Holiday by Aura

Halloween

She frowned.

It was difficult not to.

The entire thing was just silly.

She was standing outside of a creepy old school building eyeing it skeptically while some of her classmates whispered conspiratorially nearby. They had been talking about checking out the old building for almost a month now. There was some stupid superstition that anyone that entered on all Hallow’s Eve would see the souls of the dead lingering inside.

Sure, she believed in spirits, but this was just a old building that wasn’t used anymore, she didn’t even think there were stories about anyone having died here like a lot of stories about haunted houses.

Instead she figured people started the rumors in the last month just to have something to be excited about for the holiday. Even if the haunted house the school set up was lame the party was at least inside and had food, much more desirable than this nonsense.

“You said you weren’t afraid.” Inuyasha mocked from nearby. Making her frown at him, she had only agreed to this nonsense cause her friends talked her into it. She might have been able to impress the boy, she’d had a crush on him for years and allowed that to let her lips agree.

“I’m not afraid.” Kagome snapped in irritable reply. Sure, she still kinda liked him, but she didn’t need the attitude at the moment, he was such a jerk sometimes. “I’m going, I’m going.”

“Remember, the roof, activate your flashlight a few times from one of the windows at the front so we know you went all the way up.” Inuyasha called after her as she headed inside.

Her frown only deepened when he then wrapped an arm around their fellow classmate Kikyo, she didn’t have a chance in hell. Yet here she was cold, uncomfortable, and rejected again while she was trying to impress the boy.

“I’m gonna kill Eri.” She thought in irritation as she walked toward the dark old building and flicked on her flashlight. “He broke up with Kikyo my ass...it was probably just a way to try to get me out here.”Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi hadn’t even shown up, just Inuyasha, Kikyo, Souten and his brother Hiten, and the last of the band was Yura. The group had picked on her for ages and likely had set up something else for tonight and told her other friends they’d canceled.

The building was older, parts of it in definite disrepair. A high-pitched squeeling sound came from the front doors hinges as she pushed it open, moving her flashlight left and right. It was a lobby area with a few benches and lockers, the ground was very dusty and a pile of dirt and leaves had built up in one of the corners. The lack of other lighting was disturbing and she was far enough away from the others now that the quiet only added to the mood.

Creepy.

She wasn’t scared really, but it did make her nervous. The heels of her costume clicking on the marble floor echoed as the only sound and she tried to put more weight on her toes just to avoid it in case she wasn’t the only teenager hanging around the place. It certainly seemed like a place delinquents would take a liking too.

And here she was dressed up like a sexy angel, another thing she needed to skin Eri for. “What the hell was she thinking telling me I looked great in this getup...”

Mostly it was just a slinky shimmery white dress with feathered wings added to the back and white heels for shoes with puffy sparkling cotton balls attached. She had a halo connected by wire ‘hovering’ over her head and had put glitter on her face and other areas of exposed skin.

Thankfully the stairs were right by the entrance and she took them up carefully so she wouldn’t fall on the heels, another bad idea as she wasn’t really used to wearing any. It became less frightening and more tedious by the time she was on her way past the third floor and toward the roof access. It was like any other school, darker and dustier, but she wasn’t witnessing any spirits and doubted she would.

“Just get to the roof, light up the stupid flashlight a bunch, and go back down so I can at least try to get a little fun tonight.” She muttered to herself as she shook the roof door to get it open and stepped out onto the concrete.

Rubbing her arms to try to fight against the autumn chill she slipped slowly toward the edge of the building. The fence was no longer there as this place wasn’t suppose to have anyone inside, it took longer to get up her courage to walk to the edge than it had been to get inside. Flashing her light several times, her reward for the trek up to the roof through the dirty old building?

The engines of the cars the others brought revved below and they flashed their lights a few times before they drove away...leaving her to stare and blink slowly at the fact that she’d been ditched here in the middle of the night.

“I’m gonna kill them...” She muttered, hands balling into fists. “I can’t believe they left me here. I’m suppose to cook something this month for Thanksgiving, I’m going to poison all of them...what was it in the one movie? Eyedrops? I’ll buy a crate full.”

“That would be unwise.” The deep voice made her jump and twirl around, she hadn’t heard the door to the roof open after her, and no one was up here when she arrived. It was close though and she stumbled backward, nearly falling from the roof before a strong grip closed around her wrist and saved her from gravity.

In a moment she’d been tugged back onto the roof, but still off balance she’d fallen into the chest of her savior. It took a moment, but she recognized the face and the tattoos on it, as well as the telltale silver hair.

“Se..sesshomaru senpai?” She blinked as her sparkling cheeks turned from white to pink. It was Inuyasha’s older brother, two years her senior and he’d always reacted to her like she was the plague the few times she’d visited Inuyasha’s house.

“As amusing as it would be.” He steadied her on her feet and let go of her, looking up at the starry sky. “If you use too many eye-drops you really could kill them. I recommend just a little bit, more torment, less jail time.”

Kagome smiled a little at that, she did remember Inuyasha saying a few times his older brother hated him. Maybe they had at least one thing in common then. “Oh...thank you...I...”

“Don’t worry about it.” His shoulders raised and lowered so slightly she wasn’t sure it actually happened or if it was just her eyes playing tricks. “He just left you here right? You don’t have a car of your own?”

“Right...” She nodded a little nervously, the thought of the building being haunted forgotten. “It’s complicated.”

“Playing pranks on people at Halloween?” He raised a superior brow at her skeptically, looking her over and seeming to consider her and her costume for the first time. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride home.”

“Right...” she nodded, not that she really trusted him, but she was cold and being stuck out here wasn’t an alternative she was willing to accept. She continued to rub her arms, shivering a little as she headed back to the roof’s door.

She struggled with it a moment before pausing, the feeling of warm fabric sliding over her shoulders made her pause and look back at the older boy. He’d taken off his jacket and dropped it over her shoulders before reaching past her to open the door for her.

Well, it was better than a perpetual frown.