugging her tightly. "Shh, shh, its okay...I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. You're okay. You're just human now...full human." he whispered to her as he held her. He knew how shocking the first few changes could be. He remembered going through the change all by himself as a child, and it'd scared the shit out of him.

Rubbing her arms slowly, trying to calm his daughter down. He was used to becoming human once a month, even if he didn't necessarily like it. But he knew it'd feel completely new and scary to her.

Sitting in his lap, Tamako took in a few deep breaths. Her eyes looked down at her palms. Turning them slowly to look at the backs of her hands, seeing her claws were now human nails. "O-o-otou...what...what is this? I...I'm scared...I can't smell anything...I can't see anything good. Whats happened to me?" she asked. Though she'd seen her father go through the change, it was quite different going through it herself. Going through it herself was a lot scarier than she'd have thought.

"You're a human now. You must have the same time of weakness as me because you're my daughter. Not many hanyou's have kids...so, I wasn't really sure. Remember, we talked about this...we talked about how this would happen one day." he said, trying to reassure her. "It'll go away once the sun comes up." he said, hugging her gently.

Tamako settled back into her fathers chest, looking around the hut, her eyes moving fast, trying to adjust to her new weakness. "Oh...I see why you don't sleep on new moon nights now..." she said slowly, a hint of fear still in her voice.

Nodding to his daughter, he sighed. "Yeah. We're at our weakest right now. I've always been afraid something will happen to me. But...after I met your mother, I was more afraid that because of my weakness during the new moon...something would happen to her." he confessed. He was able to reveal his feelings more to his daughter than anyone else other than Kagome. "And now...I am more afraid that I cannot protect my own pup during the night of the new moon."

Holding onto her, looking down at her slowly, he smiled. "You'll feel really different. Your human side is taking over. I'm always a lot more emotional on these nights...you probably will be too. You just have to get used to it. Its pretty weird to be a human, isn't it?" he asked.

Nodding slowly, Tamako rested her hands down on her fathers arms that hugged her. "Yeah it is. Its really weird. All these...feelings. I mean...I get them normally, but its just like a flood..." she said, biting her bottom lip.

Shifting on her fathers lap to sit sideways, laying her head against his shoulder and closing her eyes halfway, cuddling into him.

"Don't worry, Tamako...I'll be right here with you. Even in this state, I won't let a thing hurt you if I can help it. I'll protect you with my life." he whispered to her, kissing the side of her head. Even in his human form he had the overwhelming urge to protect his only daughter, make sure she was safe there in his arms while they were weak.

"I never realized that it felt so...weird. I miss my claws...my fangs...my ears...sight, smell, all of it. It just feels like I'm dulled or something. Like...like I'm in a bubble. I can hear whats going on, but its muffled and weird." she said, pouting. If she'd had her dog ears, they would have lowered. And she almost tried to flex those muscles, only to be upset that it did not work.

"I miss my ears most I think..." she whined softly.

He chuckled a little at her response, nodding. "Me too. Its what its like being human all of the time."

Looking up at him with her fully chocolate eyes, blinking. "I wonder what its like to feel all demon then. If the human feeling is restricting like this...what could a whole demon feel like..."

Hearing her question, he sighed a little. "I'm not sure. We...we hanyous have a full youkai form too. Especially with our blood, Tamako. My father was a very powerful daiyoukai with very powerful blood. You have that same blood running through your veins. All half demons have a full youkai form. But it doesn't always come out." he explained.

Listening carefully, curiously she blinked. "When does it come out?"

"When our lives are in extreme danger. When we're pushed into a corner and have no other way to defend ourselves...our youkai takes over in self-preservation. I have Tetsusaiga to keep a lock on my demon powers, to keep me who I am." he explained, remembering the first time he'd turned a full demon. Looking down at her slowly. "But...but its different. We don't act like ourselves in that form. Its not like we become full demons like Shippo or Kouga, who are both well aware of who they are and their strength. No. When a hanyou turns full youkai...they lose control, lose themselves in the transformation. Its...its scary. Scarier than becoming human I'll tell you..."

"Has that ever happened to you Otou?" she asked curiously.

Nodding to confirm her suspicions. "Yeah...a few times. The first time...tetsusaiga broke in a fight with a demon named Goshinki. I almost hurt your mother...I was afraid I would. I tried to take control...tried to make my demon half listen to me. It wouldn't. And your mother wouldn't give up..." he said, smiling a little. "She saved me from myself. More than once I transformed and she saved me. Our demon halves are unpredictable, Tamako. You must never let your youkai blood get the better of you." he said, gripping his daughter lightly. "I could not bear watching you take that transformation...watching you like I had been. It was after transforming like that...that I'd given up dreams of becoming a full fledged demon. Not if it would be at the cost of the people I cared for."

Listening to his story, she cuddled into him, nodding slowly. "I understand. I hope I don't get in that situation ever." she said, glancing up at him. "But...tetsusaiga holds your power?"

Relaxing his grip on her, he nodded again. "Yes, it does. I'll have to get you a sword made of my fang soon. Since you're old enough to turn human, who knows if you can turn demon or not. I don't want to risk that."

Smiling a little to him and nodding, leaning to kiss her fathers cheek. "Yaay! I'll get my own sword!"

"Yeah well...you'll get it in due time. And you better not misuse it. I'll take you with me to Totosai, the old man that forged my sword in a few weeks."

Nodding to him, she relaxed more into him and sighed, closing her eyes. "I'm sleepy...but...but I don't want to sleep."

"Sleep, Tamako. I'm right here, I'll let nothing harm you on the night of the new moon." he whispered to her.

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She had slept like that in her fathers arms the whole night. But, once the morning sun broke the horizon and she felt a strange pulse, her eyes shot open. Gasping out audibly, arching her back a little in her fathers arms as her powers pulsed back into her veins.

Tilting her head back a little, Inuyasha holding her carefully as she experienced her demonic powers coming back. This was definitely a lot stronger than feeling them leave. A sudden rush of power wove through her veins as she almost felt her features change. Her claws grew out slowly and the golden specs rushed back into her eyes, reverting back to the same color they had been before. But now, her eyes had more gold than brown in them due to her maturity in age in order to make this change.

Next, her ears slowly started to seem to materialize. Almost as if a muscle that had laid dormant for years was standing back up and stretching into attention. At the same time, the dark silver pushed the black out of her hair.

As the transformation finished, she settled back into her fathers arms, blinking slowly, re-adjusting to her normal eyesight. Reaching up, she rubbed her eyes, her ears twitching like mad taking in the new sounds. Sniffing the air, the smells assaulting her now sensitive nose. Letting out a sneeze at all of it rushing back at once.

Sitting up a little bit more, lowering her hands from her eyes before looking up at her father. "That...felt even weirder..."

Chuckling to his daughter, nodding. "You get used to it, I promise." he assured her, kissing her forehead. "It'll take some practice...but you get used to it. Feeling like your old self again?"

Nodding quickly to him, she smiled. "Yes! Much better."

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A/N: And that, my dear readers, was Tamako's first transformation! :-). I felt like I had to do something with her turning into a human. And I figured after her birthday would be a good chance. Some very good father/daughter bonding in this chapter.

I wanted to get this chapter up ASAP before I went to bed - haha. I hope you guys like it as much as I liked writing it.