InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Constellations of the Pained Souls ❯ An Attempt of Connection ( Chapter 1 )

Constellation of the Pained Souls

Chapter One: An Attempt of Connection

***

It is a restless moment.
She has kept her head lowered,
to give him a chance to come closer.
But he could not, for lack of courage.
She turns and walks away.

That era has passed.
Nothing that belonged to it exists any more.

He remembers those vanished years.
As though looking through a dusty window pane,
the past is something he could see, but not touch.
And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct.

***(Quoted from the movie 'In the Mood for Love')***

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the Wong Kar Wai's creations and his genius of mind.

}}}~*~*~Sengoku Jidai, after the group defeated Naraku~*~*~{{{

Kikyou fell to the ground lifeless, her cold body was decaying away as the stolen soul left her one by one. The first one, the most anxious to part its way from the clay shell went back to where it supposed to belong, in the warmth of Kagome.

"NO!!!!! MIROKU! WHY?!!!!!!!"

"It's the way it supposed to end, Inuyasha. You are with the wrong incarnation; I was only helping you making your decision." The monk stated calmly, throwing away the dagger to the ground.

A sudden strong breeze of wind dispersed the fine dust of what left of the clay miko's body; all traces of her were swept away in a matter of a second as if indicating her nonexistence in this world.

Kagome searched for his eyes, and when their gazes met each other he hurriedly averted his face away.

"Miroku," Kagome whispered softly. He pretended not to hear her. She called out his name louder, and still he wouldn't meet her gaze, until she bellowed his name for the rest of the world to hear.

He lifted his eyes slowly to encounter hers; she smiled sadly and mouthed her next word "stupid." He grinned and mouthed silently back, "I know." But his playful grin was tainted with the anguish in his eyes. He was hurting too. But she didn't care, he had promised her something and now he was going to keep it, even if she had to do the most hideous thing for her in the world, to be selfish.

The forgotten jewel was shining in her hand, signifying its existence and telling them that the one who was holding it was making a wish. In the end it was the guardian of the jewel herself who corrupted the wish.

She tried to smile evilly in her grief and failed terribly. The result was a maniacal almost comical grin, but the tragic was, there was only one word that could describe the grin, pitiable.

She straightened herself and held out the hand that was holding the jewel.             &nb sp;

And shortly the jewel vanished, as well as the four companions.

}}}~*~*~{{{

&&~*~*~Present Time, Tokyo, Twenty-first Century~*~*~&&

The train just had to be late.

And he had just had to be stuck here in the station.

With her. With this drunk girl who had been sniffing the whole time.

But not only that, she was also rude, the whole time she had glared at him without reason, and when he tried to change his seat, she followed him, in predatory-mode that was very unlike a drunkard, as if she was stalking him.

She sniffed again, he turned his head slowly towards her, if she had fallen asleep he wouldn't want to be her wake-up caller, only that she was not sleeping.

She was watching him, closely, intently almost primarily, her eyes looked angry and crazed, and he was very, very scared.

That was it. He would walk home, who cared when he lived in the suburbs, in the distance almost two cities away, those damn city taxies! Where was one, when one would actually need them? Damn! She was still looking. 

He tried to distance himself bit by bit. Taking the wrong clue; the girl began to inch slowly towards him, following his trail.

Exasperation didn't come close to what he was feeling, but still he pulled himself together to grace her a polite smile, but she was still haunting him with her accusatory eyes.

"Have we met before?" He asked politely.

The mental injured drunk girl narrowed her eyes at him, her disheveled long hair covered most of her face, giving her a demented look. She hissed her answer in a husky tone, "that was the cheapest pick-up line I've ever heard."    

Yes, he was doomed; in an hour from now they would find his body parts scattered all over the region.

He smiled politely and began to walk quietly away from the station, when he felt that she had followed him, he increased his pace until he was running off as if chased by some rabid dogs.

'Run, run, Miroku, you're too young to die,' he whispered mentally, he kept running and hoped that a taxi would pass his way.

He threw a nervous glance behind him and was glad when he couldn't find the trace of the girl. He laughed in relief, to run like mad through the city because he was chased by a drunken girl! God! How humiliating, he was a cop for god sake, and not to mention what it would do to his reputation. No, his past reputation, because he had a nice girlfriend now, and she, being the nice girl that she was, would knock him out of his senses if she heard he was still screwing around.

But still the drunken girl had given him quite a fright; if only he had stayed at Sango's place tonight. But no… of course not. She wouldn't let him even think of sleeping over, even though they were officially in relationship.

Suddenly he heard the sound of brakes and the next thing he knew, a car maneuvered itself in front of him, blocking his path only a foot away.

And his hands, to his humiliation, went down protecting his most precious asset automatically. Instead of jumping out of the way he had taken a stance of footballer in defense.

And to his mortification, she was mouthing, "Goal," as she smirked beautifully.

Beautiful? Indeed, she was beautiful, even with her almost crazed gleam in her eyes; he couldn't deny that she was unbearably pleasing to his connoisseur's eyes.

She stepped out of the car and moved stalkingly towards him. His mind was screaming at him to run, run as fast and far as he could. But his body wouldn't budge, because his eyes had feasted themselves upon her face, movement and her perfect voluptuous body, which made his hentai part taking over his central system.

She reached out a hand towards him. "Let's get out of here! Before the guy who owns this car reports its missing!"

And as he took her hand, doomed and excited, the last thought that crossed his mind was that this wasn't good for his records.

~*~

"I'm off duty."

Kagome turned to him and gazed at him questioningly, "Ehm?"

"The stolen car, I'll overlook this time."

"Eee? You're a cop?"

"Off duty, but yes I am."

Kagome nodded and continued to walk, still holding his hand. Miroku watched where their hands joined together and the situation began to dawn on him.

"Wait a minute, why are you abducting me?"

Kagome stopped, she didn't turn to face him as she answered him, "you came willingly."

"Guess I did," he scratched his head sheepishly, "but you didn't answer my question, why did you follow me?" Silence... "…And you're not going to answer me, that's so typical," he sighed tiredly, "at least tell me where are you taking me?"

"I'm hungry, let's go get something to eat," she answered cheerily. He frowned, "it's not as if I have any choices, don't I?"

"But I'm helping you making one," Kagome responded softly.

"Pardon, I didn't quite catch that?"

"Nothing, look! There's a yatai, I'm dying for some ramen!" She excitedly tugged on his arm and rushed forward to seize a place for both of them.

"Irrashai, Kagome-chan!" A young vendor greeted her.

Once they were inside, Kagome ordered for both of them, "I'll have two Chinese style ramen with dumplings, Kaji-san."

"Two special ramen with dumplings," the vendor passed her order to his friend, and then he turned back to Kagome, "how about some beers, they're on the house tonight, Kagome-chan?" he asked her, lounging a bit close to her.

"I think Kagome-chan had enough beer for the night, Kaji-chan." Miroku answered him snappishly. 

Kagome grinned and answered the vendor, "not tonight, Kaji-san, but thanks anyway, I'll just have some tea for me and my friend."

"Well, they're still on the house." Kaji handed her a cup of hot green tea and placed the one for Miroku rudely on the table.

Kagome laughed and held the hot cup of tea with both her hands near her face, inhaling the warm steam that coming out from the cup.

"Are you cold?" Miroku asked worriedly, Kagome shook her head idly; her eyes were focused on the brew. But then her body betrayed her statement as she started to shiver a little, Miroku took off his jacket and draped it over her back, he was holding the side of the jacket to help her inside the clothing.

Kagome shrugged out of his touch, the jacket almost fell to the ground. Miroku frowned as he held the disregarded jacket. Kagome turned to him, "maybe I'm not shivering from the cold."

Miroku grinned, he slowly drawled out his next words, "then maybe you're shivering because of me."

"Eeeewww!!!" Kagome shrieked out teasingly, she poked him on his arm. Miroku blinked, that hurt.

Kaji broke the mood as he rudely placed two bowls of ramen before them; Miroku narrowed his eyes as he hissed out his annoyance "maybe I should check his shop-license." And Kagome burst out giggling, Miroku grinned back and they began to eat their portion. 

Tokyo at night was somehow livelier than it was at noon or during the rush hour at morning. The energy was dampened and people began to unwind, and that was the time when they actually looked at others, instead of passing each other in a blur of space. They began to talk dispassionately, the curse of the opportunists and the salesmen lasted from nine to five, after that they belonged to the city. Instead of grumbling their dissatisfaction they drowned their melancholy in alcohol, maybe it was not a quality of time, but in those silent hours, comradeship and faith were never betrayed.     

~*~

After their escapade, they made their way to a bar; Miroku promised himself that he would watch over her drinking habit as he saw her ordering a glass of whiskey.

And then it sunk on him that they had never made a proper introduction of each other, but as he heard her sweet voice calling him by his given name, he turned his attention fully to her, forgetting that she was supposed not to know his name, since he hadn't told her himself yet.

"Don't you think it's just sad, Miroku?" Kagome asked him, her eyes were glassy from the unshed tears, her voice was desperate and lost, but her cheeks and the top of her nose were flushed beautifully. Miroku felt as if he must save her, whatever it was that attacked her sensibility and left her saddened; he must make it right for her.

"What is so sad, Kagome?" he asked her softly, once again she lost herself observing the content of her glass. Miroku slowly took the glass out of her grasp and set it down on the table.

Kagome blinked down her tears and answered him, "that people passed each other everyday, but never to discover that they might be meant for each other, that once before their relation was probably constellated by the higher power."

"That we never took the chance to speak to strangers, out of embarrassment of disgracing ourselves. A lost chance of encounter or even connection, stifled by inaction." And then she dropped her head on the counter and began to whimper miserably.       

~*~end of chapter~*~

Yatai: movable food stalls that can be found along busy streets. They sometimes include seating space inside the tent. Dishes commonly offered at yatai include oden and ramen.

Irrashai: welcome (casual)

AN: I would like to confirm that this whole story was influenced by Wong Kar Wai's movies, and I hope you like it. Please read and review.

And Merry Christmas, everyone!