Sorry for the wait, but thank you for reading the second chapter! Enjoy! Oh yeah, and for the reading format, thoughts are italicized and thoughts in flashbacks are bold-italicized.
And the two Higurashi twins clasped hands, the garden wafting in the faint breeze of the cool autumn and the deal was made.
…
The school was lit by the fading autumn light that bled through the windows that morning, the lights off and dim. It was too early for school yet to begin as the cars wove their way past the building and through the city.
The apartment was small, set with a larger guest room and a smaller bedroom. The bed room was set with a small desk filled to the brim with messy stacks of paper, piles of thick books threatening to collapse and a small alarm clock that quietly ticked and ticked and ticked…
And, set with a small garland of dry, woven plants was a picture in fading color, the glass reflecting the light glaring onto it and obscuring the figure in the photo beneath. It was that of a woman, beautiful and graceful in her youthful yet mature appearance, with gentle brown eyes that were soft and kind. Her richly red lips were set into a gentle smile, her eyes lined with the pale color of peach and her cheeks tinted with color. Dark, nearly midnight black hair fell down her back and pulled past her shoulders, with the exception of the locks framing her face. It was the fading picture of Izayoi Takahashi.
Inuyasha, in his dark school uniform, heaved his backpack over his shoulder loosely as he took a bean-jam filled wafer in his mouth. His light hair fell as tousled as ever down his back and waist without any attempt in being bridled, his ears hidden beneath his thick, white-blonde locks.
He could see the deserted, messy apartment as it flashed through his amber eyes: a small couch was set against the wall by a broken lamp, looking into a small television set, supporting two small plates strewn with scraps of old food. The rugged floor was clean of any items with the exception of the furniture set upon it. A wicker cabinet was set against the cream-colored wall with a lamp and a counter separated the kitchen from the room where a refrigerator, dishwasher, and sink abided.
The room was always empty, always deserted, only with Inuyasha inside. And he knew why to well as the picture of Izayoi looked at him in its maple, wooden frame and beneath its shining glass.
He was unwanted, shunned, and lived in solitude. Inuyasha was born from the union of a peasant-like woman Izayoi, and aristocrat InuTashio. The two fell in love after Izayoi had moved back to Japan from China, with barely any money and living in nigh poverty and met InuTashio who would have never, but fell in love with her… and had married her, having her later bare his child, only to die shortly after his birth in an accident.
After InuTashio died, Izayoi was left again in near poverty, now with a child to care for and look after. She had barely managed to survive off a feeble job and died when Inuyasha was about the age of five when a car ran her over.
And he was left alone…but this wasn't the first time. Inuyasha was alone as a child he could vaguely remember, with only his mother to care for him, smile for him even though inwardly she suffered. He knew this because of the frail image built off of InuTashio's and Izayoi's marriage.
None of the families approved of it. InuTashio's family, including his son Sesshomaru born from the union of him and his first wife, all disapproved of the woman he fell in love with and intended to wed due to her financial status and lineage.
And when the two were married, Sesshomaru estranged himself from his family and all relatives refused relations to Izayoi, InuTashio, and the-to-be born Inuyasha, leaving the family only on the wellbeing of the father. And they suffered after he died. They were treated maliciously and willfully after their reputation had been spread.
And he learned to hate them all, every single one of them except his mother, the only one who cared for him and himself. He could trust and care for no one else and the frail happiness he once had with her shattered when Izayoi Takahashi died.
Inuyasha felt the sunlight hit him as he left the apartment and climbed down the stairs of the balcony-railed building. Every single memory hit him in autumn of those times, autumn being the time when Izayoi had died and he was forced to live alone again. Every one, including the time when he and Kikyo had met.
Inuyasha survived barely on the bit of money provided from his dead mother and father, and the few bits from Sesshomaru who had only given him the money to preserve his image. And with that bit of money he survived and eventually went to school.
Kikyo and he and met 3 years ago when he was desperately still living, barely making his way. He learned to trust no one and lashed out at people, causing them to run away in fear and fights to ensue. And he grew lonelier, more separated, more distrusted and hated. He had learned how to steal food from the Higurashi garden and not become caught. It was pathetic and stupid when he thought back to it…stealing food to barely survive, never asking for help of anyone, even to survive. Was it pride…of was it fear, fear of being hurt again, or looked at through cold, scornful eyes?
It was truly… pathetic.
But he had to live, live even on the scraps of food from the garden he passed every day to school. He went there at night and stole the few food items he could carry, avoiding bystanders or being caught…until he came one night.
"Is someone there?" came a voice from inside the garden.
Inuyasha's heart stopped and his breath froze in his chest and throat. There was never anyone out in the garden at this time of night, no one to catch him or any way to get caught. And his mind raced. Had they noticed the missing vegetables and fruits from the garden and waited for him to come again and catch him?
How could they have? He barely stole any, and when he stole more than a handful, they were never noticeable. How had they noticed?
Inuyasha didn't move for a moment froze from fear and then poised to leap and run away, flee madly and wildly to not get caught. And his heart stopped as he heard his bare feet crunch against the dry leaves on the sidewalk, loudly enough so that the person in the garden would hear.
NO! Though Inuyasha savagely and frantically. They would know he was there for sure. He would get caught. He would be sent to jail for stealing and trespassing.
I've got to run! He though wildly and panicking. I have to get out now, before they can catch me!
And Inuyasha barely rose in this deep darkness, poised to flee, but her eyes could see his faint, barely visible silhouette.
"So you are there," said the voice, soft and feminine as it spotted him.
And Inuyasha knew they had seen him and took an audibly step forward to run before they could catch him. But they did catch him. They catch him with their voice as they said softly, "Wait, are you leaving?"
Inuyasha took a few steps more away before the voice stopped him again, saying, "Please don't go. Aren't you hungry?"
The words didn't register until Inuyasha was ten feet way from the garden and he realized the words that had been spoken. He stopped, still prepared to flee and faintly turned his head around to see the person who owned the voice.
And when the person heard him no longer running, they continued in their soft voice, "Aren't you hungry? There are some vegetables in the garden."
Inuyasha listened without saying a word or moving an inch. And his heart still thudded rapidly and deeply, his mind racing wildly? What was this girl trying to say? He could tell by her soft, feminine voice that she was a girl. But what was she saying?
And then he heard her call out again, "Please, if its food you want, its here. It's inside the garden."
As he heard these words, Inuyasha could still feel his mind race wildly. Was this girl… allowing him to steal food from her garden?
NO! Though Inuyasha roughly, madly shaking his head. She's just trying to lure me in and turn me in.
He didn't move, testing to see the girl's reaction. For a minute they both waited until the girl said, "Please, if you're hungry, come inside. You may take some food as you like."
Her words, her offerings were so tempting to Inuyasha's ears and stomach. But he didn't trust her and he wouldn't and remained still, watching the garden and invisible girl in silence. And the girl waited in turn. The two both waited until Inuyasha's stomach wouldn't let him any longer and he cautiously approached the garden barefooted.
And he leapt through the bushes, his guard set and his being wary. He was prepared for attack and to resist and attack back. But nothing happened. He waited and nothing still happened to him.
"So," came a voice, causing Inuyasha to go on guard again, "you decided to come back?"
Inuyasha watched as a girl came out fro the darkness, a candle in her hand to guide her through the nigh black. She was young; maybe a year or two younger than him with long, raven hair, mild, gentle hazel eyes, dressed in a nightgown and slippers. A coat was pulled over the top of her nightgown to ward away the cold.
Inuyasha watched her warily with his sense perked and he prepared…but the girl did nothing.
And then he saw her toss something at his direction and he leapt nimbly back, his heart and mind racing. Ha, he though, I knew it!
But, as Inuyasha inwardly smirked, he looked down at his feet and saw what the girl had tossed to him: a wicker basket filled with an assortment of leeks, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, filled to the brim. Inuyasha looked in awe at it, not daring to touch it or taste it.
"What's the matter?" asked the girl as she looked at his silent and unmoving state, "if you think they're poisoned, than let me eat some first."
At these words, Inuyasha's doubts were dispelled. He stared first at the basket, and then turned his face to the girl in awe. As he looked at her in pure confusion and consternation, he faintly thought he could see the briefest flicker of a smile cross the girls face.
Tentatively, Inuyasha grabbed the handle of the wicker basket, feeling with a grumble of his stomach, the weight of the fruit within it. He quickly turned on his heel as he grabbed the basket and the look on the girls face and then leapt through the bushes once again. As he left the garden, he cast one last look at the girl, who had opened her screen door and was about to go inside until she saw him look back. Then she said lastly as she closed the door, "Be careful and don't get caught."
And both of them left.
From that day on, Inuyasha lived in constant fear. The girl had seen his face, she had seen him and he was caught in the act. She even knew he was going to steal the food from the garden. Is she going to turn me in or report me to the police? She has to, there's no way she wouldn't! I'll be caught for sure!
But she didn't, she never did. Inuyasha waited for her to come at him with police man and a report fro his thievery, but she never did and that moment never came. After waiting a while, Inuyasha had continued to go into the garden, taking the basket with him in the night to gather food as the girl watched him so silently, dispelling his fears and doubts with her soft words and he eventually learned her name.
Kikyo.
As he gathered the food in her garden, she would continue to watch him. In the past, he thought with contempt that she watched his pitiful state with a cold stare, mocking him as he scavenged gardens for mere vegetables and waiting to turn him in. But as he remembered it now, perhaps she was keeping watch for him, in case anyone came to check on the house or garden to make sure he wasn't caught.
Was that it?
Inuyasha remembered soon dropping his guard around Kikyo as he gathered his food and soon talking to her and having brief conversations with her. But he still didn't allow himself to be soft around her or drop his guard completely. After all, she was like everybody else, everybody else who despised his pitiful existence and regarded him coldly. He couldn't trust her; he could only treat her with contempt.
"Come out, Inuyasha," said Kikyo as he waited in the bushes to recognize the person in the garden as Kikyo.
Inuyasha warily entered the garden with his beat up basket in the crook of his arm, looking suspiciously as ever at Kikyo.
She was sitting on the ground of loamy soil, her black hair untied or bridled, and her eyes soft and unmoving.
"We haven't sat so close together, have we Inuyasha?" she said softly.
"And what of it?" said Inuyasha suspiciously.
Kikyo was silent for a moment, merely staring out into the garden of ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, the wide leaves gently bobbing in the cool breeze. Then she adjusted her coat over her shoulder, turning emotionlessly to Inuyasha and saying, "Do I…look like a regular girl to you, Inuyasha?"
"What?" said Inuyasha, never ceasing to be surprised at Kikyo's words.
Kikyo looked away from him, facing out into the darkened garden. Then she said, her hair gently moving in the wind, "I can't…allow myself to look like a normal woman or to look human and I can't allow my true form to show for a moment. If I allow a moments hesitation, all the ugly emotions I've been trying to hide will consume me and I will give myself away to humanity. That's why, Inuyasha, I haven't been able to send you away or let anybody catch you. I heard of you many times before, living alone and in poverty and never letting anyone close and only pushing them away. You and I…are the same…for you too fight humanity."
And Kikyo stopped for a moment and then continued, saying, "I can't allow them to see me, Inuyasha. I have to be…the perfect creature for them, or I will cease to exist. I can't be human. That is how you and I are alike."
Inuyasha, after hearing this, stood up and said, looking down at the seated Kikyo, "What do I care for your whining? I am nothing like you!"
As Inuyasha turned away, still standing, Kikyo looked up at him and said, her face so soft, yet so pained as it smiled, "No…I suppose you're not."
And as Kikyo face appeared in Inuyasha's sight, he felt his heart suddenly stop in one hard, loud beat.
Inuyasha could remember that day as he found his way through the streets of that autumn morning and his thoughts racing through his head: Her face had looked so…utterly alone. And for the first time in my life that I could remember, I felt as if I had done something wrong. Why had she struck me that way…why had she looked so miserable and pained? And since that time, her face always nagged me and I found myself thinking about her all the time.
"Inuyasha, I was thinking about turning this vegetable garden into a flower garden," said Kikyo, the spring bringing the new plants that had died over the winter to dry decay. She took some of the soil in her hands, saying, "I think…the life of this garden is at its end, so I'll plants some flowers here."
Inuyasha listened as he sat by the candle illuminating his face and features, glowing against him. "Feh," he said, closing his eyes, "what would I care?"
"I was wondering," said Kikyo, looking softly at the remnants of the once thriving plants, "how you would survive without the garden here if the flowers were planted. Then all the vegetables…would be gone and you wouldn't have food. How would you live?"
As Kikyo said this, her eyes turned to Inuyasha and she could see his surprised face as he looked back. She was…thinking about him, how he would survive. She had continued to labor on the vegetables in the garden so that he could survive and live. Why…had she thought about him?
Inuyasha, as Kikyo looked earnestly at him, couldn't look at her anymore and looked away. He could feel her gaze leave him and his own linger at the dry plants after the fall and winter.
Then he stood up and, looking back at Kikyo, said as he leapt through the bushes, "Don't…worry about me. I can survive, and not just on this garden." And he left the Higurashi house.
He had worked hard, but Inuyasha got a job to keep himself going and to allow Kikyo to create the flower garden she lingered over. She wouldn't have to worry about him…he wouldn't let her as he worked and soon made enough money to move into an apartment and continue with his school training. And soon they got closer and closer to one another and the human sides they had been trying to hide…their true forms, began to bleed through. They slowly became more and more human and they became more and closer.
And their feelings showed and grew for one another. Inuyasha felt emotions he hadn't felt for so long… feelings of compassion, of trust, and of…love. And Kikyo's true feelings and form began to show…her 'imperfect' form and the love between them flourished.
But eventually, as school began and Inuyasha's feelings of distrust and Kikyo's mask resumed, the feelings of love began to wane. Everyone around them, people, trust, and imperfection…every bit of it grew until Inuyasha and Kikyo began to fall apart and the feelings between them had changed. The old feelings of love and comfort began to morph into loneliness and pain. Why had they changed? What had happened between them?
Inuyasha could feel these painful feelings well inside him. School was close and he could feel every emotion spill itself in his memories. The feelings of loneliness and distrust grew as he and Kikyo grew farther apart. Even though the rift widened, though, something was still there. A light in the darkness that still faintly flickered. Still flickering…so softly.
And Inuyasha could remember feeling it yesterday when Kikyo kissed him and spoke to him, looking kindly at him and he could feel the feelings of distrust fade away, like the ugly emotions inside him.
But…where were those feelings now…? And what of their love still existed? Something was gone, but something was still there, still glowing faintly, still dully shining. It still existed…didn't it?
The love he and Kikyo had shared.
And Inuyasha raced into the school building as he heard the bell ring and the day begin.
…
"And so class," said Miroku, running a finger over the wide stacks of books on his desk, "that will be your assignment for Friday. I expect from each of you to hand in at least six pages on the report in an old and still thriving religion. Class dismissed."
Miroku looked down at his books as the bell rang and the first morning class ended and students rose from their seats. The light poured in through the opened windows and shone over the students in the classroom.
A cooler breeze poured in from the windows than yesterdays, carrying in the scents of the plants and their last, fading scents. It spread through the classroom in the daze of fall. The schoolmates dispersed as they fled into the halls for their next, assigned class, leaving all but one student in the room.
Kagome lay with her head against her thick pile of books, her hair falling out of its elastic band and her eyes closed. She could barely feel the vibrations of the footsteps of her classmates, her daze now slumber.
The voices of people passed her ears, barely touching her hearing and she lay. When she slept she was often in a light slumber, but in her dazes, she slept heavily. Soon all the footsteps had stopped and only silence was left in their place, the people now in the halls and only two people left in the classroom.
"Higurashi, Miss, Higurashi?"
Kagome could hear faintly a voice calling out her name and then numbly felt a warm hand shaking her shoulder. At first she didn't register it, but then she responded by meekly opening her eyes and straightening up. As she rose from the desk, she could feel the hand leave her shoulder and she saw vaguely, her eyes adjusting to the light, a man standing beside her.
"Oh!" Kagome gasped, recognizing this figure and hastily trying to look awake and saying, "Houshi-sensei!"
The man beside her grinned in reply. He had tousled, dark hair that was tied into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore a suit the color of dark, navy blue, nigh black that molded into his masculine figure. His eyes were the dark color of rich, blackening blue and a bag was held in the crook of his elbow.
This was Miroku Houshi, a young, nearly twenty-year-old student teacher who worked at the high school from the college nearby. He had started teaching only this year, his tutelage featuring Philosophy and Religion, but he had already attracted the lustful eyes of many of the female students. He was popular among students for his laidback, lenient nature, but he was still strict and required the utmost attention in his class.
"So you're awake now, Miss Higurashi?" said Miroku, smiling gently.
"Oh," said Kagome and she remembered she had been asleep and hastily said, her voice a bit frantic, "I just sort of dazed off there…but I did get the assignment, sensei…!"
"Good," said Miroku, grinning, "Then I can expect another well-written and thoughtful paper from you, Miss Higurashi."
Kagome, looking into Miroku's kind face, couldn't help but blush, "Y-you don't have to flatter me, sensei, really, it's…"
"Oh, I'm telling the truth," said Miroku, with a curious expression on his face and then said, holding the backpack in his elbow, "you write very well, Miss Higurashi, and your papers are both clear and complex. I expect more well-written assignments in the future from you."
Kagome felt the heat rise to her face and couldn't help but raise her hands to her darkening complexion.
"Y-you're too kind, sensei," said Kagome softly, trying to hide her reddening face.
"Really?" said Miroku and then he shifted, leaning against a desk by Kagome's and then said, sighing and looking slightly depressed as he gently smiled, "I don't think everybody thinks so."
"What do you mean, sensei?" said Kagome, her being now alert and vigilant.
Miroku was silent for a moment, looking away through the hallway now empty of students and faculty, and then said softly, "I mean…" but then he stopped, still looking longingly away and then dismissed his last sentence with his words, "It's nothing, I'm merely spouting nonsense. Forgive me for wasting your time, Miss Higurashi."
Kagome looked at him lift himself from the support of the desk and, straightening up, turn to leave the classroom. His beige bag swung at his side as he turned to look back at Kagome, saying as he gently smiled, "Have a good afternoon, Miss Higurashi, and I will see you tomorrow."
"Y-yes, sensei." said Kagome, as she hastily stood up and faced the now empty hallway. She had just realized that this was break time for the students and hurriedly, with her bag over her shoulder and bouncing at her side, ran into the halls.
Few students still lingered in the hallways during this time of study, but Kagome could still see people wander about.
I wonder what Kikyo's doing now, Thought Kagome dully as she heard the own padding of her footsteps. She looked out at the closed doors of the few rooms that adorned the white halls and flashed in her vision and she remembered the deal that she and Kikyo made.
I have to be myself, huh? She thought numbly as the doors and halls passed her by. Then what am I supposed to do?
She could feel the heat rise on her body and burn beneath her skin as she thought, passing the nearly empty halls and looking away from her destination. She could feel the weight of her bag bounce against her waist and her wavy hair bounce in her loose clip's teeth.
As she thought of actually being herself, her body burned and her heart seemed to loudly thump in her chest. Everything seemed to slow down and in the end she was the only thing moving.
She had hid herself away, hid herself beneath the safety of a mask because…she didn't want to be compared to her, she didn't want to continue to fail in comparison to Kikyo. She didn't have a scarred past or anything but…Kikyo was the perfect being, she was everything to everyone, and Kagome didn't want to be disappointed again. Compared and losing to Kikyo again. That's why she hid away, that was why she never spoke to anyone and never was around anyone. She didn't want to fail in comparison to Kikyo again. She didn't want to be disappointed and she didn't want to disappoint. Not again.
At least if she hid away, no one could hurt her and she could hurt on one by being the imperfect being compared to Kikyo.
It's too hot! Though Kagome savagely, feeling the heat of her words snake over her body. Whenever she thought about failing to Kikyo or attempting to lift her mask, her body burned and her heart thudded. She was too scared, too afraid to try and disappoint anyone by being less than Kikyo. And…she didn't want to disappoint herself.
Kagome, feeling her body burn and sweat bead her face, tugged at the hem of her sweater and attempted to lift it off of her. She pulled the thick wool over her head and felt the heat slowly disappear on her flesh as she tied the sweater around her waist.
Why do I fail so much to Kikyo…?
Kagome was so deep in thought she didn't the person coming at her as she turned the corner and managed to hit them, toppling back. She fell back and her clip fell out of her hair, splaying her dark locks all over her face and shoulders. She could feel her head ache where she hit the person and her eyes close.
Urgh…I'm such a klutz! She thought angrily at herself, her sweater strewn around her, her bag on the floor and her hair everywhere. Kagome raised a hand to her face and pulled back her curtains of long hair behind her ears so that only her bangs reached her face.
"S-sorry!" she said frantically to the person she had collided with and she looked up to see the figure standing before her, unmoved by the collision.
Her eyes widened as she recognized this boy as Inuyasha, his hand over his lower face from where she had hit him and his black uniform ruffled. His bag was thrown onto the floor as his hands clutched his lower face. When he removed his hands, Kagome could see with regret, the injury that had been left from their crash.
"You have a hard head…!" He said stiffly as he looked down at her.
But then he registered who this person was. The same girl in the garden when he had left, with her dark hair splayed on her back and trailing locks climbing over her shoulders and her hazel eyes locked on his amber ones. She looked so much like Kikyo…yet she didn't.
Kagome, after meeting Inuyasha's eyes, hastily turned down her head and said frantically while gathering her bag and sweater in her grasp, "S-sorry I…wasn't really paying attention…"
"Obviously," said Inuyasha, getting his own bag from off of the floor and slinging it over his shoulder.
Kagome took her sweater and tied it tightly around her waist as she sat on her legs, her clip's teeth digging into the wool of one of the sweater's sleeves and her bag in her arms.
Clamping the floor with her palms, Kagome tried to heave herself off of the floor but failed in the attempt as she thudded back down due to her weakened legs.
"Ow…" said Kagome under her breathe as she felt her legs ache from her twisted fall.
Then she saw a hand raised before her, coming from the black sleeve-clad arm of Inuyasha as his golden eyes landed upon her.
Kagome clasped his hand and felt her body rise as the strong arm immediately lifted her from the floor to her feet. Kagome staggered on the soles of her shoes as she landed on her feet, her dark hair bouncing in the air and her bag at her side. Kagome could feel the warmth of Inuyasha's hand leave hers slowly as he put it in his pocket when she was standing.
"Um…er, thanks," said Kagome earnestly as she patted her skirt and threw back her hair from her neck.
Inuyasha could see each individual strand of midnight black catch the superficial sunlight emanating from the ceiling lights and specks dance across her greenish eyes. She looked so much like Kikyo and reminded him so much of her…but something was different about her, her aura, the air in which she gracefully moved.
"Oh," said Inuyasha hastily, "…it's nothing."
Kagome could feel her bag sway lightly on her shoulder and her hair move unbridled by her clip.
"Um…were you looking for Kikyo?" she asked uncertainly.
"No, not really," said Inuyasha as he shifted his hand in his pocket and the other loosely hanging at his side. She looked so much like her, but her voice was different as was her air. Just like when he saw her in the garden that day…
As soon as she cast a swift look at Inuyasha, Kagome felt their eyes immediately link as Inuyasha stared at her. His pale golden eyes…she could see her own figure reflect in them softly and she could see something else hidden inside them. Loneliness, distrust, pain, hate… and all those emotions she could only vaguely see in those amber eyes, and she felt the same sensation as yesterday when she was in the garden and their eyes met.
But how come she could see these emotions and not turn away? Even as she looked at these emotions swirl in the depth of his eyes, she could feel her own mask slip away and her true self show, reflected in those golden eyes. Her own mask hiding her fear, uncertainty, hopelessness, and inferiority.
Then why did she feel tears suddenly well in her eyes and spill themselves down her face?
"H-hey!" said Inuyasha, as he saw the tears stream down her cheeks, "Why are you crying?"
Kagome weakly lifted her hands to her face, saying honestly, "I don't know…the t-tears just started to overflow…"
Kagome could feel the wet droplets continuously make their way from her eyes to her face, streaming down her cheeks. The wet teardrops reached her touch as they flecked the backs of her hands and Kagome firmly shut her eyes in an attempt to stop the abrupt flow.
Something in her heart ached at the sight of Inuyasha, and the loneliness and fear she tried to hide found themselves painfully away in her tears. The pain in her heart wouldn't stop… it wasn't sympathy and it wasn't empathy. Maybe it was the emotion she was trying to hide away, tugging at her heart, her faint spirit, causing her tears to overflow. Why did her heart hurt so much at this boy's sight?
Inuyasha helplessly, confusedly, and painfully watched Kagome cry her heart out and he felt the reminiscence of Kikyo's pain, his pain, and his mother's pain in her spilling tears. Why he felt sympathy for this girl, he didn't know. He hadn't trusted anyone other than Kikyo and when they had grown farther and farther apart, so grew the trust and caring he had known. And before he knew it, he found himself distrusting again, alone again, being lashed out and hurt, lashing and hurting again. Then why did he not feel these emotions towards this girl that he did everybody else besides Kikyo…?
Inuyasha didn't know why but he reached out his hands and, pushing Kagome's hands apart, swept his own sleeved hand over her tears.
Was it because she reminded him of the pained and lonely Kikyo with whom he had once shared his love…?
The bell suddenly rang through the halls, bringing Inuyasha and Kagome out of their thoughts and daze as the school came to life. Kagome broke her eyes off of him and turned around, hurrying away to the class with her bag swinging madly about. She could feel her body burn, but she couldn't understand why he had stayed as she cried or why her mask had fallen from her face.
Why had her true self shown…and what was the feeling that buried itself in her heart as she looked or thought about him?
…
"…this time was called the 'Warlord Era' or 'Era of the Warring States' from the constant civil wars that took place in 15th and 16th century Japan. The feudal overlords, also known as daimyo, fought to control land and its resources amongst one another during the Sengoku Jidai as the ruling shogun and his central government weakened. The period between the years of 1482-1558 became the age of great battle, mysterious ninja, and powerful samurai."
Naraku threw back his dark, wavy hair and drew a thick book from the table into his hands and continued, saying, "And because of these constant wars, average working folk were often in the midst of a great battle, in which afterward the land would be reduced to a blood-soaked graveyard. Many people died during this time of the Sengoku Era."
Then Naraku opened his thick book, the color of blood, and said, "Now, your assignments will be to research the Sengoku Era, how it came to be, and what affect it made on the world and Japan today. Class dismissed."
The bell loudly rang, cutting the silence of the classroom in its wake. The students stood up to gather their items and leave the school building as the school day ended and the afternoon painted the sky in the rich colors of the autumn leaves. The school wafted around with the scent of the season in the air.
Kikyo looked around the class as she stood up through the torrents of students, her bag at her side and her hair thrown over her shoulder in a twisted, raven rope. She could see, through the corners of her eyes as she gathered her books, the people leaving the classroom, laughing and talking amongst one another. And she could see Kagome walk through the crowds, with her hand over her bag's strap and looking to the side as if in a daze.
Kikyo noticed, though, that her hair was down, cascading in waves over her back and her sweater was tied around her waist with the teeth of her clip biting into it.
Oh…the dare…thought Kikyo as she stood up through the torrents of students, looking for a gap in the crowd through which to pass. I wonder what I'm going to do with my part…
To figure out her feelings for Inuyasha…
Kikyo had been avoiding him today, not knowing what to do or say to him. Just thinking about him was painful. But she knew she couldn't run forever, she had to fulfill her end of the deal as well. But Kikyo just didn't know where to start.
There could be no start; wherever she looked she couldn't find it. But I can't continue to run… I have to continue forward, I can't continue to run.
But Kikyo couldn't confront him; she couldn't even think about him, it felt as if her heart were breaking asunder. It was painful even holding back the tears. But she had to continue forward, she couldn't run away or hide anymore. She had to confront him at some point….but whenever she thought about this, her courage would slowly ebb away to be replaced with the pain of her shattering heart. She had to find it. She had to find the start, she couldn't run away again.
I have to find it… thought Kikyo as she numbly could feel her vision cross those of the departing students and nearly empty classroom. The love that's hidden, waiting to be uncovered again…or the love that's forever lost between us.
Before she knew it, the classroom was empty of students except Kikyo as she looked around. She hadn't realized how deep she had been in her musings. Kikyo held the strap of her backpack over her shoulder and made her way to the opened door of the classroom, showing the hallways filled with people.
I don't know, though…how far I will go or where I'll make it. Thought Kikyo as she headed to the door and then she could feel everything in her vision disappear, except her thoughts, replaced in nothingness. Everything had disappeared; it was only her as she thought insensibly.
But I'll continue toward the end…even when there's nothing left but the mask I wear in my hands.
Clatter…!!
Kikyo was brought out of her thoughts as her ears suddenly picked up the sounds of hard items tumbling to the ground and she realized that she had dropped her bag onto the floor. She hadn't even realized the surroundings she inhibited, only her thoughts.
Kikyo looked emotionlessly at the bag on the floor, books falling from its mouth and papers strewn on the floor. She leaned down to pick them up as she realized they were her items, kneeling on the floor and outstretching her arms without thought.
Perfect…emotionless…modeled after everyone wanted her to be…and alone…
That was Kikyo; she was nothing but everything people wanted of her. If she wasn't needed, then she would cease to exist. So she made herself needed, wanted, the true her never showing, because nobody wanted the real her.
Except someone had wanted her once, someone had needed her as much as she needed them. But they hadn't needed the perfect, flawless her; they had wanted her in her imperfect and flawed form. Someone had needed her…she wasn't unwanted.
But that was no more. She was no longer needed, only her perfect, false form was ever looked at in this unneeded world. She wasn't needed, not her true self. Only the perfect from everybody wanted to see, to hear, and to exist. Because the real her was unneeded in this world.
Kikyo hadn't even noticed a shadow crossing over her as she kneeled to the ground, unmoving to pick up the books and only staring at the floor with the manuscripts in her hands. Not until she felt the touch of his flesh as he drew the books from her hands and laid them into the bag now propped up against her kneeling legs.
"Oh," said Kikyo, coming back to the realization of what was around her after his touch, "Onigumo-sensei,"
Kikyo saw Naraku standing beside her with his bag in the crook of his arm and realized all of her books and papers in her bag.
Naraku Onigumo was the History and Contemporary Events teacher at Shikon High School. He had only recently acquired the job, but ever since he had worked there, Kikyo knew there was something different about him. Something…that reminded her of Inuyasha, something familiar. He was different, something about him called out to her.
His long, wavy black hair fell down his back held in a band at the back of his head. His skin was pale, bleached by the darkness in which he abided and his eyes were narrowed, auburn. His dark, nearly black suit covered his tall, willowy, but strong figure as he stood in the feeble light that came through the windows.
Kikyo stood up with her bag's straps in her hands, observing her teacher as she rose. His face was emotionless as he looked at her, his body un-leaning as it stood straight and firm, his strong shoulders rippling under the fabric of his suit.
Kikyo was certain they hadn't met before outside of her school life…but something about him was so familiar, so close, so near and reminiscent. But she didn't know what it was.
Kikyo straightened up and said, in her masked voice and appearance, "Thank you, sensei."
Naraku only nodded and Kikyo turned to leave. She could feel the floor beneath her feet as she made it half-way through the door, the classroom disappearing behind her. Just as she entered the hallway, she could feel Naraku's gaze on her and she turned to see him in the out of the classroom behind her.
"Don't run forever, Miss Higurashi," said Naraku quietly and he turned away into the halls, leaving Kikyo looking curiously at his black suit-clad back.
Kikyo only looked at him as he walked away and she could see his dark hair and suit soon disappear as he turned through the halls, dotted with students. And she could feel that reminiscent sensation again pull at her heart and mind, tugging at her. There was something about Naraku that called out to her and drew her…
…
She had dark hair tied into a pony-tail, with the exception of the short locks framing her face. Her hair bounced as she ran through the halls and out of the door of the classroom she had been in, her bag threatening to slide down her shoulder as she sped away.
"Wait, Sango!" called out a voice as she ran.
Sango didn't look back as she ran, holding her bag with her hand. She kept on running as she made her way to the doors outside of the school building, her hair flying madly and breathing unmoving as she held it in her throat.
Then she stopped as she felt hands grip her arms, holding her back and putting a halt to her running. For a moment, she struggled mercilessly in the arms of her captor, and then she drew a deep breath and said loudly, "What do you want?!"
She turned her profile to see Miroku holding her back with his hands gripping her arms and holding her to his chest to restrain her from speeding off again, a bright red mark across his face. Sango still struggled as she was biting her lip with her magenta-lined eyes narrowed, but couldn't break free from his grasp.
It took all of his might to restrain her as she struggled and strained to break lose so she could break into a sprint again. Miroku, pulling her to him, said, "Sango, please, you have to listen before you overreact—"
"Overreact?!" she burst out, still struggling with all her might to break free. She could feel her teeth cut into her lip as she refrained to shout out and instead hissed, "What do you mean 'overreact'? You call this overreacting, you hent—"
"Please, I fear you are overreacting, Sango," said Miroku calmly as she struggled.
"I am not overreacting!" Sango nearly shouted, and neither her nor Miroku noticed the nervous/curious eyes of the by standing teachers and students.
"Let go!" she said ferociously as she struggled to break free of his grasp.
Sango tried to yank her arms free, trying to break away from Miroku's grasp. She continued to struggle like an animal in the arms of its captor, but to no avail could she break free.
"Will you just let go…?!" She said furiously as she struggled wildly.
"No, I'm afraid I will not," said Miroku still calmly as he held her back from running any further. "Please, Sango, it was just a touch—"
But at this point, Sango had grabbed her bag in her hands and furiously launched it at Miroku's face, ending in Miroku toppling back and his face covered in a large (and painful) print.
Without even bothering to retrieve her bag or look back, Sango sped full-speed through the halls and made her way soon to proximity to the doors. Everything was hot, her skin burned, and her flesh seared painfully. Why did she feel this way…?
Why did she topple to the ground as she staggered and tripped on her own feet? Why did she feel the cold marble beneath her knees and hands as she held herself up and why did it take everything, all of her strength she could muster…? Why did it take everything to hold back tears?
Sango bit her lip and tried to clear the wet fuzziness from her vision as she faced the floor, but couldn't stop her shaking limbs.
Idiot! She thought angrily as she clamped a hand over her shaking arm. Why the heck are you so weak…?
Sango closed her eyes firmly, resolute not to let tears stream from them. She could only face the cold floor, her eyes closed and her body barely quivering.
"Stupid Miroku…" she whispered, feeling her words cost her a tremulous breath and bringing her one step closer to tears.
I'm so weak! …! Why don't I have any power to stop the trembling?
Sango clenched her fists as she felt the words disappear and her thoughts barely touch her conscious. Only raw emotion was what she could now perceive. As she knelt with her head bowed, she didn't even notice someone beside her, listening to her and watching her. Not until she heard the footsteps approaching and lifted her head to barely see someone grabbed her hand and lift her off the floor.
"Kikyo…?"
But as these words left her lips, Sango knew it wasn't her. No…this wasn't Kikyo leading her through the hallways and out of the school building, not Kikyo leading her away.
The doors clattered open as the girl before her and Sango made it outside of the school building. The intense sunlight bled over her, burst into her vision and nearly blinded her if not for the speckled shadows of the trees and their parted leaves. Sango caught her breath, still jagged from her close-to-tears state and wiped the back of her hand over her eyes as she stood in the grounds. Every shadow lapped the descending, cement stairs, as did the dry autumnal leaves. Sango could feel the cool speckled shadows of the treetops collapse onto her…and the person with her.
She was her age, with dark hair and a sailor suit that clad her figure.
"No, not Kikyo…Kagome."
Okay, thanks for reading this new chapter and I hope it was enjoyed. And, in a disclosed feature, the past of Kikyo and Kagome. Please enjoy!
She had been remembering in her dream four years ago when she and Kikyo had been, like in school, so far apart.
Even though they were twins, they were so different that they couldn't connect, they couldn't relate, and ended up fighting a lot. Being with Kikyo was painful then. She was so perfect in the eyes of her parents and in the eyes of everybody else. Her light was so bright, Kagome felt as if the brittle one she emanated was extinguished by her. Kikyo was the one people liked and adored. Everyone wanted to be around her. But Kagome didn't have the same affect on people.
Kikyo was too perfect, flawless, and then Kagome was the shy girl who could never amount to anything in her sister's eyes. Kikyo's cold, lightless eyes. Ever since school began, Kagome closed up inside herself and Kikyo became the social butterfly everyone loved and who everyone wanted to become. And that state of the twins flourished, Kagome becoming more and more closed up and Kikyo becoming more and more likeable.
Why couldn't she stand up to Kikyo? Why couldn't she find the courage in her heart to be like her, talk to people like her, be with people like her? Why did Kikyo have to be so perfect and Kagome had to be the flawed double? Why had it been that way?
And Kagome could remember whenever she and Kikyo spoke it was in deathly whispers or in tirades. Kikyo had always regarded her with cold eyes that Kagome could only shrink in. And soon in time, the girls had begun to despise each other so much, they couldn't stop fighting. Whenever they talked, they scared the younger siblings and angered their parents.
They couldn't…connect.
And then Kagome remembered one time she could feel and touch so easily in her memory, the time she had first seen Kikyo for who she was.
The night was cold that day in near spring, three years back. Kagome could feel the warmth of her covers against her clothed skin as the cool air wafted around her.
Kagome's eyes snapped opened and she could feel the cloth of her blanket cool against her thin fabric-covered self. Straightening up and whipping her covers to the floor, Kagome stood up and approached the window, holding her shoulders in the cold.
It's freezing! She thought savagely as she noticed the amount of skin left vulnerable and uncovered by the end of her nightgown. Kikyo was supposed to close the windows!
The floor seemed suddenly like a smooth layer of ice as she walked across the wooden surface in her bare feet. In this darkness, all she could find was the window, through which the streetlights glowed. Kagome, feeling her teeth begin to softly chatter and her shoulders shake beneath her arms, ran towards the window leading into the back yard. Albeit the thin curtains covering the windows, holes of light smeared the white cloth and the wind gently pulled them in and pushed them out.
Kagome, reaching out her hands, closed her fingers tightly upon the thin fabric and yanked it away from the window with all her quaking might. She could feel the uncovered wind blast her body and bare face, numbing her skin.
Why's it so cold in spring? She thought angrily and tossed aside the curtains. The windows were opened, opened up to the near frame as the panes held in the only wind being blasted at them and rattled with it. Kagome held the windows and, as she prepared to pull them down over the broken screen, paused as she saw something. A light appeared in her eyes as she looked down onto the ground through the window and saw alight. Usually, a light in the darkness of the city wouldn't have been new to her, but when she saw where it was coming from her fingers slipped from the window and fell to the heater beneath its frame. The light was coming from the garden.
Kagome loved the garden, but she only tended to it during the day time before Kikyo tended to it in the afternoon. She hadn't much to do in the dry soil; after the mild autumn and harsh winter, the plants had either died of were dying, nigh any life in the garden left. Kagome froze as she saw the light as reached for a small keychain she had.
Without gazing away from outside the window, her hand scurried across the floor until kit met a small, angular object. Kagome reached until she found the small ring attached onto a thin silver chain attached to the keychain. Then Kagome drew it to herself. It was her small, chibi-dolphin keychain with a small trigger on the top as the moveable dorsal fin. As Kagome pulled back the dorsal fin in her finger, the dolphin's jaws moved apart so that the mouth opened to reveal its pale tongue, several sharp teeth and a red light that appeared to emanate form the back of the dolphin's throat.
Kagome moved the dolphin's opened mouth as the pale red light streamed through it and raised it to her own face so that she could see the light in the garden more clearly. As she did so, her heart skipped a beat. She could see the light in the garden and the figures it was illuminating; it was Kikyo in her nightgown and a thick coat pulled over her, the source of the light a lit candle she held in her hand and near her a young boy with brilliantly white hair and unusual golden eyes.
What the— what's Kikyo doing in the night in the garden with that boy?! Thought Kagome wildly as her fingers trembled on the dolphin's dorsal fin trigger and caused the light to flicker. Kagome stopped her hand and closed both of hers around it to stop it, in case Kikyo and the boy would notice. Then, just as she was about to call out, a voice came. Kikyo's voice;
"Are you sure, Inuyasha?" she said, softly but concernedly, "how will you survive if not on this garden?"
"Feh," said the boy as he crossed his arms and sat cross-legged in the soil, "I'll be fine, I don't need your petty garden to survive!"
Then Kagome's breath caught in her throat and she clasped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from giving herself away by gasping. She suddenly knew who this boy was. He was Inuyasha, the infamous adolescent who started fights with whom ever he seldom approached. He was a vagabond, without money or a home, who was treated badly and fought with the people who encountered him.
What's Kikyo doing with this delinquent?! Kagome thought wildly as she felt her heart suddenly rapidly beat.
"But…" said Kikyo worriedly.
"You needn't worry about me, woman," said Inuyasha as he sat, facing Kikyo. "I don't need your help."
As he said this, Inuyasha rose from the dirt with some of what he had gathered from Kikyo, consisting or two nearly ripened mangos and an apple from the kitchen. He turned to the bushes, in mid-poise to leap through them when Kikyo said, "…Wait, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha turned around to see Kikyo, kneeling in the dirt with the cloth of her nightgown spread around her, "Will," she said quietly, looking at him weakly, with an expression Kagome had never seen her wear before. Was it…loneliness? "Will you still…come here? Will you come back?"
Kikyo looked at him for a moment, waiting for Inuyasha's response and Kagome could see the surprised look on his face. He looked back at her quietly and then, whipping his head around as Kagome noticed it was beginning to darken in color, said quietly, "What do you care?"
With an agile leap, Inuyasha jumped through the bushes, where Kikyo could still see his head bobbing out in the darkness. Kikyo was about to rise and enter the screen door when Kagome could see her stop as Inuyasha's voice became audible again and he said, "Don't think you'll see the last of me…Kikyo."
And then he disappeared in the darkness without another word, the only noise coming from him that of his fast and silent footsteps. Kagome watched for a moment silently until she could see Kikyo's face with the most pure and honest smile she had ever seen from her, and she heard the clatter of the door as she reentered the house.
Kagome didn't move, except for dropping the now lightless keychain onto the ground as she sat in awe. What had she just seen? Kikyo had been down there in the garden, giving Inuyasha food from the kitchen after he had been stealing in the summer's end from the vegetable garden.
Why had Kikyo been there with Inuyasha? She was talking with him and acting in a way Kagome had never seen her act around anybody before. She was like a different Kikyo when she was with him, with worries and concern and…loneliness.
When she had asked if Inuyasha if he would come back, she sounded so lonely and pained, as if her heart were breaking. Kagome had never seen her like that before, heard her that way before, or experienced her like that before. That was Kikyo…wasn't it? It had to be. That girl had Kikyo's voice, Kikyo's appearance and she had been addressed by Inuyasha as 'Kikyo'.
Kagome didn't even realize the sound of the door clacking open to her room or the sight of Kikyo entering. Kagome dully registered the door creaking closed as Kikyo got inside and turned her head numbly to see her sister.
Kikyo was looking at her with the expression of utmost horror on her face, her eyes wide and her mouth tightly closed as if she were going too be sick. With trembling hands at her side and her face blank of anything but terror, she only stared at Kagome.
Kagome could tell that she knew she had been watching by the window as she sat by it, the dolphin-keychain-light dropped beside her, and Kagome only stared wide-eyed back at her. But she knew Kikyo wouldn't say anything; she couldn't. She looked too scared and sick to speak.
Than, trembling sharply, Kagome stood up and looked at her sister.
As she approached her, Kikyo said quietly and tremulously, "Did…did…d-did you s-see that…down i-i-in the garden?"
Kagome nodded numbly, looking at Kikyo's still horror-struck face. Then she said, her voice unusually calm and low, "You were giving food…to him: Inuyasha. He was the one…stealing food from the garden earlier, wasn't he? He was the one in the garden. He is the reason…why you always come to bed late…isn't he?"
Kikyo didn't answer, still looking horrified as she looked at Kagome and Kagome knew that she was right. Then, as Kikyo continue dot look terrified and sick, Kagome suddenly burst out, not knowing why she did, "Why were you with him, never telling anybody he was the one stealing food from the garden?! How long did you know this, anyway? A week? A couple? A month? Last year?!"
Kikyo continued to merely look at Kagome as she yelled, oblivious to everybody else sleeping in the house or the neighbors sleeping outside. Then Kagome yelled, looking furiously at Kikyo, "How come you never reported him or told anyone about him? That he was the one stealing our crops or that he was coming here night by night? How come you were talking with him and giving him our food? How come you were with him, talking as if you were friends? How come you continued to be with him? How come you were with him tonight, talking to him, speaking with him like I've never seen you before? How come…"
Kagome could see Kikyo's horrified face but continued albeit, saying loudly as she saw Kikyo's watery eyes, "How come you looked lonely around him and looked like you couldn't bear to be without him?!"
Kagome stopped, looking furiously at Kikyo with her eyes dilated and her breath ragged. She didn't even notice her hands furled into fists so tightly that she was breaking her skin with her nails. Kikyo, looking continuous looking horrified at Kagome, suddenly opened her mouth and tremulously whispered, "You…are…are you going to tell?"
Kagome, still looking savagely at Kikyo, said shortly but still loudly, "were you ever going to?"
Kikyo looked at Kagome with wide-eyes and said softly, "will…you?"
Kagome only looked at Kikyo, not answering but glaring at her sister. Her perfect sister, flawless twin standing before her vulnerable and horrified. Kikyo's true form, her imperfect form was now completely naked in Kagome's eyes, revealed that night when Inuyasha had come. Kagome could feel anger consume her and rage contort her figure.
Kikyo had been talking with the boy who had been stealing from their garden, sitting with him, willingly giving him food and company, even looking at him like she never looked at anybody before. She hadn't told on him, she hadn't reported him, but she had helped him and stayed with him.
Kagome boiled with fury. Kikyo had acted like she was so perfect, looking at her imperfect double Kagome down her nose, when she fed and looked after one of the cities delinquents. Why did she have the right to appear perfect and make Kagome appear like her flawed extra? Why did she have the right to act like the perfect classmate, sibling, relative, and daughter when she helped Inuyasha? How could she be perfect in everyone else's eyes and only appear true in Kagome's and Inuyasha's?
Why did she appear perfect, making Kagome inferior, unneeded and superfluous when her true nature was not?
Then, as Kagome looked at her, she breathed and yelled again, "Why would you care if I turned in the thief? Why would you care at all? Why would you care at all, why didn't you turn him in when you first saw him? How come you continued to be with him and give him food and company, why do you care at all for him?"
Kikyo looked weakly and still terrified at Kagome and then said her voice tearful, "…you can't turn him in, you just cant."
"Why can't I?' said Kagome, breathing hard.
Kikyo looked fearfully and close to tears at Kagome, saying frightfully, "you…you can't, I-I wont let you. He's…he's the only…"
At this point, Kikyo stopped and only looked at Kagome with wide eyes, tears welling up inside them. Kagome arrogantly looked at her pitiful state, with rage and anger. Perfect Kikyo, flawless, perfect Kikyo, crying over the sake of a mere vagabond and thief?
"He's the only what? The only person who's ever stolen from us before, the only person who thinks your perfect from the millions of others out there?" said Kagome furiously. "What is he the only of, Kikyo...What is he to you?"
Kikyo looked at Kagome for a moment longer and then said, "he's the only one…who's accepted me for who I…really am."
"What do you mean?" said Kagome, anger tainting her words, "the only one who's accepted you fro who you really are? The only one out of the thousands who love you, adore you, the perfect you? The perfect you who's beautiful, wise and adored by everybody? What do you mean he's the only one who's accepted for who you really are—?"
"No!" said Kikyo, her voice suddenly strong but still tremulous. She didn't look at Kagome, her head turned around and her eyes angrily scrunched in order to prevent tears. "He's…" she said, breathing hard and shakily, "He's the only one who's accepted me for the real me! Not the perfect me who's adored by people and loved by her peers and parents, not the perfect, flawless Kikyo you know! The real one, the ugly one behind the mask, the imperfect one who's feared and shunned, the one who ceases to exist!"
"I don't get you!" said Kagome, her voice still loud.
"You wouldn't!" said Kikyo, and her eyes welled with tears as she said; "you wouldn't because…you're the one who's really beautiful, naturally beautiful and doesn't need to wear a mask! You don't know the true me…the one who's imperfect, the one who's alone…and afraid."
Then she stopped, her words surprising Kagome and muting her as she continued, a tear rolling down her cheek, "You're…you're the one who's beautiful Kagome. The me you know….the one you see…isn't Kikyo, but a beautiful facade who only exists…because she wants to be needed; she wants to be…shunned no longer. The one you know only fights her humanity and continues to be utterly alone. And she was alone…"
At this point, Kikyo began to flow with tears, her teardrops clouding her words. She said tremulously and barely as Kagome wordlessly watched her cry, "…She was alone…until she met someone like her…the one who would come at night and fight his own humanity…the one who was also alone. He was alone like her…the true Kikyo…but he stayed by her, the imperfect her, and he was the only one who accepted the true her."
Kagome watched Kikyo cry and then trip on her own feet as she sobbed. As she fell, Kagome caught her in her arms and felt her shoulder-length hair fan her face and her tears dampen her clothing. She could feel Kikyo's words crash down on her and felt her ragged breath as she breathed into her chest, helpless. Kikyo's words had hit her numbly and then sunk into her. But these words felt like a lie. The true Kikyo calling her 'perfect' and 'beautiful' felt like a lie. Kikyo…was truly beautiful, not Kagome. The one who cried into her…the one who fell apart into her…
"Please," sobbed Kikyo, her voice muffled in her sobs and Kagome's clothing, "please…don't let h-him…g-get caught, Ka-Kagome…"
Kagome looked blankly at her black-haired head for a moment and then said, feeling her voice tremble and her eyes and ears hears and see Kikyo for the first time, "no…I wont let him get caught…Kikyo."
And after that, the twin girls had grown closer and closer until they were their true forms around one another from that day. But still, Kagome thought, it isn't me who is beautiful, Kikyo…