Author's notes: This is a sequel of sorts to my other story, A Chance Encounter, but perhaps prologue would be a more appropriate term since it takes place before the first fic, though was written after. I'll let you decide.
Another Chance Encounter
"Tou-chan, ue! Ue!"
The large playground was covered with children on the swings, jungle gym, slides, and in the sand filled boxes. Peals of laugher echoed from every direction while the youth of the generation ran and played. Parents, happily conversing while keeping a trained eye on their children, sat off to the side on benches and walls as their offspring rejoiced in the freedom of their age.
Among the commotion a raven haired girl flew happily into the air and was caught a moment later by her father's outstretched hands.
Kagome giggled exuberantly at the feeling of momentarily weightlessness and the way her heart leapt up into her throat each time she started to fall back down.
"Ue! Ue!" she cried as her father caught her again. Her similarly dark haired father laughed jovially at his daughter's enthusiasm. "You might get sick again, Kagome-chan," he warned with a smile, setting her feet on the ground.
Kagome shook her head, long black locks falling over her small shoulders, and planted a cute pout on her childish face. "I won't, I promise. Again, again!" she pleaded loudly, stretching her hands into the air.
Her father grinned and picked her up, catching Kagome in a warm hug, then tossed her high into the air. A smile broke out over his face at her squeal of delight, his daughter's face flushed with ecstatic enjoyment. Who could have known that his little girl would enjoy flying so much?
Arms wrapping around her at the right moment when she started to descend ended her short flight, caught safely in the warm circle of her father's arms. Kagome wrapped her small hands around his neck, pressing their faces stubbly cheek to chubby cheek. "Tou-chan, daisuki daisuki!"
He nodded in return, kissing her soft pale cheek affectionately and hugging her small body tightly. "Hai, daisuki Kagome-chan, zettai ni."
Not long after Kagome's sleeping body was gently placed into the back seat of their car, the setting sun shining behind her father's back. He buckled her in to the child seat securely, stroking back her messy black locks as her head lolled to the side, a light snore escaping her pink lips.
He couldn't help but smile at the sight of his beautiful daughter. "You wore yourself out today. Just rest now, ore no tenshi."
Within minutes his Toyota pulled out of the crowded playground parking lot, bouncing along the road as they headed for home. The three of them, Kagome, her father and mother, had just moved into a new apartment in downtown Tokyo, thanks to the money his new job had been creating for them. If things continued the way they were, in a year they might be able to find a house of their own and have another child.
Kagome's father glanced in his review mirror and took in the sight of his sleeping daughter. She was a blessing upon their family, each day of the 5 years she'd been in their lives filed with light and joy. All he could have ever wished for in a daughter lay within her: smart, fun, beautiful, innocent, she held a limitless potential for what she might become in the future. She was his angel.
The loud squeal of tires tore him from his thoughts. Looking up sharply his hands flew to the top of the steering wheel, surprised etched across his face. Veering erratically he punched the breaks, swerving to avoid the blinding headlights which were fast approaching head on.
Kagome was jerked painfully and awoke to the combined sounds of glass shattering, metal grinding, and tires squealing. She looked around frantically, fearful yet not knowing what had happened, only that the sounds and the smells around her were horrifying and unfamiliar. They had stopped moving and a strange light was around them, flicking red that cast strange shadows on the ceiling of their car, and there was a funny acidic smell that made her heart beat faster with adrenaline.
Hastily she unbuckled herself and stood on the seat to look out her spider web cracked window. The sight that met her eyes terrified her even more. Fire! There was another car next to them and it was on fire! With a loud gasp Kagome backed away from the window, hiccuping with the onset of tears.
"Tou-chan…" she whimpered with fright. "Tou-chan!"
She drew her eyes away from the window to look up at the front seat, to the spot where her Tou-chan sat unmoving in his chair. Crying in earnest now Kagome scrambled between the front seats, grasping at her father's arm to shake him with all the strength a five year old could muster up. She slipped between the seats and felt her knee smack painfully against the emergency brake, one hand still clutching her father's shirt.
"Tou-chan!" she wailed, looking up to see her father staring emptily out the shattered front window, dark liquid spilling down from his right temple. He didn't move.
More metal screeched and a blast of hot air was swept into the car, throwing Kagome's hair over her eyes as she turned to the source of the wind. The passenger door had been ripped off and a man stood panting beside their car, thick white hair glowing orange as it whipped around in the winds created by the inferno. He reached inside and wrapped strong hands around Kagome's waist, but found himself unable to move the sobbing child who was still clinging to her father's dead body.
"Kagome!" the stranger shouted, completely wrapping one arm around her middle while the other reached up to disentangle her fingers.
"No no no!" she screamed, legs kicking wildly, her other hand darting out to take a fistful of her father's bloodied shirt.
The man growled and got his other arm around her flailing body and gave a hard pull, the fabric of the shirt ripping from the strength of Kagome's grip. Screaming and crying Kagome struggled to wiggle her way free of the binding hold she was in, arms reaching out towards the body of her father that was quickly receding away from her. Tears streaming down her cheeks she felt a heavy cloak thrown around her, blanketing the intense heat that had assaulted them once they'd left the car. Bouncing against the stranger's chest she sobbed and hiccuped, her struggles less violent, fingers limply reaching out for her father that was being consumed by the flames. "Tou-chan! Tou-chaaaaannnn!"
*~*~*
In a small dark room Kagome awoke suddenly, gasping from the haunting of a nightmare that was quickly fading away into memory. Slipping out of bed her short legs stood on the carpeted floor unsteadily, tiptoeing down the barely lit hallway towards the kitchen in their small apartment. Peeking around the corner she saw her ka-chan seated at the small table, head in her hands as she wept quietly. A tiny vial of blue liquid sat beside her elbow, along with an empty white box with words printed on it Kagome couldn't read, but there was a picture of a baby on the side in plain sight.
Ka-chan cried a lot more now since the day Kagome had come home from the hospital and tou-chan hadn't. She'd heard her mom and the man next door talking, saying that they were going to have to move to ojisan's soon because there wasn't enough money. Kagome liked ojisan, but he acted funny sometimes and tried to tell her scary stories that really weren't that scary. When he came over last week ka-chan cried a lot on him and then went to bed and cried some more, but ojisan had remembered to make her dinner, even though ramen wasn't her favorite. She didn't want to move to ojisan's big house, there were so many weird smells and feelings there, small dark buildings and big trees that seemed too old to still be standing.
Shivering under her pajamas Kagome turned and crept back to her room. Ka-chan didn't like to be bothered when she cried. Back in her bedroom Buyo-chan, her kitten, was sleeping on her bed curled up in a little ball. Kagome climbed under the covers, making sure to slip her legs around Buyo so as to not wake him, and settled down to go back to sleep.
Kagome awoke again later to feeling Buyo suddenly jump off her bed, returning circulation to one of her legs, but she stayed awake wondering what had scared him away. She looked to her open window, watching the pale pink curtains flutter, and gasped when she saw a figure crouching on her window sill.
"Tou-chan," she whispered, feeling recognition in the figure even though she was unaware of it. It disappeared though in the next billowing of her curtains and she found herself crying, curling under her blankets as the tears began to shake her small body, realizing that it must have been her tou-chan's ghost come to visit her. Again she called for her father, but the words were lost to her mounting sobs.
Suddenly a pair of warm arms wrapped around her and she found herself pulled into a tight embrace, being rocked gently back and forth on her bed as she cried in earnest. The smell was familiar, the arms strong, the soothing whispers from his mouth subduing her sadness and lessening the tight ache in her chest. Exhausted, she felt herself being set back against her pillows, sleep resting on her eyelids as she gazed upon her comforter. Eyes tinted gold by the streetlamp outside watched her faithfully until she fell into a peaceful sleep.