My Soul To Take by Kitten
Prologue
Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha, it's characters, or anything associated to the franchise. The copyrigth strictly goes to VIZ, Rumiko Takahashi, and their associates.
Prologue
A foreboding of dread was cast over the small English town. A town that was much too silent for its population of two thousand. It was a harsh winter that had taken its toll on the entire country, much to the dismay of the monarchy that oversaw its subjects.
Illness had fallen upon the isle of Britain, probably the worst in years. Several doctors within the country—and very prominent number of those sailing into the country—were kept busy through most of the snowy months of October to February.
It was during this time that one of the Nobleman’s four daughters had fallen ill to influenza. Although medicine had advanced well past it had been in the late 17th century, still none could predict the number of victims the dreaded flu would take each and every winter. Even in this year of 1782, many still perished because of the sickness.
A man heavily covered to protect him from the winter walked up to the Nobleman’s home and was readily rushed inside. A woman with eyes of the purest blue and a graceful age to her face took the man’s coat and ushered him to the upstairs bedroom to the right. What had shocked the doctor wasn’t the strong stench of sickness that clung to the girl in the bedroom, but rather her youthful features.
At the tenderly woman age of fifteen, a heart-shaped face was haloed by midnight black tresses that clung to her brow. Opening her eyes, she revealed her mother’s eyes, albeit sickly, still stunning in their youthfulness.
“Is there anything you can do, Doctor Naraku?” the Nobleman’s wife pleaded as the doctor examined his patient. “Kagome is to be wed in the spring, to a boy in the northwest town. She must be well for—”
“You have a talent for chatter, my lady,” Naraku chuckled absentmindedly as he pulled his stethoscope from Kagome’s heaving chest. “Unfortunately, there is not much I can do at this stage. If she is to recover, it is of her own will.” A diagnosis no parent wished to hear.
Kagome blinked lazily at her mother, her own blue eyes not being able to focus fully on the woman. “Don’t worry, mother. I’ll be well before you know it. I would hate to shame father by dying before my marriage.”
The Nobleman pulled Naraku to the side, a desperate look in his eyes. “Please doctor. She is my youngest daughter with so much left to live. Surely you can do something—”
“There is only one thing I can do. But I’m afraid such a method cannot work unless…”
“Unless?” The Nobleman’s face failed to hide the glimmer of hope for his daughter.
“…unless she passes,” Naraku said grimly, “There are certain holy enchantments that have been passed down in my family that—”
“Don’t speak such blasphemy!” The Nobleman hissed. “Such powers are against the teachings of Christ! What kind of man would—”
“Kagome?” The attention of the two men turned back to the gravely ill girl and her mother fretting over her. “Kagome? Darling, answer me! Kagome!” The Nobleman’s wife fell to her knees beside the bed, her elegant dress falling about her as she wept.
A wave of grievance fell upon the room. The girl had breathed her last.
Doctor Naraku had turned to the Nobleman once more, “there isn’t much time, sir. I can save your daughter.”
The Nobleman looked hollowly at his wife and the pale face of their newly deceased child. A chill crept up the man’s spine and grasped at his lungs, threatening to suffocate him. Only when he reached up to rub his temple did he realize he was crying. Turning to the doctor, his dark eyes rang empty in his desperation. “Do what you can.”
Naraku nodded in haste before approaching the girl’s bedside and gently coaxing the Nobleman’s wife from the child’s side and into a nearby chair. Once the woman was settled, the doctor set to work on the girl, cleaning her brow and pulling a few items from his tote bag.
The Nobleman and his wife watched on in wonder as Naraku began whispering in a language foreign and barbaric to their ears. His lips moved at incredible speeds uttering words only recognizable to those native of the lands the words resided from. Kagome’s body began to glow lightly as the mutterings got louder, startling the couple within the room.
As Naraku hissed the last of the enchantment, Kagome’s body faded with the soft light leaving an empty bed. “Kagome?” The Nobleman spoke up after a moment or two, “Where is my daughter?”
A wary doctor gave the Nobleman a knowing smirk, “she lives, sir.”
“Darling!” The Nobleman turned to his wife, her gaze locked on the opposite wall. Following her line of sight, his eyes widened. There, in the decorative wall mirror that hung in the room was Kagome, live and well…looking out at them from the other side of the mirror. The Nobleman turned in confused rage to question the doctor, knowing better than to have trusted a man who did not follow the church.
But when he turned back towards the empty bed, Naraku was gone.
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A/N: I would LOVE to thank the amazing Rikayu for her beautiful drawings that inspired this story--
http://www.dokuga.com/gallery?func=detail&id=972
http://dokuga.com/gallery?func=detail&id=4187