((So yeah this is my first fanfic ever. this storyline is based off a dream I had. Said dream being one of the many I had while staying at my grandma's house during a break. I was sick and bedridden with a high fever and thankfully graced with Seshoumaru dreams for the entire time I was sick. I decided to take this one and make it a story…I have put great thought into it and expanded it to a longer version than my dream. I warn that it will be more oc than anything and that I haven't watched Inuyasha in a while so I'm a little foggy on most of the details. That being said I wouldn't mind constructive criticism…but no flames please. I do plan for Imogene to fall in love with Seshy though it might take a while….not entirely sure yet. Well any who on with the disclaimer then story.))

"talking"

'thinking'

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takashi does. Though I do own Imogene, Alice, Josh and any other oc character my mind comes up with.

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Imogene awoke from her sleep, the afternoon sun trying to infiltrate the dark blue curtains that hung over her window. She rolled over on her side and looked at her at her alarm clock; Bright red numbers told her it was 1:30pm. She sighed and slipped her legs over the side of the bed. Imogene sat like this for a minute before reaching up her arms in a stretch, her sore muscles protested at the movement. Yawing lightly she stood up and walked to the full length mirror in the corner of the bedroom. She heaved a deep sigh upon seeing the mess of a person staring back at her from the mirror. Dark bags were under puffy deep blue eyes, an ivory pale face was framed by long black disheveled hair. She sighed once again before heading into the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom she took a second look at herself in the mirror before turning on the shower. She gave it time to heat up before slipping off her black lacy nightgown and stepping in. she let off a small smile as the water ran down her body. Hot showers were the absolute best in Imogene's opinion. They relaxed you while washing away your aches and worries and last night events had filled Imogene with more worry than she had ever experienced before. She let her mind wander to last night's events as the hot water calmed her.

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Imogene came home around nine the night before. She walked up the steps of her apartment building, reaching the top she began to pull out her keys as she walked to her apartment. Her apartment was all the way at the end of the hallway. She fished them out as she was nearing the door. Her eyes widened slightly but then went to a squint as she tried to get a more focused view. Something was off about her door. Once she got closer she knew what that something was, her door was ajar. She was soon standing in front of it and running her hand down the door frame. The door jamb was splintered and it was obvious that someone had kicked the door in.

She let out a shuddering breath and pushed on the door, making it open slowly. She stepped in as quietly as possible. She didn't know if whoever had broken in was still there or not. Fear creeping through every inch of Imogene's body as she walked through her apartment.

The area she lived in was not perfect but things like this didn't usually happen. Sure there was the occasional mugging in the alleyways but there hadn't been any break-ins in her apartment building. Well until now that is.

Imogene was puzzled by the fact that nothing seemed to be missing or damaged. Besides the front door everything seemed to be in perfect order. She was starting to get less worried as she neared the bedroom. She had heard no noise she entered and nothing seemed to have been bothered. Imogene had started to rationalize that it must have been one of her neighbors, that they had gotten drunk or something and had gotten the apartment number wrong and broke the door in out of frustration upon not being able to unlock it. "Yeah." She said quietly to herself "that has to be it." Imogene added in the same quiet tone trying to reassure herself. She opened her bedroom door and stepped into her room. What little color she had in her pale face drained out along with all the comfort and calmness she had tried to install in herself.

Clothes had been taken out of the closet and drawers and now lay scattered around the room. Some of them had been ripped or had red stuff on it. A couple of her pillows looked like they were stabbed; others appeared to have been sliced open. Picture frames that had contained pictures of her had been smashed. But worst of all was the message painted in red on the back wall. Big red angry letters shook the very core of Imogene. She sank down to the floor and hugged her arm around her self while she shook. She closed her eyes but she could still see the words as if they were painted on the inside of her eyelids. The words 'unholy', 'witch' 'die', 'whore.' And many other obscene and violent words were spread out all over the back wall.

After a while Imogene was able to pull herself together and stand up. She walked out off her bedroom and returned with a large trash bag. She sighed before she began to clean up. She threw away the damaged clothes, pillows, and glass that was scattered around. Finishing that part of the clean-up she half carried half dragged the trash bag out of her apartment and down the stairs to the dumpster. She trudged back up the stairs and set to rearranging things again. Placed most of her clothes back into drawers and the others were re-hung in the closet. Other things were restacked on shelves or set on top of the dresser all where they belonged. She gazed sadly at the back wall before heading out of her room and into the kitchen. She returned to her room carrying a bucket filled with cleaning supplies, a sponge and a couple of towels.

She dumped the supplies and carried the bucket into the bathroom where she filled it with water from the sink and carried it back into the bedroom. She poured a little bit of cleaning solution into it before dipping in the sponge. Using the sponge she began to scrub the walls vigorously. It was late and she was tired but she wouldn't be able to sleep while those words were still there. She wondered how someone had found out about her. She had only learned that she was a witch about a year and a half ago. A family tree project in history had sparked a curiosity in a seventeen year old Imogene, only then she was called Sara. Her parents wouldn't tell her much about her family and she had become upset when she got a low grade. All the other kids had traced far back into their own lineage. Yet her parents wouldn't help her….it was like they were hiding something.

So like any normal teenager that is denied something Sara (Imogene) went in search of answers in defiance of her parents as well as to satisfy her curiosity. She searched for months in library and online, trying to gather as much information as she could. Putting all that information together she found out that a lot of her ancestors were witches. One of them in particular caught her interest, her name was Alice. Sara found pictures of paintings of her online and was shocked, she looked exactly like Alice only younger. After finding out about her heritage Sara accepted it and became what her ancestors were. She got to meet some family members that she didn't know she had and she got initiated into the life of witchcraft.

After being a witch for a couple of months Sara confronted her parents about the fact that they hid it from her. They knew it ran in the family but they told her nothing. Her mother argued that not knowing would make her normal and able to fit in. that backfired in front of her mother's eyes. For Sara rejected the girly girl prep look her mother had wanted her to have and took up a more edgy one since middle school. Plus the fact that Imogene found out the so called hidden information in high school. After the confrontation Sara and her parents drifted apart. She hated that they had tried to keep something so vital away from her. She had always wondered why she felt different, like there was something else.

When Sara turned eighteen she legally changed her name to Imogene, she thought it fit her better. The name Imogene was Latin for image or likeness and because Sara looked so much like her ancestor Alice she thought the meaning fit, Plus the fact that it had a nice flow to it. So Sara from then on known as Imogene got a job and worked hard to earn money while still in school she wanted to move out of her parent's house as soon as possible. By the end of her senior year Imogene had earned up enough for a small apartment, but with help from her newfound family members she was able to get a better one.

She moved in after graduation and was quite happy with it. It was a medium sized one in a semi-decent neighborhood. She kept her job and worked to support herself, after a while she got her apartment to look the way she wanted. She also had been practicing her magic and had gotten quite good. Everything had seemed to be going well. Well until she had came home from work and seen the mess and the words on the wall. Everything had come crashing down. Some one knew what she was and they seemed to hate her for it.

Imogene shuddered as she continued to scrub the wall. She had a very bad feeling about this; whoever it was who had done this was clearly dangerous. And the way they had trashed her room scared her greatly. She didn't know what could happen to her….but she had a few Ideas and none of them pretty. She had gone to bed around three in the morning sore and both physically and mentally exhausted.

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Imogene sighed and stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around herself and stood in front of the mirror. Imogene though she looked a little better. The puffiness in her eyes had gone down but the bags were still there. As for her hair….let's just say she was ready to tackle it. Imogene armed herself with hair serum, a comb, and a brush. She squeezed some of the serum into her hands and rubbed them together before smoothing through her hair. She then took the comb and begun to work through the tangles. After about ten minutes she picked up the brush and brushed through it smoothing it out. She smiled as she had turned a rat's nest into her normal straight silky hair.

She walked back into her bedroom and over to the closet. She picked out her outfit and quickly got dressed. She applied her make-up trying to make herself presentable enough so no one would ask her what was wrong. She then rushed into the kitchen and grabbed an apple. This was the only breakfast she had time for. If she didn't hurry she'd be late for work. She paused at the front door not sure what to do. Since the door jamb was broken she couldn't lock it. She sighed and settled for just keeping it shut, she hoped no one would try to open it. she made a mental note to ask her landlord about getting it fixed when she came home seeing as she only had half an hour to get to work. She took as many bites of the apple as was possible as she sped walked down the hallway. She trudged down the stairs and tossed her apple in the dumpster before she took off in a jog.

she had half ran half jogged the whole way to where she worked and had made it there with just three minutes to spare. Panting she hurried into the back door of the music store. She was putting her time card into the machine to be stamped when Josh her manager walked in entering from the door that connected the backroom to the store.

"Just getting here?" Josh questioned not really looking at her as he rummaged through a filling cabinet.

"Yeah." She said smoothing out her out her clothes.

He found what he was looking for and turned to her. "Imogene….what the hell are you wearing?" Josh asked her after giving her a quick look over.

Imogene gave herself a look over and laughed lightly. She had on a black pleated mini skirt that went to mid thigh, a red and black corset with lace over a black tank top, and to top it all off she wore knee high black fishnet stockings and bright red converses. Imogene's style was as she named it herself undefined. She smiled at him "what? You don't like it?" she joked.

"Nah its fine." Josh told her "it's just you have a weird sense of style." Josh chuckled before heading back into the store. He himself had on black jeans, a dark blue tee shirt and black vans, a pretty normal outfit.

Imogene smiled as Josh left. She thought he was a pretty cool guy. He was twenty four only six years older than her and he had a good sense of humor. He also seemed to accept Imogene for who she was…well he didn't know about the whole witch thing but that was okay. All that mattered was that he accepted her. She walked out of the back and into the store with a smile on her face. She knew that at any other manager would have disapproved of her. They wouldn't like the way she dressed or her crazy personality. She wondered if he would know something was wrong. She had worked at the music store for over a year and most of the workers knew her very well by now, Some better than others since they remembered her coming in to buy music before that. So it was only fit that they would notice the difference in her behavior. Her normal happy often bordering on hyper scatterbrained self, was nowhere to be seen. It was replaced by semi-quiet, jittery, on edge Imogene.

Josh approached Imogene from behind as she was finishing up with a costumer. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Imo-" Josh started to say her name but was cut off as Imogene let out a particularly loud squeak and stumbled forward into to one of the racks.

Imogene whirled around to face Josh panting heavily and eyes wide "what the hell!" she exclaimed holding a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm her rapidly beating heart. "Don't sneak up on me like that." she told him adrenaline still running through her.

Josh had been was puzzled by her reaction. He had noticed that she was acting a little strange and had wanted to ask her what was wrong. Adding in her reaction to the previous behavior had him very concerned. He sighed. "I'm sorry." He told her "why don't you take your break? I would like to talk to you." He suggested.

Imogene sighed "yeah okay." She said and walked to the back. She opened the door and headed into the break room Josh following close behind. She sat on the sofa and Josh grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge and brought it to her. Imogene took it and smiled softly "thank you." She told him.

"You're welcome." Josh told her and sat down on the couch beside her. "So what up?" he questioned.

"Nothing!" Imogene said a little too quickly.

Josh quirked an eyebrow "don't lie to me." He told her "you know I care about you." Josh said with a warm look in his eyes.

Imogene knew he did. She had been going to the music store pretty much since middle school and they used to chat whenever she came in. they relationship had blossomed from casual friends to a brother sister type relationship. Josh acted like an older brother to Imogene and worried about her knowing that she lived alone. Imogene knew that Josh knew something was wrong and there was no point in lying to him. She looked at her lap and sighed deeply "someone broke into my apartment yesterday." She told him.

Josh's face suddenly held deep concern "are you okay?" he asked her.

"I wasn't there when it happened." She told him trying to calm his worries even though she was scared herself.

Josh sighed a little relieved by that fact but still shaken at the news. "How many tim-"

"That it's dangerous for someone like me to live alone…" Imogene interrupted him before he got started on the talk that he's given her many times. She knew everything he would bring up and she didn't want to hear any of it today. Imogene was already on edge she didn't need the extra paranoia.

Josh smiled lightly "Imogene you know that y-"

"-can stay with you." She said finishing Josh's sentence. She knew he had a multi-bedroom apartment with more than enough room for another person. It was temping for Imogene at times but she liked to live alone. There was also the fact that she was a witch and she didn't know how she'd explain what she was doing if he ever walked in on her practicing or something.

"Well you better get back to work." Josh said standing up. He knew what was wrong now and Imogene knew that he was there for her, so Josh deemed the conversation over. Josh held out his hand and helped Imogene up. He gave her a quick hug before walking out of the break room. Imogene sighed and tried to calm herself before heading out of the break room as well.

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It was around 8:30 pm and Imogene was still at work. They had closed up at around 7:00 later than they usually do but there were a lot of costumers that day. Imogene and Josh were the only ones in the store. Josh was in the back looking over things and Imogene was sweeping. She finished up her sweeping and carried he broom in the back and set it in the supply closet. She sighed and walked to the door of the open office. She smiled lightly over the sight of Josh working hard on paper work.

"Well I'm gonna take off now." She told him and got a nod in response. She laughed lightly and stamped her time card before heading out the back door.

She walked home in semi darkness, taking her usually root. She was a little scared thinking that whoever thrashed her apartment could be waiting for her when she comes home. She let out a soft whine thinking of all that could happen. She noticed that there wasn't that many people out at the time, most were tucked away in their beds at home. The guy could be a rapist or something like that. But the words that had been painted on her wall said otherwise. Imogene knew in her heart that this person wanted to hurt her, possibly even kill her. She could just feel the hatred in her bedroom last night as she discovered the mess, she felt it and didn't like it one bit.

She was still deep in her worried thoughts as she came approached a familiar alleyway. She had passed this particular alleyway everyday on her way to and from work. It was a simple alleyway, stuck between two buildings. On the other side it was open and led out to an under developed part of the area. The area was wooded, and still had trees and other plant life. Imogene thought of it as a mini forest and liked to read books or just hang out there.

She sighed and reached up a hand to scratch her head absentmindedly as she walked in front of the alleyway. A feeling of danger suddenly tore through Imogene, but before she could access where the danger was coming from she was grabbed by strong arms and pulled into the hallway. She fought against the hold and tried to scream only to have her head slammed into the wall. Her face scrunched in pain from the blow, she whimpered after her head once again met the brick wall of the alleyway. She tried to focus her eyes on her attacker but it her vision was fuzzy and the alley was dark. She hunched over in pain as a knee connected with her abdomen. Fuzzy dots clouded her vision and she gasped. She was then pulled up by her hair into a standing position and slammed into the wall, this time she was pinned. She heard rustling of clothing and saw a flash of silver. That flash set all her senses into alarm. She opened up her mouth and let out a scream that was quickly cut off by a large gloved hand that was placed over her mouth.

Imogene whimpered into the hand as she struggled. The man seemed to grin and he chuckled a bit at Imogene's pointless struggle, he was clearly in control. "I finally get the chance to kill you." The man said in a dangerous yet excited tone. "After waiting so long….I should have done it last night." He continued. Realization settled in after the mention of last night. She knew that it was him that broke into her apartment. He knew what Imogene was.

Imogene let out a muffled cry as a sharp object cut across her collar bone. The movement had been too fast to see what cut her, but she quickly figured it out as it was brought up underneath her chin and pressed against her throat. Imogene stopped struggling and looked at him with extreme fear and hopelessness. She was sure she would die tonight in this alley. She couldn't say she lived an entirely happy life but it wasn't horrible. Though she somewhat despised her parents…she knew they loved her. Her thoughts went to Josh. She often wished she had a sibling while growing up, and now she felt as if she had one. She felt so close to Josh and she knew she was going to lose him along with everything else she cherished. Tears streamed down her face and she let out a particularly loud sob. The sound though muffled by the hand echoed in the alley. The sob was pitiful; it was full of sadness and defeat. Imogene was going to die and no one was going to save her.

The man smiled. He enjoyed seeing her reactions go from fighting and full of will to escape, to basically giving up and accepting her fate. He applied more pressure to the blade at her throat, causing pain but not breaking the skin. The presser eased as the man pulled back and looked around as if he heard something. He turned his head back to Imogene figuring it was nothing. No sooner had he done this though he hit from the side and tackled to the ground.

Imogene sank to the ground and held her arms around herself, she watched as her attacker struggled with another man. She couldn't tell who this new man was for she was having trouble seeing properly at the moment.

"Imogene run!" the new man shouted out, Imogene instantly recognized Josh's voice.

Imogene desperately tried to locate the strength to stand up. She finally found it just as her attacker managed to push Josh off. She stood up on shaky legs and dodged as he came at her with the knife.

Josh pushed himself off the ground and hurled himself at the man, their scuffle resuming against the wall. Josh trying to keep the man busy so Imogene could get away "Imogene go!" Josh shouted at Imogene who was against the opposite wall watching in worry and fear.

Imogene did want to be safe but her body didn't seem to want to move. Fear had frozen her limbs and she feared that Josh would be hurt. "Imogene!" Josh called out again. With this call Imogene was able to defrost her legs a little bit. She began back out of the alley toward the side that opened to the wooded area. She had just reached the end of the alleyway when her attacker had gotten out of Josh's grasp. She watched in horror as the blade of the knife was thrust into Josh's abdomen. The blade was pulled out and Josh stumbled back clutching the wound, he sank to the ground bleeding profusely. Imogene sobbed and Josh turned his head toward her, "run." he mouthed before collapsing entirely. Imogene's eyes snapped away from Josh's form when she heard movement. The man was moving toward her again, bloody blade in hand. Imogene finally took Josh's words to heart and ran.

She ran through the trees, getting scratched up by branches. She heard the man running after her. He was getting closer and closer and Imogene felt herself getting dizzy from her injuries. She cried out as she tripped on a tree root that was sticking out of the ground. Imogene scrambled to her feet and took off running again. Her ankle was hurting now and she knew she must have sprained it when she tripped. All the pain was getting to Imogene and she didn't know how long she could keep running, but she knew she must if she was going to stay alive.

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After Imogene had left work that night Josh had decided to follow her. Her story of the break in had gotten him worried. He had a bad feeling about the whole deal. So a few minutes after Imogene left Josh locked up the store and headed in the direction Imogene normal walked home. Knowing the way since he had been to her house many times, walking with her most of those times. When he finally caught up to her he followed along at a distance so as not to alert her but close enough to keep an eye on her.

Josh had been following when he got distracted by a noise. He turned his head to the noise and discovered it to be a cat running into an alleyway. Josh chuckled lightly and began walking again….the only problem was that he had lost track of Imogene. He kept walking trying to catch sight of her again but it was of no luck, she had disappeared. He hoped she had just decided to run home instead of walking. He hoped to high heaven that that was what happened and not what he feared. For he feared whoever that had trashed her apartment was after more than just breaking and entering.

Josh was just about to give up hope of finding her when he heard a sound coming from the alleyway the led to the forested area. It sounded like a sob. He crept up to the alleyway and peaked in. with the dim light it was hard to make out the two figures in the alley but as his eyes adjusted he was able to see a man pinning a girl against the brick wall. Josh's eyes widened when he recognized the girl as Imogene. Josh saw the knife pressed to Imogene's throat and the next thing he knew he was in the alley and tackling the man to the ground.

He wrestled with Imogene's attacker on the ground trying desperately to give Imogene time to escape. He looked over while he tried to keep the man down and saw that Imogene had not moved from her spot on the ground. He knew she was scared but she needed to move before he couldn't keep this man busy anymore.

"Imogene run!" he shouted at her desperately trying to get her to leave. It seemed like it took her an eternity in his eyes but she stood up shakily. In his relief he lost control of the man and was pushed off. Seeing him go at Imogene with the knife Josh pushed himself off the ground slamming the man into the wall. Josh was thankful that Imogene had dodged the man. His struggle once again resuming he shouted out at Imogene again "Imogene go!" were the words he shouted in an attempt to get her moving. She needed to leave he could only hold this man for so long.

Josh saw that Imogene still didn't seem able to move. Josh knew it was the fear that had frozen her. "Imogene!" after this call Imogene began to move again albeit slowly. He saw her backing up to the wooded area, he wished she would just turn and run….she was moving to slow. Once she had reached the end of the alleyway the man pushed Josh off him and surged forward plunging the knife into Joshes abdomen. After the blade was yanked out Josh stumbled backwards clutching at the wound. It was an unbelievable pain, one that no one would ever wish to feel. He looked down at his wound to see blood seeping out and through his hands. He sunk to the ground still looking down. He heard a sob from the end of the ally and turned to see Imogene, he feared for her seeing her still there. He mouthed the word "run" before collapsing and losing consciousness. His lasts thoughts were of Imogene.

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Imogene heard the man's foot falls as he closed in on her. Tears were streaming down her face as she knew he would soon catch her and that would be it. She was so caught up in her running and thoughts of death that she didn't know she was heading for a hidden danger until it she was already upon it. She screamed as previously unseen wooden boards broke under her weight and she plummeted into a hole passing out as soon as she hit the soft dirt bottom. She hadn't known there was a well there, one that had been there for a very long time. The wooden boards that covered it were basically rotted and fallen leaves and dirt covered it.

A soft purple glow illuminated the well then disappeared. Imogene's would be killer had been drawn by Imogene's scream and saw the light. He approached the hole and peered in clicking on a flashlight. He expected to see Imogene lying at the bottom but was surprised to see nothing. When the light had disappeared it had taken Imogene with it. Who know where it took her all that the man knew was that he had potentially failed in killing his target. He clicked of the flashlight and pocketed it before stepping away from the hole and walked away leaves crunching under his feet.

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((note that this chapter took me forever to write…partially because it length though mostly because I was focused on graduating high school. I will try to make the other chapters take less time, but I'm a procrastinator and an rper. So my rps end up taking most of my time. Plus like most writers I tend to get writer block. I also like to make the chapter as long as I can....for some reason short chapters iritate me. So if you would bear with me and be patient I shall get chapters out as fast as I can. Also please review I would love to hear from my readers. Almost forgot this story is rated M for language and a rape in either the second or third chapter.))