Under the Skin
By TwinEnigma
Scroll 2: Sealed
"...And so it came to pass that the fearsome youkai Inuyasha was sealed to the Goshinboku, never to move again," Jii-chan finished slowly.
Isshou looked at him curiously. "Is it true? Is he still pinned to the Goshinboku?"
"Of course he is," the old man said and took a sip of his tea. "Five hundred years ago, my ancestors built the shrine to appease his spirit and we have guarded it ever since."
The small boy blinked absently, thinking a moment, and then asked, "Can I see him?"
"No, child," Jii-chan sighed, shaking his head. "The building is much too old, the wood far too unstable. You will not go into that shrine, is that clear?"
Isshou sulked, but reluctantly nodded.
There was silence a moment between the two of them as Jii-chan sipped his tea. Finally, the old man spoke again, "Have I ever told you the legend of..."
He trailed off, realizing that the strange boy had left the room, and sighed, sipping his tea once more. "How unfortunate... He would have enjoyed the next story."
Some time later, Souta and Isshou were playing soccer in the shrine courtyard – a practice mostly frowned on by Jii-chan, not that the boys minded much. Ever since Souta had introduced the sport to the pale boy, they had been playing whenever possible. Mama encouraged them, more so because it got the boys out of the house and away from the video games than anything else. Kagome was merely glad that it kept them both out of her hair so she could do her homework in peace and quiet, as both boys had a habit of finding ways to annoy her. And so, they played in the courtyard, laughing as they kicked the ball back and forth.
"Higurashi kaa-san sure seems busy," Isshou piped up, passing the ball.
Souta grinned and returned the ball. "It's almost onee-chan's birthday. Mama wants to throw her a surprise party."
"A surprise party?" the pale boy asked, looking a little bewildered as he trapped the ball with his foot.
The other boy nodded excitedly. "It'll be loads of fun! You'll like it a lot!"
"Kagome-nee-chan isn't going to have those girls come over again, is she?" Isshou pouted, half-heartedly passing the ball. He didn't really like Kagome's friends at all. They were too nosy and rather boring in his opinion.
Souta shrugged, trapping the ball and flipping it up onto his knee. "I don't know," he answered as he juggled the ball from knee to knee and then kicked it back. "But I hope they don't come and ruin the party with gossip."
Isshou nodded in agreement, easily trapping the soccer ball and guiding it with his feet. Taking a half-step back, the pale boy quickly set himself up for the return kick when something suddenly shifted under his skin. His foot connected with the ball and launched it through the air with a velocity that few professional soccer players could hope to match, streaking well over the other boy's head. It then punched right through the wooden door of the shrine of Inuyasha and landed somewhere inside the dark building.
"Oops?" the pale boy offered, uncertain of what else to say.
Souta slowly turned around to see what the ball had hit and winced as he got a good look at the hole. "Jii-chan isn't going to like this..."
"It's not like I meant to do that," Isshou said sulkily. "Jii-chan said that shrine was old and unstable anyway. The wood was probably rotten."
This earned a sigh from Souta, who shook his head slowly. "I guess it couldn't be helped. But what are we going to do now?"
Isshou considered it a moment and, finally, said, "We should probably get the ball."
"The ball?" Souta managed, going a little pale in the face as he peered into the darkness visible through the hole in the door. "You mean... we should go in there?"
The pale boy nodded eagerly, a small smirk on his lips. "Aren't you curious about what's in there?"
"Well... yeah, I guess so," Souta reluctantly admitted. He'd never actually been inside the shrine before, but Kagome claimed she's snuck in when she was younger and that she'd seen the youkai. She had said it was a creepy old mummy and showed him pictures of mummies from a book when he asked what mummies were. Poor Souta had nightmares for weeks, until Kagome explained that she was actually just kidding around and hadn't really snuck in at all. Still, Souta couldn't help but think of a horribly withered mummy with vicious-looking claws and empty eyes.
Isshou beamed, grabbed the other boy by the arm and started dragging him towards the shrine. "This is the perfect opportunity then!"
"Are you sure you didn't plan this?" asked Souta, giving his odd houseguest a suspicious glare.
The pale boy gave him a look that plainly read 'I can not believe you just asked me that'. Carefully, he stepped onto the first step and, satisfied that it would hold his weight, he headed for the broken door.
Souta hesitated a moment and then joined the other boy at the doors. They peered through the hole curiously, easily spotting the soccer ball in the shaft of light the hole in the door made. A series of stairs disappeared into the shadows, leading up towards what they figured was the trunk of the ancient tree. There wasn't enough light to make out much else in the shrine.
"Help me open the doors," Isshou said, quickly examining the door in front of him.
"Are you crazy?" Souta exclaimed, looking at him like he'd grown a second head.
Isshou rolled his eyes. "How else did you think we were going to go and get the ball? Neither of us is small enough to fit through the hole. Besides," he smiled, "Look on the bright side! We'll be able to see a lot better with the doors open."
"We really shouldn't," Souta protested meekly.
But the pale boy wouldn't have any of it and started to tug the door open. It didn't budge an inch, so Isshou tugged harder while Souta watched with growing anxiety. Finally, the door gave a mighty lurch and slid back, unbalancing Isshou.
"Oof!" he exclaimed, landing firmly on his butt.
Souta shook his head and went to help the other boy up. "Okay, you got the door open. Could we please go and get Mama before you hurt yourself?"
"Don't be silly," Isshou scoffed, now back on his feet. He paused, leveling a critical eye at the dark-haired boy. "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"
"No way!"
"Then, what are you waiting for? Aren't you curious?"
"Of course I'm curious, but you said yourself that Jii-chan said the wood was rotten and I don't want to break my neck or anything – Mama would have a fit! Besides, you broke the door, so you should go and get the ball. It's that simple," Souta said matter-of-factly and crossed his arms over his chest to close the matter.
"Suit yourself," Isshou replied with a shrug and stepped into the shrine of Inuyasha.
Souta stayed put, having firmly decided that he was not going to go inside and risk any sort of encounters with a potentially mummified demon or rotted out floorboards. He wasn't scared or anything, but he had a feeling that it was just not a good idea to go in there and so he stayed right where he was, watching as the pale boy moved deeper into the shrine.
Isshou initially had been heading towards the soccer ball, but as soon as he'd gotten a little deeper into the shrine, his eyes began to stray towards the stairs leading up to the Goshinboku and, quite naturally, his feet followed. The pale boy tentatively put his foot on the first step and pressed down firmly. The wood held, much to his relief and that of his reluctant observer. Very slowly, Isshou walked up the steps, being extra careful to make sure that each one would hold his weight before going further.
As the pale boy reached the top step, Kagome's voice called out from the main entrance of the shrine grounds: "Tadaima!"
Souta gulped and hoped his big sister would go straight to the house first. However, it seemed that the shrine kami were not on his side today and Kagome was looking in their direction. Her eyes went from him, to the doors of the small shrine, and back to him as she mentally put together the pieces. Then, she groaned in frustration and marched over, clearly expecting an explanation.
"We're gonna be in so much trouble," Souta whimpered.
Isshou now stood at the top of the stairs on a narrow little platform. It was still quite dark, even with the light from the open door, and he could only just make out the outline of the ancient tree. Thick gnarled vines crept up the trunk and, following them up with his eyes, he caught a glimpse of a dull red sleeve in the shadows. Narrowing his eyes, he followed the edge of the sleeve up to a shoulder and the bowed head of the ancient silver-haired youkai. A shimenawa hung across the trunk of the tree, running directly across the vines that concealed the rest of the youkai's body from view, and the small boy wondered if that simple festooned rope was really all it took to bind such a creature.
Hoping to get a look at the youkai's face, Isshou crept closer and stood on the very tips of his toes. He was greeted by a fierce red and gold face with jagged purple markings across the cheekbones and dark empty eyes. Long, curving white fangs hung over its lips and the mouth itself was frozen in a savage snarl. So this is what the fearsome youkai Inuyasha looked like...
"It's a mask, you know," said Kagome, startling the pale boy so greatly that he practically jumped.
The teenaged girl walked up to the platform easily, as though she knew full well that the old boards were completely sound, and looked up at the ancient youkai. Souta lingered in the light cast on the floor by the open doors, unwilling to leave them but unwilling to venture any further inside.
"I haven't been in here in years," Kagome said. "Not since Papa held the shikinen sengu for this shrine. I remember the poor carpenters were so scared – well, mostly scared of Papa, anyway. He was worried that they might accidentally damage the Goshinboku or Inuyasha in some way during reconstruction."
"Why does he have a mask on?" Souta asked, images of withered old mummies with glowing eyes shuffling through the back of his mind.
Kagome looked over her shoulder at her younger brother and grinned wickedly. "Because he's a dried up old corpse!" she cackled, adding an evil laugh for effect.
Souta squeaked in terror and almost instantly realized that his sister was just teasing him. "That's not funny! I'm going to tell Mom!"
"Go right ahead," the teenaged girl said dryly, rolling her eyes as her little brother stomped off to find Mama.
Isshou, who had seen similar teasing episodes, merely noted that Souta was scared of 'dried up corpses' and turned back to the older girl. "Kagome-nee-chan, is he really a corpse? Did your father put the mask on him?"
"Actually, I don't know." Kagome admitted. "And I haven't got a clue where the mask came from."
The pale little boy sniffed and wrinkled his nose. "It looks like one of those kagura masks."
Kagome nodded in agreement and gave him a mischievous look out of the corner of her eye. "You know, I've always wondered what's under that mask. What do you say, Isshou? Should we sneak a peek?"
Isshou's eyes widened in surprise and with a broad smile already forming on his face, he nodded eagerly.
"Let's see," the teenager murmured, more to herself than anyone else, as she raised her hands. "There's got to be a ribbon or something..."
Seeing as Kagome was being very careful and taking her time with the mask, Isshou went back to examining the ancient youkai. A lock of silver hair trailed down from the youkai's bowed head, hanging within reach. Isshou could not resist the temptation to touch it, wondering if it felt like his hair or not.
His fingers just barely brushed the silver strands when something shifted under his skin again. Immediately, pink energy arced across the youkai's body and leapt at the small boy's fingers. Isshou yelped, yanking his hand back from the burning energy.
"What's the matter, Isshou?" Kagome asked, looking down at him as she held the sides of the ancient youkai's head in her hands.
He looked up at her, fully intending to say 'it burnt me,' but the words died on his tongue. The eyes beneath the mask had opened and were glowing bright red.
AN: A Shimenawa is a sacred hemp rope, often festooned with white paper. The shikinen sengu purification ritual is a bit more complicated to explain and I'm not the best person to explain it, even though Kagome's lines should give you a general gist of the main purpose. I'll probably draw the mask at some point. Mou, I'd better, since I spent so long researching them! Ok... Reviews and Comments are welcome.