Yes, yes, it took me a while to update. (And I don't mean like a month, but a week can be a long time…) I'll try to update twice since this is a long weekend. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate said holiday!

Thanks for reviewing, and here I'd like to list who did just that: Ro0tin4Kagome (Thanks for being the first person to review my story! Not to mention the only one to review chapter one…), Crazy With Happiness, Hanyou Angel, duckies rox my sox, Anime Wildfire, KazunaPikachu, (a person whose name was 'great job!!!'), priestessmykala, pixiepuff101, arrowgirl23, inusnowkitty, tomoyo, bbgirl15, triforcepower-2006, Beautiful.Black.Joy, Doghanyou3693, Kagomeheart, SistersGrimm, and Moons Fire. ((Yes I included anonymous reviews. The anonymous ARE NOT bold.))

Well, that was likely the longest starting note I've ever put up on this story. Time to write up the disclaimer and get this thing rolling!

Disclaimer: Inuyasha is likely running screaming from me at the moment, resulting in me obviously not owning him or any of his friends. Even Naraku is hiding in the corner hoping that if he's really quiet I won't notice he's there.

Chapter the Sixth

Rage of the Rose's Spell

She really didn't know why she'd done it.

All of her intelligence and common sense was screaming for her not to do it, but she'd gone ahead and been stupid…again.

Well, some things never change…

That included Kagome's insatiable need to be positively nosy.

She'd, of course, waited until night when everyone had retired to their respective rooms that were scattered across the castle. Of course, Kagome had absolutely no idea where any of her new demon acquaintances were sleeping, which could pose a problem.

Acquaintances, not friends! At least, not friends yet! They needed to prove that they didn't intend to put her in a cauldron of boiling water, add cinnamon, and start gnawing on her arms.

Still, even as her conscious was banging its head off of a wall in the corner of her mindscape in agony, she continued her sneaking through the castle.

She'd passed Ayame's room, where she'd heard the girl mumbling something about rainbows at night. This was a curiosity to Kagome, since it was a well known fact that there was no such thing as a rainbow at night.

Sure, she'd heard much of a fabled lunar rainbow that would come to pass every fifty years or so, but no one she knew had ever seen it. Nor had their parents, or the generations before them.

It was just a myth, much like the made up stories in her books.

Speaking of books, Kagome really had wanted to read that story that Taiyo-san had given her.

She needed to get to that once she'd finished her little mission. That is, if she wasn't murdered before hand.

But she really, really hoped that the latter didn't happen.

"Okay, Kagome Higurashi, ninja extraordinaire dashes through the demon castle, keeping to the shadows, out of sight…" She almost giggled to herself as she narrated her expedition in quiet whispers.

Still, it was hard to imagine her clumsy self being a ninja of all things…

"Kagome?"

Oh god.

She'd been found.

Kagome whirled around to meet nothing, but when she looked down, she found the source of the voice, "Shippo?" She whispered.

Shippo rubbed his eyes tiredly, "What're you doing?"

"I'm…uh…looking for the bathroom?"

"Oh," He yawned and stretched his arms, shrugging slightly, "Okay."

Kagome watched as the tike slowly dragged himself back into a small room that was black as night.

Or maybe the candles had been blown out and there was no window to show any indication of what the room looked like.

Good thing Kagome had her own candle. Even thought the hallways were dimly lit by candles all the way down to the end of the wick, she still figured that she needed fiery protection.

Maybe it would scare something evil away…

Like vampires…

She loved stories about vampires…

Off topic!

Kagome shook the stupid thoughts out of her head, going back to the task at hand.

She came to that stairway. She tiptoed up it, carefully going up two steps at a time. Soon enough, she'd reached the eerie hallway, which was much scarier at night.

Kagome could practically see the imaginary ghouls stalking the halls in all of their slimy evil.

In truth, she could hear the faint noises of bugs and mice scurrying about in the open rooms.

Kagome vowed never to go into said rooms at night.

Ever.

She'd, at this point, gone farther than ever before into the hallway. It only got darker and darker. Why was she always stuck with the unnerving passageways?

She reached a section of the hallway that had a lighter area. When Kagome looked up, she saw the starry night sky looming above her. It was strange, being in a castle, yet being able to look up and see the moon.

It was a half-moon.

The half-moon celebrated her father's death.

Tears pricked at Kagome's eyes, but she held them back.

She couldn't think of that day. Not now.

Soon she'd reached another staircase, this one winding downwards in a creepy spiral. It must've lead to a dungeon of sorts, because Kagome had to scale over the side of the railing and up another wooden railing to stop her downwards trail.

Kagome looked around and gulped, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

She knew exactly where she was.

She was in the West Wing.

Kagome really had wondered what could possibly be here that was so sacred and secret to Sango and the others. Maybe it was Inuyasha's room…

No.

His room was up a grand staircase and to the left. Sango had told her that.

Kagome had also heard him slamming the door when she'd first gotten to the castle.

The long hallway was a boring walk. There was nothing with a sign of significance anywhere. Except when she reached the end of the hallway…

Of course, Kagome was met with a pair of oak double doors that loomed over her in beckoning.

Yep, the thing you look for always has to be at the end of the really long hallway…

How cliché.

Kagome huffed a little at the lack of adventure in that, and thrust open one of the doors. It creaked on rusty hinges, causing Kagome to cringe in worry of being heard.

She was met with a dark, musty room.

Kagome held up her candle, lighting up the area a few feet ahead of her.

When Kagome looked to the floor, she saw a beautiful golden rug. It was intricately woven…truly a masterpiece.

Kagome closed the door behind her, making sure it didn't creak too much this time. When she turned back to continue exploring, her face met a chest.

And not just any chest, a chest with midnight black clothing.

Kagome gulped fearfully as the chest began to rumble into an angry growl. She looked up to meet the angry red eyes of Inuyasha.

"U-Uh…" Kagome stuttered.

Inuyasha snarled at her, "Why are you here?"

"W-Well you see…I-I'm quite the sleepwalker y-you know…" Kagome grinned fearfully, knowing she was done for.

"Lies!" Inuyasha yelled.

Kagome balked at his booming voice. He was very, very scary when provoked.

"I'm sure you were told not to come here, so why did you come?" Inuyasha shouted, pacing back and forth in front of her like a hungry lion, his eyes never coming off of her.

Kagome shuddered, "I-I…"

He slapped her, "Why did you come?" He leaned down and yelled in her ear, "You know this place was forbidden so why?"

Kagome tenderly touched her injured face and whimpered slightly in pain, "P-Please…"

Inuyasha straightened and continued to glare, "You pesky, stupid wench!" He boomed.

Kagome could feel hot tears of fear begin to stream down her face. He was so terrifying. She was so intimidated. Adrenaline kicked in, and she acted like a caged animal.

When he grabbed her arm to haul her up, she bit down on his wrist.

Inuyasha let out a yowl of pain and stumbled slightly in shock.

Kagome took this opportunity to run forward blindly. Kagome ran into something hard and strong, sending her sprawling to the ground. She fell at the foot of a shadowed mahogany table. When Kagome looked up in dazed confusion, she saw a beautiful red rose in a glass container. It hovered in midair like under a spell.

Wilted petals lay at the bottom of the container.

"Do you see now?" Inuyasha asked in a hurt tone.

Kagome looked up, her head still spinning in bewilderment.

"We are cursed people," Inuyasha continued, his tone now less angry, and more disdainful. He sounded more like he had when he'd spoken to her that morning, "We are not demons by choice. We are forced to take on this shape, this horrible form. Cursed for a crime we did not commit."

"I-I don't understand…" Kagome whispered.

"We are under a spell!" Inuyasha yelled, "And that's why you have no business with us!"

He'd approached her, kneeling in her face. His eyes held a sort of weak depression that he seemed to mask with his anger. Kagome just couldn't understand it.

"I-I'm s-sorry…" Kagome murmured.

When her head had connected with the hard thing, it had caused her much pain. Adding that to her shock, stress, and confusion; it was needless to say that she wasn't in good condition.

Inuyasha blinked at her, wondering what was wrong with the stupid human woman who'd invaded his privacy and invoked his fury.

Kagome's world started spinning violently…

The last thing she saw before she fainted was red eyes…

And then she saw blackness.

End of Chapter

See? I did get a chapter to you! Now you can't harass me for not updating fast enough. And…I'm not sure if that's good or bad…

Eh, oh well. I did do as you wished and put Inuyasha into this chapter. He has quite the temper no?

Well, review and tell me how you liked it!