Author's Note: Yes, another flashback. Just a fun one between Kagome and Kikyou. As you can tell from the flashback and the first two chapters Kikyou is a protective, caring sister. She's always been the level-headed, responsible one of the two, even as a toddler.
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Chapter Three"Aren't you ever going to cut your hair Kikyou?" asked Kagome as she sat patiently on her bed as Kikyou sat behind her, running a brush through her younger sister's dark locks.
"Maybe," said Kikyou as she smiled at Kagome's question. She had been letting her hair grow out for the past six years and it was about down to her elbows by now and was still growing. Kagome on the hand kept her hair to her shoulders.
"I wish I had hair like yours, it's so pretty and shiny like Mama's," said Kagome as she smiled and felt Kikyou tug lightly on her hair and scoop half of it into a pigtail.
"But your hair is so much easier to work with," said Kikyou as she fastened a ribbon to keep it in place.
"I guess so," said Kagome as she swung her legs back and forth off the edge of her bed. Kikyou always did her hair in the morning, unless something came up. It was just one of those things where they got to spend time together without anything in the way. These were the times Kagome enjoyed the most in her day.
"Are you going to lessons today?" asked Kikyou as she finished up Kagome's hair.
"I don't know," said Kagome as she grinned mischievously.
"Nani will be quite angry if you don't," said Kikyou as she referred to their female teacher. "and I think it would be good for you to at least come to lessons three times a week."
"Oh…okay. If you think so," said Kagome as she hopped off her bed, her short, stubby pigtails bouncing lightly off her shoulders. Giggling she twirled around, admiring herself in the mirror on the side of her room. "It looks really good today Kikyou!"
"So how come you guys got here early?" asked Kagome as she and Bankotsu took a stroll along the side of the castle.
"Well we set off early just in case we came upon things on our journey, but surprisingly there wasn't much," said Bankotsu as he smiled. "So we got here just in time actually."
"How long are you staying?" asked Kagome curiously as she looked down at the ground, watching as she put one foot in front of the other.
"For a while I think," said Bankotsu. "I'll need to fend off all those males coming after you."
Kagome let out a laugh at Bankotsu as her laughter soon became snorts as Bankotsu looked at her, quite offended.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Bankotsu.
"Oh, nothing, nothing. Just promise to kick Kouga all the way back to his home," said Kagome as she grinned.
"I don't like him," said Bankotsu. "He seems very…clingy."
"I knew you would agree! Everyone else thinks he's such a nice young man," said Kagome as she shook her head.
"There's no man good enough for you," said Bankotsu firmly, but in the end a smile couldn't help but fall over his face.
"Well there has to be!" said Kagome. "I can't live my whole life along you know. What kind of man do you think would be good enough for me?"
Bankotsu crossed his arms across his chest as he looked up at the blue sky, thinking quite hard. In his mind the man he thought of seemed perfectly impossible to reach.
"He has to be strong enough to protect you," said Bankotsu. "Patient enough to tolerate you – now don't make that face at me. You can get quite…active. – A heart big enough to love all of you, fast enough to keep up with you, smart enough to treat you right, and he has to look as good as me."
"You don't look all that good to me," said Kagome thoughtfully as she grinned innocently at Bankotsu who lightly rapped on the side of her head.
"I'm very handsome I'll have you know," said Bankotsu. (AN: Oh god yes…he's so damn sexy!)
"Alright, alright," said Kagome as she laughed.
"Now come on, your Mother will have my ass if I make you late for your cake meeting," said Bankotsu as he scooped up Kagome with ease as she let out a small squeal of surprise.
"We have to have chocolate," said Kagome as she, Kikyou, and Isuzu huddled together in the kitchen over a small book. They were flipping through the pages to see what kind of cake they would prefer to have.
"And the icing where it's not really icing, but it's like the cream cheese sort of kind," said Kikyou.
"Yeah! That stuff tastes twice as better!" cried Kagome in agreement. (AN: OMG, TOTALLY IS!)
"All right, chocolate inside or outside?" asked Isuzu.
"I think we should have the chocolate inside and then the icing stuff can be that off-white sort of color," said Kagome.
"That sounds good," said Kikyou agreeing.
"Well with that settled, how about we pick out a design," said Isuzu as she turned the book so that both her daughters had a better view of the pages. The woman leaned back in her seat as she watched them admire all the cakes upon the pages. Her eighteenth birthday party hadn't been as grand as she was going to make this one. It seemed as if they only reason it was going to be so nice was because she wanted to get rid of the guilt she felt. Then again, that seemed selfish. The more she thought about it, it sounded as if she was doing this party for her own purpose and not for her daughters.
"Mother? We picked one out," said Kikyou as she gently prodded her Mother back.
"Oh! Already? Let me see," said Isuzu as she glanced over at the page and smiled. "You picked the largest you could find…didn't you?"
"Well, lots of people, lots of cake!" cried Kagome as she laughed.
"That's exactly what Fu-" began Isuzu without even thinking; suddenly a sharp kick from Kikyou from under the table stopped her from going any further. The woman looked at her oldest daughter and received a hard look.
Kagome looked from Kikyou to Isuzu, a confused look upon her face. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but it seemed like something between them and currently she could care less. There were more important matters to attend to, like the refreshments and snacks.
"Why do you protect her so much?" asked Isuzu as she looked down in the darkness of her tea. She slowly turned her spoon around and around in the cup as she watched the sugar disappear.
"Because I love her," said Kikyou simply as she looked at her Mother. "and she's my Sister."
"But…she's not," said Isuzu slowly.
"She is," said Kikyou firmly. "It doesn't matter that we don't have the same blood parents. We grew up together and technically you adopted her in some ways, so yes, she is my sister."
A small smile flickered upon Isuzu's face as she heard her daughter speak. When they were smaller Isuzu always feared they might never get along. She had seen so many sisters be pushed far apart by bitter feuds, but Kagome and Kikyou were close. Closer than she had ever been with her own sister. "I'm afraid Kikyou…what if she hates me? What if she disappears from our lives? My heart would break…she's all I have left of Fuka."
"Kagome wouldn't do that," said Kikyou. "She's not that kind of person."
"But…people change," she whispered quietly as she watched a tear silently slip down her face and straight into her tea.
"Mother," said Kikyou sharply, a rather edgy tone to her voice. "I forbid you to bring this up anymore, if you're afraid that Kagome will be hurt then at least let her have her happiness for awhile. Now, I expect the rest of the week to go on quietly without this matter being brought up again."
Then swiftly she stood up from her chair and left the room quickly, leaving her Mother to pick herself back together again. Closing the door quietly behind her, she stood alone in the dark hallway, her hands clasping the handle tightly. She didn't want to be so…cold, but if she wasn't strong, then who would be? She had to be this way; she had to protect all of them.
Suddenly, her strong demeanor was washed away as she crumpled to the floor. Her hands were outstretched in front of her as she watched them shake, although it was a bit hard to make them out in the darkness. Her body shuddered as she let tears slip down her face. Sometimes she didn't want to be the strong one. She wanted to be like Kagome, so childish and carefree. She was the only person who managed to light up the dreary times and knowing that there might be a chance that might be gone…it killed her.
"Lady Kikyou?" said a voice quietly as a figure emerged from the darkness.
Kikyou looked up in surprise as she watched Suikotsu crouch down next to her. She tried desperately to recompose herself, but failed miserably. Her body suddenly tensed up as she felt his hand place itself upon her cheek and slowly, with his thumb, wipe away her tears. She suddenly relaxed into his hand as she felt the tears slowly begin to diminish.
Even without words being spoken it seemed Suikotsu knew what the problem was. Then slowly he eased Kikyou into his arms as she clutched onto his shirt tightly, a new wave of tears washed over her as the two sat together in the darkness.
"Hojou? Are you here?" asked Kagome slowly as she peeped into one of the rooms and found it completely empty. With a sigh she shut the door and leaned against the door with a small frown. It seemed that Hojou and Sango were avoiding her somewhat nowadays and she didn't understand why. Did they not like her anymore? Was there something wrong with her?
"Lady Kagome, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be preparing for the party?" asked Kaede as the old woman came across her in the hallway.
"Oh…Kikyou said we had done enough for today. Mother looked tired anyway," said Kagome as she smiled. "But now I'm looking for Sango and Hojou, you wouldn't know where they are, would you?"
"They're busy cleaning the house Lady Kagome, it's best if you did not bother them," said Kaede as she looked at Kagome, who's face had fallen. "You might try later."
"Alright…" said Kagome as she let out another sigh and walked dejectedly down the hallway as Kaede went the opposite direction. It seemed everyone was too busy to even have a little chat with her. She was going to be glad when this whole party business was over and done with and everything returned to normal.
Suddenly Kagome felt herself bump lightly into another person as this said person stumbled back. Looking down slightly a smile graced itself upon her face as she recognized the person to be Kohaku, Sango's little brother.
"I'm so sorry Lady Kagome!" cried Kohaku as he kept bowing.
"It's okay Kohaku!" said Kagome as she smiled. "Are you off to do something?"
"Yes, I'm supposed to help arrange the flowers…" he said a bit quietly as a small blushed crept over his face.
"That sounds nice," said Kagome. "I wish I could help."
"But you mustn't! A princess should never do servant's work!" cried Kohaku.
Kagome winced slightly at the word servant. That's what everyone kept saying. She shouldn't do this and she shouldn't do that. What could she do? Not have any fun?
"Have you seen Sango or Hojou then?" asked Kagome hopefully.
"N-no," said Kohaku rather hurriedly. "I have to go though. There are a lot of flowers."
Then before she could question him any further he hurried off. A sad expression was placed upon her face as she watched him run off. Kagome began walking once again and found herself standing on the outer rim porch that surrounded the whole house. Glancing around the corner she saw Jakotsu and Bankotsu sitting together, whispering silently to themselves. It didn't seem like they were doing anything silly, which surprised her since whenever they were together they never acted serious.
Walking towards them she watched as they caught sight of her and immediately stop talking. A confused look crossed over her face briefly, wondering now what exactly they had been talking about that they couldn't discuss in front of her. A surprise present perhaps? Now that she wouldn't mind at all.
"Still up Kagome?" asked Bankotsu.
"It's not that late," said Kagome stubbornly.
"Yeah, I guess it's not," said Jakotsu as a fleeting smile came upon his face.
Kagome raised a slight eyebrow at Jakotsu, surprised at how…nice he was being. Normally all his remarks were sarcastic, but he was being decent now.
"So what were you two talking about?" asked Kagome as she sat down next to them.
"The party," said Bankotsu.
"Your future husband," said Jakotsu at the same time.
"What!" asked Kagome confusedly as she looked at the both of them.
"He was kidding," said Bankotsu as he looked at Jakotsu and glared.
"Yeah…I was kidding. We were just talking about the party," said Jakotsu as he nodded.
Silence suddenly flooded the conversation as the three of them sat down awkwardly. Kagome sighed as she stood up again, deciding that she was better off going to bed. Without a word she left the two of them and as she drifted away she could hear them whispering once again.
Walking slowly to her room she stopped at her doorway and suddenly spotted Sango in the hallway. They locked eyes and before Kagome could call her Sango quickly disappeared down a different hallway. A look of hurt was placed upon her girl's face as she shut her bedroom door behind her slowly as she walked silently to her bed. What was wrong with everyone? What were they whispering about? Why did they avoid her? Was there something wrong with her?