Discalimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING, OKAY?! Ahem Ok, sorry.

Nearly done uploading, mwahahaha!

By the way, I know some of the character are OOC. Like Kikyo. She's extremely out of character. I mean SERIOUSLY. But alas, it had to fit the story. I almost like her better this way....

A Fortuante Accident

Chapter 4- Following Clues

Inuyasha was once again questioning his motives behind his quest. He and Miroku were now in the Building Leasing office, arguing with a worker. He continually refused to give him the information.

"Look, I'm just a temp! I can't give you that kind of information!" He argued. Inuyasha and Miroku didn't look convinced. "Okay, what about privacy laws? Huh?" He said, coming up with a new argument.

"Privacy laws. Forget Privacy laws. Do you know who that protects?" Inuyasha asked him.

He shook his head no.

"Millionaires," Inuyasha said. "And do you know who those Millionaires are?"

He shook his head again. Inuyasha turned to Miroku. "Tell him," he commanded.

Miroku, with a smirk, began, "Kids your age. Pimple-faced college drop outs who have made unhealthy sums of money forming internet companies that create no concrete products, provide to viable services and still manage to generate profits for all its lazy, day trading, son-of-a-bitch share holders. Meanwhile, as a tortured member of the disenfranchised proletariat, you find some altruistic need to protect these digital plantation owners?"

The worker said nothing. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows. "Wow."

The worker nearly cracked a smile.

"Come on," Inuyasha pleaded.

"You want the tenant for December '94?" He asked, a wide grin spreading his face.

Inuyasha nodded. "Exactly."

The worker did a search through his computer system, and turned the monitor to Inuyasha and Miroku. "Here's your tenant."

Inuyasha squinted at the screen. "Sebastian Mig-non?" He said uncertainly.

"No-Mignon, it's French," the worker said, correcting his pronunciation.

"This isn't right," Inuyasha finally said, "we're looking for someone named Kagome. Are you sure you have the right one?"

The worker shrugged. "Maybe her boyfriend?" He suggested. Inuyasha thought for a moment.

"Thanks," he said shaking his hand. "You did the right thing, really." Miroku quickly called a co-worker at the New York Times to find an address.

"He lives in Brooklyn," Miroku said, "I have the address."

"Okay, we'll take the subway," Inuyasha said, beginning to walk away.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something? Wedding rehearsal? Bachelor Party?" Miroku said.

"Oh, there's plenty of time, trust me," Inuyasha said walking briskly to the subway station.

Kagome and Sango walked the streets of New York, searching for any sign of fate's winding work. They had been all over the city, searching for anything that reminded Kagome of Inuyasha.

Suddenly, Sango gasped. "Ooh, look! A street vendor! I've been meaning to get a new wallet for a while. Let's go!" She darted across the street to the vendor to look at all the purses, bags and wallets.

"Ah! Kagome, what do you think of this one?" Sango asked, hold up a black wallet with fancy stitching.

"That's 20 dollars," the street vendor told her.

"Sango, that's a huge rip off. I have the same one, and I got it for half of that!" Kagome pulled hers out of her purse and showed it to Sango.

"Oh well," Sango shrugged, handing the man a $20 bill. "Now we have the same wallet," Sango said, almost sheepishly.

A man dressed in a costume came around the corner, advertising for a new golf drive. The same one, in fact, that Inuyasha had visited a few days ago to film a news report on. The man began handing out flyers, thrusting one into Kagome's hand.

"No thanks I don-" She stopped, suddenly remembering Inuyasha's mention of golf. She folded the flyer into her purse and yelled, "Taxi!"

Sango looked up, alarmed. "Kagome? Wait! Oh god, they should make pills for this!"

Kagome and Sango searched through the golf drive, looking everywhere for Inuyasha.

Sango slumped against the wall. "You know who plays golf? Guys who are too fat to play tennis. Eww…like that guy."

After that, they didn't stay long. Particularly after Sango was hit in the head with a rouge golf ball, then struck in the same place with a golf club by accident.

Needless to say, Sango was not very happy with Kagome when they left.

"Mr. Mig-non, we have an odd and somewhat personal question to ask you. Di-" Inuyasha began.

"It's Mignon." The man corrected.

"Sorry. Mr. Mignon did you live with a girl named Kagome a few years ago? Dark hair, beautiful brown eyes, sort of mysterious?"

"Oui," Mr. Mignon answered, lighting a cigarette.

"Do you know where we can find her?" Inuyasha asked. The man shook his head sadly.

"No. I do not," He said in his thick, French accent.

"Do you remember her last name?" Miroku asked.

"No."

"Oh, come on," Inuyasha said in disbelief, "I find it hard to believe that you don't remember the last name of your ex-girlfriend-"

"No no no, she was not my girlfriend, not at all. She was a roommate. She lived with me for a very short period of time. She was placed with me by roommate finder service. She and her boyfriend lived with me for a few months, and after her boyfriend moved, she eventually did too," he said, taking a large puff of his cigarette.

"Did she leave anything behind? A receipt, bill, piece of luggage?" Inuyasha asked. Mr. Mignon shook his head and replied with a 'no'.

"Really, anything would help. Anything," Inuyasha told him.

Mr. Mignon thought for a moment, then said, "Once she sat on me."

Inuyasha blinked and asked quizzically, "She…sat on you?"

"Yes, she sat on me. I found her quite inspiring," Mr. Mignon said, a smile upon his face. "I suppose that is why I started painting her in the first place."

"Oh! She sat for you, I see. You're an artist. Alright," Inuyasha said with a laugh.

"That is what I said," Mr. Mignon told him with a roll of his eyes.

"That's what he said," Miroku told Inuyasha, "clearly."

"If you still have the painting, may we see it?" Inuyasha asked.

Mr. Mignon ran up the stairs to find the painting. He rushed back down the stars with the painting in hand.

"See, once you see her face, you'll understand," Inuyasha said assuring his Miroku.

"This is her, no?" Mr. Mignon said, unrolling the artwork. What Inuyasha saw did not quite remind him of Kagome. It looked more like a piece of Picasso's artwork, with a jigsaw-puzzled theme, than anything.

"Yea…around the eyes, a little," Inuyasha said, a bit apprehensively.

"Do you know the name of the roommate finder service?" Miroku asked. Mr. Mignon shook his head again.

"But, if it helps, I do remember where it was located."

"Where?" Both Inuyasha and Miroku asked simultaneously.

"Manhattan, on 60th street, on the left of that lovely little shop…Serendipity."

Inuyasha wanted to throw up at the irony in the world at that moment. Both he and Miroku made a mad dash for the door.

"Thank you Mr. Mig-non!" The two called as they left.

"Here you go, it's on the house. Happy Birthday," the waiter said, placing a piece of chocolate cake in front of Sango. The two of them had given up for the day and decided to go to Kagome's favorite coffee shop: Serendipity.

"Oh god, I'm an awful friend," Kagome said, shaking her head.

"You will be if you sing," Sango warned, blowing out the candle.

"Sango, thanks so much for coming with me," Kagome said graciously.

"You're welcome," Sango smiled. She stared down at the cake, and then up at her friend. "Kagome, you know it's a wonderful thought. The idea that every single event in one's life is part of a master plan designed to lead them to their soul mate. But if that's really true, then what's the point of living? What's the point of making decisions? Hell, what's the point of getting out of bed in the morning?"

"For the cake?" Kagome suggested drearily.

"No, not for the cake." Sango sighed. "No. To make mistakes. Mistakes like this trip. And hopefully, you learn from the mistakes, if you're smart enough. You think…you figure it out. Life isn't some stage play with directions for the actors. Kagome, life's a mess. It's chaos personified."

Kagome was struck with realization and said dolefully, "I have to give it all up now, don't I?"

Sango grabbed her friend's hand. "Oh Kagome, don't you see, you have a wonderful fiancé who, despite his weird eastern music which we HOPE is just a phase, loves you very much. It's not giving up…it's growing up." Both women let out a deep, soulful sigh.

"Let's get out of here."

The waiter came back with the change from the paid bill. Sango put the change in her new wallet. What she did not see as she did so, was a certain man's name and phone number written on the other side.

The two caught a taxi, and just as they got in, Inuyasha and Miroku stepped out of theirs and went running up to find the roommate finder service. Except, the store nextdoor to Serendipity was no longer a roommate finder service.

"A bridal shop?!" Inuyasha said, horrified.

"Oh god. The irony," Miroku said, equally sickened. "Wait here," He told Inuyasha, running inside.

"Why?" Inuyasha asked himself as he stood there on the street. Why even bother anymore? He had gone on a wild goose chase, all for nothing. It was hopeless now. He ran his hands through his hair. It was over now.

"Okay, they moved to the other side of town. If we get lucky with traffic, we can still make it, come on!" Miroku said hurriedly as he came out of the shop. "Taxi!"

"I can't do it," Inuyasha said suddenly, "it's over man."

"What do you mean?" Miroku asked. "Why?"

"How can I ignore that, huh? God bless the goddamn bride?" Inuyasha said, pointing to the store.

"What?" Miroku asked.

"It can't get any more obvious. I'm not supposed to be doing this. It's not in the cards." Inuyasha sat down on a bench.

"No, it's another clue. We'll talk about it on the cab ride over. Come on," Miroku said, pulling on his arm.

"No, it's not a clue," Inuyasha said firmly, "it's a sign."

Miroku stared at him confusedly. "What's the difference?"

"A clue is something a detective uses to solve a mystery. The receipt, the warehouse, that French guy—those are clues. This is a sign. Me not finding the book, that's a sign. Kagome never finding the $5.00 bill, that's a sign," Inuyasha explained.

"How can something not happening be a sign?" Miroku asked desperately trying to understand.

Inuyasha thought for a moment. "Maybe the absence of signs is a sign. I don't know! Maybe there is no fate, but if there is, it is not working for me!"

"You know, it's not supposed to end this way, by the way," Miroku said, "we're supposed to pull back the curtain and see the wizard. We're supposed to get to the end of the river."

"This is the end of the river!" Inuyasha said, standing up. "It's 7:30! My wedding rehearsal starts in half an hour! My bride is waiting for me!"

"Okay, okay. What if Kagome was here right now? Poof! She just showed up out of nowhere. What would she tell you to do?" Miroku asked.

"She would tell me to run –not walk- to the Waldorf because all the signs point to me getting married. Just look! Wedding dress, lots of white!" Inuyasha said dreadfully.

"I hate to state the obvious, but if you don't do this, you're never going to find out who Kagome is," Miroku told him in utter seriousness.

"…Maybe I was never supposed to. Maybe it was all just a giant maze designed to lead me back to where I started. Which is getting married." Inuyasha sighed, put his hands to his sides, and walked away.

Miroku stood motionless, for he wasin a dumb phase. "They should make pills for this."

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