Alright! I've been wanting to do this for a while, a rewrite on my second fanfic! For those of you that have read my story 'A Legend Known, With a Twist' before, I encourage you to give this piece of mine another shot. I've read it over and over again over the years, quite proud of it as the only story I've ever managed to complete. However, I've also had to wince through several grammatical and spelling errors, as well as the relative brevity of most of the chapters compared to the thanks I gave for reviews. And so, I've decided to re-write it, I'm not planning on changing the plot at all, at the moment at least, but rather enrich it, make it more enjoyable; both to those who are reading it for the first time and for the many people who have already read and reviewed it over the years. Alright, enough rambling! On with the fic!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the Inuyasha characters, unfortunately. Though I do have most all the eps. they've shown on Adult Swim!
Introduction: A Legend Known
Once upon a time, as all good stories start, there was a King and a Queen that had a very large kingdom. They were good and kind to their subjects and treated them fairly. When it came time for them to pass on, they divided up the kingdom between their two sons. Half went to the elder, and half to the younger.
But the King and Queen did not die entirely at peace, for they knew their sons were less than ideal rulers, as much as they had tried to teach them otherwise. The older brother was vain and cold, and ruled his land with an iron fist that terrified the subjects. While his land suffered, the other half faired little better. Their new king was arrogant, lazy and had a practically non-existent fuse on his temper.
Both kings were both to be wed through arranged marriages set up by their parents. Even though he'd never admit it, the older brother was the happier and luckier of the two. His promised was a sweet, loving, caring girl that he loved more dearly than life, though he'd never tell anyone that.
The younger's betrothed, on the other hand, was a cold yet fiery woman with a temper that matched his.They were miserable and fought constantly. One night, during a particularly bitter fight, she lost her temper completely and revealed to him her magic powers, which she had been keeping a secret her entire life, raging "You are no better then a beast of the field, thusly you should look like one! I place a curse on you and all that live in this castle. You, my betrothed, shall become on the outside what you are on the inside. The others shall become household things, since that is what you treat them as, cursed to be that way for all time."
She stopped speaking for a moment, seemingly contemplating something before a sly smile appeared on her porcelain face. "However," she adds, chuckling to herself, "I am not without a heart, unlike you. If you can learn to love another, like you could never love me, unconditionally; and if they love you in return before I come back for the 100th anniversary of yours and your brother's kingdom ten years from now, then I will remove my curse from your household, and return all to their rightful forms. Remember, I shall return in exactly ten years at sunset to seal your fate, whatever it might be. Honestly, I will be very surprised if I return to find you happy and in love. See you in ten years, Inuyasha."
And so the sorceress left, and the curse came into effect. For the servants it was merely a bit surprising, as they simply awoke in their new 'bodies', but for the King, it was agonizingly painful. Screams of the sorceress' name could be hears echoing through the night angrily as the beast of his soul clawed it's way to the surface to materialize itself through his appearance, slowly and as painfully as possible. White fur covered his body, fangs grew, claws lengthened and sharpened, blood seeped into his eyes, turning his previously amber eyes blue and causing them to glow in the dark of night. If you had been in the nearby village, rumor has it you would have heard chilling howls sounding suspiciously like the name 'Kikyo' long into the night.
So the years passed, and his subjects remained unaware of his plight, indeed, after the first few years, they began to forget him altogether, due to the fact that his hand had been practically non-existant before the curse. His brother's eye was drawn to his seemingly abandoned land, but he did not strike, waiting for the right moment to invade. And so, our story comes to the ninth year of the curse, the King still brooding over his fate, still unhappy, unloved, and forgotten by those he is supposed to rule. So we begin in a small village near the castle, where an age-old story of love, hurt, arrogance and acceptance is about to unfurl thanks to an over boiling pot and the pure heart of a simple girl.
A.N. Well, that's the intro. Sorry it's so short, but I just wanted to set the stage this time! The chapters get longer as they go, I think. Well, anyways, 'til next time! Review please!