"For the love of God, somebody get this bitch a notepad!" Inuyasha slammed his fist on the kitchen counter with enough force from his not-so-bottled up frustration that the mug sitting at the base of the brewing Keurig machine wobbled slightly, the dark roast liquid nearly spilling out. For not the first time this week, neatly-scrawled handwriting had appeared on Inuyasha's left hand, this time as a shopping list. There were even scribbled-in bullet points for added effect.

makeup remover mascara almond milk highlighters

The handwriting was definitely a new thing in Inuyasha's life. In fact, the first time it had happened was a little over a week ago during class when he noticed a flower scrawled in purple ink in between his forefinger and thumb. Later that same day, 9:30 PM appeared on his palm and had him paranoid for the rest of the night. What was that even about? It was ominous as fuck.

He figured out the vandal was female about four days ago when buy tampons showed up in the middle of his hand, and he didn't feel the least bit sorry when he rubbed his right thumb vigorously along his palm to erase the words, hoping this weird ass writing thing worked just as well in reverse.

Since Monday, the notes had been showing up more frequently and Inuyasha has subsequently learned more from her history class than from any other history class he had ever taken in his life. He figured she had a test coming up, hence the sloppy, splotchy, what could only be last minute notes. It was midterm season, after all. That being said, history wasn't his major and he couldn't give a flying rats ass what took place during feudal era Japan, so he washed his hands three times for good measure- and also because the bitch used what he could only guess was a sharpie pen.

"Tch. Someone's too good for normal milk, huh?" He chided, grabbing the filled mug of coffee and taking a big chug of the hot, bitter liquid. He set the cup down and walked over to his opened backpack on the kitchen table, grabbing the pen from inside the smaller pocket. "Alright, princess."

"But what did I need paper for?" Kagome muttered as she studied her palm after throwing a pack of multi-colored highlighters into her basket. She clearly didn't remember writing it, and it definitely wasn't necessary considering she'd stocked up on notebooks and sticky notes before the semester had even begun. The handwriting looked nothing like the print above it, but how did that make sense? It was highly unlikely that someone could manage to write on her own hand without her knowing. The mere thought was stupid enough to make Kagome roll her brown eyes. That being said, she still had three empty notebooks sitting off to the side of her desk just waiting to be used, so there was no point in buying more stationary. She was in a hurry while leaving the apartment, and she probably just didn't finish writing what it was that she needed. Which made sense since it wouldn't have been the first time that happened.

Maybe toilet paper? No, Sango had just bought some last week. Paper towels? That would make more sense since they were down to only a roll or two.

Okay. Paper towels it was.

"Inuyasha? Hello? Hellooooooo? Earth to Inuyasha!"

"I'm studying." He said flatly not removing his eyes from the textbook in front of him, his pointed ears twitching with each snap his friend's fingers made in an attempt to get his attention.

"Yeah, but can't you just answer my question?"

"What question?"

"Which shirt!?" Miroku whined, holding out two button-ups by their hangers.

"If I look up and one of the shirts in your hands has hula girls on it, I'm going to punch you."

"Yikes. Purple it is." Miroku flinched, hiding the shirt plastered with dancing hula girls behind his back. Inuyasha sighed and looked at his best friend, cocking an eyebrow in his direction.

"Why are you so nervous? You've been seeing this girl for a month already. Haven't you already gotten her in the sack too?"

"Yes, and it was a fantastic night!" Miroku grinned, perking up as he relished in the memory.

"Spare me the details," Inuyasha groaned, rolling his golden eyes and propping his cheek up with his hand. "So what's so different about tonight?"

"Ah, what a wonderful question, my emotionally impaired friend!"

"Emotionally impaired?"

"You know that old saying about soulmates?"

"Oh no..."

"The one about communicating through hands?"

"Never heard of it."

"Can't say I'm surprised." Miroku smirked, pulling off his t-shirt and shoving his arms through the sleeves of his purple button up. "All I know about it is they say when your soulmate is about to walk into your life, fate gives you a good and solid tug in their direction."

"What?!" Inuyasha grimaced, furrowing his eyebrows in absolute bewilderment.

"I don't know! It's farfetched, that's for sure, but it's true!" Miroku started, rubbing the sides of his temples. "Your hands become, like, this beacon home. It's kind of like the red string of fate that's attached to your pinky transfers over your soulmate's vibrations, but also comes with a few physical implications- for example, paper cuts and questionable love notes. It tickles. It's annoying. It's inconvenient as all hell. It makes it damn near impossible to concentrate when you're trying to do the do, believe me, but, hey, at least you get this cool little instant messenger feature. The fates really got with the times and updated their app. The interesting part is, if this hasn't already sold you, it'll all stop when you've met your person and touch palm-to-palm. According to legend, and apparently Sango's roommate, you're supposed to feel this sense of… peace, I guess."

"Absolutely none of that is physically possible, but okay. What are you getting at with all of this?" Inuyasha asked, shutting his textbook and leaning back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, Sango and I... Geez, this is crazy!" His friend fidgeted with his buttons, fumbling as he tried to get them through the right holes. In all of the years Inuyasha had known Miroku, he'd never once seen him this flustered. Miroku, the ladies' man. Miroku, the captain of one-night stands. Miroku, known for turning the walk-of-shame into the walk-of-game. He was a sweating, mumbling, nervous wreck. "Okay, so I'm over at her apartment for a study date the other night and-" Inuyasha omitted a loud groan, tossing his head back in annoyance.

"No, no! We were actually studying this time, I swear. Anyway, she kept tapping the led part of her pencil against her pinky. Now, at this point I didn't even consider the whole soulmate mumbo jumbo, but I felt this tingly sensation in my finger, as well as the rest of my hand, but it was super strong in my finger. The same finger she was poking! So I itched it. She kept doing it, and I itched my finger some more. Then I guess it just sort of clicked. When I looked over at her to say something she had this strange look, and then she jabbed the fucking pencil into her pinky like a wild maniac, as if to test the silent theory we had going!" He shouted, shoving his bandaged little finger into Inuyasha's face. He flinched backward, nearly toppling over in his chair.

"Can't you get lead poisoning from something like that?"

"Not. The. Point." Miroku firmly stated, clapping between each word. "This soulmate stuff is real! We effectively freaked out, more so from the gushing blood on my end, and her roommate ran in and started laughing after Sango told her what had happened. Evidently, this is well-known information in her world. Truth be told, I'm pretty sure she was laughing at my pain. But, LOOK- I'd heard the stories before, but holy crap, Inuyasha! You never imagine it'd ever happen to you! And now, here I am. Dating a girl that I'm apparently supposed to spend the rest of my life with and I can't even remember her cat's name."

"Miroku-"

"I know you're about to give me some smart-ass remark about the cat thing, dick head, but her cat is very important to her!"

"Okay, geez! Calm down. This really has you fucked up, doesn't it?" Inuyasha asked, cocking an eyebrow in his best friend's direction.

"If you found out your romantic destiny through a pencil wound, wouldn't you be?" He asked, grimacing down at his bandaged finger.

Inuyasha clenched his left hand shut, resisting the temptation to piece the occasional tingling sensation that came with cursive handwriting and history lessons to Miroku's fairytale. He fought the sudden urge to glance down at his palm to see if anything new had appeared, wondering if it was all true; if he actually had some sort of otherworldly connection with another being.

"So, what's the plan tonight?" The half demon slowly asked, trying to keep his thoughts from his own problems.

"Well, we're going on a date. An actual date. I guess we're gonna get serious." Miroku shrugged, looking at his reflection in the large television screen that was secured to the wall and adjusting his collar.

"And did you get that peaceful feeling that you were supposed to get when you touched hands or something? Because you don't look very calm, Miroku."

"Oh, well funny story… we haven't actually held hands."

"Wait, you've gone on how many dates with the girl and you haven't held hands? That's like first base!"

"Inuyasha, you virgin, no one talks about bases anymore! And I'm more for the casual arm-over-shoulder move."

"First of all, yeah, very casual. It's so casual to sweat through a shirt you put on thirty seconds ago." Inuyasha pointed to the sweat marks pooling at Miroku's armpits.

"Son of a-" Miroku quickly unbuttoned the purple top and shrugged out of it to replace it with the hula dancers.

"Second of all, rude. Not a virgin. Have fun holding hands, Mr. Casual!" Inuyasha laughed, reopening his textbook and searching for where he left off.

"Have fun masturbating to the memory of the one woman you've ever slept with, douche canoe!" Miroku fired back as he stumbled out the door, jingling his keys that had far too many keychains attached.

He wanted to say it was bullshit. That any sort of soulmate junk was a thing of fanfiction written by a lonely girl who obsessed over anime characters' love lives, and probably interacted with one boy in her entire, pathetic life. But that didn't explain the annoying writing that had appeared on his left palm multiple times throughout the past nine days. Just because he didn't know the answer, though, didn't mean Inuyasha was willing to accept that he suddenly had a soulmate on the other side of this voodoo.

Wait a second... holy shit.

It clicked. The epiphany hit him so hard, he nearly choked on the spoonful of late-night cereal he'd just shoved in his mouth. He may not believe in soulmates, but he definitely believed in voodoo. He'd had the sincere displeasure of seeing that crap firsthand once, and it scared the absolute shit out of him. And who did he know that was into all that black magic, tarot card reading, future telling, soul-sucking crap? His one and only goth ex-girlfriend.

They didn't exactly end on good terms, either. They were known for their messy fights and half assed makeups, but the biggest reason for their inevitable split lied in her knack for manipulation. He didn't know if she was legitimately talented in the art or if he was just a massive pushover, but she could practically get Inuyasha to do anything he didn't want to do. No matter what she got from him, though, she never seemed satisfied, and when she asked him to ditch his demon side and go full human, courtesy of her witchcraft or some similarly freaky shit, he called it quits.

And Kikyo did not like that.

In his defense, it sounded painful as all hell to have a part of him removed forever. She described it as extracting a fingernail. An entire fingernail. Yanked off. Gone forever. The whole thing. Except, you know, this was a part of his entire identity... So, worse?

Yeah, no thanks.

Inuyasha gazed down at his clean palm cautiously, waiting for it to turn black and fall off now that he'd discovered the truth. What was her goal in all of this? To get him to think they were "meant to be" and have him running back into her arms? He wouldn't put the motive past her. Having dated her for a year and a half, he saw some peculiar sides to the woman, including her vendetta towards all mankind that so much as looked at her wrong.

He groaned, snatching his phone from the corner of the wooden desk he sat at and unlocked it with the pad of his thumb. He clicked on his messages and scrolled through until he saw her name along with the preview of the last unanswered message she'd sent him three months ago. Stop being stupid, Inu Baby. He hesitated a moment, sitting on the sick feeling that had crept to the back of his throat, because goddamn, he'd always hated that nickname.

Was he really about to open this door back up? Hell fucking yes, he was. She started this shit.

We need to talk.

It took about forty-five seconds to receive a response from her.

About?

Jesus, why did she use eight million question marks?

Meet me at the coffee house tomorrow?

I love a good mystery. Can't wait. I have class until 3 so I'll meet you at 3:30?

K

He hadn't seen her since breaking up, so he definitely wasn't looking forward to the encounter. When he said they didn't end on good terms, he wasn't kidding. She threw shit, he yelled shit, she started crying and then threw some more shit, and he's pretty sure she placed a hex on him because on his walk home, he tripped and fell face first into a literal pile of shit.

Which also may have been a mere coincidence, but he was more than okay with blaming her.

The loud and continuous vibration of his phone tore Inuyasha from his thoughts. He shoved another spoon of cereal in his mouth before peering at the screen and swiping right to answer, putting it on speaker phone.

"You better be calling to apologize." He teased, trying not to chew too loudly into the receiver.

"Oh. Well, I guess I could start with an apology." A girl's voice started, teasing him right back.

"Um... Miroku?" Inuyasha checked the screen of his phone again, seeing his best friend's name in small, white letters across the top.

"Not quite." She giggled. Why did he like the sounds of it? "I'm Sango's roommate. I'm going to guess you know who Sango is?"

"Romantic destiny? I've heard of her."

"Exactly! Well, Miroku is clearly handling it all very well. So well, in fact, that he's not at all hammered on the floor in our living room at the moment." She chimed, gasping as Miroku's obnoxious voice came belting into Inuyasha's sensitive ears, the rustling sound making it clear that he'd snatched the phone away from the girl.

"Dude. Bro. I love you, man. If soulmates for best buddies existed, you'd be mine. Best friends for life and all that shit, bro."

"Mirokuuuuuu!" Another girl whined in the background. "Come eat this popcorn with me and leave Kagoooome alooooooooone!"

"So, about that apology... Is now a good time to give it to you or should I save it for when you come pick him up?" The girl's voice asked, the hint of embarrassment in her tone.

"You said he was on the floor."

"No, I said he was not on the floor." She giggled again. There was a faint fluttering in his chest at the sound.

"But he is hammered?" Inuyasha asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. For sure."

"Save it for when I get there."

"Will do. I'll text you the address, kay?"

He grunted a sound of affirmation and hung up, looking down at the phone in his hand. He knew he should have felt annoyed at having to go out in the middle of the night and pick up the mess that was his best friend, and normally he would be. Instead, he felt abnormally anxious to go get him. Almost as if he was looking forward to it.

The text with the address came in and Inuyasha swiveled around in his chair to snag the jeans he'd carelessly thrown on the floor earlier, pushing his legs through and fastening them at his toned waist. He grabbed the red pullover hoody from the hook attached to the back of his bedroom door and pulled it over his bare chest, knowing the late October air would be chilly but manageable with what he had on.

"Please tell me you didn't walk here?" Kagome asked, leaning against the door frame. She casually looked the man standing in the hallway of her apartment building up and down, the palms of her hands suddenly becoming sweaty as she noted his entirely too-handsome face and broad physique. She watched him smirk and raise an eyebrow as he rubbed his hands along the sides of his pants.

"I walked." He nodded.

"It's freezing outside!" She opened the door wider so that he could come in, the passing scent of him causing a tingling sensation to grow in her stomach. She rubbed her own hands on her shorts to wipe off any evidence of the moisture that always built up when she was nervous and shut the door behind him. "You're Inuyasha, right?"

"Yeah. And you're Kagoooooome?" He teased, giving another smirk in her direction. Holy crap, who was this guy?

"Only on their date nights. On an average night, I'm Kagome." She gave an awkward laugh, instantly hating herself for how annoying it sounded, the tickling rising from her stomach to her lungs.

"I figured I'd walk here and drive Miroku's car back. Speaking of which, where is he?"

"The living room." Kagome pointed, looking him over once more as he turned and walked away, his long, silver hair falling over his red sweater and landing at his waist. His slightly baggy jeans a faded blue with a rip in the right knee that she couldn't quite tell was part of the design or something he'd accidentally done himself. His toned build was evident even through the baggy clothes, and she bit her lip to resist audibly wow-ing, following him in.

"Inuyasha! Look, Sango, Inuyasha's here!" Miroku jumped up from his seat on the couch, the bowl of popcorn in his lap spilling to the floor. Inuyasha rolled his golden eyes, watching as his roommate stumbled around, noticeably debating between running over to Inuyasha or cleaning up his mess. The girl on the couch, no doubt Sango, doubled over with a high-pitched laugh.

He looked over to Kagome who leaned against the wall, her arms hugged across her chest as she bit back a laugh. She wore a loose tee with some band's logo across the front with green, plaid pajama shorts, her long, pale legs catching his attention for a little too long.

"So, tell me why it's you that's apologizing for this." He crossed his own arms over his chest, fidgeting slightly as an unsettling sensation rose from his chest and down his arms.

"Well, I didn't pay too much attention to how drunk they were when they got back from their date, so I didn't think to stop them from drinking more. They took a few shots and almost finished a twelve pack in the last hour and a half." Kagome replied bashfully, shrugging her shoulders and biting her plump, bottom lip. "Would you like it now?"

"Now's good." Inuyasha nodded as Miroku stumbled closer to him with the normal, goofy grin he wore when he was wasted.

"Inuyasha, I am so incredibly sorry!"

He gripped his hands into a fist, the sensation dive bombing into his already-sweaty palms as she said his name. Jesus Christ, what was this girl doing to him?

"Another reason I didn't bring my car: if he pukes, it's his interior he's wrecking. And hopefully that shirt." Inuyasha gestured towards the button up Miroku donned, trying to keep his mind off of anything foreign and nerve-wracking his body felt right now while holding his arm out to grip Miroku's shoulder, simultaneously holding him up and keeping him at arms-length distance. Kagome giggled, running her fingers through her hair to push the long, ebony strands from her fair face.

"Again, I'm really sorry. It wouldn't have been a problem if he stayed the night, but I'm 99% positive they'll both throw up everything in a few hours, and it's hard enough to stay up and hold one head of hair back when you have a test first thing in the morning, let alone two."

Inuyasha tried not to glance over at Kagome, his peripherals picking up enough of her as it was. She was standing with her hands clasped in front of her, her cheeks a slight pink, and her big, brown eyes aimed directly at him. He could hardly pin the blame on her, but he knew he'd never get the apology he deserved from the wobbling drunk in front of him. He focused his amber gaze on the girl on the opposite side of the couch, playing with the popcorn that had spilt on the carpet, making two pieces hop closer to one another while making obnoxious kissing noises.

"Uh… Are you sure it's only alcohol in their system?" Inuyasha asked, side glancing Kagome.

"Yeah." She replied, drawing out the word. "Sango's just a lightweight, I promise. This is normal."

"Normal? Maybe I should be the one apologizing to you."

"I'd appreciate it."

"I'm so sorry, Kagooome." Inuyasha finally looked directly at the girl, drinking in the sight as she grinned his way. She was biting her bottom lip again, rubbing her hands in front of her waist and shrugging in response. His palms prickled, and he resisted the urge to rub them along the sides of his pants since he was currently the only thing standing between Miroku and gravity.

What the hell was it with his hands nowadays? He'd never been good around attractive women, to be frank, but he was never a nervous wreck either. Sweaty, itchy palms weren't his thing. Basic discomfort and avoiding eye contact were! Inuyasha quickly glanced over at his left hand, wondering if the tingling mess that was beginning to really irritate him didn't happen to be Kikyo writing more messages to fuck with his head. Blank. Nothing. Unless the sweat had done him the solid favor of wiping the slate clean.

Miroku started to fidget his way closer to Inuyasha, wrapping his arms around his neck and snuggling onto his shoulder.

"Crap. Don't you dare fall asleep, Miroku! We've gotta get you to the car!" Inuyasha struggled to stand Miroku up to hold his own weight, his drunken friend smiling stupidly and swaying on his feet. "Any idea where his keys are?"

"My soulmate has them!" Miroku said all too happily, pointing behind him to Sango.

"Sango, honey. Can we have Miroku's car keys? He has to get going now." Kagome moved from her spot against the wall and crouched down next to her roommate. Sango hesitated a moment, a child-like pout forming on her face. "He'll come back to see you. He just has to go home for now. See, his nice friend came to get him."

"Okay, fiiiiine." Sango whined, the pout getting deeper as she crawled over to her purse on the opposite side of the living room to fish out the keys. Inuyasha quickly looked up towards the ceiling, heat pooling in his cheeks as he avoided the sight of his best friend's girlfriend's short dress ride up along her ass.

The sound of jingling metal a few inches from his ear caught his attention, his amber eyes meeting deep brown as Kagome jingled them once more and smiled. "Here you are! Oh!" She walked away, disappearing around a wall for a small moment, and came back out with a phone in her hand. "Miroku's phone. I had to hide it from him at one point. He said all he wanted to do was call you nine times to express just how much he loved and hated you."

"… You're kidding." Inuyasha grimaced, shifting his so-called friend's arm over his shoulder so he could steady his balance.

"If I were, I wouldn't have just gotten his phone from the kitchen cupboard where I hid it."

"I owe you one."

"We'll call it even." She flashed him another smile, his stomach twisting into a painful knot at the obnoxiously cute sight.

Kagome followed Inuyasha outside, pressing the unlock button twice on the bulky key in her hands as they approached Miroku's car, and opened the passenger side door. She watched him get his friend situated and buckled into the front seat, and groan as the overly affectionate drunk ran his fingers through Inuyasha's hair mumbling something about how soft it was. She hid her laugh behind her hand, trying not to make the situation worse for the half demon in front of her.

He slammed the door shut and let out an annoyed sigh, holding out his hand for the car keys.

"So they really took this soulmate thing well, didn't they?" Inuyasha asked as Kagome dropped the keys into his open palm.

"Worse than some." She replied, backing up a little so that she stood out of his way.

"You don't actually believe in this shit though, right?"

"What?"

"I mean, isn't it just a little too convenient that they find out their soulmates after they'd already been dating? Not to mention, the fact that there's supposedly one person in this world you're meant to be with and fate has already chosen them out for you or something stupid like that?" He huffed, waving his hands dismissively.

Kagome felt a sudden heat bubbling in her stomach, standing up straighter and adjusting her shoulders back in automatic defense. "Actually, I do."

"You do, what?"

"Believe in this soulmate shit or something stupid like that." She mocked. Kagome watched his dark brows furrow closer together in slight agitation, his red sleeves crossing over his chest as he leaned more weight on one leg than the other.

"Oh yeah?" He challenged. "Name one couple you've met that are soulmates other than Miroku and Romantic Destiny."

"My parents." She responded firmly, crossing her own arms as if to match his demeanor. He was silent for a moment, before rolling his eyes and turning back to walk towards the driver's side.

"You're a walking cliché, you know that?"

"Excuse me?"

"Everyone thinks their parents are soulmates. I meant someone you've seen this shit happen to."

"It's a rare thing, Inuyasha!"

"Probably because it isn't real!"

"Geez, you are so irritating! Not everyone gets to meet their soulmate because sometimes they're on the other side of the globe! This kind of stuff only happens when you're about to mee- Hey! Are you even listening?"

"Nope!" Inuyasha shut his door, turning on the car and rolling down his window. "You should get inside. You're in shorts and Romantic Destiny could be puking up the popcorn that had sex."

"Her name is SANGO!" Kagome shouted, frustrated beyond belief that someone who came off as so charming not even ten minutes ago could suddenly appear so rude.

"Later, Kagoooooome!" He shouted, pulling out of the parking spot and slowly driving away.

"IT'S KAGOME!"

Inuyasha leaned back in the seat of his car, scrolling through the social media app he never used. He was already more than ten minutes late for their meet up, and he relished in the idea of Kikyo seething in irritation as each second passed.

His motive was simple, really. She hated when he was late. He loved to piss her off.

When the clock struck 3:47 and he'd grown bored of the pointless pictures and song quote captions, he locked his phone and stepped out of his car, eyeing the small coffee shop he'd parked down the street from. He swallowed the unsettling lump that built in his throat, resisting the fight or flight response that flared in his brain at the thought of seeing his ex-girlfriend just beyond those walls.

He was just going to have to get this over with. Like a band-aid, right? Yeah, just rip this shit off like an overly-adhesive, medical-grade band-aid.

He chirped the alarm of his car as he walked toward the coffee house, slipping his phone, keys, and hands into the front pockets of his faded jeans. The afternoon air was chilly, the sky cloudy and gloomy, and he'd neglected to bring a jacket since he was stuck in classes all morning which were typically heated a little too well with all the bodies accumulated in the classroom.

Entering the shop, he looked to the semi-busy seating area of the place and spotted her long, black hair immediately. She sat at her usual, small table against the abstract wall. The painting was gaudy at best, and it always bothered his eyes to look at. He nodded to the barista, giving a small wave to indicate he wouldn't be staying long so no coffee was needed, and begrudgingly headed towards the girl. She was in her normal attire: black on top of black on top of black. Combat boots, tight jeans, low cut shirt, and a loose, knitted cardigan to top it all off. As he neared, he noticed the choker he'd bought for her birthday last year with her initials engraved on the heart that sat in between the curves of her collarbones.

"Knock it off." Inuyasha's voice was low so as not to attract the attention of onlookers as he aggressively pulled the empty chair away from the small, circular table Kikyo sat at, plopping himself into the open chair and crossing his arms over his chest. If she was surprised, which he highly doubted, she didn't show it. Her black-lined, dark eyes gazed across at him, her thin fingers wrapped around the medium-sized cup in front of her. He could smell the overwhelming ginger and honey from her tea seeping from the small opening in the top.

"Knock what off?" She asked innocently, cocking a thin eyebrow at him and smirking.

"Don't play dumb. I've figured it all out, Kikyo. I know it's you, so knock it off." He barked, resisting the urge to slide his chair further away from her.

"Did you just ask me here to accuse me of something, or did you actually want to talk?" Kikyo questioned, her annoyance becoming a little more evident as she took a quick sip of her tea and sat up straighter.

"The former. There's been weird shit showing up on my hand and I can't help but suspect you given your history with… weird shit."

Kikyo rolled her eyes, tapping her red-painted fingernail against the sleeve of the disposable cup. "I haven't done anything to you, let alone to your hands. Why would I only target your hands of all things?"

"I don't know. Maybe to trick me into thinking we're soulmates so I'd come running back to you?"

Kikyo laughed, shaking her head in amusement while her eyes never left Inuyasha's. He couldn't help but feel both concerned and confused. Either he was right on the money or so wrong it was humorous, which was never actually all that funny to him.

"Since when do you believe in soulmates, Inu baby?"

"I-I don't." He was caught off guard. The last thing he'd expected was for her to laugh at him, mostly because humor wasn't her thing.

"I'm innocent. If I were to do something to mess with your head, you think I'd do something as simple as that?"

Okay, valid point.

"T-then… what would you do?" He regretted asking it the second the words slipped from his mouth.

"I don't know, Inuyasha. You broke my heart, so if I were to go through all this trouble I'd probably put something like boils all over that pretty face of yours. Maybe even make you experience the chicken pox since your demon side gives you an unfair immunity."

"I'm half human, Kikyo, I've had the chicken pox."

"Better yet, I'd make you have a year's worth of bad dates just for dumping me the way you did. It's only fair." Kikyo mentioned in her typical, casual, pleasant tone, as if what she'd just said was completely normal.

Inuyasha felt his body begin to rise on its own as he rolled his golden eyes and grunted something short of a growl. His feet had been itching to leave since the moment he'd shown up, and he wasn't about to sit there and be treated as if he were the bad guy for defending himself. He really did care for Kikyo before. He wouldn't go so far as to say he'd fallen in love or anything, but when you date someone you constantly disagree with for a year and a half, you can't deny there were strong feelings keeping them together. But by the time he'd called it quits, he'd taken over the reasonable amount of crap anyone should have to take in a relationship and it wasn't right that she claimed to be the victim of it.

A tingling sensation on his left palm caused him to stop as he was sliding the empty chair towards the table to close the gap he once filled. He looked down and watched as history test-8am-blue building wrote itself out along his flesh in purple ink, then glanced back up to the woman sipping her overly-pungent tea.

"You mean to tell me this shit isn't your doing?" Inuyasha demanded, shoving his hand closer to her so that she could take a look at the neatly-scrawled words that had just appeared. Kikyo's face was unreadable at first, her lips forming a flat line as she cocked her head slightly to read the note he was showing her. Then her eyebrows furrowed together as she shot him an accusing glare, her fingers gripping so hard against the paper cup she'd been holding the whole time that the sides dented slightly.

"Why are you showing me this?" She asked, sounding more than offended.

"Kikyo, I kno-"

"It isn't me!" She loudly declared, gathering the attention of nearby college students that sat at similarly-sized tables with their laptops open. She let go of the cup and stretched out her open palms, showing him her clean, pale skin. "Don't you get that by now, Inuyasha?"

He stood there, his amber eyes and heavy gaze shifting back and forth from her hands to his own. She was sitting right in front of him the whole time, there was absolutely no way she could have been working on some sort of spell to make the writing appear. What if it was the lingering effect of one, though? But if she wanted to make it seem as if they were soulmates, wouldn't the same notes be written on her own palm?

Kikyo huffed incredulously, grabbing her messenger bag from the side of her chair and standing up, hooking the strap over her shoulder and snatching her tea as she began to walk away.

"Wai- Where are you going?" Inuyasha called after her.

She turned around sharply, her dark eyes stabbing him. "I came here because you asked me to; because I thought you wanted to talk. Instead, it looks like you just want to rub it in my face that you have a soulmate and it isn't me."

"Soulmates don't exist!" He fired back, the entire coffee shop now watching the scene on display.

"Oh my god, you're such an idiot! You always try to find a logical explanation for things. No, better yet, you always try to pin the blame on someone when you don't understand something. But you can't this time, Inu. Face it, this is as real as it gets. It's literally written on your hand for you to see. I shouldn't have to be the one to tell you that." She shook her head, her straight, black bangs hardly hiding her hurt expression.

Kikyo's book bag nearly whipped a boy that sat in the middle of the coffee shop as she did an about face and marched off. They continued to stare, some towards the entrance as the door swung shut behind her, but most at him for being the asshole that caused a girl to storm out.

This was crazy. Kikyo was making sense and Inuyasha was actually considering that soulmates were a real thing. Maybe it was possible for everyone else around him, but he never imagined that it would, or even could, happen to him. Voodoo was officially ruled out. Kikyo was officially ruled out. So what the hell was happening?

"Feh. Show's over." He grunted, aggressively pushing his chair further into the table and stomping out the doors as the audiences' eyes continued to follow him.