Note: in and out of first person. You'll figure out who's talking, I promise.

{~| Amnesia Affairs |~}

[|:|]

Five and a half years have passed… Gods, almost six now. Almost six whole years have passed since the last time I saw him… so broken and battered in the hospital. How could one person be attached to so many machines, wires, and tubes? How? It killed me, really, it split my soul in two to see my husband like that. My strong, stubborn, silly husband that I cherished for so long… he wasn't ever supposed to leave me, we were supposed to be together forever and ever, screw death. It sounds pretty foolish, huh? But I just couldn't believe that such a thing could ever get in our way. We were like magnets from the moment we met, we snapped to each other and in a blink of an eye we were bound by the hip, in more ways than one, too…

College, that was the easy time. Looking back I can't help but laugh, we had such drama. I was trying to stay a straight A student and he just really didn't give a damn, we fought all the time, but we'd make up and boy would we make up, gods, he was brilliant in bed. Then again, what did I have to compare him to? No one. He's it. He was my first and with the ways things were going he'd be my last. I'm not going to lie, I'm horny sometimes, it's just normal, right? Five and a half years is a really long dry spell.

That's why my brother insisted I take a vacation and sent me off to Tokyo. Did I mention that the so-called 'vacation' was a business related thing, too? What a great little bro, huh? He's my boss, what a messed up world we live in. He took care of everything, I hadn't any excuses and he made sure I couldn't use my usual one. I grew up in Tokyo but I hadn't bothered to return since I went off to Kyoto for college. I just fell in love with the place and the next thing I knew I was married to man that refused to leave—Tsukino Inuyasha… Inuyasha, my darling one and only… I even became Tsukino Kagome, wasn't that great? We both got jobs there after college fairly quickly, much to my dismay a few years later my little brother followed me.

Now, I'm pretty grand at my job, I am, it's just not my life. I have other things to preoccupy me but my little brother, Souta, drove himself into the job over and over again until he got enough promotions to be pleased with his salary and he ended up as my boss, gods, it's the small ironies in life that really hit me hardest.

Nope, nope, I shouldn't be thinking about this stuff, uh-huh, I should be thinking about either just work or going to all the places I loved to when I was a teenager. I should try to have fun, I deserved that much, right?

I took a deep breath of the slightly polluted air of the city as I walked into my far too extravagant hotel, my little brother made the arrangements for me, I gotta love the kid.

That's when it caught me out of the corner of my eye. I stopped in the lobby not too far from the entertainment stand where you could get a variety of magazines, newspapers, and candy. I really shouldn't… but my guilty pleasure is chocolate and I was sort of on vacation, right? I grinned to myself as I walked up and picked up a few candy bars and a magazine just to pass the time. I think I'm going to go upstairs and take a nice long bath in my Jacuzzi, yeah, I sighed, that sounds so grand.

I paid the man and put the candy in my purse as I began to walk away, flipping through the magazine just to see what it had. A few articles over the latest business trends, some fashion tips, an article from a supposed health Guru and… my heart stopped, my breath turned to ice in my throat and I swear I almost choked at the article in the far back… no, no… no…

I could feel the tears threaten to pour out of my eyes as I scanned the article briefly but what did it matter? The large, luscious, letters said it all that were marked over the picture… of them, a really, really, happy them. A beautiful female apparently from the highly influential Iwagaru family had her arms wrapped around… my husband's neck, he held her by the waist with the largest smile upon his lips—did they still taste of coffee with each kiss? I blinked and a few drops of water smacked against the page.

Inuyasha, you are getting married again?

The tears just wouldn't stop flowing down my heated cheeks. It's not fair, I made them go away finally… gods, I hate Tokyo.

.{.x.o.x.}.

It's been five and a half years, so very close to six, since he was in that car accident, since his memories were washed out of his head. The doctors told him that there was a high likelihood that they may never return; since they hadn't in all this time… it was a bit disappointing. It killed him in the first few years, he wanted so badly to remember something about himself yet all he knew was what he father, brother, and mother told him. It really sucked to learn about himself from other people instead of whatever memories were locked away in his head—were they even locked away or were they just… gone?

He didn't think about it much anymore, at least, he tried his very best not to. No need to cry over spilled milk, right? He still remembered how to do everything, it was just his personal memories had vanished, he needed a year and a half of physical therapy from the other damage of the car accident but now he was fine, perfectly fine. Great, even. He joined the Toashi family's business beside his brother, Sesshomaru, he was the most prominent businessman. It was easier if he just threw himself at his work, learned everything there was to learn about the company and his affluent family and act on that as if they were his memories, his past life, his everything.

So when his father approached him asking if he would marry the oldest daughter of the Iwagaru family he was only slightly reluctant until he met her. She was beautiful, brilliant, and fun-loving, they dated for a year and then he thought—why not? It was for his family, it was for his company, and he could live a fine life with her, so what reason did he have to say no? His mother, Shiori, wanted the wedding to happen as soon as possible and so did his future-mother-in-law so somehow, after only a few months of their private engagement, their wedding was right around the corner.

"Thank you for attending, Toashi-san," Myoga, the little imp of a balding and ancient man, bowed his head as they left the meeting room.

"Sesshomaru was supposed to come to this thing," Inuyasha grunted in return as he shoved his hands into his overly expensive suit as they walked out of the conference room at some hotel he couldn't recall the name of. It was a joint meeting between three companies, Toashi Industries being one of them, so one of the bothers were meant to attend. Of course, for some reason Sesshomaru couldn't bring himself to bother so Inuyasha had to be pried away from his Friday—his day off, he was supposed to be in the countryside with his wife-to-be—and go to it instead. His brother was a good for nothing.

"I will go get the car," Myoga declared as he fled like the little flea he was. He hated conflict and Inuyasha was just going to start ranting about his brother, too, there weren't be any physical contact. He snorted to himself as he closed his eyes, his shoulder bumping into someone abruptly as he walked into the lobby. He stopped, sighed and turned around to see a woman frozen in her steps, her shaky hazel eyes stuck on the magazine before her. She didn't notice the encounter, apparently, but a part of him demanded that he turn around and walk over to her and apologize anyway.

"Ma'am," he started, his golden gaze glancing about her awe-struck face, "are… you alright?"

It took him actually reaching out and shaking her shoulder ever so slightly for her to snap out of her daze and look up from his picture to see him right there, right in front of her, her eyes widened more than she thought possible as she shut the magazine and rolled it in her hands. Was she daydreaming? No, this wasn't real… how could it be? She knew… she knew he either lived in Tokyo or Osaka—the two hubs for Toashi Industries—and that's why she never wanted to return to Tokyo but… but how could… could out of all the millions and millions of people that lived in Tokyo, could they run into each other?

Was it fate?

She choked as she whipped away her tears but that didn't work at all.

"Ma'am," it killed her to hear him say that, he sounded so distant yet caring… just like the Inuyasha she knew, even though he tried his best to pretend like he was a badass, that he didn't give a shit about anyone, if he ever saw a woman cry he went to pieces and tried his best to stop it. It was her secret weapon with him, though she'd never admit it, she became a very skilled fake-crier in all their years together. But they weren't together anymore… she was 'ma'am'.

She couldn't do this, she just couldn't, she choked back sobs and covered her mouth as she shook her head and ran towards the ladies room to lock herself in and slide down the door so she sat upon the cold, pattern covered floor.

.{.x.o.x.}.

I loved him, more than anything in the whole wide world, so when I saw that he needed a tube stuck down his throat to breath and the constant 'beep-beep-beep' of a machine to tell the nurses that yes, he in fact was still alive killed me. I broke down into tears right away and fell beside his bedside. I stayed there for three days straight, much against the will of my dear friend Sango-chan, she kept telling me to go home, shower, change, sleep some, that everything would be fine.

She was so wrong.

On the third night Miroku, her darling husband, pried me away and demanded that I at least change my clothes and wash up. He told me I needed to be away from that sight for a while. He swore to me that Inuyasha was far too much of a pain in the ass to ever die on us, that he'd wake up from the coma. Miroku was right.

Yet, when I came back the next morning from that shower, change, and a terrible night of sleep in the bed that we used to share he was there by Inuyasha. I tried to tell him to leave, that Inuyasha wouldn't want him there, that he didn't even show his cowardly face at our wedding so why would he think that my husband would want him here now? After everything he did? Inuyasha truly hated his father, Inutaisho, more than anyone else.

I can't blame him, I wouldn't talk to my father if he did the things that Inutaisho did to Inuyasha.

He just gave me the cruelest look and reminded me of the fleet of attorneys he had on constant pay. That if I thought that I was going to retain the post as Inuyasha's wife after I allowed such a thing to happen to him—I wasn't even in the car!—then I was sorely mistaken. I told him, pardon my French, to fuck off. He did… but he was back every day and apparently I hadn't the right to turn him away and I couldn't be at Inuyasha's bedside every second of every day.

Inutaisho appeared every day for two week straight, I started to fall for his trick… maybe he really wanted to rekindle his connection with his youngest son? Maybe he wasn't as bad as Inuyasha said? Maybe he really loved his little boy? I had never met the man, I had only ever seen pictures of him from Inuyasha and heard the horror stories.

Then Inuyasha woke up in the third week and my heart swore only for him to say three words that would forever haunt my dreams, "who are you?" he didn't remember me… he didn't know I was his wife… he didn't know how much I loved him. He didn't know who anyone was, not even himself, but that was OK, we'd fix it, with time he'd get his memories back or at least I'd be able to help him piece together our past with all the pictures we had but then Inutaisho stepped in and told Inuyasha nothing but lies after lies. His bran was so boggled to start out with that when Inutaisho requested that he ask for a divorce he wasn't sure what was going on. I don't think he even remembers that first hell month, he must not since he didn't recognize me in the lobby just now...

I took a shaky breath in, I wouldn't sign the papers until Inutaisho began to threaten me. I'm not a weak woman, I would never give up someone I love because of whatever that wicked man said but then he started to threaten my family and I just… I just couldn't risk that. He could take my mother's home from her, take my grandpa out of the hospital that kept him alive, yank my brother from the prestigious collage he got in and… worse, much, much worse. I relinquished my right as Inuyasha's wife…

I hate that I did that, I tell myself that I didn't have a choice but… I did. I could have given up everything to stay with Inuyasha but would it have mattered? Would he have remembered me ever and really appreciate all I did for him? I couldn't risk that… no, not then, not at such a precious time.

Inutaisho banned me from ever seeing Inuyasha or seeking him out. If he ever caught me doing so there would be hell to pay so I never did, I never googled his name like I so desperately wanted to, I never let any of my friends tell me anything about him—Inutaisho even withdrew Inuyasha from Miroku, Sango, Shippou, all over our friends! It was too cruel… but that doesn't matter to you, does it, Inuyasha? Because you don't remember any of us anyway…

I gasped in enough air that I finally stopped the waterworks and got up to whip my face clean of the smeared make-up. I looked like such a wreck… some vacation this turned out to be. I sighed shakily as I stared at the woman that looked back at me, my hand still tightly grasped on the retched magazine.

"You can do this," I whispered to myself as I brush my ebony waves out of my face and took a deep breath again. All I had to do was go across the hallway and up the elevator to my room and lock myself in there until I could leave Tokyo. Tomorrow I had one more engagement I had to do for my brother and then I was gone.

I swallowed the lump in my throat before I opened the door to see…

.{.x.o.x.}.

"Uh, sorry," Inuyasha stuttered some as he stepped aside to let the stunned woman by, "I just couldn't help myself. You seemed so distraught, are you alright now?"

She couldn't do anything but stare, why would he follow her all the way to the bathroom to check? Perhaps… just a small bit of him still remembered her? No, she closed her eyes as she sighed, she had to stop her wishful thinking. It took all the power in her body but she managed to muster up a weak smile, "yes, I'm better now, I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it," he assured as she stepped out and began to walk down the hallway, he… he just couldn't help but follow, "do you stay at this hotel?"

"Yes, I just have to go up a few floors and I'll be fine, please do not worry about me," she kept up with the most steady voice she could manage as her shaky hand pressed the 'up' button. Why was it when one wanted the elevator the most was the exact time that it took the longest to come?

"Do you need a doctor or anything?" he inquired as he brushed his hand against her shoulder, it was supposed to be a caring gesture to show he was a friendly and nice guy but she jumped so much that she dropped her magazine and her purse almost slid from her shoulder but she caught it.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," what was with this woman? He knelt down to pick up the crumpled magazine by its spine and flip it over, he glanced over a few pages as he stood up before flopped it in her open palms. She tried her best to will the page that was flying in slow motion in the air not to turn, to stop, for the wind to blow it back as he dropped the magazine in his hand but… that didn't work, and somehow, somehow, the magazine ended up on the one page in the entire two-hundred paged thing it shouldn't. He caught her eyes widen.

"That…" he dragged out as he rubbed the back of his neck, "I told her not to go overboard but… she's just that type of person."

"C… Congregations," really, really? Did she have to say that to the only man she had ever loved when she discovered that he was to wed another? Really? Was there anything left for fate to use to bitch slap her in the face? She highly doubted it.

"Thanks," he muttered as the elevator door chimed open and she quickly jittered into it. "Bye!" he barely got in before the doors shut, all the while he noticed her eyes were looking anywhere but at him… really… what a strange woman.

.{.x.o.x.}.

This was it, this was the last errand I had to run for Souta. I had to hand deliver these stupid documents because for some stupid security reason they had to be delivered sealed and signed. What was I? Souta's personal secretary? No. That little brat, he's going to pay for making me endure all of this just to deliver a few documents! Didn't they have lawyers or something for that?

I went into the building, told the security officer where I needed to be and why, and he buzzed me up. It took me maybe ten minutes to get in and out, I was rushing, of course, and then I was done! I had even been carrying around my small luggage so that I could go straight from the building to the train station so I could be back in Kyoto by dinner. That sounded brilliant, didn't it? I would still have the rest of the week to myself and Souta had given me all those days off so I could just relax at home where no one could find me but people that I wanted.

Gods, but that was such a lie, I wanted Inuyasha to find me. I had yearned night after night that somehow, mystically, our love would have just sparked his memories back and he would appear at my door with roses or chocolates or nothing at all just to say how sorry he was about all the terrible things that we had to go through, that he still loved me, that if I'd have him back he'd love to get married again.

I don't know… I had about a hundred million of those scenarios worked out in my head, I daydreamed about it all the time, I dreamt about it, it was my one and only hope. It was what I wished for every time I saw a shooting star, it was what I prayed for every night, it was my New Years resolution every year to get over it but… I'd flip a coin into the first fountain I found the very next day and make the exact same wish.

I made one stop… one stupid stop on my way out to the train station—I had gotten in a cab, just in case there was even a glimmer of a chance that I'd run into Inuyasha on the street—and got out at the bottom of the stairs of the house I grew up in. My mother no longer lived there, she had moved to Kyoto a while ago with the rest of the family, and it was all about the shrine on the property now.

I took a few breaths as I walked up the stairs and headed towards the hut that housed the well that I had doted over all my high school years. How many times had I ran to it to make a wish that the cute boy in this class or that class or from this place or that place would notice me and ask me out on a date? Countless times and how often did it work?

Not. A. Once.

But I just… I just couldn't help it, I went to the well all the same and looked down it to see the small amount of water that was at the very bottom. It was the source of life for the shrine, it was called the shikon well and supposedly would grant anyone's pure wish so swarms of people would come by to flip some spare change in and wish for something—a higher salary, a hot wife, whatever, I had heard some pretty odd things in all my years living by it. But, like I said, it was all that spare changed that bought the renovations that the shrine needed.

I bit my bottom lip as I took out a coin, I closed my eyes before I flipped it out.

Please, please, please! Inuyasha, please, remember me. Remember us. Please, please, please, let there be a way for us to be together again… pretty please?

.{.x.o.x.}.

He didn't know why… it was his day off, and he actually got it, he was supposed to go to the countryside with his fiancée and take her on a picnic or something but he just wasn't feeling it. Instead he sat in the back of his luxury car and let his driver cruise around the streets of Tokyo. He just couldn't shake a strange feeling that had sparked in him since he saw that shattered woman in the lobby. Why was she crying? Why did it bother him so much to see her cry?

There was something about women crying that cut right through him… was there a reason? Did something happen when he was young that made him hate it? Did someone he love cry like that and he was helpless to stop her tears? Did he make woman cry all the time and now felt bad about it for some reason? What was it?

He rested his head on the cool window as he stared out the tinted glass, strangers upon strangers faded by along the hours. Sometimes, for some reason, doing this would be able to get rid of that weird feeling. Somehow, seeing all those strangers reminded him that he could be worse off… that he was just fine where he was at, with what he had, and what he didn't have.

"Stop," he ordered as he sat up and slammed his hand against the seat in front of him, "stop!"

"What?" The driver inquired as he jerked to the side of the road to stop, a siren of horns shot out behind him, "what is it, Toashi-san? Are you alright?" But by the time the man turned around Inuyasha he fled the car.

"Hey!" He didn't know why he was doing this… he didn't know why he was running up to her as she walked down the stairs from an apparent shrine visit. He didn't know her, she was just like any one of the other strangers that he passed by on a daily basis, so why… why was it like she was a beacon to him?

Her eyes widened as she stopped on the bottom step, she rearranged her purse's strap on her shoulder and shifted the weight of her bag from one hand to the other before she figured out what to say in return, "hello?" she guessed that was good enough… right?

"H-hi," he repeated, how lame, he lost his cool with this girl… why? "That looks heavy, do you need—?"

"No, that's fine, thank you," she protested as she stepped away from his extending hand, "I'm just on my way to the train station. I have one to catch, so if you excuse me," she sped as she took a step down. In her fluster she tripped over her own high heel but he caught her effortlessly. She froze just like he did, breaths hitched in their throats, before she slowly looked up to see his glimmering golden eyes locked onto her. They were so close… so very close but it was still 'hey' and 'hi' not 'honey' or 'sweetie' or anything… her breath quickened as she stepped away, "um… I… the train…"

"I'm heading in that direction," he spat out, taking a step to the side to keep her from moving, "let me take you."

"N-no," she swallowed, this was… so strange. Every bit of her wanted to shout 'how could you not remember me? It's me! It's Kagome! It's your wife!' well, ex-wife, but she couldn't… she couldn't because of the repulsive fear that struck her deep into her core. She had her reason, though, she knew she was right… she couldn't risk her family, her precious, precious family… though, there was nothing in the whole wide world that she wanted more than to tell him...

"Please? I'd feel awful leaving such a pretty girl on the sidewalk to carry such a heavy bag all the way to the train station, look, I have a car right over there," he nodded, what was with him? Why did his words trip over each other as they fell out of his mouth?

She shook her head lightly as she glanced over to that very nice black car that was idly waiting, making traffic go around it, how rude…

"Kagome, please," he requested with such a sweet need that she couldn't say no. The next thing she knew he took her luggage and she was scooting into the car with him right behind her to shut the door and give his driver instructions to go to the train station.

Wait… she took a breath of thick air, she had… had never told him her name, right? Or had she, in all her confusion, mentioned that the day before? "I'm… I'm sorry, but when did I tell you my name's Kagome?"

His eyes flickered from the driver to her, did he say her name was that? He had to think about it for far too long… how'd he know that? "Your luggage…?" he guessed, "you have a name tag on it in case it gets lost," he pocked at it.

"Oh," her shoulders sagged. How cruel, her hope flew up only to be smacked down…

.{.x.o.x.}.

The tension between the two was mind boggling as they stood face to face right beside the train, her eyes seemed to plead something to him but he just couldn't understand what and he didn't dare sound like a crazed man—well, more than he already appeared so—and ask her what that twinkle was all about. He bit his bottom lip as she looked away and started towards her train, "wait," he couldn't help but call out weakly as he reached out to grab her luggage to stop her.

"What?" He could hear her voice pick up as she turned around to see him, something beautiful was in her eyes… what was it? Why did he stop her? "Have… have we ever met before? You seem so familiar to me…"

She was familiar, that had to be good, right? She pressed her lips together as her brows furrowed but… but she had too much to lose, she couldn't risk Inutaisho finding out that she had even seen Inuyasha… so with a deep breath she shook her head, "no."

"Are you sure?" he inquired as he tugged on her bag as she tried to pull it away.

"Yes!" She protested as she tried to get her bag away but he only grabbed the other handle.

"No, I'm pretty sure I know you," he retorted, "are you sure you don't know me?"

"I'm positive, now leave me alone!" She hated to do this, she really, really, did… her heart truly hated her at that moment but her brain was applauding her. 'Good job, Kagome,' it told her, 'this is for your family, this is so he cannot take it from you!' but that didn't help her at all. She still felt the tinge of tears behind her tightly closed eyes as she jerked her luggage away from his grasp finally and she stepped onto the train to find her seat, not looking back at all…

If she had then she might have noticed what she had left behind on the station as the train pulled away.

A/N: This idea just came to me so I had to write it down. I hope you enjoy and if you are confused at this point that's OK, you are supposed to be :)

Thank you for reading and please review.

REVISED: 12/4/10 - for grammar/spelling errors/etc