~A Memory of Red Flame~

*A post-canon Inuyasha oneshot, taking place about six years after the epilogue

Souta wasn't sure what to make of the tenth grade girl walking into the club room. He'd joined the history club on a whim once he entered high school, thinking it would be a good joke on his sister and brother-in-law when they found out. Turned out the joke was on him as ancient history quickly became his passion. It helped that he had primary sources to pull from, and learning about warlords and bandits always made him feel a little bit closer to the world on the other side of the well – a world he still couldn't get to.

He'd never considered himself the 'nerdy' type, and liked to think his cool attitude and soccer skills made him stand out from the rest of the club members, but this girl… she was the last person he expected to see in a place like this. She looked more like a fighter than a reader, if the bamboo kendo sword at her back was any indication. Her expression was bored and aggressive all at once, and Souta found himself swallowing back nerves as he introduced himself. "Higurashi Souta, club secretary. Nice to meet you!"

"Hatanaka Rika" she mumbled, offering no niceties in return. He introduced her to the other members, to the teacher overseeing the meeting, told her all about their activities, all the while scolding himself for being so afraid of his junior. He was a twelth grader, getting ready to graduate, and this freshman punk had him shaking in his sneakers! She'd hardly said a word to him, but maybe that was the problem: she wasn't social with any of the students and didn't divulge beyond a name and a grade, giving Souta nothing else to work with but a bad attitude. When the meeting was over, she left without a word, and as soon as her black school bag turned the corner, the whispers erupted.

"I can't believe Rika's at this school! I thought they were sending her away!"

"It's not like she's that great a student. Why'd she wanna join the history club anyways?"

"All she ever talked about in school was samurai and swords. Don't you remember?"

"Yeah, and that crazy incident from when she was a kid. She must still think it really happened!"

"Hardly – she's just spreading it for attention! I mean come on! Some samurai saved her from a fire? Who would believe that!"

"She's been talking about it since she was a kid though… well, she doesn't much anymore, but that's only because she knows no one believes her."

"I still can't believe she's going here. She ought to be locked up!"

Souta left the school in a hurry after that, but for some reason he couldn't get the new girl off his mind. Snippets of his classmate's conversation floated around his head the whole walk home, none of it making much sense, but all of it pointing to one thing: she was an outsider. And from Souta's experience with outsiders, he knew she likely needed a friend. He could just hear his brother, his hero and role-model, saying gruffly in his mind "Just because someone's a loner, it don't mean they like it. Maybe they just ain't found someone willing to give them a shot."

He pondered this all through dinner, wondering what he could do as his mother and grandfather gave him questioning looks across the table. His sister's little family wouldn't be visiting for another week or so, and although he desperately wanted her advice, he knew this was something he'd have to do on his own. Night passed, morning arrived, and still Souta puzzled over how to approach the tough young girl. It wasn't until he entered the school grounds and saw her walking alone, fist clenched and eyes burning, that the answer hit him. Without a second thought he ran, caught up to her, and said good morning.

For the next few days he worried that he was bothering her, but although Rika sometimes gave him angry scowls and rolled her eyes, she never told him to leave. He talked to her after school, met her before classes, found her in the hallways during lunch, and every day he got to know her a little better. By the time their next club meeting came around, they had a spirited discussion on feudal-era hygiene, and Souta couldn't understand for the life of him why everyone else thought she was crazy. She liked samurai movies, was pro at Kendo, had a big white Akita, and was oddly fascinated by fire: none of those were reasons to be labeled as crazy. He'd thought about asking a few times during their conversations, but figured if she never brought it up, she didn't want to talk about it. He was probably doing her a favor by letting it be.

Seeing her interest in feudal-age weaponry, Souta offered to take her to the shrine, promising to pull out some of the swords in storage that none of the visitors got to see. Rika's eyes lit up at the invitation and she smiled, and Souta's breath caught in his throat. It was brief, but that one look had been so much more genuine than any face she'd shown him yet. There was the real Rika, buried deep under that gruff shell; she wanted to be happy, to be accepted, to be understood.

He was up early that Saturday morning, waiting anxiously at the top of the shrine steps to make sure he didn't miss her. Not that she could have missed the hilltop shrine if she tried, but… he wasn't exactly thinking logically. There was something in the air, some current of mystery that had him on edge and giddy all at the same time. It was a little like the magic he felt course through his body every time his sister passed through the well. And it was exhilarating.

He met her halfway on the steps, his head spinning at how different she looked in civvies: jean shorts, a red sweatshirt, and a baseball cap that jogged something in Souta's memory. He let it go, focusing instead on the bounce of her black pigtails and her bright, round eyes as they took in the spacious grounds of the shrine. Playing his grandpa's role, he led her around from the towering Sacred Tree to the prayer bell, pausing as she stopped for a moment to ring it and clap her hands to evoke the gods' attentions. He teasingly asked what she had prayed for, and she answered smirking 'help on the math test' before following him into one of the storage sheds.

Under the fluorescent lightbulb and in closer quarters, Souta couldn't help being drawn by her hat again. It was old, threadbare, but he just knew that somewhere, at some time, he'd seen one like it before. "Hey Rika," he spoke up finally, unable to keep his curiosity to himself, "What's the story with that hat? It can't be much help against the sun – I can practically see through it!" She knew from his soft tone that he wasn't being mean, just teasing, and she smiled but didn't answer right away. Pulling the lid off an old wood box and marveling at the ancient katana inside, she said after a moment "I've just had it for a long time, is all." She was silent for a moment, not really looking at the sword anymore, and continued quietly "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The strange feeling he'd had all morning flared up inside him, and he knew… he just knew that whatever story lay beneath that old cap, it was all true.

But he didn't push, and he didn't need to, because not a second later, Rika sighed heavily and turned somber eyes on him. "I know you probably haven't heard… or else you wouldn't be acting so nice to me all the time…."

Souta's heart began to race. Was she going to tell him? Would he finally find out what all those rumors and whispers had been about?

"You see, when I was little – about 6 or so – I was trapped in a fire in my family's apartment."

Fire… his classmates had mentioned fire… but he knew Rika – She liked fire. How could she like something that could have taken her life?

"My mom had been visiting with a neighbor down the hall and left me alone… I don't remember how it started, but all I know is that it grew out of control before she could make it back, and it was bad enough that she couldn't get back inside. She called the fire department, and they had to work from the outside to put it out. They couldn't even get close."

Souta put a comforting hand on Rika's shoulder, and she glanced at him with amusement. "Don't worry, I'm not about to cry or anything. I mean, I do remember being terrified at the time, and feeling helpless. I stood in the middle of the room, as far away from the flames as I could while the firefighters tried to get in. I was sure I was gonna die, but then… someone saved me." Her eyes grew hazy with memory, her voice soft as she recalled "He crashed right through the window as if it were paper. There was glass everywhere, but none of it hit me. At first I thought I was imagining things. He was all in red, just like the fire around us, and I was sure he couldn't be real because his hair was so long and his clothes were so old-fashioned. But then he grabbed me – just picked me up like I was nothing, and jumped ten stories down to the concrete." Reaching up slowly, she removed the weathered baseball cap and held it reverently in both hands. "He was wearing this hat… it flew off when he jumped, and I found it on the street after he left. It was all the evidence I had that he actually existed… that he saved my life."

She turned to look at him then with defensiveness written across her face. That look was daring him to laugh, to tease her and call her crazy like he knew everyone must have done since she first told that story. And dammit all, he just couldn't keep the ridiculous grin from his face.

"I knew it" she spat, and Souta pinched himself to wipe the smile away, but it was no good. He was too excited to even attempt hiding it. "You're just like all the others" Rika said mournfully, fingering the old black and red cap before plunking it on her head again, "you just think it's so funny, that I'm so stupid, that I'm making things up to get attention." Her anger returned and she glared at him, getting in his face as she yelled "Well it's true! Every last word of it! They had it on the news – plenty of people saw him! But no one ever dared to fess up to it, because they knew everyone would think they were crazy… just like… SHUT UP, SOUTA! It's not funny!"

But Souta couldn't have stopped laughing if she'd run him through with a katana – and judging from the look she was giving him, she'd considered it. Straightening up and sobering slightly before she could give his theory a try, Souta managed to say between giggles "So… that hat… what exactly was it covering?"

Rika gaped at him, her anger melting into confusion at his odd question. "What…"

"Wait, don't tell me" he snickered again, "he was using the hat to cover his ears." Staring straight into Rika's shocked eyes, Souta said with a laugh "He was hiding dog ears, wasn't he?"

Her expression turned sour, and Souta's jovial mood came crashing down when he saw a hint of tears in her eyes. "So you knew all along? You've heard the rumors, and you were just pretending to be my friend so I'd tell you the whole story and you could turn and laugh in my face! You stupid, lying –"

Panic seized him and Souta reached out to grasp her shoulders, his laughter gone as he clarified "No, Rika, it's nothing like that! Believe me, out of anyone, I'd be the last person to doubt you!" She didn't look the least bit convinced though, and Souta floundered for the right words. And then, as if in answer to his silent pleas for help, he felt a burst of power rush out from the direction of the well house. His hero was saving him once again. "Look, just come with me back to the house, and I'll explain everything, okay? I believe you, I really do. You just gotta trust me."

Rika still looked skeptical, but she let Souta herd her from the storage shed and through the gates to the family home, where the muted sound of conversation and children's voices could be heard. It quieted as they approached, and Souta realized with a smile that they'd been sniffed out. Sure enough, his sister was there to greet him at the door, glancing wearily at his friend.

"Hey Souta! We, uh… didn't know you were expecting company today!"

"Relax Sis, she knows." At Kagome's shocked expression, Souta prattled on "Well, she doesn't know she knows, but believe me, she knows." Both girls stared at him as though he'd grown another head, but he just laughed and pushed gently past Kagome into the foyer, Rika following nervously behind. He threw out brief introductions to each of them, before calling down the hall "Hey bro! Long time no see!" He heard the quick patter of little feet followed by loud cursing and knew his nephews had escaped. Souta watched Rika's expression closely as two little boys in old-fashioned yukata raced down the hall toward him, their little dog ears standing alert atop their silver heads. Four-year-old Daiichi was the first to greet him, and poor little Yuji stumbled as his baby legs gave out beneath him, though with a shake of his head he picked himself back up and continued on. Catching them both in a hug, Souta looked back at Rika with a wide grin, happily noting her shocked expression at the little boys who were surely reminding her of someone else. The sound of heavier footsteps drew her attention away and Souta couldn't help a boisterous laugh as he pointed to the scowling half-demon approaching down the hall and said "Rika, this is my brother-in-law Inuyasha. I believe you've met before."

He was quick to catch her as her knees gave out and she fell back with a startled cry, and Souta couldn't resist wrapping her in a tight hug as his happy grin spread from ear to ear.

*Author's Note:

I don't really know what sparked this originally, but I've been wanting to write something like this for a long time, and finally some inspiration for a story hit!

For those who aren't aware, this is the little girl (now grown up) whom Inuyasha saved in the episode "Gap Between the Ages", where he's hanging out in Kagome's time while she studies. Every time I watch that episode, I always wonder what happened with all those people who saw him, and what happened to the little girl after that, and I always thought she probably would never be able to forget an encounter like that, especially since he saved her life, and... basically this happened. Also I figured she probably wasn't much younger than Souta at the time, and the thought of these two becoming friends, only to find out that they both have the same hero... well, it was just too cute not to try out!

And I pulled the name out of thin air. She doesn't have a name in that episode. I mean I was kinda thinking of the Japanese voice actress Rica Matsumoto and the main character from One-Pound Gospel Kousaku Hatanaka, but... that's about all there is to it.

I'd like to write more for this at some point and include Rika actually interacting with her long-lost hero Inuyasha (and growing closer to Souta :3 ) but I don't know when I'll get hit with another wave of inspiration for that, so... no promises.