A Woman's Strength by Bonequishia
Part 1
~~~~~The Bathroom~~~~~
Looking down at her new bruise, the girl sighed and put some more MuscleRub on it. The paste was cool to the touch, but warmed the skin with an invisible fire, soothing the pain and relaxing the muscle at the same time. Staring in the mirror, she didn't recognize herself, beneath all the purple, yellow, blue, and black patches was a pale, creamy skinned young girl who was caught in the hands of a malicious fate by Hell's own spawn.
Her eyes, once full of happiness, now were empty and devoid of anything but immense sorrow. They told of infinite wisdom beyond her few years of age. Shaking her head, black lock of limp hair fell into her marred face and splashed shadows across her face.
It happened again, and there was nothing she could do about it. She could call the authorities, but they would just tell her to move in with another family member. They didn't know that she was an outcast, a black sheep, nobody wanted her. They wouldn't understand her predicament. They didn't know how she felt everyday and every time she moved, the pain that throbbed in her muscles.
Nobody knew about it. Not even her brother. Everyone just thought she was clumsy. A ditzy little human girl who was unbalanced and unstable. Not even her best-friend, Scarlet. What would Scarlet do if she did find out where her bruises really did come from? That wasn't a bad thought, depending on whose side it came from.
School was her only safe hideaway. For he couldn't get to her there. Yes, she could be checked out, but he wanted her to get a good education, for some odd reason. She could go there and be a different person, being away from him and all. If only she had a thing, or person, to confide in. Someone who would completely trust her and never tell a living or dead soul about her secret life. Someone she could run to and not have to worry about being hurt, or insulted. Someone she could love, and have a happy life with.
Shaking her head again, she threw those thoughts away and put the lock on her imagination. She would never be able to have a normal life. She hadn't been able to for fifteen years, and she wouldn't until she finished school.
Tending to her bruises again, she went back into her comatose state.
~~~~~The Kitchen~~~~~
She looked inside the dimly lit kitchen and scanned her surroundings. Sensing or seeing no life inside the room, she quietly stepped into the
immaculately clean area intent on fixing her a cold sandwich for dinner. Having been thrown out of the dining room before her 'sister' got home, she was 'disciplined' for not obeying, so she didn't get to eat.
Opening the large white refrigerator, she looked around and saw what she wanted. Pulling the ham and cheese out, she looked up at the cabinet that housed the bread and bit her lip. If she used the stool, she would fall with her bruised leg, and if she used her powers, her Guardian would find out if he was awake.
Settling on just ham and cheese together, she put the ingredients in a paper towel and left the immaculate kitchen, silently sneaking in the dark hallway. Slowly, she slipped down the seemingly empty corridor. The dark steps revealed nothing to her in the lightless hallway, making it seem like a giant mouth ready to digest her as soon as she walked in. Halfway up the stairs, she started the tricky tip-toeing. Some of the stairs made squeaky noises when stepped on in a certain place, so her artful talent helped her find where each of the 'quiet' places were.
After clearing the stairs, she saw what dreaded her the most, her Guardian's door was open. Panic stricken, she froze in the dark shadows of the hallway and scooted against the wall, hoping even with his superior sight that he would not see her stealing food from the kitchen. The consequences would be dire and she didn't want to go through with that again.
Sighing so softly she barely felt it herself, she quickly made her way to her room, only to freeze when she heard a small sound. Fear rolled on her in waves, like the rolling of the sea, and her chest constricted, making it hard to breath. Focusing on that sound, she made it out to be..... quiet sobs. Turning towards the sound, she looked at her brother's closed door.
Panic set in her mind as she dropped the paper towel of food and rushed to her brother's door. Her heart skipped a beat when she found the piece of wood separating her and her brother locked, rage filled her mind and without thinking she blasted the shiny oak door to splinters and stood at the pile of her destruction. Looking at her brother, she stared in horror on what lay there.
His hands and feet were bound to the four posts on his bed and he was stretched out in pain. His shirt was gone, and he was only wearing a pair of black silk boxers. Welts of blood and tissue told her he was whipped with a nine-tails chain. His chest was bloody with what looked like cuts of a knife and he was gagged with a piece of cloth and duck tape.
Her fists clenched at her sides and she shook with anger and worry. Not caring about what was making a racket down the hall, she walked determinedly over to her brother and started untying the roped that bound him and pulled him up to her chest. Even if he was older than her, he was no match for the abomination that had claimed them his 'kids'. Looking down at the man in her lap, a nineteen year old boy, reduced to a small child in a matter of minutes by a retched man, she felt anger well up inside of her and rage, all bottled up over the years, her face set in very grim lines when their Guardian walked into the room.
Standing in the pile of wood was a man, well above five-and-a-half feet tall, with long dark hair flowing down his shoulder and arms in black inkiness, strange red eyes and square angels clad only in cotton drawstring pants, looking in rage at something one of his 'objects' did.
"You get to your room now and put the choker on or you'll be feeling pain to the end of this week, girl." he spat with venom in his voice, and stalked towards her in attempt to grab her, but a invisible force stopped him. Snarling in rage and anger, his canines showing, he made to punch the force field, but it flung the hit right back at him with energy, knocking him across the room, and into the opposite wall. Pulling himself back up, he flexed his clawed hands and jumped with his hand ready to cut the shield and hurt the girl, but the shield stayed in place. "Put. It. Down. Now." he stressed each word with a growl and snarls, but it stayed. The girl started to speak, much to his surprise.
"No longer will you keep us in this hell-hole. My brother is nineteen and he can move out, and legally take me with him. We are leaving, unless you would like to make another alternative, Naraku?" She spoke gravely, emphasizing 'gravely' heavily, and notched up the power on the shield, letting her pent-up magic loose, until the magical tension in the room was tangible.
The man, Naraku, looked enraged at this information and used all of his power to get through the force field, but it wouldn't budge. Seeing that his efforts were in vain, he looked at the girl and spoke with a hard edge in his voice.
"Don't come back then, wench, when your brother can't keep up with the things I have given you can't be found. Don't contact me if you want to be left alone, because if you do, then I'll come and kill him and take you with me. You are such a fine young girl," he said lustily, as he eyed her long, lean, tanned legs, "and I doubt you could make much money without any 'experience'. That was probably the way you were going to live wasn't it? Off your body? because your brother obviously can't take care of you. If you want to leave, then get out of my house, whore." he yelled, turned away and stomped off out of the room, leaving his parting words behind her.
Her heart, affected by what he said, struck home and made her think.
~~~~~Next Morning~~~~~
The girl had spent most of the night healing her brothers scars with her powers and was depleted of energy the next day. Hesitantly peering outside her door, she checked her clock and gathered up her objects for a shower. Making sure she had laid her clothes out, she walked down the hall, to the bathroom and upon entering, she found her brother looking in the mirror.
Spinning so fast she didn't have time to hide her weary face from his questioning gaze. Instantly feeling guilty, she made to walk back to her room and wait until he was out to bathe. A soft hand stopped her and pulled her into a great big bear hug, squeezing the cleaning products into her chest. A small tear leaked from her eye and fell onto his hand. Soon she felt warm hands wiping the wet lines off of her pale cheek, and tissue being held up to her eyes.
"You didn't have to do that, sis. Miss Mankao would have taken care of me. You look so deathly pale now. It looks as if you haven't slept in days. Don't go to school today, go to one of your friends houses. You can stay there. Like maybe Kauri's. You know she graduated last year. She'll let you stay, and then you can help Kanna with her work. But know this now, I will get us out of here, mark my words, sis, I will get us out of here." < I don't know how, I don't know when, but I will get at least you out of here, even if I have to marry you out of here, you'll have the life you deserve.> He thought.
"Thanks, but I can't miss school, I have a test today and Guardian will call to see if we were present. He does it everyday, I know because I was in the office last Thursday when he called Ms. Tran and he asked if I was there. I'm so scared sometimes, and then, I just get so angry. If only I could control my powers, then we could get out of here. If only..." she trailed off in a small whisper, not finishing the sentence in fear of their Guardian hearing them talking.
Slowly, the boy let the girl go and walked out of the bathroom. Putting her towel on the countertop, she left her shampoo, conditioner, and soap on the toilet top. Looking the same mirror from last night, she turned the water on and opened the medicine cabinet, and pulled out her face cleaner. She liked the smell of Noxzema, it was like washing your face with fresh mint soap, without the burn. Softly rubbing the white substance on, she watched as it dissolved the make-up and cover up off of her face, showing her bruises and the bags under her eyes.
The face wash cleaned her face until the whole bruise showed. The purple hand-shaped spot took up half of her face and made her look paler than ever. Pulling her hair back she twisted it and rolled it till she put a jaw-sized clip in it and left it up. Stripping off her clothes she stepped into the shower and turned the hot and cold water on and adjusted it until it was hot enough for her but did not burn. Washing her body took no time and she pulled her hair down and grabbed the shampoo in the shower with her and squeezed some of the fruity smelling goop and applied it to her hair. Letting her mind wander while she washed her hair, she thought about her life.
Rinsing the soapy bubbles out of her hair, she grabbed the conditioner and squeezed some of it onto the top of her hair and lathered the soft silky liquid substance up until it was in all of her hair. She turned the shower off and let it sit in her hair and soak, conditioning her hair so when she washed it out it would be a shiny healthy raven black, as usual. Looking for her razor, she picked it up and lathered her legs up with shaving cream and starting the articulate precarious work of shaving her legs. Having started it when she was thirteen, she knew how to shave a bikini line like a body waxier. Rinsing her legs off with tap water, she did the other leg, and rinsed it off. Switching to her under arms, she did each of them and turned the shower back on, rinsed her body the let her hair down and washed the conditioner out of it.
Stopping the shower, she located a towel and wiped her eyes and dried off. Stepping out of the shower, she wrapped it around her body and opened the door to the bathroom, and scouted the hall to see if anybody was in the corridor. Not seeing anybody in the semi-dark hall, she exited the bathroom and ran down the hallway to her room and entered then automatically locked the room.
Looking around, she noticed her room mirrored her mood, dark and cold. Shedding her towel, she walked to her closet and opened the drawers in them. Pulling out her undergarments, she put them on and shifted through her clothes. Picking out a pair of blue jeans, she stepped into them, and buttoned them up. Donning a small white polo shirt, she pulled a pink hoodie on over it, and left her wet hair down.
Leaving her closet, she sat down at a vanity and applied her foundation and carefully covered up her bruise. Looking back at her was a young girl with a soft complexion made totally up of make-up. Getting back up, she left the mirror and went to her bedside, pulling out her wallet and flip-phone, she put it half-way in her pocket, using the other half to keep it on, and put her wallet in her back pocket. Grabbing her backpack, she left her room and walked down the hall to the kitchen. Peeping around the wall, she saw her 'sister' in their, eating like a perfect angel, except the fact that that was Satan in disguise.
Creeping out of the house, she softly closed the door, and walked down the driveway, all the while singing softly. Her gentle, melodic voice followed along with the birds of the area and they all stopped chirping to listen to her. Some of the squirrels even came out of the heavily covered boughs to look at her and squeak to one another.
"Someone cries in the middle of the night, the neighbors hear but they turn out the lights. A tragic soul caught in the hands of fate, when morning comes it'll be too late." Lifting her voice until it was audible to the animals around her, she continued to sing. "Through the wind, and the rain, she stands hard as a stone, in a world that she can't rise above. But her dreams give her wings and she flies to a place that she's loved. Concrete angel." She stopped singing to hum the rest of the song until she came to the sidewalk. She didn't notice the stares she was given as she walked to school, oblivious to all the attention she was getting, she kept going.
Several times, someone bumped into her on accident, because she wasn't looking up, she was looking at the ground or her surroundings. Muttering curses as they pushed her away, she just frowned and went along, mentally saying she was sorry, and claming their moods unintentionally. Coming up on the road to the high school, she kept going and didn't look at any of the students. For being one of the best-dressed kids in school, they thought she was really anti-social. No one ever talked decently to her, except for her friends. Kagura, Scarlet, and Ayame. Even though they were popular, they always talked to her and complimented her outfits, and her beauty.
Today would be no different, hopefully, it wouldn't change. Nobody knew about her secret life. Her 'sister' went to another school. Refusing to go to school with 'trailer-park trash, even if they are related to me', her 'sister' had said. Following the sidewalk, she found herself in front of the school. Opening the doors, she let herself in and walked down the o-so-familiar halls and straight to her locker and did the same old routine. Turn know three times, land on 16, turn left and pass number once then land on 30, turn and stop at four. Lift latch and open, deposit books, grab Advanced Trig., Human Anatomy, A.P. Government Economics, and notebook.
Closing her locker after putting her backpack in it, she turned and found herself surrounded by her friends. Kagura was chewing on gum as usual, and had her hair in the same pony tail with the feathers, her source of transportation. Her fan was in her hand, open and waving at some boys across the hall, smiling devilishly. Kagura was wearing red low-riders and a black top with the words "My gosh! What a shame! Seems like the ugly fairy kissed you on both cheeks!" Red and black tennis boots poked underneath her pants and a red bandana was in her hair, just letting her bangs come out. Her fangs showed in her smile. She had nicknamed her Snickers for some odd reason. Then Kagura had said something about "Why wait?".
Ayame was still the same as ever. She hadn't really changed, since last year when she cut her hair, she kept it short now, she liked it that way. Short brown hair and the same sierra eyes. One of her fangs poked over her bottom lip from her characteristic smirk, and her outfit was made of a green camouflaged mini skirt, a black tight shirt, with a light green ripped shirt over it, green espadrilles, and matching jewelry. Her makeup really set her outfit off. She outlined her eyes in green pencil and did dark green eye shadow and green lipstick, showing good on her tanned face. She changed her tongue ring to a black ball, too. Odd enough, she had gotten the nickname Frosty. She just liked the frosting off of all the cakes or brownies they ate.
Scarlet was as human as ever. Bright red hair down to her waist, though it was visibly layered and had black tips on each layer. Her eyes really attracted the guys though. They were a bright apple green, showing her heritage. She was from Ireland, and had a cute accent. She sounded like the hobbits Merry and Pippin from The Lord of The Rings to herself. Scarlet had worn a pair of white capris and a white top, although she knew her red bra and showed through the shirt without remorse. She had red ankle socks and white Air Force Ones, with red laces. Her hair was held up by a red clip, twisted until it was a bun, like she did in the shower. Scarlet had brown mascara on and red eye shadow with black eye-liner. Her lips had no lipstick, just lip-gloss on them. She had gotten a nickname, too. Starburst. She was addicted to them, and always had some on hand if the case arose.
Looking at her friends, she felt happy, knowing that people liked her for who she was and the way she was. They didn't dictate her on everything like other girls at the school. They were just jealous that she looked better than them with only half the money. Looking down, she saw the white on pink Air Force Ones Scarlet had bought her for her birthday, and she knew why the other girls didn't like her. She had the three most popular girls for friends and they gave her stuff they would never give to the other stuck-up girls of the school. She silently thanked her friends again for what seemed like the millionth time that week. Smiling she laughed at something one of them said.
"Hey Skittles, wanna come with us to the movies Saturday night? We're going to see Dawn of the Dead. We can all stay over at Kagura's if everybody agrees, that is? We can stay up all night and eat ice-cream and get fat, then mope over it and diet until we lose it in time for cheerleading tryouts. That, or we could all bring our phonebooks and call random boys and mess with their heads. Sound fun?" Scarlet asked, looking around the circle of friends.
"Maybe, I don't know. I might be busy, I'll ask my parents," she answered. They had taken to calling her Skittles, when she said she liked rainbows one day in Scarlet's convertible . They said something about her "tasting the rainbow!" She found out later what that statement actually implied one day at Kagura's house. "I'll see if we can go to the movies at least though! I heard it was a great movie!"
"Alright well let's get going. Remember this is your first day as a senior, since you took that skip test. I can't believed you passed. I mean I know your smart and all, but whoa! Your like a walking, talking, fashionable genius, Skittles. I didn't know people were that smart. Gosh." Ayame trailed off into her 'deep-thought' mode and automatically followed everybody else to the commons.
"I knew she could do it. I mean it's not like she would fail at anything. She's a survivor. Right, Skittles? Nothing could get in her way. Anyways, I got the D L on a new student. His name is Sesshoumaru Takeshi. He's a dog demon from what I could get. Ms. Tran is so hard to get information out of. She is like a mind-reader. She knows the purpose behind everything, just about. Lord the woman is the next Miss Cleo. I'll guarantee that. Anyways, his file said he comes from one of the best high schools around. Someone like him coming to Mt. Zion will be in the record!" Kagura told the group excitedly. That interesting piece of information brought Ayame out of her mode and she spoke up quickly.
"Well, have you gotten any personal stats on him yet? Is he available, favorite color, food, brand, number, address? You know, the usual?" she asked in a rushed tone. Her eyes had glazed over in a 'data mode'.
"He is supposed to be here today. That was last bit of information that I got on him. He moved into the county about three days ago. He lives the closest to Skittles here." She gestured towards the girl on the end of the line. "They say he isn't really sociable, like Skittles again. But, I think if we all work together, one of us can get him to come around." She finished with a all-knowing smile.
"Well I hate to break it, but we need to get to homeroom, guys. Opps, girls! Come on! Let's go." Scarlet spoke up, pulling Ayame with her and Kagura pulled Skittles by the hand. The crowd of the commons parted for the four hottest girls and watched as they flew by with unremarkable grace. Heading for the thousand hall, they slowed down and made it to room 1015 just before the bell.
"Mr. McGinnis, I'm sorry, but there was a wreck on the highway, and we were just a tad late. Please excuse us. It won't happen again, we promise." Scarlet spoke, wooing her teacher with her 'cute-school-girl act', again.
"Alright, just take a seat, and I'll take roll. See you sixth period, Scarlet." He winked at her and smiled, showing off his perfect pearly whites, any girl, demon or human, would fall for. He took the roll, often glancing at the students to see if one of them were here or not. Two new students appeared on his roll.
"Well, it seems we have two new students today. If you will please, come down and introduce yourselves. One at a time though. It would be easier to remember you that way. Now first up Sesshoumaru Takeshi." Mr. McGinnis announced to the class. A rustling was heard in the back of the class, and a tall figure came down the walkway, making most of the girls whisper among themselves.
His silver hair went down past his waist, almost to his knees, and swayed with no wind in the room, giving him an ethereal feel in the room. He wore a pair of slacks and some hard bottom dress shoes. He had on a black sweater, making his hair and alabaster skin stand out even more. He was easily seven foot tall and perfectly built, good enough to make all the girls swoon. He turned towards the class and they saw his face. Cold golden eyes glared at everything in front of him, making some people flinch. On each of his cheeks were a pair of dark crimson stripes from his pointed ears to the end of his cheek. His forehead adorned a small sickle shaped royal blue moon, which appeared in the part of his bangs. He briefly closed his eyes and two red stripes covered his eyelids, announcing that he was poisonous.
"My name is Sesshoumaru Takeshi. You will get respect if you attain it." were his only words, and they themselves were cold and lifeless. Almost as happy as rain on a battleground.
The girls all swooned even though he practically dared them to speak or blow kissed at him. The teacher nervously tapped his pen on the desk, and spoke. "Well, thank you Mr. Takeshi. We will be delighted in having you in our school and class this year. Now, will the next student come up for us, please?" he looked in the room of kids and stared around for any new students.
"Yes. I will come up." Came a small voice from the band of popular girls in the middle table. A beautiful young girl stood up from the circle of girls and started to approach the front of the classroom. When she reached the middle of the front of the classroom she started to speak.
"Hi, I'm actually a freshman, but I took the skip test and passed, so now I am a under aged senior. I like swimming, music, ice cream, chocolate, roses, and singing. My favorite sport is fencing. I don't know why, but I like it. Try it some time. Maybe we can challenge one another. I like to walk on the beach at night, and listen to listening to Luther Vandross over a candle light dinner. Someday I hope a knight in shining armor will come and take me away from all my troubles. Unconsciously, I never realize it, but sometimes I sing in the open, or just dance in the rain like a little kid." She started walking around the classroom, naming things she liked to do, and she just kept going until the teacher stopped her. She was making some of the girls jealous with her romantic fantasies.
" Excuse me, but we would really like to just know your name and welcome to our room. We did love your talk though. It did pass the time and since we will be staying in homeroom today, you could keep going. But we do need your name." Mr. McGinnis stated, smiling broadly.
"Oh....... I guess you would like to actually know my name. Nobody really knows my name, though. Everybody just kinda called me Skittles in ninth grade. I thought you would do the same thing."
The class just looked at her and smiled, accepting the nickname she had, and some laughed at it. "I got that name because I said I liked rainbows, and Kagura said I needed to 'taste the rainbow, not like it!"
"Well, My name is Kagome Higurashi. And I am pleased to meet you all today."