In His Name
Prologue: Spring Cleaning
Author's Note: This is my first long work of fiction so I hope you like it. Also, if anyone out there is good at editing and would like to help out a fellow writer I would appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inu-Yasha. So don't sue me. I'm just borrowing the characters because I'm too lazy to create my own. Any similarity between this story and another is completely coincidental.
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Mrs. Higurashi coughed as a flurry of dust came up off the old bureau in the attic. She turned her head away and gazed at the bright sunlight coming in through the small window. Her children, Kagome and Souta, were outside enjoying the first day of spring. She smiled at the thought of them, and then shook her head; they had no understanding of the joy of spring-cleaning.
The woman returned her attention to the bureau, sadness clouding her blue eyes. She had saved this part for last. After six hours of cleaning an attic, which had been neglected since before the bureau was brought up, she thought she would be able to leave it. Hoping she would be able to leave the memories that lay within the antique bureau hidden longer. However, that was not to be. Fate has strange ways of working and today it had decided that Ryoko Higurashi would have to face the past.
Her dust cloth ran over the glass of the mirror, wiping away ages of dust, and the shield that had protected her family from sadness. Ryoko's hand reached the knob of the first drawer and it opened easily, as if it had been oiled only days before. Looking in, the first thing her eyes found was a letter, attached to a photograph. She took it up and began to read.
Ryoko my Heart,
How I miss you! America is wonderful, but it is still empty without you. How are our children? How is my Kagome, did she pass the math test she was dreading the last time I called? How about our little Souta, I'm so sorry I missed his first steps. Tell your father hello for me. I can't write much, I have to get to my last meeting. I will see you in a week. Love for always, to you and our children. I love you.
Your Husband,
KenRyoko felt tears on her cheeks. This had been the last letter he'd sent to her; the last time he had said he loved her. That was eight years ago. The photograph still looked new, as items fated to make you face something you dread tend to. Ken stood in front of a fountain in America with his co-workers. He was smiling.
The tears flowed more freely, but she continued to look through the drawers finding hidden treasures that had belonged to her late husband. In the last drawer she found something that had come to them with his belongings. It was a small box, with a note inside.
Kagome, you are eighteen today my daughter. I'm so proud to see you wearing this crystal. I found it in a fountain and knew it was meant for you.
Inside the box was a piece of broken crystal. It gleamed even in the darkness of the attic. She had forgotten all about it. The day his belongings had arrived from America, it had been overlooked. Afterwards, she had set it aside in the bureau to save for Kagome's eighteenth birthday. However, like many sad things, the small gift was forgotten as the sadness of death and the love of Ken Higurashi receded into memory. She sighed and placed the case on a nearby box. The crystal would be a gift to Kagome before she returned to her duties in feudal Japan.
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Note: I don't know where I came up with the names, I haven't read all the manga and I haven't seen the anime. So, if they have given the actual names I would love to know them and I will adjust it. Also, I am really looking for someone who is willing to help me edit. I can only do so much on my own.