The plot thickens . . . eh, not really. But soon, very soon, all the pieces will come together. I will not spoil. I love my work too much to give out spoilers. It's always more exciting when you read the one (an amazing book) for the first time, so hopefully that is kinda what this will become for some of you readers. Do tell me what I can do to make it more . . . anything, just better in any way. Or just review and tell me you love it if ya feel lazy. ^^

Enjoy Part 3

I rolled the door open nonchalantly, "tadaima!"

I was soaked to the skin. My school uniform stuck to me like a glove. So much for the rain slowing. If anything it poured even harder in the end.

"Ah welcome home, Kago-" grandma paused, "Moriko."

I heard what she'd almost slipped out. I took off my shoes and dropped my bag by the door.

"Here, let me get you a towel." She said.

I sat down on the tatami with her and she returned with a towel and served some tea.

"So how was school?" She smiled.

I bunched up my hair in the towel and rubbed my scalp with it, "Mm, no different."

She slid my teacup over across the table. I looked at it, not terribly enthusiastic.

"I see," her smile faltered and she looked away.

I wrapped the towel around me then like a shawl. "Ne, Grandma, what was Aunt Kagome like?"

Her eyes met mine, "Why?"

I took the cup in my hands, "Hayami-chan's father knew her and he said some things about her."

"Ah, Hojo-san," she nodded, suddenly distracted, "Well, you know, you remind me of her everyday."

"How so?"

"You're very independent and thoughtful of others."

"Hn."

"She was quite a lively child."

Well I definitely wasn't lively. I've been a quiet child since I was born.

I looked to the side at a small bookshelf as I drank my tea. There was a picture of Grandma and her late husband and one of her parent-in-laws.

I crossed over to it, tea still in hand, and picked up a frame. It was taken at Kagome's graduation. She looked healthy. Her and three other girls bunched together, smiling, but Kagome's eyes were distant even if her smile was bright.

Her eyes . . . Like mine.

I downed the rest of my tea in thought. The evening light from the window above my head bathed the room in orange tones.

A pendant . . . The light looks funny on it, as if it were glowing.

My fingers unhinged the clasp of the heart-shaped locket to find Kagome-chan yelling at something and also a white-haired young man who was yelling at something as well. He had golden eyes and quite the dramatic eyebrows.

"Ne, grandma? Is this her lover?" I lifted it up higher for her to see.

Miss Higurashi stepped towards the shelf and peered down at the necklace in my hands. "Ahh, he was such a cute young man . . . And he was even more lively than Kagome-chan," she smiled, her hand cupping her cheek.

"They got married soon after she graduated."

"Really? Wow. Why so soon?"

"Hmm . . . Well. She didn't desire the life she was given here, but he could give her a more exciting one and she loved him very much."

"Ehh?"

I clasped the locket again and set it back on the shelf beneath a the pictures. My fingers lingered on the pendant, somehow drawn to it. "Kagome-chan was quite beautiful, ne?"

"Well as her mother I should think so."

She turned and went to start preparing dinner in the kitchen. I stared at the picture of Aunt Kagome and her friends in thought.

Where could she have gone to? And what kind of life could such a young man offer her? Was he rich? The son of a great and powerful businessman? And something else hadn't made sense. Hojo-san had said she was very unhealthy for a good while but Grandma Higurashi just said she was lively. Those two descriptions didn't fit right together very easily . . . Oh well. It's none of my business.

I let go of the locket and stood, about to go and help with dinner when my heart thrummed. I gasped. My eyes widened. Again?

I need to find out what this is!

She heard a slam of the door opening. "Moriko-chan!?" Miss Higurashi called out.

There was no answer.

She rushed out the front door, holding up her apron away from the dirt. She didn't even think about putting her shoes back on as she ran out after her granddaughter.

The tree. It glowed unnaturally in the fading light. The rain had stopped long ago. Her hair billowed to the side. Kaze? She thought as she tucked her locks behind an ear. The branches swayed peacefully. She stepped over the small picket fence squaring off the tree from the rest of the shrine. With each step the pulses increased. There was a strange mark on the tree. Her hand lingered to it.

The pulses grew more frequent as her heart ached for something. She wrapped her arms about the trunk of the tree and held on to the feeling. Closing her eyes, she searched through her soul for what could possibly appease this terrible ache.

She had to find it. She had to do something with her life.

"Moriko . . ."

She gasped and looked up the base of the tree. Something glowed beneath its boughs. A figure clad in red with . . . White hair? It disappeared in moments.

She stared at the empty space it left behind. What was that? And yet, it made me feel so warm inside . . .

"Moriko-chan?" Grandma called out worriedly, but she stopped in her tracks at the scene before her.

"M-Moriko . . ." She quivered, tearing up.

I ran to her, "What is it? What's wrong?!"

She had sank to her knees, "Oh, it's just . . ." she rubbed her knuckle at the gathering pools in her eyes.

She couldn't seem to bring herself to say something. It only worried me more.

I sank to my knees as well, reaching out to hold her. "Hey, no crying, okay?" I soothed.

Some time had passed.

She fidgeted, signaling that she wanted to get up. I released her and she took my hand silently and led me over to a stone bench near the Sacred Tree.

As we sat down, we heard a meow. Grandma whipped her head around, searching for the animal. I looked up, my directional hearing as sharp as ever. I may not be able to hear any better than anyone else, but by sound I could usually tell where the sound came from. It came to me naturally and it surprised me when I discovered other people couldn't do as such.

A ball of white fluff perched on a branch of the Sacred Tree. The dark striped-spots distinguished his face from the rest of his pure white fur.

Grandma followed my gaze and found him, licking his paws as he lay slouched on a branch. He's always been more of an outdoor cat. I sighed. At least I never had to clean a litter box, I thought.

"Moriko." The lack of its usual tune to it and the lack of the use of -chan following it caused me to look back down at her.

"You are not of this world."

I froze. It's as if I had known all along but didn't know how to understand why I was so different. Now it was clear. The light streaming through the bits of sky between the leaves shifted, the wind picking up again.

She started to break down. Tears chiseled their way out between her eyelids, "I've been wanting to tell you for so long but . . ." The words trembled out her lip. "I wasn't sure if I should."

"Nande?" I asked. My brows knit concerningly.

Decided, she looked at me then, "But then I saw you at the tree and well . . . Now I know."