Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha, I'm married to him! Nah, just don't sue me okay? I don't wanna have to get the shotgun out!
Chapter Six: Lies- We're Not So Different
We get up early this morning, I decide I want to go home about ten, or mother will have a hissy fit. So Inu-Yasha and I wake up and I'm grateful Inu-Yasha doesn't bring up last night, and we eat pancakes and pack up. But before I can even get into my truck, Inu-Yasha is mauling me again and Sesshomaru and Koga try pulling him off, without success. I can't even get a word out, but that's okay with me as long as I get home around ten or so. "Sorry," He's laughing when he finally pulls away, and you can't help but forgive that puppy-dog look; he's too cute for his own good, I think. "I can't help it! I can't get enough of you…" he reaches for me again, but I'm too fast and I close the door and lock it, pressing my lips teasingly against the window, and he growls and you can just smell a tantrum coming. So I give in and open the window and we make out for another minute before I'm pleading with him.
"Aww, come on, I gotta go! I'll call you tonight…" "Calling isn't good enough!" "Tough! I've got enough to go through when I get home… I'm gonna get mauled by my siblings already, I don't need you on my case!" He huffed and crossed his arms pouting, and it's sooo cute- but I really do need to get going. I lift his face to meet mine and console him. "Hey, I'll make it up to you. Day after the ball, you and me will fuck class completely and spend the whole day together, wherever. Whatever you want, okay? Does this satisfy you enough to let me go now?" I raise my eyebrows and stick out my bottom lip, and now he's won over. "Fine, fine. Just go, see if I care!" He tries to put on a sad or angry face- but I nudge his face with my nose, and he can't help but laugh and kiss me again. "Kay, later baby." He walks off with a weird smile plastered on his face, and I pull out of my parking spot laughing hysterically.
I was right- the second I walk in the door, pair of shovels clang over my head and two loud war cries echo in the house. Okay, trying to kill me with bare hands when I'm not looking, okay fine! But SHOVELS! This time they've gone too far! I dodge and duck until I reach the old family antique sword, called Tetsuiga- it's been hanging on the wall forever, right above the staircase. It's hanging next to the other old sword, Tensuiga- and I take the Tetsuiga, which is actually my favorite. It's supposed to kill hundreds with one swing- but … nobody's ever found out how to work it. Tensuiga's just the opposite- it's supposed to bring back people from the dead, and heal. So as soon as I remove it from it's sheath and point it at the oncoming monsters, they stop dead as suddenly Tensuiga's pointing at them beside Tetsuiga and I look to see Kioji winking at me. "We always fight side by side, don't we? It's no different now!" Our siblings froze- even though they had huge shovels that could knock us out, one: They would never hurt Kioji, and two: It was most likely our swords would plunge through their guts before they could swing those huge shovels.
So they come at me Kikyo aiming for the sword and Souta for me- but with Kioji on my side, they'd never stand a chance. Kioji uses Tensuiga to knock Kikyo's shovel out of her hands, I swing and clash with the Tetsuiga at Souta's, then using my left leg to kick in the balls. And all of a sudden, Souta's falling to the floor with the shovel falling to his head- it would kill him, and we all know it. I don't know why I do it- but I pull Souta out of the way before the metal can dig into his fat head and the metal clangs to the floor. To avoid the uncomfortable silence I can feel is coming; I jokingly shake my head and laugh at him, wagging a finger. "That's why we don't play with weapons in the house, and try to get along." Souta is speechless that I have just saved his life- but I make it like it's no big deal, I put Tetsuiga back into the hanging sheath, and Kioji does the same with Tensuiga, and I head up the stairs to see mother. But first, I hear Souta whisper. "Why'd ya do that?" I still shrug it off. "Aww, hey. I hate you more than anybody on this whole damn planet- but you're still my brother, I'm sure you'd do the same for me right?" I almost choke on my words, but I keep going up the stairs, Kioji following.
"Why did you save him? You'd kill him in a second if you could!" Kioji is clearly surprised by my actions. "Kioji… I don't think you ever realized. It wasn't my choice that he started hating me!" I ignore him for now and enter mother's suite, and a second later Kikyo is behind me. She is my twin sister, so this will be her birthday too- she's a lot more excited than I am though. She's actually not glaring daggers at me. Maybe my saving Souta flicked a switch in her brain? We enter mother's bedroom, and there she is again in bed. "Ah! My girls, there you are. I hope you're all rested up for the preparations for today..." She kicks back her covers and gets up in her white and red silk nightgown, and instantly Kikyo and I are thrown back in time. We are six years old, and our mother is a beautiful young queen of our grand castle. There was none like our mother, who loved and cared for us like precious jewels, and none were prouder than she to have such beautiful little princesses.
We would sit and watch her brush her long ebony hair, one-hundred and one long strokes. And no other mother of our friends that we knew- none of them were as beautiful as ours. And together, Kikyo and I promised each other we would be just as beautiful when we grew up. But back here in the present- though we are as beautiful as she had been- we don't have a mother so proud and caring, who loves us more than money. So we tell ourselves that we don't care, and we go on hating… "Okay, first thing- at twelve, the flowers, musicians and caterers will arrive. At one 'o clock the decorator will be here to set up. Oh- at two…thirty I think, the hairdressers and manicurists will be here. Ah- I almost forgot, your grandmother is coming to take you to lunch! Silly me, I'll go on with everything else while you're out…" "Did you say… Grandmother Kaisha!" In one of those rare moments, Kikyo and I take on identical expressions of horror. Grandmother Kaisha… if there was at least one person Kikyo and I hated and almost feared, it was our witch grandmother from hell. Lunch? FUCK NO!
"Eh, mom… we aren't going with her." I let Kikyo speak for me, I am too engulfed in my own rage to think or speak. "What are you talking about? Of course you are, she's expecting you." Mother goes to her vanity table and begins brushing, but now our perfect mother does not amaze us. Grandmother Kaisha does not often come to see us, but when she does she is a total bitch. She pisses me off and scares the crap out of Kikyo, more like verbally abuses her- which though I know I say I hate Kikyo, not even Kikyo deserves that witch's wrath. "Hey mother, didn't you hear Kikyo? We aren't going, and you know why." Mother sighs and turns around, still brushing. "Yes, yes I know- but even I'm not strong enough to argue with her. Besides, she paid for your school tuition as a gift, not that we needed it- but still, it goes to show she can be a kind lady, and it will not do you good to be ungrateful." She turns back around, admiring her reflection as she always has- completely ignoring us.
Kikyo and I exchange glances- and turn to leave the room- when mother says something else to piss me off. "Don't you dare wear any of that new trash you brought into the house. Find something nice to wear," she shrugs and smiles and now I'm really pissed- and I turn to Kikyo. "Would you consider lending me something?" She shrugs casually and nods. "I guess. I take it you want something in black?" "You got it." We leave the room and head to hers, the silence unbearable- so it's obviously up to me to make conversation. "Well… now we're in for it." "Yes, but- can't you think of any way we might get out of it? Remember the last time you though of jumping in the Dumpster and she totally flipped- she thought we got sick!" Kikyo laughs slightly, and so do I. We are in her room- it's smaller than mine, or so it seems. She's got a lot of junk- pink princessy stuff, pillows and stuffed animals mostly. There's a treadmill, a large screen in front of it. She seemed to have a thing for fish, because there are several fish tanks with tropical fish. "It's…nice in here." "Are you lying?" "Not really…" I sit casually on her pink canopy bed while she runs into her closet, mumbling about this dress or that.
She comes out with several fancy black dresses in her arms, and throws them at me pointing to the small pink fancy folding dressing wall in a corner of the room. She went back to her closet for herself, and I began to try on dresses. "So…" I hear from the other side of the wall, "We're in this together then?" "Together." "Why did you save Souta?" "You…heard me. It doesn't matter how much I hate him- he's still my brother." I hear hesitation from her, and then… "So, the same would go for me?" "Sure… but… oh, I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" I emerge from the wall, in the first dress, and she's in a hot pink velvet dress, with a confused expression. "What is it that you don't understand?" She up and down examines me, then shakes her head. "Too low…" I go back behind the wall, and select a knee-length silk Chinese dress. "I don't understand… why do we hate each other, Kikyo?" "I…I really don't know. We…maybe we don't, Kagome. We're just looking to hate. I- I'm just so confused. Yesterday was just crazy, I screamed 'I hate you' over and over- yet, I don't think that's what I wanted to say. I guess we're just too… different." I come back from behind the wall, and surprised I shake my head. "I don't think we're so different…"
She has chosen the exact same dress! "Hmm… we might as well." She nods, and we stare at each other unsure- before she smiles and nods, throwing my clothes at me and turning to her vanity table. I leave my sister's room, feeling that lunch would not be so unbearable after all.
There we are, waiting at our front entrance when Grandmother pulls up- and Kikyo and I exchange nervous glances. Neither of us have any idea how to get out of this one… "Well, I see you haven't changed a bit Kikyo! Still stuffing your face like the pig you are, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Why Kagome, I'm real disappointed in you- you look exactly like Kikyo… what have they been feeding you? Gods, I'm gonna have to talk to your mother. Don't you ever exercise? I thought for sure you'd be as pretty as your own mother for goodness sakes!" She gets out of the car, not so slim herself- she is so heavy that she requires a thick wooden cane to hold her up, and comes waddling up the steps in her emerald green and golden embroidered dress. "Is that the first thing that comes to mind grandmother, when you see us? No hellos, no proper greeting? You have not yet been with us a minute, and already you insult us. We won't take this lightly." I growl in warning, to let her know I'm in an aggressive mood- A.K.A "Bring it on".
She gets it, and backs off a little. "Where's your mother?" "Dunno. Are we going or not?" "Don't sound so ungrateful. I'm kind enough to pay for your school tuition, and take you out to eat- not that Kikyo ever needed it." She snorted, and turned to me she does not see the effects of her rude comments on my sister- funny, how I forgot so quickly that my sister has feelings. "Well, let's go then…" she grunts and hobbles down the steps, and we follow reluctantly and get into the back seat. But, I have not come unprepared… "Here," I whisper to Kikyo and hand her a pair of porcelain fangs. She smiles big and put them in her mouth. "Damn, you're a genius!" she whispers back, and we sit with identical grins as our grandmother rambles on and on about how much we need to lose weight. It's not a long drive, and she decides to take us to a casual sushi bar, claiming she couldn't allow her friends in all those ritzy places to see what piggish granddaughters she had. Kikyo starts getting upset again, but I nudge her and she keeps a neutral face. So we ignore grandmother for now. "So… what exactly were the shovels for?" I raise my eyebrow at her, and she shrugs sheepishly. "Um… I suggested chloroform, but… Souta's quiet more brutal than I am, so…" "Would you happen to know what's with him anyway?" I try to make light of the conversation, but your siblings trying to kill you isn't really a good thing.
"Not really, actually… I barely can get him to talk these days. He's studying really hard, so between that and trying to kill you… he's really stressed." "Oh, am I stressing him out by staying alive?" I say wryly, now turned to the window and angrily focused on the city streets outside. "Too bad I don't know why he's trying to anyway…" Kikyo says nothing, and we come to a stop. The old witch hasn't even stopped babbling- and does not even when we enter the restaurant. When we are settled, both of them order the same seaweed salad, and I order California rolls and egg rolls also, with green tea. Grandmother glares my way when they set it down in front of me- and then I give her my lovely razor sharp smile and she gasps as Kikyo bears her fangs as well. "Ahhhh!" Grandmother jumps in her seat, hands at her throat. I suppose I forgot to mention- she's deathly afraid and believes in all things paranormal… So Kikyo and I grin to each other and chomp down on our food, while she stays still in her seat, pale and shivering.
"What's wrong, grandma?" Kikyo smiles sweetly and goes on with her food. Fortunately no one has noticed our little scene, except for the two white haired guys and the three other black haired friends that stood in the corner… wait, white haired guys? I frown and look back at them- it's Inu-Yasha, Sesshomaru, Rin, Sango and Miroku! I smile and acknowledge them with my fanged smile, and they smile and wave, Inu-Yasha coming near me. But I shake my head no, nodding to the fearful grandmother in front of us. So they nod and go back to talking, Inu-Yasha still staring at me. I blow a kiss and turn back to Kikyo, and nudge her. "Shall we?" "Why not?" We giggle and remove the fangs, throwing them down on the table. For a moment grandmother cannot speak, and the begins to sputter and shake furiously. "Y-you d-dare- to play such a d-dirty trick?" "Did we dare?" Kikyo tosses me an innocent smile, and I shrug. "I guess so, what about it?" "You wicked children, ugly and selfish pigs…" I frown. "Hey, don't go there grandma…" "You impudent, disrespectful, disgusting children of Satan. Ha, I should have known you'd turn out to be so ugly. Your mother's spoiled. And you" she rounds on Kikyo, "You desperately need to go on a diet. I've suspected all along your mother has let you scarf down all that junk, no wonder you're so hideously unattractive!" She throws her small cup of water in Kikyo's face, and I've just totally lost my temper.
I stand up, glaring at her with all my might. "Earlier you said I look exactly like Kikyo." "Yes? So what of it?" "Well, if that is so- then you insult me as well. Many people tell me I'm just as beautiful as my mother… so if Kikyo and I look alike, then there is nothing ugly about my sister- twin sister to be exact if you remember correctly." Before she can duck, I smash a California roll in her face, and top it off with my small glass of water. Then I take Kikyo by the hand and pull her up waving quickly at Inu-Yasha and pulling her out the door. "But, Kagome…" No buts, fuck this!" We run down the sidewalk, and down the first alleyway we find. "There, now we're free to do whatever. If mom gets upset… we'll deal with it." I cross my arms and pace, waiting for her answer. "Well?" She suddenly smiles at me. "You've always been the brave one… I could never have done or said any of that. Me? I've always been the pesky, whiny brat that nobody wants around."