A Twist of Change
Chapter 001: Insight
Dark brown. Nearly black. Just a smudge, barely visible to the naked eye. Easily noticeable for those with an eye for detail. The tapestry she managed to come into possession of was exquisite, but not original. She knew it for a fact because of that one little detail. She knew what the original would look like, and this, most certainly, was not it.
Fifteen years have passed since the day she left the Feudal Era. An entire fifteen years, and she had managed to obtain so much.
Her body stopped aging long ago, and even though she had the body of a young, eighteen-year-old woman, she had expanded her knowledge and her possessions ten-fold. Her eye color changed from a chocolate brown to the most striking of blues in just under the course of five years. Her hair remained as black as night, and her skin as pale as the moon.
For a while, nearly five years more, she lived with her mother, her grandfather, and younger brother. Unfortunately, their family had to deal with quite a loss. Her grandfather suffered a heart attack and passed away at the old age of sixty-eight. Shortly after, her mother and brother had an unfortunate car accident that took the life of her mother and left her brother in a wheel chair, hardly able to speak or move. That same year, a little while later, luck turned around and she just so happened to be Tokyo's next Trillionaire.
As luck would have it, her mother had entered in a sweepstakes earlier on in the year before the accident. Because she was deceased, her earnings went straight to the next living relative, which just so happened to be her oldest child.
Her brother had smiled, which told her he understood what was happening. From there, she chose to spend the money given to them wisely.
First, she bought herself some familiar land. In the (far) past, she would travel with her friends in the area, and although it had changed somewhat, she was fairly familiar with her surroundings. After making such a purchase, she hired some contractors to get a large enough home to accommodate her younger brother. It wasn't until a little bit later that she realized he could actually move his right hand, his non-writing hand. She ended up buying a specific kind of chair just for him.
With about two million spent on their home, and nearly two-thousand spent on nothing but her brother's welfare, she was finally able to settle down, and all it took was a simple span of ten years. She ended up renting out the Higurashi home and shrine to a Buddhist's family who absolutely loved the idea of shrine maidens and such. They signed a contract with her stating that should either she or her brother pass away, the family would get the land, but should one of the two siblings have children, the land would be passed down to the children. They also had to uphold the family name and keep the shrine up-to-date with the times and do all of the traditions, such as the annual festivals, the gift-shop on the shrine grounds, and so on and so forth.
She did state that the family would, of course, be able to split profit. Anything they made, seventy percent went to her and the other percentage went to their family funds. They agreed, of course, and soon enough, her and her brother had moved out and into their new home.
"This isn't what was agreed on," she said to the man who held the fabric out to her, completely unrolled. "Take it back."
"Madame," the man said with a tip of his hat, "this is exactly what was purchased. You would have me take it back all the way to Italy?" His accent was heavy and hard to follow, but nonetheless, she understood.
"Yes," she said with a firm voice, "I will not be cheated. I paid good money for the original ancient robes of Madame Slovvy, and I will get what I want. If you do not return by the end of the month after the trip there, I will request a refund and you will not get paid. Am I clear?"
Her eyes were hardened and her voice sturdy. The man bowed and left, understanding the situation. He took every inch of fabric that was requested, rolled it back up, and packed it right back into the large diesel that would make the trip back to Italy for the original cloth.
With a sigh, she returned to her desk to finish the taxes on both the shrine and the mansion they now lived in. It was a tedious task, but she kept up with it as best she could. She supposed she was doing everything correctly considering the fact that she was never contacted about doing anything wrong. Good thing there was the internet to give her somewhat of a guide.
"Miss Higurashi," called a rather soft, but teasing voice from the doorway of her study. A young woman, possibly in her twenties, stood in the doorway in blue jeans and a white and blue striped T-shirt. Her hair was very long and wavy, she even had bangs that curled right at her eyebrows. Her eyes were the prettiest shade of blue that often reminded Kagome of a sparkling fresh water sea. The girl's frame was so petite, it was incredible how she could have a diet that rivaled a horse's.
"Yes, Mei?" She asked, looking up at her.
"I've finished tucking Souta in for the night, as you requested," she said.
"Thanks, Mei," she said with a smile, "I think he's been a bit peckish at me lately because I keep giving him vegetables in his food."
Mei smiled and took a seat in front of Kagome. "Was it really necessary to send him back all the way to Italy? It looked like an almost exact replica."
"Of course it was!" Kagome retorted, "The reason I sent him back was because that particular rug costed thousands. Three thousand, to be exact. The only reason why I purchased it was because it was large enough to cover the entire ballroom floor. When we have guests, I want them to be able to walk around on something soft. Their shoes would make too much of an echo an such a gigantic place."
For a while, there was some silence between the two. Mei nodded her understanding. Besides, no matter how much of a replica it was, it was two hundred thirty-eight feet too short all the way around.
"Sooo, when do you want to go see that movie I was talking about the other day?" Mei asked to change the subject and get rid of the awkward silence that had somehow made it's way into the study room.
"Hmm," Kagome said, "How about on Saturday? Souta can come with, after all, he is twenty-five years old."
"Wait, I thought we were suppose to see it tomorrow," she interjected.
"I accidentally forgot that the museum wanted me to be on watch duty tomorrow night because of a new display they have." Kagome gave a sheepish grin, "And because I knew it was last minute, I didn't call to tell you, so you have tomorrow off and we'll meet up on Saturday. Sho has Souta tomorrow night."
Mei nodded her head. "Was there anything else you wanted me to do tonight before I headed off?"
Kagome shook her head, "Not unless you're up for some warm sake," she said with a smile. "I feel like getting a warm buzz."
Mei laughed. "No, thanks for the offer, though. Tomorrow morning, my friend from the United States is visiting, and I want to take the chance that you gave me to go visit her. No hard feelings?"
Kagome laughed, "No biggie, I know I've been working you to the bone with Souta. I've been trying to work out all of these finances that seem to be popping up one after another, I've hardly had time for Souta in the past three days." Kagome sighed. "Sometimes, I wish things were as they use to be."
"Hey, cheer up," Mei said, placing a hand on her friend's knee. "I may not have known you before you hired me seven years ago, but the way I see it, you care a lot for your little brother. And you've sacrificed a lot of time and money for his comfort. I don't think any other big sister in the world would do that. Hell, you made headline news!"
Kagome nodded her head with a smile. Mei was right. Kagome had made headline news by first becoming a trillionaire and then caring for her brother properly shortly after receiving such a lump sum of money. The news went viral and soon enough she was the whole talk in all of Tokyo. She was even requested to go see June on the Forever Live show for a live interview. She denied, however, and tried to quietly keep to herself. However, after that entire fiasco, she had to get a gated fence that surrounded the entire mansion to keep her brother and her employees, as well as herself, out of harm's way.
She was still decorating here and there in her mansion, too. Spending quite a bit of money on all things wonderful inside of her mansion. She even had an employee lounge (a rather luxurious one). She made sure it was luxurious so that her employees would want to be there and help her care for her brother as well as keep up with the mansion.
Mei nodded her head and stood again. "I'm gonna go ahead and get going. I'll see you Saturday, Kagome."
Kagome nodded. "Thank you again for all of your hard work. You have no idea just how much everything helps."
Mei gave her a smile and walked out, leaving her in peace. When she heard the buzzer in the room go off, signaling Mei had left the building, she stood and turned on the security system for the night. She took a look around and gave a heavy sigh before turning the light off and walking over to her brother's room in what she called "The Family Wing".
Just as Mei had said, Souta was successfully tucked in bed. Kagome would often come in and sleep at the foot of his bed and pray for him to get better enough to speak to her again. She could hardly remember the last time she heard his actual voice speak to her. Sometimes, when he cracked a smile and shifted a little bit, she could tell what emotion he was feeling. She was sure that it was torture for him not being able to move and such, but the doctor said it was neurological. Whatever the car accident hit in his brain, it told him to stop most movement.
She was afraid of doing anything else to her little brother. She wasn't sure if she should send him through surgery to see if they could fix anything. She wasn't sure if he would make it. In her opinion, it was always a flip of the coin. A fifty percent chance he would survive, and the other half would not. She just didn't want to take the chance, especially since he was her only sibling and relative in the area. Everyone else had moved to the United States, and she already knew that neither of them would be able to fit in comfortably there.
With a sigh, she hunkered down for the night, and laid next to her brother at the foot of the bed. She would once again go to sleep exhausted beyond compare. Her eyes closed and she let herself fall into a void of darkness.
Mmkay, this was a longer chapter than I was intending it to be, honestly. I actually re-read this chapter. I know, I know - I've got tons of other stories that need to be finished, but for some reason, this idea has been bugging me for days on end now. I NEEDED to get it out on paper as soon as possible so I could finally move on with my life. Lol!
I'm going to try to post another update a little later today. I've made it a goal to actually post twice on every update, so check in a little later once I get it all typed up and corrected. X3
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!