InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ EQUILIBRIUM: Crescent of Light ❯ Full of Surprises ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter Two

FULL OF SURPRISES

 

The clear summer sky encompassed a bright sun that shone boldly through the windows of the Higurashiresidence. The old-fashioned curtains billowed lightly in the sweet breeze that made entry through the open windows. The atmosphere would have been quite tranquil if not for the vociferous horn of Laura's car outside.

Kagomehurried in front of the full body mirror in the foyer to give herself a quick once-over before heading out.

She couldn't deny to herself that she was exceptionally pretty. Her dark brown locks cascaded down to her mid-shoulder blade in slight waves with some coming over the front side of her shoulders. She wore a clean, white t-shirt under a red blouse that clung to her shapely body. Blue denim stretched across her thighs tightly before flaring out a bit. Kagome's blue eyes rolled at Laura's impatience beneath her Oakley sunglasses.

She quickly grabbed her handbag, pausing only to tell her mother that she was leaving before wrenching open the front door and closing it behind her.

“C'mon girl, we've only been waiting for like half a minute!” Laura yelled out from her hoodless, silver Audi A4. Kagomesupposed that having a father that owned his own oil company certainly had its advantages.

“Oh, poor you” she replied in a fake sympathy voice as she hopped into the back seat without opening the door, the passenger front seat already taken by another familiar face. “Heather, how did you convince her to give you a ride?”

She could almost hear her friend's grin. “The same thing you did,” she replied smugly as Laura pulled expertly out of the large driveway. “Threatening Laura's shopping time really seems to work. It's amazing we didn't think of it before!”

Kagomelaughed as Laura glared at her friend, careful to keep her eye on the road while doing so.

Having stayed at her mother's house the previous night Kagome's Nissan Altima was considerably out of reach. So instead of troubling her mother with the chore of giving her a ride to the apartment, Kagomehad given Laura the choice of waiting an hour for a cab to show up at her house, or she could just give her a ride. Between her atypical obsession with shopping around the mall and her odd possessiveness over her car, shopping had won out.

Kagomefrowned when she realized that Heather must have been away from her home as well if she had been able to make the same threat. “Where were you staying, Heath?”

Judging by the stiffness in her shoulders, and her slight stammer, Kagomecould tell her friend was blushing and this time it was Laura's turn to laugh.

“Oh, I didn't tell you?” she snorted. “Heather and a very special friend of hers had a little slumber party last night.”

Kagomelaughed again as Heather glared holes into Laura's head. She wasn't really surprised. While Laura's specialty was shopping, and school was her own, Heather's area of expertise was boys.

Heather had big brown eyes, straight black hair and deeply tanned.

It wasn't like she was anymore pretty than the other two. Laura was quite a looker as well, with light blue eyes and long, blonde hair that almost always was accompanied with a silly grin. All three of them had their fair share of turned heads, it was just that Heather was a bit more… bold.

Even though shopping wasn't much of a shopaholic, it felt good to get away from the pressures of her studies. The short ride to the mall was fairly enjoyable. The wind blew through their hair as they chatted pleasantly about nothing in particular. Amongst the blaring music and constant laughter, Kagomecompletely forgot that she was a new veterinarian grad. It felt good to let go of the responsibility in her life, to forget about all the stress and just have fun.

So what was this feeling that went through her today? The vague feeling of foreboding teased her conscious mind, pulling at her interest the more faint the sensation got. It was like trying to hear the words to a song from afar, sometimes catching the words faintly, other times it was like the song wasn't even playing.

Of course, that constant feeling of indifference and doubt of belonging plagued her mind that day as well.

Not that it got to her or anything, of course!

As they pulled smoothly into an empty parking space, she decided the mystery feeling was simply unease.

They all got out of the car and ambled up to the huge building through the vast parking lot. You could hear the dull flapping of their flip-flops on the cement distinctly as her friends argued about a guy Laura had met the other day, Kagomelistening amusedly.

“…He has the cutest smile,” Laura was saying excitedly.

“But what about his hair, it's a total mess!”

Kagomelistened to her friends banter, and she inwardly giggled. She knew the young man they were talking about personally. She also knew for a fact that, despite her invectiveness, Heather had flirted with the said man on more than one occasion. She rolled her eyes, some things would never change.

The skin in the back of her neck suddenly bristled, goose-bumps raced along the surface of her flesh and the apprehensive feeling of being watched took her by surprise. She stopped as the shiver raced down her spine and instinctively looked over her shoulder.

Some kids were playing tag in the neighboring park, the sound of their laughter carrying to her ears. To her right, some teenagers were currently in the process of putting out a cigarette as they saw a security guard approaching and to her left a frantic mother was trying to get the baby on her hip to stop crying as two other toddlers that looked like they could be twins dances around their overwhelmed mother. The place was packed but no one looked as if they were attempting to spy. She breathed a sigh of reprieve.

Her relief was short lived however, when something caught her eye.

Standing a ways away from the children playing tag, stood a cloaked figure of medium height, mostly hidden by the shadows cast by the boughs of the tree that he — or was it a she? — leaned against. Some of the kids gave the figure inquisitive looks, but none lingered long enough to be caught by their pursuer of the intense game they were all enjoying.

The first thing Kagomecontemplated was what in the hell this person was wearing.

The second thing she wondered was if it was a man or a woman. Kagomeinstinctually decided that it was a woman.

“Kagome, what're you staring at?”

Kagomegasped and looked back at her friends who were staring at her with curious expressions. She shook her head. “Nothing… uh…”

She looked back towards the figure in the park and her brows furrowed.

The figure had disappeared.

Trying not to seem spooked, she forced the incident to the back of her mind and followed her friends into the mall.

The girls looked around, tried new clothes on, not really expecting to buy anything, just happy to be hanging out. But Kagomenever lost the feeling that she was being followed. Time and time again she would glance over her shoulder, but the cloaked woman was nowhere to be found.

Hours went by and Kagomeswore they went to every single store there was; they even stopped for a movie! At about seven o'clock, their stomachs that had previously stuffed with popcorn and twizzlers started to growl so they stopped for ice-cream.

Having been to this particular store many times, they had no need to stop and think about what they wanted. Heather ordered the chocolate fudge Sunday, Laura asked for the banana split and Kagomereceived the Oreo sprinkled cone.

They slurped, licked, and munched on their delicious, cold desert, indulging in a lighthearted argument about Laura's new phone. Everything seemed perfect… untilhe walked in.

Kagomeprobably wouldn't have seen him if her ice-cream hadn't dripped onto her hand. She tilted her head to the side to lick off the running drop of vanilla and saw him walking by… with his arms laced around a pretty woman's waist, who was laughing flirtatiously in his ear.

He probably wouldn't have stopped either if she hadn't gasped aloud. But she did and he spotted her. He smirked devilishly before leaning over and whispered something in her ear. The girl looked at Kagomeand giggled evilly. The couple turned and walked into the parlor as if they owned the place.

“…I'm telling you, that thing is way too glitchy!” argued Heather, trying to snatch the cellular away from Laura. “Isn't that right Kagome? ... Kagome? ... Kagomewhat — oh…” She said the last part with somuch venom that Laura looked almost afraid until she saw who she was looking at.

“What in the hell is that sick bastard doing here!” she whispered furiously.

“Hello ladies,” said a cool voice in a mock pleasant tone.

The girls looked up to see the face of Shawn Alderson, Kagome's ex-boyfriend.

No one could deny that he was handsome, with thin black hair that threatened to cover his eyes, a slim form with cool hazel eyes.

There was a time when Kagomecould lose herself in those eyes, now they only terrified her. They made her wonder who else was laughing at her behind her back, who else was lying to her. She couldn't take the sight of those malicious spheres and she stuffed her head beneath her arms, silently praying for the world to swallow her whole.

“Hello Shawn,” Heather replied coolly before gesturing towards the girl on his arm. “Who's the slut?”

“Excuse me?” spat the blonde haired girl, who suddenly had fire in her pale-blue eyes, “Who're you calling a slut? I know all about your littleescapades!”

The girl's long blonde hair swished behind her as she shifted her weight onto her hip and crossed her arms, looking triumphant.

Laura came to her friend's defense, “Well you see, it's a bit different when you at least have standards. At least she doesn't parade around like hooker you pick up off the streets.”

Despite their contempt for the pair, this statement was actually pretty accurate. Her top may as well have been a bikini, not even covering all of her ribcage. And her leather skirt barely provided more coverage than her clearly visible undergarments.

“Tell me Shawn, how many more of these girls do you have skulking around the mall like this, hmmm? How many of those girls are you sleeping with?”

Shawn just smirked. “Well that's for me to know and for you to wonder, isn't it?”

“Shawn would never cheat on me!” shouted the blonde tramp, ignorantly. “No one loves him like I do!”

“Shawn would never cheat on me!” the blonde tramp hissed. “No one loves him like I do!”

“Right” Laura said sarcastically, who was now on her feet. “Sort of sounds like Kagome a few months ago, doesn't it? Look how that turned out.” They were starting to attract attention, heads turned and necks craned to get a good look at the sure to come explosion.

Beneath the protection of her arms, Kagome shook with anger and embarrassment as her two friends fought with her ex-boyfriend's new “girlfriend” She looked up and saw him leaning against the wall, just watching the action unfold. He caught her looking and he smirked.

Her head went back under her arms.

“I'm completely different from that pathetic girl,” the tramp countered furiously. She paused before giggling maliciously, “Didn't even know her own father, did she? Poor girl, bet he died in a car crash coming back from some whore house or something. Can't really blame him though, her mother's such a friggin' —”

But exactly what Kagome's mother was, she never got the chance to voice. At that moment Heather stood up with practiced speed to grab an enraged Laura from around the waist. But not before, Laura's fist connected with the tramps jaw with a sickening crack.

“C'mon,” growled the infuriated girl, seemingly clawing at the girl who was now close to tears. “Let me kill the bitch, no one'll even see, I swear!” Laura always had quite the temper.

The tramp screamed obscenely insults to the trio as she was forcibly rushed away by a bored looking Shawn as though he did this every day. Everyone was watching now, a few mothers rushed their children out of the parlor, while an old couple just watched silently and shook their heads.

“As tempting as that sounds, no,” grunted the besieged Heather. “We've already drawn enough attention.”

She turned her head about to ask Kagome for help when she realized that she wasn't there.

“Hey!” cried Heather, finally releasing her friend, “Where's Kagome?”

~~~

Kagome sat in a stall in the bathroom with her head in her hands. She lifted her face slightly to reveal puffy red eyes. She stomped the floor as hard she could, resulting in a loud clack that echoed off the bathroom walls. But yet it wasn't enough to release the heightening anger that coursed through her veins she wanted to break something, make something feel as hurt as she did.

With a loud sob her head burrowed back between her folded arms.

Why does he keep getting to me like this? I want to forget him! Why can't I just let go?

She needn't ask herself these questions, but she couldn't help herself. She had asked it so many times it was almost second nature. Even though she had the `privilege' of enjoying a night or two in a few other men's bed before she met Shawn, it was safe to say that she never felt the way she did about anyone else before. His hazel eyes had captivated her from the moment she met him.

They had started out as friends, going out in groups, to bars and clubs, nothing serious. But slowly and surely they started going out with less and less people until it was just them.

The more she talked to him, the more she liked him. He was so much more mature than all the other boys she had met, he had been considerate and caring, and it wasn't long until she had eagerly welcomed him into her bed and heart. Months went by, and Shawn kept on being Shawn, everything just seemed perfect. It wasn't till about five weeks ago she started to realize that she had fallen in love with him. She told him this and was overjoyed at his reaction. He decided that they should move in together.

It wasn't until later she realized that it was his way of leaving her.

She had entered his apartment, lugging her huge suitcase behind her, without knocking. At the time it didn't seem like that big of a deal, — she was moving in for Heaven's sake! — But it was how she had `caught' him in the act.

There he was, on the bed that, until that moment, she had considered their bed, with a girl whose legs were wrapped around his hips. Her moans of delight were still etched inside her brain. He didn't even try to deny it; he only laughed at her, told her to go home.

And go home she did. She ran as fast as she could with a huge suitcase behind her, trying desperately not to cry. She remembered reaching her apartment complex and asking the landlord desperately if she could have her room back.

“But I thought you were moving in with your boyfriend,” He had said.

She remembered replying, “So did I.”

And that was when the sadness came full force and she finally let all her tears out. Never before had she felt so betrayed, so hurt… so alone.

And still, about a month later, after all that he had done, he still had some kind of hold over her.

I can't keep letting him get to me like this! I want to forget, I don't want to hurt anymore!

She heard the door to the public bathroom open slowly, and a few seconds later the dull thuds of someone knocking on her stall door.

“Taken!” she croaked.

“It's me!” said a familiar voice, “open up.”

Kagome sighed; she should have known they would find her. She wiped her eyes as best she could before standing up and threw open the latch. The door swung open and she was greeted with brown eyes of greatest pity from Heather. Without warning she embraced the hurt girl to which she did not respond to. “Don't worry about him, Kagome.”

Kagome gently tugged herself from her friend's grip, she didn't want to seem weak in front of her. “I'm fine,” she insisted softly, “don't worry about me.”

Heather only smiled knowingly. They had known each other since sixth grade, neither of them could fool the other. They knew each other like the back of their hands. But Heather also knew better than to press. “Why do you keep doing this to yourself?” she demanded, “you're just letting him walk all over you!”

Kagome glared at her friend, “Do you think I want this, Ayu?” she hissed, “Do you think I like this?!”

Heather shook her head hurriedly. “No, of course not!”

“Because I don't! I hate it! I hate it so much, you don't even know!” She turned her back on her friend and continued her tirade, trying to hide the fresh tears threatening to escape from her eyes. “I want to hate him, I want to be able to talk to him like you and Laura do, but I can't, at least not yet!” She bowed her head as a few tears escaped their dark prison and made their escape down her cheek.

“Do you still love him?”

The question came softly but it might as well have been screamed though a megaphone. Kagome found herself listening to the echoes rather than the voice of her friend as she contemplated the question. And then it was only silence. Whether it was seconds, minutes or hours that passed, she didn't know, but Kagome made a reluctant trip through the twisted jungle of emotions inside her.

Did she still love Shawn? Could she really ever hate him? No matter what happened she could still remember all those times that he would make her laugh and smile. She could still remember loving him. Did that count? Could she really just throw that all away, and forget it? Could she really ever hate him? But then again, how could she still love him? The way he treated her back there, the way he purposefully humiliated her so many times before, how could she even think about forgive him? But forgiveness wasn't the question, was it? It was the matter of love. Did her heart still hold the picture of Shawn captive? Conflicting sides clashed and she screwed her eyes into a pained expression. It was all so confusing.

She turned slowly to face her friend a solitary tear ran down her cheek. The sound it made when the drop hit the tile floor was almost audible, it was so quiet. “I don't know,” she answered truthfully. Heather smiled sadly but said nothing. There was nothing to say, feelings were so hard to try and figure out but when you actually did, you sometimes wish you hadn't even tried.

To her enormous relief her cell phone rang insistently from her pocket, cutting their tense conversation short. She flipped it open and sniffed trying to ride her nose of congestion to make her voice sound as normal as possible. “Hello?”

“Yes, is this Miss. Kagome Higurashi?” the voice sounded extremely proper, but scratchy at the same time as if the speaker hadn't had water in days.

“Yes.”

The speaker audibly cleared his throat. “This is Davie Coolidge Animal Hospital. We are calling you in the concerns of the resume you sent to us.”

Kagome's eyes widened, thoughts of Shawn almost completely left her mind. Her mind automatically switched to business mode, as she wiped a few stray tears from her face even though this man couldn't see her.

“Yes what about it?” she said trying make her voice sound as professional as possible.

In the corner of her eye she could see Heather mouthing, `Who is it?' She waved her hand at her in a dismissive manner and concentrated on what the man was saying.

“We believe we may have an opening for you,” replied the pompous speaker.

Now having to fight to keep her voice in check she replied, “Really?”

“Yes, we would like to meet with you at nine o' clock tonight.

Her brows furrowed. “Tonight?”

“Tonight,” was his reply, “Do not be late.”

The line went dead.

Kagome pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at it as if it had two heads. Was that how all job offers normally went down?

“Hello? Earth to Kagome!”

Kagome was yanked out of her thoughts and she acknowledged her friend with a bewildered look. She had forgotten that Heather was there.

Heather sighed dramatically. “Well now that conversation is over, will you please end the suspense and tell me who it was?”

Kagome couldn't help but giggle; Heather was nosy by nature, but in a sweet sort of way, if that was possible.

“It was Davie Coolidge Animal Hospital they want to —” She didn't even get to finish.

“Oh my god, Kagome!!” Heather squealed, cutting her off rather effectively. She wasted no time in quickly moving to crush her friend in a loving embrace for the second time that night.

“Relax,” said Kagome shaking her off gently. “I'm not even hired yet, they just want to talk.”

“I know but it's so soon! I mean graduation was yesterday!” Heather said excitedly. “They must really be interested!”

Kagome considered the thought. Could it have possibly been a prank call? After all it wasn't exactly a secret that her career path lye in animal doctoring. And how hard could it be to find her cell phone number?

She hurriedly snatched her cellular out of her pocket again. Her thumbs danced across the miniature buttons with practiced speed as she checked the Recent Calls tab.

And there it was, in bold proof. Fashioned out of the box lettering on her cell phone screen, she read the words: `Davie Coolidge'. It was real, it was official, after twelve years of waiting she could finally make a difference. The proof was right there in black and white. Her heart thumped with excitement that she had never known as she dried her tears quickly and exited the stall, leaving a perplexed Heather inside.

It might have been weird to call at such a late hour, maybe it was unprofessional that she was asked for an interview at such short notice, but she didn't care. She could move on from all of this sadness, this was where she could start over this was where she began her future.

If only she knew just how right she was.

~~~

“I'm sorry Miss, but I ain't going any further.”

Kagome was seething in anger. She had insisted on calling a cab when her friends had offered her a ride, and now she was fervently regretting her decision. This man was refusing to take her to where she had already paid him to go. She didn't even know why he stopped! He just kept saying that he wasn't going any further. Now wasn't the time to deal with lunatics, dammit!

“Fine,” she said, finally giving up. “I'll walk,” she got out of the taxi, slamming the door behind her. She walked to the driver's window, making him roll it down. She handed him the money that she owed before storming off. She heard the cab drive off, its tires squeaking loudly as it made its hasty retreat. Kagome shook her head. What a wierdo.

Her footsteps seemed to echo in the silence as she walked down the sidewalk. She passed the various stores that lined her side of the street. A four lane street separated her from another wall of stores, but no matter where she looked, there was not a soul. The young woman shivered. This void of pedestrians and cars was unnatural and eerie, and she wondered where everyone was.

Kagome shrugged indifferently. It really didn't matter; the hospital was just around the corner and she'd be damned if she was late. Taking out her cell phone she looked at its clock feature and cursed. It was five till nine, and she really couldn't afford to be even a minute late. She wanted to make a good first impression.

She stopped to eye an alley that separated a store with used furniture and a pawn shop. She could see the other end and could tell that it was where she needed to be. She frowned, as common sense battled with the urgency of the situation. She had to choose between safety and a job opportunity. The decision didn't take her more than a few seconds.

A smile graced her lips, confident in her decision as the darkness of the alleyway swallowed her petite form.

Kagome tried not to focus on the darkness or the absolutely putrid smell emanating from somewhere in the alleyway. She kept her eyes on the prize as she walked leisurely towards the other side. She was almost half way through when a sudden pang of metal from behind made her jump. She turned around quickly only to see the dark outline of a clever raccoon that seemed to have found his dinner in the aluminum trash can.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized he was holding. Get a hold of yourself, Kagome. There's nothing to be scared of just keep walking and you'll be fine.

Her mind told her one thing, her gut told her another. But her legs made it clear as to who they were listening to as she once again set off towards the exit, but this time at a much brisker pace. The putrid smell in the air grew stronger with every step and she gagged at its stench. She fixed her resolve and tried to not breathe in through her nose.

Kagome's mind seemed to have been correct, however, when nothing else bothered her. She finally had convinced all of herself that everything was fine and was beginning to walk slower when her foot struck something hard about three quarters of the way out and she stumbled. She cursed foully and used the light from her cell phone to illuminate the darkness of the alleyway and see what had caused her falter.

The only good thing about her discovery was that she found out what the horrible stench in the air was.

The light shined onto what she could only assume was the decaying body of a middle aged man. Broad shoulder jutted out of a chest, the flesh on the torso looking as if someone had simply peeled large strips of skin off of the body. Flies covered the corpse like a thunder cloud and she looked away, too frightened to look at anything else.

At that moment, Kagome swore she had never been so scared in her life. But she was proved wrong when a terrifying voice appeared out of nowhere, its abrasive pattern promising the fear of a horrible nightmare.

“Well well, what do we have here? The voice was dark, cold and scratchy, like something out of an old horror movie that still managed to scare you silly. She looked up slowly to see the owner of the terrifying voice.

The sight before her made the dead man beside her look like a child's cartoon. Filthy garbs clung in withered tatters to a grey tinged man, if you even could call it a man. Its arms and chest rippled with lean muscles, and stray patches of horribly shaven hair. A small crop of orange hair peeked out from his bony head. His shoes were torn and blood stained, as was the rest of his clothing.

She met its eyes and her fears were confirmed. Murderous red eyes stared straight back at her and it smirked.

Kagome's mind had always been a sharp one, always quick with an answer whether it was asked by a professor at school, or by one of her friends. But at that moment, Kagome's mind held no answers. It was as if it had completely shut down, save for the one sentence reverberating through her head over and over again.

Oh my god, I'm going to die!