Tainted Silver by Mishi_Kawaii

Chapter 1

"You dumbass! Kagome is mine!"

"The hell she is dog shit!"

Kagome sighed and walked right past the two rivals. Sometimes they just didn't know when to stop and get a clue.

'You'd think yelling at them about how stupid you think they are would tell them that you aren't interested.'

"Kagome!"

"Move! Kagome!"

"InuYasha, Kouga, leave me alone! Kami, don't you guys have the wits to leave a girl alone for a while?"

"But Kagome, I love you!" voiced Kouga, running up to her side.

"My love is greater than his so-called adoration Kagome," InuYasha said, instantly at her other side.

"I truly don't care," she ground out, aggravated.

The raven-haired girl walked faster, leaving them standing there pointing at each other screaming their heads off.

"Look at what you did!"

"Me? You made her mad!"

Kagome sighed knowing it was a bit impossible and she might as well resign to a life of being fought over she didn't really desire or want to tolerate.

"Kagome, you insufferable whore!"

Kagome sighed as she reached the town square, filled with bustling merchants and wonderful food smells.

"Do you need something Kikyou?"

"Yeah! I need you to back off my InuYasha!"

"I've already told him to back off, but he doesn't listen. Why don't you bring out the whip and chain and show him how to be a good dog?"

Kikyou huffed, obviously angry at Kagome's seemingly uninterested tone, and the blood rushed to her head with a vengeance.

"How dare you implicate that he is being disloyal to me!"

"You haven't been listening," Kagome said softly, walking away and leaving her to her tirade.

Kagome quickly picked and bought several types of vegetables and fruit. She bought the best meat – that she could afford – for her grandfather's dinner.

"Could you give me that piece?" she asked the merchant loudly, hoping that he could hear her over the other's conversations and bartering.

"I will do no such thing," said a female voice, "until you get your grimy hands of my Kouga."

"Ayame," Kagome sighed.

The young red-headed girl was a bit like Kikyou, going after one of the guys that professed love and undying loyalty to her.

"Kouga goes after me even after I told him not to. I told him to marry you instead and he said you were persistent and annoying."

Ayame's face started to blend in with her hair.

"I am not persistent and annoying!" she screamed.

"Tell that to Kouga, not me."

Kagome moved on, looking for the meat that Ayame was obviously not going to sell to her.

He watched her as she weaved in and out of the crowd with her gracious moves and deadly curves. Her sinuous body would be his by the end of the day, there was no doubt about it. He licked his lips in agitation, after all he had been waiting for days, months, and years for the moment that would come soon.

"Kagome," he whispered to the wind.

As if she heard Kagome turned to him, her expression that of anger and disgust. He watched her hair stand on end now that she knew that he was aware of her every move.

"I'm home Jii-chan!"

"What took you so long Kagome?" his old voice croaked from somewhere deep in her house.

"It's those damned men again. Some watching, some being bold and making moves on me."

"Aa, use spells on them! I've told you once and I'll tell you again. Use warding spells to keep them away!"

"Jii-chan I don't believe in that and you know it."

"Suit yourself then," he said coming into the kitchen.

Sesshoumaru looked around, the small girl looking at him expectantly.

"Why must I tell you this story again?" he asked in an angry tone.

"You promised!" she responded, unaffected by his tone.

"I will only tell you it this one time because I promised. Never ask again," he stated.

"Hai!"

"We were all humans at some point. We weren't the best of them, true, but we had our honor and dignity. We lived alone in the forest."

"Why?"

"Because the villages rejected us for our wits and strength. There were many of us and none of them liked us. Kaede, Shippou, Kohaku, Sango, Miroku, Kirara, and Sota. All of them were loners along with me."

"Why do you live here?"

"Quiet yourself and let me tell the story."

"Okay."

"They disliked us so much that when a young girl was murdered brutally near the edge of the forest they blamed us."

"Why would they blame you? Did you do it?"

"We did nothing," he growled, "but they believed that we had. They found Kaede's hand bloody, though she was merely skinning an animal for dinner and clothes. She had gone to wash her hands off in the river and they found her that way and accused her of the crime."

"What happened? Kaede is still here with us!"

"The village priestess, Midoriko, was sent by her people to punish us for our deeds."

"How'd she do that?"

"She cast a curse on us. She said those with evil in their hearts would be cursed and the others gifted. She cast us into this castle and set a boundary line that we cannot pass no matter how hard we try."

"Well, all fairy tales say there's a way to break the curse. What about yours?"

"I'd have to find a mate and fall in love. Love is something I'm afraid I'll never come near feeling for a female."

"But if you did, then what?"

"We'd keep our curses or gifts as she called them, but we'd be given our mortality back."

"What were the curses for everybody?"

"I was turned into a demon, feared by everybody around the forest that ever had the wits to wander in. Shippou was also turned into a demon, a fox demon to be exact. Kohaku was given the gift of having visions of the future. Sango can go through walls and Miroku has an air void in his hand."

"What about Kaede?"

"She was our old care taker, she was given the powers of healing."

"And Kirara?"

"Kirara was the youngest of us, a mere cat that followed us around. She was turned into a demon cat, cute though."

"Oh!"

"Now go to sleep," he ordered.

He tucked the young girl in and she was asleep before she had closed her eyes.

"And you just wandered in and didn't fear us," he added softly, "just became this house's light."