Cursed

CHAPTER 9

Akane leaned forward, carefully placing the last bandage on Ranma’s neck. “There, that’s the last one. I’ll need to find more bandages somewhere. Some of these are pretty bad and look like they’ll fester. We’ll need to keep them clean.”

“Waste of time,” Inuyasha muttered. Ranma didn’t look up. Akane made an annoyed sound as she put the empty box in her backpack. The hanyou rolled over to look at her. “He’ll heal on his own, you don’t have to worry about it getting infected. Sesshomaru’s poison is fatal to humans, but those marks will be gone in three days.”

Kagome patted Akane on her arm comfortingly. “He’s right, it looks awful now, but youkai heal fast.” Akane was doubtful, Ranma’s neck was a charred mess, some of the deeper scorch marks were oozing clear fluid although they had at least stopped bleeding. She didn’t know how badly they still hurt, Ranma had hardly said three words to anyone since the fight. She wondered if more than just his pride was really damaged. He hated losing a fight to anyone, regardless of the circumstances.

Night had fallen around their small campfire and the humans were busy laying out their sleeping bags and bedrolls. The quiet of the forest was ominous and no one really felt like talking. Ranma just sat brooding by the fire, Akane watched him and wished she had some way to help. She poured a cup of hot water from the kettle over the fire and dropped in a tea bag. “Here,” she said softly.

He waved her away. “Don’t want it, thanks.” He did appreciate that Akane was trying to make him feel better. He wasn’t sure he wanted to feel better. The burns and cuts were easy enough to deal with, he could already feel them fading, if he thought about it hard enough. The girl curled up next to him, not touching him and rested her chin on her knees. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked softly.

“No,” he answered just as softly. Akane sighed. “Ranma, please. It’s not like its the first time you’ve ever lost a fight.”

A grunt from the treetops answered her question. “Didn’t look like a fight to me, stupid punk got his ass handed to him.”

“Inuyasha,” Kagome said sternly. “You don’t need to make him feel worse. Just let him alone.”

The hanyou glowered down at her, his eyes firing golden in the darkness. “Am I wrong or something? Did you see a fight out there today? I saw the punk running for his life, but I sure didn’t see any fighting.”

Ranma glared up at him, stung. “I was trying to save my ass, in case you didn’t notice, he was trying to kill me.” Akane put her hand on his arm, making sure it was an undamaged piece of flesh she touched. He shrugged away roughly and her hand dropped to her lap. “I’m glad he didn’t kill you,” she murmured.

Inuyasha dropped unceremoniously to the ground. “Bah, if he’d wanted you dead, you’d be dead. Sesshomaru’s a moody bastard but he was holding back. Didn’t take you seriously enough to finish you off anyway. Just like the prick too, he got bored when you didn’t fight back.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Ranma demanded angrily. Bad enough to have been humiliated, but did they have to keep bringing it up over and over again? Hell, he’d done everything he could just to stay alive, wasn’t that good enough?

Sango sat down on Akane’s other side. “It didn’t look like you were fighting back, Ranma,” she said quietly.

“Screw this,” he said sharply and jumped up. “Just leave me alone, I’m sick of talking about it!” Ranma stomped off into the woods, fuming and angry. Akane got up to follow him but was stopped by Miroku’s gentle hand on her arm. “Maybe its best to leave him alone right now.”

“Oh the hell it is,” Inuyasha snarled. “He’s gonna talk whether he likes it or not!” He disappeared into the brush after Ranma.

“Inuyasha,” Kagome called out warningly. His voice answered back from the darkness. “Butt out, wench. This is between youkai.”

Akane sat back down again and sighed heavily. Sango reached over to touch her hand. “Don’t worry about him so much, Akane. Heot aot a lot to deal with right now.”

“And I’m no help, as usual,” the short haired girl answered sadly.

“Don’t say that,” Kagome said, sitting next to her and hugging her shoulders. “You’re helping just by being here, otherwise he’d be all alone in this. Isn’t that why you wanted to come along with him? So he wouldn’t have to be alone?”

She smiled, buoyed by Kagome and Sango’s friendly concern. “I guess so, I just feel like I’m totally out of my league. I don’t know anything about demons, I can’t imagine how hard this has to be.”

“Best to let him handle it in his own way,” Miroku said sagely. Shippo jumped to his shoulder. “Oh and you’re an expert on demons now? Since when do you know how Ranma feels?”

Miroku eyed the fox speculatively. “And you have some insight that you’d like to share?”

“Well, I am a demon too,” the fox said importantly. He looked around at the humans. “Ranma’s a dog-demon, just like Sesshomaru and Inuyasha. That’s why he challenged Sesshomaru and that’s why Inuyasha wouldn’t help him.”

“I don’t get you,” Akane said, looking at the little kitsune with curiosity. Sango grinned suddenly and nudged her. “Oh, I understand now. It’s that dominance thing again. Ranma challenged Sesshomaru because he recognized him as a threat and wanted to prove he wasn’t intimidated. I thought it was a crazy thing to do.”

“Have you ever run into any other dog-youkai?” Kagome asked.

Sango shook her head. “No, they are actually pretty rare this far east. That’s part of the reason that this area has so many smaller and wilder youkai. Dog-youkai claim territories as their own and run out anything they don’t like. Wolves are almost as bad, except that wolves keep to themselves more often than not. Most of the lower youkai we’ve come across wouldn’t stand a chance. Dogs also fight each other constantly and that’s another good reason to avoid them. My father always said that they were dangerously hard to kill and after seeing Sesshomaru fight with Inuyasha, I know why he thought so.”

Kagome yawned, stretching widely before settling down to her sleeping bag. Shippo hopped over to cuddle up next to her. “And what do fox-youkai fight about?” she asked him, tickling the kitsune under his chin.

Shippo giggled. “We don’t fight with each other. Kitsune like to have fun, we don’t claim territories or engage in bloodfeuds. It takes too much effort to fight when you’d rather be playing in the woods.”

*****
Inuyasha shoved his way through the forest, sniffing around for Ranma’s scent. His nose told him the stupid punk had come this way. “Ranma!” he shouted. “Get your ass over here so I can yell at you to your face. I know you can hear me!”

“They can hear you all the way to China, moron,” a voice said from high in the trees. Inuyasha looked up, meeting the young demon’gry gry glare. “Don’t you get that I don’t want to talk about it?”

“Well, fuck you too,” Inuyasha sneered. He hopped easily up the side of the tree, springing nimbly from branch to branch in the near darkness. He stopped at the branch right under Ranma, standing up to lean against it and stare at the irritable young demon. “What’s your fucking problem?” he growled.

Ranma gave him a disgusted look. “You’re my fucking problem, don’t you have anything better to do than bother me?”

The hanyou grunted. “Guess not. What the hell happened out there anyway? I’ve seen you fight before and didn’t think you’d turn into a little girl and run like that.”

“Asshole!” Ranma snapped. He fought back the anger that was rising inside him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh,” Inuyasha saiThisThis was getting him nowhere. He grabbed the branch that Ranma was sitting on and yanked it out from under the startled demon. The branch gave way and sent them both tumbling to the ground.

Ranma got to his feet, radiating cold fury. “I’ve had enough of your shit,” he yelled, throwing himself at Inuyasha. The hanyou rolled on the ground to get away from him. “Oh so now you feel like fighting?” he goaded.

Ranma punched him right in the mouth and Inuyasha froze in surprise. Blood trickled from his lip. That was a really hard punch, he thought to himself. He wiped off his lip somewhat thoughtfully. looklooked at Ranma, the punk’s face was a mask of fury, a tinge of red glowing in his eyes.

“Come on!” Ranma snarled, ready to fight, spoiling for it. He wanted to use his claws now, rip the hanyou’s head off and pound him into the ground. He felt the rage building inside him and his body started to tingle. He wanted to taste blood in his mouth and…where the hell did that come from, he wondered, scared of himself. He forced the feelings down, alarmed by the depth of hatred that was whispering in his mind over the hanyou’s comments. “I don’t want to do this,” he muttered.

Inuyasha could sense the youki building hard in Ranma’s body and just as abruptly, felt it cut off at the source. He licked his cut lip and scratched his head. “So that’s it,” he said.

“What’s it?” Ranma asked, looking at Inuyasha suspiciously. “Aren’t you going to hit me back?” The hanyou smirked. “You’re afraid of it, aren’t you?”

Ranma glared at him, taking a few steps back. “I don’t know what you’re babbling about.”

Inuyasha was grinning at him. “You wanted to tear my head off a minute ago, but you stopped yourself. You’re scared of it, you’re scared of the youki inside you.”

“Shut up,” the demon said, stalking away from him. Inuyasha followed and jumped in front of Ranma, blocking any dignified escape. “Don’t like it, do you? What a stupid punk you are, you almost let yourself get killed by that prick rather than let it loose. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time. Funnier than you turning into a bitch even.”

“It’s not funny!” Ranma shouted, outraged. “I’m not scared of anything, I just don’t want to become a raving maniac, okay? I don’t want to become some kind of fucking monster like…”

“Like me?” Inuyasha said harshly. “Like Sesshomaru? Is that what you’re trying to say? Too bad, punk. You already are.” He gave the angry youkai a disgusted look. “So you’re a fucking monster, big fucking deal. Learn to live with it already.”

“How?” Ranma burst out.

Inuyasha looked at him strangely. “If you don’t you might as well lay down and die. I’m not saying it’s easy.” He definitely didn’t like the direction this conversation was taking. It was bringing up too many memories, too many angry, blood soaked moments. Until not long ago, he would have laughed off the idea that he could ever lose control. Bad enough having to live with some of the things he’d done consciously, having to live with what he couldn’t control became a nightmare. Now he knew better, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t ever going to happen again. He scowled, wishing he hadn’t followed Ranma into the forest if it meant bringing up memories like that.

“Just deal with it,” he said shortly. “Next time you make an ass of yourself by challenging another demon, don’t expect to live through it.” He made the mistake of turning his back on the angry and upset youkai and a kick sent him sprawling.

Ranma was fed up with the hanyou’s condescension. “How about right now?” he panted. A fight was exactly what he needed. “You want a fight, you got it,” Inuyasha hissed. He cocked back his fist just as Ranma grabbed him with his claws.

“Stop! Let me out of here before you do that!”

Ranma pulled back, looking around for the source of the voice. “Who said that, show yourself now!” He looked over at Inuyasha, who was frowning and started to slap himself on the arms and chest. “Myoga, you rotten coward, where the hell are you?”

A tiny flea popped out of Inuyasha’s hair. Ranma stared at him. “Who are you?”

The flea bowed to him. “My name is Myoga, young Ranma. Forgive me for not announcing my presence earlier, Inuyasha-sama. I was waiting for a more appropriate opportunity.”

Inuyasha seized the flea and squeezed. “Just how long have you been hiding on me this time, you little wretch. I should squash you like the bug you are.” Myoga struggled vainly again the pinching grip. “Not long, I was making my way back to you of course. I would have spoken up earlier today, but you seemed so busy and…”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that Sesshomaru scares the jelly out of you, does it?” Inuyasha said dryly. He released the flea and Myoga sprang gratefully onto Ranma’s shoulder. “Allow me to introduce myself, young friend,” he said and promptly drove his sticker into Ranma’s shoulder.

“Hey, knock it off!” Ranma swatted him. “A flea demon, are you serious?” he asked. The forlorn little youkai looked up at him. “Well, what else would I be,” Myoga said, a little bit annoyed that the new youkai wasn’t going to allow him a courteous meal.

“Pain in the ass,” Inuyasha muttered. “You always run whenever there’s trouble, you coward.”

“I am not a coward,” Myoga said, indignant from the relative safety of Ranma’s arm. “I came all this way just to warn you and this is the thanks I get. When I think of all the years I’ve wasted in serving your family, it just brings tears to my eyes to be treated so harshly.”

“Warn me about what?” Inuyasha said suspiciously. “Does this have something to do with my asshole brother showing up today?”

“Indeed, Inuyasha-sama!” Myoga puffed up importantly. “I have come to tell you of a great unrest plaguing the Western territories. You must not go there! All the dog-clans have turned against each other and its open season on any strangers. I’m quite surprised that Sesshomaru-sama didn’t see fit to mention it.”

“I’m not,” Inuyasha said quietly. He looked at Ranma. “That old woman is supposed to live at the base of the Western mountains. If we’re going there, we have to cross a lot of territory. It would be dangerous to begin with, but now that the clans are at all out war with each other, it’s going to be nearly impossible.”

Ranma sat down on the ground. “It was a stupid idea anyway.” I can’t ask Akane to go into a war zone, he thought. “I should go alone,” he said softly.

Inuyasha glared at him. “Are you that stupid, didn’t you hear what the damn flea just said? It’s suicide.”

“You got any better options?” Ranma shot back. “I’m not giving up yet, but I’m also not going to put Akane in danger by trying to cross a battleground.”“I m“I may be able to help with that,” Myoga put in delicately.

*****


Sitting quietly in the brush, the observer watched as the hanyou and the young demon left the forest to return to their camp. He smiled, this was a most interesting development. His spies had made him aware of the group’s journey west and after hearing reports of Sesshomaru’s strange battle with the new youkai, he’d come to see about the situation himself. Is this something I can use to my advantage, he thought. It was obvious the demon was unable or unwilling to access the frightening strength that was within his own body. Perhaps he just needs a little assistance in order to fully become the monster he fears? An intriguing possibility, he smirked, and one not without potential for chaos. Amused by his own designs, he left the forest with a whisper of his white baboon pelt.