A/N: Hey everyone, The Azure Guardian here. And welcome to Threads of Fate: The Secret of the Cursed Mask. As the summary of this story says, this will be a novelization of InuYasha: The Secret of the Cursed Mask for the PlayStation 2, and as this story will be a direct prequel in which the ending will lead directly into my Threads of Fate: Resonance story, it will have Michiru Kururugi as the focus character with the eventual romance with Kagome Higurashi. Though for those who have read Threads of Fate: Resonance, you might already know how that romance path ends. And no, I'm not changing focus from Resonance to this, I'll be working on both at the same time. This fic will end up finishing first simply due to how long (or short, I guess) the game itself is compared to what I'm doing with Resonance.
However... the game's localized script has a ton of issues with it ranging from unintended misgendering to some lines just not making sense. So while this fic will largely be taking the script of the game and putting it in written form, I will be making alterations where I deem appropriate to try and fix some of the issues and make some of the dialogue at least a little better. Also, due to the very limited nature of the character models in the game, I will be doing what I can to expand on the physical movements and mannerisms of the characters. As for when in the original story's timeline Cursed Mask begins, it'd be shortly after the group had to deal with Tsubaki, the Dark Priestess (so after Episode 64).
Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha, it is the proud property of Rumiko Takahashi and without her, we never would have gotten The Secret of the Cursed Mask for PS2!
Tokyo, Japan. 1997.
It was late in the afternoon, the sky a gentle orange as the sun was beginning to set over the horizon. Riding aboard a public bus were a pair of junior high students, both boys wearing a uniform consisting of brown dress pants, a white short-sleeved dress shirt with their school's emblem over the left breast, and a blue necktie along with brown school backpacks. One of the boys had short, straight black hair and brown eyes while the other, Michiru Kururugi, had short, fluffy brown hair and bluish-grey eyes, both of them taking standing room on the bus as all the seats were taken.
"What?" Michiru questioned in surprise. "You've got to be kidding! Are you sure they're going steady?"
The boy's sudden outburst drew the attention of the other passengers on the bus.
"Come on, you don't have to go and flip out over it!" The black-haired boy berated his friend, keeping his voice down so as not to draw more attention. "Boy, you sure are clued out when it comes to noticing stuff like that. One look at them and it's so obvious."
"You really think so?" Michiru asked, looking at his friend with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, like another obvious couple." The black-haired boy remarked.
"What?!" The brown-haired boy shouted in surprise again, his eyes widened with a noticeable blush across his face. "Tadakatsu and Momo-chan, too?!"
Once again the other passengers looked toward the two boys as a result of the outburst.
"Chill out! Would you quit making a scene about it, you big doofus?" The black-haired boy angrily berated his friend, his face slightly red from embarrassment.
"It's just that… they're still only in Junior High." Michiru pointed out.
"Get real, would ya? They're practically in High School already." The black-haired boy stated. "It's hardly unusual. There are a lot of guys who already have girlfriends." The black-haired boy then used his fingers from his free hand to count as he listed off the names of their other friends who had managed to hook up. "Like Sakai… and there's Akira… and Shian… oh, and Takuya!"
"Even Takuya?" Michiru asked, his eyes widening in surprise.
"What, you didn't know?" The black-haired boy questioned as though surprised his friend wasn't aware.
"No…" Michiru answered, a dejected look on his face as he looked away from his friend. "It's news to me…" He then let out a heavy sigh. "Man, what a shocker this has been. And here I thought I was Takuya's good friend."
"Hm, I guess he didn't want to make you feel bad." The black-haired boy figured as he held his chin between his thumb and index finger as though in thought.
"What are you saying?" Michiru asked, looking back to his friend in confusion.
"You know…" The black-haired boy paused, turning his attention back to his friend before a teasing smirk crossed his lips. "You don't have a girl yet."
That remark would cause Michiru's body to stiffen before he turned his gaze to the floor, a very noticeable blush crossing his face.
The black-haired boy would laugh in amusement at his friend's embarrassment. "You sure blush easily, Kururugi. Heh heh."
"Next stop: Kururugi Shrine… Kururugi Shrine… Please ring the bell if you want to get off." The bus's automated alert would go off a few minutes later, grabbing the attention of the two schoolboys.
"This is our stop." The black-haired boy spoke up as he pressed the nearest button to ring the bell.
At the Kururugi Shrine, a festival of sorts seemed to be underway as a number of stalls were set up and several attendees were walking around. Most of the girls and women were dressed in yukatas while the boys and men wore simple casual clothes, but all of them were carrying around strange humanoid figures made of clay. The figures in question had the mark of a red five-pointed star on their chest and were being sold at some of the stalls by the shrine's priests and priestesses.
"So… whose name did you write on the doll?" A young woman in a yukata asked the young man that was walking beside her, both of them carrying one of the clay figures.
"Like I'm gonna tell ya," The young man said teasingly.
"You write a person's name on the doll, see?" An older woman spoke to a child, likely her daughter, while crouching slightly and used a marker to write on the clay figure she was holding as a demonstration. "Then you'll be able to see them."
"Wow! It's like magic, Mommy!" The little girl said with an amazed look on her face.
As the bus pulled up to the stop just outside Kururugi Shrine, Michiru stepped off and ran up the steps and through the torii gate. (Oh man, I knew I was gonna be late!)
The boy ran through the shrine grounds, past the festival stalls and the attendees. At the same time, festival attendees were still purchasing the clay dolls from the priests and priestesses tending the stalls while attendees who had already written on the dolls gathered near a large pit in the ground surrounded by a barrier of shimenawa rope and tossed their dolls into it. As he neared a certain stall, the Kururugi boy slowed to a stop until he was standing in front of the stall.
"Sorry I'm late, Dad." The boy apologized to the man behind the stall. "I didn't mean to keep you waiting."
The man, who resembled a much older version of Michiru but with shorter hair in a cleaner style and sporting a bit of facial hair while wearing the robes of a Shinto Shrine's head priest, turned his attention to his son.
"You know this is the Doll Festival of Wishes." Mr. Kururugi said in a stern tone, his eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance.
Michiru very noticeably flinched. "Yeah, but my homeroom class went way over time." He tried to explain himself. "I'll get changed and come right back!"
"No, hang on." The boy's father immediately said, stopping his son from running off and causing the boy to look back at him curiously. "I can handle things here. Please go to the storehouse and get me some more amulets."
Michiru would turn his attention towards the shrine's storehouse before looking back at his father, giving the older man a smile and a thumbs-up. "You got it!"
The Kururugi boy then took off, running past the shrine's main building and the attendees gathered in front of it until he reached a much smaller building a few feet from the main building. He then pulled one of the doors open, letting the light from the setting sun inside the room.
"Let's see…" Michiru spoke to himself as he walked into the storehouse and glanced around. "I think we put the box with amulets somewhere in the back last year…" Unfortunately for him the sunlight only managed to illuminate the first half of the building's interior through the door, leaving the entire back half in darkness and eliciting a groan from the boy. "Wish I'd stopped to get a flashlight…"
As he walked through the room, the boy would eventually reach his arms out to try and feel his surroundings to avoid bumping into anything once he reached the darker side of the storehouse. If he were more perceptive, he would have seen a strange marking on the wooden floor resembling a red five-pointed star before stepping on it… only for the floor to give out under the boy's foot, causing him to cry out in surprise as he fell onto his backside with a small groan of pain.
"Ow, this place is dangerous. The floor's totally rotten!" Michiru noted, his brow furrowed slightly in annoyance as he looked at his foot in the hole in the floor. "And so's my luck today. I'll get Dad to fix it later."
But as the boy tried to push himself up off the floor, the wooden floorboards gave way and broke apart, causing him to cry out as he found himself falling through a strange space of mystical blue light…
Michiru would let out a weak groan as he regained consciousness, his eyes opening slightly. "Where am I?"
After pushing himself up, he placed a hand on his head to try and reorient himself, his focus returning and his eyes opening a bit more as he glanced around his surroundings only to find…
"Why am I in the forest? I was just in the storehouse." He then tried to recall what had happened before he blacked out. "I must have fallen through a hole."
Though that was what happened, it didn't exactly explain how he wound up in an entirely different location. He continued to look around to see if he could figure out where he was.
"Where's my house? I have to get ready for the festival." With a focus on his priorities, Michiru took a few steps forward before stopping. Something… didn't feel right. "This is weird. I don't know this place."
Looking around again and thinking he should still be somewhere near Kururugi Shrine, he held his hands up by his mouth to try and amplify his voice.
"Father…! Please answer me!" With no response, the boy walked further along the path he was on and called out again. "Mom! Dad!" Still no response, and panic was beginning to set in as he lowered his hands. "Why won't you answer me? Where is everyone?"
Not seeing a point in staying put, the boy continued to follow the path without even knowing where it led. Eventually, he'd find himself walking near the edge of a cliff.
"No one's here. How can that be?" Michiru wondered aloud, finding it strange he hadn't crossed paths with a single other person yet. But then his eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind that he felt stupid for not considering earlier. "That's right, my cell! I'll call the house with my cell phone."
Reaching a hand into his pocket, he pulled out a cell phone and flipped it open. After dialing a number, he held the device to his ear… only to get beeps indicating "no service". His brow furrowed slightly in annoyance.
"I can't get through." After hanging up he tried calling the number again… but would get the same result. "I can't get through! I'm outside, but there's no signal. I wonder why?"
After hanging up his phone and putting it back into his pocket, the boy didn't see much other option than to continue walking along the path in the hopes he'd encounter someone who could help him. He had no idea how long he had been wandering around for, but eventually the boy saw a small group of people not too far in the distance.
(Oh, there's some people there!) He thought to himself, getting hopeful. (Maybe if I talk to them, they could tell me where I am… Good. Then I can go home.) But as he got closer, he noticed the three people were dressed… strangely, and came to a stop. (Huh? Kimonos? Why are they wearing kimonos?)
Confused at seeing people out and about dressed in kimonos, the boy began to back away slowly… until he accidentally stepped on a branch on the ground, snapping it and drawing the attention of the group of three.
"There it is!" One of the people, a man wearing a red and black kimono with black, balding hair, called out while looking directly at the boy.
"What?" The boy questioned, confused by what the man was talking about.
"There it is!" The older man of the group with balding grey hair wearing a light blue and tan kimono called out before the two men and the woman with them, who wore a bright orange kimono and had her hair covered by a white cloth, approached the boy.
"What did you find?" Michiru asked before noticing each of them was carrying a farming sickle and looked noticeably angry. "Why are you carrying a weapon?"
"Careful! It's a demon!" The woman shouted to her male companions.
"What? A demon?" The boy repeated in surprise. "What are you talki-"
"Demon, where have you taken my daughter?!" The black-haired man angrily questioned, interrupting the boy.
Michiru raised his hands as a show of non-violence, "Wait! I just-"
"What are you saying now?" The older man questioned, the boy being interrupted again.
The woman, however, didn't even wait for a response. "Alright, let's catch it! Get it!"
"Catch it and get my daughter back!" The black-haired man shouted, gripping his weapon.
(These guys are weird. What's going on?) A look of fear fell over Michiru's face as he continued to back away. So long as these people didn't run at him he could keep a safe distance and try to figure things out.
"Don't let it get away! Catch it!"
"Get away from me! Stop it!" The boy shouted in a panic. (I need to run away!)
Finally seeing only one way out, the boy quickly turned around and ran as fast as he could. The group of three tried to give chase but weren't able to keep up with the teenager. As Michiru ran, he would eventually lose his pursuers, but as a result he'd end up somewhere else in the forest he didn't recognize and retracing his steps would've been impossible. Believing himself safe, he came to a stop and hunched over, placing his hands on his knees as he panted heavily to try and get his breath back.
"I think they're gone…" He thought aloud to himself before placing a hand on his head while trying to sort his thoughts. "But, what's happening? I don't understand what's going on." His knees suddenly feeling weak, the boy carefully knelt down onto the ground. "Where's my house?"
A sudden rustling from nearby bushes would pull the teen's attention from his train of thought as he quickly got back up his feet, looking in the direction of the sound.
"Huh? Was that them?" He wondered, thinking the people who had been chasing him managed to find him, but then saw a strange figure approach from the shade. "Is this some kind of joke? A demon now?!"
Sure enough, while the figure that drew near was humanoid in shape, it certainly wasn't human. The creature had light blue skin, a single eye in the middle of its head, a small horn protruding from the top of its head, and only wore an animal pelt around its waist. The creature let out a chilling chuckle as saliva dripped from its mouth, showing its sharp teeth and causing the human boy to take a few steps back in fear.
"I thought I smelled something tasty. It's a human!" The demon said, wiping the drool from its mouth with its arm. "I was just getting hungry. How convenient!"
"What?! What are you? Don't come near me!"
The demon couldn't help but laugh at the human's pathetic display. "You think you can run away from me?"
As a matter of fact, Michiru did indeed believe he could, as he immediately turned around and tried to make a run for it. But the demon was much faster and was right behind the boy within moments. The demon took a swipe at Michiru, but out of sheer luck, he ended up tripping, falling to the ground and avoiding the attack, causing the demon to rush right past him. But as the boy tried to scramble away, the demon turned right back around.
"I'm gonna eat you!" The demon roared and laughed.
(Damn, I'm gonna get eaten in this place!) Was all Michiru could think as it felt like everything slowed down around him, the demon rushing right at him, and he held an arm towards his assailant in a futile attempt to try and hold it off.
What the boy wouldn't notice, however, was his body began glowing with a red light as a red, five-pointed star suddenly appeared underneath him. The last thing he would remember before losing consciousness was seeing a sudden flash of red light.
After an unknown amount of time passed, Michiru would let out a light groan. (What… happened to me? Am I… dead?)
"Hey, are you awake yet?" He heard an unfamiliar voice ask.
(Who's that?) Michiru's eyes would slowly open and he would realize he wasn't dead. (I'm alive!) But as his sight returned to focus, the first thing the boy saw was another person standing over him… wearing a red kimono with long white hair, fierce golden eyes and… "What are you? Dog ears?" Startled fully awake, Michiru started backing away out of fear of being eaten.
"Hey, wait a minute." The dog-eared individual called out calmly before walking towards the human boy. "What are you scared of? It's not like I'm going to eat you. Don't run away."
"But you have dog ears and fangs!" Michiru pointed out, his body shaking slightly in fear as he raised his hands to cover his head and closed his eyes. "I'm scared. Don't come near me!"
The dog-eared individual let out an annoyed sigh as he folded his arms. "Don't you get it?" But then he clicked his tongue. "Nevermind, you were great! What kind of technique was that? You beat that demon by shining that light on him."
Upon discovering he hadn't been attacked yet, and confused by the questions, the boy quit shaking and lowered his arms as he looked at the other individual. "Technique? Demon?" His eyes then widened slightly and he looked down at the ground as he remembered what had happened before he passed out. (That's right. I was being chased by a demon. And then that light…)
With the boy's guard down, the dog-eared individual was able to get a better look at the human. "Hey, your clothes look like Kagome's clothes. You came from "The Present", didn't you?"
Michiru's attention was pulled back to the other person as soon as he heard "You came from" and he clambered up to his feet. "Do you know where I came from? Please, tell me how I can get back!" But then his mind fully processed the rest of what the dog-eared person said. "Huh? The Present?"
"Yeah."
"What do you mean?" The boy asked, a very visible look of confusion on his face.
"The Present… You know," The white-haired individual paused for a moment as though trying to think of how to better explain… but apparently gave up. "The Present!"
Michiru was starting to get more confused and so placed a hand on his head to try and keep himself focused. "Wait. Please, help me understand."
The dog-eared person let out a growl of annoyance. "What a hassle! Come on, follow me." He then started to walk away as he invited the human boy to follow. "If you ask Kagome, she can probably explain things."
"Who's Kagome?" The boy asked… but upon saying the name himself, he felt a strange sense of familiarity behind it, but that feeling quickly faded as he couldn't get a grasp of how.
"Kaede's village is just ahead. Come on now." The dog-eared person said, ironically like someone trying to call their dog to follow along.
Michiru just stood there for a moment as he watched the other person walk away. (I'm a little scared. But I guess I should go. There might be someone that knows me there.)
Making his choice, the human teen followed after the dog-eared individual. After walking a fair bit, however, the dog-eared person's nose twitched a bit as he sniffed the air and he came to a stop.
"Hey, wait!" He said while holding his arm out, signaling the brown-haired boy to stop as well. "There's a strange smell. I think that demon's buddies are around."
"What?" Michiru would suddenly start getting scared over the thought of being attacked again. "W-what should I do?"
"What are you talking about? Let's go after 'em!" The dog-eared person would insist. "It should be easy if you use the red light again." His ears would suddenly start twitching and he'd turn his attention to the direction of the approaching sound. "Hey, here they come!"
The human boy would turn his attention to where the dog-eared person was looking just in time to see a wolf-like creature with bluish-grey fur rushing straight towards them with what looked to be a small green bat-like creature flying right behind it. Michiru let out a yell of fear and tried to run backwards only to trip over himself and land on his backside.
The dog-eared person would click his tongue in annoyance. "What a pain."
He then stepped in front of the cowering human and grabbed hold of the sheathed katana at his side before drawing it… except the weapon that was drawn wasn't a katana at all, rather it looked like a massive fang with a thick tuft of white fur for a crossguard. The wolf-like demon lept towards the sword-wielding individual to attack but would be quickly cleaved in two by the giant blade. The human boy would let out a sound of mixed fear and disgust as the demon's corpse fell to the ground in front of him with a moist thud. The bat-like demon either didn't notice or didn't care what happened to its comrade and continued to fly towards its two opponents, spitting a green fluid from its mouth at the human boy. The teen recoiled, raising his arms to protect himself as he closed his eyes and turned his head away. But the dog-eared individual swung his sword in front of the human, using it as a shield as the green fluid hit the blade harmlessly. Gripping their weapon, they then jumped at the bat demon and cut it in half with the sword before landing back on the ground. The dog-eared individual then scoffed before giving his sword a hard swing, the bodily fluids of the two demons he had killed flying off onto the ground, then sheathed his weapon.
"Those small demons were no match." He then turned his attention to Michiru. "Hey, why didn't you use that technique again?"
Hearing his protector's question, the teen lowered his arms and looked at the dog-eared person before rising back to his feet. "I didn't know how to."
"You're lame." Despite his choice of words, the dog-eared person's tone was more one of poking fun rather than directly insulting.
"But I don't know what to do." Michiru attempted to defend himself.
"I see. That technique came from his subconscious." The voice of an elderly man suddenly spoke up. "He was so afraid to die, he did it unconsciously."
"Who is that?" The human boy asked, looking around to try and find the source of the voice.
"It's just Myoga." The dog-eared person answered simply, holding out his left hand to show the tiny, four-armed flea-like person that had spoken.
"What a small person," Michiru remarked as he leaned closer to have a better look. "Is he a demon, too?"
"Yes, I am Inuyasha's personal bodyguard. My name is Myoga." The flea demon, Myoga, introduced himself and finally revealed to the teen the name of the dog-eared person.
"How can you say you're my bodyguard when you run away at the tiniest sign of danger?" Inuyasha criticized the elder flea demon.
"Never mind that." Myoga shrugged off his master's question. "I can still sense demons around us." He then looked Michiru over before turning around to look up at Inuyasha. "This boy's power has not yet been awakened. We have to be careful."
As if to verify his bodyguard's claim, Inuyasha took a few sniffs of the air. "You're right. I can still smell some demons too."
"What should I do?" The teenager asked.
Myoga turned his attention back to the boy. "Make sure you don't slow Inuyasha down. We're close to Kaede's Village, it would be best to avoid drawing attention before you make it there." The flea demon then turned back around to look at his lord. "Well, Inuyasha, I'm going ahead. Be careful." And with that, Myoga jumped down from Inuyasha's palm and started hopping away.
"Hey, Myoga! Wait!" Inuyasha called out, but the flea was already gone, causing the dog demon to growl in annoyance. "Damn, he's run off again." He then turned his attention towards his human companion. "The demons around here are pathetic, but if any of them get close to us, you do as I say and let me take care of them. Now then, let's get going."
"Okay," was all Michiru could really answer with.
While he wasn't exactly thrilled at essentially being called dead weight by Myoga, it wasn't like the boy could really do anything against the demons, so he had to rely on Inuyasha to protect him. And with that, the pair made their way out of the forest and towards Kaede's Village.