I ran my hand over my mother's cold one; she was about to go into the cremator vault. Her once beautiful features were now gray, and slightly dusty around the edges. My mother, Rin, was the best mother that I could have hoped for.

She got sick about a month ago with Spinal Meningitis, and went downhill fast. She hadn't had time to make sure that everything was in order for us when she died, but she told us many times that she loved us and that she would see us again one day before she died.

My brother, Souta, held my hand quietly. He was eight, and I was seventeen. I remembered my mother's words of always being kind to him; I would do my absolute best from now on. I felt bad for him; he didn't get to know our mother as well as I did.

The men in medical uniforms wheeled her body into the vault, shut the door, and we heard the jets of flames start.

Souta started to cry, and I said to him, "This is so that she can look over us, don't forget what she used to tell us."

"S-She used to say 'Remember me as the brightest star in the sky'," I nodded, and held him to me.

"We will be going to our Aunt's houses tomorrow, you know?" He nodded, with tears dripping down his face.

………..

It was decided that as both of our parents and all of our grandparents were deceased, we would be split up between our aunts. Our great aunt Higurashi, my father's aunt, was well into her seventies and needed some help around the house. Souta would go with her because she was kind and liked him. She knew how to handle children well, and loved to talk about what was going on in our lives.

I sacrificed myself to go to the least favorite aunt, Ami. She was mean and self-centered, but wealthy. My mother put up with Aunt Ami as best as she could, but even my sweet-tempered mother could barely deal with her.

Aunt Ami had a daughter who was a few months older than I; Kikyo. Ami was my mother's identical twin, though their personalities were nothing alike. Kikyo resembled me a lot physically, though the differences between us were the same as our mothers. She often remarked that my simple, earth-toned wardrobe was 'hideous'. I rather liked it; it was all fashionable and cute on me, though that is another subject. Aunt Ami had been married to a very wealthy older man, who was Kikyo's father, but they divorced shortly after Kikyo was born. She hired a lawyer, and somehow wound up with most of his money. They had lived lavishly ever since.

Anyways, my school was in the same system as Souta's, so I would be able to walk him home every day after school. I had a feeling that our Aunt Higurashi was going out of her way to pay for Souta to go to the expensive private school alongside me, but I wasn't going to complain. I knew that my Aunt Ami would want me to help keep up with the chores, but I had no idea what I had in store for me.

…………

"KAGOME!" It was the first morning after I went to live with Aunt Ami; a Saturday. It was the last weekend of summer, so in two days following I would be starting at Kikyo's school.

I looked over at my alarm clock; it was 6:15. I hopped out of bed, and my nightmare began. My aunt was on her elliptical exercising, so she panted out orders from her perch. "Scrub the marble floors by hand, clean the windows, all bathroom surfaces need to be bleached, the kitchen needs to be cleaned top to bottom, and Kikyo's room needs to be picked up. Go, everything you need is in the hall closet."

I was still half-asleep, and stood there for a half-second trying to regain consciousness. She stopped her elliptical, and said, "Go get everything done, or I wont feed you breakfast."

I went back to my bedroom, dressed, brushed my teeth, and got to work. I soon realized that they hadn't bothered to sanitize their home since they found out that my mother was dying; they knew that I would be coming to live with them and I would become their new maid.

The largest job by far was scrubbing the floors by hand; by the time I was finished, it had been nearly an hour of grueling, laborious work. I had done things like this at my own house, but never by hand or I would have had help. I got up, and went to do to the bathrooms, windows, and kitchen, which would hopefully give Kikyo enough time to sleep.

By the time I was done with that, it was nearly 8:30.

I knocked softly on Kikyo's door. I heard someone rustling around and walking frantically, and I assumed that she was up already. I asked, "Kikyo, may I come in?"

I heard voices, and I quickly realized that there was a man in her room. I blushed, and left to re-bleach the entire kitchen.

………….

I made up excuses about why I frequently walked passed Kikyo's room, but the man was still in there and they were still talking frantically.

I re-did all of my chores, and then at 9:30 I decided it was enough. I tried the door; it was locked, and the voices were still there.

I went down the stairs to where my aunt was, and simply said, "I hear Kikyo's music going off in her room, and she has the door locked. I don't think she can hear me knocking."

My Aunt Ami got off of her treadmill, and marched up the stairs to Kikyo's room. She knocked, and when Kikyo didn't open the door she pulled out a key.

I held my breath as she opened the door, and winced as she gasped at the boy inside. At first, I thought the sliver-haired person was another girl until I remembered that it was a man's voice I had heard. All I could see was Kikyo and this boy sitting on her bed. Their clothes were wrinkled, and Kikyo's makeup was quite disheveled.

Unfortunately, Aunt Ami's reaction to this wasn't what most would expect; she said, "Oh, what a surprise. Inuyasha, would you mind stepping out?"

I turned and left, shocked that she hadn't gone ballistic over the situation that she found her daughter in.

As I descended the steps, I heard the boy behind me.

"Hey, are you Kikyo's sister?" He had the most beautiful gold eyes I had ever seen in my life. His hair was oddly white (it must have been bleached), and he had the most radiant features. He was dressed extremely well for a teenager, with a designer red polo and matching lounge pants. He was beautiful.

I snapped out of my stupor by the time we finished the stairwell, and said, "No, I am her cousin."

"Sounds like you got it rough; what you doing here?"

"My mother died recently, so I was sent to live here," I gestured to my messy pony tail and oversized, old dress shirt that once belonged to my dad. I wore short blue shorts; he stared at my legs. "With my Aunt Ami and Kikyo."

"They turned you into the abused maid?" He pointed to the box of cleaning supplies in my hands.

"Oh, no, I just-"

"KAGOME!" We both jumped. I looked up the staircase, and Aunt Ami was standing at the top with a furious look on her face.
I slowly walked in her direction from the parlor, and Inuyasha whispered, "I heard everything, Kagome. See you around."

He let himself out, and as soon as he was out of hearing range Aunt Ami had the most horrible fit I had ever seen someone her age throw.

Her face turned redder than an apple, and she looked as if she was having a schizophrenic meltdown for a few minutes. It was as if she didn't know who to be mad at; me or Kikyo.

I heard the 'W' and 'B' words thrown at Kikyo a few times, and the basic message was that she was supposed to win over a Takahashi boy first before sleeping with him, not the other way around. Then she babbled endlessly about how Kikyo's father would be 'so disappointed.'

Then, Aunt Ami turned on me. She was exceptionally angry that I had let Inuyasha ask all of those 'too personal' questions about her family and myself.

She then turned back on Kikyo, and they went back into her room for some more yelling. I knew that they would be at it for another long time, so I stole a piece of bread, a slice of the cheapest cheese, and a gulp of water from the kitchen.

I went back up to my room and lay down to cry for a good, long time. I missed my mom, my home, my brother, my boyfriend (Hojo), my things, my school… I would be in the land of the rich and famous in a few days, and I had a feeling that I was going to hate it to pieces.

………