Prologue
Mieko Higurashi looked at her living room. It looked bare. Jack had taken most of the paintings and some of the furniture, including the mosaic coffee table that she loved. She sighed. The move hadn't been easy. They were constantly arguing over who got what and what belonged to who, making the whole situation harder than it is, but deciding who got custody of their only child was even harder. After some time in court, the judge decided to let their daughter live with her mother and let her visit her father, Jack, on holidays like Christmas and New Year's. Mieko was happy of the decision. She couldn't imagine her little precious living in a bachelor's dwelling, where it was a pigsty mess, especially since her ex-husband was a expertise slob.
"Mommy?", said a little voice.
Mieko looked down at the small four-year old girl in pigtails. "Yes, Kagome?"
"What happened to daddy?", Kagome asked innocently, completely oblivious to what was happening in the last few months of divorce papers and such.
Her mother sadly smile at her. "Daddy left, honey, to live somewhere else.", she replied softly.
Kagome slightly cocked her head to the left. "Why?", she asked, confused.
Mieko felt her throat go dry, searching for something to say. She didn't know why. Why had the relationship between her and Jack gone wrong? They were happy, before that year. They didn't have problems, arguments, or anything. Why had the relationship so suddenly gone sour? She stared at Kagome, with her mothering eyes. It doesn't matter anymore, she told herself firmly. The papers were signed, and the marriage was a thing of a past now. Right now, her main focus was on raising her daughter. "Want to go to the park?", Mieko asked, taking Kagome's tiny hand.
"Okay!", Kagome answered enthusiastically, completely forgetting the question that she had asked her mother. "Can we get some ice-cream, too?"
Mieko smiled. "Sure."
-Every Rose has it's Thorns-Chapter One
Present day-Tokyo
"So, whatcha going to do?", Eri asked."Yeah, what are you going to do? Are you going to go out with him?", Ayumi followed.
"I can't believe Hojo actually sent you a love letter! How romantic! I wish some guy would send me one, or at least flowers. You're so lucky Kagome!", gushed Yuka.
Kagome stared at the letter in her hand, in surprise. She hadn't expected this. She had no idea Hojo liked her. "Yeah, I guess...but I don't think I'm going to go out with him.", she said, crumpling the piece of the paper and throwing it away in the trashcan.
Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka gasped. "Why?", they all yelled her in unison.
Kagome shrugged. "He's a nice guy and all, but I don't think we could work out..."
"Who cares?", Yuka reasoned with her. "Hojo's the hottest guy in the school! How can you turn him down?"
"Yeah.", Ayumi agreed. "Hojo's a total hunk." Eri, who was sitting right beside her, nodded her head.
Kagome could feel the pressure weighing down on her by her friends. "I just think of him as a friend, that's all...", she said firmly.
Eri rolled her eyes. "You're impossible Kagome. Why won't you give him a chance? I mean you already turned down Kouga, Masashi, Yoshihto, and not to mention Kei, who is the second hottest guy in the school next to Hojo."
"Yeah, and you always use the same excuse...'I just think of him as a friend' ", Ayumi said. "It's getting old."
"Just give Hojo a chance.", Yuka said to her friend. "You might just fall in love with him."
Kagome almost spat out her juice. She felt her eyes go wide at the suggestion, and then she started laughing. Hard. "Me and Hojo..in love?...", she said in-between breaths. She clutched her stomach, from all the pain of laughing so hard. "Yeah, right."
Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka looked at her annoyed. "Laugh all you want, Kagome.", Eri said, raising an eyebrow. "But expect us to say 'Told you so!' when you do."
Kagome stood up, with her lunchbox in one hand. "Like that'll ever happen.", she snorted. "See you guys at 6th period."
"Where are you going, now?", Yuka asked, seeing that her own lunch wasn't even half-way empty.
"To the library."
They watched as the raven-haired girl left the picnic table and went inside the building. "I can't believe she's picking to go to the library instead of talking to Hojo.", Eri said, shaking her head in disappointment.
"Totally.", Ayumi replied, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
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Kagome felt at peace at last. She was finally away from Eri, Ayumi and Yuka's chattering. Not that she didn't like Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka. It was just that when they started rant on about her and boys, it got annoying. She took a deep breath and smiled. It smelled of coffee and musty old books. This was her favorite place in the world. No one was rarely in here except the old librarian, Mrs. Ono, who was eighty and had a hearing problem. So, really, it was kind of like having the whole place to herself.
She searched through the shelves, before she picked out a book. Jane Eyre. Perfect. She'd read this book a million times, but it was okay to read it once more. She loved American literature. Kagome settled down on a table to start on the novel, when she noticed something strange. A boy with long black hair, leaning against one of the bookshelves. He completely engrossed in some book that he didn't even notice Kagome's stare. That's weird, she thought. She's never seen him before. She didn't know any guy with long hair like that and if she did, she would certainly have remembered it. The boy looked up and noticed Kagome in the act. 'Omigod, he's looking right at me.' They both had their eyes locked on each other, before Kagome looked away. She felt her cheeks go hot.
She hesitantly looked up again, but saw that he was nowhere to be seen. She glanced around the library, but found that it was just herself again in the building and ,of course, old Mrs. Ono. Kagome tried to get back into her book, but couldn't help thinking of him. He was one of the most good-looking boys, she'd ever laid eyes on. 'And, he had beautiful violet eyes.', she thought. She frowned. Violet eyes? He did have violet eyes ,didn't he? That was unusual. 'So mysterious and beautiful..'
Kagome shook her head. What was she thinking? It didn't matter how good-looking he was. All guys are jerks in the inside and that's that. 'Pull yourself together, girl.', she scolded herself. She looked at her watch. "SHIT!", she cursed. 6th period started in five minutes. She frantically gathered her books, and ran out the library building. Running out the door, she bumped into a tall figure.
"Ow…", she groaned from the ground. "You should watch where you're going."
"Sorry Higurashi", said the warm voice. He extended his hand to her. "Need a hand?"
Kagome froze. She looked up to see the boy she least wanted to see right now. "Oh, hey Hojo. Yeah, thanks.", she said, taking his hand and stood up. She smiled, uneasily. "So, how have ya been?"
Hojo grinned back. "I'm okay. You?"
Kagome kept on the fake smile and nodded. "Same here. What are you doing here anyway? I mean I never you went to the library."
"I don't. Well I don't really have time to. I'm just here on a errand by Mr. Kimurata to give Mrs. Ono this note.", he replied, pleasantly.
"Uh huh,", she said. "That's nice of you."
Hojo smiled at her bashfully. "Thanks.", he said, suddenly getting shy. He looked down at his feet, before he popped out the question. "I was wondering if…well if you got the note… you know I slipped into your book bag.."
Kagome was afraid he was going to ask her this. She didn't want to disappoint him, but there was no way she was going to go out with him. Sure, Hojo was attractive, but he was really a zero on the personality level. Why did Hojo have to go out and put that note in her book bag anyway? Why did he have to go and try to make their friendship something more? "Yeah, I got it.", she simply replied.
"So..what do you think?"
"I,", she stopped to look at Hojo's hopeful face. This was going to be hard. "Well, I.."
"Yeah?"
"I…..I got to get to class.", she stammered, looking at her watch again. "SHIT!" Class had already started. How was she going to explain to her teacher why she was so late? That was she trying to explain to some guy, that had a crush on her, that she couldn't possibly date him because she found him so boring and dull? "I really got to get going.", she said. "I guess I'll have to see you later. Bye."
"Yeah…bye.", Hojo replied, looking slightly confused and let down.
Kagome felt relieved as she ran to her 6th period class. That was a close call. She could almost imagine Hojo still standing there, scratching his head, wondering why she hadn't even answered him back. "He's hopeless."
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-collapses into seat- I'm finally finished! Woohoo, prologue and first chappie is up! I hope you guys enjoyed the beginning of "Every Rose has it's Thorn" and liked it enough to review! And if you'll excuse me now, I think I'm going to get some zzz's. School tomorrow…
