Habits Die Hard

By Katana

 

Disclaimer: I dun own Inuyasha. He belongs to his lucky owner and whoever else has papers. I own Katana, “leenaluvstobattle” owns Alexia/Sis (and Konjoh – she made him up ^^), my buddy Lorenza owns Eowyn, ShadowMiko owns Amara, and my boyfriend Mark owns Link. (Is that all? Hope so…)

 

Part VII

Eowyn breathed in, then confirmed her gaze with everyone.

“Hey – wait. Maybe we should get Link and Konjoh first,” Amara said suddenly, making us fall through the floor.

“Yeah, maybe we should,” Sis said, and opened the door. “HEY! IDIOTS! YOU CAN COME INSIDE NOW! There, see? That was easy.”

Link and Konjoh shuffled in. Link had somehow gained three cuts and a bruise on his face, while Konjoh was covered in dirt. Eowyn ignored them and began her story.

(The events described in the following lines *coughpagescough* are told from Eowyn’s point of view, just so I don’t have to deal with quotation confusion and all that crap.)

 

I had been trying to convince my father that I was a good priestess. He had told me to prove my responsibility I had to take care of one of the Shikon Jewel Shards that our town had gathered. Easy, right? Wrong. Totally and completely wrong. Tons of demons were after these pieces and of course, I wasn't the best fighter there ever was. To tell the truth I could barely defend myself from my brother and his gang. So anyway, my father told me if I could keep the jewel shard safe for 3 days and nights while camping in the forest, I would become a priestess. If not, I would have to wait 6 more years. That is, if I even survived anything that attacked me. I was totally sure nothing would come, since it wasn't that big of a shard. It was about the size of the nail on my little finger. It was the smallest out of the ones our town had.

So I was off. I guarded the shard at all times, and the first day and night passed without anything happening. Nothing happened the 2nd day and night either. So I let my guard down. I didn't keep the pouch tied so tightly to my belt. It hung loosely by my side. That was the mistake. As I was out hunting something grabbed me from behind, covering my mouth. Now I told already that I was basically defenseless. But I kicked really hard behind me and bit into the hand that was covering my mouth. The captor let go. I immediately whipped out my dagger and spun around. The captor was a girl and she was holding a sword. She was rubbing her palm looking right at me with eerie yellow eyes filled with anger. From the looks of it she was a demon, and by her raggy looks reminded me of a dog. I didn't comment. She had ears that came through her white hair and wore a white robe trimmed with black and a sword dangling at the hip. She drew the sword.

"How dare you bite me you scraggly little human girl! Hand over the jewel and I promise I won't kill you. I'll just render you unconscious and take you to Naraku. He'll find some use of you." She laughed and held out her hand.

I had the strangest desire to just give her the sack. My hand started to move towards it. I couldn't fight against it. I didn't even know what it was. She was controlling me somehow.

Then it came to me.

It was her eyes. They were what was making me do this. I strained to break eye contact. It was hard. It was not what she wanted, plus she had a strong control over me. After a bit of a struggle I turned my head away. My hand immediately dropped to my side.

 

"So you will take it the hard way! It could have been easy with me to control you. Almost painless." She held up the sword in her hands, ready for battle.

I backed up a little and held up my puny dagger. My mind was racing. So she had the power to control a person once they looked into her eyes. I shivered and put my hand over the pouch.

"I guess I will have to go the hard way. I am a really good fighter and it will be my pleasure to defend my town’s Jewel Shard!" I lied. I would rather just run away right now, but she would probably just catch up and kill me from behind.

The demon lunged at me, bringing down her sword quickly. I just got out of the way. The sword had just nicked my shirt. Lucky that was. I was so relieved that I had gotten away from the first swipe, I missed the second lunge. That one hit me full on. A huge line of blood showed across my chest. The pain was too much. I was just a human after all. My vision swam and the demon came into view. She tugged at the pouch and it broke off of my belt. I fainted right then and there, with the horrible felling of letting my dad down.

                                     *                                   *                                   *

 “Woah, that’s a lot,” Link said. For some reason, he always knew when to say stupid things.

“There’s still more,” Eowyn said, sounding slightly annoyed. “Can I continue?”

I put Link in a headlock. “Go right ahead.”

“Alright.”

                                    *                                   *                                   *

I opened my eyes. My vision swam for a second but then cleared.

"So, sadly you survived the spell and my slashing. Tougher that I thought," said the demon. In her hands was a wet cloth, which she had just released from my forehead.

I sat up. " Get away from me you evil freak!" I yelled.

She turned away. "You can call me Moriko, servant of Naraku. And the only freak in this room is you.”

"What do you mean I’m a freak? I'm not a demon! I'm a human!"

"Are you so sure?" she said handing me a broken mirror.

I looked into it and gasped. My normally wavy brown hair was now straight and long, going down to about my waist with slight highlight of red and blond. My eyes were hazel rather than deep brown and I had pointed ears on the side of my head. I put down the mirror and looked the rest of myself over. I seemed to have lost a little at the waist (which I honestly didn’t mind) and was slightly taller than I remembered. My fingers were the same, except I had normal long nails instead of the bitten-down ones that I was used to. I screamed. " I AM A DEMON! I DON'T WANNA BE A STINKIN UGLY DEMON! I LIKED BEING A HUMAN! WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" Tears sprang to my eyes as I remembered my old self. Nobody would ever recognize me as a demon. They would fear me.

"Don't talk that way about demons. You aren't one. You’re an elf, and Naraku worked this on you, not me. You needed some work, you would never have survived as the worthless pathetic human you were," she responded laying some clothes on my bed.

I didn't even want her to become part of the team. He would have done fine with out her. He had me and didn't need any one else. Stupid human. She didn't deserve to have this gift laid upon her.

"Hey!" I said, forgetting my tears. " You should keep that stuff about me to yourself."

"What stuff?" asked Moriko suspiciously looking slightly confused and slightly agitated.

"That stuff about you not wanting me to become part of the team and that I was stupid and didn't deserve this gift." I snorted at the last part. Me being changed into a freak with pointed ears didn't seem a gift to me.

"You’re crazy" she responded, a note of unsure-ness in her voice.

How'd she learn that? I didn't say it out loud did I? She is  acting crazy.

"There you go again! I am not acting crazy! But…I don't think you said it out loud, because it was kinda in my head what I heard.

"What the hell!? What is going on here? How can you be hearing stuff I don't say?

At that point, a man entered. Naraku, seeing as Moriko would probably only bow to him.

I stared at him coldly baring my teeth. I noticed then that four of them were slightly pointed. I put my hand up to them, examining. He was the one that did this to me.

" Finding a new trait, I see," said Naraku, and I quickly put my hand at my side, and resumed my cold stare. My fists clenched and I wanted to say a ton of bad words to him but I kept my mouth closed.

"I see I arrived just in time to sort things out," he said. “You both are probably wondering what is going on right now, right?" He smiled wickedly. Or maybe it was just a smile, but it was wicked just the same to me.

“Yeah, an explanation would be nice,” Moriko shot at him.

"Well our little Elf here has the ability to read minds, along with some other stuff that will come in handy." A staff appeared in his left hand. He handed it to me and having no other choice, I took it. It was a very…weird staff, being light for its size and being made out of some silver material that I had never seen. "Eursion." ( Pronounced E-UR-SI-ON) The word came to my mouth as if I had known the substance all my life. I looked up confused. Naraku laughed and Moriko scowled.

"Another one of your gifts is to know all. Or at least know most things when you need or want to. The staff is made out of, as you already said, eursion. It is the strongest substance known to…well…demons. It is the tool of your magic, needed to perform the shield and other magic that you will find yourself. "

"How come she gets something made out of eursion? I just got a piece of scrap metal compared to that," complained Moriko.

Naraku laughed again. " The Kaijintsu is just as strong, maybe even stronger, than Eowyn’s staff. You just haven't found the true power in it yet."

"Humph"

I threw back the sheets that were covering me. I was burning up. It felt like I was in a stove or something. Also my headache was coming back and my vision was swimming again. I pushed my palms against my hoping nobody would notice my condition. I didn't wanna seem weak. It just got worse.

A tingling started in my hands. I took them away from my eyes to look at them. Lavender sparks were sprouting from my fingertips. I quickly hid my hand in the pocket of the robe I was wearing. The tingling stopped.

Naraku was looking at me with something like concern in his eyes and Moriko was ringing out another cold washcloth. He quickly arranged his features to unreadable as I looked at him.

" I'm fine," I lied as Moriko brought over that freezing cold washcloth. Even though I was burning up, it still wasn't pleasant to have an ice cold cloth put on your face. Freezing!

"Don't lie, Eowyn. Even Moriko can clearly tell you are still sick from my spell. I expect you to be better in three days time, so we can start your training. Can't send you out on a mission until you can really fight and block yourself. Plus you need to learn how to control your Mind Reading technique." He turned to Moriko. " Take care of her, we need her on our team badly. Miniossaka was killed the other day in battle with a demon that I am not so sure about. He was one of our side, but he went astray. Meaning we are down to you, Eowyn, Sholuonna, and Himouru. I will need you and Eowyn to track him down."

With that he left.

"I still don't like him!" I stated stoutly. "And I don wanna train, because I refuse to join Naraku's forces so you mine as well just leave me here to die."

Moriko smiled, baring two small fangs. "I wouldn't mind, but Naraku would have my neck." She pushed me onto the pillow and started dabbing my face again. "We have to break this fever somehow and this stupid washcloth is not working. I am going to use one of my powders."

She unhooked a pouch from a belt that went across her waist. I hadn't noticed it before. There were four other similar bags, and at the end was her sword, dangling from the belt by two rings.

Katana handed me a cup containing some sort of murky looking liquid. I took a sip. Blah! It was disgusting! I tried to hand it back. But she pushed it at me.

"Drink it or I will be forced to make you. It is my gift. Mind Control. But that's all I can do, besides fighting."

I quickly drank it all in one gulp and immediately felt my eyelids droop. I fell asleep before I could even hand the cup back.

                                    *                                   *                                   *

“So, who is that Moriko chick?” Konjoh asked, which was ill received by Sis. She took a nearby pot and bashed him upside the head.

“She was a demon, dofus,” I said.

“Bleh, I knew that, idiot,” he muttered, not wanting to get hit again.

                                    *                                   *                                   *

Over the next week I trained with Moriko and Naraku. I found it weird that Naraku would train me himself, and when I mentioned it to him he didn't reply. I tried reading his thoughts but only got yelled at for even trying.

I mastered the shield and the double shield and I learned how to read only the thoughts that I wanted to or needed to. I also learned some handy tricks for truth telling (“Damn that grass trick!” Konjoh yelled suddenly, which was yet again received with a bash in the head) and some neat spells. I learned how to use my staff as a weapon and by the end of the week, I actually liked my being an elf. It was better than being a human in many ways, but it was still upsetting that I could never really see my father and siblings again.

At the end of the week, Naraku gave us our assignments. We were to go and capture the demon that had killed Miniossaka. We were given a control device much like the one Inuyasha wears. We were to kill Inuyasha if we saw him and, if we did we would be granted a gift. He also gave us each 4 jewel shards to use when we fought, just in case.

"So tomorrow we go on the mission. I can't wait!" said Moriko when we got back to our cabin. "We can do a lot with 4 jewel shards!" she chattered excitedly.

"Mmmm-hmmmm" I said turning each piece over in my hand. I noticed Naraku had given me the shard that had got me here in the first place. Was it a coincidence? I sat thinking, as Moriko got into bed.  

                                    *                                   *                                   *

 “What about – “ Konjoh started before receiving a knockout blow from Alexia.

                                     *                                   *                                   *

The next day, we prepared. We knew where he was supposed to be and headed off. We were jumping from branch to branch, our excitement growing with every leap.

"Are you ready?" called Moriko to me.

"Hell yeah!" I replied, then caught my mistake. "Excuse me I meant 'heck' not the other one. I'm just excited to make the kill. Did Naraku put hunting blood in me or something?"

Moriko laughed. " I don't know. Maybe he did, or maybe it is a trait of elves."

My hair was flowing behind me with the speed that I was going. My eyes were bright and my mind was open. I was searching for the demon’s mind with mine. If I could just find it!

I screwed up my eyes and almost missed the next branch. It snapped from the tree, causing me to trip and fall twenty feet onto moist forest dirt.

"Careful you big klutz!" yelled Moriko, laughing hard. I stuck out my tongue.

Suddenly I sensed a different mind than Moriko's and mine. It was male. I could tell. I concentrated on it and pinpointed him. He was ahead of us 3 yards.

"He's ahead of us! Three yards! Get ready!" I yelled over to Moriko. She drew her sword and I powered up. We were right above him on our branch. Moriko jumped down and was about to strike when he turned around and slashed with two swords.

Moriko fell. I gasped and jumped down. A lavender shield formed around me, but in my distress I couldn't hold it.

 

                                    *                                   *                                   *

“And the rest happened pretty fast…Moriko was slaughtered by the demon, who looked like Inuyasha but with shorter hair and normal ears. I remember crying, though, and remembering how horrible I felt for letting yet another person down. After that, I went into hiding. I had to get away from Naraku, who would come at me for abandoning the mission and Moriko.” Eowyn sighed and thumped her staff against the floor a few times. “When you three found me, I had become an unofficial priestess. However, I had performed an illusion spell on myself, altering my appearance. Humans saw me as just another human, not an elf. I didn’t think I would be seeing any demons though.” She made a weak smile and looked up.

“…Wow. That’s a long story,” I said, leaning back onto a wall. Everyone nodded (except Konjoh, who was still unconscious) and told Eowyn she had done what she could and not to blame herself for everything.

One thing was different though. Link was being unusually quiet, and his eyes were deep in thought. I tapped his shoulder, giving him a rude awakening.

“Huh? Oh, Katana, it’s just you…Sorry, kinda went off there.”

Eowyn came up to Link and tapped his forehead. “Yo! EARTH TO LINK! Hey, that sounds kinda funny.” Suddenly, she gasped and backed away, holding up her staff.

“I-I’m sorry, Eowyn,” Link stuttered. “I’m really sorry…”

 

 

BWA! *gets rotten tomatoes thrown at her again* Credit goes to Lorenza, seeing as how all I did was use the magic ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ right-click commands to put in her first person story. I changed some things to make sense and unconfusing. For example, she had written her story shortly after I wrote the first four chapters of Habits Die Hard. So, all she did was use my character (Katana) and change her into a servant of Naraku. o_O So there’s the reason.

Laters all! ^^

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