A/N: So I finally got the initiative to write an Inuyasha fic after watching Beauty and the Beast a couple of nights ago with my sister. Anyway, I know there are a bunch of B&B-changed-into-Inu-fics floating around out there (and a couple of really good ones too), but I just couldn't resist. Mainly because Beauty and the Beast is my favoritest Disney movie ever! Anyway, I haven't seen any with this particular twist yet, so I hope you peoples likey.
Oh yeah, this is also my first fic ever, so please tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me (and probably fortunately for everyone else...), I don't own either Inuyasha or Beauty and the Beast.
Cursed Blessing
Prologue
"Kikyo! Are you alright? What happened? You're bleeding all over!" exclaimed the more-than-frightened eight-year-old. Using her small body as a crutch for her sister to lean upon, Kaede slowly helped her sister stumble towards a stone bench near the entrance of their humble home.
By the time they made it over to the bench, Kaede's clothes were soaked through with a warm, crimson liquid, and they left a bloody trail where they had tread. A pool of dark red substance gathered at the stone floor beneath them as Kikyo rested all her body weight upon her sister.
The little girl tried in vain to keep the well of tears behind her eyelids but the sight of her older sister in such obvious pain was too much for her to bear. "What happened?" she squeaked between sobs. "I thought you went to see Inuyasha."
Kaede shrank back in fear when she saw the hatred pour out of her beloved sister's eyes and heard the bitter spite in her voice. "Do NOT ever mention his despicable name again. He a cursed beast: a vile, back-stabbing, cowardly dog that doe not deserve to breathe lest he corrupts the very atmosphere. He is evil, little sister. Do not go near him or speak of him."
Kaede was confused, to say the least. She'd never seen Inuyasha before but her older sister used to talk of him in such fond tones that she was positive they were in love, whatever that meant. But now, Kikyo had such a vicious expression pass over her face that Kaede knew in her heart that whatever had happened, Kikyo must have been in the right and Inuyasha in the wrong.
"Of course, sister. I understand. Let me go get some herbs to alleviate your pain."
The priestess-in-training turned to go, but a weak hand held her still. "No, Kaede. It is too late for me. I know that my time is up."
"No, no it's not. I can help you. You can't die, Kikyo. Please."
She merely shook her head in response. "Listen to me, Kaede." Her tone of voice was enough to stop the quivering of the younger girl for just a moment. "Kneel before me."
Kaede did as she was told as Kikyo securely placed a soft leather mask that covered the area from her hairline to below her cheekbone over her face. On the mask were symbols and letters of magic that glowed faintly indigo before being completely absorbed into the leather.
"I give this command and blessing to you and to all those who succeed you as priestess: Never are you to remove this mask for fear of your very life. Only if a man is willing to give his life to you may you remove it. Never shall a drop of tear fall from your eyes for the account of a man or else face the rest of your life without your powers. May your hearts be hardened to those who wish to gain your love. May you never fall into the same deceit that I have, for all men are loathsome brutes who are undeserving of our affections. I bid you to pass this on to all those who succeed you as priestess. Do this and I shall die in peace."
Without a moment's hesitation, Kaede replied with her head bowed, "As you wish, sister."
She received no reply and dread filled her whole being. Lifting her head slowly, Kaede could barely make out the faint words of "goodbye, my love" upon Kikyo's lips before her sister slipped into the grips of death. Somehow, she knew that the love Kikyo referred to was Inuyasha, even though in her last moments she had placed a blessing upon her successors because of the said man's betrayal of her.
But no matter what had transpired between the two, Kaede would do as her sister commanded her.
Chapter One: Provincial Life
"Stupid mask. I hate wearing this dumb thing," muttered Kagome Higurashi angrily under her breath as she tugged lightly at the edges of the light brown leather. She had worn it for three years now, and it nearly felt like a second skin, but it still managed to annoy her to no end. It wasn't as if she was vain or anything. In fact, she had quite nearly forgotten what she looked like. But the mere fact that it was there made her feel so restricted and trapped in the responsibilities that she knew she must carry out as priestess.
Still, she sighed as she adjusted her kimono—her favorite one, cream-colored with a large lavender orchid pattern—in front of her full-length mirror in preparation of the party.
It was going to be her eighteenth birthday today. It was also the third-year anniversary of her becoming a true priestess, mask and all.
Whoopee...feel her joy...
Initially, like all new priestesses, Kagome was ecstatic of her success. It wasn't easy to complete the training necessary to become a priestess and not everyone had the innate abilities that Kagome possessed. Not only did she complete the training in a record time of merely four years, but her mentor originally had not wanted to even accept her due to the fact that she was already much older than the norm of six years old. And of course, it only made matters worse that there were rumors that she only completed the course due to the fact that she held an alarming resemblance to the current priestess' deceased elder sister.
However, all that changed when everyone saw the natural capabilities she had with her strong spiritual powers, and she soon became the most-prized priestess-in-training.
So of course she was excited when she "graduated." After all, who wouldn't be?
But that excitement quickly morphed into boredom as she realized how tedious a priestess' job truly was, not to mention the annoying mask she had to vow to wear for the rest of her life. Don't get her wrong, she loved helping the sick and playing with the children and all that good stuff, but sometimes everything just felt so damn monotonous sometimes that she couldn't help but wonder what could have been if she had never become a priestess.
After all, day in and day out, she did the exact same thing over and over again with few changes. Rarely did any demons appear nor was there ever any large blight on the land—not that she wished that there would be more, of course; in fact, there have been no demon sightings in the last fifty years. All she really got to do was care for the sick and elderly or pretty much baby-sit the village children. She could do nothing about it, for this was the cost for being the priestess of a small shrine in a small village in a small province.
There was no reason for anything to happen and thus nothing ever happened here.
Until one fateful night, that is.
Everything was like normal that night: the same little townspeople with the same little dishes with the same fake smiles and the same cliché words of congratulations. Everything was done with such a sickening sense of familiarity that it made Kagome's stomach turn with disgust.
God...there has got to be something more than this provincial life, she thought with a hint of despair. She had never quite fit in, even among the other candidates for priestess-hood, and somehow, she knew that this was not where she was meant to be.
Kaede had asked her once if she was truly ready to become a priestess for life and Kagome hadn't hesitated for a split second to assure the old woman that she was indeed ready. Of course, Kaede had gone on, saying how there was no turning back from this decision and that if Kagome wanted to back out, no one would think any less of her honor.
Sounded more like a freakin' guilt trip than a reassurance if you asked her.
Still, she was determined to become a priestess and was more than willing to give up everything in order to do so. And thus she became the nineteenth priestess of this particular shrine and the second to follow—who is thought to be—one of the greatest priestesses, Kikyo.
And though she wasn't entirely satisfied with her priestess-hood, Kagome never regretted that choice and—given the opportunity for a second chance—she would have chosen the same path.
It was dinner time, and her face muscles were growing tired at having to hold up a plastered smile the whole day. At first, it had been quite genuine, but even someone as good-natured as Kagome could only smile for so long before her muscles cramped. And although she did think that it would be quite amusing if she got stuck that way, it was not something she wanted to happen.
Pathetic, but amusing.
There was music going and several couples had already congregated around the large bonfire in the center of the village. They were all laughing and having the time of their lives...except, of course, the one for whom the party was thrown for in the first place.
Quite a few young men had already asked if Kagome wanted to dance with them but she declined, swearing that she wasn't feeling well enough to dance but that she would make it up to them later.
Ha! Yeah, right, suckers...
No one seemed to realize that she could not fall in love with anyone, not that there was anyone in her village she wanted to fall in love with.
However, there was one man in particular who just didn't know when to give up. Hojo Endo. Now this was one persistent little feller. He'd been after Kagome for years, now, and he just couldn't seem to catch a clue that she wasn't interested or rather, she couldn't even if she was. The problem was that he was actually a really nice guy—dense but nice—and it was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid him without hurting him.
Though the longer she dragged this out, the more she was getting exasperated.
"Oh crap," she mumbled under her breath as she saw him coming towards her with that goofy grin he always had. She pretended not to hear him calling out to her and turned the other way in a near-run.
Unfortunately, she ran straight into the worst possible person she could run into at that moment: Kouga Kikuchi.
She mentally groaned as Kouga's eyes lit up and wrapped his arms around her possessively. "Hey, sweet cheeks. After last time, I didn't expect you to come running back into my arms, not that I blame you. I know it's hard to resist my charms."
She pulled away none too gently and had to use all her willpower to restrain herself from knocking the smug little smirk that graced the face atop his wring-able neck. "Funny, Kouga," she said sardonically. Only one as oblivious as he or as thick as Hojo would have missed the dangerous note in her voice.
Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, somebody—namely the author of this story, which just so happens to be me—thought it would be real comical to have Hojo catch up to her. "Hey Higurashi. What's up? You want to dance?"
As she moved her lips to respond, Kouga quickly put himself between her would-be suitor and growled in a very animalistic way. "Stay off, buddy boy. She's mine, you hear?"
Hojo looked confused for a minute before replying in a controlled but obviously angry tone, "Higurashi doesn't belong to anyone, Kouga."
Kagome was truly grateful for Hojo's interference, but she couldn't help but mentally berate him for what an idiot he was being, trying to stand up to Kouga. Everyone knew that Hojo was not known for his fighting capabilities while Kouga has won multiple awards simply for beating the shit of people. If this broke out into a fight, no one had any doubts that Kouga would come out the winner by a long, long mile.
Still, Hojo was either really brave or too stupid (Kagome was leaning towards the latter) to realize that his odds of winning were little to none and the chances of him coming out with less than five broken bones zero as he faced off Kouga.
Though it was tempting to let Hojo take a beating (she felt so cruel...), Kagome knew that it just wasn't right to let him take the brunt for her.
She stepped towards the two men and was about to say something when a staggering young man fell face down through the little crowd that had gathered around the spectacle and were hoping for a show. She immediately forgot everything else as she rushed over to his side and gently turned him over so that his face was looking towards the night sky.
She gave him a quick inspection and found four long claw marks raked diagonally across his chest though it was hard to see the source of the unplugged bleeding through the gore that gushed from his body. His left arm was broken in three places and his forearm was sticking out at an awkward position. Blood matted down his dark hair and she somehow knew that not all the blood was his. He had a pulse, but only faintly.
"My God...what happened?" she heard a voice in the crowd whisper in fear.
The man's eyes rolled back and Kagome swore under her breath as he began to convulse. Foam welled at his mouth and spilled down his chin, forming a puddle of saliva on the dirt floor.
"Help me hold him down and get something to put in his mouth so he doesn't bite his tongue off and kill himself! Hurry!" she commanded and immediately three sturdy bodies came to hold the man still while some women and children ran into their homes to grab blankets and cloaks. Somebody—she wasn't sure who—produced a thick paint brush and slipped the butt end into his mouth.
Reaching into the little pouch she always kept at her side, Kagome produced a small bottle of crushed leaves. Pouring some into her hand, she used her spit to mix it into a poultice and smeared it over the man's injuries. His back arched in pain the moment the mixture touched his skin, but he soon settled down and even his seizures calmed.
By this time, Kagome had several blankets handed to her. She placed them together as the men rolled him gently onto the makeshift stretcher and carried him to the little cottage Kagome lived in.
Once there, she went to the back room to raid her herbal jars while the men lay the injured man on the cot in the guest room. She came back holding handfuls of herbs, medicines, and bandages and got to work immediately. The three other men watched in fascination as she mixed herbs together to form a sort of clear, plaster-like substance that would prevent the man from ripping his injuries any further. Placing some on his broken arm as well, she bandaged it up like a cast which was, in fact, what she was doing.
She didn't say a word through the whole ordeal and it wasn't until her clothes and hands were all covered in blood and grime that she finally sighed and sat in a nearby chair, exhausted. The man had some of the worst injuries she had ever seen and it was not an easy job trying to sew up his severed flesh. As if noticing the other three men for the first time, Kagome quietly motioned that they could leave now and thanked them for their help.
She saw them to the door and took a deep breath before heading back into the room with the injured man.
"Well, I wanted something to happen and it looks like I got that wish," she muttered half-heartedly.
Damn it! That was my favorite kimono too...wait, what am I thinking? Wow, are my priorities screwed up. Well, at least I got rid of Kouga and Hojo... That thought brought a smile to her face.
However, that smile soon dissipated when she heard the soft groans of pain coming from the guest room. She was beside the man in a flash and nearly jumped back in surprise when he grabbed the front of her kimono and stared at her with wild eyes.
"He has them. He's gonna kill them," he kept shouting with a frantic voice. He rattled her harshly with every word as if to emphasize his point.
By the time she found her voice, her head was spinning dizzily. "Who? Who does he have? Are you listening to me?" She wanted above all to turn the tables and shake some sense into the man in that instant but knew that that would do little good for her cause. "Calm down, sir."
He seemed as crazed as ever, but at least he had stopped shaking her. "He has them. Don't you see? We're all doomed."
It took all of Kagome's restraint not to roll her eyes at him but she couldn't help the sigh of exasperation. "Look, sir. I'm a priestess. I'll help you take care of whatever it is you have a problem with but I need you to tell me what's going on first, okay? So, what is going on?"
He looked around warily as if somebody might overhear their conversation and leaned in closer to whisper, "The beast living in the cursed castle just beyond the forest. He's a monster. Sharp fangs and claws, blood red eyes, and he thirsts for blood. He killed my brother and now has my father under his captivity. He was going to kill me too, but I got managed to get away. He's gonna kill us all!"
Kagome was torn between labeling the man as an obvious lunatic and labeling herself as a naive fool. After all, despite her secret wishes for more action (i.e. exterminating demons...), demons had not been spotted for nearly fifty years and counting. The likelihood of one suddenly appearing and terrorizing this man's family was not very high.
But then again, who's to say that the demons weren't just hiding out for a while in order to plan a sophisticated attack against mankind? Kagome had no uncertainties that there still existed demons out there somewhere, but she did have doubts about their intelligence.
If this man's account was true, it would be Kagome's duty to scout out this demon and rid the world of its menace as soon as possible. But if she had searched high and low for it and still couldn't find it, she would most likely become the laughingstock for the village as well as several of the surrounding towns—not something she wanted to go through any time soon.
"Please. Save him, priestess. I beg of you. Save my father."
She looked into his eyes and sighed in annoyance. She could never ignore the plead of anyone and that would probably spell her downfall in the end. "Fine. Just get some rest tonight and you can tell me how to get to this 'cursed castle' tomorrow morning."
"No! My father's very life hangs in the balance. If you do not set out tonight, I don't know if he'll still be alive for you to be rescued tomorrow. Please."
She brought a hand to her forehead and sighed again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Okay, okay. I'll get you some paper and a brush. I'll go pack and tell Kaede where I'm headed."
"Thank you! Thank you so much, kind priestess!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she mumbled under her breath. "At least Kaede won't think I'm crazy...I think."
As she left the room, she was too busy brooding about the upcoming "adventure" that she failed to notice the growing smirk on her guest's lips.
A/N: So...like it? Hate it? Wipe it off the face of the planet so that no one would ever have to go through the torture of reading it ever again? All input is welcome.