InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Forevermore ❯ Part One ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Here's a different story almost altogether. However, Inu-Yasha, Kagome, and I think Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka are all property of Rumiko Takahashi, a famous mangaka of Japan. Ren Hayasha is my character, mixed in with the wild flavor of Inu-Yasha. (Sounds like food...) This is after Kagome had left, but not on purpose, for she was kept from entering the opposite side of the well for some unknown reason. It'll be explained somewhere in the story. Hope you like it! ^_^

« Forevermore «

By Mia

~An Inu-Yasha alternate-universe kind of story~

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To love is to cry

To lose, to regain once more

To love is to feel

To protect and care for

To embrace, hold close

To keep the other

forevermore

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*PART ONE*

Inside Kagome's bedroom on the third floor of the apartment building, she cried herself awake from yet another restless nightmare that seemed to haunt her thoughts during the day. She sat up, appearing to be exhausted from the lack of sleep, and she took her pillow, which felt cramped against her and the blankets, and tossed it across the room to the opposing wall. Under the light streams of moonlight shining through her window, she tried to make the voice go away, the familiar male voice that had been inevitably imprinted into her memory, and she didn't know whether she wanted it to go away or not.

"Kagome! Don't leave...Don't leave me here alone! I LOVE YOU, KAGOME----!"

A sob escaped her throat, unbidden. Forcing herself to settle again in her comforters despite the summer night warmth, she closed her eyes. No one heard her except for herself. "I didn't want to leave you...ever. Please...forgive me."

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"For what, Kagome?" Eri asked hastily and looked at her over her shoulder. "What do you have to go back for? I thought you already had all the stuff you needed. Gods, it's only one little night out and---"

"Calm down, Eri-chan. I'll be back in just a minute." With a quick flash of a smile, she hurried back down the hallway, leaving Eri there tapping her three-inch foot against the carpeted floor. Eri was always in a hurry---even since high school, she was always so worried they might become late for lunch. But Eri always had that sense of hurriedness in her; it was what made her Eri. Hurrying as fast as she could, she stopped at the door marked 45 and slipped her key into the lock, turning it and ran inside to her bedroom.

Once there, she went to her dresser and opened her jewelry box, picking up a silver chain with a broken jewel attached. "Jeez, and to think I almost forgot it, too..." Using the large mirror before her, she clasped the chain around her neck, caressing the jewel with her thumb before concealing it underneath her gray t-shirt. Momentarily, Kagome stared at herself, wondering if she really had changed since being in high school. Sure she got a little taller, her long wavy black hair got longer, but her wide gray-blue eyes never changed. Perhaps the usual sparkle to them had receded, but that was because she no longer was with him anymore...

She sighed, looking away. That was five years ago...the `anniversary' of not being able to be let in the well was today, but it wasn't as if Kagome went through it without feeling at least a little depressed about it. But she knew she must move on; she went with her friends to America to be able to go to college and maybe see the world while doing it, maybe... she might see someone that she might possibly love a little. At least that way she can finally change from the little naïve girl she was and probably still is...So she can catch up with her friends as they grew up out of themselves as well. Then a voice rattled her out of her thoughts.

"KAGOME!"

She flashed herself a sad smile before running out the door after locking it behind her. The time to forget and to let go is today...I have to be strong. Meeting Eri at the end of the hallway, they went down the nearby elevator and went to the check-in lobby, then out the door to the warm summer evening.

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He sloppily threw on his deep-red motorcycle helmet, then hopped onto his matching big, expensive bike. All the while, he frowned at his friend through his unclosed visor while he rattled off how stupid he was acting. "Look Inuren, you know this is your first night in America, so don't blow it by being dragged back here by the cops just because you don't have a legal license, okay?" Koru adjusted his point-Dexter glasses with a push of his middle finger, which kept sliding down every once in a while. "Gods...I'll be lectured by your father by letting you go---and he's not even MY father! Come on, be reasonable. You can't possibly---"

"Would you chill out, Koru?" He said casually, stuffing his short black hair into his helmet while taking the bike off the kickstand with his foot. "Just get away from me and out of here before my dad actually does see you and attaches you with the blame. My fucking dad never let me have any freedom---and I'm turning twenty-two, for god's sake! I'm taking back that freedom no matter what the hell it's going to cost me." Giving him a pearly-white mischievous grin that seemed to knock the socks off of girls and women alike, he turned on the ignition, watching the dials below him change rapidly. "Too bad, man. I mean, where I'm going, there'll be hot women all over the place. Too bad you've never got laid..."

Crystalline blue eyes glared at unusually golden-amber through glasses. "You haven't either so don't be talking big, Ren Hayasha." His friend seemed to flinch at his tone. Koru Mibachi never used that tone with him, unless he was thoroughly pissed off about something or fed up. He usually called him by his old name; Inuren, but now that it was in America, he preferred Ren for short. He studied him quizzically from head to toe; his short brown-blonde hair slightly sloppy from getting out of his mid-afternoon nap so hastily. He still wore his dark blue pajamas and black slippers out where the public eyes could see.

"'Kay, man. Calm down. I'll make it up to you sometime, but in the meantime, you better hightail it." Without another word, he flipped his tinted visor down, cover his whole face, and Koru had to strain to hear what he said through the engine noise. "Later," his muffled voice called as he geared down the dimly lit street. This was the price for having to be Ren's childhood friend...He almost always got blamed for everything wrong he did. But that was okay...because Inuren Hayasha owed him big time.

"Hurry back, you jerk!" Koru shouted back with a goodhearted tone.

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"So when I said, `Check, please,' he says, `For what?' And then I cracked up right there on the floor of the restaurant! Aha ha ha ha..." Ayumi laughed and was soon joined by Eri and Yuka, but Kagome just smiled politely and took another drink of her Shirley-Temple. Yuka seemed to notice and so nudged her friend, who was looking out at the shimmering waters of a nearby lake at the place they were eating at called "Mindie's Munchies."

"Ne, Kagome-chan. What's the matter, huh?" Yuka said with a short smile as she popped an overly salted French-fry into her mouth. "You're going to be twenty-one soon. Why don't you sneak in a shot of brandy while you're at it?" The others giggled hilariously from either having to drink too much or from being overly entertained. Kagome returned their smiles, but otherwise ignored the offer.

"No, thank you. I'd rather stay sober tonight, and you guys should too. You'll have a heck of a hangover in your classes tomorrow."

"Do you have any classes, Kagome-chan?"

"Nope. I'm planning on taking a boat out on the lake while I still have a day's freedom from a ton of homework. I still have to give that research presentation on Friday."

"Aw, you're lucky..." grumbled Eri as she took another swig of her intoxicating beverage.

Kagome giggled, looking away toward the water again, a sad longing overtaking her eyes. "Not anymore lucky as any one of you..." she whispered inaudibly to them. All three girls had steady boyfriends and she was like a fish out of the water, abnormal, or like a runt in a litter. "Ne, hurry up you guys. I want to get as much sleep as I can tonight."

"All right, all right, Kagome..." Yuka's voice was interrupted by the crashing sound of a motorcycle engine entering the parking lot not far away from where they sat under a parasol, in a picnic table. The rider astride the gigantic, crystal-scarlet bike parked in a slot between two SUV's, making it far smaller than it seemed. The dark, mysterious rider, clad in a black leather jacket and black-jean pants tight against his strong-looking lean body, killed the running motor and expertly swung his foot down to engage the kickstand to have the bike lean against the asphalt.

"Wouldya look at that..." Eri whispered with a short low whistle. All the other women except maybe for Kagome looked as interested as she was at the moment. Kagome looked at the motorcycle rider out of the corner of her eye, and finally turned completely away, holding her chin on her hand balanced on her elbow. The man didn't notice he had an audience, therefore proceeded on reaching up and grabbing his helmet and sliding it off. The women's eyes widened while they took in the man's handsome features as he dismounted his ride, placing his helmet on the wide expanse of the seat.

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Ren shook his black head of hair and running his fingers through it, his amber-gold eyes scanning the eatery in the dimming light of the setting sun over the lake horizon, wondering if he really should have just stayed home instead of getting hopelessly lost. Finding this place by the side of the road was what he was counting on; he needed to use a phone at least, to call Koru and tell him where he was at, how to get back at his father's penthouse. Might as well get something to eat in the meanwhile, he thought to himself while his decision was made, taking his keys and stuffing it into his front pocket, striding up on the board deck that attached to the small building of "Mindie's Munchies."

Seating himself on a deserted dark-blue picnic table with a folded parasol in the middle, he waited for someone to give him some service. The place was mildly crowded; most of the people looked as if they came from a nearby college campus, some having their laptops set up while they drank their beverages and adjusting their glasses as they typed. America seemed to be so foreign to him; he felt out of place when he stared at all the blondes, brunettes, redheads, and all the other assortment of hair colors that he hardly ever saw back in his Japan home. Ren used to live in the green, somewhat hidden mountain hills of middle Japan, the home they lived in was quite large with a pond-garden in the back, a place to have quiet thoughts and practice his skills with the sword. His father was the only one besides him to teach him, but now that they moved away because of a business transfer, his heart seemed to have lost its usual warmth and happiness.

His attention was caught when a group of young women in the next picnic table over erupted with drunken laughter---or at least only three of them did. One woman drew all of his focus towards her, not only because she seemed quiet, innocent, and approachable, but her pretty blue-gray eyes had a tinge of loneliness in them, slivers of speckled gold in them from the setting sun's light reflecting back upon the lake water below them. Not only that, but the cute woman seemed terribly familiar to him, her very presence catching him out of balance and making his will bend to her.

The long, flowing raven hair slightly curling to her waist, her graceful face framed by matching bangs, her skin creamy and unblemished. She looked beautiful but windswept at the same time, as if her aura has somehow been marred by experience in the past. At that given moment, he would have given everything he had just to know her past, all the people she ever loved and left, all the places she's been and yet she it left her lonelier than ever. Peeking out from under her shirt collar was a jewel---broken, it seemed, attached to her by a thin link chain. It winked at him with a weak twinkle, as if taunting him to come after it as though it had a mind of its own. The young woman herself was something of interest to him. No, she was not merely a thing; it was as though they had met in another life completely. Then he frowned deeply. He did not believe in reincarnation, nor did he believe in being reborn. The woman was just strangely attractive to him---he didn't have to believe that she was sending off some weird vibes telling him he'd met her once before. One significant detail he couldn't let go of, however, was the fact that she looked exactly like a woman in his recurring dreams he'd had every night of all his twenty-one years. Now all he had to do was wait and watch, and listen to see if this mysterious woman's voice is like the one echoing in his head.

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For a while, Kagome ignored the feeling. But after a long moment, she couldn't only sit there and ignore it any longer. She knew eyes were watching her intently, if not studying her, it was her gift that she was aware of such things. The presence continued to swarm her thoughts ever since the mysterious motorcycle rider made an appearance at the small restaurant---but it felt old, very, very familiar, like something she knew of in the past except this one was slightly altered, slightly different and yet it had its own unique signature that foretold her exactly who it was. Who it could impossibly be.

Inu-Yasha...

Slowly turning her head forward, her eyes locked with uncannily memorable ones in the next table over Ayumi's shoulder. Every movement, every sound, seemed to have frozen in time, and Kagome's eyes widened at the spectacle of ever seeing those eyes again; that face, it belonged to her beloved companion and friend from long ago. Her jaw dropped, her mouthed parted as blood drained from her face, her equilibrium unbalanced and she felt like toppling to the table, but nonetheless she quickly rose to her feet, her hands at the tabletop. Struggling not to voice her thoughts as they clouded her mind.

Inu-Yasha...

Then time progressed normally as everything did just take a nano-second, and caught up to her. Eri broke from her drunken dizziness and looked worried at her friend who suddenly stood at her side. "Kagome-chan? What's the -*hiccup*- matter?"

Kagome saw from hearing her name that it summoned a flare in the stranger's eyes. She swallowed, grabbing her purse. "I'll see you three later---I'll tell Raya that you need a ride home," she said hastily, mentioning her Japanese-American friend that knew the girls well and often made room in her time to drive them home when intoxicated.

Before any could reply or protest, she clambered out of the picnic area and headed for the back door of the restaurant, bumping a waiter on the way. "Oof! Watch it---"

"Excuse me---sorry..."

Going through the back door to the main area of the eatery, she told the girl over the counter, "Raya Kyuden! Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi-chan need a ride home tonight. Thanks---I've got to go---" Looking quickly over her shoulder and realizing with dread that the young man had followed her, she nearly spat out her next words. "Please, Raya!" The dark-headed girl only nodded dumbly sensing something was amiss, watching as Kagome disappeared behind the front flapping doors before she could open her mouth.

Not long afterwards, a handsome, tall young man had stopped by the counter in front of her, a worried expression upon his face. "That girl," he said breathlessly as if in a hurry. "Do you know where she is going?" Raya was about to tell but looked quizzically at him instead.

"Who are you to Kagome?" She asked. He seemed to wince at the question.

"I...uh, I'm her friend," he blurted uncertainly, blushing slightly in the poorly lit room. He figured he could also ask for directions on how to get home. "Please, tell me." Raya suddenly realized dimly that she always responded to the magic word.

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Kagome watched with bleary eyes as the orange-red numbers glowed over the elevator door, marking the floors of the building. This is what I get for renting an expensive apartment, she thought glumly with a homesick sigh. Then thinking back to her experience wit the older boy's eyes with the amber-gold and yellow within them seemed to break through her reverie. Why I ran away...I could never explain. But she undoubtedly knew the reason. Among the first three years, three endless years, she had to suffer seeing Inu-Yasha in everyone and everywhere, every stranger walking by her in the street or in the distance, every boy she met.

To make up for her sadness she tried to think their similarities as though to possibly make a connection...to find someone like the Inu-Yasha she had known and lo---

The clear sound of the elevator bell startled her, the floor beneath her moved to a sudden stop. Third floor. Maybe she should've taken the stairs. At least it would occupy her troubled mind enough to get the image of the mysterious man's eyes from her memory.

The elevator doors slid apart and she walked through, turned right and followed the numbers, skipping the ice machine, and stopped again at number forty-five. Might as well take a relaxing bath while I'm here... Unlocking the door, Kagome stepped inside her apartment room.

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Ren slowed his motorcycle down right outside the Rimm apartments, the whole four floors of it. He sighed inside his helmet, wondering why in the world he was going after some girl he hardly knew. But she herself acted as though she'd seen him before...the look in her eyes when they looked into his marked as evidence, showing pure astonishment, surprise---maybe even fear.

She did something unexpected to Ren---she bolted. Another thing that blew out his sense of logic was when everything seemed to stop, even people walking by halted in mid-step; the other three girls' laughter stopped in dead giggle; the only thing that remained with life was the one young woman. "Kagome," they called her. "Higurashi," her last name. From the rest of the information he drew out in between sips of Pepsi from Raya, a friend of Kagome's, he learned where Kagome Higurashi lived, turning from twenty to twenty-one years old, a third year college student, a woman far from home---all the way from his own home country of Japan.

He figured as much; she didn't look like an original, home-borne American. However, not like any other girl he had met or been with put together, none of them sparked an interest in him that nearly made him drop from his bike right then and there and bust into the lobby doors and find out which room number it was that she dwelled. Ren knew, from somewhere between the logic and the lore of his rebellious will and determination accented by his persistent attitude...that he had to somehow get to know Kagome Higurashi better. Unknown to him, he was not the only one who heard the name whispered over the calm waters of the lake to both of their ears...the name from his past, the name linked to the Miko of the future (if you haven't guessed, it's Inu-Yasha.).

"I'll see you again, Kagome Higurashi," Ren whispered inside his helmet, his heart leaping indescribably from speaking the name on his tongue. His next words were his, however, not from Ren, but from a different but similar source entirely. "You can't run from me a second time."

*End of part one*

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