InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Firae Circus ❯ A New Kind ( Chapter 5 )

Sorry this took so long. Writers block! ACK! Diddly do dod o!

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Chapter 5: A New Kind

Kagome and her friends finally arrived at the circus as the sun was setting. With difficulty they gave the weapon check person all of their blades. Kagome had threatened the poor girl with dismemberment and other tortures if a single speck of dust came in contact with her blades. Akemi and Nami managed to drag her away before she just went straight to the torture just because they took her weapons from her. They calmed her down by reminding her that the blade that Koji just gave her was still hidden in her boot.

There were lots of weird smells and sounds emanating from all around the site. Kagome kept getting an unsettling feeling in her stomach when some of the sounds reached her ears. Akemi and Nami both ran straight to the medium's tent to get their fortunes told.

“Come on, Kagome!” Nami yelled behind her. Kagome shook her head and followed them to the tent's entrance.

“I'm not going in there you guys.” Akemi looked back at her with her hands on her hips.

“And why not? You chicken shit?” Kagome snorted.

“No, I just don't like messing with fate. Anyway I'd rather not know if I'm going to die tomorrow. I like surprises.” Akemi shook her head in shame.

“You're weird, it's not like it's real. It's just something fun to do!”

“You shouldn't play with fate. You don't know the rules.” Akemi and Nami looked at each other then back at Kagome.

“You are an odd one aren't you?” Nami asked. Kagome shrugged.

“It's better than being normal.”

“Whatever, where will you be when we get done?” Kagome pointed over at the snake charmer.

“I'll just go watch that guy get bit in the face by a cobra. Should be entertaining enough.” Nami and Akemi laughed at her then entered the medium's tent. Kagome turned and crossed over to the charmer. There were a lot of people at the circus already and the crowds made her a little uncomfortable. She was glad to see that there were fewer people in front of the charmer. She stood in front of him and watched him play his pipe. He skin was dark and yet his eyes were a light green. His hair was hidden beneath a bandana that was the color of sand. His shirt hung loose and was tied around his waist by a brown scarf. His pants hung wide around his knees but were tight around his waist and ankles. He stared at Kagome with his strange eyes. She stared back with a bored expression. He grinned mischievously at her as his notes quickened. She raised an eyebrow as the snake began swaying into the air.

She saw a glint in his eye before he closed them and played an intricate melody that skipped quickly across the snakes' scales. The snake began to writhe and twist erratically as the music beat against it. Kagome tried to bite back a grin failing miserably as she saw what was to come of the charmers pretentiousness. His graceful fingers danced across the pipe unknowingly driving the snake mad. Kagome barked out a laugh when the snake snapped still then lunged at the charmer. The snakes' fangs embedded themselves into the charmers flesh making his eyes pop wide open and his mouth open in a silent scream. He looked down at the snake attached to his cheek then finally found his voice. He leapt to his feet and began running around in circles screaming. Kagome shook her head and laughed at the man's pain.

When her laughter lightened she stopped his panicked movements by placing her hand on his shoulder. He whimpered when she lifted her hand to the snake. She looked him in the eye giving him a `stay still if you know what's good for you' look then carefully grabbed the snakes head with her fingers. She gently pushed the sides of its head in and carefully maneuvered the snakes' fangs out of the man's flesh. She picked the three foot long snake body up with her other hand so its weight wouldn't cause her hold to hurt it. She studied the man's face for a minute and then nodded.

“You're lucky. This one didn't inject its venom into you.” The man's eyes widened.

“Lucky?!” he cried pointing to his face, “You call this lucky?! She bit me! The fuckin' bitch bit me!” Kagome shook her head.

“Well if you hadn't pissed her off with the quick movements of your hands it wouldn't have happened.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. Kagome gave him that `are you really so stupid' look. When he just stared back she shook her head.

“Snakes are deaf, idiot. They don't dance to your music but rather your movements. And I'm surprised you're even using an Egyptian Cobra at night. That's when they hunt. They're more likely to bite at night.” The charmer merely gave her a small `huh' and she shook her head again.

“You just decided to do this one day, didn't you? You didn't even have a teacher.” It wasn't a question. At least he had the grace to look embarrassed. Kagome just sighed. “I wouldn't continue this vocation without proper training. You might not be so lucky next time.” He frowned.

“There's nothing else for me. I have to do this or...well. I just have to be the charmer.” Kagome gave him a curious stare.

“Whatever. It's your skin.” She took the snake that was still lying dormant in her hands to the basket which it had risen from. She laid it down carefully and placed the cap back on the basket. The snake had not once made a hostile motion toward her. She walked away from the charmer with the swollen face and sent a casual wave over her shoulder as she crossed the grounds to the mediums tent. She couldn't wait to tell her friends that her wish to see the man bitten had come true.

Akemi and Nami still hadn't reemerged from the mediums tent. Kagome sat down on a sawed off trunk that was next to the tent and waited for them. She knew they wouldn't be happy with her if she went to the other tents without them. She let her cloak settle around her and the stump and leaned her elbows against her knees. She put her chin in one hand while she watched some people try their hand at the games. She laughed at the ones who were suckered into a rigged game and smiled at the ones that defeated the tricksters. One of the people who worked the games noticed her and tried to wave her over. She smiled and shook her head trying to tell him with her eyes that she wasn't that foolish.

There was a lot of laughter and happy squeals coming from all around her. The conversations were loud but not obnoxiously so. She shuddered and turned her head when she heard a venomous howl coming from deeper in the circus. Gasps of fear and wonder followed the howl. Then there was laughter. The laughter made Kagome's skin crawl more than the howl had. They were laughing at some poor creature, probably torturing a demon of some sort, taking pleasure in its pain.

Kagome turned when she heard the movement of fabric. Nami and Akemi stepped out of the tent. Kagome smiled at them expecting to see laughing faces. Instead she saw disturbed and angry faces.

“What's wrong?” she asked instantly, standing on her feet her hand going to where her weapons should be. Nami shook her head.

“It's nothing, Kagome.” She looked at Akemi worriedly. Her face was stricken with fury.

“Do I need to go in there and kill that old hag?” Akemi looked at Kagome and for a second she thought she saw sorrow flash in Akemi's eyes but it was gone as quick as it came and she wondered if she had dreamt it.

“Forget it, Kagome,” She shook her anger away and let a seductive smile cross her face, “Come on, ladies, I think it's time we looked at some of the tents that seem to have dirty auras around them.” Akemi laughed evilly and began making her way to the tents farther up where the terrorized howl had come from.

They were about to head into one of the tents that boasted odd and disturbing jarred things when another howl pierced the air. Akemi's eyes glinted with mischief while Nami and Kagome looked startled. Akemi smiled and dragged the other girls with her to where the pained animal was shrieking. They expected to see some beast or another when they entered the brightly lit tent. What they saw was several beastlike and humanlike demons chained in various ways on separate sides of the tent creating a circular pathway to follow. The demons were disturbing as they looked at them with hatred, sorrow, and broken spirits.

At the bend in the pathway they were met with a crowd of people where some were laughing cheerfully and others had looks of fear dancing across their faces. Akemi shoved her way through the crowd to get a good look at the howling creature that they were surrounding while the other two girls followed in her wake. What they saw surprised them.

There was a large penned area that had a trough on the outside of the fence. In the trough were several different kinds of vegetables and other rotten foods. The crowd was taking turns pelting the exhibits animal with the grotesque smelling provisions. Also along the bottom of the trough and all along the ground were rocks that people were picking up and pelting the creature with. Kagome gasped as she saw the demon who was being tortured by these people.

He was magnificent. He was more human than any demon she had ever lay witness to with her own eyes. The only truly noticeable part about him were the (dare she say cute?) white ears on top of his head. His eyes were a fiery gold with red creeping into the gold like angry blood. His fangs were barred as he struggled with his shackles that chained him in the pen. His silver hair shone with blinding vengeance as he thrashed about trying to break his pinioned arms and take his retribution from these pitiful humans that tormented him. Purple stripes were tearing their way across his cheeks and his pupil was melting into a celtic blue. His aura was angry and pulsing. She wondered how these people did not run in terror and awe of the beautiful fury before them.

She watched out of the corner of her eye as someone picked up a rock and whipped it at the demon. It struck him just beside his almost completely crimson gaze. His skin split and he bled and the crowd cheered the one who aimed so well. Kagome saw that Akemi and Nami had small smiles tugging at their lips, and her easily granted anger overwhelmed her.

She snarled and growled in similar fashion to the beast before her. She shoved the people in front of her out of the way and leapt over the fence and into the pen without a second thought. People gasped in fear for her but she ignored them and looked up at the demon. He had several cuts that she hadn't noticed from her position in the crowd. The last slash was bleeding freely dripping into his eye.

He was looking down at her with such venom that a part of her wondered how she didn't liquefy from that one look. He strained his muscles trying to reach her to tear her apart, but she stood just maddeningly out of reach. Someone from the crowd threw another vegetable at the demon striking him on the shoulder. He watched as her eyes flicked to the offending splatter against his pale shirt. Her dark eyes brightened as a honey color flamed from the center of her pupil outward. He heard her snarl as she turned her back on him. She crossed her arms in an X in front of her then swiped her hands downward and to the side.

“ENOUGH!” she yelled, “You will now leave him be.”

“Get out of the way girl!” said the man who had pelted the demon with the stone, “You're ruining our fun. If you don't move we'll continue even if you're in the way.” Someone laughed and Kagome saw that it was Akemi. Kagome turned her attention back to the man as she saw him pick another rock from the trough, “Out of the way, girl.” A cold grin spread across her face.

“You can try, you pathetic piece of shit. But as long as I stay here, he will not be abused.” The man frowned at her.

“Teach that girl a lesson,” someone in the crowd said. The man shrugged then whipped the stone at her with all of his might. Kagome smiled as the stone came at her and laughed as it froze in mid air three inches from her face. She looked at it and watched it drop to the floor of the tent. She looked up at the rest of the group through her barrier, laughter and mischief dancing in her honey streaked eyes.

“Anyone else?” she asked. The crowd looked at her with shock and horror.

“What are you?” someone called.

“Demon!” came another. Kagome laughed at them.

“I am a priestess, you ridiculous bastards. I am a High Miko of this city, and as such I declare that this sort of abuse shall be ceased immediately.” The crowd gasped and grumbled. Some glared at her with hate as they slowly departed. She watched them cautiously until they were all gone except for her two sisters. She took a deep breath in and dropped her shield.

“Kagome, come on, you've proven your point oh great and wise high miko!” Akemi laughed. Kagome just smiled at her and shook her head.

“Your just jealous that Lady Kaede chose me as her apprentice,” Akemi shrugged as Kagome shook her head, “Just remember to remind me to get some new earth stones. I think I used all mine on that barrier,” Akemi laughed. Kagome was always running through her magical aids that she kept in her money pouch. Without those stones she would never have been able to create such a powerful barrier with the weak magical training that she had. She turned back to the demon behind her.

“I'm sorry they treat you badly. I wish there was something I could do. I'd like to free you, but then I'd have to free them all, and you're the only one with an aura that is not tainted by evil.” She stared into those angry red and gold eyes and felt a strange want. She reached her hand into the pouch on her belt and then brought her herb-touched fingers to his head. She took a deep, shuddering breath as she gently caressed the skin under the wound by his eye with her fingertips. Heat radiated from them as the bleeding stopped and the wound began to close. The other scratches he had sustained shrank and vanished completely. She could feel that he had older, deeper physical wounds and gave him more of her energy to help him heal. The wounds on his wrists and ankles stitched together and closed completely.

When she looked back into his eyes she saw nothing but an astonished gold. She smiled him a tired comforting smile that actually reached her eyes. They both turned when they heard someone clearing their throat, and saw the leader of the circus, Naraku. The demon beside her growled low and menacingly as his eyes again bled crimson. She ignored him and walked to Naraku.

“What are you doing in that pen, milady?” he asked with an almost pleasant voice, “You could be hurt by that crazed beast and there's nothing we could do for you.” He seemed a bit happy about that. She frowned at him and pointed towards the man behind her.

“How could you let people treat him that way?” He looked at her with mock surprise.

“Like what, milady?” she snarled and the honey flamed again.

“While you are touring in this area you will refrain from treating your captives in an abusive manner such as the vulgar display you had going on with this man here.”

“He isn't a man, madam.” He said with a touch of confusion, “He isn't even a demon; he's a half-demon.” Kagome raised a graceful eyebrow.

“And that matters how?” she sighed, “Look, I don't like what you're doing here. Demons shouldn't be treated like animals, but I can't change the customs and traditions that we live by, but I can tell you to treat your…animals better.” Naraku smiled warmly.

“I will try my best, Miko. And I ask you to forgive this transgression.” Kagome sighed.

“I will not make an official report on it, but if I find you have done this again, you will be shut down.” Naraku nodded in agreement with his eyes closed. His anger was burning through them and he knew she would see. She seemed satisfied and turned her back to him walking back to her friends.

“I want this one to be free of harassment for the rest of the night. Do not taint him, Naraku,” Naraku looked up at her and saw she was gazing up at his long sought after prize, “He is new.” She whispered, “Not yet tainted by the abuses of this life. His life has been hard, but he has still retained some innocence.” She turned to Naraku with carefully blank eyes, “He will be ruined by you.” She turned away and left them both as she and her friends abandoned the tent. Inuyasha looked at Naraku. He was afraid of the retribution he would get for that humans impudence. He was surprised to see that Naraku had a calm almost pleasant look upon his face as he stared after the girls.

“She's beautiful, don't you think?” Naraku whispered to himself. Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as Naraku looked at him with a creepy smile and a hungry look in his eye, “You've found me a perfect specimen, Inuyasha. I'll do as she says. You can go into your cage and I'll let you keep the shackles you have now instead of the spike bracelets.” Naraku almost skipped his way out of the tent as men came and took Inuyasha away to his cage. Naraku turned right before he left with a twinkle in his eye.

“Your snow princess will be performing soon in the main tent. You'll be taken there. A front row seat to my favorite part of the entire night, and tonight promises to hold a few extra treats!” he giggled like a little school girl then left the men to deal with Inuyasha.