Chapter two: Life for Mimiko
Mimiko was enjoying dinner with her mother. They were eating ramen. Her favorite. They talked a bit and they ate a bit. It was a fairly uneventful evening. Kagome kept steeling looks at the clock thinking there was something she had to do that evening but nothing was coming to mind.
She glanced at the clock for about the tenth time in five minutes. It was almost 6:30. Kagome thought 'what's the significance of 6:30?' She took another bite of ramen, chewing it slowly, her brow furrowed into a very concentrated look. She swallowed.
Suddenly her eyes grew wide with realization. "Mom what is it?" Mimiko asked somewhat worried. "You're not choking are you?"
"I'm fine but I just remembered I have a date with Hojo in three minutes!" Mimiko smiled at her mother's forgetfulness. She was soon yanked out of her chair and was being dragged up the stairs.
"Come on you have to help me pick out the perfect outfit!" Kagome was not talking very fast and high pitched. Mimiko let out an exasperated sigh. Kagome had let go of her daughter's wrist and was now rummaging through her closet. Mimiko was presently leaning against the doorframe watching her elder make a fool of herself. She had a wide smile on her face.
"Here," Mimiko walked to offer aid to the frantic woman, "let me." Mimiko lifted a black sweater and pink skirt from the disorderly closet, then ran in her room and reappeared with a pair of black high-healed shoes. "This is what you should wear."
Kagome kissed Mimiko on the forehead as a token of gratitude. "What would I do without you?"
"You'd probably die!" Mimiko said jokingly. But Kagome didn't see it as a joke. There was so much truth to that statement it scared her. 'Mimiko is my everything. Without Mimiko there's nothing to live for.' Kagome thought a moment longer before the doorbell ripped through her thoughts.
"Mimi, would you go tell Hojo that I'll be there in a minute?" Kagome asked.
"Yeah." Mimiko said already halfway down the stairs. She hopped off the last one and opened the door to Hojo's smiling face. "Hi, Hojo." She greeted him with a small smile. She stepped out of the way to let Hojo in.
Hojo entered and set the flowers he had brought Kagome on the entrance table. Then he turned and gave Mimiko a hug. "How's life been treating you?" He asked.
"Good. Okay. Fine. I don't know." Mimiko couldn't make up her mind. She looked back at her mother's boyfriend. She liked him. He was good to her and her mom. For instance: He bought them dinner jus because he thought they needed it. He always surprised Kagome with a trinket of affection (like the flowers), and he doesn't seem to mind the fact that Mimiko was a quarter demon. That was what she liked the best.
"So Mimi? Where's your mom?"
"She'll be down in a minute."
"I don't need a minute. I'm ready." Kagome's voice cut through the conversation. She showed up on the stairs in the black and pink ensemble with her hair draped over her shoulders.
"Wow. You look…I don't know. I can't even think of a word for how you look." Hojo gawked.
Kagome smiled and excepted his compliment. Then Hojo pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Kagome giggled ending the display of affection. She soon turned to her daughter and hugged her too.
"Don't wait up." She whispered in her ear as she drew her daughter close.
"Go mom." Mimiko whispered back. Kagome then released the raven-haired girl and once again turned to Hojo.
"Ready?" He asked and Kagome nodded her response.
Mimiko watched them walk out the door and them resumed their place on the porch. She stood there waving as she watched them leave. "Bye! Have a good time! I love you!" She trailed off. She sighed as loneliness set in. Mimiko just stared as Hojo's car disappeared into the distance. "I better go eat before I stave. Or my ramen gets cold. Either way it's bad." She seemed to inform thin air.
---
"Mimiko, there's no reason to feel that way. You're perfect and I couldn't love you more." Mimiko found herself drawn into the embrace of a man not much older than she was. He was handsome with dark hair and a strong build.
"Thank you. You don't know what those words meant to me." She said quietly into his chest.
BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
The loud shriek of her alarm clock went off; interrupting her dream. She rolled over onto her back letting the alarm go off for a moment more. She had had that dream again. She often had strange dreams that felt so real she could tell if she was asleep or awake and they all included the good looking young man she remembered hugging. She sighed heavily. "It was only a dream, Mimiko." She told herself. The she swung her legs over the side of the bed and smacked the alarm.
She got ready in a hurry. She jumped in and out of the shower and threw on a green uniform for school, another thing she had inherited from her mother. She applied a small amount of make-up to her already pretty face and then ran downstairs.
Her hair was still wet and was beginning to scrunch as it dried, creating waves that cascaded down her back.
She glanced at the clock. 7:34 is what it read. She had exactly nine minutes to get to school. She grabbed another piece of fruit from the basket on the table and ran out the door. Usually she would shout a goodbye to her mother but this morning was different. Kagome wasn't home yet from her date with Hojo.
She jumped on her bike once outside the door and pushed the pedals forward while she ate the juicy piece of orange she had picked up. It didn't take her long to get to school. If she played her cards right it only took her eight minutes. She'd just make it today.
She turned a corner sharply and clipped her back wheel on the side of a building. She didn't fall but she swerved and ended up hitting someone. They fell onto the ground and whoever it was had friends to pick her up. Mimiko jumped off the bike to see if the person was alright and met the face of someone who disliked her very much.
Her name was Mika. She was tall, thin, dark straight hair and wanted by every guy in school. Not to mention she was entirely human too. Her brown eyes shot through Mimiko with a piercing glare.
"I'm sorry." Mimiko said passively.
"You better be." Mika said with disgust. Then pushed passed Mimiko with a muttered 'half-breed' under her breath.
Half-breed. Mimiko hated that phrase. She was even a half-breed. She was only one-fourth and yet she might as well be a half-breed because that's all people saw her as. She was never asked out on dates, no girl ever invited her to a party. She didn't to do anything involving other people.
Mimiko shook off the insult and got back on the bike and rode swiftly the rest of the way to school.
000
Mimiko had made it to school on time and successfully made it through her first class of the morning. So far no tricks, no name-calling, nothing from the other kids. Mimiko was optimistic that it would be a good day.
She thought too soon. Once she was in the hallway the roughhousing started. Someone shoved her into a nearby locker and then hit her arm so hard that she felt numbness set in. Various people would bump into her and not mention a 'sorry' or 'excuse me' about it and Mimiko knew it was on purpose. After that someone hit the backs of her knees so that she fell forward and was forced to drop her books so she could catch herself. She rolled over to see who had done it. She didn't know the boy but yelled at him just the same.
"Hey! Why did you do that?" She asked even though she wasn't surprised that someone would hurt her.
He turned around. "Because I can, Half-breed." Then he turned into an open door and out of sight. There was that word again. The 'half-breed' term she hated so much.
The bell rang and students trickled into different rooms, soon leaving her sitting alone on the floor. Silence filled the halls as doors closed and the last few people walked away.
She looked at the books scattered around on the floor. She quickly took stock to make sure no one picked up a book as a joke. 'Okay: Geometry, English, and Reading.' They were all there, thank god. She reached over herself to get the English book that was the farthest away from her. Then set all of her books in a neat pile in front of her. Should she even bother going to class?
She glanced at the clock in the hall and it told her she had missed the first eleven minutes of class. She wondered if anyone noticed if she was gone. Would they even care? She asked herself. Mimiko just sat weighing the pro's and con's of the situation and found there were more con's than pro's.
Someone cleared their throat behind her. She didn't bother to look back. "Do you need help getting to class Ms. Higurashi?" It was the principle, Mika's father. Mimiko didn't answer his question. "Did you hear me? Do I need to help you up?" He asked her in a very annoyed voice.
"No." She spoke softly. Just loud enough that he could hear her. She still made no eye contact with him.
"Good. Now get to class, Ms. Higurashi." He walked passed her and continued to stroll down the hallway but not before he looked back, giving her a revolted glare.
Mimiko slowly got up and walked to her second hour class. She had missed about half of it now. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered when it pertained to Mimiko. Or at least that's how she felt.
000
The bell rang releasing the students from their sixth hour classes. Mimiko felt a sense of relief. It was time for the only class worth going too. PE was her favorite subject. It was what she did the best in.
She pushed her way down the hallway to get to her locker room, which she did with great ease. Everybody besides her hated PE and walked as slow as they could to get to the boring class.
Mimiko threw on her PE uniform and briskly walked out to the track. The class always warmed up by running at least four laps on the black asphalt ring. Mimiko was the first one out there and she loved it when she was. She inhaled taking in the cold crisp air. She found it absolutely exhilarating. Mimiko walked up to the white chalk starting line and closed her eyes. She meditated for a moment and let weightlessness take over her body. Then she pushed off with one foot and shot off like a bullet.
She loved being fast. In fact she had gone out for the track team but was denied a spot because of her demon blood. It had infuriated her but decided that she was better then they were at running and it was there loss. She loved to run for the fact that it was a great way to blow off steam which, let's face it, she had a lot of. She was coming around the last curve of the track when she saw a few more classmates start their run. She passed them with ease.
More and more people were joining her on the track until the whole class was out running. She passed a lot of them purely because she was fast. There were the few that walked just because they didn't want to strain themselves; Like Mika.
Mimiko could see her. In fact, Mimiko was closing in space between them. Mika was walking and talking with her 'minion's' as Mimiko called them. But there was someone with her that Mimiko was confused about.
Next to the dark haired girl they're stood a boy named Tachi. He was tall, handsome, smart, sweet, etc. Everything you could ever want in a guy Tachi had. Mimiko had liked him for the longest time. She couldn't remember a time where she didn't daydream of being with him. He glanced at her as she ran by. She bit her lip as so not to smile too widely.
"Mimiko!" She heard someone call from behind her. She stopped and turned to see Tachi running to catch up with her.
"Yeah?" She asked quietly. She slowed so that he could keep up with her.
"I was just wondering…if you'd like to go to the movies with me tonight?" His voice was serious, his smile sincere. Mimiko sensed no danger here. She smiled back.
"Sure. I'd like that."
"Great. I'll meet you at the theater around seven then?" He was starting to loose his breath.
"Yeah." She answered simply. She sped up to her regular pace now and smiled as wide as she possibly could. She had a date. A real date. With one of the most decent people she had ever met. She was so excited and for once…happiness filled her.