Summary: It's New Years Eve, a time for love, happiness and celebration to welcome the new year. Kagome had originally planned to spend the holiday alone, but her plans are put on hold when she see's a boy sleeping in the ally way. Just who is he?


The Savant


Kagome looked at the puff of breath that blew out with her sigh. The cold air had made it visible, it was like white smoke that dissipated as time went about. She giggled, remembering the times when she was a child and she used to pretend she was smoking when she breathed out the cold winter air.

Oh, you better watch out

"Mamma, mamma!" A little girl cried out as she happily latched onto her mother before pointing at a porcelain doll in a window.

You better not cry

People flowed through out the busy streets of Tokyo, almost without a care in the world. Woman in a group laughed with each other in hearty joy, a babies cry wasn't too far in the distance, people were plastered at every corner jingling a bell in order to draw attention to their bucket that they tried to fill with cash for charity.

You better not pout

Everyone seemed to be having such a good time either by themselves, with a partner, or in a group. Kagome had yet to see a frown on anyone's face.

I'm telling you why

She breathed in another breath of air as she took her numb hands off of the bench she was sitting on and shoved them in her pockets.

Santa Claus is coming to town

Kagome blinked as she took in the song playing in the shopping center she was at.

"Christmas music?" She mumbled to herself.

It was amazing. The things you notice and don't notice on a daily basis. When you're not paying attention you miss the most, and yet, when you're paying attention you miss just as much. Kagome had thought she was taking in all of her surroundings, the people, the smells, the activities around her, but she had missed one thing.

The music

It wasn't until she thought back to the time when she had first sat down, almost three hours ago, that she realized Christmas music had been playing since then.

'It's New Years Eve though.' She thought as she stood up and brushed off her skirt.

The mini stores shined with flashing and colorful Christmas lights that caught people's attention. There was so much going on, but at the same time, nothing going on. Half the stores around her had already closed down, while others were waiting until eleven to close, reeling in as much business as they can.

Kagome closed her eyes before slowly tuning out everything for a second. For just one second, 1000 milliseconds, it was completely quiet. She heard nothing, saw nothing, smelled nothing, and felt nothing.

That one second was peaceful, but just as quickly as it came, it went.

She opened her eyes and began walking to one of the cafés located not too far from her. As she entered, the warm air of the café hit her, warming her rosy cheeks and making them redder.

The clatter in the café was like music to her ears. The place was more than just crowded and the employees rushed around in a tizzy.

There was a short line to the front counter. She stepped behind a man in front of her and began looking him up and down.

'He looks about six feet. His hair is brown, speckled with hints of black. The back of his neck has a really nice shape. Oh, his coat has a small coffee stain on the back right shoulder, how do you get a stain there?' She thought with a small giggle. It made Kagome wonder just how often he drank coffee.

The line moved forward.

"May I have two black coffees?" The person at the counter asked.

'An accent?' Kagome had picked up on it when he had said the word 'coffee'. She began thinking about the regions of Tokyo he might be from.

It wasn't long before the man in front of Kagome had ordered and left with a small cake & coffee in hand.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" The woman at the register asked happily.

'She's genuinely happy.' Kagome thought as she felt the woman's radiating smile make her smile. "May I please have a peppermint mocha?" She handed the employee her credit card.

The woman swiped it before handing it back with delicacy. "Of course, I'll have it ready in 5 minutes. May I ask your name?"

"Kagome."

"Great, we'll call you when it's ready. Have a happy New Years."

"Thank you very much, I hope you have a fantastic New Years as well." Kagome said before moving to the side to let another person order.

New Years

'What is the true meaning of New Years?' Kagome thought. 'It can't just be bringing on a new year. Making resolutions and starting a new slate...Do I have any resolutions?' Kagome asked herself.

She felt that she had been pretty good all year and that there wasn't anything that she wanted to change about herself. She had always been good in school, never caused trouble, and had never been one to cause ruckus at home.

'Maybe my New Years resolution should be to be a little naughty?' She thought with a smile.

"Peppermint mocha!"

Kagome went to the counter and grabbed her drink before leaving. The cold winter air that rushed past her as she opened the door caused her to shiver, Kagome had nearly forgotten how cold it was. She walked back to the bench she had been sitting on previously.

"I'm surprised no one took my seat." She said before looking at the drink in her hand.

Kagome looked at the name written on the cup and laughed. "Kaname?" It wasn't the first time they had spelled her name wrong at that café, it was just interesting to see the names they came up with. She thought Kagome was a fairly easy name to pronounce and spell.

"I remember when I used to hate my name." Kagome reminisced about when she was a child.

She looked back at how she viewed her name as a kid and found it absolutely silly just how much she hated her name when she was younger.

"People used to sing that song and it would make me so mad." She turned the cup in her hand.

Kids rushed passed her as they happily played around in the town center.

"Kagome Kagome Kago no naka no tori wa. Itsu itsu deyaru Yoake no ban ni. Tsuru to kame ga subetta. Ushiro no shoumen daare ." She lightly sung to herself. "I haven't played that game since I was a young child. Wow, time flies."

Kagome leaned back on the bench and looked at the sky. It was hard to believe that she was already eighteen. It felt like just yesterday she was six with no worries in the world, the only problems ever having to do with conflicting schedules. Jump rope or TV? Play at the park or invite friends over to eat cake and have tea? Such hard decisions.

She shook the drink in her hand. "I wonder how many people have ordered the same thing today? 10? 20? 100?"

Kagome had always been curious about random things, always questioning even when there were no questions to be asked. There was just so much to ask and not enough time to ask it. Most of her friends seemed to just go with the flow and walk around blindly, but Kagome liked to question things. She normally just asked herself the questions she had, seeing as they were pointless and she thought it'd annoy her friends if she questioned every little thing.

There had been more than just a few times where she had questioned something while she was with her friends and ended up spending time trying to answer her own question in her head, thus missing her friends conversations and having to ask them to fill her in. They saw it as nothing more than their friend being ditzy.

Life was just too short to walk around not knowing some things. Kagome didn't want to know everything, she just wanted to know enough to where she felt satisfied.

She had never met anyone that thought as much as her, or even thought on the same line as her.

Strange, weird, odd, aberrant, abnormal, unusual, peculiar, anomalous.

Those were some of the things her friends had used to describe her in the past. Those words were like a tune that had been played repeatedly. Before, she used to hate that her friends would call her that, even people she didn't know had called her that. What was wrong with wanting to know more than just what people tell you?

Of course, Kagome could care less now. She stopped questioning out loud and started questioning in her head. She seemed to earn more friends that way.

Kagome brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I wonder if it will snow, it surely feels cold enough to."

It had snowed weeks ago, but she hadn't seen snow since then. It had only snowed three times since Winter had started and Kagome was used to seeing much more snow.

Her ears picked up the song 'Let it Snow' in the background and she smiled. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

The magic that came with snow made Kagome happy. She didn't know what was so great about frozen rain falling from the sky, but she loved it. Playing in the snow was fun, though she normally got sick soon after, and watching it fall was relaxing, but what was so spectacular about it?

She shivered as she felt the temperature drop. "Maybe I should go home?"

It was New Years Eve after all, though she would be going home to an empty house, it was much warmer there. She took out a penny from her pocket.

"Heads I go home, tails I stay here."

She tossed it in the air and caught it with ease.

Heads

"Guess it's time to head home then." Kagome said as she set her coffee on the bench before stretching.

She quickly grabbed it and began walking in the direction of her house.

"Go straight, take a left, go straight some more then take another left, cross the street, take a right, and then I'm home." She mumbled to herself as she recited the way back home.

She loved how her house was conventionally located near everything, nothing was too far away by foot. It was great because she loved walking more than anything in the world. It was a good way to stay slim and take a breather away from the fast pace life filled with new technology and electronics.

She took out a few quarters she had in her pocket as she neared the corner. There was an older looking woman jingling a bell with a red bucket at her feet. Kagome tossed the quarters in the bucket and smiled at the woman.

The woman gave her a soft smile."Happy New Years."

"Happy New Years." Kagome repeated with a small bow.

She continued in the direction of her house. She felt bad for the woman. The temperature was dropping and the woman was trying to earn money for charity. It warmed Kagome's heart to see that, there were just too many people that didn't care about the well beings of others and only cared about themselves.

It amazed her, the direction that humanity was heading in that is. If people continued like they were now, Kagome could see a future where parents barely had a relationship with their children, only ever feeding them and providing them with tangible objects, no love or care, as if it never existed. It almost made her scared to think about giving birth to a child, the world was such a cruel place.

"A cruel world?" She asked with a smile, she clearly remembered a particular person asking her if the world they lived in was truly cruel.

As she walked, the people around her lessened, though there were still people around. She kicked a stone at her feet. 'Maybe I can kick this all the way back to my house.'

She kicked the stone and watched as it skidded away from her. When Kagome caught up to where the stone had landed, she kicked it as hard as she could, but it only went a few feet in front of her.

Kagome laughed. 'Maybe I shouldn't kick it so hard?'

She kicked it lightly and watched as it skipped and jumped around on the ground before turning around the corner and into an ally way.

"My rock!" She cried out as she followed it.

Her breath hitched as she looked at where the rock had landed. Directly in front of her was a young man sleeping against a wall near tons of boxes. He had his back leaned against a few boxes with his arms resting against his knees.

"This is an awkward place to sleep." She mumbled to herself.

She looked at him closely. He wore a shamrock green coat, Kagome assumed he was warm due to the cream wool peeking out on the inside. He adorned dark wash jeans and a pair of basketball shoes to match. His hair was a nice frosty mixture of white and silver that was held in a pony tail.

"Dog ears?" She smiled as she looked at them. They looked soft to the touch, she wished she could touch them.

She crouched down, careful to mind her skirt as she looked at his face. Kagome looked at his eyes, long eye lashes rolled off and curled ever so slightly. He had a tiny beauty mark on his left eye lid that she was sure was only noticeable when his eyes were closed. He had a button nose, very small and dainty. The man in front of her had full lips that were turned down in a frown. Even soft looking skin, with a nice golden glaze to it, like he had spent days in the sun, but it was natural.

She lightly clapped her hands together. "I'm dealing with a model...but why is he here?" She questioned.

Kagome began making scenarios in her head. She narrowed it down to five scenarios that could lead to the young man in front of her sitting on the cold floor on New Years Eve.

a) needs money to ride the transit, but has none so he must camp out here

b) he got extremely tired and decided to crash in a place close by

c) got in trouble with his girlfriend so he got kicked out of the house

d) galactic alien that recently made it to earth. After such a long journey, he needed to rest, so he found a place where no one would bother him.

e) hobo

Of course there were many more scenarios, but she had decided there were only five that were the most likely. One of them she found highly unlikely though, there was no way a hobo could afford such a nice looking jacket or clothes.

'He probably needs money for the transit or something. It might be too late to catch a train now though.' She took out her wallet and grabbed a ten dollar bill.

Kagome wanted to leave the money next to him, but she was afraid the cold winter nights wind would blow it away.

"Maybe I should wake him..." Kagome thought as she looked at him.

She hesitantly reached out one of her hands and lightly tapped his shoulder. She found herself getting nervous as he opened his eyes.

Her breath caught in her mouth. 'Amber.' It was such a beautiful color and she had never seen anyone with such pretty eyes.

Kagome had nearly forgotten about the crinkled bill in her hand. "Oh, um, do you need money for the train?" She asked as she held out the money for him to take.

"I don't need your money." He said in a somewhat aggravated tone as he shoved her hand away. His scowl had deepened.

'I guess that scenario wasn't right.' She thought. 'So what is he doing here?'

He looked at her before closing his eyes again and leaning on the box. She looked at the space next to him and leaned up against one of the boxes before getting comfortable.

'Good thing I always wear shorts under my skirt.' She thought as she adjusted her thigh high socks.

He glared at her. "What are you doing?"

'That's the prettiest glare I've ever seen.' Kagome smiled as she carefully set her drink next to her. "Ya want to know something weird?"

He didn't answer as he scooted away from her, which wasn't too far seeing as there were boxes right next to him. He simply looked at her through slit eyes.

"I think I've seen at least eight hundred people today." She continued as she thought about all of the people that had passed her when she was walking and as she sat on the bench. "Not a single person had a frown on their face." She looked at him. "Why is it that, out of all of the people I saw, you, the last person I was going to see today, had a frown on your face?"

He quietly stared at her before clearing his throat. "Haven't you heard of stranger danger?"

She lightly giggled. "If I thought I were in serious danger I wouldn't be sitting next to you." Kagome shivered.

"If you're cold go home." He said roughly.

"I'm fine, thank you." She blew into her hands to warm them. "It's beautiful tonight, isn't it?"

The moon was full and the stars were out. They were in an area of Tokyo where there were mainly dim lights, giving the stars a chance to shine. Kagome sighed when she was greeted with silence. Was she talking to herself?

She pulled her knees close to her chest and folded her arms over them before turning her head to look at him. Curious brown eyes stared into amber eyes filled with annoyance. They stared at each other for a while, letting nothing more than silence pass between them. Another gust of wind blew, causing Kagome to shiver once more and squeeze her eyes shut.

"So, what's your name?" She asked softly.

He lightly grunted as he turned away from her. "None of your business."

"Business?" She repeated. "My names Kagome, it's very nice to meet you."

"I didn't ask. He replied rudely.

Kagome's smile grew. "I know, but supposing..." She thought hard. "What if kidnappers came around that corner." She pointed to a corner near an ally even though he wasn't facing her. "And threatened you. They'd say 'Gimme' all your money!'" She lowered her voice. "As they grab you and hold you down. For some reason, I'll be sleeping at that time and you'll have to scream my name to wake me up so that I can help you. Once you scream my name, I'll come to your rescue and save you, but that's only if you say my name."

He turned his head and looked at her as if she were crazy. "Why are you talking to me?"

"Why not?" Kagome asked with a shrug of her shoulders. "We're both alone on New Years Eve." She scooted closer to him and pointed at the watch adorning her wrist. "Look, isn't it weird? The first time I look at my watch today, and it's exactly nine-thirty. We have two hours and thirty minutes until it's a new year. That's crazy."

'She makes it sound like the same thing doesn't happen each year.' He thought.

"Each year is different." Kagome said as if she had heard what he was thinking. "Each second of New Years Eve day is unique and special. For example, last year on New Years Eve at exactly 9:30 pm, my little brother and I were singing karaoke at the top of our lungs as my mother cooked dinner. This year, I'm sitting here with a new friend."

'Friend?' He questioned. "If it's as fun as you make it seem, why aren't you spending New Years Eve singing with your family then?"

"Because a whole year has passed and things have changed." Kagome liked that he had started talking to her.

He grunted with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Don't regress." He gave her a questioning glance. "We were just having a conversation and now you're back to grunting. Let's continue, what did you do last year?" He mumbled something incoherent. "Pardon me?"

"I said." He replied loudly before lowering his voice. "It doesn't matter. Stop asking questions."

Kagome frowned. 'Maybe I'm really annoying him...' She looked closer at him and smiled. 'But if he was really annoyed he would've left.'

"Okay, I'll stop asking questions." She said before lightly coughing into her sleeve. "Sorry about that, I didn't think I'd be staying outside for so long, I should've put on warmer clothes." She adorned simple navy blue knee high socks, with a navy blue collared blouse tucked into a soft black skater skirt with light brown combat boots to match.

"Then go home." He said as if it were obvious.

"But then you'd be here alone."

He gave her that same look, the one that screamed he thought she was crazy. "I don't recall ever asking you to stay."

Kagome nodded her head. "Sure, that may be true, but I don't recall you not asking me to stay."

"Didn't you hear me when I told you to leave?"

"Loud and clear, but what I didn't hear was you not asking me to stay."

He simply sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. Kagome couldn't tell if he stopped talking because she had annoyed him to the point of silence or if he was just tired of talking. She looked up at the sky.

'When people die do they really go to the sky?' She reached her hand out, as if trying to touch the sky. "It's so far away." She muttered to herself.

The man next to her watched with curious eyes. First, she offered him money randomly, then she sat down and started having a conversation with him. Just who was the girl sitting next to him? She looked like she was in deep thought now.

Kagome was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a small sound from her right. 'Did he just say something?' Kagome sat up a little. "Sorry, can you repeat that?"

"Inuyasha."

Her eye brows crinkled together in confusion. "Inu...yasha? What is that?" She questioned.

"You asked for my name earlier, didn't ya'?"

Her eyes widened as she realized he had said his name, she hadn't expected for him to talk to her, let alone say his name. For some reason, she found herself becoming happy.

"Inuyasha, ne? That's a very nice name. May I ask your last name?"

"Why?" He asked. People normally didn't ask for his last name.

"I prefer to use formalities when addressing my senior or someone I've just met."

"...Takahashi." He replied.

"Takahashi." She tested. "Sounds cool, Takahashi-kun." She coughed into her jacket again, this cough was much longer than the last.

Silence passed between them as her coughs died out. She cleared her throat when she was done coughing.

'I wish I had my inhaler.' Kagome thought.

She hadn't thought much of the tickle in her throat earlier, but it could turn into a serious problem without her inhaler. She began rubbing her sore chest.

"All that coughing tired me out." She said with a small laugh.

He didn't laugh. "Go home, you'll get sick."

She shook her head. "It's okay."

Inuyasha abruptly stood next to her, causing her to jump. He looked down at her, very calmly, like he hadn't just randomly stood up. They stared at each other.

"Are you leaving?" Kagome asked after a while.

He leaned up against a wall across from her. "Yea."

"Oh." She sighed. 'Guess he's going home.'

He watched her with interest, it was clear on her face that she was enjoying herself with him.

"...You can come with me." He offered.

Her face slightly brightened. "Really? Where are you going?"

"You'll have to follow to find out." He held out his hand for her to take. "You don't have to come though, you're more than welcome to just go home."

Kagome looked at the hand in front of her. 'Following a stranger puts me in a lot of danger.' She thought.

"You don't have to come." He repeated.

She firmly grasped onto his hand. The warmth that passed through his hand to hers made her feel like what she was doing was okay. Inuyasha carefully pulled her up before steadying her on her feet. Kagome bent down and picked up her drink before turning back to him with a smile.

"I want to."

He nodded his head and began walking away from her. She quickly followed in step, trailing carefully behind him.

'This could be a trap. He could be leading me to a group of gangsters or people that could do me harm.' And yet she found herself stepping in a puddle as she followed him across the street. 'I could always turn around, but...' She looked at the man in front of her.

"Watch your step." He said as he pulled her a little closer so that she wouldn't step in a pot hole.

"It's not like he'd hurt me."

"What?"

"Nothing." She looked at where they were. They had walked into another ally way with nothing more than narrow walls and a chain link fence in front of them. "Are we climbing that?" She asked as she pointed at the fence.

He nodded his head before putting his hand in one of the holes and climbing up. Kagome watched as he climbed the fence and jumped down on the other side.

"Come on, don't tell me you're scared of climbing a little fence."

Kagome looked at the expression on his face. 'Is that a taunting smirk? I didn't expect him to make that kind of face.' She lightly tapped the fence. "I'm not so much scared of climbing it, I'm just not sure if I have the upper body strength for it."

He snorted. "It's easy."

"You're talking to a girl that can't do a single pull up or push up." He laughed, a very deep, but soft laugh. 'It's like a child's laughter, very warm.' She thought.

"Just pull yourself up, if you can't get over this small fence that's a shame."

She looked at the fence to see if there was an opening or incision at the bottom. She smiled when she found a small hole that was a big enough to slip her drink through. Kagome slipped it through, spilling a bit of the now warm drink in the process.

Kagome grabbed onto the fence and put one foot in the hole. "I think I can do it." She began pulling herself up and working her way upwards on the fence. It wasn't long before she was at the top and sitting on the edge. 'My arms are killing me.'

"Jump."

She looked at the ground, she was practically ten feet above it. "I'll just climb down." Kagome said before swinging her leg over the fences edge and going down. She sighed in relief when her foot touched the ground.

Inuyasha began walking when he saw that she had made it safely. Kagome grabbed her drink and began following extremely close behind him.

"Why are you sticking so close?" He asked as he cut through to another ally.

"It's pitch black dark out here, there are practically no street lights." Kagome wasn't going to lie, it was getting darker and she was a bit afraid of being in an ally when it was dark. It wasn't the dark that scared her, but what could be lurking in the dark did. Here she was late at night following a stranger in a dark ally way, she was setting herself up for something bad to happen.

"We're almost there, ain't nothing to be scared of. I walk through these parts all the time." He tried to ignore the fact that they were pressing skin, mainly for her benefit.

"I'll trust you then."

They walked for a while longer before they reached an old run down building. It looked like a once nice little office that had grown withered with age and lack of care. A huge door, one similar to a church was laid out in front of her, it had a nice design that ran down the sides. The handle was huge, much larger than Kagome's hand. She went to open the door, but Inuyasha put a hand on her shoulder.

"The door doesn't work, we gotta go through the side." He led her to the side of the building where a small broken window on the bottom part of the wall lay.

"Is this trespassing?" She asked. Though it looked abandoned, she didn't know if this was owned property.

"Nah, this place has been run down for years now." Inuyasha patted the building next to them. "I have two rules before you enter."

"Okay." Kagome looked at him, waiting to hear the rules.

"The first rule is, you can't lie when you come in here."

"Lie?" She questioned.

He nodded his head. "Yea, you have to be brutally honest in here. My friends and I have gotten into plenty of fights because of that rule."

She laughed. "I understand, what's the second rule?"

"No secrets."

"Sounds fair enough. Alright, as soon as I enter this building I will not lie or keep a secret."

"Perfect." Inuyasha sat on the ground before sliding through the broken window. He looked at her through the window. "There's a table right here that you'll land on."

She set her drink down on the floor before sliding in, she waited until she felt the click of her boot's heel on the table to let go of the ledge and grabbed her drink. Kagome sat on the table and looked at her surroundings.

They were in a huge room illuminated by portable Christmas lights. Through out the room were paintings hung on the wall.

'Wow, there has to be at least fifty paintings here.'

As she scanned the room, she noticed different paints scattered around along with many canvases and sketch pads. A lone mattress lay near one of the canvases that was sitting on a stand. Kagome hopped off the table and walked up to one of the paintings that was hanging.

It was a simple painting of a wide lake with cherry blossom trees outlining it. She loved how the nights full moon was reflected in the water and that there were ripples in the lake from where random cherry blossoms had fallen. She could see the detail and hard work that was put into the painting.

"I painted that a few years ago." Inuyasha said as he walked up behind her.

"You painted this?" She would've thought it was professionally done had he not told her he had made it.

"Yea, I used different types of oils and a little bit of acrylic paint to make this."

'He can't be much older than me...' She thought as she looked at his face. "Are you in school right now?"

"Nope." He shook his head.

She stepped closer to the painting. "This is amazing, you did all of the paintings?"

"Every single one."

Kagome could tell that he took pride in his work. Though he wasn't jumping with exuberance and over flowing with joy in the fact that he made all of this, she could see the small smile playing at his lips as he looked at his work.

"You should become a professional." She moved to the second piece of art.

The second painting was of windmills twirling, only the top mills visible at the bottom of the canvas. The background was pitch black dark, creating a noticeable contrast against the floral green, pink, and yellow wind mills. Cherry blossoms were falling from downwards in this picture.

Kagome loved how there was a darker approach to this picture. Cherry blossoms and wind mills were normally used with brighter colors or pastels due to the meaning of spring time, but he had given his painting a pitch black background.

"Do you like cherry blossoms or something?" She asked.

"Yea, I think they look nice." He sat down at a stool in front of a blank canvas.

Kagome continued to look at the paintings. As she looked at her work, she noticed the variation of work he did. Different things ranging from scenery, to people, or even inanimate objects were all around her. She wondered just how long he had been painting to achieve such a level of professionalization.

"How long have you come here?" Kagome asked.

"I've been coming here since last year, it's like my second home."

She pointed at the mattress. "Isn't it? If you spend the night here, I assume it is."

"There are just times when I can't stop painting so I end up here until really late and just spend the night." Kagome walked up to him and stared into his eyes. "What are you doing?" He shifted his gaze to the ground.

Kagome threw a huge smile at him. "Your eyes...they're sparkling."

She thought his eyes would be glowing when he talked about what he was passionate about, and she was right. Amber eyes were gleaming with happiness.

He lightly scoffed as he stood up. "You want to paint something?"

Kagome shook her head with a laugh. "I can't even draw a stick figure, I'd probably paint a big mess. I'd love to watch you paint though."

"That's not what I asked you." He said as he went to the back and grabbed a few paint brushes. "Come on, who could it hurt? I bet you're a better artist than you think."

She rolled her eyes. "My art is nothing compared to what you can draw."

"No, you're wrong." He sighed. "My art work isn't the best, it's practically nothing."

Kagome stared at him as she watched him grab some things. 'How can someone that creates such amazing work say that?' Was this not the guy that took pride in his work two seconds ago?

"Here." He opened her hand and placed a thin paint brush in it. "Paint anything you want, there's paint everywhere. You can put any paint you want to use on this." Inuyasha handed her a small dry erase white board. She took off her jacket and sat on the stool.

Kagome looked at the paint around her. "Are you sure?" He nodded his head. "Okay." She hesitantly grabbed a small tube of black paint and squeezed a bit on the board.

Inuyasha watched in interest as she sat down and looked at the canvas, as if deciding hard about what she wanted to draw. She pressed the brush into the paint and started painting. Inuyasha took off his jacket and tossed it on the mattress.

"Do you want me to put the heater on?"

"Sure..." Kagome wasn't sure how he was going to do that with no electricity.

He pulled out a portable heater from one of the corners and sat it near the mattress. When he turned around to check on Kagome, she had already put the paint brush down and was staring at her work.

"Done?" He asked.

She nodded her head. "Done." He walked up behind her and tried hard to stifle a laugh. He couldn't hold in his laughter as he tried to cover it with a cough. She lightly slapped his arm. "I told you I can't paint."

On the canvas was a horribly drawn butterfly. The wings were different sizes and made of wobbly looking curves. The body was too thick, and there was a clear error in the length of the antennas.

"No." He looked at the painting. "It's great."

"I thought you said we had to be honest here." Kagome said in a matter of fact tone.

He shook his head. "I'm serious, look." Inuyasha grabbed a few colors and then sat down behind her on the stool. Kagome lightly blushed at the close contact. Though it was weird to have a stranger so close behind her, she didn't mind it much. "This is actually really good." He squirted a few colors on the white board and showed them to her. "We'll start with these. Choose any color you want."

"Ummm, how about green?" She asked as she looked at a pretty lime green that was in front of her.

"I don't know why you're asking me, you're the one with the paint brush."

Kagome set one of the brushes down and grabbed a slightly thicker brush. She dabbed it in the paint carefully and then looked at Inuyasha for approval. "Okay?"

"Now, just build off of it." He lightly grabbed her hand and gently pressed it on the canvas. "It never hurts to add a little color." He guided her hand along the outside of the butterfly's body before slowly dragging it at a downward angle. Inuyasha began mixing the cream with red.

"Is it okay to mix colors like this?" She asked, trying hard to conceal her blush. He seemed to be just fine with the fact that he was directly behind her and holding her hand, but she wasn't used to it.

"Yea, you get the best colors when you don't use the colors given to you. Where should we put this color?"

"How about...here?" Kagome said as she directed their hands to a corner.

They spent the next twenty minutes simply painting. There was only ever conversation about what paint to use next and where, both concentrating on the painting. As they filled in the last wing, completing the whole painting, Kagome couldn't help but smile.

'Though we just met...I could see myself seriously liking him in the future.' Even with the fact that she didn't really know him, she felt that if she got to know him more she would definitely fall for him. 'It must just be my teenage mind thinking this.' She thought with a laugh.

She looked at the painting in front of her. Inuyasha had turned it into a work of art. The once terribly formed butterfly looked like it was bursting with all sorts of colors. The butterfly had been filled in with a soft peachy pink and light blue, creating a beautiful contrast.

"You made my ugly drawing beautiful, Takahashi-kun. You really are great."

"You're wrong, you did all of this."

She clearly remembered his hand guiding hers through out the whole thing. "I couldn't have done this." She could honestly say the picture was great. If he could do this in just twenty minutes, what could he do in an hour? Or even a day?

He shook his head. "Ya' see this? He pointed at the center of the painting, at the butterfly. She nodded her head. "That's the whole painting right there. When your eyes look at this, they go directly to the center, not to all of the randomness around it. You drew this, I just helped add a few things. I couldn't have done this without you."

She lightly leaned back on his chest with a laugh. "You're funny, you know you did most of the work. It's sweet that you tried to say that though, Takahashi-kun."

Inuyasha sighed. "You think we've gotten pretty comfortable with each other, right?" Kagome thought about it, but before she could answer he spoke. "I think we have."

"I think we have too." Kagome said as she looked at him. 'Good to know I'm not the only one that thought this.'

"If you think we've gotten closer, why are you calling me by my last name? I know you're into formalities and stuff, but if I call you Ka-"

She cut him off. "You haven't called me by my name once yet."

"I haven't been kidnapped yet, Kagome."

She laughed. "Does it bother you that much that I have called you by your last name three times?" He nodded his head. "Then, if it's not too much trouble please allow me to call you Inuyasha."

"Alright, Kagome." He moved from behind her and offered her a hand.

She gratefully took his hand and stood up. He looked into her eyes, she stared back, both still holding hands.

"If we're having a staring contest, I'll let you know now, I'm not good at these." Kagome said before blinking.

"That's not what I was doing." He said with a smirk. "What time is it?"

Kagome looked at her watch. "10:30."

"Okay, I'll be back." He let go of her hand and grabbed his coat. "Stay here."

"You're leaving me here alone?" Kagome asked as she watched him put on his coat.

"Yea, trust me. I'll be back as soon as I can."

She couldn't believe he was about to leave her in an abandoned house alone. "Where are you going?"

"It's a surprise."

"I thought you said no secrets."

He lightly grabbed her shoulders. "It's a surprise, not a secret, they're two different things. I'll be back."

"You're not going to bring any hoodlums or gangsters here to be beat me up, right?"

Inuyasha laughed. "No." He took out his cell phone and put it in her hand. "If something happens call someone you know or someone in the contacts. I'll hurry back."

She looked down cast. "If you say so, Inuyasha. I trust you."

"Alright, just paint something if you get bored." He said before stepping onto the table and climbing out the window.

Kagome sat on the mattress with a sigh. "Where did he go? Why did he leave?" She thought about how he had asked for the time before leaving. "Maybe he went to meet someone? A girlfriend?...But would he be that friendly with a stranger if he had a girlfriend?"

Kagome didn't know what to think about him. There were just too many reasons as to why he would leave after asking the time so she decided to just leave the thought alone.

"Don't make me count down to the New Years by myself." She mumbled as she walked up to the painting they had painted. Kagome stared at the painting for a while before deciding something was missing. "Ah, I know what's missing."

She grabbed the paint brush they had used and dipped it into the pink paint. She lightly drew a small sakura petal in the corner. "Now, it looks like Inuyasha painted it." She said with a laugh.

Kagome put the paint brush on the board carefully before walking to one of the paintings that was hung up. "Let's look carefully at each and every one of these paintings."

.
~

.

Time passed slowly for Kagome. It had felt like hours had passed though she hadn't bothered to check her watch. Kagome had looked at plenty of his paintings since he had left.

Now she had come to a painting with gigantic snow flakes on it. The background faded from a light blue at the top and into a darker blue at the bottom. Snow flakes practically danced on the canvas as latex and acrylic paint meshed. Different blues and whites mixed to form snowflakes.

"It's beautiful." When she moved to turn away, something caught her eye. She noticed a small splotch of gray on one of the snow flakes. "...Did he mess up?" Kagome looked at her watch. "It's already 11:24."

Right as she turned back towards the painting, she saw a set of feet swing through the window. Inuyasha jumped down from the window and pulled a box into the room.

"Hey, did you mess up on this painting?" Kagome asked as she pointed at the picture in front of her.

Inuyasha walked to the painting and looked at it. "Yea, I did. I didn't think it was that noticeable."

"It's not, I just saw it at a glance and happened to catch it."

Inuyasha tossed his coat on the couch. "If you could see it a glance, then isn't it extremely noticeable?"

"No, sometimes you see the most with just a simple glance rather than looking at it for particular things."

"That's one way to look at it." Inuyasha said as he looked at her. "Plenty of my friends have come in here and have seen this painting, but none have pointed out my mistake. You've got a nice eye."

Kagome shook her head. "You're the first person to tell me that. I've had people tell me that I'm weird just because I like to look at detail and see what's beyond the surface. I haven't met a single person that thinks it's 'nice' to think like this. Sometimes it's just nice to know more than what people tell you or what you're supposed." Most people would feel mad or embarrassed that she had called out his mistake, but he seemed just fine with it.

"Ya' can't say that now because you've met me. Besides, you have eunoia."

"Eunoia?" She questioned

He smirked. "It means 'beautiful thinking'. Regardless of what other people told you, I think it's great that you think differently from others. It sets you apart from other idiots, right?"

"I guess you're right." She said with a small smile. "Let's play a game."

"Game?"

"Yup, a game." Kagome grabbed his hand and led him to the stool before sitting him down. She leaned over his shoulder and looked at him. "Okay, this game is really easy, I read it in a manga. Look 180 degrees around you."

Inuyasha looked all around him. "Alright."

She covered his eyes with her hands and giggled. "How many huge dark spots were there on the wall?"

"...Two?" He guessed, he couldn't remember even seeing any.

Kagome removed her hands. "There are six." She said before pointing to each one of them.

"Wow, I never even noticed them."

"It's amazing what you notice and don't notice on a daily basis. Sometimes even the smallest details count because they make a bigger picture. "

Inuyasha sat on the mattress. "Sounds like something my snobby brother would say."

"You have a brother?" She asked as she sat next to him with perked curiosity.

He nodded his head. "An older one, we don't get along though."

"Can you tell me about your background?" It would be a lie to say she wasn't interested in his past. Besides, he said no secrets.

He smiled. "Before I tell you, just tell me what you think my family background is like."

Kagome thought about it. "You're past?..." She worked through tons of scenarios in her head before deciding on one. "You grew up with a mother, a father, and an older brother. You had family friends that were on good terms with your parents but you didn't know much about them. You've always been the child that followed the rules, up until middle school that is. In middle school, you started to disobey the rules, causing trouble for your mother. You had a lot to live up to when compared to your older brother and cracked under the pressure. In high school, you discovered art and focused most of your time on that all while maintaining straight A's." Kagome finished.

"...You're kind of right and wrong, some of it was right."

"Really?" Kagome asked. "I wasn't so sure about a lot of the stuff I said. What was right?"

"You were correct about my parents having plenty of good friends that I didn't know and about me finding a passion for art in high school, the rest is wrong."

"Oh...So what is your story then?" She asked.

"I've always been a bad child, always acting out for attention and stuff. Since my brother was the oldest, my parents focused more on providing the best for him. I didn't even need to be compared with him because I was already out of the race before I could get started; first child equals best child." He cleared his throat. "Middle school was alright, I just breezed through it, but everything changed in high school. In my senior year, I discovered art."

His facial expression had changed 'There's that gleam in his eyes again.' Kagome thought as she watched him.

"I started painting twenty four seven. I rarely ever did my homework or hung out with friends because I was so busy painting. I was normally late coming home or I never did come home because I would spend my time in an old art studio I used to rent out." He continued. "Least to say, my parents weren't proud. Though they didn't expect much from me, they expected something. All we ever did was argue in my house."

"Argue?" She asked.

"Yea. At the time, I was supposed to take over a small position in my dads company after high school. My older brother had already started working in the business and was moving up to vice president. My dad complained that I was still acting immaturely and wasn't ready to take over the business. I argued that I didn't even want anything to do with the business."

"Why?" Kagome thought it would be great to take over a family business.

"I don't want to turn out like my father." He sighed. "If I could choose anyone to hate in the world, it would be my father. He's a cold, heartless, and ruthless business man. He thinks he has to be like that to get places in this world. There were plenty of times where he wasn't home for months and he's made my mother cry more times than I can count. If going into the kind of business my father does is like that, then I would burn in hell before even thinking about joining the company; people in that industry will take you and break you."

She nodded in understanding. "I can see how that would deter you from conforming."

"Yup, he ended up telling me it's either the business of nothing. I chose nothing."

"What do you mean you chose nothing?" She latched onto each word he said.

"He disowned me." Kagome gasped. "He wasn't serious when he said that he would disown me, but when the offer left his mouth it felt like temporary release. I thought 'what if I was really disowned?'. There was no way I'd be able to get out of doing the business if I stayed so I chose to be disowned. It's the best damn choice I've ever made. You can take everything I have and it'll still be more than what my dad could ever have even with his wealth and fortune."

Kagome looked at him with interest. She would've never thought that he would be disowned.

"My mother begged me not to do it. It hurts to know that I caused her to cry so much, but it was worth it. Right after I graduated they disowned me. I've spent the last two years working late hours and numerous jobs, just so I could build up money."

"Does that mean you live here?" It was rent free and a nice little place without the dust, cold air, leaking ceiling, and dirtiness.

"Of course not, I have a small apartment about twenty minutes from here. I just come here to paint."

"That makes sense, I don't think there's any running water here." Kagome said with a laugh.

"Exactly. Ya' know that painting with that little splotch of paint on the snow flake?" He asked.

She nodded her head. "What about it?"

"That mistake is perfect. I take pride in everything I do. I don't care if it's a mistake or if I'm tripping down a pair of stairs, I'm proud of everything I do. Like they say, if you're walking on thin ice, might as well dance. I could've thrown that painting away when I messed up, but I continued to work. My father still doesn't approve of my art or anything I do. I still talk to my mother, but it's difficult to talk to my father; we're slowly working on building a relationship though."

"Wow." His story had thrown her for a loop. "So you aren't going to college, but-"

He stopped her. "I never said I wasn't going to college."

"But when I asked if you were in school, you said no." She questioned as she pushed her hair behind her ear.

"You asked if I was in school right now and I'm not, but that doesn't mean I'm not going." Inuyasha corrected. "That money I worked hard for is going towards school, I start art school in April."

"Sorry, I just assumed."

"Don't assume things, you'll just make an ass out of you and me." He said.

"...I see what you did there." She said with a smile.

"What?"

"An ass out of you and me? Ass...u...me. You spelled out assume."

He laughed. "Not many people get that when I say it."

"It was quite obvious." She said as she scooted closer to him.

Inuyasha leaned back on the mattress. "So, what's your history, Kagome?"

"What do you think it is?"

He closed his eyes as he began thinking. "Pretty average life...You've grown up with a mother, a father, and a little brother. Your life is bubble gum pink, filled with laughter, joy, and happiness. That is, until you started high school and people started calling you a weird person. Other than that set back, your life has been good. Even with a good life you can't help but seek for more adventure, so late at night you talk to strangers."

Kagome laughed. "Some of that was right."

"Not all?" He opened his eyes. "What's your story?"

"Well, I've always been pretty good at school. I haven't been able to play sports because I have really bad asthma attacks if I run too much and I've never been good at many things so I kind of just drift through life. When I was in second grade, my father died in a car accident, so I didn't have him for very long."

'So much for bubble gum pink.' Inuyasha thought as he listened.

"After that not too many bad things happened. We got kicked out of our house and were forced to live with my grandfather for a while. Since I was living with him I learned a lot about morals and ethics, he was a very traditional man and influenced a lot of the things I do now."

"Is that why you call people by their last name?"

She shook her head. "Yes and no. He didn't enforce that, it's just something he mentioned that I liked."

"Alright, continue."

"I went through middle school with ease. It was nice because in my eighth grade year, we moved into a cramped apartment. High school was nice, I've done what I always do, just get good grades and live life the best way I can, but senior year has been a bit difficult."

"Why?" He asked.

She sighed. "Last month, my brother got into a car accident and died." Kagome smiled thinking about her little brother. "He would always ask if the world was truly cruel. I'd tell him it's really only up to him to decide because it was opinion based. He was only in seventh grade when he died, but I know he's in a good place. I think it's weird that both my father and brother both got into car accidents."

Inuyasha was almost at a loss for words "Are you scared of cars now?"

"Nope, there are too many cars in this society, there's no time to be scared of them. I drive when I have to, but if I can, I try to walk everywhere, even if it's far distances."

"Ah."

"Yea, well, things are slowly falling back into place now. I'm managing with school and life at home, but the death of my brother hit my mom really hard. Before, she used to be really kind and caring, but now she's different. Lately, she's been yelling about small things and goes off with random men. Like tonight, some man came and picked her up." She said honestly. "She probably won't be back until later on in the night tomorrow."

"That's why you're alone on New Years?" Kagome nodded her head. "Good, because you were alone you met me."

She laughed. "I'm very thankful for that. That is the whole Kagome Higurashi story in a nutshell." Her eyes drifted over to the table in front of the broken window. "What's in the box if you don't mind me asking."

"I completely forgot about it." Inuyasha said as he got up and grabbed the box from the table. "It took me a long time to find a place that was open, but I finally found one. I went and got us this."

He removed the lid from the box. Inside sat a small vanilla cake with light frosting on top. It read 'HAPPY NEW YEAR!' in green letters and had a gold embroidery.

"You got this for us?" She asked in amazement. Kagome hadn't expected him to buy a cake.

"Yea, I figured you might be hungry and I'm hungry so...why not?" He said as he looked down in embarrassment. "Not a big deal though."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." She said with a warm smile.

This guy was full of surprises. When they had first started talking near the boxes, he was quiet and unresponsive, but things had changed as they got to know each other.

Inuyasha handed her a fork. "Dig in." He gently put his fork into the cake and took a bite.

She smiled as she watched him eat, he reminded her of a child. He was practically dancing with delight as he ate. There was almost a peppy sort of way that he put the fork in the cake before putting it in his mouth and smiling, clearly joyed with the dessert he was eating.

Kagome put her fork in the cake and grabbed a small piece. "This is delicious."

"It really is, I haven't had cake in a long time." He shoved another piecei n his mouth.

Kagome stifled a laugh as she continued eating. It wasn't long before the cake was gone, nothing but a bit of frosting lined the box.

"Thanks again, Inuyasha. That was great."

He laid on his stomach on the mattress. "Mmhmm, I'm thirsty now."

Kagome looked at her drink across the room. "Do you like peppermint mocha?"

"Yea, why?"

She stood up and walked to the drink. "It may be a bit cold, but it's still good. I didn't drink out of it yet." Kagome handed him the drink.

"Is it okay?" He asked as he took it gratefully.

"Yup, the drink is all yours, I don't like peppermint mocha."

"Then...Why did you get it?" He questioned.

She shrugged her shoulders before sitting down. "I don't really know why. It's a good thing I did though because you get to drink it." Kagome looked at her watch and blinked. "It's already 11:57, that's crazy."

Time had really flown since she had first met him.

"Damn, I thought it was just hitting 11:30."

"You were gone for a while looking for a place to get cake, maybe that's why it's so late?"

"Maybe..."

Both sat in silence, just staring at her watch. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago they were strangers. Now they both knew a bit of each others past and a few likes and dislikes of each other. The clock hit 11:59.

Kagome looked at Inuyasha. It was just a small thought, but she had thought about kissing him for New Years. She had never done a New Years kiss before but it was an idea.

"Ah, 20 seconds left." Kagome said as she focused on the watch.

He moved closer to her. "Let's count down with it. 10 seconds."

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Kagome lightly pressed her lips to his cheek. She pulled back with a blush. 'I didn't think I'd do it.' She thought before looking up at him. Kagome noticed a light blush gracing his cheeks."New Years resolution complete."

"What?" He asked. "Was your resolution to kiss someone?"

Kagome shook her head. "I decided that this year I would be a little naughty. If kissing someone that's not my boyfriend doesn't make me bad, then I don't know what does."

Inuyasha laughed. "You call that a kiss? You just pecked my cheek."

"Well, I can work my way int-"

Inuyasha lightly grabbed her head and pressed his lips to hers. Kagome's eyes widened at the action, never in a million years did she think that he'd pull her into a kiss, weren't they strangers? It was an airy kiss, very soft and nice; her first kiss. He lightly pulled back with a smirk, satisfied with her red face.

"That's how you do it."

"Can I ask you something...Wait, never mind." Kagome said as she pressed her fingers to her lips, she was in a bit of a daze.

"No just ask."

"It's a foolish question."

He shook his head. "I doubt it, the only foolish questions are unasked ones." She looked down hesitantly. "Just ask, I'm not going to bite your head off."

"What did you think about me when we first met and what do you think about me now?" Kagome looked at him. It was an easy question. She was curious to know because she had thought that he hated her before, but then they just kissed. Specifically, he kissed her.

"Before?" She nodded her head. "I thought you were annoying and very talkative." Kagome laughed. "You wouldn't stop talking, even when I didn't answer you, girls like that annoy the hell out of me, but now... I don't know why I thought that. I misjudged you."

"Oh." She said, she could feel her face turning red. "Thank you..."

"What did you think about me?" He asked.

"Before, I thought 'what is this hobo doing on the floor', but then it turned into a 'wait, this is a model who needs money for the train'. Now, you're a guy that I feel like I've gotten to know pretty well in a few hours and have enjoyed spending my New Years Eve with."

He yawned. "You thought I was a model?"

Kagome laughed. "Yea, you're very handsome. You have these piercing eyes and nice silky hair."

"I don't really know what to say. Thanks."

"You're welcome." He yawned once more. "Are you tired?" She asked.

"A little."

"I guess I should leave then." She said with a sigh. He probably wanted to get home to a warm bed.

Inuyasha looked confused. "Why? Just stay the night. I can walk you back to the town center tomorrow. Besides, since it was just New Years a there plenty of people lurking around, ready to start trouble." He patted the mattress. "You can sleep up here, I'll sleep on the floor. Sound good?"

She thought about the cons and pros of staying. "...Sounds good."

"Great." He stood up and walked to the table. Kagome hadn't noticed it before, but there were tons of blankets piled underneath it. He grabbed a few and walked back to the mattress. "These are all clean."

He handed her three thick blankets before tossing the rest in the area where he was sleeping. She looked at the huge mattress as she took off her shoes.

"...If you don't try anything with me, you can sleep on the mattress." She didn't even take up half of the mattress, she highly doubted it'd be a bother if he slept on the other side.

"You're okay with that?" He asked.

She nodded her head. "You're not going to do anything, right?"

"Nothing you wouldn't want."

"Then it's fine." She said as she spread the blankets on the bed. It looked like a nice canopy now. Kagome got comfortable on the left side of the mattress, she faced herself towards the wall.

Inuyasha turned off the Christmas lights above them and flipped on a portable lamp in the corner. Kagome felt the creak of the mattress underneath her as Inuyasha got on.

"Hey." He said as he looked at the back of her head.

She turned around. "What?" Inuyasha pulled her closer. "I thought you weren't going to do anything." Honestly, she didn't mind being close to him. The more heat, the better.

"Don't do this with anyone else."

"What are you talking about?" She questioned.

"Promise me you won't talk to strangers like this, don't follow men you don't know around, don't go into abandoned houses with them, don't invite them to get on the mattress with you."

She laughed. "So don't do any of the things I've done with you with other men?"

"Anyone really, other people aren't as nice as me, they would just take advantage of you."

"You're right." It was sheer luck that Inuyasha had turned out to be a good person.

"Promise."

"I promise I won't do this with other people." Kagome said before snuggling into his chest. 'Why do I trust him so much?'

He held her tighter as he felt himself grow more tired. It wasn't long before both were fast asleep.

.
~

.

Morning came and the sun rose. Kagome was the first to wake. She smiled when she felt Inuyasha's loose grip around her waist.

'He's still sleeping.' She looked at the soft expression on his face. She wished she had his artistic skill so that she could paint his sleeping his face, it was beautiful. 'There's that beauty mark again.'

Kagome carefully maneuvered herself out of his grip and stood up. 'I wonder how long he'll sleep?' He looked like the kind of person that could sleep a day away with ease.

She walked to one of the paintings she hadn't looked at yet.

"This is different." She said as she looked at the painting closer.

There were two swords on this particular painting. The back ground was half orange, half yellow, the orange had a nice diamond pattern on it. One sword was half way pulled out of its cryptic looking sheath, it looked like the bottom half of the sheath had a royal purple band tied around it. It was slightly angled with the other sword. The second sword was completely sheathed, it was simply a black sheath with a red guard, and a black & white braided handle tipped with gold.

Along with the background lay stamps of god's or what Kagome assumed to be demons.

"He must have really put in a lot of work for this." Had she not known it was a painting, she would've assumed it to be a photo. "I want to find something I'm good at so I can work hard like him."

She heard Inuyasha groan from the side and jerked her head in his direction. He lightly squirmed on the mattress before blinking his eyes open and sitting up.

He looked at her tiredly. "Happy New Year!" Kagome said as she walked up to him. "I just realized we didn't even say that earlier."

Inuyasha nodded his head. "Happy New Year." He stretched. "It's already morning?"

A thought struck Kagome as she nodded her head. "Will I see you again after today?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

He looked straight into her eyes. "If you want to see me again of course."

She held out a hand to help him up. "I do."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" She asked, clearly sad by the idea of him not wanting to see her again.

"It's just not." She didn't know what to say now, it nearly broke her heart that he didn't want to see her again. She just stared at her hand "Fine."

He took her hand and tried hefting himself up, but ended up pulling her down in the action. She gasped as she fell into his chest.

"Oh my." Kagome said as she looked at him.

"Told you it wasn't a good idea." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"Huh?"

"Told you, in physics we learned about how heavier objects weigh down smaller objects." Kagome stared at him before laughing. "What's so funny?"

"I-I thought you were sa-saying you didn't want to see me anymore." She said between her laughs.

He quickly shook his head. "I want to see you again. Honestly, you're the kind of girl I date, I like you."

Kagome got off of his chest and sat next to him on the mattress. She covered her face with her hands, completely embarrassed that she was blushing. "Really?"

"Yup, so I want to get to know you more." Kagome nodded her head. "Am I the kind of guy you'd date?"

She shrugged her shoulders and stood up. "Don't know, I've never had a boyfriend, you could be. I mean, I really want to get to know you too." She said shyly. "When did you start feeling that way towards me, I clearly remember you not liking me at first."

It was his turn to shrug his shoulders. "I think it was when you said you'd stay with me." He stood up. "I could tell that you were really cold but you still stayed with me, so I figured you couldn't be that bad."

She nodded her head and walked back to the painting she had stared at earlier, satisfied with his answer. "When did you paint this painting?"

He walked behind her and looked at it. "Recently, this was painted about four months ago."

"I think this is my favorite painting, it makes me want to find something I'm good at."

"I'm not good at anything, I just paint."

Kagome shook her hear. "There you go again, saying you're not good at anything. If you're good at nothing, then I want to be good at nothing too."

Inuyasha laughed. "I'm not, I've still got a lot of practice to go through and a lot of things to learn. Until I learn all of that, I'm not good at anything. Not good at cooking, not good at testing, not good at shopping, and definitely not good at painting."

"No matter what you say, you excel at this one thing. For a person who recently started liking art, this is fantastic. You're like a...savant."

"You think so?"

"The fact that you can create such a master piece is amazing in itself. If you can't do anything, art is the one thing you can do." She said as she hugged him.

"Savant?" He asked before lightly kissing her forehead. She was the first person to call him that. "I think I like the sound of that.


Author Note:

This story is literally just drabble haha. A simple story about when an eunoia and a savant clashes.

Okay I apologize for the rushed story, you can tell it's really rusty in like...a lot of parts haha. I wrote this in 3 days! ! ! Yes, three days, I'm lucky I even finished the story by New Years. I apologize for any funky parts. I wish I could've invested more time in it. I'm used to spending months on a one shot, not a few days! Again, sorry .

I'VE ONLY READ THROUGH THE WHOLE THING ONCE! I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY ERRORS!

29 pages baby ! ! !

I spent ALL of New Years Eve writing this ): (I have no life haha)

Now it's 4:40 on New Years day when I'm done writing this. I'm so tired...

I hope you enjoyed.

a) The paintings Inuyasha painted (besides the butterfly picture) are all scenes taken from Inuyasha The Final Act, if you look you can see what he painted

b) This fanfiction was inspired by a song I heard recently. Artist: Savant Song: Survive. Great song!

Hope you like! Please review! HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish that all of you have a fantastic year! :D

P.s. I know you guys never find out why he's sleeping there ;) I did that on purpose.

If you have any songs (or anything really) you think could inspire me, please tell me so I can possibly write a fanfiction about it :)