InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny Can Wait Five Hundred Years ❯ A Demon Unleashed ( Chapter 3 )

“So, who was the guy Sen said she saw you talking to before you left for school?”

Kagome looked at Eri. “What gu-oh...” She frowned slightly. “His name's Miruk. Jii-chan hired him to help out at the shrine. And I swear he's following me.”

“He's following you?” Yuki asked. “Does your mother know you've got a stalker?”

Kagome and her three friends were jogging around the school track during their athletics class. The weather had been pretty bad in the few days that had passed since Miruk had come to live at the Dusk Shrine, and Kagome was glad for a chance to be outside and talking to her friends, although she wasn't too fond of the current topic.

“I didn't say he was a stalker, I said I just have a feeling that he's following me.”

“Maybe he likes you,” said Arimi, always the romantic.

“I highly doubt that,” Kagome replied.

“Too bad he doesn't, then we could enjoy watching you decide between two guys,” Eri said.

“Two guys?” Kagome looked puzzled.

“I guess he hasn't asked you yet then,” Arimi said. “We overheard Houjou-kun saying that he was going to ask you if you wanted to go on a date with him next weekend.”

Kagome stopped running for a moment, “You must have misunderstood him, why would the most popular guy in school want to go out with me?”

“You're not as unpopular as you think you are,” Yuki told her when Kagome caught up.

Sure enough, Houjou caught up with Kagome after school.

“Kagome-chan!” He waved at her as Yuki, Arimi, and Eri giggled and nudged her forward. “I was wondering if you might want to go to dinner or something tomorrow.”

“Ah...well...sure,” Kagome stammered.

Houjou grinned. “I'll see you around six, ok?”

“Sounds good.”

As Houjou walked off, Kagome's friends came up to her. “What did we tell you?” Arimi said with a smug look on her face.

That night, Kagome woke up panting. She had had the same dream for the past few nights, and it was starting to worry her.

Maybe I am cursed, she thought, thinking about what her grandfather had said and looking at the fire rat fabric that was on her nightstand. Then again...she started to consider what Miruk had said, I am going on my first date tomorrow night, she looked at her clock, well...technically tonight.

Trying to go back to sleep, and failing, Kagome decided to take a quick walk outside.

I'm probably just nervous, Kagome thought as she stepped out the door. Houjou's really popular and about two thirds of the female population at school has or had a crush on him.

Looking up, she discovered that she had approached the God Tree. It looked more creepy than comforting in the darkness.

Now might be a good time to take a closer look at that arrow. Kagome hadn't had the time to investigate her other find, and half of that time she had forgotten about it.

She started to climb up the vines, looking for the gap she had first felt the feathers in. This proved harder than she had expected because her grandfather had apparently stuffed every space between the vines with talismans, charms, and seals.

After half an hour of searching, Kagome's hand felt what she was looking for. She gripped it in her hand, ready to try yanking it out.

In the next few seconds, two things happened. As soon as her hand tightened around the arrow, it started glowing blue again. Then she felt herself falling to the ground as Miruk tackled her, yelling “Don't!” She felt the arrow coming along with her.

“What was that for?” she yelled, tempted to whack Miruk with the arrow.

“It doesn't matter...you went ahead and did it,” he replied, sounding worried.

“Did what?” Kagome shouted. She then let out a different sort of yell as the arrow suddenly dissolved into nothingness.

“That,” Miruk said, staring at where the arrow used to be. The two of them whipped around as a muffled yelling could be heard from underneath the vines. “Congratulations Kagome, you've unleashed a terrible evil onto the world.”

“Uh...” Normally, Kagome would have told Miruk he was crazy for believing the old legends and that there was a perfectly logical reason why the arrow disappeared or why her hand was glowing, but the snarls coming from the tree convinced her otherwise.

Suddenly, a loud cracking noise filled the air as large chunks of vines burst away from the Tree. Something red flashed across Kagome's vision before Miruk pushed her to the ground again.

“I know you're here Kikyou!” an enraged voice filled the night air, “Casting illusions won't help you!”

Shifting her head as best as she could, Kagome saw someone standing a short distance from the Tree. He, (at least she thought the person was a he, the voice sounded male) was dressed in red and had long, white hair. She couldn't see his face because his back was facing them, but she was sure a look of anger was on it due to his yelling. His hands were also curling into fists. She also noticed a hole near the hem of his right pant leg. That must be...

Her thoughts were cut off as the tree person cocked his head and sniffed. He then suddenly whipped around and Kagome caught sight of piercing yellow eyes before he let out a yell and lunged right at her and Miruk.

“Sankon Tessou!”

Kagome realized that the tree person must be a demon, because he had moved so quickly and he was charging them down with claws.

She was so stunned by the fact that demons did in fact seem to exist. So startled, she didn't register the fact that a clawed, angry demon might intend to harm people until Miruk had dragged her out of the way again.

The demon ended up gorging a large hole in the ground. Skidding slightly and spinning around, he glared ruthlessly at the two humans, more specifically, at Kagome.

“What's the matter Kikyou?” he snarled. It took Kagome a second to realize he was talking to her. “Why are ya hiding behind that weakling? Can you only summon these illusions?” He gestured at the buildings and landscape around them. “Try and kill me if you can!”

“Uhhh...” Kagome was worried. If the demon wanted to kill this Kikyou person, why was he attacking her? “I'm not this Kikyou you're talking about,” she said over Miruk's shoulder. “Go possess or kill her, or whatever you demons do!”

“Feh.” The demon snarled. “You may be able to alter your looks slightly, but I'd recognize that scent anywhere!” He charged them again.

Miruk shifted and Kagome braced herself, thinking he was going to push her out of the way. When impact with the ground didn't come, she noticed that instead, Miruk had thrown a few of the paper talismans her grandfather used at the demon. Instead of the demon's claws tearing through the paper, the talismans stuck to the demon. Instantly he froze.

“What the hell?” The demon glared at Miruk. “Get these things offa me!”

“And risk you harming Kagome-san? I don't think so.” The demon let out a string of curses. “I will put a seal on your mouth as well if you continue like that, demon,” Miruk said calmly.

The demon growled quietly and his ears flattened.

Kagome blinked. Ears?

Now that her life wasn't in danger and the demon wasn't moving at impossibly fast speeds, Kagome could now see that instead of normal ears, he had two, pointed white ears poking through the hair at the top of his head. She moved out from behind Miruk and moved closer.

“Gonna finish me off now that I'm helpless?” the demon spat.

Kagome reached toward him.

“You're a coward.”

Grabbing his ears, she started playing with them.

The demon glared at her. “Would you leave the damn ears along?”

“But they're so fuzzy!” Kagome said happily.

Miruk let out a snort.