Kagome sat at the edge of the lake watching the sunset. It was peaceful and she needed peace. She thought about her friends, her grandfather and little brother, the only ones who did not contribute to her pain. For that she was grateful. One could only take so much hurt. With this her thoughts turned.

She thought about the "others", her mom, and her step father. Her brother Souta was the joy of her mother and stepfather's lives, while she was left out, the forgotten daughter. It hurt to know her mother wouldn't look at Kagome the way she looked at Souta. Her mother looked at Souta with love, compassion and happiness while she looked at Kagome with regret, coldness and sadness and every time her mom said her name she could hear it in her voice. Every time she saw it in her mother's eyes her heart would break a little more. Her mother looked at her with love once; she remembered it clearly and mourned for the loss of her mother's love. Why did she stop loving her? Was it because of Ken, her stepfather? Could he have been the start of it all? She couldn't see how, it must be her fault.

A memory came to mind. It was Christmas and everyone had been up very early in the morning, everyone except her. It was supposed to be a happy time of the year, one of the few times that they could be a family even if it was just pretend. But it didn't happen that way. Her mother didn't wake her up; she only woke up her grandfather, Souta, and Ken. They had breakfast and opened the gifts and went to church, all while she was asleep. When she went downstairs she found no gifts waiting for except for one from grandpa and a little one homemade from Souta. She went into the kitchen only to find a few leftover pancakes. Then they walked in from church. Her grandpa gave her a big hug and a merry Christmas then went up to his room to rest. Souta gave her a hug and eagerly gave her is gift. When Souta went down to his playroom tears formed in her eyes and she looked towards her mother but she gave her barely even a passing glance, and Ken gave her a look that asked why are you even here? She ran to her room with her little gifts and cried for the family she once had. She knew then that she was not a part of this family. They did not love her and Souta was too young to understand but then again so maybe she was too, she was only twelve and still had a lot to learn. The only one who cared about her was her grandfather.

Her grandfather was her little light in her darkened home, but that light was slowly fading. He would tell her and Souta old stories of pioneers, pirates, foreign fairytales and legends. At one point in his life he traveled the world that's how he came across all of his stories. He gathered them all and arranged them into three books. They were never published. He didn't feel it was his right even though he received several generous offers. They were not his stories to make money off of so kept them to himself to share with his family and friends, that was part of what she loved about him he was honest. When Kagome turned sixteen he gave them to her, beautifully bound in dark brown leather each of the pages preserved to last several lifetimes organized by time and originating country. It was the best thing anyone had ever given her. Her mother and Ken were disapproving and said he spoiled her. She loved him dearly but soon she would lose him as well the thought alone made her want to cry, she couldn't imagine a life without grandpa, always there to get her mind off of her mother and Ken. He helped her to forget. He would never know of the pain she carried within herself, she didn't want him too he was old and deserved happiness. But home was not the happy place it once was when her father lived.

Her two best friends at school were her outlet; she loved them as one would love a family. How she should love her family. The sister she never had she found in Sango, her best friend. The sister she never had. Along the way they met Miroku. Miroku always gave the best advice, and at times it was cryptic instead of straightforward. He seemed to have no flaw, but those close to him knew better, he was somewhat of a lecher, it was funny. But he never took it far mostly a heavy insinuation or a grope here and there. When he was not groping Sango he was hitting on someone else, Kagome could tell she was jealous. Their spats were funny and often the highlight of Kagome's day. He would make a move on Sango and place his hand discreetly on the small of her back, she would not mind, but then his hand would travel south, she would scream at him and call him a perverted jerk and he would end up with a nicely shaped red handprint on his face. At the end of it all he would just smirk at her blush and say it was well worth it. It never got tiring. She cared about them more than they knew, she hated keeping things from them but she didn't want them to worry.

Thinking of her friends often started her thinking about her father. She only remembered him smiling and holding her when she was scared from a nightmare. When she remembered him she remembered feeling truly happy, if only she could see his face right now. She only had one picture of him when he was a senior in high school around the same time he met her mother, apparently they married that same year. She had his blue eyes and dark hair. Her grandfather told her about her father, he was the kindest person anyone could ever hope to meet. He told her he was glad when her father met her mother. But when she asked about their relationship he would make up some excuse no to tell her and only say they were happy together. Part of her did not think this was true but the other hoped it was. Something seemed very wrong. This thought brought her back to the thought that it was her fault; she was the cause of her mother's rejection. The relationship between her real parents her dad, Ichiro Higurashi, and her mom, Akiko Higurashi, now and for the past seven years since her dad died, Akiko Blake. It was weird for her when her mother had remarried so soon after her father died. She was really too young to understand but maybe her mother was just heartbroken and needed to fill that void? She didn't want to think about it. Realizing that the sun was already gone she stood and decided to jog back to her house. She hated walking alone in the dark.

When she reached her house and stepped inside she was greeted with silence as usual. No welcome home, or what are you doing home so late, no concern for her well being. Over the past three years she learned to seem as if she didn't care. It worked to fool others, but it never once fooled herself. She slipped into the kitchen quietly; she missed dinner again so she went to fridge to see what she could come up with. There was hardly anything, it's a wonder she hadn't starved to death after living here all these years. Once finished her mother and Ken walked through the door, they had obviously been drinking. Ken went into the kitchen paying no attention to Kagome, much to her relief, she didn't trust him enough when he was sober, in his current state anything could happen. It did once and she shivered at the memory pushing it back into the recesses of her mind. She didn't want to think about it, she didn't need to be reminded. It hurt too much. Again, taken out of her thoughts there was a loud banging on the door. She went and answered it quickly, not wanting to anger her mother. She had to do everything. When she opened the door she was greeted with the deep voice of a man.

"Is this the residence of Ken and Akiko Blake?" he asked.

"Yes"

Before she could register anything else he walked in followed by four others, who were wearing police uniforms. Quickly they made their way towards the living room and kitchen and found her mom and stepfather.

"What's going on!" she nearly screamed

Without looking towards her they continued what they were doing. Their words shocked her into in to an immobile state. And her grandfather who had heard the commotion paled and looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

"Mr. And Mrs. Blake, you are under arrest for the murder of Ichiro Higurashi."