Kagome pulled her black sweater over her head and stood in front of the full-length mirror in her room. Her tank-top-covered torso was stick thin and she looked positively emaciated. The hip-huggers she was wearing barely clung to her body. The belt she had on was done up almost twice around. The past few months were all a blur, from the moment he'd disappeared to the day they'd found his body, Kagome hadn't been able to eat or sleep. Hey boyfriend, Jared, kidnapped on his way home from school, then brutally ed in his own neighborhood. They'd found him, or the pieces of him, in his own backyard. Kagome looked into the mirror and watched the tears fall down her face.

"Jared," Kagome whispered, running a hand along the picture of him stuck in the mirrors frame. She looked at the thin red lines that ran along her ivory wrists. The angry red scars were meant to remember Jared by, but Kagome had begun to cut deeper than she should have, and one night, last week, she'd ended up in the psyche ward of the local hospital on watch.

"Kagome?" her mother's voice floated up the hall to Kagome's room.

"Yes Mom?" Kagome replied, her voice dull and lifeless, like her eyes. The eyes that Jared had loved, and always said that reminded him of chocolate truffles. Right now, they were doll-like and expressionless.

"Could you come down here?" her mother called and Kagome sighed. She pulled her sweater back over her head. She walked down the stairs and into the living room where her mother was pacing in front of the couch.

"What's wrong Mom?" Kagome asked, sitting down on the couch.

"This is going to sound harsh Kagome, but your counselor and I talked about this for a long time," Kagome's mother said gently, coming to sit beside her daughter.

"Where are you sending me?" Kagome asked defensively.

"We aren't sending you anywhere, we're asking you to go to Ashikado Academy on Hokkaido Island," Kagome's mother said. Kagome shot up off the couch.

"You are sending me away! Why? Do you think I can't deal with this here?" Kagome yelled. She started pacing now, and her previously empty eyes filled with anger.

"Kagome honey, Ashikado is a school where you can heal and get better, it's a school where they help kids who have been bereaved, and they will be able to help you stop hurting Kagome," her mother said. Kagome's eyes filled with tears, and she collapsed to the floor. "Kagome?" her mother asked, worried.

"I-it's just, oh mama, I loved him!" Kagome sobbed. Her mother knelt down beside her and pulled her close.

"I know baby, I know," her mother murmured, "will you do this for me? Go to Ashikado? Please?" her mother pleaded.

"Alright mama," Kagome sighed, "I'll go, but only for one semester," she said firmly. Kagome's mother nodded and hugged her daughter tight.

"I love you Kagome, and the people at Ashikado will help you get better," Kagome nodded to her mother, "but one thing, Kagome, you must promise me that you will write home every week," her mother said sternly. Kagome nodded, and wiped the tears from her face. Kagome hugged her mother back and closed her eyes as she was enveloped in the warmth of her mother's embrace.