Rapture's Remorse

by Desenchanter

COMPLETE Inuyasha's a screw up extraordinaire who sells himself for food, rent, and his next fix. That was, until his cute & saintly savior waltzed into his life. The girl that bought her heart with a promise she had every intention of keeping.

15. Reencounter

{.x.o.} | Rapture's Remorse | {.o.x.}

{x| Chapter 15: Re-encounter |x}

Whispers were carried upon the gentle wind that blew her somber strands about until she smiled and brushed them behind her ear, perhaps she was foolish to think that something so natural, so simple, was a greeting from a wonderful woman who lived on in another world, and in her heart—their heart—but she did.

"It's been a while," the tranquil girl—no, woman—greeted back as he knelt down in front of the grave, "but I'm here just like I promised, just like every other year… six," she sighed as she reached out to lightly touch the tombstone, "I can't believe it's been six years to the day since I saw you."

Another breeze brushed against her and once more she smiled, "I'm happy now, don't worry. I helped… Inuyasha, I'm sure he's told you. He must come to visit. I'm still living in Nikko, still working at St. Raphael's, and my grandpa is still alive. He's confused, though, he forgets what day it is, and sometimes—it's sad—forgets that my mother is dead and thinks I'm her… but he's generally happy."

"I miss you," she murmured with a puff as she let her fingers slip away from the stone, "I'll keep you in my prayers."

She took a moment then to do just that as she placed her hands together and closed her eyes. Suicide was an immortal sin, but Kikyou's sin saved her life so… how wrong could it have been? Could He not forgive her?

"Amen," she mumbled before she opened her eyes and gradually stood up. That was when she realized she was not alone, her hazels shifted over to an all too familiar sight—but not, too.

A handsome hanyou stood there with flowers in one hand and his other stuffed in his jean pockets, his silver strands were shorter, his gaze seemed more golden. He looked so much better, way better that she couldn't help but let her jaw vaguely drop. He wasn't as pale but he wasn't exactly tan—he clearly spent more time outside then cooped up in his home. He was never disgustingly skinny but he was not nearly as toned as he clearly had become from the way his shirt fit, which she could only tell because his light jacket was not zipped up. He looked healthy… and hot.

Very hot… was that wrong to think in a cemetery?

"Hey," he lightly greeted with a nod.

"Hey," she barely managed to reply before she blinked and turned her gawking gaze away.

"It's been a while," he started as he walked towards her to look at the grave she stood at, "do you come here on the anniversary every year?"

"Mm-hm," she nodded, letting her attention flicker to his bod out of the corner of her eyes every once and a while. "You?"

"Since last year," he shrugged, since that was, after all, when he discovered her death. Two years had faded by in what seemed to be a blink of his eyes. "I didn't see you… then."

"I came in the early morning."

And he had gone in the evening.

"How are you?" She questioned with a glance up, "you look good." That was an understatement.

"I'm," he paused, "good. Real good, for the past year I've been guarding a little girl, it's an easy seven to four job, I take her around during the day until I drop her off when her dad gets home."

"That's good, no more clubs," she tried to joke.

"So, how long will you be in Sapporo?" He inquired meekly as his gaze flickered to her.

"Until tomorrow afternoon, I have a flight out around one."

"Do you… want to maybe get dinner tonight? To catch up?"

"Yeah," she quickly asserted, "I'd like that."

"OK, I know a place you'll like," he grinned, "still have the same phone number?"

"Yep."

"I'll call you around seven, then?"

"Sounds good," she assured before she stepped away to give him some private time like he deserved, before she got too far though she had to stop and turn around and swiftly add, "it's really good to see you."

"Likewise," he replied with a smile, which gave her one, before they nodded to one another and she left so he could kneel before the grave of the girl that had never been blood, contrary to popular belief.

[…]

Silly, silly, her, really, she would rather not admit it—never would, actually—but she had distantly hoped that she'd run into Inuyasha there. After all, it was his beloved one's grave and it was the sixth year anniversary—though, they hadn't seen each other at the fifth… but a girl could still dream, right? She would only be there for one day, one night, and one more morning, she packed lightly but she did put in her favorite dress just in case.

It was cotton so nothing extravagant, it covered her chest and the scar wasn't ashamed of but didn't like to show, but had a rather open—its shade of green even made her eyes seem a little less brown and a lot more emerald. Of course, September in Sapporo didn't allot for short sleeve, open-back, dresses so she had to wear a brown sweater, too.

Just as promised, Inuyasha called her up at seven—almost on the dot, which she was ever so eager to answer. He had asked her what hotel she was at, figured out where that was located, and told directions to the restaurant that just so happened to be right around the corner from where she had been staying at. A smile had lifted her perfectly natural lips when she saw the title was not in Japanese but French—had he been thinking about that one time she had dragged him to a French restaurant way back when? Or was she just over thinking things?

They were to meet at seven thirty but she arrived fifteen minutes early. Anxious little her simply could not wait, it had been two years—longer than that, really—since they had last seen each other. It would have been a lie to say she didn't think about him sometimes—often, daily. How was he? Was he eating properly? Was he taking care of himself? Was he paying his bills? Was he still employed at that body guard place? Had something dreadful happened to him? Had something good?

Plenty of those questioned were answered the moment she saw him, he was obviously taking very good care of himself. He looked like he had taken to working out and eating properly; he wasn't grossly muscular but just right.

"You're early," startled her some as she spun around to meet his golden gaze.

"So are you," she replied meekly.

It took ten minutes for them to get a table, but only because he had thought ahead to call in and place a reservation for that night or else they wouldn't have gotten seated at all.

The waitress was perky and pretty as she greeted them, told them about their wine and food specials and gave them their menus before walking off.

"So… how's Tokyo?" Kagome inquired first as her eyes glimpsed from the menu to him, to the menu, to him, to the menu, to him—mostly on him as he stared at his menu.

"The same," he assured once he glanced up to catch her eyes on him, "how's Nikko? How's your grandpa?"

"Nikko's nice, I still love it there," she smiled, "and grandpa… he has good days and he has bad days, but he's fine."

"That's good," he guessed before he decided to jump start the conversation, "I moved."

"Aw, out of the studio?" Kagome pouted, "I guess that's good… to a better part of the city?"

"Uh-huh, it's a nicer apartment."

"I've missed that studio," she sighed, "it was so crappy but…"

"Yeah," he grinned, "I know."

"Any other big changes?"

"Do you remember Ayame? The girl that I was guarding?"

"The partying-ditzy-girl?" Kagome laughed, "yeah, what about her?"

"I dated her for about a year," he replied, and automatically her smile disappeared, "don't worry about it. She just pretended to be ditzy, she had quite a few problems herself but I really liked her. It was the first normal relationship I've ever been in."

"Why'd… you two break up then?" She frowned, "did she leave you…?"

"It was a mutual agreement," he decided, "she wanted to go back to school and I didn't love her like she deserved so we parted ways. So, how about you? Any special someone?"

"I kinda went little wild when I got back to Nikko," Kagome admitted with an embarrassed smile as she rearranged her napkin in her lap and slid of her sweater.

"Really?" Inuyasha grinned, his golden gaze fixated on her skin as she revealed more and more to him. "What'd ya' do?"

"I got engaged," she lightly laughed, "to this boy I knew all my life… he was nice, really nice, actually, but… I," her smile disappeared, "cheated on him… that was wrong of me, I know, but I didn't love him. I think I might love this guy, though. Well, no, I do. I know it. We engaged now," she gleamed as she raised her left hand up to show him a modest diamond ring.

That made his golden orbs widened and jaw drop for a bit, he wasn't the most observant person in the world but he would have liked to think he would have noticed the ring earlier. He swallowed back the stun to manage a, "congratulations."

"Thank you. Actually, I suppose I might really have to thank you for something else, I don't know if we would be getting married if not for you."

"Really?" he muttered, "why?"

"You introduced us. You remember Kouga?"

"The wolf-demon?" Inuyasha coaxed, he was really hoping that what he thought she was going to say wouldn't come out of her pretty mouth, "sure, why?"

"We're getting married in June!" She giddily declared before she clasped her hands together, "isn't that great?"

Great wasn't the word he would use, great wasn't even close to his word choice, so he just sat there, mouth ajar, eyes unblinking, staring at the happy gal across from him until he could turn his brain back on, "that guy is an asshole!"

"Inuyasha," Kagome harshly hushed, "keep your voice down and that's not true anyway."

"Yeah it is, wanna know what he told me once? He loves to fuck virgins, he had the nickname—"

"I know," Kagome assured, "but people change, you are proof of that."

Oh, how low that was, he couldn't argue with that, but that didn't change the scowling expression he had on his face.

"Besides, we've already had sex, so if he was going to leave he would have," she murmured before she took a sip of her wine.

"What?" Inuyasha growled, "you what?"

"He's my fiancé, I think I'm entitled to do such things with him," she asserted.

"What happened to the whole 'not-until-marriage' bullshit you were spouting?"

"My Lord, you are as rude as ever," she sighed, "generally, I hold true to that. We've been together for over a year now and only ever had sex three times. I told him no more until we get married—"

"Let me guess, he proposed the next day?" He sassed.

"Inuyasha," she huffed, "we were already engaged. He's been really good about it."

"Whatever," he scoffed.

"Let's change the subject," she requested, "I really don't want to have to leave upset with you tonight."

How could she be marrying that jackass? Was all he could think until he grunted a 'fine', he'd hate to leave on bad terms, too. It was her stupid choice to make; she'd probably regret it later. Kouga just had to be a bad guy, didn't he? Or was it just the idea of her marrying anyone that irked him so badly?

"I'm on OK terms with my mother now," he divulged, he predicted that a smile would come but didn't guess how grand it would have been, "I thought that'd make you happy."

"Oh, it really does," she assured, "is that where you are staying? At your mom's?"

He nodded, "I've been here for about a week now, visiting and stuff. Last year, I decided to try and get past all that shit she did. We make mistakes… I guess I sorta get where she was coming from. She's old, ya' know? It just didn't sit well with me to let her die thinking I hated her. She always treated me well; she loved me even with all my faults. It was really her dick of a husband Nobu who tore us apart."

"And there's the cursing," Kagome shook her head as she took another sip of her wine, "your mother clearly didn't wash your mouth out with soap enough when you were a kid."

To that, he chuckled lightly. He hadn't any idea how good it would feel to see her again, sure he had missed her, sure he had thought about her sometimes---all the time—and sure he knew he'd like to, but there was a warm sensation inside him to see her sit across from him and smile. She looked good, too. Before he couldn't help but think of her sort of as a 'kid', but now he could clearly see her as a woman.

A very attractive one, at that.

[…]

"This was nice," Kagome mused as they walked down the street towards her hotel.

"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed with a nod, "I… I'd like this not to be goodbye, Kagome."

"Me, too. Nikko and Tokyo are that far away, and there is always the phone," she suggested as she looked up to him with a smile, "we can certainly keep in touch. When are you heading back to Tokyo?"

"Tomorrow, I have the one o'clock flight out of here to narita airport."

"Are you serious?" She muttered.

"Yeah, why?"

"I have the same flight," she awed, "it must be fate!"

"Of course," he chuckled, "only you would say that, it has nothing to do with the fact that it's a Monday and there aren't a lot of flights between here and there, it's gotta be fate."

"Shut up," she nudged, "so pessimistic."

"Hey," he wearily began, "you know, if you don't want to go straight back to Nikko… if you wanted to maybe spend the night in the city, you could stay at mine. See my new apartment and stuff."

For a moment she paused and bit her lower lip lightly, it wasn't like anything would transpire between the two—she didn't even consider that—but would it be weird to do that after so long apart? Her heart said so, so her mouth said, "sure. I'd like that. I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday night anyway."

"Great, I'll see you at the airport tomorrow, then," Inuyasha grinned as he opened the hotel's door for her. "It really was good seeing you."

"I've missed you, too," she smiled before entering the hotel and waving goodbye—but, that time, it was only temporary.

[…]

"The building looks far more attractive than your last one," Kagome commented as the slightly better mannered man opened the door for the gawking girl. With a thank you and a smile she stepped in to wait for him to lead her up the stairs then to the right to the second door on her left, "the interior is better, too."

"Yeah, I upgraded," he assured as he opened his door to let her in first.

"Wow," she mouthed to herself as her eyes wandered around the apartment, compared to his studio that was falling apart all around his new place looked like a masterpiece. That and one wonderful addition—it was clean, he didn't have his clothes spewed everywhere, then again, she hadn't looked into is room yet. "This is really nice, Inuyasha. It even looks like you took the time to decorate."

"Ayame and I started to date about the same time I moved in," he began as he set their luggage down and shut the door, "she bought a lot of the stuff and planned the décor. I tried to stop her but… that woman is like a tornado, you can't stop her once she starts somethin'. "

"Sounds like exactly the type of person you need," Kagome grinned as her eyes landed upon the little desk that held quite a few photos, some of a red-head, some of an elder lady that Kagome recognized—his mother—and then some of a brunet beauty and Inuyasha together. The very same pictures she had found him hiding away in the closet, a small smile laced her lips as she picked up the closest one. "I'm glad you display these now."

It was a sign he had moved on if he could keep a reminder out like that.

"Yeah," Inuyasha murmured as he walked up to look at the photo she had picked, the one of him and Kikyou standing together in their school uniforms, "I would put one of you up here, too, if I had one."

"Really?" Kagome questioned as her hazels moved up to him, "what would you tell people if they asked who is that beautiful girl?"

"My saintly savior," he joked to win a small laugh from her, "I' seriously."

"Unfortunately, I don't carry any photos of myself with me at all times," she pouted playfully as she set the photo back down. "We're going out to eat with Sango and Miroku tonight, right?"

"Yep, at eight."

"I can't believe they're getting married so soon… it's only two months away. A February wedding would probably be really pretty, I'm eager to see how everything is going to look. You're going to be Miroku's best man, right?"

"Uh-huh, I really am not looking forward to it," he sighed as he sat down on his couch, "I didn't want to have any part that entails responsibilities but Miroku freakin' begged me. I couldn't so no."

"We would have seen each other eventually, even if we didn't run into each other yesterday. I'm Sango's maid of honor; do you know what that means?"

"You're the head-honcho of bride's maids?"

"It means we'll walk down the aisle together, moron," she jeered with a nudge, "that's how it goes, haven't you ever been part of wedding before? My friends Yuka and Ayumi got married a few years back and I was both their maid of honor, do you know what a hassle that was?"

He barely heard the second part—they'd be walking down the aisle together caught he full attention. Did he ever really see himself as the married man type? No. Even with Kagome? No. But the idea of walking down the aisle with her… was an appealing one.

"Oh, it's Kouga," Kagome declared as she took out her vibrating phone, "he's probably calling me back. Hold on."

He just nodded as she got up to answer the phone with a 'hey, honey' and walk into the kitchen.

That he knew he didn't like, not in the least bit.

[…]

There was a weight that had been released from him upon seeing Kagome once more, one he didn't acknowledge was really there until it was gone and so was she. Though, they kept to their word, he said goodbye to her at the train-station only to know, that time, it wasn't for good, they'd see each other again.

That night she even called to tell him she made it and to thank him for his hospitality but they hadn't too much time to talk before she had to go tend to her grandfather that was wandering around aimlessly on the cold fall night. "If he goes any farther than the shrine he'll get lost," she had sighed before they bid adieu.

Two week had passed; two weeks of his routine life of gym, work, friends, work, gym, while sleeping and eating were thrown in here and there, too. Better yet, a few phone calls back and forth between him and a raven haired beautiful girl along with an envelope with the photo he had asked for—much to his surprise, he was certain she would have never agreed. More shockingly, it was of them, he had never recalled taking pictures with her but he could tell from his not-so-friendly expression, skinny appearance and rather pale skin that it was probably during his first few months of sobriety and that was mostly a haze.

Just as promised, he mounted it on the table filled with pictures.

He felt good, real good, until he started to feel bad, real bad. It wasn't from the fact that Miroku was nearing his promised date of one-woman-for-the-rest-of-his-life and the worry that obviously brought him, priest or not he was a pervert and though Inuyasha was fairly certain he hadn't had sex with a lot of women (if any) he was still sure Miroku feared that he couldn't stay loyal.

To him, it was a stupid qualm. Of course Miroku would, Sango would kill him if he betrayed her trust.

It wasn't the fact that Kagome, too, talked to him every once and a while about her promised day, what was sure to be the happiest in all her life—though, that didn't help.

It was a cold that got in his way, hanyou or not, he still got sick. And ill he was, it impaired his nose from the sniffles and tissues, the coughs made his throat raw, but he'd be alright. He didn't even bother to take time off work, he still drive the little raven haired girl of the age of fourteen to and fro her school and social gathers then home again.

On one of his breaks, while she was safely locked away in her school much to her dismay—she was a free spirit, that much he was sure of, and she would have preferred to be running around outside then locked away learning—he walked home to lunch, sneezing here and there.

If his nose had been functional he might have noticed a familiar scent in the air, if he hadn't been so lost in his foggy head he might have noticed a figure following him home. At one point, when he dropped his keys, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eyes but thought better of it and shrugged.

Lunch was soup, since Kagome assured him that whenever she had a cold that was what her mother made her and she felt better. He didn't care if that were true or not, it was the simple fact that all it took was de-can the liquid with chunks, pour it into a pot, heat it up for a few minutes and then into a bowl. It took no time, and then he'd have orange juice to drink.

He was back in time to take his charge home, "Inuyasha-san! I want ice cream."

"I'm supposed to have you home on time today, Rin, sorry," he replied as he turned into a long drive-way.

"But, Inuyasha-san," she pouted, which he only caught threw the rear-view mirror, "I really want ice cream."

"You can have ice cream at your place, you've gotta have some," he refused to believe that such a huge house didn't have everything a little girl could dream of.

"Fine," she sighed, "walk me to the door?"

"As always," he assured as he got out of the car and open the door for her. For the first time, though, her front door opened up so a tall, debonair demon with long, silky, silver tresses with piercing narrowed golden eyes.

If only Inuyasha's nose was not so clogged.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin chimed as she hugged him abruptly, "you're home!"

"Go inside, Rin," Sesshomaru ordered, with a pout she sighed and slid by him, "you are the one Kaguya-sama has assigned to Rin?"

"For the past two years now," Inuyasha nodded.

"You are dismissed," Sesshomaru stated and before he could argue the door was shut in his face, harshly, at that.

[…]

"What the fuck?!" Inuyasha shouted as she stomped about Kaguya's gregarious office, "who the hell does he think he is!?"

"A very powerful, very rich, very influential, sexy, man," Kaguya murmured as her blue gems followed him around, "settle down, it's nothing, I'll just assign you to someone new."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"It's just a preference thing, Inuyasha," Kaguya sighed, "don't worry about it. There is this other kid that I can assign you to, the same gig and everything. Really, settle down."

"It's 'cause I'm a hanyou, ain't it?" he growled, "damn dick."

"Boo, you know I love you," Kaguya pouted to win his attention, "that's why I'm giving you a week off."

"What?" He hissed, "why? I don't—"

"You look absolute hell, you have plenty of sick time built up, take a few days."

"I don't—"

"Honey, I'm your boss," she asserted, "it's not a request."

"Whatever," he muttered before he left. As soon as he got out of her office and into the elevator he dialed up a number that would surely be able to give him peace, "Kagome?"

"Inuyasha, what's up?" She replied cheerfully, she hear him out, only commenting here and there about how he could try not to curse so much when he was talking to her, which he ignored, as always.

"Look, I'm sorry," Kagome assured, "that sounds awful. Some people are just closed minded, but you shouldn't get so upset. Kaguya-san is going to assigned you to someone new, everything is going to be fine, just take a breather like she said."

And, just as he thought, he felt a bit better from hearing the same words that Kaguya had said out of her natural lips, "thanks…"

"No problem," she giggled, which caught him off guard until he heard a gruff voice in the background and another set of giggles—fucking Kouga. "Inuyasha, I gotta go, I'll talk to you later."

She didn't even allot him time to say goodbye before she hung up, the last thing he heard was a distant 'oh, Kouga'.

That just pissed him off, ten-folds worse than before. His body shook as he walked through the busy streets of Tokyo, completely disregarding anyone else on the side-walk. He just dared someone to screw with him, he yearned for it, he was more than happy to beat the shit out of someone and he apparently gave off that vibe since no one dared to complain when he bumped into someone.

It was hard to avoid the bars he passed by on his way home, to keep with his resolve, if he had a taste of alcohol he'd have more and if he had alcohol that was just a gateway into his old habits… no, he shook his head and walked up to his apartment building instead of the flashing, just-opened, bars.

He rummaged through his pocket for the key on his stomps up his stair only to see a stranger standing right as his door. It took a moment or two, the golden eyes, the silver hair, the same features… he looked just like the fucker that fired him.

"Who the hell are you? I don't want whatever you're selling," Inuyasha scowled as he pushed him away to unlock his door.

"I'm not here to sell anything, I… can you not tell?"

That got him to cock and brow and glare at the guy, "what?"

"Izayoi never…?"

"What the fuck does my mom have to do with this?" Inuyasha growled.

"Inuyasha," he lingered upon the name as he brushed his bangs off his forehead to reveal a crescent-moon. "I'm… your father. My name is Takamoru Inutaisho."

His keys almost slipped from his hand at that but he caught himself and shook the shock from his face, he knew the name, his mother had told him about the man that she made the mistake of having an affair with. She had always called it that, a mistake, something she should not have done. He was married… but she did not regret it, because it gave her the most precious gift of them all—him.

"What do you want?" Inuyasha muttered.

"I saw you the other day… I didn't know you lived in Tokyo, I thought you were in Kyoto…"

"I've never lived in Kyoto," Inuyasha countered.

To that, the man cocked a brow, "you… that would explain that, I suppose."

"What?" He grunted, "what would explain what?"

"Why I could never find you."

He rolled his eyes as he stepped into his apartment, "you want me to believe that you've been looking for me so, what? We could be one big happy fucking family? I ain't interested."

"Inuyasha," his father countered as he grasped the door to keep him from shutting it, "hear me out, at the very least. I'm your father, I think I deserve that."

That was the last straw, he had been itching for a fight and now his dear dad that had never been there for him, that refused to leave his wife for Izayoi or have any reasonability in raising him, suddenly deserved his time?

He showed him what he thought he deserved; a punch in the jaw and a slam of the door.

---

A/N: I feel like I cheated with the title but... oh well. I won't be updating for a while so I felt I should give you this chapter to calm all those who worried about Kagome and Inuyasha not seeing each other again.

I need to take a hiatus from for the sake of my studies :(

Thank you all so much for the wonderful amount of reviews, please, please, please keep them up.