Pieces of You

Chapter 1

She stared out the window, watching the sun as it rose over the horizon.  Silent tears traced their way down the teenagers face, though that was her only sign of emotion.  Her long black hair fell down past her shoulders freely.  Her dark blue-gray eyes were red rimmed from crying. 

Her slight figure shuddered with a suppressed sob.  Silently wiping her eyes on her long sleeve, she turned away from the window walking to the bathroom.  She stood in front of the mirror staring at her reflection emotionlessly.  Suddenly, she struck out at the mirror, a mixture of rage and grief appearing for a moment on her face, before her emotionless mask reappeared.

The mirror shattered, pieces falling onto the counter.  A large piece flew at her face cutting her face, before falling to the ground, a slow smear of blood made it's way down her cheek.  Blood mixed with the glass on the counter, from her hand which was now marked with thousands of spider web like cuts.  Without a thought she sent a quick blast of her miko power to the cuts, that shimmered for a moment with dark blue light, before disappearing, though the blood remained as a silent reminder. 

"It's a good thing you can do that,"  said a voice behind her.  She turned slowly to face the person.  It was a tall slightly round woman, her gray hair pulled back in a lazy ponytail, her brown eyes soft.  "You'd have all kinds of scars from, the number of times you've done that."  The woman looked at her sadly, "When will you forgive yourself Kagome, for something that wasn't your fault?"

Kagome looked at the woman harshly before turning back to the shattered mirror.  "Every time I look at myself, I see Kikyo staring back at me, accusing me of not stopping her."  Kagome's eyes turned frantic, "If only I'd been there for her when she needed me.  I could have stopped her from making that jump.  If only I." 

The woman reached forward shaking her from her reverie, "Kagome, there was nothing you could do.  It was Kikyo's choice to jump from the building.  When she refused to stop remember what she said?"  She shook Kagome again trying to take the self hating look from her eyes.  "She said she didn't want to be helped.  She said she loved you and would always be with you in spirit. 

Kagome's breath's came raggedly, as though she had been running.  But her eyes had lost some of their glassy look.  The woman sighed, "Get cleaned up,  today's your first day of school."  As she turned to leave Kagome whispered quietly, "Thank you, Mistress Kaede." 

Kaede smiled slightly to herself as she left the younger girl to herself.  'Poor child' she thought, 'I'm not surprised she's emotionally unstable, having seen her twin sister commit suicide right in front of her.'  She shook her head slightly.  'No wonder she can't stand to look at her reflection, she'd seen a dead body that looked just like herself.'  She walked downstairs to prepare breakfast for her charge and herself.

* later *

Kagome slowly walked towards the school entrance hardly paying attention to where she was going.  Her emotionless mask still in place.  She  ignored the odd looks she was getting from students around her.  She had put on a short black pleated skirt, a black tank top that had the words All is well in MY world! in white letters, black socks that came up to mid-thigh, and big heavy black boots.  She had a white bag slung over her shoulder.  She had no make-up on, and her hair still hung free though in the bright sunlight you could see the bright red streaks going through it. 

She walked quietly into the building.  As she entered the doors she stopped for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the change it lighting before moving out of the fast rush of people.  Not knowing where to find the front office she grabbed a girls arm as she walked by and asked directions.  In a hurry the girl mumbled quickly "Head straight down the hall then take a right at the windows, head down that hall, you can't miss it." 

Some how Kagome found the office, and entered silently.  The secretary was talking with a tall boy.  He was flirting with her, shamelessly trying by flattery to get his schedule changed.

Waiting, Kagome silently studied the boy,   He had short black hair pulled into a small ponytail, bright blue eyes, and two piercing in one ear.  He was wearing baggy black pants that looked like he'd cut them off just below the knee himself, a black long sleeved shirt, a thick black band around his left arm overtop his shirt with a white circle with a single red slash, dozens of black sex bracelets, and sandals.  As if he could feel her looking at him, the boy glanced over at her.  A grin lighting his handsome face.

Miroku glanced up from his flirting at the feel that someone was watching him.  He smiled looking her over, and found himself thinking, 'Nice.  Very nice.'  Turning back to the secretary he smiled charmingly trying to hurry up so he could introduce himself to this beautiful new girl.  "Please Rin.  For me?  Just a couple new classes so I can be with my best bud Inuyasha?" 

Rin stared at him helplessly.  "Fine Miroku, I'll change your schedule, but."  She looked  up at Kagome and her eyes lit up.  "Let me help this young lady first."  "Sure, that's fine by me," he said with a grin making a victory sign with his hand. 

The woman Kagome now knew as Rin turned to her and said, "Can I help you?"  Kagome reached into her bag and pulled out the envelope that Kaede had given her that morning before she left.  Rin opened the envelope pulling the different papers out.  Separating the forms from the special letter Kaede had included.  She glanced over the letter quickly before say softly, "So you're the one.  You have my condolences for you loss."

Kagome could feel tears beginning to form behind her eyes again, and shook her head trying to get rid of them.  "Thank you," she whispered.  Rin looked at the poor girl in sympathy.  Kaede had come in a few days ago and had warned them about her tendency to break any mirror she came in contact with.  To help them understand she'd had to tell them the basics of the story. 

Reaching into file cabinet behind her she pulled out a schedule, and map for one Miss Kagome Higurashi.  "Here you go," she said handing them both to Kagome.  She glanced at the schedule then looked over at Miroku while saying, "Hmm, funny seems that you have the same schedule as Miroku here.  To bad he's changing his."  She laughed as Miroku's eyes seemed to bug out a bit. 

Kagome also noticed the way Miroku reacted and had seen the curious look on his face when Rin offered her condolences.  A quick smile crossed her face for a second before she replied, "Yes to bad.  Thanks for your help."  With that she turned to leave. 

As she walked out of the room Rin slowly began counting down.  '5, 4, 3, 2, 1.'  Almost exactly on clue Miroku disappeared out the door following the new girl.  'Now I really feel sorry for her.  I really shouldn't have done that.  Though I get the feeling she can handle it.'  Smiling she returned to her work.

The halls were empty, the bell must have rung while she was in the office.  As she walked down the hall she could hear running steps behind her.  Suddenly a voice called, "Hey wait!"  Kagome stopped and turned to face the boy running towards her.  He skid to a halt in front of her.  He held out a hand for her to shake saying with a smile, "I never found out your name."  She looked at his hand for a second before placing hers in it.  "Kagome."  Miroku smiled, "Nice to meet you Kagome."  But instead of shaking her hand he raised in to his lips, leaving a kiss on its back. 

Kagome frowned slightly, before wiping her face clear of all emotions.  Suddenly she felt a hand on her butt, and her eyes narrowed dangerously.  "Miroku, " she said quietly.  "Yes,"  he answered cheerfully.  Then in an instant he was on the ground with a giant red mark in the shape of her hand on his face. 

Without a word she turned around and walked away.  Legs stiff in anger.  Miroku ran after her hooking an arm through hers, spinning her to walk in the other direction.  "You know it would help you not to get lost if you held the map right side up."  He smiled at her, "Aren't you glad I'm here to help you not get lost."  "Thanks" she said slowly removing her arm from his, "But keep you hands where I can see them, out in front of you." 

Miroku pouted for a moment about the unfairity of it all, before perking up at the thought of how jealous Inuyasha and Kouga would be about him meeting her first.  "Alright, fine.  Lets go."  He started walking forward full speed before realizing that Kagome wasn't with him.  He stopped and turned around.  Kagome was walking towards him at a much slower pace.  She had an amazed look on her face, "Do you really want to get to class so quickly?"  Miroku stared at her for a second before smiling, "Not particularly."  When she caught up with him he started walking again, but at a much slower pace.

When they reached the class some ten minutes later, Miroku opened the door for her saying, "Welcome to English."  To his surprise before she entered the room she paused and said, "Thank you Miroku."  And smiled at him quickly.  And in the seconds of her smile he realized that before that he hadn't seen her smile at all.  Indeed she had shown very little emotion at all.  He shook himself and followed her into the classroom. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hey darkchi here.  Please feel free to read and review. No demands, though it's appreciated. Oh yes, rereading this chapter, it sounds like a Miroku/Kagome fic.  But…it's NOT.  This is absolutely an Inuyasha/Kagome fic. I love the fics with unexpected couples but, this isn't one of them.  Err.  Talk to yal later with the next chapter.