Chapter 1

"It's snowing…" said the voice of a young teenager. She smiled gently at the snow falling outside of her window in peace and gently placed both of her hands on the cold window. The peace was abruptly disrupted when her rather annoying brother, Souta, shouted loudly from his room.

"Kagome! Mom says to get ready for the party tonight!"

Kagome irritatedly sighed and got up from her seat next to the window and started making her way to her room. Her annoyance didn't last that long now that she remembered that it was Christmas eve; the night before her most favorite day of the year. She also remembered that her household is having a party. Friends and family from everywhere will be attending. Out of all her family members, she was mostly excited to see her Auntie Kaede.

For the first time in a long time, Kagome gets to see her Aunt who has traveled all around Europe for 10 years straight. She loved her uncle a lot. Ever since she could remember, her auntie told the greatest stories that helped her go to sleep at night and she cannot wait to hear the stories of her travels when she arrives.

"Kagome, you're still not dressed?" Kagome's mother, Mrs. Higurashi, said in a concerned voice. "The guests are going to be here any minute now."

"Yes mom, I was just on my way to my bedroom. I promise I'll be ready in a bit." said Kagome. Kagome was walking up the stairs and just as she got to the last step, her mother says, "Oh Kagome, I forgot to tell you that your cousin Kikyo is coming too."

Kagome's face crinkled up a bit. She hated her cousin. Ever since she could remember, she was always compared to by her cousin because of how "perfect" she is. From her looks to her personality. Kagome assumes that is where her insecurities come from. Very often, her family members would compare Kagome to her cousin, including her own mother.

"Oh… that's nice." Kagome only said, trying not to crinkle up her face any further then went up to her bedroom. Once she was out of her mother's sight, she rolled her eyes then entered into her room to get ready for the Christmas party.

⊰ . . . . . ⊱

As the party was going on, Kagome sat on the seat by the window, watching the snow fall down and of course waiting for her auntie's arrival. The party started hours ago and she still has not shown up.

'Maybe she's running a little late…' Kagome thought, reassuring herself. She sighed softly then looked away from the window and across the room at Kikyo flirting with some guys. Once again, Kagome's face crinkled as she watched her cousin flirtatiously laugh and drink her punch. Kagome rolled her eyes and imitated her cousin mockingly then scoffed. She then turned her attention back to the window and found someone walking up to her house; it was her auntie!

"Auntie Kaede is here!" Kagome exclaimed excitedly as she got up from her seat by the window and ran to the door. As soon as she was about to open the front door, Souta got in the way and placed his hand on the knob before she could and exclaimed, "I'll get it!"

Immediately after Souta opened the door, him and Kagome were greeted by a warm, gleeful smile.

"Why hello children!" exclaimed aunt Kaede.

"Auntie Kaede!" exclaimed both Souta and Kagome and gave their aunt a hug. Their aunt gladly returned their hug then took a look at them.

"My how you've two have grown!" exclaimed their aunt. "I remember when you were only 3 years old, Souta, I doubt you even remember me." Their aunt laughed gently and gave a kiss on Souta's cheek.

"Of course I remember my auntie!" Souta said smiling. "Do I get a present as a reward for remembering you?!"

"Souta!" Kagome cried out angrily.

Their aunt only laughed and replied, "Why yes I do, my nephew!" She then took out her huge purse and took out a beautifully wrapped present that was the color blue and gave it to Souta.

"Wow, thanks auntie!" exclaimed Souta excitedly.

Kagome watched her brother run off with his present and rolled her eyes.

"Little brothers…"

"Ah, don't worry about it too much, my dear. He's only 13 years old; he's got many years ahead to mature up. But for now, just let him be a little boy that he is." Her aunt gave a little smile.

Kagome sighed gently and replied, "yeah, you're probably right. Boys will be boys, I suppose." Kagome gave a little laugh.

"Oh my dear Kagome," her aunt said gently and hugged her, "I missed you so much. You've grown out to be a beautiful young 15 year old, like I've always imagined you'd be."

"Oh auntie Kaede… I'm not that beautiful… at least not like-"

"Auntie Kaede!" exclaimed a voice.

Kagome quickly turned around and saw her cousin Kikyo walk up to the both of them with a smile on her face.

Kagome rolled her eyes and watched her walk up to the both of them.

"Ah, my dear Kikyo!" exclaimed aunt Kaede and gave Kikyo a soft hug. "How have you been my dear?"

"I've been doing wonderful, thanks for asking auntie Kaede!" replied Kikyo still smiling sweetly as ever.

Kagome couldn't help but feel jealous of what's going on between her aunt and her cousin Kikyo. For a moment, she felt replaced and let down.

"Kikyo, I brought you a present as well." said aunt Kaede and took out another present from her purse and gave it to Kikyo.

Kikyo gasped at the present and took it off aunt Kaede's hands.

"Why thank you, auntie! I wonder what it is!"

Her aunt laughed joyfully and said, "Why don't you find out for yourself right now?"

"Really?! Alright!" Kikyo happily unwrapped her present and opened the box to find something precious in the box. "Oh my, it's a beautiful dress! I love it auntie, thank you! I'm going to try it on right now!"

With that said, she took the dress and ran off with it to try it on.

Kagome felt a bit sadden just watching her cousin walk away with that beautiful dress. She wanted that dress too, but sadly she was too young for that kind of stuff, according to her parents.

Noticing the sadness in Kagome's eyes, her auntie said, "my dear, don't feel sadden for I got you a gift as well."

Kagome's eyes widen. "R-Really? You got me a gift too?!"

Her aunt nodded. "Why yes Kagome, I did. And I think you're gonna like it."

With that said, she took out yet another present from her purse and handed it to Kagome. Kagome gently took it off of her aunt's hands and looked at it.

"I-Is it alright… if I open it?"

Her aunt laughed gently. "Of course you can open it!"

Kagome smiled widely and sat on the floor and opened it in front of her aunt. As soon as she unwrapped and opened the box, she picked up a male wooden figure with silver hair and a red kimono. Kagome stayed silent for a moment and felt an utter disappointment.

"A… doll?" Kagome said trying to not said disappointed. "That's… very nice. Thank you auntie." Kagome smiled and put it back into the box.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," her auntie said then sat next to her. "You're probably thinking that it's a doll just for little girls, but it's really not."

Kagome looked up at her auntie confused as ever by what she means.

"You see, there's a story behind this wooden figure." Her auntie continued.

"A story?" asked Kagome.

"Yes, a story. Would you like to hear all about it?"

Kagome nodded and sat closer to her aunt.

Her aunt cleared her throat and began, "There once was a prince of Feudal Japan. He was a unique prince, not like any other prince, oh no. He was sweet and kind, not the mention, a helpless romantic. His dream was to get married to the girl of his dreams. Down to earth and a helpless romantic, but not normal. You see, he was born with dog ears. It was due to his parents, the king and queen, getting cursed by the evil sorcerer who was jealous of what both the king and queen had. But instead of taking his anger on them and casting a spell on both of them, he casted a spell on their son and gave him dog ears. He thought his curse on the prince would anger both him and the king and queen for as long as they lived, but it did not. No, the future king of Japan was still kind of as ever and was thankful for the life he was given, which made his parents happy. Angered by the prince's benevolence and the king and queen's happiness, he casted another curse on the prince and turned him into a wooden figure then threw him into the river and never was seen again. The only way to break the curse is to find true love, which was something he longed for, but can't get because he was just a wooden figure. And…"

Kagome's aunt stopped for a moment.

Impatiently, Kagome asked, "What?! What happens next?"

Kagome's aunt laughed at her niece's impatience then continued what she was gonna say. "That's all there is to the story."

"Oh Aunt Kaede, you must be joking around! There's gotta be a good ending to this story!"

"I'm afraid not dear," Kagome's aunt said as she stroked her hair. "That's all the shop owner told me. And she also said-"

"Said what?! Tell me!"

Kagome aunt started laughing again. "Now, now hold your horses, I was just about to tell you. Now what I was saying is that she found the wooden figure in some river somewhere."

"Really? So it's a true story then?"

"Oh my dear, I doubt it. I bought this wooden figure because I knew you liked stories, especially ones with handsome characters in them too." She then took the wooden figure out of the box and handed it to Kagome.

Kagome took it off Aunt Kaede's hands and held it close to her. "Thank you so much Auntie, I really love this gift." She then gave her aunt a hug, still holding the wooden figure close to her.

"That makes me happy to see you're happy with the gift." said Aunt Kaede returning the hug.

Kagome broke apart her hug with her aunt as soon as she heard someone clearing their throat next to them. She looked up to see who it is and it was her cousin Kikyo back, but with the dress Aunt Kaede bought for her.

Once Kikyo got her aunt's attention, she started spinning around, showing off her dress. "So what do you think?"

"It looks gorgeous on you, Kikyo dear." Kagome's aunt said smiling wide.

Kagome only rolled her eyes and walked away from the twirling Kikyo.

⊰ . . . . . ⊱

As the party was going on, Kagome was walking around the party holding her present. As she was walking around with her gift, people were admiring her present. But of course, her glory to show off her present lasts till Kikyo shows up, as well showing off her present to everyone at the party. Kagome wasn't as annoyed as she'd normally be. She was too happy with her gift.

Kagome then felt thirsty then made her way to the table full of drinks and food. She grabbed a cup and poured punch into her cup. After pouring punch into her cup, she looked up and saw Kikyo standing right next to her.

Kagome didn't know what to say so she stayed silent.

Kikyo only smiled and said, "Why hello cousin."

"Hello Kikyo." Kagome replied, fake smiling.

Just as Kagome was about to walk away, Kikyo said, "You know you're not that special as I am."

Kagome's eyes widen. She was shocked to hear that coming from her "perfect" cousin. Kagome slowly turned around to face Kikyo.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, cousin." Kikyo said, provokingly smirk. "We both know that our family relatives loves me more, including our auntie."

Kagome felt anger rise up inside of her. "Our auntie loves both of us equally, not more, not less. She gave us both presents."

"Yeah, true." Kikyo got a little closer to Kagome's face. "But auntie gave me a better gift than this piece of garbage."

With that said, she took the wooden figure out of Kagome's arms and broke its arm. Kagome gasped loudly in shock. Kikyo then dropped both the wooden figure and its arm on the floor and laughed. Just as she was about to walk away, Kagome grabbed her new dress and tugged on it hard. Kikyo angrily screamed which caused family relatives to look at the both of them.

"Let go, Kagome!"

Disobediently, she did not let go. She kept tugging and tugging until a part of the dress ripped off.

"Ugh! You treacherous little bitch!" Kikyo screamed loudly. Kikyo then took the part of the dress that ripped off and stormed off somewhere else away from Kagome. Kagome fell to her knees next to her broken present. She felt tears roll down her cheeks as she picked up the arm to the wooden figure and held it close to her.

Kagome didn't look up at the family members that were standing before her in shock. But when she did, she saw her mother make her way through the crowd, not with a shocked expression on her face, but anger.

Kagome picked up her broken present and stood up, still with tears in her eyes. "M-Mother… I… I didn't mean to…"

Kagome's mother stayed silent for a couple of seconds then exploded. "Go to your room!"

"B-But mom… she started-"

"Do as you're told!"

Just as Kagome was about to make her way to her bedroom, her mother took her present away from her arms.

"M-Mom! That's my present!"

"I don't care! You will get this back when you've learned to behave like a young woman you're supposed to be!"

Kagome felt anger heat up inside of her and at the same time sadness. She ran to her room, still crying her eyes out.

'Everything is unfair… really unfair.'

End of Chapter 1