InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ My Heart, Rest In Pieces ❯ Fly By Night ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Notes: Well, this is going to be my first multi-chapter Inuyasha story. It's an AU, and includes Kagome x Inuyasha and Miroku x Sango as the main pairings. It's going to be a ghost story, and will include healthy amounts of the supernatural. The ending is still undecided…though I do have a couple options in mind. Anyway, on with the story!

I'm going to get further into my Gundam Wing fics before I get totally lost in this story. I just wanted to see the response to this first part, which is primarily an introduction.

Disclaimer: I do not have the luck (or skill) of owning a popular manga/anime such as Inuyasha.

Start a new chapter
Find what I'm after
It's changing every day
The change of a season
Is enough of a reason
To want to get away
Quiet and pensive
My thoughts apprehensive
The hours drift away
Leaving my homeland
Playing a lone hand
My life begins today

Rush "Fly By Night"

For as long as she could remember, Sango had been an avid believer of the supernatural. There was a certain fascination of the paranormal, accompanied by an undeniable fear of the unexplainable, that she neither rejected nor ignored. There was a definite thrill that she felt, an unquenchable need to seek out and study such occurrences. She didn't question the appeal of such acts, for to do so would be futile, in her eyes.

People close to her might connect her interest of ghosts with her odd obsession of death. It was not something she enjoyed, but something she had experienced so many times, in so many hurtful ways. It was all around her; it always had been, and she was always powerless to stop it. Sango was not one who appreciated feeling incapable, or vulnerable. The death that connected her to the supernatural was unavoidable, and unpredictable.

The deaths didn't start until she was eight years old. Her mother had been a prime influence on Sango as a child. Her mother was beautiful, supportive, and loving-everything a mom should be. That is why her death was so untimely, so hurtful, and so unpredictable. She passed away while giving birth to a child, a baby boy named Kohaku. The birth complications were totally erratic, according to the doctors. Being a child, Sango had been confused. Why wasn't mommy coming home? She found herself blaming her baby brother, and becoming resentful towards him.

But her attitude rapidly changed, and soon Sango grew extremely fond of the young child. Watching him grow to become an innocent, kind-hearted boy melted Sango's heart, and all earlier anger and frustration seemed petty and childish-something she easily grew out of, like an old sweater. Kohaku's slight naïveté also drew an almost motherly affection from Sango, who wanted her brother to grow up with at least an idea of what maternal love was. It almost became a mission to her, trying to make her brother feel loved and wanted.

Her father, for his part, never once blamed his son for his wife's unfortunate passing. If anything, this only strengthened his attachment to the boy. His son was his wife's last gift to him…her last connection to this world. He didn't take this point lightly, but never was one for showing his affection. He taught his kids the lessons of life without sugarcoating anything, making them experience things for themselves. But Sango's father loved his kids more than anything in this world, and he did his best to take care of them without his wife.

That was the family Sango grew up with for the majority of her life. She lived with two guys, but they were the most important things to her. She lived for her family, which was odd behavior for a teenage girl. But she felt happy and secure, and she thought that nothing could ever take that away from her…

But, of course, the only thing that one can guarantee is change, and-no matter how happy she was in it-Sango's life took a change for the worse. Death struck again, when Kohaku and her father were killed in a car accident. Authorities informed her that their deaths were instantaneous, but that did nothing to soften the blow. What made matters worse was the investigation that went into the collision. They soon discovered that the driver of the other vehicle was heavily intoxicated. People close to Sango's family pushed on the young woman to press charges, but she just wanted the whole thing to end. The whole matter was halted, however, when the drunk driver-who survived the crash-was found dead on his bathroom floor, a whole bottle of aspirin in his system.

Sango had barely turned nineteen when this happened, and was just settling into life on her own. The death of her remaining family was like a huge hurdle that had been thrown into her path. Try as she might, she just couldn't find the strength to jump it, and was forced to stoop down and crawl across. She was able to scrape up enough money to finish her college education, and was then thrown into the world with only her degree in journalism to help her find her way.

She was now twenty-two, and three wearisome years had passed since the death of Kohaku and her father. She had never grown up so much so fast in all her life. Sango found herself constantly floating from one job to the next, unable to secure a position using her acquired degree. Sometimes she felt like the world was falling on her shoulders, and other times she felt like giving up-crawling into a corner and curling up to die. It was one of these days, at an all-time low, that Sango found herself in. She sat curled up on the moth-eaten couch in her apartment, cradling a mug of coffee in one hand, and the classified ads in the other hand. Though she was skimming through possible jobs, Sango couldn't help but remember how things used to be, and she felt her throat close up with the overwhelming emotions that assaulted her.

Ring

The sharp ringing of the telephone jerked Sango from her rueful reminiscing. She reached beside her on a small end table, where a phone was set up, and took the phone off the cradle.

"Hello?" she greeted mechanically, taking a small sip of her coffee as she waited for a reply.

"Hi, Sango! This is Kagome," a cheerful, feminine voice greeted her in reply.

Kagome was Sango's best friend, and had been since grade school. The two girls were practically inseparable; Kagome had been there when Sango's mother died, and she had also been there immediately after the accident, to help comfort her distraught friend. There was no one Sango trusted more in this world.

"Hey, Kagome," she returned, coming out of her melancholy mood and smiling lightly. She cradled the phone against her ear with her shoulder, and set her coffee on the end table, using both hands to hold the newspaper. "How have things been?"

Kagome said, "Things have been pretty good…great, actually." Her tone became excited. "Guess what?"

Sango couldn't help but roll her eyes at this. "I don't know…what?"

"I'm going to live with my Aunt Kaede over the summer!" Kagome cried happily.

"Really?" Sango queried, dropping the paper and holding the phone in her hand once more. She used her other hand to pick up her mug and take a sip. She made a face; the coffee was getting cold!

"Yeah. She lives in Shikon," Kagome informed her.

"Shikon? I've never heard of it," Sango admitted, standing up and walking towards the modest kitchenette in her apartment.

"It's just north of Kyoto."

Sango nodded, though she knew her friend couldn't see the motion. "Yeah, I know where Kyoto is." Kagome's natural bubbly, cheerful demeanor was unintentionally contagious, and the hopelessness that Sango felt while searching for a job had completely vanished.

"My aunt told me that there's a haunted house in Shikon!" Kagome said animatedly.

Sango cocked an eyebrow in interest. "Really?"

Kagome knew of her friend's enthrallment with the paranormal, and shared the interest, to some extent. Kagome didn't have quite a familiarity with death, but she was definitely fascinated by and intrigued by the unexplainable.

"Yeah! No one lives there, because they say it's haunted by a ghost," was Kagome's enthusiastic reply. "There's room at Aunt Kaede's house…and she said I could bring a guest…" She trailed off suggestively.

Sango grinned, leaning against a small counter. "Can I come?"

"Of course! That's why I called you!" Kagome said happily. "It's going to be so cool! My aunt says she knows the guy who owns the place, and we can get permission to check it out!"

"That'll be cool," Sango agreed fervently. In her mind she imagined what the house would be like. Would it be tall and creepy, like most cliché, stereotypical haunted places? Or would it be cozy looking, making it a discreet, hidden haunt. Either one seemed appealing to Sango.

"Yeah!" Kagome exclaimed, glad to be the bearer of good news. "Oh, and guess what?"

Not this game again. "What?"

"My aunt is the editor of a local newspaper!" the Japanese girl stated.

"In Shikon?" Sango asked, curiosity seeping into her voice.

"Yeah. She said she's looking for a writer, if you're interested."

Sango laughed out loud, a huge grin spreading across her face. "Of course I'm interested! That would be so great! When are you leaving? I need time to get a train ticket, and-"

"No need," Kagome interjected. "You can ride down with me…I was kind of going under the assumption that you wouldn't refuse." Sango felt happiness burgeon within her, and she could only smile.

"This is going to be so great. Thank you so much, Kagome," Sango said sincerely, clutching the phone to her ear tightly.

"You know it's no problem! But make sure you're ready by tomorrow."

Sango's russet eyes widened in astonishment. She cried, "Tomorrow? Kagome, are you crazy?"

She heard her friend laugh over the phone. "I already told you I was going under the assumption you wouldn't refuse. I'll pick you up at eight. Ciao."

"'Bye," Sango said weakly, walking back over to the living area and plopping onto the couch gracelessly. She placed the phone in its cradle, gazing listlessly at her useless mug of cold coffee. She couldn't quite grasp all that had transpired these past few moments.

'I'm going to a haunted house…in Shikon…and I have a job,' Sango reminded herself, continuing to think those words in an almost chant-like fashion. She smiled happily, pulling a pillow off the couch and hugging it to her chest. 'I'm going to a haunted house…in Shikon…and I have a job.'

Now, Kagome knew of Sango's furtive obsession with the paranormal, but she didn't know all of the reasons why. In fact, some of those reasons are unknown even to Sango, though she refuses to admit it to herself. Somewhere, deep down inside of her, is this insatiable hope that she feeds on. It's an undeniable fact that she just refuses to acknowledge, hoping that maybe, if ignored, this puerile fantasy would disappear entirely. For somewhere, deep inside her wildest desires, resided a hope that she might one day be reunited with her family. That maybe-just maybe-the spirits of her deceased relatives were still a part of this earth. Then maybe her mother could comfort her like she once did, and her brother would smile upon her again, and her father would teach her how to move on. Maybe, if her family came back, she would have time to say her good byes…and there would be healing, instead of hurt.

But the pessimistic part of Sango knew this was only a dream, and felt that it was psuedo-hope she was heavily relying on, and it would eventually lead to greater heartache. Somehow, this cynical doubt didn't deter her fortitude, but rather it ignited it. There was a certain desperation to prove-either affirmatively or negatively-the existence of her family members as specters. Infantile as it may seem, Sango found these hopes plaguing her, and day by day her doubts and her determination grew stronger in parallel.