Mistaken Souls

Mistaken Souls

By

K-Chan

*General disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I presume to call any of her characters my own.

Chapter One

"Merry Christmas!" echoed in double-chorus as the two friends greeted each other. A few downy flakes hung lazily in the background as Neko closed the front door and shook snow from her dark, curled hair. Neko and K-Chan simultaneously thrust brightly wrapped packages towards the other and demanded, "You first!"

"Oh, but I insist, you're the guest," K-Chan said with a debonair bow. Neko consented by tearing into the tacky wrapping paper and digging deeply to reveal . . .

"An Inu-Yasha cos-play necklace and Sesshô-maru UFO catcher plushieeeeeeeee!" Neko squealed, nearly knocking her friend to the ground in an over-exuberant embrace. "Okay, your turn!"

K-Chan's eyes sparkled in anticipation. She'd known that her friend would love the accessory based from one of their favorite mangas that resembled a blue-beaded rosary with claw-like stones at odd intervals. Curious, she broke into Neko's present for her, and was thrilled to death at what she found.

"You got me a cos-play necklace, too!" Only Neko had gotten K-Chan a replica of the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls, which was said to possess the power to fulfill any desire. Intervals of diamond-shaped beads were meant to represent shards of the jewel, and the half of blue orb in the center sparkled with reflections of the decorative blinking lights around the room.

"There's more, there's more, there's more!" Neko urged her friend. Further search revealed a hand-made stuffed doll representation of Naraku, who was only K-Chan's favored Inu-Yasha villain.

"Dude, you're the best!" she thanked Neko, who was madly rubbing her UFO plushy against her forehead. K-Chan squeezed the Naraku doll, and to her delight, it squeaked. In ritualistic fashion similar to that of a dog marking its territory, K-Chan gnawed happily on Naraku's stuffed ear and sighed contentedly.

It was too soon that Neko had to go home, but it was a school night, although the two knew that classes would be a joke for the next two days before vacation. Still, Neko and K-Chan's mothers insisted that the party was over.

"I'll see you tomorrow in homeroom!" Neko promised with a departing wave. K-Chan squeaked Naraku as a final farewell.

Later in her room, as K-Chan prepared for sweet repose, she felt a sudden chill. Looking up, she watched as her curtains billowed out into the room, followed by a light swirl of snow.

'Hmm. Odd,' she thought as she shut the window and pulled the drapes tightly closed. She didn't remember opening her window any time recently. Shrugging it off, she studied herself in front of her vanity mirror, lazily running a boar-bristle brush through her long auburn locks. The Shikon no Tama necklace winked back at her.

The figure watching her from her closet, amidst assorted shoes and a kimono bathrobe, had a clear view of the necklace as well. "Kukukukuku . . ." the stranger laughed under his breath.

Snuggled under three extra blankets, sleep came easily to K-Chan that night. The figure slinked out into the cover of darkness, watching K-Chan closely, listening to the evenness of her breathing. The necklace shone even in the dark. One of the stranger's hands slowly creeped from below the white-fur, pelt-like cloak it was wearing and touched the accessory, turning the small bauble over with his fingers, feeling its smoothness. A sneering smile stretched across the man's face. Now that he had this, there was no need for the girl. He drew his sword, ready to slice her in halves with his sharp skill, when he stopped suddenly, noticing the white furry replica of himself that lay beside K-Chan, her arm thrown lovingly over it. He slipped it from underneath her embrace to inspect it more closely.

"A voodoo doll?" he wondered. If the girl had magic, perhaps it was not wise to just kill her and be done. Then again, how much harm could she do while sleeping? Frustrated, he clenched the figurine tightly in his hand, only to hear it emit a long, sad wail. Startled, he dropped it and prepared to cut its head off when K-Chan's eyes fluttered open.

The two stared at each other for a good, long while—the stranger hidden beneath the pelt of what seemed to be a baboon, holding a sword aimed at Neko's squeaky Naraku gift, and K-Chan, in the black tank-top she slept in and red plaid boxer shorts. K-Chan recovered first; she wasn't sure of the what, why, or how, but she was one hundred percent on the "who".

"Naraku?" she whispered, incredulous. If anything, this only convinced Naraku that the girl, though most definitely human, harbored mystical powers somewhere inside of her. She was a stranger to him, and yet she knew his name. Naraku was determined not to let that phase him, however. Letting the sword clatter to the floor, he bent over the girl so suddenly that she gasped, and he placed his hand over where her heart would be.

"One wrong move," he warned, "and I will tear out your heart with my bear hands and crush it in front of you." A normal person would have been intimidated by such a threat. Naraku had underestimated K-Chan.

"You have your hand on my chest," K-Chan informed him, half inquisitive and half amused. With a start, Naraku recoiled as though he'd touched something vile. Apparently, stealing the Shikon no Tama from this girl was going to be more of a challenge than he thought. Picking up his sword, and wondering why he hadn't just done this in the first place, he back-handed the girl hard enough across the face to render her unconscious, then slipped out into the night, carrying his hostage.