Title: Beautifully Imperfect
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.

Chapter four: What comes with Summer

When she had come down from the third floor of the shrine, the floor that she shared with Souta, she went straight to the kitchen and got a soda from the fridge. There was nothing like soda to wet a parched mouth, she thought, even though in the meanwhile she was destroying her stomach. Hey, no one said she was perfect.

She was heading to watch television in the living room with her brother when the doorbell rang, sounding loud like a gong ringing through the shrine. The giant shrine had to have a loud doorbell or no one would know if there was someone at the door. They didn't have a butler to stand waiting by the door, after all. She detoured to the front of the house, doubting that anyone else was getting up to get it.

When she got there, she heard the insistent tapping of knuckles on the front door as the impatient person decided the doorbell wasn't enough to attract attention. Throwing open the front door, she looked at the person there with a quirked eyebrow, sipping her soda thoughtfully. She tilted her head this way and that, trying to figure out what the person standing before her was supposed to be.

"I was unaware it was Halloween." She told them cryptically and their face flushed even behind all the make up they wore.

"I was unaware that sluts were a part of the 'in' fad these days." The girl at the door insisted, stepping inside with her bag in her arms. Kagome looked over her cousin for a moment. Karei Taisei had to be one of the most beautiful people Kagome had ever met, but that didn't make Kagome and her cousin friends by any means. Karei wore her ballet uniform, but on her feet were sandals instead of her Pointe shoes.

Karei shoved past Kagome, pulling her beautiful blond hair out of the tight bun it was held in using bobby pins. Her emerald eyes scanned the inner hall for a moment before she kicked her shoes off on the mat by the door and turned to look at Kagome. Karei's voice was a beautiful natural soprano, but somehow that sound of her voice tended to grate on Kagome's nerves. "Don't you like the skirt?" Kagome asked her cousin, looking at herself for a moment.

Karei always made Kagome feel like she wasn't good enough in comparison with her cousin. Karei could have been some sort of goddess with as perfect as she seemed to be. Karei had it all—cars, money, guys, friends; name it she had it. If she didn't have it, she could get it instantly. "No, I do not." Karei told her truthfully. She pursed her lips for a moment before turning and trotting to the stairs going up. "Tell Auntie that I am going to the Rave tonight."

Kagome had no intention of telling her mother for Karei. Once a year Karei came to stay with Kagome and Souta while her mother and father went on a vacation together, so it was during this one week per year that Kagome tended to steer clear of the 'dark side' of the shrine—the end of the shrine that her cousin was housed. No, she really did not like Karei.

Walking into the living room, Kagome sat down on the black leather recliner, hearing the fabric squish and squeak with movement. One leg she threw over the arm of the recliner, the other she left resting on the floor to rock the chair. "Souta, move your leg so I can see!" Kagome told him.

Souta flipped his middle finger at Kagome and moved his leg further into her line of vision. "Screw you, wench." He told her, though he honestly didn't mean what he said. He swore it was the media messing with his mind, though she knew otherwise. There were a number of other influences that could have been the problem.

"Souta!" Kali had a knack of coming into the room at just the right—or wrong—time to hear her children swear. Souta stood, ducking his head in shame while Kagome snickered at him.

"Sorry Mama..." He apologized. Whether or not he honestly felt bad about swearing was unknown but that didn't stop Kali from rounding on her daughter as well.

"And you!" Kali waggled a finger at Kagome. "Stop egging him on!"

"Okay, okay!" Kagome held her hands up in defeat, but she didn't stand and duck her head like Souta had.

Kali straightened up after that, running her hands over her suit coat to be sure it wasn't wrinkled at all. Kagome looked up at her mother for a moment, noticing how her mother seemed a bit more tired than normal. Kali usually was tired because of her late nights working, but this weary look in Kali's eyes was far different. "Kagome, the packages on my desk need to be mailed in the morning. I have a convention to go to this week—"

"But mama, Karei's here this week, and this is my only week of break before Summer School!" Kagome complained, standing immediately to look at her mother. Kagome was jealous, of course, because the psychology conventions that her mother went to every year were sporadic and last minute more often than not.

Kali held up her hand, halting any further complaints. "I'm sorry, Kagome." She said, looking at the silent Souta. Souta was the mama's boy, but more than that he got good marks in school and didn't have Summer School to prepare for, so Kali would let him go along. Kagome wondered if she managed to pull up perfect marks, she would get to go to the next convention, but doubted it. "Souta, are you coming again? If so, please go pack. We'll have to leave tonight."

Souta sighed, picking up his discarded shirt from the floor before walking out of the living room. Of course, Kagome thought, he would go. She immediately felt bad for the stream of cruel thoughts that followed; jealousy kicking in high gear. She stared at her mother with arms crossed over her chest. For a long moment she was silent before she turned away from her mother, finally giving into the dramatics that wanted to flare in her. "Fine, fine!" she said, waving her hands dismissively. "Go on, have fun. Dad's still here anyway, so at least someone still loves me!"

She immediately regretted her words, knowing they would have made her mother feel bad. Her mother's voice was shaky as she said, "Kagome, your father was fired today. He couldn't handle it, and when he called me... he was at the bar."

Well, so much for her father being there with her. Her blood ran cold at the memories of her father's alcoholism from years before. He had been sober for three years. Kagome would have to deal with a drunken father, wouldn't she? But not only that, but Karei would have to deal with it too because she was coincidentally visiting for the one week of the summer that she came. Why did it have to happen then? Her mother would be away with Souta at the summer convention. They were lucky.

Kagome might not have liked Karei, but it didn't mean she would wish Karei to have to deal with something like...hell.

End chapter.