Day 5 of the 12 Days of Witchyness

(Barely, I have like 5 minutes left, gah!)

When It Rains

(It Pours)

The first thing Inuyasha Taisho saw when he walked into the office was the amused smile of his boss. She was in her office, door open and window blinds up. One of the rookie salespeople was in her office, saying something about numbers but Inuyasha didn't give a shit. He walked right inside, disrupted the meeting and glared at her.

"You're not funny," Inuyasha stated, firm.

"I think I'm hilarious." Kagura Ohgami tilted her head at him, eyes considering. "You look like shit, by the way. Can you brush your hair or something?"

"My–" Inuyasha sputtered, shaking his head in disbelief. "I was standing outside the bus stop for like thirty minutes waiting for the damn thing to show up. It was windy." Raking a hand through his long black hair, Inuyasha scowled. There were so many knots. He hated the outdoors.

"Should have taken your car in when I told you to then," Kagura said, the words lilting together in singsong. "I told you that noise was bad news."

"Maybe if you let me have a damn day off once in a blue fucking mo–"

"I had to threaten you in order for you to take a day off last month. I manage twenty-two people, Inuyasha. I'm not your mother. You know where the request form is."

Inuyasha huffed and crossed his arms. Kagura grinned at him, hands steepled together under her chin. She was damn annoying.

But also right, which–

Was really fucking annoying.

Still, when he had texted her at eight in the morning letting her know that he'd be late because his car broke down, a nicer response would have been appreciated. Something along the lines of Thanks for letting me know. Or maybe even a lovely Take your time.

Not: You kind of deserve it.

"I have to leave right at five to catch the bus home," Inuyasha remarked finally, giving up on the whole thing.

Kagura narrowed her eyes. "And yet somehow, I think I'll survive."

"Can't you be nice for like five goddamn minutes?" Inuyasha snapped, rolling his eyes and heading back out the door. "It's times like these I remember why my brother married you after all."

"I'll be sure to let him know that!"

"Please do." Inuyasha shot her one last look and then realized with a jolt that the new salesperson was still in the office, sitting across from Kagura and looking vaguely terrified. "Hey, how's your first week?"

The guy blinked, shocked that they were being talked to, and then coughed a little. "I've been here for over a month?"

Inuyasha sighed and Kagura burst out laughing.

"This is the worst day ever," he muttered under his breath.

Kagura wiped away a tear.

So, it went without saying that Inuyasha was having a really shitty day. A lot of his morning, once he finally made it to the office, was spent trying to convince his mechanic to pick the car up and fix it. He knew already the bill was going to be enormous but Inuyasha didn't have a lot of options. He hated public transit, mainly because he hated sitting near people he didn't know. Inuyasha was well aware they probably hated it just as much as he did, but that wasn't a help. If anything, it felt like a vicious cycle of discomfort.

Inuyasha felt only a little bit better when he knew his car was being taken care of. He actually managed to respond to some work emails and complete a report that had been on his to do list for ages. He spent his lunch eating as his desk – like always – and managed to not throw a temper-tantrum when his mechanic called back with the laundry list of problems.

He had been right. It was going to cost a fortune.

And a day or two of taking the bus because of parts needing to come in or whatever.

Inuyasha hated days like these.

At five o'clock, he logged off and gathered his things. One look outside the window had him groaning out loud, making the receptionist surreptitiously move further away. Of course. Of course.

It was raining.

God-fucking-damn it.

Huffing, Inuyasha wrapped his coat tighter around himself and patted at the pockets to make sure he had everything. He had double-checked the time the bus was coming to the nearby stop, so as long as it wasn't delayed, he'd be fine. There were bus shelters, right? He could hide under that while waiting.

The stop was only five minutes or so away. Inuyasha kept his head ducked down low, bangs falling into his face. He had to pause once to make sure he was going the right way but soon enough, the shelter came into view. The sky was already starting to get dark despite the hour and the rain was significantly heavier. As in, it was pouring, coming down and soaking him through his jacket. The last thing he needed was to get sick, on top of everything else.

He rushed under the bus shelter, pushing at his wet bangs so that the water didn't drip into his eyes. It took him an embarrassingly long time to notice it, the sound of a woman crying. No, not crying. Sobbing. Really upset, can't-stop-can't-breathe crying. Inuyasha stared at the only bench in the shelter and there, sitting at the far end was a woman with long black hair and a thick green jacket. He couldn't see much else of her, but he could clearly watch the way her shoulders and back heaved with each choked up breath.

Oh god. What did he do?

For a second, Inuyasha debated backing out of the shelter. This was not…his forte. Women, for one thing, but crying? Whole other level of crazy. Inuyasha could barely have a conversation with his niece without her getting upset at something he said. When he made her cry, it was like the worst feeling in the whole wide world, and Inuyasha had no idea what to do to stop it from happening. Maybe that was why Kagura was so mean to him all the time.

He searched around for other places nearby that he could wait for the bus. The rain was teeming down so there was no point in braving it. He had to find some kind of shelter. But realistically, everything around the bus shelter held no overhangs or porches. It was all sleek walls and glass doors.

Stupid. Modern architecture was stupid.

Another massive, heart wrenching sob. Inuyasha cringed.

It didn't matter though because in the next moment, some sort of accident happened. One second, the girl was just crying and then next, a little exclamation of shock as her purse fell to the ground in front of her. Inuyasha could hear a few things fall out and before he could stop himself he took a couple steps forward. Why? Inuyasha had no idea. He was an idiot.

"Crap, why– Oh!"

He was a massive idiot. In bending down to get her things – and him actually moving towards her – the black-haired woman finally noticed him. She looked completely horrified; her dark brown eyes were wide and red-rimmed, cheeks red and lower lip trembling. She stared at him for maybe a second before ducking her head down and gathering her things.

Her gaze had lasted only a second, but that look had somehow taken Inuyasha's horror and stabbed him with it. Because what kind of huge asshole was he, that he thought it was potentially a better idea to stay out in the pouring rain than to check to make sure the woman was okay? And she was clearly miserable, clearly horribly upset. Something had gone wrong with her day, and it was far worse than a car breaking down.

Inuyasha gathered his nerves and moved towards the woman. She was still sniffling, trying to keep it under control now that she knew someone else was around. Almost all of her things were back in her purse but Inuyasha found a tube of what looked to be lip gloss, hiding under the bench. He reached for it and, when she went to sit back down, handed it to her. "Here," he murmured, keeping his voice low. It came out far gruffer than he meant, but the woman spared him a small smile anyways.

"Thanks. Uh, sorry about that." She bent her head down low, back into her purse, even though there was clearly no need. She was hiding from him.

And that was what settled things. Inuyasha didn't have the faintest clue on what to say but he knew he couldn't just leave it like that, couldn't just let the woman suffer on her own. "Are you okay?"

The black-haired woman didn't lie to him, at least. She simply shrugged and sniffled some more, her hand going to her cheeks to rub off leftover tears. "I will be. Thanks."

Hesitating for only a moment, Inuyasha sat down on the other side of the bench. It was small enough that they were still quite close, barely a full-person space between them. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it. Opened it, and then closed it once more. He was fumbling, desperate to say anything when his eyes tracked to a nearby streetlight, the glow illuminating just how hard the rain was pounding around them.

"The weather is awful tonight," he found himself saying. Inuyasha blinked, and then turned his head away to mouth at himself: the weather? Because what an idiot.

"It's…not great," the woman conceded quietly. Her sniffling was dying down at least. Inuyasha knew that it had absolutely nothing to do with his stellar conversational skills.

"I'm not surprised," Inuyasha went on, determined. "I never take transit because I have a car, but it broke down on me this morning. My boss was a complete ass about it and– and– and I'm pretty sure the weather is karma."

Karma. He was talking about karma to a girl who had just been sobbing her lungs out not even ten seconds ago. But when Inuyasha snuck a glance at her face, he found that she was looking at him, not really intrigued but at least not repulsed. She wrinkled her nose when he caught her staring, and then returned her gaze to her purse.

Inuyasha opened his mouth again. It was like some weird ghost had possessed him, forcing him to talk. Maybe it was the darkness of her eyes, the way that first glance had seemed to stab him in the soul. Maybe it was the way she looked so beaten. Inuyasha had never been great at conversing with people, but he hated when a woman cried. It just made him think about his niece. "I'm Inuyasha."

The woman, to her credit, didn't look like she wanted to run away. To be fair though, any semblance of running would involve going back out into the storm which was a terrible option. "Kagome," she answered. "And you don't have to be so nice. I promise I'm okay."

"It doesn't really look like it."

Kagome frowned at him, clearly taken aback. Inuyasha wished he could swallow those words back because that was the shit that came out to make his niece upset. Holy hell, he was crap at this.

"I mean, you look great. Not great, but that's not because you're not pretty. You're crying, a lot. Really hard." Inuyasha actually had to raise a hand to his mouth to stop his lips from moving. He lowered the hand a second later, and clenched it into a fist in his lap. "And as you can see, I'm really bad at this."

"Consoling women?"

Inuyasha scowled. "Talking to them in general."

It took a second, but then out of nowhere Kagome burst into laughter, the sound like a shocked hiccup. She shook her head and wiped at her eyes, smiling. Inuyasha felt a tiny part of him warm at that, like a little miniature fire had built itself within his chest. It was a terrifying feeling, but the black-haired woman waved a hand at him before he could examine it. "I appreciate the effort then."

"I'd hope so."

Headlights abruptly splashed across the bus shelter, making Inuyasha squint. Kagome stood up, looking around the ground once more before heading towards the entrance. Inuyasha stood behind her, a fair distance away but close enough to notice a few tiny details. Stupid, little things, like the way her hair curled the slightest bit at the end, making it kind of wild and wavy. There was also a lot of red in her purse, like some sort of case and a journal but he couldn't really see what. He wondered if red was her favourite colour, or maybe it was green, like her jacket.

He blinked back into reality when Kagome left to get on the bus and Inuyasha followed her. He paid quickly, listening to the bus doors shut as he examined the seating. It was kind of strange actually – the bus was rather full which made sense because it was five o'clock on a weekday. A lot of people would be leaving work at that time to go home. Then again, his stop had been completely empty save for him and Kagome. It was…strange.

The black-haired girl was already sitting down in one of the nearby seats, but virtually everything around her was taken. Inuyasha tried to look at the back, but while there was maybe one seat free, it was buried around people and he'd much rather stand.

…Should he stand by Kagome? Should he walk further away?

Inuyasha didn't have a fucking clue. They talked for like five minutes in a bus shelter, and most of it was him babbling like a moron to stop her from crying. The choice in the matter was taken away from him though, as the bus started back up again. The movement sent him stumbling forward a little, his hand automatically grabbing at the handrail on top to balance. He walked a little forward to gain more space from the front, and it just so happened to put him in front of Kagome.

Kagome, who was looking up at him with a tiny half-smile. It seemed almost cruel, now that he knew what her actual smile looked like. "This bus is usually way busier," she said conversationally. "I never get a seat. Since you said you never take the bus, I figured you wouldn't mind if I had it."

"Uh, no, of course," Inuyasha mumbled, both excited and terrified at the fact that she was starting a conversation with him. One less thing for him to internally freak out about, at least. "How long is the trip for you?"

"Thirty minutes," she replied. "It's raining, so it may take a little bit longer."

Shit, he hadn't even thought of that. His place was at least forty-five minutes away.

Kagome's smile grew a tiny bit bigger. "Sorry to burst that bubble for you."

"It's okay," Inuyasha replied. "Better to know. This is my first time on the way back so I'll probably miss the stop anyways."

"It took me like a week when I first started travelling to get my stops down," Kagome commented, nodding. "I was super nervous though. I hate getting lost."

Another group of passengers got on, walking around Inuyasha so he had to shift even closer for a moment. There were a few seats that had opened up in the back, but they were talking. It would be rude to leave and plus, he didn't actually want to.

"So," he started, "are you feeling any better?"

The black-haired woman raised her eyebrows at him for a second, eyes wide before her face smoothed out. She nodded, giving an almost rueful smile. "You've distracted me, so I didn't have much of a choice."

"I distracted you, huh?" The words were out of his mouth lightning fast and Inuyasha nearly choked a second later. Because that was him attempting to flirt. Inuyasha knew himself trying to flirt, and that was it. That was…his whole game. His best friend laughed about it relentlessly whenever he managed to convince Inuyasha to go out to a bar to meet women.

It worked sometimes. However, Inuyasha was pretty sure it had more to do with his looks than what was actually coming out of his mouth. His past relationships weren't exactly long. When Inuyasha realized Kagome had yet to say anything back, he glanced at her nervously. She was staring at him, one eyebrow raised and a skeptical look on her face.

"You're hitting on me?" she asked, somewhat incredulous. "You saw me sobbing like five minutes ago."

Oh shit. That sounded so bad. Inuyasha was an idiot. It was the theme song of the night, apparently. "Look, that came out totally wrong–"

"Why would you want to date me after seeing that?"

Oh. Well, that was a different story then. Inuyasha felt a little less embarrassed, but that soon returned when he realized Kagome was waiting for an actual answer. He blinked at her, hoping she wasn't serious, but the woman just made a questioning gesture with her hands. Well, then. Why did he flirt with her?

…Why did he flirt with her?

Inuyasha wasn't exactly the flirting type. It happened on extremely rare occasions (like his friend forcing him to go to a bar) or the odd business-related party. Most of the time, women approached him and he just kind of…saw how that went. Inuyasha was rarely the instigator. So why now?

"You seem…" Inuyasha floundered for the right word. Pretty was true, but kind of shallow. He wasn't a total lost cause. "Look, I don't actually know anything about you," he said, brutally honest. "But you seem worth knowing so–" He shrugged, trying not to wince. "Yeah?"

Kagome seemed to take that in, the tiniest flush gracing her cheeks. Her hands gripped her purse a little tighter but she wasn't making eyes at the doors or the other seats, so Inuyasha didn't think he was crossing any boundaries. In fact, she was staring right at him, their dark brown gazes just watching, considering. "We could have nothing in common."

"True." He didn't have any counterargument to that. He didn't know.

She surprised him then, asking the next question. "Cats or dogs?"

"Dogs."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Cats!"

"We can just get both."

That made her pause again, blinking up at him. "Favourite meal of the day."

"Dinner."

"Breakfast is the most important."

"Dinner tastes better."

Kagome gave another little smile. "I really don't think we should play 20 questions on the bus."

Playing 20 questions over dinner would be better. Inuyasha pressed his lips together, keeping the thought to himself. "I don't really care. It's better than doing nothing."

The woman seemed to consider that before sighing. She looked down at her purse once more before meeting his gaze, a little defiant. "I cry a lot," she said suddenly. "I'm stressed all the time. I actually think I'm going to quit my job because it's not worth the money. So I probably seem really nice, and I am, but I'm also a disaster. Especially right now."

Inuyasha took that in, waiting for the words to make any sort of difference. He looked at the way her dark eyes were practically challenging him, and the way her pale skin was blushing at the confession. Her hands were white-knuckled on the straps of her bag still and yet… She was pretty, yeah. But she also just felt right, in a really odd, indescribable way. And so, decision made, he shrugged. "I've been told by those closest to me that I'm a huge asshole."

That made her frown. "You…don't seem that way to me."

She didn't know just how close he was to backing out of the bus shelter just because a woman was crying horrifically in it. She didn't know how he almost preferred getting sick in the rain than awkwardly stand there. Still… "If you could tell that to my best friend, I'd appreciate it."

The frown slowly disappeared, her gaze warm. "Maybe I will."

A massive group of people stood up, seemingly all at once as the bus approached a stop. Inuyasha had to shift again to avoid getting hit. When he stepped back into place there were a ton of open seats, but none of them were directly in front or beside her. Inuyasha was debating if it was weird to continue standing when Kagome hummed all of a sudden, taking his attention.

"My stop is the next one," she told him. "The roads must be pretty good."

Inuyasha couldn't help but feel almost irritated at that. He twisted around to glare out the windshield, though he couldn't see much in the gray-heavy darkness. "That's good," he managed to say.

"Any plans for tonight?"

"Uh." Inuyasha's brain automatically went into a couple directions, one of them being her asking him if he wanted to do something. Together. Like a date. The thought made whatever warmth had settled earlier in the bus shelter spread, like a wildfire that couldn't be tamed. But he knew that was silly, because there was no way she would ask a guy she literally just met. Even if he would probably say yes.

Definitely say yes. Whatever.

"Probably go home and cook dinner. Watch Netflix." He shrugged. "Maybe workout if I'm really bored." That was a laugh. He never worked out. Who the hell was he kidding?

"Sounds pretty similar to mine," Kagome remarked, the little smile turning into a bigger grin. "Maybe we do have a few things in common."

Just that alone had Inuyasha's heart do a stutter-stop. It felt both horrible and wonderful at the same time. "Yeah?" His voice was deeper than usual, but he was going to play that off on the shock. If this was Kagome flirting back with him, he would take it. He would maybe even call his best friend Miroku and tell him about it, about the woman who made him feel like a total asshole and inadvertently guilted him into being a bit of a better human being.

Miroku would have a field day.

The bus started to slow and Inuyasha realized that this was it. This was Kagome's stop. It should have made him feel a little good, knowing that his stop wasn't that much further. It should have, but didn't. Inuyasha really just wanted to keep talking to Kagome, to learn more about her.

"Well, this is me," Kagome announced. She looked at him intently for a moment, like she was waiting for something. Inuyasha had no idea what, only because he was never in situations like this. Should he… Should he ask for her number? Was that too forward? He couldn't have read the situation wrong, could he have?

Oh god. What did he do, what did he do, what did he do–

And that was it. Kagome stood up and headed towards the doors of the bus. She smiled at him, and it was so genuine that Inuyasha couldn't help himself. Words were bubbling up in his throat and while he had no idea what they were, he couldn't stop them. Wouldn't have stopped them, anyways. Not if it made Kagome look at him again.

"Hey, wait! Are you going to be on the bus tomorrow?" Inuyasha asked, feeling desperate. He didn't like the feeling, but he couldn't deny it either. There was something about her, about the way she looked at him and the way she smiled. Inuyasha kind of wanted to see it every day.

"Yeah," she answered, her tone sounding pleased. "I'll be at the stop tomorrow."

"Okay." Inuyasha nodded, breathing out something similar to relief. "Good."

"Bye Inuyasha," Kagome murmured. She stepped off of the bus then, disappearing into the rain. Inuyasha couldn't really see all that well from inside the bus, but he imagined her running, getting back to her place as fast as possible.

A weird, confusing part of his brain told him to get off too, to find her. Definitely the weird part though, because Inuyasha shook his head and wondered just how much of a stalker that would make him. But still.

Kagome would be at the bus shelter tomorrow. Inuyasha could see her again, tomorrow.

If his car was fixed by then, well, whatever. An extra day at the shop wouldn't hurt it.

The bus lurched forward once more, but this time he was prepared. He swayed with it instead, regaining his balance before closing his eyes. Today wasn't so bad after all.

Tomorrow would be even better.

The End

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