Come Out of Ashes Chapter 11, an inuyasha fanfic

I have created a Spotify Playlist of the songs used, so you don't have to go hunting for them. The Playlist will be updated as the fic is updated, so there'll be no spoilers about what's coming down the road.

Songs used in this chapter:

(1) Eastside – Piano Version – LittleTrasncriber (original version by benny blanco, Halsey, and Khalid)

(2) Eastside – Ben Schuller & Bailey Jehl (original version by benny blanco, Halsey, and Khalid)

Kagome quickly pressed the door closed behind her, leaning against it as she tried to take a few settling breaths, 'It should be criminal for him to look like that!'

After a few moments and feeling a little calmer, she let her eyes wander over the lofted apartment, and found she couldn't set her eyes on any one given thing. The place was big, definitely more than what one person needed.

The walls were bare brick and, on the far side the front door, was a giant, nearly full, wall of glass windows. It let in a ton of natural light, and the sun was just streaming through, warming the space considerably. She could see that there was a fire escape that lead up and down the side of the building and a handle for a door in the window to use it. It had a nice charm to it and she wondered if he had access to the rooftop, and what the view was like.

The kitchen was directly adjacent to the entry way, placed against a wall that lead towards the tall windows. She walked past an island where she figured it would be alright to leave her purse for now. There were some pendant lights that hung down over the island from the very tall ceilings — must've been at least 15 feet high, she thought. She her eyes were draw up and she noticed a skylight that was just overhead of the kitchen. Across from the island was a small seating area facing a real wood burning fireplace and a tv screen mounted above it. The whole place felt very industrial, but cozy at the same time. She thought it would feel colder or harder, but she found she actually found it quite comfortable to move around in.

Ornately decorative rugs covered much of the hard, concrete flooring, something Kagome figured was either to warm up the space even more, or for the acoustics. If he practiced regularly in the apartment as he said he did, she knew it'd be the logical answer. They were assorted, and there didn't seem to really be much thought in how they looked, only that they provided a function.

There was a coffee table by the L-shaped couch —which had throw blankets all over the place. There was a mug or two with nearly finished coffee in them sitting on the table, but otherwise, the place looked relatively clean and organized. There seemed to be little in personal items or anything resembling mementos or sentimental items. No photos of him or his family, nothing of Miroku or the others. It all felt very practical and purposeful.

Because it was an open concept loft, there wasn't much of a delineation between the spaces. As a result, a large king-sized bed was placed not too far — the headboard against a wide brick column that broke up two sections of the windowed walls. The sheets weren't elaborate; white, clean, and properly made. Considering how much soot he was covered in earlier, she was slightly surprised to see his sheets clear of any of the debris. She ran her hand over the bedspread, feeling how soft and plush the duvet was. She wondered what it'd feel like to lay in.

She noticed that there was another section around a corner — a door that lead to what looked to be his bathroom that separated the living area and the back area —and behind that, at the back, was a whole music area. Various styles and brands of guitars were set up. Some hung from a wall, looking to be more vintage or collector pieces, and others rested on stands on the floor, most of which looked like the guitars she'd seen him use at the studio before. In total, she counted at least seven electric guitars, two acoustic guitars, and one bass guitar. Not to mention speakers that lined the corner and other various equipment. The there was a thick, almost canvas-like fabric draping around the space, hanging from the ceiling and tied back in some areas giving it an almost tent like quality, clearly another means to help with the acoustics of the space. Along with some technical equipment, like a laptop and audio gear, it looked like he regularly recorded in here.

Kagome was impressed with his set-up, to say the least. She wondered if maybe he'd recorded demos of songs here.

As she walked more into the space, getting a closer look at the guitars, she looked to her right, and on the back wall, there was a sword mounted just under a fire-red haori that was displayed prominently. The sword and its sheath under it looked worn. Rusted. Like it was well over a few centuries old. It must've been an antique. The haori, by comparison, looked to be in better condition, like it had been carefully preserved.

She moved to get a better look at them, raising her hand to touch the sword's blade, feeling a a heat radiating from it. She thought, 'What is this?'

The sound of the front door opening startled her, snapping her hand back as she heard the heavy metal door swing back and close promptly, along with a clank of some keys on the island, before she heard, "Kagome?"

"I'm over here!" she called back as she left the music space and walked around the corner, revealing Inuyasha in her line of sight. Seeing him in a clean set of clothes and throwing his dirty ones in a hamper nearby suddenly reminded her how they looked on him just now, and she swore she could feel her cheeks get just as hot as the steel he'd been hammering earlier. His skin was free of any dirt or grime, and his hair looked smooth, though still a little damp from his shower.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting," he replied sincerely.

"Oh, no worries!" she quickly said, "I was just looking around. I hope you don't mind."

"Keh, trying to find my skeletons? Sorry to disappoint, I don't have any closets," he joked.

Kagome giggled as she realized he was right; there were no closets in here. But she did notice a dresser by the bed, so it must've held everything he needed. 'Very minimalist,' she thought.

She replied, "Gotta make sure I know who I'm associating myself with."

"If you cared about that, you should've run a background check before hiring me," he teased, heading toward the fridge in the kitchen and asked, "Want anything to drink?"

"Water's fine," she answered, seeing him pull out a beer for himself and a bottle of water for her. He tossed it over to her, which she caught a little clumsily before watching him easily snap off the bottle cap of the beer with his bare hand, throwing it on the island counter, and taking a swig. He had no right to be this attractive doing such mundane things.

"Find anything interesting?" he asked, snapping Kagome out of her wandering mind again.

"Huh? Oh, actually, I was just looking at your collection back there," she threw her thumb over her shoulder, pointing to the back area, "I didn't realize you had so many guitars."

He chuckled a little, "Some of those are antiques. I barely touch 'em, but I started buying 'em when I was still in high school and teachin' myself how to play. Bought most them for way under what their worth 'cause the guys sellin' 'em had no idea what they were doin'."

"A bargain hunter," she joked.

"Ya work with watcha got," he shrugged, before taking another sip, "So, did you wanna just get right into it?" he asked after lowering the bottle from his mouth.

"Sure!" she answered, "Where do we start?"

Inuyasha moved around the island and motioned for her to join him at the back of the apartment where she came from. He offered her a seat on the single chair that looked super comfy, and asked, "I guess you didn't bring your keyboard with you?"

Kagome shook her head, "No, I wasn't sure we'd need it or anything."

Inuyasha placed his beer down on top of a cabinet against the wall, and opened it up. There were some small boxes inside, but what he pulled out looked like a keyboard from about 30 years ago, and it was labelled with the note on the keys. He offered it to her, "Hopefully this'll do?"

Kagome timidly took it from him, "It's nice! Does it still work?"

He gave her a nod, "I use it from time to time when I'm trying to figure something out. Picked up at a random pawnshop for dirt cheap, but it works like new."

She smiled, "You can play?"

Inuyasha sighed, "I don't, that's why the keys are labelled. It's largely just for working out some melodies and stuff that I can't quite figure out on a guitar."

"Oh I see. Well, this'll work great!"

As they got settled in, Kagome watched as he took another drink from his beer, sitting on a stool, and she took the opportunity to have some water.

As she was screwing the cap back on, Inuyasha began, "Alright, so, let's start with some general brainstorming."

Kagome nodded eagerly as she put the bottle on the floor, "'Kay."

Inuyasha pulled out what looked to be a fresh notebook from the cabinet he'd opened earlier, he asked, "You bring anything to write with?"

She blushed with embarrassment, realizing she came totally unprepared, "No, I didn't."

Inuyasha didn't hesitate as he grabbed another book and gave it to her, "Use this, and try to keep it with you. It's better if you can write your ideas for songs or lyrics down as soon as you think of them. Otherwise, you're more likely to forget them."

"Thanks," she said as she nodded at his recommendation.

"Alright… so, what kinda music do you wanna make?" he said point blank.

"I ugh… um…" she struggled to think of an idea, "I'm not sure?"

"Well, when you write your orchestral compositions, what do you use as inspiration?"

Kagome thought about it for a moment, realizing, "I guess… I always wrote music I thought my Dad would want to listen to."

He nodded, "'Kay. Do you want to write music that's for your father, or for you?"

She paused, and replied confidently, "For me."

He smirked, "Good. Now, let's figure out what you want to say."

They spent the next two hours throwing around ideas, coming up with some concepts and themes. Inuyasha was very good at getting her to focus on what she wanted to say with these songs, what styles of music she liked and would want to emulate or pay homage to. She felt somewhat timid trying to explain ideas for songs she had, thinking they were immature or childish, but Inuyasha never judged her taste or ideas. He was very flexible and accommodating to what she wanted to do.

After a while of initial brainstorming, they decided to order in some food, not wanting to lose the momentum they had going, but realizing they were both hungry and in need of a meal. They ordered some ramen, with Inuyasha recommending a spot he loved nearby to pickup from. It arrived in record time, and they settled on the couch to enjoy their meal, allowing themselves a short break.

"Oh, I was meaning to ask you," Kagome started to ask as she sat down to eat, grabbing Inuyasha's momentary attention between mouthfuls of ramen that he'd already treated himself to. He was practically inhaling it. She let out a soft giggle at how bizarre he looked eating it so quickly, before commenting, "You know the ramen's not gonna disappear if you stop eating for a second, right?"

Inuyasha gave her a cocky side-eye, "Keh, it's delicious when it's still fresh and hot! And I'll eat it however I want, thank you very much." She let out another soft giggle, leading Inuyasha to roll his eyes, saying, "Anyways, you were saying?"

"Oh right! I noticed there was an old sword and haori back there before you came in. I wanted to ask you about them."

Inuyasha easily finished his first ramen bowl before uncapping the second, asking, "Whatdya wanna know?"

"Well, I guess I was wondering if there was any meaning or significance to them? You have them hung up like they're sentimental, but you hide it in the back."

He paused to answer, "They're family heirlooms."

"Oh?" she pressed.

He continued after taking another swig of a new beer, "They belonged to my old man. When I was a teenager, my mom gave them to me. Said I was he man of the house now, and I deserved to have them."

"That sounds pretty important," she stated, "Does it have some kind of demonic energy or something?"

Inuyasha nodding, continuing to eat a little, "It was forged by the old geezer you met downstairs. He was commissioned by my father to take one of his fangs and made a sword with it. It's a tradition in demon culture to make a weapon fused with your demonic energy, and to wield it until you have children to hand them down to. The kid is meant to train with it until they come of age to forge their own weapon and master their own demonic energy."

Kagome hadn't heard anything about this before, and she found it utterly fascinating, "Really? That's so cool!"

Inuyasha shrugged, pointing out, "Your food's gettin' cold."

She picked up her ramen and took a few mouthfuls before continuing, "Are those some of the weapons you make as a blacksmith then?"

He nodded, "Sometimes. Though we get all kinds of requests, Totosai will sometimes ask me to help with larger orders."

"Totosai?" she repeated confusingly.

"That fossil of a demon you met downstairs. He worked closely with my father, and helped me out ever since my mom died."

"Well, he seems like a decent guy," she added, remembering how both he and Inuyasha would toss insults.

"Keh, he's alright. Wouldn't ever stop telling me how great my father was though, not like it did me any good."

Kagome decided to steer the conversation back to the original topic, "So, do you have your own weapon now then?"

He shook his head, putting down his bowl, and leaning back against the couch, his beer in hand, "It's not really relevant these days. Demons who are super stuck up, like my brother, care about the traditions and honor that comes with that kinda stuff. But I was raised with humans. It just wasn't a big deal for me. Besides, never figured I'd ever have kids anyways, so not like I'd needed one to hand down."

He took a drink while Kagome asked, "That's such a beautiful tradition, though."

Inuyasha turned to look at her, "Why's that?"

"Having a piece of your family with you — to guide you and to learn from, even when they're gone — that's such a wonderful sentiment," she sounded so sincere and earnest.

Inuyasha thought for a moment on it, "Really? I guess I never thought of it that way."

"How did you think of it?" she asked.

"Just another rusted piece of metal to show how great my family is, and how much of a stain on the lineage I am," he said callously.

"You don't really believe that," she said, hoping he was just kidding. When she realized he was speaking honestly, she placed her now empty bowl down and continued, "Look, even if your extended family has their issues, you've still made a wonderful life for yourself. Look at what you've accomplished; all the work and effort you put into everything you do."

"It's different, Kagome," his voice wasn't harsh, but it was slightly dismissive, "Demons look down on me because my blood is tarnished in their eyes. Humans fear me 'cause I could slice them in half without a second thought," he echoed his point when he turned to look at her deep blue eyes, and raised his hand, flexing his claws, his knuckles cracked at the movement. He had hoped to prove his point by showing her that even she would be scared of him.

However, she didn't even flinch.

He took a quick sniff of her scent, and he knew she wasn't scared of him,' Well there goes that theory…'

He lowered his hand, taking the beer up for another drink.

"I've never been afraid of you," she said it so quietly, he was unsure he heard it. His head whipped back to her, seeing her hands playing with the strands of her hair as she looked down, avoiding his stare, "I can't speak for all of us, but… I don't think I could ever be afraid of you."

His insides practically melted.

While Inuyasha was reeling from what she'd just said, Kagome was quickly trying to move on from the subject, "Honestly, I think it's really cool that you kept them at least; the sword and haori, I mean. It's nice to have something that has your family tied to them in such an intimate way. It's like they'll always be a part of you… you know? There's something so wonderful about that."

Inuyasha was taken aback, and as much as he'd always considered his heritage a curse, Kagome was the first person who'd ever made him feel like he was fine the way he was. Like she saw him for him. His whole life had been spent justifying his existence to the world, but for once… he never felt like he needed to do that. Not with her. That was an entirely new feeling.

Kagome hurriedly tried to ask, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry again. I know this can be a sore topic for you. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay," he said calmly, a light smile on his lips, "Really. I actually don't mind…"

She smiled back at him, thankful we wasn't angry with her for bring up the subject again, "Should we get back to it?"

Inuyasha agreed. They cleared down their garbage, and as Inuyasha came back from taking out the trash, he asked, "Alright, now here's the most important thing; If you were to make an album of all these songs that all had a central theme or narrative, what would you want that to be?"

Kagome looked at her notebook, taking into consideration everything they'd written so far, and she realized there was only one thing that came to mind, "First love, and all the complexities that come with it."

Inuyasha looked back at his notes, and came to a similar conclusion, "That makes sense."

Kagome was confident, "I feel good about this."

Inuyasha looked back up at her and smiled, "Yeah, it feels like a solid base to go off of. It should be good."

Kagome quickly had a passing thought, and pulled up the keyboard, "Do you mind if I try something?"

He nodded, "Sure. There's no right way to do this, so just do whatever feels natural to you."

She rested her hands on the keys and started playing a quick chord progression ((1) – first 10 second only), correcting some notes as she heard them, but overall, having a nice melody.

She paused, and looked up to Inuyasha, "That's what I've got… when I think about it."

He was looking off in the distance with a thousand-yard stare, completely lost in a thought before saying, "Play it again."

Kagome complied, playing two more bars of that chord. She watched as Inuyasha quickly wrote something on his notebook before grabbing his acoustic guitar from the stand next to him, and picking a few notes, mimicking her chords.

"It feels nostalgic… like thinking back on a memory," he commented openly, playing the chord a few more times.

Kagome listened to it on the guitar and nodded, "You're right."

Kagome couldn't help but be in awe of how he was already starting to work through it. She listened to his picking and settled back against the keyboard, playing the chords in between his. They found a smooth rhythm, repeating the motif, and when they started the next chord, Inuyasha lightly sang.

When I was young, I fell in love
We used to hold hands and that was enough
Then we grew up, started to touch
Used to kiss underneath the light on the back of the bus
Oh no, your daddy didn't like me much
And he didn't believe me when I said you were the one
Oh, every day she found a way out of the window to sneak out late

On the last line, they both let the line hang as it echoed in their ears.

Kagome could vividly imagine the image he'd painted; seeing him running around with a girl as dumb teenagers, sneaking around and avoiding getting into trouble, all for the sake of young love. She wondered how much of it was fiction.

"That sounds good," she complimented him, "I think it should go right into the chorus at the end of that last line. No break, just maybe letting the music drop of out for a second."

Over another few hours, after they'd switched on a lamp or two as the sun started to set, they kept working on the song, revising and editing as they went, with Kagome marking out the music in her notebook, and Inuyasha working on the lyrics in his.

Eventually, they were almost finished, with Kagome trying to sing it all the way through, and realizing, "It doesn't work with just me singing it. It needs to be a duet."

Inuyasha stopped playing as she spoke, switching off the recording they were doing, and asked, "You think?"

She nodded, "It feels like the first and second verses are two totally different perspectives. They don't feel like they're from the same person. It needs to be two people; a back and forth."

"Let's try it," he said, leading them to start again from the beginning (2).

When I was young, I fell in love
We used to hold hands, man, that was enough
Then we grew up, started to touch
Used to kiss underneath the light on the back of the bus
Oh no, your daddy didn't like me much
And he didn't believe me when I said you were the one
Oh, every day she found a way out of the window to sneak out late

She used to meet me on the Eastside
In the city where the sun don't set
And every day you know that we ride
Through the backstreets of a blue Corvette
Baby, you know I just wanna leave tonight
We can go anywhere we want
Drive down to the coast, jump in the seat
Just take my hand and come with me, yeah

We can do anything if we put our minds to it
Take your whole life then you put a line through it
My love is yours if you're willing to take it
Give me your heart 'cause I ain't gonna break it
So come away, starting today
Start a new life, together in a different place
We know that love is how these ideas came to be
So baby, run away, away with me

Kagome listened carefully to him sing the first part, and quickly managed to switch up her vocals to compliment his, rather than follow his exact tone.

Seventeen and we got a dream to have a family
A house and everything in between
And then, oh, suddenly we turned twenty-three
Now we got pressure for taking our life more seriously
We got our dead-end jobs and got bills to pay
Have old friends and know our enemies
Now I, I'm thinking back to when I was young
Back to the day when I was falling in love

He used to meet me on the Eastside
In the city where the sun don't set
And every day you know where we ride
Through the backstreets in a blue Corvette
And baby, you know I just wanna leave tonight
We can go anywhere we want
Drive down to the coast, jump in the seat
Just take my hand and come with me
Singing

As she closed the bridge, Inuyasha came back in for the last chorus, and Kagome seamlessly harmonized with his voice.

Run away, now
Run away, now
Run away, now

He used to meet me on the Eastside

She used to meet me on the Eastside
In the city where the sun don't set

The music faded and they both looked at each other with glowing smiles on their faces at how good it sounded.

"It's good," Inuyasha said casually, turning off the recording and setting is guitar to the side. He stood up up, taking the empty beer bottle and her water bottle to dispose of them.

Kagome moved the keyboard to set it aside as she joined him in the kitchen, "I can't believe how quickly we did that! I was always so bad at songwriting."

"Trust me; you end up doing a million revisions before it ever sees the light of day. But it's a great starting point to refine from," he tossed the empties into the recycling before pulling out his phone and realized what time it was, "Oh shit…"

Kagome looked at him weird before pulling out her phone and seeing that it was almost one in the morning, "Oh no! I've gotta get home! I have to go to work tomorrow!"

Inuyasha quickly walked over to the window and opened the window door that lead to the fire escape, "Come on, I can get you home quick."

Kagome looked gave him a confused look, "Why are you getting onto the fire escape?"

A cocky smirk crossed his mouth as he responded, "We're gonna skip the traffic."

"Huh?" she took her purse, putting her notebook in a side pocket, and slid her shoes back on before making her way towards him, "How are we gonna do that from there?"

Inuyasha reached his hand to her to help her get through the window, "Just trust me."

She sighed before taking his hand, letting him pull her carefully through the pane, and out into the mild night air. When she was on the landing, he turned around and crouched, presenting his back to her, "Get on."

"What?!" she cried, "Why?"

"It'll be faster if I carry you," he said plainly, "Don't worry, I promise I won't drop you."

Kagome hesitated for a second, her heart starting to race again. He wanted her to get on his back?! Just thinking about it made her throat dry again. But she soon found herself carefully sliding onto his back, almost against her will, and letting his arms gently hold her thighs and hold her tight against him. She swore her heartbeat was pounding like crazy, praying his couldn't feel it as she pressed herself against his back. As soon as he stood upright, they were in the air and soaring above the rooftops of Tokyo.

"Ahhh!" she cried out as they fell back towards the next building over. Inuyasha could only chuckle as her wailing, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world to him.

"Just think of it like a rollercoaster!" he shouted over the wind, "Like I said, I won't drop ya."

Kagome gripped her arms tightly around his shoulders, hanging on like her life depended on it. As they bounded from building to building, Kagome worked up the courage to crack open an eye and take a look, and her mouth fell agape, the lights and the view of the city from above absolutely stunning her. She watched as they passed by it all overhead, and she suddenly forgot about the heights they were at, "It's so beautiful!"

Inuyasha couldn't hold back his smirk, "Something, ain't it?"

She nodded against his shoulder, and tentatively leaned up a bit, catching the wind in her hair and on her neck, loving how it felt, "Haha! This is great!"

Inuyasha's grip grew a bit stronger on her legs, making sure she wouldn't go flying off of him, and he in turn felt her hold her grip a bit looser, trusting he wouldn't let her fall.

It was only minutes compared to the roughly half an hour she would've spent on the train getting home or in his truck if they drove. They landed on the side street that her apartment was on and Inuyasha knelt down, letting her get off more easily. She pulled at her shirt a little, making sure her clothes were all sorted before he turned back to face her.

"I had no idea dog demons could do that," Kagome commented, running her hands through her hair, checking for any stray strands.

Inuyasha casually stuck a hand in his pocket, chuckling lightly, "I try to not make it a habit of doing that; scares the normies. But I can find the odd occasion for it."

She smiled, "If I could do that, I'd never drive or take the train again! That was exhilarating!"

She started poking around for her keys as they walked up to the main entrance, "Thank you. I really appreciate you getting me home so fast, and for all your help with the songwriting. I owe you."

"Nah, don't mention it," he casually dismissed, standing back a step so she could swing open the door.

She turned back and gave him a sincere smile, "So, we'll do this again on Saturday?"

"You got it, " he confirmed with a nod.

With that, Kagome gave him a wave and closed the door, heading up to her apartment. Inuyasha waited a moment before walking back down the steps, turning to look up, seeing her apartment lights come on and confirming she got in okay.

Just as she approached the window to see if he was still there, Kagome saw the flash of his silver hair as he took off, making his way back across the city. Her hands tightly gripped the window sill, and she felt like she could've collapsed at the rush of adrenaline that was finally fading from her bloodstream 'Well, I guess there's a reason they made the phrase 'swept off my feet''.

I'm just finishing this chapter the day before Yashahime Season 2 begins. I'm excited to see how the show pans out, but I don't have high hopes, based on Season 1. Let us pray that we get some decent Moroha and InuKag story development, and that there is some satisfying resolutions to the story.

In any case, I hope you're enjoying this fic! Be sure to subscribe/follow it for updates. I try to update it once a month, ad next few chapters should get a bit more… interesting…

Until Next Time…