Chapter One

Back to the Past

“And I have three thousand here,” Kikyo added, tossing another wad into the pile.

“That’s one hundred thousand total,” Sango concluded, looking at the pile of cash.

“That’s not bad for one night, right Kagome?”

“I dunno Kikyo. We’ve done better.”

“Yeah, but lately with the cops getting suspicious, it’s a miracle that we even get betters.”

“That’s true.”

The door slammed open and the three girls who were sitting in the middle of living room floor looked up.

“Hey Rin,” Kagome greeted.

“I brought some pizza!” Rin announced.

“‘Bout time, I’m starving!”

“Well, I’m sorry Sango, but at least I went out and got something to eat.”

“Whatever.”

Kikyo sighed. “The sooner we help Rin out, the sooner we can eat.”

I watched everyone grab for a slice of pizza. I waited until everyone else had taken a piece, then I took a slice.

I liked things like this, Sango, Rin, Kikyo and I, all sitting together. We’re pretty close. It’s almost like we’re sisters, except only Kikyo and I are really sisters.

Kikyo and I were born in the bad side of the city, where it was full of gangsters and fights. We grew up pretty rough.

Our dad was a drunk and our mom was a fifty dollar per night whore who tried her best to raise us the best she could. Kikyo and I loved our mom, but we hated our dad.

Our dad was an alcoholic who threw away most of the money mom earned on beer. He didn’t have a drunk. What’s worse is that when he was drunk, he would beat us: mom, Kikyo and me.

It was tough, growing up there. Kikyo and I, we always stood together and tried to help mom as much as we could. It was hard though. We tried to earn money, but the surest way to earn money was to whore away, except mom didn’t want us to. She was really strict on that. And in a way, I was relieved.

The schools we went to were often full of graffiti and sometimes we didn’t go to school at all. There were also a lot of bullies there, and gangsters. We weren’t very strong together at the beginning but Kikyo and I quickly learned to toughen up.

But at the beginning, we were lucky enough to make some real friends, Gryffin and Jake. They were two fourteen year olds back then when we were with them. I guess they had sort of taken a role as our protectors. Needless to say, Kikyo and I enjoyed being with them, despite their tough appearances. They made our lives there worth living, I guess you could say.

“Kagome?” I blinked several times. When I was fully snapped out of my thoughts, I saw Sango’s face in mine.

“What’s wrong Kagome?” Rin asked me. I could hear it in her voice that she was concerned about me.

“Nothing. Just thinking.”

“About our past again?” Kikyo asked me. “Put that behind, Kagome. We never have to go back there again. Not unless we want to,” she said.

I nodded and took a bite out of a slice of pizza on my plate.

Rin and Sango are from the better parts of the city. Actually, Rin’s dad is a really rich business man and Sango comes from an old family.

So how did people like Kikyo and I get mixed up with them?

Well, Kikyo and I, we worked really hard at school, despite our background. We knew it was our ticket out of that dark alley we lived in. Mom was proud of us too, and it made her happy.

Anyway, when we were in our last year of junior high, Kikyo and I entered a contest of wits. There were two reasons for this. One, there was a large money prize that we really needed and two, it offered a scholarship to the best private high school in town. We worked hard to prepare for the contest and it paid off. We won the prize money and the scholarship and mom ditched dad and we moved off to a slightly better part of the city. Mom finally was able to get a decent job too. Things were looking for the better then too.

At school, Kikyo and I obviously didn’t belong there. They were all rich people, and we were from a questionable part of the city. But we had each other and other people could hardly matter.

Of course, the guys there were nothing but cheap trash too. They had no integrity! Even the guys from out side of the city had more integrity then they did. Since we came from the rougher side, they had the nerve to think that we could be had for a couple of bucks. Damn them.

What did they know? They had everything they wanted. They were never abused. Their parents never had to whore away their bodies just so they could put some food on their tables! They didn’t have to work a single day in their lives!

Kikyo and I could’ve easily gotten into a fight - and beat all of them, but we were smart enough to not be kicked out of the school. It was our ticket to a richer life, a better life for mom.

At that school, we didn’t have any friends. Not until we met Sango and Rin. They were somehow different from all the rich snobs. Sure, they were from some of the richest family, but they never abused their power. And they were nice too.

They befriended us and things started to look pretty good.

Kikyo and I had been saving up money to buy a car for our sixteenth birthday. It would be a second hand, used and abused car, but Kikyo was especially looking forward to it. Kikyo loved fixing things. She had fixed everything that we had when we lived with our dad.

For her, it was going to be a big project. She was going to turn a piece of junk into a great car. Personally though, I really wanted a fast car. A dangerous car. I wanted to have a car where I could race in. But when you’re poor like we are, you can’t really be choosers.

For our birthday, we bought the car. Rin and Sango bought us really great car parts - the best. Kikyo and I were a bit pissed. We told them that we didn’t need their charity. They said that it wasn’t charity, it was an investment. Sango had winked at me and said: “You did want to race right? We’re giving you the best so you can win. Then you can pay us back if you want. Besides, the gift is a two in one type of thing.”

Kikyo and I were so grateful then. They understood us pretty well.

Anyway, after Kikyo got the car all fixed up, which took a while, I took the car down to the Underground Raceway, which was pretty much an illegal organization where people with fast cars (mostly the super rich) raced cars down closed highways and others betted. The money there flowed fast and the racers who won got a part of that money.

It was easy for me to say that I soon became the best there and I won a whole bunch of money. Kikyo also got a couple of request to tune up a couple people’s cars. Together, we had enough money to pay Sango and Rin up twice over. The left over money went to our college funds and to let mom live in a bit of luxury. Mom never questioned where we got the money.

Things went on like that for a while, and we moved to a better part of the town, a more respectable part. We thought we had left all our troubles behind. We were wrong.

It was a couple of months after our second move. Kikyo and I were sleeping over at Sango’s with Rin. Rin gave us a ride home, but when we entered the house, we found that the place was wrecked. Kikyo and I were worried for mom.

We found mom and she was almost dead. She died in our arms. It had turned out that our dad was pissed she left and moved his lazy ass and in a fit, killed her. Damn him.

“Kagome!” Kikyo snapped at me. “Snap out of it! The past is over! We can’t do anything to change it!” I smiled sadly. It was funny how Kikyo knew me so well. People always say that twins have this special bond. I guess they’re right.

“I’m sorry Kikyo, I can’t help it. I’m always wishing I can do something to help mom.”

“So am I, but we can’t do anything about it.”

“I know....”

For a while, we were wondering what we would do. We stayed over at Sango’s for a while. Then, for her eighteenth birthday, Sango’s parents gave Sango her own apartment which took over a whole floor and a new car. Sango decided that we should live there with her. So this is how things ended out.

Things do seem to get better, but I’m always tensing for something bad to happen. It seems that my life has been nothing but a big roller coaster ride. But it’s ok, because I have my friends with me, and they’ll be there to help me with each turn.

But I hope that in the end, things will be better and things will settle down. But whatever happens, I’ll be ready for it.

I know in this story, it’s really AU, and I didn’t portray Kikyo as evil. I didn’t feel like making her evil, because she’s really not that bad. Sure in the anime, she’s a little odd, but she’s not totally evil, you know what I mean?

I hope you like it so far and continue reading it in the future! Tell me what you think! Oh and one more thing, I hope that the point of view change isn't too confusing.