For the rest of the party, Kagome was upstairs crying on her bed. She was not only sad at the fact that her present was taken away from her, but she was as well angry at her mom for being on Kikyo's side.
Kagome wiped away her tears and held her pillow tightly and thought, 'Everything is so unfair. Why must I be punished for something I did not even start…'
Kagome held her pillow even tighter and held it closer to her. She felt her eyes sting in pain from crying too much.
'Maybe Kikyo is right… maybe I am not as special as she is. Maybe auntie gave me a crappy present because she felt sorry for me. Maybe I'm nothing to anyone…'
Kagome then thought of her cousin and compared herself to her. From her long, silky, black hair to her beautiful painted feet. She felt nothing but rage the more she thought about her perfect her cousin is.
'I hate her…' Kagome thought over and over and over again. 'I wish she never existed… then maybe I would've been the one everyone prefered…' She clutched onto her pillow tightly and closed her eyes to prevent the sting in her eyes from hurting.
She didn't leave her eyes closed for long, for she heard footsteps going up the steps and toward her door. She sat up hoping that it was her mother coming into her room to apologize. Once her bedroom door opened, she saw her aunt Kaede.
Disappointed that it wasn't her mother, Kagome went back to lying on her side, with her back facing her aunt in silence.
"Kagome dear…"
Kagome didn't respond to her aunt.
Kagome then heard her aunt's footsteps move toward her bed then felt her aunt sit beside her bed.
"Kagome dear," her aunt said again softly. "I am so sorry for what has happened tonight."
Kagome didn't look up at her aunt and stayed silent.
Her aunt sighed then said, "Kagome… are you mad at me?"
Kagome felt a wave anger hit her and snapped. "Of course I am! You and everyone else in this stupid family treat me as if I'm lower than Kikyo and spoil her till no end and because of that, I have to deal with the monster that she is!"
Aunt Kaede's eyes widen as she heard her niece yell at her for the first time.
Kagome didn't say anything further and went back to lying down on her side.
Kagome's aunt stayed silent for a bit then said, "Kagome… you know I love both of you equally, whether or not it was Kikyo's or your fault. You both are my nieces… I can't just pick one to be my favorite, it wouldn't be right."
"You and everyone else picked Kikyo to be your favorite with all due respect, auntie." Kagome said, not looking at her.
Kaede sighed. "You know I love you just as much as Kikyo, no more nor less. I would never exclude you, dear."
Kagome once again didn't respond and stayed silent. Giving up, Kaede got up and walked toward Kagome's bedroom door.
Before Kaede left the room, she looked back at Kagome's back and thought, 'Please… prevent her from hating after this.'
Kaede blew a kiss toward Kagome and closed the door silently behind her.
⊰ . . . . . ⊱
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
Kagome quickly opened her eyes, for she was awoken by the sound of ticking. Kagome sat up slowly and looked for her pocket watch. She picked it up and looked at the time.
'11:58…' Kagome thought reading the time. 'I only got 3 hours of sleep? Wow. Seemed like hours.'
Kagome then looked down at herself and saw that she was wearing her comfy nightgown.
'Huh… I don't remember sleeping in my pajamas.'
Confused and thirsty, Kagome got out of bed slowly then walked towards her door and opened it. She looked down the hallway from left to right to see if anyone of her family members were awake. Once she saw the cost was clear, she walked out of her bedroom and quietly went down the stairs.
When Kagome was making her way toward the kitchen to get a glass of water, she stopped midway and looked to her left. There was her present was all fixed up and in a glass container that her mother owned.
Without hesitation, Kagome tip-toed silently toward the glass container and lifted up the glass case. She carefully and quietly placed the glass case on the floor and picked up her present.
"Who does my mom think she is to put my present in her glass container." Kagome said quietly then scoffed.
Kagome, forgetting that she was thirsty, held her present tightly toward her chest and whispered, "I missed you so much… it felt really lonely without you, wooden prince…"
DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING, DING.
Startled by the loud clock, she dropped her present.
'Ugh, why is this clock so darn loud!' Kagome thought annoyed.
Worried that her mother might come down stairs and see her, she quickly picked up her present and put it back in the glass container where her mother left it. Quickly but silently, Kagome started up the stairs.
Not long after she started taking her first step, she felt as if the stairs were getting higher.
'Huh…' Kagome thought. 'I must be more tired than I thought.'
Without thinking too much about it, she continued up the stairs. But with each step she took, the steps kept getting bigger and bigger. Kagome paused on her fifth step and looked down and realized that she was… shrinking?!
"W-What's going on?!" Kagome yelled.
She kept shrinking and shrinking until she no longer was able to take another step up the stairs.
"W-What?! Why?! HOW?!"
Freaking out, Kagome slipped herself down the five steps of the stairs and ran into the living room. Everything around her was huge and tall.
Kagome panicked and looked around wildly. "This is impossible! How can this be?! This…"
Kagome then thought of something that maybe the solution to all of this happening. "Of course… this is just a dream! Yes! I have to wake myself up and then I'll find myself on my bed!"
Sticking to that thought, Kagome started slapping herself in the face and telling herself to wake up over and over again. She then closed her eyes and whispered to herself softly, "This is all just a dream. You will open your eyes and be in your bed. On the count of three, you will open your eyes and all of this will be gone. One… two… thr-"
Instead of opening her eyes on the count of three, she opened her eyes to the loud explosion on the other side of the living room.
Curious to what it was, Kagome ran toward the explosion and saw the figure of a person the same size as she was inside the cloud of smoke.
For a moment, Kagome felt a tinge of relief as she saw someone else the same size as she was. Without hesitation, Kagome ran toward the figure.
"Thank goodness there's someone else who's the same size as me!" Kagome said, happily. "Do you know how to get out of here?"
The figure did not say anything. Once the smoke cleared out of the way, Kagome saw a man stand before her. She all of a sudden had suspicions about him and felt as if it was a bad idea to acknowledge that she was here.
The man smirked and walked closer to Kagome. The closer the man got to her, the more sick she felt. Too scared to run away, she stood there. She felt as if her whole body was paralyzed just by looking at his presence.
The man stopped right in front of Kagome, barely even one 1 inch away from her and looked down at her.
"You need help, you say, hmm?" said the man, still smirking.
Kagome didn't say anything, but just started at him. She looked into his red blood colored eyes and saw the danger in them. This man could not be trusted, she had a gut feeling. Not only did she feel her body being paralyzed, but she felt her throat being paralyzed as well. But maybe she thinks it's a good idea to stay silent.
The man smirked and lowly chuckled. "My don't you remind me of a mouse… so quiet and so weak."
Without warning, Naraku grabbed Kagome by the neck and lifted her up in the air. Kagome felt herself choking in his grip and struggled to get his hands off of her, but it was no use. He was too strong for her. He was not human at all. He was too strong to be a human.
Still choking, Kagome asked, "W-What are you…?"
The man chucked evilly then said, "If you must know, my name is-"
The man was all of a sudden interrupted by the sound of the glass container shaking violently. The man then let Kagome go and let her fall to the ground. Kagome coughed loudly, trying to catch her breath again. Then she looked up at the man who was looking at the glass container shaking.
Then all of a sudden, glass shards exploded everywhere then came a loud shout.
"NARAKUUUUUUU."
Kagome's eyes widen as she saw who yelled out just now.
"M-My wooden prince…?!"
To be continued…