Kitsunehime: *comes back out looking happy in a scary sort of way* I'm back! Anyone miss me?
Inuyasha: No.
Kitsunehime: Oh, bite me. If I owned Inuyasha or the Black Jewels Trilogy, I think I'd be a lot richer than I am now. Does it look like I own them?
Sango: Iie.
Fahleing: No way.
Sesshoumaru: Not possible.
Kitsunehime: I get the point, shut up already!
Koryu: Iya..
Lucivar: Uh-uh.
Shippou: What's going on?
Miroku: Don't want to shut up.
Daemon: ...........
Rin: Whatever it was, I didn't do it!
Kitsunehime:........Aaaaarrrghh! Why does this always happen to me?!
Miyu: ......Who knows?
Youko: Who wants to know?
Daemon: Nobody.
Kitsunehime: Shut up!
To Rule The Darkness
ch. 15 The Curse
Sango watched in awe as the hole in Miroku's hand sucked in all of the youkai, making them disappear without a trace. As soon as they were all gone, he quickly pulled the prayer beads in place to seal the kazaana. Kirara caught him as he swayed on his feet from the strain.
"Miroku! Are you alright?!" Sango asked him anxiously. 'He doesn't look too good...........'
"I'm alright, Sango. Just a little shaky from pulling in so many demons. Did you, the boys, or Kirara get hurt?" Miroku stood up slowly pushing himself off of the big firecat.
Sango shook her head. "No, not me." She looked at Kohaku and Souta, who also shook their heads. Kirara simply returned to her smaller form and sat down to clean her paws. She turned back to Miroku. "Exactly what was that?" she demanded.
He looked a little sheepish, ashamed that he didn't tell her about it sooner. "It's a curse, passed down from my grandfather by Naraku," he began. "Every year, it grows wider and more powerful, and will eventually pull me in, like it did to my father and grandfather." He sounded remarkably calm, but anger was bubbling up inside him. "That's why, if I can't finish our family's mission and defeat Naraku, I must have an heir to do so." His hands clenched on his staff, at odds with his seemingly calm voice.
Kohaku was now regarding him as some sort of hero, one with a mission to break a curse. Souta seemed to sympathize with him, muttering obscenities about Naraku involving several anatomically impossible deeds, bucketfuls of poisonous insects, and various sharp kitchen implements. Sango seemed to be seeing him in a whole different light, now that she knew Naraku had wrecked as much havoc in his life as hers, and that he had a reason for asking every female 'that question'..............even if the reason is often disregarded as irrelevant and a poor excuse. Even Kirara felt that what happened to him and his family was awful. She rubbed her head against Miroku's hand, like she did for her mistress when she was sad.
"I-I'm sorry..............." Sango murmured. She felt guilty about taking things out on him sometimes.........he too had a score to settle with Naraku, but he lived in uncertainty as to how long he had left to live..........
"Don't be, it's not your fault," Miroku said a little sadly. "We can help each other against that monster, he killed yours and Kohaku's mother, didn't he? Let's go, it might not be a good idea to stay here." He started to walk down the forest path ahead of them.
Sango, seeing he was still a little shaky, silently signaled to Kirara, who transformed to give him a ride. Miroku somehow knew it was her doing, and gave her a quick smile of gratitude. She blushed slightly and ducked her head to hide it. Minutes later, all that was left in that particular place was a few bloodstains on the cool, moist dirt of the forest floor.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Fahleing eyed the big brass knocker on the door. 'This is it........' she thought. Raising a pale, clawed hand to the door, she banged on the knocker three times.
Her sensitive ears picked up a scrabbling sound on the other side. 'That's funny, sounds like someone's struggling to open the door.' Curious, she stuck her ear right up to the wood and listened. What sounded like a little old man was wheezing and ranting at the door. 'Weird...........what, do they have mice for butlers or something?'
"Myouga, what are you doing?" A deep male voice made itself heard. It was a little muffled by the thick black wood of the door, but Fahleing still heard it perfectly well.
"Ah, Lord Koryu, would you be so kind as to open this for me? We have a visitor." The old man was speaking again.
Fahleing quickly stood back up straight when she heard the door handle begin to turn on the inside. The door opened to reveal a tall, silver-haired inu-youkai who had an uncanny resemblance to Sesshoumaru.......well, not as pale, anyways. "Your name and business here?" he asked.
"Fahleing of the Dog Forest, sent by Sesshoumaru to serve Witch."
"Then come in. Welcome to the Hall of the Western Lands." He stood aside to let her in, then shut the door and began to walk off.
Fahleing watched him start to walk off in annoyance. 'Who the hell does he think he is? Leave me to find my way around myself...........grr.........' "Hey, you! Mind showing me around here?"
He flicked his knee-length silver hair over his shoulder and looked at her. "And I should because...........?"
'Grr.........arrogant bastard..............' "Because I'm new here and I somehow doubt that I know where this person called Inutaishou is," she said acidly, mimicking his arrogant stance.
"Just who do you think you are, woman?" His tone became just as acidic as hers. 'What a bitch!'
"Just who do you think YOU are, baka?" Fahleing crossed her arms and glared at him.
"Er, if I may interrupt, my lord, my lady............" The somewhat squeaky old voice spoke again. Fahleing looked around to see where it came from.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a tiny flea-youkai landed on the tp of her nose and began to feast. Reacting automatically, Fahleing brought her hand up to her face in one swift movement and squashed the bug. Without flattening her nose, of course. "Who........or what the hell is this?" She peered at the little flea-man closely as he suddenly managed to pop back into shape from his formerly flat state.
"My apologies, Lady Fahleing, the taste of your blood was too tempting to resist. I'm Myouga the flea-youkai, at your service." Myouga, now a little bigger from his little 'feast,' bowed from his position in the palm of Fahleing's hand. Then he turned around and asked, "Lord Koryu, have you made an introduction............Where'd he go?"
Fahleing shrugged. "The tall guy with the superior attitude? I think he left."
Myouga sighed. "Yes, that would be him, Lord Koryu."
"Lord? Who is he anyways? Besides a Gray-Jeweled Warlord Prince, I mean."
"He is Lord Sesshoumaru's cousin, and serves the Dark Court. Actually, come to think of it, you look a lot like Lord Inutaishou's other son.........."
"Inutaishou? That's the guy Sesshoumaru told me to ask for. Where is he?"
"Follow me." Myouga hopped off her hand, but then realized she would have a pretty hard time following. "Er, maybe it would be better if I just gave you the directions to his study........"
Fahleing rubbed her nose, making sure the fleabite was gone already, while she listened to Myouga's directions. "Easy enough. Later then, Myouga." She strode off in search of Inutaishou's study. And forgot which way Myouga said to turn after passing down a couple hallways. "Oh shit. This is just great.........." she muttered sarcastically.
"Excuse me, are you lost?" A girl of about fifteen or sixteen was standing in the doorway of what appeared to be a library. "You're new here, ne?"
"Feh, what of it?" Fahleing tested the girl's psychic scent and got a big shock. She bowed "Here to serve, Witch."
She smiled. "Oh, so Sesshoumaru sent you? Welcome to the unofficial Dark Court. And you don't have to call me Witch; to everyone here, I'm just Rin." She paused for a moment. "Oh, and that little reddish ball over there is Shippou." Rin pointed to a little kitsune asleep in one of the armchairs.
"My name is Fahleing, High Priestess of the Dog Forest, hanyou daughter of the last Warlord Prince to watch over the forest." Fahleing's eyes saddened a bit at the mention of her long-dead father. "I was told to ask for Inutaishou........do you have any clue where he is?"
"No, I think he went to check on something. Why don't I give you the tour now? Oops, I should find you a room first, shouldn't I? Come on." Rin led her down a couple more corridors until she came to one at the top of a grand, sweeping staircase with inlaid black doors. "Is this one ok?" She opened the door at the very end, farthest from the stairs.
Fahleing looked around. The room was very inviting, containing a bed with heavy red-bordered black curtains, a window seat covered in cushions, shelves, a redwood desk in the corner, and various other amenities. "It's fine. Arigatou." she put her bow and quiver on the rack by the connected bathroom, but left her sword on.
Rin smiled again. "You can freshen up in the bathroom before the tour, if you want. It connects to the room on the other side, but I don't think she'll be using it for a while."
Fahleing grimaced at the thought of all the dirt from the road on her. "Good idea. Haven't had a decent bath since I left the house............the towels, soap, and everything are in there, ne?"
Rin nodded. "And there is also extra clothing in the closet over there. Tell me if the sizes aren't right, I'm in the room right across the hall." She left and lightly shut the door behind her.
After her bath, Fahleing left her dirty clothes on a chair and searched the closet for something that actually suited her tastes. 'Why the hell are all of these kimonos so damn...........fancy? Is there one thing in here that I can move around in without watching to make sure it won't rip?' Finally, she found a loose red gi and white hakama and put them on, sticking her sword in the belt. She found a brush on the counter and ran it quickly through her long silver hair, then went across the hall to knock on Rin's door.
"Fahleing? Did the clothes in the closet fit? Or is this the only one?" Rin was wearing a white kimono with sakura and touya on it.
"They look like they all fit, but most of them are............too delicate for my tastes. I prefer things I can fight in." Fahleing tugged the sleeve of her gi and mock-punched the wall, stopping about an inch before it of course, to demonstrate her point.
Rin laughed. "That's alright, I'll see if Sakuya can get you some other ones. Although Inutaishou does sometimes require us to dress up a bit for dinner, so we can't get rid of all the kimonos in there. Come on, I'll give you the tour." She began to lead Fahleing, pointing at the doors as she went. "This is floor where all the family's rooms are. Here, we include the Dark Court as family. Kagome's in the room right next to yours, she's also a Priestess. Do you want to meet everybody while on the tour?"
"Sure, better than asking their names later." Fahleing shrugged.
Rin knocked on the door. "Kagome, are you in there?"
"Just a minute, I'm coming!" The door opened to reveal a Priestess wearing a pale blue kimono covered in purple butterflies with slightly wet hair. "I was just in the bath," she said apologetically.
"No problem. Kagome, this is Fahleing, High Priestess of the Dog Forest, she's just arrived here. Fahleing, this is Kagome, High Priestess of the Shikon no Tama."
Fahleing bowed. "Konnichiwa, Kagome."
Kagome bowed back. "Konnichiwa, Fahleing." She studied her for a little while. "You look an awful lot like Inuyasha though..........."
"Inuyasha?! He's here?!"
Ja!