"Kagome!" Ayumi and Eri called in tandem to their friend, jogging to catch up. Kagome paused, granting her friends a simple smile. While this life and time was her birth period, she felt like a stranger walking amongst a foreign country. However, she did find happiness in the little things, such as her constant friends, with their stubborn way of always sticking by her. Even when she had just returned, they were there for her.
Back then, she was no better than the walking dead. Kagome wept freely for days on end, mourning the loss of her friends, her feudal family, the comfort of nature, and the ability to freely allow her reiki to flow. Tokyo felt like a casket. She was enclosed and crushed together with others, always in sight, always under scrutiny, and she burned with the displeasure of every moment.
It was only when she'd nearly been mugged two months after her return did she wake from her forlorn stupor. Then, and only then, did she thrive. Kagome's reiki awoke like a vampire long in waiting to taste fresh blood. Her powers surged to her fingertips and burned her veins raw, drying her eyes with the glow that emanated from beneath her delicate lids. While her attacker had been human, her instincts responded as if he were demon. The flashy light show had her mugger confused and disoriented, so she took her best shot, and kicked him straight in the balls.
Sango would be so proud.
After that, Kagome began practicing her archery once more, she meditated often, and when she wasn't occupied with either her schooling or her practice, she assisted her grandfather with the shrine. He was another milestone in her recovery. While his wisdom was far fetched, and his beliefs had most thinking him senile, Kagome had learned his truths. Hell, she'd lived the tale he told every summer just before their shrine's biggest annual event. So when he fell ill, Kagome realized she hadn't lost everything, but that was still a potential.
"There you are! We didn't see you at the station this morning." Ayumi huffed, brushing loose strands of hair behind her ears.
"I thought we were going to meet up this morning, Kagome." Eri pouted, "I told you I wanted you to meet this really cute guy from Hojo's school! He was waiting for us, you know."
"Oh was that this morning?" Kagome feigned ignorance. She had no interest in opening her heart to another yet. There was already too much she had forgotten of her first love. She didn't want to lose whatever was left to some ordinary boy. "I'm sorry, Eri. Maybe next week?"
"You said that last week!" Yuka jogged up to her friends, her face flushed and hair disheveled.
"Looks like someone's running late this morning." Ayumi teased, "Ooh is that a hickey I see!?"
"What? Where?!" Yuka covered both sides of her neck, her flushed cheeks burning more with embarrassment.
The girls laughed at Yuka's expense, but continued into school with amicable banter. Kagome joined in on the teasing, knowing full well they'd bring up the boy from Hojo's school later and, as always, mention him.
She thought his name to herself, allowing herself a small weakness today. She missed him dearly, and knew that by now, he was certainly dead. After all, there was no going back.
As Kagome climbed the steps into her high school, she was mildly aware of a demonic presence at the edge of her senses. She caught onto these auras every now and then and had come to ignore the flashes of hope that shot through her. She used to chase them across the city, but now, she's learned to forget them. They never let her find them anyways. Little did she know, they were slowly finding her.