InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Changing Heart ❯ The Spell ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Changing Heart




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"Kaede-neechan, are you ready?" A voice asked the old woman kneeling before a table who was packing her things.

"Yes, Kikyo-neesan. Finally, after all these years…we're ready." With a wrinkled hand, she picked up a small round jewel that glowed in her palm. Chuckling, she placed it into a pouch that her trembling fingers tied around her neck. Fifty years, they'd waited until Kaede's powers were strong enough. Fifty years for revenge… "Let's go see if he has changed or not."

Taking one last look around her very humble hut, the old woman slung her shawl over her hunched shoulders and followed the faint silvery outline of her sister.



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Il etait une fois, dans un pays lointain...


In the centre of several miles of lush, dense mixed forests sat a grand castle much like the ones we dream, as children, of living in. Made of white stone, it was polished to a shine with the sun glistening so brightly off it in the morning that, when looked at directly, one could say it would glow. Several stories high, it had multiple turrets – many to which the passages were only a few of the secrets contained in the structure. Innumerable rooms were furnished with soft, warm beds, large, crackling fireplaces, and beautiful dark wood furniture. The windows made the castle light and airy; there were so many that an entire team of window washers all had a full-time job. The gardens on the castle grounds were renowned to be the most breathtaking of the country; if any child from the castle needed to be found, the gardens would be the most obvious place to look.


One would not have guessed that a youkai prince ruled and lived in the castle. Let alone an inuyoukai.


Inuyasha had ruled the Inu kingdom ever since his father had died defending it. He wasn't the eldest son; his elder brother, Sesshomaru, had refused the crown, preferring to wander the lands alone. Although they looked very similar – golden eyes, long silver hair, and two purple stripes on both cheeks, the younger more than made up for Sesshomaru's lack of emotion.


Because of his restlessness, he spent most of his spare time (which he took as much as possible) outside in the woods hunting. His temper was notorious throughout the kingdom and as fiery as the color of the haori he wore. Every day, his personal advisors and servants kept a tally of how many people he made cry. In the seven years he'd ruled, not one day had counted less than fifty. Despite his raging ways, Inuyasha treated his people fairly and generously; he protected them thoroughly and in return, he had their servitude, loyalty, and respect. Once in a while though, his anger was uncontrollable and caused him to act out of character.


In the heavy rains of spring one particularly cold and dark night, a soft knock resounded. He was summoned to the great wooden doors of his stone castle only to find a wizened old woman crouched over a cane.


"Please Lord," she begged, "I am old and the rain is freezing my very bones. Could I obtain shelter within your castle in return for this stone?" A wrinkled, gnarled hand extended below the youkai lord's gaze, revealing a softly glowing pink jewel. Water dripped off her rag like kimono, red and white.


At the sight of the jewel, Inuyasha's eyes widened in horror. No. It couldn't be. Suppressing a tide of memories he'd locked up inside years ago, the inuyoukai hid his emotions with his best defense mechanism: denial and rudeness.


"Keh! I don't need any of your stupid pebbles. We don't want ugly crones like you in the castle. Be on your way, old witch."


"But... my Lord..."


"Get out of my sight and out of my kingdom before I make you regret you ever came here."


The old woman then cackled. "I don't." Lifting her hand above her head, she turned away from him slowly, then began to glow brightly white. Inuyasha shielded his eyes from the glare, and then was stunned by the presence before him.


Before him shone a beautiful young woman in a red and white kimono- her black hair was fluttering around her shoulders, brushed by an invisible wind. Her glowing white hands nestled the jewel in their palms near her waist.


It was her. It was Kikyou. This time, Inuyasha's horror could not be contained as he fell to his knees.


"No. It can't be."



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"Inuyasha, you haven't changed one bit," the young woman stated sourly. "You are every bit as cruel and bitter as when I knew you. And for that... you must pay."


Unable to speak as years' worth of traumatizing events recirculated through his mind, the silver-haired youkai rested his full weight on his knuckles. Unaware of the torrential downpour soaking through his thick clothes, it was all he could do to keep on breathing.


"You shall remain prisoner of your own castle until your soul is purified, either by this jewel," she allowed the pink object in her palm to float down to the stone ground before his figure, "or by love. If you allow yourself to be purified by the jewel, you will perish and join me in hell as a human. However, if love saves you, you will survive."


With one last elegant wave of her hand, the shining appearance of Kikyou was gone. Only a pile of rags lay where she once floated, Kaede's rags. In order to help her dead sister obtain revenge, she had given her life.



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Lord Inuyasha stood aghast at the entrance to his castle for several minutes after the miko left. Slowly he stood up and shook off the torrent of nightmares which had invaded his head. Almost as suddenly as it had disappeared, his pleasant, usual humor returned.


"What the- No! Get back here, you wench! Love? Spell? What? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"


His yells only resonated into the grassy hills. Drenched from the downpour, he slammed the great door shut and stomped back inside. 'Crazy bitch,' he thought. 'Probably all a big joke. Must be.'


When he looked around, however, his eyes flew open. No, it definitely was not a joke. The pink jewel glowed brightly from outside. Picking it up in his hand, he opened the massive oak castle doors and went back inside.



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Upon the Lord's entry into the castle, the jewel shone glaringly, and a faraway incantation resounded through the entrance hall, echoing in the stone walls. It was beautiful harmony, but eerie in tone.


"The monk will be overwhelmed by emptiness."


Miroku, the castle's resident monk and royal advisor gasped at his hand, where a small black hole was growing until it stopped at about the size of an apricot. He was forced to press his right hand against the black and purple robes. Vacuum.


"The warrior will be unable to approach the one she treasures the most."


A tall, lithe woman also checked her hands. Finding nothing, she turned to speak to her brother, a dark haired boy beside her, only to be repelled by an invisible barrier and thrown ten meters away from him. After getting up quickly from the marble floors of the entrance hall, she tried to approach him again.


"Kohaku!" No avail. She was thrown off in the same manner as the first time.


Other servants, having observed the changes in their superiors, instinctively ran toward the castle door, only to find that they could not pass through. They were trapped in the spell as well.


Sango got up slowly and took a look around her. Her gaze stopped sharply when it fell upon the prince.


"Inuyasha..." Her voice trailed off in shock.


"The youkai, he who has caused me such pain and was not changed by it, he shall become what is most loathed and terrifying. Then, by the rising of the moon until its set the next morning, he shall become what he fears the most to become: human."


The sun had gone down now, and the moon was filtering in through the many windows of the entrance hall.


Gone was the silvery-white hair of the hanyou prince. Gone were the sharp claws and golden eyes. Gone too were the soft white ears peaking through at the top of his head. Replacing them was long black hair, equally black eyes, and normal ears.


Normal... Human... What had he done??



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The shrine keeper looked down at his map again. Which way had Kagome said again? Left at the river road fork and then straight into Edo? Or was it right at the fork? Shaking his grey, balding head, he thought of what his granddaughter would say if she were here with him. 'Grandfather! You've gotten lost again? We can't let you go to shrine festivals by yourself anymore!' He chuckled as he looked up at the fork in the road again. The road to the right looked dark and unkempt, though it followed the river closely. The left road was packed by several travelers passed, but branched off into the thickness of the woods sharply, so he could not see far down it. Opting for what he believed was the safer route, the old man followed the river road for a few hours, until the sky darkened and the sun began to set. 'That's strange... Kagome said that Edo was seven hours' walk from our shrine... I've been walking all day...'


Not wanting to remain outside in the dark, especially not in the woods that looked suspiciously evil-youkai infested. With every rustle of tree leaves, with every gust of wind, the old shrinekeeper looked over his thin shoulder in fear. He who had told his grandson of all heroic exploits to save the shrine from various (rather exaggerated) threats was now cowering at the face of a definite chance of...


A twig snapped a few meters off the dusty, narrow path, in the thick of the forest underbush. That did it. A surge of adrenaline caused Higurashi-jisan to bolt along the dirt road as fast as his legs could take him (which was pretty impressive, at his age). About thirty meters away was a wide brass gate, partially hidden by vines and various shrubbery.


Gate... house ... people ... safety...


With the speed only fear can incite into an old man, he threw himself rather comically over the gate and landed with a loud thud on his pack of clothing. He hadn't had time to catch his breath before it was beaten out of him again as he took a look at his surroundings.


The property he had landed in was something out of a fairytale.
Freshly cut lawn was spread as far as the eye could see, only disrupted by a large,glittering lake. Large, knarled oak trees with extensive green canopies shed shade here and there in clumps of three or four. And then, in the background, was the castle. In contrast to the gleaming, bright nature surrounding it, the palace walls were a dark, rough grey color. It seemed enshrouded by a permanent storm cloud, even though, where Higurashi-san sat only a hundred meters away, the sky was a clear, dark blue.


Years of life experience did not daunt the shrinekeeper's curiosity. When he heard the snarls and howls of the evil-youkai as they rattled against the brass gate, he stumbled over to the castle doors as quickly as he could. Now drenched in rain and shivering with cold, he knocked, once, and felt the door open slightly.


'This,' he thought as he smoothed his soaked grey hair, 'is a very strange place indeed.'


When he had both feet in the castle, the door shut behind him.


The sound of the great doors opening and shutting startled a young man out of his dream. A very nice dream, in fact, of a beautiful warrior and - Footsteps? It couldn't be. Had someone entered the castle? A young woman? Could she break the spell after a long six months? Miroku hastily got up from his seat in the front room and peered into the entrance hall.


Much to his disappointment, only an old (and very lost-looking) old man stood there.


Great. The first person to come to the castle had to be exactly what they didn't need.


He cleared his voice, stepped out into the dark entrance hall and bowed serenely to the visitor.


"Good evening. Is there anything I can help you with?"


The old man returned the bow and stammered, "I lost my way going to a shrine festival in Edo. I forgot my granddaughter's directions and-"


At the sound of "granddaughter", Miroku froze but an idea burned in his mind. The old man jammered on, telling some ridiculous story about fighting evil-youkai to the death before stumbling upon the brass gate. In the middle of the shrine-keeper's decription of using an old kendo thrust to skewer a youkai, Miroku interrupted him.


"I'm sure you are tired and hungry from your journey. Please stay here for the night and be energized for your way home tomorrow."


Before the old man could reply, a door slammed upstairs and the sound of heavy, angry footsteps became closer. Miroku gulped and pounced in front of the old man before a livid black-haired man in bright red robes raced down the stairs, calling for his monk and advisor.


Catching Miroku in a very strange position (with his legs together stiffly and his arms on his hips with his torso leaning mysteriously to his right), Inuyasha asked, "Why the hell are you standing like that?"


"Oh. No reason. I'm just doing some stretches, see?" Miroku whipped his left, purple-robed arm over his head toward the right. "One, two. One, two."


But it was too late. The Lord had already caught a glimpse of a grey haori behind his advisor, and that haori was definitely NOT Miroku's.


With a roar, he made two steps and grabbed the shivering old man by the lapels of his haori.


"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Even though he was human, he was snarling so hard his teeth were bared. And they were frightningly sharp and threatening.


"I...I..."


"Old man, why don't you tell him about your granddaughter?" The calm monk finally found an opportunity to set his plan into motion.


There was a thump on the floor where the old shrinekeeper met the floor for the second time that day.


"Granddaughter... Whatever. Just get out of my kingdom. NOW!" Inuyasha roared again, making Higurashi shake.


Miroku got close to Inuyasha, as only the calm monk could do when his Lord was angry, and murmured, "It's been six months already, my Lord. You don't have much time left. this might be your only chance... Please think about it."


The serene words hit home and Inuyasha's face relaxed enough to show a flicker of pain. He turned over to the old man and told him, "You have a day to go home and return here with your granddaughter. She shall take your place as a prisoner. I have no use for old men here. Now, go. My advisor and leader of the guard will escourt you." Then, as abuptly as he had appeared, he was gone again, lost to the labyrinth of stairwells, hallways, and secret chambers in towers.



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A/N:

I'm sorry I didn't have Kagome in there yet. She's there next chapter, for sure. I just thought this would be a good place to stop. I'm always open to comments and ideas! If you have any questions (at all, about anything), just give me shout!