InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Aftermath's Destruction ❯ Three Months Later ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

This is the sequal to the story 'Dashed Hopes', so I suggest you read that before you read this. Um, just a reminder: Everyone is human in this story, and I'm going by the eye colors in the manga. Ex: Kagome's eyes are blue in there.

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Disclaimer: Je n’ai pas de Inuyasha. (A French disclaimer is better than no disclaimer, right?)

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Aftermath's Destruction

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Chapter One: Three Months Later

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“Last night I looked up at the stars and matched each one with a reason why I love you. I was doing great, but then I ran out of stars.” The young man’s purple eyes danced in seriousness and playfulness as they locked with his love’s.

“Sweet,” the young woman cooed.

“They say you only fall in love once, it can’t be true. Every time I look at you, I fall in love all over again.” The male went on in a breathless whisper, oblivious to his surroundings---except for one thing. The lovely eyes of his girlfriend.

“That was beautiful,” she murmured, completely entranced with his sweet nothings.

“When I look at you, I cannot deny there is a God, because only God could have created something as wonderful and beautiful as you.”

A very feminine snort from across the table interrupted the cute moment.

“What, Kagome?” Sango snapped as she pried her magenta orbs off of Miroku’s. “Do you disagree because I’m not beautiful?”

Kagome quickly held up a hand in defense. “No, it’s not that Sango-chan. It’s just that Miroku said ‘God’ and he’s a Buddhist!” She snickered at her friend’s mistake.

Kag could hear Inuyasha snigger at her elbow.

Miroku shrugged, seemingly not bothered by his slip up, and went back to seducing his date. “If I could reach up and capture a star for every time you’ve made me smile, I’d have the whole evening sky in the palm of my hand.”

Sango eagerly went back to drowning in his loving quotes.

Kagome giggled good-heartily as she turned back to her third friend. “Hey, Inuyasha?”

He snorted slightly as he quelled his chuckling; smirking, he turned to her. “What?”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have interrupted them...” Worry flashed in her ocean eyes.

Lavender eyes rolled as the man scowled jokingly. “If you hadn’t said something, I would have. I’ll lose my appetite before the food gets here,” he stated.

His female friend laughed, “Like that could ever happen.” She grinned.

He smirked back. “You go on thinking that! I’m more than just a stomach you know!” He pretended to look hurt at the flash of disbelief that crossed her features.

“I know, I know,” she immediately calmed him. “Oh look! The food’s here!” She groaned as the overly large pot of ramen was placed in front of the guy. “Could you eat something other than that once in awhile?”

Inuyasha looked up from his plate, noodles hanging from his mouth and chopsticks poised over his steaming meal. “Could you eat something other than that once in awhile?” he gurgled while nodding to the dish in front of her.

“What? Oden? Never!” she declared before digging in.

The two others that sat across from him were too busy to notice their own dinners had arrived.

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Inuyasha finished in record time and leaned back, content to watch the woman sitting next to him.

It was another of the four friends’ outings on the town. Kagome and him just put up with the lovey dovey-ness of their friends because they were promised free food.

Oh, that and the promise of the entertaining lovers’ spats.

Who in their right minds would turn that down?

‘Three months,’ Inu mused as he watched out of the corner of his lavender eye as Kagome laughed and joked with Sango who sat catty corner from her. ‘Three months since she’s become the Vice President. I still can't believe she hasn’t screwed up!’

In truth, he could. She was one hell of a businesswoman. Sesshoumaru seemed to think so too if the contract they’d signed was anything to go by.

After the trial basis to see if the young woman could handle the company as well as the brothers had hoped, she’d been permanently added. A five-year contract at the business meeting that morning assured Inuyasha that Kagome wasn't going anywhere for awhile.

That might have killed him off.

‘Why?’ he thought as he dazed off and waited for the others to finish eating. ‘Kagome... You haven’t done anything to show me that you’ve thought of me like I think of you.’

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The group of four toddled down the busy sidewalks under the streetlights. Joking and laughing, Kagome reached into a pocket.

“Fortune cookies! I love these things!”

Miroku moaned. “Kagome, you do realize that fortune cookies aren’t native to the Chinese and Japanese restaurant we just left, right?”

Said young woman snorted and rolled her blue eyes. “Of course I do! I just like to read them...” she trailed off.

Sango sighed, “Europe came up with them, right?”

“Uh-uh,” Inuyasha murmured as he continued to stare off ahead of them. “Americans did.”

“What’s yours say?” Kagome nudged the others to read their own when her poor night vision caused her to wait until later to read her own.

As they continued to walk and the plastic wrappers were tossed in a nearby bin, Kagome managed to miss Inuyasha’s gaping stare as he read the white slip of paper that had come out of the baked dough. He slowed down behind the other three so that he could see more clearly by the nearest street lamp.

--- Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have. ---

Glancing up to the petite woman not too far ahead he wondered, ‘Is that true, Kagome?’

As if hearing him think her name, she whipped back on him with a soft smile. “Inuyasha? You coming? We’re heading to the new museum tour next.”

Blushing slightly, the ebony haired man nodded his head and sped up to catch up with the others.

Kagome’s smile faltered a little when he walked the rest of the night with his head held down, and refused to look at her.

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Kagome lagged behind as she looked over the brightly colored paintings. Frowning, she reached into her pocket to retract her fortune. Out on the street she had had problems reading, but in the museum the lighting was great.

She winced as she read over the black and white lettering.

--- Meeting him was fate, becoming friends with him was a choice, but falling in love was completely out of your control. ---

Kagome sighed, her evening seeming a little more melancholy than before. She trotted after the other three but had a problem keeping her eyes from wandering to Inuyasha.

‘I don’t think the writers of that fortune would know how close their prediction came. It was fate in meeting him, and it was my choice to befriend him.’ Kagome thought over her life in the city of Tokyo. ‘But I refuse to allow the third part to come true. I may not love him, and I probably never would have. But I doubt I’ll ever let myself bring truth to the third part.’

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“Inuyasha!” A preteen boy shrieked as he ran into said man’s office.

“Souta?” Inu pried his gaze up from the files that Kagome had had transferred over to him earlier that morning.

The boy nodded eagerly and beamed a sticky smile. Once his pearly whites were flashed he went back to his sticky bun.

“Not to sound rude or anything, but what the hell are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at that lovely place called school?” Inuyasha asked while glancing nervously around. Kagome would kill him if she found out he’d taught the boy how to play hooky.

Souta grinned, “Nope! I get to skip that torture chamber –I swear they created math simply to traumatize us all until we’re all grown up- and come here for the day! It’s ‘take your kid to work day’.”

“Again with the not being rude. The last time I checked, Shippou was your sister’s kid, not you.”

Souta huffed, “Shippou went with my mom. So I get stuck with Ms. Sunshine and Daises for today.”

The boys locked eyes and at the same time feigned a high-pitched voice. “But I like yellow and blue!” they mocked Kagome together.

Sniggering, Inuyasha rolled his lavender eyes. “She has no color sense,” he announced.

“Speaking of color, I don’t think Nee-chan will be inviting you over anytime soon after that remodeling incident,” Souta warned the older male slowly.

Inuyasha leaned back and propped his feet up on his desk. “Well excuse me if I thought having your new apartment redone while she was visiting mother dearest was a favor!”

Souta snickered, “I think the entirely chrome bathroom was going a bit far.”

“True,” Inuyasha relented slightly before going on, “but the black walls and furniture were good!”

Before their manly conversation of interior design could carry on, Kagome stuck her head in. “Kouga’s here!” She flashed a smile in both of their directions.

Souta grinned. Even with a new role model in his adorable life, he couldn’t forget about Kouga. “Great!” He raced out of the room and through the empty room that had once been Kagome’s secretary post.

“I’ll be right down!” Kagome called after her brother. Turning back to her boss she gave him another grin. “I have all of the accounts given to me sorted out, can I take the rest of the day off? It’s Friday so any new projects I can do over the weekend.”

Inuyasha looked put out. “Why are you asking me? You’re Vice President now, Kagome, you need to learn that you can make your own decisions.”

Kagome smiled, “Thanks, will do.”

“Although I still don’t like you hanging out with that idiot.”

Kagome’s smile melted into a frown. “Inuyasha! I’ve told you before; Kouga has eight years of medical school under his belt. He graduated high school at 16! He is anything but an idiot, and he’s my friend. If you could try to restrain yourself from being rude, I’d be grateful.”

Inuyasha huffed. “It doesn’t mater how much school that wimp has, he’s still a moron.”

Kagome sighed. “Whatever you say Inuyasha. I haven’t seen Kouga for a while with all those projects he has with his last year at medical college. It’ll be good to catch up...What are we doing this weekend?”

Inuyasha’s expression brightened a little. “Well Sango and Miroku are going to do a ‘family’ outing and are taking Kohaku to the zoo or something like that. That just leaves us...wanna crash at my place and watch a movie?”

“Sure, sounds great! See you then!”

“Bye Kagome,” he whispered as she raced out of the room. He had a problem saying those words.

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Kagome spent the rest of the day wandering around with her brother and Kouga. Their ‘guy talk’ began to wear her down and she turned her thoughts to other things.

‘Why does Inuyasha always have to get so huffy when I go out with a male friend? Over-protective ass, can’t let me have any fun outside of his world.’ She snorted quietly and glanced over to some shops on her right, across the street. Spotting a new movie store, she wondered, ‘What movies will he have for us tonight?’

“Hey Kouga?” she asked suddenly.

“Huh?” He turned around and smirked at her.

She looked pretty in her maroon sweater, black boots and scarf and skirt, her knee high boots under the knee length skirt, and her hair let down. Her nose, tip of her ears, and cheeks were flushed slightly pink with the bitter December winds.

She flashed him a quick smile, “I’m heading over to Yash’s place tonight. I’m going to check out some movies over there.” She nodded her in the direction of the store. “Do you mind?”

Kouga grinned back. “No way. I was going to take the kid to a game store. Meet back here in an hour?” he asked as he ruffled Souta’s hair affectionately.

“Sure, no problem. See you in a little bit!” She gave a small wave and raced across the busy street. Souta watched her leave with his chocolate eyes.

“Ready?” he asked the older male.

“Yep, lets get going.” Kouga placed a hand on his shoulder and led him off to the stores.

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“Ma’am? May I help you?” a polite teenager asked as Kag stomped her snow- covered boots on the rug.

“No, I’m fine.” She made her way in after she was sure all of the powdery white substance was off of her boots.

“Call me if you need me!” the employee yelled after her before turning back to some friends.

Kagome walked down the aisles, not sure of what to get.

Personally? She liked romance, but Inuyasha was more of an action and adventure kind of guy. At least she was pretty sure; she’d never gotten around to asking him.

Foreign films were too much for her overworked brain. Reading subtitles always produced a headache for her.

Maybe a combination of hers and Inu’s interests would work.

Smiling in triumph, she snatched a case off of a nearby self, listed under: Classics.

‘This sounds good...’ Kag sauntered off to pay for the video.

She only had a few hours to get to Inuyasha’s, and she wanted to spend as much time with her brother and her old friend as she could. Kagome would have invited Kouga along, but she was pretty sure Yash wouldn’t like that. Probably to the point where the medical student would be leaving without a throat.

Spending the rest of the day laughing and going over some old high school moments, Kagome was surprised when she took a glance at her watch.

“Oh, gotta go!” She stood up quickly and hung her leather purse over a shoulder. Kag bent down and pecked her brother on the forehead (::gasp:: In front of everyone at the restaurant too!) and giggled when he wiped her affections away.

“You’ll be all right getting there?” Kouga looked at her with his piercing blue eyes boring into her own.

“Yeah. I’ll head home and change, and then take the truck. I can see over everyone in that monster, so I shouldn’t have to worry about not seeing an accident my way. Souta?”

“Yeah sis?” He looked up from his WacDonald’s milkshake.

“Be good for Kaede. Thanks again Kouga for dropping him off with Sango’s maid.” Kagome gripped his shoulder before starting to head to the door.

“Sure thing. Have a good time Kagome!” he hollered after her as she disappeared out the door. Turning back to Souta, he asked a question that had been bugging him for awhile. “Hey kid? Do you like Inuyasha?”

The black haired boy eagerly nodded his head. “He’s almost as fun as you!”

“And does Kagome like him?” the brunette male persisted.

“Uh huh.”

“Hmm, finish your milkshake and we can head over to get a hot chocolate before you go to Sango’s.” Kouga smirked at the kid before turning to look out the window, managing to catch Kag turning the corner. ‘Kagome...Don’t get too attached. I don’t want it happening to you again. You didn’t deserve it the first time and I really don’t want to see you broken for a second.’

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“I have found the perfect movie!” Kagome announced as she let herself into the massive house of Inuyasha’s.

It seemed quiet with Rin and Sesshoumaru out in Kyoto for a business meeting. But she could hear Inuyasha out in one of the living rooms shoving things around.

“Oh really?” He flashed her a cocky smirk as he easily pushed a heavy couch to the other side of the room. Inu then started a fire in the fireplace since Kag looked chilled in her sweatpants and overly large sweatshirt. Of course he wasn’t much warmer wearing pretty much the same thing.

“Yep!” The black haired beauty whipped out the video.

Inuyasha wandered over and leaned in closer to get a better look. ‘Sengoku- Jidai: A Feudal Fairy Tale,’ he read to himself. “Why is this ‘perfect’?” he asked as he gave her a smirk.

Kag scrunched up her nose as she plopped herself down on the couch in front of the giant flat screen TV. “Because it has romance, action, adventure, mystery, comedy, and horror all rolled into one movie! Hard to find, I thought it sounded too good to be true.”

Inu shrugged as he sat down next to her. “Sure, why not. Romance?”

Kagome looked a bit dreamy for a moment. “A forbidden romance between a young woman with unusual powers and an outcast afraid to trust anybody.” She sighed.

“Feh,” he grumbled. ‘Fairy Tale’ sounded about right. “Let’s get it started!” he said impatiently as he glanced back at the case. There was an extremely wicked sword shown on the front...

Insert the drooling here.

Pointy sharp objects!

As the theme music, both catchy and fast, started to play, Kagome settled into her seat near her friend and became instantly sucked in.

Loud monsters, disturbing traps, a twisted bad guy, a sweet heroine, and a cocky and drool worthy hero flashed by on the screen.

Inuyasha loved the adrenaline pumped fight scenes and especially the horror ones when Kag clamped onto his arm.

It was the perfect movie.

Sadly, Kagome was asleep before the ending.

‘We can watch it again tomorrow.’ Inu decided as he continued to be absorbed in the battle cry of the ancient warriors and the splatter of crimson blood.

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‘Kagome? I have absolutely no idea what it is that I feel about you, and I don’t know how you feel about me. So...I think it’d be a good idea to hang out more often and maybe date for awhile to figure it out.’

Inuyasha rehearsed what he could say as he watched the girl who was curled up in his arms, asleep for the moment.

‘Nah, too weak! I sound way too unsure in that,’ Inu began to gnaw on his inner cheek.

‘I’m not Naraku, Kagome, and I’d never hurt you like he did. And if anyone even tried, I’d rip their throats out and parade their heads around on spikes, just to show what I think of those kind of guys.’

Too ‘aggressive’.

‘Kagome...When you first came here, I really wanted to get to know you because you weren’t like the others. You kept your bite, your spirit! The more I got sucked into the situation, the more I respected you for getting through it. When it was over, I was relieved when you said you’d stay. I don’t know how I feel about you, at least I know I like you and maybe even more than that. I may not be sure...but I’d like to find out.’

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Good enough.

At least for his overstressed mind.

Leaning back into the chair, making sure Kagome’s head was cradled in his lap and she was far enough from the edge so she wouldn’t fall off, he began to drift off into sleep.

It scared him how much he thought about this.

He’d dated (several, several times) before, but he’d never wanted to stay with that person as much as he thought he might with Kagome.

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“Mm, so warm...” Kagome murmured as her mind began to function again.

Inuyasha just watched on with amused eyes.

‘Need food...and a bathroom...but mostly food. So warm...don’t wanna get up yet...’ Kagome began to run through her situation.

After a good five minutes of watching the girl struggle with herself and try to get up, and out of his lap, Inu leaned down.

“Good morning, Kagome.”

Blue eyes snapped open. “Inuyasha?”

“Yeah?”

She flinched. Oops. So that was why she was so warm. “Morning.” She jumped up, pretty well for a non-morning person only asleep a few minutes ago, and sauntered away.

“Kagome?” Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as she began to back out of the room.

She gave him a small smile, “Be back in a few!” She then all but raced out of the room.

Not exactly the ‘good morning’ Inuyasha had pictured when he woke up to the black haired curled up in his lap on the couch.

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Kagome splashed some cold water on her face.

That had felt good.

Not the water, the waking up next to Inuyasha thing.

She winced as her mind, against her will she was sure, took her back to those few precious moments of the brink of consciousness. It had felt so warm and comfy...and safe.

‘No!’ she screamed silently.

Not again.

She wouldn’t do it again.

After Naraku...well, lets just say she'd learned her lesson.

No matter how nice they seemed at first, how perfect, or how wonderful, they always showed their true natures later.

And although it had been a little more than three months, Naraku’s cold words on his death day, 40 stories above the ground, still rang fresh through her mind.

--- “And Inuyasha? He doesn’t care for you, in any way at all. Ever since his mother and father died he’s refused to get close to anyone at all. I’ve seen the way he eyes you, Kagome, you’re just something he’d use and throw away.” ---

No matter how many times Kagome told herself that Naraku made it up, how he was wrong, she couldn’t get it out of her mind, that maybe, just maybe, Inuyasha was like that.

And if he used her?

She wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Because it was Inuyasha. Her knight in shining armor, her friend, her proof that although the entire male population was not as bad as Naraku, it was still far from perfect.

Because it was her Inuyasha.

The good guy.

And if he was a bad guy? She’d forever give up trying to figure out right and wrong, because she’d be a complete failure.

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“You feeling all right?” Inu asked as she wandered into the kitchen.

Kagome gave him a rehearsed smile, “It’s okay. As good as it ever was.”

Inuyasha scowled and went back to making the only breakfast he was capable of: Ramen.

‘Ever was’? What was that supposed to mean? Did she mean the time before Naraku, or after? Or worse yet...

...As good as it was when she was with Naraku?

-Ring- -Ring- -Ring-

“Hey, Kag, can you get that?” he asked while still watching the boiling water. He didn’t have the nerve to face her yet as he ran over his thoughts, so watching boiling water was the only alternative.

“Sure, Yash!” she flashed him a smile, a real one this time, even though it was only at the back of his head.

Her earlier morning thoughts forgotten and the bad morning wearing away, she practically flounced to the phone.

“Moushi moushi! Youkai residence, can I help you?”

“Kagome?”

Said girl frowned into the phone. “Sango?” she asked uncertainly. It sounded like her friend...only this time the brunette sounded frantic and worried.

A pause passed as the young woman on the other side of the line yelled something to her blue-eyed friend.

Inuyasha whipped around just in time to see Kagome go limp and to catch her.

The last words that ran through Kag’s crowded mind were the echo of Sango’s previous statement.

“Oh Gods! Kagome! You have to get here! I’ve been trying, we’ve all been trying, to find you! Something happened to the boys!”
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Haha! This is like my first cliffhanger ever! Sorry about that, but it needs to be done.

My plot can't only be Kagome trying to overcome her fear of feeling for Inuyasha, so I added something.

What happened to the boys? In case you don’t know who I meant, I meant Souta and Shippou.

‘Till next time! Ja ne!