Reaching for the Stars
Chapter 2
The Reunion
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha
Sixteen years later
InuYasha Mori stood staring at the old house that he used to live in. Not for the first time, he wondered if this was a bad idea. Maybe he should just turn around, go home, and settle down with a nice girl like his parents had always suggested. After all, it was highly improbable that Kagome even remembered him, much less waited for him.
"Not my Kag," a small part of him said. 'Good lord, what am I thinking? This is ridiculous! Why should I go back to my old house just for a girl who most likely didn't even remember me? I don't even know if she's the same person that she was sixteen years ago! I should just go home and settle down. That Kikyou girl looks good enough, and seems desperate for my attention. Why shouldn't I marry her?'
"Because you're already married!" that particularly annoying part of him protested. He sighed. He had been having arguments like this with himself for ten years now. He couldn't settle down with Kikyou because he had to see exactly what it was about Kagome Higurashi that still drew his attention after sixteen years.
A young man of practically twenty-five, he was a far cry from the thin, gangly child he used to be. He was, he knew, quite attractive. Standing at five inches over six feet, he was still very tall for his age. His light hair still covered his face and ran down his back. But instead of being 'thin as a rail,' he was well built with sleek muscles and broad shoulders. He wondered if Kagome would look the same. He was somewhat disturbed by the fact that he couldn't quite picture her anymore. Inu looked up and saw a young child waddling in Kagome's yard.
'Oh, God, she didn't get married, did she?' He decided to find out. InuYasha walked up to the house and rang the doorbell.
A lady only slightly younger than him opened the door.
"Is Kagome Higurashi here?" he asked urgently.
"I'm sorry," she said, puzzled. "I think that you have the wrong house." He was relieved, but also stumped as of to where to look for her. A man about a decade older than her walked up to her.
"Who is it, dear?"
"Tis a man asking for a Kagome Higurashi."
"Hm…Higurashi…can't say that I know any Higurashi…Oh, wait! Higurashi, did you say?" At his curt nod, he continued. "Oh, yes! Now I remember! Higurashi used to own this house." Excited, InuYasha asked,
"Do you know where I can find Kagome Higurashi?"
"No, sorry, can't say that I do." Suddenly, Inu was very tired. He had flown in a plane for eight hours to get here and had a serious case of jet lag.
"Oh, my!" the lady exclaimed. "You look as if you're exhausted, poor dear. I'll tell you what. There's a bed and breakfast down the hill. Tis a small cottage, but comfy. Tell Miss Mori there that Ayame sent you. She'll know who I am and'll take right good care of you. Don't worry about price; tell her I'll take it out of her rent. And get some rest!" She shooed him down the hill. "Go on now!" InuYasha was too tired to protest and went meekly to the B&B. What awaited him at the cottage, however, drove all thoughts of sleep and exhaustion from his mind.
Miss Kagome Mori was cleaning up the room after her previous tenant had left. There was garbage all over the floor. It certainly needed a good dusting and vacuuming. Miss Mori was many things, but messy was not one of them. As a matter of fact, she was the worst neat-freak within a five-mile radius. Perhaps that was why she was so successful, or maybe it was the fact that Ayame kept referring her customers. At this rate, she wouldn't pay rent for a year.
She had a fond spot for Ayame though. The girl was sweet and always tried to do whatever she thought was the best thing to do. You couldn't ask for a better landlady, especially since she was the landlady on what used to be Kagome's property.
After Kagome's father became a drunk and gambled away everything the Higurashis had once possessed, one particularly greedy gambler wasn't happy with an I.O.U. and took the house. Her father had dueled him for it, and the man won. Kag's mother sadly died when she was ten, which caused her father to start drinking.
The man's wife, who had been expecting at the time, found the eighteen-year-old girl and gave her the cottage on her property. That had been fine with Kag, who dearly adored the tiny but cozy place. Kagome had led and said that she was Miss Mori, a young girl that the Higurashis had given food and shelter. She accepted the lie readily enough, and Kagome moved into the cottage.
After awhile, she became lonely in the vast five-room cabin and asked permission to turn it into a B&B. They agreed and sent her customers regularly. She had just finished cleaning the room when she heard a knock at the door.
'Boy, that Ayame sure doesn't waste time. I just barely got someone out and another one comes.' "I'm coming!" There was no time to put her hair back into the clip that it had come undone from. The knocking did not cease, however, in fact, it seemed more insistent.
"Coming!" She opened the door and lost all the breath she had. It was as if someone had squeezed all of the air out of her lungs. She clung to the doorpost, for standing there was the one person she had never expected to see again. For standing in the doorway was none other than InuYasha Mori, her childhood sweet-heart and current husband. She only just managed to cling onto the doorpost and stop from fainting.
InuYasha looked at the young lady clinging so desperately onto the door. He almost couldn't believe his eyes, but in his heart he knew who it was. "Are you okay, Kag?" he asked before he could even stop himself. 'Stupid!' He cursed himself. 'This young woman may not even be Kagome, and even if she was, it was certain that she didn't remember him. Too bad…' He wouldn't have been overly disappointed if she had flung herself into his arms.
She was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever lain eyes on, except Kikyou. She had shoulder-length raven hair that cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall, eyes that were as blue as a summer sky, a thin waist and curves where they were supposed to be. She looked up at him and her gaze was unnerving, but he didn't look away.
"But how did you…" she began and paused, searching for the right words. He meant to explain himself during this long silence, but he was transfixed by her voice. It sounded like mellow chimes on a tranquil spring day. He could spend hours, possibly even days, listening to that voice, no matter how boring the subject. She seemed to find the right words and he was jerked back into the present by the voice that he had just been daydreaming about.
"But how did you know where to find me?" Whatever InuYasha had been expecting, it wasn't this. Maybe, 'but how did you know my name,' but certainly not 'but how did you know where to find me.' It dawned on him that she probably thought he was someone else.
"Kag, are you in any sort of trouble? Has anybody been bothering you?"
"Yes," she replied curtly.
"Who? I'll take care of them for you; just tell me who they are." She said acidly,
"I hardly think you can beat yourself up, Inu. It's been years since I've last seen you! You haven't even bothered to call or write! I thought you were dead or…" she cut off suddenly and went into the next sentence.
"I've been spending all my life trying to forget you and I only just managed to and now you think that you can just come barging back into my life? Oh, no! I've made a nice life for myself and I intend it to stay that way!" InuYasha was slightly hurt more but more curious than anything. This was one respect that Kagome hadn't changed in at all. How much else had remained the same as it had been back when they were children?
"Sixteen years," Kagome said softly with tears in her eyes. It was exactly what he had thought when he saw her ready to faint, although he really couldn't blame her. Any weaker woman would have suffered a heart attack, but not his Kagome.
"Dead or what?" he asked gently. He didn't mean to pry, but he was genuinely curious.
"Married," she said in a small, terrified voice. The tears spilled over the rims of her eyes and in the deafening silence Inu could sworn they hit the floor, for that was where she was staring. Why had he waited so long? Kagome had promised to wait for him, and she always kept her promises. How could he be stupid enough to think that she had forgotten him?
She looked up sharply and stared straight into his eyes. "InuYasha," she inquired. At the sound of his name leaving her lips a shiver ran down his spine. This brought his attention to her lips, which he thought were highly kissable. With a jolt he wondered if she had been with other men besides him. Certainly he had been with other women, but he knew that Kagome Higurashi was the only woman for him. If she had been with other men then he would personally go out and kill them.
After several long moments and no reply she continued on with her speech. "Maybe it would be better for both of us if we just went our separate ways."
"What!" He had only just found her again and he didn't know if he would be able to stand losing her once more.
"Do you know what they told me?" she looked down at her ring and began to twist it. She continued softly. "My parents, that is. They told me that it was all a dream. Maybe that's what this is now. Another one of my wickedly cruel dreams. Anyway, they said I was hopelessly in love with the next-door-neighbor's son, InuYasha Mori. I had a dream one night that we got married. It was all my imagination, they said. Then the neighbors moved away. I was so heartbroken that I walked around telling people about my dream, insisting that it was real. Everybody took pity on me. After all, I was just a poor, confused little girl. I learned to hold my tongue. The only link to the past is this ring." She paused momentarily and stopped the twirling.
"You lied, Inu. Everything isn't okay. Maybe it would have been better if you did forget about me. My life fell apart after you left. My mom got sick when I was eight, and continued to suffer until she died when I was ten. My dad took up drinking to soften the harsh blow of her passing. He gambled away everything we owned until we were over our heads in debt. Finally, one guy wouldn't deal with my father's terms and challenged him to a duel. My father was killed, and the man took the last thing my father left me: the house. His wife found me and took care of me. I helped her out with the kids. She changed her husband for the better, and I've only just managed to make it back on my feet. Forget about me. Go have kids with a nice, respectable girl. Go get a wife! Nobody finds their true love when they're six-years-old!"
Hoping to lighten up the situation, he tried out a joke. "But I already have a wife." Before he could say any more, she spoke again.
"Then I expect you're here to take this back." She took of her ring, which she had worn since she was six years old, first on a string around her neck when it was to big for her, and later on her finger. Kagome thrust it at him.
"Here. Now all my ties to the past have been broken. Maybe that ring was what kept you from completely leaving my memory. Now I can live on happily and carefree." He was too astonished to do anything. Surely she couldn't think that his wife was anyone but her, could she? Before InuYasha could explain himself and give back the ring, a man burst into the room.
"Is everything okay, Miss Mori?"
Kagome looked at the man who had just saved her from the no-good InuYasha. Who did he think he was, anyway? To come here, to her home, and demand that she give him her ring back so that some spoiled wife of his could cherish it? Well, serves him right if he just took it and left quickly. Although she didn't know if she quite wanted him to leave… He was so different from the boy she remembered, but not in a bad way. In fact, with his broad shoulders and impressive muscles, he was much more attractive than any other man she had seen recently.
"Are you okay, Miss Mori?" Kouga asked her again. "I heard voices and…you're crying! Is this man bothering you?" Seeing Kagome shake her head, he was instantly relieved. Just as he was about to inquire of his identity, Kouga was interrupted by the man.
"I beg your pardon, but did I just hear you call her Miss Mori?" Seeing the man nod with bewilderment, he let out a bark of laughter. It brought a suspicious chill to run up and down Kagome's spine. InuYasha's rich, deep voice bellowed out, "Oh, that's rich, Kag! Or should I say Miss Mori? Oh, nobody finds their true love at six!" he mimicked in a high falsetto.
She could not help but realize the emphasis he put on the 'Miss Mori' part. She blushed deeply, but more with anger than embarrassment. Just as she was about to commit her first verbal murder, Kouga beat her to it.
"Now see here, I don't know who you are, how you know Kagome, or why you're here, but you can't go around speaking to people like that!" He seemed to have forgotten the other person in the room.
"I'm sorry, how rude of me. I'm InuYasha Mori; I was referred by Ayame. I'm a customer. And you are…?"
"Kouga Ookami. I say, are you Kagome's brother or cousin?" He looked indignant.
"I should say not! I'm Kag's-" he was abruptly cut off by Kagome herself, who seemed to have been forgotten. She thought she knew what he was going to say next, so she made an intervention to prevent any bloodshed. Kouga was, after all, seeking her attentions.
"Inu, I'm sure Kouga doesn't want an entire history lesson, do you, Kouga? Is it really necessary for you to stay here? Couldn't you stay at a nice inn? It isn't as if you're short of money, Inu." He looked at her with those soul-searching golden eyes. It was disturbing, but both of them held their gaze.
"Why shouldn't I stay here? After all, you're my…"
"Inu!" Kagome shrieked.
"What?" She walked up to him and held a whispered conference.
"Don't even try it."
"What?" he asked innocently
"I see you've brushed up on your acting skills. Good for you, but I can still see straight through it. Go home to your wife, Inu. You got what you came for."
"Actually, about that, Kag…" She was desperate. She spat out the first thing that came to her mind.
"Just leave me alone and let me get married in peace!" He looked stunned.
"Married? To whom?" She jerked a thumb towards Kouga.
"Him." One simple word, but it might as well have been the button to trigger an atomic bomb. For that's what InuYasha became: a bomb. He grasped Kouga's shoulder in a seemingly friendly manner, but truthfully it was a death grip.
"I say, what have you been doing with my wife?"
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