Am I Beautiful?

A/N: This was written in response to the Halloween challenge at Eternal Destiny.

MomoDesu

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Kagome hated Halloween. With a bloody passion.

"Why the hell did I let them con me into this?"

She looked down at the paper in her hand again and then up at the street sign on the corner where she stood. According to the address Eri gave her, she was in the right direction. Just where was the house? The neighborhood she stood in seemed eerily empty for the 'pleasant family place' that Eri had described to her earlier in the week. To add insult to injury, she felt downright stupid walking around suburban Tokyo wearing a demon slayer's jumpsuit. Sango did do an amazing job fitting it, though. Kagome even carried the traditional weapons of the demon slayer, even if she wasn't proficient at using them. Getting her hair into a high ponytail to get it out of the way had been a bit of an issue, but with Sango slathering some sort of wax over the top to keep it in place Kagome highly doubted it was going anywhere anytime soon.

A cool wind blew and Kagome tugged her jacket a bit tighter over her body in attempt to keep out the chill. She looked up to the next light pole where the street sign should have been. "These people really need better signs." Sighing, she turned down the cramped street, using power of elimination to decide it was the right place. Surely someone would be outside, or there would be decorations signaling that there was a party going on. Eri adored decorations.

It felt like she had been walking for blocks down the cramped, drafty street when she finally spotted someone. The person, obviously a woman, looked like something directly out of the Heian period. Her costume looked like what Kagome remembered Inuyasha's 'mother' wore in more colors than there were in the rainbow, her silky black hair flowing down her back in long ebony waves that looked almost blue under the rays of the setting sun. Kagome felt sadly under dressed in comparison to the vision that stood in front of her.

Just as Kagome was about to chase her down and see if they were going in the same direction, the woman turned. Kagome's eyes widened when she saw the surgical mask covering the woman's face. Her eyes sparkled in a way that made Kagome feel mildly uncomfortable. The woman began to move toward Kagome, though it looked like she was floating under all of those layers of fabric.

Everything was telling her to run, but her feet felt like they were plastered to the ground. Her palms began to sweat and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. With wide eyes, Kagome watched as the woman came closer and closer, finally stopping in front of her. The woman met Kagome's eyes and looked away again shyly. "Am I beautiful?" Her voice was melodic and as beautiful as her dress.

Kagome took a deep breath to compose herself before nodding. "Yes, you are."

The woman's laughter was as light and melodic as her voice. She stripped the mask off, revealing a mutilated face that had been slashed from ear to ear. Her mannerisms didn't change though; she still stood calmly in front of Kagome and looked at her with great curiosity, possibly even amusement. "Even like this?"

Kagome tried her best to smile at her, even though she felt her stomach turning and she was trying her hardest not to show her nausea. "Yes," she replied, quietly, "even like that."

Calmly the woman put her mask on again and disappeared into thin air so quickly Kagome almost wondered if she had been seeing things.

Kagome turned and ran back out to the street where she had come in, going as fast as her legs would take her back in the direction of the shrine.

How could she have been so stupid? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

'No, don't listen to Mama and say 'average' if the damn Kuchisake-Onna pops up in front of you asking if she is beautiful. Oh, tell her she's a freakin' beauty queen so she can come kill you on your doorstep!'

Even in the modern era she wasn't safe from strange creatures. So much for feeling safe in your own home. Her biggest worries had been peepers and train gropers, not urban legends that weren't supposed to be real.

If the legend was true, the woman would follow her home and kill her on the doorstep. There was one thing that Ms. Glasgow Smile didn't plan for though: Inuyasha. Kagome prayed that he was sitting in the Goshinboku like he always did when she went out. He would be able to see her coming up the stairs and see who was chasing her. One swing of Tessaiga and it would all be over!

When the shrine came into view Kagome's heart jumped. 'Almost there!' She took the stairs in twos, trying to get up as fast as she could to her savior in red. "Inuyasha!" she shrieked, as best she could running full speed.

She didn't even see him come past, just heard a loud thunk and the tell tale sounds of a fight behind her. Skidding to a stop, Kagome turned around. Inuyasha had pinned the seemingly beautiful woman on the ground. Her mask was missing and what had been curiosity in her eyes was now malice. "I almost had you, little girl," she hissed. "I know you carry the shards! I could have been beautiful again! You lied to me when you said I am beautiful!" The woman struggled against Inuyasha's hold.

Somehow the woman threw the half demon off of her and a strange curved blade seemed to appear out of thin air. "And I only counted on one victim tonight," she said sweetly.

Everything moved too fast for Kagome. Inuyasha was suddenly on the ground, his face cut in the same manner of the woman's. Kagome tried to dash to his unconscious form on the ground but the woman was in front of her. The last thing she saw was a large, blood stained curved blade angled toward her face.

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"Inuyasha!"

Kagome sat straight up in bed. She smoothed down her sweat matted hair and tried to catch her breath. "This isn't my room!" She looked around frantically at the sterile white hospital room. A heart monitor beeped quietly in the background and there were flowers of all colors and varieties lined up in the window sill. She giggled lightly at the dog shaped mylar balloon that bobbed over one of the arrangements. That screamed Souta through and through.

On the bedside table there was a hand mirror made of polished bronze, something that looked like it came out of an old geisha house. Something told her to pick it up. Cautiously she reached toward it with a shaking hand. She moved the mirror to her lap, careful not to drop it.

The feeling that Kagome had when she first set eyes on the woman came back in full force and she whipped the mirror up to look at herself.

A neat set of stitches went across her face, from ear to ear. Gently she ran her fingers over the stitches, wincing slightly when she pressed too hard. Tears filled her eyes, knowing the fate of the one she deeply loved. She had to find her mother, she had to know what happened!

A soft knock at the door startled her. "Come in," she said, the best she could manage without ripping her stitches.

"Hey," a voice said. Soon a body followed; her beloved hanyou decked out with a baseball cap came into the room holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Though he had bandages over his face, he looked much better than she did.

"Inuyasha!" she said, relieved. She reached out for him, and he wasted no time coming to her and wrapping his arms around her. She sobbed lightly on his shoulder, taking comfort in his wild smell and the fact that he was alright. After seeing him on the ground, she was sure that he was done for. "You didn't have to bring me flowers."

He pulled back. "I didn't. They were waiting for you up at the front desk and the nurse sent them with me."

Kagome took the flowers from him and searched for a note. Clipped on the side of the tissue paper with a paperclip was a small pink envelope. She pulled it off and opened it, pulling out a small piece of paper. In a woman's neat script, in a writing form she had trouble deciphering, was a clear message.

"This isn't over."