Manipulated – Part Four:  The First to Die

Corisu Li: *stares at the reviewers*

Kunoichi: Uh-oh. I think you made her mad...

Corisu Li: Dude. You guys are so SMART! So many of you figured out the haiku right away! *glomps reviewers who got it*

Kunoichi: Okay... *stares at grandpa’s friend* Ok... he’s really drunk. It’s 58 degrees and he just said, "That’s not rain, it’s sleet! We’d be in trouble if it was cold!" *bursts into giggles*

Corisu Li: Oh... dear... *collapses in laughter* Eheheh...I don’t own the Inu characters. It’s a good thing, too, because no one would watch the anime or read the manga then. *stares sadly at the lack of reviews*

Kunoichi: Oh! And WARNING!!!!!! THERE IS DEATH IN THIS CHAPTER!!! ICKY DEATH!!!! IF YOU ARE EASILY DISTURBED, DO NOT READ BEYOND THE DIVIDER THAT STRETCHES ALL THE WAY ACROSS!!!! Well, actually, it’s not that bad. But still! Be waaaaarned.

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The sun twinkled merrily as it smiled down on the group of travelers that were moving beneath it. Upon Kagome’s return, the tachi had decided that it would be best to continue their search for jewel shards, staying alert for any news of strange occurrences or deaths. Shippou was delighted that he was allowed to come, and was currently clinging happily to Kagome’s shoulder. Kirara was.. slightly less delighted. She had hoped that she would be left at Kaede’s, far from the kitsune’s incessant babble. No such luck.

Kagome was now outfitted with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt... and was currently progressing from one extreme to another...

"I’m hot," she whimpered, gently tugging on the front of her t-shirt in an effort to cool her body. Sango and Miroku sighed. Inuyasha, however, paused.

"If you want to cool off, there’s a lake over there..." he pointed. "We’re not too far from a village, so we could camp here and stop there tomorrow."

After a few more steps, Inuyasha realized that no one was following. "What?" he turned to look at them. All three of his human companions were staring, mouths open. "What?" he repeated.

Suddenly, Miroku stepped forward and peered into Inuyasha’s eyes. "You’re suggesting that we stop for the day? Are you ill?"

The girls joined Miroku at Inuyasha’s side. Sango pressed a hand to his forehead to check for a fever while Kagome felt for his pulse. Inuyasha’s eyes widened and he sweatdropped, backing out of the reach of his friends. "I’m fine! I just pointed it out because Kagome said that she was hot, and she could cool down there!" When everyone continued to gape, he added, "And besides, how are we supposed to find any jewel shards if the wench has a heat stroke?"

Silence punctuated this remark. Then, the girls exchanged gleeful looks. Kagome grinned and gave Inuyasha a brief kiss on the cheek. His eyes widened and his blush deepened. "Arigatou, Inuyasha," she said, before bounding off in the direction that he had indicated, followed by Sango. Kirara gave the males a warning glare before pursuing the girls and Shippou.

Inuyasha stared after them, his eyes still unnaturally wide. He only came out of it when Miroku leaned into his line of sight, grinning lecherously. "Well-"

"Shut up, monk." The command came almost unbidden.

Miroku shrugged and obliged.

Inuyasha glanced up at the sun, which was already beginning to list toward the west. "We should collect some firewood before the girls get back," he said.

Miroku nodded. "You’re right."

"Oh, and Miroku? Don’t even think about it."

The monk blinked innocently. "Think about what?"

Inuyasha fixed him with a glare for a few seconds, then scoffed and disappeared in the opposite direction of the girls.

Miroku stood for a moment, weighing his options. ‘Well, he didn’t say what I shouldn’t think about...’ A merry grin on his face, he chose the path that the girls had taken.

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It was restless.

It was hungry...

It had been so long since its last meal. It could feel itself weakening, but the hunger served to provide it with a sort of feral desire to live. At the moment, it had been doing a fair job of asserting itself, but it would be able to do nothing without nourishment.

‘I hunger.’

Its host was strong... It had yet to figure out if this was a blessing or a bane.

A strong host would supply it with formidable power, making it much easier to overcome its prey...

But a strong host was not very likely to relinquish its hold easily... and the will of this one was very powerful...

However... this will was weakening even as it lay in wait, contemplating its situation. The need was knawing at its insides... something had to be done!

‘I hunger.’

Its host was moving. something made itself felt beyond the recesses of the mental blockade that was the will of the host. A hole of some sort, a breach in this host’s resolve...

It would have grinned, if it had a mouth...

...it would have one soon.

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Miroku crept through the brush, making a valiant effort not to brush or step on anything that would betray his presence. He moved quite slowly; there was no sign of the neko that was keeping watch, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

Then: noises, from his right. A sigh, and the murmur of conversation. A grin spread itself across his face as he began to move toward the sounds.

I hunger.

The exact moment when he lost control of his legs escaped him. All he knew was that, suddenly, he was moving much faster than he had dared before. His feet crunched over dry leaves and he winced, knowing that he was making more noise than was wise. He tried to slow... only to discover that he could not.

I hunger.

Miroku vanished, and was replaced by it. The meaning behind the grin on his face changed to that of a savage desire to shed blood. It heard the splash of water and knelt behind a bush at the lake’s edge.

One quick peek told it all that it needed to know. The miko was closest; her back was only feet away. The taijiya and the kitsune were swimming out near the middle of the lake. There was no way that they could return in time to aid their friend.

It stood, a fierce light shining in its eyes, and reached toward the girl’s back. His hands brushed the skin of her shoulders when-

WHUMP.

It found itself flat on its back. Panicking, it retreated below the surface and forced the monk to the forefront.

Miroku blinked blearily and found himself staring into a nekoyoukai’s bared fangs. Her paws were on his shoulder, preventing movement. "Kirara?"

Kagome appeared over the top of the bush, wrapped in a towel. She blushed, but her brow darkened angrily. "HENTAI!!!!" She would have pelted him with various objects from her handy-dandy backpack if Kirara had let him up. Which, Kagome noticed, she was not.

The firecat didn’t break her concentration on Miroku’s face. Snarls erupted from her throat every few seconds, rendering the monk unable to move.

Kagome extended a hand toward the neko, then flinched back upon seeing that Kirara’s fur was standing on end.

Sango appeared as well, also wearing a towel. Upon seeing the situation, she merely clucked her tongue as if she had been expecting this. Indeed, she had. "Well, Houshi-sama, you’re in an interesting predicament, ne?" She frowned upon seeing Kirara’s reaction to Miroku’s intrustion. The youkai was snarling and spitting, behavior seen only in the midst of battle.

Miroku turned to face her. "Ah. Sango-san. Perhaps you could remove Kirara from me? Then, I can leave you all in peace while I discover how I came to be here." The last part came out of nowhere, but Miroku found his words true.

The two girls exchanged exasperated glances and rolled their eyes as one. Sango raised an eyebrow. "Who are you trying to fool? You came here to spy on us."

Miroku caught the eye of his hovering threat and winced. "Well... that was my original intention... but I was sure that I hadn’t come this close."

Sango sighed, then stepped forward to pull Kirara from Miroku. The cat didn’t go quietly; she hissed angrily at Miroku even as she was being led away. Once, Sango had to grab hold of her paw to keep her from lashing out at the monk.

Miroku rose, keeping a wary eye on the enraged neko. "Ano... perhaps I should be leaving, then."

"And don’t try any funny stuff, either!" Kagome added. "You wouldn’t want Kirara on your back again."

"Or my shoulders," Miroku amended, rubbing the sore parts of his anatomy. He turned and strode off in the direction of the camp, remembering to pick up dry wood for the fire on his return trip.

Kirara didn’t relax until Miroku was out of sight. She sank down on her haunches, her keen eyes searching the forest for any foreign object.

Sango looked at the nekoyoukai with odd concern. What had evoked such a display of malice? Trying their best to forget what had happened, the girls dressed under the watchful eye of their sentinel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Miroku returned to camp, he found Inuyasha sitting with his back against the trunk of a tree. His arms were folded, his eyes closed. His share of the wood was stacked neatly in the center of the clearing. Without opening his eyes, Inuyasha asked, "So. While you were terrorizing the girls, did you happen to get some matches for the fire?"

Miroku hesitated. "You heard Kagome-sama’s shriek." It was not a question.

Inuyasha’s eyes flickered open. "Of course I did! What, do you think these ears are for show?"

Miroku dropped his wood beside Inuyasha’s. "No. I alway thought that they were meant to accentuate your over-large head."

The girls arrived to the quite entertaining sight of Inuyasha chasing Miroku around the camp, while the monk screamed, "I’m sorry! Your head is quite small!"

Hours passed. Dinner was cooked, monks were knocked unconscious, and various resting places were prepared for the night. The sun surrendered to the overbearing presence of darkness as night spread its blanket over the sleeping world.

However...

There was one who did not sleep.

Will is weakened in slumber...

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"Tsuya?" The girl called, wandering through the trees and scanning the ground for any sign of her missing pet. The rabbit had bolted from her hut and disappeared into the dark forest. Trusting that she could return before her parents realized her absence, the girl had left in search of her beloved pet.

"Tsuya?" There was a tinge of desperation in her voice now. Though she was in her mid-teens, the fears of childhood are never left far behind. Fears of the dark... of the unknown.

One more call was cut short as the girl caught sight of something white out of the corner of her eye. "Tsuya! There you are! I th-" The rest of her words died before they could be properly sent to her mouth. In the rabbit’s pure white fur, there were streaks of deep crimson. Blood...

The girl gasped and recoiled in horror. She stumbled backward-

-into something warm. And breathing.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she prepared to scream, but a hand was clamped over her mouth before she could voice her terror; an arm encircling her waist. "Don’t fight, maiden..." The man’s voice hissed the words into her ear, his breath causing her to shiver violently.

Deciding not to heed his warning, the girl began to thrash wildly, clawing at the spot where she figured that his face would be.

He released her waist and caught both of her wrists with one fluid motion. Whimpers of terror were escaping her throat now. With her arms out of commission, she resigned to using her only weapons. She began to kick, lashing out at any part of his body that she thought she could reach.

Then, suddenly, the man dropped to his knees. A moan of pain escaped her as he knelt on her lower legs, forcing her into a kneeling position. Her side was now facing his chest; her head was positioned so that she could clearly see the dead body of her dear rabbit. If someone had told her the day before that the creature would bring such a thing upon her...

The hand on her mouth pulled her back so that she almost lay across his lap. She tried to bite him, but his movements had been perfected over centuries. The palm of his hand was cupped; it was well out of the reach of her furiously working teeth.

"My dear..." His voice was revulsion that poured from the lips of evil itself. "Do not struggle with me. You will make it that much more difficult..."

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a glittering knife lying on the ground. For one brief moment, she contemplated trying to somehow grab it; then, she came to a horrifying conclusion.

It had all been planned.

He had known that she would fight, how she would fight, and what he needed to do to bring himself within close proximity of his weapon. Another moan tore from her throat and she struggled feebly.

"Don’t scream, now. I may have to make it... painful... if you do." The hand on her mouth lifted slowly. Her chest expanded as she prepared to shriek-

-and the knife was pressed to her throat. "Now, now. We don’t want any interruptions..." He lowered his face so that their noses were almost touching.

The pain from the angle at which he was holding her arms was making her eyes tear up. She couldn’t budge an inch; the knife and her awkward position was perfect for him. ‘Planned,’ she thought again. Her lips parted... she could feel the knife pressing more firmly against her throat. "Why?" she croaked.

The man looked oddly surprised. "Why?" he echoed. A merciless light shone in his eyes, a beacon in the darkness.

Because I hunger.

"Because I hunger." When he had echoed the words, he pressed his mouth to the girl’s in a rough kiss as he slit her throat. His own mouth muffled her initial cry as well as her subsequent moans and gurgles. With glee, he noticed that severing some structure in her neck had allowed blood to back up into her mouth; he accepted this willingly, and didn’t release his hold until the blood ceased to gush from her neck.

"Thank you, maiden..." he hissed, using his thumbs to close the girl’s eyelids. "Tonight, I feed... and grow stronger..."

He finally lowered his mouth to the gaping wound at the girl’s throat.

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Corisu Li: Wheeeeeee! Death! *parties*

Aamalie: Wheeeeeee! Death! *parties*

Corisu Li: Hey, what are you doing here?

Aamalie: *blinks* Nothin’.

Corisu Li: *shrugs* Well, then, for all who don’t know, this is my beta reader! *points unnecessarily*

Aamalie: *waves*

Kunoichi: *whispers* She’s a disclaimer-crasher...

Aamalie: *whips out the DigiHammer* What was that?

Kunoichi: O.O;; Meep.

Corisu Li: Oh! Look! Something new! A chapter preview! *points unnecessarily again*

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Preview of Chapter 5: Secret

The young man placed his hand on that of the dead girl and turned solemn and stricken eyes to the group. "She was found in the forest. Her parents believe that she was out searching for her pet rabbit."

Miroku gasped inwardly. ‘It couldn’t be...’ Memories of how he’d found himself that morning came flooding back...

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