Ch.1 "Eve of Destruction."
"Where is it? Where is it?" Eleven-year-old Souta Higurashi muttered to himself as he dug through the magazine rack for the fourth time, trying to find what he was looking for. There, in the far right-hand side of the rack was the stack of his favorite comic books, neatly arranged in one row. Quickly he flipped through them as his excitement grew in the hopes of finding the special one he had been looking for over the past week. Then, there it was, its metallic emblazoned logo blasting out from the cover like a bolt of silver lightning, beckoning him.
"There it is!" he crowed, plucking out the coveted comic from the pile. "Astro-Boy special issue number four hundred-twenty!" It was the big double-size special with foil-embossed front cover made in a limited production run. And now he had a copy!
He returned to the check-out counter with his prize, along with the two items he was sent to get from the corner store, a gallon of that fancy American brand vanilla ice cream and a two-liter bottle of root-beer soda.
"Anything else I can help you with?" the girl behind the counter asked, hearing Souta's crowing at finding the comic book clear across the convenient store.
"You bet! I've been searching for this issue all over the prefecture. I thought I'd missed out on it," he flipped over the comic, holding it up to show off the fancy cover artwork. The teenager didn't seem all that impressed, half-shrugging.
"Well, I'm glad we had what you were looking for." She rang up the items, not really interested in the comic book that she could see Souta was almost drooling over.
Souta wasn't put off by her disinterest as he was too excited to finally read this issue after supper tonight. He and his family were going to make root beer floats in celebration of his sister Kagome's graduation from high school. Souta paid for the items and headed for home, feeling upbeat. This would be a great summer, he believed.
He'd made the Dean's List for the second straight year and would be in a good class starting seventh grade this fall. His letter of application for summer soccer league was all filled out and ready to be mailed first thing in the morning. His team had finished last season in third place and that meant he didn't have to go to tryouts along with the first-timers. Hopefully some of the same guys would also be there with him.
Kagome had managed to graduate from high school, albeit near the lower portion of her class roster, and was thinking about what college she wanted to go to. Their mom was cooking up something really special for supper tonight in celebration. She was proud of her children for having done well this past year. Could life get any better then this?
He bounded up the stone staircase in quick and lively jumps that lead to the ancient shrine and its grounds his family had watched over for the past six generations. He hurried to the front door of their house. In one hand was the dessert for after dinner in the shopping bag and his comic in a separate brown bag so as to not let it get wet.
"I'm back!" Souta brightly announced his arrival. The soon-to-be seventh grader hopped out of his sneakers and into his slippers, dessert items in hand as promised. He found his mother and grandfather seated at the kitchen table, looking rather serious. Something was amiss here.
"Is everything alright, mom?" He could see this was not good. It was very quiet in the kitchen and his mom wasn't cooking. "Hey, where's Kagome?" He glanced around the kitchen, not seeing his sister.
"Sit down, Souta." His mom gently instructed. Not sure what was going on, he put the soda in the fridge, the ice cream in the freezer and did as he was told.
"Souta," his mother began, "You understand how much Inuyasha meant to your sister, don't you?"
He half-shrugged in response. "Well, yeah. It was pretty obvious. Why?"
"And you understand how much she wanted to be with him, don't you?" Mai continued. "That she believed it was their fate to be together."
"I guess so. Kagome believed all that stuff. She hasn't seen Inuyasha in three years since the well closed off, when she came back that last time. She wouldn't talk about what happened when she was away." He looked over at his grandfather, wondering what this was all about.
"Souta, I'm not sure how to say this," Mai braced herself as her son looked at her, "while Kagome and I were standing by the old well and talking, for a reason I can't explain, the well opened up and revealed a way for her to return to her friends and she…" Mai was having trouble finishing her statement.
Souta felt the cold clammy fear ooze over him from the sinking feeling in his gut, almost knowing what was going to be said before his mom said it. "And she…what?" His voice was very quiet.
"…and she jumped down the well to go stay with them on the other side." Mai forced it out. "Just after she went through, I watched the well close up behind her."
There was an awful silence in the room, broken only by the sound of the water dripping from the kitchen faucet. He'd been gone from the house for, what, fifteen maybe twenty minutes at most? His sister had been standing in the kitchen when he left. Now he was being told she was gone.
Souta felt his body go numb as his world exploded right before his eyes. He sat there momentarily dumbstruck, almost unable to comprehend what he just heard. He turned to look at his grandfather, wanting to hear from him if this was really so.
"It's true, my boy. She's gone to be with him. They will be happy together." His grandfather was trying to sound glad for his granddaughter in finding true love, but having a family member depart like this was hard on him too.
"But…but…that's not possible! She was right there! She was standing right there!" Souta jumped up, his chair fell backwards to clatter against the floor as he pointed to the spot where he had last seen his big sister. He held his head with both hands, reeling from this news, panting a little in shock.
This…this is crazy! She can't be gone! I was gone for only a few minutes! Souta's mind just couldn't wrap around the idea of his sister just up and vanishing like that.
Mai tried to console her son. "Please understand, Souta. This was her fate after all. We should be happy for her and Inuyasha."
But at eleven years old, Souta only felt the sudden fear and pain of losing his only sibling in an instant. He bolted out the back kitchen door, sprinting towards the Bone Eater's well.
"Kagome! Wait!" He cried out, the coldness of her absence filling his heart. Souta ran to the shed where the well resided, jumped down the steps to see if any trace of his sister was left behind. But it was dark and still down in the well's shaft, with nothing to disturb the silence except the faint echoes of his voice.
Souta felt so torn inside, standing there, his feelings jumbled up inside him by this sudden and unexpected turn of events. He felt such angry betrayal at Kagome for leaving that he wanted to scream. How dared she?! How dared she just discard him and their family by leaving like that?! Didn't she care how they'd feel if she left them?!
But at the same time, he was relieved that she was finally with Inuyasha after all that time they'd spent together and the three years she was away from him. They were made for each other. Now his emotions swung wildly back, on the edge of tears from her leaving and wishing she would come back. He didn't know what to feel.
He knew his sister and Inuyasha were in love; it had been so obvious to him. But Souta never thought she'd just up and leave her family. Here one second and then, blip! Gone. No drums, no fanfare, not even a farewell to him. This was so sudden and he simply wasn't prepared for it. He had so much he'd wanted to say to her and Inuyasha in case she did leave. Now, he'd never get the chance to tell either one how he felt. The sudden emptiness felt like a cruel kick in the stomach.
She's gone! Gone forever! Souta gripped the well's ledge tighter in his hands, clenching his teeth when realizing his mistake.
If I hadn't been so selfish in looking for that comic like I did, I would've been back in time to see her leave! I could've said what I wanted before she went! I should've been here to see her go! Would've, could've, should've; it was all academic now. His head fell forward at the knowledge that what had cost him a few hundred yen was nothing to the cost of his sister never learning how proud he was of her or how much he'd admired Inuyasha.
He turned around, seeing his mom now standing in the doorway to the shed that covered the Bone Eaters well. The sadness from his eyes left trails down his cheeks. "Was she happy to go back to stay with Inuyasha?"
Mai came over and held him in her arms, assuring him. "She was very happy, Souta. Very." Souta held a little tighter, needing her love and support right now as it just hurt too much for him to know his only sister was gone.
