It's been three years.
Today is the anniversary of Naraku's death.
And Inuyasha's.
It's always such a sad date, and I always catch myself a little longer in bed, or in the shower, where no one can hear me cry.
I do my best to hide it, but my mom always knows. Today was not different. She didn't say anything, but had cooked my favorites for breakfast and gave me a kiss on the forehead.
I was wearing more makeup then usual, because I didn't sleep well. I kept seeing it, I kept running towards InuYasha's inanimate body, but never made it in time. His body disappeared before I got there and only his rosary remained on the ground.
When I had that dream, my necklace always felt heavy on my chest.
I had saved a teeth and four beads from the rosary, to keep to myself as a memory of my beloved hanyou. I turned into a necklace for myself and wear under my clothes all the time. The rest of it was buried, along with the Tetsusaiga, right next to Kikyou's grave.
Some other times, I dreamed of his voice:
"KAGOME, LISTEN TO ME, LISTEN TO ME NOW. I LOVE YOU DO YOU HEAR ME? WE'LL BE TOGETHER SOMEDAY I PROMISE."
"No matter what happens here, I promise I'll find you again."
Those were his last words to me, and I, hung on to them for a while, even though I knew nothing would happen. Soon I realized I couldn't go on waiting for something to happen, I had to move on. Inuyasha was dead, with Kikyou, the way he wanted, but I was not, and I intended to remain alive and be happy.
Honestly, I thought I was doing fine. I went out with Houjo a couple of times, studied so hard I managed to enter a good school for high school, and afterwards, made to the top 10 list. I went out with my friends all the time, had new experiences, got to know other towns outside Tokyo…
Romeo and Juliet became favorite book though, I cried no matter how many times I read. I read it so obsessively, that I actually learned English, partially because I wanted to read the book in it's original version so badly. I couldn't help but think those were Inuyasha and Kikyo dying together.
Today, the book was in my bag, a sort of comfortable weight, and I was in Yuka's new house, trying to distract myself from InuYasha's memories.
"And then, I swear he said, it was the cat!" We all burst into laughter and Erin actually spilled water through her nose. "It was the cat! Can you believe it?" Yuka said, in tears of laughter.
After Yuka's house, I went to a petshop nearby, because I needed to buy food for Buyo, and my mom had texted me warning the petshop close to our shrine was closed for some reason.
I walked down the street, looking for the petshop Yuka had recommended, "The cashier is so CUTE." She said. "and nice too! He'd be perfect for you, K-chan!" Yuka and the others never talked about it, but I knew that they knew, that I never got over my "bad boy boyfriend".
I didn't really care about the cashier, I was honestly not in the mood, but, I really needed cat food, and the store was on the way to the train station.
Soon enough, I got to the small pet store. The display had several puppies for adoption and some beds and toys for dogs.
Inside, it was an old fashioned store, small, crowded with food and toys, and kind of messy.
I just stared looking among the brands for the cat food Buyo normally eat.
"Hi, can I help you?" I heard a voice behind me.
So that's the cute cashier, I thought, distracted.
"Yes, hum, I'm looking for a specific brand, I don't know if you have it." I said without turning around, still looking to the cat food. "Do you have cat food for diabetic cats?"
And then, I turned around to face the cashier, and lost my breath.
InuYasha was standing, with behind the counter, in his human form, looking at me with big blue eyes.