She firmly turned the shinny metallic handle and shut off the shower head. She shook her head side to side quickly as she felt the last of the water cascade down her back and watched the clear liquid drops descend to the tiled floor. With her left foot, she stepped out the shower and the right quickly followed as she grabbed the white fluffy towel off the metal rack on the wall and wrapped it around her body.
Treading to the sink she grabbed her plastic toothpaste on the tiny white bristles and started to roughly scrub at her pearly white chops, all the time avoiding eye contact with the woman in the mirror. She was afraid of what she'd see staring back.
She'd see a girl in her teens, specifically 13. Her hair would be choppy and neck length, a beautiful raven black that would look gorgeous on any other girl, but in her case, it only made her ivory colored skin seem pale. She'd see a face full of acne, and with her pale complexion, it looked worse than it actually was. She had cloudy blue eyes that would shy away from any direct eye contact made by strangers. The girl had thick layer of pudge covering her face, stomach, and thighs. Her name was Kagome Higurashi.
Kagome bent to spit out the toothpaste into the sink and grabbed a clear glass of water. She raised the cup to her lips and drank the water, only to gurgle and spit it out seconds later. The hand clamped around her towel tightened as she poked her head outside the steamy bathroom to peer into the hallway filled with empty beer bottles from her mother's boyfriend and toys from her younger brother. Seeing it was otherwise clear, she jogged to her bedroom door and stepped inside before shutting it.
She shivered at the cool air grazing her warm skin. As she snatched her neatly folded clothes, she noticed she'd forgotten to blow dry her hair in the bathroom. She shrugged and thought, Oh well… I'm ugly anyways, so what does it matter? She glared.
She slipped on baggy clothing with a grunt and sigh. Now fully clothed, she stepped back into the smelly hallway and made her way to the greasy kitchen where her mother was currently cooking breakfast.
Seeing her daughter enter, Shiori's eyes widened with joy and she broke out into a grin. She shortly dropped her cooking instruments onto the counter and gave her daughter a hug. "We need to talk on your way home from school." Kun-Loon kissed her daughter's cheek, then resumed cooking.
Kagome made her way to the living room and nodded to her mother's loser boyfriend as he took a swig of beer and glared at her in return. This was their usual routine. See each other, nod, glare, and walk away with maybe a few unnecessary insults from him, and a few defensive smart-ass comebacks from her. "What's up, fat ass?"
She snorted. "Sucky morning, loser? Or did you run all the hookers out of town and not get any last night?"
He stood and was quickly in her face with a hand inches from her splotchy face, ready to strike. "You are nothing!" he hissed, blowing alcohol filled breath in her fear filled face. "Get the fuck out of my fucking house, you fucking cow!"
Okay, so he wasn't in the mood she guessed. He must have actually ran all of his usual hookers off. She shrugged and made her way to her baby brother as he goo'd and gah'd, too young to really know what was going on in their life. She feared the day when he was old enough to actually know what their life was like. She kissed his forehead and told her mother she loved her, then she, of course, proceeded to flip off the piece of trash passed out from too much alcohol consumption.
She grabbed her things for school and jogged out the door and onto the bus that had just pulled up to their driveway. As the driver closed the glass doors with a snap, she sighed and made her way to her seat in the back of the bus getting looks of disgust and hatred from all as she passed. She merely looked straight ahead and pretended not to notice their judging stares.
Kagome sat on the leather blue seat and didn't pay any mind as it squeaked at the newly added weight. After setting her bag by her feet, she took three deep calming breaths and wearily laid her forehead on the cold, sharp metal of the edge of the window to watch the graying clouds and speeding cars pass the bus. She only looked away when she felt she weight of another person hop in the open spot next to her to see her best friend Naruto flash her a breath-taking smile.
"Ohayo, Kagome-chan!" he chirped happily, grin still in place. She could only nod in response, feeling the clash of his hyper, blissful attitude clash with her grumpy one.
He looked at her with wide eyes full of concern as he placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch at the contact. "Are you alright, Kagome-chan? Did your mom's boyfriend do something to you again?" She looked into his beautiful sky blue eyes, full of worry and concern for her, and couldn't find it in her to ruin his mood with her troubles. She inhaled and a plastered a big, fat, fake smile on her face.
"No, of course not, Naruto-san! I'm just tired, is all. Step-loser was screaming like a banshee last night and I didn't get too much shut eye."
Relief instantly made its way to Naruto's expression and he proudly puffed his chest out. "Good! Otherwise, I'd have to beat him up! Believe it!"
Kagome giggled at her friends antics. "Of course you would, Naruto-sama!"
He pouted at her and whined. "Kagoooooome! You know I hate when you call me Sama! Come on, I'm your hero! You can at least do what I want!"
She snorted sarcastically. Her, stop? Never. The message was written clearly on her expression.
He pouted and tugged at his short blonde locks in his tantrum. "Kagoooooome, come on, please stop it! You sound like Hinataaaaa!"
She merely smiled and resumed looking out the window.
Cold obsidian eyes watched her as she made her way to the back seat of the filthy bus. He scoffed inside his head as he watched her pretend not to notice the very heated looks his… acquaintances were giving her. Tch… Stubborn as always, he thought with a grimace.
He wouldn't really call these people his friends. He wasn't particularly close to any one of them. They merely clung to his powerful aura for the right to say they knew him so they could climb in social status. It was a game their parents had all been playing with each other years before.
"Oh my gosh, do you know that hot/ rich guy named Sasuke?"
The female being asked would commonly snort, sometimes they would roll their eyes, as if it was the most ridiculous question they'd ever heard.
"Of course I know him!" They would say. "He's my best friend!"
Of course this was not true. He could honestly only say he's ever been close to two people his whole life.
One of them, of course, is his older brother Itachi Uchiha. Though, they'd lost almost all contact when Itachi had gone to America to explore their culture and history.
The second person he was close to was the girl currently in his line of vision. Kagome.
She wasn't always how she is now. She used to smile and laugh and play and joke. She was actually quite a gorgeous girl, as well. Until… her father was murdered without a trace of the killer left behind. It was then that she let all her ties to people wither away and die. She stopped caring, and worst of all, she stopped smiling. The Uchiha merely wished she would smile with him, rather than that damn blonde headed buffoon currently throwing a fit in the seat next to her.
They'd all grown up together, with their fathers being not only valuable business partners, but best friends as well. But around junior high, people started caring that Sasuke was rich and handsome and before he knew it, Sasuke was separated from his, Naruto, and Kagome's secluded little trio.
Naruto and Sasuke were never really good friends, they were merely acquaintances through Kagome. They'd often bicker and argue, but Kagome never failed to patch things up and bring a cheery atmosphere to their shady spot under the cherry blossom tree in their school's courtyard. In fact, Sasuke could recall carving his initials into that very tree alongside the Higurashi girl and Naruto. If you looked, you'd see a messy K.H., NU, and S.U. above a Japanese forever symbol within a heart drawn by all three of them. Sasuke did the right side, Naruto the left, and Kagome put the forever in the middle.
Kagome Higurashi.
Naruto Uzumaki.
Sasuke Uchiha.
Forever loved by one another.
That's how it was supposed to always be: Just the three of them, fighting for each other through every hardship and supporting themselves through anything. They'd go through middle school and hit puberty together, getting into more fights than usual because raising hormone levels, but no matter what was said, they'd get through it. They'd party in high school, never without one of the three in their group, should anything bad happen. They'd all apply to the same college and, because of their powerful families, they'd all be accepted. They'd all share the same apartment and argue over food and the TV. And then, one day, when the time came, Naruto and Sasuke would secretly compete for Kagome Higurashi's beautiful heart. They'd agree to be mature, no matter who Kagome picked to marry.
That was their future together. Together! So why were Naruto and Kagome in the back laughing and joking together, and why was Sasuke in the front with his arms being tugged by Sakura and Ino? Why were they no longer three of the same kind? Why were they not sitting together joking and teasing each other?
He glared at the seat in front of his own. This is complete crap, he thought furiously.
"Sasuke?"
"What?" he snapped, looking in the direction of whoever spoke. He growled in his mind. Of course: Sakura.
She blushed and averted her eyes, fiddling with her fingers. "I… I was wondering I-if you would like to-"
"No."
She looked up, eyes tearing up, probably because she was being rejected in front of the whole group. Tch, whatever. It wasn't his problem.
"B-but, Sas-"
He glared down at her. "I said no."
She sniffled as she heard Ino's sassy snickers and Kiba's crude jokes. "O-ok."
He crossed his arms over one another and slumped as he shut his eyes, waiting until the god damned bus reached the school.