Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha, but it sure would pay the bills if I did:)
Confessions of a Fairy Godmother
Ch. 1: It always begins with tragedy...
A tear hit cold white floors as a young girl and her mother shared a grief-stricken embrace. One held on because she didn't know what else to do, where else to turn. Neither did she know how to be strong and to pretend that death would not send their lives crumbling like a hurricane.
The youngest refused to let go because her heart was shattered, and guilt was flooding her soul. They clung to each other looking for shelter from a storm that neither could prevent, and while their pain sprung from the same well, their suffering took much different paths.
While one felt failure while the other felt guilt. While one wondered how they were ever going to recover as a family, the other wondered why the God's had let his happen. While one tried to be strong with thoughts of her son in the heavens, the other was sure that hell had just set fire to their lives…and that nothing would ever be the same.
"Souta" the young girl breathed, her raven locks clinging to her tear stained face. As she brushed the black bangs gently away from his eyes she couldn't believe that this had happened to him, a mere boy, a child who loved video games and baseball, a kid who never stopped smiling. She couldn't believe that a soul who had radiated light from every pore…was now in a darkness that no one could save him from.
"I'd better go tell the doctor that we've said our good-byes." The elder whispered. The words had traveled up her throat like a drawer of sharp knives, and as she heard the words leave her lips she watched as the daggers shot out at her daughter, the only child she had left…and she wondered…how long would it be until she failed her too?
"We can't…" tears poured from grey-blue orbs as the young girl clung frantically onto her younger brother's arm…begging him to live, begging him not to leave her, beginning him not to hate her.
It was at that moment that the mother who was about to kill her son realized that whoever had said that life wasn't supposed to be fair obviously had not lost a child. Never had to watch their family die each second of every day, never had to watch their entire house be taken away to pay for life support, never had to watch death take something that had wrongfully been taken …
"I'll work extra hours at the diner…I'll sell…" the girl desperately searched her mind for something she hadn't already sold, for any place that she had not gone looking for money, for any hope.
"We've sold everything Kagome. There's no more money to give…" the woman walked over to her daughter, placing her hands gently on her shoulder, "Souta's going to a better place," while what she had said was the truth, she found no comfort in those words…and neither did her daughter.
"So that's it?" the young girl spat, a deadly mixture of pain and anger swirling in her eyes as her hands clenched into tight fists, "That drunken bastard takes Souta's life without a burden on his shoulders? Souta dies because we don't have enough money when that asshole should be the one without a home, without a penny to his name?"
"They never were able to identify the driver; the police did all they could, you know that Kagome…" Pain was often wedded with anger and the woman watched as the holy matrimony began to take over her daughter's heart, turning what was once soft, hard, what was once warm, deadly cold.
"They could've done more!" she screamed, pounding her fists against the sterile floors as she fell to her knees besides her dying brother, "He can't die…he just…he just can't"
As emotions once locked up behind walls put forth by the grief and anger finally became free, a soft breeze began to fill the room. Mother and daughter began stood frozen as a ball of pink light seemed to heading straight for them, growing in size as it approached. Their eyes burned as smoke began to fill the small space, as the light seemed to envelope them completely.
Kagome gasped for air as she slowly opened her eyes, trembling as her eyes rested upon a woman dressed in a black suit, her red eyes glowing through the smoke as her long raven locks seemed to float in the air. It was the angel of death coming to take her brother and she knew it, it was waiting for the life support to be ripped from his body. Anger filled her stunned body as she vowed that it would not take him.
"You will not have him," she screamed, throwing herself against her brother's body, "I don't know what you are, but you will not have him!"
The woman shot her a perplexed look as her perfect brows came together in confusion, "Here we go again," she sighed as she rolled her eyes, realizing that she had once again been mistaken as the angel of death, the Grimm reaper, or her personal favorite, Satan himself. "Child I'm not here to take your precious brother, I'm here to save him…"
Kagome's hold on her brother became harder as her steely blues met the woman's fiery reds, "Who are?" she managed, her small body trembling while she attempted to be brave for her brother, and her mother who was standing there like a fish out of water.
"The name's Kagura, mistress of magic and the top fairy godmother at Miko's and Magic Inc." she bowed slightly twirling a silver cane around her fingers, "I've come to give you a brother back,"
"Fairy Godmother? This is some sick joke," Kagome's eyes blazed in anger and disbelief, "I'm going to get a nurse and tell them that they've let some lunatic loose," she began towards the door when a flash of pink light blocked her way, red eyes gloating in triumph. "How'd….How'd…What are you!" she screamed as she fell to the ground, pushing herself until her back was against the wall in absolute terror.
The woman rubbed her temple in frustration, "Not the sharpest knife in the shed are we? Fairy Godmother remember? Magic…making the impossible, possible…ring a bell sweetheart?"
"Why…Why are you here?" the girl stammered, slowly picking herself from the floor and grabbing onto a vase for protection.
Kagura watched as the young girl picked up the plastic vase as if that was supposed to protect her. Stupid humans… "God…what's the point of such a grand introduction if no one listens to it," she sighed, "Oh well…here's the deal shrimp, I give you your brother back, you pay me and we all end up happy? Simple really…"
"Pay you?" the girl questioned, her head still spinning with what she was hearing.
"What, are you going start repeating everything I say now? Good God…" she breathed, not remembering when signing a deal had been so difficult. You'd think they'd be jumping at the chance to save the boy…instead one's turned into a statue and the other is about to smack me with a plastic vase…I need a vacation. "It's a small sum really…I mean isn't any price worth it to save your brother?"
"But, assuming that you really can do what you say…my family and I have no way of paying you. We don't even have enough money to keep him alive even as a vegetable," she whispered, after months of pain and anger, it was hard to let hope enter her heart…and even harder to know that even if this dream was real, it was still so far out of reach.
"Look, I don't do this for everyone…" she lied, there was a reason she was the top fairy godmother, and it wasn't because of her good looks, "I'll give you three months to find the money, I'm sure you'll be able to come up with it by then…I mean it's for your only brother." She sang the last part. I've got you.
Kagome watched as Kagura tapped her silver cane to ground and gasped as a stack of papers appeared in her hands. Recovering from shock and trying not to drop the papers she flipped through them, not understanding a single word, "What happens if we don't have the money in three months?"
Damn. Kagura's smile faded as she realized that the girl was too smart for her own good, it was a logical question, but most people didn't seem to care when their dreams were just a cane tap away. "Well…you'd have to work off the expenses of course…"
Kagome's eyes narrowed, "Meaning?"
"Look," Kagura snapped, her eyes flaming, "Do you want your brother or not, because I can guarantee you that you will never see him again if you do not sign those papers. I'm your last hope, and I am not going to stay here a minute longer got that?"
Kagome's mind began a race with her heart. Her reason screamed that this was crazy, that this woman was not real and even if she was, she could not be trusted. Her heart told her to do whatever it took, that she would be able to find the money some how and that her brother's life was worth everything. Human reason often finds itself cast aside at moments such as these, and this time was no exception.
"Do I have to sign in blood?"
Kagura's lips eased into a smirk, "You've been watching too many movies girl," she tossed her a silver pen as she licked her lips as the ink dried on the papers, "I'll see you in three months,"
With a tap of her cane and an eruption of pink smoke she was gone, leaving Kagome and her mother still frozen in shock.
Was that real? Was it all a dream. Kagome slowly opened her eyes, hoping for the best...but expecting the worse. Come on Kagome get a grip...It was just a dream, your mind was playing tricks on you, you have gone absolutelty...
"Ka-Kagome?" a soft voice whispered; a voice so soft yet so loud that it rang throughout her entire body.
Kagome felt her stomach twist as she felt too scared to even look, but as she turned she was met with a pair of brown eyes that she had not seen in six months. Tears welled in her eyes as she tossed her body over his small one, hugging him tightly as to never let him go.
"Can we go home now?" he asked her, a soft smile across his face. It was as if he had just awaken from a dream.
But for Kagome it was as if she had awaken from a nightmare, "Of course" she took him into her arms, vowing that she would never let anything take him away….not now, not ever.
"Why is mom on the floor?"
Kagome turned to see that her mother had fainted, but she smiled anyway, knowing she'd be happy when she woke up. "She'll be fine"
They were all going to be okay…Souta was back and they could go back to being a family again. As the storm seemed to die down, revealing a bright sun, lush green and a picture perfect rainbow…the Higurashi family became so overwhelmed with happiness that they allowed themselves to believe in happily ever after.
They had broken the first rule of any unconventional fairy tale, they had forgotten all about the mysterious woman who had saved their family, who would soonshow them to never believe in a story that ended with happily ever after…