Bye Bye, Baby!
Chapter Eighteen
"So, now that we've gotten this all sorted out, feel free to sign on the dotted line," Naraku said softly, his voice sounding like a rusty nail running down a chalk board. Inu yasha shifted nervously in his seat, staring at Naraku who sat in front of him on the other side of the desk. He clenched his fists and unclenched. He felt very uneasy in this room with his latest foster brother. It was slightly unnerving referring to Naraku as his brother, since the man had never been too brotherly for him. Naraku looked at him, his dark red eyes observing him from afar, "While we're young, Inu yasha."
"Shut up," he muttered and looked at the dotted line where he was supposed to sign his name, showing that he agreed with the requirements in the contract. He felt a small trickle of sweat fall down his back and felt uncomfortable in the suit he'd been forced to wear for the meeting.
Naraku let out an annoyed sigh as he watched his younger foster brother. His patience was growing thin, his fuse already short to begin with. "Inu yasha," he gritted out, "Why are you stalling?" he tried to not to swear out the younger male.
"Sorry." He picked up the pen, scanned the paper again and sighed softly. This was it, the future was in his hands. His left hand gripped the top part of the paper and his right hand shook slightly, the pen feeling heavy and wobbly in his hands. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a breath. 'Why is this so fucking hard?'
"I should have known, Sango," Kagome scowled into her drink, her blurry reflection appearing on the surface of the liquid. "He's an actor, all actors are the same! I should have known he'd pick his career over me!" Sango eyed her disgruntled friend and took a long sip of her own drink before sighing.
"Kagome," she said gently, "You didn't really try and stop him, did you?"
"Of course not." Kagome's scowl deepened. "It's his fucking life. I'm certainly not going to rule it for him!"
"Yes, that's true," Sango said and stirred her straw around the glass, pushing the ice cubes around. "But did you ever tell him how you felt about him leaving?"
Kagome's scowl turned into a depressed frown. "No, I…insisted that he go," she said softly and lowered her head, taking a long sip.
"And there you go," Sango said and gave her friend a hug. "I know it's hard, but if he promised he'd come back, then he'll come back."
"But how do I know he will? What if it's a promise destined to be broken, what if-"
"What if the sky falls and pigs come flying out of my ass?" Sango said crossly and was glad to see her comment made Kagome smile slightly. "Don't dwell on the 'what if' situations, Kagome, you have to focus on the future. Everything will be fine, I swear," Sango motioned for the waiter to bring her another drink.
"I don't know why I feel so strongly about all this," Kagome said gently, after a comfortable silence between them. Kagome watched the waiter set down Sango's drink. Her blue eyes gazed out the window for a moment before returning to Sango, who was enjoying her second drink. "It's really hard to explain, I guess I didn't realize how much I liked him until he…" her thoughts drifted back to the kiss they'd shared. "Left," she finished lamely.
Sango nodded sympathetically, "That's true in most cases. You don't know how precious something is until it's gone…"
Kagome nodded sadly.
"I really miss him, Sango," Kagome admitted softly and fought back the tears she'd been able to withstand up until now. "I really, really do. I always thought he was a nuisance, but now that he's gone. I feel so alone…so very, very alone," she heard her voice wavering and fought back her tears. "I mean…I remember so much about him, so many little things that I hated when he was around and now that he's gone…"
Sango watched her friend silently.
"Like the fact that he likes his coffee a certain way or that he hates Reebok, and only likes Nike. Or that his prized possession is his guitar, he doesn't go anywhere without it, he says. Or that he hates baths and prefers showers," she ignored Sango's slightly perverted look. "There's so much more I can say…but…" she looked away and bit her lip. "God, I miss him so much…"
Sango saw her friend's distress and patted her shoulder, unsure of what else to do.
Rain fell across the sky, an unlikely occurrence now that summer was approaching. School was out and summer vacation had officially started. The dark sky cried large droplets of rain, the clouds rolling ominously above her. Kagome sadly folded some clothing, making sure that it was a crisp fold before placing it in the specific pile. She sighed quietly and brushed some hair behind her ear.
She was basking in her self pity when the distant ringing of the phone filled her ears. She sighed and threw down the shirt of Moriko's she'd been folding and walked towards the phone in her bed room.
She sighed and rolled her eyes when she grasped the phone, "Hello?"
"Hey, Kagome." It was Sango. Kagome sighed softly, going unnoticed by her friend. "I just wanted you to know you left your purse in my car the other night. I'll drop it off tomorrow morning, before I go to work, ok?"
"Yeah, ok…" Kagome didn't understand why she felt disappointed at hearing Sango's voice. She highly doubted Inu yasha would call…and why was she even thinking about him? She might as well move on…right?
"Is everything ok? Do you want me to come over?" Sango asked in her 'I'm-a-caring-friend' voice. Kagome couldn't help but smile at that.
"No, I'm fine, Sango, I just have a lot on my mind," Kagome said quietly.
Sango hmm-ed in understanding and she could just picture her friend gently shaking her head. "Well, take it easy. I'll talk to you later; we can go see Spiderman Two together, sound good?"
Kagome laughed, though it sounded dry and fake to her. "Sure, I look forward to that."
Later that night, after the sun had gone down (though this went unseen due to the amount of rain plummeting into the New York streets) and the pedestrians had thinned out for the night, Kagome slept uneasily in her bed, tossing and turning.
After countless hours of torturous sleep, Kagome was awoken by the phone ringing. She blinked open her eyes and looked around her room, feeling vulnerable and disoriented. After a long moment, she realized that the phone was indeed ringing, and thus she was supposed to pick it up. After doing so she cleared her throat and rubbed her eyes. "Sango, why the hell are you calling me at this hour?" she rasped out.
"Oh sorry, I didn't know you'd be asleep," Sango said uneasily.
Kagome glared at the wall, pretending it was Sango she was throwing death glares at. "Sango…it's three fucking thirty in the morning, go to sleep…why'd you call?"
There was a long pause that almost made Kagome scream in annoyance. "Would you believe me if I told you I forgot?" she asked uneasily. But Kagome knew, Sango was probably making sure she wasn't committing suicide, which was slightly insulting…
"Be glad I'm too lazy to come over there and hurt you severely," Kagome grumbled and hung up the phone before snuggling back into her bed.
Rain pounded against the window and a siren screamed in the background, but Kagome's drowsiness was beginning to win the war between two parties and her eyelids grew heavy.
Then the phone rang again.
"What the hell, Sango?" Kagome nearly screeched into the phone then realized she was holding it upside down. Quickly readjusting it she pressed the appropriate spot to her ear.
"Why are you expecting Sango at this hour?" the voice on the other end nearly made her stop dead. She literally felt her heart flutter into her throat and her stomach losing its bottom.
"Inu yasha?"
"Who'd you think it was?" she could hear the cockiness in his voice. "Oh wait, you were expecting Sango."
"Inu yasha…" she whispered and felt light headed. "Why are you calling so late? Isn't it around one there?" She glanced at the clock. "Oh wait; apparently it should be twelve forty five…"
"Well thank you, time police," he said sarcastically and Kagome felt her heart swell. She was half way relieved that he was talking to her and also felt slightly ashamed that such a simple phone call could make her feel like this. "Anyways, I have a favor to ask you…"
Kagome blinked in confusion. "Yeah?"
"There's something I want you to do for me," he explained and Kagome sat up in her bed, swinging her legs over the mattress and slipping her feet into her slippers.
"What?" she asked, curiously. Why would Inu yasha come call her in the middle of the night? And why wasn't she angry at him?
"Could you…tune my guitar for me…I don't want it to get all screwed up, ya know?" Kagome froze where she was, her eyes widening.
"You're guitar?" she whispered and she recalled what she had said to Sango:
'…his prized possession is his guitar, he doesn't go anywhere without it, he says.'
"Yeah…"
Kagome said nothing as she raced around the apartment before bursting into Moriko's room. The little girl slept soundly as Kagome scurried around, searching for the acoustic guitar. She threw open the closet and saw it there, leaning against the wall of the closet, glinting back up at her from the light of Moriko's night light.
Kagome hesitantly reached for the guitar, as if afraid that if she touched it, it would disappear and she'd wake up from this dream. But if his most prized possession was here that meant…
"One more thing, Kagome," his voice whispered in her ear.
Kagome's hand tightened around the neck of the guitar, her fingers grazing across the frets. "Yes?"
"Can you…flash your light on?"
Kagome's heart stopped for a second time that night as she gripped the guitar in one hand and the phone in the other. She felt a small tear leak from her eye as she slowly walked to her bedroom, flicking on the light and running to the window. She threw aside the curtains and looked down…
And sure enough, there standing beside the phone booth was a long haired man staring right back at her, waving slightly. It took her a moment to regain her breath, "You…are coming back…!"
"I told you I would," he smiled as he gazed up at her.
Kagome tossed the phone behind her as he hung up the payphone. Throwing open the window she leaned out, not caring that the rain was already making her hair wet. "You…you!"
He smiled up at her.
"You fucking bastard!" she cried out in a mixture of annoyance and happiness. "When you get up here, I'm going to kick your little face in. I'm going to kill you!" He laughed as he looked up at her.
"That's what leads to domestic violence, Kagome," he yelled back sweetly.
"I can't believe this!" she said softly.
"Can I come up?" he asked and tilted his head to the side.
"Why?"
"Because I love you!" Kagome's breath left her throat.
"Really?"
"No," he said and she felt like her heart had been ripped from her chest, she was about to slam the window shut when he shouted, "But I want to!" She paused and looked down at him, silently telling him to explain. "I've only known you for a short time Kagome; it takes time to love someone deeply. But I want to love you, Gods do I want to. Will you give me a chance to love you?" his eyes silently pleaded for her.
Kagome rushed away from the window and threw open the door, not caring if she awoke Moriko or not. All she cared about was getting down those stairs to him. She pounded down the wooden staircase and threw open the front door, rushing across the street to Inu yasha, who was there waiting. With a small smile he opened his arms to her and she rushed into them, feeling for the first time in a long time that she truly was home.
His arms enveloped around her and she hugged him tightly to her and began to sob against his chest. "I didn't…I didn't…I didn't think you'd come back!"
He smiled softly and ran his fingers through her hair, "I promised you, didn't I? I'm a man of my word, Kagome."
"Inu yasha," she whispered softly and pulled away to look up at him. She saw the world in his eyes: all of his insecurities, all of his passions, all of his loyalties, all of his misgivings and his faults, his pleasures and his strong points. But as she gazed into those violet eyes, everything seemed to melt away and before her stood a man, a man who was there for her.
She smiled and pushed herself up onto the tips of her toes. And slowly their lips met together, much like they had in the airport. But instead of a goodbye, this was simply a hello. Hello to a new life, to a new friend, to a new lover.
She stood pressed against him, basking in the feel of the caress of his lips and she felt like she could truly die without any regrets. Her hands touched his cheeks and she didn't even seem to notice the fact they were both soaking wet out in the middle of the streets of New York City, in the early hours of the morning.
"I'm home…" she heard him whisper when they pulled away.
"Welcome back…" she answered.
Epilogue of a sort
Inu yasha & Kagome: After Inu yasha's return from California to New York, their regular chaotic episodes in the house never seemed to cease, though Moriko was lucky enough to keep her room. They spent many months together and then broke up…only to get back together five minutes later when Inu yasha came crawling through the front door begging Kagome to let him at least sleep on the couch. They stayed together for six months before he proposed. Several months later Kagome discovered she was pregnant. And throughout all this, Inu yasha still refuses to sleep naked…
Inu yasha: After turning down the opportunity to work with Naraku he never really got the chance again…He did eventually got a part in a reality show of some sort and then was offered jobs in various sitcoms and prime time shows. Though he never became a movie star like he'd originally hoped, he did end up teaching various theater art classes at a local high school.
Kagome: Eventually got out of the car dealership and became a full time mother, letting Inu yasha bring in the (lack of) income. She and Inu yasha moved to a new house in the suburbs after their family got larger than three.
Moriko & Hikari: remained best friends all through high school until Hikari went to M.I.T to study and Moriko went to the University of Massachusetts. Although, they still remained in contact with one another for many years afterwards.
Moriko: Moriko grew up with Kagome as her mother and as Inu yasha as her step-father, though several weeks after Inu yasha moved in officially, Moriko stared calling him 'Daddy', something she'd wanted to do for some time. She loved Inu yasha like he was her own father and loved her baby brother when he was brought into the world.
Hikari: Eventually got some counseling but still remained a little sadistic in her older years.
Sango: Moved back to her home in Japan after five years of staying in New York, missing the oriental feeling of her Japanese homeland. Plus, she missed the sakura trees.
Miroku: Opened a restaurant in 2007; his first customers were Inuyasha and Kagome.
Kouga: Eventually his movie made it to theaters and he did very well and was very successful in his career. The trilogy was a major hit and he was offered various other movie offers. His face was even on a billboard at one time, but was soon removed after one particular couple started throwing eggs at it…but he was still decent enough to send child support.
Ayame: Was with Kouga the majority of the time and she eventually got together with Kouga.
Mrs. Carolyn Smith: after the visit with Inu yasha, she remained a good friend to the Takahashi family until her death in 2010 where she suffered from a heart attack. Inu yasha was there for her funeral. She was buried next to Mary Jane Thompson.
Hideki Naraku: His hit TV show (The O.C.) had many successful seasons until he got swayed by a woman named Kikyou and ended up selling his company to his second in command, Kagura.
Ayumi, Yuka, & Eri: Were Kagome's bride's maids.
Sesshoumaru: sold another hit novel, this time romance. He has yet to contact his brother…
Hisaki: Was never heard from again, and if he was, Inu yasha wasn't around to care…