Ocean Avenue
Rating: Teen
Genre: Romance/Angst
Couple: Inu/Kag
Song: Ocean Avenue - Yellowcard
Disclaimer: The Dark Goddess owns not the song or the characters.
Dedication: Happy Fifteenth Birthday, Allie! Sorry this is a little late, but you know me, a lazy... person. Thanks for having stuck by me from the beginning on fanfiction, nice to have you as a friend. Eh, you don't want to read this, you want to read the fic... So on with the fic!
There's a place off Ocean Avenue
Where I used to sit and talk with you
We were both sixteen and it felt so right
Sleeping all day, staying up all night
Staying up all night.
Stupid, stupid, stupid...
The thought pounded over and over in the back of his head as he ran, white hair alight under the street lamps in the falling May rain shower. There had been no time to take any precautions to hide himself and so he felt eyes locking onto him while he ran. Like you've never seen a pair of ears before, Inuyasha thought bitterly. Despite his best efforts to weave through the crowds as they tried to make their way inside buildings to be safe and dry.
His chocolate brown eyes burned, not with the anger of the fight, but with an intensity he didn't understand. "Kagome... Stupid wench... Whenever something goes wrong, you think it's acceptable to just run... Well, you're going to come back... No matter what I have to do... Why do you think you should run away when I need you, anyway?"
Because I basically tell you to go... Every time, I tell you to go, and you refuse, but then you leave and... I end up chasing you. But why in your world this time?
"Out of my way!" His thoughts had angered him, and so he bellowed at a man squinting ata nearby sign. The man ran out of the way, and so he glanced up at the sign and found that it meant nothing to him. I'm lost...
But everything's so familiar... Why is everything so familiar? Why do I feel like I've been here before?
Because... Because I was. Once.
"Hey... Hey Kagome?" The narrow street bench seemed like one of the only places that existed at the moment. Kagome was sitting stiffly on the other end of the bench, away from him. "I'm..."
"You're what? I'm waiting." She drummed her nails on the arm of the bench.
"Well, I'm really, really sorry that I... That I... That I... That I keep..." He found that his tounge was tied and so, the more irritated he grew, the less he found himself able to say.
"Keep what?"She asked, her eyes studying him in a way that made him uncomfortable to almost no end.
I'm just going to say it, he decided. "I'm sorry I keep pushing you." And once the first set of words fell out, he couldn't stop them. "I'm sorry that I made such a fuss about you coming back here for one of those exam things. And I'm sorry that I keep... Well, I keep pushing you. So hard. For the shards. And that I talk about Kikyo so much. You really are nothing like her."
"...Is that good or bad?"
"A little of both."
She was silent for a moment, and Inuyasha found himself wanting to speak again as she pushed closer to him. "I'm sorry for the way I push you around. It must seem like I don't want you around. But I do. I... I like having these talks with you."
"Inuyasha..."
"You're blushing!" Inuyasha yelled.
Kagome had laughed at that. "I am not! Shut up!" But they had both been laughing...
So long ago... So, so long ago... So why do I remember it? It was almost as though he could hear the laughter as he took off running, faster and faster so as to escape the memories he had seen sitting there on the empty parkbench. The flying raindrops should have eased him back to reality, but everything still felt like a realistic dream, and one from which he wished he could wake himself up.
There's a place on the corner of Cherry Street
We would walk on the beach in our bare feet
We were botheighteen and it felt so right
Sleeping all day, staying up all night
Staying up all night.
Around the corner. Three blocks down. Street after street, haunt after haunt, his desperate search for Kagome yeilded nothing for him. Two more signs that meant nothing flashed by the corners of his vision, but he disregarded them like he disregarded the puddles splashing at his legs as he ran.
Where am I...? He was again totally lost. I don't even know where Kagome could have run to, and now I'm stuck here. Stuck here by myself...
His run slowed, his breath now coming in short little gasps. Maybe I should just find the well and head back... Head back to that house... She'll come back eventually, she always does...
Won't she?
That thought bothered him, and suddenly the buildings on either side seemed to be closing in on him. There was plenty of space, as the buildings were now full and the street was now empty, but he couldn't shake that feeling and so he walked around one of the businesses to stand on the street behind.
And found himself overlooking a beach. The tide was rough, and he vaugely wondered if he wasn't halucinating it because he hadn't heard or noticed it before...
A beach...? Another place where...
Suddenly Inuyasha found himself drawn back into his own place and time, staring out across the ceaseless rolling waves and thinking of a smooth, flat surface surrounded by a beach. A lake. Rocks and sand and endless trees all around it. And there by the water...
Kagome's hair was dappled in the earlyevening sunset, her legs drawn up in front of her like she was protecting herself and her back to Inuyasha where she sat, stubbornly, on a rock. He heard her heave a sigh; one thatcompelled him, because he moved closer to her. He watched her jump at a cold breeze and decided to speak to her.
"Jumpy, aren't you?" He asked mockingly, lowering himself to the ground beside the rock she was sitting on.
"Inuya... Don't scare me like that!" She glared at him.
"Sorry, sorry. You just... You seem down about something. Really upset. Are you okay?"
"What do you think," she asked him softly, "Will happen when there are no more shards?"
"I'll be an all-powerful full-demon."
"No. I mean... What do you think will happen to me?"
"You'll be fine. They're just little stones. It's not going to affect you in anyway. I'm the one who's going to finally get the power I deserve. What're you worried about?"
"What if I can't get back here ever again?"
He had paused, shocked. "You'll always be able to get back here."
"What if I'm only needed to protect your world from harm? Once it's gone, it's gone. My duty will be served, and... And there's not any reason for me to come back. So if the well seals itself over..."
"Hey, hey," He had said, unsure of what else to say. "Don't talk like that." And before he knew it, he was gripping on of her hands. "You'll always be able to come back because we're always going to need you."
"You'd be fine. You'll be a full demon. You won't need me." She sighed and rested her head on the arm that was outstreched to the hand he held onto. "Sometimes it's like you already don't need me."
"Kagome, look, even if the others don't need you anymore..." He trailed off. "I will."
"Inuyasha... That's one of the nicest things you've ever said to me."
"Well, don't get too used to it." Then he had smiled.
And she had smiled back. That brillient smile that wrecked his world...
And I need you now. I really need you, Kagome.
So where in THIS world are you? And why won't you come back? Just because I was a jerk...
If I could find you now things would get better.
We could leave this town and run forever.
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away.
There's a piece of you that's here with me.
It's everywhere I go, it's everything I see.
When I sleep, I dream and it gets me by.
I can make believe that you're here tonight,
That you're here tonight.
Why'd I have to go and tell you to get lost? Why do I open my mouth?
"Don't come back! See if I care!"
Well, I do care. It's like all my dreams just kind of stop moving without you. It's like... I know what I need, but it's not even about those stupid shards. It's not even about me anymore. it's about...
About having you. In my world. In my life. Everything.
I do care.
Inuyasha was now walking, not running, along the beach. It wasn't worth it to run. Not here. Not now, anyway. Everything was familair; if a blade of grass even so much as moved up on the dunes, he could see them walking across an open field together. If a rock dropped into the water, he remembered throwing stones late at night and having her show up to stand next to him. If a cloud looked a certain way when he looked up, he remembered laying on his back in a tree, hearing her desperate voice.
She was pleading with me before too, and I was too stupid to see it. I really am... an idiot sometimes, aren't I? You called me it, so you must know...
That was when he noticed a schoolgirl figure walking down the beach ahead of him. "Kagome?" He gasp in disbelief, his voice hoarse from use. "Kagome!" He took off running down the beach and grabbed onto her hand. "I've been looking for...!"
The girl spun slowly, confusion and horror in her eyes. "Um... There's no one here but me... Who are you and why do you call me Kagome?"
Dammit... Cursed girl... I'm seeing you everywhere...
He let go of her hand and turned on his heel. "Forget it!" And he was gone down the beach, cursing his own stupidity and of course, Kagome.
I should never have left like that. I shouldn't have said those things... I'm such a jerk. Maybe I should just go home, sleep...
Kagome walked along the beach in the pouring rain. It didn't matter that she was soaking wet- Her clothes had already gotten muddy in that other world- or that she was alone. In all honesty, she had stopped caring as soon as she heard Inuyasha's footsteps die away. She was now just afraid that if she did find him, she wouldn't know how to express how sorry she was.
It's like he's still here with me, somehow, and I insulted him... I know I shouldn't have run away, but... I just can't handle fighting with you sometimes.
She found a narrow overpass and ducked under it, huddling against the side for warmth and listening to the waves slap the sides. "Inuyasha..."
"Do you even want to find me after how I've been to you?"
If I could find you now things would get better.
We could leave this town and run forever.
I know somewhere, somehow we'll be together.
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away.
"Why did I bother, anyway?" Inuyasha whispered to himself. "Being out here in the stupid rain just isn't worth it."
He kicked a rock, which plopped into the water, sinking lifelessly to the bottom. A sudden thought crossed his mind: What if she got hurt out here all by herself? Then what...?
Then I never got to tell her I was sorry. But... we won't have to find out what happens when it's over, either. Still...
"Kagome!" He bellowed, but nothing responded to him but an echo. The lonliest sound in the world...
"Hey, Kagome! Where are you? I've got to tell you something!" Something... Something... Something...
"I just want to find her and take her back... Try to win her back... Since I told her I didn't need her, again, when I really do... No matter what I do, I act stupid!" For the first time, he was aware of the coldness of the rain, and looked ahead, to a large concrete road that passed over the road, and decided to go and rest under it.
"Feh... I'll go back to her house and wait, eventually." And he took slow, even strides towards the shelter, unaware that small tears were starting to leak from the corner of the eyes of he who never cried.
I remember the look in your eyes,
When I told you that this was goodbye.
You were begging me not tonight,
Not here, not now.
We're looking up at the same night sky,
And keep pretending the sun will not rise.
We'll be together for one more night:
Somewhere, somehow.
Kagome had been thinking on her fight with Inuyasha. Stupid. It didn't mean anything. It's just that, when he lead me over to the well and told me that this was my way out, that it wasn't like I had to stay here... I got spiteful. Really spiteful. And there was nothing in his eyes that suggested he wanted me to stay there with him, so I didn't.
I just came down here. And next thing I know he was chasing me, trying to withdraw his decision. And I wouldn't let him. And now I wish I had.
She looked out at the sky. "Has he gone home yet? Is it dark there, like it is here... Maybe we're even looking at the same cloud..." She sighed. "I almost don't want the sun to rise. I don't want to go back to school like this, but... Where else do I have to go? What else do I have to do? All that... was my life. And now... It's nothing. It can never be anything..."
"Inuyasha..."
It hurt so much when you said goodbye without really saying goodbye... I... I hated it. I really, truely hated it, and I thought I hated you. But I can't hate you. I just want you to hold me, and... tell me you're really, truely sorry.
Like I am.
Her thoughts were disrupted by heavy footsteps and a shadowy figure coming through the still-pouring rain. A pervert? A homeless man? A rapist? "I need something to defend myself with..."
She had deposited her bow by the enterance. I can't reach it in time!
I'll just have to beat it in the head! And Kagome stood up, raised her fists, and wacked whoever and whatever was trying to come under the bridge with her a good, solid wack in the head.
"What in the seven hells was that?" The figure yelled, angry. "Do you want me to have to beat the..."The figurestopped, recoginition dawning on his face.
"Inu... Inuyasha!" And Kagome threw her arms around him. "I am so, so sorry... I am so sorry I left, and that I..."
He placed afinger over her mouth and shook his head, both arms around her, his face inches from hers. "Don't talk. Just don't talk, Kagome."
"Are you still angry? Because I..." She paused. "Look, if this is about me hitting you in the head, I'm sorry, I just thought maybe you were a pervert!"
If I could find you now things would get better.
We could leave this town and run forever.
I know somewhere, somehow we'll be together.
Let your waves crash down on me and take me away.
"You're clueless! Kagome, you don' thave anything to be sorry for. I'm the one who's sorry. Sorry I keep pushing you away. Sorry I keep telling you to just get out. Sorry! Kagome, you're the one who should be angry..."
"I'm not angry. I just want to leave this place with you, and get back to what's really important for whatever time is left there..."
"Even when the shards are gone, I'm sure you'll be able to come back. We... I need you. I'm always going to need you." He paused, not letting go of her.
"Inuyasha?"
"Kagome, I realize now that no matter what Kikyo and I had... I've told you all along you're nothing like her. And you're not. But you're an amazing person none the less and... I care about you."
"Inuyasha... That's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me. So do you think we'll be together forever?"
"Somewhere, somehow." He replyed, drawing her closer. "Somehow."
Kagome smiled. "Thank you for finding me." And she pressed her lips against hers, something he wasn't expecting, but he freely returned the kiss none the less.
"So, are we going to leave together?" He asked her finally, staring at her, listening to the waves. "I mean, if you want to stay here, you can..."
"I couldn't make it without you."
"Or me... Or me without you."
Kagome couldn't help but turn a deeper color at that one. "You're blushing!" Inuyasha yelled.
"I am not!" Kagome replied stubbornly, but she laughed as she said it. "I should just leave you here and let you find your way back!" And with that, she took off running.
And their laughter echoed over the waves as they abandoned Kagome's hometown for the unsafety and uncertainty of Inuyasha's. It had no effect on them.
They had each other, and that was more than they had ever hoped to have.
-Raventhedarkgoddess-
May 6th, 2006
Again, Happy Birthday, Allie!