"So how did the first meeting with the love of your life go?" shouted Miroku from the living room as Inu-yasha came back in, closing the door softly behind him.
"Have I ever mentioned someone called Koga?" asked Inu-yasha calmly, taking off his shoes.
"I think so... always in the same sentence as either "runt", "bastard" or "I'd like to tear his guts out and use them as skipping rope", if I'm not mistaken."
"Do you know the background of me and this Koga?" Inu-yasha asked, equally calmly, going into the kitchen and choosing a heavy porcelain plate he'd never really been fond of anyway.
"He was your rival?" said Miroku after a short pause.
"Exactly. And do you know who stares me in the face when I go over that street to talk to Kagome?!" Inu-yasha hurled the plate into the wall a short bit from Miroku's head, shattering it into one thousand, seven hundred and sixty-two pieces (Miroku knew this because he later gathered them up, glued the plate back together and sold it to a pawnbroker for enough money to buy a couple of drinks in a bar). "That fucked-up sorry excuse for a demon, Koga! Isn't it enough that he tried everything to win Kagome last time, now he has to be my rival in this life too?! He is her fucking BOYFRIEND now! What does she see in him?! She didn't love him the last time!"
"I know I've suggested this theory before and you didn't believe me," said Miroku calmly, not looking up from the table where he had laid out playing cards, "but what says the soul have to stay exactly the same the second time around? It is possible that she truly loves him this time. You can't expect your entire life to repeat itself."
"But she can't love him!" Inu-yasha said, and now there was despair in his voice rather than rage. "She really, really didn't love him last time. It's not fair..."
"Who said life was fair?" asked Miroku philosophically. Inu-yasha stayed silent for a couple of minutes, then he sighed and raked his hands through his hair, sitting down beside his friend with a thud.
"What are you doing?" he asked eventually, looking at the table.
"Playing a simple Solitaire," Miroku replied, and checked what the nearest card was.
"You cheat on Solitaire?"
"It's not cheating. I never cheat. It's..." Miroku searched for a word that could excuse his behaviour... "making an investment, that's what it is. If I know what I can count on, I can take calculated risks. The risks I take – the risk being losing the game – weigh up the investments."
"Miroku, you can't call it risks if you know what you are going to get."
"It's small-mindedness like that which makes you such a terrible card-player."
Inu-yasha watched his friend for a couple of more seconds, then leaned back in the sofa, putting his hands over his face. This day had not gone as he wanted. Kagome was supposed to feel a strange yet irresistible connection to him, they would go out a couple of times and then he would tell her the truth about their past lives and they'd fall into each other's arms. She was not supposed to be together with Koga. How could she have chosen that moron? Didn't she remember how he had both kidnapped her and almost killed Inu-yasha once?!
No, of course she doesn't remember, his inner voice told him, rolling its eyes, in a purely metaphorical sense of course. Reincarnated persons don't remember their past lives. Well, usually, anyway.
That was the hitch, wasn't it. Inu-yasha had from the moment he took his first steps known that he was different, that he had lived before. He could remember everything that had happened in that life, from the battles with his brother Sesshoumaru to his love for Kagome. His parents had believed him – he sent a grateful thought to his dear human mother and strong-minded demon father, thanking them for not dispelling his memories as childish fantasies. They had, however, tried to make him let them go.
"You have to live your new life now, Inu-yasha," his mother had told him once. "You can't dwell in memories of a lost life and a lost love forever. The reason you were reincarnated was to live again. But not like you lived your old life – life is a series of choices, don't always make the same ones as the last time. Live again, and live anew."
Of course, he had noticed some things had changed. He had no brother in this life, and his parents were not exactly the same as he remembered them. But some things repeated themselves. Souls whose fate have been strongly tied to each other in another life will remember those bonds and be drawn to each other again. Thus it was that he met Miroku, and became his friend once more. He had told Miroku everything about their life together once – Miroku had believed him as well but not shown any great interest in the matter. He was happy with his life as it was, and did not seem to care if it resembled his earlier life or not. Actually, he'd forbidden Inu-yasha to tell him certain things, like the manner of his death, some of the choices he had made in his life and the name of the woman he once loved.
"Hey Miroku..." said Inu-yasha cautiously, "have you never wanted to meet the girl I've told you about, the demon exterminator who travelled with us? Aren't you curious?"
"Not really." Miroku shrugged, peeking at one of the cards. "I mean, could you see me with a girlfriend? I don't think so. Freedom, mate, freedom is the only thing I crave."
"You used to love her," Inu-yasha reminded him.
"So you say. But even if I did, that was in another life and I was different then. People change, Inu-yasha. Otherwise you'd never have change on our planet, but everything would just stay the same, as souls were reborn and lived their lives all over again. Life moves on and evolves. Evolution, mate. And I have changed since then, even if you won't accept it."
"Fine," snapped Inu-yasha and stood up, abruptly turning away from his friend. He left the room and walked into his new bedroom, slamming the door behind him. It always made him so angry when Miroku spoke like that. Fine, so things changed. OK, maybe they did! Miroku didn't have to rub his face in it! Just because he was happy, being ignorant of his earlier life. Well, maybe Inu-yasha didn't want to live like that! Maybe he chose to fight a little instead of just accepting things as they were!
He threw himself down onto his bed, exhausted from severe disappointment and built-up anger, and was asleep in a matter of minutes.
When he awoke in the evening, later that day, he found the house empty. Miroku had left, leaving a note on the floor bearing one single word: Party. This meant he wouldn't be back until the next evening, or possibly three days later, depending on if he met a girl or not. He had left some food in the kitchen though – seafood wok, Inu-yasha's favourite. It was a sweet gesture, meant to cheer his old friend up a little, and Inu-yasha appreciated it fully.
He ate his food by the window, looking over into Kagome's garden. Koga had probably left by now – there was only one car in the driveway. And good riddance, too.
Well, the game wasn't lost yet, not if Inu-yasha had anything to say about it. What said that he couldn't simply steal her back? If he got to know her and they spent some time together, she would probably realize that it was them who were meant to be together, them who were the right couple. After all, she had agreed to show him around, hadn't she? She probably felt the chemistry at work already. Maybe she was sitting there in her large, empty house – now that stupid wolf was out of the way – looking over at him, Inu-yasha, and wondering what had made her feel so... safe, and happy, just by talking to him...
Whoa. No need to let his imagination run away with him now.
Well, tomorrow was Sunday. He could stroll over to her house tomorrow morning, casual like, and ask if she had any plans for the day or could she give him that little tour she'd promised? And she'd laugh and say yes, just a minute, and then they'd spend the day together, getting to know each other. Oh, and the neighbourhood too, maybe. That was it, he decided. Start slow, as friends, and then they'd see. They had started slow the last time, too, hadn't they?
He sat in the window until late in the night, looking over at her house as if it could tell him all the secrets in the world. How was she right now? Had she changed? What had her life been like? Dangerous, boring, happy, sad? How did she spend her days, did she study, work? What was her goal in life? Her hopes and fears? What did she dream about?
In the house on the other side of the street Kagome slept, dreaming happily about waffles with syrup.
elsiey: This is not a one-shot...;) (Sheez, what do you think of me? Do you really think I'd just leave it there? Talk about no plot...:D)
ra: Of course.:)