NEED A TITLE
Prologue
Bright colors illuminated the park as the sunset behind the Skyscrapers that made up the city. Two little girls sat in a sand box with stuffed animals by their sides along with an assortment of shovels and buckets they were using to build their lop-sided sand castles.
"Look Orihime" Kagome said standing up on one of the unstable sand castles, "I'm a giant." As Kagome said this the sand began to slide from underneath her feet. Landing with a thud sand soared into the air before raining down on the two girls. Giggling, Kagome sat up shaking sand from her hair, hitting Orihime with her ebony locks and sand.
Rubbing the sand from her golden eyes Orihime shot a playful glare at Kagome who only laughed. "What's the matter Hime?" she teased, "don't like a little sand."
Orihime shook her head, sand flying off her light brown hair back into Kagome's face. "Hey stop it," Kagome laughed raising an arm to shelter her eyes. Orihime laughed as she picked up more sand and threw it into her friend's hair.
Growling, Kagome pronounced on Orihime, knocking her to the ground. Letting out a shrill squeak, Orihime struggled as Kagome tickled her. "Stop it . . . Kagome," Orihime gasped between breathes as she tried to fight back. Kagome continued tickling her as Orihime threw more sand.
"Three . . . two . . . one, and Kagome wins" Kagome exclaims springing up with her arms stretched towards the sky, "the crowd goes wild." Standing up Kagome made cheering noises.
"Hurray," Orihime cheered as she sat up. She grabbed Kagome's leg sending her toppling to the ground. Giggling her and Kagome continued wrestling until it was dark.
Suddenly Orihime stopped and looked up into the sky where a few stars glistened defiantly along with bright yellow lights that flew back and forth between each other.
"Look," Orihime gasped as she pointed at a firefly that hovered above her and Kagome.
"Whoa," Kagome said as the firefly landed on Orihime's finger. Slowly Orihime pulled her finger with the firefly closer to her, its yellow light lighting up her pale face.
"I love fireflies, their lights are so cool. I wonder what they use them for" Kagome whispered, "Do you know, Hime?"
"I think they use them to find friends" Orihime whispered before quickly adding, "I don't know." Kagome laughed wrapping an arm around Orihime's shoulder.
"Of course you know. You know everything," Kagome said. Orihime smiled staring at the firefly.
"Um Kagome" Orihime whispered, "Do you think we'll be friends forever?"
"Well of course silly" Kagome responded hugging her friend close, "You will always be my bestest friend." Orihime grinned as she and her friend watched the firefly until it flew off her finger and joined the millions of others dancing in the sky.
Chapter One
The gentle breeze blew through Orihime's light brown hair as she sat on one of the park benches reading. The book she held in one of her small, pale hands appeared old and overused.
Flipping the page over to one where the top lines were beginning to fade she let a small smile creep onto her face as she tried to keep from laughing. Her golden eyes lit up with delight as she reread her favorite part.
It had been three weeks and she still couldn't find the courage to talk to her. Three whole weeks of just watching her from afar and thinking about the good old times they had back when they were five. 'This is ridiculous' she scold herself, 'she was my best friend until junior high. I should be able to talk to her. I mean we haven't drifted that far apart, have we?'
Making up her mind to talk to her, she slowly walked towards the girl. 'But what if she doesn't remember me? Or she hates me and doesn't want to be friends again?' she thought as each step brought her closer and closer to the girl.
"Hey Kagome," Inu Yasha's voice broke through her thoughts and she froze in her tracks. Kagome looked at him irritated and almost said something only to stop herself.
"What is it, Inu Yasha?" Kagome asked harshly.
"Nothing I was just wondering if you still wanted to go to the movies?" Inu Yasha said jumping back several feet in fear of what she might do.
"Oh yeah, sorry I forgot," Kagome said with a smile. 'I guess this will have to wait for another day' she thought sadly as she took Inu Yasha's hand, 'until next time, Hime.'
Finishing her book, Orihime looked at her watch. 'Oh no Five o'clock!' she thought jumping up and grabbing her bag, 'Mom's gonna kill me!' hoping that her mother was working late, she ran off towards the train station praying to the gods that it wasn't too crowded.
The movie was terrible. Kagome couldn't remember why she let Inu Yasha talk her into going. 'I could be home or over at Orihime's house catching up,' Kagome thought miserably as she walked out of the theater holding Inu Yasha's hand. It was the kind of real action movie every guy likes, filled with sex, violence and explosions, lots and lots of explosions. 'Oh well, it's not like we were watching anyway,' she thought looking at Inu Yasha who was talking to Miroku about the movie. Sighing, she looked at her watch. "Oh no It's six already?" Kagome cried, "I have to go. Bye, Inu Yasha." She kissed Inu Yasha's cheek and ran across the road. 'I can't believe it! That movie wasn't supposed to last three hours.' She groaned hoping she could make it home within twenty-five minutes. 'Why do we live so far away from everything,' she hissed running down the steps and into the subway. Squeezing into the crowded car, she barely caught the train before it pulled out of the station. Panting she grabbed onto one of the rings that hung from the ceiling.
Music blared into Orihime's ears as she laid on the floor with an open notebook and black ink pen. She doodled in it trying to forget that summer was going to end in a few days and so far it wasn't working. Small pictures of beaches, sunsets, and everything else that reminded her of summer decorated the page. While drawing a small penguin on a tropical island the phone began to ring. Orihime grabbed the cordless phone that lay next to her. Pushing talk she held it up to her ear and said in a bored tone, "Hello?"
"Hello Orihime, is your mother home?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.
"No, she hasn't come home yet," Orihime said, noting the urgent tone in the woman's voice.
"Oh," the older woman responded.
"Would you like to leave a message?" Orihime asked.
"No," Mrs. Higurashi said then added with a bit of worry in her voice, "have you seen Kagome?" Orihime was silent. She hadn't spoken with Kagome since junior high and she only saw her when she was over getting help with her math homework from her mother, which was often. Yet surprisingly neither ever spoke to each other besides the occasional 'hi.'
"No, I haven't," Orihime said playing with a hole in her old, torn up shirt.
"Oh well." Mrs. Higurashi sighed. Orihime held her breath as she listened to Mrs. Higurashi tap her nails on a counter, or some other hard surface. "Okay then, bye Orihime," Mrs. Higurashi said before hanging up.
"Bye," Orihime hung up the phone and stared out the window. A bit of longing slipped into her eyes as they landed on an old swing set her and Kagome use to play on. Pushing back the memories she returned to her unfinished penguin that was waiting for its feet and tuxedo.
Kagome stood at the top of the steps to the shrine and her home. Panting while hunched over with her hands on her knees. 'I made it! Only two hours late,' she thought standing up straight. Stretching her arms up to the sky she looked over at Orihime's house and let out a loud, longing sigh. Orihime's window was in plain sight and if she looked hard enough, Kagome swore she could see the top of the slide that belonged to the swing set they use to play on. Sighing she continued her trek up to her house and opened the door. "I'm home," she said, kicking off her shoes as she walked in.
"Kagome, you're back," her mother said walking out of the kitchen. Looking up at her mother, she smiled. "Where have you been?" Her mother asked.
"The movie ran longer than we thought," Kagome answered beginning to walk up the stairs.
"Well you could have at least called," her mother called after her. Sighing she walked back into the kitchen.
Orihime sat on the couch watching TV when the phone rang. "Hello?" she muttered muting the show.
"Hi sweetie it's me" her mother said.
"Hi mom," Orihime said.
"I'm going to be working late again tonight," her mother informed her while shuffling through some papers.
"Oh okay," Orihime muttered.
"Are you going to be okay?" her mother asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"Alright then, be sure to eat and don't stay up to late," he mother said.
"I won't," Orihime said reassuringly.
"I'll see you later, bye," her mother said before hanging up.
"Bye," setting the phone down Orihime turned the sound back on the TV and got up to make a sandwich.
Dinner seemed to have lasted a lot longer than all the other nights. It was the night before school started and both she and Souta were anxious. Her mother seemed to look at her with a worried expression every five minutes, and each time it seemed like she wanted to say something but instead she would continue eating. It was beginning to drive Kagome nuts. Finally, about half way through Kagome decided to put an end to her mother's strange behavior. "Mama, is there something you would like to talk about?" Kagome asked nonchalantly. Her mother looked up from her plate and smiled.
"No. Why? Is there something you want to talk about?" her mother asked sweetly.
"No." Kagome said shaking her head glancing down at her plate with a slight look of disgust. The food was no longer appetizing. "Excuse me," Kagome said getting up to leave.
"What? Are you alright, Kagome?" Her mother asked the worried look back again.
"Yeah, I'm just tired. I think I'll go to bed now," Kagome said, leaving the room and climbing up the stairs.
Orihime groaned as she got out of bed, the large red numbers on her clock read 7:30. 'Why must summer end?' she wondered groggily grabbing the school uniform that rested on the floor next to her bed. She dressed quickly and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth.
'7:38. A new record,' she thought as she grabbed her school bag and a piece of toast that sat on a plate waiting for her. Shuffling through her bag to make sure she had everything before walking out the door. Locking it behind her she began the long walk and train ride to school.
The school building stood tall and white against the multi-colored sky as the sun rose behind it. Walking up the steps Orihime casted her eyes down at her feet becoming entranced by her own steps, so entranced that she didn't notice someone standing at the top right in front of her. Bumping into something hard, Orihime looked up to see a very tall boy with silver hair that almost reached his knees standing in front of her. "Oh, I'm sorry," Orihime whispered as she moved away quickly, giving a small bow as she apologized. He looked down at her with emotionless, golden eyes before walking away.
Watching him go, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment as she shook her head running into the school building quickly before she did something else. She made her way to her homeroom a few minutes before the warning bell rang.
Sighing as she reached the bottom steps to the school building, Kagome began the slow trek up the steps when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. Turning around she spotted Inu Yasha coming towards her with a stupid grin on his face.
He looked a bit strange in his school uniform with his silver hair and dog ears. Stifling a laugh as he approached her, she resisted the familiar erg to touch his ears. "What's so funny?" He asked her, giving her a dirty look.
"Nothing," Kagome snickered, shaking her head. Distinguishing a familiar face within the hordes of people, Kagome started waving frantically at Sango. Sango spotted her friend and waved back. Pushing through the mass, Sango managed to reach Kagome and Inu Yasha.
"Sango!" Kagome exclaimed, hugging her friend. Sango had been away with her family the whole summer and Kagome didn't get a chance to see her best friend.
"Kagome, how have you been?" Sango asked, hugging Kagome back.
"I'm fine" Kagome said, "I missed you."
"I missed you too." Sango said letting go of Kagome and looking at Inu Yasha. Kagome grinned and looked around to see if she could find Miroku. Searching the crowd of people, she frowned unable to find him anywhere. "Hey, where is Miroku?" Sango asked looking around too. Kagome had to hide the grin that threatened to appear on her face. Despite denying it, Kagome knew that Sango liked Miroku and her worrying about where he was just provided it.
"I haven't seen that pervert since we left the movies the other day," Inu Yasha muttered, starting to look after Sango mentioned his absence. The warning bell rang and all the students began to file into the building. "We better go before we're late," Inu Yasha said and gently grabbed Kagome's arm. Kagome followed him into the building getting lost in the rest of the crowd.