Chapter 1

Summer Blues

I never knew what it was like to lose someone close to me. My friends had always talked about the loved ones lost in their family, grandmothers and grandfathers mostly, but I had never really lost someone I was close to. I could never relate to what they were going through. The pain, the loss, it was all unfamiliar territory to me.

I considered myself lucky to have never felt like that. Even when one of my grandparents died I was never in a state of grief, it was more like, 'How sad, well they lived long and happy and that's all that mattered.' I know that sounds a bit cruel to you, but that was how it was. I wasn't close enough to them to feel something heart wrenching when they died. They had other people who they were close to, to feel that for them.

I wasn't very close with my parents. Sure I loved them, I would cry if they did die, but never something where I felt I couldn't live if they weren't there living with me. They were old enough, and had lived long enough that if they did die, they lived a full and happy life. It wouldn't be like I couldn't take care of myself. I was 17 turning 18 in a few months. And entering my final year of high school.

I was the youngest of 4 children. I only had brothers, so I guess that maybe was a contributing factor to the tomboy phase I went through for most of my life. It wasn't until recently that I started at least dressing a little more 'girly.'

I had never had a boyfriend before, but it never bothered me. Most of the guys at my school were to immature to actually have a mature relationship. That was what I had always wanted, I could never be the type to have a one night stand or some small meaningless relationship. I was already shy just wearing a bathing suit at a pool party or at the beach.

As for my looks, I admit I'm not the most beautiful thing out there, especially when I wake up most mornings. However, I wasn't exactly considered ugly. Overall I wasn't half bad. And as far as I'm concerned, that was good enough for me. My life didn't revolve around what I looked like. I dressed how I wanted to dress, and wore my makeup how I wanted to wear it, no questions asked. I didn't care what people thought about me. Honestly I must be so special if they took the time out of their day just to think up how to describe me right?

The only people in the whole world that I would ever give a second glance to were my friends. I didn't have many, mind you, but I didn't think that mattered either. It wasn't quantity it was quality that mattered, and I would rather have only a few of the best friends in the whole world than a whole bunch of people I barely knew.

There was Sango who was my only best friend being a girl. The fact that I had only brothers for siblings also contributed to the fact that I had more guy friends than girl friends. Sango and I were close, she was the only girl I could be around, and just be myself. We would make up crappy songs together, dance in the rain, laugh uncontrollably for hours on end about things weren't even funny. She was the same age as me and we were entering out senior year together.

My next best friend was Shippo, he was only 10 years old. Your probably laughing at me right now, but you don't know Shippo like I know Shippo. He had this side to him that made me wonder if he really was 10. He had lost both his parents in a fire 4 years back when he was only 6 years old. Despite his young age, I felt he was the wisest person I knew. But it was only to me he showed this side it seemed. Whenever he was around anyone else, including his guardian Kaede, he acted like any other ten year old. He held a special place in my heart. He gave me advice when I needed it, and some of the things it thought were so hard turned out to be so simple, and he showed me that.

The last person I'm naming is the person I am most close with. He is my best friend and has been for a long time now. Inuyasha appeared rough, rude, loud, and many other things. He could out cuss a sailor any day. That's how he was most of the time, but when we were together it was like he was a complete different person. He was really good at drawing, some of his sketches took my breath away. He was passionate and always dreamed of going to Europe to study art, and maybe become someone famous. It had been his dream ever since I could remember. That was the side he only let me see.

We had a bond that was like no other. At one time in my life I had thought I was in love with him, and he I. As it turned out we tried dating, and we even kissed once, but to us it felt like we were kissing a brother or a sister. After that we became more than friends, we were practically soul mates. It was then that I learned that you didn't have to be in love with your soul mate. And I was completely sure he was mine.

We spent many days just talking about life, his life, my life, our life. He made me feel whole in every way. He was my other half after all. We each had a silver necklace that had a white gold band hanging on it. The rings had the same word engraved in each of the inside of them: Forever. Inuyasha always said it was our link, and that we would be together forever. I never took mine off, and he never took his off either, it was in a way our link.

Inuyasha was a year older than me, his mom had entered him in Kindergarten a year late being the fact that they had moved a little too late, and had missed the deadline. This wasn't bad news because then he would have never met me, and we would have never found each other.

So here I am where the story starts. It was the first day of the second month of summer. I was headed over to Inuyasha's house to surprise him, he had just gotten back from a family trip. He had been going on a lot of them lately. He said it was because one of his relatives were really sick, and he was there for moral support, which striked me odd, considering he had never been close with anyone in his family except his mother. I didn't push it because I knew he would tell me what was really going on when he was ready.

I was standing on his doorstep holding a dozen white roses, they were his favorite flower, and since I hadn't seen him for over a week, I decided I would get him something to cheer him up. Over the past few visits to his relatives he had been looking more and more drained, and I was worried about him. I just hoped that whatever was going on would pass, and Inuyasha would return to his normal self.

I was brought out of my thought when the door was answered by Myoga. He was the butler, but also a close family friend. I greeted him with a hug, which he returned.

"Welcome Lady Kagome, I see you've brought roses for the master, I shall take them for you," he said.

"Thanks Myoga," was my reply.

With those words exchanged he motioned for me to come completely in, shutting the door behind him. As soon as I had stepped inside the mansion, I noticed a gloomy air about the place. It unnerved me to see the place like this. The atmosphere had always been welcoming and cheerful, but something was amiss. So finding my feet I turned to the stairway by the door I had just come in, and climbed the stairs ignoring the little noise coming from Myoga like he was trying to say something.

Reaching the top of the stairs I navigated myself on the familiar path to Inuyasha's room. When I reached his door, I felt an ominous sense of foreboding that lay ahead. But I took a deep breath and opened the door anyway. I was hardly prepared for what lay inside.

Inuyasha's mother was in a chair sitting next to Inuyasha, a grief stricken look upon her face. I had never seen her life this. She had always been happy and full of smiles, and now to see her like this made me feel sick. It felt like everything had been turned upside down.

My gaze shifted from Inuyasha's mother to Inuyasha, who was sleeping on his bed. His body looked frail, and his face had a pale look to it. What was going on here? My eyes moved from his face to his head. My mouth fell open in shock. Where shinning silver locks usually sat, there was nothing but skin. His hair was gone.

A look of horror crossed my face, I felt paralyzed. Everything clicked in my head. Inuyasha's relative hadn't been sick, it had been him. He was the one who was…dying. I felt tears prick my eyes, and I tried to swallow, but my throat seemed to be dry, too dry.

Inuyasha's mother finally noticed I was in the room, she got up and rushed over to me crushing me in a big hug. She started crying on my shoulder. For a moment I almost joined her, but I held back, and settled for rubbing her back in a circular soothing motion. After several minutes she calmed down and lifted her head off of my shoulder.

I sucked a breath in for what was about to come, but my mouth moved anyway and asked a question I dreaded being answered.

"What does he have?" My voice sounded like a croak, like I hadn't spoken for weeks.

"He has cancer Kagome. Leukemia. It is a cancer of the blood. He only has a short time." Her voice came out in a whisper, but it felt like someone was yelling in my ear instead.

Cancer? He had cancer? Inuyasha had always been so healthy. The only thing bad he really ate was ramen. He didn't really care for sweets. He was an athlete, working out practically every day and running a couple miles. He was on the track team in high school. None of this made any sense at all. My feelings before about how excited I had been to see Inuyasha seemed like a distant dream to me now.

My best friend has cancer. Cancer. It was a shock, more than a shock, it was so…unbelievable. It felt like someone had poured a bucked of ice water over my head. The fear was creeping through my veins, I could feel it. But I couldn't help but feel like I wasted so much time with him. I should have known, all the signs had been there right in front of my nose.

I felt numb, this was all a nightmare, it just had to be. Tomorrow I would wake up and see Inuyasha and tell him about it. He'll laugh at it and say he wasn't dying, it just a dream, and he's not going anywhere. But I pinched myself and felt it. It wasn't a dream, or a horrible nightmare. It was all real. This was really happening. For once in my life I felt helpless. And for once in my life I felt a weight settle itself onto my heart, and I felt I couldn't breathe even though I was taking deep breathes. That was the worst day of my entire life.

A/N:

Thus ends the very first chapter of my story, review if you like, I'm not in this for the reviews, but it is always nice to know if one's work is appreciated. This is a Sesshomaru/Kagome pairing, if you don't like that fine, go read some Inuyasha/Kagome pairings or something other than my story. I will only say this once:

I DO NOT OWN INUYASHA, NEVER HAVE AND I NEVER WILL

Other than that, my next chapter will be up soon in a week or less, depending on when I feel like posting the next chapter. Thank you and Good Day.

iamaninjaturtle