Series: Inuyasha

Universe: Modern Highschool AU

Pairing: Eventual SessKag, One-sided KagInu

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and it's characters are the intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi

Author: Oh hi! I come back from a long hiatus bearing gifts: the character everybody has been asking about finally makes an appearance! Enjoy!

888

Hentai High IX

"You got home pretty late last night."

Kagome flinched, dreading the underhanded interrogation that was about to take place. It was too goddamn early on a Saturday morning for this, and after last night's…whatever the hell that was between her and Sesshoumaru… she was in no mood to deal with anybody.

Kagome looked up to stare at her reflection in the bathroom mirror with a carefully guarded expression. There were two Kagomes blinking back, except the one farthest away had warm, honey eyes instead of Kagome's bright baby blues.

Kikyo.

Kagome openly stared at the reflection of her twin sister Kikyo in the mirror, as the real Kikyo stood behind her in the bathroom doorway, effectively blocking any means of escape. Trying to keep her annoyance at bay, Kagome continued applying mascara to her lashes, her face in the mirror a mask of impassiveness. "Late, you say? Huh. I must've lost track of time at detention."

Kagome had been hoping to avoid this particular conversation with her twin. When Sesshoumaru had left her on her porch the night before, Kagome had remained outside their bedroom door for a better half of 15 minutes, dreading the thought of what her twin would say upon realizing Kagome had arrived so late at night from detention. Luck had been on her side though, because Kikyo had been sound asleep in her bed when Kagome had entered their shared room. Or at least, so had Kagome hoped.

Nonetheless, feeling uncharacteristically sneaky, Kagome had set up her alarm clock an hour early and put on her earphones before going to bed. That way Kagome would wake up earlier than her sibling and leave before Kikyo could catch up. It would be a Saturday morning, too, so there was a better chance of her twin Kikyo sleeping in, since she favored her beauty sleep above all else.

Luck would, theoretically, be on Kagome's side. The plan had worked almost to perfection except-

Next to Kagome's reflection, Kikyo's own mirrored self – a striking figure decked in a long, white nightgown that grazed off the curves of her body in a most delicate fashion - was carefully looking at her twin sister's reaction, analysing every little micro-expression and gesture. While Kagome had woken up a wrinkled mess of fluffy hair and drool, Kikyo was a vision of youthful beauty in the morning without even trying.

Kikyo was also bless with less "fuzz-brain" - as Kagome called it - upon rising, evidenced by her shrewdly eyeing Kagome in that way that made the teenager feel like Kikyo was X-raying her very thoughts. "You were in detention until 10:00 pm?"

Leave it to Kikyo to always know something was off and want to talk about it when it was most inconvenient for Kagome. One of the downsides of having a twin.

With feigned but practiced nonchalance, Kagome daintily skirted the statement with an airy laugh. "Those sessions with Taisho-sensei feel like they go on forever. It all just kind of blends together, you know?" Kagome prattled on cheerfully, hoping Kikyo wouldn't notice the slight hitch in her voice when she mentioned Sesshoumaru's name.

"I suppose…" Kikyo mulled, her intelligent honey eyes – one of many differences between them -still set on Kagome, who was very deliberately avoiding eye contact with her sister.

"I'm surprised you noticed, actually." Kagome continued, dropping the mascara and grabbing some lip gloss. "When I got to the room, you were already fast asleep."

"I always notice when you come and go, Kagome. We're twins."

Kagome gasped theatrically, turning around and finally looking at Kikyo directly. "Really? You know, I'd never noticed but now that you mention it…"

Kikyo smiled sardonically at Kagome's impish grin and smacked her sister gently from behind. "Cute, Kagome. What I mean is… I'm always thinking of you. And lately…" Kikyo bit her lip, apprehensively. "It's just hard to know what's going on in your head." Kikyo admitted dolefully, her voice trailing off.

And there it was.

So Kikyo had noticed something was off between Kagome and, well, everyone else in her life.

Truthfully, Kagome had hoped that Kikyo would bring this up and realize that her twin was not doing so hot lately. The raven had wanted to talk to Kikyo about her current situation with Inuyasha, with school, with Sesshoumaru, but now…

There was a time when Kikyo and Kagome shared the entirety of their thoughts and feelings every moment, every single second of the day. But since entering high-school, they had slowly drawn apart, in main part due to Kagome's will. She loved her sister, really, but it was exhausting being in the shadow of someone who was as perfect as Kikyo was. Well-mannered, beautiful beyond reason, kind, intelligent, sophisticated and other positive adjectives summed up an infinite list of things that Kikyo was better at than Kagome was or ever would be.

Despite the constant comparison, be it self-imposed or by the people around them, Kagome couldn't find it in her heart to be jealous or petty towards her twin though, because Kikyo absolutely adored Kagome. Like, genuinely and whole-heartedly adored her, for reasons unknown to the blue-eyed raven. Her beloved sister, Kikyo, went out of her way to always please her and make sure that Kagome's needs were always met before her own (something that then would unwittingly be praised by their loved ones and then the cycle of Kikyo-centric adoration would continue forever).

Kagome considered Kikyo her best friend.

It was little to no exaggeration that she would say they even shared a soul.

But this situation with Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru…

"Kagome."

Kagome looked up into concerned honey eyes, and felt her stomach drop at her twin's pained expression.

"I know that you wouldn't keep anything from me…"Kikyo started softly, brushing a strand of Kagome's frizzy hair from her face.

Kagome gulped.

"And I wouldn't keep anything from you. Not even if it were something… something that you would disapprove of…" Kikyo looked down, the hand that was brushing Kagome's hair dropping and hesitantly reaching out to Kagome's unresponsive hand. "You're my sister and you will always be the most important person in my life. I love you. And you don't keep secrets from people you love…right?"

"What are you getting at, Kikyo?" Kagome asked tensely, defensively. Kikyo was acting strange. She was usually incredibly straightforward, more so than Kagome, so the fact that she was beating around the bush meant that whatever was on her mind was pretty monumental.

Kikyo breathed out, looping her slim fingers with Kagome's limp ones. Kikyo's hands were warm and clammy, and her anxiety was contagious, climbing up Kagome's arm and to her heart.

Did Kikyo know about her situation at school already? Did she see her last night with Sesshoumaru in his car? Two wet figures in the dark, close, leaning closer, her face raised towards his, his hand reaching towards her -

"Kagome…What I'm trying to say is-"

Kagome's phone rang, causing both girls to jump - and the blue-eyed raven nearly sighed in relief.

"Sorry- I gotta-" Kagome didn't even wait for a reply before picking up the phone. "Hello, Higurashi speaking. Oh, hi Sango!" Kagome laughed brightly, and she would've kissed the brunette if she could.

Kikyo gave Kagome a questioning look at the name.

That's right. It must seem strange to Kikyo for the school tomboy to be calling her sister on a weekend when, for all appearances, they had never been on friendly terms.

Then again, there was a lot of things Kikyo didn't know about her sister nowadays.

"Hi Kagome! So… is today still happening or…?" Sango's small staticky voice asked on the other line, and Kagome's chest squeezed slightly at the brunette's uncertainty.

Doing her best to avoid Kikyo's curious gaze, Kagome smiled into the phone. Realizing Sango couldn't see her, she replied "Yep! You're still stuck with me, missy, so don't try to weasel out of it!"

There was the slightest relieved chuckle on the other line, and Sango replied with an enthusiastic, "Al right then! See you in a couple of minutes!"

"Sweet! See ya!" Kagome hung up, and smiled down at her phone, very much looking forward to hanging out with Sango. It was bittersweet that Sango had called to confirm that Kagome indeed would keep her promise and Kagome wondered for the hundredth time how many times had Sango been hurt growing up.

Something pricked in the back of her neck, and Kagome turned to look at Kikyo, a look of pure confusion on her pretty face. "Who was that?" Kikyo asked puzzled.

"That was Sango. We're meeting up. "Kagome explained vaguely, very conveniently evading Kikyo's real question of 'when did you and her start hanging out?' since it would lead to other conversations that she absolutely did not want to have with her twin now. Kagome grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "Tell mom I'll be back by five-"

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Out. I told you, I'm meeting up with Sango."

"Oh. Cool, right. Umm, where is 'out' exactly?"

Kagome didn't know why she was so wary, or why she didn't want to tell her twin her whereabouts. Maybe because she didn't want Kikyo to tag along and monopolise the one female friend she had who saw Kagome as herself and not a combo-package. Maybe because she wanted time to organise her feelings before facing the one person whose opinion mattered most to her. Kagome didn't know but she didn't want to stick around to find out.

"Probably downtown or something, I don't know." Kagome said loosely.

Kikyo smiled sadly. She let go of Kagome's hand and, ridiculously, Kagome suddenly felt very naked and alone and lost.

"Well, have fun." Kikyo called after her as Kagome headed for their bedroom door. Kagome's hand paused on the handle. Kikyo had let her go rather easily. Suspiciously so.

"Wait, what are you going to do today?" Kagome turned to her sister questioningly. She tried to keep her tone light, despite the unexpected mistrust invading her heart.

Kikyo shrugged, the action awkward and misplaced on her refined shoulders . "Staying in today. Maybe study for that upcoming maths test." Kikyo was looking down at her toes though, the way she did whenever she wasn't directly lying but definitely not saying the entire truth. Kagome wondered, paranoically, if Kikyo could read her as well as Kagome could read her.

Kagome hated keeping things from her sister. She hated a lot of things lately. And now she knew one thing she for sure. Kagome wasn't the only one keeping secrets.

"Well, later." Kikyo waved, a forced smile stretching her lips upward.

But Kagome was also unwilling to be the first to give them up.

"Later." Kagome murmured, the impulse to run into her sister's arms, to let Kikyo brush her hair comfortingly the way she always did whenever Kagome was upset, overpowering.

Instead she ran for the door.

"Kagome!"

Kagome desperately wanted to leave the room, before she slipped, before all of her worries and petty insecurities spilled out of her lips in a torrent of shouts and hateful words and bitter sadness.

Turning slowly, lest her feet betray her, she found Kikyo with her arms folded across her chest, almost hugging herself. Like Kagome, she seemed to be struggling with something.

"Can we talk later?" Kikyo voiced at last, her sweet voice small and helpless. It was a plea, not a request.

Kagome stretched her face into a smile that never reached her eyes as her feet bounced on the spot, clearly giving away her desire to leave the room as soon as possible. She dipped her head in assent, without verbally chaining herself to the promise. The body language did not go unnoticed by Kikyo. She bit her lip, wanting to say something else, but instead she nodded back.

Kagome ripped the bedroom door open and ran across the hall and down the stairs, escaping from the curiously sad brown eyes of her sister. When she looked back behind her as she sprinted down the street, she thought she saw Kikyo's silhouette on the window, watching her leave.

Kagome allotted the suffocating pressure in her chest to her sprinting and tried to keep her emotions at bay.