Title: Forget Me Not

Author: PinkSakuraPetals (aka: katiepatie)

Warnings: Language, poorly written violence, suggestive themes. (I’m being serious about the language; if you don’t like swearing, don’t read any further.)

Rating: NC15 (Really, I don’t know what the rating is, but I thought I should be on the safe side.)

Status: Work in progress

Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha, nor Yu Yu Hakusho. I wish I did, but I have a better chance of winning the lottery and getting hit by lightning twice.

Chapter One: The Accident

"Mother, hurry up! We're going to be late to the opening of the new store at the mall!" Kagome yelled from the front door. Her breath rose around her head in little clouds in the freezing winter air.

"Alright dear, I'm coming," Mrs.Higurashi called back, "Does Souta have his hat on?"

Kagome looked behind her. Her little brother was throwing snowballs at the pigeons that dared to sit on the bird feeder. On his head was the ever-present knitted red heat Grandma Urameshi had made before she died. Souta was very attached to Grandma and Grandpa Urameshi and when they died last year he refused to take the hat off.

"Yeah mom, he's got his hat on," Kagome yelled inside the house.

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute," her mother called from upstairs.

‘Whatever. It's not like you care anyway,' Kagome thought to herself. The truth was, ever since Grandpa Higurashi died; her mother had become inattentive and fake.

She had forgotten both of their birthdays and got them girt cards for ten dollars as an apology.

Mrs.Higurashi had used her entire inheritance she got for being their daughter-in-law to remodel the house and get plastic surgery.

When Kagome had won the regional archery contest, her mother told her that she shouldn't waste her time shooting and arrow.

Flashback

“This isn’t the feudal era, Kagome,” an annoyed Mrs.Higurashi said, “You don’t need to defend yourself like you did back then with Inuyasha.”

Kagome’s smile vanished. “Aren’t you proud of me?”

“Of course I am,” her mother snapped, “You’re my daughter, I have to be. Now, come inside and help me make dinner.” Her mother strode off, heels clicking angrily.

“Yes mother…” Kagome answered in a subdued voice, hurt beyond words.

End of Flashback

After that Kagome stopped trying to please her mother. Her grades plummeted and now the principal was telling her to either shape up or change schools.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when her mother’s footsteps came down the stairs. Mrs.Higurashi looked up and smiled at Kagome, but it never reached her eyes.

“Shall we go then? We don’t want to be late,” her mother said too cheerfully. It made Kagome sick to hear her mom like that.

The three of them walked down the shrine steps, the snow crunching underfoot.

“I call shotgun!” Souta yelled suddenly, pushing Kagome out of the way and jumping into the front seat of the car. He stuck his tongue out at her then pushed down the lock on the car door so she couldn’t get at him.

Kagome glared at him, then got into the seat behind him. As the car began to move, she stared out the window, completely zoning out for the rest of the ride.

“Yusuke called this morning,” Mrs.Higurashi said, “He said he’d try to visit next week.”

“Hn,” Kagome said, not really caring. Yusuke had made a lot of promises to visit in the past five years and each time he came up with the excuse that he had to work. He had already missed her fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and just recently, her eighteenth birthdays. Souta, only being nine the last time he seen him, didn’t really know Yusuke at all so it didn’t bother him as much as it did her.

Flashback

“Who cares if Yusuke doesn’t show up? He isn’t even my brother anyway,” an eleven-year-old Souta said, throwing a baseball up in the air.

“He may not be related to you biologically, but he’s still your brother Souta,” Kagome said, opening a birthday card from her mother that said ‘Happy Sweet Sixteen’.

Souta stopped throwing the ball up in the air and looked at her, his eyes uncharacteristically serious.

“No, he’s not my brother. If he was truly my brother he would try to communicate more than to make a promise and then break it.”

End Flashback

Yusuke, now nineteen, was still as unreliable as he was when he was fourteen in Kagome’s opinion. In truth, sometimes she felt like she hated him.

They used to be very close to each other; not letting the fact that they had different mothers let them get in the way of their limited playtime.

Their dad had married Kagome’s mom, but began to cheat on her. When her mother found out she was pregnant, she gave their father the news happily. She was confused as to why he wasn’t happy as well until she found out. He was already supporting the eight-month-old Yusuke and his mother.

Her mother quickly filed for divorce and moved in with her father at the family shrine.

Seven months later, Mrs. Urameshi had become Mrs.Higurashi and had a newborn daughter. Four and a half years after that, she had a son as well.

The story, unfortunately, didn’t have a happy ending. Mr.Higurashi, being a cop, was shot to death during a drug bust when Kagome was six. To make matters worse, Mr.Urameshi had completely disappeared, making child support disappear as well.

Ever since then, her mother had stopped trying to find her ’true love’ and stayed single. She moved back in with her father at the shrine shortly afterwards.

Kagome was ripped from her thoughts when the car began to spin on the icy road, throwing her against the window and giving her a nasty bump. Her mother spun the wheel quickly and managed to bring the car to a stop in the middle of a quiet intersection. Mrs.Higurashi gripped the wheel tightly, breathing hard. Her mother finally came out of her daze enough to inquire whether or not her children were all right.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Souta said shakily. They turned to Kagome and asked if she was okay.

Kagome opened her mouth to answer when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned and her eyes grew wide. The last thing she saw was a large semi barreling towards them, breaking in vain on the icy road. When it finally hit them, she felt an intense pain in her head and neck and then blessed darkness overtook her.

They say when you’re about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. People see their childhoods, their good and bad memories, and their regrets.

Kagome was no exception to this theory.

She saw glimpses of herself, albeit younger, playing at the shrine with her half brother Yusuke.

Kid-Yusuke was trying to teach her how to swim. Kid-Kagome floundered a few times and kid-Yusuke jumped in and grabbed her before she could sink.

Her first time on a normal bicycle. She watched as kid-Kagome fell and scraped her knee. Kid-Yusuke ran over and picked her up, softly chanting, “It’s awight, you’we awight. It was onwee a witto scwape.”

Kid-Kagome stopped crying and smiled tearfully at kid-Yusuke. She leaned forward and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek, making him immediately drop her to wipe his face.

“Ewww, I gots cooties!” Kid-Yusuke yelled, trying desperately to get them off.

“Yukay! You’we a meanie! Thewe ain’t no such ting as cooties!” Kid-Kagome screamed, chasing after him.

Now, instead of it being kid-Kagome and kid-Yusuke, it was kid-Kagome and kid-Souta. Kid-Kagome was about nine and was trying to teach kid-Souta how to climb the sacred tree on their property. Kid-Souta fell off the branch and started to cry. Kid-Kagome comforted him, much like kid-Yusuke had done for her.

As Kagome watched each snippet of her memories, she realized just how many times Yusuke had really tried to contact her. She saw that a few times her past self had just exactly closed the door to the well house and gone into the Feudal Era when Yusuke had reached the top of the shrine steps.

‘I guess that’s one of my regrets. I regret blaming Yusuke entirely for losing touch. I was to blame as well.’ Kagome thought to herself.

She also noticed that with the passing of time, Souta would become more and more frantic to gain her attention each time she came home from the past.

‘That’s another one. I regret not paying attention to Souta more. I was his only sister. Poor kid, he just wanted his sister to notice him and I went and pushed him further away,’ she thought, eyes filling up and spilling over.

Something suddenly occurred to her. How could she have seen a memory about Yusuke running up the shrine steps when she hadn’t seen him at all during those five years?

“It is possible because I wished for you to see your mistakes.” A voice spoke from behind her. She whipped around and saw a woman standing a few feet away from her. The woman had long black hair that cascaded down her back, and was wearing ancient armor. Kagome noticed that the woman looked similar to herself and Kikyo. She had the features of Kikyo, but in her grey eyes one could see the life that was visible in Kagome as well.

“Why did you want me to see my mistakes? Am I dead?” Kagome asked the woman. For some reason, each time she thought about asking the woman who she was, she would forget.

“In a way, yes, you are indeed dead. Just as you are, in a way, being reborn.”

‘You mean I’m being reincarnated?” she asked the woman, afraid that she would end up like Kikyo. Bitter and full of hate and anger.

“No. You will still be you, but you are being given a second chance to make your life how you wanted it to be. The four souls have agreed that no innocent soul should have to suffer the burdens you did without a reward.”

“What do you mean a second chance?”

“Your memory will be lost temporarily. After a certain amount of time, I will come to you in a dream and ask if you want your memory back.”

“How long before you come back?”

“It depends on many things. Mostly, though, I will be waiting to speak to you before you become too attached to your new life.”

“I won’t remember anything?”

“You are being granted one memory. You must choose one thing in you whole life you do not want to forget. This memory will stay with you always, even if you decide you wish to permanently forget your past.”

Kagome thought carefully. What should she choose to remember? Should she remember her mom? Her friends? Her brother Souta?

Kagome paused in her thinking. In her mind, she could recall the scene of her brother throwing snowballs at the pigeons. On his head was the red hat. ‘That’s it!’ she decided.

She looked at the woman, her face set in determination.

“I wish to remember to always keep Souta’s hat near me.”

The woman smiled and nodded. “Very well. When you awaken, you will always want to keep the hat in your sight.”

“Thank you. I guess I’ll see you soon then.” Kagome said, everything around her fading to black.

“Yes, we will indeed see each other soon.”

Kagome nodded, then turned her head. She saw a bright light in front of her, calling for her to return to the world of the living. She floated towards it and it became brighter until it engulfed her vision. Everything was white and it blinded her for a moment.

When she could finally see, she saw a guy wearing a green school outfit and a, now messy, slicked-back hairdo staring at her worriedly.

‘Who the fuck is that?’ She really had no idea who he was. In fact, she had no idea who she was either. ’What happened to me?’

“Kagome?”

Kagome stared at the boy before looking around the room. Was he talking to her?

“How are you feeling, Kagome?”

She blinked. How did she feel? Why? What happened? She attempted to voice her questions, but her throat refused to obey her. She looked at the boy again and pointed to her neck. What happened to me? She tried to convey with her eyes.

The boy looked away. “You’re neck was injured. You’ll probably never be able to speak again. Here, use this. It’ll make it easier to understand you. I was never much of an interpreter.” Kagome took the pad of paper and pen the boy offered. She quickly scrawled out a question and handed the boy the paper.

‘Who are you?’

The boy sighed. “The doctor said you might not have any memories left.” He looked her in the eye. “I’m Yusuke Urameshi, your half-brother.”

Kagome blinked at him, unable to think of any comment. She had a half-brother?

That’s the end of chappie one.

Please read and review

PinkSakuraPetals

(aka: katiepatie)