Cursed Touch
By Rurouni Star
A/N: Well… let's see how this one turns out, shall we? I'm most certainly not giving up on ALAP (as it happens to be my favorite). Instead, I am taking on the wonderful task of writing two fics at once. I have failed before. I will try again. Please forgive me if I suck at it.
Prologue: Swallowed by the Black
"SIT!"
Thud.
"SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT, SIT- mmph!"
Inuyasha groaned from his crater. Kagome ripped Miroku's hand from her mouth and shot a poisoned glare at the priest – he backed away quietly. She turned her attention back to the smoking hanyou.
"You…you…" Kagome was, apparently, unable to find the right words for what exactly Inuyasha was. "I just spent the better half of two months helping you find your shards! And when I ask for three days – three days! – you…"
She took a deep breath. It seemed that Inuyasha was in dire danger of another few sits before Sango put a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "I think that's enough, Kagome-chan," the demon hunter said softly. But Sango did send her own glare Inuyasha's way. "Not that he doesn't deserve it."
Kagome huffed in annoyance, but the beginnings of guilt were stirring in the back of her mind… she clamped down on them. The jerk deserved it.
"Goodbye, Inuyasha," she said authoritively. "I'll be gone for three days. If you feel like apologizing – shut up."
With that, she turned smartly on her heel and disappeared into the woods in the general direction of a certain wooden well.
Inuyasha snarled something beneath his breath. Shippo blinked and leaned closer. "What was that?" the fox asked curiously.
"See who…fucking apologizes… damn bitch…"
Shippo frowned. The next instant, Inuyasha let out a yell of anger as a bit of blue foxfire puffed into his face.
"AS SOON AS MY LEGS WORK, I AM GOING TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU!"
Shippo snickered and ran off toward the well – the one place that Inuyasha would be avoiding for at least a few hours.
Miroku shook his head and sighed. "You really should hold in your temper more," he admonished. "You're certainly not going to win any points with Kagome-sama by calling her names."
The hanyou muttered some choice words to him as well.
He also got the butt of a staff pressed into his back.
"There now. Much more pleasant," the priest commented as Inuyasha went temporarily silent. "Now if you could only stay that way for an extended length of time, we could all live more stress-free lives."
Sango chuckled despite herself. Inuyasha had had it coming to him. In the last few days especially, he had been acting irritated. Or… more so than normal. She'd caught enough of Miroku's rather unsubtle hints to know that it was because there was 'a soul-stealing, undead twin' around.
The demon hunter shook her head resignedly. She would, of course, be the one to patch the poor hanyou up after the mess. Miroku didn't seem in the mood today – despite the fact that he usually put up with Inuyasha's antics rather well, something seemed to be weighing on his mind today.
"All right, baka," she told the still silent hanyou. "One uncivil word and I'm leaving you to the birds."
Inuyasha's only response was a soft 'feh'.
**
Kagome had hopped down the well, climbed up the ladder, and opened the door to the well house before realizing that it was easier than normal.
Suspiciously so.
The thought bothered her for a few moments, and she sat down on the wooden steps to contemplate such a thing.
The girl sighed. Her mind was working on low power lately, what with sleeping on the ground and getting baths only once every few days… she reached for a box of pocky from her backpack.
And realized it wasn't there.
"Oh." She frowned. "Ohhhhhh. Darn it. I'm going to have to go back. I just subdued him too!"
Kagome sighed, resigning herself to yet another battle of wills (and more sits) before pushing her legs back over the edge of the well. The girl jumped unceremoniously – had the ground not fallen out from beneath her, she may well have broken something. But she was used to it – the transfer between worlds. It had only failed to work once before.
She scowled as she remembered why it hadn't worked.
Furious thoughts were still running through her head as her feet touched down gently onto the bottom of the well – the same well, the same dirt, and the same her. Just different points in time, really.
"Yeah, well, same stupid domineering hanyou too." She violently suppressed the little fluttering in her chest as she thought about him – Kagome was angry. She was going to stay that way.
The girl curled her hand around the usual vine and pulled herself up from the ground. Her feet dangled for a few seconds before steadying her against the side of the well. Kagome climbed slowly, intensely irritated that she had to get up without any help this time. Of course, it was partially her fault for sitting Inu Yasha senseless, but it had been his fault for telling her no and being a jerk about it. And she had a feeling he wouldn't be helping her up if he had been able to move anyway.
With these thoughts firmly in mind, she got about a quarter of the way up before stopping with a sigh. She was sore from being marched to the edge of her limits. She was tired of trying to kill demons and purify shards and kill whatever stupid monsters Naraku put in their way. Her hands were shaking just holding onto the vine.
Kagome thought seriously about giving up the climb and just going back. What did she need her backpack for, anyway? To restock Inuyasha's ramen?
She snorted. Yeah right. Not this time, buddy.
The fingers of her right hand had already let go of the vine – when another warm hand caught them.
"Pull up, I've got you," Miroku said. Kagome unconsciously grasped his hand tighter; he pulled her up easily, although nowhere near as quickly as Inuyasha was able.
Kagome let out a squeak, though, when they went tumbling to the ground together outside the well. Miroku blinked at the girl that was suddenly on top of him.
He shook away the wicked thoughts that entered his head and pulled her up, a hand on the small of her back. "Ah… apparently I was a little unbalanced." The monk grinned sheepishly. Kagome let out her breath.
"Sorry. I just forgot-"
"This?" Miroku picked up her yellow backpack in his arms, straining somewhat. One strap frayed slightly. She winced.
"Yeah. That." She sighed. "Did you carry that all the way here?"
Miroku chuckled. "I need a good workout now and then. After all, I've only been killing youkai the last few days. Slacking so much… what would Mushin say?"
Kagome laughed despite herself. She realized in alarm that her anger had dissolved. The girl tried to grasp at it, to get it back – but when the monk kept talking, the last bits of it slipped away. "Do you need some help getting it down the well?"
She blinked. And… blushed. Miroku probably didn't know about the 'I'll carry your books for you' idea in modern times. "Um…"
"Is that a 'yes' um or a 'I'm afraid where your hands will go' um?" His grin widened.
Kagome laughed again. Suddenly she felt much more energetic. "I don't know. Should I be afraid?"
Miroku dropped the backpack and swept her into his arms, trying to keep his face straight. "Yes, Kagome-sama. Very afraid. You might find yourself lost in my boyish good looks – and poor Inuyasha would have no one to insult anymore."
Despite the rather odd position, Kagome snickered. "Whatever would he do?"
"Probably build up that constant irritation of his until he exploded. I admit, I'm feeling more and more interested in seeing such a thing lately." Miroku tried to ignore the twitching of his hand. It wanted to touch her… and obviously, as she'd not left his arms yet, she wanted him to touch her…
Kagome slipped from his arms in the critical instant and sat down on the grass, her back against the well. "Join the club," she groused, some of her sullen anger returning, "three days is not that much."
Miroku shrugged and sat down as well, secretly glad that he didn't have to follow through with carrying the overly large backpack down the well just yet. "You know he's only angry when you leave because you're not with him."
Kagome raised an eyebrow and snorted. "Yeah. Finding shards. He told me that."
The Houshi shook his head helplessly. No one really understood Inuyasha. He didn't even want to claim to. "Alternatively, he could just be a perpetually angry person. Far be it for me to guess."
Kagome frowned. "I'll take perpetually angry. It sounds about right."
Miroku knew that wasn't right. But he kept his mouth shut – he was sitting next to a beautiful girl in a short skirt that wasn't jumping away in suspicion.
He reflected that now he had an obligation not to grope her.
Darn.
"Well," he supplied. "Try to look at it from Inuyasha's perspective."
Silence. Kagome blinked.
"Yes?"
Miroku rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "I'm not sure I know. But that's what I'm supposed to say, isn't it?"
"Bah," Kagome muttered. "I liked you better when you were agreeing with everything I said." She sighed, and got ready to get up. The girl tugged at something on her neck and put something into his hand. "Just in case. You never know when someone will have to get through."
He blinked and looked down. A Shikon shard glinted palely in his hand, bathing it in a soft violet light. "You probably shouldn't, you know," he said. "Inuyasha would be furious."
Kagome's eyes narrowed. "Like he's not for the other twenty three hours already." She got to her feet. "Well. It's time to haul the load down the well." She slipped a hand beneath one of the backpack's straps and struggled to lift it. Miroku helped her pull it up onto her shoulders.
"You're sure you don't need help?" he asked, somewhat suspicious as she tipped backward slightly.
"No, no, I'm fine. I can handle a backpack." But Kagome laughed nervously nevertheless... "See you in three days. If Inuyasha doesn't come drag me back before then." She sniffed – and jumped.
Miroku watched as she disappeared down into the darkness of the bone-eater's well. It never failed to unnerve him, priest though he was. He leaned against the edge of the well, thinking.
What did he really know about Kagome? What did any of them really know about her? Excepting Inuyasha, none of them even knew where she lived. She was constantly talking about these 'examinations' of hers as though they were the most important thing in the world. Perhaps they were, to her. But then, how did she get away from them so much of the time to come find shards with them?
He shook his head and turned away from the well. Miroku walked back to the village, musing to himself about what kind of time the future really was…
**
Kagome sighed in absolute pleasure. Bath. Bath. Bath. She hadn't had a true, hot bath in what felt like ages. And she had a warm bed waiting for her, beckoning to her…
Sleep in me, Kagome…
She made a noise of amusement before pulling herself from the bath to make her way to other future-ly happiness. Kagome dried off slowly, reveling in the fact that it wasn't freezing as she did so.
Ah, the little things.
"Hey sis! We're having Oden tonight!"
Yes. And the big things.
"ODEN! Yay, mom, you're the best!"
*
She snuggled into the warm covers happily, turning off her alarm clock. Sunday. Hee. She hadn't seen Sunday – a real Sunday – in months. And she got to spend the sleeping in hours in a real bed.
Kagome felt herself drift off in a world of comfy, fluffy happiness, unhassled for once and unworried. Her heavy lids lowered sleepily…
Darkness…black…whistling wind…
A numbness in her right hand, where feeling should be…
And it was spreading.
"That's right," a voice whispered, taunted. "Feel it. It eats at you day by day. It might be tonight…"
No. I'll defeat you before that happens.
"…it might be tomorrow…"
I will never give in to you.
"…the next day or the next…you never know when death will come to collect…"
You're spouting lies. It's too slow to do that.
"You're guessing, grasping. You know you can't win. You're hampered. Fettered by your attachment to a group of people that don't care. They don't see it stretching, sucking, growing-"
Shut up.
"You know it's true. They'll be your death…"
I'll take you with me first!
"Not if you never find me. Not if you never move, if you never even leave that stinking, rotting village they've stuck you in while you wait to die…"
Shut up!
"You do know. You know you fight a futile battle… Houshi."
SHUT UP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
Kagome gasped, coming awake all at once.
What was that? It was almost… as though she'd been listening to something. Something she wasn't supposed to be listening to. It made her feel ill. Those had been private thoughts. She had no right to hear them.
Her mind began to clear. The last few words echoed in her mind dully.
Houshi.
Could it be… no. That wasn't possible. He'd just been laughing with her that day, joking with her and getting ready to grope her…
She tried to ignore it. It wasn't possible – all of that was in the past. There was no way she could hear it five hundred years in the future.
But… the thought came unbidden. She'd talked to Inuyasha through the time tree. If there were some connection – any connection…
The blanket slipped from her chest slowly, and a pale violet light arose in the room. Kagome took a single, shuddering breath and looked downward, knowing what she would see but hoping she was wrong.
The Shikon shards in her necklace winked in the dark of the night.