Words: 3,190
Disclaimer: lol i'm totally late to the party, logically i don't own anything
Notes: It started raining here in Ottawa the other day and it kept fluctuating between English-weather-type drizzles and torrential Asian summer rains, and so this idea and oneshot was born. It's my first completed fic for the Inuyasha fandom but I consider it one of my exercise pieces because I'm not completely satisfied with the overall quality and also because it's the first fic I've completed in months! I hope it's still a decent read, though. Do leave comments and questions!
under this blessed rain
They always seem to meet when it's raining.
It doesn't matter what type of rain - whether it's drizzle that's similar to the rain over in London (the one time Kagome had gone with her family, it had rained the entire time; 24/7 English rain spitting gloom all over her short and dismal vacation) or the harsh Japanese summer rains she loves so dearly. She manages to find him every time.
It's an age old sentiment, but she finds rain to be truly wonderful. Anything goes - light rain, heavy rain, drizzles and storms, and she's always thought that different rains tell different stories, which is why every time she hears the steady rumble of a storm on the pavements of Tokyo, she's there at the closest window in seconds. The heaviest rains spin the most dramatic tales; they don't whisper lullabies nor do they titter gentle bedtime stories, they speak of legends and adventure, boastful and epic myths that can keep her awake and dreaming at the same time.
It's fitting, she thinks, that the rain is almost always heavy whenever she meets the hanyou with the silver hair tied high on his head that cascades down to the small of his back. He entrances her just as well, if not much more, than the most relentless storm.
She doesn't even know his name.
x-x-x
She works part-time during school terms and full-time during holidays to save up for university. Her family's shrine can only earn so much in the rapid pace of an evolving and recuperating economy and she's accepted that they probably won't be able to afford to send her to a university in Tokyo this year, even if she did pass her dreaded exams. But honestly? That's fine.
She wouldn't know what to study anyway.
There's a humble little clinic that specializes in pediatrics on the corner of the street about a twenty minute walk from the Higurashi shrine, across from other private stores and restaurants scattered around that street. Kagome's boss, the clinic's head nurse, is like a second grandmother of sorts: strict but fair, the physical embodiment of tough love. As the clinic's secretary, it's hard work but it pays rather well and she learns quite a lot on the job and even gets to take care of the kids sometimes.
She'd caught her first glimpse of the hanyou across the window when she was just starting her job as secretary, tidying the clinic after another busy day (the damn influenza was acting up again and even bright and healthy Shippo had come down with the symptoms of the flu). The sun had long set hours ago, blanketing Kagome's corner of Tokyo in a muggy spread of indigo and grey. The moon and stars had chosen to hibernate for the evening, hidden by the heavy clouds, and the rain had blurred the sidewalks and softened the glow of all the streetlights. It was when Kagome had finished closing up the clinic for the night and was bracing herself for the quick run home – she'd forgotten to bring an umbrella again – when she almost stumbled on the sidewalk, distracted by a wink of silver light directly across the street.
The lights of the ramen shop had flickered off as she righted herself and Kagome was able to see the boy's ponytail of silver hair before he ducked under a red umbrella – of all the colors – and proceed to stand there contently under the rain. Kagome clearly remembers frowning and standing on the doormat of the clinic to watch the hanyou in confusion. She could just barely make out the twitching outline of dog-like ears on his head from her distance but had been positive that his eyes were closed. To Kagome, it had looked like he was just enjoying the rain under his red umbrella, his face awash with a serene expression that she was sure matched her own features whenever she was enjoying a storm.
Like an absolute idiot, she'd stood there watching the boy with the red umbrella, the rain splattering puddle water onto her socks and shins. He was handsome, there was no doubt about that, but handsome in many ways. He had a kind of regal look in the arch of his dark brows, a rebellious and seemingly permanent downward curl on his lips, but also a softness in his eyes, their color the warmest of golds. Maybe he wasn't just handsome, he was downright beautiful.
And then he'd looked directly in front of him, directly at her, finally noticing the stranger across the street who was observing him harder than he'd been observing the rain. He seemed to take note of the very obvious fact that she was without an umbrella and found it amusing - she'd been quite sure that she'd seen him scoff from across the street, his lips turning up one corner, before he turned and started to walk away from the ramen store.
Kagome had stood there for a few more seconds, her cheeks slowly rising in color with embarrassment – well done, Kagome, you brainless girl – before giving her head a little shake, taking a deep breath, and sprinting the opposite direction of the boy, not stopping once until she reached the dry sanctuary of her home.
x-x-x
Perhaps the fates and the gods of rain and thunder are on their side, or at least, that's what Kagome likes to think.
She catches fleeting glimpses of the boy with the red umbrella for the next few months but it's not until a dreadfully grey, rainy and cold February afternoon (not quite Valentines Day, but almost Valentines Day, Kagome remembers) that she finally learns his name.
They're both frequently sent to the Excelsior a few stores down on Kagome's side of the street because both their bosses have caffeine cravings and it's the only decent cafe within a ten minute walk of the area. She'd gone on another coffee run for her boss at the rather empty cafe and had started up a pleasant, if not slightly flirty chat with the barista (she's a regular there, they're buddies, and besides, she knows Miroku has a thing for Sango). The conversation across the cashier suddenly became the last thing on her mind when Sango had called "here's your Grande Americano, Inuyasha!" from the other end of the counter and a flash of red darted forward in the corner of her eye.
"Thanks, Sango," the boy with the red umbrella had grunted and it was really all she could do not to reduce herself to the same mute and gaping idiot she'd been a few months ago.
Inuyasha is one of the strangest names she's ever heard but even when she'd first rolled the name off of her impatient lips in the privacy of the clinic's office later that day, it had tasted like humility and power at the same time. Gods, it's so embarrassingly silly how bad she has it for this guy, the guy with the red umbrella and the bright eyes and the fascinating name and the annoyingly beautiful face. She knows she doesn't have time to act like a lovestruck girl in high school but frankly, that's what she is. She hasn't graduated yet so she might as well learn to live with it.
The fact that the hanyou is so easy on the eyes doesn't hurt either.
The hanyou – Inuyasha – had looked towards Kagome on his way out, recognizing her without missing a beat. He'd eyed the mint green umbrella she held at her side and threw her another amused smirk, giving Kagome a view she just knew would burn into her memory until the next time she'd get to be so close to him. While she'd watched him walk across the street under the rain with the coffee cup in one set of – were those claws? – and his red umbrella in the other hand, completely missing the knowing looks Miroku and Sango were throwing each other, she'd already known that she'd see him again the next time it rained.
x-x-x
And she does.
She's closing up the clinic again at the end of March after a relatively slow and easy day. By now, she's pretty much graduated and she assumes that he is too, since he must be at least around her age if not a year or two older. Where she'll go from here - she's not sure. Her mother and grandfather are fine with her maintaining her job at the clinic to earn money and she'll have to keep studying for the next round of university exams in September but those feel like eons away, and she's feeling haggard, tired, and frankly a little hopeless after seeing her friends off to the universities of their dreams.
Once, her homeroom teacher had the audacity to ask Kagome what's next for her. What's "next"? How is she supposed to know "what's next" when it's hard enough knowing what she'll be doing next week?
She knows she really shouldn't, but Kagome tries not to dwell on any of it. She blocks out the big F word adults always ask about and builds walls around herself, despite her friends' and mother's supportive words. She's been a bit of a mess recently with the end of the school year and preparing for her graduation ceremony, but she's trying to get her head back on straight now that the most she has to worry about is her job at the clinic. It's a slow process (getting back on her feet and finding that steadiness that everyone but her seems to have) and she knows it – she knows it in her gut, her mind, her heart – but even accepting that is going to take some time.
It's a good thing she has a lot of it from here on out.
Kagome ties up her hair in a loose ponytail and looks at the window, sighing. She'd neglected to bring an umbrella in the morning again because it had been such fine Spring weather, complete with a gleaming sun and fluffy clouds before Mother Nature herself had apparently decided to turn the tables on Kagome and give her a nice, heavy downpour.
Don't get her wrong, Kagome still loves a good storm when she's indoors.
(She's not a total idiot.)
"Ahh, Mama, why don't I ever listen to you anymore…" she mutters to herself from her perch on the waiting room's sofa, leaning her chin on her hand wistfully. She's contemplating waiting out the storm until it's a little more bearable and a little less terrifying, but her stomach's been rumbling nonstop for the last hour, the office's fridge only has a cup of yogurt that might not even be safe to eat, and it really is getting dark, even without the storm clouds.
"You can do this, Kagome!" she exclaims, deciding there and then to sprint home again and risk catching a cold if it means she'll be rewarded with some of her mother's home-cooked katsu-don and a nice long soak in the tub. She gets up from the sofa immediately at the thought of a hot bath and grabs her purse from the coffee table.
"That's right, it's just a bit of rain!" she adds resolutely as she pushes open the entrance of the clinic to face the weather, only to find that it had intensified into a torrential rain in the last few seconds. Kagome stands under the roof of the clinic's entrance, her resolve almost wavering before she reaches up and smacks her cheeks a few times and turns around to lock the clinic door.
"It's just a little rain!" she repeats, dropping the master key into her purse and zipping it up. Turning around, she slings the shoulder of her purse across her front and grasps the bag tightly, taking a deep breath before stepping forward–
–and stopping in her tracks.
There, making his way across the empty road directly towards her is none other than Inuyasha himself, silver hair tied back in a loose ponytail near the nape of his neck. He's looking her way but not exactly looking at her. Actually, he's kind of shaking his head – why, Kagome's not sure – but there's a glimmer of that smirk again, lingering on the edge of his cheek, as if it's eager to show itself to Kagome again. She kind of wishes it would.
"Uh, hi?" Kagome greets him eloquently, realizing in the back of her mind that this is the first time she's spoken to him. He doesn't return her greeting verbally but nods towards her, stopping in his tracks on the sidewalk in front of the clinic.
"Forgot your umbrella again?" he asks, to which Kagome laughs nervously in response.
"It wasn't raining this morning," she explains, shrugging one shoulder. Inuyasha nods in understanding and tilts his head upwards, peering at the clouds above and taking a sniff of the rain. Kagome guesses it's probably a hanyou thing. He does seem to be half dog if his ears are of any indication.
"It is pretty bad isn't it," he mumbles loud enough for her to hear. "But it's just a little rain."
Kagome snaps her eyes upwards to meet his at those words.
"It'll clear out eventually," he finishes, reaching up with one hand to scratch the side of his head. Kagome blinks. He's nervous. She's absolutely, one-thousand-percent positive. She'd recognize nervous ticks anywhere, she practically invented some of them herself. She's about to ask him what exactly he wants from her or if she can help him with anything or why the heck he's so nervous when he suddenly thrusts his umbrella towards her, immediately dousing himself in rain. Part of Kagome's brain faints on the spot: if a dry Inuyasha was beautiful, then a wet Inuyasha is breathtaking.
"Ehh - what - I can't take that!" snapping back to her current situation, Kagome adamantly refuses Inuyasha's offer, raising her hands and shaking them in front of her.
"Keh," Inuyasha scoffs at her meager attempts to deny one of his very rare demonstrations of kindness before reaching up and grabbing one of her wrists gently.
"Just take it," he says firmly but in a voice so soft that Kagome can't help but allow him to place the red umbrella's handle in her fingers.
"What about you?" she stammers. Inuyasha gives her a funny look that's a mix of "what about me?" and "who cares?" before gesturing to himself.
"I'm already all wet anyway," he tells her casually.
You certainly are, Kagome thinks.
"But you'll catch your death in this weather," she tries again. This time, Inuyasha actually barks out a laugh.
"Me? Please. I might just be a hanyou but it's gonna take more than a little rain to bring me down," he snorts in amusement, muttering "catch my death, hilarious" to himself before turning away from Kagome and beginning his walk home.
"Eh, wait, is this really okay!?" Kagome runs forward a few steps after him but stops when he raises a hand nonchalantly in response.
"My apartment's nearby. Just come by the ramen place tomorrow for lunch or something and give it back to me then!" he replies without looking back and while Kagome registers his behavior as bordering on a little rude, he did just give her his umbrella to borrow in this storm.
The 18-year-old sighs and turns around, muttering "Well, I guess it can't be helped," to herself before walking home. When she passes the clinic a few steps later, she stops in her tracks, remembering Inuyasha's words.
Just come by the ramen place tomorrow for lunch or something.
Woah.
Woah, woah, woah, wait, did he just –
No, she's reading too deeply into his words.
Yeah, way too deep. He probably just wants his umbrella back.
But – if he did mean what she thinks he might have meant, then the boy's definitely smoother than silk.
Kagome giggles. She can't help it, she chortles with laughter under the Spring rain and splashes into a large puddle near the clinic in delirious glee, not caring that it'll stain her white socks. She walks a little faster, twirling the red umbrella – Inuyasha's umbrella – in her hand, its vibrant color casting a soft red glow onto the sidewalk.
There's no guarantee anything might happen between them of course. If anything, he'll turn out to be a jerk who probably yelled and scoffed a lot and their personalities will clash (and honestly, Kagome has a feeling she's not far from the truth), and the most they can become is friends, maybe close friends, but nice things have been rare for Kagome these days and she's not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
She practically skips home, the puddles littering the sidewalk splashing her calves and thighs, but instead of annoying her, the droplets tickle her skin and add to her boundless pace and infectious joy. Kagome's mother opens the door of the house before she can slide it open herself and sighs in relief at the sight of her more or less dry daughter.
"Thank goodness, I was about to go to the clinic and pick you up myself!" she hands Kagome a fluffy and warm peach towel that Kagome accepts gratefully and stands by patiently while the young girl wipes her arms and legs dry and removes her shoes and socks.
"Oh, you managed to borrow an umbrella from the clinic?" her mother asks, nodding towards Inuyasha's red umbrella. Kagome purses her lips to fight a smile that's threatening to blind her mother in its radiance.
"A friend," she replies vaguely, glancing downwards to shake the rain droplets off of the umbrella and missing her mother's slightly narrowed eyes. Obviously something is different about this particular umbrella and she knows that none of Kagome's friends have red umbrellas as far as she remembers. Call it a mother's intuition.
"Well, that was nice of them," Kagome's mother says, giving her daughter an opening to elaborate, not surprised when Kagome simply smiles tightly and nods in agreement. She shakes her head gently and takes the towel from her daughter. Her poor child's been troubled and stressed for the longest time, she deserves to have something (or someone apparently) that's just hers to cherish for once. She'll open up when she's ready.
"I'm glad you managed to get home without catching a cold. The rain is awful right now," she says, folding the towel over her arm. Next to her, Kagome smiles gently and leans the red umbrella against the shoe rack so she won't forget it tomorrow, though she seriously doubts that'll happen even if it doesn't rain.
"Oh, it's not so bad even if it's this heavy," Kagome reasons, rubbing her thumb on the handle of the umbrella, clearly lost in thought. "And it always clears up, right?"
Her mother turns to meet her daughter's eyes, seeing a light there that's been missing for the better part of the last year, and they exchange soft, understanding looks.
"Right."
fin
Notes: Right, so this didn't exactly deliver what I originally imagined when the idea first came to me but I guess that's normal. Let's just get this straight - I'm not painting Kagome as an idiot because I hate her, in fact, I love her, which is why I gave her loads of flaws and problems. Cool? Cool. Also - a few things to note about this oneshot:
1. Excelsior is a relatively popular cafe in Japan and it has a logo that looks suspiciously like the Starbucks logo.
2. Katsu-don, for those of you who don't know, is a popular Japanese dish made up of a bowl of rice topped with eggs and deep-fried pork cutlet, oh God I'm starving.
3. I guess Kagome's friends are so unfriendly that they've never leant her an umbrella, which is why her mom was suspicious about how Kagome managed to get an umbrella from a "friend".
4. Seeing as this was my first work for the Inuyasha fandom, I tried to implement phrases and sentences that best translated to Japanese phrases (i.e. "I guess it can't be helped" which is "shikatanai" in Japanese).
5. Kagome's boss is Kaede, Inuyasha's boss is probably Totosai, why not.
6. Kagome graduates in March because Japan's academic year is very different from the typical American academic year - the details are on Wikipedia if you're curious!
Thank you for reading, I hope it wasn't too cringe-y. If anything, hopefully you learned a lot about Japan, lololol.