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Of Butterfly Wings

Chapter Twenty-Six: Battleground

Her hands were shaking.

Every step she took felt heavier than the last. Even her breathing had grown ragged with her creeping sense of dread.

Concerned whispers shot through the crowd.

It was clear that no one expected her to be able to fight on equal footing in this match. The real fear everyone had was how badly was she about to be injured?

Kagome watched as Midnight approached Kikyou. The older woman's features were set into a sharp frown. Kikyou gave a polite nod of her head but with their microphones muted, she could hear nothing regarding their conversation.

Midnight gave one final shake of her head before she returned to her post.

"For the fourth and final match of this round we have the Higurashi twins, Kagome and Kikyou!" Their teacher introduced them concurrently. "Kikyou is currently the top student in the hero course for this year. As for Kagome…"

Midnight's voice was suddenly drowned out by a loud blast of cheering from the crowd.

The cameras zoomed in on her face before cutting over to Touya who was now waiting in the stands. His expression was unreadable as he kept his arms folded over his chest. However the collar of his shirt had become stretched from where she'd been clinging onto him and his hair was more ruffled than the last time she remembered.

"My, the two of you are looking quite disheveled." Midnight's voice took on a teasing tone while a loud jeer rang through the audience. "Did the two of you have some nice bonding time?"

Kagome covered her eyes with her palms as she shook her head fiercely. This was not what she had in mind for her introduction to this match!

She was no longer sure if she wanted to scream in horror or melt into the ground. Either one sounded good right about now.

The crowd's jeering only grew louder as Touya's lips curled up into a confident smirk. She had to admit that he looked rather cool like that. With his clothing disheveled and devil-may-care attitude, he was the epitome of the very word. Although perhaps that was just her own personal bias talking at the moment.

Kagome glanced up to the sight of Kikyou glowering at her.

She felt her twin's glare bearing down upon her with no small amount of hatred. A shiver ran through the length of her spine.

This would not be an easy task. Attempting to engage Kikyou in any kind of conversation right now would be difficult, if not impossible. Still, she had to try. For her own sake if nothing else.

"Ready?" Midnight raised her hand in the air, "Begin!"

She hardly finished speaking before Kikyou had begun her attack. Shards came at her faster than she could blink. Kagome dove to the side, carefully avoiding the worst of the attacks by mere inches.

"Kikyou!" She called out to her twin, "I'm not here to fight!"

Kagome did not expect her sister to listen to her easily, however the other woman pointedly ignored her plea. She barreled upon her in an instant. A violent wave of shards rained down from the sky. She hardly had the chance to move to avoid being skewered.

A cry of shock rang out through the crowd. Many yet were now on their feet, watching the fight with bated breath and no small amount of fear. Another camera was zoomed in on her boyfriend. His arms were braced at his side and his body seemed coiled, as if he were ready to spring into action at a second's notice.

Kagome winced as a shard grazed the side of her cheek, causing a thin trail of blood to form in its wake.

"I said I want to fucking talk!" Her voice raised with her fury.

She thought nothing about the piercing sensation of shards running through her arms and legs, just barely missing her vital organs. Kikyou appeared to be at least trying to uphold the image of this being a fair fight in the name of the Sports Festival. She likely wasn't trying to get herself expelled. So if she was going to do anything dangerous, it would be after she'd put up a barrier of some kind.

Kagome dove across the arena. She pulled a broken shard from her arm, fastening it into a makeshift weapon. She wasn't as fast or strong as the hero course students. She also had no delusions about being able to take down her sibling in a real one-on-one battle. However if there was one thing that she was good at, then it was surviving. This would be no different.

She swung her arm, knocking stray shards out of her way with the small weapon she'd collected for herself. Kikyou held her ground, refusing to move despite the distance that gradually closed between them.

"Pull your head out of your ass and just listen for once!" Kagome growled, finally breaching the final wave. With a single leap, she reached her twin. She grabbed onto her shoulders and roughly shoved her to the ground. Kagome held her down as she forced her to listen.

"You and I have always been at odds with one another," She began, slicing at the shards that Kikyou tried to pierce her with. "But there's one thing I know for certain. You don't like Inuyasha. You never have."

Kagome scowled as Kikyou let out a scream of frustration, throwing more shards her way in a fit of anger. Her own arm was beginning to get tired and keeping her sibling held down wasn't going to work for much longer. So she had to make this quick.

"You only went after him because I started dating him. In truth, there was someone else you liked, right?" She continued her line of questioning, observing as Kikyou's writhing grew more violent and she'd resorted to shrieks of fury. "So let me ask you this. Why did you date Touya? Why did you bother stringing him along? If you really liked him, why bother interfering with me back then?"

Kagome bit into her bottom lip as she felt her vision begin to blur.

Damn it. She did not want to cry like this. Not here. Not with everyone watching.

"I don't care about what happened with us and Inuyasha back then. What I care about is how much you hurt Touya." Her voice began to waver as she tried to push onward, "You're my sister. My twin. We may not see eye to eye, but how could I ever possibly think about hurting you?" Hot tears streamed down her cheeks. She could feel the line where she'd been cut before start to sting. "I know mom has put you under immense pressure. She wants you to be perfect but sis, I want you to know, you don't have to be." Kagome lowered her hand as she wrapped her arms around her sibling's neck. "It's okay to want acceptance, to be loved. You just shouldn't hurt other people in your pursuit for that acceptance."

Kagome drew back just enough to cast her sister a watery smile, "You didn't want to bring Touya home because you were afraid of what mother would say. No matter how much you liked him, you didn't want her to think less of you because of your relationship with him. I still don't agree with what you've done to him or myself, but I can understand you a little." She pulled Kikyou into a hug, drawing her close to her heart, "I want you to be happy in life. Choose the path you want for yourself. So please, let's stop this cycle of hurting each other. I want to know the real you not because you're my sister, but because you're my twin."

It'd taken her a while to finally piece it all together.

Kikyou's relationship with Touya. Her sudden interest in Inuyasha. Then her declaration at the start of the Sports Festival.

The truth was that Kikyou had felt a burden to carry on their mother's desires. To become the very successor she wanted her to be. The problem was that Kikyou had feelings for someone who did not match their mother's idea. The notion of carrying on Crystallize was growing more and more impossible. So their mother had chosen a new strategy. If their quirk was destined to die out, then they should choose another line that is just as powerful as their own. Although Touya came from a powerful family and was the son of the number two hero, his issues with his quirk would have been deemed 'unworthy'. As the risk of passing on the 'defective' genes would've been too high of a risk for their mother to accept.

More importantly, Inuyasha had fit their mother's criteria perfectly for what sort of husband Kikyou should marry into. A quirk that was not only powerful but came from a long line of heroes as well. They had money, power and status. They also had name recognition that carried them to nearly every household in Japan. It was clear from the very first day that they were introduced to Inuyasha, that their mother had been attempting to marry Kikyou off to him. When she refused him several years prior, he'd focused his attention on her instead. Noticing Inuyasha's attention wavering and realizing that her relationship with Touya would not survive their mother's wrath, she'd made a choice.

One that ended two relationships at once and forged new ones a year down the line.

Kagome held her sister close to her heart, "I've got no intention of giving Touya up to you, but if anyone has the right to cry right now, it's you. So don't be afraid to let it out."

She felt Kikyou's shoulders tremble. For just a second, she thought she'd finally broken through her emotional barrier.

"Kagome!" Touya's panicked cry registered first before the pain of something piercing her side.

She glanced down.

A shard nearly as wide as her palm protruded from just above her hip. It wasn't very deep and certainly wasn't life threatening, but the shock caused her body to freeze.

"I'll never…" Kikyou growled through gnashed teeth, "… lose to the likes of you!"

She felt herself being shoved off.

The crowd let out a collective gasp as people began to whisper and shout. She heard Touya screaming for her, yet her vision began to darken.

Kagome tried to force herself onto her feet.

This fight wasn't done yet. She wasn't dead nor was she dying.

She took an injury but that was all.

"I gave you your chance," Kagome managed through pained breaths, struggling to keep herself on her feet. "I won't forgive you after this."

Just once she wanted to try connecting with the person she called her sister. She wanted to feel the bond that most people had with their siblings. She knew that Kikyou was in pain and suffering, so she wanted to try reaching out to her.

Kagome glanced down at the shard still protruding from her side.

She reached down and yanked it out in a single motion. People cried out as the staff began announcing the end of the match.

She spotted Touya at the edge of the ring, fighting back several teachers at once in order to get to her.

A small smile pulled at the corner of her lips.

She always could count on him to keep his promise.

"You've won this match," Kagome pointed the shard at her sibling, thick droplets of her own blood dripping from its edge onto the ground below. "But you've lost what was even more important."

Kagome glanced over at Touya once more. She cast him a wry smile as her body grew weak. Her vision went black and all she could register was the feeling of familiar arms wrapping around her protectively.

In the end, she was the one that won the war.