"I did it." Isn't there supposed to be some sort of heavy weight lifted? Why does she feel the same? Why was regret still there, staring her in the face?

"You did the right thing." her cousin stated as she wrapped her arms around her.

"Then why do I feel like I've lost?"

"That's normal, but soon you'll see that he was never going to change." Her cousin cooed whilst rubbing her back.

"Kikyou?" she asked through her tears.

"Yes?"

"How do I stop?" she could barely speak. She fell into Kikyou's arms sobbing dramatically.

"Where does it stop?" she kept asking as she gently beat her cousin's chest. Angry at herself. Angry at him. Angry at her fickle emotions. Kikyou began to hold her tight. The room slowly filled with wailing and sobbing. It almost felt disrespectful to break such strong feelings with meaningless talk. It was too sacred.

Kagome's love has died by her own hands.

Nights had past. This was another day. There were no more tears to cry. She rolled out of bed slipped on her house slippers doing her best to shake sleep off her head. Her daily routine usually helped. Sleep tends to melt in the steam of the bathroom. After she stepped out of the shower, she grabbed her phone and began scrolling down the names as she let her hair air dry. She paused on his.

"To delete you or not to, that is the question."

Mutterings meant for herself. She pondered over the name. And made her decision.

Coming out of the bathroom she bumped into her brother.

"Take me soccer practice?"

Beaming eyes looking up into hers.

"Where's mom?" she asked avoiding his stare.

Souta has this ability to sense anything that's wrong and comes up with these deep philosophical questions probing her inner most thoughts. It annoyed her greatly. The boy would grow up to be a psychiatrist. All knew, except for him. He longed to be a professional soccer player.

"Are you okay?" worry grew in his eyes. She seemed to be hiding something, but what?

"I'm alright. Look there's mom, in her room." She said as she continued avoiding his stare. He watched her, searching for clues. It was obvious that she was trying her best to cover up whatever it was that needed covering.

"How's Inuyasha?"

Kagome flinched.

Bingo.

"I'm sure he's okay." She replied as she peeped into their mom's doorway.

"Souta needs a ride to school. I have plans with Sango." Hint of begging in her voice. She wouldn't survive the drive, this she knew as a fact.

"Oh, I can't. I'm going out right now with the ladies. We are supposed to get supplies for the festival at Souta's school." Her mother denied as she fixed her clothes in the mirror.

"Can't you drop him off on your way? I'm not dressed. And—I don't have enough time." she begged, despite the denial given.

"Well, he needs to go in an hour or so; you'll have time to get dressed." She quickly grabbed her keys, scooted past her kids, switched to her outside shoes, and left out the door.

"But, I…" her voice drifted away. She looked down at Souta then quickly back to the empty room.

"Did you and Inuyasha break up?" Souta inquired. Kagome sighed there was no getting around it. Souta was just too bright.

"Yes, we did. No, I don't want to talk about it." She huffed as she walked out of the hallway towards her corner room.

"Is he not coming over anymore?" he asked curiously following her. Curiosity seemed to be a friend of his. This lingered on danger however that's irrelevant to this story.

"No! He will never come here. He can't come here. I don't want to see him." She puffed as she slammed the door shut behind her.

Something's clearly wrong. If she stays this way she won't drive Souta safely to his game. She's an emotional driver. Also, he never liked seeing his sister this way. Kagome is bright eyed with great ambitions. He waited a while for her to get dressed and talk out her frustrations. As she moved from room to room she blurted out random pieces of the problem.

"He never cared to see me." She stated as she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"It's always something else he has to do." She grumbled as she walked back to her room to find her bobbypins.

"Not once has he ever said he loved me or even liked me!" She exclaimed as she found her bobbypins.

"Why do I have to reach out? Why am I the one always crying?" She probed as she stomped back to the bathroom.

Souta watched her grumbling back and forth and inquired, "Does Inuyasha know any of this?"

Kagome poked her head out the bathroom pointing her hair brush at him.

"Ha!" she proclaimed as she threw her head back.

"I've told him this plenty of times! He just doesn't care."

She brushed her hair quickly and violently. Souta sighed. She's making her hair frizzy. Another thing she'll be angry about.

"How did you tell him? Sometimes you say things but you don't really say it." He stated whilst watching her destroy her strands.

She stopped and turned to him, "What?"

"Sometimes you ask questions when you should just say it." Clarity is not one of Souta's friends, or is it not friends with Kagome? Either way it rarely shows its face within their conversations.

"What?" she repeated eyes narrowing in. Souta stood. Paused. Then spoke again.

"When you want me to do something, you ask me the wrong question. Like when I need to pick up something in the living room. You ask whether it's mine. You don't ask me to pick it up." He said now looking up at her.

"Maybe he doesn't know because you asked about trees when you meant to ask about their peaches."

Kagome stared for a moment. Eventually it clicked. However, the answer couldn't have possibly been that simple.

"I asked clearly." She stated as she gave up on the brush and reached for a pony tail holder. A side braid will do for today.

"I'm the only one trying. It's been like this for a year. A whole year. He isn't going to change just because I change the way I talk to him."

"So, what's the real issue?" Souta asked, he didn't have time for this circle language.

"I was never good enough." She stated. She then realized what was happening. She saw that Souta pulled out a chair.

"No. Nope. Not another word." She stated as she finished her braid. Souta looked up at her a little confused. Sighing, she pulled him out of the chair, went downstairs, grabbed the car keys, and ushered him out the door following him closely behind.

After she dropped him off she found herself walking alone in a nearby park. It was fall. Leaves were everywhere. Some trees were bare. Others were getting there. She felt like those bare trees when she was around Souta. Exposed and ugly. She let out another drastic sigh as she kicked around a few pebbles along the dirt path.

Maybe it was silly. Maybe she threw away her first love for no real reason other than she didn't ask the right questions.

No!

No, she won't think that way. Justice came by her side and explained who was truly at fault. Relationships are not meant to be one sided. They are suppose to be tender, not cold.

Oh, but there were times were there was tenderness. Times where he would sit beside her and simply hold her hand. Times where he would come and hug her from behind without saying a word. The way he held her made her heart race.

Yet there were times where he wouldn't contact her for weeks. And when they did finally talk to one another he gave no excuse for the absence and acted as if there was no problem. There were times where he cancelled dates for no reason. There were times where he would ridicule and make rude comments even though he knew she was mad.

Then there were days where he was there sitting and listening to all she had to say. Sometimes he wouldn't have the answer then, but he'd always come back with one. This let her know that he did care about her problems and he did think about her. There were times where she would compare herself to other women and he would scoff by pointing out all the "flaws" in that person. Though this isn't the way she would prefer comfort, she knew this was his way of complementing her. Even though he did say things to her that she found offensive, he never called her unattractive. He only commented on clothes, hair, and actions. Which were at times overwhelming infuriating. And at times overwhelmingly sweet.

Kagome was tearing her mind to pieces over this previous decision. Was she right? If only that incident never happened.

This was going to be a long walk.

A/N: Well that was...something. Next chapter will be Inuyasha. I switch back and forth pretty often. Let me know what you think. I like all feedback. Positive or negative as long as it's helpful information, I shall take it. I'm really excited about this story!