Kagome.

Stop calling my name!

Someone kept calling my name. I just didn't want to wake up. This sleep was so peaceful, so deep. I didn't want to wake up.

Kagome. Kagome? No! Kagome… WAKE UP!

The sudden snarl was some kind of order, and I dared not resist. Immediately my eyes shot opened and I flung up, right into the strong holds of strangers.

My mind reacted slower than my body and so it was a few minutes before the strangers became clearer to me.

Three of them held my arms and shoulders at once, as if my little frame actually challenged their own older ones. Still distressed and unsure, I continued to struggle against them, looking around at each unfamiliar face as if pleading for release, but none relented and soon I surrender enough so they loosened their holds, soon all but the older female woman holding me.

Who the fuck where these people?

"Hello Kagome. Please don't be too upset." "Who are you?" I didn't waste any time. She smiled as if surprised by my false bravery.

"My name is Keade. How are you feeling?" I could tell by her tone she was trying to calm me down and ease me. Many nannies and maids had acted the same around me while I grew up in my absent home.

I glanced at the two men, both eying me as if ready for me to jump up and run.

I considered it but that was all, continuing to glance around, noticing I lied on a cot like bed along a wall. Across me was a row of sophisticated computers and cabinets. Dangling lights and other such things that accompanied a scene between science lab and nurses office. All within a stone room.

None of which was familiar.

"Where am I?" I muttered, feeling unnerved again about the situation. They all loomed a step closer as if sensing it.

"It's okay Young Miss Jude. I assure you we mean you no harm." She soothed, sounding old world like, but calm. It did do something for my nerves as before. I couldn't help eyeing her with a grin.

She had a kind enough face, wise wit age, and long grey hair tied loosely in the back of her head.

"That's a nice trick lady." I conceded, still feeling my usual boldness as much as I used it as an insomnious defense.

"Do you remember anything?" The older gent suddenly spoke up, leaning over me. I sent him a look that said his bubble invasion wasn't welcomed and thought over his question.

Of course I remembered things. Stupid Kanna, fake Daddy, deadly train ride and Jaken.

Something sparked in my head. I felt myself shudder and sent my hand to my temple as a sudden ache flared. Keade watched my reactions with concern.

Jaken…Suddenly aware something had happened with Jaken I struggled to accept and recall it. The horse ride and the crazy horse and the…It was there. A dark shadow loosing in my mind and some hum that sent chills through me. I felt the Goosebumps erupt on my arms and winced, eyes clenched.

What? The shadow…it suddenly had these yellow eyes as it became clearer. And the teeth…Then it was gone and something bright was in my mind, like…like the moon. Then it was gone and I remembered it all. The wolf, the startled horse, the growled and whines…and the bite.

My eyes flew up and my hand to my sight.

I expected to see some ugly wound from it's bite, but…I looked it over…there was nothing. I looked at my other hand. Nothing. My wrists were fine and my arms. What?

"It wasn't a dream." The younger man spoke now. "Inuyasha!" Keade scolded him suddenly.

He returned her hiss with a glare, eyes golden, hair white as the moon, but short like a scatter boys ruffled mess.

"We can't let her imagination wonder. It makes it harder. You already know." I looked between them both, suddenly confused. "Uh-" My voice was ignored. "Don't be so hurried to drop it on her though. We don't need her getting hysterical." "But we can't loose her to insanity." The older man defended. "But-"

"Hey!"

The annoyed roar stilled everything. Successful but it scared the shit out of me and I clasped my hand over my mouth. Was that really me? They all regarded me once again.

"Okay…" Keade looked at me. The older man looked back at her. "She's very in tune to her inner animal. Is it because she's Sesshomaru's?" Keade glared at him quickly. "Shut up old man." She hissed, then looked back at me with serene as if she hadn't been threatening a second earlier.

Her eyes had been a harsh yellow tint, and I literally watched them fade into her cool brown. Suddenly I was falling.

Before I hit the mat and oblivion, the one called Inuyasha caught me in his hold and shook me, unwilling to let me sleep. When that didn't work he slapped me.

"Inuyasha!"

He looked up at them and growled. "Enough. We don't have time for this."

I was fighting to stay awake and resolve their odd conversations, but a big part of me didn't believe this was even real. Sleep had bee so sweet. Why not go back.

Then, out of no where, that growl came back.

I don't think I'd ever forget that growl. It was from the animal on the road and just was real, but t rang through my head like a bad dream come back. It woke me right back up.

I looked between the three in fright, each staring at each other as if knowing. Like they'd heard it as well.

Keade was the first to move on.

She moved away and came back with a little cup of water and handed it to me. I sat up and took it gratefully, downing it in a second flat. And against with the second. In fact I killed five cups before I was nearly hydrated again.

Keade had pulled up a chair in my frenzy and sat now beside me, smiling. Inuyasha leaned against the wall and the old man stood.

"Another?" She asked kindly. I shook my head, to uncomfortable to continue.

"Well…" "So," I looked at them all and back around us, then back at Keade. "What's going on?"

The old man cleared his throat. "I'll go see him. Bring her when you're through." He said, leaving without a goodbye of any sort.

I glared at his back. They talked about me like I were a servant or something less than them.

Once he was gone I looked back at Keade. "So?" I pressed, heated. She chuckled, still amused by my tough exterior.

"You've been asleep for three days." Inuyasha spoke up suddenly.

I saw Keade glare before I looked over at him with big eyes. "Three days!" "The wagon man brought you to the school nurse and we brought you here. It's Sunday, 6:42 in the morning." He wasn't soft about it at all. No padding to soften the blow or pat to sooth me. I frowned. Had I had a concussion or something. "Here?" "We're in a cavern system below the school grounds. Obviously a funnel of caves that circulate through each other. He signaled the rock walls. I stared at him. Caves? Was he joking.

"What?" I muttered, unbelieving. "Inuyasha-" Keade tried to slow him down but he went on ignorant of her.

"Our alpha brought you from the school and left you in our care for now. He's the one who gave you the injury on the hand and ultimately your new master." I stared at him. "We're a pack and the unofficial owners of this mountain area and this school. You're one now as well and you'll be a daughter of the moon as we are all her children. Soon, you'll understand more than any of us can say in words."

Still staring. "Uh…" I unconsciously scooted away from him. I breathed, then gulped. My head hurt once more. I opened my mouth to speak, but didn't say anything.

"Kagome?" I didn't hear her. My eyes darted to my hand and it's flawless flesh. No bite marks. No scars of the sort. Then I glanced at the door way. Finally back at him.

"Are you fucking crazy?" He narrowed his eyes. Keade sighed. "You can deny this all you want but we don't have time." I stared at him. "No. No. I'm sure Mother Moon has a bedtime for us." I mocked in defense to this all. "Kagome-" Keade tried to talk but Inuyasha cut in. "Look little princess, this isn't a joke." "I bet. And your not on drug either right." He growled. Very feral like and it unnerved me.

I jumped off the cot and ran a few feet from hem then turned and faced them. "Look, I'm not into occult type shit or believer type shit. If that is a required code for this school, I'll go back to Louisiana. No problem. My pleasure. I can find my way out." I turned but my arm was grasped by Keade suddenly. I eyes her widely and jumped away. "How da fuck!"

"Look Kagome, I know this is weird-" "Weird!" I went to go past her but she didn't relent in my departure.

"Look lady-" "Where will you go?" Inuyasha spoke up, still saucy. I turned to eye him.

"Oh that's right bat boy, we're in caves!" He glared daggers at me. "Oh, my bad! Were-boy right! That's all that 'pack' and 'alpha' shit ain't it. Children of the moon and oogly-boogly!" I said, throwing my hands in the air in show. He growled deeply.

I stepped away. "Look freak, I lived in New Orleans. Vampire wannabe's never caught my fancies. Dog wannabe's ain't anymore appealing." I took another step.

"This is not a fucking gag!" "No! No! I believe you! I just gotta go brush my tail!" I mocked some more, stepping again. Inuyasha stomped forward at me, but Keade cut hi off. I was near the door again.

"Is this some prank on the new kid or what? What the fuck you locos." I murmured, ready to turn and dart off.

Keade turned and looked at me.

"Please Kagome, we don't won't to chase you off. "No?;" I said incredulously.

She sighed. "Look, if we were some crazy occult, where would you go. It's a thousand miles from anything other than our own and…" She paused, hesitating, then surrendering. "And Sesshomaru wouldn't let you go. None of us can." I eyed her, unconvinced. "And if you tired to preach this insanity to anyone, many would think your insane. You suffered a mean head injury in the wagon ad it could easily be used against you as well." I stopped.

It didn't exactly all make sense but she was right. I believed her. What the hell was going on?

She stepped toward me peacefully. "Look. We can't make you believe it, but…we don't what to lie to you. To us, this is not a joke." "This is crazy." I said resolutely. She frowned.

"Listen!" Inuyasha called out, startling me. Stared over at him, annoyed. "I can listen to you for hours. It's still bullshit." He glared.

"No. Listen."

I didn't know how to respond. Listen? I stared at him straighter. "Listen." He said again, as if some holy person telling me to believe.

I sighed, shutting up, listening to the hum of the computers and the beep of the monitors. Nothing that screamed, Hey! You're a werewolf!

I went to open my mouth and argue more but he growled, and I heard it. It wasn't very loud like his others, but vibrating, and I heard it in his chest.

And his chest…He took a deep breath, and I heard the air change. And is heart…it sped up. His blood raced with it. And his blood. I smelled that too. It smelled like a good meal.

I paled suddenly.

Inuyasha smirked.

"Now princess, what were you saying?" I looked at Keade, but I didn't see her reassuring face. I didn't see her past the sound of her blood moving through her and her heart beating. I gulped and felt heavy suddenly.

No. I listened some more and I heard other things, like footsteps. I could barely hear other things that sounded like voices, then all too alarmingly, there were a hundred sounds in my ears, all loud like the New York subway, screaming at me. I couldn't make the differences out anymore. I threw my hands up and covered my ears, closing my eyes. I fell on my knees and whined.

Keade came to my side and held my shoulders.

"Kagome. Kagome!"

I could hear her, but it was so harsh with her rest of the noise. I screamed.

"Kagome! Concentrate. Think of my voice. Hear only my voice." I stopped screaming, but didn't open my eyes or uncover my ears.

It was terrible.

"Hear me. Me!" She had the same soothing tone and I wanted to hear it. Only it. I missed her attempts at calming me down and hated how I'd taken them for granted only earlier.

"Listen to me. Come on. Calm down Kagome. Listen to me."

The more she talked the easier it got to hear her. I tried to ignore all the other nuisance sounds and soon I could hear her above them. Eventually I pushed them back into a light buzz where only her words reigned.

I opened my eyes and looked at her. She still talked to me.

The buzz was low now and I didn't have torturous overload to deal with, but I became aware of something. I'd heard this buzz when I'd first woken up and even while I was up with them all. I'd ignored it as if it were just part of my mind, or part of the hum in the room.

Some part of me realized suddenly it was the mass of noises, and it all been there in my head. How hadn't it tortured me then. What the hell was going on?

Keade smiled at me, taking my hands from my ears and gesturing to stand with her. I followed, breathing deeply.

"There." She said finally, as if the whole thing was over.

"Are you a believer now?" Inuyasha killed the moment with his impatience. I eyed him. "This is all still crazy." "And life is perfect. Can we move on?"

I glared. "You're kind of an asshole aren't you?" I hissed. He stared, surprised by my quick recovery at the moment.

Keade laughed lightly.

She led me back to the cot and I sat up on it, while she took her seat again. Inuyasha turned and faced me again. "

So recount. What are you?" "Female." I said shortly. He frowned. "What do you think this is a game?" "Is this your ideal of fun?" I countered. He was almost shaking in frustration. I couldn't help but smirk.

"Kagome." Keade actually had a scolding tone, but soft as if only slightly reprimanding me. I lost my smile and slumped, obviously willing to listen and play along.

"What are you Kagome?" Inuyasha tried again. I shook my head. "Look, whatever this is…if I'm supposed to be…I can just say that allowed without resigning myself o total insanity. Bare with me!" I whined, unconfident. He sighed. "Then do you at least believe what we've said to you." "I believe I just had a melt down and experienced some very inhuman type shit. What the hell was that!"

Keade jumped in here. "Your an hear many things now. It's part of the gift. Stronger senses. You know, hearing, smell. Even your eye sight is greater. It's a lot, I know, but you'll notice it all once you in fresh air. It'll be a lot, like just now, but…it's a gift Kagome."

"Gift?"

"Yes, and that means you can't betray it." Inuyasha spoke up again.

"Don't scorn it or hate it or waste your time using it to hide from the world. Don't try and better anyone with it. It's a responsibility." "Okay Uncle Ben." I said, rolling my eyes. What the hell were these people sniffing?

He ignored me this time and went on.

"Everything's different now Kagome." I met his stare now, both of us serious.

"They'll be a lot of questions, which you can ask Keade, even I. But, your still human, and still alive. Don't think this is some curse and you can never go on. That's all horror book fantasy bull. Welcome to the pack."

The "cave" wasn't so cave looking. We left the computer room to enter a spacious hall type walk and followed down past wall, rock, more wall and more rock. Every once and a while we passed a door, closed or opened and I saw some other "people" but just in passing. We were heading to the older guy I guessed, and it was taking forever almost.

Yet I felt us getting closer.

There was some scent, something that seemed imminently important to me. I felt something inside me pick up, like a little rabbits panicked heartbeat at the indication of a predator near by. I sweated some and each step felt heavier, but somehow lighter at the same time.

I was getting more nervous now than when I'd woken earlier.

"Where-" "We're almost there Kagome." Keade cut me off.

I bit my bottom lip, a common sign of nervousness for me, ad followed blinding, twisting my hands together.

Then we were there.

Inuyasha opened the thin wooden door and held it for both Keade and I.

I entered cautiously.

By now I felt my heart racing.

Something was in here and it was getting my body to react crazily.

I didn't dare look past Keade, but it wasn't hard to when she purposely stepped out of my vision and led me up to the little group of guys ahead around someone in a chair before them.

The old man was there, barely looking at me, and another younger man beside him, who did watch me. Intently. I blushed despite myself.

But then I eyed the one sitting down, back to us. I only saw the back of his head actually.

White hair much like Inuyasha's. It was wet. Also longer than Inuyasha's; maybe down to his shoulders or a little past.

He was the source of my tension. The reason my whole body was freaking out. A big part of me was thinking, if ever there was a time to run, this was now.

We stopped a respectful distance from them, me a step behind Keade.

The one man whom I hadn't encountered yet stepped toward me finally and broke the tense silence.

"Miss Jude right?" He stretched a hand to me. I took it gingerly and nodded. He returned it with a smile. "I'm Miroku." I nodded again, glancing at the sitting one for a second. His head had turned slightly, cocked toward us almost as if he wanted to sneak a peek.

Some other tension built in the room, but I wasn't familiar with it.

"So Miss Jude, you've been told your new situation?" Miroku stole my attention and I met his eyes with my almost scared, confused ones.

He had brown eyes. His hair was black, tied in a rat tail at the back of his head.

Was this all really real? Wasn't it just a joke? Hadn't I been normal only a train ride ago? I thought about home and my friends and life, and compared them. This was a nightmare. Real or not, this was a nightmare.

Miroku smiled tightly, returned a look of pity at me. "Well…"

His hand left mine to come and pat my head softly. A show of remorse. I welcomed it. The only normal thing so far with these people.

Then the other man stood up, and all eyes were on him.

And he deserved it. As he stood he turned, and I watched it as if it were everything that mattered. I watched his body straighten. Hs muscles ripple with the movement. I noted his moves were sure, graceful and tight. His biceps flexed with a light sheen of sweat over him. I could smell it as much as see it and I mesmerized it.

And then he looked at me.

I fell away.

He had amber eyes. They swirled with…it was cliché, but they had power. But more than that, even with the yellowish-brown looking into my own green eyes, I knew his eyes.

For just a second of time they flashed the cold yellow of the beast I'd met days ago.

Suddenly my heart beat not only raced, it spurred out of control and I unconsciously took a step back, nearly tripping over clumsy feet.

"Kagome?" Keade reached out to help me, but I pulled away from her. I took another step, never parting my eyes from his.

"He's the…" I whispered it, but they all heard me. I froze. "He's the-" My mind went to what Inuyasha had told me earlier in his ranting. "Our alpha brought you from the school and left you in our care for now. He's the one who gave you the injury on the hand and ultimately your new master." He was the thing that had bit me. I didn't know it as much as feel it. Before now, all the crazy nonsense they'd told me was unreal. I kept hoping I'd wake up. But right now, looking at him…I felt as if it were all suddenly too real.

They're 'alpha'. Whatever that was. My supposed new 'master'.

I looked at them all with full fearful eyes. "You're all crazy." I said without thought. I stepped back again, then feeling something at my back, turned on my heel and saw Inuyasha, positioning himself to stop me if I ran. I narrowed my eyes at him momentarily.

Something in me considered his challenge, but it was foreign. Alien. It scared me more than everything else. I shook my head to clear it.

"Kagome, you need to stay calm." I turned on Keade. "Why! Big bad wolf gonna wake up and kill everyone if I get mad!" I thought about the 'Hulk Syndrome' and laughed aloud.

"She's panicking." The old man spoke up, staring at me with narrowed eyes. Inuyasha and Keade were circling in on me. I turned my head back and forth at them both.

Miroku took two steps closer but was more cautious of me.

I sunk lower slightly, as if getting on my hind legs to attack. I hadn't thought about it as much as done it instinctively without realizing it.

Something in me roared with immanent battle. Something wild. Something that wanted freedom as much as I wanted to run.

And then everything died, because a loud roar went through the room and we all looked back at the big boss.

I looked at him, forgetting all my anger and building aggression, afraid all over again.

He looked back at me, glanced at everyone else as if daring them, then back at me.

"Little girl, stop crying." It was an unexpected comment.

I glared, unappreciative of the indication. I hadn't realized tears were falling on my face until that. I wiped at my eyes and stood tall. "What the hell!" I shouted, frustrated as much as scared now. "What's with you people!" I added, looking at the ground, fists clenched at my sides.

Keade came back over to me, unthreatening, meaning only to sooth.

I ignored my falling tears and looked at her. "What do I do now?" It dawned on me. I was a freak. Something was inside me and I couldn't go back. My head felt heavy again. I was experiencing this a lot lately, and I knew what it meant. Rather than trying to fight it though, I embraced it. It was too chaotic here and abyss seemed so much more friendlier.

Without warning I closed my eyes and felt my body fall, all before plunging into my own twilight.