Summary- Shun finds himself in the middle of a predicament. An apparition of a beautiful girl is out to exact revenge; something about past lives and betrayal. Follow his path as he rediscovers the relationship he had with Alice when they were alive about 200 years ago.

The summary is somewhat lame. I am sorry; I'm not good at writing summaries.

This is my first attempt at writing Supernatural/Tragedy. I don't know if this is actually a perfect genre to include this in.So please do forgive me for any potential mistakes.

And also, if you feel that any other genre is more appropriate over the course of the story, then please do inform me.

Thank you for clicking this link. My Nineteenth Story. :)

Enjoy.

Path To Rest In Peace

crystal-mist

Chapter 1

Apparition

What I am about to tell you, is a tale of the supernatural that has somehow incorporated itself into our urban era.

Shun Kazami, a very successful journalist has found himself in quite a predicament. He seemed to be living in a haunted house… Or rather, the haunting seemed to follow him wherever he roamed.

He always felt like someone was following him. I am twenty one years old now, I shouldn't be believing in ghosts…. This are just strange coincidences. Plainly he was getting stressed out.

It was 17th of July and Shun was sitting in his study reviewing some things for his latest entry. He constantly felt that someone was looking over his shoulder but when he turned around there was no one there. He sighed a bit as he turned back to his work. The article was about a famous lady singer.

There was a sound of glass shattering. He stood up from his chair and looked at the window which had shattered into bits right before his very eyes.

He went towards it to inspect it. There was no sign of a rock having penetrated. Perhaps some supernatural force? A chill went down his spine as he thought of this.

Suddenly the light that lit up the room also shattered into bits. He almost jumped at the shock. He closed his eyes and calmed himself. He made his way to the storeroom to get a new light bulb. He came back and fit it there, and then he turned it on.

Strangely enough, the light bulb lit up in a dim red glow… He turned his attention to his article.

His eyes widened as he saw it… There was a dagger impaled onto the face of the singer's picture and on the article there was the mark of blood in the shape of a hand…

He took a few steps backwards… A cool breeze started blowing in through the brocken window pane and it ruffled all the papers and his hair.

He felt like someone was behind him once again, when he turned around he saw something written on the wall. "GO TO HELL!" written in a red fluid that was unmistakably blood.

His heart was beating wildly…What was happening?

He started running out of the room. He had to get out of this place. It was the first time that the things were this ominous. He stopped because just where the door was stood a girl…

A girl with the palest white skin, she had bright orange hair and her eyes were brown.
She stood there with an emotionless face and blocked the entrance.

He noticed that blood was emerging from a wound on her forehead. It flowed down the side of her face. And blood was also coming out of her eyes in the form of tears. Her clothes were pure white but they were tattered, there was also some white fabric half way down her neck.

"Who…who are you?" he muttered realizing that she was probably responsible for his haunting.

"You do not remember?" she asked… Her voice was strangely soft and musical.

He nodded his head from side to side.

"Unforgivable…" she muttered, anger crossing her eyes… "Unforgivable… GO to hell…Shun."

"But why? Why are you trying to kill me?"

"Oh, I wish to do more that just kill you." She said in an ominous tone. "After what you've done to me."

"But I….I don't know-"He could complete because she held a knife at his throat…She pinned him to a wall. She was a ghost, but where ghosts supposed to be able to do this?

Her eyes were still full of hatred… He could tell that she despised him from the very core of her heart. But why though? He couldn't tell…

A raven flew in from the broken window and perched itself on the table near Shun and the girl.

"Alice…you want revenge this badly?" asked the raven, it had ruby red eyes and had an intimidating aura.

Alice –the ghost- did not answer, she pressed the knife a bit into Shun's neck. Lucky for him, it was only a warning because she had pressed the blunt side of the knife against him.

"Alright…but you know what will happen afterwards… Exacting revenge comes at a price." Said the raven.

"I know…" she muttered in an eerie voice.

"But, you must know one thing…Right now; he has no idea of what has happened… So there is only one condition…Kill him after the unfolding of this vision." Said the raven as it flew away.

Alice stared after it curiously.

The raven was the guardian of hell... She had earned a place in hell a long time ago… She hadn't done anything that was sinful during her lifetime but after her death, her anger overtook her and well, the rest was a long story…

Shun had guessed by now that the girl wanted him to suffer, but why?

He watched as the scene of his room dissolved and was engulfed by darkness and then a lush green garden filled its place. In front of him was a small cottage…

The knife dropped from Alice's fingertips as she saw the landscape. Her brown eyes widened in horror.

"No…no….I do not want to relive this…" her voice was filled with devastated panic… "No, please no." she muttered trembling. "Please NO."

"Are you alright?" Shun didn't know why, but he was very concerned about this girl although she had tried to kill him.

"Don't touch me." She screamed, an exasperate look formed on her face. The bloody tears no longer flowed from her eyes, although the wound on her head was still there.

It was then that Shun really lookedat her –she was beautiful.

He was baffled at what awaited him.

There was a sound of cries… Of someone in pain and by the sound of it, it was a young girl. Without thinking twice Shun ran in the direction of the sobs.

He ran through the forest and without actually turning around he noticed that Alice's spirit was following him.

In the middle of the forest there was a little girl of about 10 years of age with short orange hair… it was Alice as a child. A group of boys were beating her up and she was crying but they did not stop hitting her.

Shun watched it with a horrified look on his face. He rushed towards the little girl to help her but they couldn't see or hear him… He passed right through them.

He turned his attention to Alice's ghost; she had a hurt look on her face. Reminiscing the past was painful to her and she had her trembling hands positioned at her sides as she watched the little Alice being beaten up. With her sad chocolate eyes she watched as the little Alice didn't resist, she watched as bruises filled the little girl's body.

Shun realized that this was a memory of the past and that he couldn't change it.

Right then a voice echoed from behind him.

"Hey…What do you think you are doing?" A boy with long black hair and golden eyes stood there looking at the kids… "Leave Alice alone." He said.

The other boys just sneered at him and started heading in his direction.

Shun's eyes widened; that little kid who came to save Alice; he was a split image of himself.

The little Shun defeated all the kids in the fight and in the end headed in the little Alice's direction. He held out a hand to her. "I am sorry for not getting here sooner." He apologized.

The little orange-haired girl looked at him and timidly took his hand. He helped her up, but she almost fell down again.

"You are hurt very badly." said Shun in a downtrodden voice. He then carried her piggy-back all the way to her house.

Twenty year old Shun looked at Alice's ghost. "That was me?" he asked her.

"In your former life…Yes."

"My former life!" he exclaimed. "But why…why were they beating you up.

She didn't know why, but she found herself explaining. "Because of my hair…" she said. "You see, my hair is pure orange… Everyone else had black hair, even my parents… It was a time of great superstition… The priest declared me as a threat to the village itself because of my different hair colour. He said that orange was a colour of sacrilege and thus, I was condemned from birth to be hated by everyone."

Shun's heart ached for her.

She turned away from his gaze. "I shouldn't have told you all that." She muttered softly.

Shun looked away from her and went into the house.

Inside, the little Shun was treating her wounds.

"I really don't get it why they beat you up." He said, gently dabbing her wound.

"Because…" her voice was very low. "I am condemned."

"Don't say that…You know that's not true."

"It is…Even my parents despise the shame that I have brought them."

"Your hair is just different...I really don't know what's wrong with these people….You are unique...I think orange is a great colour. It suits you."

Her chocolate eyes widened and a little pink tinge appeared on her cheeks… "Really?"

"Yes...I mean it."

Shun Kazami watched the form of the innocent children. The little Alice had undoubtedly gone through a lot of suffering, but by the look of things it seemed that the little Shun was her friend and was the only person who cared for her.

The little Shun was his former embodiment. Everything was starting to confuse him. But his heart yearned to know what exactly made Alice want to kill her 'friend' so badly.

He turned his attention to the apparition who was beside him.

"Alice-" he called out.

"Don't call me that…" she snapped immediately,

"What exactly did I do to you in my former life?"

"I am not exactly reliving these memories because I wish to." She said as she gazed at her younger self smiling in Shun's company…

She wished she could forget but she couldn't and now she was forced to relive her days, relive her pain…

That's it, end of first chapter.

*****~~Impt A/N: From here on out the real Shun and Alice, you know, the twenty year old guy and Alice's ghost will be stylized in bold writing and the little guys in italics. It will be confusing because we may have to jump back and forth such a lot. And don't worry most of the time I refer to them as 'little Shun' and 'little Alice'. I hope that's okay with you.

If you have another, better word that can interpret 'little' in the above situation then please let me know Kay?

Please review.