This is the only time I will say it for this story. I don't own anything.
Sincerely,
TK
Sunset's Shrink
"And how long have you been having these dreams?" Kali Onigumo asked. She was a Psychiatrist, her patient was a girl named Kikyou Motshuria. Kikyou looked just like Kali's daughter. The two looked almost completely identical; except Kikyou had brown eyes and Kagome, her daughter, had dark blue eyes. Both had long black hair cut to their waist, the tan skin of Japanese, and stood five feet six in height. Neither was related in anyway.
Kali was thirty six, married (somewhat unhappily – she didn't like that her husband wouldn't get a job and she knew he was having sex with whores), and had long since graduated college to be a Psychiatrist, forming her office at her home, a shrine given to her in the will after her mother passed on with her grandfather in a car accident many years before.
Kali had started the office a when she graduated college and received the shrine. Her son Souta, age seventeen, was living with Kali and her husband as well, and her daughter lived with her too, though Kagome was hoping to move out soon, since she'd just turned eighteen a few days before. She was looking for an apartment to live in for the next few years of high school.
Kikyou was a new patient for Kali. She'd been having nightmares recently, and her grandmother had sent her to see a Psychiatrist. As far as this session could determine, Kikyou and her little sister had lived with her grandmother, the Mayor of Sunset, since they were very young. Kikyou was eighteen, almost nineteen. She was still in high school considering graduation didn't come until age twenty one at the soonest. Kikyou had nightmares of a man in a black trench coat holding a gun to her head, though she did not know why.
"I've had them for as long as I can remember. I don't remember a night where I didn't have the dream." Kikyou said, her chocolate brown eyes staring out the window of Kali's office. The room used to be her grandfather's prayer room/bedroom, but Kali had transformed it into an office.
"Do you know who the man in the dream is?" Kali asked, sitting comfortably in the chair next to the divan that she'd placed strategically in front of the window for her patients. Most of her patients, new and old, seemed to congregate to the divan, but for the rare few, Kali had other furniture in the room. There was a set of two chairs in front of her large oak desk, a love seat in the back of the room, with a chair next to it.
She had another room that she often used for her Group Counseling sessions, where there was furniture in every variety placed strategically about. That room was just off the office, and after remodeling a bit the previous year, it was the way out of the office. You couldn't get to the office without going through that room.
However, Kali hadn't fully removed the fact that the shrine was just that. A shrine. She'd added on a new section to the house, which were three small overnight prayer rooms. Some people, she knew, liked to spend the night fasting at a shrine. Mostly it was older people who often left donations for the shrine's continuing prosperity. This had brought Kali into debt right off the bat, but she'd long since paid that off and had stored away a good amount of money since she'd started.
It wasn't like the shrine was completely a dead run. It really didn't make money, but also it didn't lose all that much to maintain it. With all the new patients she was getting, she'd decided to expand her business and put an add in the paper telling people she was on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
The only requirement to that was one half hour's notice before the patient came. Although this left her rather tired, she was still getting more business this way. She still slept at night, minus the occasional patient's call. Even though she was always on call, her patients mostly only came from seven thirty AM to nine PM, and she still was able to make room for her family.
"No, I don't know him... I just know that he's going to pull the trigger, and then I wake up screaming..." Kikyou was silent, but Kali knew this type of silence. She could see Kikyou grating her teeth together; her fingers were tirelessly wringing the bottom of her shirt. She was debating with herself about whether or not to say more. Kali waited, knowing from experience that she would most likely continue. And she did continue. "The man... shoots Kaede... and grandmother... before he points the gun at me."
Kaede was Kikyou's younger sister. The buzzer sounded. The session was over. Kali stood and went to the desk, shutting it off. Kikyou stood. "Thank you...for your time, Doctor Onigumo."
Kali smiled at the other woman who looked so like her. "Shall I schedule you another session?" She asked. It was Kikyou's first time. At Kikyou's nod, she looked at her schedule on the desk, quickly flipping and glancing at the pages. "Is next week, Tuesday, at three o'clock good for you?"
Kikyou bit her lip, and then dug in her purse for her own calendar. She was sure that there was no school that day, but she had to be sure. "Yes... That will be fine."
Kali nodded and stepped out from behind the desk. "Well then, Miss Motshuria... I'll walk you to the door. Feel free to call me if you need me sooner than Tuesday, no matter what time it is." She handed Kikyou a business card after quickly writing her cell phone number on it.
"Thank you, Doctor Onigumo, again. I was dubious when I came here earlier... I thought you would be like the other doctors I have gone to see... But you're not. You put your patients before yourself... Thank you."
"You're quite welcome, Miss Motshuria."
"Um...are you related to Kagome Higurashi?" Kikyou asked hesitantly.
Kali nodded. "She's my daughter. Are you a friend from school?"
"No... not exactly. She tends to stick with her own clique. I was just curious. I'd heard a rumor. How come she's got a different name than you?"
"She and my son go by my maiden name because of certain complications."
Kikyou said her goodbyes and Kali went back into her office. Her cell phone was ringing from its stand on her desk. "BZZT You have an incoming call. BZZT You have an incoming call. BZZT You have –"
Kali answered it. "Hello. Doctor Onigumo speaking." She said.
"Hello, honey." The voice on the other end said. He sounded amused. Of course, he probably was drunk at the bar, so of course he was amused. He always was when he was eyeing some whore. Naraku came home around eight thirty otherwise, even if she was there, with a whore and slept with the woman in his room.
Kali hadn't slept with him since the year after their honeymoon, just after college. They'd gotten into a fight with each other and since then hadn't even slept in the same room together. To spite her, he seemed to have a new woman every day.
"Hello, Naraku." Kali said, using her 'pleasant' voice that she always used with patients. "Did you need something?"
"Nawh... Jus' thoot I'd call you."
How very considerate. She thought. You can't even speak right. But she didn't voice her thoughts. "Well that was sweet of you." She sat down at her desk, wishing for some courage to divorce him. She knew he'd beat her children if she even brought up the subject though. He beat her if she complained he was sleeping with sluts, and often accused her of sleeping with her patients. She wasn't though. She'd tried divorcing him once, but that was a no go. And he knew just how to hit so that they didn't bruise much.
"I wan' more money." He told her. It was only four PM and he was already slammed. Damn. "Bring me" Kali's office phone rang.
"Hold on, one moment, alright, Naraku? I'll be right back." She set the phone down on the desk and picked up her office phone. "Sunset Shrine Psychiatry, Doctor Onigumo speaking, how may I help you?" She said into the receiver.
A pleasant deep buoyant voice spoke from the other end. "Ah, Doctor Onigumo, this is Haru Nokugami, and I would like to make an appointment with you."
"Alright, would this be your first visit to a Psychiatrist?" Kali asked.
"Actually, the appointment would be for my sons, but yes this would be their first." Haru Nokugami said. "Your ad in the paper said you do group counseling as well."
"Yes, that is correct, sir. Group Counseling lasts two hours, and a single Psychiatry Session, which would be meeting with only one person, lasts only one hour."
"Good, good. I'd like to schedule them for that two hour one."
"Alright, then. If it is Group Counseling, then I have a slot you can fill in a half an hour, if you can make it here."
"We can be there. How much will it cost?"
"Two hundred dollars for Group."
"Okay, I'll bring my check book."
"Alright, then. When you get here, we'll have you fill out some forms and then you can leave your sons with me for the allotted time or else wait in the waiting room."
"Okay, I'm on my way now then, since my sons just arrived home."
Kali hung up when she realized that Haru had. She picked her cell phone up again. "Naraku, I have a session now. I'm sorry; I'm unable to come bring you money. I'll send Kagome with money if you really need it."
"Be sure you do," Naraku warned. Seconds later Kali hung up when she realized that Naraku had hung up. She sighed and waited for her patients to come. When they arrived, she brushed off the front of her suit skirt and made sure her hair was perfect in its bun.
Once she'd done that, she went to greet them at the door. While Haru and Kali went through paperwork, Haru's sons waited in the group counseling room. Once paper work was set, Haru left to return in two hours for his sons, and the two boys entered the office, sitting as far apart as they could.
Kagome glared at her brother. "Souta, you'd better give me those keys back or I'll pound you into the ground!" She yelled at him. But he'd already started the car up and drove off in her red car. Well, okay, technically it was both of theirs but she was the one who used it more often. She angrily walked home. Oh he was so going to be dead.
Kagome wore a pair of meant-to-be-baggy black jeans, and a tight black shirt that said 'If you love him let him go, if he doesn't come back, he's with me' in red sparkly block letters. Her hair was down and wavy as always, and she wore red 'heartbreaker' nail polish on her hands and feet (upon which were sandals) along with lip-gloss, and a darker red eye shadow with heavy dark colors of make up and eye liner. She wore on each of her wrists (just like Souta did) a bracelet.
Unlike Souta though, she didn't wear bracelets that had spikes, hers were silver chains with tiny bells connected to them to jingle and jangle. She wore a choker of the same kind with a black velvet connector (which the chain was connected to for safety purposes like so you don't get pinched) and connected to the chain was a bunch of tiny bells just like on the bracelets. The only difference was the tiny blue metal star on the choker that hung down slightly from a chain.
She also had anklets just like her bracelets and a belt chain that belted on around the waist and had an extra piece to the chain that hung down on the side as a loop on one side and on the other side had a string of extra belt (so that people of all skinny or fatness can wear it) hung down on the other side with a blue metal star matching the choker's star.
Kagome's ears were pierced four times each, and the silver earrings set were one high up in the tip of her ear and then three down to the side. Each of the earrings were connected with a chain that started at the top earring and connected to each of the others, and then becoming a dangly earring at the bottom of her earlobes with a tiny bell hanging off it so when she moved her head her ears tinkled.
There were literally hundreds of bells on Kagome if she chose to wear the whole set. Mainly she just wore the bracelets, earrings, and choker unless she was getting all dressy. Her mother had given her the set when she'd turned sixteen, because she'd been eyeing it for a year.
"I'm going to kill him..." she chanted over and over. "I'm going to run him through a meat grinder!" When she got home, she slammed the front door open. "SOUTA! I'm going to kill you! You know that right?" She screamed in the front hall while slamming the door shut again. Her voice echoed through the entire shrine, allowing everyone within a 100-yard radius to know someone was really pissed off.
A figure dressed in black and red clothes with chains adorning his person ran by, going as fast as he could for the back of the house. Kagome threw off her shoes and gave chase. When she saw where he was heading she sped up, tackling him just after he'd slammed the door to their mother's group counseling room. "Jerk, leaving me at school like that!" She said, punching him in the face.
He pushed her off of him and the two rolled around for a moment, both trying to be the last one up. Every so often one would get a punch in until Kali stopped them. "Kagome, Souta! Enough!" She was standing in the doorway to her office, looking upset and hurt that they would fight. The two teens got up guiltily.
"Sorry, Mama..." Kagome said, at the same time that Souta said, "Mama, I'm sorry..."
Kali looked at them both with a stern face for a moment, and then her look softened. "I want you both to apologize and then be quiet. I've got a counseling session, and I don't want you disturbing it." She went back into her office shutting the door quietly.
Kagome looked at Souta and he looked at her. "Psh, as if I'll apologize to a jerk like you." She said, rolling her eyes and walking away. It would be accurate to say that Souta and Kagome, for all their fighting that they often did, were closer than most siblings. They told each other almost everything, and would be considered best friends by most people's terms.
Souta grumbled. "You got me in trouble. I aint gonna apologize to you! The keys are hanging up on the hook in the kitchen."
"Cool. Wanna go out with Sango, Miroku and me to the Rave later?" Kagome asked as though nothing had happened.
Souta went into the living room, which looked very much like a waiting room at a doctor's office. Their mother had made it that way for parents or children or spouses who wanted to wait while their family had their session. He hopped onto one of the couches by the T.V. and sat to watch cartoons. "Sure I guess. Hey, wanna know what?"
"Hmm?" Kagome asked, jumping over the back of the couch and landing on Souta's gut. He didn't complain; it was a normal occurrence, but he did make the traditional 'oomph' sound one makes when you quickly have the air run out of your body.
"I asked Beverly out." Souta tried to get his usual breathing back to normal for a moment while Kagome stared intently at the T.V.
"And what did she say?" She responded absently.
"No..."
"Sucks to be you."
"Yah it does. What time are you goin'?"
"Probably five thirty, six o'clock. Somewhere around there."
"Alright. So's I know."
"Mhm. I'm pickin' Miroku up on the way."
"When're you gonna get a guy?" Souta said, irritated somewhat. "The car's sposed to be mine, so you have to get a guy so he can pick you up."
"Heh. That's what you think." Kagome hopped off his stomach, standing. "It's comin' with me when I get an apartment."
He told her, "I don't think so," as though she shouldn't even consider it. For him, the subject was not open for debate.
"I do; mama already said it was okay for me to take it." She gave him a smirk and tugged on her braid when it fell over her shoulder.
"What! No way!" Souta said, jumping up immediately.
"Way, because I'm gonna have to have a way to get to my job. I won't be able to walk like I can now. Not if I'm gonna continue school."
Souta narrowed his eyes at Kagome. "You lie."
Kagome laughed. "Yea, but you should have seen the look on your face! Ha!"
She left to go up to her room, doing a bit of her homework. Soon she had it done and was downstairs in the kitchen getting a soda from the fridge. She began heading for the living room when there was a knock on the front door so detoured to the door, popping the soda and taking a sip of the nice refreshing carbonated liquid as she opened the front door.
A man stood at the door with short black hair and laughing blue eyes lidded with long feminine lashes. He had high cheekbones and a prominent smile on his face, and was tall and wore a suit like the important businessmen on T.V. wore. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Yea?"
"I'm here to pick up my sons." He said, smiling. "I think I'm a smidge early though."
"Ah. I see. Come on then." She stood aside so that he could enter, and then led him to the living room. "This is our living room slash waiting room. When mama's done, she'll bring them in here." Kagome sat down on the black leather recliner, one leg going over the arm of the recliner, the other resting on the floor to rock the chair. "Souta, move your leg so I can see!" Kagome told him.
He flipped her the bird and Haru Nokugami frowned in disapproval. Kids these days. But unfortunately, or fortunately, they were not his children. "I'm gonna run you through a grinder if you don't move your dumb leg."
Haru took a seat in one of the lounge chairs, grabbing a magazine from the table nearby. Kagome noticed this and raised her eyebrows. So people really did look at magazines provided in lounges. She'd always thought they were for decoration.
"Shut the hell up, 'Gome. I'd kick your ass from here to the curb before you could so much as blink." Souta told her confidently.
"Souta!" Kali admonished, coming into the room just in time to hear him swear. Kagome snickered.
Souta stood and ducked his head in shame. "Sorry mama."
Kali sighed. "Stop swearing." She said and then rounded on Kagome. "And you! Stop egging him on."
"Okay, okay!" Kagome said.
Kali straightened up after that as Haru walked over, looking at the boys who stood next to Kali. "So, how was the session?" He asked Kali.
"Quiet. You were right; they didn't want to talk. But I'm sure we'll make progress." She turned once more to Kagome and Souta; Souta had sat back down. "Kagome, Souta; I want you to meet Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. They'll be coming here with you after school."
Kagome stood, taking a sip of her soda as she did. She spit it back out, coughing and laughing at the same time when she saw Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha. She hadn't made the connection between their names until she saw them. Unfortunately for the nearest person (Sesshoumaru), all the drink that she unintentionally sprayed out landed on him.
"You guys!" She asked, laughing. "Hahahaha!"
"Kagome..." Her mother warned. "I don't believe this outburst is very necessary." She said, disapproving Kagome's laughing on the floor.
"Dumb broad." Inuyasha grumbled, while Sesshoumaru wiped the soda from his face. Only Sesshoumaru heard it and that was fine for the young silver haired boy.
Kagome still snickered at the two 'rich boys'. "I thought those two were supposed to be perfect!" She whispered to Souta and laughed again.
He snickered and whispered back, "Of course they are! They're the High-and-mighty-even-with-our-heads-up-our-butts Nokugami boys!"
Kali sighed. "Kagome and Souta, please! I've had enough for one evening already."
Kagome stopped laughing and rolled her eyes. "Fine. Yes, we know it is confidential shit, and yes we'll give them directions from the school to the shrine tomorrow." She put her hand on her hip and polished off the soda, looking at the clock.
"Kagome, do not cuss."
"Sorry... Oh man, Sango's gonna be ticked! I'm late and I've still gotta pick up Perv! What bad luck!" Kagome headed for the kitchen and grabbed the keys for the car from the hook, placing her empty can on the counter. She headed for the door, her bells jingling with each step. "Souta, are you comin' or what?"
Souta pecked Kali on the cheek. "Bye mom, we're gonna go to the Rave an' meet up with Thief and pick up the perv. We'll be back later." Then he chased after Kagome, who was already headed for the basement and the garage down there.
Inuyasha turned to Kali. "She's your daughter!"
Kali nodded. "Yes. Is she one of your friends?"
Inuyasha scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. "We're acquainted. I didn't know she was your daughter."
Kali chuckled. "Not many realize that."
Haru reached a hand out to Kali. "Well, thank you Doctor Onigumo. I'm very grateful to you for your help."
Kali shook the proffered hand. "I'm always available. I already gave you my cell phone number in case you are unable to reach me in my office. Call me if you need me."
Haru grinned. "Of course! I'm sure my sons enjoy your company!" He slapped Inuyasha on the back, who stumbled slightly from the force.
"Yeah, you keep thinking that pops. I'm going to wait in the car." Inuyasha grumbled and left. Sesshoumaru, Haru noticed, must have gone to wait in the car long before, because he was no longer in the room.
"I'll be in touch with you, Doctor Onigumo. Thank you for this service. As soon as my sons can resolve their differences with each other and stop fighting, things can go back to normal."
Kali walked Haru out and they shook hands once more.
"Dude, Souta you're a cheat!" Miroku yelled at the younger boy. Miroku Shishuni was nineteen and wore his black hair in a dragon's tail at the nape of his neck. He wore a baggy navy blue tee shirt that said 'Fook me now' on the front and 'Fook me later'on the back, in white bold letters and baggy pants with black tennis shoes.
He wore a cloth tied to his right hand and arm by a necklace with a cross hanging from it all the time, but he never told anyone why. His left eye was adorned with a black and blue puffy bruise and he had a split lip. He claimed the reason was because he groped someone, which was highly believable. He had two tiny gold hoop earrings in each ear.
"Yah whatever! How can I cheat at Darts?" Souta yelled in return.
"Hey, Miroku, that'll be twenty five cents to the cuss jar!" The counter man said. It cost a quarter for each swear word said in bottom two levels of the Rave, the only level that students were allowed on.
Kagome laughed. "Miroku, you're already down ten bucks! You should stop swearing."
Miroku grumbled and went and put a quarter in the over flowing cuss jar, then got a refill on his soda. All over the Rave, students from the local area were visiting with friends, playing pool with enemies, or doing homework in a safe environment. Some of these people who came here Kagome knew to have bad home lives.
She could recognize at least a fourth of the people there who went to see her mother who was publicly known in this area as 'Sunset's Shrink', but they didn't talk to her and she didn't really talk to them either. She stuck to her friends mostly, and those were Souta, Sango, Kohaku, and Miroku. She didn't go around telling people who saw what shrink. She wasn't a nark.
Miroku came back and sat in their booth again, where Sango and Kagome were playing chess. Souta was giving Sango hints at how to win, and Kagome was still winning. "Checkmate." Kagome said, grinning from ear to ear.
She'd backed Sango's king into a corner after taking out her pieces one by one. She had him guarded with a bishop three diagonal spaces away from her king, and her two rooks were guarding escape from both ends. But Sango was an easy prey, especially when Souta was helping her.
"Souta you jerk!" Sango hissed. "Go here, go here!" She mocked. Sango Ichiro was eighteen and was Kagome's closest girlfriend. Okay, actually she was her only girlfriend. She wore lip-gloss, pink eye shadow and the traditional heavy amount of black eyeliner, and black pants with pink stripes down the sides.
She also wore sandals, even though it was fall and the leaves were turning colors. Her top was a pink spaghetti tank and had the words 'I love nerds' on it with the 'o' being a heart.
Miroku sat next to Kagome and sipped his soda. "You guys wanna order a pizza?" Sango asked, grinning and looking towards Souta.
Kagome's stomach growled as she immediately glanced at Souta. "Jerk, it's your turn to pay for it." She told him. "I paid for it last Sunday." Souta, Sango, Kagome, and Kohaku all took turns with the pizza. It was only a loss of ten dollars a week anyway, since each of them had a hard enough time finding a good day to meet up.
Sometimes it didn't work out for either Sango or Miroku or Kohaku. Kagome and Souta both had off of work every Wednesday. All of them did their best to make it on Saturday nights and Sunday nights for the Pool Tournament on Saturday and the Dance Tournament on Sunday.
Souta sighed and began banging his head on the back of the booth's seat while taking out his wallet and throwing a one on the table. "Miroku, get a pepperoni and cheese and a sausage and cheese."
Miroku snickered, holding up the one. "You think this is enough for even one?"
Souta looked at it in horror, and then looked inside his wallet. "Ahh! My ten! It transformed!"
Sango grinned, holding up a ten-dollar bill. "Souta my friend. It's a little thing called slight of hand, and I happen to have it." She waved the money in front of his face and he snatched it from her angrily.
Kagome and Sango laughed, Miroku chuckled. "Souta, when will you learn?" Sango asked in a cheery voice.
"Obviously never, because this is the eighth time in the past two weeks." Miroku pointed out.
Kagome looked at Sango seriously when Souta angrily went to order the pizzas. "I'm lookin' for an apartment. You want to with me?"
"Really! I'd love it! Getting away from Kohaku and father would be so cool!"
Kagome laughed. "Kohaku is a bit nuts. I'd be glad too! Though, Souta is worse, I swear it. The only reason he doesn't see a shrink is because mama is one. In which case he technically sees one everyday... Anyway..." Miroku took this chance to grope Kagome. She elbowed him. "Perv!"
"I only do it because I love your shapely a...I mean bum."
Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "You do it again and I'm going to throw you into the shapely toilet."
Miroku smirked. "So long as it is in the women's bathroom, I'm okay with it."
Kagome threw her hands up in the air in defeat. "I give up!"
Miroku turned instantly and took her hands. "Does that mean you'll bear my child?" He asked, grinning.
Kagome shook her head. "No, but Sango would love to!" She said and exited the booth without waiting for a lecture from Sango about how cruel that was. Miroku would now pester Sango all night. Which was of course a good thing; the two were made for each other!
Kagome went down into the lower level of the Rave where she knew there would be dancing and music and fun. She made her way to the dance floor and began dancing to the techno music blaring from the speakers placed everywhere.
From behind her she felt someone come to dance with her, so she danced with him. She knew who it would be. It would be Kouga Wolfe, one of her many admirers. One of her more tolerable admirers. He liked her, and she knew this, but he did keep a distance usually. He was also a friend of hers, though not a really close one like her brother, Sango, Kohaku, or Miroku.
Kouga had brown hair, held up in a high ponytail and wore a brown sweatband on his forehead all the time. He also wore one on his wrists. Today he was wearing a grey shirt with a brown dragon on it biting the head off of some unfortunate, a pair of grey khakis, and sandals.
A few songs later, Kagome was tired of dancing so she thanked Kouga for the dance and went back upstairs; sure that Sango had cooled down. She had, and Miroku was lying on the floor in a heap. Sango was happily munching on sausage pizza and chatting with Souta. Kagome went and sat by Sango in the booth, grabbing a slice of pepperoni pizza. "Num!" She said as she took a bite.
"Mhm. Nuthin' better than pizza!" Miroku said, getting up and grabbing a slice, sitting next to Souta.
Kagome and Souta got home at ten and both were joking about ways they could get rid of their father.
"I think mom should hire someone to whack him off and then marry Kohaku's dad, because you know Kohaku's dad likes mom."
The two went their separate ways to their rooms when they got to their hallway upstairs. Truly this house was a maze if you didn't know it well enough. The shrine was large enough to be considered a mansion.
Kagome and Souta's bedroom doors shared a hallway, since the two lived in the attic across from each other. Their rooms were not all that small, considering the shrine was three stories. Their rooms each ran half the length of the third floor of the shrine which covered about an acre, meaning each had a half acre of room.
Souta really didn't understand Kagome's need to move away; here she basically had it made. Of course, Naraku probably contributed to that, considering Kagome mostly was the one he took his anger out on.
Because the house was originally built as a shrine, the walls were mostly padded with both insulation and cork so that fasters could pray in peace. However, Naraku was in part of the house that was added on after twenty-nine ninty, and their mother had forgotten to have cork placed in the walls with the insulation.
There were 15 bedrooms in the shrine, three of which were in the most recently built branch of the shrine and had uncorked walls, eleven of which were fasting rooms; five bathrooms (two on the first floor, two on the second, and one on the third that Kagome and Souta shared) and an old outhouse (unused since the creation of running water and a real toilet); one kitchen; one very large dining room; one library; the living room/waiting room; their mother's office and counseling rooms; and the shrine store which Souta and Kagome worked after school almost every day.
Their mother paid them to work the shrine store and to help out with the shrine duties like sweeping the courtyard and garden paths, shoveling the courtyard and garden paths, collecting the money from the fasting rooms, cleaning and dusting the many rooms of the shrine and redoing sheets in a used fasting room, taking care of the garden in the back, and selling shrine items to patrons.
Both received seven dollars an hour for their hard work, and it was, believe it or not, hard work. The only day they had off from duties was Wednesday because not many people visited the shrine that day.
Outside the enormous shrine were the large courtyard and the gigantic staircase leading down to Main Street where there was ten parking spaces specifically reserved for visitors to the shrine. In the middle of the large courtyard was a large tree called the God tree (because it was believed to help a man reach God), an old apple tree and it had stone benches surrounding it.
Surrounding the enormous courtyard was a stone wall that Kagome and Souta liked to climb and sit at the top of, even though it unnerved their mother. Somehow even though the only tree in the courtyard was the God tree, every day Kagome and Souta had to sweep thousands of leaves off it in the fall and spring.
Behind the shrine/mansion was the garden, taking up 20 miles of space. The house itself took up six miles, and the courtyard took up four, totaling thirty miles that their mother owned. Because it would be highly impossible for Kagome and Souta to take care of the garden by themselves, their mother hired five professional gardeners to help, but Kagome and Souta still had to do a lot of work in it.
The garden was also a half-maze and there was a large labyrinth covering 5 miles of the garden. Two of the five gardeners were required to memorize the labyrinth (built of stone) and be sure to keep its paths mowed and the garden in the inner sanctum of the labyrinth prosperous.
There were two ponds in the garden; one dug deep for a swimming hole, the other dug just deep enough for wildlife that came from the 10 miles of woods placed strategically off and to the side of the garden.
The other 5 miles were just plant life; carefully tended rose trees, shrubberies, and flowers grown in their strategic places for the optimum effect of peace. At the very back of the garden was a small building that led down to a dried up well, called the Sand well that had a load of history attached to it.
Kagome and Souta knew everything about the shrine by heart, including all its history. They were required to because patrons often asked questions about its history. It was called 'Sunset Shrine' because if you sat in the garden (which faced west) you could watch the sun set.
It was strange that such a place could emit such radiant beauty and peace, yet the mood of the family living inside the shrine was a very tense atmosphere, caused by the father.
Kagome woke in the morning and after showering and dressing in a red tank top with the words 'Ice Princess' sprawled across her chest in sparkly black calligraphy lettering, another pair of pants that are tight on the hips but not the waist or legs (meant to be baggy pants in other words), and shoving a clean pair of socks in her backpack, she left her room to race downstairs, waiting anxiously for her pieces of toast to pop up, cramming them down, and then racing back upstairs to brush her teeth. As she was brushing, she smashed her fist into Souta's door a few times.
"Wakie wakie, eggs and bakey!" She said, pounding the door some more. "I'm leaving in ten minutes!" She could hear the sounds of her brother falling off his loft bed to the floor in his haste to get up. Ouch. That one hurt him. She thought and almost choked on her toothpaste laughing.
Once she'd finished brushing her teeth, Souta came out of his room, clad in only his boxers and with a handful of clothes in his arms. He was rushing towards the bathroom, half tripping his way there in his tired wakefulness. She pressed herself against the hallway wall to be sure she didn't get run over.
She went into her room and grabbed her backpack, heading down the stairs to the basement, where the garage and storm shelter were. Her car, her mother's blue car, and her father's truck all stood in a line, each with their own garage door out into Main Street. She hopped into her car and waited for Souta, pushing the button to open her garage door.
She grumbled while waiting for him, and then turned the stereo on. Music blared her ears from the three-disc interchangeable cd player.
Kagome sat back in the seat, switching songs and cds every so often. Even though she'd said she was leaving in ten minutes, she was still waiting for him twenty minutes after his crash to the floor. He came stumbling out of the door leading into the garage, slamming the door behind him and tripping over his feet as he tried to lace his shoe and sprint at the same time.
She laughed at his antics. "Where's your backpack?" She called, turning the volume on the CD player down so that he could hear her.
"Aw, crap!" He said. Kagome laughed as he quickly tied his shoe and slammed back into the house, racing as fast as he could to get his backpack (and probably undone homework) and then back to the car. His face was flushed as he got into the passenger side of the car.
"What a bad day it is already." He muttered as the two buckled up and Kagome put the car in reverse, backing out of the garage. Once out, she pushed the electronic button to close the garage door and raced into traffic, while Souta turned the CD player off and searched for a good station. The two began singing to the catchy little song on the radio, both grinning like madmen.
When they arrived at the school and found a parking spot in the large but filled to the brim parking lot, they entered the school, looking around the cafeteria for Sango and Miroku. It was easy to find them, seeing that Sango was red in the face and Miroku was red in the handprint on his face. Kohaku they knew wouldn't be there because he was sick and had been all week.
"Hey guys!" Kagome said, walking over to pleasantly greet the two. "Miroku, you should really just stop." Kagome grinned, knowing the older boy would probably never stop.
"So, Kagome, guess what I heard this morning?" Sango said during first period. Sango wasn't wearing the school uniform. She actually probably wore it even less than Kagome did.
Her outfit consisted of white khakis and a light purple extra small tee shirt with the singular word 'Angel?' printed in black on the front and 'Devil?' printed in white on the back.
She, as always, wore her usual make up and as always wore the locket around her neck that contained a picture of her mother in one side of it, and her whole family when she was young and her mother alive on the other side. The locket was a gold heart on a very fine gold chain.
Kagome turned to Sango. "What?" She was always interested in Sango's gossip, because it was something to do.
"We've got a new student. Her name is Rin Okuna. She'll be in our homeroom, but she's getting her schedule right now."
Kagome looked around. "How do you know this already?" She questioned, mildly curious. "Does anyone else know?"
"Not yet." Sango said, grinning. "And how I know it is my secret to keep." She chuckled. "Well, I should say Principle Aki knows and the office staff, but no students."
"Ah crud!" Kagome groaned, bending down to slam her head on the desk for a few seconds before sitting up and grabbing her backpack, rushing to the front of the room with her passbook in hand. When the teacher ignored her standing calmly by his desk for a moment, she began to get irritated. "Would you sign my passbook already?" She yelled.
A few of the students in the room chuckled, though that few consisted only of Sango, Miroku, and Souta. The rest of the room sent disapproving glances at Kagome for being who she was. Inuyasha, who sat in the back of the room, looked at her, an angry twitch coming to his eye as he noticed her for the first time that morning.
It was her. It was the girl who he always somehow found himself in a quarrel with, every day. It was the girl with a different last name than her mother.
It was she who could irritate and please with the same sentence all at once. It was the girl who now knew he had to go to 'group counseling'. Whether or not she knew of the reason he was in it was yet to be determined. It was she and her brother who brought him trouble every damn day.
He could see his brother trying to ignore her too, but wasn't doing too well. This class was art. He knew his brother actually had a ...how could he word it...? If Sesshoumaru's journal was any indication, he had a smidge of an infatuation for that girl who was at the front of the room, screaming at the teacher.
There were drawings of Kagome in his journal. That was what had started the whole 'needing counseling' thing. Inuyasha had looked into Sesshoumaru's journal. As if he'd say what he saw anyway. Unless he wanted to thoroughly humiliate his brother... in which case, he had the perfect ammo.
The teacher merely glanced at Kagome, before turning back to his lecture. When he didn't respond to her other than to glance at her, she picked up her passbook and walked to the door.
"Leave this room, Higurashi, and you'll be doing detention."
Kagome merely glanced back at the teacher. "Do I want to listen to you?" She asked, seemingly to herself. "Nah." She waved her hand at the teacher. "Ta!"
Kagome went to the bathroom and took care of her 'PP' as she called it. PP was short for 'period problem'. But since she was on a little splurge away from the classroom, she decided to go nag a lunch roll from the lunch ladies. As always, the lunch ladies tried to refuse but she gave them puppy eyes. "Alright... but just one."
Kagome snagged one of the large sandwich lunch rolls from the tray, thanking the lunch ladies and then heading back to class. Sango looked at her curiously. "What was it?"
Kagome groaned and slammed her head a few times on the desk before sitting up again and eating her lunch roll. "It was the pp." The class had started their daily drawing assignment, so Kagome got out her sketch book and colored pencils, drawing a picture of a stack of lunch rolls. So she was really hungry... who could blame her?
At lunch, Kagome and Sango searched for Miroku and Souta, who were looking for them as well. The four got into the lunch line and when they got out with their trays, they saw someone sitting at their normal table eating a box lunch while reading a book. Kagome went over to greet them, sitting next to them.
"Hello! You're sitting at our table, yah know." She said, grinning and eating a piece of her fruit.
"Oh! Sorry, sorry." The girl began to get up, but Kagome grabbed her wrist as Miroku, Sango, and Souta sat around the table, Souta having to grab a chair from a nearby table.
"Awe man, don't leave." Kagome said. "I'm just kidding you know." The girl sat back down, hesitantly. She bookmarked her book and set it in her lap, looking defeated. "What's your name, chicky?" She asked.
"Rin Okuna." The girl looked hesitant and frightened. Her eyes were darting all over the place for a way to escape. Miroku was on one side of her, Sango was across from her next to Kagome, and Souta was in between Sango and Miroku. The room was filled with students who came in varying sizes, shapes, and attributes.
"Okay, Rin. I'm Kagome Higurashi." She pointed to Sango. "That's my best friend, Sango Ichiro, better known as Thief." She pointed to Souta. "That's my brother, Souta, having the nicknames 'Jerk' and 'Pillow'." She pointed lastly to Miroku. "And that's the perv."
Miroku looked offended. "What, don't I get an introduction?" He asked, looking hurt.
Kagome and Sango laughed. "Why should you?" Sango asked. "People call you 'perv' more than they refer to you as 'Miroku James Shishuni'. I'd be surprised if anyone besides us actually knew your real name."
Rin looked confused, but hid her confusion behind her hands. Rin Okuna wore the school uniform, a white and pea green outfit, and her hair was somewhat strange of a hairdo. She wore most of it down, but just a small bit she wore in a ponytail off the side of her head.
Kagome had already seen her eyes, they were cinnamon brown, and her skin was a healthy dose of tan. She wore the school issued white tennis shoes and was positively shaking from fear of something, still trying to find an escape from whatever frightened her.
Kagome glanced at Rin while Miroku and Sango argued and Souta somehow got dragged into it. "You're new here?" It was a statement, more than it was a question.
"Yes. I am..." Rin said nervously, fidgeting with the hem of her skirt.
Kagome grinned at her and lightly –very lightly- punched Rin's arm in a friendly manner. "Stick with me, Chicky. I'll show yah 'round if you like. Me 'n' my little group will take care of yah."
Rin still looked nervous, but seemed to relax just a smidge. "Thank you. I would be very appreciative."
Kagome grinned. "Eh, no worries, right Chicky?" Rin nodded.
After school, Kagome and Sango were walking out of the school searching for Rin. Kagome also had to find Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. It really didn't take long to find Rin. She was being heckled by a few bullies. Both angry, they went up to the five boys and stood between Rin and the bullies.
"Hey, you leave her alone." Kagome said her voice low and dangerous. Rin looked up from between her fingers at the source of the new voice and saw Kagome and Sango standing in the way of the five bullies who had been pushing her around. Her eyes were streaked with tears.
"Who's ganna make us?" The bullies laughed. Judging from the boys' outfits, Kagome was guessing they weren't from this school and were from one near by, come to cause trouble in HER territory.
They were obviously from the public school, if their clothes were any indication. The school that Kagome and everyone else in this small part of the city went to was a private school, which meant it cost money to get in, and it was smaller.
"I will." Kagome said. "I hate it when public school kids enter my territory." She spoke with venom dripping from her mouth. Not literally, but in a figurative manner.
The boys laughed at her, but just as soon as they started laughing, Kagome looked at Sango and nodded. Sango nodded back and the two charged at the five.
Kagome and Sango literally pounded them into the ground. It would be pointless to describe what happened in extreme detail, but Kagome had ended up with two unconscious bodies and three batted beaten but still conscious bodies lying on the ground.
The three still conscious struggled to get up and get their friends so they could run. By the end, Sango had a bloody set of knuckles from punching one guy so much and a fat lip, and Kagome ended up with a sore ribcage from one boy drop kicking her, and a cut above her eye.
"Be sure to tell your friends!" Kagome said pleasantly, even though her ribs hurt like hell. She briefly wondered if she might have sprained a rib or something. "We're here any time if you want to try us!" Kagome turned to Rin who was staring at Sango and Kagome with awe struck eyes. "You okay, Chicky?" She asked.
"You didn't have to do that." Rin said.
Kagome laughed and held a hand out to Rin to help her up. Rin took it and Kagome pulled her up. "Yah we did. This is our school and you're our new friend. We take care of our own." Kagome told the girl. "How old are you, Chicky?"
"Sixteen. I'm going to be seventeen soon though. On the 25th of December I will be. Where did you guys learn to fight like that?" Her voice was filled with the awe that she'd shown in her eyes before.
"My dad taught me, Kagome, Souta, and my brother Kohaku. Kohaku's sick right now, which is why he isn't in school or you'd have met him." Sango said.
"Come on." Kagome said. "I'm guessing you missed the bus, Chicky?" At Rin's nod, she continued. "Well then, let's rock. I'll give you a ride home. I'm already takin' Thief here home, so don't you be making excuses." She pointed to Sango when she said the girl's nickname.
Rin stammered a thank you as Kagome led her to her car and the three got in, Rin in the back seat and Sango in the front passenger. "We're just gonna wait a moment for my brother, 'kay Chicky?"
"Okay."
Kagome fiddled with the stereo a moment. Seconds after it was turned on, Souta and Miroku ran up, back packs bouncing. Because there were so many people, Kagome had popped the trunk. "Put your bags in the trunk and get in."
"'Gome, you're forgetting we've got to bring Snob and Ice Prince." Souta pointed out, hopping into the back, sitting in the middle between Miroku and Rin.
Kagome leaned forward and began smashing her head into the horn, which went beep each time her head hit it. Finally she sighed and turned the car off, unbuckling. "I'll be back in a moment. I'm gonna find them and if they don't have a car of their own, they'll just have to be shoved in the trunk."
"Aw, 'Gome, I liked that song!" Miroku complained. "Couldn't you leave the car running?"
But Kagome was already racing off towards the school. She ran to where she thought Sesshoumaru would be, but he wasn't there. Damn. She'd thought people like him always were in a library...She thought for a moment.
"Okay, if I were a cold uncaring jerk, where would I be?" She muttered, looking in the classrooms she knew he had. He took band and art, foods, and gym with her personally. "Oh Ice Prince, where are you?" She thought aloud. "Here Ice Prince Ice Prince Ice Prince!"
"Ice Prince? Whom are you referring to?" A steely voice asked from behind her.
She jumped nearly twenty feet in the air out of fright and turned around to send an angry fist at Sesshoumaru, but he caught her fist midair and raised an eyebrow at her. "Grr..." She peeled her hand out of his grasp. "Don't do that!"
"..." He didn't reply.
"God. Now where's your brother?"
"Probably waiting by my car for me."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go. You can follow my car. I have to make a few side stops before the shrine."
Kagome began walking out of the building when Sesshoumaru surprised her with a question rather than his normal 'I'm better than you and I know it silence'. "Why did you spit on me yesterday?" He asked. He sounded amused and curious at the same time.
She looked back at him for a second, surprised he would even talk to her, and then she laughed. "I was surprised that Snob and Ice... I mean you and Inuyasha were in group counseling. You and him always lead like you've got this perfect life other than the minor quarrels you have, so I suppose you could say it was the jolt into reality of a life time."
He said no more, and they parted ways going to their separate respective cars. She was surprised to see that he had a dark green and white car. To her that was an adventurous type of car, small and low to the ground. She'd expected something like a limousine or something.
She supposed it was possible though. After all, he always wore the same mask every day, so perhaps it was just that: a mask. His appearance as a serious business type was a façade and he was like...some super rock star type underneath it all.
Actually, she thought that would be quite cool. Just all of a sudden he was a popular rock star but he disguised himself as a nineteen year old in school and going through 'tough times' and having to see 'Sunset's Shrink'.
She got into the car and turned on the engine, buckling up and speeding out of the parking lot. First stop, she had to take Miroku to work.
Miroku's house and job were way out of her way, but she knew that Miroku had no car, and his mother didn't have the expenses for a car, considering Miroku was just one of eight children and she was trying to take care of them all alone.
It was almost like Kagome's mother's situation, only she had two kids where Ms Shishuni had eight, and her mother had a very well paying job, where Ms Shishuni only worked at the local grocery store for a very minimum wage. That was why only Sango, Kagome, Souta, and Kohaku took turns at buying the pizza at the Rave on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
They understood that all Miroku's money he made went to help his family, minus the approximately ten to fifteen dollars he got out of his two hundred fifty dollar check each week. Those ten to fifteen dollars usually was wasted on the cuss jar at the Rave. He was the only one of his brothers who worked. The rest of them were still in grade school.
Miroku worked at a restaurant near where he lived, washing dishes. Kagome knew that the Nokugami boys would get confused when she started heading in clearly the opposite direction of her house, but she figured to just let them be confused.
She couldn't care less. All her friends, minus Kohaku, were in the car right then. It was their opinion that mattered, not the Nokugami boys' opinion.
Briefly as she sped down Main Street, dodging traffic when she could by going down back streets, she wondered why she disliked almost everyone in the school. 'Oh yeah...' She remembered.
She and her friends were outcasts from the general society. Every single one of the types of people whether they were punks, Goths, or preps disapproved them of, and even the nerd club hated them. They just weren't understood enough, she supposed. Because they didn't just choose one style – they composed themselves of every style.
What could they do? They were rebellious, and by this time, their parents had mostly given up on their rebelling ways. The school complained daily that they didn't wear the school-coded uniforms. Not even the Goths or punks at the school would shirk the uniform off. Kagome and Souta's mother still gave them a lecture about their not wearing the uniform at least once a week, but they sat through it.
As Kagome weaved in and out of traffic, she looked in her rear view mirror and saw that she'd lost the Nokugami boys. "Crap." She swore. They'd probably never been in this part of town in their entire life. Those two...PREPS!
"Hey, 'Gome, what's the matter?" Souta asked curiously.
"I forgot the Nokugami boys were following us and can't see them behind us. Do you see them?"
Sango laughed. "Eh. Why do you have to baby-sit them?"
Kagome smirked. "Miss All-knowing doesn't know?" Kagome and Souta knew they could trust Sango and Miroku and Kohaku with the secret, so they would sometimes talk about who went to see Sunset's Shrink. Kagome had a feeling that Rin wouldn't repeat anything she said either.
"What is it?" Sango asked, an annoyed edge to her voice. She didn't like being in the dark about things. It was like torture to her.
"They go to group counseling." Souta piped up, and all except Rin started laughing. The rich boys went to counseling. It was good to know that not everyone was perfect. Even good ol' Sesshoumaru, Ice Prince (as he was more widely known amongst Kagome's group), had flaws it seemed.
"I can't believe it! What an informative day this has been!" Miroku said.
Souta laughed. "Hey, Sango! Guess what! Miroku had an accident today!"
"What kind of accident?" Kagome asked, looking and seeing Miroku blushing wildly in the rearview mirror. She grinned.
"Souta don't you even tell them!" Miroku said. If they weren't in a car, he might have tried to stop him physically, but unfortunately he didn't want them to crash because he was messing around.
Souta ignored him and said in a singsong voice, "Miroku tripped in gym and for once it was an accident when he groped the girl. He tried to regain his balance, by grabbing the person in front of him, and accidentally knocked them both over. The result was him landing with his face in Yura's crotch and his hands cupping her boobs!"
Kagome and Sango were laughing so hard they had to pull over for fear of crashing. Souta was laughing too, Miroku looking more embarrassed than he'd ever looked, and Rin looking a bit horrified at the group's humor.
Finally though, they made it to Corner Stone Bar and Grill, where Miroku worked. Kagome popped the trunk for him to get his bag. "See yah later, Perv!" Kagome called out the window, waving.
"Bye Perv! Don't grope too many waitresses!" Souta yelled, scooting over into the seat Miroku vacated by the door behind Kagome.
"Hey! Perv! Come on Chat tonight if you can." Sango yelled loudly.
"Oh Sango my love! Are you asking me on a date?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.
"Shut up Perv!" She said, grinning at him and flipping him the bird.
"I love you too!" He called, shouldering his backpack and waving, then disappearing into the building. Kagome sped off into traffic, heading back the way she came then.
"So, Rin, where do you live?" Kagome asked. She took a right on Main Street.
"Um... well my new family lives in a house on Mill Street, near the Mill River... We've got a house right by the water." Rin replied.
"Oh? I wonder if your house is the one just at the edge of my mom's property! Past our property just a few yards is the Mill River, but it doesn't run into our property." Souta said.
Kagome smirked when Rin pointed out the house and pulled into the driveway. "Well, Rin, our dear new neighbor who only lives about thirty miles away, if you ever need either me, Sango, or Souta, or Kohaku when he's not ill, you can just come to our houses and we'll be there for yah."
She pointed to the large shrine in the distance. "That'll be where me and Souta live if you need us." She pointed to a house about ten miles away, on a small island in the middle of the lake that the river led into. There was a low stone bridge leading out to it.
"That's Sango and Kohaku's house. If anyone's heckling' you, you give us a call and we'll be there to help you out right away. I'd suggest not trying to walk to the shrine though. It's a long ways to it."
Kagome took out a piece of paper from the glove compartment and a pen and scribbled her phone number and email on it, handing it to Sango who did the same and gave it to Souta who scratched his phone number and email, and Miroku's and Kohaku's email on it and gave it to Rin.
"No worries, Chicky. We'll take care of yah. If you have a computer, download the latest version of Chat messenger and add us to your Chat. We try to meet on there every so often, and if you need help with something, then that's Souta's cell phone number and mine, and Sango's home phone number, and that's all our emails, including Kohaku's."
Rin smiled. "Thank you, you guys." She said with tears in her eyes. The three were taken aback at seeing those. "Already you guys are treating me better than anybody else has in any school I've been too..."
"Eh, don't cry... that's not cool!" Kagome said.
Rin giggled and wiped the tears away. "I'm sorry..." She said, taking the paper and exiting the car. Kagome popped the trunk and Rin got her backpack and shut the trunk again. She walked over to the driver's side and Kagome rolled her window down.
"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow in school then?"
Kagome nodded. "That's right, Chicky! And if you have a computer, we'll be on about eight thirty or so. But I've got to go now, I've got to take Sango home and Souta and I have to work at the shrine tonight. Catch yah later, Chicky!"
Rin waved as they drove off towards Sango's island home. Once Sango was home, Souta got into the front seat and the two went as fast as they could while still going the speed limit towards home. When they got home, both swore vehemently. "Where are Snob and Ice Prince?" Kagome asked.
"Maybe they went back to school when we lost them? 'Cause they certainly ain't here."
Kagome sighed and began slamming her head against the horn. "You go in and start work. I'm gonna go look for them. No sense in both of us being late."
Souta nodded and hopped out. "I'll get my backpack later."
"Yeah right, you don't do your homework anyway." Kagome said and then started the car up again, pulling out. She rushed towards the school, making it there in five minutes, zooming into the parking lot. She was relieved to see the dark green and white mini cooper in the school parking lot. She went and pulled up beside it.
"Sorry about that." She apologized, though when she saw Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha she didn't feel as sorry. She remembered who they were. They were rich kids, able to throw money around and doing so with a flourish as they, or Inuyasha at least, presented presents to their girlfriends.
Gifts from all over the world, expensive ones. She supposed Sesshoumaru probably did the same, since anyone with as many fan girls (and even guys!) as he had, probably had found a special somebody.
Just because Kagome lived in probably the most expansive building and property in the city, actually living just on the outskirts of the city, though, didn't mean she was a rich girl. She was far from it. Her mother never gave Souta or Kagome excess money, though she did pay for the two to have cell phones in case of emergency.
Any money the two wanted, they had to earn by doing shrine work. Souta and Kagome knew their mother had emergency money saved up in a safe in her office, but also knew that without that there in case of an emergency, they would probably starve because Naraku took most of Kali's money for him to spend on whores and beer.
The money in the safe went towards bills and groceries most often. Kagome herself had almost thirteen hundred dollars saved up for a car.