I'll save you all the horror of my author's note! I'm too tired to get
into it. ONWARD!
This Rose of Velvet
Chapter Two: New Faces, Old Fears
Kagome made the lunches with little care. Kikyo would complain no matter what she put in them; why bother? Shoving a ham sandwich into Kikyo's bag, she grabbed the tops of her bags and went into the hall, ignoring the long line of photographs. Any of Yatsuri were removed.
Manna looked somberly into the camera in a black-and-white outside of the kitchen. She had escaped into the world four years ago, at eighteen. She was twenty-two now. The twins were almost thirteen.
"Hey, brat, give me my lunch so I can get going already," Kikyo snapped from the door.
Kagome listlessly gave her the paper bag. Having lapsed into an expressionless gaze long ago, Kagome was seldom the object of Kikyo's torture. She was too boring.
Fori meandered into the room, not looking a day over twenty, as usual. Favoring Kikyo with a smile, she absent-mindedly shoved past Kagome. "Oh, Kikyo, darling, you look absolutely perfect in that ensemble!"
Kikyo was dressed in something expensive; what it was, Kagome didn't care to know. Kagome was always dressed in shabby hand-me-downs and a thin coat. It was winter, and insulation was something Kagome felt she would never get a taste of. Even if she did, she might be too far gone to be able to use it by that point, anyway.
"Okay, hop in the car, Lovey. ... Oh, you too, Third Child," Fori added with a slight wave over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve her keys.
Kikyo entered the driveway calm and poised, nothing like what she was when alone with Kagome. She got into the front seat, as she had since kindergarten, and Kagome got into the very back seat of the van. As she had since kindergarten.
There was a rumpling as Kikyo looked through her bag, then turned to glare at Kagome venomously. "I don't LIKE ham, you doddering fool! Worthless Dirt! THIRD Child, Ugly Child," Kikyo continued, snarling. "Give me your lunch."
Kagome silently handed her her bag, not offering either comment or facial expression. After the lunch exchange, Kagome merely turned to look out the window, knowing that Kikyo would have taken all but the apple out of what- is-now-Kagome's lunch.
"I get to see my boyfriend today," Kikyo said calmly, appeased. "You don't have a boyfriend, do you? You never will. You're ugly."
Kagome leaned her forehead against the window, looking at a crack in the pavement, focusing on the cold seeping into her skin. She folded her arms over her coat, hugging it against her body as her self-hatred got to her. 'I forget how to cry,' she realized blankly. 'I haven't in so long....'
Kikyo picked at her nails as she continued, letting her contempt freely into her voice. "His name is InuYasha. He thinks you're ugly, too. You dress funny, he says."
'Of course I dress funny. I'm wearing your old clothes. Along with a few of Manna's.'
"That's why you'll never have a boyfriend. You wear funny clothes, and you never do your hair. And you act weird, too. You don't talk to anyone. You're a Funny-looking Ugly Weird Child. Stupid."
Kikyo's rampage was cut short by Fori opening the driver's door. Fori, too, had tired of beating on Kagome after the child had ceased to show emotions. As it was, her back was too mottled with scars to make much of a difference anyway. The stepmother slid into her seat, jingling her keys as she put them into the keyhole, brandishing her long, sculpted nails.
"Kikyo, honey, have you any plans today?" she questioned politely, her voice sweet. Like cotton candy. Appear the beautiful flower, be the serpent beneath it.
The somber pre-adolescent appeared bored. "Oh. Meeting with my boyfriend today."
Fori looked into the rearview mirror, tangibly disappointed at Kagome's lack of response. "Sounds like fun! Too bad the Third Child can't get one, too. She's just too ugly."
Kikyo nodded somberly, brightening as the school appeared ahead. Kagome shrunk into her seat as they neared her nightmare for the past six years. Kikyo had sure had fun in there with her. She had become something of a class joke, having to get up every two minutes to sharpen her sister's pencil like some sort of lapdog.
Kikyo had insisted to the teachers that Kagome was mentally retarded, but standardized testing soon proved otherwise. Kagome was quickly promoted to the next grade level, leaving Kikyo behind. Fori said it was because she was abnormal.
Deprived of her pencil sharpener, Kikyo took to torturing her sister at lunch and recess, making her run useless errands which Kagome would at first run fearfully, then, as time passed, with more and more apathy. She would go slower, meander even, which she would get Punished for at home.
It just didn't matter anymore.
"Get out, Thing," Fori threw at her, glaring at her.
Taking a deep breath, Kagome slid out of the car for the first day of the year. She made a beeline towards the doors out of habit, walking with what appeared to be a laid-back stride but was in fact a tense battle of emotions.
"Oh, my God! Your brother's transferring here from that Private School?" Kikyo squealed with horror at her boyfriend. She had heard quite a few horror stories about the brother from hell from InuYasha, and believed every one of them. "Wow, he's in eighth grade, huh?"
Kikyo was in seventh grade... Which meant Kagome was in the eighth. Grimacing, she hoped that this terror-brother wouldn't be in her class. She had enough to deal with as it was.
Digging in her pockets quickly, Kagome checked to make sure what she thought was her room was really her room before going INTO the room. Breathing out in relief, she entered timidly. No one was there, just the teacher. He was young-looking, maybe in his twenties. His hair was to his shoulders and pulled back in a loose ponytail. Ignoring his look of surprise, she lowered her head and made for the last desk.
"Wait, wait! I knew the student's were shy, but really!" the teacher laughed heartily and nabbed her shoulder lightly to stall her, turning her towards him. "I'm Mr. Houshi. Miroku Houshi."
Kagome braved a quick glance at him through her bangs. "Higurashi Kagome."
His expression quickly transformed into one of delight. "Ah! The smart prodigal child! You seem to do VERY good work! Except..." he said as his smile faded into a half-smile, his eyes crinkling worriedly. "It also says you're not very social at all. Why is that?"
Kagome shrugged, half to get his hand off her shoulder and half in response. Shying away from his touch, she merely hurried to the back of the class.
"Wait! There's assigned seating! You're... hum, let me check... there!" he pointed to a seat in the very middle of the room.
Paling considerably, Kagome stared at him. Slowly, she edged towards the prescribed seat and sat down gingerly, as if it burned her.
Suddenly, Kikyo burst into the room, looking murderous. "Filthy Third Brat! You--" she noticed Mr. Houshi, who was currently staring at her in astonishment. "Excuse me Sir!" she added prettily, curtsying, then turned to Kagome, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her up. "This is just my sister."
"Um, I noticed! You two look almost alike!" the teacher gushed enthusiastically, wondering at the rough treatment.
Kikyo smiled at him heartstoppingly, then turned to Kagome with a spitting glare. "You Ugly Thing, you forgot to sharpen my pencils. Go sharpen them NOW, and I want them done before class starts. Bring them to my room, 6A." With that, she dumped about twenty pencils onto Kagome's desk and whisked out of the room gracefully.
Sighing internally, Kagome rose and gathered the pencils, bringing them to the pencil sharpener, bowing her head to hide her blush at Mr. Houshi's curious look. Feeling his eyes boring into her back the whole time, she sharpened the pencils one by one, silent.
Finishing in about ten minutes, she left quickly.
Hurrying down the hall and turning into 6A, Kagome stopped in the doorway to locate Kikyo. Her twin was in the back, flirting with a young boy. Sighing externally this time, she strode quickly to Kikyo and held the pencils out in a fist. The boy looked at her blankly, then, remembering who she was, resumed his conversation as if she wasn't there.
Kikyo snatched her pencils. "Took you long enough. Now get out of here; I don't want to be seen with you," she hissed.
Kagome turned, muttering as she went up the aisle. "You're WELCOME," she murmured sarcastically, earning a shocked stare from all who heard her. Whispers echoed through the room.
"She spoke! Did you hear that?"
"Woah! She spoke! I thought she was mute!"
"She might as well be, the way her sister orders her around like a little doggy!" this was followed by a couple of yips, which everyone was tittering at when Kagome finally exited the room. A paper airplane flew into the back of her head as she left, causing her to pause. After pausing, she hurried on, grabbing the airplane from her hair as she went down the empty halls.
She quickened her steps, knowing she was already late. She ducked into the doorway of 13A as the room fell silent. It erupted into noise again, despite the fact that the new teacher was introducing himself.
"It's that weird kid we were telling you about."
"She doesn't talk at all. And her sister's always ordering her around like a slave. It's sad, really."
They were all talking to this white-haired young boy of about fourteen, solemn and golden-eyed.
Mr. Houshi swallowed as he looked at her, then, not sure what to do, merely gestured to her seat. "You may sit, Kagome."
Sesshoumaru watched the new, shabbily-dressed child enter, her gaze to the floor. As she took her seat beside him, she looked up briefly, enough for him to see her eyes. What he saw startled him, causing his hand to twitch. He clenched it into a fist. She looked... broken. There was a whisper of a long-forgotten fire somewhere in the back of her blue eyes... but mostly there was a sense of defeat, loss... like she was nothing more than dead.
She slid into her seat and looked at the desk, glancing up every once in a while to the teacher. She kept her hands either clasped in her lap or on her desk, and she sat absolutely still. Even Sesshoumaru fidgeted every once in a while, but this girl... she was... She was so still, so dead. She kept her coat wrapped tightly around her, as if afraid to let anyone see under it.
The eighth graders looked at her with disgusted pity, like they would a crippled animal or something. She was either oblivious or used to it, for she looked neither uncomfortable or unhappy. She looked neutral. Calm.
Kagome herself took one glance at the new kid's white hair and identified him. InuYasha's brother. 'Just ignore him. Maybe he'll leave me alone.'
Lunch came. Students filed into the lunchroom or outside. Most went to a large courtyard for eating, while the rest occupied the cafeteria. Sesshoumaru kept an eye on Kagome, and followed her to a tree, where she sat and pulled out her lunch bag. She pulled her meager lunch (an apple) out of it and crumpled the bag, putting it into her lap to throw away later.
"That's all you're eating?" he asked insolently, then, hearing himself, made his voice a bit gentler. "It's not very healthy." Okay, not a whole lot gentler.
She looked up at him slowly, a flicker of surprise racing across her face before she just faded into a listless stare, blocking him out. For some reason, this just completely pissed him off. She was possibly the only girl in the school not fawning over him.
"It's rude to ignore people," he snapped.
She merely looked ahead, not responding at all to his tone of voice. With a jolt, he realized she was used to it. He had watched her at first recess, how her sister treated her.
Kagome finished her apple and stood, brushing off her jeans. Pulling her backpack over one shoulder, she walked past the white-haired beauty. At the last second, he grabbed her shoulder. A flash of a memory stirred in her head, being beaten by an old fishing pole until it broke, grabbed by the shoulder, forced to the ground, eating dirt—
Instinctively, she yanked away from him, turning to face him, her breath stopped as she felt that familiar pain in the back of her throat. Seeing his startled look, she came back to reality.
Turning and running, she tossed her garbage into a bin and made her way to the other side of the school to sit and... and think.
Sesshoumaru stared after her, letting his outstretched hand fall back to his side. He hadn't missed her look. It was... She had been terrified, in so much pain. When he simply TOUCHED her.
'What did they do to her....'
A/N Okay, the promised rebellion hasn't come yet, but it will. IT WILL! Happy reading!
This Rose of Velvet
Chapter Two: New Faces, Old Fears
Kagome made the lunches with little care. Kikyo would complain no matter what she put in them; why bother? Shoving a ham sandwich into Kikyo's bag, she grabbed the tops of her bags and went into the hall, ignoring the long line of photographs. Any of Yatsuri were removed.
Manna looked somberly into the camera in a black-and-white outside of the kitchen. She had escaped into the world four years ago, at eighteen. She was twenty-two now. The twins were almost thirteen.
"Hey, brat, give me my lunch so I can get going already," Kikyo snapped from the door.
Kagome listlessly gave her the paper bag. Having lapsed into an expressionless gaze long ago, Kagome was seldom the object of Kikyo's torture. She was too boring.
Fori meandered into the room, not looking a day over twenty, as usual. Favoring Kikyo with a smile, she absent-mindedly shoved past Kagome. "Oh, Kikyo, darling, you look absolutely perfect in that ensemble!"
Kikyo was dressed in something expensive; what it was, Kagome didn't care to know. Kagome was always dressed in shabby hand-me-downs and a thin coat. It was winter, and insulation was something Kagome felt she would never get a taste of. Even if she did, she might be too far gone to be able to use it by that point, anyway.
"Okay, hop in the car, Lovey. ... Oh, you too, Third Child," Fori added with a slight wave over her shoulder as she disappeared into the kitchen to retrieve her keys.
Kikyo entered the driveway calm and poised, nothing like what she was when alone with Kagome. She got into the front seat, as she had since kindergarten, and Kagome got into the very back seat of the van. As she had since kindergarten.
There was a rumpling as Kikyo looked through her bag, then turned to glare at Kagome venomously. "I don't LIKE ham, you doddering fool! Worthless Dirt! THIRD Child, Ugly Child," Kikyo continued, snarling. "Give me your lunch."
Kagome silently handed her her bag, not offering either comment or facial expression. After the lunch exchange, Kagome merely turned to look out the window, knowing that Kikyo would have taken all but the apple out of what- is-now-Kagome's lunch.
"I get to see my boyfriend today," Kikyo said calmly, appeased. "You don't have a boyfriend, do you? You never will. You're ugly."
Kagome leaned her forehead against the window, looking at a crack in the pavement, focusing on the cold seeping into her skin. She folded her arms over her coat, hugging it against her body as her self-hatred got to her. 'I forget how to cry,' she realized blankly. 'I haven't in so long....'
Kikyo picked at her nails as she continued, letting her contempt freely into her voice. "His name is InuYasha. He thinks you're ugly, too. You dress funny, he says."
'Of course I dress funny. I'm wearing your old clothes. Along with a few of Manna's.'
"That's why you'll never have a boyfriend. You wear funny clothes, and you never do your hair. And you act weird, too. You don't talk to anyone. You're a Funny-looking Ugly Weird Child. Stupid."
Kikyo's rampage was cut short by Fori opening the driver's door. Fori, too, had tired of beating on Kagome after the child had ceased to show emotions. As it was, her back was too mottled with scars to make much of a difference anyway. The stepmother slid into her seat, jingling her keys as she put them into the keyhole, brandishing her long, sculpted nails.
"Kikyo, honey, have you any plans today?" she questioned politely, her voice sweet. Like cotton candy. Appear the beautiful flower, be the serpent beneath it.
The somber pre-adolescent appeared bored. "Oh. Meeting with my boyfriend today."
Fori looked into the rearview mirror, tangibly disappointed at Kagome's lack of response. "Sounds like fun! Too bad the Third Child can't get one, too. She's just too ugly."
Kikyo nodded somberly, brightening as the school appeared ahead. Kagome shrunk into her seat as they neared her nightmare for the past six years. Kikyo had sure had fun in there with her. She had become something of a class joke, having to get up every two minutes to sharpen her sister's pencil like some sort of lapdog.
Kikyo had insisted to the teachers that Kagome was mentally retarded, but standardized testing soon proved otherwise. Kagome was quickly promoted to the next grade level, leaving Kikyo behind. Fori said it was because she was abnormal.
Deprived of her pencil sharpener, Kikyo took to torturing her sister at lunch and recess, making her run useless errands which Kagome would at first run fearfully, then, as time passed, with more and more apathy. She would go slower, meander even, which she would get Punished for at home.
It just didn't matter anymore.
"Get out, Thing," Fori threw at her, glaring at her.
Taking a deep breath, Kagome slid out of the car for the first day of the year. She made a beeline towards the doors out of habit, walking with what appeared to be a laid-back stride but was in fact a tense battle of emotions.
"Oh, my God! Your brother's transferring here from that Private School?" Kikyo squealed with horror at her boyfriend. She had heard quite a few horror stories about the brother from hell from InuYasha, and believed every one of them. "Wow, he's in eighth grade, huh?"
Kikyo was in seventh grade... Which meant Kagome was in the eighth. Grimacing, she hoped that this terror-brother wouldn't be in her class. She had enough to deal with as it was.
Digging in her pockets quickly, Kagome checked to make sure what she thought was her room was really her room before going INTO the room. Breathing out in relief, she entered timidly. No one was there, just the teacher. He was young-looking, maybe in his twenties. His hair was to his shoulders and pulled back in a loose ponytail. Ignoring his look of surprise, she lowered her head and made for the last desk.
"Wait, wait! I knew the student's were shy, but really!" the teacher laughed heartily and nabbed her shoulder lightly to stall her, turning her towards him. "I'm Mr. Houshi. Miroku Houshi."
Kagome braved a quick glance at him through her bangs. "Higurashi Kagome."
His expression quickly transformed into one of delight. "Ah! The smart prodigal child! You seem to do VERY good work! Except..." he said as his smile faded into a half-smile, his eyes crinkling worriedly. "It also says you're not very social at all. Why is that?"
Kagome shrugged, half to get his hand off her shoulder and half in response. Shying away from his touch, she merely hurried to the back of the class.
"Wait! There's assigned seating! You're... hum, let me check... there!" he pointed to a seat in the very middle of the room.
Paling considerably, Kagome stared at him. Slowly, she edged towards the prescribed seat and sat down gingerly, as if it burned her.
Suddenly, Kikyo burst into the room, looking murderous. "Filthy Third Brat! You--" she noticed Mr. Houshi, who was currently staring at her in astonishment. "Excuse me Sir!" she added prettily, curtsying, then turned to Kagome, grabbing her by the arm and yanking her up. "This is just my sister."
"Um, I noticed! You two look almost alike!" the teacher gushed enthusiastically, wondering at the rough treatment.
Kikyo smiled at him heartstoppingly, then turned to Kagome with a spitting glare. "You Ugly Thing, you forgot to sharpen my pencils. Go sharpen them NOW, and I want them done before class starts. Bring them to my room, 6A." With that, she dumped about twenty pencils onto Kagome's desk and whisked out of the room gracefully.
Sighing internally, Kagome rose and gathered the pencils, bringing them to the pencil sharpener, bowing her head to hide her blush at Mr. Houshi's curious look. Feeling his eyes boring into her back the whole time, she sharpened the pencils one by one, silent.
Finishing in about ten minutes, she left quickly.
Hurrying down the hall and turning into 6A, Kagome stopped in the doorway to locate Kikyo. Her twin was in the back, flirting with a young boy. Sighing externally this time, she strode quickly to Kikyo and held the pencils out in a fist. The boy looked at her blankly, then, remembering who she was, resumed his conversation as if she wasn't there.
Kikyo snatched her pencils. "Took you long enough. Now get out of here; I don't want to be seen with you," she hissed.
Kagome turned, muttering as she went up the aisle. "You're WELCOME," she murmured sarcastically, earning a shocked stare from all who heard her. Whispers echoed through the room.
"She spoke! Did you hear that?"
"Woah! She spoke! I thought she was mute!"
"She might as well be, the way her sister orders her around like a little doggy!" this was followed by a couple of yips, which everyone was tittering at when Kagome finally exited the room. A paper airplane flew into the back of her head as she left, causing her to pause. After pausing, she hurried on, grabbing the airplane from her hair as she went down the empty halls.
She quickened her steps, knowing she was already late. She ducked into the doorway of 13A as the room fell silent. It erupted into noise again, despite the fact that the new teacher was introducing himself.
"It's that weird kid we were telling you about."
"She doesn't talk at all. And her sister's always ordering her around like a slave. It's sad, really."
They were all talking to this white-haired young boy of about fourteen, solemn and golden-eyed.
Mr. Houshi swallowed as he looked at her, then, not sure what to do, merely gestured to her seat. "You may sit, Kagome."
Sesshoumaru watched the new, shabbily-dressed child enter, her gaze to the floor. As she took her seat beside him, she looked up briefly, enough for him to see her eyes. What he saw startled him, causing his hand to twitch. He clenched it into a fist. She looked... broken. There was a whisper of a long-forgotten fire somewhere in the back of her blue eyes... but mostly there was a sense of defeat, loss... like she was nothing more than dead.
She slid into her seat and looked at the desk, glancing up every once in a while to the teacher. She kept her hands either clasped in her lap or on her desk, and she sat absolutely still. Even Sesshoumaru fidgeted every once in a while, but this girl... she was... She was so still, so dead. She kept her coat wrapped tightly around her, as if afraid to let anyone see under it.
The eighth graders looked at her with disgusted pity, like they would a crippled animal or something. She was either oblivious or used to it, for she looked neither uncomfortable or unhappy. She looked neutral. Calm.
Kagome herself took one glance at the new kid's white hair and identified him. InuYasha's brother. 'Just ignore him. Maybe he'll leave me alone.'
Lunch came. Students filed into the lunchroom or outside. Most went to a large courtyard for eating, while the rest occupied the cafeteria. Sesshoumaru kept an eye on Kagome, and followed her to a tree, where she sat and pulled out her lunch bag. She pulled her meager lunch (an apple) out of it and crumpled the bag, putting it into her lap to throw away later.
"That's all you're eating?" he asked insolently, then, hearing himself, made his voice a bit gentler. "It's not very healthy." Okay, not a whole lot gentler.
She looked up at him slowly, a flicker of surprise racing across her face before she just faded into a listless stare, blocking him out. For some reason, this just completely pissed him off. She was possibly the only girl in the school not fawning over him.
"It's rude to ignore people," he snapped.
She merely looked ahead, not responding at all to his tone of voice. With a jolt, he realized she was used to it. He had watched her at first recess, how her sister treated her.
Kagome finished her apple and stood, brushing off her jeans. Pulling her backpack over one shoulder, she walked past the white-haired beauty. At the last second, he grabbed her shoulder. A flash of a memory stirred in her head, being beaten by an old fishing pole until it broke, grabbed by the shoulder, forced to the ground, eating dirt—
Instinctively, she yanked away from him, turning to face him, her breath stopped as she felt that familiar pain in the back of her throat. Seeing his startled look, she came back to reality.
Turning and running, she tossed her garbage into a bin and made her way to the other side of the school to sit and... and think.
Sesshoumaru stared after her, letting his outstretched hand fall back to his side. He hadn't missed her look. It was... She had been terrified, in so much pain. When he simply TOUCHED her.
'What did they do to her....'
A/N Okay, the promised rebellion hasn't come yet, but it will. IT WILL! Happy reading!