17 year old Kagome Higurashi was never normal, never the same. It would be a complete lie for me to tell you that she was a regular girl, trying to pass her senior year of high school with flying colors. She wasn't on or even near the line of "normal". She was someone who overly obsessed with thinking, trying to comprehend everything that she saw. Her mind was something of magic, constantly trying to find a new way to look at the world. She was the odd ball out who hid in the shadows of her own world.
She felt like she belonged somewhere else, somewhere were she could exercise the limits of her constantly working mind. She stretched her back, the soft hum of vehicles in the background gave her an odd feeling of security. She slumped a huge yellow backpack over her shoulder, trying to concentrate on the buzz inside her head.
Her off-focus nature tended to get her into trouble, or rather made her look like a fool. She just about ran into a lamp post, but was stopped by triping on her shoe lace. A small crowd of bystanders laughed as she turned red from embarasment. She got up after they left and brushed herself off, completely mortified from making a spectacle of herself...again...
She picked up her bookbag, and swung it over her shoulder. She gazed out at the irredescent sunset, twilight. The end, or the beginning? End of day, beginning of night...Was it truely such a dark time? Only at night could you see the moon shine, or see the stars. Only at night could you watch fireflies sparkle like little golden sparkle scattered thoughout the cool night air.
No night was not such a dark thing, it was just something misunderstood. Night was like her, a sound figure who was always mistaken for beign something grave and dark. Was was the night except for the time when we saw the worlds around, saw with the naked eye the glory of the stars, and the brilliance of the creamy white moon.
Night seemed to be a sort of escape for her. How its beauty cascaded over the inky black of space, the golds and silvers shinning like specks of precious metals. She watched for a while as the golden sun disappeared and the stars began to cast their silver light, lighting her way just enough to get home. She shuffled her feet against the worn cement of the sidewalk, kicking at the greenery slipping through the cracks.
"Kagome! Where were you?"
She looked up to see her mom with a worried look plastered on her face. Kagome smiled reassuringly, trying to wake herself up from her dream world.
"Sorry Mama, I was reading in the library for a little while after school and I lost track of time. It was just a really good book..."
"I suppose its all right, as long as you were at the library..."
"Yes, here is my checkout stamp!"
She handed her the stamped card as proof of her testimony. Her mother looked at the punched through notecard, noticing how many holes there were...
"Kagome, why don't you have some of your friends over this weekend, you never spend enough time outside of that computer room."
"Mama, I like being alone. It gives me time to think..."
Her mother sighed, half disappointment, the other worry. She worried that her daughter had no friends, that they were just lies to reassure her. Kagome dropped her bookbag at the foot of the stairs and ran up to her room. Her mother returned to drying dishes, trying to distract herself from worrying about Kagome.
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Kagome smiled and hopped onto her bed, curling up under the light of a lamp over her bed. She reached under her pillow and revealed a tan book with the picture of a young girl with short cut hair. To Kill a Mockingbird... a personal favorite of hers. She lost herself into a world of a young girl, who like so many others before her, tried to understand the world around her.
"Mrrrow..."
Kagome blinked, taken aback by the sudden noise. She looked down to see nothing there, and returned to her book...
"MRRROOWWW!"
This time she definately heard a cat's cry. She looked down to see Buyo with his paw caught in something near one of the shrines. She sighed and set a marker in her book. She walked down the stairs and outside, looking for Buyo.
"Here kitty kitty, come here Buyo..."
She heard another cry from the well house, and increased her step a bit. The poor kitty was tied to a post in the well house, probably some cruel joke played by some of the middle school boys her brother hung out with. She pouted her face and began to untie the knot. After a few fruitless tries, she finally undid the knot, releasing Buyo from the strand of rope. She smiled and looked around the shrine...
It was old, centuries old, but it had a timeless look to it. She noticed the dark knot holes in the wood, like specks of darkness shinnign through. She smiled to herself and decided to explore a bit. She walked over towards the entrance and lit an oil lantern. She held it up to the old dry well, its wooden covering decorated with sutras. She reached out to touch the ancient paper, running her fingers across the grainy wood. She noticed a handle on the edge...
'I wonder what that is?'
She reached out and pulled it, dust spewed from the cracks of the cover. She coughed, and waved her hand around a bit. But she continued, her curiosity growing with each passing moment. She set the lantern on the ground, using both hands to lift the solid wood lid. When she finally pushed it off onto the ground, she noticed how dark it was down there. She also noticed a ladder...
She smiled and put the lantern on a hook, preparing to travel down into the black abyss. She readied herself and took each step carefully, careful not to fall or lose her balance. When she felt that she had travel down far enough she jumped...
Only to not feel the ground...
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
For once in her life, Kagome couldn't comprehend the feelings and sights around her. There was a crystal blue light all around her, sucking her into some unknown void. The whisps of white and green seemed to envelope her, twisting around her as if to protect her from some unknown danger. She felt the lantern slip from her hands, and watched as it slipped away into nothingness. She reached out to try to grab hold of it, but merely grasped air. She gasped, unable to hear herself. Her eyes grew wide with a mixture of fear and excitement. Even through this unsureness, she felt oddly impatient to find out where she was going. Her hair tangled around her, giving her the sensation of shivers sent up her spine.
Suddenly she saw a white light begin to open up, a surge of air began to both blow up at her, and try to suck her in. She felt her body being compressed into the void, but she was unable to hear her own screams. She huddled her body close to her chest, waiting for the fierce winds to stop spinning all around her. She felt her hair stop dancing, falling neatly into strands the framed her face. She dared to open her eyes, only to see she was at the bottom of the well. She took in a deep breath, feeling almost disapointed that it was only a dream. But she stood up, looking up at the opening of the well. She saw daylight...
'What happened?'
She looked for the ladder, but couldn't seem to find it. She searched for a way out of the well, and found some ivy she must not have noticed before in her excitement. She climbed it with some forseeable difficulties, and met with a sight she had never thought she would see...
A duplicate of herself...
The other Kagome stared at her with a mixture of amazement and confusion. But she immediately notched an arrow onto the bow she held and aimed straight for her.
"DEMON! What is this, trying to duplicate my body?"
She kneeded her brows together, and Kagome stared at her in amazement...
"Can you really shoot that thing?"
"DEMON BEGONE"
She let go of the arrow, and Kagome felt her eyes dilate...
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Kagome held her hand out, and felt something within her escape...
She dared to peek open one eye, the arrow was lying harmlessly on the ground, a sort of smoke emitting from it. The duplicate Kagome stared at her in amazement...
"You are not a demon..."
"Well duh, whats wrong with you?"
They stared at each other for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on...
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"I found her by the bone eater's well..."
The duplicate Kagome bowed to the old man infront of her. She pushed Kagome's head down and made her bow too...
"She looked remarkably like you, almost your exact copy..."
"Is she a demon?"
She gave Kagome a cold stare...
"No I don't believe so..."
"Master Hakuri, then what is she..."
The old man gave her a long stare full of intensity. He tilted her chin up, examining her face. Of course, Kagome didn't like this...
"HEY!"
She immediately pulled her face away from his hand, giving him a menacing glare. He merely clasped her chin again, but this time pinching it between his fingers. She winced, and felt the drilling stare of his grey eyes...
"There is no doubt, she is almost an exact reflection of you,..."
Kagome had heard enough of this..."Ok, HOLD ON! I am not a duplicate of her, she is a duplicate of me..."
"What is your name?"
"Kagome..."
Hakuri gave Kikyo a look, as if mentally telling her what to do.The other girl stared at her and calmly pronounced her name,"I am Kikyo..."
Kagome studied her. Her clothes were that of an ancient priestess, long billowing robes, long creamy white sleeves that danced in the wind. Her ivory skin shined with such beauty Kagome felt herself momentarily gasp. Her hair was kept in a long ebony ponytail, long and silky. But her eyes held something she could not explain, not pain, or worry, or anger...
But jealousy...
Kagome did not understand the reason for jealousy from a girl she just met.C'mon, Kikyo was obviously the better of the two, being a priestess and drop dead gorgeous and all...
But then a figure clad in red walked through the door, long silver hair cascading down his back. He looked at her with pierceing golden eyes, almost amber, but with such brightness she could have sworn they were litterally shinning...
"Kikyo where were yo..."
His speech was cut short, as his eyes drifted towards the young girl in her green school uniform...
"Kikyo..."
"Inuyasha, this is Kagome...she just arrived..."
Kagome stared at him with unbelievable eyes. He had dog ears on top of his head, and long protruding claws for fingernails. But he was unbelievable beautiful, the uniqueness of his physique giving him the look of a fallen angel. His broad shoulders shivered for a moment, from some emotion she couldn't quite comprehend. Immediately she realized he wasn't wholly human...
"Um..."
"Sit with us Inuyasha, we were about to find out what is going on here..."
A feeling of comfort immediately flooded over her as the dog-boy began to cross his legs over one another and sit next to Kikyo. She didn't know how or why, but she suddenly felt at ease...
"I'm Inuyasha, and who the hell are you..."
She felt the comfort wash away as easily as it came, she halved her eyes in annoyance.
"I am Kagome..."
Kikyo looked at her,"Please explain to us who you are and where you came from. I'm sure we'd all like to learn of your tale..."
Before she realized it, Kagome had begun to recollect her day, telling her very boring tale...
And noticing Inuyasha golden eyes never left her...
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000