Cursed

CHAPTER 2


“For the last time, leave me the FUCK alone!”

The kitsune was pushing his luck and risking his life at the same time. Shippo ducked away from the rock that was hurled in his direction. “Stop being stubborn and go tell her that you’re sorry!”

Inuyasha leaned over the tree branch he was lying on and glared yellow murder at the fox. “I’m not sorry about anything!”

“No, but we are.” Miroku had a tired expression as he came over to stand next to Shippo. He craned his head upward to get a glimpse of Inuyasha’s angry face. “Every time Kagome-sama goes home, you pick a fight with her and end up making our lives miserable while she’s away. We’re sick of it, damn it!”

Inuyasha slithered out of the tree with a notable lack of grace. “What makes you think I care, monk?” He glared at them, not one of them thought that Kagome should apologize to him and he was the one who’d rammed his head into the side of the well thanks to the vindictive bitch. “If you miss her so much, go get her yourself.”

Sango had joined them, her boomerang over her shoulder. “Believe me, if we could we’d be there already. Anything is better than hanging around here and watching you pout.”

“I don’t pout!”

Miroku put his hand to his head, he felt a splitting headache coming on. “Okay, you don’t pout. But you do storm around and break things, intimidate the villagers and generally make such a pain of yourself that by the time Kagome comes back we’re all ready to throw YOU down that hole and block it up ourselves. If you want to run around and act like an evil tempered youkai, fine, but keep it to yourself and stay the hell out of the village!”

The monk stalked away, Sango and Shippo looked like they wanted to start cheering. “What he said,” the kitsune added, making sure he was out of the scowling hanyou’s reach.

“Bite my ass,” Inuyasha muttered. He jumped easily back to his branch. “I’ll apologize when hell freezes over, she wants her fucking week, she’s got it. Not one minute longer.”

*****
“Excellent shot, Higurashi!” The gym teacher looked more than pleased as she marked down Kagome’s score. “That’s a perfect ten for ten. Where did you study archery?”

“Oh,” she said, blushing at the praise. “I just picked it up somewhere. I’m just lucky more than anything else.”

“Don’t be so modest, Kagome.” Akane elbowed the girl in her side, a mischievous smile on her face. “You’re a fantastic shot, I wish you’d teach me!”

Ke wae was about to answer when a drawling voice interrupted them. “Careful, that’s the biggest klutz in Japan that’s asking you for help. You might want to check your life insurance policy.” Ranma had come up behind them as Kagome made her final shot. He whistled softly as he gauged the distance for her last target. “You could be the one to teach her though. Seriously, where’d you learn to shoot like that?”

“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Kagome said. The week had passed so quickly she hardly knew what to think. She’d become fast friends with Akane and even learned to take Ranma’s habitual teasing in stride. She’d been a little shocked the first time her friend had decked the boy in front of her. He’d bounced back laughing and she realized that the young martial artist didn’t seem to resent the attack. Akane usually bristled at his jibes, but she forgot them seconds later. Good thing too, Kagome had decided. These two would kill each other living under the same roof if either of them held a grudge.

“So Kagome, did you ask your mom about coming over tonight to study?” Akane had invited her to dinner at her home and an evening of study. Kagome had a lot to catch up on and appreciated the offer. “She said she didn’t mind as long as I make sure to be home by midnight.”

“You two are going to study on a Friday night?” Ranma asked. He put his hands on Akane’s shoulders and stared over her head at Kagome. “Please Kagome, you don’t want to turn into a total geek like Akane here, do you? You’ve got to fight it!”

Akane elbowed him hard in the ribs. “Did anyone ask your opinion?”

“Saotome!” A voice shouted, causing all heads to turn. A tall young man with glasses was bearing down on them. “You’ve humiliated me in front of Shampoo for the last time!”

“I kinda doubt it,” Ranma muttered, walking out to face his angry challenger. “What’s up your ass this time, Mousse?”

“Only your destruction,” the young man snarled. He shot into the air above them, one arm raised high. “Taste my vengeance!” Something hot and smoking hurled from Mousse’s sleeve, aiming right for where Ranma and the two girls were standing.

Ranma jumped into the air to intercept Mousse’s attack, but Kagome was even quicker. Instinct took over and the girl flung herself to the side in a crouch as she drew back an arrow. In the blink of an eye the shaft fired into the air, glowing slightly as it hit her intended target. The ball exploded spectacularly, most the blast taking Mousse right in the face and he dropped out of the air, unconscious at her feet.

Ranma and Akane stared at the girl, who nervously hid the bow behind her back. “Um, well,” she said, embarrassed by her instinctive reaction to danger.

Ranma used his foot to turn Mousse over. The idiot was still breathing but his face was covered in soot. “You sure you don’t want to tell us where you learned to shoot like that?”

*****

It was late afternoon and the streets of Nerima were filled with students on the way home after school. Kagome was grateful that Akane had chosen to drop the subject of Kagome’s archery skills. She was still a little embarrassed by the incident, she would have liked to explain herself better but didn’t know where to begin. It’s not like I can tell her that I hunt demons in my spare time, she thought crossly. The week had been going so perfectly too.

“Here we are,” Akane said cheerfully. She led Kagome through the front door. Immediately, Kagome smelled something wonderful coming from the kitchen. Akane laughed at the expression on the girl’s face. “Come on, let me introduce you to the rest of my family.”

“Hey Kasumi,” she called, poking her head around the corner. Kagome saw a pretty young woman stirring a pot on the stove. She wore a crisp white apron over her clothes and favored them with a gentle smile. “Akane, you’re home. And this is your new friend?”

“Kagome Higurashi,” she introduced herself. The girl wiped her hands on her apron and nodded. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Kagome. Akane has talked about no one else this whole week. I’m so glad you could join us for dinner tonight.”

“Thank you for having me,” Kagome said politely. “It smells delicious.” Akane took her arm and led her away. “Let me show you the rest of the house before we eat. We’ll start with my room, you can leave your bag there until we get starting with studying.”

*****

“And this is the practice hall,” Akane said, flipping on the lights. Kagome looked around, it was just a big plain room. “I’ve never been in a real dojo before,” she said.

Akane grinned. “I spend a lot of time here, I’ve been training as a martial artist since I was old enough to walk.”

“You must be really good then,” Kagome said, walking to the other end of the room.

“I hold my own,” Akane said modestly. “Would you like me to show you some moves? I think all girls should know how to defend themselves.”

“Sure,” Kagome said. Learning a few basic moves couldn’t hurt and might even come in handy in the Sengoku Jidai. The girls went to the center of the hall and Akane showed her friend how to take a defensive stance. “Just drop your right leg back a little farther, put your hands up like this. There you go, that’s perfect.”

With Kagome holding the pose, Akane circled around and faced her. “Now you put your arms up and just block my punches. I won’t really hit you, I just want to show you how to block when someone is coming at you.”

“Like this?” Kagome said, watching Akane’s hands come toward her.
She batted the other girl’s hands away and tried to copy her moves.

“That’s great, see you’re a natural,” Akane said, easily fending off Kagome’s hesitant strikes. “You’re going to pick this up quick.”

“It would be easier if she had a better teacher.” Ranma was lounging against the wall, watching the girls with a condescending expression.

Akane spun around and glared at him. “Beat it, Ranma. Can’t you see we’re busy?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, have it your way. If you want to teach Kagome how to fight like clumsy warthog, you’re thght ght person for the job.”

Akane jumped at him, aiming a high kick for his head. “You take that back!” He laughed and evaded her easily. “Oh come on, Akane. Even you can try harder than that. It’s not like you can hurt me.”

Kagome watched as her friend chased Ranma around the room. Whoa, he really is good, she thought. She’d seen enough fighting that she could tell when someone really knew what they were doing. Akane was no slouch either, but it was clear that Ranma was just playing around with her, letting her get close enough to hit him and then dancing away just at the last second.

Akane’s face was flushed red with exertion and sweat was beading on her forehead. “Just leave us alone,” she snapped. She knew that Ranma was just showing off for Kagome’s benefit, but it still irritated the hell out of her. She swung at him again and he did a neat backflip and smirked at her as he landed next to Kagome.

“See what did I tell you?” he said, looking down at Kagome with an amused grin. “Akane’s strong, but she doesn’t have the discipline to follow through. She fights like a trained bear. Aren’t girls supposed to be a just a little more graceful?”

“I’ll show you grace,” Akane growled. He jumped away lightly as she rushed him. She tried to turn but her toe caught on the smooth floor of the dojo and she tripped and went flying headlong into Kagome, knocking the other girl hard into the wall.

“Oh my god, are you alright?” Ranma helped Kagome up, looking worried. Kagome shook her head dizzily, she’d bumped it when she hit the wall. Ranma steadied her, she looked like she might fall over if he let go.

“I’m so sorry,” Akane burst out, mortified. “I didn’t mean to hit you. Please say you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” Kagome said. She gently removed Ranma’s hand from her arm. “Don’t worry about it, Akane. I’m tougher than I look.”

“Interesting,” Ranma commented. ne lne looks tougher than she is.” She glowered at him. “Haven’t you caused enough problems for one day?” she snapped. “This wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t need to show off all the time.”

“You tripped over your own feet,” he said ho “I “I had nothing to do with it. If you didn’t always have to act like a macho…”

“If you didn’t always have be such a conceited jerk and butt in where you’re not wanted, it wouldn’t have happened at all,” she yelled, pushing him hard.

His eyes glittered angrily and she matched him glare for glare. “You’re the one who always butts in,” he shouted.

“What is all the yelling about?” Soun Tendo stood in the doorway, his arms folded over his chest and looked disapproving. “Ranma, stop fighting with Akane. You two need to learn to get along better and stop screaming at each other all the time.”

Akane grabbed Kagome’s hand and pulled her out the door. “It’s okay, dad. We were just leaving, there’s not enough room in here with Ranma’s ego anyway.”

Soun stepped out of the way, giving his angry daughter a wide berth. Ranma had flopped onto the floor and sat there scowling. Soun sighed, approaching the boy. “Son, why do you two have to be at odds all of the time?”

“I didn’t pick a fight, she came at me.” Soun raised an eyebrow at his words. “And what did you say to provoke her this time?”

Ranma flushed. “Okay, it wasn’t all Akane’s fault.” Looking back on the conversation, he started to feel bad. He had insulted Akane, picked on her ruthlessly in front of her friend. She didn’t deserve that, he thought.

“Maybe you should apologize to her,” Soun suggested. The boy looked up at him, scowling again. “It’s not like she’d accept it,” he said. “She’ll just try to hit me again.”

Soun clapped the boy on the shoulder. “I know, but she’ll appreciate the gesture just the same. Think about it, son.” He left Ranma sitting there, feeling just a bit ashamed of himself.

“I was showing off,” he muttered. Not that he had a thing for Kagome, she seemed to be a pretty nice, straightforward kind of girl. He just couldn’t help himself. “Good job, Ranma. Now they both probably think you’re an asshole. Guess there’s no help for it, I’m going to have to apologize to them.”

He stood up and started for the door, but a glint of something shiny caught his attention. He bent over, there was a little piece of glass imbedded in the floor of the dojo.

That shouldn’t be there, he thought. He picked up the little shard, glad that no one had stepped on it and cut themselves. Soun was fastidious about keeping a clean dojo, he knew, he’d trashed it several times himself and had to clean up the mess.

“Huh, that’s funny. I thought it was glass.” The little sliver had a faint glow about it, shimmering softly in his palm. It seemed to pulse from within and was warm to the touch. He turned it over in his hand, holding it close to his face. “What the hell?”

His fingers closed of their own will over the small shard. The pleasant warmth seemed to fill his palm and start moving down his arm. His hand started shaking, he couldn’t open it and the warmth had increased to a tingling, burning sensation. “Hey,” he said, alarmed. “What’s going on here?” Suddenly a white hot agony pierced through his body and he doubled over from it, gripping his arm as he gasped for breath. Ranma fell to his knees, tears pouring from his eyes as he tried to hold in the scream that wanted to rip from his throat. His body was shaking even more violently now and he felt the shard pulsing in his hand like a tiny malevolent heart. “No,” he whispered. “Please, I don’t want to…”

*****

“Where’s Ranma?” Kasumi wanted to know. She had just finished putting the food on the table and noticed his absence. “It’s not like him to be late to a meal.”

Akane tossed her head, looking disgusted. “He’s probably still sulking in the dojo.” She picked up her rice and started to eat. Nabiki grinned at Kagome. “Ranma sulking when there’s food to be eaten? That doesn’t sound like him. What did my sister do this time?”

Kagome laughed. She liked both of Akane’s sisters, Nabiki had a wicked sense of humor. She could tell that her friend was still a bit upset over her fight with Ranma, but she felt fine and had told her several times that she really wasn’t hurt. She started to eat, the food tasted every bit as wonderful as it had smelled. She was looking forward to a quiet evening of studying with Akane. Kagome paused, a tingling sensation had started in the pit of her stomach. Now that’s odd, she thought. I don’t feel that unless there’s a jewel shard near me. It was growing stronger too.
A loud crash interrupted their meal. It sounded like something huge had rammed into the side of the house. Kasumi stood up and went to the window. “Oh my, did that come from the dojo?”

Genma Saotome threw down his chopsticks with an annoyed expression. “Damn that boy, what is he doing now?” Another crash shook the room and Nabiki reached quickly to rescue a glass that almost overturned. “Is he trying to tear the house down or what?” she demanded.

Soun and Genma were already on their feet, heading for the door. “Ranma!” his father shouted. “What the hell do you think you’re doing in there? Come out at once!”

The air was cut by a horrifying scream, it carried on ending in an unearthly howl that made the hair stand up on the back of their necks. “Was that Ranma?” Akane whispered, her eyes wide as she also got to her feet. The Tendo sisters ran for the door, following their father and Genma to the dojo. Kagome sat frozen in place as another raging scream echoed through the house. Something about the scream was familiar. “Oh no,” she murmured, her heart pounding.

She ran after the Tendo sisters, reaching the door to the practice hall. Soun and Genma were inside the room. Ranma was crouched on the floor, his head bent with his hair covering his eyes. He seemed to be breathing hard, his body shuddering slightly.

Genma had been startled to find his son alone, he’d expected yet another enemy had made his way to the dojo in order to challenge the boy to a fight. “Boy, are you alright?” he asked, approaching his son to touch his arm lightly.

Ranma sprang up, his body arcing like a wild beast as he struck at his father with blinding speed. Genma spun around and flattened himself on the floor, barely avoiding the full force of the strike. Sharp claws tore into the skin on his back and shredded his clothing. He yelped and scuttled away from the boy, who was just starting to laugh.

The sound made Akane’s skin crawl, it wasn’t Ranma’s normal, cocky laugh at all. It sounded cruel and cold. “Not fast enough, are you old man?” he hissed. He pounced on his father and drove his fists into the man’s body. Akane cringed as she heard the sound of Genma’s ribs being broken by his son’s furious attack.

“Ranma!” the girl shouted. “What are you doing?” His back was turned to her and he laughed again and jumped into the air, taking the surprised Soun Tendo with a vicious kick to his face. Her father’s body slammed into the dojo wall and crumpled. “Daddy!” she shrieked and ran after him.

Ranma caught her as she ran to her father’s side. She saw his face clearly for the first time. His eyes were glowing red and when he ed, ed, she saw a mouthful of sharp fangs grinning at her. A blood red stripe marked each cheek and his hands were harsh as he gripped her by the arms. “Let me go,” she cried, struggling.

“Sure,” he growled. He drew back his hand and hit her across the face so hard that she spun into the wall and fell unconscious, bleeding from her mouth. Kasumi screamed and held Nabiki back as the middle sister tried to throw herself at the demon. “You bastard, Ranma! What’s happened to you?”

“You should be more worried about what’s going to happen to you,” he answered, advancing on the girls with an evil smirk.

“That’s enough,” Kagome said calmly. The girl didn’t raise her voice, but she quietly placed herself between the Tendo sisters and the vicious demon. “If you want to hurt them, you’ll have to go through me.” Kagome didn’t know why this was happening, but she knew a demon in a full rage when she saw it.

The demon laughed, his voice harsh and mocking. “Go through you, it will be a pleasure to do just that,” he said, advancing on her with malicious glee. He grabbed Kagome by her arms and held her up, her feet dangling above the floor. “This will be the most fun I’ve had in days,” he growled savagely.

“Ranma, don’t,” Genma gasped from where he was laying on the floor. His back was bleeding freely and he didn’t have the strength to get up and try to defend the helpless girl. “Whatever’s wrong, we’ll fix it, don’t hurt the girls.”

I hope this works, Kagome thought as he pulled her toward him. I’ve only tried it with arrows. She brought up her hand, a single chopstick was clenched in her fist. Concentrating fiercely, she jabbed the tip of it into the demon’s chest. “Huh?” he said, looking down.

Blue-white light suddenly burst from the tip of the stick and Ranma was thrown across the room by the huge blast. The impact left a crack in the wall, but Ranma was already unconscious from the purification. He fell limply to the floor and flopped onto his face next to Akane.

Kagome got up, her knees were sore where she’d landed on them.
Limping slightly, she went to Ranma’s side while Kasumi and Nabiki ran forward to help Soun and Akane. She gently turned the boy over on his back, looking at the strange markings. Brushing his hair aside, she saw two very youkai looking ears. Unconscious, his face had lost its feral glee and he looked very young and vulnerable. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t have a choice.”

Genma had pulled himself over to her side and was looking at his son’s sleeping face. Kagome glanced at him and saw the confusion in his eyes. “Is this the first time he’s transformed?”

He nodded dumbly. “I’ve never seen anything like that. Ranma’s done plenty of strange things, but that was a first.” Genma looked old and tired, his breathing was labored. “What the hell happened to him?”

She looked around the room, searching for it. A tiny glow was emitting from the corner of the practice hall. Kagome went to it and picked up the Shikon shard. “I must have dropped you,” she murmured to it. The shard flared brightly, purified again by her touch. KasuKasumi was helping Soun to his feet. Together they approached Kagome and looked at the shining jewel in her hand. “Is that little thing why Ranma went crazy?” Soun asked.

Kagome slipped the shard into her pocket and sighed. “It could be,” she told them quietly. “It only reacts to the presence of youki, demonic energy. I can only guess that the jewel shard woke it in Ranma. I’m sorry, I didn’t know he was a demon.”

“Ranma’s a what?” Kasumi asked, staring at the girl in horror. Soun’s face was angry as he rounded on Genma. “Saotome, how could you keep this a secret from us? A demon, living under the same roof as my daughters and you didn’t warn us about it?”

Genma backed away, wincing from his wounds. “I didn’t know,” he said, looking equally shocked and horrified. “He’s never done it before. I don’t even know why it happened.”

“I might be able to help you answer that,” a woman’s voice said softly from the doorway.


END CHAPTER 2