Author's Notes: My sister said this chapter was kind of perverted, so you can skip it if you want. It's just a little bit of humor before we start getting to the serious stuff again. All you need to know from this chapter is that an old man is burnt to death and Inuyasha puts a spell on Miroku. Okay, I think that's it. If you want to skip it, click the chapter button.
Complete the Circle
Chapter Forty: A Bit Too Many Spells
She watched the old man in the temple as she perched precariously on the branch of a tall tree. He was shuffling around as if the world held no joy for him, and she had to stop herself from snorting at such a pitiful creature.
Ningen are pathetic, she thought. I really should kill this weak creature and save him from his own misery. Watching him makes me sick.
She wondered about how some youkai were able to stand the presence of these disgusting creatures. She only tolerated the humans because of her master. Speaking of which…
Time for you to die, old man. She raised her hand, ready to shoot her poisonous acid at him when she changed her mind.
Killing him is what Naraku wants, she thought. If I only pretend I've killed him, maybe that will mess up his plans… She knew she was pathetic, resorting to such a petty measure for revenge.
If only I had my heart. Then I would be free of that bastard…
Suddenly she felt her mind drift away, and a moment later, she realized that her surroundings had changed. She looked around the dim room and recognized that she was in Naraku's castle.
So he switched our bodies, she thought. He must have known I wasn't going to kill the old man. She had to stop herself from laughing at Naraku's absurd fear of her messing up his plans. Serves him right for keeping me prisoner. Which reminds me…
She looked at the different wall scrolls in the room, and finally found one that looked suspicious to her. She lifted up the wall scroll and dispelled the spell that had been laid on the secret opening in the wall and took out a small jar. Then she quickly redid the spell and replaced the wall scroll.
Where do I hide this? She looked around for a place suitable to hide the heart of her imprisonment. Finally, she hid it behind the curtain, and waited for Naraku to reclaim his body.
In a moment, she returned to where she had been before, except now, there was only a pile of smoldering ashes where the temple had been. No doubt Naraku had been very thorough.
"Pass me the butter please," said Kagome politely.
"Get it yourself," said Inuyasha rudely. Obviously, he was still sour about what she had done in the morning.
"Oh, grow up, Inuyasha," she said, getting the butter herself.
"You're the one who played that childish trick," he growled at his cereal.
"Hey, it's not my fault that you're so slow to react," Kagome said smugly. Inuyasha only sighed. Suddenly someone knocked at the door.
"I'll get it," said Shippou, jumping up to grab the doorknob in order to open it. In walked Sango and Miroku, who looked like he had something behind his back.
"Are you guys ready to go to school?" asked Sango. Kagome looked at the clock. It was still six, and normally she would have been asleep, had it not been for Inuyasha.
"Ah. The lovely Monday morning," Miroku said.
"Isn't it a little early for school?" frowned Kagome.
"Yes, well…" Miroku said, moving towards Inuyasha, who had just finished his cereal and was starting to wash the bowl. "I've just got a surprise for you all!" Then he threw some strange pink powder over Inuyasha, causing him to sneeze and almost drop the bowl.
"What was that?" asked Inuyasha, still sneezing.
"Hmm," said Miroku, waiting for the effects of his new idea to take hold. "Just a stronger love spell."
"I told you to stop with your stupid spells!" yelled Inuyasha, who had not stopped sneezing yet.
"Miroku, I thought I told you that I don't appreciate love spells," Kagome said, annoyed with the former monk.
"Well, you'll be thanking me once the spell takes place," Miroku said.
"If it takes place at all," Sango said. "You told me it would be just a few seconds before it worked, and it looks like Inuyasha is still busy sneezing."
"Yes, well—" He wasn't able to finish his sentence for Inuyasha suddenly threw a punch at him. "Hah! You missed," Miroku said smugly.
"Did I?" asked Inuyasha, who had finally stopped sneezing. Kagome and Sango looked at Miroku, expecting him to sprout horns on the top of his head, but nothing happened.
"I'm not falling for your bluff," Miroku said, walking out the door. "And seriously, we have to get to school. I want to meet that substitute for Sesshoumaru."
"Why?" asked Sango, following Miroku out.
"Because it's a woman," Miroku said. He suddenly realized what he said and cringed. But thankfully, Sango was holding her temper.
"Let's go," Inuyasha said, handing Kagome her backpack and putting his own on. "I want to see how my little experiment works out."
Kagome wondered what he was talking about.
Something was seriously wrong with him today. For some reason, he kept on saying his thoughts out loud. Like when they were walking to school, he saw an ugly woman, and actually called her ugly to her face. Normally he wouldn't do that, but something was definitely wrong with him today.
"Kagome!" Kagome's friends called out to her, walking to her. Despite their leaving early, they had still gotten to school at the usual time. They kept on being sidetracked, especially by all the things he was saying today.
"Hey, Ayumi," he said. "You look good with that scarf."
"Thanks," she giggled. Sango shot him a look. He wondered why he had just said that out loud.
"Just because I'm commenting on another girl, doesn't mean you have to get all jealous," Miroku said. He quickly clamped his mouth shut. Why had he just said that to her?
"I'm not jealous!" denied Sango, her cheeks flushing red.
"You look so pretty when you're embarrassed," he said. He didn't have to smack himself on the head for Sango did it for him.
"Sango!" Kagome's friends said in shock. Sango stormed off towards the school building.
"Why did you have to go and say that?" asked Kagome.
"I don't know," said Miroku. "It's just that I'm saying everything that I'm thinking today." He wondered if it was a spell of some sort, and looked suspiciously at Inuyasha, who was starting to sneeze crazily again.
"You did this, didn't you?" asked Miroku, trying to pull Inuyasha away from Kagome and her friends. He almost forgot not to go beyond seven feet.
"What—achoo!—are you—achoo!—talking about?" asked Inuyasha, trying to stop his sneezing.
"You did something to me this morning when you tried to punch me, didn't you?" asked Miroku mercilessly as he watched Inuyasha sneeze like crazy.
"Serves you right," he said, continuing to sneeze.
"Fine," said Miroku. "Then I won't take that spell off you."
"What's happening to you has nothing to do with me," Inuyasha said in his defense, his voice sounding like he had a stuffy nose. "I put a spell on for you to tell the truth, not tell everything that you're thinking."
"Well I am!" said Miroku. "Take the stupid spell off." Inuyasha looked at him funny, then started to sneeze again.
"Well?" Miroku asked impatiently. "Take it off."
After his sneezing episode had subsided, Inuyasha finally looked at him straight in the eye and said, "I don't know how."
"What?!" shouted Miroku. "I can't believe this! And I was about to tell you that to take the spell off, all you had to do was kiss Kagome." He quickly closed his mouth with his hand. He had said too much.
"What?!" shouted Inuyasha at him. "How 'bout I knock what's remaining of your pitiful brain out!" But he never got the chance to because he started sneezing again.
"You should be glad that the spell isn't working as it's supposed to," Miroku said, watching his friend sneeze his brains out. "You're supposed to be walking around like a zombie thinking about Kagome."
Inuyasha was going to throttle Miroku, but sneezing was taking too much of his time. Miroku heard the first bell ring and sighed. He dragged the sneezing Inuyasha with him to Kagome and her friends, and they all went inside the building together.
He looked at Kagome's red face, and knew that he had shouted a bit too loudly and she had heard what he had said. He sighed. Two people were going to be after his blood.
Kagome squirmed in her seat. She had already sat through three boring classes and had one class to go before lunch. She squirmed in her seat again. She really had to go, and she had to go now. But the problem was Inuyasha. She doubted that the teacher was going to let Inuyasha go with her if she needed to go to the restroom.
So she had to wait. And wait. And wait…
Finally the lunch bell rang and she quickly grabbed Inuyasha out of the classroom, walking quickly to the girl's room.
"Hey! What are you doing?" he demanded, trying to keep himself from tripping. It seemed like people were often dragging him around lately.
"I need to go to the restroom!" Kagome hissed. "So you'll have to come with me."
"I'm not going into the girl's room," Inuyasha said, stopping in shock. "There's no way I'm going to the bathroom with you."
"All you have to do is stand outside," Kagome said impatiently.
"Stand outside a girl's bathroom?!" Inuyasha said. "People are going to think I'm perverted or something!"
"Pleeeease," Kagome pleaded. "Do it for me?" If Inuyasha said no, she was going to have to hurt him. He didn't reply at all, for Miroku's spell started to take effect again and he was starting to sneeze. "Come on," Kagome said, dragging Inuyasha away, who couldn't resist since the sneezing was taking up all of his energy. "Just stand out here," Kagome said, and quickly walked into the restroom before Inuyasha could do anything. She knew he wouldn't just walk away, even if it was going to cost him his pride.
She walked to the stalls and was about to go in when she felt a wave of dizziness hit her. She quickly stepped back and looked at the distance she had walked. It wasn't even seven meters.
"Inuyasha," she called, walking to the door. "You better not have gone off anywhere." She opened the door and saw that Inuyasha was still standing out there, sneezing. She walked into the restroom again but when she was about to reach the first stall, she felt the dizziness hit her.
"Kagome! What do you think you're doing?" shouted Inuyasha. "Stop walking too far away!"
"You're the one who's walking away!" Kagome said, walking outside to Inuyasha again. He hadn't moved at all.
"What are you talking about?" asked Inuyasha. Kagome realized that the shorter distance was probably a side effect of Miroku's spell. I am so going to kill him, Kagome thought, her fists shaking.
"Inuyasha, please step inside with me," she said through clenched teeth.
"What?! No way!" he shouted at her.
"I really need to go!" she hissed. "I've been holding this for hours!"
"So what?" he said unsympathetically.
"Inuyasha!" she said, irritated with him.
"I'm going to kill Miroku," he said as he reluctantly went into the bathroom with her. He locked the door behind him.
"Why are you—"
"So no one sees me in here," he said, his cheeks turning a very interesting color.
"Right," she said, going to a stall quickly. This is so embarrassing, she thought. Asking a guy to go to the bathroom with me… She was going to make Miroku die a slow and painful death.
"Eek! What are you doing in here?" she heard a girl's voice squeak.
"I, uh, thought this was the boy's bathroom," Inuyasha replied lamely. Kagome hit herself on the head.
"The boy's bathroom is on the other side," the girl said suspiciously.
"Well, what do you know?" Inuyasha laughed nervously. He looked at the girl who was still looking at him strangely.
"Aren't you going to go?" she asked.
"Go where?" asked Inuyasha innocently.
"To the boy's bathroom!" she said impatiently. Kagome tried to hurry up and save Inuyasha from further embarrassment.
"But, uh, uh… The girl's bathroom is so much nicer!" he said quickly. Kagome had to stop herself from laughing. Inuyasha wouldn't appreciate it if she did.
The girl sidled away from him, quickly washing her hands and then trying to open the door, which she failed to notice was locked.
"Ahhh! What have you done to the door!" she shouted. "Help!"
"It's just locked," Inuyasha said, pointing to the lock. She quickly unlocked it and ran out, saying something like "pervert" loudly. Kagome walked out of the stall and washed her hands, avoiding eye contact with Inuyasha for fear of bursting out laughing.
"Ahem," she said trying to clear her throat. "Shall we go?" she asked as if nothing was wrong.
"You owe me big time," he grumbled, his cheeks on fire with embarrassment. Kagome just smiled at him.
Inuyasha's spell was not helping him at all. He had already gotten detention for talking so much in class, and he knew there was more waiting for him. At least Sango was walking next to him now.
"That girl has a nice ass," he said before he could stop his thoughts. "But not as nice as Sango's." He tried to clamp his mouth shut, but it just wouldn't shut up. "I'm sorry, Sango, but I didn't mean to say that!"
"You were thinking it, though," she said, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.
"But, it's true. You're so much prettier than everyone else," he said, glad for once that his mind wasn't thinking of something else. "Not to mention that you look much more sexy than everyone else." Okay, maybe his mind was thinking of something else.
"Miroku!" she said, her face thoroughly red.
"Sango! I didn't mean to embarrass you! It's just this stupid spell!" he said.
"Well…" she said, ready to forgive him.
"But that girl has bigger boobs than you," he said. She slapped him. "Bigger doesn't mean better!" he said, trying to find a way to stop making Sango so mad. He was going to kill Inuyasha when he found him. Where had that idiot gone anyway?
Suddenly, he heard a door slam open and a girl walking out of the bathroom, shouting "pervert." A moment later, Inuyasha and Kagome emerged from the girl's bathroom.
"What were you doing in the girls' bathroom?" asked Miroku, looking at Inuyasha suspiciously. "I never would have believed that it was in you to do that."
"Keep your sick thoughts to yourself," Inuyasha said sourly.
"How can I if you've made it so that I can't even think without getting Sango mad?" Miroku retorted.
"It's your own fault for using all these stupid spells," Inuyasha grouched.
"But I didn't ruin your privacy with those spells," Miroku said. "Unlike your stupid spell, which is making everyone know what I'm thinking."
"Didn't ruin my privacy?" Inuyasha all but shouted. "I can't even step away from Kagome without one of us getting dizzy. Don't you talk to me about privacy. Besides, it's not my fault that you have sick thoughts!"
"Just take the spell off!"
"I can't!"
The two boys glared at each other, neither one ready to back down.
Inuyasha started to sneeze again, and he didn't stop until lunch was over.
"How about this?" asked Miroku as he saw that Inuyasha was starting to run out of air from sneezing and that there was no way the idiot could break the spell by himself. Especially since no girl wanted to be sneezed on before they were kissed. "I'll take that spell off you, and you attempt to take the spell off me."
"Sure," Inuyasha said between two of his sneezes. Miroku took out a small pouch with blue powder in it and sprinkled it over Inuyasha, who coughed as the cloud of powder descended on him.
"This better not make him cough like crazy," Kagome said dryly as Inuyasha stopped coughing.
"Now, take the spell off me," Miroku said. Inuyasha looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.
"Here goes nothing," he said. He concentrated his youki on Miroku and slowly unwove the spell that he had so carelessly placed on him. "I think that's it," he said as he was finished. "Well? Are you still speaking your thoughts?"
Miroku looked at Inuyasha, then at Kagome. He didn't say anything at all!
"Yes! I'm cured," he said. "If I had known that you could have cured me, I would have forced you to do it earlier." Then he ran off to find Sango before class started.
"Why didn't you just cure him before?" asked Kagome as they both walked to class.
"I didn't want to let him go that easy," he said. "Besides, I didn't really cure him…"
"Eh? I thought you just did," said Kagome, confused.
"Well, he kept complaining about his spell, so I just replaced it with another one," Inuyasha said. "I already told you people, I don't know how to take spells off. I'll have to ask my mom later."
"So what is this new spell supposed to do?" asked Kagome after a brief pause.
"I seriously have no clue," he replied. Kagome felt sorry for Miroku, but not too sorry. After all, he had had it coming for quite a while.