Chapter 9 - Final Transformations

Shigure and Miroku walked back to the village together, talking about their lives, woes, and various other existence-related attributes.
Shigure looked at the monk. He was cute and easily turned on. Sort of reminded him of himself, actually, which he liked. He wondered if he might be attracted to him. He studied him for a moment, feigning that he was only looking at him as he paid attention to him speaking. Hm. Interesting. He was attracted to him. Interesting concept, though not on likely to be explored. That was kind of a shame. He hadn't been with another man in quite a while.
Miroku thought that it may be awkward between them now, but it had not seemed to bother Shigure all that much, so it was fairly easy for him to act as though it were not so big of a deal. It was amazing how easy it was, actually. It was almost as if it had never happened. Strange, but it hadn't seemed to really faze Shigure.
In fact, the more he talked with Shigure, the more similar they seemed to be. Shigure often got pummeled for being “perverted,” just as Miroku often got slapped for fondling Sango, or flirting with another girl.
Women really were confusing. Sango had sent him so many mixed signals. She got furious when he went after other girls, and she was furious when he groped her. It made no sense at all. Miroku somehow ended up explaining his situation to Shigure, who nodded with empathy.
“Women are like that. They're also very high strung and can be kind of... insane.” He thought of his editor and the boar of the zodiac, Kagura. “Yuki and Kyou are always the ones who hit me, but I know what you mean.”
“Shigure, you're here too?” Haru asked.
Shigure's eyes fell to Kagome. More precisely, his eyes fell to the length of her legs and the length of her skirt. He ignored Haru and approached Kagome. “Why, hello. What is a beautiful young lady like yourself doing in such…” He glanced at Haru. “—poor company?”
Haru looked at him flatly. “Shigure…”
Kagome blinked. This man reminded her of a certain lecherous monk she knew. Typical that they should be together. “I take it you're one of the Sohmas,” she said flatly.
He smiled charmingly. “Of course. How did you ever guess?”
An idea suddenly occurred to her. She moved forward and hugged him. There was a puff of smoke and she backed away. Exactly as she had suspected, he was a member of the zodiac. He had little dog ears like Inuyasha, fangs, and claws. He looked at himself incredulously, then noticed the horns on Haru's head.
“Why didn't I transform all the way?” he wondered, staring at his claws on one hand and touching the little black puppy ears with the other, while poking at the fangs with his tongue in confusion. Why wasn't he a dog?
Haru didn't know how Shigure had ended up here, but if he was here, then he must have fallen through the well. Which probably meant that Hatori might be here, and maybe even Ayame. Poor Yuki. “In this world, we only transform partway,” Hatsaharu answered flatly.
Wrong. Dead wrong, actually.
*****
Hatori glanced behind him. Kikyou had wandered off for a bit, and was just returning from wherever she had gone. She gave no mention of what she had been doing, and he really didn't particularly care. Her absence had given him time to think about things—like why he was here, and if this were really a coma-induced dream. However, he could think of no reason why it would not be, so he was content to go on believing that it was.
“I cannot lift the curse on you,” she confessed.
How had she known about the curse? That was… strange. Then again, it was just a strange dream, was it not? “I had not expected you to be able to.” Nobody could. When the curse was first placed upon the family, he had read in the records that they had tried desperately to find someone who could. Obviously, they had failed and learned to live with it. Now, this was the best they could do.
It seemed to trouble her, though. She was so absorbed in thought that she tripped. Hatori automatically went to catch her, then cursed himself. His clothing fell to the ground as his body transformed in a puff of colored smoke. When the smoke cleared, Kikyou found herself looking at a grayish-black dragon. She frowned. How had that happened?
Hatori was wondering the same thing. Usually, he turned into a seahorse. Why had he turned into a full-fledged dragon? It could just be another aspect of the dream. Besides, it would be infinitely more interesting to be an actual dragon than a helpless seahorse.
“Hatori?” she wondered.
He looked back at her. “It's me,” he said.
She scrutinized him. “I think I can return you to that other form. But would you mind explaining this curse to me?”
He considered this. Well, the woman had known there was a curse, she had seen him transform—as strange as this transformation had been—and, even though this was just a dream induced by a coma, he felt safe in telling her. “Agreed.”
He watched her put her hands together and close her eyes. He felt the curse give way and there was another puff of smoke, and he was standing there naked in front of her. She opened her eyes and abruptly turned around. He began to get dressed. She turned her head a little, looking back at him, then mentally chastised herself for doing so, and looked forward again

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