Holy Hill by Luna C.

The End of the Street

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

A/N: A short story made specifically for Kneazle's Halloween 2013 Challenge. I couldn't resist lol. It's rated M for language. Anyways enjoy this short tale. :)

Chapter 1: The End of the Street

There was a large shrine at the end of the street, near the deserted part of the neighborhood. It laid alone, no other buildings within its vicinity. There were many stories surrounding it, most of them superstitious and untrue, mainly told from adults to scare kids from approaching the abandoned structure.

Some said it was built during the beginning of the era, some said it was built centuries ago. It didn’t matter to her, it was some old building that was abandoned. There was nothing special about or even spooky, it was simply there. She felt annoyance every time one of her friends babbled about it, slightly bemused as they were not little kids anymore telling absurd ghost stories just to scare one another for the night.

“So…” Inuyasha started, his voice muffled by the mask he was currently wearing for Halloween. He was donned in a clown suit, with a plastic kitchen knife in one hand and a bag for his candy in the other. He always dressed as a clown every year, scaring the living hell of any little kid that walked towards him, too attentive of their treats than who was in front of them. “Let’s go in the shrine.” He pointed down the street where the lights were spaced out and dimmed.

Miroku shivered underneath his Buddhist’s robes, wary of going down that road. “I sense an ominous presence there, I am more content avoiding such a perilous building.” He firmly said, bringing his hand up for a nonexistent prayer.

Sango gave him a blank look before shaking her head. “Anyways, why would we want to go there?”

“Don’t tell me y’all scared.” They could practically hear the smirk in his voice, his tone mocking. He folded his arm, waiting as he knew they would change their mind, especially the girls. “Kagome, are you in?”

Kagome looked bored, rubbing her arms as another chilled wind blew past her. “It’s whatever, It’s just an empty building.”

“Haven’t you heard Kagome,” Miroku came up to her, nearly whispering. “About the murder that happened there by a… demon.” The last word was said so quietly, she forced him to repeat himself, causing the male to sigh and say it in a normal tone of voice.

“There’s no such thing as a demon.” Kagome rolled her eyes, not wanting to hear another ghost story of that place. “We don’t even know what caused it to be abandoned, so stop making tales about it.”

“Everybody tells that story all the time Miroku, and like Kagome said, demons aren’t real.”

“My dear Sango, so beautiful yet so ignorant.” He dramatically complimented yet insulted the young woman, “Let me enlighten you on the true facts of said story.” Slickly, he reached towards her, rubbing his hand against her rear, earning him a red mark on his face. He cleared his throat, rubbing his cheek as he began his story. “A family lived there, they were shrine-keepers, obviously. They made an honest living, were very friendly and community-orientated folks. The story goes, the little girl of the family, the youngest of six siblings became friends with an imaginary figure.” Miroku paused when Inuyasha interrupted.

“Why is it always kids, they’re stupid as hell.” He made that pointed comment towards Shippou, the only youngster of the group, even though he was two years younger than most of them, three years younger than Sesshomaru.

“You were stupid once, you still are.” The low baritone voice said, a mumble behind a mask.

“Yeah!” Shippou yelled out, glaring at the tall male next to him, his mouth filled with pocky.

Inuyasha turned to the two guys, before flicking them off. “I’m not gonna listen to your dumb-ass inputs, Sesshomaru or your parrot talk Shippou.”  

Miroku forcefully garnered the groups attention by clearing his throat once more, annoyed. “Anyways, the little girl was talking to this thing that no one else saw, and then strange and peculiar events started happening. It was minor things, like creaking noises, but they dismissed that since it was an old shrine they were living in, so of course they were going to hear creaking. But then things got worse.” Miroku walked closer to the group, pausing to see everyone’s expression.

Kagome looked nonchalant, glancing at her glow-in-the-dark watch and eating some candy. He couldn’t tell the facial expression of the Taisho brothers, but he could guess that Inuyasha was impatient and Sesshomaru was indifferent. Shippou looked at him with typical curiosity. But the expression he relished the most was the hesitant look on Sango’s face. It was cute how she was trying hard to be brave.

“First, the creaking noises became blatantly worse and more unusual, hanged pots would fall seemingly from secured cabinets, pictures would levitate, and then their cat was found paralyzed underneath the torii gate, a pool of blood surrounding it.”

“Look Miroku, we don’t care about some lame-ass background story, I just want to go to that shrine and look around.”

“But Inuyasha!” Miroku exclaimed, annoyed once more as the same male interrupted his story again, he was having fun scaring Sango and dreaming of her actions of her running into his arms, seeking his comfort from the bad, evil demons. “It is relevant to know the facts before exploring unknown territory, what if we meet that demon there?”

“You know what, you guys go, I’m going to Ayumi’s apple-bobbing contest.” Kagome stated, turning around to leave, clearly not putting up with some harebrained adventure with Inuyasha.

“I’m coming with you, Kagome.” Sango tagged along, Miroku’s story spooking her a bit, though she didn‘t want to show it in front of others.

“Ah… of course the females would go, no surprise there.” Inuyasha jeered. “They are scared of going into an abandoned shrine!” The girls stopped and Inuyasha smirked behind his mask. “But it’s okay girls, go to that apple-bobbing shit, we understand that y’all scared.”

Kagome growled, before grabbing Sango’s arm and returning back to the group, pushing past the clownish idiot and heading down the street where the shrine was.

“Inu-baka, you’ll probably hide behind someone once we enter.” Shippou smartly commented, earning him a thump on the head, causing him to cry out and messing up his furry fox ears. Inuyasha merely ignored him and snickered, not ashamed of his actions.

She watched with exasperation as the clown-suited male hurriedly made his way to the front, proclaiming himself as leader of the group. Sesshomaru came up behind him, tripping the boy with his scythe before taking his place. Kagome could only shake her head, knowing that this trip would be long and pointless, with plenty of jarring fights between the two brothers.

If only Sango could stop tightening her hands on her arm in a death-grip, she would at least not regret giving in to Inuyasha’s taunting.

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Prompt: Apple Bobbing

Kneazle’s Halloween 2013 Challenge