InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Murder On An Autumn Night ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi-sensei.

Author notes: Somehow the idea won't leave me, even after writing that one-shot. So I decided to perhaps convert in into a multi-chapter fic. I don't know if I have the time to consistently update for this; but I do hope I can finish it. If the theme of it is overplayed, forgive me. I've seen many stories of Kagome or Inuyasha as a ghost but I hope my idea is still original enough. In case you guys are wondering, the person having that dream in the prologue is Akira.

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Chapter 1: Meet the Cast and See the ghost…

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Hi my name is Yashagawa Akira I am nineteen this year and this is my first year in Tokyo University. I am an orphan and no relatives. I have long black hair that swept past my lower back and violet eyes. My hobbies include reading, gaming and sleeping. I am currently majoring in history and sociology and I hope to become a teacher after I graduate. I am also holding a part time job now; working in a detective agency set up by my best friends, Miroku and Sango. We are youkai exterminators…..

"Hey Akira, what are you writing about?" a voice playfully called out as the piece of paper in Akira's hands was snatched away.

"Damn it, Miroku. Don't scare me like that." Akira grumbled. "And give me back my paper."

The boy named Miroku smirked and started to read the paper. "Oh my gosh, Aki, what's this? A penpal application form? Are you so desperate to get laid?"

"Fuck you, Miroku." Akira grabbed the paper back. "I don't want a girlfriend. I just want a friend."

"Yeah right, Aki. That's why you write such lame stuff on your paper? Oh man, you can't say you are a youkai exterminator, no one would believe you."

Aki laughed. "Actually I intended to use this paper as a sort of advertisement for our agency. Don't you think our business had been pretty poor recently? I mean, that's what, three cases in the past six months, and all of them, prank jokes? We need to do active marketing."

Miroku slapped his forehead and laughed. "You don't need the money, Akira. Why worry?"

Akira nodded. "I don't need it, but Sango does. You know her family situation. Her father is quite sick recently and she's barely able to get a loan from the bank for this semester's tuition fees. I don't want to see her so troubled, you know."

Miroku's face turned seriously. "Me too. I tried to lend her some cash, but she refused."

"You know her. She's got pride. She won't take your money, no matter what you say. Now, if you become her boyfriend, that's another issue. But you are such a lecher and she just can't trust you."

"Hey, I told you it's a family curse."

"And I told you its bullshit remember?" Akira retorted.

The two buddies sat under the trees and laughed together. Akira, Sango and Miroku were friends since secondary school. Akira was an orphan, but his parents left him a huge sum of inheritance so he never had to worry for his meals. Sango came from a family of youkai exterminators. Unfortunately, their business dwindled since nobody believed in youkai or the supernatural anymore. Sango's father does odd jobs here and there to try and make ends meet. Miroku claimed to come from a line of prestigious monks but his parents also died since he was young. Currently, he's living with his foster parent, Mushin, in a small apartment.

Akira never meant to set up the agency with Sango and Miroku. It was meant as a joke initially, to offer their services to public. Sango has her youkai exterminating skills and knowledge; Miroku has his ofudas and spiritual powers.

Akira? Akira has nothing except some psychic powers that he could barely control.

He sees visions, sometimes. Visions of the spirits and of the dead. Surprisingly it helped them solved those cases, where haunting were concerned. He could discern their reason for hanging on to this plane of existence and persuaded them to move on. Unfortunately, the same gift made him melancholic sometimes, and people shy away from him when they sensed his strange behavior.

Akira took out his bento and offered half to Miroku as was the usual custom. Miroku smiled and took some without shame, pointing out cute girls to Akira. That's how they always spent their lunch breaks together, waiting for Sango to join them.

Speaking of which, Akira spied Sango running towards them from a corner. He elbowed Miroku and the two waved at the sprinting girl.

"Guys! I got something to tell you! We got a new job!" Sango chatted excitedly.

"Really? What is it about?" Akira asked.

"Haunting. Seems like it's a really vicious spirit this time round." Sango added.

Miroku smiled. "Really? Who hired us?"

"Higurashi Shrine."

"Mama, why did you go and hire those quacks?" a high-pitched girlish voice cried, anger and annoyance in her voice.

"Kagome, you know we have no choice." Kagome's mother, Akane, whispered. "We sold that piece of land to the land developers. Now so many accidents happened on their first day of clearing that land. And people are complaining of supernatural attacks. The land developers are threatening to bring us to court and asking for a refund unless we do something about it."

Kagome stomped her feet. "You don't have to hire those quacks. I can handle this. I'm a miko in training."

Akane sighed. "Look darling. You just said so yourself. You are still in training. The spirit is a powerful and vengeful spirit. You can't handle it at your level. Let the experts do their job alright?"

"How do you know they are experts?" Kagome cried. "They are most probably imposters or something."

"Dear daughter, they were recommended by my friend. I trust her, so I'll trust these people also, alright? Now, they themselves also stated in their policy that they would not charge a single cent if they fail."

Kagome looked slightly appeased. "Still I'm going to watch them like a hawk. If they show any signs of cheating us, I'll sue them immediately."

Akane would have said more but suddenly the doorbell rang. "It must be them. Be polite to guests alright, little one?"

Kagome nodded and pasted a sugary smile on her face. Her mother quickly ran to the door. The door opened to reveal three teenagers standing outside, smiling brightly.

"You are…..?" Akane asked hesitantly.

"Good afternoon, Madame. We are the exterminators you asked for. I'm Sango, the one you called this morning, remember?" Sango replied, her face threatening to crack from the wide smile she have.

Akane nodded and let them in. "Welcome, please come in. I just didn't expect you all to be so…."

"Young?" Akira supplied, shaking his head wryly. "We get that a lot."

"I bet." A sarcastic voice replied. It came from a girl, wearing a black top and denim skirt. She had shoulder length wavy brown hair and bright blue eyes. And she looked really familiar.

For a second, Akira stared at her, reminded of the dream he had this morning. Unconsciously his hand moved to his chest, staring at the vision in front of him. Miroku, sensing his friend was spacing out, pat Akira roughly on the back to get his attention. "It's okay, we are used to it."

Akane looked at her daughter meaningfully before smiling. "Forgive my daughter, she's a miko in training too and she's always eager to meet people who are in the same field as she is."

"Hi, my name is Higurashi Kagome." The girl smiled, coming forward and bow stiffly to them.

"Takano Sango."

"Watanabe Miroku." Miroku supplied, rushing forward to hold the girl's hand. "You are indeed a vision from heaven, Kagome-sama. Could you do me a favor?"

Kagome cocked her head but Sango rushed forward and pulled Miroku off. "Don't listen to what he's saying."

Kagome nodded and was amused when Sango thumped Miroku over the head. They act like a typical couple. She turned to look at the last member.

"My name is Yashagawa Akira." Akira bowed slightly deeper than Kagome. Kagome nodded in approval. "Nice to meet you."

Kagome's mother went forward and gestured them to sit down at the sofa. "Actually, I'm sure you guys already knew about the problem. We just want things to be done quickly. So I would appreciate if you could tell me by when can you settle this for me?"

"We'll need to look at the site of haunting, Madame." Akira replied.

"It's actually the forest nearby. Nobody has ever ventured in before. I never heard any stories of it being haunted until recently when the land developers sent people to clear the forest."

"Well, it could be a spirit that doesn't want to be disturbed." Miroku ventured.

"Or a youkai acting as a ghost to scare people away from their habitat." Sango mused.

"Whatever it is, I suggest why not we go and take a look now?" Akira replied, standing up. The two also stood up in agreement. "Madame, we will get back to you after we made a preliminary assessment of the situation."

"Wait." Kagome also stood up. "I want to go with you."

Kagome's mother immediately stood up. "No, Kagome. I forbid you to go."

"Mama, I want to see for myself what kind of spirit is this. Anyway, what kind of miko am I if I can't even subdue vengeful spirits." At Akane's look of protest, she added quickly. "I'll be fine, Mama."

Akane nodded reluctantly. "Be safe, Kagome."

"So how do you guys get rid of vengeful spirits?" Kagome chirped, as they slowly made their way to the forest.

"Well, usually we try to persuade them to move on." Akira replied.

"Persuade them? How?"

"Akira has psychic powers. Sometimes he can see vision by touching something or someone. He usually tries to appeal to the ghosts or fulfill their dying wishes. Once their wishes are fulfilled, they will usually let go of this plane of existence." Sango added.

"Wow…that's so troublesome. Does that means we have to fulfill this vengeful spirit's wishes too. The miko way is much simpler: we just subdue them and force them to go."

"Yah, it's simpler. But ghosts are people once too. They have emotions and dreams and hopes. Most of them who haunt usually died a tragic death. I think it's kinder to fulfill their wishes and let them go away peacefully." Akira argued, feeling a small twinge in his heart at the mention of the word miko. For some reason unknown, that word sent shivers of danger down his spine.

Kagome shrugged. "Perhaps. If it's not too troublesome, I guess I can try to see what that spirit wants. Since it's residing so closely to my house, it might even end up being an ancestor of mine."

The group soon reached the edge of the forest. It was easily identifiable by the abandoned tractors and bulldozers. "Hey, do you all remember? All the workers said they saw hallucinations once they crossed the edge of the forest. Do you think this will happen to us too?" Miroku wondered.

"Be careful. I sense the presence of something strange." Akira warned, a cold shiver running down his spine.

"There's a miko barrier around the forest." Kagome wondered aloud. "It's hiding something inside."

"Come on guys, let's go in." Sango urged, strangely restless.

The moment they all stepped into the forest, they expected something to happen. But nothing happen, save for the chirping of the insects and the sound of birds flying. The leaves waved lazily with the wind, sending shimmers of light down the forest floor. They slowly began to relax their guard.

They walked deeper and deeper into the forest. For hours they walked, but they found nothing.

"Is this a joke?" Akira wondered.

Kagome froze. The forest is strangely familiar for some reason. It sent waves of despair and sadness, emitting an aura of sorrow. "Guys, I think something is wrong."

Miroku and Sango would have said something, but suddenly a cold wind rushed past them. The moment the cold draught come into contact with Sango and Miroku, a wave of sleepiness hit them. Their eyes closed automatically and they collapsed, like puppets whose strings were abruptly cut off.

Akira and Kagome quickly bend forward to check their fallen companions. They seemed to be in a deep sleep. Akira tried to rouse them but they did not respond.

Just then, Kagome suddenly caught sight of a red shadow flying past them. She could sense youki and stood up. Akira looked up at her and she quickly hissed. "Stay here with them, I'm checking something out."

Akira wanted to respond but Kagome swiftly ran away in another direction. He wanted to chase after her but he felt unsafe to leave his two companions alone in this strange forest. As he tried desperately to shake the two awake, he prayed inwardly that Kagome and her training can prepare her for whatever that comes next.

Kagome ran as she never did before, her lungs burning within her, begging for air. Finally she stopped and panted heavily, her head lowered as she struggled to catch her breath.

When she looked up, a scream tore lose from her throat involuntarily. It was a figure, pinned to a tree by an arrow. Its face was obscured by the curtain of silver hair and its hands were lying limply on its side. Kagome screamed in terror, the sight in front of her was extremely gruesome and disturbing. For moments, her scream echoed in the forest, until it slowly fade away.

Kagome tried to calm down. The forest was eerily quiet. Nothing could be heard, except for the sound of dripping water. Or what least, Kagome thought it was dripping water.

Until she realize it's the sound of dripping blood.

She slowly moved forward, morbidly fascinated and horrified by the scene. She concluded the figure must be a male, from its height and figure. He was clad in an old fashion red kimono with matching haori. And on top of his head, were puppy dog ears.

Wait….puppy dog ears?

This guy is not human, Kagome mused. The figure looked dead, the pool of blood beneath his feet slowly growing. Is he dead? Who murdered him? Is he a youkai?

To her horror, she found herself walking towards the staked figure. Her eyes were drawn to the arrow in his chest. It was the only thing holding him up, beside the vines crawling around him. How long had he been here? Her hand involuntarily reaches out to clasp the arrow.

Akira looked at his fallen companions and concluded that they were being attacked mentally. Slowly, he began to lay his hands on both of his friends and observed their auras. When he spotted the strange energies curling around them, he quickly pulled mental the bonds off with his psychic powers. Pretty soon, Miroku and Sango regained consciousness.

"Argh….what happened?" Sango grumbled.

"You guys don't remember?" Akira mused. "You all suddenly got knocked out. Hurry, we need to go after Kagome. That stupid girl ran off on her own."

Miroku stood up. "What? Are you kidding me? Her mother's gonna kill us all if we lose her daughter."

"Come on, let's go. Which way did she go?" Sango asked. Akira pointed in a direction and the three took off immediately.

When they finally found Kagome, she was in front of a figure, staked up on the tree. Sango and Miroku and Akira gasped at the same time, though for different reasons. While Sango and Miroku were shocked at the horrifying image before them, Akira was shocked that the scene seemed almost exactly the same from his dream. Suddenly he realized Kagome's fingers had clasped the arrow and she was preparing to pull it out.

"No!" a hoarse cry tore out from him even as the arrow disintegrated into purple lights. For a second, all was peacefully silent. No one seemed to move.

Except for the unknown figure before them.

They watched in slow anticipation, as the figure slowly lifted up his head. Somehow, they should have thought of doing something to do but their whole bodies were frozen in that moment, by an unseen terror. A cracking sound of the bone could be heard as the figure's head slowly came up. The curtain of silver hair part way, only to reveal his features. His eyes, slowly opened as if from a deep sleep.

Only to reveal shinning orbs of fiery red.