Holy Hill by Luna C.
Epilogue - White Rose
A/N: Two updates since my internet might go off tomorrow smh! But here's the last chapter of this story! My first completed multi-chapter story! yay! Enjoy! :) Not beta'd, I apologize in advance for any mistakes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Chapter 13: Epilogue - White Rose
They ran to where they parked that night, near the inhabited portion of the once noisy housings, all rushing to head back to Kagome’s house. It was a ten minute drive, since they arrived to this neighborhood by Inuyasha’s insistence to go trick-or-treating, only to cover up his true intentions of exploring that wicked shrine. Which turned out to be a very stupid and horrible idea from the moment they climbed those dangerous steps.
Kagome heaved a heavy sigh, finally relaxing and rubbed her aching feet after running across paved roads bare-footed. Not the smartest of ideas, but running in heels would have caused more unnecessary trouble and she was extremely clumsy. She was sure she would have twisted an ankle or something, or fall on her face. Her feet were a small sacrifice to pay, she didn’t want to be anywhere near that place ever again, not after encountering what occurred there, paranormal things they couldn’t explain.
“Thank the gods we’re going home.” She whispered, turning on the car and blasting the temperature dial to the hottest degree, and feeling refreshed from the warm heat emitted through the car a couple seconds later, caressing her chilled flesh. After being in that shrine for a couple hours with no jacket or anything, and only in a thin dress, she was glad the heat was intense.
“….Inu-baka’s stupid idea to go there.” Shippou grumbled to himself, rubbing his hands together and sleepily leaned back, the adrenaline fading after they sat in the car. Sango herself was nearly dozing off in the passenger seat, her head resting against the cool glass of her door’s window, her breath fogging it.
“We’re never going back there, never coming back to this neighborhood.” Kagome stated, her fingers tightening around the steering wheel. The car behind was following them, holding Inuyasha, Sesshomaru and Miroku inside, probably quiet after what they experienced.
“We would be pretty stupid to go back there again.”
“Exactly!”
The trip back to the her shrine was done in silence as Shippou dozed off in the back seat, holding onto his crumpled fox ears; the ones that were abused by Inuyasha and his vicious, immature temper.
She pulled in towards the back of the shrine, surprised to see the place still alit, the festival commencing well into the night. Putting the car in park, she aroused her friends from their slumbers, embracing herself to step out into the biting cold. The group headed up after Inuyasha’s car pulled up, moving towards where most of the shrine was nearly devoid of guests, but everything still ablaze. Kagome spotted her mother near the bonfire, roasting some marshmallow with Souta as her grandfather wandered around, holding some talisman to ward off evil spirits that Halloween night.
“Kagome! You’re back!” Souta shouted, dropping his stick to the ground with his marshmallow still attached as he quickly walked up to the group, forgetting all about the tasty treat. “Whoa, what happened to y’all?”
Each member had some degree of grime on them, from dusty costumes to smeared makeup showing pale skin underneath.
“Just a rough night.” Kagome gave a weak giggle, warding off Souta concern and suspicion-filled eyes. That boy has always been inquisitive, especially when it dealt with her being in some type of situation.
“You went to that haunted shrine.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement. Souta looked back at them with a frown on his youthful face.
Kagome’s eye widened, “How did you know?”
“Inuyasha told me before y’all went,” He said, shivering lightly underneath the heavy coat he had on, covering his costume. “I wanted to go, but mama told me no.” He pouted, crossing his arms.
“You wouldn’t want to go there anyways.” Shippou cryptically informed him as the rest of the group glared at the clown-suited male.
Souta’s pout grew, “Why not, it’s only an abandoned shrine.”
He watched as the group flinched slightly at his statement before Kagome said something. “There were… wolves in there, it is dangerous, and that would explain why we’re like this.”
“Wolves? Are you sure, you’re not lying to me?”
Kagome ruffled his head, unable to speak anymore, fearing she would blurt out what happened and be classified as a crazy person, and she knew her friends wouldn’t say anything for that exact reason. The group passed him, they’re movements nearly limp, like they didn’t have any energy to move. At that moment, something fell out of her pocket and their grandfather seized it greedily.
“K-Kagome, what is this?” Their grandfather asked. “Is this some sort of prank?”
Kagome turned around, giving her grandfather a puzzled look. “What are you talking about grandpa?”
He held up the picture in his wrinkled hands, showing her what she found at the shrine. “How did you get this picture?”
“U-uhm, “She stammered, worry in her gaze. She should have known better than have stashed in her costume’s hidden pocket, of course it would have fallen. And unsurprisingly, it fell when her grandfather was near.
“You must have listened to my story then.” He announced, his pride and pleasure of the concept of his granddaughter finally listening to him, shined brightly in his wizened eyes.
Kagome still had that puzzled look in her blue eyes. Her grandfather always had outrageous stories to tell, most of them whimsical and truly nonsensical, she would pretend to listen to them, usually idly playing with their cat. “What story?”
His mouth dropped open, “How can you know of this photo without listening to the story!?”
“I found it at the shrine…”
“I see…” Though he probably didn’t know what she was talking about since he knew numerous shrines in the area. He grazed at the photo with familiarity. “This was your grandmother when she was a child.”
The group behind them were too busy warming themselves up near the fire, eating marshmallow s’mores. They weren’t paying any attention to the hushed conversation between Kagome and her grandfather, though Sesshomaru’s eyes flickered towards them with a subtle curiosity, before Ms. Higurashi shoved another marshmallow in his hand.
Kagome felt her world freeze. That was her grandmother? The little girl in that picture? Was that why the demon was confusing her with her grandmother? Influencing her grandmother to the demon’s will, watching as it killed her family, was that the same person? The story was right, no one knew what happened to the little girl, because no one thought said mysterious girl would get married one day. This news didn’t bear any good fortune or luck. Her grandmother was friends with a demon.
“Her name was Rin, she dead a couple years after your father was born.” She could tell he was lost in his memories, a pleasant recollection of the past.
“Tell me the story grandpa.” She lead the elderly man a distance away, away from prying eyes and ears.
“She was always troubled by something, she couldn’t or didn’t want to tell me what was bothering her.” He started, still gazing at the picture. “And after your dad was born, she gotten worse, developing weird habits.”
“What kind of habits?”
He thought for a second, knowing it has been nearly forty years since he was last with her, when she was alive. “She would stay up at night, moving around in the dark, she would wait in front of your father’s room, just staring at the door before moving away. This continued until she was in a car accident, she died in the hospital; she didn’t want to live, she said she regretted her past before meeting me, she said she was afraid she would hurt us.”
“I didn’t understand her then and I still don’t, I’ve never knew of her past and I never pried into something she wasn’t willing to divulge.” He held up the photograph, uncaring to the fact everyone’s faces with the exception of the little girl was faded. “I caught a glimpse of this photo one day before she died, she was looking at it, touching it lightly, it was an old picture, that’s why I recognized it.”
“When I met her, she was wandering around, donned in a elaborate kimono, looking extremely lost. Nothing was on her, only that kimono I still have in storage. She told me her name was Rin and she would answer simple questions, but every time a question was asked about her family, she became tight-lipped.”
Kagome grew paler the more her grandfather continued his story, recounting his memories to her about his wife, the once child in the picture. This continued for a couple minutes, her grandfather weaving his story skillfully.
“…you kids thought I was senile or something, but I’ve proved you all wrong!” He said after finishing his story, for once not sounding like a crazy old man. A smile was on his face, but his eyes showed a hint of sadness.
A chill shivered down her back as she felt something glare holes at her. That familiar, yet dreaded feeling of what she encountered back at the shrine. She turned around, tuning out the droning of her grandfather’s voice and peered at her friends, watching as they chatted with each other, forcing what happened at the shrine in a dark corner of their mind, hiding what happened.
Time seemed to stop as she noticed an impromptu appearance. Something she thought was bound to that abandoned shrine, forever there locked and trapped. Her heart raced, her blood chilled and her body paralyzed as her gaze landed on predatory black eyes.
Behind the large blaze, between the oblivious friends stood the same little girl, the same demon from the shrine. A grotesque grin graced her grime-covered face, her features glowing cheerfully in a sinister way.
A giggle escaped her cracked lips; only Kagome could hear the sickening sound.
Kagome felt her world was ending when the little girl twirled around in place, holding the white rose tightly in her dirty grasp. This demon followed her to her home, the place where she was safe and secure in her family’s protective embrace. She put her family in danger and there was no possible way to get rid of this evil entity, not when it could latch onto anyone else and harm innocent people. The demon stopped twirling around, its happy dance ending. With a chilling voice, Kagome fainted, not believing what was happening.
“I’ve found you!”
-----------------------------------------
Prompt: Lighting Bonfires
Kneazle's Halloween 2013 Challenge