InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ It Must Be Destiny ❯ Chapter 10

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Chapter 10

(“What do you mean, she's gone?”) Kagome yelled at her son and husband.

Both males winced. (“Her possessions… are gone,”) Inusouta explained. (“And… we cannot find her.”)

(“You're both hanyou! How could you lose her scent?”)

They both shuffled uncomfortably. (“She… she had headed toward downtown. We lost her scent around there.”)

Kagome nearly growled. (“Dammit!”)

Four pairs of gold eyes went wide. It was a rare occurrence indeed for the gentle-spoken miko to swear.

Kagome pinned her son with a glare. (“What did you say to her?”)

(“I? I said nothing to her.”) Inusouta tried to look innocent.

Brown eyes narrowed. (“Inusouta,”) she said warningly.

He sighed. (“She… may have overheard… Otousan and I… talking about her. He had asked me if I loved her, and I confessed that I did not.”)

His sisters groaned in disbelief. (“Sometimes it's hard to believe he's supposed to be the smart one,”) Suki whispered to Izayoi. The older girl nodded.

He glared at them. (“What is that supposed to mean?”)

Izayoi smirked. (“We told you before. We know you're in love with her- you're just too stubborn to realize it.”)

(“I am not in love with her!” )

(“If you keep saying that, perhaps you'll be able to convince yourself that it's true.” )

Growling, Inusouta stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him. He refrained himself from using all his hanyou strength, or else he'd be paying for a new door. He jumped into the trees and started to leap from tree to tree to building, heading in any random direction.

I am notin love with her! She... is just a girl that I consider a close friend!

Sure. And you are, in reality, Ojisan Sesshoumaru's whelp.

He growled at his youkai. Do not fuck with me right now. I am in no mood.

See? You sound like him more and more all the time.

Well, I happen to be pissed! Everyone thinks I am in love with Amber-chan!

Did you ever stop to think that maybe you are?

No!

His brain paused anyway. He had bought her that little black dog with the amber eyes, hadn't he? Why would he buy her such a thing if he truly only viewed her as a temporary relationship?

Yet she had left the dog behind. His family believed her to be in love with him. If she truly felt that way, why would she leave his gift behind?

Because you're a baka who has no consideration for her feelings. She didn't want to be reminded of you.

Sorrow tugged at his chest. The thought that she was missing, somewhere in the city, with no protection, made him move faster. Without realizing it, he was tracking her, using every hanyou sense he had to try and find her.

The inu-youkai inside him howled mournfully.

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

(“Excuse me, Kohaku-chan? Could we trouble you for a glass of water?” )

Amber nodded with a bright smile. (“Of course! I'll be right back.”)

It had been a few months since she had left the Higurashi shrine. Armed with her new mastery of the Japanese language, she had applied for several jobs and had managed to procure employment at a very nice family restaurant on the complete other side of the city from where Inusouta and his family lived. She even managed to rent a cute little one-bedroom apartment nearby in a very nice neighborhood.

She really enjoyed her job, and many customers had praised her manager for hiring such a delightful and pretty young woman as a waitress. Now she had several regulars whom she knew by name and they knew and adored her as well.

She had refused to go by the name Amber Ryoushi any longer. She was a long-lost Japanese woman to these people- and that fact intrigued many people. They found her golden-brown hair and blue eyes fascinating.

Bringing the requested glass of water back to her customers, she winked at the grandfatherly gentleman. (“Is there anything else you need, Kazuo-ojiisan?”) she asked with a grin.

He gave her a huge, forlorn sigh. (“Only to be about fifty years younger, Kohaku-chan,") he replied with a grin.

She laughed. (“I'm sure your wife would like that as well.”)

Kazuo's lovely wife, Sumi, gave her a sweet smile. (“I don't know if I could handle another fifty years of being his wife,”) she told Amber with a private wink.

(“I'm sure you'd be more than happy to do it all over again, Sumi-obaasan.”)

Kazuo lifted his wife's hand, wrinkled with age but still lovely in his eyes. (“I know I would be, kanojo,”) he murmured as he kissed the weathered knuckles.

Sumi blushed. (“Stop that, you jiji. You'll embarrass our sweet Kohaku-chan.”)

Amber beamed at them both. She adored them. They both reminded her of her grandmother. (“I think he's being very sweet. You're a very lucky woman, Sumi-obaasan.”)

The elderly woman's dark brown eyes sparkled as she looked at her husband. (“Indeed I am.”)

Amber turned away, a faint tingling of longing pricking her heart. She was so happy that there were people like that in this world, willing to spend a second lifetime with their love.

Pausing at the tables of two other customers, she asked if they needed anything before taking a brief break during the lull of mid-afternoon.

She went into the back, brushing off the front of the white, ruffled apron covering the skirt of her peachy-pink uniform. The dress was really quite strange, but Amber couldn't really complain. In truth, she kinda liked the bizarre Lolita-like style.

The skirt of the dress would have fallen to just above her knees, if the full crinoline slip wasn't holding it up and out. There was so much fluffy stuff under her skirt she sometimes wondered how she was able to walk correctly. A white ruffled apron covered the front of the skirt. White socks and brown loafers completed the ensemble.

The bodice was a bit revealing as well, with puffy cap sleeves that just barely sat on her shoulders. The front of the bodice was a heart-shaped panel of white fabric, trimmed in eyelet lace, which made her already large bosom look even more generous. The peachy-pink colored fabric of the rest of the bodice wrapped around the sides and underneath her breasts, making them even more noticeable. With the top so form-fitting and the skirt so full, it really emphasized her narrow waist.

Luckily, most of her customers were sweet little old couples, like Kazuo and Sumi. Occasionally she'd get propositioned by some middle-aged hentai, but her manager, a tall, no-nonsense man that treated her like one of his daughters, put a stop to that immediately, to her great relief.

It was so strange. Sometimes, she felt like she had a family, something she had been denied for so long.

Family. When she thought of family, however, neither her grandmother nor her restaurant family came to mind. Instead, a silver-haired man and his black-haired wife and their three almost-grown children came to mind.

Inusouta-kun… His name, his handsome face, those irresistible furry ears when he was a hanyou… they were still etched in her mind as if carved there by a laser. The feel of his lips when they had pressed against hers still lingered. She could still taste him, feel him.

Her chest hurt as her heart broke a little more. No, I am not in love with her, nor am I interested in anything more than casually seeing her… His words echoed in her head as if he had spoken them only moments ago.

When will I finally forget the Higurashis? When will I forget… Inusouta-kun?

Don't worry. It will happen someday. Just keep pressing forward.

Nodding with renewed vigor, she stopped in front of the mirror in the office to check her hair. She needed to make sure her high pigtails and their peachy-pink ribbons were still neat and in place.

(“Ryoushi-chan! You've got customers!”) her manager called from the kitchen nearby.

(“Hai! I'm coming!”) With one last glance at her reflection, she put a bright smile on her face as she walked out into the dining room to greet her customers.

.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.oOo.

Inusouta smiled, the first he had allowed himself to experience in the last few months. Even with his father helping him look, it had taken them three long months to finally figure out Amber had moved to the other side of the city.

Now, he had found her. She was working at a small family diner as a waitress.

Okay, so you found her. Now what are you going to do? Kidnap her or something?

No. Just ask her why she left so suddenly.

You know perfectly why she left! You broke her heart without even saying one word to her!

He knew that, of course, but there was more he needed to know. He had to know if he had understood her words correctly. If she had meant what she said the night he had given her the stuffed dog and discovered he was a hanyou.

I love you just the way you are.

He had originally thought she meant she loved the fact that he was a hanyou- after all, she pounced on any youkai or hanyou story she had come across in the library when they had searched for information on her ancestors. His mother and his sisters- and even his grumpy father- had tried to convince him he had misunderstood her.

Maybe he had. Maybe that had been a true declaration of her feelings, that she really… loved him.

The thought pleased him more than he wanted to admit. It just felt… right… to have her around, to see her every day. Since she had left, he had been as grouchy and irritable as his father.

No one had called him “Ojisan Sesshoumaru's whelp” lately, either. Probably because he had been acting more like his father than Inuyasha himself did.

Well, now he had found her. She looked absolutely delicious in that waitress uniform, too. It accented all her curves in just the right way, making his youkai howl in delight.

Are you planning on lingering out here all day, or are you going to go inside and talk to her?

He grinned. Straightening his black leather coat, he took off his blue flame helmet and hung it on the handlebar of his motorcycle. He pulled out his black sunglasses from his jacket pocket and put them on, hiding his gold eyes. His long black hair was pulled back in the usual ponytail at the nape of his neck and he wore his favorite blue dress shirt and black jeans.

Dismounting his bike, he paused, thinking. Did he really want to intrude on her life again? He had watched her for a little bit, and it seemed as if she were really happy. Did he have any right to bother her?

Once she finishes her business here in Japan, she'll be heading back home, to the States. Do you really want her to disappear halfway around the world without knowing how she really feels about you?

No. I have to know. Then… then I will leave her alone. She can go wherever she wants. I will not care.

His youkai snorted wryly. As if I believe that.

Nodding once to himself, as if convincing himself of his thoughts, he walked across the parking lot to the entrance of the diner and resolutely walked inside.