KEEPER OF THE SHRINE

02. THE HIGURASHI CURSE

Kagome woke with a sharp, choked breath. She coughed, air rattling painfully around her chest, eyes squeezing tightly shut before slowly fluttered open. She had to blink a few times to make sense of the stretch of broken pavement in front of her and the sharp gravel digging in her cheek and the dull headache throbbing behind both eyes. There was sharp, familiar sound coming from nearby. The heat had gone from the air, a wash of blue flames replaced by the fuzzy glow of street lamps dotting a pale path in to the darkness. There was something there, too - something churning beneath her skin, restless, itching, drawing her further in to the waking world.

The ringing stopped for a moment, then started again.

Kagome whimpered, closing her eyes against the sharp stab of music and wishing she could slip back in the darkness that had blocked out all her senses moments before but she couldn't force herself back. No, she thought, heart skipping and speeding up, not when...

Her eyes slid open again and she tried looking around for her attackers. The sudden movement made her head spin so, letting out a shaky breath, she focused on getting her arms under her first and pushed herself in to a sitting position, movements slow and painful until she could finally take in the quiet suburban street with wide eyes. The blacktop around her was broken and melted into great chunks for several meters all around and, in growing disbelief, she realized she sat at the epicenter of what looked like an explosion.

The ringing continued, a bright pop song her little brother insisted should be programmed for the house line. She flinched and turned towards it. The glowing screen of her phone was a few paces away.

And there, next to her phone, was an odd wooden doll.

She half-crawled, half-fell across the chunks of broken asphalt and picked up her phone just as it went to voicemail. It was charged and had perfect reception, unlike before, and Kagome didn't even know where to start trying to make sense of what had happened. It had to have happened, the proof was all around her, but no one had come to investigate what must have been a loud enough explosion to cause so much damage, nor when she had screamed, nor when the... the purple-skinned thing had been stabbed and wailed loud enough to wake the dead. Or when the the man with red eyes laughed, she thought, and couldn't repress the shudder of fear as her hand went to her aching neck. She couldn't even begin to think about that just yet.

Her gaze automatically fell to the doll. It was long and narrow, made of dry-looking wood. It had a plain, vaguely featured face and thin column as its' chest, a hollowed place in the middle that resembled the head of a needle - A long strand of black hair was wrapped around and through it several times. It had cracked down the middle. What ever it was, she knew it was related to her strange attackers. She could feel it, her hands shying away from the dark object and feeling a faint repulsion from it, like weak magnets pressing against one another. As her fingertips skimmed the surface, preparing to pick it up, it was as if striking a match. Blue fire ignited and leapt from her fingertips. She yanked back, but the small inferno continued with pops and crackles, a wisp of something too dark to be smoke escaping from the doll until the fire burned out a few moments later, leaving nothing but ash. Kagome swallowed, cradling her shaking hands to her chest.

She looked around, hoping no one else had seen.

The phone screen lit up again with a sharp jab of music and Kagome barely stopped herself from screaming and it was another moment before she could control her shaking hands long enough to accept the call. "M-Mom?" She croaked.

"Kagome?! Are you alright?" Her mom's panicked voice came through the receiver. Kagome closed her eyes against the tell-tale burning at the back of them.

"Mom," she said again, not sure what she wanted to say, just that she wanted to say something, that she wanted to stay on the phone and keep hearing her mother's voice and confirm that all was right, that her world hadn't been completely turned upside down, but that that was all she was capable of saying. She was too relieved. Too shaken. Her mom fell silent.

"Oh, Kagome," She called softly, her voice cracking. "This is my fault. I should have told you sooner. We should have prepared... I just... I had hoped that- I should have known it wouldn't have been enough. Your grandfather warned us, and even after..." Her mother's voice caught and there were several long moments of silence and Kagome tried to get a hold of herself. She wasn't safe yet, not nearly enough to feel comfortable thinking about what had almost had happened - what had happened - but she couldn't make her legs or her mouth listen to reason just yet.

"How did you..."

Her mother sniffled. "Your necklace, dear. It's a Higurashi heirloom. Our stones turn black and hot when you are in danger."

"What color is it now?" She whispered.

Her mother's normally kind voice was strained and commanding despite its softness. "Kagome, you have to go." Her non-answer was answer enough, and Kagome closed her eyes against the painful lurch in her chest. "Go to your dormitory and take as much as you can carry and leave as soon as you can. Don't talk to anyone. You need to go to your grandfather's shrine. Tonight. It's the only place you'll be safe. There are spells there that will keep Naraku out."

"Spells..? Mom, what is the world just happened? That- That- He just tried to...!"

"Naraku," her mom interrupted softly. "He was a half demon, Kagome. He's been feuding with your father's side of the family for centuries. He will not stop until he gets what he's after, Kagome, and right now that's you - and you have to understand that he will use any means necessary to achieve his ends. You must act first."

"Demons aren't real. They're just myths! And if you know who he is, then why haven't you called the police?" Kagome could hear herself denying it and tipping dangerously close to accusing her mom of things that she knew weren't really her fault. She didn't have a better explanation for the beast that had grabbed her or the intensely more terrifying one who wore the shape of man. She let out a shuddering breath and asked in a quieter voice, "Why me?"

There was a pause. And then, "Not you. The jewel."

"What jewel?"

"Go to the shrine," her mother commanded once more. "There's only so much that I know, so much that I didn't want to know about the Higurashi Curse after your father's accident. But the shrine will have all the information that you could possibly need and it'll keep your safe as long as you remain on the grounds. You must go there. Tonight."


"Kagome, what in the world..?"

As her roommate pushed open the door to their shared dormitory, Kagome glanced up but did not pause, continuing to shove clothes all the way to the bottom of her backpack before going to the dresser for more. Damp hair curled around her shoulders, making her shirt wet, but she hardly noticed it in her panic. "Kagome, stop. Stop," Sango said more firmly, cool hands coming around her biceps and pulling her to the side. "Kagome, look at me. What's wrong? What happened?"

Sango looked scared and concerned, her eyes wide and brows drawn upward. Her long, brown hair fell around her shoulders, out of it's usual, no-nonsense ponytail, and she smelled like cologne - Miroku's cologne. Normally Kagome would have instantly pounced on her best friend and teasingly demanding details about her 'it's not a date' date with Miroku, which would be vehemently denied. But now she only felt like crumpling under her friend's hands, her lip already giving a tell-tale tremble. She didn't want to put Sango in danger. She didn't want him to come after her, too. She looked away, swallowing around the lump in her throat.

"Family emergency," Kagome lied. Sango saw right through her, eyes zeroing in on the obvious bruising around her throat.

"I'll kill him," Sango hissed. "Whoever he is, I'm going to find him and I'm going to cut off his goddamn balls. Tell me what happened," she demanded, arms going around her friend. Kagome resisted for a moment, but it was too much as her throat tightened and her eyes burned.

"He did something," she choked out. "He... they weren't..." She couldn't make herself make sense, so she gave up. Sango made soothing noises, petting the back of her hair and rubbing her back until the sobbing subsided to deep, hiccuping breaths.

"Shh, Shh. It's okay now, Kags, I'm here. Hey," she said, pulling away and keeping contact by holding her shoulders. Sango looked like she wanted to cry, too. "What happened? Should I call the police?"

Kagome shook her head. "You can't," she whispered. At the stormy expression that came over her best friend's face and feeling the impending lecture about the importance of filing with the police, she wiped at her wet face and continued, "They won't believe it. I don't even believe it.."

"And why wouldn't they believe you?" She asked tightly, on the edge of a temper.

Kagome didn't know how to explain, but her gaze instantly lowered to her hands, turning them over to stare at her palms where the blue fire had raged, burning outwards in to the doll and destroying it. They were harmless now, soft from lotion and the small scrapes on her palms covered with cutesy yellow and blue kids' bandaids. "Because," she whispered, unsure, "I don't think that they weren't human."

There was a small stretch of silence and Kagome avoided her friend's gaze. Then, "I'm calling Miroku."


Kagome felt Miroku before his knock came at the door, pushing it open and peering inside with concern. "I came as soon as I could, is she-" he said, looking first to Sango before his voice trailed off and he openly stared at Kagome. "Whoa."

She was staring, too. There was a deep purple-blue glow emanating her friend and it was moving around him in lazy waves, as if following the expansion of his lungs with each exhale and inhale - it looked alive, and she didn't know if it was safe.

"Miroku," she said, brows drawing together and half-rising from the edge of Sango's bed, "you-" She didn't know how to explain it, so she let the silent question hang in the air instead. He nodded, mechanically closing the door behind him as he moved in to the room.

"You too."

Kagome looked down at herself. She couldn't see any lights around herself like she could see around him. "Me too?"

Sango glanced between them, confused by the halved conversation and crossing her arms grumpily. "Mind explaining things to the only person in the room who doesn't have spiritual powers?"

Miroku blinked, as if snapping back to reality, turning towards his almost-girlfriend with an endearing grin. "Sango, my dear, I apologize," he said, glancing at Kagome. "How much does she know?"

Sango hesitated and simply said, "not enough. It was a demon, but I don't really know where to start explaining."

"Well, I'm always available to lend a helping hand."

Sango gave him a dirty look, looking ready to lay in to him for ignoring the gravity of the situation and making a subtle sex joke of all things. Miroku held up his hands in mock surrender, laughing, as he crouched in front of Kagome. He sent her a quick, reassuring smile before his gaze roved above her head and further still, tracking invisible patterns in the air with his eyes slightly unfocused. "You have an astounding aura, Kagome," he murmured, his voice low and distracted, "impossibly bright and very powerful."

"What does that mean?" Kagome asked. Sango had barely begun explaining things, just enough to confirm that demons were real and some humans knew about it, that Sango's family had been in the business of demon extermination for centuries, and she was feeling decidedly raw and vulnerable. Her friends were acting calm and normal, like this wasn't the first time they've been in this situation. These were her best friends and, despite knowing both of them for years and opening her entire life up to them, Kagome was beginning to realize how much she didn't know about them. "Did I not have an aura before?"

He blinked, coming back to his senses once more and sat back on his heels. "You did, but as an average human," he explained. His mouth twisted to one side in thought. "Repressed. Though I don't know by whom. Now that it's out, there's no putting it back in. Anyone with a sixth sense will know what you are."

Kagome fisted her hands against her jean-clad things, biting her lip against the question she was afraid to know the answer to but needed to ask. "What am I, Miroku?"

He shrugged. "Best guess? A priestess, and not just any run of the mill one either. You have the biggest aura I've ever seen for someone untrained."

She started, slowly shaking her head. "That's crazy. Priestesses who can cast spells and purify demons are just -"

".. Just myths? Tell me, what happened out there?" He interrupted her and she would have been annoyed with him doing that, again, but his keen, serious expression prevented her. "Whatever attacked you wasn't human, and demons are just legends as well."

"Is that what they were?" Her mother had said the same thing, half-demon, as had Sango, but she needed all the confirmation that she could get it. "Demons?"

He nodded grimly. "I'd bet on it. Rouges usually pick off spiritually aware beings as soon as they show up in the register, the only ones without protection. The same happened with me. Though, how they managed to find you before your powers showed themselves - and likely never would have awakened themselves if you hadn't been attacked - is a damn good question."

"You said that rarely happens nowadays," Sango accused, plopping down on the bed next to Kagome. Her hands curled around the edges of the bed in to fists. "You were attacked?"

Miroku patted Sango's knee comfortingly. "I have protection now, I didn't then," he held up his hand, palm out where two deep, white criss-crossing scars showed. "Remember when I told you I got these from a feral cat when I was a kid? Well, I may have possibly glazed over a few details." He grinned toward Kagome, trying to lighten their mood. "A cat demon, more like, out for the blood after being unfortunately swindled out of some money for some false exorcisms of her real estate properties. She settled for the swindler's son."

"Why did you lie?" Sango's expression was somewhere between thunderous and hurt. "You could have been killed!"

"I am more than capable of protecting myself, Sango," he chided her with a gentle smile. "And I underplayed it - most people wouldn't accept the truth without thinking that I was crazy unless they too had a supernatural experience to think off, such as now. And that was also before I realized you were one of the infamous Sato demons slayers." Then, his smile quickly grew in a familiar teasing grin. "Though your concern for my well-being is noted."

Sango's cheeks turned pink. Kagome bit down on a grin, thankful for the familiar and distracting banter. Still so smooth, even at a time like this. Miroku's smile widened and his hands reached for his almost-girlfriend. Sango slapped them away. Sango's shoulder bumped hers, shooting her a pseudo-look of betrayal for giving the monk an opening.

It felt surreal, sitting here joking when the scariest experience of her life had happened a little more than a hour ago. She wasn't sure what this all meant for her; she doubted things would return to normal after this. If Miroku could see her ... aura so clearly, and if demons hunted those with auras like hers, that means everything had been turned on its head in just a couple of hours. She didn't have time to wallow about her situation, that much was clear; she had herself and the people around her to consider. There was small stretch of silence. Kagome took a deep breath. "How do I apply for protection?"

Miroku sighed, shifting in to a more comfortable position on the floor in front of them. "Now that depends on many things. The demons who offer people like us protection are secretive and hard to get ahold of, and rightly so. It is a dangerous occupation and often a thankless one, even if having a spiritual being on the payroll is exceedingly convenient. They must be immensely strong and capable to fight off the rogue demons that are out for the monk's or priestess' blood. There's the whole mess of spirit world and demon world that I'll explain later, but for now all you need to know is I'll contact my guardians and try to get you an appointment."

"What else?" she said, biting her lip. 'Spirit world' and 'demon world' bounced around her head for a few moments, making her feel small and ignorant that there were whole other worlds she didn't know about.

At this, Miroku rubbed the back of his neck and refused to meet her gaze. "The other thing depends on who attacked you. Sango didn't explain everything on the phone with me earlier but, from the details I gleaned, I can say with some confidence that your attacker is as strong as he is dangerous. Demons who have a humanoid form usually are. The fact that he also produced a golem -"

"Golem?" She interrupted. "What's that?"

"The dark object you spoke of, shaped like a doll with hair tied through it," he explained, frowning, "it is a complicated bit of spellwork, that, and immensely dark. The hair gives the doll its' shape, creating a a perfect imitation of the spellcaster - his size, his features, even his scent and energy signature. Demons use golems as a replacement when battling or assessing a much stronger opponent and while a golem may injure an opponent, the opponent can not physically harm the originator through his or her golem. They have been out of fashion for several centuries and are completely illegal under the inter-world treatise. That makes me think that this demon is old - at least three hundred, if not more. And tacky."

Kagome smiled, if only in acknowledgement of his attempt to cheer her up. She thought back to the encounter, pushing down the fear that accompanied it and the instinctive tightening of her muscles, and forced herself to look at it rationally and recall any details that might be important. "He said he didn't want to kill me," she said at last, lips tugged to the side in thought, "he said that he knew my family and my mom knew him by name, and told me 'what he likes most about Higurashi women.'"

"That is worrisome," Miroku agreed. "What else did he say?"

"He kept talking about my potential/powers, which I understand now. He must mean all of this," she said, gesturing to the area around her head where Miroku had been looking earlier and she assumed her 'aura' was. "But what use does a demon have for powers that can't be controlled, or can easily kill him? If he hadn't been using that 'golem' thing, I would've completely smoked him tonight," she said angrily before her glare softened with undertones of worry and her voice was weak when she spoke. "Now he's still out there."

Sango put her arms around her shoulders and she gratefully leaned in to the comforting gesture.

Miroku drummed his fingers against his knees, looking conflicted, before he let out a long sigh. "Kagome, I don't mean to scare you," he began, serious, "but this demon knows who you are. He knows where you live, where you work, probably knows your schedule. It's just a matter of time before he comes for you again and he has plenty of time and opportunities to do so. You are near defenseless.

"But," he said, holding up his hand just as Sango opened her mouth to scold him for being so hard on her. Kagome winced, but she already had an idea where this was going. Her mother had said as much. "He's weakened now. I'll bet anything that he was nearby when your powers awakened, manipulating the situation from the shadows, and he's probably weak and regrouping at the moment. If you are to do anything, the time to do it is now. "

"What are you suggesting?" Kagome asked, straightening her shoulders and forcing herself to be brave, stuffing all of the bad emotions from tonight - the terror, the fear, the anger - in to to a bag and shoving it deep inside of her. Now wasn't the time. She could break down later, she could think of all of the implications of this later. For now, she had to act decisively and with a clear head.

"Hide," he said seriously. "Lie low until I can get a hold of someone willing to grant you protection and go somewhere he can't find you - someplace he would have no idea to look."

"Mom said the same thing," Kagome said. "she's knows about all this. She told me that there are protections set up at our ancestral shrine that could keep this demon out. My father came from a long line of Shinto priests and priestesses," she explained, pieces falling in to place as she spoke. "Maybe that's why I'm the way I am."

"Power and potential are in your blood."

"Don't make it sound so dramatic. This isn't a movie, Miroku," she protested weakly, but she knew he wasn't joking. He only shook his head.

"No, it's not," he agreed solemnly. "What do you want to do, Kagome?"

What a loaded question.

She didn't think about what she honestly wanted to do because it would serve no purpose. It was about what she must do if she wanted to make it out of this situation. The shrine was located in Kyushu and it would take at least eight hours to get there by train or bus. She didn't really have any memories of the shrine, vague snatches of dense forests, sunshine, laughter, and the way her father and grandfather had exchanged looks when she had mentioned her imaginary friend. She hadn't been back since her father had died, had barely talked with her grandfather after he and her mother had a falling out when Souta was just a baby.

It wasn't perfect - It was secluded in the mountain and, if Naraku found her, there would be no one around to help. But even on a public street in the middle of Tokyo there was no one to help either, she reminded herself. At least this way there would be no innocent bystanders or casualties. And there were the spells her mother had mentioned, too, and the promise of answers - that decided it more than anything.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts, realizing her friends were watching her. She met their gazes, and nodded firmly. "The shrine."

Miroku help up his hand once more. "Don't tell us. If the demon comes looking for answers, I can't promise we can keep your secrets."

Kagome shot up in alarm. "Do you think he'll come after you?" she asked, voice cracking.

"Calm down, Kagome," Sango said, tugging her back down to sit on the bed. "Look," she said, firmly meeting her friends gaze and trying to smile, both grim and determined. "We've been friends since middle school and I love you like a sister - I would do just about anything in the world for you if it meant you were safe and happy. This is one of those things. If anything happens, I will die to protect you, do you understand? If something happens to me but it keeps you safe, I will do it. Don't forget that."

Kagome smiled at her friend, tears building behind her eyes once more and hugged her. "I don't want you to get hurt because of me," she whispered.

"We'll take our chances," Miroku assured with a wink, patting her knee. "Now, let's see about getting you some money and a ticket out of here."


A/N: Hello again! I originally planned to update this story a couple days ago but it's been a crazy weekend. Also, seriously people - never ever drive drunk or even tipsy. I was nearly killed at a crosswalk the other night if my husband hadn't pulled me back. Now he's in a cast and we've been dealing with the police all weekend.

That said, thank you for everyone who took the time to write a review! I was so happy to receive each and every one of them! I won't be able to update for at least two weeks because of work-related appointments, but if you have any questions or comments I'd be pleased to reply.^^

Cheers! Until the next time!