Curiosity – Chapter 39 – “Unfortunate Discoveries”
This was a glorious day indeed. Those fools had no clue of what they’d done by bringing that… boy… back to this era – to his home. The group of slayers had no idea what was about to be unleashed through the seemingly innocent deed; the people that were going to be torn apart – the weakening in their ranks – the betrayal. Oh the upcoming events were certainly going to be woeful ones… and he just couldn’t wait to see the outcome.
But he needed to do his part first to get the ball rolling and for that he needed his… not so loyal servants.
“Kanna, the time has come. Summon Kagura so we may be on our way.”
With a malicious smile upon his face, one that promised death, Naraku wrapped himself in his horrible miasma and made haste towards the home of a certain elderly miko.
~~~~
The rest of the day had passed uneventfully for the group of slayers; that is if you don’t include the fit that a certain hanyou had when Kei and Mytonic had appeared at the top of the well. Inuyasha made it completely understood that it wasn’t going to be his duty to save Kei’s “sorry ass” – as he’d put it. A shock came though when, out of nowhere, Inuyasha was pinned to the ground with his hands behind his back and eyes staring into Kei’s hard ones as he signed -
“I am extremely confident that I can protect myself along with my sister if need be.” Within moments both were on their own two feet and all were walking towards the village. Along the entire route they fought, not even noticing when Kikyo escaped off into the woods to be alone once again.
Little did they know that in a matter of hours their little group would have an even bigger problem than the Shikon Jewel and the fight against Naraku combined.
~~~~
Morning came and with that the regular meal of stew. Everyone could feel the tension in the atmosphere of the hut. Something was going to happen today… now if they only knew what that something was.
Most noticed how certain people were acting strangely. Kaede seemed to be off in her own little world, barely touching her food – Touga had been seemingly lost in deep thought – and Kei was, well, he certainly was the most outgoing male they’d ever seen. In their opinion, it took a heck of a lot of guts for a man to wear a partially sparkly pink t-shirt.
Unfortunately, none of these things appeared odd enough to warrant being on their toes but there was just something in the air… it was just off…
Not long after their meal did they find out exactly how bad the day was about to become.
~~~~
The original group, along with Kei and Mytonic, were ready to head out as Touga and Izayoi thanked Kaede for the wonderful hospitality and for not turning away Inuyasha at the beginning of his journey. Promising Kaede that they would come back to visit soon, the loving parents informed their only son of their whereabouts before heading out themselves.
Neither party had even stepped foot outside of the village boundaries before the evil hanyou made his appearance.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere if I were you.” Naraku’s voice surrounded them before walls of miasma encompassed the space between them and the forest. Now there was no chance for escape.
“Quickly everyone inside!” The elder miko bellowed as she readied her weapon along with the other warriors surrounding her. How dare this man have the audacity to attack the village which was once his only support!
Evil laughter encompassed the air as everyone took their positions, readying themselves for what was certainly looking to be a bloody mess. They found it unorthodox though that Naraku hadn’t attacked by now – just what kind of cat ‘n’ mouse game was the bastard getting at?
“Come on ya asshole, did you just come to stand around all day or did you come to fight?!” Tessaiga was at the ready; there wasn’t any way he was going to be caught off guard with his parents watching. But it appeared as if the malicious hanyou didn’t hear one word of Inuyasha’s statement, for the glowing eyes they could see through the purple fog were fixed on Kagome; that only made the inu-hanyou ever more infuriated.
You could feel the nervousness and the fear practically pouring out of Kagome. Obviously Naraku’s little plan had something to do with her but for what was anyone’s guess. As she stood practically stone solid, both Kei and Mytonic moved into the view path separating Kagome from Naraku. Kei stood valiantly before his sister, his fencing sword in one hand and his sister’s delicate digits in the other, with his dog at his side, daring the corrupted man before him to even attempt to come near them.
“You need a lot more than that sabre* to even scratch Naraku.” Kagome whispered just loud enough to reach the ears of her towering brother. Not once did he have the chance to respond though, for spiteful laughter filled the air and Naraku’s eyes zeroed in on Kei. You could tell something horrible was about to happen.
“Oh how sweet.” Naraku began. “A brother taking charge of his sister’s protection; that says a lot about your character if you are courageous enough to go up against a foe such as myself.”
A tentacle shot out, aimed for Kei, but was met with the Tessaiga instead.
“Oi bastard you fight me! Leave the boy out of it.” Inuyasha took a defensive stance in front of the siblings – wary of the look that was now in his enemy’s eyes.
“If you don’t want me to attack those two, then how about your parents instead?”
With a snap of his fingers five of his puppets surrounded Touga and Izayoi, each with their own small army of poisonous insects and dispelling a large amount of miasma - a kind none had ever seen before – which was somehow affecting the once-Lord greatly. The former Lord was already at the ready; teeth bared, claws curled dangerously, and mind trying to resist the influences the purple murk was having on him. He badly wanted to attack but doing so would leave his mate open and vulnerable – something he truly didn’t want to risk. Even worse was the second guessing the toxic fumes were causing in his mind. Never had he had such a thing happened to him before with an opponent. Should he or shouldn’t he attack? Could the risk be taken in leaving Izayoi alone for a few moments while he took them out? What was he supposed to do?
Thankfully his youngest son had decided for him. Within mere moments Inuyasha had taken two of the pawns out, Miroku a third, Sango the fourth, and the final was destroyed by one of Kagome’s arrows that, consequently, went right through the final puppet and then through the miasmic wall – creating a small hole to the outside world.
“Old man, take mother and get the hell out of here!” Inuyasha commanded.
Touga began tugging his mate toward the only exit when suddenly it became totally blocked off by Naraku’s tentacles.
“Now, now Dog General – you wouldn’t want to leave just when you’re about to meet a new member of the family do you?”
Instantly, Naraku’s appendages were removed from the now sealed escaped route and were wrapped around Kei’s body; raising him up high into the air to come face to face with the retched evil hanyou, struggling with all his might to break free since his sabre* had been lost to him. What was going to happen to him?
“Kei!” Kagome cried out worriedly as Mytonic took his master’s place before her, taking a protective stance and growling menacingly like there was no tomorrow. Unfortunately it was that noise that brought Naraku’s attention to the great white dog as well.
“Well, we can’t have a family reunion without his other half, now can we?” Another set of tentacles broke out to wrap themselves around Mytonic and drag him up to hover next to his master. It horrified Kagome to watch what was happening next. Slowly but surely, more and more of Naraku’s flesh began to cover the two victims, soon cutting them from view of the outside world. It took all Kagome had not to purify Inuyasha, who was now holding her within his grip, and run right into their enemy’s grasp in an attempt to save her brother.
Dear Lord, what was that sick, twisted mind planning on doing?
Each member of the Inu-tachi took their turn in trying to break Kei and Mytonic out the makeshift cocoons but nothing would work. Their attacks were either defected or sent back at them thanks to Kagura and Kanna. The only other option was Red Tessaiga’s attack but Inuyasha knew better than to risk doing such a thing.
For the first time in quite a while, the group was at a loss for what to do and it scared them deeply.
Naraku’s laughter filled the air again. “Since all of you are done with your foolish attempts I shall reveal my reason for being here.” A pregnant pause occurred. “There is a legend that many moons ago a child was born, one of infinite power, that not one person knew about – even the child’s mother. The only one that knew of the child’s existence was she who raised him, protected him, and trained him to defend himself against those who wanted him dead. Never did the boy know of how much power he had coursing through his veins and that would be his downfall in the future.
“At some point in his childhood, the woman who raised him was gravely injured and in her final days set upon him a spell and then dropped him down a certain well.”
Gasps erupted throughout the clearing. This was a very bad development if Naraku already knew about the well – but that wasn’t the current issue…
“The story goes that when a towering man and a pure white dog appear in this realm once again is when the world will begin to fall into peril.” The two hovering cocoons began to glow an eerie blue color, becoming brighter with time.
“But first the two must be reunited and I plan to help that little detail along a bit.”
The two glowing orbs slammed together with a triumphant BOOM while both a hurtful scream and a terrifying howl erupted throughout the air. All watched as the orb began to glow brightly on the inside, bright enough to see exactly what was happening to the two beings. Wide eyes watched as a dog’s body hovered over a human’s before slowly sinking down into it. The scream and howl combined to such a sorrowful sound as the two bodies were joined to make one.
Mytonic’s body was gone, sunken into Kei’s, but they couldn’t see the effects of what had happened for the glow became excruciatingly bright and caused everyone to shade their eyes. Their attention was brought back though when a loud thud sounded throughout the air along with infuriated growls – growls that were attached to a being that, from the back, looked exactly like Kei. It would be a while before they found out though because all were too nervous to go near the man, who now was dripping with untold amounts of power.
“Do you remember now boy? Give me that which you protect.” Naraku sneered, expecting his prize to be dropped into his waiting hand. Not once did he expect what would happen next.
The inhuman growling escalated even more before a large amount of energy was aimed straight at Naraku’s form with just a flick of his wrist. Deadly blows tackled the evil hanyou’s form; Sango even noted the wounds he received before completely disappearing from sight along with his children.
“I’ll be back for the jewel – BOTH OF THEM!” All heard echoed throughout the air.
The miasmic wall dissipated and left the group surrounded by the worried villagers, all of whom were to wary to approach with the crouching form of Kei still snarling.
Gently easing herself out of Inuyasha’s grasp, much to his protest, Kagome slowly walked closer and closer to her brother’s form. True, she was nervous, but this was her brother! What could he ever do to her?
She was only four foot away from him now, softly calling out his name the entire way and not once getting a response as she got closer. From where she was now Kagome could see the differences. His hair was no longer only black, but white at the roots and blending out into pure black at its tips – his ears were just a bit higher on the sides of his head, they had become more pointed and… was that a tuft of fur? In fact wasn’t that fur on the back of his neck?
“Kei are you alright?” She tried again only to receive the same response. Something clicked in her mind then and she hoped to whatever God’s would listen that it would work. Of its own will, her hand reached out to lightly touch her brother’s shoulder, stopping the boy’s growls completely, his attention turned on her.
“M…” Her mouth went dry. “M…my...tonic?”
The face that filled her vision was the last thing she had ever expected to see. When her brother turned to gaze at her, she expected to see him as he normally was but what met her eyes had her gasping. Not only had Mytonic’s body been absorbed into Kei’s but some of his characteristics had taken over as well. Kagome’s hand left his shoulder to softly stroke the fur atop the newly formed muzzle gracing her brother’s once human face. It was a lot to take in; the wet black nose, the short white fur covering the entire expanse of his once peach face, the dagger filled muzzle that now stuck out from his jaw, the worried filled mismatched eyes – each one belonging to one of the two beings inhabiting the human body, and finally, the one thing that confused her even further, the backwards crescent moon gracing his forehead. Did it have a meaning of some kind?
Kagome was shocked even further when one of Kei’s hands came up to cup her cheek. No longer were they human hands, but more paw-like. She could feel that his fingers were shorter, covered with fur, and that they were lined with deadly claws but the palm of his hands… they were the roughest she’d ever felt – feeling more like sandpaper than the smoothness she was used to. It was then she realized that his palm must have been covered with pads, like a dog would have upon its foot. Another whine and stroke of her cheek broke her trance.
“Oh Kei, what has he done to you?”
~~~~
She didn’t… He knew she didn’t… no… would NEVER betray him in such a way – but the evidence before him told him otherwise. Was this the reason he felt the peculiar sense of family with both Tinkerbell and Mytonic? Was what he was thinking true? If so when did such an event take place?
“But that pup doesn’t carry the correct scent! Another has graced our mate’s bed!” His demonic beast roared out into his mind.
He clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out the sights and scents of the outside world telling him differently. It wasn’t true! Izayoi would never hurt him in such a way! Somewhere, deep in his mind, Touga knew the miasma that was left lingering in his system had something to do with his inconclusiveness but there was nothing he could do about it for it was gaining ground fast. He could feel Izayoi shaking his shoulder now; begging him to tell her what was bothering him so. The Dog General opened his golden eyes to answer her but what he saw first struck him cold.
Though they were many yards away from the crouched forms of the two “siblings”, Touga could see them perfectly – and what he saw gracing the boy’s furry forehead halted the words within his throat. There was only one male dog demon that he knew of with a moon mark… it disturbed him greatly to even think about it.
“Dearest please – you’re beginning to scare me!”
Eyes were torn from the pair to gaze into Izayoi’s chocolate orbs; feeling her grip tightening on his kimono in worry. To many thoughts, good and bad, were running through his mind right now to handle the situation. The bad outweighed everything though as he ripped himself away from her and backed away; anger filling his eyes.
“Touga?”
His eyes became red, jaw elongated, body started to grow… one last thing was said before he allowed the transformation and his urge to run fully take hold.
“You best hurry mate. Your bastard son might need your comfort!”
And with that he was gone – leaving a shocked Izayoi alone, confused, and hurt.
Chapter End Notes:
A/N ~ Total words – 2,857
*sabre ~ a medium weight fencing sword
FOLLOWME ON TWITTER FOR INSTANT UPDATES! Twitter.com/Daphneshaggydoo
Hope you all like this chapter. As you can see a couple twists have been thrown into the mix. What do you all think it means? Naraku is after two jewels? What’s the story behind Kei? What’s up with Touga?
I do plan on drawing up a concept of how Kei is now so you all can get a look at what’s going through my head.
PLEASE COMMENT/REVIEW ~ FLAMES WELCOMED!
*sabre ~ a medium weight fencing sword
FOLLOWME ON TWITTER FOR INSTANT UPDATES! Twitter.com/Daphneshaggydoo
Hope you all like this chapter. As you can see a couple twists have been thrown into the mix. What do you all think it means? Naraku is after two jewels? What’s the story behind Kei? What’s up with Touga?
I do plan on drawing up a concept of how Kei is now so you all can get a look at what’s going through my head.
PLEASE COMMENT/REVIEW ~ FLAMES WELCOMED!