Twin Sisters

Disclaimer-Do not own Inuyasha. Nor do I own Twin Sisters.

Full Summary: (A/U)Kag's P.O.V- I took over my sister's life after she died, slipped into her place without missing a beat. I wore her favorite fuzzy sweater, kissed her boyfriend, inherited her friends………………….and her enemies.

Kagome and Kikyou hadn't seen each other since their parents divorced when they were three. Kikyou stayed with her father, a brilliant and reclusive author. Kagome ended up with her mother, a jet-setting socialite who hop scotched her young daughter all over the world. Then Kikyou is murdered-and her twin wants to find out why because she was out of town when it happened, Kikyou's friends don't know she's gone. If Kagome has her way, they'll never find out. Only Kagome will know-and the killer.

This is the prologue so it may be a little boring. Anyway on with the story…………

~**~

Kagome's P.O.V.

I took over my sister's life after she died, slipped into her place without missing a beat. I wore her favorite fuzzy sweater, kissed her boyfriend, and inherited her friends and her enemies. It hadn't occurred to me that her killer would try again because of that oversight; I nearly ended up dead myself.

For Kikyou the end came one hot day in late August, but for me that day was the beginning. To be more exact, everything began six days later, when I got the news of her death. I was sitting on the balcony, soaking up the warm Roman night and envying the Italian kids below me, who were climbing off their motorcycles, hiking up tight jeans, and streaming in pairs into the disco next door to our hotel. The roar of motorcycles drowned out the music that poured from the open door of the disco. The air was heavy with exhaust fumes.

Rome was busy and glamorous. I loved it, but we were only passing through. It seemed me and my mom were always passing through. What I wished for was a permanent address; a place where I fit in. I didn't know it, but I was about to get my wish—which shows that you should be careful what you wish for.

What I was conscious of at the time was only that I was fed up with my life, sick of going from chalet to cottage to hotel with Mother, while other kids my age slept in the same bed every night and grew up with one set of friends.

It looked as if mother was going to marry Vahn Blandsford soon and move into his big house in Sussex, but I figured that when she finally put down roots it would be too late for me. I felt like a human suitcase with a lot of tired destination stickers plastered on it and frayed luggage tags trailing from the handles.  "In transit" is a state of mind, like sadness, and I was beginning to think that for me it might be permanent. I had spent summers in Maine with my Hilliard grandparents and had gone to school in England, without having the slightest sense that I belonged in either place.

When the weather turned foul in England, Mom had a way of heading off to Switzerland for skiing, or to Rome or the Bahamas to find the sun, taking me with her. In my mother's view, schoolwork was optional and friends could be replaced. All I knew was that no place felt like home. "Resident alien" might as well have been tattooed on my heart.

I stepped back into the drawing room. Mother hung up the phone and turned toward me with an odd look on her face.

"That was grandfather………….calling from the States. Kikyou is dead."

"No!" I cried. "She can't be dead. He's got it wrong."

Mother didn't know it, but I had a hidden letter in my suitcase. It was full of exclamation points; she was excited about our plan to get together next year, when we'd be away at college. She couldn't be dead!

Mother twirled the emerald ring on her thin finger. Unlike me, my mom was a blond, with a faded prettiness that still drew men to her. I on the other hand had black hair that reached up about my shoulders while my mom's was long that ended near her butt.

"It seems incredible," she went on. "So sudden----it's hard to take it in. I'm afraid your father isn't in very good shape either. He had a heart attack when he found her. Your grandfather has been trying to reach us for days. He finally got our London address from the lawyers, but it took him a while to catch up with us."

My knees seemed to give way, and I sat down suddenly in the hotel's flowered armchair. The unbelievable-that Kikyou was dead-was beginning to sink in.

"What happened?" I asked.

Mother paced with quick, nervous steps, the heels of her delicate Italian shoes clacking briskly against the marble floor.

"She must have surprised some intruder. Richard had left her alone while he went to Richmond for a few days to work in the library. I don't have to tell you that any beach cottage Richard chose would be perfectly isolated. Your father prefers sand dunes to people. Obviously she was killed while a burglar was robbing the place—Kikyou's car and purse were stolen. Your father only has himself to blame." Mother nervously lit a cigar and sucked on it until its tip glowed.

"When he came back late one afternoon, the front door was open and Kikyou was lying on the floor, dead. The shotgun blast had destroyed her face." Mother shuddered. "Horrible. Your grandfather said flies were buzzing around her head. Richard managed to dial 911, but then he went into shock, naturally."

For a second the strange sensation that it was my own body lying lifeless on the floor overcame me. A painful sense of longing and hopelessness gripped me.

Mother stared out the window, her eyes filling up with tears. "My poor little baby. Who could ever dream something like this would ever happen? I thought we'd have time to get to know each other someday. And now she's been blown out like a candle. Gone."

I glanced at my mother in surprise. If she had any thoughts of getting together with Kikyou, she had kept them quiet. Every time I mentioned going to see my twin, it threw her into a panic. That's why I had kept it a secret that Kikyou and I had been writing letters back and fourth for the past year.

"I'm going to the funeral," I said.

Mother wiped her eyes and blew her nose. "Don't be ridiculous. You can't do that."

"I don't think it's ridiculous going to my own sister's funeral."

"You didn't even know her, Kag."

I smiled bitterly. "Next best thing, though-I practically AM her."

Mother flicked her ash into a saucer. "Don't be morbid!" she snapped.

That was unfair, since it was mom who had told me time and time again that Kikyou and I, identical twins, were virtually the same person. We had come from one egg that had split in two. That was why when our parents divorced their novel approach to the custody question had struck them as so clever. Dad took Kikyou and mother took me. Since we were carbon copies, they figured the division was perfectly fair. It wasn't fair to Kikyou and me, of course, but we were only three years old at the time and nobody asked us.

I had always wondered why mother hadn't insisted on keeping both of us. Surely no court would have given custody of a three-year-old girl to a man as eccentric as our father. If only mother had put up a fight for Kikyou! But my theory was that she regarded only one; twins had been a shock. When she left Kikyou with dad, I think she was actually relieved. She certainly didn't seem conscious of any loss.

For me it was different. I always felt as if part of me were missing. When I was small I dreamed of my twin constantly. I remember begging to go see her, but mother had been surprisingly firm about refusing. Finally I caught on that the last thing she wanted was a lot of visiting back and forth. She was determined to close that chapter of her life and be rid of him for good.

Now that I was practically grown. Mother couldn't stop me from going to Sewell's Falls to visit Kikyou if I wanted. I wouldn't even have to get the money for the plane fare from her because I got an allowance from the trust fund grandma had set up for me. A few months ago at breakfast, I had told mother I was thinking of going for a visit. "What makes you so sure you'd be welcome at your father's house?" she had said, buttering her toast. I had heard enough about how strange my father was for that to make me hesitate. In the end I had done nothing. I bitterly regretted it now that it was too late. Kikyou was dead.

"Where is the funeral going to be?" I asked. "They haven't already had it, had they?"

Mother made an impatient gesture. "There isn't going to be a funeral. You know how strange your father is."

Of course I knew. If mother hadn't told me a thousand times, I could have found it out easily enough by looking him up in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. My father was Richard Higurashi, reclusive author of Time the Magician, which was required reading in high school literature classes. He had written other books that sold well, but none that brought in the mega royalties of that one. Time the Magician was the storyof a teenager who faces a crisis of conscience and stands firmly on his principles. To me it seemed dated. I can't even remember the last time I heard somebody say the word "conscience." Of course, my schooling had been pretty spotty. It was very possible I wasn't capable of appreciating great literature.

"Richard plans to have her body cremated," mother went on, "as soon as police release it. There are certain………………formalities in cases like this. Your grandpa suggested there might be a memorial service once your father is out of the hospital, but in my opinion that's wishful thinking. Your grandfather keeps clinging to the illusion that Richard is a normal person." She shook her head. "Of course, Richard would rather die than do anything to call attention to himself. A memorial service…..hah! Our wedding was so quiet you would have thought we were fugitives from justice." She stubbed out her cigarette. "This is a man who has his groceries delivered so he doesn't have to go out to the store. I remember when he tried to have hi driver's license picture taken with his sunglasses on!"

She had launched into her familiar list of complaints about my father almost as if she had forgotten about Kikyou.

"I'm going anyway," I said, interrupting her. "I'd better call the airline right now."

Mother met my eyes. "It's not going to be the way you think."

"Maybe. But then I'll know for myself what he's like, won't I?"

Mother shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

But this time I wasn't listening to her warnings.

"Since I'm going to visit dad while he's in the hospital, I may stay awhile- a few days anyways," I said.

Mother made a face. "He won't agree to see you. I promise you, you're making a long trip for nothing."

"Of course he'll see me," I said sharply. "I'm his daughter."

"I know him better than you do, Kag."

But I could tell by the resignation in her voice that she had already accepted what I was going to do. I picked up the telephone and dialed the airline.

~**~

A/N: Ok that's the end of that I hope that you peoples enjoyed it. Review People!