FicWad

Japanese volcabulary:

Oi: hey

kuragari naroi: dark curse

iku: go

inuhanyou: dog halfdemon

hai: yes

-sama: lord or lady

Name:

Kimitsu: secret

Amayakasu: spoiled

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Episode 10: Dark Curse

Inuyasha was walking alongside Kirara down the dirt road. His chest throbbed a little but what could you expect? He had his soul torn out of him and ripped in two. His hand went up to unconciously rub the area which did not go unnoticed by Kirara.

"Is your chest still throbbing?" asked Kirara.

Inuyasha pulled his hand away and looked down. "Yeah, but its better than it was before. I'm okay now."

Kirara looked concerned, but nodded.

Inuyasha looked for Kagome, who was walking some distance before them, hands buried in the sleeves of her kimono, silently.

"Kagome's been pretty quiet lately, hasn't she?" said Inuyasha, a little concerned.

"Yeah", said Kirara," I think it's a nice change, really, but. . . i've never seen her act this way."

Inuyasha nodded. "I'm kinda worried about her. She's barely said a word since yesterday."

Kirara looked up at Inuyasha and then back at Kagome. "Hm." She then put on a determined face and went to catch up with Kagome. She then proceeded to stare intently at Kagome, who took no notice at all of her. Kirara's eyes narrowed and she took a deep breath.

"Oi!"

Kagome was immediately startled from her thoughts and stumbled in suprise. She caught herself and whirled around to face Kirara.

"What was that for?!" Kagome shouted.

"You're acting really weird", said Kirara," You keep staring into space and don't notice anything!"

"I was thinking!" Kagome growled.

"Well stop it!" Kirara replied, glaring," You're worrying Inuyasha!"

Kagome was taken back by that and blinked a few times. "Wha-"

"Plus, you might hurt yourself", Kirara muttered.

Kagome forgot the recent comment and growled. "Are you calling me stupid?"

"You really are deaf aren't you?" Kirara retorted," Or are you just really that dumb?"

"That's it!" said Kagome," You better run because you're dead!"

Kirara then proceeded to turned around and ran back towards Inuyasha, with Kagome hot on her heels. The cat demon ran behind Inuyasha and Kagome skidded to a stop in front of him.
"Move Inuyasha", Kagome growled, flexing her claws," I'm gonna kill her."

Inuyasha sighed. "Kagome, you're not going to kill her."

Kagome growled again in response and glared at Kirara, who stuck out her tongue.

"Alright, cat", Kagome said, lifting her claws," Now i'm really going to kill you."

"Kagome, stay", Inuyasha said.

Kagome collapsed to her knees as he walked past her.

"What was that for?" she grounded out, clenching her fists at her sides, glaring over her shoulder.

"You can't kill Kirara", he replied.

Kagome found that she was able to move again and got up, grudgingly following after, glaring.

----------------------------

It was night-time and the village was peaceful until a cry of rage was heard inside and the sound of skin hitting skin echoed.

Inside of the village, in the hut of the lord, two figures stood, one was a girl panting angrily, and the other, a well dressed boy, standing bewildered.

The girl looked about 16 with long dark brown almost black looking hair tied near the bottom with a ribbon. She had square cut bangs, split in the middle, and light blue eyeshadow, over dark brown eyes. On each ear, was a golden earring. She wore dark blue and black monk robes with sandals and a blue glove covered her right hand with a golden ring on her middle finger. Held in her left hand was a golden staff with a sort of diamond shape at the top with a red gem dangling in the middle and blue beads looped through it and down the staff. Her right hand was held to the left side, across her chest in a slapping gesture.

The boy was finely dressed in a rich violet silk haroi and black hakama with tabi socks, covering his feet. His black hair was pulled into a small ponytail on his head. His night blue eyes were widened, bewilderdly, and a red handprint was glowing on his cheek.

Several guards rushed in at the commotion, and glanced at the two figures.

The main guard stepped foreward and barked,"What has happened here, Amayakasu-sama?"

The boy's face turned to one of anger as he pointed at the girl. "Seize this girl! She slapped me!"

The guards turned to the girl, glaring at the boy and shouted," It wasn't any more than you deserved, you pervert!"

The guards turned back to the young lord as he shouted," Lies! She tells lies! Remove her from the village immediately!"

"Yes, Amayakasu-sama", the guard replied, before snapping towards the other guards," You heard the lord's son! Seize her!"

Two of the guards immediately placed themselves at the girl's side, grasping her arms.

"Let go!" She struggled," He's the one who was lying!"

The guard just glared at her and ordered," Take her to the village gates and dispatch her there."

"Hai!" the guards replied, dragging the girl behind them.

As soon as they reached the village gate, they opened the door and threw her out into the night.

"Now, stay out and think next time before you decide to slap the lord's son and lie!" he cried before slamming the door behind.

The girl sat there, glaring at the gates, gritting her teeth before she took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

Finally, she sighed and said," Mother was right. My temper is going to be the death of me."

She then looked up at the sky and said," Why Buddha? Why me? Why am I always the one the men are after? This part was supposed to be a gift, not a curse!"

She sighed again and grabbed her staff, lifting herself up as she dusted herself off before turning around and heading down the road.

------------------------

The steams of the hot spring, lifted up in the air, as the girl leaned against the cropping of rocks surrounding it. She sighed. "Now this, I needed."

She lay there when she heard a shuffling on the shore and cracked open an eye to peer through the steam. All she could discern through the steam was a figure disrobing and stepping down into the water.

'I wonder who that is?' she thought lowering herself to the tops of her shoulders as she watched them go behind the cropping of rocks to the other part of the hot spring.

She turned her head a bit as if to take a peek at who it was but stopped.

'No, I won't look', she thought,' But then again? I'm curious. Who is it? One peek won't hurt.'

She turned her head and lifted up just to look over the rocks and spied who was there.

It was a boy of 17 with shoulder length white hair with forelocks and golden eyes.

'Is he a demon?' she thought,' I don't sense a demonic presense and his ears are human.'

She looked at him a little longer. 'You know, he's kinda cute.'

Her eyes wandered down, admiring his chest when she spotted the jar around his neck, with the 4 blue jewel fragments inside.

'Hm', she thought,' That looks a lot like the shard from the demon I exorcised earlier in that village. . . at least until that pervert of a lord's son let his hand wander and I got kicked out. Oh why can't I just keep my temper in check for once?'

She let out a groan and sunk lower.

"Will you hurry up already?!"

The girl was startled when she heard the female voice.

The boy sighed and said," I'm coming in a minute, Kagome."

The girl sensed two demonic presences nearby, one probably being Kagome. As the boy started to get up, she lowered herself down again, slipping away from the hot spring as she pulled on her clothing.

'Hm', she thought,' Those shards could be useful. Maybe I should spy on them for a while.'

She stood there weighing out their power before deciding on who was the strongest. 'That Kagome seems to be the strongest. Another woman. That's too bad. I hate having to resort to violence.'

'As if my temper weren't violent enough in itself', she thought, as she walked off.

--------------------

An unlikely couple stood atop the cliff overlooking the mountain pass, deep in conversation. One was the girl and the other was a short raccoon demon.

She had long brown hair reaching just past her shoulders with black streaks running through it. Her skin was a few shades darker than that of the girl beside her and her ears were pointed. Her dark brown maybe even black eyes were surrounded by a sort of black mask tatooed into her skin. She was just a bit shorter than the girl's shoulder and a little more filled out than the girl. She wore a blue kimono with green leaves and her feet were bare.

"Do you really want me to do this, Mistress Sango?" asked the demon.

"Yes, Kimitsu", Sango said.

"Alright then, Mistress Sango", Kimitsu said," Who is it?"

Sango smiled and said," I have been spying on them and I know that they are now walking in the pass beneath us. You know what to do?"

"Yes, Mistress Sango", she said, turnig towards the group below.

----------------------

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kirara were now walking through the mountain pass, in silence. Kirara, getting annoyed by the silence between the group was about to speak, when a rumbling sound filled the air.

"What the-"

Kagome barely had time to turn her head when a large object came bowling down the cliff, crashing into her and carrying her over the edge of the pass.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, when he heard a thud behind him.

As he turned he felt a jerk around his neck, as the chain to the jar holding the shards snapped.

"Wha-" said Inuyasha, as he saw Sango with the shards in her hand as she took off running.

"Hey!" Inuyasha cried out, following her," Stop!"

Kagome in the meantime was struggling with what seemed to be an enormous round blue creature with large slanted eyes.

"Kagome!"

She struggled to see around the creature but ended up punching it instead and was too mad to be suprised as it turned into a raccoon demon.

Kagome ignored her and turned her head towards where Inuyasha was running.

"Kagome!" he said, as he ran, pointing down along the road," That girl came and stole the shards!"

"What?!" Kagome cried out, turning to look down where Sango was retreating.

She growled and flexed her claws.

"Get back here!" she cried, leaping up .

Sango looked over her shoulder to see the female inuhanyou closing in and the human not far behind. She looked down at her right hand and clenched it. She stopped and turned around.

"I don't normally like to use this", she muttered, undoing the ties on her hand letting the glove fall open.

Kagome saw the girl standing there fiddling with her glove and she caught a glimpse of some strange marking leading up her arm before a dark energy seemed to appear around it.

Kagome caught out a faint muttering that sounded a lot like 'kuragari noroi', before the energy shot towards her and pain consumed her. Kagome felt a pained cry escape her lips as she fell to her knees at the sheer power of it.

Sango caught the cry and closed her eyes, wincing, feeling the usual guilt fill her at each using of her power before stifling the flow of dark energy and making her escape down the mountain pass.

--------------------------

"Kagome!" Inuyasha cried, seeing the whole scene as he rushed towards where she had collapsed, Kirara close behind.

He dropped to his knees beside her, and placed a hand on her back. "Kagome, are you okay?"

Kagome sat their panting as the pain receded. As the haze of pain dissapeared from her mind, she could make out Inuyasha's words.

"Kagome. . .", Inuyasha repeated.

Kagome lifted her head to look down the road and said," I'm fine."

Inuyasha helped her back to her feet and said," What happened?"

Kagome shook her head. "I don't really know. All I remember was pain."

Inuyasha looked back down the road and thought,' Who was that girl and what did she do to Kagome?'

Kagome gritted her teeth and said," I'm going to find that girl and i'm going to get our shards, then. . . i'm gonna kill her."

---------------------------

Sango walked down the road having made her escape, with the jar in her grasp as she sighed, lifting her right hand up into her line of sight.

"I've always hated having to use this power", she murmered, clenching it into a fist," I've always hated having such power in my grasp."

She lowered her hand as she reached a village and tightened her grasp on the shards.

"Hopefully, this time I can keep my temper", she murmered, as she walked inside.

Sango made her way down the middle of the village and walked up to a villager.

"Excuse me", she said, tapping them on the shoulder," Do you know where I can find an inn where I can stay at to eat?"

The villager turned around and it was a man.

'Of course', she thought.

"Excuse me", she repeated, angrily, when she noticed him looking her up and down," If your eyes would stop roaming, i'd like to know where an inn is."

His eyes just wandered to her chest. She sighed, disgustedly, and said," Fine, i'll find someone else."

As she turned around though, she felt a hand on one of her forbidden areas. She froze and lifted her hand, before whirling around and delivering a hard slap.

"Pervert!" she cried," I can't believe you! You men are all perverts! You see a pretty girl and you decide you can do whatever you want with them! I am sick and tired of all of you!. . ."

----------------------

Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kirara walked through the village, searching for the girl that had stolen their shards.

"Where is she?" Kagome growled," Inuyasha, are you sure you sensed the shards in this village?"

"For the thousandth time already, Kagome", said Inuyasha, exasperatingly," Yes!"

"Then where is she?" she demanded.

"I don't know!" Inuyasha replied," Isn't that your job? You're the one with the super senses!"

"Hey! What's that?" said Kirara, pointing to a crowd that had gathered in the village.

"I don't know", said Inuyasha," Let's go check it out."

Inuyasha walked towards the crowd and made his way through to where the commotion was coming from. He caught bits and pieces of a rant until he finally reached the front of the crowd, where he could see the scene before him.

He saw Sango in front of a man, who was standing wide eyed with a red handprint on hi cheek as she yelled at him about 'men being perverts' and other stuff.

"Hey!" Inuyasha shouted.

Sango stopped and turned towards the shout and saw Inuyasha standing there looking at her accusingly. "You're the girl who stole our jewel shards!"

As Kagome stepped up beside him, Sango gulped. "Uh-oh."

Before they could blink she was running.

"Hey!" Kagome shouted," Get back here with our jewel shards!"

Kagome took off after Sango with Inuyasha and Kirara behind her.

Sango looked behind her and saw Kagome closing in on her again. As Kagome leapt in the air, and lifted her claws to strike, Sango spun around and block with her staff, sparks flying. Kagome was blown back, skidding on her feet.

"Damn", she muttered, shaking her smoking hand, as Sango took off again.

"Oh no, you don't", said Kagome, pulling out Yuryoku no zako and notching an arrow. "Iku!"

She released the arrow as it went zooming towards Sango. When it was just about ready to hit her, Sango once again, spun around, blocking the green glowing arrow.

"What?" said Kagome," Impossible. There's no way she could of blocked that."

She growled. 'She is definitely not a normal human.'

As Sango took off again, Kagome started off after her.

"Stop running like a coward!" Kagome cried.

Suddenly, as they reached a clearing at the outskirts of the village, Sango spun around once again, the ties to her glove flying open as she cried," Kuragari noroi!"

Dark energy surrounded her hand as Kagome felt pain shoot through her veins. Kagome once again cried out, struggling to stay standing, as she trembled terribly.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shouted, seeing her trembling.

He turned to Sango and saw her hand glowing with dark energy.

'So it's coming from her hand!' Inuyasha thought, eyes widening.

Inuyasha looked at Sango's face and saw guilt filling her eyes.

'She doesn't like doing this', thought Inuyasha.

As a whimper came from Kagome, Inuyasha was snapped back to reality and ran towards her.

"Kagome!"

Sango's eyes widened as she saw him run towards Kagome and she cried," No! Sto-"

As Inuyasha touched Kagome, he felt pain shoot through him as well. A cry escaped him as he collapsed to him knees, pain filling his body.

Sango immediately closed her hand, retying the ties on her glove. Not thinking, she ran to him.

'I'm not supposed to use it on humans', she thought, running,' He shouldn't have touched her! It's much to powerful for a human to handle!"

Sango stopped before them as Kagome collapsed to her knees, the pain having stopped.

Kagome lifted up her head, a little weakly as she started to get over the haze of pain and growled," Give us back our jewel shards now!"

Kagome leapt up, preparing to attack the girl.

"Stop."

She froze and turned to where Inuyasha, was trying to stand weakly, rushing over to him.

"Inuyasha, you idiot. What were you thinking?" asked Kagome.

"Don't hurt her", said Inuyasha, ignoring the comment, as Kagome helped him stand up.

He looked up at Sango, and said," She didn't really want to hurt us."

Sango looked at him in suprise. Nobody had ever realized that, before.

"Inuyasha", said Kagome," Did you not feel the pain running through your body?"

"Of course I did", said Inuyasha," and it hurt like hell too."

Sango winced.

"But...", he said, looking at Sango," She was only protecting herself."

Sango looked at him in awe, gratitude in her eyes. 'Thank you for understanding.'

Inuyasha smiled before he turned serious and said,"But why did you steal out jewel shards and what's up with the dark energy around your hand and the pain we experienced?"

Sango saddened as she sighed. "It's a bit of a long story."

"We're not going anywhere", Inuyasha replied.

Sango was hesitant for a moment before she sighed," Alright, but why don't we find an inn first? It's getting kind of dark and it's my treat for causing you all this trouble."

Inuyasha nodded as they headed back to the village.

-----------------------

"So what's your story?" asked Inuyasha, as they now sat in a room, eating food, that the inn had served them.

"Alright", Sango sighed," It started a long time ago with my grandfather and this shapeshifting demon named Naraku. My grandfather was a monk and had heard about this demon. He had been fighting him for a while but every time they fought it was a little more difficult to find him then the last. But then one day, my grandfather had just excorsized a demon when he saw a beautiful woman in the crowd. She motioned for him to follow her and being the lech he was, he did just that. She led him to an abandoned hut near the edge of the village and went inside. He followed her inside and saw the beautiful woman standing before him. She started to seduce him and my grandfather of course, fell into her caresses and sultry voice, and just as he was going to kiss her, he felt a burning pain on his right hand. The beautiful woman stepped away from him, smirking evilly, and her stormy gray orbs had now turned into a glowing mahogahny. My grandfather looked at his hand and saw dark colored burn marks that curled up around his right arm. My grandfather looked up when the beautiful woman now spoke with the voice of Naraku. It had been Naraku in disguise. He said," This curse is a dark curse. When used, it can only cause others pain. See those burn marks? They are where the curse has already begun to eat away your flesh. The burns will continue to spread until one day, when the curse fully consumes you and eats you alive. The flesh will be eaten from your bones and you will suffer in great pain. The only way to rid of it is to destroy me but. . . if you come near me and have any ill intentions towards me, you will suffer terrible pain, like that of your victims. This curse will also be passed down to your children and grandchildren. The cycle will never end until my heart stops." My grandfather tried to kill Naraku then and there but he felt pain consume him just like Naraku said. Naraku laughed and then dissapeared. My grandfather continued to search for Naraku and eventually met my grandmother and had my father. My father also searched for Naraku and met my mother, having me, but continued to search all the same. My mother died when I was very young and since my father had no sons, my father had the monastary where I grew up, make an exception and let me become a monk. After my father's death and as soon as I was old enough, I searched for Naraku."

"That's terrible", said Kirara," I'm sorry."

"It's okay", said Sango," it's not your fault. Plus, you should hear about the other curse I have."

"Other curse?" said Inuyasha.

"Yes", Sango replied, smiling," At some point, before she died, my mother, who had been a pretty good sorceress, had tried to help me with the problem i'd probably have with trying to continue my line, in case, I couldn't find Naraku. She placed a spell on me that as soon as I turned thirteen, that any man who's heart had not already found love, would admire me. But, the spell didn't go exactly as she had planned. . . At thirteen, they did start to admire me but. . . it seemed that they were admiring my body with their hands."

Sango sighed.

"Oh", said Inuyasha," so that's what that commotion was all about today?"

"Yes", she said," you know what? I'm suprised the spell hasn't effected you, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha glanced at Kagome, but when she caught his gaze, a slight flush filled his face as he looked away.

Sango's lips curved into a smile as she said," But maybe I shouldn't be so suprised after all."

Kagome just looked from her to Inuyasha confused.