Chapter 2 : Coffee

"Mr. Taisho, your order will be up in just a few moments."

Inuyasha nodded to the barista behind the counter and stepped away to tap out a message on his phone. The early morning rush had subsided and the cafe was pretty empty except for a few people sitting off in the corner. The bell dinged loudly, alerting the staff that another customer had entered. Inuyasha paid no mind and didn't even bother to look up from his phone until he felt the new entry lean in close.

"Are you in line?" Her voice was soft and low, almost sultry even. She pushed her sunglasses up into her hair and looked at him expectantly. Her brown eyes were framed with impossibly long lashes and her mouth twisted up in a slight smile. She was quite pretty, but that wasn't what made Inuyasha's heart skip a beat.

He had seen her face before. Several lifetimes ago. It was the last thing he had seen before his 300 year sleep and he dreamt of that same face for almost a century after that as well. Kikyo. His first and last love. Inuyasha felt the emotions twisting in his chest. Shock. Confusion. Hope?

Inuyasha couldn't even get a word out of his mouth before she broke eye contact with him to glance at the cashier who waved her over. She threw a smile back at him with a questioning glance and placed her order. But Inuyasha didn't hear another word she said.

Kikyo had died centuries ago. Inuyasha was sure of it. The first thing he had done after his brother released him from the sacred tree was to inquire about her. This…imitation Kikyo looked exactly like her, but couldn't be her. Scenting the air Inuyasha could sort out the smells of the room, but the fragrance of fresh coffee and artificial sweeteners covered almost every other scent.

"Kikyo?" Inuyasha stepped over to the girl, almost too close, but he couldn't help it. He had this overwhelming desire to be closer to her.

"Uh no, you've got the wrong person." She laughed a bit and grabbed a coffee off the counter. Glancing up at the top of his head she tilted her own. "Nice ears, they're cute." Without another word she turned and left the cafe, the sound of her heels clicking across the room.

Inuyasha unabashedly watched her leave, the blue dress of hers clinging around her long creamy legs. He knew it was creepy to watch her until she walked out of his sight, but he couldn't stop, he was entranced. Not only had she looked exactly like Kikyo, but she could see through his glamour.

The window reflected the illusion back at Inuyasha. A handsome man with shoulder length black hair pulled into a ponytail, dark violet eyes, and very human ears exactly where they should be. Underneath the glamour Inuyasha knew his silver hair was still pulled back, but his eyes were golden hued and his very non-human silver dog ears sat on the top of his head. No human should have been able to see through the power of his glamour. Unless that girl wasn't human. That must be the reason she wore Kikyo's face.

Inuyasha reached forward and grabbed his own coffee from the counter. As he stepped onto the sidewalk he took a sip. Ugh Caramel. Looking at the cup he saw a name scrawled across the side.

Kagome

She had taken the wrong cup. Inuyasha discovered he could suffer through the over-sweetened drink if knowing her name was the prize. He gazed off into the direction she had headed, longing to be able to settle his mind. Who was that girl?

Bing

Inuyasha's phone notified him about a message, but he walked the rest of the way to his office building essentially in a trance. His only thoughts were on the feudal era priestess who stole and broke his heart.

Kikyo had been his first friend, if you could call her that. She had tolerated him and endured his half-hearted attempts to steal the jewel she guarded. They had been distant companions, their relationship tentative in every sense of the word. Inuyasha had quietly loved her from afar, even when she expressed that she could only love him as a human. She often inquired about how he would feel using the sacred jewel to become human and live out the rest of his life with her. In those days it was more than he could have ever asked for, but in the years after her death he realized how selfish she had been to ask him to change who he was.

The sacred jewel of four souls. The Shikon No Tama. He had first been after the jewel to become a full demon instead being a loathsome half demon, hated by both demons and humans. He had been ostracized, looked down on, and hunted since his mother died when he was a mere ten years old. Inuyasha had grown up being mostly alone in the world and the idea of having someone to spend the rest of his life with was a dream come true. It didn't matter the reasoning behind Kikyo's decision and when given the opportunity Inuyasha had jumped headfirst into what he thought was love.

He had truly thought that Kikyo, in her own impassive way, that she had loved him and wanted nothing more than to be with him. Until one day over 550 years ago when she betrayed him, sealing him in an enchanted sleep to a sacred tree for what she hoped would be eternity. When he awoke the betrayal had been so fresh and so achingly painful that he wanted to hunt her down himself.

Inuyasha was shocked to find himself facing his older half-brother Sesshomaru. His brother had hated him for most if not all of his life. Inuyasha thought his brother would have rejoiced knowing he had been essentially taken from this world, but apparently his mate had softened his heart to the idea of brotherly love. It only took 350 years for that to happen.

"Inuyasha! You're so late! He's going to be upset with you, you know that right?"

Speak of the devil.

"Sorry Rin, I got held up this morning." Inuyasha smiled at his brother's wife.

Rin stood with her hands on her hips, a knowing smile across her face. She had soft brown eyes and a toothy grin that could make even the most sour of people smile. Her long brown hair was pulled back from her face, accentuating her long neck. The pantsuit she wore made her look more serious than the tongue she stuck out at Inuyasha as he passed her. She knew that no matter how much time passed, Inuyasha would always choose to annoy Sesshomaru whenever he could.

With an eye roll and a heavy sigh Inuyasha pushed the door to Sesshomaru's office without knocking. He lounged against the doorframe waiting for Sesshomaru to finish the phone call he was on, ignoring the cold glare he was getting. Inuyasha cringed as he took another sip of his coffee. He had forgotten about the mix up and now his thoughts were once again consumed by the girl with his priestess' face.

"You have a meeting in three and a half minutes. I assume that you no longer need to be briefed on it." Sesshomaru's voice was as flat and emotionless as his face.

In the confines of their office building the illusions that kept demonkind hidden from the eyes of humans were lifted. Only those who already knew about the existence of demons and magic were allowed through the doors. And so Iniuyasha was able to see his brother's golden eyes, magenta streaks across his cheeks, and blue crescent moon on his forehead. Sesshomaru had silver hair remarkably close in color to Inuyasha's, but he kept his waist length instead of a more modern cut.

"Yeah, Yeah, I know all about the housing dispute. I don't know why the dragons and the wolves ever thought they could be neighbors in the first place." Inuyasha slouched into one of the armchairs across from his brother.

"The Conjuring department sensed a power surge in the lower district last night. They still aren't quite sure what it was, but I need you to check on it after your meeting and see if they've found anything." Sesshomaru turned his head to shuffle some papers in front of him. He handed Inuyasha a print out of a map with information about whatever the demons of that department had found.

"Keh, alright." Inuyasha took the page and left without another word. He had a few questions for the demons of the conjuring department anyways. Questions about a Kagome.

Kagome groaned as she trudged back to the bus stop that would take her back home. Today had been absolutely awful and it wasn't even lunchtime. First waking up late feeling like garbage, then she mixed up her coffee with the cosplayer's at the cafe, she almost missed the meeting with her school counselor who told her that she was going to need extra credits to get into her medicine program, and her feet were killing her.

Maybe Mr. Ishida will let me TA for his afternoon classes. Otherwise I'm going to have to double up classes next semester.

A flash of blue caught Kagome's eye and she saw across the street there was a woman with blue skin and golden hair pushing a child in a stroller. Everything else about the woman looked normal, but when she smiled at Kagome her mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. She had an itchy feeling all over her skin while looking at the woman. Kagome abruptly turned back into the direction she was headed.

Am I still hungover? Or maybe there's a cosplay convention today.

Silently Kagome kept walking and kept her eyes on the crowds ahead of her. Every once in a while she would feel that same itchy sensation. It was like her skin was crawling, but trying to alert her of something. Kagome's attention piqued at each spike of prickly feeling. Eventually she could see a pattern.

Prickles. Clawed fingernails.

Itchiness. Green stripes on their skin.

Crawling. Antlers.

Shivers. Vibrant violet eyes.

Something weird was going on, but Kagome was trying to rationalize every worry that came to her mind. She denied trying to decipher what was going on in an attempt to get back to the shrine before she could freakout. It was the lack of sleep. It was the stress of her schoolwork. It was her overactive imagination. She was hallucinating. She was still dreaming. It was all the alcohol she had last night.

Yeah….I must still be a little drunk.