Chapter Three: Silver Springs
Kagome's class ran only 50 minutes long, but she had work at noon, so she had to speed walk across the street if she was going to get there in time. Fortunately, the building her class was in was located close to the road, and even more fortunately, she noticed Inuyasha walking in that direction and rushed to catch up to him, further cutting down the time it would take her to reach the coffee shop.
Fortunately for Inuyasha, Kagome caught up to him just in time to grab his arm and pull him out of the street before the bus could splatter him onto the pavement. She pulled him with such force that they both landed in the grass on the opposite side of the sidewalk.
Inuyasha looked up from his phone right as Kagome grabbed him and noticed the bus speed past mere inches from his face as the two of them fell backward, his headphones falling onto his shoulders to reveal the sweet sound of the song he had chosen before nearly ending his own life by accident.
"Are you okay?" Kagome asked frantically as soon as they landed. She had only noticed Inuyasha's mistake right before it was too late and acted on instinct just in time, but her brain was still processing the event.
Inuyasha turned to look at her and spoke softly: "Kikyo?"
"What?"
He squinted. "Hey, you're the chick from class this morning, right?"
"My name is Kagome." She noticed the music coming from his headphones. "Are you listening to Fleetwood Mac? I love this song."
"Huh?" He stood up.
Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and pulled herself up from the ground, surprise showing through the pink in his cheeks. She released his hand after regaining her balance and realizing that she was holding a stranger's hand. A bit of pink appeared on her cheeks as well. "So, uh, what other music do you like?"
"The Offspring."
"That's it?"
"What, do you want me to list off every song on my damn phone?"
"Well I like Fleetwood Mac, Mitski, The Hush Sound, Taylor Swift, All-American Rejects, Caro Emerald, Mariana's Trench, Queen, Weezer, Kate Bush…oh and BTS!"
Before Inuyasha could even respond to the absurd mix that Kagome had abruptly laid out, a look of panic took over her face.
"What time is it? Crap, I'm gonna be late to my first day of work!" She leapt over to the side of the road and aggressively pressed the arrow button in front of the crosswalk. The button gave her a monotone "wait," which added a hint of frustration to her stress.
"Just wait a second, you don't want to get hit by a bus or something," Inuyasha asserted, stepping into the empty space beside her.
"What, like you almost did? I could never be so careless. You would've been a goner if I hadn't been there."
"Hey, we all make mistakes, don't we?" he replied defensively.
She smiled at him, causing his expression to soften. He stared at her a moment before coming to his senses and turned his head toward the crosswalk sign on the other side of the street, which now displayed the "walk" symbol. The two of them started across.
"So, uh, what was your name again?" Inuyasha asked.
"Seriously? I've told you twice already. It's Kagome. Ka-go-me. Got it?"
"Right. So where are you headed?"
"I work at the coffee shop just up the road."
"What, Jinenji's Java?"
"That's the one."
"Don't they put all kinds of herbs and shit in the coffee there?"
"I think it's cool. I've never tried coffee with herbs before. Have you?"
"No, but I live a block away from the shop. My mom used to take me there as a kid. I liked their cinnamon muffins."
"Well you should come by sometime. I get a pretty sweet discount."
"Maybe."
"Are you headed home now?"
"My mom wants me to pick up some groceries first, but after that yeah."
"You finished classes pretty early today."
"I only had one. Tomorrow I have 3."
"That's rough. I have two per day. But I also have work every day. Oh, are you going to the meet and greet thing tonight?"
"What meet and greet thing?"
"There's a thing happening on campus." The two now reached the outside of Jinenji's Java, a small coffee shop located in a small shopping area. "You should come. See you later, Inuyasha!" Kagome called as she walked up to the shop's front door.
Inuyasha crossed the street and headed towards the grocery store.
((Thankfully I've had a little extra time to write, so I decided not to make you guys wait too long after that cliff hanger. The song Inuyasha was listening to is called "Silver Springs" by Fleetwood Mac and I highly recommend listening to it if you don't know it already. Or just look up the lyrics-it feels very relevant to the whole Kikyo/Kagome situation. Hoping to update again very soon!))
