Life is a strange thing, don't you think? One minute, you can be on top of the world, the most amazing person existing, the next, a mere dot in the billions of this planet, ignored and unacknowledged. I believe everyone goes through this phase sometime in their life, sometimes there are people that suffer more greatly than others; yet, you always come out stronger and wiser. That's how become of my life.
When I joined the drug enforcement division, I was eager to make my mark in the world. After I had graduated at the police academy in Kyoto, I came to Tokyo, a notorious way station for drug traffic. Three years at the academy created an atmosphere, a desire for battle. That atmosphere is like a huge magnetic field, pulling you in. You can't escape, it controls you. That's what filled in the gap in my heart, but also created problems that changed me forever …
"Full name." A young authoritative voice inquired, the firmness of the tone echoed off the blank walls surrounding them.
"Yasunari Kawabata."
"Age."
"Thirty-three."
A young woman, around twenty-five, tucked a stray strand of ebony hair behind her ear, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. How she longed for a hot shower and to strip her sweaty uniform. It stuck to her body uncomfortably, showing her curves she so modestly tried to hide. She blew her raven hair out of her weary face, which was drenched with sweat from her previous activity: catching the drug courier she was now questioning. Her body sagged in her chair and her appearance worn, but her brown eyes betrayed her emotions and danced with triumphant of catching the smuggler. After days of agonizing and strategizing, sleepless nights and stress, Kagome Higurashi managed to catch that courier wanted for months and months.
After another hour of questioning, the man was sentence to life. Kagome pushed her seat back eagerly, and walked out of the room she despised being in for the past hour. Her eyes immediately lit up when she saw her fiancé, Kouga sitting outside on the bench. The corners of her mouth tugged, and she had to resist the urge to run into his arms and tell him the mission she so successfully completed. But when she saw the look on his face, she was sure she knew what was coming.
Walking cautiously to him, she slipped in next to him and gave him a knowing smile.
The tall, dark and handsome man sitting next to her turned to her with an apologetic smile. Without wasting another minute, he spoke, "Kagome, I don't think…"
"That I'm suited for this job as a police officer and I should quit. I know, Kouga. I know." The young woman finished after him, as she slipped her arm around his.
Her fiancé sighed in a tired way, and turned his whole body to her. " Kagome, you know that being in the drug enforcement is a dangerous job, not suitable for a girl like you. I know, you're stronger and braver than most girls I know, of course, you're my woman… but I just don't think that it's a safe place to be."
The girl sighed and leaned back onto the bench. "Kouga, we go through this everytime, you know I love my job and I can't quit, it's just… my life revolves around…"
"Alright, I know," The man cut in, as if he was tired of hearing it every time. "I love my job as a journalist too, but if I move to Tokyo with you, what will I do? You know the only thing I like to do is spend time with you, my woman…" He emphasized his point in showing care for his property.
Kagome couldn't help but smile at that. Kouga was always so protective of her, always so proud. He would never go to a place without bragging that he was to marry the top policeman in Kyoto, and he would call her almost a dozen times a day. Softening, the young police officer placed a hand over his. She grinned at him and playfully tweaked his nose. "You can be my housewife."
Kouga jerked his head towards her, and glared, but his eyes were filled with love and adoration. He locked his fiancée in an arm lock and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Then together, they walked into the closest bullet train station and waited for the train.
Wrapping his arm around Kagome's small waist, he looked down at her with a smile. "By the time we get married, I promise you, I will become a full time housewife. How else will I take care of my sons and daughters?"
The woman in his arms immediately blushed, knowing Kouga was dropping a real big hint. She nodded timidly, but didn't answer. For some reason, she couldn't promise that they would have kids. No, it wasn't because she couldn't make any, or that she didn't love them, but she didn't feel it was the right time. She had too many things on her mind to be worrying about children.
To her relief, the train's head popped into the corner and screeched to a stop in front of them. Kagome gave her future husband a kiss on the cheek and pushed him inside, waving at him till she couldn't see him anymore. She smiled.
Two years ago, she had won the woman's TKD championship, Kouga covered the event. All the medalists had fallen in love with his blue eyes, dark hair and muscular figure. The way he'd smirk confidently and stand tall with pride beaming off his broad frame. But he only had eyes for her, and Kagome was glad.
Every time he visited, it was a 3 hour train ride; it wasn't easy for him, knowing his feisty attitude. He wouldn't be able to stay still for a minute, but he would still go on something way beyond his limit just to see her. Kagome sighed to herself. This was the man she would spend the rest of her life with. She was sure of it.
Kagome rode steadily on her pink bicycle down the road, admiring the blooming blossoms along the way. It was a tacky pink bike, but she had it since high school and didn't have the heart to throw it away. Or maybe she was too lazy to. Hm.
It was a warm spring day, around April, and Kagome was aware of all the kids shooting water at each other with their plastic water guns. She'd dodge them anytime she could, not because she didn't like them, it was because she was wearing white. Sneaking into a back alley, she relaxed and began to admire the atmosphere around her.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she breathed in the sweet scent of the blossoms, and let the tension in her body untangle. But just when it started to diminish, something wet and hard cascaded upon her. A bucketful of water.
She screamed, as the cold water descended onto her small frame. Drenched and surprised, she jerked her head up, just in time to see a bunch of kids on the rooftop of a house, holding empty buckets with a smirk on their face. She prepared to yell at them, but they made a face at her and ran before she had the chance. Kids. You gotta love them.
"Kids these days…" Kagome mumbled to herself, as she concentrated on squeezing the water out of her dark hair.
"Nothing but brats, that's what they are." A voice behind her agreed.
She gave a squeal, completely surprised that there was someone with her besides herself. She jumped and jerked around, and when she took a good look at whom it was, her breath hitched in her throat.
In front of her, was probably the most stunning man she ever saw in her life. Yes, Kouga was handsome, but this man was different. He had the longest silver locks of hair Kagome had ever seen, hair a woman would die to have. Intense amber eyes, something Kagome had never seen in her life, that almost drawn her to him. He was wearing a red t-shirt and a pair of red baggy pants … completely drenched, just like her.
She did nothing but stare at him, and it was then she realized and quickly turned away with a blush. Luckily, he didn't seem to notice, and crossed his arms with his brow knotted in the middle. He started to walk away, as if he hadn't seen her at all, and Kagome felt obligated to follow.
He stopped walking and turned his head sideways towards her. Kagome froze in her footsteps, and didn't dare to move. But as if he hadn't noticed her, so he continued to walk. Before she could blink, he had jumped over a fence and into somebody's house. Kagome gasped and ran ahead, just to see him come out the front door and throw her a towel.
She caught in on reflex, and looked at him with wide eyes. "Y-you, you can't do that…"
He smirked at her, and for an instant, reminded her of Kouga. "Then arrest me."
Without waiting for a response, the man had ducked back inside and was running. Kagome, knowing not what to do, and ran after him. When she got inside, she saw him petting a guard dog, that not too long ago, was barking at the strangers passing by.
It dawned upon her, that maybe, just maybe, this was HIS house.
"You live here?" she questioned slowly, ready to chase after him if she must.
"No, I don't. I just like to break into people's houses and steal their towels." He replied sarcastically. He turned his back towards her and walked into the house.
Kagome raised her eyebrows. Now what was she suppose to do? She was standing outside on a stranger's yard with the stranger's towel in her hands. Without thinking, she started wiping herself and taking in her surroundings.
It was beautiful to say the least. The house this man lived in was the biggest she'd seen in ages. Almost like a mansion. The garden was stretched to what seemed like miles, fountains, flowers and trees scattered everywhere. It was just plain beautiful.
"Here." A voice called to her. Kagome turned just in time to have something soft thrown directly at her face. Looking up, she found a red t-shirt, almost identical to his, smothered in her face. She picked it off, and looked at him questionably.
He stared back and gave her that trademark smirk. "I thought you might wanna change into something…dryer…"
Dumbly, she replied. "Why?"
Immediately, a light shade of pink crept upon his cheeks and he turned away with his finger pointed at her body.
She looked at what he was pointing at and would've died with embarrassment. Her white blouse had been soaked through, and her black laced bra was exposed for the world to see. She grabbed the t-shirt and ran inside his house.
"Kouga, I have to go now. I'm late for meeting somebody." Kagome smiled into the phone as she twirled the chord playfully.
She could almost see him pout and wince, and her smile grew at the image. Her guess was right because right after, he answered with a whiny voice, "Aw, must you? Where you going?"
She laughed at his boyish behavior and rolled her eyes. "I have to return something I borrowed. I'll call you when I get back."
"Alright, but if you don't call me within two hours, I'll call your captain and order a search party to find you." He warned in a playful way.
Kagome laughed at Kouga's protectiveness and hung up quickly, knowing if she didn't hurry, he would do exactly what he pleased.
She ran out the door of her apartment and rushed to a small shack selling drinks and snacks, where she had promised the boy she had met yesterday, Inuyasha, to return his shirt.
She walked through the crowd steadily, feeling slightly guilty of not telling Kouga the complete truth. That she had been thinking of those shocking amber eyes and stunning silver hair before she slept instead of thinking of her own fiancé. How would she say it: Oh nothing Kouga, I'm just going to meet a guy I've been thinking about last night that I met and is meeting him to return his shirt that I borrowed instead of borrowing yours?
No, it wouldn't work well.
Kagome knew it was wrong to think about another man… but he seemed so different. She had never seen anybody with those eyes and hair color…
"Yo, wench."
Kagome jumped at his voice, and kicked herself mentally for letting him get the best of her again. When she turned, he was staring at her with an amused smile on his face. She blushed, and quickly sat down with his shirt next to her.
"What?" she asked nervously, as she tried to focus her attention on something else. His stare was making her really uncomfortable.
"Nothing… I just don't see a woman everyday stand there in the middle of nowhere, staring at nothing. People might wonder."
Kagome blushed even harder and glared at him. "I was trying to find you."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and shifted his leg. Today, she noticed, he was wearing another red T-shirt with a pair of red tearaways. She also noticed that the red brought out the intensity in his eyes…
"What?" his voice caused her to jump from her analysis, and that's when she noticed she was staring.
Kagome brushed it aside casually, and shrugged. "Nothing. I just never saw person wear so much red before."
Inuyasha stared at her as if she was growing horns. Snorting, he picked up his glass of water and took a sip. "Is that all? Woman, you have to get out more often."
Inside, anger boiled within her guts. That insensitive, self-centered son of a…
"I haven't seen someone wear so much white before." Inuyasha suddenly complimented, causing the anger flowing within the girl's veins to dissipate.
She looked at herself, and realized she was wearing a white T-shirt. When she looked back at him to retort something, she realized he was staring at something under her neck. A shade of red crept upon her face, and she realized he must've remembered about that bra of hers. Hissing, she flailed her hand around her chest and grabbed his glass of water, splashing him with it.
It caught him totally off guard, and he blinked just in time as the water washed over him. Kagome gasped at what she had done, and didn't dare move. He wasn't moving either and she couldn't read the expression on his face.
Regret crept into her body, and she prepared to apologize, before feeling a glass of water being splashed at HER.
Squealing, she jumped out of her seat, earning curious stares and glares around them. Kagome pushed her heavy hair back, and saw a wet Inuyasha grinning at her wolfishly.
Before they knew it, they were grabbing anything filled with liquid and thrashing it at each other. People started to leave and Kagome didn't see the manager come out of his shack.
But Inuyasha did. Quickly, he grabbed her hand and made a run for it, jerking a surprised and embarrassed Kagome along with him. Before she could blink, she was in his white jeep and he was driving away from an angry owner chasing and yelling after him.
When reality finally dawned upon her, she looked at the leather seats she was currently sitting in. She was about to apologize for wetting it, when she realized he was taking her someplace when she barely knew him. Whipping her head to him, she used the voice she used on criminals that wouldn't spill the beans.
"Hey! Where're you taking me? Stop right this instant!"
Dripping wet, Inuyasha turned his head towards her and glared at her. "If you hadn't thrown that glass of water at me, we would've still been sitting at that shack and not getting banned from the restaurant, stupid."
Kagome choked and glared back at him. "Stupid?! Excuse me, but it wasn't MY fault I was forced to result to that decision. You were being a rude and insensitive male chauvinist so I couldn't think of no other choice but to do what I did!" Kagome tried to plant her hands on her hips, but she found it hard with a seat belt buckled tightly to her body. Instead, she jabbed her finger at his arm and added, "Besides, nobody ever said we were banned from the restaurant, STUPID!" she shot back mockingly.
Inuyasha wriggled his arm so she'd stop poking and rolled his eyes. "We screwed up the place practically and scared away customers. Of COURSE we're banned. How dense can you get, wench?"
Kagome moved forward and poked him again, secretly pleased that he stiffened. "You know I got a name right? Besides wench, woman and stupid…"
"That's nice, wench… now can you stop poking me?!"
"It's not wench! And I will not stop jabbing at you, which is what I'm doing because a jab is much more forceful than a poke and I am obviously…"
The frustrated boy jerked towards her and threw daggers this time. "Alright! If I call you by your name, will you shut up?!"
"YES!"
"Then what is it?!"
"Kagome! KA-GO-ME! Kagome!"
Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the jeep suddenly jerked off course, and began rummaging through a forest. Branches, leaves and anything else started flying into the opened windows, causing Kagome to shriek and flail her arms, which resulted to slapping her companion, currently trying to get the jeep back on track.
Bumps, leaves, sticks, scraped Kagome's face and she couldn't help but scream some more and think of all the bugs and flies crawling over her. After that thought, her screaming went hysterical and Inuyasha was even more desperate to stop the car.
"Do something!" The woman managed to ground out in a shrill voice.
"I'm trying if you would stop screaming so mother…" THUD, SCREAM. "-ing LOUD!"
"I can't help I… OMGOSH, watch out!" Kagome screeched as a wide trunk of a tree emerged in front of her eyes.
"Wha…" Inuyasha turned his eyes towards to road, and his widened when he saw what was ahead of them. Frantically, his foot tried to find the brake that all the leaves and branches were covering. Finally, he felt something hard and pressed on it. Luckily, it wasn't the accelerator, and the car jerked to a stop.
Both riders were lurched forward, and then thrown back against their seat. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the impact of the tree VS them to descend on her. But after moments of ragged breathing, nothing. She opened her eyes slowly, and found the tree right in front of them. On reflex, she opened her mouth to scream.
"NO!" A voice yelled next to her, followed by a hand cupping her open mouth. She gave a 'hmphed' and bit on the flesh covering her source of voice. A loud 'DAMMIT!' was sound and Kagome knew it was safe to scream again. But before any voice could project out of her vocals, another hand had been slapped over her mouth.
Flinching, Kagome's eyes roamed next to her, to see a leafy and dirty Inuyasha shaking the hand she had recently bitten and a dangerous glare he had conjured up for her.
Timidly 'tee-hee'ing, Kagome pulled his hand off of her lips and smiled at him, hoping it would lessen his anger.
But it didn't.
"What the hell do you think you were doing?! You could've made me deaf along with the rest of the forest…"
"What the hell was I doing?! What the hell were YOU doing?! You could've KILLED us!"
The shocked man pointed at himself dramatically, before jerking himself forward and yelling, "If you hadn't been so damn stubborn I wouldn't have taken my eyes off the track!"
Kagome moved forward as well, until their noses were almost touching. She glared at him and yelled back with just as much force, "Oh yeah, it's ALWAYS my fault isn't it?!"
Inuyasha opened his mouth to shout back at her, before his face turned a light shade of pink. Kagome furrowed her brows and was about to question why, before she realized it too. They were so close; they could be on the range of touching each others' lips.
On reflex, the two jerked apart, as if it was two magnets propelled towards each other. The two turned away, hoping the other wouldn't see their own blushes. Something had stirred between them, but both rather not define. Instead, a silence lapsed between them and Kagome found it more uncomfortable than staying in a cell with a murderer.
She was about to break the silence when her companion cleared his throat. Gratefully, she turned towards him and saw him turning on the ignition.
"Car's fine," he reported gruffly, before pulling the jeep out of the forest faster than Kagome had recalled. "I'm dropping you back at the shack, since I dunno where you live."
The awkwardness between them immediately disappeared when Kagome gasped and turned to him with wide eyes. "What?! No way! They might arrest me for screwing up the place!"
"Then they should." The man replied with a teasing tone in his voice. He turned towards her, playfulness hinting in his eyes and Kagome couldn't help but feel playful too. It was way better than not talking…
She gave him a light punch on the arm and protested, "No! You were part of it too! I'm not gonna take the rap when I didn't do anything!"
"YOU didn't do ANYTHING?"
"No, I didn't!"
Kagome looked at him with fire blazing in her brown orbs, and he looked right back at her. Suddenly, they both broke into a grin and smiled at each other. Kagome knew, she had just made a new friend.
Author's Note: It may start very draggy at first, it will get better, I promise! I've actually written out the plot for the first time ever, and I'm proud to say, it's actually got a plot! Crazy eh ;) Anyways, thanks to my editor, Red-Rain69, who is now IamBROKEN for editing and thanks to you guys for reading. Oh yeah, and please review. Flames, praises, comments, WHATEVER! I'm bulletproof... so fire away!