The dinner was fantastic. Mama made grilled steak, chicken, and veggies, my favorite. After dinner, Inuyasha helped me pack all of my new clothes and supplies into my new backpack. We also loaded my old backpack with canned foods, and ramen to travel with, deciding that Kaori or Inuyasha could carry it. I said goodbye to my family, thanked them again, and Inuyasha and I went through the well. Instead of going towards the village and Kaede’s hut, I let Inuyasha lead me in the opposite direction. We traveled for about an hour until we reached some cliffs, with a secluded cave hidden about halfway up. Inuyasha explained that he comes here to think sometimes late at night. He let me on his back and easily scaled the cliff up to the cave. I took out the glasses and bottled water that he’d asked me to bring, along with the kitchen knife that he found.
“Ok, what do we have to do?” I asked.
“Are you sure you want this Kagome?” Inuyasha asked and I nodded. “First, we have to fill each glass halfway with water.” I did. “Ok, this is going to go sort of fast, but we each have to cut our palms and let the blood drip together until it’s full, then we press our palms together the exact moment we begin to drink. Within twenty-four hours after the blood sharing ritual we have to…umm…” He explained and I nodded. I was ready.
I slashed one of my palms and one of Inuyasha’s. He stared into my eyes intently and we let the blood drip together into one of the two small glasses that we had ready with water in them. We filled the first glass and quickly switched to the second. Once that one was full he spoke.
“Kagome, are you absolutely positive? Once we do this, there’s no going back. This is forever.”
“I wouldn’t dream of spending my forever with anyone else. I love YOU, Inuyasha. Only you.” We each picked up a glass with our uninjured hands, held them to our lips, and pressed our bloodied palms together the moment we began drinking. I expected the blood mixed with water would taste awful, like metal the way blood smells. The concoction of our blood symbolized our love, as something sweet, and that’s how it tasted. Our fingers were intertwined and we had both finished our drinks at the same time when I felt it. Pain searing through my body, like hot metal running through my veins. I squeezed Inuyasha’s hand as tight as possible, feeling some bones crack, and let out a pain-filled scream. My vision was coming and going, black spots appearing everywhere in my vision, and more and more each time. “Inu...yasha….” I said my new mate’s name before the blackness took me.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I woke up feeling more alert than ever. I scanned my surroundings and found that it was late evening, probably around ten o’ clock. I heard movement to the left of me and saw Inuyasha sitting at the opening of the cave, staring at me wide eyed. That’s when I felt it. There was a stinging pain at each side of my head and in my fingers as well as my back side. I reached up and touched the area where my ears should have been. Instead, I felt smooth skin. My eyes were wide in dis-belief as I felt fuzzy, pointed ears at the top of my head.
“No…” I said before I looked down at my fingers and found claws. “No way…” I looked at Inuyasha and followed his wide eyes to my butt. I had a fluffy black tail protruding from my tail-bone. “But…How?” I looked to Inuyasha for answers.
“I warned you before we did this, that I didn’t know what would happen. A human has never been mated with a half demon before.”
“Ok…but why do I have a tail?”
“You’re a female, is my guess.” Inuyasha stared at me with wide eyes. I shrunk behind my blanket. “I’m sorry!” He shouted. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable!” I stood up and inspected myself. I had a taller, leaner body frame; my uniform didn’t fit me so well anymore. My hair looked and felt significantly healthier, and I now had a pointed nose. My senses were all more alert. I could smell, see, and hear better than I could as a human. I looked back to Inuyasha.
“Oh my god.” I simply said. Inuyasha hung his head.
“I’m so sorry Kagome. I never knew this would happen. I can’t imagine how you must feel right now.” I beamed at him.
“Are you kidding?! I feel great!” I said, and launched myself from the cave. When I landed, I only felt a slight impact and shot off into the woods, well aware of my mate following me. ‘Kagome, Slow down.’ I screeched to a halt at the edge of a meadow, under a huge oak tree, and Inuyasha ran straight into the back of me. We ended up on the ground. I tried to get up, but couldn’t. “Umm, Inuyasha? My tail.” He muttered an apology before standing up. “Did I just hear you talk..in…in my head?”
“Keh. It comes with being mates. You know…the ritual isn’t complete yet. We have to…seal it…to be…umm…completely bonded.” He blushed and looked away. I knew this was coming, and I was ready for it. Inuyasha stepped forward, and placed his hands on either side of my face. He kissed me. It was a fierce, hungry kiss, yet it was also gentle and tender much like the hanyou himself. I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought both of us down to the ground easily, with Inuyasha looming over me. “I have to ask you again Kagome…are you sure?”
“I have to admit, I’m scared about this part, but the only thing that I have been sure about, more than anything else in my life, is you, Inuyasha. I. Love. Y-o-u.” I brought his head back down to mine. ‘I love you too, Kagome.’ I gasped as he moved his lips down the line of my jaw. Inuyasha lifted his head and smirked at me. At that I pushed my hands under his haori and lifted it over his head. He took it and threw it over both of us, secluding ourselves from the rest of the world.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I woke up the next morning to find my head on the bare chest of a sleeping Inu-hanyou. I looked down at myself and my face grew red with embarrassment as I quickly pulled Inuyasha’s haori over myself to cover my bare body. I scanned the clearing to find my clothes and discovered that they were in the tree above Inuyasha and I. He threw them in a tree?! Ugh! I quickly jumped into the tree and almost fell, but my newfound tail helped me gain my balance. I pulled on my clothes in a hurry and looked down to see Inuyasha looking up at me with a big grin on his face.
“Oh, wipe that grin off of your face. You threw my clothes up here on purpose, didn’t you!?” I said to him. All I got in return was a bigger smile. I finished tucking my shirt into my skirt while he quickly pulled on his clothes. “I need a bath.” I simply stated.
“Oh?” Inuyasha cocked his head, grabbed me before I could say anything, and jumped into a lake that was fairly close to the village.
“INUYASHA!” I was soaked now! My white shirt was now see through, showing my red lace bra underneath. I crossed my arms in front of my chest.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen it before.” He smirked. My face grew redder than ever. I took a deep breath and…
“SIT! SIT SIT SIT, YOU PERVERT! SIT! S-I-T, SIT!” I stormed out of the lake while Inuyasha was stuck on the bottom. I began running back to Kaede’s as fast as I could before his spell wore off. As soon as I got back, I ran straight into Kaede’s hut, where Miroku was making breakfast. Sango gasped.
“Kagome, what happened to you!?” She stared at me wide eyed.
“Inuyasha happened! He jumped right into the lake!” Sango just shook her head no and I followed her gaze to the top of my head. “Oh…I forgot…”
“You forgot that you had ears!? And a tail!?!?” I looked at the ground. Her yelling was beginning to hurt my now-enhanced hearing.
“Sango…Miroku…Shippou…You all deserve to know. Inuyasha and I ar-”
“KAGOME! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I WAS UNDERWATER!? I COULDN’T BREATHE FOR FIFTEEN MINU-”Inuyasha stopped short when he realized the looks that our friends were giving me. A protective growl formed itself deep in his chest. He stepped in front of me.
“You... You’re mated?” Sango gaped. I stepped in front of Inuyasha and nodded. “I can’t believe you!” Sango formed an angry expression on her face and ran out of the small hut.
“Sango! Wait!” I called after her. She turned around with an enraged face. Tears formed rivers on her cheeks, and her face burned with anger and hatred.
“Why should I wait, when you didn’t?” She sneered and spat out the word you. I stared in the direction that she ran, my mouth wide. Inuyasha reached for my hand, but I pulled it away. I pushed past him out of the hut and walked as far as I could, until I finally came back to the caves. I saw my backpacks and went to retrieve them. When I reached the cave, I collapsed on the floor. My best friend, my sister, hates me! I can’t believe I’ve done this to her! We haven’t beat Naraku yet, and she has to wait to be with Miroku. I should have been smarter! Not only am I putting Inuyasha and myself in danger, but also everyone in our group. I’m so sorry Sango! Just then I heard someone crying. After following the sound, and identifying the scent of none other than Sango, I found her sitting under a tree.
“Sango?” She looked up. “I know you must hate me right now, but I am so sorry! I never meant to hurt you or to put anyone in danger! Inuyasha asked me on my birthday and…I was just so caught up in it…I’m so so sorry Sango. I know you have to wait until Naraku is dead to be with Miroku, and I promise you, I will do anything to make it up to you and we will find Naraku and kill him as soon as possible!”
“I’m sorry Kagome. I never meant to go off on you like that. I was just in shock and angry that I couldn’t be happy with Miroku like you are with Inuyasha. I’m not angry anymore. I forgive you, and I hope you will forgive me!” We both smiled and hugged each other. “And, if you don’t mind my comment, your ears are so cute! And your tail too!” We laughed and she took the extra backpack from me as we walked back to camp together. I felt a sense of worry in the back of my mind, and knew I was being made aware of my mate’s emotions. I’m fine, Inuyasha. Sango and I made up. I could only wonder if he got my message and was confirmed that he did with his response of a mental ‘keh.’ I told Sango about my birthday, about Inuyasha asking me to be his mate, and she told me about her week here with Miroku and Shippou. All romance undisturbed. I was glad to be informed that their relationship had progressed.
“Kagome, the reason I got so upset is because I keep mentioning the marriage to Miroku and he completely shuts down about it. All he says is ‘We have to wait, Sango.’” She said in a perfect imitation of the monk. “I don’t want to wait anymore! I just want to kill that bastard, Naraku!” I shook my head in understanding as we stepped back into the village.
When we entered the hut, Miroku gave Sango an apologetic look and thing went back to normal when he said, “My, Kagome! What a nice shade of red!” His big perverted grin shone on his face. It was then that I noticed that my shirt was still wet and very see-through. Sango hit the perverted monk over the head with her hiraikotsu and I slapped him across the face. I shooed the men out of the hut and put on the light pink button up shirt and khaki shorts.
“Kagome, What is that around your neck?” Sango asked. She and Kaede both looked interested.
“Oh!” I pulled out the necklace. “Inuyasha gave it to me for my birthday!” The women looked at the necklace intently. “It’s made so that if I need Inuyasha for something, he’ll know.”
“I never knew Inuyasha could be so soft.” Kaede smiled.
“Me either.” I sighed and smiled contently.
Guys, please please please review and let me know how I’m doing and what you’d like to see. I appreciate constructive criticism as well! (And don’t worry! I haven’t forgotten the demon or Naraku! The action will come soon!)
Chapter End Notes:
Kaori says: Please review! Pleasepleasepleaselpleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!