Chapter 22: No More Hiding

Kagome comes into her home. "Kagome, is that you?" Ai asks her. "Yeah. It's me mom." Kagome responds back as she comes into the living room. Ai can see that something is bothering her daughter. "What's the matter, dear?" Ai puts her book onto the table but the couch. Kagome comes to sit next to her. "Have you ever been told that you'd look like someone even that you're not related to that person?" She asks her mother in uncertainty.

Ai didn't see this coming. "What brought this up? Did something happen at school?" Ai places her hand onto her daughter's shoulder in a comforting way. Being the typical teenager, they don't want to talk about their problems. But Kagome isn't one of those teenagers. "I met this girl and she keeps telling me that I look like someone else that she knows." Ai keeps her look composed. "I'm sorry about that, Kagome. Did you do anything about it?" She asks curiously. "All I did was tell her to leave me alone, but she kept on breathing on my neck. I was the urge to do the unthinkable." Kagome explains the rest of her story.

Ai shakes her head in disappointment. "Kagome, you know that violence is never the answer." She gently scolds the teenager. "But what else was I supposed to do, mom? I did all I could to prevent anything I would regret immediately." Kagome looks down on what else what to say. "Did anyone intervene the scene?" Ai asks her. Kagome looks back to her, "Sango told the girl that because I look like Kikyo doesn't mean that I am her." That's when Ai widens her eyes big time, but quickly recover her look. "I see. Is there anything you want me to do about it?" She asks Kagome. All Kagome does is shake her head. Ai nods to show that she understands the conclusion.

"I'll be up in my room to nap." Kagome stands up and heads upstairs. Once Ai hears the door close, she stands up to one of the bookshelves. Dragging her finger along the books until she finds the one that she's looking for. She pulls out a photo album. After turning a few pages, she finds the one photo she has been looking for. She looks sadly at the picture she's holding. The picture shows a wedding picture of her younger sister. She looks down to the bottom to see a little girl about the same age as Kagome. But the reason that Kagome isn't in it was because was sick with a cold and Hige had to stay home. "Ai." Hige comes into the living room seeing her with a sad face. "It's not every day I see you in this state." He comes up to see the picture. "I know it's been a long time since you've seen your sister." He whispers to her as he wraps his arm around her shoulder.

"I know. The thing is that Kagome or Sota don't know that the girl in the picture is their cousin, Kikyo." Ai admits to him. "All this time, you never told our kids about your niece." Hige shakes his head. Ai sighs as she puts the picture back into the photo album and place it back into the bookshelf. "I didn't want them to know about her because something bad happened to Kikyo a few months ago. True that her death was on the news, the kids have no idea that girl was Kikyo." Ai frowns as she looks towards the stairs. "I was going to tell her until she told me that she met someone at school who keeps on telling her that she resembles Kikyo. As such it bothers her greatly." Ai explains to her husband.

Hige doesn't know if he should tell Kagome about this long kept secret. But he knows fully well that is supposed to be Ai to do the deed. "For now, let's see how the issue at school progresses. If she wants to know more about her cousin, she'll come to us." Hige suggested his idea. Ai agrees with him. "Until then."

The next day, Kagome is at her locker doing the same thing that she did yesterday. "Morning Kagome." Tsubaki wickedly greets her. "What do you want now, Tsubaki? Brag about me being a doppelganger to your friend?" Kagome looks at her with annoyance. That's when Tsubaki pulls something out of her purse and throws it a Kagome. Kagome catches it at ease. She looks down to see a picture of a girl and Inuyasha in each other's arms on a park bench. The girl is without a doubt looks like Kagome's twin. "That girl is Kikyo." Tsubaki states that fact. "Are you still going to keep bugging me about Kikyo's doppelganger?" Kagome is about to give Tsubaki the picture back until someone else takes it out of her hand. Kagome turns around to see Inuyasha in an angry look.

"Where did you get this, Tsubaki? Only me and Kikyo have this picture." He glares her. Tsubaki remains silent to provide an answer. "Tsubaki…" The bell rings to prevent any aggression. "We're not done yet." Inuyasha tells her before he turns around to get to class. Kagome can tell immediately that this isn't a personal issue anymore. "What did you mean that picture was only you and Kikyo have? Not that I want to get too personal." Kagome comes up to him. "Kagome, I'll tell you later." Inuyasha refuses to tell her anything else.

Throughout the day, Kagome keeps her mind focused on her schoolwork instead of bothering Inuyasha about the picture. That being said, Sango made sure that she'll fill in the details. She can tell that Kagome is desperate to get to the truth. Miroku is keeping his part to prevent Inuyasha from doing anything drastic. Somehow that Miroku has a hunch that there's something else that is not adding up. But he's going to talk to Inuyasha about it.

That afternoon, Inuyasha gestures Kagome to come to his place, to the patio. But not just her, but also Sango and Miroku. "What's going on here, Inuyasha? How is it that only you and Kikyo only have this picture?" Kagome asks him right away. Inuyasha goes upstairs to get something. "Why is he being so secretive?" Kagome asks Sango. Sango stays quiet. Kagome is about to go upstairs but Sango blocks her way her stretched arm. Inuyasha comes back down with something in his hand. He hands it to Kagome. He shows the two pictures. "Ok so what I look like Kikyo. I get it. But I don't know why though? She couldn't be related to me." Kagome looks at the two pictures and gives them back to him. "Actually, Kagome, she is related to you." Ai's voice spoke to her from behind. Kagome turns around to see her mother with a sad look. "And how is she related to me?" Kagome crosses her arms. "She's your cousin, Kagome." Ai confesses to her. That made Kagome widen her eyes like saucer plates.