InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Minoue ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Disclaimers: I do not own InuYasha or any of the manga/anime characters. They belong to the wonderful genius Rumiko Takahashi. Any original characters do belong to me.

Minoue

Prologue

Sango sighed as she signed the last of the paperwork. She never thought she would actually leave her family home or her family's business for good, and yet here she was signing it all away. She had no reason to stay here any longer; there was nothing left to tie her down. It was fortunate that the property was owned outright, so there had been no foreclosures or other nasty business to take it away from her before she was ready. She had whittled away part of the family savings account in order to keep the power and water on, but with no one there, it really had not been much of a drain.

The amount of money she was receiving for the sale was a nice sum. She could live comfortably for many years before she would have to find work if she so desired. However, after a year in the hospital she was finally ready to move on. She reached over her right shoulder with her left hand and rubbed her back. They said that the scar was pretty bad, but considering the fact she should be dead, or at the very least crippled, she wouldn't complain. They had offered to keep her longer and to try a few more skin grafts in an effort to minimize the damaged area; however, Sango was ready to leave the confinement of the hospital. The physicians and psychologists alike, reluctantly, had pronounced her healed enough to leave. The deep wound from where she had been struck by the axe had finally mended and was infection free. Her cracked scapula had also knitted, giving back most of her range of motion. She furrowed her brow as she still could not completely recall that day. The psychiatrist told her that when she was ready, she would remember.

All she knew for now was what they had told her of that dreadful afternoon. Her younger brother Kohaku had come to their father's shop during the day, when he should have been in school.

Their father was a simple and hardworking man. In his workshop he and his employees made high grade wooden furniture by hand. The axe was kept for breaking up the unusable pieces of wood so that they could be used as kindling and not taken by someone else to make lower grade furniture. Kohaku had come in and picked up the axe before proceeding from one area of the shop to the next and killing everyone he came into contact with. He was quite adept with the weapon since he used it when helping out after school. It appeared that they had been so shocked that they didn't even fight back. No one expected something like this from the quiet, gentle boy who was always willing to lend a hand wherever it might be needed.

The doctors had surmised that the blow to Sango's back had glanced off of her shoulder blade, cracking it, but it did not break clean through. They thought that maybe the attack was not as strong as it was against the others either because he really did not want to kill her or because he was tiring. For whatever reason, he did not strike her down with the first blow, and he didn't get the chance for a second.

As it was, Sango was something of an expert in self defense; she had studied martial arts since she was little, always wanting to be tougher. She was surrounded by males and wanted to be second to no one. As a result, she was unusually strong for her size and gender; when he pulled the axe back to try for a second strike, she managed to sweep him off of his feet. She pinned him down and then passed out on top of him. That was how they found them when the authorities arrived. She had remained in a coma for ten days.

Her younger brother was now committed to a psychiatric hospital, probably for the rest of his life. The doctors there, after several months, had deduced that he had been brainwashed into murdering everyone. However, no one knew why anyone would want to kill any of those at the shop. The doctors thought, perhaps, that it was a test for some larger plan though they had no proof. They also had not been able to determine the trigger word that was used to send him into such a homicidal rage. If they could find the trigger, they could reprogram him. If they could figure out who brainwashed him, they might be able to figure out why. They carefully logged all attempted contact with the boy, trying to ascertain if one of those might be the person who did this to him. Instead, all they got were tabloid reporters who wanted an interview with Kohaku. Once interest wore off there was no one except for his sister.

In the beginning, Sango would call at least once a week to check on her brother. She wanted to go see him once she was released from the hospital herself, but the psychiatrist responsible for Kohaku told her that it was not a good idea. Since they still did not know what happened to trigger his attack on his family, they could not guarantee that there would not be another scene if she came. They were afraid it might make him relapse even further. And so she was relegated to calling to check on his progress every month, and they knew to call her if there was any change in his condition.

Sango shoved the signed documents across the table to the broker handling the transaction. He would take care of the final details and have the money transferred to her account. She would not have to deal with this any more.

She was moving to Tokyo to pick up her education at a different university, one where she hoped not so many people would know what had happened to her and her family. She just wanted to be left alone to study. She had started out in law enforcement but was changing to criminal psychiatry. She wanted to work with the police to find monsters like the one that had done such a horrible thing to her only brother. It meant that she would have to pick up a number of psychology and philosophy classes, and that was what she intended to do first.

At first, the university had said they did not know if they would have room for her since only a select number of students were allowed to enter the program, and they had a long waiting list. They were concerned about the fact that she had been out of school for a full year. They did not want to commit to her only to have her drop out. However, when they found out the reason for her not returning to her old school as scheduled the previous year, they made an exception and accepted her application. They also offered her a scholarship due to her excellent grades up until the incident. Sango accepted on the condition that they not share her personal information with anyone other that those who absolutely had to have it. She didn't want the professors who would cross her path during her studies to try and second guess why she was there. If they too easily learned of her past, then they would probably try to analyze her instead.

She had selected a major that was really a double, with classes in psychology as well as law enforcement and other related fields such as the studies of religions and philosophy. There were so many factors that entered into developing the human psyche, and Sango was determined to learn them all.

With nothing left to hold her there, she stood and walked out the door without looking back. It was time to move forward.

To be continued…

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Terms

Minoue: one's future; one's welfare; one's personal history