Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha...

It's been three days since I ran into that strange man.

I had come home to Mama that night, and despite her making my favorite oden of all time, couldn't bring myself to eat more than a few bites. I had her so worried she was ready to take me to the doctor first thing in the morning, but I somehow convinced her that it was stress from work that made me lose my appetite.

Ever since then I haven't been able to forget his face. Those features, while so unique and foreign to me, had a twinge of familiarity that made me uneasy. Had I met him before and somehow forgotten? I must have, if he had known my name.

All the while, I believe I was slowly losing my grip on reality. Everywhere I turned I saw flashes of red and glimpses of gold. I had whipped my head around so many times in the past few days I had taken a heating pad to my neck at night.

I think I'm going crazy.

"Hey, do you have that paperwork I need?"

I wearily tore my eyes away from the solutions I was diluting to the owner of the voice. "Oh hi, Sango."

"Hi." Her bright smile turned into a concerned frown. "Are you okay Kagome?"

"I'm fine," I grumbled, shuffling through a stack of paperwork on my desk. "Just tired. How's your little brother doing?"

"Better, thanks for asking. Doctor said Kohaku only had a viral infection." Sango's face still had that frown. "Are you sick?"

"No."

"Problems at home?"

"No."

"Problems in the bedroom?"

I couldn't stop myself from snorting. "Yeah, right."

"You work way too much Kagome," Sango shook her head at me. "I got you this job so you could pay your bills, not so you could give up any form of your social life."

"If I had a social life to begin with. Here's that form."

"Thanks! Try to take a break in an hour, I'll be in the break room!"

I watched her retreating figure disappear around the corner, and I couldn't help but smile. Sango was an old friend from college, a couple years ahead, who happened to be from the same part of town I was. I had contacted her after graduating, and with her connections as a supervisor, managed to land me a spot at this prestigious lab.

As friendly as we were towards each other, I couldn't bring myself to confide my encounter with that strange man. In any case, I figured she would probably think I was crazy and push me to take a vacation.

I did end up taking a break an hour after we spoke, but instead of heading towards the break room, I decided to take my lunch in the courtyard. There usually weren't very many people there, and I wanted to eat in quiet solitude that required no talking.

Taking a seat under one of the cherry blossom trees, I leaned against the trunk, closed my eyes and let my head fall back. A few yards away I could hear a couple of men talking about some new test we were about to offer, and I inwardly groaned, as I knew it meant more work.

Some rustling above me caught my attention, and I cracked my eyes open and stared right into a pair of familiar golden eyes. Startled, I yelped and jumped up, spilling my ice tea all over my lap.

"Miss, are you okay?"

"I'm…I'm fine," I stammered, waving the men away. I waited until they had gone back to their conversation before leaning into the tree and looking up.

No one was there.

Bewildered, I circled the tree, inspecting every branch for a sign of that strange-looking man. Still nothing.

"What the hell…" I muttered, raking a hand through my messy dark hair. "I'm losing it."

"Keh."

I whirled around, half expecting me to come face to face with him, but no one was there. By that time I had the full attention of the men, and feeling more than embarrassed, slowly gathered my things and retreated back inside, cursing to myself.

I threw my lunch bag and purse on the kitchen counter, relieved to finally be home. Work after lunch was no picnic, and to top it off, the experiment I had been working on had become contaminated.

"More work for tomorrow…hor-fucking-ray," I muttered. I threw myself on the couch and draped an arm over my eyes, trying to relax.

But all I saw in the back of my eyelids was that pair of golden eyes.

"Shit, I was probably seeing things."

But what about that voice? What did he say? Keh? What the hell does that mean?

Tonight, like all other nights, I was feeling too lazy to cook. Wandering into my kitchen, I rummaged through the pantry for a quick dinner, finally settling on instant ramen. Usually I would try to curb my appetite for the sake of my ass, which tended to gain unusual amounts of weight in short periods of time, but seeing as today was significantly distressing, I decided to treat myself to two whole bowls of hot, steaming, ramen.

Turning on the television while I boiled some water, I was delighted to see my favorite movie playing. Half distracted, I hastily cooked my dinner and separated it into two bowls, next to the kitchen window to cool. Waiting until my favorite scene was over, I went back into the kitchen to retrieve my food when I realized one of the bowls was missing.

Unable to ignore my rumbling stomach any longer, I decided to solve the mystery of my missing ramen until after I had finished the first bowl. Taking a seat in front of the television, I was distracted a good hour, happily eating.

After the movie I went back into the kitchen, when I noticed the missing bowl had mysteriously appeared by the window again, completely empty. I stared at it for a full 2 minutes before cautiously picking it up, turning it over and over. It was clean, as if someone had licked it dry.

That's when I realized the window was open. I never leave the kitchen window open.

"That's ridiculous, I live on the 4th floor…no one could possibly reach in, grab the ramen, and put back the bowl," I reminded myself, shaking my head. "There isn't even a ladder or stairs that reaches my window."

But there was a tree.

I suddenly felt extremely sick to my stomach. Throwing the dishes into the sink, I shut off all the lights and all but ran to my room, threw on my pajamas, and dove under the covers.

A few minutes passed before I dared peek my head from the blankets. There was nothing but the familiar shadows in my room. Taking a deep breath, I was about to chide myself about how foolish I am when I noticed a figure in red with long hair crouching on my bedroom windowsill, eyes gleaming as they stared at me.

I felt a small scream escape my lips before I blacked out.

AN: Thanks for reading :)