Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, and I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me Ra!
A/N: I like doing the reader correspondence before the chapters, therefore when a disgruntled fan comes to read the answer to their heart-set questions, they don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom first. Plus it's fun to answer my mail! ^-^! Oh! And I'm sure all of you will be happy to know that this is a long chapter--for me anyway. Enjoy!
KireiHanyou Ko: I can not express in words how happy I am that you like what I write, even though I think some of it's retarded. It's my baby, though, lol. Ah, well, I made them kiss early now but stuff and stuff happens and you'll see why stuff happens the way it does. Here's the next chapter for you! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Michelle the Miko: Here's the truth for you. I had minimal fluff since I don't like to go overboard. Don't worry, there will be more later on, but the next few are more…weird stuff, that thing called plot. Who needs it right? Thanks for the review!
silent slayer: Here is another chapter for you. Thanks for the review and for reading!
Leomae: You are weird, you know that? Lol, I'm so glad you like my story. When I do get to the chapter where they do some stuff, I'll be sure to keep that in mind, even though its already written out. *cough* Forgive the badmouthing of republicans. I'm non-partisan actually and I have nothing against any party, I was just commenting because I thought it would be funny and my brother suggested it. He's a weirdo. Thanks for the review and for reading!
Josie: Yes, buddy-system for the dating impaired. That's actually a phrase I use quite often. Yes, he just walked out and stuff, but you'll see why. Yes, yes, Inuyasha is a freak and Kagome is no better. Thanks for reading and the review!
A Fighter's Story
Chapter 6
You know that old saying, you don't know what you have until it's gone? Yeah, that's what Kagome felt the rest of the week. She smiled and laughed with the kids, she took them places and bought them things. This sufficiently helped in depleting her savings, but, soft-heart that she was, Kagome didn't care. She wanted them to be happy, even if she found that she couldn't be so along with them. It was hard to say what she was feeling really. More or less, she felt drained and empty...and tired. Always tired, even in the middle of the day, and at one time she had been the most annoying of morning-people.
Rin didn't have any nightmares after that night. It helped that Kagome slept in her large bed with both children. She told Shippou that it was for Rin's sake, but both children knew that it was something else. Children are very adept at reading the feelings of adults. (A/N: This is true. My little cousin Simon, whom I baby-sit for just about every weekend, is six and he can read any adult like a book!) But children are also innocent of the understanding for why their aunt was not herself. Sango had told them that Kagome was no longer going to fight, so they rationalized that was the reason.
On Saturday afternoon, Sango and Miroku returned from Las Vegas. They were $5,476.32 richer then when they left, thanks to Miroku's superior poker playing abilities, and Sango's innate ability to fish change out of the sofa cushions, even when there seems to be nothing there. They brought Kagome a stolen hotel towel, since it had been her idea to send them to Vegas in the first place and for taking care of the kids. Kagome, as always, said she was more than happy to do it. She was sad to see the kids go, but in a way, she was happy to have some quiet time again.
By Saturday night, Kagome was going stir-crazy. She wanted to go to sleep, but the silence kept her from resting. She picked up the phone and was halfway through dialing the number for Myouga's House of Pizza before she remembered that Inuyasha didn't work on Saturdays. Not that he'd want to talk to her anyway. She sighed and laid back on the couch. He had made it pretty clear by avoiding her all week that he hadn't the slightest desire to talk about what had happened. Kagome really didn't either. What she wanted was for things to be like they had been. Kagome wanted her friend back.
Afterwards, she could never be sure how she got into her car and drove to the bar, but she remembered standing outside of the Black Mist Tavern, fighting with herself over whether or not she should go in. But Kagome Higurashi had never backed out of anything in her life, and she wouldn't start now! With a deep breath and a silent prayer to the heavens, Kagome went into the bar and walked casually to the counter.
Inuyasha was there, cleaning some dirty glasses and looking bored out of his collective mind. The place was completely deserted. It was too late for happy hour and too early for the midnight crowd. Kagome hopped on to a stool. "Wow, this place is a crazy whirligig of fun, ne?"
Inuyasha jumped and whirled around, nearly dropping the glass he was cleaning. "Kagome," he said, stating the fact. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."
"I didn't sneak, she corrected. I just happened along. You were concentrating a little too hard on the glass and not hard enough of what's going on. You could get jumped that way." Kagome babbled, tapping her fingers on the counter to a nervous rhythm. When had it become so awkward? When did it get so hard?
"Yeah well...yeah," he stuttered and shrugged. "What are you doing here?"
Kagome shrugged as well. "You haven't been around and it was way too quiet in my apartment with the kids gone. I needed someone to harass."
"Lucky me," he muttered under his breath. Kagome sighed.
"If you want me to go, I will," she said, getting up.
"No, I didn't mean it like that," he said quickly, coming out from behind the counter. "It's just that..." He trailed off, looking around. Like she had assessed, the bar was empty, but Inuyasha walked over to the window and clicked off the neon 'open' sign, then locked the door and turned out the bar lights. "Come on, we'll talk in my apartment."
Kagome followed him up the small staircase that led from the bar to the second floor apartment. It was a huge wooden flat with lots of open space due to Inuyasha's lack of furniture. He went into the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the refrigerator. Kagome followed, ignored the drink, and hoisted herself up to sit on the island counter that was in the middle of his kitchen. It was her favorite seat in his place.
"Talk," she commanded.
"What happened...at your apartment the other day," he began weakly, unable to meet her eyes. He scratched his nails along the neck of the glass bottle. "It spooked me a little, I guess." Kagome kept the snort to herself. A little would have been a blush and a phone call a few days later. A little was not total avoidance for nearly a week. But she wouldn't argue. "It's just that....There was this time when I....I don't think that I'm...." After three false starts, Kagome had to speak.
"If you don't want anything physical between us, 'Yash, all you had to do was say so. I'm not going to stop talking to you or anything just because you won't make out with me in the backseat of my car. This isn't high school."
Inuyasha looked ashamed, running one hand through his hair unconsciously and the other still clutching the untouched beer. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything. But I just don't think I'm up for something like that. I've got a load of baggage and it's unfair to drop it on you."
"Ah, the old baggage line," Kagome said with a nod. "Might as well use the classic 'it's not you, it's me' line."
"But it isn't you," he was quick to say, now looking at her. Kagome clearly read the confusion in his golden eyes and regretted her words. "It's just...everything went so wrong and...I'm still trying to pull myself together."
Kagome thought back on all the time she had known him, all the pointless conversations they had. All that she knew of him was about his family, Inuyasha made it a point never to talk about his life as a fighter. And suddenly, she had to know. "Inuyasha, why did you leave the tour?"
He looked away from her again, drink forgotten. "Don't ask me that."
"Inuyasha," Kagome said again, barely above a whisper. "Why did you leave?"
Inuyasha clenched the counter around his sink until his knuckles turned white. His back was to Kagome, but she could see his shoulders shaking ever so slightly. Then she heard his voice, low and distant. "Her name was Kikyou. I met her my first year on the tour. She was a publicist for the tour itself, and since I was the 'hottest star that year', she was required to be my shadow." Inuyasha's voice was dripping with contempt and Kagome nearly winced from the burning anger she also felt radiating from his body.
"I was so in love with her...it disgusts me to think of it now. After a while, it was me who was following her around. She was everything I thought I should want, everything I had ever been told to look for. She was beautiful, smart, a great business woman...they called us the 'perfect couple'. I was going into my fifth year on the tour, a little under four years ago when I was about your age, I asked her to marry me. Right there, center ring, after my nationals victory for the fourth running year."
"I remember that," Kagome said softly once he had stopped for a breath. "It was the year before I got on to the tour."
"Yeah, well, I won the belt and popped the question. Of course she agreed, right there in the middle of the ring, in front of millions watching on TV all over the place. God, I was such an idiot. At the end of the season, I resigned from the tour and moved out here from New York. Kikyou came with me, but she wasn't happy about it. We were out here...six months maybe...then one day, I woke up alone. There was a note and a rose on the pillow next to me." Inuyasha paused just long enough to let out a furious growl.
"'Dear Inuyasha,'" he spoke from memory. "'I can see that we're going in different directions, that we want different things. I'm sorry to just take off, but I got a call and had to leave. You understand. Love, Kikyou.' The bitch left in the middle of the night and I never heard from her again."
Kagome gasped. How anyone could do something so cruel was beyond her imagination. To just leave, without any warning, after he had given up so much to settle down and start a normal life. It was cruel and it was the worst kind of wrong. "So here I am, a bartender-pizza boy, two thousand miles from my brother and anything I grew up knowing, all because I was stupid enough to fall for someone so blatantly fake as Kikyou. That's why I left, and I'm too much of a coward to show my face in the ring again."
Kagome saw the ridged set of his shoulders and the low hang of his head. He was furious and miserable and scared. Worst of all, he had been alone for so long. Three years. She knew what it felt like to be alone, even in the middle of a crowd, even with people who love you all around. And she knew that emptiness like that could eat a person's soul. For three years he had suffered alone, but she would not let him anymore.
"Inuyasha-"
"I don't want your pity, Kagome," he said more harshly than he intended. She knew it was only the shell talking to her, warning her to get away. The shield that held people like him and herself so tightly from the rest of the world.
"That's good, because I don't give pity to anyone but myself," she replied quietly. He turned to face her, golden eyes glassy. She held out a hand to him. "Come here." He stayed where he was at first, but Kagome was a patient woman. She always had been, even if she sometimes didn't show it.
Eventually he moved slowly to her, until he was right in front of where she was sitting. From her position, she was an inch or two higher than he was. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. "One day, you'll have to ask me all about my past," she told him. "I know how you feel."
He looked doubtful, and a little angry. "How could you-"
"I know," she said again, quietly. "I know." He fell silent, shaking his head slightly.
Everyone has demons. That was something her father had told her a long time ago, another lifetime it seemed. But at that moment, Kagome saw every one of Inuyasha Dai's demons flashing in his golden eyes. It was haunting and it was sad, but it was beautiful. She wouldn't give him pity, she knew he didn't want it. She wouldn't want it either. So she gave him comfort instead. She held him to her, resting his head against her shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders. He held tight around her waist, like she was the only lifeline.
There was no more talk of the kiss at Kagome's apartment. It was left in the past. There was a mutual understanding that it was just not the time.
Inuyasha stretched, arching his back as he got out of the car. The gym bag with his gear was tossed lazily in the back seat of his car. All that was missing for his outing to the gym was his sparring partner, the oh-so-magnificent Kagome Higurashi--the name was her idea. After their practice bout the day before, of which she was the victor, Inuyasha had been itching to get her back into the ring and wipe the smug smile off her face. When she smirked, she reminded him too much of himself. He had the all-consuming, overwhelming desire to run masculine superiority in her face. But he had to give her credit, Kagome took it in stride. She was a woman who had lived her life in the world of men. He admired her for it, and counted himself as lucky to be friends with such a woman, rather than on the receiving end of her fist and her tongue.
Inuyasha hopped the steps at led to her apartment door, the forest green one with the shiny gold letter and number. He knocked twice, then leaned back on the banister casually. There were a few shuffling noises from behind the door and Inuyasha waited patiently for it to open. When it did, his jaw dropped.
Standing in the doorway, at noon on a Saturday afternoon, was not Kagome at all! It was a young man, looking to be no more than twenty or twenty one years of age, clad in nothing but a pair of Scooby-doo boxer shorts. (A/N: I have brothers, need I say more?) His short black hair was tousled and he rubbed light brown eyes with the back of his hand. "Can I help you?" he asked with a yawn.
For a moment, all Inuyasha could do was stare, open-mouthed. "I think I have the wrong place," he finally said.
"Are you looking for Kagome?" the Scooby-fan asked. Inuyasha could only nod, now completely floored to the point of no voice. "Yeah, she's in the shower, so it'll be a minute." And that, Inuyasha decided, was the point where the day seemed to get strange. At least, it had been strange until Kagome walked out of her room in nothing but a towel. That's when he decided that strange had ended, and frightening had begun.
"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, a look of surprise on her face as a heated blush crept up her face. "You're early."
"S-s-sorry," he stuttered, looking from the young man to the woman and back again. Kagome stood in the middle of the room, her face darkening by the second, while the boxer-clad stranger leaned against the door and yawned again. Inuyasha simply blinked.
(A/N: Now would be a good time to end this chapter, I think, but I'm not evil and I promised more of the truth! Plus there is a lot more I have to get out in the chapter before Chapter 7. But to explain the situation that Inuyasha just happened to get himself into, I'll have to back-track to the day before. That way, we can all learn how a boxer-clad guy suddenly appeared in Kagome's apartment, and she comes out in naught but a towel! Oh, for shame! but soft, 'tis not what you gutter-minds are thinking! Now, we shall rewind this back to the night before! *Flashback mode*)
The Night Before......
Kagome had just returned home from a romping workout with Inuyasha. She had beaten him good when they had the ring for sparring that afternoon, and the woman was feeling particularly smug. While the silver-haired freak had gone home to lick his wounds, Kagome opted to lounge around on this Friday night and watch a movie. She had been feeling rather depressed the last few days, seeing as how it was her wedding anniversary on Sunday. That was why she had tried to avoid talking about it with Sango all week, which was not easy. The woman was tenacious, and she knew Kagome far too well. She was lucky that Inuyasha hadn't asked her anything else about her marriage, but it was only a matter of time before it came up again.
That was when the phone rang. To lazy to carry the phone around with her, Kagome hit the speaker button on the kitchen extension as she began to fix herself a snack. "Domino's Pizza," she chirped, digging out a 20 oz bottle of coke and left-over garlic knots that Inuyasha had scored for her the day before.
"Kagome," Toutousai sighed over the phone. "When will you learn not to confuse me? I'm just an old man!"
She laughed and tossed her food in the microwave. "Sorry Dad, I thought it was someone else."
"And who did you think it was?"
"Just a friend I beat up this afternoon. He normally called me afterwards to demand a rematch." Kagome tapped her fingers on the counter, waiting for the sustenance that was waiting to be eaten.
"He, now? Since when did you have a boyfriend? And you didn't even tell your own father?!?"
"Daddy, he's not my boyfriend," she said quickly. Oh, the headache she would have if he got on a rant before she could stop him. Toutousai was always touchy when it came to Kagome's love life. Except when she had married Hojo. He had always liked Hojo.
"Oh, that's good." Kagome snorted, but if he heard it, he chose to ignore it. "Well, I'm just calling to say that I finally got around to my spring cleaning."
"Daddy, the first of July is Sunday. I think you should just call it cleaning."
"Touchy now, aren't we?" he teased. Kagome growled, biting into her nuked knots. "Well I was moving around some boxes in the attic--"
"Dad, you shouldn't be moving boxes! You know what that could do to your back," Kagome lectured.
"Calm down," he assured her. "I made Souta do it, but I supervised."
Kagome grinned. "How is Souta? I'm sorry I missed him when I came out to Grand Lake." Souta was Kagome and Toutousai's neighbor. He was literally the boy-next-door. Kagome had known him his entire life, and they were like brother and sister. When Kagome left Grand Lake, Souta was given specific instructions to look after Toutousai in her absence. It was an honor that the younger boy took very seriously.
"Ah, he wasn't home from school yet. But as I was saying," he paused for any interruption. Kagome smiled, but didn't bother him again. "I found a box of things that I'm sending out to you."
"What kind of things?"
"Just a few things that you should have. Mostly photographs and things like that. Souta left for the city this afternoon on an errand for his father's business, expect him to drop by with the box tonight."
"Yay! It's been forever since I tortured Souta!" Kagome happily ate her knots and glowed with happiness.
"Kagome," he father said lightly. "Do me a favor?"
"Sure Daddy," Kagome said, still happy and now buzzed from sugar and garlic.
"Don't open the box until after Souta leaves? It's just that, a few of the things are personal and you might not want anyone to be around." Kagome was confused, but she agreed. They said their goodbyes and that was that.
Souta came knocking to her door about an hour later. Kagome threw her arms around him and yanked him inside. "Souta! You handsome devil you," she laughed, ruffling his hair. "I'm sure you're quite the ladies' man at college."
"Kag," he whined, smoothing out his hair again. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. It's no business of yours." He proceeded to stick out his tongue for good measure. Kagome laughed and kissed his cheek. "Eww!" Souta cried, wiping his face repeatedly. "You are just nasty!"
"I know, I know!" she laughed. Kagome and Souta spent three hours catching up, Souta brought in the box he had been entrusted with, and then they talked some more.
"Where are you staying tonight?" Kagome asked once she realized how late it was.
"Probably a Holiday Inn or Motel 6, why?"
"Stay here," she said with a grin. "I've got a very comfortable futon and I'll feed you. Honest." She held up two fingers for emphasis. Souta contemplated this for a moment, rubbing his chin and curling a strand of his dark hair.
"The price is right, I'll take it!" he declared. The two of them were up until the wee hours of the morning, talking about old times and laughing until they were nearly sick. Once retired, they didn't get up until deep into the morning. Thus brining us to the situation at hand!
Kagome looked at Inuyasha, Inuyasha looked at Kagome. Then Kagome looked at Souta and felt like crying, or killing him. "Souta!" she exclaimed. The sleepy young man looked back at her. "Clothes please!" she said, pointing at his boxers. Souta shrugged, not fully conscious, and trudged into the bathroom with a change of clothes in hand. The door was left open and Kagome ushered Inuyasha in. "I'm 'so' sorry about that," she apologized, pulling off the blanket that Souta used to make room for him to sit.
"It's fine," Inuyasha aid, not able to meet her eyes. Kagome sighed. She knew what he thought, and that was a sick thought, one that bordered on incest. Souta and her....that was just wrong! But he didn't know that.
"Souta came into the city last night so I invited him to stay the night here rather than pay for a hotel room," Kagome explained, busying herself, but that statement sounded wrong. "He's from Grand Lake, my father asked him to drop something off for me."
"Uh-huh." She knew that tone, smug bastard, he didn't believe her.
"Souta's my neighbor, I've known him all his life." He still wouldn't meet her eyes and Kagome was getting pissed. She sat next to him on the couch and waited until he looked at her from the corner of his eye. "I don't sleep around, especially with kids I used to baby-sit," she said without a tone.
"I believe you," Inuyasha replied.
"Then why aren't you looking at me?"
"Because," he paused to cough, a faint blush evident on his face. "You're in a towel."
"Oh," Kagome commented, looking down and blushing herself. "I'll be right back."
"Okay then."
Souta was ready before Kagome, which gave him ample time to tell Inuyasha a lot of embarrassing childhood stories of Kagome's. Which Inuyasha had fun lobbing at her when they sparred that afternoon. It was a good thing Souta left when they did, or Kagome might have killed the little rat. After Inuyasha dropped her off at home, curiosity got the best of Kagome, and after a shower, she went straight for the mysterious box from her father.
At the very same moment Kagome was attacking cardboard, Inuyasha was getting a phone call from none other than the sometimes-clairvoyant Sango. "Talk to me," Inuyasha said into the phone, tossing his jacket on to a chair.
"Inuyasha, hi it's Sango."
"Hi Sango, what can I do for you?" Inuyasha went into his kitchen, looking for something to eat after such a workout. Thanks to Souta' big mouth, he totally had Kagome off her center. It was easy to catch her today.
"I was only wondering if you had any plans with Kagome tomorrow." Sango sounded oddly distant. She was usually one of those people always right there.
"No, I don't think so, why?"
"No special reason. I just don't like her to be alone on the first of July. I guess I'll go over there after work tomorrow, thanks Inuyasha." She made to hang up but he stopped her.
"Hey! Sango, hold on!"
"Yeah?"
"What's tomorrow that Kagome needs a babysitter?"
"You mean she didn't tell you?"
"If she had, would I be asking?" he asked sarcastically.
"I guess not. It's just that well, tomorrow is her wedding anniversary. Kagome always gets really depressed and I don't like it when she has to be there alone."
"Well, I could keep her company until you get out of work and all," Inuyasha volunteered, suddenly getting a little worried.
"Thanks," Sango said in relief. He could hear the smile in her voice. "It's not like she's going to flip and try to kill herself or anything. It's just that...Kagome misses Hojo. It's just a bad day for her, and it makes it better when someone is there."
"Yeah, I understand," Inuyasha said, feeling disappointed for some reason. He and Sango said their goodbyes, then he hung up and when to get ready for work.
Kagome sat on her futon, the box, now opened, sitting in front of her. The first thing that was on top of the rest of the contents, was a framed picture of Sonya Higurashi. Kagome smiled, lifting the picture out of the bow and cradling it gently in her hands. It was from the summer before she was born. Sonya was just starting to show her pregnancy, hinting to the daughter she would have just before Thanksgiving. Sonya had been a beautiful woman, with long ebony locks and large midnight eyes. Kagome often thought much of her mother's beauty had been wasted on her. Sonya had been a petite, graceful, striking woman where Kagome was tall, disciplined, and plain.
Still smiling, she stood the frame on her table, next to the phone. "Momma," Kagome laughed. Then she went back to the box, pulling out two separate photo albums and a variety of film packets. The first of the albums was full of pictures of Kagome growing up, from her karate tournaments and school functions. There were pictures of her and Sango at parties and dances, and a few from when they used to just hang at the mall. Kagome took out a few of the packets that were below that album and they were filled with much of the same. Photographs meticulously documenting her youth.
The Second album Kagome had put that off to the end, recognizing the calligraphy on the cover. Her wedding album. With a sigh, she sat back in her seat, pulling the book on her lap. The first few pictures were just of her and Hojo after they had gotten engaged, all smiles and blushes. They hadn't been more than kids back then. Kagome had just started her second year of college. Hojo hadn't gone to school after graduation. He had stayed to help his father run the family business, and that's when it all happened.
Kagome flipped through the pages, seeing the different gowns she had tried before setting on the simple yet elegant one that she wore. There were pictures of Hojo in his black and white suit, trying top hats and canes, but settling on a traditional look. There was Sango in her tasteful bridesmaid dress, no ruffles or puffs of champagne colored shoes. She had brought Miroku to the wedding, it was just when they started to seriously date. A variety of friends lined the pages. Kohaku and Souta in the wedding party as gangly teenagers, Toutousai and Hiko proposing toasts at the reception, and even good old Cow, sporting a doggy bowtie in the back of the procession. There were pictures of the first dances, Kagome and Hojo, Kagome and her father, as well as a bunch of others. It had been a wonderful day.
When Kagome had turned to the last page of the album, she realized that tears were streaming from her eyes. She wiped them off with the back of her hand and put the album safely in the box. There would be no more photos tonight. Tomorrow she could drowned in sorrow, but tonight she would sleep. So to bed she went, curling up in the old flannel shirt that she kept of Hojo's.
Kagome woke up the next morning to a knock at her door. She got up, yawning and running fingers through her mused hair, noticing that her clock read nine o'clock. She padded to the door and opened it to reveal Inuyasha, two coffees and a bag of bagels in hand.
"'Morning," he said cheerily, coming inside and closing the door. "My, you are a ray of light this morning!"
"My, aren't we chipper," Kagome yawned. "What are you doing here?"
"Can't I come a offer you a bagel?" he asked, golden eyes wide in mock innocence. Kagome gave him that I-don't-think-so look with her hands on her hips. "Okay, okay, Sango called me last night. She said you could probably use a friend today."
Kagome chuckled, shaking her head. "Yes, Sango worries too much, but thanks for coming over." Kagome took one of the offered coffees and went into her room to change. Inuyasha threw himself down on the futon and noticed the box full of photos.
"What's all this?" he called into the room after her.
"That's what Souta brought from my Dad. It's just a bunch of pictures and stuff." Inuyasha looked at some loose pictures of Kagome as a little girl. He decided that she was cute at any age. There were photos of her and Sango together and an older man he assumed to be her father. Then he pulled out an un-opened envelope of pictures. Written on the front in spidery writing was 'Kagome's Summer'. Inuyasha pulled out the photos and flipped through them. Most were pictures of Kagome at her house, sitting on an old swing with an ancient-looking dog. She was decidedly sadder in all of these pictures, and didn't seemed to notice she was being photographed.
He put them down when he noticed the smaller photo album that had her name scrawled on it in fancy writing. Opening it up, he saw Kagome sitting with a young man with brown hair and a nice smile. He saw multiple pictures of this man with Kagome, and with others. It became obvious a few pages in that this had to have been Kagome's husband. He saw the pictures of the wedding and the reception and how happy Kagome seemed in all of them. The disappointment that had been in his stomach continued to grow. Inuyasha had no idea why.
Kagome reemerged from her room and saw him flipping through the wedding album and sighed. She waited for him to speak, but he had paused on one picture. Moving closer, she saw that it was a picture of her and Hojo, when they had cut the cake at the reception. Kagome smiled sadly and sat down next to him, curling her legs beneath her. Inuyasha jumped, slamming the book shut loudly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't--"
"It's okay," Kagome assured him. "Those are pictures from my wedding." She leaned over and opened it to the page he was one. "That's me with my husband, Hojo." She flipped through the pages, explaining different things and identifying several people. "It seems like it was so long ago, looking at that. It doesn't seem like five years ago."
"Do you mind if I ask you what happened?" Inuyasha inquired.
"I owe you, remember? A past for a past." Kagome inhaled deeply and then sighed, looking at him with shimmering eyes. "Hojo and I broke up after graduation. I was going to college with Sango and he was staying in Grand Lake, but we stayed friends. He and I had always been very close." She paused, thinking of where to go from there. Inuyasha didn't rush her. He knew it had to be hard. "When I came home for Spring Break of my sophomore year, Hojo said he had something to tell me, something important. He was sick, you see. Leukemia. The doctors gave him a year to eighteen months, there was nothing more to do. He was already pumped full of meds and he didn't want to go on radiation. It didn't matter if it would give him more time, it would just make him sicker. Hojo wanted to be as healthy as he could for as long as he had."
Kagome didn't feel when the tears started to fall, but she ignored them as she spoke. "He asked me to marry him not long after that. I said yes, of course. I loved Hojo very much, even if I wasn't in love with him. I wanted to do everything I could to make the time he had left the best I could." She sighed, but smile fondly. "He was the sweetest man I'd ever met, even if he was a little naive. He was honest and he was loyal. We were married exactly a year, he died on our anniversary."
Inuyasha really didn't know what to say. Of all the scenarios he had envisioned--the guy running off with another woman, collective differences, Kagome's career choice--he had never even thought to ask if he husband was still alive. And here Kagome was, a widow at twenty-one. Kagome sniffled and wiped the back of her hand across her eye.
"I miss him," she said apologetically. "I never wanted to get married, you know. I didn't see myself settling down. But when he told me he was dying," Kagome shook her head and stared off past Inuyasha. "All I wanted was to stay there. I would have been the good little wife with the three kids in the house with a white picket fence and a dog. Just to have him be alright again. I guess that just wasn't in the cards for me."
Inuyasha could relate, even if it was kind of opposite. He had grown up with no strings. Rich, socialite parents, an aristocratic brother, a good family and name that went for top price in all east coast cities. All he wanted was that little house and a warm family. But when Kikyou had left him, he saw all his dreams shattered. When Hojo died, Kagome realized what her dreams really were. And he envied her, because although she still suffered for the loss of her husband, she had been able to go on without him. She had risen to the top of the fighting world for a few years, and now she had fallen as low as he had. Inuyasha didn't want that for her. Not for Kagome, who was always smiling and joking and laughing. She deserved better then the hell that was his.
One second Kagome was feeling self-conscious about crying in front of Inuyasha, and the next his arms were around her. For a second she was nervous and startled and tempted to elbow him in the stomach, but then again, Kagome was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. And she was so tired. Just tired and drained and miserable. And she needed him just then. Kagome Higurashi, the one-woman fighting star, the one who never admitted weakness, was crying in the arms of a man. She was able to admit it, to herself at least, just this once, she was glad that she was born a woman as long as she could stay in the arms of this man.
A/N: Okay, the end. That was pretty long, right? Well yeah. In case anyone reads this author not, I want to recommend a story to you guys. It's called Tainted Blood, it's an Inuyasha AU written by a friend of mine and I absolutely love it! It's funny and angsty and sad and stuff. And since I get in inside knowledge, it does get more romantic and stuff. So if you want something good to read, read it! Anywho, that's it for now. I'll update again later. Thanks for reading and please review!
A/N: I like doing the reader correspondence before the chapters, therefore when a disgruntled fan comes to read the answer to their heart-set questions, they don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom first. Plus it's fun to answer my mail! ^-^! Oh! And I'm sure all of you will be happy to know that this is a long chapter--for me anyway. Enjoy!
KireiHanyou Ko: I can not express in words how happy I am that you like what I write, even though I think some of it's retarded. It's my baby, though, lol. Ah, well, I made them kiss early now but stuff and stuff happens and you'll see why stuff happens the way it does. Here's the next chapter for you! Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Michelle the Miko: Here's the truth for you. I had minimal fluff since I don't like to go overboard. Don't worry, there will be more later on, but the next few are more…weird stuff, that thing called plot. Who needs it right? Thanks for the review!
silent slayer: Here is another chapter for you. Thanks for the review and for reading!
Leomae: You are weird, you know that? Lol, I'm so glad you like my story. When I do get to the chapter where they do some stuff, I'll be sure to keep that in mind, even though its already written out. *cough* Forgive the badmouthing of republicans. I'm non-partisan actually and I have nothing against any party, I was just commenting because I thought it would be funny and my brother suggested it. He's a weirdo. Thanks for the review and for reading!
Josie: Yes, buddy-system for the dating impaired. That's actually a phrase I use quite often. Yes, he just walked out and stuff, but you'll see why. Yes, yes, Inuyasha is a freak and Kagome is no better. Thanks for reading and the review!
A Fighter's Story
Chapter 6
You know that old saying, you don't know what you have until it's gone? Yeah, that's what Kagome felt the rest of the week. She smiled and laughed with the kids, she took them places and bought them things. This sufficiently helped in depleting her savings, but, soft-heart that she was, Kagome didn't care. She wanted them to be happy, even if she found that she couldn't be so along with them. It was hard to say what she was feeling really. More or less, she felt drained and empty...and tired. Always tired, even in the middle of the day, and at one time she had been the most annoying of morning-people.
Rin didn't have any nightmares after that night. It helped that Kagome slept in her large bed with both children. She told Shippou that it was for Rin's sake, but both children knew that it was something else. Children are very adept at reading the feelings of adults. (A/N: This is true. My little cousin Simon, whom I baby-sit for just about every weekend, is six and he can read any adult like a book!) But children are also innocent of the understanding for why their aunt was not herself. Sango had told them that Kagome was no longer going to fight, so they rationalized that was the reason.
On Saturday afternoon, Sango and Miroku returned from Las Vegas. They were $5,476.32 richer then when they left, thanks to Miroku's superior poker playing abilities, and Sango's innate ability to fish change out of the sofa cushions, even when there seems to be nothing there. They brought Kagome a stolen hotel towel, since it had been her idea to send them to Vegas in the first place and for taking care of the kids. Kagome, as always, said she was more than happy to do it. She was sad to see the kids go, but in a way, she was happy to have some quiet time again.
By Saturday night, Kagome was going stir-crazy. She wanted to go to sleep, but the silence kept her from resting. She picked up the phone and was halfway through dialing the number for Myouga's House of Pizza before she remembered that Inuyasha didn't work on Saturdays. Not that he'd want to talk to her anyway. She sighed and laid back on the couch. He had made it pretty clear by avoiding her all week that he hadn't the slightest desire to talk about what had happened. Kagome really didn't either. What she wanted was for things to be like they had been. Kagome wanted her friend back.
Afterwards, she could never be sure how she got into her car and drove to the bar, but she remembered standing outside of the Black Mist Tavern, fighting with herself over whether or not she should go in. But Kagome Higurashi had never backed out of anything in her life, and she wouldn't start now! With a deep breath and a silent prayer to the heavens, Kagome went into the bar and walked casually to the counter.
Inuyasha was there, cleaning some dirty glasses and looking bored out of his collective mind. The place was completely deserted. It was too late for happy hour and too early for the midnight crowd. Kagome hopped on to a stool. "Wow, this place is a crazy whirligig of fun, ne?"
Inuyasha jumped and whirled around, nearly dropping the glass he was cleaning. "Kagome," he said, stating the fact. "You shouldn't sneak up on people."
"I didn't sneak, she corrected. I just happened along. You were concentrating a little too hard on the glass and not hard enough of what's going on. You could get jumped that way." Kagome babbled, tapping her fingers on the counter to a nervous rhythm. When had it become so awkward? When did it get so hard?
"Yeah well...yeah," he stuttered and shrugged. "What are you doing here?"
Kagome shrugged as well. "You haven't been around and it was way too quiet in my apartment with the kids gone. I needed someone to harass."
"Lucky me," he muttered under his breath. Kagome sighed.
"If you want me to go, I will," she said, getting up.
"No, I didn't mean it like that," he said quickly, coming out from behind the counter. "It's just that..." He trailed off, looking around. Like she had assessed, the bar was empty, but Inuyasha walked over to the window and clicked off the neon 'open' sign, then locked the door and turned out the bar lights. "Come on, we'll talk in my apartment."
Kagome followed him up the small staircase that led from the bar to the second floor apartment. It was a huge wooden flat with lots of open space due to Inuyasha's lack of furniture. He went into the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the refrigerator. Kagome followed, ignored the drink, and hoisted herself up to sit on the island counter that was in the middle of his kitchen. It was her favorite seat in his place.
"Talk," she commanded.
"What happened...at your apartment the other day," he began weakly, unable to meet her eyes. He scratched his nails along the neck of the glass bottle. "It spooked me a little, I guess." Kagome kept the snort to herself. A little would have been a blush and a phone call a few days later. A little was not total avoidance for nearly a week. But she wouldn't argue. "It's just that....There was this time when I....I don't think that I'm...." After three false starts, Kagome had to speak.
"If you don't want anything physical between us, 'Yash, all you had to do was say so. I'm not going to stop talking to you or anything just because you won't make out with me in the backseat of my car. This isn't high school."
Inuyasha looked ashamed, running one hand through his hair unconsciously and the other still clutching the untouched beer. "I didn't want to hurt your feelings or anything. But I just don't think I'm up for something like that. I've got a load of baggage and it's unfair to drop it on you."
"Ah, the old baggage line," Kagome said with a nod. "Might as well use the classic 'it's not you, it's me' line."
"But it isn't you," he was quick to say, now looking at her. Kagome clearly read the confusion in his golden eyes and regretted her words. "It's just...everything went so wrong and...I'm still trying to pull myself together."
Kagome thought back on all the time she had known him, all the pointless conversations they had. All that she knew of him was about his family, Inuyasha made it a point never to talk about his life as a fighter. And suddenly, she had to know. "Inuyasha, why did you leave the tour?"
He looked away from her again, drink forgotten. "Don't ask me that."
"Inuyasha," Kagome said again, barely above a whisper. "Why did you leave?"
Inuyasha clenched the counter around his sink until his knuckles turned white. His back was to Kagome, but she could see his shoulders shaking ever so slightly. Then she heard his voice, low and distant. "Her name was Kikyou. I met her my first year on the tour. She was a publicist for the tour itself, and since I was the 'hottest star that year', she was required to be my shadow." Inuyasha's voice was dripping with contempt and Kagome nearly winced from the burning anger she also felt radiating from his body.
"I was so in love with her...it disgusts me to think of it now. After a while, it was me who was following her around. She was everything I thought I should want, everything I had ever been told to look for. She was beautiful, smart, a great business woman...they called us the 'perfect couple'. I was going into my fifth year on the tour, a little under four years ago when I was about your age, I asked her to marry me. Right there, center ring, after my nationals victory for the fourth running year."
"I remember that," Kagome said softly once he had stopped for a breath. "It was the year before I got on to the tour."
"Yeah, well, I won the belt and popped the question. Of course she agreed, right there in the middle of the ring, in front of millions watching on TV all over the place. God, I was such an idiot. At the end of the season, I resigned from the tour and moved out here from New York. Kikyou came with me, but she wasn't happy about it. We were out here...six months maybe...then one day, I woke up alone. There was a note and a rose on the pillow next to me." Inuyasha paused just long enough to let out a furious growl.
"'Dear Inuyasha,'" he spoke from memory. "'I can see that we're going in different directions, that we want different things. I'm sorry to just take off, but I got a call and had to leave. You understand. Love, Kikyou.' The bitch left in the middle of the night and I never heard from her again."
Kagome gasped. How anyone could do something so cruel was beyond her imagination. To just leave, without any warning, after he had given up so much to settle down and start a normal life. It was cruel and it was the worst kind of wrong. "So here I am, a bartender-pizza boy, two thousand miles from my brother and anything I grew up knowing, all because I was stupid enough to fall for someone so blatantly fake as Kikyou. That's why I left, and I'm too much of a coward to show my face in the ring again."
Kagome saw the ridged set of his shoulders and the low hang of his head. He was furious and miserable and scared. Worst of all, he had been alone for so long. Three years. She knew what it felt like to be alone, even in the middle of a crowd, even with people who love you all around. And she knew that emptiness like that could eat a person's soul. For three years he had suffered alone, but she would not let him anymore.
"Inuyasha-"
"I don't want your pity, Kagome," he said more harshly than he intended. She knew it was only the shell talking to her, warning her to get away. The shield that held people like him and herself so tightly from the rest of the world.
"That's good, because I don't give pity to anyone but myself," she replied quietly. He turned to face her, golden eyes glassy. She held out a hand to him. "Come here." He stayed where he was at first, but Kagome was a patient woman. She always had been, even if she sometimes didn't show it.
Eventually he moved slowly to her, until he was right in front of where she was sitting. From her position, she was an inch or two higher than he was. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against his. "One day, you'll have to ask me all about my past," she told him. "I know how you feel."
He looked doubtful, and a little angry. "How could you-"
"I know," she said again, quietly. "I know." He fell silent, shaking his head slightly.
Everyone has demons. That was something her father had told her a long time ago, another lifetime it seemed. But at that moment, Kagome saw every one of Inuyasha Dai's demons flashing in his golden eyes. It was haunting and it was sad, but it was beautiful. She wouldn't give him pity, she knew he didn't want it. She wouldn't want it either. So she gave him comfort instead. She held him to her, resting his head against her shoulder and wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders. He held tight around her waist, like she was the only lifeline.
There was no more talk of the kiss at Kagome's apartment. It was left in the past. There was a mutual understanding that it was just not the time.
Inuyasha stretched, arching his back as he got out of the car. The gym bag with his gear was tossed lazily in the back seat of his car. All that was missing for his outing to the gym was his sparring partner, the oh-so-magnificent Kagome Higurashi--the name was her idea. After their practice bout the day before, of which she was the victor, Inuyasha had been itching to get her back into the ring and wipe the smug smile off her face. When she smirked, she reminded him too much of himself. He had the all-consuming, overwhelming desire to run masculine superiority in her face. But he had to give her credit, Kagome took it in stride. She was a woman who had lived her life in the world of men. He admired her for it, and counted himself as lucky to be friends with such a woman, rather than on the receiving end of her fist and her tongue.
Inuyasha hopped the steps at led to her apartment door, the forest green one with the shiny gold letter and number. He knocked twice, then leaned back on the banister casually. There were a few shuffling noises from behind the door and Inuyasha waited patiently for it to open. When it did, his jaw dropped.
Standing in the doorway, at noon on a Saturday afternoon, was not Kagome at all! It was a young man, looking to be no more than twenty or twenty one years of age, clad in nothing but a pair of Scooby-doo boxer shorts. (A/N: I have brothers, need I say more?) His short black hair was tousled and he rubbed light brown eyes with the back of his hand. "Can I help you?" he asked with a yawn.
For a moment, all Inuyasha could do was stare, open-mouthed. "I think I have the wrong place," he finally said.
"Are you looking for Kagome?" the Scooby-fan asked. Inuyasha could only nod, now completely floored to the point of no voice. "Yeah, she's in the shower, so it'll be a minute." And that, Inuyasha decided, was the point where the day seemed to get strange. At least, it had been strange until Kagome walked out of her room in nothing but a towel. That's when he decided that strange had ended, and frightening had begun.
"Inuyasha!" she exclaimed, a look of surprise on her face as a heated blush crept up her face. "You're early."
"S-s-sorry," he stuttered, looking from the young man to the woman and back again. Kagome stood in the middle of the room, her face darkening by the second, while the boxer-clad stranger leaned against the door and yawned again. Inuyasha simply blinked.
(A/N: Now would be a good time to end this chapter, I think, but I'm not evil and I promised more of the truth! Plus there is a lot more I have to get out in the chapter before Chapter 7. But to explain the situation that Inuyasha just happened to get himself into, I'll have to back-track to the day before. That way, we can all learn how a boxer-clad guy suddenly appeared in Kagome's apartment, and she comes out in naught but a towel! Oh, for shame! but soft, 'tis not what you gutter-minds are thinking! Now, we shall rewind this back to the night before! *Flashback mode*)
The Night Before......
Kagome had just returned home from a romping workout with Inuyasha. She had beaten him good when they had the ring for sparring that afternoon, and the woman was feeling particularly smug. While the silver-haired freak had gone home to lick his wounds, Kagome opted to lounge around on this Friday night and watch a movie. She had been feeling rather depressed the last few days, seeing as how it was her wedding anniversary on Sunday. That was why she had tried to avoid talking about it with Sango all week, which was not easy. The woman was tenacious, and she knew Kagome far too well. She was lucky that Inuyasha hadn't asked her anything else about her marriage, but it was only a matter of time before it came up again.
That was when the phone rang. To lazy to carry the phone around with her, Kagome hit the speaker button on the kitchen extension as she began to fix herself a snack. "Domino's Pizza," she chirped, digging out a 20 oz bottle of coke and left-over garlic knots that Inuyasha had scored for her the day before.
"Kagome," Toutousai sighed over the phone. "When will you learn not to confuse me? I'm just an old man!"
She laughed and tossed her food in the microwave. "Sorry Dad, I thought it was someone else."
"And who did you think it was?"
"Just a friend I beat up this afternoon. He normally called me afterwards to demand a rematch." Kagome tapped her fingers on the counter, waiting for the sustenance that was waiting to be eaten.
"He, now? Since when did you have a boyfriend? And you didn't even tell your own father?!?"
"Daddy, he's not my boyfriend," she said quickly. Oh, the headache she would have if he got on a rant before she could stop him. Toutousai was always touchy when it came to Kagome's love life. Except when she had married Hojo. He had always liked Hojo.
"Oh, that's good." Kagome snorted, but if he heard it, he chose to ignore it. "Well, I'm just calling to say that I finally got around to my spring cleaning."
"Daddy, the first of July is Sunday. I think you should just call it cleaning."
"Touchy now, aren't we?" he teased. Kagome growled, biting into her nuked knots. "Well I was moving around some boxes in the attic--"
"Dad, you shouldn't be moving boxes! You know what that could do to your back," Kagome lectured.
"Calm down," he assured her. "I made Souta do it, but I supervised."
Kagome grinned. "How is Souta? I'm sorry I missed him when I came out to Grand Lake." Souta was Kagome and Toutousai's neighbor. He was literally the boy-next-door. Kagome had known him his entire life, and they were like brother and sister. When Kagome left Grand Lake, Souta was given specific instructions to look after Toutousai in her absence. It was an honor that the younger boy took very seriously.
"Ah, he wasn't home from school yet. But as I was saying," he paused for any interruption. Kagome smiled, but didn't bother him again. "I found a box of things that I'm sending out to you."
"What kind of things?"
"Just a few things that you should have. Mostly photographs and things like that. Souta left for the city this afternoon on an errand for his father's business, expect him to drop by with the box tonight."
"Yay! It's been forever since I tortured Souta!" Kagome happily ate her knots and glowed with happiness.
"Kagome," he father said lightly. "Do me a favor?"
"Sure Daddy," Kagome said, still happy and now buzzed from sugar and garlic.
"Don't open the box until after Souta leaves? It's just that, a few of the things are personal and you might not want anyone to be around." Kagome was confused, but she agreed. They said their goodbyes and that was that.
Souta came knocking to her door about an hour later. Kagome threw her arms around him and yanked him inside. "Souta! You handsome devil you," she laughed, ruffling his hair. "I'm sure you're quite the ladies' man at college."
"Kag," he whined, smoothing out his hair again. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. It's no business of yours." He proceeded to stick out his tongue for good measure. Kagome laughed and kissed his cheek. "Eww!" Souta cried, wiping his face repeatedly. "You are just nasty!"
"I know, I know!" she laughed. Kagome and Souta spent three hours catching up, Souta brought in the box he had been entrusted with, and then they talked some more.
"Where are you staying tonight?" Kagome asked once she realized how late it was.
"Probably a Holiday Inn or Motel 6, why?"
"Stay here," she said with a grin. "I've got a very comfortable futon and I'll feed you. Honest." She held up two fingers for emphasis. Souta contemplated this for a moment, rubbing his chin and curling a strand of his dark hair.
"The price is right, I'll take it!" he declared. The two of them were up until the wee hours of the morning, talking about old times and laughing until they were nearly sick. Once retired, they didn't get up until deep into the morning. Thus brining us to the situation at hand!
Kagome looked at Inuyasha, Inuyasha looked at Kagome. Then Kagome looked at Souta and felt like crying, or killing him. "Souta!" she exclaimed. The sleepy young man looked back at her. "Clothes please!" she said, pointing at his boxers. Souta shrugged, not fully conscious, and trudged into the bathroom with a change of clothes in hand. The door was left open and Kagome ushered Inuyasha in. "I'm 'so' sorry about that," she apologized, pulling off the blanket that Souta used to make room for him to sit.
"It's fine," Inuyasha aid, not able to meet her eyes. Kagome sighed. She knew what he thought, and that was a sick thought, one that bordered on incest. Souta and her....that was just wrong! But he didn't know that.
"Souta came into the city last night so I invited him to stay the night here rather than pay for a hotel room," Kagome explained, busying herself, but that statement sounded wrong. "He's from Grand Lake, my father asked him to drop something off for me."
"Uh-huh." She knew that tone, smug bastard, he didn't believe her.
"Souta's my neighbor, I've known him all his life." He still wouldn't meet her eyes and Kagome was getting pissed. She sat next to him on the couch and waited until he looked at her from the corner of his eye. "I don't sleep around, especially with kids I used to baby-sit," she said without a tone.
"I believe you," Inuyasha replied.
"Then why aren't you looking at me?"
"Because," he paused to cough, a faint blush evident on his face. "You're in a towel."
"Oh," Kagome commented, looking down and blushing herself. "I'll be right back."
"Okay then."
Souta was ready before Kagome, which gave him ample time to tell Inuyasha a lot of embarrassing childhood stories of Kagome's. Which Inuyasha had fun lobbing at her when they sparred that afternoon. It was a good thing Souta left when they did, or Kagome might have killed the little rat. After Inuyasha dropped her off at home, curiosity got the best of Kagome, and after a shower, she went straight for the mysterious box from her father.
At the very same moment Kagome was attacking cardboard, Inuyasha was getting a phone call from none other than the sometimes-clairvoyant Sango. "Talk to me," Inuyasha said into the phone, tossing his jacket on to a chair.
"Inuyasha, hi it's Sango."
"Hi Sango, what can I do for you?" Inuyasha went into his kitchen, looking for something to eat after such a workout. Thanks to Souta' big mouth, he totally had Kagome off her center. It was easy to catch her today.
"I was only wondering if you had any plans with Kagome tomorrow." Sango sounded oddly distant. She was usually one of those people always right there.
"No, I don't think so, why?"
"No special reason. I just don't like her to be alone on the first of July. I guess I'll go over there after work tomorrow, thanks Inuyasha." She made to hang up but he stopped her.
"Hey! Sango, hold on!"
"Yeah?"
"What's tomorrow that Kagome needs a babysitter?"
"You mean she didn't tell you?"
"If she had, would I be asking?" he asked sarcastically.
"I guess not. It's just that well, tomorrow is her wedding anniversary. Kagome always gets really depressed and I don't like it when she has to be there alone."
"Well, I could keep her company until you get out of work and all," Inuyasha volunteered, suddenly getting a little worried.
"Thanks," Sango said in relief. He could hear the smile in her voice. "It's not like she's going to flip and try to kill herself or anything. It's just that...Kagome misses Hojo. It's just a bad day for her, and it makes it better when someone is there."
"Yeah, I understand," Inuyasha said, feeling disappointed for some reason. He and Sango said their goodbyes, then he hung up and when to get ready for work.
Kagome sat on her futon, the box, now opened, sitting in front of her. The first thing that was on top of the rest of the contents, was a framed picture of Sonya Higurashi. Kagome smiled, lifting the picture out of the bow and cradling it gently in her hands. It was from the summer before she was born. Sonya was just starting to show her pregnancy, hinting to the daughter she would have just before Thanksgiving. Sonya had been a beautiful woman, with long ebony locks and large midnight eyes. Kagome often thought much of her mother's beauty had been wasted on her. Sonya had been a petite, graceful, striking woman where Kagome was tall, disciplined, and plain.
Still smiling, she stood the frame on her table, next to the phone. "Momma," Kagome laughed. Then she went back to the box, pulling out two separate photo albums and a variety of film packets. The first of the albums was full of pictures of Kagome growing up, from her karate tournaments and school functions. There were pictures of her and Sango at parties and dances, and a few from when they used to just hang at the mall. Kagome took out a few of the packets that were below that album and they were filled with much of the same. Photographs meticulously documenting her youth.
The Second album Kagome had put that off to the end, recognizing the calligraphy on the cover. Her wedding album. With a sigh, she sat back in her seat, pulling the book on her lap. The first few pictures were just of her and Hojo after they had gotten engaged, all smiles and blushes. They hadn't been more than kids back then. Kagome had just started her second year of college. Hojo hadn't gone to school after graduation. He had stayed to help his father run the family business, and that's when it all happened.
Kagome flipped through the pages, seeing the different gowns she had tried before setting on the simple yet elegant one that she wore. There were pictures of Hojo in his black and white suit, trying top hats and canes, but settling on a traditional look. There was Sango in her tasteful bridesmaid dress, no ruffles or puffs of champagne colored shoes. She had brought Miroku to the wedding, it was just when they started to seriously date. A variety of friends lined the pages. Kohaku and Souta in the wedding party as gangly teenagers, Toutousai and Hiko proposing toasts at the reception, and even good old Cow, sporting a doggy bowtie in the back of the procession. There were pictures of the first dances, Kagome and Hojo, Kagome and her father, as well as a bunch of others. It had been a wonderful day.
When Kagome had turned to the last page of the album, she realized that tears were streaming from her eyes. She wiped them off with the back of her hand and put the album safely in the box. There would be no more photos tonight. Tomorrow she could drowned in sorrow, but tonight she would sleep. So to bed she went, curling up in the old flannel shirt that she kept of Hojo's.
Kagome woke up the next morning to a knock at her door. She got up, yawning and running fingers through her mused hair, noticing that her clock read nine o'clock. She padded to the door and opened it to reveal Inuyasha, two coffees and a bag of bagels in hand.
"'Morning," he said cheerily, coming inside and closing the door. "My, you are a ray of light this morning!"
"My, aren't we chipper," Kagome yawned. "What are you doing here?"
"Can't I come a offer you a bagel?" he asked, golden eyes wide in mock innocence. Kagome gave him that I-don't-think-so look with her hands on her hips. "Okay, okay, Sango called me last night. She said you could probably use a friend today."
Kagome chuckled, shaking her head. "Yes, Sango worries too much, but thanks for coming over." Kagome took one of the offered coffees and went into her room to change. Inuyasha threw himself down on the futon and noticed the box full of photos.
"What's all this?" he called into the room after her.
"That's what Souta brought from my Dad. It's just a bunch of pictures and stuff." Inuyasha looked at some loose pictures of Kagome as a little girl. He decided that she was cute at any age. There were photos of her and Sango together and an older man he assumed to be her father. Then he pulled out an un-opened envelope of pictures. Written on the front in spidery writing was 'Kagome's Summer'. Inuyasha pulled out the photos and flipped through them. Most were pictures of Kagome at her house, sitting on an old swing with an ancient-looking dog. She was decidedly sadder in all of these pictures, and didn't seemed to notice she was being photographed.
He put them down when he noticed the smaller photo album that had her name scrawled on it in fancy writing. Opening it up, he saw Kagome sitting with a young man with brown hair and a nice smile. He saw multiple pictures of this man with Kagome, and with others. It became obvious a few pages in that this had to have been Kagome's husband. He saw the pictures of the wedding and the reception and how happy Kagome seemed in all of them. The disappointment that had been in his stomach continued to grow. Inuyasha had no idea why.
Kagome reemerged from her room and saw him flipping through the wedding album and sighed. She waited for him to speak, but he had paused on one picture. Moving closer, she saw that it was a picture of her and Hojo, when they had cut the cake at the reception. Kagome smiled sadly and sat down next to him, curling her legs beneath her. Inuyasha jumped, slamming the book shut loudly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't--"
"It's okay," Kagome assured him. "Those are pictures from my wedding." She leaned over and opened it to the page he was one. "That's me with my husband, Hojo." She flipped through the pages, explaining different things and identifying several people. "It seems like it was so long ago, looking at that. It doesn't seem like five years ago."
"Do you mind if I ask you what happened?" Inuyasha inquired.
"I owe you, remember? A past for a past." Kagome inhaled deeply and then sighed, looking at him with shimmering eyes. "Hojo and I broke up after graduation. I was going to college with Sango and he was staying in Grand Lake, but we stayed friends. He and I had always been very close." She paused, thinking of where to go from there. Inuyasha didn't rush her. He knew it had to be hard. "When I came home for Spring Break of my sophomore year, Hojo said he had something to tell me, something important. He was sick, you see. Leukemia. The doctors gave him a year to eighteen months, there was nothing more to do. He was already pumped full of meds and he didn't want to go on radiation. It didn't matter if it would give him more time, it would just make him sicker. Hojo wanted to be as healthy as he could for as long as he had."
Kagome didn't feel when the tears started to fall, but she ignored them as she spoke. "He asked me to marry him not long after that. I said yes, of course. I loved Hojo very much, even if I wasn't in love with him. I wanted to do everything I could to make the time he had left the best I could." She sighed, but smile fondly. "He was the sweetest man I'd ever met, even if he was a little naive. He was honest and he was loyal. We were married exactly a year, he died on our anniversary."
Inuyasha really didn't know what to say. Of all the scenarios he had envisioned--the guy running off with another woman, collective differences, Kagome's career choice--he had never even thought to ask if he husband was still alive. And here Kagome was, a widow at twenty-one. Kagome sniffled and wiped the back of her hand across her eye.
"I miss him," she said apologetically. "I never wanted to get married, you know. I didn't see myself settling down. But when he told me he was dying," Kagome shook her head and stared off past Inuyasha. "All I wanted was to stay there. I would have been the good little wife with the three kids in the house with a white picket fence and a dog. Just to have him be alright again. I guess that just wasn't in the cards for me."
Inuyasha could relate, even if it was kind of opposite. He had grown up with no strings. Rich, socialite parents, an aristocratic brother, a good family and name that went for top price in all east coast cities. All he wanted was that little house and a warm family. But when Kikyou had left him, he saw all his dreams shattered. When Hojo died, Kagome realized what her dreams really were. And he envied her, because although she still suffered for the loss of her husband, she had been able to go on without him. She had risen to the top of the fighting world for a few years, and now she had fallen as low as he had. Inuyasha didn't want that for her. Not for Kagome, who was always smiling and joking and laughing. She deserved better then the hell that was his.
One second Kagome was feeling self-conscious about crying in front of Inuyasha, and the next his arms were around her. For a second she was nervous and startled and tempted to elbow him in the stomach, but then again, Kagome was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. And she was so tired. Just tired and drained and miserable. And she needed him just then. Kagome Higurashi, the one-woman fighting star, the one who never admitted weakness, was crying in the arms of a man. She was able to admit it, to herself at least, just this once, she was glad that she was born a woman as long as she could stay in the arms of this man.
A/N: Okay, the end. That was pretty long, right? Well yeah. In case anyone reads this author not, I want to recommend a story to you guys. It's called Tainted Blood, it's an Inuyasha AU written by a friend of mine and I absolutely love it! It's funny and angsty and sad and stuff. And since I get in inside knowledge, it does get more romantic and stuff. So if you want something good to read, read it! Anywho, that's it for now. I'll update again later. Thanks for reading and please review!