Author's note:

My dear muntchkin kittens and tortoises,

Here is a new story of mine. As mentioned in the plot summary and hinted on in the title, this story is based on the Kabuki play "Toukaido Yotsuya Kaidan". I tried to keep as closely to the plot as I remember it from a Japanese Ghost Lecture I took and I also consulted Wikipedia when my memory did not serve me well.

I do not own, Haikyuu or the story of Yotsuya Kaidan and I don't claim do be original with this story (really, if you read the plot on Wikipedia it is more or less the same as the story on here), I just wanted to make a lecture a bit more interesting for a friend (she complained about having to hear the plot of Yotsuya Kaidan yet again in another lecture and I told her I'd make her a Haikyuu version of it).

I hope you enjoy a "little" ghost story (although it's actually going to be pretty long – 10 chapters!). Update to be expected bi-weekly.

And many thanks to my beta, LilyPhantomhive01

Jia ne!


Basic information:

As this story is based off on another story and as some (my friend and my beta pointed out 'most') of you are not familiar with the original work, I included a list of characters here, so that if you read the plot of Yotsuya Kaidan first, you can get a grasp of who is who.

I first provide you with the proper name form the character (if their last name is in brackets, that means that they will be known by their first name throughout the story as it would be weird that they have a different last name from their other family members), then with the name of the character from Kabuki who's role they play and I end the whole thing with a short information about the character.

Azumane Asahi - Itou Kihei – rich man, grandfather of Tobio, father-in-law of Kiyoko

(Shimizu) Kiyoko – Oyumi – daughter-in-law of Azumane Asahi, mother of Tobio

(Kageyama) Tobio – Oume – grandchild of Azumane Asahi, child of Kiyoko

Haiba Lev – Okuda Shouzaburou – former employer of Yamaguchi Tadashi

Hinata Shouyou – Omaki – servant of Tobio

Kuroo Tetsurou – Takuetsu – brothel owner

Oikawa Tooru – Tamiya Iemon – poor man, husband of Hajime

(Iwaizumi) Hajime – Oiwa – husband of Oikawa Tooru, brother of Hitoka

Sawamura Daichi – Yotsuya Samon – father of Hajime, Hitoka and Yamaguchi Tadashi

(Yachi) Hitoka – Osode – younger sister of Hajime, fiancée of Tsukishima Kei

Tsukishima Kei – Satoh Yomoshichi – moderately rich guy, fiancé of Hitoka, almost brother-in-law of Oikawa Tooru

Yamaguchi Tadashi – Naosuke – normal guy, in love with Hitoka

Any character that appears in the fic but is not on this list doesn't occupy a role that was in the original work.

A few words to the setting: Please be aware that the world in which this story is set is a different one from the one we are living in or in which the story of Yutsuya Kaidan is set. I hope I'll be able to make that world take shape in a way that is easy to understand.


Now on to the story:

It was late afternoon and the weather was still rather warm for an autumn day. Oikawa Tooru was strolling along the river that divided the better part of the town, known as Aoba City or just the city or Aoba, from the dirty suburbs in the southeast. He had not obtained a permission slip to enter the city that day and therefore he had not found any work. The suburb in which he and his husband lived, known as Karasuno, though there was no field to be seen but crows en masse, was not very prosperous and if Oikawa had had a choice, he would not have been living in this dirty bit of town.

To be fair, he had not been living there from the start. When he had been growing up, he had lived in a small town in the northwest of the city. He had had a good live, until he had met Hajime, his beloved O-iwa-chan, his current husband. It had been love at first sight for the two of them. As Oikawa was smart and cunning, he had made Hajime agree on marrying him despite this being against Oikawa's family's wishes. However, he had never imagined his family would oppose his choice so vehemently – which was the root of all Oikawa's current problems.

Despite the support of Hajime's father, Sawamura Daichi, the young couple (both young men had not been much older than seventeen), had not been able to live their life the way Oikawa had been used to. Oikawa's family had cut him off from financial support half a year after the wedding. The couple had scraped by somehow, feeling that loving each other was all that mattered, but after only two years they had accumulated so much debt that they had no choice but to relocate.

Life in the northwest, in Shiratorida, had been a lot more expensive than in Karasuno. However, life in Shiratorida was also a lot less regulated. People with a permanent residence permit of Shiratorida did not need a permission slip to enter Aoba City or were banned from having as many children as they pleased.

Hajime's family, which consisted only of his father and his younger sister Hitoka, had moved with them to Karasuno. It would have been hard for Hajime to be separated from them. The Sawamura family was very close and their philosophy was that they should support each other in any situation. However, that meant that Sawamura Daichi and Hitoka both descended into a financially miserable situation together with Oikawa Tooru and Hajime.

It had now been two almost three years since they had moved to the place they currently lived in. The Oikawa couple would soon be married for five years. They had rented a small flat in a tall, rundown building. It had thin walls, smelled like the back end of a garbage truck and was not located in a street that could be put on a resume, so Oikawa had to scrape by, doing his best to obtain a permission slip to enter the city and look for a day's work. He did not always get one though, as there was only a certain amount of permission slips given out each day and that number varied from day to day. Sometimes, one could buy a permission slip from one of the corrupt officers, but it was not always worth it.

Oikawa sat down on a rock on the riverbank and looked at the horizon. He had not earned any money that day. He wondered if his O-iwa-chan had.

Hajime was working from home, mending clothes for other people. He got a package of clothes delivered to the house every so often and had to be done with his work by five o'clock sharp. Unfortunately, what sounded like a very stable job was not, as the person who brought and collected the clothes sometimes kept the money he owed Hajime or refused to provide him with work, if Hajime complained too much about not receiving his pay on time. But who could blame either? Hajime's employer went gambling with the money he received form his clients and was therefore not always able to pay his employees and Hajime could not pay the most basic bills if he was not given his pay. It was hard on both parties.

A sigh left Oikawa's mouth. He wondered if he should ask Sawamura for some money again. His father-in-law was currently living with Hitoka, in a similarly run down place like his son, two streets down; luckily though, the Sawamuras had a bit more money. Hitoka worked as a washwoman and waitress because her father had fallen ill a lot in the last year due to his age. However ,he was still working as a deliveryman.

Or maybe Hitoka would lend him money; she was engaged to a guy named Tsukishima Kei, also called Satoh. He was from a similar family background as Oikawa but had the advantage of having gained a foothold in the trading industry. His nickname stemmed from there, since he mostly dealt with sugar. Tsukishima was currently travelling to gain more ground in that industry in hopes of eventually being able to take Hitoka away from the suburb back into the city, or at least one of the good towns in the northwest.

Oikawa was hoping against hope that his future brother-in-law would also provide a way out of this shithole for him. But the chance was rather slim. The blond haired man was very cold and didn't value family as highly as his fiancée. He seemed like the type that would only fight for his own, which meant that he might give in to pleas from his wife if she insisted that they'd help her father but never if she wanted help for her brother or his husband.

The brown haired man got up from the stone and walked a couple of meters, trying to decide whether or not he would go to Sawamura's home, when he suddenly saw a man walk down the street.

"Oh, good evening, father." He greeted the older man with a smile, patted his back and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good evening." Sawamura's face looked strained. He was usually quick to have a slight smile on his lips, but today he looked rather worn out. His dark hair seemed more punctuated with grey than ever.

"Are you all right?" Oikawa asked concerned.

"Yes, yes. I'm alright." Sawamura cleared his throat. "In fact, it is very good that I met you here. Will you not walk with me for a bit?"

"Sure. I was thinking of visiting you one of these days anyway." Oikawa smiled.

Sawamura frowned. He knew what it meant when Oikawa said that he wanted to visit him. They walked for a while making idle conversation and the older man wondered how he could breach the topic that had been on his mind for a while now in a way that would not offend Oikawa too much. He liked the boy, had liked him from the start and not because he was from a rich family, but because of his attentions to Hajime. However, lately he had not seemed to be as much in love with his son, and to be perfectly honest, Hajime had seemed exhausted as well. Despite being only twenty-three years of age he had the bearings of a forty-year-old man. He behaved even sicklier than Sawamura at times, which worried his father a great deal. Especially as it got clearer with every month that passed, that the couple would probably never be able to adopt a child, which was Hajime's greatest wish.

When living in Karasuno, adopting or having natural children was a highly regulated business. Whoever did not meet the requirements for having a child would not be able to get one or keep it. There were women who got their children taken from them right after birth because they did not have enough money to take care of the child, but there were also cases where older children were taken from their families because they had fallen on hard times.

In their current situation, there was no way the authorities would allow the Oikawa's to adopt a child. Because of this, Sawamura had decided to suggest that Oikawa should separate from Hajime. Maybe if they would spend some time apart then they could change their luck. Maybe then they would be able to find better jobs.

"How have you been doing lately?" The older man asked after a while. He did not look at his conversation partner but looked up into the mostly dark sky. Night had fallen and the stars were about to come out.

"To be honest…" Oikawa did not need to finish the sentence. Living in the suburb was hard on everyone and there were always stretches when life was harder than usual. "O-iwa-chan had a fight with his employer and the price for the permission slip has gone up again."

Sawamura sighed, knowing what Oikawa would say next and so he let him say it. Let him lower his head and ask for money; money, which Sawamura could not lend him, as he himself had just spent the better part of his income on a medical bill. Seeing such a proud person bow to him and be rejected made him feel awkward. His son-in-law looked dejected by being refused this favour but didn't say anything. "You know", Sawamura said after a while. "Maybe, you should…" He started to explain to him why separating from Hajime would be a good idea. He looked him in the eyes and used a serious tone, trying to make him submit to his authority as the older one of them. However, he saw anger and frustration dwell up in the other's eyes. "Have you never thought of that?"

"Never." Oikawa stated plainly. "You hurt me with your careless words. I love O-iwa-chan, I chose him and subsequently this live."

"But you are unhappy."

"What do you know!" Oikawa shoved Sawamura. "Do you not care that Hajime loves me too?"

"I do." Sawamura protested. "But I see that both of you are being unhappy!"

"I though you were on our side!" Oikawa got angrier by the minute. He began talking about the time when he had chosen to stay with Hajime rather than abiding to his family's wishes and how he had loved Sawamura for being so understanding towards them. He told him that he had always admired him, but that he had let him down. He continued to shove Sawamura angrily while his speech turned into a flood of words.

Sawamura tried to put up some resistance, but he was not in good health and Oikawa had always been the stronger of the two. As the older man tried to evade being physically assaulted by his son-in-law, who got more violent the longer he talked; Sawamura lost his footing and fell on the ground, hitting his head on a stone.

Oikawa stared down on his father-in-law who did not move. He waited, ten seconds, twenty seconds, half a minute, a minute. He blinked. Why did he not move? He ran a hand through his fluffy, slightly messy brown hair. What had just happened?

He kneeled down, realizing that Sawamura's chest was not moving anymore. Something like fear gripped his heart. As he touched the older man's head, he felt something slightly warm and wet. He did not dare look at his hand as he pulled it back in shock of the realization of what he must have just touched. He gulped.

Panicking he looked around, but no one else was to be seen in the dark night near the riverbank. He blinked a few times and turned around once more; feeling paranoid and wanting to make sure there was really no one there. He ruffled his hair, wondering what he should do. It would be bad if someone found his father-in-law's body. Suddenly Oikawa's blood ran cold. If someone found Sawamura's corpse here they would surely find out that he was responsible for this and then he would not be let off lightly. He could never risk that.

The brown haired man straightened his hair, looked around a third time and then he lifted the corpse up and dumped it in the river, hoping the water would carry him far away to a place where the police would not be able to identify him.

He watched the corpse drown in the water and make its way down stream ever so slowly. Oikawa's heart was racing.

He had just killed his father-in-law.

Of course it had been an accident, but still.

This was bad.