InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Last Lifeline ❯ A Really Bad Day ( Chapter 3 )

Kanaye: heys! I have nothing to do right now so for your enjoyment, I will write the next chapter even though it is *looks at clock* 12:04 am. J/K I am gonna write it because I want to not because I am bored. Ok well I am just wasting time. Here is the next chapter!

Chapter 2: A Really Bad Day

Kagome Higurashi (A/N: spelling?) stepped out of the shower, releasing a wave of steam throughout the small bathroom. She grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall and wrapped it around herself before the chill of the outside air reached her bare flesh. She carefully toed around the shreds of glass on the floor, due to her emotional outburst. Her feet relaxed when they reached the bedroom carpet and she walked to her closet. She dropped her towel on the ground and let the cold surround her soft curves, making the few drops left on her body seem a lot colder than they actually were. She chose casual, form-fitting jeans and an off the shoulder, black, ¾ sleeve shirt that clung to her in all the right places. Slipping on strapped, black work heels always seemed to make her look a little more professional- or at least she thought so. She left her towel on the ground and walked back into the bathroom to clean up her mess. She grabbed a hand held vacuum from under the sink and easily cleaned up the mess. The mirror was obviously ruined, so she took it down and threw it in the trash. With that, she blow dried her hair and applied her makeup using her purse mirror. Feeling rather stupid, she suddenly remembered that she had a full length mirror stowed away in her closet. She pulled it out and set it up against a wall to see if she approved of her outfit. She was a very beautiful woman. She had soft curves, but a lean figure. Her eyes were stunning and her long, raven hair shone even without sunlight. If you were to see this woman walk down the street you would see confidence and self-fulfillment; just an act. Kagome Higurashi may have appeared to be happy, but she wasn't. She worked at a mediocre paper trying to build itself up in a big city. She didn't have much of a social life. She had a small 1 bedroom apartment that she was close to losing, and she only had in the first place because of her mother's life insurance. After her mother passed on she didn't bother with college. She forgot all about her dreams of becoming successful and happy. She could barely remember some of the things she had fantasized of becoming, but there was one dream that she just couldn't let go of. She wanted to open a real restaurant and start a family business. A part of her still kept saying that she should go for it, but the other part was doing everything in its power to prevent it. What if she failed? What if she didn't have a family to pass it onto? What if no one liked it? How was she going to get a degree in the Culinary Arts? No, she subconsciously had decided to give up. What was the point? There was no one to make proud but herself, and she wasn't worth it. Kagome sighed heavily and picked up her purse and keys before getting her black coat and heading out the door. She locked her door apartment 313 and walked down the hall quietly. She took the empty elevator down and walked out of the aged front doors. As she was walking down the sidewalk to her car, she dropped her keys into a shallow gutter.

"Oh great, just what I need." She said. She bent down to see how far down the gutter went when she heard a whistle.

"Nice, that's real nice, just bend over a little slower." Kagome snapped up instantly to see a large and slovenly man wearing a perverted grin on his face. Kagome turned the other direction and tried to ignore him. She kneeled over the gutter and stuck her hand down. Her shirt got a little trashed, but this man was not making her feel comfortable and she didn't want anyone else to get her car and apartment keys. Her head was pressed on the ground and her hand was searching desperately when she heard his footsteps coming closer.

"Come on baby, I don't bite ya' know." He laughed at himself. Her hands finally closed in on the keys and she lifted her arm out of the gutter and stood up to see the man closing in on her like a hawk. She turned away and quickened her pace. She could feel him following her. She walked faster, he walked faster, then she broke into a run and reached her car. Throwing open the door she scrambled in and hit the gas pedal hard. With that screech of her tires, she left the creepy man on the street corner alone.

Shaking off the shivers that had overtaken her, she decided to drive to one of her favorite breakfast spots. It was little out of her way, but it was worth it. She turned on her radio to break the silence that was overtaking her, but was disappointed to find that all she could get was fuzz. She tried to clear her mind and in about 25 minutes she was approaching the little diner.

"This just isn't my day." She said to herself. The windows were boarded up and there was a sign stating that the place was for sale. "How could that place go out of business?" She rubbed her head in frustration, she could feel the beginnings of headache coming on. She drove around until she found a Mc Donald's. As the smell of the greasy fried food reached her nose, she realized how hungry she really was. She walked up to the counter.

'Thank god they open early.' She thought.

"I'll take a coffee, an egg mcmuffin with cheese, and hash browns please." The young man at the counter punched in the order on the register.

"That'll be $4.57," he said and then proceeded to look up at Kagome's face, "$4.56 if you go out with me." Kagome rolled her eyes and put down the $4.57. "Have it your way." He stated. 'Retard, that was the lamest pick-up line I have ever heard, and I have heard some pretty bad ones.' She thought. He handed her the order in a brown paper bag. "If you change your mind, I'm here until 9:00." He smoothed back his hair and made a clicking sound with his teeth. Kagome snatched her order and took refuge from male hormones in her car. She naturally got caught in traffic and she jolted to such an abrupt stop that she spilled her coffee on the seat. "Shit." She muttered under her breath. She finally arrived at her office with a headache, coffee stained pants, gutter scum arm, and a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Just when she had sat down in her cubicle she heard the scratchy, monotonous voice of her boss's secretary.

"Will all employees report to the meeting room. Repeat, will all employees report to the meeting room. Thank you." Kagome moaned and regretted wearing the heels that day. She walked into the meeting room and took a seat with her fellow employees. Her boss walked in, a middle aged man who seemed a lot older than he really was.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news." He said. The room quieted unusually fast. He continued in a solemn voice. "I wont make you wait to hear it so I will just come out with it. The paper is being shut down." The room erupted into protest, but he settled them down with a hand gesture. "I'm sorry, but it is out of my hands. You will all have one week to move your belongings out. I'd like to thank you for your hard work and dedication. Good luck out there, it's a tough world." With that he walked out of the room and people reluctantly said their goodbyes. Some people seemed determined to keep it going, but most just excepted the truth that the paper wasn't successful enough to keep going. Some of her companions asked her to join them that night for a farewell dinner, but she reclined the offer saying that she had already made plans. Kagome walked slowly, almost invisibly to her cubicle and picked up her purse. She didn't have any pictures or belongings at her office so she walked out the door without looking back. She couldn't say she didn't see it coming, but she was still stunned. What was she going to do without a job? How could this happen? This was just too much for her. She decided to go home and binge on ice cream and watch movies. She drove for about 10 minutes when all the sudden she smelled something burning. She looked to the hood of the car and saw thick smoke rising from underneath its paper thin metal cover. She pulled it over to the side of the road and ran out, just before the hood burst on fire.

"What is going on today?" Kagome asked herself. She was pretty shaken from the days events. She took out her cell phone and called a pick-up service to get her car and she started her walk home. It was already crowded on the busy streets and she was trying her best to make it out of the wave of people that were pushing and shoving their way around her.

"Well, well, well, what've we got here?" cracked an all too familiar voice. Kagome turned to see the same man that had creeped her out that morning. She tried to walk away but the crowd threw her to the wall and the man came upon her.

"Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?" He put her arms up to the wall and stroked his cheek against hers. "You smell good yah know that."

"Get…OFF!!" She struggled against him and tried to scream for help but the crowd was too thick for her to be heard. Or least she thought. He took a knife out of his pocket and slid the cold and lethal looking weapon on her cheek.

"Now if you behave like a good little girl I wont have to kill you, bu…" He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Kagome felt herself be released and she let the tears roll down her eyes as she slid to the ground. She felt like the little girl in the hospital again. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she shivered thinking it was another person come to threaten her. But it did nothing more than stay on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she looked up to find the most amazing pair of gold eyes she had ever seen. He reached a hand out to her. She didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust him. She took his hand and he helped her to her feet.

"How… what…. Why…" stammered Kagome.

"I saw him following you for a while and when he came in I punched him out." He replied. His voice was strong and comforting, but had just a hint of arrogance hidden beneath.

"Wait so you were FOLLOWING ME?" Kagome said, suddenly recovering from her fragile state.

He looked taken aback. "I JUST SAVED YOUR LIFE AND ALL YOU CAN DO IS ACCUSE ME OF FOLLOWING YOU?"

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU WERE SAVING ME? I COULD HAVE HANDLED IT ON MY OWN."

He glared at her. "Ok so maybe I could've used some help." He cocked an eyebrow. "Ok a lot of help." He still didn't look satisfied. "Ok look, thank you okay?"

"You certainly recovered quickly." He said. Kagome didn't know what it was, but it was like suddenly her entire personality changed around him. She went from depressed and helpless to independent and argumentative.

"Well when you've been through what I've been through you tend to get over things quickly." Kagome then just realized she was arguing with a complete stranger who had just saved her life. "What's your name by the way?"

"I thought you would never ask."

"So what is it?"

"You tell me yours first."

"Fine. It's Kagome Higurashi."

"Inuyasha. Just Inuyasha."

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Kanaye: hmmm…. I don't really like this chapter, but if you like it review it so I can know to continue. Thanks!