This piece was inspired by SweetCarnation's Ranma 1/2 fanfic entitled "Forty-nine Days Plus One" and it uses the same 50 prompts. Hers were a lot shorter, but there were just some prompts that inspired whole scenes for me! I tried to keep them all short though.
The drabbles take place during various points of the canon Inuyasha series (some of the quotes are made quite loosely), but they also venture into some of the things that I imagine could happen beyond the last chapter. No reference is made to the epilogue or movies though.
xxx
FRAGMENTS
01: Ring
She knew that in this era there was no such thing as an engagement ring, but whenever Rin looped a flower into a little circle, she always slipped it on that left hand finger. She had even convinced Inuyasha to wear one once.
02: Hero
He would always come to save her, he swore. He didn't need to promise for her to know it to be true.
03: Memory
She wasn't afraid of the same thing as he was- that he'd rip her to shreds. What she feared the most was that those blue on red eyes held no recognition for her; he didn't remember her.
04: Box
Shippou's favorite cookies came in a rectangular container, but Inuyasha's eager hands searched Kagome's bag for a rounded cup.
Ah there it was!
"Kagome!" he grinned, "Boil some water, okay!" He couldn't stop smiling.
05: Run
Kagome missed her bike at times, at least the feeling of being independent, but hitching a ride on a hanyou running at full speed? She'd never felt more free.
06: Hurricane
Kagome would sense it first usually, but then he'd smell it and his mood would immediately sour. "What does that fucking wolf want this time?" He'd appear in a whirlwind and grab her hands, much to Inuyasha's annoyance.
07: Wings
He'd sit up in the trees comfortably. Who knew a dog could be so at home with the birds, Kagome mused as she looked up with a smile.
08: Cold
How in the world is she not freezing her ass off in that stupid tiny skirt of hers? When she sneezes he rolls his eyes, shrugs off his red top, and throws it around her tiny shoulders. She sends him a smile that wipes all the cold from his cheeks.
09: Red
She knew it was bad when his haori deepened in color. She peeled back the fabric to see his white top stained with blood, so she tossed that to the side as well. His cuts were red, skin red, her hands red, the sponge red, the water she wrung it out in also red. And so were her puffy eyes.
10: Drink
There! Finally he managed to gather all the ingredients he needed. Now all he had to do was make the damned thing and Kagome would be better in no time.
11: Midnight
"It'll be a while before the sun comes up..." Kagome muttered as she ran her fingers through midnight black strands of hair.
"Great," a human Inuyasha mumbled sarcastically from his place in her lap.
"Sorry about that, Inuyasha," she tried to whisper soothingly as she smoothed the bangs away from his dark eyes.
Ah, what was she trying to do? Drug him to sleep with her ministrations?
"S'ok... 's not so bad."
12: Temptation
When they first met Miroku, he always wanted to be close to Kagome, and his hand seemed to always want to be on Kagome. After a couple of barked threats and Tessaiga pointed his way, the monk no longer felt like it was worth it to hit on a woman that had such a violent suitor.
13: View
He appeared in front of her out of nowhere. She had no idea how, but she knew he would. Somehow he got inside the Meidou of the Shikon no Tama to save her from the darkness.
"Inuyasha, I wanted to see you."
How could she know it would be the last time for a very, very long time?
14: Music
The songs that Kagome sang were unlike any music Inuyasha had ever heard in his life. Then he heard some of it on that box with the moving pictures at her house while waiting for Kagome to get out of the shower. He hadn't realized how annoyingly catchy the tunes were until one day Kagome caught the sound of him mindlessly humming and pointed an accusing finger at him.
"Britney Spears!" she cried.
15: Silk
Riiiip!
"Inuyasha! That's my favorite handkerchief!" Kagome whined. "It was made with real silk from Kyoto!"
He scoffed and wrapped her bleeding hand.
"It wouldn't be a problem if you didn't have to go and hurt yourself."
It was several months later that Sango handed her a wrapped parcel with a bundle of the softest, most gorgeous embroidered silk she had ever seen.
"It's so beautiful! What's this for?" Kagome asked with a frown of confusion as she continued to admire the textile.
"I don't know. Inuyasha tossed it at me just a little while ago and said it was something he owed you."
16: Cover
It was Kagome's turn to play babysitter for the twins while Sango was out. Inuyasha was clearly their favorite to run around with, but she managed to lull them to sleep for nap time with a captivating telling of Cinderella. With a tired smile, she and Inuyasha tucked them in. It distinctly felt like they were playing House.
17: Promise
"If that's what you want then I promise you Kagome, I will protect you with my life." What else could she need?
18: Dream
In the illusion, a smiling Kikyou invited him to come with her. He nearly went, but Kagome's voice called him back to reality once again.
She was always the only one who could wake him.
19: Candle
She was adverse to the idea of making wishes ever since she had been stuck inside the jewel, but...
today was her 16th birthday, and it'd been exactly one year since she fell down the well and met Inuyasha. Yet here she was without him because the well had sealed a few weeks ago.
She drew in a deep breath. Only one thought came to mind.
"I want to see Inuyasha again..."
20: Talent
It was a particularly hot day when the twins got into a terrible mood. Their brother cried all night because of a rash, and the heat only made them more ornery. With an angry baby finally asleep in her arms and bags under her eyes, she begged Kagome to watch the girls while she laid down to sleep for a while.
So Kagome took the grumpy girls to the river to cool off, and Inuyasha followed to keep an eye on them. It had been working to keep the girls happy and entertained until one managed to lose her favorite doll in the current. Inuyasha was ready to lazily go after it, but soon his arms were stuffed with apprehensive, damp twins, and Kagome was swimming after the toy like a fish in the water.
"Kagome! Fishy! Mermaid!" the girls squealed as she caught it.
Even Inuyasha was impressed.
21: Silence
Her first day back was loud- full of questions and answers, excitement and joy, catching up.
Her first night back was quiet as he held her, held his breath, and held back all the words stuck in his throat but running through his mind.
22: Journey
At the start, they were only apprehensive partners "thrown together by a cruel twist of fate" and a magic well, looking for shards of the Sacred Jewel.
In the end, he realized that they were born to meet each other, only to be separated by a cruel twist of fate and a magic well, having rid the world forever of the Sacred Jewel.
23: Fire
The time he saw her engulfed in the blue flames of the kitsune bi, he thought it was all over. "Kagome!" he cried and grabbed her wrist. Damn it all if he was going to lose the only friend he ever made. "Don't go!"
The flames gave way to leave her standing there with a little fox in her arms. "Go?"
Aw shit. He threw her hand away as if it burned.
24: Strength
He could lift the Tessaiga, knock out demons four times his height, and could pull a full grown tree from its roots out of the ground. How could these stupid little beads pull him down like nothing?!
"Kagome, you bitch..."
"Osuwari!"
25: Mask
She couldn't get it out of her mind- the image of him with a smirk on his face as the sun finally rose at the dawn after that awful night she spent running from the cursed Noh mask. At the time she admitted he looked pretty cool, heroic even. Looking back, she distinctly remembers that he was very handsome.
26: Ice
Among the most wondrous things Kagome ever showed them, the frozen fruit bars had to be on the list. But watching her eat one of the cooling treats sent a flush through his whole body.
27: Fall
She was falling, and even though he was in his youkai state he knew he had to catch her. But the second he got her into his arms, she saved him.
28: Forgotten
"I never forgot you! Not for even a day!" He declared boldly at a hateful Kikyou.
Kagome felt embarrassed and angry. That guy! After holding her and telling her he was scared of losing her!
That was the first time Kagome ever felt jealous.
29: Dance
Bon Odori, the Obon festival. Inuyasha had seen it before, but he'd never participated. Now the whole village was getting excited and he found a very eager girl dragging him to the moving circle of villagers dancing.
"Just watch me!" she instructed as her arms moved side to side. As if he hadn't been doing that already.
30: Body
In their three years apart Kagome hardly grew taller, just a few centimeters really. He remembered that she filled out her uniform fine, and the feel of her small curves in his arms. He knew her hips had widened when he carried her on his back the first time, and could hardly breathe the first time her chest pressed against his own as she embraced him. Kagome had done a lot of growing up in those three years...
31: Sacred
Kagome knew that if she ran to Goshinboku, she could find her way home.
They day she met Inuyasha, she did just that.
32: Farewells
"We're heading off to do a simple extermination north, just a day away," Miroku explained to Kagome, who frowned and looked to her hanyou companion.
"Oh... good luck then."
He turned to catch her eyes and saw the worry and disappointment in them. He'd been so preoccupied being annoyed at leaving her that he forgot to consider she might not be too keen about it either.
"It's probably nothing. I'll be back soon," he assured gruffly.
"Just be careful, okay?"
"Feh. The only reason I go is to make sure the bouzo doesn't wind up with his head in his ass," Inuyasha sneered. "You'll be okay?"
"I will. Just come back to me," she replied with a smile.
"You know I will."
Miroku wanted to gag. "It's only two days! What a melodramatic couple."
33: World
"Here are some pictures of my time," she passed around shiny sheets of strange parchment. A curious hanyou flipped through them with mild interest until something caught his eye.
"Oi, Kagome!" He held up a sheet and waved it around. "Let's go here!" his clawed finger pointed directly at a restaurant sign that clearly and boldly read, "RAMEN!"
34: Formal
He'd never been one for formalities. There was no Miroku-sama or Keade-obaa-san, or Sango-san, or whatever! It was Miroku (bouzo), Sango, Keade-baba. He had his Old Man and his Old Lady, Myouja-jiji, that shitty Ookami. Just call everyone by their name or something and be done with it! How many damn ways could you address a single person?
But the way he said "Kagome" was different every time, and the way she called him "Inuyasha," was different from the way anyone else could.
35: Fever
Half demons don't really get the fever, but it's amusing to watch one fret over the high temperature of a certain little miko.
36: Laugh
Kagome told herself that as long as she was by his side, she would try her best to make him feel at ease. It was okay to laugh, good to smile, alright to feel light. That's what friends did.
37: Lies
"You said you hated the way I smelled!" she accused in a high pitched voice.
Too delirious in his poisoned, human state, Inuyasha turned over and sighed, "That was a... lie..."
38: Forever
It was an archaically simple solution, but she understood why no one would ask for it. People and youkai alike had their own desires, both selfish and for the sake of others. They all had wishes they wanted to make themselves. If she had her way, she would have asked for peace, or love, or a way to stay by his side. But when she heard his voice and he was suddenly with her, Kagome knew that this was the only way.
"Shikon no Tama, disappear from this world... forever!"
39: Overwhelmed
It was one thing to see an old battlefield full of skeletons, but the first time Kagome saw the ripe corpses of innocent villagers she was horrified.
Without thinking, she buried herself into Inuyasha's shoulder and cried, the smell of his haori the only thing distracting her from the death all around.
"H-hey! What are you... Kagome?" He'd never been so close to a girl before. He had no idea what to do.
40: Whisper
Inuyasha hardly whispered. He said things quietly, mumbled, muttered under his breath. The only times his whispered were when he was hissing about danger nearby.
But he soon learned that the girls would wake up to even the slightest noise (like their parents), and grew accustomed to hushed tones.
"Inuyasha, I'm h-"
"Shhh! Are you crazy, woman?!" he pointed at the two lumps on the floor.
Ah, the danger of the awakening those terrifying toddlers!
Kagome giggled into her hand quietly.
41: Wait
Ask anyone and they could tell you that Inuyasha was not a patient person. Therefore it came to no surprise that he was extremely annoying and snappish when Kagome would leave for a few days. What was worse was his utter denial that he missed her, and the barked insistence that it was because he wanted to get back to the road. It was maddening! He was so bothersome in fact, that Sango practically chased and threw him down the well just to be rid of him. She wasn't a patient person either.
42: Talk
Kagome was the one who told him about his demon blood eating away at his soul when he lost Tessaiga. No one else wanted to, but she did it anyways. He knew he could trust her, now he had to make sure he could trust himself around her- he had to control his demon side. For Kagome's sake.
43: Search
Jewel shards, jewel shards, jewel shards! That's all he ever cared about at the beginning, and Kagome just wanted to get it over with.
44: Hope
It was more than just hoping that Inuyasha would come for her. It was sheer and unwavering belief that he definitely would.
"I believe in Inuyasha."
45: Eclipse
The lunar eclipse treated him the same way that the New Moon did. Shitty.
And when he was human, Kagome treated him the same way she always did. Like Kagome.
46: Gravity
Tessaiga was heavier because Totousai added in Inuyasha's own fang. Despite the fact he could hardly lift the damned thing, the second he smelled Kagome, it didn't even register.
47: Highway
Even Inuyasha liked to hitch a ride on the back of Kagome's bike when the road was smooth and he was bored of running without her. At least this way he could take a nap.
48: Unknown
Inuyasha had no idea how the well worked before or why it stopped working now, or if it would ever open again. But he had to keep trying.
Today might be the day, he thought as he jumped in.
49: Lock
The day Kagome removed the arrow from his heart, she made an opening there for her to get in it. It was so effortless, it was astonishing.
50: Breathe
He reached down knowing what his nose had told him (Kagome's scent, he'd know it anywhere!), but when he felt her hand clasp his and he lifted her out of the well, he let go of a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
"I'm sorry Inuyasha, did I keep you waiting?"
"Kagome..." He exhaled. "You idiot. What have you been up to?"