Kagome awoke with a start in her bed, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. It took her a moment to take in the familiar surroundings of her bedroom before she sighed in relief and sank back down into the comforter.
'Wait a minute...' She thought, scrambling from her bed as a jolt of panic coursed through her body.
Practically falling down the stairs, she hurried into the kitchen, where her mother sat perched in a kitchen chair, sipping hot tea.
"Oh Kagome, good morning," Her mother smiled at her. "You're up early today!"
"Couldn't sleep," She mumbled, chewing on her lower lip in anxious thought.
'Should I ask her... Do I want to know the answer?'
Was she too afraid?
Kagome swallowed a lump in her throat. She had chosen this. For once in her life, she needed to be brave.
Her mother instantly frowned, brow raising in concern, "Are you alright dear? Is something bothering you?"
Kagome let out a long breath and spoke fast, "Oh, it's nothing mama, Inuyasha and I just got into another fight and I -"
"Inuyasha?" Her mother's confused voice and questions confirmed her worst fears: her wish had come true. "Who's this Inuyasha? Have you been seeing him? Why wouldn't you tell me?"
"N-no!" She stuttured frantically, trying to soothe her mother's worries, "At least, not anymore..."
-.-.-.-
She finished school in a daze of self induced isolation and sadness, somehow managing to still get decent enough grades to pass. Although she was almost to the point of not caring. It was of her own making; She had woken up to exactly what she wished for:
A world where the Shikon no Tama had never come into existence. Where Midoriko had triumphed in that great battle, and found peace in her death instead of longing.
Now it was Kagome who longed for her family from the past. No one knew her well in the present, though not one of them had traveled five hundred years back into the past to the fuedal era; where they fought to end the rein of a half-demon bent on obtaining ultimate power and destroying everything in his path. Of course, in this version of her life, neither had she. Even her scars were gone, save for the bite mark on her left side, where Mistress Centipede had ripped the jewel from her body.
Her last little reminder of the past she had lost.
Sometimes the past has a way of catching up to you, as she would soon learn. One month after graduation, her mother forced her into a part-time job. Kagome was too depressed to go back to school, and her mother desperately wanted her to get over her sudden-out-of-the-blueheartache; she didn't know what Kagome had lost, so her daughter had begrudgingly agreed to soothe her.
Being a waitress at a cafe called 'The Yo-kai' had been good for her, if not horribly ironic. She sometimes still chuckled when the other waiters greeted customers. Working also helped her forget her sadness somewhat, but only for a short time. Being at the shrine was going to end up killing her with grief, so Kagome hoped to save enough money to escape from her melancholy. She would run as far as it took to leave everything behind, to forget the things she'd never have again.
She was thinking about where she would travel to as she cleaned the remnants of cake and cookies from a table near the front, when the front doorbell rang.
"Just a moment!" She called out, dusting hee uniform for crumbs before she spun around to greet her customer.
"Hello! Welcome to Yo-Kai, what can Iget for you?,"The last word came out as a breathy whisper as she came face to face with familiar gold eyes.
"Sesshomaru," Kagome squeaked.
A/N: I'm trying to take is slow. I used to rush into things way too fast! I will change point of view for the next chapter.
Thank you for reading!
-Em