Happenstance
The fact that it was raining on Valentine's Day was unfortunate happenstance. It was a warmer than usual winter that refused to get below freezing. Instead, it stayed cold enough for a coat, but not nearly cold enough for snow. So when this storm came barreling through the area, inches of rain fell from the sky, making everything seem much more desolate. Kagome Higurashi hated the rain almost as much as she hated Valentine's Day and the fact that the rain arrived on such a day appeared to her as if the world was out to get her.
She woke up early that day, the pitter patter of rain jarring her from sweet slumber. The sun had barely risen, not that you could tell from the clouds that covered the sky. She snuggled down further into her goose-down comforter and stared at the clock with distaste as the minutes ticked by. The red numbers of clock were mocking her, she was sure of it. It was just another thing on the list of things she had to hate today. By tomorrow, she and the clock would make up, but at the moment, if she wasn't so tired, she would have thrown the damn machine across the room. That would serve it right.
Kagome didn't hate things without reason. Her hatred of rain stemmed from when she was a little girl. She always felt alone in the rain, walking to school, now work, by herself, with an umbrella, shielding herself from the rest of the world. It was like walking in a bubble. No one bothered you. No one bumped into you. No one smiled and said hello. And that made a feeling swell in the pit of her stomach, achy and painful; she was completely and utterly alone, and always would be.
Her hatred of Valentine's Day was logical. She would be the first to admit that her love life had been lackluster these past few years. At twenty eight, most of her friends were engaged or in a serious relationship. She hadn't had more than a first date since she was twenty five. She made excuses: she was focused on her career, the boys that asked her out were never mature enough for her needs, they were jerks. She did this so she didn't have to face the facts. But she still did. They were written across her forehead every time she looked in the mirror. She was plain, boring Kagome. No one wanted her and she didn't want them. At least, that's what she told herself. She didn't need others. And most days, she could convince herself that this was true. But it was the rainy days and Valentine's Day when she realized just how much she was missing out on; a part of her longed to be wanted, to be loved. The other part knew it was too much trouble and that she'd only wind up hurt in the end. Besides, she was a realist. She knew that no matter how much she wanted it, it wasn't going to happen. Sure it happened all the time, in the movies, in stories, gossip passed down from ear to ear. Deep down, however, she knew that it would never happen to her.
It just wasn't in the cards.
Inuyasha was surprised by the fact that he was surprised. He had always been so much a cynic, so much of a misanthrope, that he shouldn't have been surprised to find Kikyo in bed with another man, sleeping soundly, her naked body entwined with his. Humans were terrible wastes of life. He had always believed that. What had they done that was so special? He had known this, believed this for years. But that didn't change the fact that he was still surprised.
Something had shifted in him though, had changed his opinion. He had hope. He couldn't pinpoint the exact moment that happened, but he was fairly certain that it had something to do with that lying whore, sleeping guilt-free. But now, now, she had done more than restore some faith in humanity. She had gone ahead and showed him that he was only setting himself up for disappointment. She reinforced the ideas he had cultivated over the years; people sucked. Shaking his head in disbelief, he dropped the bouquet of roses in his hand and they fell to the floor with a thump.
He had planned to show up early and surprise his girlfriend with breakfast in bed and a dozen roses. Both of them worked long hours so it was hard to get out and have dinner, but something like this, he could do. He looked back on his idea now and the only thing he could think about was when he had turned into such a sap. He scoffed and taking one more look at Kikyo, he turned on his heel and left, slamming the door behind him.
Kikyo awoke at the noise and gasped when she saw the roses on the ground. She had the decency to blush and look away, her face set in a frown. She had been caught. She spared a glance at the man snoring next to her and sighed, bringing her face into her hands and rubbing her forehead soothingly. The door burst open again and Inuyasha stomped back in. He took one look at Kikyo, seeing she was awake, and froze. He scowled at her before bending down and picking up the roses that had been left on the floor. He had paid a lot of money for those roses. He wasn't about to leave them for his skanky ex-girlfriend to enjoy. With one last glare he left the apartment, closing the door with more force than the last time he left. It was over. The man next to her stirred and opened his eyes.
"Hey babes," he leered at her. Kikyo glowered at him.
"Get out," she hissed with such ferocity that the man wasted no time in getting to his feet and putting on his clothes.
Heaving her fiercest sigh, Kagome finally got out of bed and went about her routine, getting ready for work. She turned on the coffee maker in the kitchen before doubling back and going through her closet for an outfit. She knew most of the women she worked with would be wearing pink or red; something festive. She would do none of those things. She pulled out a knee length, modest black skirt and a plain white blouse and got dressed. She brushed her hair and her teeth. She stared in the mirror, taking in the bags under her eyes and the way her mouth seemed to be set into a permanent slight frown. She yawned unceremoniously before turning away, shutting the light off behind her. She poured the coffee into a travel mug and took a deep, soothing sip. It warmed her from the inside out, but quickly faded. Picking up her plain, tan trench coat, she slipped her arms through it and tied it tight before grabbing her plain black umbrella and her mug and heading out the door, locking it.
She walked down three flights of stairs to the lobby of the apartment building and stopped for a moment, watching the torrential downpour wash everything away. She opened up the door and stuck her umbrella out, following right after it. She scampered down the few steps that led up the door and joined in the masses walking with black umbrellas to work. The rain hit her umbrella loudly, like crashing thunder and Kagome wondered what the hell she had done to make the world hate her so much. Her walk was quiet and isolated. No one looked her way, their faces covered by umbrellas just as much as hers appeared to them. She was lost in thought, cursing Valentine's Day, cursing the rain, cursing everyone who was happy with their life. She had walked this way so many times she could do it without focusing.
She should have known better. On today of all days, she should have known that everything that could go wrong in her eyes would. Out of nowhere, a man dressed in red came barreling out of one of the apartment buildings, desperately trying to light a cigarette, but was unsuccessful. Because he was duly distracted, Inuyasha was not watching where he was going and ran right into Kagome, knocking her over into a puddle. Kagome screamed going down and with a splash, she landed on the ground, her umbrella a few yards away. Inuyasha scowled at her but then sighed, helping her up with his free hand.
"Watch where you're going wench," he spoke half-heartedly. Kagome glared.
"You watch where you're going," she snapped. "You ran into me." She took in his entire person. He was dressed in a red button down and jeans and was carrying roses. His cigarette was soaked from the rain, but still between his teeth, his lighter in hand. He wore no coat and Kagome rolled her eyes at him. He was going to get sick.
"Well if you were watching where you were going, I wouldn't have run into you," he replied, bitingly.
"Oh…fuck you," Kagome replied hastily, before chasing after her umbrella. "Stupid ass," she muttered under her breath. She picked up her umbrella and sighed when she saw one of the spokes had bent and broken. Only part of it stayed open now. Kagome just rolled her eyes. She was unimpressed with bad luck right now. She brought the umbrella back up over her head and her entire right side got blasted with rain, unprotected by the broken umbrella. She walked back over to the man who had bumped into her, who was still trying unsuccessfully to light a cigarette.
He looked rather pathetic, standing there, soaking wet, and desperately needing a smoke. The flowers in his hand before had shifted to under his arm as the other one tried carefully to create a cover for the lighter so that the flame would pop up. It struck Kagome right through the heart that she thought had hardened completely. Walking back over to him, she turned the good side of the umbrella towards him and covered him, letting the rain wash back over her, soaking through her coat and drenching her hair. Inuyasha looked at her with his eyebrows raised before he shrugged, threw the wet cigarette on the ground, and reached in his pocket for a new one. He lit it up and took a deep drag.
"Thanks wench," Inuyasha begrudgingly said and Kagome scoffed.
"Whatever," she replied, turning the umbrella back towards her. She motioned with her head to the flowers still tucked in his arms. "Those for your girlfriend?" Inuyasha laughed.
"Ah, they were. Except I don't have a girlfriend anymore."
"She break up with you?" He shook his head.
"No, the opposite actually. The whore was cheating on me. I walked in on her this morning."
"Ouch," Kagome replied, her voice lackluster. On any normal day, she would have felt something for the stranger, but right now, it was raining and it was Valentine's Day. All she wanted to do was wallow in her own self-misery. She had no pity left for a complete stranger. And yes, it was rare for her to meet someone who hated the holiday and was as cynical as she, and yes she would have noticed this on any other day, but right now, she could only deal with one thing and that was getting herself through the day. She had already done one nice thing for him, and that's all that she could handle today. She glanced at her watched and sighed as she saw what time it was. At this rate she was going to be late for work. The idea of calling in sick came to her once again, and she did her best to shake it off, as wonderful as the suggestion sounded. And then she had an idea. She looked up and down the street really quickly before looping her arm through the man's and pulling him along. "C'mon, let's go," she requested, eagerly. Inuyasha wrestled his arm out of her grasp.
"I'm not going anywhere with you wench! I don't even know your name!" Kagome rolled her eyes.
"I'm Kagome. Now come on! I'm not going to rape you or anything. I promise, it'll be worth your while." Inuyasha sighed.
"Fine, whatever." He walked a few steps behind her, going the direction she had come from.
Inuyasha sat on a stool along the bar separating the living room from the kitchen in Kagome's apartment as she talked on the phone, calling in sick to work. He had an empty mug in front of him and the coffee machine was brewing loudly next to him, filling the entire room with the scent.
"No Sango, I can't come in….Of course I'm sick," she paused here to fake a couple coughs. "No, it has nothing to do with my hatred of Valentine's Day….I don't care, Sango. I…I just can't come, alright?" She hung up the phone before her companion had the chance to respond. She sighed before she turned back to Inuyasha, who was patiently waiting for coffee. She walked over to the machine and shut it off, before pouring the steaming hot beverage into his glass.
"Okay wench, I gotta ask," Inuyasha started, wrapping his hands around the mug. "What exactly is this crazy idea you've got that you had to drag me all the way out here."
"I'm planning to murder you," She replied with a straight face. "Cream and sugar?" Inuyasha looked at her strangely.
"…Two sugars," he replied slowly, eyeing her warily and she reached into the cabinet above the coffee machine and brought down a glass rooster, filled with sugar packets. She placed it in front of him and motioned for him to help himself while moving to the fridge and taking out some half and half to add to her own cup. "What's with the rooster?" Kagome shrugged.
"It's my sugar rooster. My mother is really into the whole country cottage decorations and thought I'd like that. Not that I've ever shown any inclination towards roosters to begin with. I didn't have anything else to do with it. I might as well put sugar into it. It's useful," She poured herself a cup of coffee and fixed it to her liking before taking a long sip of the hot beverage and finally setting her eyes upon the man in her apartment once more. He looked nervous, his eyes glancing quickly to the door and back multiple times. She laughed quietly. "I was kidding about the whole murder thing, you know."
"Yeah, well, I haven't gotten a straight answer out of you since you gave me your name," he responded, drinking some coffee.
"If I was really going to kill you, why would I tell you my name? Or make you coffee for that matter?" Inuyasha shrugged.
"If you're going to kill me what does it matter if I know your name. As for the coffee, you could be luring me into a false sense of security."
"Yeah well, what if you escaped? It wouldn't be very smart of me to tell you my name."
"It could be a fake name."
"True," Kagome acknowledged. "But it's not."
"More lies," Inuyasha responded playfully. Kagome regarded him with a look before continuing on.
"As for this so called, false sense of security, well, I'm not doing a very good job at it am I? If I was going to kill you, you've already figured it out and I'm sure know a way to overpower me and escape." Inuyasha shrugged.
"For all I know, you're just a really shitty murderer." And Kagome laughed.
"Drink your coffee. When you're all warmed up, I'll show you what I've got planned. I promise, it'll make you feel better." Inuyasha saluted her flippantly.
"Yes'm." Kagome glared at him while taking another sip of her beverage. "So what, a pretty girl like you doesn't have Valentine's Day plans?" Kagome snorted.
"Not that it's any of your business, but no, I don't. I hate Valentine's Day."
"Why?" Inuyasha asked. "I mean, I realize that it's invented by the card companies and is completely cheesy, but that doesn't stop people from celebrating it." Kagome shrugged.
"I don't feel very comfortable discussing my personal life with a complete stranger." Inuyasha stuck out his hand.
"My name's Inuyasha." Gingerly, Kagome took his hand a shook it.
"I'm still not entirely comfortable saying this, but I haven't had a boyfriend in three years. Hell at this point, I probably couldn't even catch a cold, let alone a man. I've sort of given up hope that Valentine's Day will be anything other than a day I feel lonelier." Inuyasha shrugged.
"Eh, you're better off. Just look at me. I found someone I thought I could spend Valentine's day with, as sappy as it sounds, and look how that turned out," Inuyasha replied with a frown on his face and a self-pitying look in his eye. Kagome looked at him intensely.
"Gimme the flowers and get off that stool," she commanded. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows at her curiously but did as she asked and walked around the bar to stand beside her. He handed her the flowers and watched, fascinated, as she unwrapped the cellophane around them and undid the rubber band holding them together, allowing the roses to fan out on the counter. They looked a little worse for the wear, having been dropped and rained on, but this didn't matter to Kagome who reached over and flicked the switch on the wall next to the sink. Instantly a loud whir enveloped the apartment. Kagome delicately picked up a rose and shoved the flower down the garbage disposal. Pieces of petals fluttered into the air briefly before falling back into the sink. Eventually all the petals were gone and the stem was quickly eaten by the hungry monster of a garbage disposal. When it was all gone, Kagome shut off the disposal and turned to Inuyasha, who looked shocked and amazed. "Have a go."
Inuyasha didn't waste another second before grabbing two of the flowers off the counter and switching on the machine. The scene was morbidly grotesque, red petals flying up into the air and falling once more, decidedly defeated, like bleeding tears, as Inuyasha fed the flowers through the whirring of the garbage disposal but Kagome watched it all with a straight face. She sipped her coffee and leaned against the counter, taking it all in. It didn't phase her at all. In fact, she could think of multiple times that she wished she could have done something similar to get out her frustrations, but she was satisfied that she had enabled someone else to take advantage of the opportunity to do so. Inuyasha put the last one through the grinder and relished at having demolished the grandest gesture of love he had ever done for Kikyo. It cemented that it was all over. It was closure. He turned around and looked her in the eye, leaning back against the sink.
"Thanks…I guess." Kagome shrugged.
"It's not a problem. Besides, it's not every day that I get to talk with someone who hates Valentine's Day as much as me. Honestly, this is the most fun I've had in months."
"Well," Inuyasha replied, after a short awkward pause. "I should probably get going."
"You probably should," Kagome agreed. Inuyasha stood up straight and stuck out his hand.
"It was nice meeting you, Kagome." Kagome nodded.
"Same to you." She shook his hand. He headed towards the door and Kagome called out to him, "Thanks for giving me an excuse to call out!" Inuyasha chuckled and shook his head in amusement before exiting the apartment, the door clicking shut behind him.
Kagome stared at where he had left for a few moments. Warmth filled her that had nothing to do with the coffee she was drinking. She placed her mug on the counter, and turned towards her bedroom. Suddenly it didn't matter that it was raining or that it was Valentine's Day. A contented smile grew on her face as she plopped face down back into bed.
Inuyasha walked down the stairs of the strange woman's apartment building, hands in his pockets, and a million pounds lighter. He felt strangely relieved after spending his morning in her apartment. On his way out, he took notice of the buzzer for apartment 4C, the name Higurashi labeled under it on a piece of masking tape. Silently, he made a note of the address before her walked down the final steps and out into the street. Perhaps he would visit again.
A/N: Happy Valentine's Day all! Now I was thinking of doing a Pocky-verse one shot, but I realized that I haven't done anything InuKag for a while. So this is for all my TCW fans. I'm sorry it's taking so long. I hope you liked! It was inspired by 'Raincoat Song' by The Decemberists. If you have a chance, take a listen. It's awesome.
In other news: I'm on Twitter! Come say hello! Link is in my profile.