S a i g e n
A/N: So, we've been literally working on this for maybe…two years. Hopefully, it turned out okay.
Disclaimer: No, we don't own Inuyasha. Because if we did, Kagome would be dead, and…what the—we wouldn't even BE on this site. We'd be…in a mansion…somewhere…
-Chapter 1-
Ashurin sat in her room, listening to music…as usual. Being bored…as usual. Journaling became a common past time for her, considering she was so DAMN bored all the time.
'Can life get much worse than this?'
'Yeah, probably.'
'Who the fuck are you?'
'Your cliché conscience.'
'…right.'
"Ashurin, honey, It's time for dinner!" The girl's mother sang, snapping her from her dismal thoughts.
"Yeah…I'm coming." Ashurin answered, giving a light sigh.
Dinner was quiet…again. In fact, everything seemed as usual until Ashurin's mother decided to speak.
"So, Ashurin." Akane said.
"So, mom." Ashurin answered, being slightly sarcastic.
"How was school today?"
"…it's summer vacation."
"…Oh. Well, how would you feel about moving?"
Ashurin sighed. "Not like it'd matter."
Akane made a face. She wasn't appreciating her daughter's attitude, but figured she had a right to it. She knew she worked a lot, but it wasn't like she could cut back hours…since Ashurin's grandmother fell ill, she'd had to take up extra hours to be able to pay for her hospital care. However, with a move, it'd be less stressful and she could come home often, rather than staying in the hospital for months on end. She thought it'd be best. And even so, Ashurin could get some new friends…the old ones…she felt were having a 'negative' effect on her.
"So, how about I give you some money for a new wardrobe? I was thinking of having a yard sale this weekend, and you have so much clothing you never wear…"
"Mom, can we not-"
"Like that cute little pink dress you have! Oh, with that hat that you used to always wear on Easter!"
"I'm quite sure I grew out of that mom." Ashurin took up her and Akane's dishes to wash them.
That was something her mother liked. Ashurin was quite responsible, and she could trust her.
"Well, here's my card…feel free to buy what you want…but don't spend too much." Akane advised. Ashurin knew what too much was, so it was alright.
"Thanks." She said, before heading out the door.
--
"Hey, mom." Said Sakura upon entering the house. She'd been out with her friends, and planned to go back out after she got some money from her mom. Maybe some food too.
"Sakura. I just got your grades in the mail. They're horrendous." Kaiga, Sakura's mother, looked disapprovingly at her daughter.
"No sweat, I'll do better next year." Sakura shrugged, taking a sip of water.
"No. There is no 'I'll do better next year' this time. You need to learn how to be responsible for once in your life."
Sakura's sister, Araya, could be heard chuckling in the background.
"Okay…" Sakura knew there was more coming, of course, after shooting a death glare at her sister.
"Starting next week, you'll be assisting with sales at the Higurashi Shrine."
Sakura sighed. She knew she wouldn't be able to slide by for as long as she had.
"Alright…well, can I have some money so I can go shopping?"
"…did I- you know what, okay. But this is the last time this summer."
"WHA-"
"Ah, ah, ah." Her mother wagged her finger, "You'll be using your own money for shopping from now on."
Sakura sighed once again. Her mother gave her a credit card, and she left the house in 10 seconds flat.
--
Ashurin just stared wide-eyed at the sites before here. She'd never been in Tokyo before, and being in the suburbs her whole life, she wasn't used to all the neon signs, the stores, and – most of all - the people.
"So, what do you think?" Akane asked with a small smile. She could see Ashurin gaping at everything her deep green eyes fell on.
"It's…different," she muttered.
"Well, hopefully you'll adjust. School starts again in two weeks. Maybe you'll be able to make some new friends who go to your school."
'Ugh, finally! Something different!' Ashurin's conscience, whom she lovingly dubbed 'Ama-chan', gave an imaginary sign of thanks to the gods.
'What are you talking about? You showed up just last week. I've had to deal with this my whole life.'
'You know what? Shut up.'
"Honey, we're here~!"
Ashurin was pulled out of her thoughts to see her new home. It was an average sized single family home with a gate to an open garage. The neighborhood was huge, so she knew she would have to explore before school starts.
She went to go explore the house. It had what any other house had, a few bathrooms, two guestrooms and a large kitchen and dining area…it was a nice house, for what it was worth.
"So, sweetheart, what do you think of the house?" her mother asked with hopeful eyes.
"It's…fine," Ashurin deadpanned. "Now, do you have like…a map to get around this place?"
---
It was the first day at school when Sakura went to her first day at work. She sighed and took the walk behind Kagome…she'd known the girl even before today…their grandparents were friends at one point. The reason that Sakura even had this job was because both families needed help. The Nakamura family in the money aspect, and the Higurashi family in the help aspect.
She walked into the shrine behind Kagome and reported to her grandfather right away—after all, the faster she started work, the quicker she'd be done.
She was dressed in the traditional priestess garb, and felt so extremely out of place…it was odd, really. She wasn't quite positive why, she just knew she hated it with a passion.
Her job wasn't hard. It just included stocking and sweeping…and that was it. She was paid about…eight hundred and twenty yen an hour…which would fulfill her shopping needs for a month…if she worked every evening for five hours.
But. It didn't help that neither of them liked one another. Whenever Sakura would pass Kagome, she would scoff. And Kagome only rolled her eyes.
The week went by quite uneventful, the same schedule…until Kagome decided to bring the new girl home to hang out.
Sakura had left early from school that day because 'Old man', had gotten a shipment in and she had to take inventory…that always took quite a while. So you can only imagine how annoyed Sakura was when Kagome decided to show her friend around.
"Two hundred and forty-…"
"And this is where all the stuff goes!" Kagome burst into the room, oblivious to Sakura's intense concentration.
"What…the…HELL?! YOU COMPLETELY THREW OFF MY COUNT…YOU…YOU..UGH!" Sakura didn't have much else to say when Kagome completely ignored her and continued her tour.
"Now I have to start all over…" Sakura whined.
"Hey…" Kagome's guest spoke up, "I think I've seen you around my neighborhood…you've got the lesbo mom and the slutty sister, right?"
"Uhh…yeah…right. And you are…?" Sakura scratched her head.
"My name's Ashurin," The girl smiled…she was obviously quite friendly.
"Whatever." Sakura responded. "One…two…three…"
"That's Sakura by the way…though I occasionally mistake her for a friend of mine…" Kagome said, leading Ashurin out of the room, and back to the rest of the shrine.
"Oh? Who's that?" Ashurin asked.
"Oh, no one you'd know."
"Is it your boyfriend?"Ashurin grinned mischieviously.
"Gah! What does EVERYONE ask me that! NO. NO. and NO!"
"…okay, chill out, I was just kidding."
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