A Fortunate Accident
Based on the Movie Serendipity
Summary: It's funny how fate plays it's part in one's life. Kagome is one to believe that. One fateful evening, she meets Inuyasha while doing some last minute Christmas shopping. After a miraculous night of fun and excitement, they part, leaving their chances of getting together all to fate (courtesy of Kagome) Years later, they're both engaged, but still hope to meet again, despite the many obstacles they face.
Author's note: Ok, this is going to be a drastic change in writing for me. Usually, I create my own plots, but I decided that this would make a great fic. By the way If you haven't seen the movie Serendipity (Starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale) you really should go see it. It's a great movie, one of my favorites. So, I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't Own Inuyasha, or any of its characters. They belong to the all-powerful Rumiko Takahashi. I don't own the plot either sigh That belongs to the writers and director of Serendipity (Mark Klien, Peter Chelsom)
So, without further ado, here we go!
A Fortunate Accident
Chapter 1- Last Minute Shopping
It was December 20th, in New York City. 5 days before Christmas. Needless to say, those who had not yet done their Christmas shopping where closing in on desperate measures.
Bloomingdale's Department Store was no different. Busy people rushed about, grabbing what they could before someone else could. A young clerk brought a pair of black cashmere gloves down to the first floor, and no sooner had she put them on the rack, two occupants reached for them at the same time.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" One of them, a woman, immediately said. She was in her late twenties with silky black hair and shining brown eyes. She had a burgundy red scarf slung across her neck. The man who held the other glove looked just as young. His silvery hair (unique as it comes) framed his handsome face. A pair or golden eyes fixated on the woman, who held on of the gloves.
"No, that's all right you can take them," he said, with a small sigh. She shook her head vigorously.
"Oh, but that's not fair. You probably saw them first, you can have them," she insisted.
Looking at the store clerk, the man called, "Excuse me Miss, do you have another pair of these black cashmere gloves?" The clerk shook her head sadly, "What's on the rack is what we have."
The two customers bit their lips. "What about in storage in back?" The woman suggested.
"Or downstairs?" He added.
The clerk shook her head. "Nope." The two looked crestfallen. "And we don't have an attic either," she added walking away.
"Here, I have an idea," The man said, taking the gloves and hanging them back on the rack. "Now they're fair game to anyone-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, an old man came up and snatched the gloves from the rack. Before he could walk away, the young man grabbed his shoulder, "excuse me, Sir those gloves belong to us!"
The old man turned, confused. "Well I don't see your name written on them. They seem to be just sitting there waiting to be taken."
"We were just discussing them," he continued. The old man shrugged, "well you can continue discussing them after I buy them and it won't make a difference."
Desperately, he thought of an other excuse, "These were meant to be a special gift for someone."
"Yes, we put a lot of thought into those," the woman said suddenly.
"Oh really?" The old man asked, "who are they for?"
-"My Boyfriend."
-"My Girlfriend."
Both answered at the same time. Whoops.
The two stared at each other with discomfort and tried to cover.
-"His Girlfriend"
-"Her Boyfriend"
Double whoops.
The old man looked at them suspiciously, "One pair of gloves for two different people? This seems impossible to me."
"Not impossible," the young man suggested, "just hard to explain."
The old man narrowed his eyes. "Try."
"Oh…well, um…alright," he turned his gaze towards the woman. "Go ahead."
Flustered, she began, "Well, um…at the moment he is…my boyfriend-
"But in 18 months," The man added,
"After the….operation…."
"He will be…"
"She will be…"
-"My Boyfriend. Do you understand now?"
The old man stared blankly at the two, then shook his head. "No," he said finally, handing the gloves to the man, "but Merry Christmas anyway."
"Well," he said, handing the gloves to her, "these are yours. That improvisation definitely earned it."
"Well, it was a team effort," she said with a small giggle.
"Yea, I suppose it was," he said as an afterthought. "I don't know how to thank you," she said, looking sincere.
He smiled, and said as an afterthought, "You could treat me to a cappuccino."
The two sat in a nearby coffee shop talking happily about their newly achieved feat.
"This coffee is excellent," he said, taking a sip and letting the warm, rich flavor engulf his taste buds.
"But I'm serious about writing you a check, it's the least that I can do," she told him.
He swallowed his coffee. "Well, thank you, but now I have to go find something else for my girlfriend."
She groaned. "Oh, they were for your girlfriend, weren't they?" He nodded.
"Well now I feel entirely too selfish to take them, I'll to give them to you."
"Well, now you can't do that," he said.
"Why not?"
"Because, then you wouldn't be treating me to coffee." She laughed at his joke. "This is the greatest coffee I've ever had. How did you find this place?"
"Well I first came in here because of the name," she said truthfully, a shy smile appearing on her face.
"Really?"
"Hmm. Serendipity. It's my favorite word."
"Is that so? Why?"
"Because it sounds like exactly what it means: A fortunate Accident." A look of mysteriousness appeared in her deep brown eyes as she said this. "Accept, I don't believe in accidents. Fate is behind everything that happens."
"You think so?"
"Yea, I really do."
"So everything is already decided and we have no choice whatsoever? We just run around a preset road?"
"No, not necessarily. I think that fate sends us signs here and there and we have to determine what they mean to see if we're happy or not."
"Fortunate accidents, huh? Luck of the draw? Like Columbus discovering America, or Fleming discovering Penicillin."
She nodded.
"Or," he said, giving her a sly glance, "the story of Inuyasha and the gloves."
She scrunched her eyes and said, "I don't believe I'm familiar with that story."
"Seriously. It's classic. A great myth of epic proportions," he said sarcastically. "Want to hear it?"
She shrugged.
"So our hero, Inuyasha, goes off in search of black gloves and in some sort of fortunate accident, or 'serendipiocity,' if you will, he runs into a beautiful young girl with a boyfriend. You do have a boyfriend, right?"
She tilted her head slightly and replied, "yea, I do."
"That's what I thought," he said, wagging his finger in her face.
"And you have the glove lady," she added.
"Yes I do."
After paying the check and standing up, she said, "Well I really did have a fun time."
"Yea, me too," he said, "I hope you enjoy the gloves that you bought yourself."
"I think I will. I usually appreciate my own thoughtfulness. So what do you want for Christmas." She turned to look at him.
"Golf clubs," he said.
"Oh. I see. You golf then?"
He nodded. "So, uh, what are you going to meet your boyfriend now?"
She shook her head. "No. He's probably out doing what your doing."
"Getting a crush on someone else's girlfriend?"
When she looked alarmed, he quickly added, "I'm just saying I had a fun time, that's all. Hey, maybe we should exchange phone numbers, just in case."
"In case of what?" She questioned him. He looked slightly uncomfortable with the question. "You know, in case of life. We had a good time together and after this I'd never find you again."
"Well, if we're meant to meet again, then we will."
"Maybe we're supposed to meet in a different time zone and were a few hours too early. There could be a time difference!"
She laughed and shook her head.
"Look," he said urgently, "I don't even know your name. My name is Inuyasha. Does that make you want to tell me something? Anything?" Smiling, she nodded. "Yea, it does."
She leaned up close to him and kissed his cheek. "Merry Christmas, Inuyasha. And thanks." She haled a taxi and got into it. She waved out the window as it drove away. Inuyasha stood dumbfounded on the curb.
"That's it?" He yelled after her. Angrily he kicked a pile of slush, sending it flying at a nearby couple. "Oh Jesus, I'm sorry! So sorry about that!"
He was nearly to the subway when he realized he had forgotten his scarf in the coffee shop. Sighing, he turned himself around and began to walk back.
Picking up her bag that she had so absentmindedly left in the shop, she spotted a plaid scarf lying on the ground. She picked it up and realized that it must belong to Inuyasha. She turned around to see him standing there, looking amazed.
Both of them were speechless.
"Hey." He finally said. "Hey," She said in a shy reply. She put the scarf around his neck, a pink tinge to her cheeks.
"Lets go do something," he said. She nodded in reply. "Alright. What do you have in mind?"
"I don't care. What do you wanna do?" She thought for a moment, then smiled brightly.
"Come with me." She pulled his arm and led him out.
"Now I'm warning you," Inuyasha said, "I'm a terrible ice skater." She smiled and continued to skate out ahead of him.
Central park was gorgeous at that time of year. Especially when the lights that decorated the trees glowed so ornamentally above them.
"That's alright," She said, leading him out. After a while, they were both skating at an even, rhythmic pace.
"Now promise me your not just in visiting for the week and you actually live here."
"Not in New York."
"Well in the country at least," he pressed.
"Yes. I live here in the United States. You?"
"Yup. Proud U.S. citizen. So if you won't tell me your name, then tell me what you miss most about wherever you're from, since you won't tell me that either."
"Oh, I miss my mother terribly. We've always been close."
"Well if I were her, I'd miss you too," he said truthfully. She looked away from him, slightly embarrassed.
They skated for a long time. Until there were very few people left.
"Okay, what's your favorite movie?" She asked him.
"Cool Hand Luke. Best movie of all time," He answered.
"I've never seen it," she said honestly. (A/N: Don't feel bad, neither have I.)
"You've never seen Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman? My god! 'Failure to communicate.' Sadistic cop in sunglasses with no name? Sort of remind me of you in that way," he added bitterly. She laughed.
"Favorite New York moment."
He stopped and said without a thought, "This one's at the top of the list right now."
"I'm flattered," She said, a giant grin on her face.
"Is there anything else you need to know?" He asked.
"Nope." She said, skating backwards. Suddenly she tripped and fell back onto her arm.
"Ow. How about have you ever done that before?" She said weakly, trying to regain her breath.
"Oh tons of times… Are you okay?" He skated over to her and helped her up. "Are you hurt?"
"Yea. Scraped up my elbow a bit, I think," She said with a wince.
He pulled down her sleeve and made a face. "Gross," he said, sticking out his tongue. "I don't think I've EVER seen anything that bloody and graphic. What a gash. Oh boy. We'll have to fix that up, right away.
She rolled her eyes. "Right."
"There," he said, putting on a band-aid. "Thanks," she said gratefully.
He didn't hear her, but was too busy looking at her arm.
"Oh, you're looking at my freckles. Horrible things, if I do say so," she said shaking her head.
"No, I just noticed that if you look carefully, you can see the Hanyou."
"The what?"
"Hanyou. Right there on your arm. Hold on a second."
He dug a pen out of his pocket. "Okay, I'll tell you the story. Once upon a time in ancient Japan, there lived a Hanyou, who was half demon and half human. He wanted to be the most powerful demon alive. So, he tried to steal a powerful jewel called the Shikon Jewel. But, a beautiful priestess guarded it very carefully. Eventually, the two fell in love. In the end, they were both tricked by a demon, who tried to steal the jewel for himself. So, the priestess pinned the poor Hanyou to a tree with an arrow for eternity. And now, he's just a constellation in the sky. And a bunch of freckles on your arm."
"So he made one mistake and paid for eternity."
"Exactly."
They stared at each other for a few moments, neither believing how much they had learned about the other in such a short time. Softly, he brushed her dark black hair out of her face. Then Inuyasha leaned down and kissed her arm gently.
"Ok, but write it legibly," he reminded with a gleeful smile. He had done it. He had convinced her to give him her phone number.
" Yes, I know. I can't believe I'm actually doing this," She said, writing the number down.
"Now now, let fate take it's proper course," he said, reaching out for the scrap of paper she held in her hand. Slowly (and reluctantly) she held out the slip of paper.
As he reached for it, a sudden gust of wind came by as a truck passed. The paper flew out of her hand and mixed amongst a swirling pile of scraps and garbage.
Alarmed, Inuyasha turned back to her. "That was an accident, just write it down again."
She shook her head. "I can't. You see? That was sign! Fate is telling us to back off."
"Well, if fate didn't want us to be together, why did we even meet tonight?" He countered. She looked at him desperately. "I don't know. Look, it's not an exact science. I just have a feeling about this."
"And what if there's no fate? It's all up to us and we just walk away without ever finding each other. What do you think's gonna happen? Do you really think fate is just going to deliver my information to you?"
She stopped. "You know, that's the best idea you've had all night."
"What is?"
She took out a five dollar bill and a pen, and quickly handed it to him. "Here, write your name and number down." He took them from her with an awkward glance. "You're very strange, you know that," he said, writing the information on the back of the bill. "Okay, now what?"
"Just wait here for a second, I'll be right back," She said, snatching the bill from his hand. She ran across the street to a vendor and quickly bought a roll of mints with the five dollars. She returned with a mint in her mouth and a smile upon her face.
"Hey, what did you do?!" He asked exasperatedly.
"If I get that five dollar bill back, then I can call you. And when you hear my voice, you'll believe in fate, all right." She walked away, still smiling.
"Well you've got to be fair and make it even!" He called after her, running to catch up, "You've got to put something out into the world with your name on it!"
She stopped again. "You're right, just to make it fair. Hmm…what do I have…" She searched her bags. Finding a book, she took it out to show him. "You see this book?"
It was titled Love in the Time of Cholera. He tried to remember every small detail about the book. "Yea?"
"When I get home tonight, I'll write down my name and number. Then tomorrow, I'll sell it to a used book store."
He blinked. "Which one?"
"I'm not telling," She said slyly.
"This is crazy! You don't just have the best night of your life with some stranger then leave everything to chance, do you?" He asked.
"Come with me a second," She said pulling his arm down the street into the Waldorf-Astoria.
"What? Are we gonna get a room or something?" He asked skeptically. She glared at him. "I was kidding. I just wanna know you…"
She shook her head and led him inside.
"Ok, so what are we doing?" He asked. She pointed to one of the elevators. "Stay right there." She ran across to an elevator on the opposite wall. "Ok, when the door opens, get inside and pick a floor. If we randomly choose the same one, we're meant to be together now."
"This is Insane," Inuyasha pressed, "It doesn't make sense!"
"It doesn't have to," she said. "You need faith."
"In what?" He asked.
"Destiny." Quickly, she threw him the small bag from Bloomingdale's department store.
He caught it and looked at her skeptically.
"It's Kagome," she suddenly said, "My name's…Kagome."
The door closed.
Biting her lip, she pressed a button. Floor 23. She anxiously twisted her fingers around her jacket sleeve.
Inuyasha danced around in the elevator, trying to decide on which button to push. Finally, he pushed button 23. He glared at it murderously, threatening it mentally if it weren't the right floor.
He was only to floor 15 when the doors dinged open. A little boy and his father came in. The little boy was only about 7 or so, dressed up in a Halloween costume (A/N: Dude, it's nearly CHRISTMAS…)
"We're going up here, is that alright with you?" Inuyasha asked the boy's father. The man nodded. "Yes, that's quite alright. Shippou likes to ride the elevator either way. Isn't that right, Shippou?"
"Yup! I love riding the elevator! I like pressing buttons, see?" He began to press every single button that was left.
"No! Don't touch those! Don't do that!" Inuyasha yelled, frantically removing the kid from the buttons.
"Hey calm down, he's just a kid," his father said, shaking his head. Shippou pulled on Inuyasha's jacket. "Hey mister, what's your name? Where do you live? What's your favorite color? What do you want Santa to get you? Who's your favorite Reindeer-
Kagome got off the elevator on floor 23 and waited for Inuyasha to come. She took out one of the gloves (she had left the other in the bag) and held it in her hand. She closed her eyes and sat down on the floor, hoping for fate to take a course of her favor.
Inuyasha did his best to ignore the kid he found so pesky. All the questions that Shippou asked remained unanswered. Suddenly the elevator stopped. Inuyasha groaned.
Shippou's father laughed nervously. "Well, looks like were stuck." Inuyasha wanted to kill something.
After a minute or two of waiting, the elevator began to move again. It stopped at every floor, in which the occupants (who began to get on the elevator) got off to search for Kagome, then quickly rushed back on.
Finally, Kagome stood up again. They had obviously chosen two different floors. She would just have to leave, and hope to find that five dollar bill again. Sighing unhappily, she pushed the down button on the elevator.
Just as the door to the elevator closed, Inuyasha burst through on the opposite side, searching for her. Not seeing her anywhere, he stopped and sighed himself. It was over. Disheartened, he went back down the elevator and out the building.
Sadly, he headed back to the subway station, to begin his journey back home.
I'll tell you, I wasn't origonally going to put this on until Shi Jin no Miko was finished. But then, I worked on it peice by peice, and since it's such a short story, I thought "hey, why not?" It's only FIVE CHAPTERS. That's insane short for me, well other than one shots. --'
I'm home sick today. I feel like total crap. > ' Mom told me to stay off the computer and just sleep. I did sleep, from about 10:30 to 1:00. I had to pee and I was really bored, so I decided I felt well enough to make my fans happy? (...Do I even have fans?)
I love you all! PLEASE review!
Lola