- Chapter 15 –

- Kagome -

- At Totosai's –

She groaned. Her hands on her head, her legs squirming under her. She kept her eyes shot since it seemed to lessen the pain. She gasped when a pain, that felt like a nail was getting hammered into her skull came, and she clutched to her head even tighter, like she was trying to physically restrain the pain. She felt hands on her and the voice of a man that sounded worried.

"Kagome? What is happening?!" Before she even got to answer she felt a sudden coldness in her heart, which only seemed to grow or spread with every heartbeat.

"What is happening?" she was not able to get the words out. Her heartbeat rose along with her growing panic, which in turn only made the coldness expand. It was not long before she felt the coldness had expanded to her shoulders. The hands that were holding her started to shake her and yell, but she was no longer able to understand a single word that was said. Wait… She noticed the pain was suddenly gone. It had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. It left her with a question though… What made her feel this pain. A disease? An aneurysm?

She felt the hands let go of her and then him saying something, in a panicky voice, but again, she couldn't hear him. She felt odd… Like something was about to happen… That she was waiting… But for what? She felt something soft, maybe some fabric, being held up against her left ear, it was padded against her ear a couple of times before he went and did it to her right ear. It was a really… weird experience. She couldn't see, hear or talk, but she could definitely feel… And besides the padding against her ear, she felt… light… cold… wait… was she dead? Or close to?

"Beast? Are you there?" She hadn't heard anything from her beast, or other self? But nothing. Was she not even able to hear her own beast?! Or did something happen to her too? Before she would start to full out panic, something warm entered her body like a wave of water crashing into her body, filling her up and removed the coldness. She felt… when was the last time she had felt like this? It was… That is when it dawned on her, and for some reason, she felt a deep sense of dread, sorrow, and regret. She had become whole again.

Naraku must have gotten to her, but if he had… then what about her friends… even Inu-Yasha… He must be heartbroken. Even though he hadn't really treated her that well, they were still… when it came down to it friends who had been through life and death together. After everything Inu-Yasha and Kikiyo went through, they had to have another tragic ending to their love story? How she so wanted to cry… to go to her friends… to make sure they were all still alive… There was only one problem though… She was not able to open her eyes. Why was she not able to open her eyes? She was whole? The missing piece had returned… something slowly dawned on her… is it part of…

"AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" She screamed like she never had before when she started to feel her bones, muscles and everything else started to twist and turn, pull and so on. The pain was indescribable… She kept gasping for air, and she felt her heart beat so fast that she almost feared it would jump out of her chest. Her head felt like it was on fire. Not inside, but her entire scalp. Her fingertips had sharp pains in every finger. She felt like her legs, hands, arms, and feet was being pulled, like in that ancient torture device she had seen in history books. Her jaw too felt painful, and the pain seemed to travel to the gums, which also started to feel really hot. She began to taste blood in her mouth and it was not long before she felt one tooth touch her tongue after another. She felt someone jamming her jaw open and started to remove the teeth, probably so that she wouldn't swallow them. She felt another wave of warmth and sharp pain in her jaw and gums. Her ears felt like they had been stretched and felt like someone had poured hot water over them. Then everything stopped. The pain, the twisting, and pulling. The continuous warmth she had felt, faded away slowly.

She groaned when she tried to move her arm, but she couldn't. Everything… Literally, everything felt sore… from her face to her toe. Even laying down felt sore and thus painful. She felt like she had no energy to even open her eyes, but she wanted to give it try. She had to give it try. After several tries, she finally opened up her eyes slowly, getting adjusted to the light, that seemed sharper than usual. She felt hands around her again, but it only made her hiss and the hands were off just as quick. She looked up to see a wide-eyed, white-paled Sesshoumaru.

"Ho… How are you feeling?" Kagome offered him a little smile, even though it hurt like hell

"Sore… and happy that it is over… but…" Kagome looked down… trying to hold back the tears, she had wanted to shed earlier. She looked up again, looking him dead in the eye.

"Kikiyo is dead" Sesshoumaru simply nodded. Seeming to have already guessed that fact.

"You mean Inu-Yasha's dead lover?" she heard in a farther side of the room. She looked at Totosai and nodded

"But how…" Totosai waved his hand at her

"I hear things. She had become an evil creature… It is only a good thing she died. Now she can find peace." Kagome nodded, though she wasn't sure Kikiyo would be able to find peace until Naraku's demise. She looked back at Sesshoumaru.

"We need to get that bird sent right now. They had jewel shards, and now Naraku has them, and he killed Kikiyo. We need to help them, we can't postpone any longer" He nodded in agreement. The worried look replaced by determination. He stood up and was about to walk out of the room before he stopped, clearly remembering something. He went over to her bag and took out the small mirror she had. He then walked over to her and placed the mirror and her hand.

"Don't be too surprised. You are still Kagome." Kagome's wrinkle on the forehead only grew bigger. She looked down at the mirror only to discover something else… and it had nothing to do with the mirror… there, right next to her on the sheets, she found blood, fingernails, teeth, and a ton of hair. She felt the warmth in her face disappear, she began to see small dots in front of her eyes, and she was starting to feel dizzy. She panickily tightened her hold on the mirror, bringing it to her face.

She let out the air, she hadn't realized she had been holding. Yes, she had lost her teeth, but they had also been replaced, with white, and what seemed like stronger teeth, some of them were pretty sharp… maybe so it was easier for her to chew into raw meat? Nope… the thought still made her queasy.

"But not me… I would love a raw bloody steak" Kagome almost jumped out of her bed out of pure surprise

"Welcome back"

"I never left. It was the transformation that made it impossible for me to communicate with you. Your two energies were clashing and took some time to merge, hence the pain" Kagome nodded. She could see reason in that… Making two opposing forces merge, should have been impossible… But… She focused on the mirror again, looking herself over. She had time traveled, she is on a life-or-death mission and now she is youkai… She was surprised she had no markings, but maybe that was a clan thing? Her ears looked close to Sesshoumaru's, though not as pointy. Her hair might be the biggest difference. For some reason, it was dark purple, long and verrrry soft.

"Are you okay?" She heard Sesshoumaru ask. She forced herself to look away from the mirror and gave him an assuring smile. It seemed to have been enough, since he just nodded and walked out of the room, probably to send the message.

"I will continue with my task, and you continue to rest. You need it." She looked at Totosai, who kept his gaze at her even when he turned to leave the room and closing the door behind him. She went back to look at herself in the mirror. It might not seem like she had changed a lot at first glance, but her jaw and cheekbone were leaner, like Sesshoumaru's features. She looked at her hands. Her nails had been replaced with claws. She held her hand up, inspecting them close. At least there weren't any poison dripping from them or anything… She laid down the mirror and laid back down sighing. It seemed Naraku just kept on growing stronger. And what were they doing, while people are getting killed? She shook her head.

"Focus on the task. Focus on the task" she kept repeating it as a chant. Totosai was making the weapon. They only had two tasks left. The ingredients and making sure they have an army to back her, and her friends up in the final battle. She closed her eyes so that she could rest. Tomorrow, she will insist they travel on. On to her friend, master of Herbs, Jinenji.