Ranma shifted nervously from one foot to the other, this was the night. Biting his lower lip he watched as Kagome finished painting the last ritual symbols onto the shrine floor.
"Okay, ready?" She asked as she lifted up her hakama's pant legs to insure that none of the writing was smudged by accident and stepped into an inner circle to face him.
He nodded nervously and swallowed. Praying desperately that this would work. Some of the items that were required were things right out of legend, literally. The fur of the fire-rat, the Stone Bowl of Buddha, the Swallow's Cowrie Shell, the Divine Sprig, and the Dragon's Crystal.(1)
"Don't worry," Kagome reassured as she picked up the Mirror of Life and held it before her as she faced him.
"Wait—what about the Shikon-no-Tama? I thought you said its power would be needed."
"I am the Shikon-no-Tama." Kagome said softly as around them the items and emblems began to glow.
"What?" Ranma asked in disbelief as Kagome began the exorcist chant. But that was impossible. The legends that he'd read and Kagome's grandfather had told him was that it was a jewel, not a person!
The eerie mantra rose in the air, the language one unlike anything he'd ever heard. The air was sucked violently from his lungs as a wind tunnel whipped about them for a brief moment, shattering the glass of water at his feet. Spilling the droplets of water all about him.
He felt the shift of physical self that always accompanied the activation of the Jusenkyo Curse. His anxiety increased, when suddenly not only could he see his reflection in the ancient mirror Kagome held, but it was his true, male form he saw, black hair with grey eyes.
The chant continued to rise and fall as power built within the shrine. He stared as Kagome began to glow, a bright, pale pink light emanating from her chest. Her whole appearance took on a mythical, otherworldly aura.
He watched in a combination of fear and fascination as slowly, his reflection in the mirror began to change. His masculine features were slowly melting into more feminine ones, until the mirror matched the appearance of his Jusenkyo Curse, red hair with the same grey eyes.
Unexpectedly Kagome gave the mirror a sharp twist to the right. Inside he felt a corresponding yank and then something gave way. His eyes widened as he sucked in his breath, it felt like something long abused had just been relocated. The relief was instantaneous.
Suddenly his eyes watered as a burning sensation radiated throughout him, an intensely painful sensation that dragged him into the blackness of unconsciousness.
. . .
"Shit, shit, shit!" Kagome let loose a long string of curses as she knelt beside Ranma and rolled him onto his back. When she'd been in the exorcism induced trance she'd felt something else give within Ranma's soul, something that was not meant to be removed.
When she'd come to herself, Ranma had been lying on the floor in his male form while wet so she knew that the Jusenkyo Curse had been successfully removed… as had something else. It was that 'something else' that worried her.
"Kagome-sama? Is everything all right?" A voice asked as the demon barrier projected by Shiori came down around them.
"I need you to go get Shippou-chan, Shiori-san," Kagome ordered the bat noble as she attempted to wake Ranma. "Something went wrong."
"Of course priestess," the bat hanyou replied with a bow of her head before giving a sharp nod of command to her followers for them to leave the Sunset Shrine and do the Shikon-Priestess' bidding.
"Souta-chan!" Kagome cried out, and soon heard the sound of her brother's feet pounding into the shrine.
"What happened Kagome-chan?" Souta asked anxiously as he saw the passed out form of his new friend, with his sister leaning over him.
"I don't know. But something happened that wasn't supposed to." Kagome replied, "Help me get him into the house. He can rest easier there until Shippou-chan gets here."
. . .
Fragments of memories flickered through his mind. Disjointed pieces of an incomplete whole.
Framed by a full moon the man stood. Long snowy hair cascaded down the figure's back, red tattoos stood out like flesh wounds on high cheekbones. A blue crescent moon on the figure's forehead contrasted sharply with slitted cold eyes a gold colour only seen in the most deadly of predators. The same man working industriously at a desk with wire-rimmed glasses perched upon his nose as pups tumbled about his feet.
Brother…
A glowing jewel that pulsed with its power resting on a shrine altar. A Shinto priestess standing before a torii as an arrow was loosened from its string. Black hair blowing in the wind, dark eyes full of tears.
Betrayed…
An enemy who constantly changed his form. His scent as elusive to track as the wind itself was. Dark haired with demonic red eyes. He was evil incarnate given a physical body.
Betrayer…
A young monk carrying a shakujou. Handsome face smiling even with the red print of a hand against his cheek. Rosary around his fist removed, hand cast out as demonic magic created a vortex of winds that sucked everything into a black nothingness.
Friend…
The bite of fox magic as a young one-tailed kit struggled to learn his magic. A head crowned with a reddish mop of hair. Green eyes gleaming with mischief, his face wreathed with a smile from his praise. Oil smeared across a cheek as the kit worked on an engine.
Son…
A brown haired woman wearing the garments of the demon exterminators as a giant bone boomerang whistled through the air. Dressed in simple summer clothes, the demon weapon resting beside her as she played with a two-tailed cat demon.
Friend…
The priestess again, only she no longer wore the garments of her station. Feeling the pain radiate throughout his body as she activated the subduing curse place upon him. The sensation of her soft hands stroking his head as his human body fought the poison injected into him.
Woman…
The woman with tears of pain and frustrations in her eyes and voice, a pain that he caused. Slumping to the ground with her own arrow in her back. The soft feel of her lips against his as the demon nature raged within, turning his vision red.
Bitch…
Sitting on the edge of an ancient well, her pureness like nothing he'd ever known. Kneeling beside him and offering him comfort as he wrestled with the knowledge of what his demon nature was capable of. Body entwined with his as they rested beneath a star strewn sky, a soul promise made.
Mate…
Footnote:
(1) Refer to "InuYasha the Second Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass." Edit Note: Also, thank you to larkagurl2 for pointing out that I missed one of the sacred objects! Its people like you who pay attention to the details that really make us writers better at our craft.
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