Author's note: Wow! Yet another fast update! I on a roll! LMAO!
Chapter 6: The Diaries of the Unwanted
Kagome's father sat up in his bed and stared at Ginta hard "Close the door" he ordered.
"Right" Ginta said, closing the door.
"Now, what about the beast?" Mr. Higurashi said.
"Koga believes you" Ginta said "you know, about the whole kidnapping thing"
"He does?" Kagome's father said with hope.
"Yes, and he's willing to save her" Ginta said nodding "but we just need to know where we can find him"
"He lives in an old castle" Kagome's father said in desperation "on the outskirts of town, in the valley of the wolves"
"Wolves?" Ginta said in an almost frightened tone.
"Yes!" Mr. Higurashi said "you must go quickly, or she may be in trouble!"
"What is taking that Ginta so long?" Koga said as he paced in front of the fire at his favourite pub "I hate waiting"
"Indeed, it seems you despise being patient" said a voice from the shadows "just like the monster your after"
Koga stopped pacing and looked up into the dark corner where the shadowy figure stood "what would you know about him?"
"More than you think" the voice said again "fortunately for you, I also despise him"
"You are mistaken" Koga said "I have no interest in the beast himself, I only care about the girl he has in captivity"
"In that case, maybe we can help each other out" the voice said.
"If I am to make a deal with you, I must first know who you are and why you're after the beast" Koga said, sitting down.
The figure stepped out of its shadowy hiding place and sat down beside Koga "I am not after the beast; I only want him dead, for if he dies, I shall have the throne, as for my name, I am Naraku."
"The throne?" Koga asked.
"Yes, the beast, you see, is not merely a beast" Naraku explained "he is the lost king"
"The lost king from the legends?" Koga said eyes wide.
"Yes" Naraku said "many years ago, the beast was indeed human, but he was cold and arrogant, and so as punishment, he was turned into the monster he is today. I was his cousin, and since he had no brothers, (a/n: yeah….Sesshy not in this one sorry!) if something had happened to him, I would take the throne."
"Why can you not take it now?" Koga said "if the rightful king is presumably 'dead'"
"Because he could easily break the spell and take back the throne!" Naraku said "that's why the only way to guarantee the position is to actually kill him"
"And that's where I come in?" Koga said.
"Yes," Naraku said, smiling "fortunately for you, I, and only I, know his one weakness."
"I'm listening…" Koga said.
Kagome sat up and stretched. It had been a long night. The premonitions had been bugging her so much that she could barely sleep. 'Something big must be happening today' Kagome thought as she got out of bed.
"Good morning Lady Kagome" Ayumi (the wardrobe) said to her, opening her drawers "are you willing to wear some of these now?"
"I suppose" Kagome sighed as she picked out a green velvet dress with golden hems. She quickly put it on and checked herself out in the mirror.
"Stunning" Ayumi said smiling.
"It's…comfortable" Kagome said optimistically "but I have to admit, I don't usually wear things this extravagant."
"No one will tell" Ayumi said, winking.
Kagome smiled "thanks Ayumi" she said, walking out the door. 'Time for some hard core, detective work' she thought as she walked down the old familiar corridor.
"Kagome!" called out a voice.
Kagome whirled around to see Inu Yasha coming up to her, an almost happy smile on his face. "Inu Yasha?" she said with a smile "good morning."
"Come with me" he said, taking her hand in his "I want to show you something."
"Oh" Kagome said as he pulled her to a run "okay…"
Soon they had come to a very large wooden door. Inu Yasha turned to Kagome "this is the part where you have to close your eyes"
"Why?" Kagome said with a giggle.
"Because it's a surprise" Inu Yasha explained, "and if you don't you'll ruin it."
"Okay, okay" Kagome laughed, shutting her eyes tightly.
Inu Yasha opened the door slowly and pulled her in, he lifted her hand to the light switch "okay" he said "turn on the lights and then you can open your eyes. Kagome did as she was instructed and opened her eyes. But what she saw took her breath away.
"Koga!" Ginta yelled, running into the pub "the old man told me! He told me!" Koga and Naraku turned to see Ginta frantically running up to them. "Who's this?" Ginta said as he came up to them.
"This is Naraku" Koga said "he's got a bit of interesting news for us about this beast, you were saying Naraku?"
"Yes like I was saying…" Naraku said "There was one part of the curse that could make or break his life. If Inu Yasha is taunted, you now as in like being told he's too weak or pathetic, actually makes him change into his full beastly self. He truly becomes the monster he is on the outside. And the one who taunted him, has total control over him."
"So you're saying I should taunt him and set him on a rampage?" Koga said.
"Yes" Naraku said "then, when the whole town and that girl see him in his true monstrous form, they'll be even more deathly afraid. That's when…"
"…I step in and kill him" Koga said smiling "everyone will think I'm a hero, especially Kagome!"
"Exactly" Naraku laughed "and the best part is, there's no time limit, if he stays in his beastly form long enough, the change will be permanent!"
"Then you'll get the throne" Koga said, holding out his hand to shake Naraku's.
"And you'll get the girl" Naraku finished, shaking Koga's hand.
"Oh Inu Yasha…" Kagome said breathlessly as she looked around the room. His surprise was the castle's enormous library!
"Do you like it?" Inu Yasha asked.
Kagome whirled around and pulled him into a friendly hug "Are you kidding? It's amazing! Thank you!"
"My servants told me you were interested in books" Inu Yasha said.
"They were right" Kagome said smiling.
"Then it's yours" Inu Yasha said happily.
Kagome squealed in delight and ran into all different aisles, pulling out book after book "Oh I can't wait to read them all!" she shouted as she climbed up the ladders on wheels and slid down the aisle.
Inu Yasha smiled as he watched her. Two months, that's all it had taken. By the time they were up, Kagome had thought of him as her best friend, and he had thought of little but Kagome. "I'll leave you to your books" he called to her, though he wasn't sure she had heard him. Kagome continued searching through the aisles of books until she came to a thick, old book. Kagome pulled it out and read the cover 'the diaries of the unwanted?' she thought as she blew the dust off of it. She opened to a page and started reading it.
Dear Diary,
Today my parents made me go outside and mingle with the commoners again…
Kagome slammed the book shut "It's Inu Yasha's own diary!" she said to herself. She knew she shouldn't be reading it but she couldn't help it, maybe it could help her find out Inu Yasha's secret. She bookmarked the page and went outside into the snow. She sat on a small rock by the side of the castle and opened the book again.
…Lately they've been pretty frantic about me making friends. They say if I don't start being nice to people Lady Kikyo is going to kill me! Well I'm not scared; I could take Kikyo on if I wanted to. Besides, a king isn't supposed to be all wishy-washy and wimpy, he's supposed to rule with an iron fist. When I take the throne, I won't be anything like my old man. He's always being mushy with mom and being nice to the villagers. Today, he even let a village family get away without paying their taxes because they were broke! If that were me, I would put them in jail.
Kagome paused 'well what do you know' she thought 'he was arrogant and rude even then. But, what's this part about him being a king, how can a monster rule a village?'
Cousin Naraku came over with my aunt and uncle again today; they've been coming over constantly lately, ever since they found out about Naraku being next in line for the throne after me. He's been acting weird towards me ever since, I don't trust him at all. Here's a picture of us together.
Kagome picked up the picture of the two of them together and gasped. This couldn't be right; in the picture Inu Yasha had black hair! He had no dog ears, no claws; his eyes had even lost their redness and their harshness. In fact, he looked human! 'I was right' Kagome thought 'Inu Yasha didn't always look like a monster! He was human once, but, something happened, and he changed.' She flipped through the book some more, but there was no entry describing how he changed. Then she found something…
Dear diary,
I tried going outside again today, you know, to find a girl. But I ended up transforming. Good thing I brought Miroku with me, he stopped me from changing completely. I hate Kikyo for doing this to me! How am I supposed to break the curse before the last petal falls! There are only 5 petals left on the damn rose!
"Lady Kagome?" Sango interrupted, snapping the book shut "w-what are you doing?"
"Just doing a little research" Kagome said, laughing nervously.
"How much did you read?!?" Sango said angrily.
"Now, now Sango" Miroku said, putting a hand on her shoulder "if Kagome knows, we might as well tell her the whole story."
And so Miroku told Kagome about the curse Kikyo had placed. "That's horrible" Kagome said sadly "is there any way to break it?"
"That, unfortunately, we do not know" Miroku lied convincingly.
"No wonder he's been so depressed" Kagome said with sympathy "I'm going to go see him."
With that she got up and walked away from them in a daze of deep thought. "Why did you say that Miroku" Sango asked after she was out of earshot "we do know how to break it"
"But if we had told her" said Miroku "she would have felt pressured to fall in love with the master, we don't want that. If she felt pressured, it wouldn't be true love."
"Are you sure it was okay to leave out the part about his transforming?" Sango asked.
"We weren't supposed to reveal too much" Miroku said "So it's best to keep some things secret if we can."
Kagome knocked lightly on the door to Inu Yasha's room. But when she was greeted by silence, she decided to open the door slightly, to check if he was even there. She peeked in cautiously lest she be discovered. She saw Inu Yasha lingering over the glowing red rose. He seemed saddened as he watched yet another petal fall. Now there were only 3 left. "Inu Yasha?" Kagome said slowly as she walked in and shut the door behind.
Inu Yasha looked up in surprise and quickly hid the rose "what are you doing here?" he asked in desperation.
"There's only three left now isn't there?" Kagome said, walking up to him "only three more chances to break the curse."
"How do you know about that?" Inu Yasha said in shock.
"I found the diary in the library" Kagome said with a sympathetic smile "then Miroku and Sango explained the rest."
Inu Yasha scowled and turned away from her "So, you know everything now?"
Kagome nodded "It must be so depressing, never being able to go outside, and counting down the days until your death. That's what the penalty is right? If you don't break the spell?"
Inu Yasha nodded solemnly "I don't know if I'll ever be able to break it" he said sadly.
"It must be hard" Kagome said sadly "Especially since you don't even know how to break it. I see now why you despise Kikyo so much, I don't blame you either."
Inu Yasha looked up at Kagome 'she doesn't know?' he thought 'she doesn't know I have to fall in love to break the spell?' "Kagome?" he said "want to go for a walk tonight? You know, to get to know each other a little better? You know my secret now, I've got nothing to hide from you anymore."
Kagome almost shouted in joy. This was what she had been waiting for! Finally, she would have a chance to actually get deep down into his heart, past the brick wall that had stood between them for so long. She had finally broken through it. "Sure" she said simply, with a cute smile. Inu Yasha blushed and looked away.
Author's note: Send in the reviews! wipes sweat from brow I had a total writer's block for a while but I came up with the best idea for this story so I'm determined to make an effort to finish it.