InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Prayer Beads ❯ Come Back To Me ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: Hiya! Ok, so I know I have other fics to finish, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone! My mom was trying to tell me about the plot of a certain old movie the other day, and like myself, she has the same horrid memory and couldn't remember how the dang story ended. Wondering how it actually did end started bugging me to the point that I could barely sleep at night. That's kinda where this idea sprung from.

Also, I realized that I don't have any fics that mostly center on Sango and Miroku. I'm guilty of neglecting the pair in some of my fics, and fact remains that I really love them!

So here ya go, the product of my overactive imagination and a night of energy drinks and Lays chips. Unfortunately, I do not intend to get any help from History books, so please, if you see any historical errors, laugh, but try not to point them out. Enjoy, and please, review!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Sheesh!

oooooooooo

PRAYER BEADS

Come Back To Me

oooooooooo

Miroku Houshi twirled the old set of prayer beads around his fingers as he lay on his luxurious bed in his mansion. The fine silk sheets twisted under his weight as he turned onto his stomach, staring intently at the offending object wrapped around his hand.

The beads were strung on a thin, yet very tough string. They were of what years ago would have been a brilliant sky blue, but its age had weathered away its luster. The edges of the beads had tiny chips, the paint fading where the beads met on the string.

He had been thinking back to the events of the day, and more specifically, thinking about the old lady he had met earlier. The graceful old woman who had given him the prayer beads.

She had looked so sad, yet so elated to see him. But the strangest thing about the whole deal was... that he had not the faintest clue as to who the old woman was.

Heck, he didn't even know her name.

When they had met, and she had given him the beads, he had been so surprised by her reaction to him that all he had managed to do was gape openly at her, and she just turned away after having said the queerest thing...

--- Flashback ---

"Sir Houshi!"

"Mister Houshi! Miroku!"

"Could you please answer some questions for the Daily Inquirer, Mister Houshi?"

The calls continued and all he really wanted to do was cover his ears. His bodyguards all walked behind him, and the irritating shove and pull of fans and reporters was a constant, but Miroku tried his damnest to hold on to his smile as he walked out of the cinema house.

It had been the premier night of his newest movie, a masterful re-make of the classic "Romeo and Juliet". The cinema had been packed with people, mostly females, and the central aisle of the place had been barricaded for the use of the showbiz perps. The opening had been an absolute success.

He looked up from the ground he was walking on, and locked eyes with a certain swooning fan. Said fan immediately collapsed.

Ah, the perks of being the most famous bachelor movie actor in the industry! Where would Hollywood be without his charms?

Still there. After all, he didn't actually live in Hollywood. He lived in a town about two miles away.

He was just about to step off the red carpet when a beautiful dark-haired reporter blocked his way, shouting questions, and he found himself smiling at her before the guards could come up and pull her away.

"Yura Kami, The Expedition," the reporter in the very short black dress offered. "Miroku-san, is it true that some real-life romance had gone on behind the scenes with your lead actress Stephanie Cray?"

Miroku nearly rolled his eyes. `Not this again!' he thought.

"Well, Yura, I could assure you that nothing happened, or even sparked between me and Steph. We are just good friends, though I have to admit, she makes fabulous Puttanesca!" he replied. `Besides, that woman prefers women,' he added mentally.

"So the most sought-after bachelor is still a bachelor?"

"I regret to admit," Miroku answered, "That to this day, I have still yet to find this Romeo's Juliet."

He kept his smile intact, but the fact was that the words had sent a pang through his chest. True, he enjoyed his freedom... but what he wouldn't give to find the perfect woman...

He stepped off the carpet, heading for the limousine that waited for him just a few steps away. He was just about to get it when a sharp, seemingly desperate call halted his actions.

"Houshi-sama!"

It was obviously someone of Japanese descent, like himself. The honorific added to his name gave that away. He turned around, one foot on the vehicle, to find an old woman trudging after his entourage. She was clutching something to her chest, her breaths small gasps of air as she caught up.

He didn't immediately recognize her, though he thought he could recall seeing her in the cinema, up on the VIP platforms.

The guards moved to stand before her, but Miroku immediately held them away as he stepped from his car. "Yes, Madame?"

"Houshi-sama..." she said as she stood before him.

Miroku noted that the woman was probably over seventy years old, but she had aged very gracefully. She was of average height, and she stood firm on her stilettos. She held her almost white hair back in a complicated bun, and her startling magenta eyes were shining. And her figure! Had she happened to have her back to him, he would have mistaken her for a young woman.

"May I help you madame?" he asked with a smile, noticing a rather burly guard emerging from the hall and shouting after the old lady. Ah, the woman's bodyguard.

At this, she held out her hands, and there, he found a very old set of light blue prayer beads. The wooden beads were polished, showing that despite its age, it had obviously been very well taken care of. He took one look at the woman, and felt compelled to take the beads into his hands. He took them from her, and started. For some reason, the beads felt... familiar.

He looked back at her, only to find her staring at his face in near reverence, almost as if she was afraid to tear her gaze from him.

"Come back to me..." the old woman whispered, her eyes happy but pleading.

Miroku blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Come back to me," she said again, before her guard reached her and pulled her back from him, profusely muttering apologies. She looked over her shoulder at the gaping Miroku, flashing him a tiny smile before she walked towards her own car.

Miroku stared at the beads in his hands, then back at the advancing vehicle, but before he could think to come forward and run after the car, his guards began pushing him into his own limo. He was home before he could even remember that he should have asked the woman for her name.

oooooooooo

He growled in frustration. `Who was that lady?' he thought to himself, rolling over again and pulling the sheets around beneath him. He heaved a huge sigh and decided to call his manager and best friend (though most often mistaken for one of his bodyguards), Hachi.

He reached over his bedside table and dialed the memorized number. A few rings and his burly, seven foot two buddy's voice came on. "Oi Hachi!"

"Miroku! It's two o'clock in the morning, man! What's up?! Need a bed warmer after your opening night? Your favorite hookers should be free by now. Should I ring Koharu-chan and Clara again?"

"No, you freak," he said with a tiny grin. He couldn't blame Hachi for the assumption though... that was the usual reason for his calls. "I have a favor to ask you."

"When do you not?"

"Oh, shut up," Miroku replied. "I... remember that old lady who ran up to me earlier tonight? At the premier?"

"You mean the one with the nice buns?"

"You had better be talking about her hair, Hachi. She's a senior citizen, for crying out loud!"

"Yeah, but didn't you notice when she turned around? Small waist, tight butt... she was probably a model in her youth. The gal still looks tasty from behind!"

"Have you no respect for the elderly, Hachi?" Miroku sighed in exasperation. And he thought he was a pervert... "Anyway... do you happen to know who she is? I can't seem to fall asleep thinking."

"So you dig elder women now?"

"Not everyone shares your fascination with all beings in a skirt, Hachi."

"Yeah, only you do."

"Hachi..."

"Ok, ok! I was talking to Yura today and-"

"Yura? The reporter?"

"What can I say? Everyone loves the tanuki-man! Anyway... she said the old woman is called Sango Taijiya. Yura said the woman hadn't been seen coming out of her mansion for the past ten years, and everyone was surprised to see her at your premier night showing," Hachi said.

"Sango Taijiya, eh? So just WHO exactly is she?" Miroku asked.

"Oh, don't you know?" Hachi said, surprise lacing his tone. "She was a movie and Broadway actress in the late 1940's. She just stopped working and disappeared in the mid-1950's, and no one knows why."

"Oh?" Miroku replied. "But if she was so popular, why haven't I heard of her?"

"First of all..." Hachi replied testily, and Miroku thought he heard some noise in the background. "There was a decline in the movie industry in the early 1950's so, she was popular to movie-goers, but the gal was no Elvis Presley. And on Broadway, she acted, but was not fond of finding her name on the credit sheets. And of course, there was the fact that she is part Japanese..."

"Oh. I see. Could you maybe, find out where she lives? I wanna talk to her about something she said to me," Miroku said, and before Hachi could reply, he was positive he heard a female voice on the other line. "Oi Hachi, am I interrupting anything?"

Hachi seemed too preoccupied with making "Yura" go back to sleep to answer him.

"Hachi?"

"Oh, sorry Miro. What did you say?"

"I asked if you could get me Miss Taijiya's address. Is Yura asleep now?" he added with a chuckle.

"Asshole," Hachi replied. "Ok, no problem. I'll e-mail it to you before noon tomorrow. Now leave me alone, I have work to do." And with that, the phone went dead.

oooooooooo

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Miroku said to himself as he drove in his oldest, most inconspicuous car to the southern edge of the city. He clutched the piece of paper bearing the old lady's address in his hand. The paper told him that the old lady lived far beyond the southern boundary, her house practically sitting on one of the hills.

It had been three days since the opening night, and he had just now managed to get away from his bodyguards. He didn't want anybody following him to Miss Taijiya's home. They would frighten the poor gal away.

He arrived after an hour-long drive, and he found himself looking at a very pretty, very pristine home. The owner obviously had a thing for pink, what with the tall baby pink gates and matching roof. Not to say that the house lacked a masculine touch, though. The windows were lined with his favorite shades of violet and blue, actually, and the walls were pale gray.

He parked his car by the concrete wall of the gate, before checking for the beads in his pants pocket. He touched them briefly, and walked up to the guard, the same one from the premier night, who stood by the metal fence. "Excuse me, may I please speak with Miss Sango Taijiya? I'm..."

The guard regarded him with a weary expression as he spoke. "What are you talking about? Miss Taijiya died two days ago."

"What?!"

"You heard me. She's dead. She died the morning after she went to the "Romeo and Juliet" premier," the guard said, and Miroku found himself feeling strangely affected by the old lady's death.

"Oh, then, I am sorry for intruding. Tell the family I express my condolences."

"Sure, now you better get back to your house before your guards figure out that you'd ditched them, Mr. Houshi," the guard said with a grin.

"Eh? You know me?"

"Like half the God damn planet," the guard replied with a nod.

oooooooooo

"So, how are things between you and your fiancé, Kagome?" Miroku asked as he activated his phone's hands free mode. He pulled the beads out of his pocket as he lay on his stomach on his bed, listening to his friend over the line.

Kagome is the granddaughter of his grandfather's best friend. Her family lived in an old Shinto shrine near the northern edge of town, right beside his own ancestral home. He had known her since childhood, and their friendship had not dwindled even after he became a star, and she was left as an agent in a call center.

The strangest thing had happened to her, but she vehemently refused to talk about it. The girl had disappeared without a trace about a month ago, on her twenty-first birthday. They had all been frantic, until she suddenly turned up two days later, teary-eyed and hugging everyone like she hadn't seen them in decades... and sporting a fiancé. A very rich, very influential and very strong black-haired fiancé by the name of Inuyasha.

"Oh, fine. He's been in a pretty good mood lately, probably because he has finally made peace with his asshole brother, after all these years, and I can't believe..."

"Years, Kagome? Exactly how long have you known him anyway?"

"Erm... none of your business?"

"Fine, be that way!" Miroku said. "You just met a man one day, and didn't tell me, or anybody else for that matter, and I had to find out from SOUTA of all people, that you had a fiancé. Just because you're engaged at the age of 21, and I'm turning into a spinster."

"Shut up, Miro. It's your own fault for being too choosy... and after all that crap about asking everybody to bear your child, too. You know as well as I do that lots of girls would be begging for you if given the signal. Besides, you're only 24."

"And that's 4 years too old," Miroku said, twirling the beads around his fingers. "Oi, Kagster, do you happen to know anything about a certain Sango Taijiya?"

"..."

"Kag?"

"H-hai, Miro. She's an old actress, why?"

"She said the strangest thing to me, about a week ago, at my opening night. I've been intrigued ever since, but before I could speak with her, she died."

Silence. Then, "Miroku, do you think you could meet me in the well house, alone, today?"

"Hm? Oh, I dunno. I guess. Why? Aren't you engaged?" he replied, waggling his brows and letting his voice take a lecherous tone.

"You always were a pervert. Don't even let Inuyasha hear you say that."

"Ok, ok! I'll be over right away! Just let me change my clothes!" he said, before hanging up.

oooooooooo

The shrine was as it always had been... leaves scattered around the grounds, and the big old God Tree standing tall beside the old well house. The Higurashis' home was painted pale yellow, with a blue roof, and their security system was high on top of the front door.

Only difference was... the place was right then completely deserted.

He groped around the pockets of his jeans, patting the prayer beads he had put in there, as if for reassurance. He sighed, before glancing at his Rolex, and noting that he was just in time.

He walked into the well house, softly sliding the old wooden doors closed behind him. The structure must have been about a hundred years old, give or take a few years.

"Kag? Yo, Kagster, you in here?" he called, looking around. "Man, it's dark in here," he muttered as he felt his way around the place. "Kag, you stinker," he said softly. "You know damn well that I'm night-blind."

Seeing that there was no point standing in front of the door, he slowly made his way down the stairs, heading for the dry well that he knew was in the middle of the shrine. The boards creaked under his weight, and he cringed everytime they did. They didn't creak THAT loudly the last time he had been in there!

"Kag?" he called, knowing well that she wasn't even there yet. `Probably up in her room,' he thought, sitting up on the lip of the well. He leaned back a bit on his arms, and looked up into the ceiling that his bad eyesight couldn't even see.

Something caught his attention, though, as he looked over his shoulder into the well. A spark, he could have sworn, just blinked up at him from the bottom of the well.

He got up and leaned down on his elbows on the old wood, trying to see into the well. "Eh?" he thought, noticing that the spark he had seen wasn't there. `Must have been my imagination.'

He was just about to turn around, when a pair of hands shoved up against his shoulder blades with such force, he found himself falling face-first into the well.

"AAAH! Kagome!" he shouted furiously as he fell, knowing for sure that his friend was involved. The one who pushed him was definitely not her - the shove was much too strong, it had to have been Inuyasha - but who else would have thought of pushing him down the well?

He closed his eyes as the well's floor came too close to his face for comfort, stretching his hands out to break his fall.

His arms and face never came in contact with the ground. Instead, he found himself sitting soundly on the floor, his arms still outstretched as he anticipated the pain.

He got up slowly, before looking up at the ceiling. He could hear humming, and his brows lowered in irritation. "Higurashi! I'm sooo gonna get you for this!" he shouted up, cupping his hands around his mouth.

"Miroku?" a young male voice called.

`Souta?' he thought, recognizing the voice. "Oi! I'm over here! In the well."

A teenage male's face popped into his blurry view, and he waved his hand when the boy shone a rather large flashlight in. "Can you help me out?"

"Sure!" the teen replied, letting a long rope dangle over the edge. He held onto it as Miroku climbed up. "Mou, how on earth did you fall into the well, Miroku? I told you many times to stay away from it. Legend has it the well is magical, and can transport a man to the past!" he said when Miroku was up and brushing dust off his clothes.

`He's starting to sound like Higurashi-jiisan,' he thought. "How I fell, you ask? Ask your sister," he replied, desperately trying to brush out any dirt.

"My sister?" Souta said in confusion. "What are you...?"

"Oi, let's get out of here, shall we? You know I can't see in the dark."

"You can't?"

Miroku grabbed the rather large and heavy flashlight from his friend, pulling on his sleeve as he pulled them out of the shrine. When they emerged in the sunlight, Miroku turned off the abominable flashlight. "Dude, this is huge! You might as well have used a fog light man!"

When he finally turned towards the boy, he raised an eyebrow before he managed to find his voice. "What are you wearing? Is there a costume party that I didn't know about?"

The boy was wearing clothing typical of the late 1940's... a long-sleeved collared button shirt, a pair of loose pants, socks and black leather shoes. Souta just looked at him strangely. "You tell me." he replied, looking at Miroku's clothes. "Where did you get those pants? A new fad at the monastery?"

Miroku looked down at his denims and purple t-shirt, about to ask what was wrong with his clothing when he stopped. "Monastery?" he asked, confused. He didn't go to a monastery. Last one of his family to do so was his grandpa, Miroku senior...

"Yeah," the boy replied. "But then again, last you said, you were quitting," Souta continued. "I still can barely believe it... since we became neighbors, you have wanted to become a priest, and now you're quitting because of Rei. But like you said, once you fall in love..."

Miroku was confused. "Rei? As in Granny Rei?" he asked.

Souta looked at him strangely. "Granny, huh? Is that your new petname for her? I thought you had agreed on `darling'?" he remarked with a grin.

Miroku was about to answer when a little girl of about 8, wearing a frilly red dress ran up to them. "Kenji-aniki! Kenji-aniki!"

He was even more confused, when Souta suddenly shouted, "I am here, Kimiko!"

`Kimiko?' he thought, his mind spinning. `Isn't Kimiko the name of Kagome's departed grandmother? Higurashi-jiisan's younger sister?'

It was then that Miroku looked around the shrine. The well house looked different... all the wooden planks looked much newer, and a small bamboo fountain was a few feet away from it. Even the Higurashis' home looked different. It was painted white, and its roof was a dark gray.

He then looked at Souta, and he realized that it wasn't Souta... this boy's features were a tad sharper, his hair deep black instead of dark brown. He also had a mole beside his right eye, something that he knew for a fact wasn't Souta's...

As if on impulse, he slipped his hand into his pocket, taking out the old set of prayer beads. Except, they didn't look so old anymore. The beads he was holding looked not a day over a year old, still beautifully polished, but the chips on the wood were gone.

Realization hit him, and he looked apprehensively at the boy talking to his animated little sister.

"Kenji..." he whispered, but the boy heard him.

"Yes, Miroku?"

Miroku's mind was spinning... where was he? Or maybe... WHEN was he? If his suspicions were correct...

"What's the date today, Kenji?"

Kenji looked skyward for a moment, seemingly thinking. "July 20, 1952, I think... oh wait, it's 21... no! 20! It's 20, Miroku."

But Miroku wasn't listening... he had zoned out when he heard 1952...

He had just gone 52 years into the past.

oooooooooo

A/N: Well... that was the first chapter. Should I continue this? Please, read and review. And no flames, please. Thanks!

ScarletRaven1001