InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ My Heart, Rest In Pieces ❯ Extraordinary Girl ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I don't own them, don't make money off `em.

 

She's an extraordinary girl

In an ordinary world

And she can't seem to get away.

Green Day “Extraordinary Girl”

 

“Aunt Kaede did say there were rumors about Kikyou and Naraku. And Naraku's family did used to own this house. Maybe that's why she was here,” Kagome conjectured, laying on her back on the love seat with her legs flung over the arm.

After their initial panicked screaming, the girls had gone back to their deductive investigation. Sango was tracing the harsh lettering on the door with her finger, utterly perplexed. The skin of her hand was smooth, pale, unblemished.

“Who cares about Kikyou?” Sango finally spoke up, breaking away from the phenomenon to address her friend. “This ghost…” Her voice trailed off; russet eyes appeared vacant.

“What about him?” prompted Kagome.

She sighed and shoved a hand harshly through her hair, jerking roughly away from the phantom etchings. “It just doesn't follow any logical process. Like…eh…”

“Spit it out.”

“I mean, he hurt me then healed me. Why?”

“He felt guilty?” Kagome tried. Her legs kicked languidly from her reclined position.

“Maybe.”

Almost against her will, Sango's thoughts began to stray, and an indiscriminate memory surfaced.

A young Sango rushed through the house, barefeet slapping against the hardwood floor. Her high-pitched giggles reverberated through the empty halls, bouncing and floating out the open door towards the sky.

“Sango!” Kohaku belted out her name, rushing close behind, pumping his little legs hard to catch up to his lankier sister. “Don't! Give it back!”

The girl rounded the corner, feet sliding treacherously against the red and gold rug. Clutched tight in her fist was a small book. A diary.

“Don't give it back? Okay! Wasn't planning on it!” she turned her head to taunt over her shoulder.

Her pause to gloat was all the advantage Kohaku needed, and with a sudden burst of energy he lunged forward, eyes fixed firmly on his journal, hands seizing with sharp precision. The sudden jar made Sango's arm pull tight against her shoulder socket, and she felt whip-lashed. The area rug finally betrayed her fully, and her feet slid out from under her; her back made a deep thud as she landed flat on it.

The breath was rushed from her lungs.

Grasping his newly-returned book against his chest, the boy gazed at his still sister. “Sango?”

Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe!

“Sango, that's not funny,” Kohaku's large eyes were glossy with tears. “Sango, stop it! I'm sorry!” Journal forgotten, he knelt beside her, shaking her shoulder with his hands.

“I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!”

In his panicked state, Kohaku had accidentally hurt Sango. She had been fine, of course—just had the wind knocked out of her. But it was his fear, his eagerness to keep a secret that led to his carelessness with Sango's wellbeing.

Kagome was studying Sango closely, aware of her friend's vacant expression.

“I think he's hiding something.” Sango spoke after a steady silence. “Something he doesn't want anyone to find.”

Her thoughts flew to the young man garbed in his dark robes, her head filled with images of his bright eyes, half-smile—the way his very presence exuded such pain, such loss. Had he really touched her forehead? Did she feel the contact of his hand? He had certainly somehow carried her, but did he feel her?

“I wonder what he's hiding,” Kagome mused, and Sango felt her face heat in a blush, worried her friend might be able to read her thoughts.

“S-so you agree with me?” Sango cleared her throat and shoved a hand through her hair.

“Sure!” she said, kicking off the couch. “Besides, I know how much you love mysteries. We need to figure out what it is he's hiding.”

Sango turned her back on the mysterious door, stretching her arms above her head to give her thoughts time to organize. “As eager as I am to learn what's behind this door, maybe it would be safer if we searched around upstairs more. I didn't have time to look around much before I…” she trailed off, lost for words.

“Had a close encounter of the ghostly kind?” Kagome supplied with a cheerful air.

“Something like that. Anyway, maybe there are some old documents or something to look through.”

Sango didn't mention how doubtful she was about the possibility of finding such treasures. In reality, the young woman needed time to try to understand her mysterious visitor. She couldn't get his face out of her mind—the longing dark eyes that, though kind, held such a fathomless pain. What must have transpired in this shrine, in a Shikon of long ago, for this soul to be tethered to this Earthly plane?

 

..:X:..

 

She is not afraid of me. I don't understand.

 

I must keep her away, and yet I cannot hurt her.

 

It is as though she seeks me.

 

Why does she seek me?

 

I have toiled for so long, all alone. I am so tired. But she gives me strength.

 

Maybe she can help me.

 

Maybe she's the one who can save me.

 

..:X:..

 

Sango stood staring at the first upstairs bedroom in utter bewilderment.

“I don't understand. This wasn't here before, I swear to you!”

Kagome was leaning against the bed, gently turning a small, aged book in her hands. “It was sitting right here on the bed.”

“I walked into both of these rooms…the ghost took me in this room! I sat on that bed! I would've seen it!”

Kagome chewed on her lip. She looked at Sango, eyebrows knitted, and said, “There are too many strange things happening for them all to be supernatural. If such things happened all the time, there would be media here, ghost hunters.”

“What're you saying, Kagome? You think we're being set up?” Sango didn't like the direction this was going.

“Look, Kikyou knows we're here, and we know she is up to something, either on her own, or acting for Naraku.”

Sango kept silent, clenching and unclenching her hands rhythmically, deep in thought. She couldn't tell Kagome her suspicions—she could hardly believe them herself.

Somehow, Sango felt that the book was for her. The ghost was appearing for her. The ghost needed her. She felt a deeply-rooted tug towards the house, as though she were connected to it somehow. She couldn't leave, and yet she didn't know why exactly she had to stay; but it was imperative that she did.

Kagome continued, unperturbed by Sango's silence, “I think some of the phenomena here must have been planned by Kikyou. I want to know why she was here.”

“Maybe she was looking for something,” Sango finally piped up, swallowing with a sandpaper throat, uneasy with her musings.

“Probably what's behind that blocked door,” Kagome agreed, scratching idly at the binding of the book.

Sango's knees suddenly felt very weak, and she wobbled on uncertain legs to the bed, collapsing. When she was securely seated, she said, “Let's take a look at that book. Set-up or not, reading it couldn't hurt us.”

Kagome flipped open the cover of the book to a blank page. Frowning, she tilted the book and used her thumb to flip quickly through the entire thing.

“I don't understand. The whole thing's blank,” she said.

“If Kikyou were behind this, why would she leave a blank book?” Sango wondered quietly.

“I don't care what you say. I don't trust her, and I don't feel safe here,” Kagome shuddered, and for the first time, Sango noticed how uneasy the girl looked. Her eyes scanned the room.

She put her hand on Kagome's back, “Why don't you go back to your aunt's tonight. I don't mind staying here by myself.”

“I couldn't let you do that!”

“I'm not scared. I promise!” Sango lied, forcing a crooked smile to her face.

“I don't feel like it's safe here,” Kagome ventured.

“Oh c'mon. Like you pointed out, if Kikyou is involved, she's just trying to scare us, not hurt us. Besides, if you go back, you can talk to Kaede and Inuyasha in the morning to try to figure out what his ex-fiance was doing here.”

Kagome frowned, “Oh, I doubt Inuyasha will be helpful at all. But you're right; he might have some ideas, if I can drag them out of him…”

“Great!” Sango said, feeling somehow relieved. Her lips spread into a genuine smile. “Then it's settled!”

Sango couldn't explain it, but she needed to stay. Her tone grew serious, “Kagome, this is the thing I've been looking for all my life…this window to the afterlife. I'm not afraid.”

Kagome looked sad. “I know…” She added, silently, `But I'm afraid for you…for your state of mind.'

Regardless of her thoughts, Kagome allowed Sango to lead her down the stairs and to the foyer.

“I'll come get you tomorrow afternoon,” Kagome promised, “after I've spoken to Kaede and Inuyasha. You call if you need anything at all, okay?”

“Okay,” Sango said, teeth clenched tight together to keep from mentioning that there wasn't a phone in the rundown house. “I'll be fine!”

Sango pressed her back against the front door as she listened to Kagome's car start up and pull away. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest, but not from fear. She looked down at the book she clutched tightly, the strange, empty book they had found in one of the upstairs bedrooms. An unearthly pull raised her hand, opening the book to the first page.

Fresh black ink spelled out her name.

“Sango,” she read, “Help me.”

 

A/N: I know exactly where this story is going. It's just a matter of getting there…I hope you're enjoying the ride so far!