InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Tears on the Wind ❯ Wheels of Disallusion, Spinning in a Mirror ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
She gazed silently at the lightening sky, absently wishing she had a cigarette with which to center herself. But unfortunatly she didn't, having smoked the last one earlier in the night.

Shifting her weight against the wall, she winced. Though sore, it was alot less worse then it could have been, not to mention that over the hours the initial pain dulled. Though she could still smell the bastard, his booze breath lingering in her nostrils as a constant reminder.

She glanced down at her bared arm. The wounds she'd inflicted there earlier, four thin vertical cuts, had scabbed over nicely. Licking the ends of her fingers, she gently wiped the excess of dried blood away.

She deemed it fortunate that it took so little to bring her back from the brink of the abyss within, just a few simple cuts for release. And she knew with a terrifing certaincy that if it had taken more, she would have died long ago.

Of course she held no doubts that one day her body would just,,,give up. Honestly, she didn't blame it.

The sound of her alarm brought her back to reality. She sat and listened momentarily to the music before climbing uneasily to her feet and moving jerkily towards her closet. Ridding herself of her bloodied clothing, she fished out another uniform from the back of her closet.

She'd stolen it from the locker rooms to keep suspicion off her for having to constantly wear normal clothing when her uniform was dirty.

Pulling it on, she threw the dirty one back into the closet, then wandered listlessly over to her mirror and proceeded to wipe the excess makeup from her cheeks and under her eyes. Making sure her appearance was presentable(no bruises or cuts showing)she grabbed her jacket and bag and made to leave, turning her alarm off as she went. Hearing voices she stopped, hand on the doornob.

Her 'father' was up, and she knew she wouldn't have time to wait for him to either leave, or go back to bed. She needed a cigarette. Bad. She'd be cutting her time close anyway, as the only place she could get cigarettes cheap and without question was almost on the other side of town.

Scowling slightly, she turned on her heel and headed for the window. Over the years she'd perfected the art of it, leaving without being noticed. Though she did it as little as possible as it displeased 'father'.

Climbing out onto the roof, she shut the window silently and padded across, bag in hand. Kneeling, she peeked over the edge, sweeping the lawn for the shadows that would indicate if someone was near the window. Nothing. She figured they were probably in the kitchen, ingesting obsene amounts of asprin and coffee.

Letting go the bag, she watched as it landed in front of the bushes with a soft thud. At least the damn thing had a purpose. It made a pretty damn good decoy if she did say so herself. If her parents were bothering to pay attention, said bag decoy would most usualy draw them to the window, so she didn't have to hide in the bushes till their forboding shadows departed.

She waited with baited breath, her eyes fixated on the ground below. Still nothing. She sighed softly. Yes, most likely in the kitchen.

Dropping down, she landed lightly beside her bag, pressing herself into the shadows of the bushes. Better safe than sorry. Glancing through the branches, she asserted they were most definatly not anywere near the window.

Grabbing her bag she darted out from her hiding place and ran for it, quickly dodging around a tree near the sidewalk, then continuing on down the street in a semi-normal pace. She wanted to put distance between her, and her 'father'.

But on the positive side, the sunrise promised to be beautiful, and she breathed a bit easier, her muscles relaxing and de-tensing.

After "borrowing" money for the train from the counter of an ice cream stand, she hopped onto the amtrac and rode in realative peace to the far side of the city(save for a minor fight with a drunk dude.)

Then she picked the pocket of a man talking on a payphone. Taking the cash, she dumped the wallet and it's contents into the trash, getting 30 bucks for her troubles. Enough for a couple packs of smokes, a new lighter, and some cheap food-like products for breakfast.

Walking into her usual store, she wandered towards the cheap snack food items and grabbed a bag of Dorittoes and a random fruit bar thing. Junk food was great, but it wasn't going to help her body recover.

Walking up to the counter, she smiled at the cashier, who smiled back. "Yo K', up early I see." She shrugged. "Yea, figured I'd take a bit of a walk before I go about the usual heckticness." He grinned slyly at her as she set the Dorritoes and fruit bar on the counter.

"Lemme guess, too long without a cancer-stick ey?" She laughed lightly.
"You know me too well Kyo."
"Don't need to. Me and every other sorry fool who smokes are the same way. I know my kind too well."
She leaned against the counter, grinning. She couldn't help but like the guy.

"The usual?"
"Yea."
"How many?"
"Two."
He put two packs of cigarettes next to her poor excuse of a breakfast and punched buttons on the cash register. "12.37" She handed him 15 bucks.

Handing her her change, he smiled. "You know, one of these you should let me take you out for a real breakfast." She smirked lightly. "One of these days I suspect I will." He smiled happily at her. "Good. Just say when and I'll wisk you away to Heaven." She laughed.
"Yes, heaven at a waffle house."
"Actually I was thinking more of the diner called Heaven. I hear they have excellant food."
"Heaven it it. I'll have you take me as soon as I escape from Hell."

Grabbing her stuff from the counter, she saluted him two finger style, tottaly digging the amused look on the punks face. She knew he was trying to think of why she'd refered to the nightclub. Though in reality she'd been speaking of her home. But she figured if it was stretched, the double entandra worked.

Stuffing everything save for a single pack of cigarettes into her pockets, she pulled out her lighter and proceeded to try to light one of the bitchy little things. Clicking the cheap plastic lighter a few times, it dawned on her what it was she'd forgotten. After a couple minutes fighting with the reluctant lighter, she finnaly got the damn thing to light, making a mental note to attempt to swipe another when she got to school.

Happily inhaling the toxic fumes, she gazed at the world around her. The people were begining to come out en mass, and the sun was halfway up the horizon. Yes, she thought, a beautiful sunrise indeed. Coming to the train station, she ground out her cigarette butt and payed the fee, ignoring the curious look from the man working the thing.

Sitting as far away from everyone as humanly possible, she gave into her growling stomach and munched on the fruit bar she'd dug from her pocket. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world,but it sufficed. Besides, she was saving the Dorittos for lunch.

For the first time her thoughts turned strayed to school, and she guiltly relized she had yet to do her homework. Glarring daggers at her bag, she snapped another peice of food into her mouth, thinking. Hopefully Kaze and Kizu were at The Wall. She knew Mougen wouldn't be there till later.

~

As she came onto school grounds she saw them, sitting boredly on The Wall, smoking cigarettes. "Ah, the Wind Maiden approaches!" She rolled her eyes. "Hey guys, suprised you're here this early." They shrugged. "I wanted away from my dear old mum and Kaze wanted a cigarette." She nodded.

"And what about you? Why you here so early Kagura?" Plopping down between them, she grimced. "I wanted away from the loving atmosphere of my home. Plus I was outta cancer sticks." They grinned simultaniously in their weird way. "A woman after our hearts. You know, if I wasn't gay, I'd definatly date you." Kaze nodded in agreement.
"Me too. But as we are, well, you've always got Kyo."
"Mm." She opened her bag. "If you two love me so much, then you'll help me get this shit done."

They eyed up the books in her lap.
"Well..."
"We did say we love her."
They shrugged simotaniously.
"Alright, we'll help."
"Since we love you and all."
Kaze and Kizu talk for 'we'll do it for a smoke.'

Pulling out the slightly crumpled pack, she gave them, as well as herself one. "You'll have to provide a light though, I forgot to grab a new lighter." Kizo pulled a black plastic Bic out of his pocket and graciously lit their cigarettes. "Thanks love." He saluted her. Laughing lightly, they turned to the work at hand.

~

"Alright, if b2+a7xX1squared=-3, then what the hell is X? And why do I care?" She moaned the last part. Algebra gave her a headache. Kizu mimicked counting on his fingers. "X, is red." She snorted. "Ingenius, how'd you come up with that?" "Well, I pi'd purple and divided that by a banana, then subtracted two subzero ice cubes then squared it all by infinity."

Kaze hit his lover lightly upside the head. "Your suposed to square it by infinity squared dolt. Making the answer..." It was his turn to mime the finger counting thing.
"Two oranges, a banana, and one very happy squirel."
"Oh yea.."
"But guys, I can't have three answers. So if we average that up we'd get..."
They all did the finger counting thing.

"X=Porno!"

Their voices echoed across the grounds as they hollered the answer simutaniously. She pretended to write it down.
"X...=...Porno..."
"I highly doubt that." She looked up at the guy before her, cigarette dangling from her lips. "Oh really? Then what does X equal mr. I-know-everything?" He sighed. "Lemme see." Glancing between Kaze and Kizu, she handed him her notebook.

Rolling his eyes, he held out a hand for a pencil. She gave him a pen. He sighed.
"Why can you freaks never write in pencil?"
"Don't own one. 'Sides, pencils are for conformists and nerds."
"No offense." Kaze added at the end of his lover's statement.

"And I really wish you wouldn't smoke while doing this either." He brushed ashes from the paper as he spoke. She played with the cigarette between her lips with her tongue in answer.

"I regret to inform you, wishes never come true. Ever."
"At least not for people like us."
She nodded sagely at their wise words.

"Ug, look at those freaks on the wall! Smoking!"
"Scary and disgusting!"
Her eyes roamed slowly over to fix on the group of passing girls, the others still working on homework. She vaguely recognized them as being around her age, but couldn't place them.

"Come on guys, leave them alone, they can't be that bad." And then she remembered were she knew them. Kagome's friends, as it was her who'd spoken up. Hojo was, of course, at her side, and she noted in annoyance the way they all looked at her.

Gazing at them nonchalantly, she removed the cigarette from her mouth and blew out a long tendril of smoke. She grinned at their disgust.

"No, the answer is NOT a pair of handcuffs! Handcuffs aren't even a number guys, come on!" She refocused her attention to the closest thing she had to friends. "True, but they think more along the lines of how their random fetish items are listed." Yes, that was how they did math.

Of course as their "list" was everchanging, they weren't always right.
"See Mougen, told you we were good at math!" Mougen snorted. Handing her her paper, he told her what to write, and she complied, cigarette again dangeling.

"You're getting ashes all over. Do you want our jack-ass of a teacher to make you redo it?" She wordlessly removed said smoke from her mouth and handed it off to Kizu. "Share." Though she couldn't see it, she knew he saluted.

Copying down the answers, she listened to the fading sound of the normie's voices, the feel of eyes on her ever present. Most likely Kagome.

Frowning, she looked down at all the numbers on the page. "I still say X = Porno sounded better."

~

All through the classes they had together, she felt Kagome's eyes on her. And it was really starting to annoy her. Did the girl expect her to suddenly become a normie and follow her?

"Psst, Kagura." She glanced over her shoulder at Kaze, who was holding a note out to her. Glancing at the teacher, she took it and spread it out ontop of her notebook. 'I think that normie chick Kagome has a thing for you. She's been starin' at you all hour.'

She ground her teeth. Leave it to him to bring it up. So she wrote 'Maybe you're right, she's been at it all day.' then slipped it back to him. A few minutes later and a jab in the back got her 'Ask her out, if only to see the reaction.'

She suppressed a snort of mirth. 'Yea I'll get right on it.' she added one of her usual icons which ment 'insert sarcasm here?' then passed it back to him. She heard his supressed laugh and resisted the urge to turn around and hit him or something, instead civilly taking the note from him.

All he'd done was draw a smiley face.

Rolling her eyes, she glared back at his grinning face and shoved the paper into her jacket pocket.

As the bell rang she caught Kagome's eyes and made a 'wait up' gesture. Kagome smiled at her, shooing her friends away as she rearranged her papers.

Standing, she shoved her crap into her bag and raised her eyebrows at Kaze. Grinning, he bowed to her and left, muttering "Tell me all about it later." as he went.

Joining Kagome, they headed slowly out the door.
"Kagome, why have you been staring at me all day?"
"Uh..." the other girl flushed. "Sorry."
She shrugged. "So why?"
"Oh you know, just, er, contemplating how best I can get my brownie points from you."
She snorted. "That's weak."
Kagome folded her arms. "Alright. I couldn't stop staring because of how weird you look."
"I've looked this way forever. Next."

Kagome threw up her arms in annoyance. "Fine, how about I'm maddly in love with you and can't take my eyes off your beauty!" She cocked a brow at the girl. "Seriously?" Kagome looked up at her. "Uh.."
"Cause if it's true, then I'm afraid you're out of luck. I don't date normies." Kagome gaped at her open-mouthed.

She walked in silence next to the other for a moment before again broaching the subject.
"Come on, why were you really staring?"
"Honestly?"
"Uh, yea."
"I don't know."
She stopped and looked quizicly at her. "You don't know." Kagome shook her head. "Uh-uh."

Her eyes rolled of their own violation.

"Hey, um, Kagura?" She stared warily at her.
"What?"
"What happened?"
She blinked.
"Your face." Kagome pointed at a spot on her cheek near her ear. She touched it convulsivly and winced. It was still sore, and, obviously, in need of more make-up.

"Meh, nothing." Kagome's eyes narrowed.
"Right. 'Nothing' gave you that bruise."
"Yep pretty much." Kagome put her hands on her hips.
"Come on, what really happened?"
"God, do you really have to know that badly?"
Kagome nodded. "Fine. I accidently hit myself with a flashlight."
Kagome looked weirdly at her. "How'd you manage that?"
"Long story." Kagome gave her the usual skeptical, bordering on I-don't-belive-you, look, but dropped it non-the-less.

Ducking into the bathroom as they passed it, she dug through her pockets as she wandered towards a sink. "Muwa-ha!" She pulled out a bottle of cheap concealer. Glancing up at the mirror, she did a double take.

"Why're you in here? You stalkin' me or somethin'?" Kagome scowled and went to stand next to her.
"No of course not!"
"Then why-"
"Because I want to talk to you!"
"Why?"
"Because, I dunno, because I want to."
"Alright then."

Turning, she leaned sideways against the sink.
"What do you want?"
"Well for starters, you never did tell me what was wrong."
"That's why you're following me?"
"And I wanted to make sure you didn't get in trouble for staying so late."

She bit the inside of her lip. Kagome didn't even define trouble the way she did, yet she worried about it.
"No, I didn't get grounded or yelled at."
"Good. Then, do you want to come to my house after school? We can do that stupid english assignment together."

She stared, lost in thought. Was befriending this normie woth it? She toyed with her lower lip, weighing her options.

"I guess, but I can't stay long." Kagome grinned and clapped her hands before her.
"Great! Mom and Souta and Grandpa will be pleased!"
"Yea, so Souta can play video games with me till I have a stroke, and your grandpa can ask me about demons."
"I thought you liked that."

She smirked lightly before returning to her make-up.
"I don't mind it. I think it's kind of...enduring."
"I image 'enduring' wasn't the first word that came to mind."
"Nope."
They both laughed.

"I'll check in-Kagome!" They both looked over towards the door. "There you are! Hojo's been looking all over for you!" The girl made to grab Kagome's wrist but stopped when she saw her at the mirror.
"Why're you in here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" she lightly shook the coverup bottle in her hand.

"Uh-huh. Well, come one Kagome. Conturary to popular belief, there are smoke detectors in here and you don't wanna get caught in here with her." She rolled her eyes overdramaticly.

"And who says they work? Ever tested them?" Kagome's friend eyed her up. "Thought so." She went back to putting on her make-up.

"Whatever. Come on Kagome!"
"Buh-bye!" grining evily, she mock waved at them in the mirror.

"The Wall?" She raised a brow. "The Wall." Grinning, Kagome, allowed herself to be dragged away by her friend.

Rolling her eyes out of sheer habit, she raised her brows at herself in the mirror. "The Wall it is then."