Author's Note: I made it. Holy shit, I made it.

Day 12 of the 12 Days of Witchyness

Come On Over

Inuyasha Taisho lived what he would call a normal life. He lived in an apartment just north of a city and took the train every day. To work, and from work. His job as a personal trainer would have been far greater within his own town, but it was a little too small. He just needed to build a base of clientele and hopefully – hopefully – within a couple of years he could open up shop on his own.

But that was really it, for him. Inuyasha went to work and came home from work. He'd have dinner, watch a little bit of TV, and then went for a nighttime jog around the park. By the time he got back, it was just hydrating, showering and prepping the next day.

Nothing exciting, but Inuyasha didn't need excitement.

His best friend whole-heartedly disagreed.

"Inuyasha," Miroku whined, his voice cutting out a little. The train was miserable for phone conversations. "Come on! You never go out."

"That's because I don't want to go out," the half-demon replied, scowling. His best friend couldn't see it, but whatever. "I don't care what bar it is."

"But you need to live a little! Have some fun while you're young."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not."

"Come on! What are you doing tonight?"

That was always the worst question because the answer was always nothing. Still, Inuyasha would rather cut himself than go out to a bar where it was far too loud and far too crowded. The thought of people pushing up against him while his ears bled internally did nothing to get him excited. "No, Miroku."

"But–"

"No."

His best friend whined. "Fine, but you're a terrible wingman."

Yeah, right. Inuyasha rolled his eyes at that one, mainly because Miroku had been lusting over this one bartender for months now. Miroku didn't need a wingman; he needed a miracle. "We'll talk later, my stop is here."

"Ugh, I hate you."

"Right back at ya." Inuyasha ended the call and stood up, grabbing the seats as he walked closer to the doors. The train slowly came to a halt, its last shuddering jolt sending a few humans stumbling. One of them he recognized as the woman he lived across the hall from him. He eyed her to make sure she wasn't about to crumble to the ground but she managed to keep her footing, latching on to one of the handles. Getting out of the train was always a massive rush, particularly at their stop. It was one of the busiest for miles, making it always a shoving match to get on or off on time.

When dark brown eyes met his gaze, Inuyasha realized with a start that he was still looking at her. The woman bit her lip, her cheeks flushing as she turned her head away to look at anyone besides him. Her embarrassment was kind of cute, in a weird sort of way.

He was pretty sure her name was Kagome. Kagome H? He didn't really remember because last time they spoke was only briefly at 3 a.m. when the fire alarm had gone off in their building. She had introduced herself but Inuyasha was shit with names anyways. She was pretty though, with long black hair and dark eyes. She was a nice enough neighbour. Considering Inuyasha had complaints about virtually everyone else on his floor, that was a big deal.

The train doors opened. Inuyasha hesitated for a second before making his way to stand closer to her. She spared him a wide-eyed glance before Inuyasha turned away, pushing his way out the doors. His demonic heritage wasn't exactly subtle and humans knew a little better than to try and push against a demon. It would only lead to them knocking themselves out somehow, or falling to the ground. At least this way, Kagome was able to follow him out if she stuck close behind.

On the platform, it was a lot easier to breathe. Inuyasha took a deep breath, ignoring the smell of the train and trying to focus on the fresh air. He hated transit for the smells alone, so many people packed into one place. It was always difficult on his senses, no matter how often he took it.

"Hey," the woman said, stepping into his sight line. She gave him a small smile. "Uh, thanks for that. I rarely take the train and I always forget how hard it is to get off here."

"Yeah, it's a shitty stop." Inuyasha shrugged. They fell into step with each other, both of them clearly headed back to their apartments. It was only then that he kind of regretted his decision. Now they had to do the whole awkward-walk-back thing, where they didn't actually talk or if they did, it would be forced and kind of awful.

"You're Inuyasha, right?"

So they were going down the forced and awful conversation route then. Alright. "Yeah." He tried not to cringe. "And you're Kagome?"

She nodded, a little too vigorously. Great, then. "Do you work downtown?"

"Pretty much," he answered. "It's not the heart of city, so not as far."

"And what do you do?"

At least she seemed to have a few questions stacked up. That was a blessing, considering Inuyasha would have no idea what to say if she ran out. "I do personal training at a gym on the east side."

For a second, Kagome just stared at him. Then, like a switch had flipped, she turned away and starting coughing, her hand pressing in her mouth as if she was trying to stop it. That…couldn't be healthy. "Oh, good," she forced out, coughing a little more. "You do look healthy."

Inuyasha frowned a little. Healthy?

"And you run all the time, so I guess that makes sense."

How the hell did she know that?

His complete and utter confusion must have shown because she blushed again, jumping into action. "Not like– No, I mean, I've seen you coming back from runs enough time to put two and two together, you know? I'm usually doing laundry at night so you're leaving or coming back when I'm like…dying from carrying my laundry up five floors."

"Isn't there an elevator?"

"You still have to hold it while you go up," Kagome argued. She pointed at him then, awkwardness finally gone. "And unlike you, I'm a small and weak thing."

Inuyasha had…absolutely no good response for that.

"How long have you been in the building for?" she asked, switching tracks.

The half-demon could only guess. He couldn't really remember. "Like eight years?"

"That's a long time," Kagome mused, tilting her head. "It's a nice place but I didn't realize it was that nice."

"Not about nice," he replied. "More about me not wanting to move. It was my first place and got me through school. Downtown is expensive as shit and we're close to the train station anyways. Made more sense."

Kagome hummed at that. "I had to practically beg my mother to let me move out. She's always been worried about me leaving the house and being on my own."

He'd never really had much family, so Inuyasha had no idea what that was like. His older half-brother had been happy to get rid of him and his parents were both long dead. "What made her give in?"

"Uh." Kagome made some sort of face, a weird ass expression Inuyasha had no idea how to interpret. The woman gave him the side-eye before laughing, a little bit hysterically. "When we came to check the place out, I guess I managed to convince her somehow."

Inuyasha grabbed the apartment building's door and when Kagome scanned her entry card, the locks disengaged. They entered together, heading towards the elevator. It didn't feel uncomfortable like in the beginning, but really only Kagome had contributed to the conversation. He was pretty thankful for that. If they had just walked in silence, Inuyasha would have lost his damn mind.

They pressed the button for the fifth floor and slowly the old thing started to rise. Their building was old but at least it was clean, a far cry than a lot of other buildings in the area.

"Well, thanks again for earlier," Kagome said, giving him a smile. "I appreciate it. Like I said, 'small and weak.'"

"I'm pretty sure you would've been fine."

The woman stared at him for a second longer before her smile grew, eyes darting away. "Yeah, maybe. Who knows."

Their apartments were on the other side of the floor, so they walked in silence to their respective entrances. Inuyasha already had his keys in hand, ready to go inside. He could hear Kagome behind him, unlocking hers. He opened his mouth, made a stupid face at this empty apartment and then said, "Have a good night."

"Oh, you too!" she said cheerfully. When he looked over, she was waving. Her door closed and for a second, there was dead silence.

And then a very sharp, very loud bang on Kagome's front door.

Inuyasha frowned but went inside of his apartment anyways. It was time to start dinner.

Miroku kept threatening to come to his place and steal him away for a night of fun.

Inuyasha answered him once, a sharp No, Miroku. He then proceeded to ignore his friend's constant pleas in favour of getting ready for a run. They were empty threats anyways. Inuyasha knew his best friend and if there was one thing Miroku was smart about, it was listening to Inuyasha's limits. He just complained a lot.

When he locked up his apartment, his golden gaze searched around for any sign of his neighbour. The hall was quiet though and he didn't see any familiar long black hair.

Oh, well.

Inuyasha pocketed his keys and made his way outside.

The run had been a little on the cooler side, but Inuyasha loved the ability to just run and not think about anything. All he knew was the burning in his legs, the movement of his lungs with each inhale and exhale. He never pushed himself too hard – that was at the gym, during his time off – but it was still nice to get away, to take a break from the solitude of his apartment.

He didn't even think to check the hallways on his way back into his place, too tired from the run and wanting nothing more than a hot shower. He could relax afterwards, his lunch for the next day already prepared. Maybe he'd finish watching the last season of The Office, finally.

The shower was fucking heaven.

Inuyasha was in the middle of towel-drying his hair when there were loud, impatient knocks on his front door. The half-demon froze, glaring at the mirror like it would answer all of his questions. Who the hell was knocking on his door, and why the hell now?

It had to be Miroku. Stupid best friends who always wanted to go out. Apparently, his threats weren't as empty as Inuyasha had initially believed them to be. Jesus, how desperate was he to start dating that bartender chick?

He wasn't wearing a shirt, but he had his sweatpants on at least. Whatever, it was only Miroku. Served him right, anyways.

The knocking was still going on, so Inuyasha growled as he opened the door. "What the hell, Miro–"

It wasn't Miroku.

It wasn't Miroku.

Kagome stood at his door, wearing nothing but a big, fluffy bathrobe. She looked extremely uncomfortable but her eyes widened as she took him in. Her dark eyes seemed to involuntarily scan him from head to toe, lingering on his chest before she turned completely red and spun around on her heel. "Never mind!" she yelled, overly loud. "It's fine! My bad! I'll survive!"

"What?" Inuyasha asked, crossing his arms. He wasn't an idiot, he knew he looked good. Inuyasha worked hard to ensure that he did because that was pretty important for his job. Usually, he hated it when other people checked him out, never really feeling overly comfortable. Maybe it was because he knew Kagome – not really, but at least a little – so it wasn't so bad.

Actually, it kind of felt…good?

"Nope, nothing," Kagome replied, waving at him like that would mean anything. "I'm really sorry. You got back to doing…that."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes because here they were, standing just inside their own doorways and yelling across the hell. "Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Uh, well." Kagome turned red again. "I have a bit of a problem."

Inuyasha almost sighed at the vagueness of it all – why wouldn't she just say it? – but he stepped out of his apartment and shut the door. "Like what?"

"Uh." Kagome kept staring at his ears, like looking him in the eye would cause her some sort of distress. "It's super embarrassing."

Inuyasha raised a brow, because really? She had been anxiously knocking at his door in a fluffy bathrobe in the middle of their hallway. They were kind of long past that.

"There's a spider," she blurted out, making the last word sound like the greatest kind of horror. "And it's hanging in the doorway, you know the one that separates our bedroom and bathroom? Uh, wait, is your place like mine?"

How the hell would he know?

"Anyways, I need to start getting ready for tomorrow but it's just hanging there and I'm terrified of them and I was really, really hoping you'd get rid of it for me." Kagome took a deep breath and still wouldn't look him in the eye. "Please?"

"A spider."

"Yeah."

"You're scared of spiders?"

"A lot of people are scared of spiders, don't get all holier-than-thou on me, Inuyasha."

Maybe it was the glare that she levelled his way – finally, finally looking at him – or maybe it was the way she said his name. Inuyasha couldn't stop the smirk from sliding over his face, couldn't stop himself from walking over to her apartment. "Just show me where it is."

"Oh, thank god," Kagome praised. "You amazing. Yes, thank you. I'll owe you. I don't know what, but I will."

He waved her off. "It's fine. Really."

It turned out that her place was basically a complete replica of his own. When she gestured down the one tiny hall, he knew instantly what she was talking about. There, hanging from the old white trim of the door frame, was a spider. It was innocently hanging there, living its life. "Do you have a shoe or something I can use?"

"What?" Kagome asked. "No! You're not supposed to kill it! Just take it outside or something."

"Seriously?" he asked, incredulous. "You want me to take it outside?"

"I'm not a monster."

"Well, you're something alright."

"Hey!"

Inuyasha sighed. "Fine! Then at least get me something to take it out on."

Kagome disappeared for a moment and came back with paper towels. He took it from her, noticing the way her eyes stared at his stomach before pointedly looking away. "Do you ever wear a shirt?"

Oh, yeah. Inuyasha hadn't really forgotten, but he didn't exactly go to his neighbours often for emergency spider duty. Putting a shirt on hadn't really crossed his mind. "Uh, I can get one?"

"No, no," Kagome replied, shaking her head and making yet another face. "It's fine. You're just…dripping. Still."

"I had literally just gotten out of a shower."

"Apparently."

Inuyasha smirked but he took the paper towel and turned his attention back to the spider. It was easy enough to tangle him up in it, being careful to not squish it as he bundled it up. Kagome was already making her way back to the front door, opening it up for him. He placed the paper towel on the ground and unraveled it.

The spider sat there, refusing to move.

"You scared it," Kagome stated, pointing at it. "Now we need to wait."

"I'm sure the hallway will survive if you leave the paper towel out for a bit."

"I'll feel guilty."

Inuyasha crinkled his nose at her, confused. "You're weird."

"And you're polite."

"Hey! I came over and helped you with your spider problem."

"I'm so grateful."

"That sounded sarcastic."

Kagome blinked up at him, batting her eyelashes. "I don't know what you mean."

Inuyasha pursed his lips together but he couldn't stop it. Abruptly he laughed, the feeling bubbling up and out of his chest. "You're so weird."

Instead of being insults, the brown-eyed woman was smiling at him. "I'm told it's endearing."

"Holy shit!"

Oh no. Oh no.

Inuyasha stared at the shocked face of his best friend in horror. Miroku was standing there, blue eyes wide, hands pressed against his cheeks. "Wait," Inuyasha said, trying to hold him off but he should have known better.

"Wow, so when you said you were doing nothing later you actually meant—" Miroku's grin was wicked. "Inuyasha, how could you not tell me?!"

"This is so not what it looks like," Inuyasha tried.

"Uh huh." Miroku winked. What an idiot. "Because you soaking wet from a shower, shirtless, and her in nothing but a bathrobe doesn't send any mixed messages at all."

"There was a spider!" Kagome yelled, the first thing she'd said all along.

"A spider, yeah." Miroku winked again like a raging asshole. "It's okay; I get it. Inuyasha, you owe me for this deception."

"There's no deception!" Inuyasha flailed. "We haven't—"

"It's okay! I'm going to go." Miroku held up his hands in supplication although he had no idea what was really going on. "Inuyasha, you better call me tomorrow."

There was no point in fighting him anymore. Inuyasha sighed dramatically. "Yeah, whatever."

"Good night, you too! Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Miroku wandered back down the hall, disappearing from sight. Inuyasha stared at the place he had last been, irritated.

"Was that…your friend?" Kagome asked tentatively.

"Unfortunately."

Kagome nodded. "He seems nice."

"He's not." Inuyasha sighed. "He's a good friend though. A complete idiot, but a good friend."

"Sorry I ruined your plans," Kagome murmured, actually sounded upset.

"Trust me, there weren't any. I was just going to watch The Office."

Her entire face lit up, dark eyes wide. "I love that show!"

Inuyasha stared at her. For a moment, he just imagined: the two of them on the couch, watching it together. Maybe cuddled together, maybe just laughing and sharing looks. It seemed easy, somehow, to picture this weird woman with him, by his side.

"Did you, uh—" Inuyasha scratched at his face, stupidly nervous for no reason at all. Kagome wasn't anything scary. Small and weak, like she said. What was the worst she could do? "Did you want to watch it with me?" His voice sounded awkward at the end, high-pitched and stammering.

Instantly Kagome grinned at him, forcing those fear-based thoughts disappear. "I really need to have a shower quick, but would like 20 minutes work? Do you mind waiting?"

It would mess up Inuyasha's regular schedule. It would ruin the delicate balance he had perfected over the years. The half-demon didn't care. "Yeah, that works." He gestured at himself, not looking away. "I'll put on a shirt this time."

"Honestly? Please don't." Kagome laughed a little. "Or you know, do. Whatever you prefer."

Inuyasha smirked. "Okay. My door will be unlocked."

"Okay." Kagome licked her lips, never dropping his gaze.

He found himself watching and what the hell, how was this happening? "I'll see you soon."

Kagome nodded and then slowly he walked out, the door closing behind him.

Well, he thought to himself. This was happening.

Exactly twenty-three minutes later, Kagome knocked on his door.

Inuyasha answered, having been waiting at the door the whole time. He'd never admit it but one look from Kagome seemed to quell whatever tension he was feeling. She smiled at him, big and wide with wet hair piled in a bun on top of her head. She wasn't wearing a bathrobe but sweatpants and a t-shirt.

And he liked that. The lack of… Well, he just kind of appreciated her.

Weird that they never really talked before.

"Hey," Kagome greeted. She held up a bottle of wine. "It is Friday."

"Yeah, that works."

Neither of them were moving, both of them just standing there in his doorway. Inuyasha didn't know what he wanted to do, but moving inside just seemed so…

"Can I—?" Kagome leaned up, slow and sure. Her hand rested on his chest, her dark gaze never leaving his. She gave him tons of time, to move back or duck away. But he didn't. Call him crazy, but there was nothing less that Inuyasha wanted to do than to move away.

He nodded, barely moving and then Kagome brushed her lips against his, the barest of pressures. Inuyasha could feel her smile, could smell her soap from the shower and the shampoo she used.

He wanted to keep kissing her but it ended far too quickly. She leaned back and looked at him, eyes wide and dark. She licked her lips and he couldn't resist watching, tracing them with his eyes. It was so strange how compelled he felt, considering they had only just started to talk today.

"Yeah," she said slowly, voice deeper than usual. "Best decision I ever made when I told my mom you were a police officer so I'd be safe to live here."

Inuyasha blinked, processing. Wait... She said- "What?!"

Kagome laughed, happy and light as she pushed her way into his apartment. She could hear her moving towards the kitchen, settling herself in.

He wanted to learn more. He wanted to figure out exactly what that story meant.

But mostly, he wanted to see what it'd be like to kiss that smile off her face. Shutting the front door, Inuyasha smirked to himself.

He'd find out shortly.

It's 12:06am but i've been typing the rest of this story out on my phone AND posting on my phone. Please forgive any mistakes.

I will respond to every lovely review and message shortly, but I wanted to thank you ALL for everything these last 12 days. I love you.

Witchy