Authors Note: Okay, so I got the idea for this bit of fluff (at least, I think it's considered fluff) and I just couldn't wait to write it. I know I have other stories I should be updating, but this oneshot was just too tempting to pass up! I hope you all like it--it was partly inspired by the movie Phenomenon, although the connection is quite vague and I wouldn't be surprised if no one could see the connection. :D

Anyway, this story is exactly 4,370 words, according to MS Word. :)

Rated K+ for implied character deaths.

Hope you all enjoy!

Figurine

As the whittling knife cut a deep curve into the soft wood, the loud creaking of the door pulled Kagome out of her work as another customer came into her grandfather's shop. "I'll be with you in just a moment!" she chimed happily, finishing the cut she had begun to make before looking up towards the man that was now standing inside the shop. She smiled as she wiped her brow, setting down both the knife and the carving—well, what would be a carving anyway.

Stepping from behind her small desk, which separated her from the rest of a shop by a mere glass covering, she dusted off the small woodchips that had fallen at her lap before going behind the counter—and had to hold back a gasp as she looked full-on at her newest customer. He looked almost ordinary—maybe a little older than her with short, black hair and nicely tanned skin…but his stunning blue eyes are what caught her breath. They look just like Kouga's did… she couldn't help but think, but she quickly reminded herself that it had been 500 years, and there had never been any sign of youkai in the modern era—and, there was always the fact that she couldn't sense any demonic aura from him whatsoever, not to mention his obviously rounded ears and lack of any fangs or claws. It had to be purely coincidental that they were the same shade of bright blue.

Recovering quickly, she flashed him a bright smile as she leaned on the counter some. "How may I help you, sir?"

The male shrugged as he looked around, his eyes settling on the glass display of Kagome's woodworking. It had been six years since she had become closed off from the Sengoku Jidai—her wishing the jewel out of existence had closed off the well completely, and though she had tried many times to get back, it obviously wasn't going to happen. It had taken her years to get over the heartbreak of losing all of her friends from across the well—Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Shippou, Kirara, Kouga, Kaede—if she could even say that she was over it. Perhaps it was the lack of closure that had kept her from fully getting over it…though she had found ways to cope.

She finished high school, of course, but never attempted to go to college, instead opting to stay at home and work for her grampa. One day, he happened to bring in some extra wood, and Kagome got curious—and found a new hobby. It certainly helped her pass the time, and it allowed her the pleasure of thinking purely about her friends in the Sengoku Jidai. She'd found all the books she could on the legends of that era, and were pleased to find that all the types of youkai she ran into were in the books and even described, so she could get away with carving the creatures she had once been lucky enough to call her friends without any sneaking suspicions of her travels through the well.

"What is this one?" The man tapped his finger against the glass at an unmistakable carving of Inuyasha, and a wistful smile passed against Kagome's lips for the split second before she smoothed it over and reached behind to pick up the little Inuyasha figurine.

"This one is a hanyou. Legends state that when a youkai and a human have a child, it is born a hanyou—half human and half youkai." She ran a finger over the small ears atop Inuyasha's head as she gave the stranger a small smile. "A sure sign of a hanyou is when it is 'half transformed,' noted by the ears on this one's head. This one would be the child of an inuyoukai and a human." Her eyes sparkled as she spoke of the little figurine, before offering it to the man to look at. He took it with pleasure, his expression unreadable as he studied the figurine as well.

"Amazing," he finally said before meeting her eyes, almost leaving her breathless again. His gaze was so intense—something that also reminded her of Kouga. His eyes then travelled back to the glass display case as he looked at all the figurines. There were numerous carvings of all the same people, though in different poses. "Are these all the youkai of legend?"

Kagome smiled as she shook her head. "There are other creatures as well," she murmured, pointing at a carving of Sango, complete with her hiraikotsu. "This one is a taijiya—a youkai slayer. And this one," she said as she moved to a carving of Miroku, "is simply a Buddhist monk, while these two are priestesses—old and young." As she spoke, she moved her finger to point at Kaede and Kikyou respectively.

His intense gaze moved back to her as his head cocked to the side slightly. "How do you know all of this stuff?" There was no challenge in his voice, only curiosity—still, it caused Kagome to blush.

"Oh, there are a ton of books about it. Gramps has always been into legendary stuff, and one day I guess I just got interested, and I found a book about youkai and the types of people who generally defeat them." She gave a small shrug, her blush fading now. She was always afraid that she would let something slip, though she doubted anyone would believe her if she did—they would just think she was crazy. But the man seemed to take her at her word and simply nodded.

"I'll take this one," he said quietly, still holding on carefully to the small carving of Inuyasha. Kagome almost had to hold back a laugh—he reminded her so much of Kouga, but the fact that he was buying a figurine of Inuyasha certainly was further proof against the small amount of hope she'd been hanging onto.

"Of course!" Kagome smiled and rang him up, wrapping the figurine with care and placing it in a bag. "Please come back, anytime!" she continued, which was what she said to every customer that came—although he seemed to take the invitation seriously as he flashed a smile at her.

"I will." His tone had a seriousness to it that she couldn't ignore—but she had to admit that she wanted him to come back. He seemed nice, and even though she knew it wasn't him, he made her feel closer to the Sengoku Jidai than she had in six years. She let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding before going back to her seat and continuing her work on the carving.

Kouga finally let out a sigh as he got back to his house, setting the Inuyasha figurine on his dresser as his appearance shifted back to his normal self—long hair, pointed ears, fangs, and all. "I finally found her," he murmured as he stared at the small carving, a soft smirk on his lips as he stared at it. "Told ya I would, muttface." His face split into a grin, his words laced with playfulness before he collapsed onto his bed. He had promised Inuyasha that he would find her, eventually, and make sure that she was okay—but he hadn't expected it to be this long. He had never known the exact location to look, and unfortunately her scent had shifted drastically—her immense sadness had altered it. She might've fooled a regular person with her appearance at happiness, but she hadn't fooled him—and now he was determined to make her sadness go away. But I can't reveal anything yet.

It had been three months since his first visit. Nearly every day he came to the shop to visit Kagome, to talk to her and ask about the figurines, and get to know her—something that he realized had never really happened back in the Sengoku Jidai. He'd purposefully avoided asking about the carvings of himself—though he was pleased to see that there were nearly as many of him as there were of Inuyasha…although he could say the same about every carving there. By now, he'd learned that Kagome simply didn't work on the weekends, but she spent her time carving or meeting up with her old high school friends, or shopping for her family. He learned things he never knew about her before—like that she loved the color pink and she enjoyed cooking, and that the most relaxing thing to her was a good bubble bath. He didn't even know how half the stuff came up, and honestly neither did she.

Kagome learned things about Kouga, too, though she knew him by the name 'Mr. Kurasaki' and nothing more. She learned that he was on his college's cross country team, that he owned a bookstore, and that he was very old-fashioned and into history—which was surprising, since he also had one of the most high-tech cell phones she'd ever seen.

Soon, the visiting went both ways—he would come visit her every day she worked at the shop, and she would go to his bookstore. The third time she came, he had set aside a collection of books for her—all about the Sengoku Jidai and legends of youkai.

"I found one that might interest you greatly, Kagome," he said with a grin as he pulled out a rather old looking copy of a book. "It's got all the things you carve in your shop—kitsunes and inuyoukai and taijiyas and priestesses and monks—and even a couple hanyou. This is apparently one of two copies to exist; it's a legendary fairy tale—a battle between good and evil." His grin widened as her eyes sparkled with hope. It's about us, Kagome. About you. About Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Shippou, Kirara, Kikyou, Kaede, Naraku…me. Inuyasha wrote it himself, with you in mind. He wanted to tell her those things so badly, but he didn't—couldn't. He had to admit that it was more than caution that was keeping him from saying it, now—it was fear. She had grown to like him so much as Mr. Kurasaki, and he was afraid that if she found out who he really was, that she'd be angry with him…or that it might ruin whatever chances he had of her finally being his woman. He couldn't keep it from her forever, but this was his hint—whether or not she'd realize it was up to her.

"How much?" She didn't hesitate as she stared at the book, checkbook already in her hand.

He laughed, handing her the book and shaking her head. "Consider it a gift. Since it's kind of your thing, I found it for you—with no intention of actually selling it to you."

"R-really? Thank you so much, Mr. Kurasaki!" She hugged the book to her chest with a huge smile, anticipation already eating away at her. "I'm sorry to rush off, but…I really want to get a start on reading this!"

Straightening the figurines on his dresser, he let out a sigh. He now owned almost every single character that she carved: Inuyasha, Sesshoumaru, Sango, Miroku, both forms of Kirara, Shippou—there was only one left. Himself. He still couldn't bring himself to actually ask about the ookami carving that he knew was actually him, not just some character that was crafted from her learning from books. He had to admit that he'd noticed quite an increase of the figurines of himself—but he didn't know if it was because Kagome had been thinking about him more, or if she just wanted him to finally ask about the ookami carvings. He'd noticed that each time he bought a figurine, the next day there was always a new carving to replace it—she worked fast, perhaps because it so consumed her thoughts.

"I've got to tell her sometime soon…it's killing me," he said aloud before climbing into his bed.

And after the wish was made on the jewel, the mysterious human was never seen again.

That was how the last chapter ended, and she stared at the sentence for what seemed like hours before wiping her tear-stained face. It never mentioned her name—but it mentioned everyone else's. The thought struck her has strange, but perhaps whoever wrote it knew her secret…and knew that if the book got out 500 years in the future, it could certainly raise some questions where she was concerned.

There was more to the book—an epilogue—but she was afraid to look at it. She knew it might contain the secret with what happened with her friends, but what it if was bad? She knew she wouldn't be able to just stop there, though, so she continued reading. By the end of the book, her tears were flowing, though they were happy tears—everyone seemed to have had a wonderful life. Sango and Miroku had many children—and Shippou grew up well. The book ended without mentioning any death of Inuyasha, Shippou, Kirara, or Kouga…did that mean they were all still alive? But if Inuyasha were alive, he would definitely come for her...right? Or Shippou? She let out a small, sad sigh as her thoughts drifted to much sadder things—like how, as far as she could tell, there were no living youkai among her world. Why did it have to be that way? Fresh tears spilled onto the cover of the book before she set it on her bedside table, turning off the lamp and going into a restless and fitful sleep.

"Now…what is this one?" Kouga finally asked, pointed a blunted finger at the small carving of himself behind the glass display. Kagome's eyes brightened as she reached behind the glass for the figurine and handed it to him excitedly.

"This one is ookami." Her smile brightened but then softened as Mr. Kurasaki held the tiny figurine in his hands, examining it with care. He ran his fingers over the ponytail that he still sported when his appearance wasn't being hidden by a spell, lingering on the pointed ears before trailing down to the delicately carved fur.

He raised his eyes to Kagome, and she smiled at him—so far, from what he could tell, she hadn't figured out that it was him. Despite his disappointment, he grinned, setting it on the counter. "I'll take him. I do believe this is completes my collection?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow as his grin widened.

"I believe so! Legend states that Ookami often traveled with actual wolves—if you'd like, I can carve some wolves to go with him, too." She carefully picked up the figurine and wrapped it, placing it in the bag and handing it to him.

"I'd like that," Kouga said with a grin as he took the bag, then pulled out his wallet. "But you forgot to ring it up—how much?"

Kagome smiled as she shook her head, placing her hand on his for a brief moment. "Consider it a gift," she said, echoing his earlier words about the book. His eyes widened slightly as their hands made contact, and he had to control himself when she allowed her hand to linger for just a moment atop his.

"Uhh…t-thanks," he murmured, suddenly self conscious. Quickly recovering, he flashed her a smile. "Okay, I'll see you later, Kagome!" After that, he made a hasty exit, quickly taking in a deep breath as soon as he left.

As confident as he had been back in the Sengoku Jidai, he had never quite been the one to receive Kagome's affection. She cared for him, and he knew it—but it had been purely platonic. He'd called her his woman more times than he could count, and he was totally confident that she would be his woman, even though the evidence proved otherwise, and she had only had eyes for Inuyasha.

But this…this right now was what it really felt like to receive attention from her. He could see her slowly falling for him, and that small touch had proved something to him—she liked him. And he could tell that she was over Inuyasha, if just by the way she looked at him—he was almost positive that it was the way she had used to look at Inuyasha. Five hundred years had passed for him, and though only six had passed for her—she was finally ready to move on.

Satisfied with her work, Kagome blew off some dust of her final wolf figurine, examining it with care before setting it behind the glass display. "I hope Mr. Kurasaki likes these," she mumbled to herself before standing up and stretching. She had already made another Kouga figurine to replace the one she had given to Mr. Kurasaki, and now she had made three small wolves to go with him.

It was getting harder and harder not to tell him about her adventures to the Sengoku Jidai. She saw him every day—when he wasn't visiting her at her Grampa's shop, she was visiting him at his bookstore. He worked on the weekends, and so now that's how she spent her weekends—even when she wasn't speaking with him directly, she was at his store picking through books and getting lost in her thoughts. It was no secret to her family that she was falling for the gentleman, either—and they were thrilled that she was actually becoming happy for real.

One thing did hinder her, though—and it was the thought of never being able to tell him about her past. Could she ever truly be happy with someone without telling him the full truth? And if she told him, what if he didn't believe her? She believed that she was at the point where she could have a fully happy life without being connected to the Sengoku Jidai—though she was sure nothing quite as exciting could happen in this era.

"Mama?" Kagome questioned as she came from her 'workshop,' still covered in sawdust and woodchips.

"Yes, dear?" Mrs. Higurashi put down her knife and set the carrots she had been chopping aside to turn and give her daughter her full attention

"I was wondering if I could ask for some advice…about Mr. Kurasaki." A raised eyebrow from her mother gave her silent permission to continue. "He's become my best friend…and…well, you could probably tell that I've fallen for him." Mrs. Higurashi simply nodded and waited for her daughter to continue. Kagome took a deep breath before finishing her thought. "I'd…really like to tell him about my trips to the Sengoku Jidai. I…I think he'd believe me, but if he doesn't…I'm afraid I'll lose him."

Taking a moment to consider her daughter's dilemma, Mrs. Higurashi hummed aloud as her eyes drifted towards the ceiling. "I think that if he's a true friend, he'll stick by you even if he doesn't believe you. Though there's no rush in telling him—the two of you aren't dating yet are you?" Kagome shook her head, and Mrs. Higurashi smiled. "I think it's definitely something you should tell him if the two of you get serious, but I see no need to tell him now—unless you really want to. It is up to you, but I think he'll believe you—plus, you have photographic evidence." And that was true—she had several pictures of herself and Inuyasha, and though he was wearing that hat in most of them, she thought he'd at least see the resemblance between Inuyasha and the figurine from the pictures.

"All right. I'll think about it more," Kagome decided and offered her mother a smile. Her eyes rested on the carrots before she went over and grabbed her own, pink apron. "Want some help?" Her cheery demeanor returned as her mother nodded her assent and Kagome set to chopping the carrots.

Sighing, Kagome stared at the block of wood that was in front of her. She'd been staring at it for hours, but she hadn't been able to make anything of it—she wanted to carve another Kouga, or a wolf, but she just couldn't make herself do it. It had been several days since Mr. Kurasaki had visited her in the shop—not since the day he had bought the Kouga figurine—and she'd tried to visit him at the bookstore, but he hadn't been there—just his two excitable employees, whose names she hadn't caught just yet. When she asked him where he was, they simply looked at each other and laughed nervously, shaking their heads and saying they didn't know. It was from this that she got the idea she wasn't meant to know…and that was what had taken her muse away.

What had she done to make him stop visiting? Or to disappear altogether? She considered him her best friend—and more, even—and she was seriously considering telling him her secret. But he disappeared completely, and she had to wonder, if he was going to leave like that, if he would remain her friend when he found out about her travels.

She shook her head as she pushed up from her seat. She wasn't going to get any work done today—and she didn't want to be in the shop anymore. She turned the sign on the door from 'Open' to 'Closed' and then closed the door behind her, heading straight to her bathroom to take a bubble bath.

Four more days passed before she saw him again. After losing her muse completely, she turned her sadness into anger and poured all that passion into her work. This time instead of focusing on carving Kouga and wolves, she focused on something completely different—someone who certainly didn't remind her of Kouga—Sesshoumaru. He was particularly difficult to carve, which was why she hadn't done many carvings of him—his armor and his clothing and his pelt were all rather intricate. But it certainly kept her mind off things…and she didn't even realize that Mr. Kurasaki was standing right in front of her, watching her work for almost 15 minutes.

As soon as Kagome noticed a shadow moving, she jumped up quickly, eyes widening in surprise. "S-sorry! I didn't know you were there!" Her surprise was enough to make her forget her anger momentarily, but the apologetic look on his face took her by surprise.

"I'm the one who's sorry—we haven't seen each other for a week, and it's my fault." She was about to agree with him, until she looked him in the eye.

His intense blue eyes full of apology were her undoing.

"It's okay, Mr. Kurasaki," she said finally, forgiving him on the spot. She offered a somewhat sad smile. "I missed you, though, you know. Where've you been?"

"At home…thinking," he murmured. In truth, he'd been struggling with whether or not to tell her who he really was—just as she had been struggling with whether or not to tell him of her travels to the Sengoku Jidai.

"O-oh." She ran her fingers through tangled hair as she looked away. So he'd been avoiding her specifically? She had kind of figured that, but hearing confirmation that there was nothing actually keeping him away other than himself still hurt. She stepped from between the invisible barrier of her workspace so that she was standing directly in front of him. "Um, so what were you thinking about?" The only logical explanation for why he would tell her he was thinking, in her opinion, was so that she would ask.

"You," he murmured, and her eyes widened.

"And…that kept you away?" The hurt was evident both in her voice and in her eyes, and his nod almost caused her tears to fall. What she wasn't expecting, was him taking her hands into her own—like he always used to back in the Sengoku Jidai.

Kagome's eyes widened as her mind flashed back to that time—and she didn't know if she could do it. He reminded her so much of Kouga, and she didn't know if she could live with the guilt of liking him simply because of that fact. "I…I need to tell you something," she began, but he shook his head slowly, and she couldn't bring herself to speak.

"I was wondering one thing." His voice was gentle, but his eyes held that same intensity that had so taken her by surprise the first time they met—the very thing that reminded her of Kouga in the first place.

"W-what's that?" Her face held a look of confusion as Mr. Kurasaki looked around the shop as if to make sure no one else was there.

"Kagome Higurashi…will you be my woman?"

She didn't even try to hold in her soft gasp as she stared up at him, and Kouga was pleased when it was hope that filled her scent rather than disappointment. "…Kouga-kun?" Her voice was barely a whisper, almost as if she were afraid to speak his name.

"Yes," Kouga said, and only after hesitating for a moment did he let the illusion dissolve, showing him as he always was—pointed ears, long hair pulled into a ponytail, and his fanged smile. It was strange to see him in modern clothes, but she could hardly contain her happiness, and it certainly showed—in her eyes, her smile, her body language, and her scent.

She didn't hesitate to fling her arms around him, soon erupting into a happy sob as his warm arms surrounded her, pulling her into a comforting embrace and running his clawed fingers through her hair. "Y-yes…" she murmured into his chest, and though it was barely above a whisper, he heard, and a smile split across his face, grinning from ear to ear. He knew the questions were going to come flooding in, probably some of them with anger about him hiding his identity from her for so long, but he could handle it—and he knew they'd get through it. And for now, the moment was absolutely perfect—too perfect to ruin it with words.

End Note: So, I started re-watching the Inuyasha series on Hulu, and once I got to the episodes where Kouga came in, I was just in a state of giggles. :D Sooo, I really wanted to write a KougaxKagome oneshot. Review and let me know how you all like it, and I will be greatly appreciative!