Conundrum by Luna C.

Bon Appétit

A/N: I used elements from the festival for this chapter.

Valentine’s Day Countdown Challenge

Prompt: Lupercalia Festival

Word Count: 600

-Bon Appétit-

Kagome closed her eyes, unwilling to look at the wizard as he started to submit the goat into a tranquil trance. He disappeared earlier to retrieve a raggedy dog from a village several miles away, and the poor thing was shivering and whimpering ever since it entered the cave. Sesshomaru disappeared the same time the wizard left, and now she knew why. Two thuds were heard and it made her look up, only to regret it. The body of the dog remained twitching while the head rolled away, dangerously close to the large fire. Nobuharu grabbed the body, spilling the blood into a large vase before enclosing it tightly with a wooden cork.

This is all part of the ritual. That mantra echoed repeatedly in her mind, sickened when the thick metallic smell and wet dog whiffed through the dimmed cave.

“E-Excuse me?”

He looked up from rubbing the goat, his eyes gleaming with confusion. “What is it?”

“Why did you help Naraku?”

The confused look lingered as he tapped his chin, thinking. “Who is Naraku?”

“The man you helped; the one that made us into this.” Kagome gestured towards her form, bewildered on why the wizard didn’t know who Naraku was.

“I have not come across any man for the past year, but this woman came asking for some assistance.” His brows furrowed, “After a romp in the sheets, she asked about the spell. Honestly, she didn’t have any sort of powers so I told her, thinking she was completely harmless.”

Kagome gagged, sorely remembering the tales Miroku spoke of that occurred with his grandfather, who was tricked by Naraku in a disguise of a woman, “Gross, you slept with Naraku.”

“I slept with a man,” His eyes bugged out. “Impossible, she had two holes down there!” The goat bleated when Nobuharu’s hand clutched the taut skin tightly and painfully. “If it was true, that must have been a highly elaborated illusion.” Nobuharu stabbed the animal in the heart, the squirming movements lingering after a minute before it collapsed into a comatose carcass. “I must say, she or he wasn’t all that good.” He turned away from the conversation and focused on his task of skinning the animal. Squashing noise emitted with each slice of the blade as he dug the tool deep into the bleeding flesh. It took several minutes, but those moments seemed longer and the more she watched and heard every sound, the more she felt queasy and unstable. She already felt a bit lightheaded from when he slaughtered the dog and after hearing his wanton activity with a disguised Naraku; her stomach seemed a bit sensitive to any more outrageous acts.

Gathering the skins saturated in blood, he walked past Kagome causing a long, loose hanging flesh to slap her in the face. She screeched, the warm blood seeping down her face and marring the top portion of her yukata. “I think I’m gonna be sick.” She whimpered, coughing out blood that came in her mouth and spitting what remained inside.

“Are you hungry?” He grinned down towards her after placing the hides into an urn, unfazed at how she was glaring up at him.

“No, you made sure I lost my appetite.” She said in contempt, wiping the blood from her face with a sleeve. She growled to herself, another yukata ruined by the wizard, she only had two clean ones left that haven’t had any stains and soon, this one will smell like a dead carcass, attracting ravenous scavengers.

“So I’m guessing you are not in the mood for dog or goat, huh?”

_____

Read and Review Please!