Not Pretty Enough

Chapter 11 (can you believe it's gotten this far? I can't!) w00tz!

Uncovered

Disclaimer:

Kasey: WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT GUYS?
Rumiko and Me: What? What was what about? (We whistle innocently.)
Kasey: You tried to push me off a building! Luckily there was a mattress truck passing by...
Me: Curse those mattress people. They've been ruining my life ever since I fell asleep in one of their stores...
Rumiko: Don't worry, we'll get her next time!
Kasey: WALL OF PEACE! WALL OF PEACE! (a.n: It's a thespian thing.)
Rumiko: Fine then. I own Inuyasha.
Kasey: I own Not Pretty Enough.
Me: I own your soulz! w00t.

Kagome awoke, opening her eyes slowly. She was wrapped in a thick, warm blanket and rocking gently in the waves… her half conscious mind seemed to lock onto the word waves. Yes, waves. Was there something she should remember about waves? She didn't know and instead clutched her pillow tightly and prepared to fall back into a deep sleep when something happened. At first she thought she must have been imagining it, but when it happened again Kagome knew for certain that something she never thought could be happening must indeed be happening. Her pillow gave a slight twitch, and unless her mind was playing dirty tricks on her it let out a low groan. She froze, the once warm and comfortable bed becoming icy as she waited for her pillow to attack her and hoped desperately it did not have rabies. Just when she thought she might be safe it moved for a third time, twitching slightly in her tight embrace.

Kagome let out a bloodcurdling screech and sat straight up. The waves became more violent and she curled up into a ball, eyes wide with horror. Why was her pillow alive? When she screamed she lost her grip on it, and now it was in the wavy bed somewhere with her. Kagome wished for night vision right about then, and could only wait in fear as the waves turned into slight ripples. She still sat motionless, tensed and awaiting an attack when what she was waiting for finally came. Something brushed against her shoulder and she squealed, flipping backwards and aiming a punch at it. She connected and the pillow made a slight "oof" noise.

"Kagome... what the heck are you doing?" A sleepy voice asked.

"How do you... why do you know my name, Pillow? And WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO ME?" She shrieked, becoming hysterical. This was way too much for her. She curled into a tighter ball, inching farther and farther away from where the pillow was until she grasped emptiness. Being unable to stop herself, she plummeted off the bed, screaming again, and hit the carpeted floor with a thump.

The light flicked on, and she found herself sprawled in an unfamiliar room, sprawled out on the floor with her long nightshirt askew. Inuyasha was standing by the door, dressed in a long shirt like hers and looking at her as if she were insane.

"Kagome... what's wrong?" He asked, his eyes looking around for some other person that could be causing her to act as if she was being murdered in some horrible way.

"Inuyasha..." Was all Kagome could whisper. By now she figured out what should have been blatantly obvious to anyone else. Inuyasha had been the supposed "Pillow of Doom." A deep flush crept on to her cheeks and she hoped that, for the sake of her sanity, Inuyasha would not remember much of what happened. She was in luck.

"Err, okay... If you say so, Kagome."

After Kagome had calmed down a bit Inuyasha offered her a ride home, something she gladly accepted. It was noon on Sunday and she knew that her mother would be either missing her or agitated that she wasn't home already. Inuyasha drove silently, his silver hair tucked messily behind his ear. He had a look of deep concentration on his face and a certain calmness about him that was only shattered when some jerk in a white Chevy cut him off. Kagome fought tried to keep from staring at him, but she couldn't help it. She barely knew this guy, yet she already couldn't stop thinking about him. Kagome blushed, and couldn't help wondering if he was thinking of her. As if he was reading her mind, Inuyasha glanced over, giving her an odd look.

"Anything wrong, Kaggie?" He asked, lazily smiling at her. She blushed an even darker red and could only shake her head. They pulled up in front of her shadowy two story house and Inuyasha put the car in neutral. Kagome glanced at him and their eyes met for a split second before Inuyasha jerked his head away and rested his golden eyes upon the steering wheel.

"Well, thanks... Bye!" Kagome called, waving as she stepped onto her porch. Inuyasha's car had barely pulled out of the driveway when her mother was standing next to her glaring.

"Kagome Higurashi! I thought I raised you better than that!" She yelled, resting her hands on her hips and frowning. Kagome didn't understand what had her mother so riled up already.

"What happened?" She asked, not exactly wanting to know the answer. Her mother only scowled again, rolling her eyes.

"Don't play stupid with me, Missy. I know you didn't spend the night at Sango's. Why did you lie to me?" She barked angrily and narrowed her eyes. Kagome could almost see the steam rising from her mother's ears and cringed. Why did Sango betray her? She'd have to do some fast thinking if she wanted to get out of this without a year of grounding. Sadly, she was still tired so nothing came to mind and she could only stare blankly at her enraged mother.

"You stayed with that Inuyasha boy, didn't you? Of all the people! What did you do with him? Ugh, never mind! I don't even want to know!" Her mother seemed to go on and on with countless "What would your father say?", "Is that any way for a mature young woman to behave?" "I never raised you to do such despicable and irresponsible things!" before she was finally finished and allowed Kagome back into the house where she promptly escaped to her room. Sango had some major explaining to do.

d3monslay3r: Kaggi!
xNotPrettyEnough: yo, what happened last night? I thought you said you would cover for me while I was at Inu's.
d3monslay3r: Eek, so sorry kaggi! Nothing we could do! Ur mom came over... She didn't believe you!
xNotPrettyEnough: ur kiddin, right? Ugh. Why don't I doubt u?

Kagome said goodbye and walked into the bathroom, craving nothing but a warm shower. The warm, steaming water poured over her body, lulling her into a warm feeling of comfort and relaxing her muscles gently. She got out after about half an hour and toweled off, watching lazily as rivers of water cascaded from her hair. After drying for a few minutes she wrapped the towel around her and stepped outside, flopping onto her pink bed and sighing contently.

She was 7 years old, getting ready to go to school for the first time in her new town. Mother was laughing, her round stomach protruding from her sunny yellow blouse.

"Kagome, you don't want to be late on your first day, do you?" Father teased, the corners of his eyes crinkling into a warm smile. Kagome, her shoulder length raven colored hair done up in pigtails, shook her head violently and scooped her purple book bag with a kitten on it and pulled on her brand new white sandals in a hurry. Her parents exchanged a smile before her mother stood on her tip-toes to kiss her father on the cheek. Father had always been the tallest of the family. He stood like a tree, tall and sturdy. Father lifted her onto his shoulders and she squealed with delight as he ducked down to fit her through the doorway to their 3 story home.

"I'm way too old for this Daddy!" She protested, but continued giggling to show him that she really didn't mean it. He brought her into the family car, a white sedan, and slid into the front seat.

"Buckled up?" He called as he clicked his own safety belt into place. Kagome smiled, and made sure not to catch her new yellow sundress in the buckle when she snapped it. With one final wave to Mother, Kagome and Father pulled out of the driveway and out of their residential neighborhood. School wasn't that far, only 10 minutes away at the most, but Father insisted that his little princess be driven on the first day instead of taking the bus.

Her father noticed the car coming towards them in the wrong lane, but knew it was already too late. Kagome was in the back, singing happily to herself, completely unaware of the danger looming ahead of them. Suddenly, the car swerved, and Kagome screamed.

"Hold on my little princess. It will all be okay." Father reassured from the front seat as he swerved one final time. If luck was on their side, the drunk would have missed them. Instead, the drunk's car fishtailed, slamming at an angle into the side of the car. Kagome screamed again as glass shattered and the grinding noise of crushing metal cut through the silence of the morning. She never even heard her father cry out in shock, or in pain.

Before her seven year old mind could even grasp what was happening, her father was gone.

Kagome sat straight up, her eyes streaming with tears.

"Father!" She called to her now dark room, but the only reply was the faint whispering of the crickets outside. The last time she dreamt of the accident was only a few days ago, the day before they moved back to Tokyo. Kagome had opposed the move, of course. It had been nine years since the crash and Kagome was a teenager and Souta, who had never known his father, was 9. Most of the memories of it only came back to haunt her on certain nights and she thought it was silly to give up everything they had in their newer, bigger home. Kagome never realized that her mother was also haunted by memories, but wasn't lucky enough to only have nightmares on certain nights. On a particularly stormy night a few days before the move was scheduled, Kagome had walked in to her mother's room one night after returning from a party an hour late to find her mother crying, thinking her daughter had now died in a car crash.

That was the only time Kagome had ever seen her mother cry for that blurry image of a man she called father, but when she saw the look upon her face she knew it was definitely not the first.

Kagome stretched, brushing her towel of her legs and looking down at them. Faint scars made jagged patterns all over her tanned legs and she couldn't help but run a finger over them. How could one person die while another one, in that same car, walk away with only a broken arm and cuts? Maybe if she hadn't accepted a ride from Father that day he would still be with them...

A noise from her computer made her jump and she headed over to the screen. It was an instant message.

DoggieChan1: Kagome, hi.
DoggieChan1: What are you doing up so late?

Kagome sat down at her desk, a chill running through her bare legs as she pulled the keyboard out. So late? What was Inuyasha talking about? She glanced at her bedside clock. The red neon numbers read 1:02. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was amazing how fast time went by, and even more amazing how fast you could lose someone to it.

An: . I'm sorry for not updating sooner. I'm too lazy to say anything else. Review! Oh yeah, sorry about the beginning. That was rather weird, wasn't it? O.o