Cherry Blossoms

Chapter 2

Konnichiwa again! So, this is the second chapter, and I apologize for updating late, I know I promised to update within a week, but I had a lot of trouble writing this for some reason, and I kept rewriting it over and over again. No seriously, I had like three options for this chapter and eventually I chose this one. Again, I'm sorry if it's short and boring, I'll try to make the others much more exciting.
Also, thank you for the follows, favorites and reviews! I really appreciate it.

Sango had never fit in. She was always that quiet girl who sat in the corner of the class and never really got involved in anything that happened in class. She was used to it: being ignored, and being treated like a ghost. No one really ever noticed her. Except for that day, the day someone had actually smiled at Sango.

Who is that girl? Sango asked, staring in wonder at Higurashi Kagome. She was one of the only people who hadn't laughed at her. Other than her, there was Kobayashi Miroku, of course, but he just seemed like a complete pervert to Sango.

Soon enough, it was lunchtime. Sango opened her bag and searched for her bento box. Damn, she thought. Don't tell me I've forgotten it...

After searching everywhere in her bag, Sango realized it was futile. She'd forgotten it. Again. "What am I going to eat?" she groaned.

"You can have some of my food if you want," a voice said from above her.

Sango looked up. To her surprise, it was Higurashi Kagome, holding out her bento box and offering Sango food. Kagome smiled and said, "Try some! My mother made it."

Sango blinked. "Yeah, uh...thanks," she mumbled. Hesitantly, she tried some of the food. It was delicious.

"Do you like it?" Kagome asked hopefully.

"It's amazing," Sango said, her mouth full. "Um, would you mind if I had some more?"

"Of course not," Kagome laughed. "You can have the whole thing if you'd like."

"But then what will you have?" Sango asked.

"I don't need to eat anything," Kagome said. "You're the one who doesn't have anything to eat. Here, have as much as you want."

"Th-thank you, I'm really grateful," Sango mumbled while taking another bite.

After watching Sango eat for a few minutes, Kagome noticed how eagerly she ate the food. "My, my," Kagome giggled. "I think it would be an understatement to say that you are quite hungry."

Sango smiled weakly. "I haven't eaten in a while now, quite honestly."

"Really? How long has it been?" Kagome asked.

"Probably..." Sango counted on her fingers. "Three days?"

"What?!" Kagome stared at Sango, impressed and bewildered at the same time.

"It's not that long, is it?" Sango asked hopefully. "I've been drinking water, but I don't really get the opportunity to eat these days."

"What do you mean?" Kagome frowned. "I don't understand. Surely you must eat a little? I mean, everyone needs to eat."

"Yeah, well..." Sango hesitated. "You don't really want to know why."

"Is it a long story? Because that's what most people say."

"I guess."

"Well, in that case, I'd love to know," Kagome said, her eyes full of excitement. "Tell me everything."

"It's really boring," Sango protested. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Fine, let's make a deal," Kagome narrowed her eyes. "If you don't tell me why you don't get to eat, I'm not letting you touch my food. So you better tell me." Kagome grabbed her lunchbox and put it in her bag.

Sango sighed. "Fine, if you insist." She took a deep breath, and soon enough she found herself telling Kagome everything she'd been afraid to share with other people. "When I was younger, my parents, my brother and I were really wealthy. I used to go to this amazing, prestigious school in Tokyo. Everything was perfectly fine: we had enough money to buy food, pay the school fees, and buy whatever we needed in general. But when I turned 14, things changed. My father lost his job. My mother became depressed. The only thing that made her happy was seeing me or Kohaku, my brother. She avoided my father all the time, and when they did talk to each other, it always ended in yet another argument. Kohaku and I didn't know what to do. After a while, my mother became ill, and we didn't know what to do anymore. My family became poorer and poorer, until we weren't even able to pay the school fees. So Kohaku and I were taken out of school, and we studied as much as we could at home. Soon enough, my mother...she passed away. And somehow, this incident triggered something else inside my father. It wasn't even a month before he was gone. No, he hadn't died. But it was almost as if he himself was gone. He just wasn't the same person anymore. He was someone else altogether. I didn't even know it was possible to change so much..but never mind that. He abandoned us in a month, anyway." Sango looked away. She couldn't look into Kagome's frightened eyes. She'd said too much.

"Sango-chan..." Kagome whispered.

"I'm sorry," Sango said, blinking away tears. "I'm probably annoying you and scaring you by telling you all this. I'm really, really sorry. And I don't want your food, but I'm truly grateful you gave me some. I'm glad, but I'm afraid I can't take anymore without feeling guilty."

There was a moment of silence. Sango still hadn't turned back, but she had a feeling Kagome was still sitting there. "Why don't you just go?" Sango asked.

"Because you haven't finished eating," Kagome said, pushing the food towards Sango. Sango turned to see the lunchbox on her desk. She stared at it for a few seconds. It looks really amazing, she thought. She was desperate to eat the rest, but she forced herself not to. She pushed the lunchbox away. "Thanks, but I don't need it."

"I insist," Kagome pushed the box back towards Sango. Sango finally looked up. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"My mother once told me that a healthy body leads to a happy mind," Kagome said. "I believe everyone should be happy, and the first step to being happy is to have a healthy body. So eat up, because if you aren't healthy, you'll never be happy, and I won't let that happen. Everyone deserves to be happy." Kagome smiled.

Sango stared at Kagome for a few seconds. Then, she started grinning. "Thank you," she smiled. "You're right, and I'm sorry if I looked really sad. I didn't mean that. But is it really okay to eat your food?"

"Why else would I be giving it to you?" Kagome asked, grinning as well.

Sango laughed, and she ate some more. After a minute, the entire lunchbox was empty, and Kagome, although completely stunned, was really impressed by the speed at which Sango could finish lunch. Sango blushed, but in the end neither of them really cared. For the first time in days, Sango was happy, and Kagome was pleased to know that she was the reason for this (along with her food, of course).

As Sango walked home with Kagome, she realized that she'd been wrong about everything. She'd spent most of her life shutting out people, and not letting them enter her life. She'd spent almost every second of the past two years thinking about how the world was a cruel place and feeling like she didn't matter. But somehow, letting people into your life was easier, and a much better idea than spending your life feeling sorry for yourself. People like Kagome, who didn't care about your mistakes, only about helping you get over your sadness, and making you feel better - those people were rare, and Sango was glad she'd found someone like that.

Woo, it's finally over. God, that was a long wait for a lot of you, wasn't it? *sigh* Terribly sorry about that. And I'm even more sorry about the fact that you waited so long for a stupid chapter like this. Yeah, so I guess this chapter is just supposed to be about Sango and Kagome's first meeting and all, and I'm dreadfully sorry if you just wanted me to start the story, but stupid me chose to write a whole chapter about Sango and Kagome, but the good news is now you know Sango's backstory and all. So yeah, I promise you the next chapter shall be better, and I'll try to update it much sooner.

Anyways, review! And yes, you are allowed to be as nasty as possible, but hopefully you won't have to :P thanks for reading and sayonara till next time!

~maddie-nee-chan