Author's Note: Hello everyone and welcome to Who Am I? This is my first InuYasha story, but NOT my first story. You may notice within the story there are big differences from the Anime/Manga and the characters may be out of character. Kagome may seem much more childish then you might remember her from the Anime as, but she is the same girl…just more things added to her. Well if you have any questions you can just ask them in a review when you're done reading. . I don't own InuYasha by the way…which sucks really bad.
Cries of pain filled the air as a woman lying on top of a blanket soaked with sweat clutched another woman's hand tightly. Her dark black hair was matted against her forehead, her eyes shut tight. The woman sitting next to the crying woman whispered encouraging words into the crying woman's ear as tears began to fall from her eyes. Her teeth were clenched tightly as she tired her hardest to push the baby out.
"Come on Fuka, you're almost there," said a third woman as she sat before the crying woman, her hands held before her, ready to grasp the newborn. "Just one more…one more."
With a final cry the fresh cries of a newborn baby girl erupted within the room as the woman fell limp upon the futon. Her dark brown eyes lay open looking up at the ceiling before her. The woman who had been holding the cry woman's hand suddenly erupted into cries as the third woman clutched the baby close to her breast.
"M'lady…" whispered the third woman as she looked at the sobbing woman who clutched onto the now dead woman's hand tightly.
"She's gone Ouka…" said the woman.
"We knew this would happen," said Ouka as she began to wrap the baby tightly in a towel, her cries dying down.
"But I was hoping it wouldn't," said the woman as she reached over with a trembling hand to shut Fuka's eyes.
"We all hoped," said Ouka as she held out the baby girl for the woman to take.
"But I'll keep my promise and you shall as well," said the woman firmly as she blinked the last traces of tears away from her eyes as she brought the baby girl close to her heart.
"Yes, of course," said Ouka.
"Isuzu M'lady…," said Fuka as she stood before the woman who sat upon a grand golden throne before her. Isuzu smiled kindly down at the young woman, her hand placed lightly upon her bulging stomach that rivaled even Fuka's.
"I've told you many times to simply acknowledge me by my name," said Isuzu as she let out a merry laugh. "We've known each other for many years."
"But you were always and will be my Queen," said Fuka as she smiled.
"Is there something you needed?" asked Isuzu as she slowly stood up from her seat with a bit of a struggle.
"Isuzu…you and I both know I shall not live through this birth," said Fuka slowly as her trembling hands held her stomach gently.
The smile upon Isuzu's face was quickly wiped away as she walked slowly towards Fuka. A gentle hand from the Queen was laid upon her shoulder.
"Don't say such things…" said Isuzu softly.
"We cannot deny it," said Fuka firmly, but her voice began to crack as she continued on. "But what will happen of Kagome if she lives…? She'll have no Father and no other family to fall back upon Isuzu."
"She'll have me. She'll have Ouka," said Isuzu as she tipped up Fuka's chin. "I promise to take care of Kagome, my dear Fuka, as if she were my own."
Fuka erupted into tears as Isuzu took the woman as best as she could within her arms, which was quite difficult for both of them were quiet pregnant. Isuzu held Fuka dearly, her hand stroking the woman's long black hair. Within her own eyes were traces of tears but she was determined not to let them fall.
"Do not fret though Fuka…you'll make it," said Isuzu.
How wrong she had been though. Only a few weeks after the promise Fuka was now lying dead at her feet. Isuzu stood up with the now sleeping Kagome within her arms as Ouka stood up as well. The two shuffled out of the room as several people went in and began to remove the body of Fuka Higurashi.
"What will you do M'lady?" asked Ouka.
"Like I said to Fuka. I shall treat Kagome as if she were my own," said Isuzu as the two turned sharply into a room to their right. The room was obviously a nursery and within the room were three cribs, two of them already occupied. The first one held Isuzu's own daughter who had not even been more less than a day ago. The small form of Kikyou lay sleeping within the crib as Isuzu looking fondly down at her daughter. Within the next crib lay another child except she was a bit bigger. This was Ouka's daughter who had been born several months prior; Sango. Slowly Isuzu lay Kagome down within the third crib. "Nobody except you and Kaede know of Kikyou, Kagome, nor of me going into labor this day."
"Yes," said Ouka as she nodded.
"So it will be quite simple," said Isuzu. "We shall go on from this day pretending that Kagome is also my daughter. Kikyou's…twin you might say."
Ouka simply nodded.
"It will work…won't it?" asked Isuzu with uncertainty in her voice now. The tough demeanor was suddenly replaced with fear.
"Yes, of course!" said Ouka as she looked at the young Queen.
Ouka grasped Isuzu's hand and gently led her away from the nursery; the two taking one last fleeting glance at the three cribs and then closing the door and disappearing down the dim hallway.
"SANGO!" cried Kagome as she sprinted down the hallway, her hands grasping her kimono tightly so she wouldn't trip over the hem. The young eighteen year old was quite the sight to see. She was clad in a light lavender kimono with a pattern of light blue lilacs, except the kimono was quite askew upon her shoulders and hung down slightly on her small frame. Her hair had been in a neat bun upon her head but all her running had caused it to fall loosely around her face and shoulders. She was out of breath and beads of sweat were starting to form upon her forehead as she suddenly cried out in surprise and came flying to a halt in front of a pair of feet upon her stomach. She had accidentally lost grip upon her kimono and tripped over the hem just as she had predicted.
"Kagome! Are you all right? Why were you running like that…and screaming too!" cried Sango as she knelt down and help Kagome to her feet.
"I'm fine, fine," said Kagome as she swatted Sango's hands away and began to recompose herself, fixing her kimono.
"So why were you looking for me?" asked Sango.
"To go outside of course!" said Kagome. "I haven't been to the garden at all this week, I bet it's full of those nasty weeds!"
"But don't you have lessons today?" asked Sango as she looked at her friend, a rather curious look in her eyes.
"Oh…right…well," said Kagome as she stepped back slightly and let out a nervous laugh. "Missing a day won't hurt! I mean I'm sure Kikyou will be angry with me but it'll be okay, she'll forgive me in the end, like always!"
"But I have chores to finish," said Sango as she held up three dust cloths in her hand.
"I'll help so you can finish it faster!" said Kagome as she quickly swiped one of the cloths from Sango's hand. "So which room is it today?"
"The blue room," said Sango as she walked side by side with her friend.
"Really? I bet we could sneak a couple of biscuits out without anyone noticing," said Kagome as she laughed.
Sango rolled her eyes and laughed as well. Kagome's childish nature always seemed to amaze Sango. She herself was eighteen already but in only a week there was supposed to be a grand ball for the eighteenth birthday of Kikyou and Kagome. There were rumors flying about the castle that even the Lord of the Western Lands was going to arrive and his family. It was well known that for the past several years Lord InuTaisho had been fending off the forces of OniGumo from the North for quite some time. It was even more rare to catch sight of his two sons, Sesshomaru and InuYasha, for they were always upon the battlefield facing off against OniGumo's own son, Naraku.
King Kenji ruled the Eastern lands along side with his wife Isuzu and his two daughters, Kikyou and Kagome. Fortunately for the past few years the attacks upon his land had ceased and it seemed as if OniGumo only seemed to care about overtaking Lord InuTaisho.
"You'll be eighteen in a few days and you're still talking about sneaking off biscuits?" said Sango as she giggled.
"Don't remind me! I bet Kouga is going to be there, how awful!" cried Kagome as she shook her head.
Kouga had become the Lord of the Southern lands after OniGumo and his army ruthlessly murdered his parents. He was still quite the young man and it was only two years ago that Kagome had faced the wrath of Kouga's supposed "Manly Charms". She of course had refused him completely but it seemed he still wouldn't give up.
"Here we are," said Sango as she threw open the doors to the Blue Room and the two girls were face to face with a rather large room. It wasn't actually called the Blue Room of course, it was actually the Leisure room, but for the fact that it was decorated in all blue they called it the blue room. Isuzu had taken it upon her self to organize each room in the castle with a specific color, which often got tad confusing because there were three rooms in blue, red, yellow, etc. Of course they all had different shades though; dark blue, blue, sky blue, maroon, red, scarlet, etc.
"Were you really going to clean this all by yourself?" asked Kagome in amazement.
"Not really, Hojou was supposed to be here as well," said Sango, referring to their other friend. Hojou was only a few years older than them but he was a very close friend. He always looked after Kagome with care and considered her as a younger sister, just as he did Sango. He found it upon himself to protect them at all cost, except that was quite pointless since he was quite the weakling and got very clumsy, but they loved him anyway.
"I'm so very sorry! A pot overflowed in the kitchen and they all started yelling and I got flustered and knocked over some pans and silverware and then they all yelled at me and kicked me out," said Hojou as he finished pathetically.
Kagome burst out laughing as she held her stomach and clutched her dust rag tightly. Everyday they always heard a new tale with Hojou's clumsiness got himself into and everyday it was similar in it's own fashion and yet Kagome always ended up laughing herself silly. Even after seven years of it.
"Don't laugh Kagome," said Sango, even though she knew Kagome wouldn't listen. She had been saying the same thing for seven years.
"Anyway, it's okay, we should get started on dusting. Kagome, are you helping?" asked Hojou.
"Of course!" cried Kagome, her laughter suddenly ceasing as she placed a rather funny, serious look upon her face.
"But you're a princess, you shouldn't be helping! Dusting for goodness sakes, that's something only servants like Sango and myself should do," said Hojou as he shook his head at Kagome.
"Don't call yourself servants!" cried Kagome. "That's horrible, anyway we should get started before we have no time to pull out those darn nasty weeds."
Then before either Hojou or Sango could say a thing she began to drag her rag over the vases and table, swiping of the dust as quickly and effectively as she could. The two looked at each other and shook their heads and sighed as they trailed behind her, wiping up the dust she missed (which was quite a lot).
"We're done!" cried Kagome as she waved her rag high in the air and twirled it excitedly. "We did really good!"
Sango and Hojou both nodded, not mentioning the fact that Kagome almost did close to nothing except run about the room and collect maybe about a pinch of dust.
"So c'mon Sango, we got lots of work to do," said Kagome as she grasped her friend's hand and flung the dust rag and Hojou with a giggle. "Don't tell Mother though, okay Hojou?"
"I would never," said Hojou as he smiled and collected Sango's dust rag as well as he waved and smiled watching the two wander down the hallway. Once they were out of sight he collapsed to the floor in exhaustion as he ran the back of his hand over his forehead, which was dripping in sweat.
"So who do you think is going to come to our party?" asked Kagome as she sat upon the dirt in her garden, pulling out various weeds at a time amongst the flowers.
"I thought you didn't want to think about it?" said Sango playfully as she sat herself upon the dirt as well, pulling up her skirt a bit.
"I don't want to think about turning eighteen, I want to think about the party though," said Kagome. "Oh and I don't want to think about Kouga being at the party, but that's pretty much it."
Sango laughed at this as she pulled lightly upon some of the weeds, tugging out the roots and all.
"Well Kagura and Kanna of course," said Sango. "They're your cousins…and Yura, who'll come because she's Kikyou's friend. Mmm…I invited Shippou."
"Oh that's good," said Kagome as she nodded at Shippou's name.
"Ayame will be there, well I mean of course she's going to be there because Kouga is," said Sango as she stifled a laugh at Kagome as she said this. "Hiten and Manten."
"Manten is quite ugly…" added Kagome as she smiled as she said this. "but he's nice and it'll be nice to see him there."
"Bankotsu, Jakotsu, Suikotsu, and Renkotsu," said Sango.
"Really? Wow, I haven't seen them in forever!" cried Kagome excitedly. The four brothers were sons of a late friend of her Father's. There had been two others brothers, but they had met to a tragic end just as their Father had and only the four of them remained. To Kagome they were like the brothers she never had the chance to have, but she never got to see them that often. They traveled around helping various people and just out for some good adventure.
"Then of course there's the rumor that Lord InuTaisho will come and bring along his family," said Sango. "Sesshomaru, InuYasha, Rin, and their servants Jaken and Myoga."
"Rin?" asked Kagome confusedly. "I thought he only had two sons."
"Rin is the human daughter of his second wife," said Sango. "Her biological Father died a few years back and she was given to Lord InuTaisho."
"I hope they come, I want to meet her," said Kagome as she grinned childishly.
"and I'm sure all of your family will be there," said Sango as she glanced around before standing up again, wiping the dirt upon her apron.
"Where are you going?" asked Kagome.
"More chores Kagome," said Sango.
"I'll help," said Kagome as she began to stand up, but Sango pushed her back down gently.
"No," said Sango in a rather firm voice. "I know how much you want to but I won't let you. Hojou is right, you're a princess and will be turning eighteen in only a week, and you shouldn't be helping out doing chores with servants – Oh Kagome, shush! We're servants, deal with it. – anyway."
"Fine," mumbled Kagome as she watched Sango return within the castle, leaving her alone within her garden, left to pull out the weeds. Normally she liked being out here alone within her own special place, but today she wanted some company. Sighing she returned to plucking out the weeds.
She had begun this garden many years ago as a child and had declared it her special spot. Only she and the people she invited were welcome within it. Mostly she came her to think in peace and it was the one of few places where she acted her age. Stopping she scooted back on the dirt and leaned her back against the wooden gate that surrounded this place. The dark haired girl turned her head and looked up to meet with the falling sun in the sky.
Sometime she just didn't understand it at all. She felt as if she belonged with Sango and Hojou. She felt as if she just had to help out instead of sitting in a stuffy room learning etiquette and arithmetic, it felt so…foreign. Kagome just didn't understand why and it frustrated her.