Maybe It Was Fate

A collaborative work.

Inuyasha tapped his claws on the counter. The soft buzz of the same song played on the speakers overhead in the otherwise empty convenience store. Everything was already stocked prior to his shift and it was hard to keep himself from falling asleep. The slurpee machine made that loud cranking sound again he watched the light to make sure the thing stayed on. It would be such a pain to clean up all the melted fruit crap. Again.

The front door opened and the bell rang signaling a customer. Only the fifth one of the night, an hour before his shift ended. That's what you get for working the night shift in the middle of nowhere, where everyone got up before dawn.

Inuyasha flipped through one of his crosswords to make it look like he wasn't watching the man, late twenties, wearing black pants and a navy jacket, if they ever bothered to fix the mold problem, he might be able to smell a hint of demon on the guy, but for now, it was just a hunch. He looked at Inuyasha before slowly perusing the refrigerated section. He looked down at his watch after a while, noting that the man had been back there for about three minutes, doing absolutely nothing. Most people, even potheads buying up munchies usually got exactly what they wanted and got out in just under a minute. If this guy was already drunk, contemplating which beer he wanted–the good stuff or the cheaper stuff–he sure was taking a while.

His ears twitched under his hat with the sound of some high heels clicking, even before the toll of the opening door. He glanced up at the young woman that entered, a hand over her mouth with a yawn and wavy black hair. She was wearing a blue blouse and modest nylons under her skirt, a small purse under her arm, so she looked a hell of a lot more normal that the guy who had come in…

Over four minutes ago now. What the hell was he doing? He watched the guy give him a side glance again then turned his gaze to look over the woman who had just come in, as well. Inuyasha frowned. If he did anything creepy…

He glanced back up when the woman came up to him, a questioning look on her face.

"Hi, my car broke down a while back, and my phone's dead, can I use yours?" Inuyasha should have responded right away but…damn if she wasn't pretty, early twenties, wavy black hair down her back, with the fringe cut to frame her big brown eyes…Inuyasha nearly found himself choking on his own tongue, trying to remember his usual lines.

"Uh, s-sorry. If you buy a bag of peanuts or something first, then–uh, yeah, customers only." He stumbled over his own words, and to regain a sense of himself, he scoffed at the end, looking back down at his crossword, as if he was annoyed that someone would ask to use the phone.

"Ah, I guess I can get some snacks first."

Inuyasha watched as she walked down the chips and sweets aisle looking through all the options. What was a girl like that doing around these parts anyway? The other customer rushed by her roughly bumping into her shoulder as he passed. She looked peeved and glared at the guy but the guy walked like he had a mission.

Inuyasha watched rather lazily as the customer approached the checkout, waiting for him to set his stuff down. But the guy was empty handed. Inuyasha sniffed. Well he wasn't stealing he didn't have anything on him.

"Hah, so you're just a hanyou huh?"

Inuyasha stood up straighter and slammed his hands on the counter, seething, "What did you say?"

"So weak," The guy flexed his hand revealing his crocodilian claws. Inuyasha figured he smelled like a serpent, "That'll make this easy. Give me all the cash you got mutt."

The demon leaned forward showing that he had a hand on the gun in his jacket's internal pocket. Inuyasha almost laughed. That wasn't much a threat at all to one as strong as him. Inuyasha had been shot in a scuffle the time he spent as a bouncer in one of the bars in the capitol. He was fine by the next day. This type of demon he could take on one-handed and minorly wounded. Was this guy serious?

"The fuck?!" Inuyasha jumped over the counter getting in the demon's face, "Get out of here now before I wipe the floor with you."

The demon pounced but Inuyasha saw it coming, the guy crashing into the small display of candy they had up front. The demon easily recovered grabbing Inuyasha's arm shoving him onto the counter, face first. The demon held Inuyasha's face down holding his arm back in a hold.

"Think you're so tough don't cha?" The demon leaned in, "Just 'cause you got a little demon blood in you. You're not even a threat."

Inuyasha kicked the guy in the knee, the demon's hold slackened and Inuyasha was out, slashing at the guy's face getting the demon in the eye. More items crashed to the floor.

"You sure talk a big game," Inuyasha huffed, "If a weak half-breed like me can take you."

The demon fumed and reached into his pocket pulling out the gun, "Now I didn't think I would have to use this, but you're just a stubborn half-breed ain't cha? Now this isn't an ordinary gun, it's got enchanted ammo, I figured I wouldn't need to use it on a mutt like you, but I guess no one will miss your shit face."

With that he lifted the gun and racked the slide, his finger on the trigger, aiming it up, eye level with the hanyou. What the hell? He only had a few bucks in the till, this was not how he wanted to go out.

Inuyasha's eyes widened, not because of the threat, but because a much smaller figure had come up behind the serpent, and a harsh smell of spice filled the air. Inuyasha coughed, instinctively backing away from the mist of pepper spray the woman aimed at the demon's eyes. When the demon screamed and hunched over to rub at his eyes, the woman grabbed ahold of his head and white sparks flew up. The demon dropped to the ground, unmoving. The woman stood over him, breathing heavily and slightly stooped, and they both stared for several seconds, surprised by the turn of events.

"Um. You're a Miko…Did-did you just…" The young woman's eyes shot up to his, fists coming up to her chest defensively.

"N-no. He's just unconscious. He'll wake up in like an hour."

Inuyasha nodded, slowly, still staring at the guy on the floor.

"You idiot! He could have shot you instead!" Inuyasha berated her.

"I just, I couldn't just let him shoot you! I just acted on instinct!"

"Yeah, well good for you your first instinct wasn't to kill him, because you probably could."

"Well I—"

"Okay, then. The phone is through that door, on the back wall, I need you to call the cops," Inuyasha said slowly, gesturing to the door, "and I'll stay here with–" Inuyasha reached down, grabbing the gun out of the creep's limp hand, "–this creep."

The woman didn't need to be told twice as she quickly disappeared into the back.

Inuyasha placed the gun on the counter and pushed it out of reach.

He stared at the guy for another minute until the she came out from the back room. She looked spooked still, but she looked back to Inuyasha, her pretty brown eyes still wide from adrenaline.

"They said they'd be here soon," she said uncertainly.

"That means almost twenty minutes, they have to call them from the next county over," Inuyasha said with a growl. Everything was always in the next town over. He hated working in the middle of nowhere, where alcoholics were numerous, petty crime was common, but law enforcement was sparse.

"Hey girl, are you sure he's going to be out for an hour?" Inuyasha said, smacking the guy's face.

"I-I-at least that, but probably longer," she admitted. Inuyasha looked up at the tremble in her voice. She was staring out the glass window on their left, twisting the hem of her skirt nervously.

"Oi, you okay girl?"

"Huh?" She looked over at Inuyasha, who cocked his head to the side in question.

"I'm fine. I think…"

Inuyasha shrugged, walking behind the counter and returning with a roll of duct tape to bind the demon's hands. He picked the guy up by the shoulders and sat him against the wall. He sighed when he saw that the girl was still standing as if her feet were glued in place. She looked nervous as hell. What was wrong with her? She could just go about her business and be on her way since the cops were on their way.

"He…He was really going to kill you, wasn't he?" Oh yeah, that. Inuyasha pulled the beanie off his head to use it as a fan, leaning back against the counter.

"If you're upset by that, forget about it. Get your snacks and you'll be fine," Inuyasha said, presenting her with some semblance of a smile.

"Can I stay, if that's alright with you? Until the police arrive, I mean." Inuyasha couldn't help but note that her eyes were drawn to the overheated ears atop his head. She had to have heard the guy call him a hanyou, so there was no point hiding his ears. He was supposed to keep his hat as to not freak customers out, but it didn't matter now.

"Ah, you're too freaked out to go out now, huh? Well, you'd probably be fine, girl, but I guess you can stay."

"Kagome," the girl said.

"Hm?"

"My name is Kagome, and you're about the same age as me, so I'm not 'girl'." She said with a huff.

"Kagome…" He repeated quietly. He looked at her face for a moment trying to place where he's heard that before. It was surprisingly familiar. Well, it wasn't a common name, but he might have heard it before.

"So, you look kind of, I dunno. Not from around here." Kagome scowled, looking down at her blouse.

"You can tell? Yeah, I was on a time limit, so I packed in a rush, forgot to pack anything but my better clothes. Not even pajamas." Kagome's eyes opened wide at his chuckle. So did that mean she was sleeping in the nude then? He chose not to comment, since she was probably thinking what he was.

"So what're you doing out here?"

"Um, are you going to stand back behind the counter?" He could tell she was trying to divert the conversation.

"I will if someone comes by, but that's unlikely this time of night…Anyways, you don't gotta answer if you don't wanna. We can just stand around in awkward silence while I do crossword puzzles."

Kagome bit her lip. Wow, this girl had such cute, plump lips. He kinda wondered…

"There was a job opening that I got an interview for, here in town."

"On a shrine or something?"

He watched the girl blink.

"Oh, no, I'm a teacher…Well, out of work teacher. I had only been working a year when they needed to lay off a few. I just grew up on a shrine in Tokyo."

"Huh. I'm originally from Tokyo too. Kita district."

"What? No way, me too," the girl gave him a chuckle and a side glance.

"Have you ever visited the Higurashi Shrine there?"

Inuyasha let out a bark of laughter.

"I'm a demon, we don't visit shrines that don't belong to us." Although…Higurashi… Higurashi… That sounded so familiar…Kagome wasn't exactly a common name, either. Something clicked into place, so he turned to her, suddenly suspicious "Wait, you wouldn't happen to have gone to Midoriyama community college have you?"

"Yeah I did." She answered honestly, "Did-did you go there as well?"

Inuyasha nodded, "No wonder I recognize your name. I remember those art pieces they would hang up with your name on it. They were really good."

Kagome blushed and brought up a hand to hide her cheeks, "Oh man, you remember those. I can't believe it."

"Tch- I thought they were nice. Obviously Professor Suzuki did too, or else he wouldn't have put them in the gallery." Kagome squeaked and threw her hands over her mouth, now beet red. Inuyasha felt a little embarrassed about her reaction, he had really embarrassed her. He glanced back at the demon they tied up and nudged him with his foot. The demon was still out cold.

"Thanks," She said quietly. They were silent for a moment.

"Ack!" Kagome straightened suddenly, "I still needed to use the phone. My car!"

"Oh!" Inuyasha realized the reason she was even there in the first place. He pointed to the back again with his thumb, "I guess you are welcome to use it again if you want. I doesn't really matter at this point. But…"

"Hm?" Kagome stopped to look at him.

"I could give you a ride to wherever if you want. It'll take forever for anyone to get out here to fix it."

Kagome gave him a genuine smile and Inuyasha felt his heart skip, "I appreciate that. Let me call them now so they can be on their way." She headed to the back again.

Inuyasha glanced around at the mess of the front the stupid demon had made. He grumbled about having to clean it up later.

But that Kagome, he did remember her art. It was always caught his eye when he was going to school. That was back when he went anyway. It's been awhile now that he thought about it. She was talented. What was she doing that she needed to come out here in the middle of nowheresville?

"Thanks. You were right," Kagome announced rounding the corner from the backroom, "They said they'll be here in five hours or so. We really are in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah I figured as much."

"You think I could get a ride to my motel or something? So I can walk back to my car in the morning to meet with the guy."

"Sure I can." Inuyasha didn't want that to be the last he would see of her. There had to be something, "Here, I can give you my number, I can drive you back to your car in the morning. It's no big deal."

Kagome smiled and reached into her purse for her cellphone and then her shoulders deflated, "Err my phone is dead I forgot. How about I give you my number instead. You can just text me so I know it's you."

Inuyasha easily slipped her his phone and watched as she put herself in his contacts. She giggled at the wallpaper and handed it back to him.

They were silent again. Kagome coughed and tried to fill the silence, "So… You were taking Professor Suzuki's classes. Did you go onto get an art degree?" Yeah, that might explain why he was working a minimum wage job in something that was decidedly not art. He kinda felt bad for artsy people.

"Naw, I was terrible," Inuyasha scoffed, "I just needed an elective."

"I'm sure you weren't that bad." Kagome gave him a reassuring smile.

Inuyasha deadpanned.

"No, I know what I'm good at, and it's not art. I'm better at math." Kagome seemed to accept his answer.

"So what degree did you get? Pharmacy? Engineering?"

"Neither," He said shortly, "I'm more surprised you didn't get an art degree, I thought with art like yours, that's what you would do. But a teacher?"

Kagome sat on the stool behind the counter and relaxed her feet, "Well I love children, so it's always been my dream to be a teacher. Art for me is just fun." She looked at him distractedly for a moment trying to piece together why he would be working here. He could tell. He really didn't want to tell her.

Where were those cops anyway? You would think they'd be here by now. He pushed the gun to the side of the counter and leaned against it looking down at the dark haired beauty.

"That's unexpected." He couldn't stand kids. Not, not that he hung around them often.

And it was silent again.

"So what are you doing out here? Midoriyama is like a hundred miles away from here." She finally asked like she's been wanting.

"That's," Inuyasha took a moment to think, "Well I was only there for about a year or so."

"You dropped out?" She looked surprised.

"…well a lot happened. I wasn't able to keep up with classwork," he told her vaguely. His eyes widened a touch. He didn't want her to think he had a kid or something.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. My…my mother passed and there was some trouble with her will within the family and…I couldn't really deal with all the bullshit so I moved around until I came out here to get away from it all." He frowned, staring down in front of himself and crossing his arms.

"I'm so sorry."

Inuyasha gave her a small smile, "Thanks."

"You ever have thoughts about going back to school?"

"I've thought about it. But." He trailed off. He didn't want to discuss his financial struggles with her. He already had so many things going against him at this point.

The tied up demon let out a small groan and Inuyasha was grateful for the interruption. He gave the demon a well-deserved kick to the head and growled, "Where are those cops anyway? They don't normally take this long!"

As if on cue the sound of sirens filled the small lot. The flashing lights glowing through the front windows.

"Oh good!" Kagome said jumping up.

"Finally," Inuyasha leaned back against the counter as the officers trickled in. He pointed to the unconscious crook on the floor lazily.

…..

The cops drove away just as Inuyasha's coworker, Takeshi, came to take his morning shift, just as the sun was rising.

"What the hell happened?"

"Attempted robbery, and guess what?" Inuyasha said, throwing a rag to the human man, "it's now your shift, and your turn to clean it up. Good luck with the slurpee mess."

Inuyasha headed over to his car where Kagome was waiting for him. The only car in the parking lot besides the blue Honda Takeshi drove up in.

"I know the hotel near here that you're staying at." He said as he started up the vehicle, "Just give me a call when you are ready to go."

Kagome laughed, "Will do! I think after tonight I'll sleep like a baby."

Inuyasha didn't think he would get any sleep waiting for her phone call.

The road was rocky but Inuyasha was right and they were at her motel in a matter of minutes. Inuyasha pulled up to the entrance to let Kagome out. Kagome pulled her bag from the back and turned to Inuyasha.

"You know I never got your name." She said sheepishly.

Oh now that he thought about it, yeah, he never did give her his name.

"Inuyasha."

"Well, thank you for today Inuyasha." Kagome opened the door and got out. She turned back to give him a small wave. He liked it when she said his name. Inuyasha waved back rolling down his window.

"More like I should say thank you. You're the one who saved me." Kagome's face shifted slowly, to one of realization. Looks like she had almost forgotten. Inuyasha was still smiling when she looked back up at him. She returned the smile.

"I guess I did."

…..

Inuyasha wiped his face with a rag as he finished up for the day at his second job and went to change his clothes. He worked hard on an onion farm during harvest season. It was seasonal work, hard work, but he needed whatever money he could get. A single guy could barely live off a convenience store job alone, so the seasonal work was needed if he wanted to put gas in his tank.

When he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he saw a text from a number he thought fondly of. He hadn't spoken to her since he dropped her off at her car a few days ago. Kagome Higurashi, the teacher who was an amazing artist in her free time.

'I got the job! Pancakes to celebrate after your shift? I don't really know anyone else in town.'

'Definitely. You found your way to the diner?'

Inuyasha was kind of glad Kagome didn't know anyone else in town, yet. He liked that he was the one she contacted. They chatted about their days in Tokyo, and how odd it was that the two of them had lived within a few miles of one another but had never actually seen each other's face until they both ended up out in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from home.

When they decided they were thoroughly stuffed, and may need to be rolled home, Inuyasha mentioned the blackberry festival that was going on in the next town over. It would be kind of neat to go to. So they went together. By the end of the night, when the last fireworks died down, Kagome mentioned that it was kind of like a date, and so Inuyasha asked her on an official date. Okay, she was happy to go with him anywhere.

One date turned into two, into three, and soon enough, Inuyasha moved in with Kagome. He would scoff and tell her is was for financial reasons, but Kagome knew. She knew from pretty early on that he was in love with her, and loved being around her. She loved him too.

Maybe it was fate.

...

This was a collaborative work between Grapefruitwannabe and myself! It was so much fun to do! She wanted to add a make out scene, but maybe for the next one?