Second Breath, Brought to Life

Chapter 1 ~ The First Fall~

"Where is she?" Chihana asked the other girls that made up her group of friends. "She's been gone practically two weeks!"

"Yeah, I mean, I know she's been getting sick a lot, but it has been a while since she's come to school." responded a long haired girl named Ayumi.

"Yeah, I know, but I heard she threw out her back." said a girl wearing a headband with straight short hair named Eri.

"Really? I was told she just stubbed her toe. "commented the final girl in the foursome called Yuka, she had short straight hair.

All the girls wore the same school uniform as they stood around their desks in their homeroom awaiting the start of class. They were discussing a fifth girl who is missing in their group of friends. Chihana was fingering her long straight raven locks that fell to just above her knees as she continued to contemplate where their fifth, named Kagome, was and why she is always seeming to get bad illnesses, I mean, threw out her back? The last time she was gone so long the stories were chemo therapy and almost losing her left leg in a mix up with papers in the hospital. All of a sudden Chihana was pulled from her musings as she heard Ayumi say "Oh my gosh, there she is, hey Kagome!" Chihana looked up in time to see a girl their same age, wearing their same uniform, with wavy black hair to her mid back, and big brown doe eyes wonder into the classroom. Kagome starting over after being waved down by Ayumi and the others. As soon as she reached the spot where they were the questions began.

"Kagome, what about your toe?" Yuka started.

"Kagome, how is your back?" asked Eri.

"Kagome, where have you been!? Huffed Chihana.

Kagome stared blankly at them, when she snapped out of it she said "Toe? Back? Where I've been?"

"I heard you threw out your back." Eri interrupted.

"I was told you stubbed your toe." Yuka butted in.

"Who told you that?" Kagome asked in a demanding tone.

"Your grandfather." the two said together.

"Grandpa..." Kagome muttered under her breath.

"Where have you been, Kagome?" Chihana repeated.

Kagome looked at her for a moment than said a bit snippy "I was at home with a cold, that's all."

"But it's been two weeks!" Ayumi spoke up.

"You couldn't have been sick with a cold for that long!" Chihana retaliated.

"I could with a really bad one!" came the stubborn response.

Before Chihana or anyone else in the group could say anything more, the teacher walked in and class began. Thus, Chihana reluctantly decided to wait until after school to finish questioning her wayward friend.

After school the group of five friends went to a fast food place to eat and talk, unfortunately the route of the conversation was not to Chihana's liking. Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi wanted to know more about Kagome's love life and her renegade boyfriend but all Chihana wished to know is why Kagome is so sick all the time and why the others hear different stories, including herself, about what aliments Kagome has.

"So, how's that crazy boyfriend of yours?" Eri asks.

"Inuyasha is not crazy, he's just temperamental." Kagome responds.

"He isn't abusing you, is he?" Yuka questions.

"Of course not! Inuyasha may get jealous at times, but otherwise he's not so bad" Kagome retaliated.

"So, Kagome, where were you all this time? It has been a while since you came to school" Chihana interjected getting weary of the same old conversation about Kagome's boyfriend with the strange name.

"I told you, I was home with a cold." Kagome responded taking a long sip of her drink.

"But you were gone for two weeks! Not to mention you seem to be sick out of school for a few days at a time a lot!" Chihana retaliated.

Before Kagome could say something else the others started up their questions about Kagome's boyfriend again and Chihana sighed and reluctantly gave up once again.

After the food break and a bit of window shopping at the nearby mall from where they had ate, the five girls left for their individual homes. They road the bus line to their stops, the last ones were Kagome and Chihana, who got off on the same stop and walked the three blocks to Kagome's home together than Chihana had to walk one more block to her home alone. On the way to Kagome's house, Chihana was trying to fish for information about the same question she's been trying to get a solid, truthful answer on from her friend all day by asking for a study date.

"Come on, Kagome, it would help us both out, I'm sure" Chihana was saying.

"I just don't know when I'll be available, can't I just call or talk to you at school about it later?" Kagome responded.

"But..." Chihana began, just to be interrupted by Kagome's mom shouting for her daughter from the inside of the house just as the girls reached the top of the stairway to the shrine that was Kagome's home as well.

"Kagome!? Is that you?"

"Yes, mom, what is it?" Kagome asked just by the ancient tree.

"Inuyasha is here, looking for you!" called Kagome's mother.

"What is here doing here?" Chihana heard Kagome mutter under her breath before turning back to face Chihana and essentially attempt to shoo her away.

"I've got to go and so do you, I'll call you later if I don't see you at school first, would you look at the time? Your family must be getting worried, it's so close to dinner time, anyway bye!" Kagome rushed out while practically shoving Chihana towards the steps, once reached, Kagome turned back toward her house and rushed off.

Chihana stood dumbfounded for a while than with a shake of her head muttered "Like hell I'm gonna miss meeting this mysterious boyfriend!" and turned back towards Kagome's house and started running to catch them only to come to a halt a bit passed the ancient tree to see that Kagome's mother was entering the house, Chihana was about to go into the house herself when a blur of motion caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, she spun around just in time to see something red disappear behind a closing door to a miniature shrine off in a corner of the yard. Curiosity peeked and figuring Kagome and her boyfriend will probably still be there in the house when she's done investigating the red blurred object in the small shrine, Chihana made her way to the mini shrine, opened the door and looked in just in time to see a weird shining light of different colors come out of what looked like a well. Now becoming further curious Chihana stepped into the shrine, walked down the few steps toward the well with the intentions of just peeking in to see how the different colored lights came out of it, but she ended up tripping over a medium sized rock and falling forward down into the well with a loud scream escaping her.