Episode 32: The Witch's Curse

His fur was now stained with blood.
From the thorns, of course.
Mika and the poor dog that had suffered her horrible cooking had fallen into a ditch where a many thorns had grown through out the years. They were enormous, and very, very sharp. They were like green knives!
The thorns barely had touched Mika, luckily, but at that time she cared nothing about herself. She had dug her nails and fingers into the prickling thorns and tried desperately to get the dog out. Tears fell through the openings. Blood dripped from one end to the other.
"This is painful so answer me!!!"
Finally, the dog whimpered a little cry. It was barely audible though.
She gripped on the thorns tighter, even though her eyesight was going blurry from the loss of blood.
"Don't worry Dog, I'll get you out!!!"
"What a foolish attempt," another voice from above said. It sounded like a female. Mika stopped sobbing and tried to see what lay beyond the light above her. It was a feeble attempt.
"W-who are you?" she cried, shaking with fear. Suddenly, her legs ached with pain too.
"If you so wish to be with him, I shall grant that," the person said. With a flick of her wrist, the light and air closed. The floor below her suddenly widened and swallowed her. She screamed and tried to stay above. But all she could do was cry out and hang on before she fell to her death.
Below her, the dog barked and snarled and gnashed at the thorns all over his body. But, that was hopeless too.

Soon, Mika found herself in an array of thorns and vines. They poked through her flesh, and blood poured out like a fountain. She had never felt such pain before in her life. She tried standing up and fell back down. When she knew it was hopeless to climb out, she searched the dark area for the dog. She found the white blood-stained dog at the edge of the dark enclosure.

She crawled over to his side and put his head onto her lap, stroking his fur softly with her hand. As she nodded in exhaustion, she began to sing a lullaby that came somewhere in her deep, deep conscious.
"Where the river plants grow, that is where, you'll, find me... If you don't, know where, I came from, that is where you'll find...me...yes....Where the cat sings its lullaby, that is where I'll be today... where the village lies, that is where, you'll find, me too... if you live today, you'll live tomorrow. If you see the future that is...if you can love me, you can love the world too, so sleep now...if you love me come find me, cause I'll be waiting over there...if you love the world, then you won't need me anymore..."
The dog did not open its shut eyes. It lay there, breathing and dying slowly. But when he heard the lullaby, his sorrowful face seemed to be smiling, in relief. Mika laid her head onto the dog and hugged it tightly. "I'll get you out of here, I promise. I'll get us out of here, and we can all find him, together..."
The canine opened one tired eye to glance at the being huddled over him and shut its eyes again. It seemed to say, There's no need.

When the young priestess flicked open her eyes once more, she found a glob of saliva poured all over her hand. It burned the flesh a bit, and soon she found out it was acid! "You are one strange dog; I've never heard of a dog who has acid saliva!" She flung her hand in the air like how a chicken would dance, the spit flying all over the thorns.
Then the answer came to her. Acid. Acid could free them from the thorns. She staggered her way to where the acid landed and watched it melt the thorns. Gradually, the thorn turned to nothing.
"Kami-sama! I've solved it! Dog," she cried, running back to him. She pried open his tired mouth and dumped the saliva onto her hands. She threw it over his body, sizzling the thorns like barbecue. The tired beast yelped in agony and snarled weakly at the priestess, who ignored him, sadly.
"I need more! Give me your mouth," she demanded and pushed his face to the thorns, and slapped his neck. "DROOL!!!"
The tortured dog was forced to spit and spit till his mouth was dry. Finally, the thorns gave way, and Mika could remove the dog from the poking plants. She wrapped her arms under his belly and carried him like how she would carry a baby and began treading outside. "Boy, you're heavy as rocks," she commented as she struggled to hold him.
I never said you could carry me, the dog mentally thought, but he was too weak to bite in protest.
"Oh, so you got out," said the same voice above.
"What do you want," Mika cried as she looked up in the darkness.
"Your soul, that's all," the voice said and like a knife had slit through the blackness, the light broke through, blinding Mika's face. She was about to block the incoming soul takers when the dog wriggled his way out of her arms and kicked her back. The soul takers hit the dog, the light enveloping his very body.
"Inu-chan!!!" she cried out, holding out a hand that never reached him.
The voice cackled above and petted one of the remaining soul takers. "How sad to see the such a noble to save a mere human girl. Do you not think it is foolish," she asked Mika. The priestess paid no heed to the female voice and was about to jump recklessly into the light when large amounts of youki shot out. It was like a storm of black mist, and it surrounded Mika like a snake trying to capture its pray.
The voice seemed to gasp and the shadow disappeared, cursing, "How did he break the curse..."

"I told Sesshoumaru-sama it was a bad idea to let that girl into our group, but no, did he listen to his faithful servant?" questioned Jaken as he trudged through the thick mud that covered the acres of forest land. Behind him, Rin followed diligently. Jaken clamped his beak-like mouth and spun around darkly. "Rin, I told you not to follow! Go back to Ah-Un!!!"
"I have to rescue Mika-san too!" she protested and pulled his staff away from him. "I can fight too!"
"Give me back my staff you silly girl!!!"
Rin leaped away from Jaken and began running past him. "You can't stop me Jaken-sama!"
"Rin! RIN! GET BACK HERE! Sesshoumaru-sama's going to slit my throat and eat me for dinner if you don't--"
At this moment, a tall lady with white hair and ghastly old, wrinkly skin brushed past his shoulder. She was leaning on a long wooden stick that looked rotten, and when he blinked, in the place of the old woman was a young teenage girl with beautiful set of eyes.
She glared at him with an evil smile and knelt down next to him. "Why hello there little imp. Would you like to work for me?"
"D-don't be ridiculous! I'm already a servant of someone! AND besides, what makes you think I'll stoop low enough to serve a inferior human like you--"
A twisted dark youki surrounded the "innocent" lady. Her eyes shone with menace and when she frowned, she seized him by his arm and flung him to the floor. "Well, what makes you think I'm a human? Are there holes where your eyes should be?"
Jaken blinked and gulped as he took another look at her. He gasped and threw his head onto the floor. "A witch..."
"That's right, I'm a witch. Therefore, if you cross me, I might put a spell on you. Now go make me some tea, little demon."
"I'm called Jaken," he cried in fear, and ran off to fetch Rin and Ah-Un. But before he left, she said, "If you try to run away, I'll be sure to curse all of you."