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Dark CarnivalCh. 1 edited	By : Pucedragon Category: InuYasha > Het - Male/Female > InuYasha/Kagome Views: 3084 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, nor make money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-The Greatest Show Unearthed: An Introduction to the Lower Birth
- 1
Title: Dark Carnival

Author: Pucie

Chapter: The Greatest Show Unearthed: An Introduction to the Lower Birth

A/N: I got the idea for this story from a song by an indie band called "Creature Feature" and that old disney movie "Something Wicked This Way Comes". The song in this first chapter is "The Greatest Show Unearthed. This is most definitely an AU fic, and yeah, it's gonna get quite dark before all is said and done. This chapter is just an introduction to the story. I have another story that I have been working on and I want to get it finished before I really get it together on this one. Thought I'd put a chapter out and see how people liked it.

2^nd A/N: I've gone back and edited this chapter a bit, there is a reason why I am specifically using the phrase "freak show" instead of "side show" and you will understand why once I have a chance to get to the second chapter. But I had to edit this one some anyway, to help it make more sense in the next chapter. I know that "freak show" is not the name used anymore, and yeah it is harsh. . . . But like I said it will make more sense in the second chapter, trust me. So, no offense intended here, and if you took it that way, I am sorry. But I'm glad you like it overall, hope you stay with me through future chapters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Creature Feature, or their song The Greatest Show Unearthed. I make no money from writing this story.

Bold and in italics: song lyrics/ I am using the lyrics as dialogue for the Carnies (the ppl who work, travel, perform, and live with the carnival, for those who don't know what Carnies are). So all of what the Carnies/Carnival Workers are saying will be in Bold/Italics, just to avoid any confusion!

"Spoken"
'Thoughts'

The Greatest Show Unearthed: An Introduction to the Lower Birth

Kagome looked out the car window at the brightly lit fair grounds, as her grandfather pulled into a parking spot in the massive field that was serving as a makeshift parking lot for the next few days until the small traveling carnival left town. She sighed softly as she took in the gaudy, morbid decorations.
This was the one night of the week when her family took time to just do something together. 'Family Night' her mother called it. This week it had been her younger brother's turn to pick the evening's family activity, and he had wanted to come to the carnival.
It had been in town for a few days, and all of his other friends had already visited, which left him feeling left out. Kagome really did not like carnivals at all, but she would at least pretend to have fun. Even if he was a pest, her little brother meant the world to her. They had always been close, but when their father had died almost five years ago, they became almost inseparable. She had been fifteen at the time, but he had only been seven, and he had taken the death harder than anyone else. And so their "Family Night" had been born out of a need to try to take everyone's mind off of their missing family member, it had been a tradition every week since then.
"Ok, is everyone ready to go have some fun?" Kagome's mother asked from the front passenger seat.
"Yeah, I want to ride the ferris wheel, and the tilt a whirl, go through the fun house, and get a look at the freak show they have! Shinobi said that the freak show was the best!" her brother said eagerly before their mother even had enough time to draw her next breath.
Kagome watched as her mother turned around with a slight frown on her face," Souta, sweetie, I don't think they call them as "freak shows" anymore. That sounds derogatory, I think they refer to them as "side shows"
"Oh. . . . .but Shinobi called it a freak show." He said quietly.
"Well, he probably didn't know any better either. Their way of life may be a bit different than ours, but I don't think anyone would appreciate being called a "freak", do you?"
"No ma'am" he replied chastised.
"Ok, then, now don't look so sad we're here to have fun right?" his mother said more cheerfully.
At this, Souta instantly brightened back up and started in on his list of things he absolutely had to do before they left the carnival tonight," I want to go play all the games, eat cotton candy and popcorn, and go see the fre- side show!" he said catching himself.

"Slow down there little man, we'll have plenty of time to see everything, calm down a bit. You know what the doctor said about getting too excited, right?" Kagome reprimanded him gently.
"Oh, Kagome, you worry too much!" he said smiling at his older sister brightly.
Her little brother had recently been diagnosed with heart valve disease. It was a congenital defect that ran on her father's side. In fact, it had been that very thing that had killed their father. After she found out that Souta had been diagnosed with the same condition her father had, every little moment they were able to spend together had become more precious than gold.
They all proceeded to get out of the car and began walking towards the entrance. Once they had drawn close enough, Kagome paused for a moment to look at the huge sign over the entrance.
The dark, gothic style of the letters stood out starkly against the sickly green background.

"Dark Carnival: Welcome to the Greatest Show Unearthed", the billboard announced.
The closer they got to the entrance, the more morbid looking everything became. The only colors that seemed to appear were black, green, and a deep dark purple. All of the tents had that color scheme, as well as the Christmas lights that adorned the entrance to every single tent, as well as the archway over the entrance to the carnival. She gasped when she looked at the ferris wheel and noticed that in the center of the giant spinning wheel was a gigantic skull mural, complete with hairy tarantulas that seemed to be crawling in and out of the eye sockets and mouth of the skull. In fact, the more she looked around the more she noticed there were macabre decorations everywhere. For some reason the whole atmosphere just reminded her of evil and death.
'There is something seriously wrong with this carnival,' she thought to herself, as she felt herself suddenly feeling very skittish for some unknown reason.
It was then that she remembered how the carnival had showed up a few days ago, in the middle of the night, and had been set by the next morning. No one even knew that a carnival had arrived until the customary carnival parade had gone through the city, throwing flyers for the carnival out as they passed.
Over the years, she had learned to trust her intuition. The day of their father's death, her mother, her brother, and she had been visiting relatives in a nearby city, when Kagome had gotten an unexpected bad feeling deep in the pit of her stomach.
At first she had tried to ignore it, but the feeling had not gone away, no matter how hard she tried to focus on other things. When she could bear it no longer, she had sought out her mother and told her that they needed to get home right away.
Seeing as how Kagome had been acting very out of character, her mother had promptly complied and they had left in a rush, barely taking the time to bid the aunt and uncle they were visiting goodbye. By the time they had reached their home, it had been too late. Her father was dead before they had even opened the door to their home. They had found out a few days later that Kagome had Miko powers. A thing that had been long forgotten in the preceding centuries, nowadays, Mikos existed in fairy tales only, she just happened to have the worst luck ever and seemed to be the only one in existence .
To this day, Kagome blamed herself for her father's death . 'If only I had told them to leave sooner, maybe he would still be alive' was the only thought that came to her mind whenever she thought of that far gone day.
She felt something tug on her arm and looked over to see that Souta was pointing to something or someone that was standing just outside the entrance. He looked perfect for the part of a circus ringmaster. He was wearing a shiny pair of boots which buckled up and stopped just below his knee. Grey and black striped pants, a white shirt with a red bowtie, and a garish purple jacket topped off the ensemble, along with a puke green top hat that sat at a jaunty angle on his head.
"That must be one of the barkers!" her mother said, "Let's see what he is saying before we go in!"
They drew a little closer to the stage the man in the outlandish costume was currently standing and shouting from. He was holding a huge wooden megaphone to his lips and never seemed to stop the litany of words that fell from his mouth in a repeating stream. He was like a broken record, as soon as he got done with his spiel, he would pause for only a second to take a breath, or grab a sip of some liquid he had in a small brandy flask.

"The Dark Carnival is in town, you better be ready! Just follow The Parade of Dancing Skeletons! Full of Ghoulish Delights, around every corner! We Are The Chill Down Your Spine! We are the Bumps in the Night! We are the Boogeymen in your closet! We are the voices in your head! Don't tell your parents you�re here, they will soon be mourners! Welcome to the Lower Birth, The Greatest Show Unearthed! We appear without a sound, the Darkest Show around! We will leave you in a Daze! Madness, Murder, Dismay! We will disappear at night with Blood on the concrete!" he kept repeating into his huge megaphone.
Whether Kagome had a bad feeling about this carnival before they arrived or not, she definitely had one now. 'Blood on the concrete? Surely they aren't serious?' she thought to herself. It was right about then that she noticed that the carnival barker was taking a longer pause than usual in between his shouting fits.
She and her family had already turned around to head to the ticket booth when she noticed it. As they kept walking forward, she felt a strangely heavy, pricking sensation in her mind, and when she turned around she noticed that the barker was staring right at her.
She shivered, and he finally turned away, starting on his never ending chant once again.
They walked up to the ticket booth and were surprised to see that the man running it looked to be about her age. She took a moment to admire the handsome man sitting behind the glass of the ticket book, and found herself blushing hotly when he looked up and caught her in the act.
He had wavy black hair which he was wearing in a short ponytail at the nape of his neck, and had the most startling violet eyes she had ever seen. He was wearing a white suit coat with thin black and purple stripes. She couldn't see what his pants looked like, because he was sitting down in the booth. As her mother bought enough tickets for everyone to do what they wanted, she happened to notice that the ticket seller had a nametag on.
'Miroku, I kinda like that name' she thought to herself.
A suprisingly deep, melodious voice startled her from her thoughts.
"I hope you folks enjoy your visit at our carnival." He said as they entered the fairgrounds.

A couple of hours and many, many tickets later, they had seen almost everything, played every game at least once, and had ridden all of the rides.
"Oh man, Souta," Kagome said as they finally came to a halt, "I'm just about bushed. Thank goodness the only thing left is the side show."
"Yeah! We can't leave without going to the side show at least once!" he said excitedly as he grabbed her hand.
"If you guys don't mind, I think your grandfather and I will wait for you two in the car. I don't think I could go another step," their mother said.
"Sure, that's fine mom, we won't be too long," Kagome said. After a couple quick hugs they parted ways.
As they drew closer to the tent where the side show exhibit was housed, they passed by a fortune teller's tent. 'How did I miss this?' she thought.
"Hey Souta! Wanna get your fortune told?" she asked her little brother.
"Nah, that's ok, I just want to go through the side show before we go home." He said.
"Ok, you go on ahead, I want to get my palm read, and then I'll catch up with you! Ok?" she said.
"Sure! I'll see you in a few, sis!" he said as he jogged off to the entrance of the side show.
She turned and looked at the sign that hung from an awning on the tent, "Mama Kaede: Fortune teller and Palm Reader Extraordonaire" she said under her breath as she read the sign.
She stepped into the tent and was greeted by the sight of an elderly woman with an eyepatch.
"Come to get your fortune read, child? Yes? Sit down, sit down. Let's see that pretty palm of yours!" The older woman said eagerly.
Kagome slowly lowered herself into the chair across from the woman and extended her arm across the table, palm up.
"Let's see what we have here," she said as she grabbed Kagome's palm and stared at it intently. The woman studied her palm for what seemed to be forever when she suddenly went very, very pale and turned serious yet fearful eyes upwards towards Kagome's.
"Ye must get out of this carnival! Now! If he realizes that a miko of your caliber is here, you will never be able to escape." The old woman Kaede said urgently.
"He who?" Kagome asked, more than a little confused.
"Naraku! He is the man who owns and runs this carnival! Hurry girl, ye have no time to waste on talking, get away from here. As far and as fast as you can!" she said as she walked around the table, pulled a stunned Kagome from her chair and began shoving her out the opening of the tent.
"Leave this place, and do not come back. You will be imprisoned like the rest of us if you do not GO NOW!!" she said as she pushed Kagome roughly towards the entrance of the carnival.
"Ok, ok! I'm going!" Kagome said, all the while planning how she would just double back to get to the side show.

In the end, Kagome took the easy way out. She waited for the fortuneteller to close the door on the tent, and then she hurried around the back of the tent.
A few minutes later, she made it to the front of the side show exhibit, and was once again listening to a different barker. His outfit was not much different from the barker's at the entrance, but he looked much different. He had long, flowing raven black hair, and crimson eyes that seemed to burn into her very soul.

"I will be your Ticket Taker, come inside it's a Dream! Enter the Freak Show, No One can hear you Scream! We can supply anything that your Heart Desires! But the consequences will surely be Dire! We are the the Knife in your back, the poison in your drink! We are the Devil on your shoulder! We are the Living Dead! Step up, Step inside and get a glimspse of the hell that chases you in your in your darkest nightmares! Come inside for the ride. . . .your deepest darkest fears! The Best night of your life, you're never leaving here! The Unknown, the Unseen is what you're going to find! Witness this, witness that, until you lose your mind!"

Once he had finished his spouting, she walked in quickly and searched for her brother. As she entered what looked like a small theater, she thought to herself,' I thought mom said that they refer to themselves as being in a side show, not freak show. . . .that guy must not have gotten the memo. This must be one of those side shows that showcases the "talent" on stage, instead of having a walk through exhibit.' she thought to herself. She looked through the faces in the crowd, searching for her brother. But it seemed he was nowhere to be found.
'That's strange,' she thought to herself, 'Maybe the side show is just a really short show and he already left. Oh well, I'll just sit here and watch by myself then.'

She looked up as soon as she heard the footsteps striding across the stage, and noticed that the carnival barker from outside was now on the stage. 'Must be the ringmaster,' she thought.
He suddenly clapped his hands together and all the idle chatter of the other guests fell silent.
As soon as he knew he had their full attention, he began to speak," Ladies and Gentlemen, boils and ghouls! Step right up, behind this curtain lies a ghastly concoction of delight, horror, fantasy and terror! The Dark Carnival Freak Show never disappoints! Your every wish is our command! Your every whimsical desire brought to life. But I'm warning you. . . There is always a price! Welcome to the Lower Birth, the Greatest Show Unearthed! We appear without sound, the darkest show around. We will leave you in a Daze! Madness! Murder! Dismay! We will disappear at night with Blood on the concrete. "

As soon as he finished he bowed with a wild flourish of arms, and backed slowly off the stage. Before they even had the first attraction from the carnival freak show on the stage, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She looked up and was immediately surprised by who it was. 'The barker from outside, but he just left the stage!' She thought to herself.
He bent down and whispered in her ear, "Please follow me, we have a few important subjects that we need to talk about."
A tiny shiver of fear sailed down her spine at his words, but she got up and complied. They walked out of the tent and headed across the fairgrounds to stop in front of a small trailer.
He reached out and grasped the doorknob and opened the door for her, but the sight that greeted her eyes both shocked and saddened her. Her little brother had been bound and gagged, drugged, and thrown on a small sofa that occupied the living room. He was still unconscious at least that was a small blessing, if he were awake the fear and excitement could prove to be to stressful to his heart.
"Now little miko, if you want your brother to go free, you must do exactly as I say. Do you understand?" he said with a hint of a threat.
"Yes," she replied.
"Good, good, the only way to set your brother free is to trade places with him, and agree to be apart of my Freak Show, understand? If you refuse, your brother dies. If you accept, then he goes home, and you stay here. What is your answer?" he asked her.
"I thought they were called side shows nowadays, why do you call it a freak show?" she said, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"The reasoning behind my behaviour is none of your concern, bitch! Now what is your ANSWER?" he said, quickly becoming enraged.

She swallowed thickly, and bowed her head as she managed to utter a quiet, "Yes. . . .For my brother, I will stay. . . . ."

Your Deepest Darkest Fears

You're Never Leaving Here!

Witness This, Witness That

Until You Lose Your Mind

Welcome to the Lower Birth, the Greatest Show Unearthed!

We appear without sound, the darkest show around.

We will leave you in a Daze!

Madness! Murder! Dismay!

We will disappear at night with Blood on the concrete

A/N: So tell me what you think!!
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Dark Carnival*Ch. 1 edited*

Dark CarnivalCh. 1 edited