DISCLAIMER : I do not own or claim anything from InuYasha, or Rumiko Takahashi.

Time is Not Your Friend

Chapter two: Lady Luck

I'd always been an insufferable child; A battle of wits and will, never easy to give in to anything or anyone. A child who knew no boundaries, nor fear. Wild was my heart, and free was my spirit. My life started out with my feet seeing the world first. Well, the inside of a harsh and rugged car really. By the time my mothers man had driven his screaming wife to the hospital I was more then 'peeking' out. She had waddled up to the ER, with a pair of baby legs dangling from her loins, a great sight that must have been.

Barely thirty minutes later I was born, can you say I was ready to part from that woman or what? Came out crying and screaming, as strangers handled me with cold leathery hands. My mother far from me, I was immediately alone, encased in some weird glass prison, in the company of other weird creatures succumbed in their own weird glass boxes.

My life outside the womb had begun.

I'd made it home two days later after a 'mishap', my mother didn't recognize me and claimed that I wasn't her daughter. Even though all the babies were marked . . .Good start Mom.

For the first year she took good care of me I suppose. Fed and changed me. And as my feet had been the first into this world, I couldn't wait to use them and walk it seemed, so before my first birthday I was doing just that. I stared with my wide eyes, still a tinted baby blue for now, at my big brother Jack, whose own eyes were a doll like brown. He smiled to me, gesturing to come to him, making cooing noises and encouraging my steps. Claimed I was going to be something really special; He was the only encouragement I got in my years there.

About two years old, I was feeding myself, going to the bathroom on my own, dressing myself, the works. My mother hardly paid attention to me now, bothering herself only to yell at one of her six children. We all looked so different. Not much I suppose, but enough. Our mother had wavy light brown hair and sparkling blue eyes. Well I had wished they sparkled in my childhood. No, our mom, Sarah, was a washed out woman, wrinkles and stress ravaged her face. She looked mean, and she acted so. She picked the nastiest man she could fine I thought to re-marry to even. Some hick job, drank too much and smelled too bad. He was about 15 years too old for mom, and was balding horribly. Skinny but had a beer gut, missing teeth. I never like Bo. Jack didn't either, which told me my judgment of him was right.

I didn't notice then that it was only Jack and I whom were the outcasts really. The only ones with fair skin and slanted eyes. Our black hair was straight and silky, our forms petite. The other four were blonds, blue eyed, except for Alex, who had green. They had broader shoulders, and were tall.

At three years I lived in a closet in the hallway. Too small a house to have bedrooms to ourselves, and no one wanted me to stay with them. No one wanted the responsibility of a young child, the youngest after myself being Jack, 16 years old. I lived off what ever I could find in the house, which wasn't much as Mom and Bo always were at a bar, or a party.

At four years, I was moved into Jack's bedroom, where I'd tried to live in his closet. But he put me to sleep that night on his bed, where I was tucked in for the first time in my life. He was good to me, making sure I was fed from then on. He looked after me, telling me that family looked after each other.

About six years of age I asked him why he and I looked so different from the others in which he responded that I should have started school two years before. It made me sigh to him, but a few days later, I found myself going to a new hell altogether, kindergarten.

A year later, I asked him again, and he told me we had a different father then the other four kids. This confused me, I guess then I hadn't gotten the concept of two making one. He said our fathers name was Aky Row He Moo Ra(I thought he was nuts and made that up to tease), which I later found out was a real name, and was spelled Akihiro Himura. And that was how my Japanese fascination grew, it was my heritage. I had bugged Jack from then on to take me to the library, I studied hard to learn to read and write, so I could live in the books of Culture and Travel, specifically the Land of the Rising Sun. Where I found another love for music, and folk tales. I had also bugged him to tell me what happen to Akihiro, and he was quiet for a few days. He randomly said out loud "car crash' one day, and I took it that that had been my answer.

I was eight years old when the abuse was really known to me, it had happened my whole life, but it seemed to really make its self noticed that year. That Bo was so drunk he beat Jack every night, calling him names like 'chink' and 'jap'. I hadn't understood, just that I shouldn't be in the house when this happened. I soon found out what would conspire if I was.

In one of Bo's drunken adventures, he threw a can at me, hitting me in the face which split my lip open. I didn't cry, but Jack did, and he tried to hid Bo in my defense. This made things worse and he ended up putting Jack in the hospital, whom I had to call. He had a broken nose, both his eyes blackened, and a busted mouth. I first learned anger and hate then. I stopped calling our mother, mom, and started calling her Sarah, and I didn't refer to Bo as anything but 'it'. He had hurt the only person who cared about me in this stupid world, and Sarah hadn't done squat.

School only became a slightly less worse place as I was put into an environment of torture. The other children made fun of me, making their eyes squinted and calling me names. My intelligence in the classroom didn't help either.

Jack healed of course, but that year he had come into a means of 'coping' in the form of drugs. He got into trouble and police came to the house, arresting him. But in the process they noted the under management of the house, and saw me of course. I was clinging to Jack, screaming at these rude men trying to take him from me.

The older one had bent down to be on my eye level, and asked my age, and how my mouth had gotten like it was, then proceeded to give his partner a weird look and nodded.

Before I was nine years of age I was assigned an 'agent' whom was there to 'relocate' me. Foster home.

It seemed that my life was going down hill so fast. I strove for life, and yet it wasn't treating me well. Carla, the case worker, had chased me through the house, my last day there, as I screamed profanities at her, I had wanted to at least stay until Jack came back. I ran to the back yard, pitch black as the night had cloaked everything. I knew my way to my hiding place though. A big oak tree. I climbed up it, knowing its branches like it was a part of me. Luck grew thinner and it flash rained suddenly. I couldn't hear Carla's words over the heavy down pour, but I knew she was shouting. Suddenly a huge bolt of lightening struck near the front of my house, before I suddenly lost my hearing. I couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything. I felt so hot, and weightless, like a star. But I wasn't rising, I was falling to the ground. I hit a few branches getting there, the rain suddenly stopping. I could smell burning cloth and hair, see smoke. I passed out.

I awoke to screaming whites of a hospital. Hooked up to strange cables and tubes, my arm in a cast. No one there, nothing but equipment. No one cared enough about a nine year old who was struck by lightening and fell at least 30 feet. I was so angry with my life that I forgot to really care where or what happened to Jack.

A day later, Carla exclaimed that I was going to be going to a new family. She had asked the silly question if I knew about my heritage, I didn't reply. She said that a nice Japanese family was wanting to adopt me. I told her she was a liar.

My life sucked too bad to be that fortunate. They were probably some kind of child pimpers or something. She said that I was to be on a plane in one week, headed to Tokyo , Japan to live with them.

And That is where I am now, On a plane by myself going to Japan. I thought about this a while, how I am going to live in a foreign country that I know nothing of the language or with foreign people for 'family'. I haven't cried since I had come out of the womb, and I told myself I wouldn't cry now. I was an abandoned child, being shuffled across the world to strangers, I tried to cheer myself up by thinking that it could always be worse.

The plane landed and my heart sped up, how was I supposed to get to where I was needed? I couldn't speak Japanese, nor read it. I slowly grabbed my back pack, the only contents of what I owned plus my papers where in this, and even more sluggishly walked off the plane. I was very surprised to see a sign with terrible writing that said," Sam " . On it. Could it be me?

I walked casually to this small woman, her black hair bulled back in a messy bun, her suit wrinkled a little. I stood directly in front of her, looking up at her. She smiled to me and said,

"You are Sam, yes?" Her accent laid on thick and heavy. I nodded, and her arms relaxed, sighing contently. I saw her look to my dark blue arm cast.

"Good! I am Kimiko-san, Was your flight fun?" Her l's sounded a but like r's but it was alright.

"It was my first time, so . . .I suppose a little exciting." In truth, I hadn't paid much attention, I was too stressed out and too deep in thought to really enjoy the trip. Whoops. We walked along, she threw the name sign in a big bin, and we walked out of the port, and onto the busy streets.

"I hope you no mind walk, it is very close to here." I didn't mind at all, I was seriously itching for it. She held my hand surprisingly, and I found myself spacing off, not paying attention to where I was going at all. So I guess it was a good thing she had held my hand and led me along. We stopped to pause in front of a large bout of steps. It was the most amount of them I had ever seen . .and thus my legs began a real work out.

Sam kept a monotonic expression as she felt her thighs burn from all the stairs, she looked over to to Kimiko, who was sweating and panting heavily. She supposed that her life style didn't require her to be fit enough for a billion stairs. This almost drew out a smile, as she picked her pace up, going up ahead of Kimiko, who was too out of breath to warn against it. She reached the top and and gazed about. It was like a garden scene really, with neat oriental housing units and such. Like some kind of fantastical dream she had had before . . .

Kimiko finally reached the top as well, breathing heavy, she gushed out, "Higurashi Shrine."

Sam looked side ways to the worn out Japanese woman, "Are my new . . .family . . a holy kind?" She started to laugh, shaking her head in strange ways, before leading on. The made their way to what seemed to be the main house, some of the others looking quite new, and this one looking largest, and used. They went to the porch, where Kimiko took her shoes off, holding them in her hand as she rang a door bell. Sam followed suit, taking her own sneakers off, and watching Kimiko from behind her. She heard a man yelling, followed by another male's voice, and finally a woman's. A boy in his older teens opened the door, his black hair disheveled, he bowed to Kimiko, smiling goofy like at her, a weird light in his dark eyes.

He said something to her in what must be Japanese, and nodded inward, gesturing for them to come inside. Kimiko had an odd blush across her face, she dropped her black heels off there in the mud room, and Sam placed hers beside Kimiko's. They walked through a few hallways, until they came to something like a living room. The 'coffee' table was very little how ever,but had a very dark wood gloss to it, and there wasn't a couch in sight. Just pillow things. A woman sat on one of these, going through what looked like pictures on the mini coffee table. She looked up, and Sam immediately thought she was a very lovely woman.

She greeted Sam with brilliant eyes, rimmed with dark lashes. Kind eyes, that were very wise. She stood up and gave her the most gentle of smiles.

"Hello Sam." Her English wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good, her tone was what made the effect however. Warm and affectionate, like she had known her her whole life.

"Um. . ." She didn't know what to say, and looked away, unable to handle the situation.

"Thank you Kimiko-san, I got it from here." Kimiko bowed, saying something in Japanese before leaving. Sam looked back to the woman, wondering if she was the 'mom' here. She just couldn't help but stare at her though. She had never seen such warmth in a stranger, or anyone for that matter. Like she loved everyone, held respect for all. She suddenly motioned for one of the pillows, and she took the one she had before.

"Come on, sit down so we can talk sweety." She felt compelled to comply, with out reason which was also a first. She always asked for reason to things, thinking through them to the threat. She sat, and made herself comfortable next to the woman, placing her dark blue cast clad arm in her lap.

"I know it's going to be hard to adjust to a new life like this, but I want you to know it's alright. You don't have to stress about anything, or worry. I'll take care of you, ok?" Sam's mouth hung open a little by this strange woman's words. And despite what she told herself, she knew she couldn't hold back. A force enveloped her, warming her up, and she knew that it was alright. Tears filled her eyes, and she sniffled, nodding.

The woman pulled her in for a heart filled hugged, meaning everything she vowed, and more. She held Sam, as the little child that she was, and petted her hair till Sam pulled back. Wiping away the tears in her eyes, she mumbled,

"I didn't catch your name?" And the woman's pretty doe eyes widened a bit, as she stifled a small laugh.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm Kagome, Your new mom if you'll have me."

A/N Sorry if it totally sucks . . .I'm really an amateur : O I need practice to be better though so . . . : J