Hello everyone and anyone reading THE PRINCE'S NEW ATTITUDE!
This was a pretty long chapter and I must say that I am very proud of it.
I hope you like this chapter anyway.
Chapter 7: The Dog Prince Revealed!
The two siblings set out early the next day, despite a tired Kagome. Thoughts of the summoning and the prince's plans still plagued the brother and sister's minds. The two day journey stressed the teens greatly, but their hearts lightened when Miroku caught first sight of the village. They were both tired, not wanting to stop once on their return trip home. The last rays of the sun, faded as they drove Meadow and the cart up the hill to the headwoman's house, their family abode.
"Grandma, please measure me?" begged a young boy's voice.
"Hold on Souta. Stand still child" chided an elderly woman.
"What about me, grandma?" asked a little girl, tugging on her grandmother's skirt.
Miroku and Kagome exchanged happy smiles and walked faster up the pathway.
"Roku?! Gome?!" cried Rin, suddenly spotting the two. Kaede laughed as she watched Rin and Souta rush to greet her eldest grandchildren. Miroku picked up his baby sister, who clung to his neck tightly.
"R-rin. C-c-can't bre breath"
"Sorry Roku" the girl apologized, loosening her grip, but not releasing him. Kagome embraced Souta who hugged her back. She pulled away to give her younger brother a wet kiss on his cheek, laughing at his reaction. Souta pushed her off playfully to wipe the spot dry, a disgusted face barely hiding his grin.
"What did you do in the city?"
"Was the palace big?"
"Was the prince there?"
"What did he look like?" the two youngest siblings asked quickly at the same time, without stopping to take a breath.
"Alright you two. Time for bed" Kaede spoke up, coming to Miroku and Kagome's rescue. She approached them, one hand behind her to support her back, the other on a wooden cane.
"But, Grandma," the two whined, making puppy dog faces, "We're not tired"
Kagome tried hard to hold in a giggle. These two were the spitting image of herself and Miroku at their age.
"Don't, but grandma, me. Roku and Gome are tired. I know they'll tell you everything in the morning. Now unless you want to do chores early tomorrow, I suggest you go to sleep"
Looking defeated Rin slipped down from Miroku's arms, quickly hugging Kagome, and ran with Souta back into the house as if the devil of chores was hot on their tails.
"Welcome back, sweethearts" Kaede said warmly holding out her arms, cane still in hand. Kagome and Miroku both hugged her, Miroku bending down to reach his stout grandmother. Kagome kissed Kaede's wrinkled cheek and gave her an extra squeeze.
"Thanks grandma" she said.
"Good to be back" yawned Miroku.
"Alright, I'm going to bed, as much as I want to hear of your journey, my old bones won't let me" Kaede chuckled walking slowly up to the house. Kagome let loose a wide yawn and rubbed her eyes. A large hand rested on her shoulder and Kagome glanced up to see the concerned face of her older brother.
"Go to sleep, Gome. I know you haven't slept much in the last three days"
"Neither have you" she argued.
"But you have to talk to grandma and the village. You should go to sleep"
"OK. Will you be able to unpack the cart by yourself?"
"Of course, I'm a strong and intelligent man who can handle anything,. Now, no more arguments" Miroku pushed her to the house gently. Satisfied that Kagome would listen to him, he whickered for Meadow to follow him to the back of the house.
He stopped at the front door briefly to place his hand on the door frame, running his fingers over the rough and slightly marred wood. He saw the fresh cuts in the wood from Souta and Rin's measurements. A small smile passed his lips as he remembered being measured when he was younger. His brown eyes swept over the various names left by his family's past generations. The small smile faded at the thought of the prince's plans, to be replaced with a dark frown. Meadow nickered wanting to have her warm stable to sleep in. Miroku shook his head.
"Ok, come on girl"
With Meadow content in her personal stall, Miroku turned his attention to unloading the cart. Carefully removing the goods and jars, Miroku spotted movement in the straw and heard soft whimpers. Curious, he grabbed handfuls of straw to find a moving bundle. Unwrapping the blanket, the young man found a large, white wolfish dog laying inside. The dog lifted it's head, dark amber eyes filled with fear and confused anger looked back at him. Not wanting to scare the frightened canine, he held out his hand for the beast to sniff him.
"Come on, I'm not gonna hurt you" Miroku encouraged softly.
The dog glared at the hand then back at Miroku and did something quite unexpected.
"What the hell do you take me for!" the dog snarled still laying down. Miroku fell backwards fearfully.
"D-did you j-just sp-speak?"
"Well duh, stupid. Of course I can talk" replied the dog.
Scared beyond belief, Miroku did the only thing anyone would do in this situation. He threw a rock at the dog's head, which surprisingly knocked him out. Miroku sat there panting, as the beast slumped from the cart and onto the ground. After a moment, he raced into the house and into his sisters' room. Making sure not to wake up Rin, Miroku tiptoed over to Kagome.
"Gome? Kagome wake up" The black haired man whispered shaking his sister's shoulder. Kagome cracked open a brown and tired eye.
"Roku," she sat up, yawning and covering her mouth, "what is it? I'm sleeping" she complained rubbing her closed right eyelid.
"Kagome, you'll never believe it. There's this dog and-and it talked" he whispered urgently. Kagome looked at him with half lidded orbs, a sleepy eyebrow raised.
"Did you hit your head or something. Maybe a girl actually slapped you stupid"
Rolling his eyes, Miroku tugged Kagome out of her warm bed and outside to the stable.
"See. I told you it was a dog"
"Yes, Miroku, it's a dog, but it's not talking" The young woman replied sarcastically.
"It did, just watch" Miorku, upset that she didn't believe him, filled a bucket with cold water from the well and walked over to the unsuspecting canine.
The white dog yelped as freezing cold water drenched his body. Spotting Miroku holding up a dripping bucket, he growled from his position on the ground.
"You again! Are you trying to piss me off?!"
Miroku turned to his sister, a smug smirk on his face. Kagome just stood there in shock.
"The dog really does talk. Wow. Miroku maybe you weren't slapped stupid after all" Kagome said in awe, eyes never leaving the white animal.
"Talking...dog? What are you talking about, wench?" the animal questioned. Kagome's eyebrows furrowed angrily at what the dog called her and she crossed her arms.
"Who are you calling wench, you, you, you mutt"
"How dare you talk to me like that, wench! I'll make sure that the guards double their torturing when I throw you in the dungeon!!"
"What you barking about," Kagome questioned mockingly, "Wait, what makes you think you can throw me in a dungeon?"
"I can and I will! I always get what I want" snarled the furious canine. Kagome and Miroku froze at his words and exchanged blank looks.
"Prince Inuyasha" they both asked.
"No, really? And here I thought you were stupid morons. Well, bang goes that theory" Inuyasha, the dog, replied his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Is it really you?" Kagome asked.
"Yeeeahhh. Who did you think it was?"
"A large, white dog" Miroku stated.
"Excuse me?"
Miroku pointed to his nose.
"Try doing this"
"Are you serious?"
"Just do it"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and tried to move his left hand. He looked down to where he knew it was located. Instead of a large, tan human limb, there was a huge white furry dog paw complete with dull black claws. His eyes widened and he tried to feel his face with the newly acquired paw, releasing fearful whimpers.
Kagome grabbed Miroku's bucket and filled it with water, placing it in front of the strange dog. Not bothering to thank her, he looked in the stilled water like a mirror. The image in the water revealed a dog covered in thick white fur. Dark amber eyes filled with panic and human intelligence stared back. Inuyasha also noticed twin white peaks that served as ears standing at attention on the top of his head. Half terrified and half curious he willed the appendages to move. They both twitched.
Yelping, Inuyasha knocked over the bucket, splashing Miroku and Kagome.
"A dog?!?! I'm actually a dog! A mutt!" he shouted scrambling to stand up, but failing.
"Calm down, please, calm down" Kagome tried to console. When she attempted to approach him he snarled threatening at her, crouched down, teeth bared and ears pinned back. Startled she backed away into Miroku, who pushed her behind him protectively.
"Will you just shut up! She's just trying to help you" Miroku shouted. Inuyasha paused to look closer at the two humans. He had seen them before, but where? He had seen plenty of peasants and to be quite frank they all looked the same to him. He couldn't remember anything that happened after the guards escorted some peasants out of the audience conference chamber.
"You're the two peasants from the Higurisho village!" he exclaimed.
"It's Higurashi" Miroku said angrily.
"Whatever" came the cursed prince's reply, "Now, tell me. What. Did. You. Do. To. Me"
"Pardon?" asked Kagome from behind her tall brother.
"This is a plan you two cooked up so that I couldn't destroy your village" Inuyasha accused.
"Wait, wait, hold on" Miroku waved his hands, "are you saying that we turned you into a dog?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying"
"We can't do magic" Kagome shook her head.
"That's just what you want me to think"
"Sure you just keep thinking about that" Kagome mocked.
"I order you to change me back!" the dog commanded.
"We can't!" Miroku exclaimed. Inuyasha closed his mouth or in this case muzzle, but then opened it again.
"You're right"
"What?" the siblings blinked.
"You're just lowlife labourers," he answered, looking at the angry humans.
"Why you-" Kagome began, but Inuyasha interrupted voicing his own thoughts.
"If I go back to the palace. I can just order a witch to change me back," Inuyasha looked at the woman and man that watched him with red faces, "Hey, you two take me back to the palace" he turned around to begin walking toward the still lit group of village houses. A sudden idea struck Kagome as she watched the demanding dog walk clumsily on all fours, she turned to her brother, who glared in the prince's direction.
"Come on Miroku, lets go with him"
"What? Are you insane? Why would you want to help that spoiled brat?" he questioned grabbing hold of his younger sibling's shoulders. Kagome placed her small hands on Miroku's arms in a comforting manner.
"Miroku, if we help him return to normal, then maybe as a reward we can ask him to leave our village alone" she answered softly, her eyes shimmering in hope. Miroku sighed.
"Kagome, he wouldn't help anyone, but himself. Besides the forest is too dangerous at night time" Miroku reasoned.
"I have to try. This could be our last chance" Kagome countered, stepping away to follow the dog.
"But what about grandma, Rin or Souta, we can't just leave them" Miroku said catching hold of her wrist. Inuyasha called from a distance for them to follow.
"I'll go, Miroku with or without you" she answered angrily, yanking her wrist away.
Miroku watched her walk down to join the white furred prince, his hand dropping to hang at his side, lifeless. He started walking back into the house, stopping to glance over his shoulder at his sister before entering the house, alone.
Hope ya'll liked it:)
Until next time:)
R&R