a/n: Ok, I know what you're all thinking - what the hell is doing, writing something else? However, This will be a rather short story - longer than three chapters... but it's maximum length would have to be eight. Soo.. a short story? Anyhow, it's based on a reaccuring dream I've been having, and It's been scaring me to death lately... and just wanted to say. This will not be anywhere as light hearted as my other stories.
Disclamer: I do NOT own Inuyasha. He is the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi.
Ghosts in the House:
They were waiting.
The teenage girl swept her long hair over her shoulder, as she watched the old, decrepit house, now covered in snow, her soft gray eyes shining with open scrutiny, fear, and anxiety. She hated the old shrine buildings. The dark aura, that was so… off, the light scent of fear, and deaths long ago…
They were waiting.
They wanted destruction. Pain. Death.
They were too strong, too powerful, and too fearsome, that even she, the fated shrine maiden , could not exorcise them - and the village priest supposedly couldn't feel their presence.
It would be another four years or so, before the priest's son would be strong enough to take this one on. And the demon exterminators daughter was still naïve and shy. Even her own boyfriend wouldn't be able to deal with this one yet.
There was no-one in the town willing, or strong enough to get rid of the evil in this house. Even as if messed with the minds of it's inhabitants, even as all owners of the house disappeared, even after all who tried to rid of them died off, walking home from that place.
A forceful, foreboding tingling coming over her, she turned her back on the house, knowing she was being watched, and pulled her warm red jacket and scarf close around her.
She wondered about her family in Tokyo - her senile grandfather had claimed having spiritual power, hadn't he? But then again, he was a known fraud. And then, there was her cousin. The fourteen year old girl whom looked so akin to her.
Would the girl be able to sense the demonic aura? The gut wrenching feeling? The evil that permeated the whole vicinity, that craved for blood, and death, and hated life?
Quickly, she pulled out a crumpled post card, from her mother, Hitomiko, who was in Osaka on a business trip, and quickly jotted down the address of the demonic house in question, as well as her family's in Tokyo.
There. A mental, reminder.
She would call upon her cousin, when the time was right. When her powers would be on the edge of either shooting up, or tumbling. When she would be stronger than even she was now.
Shoving it deep in her pocket, promising not to loose it, she walked down the icy path, surrounded by snow, on her way home, not expecting what life would have in store for her.
Four years later:
The dark haired girl sighed plaintively and stared out at the scenery that rushed past her window.
Home.
Where WAS home?
She had thought that had been her simple little house in Tokyo. Where she could walk the three blocks to school, and go next door to hang out with her hyper friend Ayame. She had thought it had been the house where she grew up, laughed in, hung with her classmates, and done her homework in. Where she had been asked on her first date with Hojo, and refused the offer.
Now she didn't know where it was. She was confused, lost. Heartbroken. Why did she have to leave? Why now? Of all times? She just got a bad feeling about this…
Her mother had received a note from her sister Hitomiko, that she was in need of help around the house. Ever since a deadly accident four years ago, her aunt had been having numerous mental break downs, and screaming rounds.
Wonderful…
So here they were, on their way to an available house, which happened to be a shrine, and in a small, out of the way, town.
Could this really be home?
Dismally, she groaned as the car came to a halt at the bottom of a hill, and shivered.
Why was it that she got this… foreboding feeling as she stared up through the dark tree's towards where the shrine and house actually were? Frowning in confusion, she followed her family out of the car, as they started to lug their belongings up the steps.
Something… is off.
"This place is…"she began quietly, when her mother stopped her.
"Wonderful?" she gushed immediately, "It's gorgeous here, don't you think?"
Biting her lip, she fought back a retort, or maybe a sob, as she struggled to get her heavy bags up the dusty, leaf covered stairs.
The moving people must have had a hell of time getting up here…
There was a pounding noise behind her, a slapping noise, which made her heartbeat accelerate.
What?
A shiver taking over her, she jumped, and about had a heart attack, when she whirled around to find…
With a grinning boy.
Thank goodness..
Whatever she thought it would be - which she had no idea of what it COULD be- had to be worse than this… After all… It was just some random teenager…
He was attractive, with black hair, slicked back into a ponytail, with a few bangs that fell into his face. He had a charming smile, and dark purple eyes that were watching her with amusement.
Nothing special…
Although she did feel suddenly uncomfortable, as she found herself making sure to keep her back away from him. Strange.
"Houshi, Miroku." He told her with a laugh at her stunned expression, "You must be Higurashi-san's family?"
Nodding she quietly responded, "Higurashi, Kagome."
She eyed him wearily. Whoever this boy was… she didn't… trust him. Then again, everything had seemed a little… wrong since she had left home.
"Well then, fair lady, let me assist you by carrying some of your bags!"
Raising an eyebrow at his enthusiasm, she gladly dumped the heavier one into his waiting arms, as she continued up the stairs ahead of him.
He seemed like an ok boy… a little talkative, too polite, and well, down right strange.
She still didn't understand the feeling.
"I'm your next door neighbor, Kagome-chan… it is ok if I call you Kagome-chan?" before she could respond he continued on, "Could I have your phone number maybe? Your e-mail?"
She rolled her eyes. Ok. Time to add annoying to the list.
"Couldn't you just come talk to me?" She asked as she put her stuff down at the top of the steps, crossing her arms to get the point across.
Go away alright?
He came to stand beside her, a serious expression on his face.
"It's in case of an emergency." He stated, then noted her confused expression.
"You haven't heard?"
When she didn't respond, he plowed on, "The Onigumo House in haunted."
With that, he left her frozen on the steps.
Kagome looked about the room that was hers, tentatively.
It was cold. Drafty. Old, and dusty. The curtains were torn, and hung off the curtain rod oddly, the door creaked, the floor creaked, and the room was a pale, generic white. Generic, yes. Creepy? That too.
Although her mother kept commenting on what a perfect house this was, she wasn't quite sure she agreed. The dank cellar, the dark rooms, the shadowy corners and forest… not to mention all the weapons in the closet… that she couldn't pick up for some reason….
If anything, this was the scariest place she had ever been. Another shiver taking a hold of her, she threw herself down on the mattress - which was actually her own- and sighed into the pillow, as she held back the frightened tears.
She didn't want to be here. It was scary. There was something wrong with it. Like she wasn't wanted there. No. More like she didn't WANT to be there. She had to be sensible.
Miroku, had told her that this place was haunted… and the power of suggestion was very powerful…
She didn't believe in the ghosts, and spirits, that her grandfather so often spoke of - the curses, and wards that supposedly kept them away.
As if…
No one - not even the demons believed in the idea that souls could be trapped in a time or place. No one believed in a life after death - unless reincarnation counted. But that was a different matter.
Sighing, she rolled onto her back, to see a dark, almost black, purple… ceiling.
She blinked.
What the hell?
A clattering noise came from the closet, causing her to start.
Looked like life was going to be a LOT more interesting, here on out.
Down the street:
Miroku stopped in front of the picture of his father, and bowed his head in respect, before moving farther into the house, sliding on his sandals as he went.
A new family had moved into the shrine and house on the hill. This did not feel right.
No, that wasn't it.
I wasn't right.
Another family disappearance. More bloody deaths.
He shivered. No doubt, that was what was to come.
How many would they have to kill and devour to quench their ever raging thirst?
He sat down at the kitchen table, deep in thought, and pulled a purple folder towards himself, flipping it open survey his research.
If his information was correct, the land had been possessed by some sort of evil entity, since the late 1600's.
Five hundred years.
This did no bode well. It meant that the creatures, the evil, the despicable ones, had lifetimes of power. Lifetimes of blood. Lifetimes of deaths by their hands.
This was not a creature that could be defeated by a simple sutra, or spell.
No. This would take time, work, and collaboration.
Not to mention, more research.
His fingers thrumming on the table top in anxiety, he thought of the girl, Kagome, who had moved in.
She had considerable spiritual power - more than the villages deceased priestess ever had. More spiritual power, than he, or even his father had possessed.
This girl, this walking, talking burst of energy, and purity… no doubt they would want her power for their own.
He had to do something- and quick.
Concern wasn't the word to explain his distress, on the growing problem. The land, the evil, the whole shebang… it was his top most priority, now that he was out of high school. He sighed, grimly.
He needed to solve the problem before time ran out.
Frowning in concentration, he leaned over his pile of notes, searching, for the 100th time in the last three years, how to rid the village of the evil, that was so quickly expanding.
Back on the hill:
It was night.
The ghostly light that filtered through the still askew curtains, was the cause for her unease. The eerie shadows in every corner were the things that kept her awake.
With a startled squeak when the floor creaked, she threw the covers over her head, and shivered there, in silence. It reminded her of the times, when she had been a small child, when the terrifying thoughts of monsters - most specifically, ghosts - invaded her thoughts at night. When the slightest noise had caused her fear.
Toughen, up, Kagome… she thought to herself, as her terrified shivering subsided. This is childish, idiotic, and -
She gasped in fright, as something landed on her bed, then sighed.
Buyo. Her infamously fat cat.
See? There's nothing to be scared of…
All the same, she pulled the cat with her under the blankets, and drifted off to sleep, now with peace of mind.
Nothing can hurt me…
But the shadows on the far end of the room, and rustling whispers that could not reach her ears, disagreed.
Buyo POV:
He watched the shadows, his tail twitching back and forth in irritation.
They wanted to hurt her. The girl that he had known since his kitten hood. The girl who had given him such delicious meals.
His owner.
He wouldn't let them.
He could hear the soft, whistling laughter that wafted through the room, as they plotted the families demise. He could see their pale, almost invisible forms from time to time, as they scoffed, and wailed, and hissed.
There was something undeniably wrong about this place his owners had brought him.
Even then, as he trembled at his mistresses side, in the darkroom, even as she slept soundly… he knew she sensed something too.
They were planning something.
And they had to get out of there, before they could go through with it.