Plain italics is the narrator of the story.
Warning: Heavy cursing in this chapter.
Chapter One: Brown Flowers
I had felt like the old ladies in the grocery store who had penciled-on eyebrows and grey-blue hair; the ones who gossiped too much about Rose and the pregnant high school girl who had no boyfriend. Too much time had led me frolicking --running, really-- through sandy, rocky, and cold beaches and sneaking Moon Pies into my pockets from general stores along the highway.
Overtime, I began to view this as my domain; I ruled and I was all who mattered to the world inside my fantasy. I was respected and adored, never noticing or caring about what others may have thought about the strange, ill-mannered girl who walked on by them without thought or glance. At seventeen, I had created a dangerous playground inside my mind with the outside world left behind to decompose like the animals left along the highway. But at that time, my reality was this. My world was a world that cared for me, and that was all that I wanted.
I had walked alone then, keeping off the road when I could and walking its dark sea of asphalt when I had to. Though my destination was still clear in my mind, it had gotten to the point that I was no longer in a hurry to reach it. Why would I be when I would have to give up my new world? Why would I be when I had to come to the realization that, though to myself I mattered, it couldn't be said the same for everyone else? I had known love, felt its warm embrace and the tingle of my skin that had left me with giddiness and comfort that is so often overlooked or taken advantage of. Selfishness is a hazard to oneself, but was it so wrong if it was a selfishness to be loved? No body loves a stranger. Without realizing it, I was consumed, eaten alive by such a basic human emotion.
It took an aging man and a dog that looked like a wolf to force me out of my fantasy and into the real world once again. Nobody loves a stranger, no one except for them.
-.-
"God dammed, old man! Watch where you're touching! I swear to fucking hell I'd think you would be a little more gentler with how you're going about getting this shit out of my arm." Grey eyes met clear and angry blue. The man sighed and bowed his head to proceed getting the wood splinters out of the gash in his companion's arm. She was an ornery thing, with no real care as to how others felt. He barely even knew her, having passed by her on one of the many rainy days of the year. She had been drenched from head to toe, and yet, it looked like she didn't give a donkey's ass about it at all. It had been a moth since then, and from that time to now, she had slowly --very slowly--let herself open up to him. But it was only on her will. Asking anything about her or her past was a taboo subject.
"Calm down, Kagome. You're just being overly sensitive."
Kagome said nothing to his comment. Instead, she stared out of one of the windows in the old and beat-up Volkswagen Bus. Its sage-green color had faded into an ugly grey overtime as it sat there, forever aging on a lone dirt road that ran a mile into the woods from the highway. Its wheels had been torn off from the axles. Two of the bench seats in the back had also been striped from the car's frame and placed haphazardly by a large pine for the worms and squirrels.
It was raining again.
"Okay, done. Make sure to clean it. Don't want it to get infected in this place. The worms will have a tasty dinner, I'm sure." The old man smiled at his joke, one that didn't amuse Kagome all that much. He patted her softly on her bandaged arm and got up from the driver's seat to move to the back of the bus.
"Gee, thanks." Opening the passenger door next to her and slightly cringing at the nails-on-a-chalkboard squeak, Kagome stepped foot out into the rainstorm. "I'm going for a walk." And just like that, she left the old man and his bus. The further she went down the narrow, grass-covered dirt road, the louder she could hear her blood pump through her ears. Utterly alone was what she felt like, a sort of solitude so fierce that made her wish to run back to the old man and cower behind him.
"Jesus Christ..." Was she now so much of a wimp that she could no longer depend on herself? Good company does that to people, she supposed. But why now? Why now when staying together forever was impossible? "Get a grip on yourself, girl. Nobody lasts forever."
Then, from the harsh silence, a whimper tore through the air. Kagome paused for a moment before she shrugged it off and continued on walking towards the main road. Again she heard it. It was louder this time; a desperate and pitiful call that, no doubt, nobody else would answer. It stirred something within her heart that made her feel anxious to find it. Clearing the tree line not long after the animal's last cry for help, Kagome stepped foot onto the shoulder of the road. This section of 101 was relatively vacant, the only real exception being the large logging trucks that dominated much of the road. Another whimper, and then she saw it.
It was a dog. With nothing around that screamed civilization, it was clearly abandoned. Calling out to it, she got its attention. It looked at her for but a moment, but when their eyes connected, that moment seemed like a decade. It scented the air lightly before stepping lightly onto the pavement. Limping, it attentively made its way over to her. The dog's paw looked busted. When it finally, and safely, reached the side that Kagome was on, it sniffed her hand and then licked it calmly.
"Hey, big guy. It's okay, I won't hurt you. Where's your family, huh?"
The dog whined.
A small smile made its way onto Kagome's lips. The dog was sweet. Scratching its head, Kagome squatted down to its level. "That's okay; I don't really have a family either." The dog melted under her attention. Its eyes seemed to roll in back of its head in complete bliss. "C'mon, let's get you fixed up." With that, Kagome went back the way she came, expecting the dog to follow.
Later, after the sock of a huge dog following his friend wore off, the old man set himself up to bandaging the dog's paw. He doubted it would help any, but it seemed to set Kagome at ease. When he was done, he looked strangely at the young woman who sat contently in the back of the bus, the dog's head on her lap.
"You know," he heard her say quietly to the overgrown mutt, "you need a name".
He smiled at the sight. Trust an animal to burrow its way into a person's heart in record time. Softly, he spoke. "How about Highway?"
Kagome looked up at him and laughed. "Welcome home, Highway."
-.-
Something was wrong. There was a type of pain in his chest that would repeatedly start and then soon afterwards vanish as though it hadn't even been there. The old man had, at first, written it off as nothing --a bad case of heartburn, if anything. But as it continued throughout the day, he worried more and more. The sun had finally broken through the clouds the day before --the day when Highway was found-- and was warming up the land. He should have been outside, keeping a watchful eye on Kagome, but he couldn't bring himself to get up from his old sleeping bag that was placed at the rear of the bus.
A jolt of discomfort pierced his left arm this time.
-.-
Panting hard, Kagome fled from Highway's gentle grasp. He snipped playfully at her shirt and she screamed in excitement. Looking towards the bus, she grinned. "C'mon, old man! Stop fucking around and come outside." Silence met her vulgar command. Sighing, she walked her way back to the vehicle with the dog faithfully at her heels, though still limping. Catching sight of him in his sleeping bag, Kagome stepped foot into the bus. "Old man, did you hear me?"
Silence.
"Old man! Hey, wake-up!" When he still didn't respond, Kagome bent down to shove him lightly. When that didn't work, she shoved harder. Again, all she was met with was silence. Nothing came from him, not even a twitch. Her mind blanked as she reeled back in shock. What happened?
"Hey," she tried again to rouse him, "stop shitting me! This isn't funny!" She flipped him over so that he was laying face-up. When she saw his eyes, she knew. Dead, he was dead. How could this be when just that morning he was fine! Fear left her then, and was replaced by an anger that was fueled from his betrayal of not telling her that something was wrong. Stupid, stupid old man! She could have done something! She could have gotten help! She wanted to kick him.
Now what? What was she supposed to do now that she was all alone once again? She should have never befriended him! She should have figure out that it would only end up in heartache! A soft woof filtered through her ears. She looked towards her left. Highway hadn't entered the bus. He sat, almost sadly, on the ground nearby with his ears tilted back. No, she wasn't alone⦠Not yet. Kagome closed her eyes, opened them, and then turned her head back to the old man. His body was still there. She didn't know what to do. Reaching underneath him, she grabbed his wallet from his back pocket. Flipping it open, she scanned his ID card. She closed it and placed it on his chest, cupping his hands over it.
Going to the front of the bus, she grabbed her backpack and placed whatever she could find into it. The dead didn't need food. The dead didn't need medical supplies. She sighed. It happened so fast, and yet she couldn't cry. It was time to continue her journey.
"Goodbye, Miroku. Thank you for everything."
A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews, favorites, and story alerts! They totally made me happy! :D
Please, please review. The fun starts next chapter with the introduction of "Twilight" characters. And yes, Kagome is a potty mouth.
