A Time for Changes

I totally admit I forgot what season the story took place in and had to reread it haha.

Chapter 17 –  All I really know is that your hold on me is way to strong to be

After the shower Kagome had slipped into a floral sheath dress. The flowers were cherry blossoms, here absolute favorite. It was sleeveless with a modest v-cut down the middle, but completely covered her scars. She had a large white sunhat with a pink ribbon band that matched the colors of her dress. With a pair of black flats and minimal makeup she knocked on Inuyasha’s door.

His back was to her as he slipped on one of his better shirts. Slowly doing the buttons to a blue three-quarter-sleeve shirt he sighed. Since she’d left Inuyasha had tried to tie his hair back in some way to keep the black hair off his face but hadn’t succeeded too much. 

With a small smile she came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “Having a bad hair day, Inuyasha?”

He smirked and worked on his wrist cuffs, “Well, I don’t have to hide it under a damn hat cause I ain’t got no ears. So with no hat I’m not too sure what to do.”

She chuckled and ran her hands through his hair gently, “Want me to try something?”

“Keh, don’t make me look frilly okay?”

With a gentle tug of his shoulders she got him to sit on the bed. Folding under her knees she sat behind him and started a simple braid down his back. “Souta used to have long hair when he was in high school. Every once in a while he’d let me play with his hair…” she trailed off quietly.

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder at her and tried to smile. She sure was opening up a lot more then she used to. Inuyasha thought back to the night where the two had walked home from the café. Time certainly changed people, he realized. Her hum was soft, but even with his human ears; he could hear a quiet little lullaby. “Whatcha humming?”

“Hm?” Kagome pulled a hair tie from her wrist. “I think it’s something my mother used to hum for me. I don’t really remember the words anymore…” She fixed the last of his hair and smiled,  “But I remember she had a beautiful voice.” Her fingers fiddled with the ends of his hair, smiling as if remembering, even if it was a blur. “You’re good to go, Inuyasha.”

He rose from the bed and finally turned to look at her.  His face twitched and he turned his eyes up to the ceiling, blushing. “You…look nice.”

She smiled and twirled once she got off the bed, “Ya think? I borrowed it from Sango and was looking for a reason to wear it.”

“Yeah…uh,” He rubbed the back of his head, “Where do you want to go today?”

“How about the park then, Inuyasha?” She held her hand out to him, “It seems like a nice enough day out.”

“Keh, fine. But if we see anyone we know we’re leaving, alright?”

Kagome stuck out her tongue and yanked his hand, “Yes sir. I promise we will only talk to strangers today.”

As Kagome dragged Inuyasha behind her by the hand out the front door Sango was approaching the apartment from the opposite direction. Groceries hung from white plastic grocery bags in each hand. She watched Kagome’s face as she turned back and looked to Inuyasha, that twinkle in her eyes, had Sango really ever seen that before?

Sango climbed the stairs to her apartment, again muttering in her head that Kaede really should fix the elevator, or install one, for that matter. As the groceries were slowly put away she scanned her own home, looking for any faint presence of Kagome. On occasion when Sango cleaned she’d come across pieces of charcoal or sketches left in books or under things.

Feeling bold, or even lonely, she eased open the door to Kagome’s old room. The bed had been stripped bare, the walls even to, albeit one framed piece from Kagome’s earlier years. The sketch was of a single rose. There was nothing to say other than the sheer beauty and detail Kagome had put into each and every petal, each with a wrinkle, a contour, and a shape. Kagome promised that the wrinkles on the surface were stories for the rose, just like wrinkles on people told stories too.

Sango turned on the desk on the lamp and pulled out the chair at Kagome’s desk and sat down. There were scratches on the wood surface, grooves that her fingers felt as they swept the surface. “Kagome…have I been ignoring your wrinkles?” Sango asked herself quietly, leaning her cheek against the surface of the table.

Before the silence could even answer her, the familiar ringtone dedicated to Mirkou went off.

“Hey, Love. How are you?”

“Oh my darling Sango! Every woman here has refused to bare my children. It’s a horrid day.”

She laughed and continued to rest on the table, “That’s because they know I’ll kill ‘em. You’re mine, even if you are far away.”

“My darling, I miss you.”

“I know, and I miss you too.”

“What are you doing today? My weather chart on my laptop indicates beautiful summer weather.”

“You sound like a news reporter,” she chuckled, sitting up to lean back in her chair. “I was going to ask Kagome to pick out some flowers to bring home but I saw her leaving with Inuyasha.”

‘Ah yes, and how is our dear Kagome doing recently?”

Sango looked up at the ceiling, “She’s been fine since the car incident. I think that she’s almost normal again, ya know? The medication has tapered off and she keeps cranking out more and more artwork. She won’t let me see most of it, but she promises it’s because her exhibition is coming up.”

“Ah right! You will take pictures for me? I’m very upset I can’t be there to see our little artist have her debut.”

“Yeah, I will, don’t worry,” Sango closed her eyes. “How are things on your end though?”

There was a pause on Miroku’s end, then a sign, “I found Koga.”

Sango’s eyes shot open and the front two legs of her chair came crashing down to the ground again. “You did?”

“Now Sango don’t get your hopes up---“

“Where is he? How is he?”

“Sango, I found him as in I saw him on the street, from afar.”

“Afar?”

“That just means he’s in New York City. I don’t know how long he’s going to be here.”

“But it’s a lead, right? His parents own such a large company I bet they have an office branch in New York. That’s the big place on the East coast, right?”

Miroku sighed and rested his hand on his forehead, “Sango, there’s more though…”

“What? How did he seem? Good? No wait, I want him to be sad. I want him to be missing Kagome.”

“He was with a woman.”

Sango looked down at the scratches on the table and cleared her throat. “So what? Maybe he has a female coworker. There are tons of reasons for him to be with someone of the opposite sex. You know they’re a lot more relaxed than we are over here.”

 

“Sango…”

“Please, Miroku, don’t give up yet. Try and talk to him. If he’s really over Kagome, then it’s okay.”

“And if Kagome is over him already?”

Sango bit her lip and closed the door to Kagome’s old room.  While she ran her hand through her hair she wandered over to the fridge, which, due to living alone, was on the empty side.  “She’s not. She’s not over anything that happened that night. I refuse to believe that.”

Kagome and Inuyasha were sitting on the edge of a fountain in the center of the town.  Her shoes had long been removed to dip her feet into the fountain. It was such a warm day that no one cared. The fountain was not small; in fact it took up about an entire soccer field. Younger children ran shirtless in the center of the pond and even a few ducks floated by happily.

“This is what you wanted to do with your day off, tan?” Inuyasha huffed, scratching the back of his head. It was hot, even with the braid Kagome made him.

She splashed him lightly and smiled, “Come on, it’s beautiful out. No one’s given us a hard time.”

“Yeah but it’s so damn hot.”

She splashed him again; he finally pulled his eyes to her with a half-grin half-snarl. “Inuyasha, relax, everyone thinks we’re humans.”

Kagome gestured to everyone at the park. Not a single person was looking their way. If anything, Kagome and Inuyasha might look related from afar with their heads of black hair.  Sitting between them was an unrolled bento box and some rice balls. With her chopsticks Kagome picked up a sushi roll and held it out to him. 

He raised an eyebrow and huffed. Kagome poked the sushi against the side of his face with the chopsticks and giggled. She continued to poke at his face until he turned and quickly snapped the food off her chopsticks, which surprised her, and caused her to squeak. “Ha, got you.”

“Are you really that uncomfortable?” Kagome asked him sadly, picking up a rice ball and biting the top off the triangle. “We can go after lunch….maybe back to Nana’s for iced coffee?”

Inuyasha glanced again at her. She was trying so hard and it was evident on her face. Hiding his blush he shoved her sunhat farther down onto her head and shoved a piece of sushi in his mouth muttering, “It’s fine.”

Kagome huffed and pulled up on her hair and put it on his head, “Stay here! I’m going to go get us some ice cream.”

“Hey! You’re acting like a guy on a date!” Inuyasha shouted after her, waving the hat. Kagome turned back at him while running and stuck out her tongue sweetly.

Humming on the line to the ice cream vendor she didn’t notice the men who approached her from behind. A hand tapped her on the shoulder and she flipped around, expecting Inuyasha, and found three men staring at her. The three were each in a simple t-shirt and shorts, one with red hair, one with blue, and one with green. Their hair was clearly unnatural, a few piercings between them, but Kagome did not feel immediately intimidated by them.

“Hey, you here alone? Why don’t you come with us and hang out.”

Kagome shook her head and smiled, “Sorry, I’m afraid I came with someone else.” She moved ahead in the line, closer to the vendor.

The blue haired man with, Kagome noticed, yellow eyes, tilted his head and folded his arms in front of his chest, “Did you come here with your boyfriend?”

Kagome moved up again in the line, “Do I have a reason to tell you?”

“Oh, a sassy one, and cute too, “ the red one chuckled, elbowing the green haired companion. “Come on now. Is he here?”

Kagome closed her eyes and sighed. “He’s not on a leash.” Kagome prayed this line would keep moving. At this point she was very close to just getting off the line and explaining to Inuyasha they were out of chocolate ice cream,

“Oh ho ho, you like to roleplay then? Are you the master often?” The green chuckled, lifting up a strand of her hair, “I guess if you styled it you could look like a dude. Does he get down on his knees and beg like a dog?”

Rage flared in her eyes and she finally decided enough was enough.  Weaving her way around the three she headed back towards Inuyasha, who thankfully, was at least in her line of vision.  

She didn’t get too far before she was yanked back by the arm. “Hey, we’re not done talking yet.”

“I have nothing else to say to you three,” Kagome growled, turning and swatting his hold off of her arm. The three men looked more and more like ghouls the longer they stared at her. As she glared she realized something, They’re demons.

She felt a chill run up her spine as they sneered at her, smelling her fear, probably. “Ah, I think the little girl understands the situation now.” The three began to guide her away from Inuyasha. He did not seem to notice what was going on, and without his hearing, didn’t know what was going on.

The redhead and blue haired men walked in front of her. She was unable to discern what kind of demons they were. They looked entirely human despite their hair color. Koga at least had fangs, Inuyasha had ears, and there was nothing distinct about them but yellow eyes.

She made a quick decision and hoisted her had from her head and tossed it up in the air. As the hat soared up into the air Kagome immediately turned left and shoes and all she launched herself into the large fountain all the while calling out his name, “INUYASHA!”

Inuyasha from his place on the fountain’s edge turned to the director her voice came from. “What the hell is she doing?”

As he saw Kagome run towards him, dress slowly becoming soaked with the torrent of waves she created in her spring, he noted the three men running behind her. He stood up and the man with the red hair pushes her way to watch her, down, into the water.

“What the fuck are you guys doing?” Inuyasha was pissed now. In no way did Kagome probably do something to provoke them. Once in the fountain he ran towards them, watching Kagome struggle to pull her head from the water and have the man with green yank her by the hair.

The blue haired man laughed, “Ah, so this is the little doggy that obeys your every command? You must be some sort of master, princess.” He shook Kagome as she coughed on water, “Come on now, no sass to spit back?”

Kagome dug her nails into his arm and with her free hand elbowed him in the groin, listening to him groan as she scrambled to her feet, “Get away from me.”

 As the blue haired man went down the green backhanded her across the face sending her skidding into the water, at least this time, in Inuyasha’s direction. Kagome’s vision was blurred; it was a very disorienting feeling not knowing which way was up. It was similar to being hit with a wave at the ocean and tumbling along to the shore, unsure which way was up. As she popped up to couch for air she saw Inuyasha.

Inuyasha at this point had lunged forward and slugged the green haired man across the face, the blue one slowly recovering from his personal violation. Kagome let out a quick scream as the man with green hair from behind kicked Inuyasha in the back, forcing him down to his knees.

“INUYASHA!”

“Now this isn’t very fun, it’s like torturing an ant under a magnifying glass,” one of them chuckled, hoisting Kagome up. Passersby’s were beginning to stare, watching the helpless girl try to free herself from their grasp. “What happened to Master? Tell your dog to attack us.”

“Leave Kagome alone!” Inuyasha spat, throwing his leg out for a kick. It connected with the man with red hair, but he only so much as stumbled back from the impact. Damnit, I’m so weak in this form. I can’t fucking protect her. The kick was returned and Inuyasha skidded away, foot connecting to jaw, the horrid sound of a painful whack.

Kagome dug her nails into his hands as she tried to free herself. Now her hair was too short to just chop away as she could have in the past. “Leave him alone! Stop it!”

“Little Princess who can’t do anything but bark orders, haha, who’s the dog here? Bad doggie”

Her face was shoved back into the water. Just inches from the bottom of the fountain Kagome’s eyes opened under the water. Why is this happening? I’m just a human today. Why are they after me when I’m just a human? Oh god, Inuyasha.

Inuyasha spat blood and rubbed his jaw. God, it hurt so much worse being a human.  The men with red and green hair stood over Inuyasha chuckled. “So you’re name is Inu-ya-sha? What a cute little doggy, like a black Labrador. Right?”

“Keh, good thing I’m a trained dog,” Inuysaha growled. He threw his weight on his hands and kicked both his feet up, smashing both men into the chest.

Kagome could hear the water splashing around while her free hands flailed she couldn’t beat the pressure his hand had against the back of her head. As if to tease her, he lifted her head back up and let her gasp for air, then shove her back down again. Where were the people in this damn park to help them!  

“Oh Kagome, I don’t think either of them would view you as a burden.” She reached out at patted the younger girl’s hand trying to soothe her. “The powers of the priestess are hard to control.”

 

Kagome sniffed again and ran a hand through her short matted hair, “But why could I use my powers yesterday then?”

 

Her eyes closed after being smacked upside the head and she let her arms hang limp in the water. The blue haired man looked down at her, “Hey, you didn’t die, did you?” he teased. She laid perfectly still. “Fuck! Wake up! There’s no way you’re actually dead.”

 

Inuyasha let out a groan as the two men each grabbed and punched him the gut. He fell to his knees and coughed, holding his arms to his head to block his face from more of their punches. But when he heard their third companion start screaming at Kagome he looked up through a black and blue eye.

 

Kagome swayed in that man’s hands like a limp noodle. He couldn’t tell from here if she was breathing. He opened his bloody mouth and called out to her weakly, “Kagome?!”

 

“It might have been a gut-reaction,” Kanade explained, taking another sip at her tea.  “There is an instinct inside of you as an individual that cries out to keep you safe.” She tapped her hand against her heart, “There is a reason your powers surfaced, a reason you were protected, we just need to figure that out.”

 

Kagome opened her eyes and looked down at the water below her. There were tiny drops of water falling from her hair back into the fountain, water choppy from all the movement, She could hear Inuyasha calling to her and the man above screaming at her.  She had trained for this, she had trained to fight and defend herself. Lady Kanade had not trained her for simple humans, but for men like these, for the demons too. Was this all she could show for herself in these past few months, a kick to the groin and a sneaky escape? Her eyes began to glow pink.

“Enough…”

The man looked down and shook her by the straps of her dress, “Oh, did the princess say something?”

“I said…enough…” she whispered.

The man chuckled and looked to her friends, “The princess says she’s done playing. What does our friend say?”

The two looked down at Inuyasha who was half underwater, blood diluting the water coming from his nose. “Don’t think the doggie has much to say anymore.”

Kagome looked over to Inuyasha slowly and then down at her hands.  “Why don’t you speak up, little princess?”

Concentrate. Her eyes shut. Conceive. Kagome imagined a short-arced blade in her hand. Create. And to her surprise a pink blade appeared in her hand. This is it. The priestess power.

“I said E-nough!” Kagome jabbed her new blade backward into the man’s thigh. He let out a howl and released her.

“You fucking bitch!”

Finally free, eyes piercing pink, the power glowing away from her eyes like ribbons in the wind, she came sprinting towards Inuyasha, another blade forming in her other hand. The two men braced themselves to attack her. As one threw a punch she ducked quickly and cut horizontally across his shirt and as she landed she pivoted on her right foot and rotated, creating a circle with her blades.

Kagome lifted Inuyasha and dragged him to the edge of the fountain where it could rest above water. “Ka…gome?”

“It’s okay, Inuyasha,” Kagome whispered, ruffling the top of his head. She turned her back to him, dress now almost entirely transparent, and held her stance.

For this brief moment the three demons took the second to recognize the scars on her body, the white dress so clear, it hung like limp tissue paper. “Seems someone has her own battle scars.”

“Little Princess isn’t perfect,” Kagome sheathed her two knives to her side, as if she had a hostler. The pink light shined brightly and as she raised her arms out again, she held a single, long, blade. “Am I no fun now that I can spill a little blood?”

As the one with blue hair, the real instigator honestly, ran towards her, Kagome slashed out her katana one handedly. A punch was thrown in her direction and instantly, in her free hand, materialized a pink circle, that acted as a shield to block his punch. Her sword followed in motion behind the shield.

Inuyasha, through his swollen eyes, couldn’t believe the change in her.  While the girl was not all that fluid and graceful in her movements, her weapons were. Somehow Kagome created shape after shape to block the attacks from the man around her. It was as if she was continually reassembling her powers around her that poured out as endless as the fountain itself. Inuyasha struggled to his feet as she continued to fight.

From over his shoulder he could hear police sirens heading towards the fountain. Someone had finally called in the disturbance. He did wonder, however, how many people could actually see Kagome’s light.

“Kagome! We need to get out of here!” he shouted, trying to remain standing straight, feeling the burdens of human limitation.

Kagome stopped her movements to throw her hands up into the air. The weapons dissipated and reconstructed in the sky and down flew pink like rain. “Scatter!”  The three  men covered their heads, scurrying away from the her, as a rain of holy light poured over them.

Once they were gone Kagome’s eyes flickered back to blue and she looked around slowly. She could hear the sirens in the background and took a step towards Inuyasha, swaying slightly. He reached out to get to her, but both were pretty injured.

 Kagome held up her hand and sighed, holding her head back up high and smiled, “We’re a pretty sore sight right now…”

Park patrons had scattered and vanished at this point. Perhaps the fighting had gotten to be too much for them. Kagome, now realizing her dress was completely see-through, wrapped her arms over her chest. “Are you going to be able to walk home? Those creeps took my wallet somewhere in the mess.

 

“Money is the least of your problems right now,” Inuysaha teased, behind all the pain he felt in his face.

Her two hands reached up and cuffed his face, wiping away stray traces of blood from his face, “Oh god, Inuyasha. I’m so sorry,” she cried weakly, looking at the injuries on his face. “I should have run away.”

“Keh, you idiot, you wouldn’t have gotten far with three demons on your tail.” He lifted her by armpits slowly and dropped her outside the fountain before wobbling out of it himself.

He draped his arm around her shoulder and both leaned into each other as they wobbled away from the battlegrounds before the police came for them.

“Sit still, Inuyasha,” she begged, holding up a cotton ball in tongs.

Her body was covered in an oversized t-shirt belonging to Inuyasha. They’d both forced the other to take showers and now Kagome was trying to put bandages on his face. She shifted and the shirt rode up slightly on her thigh and Inuyasha couldn’t help blushing. God, make me a demon again, so she can’t see this. What the hell, man?

“It freakin’ hurts, you witch,” Inuyasha growled, batting away her hand. “It’s just a few more hours anway.”

“Fine, have it your way,” Kagome tossed the cotton ball onto the ground and closed up the first aid kit. She sat with her back away to him on the edge of the bed and huffed.

Inuyasha’s faced softened, “I told you it wasn’t your fault. I was the one who said I’d protect you.”

 

“But I knew you were human. I knew it yet I came running right over to you, bringing danger with me.”

“Would you have really fought them all on your own?” he asked gently, reaching out to touch her shoulder. “You just needed me as a decoy anyway,” he laughed.

She turned around to look at him quickly, “I didn’t use you as a decoy. I swear I didn’t. I just…I just…I saw them hurting you and...” she looked down at her hands, “and I wanted to protect you. Just like that I had the powers. I can’t even bring them back now.”

Inuyasha smirked lightly, “Maybe your powers have limited batteries.”

“Inuyasha,” she wined. “How am I supposed to tell Lady Kanade about this!”

“Tell her you saved the two of us. But just so you know, this was probably one of the worst…no screw it, this was the worst date I’ve ever been on.”

Kagome pouted and threw a pillow at him, “It is not my fault three demons decided to pick a fight with me of all people in the entire park.”

“God, I mean I’ve had some crazy girlfriends but gees…getting the shit beating out of me on the firs try. Pretty rough.” He continued to tease her and ruffle her hair.

She reached out to slam her little fists against his chest when he caught them both, holding them above her head, the two face to face. They were only a few inches apart and Inuyasha felt his heart speed up.

Kagome leaned forward and kissed each of his eyes gently, watching each of his eyes close just before her lips left further touches on the lids.  She sat back on her haunches and smiled at him, “Mom always says kisses make the pains all better. All better now?” she asked in a sweet sing-song voice.

Inuyasha gulped and nodded slowly. He opened his mouth to say more when he heard the alarm clock on his watch begin to beep. Closing his eyes he felt a light twinkled on the roots of his hair and shoot down the roots, his black main instantly changing back to white. His ears and fangs reappeared, claws too, and when he opened his eyes he was staring back at just the beginnings of Kagome’s transformation.

She had decided to stand in front of the mirror in his room and reach her hand out to the mirror. The changes in Kagome were smaller. She grew just a few inches, her hair maybe an inch longer, her fangs, and her bust grew, not that Inuyasha would ever admit that. He’d hit him for sure for that one.

Kagome ran her hand along the glass and smiled as Tsuki screamed at the injuries the two had on their faces. Kagome chuckled and looked back to Inuyasha, “And to think I disliked the quiet.”

Author's Note: Title = Mae, "My Favorite Dream"