"Broken Mirror"
Author's Notes: Dedicated to LanierShazar who was the only person to give me a suggestion for characters. (And who is kind enough to review me ) It's difficult to get Sesshoumaru to loosen up, so bear with me as I attempt to make him…funny.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. Sorry, I'd share if they were mine…maybe. It all belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. The plot is mine though, so please respect it. Thanks!
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The half moon hung low in the night sky. Its soft glow barely illuminated the dark stonework of the castle. An eerie silence flowed over the land, something was amiss. Sesshoumaru casually waited on his balcony for the ignorant demon to come into view. His keen senses quickly spotted the foul-smelling creature running below carrying something small tucked under its arm. Without a second thought, Sesshoumaru held his arm forward and loosed his poison whip. The nearly invisible string shot out into the night air with a shrill cry.
Stumbling in his haste, the small rat demon named Morty failed to notice his imminent demise approaching from behind. He was going to be paid handsomely when he got back. It was amazing that he'd been selected for this mission. It was so important; stealing back a family heirloom and all. He laughed. "Everyone's always saying I'm stupid! 'Morty can't steal shoes!' 'Morty's so dumb!' 'Don't give it to Morty, we'll never get paid!' Well, who's stupid now! My first job is gonna make them all look bad! I got picked special for it." Unfortunately for him, his colleagues had accurately described his capabilities as a thief.
Morty had the strangest feeling that he was standing in two places, and then he noticed that he wasn't running any more; he was flying. "Well, that's weir-" He dropped like a stone, thousands of tiny sparkling pieces spilling out around him as the world went black. An ornate frame soared gracefully for several seconds before crashing down against a rock. It bounced and skidded to a stop in the dirt. As the shards fell, the once brilliant shimmering pieces turned coal black.
Satisfied that he had destroyed perhaps the only demon dumb enough to set foot uninvited inside his castle, Sesshoumaru strolled back to his room. A moment later, his peace was disrupted by his fumbling servant.
"Sesshoumaru-sama! Sesshoumaru-sama! There is a vandal in the castle!" Jaken screeched.
"Jaken." He commanded.
The imp rolled to the ground and lifted his head. "Y-yes milord?"
"He has been dealt with." Sesshoumaru's cold gaze wavered for a moment before turning colder still. "Where is Rin?"
"I'm sure I don't know-" He started.
"Hmm?"
Jaken shrunk back. "That is, she was right with me! I will go and fetch her right away!"
"See that you do."
Jaken raced out of the room as though struck by lightning. Why was he always stuck watching the girl. She shouldn't have been his responsibility in the first place. "I don't see why Sesshoumaru-sama keeps her around in the first place." He muttered.
"Jaken." A voice resounded in the long corridor. Jaken froze.
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama?"
"Search the whole of the castle and find out which of this Sesshoumaru's things the thief sought after." Sesshoumaru coolly waved the imp on.
"Right away milord!" Jaken groveled, breaking into a run.
Sesshoumaru slowly returned to his bedroom. What could the thief have been after? Certainly it had been glass in a frame. Was it a portrait? Perhaps a mirror? The thought struck him hard. "He would not have been so foolish." Sesshoumaru frowned. He glanced around his room. Nothing was out of place; still, he wondered about the stolen object. It was surely something trivial and beneath him. Deciding not to worry, Sesshoumaru set about the task of patrolling his castle.
vvvvvvvvvv
It had taken Jaken all night to search one floor of the castle for the stolen object. Rin offered her help, but Jaken insisted that it was his task. Sesshoumaru stood outside the castle, scanning the ground for fragments of glass. Rin played nearby. Spying the obsidian glass, Sesshoumaru's eyes widened slightly. "Rin. Go inside."
"Okay!" She gleefully rose from the flowers she'd been observing and ran, arms out wide, back to the castle doors.
Once he was sure she was safely inside, Sesshoumaru reached out and picked up one of the shards. Turning it over in his hand, he noticed that the shiny black material gave no reflection. Both sides were a solid, absorbing black. He needed to find the frame. Moments later, he located it, half-buried, but in tact. Lifting it from the ground, he nearly dropped it.
"The Mirror Arcanum Spectus." He repeated the name printed on the golden label. "A demon mirror." Demon mirrors were incredibly useful. Some showed the future, some showed the past, others let the demon see into the deepest darkest fears of his victims.
Jaken hobbled up to his side, huffing and puffing. "I've figured it out! He was stealing the-"
"Mirror of Magical Sight."
"Er- Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama. But how did you know?" Jaken leaned heavily on his staff, scratching his head.
Silently, Sesshoumaru handed the frame to the imp. Immediately, Jaken started stuttering and shaking. "Y-you- t-th-is c-can-n't be-" He looked up, the terror evident in his features. "Who-"
"The intruder must have broken it, nothing has happened. Return to the castle and bury that." He indicated the frame with a sidelong glance.
"Y-yes milord- b-but-"
"Are you questioning my orders?"
"No sir!" Jaken took off again, frame in hand. He tried to remember to breathe. If Sesshoumaru was responsible for breaking the mirror, they'd know it. Demon mirrors cause exceptionally bad luck when broken. Surely something would have happened by now. Relief washed over him. They were safe, lucky, and safe.
vvvvvvvvvv
By noon the sky had darkened to a dull gray. Thunder sounded nearby and rain began falling fast to the ground. Jaken lazily rested in an ancient chair while Rin watched the sky from the window. "Jaken, look! It's raining!" She smiled, pointing.
Jaken snored loudly, trying his best to ignore the girl.
"Wow-" Rin said in awe. "That's a lot of water. I wonder if Sesshoumaru-sama got stuck in it?"
The mention of his name seemed to draw Jaken to attention. "Wha-"
"Sesshoumaru-sama left a little while ago." Her eyes were still glued to the window. "Oh!" She hollered, pointing. "There he is! Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin dashed away from the window, down the twisting stairwell, screeched to a stop in the main hall. Jaken scrambled after her.
Sesshoumaru threw open the doors widely. Jaken cowered and stepped back. Rin's eyes went wide as saucers. "Sesshoumaru-sama? What happened to you?"
The Lord of the Western Lands now stood, sopping wet in his own doorway, his robes covered with mud and blood. His hair stuck up in several different directions and his frown was twitching. "Rin, go to your room."
She nodded curtly, "Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama!" In a matter of seconds, the young girl was out of sight.
"Jaken." He ground out.
"Y-yes Sir?"
"I will require a bath."
Jaken jumped into action. "Yes Sesshoumaru-sama! Right away! A bath! Where are those-" The imp quickly gathered soap and started heating the water.
Sesshoumaru stood quietly in the hall, waiting. This was bad. He'd suspected the mirror would end up causing him trouble when he agreed to keep it. He had stubbornly refused to believe in a silly superstition, now it was going to haunt him. Walking, dripping, through the castle, he made his way to the master bathroom.
After a few minutes of cold stares and commands, the bath was ready and Sesshoumaru allowed his robes to fall free of his body. He then began the arduous process of washing his hair. Satisfied with his hair, he slipped into the water. "Bad luck, humph." He grumbled.
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Elsewhere in the castle, Rin was hovering over Jaken, trying to find out what was wrong with her Sesshoumaru-sama. She tapped the imp on the shoulder. "What happened, Jaken-sama?'
"It is none of your business, girl." He replied sharply.
"But Sesshoumaru-sama looked really bad. Was he attacked?"
"If you must know, he fought several demons on his way home today." Jaken gloated, hoping that would silence Rin. It didn't work.
"He's never looked that bad after fighting-" She held a hand to her chin. "It must be something else."
"Grr." Jaken gritted his teeth.. "You stupid girl, can't you see he's broken a mirror?"
"I heard something about that once, I think." She added sweetly. "You're supposed to get seven years of bad luck." She kneeled down next to the imp. "Is Sesshoumaru-sama really going to have seven years of bad luck?"
"No." Jaken's shoulder's slumped. "He's going to have seven hundred years of bad luck."
"Huh?"
"It's a demon mirror! Demon! Magic mirrors. That stupid human superstition is just taken from the reality of our own." He explained quietly.
Rin held out her hand and started counting on her fingers. She quit after twenty. "Oh. That's a really long time huh?"
"Yeah, it's a really long time." Jaken sighed deeply. Demon bad luck wasn't just being attacked and falling down. It was worse, a whole lot worse. He grimaced. A broken mirror was typically a death sentence to the creature responsible or anyone near him. Jaken knew he didn't have a prayer. If he ran away, Sesshoumaru would kill him for it and if he didn't run now, he'd surely be the first one to die. He gulped.
vvvvvvvvvv
Relieved that the tub hadn't cracked or that the water hadn't burned him, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and drifted into deep thought about his predicament. He'd broken the mirror. Now he'd have to find a counter-curse and someone willing to perform it or face the consequences. His frown deepened; he really didn't like the idea of dying in some undignified, humorous way.
The last demon to break a mirror found himself squashed by a mysterious bull demon that fell off of a cliff accidentally. Not only had he been flattened and thereby killed, but the unfortunate soul had been running from a group of monks who'd inexplicably found his home in the middle of the night. He'd died naked, squished, and in front of several dozen humans. Sesshoumaru shivered mentally.
After cleaning himself thoroughly, Sesshoumaru dried off and pulled on a robe. Deciding not to waste any more time searching in the rain, he ventured down to the library. As he passed Rin, she giggled. "Rin?" He asked, slightly puzzled.
"Sesshoumaru-sama, your- your hair!" She tried to cover her mouth with her sleeve, but the laughter leaked out.
He turned his gaze to Jaken, who had gone deathly pale. "Jaken. Explain."
The imp hurried away and returned with Rin's vanity mirror. "Y-your ha-ha-hair m-milord-"
Glancing in the mirror, Sesshoumaru was appalled to find his hair had split ends and it wasn't lying flat as it usually did. Instead, it was frizzy and completely untamed. He slowly handed Jaken the mirror. "I will be in the library. I am not to be disturbed."
Jaken nodded dumbly.
Rin controlled her giggles momentarily before they overtook her again. Jaken glared at her. At least, he glared until he noted that Sesshoumaru's robe had turned bright pink. He cracked a smile, but hurriedly cleared his throat. "Rin, let us do as Sesshoumaru-sama says." She continued to laugh. He tried again, "Perhaps we can find a way to help him?"
"O-okay." The giggling subsided into a chuckle. "Anything for Sesshoumaru-sama!" She chirped. Jaken's expression soured. Now he was stuck with the girl. There had to be a way to break the curse.
vvvvvvvvvv
Sesshoumaru had spent a week in the library and the situation had only worsened. Already, the bad luck had escalated from simple, rational problems to magical calamities. The first night of the curse, Sesshoumaru had been attacked by a large group of demons that happened to show up downwind of him. They caught him by surprise and managed to do significant damage as every obstacle possible got in his way. Then it had rained. It was still raining as a matter of fact. Only on the castle, but it had rained for a week solid. The lower floors smelled of the damp and Rin had caught a cold.
He slammed the book he'd been reading shut. His hair was still frizzy and unkempt, his kimono had disappeared, so he'd been forced to wear the now pink bathrobe, and now bookshelves tried to fall on him. It was gradually becoming unbearable. The deadly effects hadn't even started yet. If he didn't find a cure soon, which was unlikely with his terrible luck, he would surely be destroyed by the mirror's curse.
Settling down with another book and narrowly avoiding the shelf it was on, Sesshoumaru scanned it nervously. His hand had developed a bit of a shake in the last two hours. That had been annoying as well. Now something loud was hammering upstairs. "What is that?" He slipped out of his thoughts. "Jaken!"
vvvvvvvvvv
Jaken was already running to the front door. Someone or something was knocking on the door. "It must be the bad luck. Now every traveling salesman will find the castle and bother us all day." He huffed, scampering to the door. "We don't want any-"
"Hello." Kagome leaned forward slightly, grinning and holding a small scrap of paper. There was a very angry half-demon standing next to her. "Can we come in?"
"Don't reason with this idiot, just go in! I want to get this over with as fast as possible." Inuyasha snorted.
"No-no-no way! This is Lord-Sesshoumaru's castle! What gives you the right-"
"Kagome!" Rin yelled merrily as she skipped into the hall.
"Hello there Rin-chan."
"Did you get my letter? Have you come to help Sesshoumaru-sama?" Rin babbled.
"Uh-huh. See?" Kagome held out a letter written roughly in hiragana, complete with a crudely drawn picture of Sesshoumaru in his pink bathrobe.
"Keh. Let us in already." Inuyasha sloshed into the castle, leaving a trail of water behind.
"Hey!" Jaken screeched.
"You wanna do something about it?" Inuyasha growled.
The imp seemed to consider that for a moment before shouting, "Sesshoumaru-sama!"
"Well, Rin-chan," Kagome squatted down eye level with the girl, "What's wrong?"
"Sesshoumaru-sama broke a mirror."
"He what?" Inuyasha almost slipped on some of the water he'd tracked in.
"Inuyasha? What's so bad about breaking a mirror? Everyone knows that's just a silly superstition." Kagome said.
"No, it's a human superstition. It's a demon reality." He mumbled.
"So you're saying that Sesshoumaru is in for seven years of bad luck?"
"No, seven hundred." Inuyasha replied bluntly.
"That's what Jaken-sama said!" Rin chirped.
"That's it, wench! We're leaving!" Inuyasha yelled, seizing Kagome around the waist.
"Wha-" She squirmed. "Hey! What are you doing?"
"We're leaving! If we don't, we could end up cursed by just being close to him!"
"Please don't leave, Kagome-" Rin pleaded.
"I can't just leave her, Inuyasha?" Kagome tried to push free of his grasp. Reluctantly, he gave in.
"Keh. Fine, but I'm not doing this because of my bastard brother, okay. And if you die, it's not my fault. I warned you." Inuyasha grunted.
"What are you doing here?" Sesshoumaru's deep voice called out from the hall.
All attention turned to him and it was deathly quiet for a full ten seconds. Then Inuyasha fell to the floor laughing. Kagome chuckled behind her hand and Rin joined her as well. Sesshoumaru went from disgruntled to fuming.
"Shut up all of you!" He found himself yelling, something he rarely did.
The laughter was uncontrollable. Sesshoumaru was standing in the hall in a robe that was now not only pink, but also too short for him. His hair stood on end, frizzed and bedraggled. He had dark circles under his eyes as though he hadn't been sleeping at all, one eye was in fact, twitching nervously, and his face was splashed with black ink. Sesshoumaru looked like he had gotten up on the side of the bed that the cat dragged in.
He reached for his sword, then panicked, realizing that he had grabbed a roll of paper instead of the Tokijin. Sesshoumaru growled low.
"Kagome came to help, Sesshoumaru-sama!" Rin exclaimed.
"I do not require her he-" He attempted to walk forward, but tripped on a loose stone, falling without grace to the floor.
"I think you do." Inuyasha folded his arms and smirked.
"The day I require help from a human is the day I-" He jumped to the side in time to avoid a falling bit of rock headed straight for his head. Clearing his throat, he turned to Jaken. "See that my insolent brother and his woman find a comfortable room."
"Sesshoumaru-sama?" He asked, shocked.
"You heard him, toad boy. Take us somewhere nice." Inuyasha prodded.
"Jaken. Go now."
"Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama." Jaken sighed in defeat. "Follow me."
"Miko."
"Yes?" Kagome turned.
"Follow me in the library and do not bring Rin." Said Sesshoumaru.
"Sure." She spun back to face Rin. "Why don't you go play some games with Inuyasha?"
"Okay!"
"No way, wench!" Inuyasha yelled.
"Don't make me say it." Her eyes turned cold. Inuyasha visibly shuddered.
"Keh."
That much taken care of, Kagome started following Sesshoumaru, wary of every step. It seemed that bits of rock were pulling themselves free from the ceiling in order to smash on Sesshoumaru's head. They were small, but always managed to make contact. She fell back a little. "You are best to keep your distance." He said quietly.
Feeling a bit bold, she asked, "So, does the bad luck really last seven hundred years?"
"No."
Kagome relaxed a little.
"It usually kills the demon within the first five hundred years."
She gulped. Just what had she gotten herself into?
vvvvvvvvvv
A/N: To be completed with Part Two! Hope you liked it so far. Trying to keep in character, while pushing Sesshoumaru's sanity to the point of OOC-ness. Please let me know what you think! Reviews are always appreciated, they make me smile.
NEXT TIME: There is a cure! And Kagome's got to help or Sesshoumaru will never pull it off. Not what you think! But what has Inuyasha so upset? Proximity starts to take effect and things are getting crazy. Can they cure Sesshoumaru before it kills them?