Ch.10: “Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kitty”

Koga stared blankly at me as if trying to process what I had just told him.

“You’re sure it’ll work?” He asked finally.

“Sure I’m sure. I know Kagome. She loves that kind of stuff. Has she ever seen it before?”

“Of course not!” He snapped. “It’s not like I show it to just anyone!”

“So, it’ll be like a special moment, then.”

Koga rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I’m afraid it’ll…overwhelm her, ya know?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on Koga. How big could it be?”

Koga measured with his hands and showed me the approximate size.

“Okay, let me see it.”

“You want me to show it to you?”

“Yes. I want to see how big it is.”

Reluctantly, Koga agreed.

A few moments later, I was shaded by its monstrous shadow. I looked it over and nodded.

“Oh, it won’t bother her at all. In fact, I think Sesshomaru is bigger.”

A second afterwards and Koga put it away. He glared at me for a moment.

“This had better work, or so help me, I’ll spill the beans about you and mutt-face, got it?”

I nodded. “Come by at around sundown. She’ll be ready for you.”

We both agreed and went our separate ways. Little did Koga know, this would be the last time he’d see me like this. As I walked down the path home, I began to transform.

Sango played with her fingers nervously. She glanced up at Inuyasha.

“She said she’d be back, didn’t she?” She whimpered.

“For the millionth time, yes.” Inuyasha growled.

Sango looked out on the foggy horizon. She squinted her eyes as something came into view. Two tails attached to a misshapen figure appeared. Sango sighed.

“Finally!”

As the figure got closer, Sango realized it wasn’t in human form at all. Her eyes went wide as she seen me bound over to her in my demonic form, my fur flying back in the wind. Before I knew it, she was running towards me. I hadn’t seen her so happy in so long. She threw her arms around me and hugged tight.

“Oh, Kirara! I was so worried.”

I backed up to look at her.

“Sango, there are so many things I want to say to you.” I told her through telepathy.

Sango smiled. “You can tell me anything.”

I brought my ears back slightly with embarrassment.

“No, I can’t. I can’t tell you everything. But there is one thing I can say. I love you, Sango, and I don’t have to be in the form of a human to let you know that.”

I closed my eyes. I felt my human emotions melt away as I shrunk down to the size of a squirrel. When I next opened my eyes, I was in Sango’s arms. She was crying. She was happy. I could see Inuyasha. He looked happy, too. I know within a few days, my human memories will be erased. I felt much better because I had no shame. I felt free of any guilty conscience I had had before. I sighed and sunk my face into Sango’s shoulder.

Everyone looked up when Koga appeared, which was pretty sudden, as usual. He smiled shyly and fiddled with his skirt hem.

“Hey, Kagome.” He said quietly.

“Umm…Hi?” She responded, not used to Koga being so unlike himself.

“Whatever you want, we don’t care. So take a hike, ya wimpy wolf!” Inuyasha threatened.

Koga glared for a moment, then outstretched his arm with great force, and shoved Inuyasha into a thorn bush. Try as he might, Inuyasha couldn’t free himself of the pesky thorns. Even Tetsusaiga was entangled in the vines. While Inuyasha struggled to get up, Koga turned back to Kagome.

“Listen, Kagome. There’s, uh, something I want to show you.”

“You’d better watch it!” Inuyasha called. He reached over and grabbed the still unconscious Shippo by the tail. “There’s a child present!”

Everyone ignored him. Koga took a nervous breath and closed his eyes. All watched in awe as Koga began to shed his clothes and instead grow fur. He grew taller and wider and his face elongated, creating a muzzle. After a moment or two, Koga stood tall in front of all of us in his demon form, wagging his tail. He had long, fluffy brown fur and lighter tan colored underneath.

“Well? What do you think, Kagome?” He asked telepathically.

Kagome stood there, mouth agape. “Oh my…”

Koga lowered his head and whimpered, his tail wagging continuously.

Kagome slowly reached out and petted Koga’s head. He wagged his tail even faster.

“Look, Inuyasha! Isn’t he adorable!” Kagome squealed joyously.

Inuyasha sat in his bush, growling viciously as he watched Koga flip himself over, exposing his ‘wolf parts’ and his stomach. Inuyasha snarled even louder, but no one seemed to care. His growl worsened when Kagome began scratching Koga’s stomach, causing the wolf to moan in ecstasy and thump his foot noisily against the ground. Inuyasha suddenly burst free from the bush, steaming mad. He snatched Kagome by the shoulder and yanked her away. Koga rolled over onto his stomach to hear what the puny puppy had to say.

“You literal son of a bitch! If you pull that stunt again, I’ll take my Tetsusaiga and neuter you so fast…”

“Blah, blah, blah. Is that all you ever do, Inuyasha? No wonder Kagome never scratched your belly.”

“You wanna say that to my face, ya mangy wolf?” Inuyasha challenged.

Koga laughed as he changed back to normal. He stood behind a rock, hands on his hips.

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat, I must take my leave.” Koga’s attention was now on Kagome. “Next time you get rid of mutt-face for the day, we could continue where we left off.” He finished with a wink.

Kagome giggled and blushed slightly. Then, Koga looked at me. He didn’t speak, but his eyes said, “Good work, cat. Thanks.”

Koga took one final look at Kagome and sped off. Inuyasha glared at her momentarily.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“What?” Kagome asked innocently.

“YOU KNOW WHAT! SCRATCHING THAT MANGY WOLF’S STOMACH! You wanna get fleas?”

“Oh, Inuyasha! Koga doesn’t have fleas! Besides, he was so cute!”

Inuyasha stepped away from Kagome. “You are unbelievable!”

“And you’re just jealous!”

“I am not!”

“Yes you are!”

“Not!”

“Are!”

“Shut up!”

“Sit!”

That ended that conversation. While everyone left, I hopped over to Inuyasha, whose face was still 3 feet deep in soil. When he finally looked up, our eyes locked. He smiled slightly.

“Couldn’t keep a secret, could you?” He asked quietly.

A mewed to him and walked away. My memory of the past few days were already beginning to deminish. I wasn’t quite sure what secret he was talking about, but it must’ve been pretty important if I had to give up my human form to keep it. Inuyasha stood up and followed me to the rest of the group. I stopped suddenly when I heard the now semi-conscious Shippo groan. I hopped over to him. He slowly opened his eyes. He gasped when he saw me.

“Oh, Kirara! I had the weirdest dream that you turned human!”

I tilted my head and purred. Shippo laughed.

“I guess that’s never gonna happen, huh?”

Again, I mewed to him. No, dear kitsune. It won’t happen anytime soon.

I thought for a moment. Perhaps I just wasn’t ready for the human form. Maybe, by the time I kill a million more demons, I’ll be ready to accept it and I’ll know how to use it correctly.

But, until then, my name is Kirara and I’m a two-tailed cat demon and that’s how it’s going to stay.

The End