Hidden Behind Lies

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha (Sometimes I forget to put this ^-^)

-6 Months Later…Kagome's Point of View-

I stare down, my eyes completely dry of all moisture, making it hard to see. I twirl the bunch of blue roses between my two palms. Souta was always so fascinated by the royal blue that the rose petals were, and we could only find them at the small floral shop down the street. I chuckle softly to myself, the memories of the first time we saw them were still fresh in my mind.

I had taken him to the flower shop, because there was this new little girl named Arina that he had the biggest crush on so I promised him I would take him to the floral shop to get Arina flowers. The blue roses had been in the window on display and Souta had fallen in love with them at first sight as if they were a puppy in a pet store window.

He had tugged on my hand and pointed at them. "Kagome, look! They are blue roses! Have you ever seen them before?" I laughed and shook my head. "I think they are really pretty, Arina will love them! Can we get them, please?" I had told him of course and we had gone inside and he immediately ran in and pulled ten out of the pot they were in.

He had given them to Arina and asked her to be his girlfriend, and she had accepted, she loved the flowers too, which made Souta so happy. Now she was different, her little boyfriend had gotten killed by whoever had shot him, we never found out. She moved on with her life, but she was never the same, and neither was I.

What ever sick person shot them and for no reason I am positive, killed my little brother and paralyzed my mom and put her in a coma for about six months. The doctors had said it completely ruptured her spine and made it impossible for her to walk, and when she had gotten shot, she had fallen and struck her head on the hard ground severely, causing it to send her into a coma.

I never could get over it. Sango came back to Japan this month, but her comfort didn't help much. Sometimes I would just go into my brother's room and just hug his pillow while sitting on the edge of his bed and just cry, for hours sometimes. I don't even know how this could happen; he was the most innocent child I had ever seen.

He could get annoying at times, but that's a little brother's job, and I loved him so much. And he was just so young and naïve, wanting to know about girls and seeking advice from me and my mother. It just wasn't fair how this turned around, not fair to any of us. It wasn't fair to him because now he is gone, it wasn't fair to my mother who is paralyzed and in a coma, completely unaware that she has lost a child, and it's not fair to all my friends who can't even help me out of my depression.

The most I can do is just stand here over his grave, and wait until it got dark before I finally can put the flowers down and go home, knowing I shouldn't have stayed here that long but also knowing I just couldn't drop the flowers off and leave, I owed it to him to be here since I couldn't save him, like I did every time I visited his grave.

Because today was the exact day he died six months ago. He had died on May 5th, today was November 5th, and the fifth day of every month for the rest of my life will be forever tainted. Because for every fifth day of every month marks another month that he has been gone from me. And my poor mother has succumbed to complete dark, ignorant to the fact that her youngest son Souta has left this earth and not even being conscious to go the funeral.

My life just took a turn for the worst. I couldn't even begin to imagine why this could happen to us. I had already lost my Grandpa a year before this and that was hard enough, we all mourned together. But now that my brother is deceased and my mother is in a coma, I must mourn alone which seared deep within my heart.

The day they died was still clear in my mind, if I had been there five minutes earlier, I probably would have been shot too.

I looked up from the rack of clothes I was sifting through. "Yes Mom?" My mother smiled sweetly and took Souta's hand. Souta looked up and then around and blushed, being embarrassed that he was ten and my mother still insisted he hold her hand because he was her baby.

"Well your brother and I have no interest in this store," We had been in a teenage girl themed store, and since my brother was not and girl and my mother not a teenager, it wasn't their scene. "So I'll give you the money and we will wait outside until you're done, okay?" She explained. I nodded and hugged her.

"Thanks Mom! I won't be long, ten minutes tops, alright?"

"Sounds good to me!" She smiled and then looked down at Souta. "Come on; let's blow this girly place, eh Souta?" He nodded vigorously and they exited the store, the bell above making a jingly sound. I turned back to the clothing rack and continued to search for cute clothes, I had to look nice for summer that is on its way.

I had found some cute articles of clothing and paid for them at the cash register and then picked up my pretty pink shopping bag off the counter and went outside. I looked around but my mother and brother weren't anywhere in sight. I didn't panic though; I shrugged and figured they had walked down the street to where the car was. There was no parking lot for the small store we were in; we had to park by the curb all the way at the end of the street.

I headed off towards there and heard a loud bang. I jumped a little, 'Was that a gun firing?' I thought to myself. We were in the bad part of Japan, so I hesitantly continued on down the street and I heard another one not one minute after the first. I started getting scared that they would view me as a threat and shoot me too. I hurriedly went towards the car. I still had a while to go.

There was a black car parked right outside a dark alley and two men with hats on ran out of the alley shouting things I couldn't hear at each other. I gasped and jumped off the curb, hiding between two parked cars. I could barely breathe as I heard them speed off, tires screeching on the road leaving smoke behind and making the air smell like burnt rubber.

I peeked out from the side of the car and they were gone. I jumped up and shot off towards my car, but my curiosity urged me to look in the alley. I looked in, but it was damp and dark. I knew I probably shouldn't but mom always told me I could be a detective because I had a spine of steel, a mind of curiosity, and a heart of courage. Plus I was extremely nosey.

I walked in and no sooner than I took five large steps, there I saw my mother's and brother's bodies, hidden sort of behind three garbage cans.

And I didn't even get to see the murderers' faces or their license plate number, and for that I hated myself. Ever since that moment, my life was changed forever. Never again would I be able to hug my brother and kiss him on the forehead, which I never got to do enough. I was young and dumb and worrying about school and boys, I never realized how short life was until I saw it stolen from my baby brother in the shape of a bullet to the chest.

And I remember all the people that would filter through my house, leaving me food I couldn't even bring myself to eat, and condolences that I could barely hear above the ringing in my ears. I found it funny how they could come into my house and think food would cheer me up when I lost my brother and technically my mother to this since the doctors said there was no guarantee that my mother would ever wake up.

How they didn't know my mother and brother even close to as much as I did, never spent every holiday with them, never cared for them when they were ill or vise versa. How these people could think that their presence in my home would or could ever compare to that of my family who I will either see every weekend with no reply when I speak or never again unless I'm staring at their picture or their grave stone.

And school started, but I couldn't even go because all I would hear was people trying to say they know how I feel, when almost none of them do know exactly how I feel because if they did lose a family member I doubt it was in the same exact place and way.

My aunt flew over from Paris where she lived alone, to live with me as my guardian. She got me a home schooling teacher and she tried to comfort me as much as possible. She took me to the hospital every weekend, and to my brother's grave every month on the 5th.

She would never fill in the place of my mother because even as her sister, she was so different. She had long black hair instead of short like my mother's. Her eyes were dark blue and they reminded me of Souta's roses instead of chocolate brown, and her figure was tall and slim compared to my mother's petite and curvy build. She would never be my mother, even though my mother might not ever really be my mother again if she doesn't wake up.

And I can't look forward and think about whether I will ever move on because I just can't picture my life without them. In fact, these past six months are a complete blur.

I sigh and look up at the sky that is already an indigo and the horizon is turning a pinkish violet color. Yet again I stay here beyond sun set, and I should probably start heading home before my aunt Keina blows her French-speaking top. I look down at Souta's grave once more and kneel down and place his bundle of ten blue roses at the base of his stone.

Souta Higurashi

Gone from our sight but not from our memories, minds, and hearts.

That inscription engraved on that cold grey stone is what I live by now, day by day.