InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Hauntings ❯ The Chasing ( Chapter 16 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

“In war, as in love
In order to bring matters to a close
You must first bring them
Close together.”

-Napoleon


Souta peeked his head in through the doorway and gazed at the lump of blanket curled up on his sister’s bed. He looked up at the floating pink fuzz ball and smiled. They slowly crept over to the bed, mischievous smiles on each of their faces. They raised their hands above their heads and prepared to pounce on the unsuspecting girl.

“What are you doing in my room?” Souta jumped and spun around to face his sister. Standing in the doorway with a towel over her shoulder and a cookie in her mouth.

“I, uhh, I wanted to see if you were better.” He stammered.

“RAAAAWWR!” Helium zoomed out from behind him and leaped at Kagome, fully intent on giving her the “Tickle Torture” like they had planned. Kagome just sighed and bit down on her cookie, then tossed the remaining bits to the side of her.

“COOOKIE!” Helium cried, swerving away from her and heading strait for the chocolaty goodness.

“See ya later bro, I’ve got school.” She walked back down the hall and thudded down the stairs leaving her little brother staring at her bed, the covers rising and falling in a breathing motion.

Quickly he flipped the covers back to see their fat cat Buyo sleeping on top of a pile of pillows and stuffed animals. With a sigh he wandered back into his room, the ever hyper Helium trailing behind.

~*~*~*~*

Sango waved to her friend from the passenger seat in Miroku’s silvery blue convertible. Smiling Kagome waved back and ran down the driveway to the car. Tossing her bag in before her she jumped over the door and landed in the seat with a thud.

“You could have used the door Kagome.” Miroku said as he carefully drove his new solar-powered car down the street, careful to watch for the crazies in the hover cars.

“Yeah, but I have too much pent up energy. I need to do something!” She cried, stretching her arms up into the air and arching her back until she felt that delightfully painful pop.

“How about ya do me honey?” Came a shout from beside them, Kagome turned to see a group of guys in a shiny new huvertruck, there was a few guys in the bed flashing her yellow tooth smiles and waving their hands in a drunken attempt to wave. Kagome gave them a forced smile and waved back.

Unfortunately the drunks took this as acceptance to their proposal and slid the truck over until it was directly beside them, hovering just a few feet out of reach. One of the drunks leaned over the edge and smiled at her, taking a long drag of his joint he handed it over his shoulder to his pals and turned his attention back to her.

“Hey, what ya say we head down to the club, you and me.” He said, letting the smoke leak out of his lunges as he spoke.

Kagome gave a cough and waved her hand in front of her in an effort to clear the smell of smoke and whatever weird aftershave he was wearing. “Sorry, I’m underage.” She told him politely.

“Dats alright babes, cuz I could get you in nooooproblem.” He smiled and his friends in the back gave out barks of laughter.

“Bug off sleeze, she’s not interested.” Sango chimed from the front, Kagome slunk away from him and over into the other side of the car. Sango turned and smiled up into his hideous angry face. “And if you don’t get your heap of trash off the wrong side of the road that diesel is going to ram you through.” She pointed ahead and when everybody turned to look, Miroku took an unexpected sharp turn and headed down the narrow side street in-between the rows of apartments.

“What losers!” Sango laughed and turned back to face the front. Miroku kept amazingly silent and just continued to drive to school. “Kagome, me and Miroku were thinking. How about we ditch school after lunch and head to the library then? That would give us a few extra hours to find something to read.”

Kagome stared at her for a moment, and then turned to Miroku, then back to her. With a shrug of her shoulders she agreed. Sango, obviously expecting a good girl’s reply about how skipping school was wrong, just turned around and watched the road. This Kagome girl was getting more and more weird.

~*~*~*~*

Kagome sat in her seat, trying desperately to hide behind her hunched shoulders and complete her work. The rest of the class was working too, but someone would always sneak a peek at her, and she would see them. Notes were being passed around while the teacher was scribbling incoherent things on the whiteboard in a dark blue erasable marker; she wondered if the notes were about her. If they were silently, secretly commenting on the strange new girl in school that currently had a fuzzy pink ball floating around her head…asleep.

She gazed up at him, letting her fingers rest against the keyboard of her worksheet and watching him slowly make circles with his soft fur covered body. He was cute…like one of those tiny stuffed animals. He was so cuddly and soft. She was startled when he started to spin faster, going around in circles, faster and faster. Than he suddenly stopped, his large gold eyes popping open. “CEILING FANS!!!” he shouted and the whole class burst into laughter.

“What’s wrong Helium?” She asked

Helium than explained to Kagome that he was terrified of ceiling fans… “I mean just look at them! Who wouldn’t be scared of those sharp edges going around in circles at bazillion miles an hour! If a small innocent creature like me were to be caught in the blades than POOF! no more little helium…” He snuggled up to Kagome like a small child and she stared down…

‘He really is cute…like a little kitten…so cuddly and–’than she felt helium start rubbing his head against her chest. Quickly picking up the fuzz ball she flung him at the window, he hit it with a thud and slowly slid down... Sango giggled

“You’ll find that helium is almost as perverted as Miroku…almost.” She whispered to the fuming Kagome.

The teacher coughed and pressed a button on her whiteboard that changed her handwriting into readable text and told the students to message the worksheets to her folder so that the office assistant could grade them. In a few moments they all received their graded worksheet from the little cartoon character. Kagome sighed as she stared at her grade.

The teacher’s office assistant was different than the one her old school teachers had. This one was a cute kitten who put on reading glasses when checking the work and pulled out a laptop when helping you with research; it explained what you did wrong and how to correct it. The one her teacher liked was an animated robot who just told you what you did wrong and said to correct it. No helping, no study work, no cute little animations while performing tasks…how boring.

Kagome liked this cat. He was humorous with his artificial intelligence and ability to comprehend what someone was typing. Unlike the Robot that just read over your questions and told you what the proper way to say certain words. No answers…just computer logic. She liked having free time and asking him questions. Questions most kids are afraid to ask the teachers, best of all, you could ask him on your worksheet, complete privacy, and because he was a program, he could be in all the desk sheets at once.

Kagome watched through narrowed eyes as helium flittered back over to her desk. She reached inside her book bag and nodded to one of the kids who had the window seat. She had been planning something with her in the bathroom. The girl opened up the window a crack and Kagome carefully tossed the triple chocolate fudge cookie through it. It took helium all of three seconds to dive after it.

“COOKIE!!!” was all they heard as he squeezed through the open crack and zoomed down the side of the school, the girl quickly shut the window and everybody laughed again. It seemed Kagome was fitting in nicely. But her smile faded as she watched Miroku and Sango laugh together.

Slowly she turned back to her new worksheet that the teacher had sent to everybody’s desks. With a sigh she started on the new assignment, glancing up at the clock every few minutes waiting for the lunch bell.

~*~*~*~*

The drive to the library was a silent one, with the exception of Helium’s ridiculous comments every now and then. How he managed to find her was a mystery, but he did live at her school for years, so it mustn’t have been too difficult.

Miroku and Sango laughed softly about things they new and would sometimes ask her about something or if she had ever had a certain experience. To her, it was all a failed attempt to make her feel welcome, like she was a part of a group of friends, but she didn’t belong there with them. They were a couple…she was the intruder into their sacred space. No matter how well she got to know them, she would always be the friend in the back. Standing beside them in every photo, but not really belonging in the picture. It was pathetic…

Walking up the stone steps to the library she thought about Inuyasha, about how she always felt welcome with him. They were both lonely people with nothing but memories to keep them going. What would he say to her if she told him how she felt right now? She smiled. Nothing….

He would just hold her, sigh, and lightly kiss her head. He didn’t need to tell her anything, because he new exactly how she felt.

Miroku opened the library’s glass doors and a whoosh of cold air slapped her in the face, bringing her back into this realm. She walked in behind Sango and gazed around. The library wasn’t that big, not like the one she used to visit. This one had old fashioned wooden shelves and an actual librarian. Her old one had every book listed in a computer and all you had to do was state what your looking for, or your type of reading if you were just browsing, and the computer would immediately give you a list and brief summary of the book(s).

“Hello Miroku, Sango.” The librarian greeted both of them as they walked up to the counter. “Who is your guest?” Obviously the librarian didn’t find it suspicious that three highschoolers were halfway across town in a library during school hours. The woman was about middle aged. Life had already stapled wrinkles on her pretty face and gray into her dark hair. Her chin was sharp and her pointed nose rose slightly in the air out of habit.

“This is Kagome, classes were dull so we decided we’d come here for some fun.” Sango told her, Miroku and helium headed over to the shelves and pulled out a chess game. Sango went to join them, setting up the pieces, leaving Kagome with the surprisingly non-strict librarian.

“Well, what can I help you with little missy?” The woman asked.

Thinking a while Kagome gazed around the room. She could read an adventure novel, but that would just make her even itchier to get outside, and a romance novel was way too much for her right now, hell, she could write a romance novel with what she’s going through with Inuyasha and his mysterious past.

“Inuyasha.” She mumbled to herself.

“What’s that dear?” Kagome turned around and faced the librarian.

“Do you have some news paper clippings?” She asked anxiously. The librarian nodded and Kagome let out a little squeak of delight. The librarian walked her over to a shelf in the back rows and pulled down four thick leather books filled with yellowing pages of newspaper articles and reports dated back to the early 2000s. “What happened to the 1900s?” Kagome asked.

Oh, well, they were lost in the fire at the old library.” She brought her voice down to a whisper. “They said that terrible things went on in that library, such awful things. Many have actually said they spotted ghosts…”

A small gasp escaped Kagome and she stared intently at the librarian. “Ghosts?” She asked, unsure if the woman was only playing with her.

“Yes. Evil spirits attracted by the dark energy left by the murders.” Having said that she turned to leave, content in having spooked the new girl. Kagome carefully sat down at a table and watched the woman leave, thinking. Somehow that had tugged at her, the library…of the murders. Could Inuyasha somehow be involved?

A crash made her jump and she heard Sango screaming.

“You two better not wreck anything!” She heard the librarian shout.

“I was merely making my next move.” She heard Miroku defend himself, which earned a string of insults followed by the sound of a smack. Chuckling to herself she opened up the first book and flipped back through the pages, looking for any reference to Inuyasha’s claimed death.

Finally, somewhere around the year 2004, she came upon the headlines “Library Slaughter.” She continued reading.

“The founder of the Public library was arrested yesterday under the suspicion of kidnap, rape, and murder. Upon investigating the Library the officers discovered an underground chamber.”
“It was like walking into a horror movie,” said one officer, “bodies everywhere, some women were still alive, chained up and tortured. The objects of that bastard’s most twisted and demented fantasies.”

There was a photograph of a woman in the center of a large room, chained only by the hands and hanging from the ceiling. There were several long objects, some spiked, shoved up her– Kagome closed the book. She didn’t want to even think about the pain that woman had gone through. Still…she needed to continue looking.

Taking a deep breath she reopened the book and flipped through the pages, starting the day before the incident. After reading through a few pages, nothing too interesting, kids doing a walkathon, a fire starts, how the area prospered from the rainy season they had.

And article caught her eye. Sitting back in her seat she read about the debate on whether of not to chop down an old tree…ordinary enough. But the picture showed the tree sitting in the center of her schoolyard. It was Inuyasha’s tree.

Closing the book again she yawned and rubbed her eyes. Looking up at the clock she noticed that several hours had already passed. Picking up the article book she made her way back to the front of the library.

The librarian was scribbling out some paperwork and typing things on her computer. Miroku and Sango had long since given up their chess game and sat at the couch, huddled together reading their own chosen books, Helium was, of course, watching cartoons on the kid-section reading TV.

Walking over to the counter Kagome placed the leather bound article book on the glass surface and set her hand beside it. In an instant both the book and her fingerprints here scanned, and she had checked out her first library book in this new town.

Sango looked up. “You ready to go Kagome? It’s getting late.” Kagome nodded and Both Sango and Miroku got up, checked out their books, and they all walked out the door. Down at the car, they heard a cry. Kagome turned to see little Helium trying to squeeze through the book drop. With a pop he zoomed down the stairs and across the parking lot, hitting a stop sign and slowly sliding down the pole.

“Helium, you’re a crack head.” Sango laughed and Miroku started the car.
Helium swerved and twirled his way back in a drunken manner before plopping himself down on the dash sect to the dancing girl in a grass skirt Sango gave Miroku for his Birthday.

Kagome yawned again and clutched the book closer to her, wondering what else she would find in the early 2000s.

~*~*~*~*

Kouga stood over Inuyasha’s week, nude form after having bathed his blood covered body and bandaged his bleeding wrists. Brushing aside silvery wet bangs he stared down into drowsy hazel eyes.

“How ya feeling?” He asked. Inuyasha blinked through the haze and stared up at Kouga.

“Like someone drove dragger through my chest, ripped out my heart, and stuck it in the blender.” He answered in a hoarse voice. Kouga laughed and reached up to grab the dark cloak.

“Well, I can promise you no one has done that, but I’m afraid I do have to delve into your soul again.” Kouga draped the dark cloak over him, before touching his two fingers to Inuyasha’s forehead and placing his open palm on Inuyasha’s bare chest.

Pain rippled through him as Kouga once again tore through his memories, intent on finding what terrible event had caused him to remain.

~*~*~*~*

Kagura sighed, turning her marshmallow carefully over the fire until it was a nice caramel brown. Soten had fallen asleep not too long after they finished her robe, and all that was left was her and a drowsy Rin. She gazed over at the little girl, blowing out the fire that had caught on her marshmallow and taking a bite. Kagura gave out a laugh as the gooey substance clung to the stick, making it even harder for the girl to eat her large marshmallow.

Leaning back on her cotton pillows she pulled off the toasted skin and ate that, sticking the remaining gooey marshmallow back in the fire to brown.

“Why do you always do that?” Rin asked.

“I don’t know maybe I just want it to last a bit longer. If a cook it and eat it in layers, it takes longer, and I can enjoy it more.” She pulled it out again, removed the outer skin, and handed it to the girl.

Rin smiled as she devoured the caramel colored marshmallow. She grabbed another marshmallow from the bowl and carefully placed it in the fire with Kagura’s fresh one.

“Not to close to the flame now, that’s how it catches fire. You have to turn it slowly over the heat, but not to high, then it will take to long.” Kagura instructed.

Quietly, the spirit watched the scene; there was a pull inside of him. A slight tug, telling him to join them, though he new he couldn’t. Again, this is what hell truly was, to watch such a moment, and never be able to be apart of it.

He longed for the chance to have done this in his lifetime, with his own wife and daughter. But his fiancé, a noblewoman who’s admiration for him was second only to her love of music. She was beautiful, educated, and high class, but he felt nothing for her. He knew that even if he had lived past his twenties, he would not have had such a life as these two did. He envied them, as mush as he hated to feel any emotion, he was saddened by the thought that he had the authority to snatch this girls life away…to put an end to their happiness.

One day with them, with her…and he already made his decision…he would let the girl live…no, more than that. He would watch over these two…Somehow; he would be included in their lives. Even if it was only as another of their guardian spirits…

The tension in the room eased a bit as he was welcomed as a guardian. Yes, there would be trouble soon, when it was discovered that he no longer was a reaper…but that would come later…right now, he was going to stay with them. And prevent anything from endangering that young girl’s life.

~*~*~*~*

Kagome flopped down on her bed a sigh escaping her lips and leaving a heated spot in her pillow. She was utterly exhausted and it didn’t take long for sleep to overtake her.

*~*Dream, yes it’s a dream, ~zzzzZZZZ*~*

Kagome walked down through the dark room, the cold concrete making her toes coil; there, up ahead, was a sealed off door. She turned the knob and the door creaked open to show a dark stairway Kagome kept thinking back to the article. How the owner had kidnapped young women and girls and taken them down into this level where he raped and tortured them continuously.
She felt around the walls for the lights and started down. The air was cold in the narrow stairwell. A single bare bulb burned, sending sickly yellow beams to show the stains of blood on the dusty stone steps. Her hand ran across a streak of blood across the walls, she quickly drew her hand away, afraid.

The way ended at an echoing dark hallway, another set of lights hung from the low ceiling, the walls stained red with more blood. Floor to ceiling iron gates ran down the length of the hall, doing nothing to hide the chains and abandoned weapons. Skeletons with missing pieces littered the floors and hung from some of the chains in awkward positions. She shivered in disgust as the image of what had happened to them filled her mind. The poor souls.

She walked all the way down into the main chamber at the end, Why was it always at the end? She stood before a large iron entryway, rusted and grimy. Hesitantly she grasped the antique style iron rings and struggled to pull open one of the large heavy doors.

She gasped at what she saw before her. Instead of a tortured woman hanging limply from thick rusty iron chains attached to the high ceiling; inside was a young man draped in a black cloak, he leaned over a table, a body lying sprawled out on top. A circle of burning candles and bowls of dried herbs surrounded him. Then she caught sight of it, wet hair pouring down the side in a pool of silver. Inuyasha was on that table!

She heard a small cry of pain escape his lips and she pushed forward. He was in danger! She ran to the table, but it kept spinning farther away. The room had gotten much larger, the rusted blades hanging on the walls much sharper…Laughter and screams echoed in her mind as tortured spirits swirled around her. Haunted souls there to keep her from the happiness they were denied.

*~* End of dream, yup, she can wake up now*~*

She sat up in her bed, glancing around the room, searching for any remnants of her dream. She had an idea now, of where Inuyasha was. Climbing out of bed she through on her jacket and shoes and ran outside into the rain.

~*~*~*~*

“A rainy night, how perfect for a dinner date,” Sango commented as she shook the water from her coat before handing it to Miroku. He hung both coats up in the closet and walked into the living room. Loading up the wood in the fireplace he crumbled up newspaper and struck a match, slowly the fire began to grow, enveloping the wood.

Turning around he found Sango sitting relaxed on the couch, a chess set neatly arranged before her, the pieces set in the exact places where they had left off. With a smile, he sat down across from her.

“So what is the wager of this game?” He asked when she mad her move, setting queen near his bishop, leaving the king, unguarded.

“Whatever, it depends on who wins.” She replied. He moved his knight in her direction.

~*~*~*~*

Shippo perked his ears up; someone was jogging down the street. He yipped excitedly and jumped down from his place in Souten’s lap. Hopping out the window and disappearing in the garden.

“Shippo, wait!” Rin called grabbing her coat she charged out into the rain, following after the sound of Shippo’s little bell, Kagura was close behind.

Sesshoumaru watched from the doorway…this was unexpected. This scene wasn’t supposed to come for two more days. Hurriedly he zoomed out the door, following after his charges.

~*~*~*~*

“Check.” Miroku said. He had his knight in position to attack her king.

~*~*~*~*

Inuyasha let out another little cry. He didn’t want to remember anymore. He didn’t need to. If he found out what he stayed behind for, then he might have to leave, he didn’t want to go. He wanted to stay with Kagome forever. Beside, it hurt. It hurt so badly to remember his life. He was always so alone, always picked on and judged. He didn’t have anything, and when Kikyou betrayed his love, when she left him. He was more alone than ever. Why did everyone want to hurt him? What did he ever do?

He would show them, he would make them feel sorry, feel ashamed for what they put him through. They didn’t even feel bad when he killed himself. They made him do it, they hurt him so much.

His eyes burst open and he tossed Kouga to the side. The cloak swirled around Inuyasha and the candles and bowls lifted off the floor and was flung at Kouga, cracking him in the head and shoulder.

~*~*~*~*

Sango moved her king a space away, and Miroku positioned his other knight to attack.

~*~*~*~*

Ayame burst in through the large door, screaming as the weapons on the walls began flying around, heading straight towards Kouga. Picking up one of the clay bowls she ran to stand beside him. A large spiked bar came flying towards her and she raised the bowl. The spear-like object struck through the bowl with a clash and she grabbed it, using that as a tool to knock away the attacking objects.

She grabbed Kouga around the arm and tried dragging him out of the room, knocking away hurtling objects as she moved. She had almost reached the door when a heavy clay bowl struck her in the back of the head, knocking her out on the floor.

~*~*~*~*

Miroku finally took noticed of Sango’s strategy and quickly positioned his bishop to attack her queen, but noticing the alignment of her nights, castles, and two pawns, he decided not to risk it.

~*~*~*~*

Kagome finally stopped, breathless and soaked, in front of the boarded doors of the old library. She felt like collapsing, she was cold and tired and worried, but she had to help Inuyasha. Jogging up the steps she latched onto one of the boards and tugged…but it didn’t budge. With a cry of frustrated defeat she slammed her fist into the blistering wood. Suddenly there was a sharp pain run up her leg and she looked down to see a small animal had sunken its dull fangs into her ankle.

Resisting the urge to dropkick the thing she reached down and carefully pried it from her foot.

“Shippo!” She heard a child call, followed by a young woman’s muffled voice. A little girl stopped at the bottom of the stairs and gave a breathless smile. “Hi, um.”

Kagome stood at the top of the stairs, holding the small fox. “Is he yours?” She asked. The young girl nodded and hurried up the stairs to collect the shivering excited bundle of wet fur.

“Rin, why didn’t you wait for me? It’s dangerous out here alone!” A young woman came jogging up to the stairs, sopping wet and out of breath. Like everybody else.

“Oh, hello.” She said. Then she took in the girl’s disheveled appearance. Her tangled wet hair, soaked house robe and untied sneakers. “What exactly brings you out here without a jacket?” She asked nosily.

“I-I have to help my friend. He’s somewhere in this building!” Kagome started crying now. “I can’t even get in. I don’t know how he did.” Kagura seamed a little nervous, this girl could be a nutcase. Even she had time to get her coat.

Shippo jumped out of Rin’s arms and ran off once again.

“Oh no! Shippo!” Rin cried. “Come on! We have to catch him.” She latched onto Kagome’s hand and pulled her after the little fox. With a sigh, Kagura ran after them, leaving three unnoticed ghosts at a stand off.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Nuraku asked the former reaper.

“I would ask you two the same thing. Do you know how much trouble you’re in? It’s very unnerving when souls “leave” the spirit world, especially this close to their rebirth.”

“We had to help Inuyasha!” Kikyou defended.

“The suicide brat? What’s so special about him?” He asked.

“We could ask you, since you obviously know him.” Nuraku sifted over to him. “Suicide spirits aren’t that unique. How is it that you know him?”

“He was my first uninfluenced cases.” He stated. He didn’t have a choice whether the boy lived or died, he was powerless in that. It was another lesson he had to learn. You can’t prevent the good from dieing all the time.

“Ahh! He went in that hole!” Rin cried, startling them out of their conversation

“It’s a way in!” Kagome shouted gleefully. She grabbed onto the withered planks and pulled, many of them easily coming free, others Kagura had to help her with. Finally it was large enough for them to crawl in.