Hey, okay, I'm doing major renovations to my stories and all so these chapters are all being fixed, I repeat, #1-3 are all being fixed. I should have chapter four up soon! BIG UPDATE! I've changed the story from first person to third. Please be patient.

Chapter One:

Noises in the night

A medium sized girl stood at the park ranger's desk waiting for him to give her the keys to her new home.

He came back from the backroom where she had heard very loud barking. By the time he sat down at the desk her eyes had begun to wander. The room was a wooden octagon with a little cubby off to the side that held artifacts from the 1700 and on then there was also a slightly out of date computer. There was a giant piece of wood on one wall showing how to figure out how old a tree was and then opposite that was a wall covering which had a few of the native wildlife and a map of the reservation.

"Hello?" He asked and she turned to face him, putting on a sunny smile on her dollish face. "Hi I'm Kagome Higurashi and I was hoping that you could help me." She said. "That's what I'm here for. Oh by the way I'm Ranger Akers." He said smiling back, but his smile wasn't warm, just a little tired.

She kept the smile on her face and said, "I'm suppose to move into the old Irazi place on the North side." Ranger Akers's eyes lit up and his smile fell. He pulled out a file from under his desk "Let's see…it's been ten years since anybody's lived there and in almost fifty years we've had around fifteen families move in and out in a matter of days. The longest we've ever had here on Moon Lake is three days. I wish you well hunny." She cringed at the word but quickly covered it up as Ranger Akers lifted a key off the small peg-board board behind him.

"I wish I could escort you there but I am a very busy man. Well here are the instructions to find your way up there. Just go up along the coast and you'll see a little dock sticking out you can't miss it. If you want you can use on of our boats. Just tell me if there are any problems." Ranger Akers said pointing the way out and going back into the room.

She went outside wondering how people could leave so often from a little piece of paradise like Moon Lake. After a while Kagome found the little motorboat but couldn't see where the dock was. She followed the direction he had pointed for about fifteen minutes then saw a little dock and hoped it was the one he was talking about.

Sure enough when she docked there, up a path there was her new home. It was a sort of historical landmark she had been told before she bought it. As she walked up the path she took in the sights then found it was getting dark. It had taken her about a half an hour to get up there! Before she mounted the wooden steps she caught sight of a light shining towards her left and decided to check it out.

As she walked something made her jump sky high, it was a "Whhhhhhhhoooooooooo Whhhhhhhoooooooooo." Kagome started to shake, but then quickly steadied her nerves, she was not one to be scared easily. As Kagome got closer to the light the Whoing got louder.

When the light was finally above her head she found that it came from up on a raised platform in a tree with wood planks nailed to it, making a ladder. Kagome called up tentatively, "Hello?" The Whoing stopped immediately and a harsh "Shush!" was directed down in her direction.

A man in dark purple clothing-probably to make him self blend in with the approaching night-struggled down the makeshift ladder. "Great you just scared away that Strix Veria I was calling!" She looked at him confused and asked. "A Strix what? Who are you?" "A Strix Veria is a very rare bird and I'm Miroku Houshi THE bird watcher around here. Who are you and what are you doing here?" Miroku asked.

"I'm Kagome Higurashi, I just bought the house down the path." Kagome said pointing back the way she had come. Miroku's gaze softened and then got anxious when he looked up towards the sky. "Well Miss Higurashi I should go but if you need me I live with my wife, Sango, on the eastern side. You can find her supply shop there. Oh! I hope you last longer than the rest and a word of advice right now go inside and lock your doors and sit tight till morning, the ghosts around here are usually very vicious to new comers." And with that a spine tingling howling came from a massive wooded area near her new house. Kagome turned to look at it then when and when she turned back, Miroku was gone.

The howling was getting closer so she took Miroku's advise and hightailed inside then locked the doors and as soon as the back door was locked that was when she got her first taste of the ghost's hatred.

Snarls, growls, and barks started echoing around on all side of the house. It sounded like very heavy weights were being thrown at the door and something very big kept scratching it mercilessly, she screamed and dropped to the floor covering her head since it seemed like the door would come off its hinges at any second. Soon things seemed to quiet down and she was able to get up. She went to look out the window watching warily as figures zoomed by and for one single instant she thought she saw a flash of white then what looked like a dog, a really BIG dog run by the window.

She was about to shut the curtain and run up the stairs when the lights flickered and went out. Kagome covered her mouth to muffle her screams as a big head appeared at the window glaring at her with big glowing yellow eyes. The thing started barking very deeply and hoarsely causing her to stumble back and hit her head against the old-fashioned metal stove. She blacked out but not before seeing the head disappear from the window.

When Kagome woke up the sun was shining through the still open window. She rubbed her sore head and tried to recollect all of what had happened last night, she kept trying to convince herself it was just a dream. When she went onto the porch she knew it wasn't a dream. There on the door was the evidence. There were huge scratches on the door where it had been attacked by large claws. She checked around the house and found other things like paw prints near her window where the glowing eyes had been. Near those were larger prints of what looked like a barefooted human.

Just like a detective she followed the prints towards the entrance to the forest but hesitated when they kept going farther in. She thought it wasn't a good idea to go in there, she decided it would be better to go and talk to Miroku but which way was east?

She turned and spotted a door leading to a cellar with a small slab of concrete in front of it. The slab had muddy footprints on it too but Kagome could see through the muck that it told the directions. She looked to her left, that was east, at lest she thought it was. Kagome proceeded down to the little docked motor boat and started it up. She turned the boat and hoped was the right direction.

When she docked at SSC (Sango's shopping center) Kagome saw it was painted pink and built very odd.

When she went inside she found the inside was even odder than the outside. A friendly looking young woman sat at a little counter in front of the fish bait, Kagome was betting she was Sango. She walked up to her tentatively and the woman asked asked, "How can I help you?" Kagome asked "Can you tell me where I might find a man by the name of Miroku?"

Her eyebrows shot up and she asked, "Why do you need my husband?" "I wanted to ask him about the ghosts he talked about." Sango put her head in her hands. "You're the girl Miroku told me was moving into the haunted house. I hope they didn't hurt you." "Nope but they did some damage to my door." Kagome said sheepishly. "What can you tell me about them?"

Sango fished under the counter and brought up a rather old looking book. "This book is seventy years old. It will tell you all you need to know just return it to me once you're done with it." Sango said handing it to her. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay you for this since I am taking it? How do you know I will return it?" Kagome asked. "I can just have my husband come and get it since he likes calling for birds there. Oh and if he makes too much noise just tell him I will kill him when he gets home." She looked up from the book "Oh and do you think I could buy a cheap bow set from you?" Kagome asked. "I have a set over there and you can have it as long as you need. Though I was half expecting you to ask for a gun." Sango said waving at her while she went outside with her packets.

As Kagome got in her boat she decided to visit Ranger Akin, not to tell him about the ghosts, just to see if all her clothes had come in. She really wished this place had a real post office.

As she docked (Kagome had been getting real good at remembering which place was where) she saw a little white car parked there and wondered how it had gotten there, she couldn't really recall a road. Kagome had had to hike to get to the ranger station.

When Kagome came in Ranger Akin was talking to some really old and rather pudgy man who didn't seem too happy. Ranger Akin looked at her as she came up to the desk and said, "Oh Miss Kagome. There's a couple of boxes here for you but I doubt they will fit in your little motor boat so I'm having Myoga here drive it over since he knows a little path that will bring him real close to your house." Ranger Akin said. She stayed and chatted for a second then decided it was time to go. While Kagome got ready to leave the man called Myoga grabbed her arm.

"Did you see him?" He said forcefully. She tried to struggle out of his grasp "Who?" Ranger Akin grabbed Myoga's hand away but he said again "Did you see him!" She rubbed her arm and didn't answer so he screamed "Did you see Inuyasha?" She looked up with disgust showing on her pretty little face. "What is an Inuyasha?"

"He leads the Ghost Dogs that attack the..." Myoga never got to finish because Ranger Akin pulled him to the back and closed the door but you could still hear him shouting since the dogs in back stopped their incessant barking. "Sorry about that. If you want I could get someone else to get the directions from him and drive down?" Ranger Akin asked looking sincerely sorry.

Kagome shook her head "No it's okay, so when do I need to meet him and where?" She asked looking at the boxes. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a little orange flash pass by and come up to her legs. Ranger Akin was about to start talking again when she looked down and saw a little child. She held up her index finger and said, "I really need to tie my shoe." The little kid looked scared and kept on making signs like he wanted her to keep quiet. His big blue eyes kept darting to the door.

She got the feeling he wanted to leave and so since he was so small she thought she could pass him off as a plush doll in her purse. Kagome dropped her bag and he jumped in. She stood back up and prompted, "Go on."

Ranger Akin gave her a weird look then went on, "He's gonna bring them down to the cemetery belonging to Mr. Irazi. That's located at the back of the woods, Myoga will bring it by at seven o'clock. Uh, I have a little map here that can lead you to the cemetery. I would have rather liked it if he walked it down to your place since it's gonna be dark soon. Usually the woods get dark around seven and even though there's a path they all lead different ways like a maze." Ranger Akin said.

"I'll be fine if anything attacks me I can shoot them, I'm pretty good with bow and arrow." Kagome faintly heard Ranger Akin mutter, "I've already tried to kill the Ghost Dogs it didn't worked." She decided to not say anything to. She just took the map, said goodbye, and backed away hiding the bag from him.

"So I guess they are real." She murmured more to myself than the kid in her bag. "Of course they're real." He said and she remembered that he was still in there. She looked down at him. "Okay kid, who are you?" Kagome asked. The kid's face held an unintelligible "I'm Shippo." He said simply, no last name or any other information. Kagome prompted him on, "Why are you running away from Akin?" Shippo looked down sheepishly "I didn't like it there since all those kennel dogs didn't like me so when Mr. Myoga was pushed inside I slipped out and hid near your boxes then I saw you and thought you might help me." Shippo said pathetically.

"Well then do you have a home?" She asked getting in the boat and setting down the bag so Shippo could jump out. He shook his head 'no' to her previous question then she remembered what he had said. "So how do you know about the ghost dogs?" Shippo looked at her.

"Back in the kennel Ranger Akin had four pictures of dogs on the front of each dog's run. He's been trying to teach them to attack the ghost dogs so that when he goes to hunt them once a month the dogs he's trained can get rid of them." Kagome looked away from Shippo while she turned on the engine. "But why does he want to exterminate the dogs? Did they kill someone? I do agree that they are truly terrible creatures considering how badly they scared me last night." Shippo shook his head.

"No he wants them gone so he can bring tourists here. I like it the way it is and anyway the dogs aren't to mean they're just protecting a memory. A really really REALLY old memory." Shippo pouted then smiled. Kagome grinned down not really grasping what he'd said and glanced at her watch. "When we get back to my house it'll be 'round five o'clock so I'll have two hours to find my way to this cemetary... Wait what did you just say about the dogs?"

Shippo looked down at his paw like hands "About three years ago I met one and talked to him. He said that he was helping his master keep an old memory alive, then he disappeared like mist. I know they aren't mean since they didn't hurt me."

"Well then do you think you could accompany me into the woods to get my stuff since I bet you heard all Ranger Akin said." Shippo shook his head yes.

When they got back Kagome had been right about their arrival time. She brought Shippo inside and made a quick dinner with some food she had brought in her backpack. Shippo ate it hungrily and then said, "This is way better than dog food." Kagome laughed, "Tomorrow we'll go to Sango's and stock up the cupboards." She watched at the doggy coo-coo clock as it struck six thirty.

"We should go. I don't want to miss Mr. Myoga." Kagome shivered and Shippo jumped onto her shoulder as the lights started to dwindle.