Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, But Sesshy's heart belongs to me!
Edited 07/27/07
This Chapter (written in January '06), was edited in July '07. It had many, many errors and now that the author has grown further in her writing experience, you can expect better quality, and that this story will be continued. Thank you for your patience.
Title: "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
Summary: Kagome moves from America to Tokyo with her father and brother into a ritzy apartment, and transfers to a school full of snobs. One day while skipping class, she coincidentally meets her gorgeous silver haired neighbors and his streetwise friends, who are also skipping! A beautiful, wild friendship blossoms into…angsty forbidden romance? Read on!
Chapter One: An Empty House And Mystery Neighbors
She looked at her reflection of the flawless golden doors of the elevator, scowling at the distorted image while the uncomfortable silence of her, her brother and her father made her mind tick with uneasiness. Well, why wouldn't it? After all that had happened, and all the estrangement between the three strangers, Kagome was not happy with the way things were going between them. We're supposed to be a family, right? …Then how come I can't even remember my own brother's name? It IS Souta, isn't it? Damn it all. Her thoughts swirled miserably like flies in her mind, while she watched the elevator numbers highlight, one by one, until they reached floor 14
Sighing with relief, she followed the two older men out of the elevator through the dark, spotless hallway, which was not lined with many doors- in fact, Kagome suspected, there was probably no more than five apartments on the gigantic floor. As it turned out, three doors down from the elevator at the end of the hall, Hiroki Higurashi slid the card key through the large mahogany door and ushered his children in. When Kagome walked into it, it was hard to hide her surprise and amazement: Like only the apartments she saw on television, it was large, bright and quiet spacious. The whole outer wall was thick glass, with a door leading to the great stone balcony patio, which was graced with black lounge chaises and a glass table with a large black umbrella. It was only fall, but Kagome couldn't wait for spring and summer when she could probably eat out and watch the sunset.
The carpet was beige and the walls stark white, there was a glass bar at the inner wall, and Kagome eyed the countless bottles of alcohol. Then, she noticed the chandeliers, and the strange paintings of black and white abstract art. To the left of her, there was a large built-in aquarium with several black and dark blue fish. The whole room…was spacious, partly empty…and lonely. A vibe that she hated, but guess she would have to ignore it.
"Well, this is home. Souta will show you to your room, dear, because I have to go to work. You'll be quick to learn that both of us often have meetings to attend to, but on the weekends and such we go out to dinner. You'll be my date, won't you? Souta is getting tiresome…" There was an awkward silence, and then, she forced a small laugh.
"Uh, yes sir! Good luck with work." In such a stiff manner, he smiled and bent to kiss her forehead, and then nodded to Souta.
"I trust we'll meet at Hascombe's office, in one hour?" Souta, her handsome twenty-one-year-old brother nodded, setting his briefcase down on the bar.
"Yes, father. I'll shower and change, and then be on my way. You don't mind, do you Kagome?" He said without looking at her, as he and Hiroki walked away from her in opposite directions without waiting for her response.
After a moment, her father slammed the door and her brother was walking down the hall, so she chose to follow him.
"Um, Souta? My room…" He didn't even turn around or stop to look at her, still. "It's the very last one on the left, the room beside mine, of course," he walked suddenly into the large pair of double doors to their left, and didn't even glance at her as he turned and shut the door. And so, she stood there for a blank moment, trying to shut out the pain she was feeling. Was this the way it was going to be from now on? Would it always be lonely, would they always shut her out? She doubted she could even make friends; she didn't have very many in Michigan.
The bare walls of the hallway were suddenly giving her cold shivers, and so she walked around the left bend of the hallway to see a pair of white double doors, and slowly, she reached out and turned the golden knob. As she walked inside, an even brighter light assaulted her, and she realized that at this time of day at noon, in this room, the sun would shine directly into her pure white empty room.
Well, it wasn't completely empty…facing her from where she stood at the door, in front of the glass outer wall was a queen-sized silken-sheeted bed, with a great black wooden headboard so the when she would wake, the headboard would block the sunlight from blinding her. To the right side of the bed beside the screen door, twenty feet or so away was a black cherry wood dresser, about her height and topped with a black and gold vase filled with fresh, red roses. And beside that was a vanity table, perhaps only a head or two shorter than her, with a knee-height cushioned bench.
Instead, she turned to the right side of the room and went to the beautiful French doors that lead to her closet space. When she opened them, true to her fathers word, the closet was filled with newly bought clothes- most of them business suits it seemed her mother would have worn, and then there were was a small bundle of hanged clothing to the right, with a small white paper taped to a hanger.
Kagome, I didn't know all of what you would like, so look in the left pocket of black denim jacket. Go shopping. Oh, and the black sailor suit- your school uniform- speaking of which, starts tomorrow at eight 'o clock. I would recommend getting up at six thirty, to have a breakfast with your brother and I- sadly, that may be the only time to see us during this quiet busy week. If not, I'll leave your schedule and pocket money on the counter. Do whatever you want. Ciao, darling- love, father.
She looked from the note to the bundle of clothes, and found and dug into the pocket of a brand new denim jacket, and pulled out a rather large wad of money. Well, I guess there's one good thing about this situation. Do whatever I want? Just fine with me. She stuffed the money into the back pocket of her designer jeans, and decided to hang her current blue denim coat into the closet, until she discovered how cold it actually was. God, where's the heater in this place? It's fucking freezing in here! She shrugged back on her jacket and shut the closet door, and went to close her own bedroom door.
As she pressed the door shut, a sudden cold breeze blew against the back of her neck; and she turned to face the sliding door of the glass wall- only to discover that it was still shut. Slowly, she turned from the door and walked hesitantly to the glass, eyeballing the entire piece of fragile architecture. But to no avail, there was no cracks, no hidden window. And so, shrugged it off and laid herself down on the high risen bed, guessing it had been mere imagination. As she allowed her body to relax, loosen and sink into the luxurious mattress, her mind only became more troubled, thoughts hurtling at her one after another. She reached up to the back of her head and pulled the hair band from her ponytail, and she felt the relief of the tightness gone from her hair. And as the silence crept back into the room, her worried, weary eyes started to close, her breathing became lighter, and soon she was lightly snoring, and far away in dreamland.
Eight hours later
Kagome's eyes snapped right open, and and sat up so fast she nearly fell from the bed. The rock music; from wherever it was playing, was so incredibly loud that she was sure the whole building was awake.
"So give me all your poison,
and give me all your pills,
and give me all your hopeless hearts
and make me ill…
You're running after something
That you'll never kill
If this is what you want, then
Fire at will!"
She recognized the American band, My Chemical Romance, and rose from the bed, realizing it was useless to cover her ears. She ran and swung open her bedroom door, marching through the hall and back into the main room, and realized that the music was nearer to her room, which was the balcony next to hers! But, this was nothing new to Kagome Higurashi. As much as she loved the music, they had to shut up, and would not until challenged otherwise. She remembered back home in Massachusetts, were she had lived with her mother in a quiet rural area, other teenagers came their to have parties, with less chance of getting busted. And what Kagome found was that…if you had equally great music blasting even louder than theirs, for some reason…they'd turn it down or turn it off. She never actually understood why this was, but she was sure it would work now.
Right next to the entrance hall, opposite side the bar, was the entertainment system she hadn't noticed much before…she ran over to it, pulling open the cupboard doors to where the stereo was perched. It looked as though it were hardly used, and fragile…but the enormous speakers on each side of the wooden structure was telling her a different story. Boosting it up, she searched for the CD mode button, and when she ejected the CD carrier, she almost burst out laughing! In the circle of rotating CD's, she found the least likely- besides the Beethoven's Greatest Hits, there was a Weird Al- Pretty Fly For A Rabbi, a Backstreet Boy's greatest hits, a CD that instructed…the gentleman's code! But, she kept her mind on her mission, and ran to her room for her little black backpack, which carried some of her most precious cargo- a picture of her mom, a picture of their whole family together and her CD player and CD's.
Though she was now used to the music's volume, she was determined as she pranced back to the music system and began removing and reloading the circle. Now, she was added to the family's mix as she placed in Evanescence, Breaking Benjamin, Disturbed, and Lacuna Coil. Then after carefully selecting the track she desired, she turned the volume knob up to full height and ran back down to the hall, trying to reach her balcony before the music could begin. She blew past her bedroom doors, almost skidding right into the glass, and peeked at her neighbor's balcony behind the black heavy drapes that lined both sides of the wall.
Incidentally, just as "Helena" began to tremble the building, the second song of Lacuna Coil greeted MCR with a beautiful, gothic blast of it's own with "Heaven's a Lie". From behind her safe hiding spot, she could barely make out their faces…but sitting on a rather monstrous black couch in front of their window, there were three black haired people, a tall guy and two shorter girls. Then, her left view of their window was a tall, silvery haired demonic guy with some kind of violet tattoo on his head, like a crescent moon. To her right, another tall silvery haired demon boy with something strange perched on his head, who was chatting up with a small auburn haired child- with a red tail. Everyone was decked out in black clothes, and it seemed fair to label them as "punks" or "Goths" to a certain point.
And so, as her music began to overpower theirs, the three black haired teenagers and the three demons came out onto the balcony. It almost scared her…was she not hidden well enough? They were staring at her balcony, and talking to each other and pointing at it. Maybe they were going to come over here? Maybe kids in Japan weren't very much like Americans after all…she backed up carefully from the curtain, and slid to the floor. No way…they couldn't see her now. She felt so silly, creeping across her floor like a child caught out of bed…yet, she would not have liked to faced the embarrassment. After all, they did lived in the same area, didn't they? If they were her age, they probably went to her school. And, they would want to know why she'd turned her music up that loud, and came out to watch them.
She wiggled around her door, and once safely behind it, she stood up and ran with aching knees to the stereo. Then, she turned the volume completely down, and switched everything off. Now, it was time to test…if they chose to respond negatively, they'd find a way to turn it up even louder- but positively, it meant they would turn it down or turn it off. Either one would be nice, she thought sourly, and went to flop on the couch. Though she couldn't possibly go back to sleep, she still needed to rest, and so with her sore body, she waited. …The room was growing dark, and the orange-golden light was wavering fast, and her stomach rumbled…just as "Helena" gave the building one final shake, and then silence came to rule over all in the lonely Higurashi apartment.
She smiled lightly, and watched herself wiggle her toes as she enjoyed the silence that her neighbors had given back to her. Hmm…I ought to thank them, she mused as she hopped off of the couch, and picked up the phone off of the bar counter. Looking over the taped, labeled numbers, she dialed a simple "1726398" for resident service.
"…Residency Service of Onigumo Conference Building, how can I help you?" Her eyes glimmered with mischief, as she recognized the voice to be of the young, chestnut-haired teenage bellhop that had nervously greeted them at their arrival, about eight and a half hours prior.
"Hi, this is Kagome- you know, Higurashi's daughter?" She tried to hold back her laughter as she could her him choke and stutter nervously.
"Um…yes, Miss Higurashi…what can I do for you?" She readied herself to work her magic.
"Honey, what's your name?" Using the tone that would a sexy, more experienced and older woman use, as she knew her mother had been a pro at once.
"Um…K-Kohaku, Miss." He sounded as though any minute now, he were going to faint.
"Well, my dear Kohaku…I'm kind of new in Tokyo. When do you get off of your shift?"
"A-any minute now. Why do you ask, Miss Higurashi?" She sighed. What was with this guy? He was actually quiet handsome, now that she thought about it. Why'd he sound so unconfident?
"Well you see, my father and brother have left me all alone up here. I've pretty much slept all day- but now, I'm awake…and am one hungry girl." She giggled as she could picture his shocked face, inappropriate thoughts swirling around the "innocent" phrase in his too-polite mind. When he didn't respond, she gave up teasing him.
"Well…I like Italian food. Do they have any of that here? Or is it all cats, seafood and stew? What do you like to eat, Kohaku?" There was a pause…then, some sigh of relief, and then he answered- with a little less nervousness.
"Well, since you asked…I do like pizza. Shall I speak to the cook"-
"Absolutely not. We're going out!"
"B-but, are you sure…? I"-
"Be ready in half an hour, you hear me? I said, 'We're going out!'" And with that, she slammed down the phone. But, she still smiled.
"He'll be there, I know it." She said it aloud, more to reassure herself as she went back to her room- forgetting that her neighbors may have still been watching.
Later...
This time, she smiled to herself in the golden flawless reflection of the mirror as the green digital numbers counted down, one floor after another. She smoothed back her bangs to the left, feeling over herself to make sure she looked alright. She decided to apologize, when she met back up with him, for being such a annoying tease. She hadn't specified how to dress, or where they were going, and she hadn't even asked or considered that he may have had other plans. She wasn't usually mean like that, she would explain, and hopefully he wouldn't have a real big problem with it.
She had decided to replace her old blue denim with the new black one, and under it was one of the few articles of clothing she had brought- her favorite black glittering halter top. Her hair was back in a tight, thick ponytail and she wore only light eyeliner, eye shadow and lip gloss. In other words, the perfect American cheerleader ensemble. And when the doors opened to the first floor lobby, she was relieved to find Kohaku there, wearing a large black denim jacket, with a black tee underneath and black khaki shorts and his hair slicked back, while smiling nervously, holding a single rose. Her face broke into a wide, beautiful-as-can-be smile, and she leaped at him.
"Kohaku, you're the sweetest guy I've ever met." He blushed a deep cherry.
"Er…don't take this the wrong way Miss, I just mean…well, I wasn't sure. I've never…gone on a date with anyone before, so…"
"Don't you worry about a thing, Kohaku. You're doing great." She took the rose, and gestured to the main glass doors of the building, offering her arm.
"Shall we?"
-End Of Chapter One-
Interesting? Need more detail, or work? And yes, Kagome's mother is to remain a mystery. May change the rating.
And perhaps a lot of angst later on…and more to come!
Review and I'll write some more. Ja Ne!
-Cztar Chan