Chapter Nineteen: Dark Jewel

"So…" Kagome began slowly, "I take it that you guys weren't always vampires?"

"No," Miroku sighed. "All of us…" he gestured to everyone else in the room. "We were all once humans like you."

"I wouldn't say that," Sesshomaru muttered coldly from his corner.

"Oh, just ignore him," Kirara said rolling her eyes. "He's just grumpier than most vampires."

"Anyway," Miroku snarled at them. "We were all born as humans but ended up forced to live with this cursed."

"What curse?" Kagome asked, feeling stupid.

"The curse of being a vampire!" Rin said obviously. "We've all been cursed like this for nearly 500 years!"

"500 YEARS!" Kagome yelled in disbelief. "You mean that you've all been vampires for the last 500 years? How have you all not gone crazy?"

"Oh, believe me hon," Koga said with smile. "There were plenty of times when we all nearly did. Inuyasha most of all. One of the reasons why we were so surprised to hear that he attached himself to a human." He then looked up at said vampire and told him in a loud voice, "I never knew that you had such good taste in girls, Inuyasha."

Kagome felt herself go red while Inuyasha opened his mouth, and Kagome knew him well enough by now that he was ready to call him something horrible, but then Kohaku interrupted.

"Ok, I think we get it," he said before looking back to Miroku. "You were saying Miroku?"

"Huh?" Miroku asked confused. "Oh, right. Our tragic story. Let's see… where was I?" he thought it all over, trying to gather his train of thought. "That's right! Anyway as I was saying, we've all been cursed like this for the last 5 centuries. We were all born and living in Feudal Japan when it happened."

The others in the room relaxed and either leaned up against the walls or lay down on the floor, looking bored. They all knew this story of course so they really weren't paying too much attention. But Kagome was listening with rapid attention, ready to know everything that they had to tell her.

Miroku gave her a dramatic wait before he cleared his throat and went on, "I guess… it all started off with a vampire… a terrible monster named Naraku."

"Naraku?" Kagome repeated.

"Yes," Miroku said, and his expression darkened greatly. "He was the one that cursed as all to this vampire state. He was the one who took everything away from us. Our homes, friends, family, our futures, dreams… and even our humanity.

Kagome gulped. She didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Our story begins back 500 years ago," Miroku said. "I was a humble monk at the time."

"Humble?" Sango repeated skeptically. "You were anything but humble."

He coughed slightly before saying, "Anyway, I was a traveling monk when I became cursed."

"Don't you mean a traveling pervert?" Inuyasha offered helpfully.

"And a traveling lecher?" Sango added innocently.

Miroku gave the both nasty looks, "How rude of you! Do I shoot you both down every chance I get?"

"You had it coming," Sango said turning her nose up at him as if disgusted by him.

"You wound me deeply my dear Sango…"

"Can't you lovebirds get the story over and done with?" called Sesshomaru from the corner. Kagome privately agreed. Not that she didn't enjoy watching Miroku and Sango go at it like an old married couple, she wanted to get to the good stuff.

"You don't need to shout," Miroku said before turning back to Kagome. "Where was I? Oh, yes… I was a monk at the time and my dear Sango here," he gestured to her, who gave him an appalled look when he used the word 'dear'.

"I'm not your dear anything! How many times to I have to tell you?" but Miroku went on recklessly, "Worked as a Vampire Slayer for her village, and I guess it's her village is where it all started."

"Vampire Slayer?" Kagome repeated stunned. She looked at the teenage vampire and asked, "You killed vampires for a living?"

Sango laughed bitterly, "Yeah. Ironic isn't it? The vampire killer has become the vampire. But we're getting ahead of ourselves, though. The story starts centeries before I was even born."

"What…?" Kagome began.

"It all has to do with the Shikon no Tama," Miroku said sadly.

"I repeat," Kagome said starting to feel dumber with every minute, "What?"

"The Sacred Jewel," Koga said with a wistful look on his face. "The Jewel of Four Souls. And probably the most powerful object that's ever been created. That is what we've been looking for, for the last half a millennia."

"But what can it do?" Kagome asked, not understanding what the big deal was.

"We keep get ahead of ourselves," Miroku said annoyed. "Let me tell the story."

"Well, start talking already!" Ayame said as Rin and Kohaku both began to giggle. Kagome couldn't help but laugh with them. Are these guys really vampires? She really needed to see some knew horror films.

Miroku cleared his throat once again before he turned back to Kagome and said in a loud voice which would be sure to drown out everyone else should they interrupt again.

"The Sacred Jewel is a small jewel that has the power to grant every wish that you want," he said simply. Kagome's eyes widened as she thought of that. A jewel that will grant your wish? If she had that then the first thing that she would wish for would be for her to pass her math tests. But then Miroku said something that took away her desire for the jewel.

"But here's the deal is that it doesn't completely grant your wishes," he said sadly. "It grants it only to a certain degree but it never ends well. You see the jewel is a cursed item and whoever makes a wish on it suffers great misfortune. Usually death."

Kagome gave a disgusted look. "Then why would anyone look for it?"

"Because of the power the jewel has," Miroku answered her. "A single shard of the jewel can give humans superhuman powers and it corrupts their minds. It's not something that you can help basically."

"So in other words," Kagome said slowly, "You become addicted to it?"

"It becomes nothing more or less than an obsession," Sango said sadly.

"But where did it come from?" Kagome couldn't help but ask.

"About a 1000 years ago there lived a powerful woman by the name of Midoriko," he said slowly. "She was a priestess and was also the one who created the jewel by accident."

"How can you create a jewel by accident?"

"Well you see, she was a priestess and I guess the very first vampire hunter. She was well known for her ability to purify and return a vampire to their original human form. In other words, when she went up against a vampire, she could purify them and leave nothing but the human left. It was because of this, however, that her fate was sealed."

"That sounds cheery," Kagome whispered.

Miroku gave her a sad smile, "In her final battle, Midoriko was ambushed by an army of vampires and the battle between them had lasted for 7 days and nights until the jewel was finally created. You see the lead vampire was once a human man who had secretly desired Midoriko but she didn't return his feelings. So he decided that if he couldn't have her then no other man would."

"Well, he sure doesn't get my vote as boyfriend of the year," Kagome said indigently. Really if this guy loved her so much, then he would've wanted to see her happy. Just what is it with these kinds of guys?

"No, he doesn't," Koga said. "But I on the other hand will be more than happy to… OUCH!"

Ayame had pinched him hard, "Koga, you're my boyfriend, soon-to-be-husband so…"

"How many times do I have to remind you?" Koga yelled at her, "I'm not getting married!"

"But once we become human again, you're going to have a lot of free time!"

"I don't care, I'm planning on staying single…"

"Excuse me?" Kagome asked timidly. They both looked up at her in surprise, as if they forgot that they weren't alone. "But what do you mean when you become human again?"

"I was saving that for the last part," Miroku said with a glare at the two lovebirds who blushed.

"As I was saying, after fighting with the demons for over a week, the man who had claimed to love her had finally managed to sink his fangs into Midoriko. With her final ounce of energy, she reached deep into her own body for strength and seized both hers and the vampire's souls which took both of lives in the process. But somehow, instead of killing them, both of their souls merged together to create the Shikon no Tama."

Kagome felt her jaw drop. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Inuyasha said sourly. "And with her gone, the vampires just came waltzing in."

"After Midoriko had created the jewel," Sango went on in a grim tone, "The people of my village had took up the job of vampire killing in her place and we have done it well for many centuries."

"But what happened to the jewel?" Kagome asked her.

"Well that's the strange part," Miroku answered. "No one knows. It just disappeared."

"After its creation," Kohaku finally spoke up, "It passed through the hands of many vampires and humans. At least until it finally came back to our village 500 years later."

"Your village?" Kagome asked.

"Oh," Kohaku said quickly, "Me and Sango are siblings, and Kirara," he gestured to the girl who smiled, "Worked alongside our father. So I was also learning to become a slayer myself."

Blinking in surprise, Kagome looked from Sango to Kohaku and back again. Sango… she could imagine had once been a slayer. She was strong and looked like an ancient warrior and Kirara, looked like a giant wildcat that could tear you apart… but Kohaku? She couldn't see how such a sweet looking boy could be a fighter.

Sango must've guessed what she was thinking because she said, "Kohaku was still just an apprentice in those days. He didn't have much experience when it happened."

"When what happened?" she was sounding real stupid now.

"The jewel had come back to our village," Kirara told her miserably. "It had come out a vampire that Sango's and Kohaku's grandfather had killed but it was so corrupted that we slayers didn't have what it took to purify it."

"And so they found, K-Kikyo," Inuyasha said. Kagome couldn't help but notice he said that name as if it physically hurt him. But she couldn't see why. "When the slayers heard of her, they entrusted the jewel to her to purify and guard."

"Kikyo was a priestess then I'm guessing?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said sadly. "I knew her… for a short time."

Kagome blinked. It was so hard to believe that these people knew someone from so long ago. And… was it possible that Inuyasha and Kikyo had something going on? Just a little bit?

"We were all still humans," Kirara told her. "Until he came into our lives."

"Naraku…" Koga went on for her. "He's the worst kind of vampire that ever lived. Hiss dream is to find the jewel and use it to overpower all the vampires and force them to become a part of his army."

"He sure sounds pleasant," Kagome said darkly.

"Oh, you couldn't find a nicer guy," Ayame said sarcastically. "He's the one that ruined all of our lives."

"He attacked the village where we lived," Sango told her. "Looking for the jewel, but when he saw that we didn't have it any longer, he demanded that we tell him who it was who did."

"But the leader of our village, our father, refused to tell him anything" Kohaku said with a hint of pride.

"So Naraku took his revenge out on us," Sango said with anger in her eyes. "To get back at our father for not telling him what he wanted, he bit me and Kohaku… and… well… you know."

Kagome gasped in horror, "Why that…"

"I know," Sango said nodding. "Once dad found out what we had become, he couldn't bear to order our people to kill us. So he told me to take Kohaku and run. Run as far away as humanly possible from home. And if we ever came back then he would have had no choice but kill us."

"How can a father say that to his own children?" Kagome yelled out. Really, even if she was a vampire, she knew that her parents never would have said something like that to her.

"He had no choice," Kohaku said, looking like he would cry. "He was supposed to kill any vampire. He was supposed to slay us the moment that we were bitten, but he helped us to escape and even covered for us until he knew that we were far away from the village."

"That was when I met them," Miroku explained. "Naraku was responsible for the deaths of my father and grandfather so it was my family's mission to kill him. But I underestimated him and got bit as he left me for dead. When I came too…" he shrugged. "There wasn't anything I could do. I decided to use this terrible curse as a way to fight and kill Naraku. Once he was dead, then I would worry what to do. But one day, I find myself in the company of a young vampire and his beautiful sister so I just…"

Sango slapped him. "Watch it," as she looked down at his hand who, Kagome just realized was creeping where a man's hand shouldn't. He deserved that slap. "We may be friends," Sango said, moving a little farther away from him. But even I can lose my patience."

Miroku looked hurt, "Friends? Just friends?"

Kagome smirked at the two of them before asking Kirara, "What about you though?"

The smile faded from Kirara's face. "I didn't become a vampire until later. I finally picked a fight with another weak vampire and I got cocky. This is my punishment. It was less than a year after my friends were cursed. I rather not go into details to what happened right now if you don't mind."

Just as Kagome nodded, Inuyasha spoke up, "Somehow after he had bit the slayers he discovered that Kikyo was the one who had the jewel so he came after her and killed her. But—but just when she died…" he gulped as if he had just had a bad thought, "The jewel disappeared. We think that she made some kind of wish on the jewel and it's now hidden somewhere safe. Where it is… no one can say. All we know is that it's still in this world."

"But what does this have to do with me?" Kagome asked them. "I don't get it."

"We think that you can help us, Kagome," Miroku stated slowly and clearly. "We all have a private and very personal story before and after we became vampires. We can't tell you them all right now because it could take us days to get through them all. But we told you the basic idea. We believe that you can help us find the jewel. If we can find it, then not only can we defeat Naraku, but we can become humans again."

"But how?"

"You see," Ayame explained. "There are a grand total of 61 moons in the solar system. And once every 70 years they become full on the same day."

"But only once every 500 years do they all eclipse at the same time," Miroku stated. "We have discovered that if we used a priestess to make a wish on the jewel that one night, then the jewel's power will be broken."

"And if that wish is for us to be humans again," Rin said happily, "Then it should come true without us being cursed by the jewel because it won't exist anymore."

"That's great," Kagome said happy for them, still not understanding where she came in. "But why is that one night so important?"

"Because the eclipse of the moon is when we vampires become weakest," Miroku told her. "For that one night, we become no more powerful than mortals, which is our one and only chance to use the jewel. And the irony is that the jewel's power is strongest on a moonless night. So if all the moons are eclipsed then I can't even begin to imagine the kind of power it will have. So on that night, we vampires will be at our weakest, and the jewel will be at its strongest! Which is the only chance we'll have to break this curse at last; I know that this is complicated, but it's the only hope we have."

"So you see," Inuyasha said, "We think that you can help us before the eclipse arrives. We find a priestess, have her make the wish, and the jewel will be gone and we can finally be free."

"But even if you use the jewel to become human again," Kagome said, spotting the flaw in this plan, "Then all Naraku has to do is bite you all again and then you'll all be back were you started!"

"That's why we have to kill him first," Koga growled. "Everyone here has a grudge against that bastard and we all want a piece of him."

Everyone, even Sesshomaru who was still sulking in the corner nodded.

"If we have the jewel then we can use it to force himself out of hiding and finally do away with him," Inuyasha growled, sounding much like the dog that matched his cute ears. "And then once he's dead, we can make the wish on the night of the eclipse."

"When is the eclipse?" Kagome asked him, fearing the answer.

"In a few months time," answered Ayame.

"Wow, that's ironic," Kagome said taken aback.

"No, actually," Miroku disagreed thoughtfully. "It's a coincidence. It would be ironic if the eclipse was yesterday."

"Ok then," Kagome said sheepishly. "So where's the jewel?"

"We don't know," said Miroku.

"What does it look like?"

"We don't know."

"How big is it?"

"We don't know."

She stared at them all.

"We know that it's not much to go on," began Miroku seeing the look on her face.

"That's not anything to go on!" she shouted looking around at them incredulously. How on earth could they all be taking the risk of eternal damnation so calmly? "So let me see if I got this straight. If you all don't find that damn jewel, kill Naraku, and find a priestess in just a few months, you guys will have to wait around for another 500 years to get another chance at this?"

"Ahhhh, yeah, that's a good way to sum it all up," Rin said brightly.

"It sucks, we know," Sango assured her. "But we don't have much choice. This could be our only chance to finish things. I mean, it's not like we've been slacking off for the last 5 centuries. We've been searching for the rock and Naraku this whole time. But now we're desperate."

"Fine," Kagome said after a few minutes and had calmed down, "But what does any of this have to do with me?"

They all looked at each other a little nervously before Inuyasha said in a surprising soft tone, "Kagome? We think that maybe… just maybe… you are…"

But he never had a chance to finish that sentence. For at that moment the door of the shrine burst open and a tiny ball of red hair came flying in. "INUYASHA!" screamed the little figure and Kagome was astonished to see that it was the cutest thing that she had ever seen. He had bright-red hair along with large blue eyes… and if that wasn't cute enough, he had the ears, feet, and tail of a baby fox! And he was ADORABLE! She wanted to grab him in a hug and squeeze the life out of him.

But before she could act on impulse, Inuyasha shouted out half angry/ half surprised, "SHIPPO! WHAT IS IT NOW?"

"NARAKU!" the fox called Shippo shouted in panic. "He found out that we're meeting here tonight! He's coming!"

(Yes, this chapter took forever to do! Hope you all enjoyed it and I know that it might be a little confusing but I promise that everyone here will have a chance to tell their stories in later chapters. Just please be patient. And for those of you who have been asking about when and how the prologue happens… trust me… you'll know what it was all about soon.)