/a.n./ Well I'm finally all set in my dorm and back on track after a long line of late updates, so I'll be updating every week (most likely weekends). Just to answer inukag01234's question: yes, I am a fan of The Redemption of Althalus, and that quote is one of my absolute favorites, so I just had to use some abbreviation of it somewhere – but hey, I altered it, so I didn't feel like doing a disclaimer. Hope that helped!

And please review, it means the world to me.

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Chapter 6

Kagome's POV

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I grabbed my keys and tossed them in my bag, aiming for the door; then spun around at the last moment and snatched my scarf from the table in the hall. December had hit Tokyo pretty bad this year.

Lunch with my sister had never been my favorite pass-time; but it's not like I had anything better to do. The apartment door opened with a familiar screech of metal hinges as a gush of cold air swept across my face. Wrapping my scarf around my neck twice and cursing my pledge to walk, I headed into downtown Shinjuku.

The café where I would meet her was pretty close, but with the wind and the biting cold, it seemed like ages until I reached it. When I finally walked in, teeth practically chattering and hands frozen, Sango was waiting for me at a table in the back. I blew on my hands, attempting to restore some of the heat they had lost. Smart move Kagome, smart move… Because I mean who needs gloves when it's freaking freezing outside, right? Smart…

Sango conjured up a small smile as I approached the table and gestured towards the seat across from her. It was a half-hearted gesture, but I appreciated it. At least she was trying, unlike me – as I was just standing there like an expressionless idiot. Snapping back into reality a moment later, I plopped down on the chair and crossed my ankles.

A waitress came over to the table as I was rubbing my hands together and placed a plate in front of me. Tempura and rice. I looked at Sango questioningly.

"I thought you would like it." She supplied. Well that was….nice? I wrapped my hands around the hot bowl and sighed. Sweet, sweet relief…

Popping a piece of tempura in my mouth; "So it's cold outside…" I said, in a failed attempt at making conversation.

"Yes, very."

Then I looked at her, and she looked at me, and we both smiled; seeing how ridiculous we both sounded. I placed my elbows on the table and connected my hands under my chin, resting my head.

"How are you?" I asked in a small voice.

"Pretty good."

I cocked my head to the side and peered at her face. "No, how are you?" I stressed. I watched as her brows furrowed for a second, then her stoic face faltered. She knew that I had seen it, and she knew that I would want and explanation.

"Maybe not so good."

"Define not so good."

She averted her gaze, and chose to stare at the table instead. Neither of us said anything, and as the minutes ticked by and the tempuras in my bowl slowly disappeared, I started to get anxious.

"A little manic, delusional, bordering on masochistic and I think I am a semi-insomniac."

My head snapped up to look at her face. Her eyes resembled flat stones. No sparkle, no emotion – just flat brown. This was way more than I had anticipated; and now I was starting to regret my pressing on the matter. Sango was staring at me, expecting a reply. Though my reply was a question she was probably not all that enthusiastic about answering.

"Why?"

She clenched her hands together and looked at the table again. If I didn't know her better I would say she was on the verge of crying – but I did know her better, and I knew that it would take a great deal to make Sango cry. Answering a question didn't even begin to qualify.

"A lot of things."

I sighed in agitation. "Sango, if you don't tell me what's bothering you, how the hell do you suppose I help you?!"

"I never asked for your help."

"I never asked for your permission."

She looked up again, straight into my face, and for a moment I thought I saw tears welling in her eyes.

"Fine. I miss dad, and every part of that fucking house reminds me of him. I can't move out, because mom's gone semi-crazy and I'm afraid she's gonna hurt herself; she doesn't talk much anymore either. Souta's in Zurich, and I haven't spoken to him in months. I can't sleep because I have a job that doesn't let me sleep. My employers are expecting a finished project by the end of the month and I'm not even halfway finished yet. Then when I'm done for the day I have too much on my mind to close my eyes. When I do manage to sleep, I wake up screaming. It's cold, I hate the cold. I'm somewhere in the middle of closing the window and jumping out the window – so there."

Never in my deepest imagination had I expected Sango to speak this much about herself – or to speak about herself to me. We sat there in silence; Sango breathless from speaking so fast and I, breathless from listening to her. As the waiter approached our table, I called her over and asked for the check.

Sango was still staring at me. Eyes a little wide, hands clenched in front of her. And me? I just stood there like the worst sister in the history of forever. But the sad part was that I had nothing to say – there was nothing I could say anyway. I had no solutions, no tips - nothing. I just hoped that Sango understood that my silence was caused by my lack of helpful ideas, and not by my lack of thought and regard.

After I paid the check, we started to walk back down the road I had come. The wind had subsided a bit, but it was still cold. I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my coat, envying Sango's gloves. Even with all the stuff going on in her head, she had somehow managed to remember them. Score one for Sango.

My face was unbearably dry, and I was almost positive my cheeks were flushed red from the cold. Rummaging in my bag, I found a small mirror in one of its pockets and flipped it open. My cheeks were indeed red, and they hurt to the touch. Just as I was about the put the mirror back, something caught my attention. I held the mirror a little to my right and angled it so that I could see behind me.

There was a man walking behind us, clad in a dark gray suit. Of course being in Shinjuku meant that seeing men in suits was as common as seeing clouds – but there was something about him that didn't quite fit. Then it hit me. He was wearing sunglasses. And as normal as that sounds, it didn't fit – because there was no sun to protect your eyes from, seeing as the whole city was covered with dark rainclouds.

"Sango, " I started in a hushed tone. "Turn left at the next corner."

"Why shoul-"

"Sango, just do it and don't ask why."

To my relief, she complied and turned left. I checked the mirror, and the man was still there. I'm such a lucky person, aren't I? I felt my heartbeat accelerate, and despite the cold weather, my palms had begun to sweat.

"Sango, there's a little passage up ahead on the right, turn there again." I said through my teeth. She complied wordlessly this time. Here's the thing though: there was nothing at the end of that passage. It was the driveway of an old inhabited house, and lead straight back to the sidewalk.

Gravel crunched beneath our feet as we walked across the driveway. When we had reached the middle, I flipped the mirror open again. I felt my heart drop to my stomach. Not only was he there, but he seemed to be walking faster than before. Sango kept shooting me confused glances, but I ignored them all. Someone was following us – or maybe just me, or maybe just her – but either way it didn't matter. What mattered was that there was a creep following us, and I didn't know what I was supposed to do.

Once we got to the sidewalk I calmed down a bit, seeing as we weren't alone here. People were walking up and down the streets and we blended in better. I increased my pace as we walked, and Sango automatically adjusted hers to fit mine.

"Kagome slow down." She said incredulously. I couldn't speak, I just handed her the mirror. She stared at it for a moment, puzzled. Then, understanding dawned on her face. She must have spotted the man. Ah, the perks of having a smart sister. She shoved the mirror into my hand and started to walk even faster.

Somewhere along the way, we started to run.

One look behind my shoulder was enough to show me that the man was running too.

"Find a cab!" I shouted as we weaved our way through groups of people, hitting someone every now and then. Pushing past people who stood in our way, we made it to the edge of the road. Maybe my luck had turned around a bit after all. A woman – probably around my age – was walking towards a cab parked on the curb. She was walking, we were running. It must have been a shock for her to see two people running ahead of her and jumping into her cab.

I slammed the door behind me hard. I was breathless, I was panting, and I could see the man advancing towards the cab.

"Iwaki!" I yelled at the cabbie. He gave me a skeptical look. "Ma'am that's hours away."

"Just fucking drive!"

Though he seemed startled, he stepped on it as soon as the road was available, and seeing as the man following us seemed to be working alone – there was no way he would be able to catch up to us. Unless of course he decided to stop a random car on the road and say "Follow that cab!". That would have been cool. And possibly lethal, you know, for us.

Sango was still panting a little when we left the city – from the running, or from the general concept of being followed, I don't know. I didn't have the heart to ask her either. To be honest, I was afraid she was going to break down. I had never seen my sister so fragile and defenseless; and it was scaring the shit out of me.

The sky was already darkening when we reached the outskirts of Iwaki. Deciding to stay at a motel for the night, we paid the cabbie a large wad of cash supplied by my ever generous sister and got off.

"There's a bar over there," Sango said, pointing towards a shabby old building right off the highway. "Wanna go in?"

I nodded, mostly because I was freaking thirsty and a little because I had no energy left to contradict her. We walked silently towards the building.

The door to the bar opened with the sound of bells clinking together. "Aizawa you're on!" I heard someone shout, then a door slammed somewhere in the back of the bar. It wasn't very crowded, just a couple of people scattered here and there. I guessed this was the beauty of the suburbs. Even this bar was a refreshing sight after the bustling crowds of people in Tokyo.

We sat at the counter and ordered two beers. I was a little shocked that Sango would order beer though. With the way she carries herself you'd think that Moët Chandon champagne would be beneath her. Nevertheless, I didn't point it out. I felt like I had to be extra cautious around Sango after her breakdown at the restaurant earlier. Not that I had been able to help her…

Once our thirst had been sated, we found a small motel near the bar and checked in under fake names. Here's another beauty of the suburbs – they don't even ask for IDs when you check in. The motel wasn't exactly what you would call luxurious, and there seemed to be and awful lot of scantily clad women prancing around in stilettos, entering rooms. Sango seemed even more uncomfortable than me, and that was saying something.

We found our room near the end of the corridor, and got in. I suppressed a laugh, seeing Sango's scrunched up face. The room was a little less then minimum quality; but I supposed it beat falling asleep on a bar stool – or maybe not.

"I don't even want to the think about what happened here before we came." Sango said, holding up a pillow with the tips of her nails. I chuckled.

"It'll be fine, we'll sleep on our coats. Just be happy you have a place to put your head."

"I'm not sure I want to put my head on anything in this room right now."

"I find that offensive dear sister," I said, clutching at my chest in mock hurt. She chuckled a little, then spread her coat over the bed and lay down, cringing. Turning off the lights, I did the same and lay down next to her.

A couple moments passed in comfortable silence.,

"Kagome?"

"Hmm?"

"What about mom?"

Well crap, I hadn't thought about that. "We'll call her in the morning."

"Okay."

Silence again.

"Kagome?"

"Yes?"

"Where do we go from here?"

I stared at the ceiling. I had no idea where we would go from here. I had no idea why we had ended up here in the first place either. I couldn't answer her, because I didn't have a tangible answer to give.

"Goodnight Sango." I said. She paused for a second. "Goodnight."

Whatever had to be solved, I would solve tomorrow. Hopefully.

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