A/N: That's right people, I finally updated this story! Yay me! By the by, if you haven't read chapter 3--which was once an author's note, you should do that before reading this one. I changed it over a few weeks ago, before getting to this. Once more, let's all thank my Beta reader, who is very quick to get my stuff back to me. Yay her! Now, on with the long-awaited chapter!

Curse of the Gypsy

Chapter 4

Sango returned with a young doe, fresh for the eating. A few of the clan went right to work gutting and skinning the animal. Kagome set up the tent for the night, as Rin and Shippou rummaged through the cart for all they would need for the night--a change of clothes and their bedrolls.

It was a clean and crisp night. Kagome surveyed their surroundings, noting how the topmost leaves on all the trees surrounding the streambed were already changed in color. They would have to move quickly now. She regretted slightly the lost day, but when she looked over at Inuyasha, sitting up rather testily in the cart, her decision had been the right one.

Once the fire was going and the meal was prepared, Kagome had finished her job of readying her sleeping quarters, and that of the children. As she exited the tent, Kouga met her outside.

"Good evening, Kagome," he said with a smile, handing her a bowl of the stewed venison. It smelled delightful and Kagome happily took it from him.

"Thank you, Kouga," she said with a smile. For a moment, she looked around for Rin and Shippou, but didn't seem them. "Have the children eaten?"

"Last I saw of them, they were chasing around Souta and Kohaku," he said with a shrug. Kagome chuckled and began eating her meal. "Might I ask a request of you?" Kouga asked suddenly.

Kagome looked up at him with a level expression. "You need only ask," she responded.

"What do you intend to do about the hanyou?" Kouga's expression was carefully guarded, but she saw the masked discontent in his clear blue eyes. She reached up, brushing a strand of strand of black hair from his face while never taking her eyes from his.

"Are you jealous, Kouga?" she asked him.

Kouga took her hand in both of his own. "Perhaps," he said with a small smile.

Kagome smiled a little wistfully. "I intend to heal him. If he wishes to remain, he is free to. It is the same with every one of this clan. You know the rules."

"Yes, I know the rules," he said with a sigh. He released her hand then, and took a step back. "I'll be at the fireside. I think you should speak with us tonight."

Kagome nodded. "I intended to." On a sudden impulse, she reached up and tugged his headband down over his eyes in an affectionate gesture. Then she leaned up and pressed her cheek against his. "You are all too good to me," she whispered into his pointed ear, then she drew back.

When he lifted the fur cloth from his eyes, Kagome was already walking away. "No," he whispered as he watched her leave. "It is you who is too good to us."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you hungry?" Someone suddenly asked. Inuyasha jumped slightly from his current moment of staring off into space idly. He whirled to see Kagome leaning against the wooden frame of the cart, a bowl of food in her hands. "I could get you some if you like."

"I'm not hungry," Inuyasha lied. He didn't want this girl hovering around him right now. About an hour ago, he had picked up a familiar scent. Two of the guild members were looking for him. It was best no one notice when they arrive.

Kagome smiled and nodded her head. "I'll bring you something later," she offered. "We have to bed early tonight because we leave at first light. The next town is still miles off and we need enough time to get in a performance there before nightfall."

"Sure," Inuyasha said, half-listening.

"I'm also going to remove that dead chicken from your head," Kagome replied in monotone.

"Great," Inuyasha nodded. Suddenly, Kagome tugged on a piece of his hair, plucking a single strand of silver. It hurt for a second and had him rounding on her instantly. "What was that for?" he barked.

"Pay attention when I speak," she warned. "I will never repeat myself. I may be a Gypsy, and I do not lie, but you do not want to cross me either, hanyou." The last statement was said in the same sort of accent she used when calling herself a laoch. "As long as you are wounded, you are under our care, and you will respect our wishes."

"I never asked you to save my life!" Inuyasha spat back at her. "I would have been fine!"

"Right," Kagome scoffed. "Bleeding to death on a rock by a riverside you ran to when a member of the priesthood shot you down like a rabid beast. Far better a choice."

Inuyasha growled. "Watch your tongue, wench. You might be the one left by a riverside next time."

"If you are a creature who would kill the hand that spared him," Kagome said quietly, "then I should have left you to die." With that, she turned to walk away. She stopped after a few steps, back rigid. "I was going to ask you to join us in the tent tonight, but I think you'd be happier in the cart."

"You'd sleep in the same tent as a hanyou?" he called after her with a condescending tone. Kagome turned slightly, long enough to flash him a grin.

"I sleep beside a demon every night." With that, she was gone back to the fireside. Unintentionally, a blush spread across Inuyasha's face as he stared after her with wide amber eyes.

"Stupid gypsies," he muttered irritably. As always, his course of action was denial. "What do I care if she has a thing for demons?" Truth was, the blush had not completely dulled from his face, and he had an uncomfortable warm feeling in the region of his chest. He had never met a human who was so openly indifferent to a love for demons. It was both unnerving and addictive.

Luckily, or unluckily, for Inuyasha, he was disrupted from his thoughts by a few angry whispers and two bodies falling through the trees, landing one on top of the other in a heap. The one on the bottom of male, small and green of face. Inuyasha knew who it was not only by the scent assaulting his nose, but also because of the high-pitched voice emitted from the small creature's mouth. The second was decidedly female, petite in size but gigantic in temper. Inuyasha's nose and ears twitched at their sudden entrance.

"Jaken, you cretin! You couldn't wait five seconds for me to get off the goddamned feather?"

"Hush, woman!" the small toadish creature squealed. "I'm doing only as my Lord bids me!"

"Hi, guys," Inuyasha greeted with a smirk. "I'm touched that you came all this way to find me."

"Inuyasha!" Kagura said, a smile spreading across her face. On first appearance, one might mistake Kagura for a human woman, but the dark red hue of her eyes and the point of her ears gave her away as demon. Tucked into her belt was a fan, the weapon of her choice, and tied around her forehead was a red band to signify which thief guild she belonged to. "We've been looking for you for two days!"

"I can tell," he mocked, noticing her rather disheveled appearance. Kagura glared at him, but the good-natured glint in her eye gave her away.

"Glad to see you're alive," Jaken butted in, recovering himself slowly and leaning on a tall wooden staff. He was of demon kind without doubt, from the green tint of his skin to his lack of fingers.

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the small demon, then looked back to Kagura. "Why is he here?"

"The Chief got nervous when you didn't report back," she explained, coming toward him and seemed to gage his health. "He sent me to go look for you, but your brother sent him," she indicated Jaken with a nod of her head, "with me, as an escort."

"Aw, isn't that cute," Inuyasha joked. Kagura scowled, poking him in the bandaged area around his shoulder. He appropriately grimaced and batted her hand away.

"Well come on," she said finally, reaching out a hand. "We can take my feather and get back to the base in a few hours."

"No," Inuyasha said, shaking his head and looking to the fire. "I've got a plan."

"Oh, good Lord," Jaken sighed, rolling his eyes. Kagura kicked him and looked to the hanyou with eagerness.

"Share."

"I was found by these gypsies," he explained. "And you know how gypsies have the vests with the symbols of their clan and all that?"

"Of course," Kagura said.

"Look at this!" he replied, reaching behind him for Kagome's vest. When he unfolded it and showed the two demons the design, two pairs of eyes lit up with delighted surprise.

"The Shikon Jewel!" Kagura whispered in awe. "Are you telling me that the gypsies might know where it is?"

"I don't know yet," Inuyasha said. "But their leader is just a girl. I think I might be able to get some information out of her if I try."

Kagura smirked. "Going to use your charms?" she asked in a sultry voice, tweaking one of his ears in a friendly manner. He wasn't amused. "So you want me to tell the Chief that you're working?"

"Yeah," Inuyasha nodded. "Give me a week and then I'll get a message to you. The caravan is heading south along the roads, we'll be near Malay in twelve days."

"We'll be waiting," Kagura assured him. "Come on, Jaken." The toady demon grumbled and followed her. A few moments later, Inuyasha saw them both float off from a safe distance on a large feather--a demonic power of Kagura, who was a wind-user.

"Now," Inuyasha commented to himself thoughtfully, running a claw over the embroidered design on Kagome's red vest. "I have to survive the next two weeks with gypsies."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kagome settled down by the fireside, wrapping a light blanket around her shoulders. The dinner dishes and pot had been cleaned up and taken away. The fire died to only a few glowing embers. Fresh wood was placed in the pit to be fired, but Kagome had left her flint in the cart, and she had no particular desire to go see Inuyasha at the moment.

She had sent Rin to give him his dinner and retrieve his dish. It made her feel cowardly, to avoid looking at him again, but the encounter she had with him had left her thoroughly shaken. Kagome was not a girl who lightly lost her temper. And though it had been only a minor lashing with her tongue, Kagome felt the bitterness flow from the deep wound inside, filling her with an icy chill.

In an attempt to shake herself free of the fear gripping in her belly, Kagome had sat by the fire and let the rest of the clan tend to the chores in the dying light. She never liked to remain idle, but tonight she felt it a good idea. A few of the others sat around her. Kohaku and Souta settled to her left, chatting about the coming performance. Sango was off to the side, by her tent, brushing Kirara's coat leisurely. Miroku and Mushin were talking quietly with each other on Kagome's right.

Everyone seemed content and ready to settle in for the night's entertainment. They wanted a good night's rest for a good day of travel, but tradition was tradition. Tonight was Kagome's turn, and everyone was eager to hear the words of their beloved Laoch. Kagome was a gifted storyteller, and everyone loved to hear her stories.

"Hojo," Kagome called out when she caught sight of the sandy-haired boy who had joined their clan the summer before last. He was the most recent member to join their clan, apart from Shippou, who Kagome adopted as her own less than a year before.

"Yes Kagome?" Hojo replied, settling into the vacant seat next to her. His bright eyes watched her with undisguised adoration. Kagome was quite aware of his infatuation. It was akin to the look that came to Kouga's eyes when she was around him. It was both unsettling and endearing. For now, she tried to put those thoughts from her mind.

"Would you be so kind?" she asked him, looking to the dying fire and back to his face. "I'm rather chilled tonight."

"Of course," he readily agreed. Hojo clapped his two hands together in front of him, facing the fire, and then he began to rub them together fast. As suddenly as he started, Hojo stopped and opened his hands, palms up. Bending over, he blew out a breath of air across his palms. His breath turned from a slight wisp of white into a cloud of blood red as it streaked through the open air. Upon touching the wood in the fire, it promptly burst into flame, dousing Kagome with a wave of warmth.

She smiled fondly at him, hugging the blanket around her shoulders more. "Thank you."

He bowed his head. "My pleasure." Hojo, a young man of eighteen gifted in the arts of flame and craftsmanship, had been blamed by his village for a raging forest fire that had plagued them, destroying crops and killing three people. He had been beaten and left for dead on the side of a road until the gypsies came upon him. Kagome had tended his wounds, bringing him back from the brink of death. He would have offered her his heart long before then, if he thought there was any chance she would accept it. Hojo, despite his naiveté, was not as dense as people thought he was. He could see the far-away look that stole into her midnight gaze when she thought no one was looking. Her heart was bound to a phantom, and he could never hope to steal it.

"Well," Grandpa announced, loudly seating himself across the roaring fire from Kagome and lightly poking at it with a stick. "I think it's time for tonight's story."

"Yay!" cheered Shippou and seconded by a silent cheer from Rin. Both of them latched onto Kagome, looking at her with innocent and pleading eyes. "What will you tell us tonight Kagome?"

"I don't know," the young woman told them, tucking her raven hair behind both ears. The rest of the clan took their respective places around the fire, all eyes on Kagome as she tried to decide what tale to regal them with tonight. With a dazed smile, she turned to Shippou. "What do you think?"

"Tell us about the Jewel!" he said excitedly, settling on to her lap and waiting.

"The Jewel?" Kagome laughed. "Didn't I tell you that story just last moon? I'm sure that's you've heard that story so often you know it by heart. Perhaps you should do the telling, Master Shippou," she teased, poking him on the nose.

He laughed and looked to Rin, his companion. "You want to hear it too, don't you Rin?" The silent girl nodded her assent and eagerly sat at Kagome's feet.

The storyteller sighed heavily and looked around the fire. "If no one objects…" No one did. "Very well then. The story of the Jewel, it is." Kagome arranged herself comfortably before beginning the tale, thinking of the best place to begin and then setting to her task. She began the tale in a low, serious voice, for this was a sacred story that was dear to her heart. It was the reason behind many things, and among it's tangled words, held the key to Kagome's own curse.

"The story of the Shikon Jewel begins long before any of us ever drew breath, except perhaps for Grandpa," she added with a giggle. A small chuckled went up through the camp, everyone watching the old man from the corner of their eyes. He only sniffed and poked at the fire again.

"Go on with you," he said with a slight huff.

"It begins, a many tales do, with a woman. Like in many tales, this woman was beautiful and wise beyond all compare. And like in many tales before, there was a man who wanted her above and beyond all reckoning. But unlike most tales, this woman did not want her devoted. This woman was named Midoriko, and she was a great warrior of power and purity. A descendant of the Shrine folk, it is said that Midoriko's own bloodline is the one that fueled the gypsies. She was a human woman gifted with the power to protect the humans from enemies that sought to destroy them. She was the first of the Gifted."

Inuyasha, still sitting in the cart a fair distance from the fire, swiveled his ears in that direction when he caught a few childish shrills about a Jewel. Now, all his hanyou energies--and there were quite a few--were centered on hearing the words coming from the pretty Gypsy girl as she told a tale of her people.

"Frustrated because Midoriko could not, and would not, return his love, the mortal man who pined for her allowed demons to consume his body. In doing so, he became a force of unstoppable power bent on the destruction of the person whom he once loved. The demonic body continued to grow, and became so powerful that Midoriko battled with it for four days and four nights. On the fifth day, the demon pierced Midoriko's heart, and with her last bit of strength, she captured her own heart along with the demons in a crystallized form that came to become the Shikon Jewel. But that is not the end of this tale," Kagome said with a smile.

"The Shikon Jewel was given to a village to protect. It was stolen and passed around for thousands of years until falling into the hands of a priestess, nearly five centuries ago. It was then that the Jewel entered into the history of the Higurashi clan, when the very same priestess fell in love with the young Laoch of our clan. It was in that single act that they both betrayed vows made to their people for a love that was riddled with distrust and raw fear, and in that single act, they caused the shattering of the Jewel."

A few collective murmurs went up around the fire and Kagome paused in her telling until silence befell them once more. "Once the Jewel was shattered, and both lives destroyed, the task of regathering the shards fell into the hands of the young daughter of the Laoch . Hers is a tale of great adventure and danger and love, but that is another story all together. In the end, she died before the Jewel was ever finished. Now, it lays in two pieces, scattered across this great world. One half of the Jewel is held in the hands of the Higurashi Clan's greatest enemy, and the other is in the hands of their greatest pride. It is said that one day, the curse placed upon the clan will be broken, and the daughter of the gypsies and the chosen one to stand with her, will once more make whole the Jewel that was broken."

Another collective murmur went up. Shippou, still seated in Kagome's lap, suddenly yawned loudly. The young woman laughed. "Yes, I think it's time we retire for this night." Nods of assent were given and the gypsies began to make their way toward their tents for the night. Miroku and Mushin were taking the first guard shift, and they made themselves comfortable near the flames. Hojo used his power to lower the fire to a warming ember blaze before heading to his own tent for the night.

"Good night," Kagome called to them. Some responded with words, others with waves. Some were too deep in thought or tired to respond at all. She didn't mind. Instead, she carried Rin and Shippou in her arms, back to the tent she had set up earlier. Once they were settled, she steeled herself and walked toward the cart with an extra blanket in her arms.

Inuyasha was awake, and looking deeply thoughtful, when Kagome walked up beside him. "Here," she said stiffly, shoving the blanket in his arms.

"Huh?" he quipped, blinking out of his daze and looking from the blanket to the girl.

"It gets cold out here at night," she said calmly. Inuyasha studied her for a long moment, then unfolded the blanket and tossed it over his shoulders.

"Thanks," he muttered gruffly.

"You're welcome," Kagome said before turning to go. Her people were polite strangers, and for some reason, that bothered her. Kagome had always been a friendly person, able to connect with anyone she met on some level or another. It threw her off balance when she was unable to get a good reading off of someone. He would only give her enough ground to take one step before rushing back.

As she curled up beside Rin and Shippou inside the tent, Kagome's thoughts were millions of miles away. Mostly they revolved around the Jewel, the curse, and her father. She thought about her ancestors, the Laoch and the priestess, who had risked everything they had for each other, and lost. She thought about the Laoch's daughter, after who she was named, and the adventures that befell her. Kagome also thought about the struggles she knew were coming in her own life. It was almost time. She could feel it in her blood. Soon, the curse would take hold of her, and the simple life she so adored would be utterly lost.

A/N: Okay people, I'll try to get chapter 5 out in a week or so, bare with me. It's going to take me a while to get through this story, but you're support--and reviews--with get me through it. Come, let's all form together and collectively review to give me incentive!