Growth by Watermelonsmellinfellon

I'm Alive Again

A/N: Hello, people!

I don't own Inuyasha.

I have no beta.

ENJOY!

She was small. Ever so small in the long haul. She was a creature born of intent, not even actually born like most beings were.

Often had the souls of departed ningen moved on to become youkai. It seemed that she was one of them. How did she go from being a miko in her life, to being a youkai in the next? And not even a youkai of at least middle standing. Like an oni perhaps. No, she was a flea.

A. Flea.

When she had died in the final battle in order to give her friends the victory they so deserved, she hadn’t thought much about what would happen after death, but there she was, in a miniscule body without any kind of powers and no possible way of defending herself beyond being so small that she was hard to see.

Everything was so large and if she wanted to make it across a glade by the end of the day, she’d have to hitch a ride on any animal that passed by.

Her body was so small and she craved. Craved things she had never craved before. As a flea, she knew that she craved blood. And she reluctantly consumed what she could off of birds, rabbits, felines, and anything that passed her by.

Kagome tried not to think about the fact that she drank blood. Tried not to consider how she enjoyed it. While now a youkai, she still retained her rather ningen thought process.

In fact, why was she even aware of her former life? Weren’t reincarnations and such usually unaware of who they used to be?

~O~

Kagome became aware during her ninth week as a flea youkai, that when she drank the blood from other youkai - low leveled ones though - she would grow a little larger.

Eleven weeks into her new life and she noticed that she moved a little faster too. If drinking the blood from youkai was going to help her run faster, she’d find as many as she could.

It was too much of a workout to get to the other side of the field. While all for keeping fit and staying active, Kagome’s tiny body was not capable of handling the stress.

~O~

The whole idea was nice but finding the youkai was a pain. She was so small she couldn’t move fast enough and sometimes the animals she hitched a ride on couldn’t bother to go in the right direction.

Kagome’s second youkai feast came from a little burrow of usagi youkai. She tried to only take enough from each one and departed before any of them awoke to find her. She wasn't big enough to handle confrontation well.

Kagome noticed an improvement in her speed the following week.

A plan began to form. The little flea would make it through this!

~O~

Kagome carefully hid in the bush as she watched the pair of kappa youkai. They couldn't hear or see her. She was so small her scent was obscured by the wind.

She waited for them to drop their defenses. Waited as they were lulled into the sweet call of slumber, before she took what she needed.

From drinking their blood, she learned that she could hold her breath under the water for far longer. Little changes like that occurred the more blood she drank. Kagome hoped it would lead to something good.

It was almost as if she was evolving.

~O~

Kagome hadn’t realized until she’d entered her twenty-fifth week of her new life, that she had steadily been growing larger over time. Her preying on the smaller creatures around her had brought her much more strength.

She was no longer the size of a pinky nail, but more like the size of a full grown man’s hand. It was a shock to notice, but it did give her incentive. Maybe one day she’d be the size of a full human again. And then she’d be able to walk everywhere and not get winded from the trip.

She could only hope.

~O~

Kagome found herself a nekomata! She felt a sort of kinship with the feline. It reminded her of Kirara but with colors reversed. Also, it agreed to be her transportation and even allowed her some of it’s blood when she couldn’t find nourishment.

She named the feline Kei.

Kei had an amazing sense of smell and could find food for Kagome better than the miko turned flea could. He wasn’t large enough to fly yet, but soon he'd grow into that ability and they’d no longer be earth bound!

It was blessing that the nekomata had come upon her and decided to stay.

Kei found her a lizard that had been terrorizing a village. Kagome had ordered Kei to bring her to the creature, where Kagome sucked it almost completely dry and left the remains for the villagers to finish off.

The lizard was the size of a grown ningen and was capable of speech, making it a little more powerful than her usual fare.

She gained much energy over that creature.

Her sense of smell was enhanced after that, allowing her to pinpoint enemies almost as well as Kei.

She felt a sort of accomplishment and some pride in her new skill.

~O~ 

Kagome’s fortieth week as a flea youkai heralded a metamorphosis of sorts.

She had managed to consume enough blood from an ookami youkai that forced her body into a transformation. When she opened her eyes once again, she found that she was larger in height, with hands and feet and even hair once again.

Of course her form wasn’t anything spectacular. She was simply a two foot high, one-eyed oni, but at least it was better than being a flea! She could actually move around now and had claws that would allow her to take down opponents of similar build.

~O~

Kei kept by her side constantly and did not abandon her simply because she was a new being and capable of moving around on her own.

Together, the two began their trek across the wide island of Japan, taking down all creatures they were able to and fleeing from the creatures who were much too powerful to face.

Kei had also managed to grow, now standing even higher than she did. Soon he’d be able to fly much like Kirara could.

If she listened hard enough, the miko/youkai could understand what some of his yowls meant and would interpret the meaning behind them. Kei was a very straightforward individual.

As she was no longer a flea - for a reason even she didn’t know - she had to consume others. She couldn’t hunt ningen, it just didn’t seem right. So she hunted and ate animals and on the rare occasion, youkai.

~O~

Her claws were curved inward a bit, making a sort of scooping motion when she attacked. They were sharp and capable of leaving wide gashes in the bark of tree trunks.

On the defense, she was good at camouflage. As if she could manipulate her form to match everything around her. It was an interesting ability and she wondered if it had to do with the metamorphosis she had gone through.

Kei was under the assumption that she was a ‘shape-changer’. When youkai grew more powerful they tended to just get larger, not physically change species. She wasn’t so convinced.

~O~

They crouched in preparation. Below them was a very large lizard that was trying its hardest to scent them out but was getting confused.

Kagome was perched on a tree limb, blended into the wood. Kei was simply in the other tree, completely out of sight of the creatures.

Kagome waited for the back to turn, before pouncing, bringing her claws down in the same moment and catching the beast’s shoulder, tearing it’s arm off in the process.

Kei too attacked, saber-toothed fangs digging into the other shoulder and taking the being to the dirt.

They feasted well that night.

A/N: The first is done!

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See ya! :D