InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Light in Dark Places ❯ Chapter 3: Collision ( Chapter 4 )

(A/N): Chapter 4 is about half finished… it will be up soon. I will be in Kyoto, Japan from July 9-August 16, so story updates will be infrequent if at all. However, that doesn't mean I won't be working on it, which I will be. :o) If I don't update during my trip that means you'll probably get about two-three new chapters immediately upon my arrival.

 

For those that asked… I don't really like introducing characters just to have them there. So… it's more than likely that aside from Kagome, other characters from Inuyasha will not be appearing as anything other than memories. You'll find out in a few chapters what happened to them all, but they won't be interacting with the Harry Potter people.

 

Thanks to my beta-reader FieryFaerie!

 

Light in Dark Places

By: Eilan-san

 

ooo

 

Chapter 3: Collision

 

Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the wrong words seem to rhyme

Out of the back you fall in time

Somehow find you and I collide.

 

--Howie Day, “Collide”

 

ooo

 

She imagined Inuyasha, Kikyou, Naraku and all of her friends from Tokyo laughing at her. She was standing in front of a mirror, her hair completely disheveled, and half of her wardrobe strewn all over the floor of her bedroom.

 

`It's just dinner, for god sakes,' she thought.

 

`Not that you've been out with a guy since you were an undergraduate,' that little voice in the back of her head reminded her.

 

Oh, shut up.

 

Frustrated with her clothes, she decided to shower. She'd barely gotten home in time to even get ready - one of her first year advisees had come to her for help on a paper and the meeting had lasted a good hour and a half after her last class. She lathered and rinsed her hair methodically and enjoyed the feel of the warm water against her skin.

 

It had taken her years to accept the fact that she was happy that she'd been sent back. There were times when she honestly could not have gone without a hot shower, or the ability to heat up her dinner in the microwave, or eat instant ramen. She belonged here, as loathe as she was to admit it.

 

It wasn't the perfectlife, after all, here she was in a country where she couldn't even speak her primary language nearly as often as would have liked (although she was very happy she'd accepted the faculty advisor position of the Japanese club), but she was happy for the most part. It had been three months since she'd come to London, and she had finally started making friends.

 

Surprisingly, her first and best friend had been one of her students. Hermione Granger-Weasley was a non-traditional, non-degree seeking student, but she was incredibly bright and kind and it was nice to have a female to talk to. She knew Hermione was married to a man named Ron and had just discovered she was expecting their first child. Kagome had been amazed to find that their friendship outside of class never interfered with their in-class relationship - maybe it was because Hermione was auditing her class or something else - but when she was in class she was the most attentive student she'd ever had.

 

Kagome smiled to herself as she stepped out of the shower to dry off. It was all Hermione's fault that she was even going out tonight at all.

 

They had been out for their weekly coffee and girl talk at the local student hang out when Hermione had mentioned in a not-so-sly manner that there was an old school friend of Hermione's and her husband's that she wanted to set Kagome up with .

 

She'd never expected that it would bethat adorable man from the train station. At the time, she was livid when she realized that she hadn't remembered to ask him his name and had resolved that she would probably never see him again. But there he was, sitting in her class next to Hermione, listening to her drone on about Japanese legends and looking like he was desperately trying to place her for the entire class period. The memory made her smile.

 

His name, she discovered, was Harry. Of course the English could never have names that were easy for her to say; her accent was slowly disappearing, but R's and L's still gave her trouble.

 

He reminded her a bit of Inuyasha in an odd way, one she couldn't quite place. A bit guarded but with a good heart - thankfully he seemed slightly less angry at the world in general, which Inuyasha never seemed to be able to get over.

 

Just got to watch out for those dead ex-girlfriends.

 

She sighed. The jealousy still crept in every so often when she least expected it. But Harry was not Inuyasha, that she was sure of, and even if nothing else happened, she would have a new friend and that cheered her up considerably. London was ghastly boring without people to share it with.

 

She grabbed her favorite blue dress off of the pile of clothes on her bed and began to work on getting all the tangles out of her mass of black hair.

 

Forty-five minutes later she walked into the restaurant, pleased with her appearance. Kagome did not consider herself a classic beauty, but she did have the cute and petite Japanese woman thing going for her. Her thick, wavy black hair hung down nearly to her waist now, and the dress she wore was the color of the sky at twilight, and the cut was very flattering on her petite figure.

 

She saw Harry sitting at a table in the far corner of the restaurant, fidgeting and playing with his napkin, his own black hair looking strangely like hers did when she'd stepped out of the shower. She wondered if his hair was always like that. At least he seemed as unsure about this as she was. She inhaled deeply, steeled herself and walked towards him.

 

Harry jumped up as soon as he saw her, moving as quickly as he could to pull her chair out for her and take her coat before sitting down again.He was wearing a nice green shirt that matched his eyes and a pair of black slacks. `Hermione certainly knows how to pick them,' she thought as she glanced over him.

 

“I only arrived a few minutes ago, so I haven't even ordered drinks yet,” he said shyly as he sat back down across from her.

 

She smiled at him before asking for the wine list. The waiter came and took their drink orders, which turned out to be a glass of the house red wine for both of them and they were left in an awkward silence again.

 

Kagome briefly lifted her eyes and caught Harry's green-eyed gaze peering at her over his menu before he quickly shifted his eyes back downward.

 

After several more minutes of casting furtive glances in each other'sdirection, Kagome put her menu down, frustrated.

 

“We're being rather ridiculous, don't you think?” she said as Harry blushed.

 

“It's just been awhile since I've been out with a woman and it's a bid awkward for me,” he said, scratching his head.

 

“Really?” she asked. “That surprises me.”

 

Harry shrugged and pulled on his collar to loosen it a bit. “I usually don't have time for dating in my line of work,” he responded. It was at least partially true.

 

“What do you do again?” she asked. “I don't think you ever really told me.”

 

“I work for the Ministry,” he replied. “I work in the Law Enforcement division.”

 

“Law Enforcement? So you're a police officer then?”

 

“More like a detective, but yes.” He paused. He cleared his throat, “Actually, you might be able to help me with a case I'm working on right now.”

 

She cocked an eyebrow at him. `Hermione, please tell me you didn't set me up so he could get information out of me.'

 

“Dr. Yamato, the author of that book you gave me earlier, was found in Glastonbury early last week wandering around aimlessly with no memory of how he got there,” he said.

 

Her eyes went wide in horror. “What happened?”

 

“We don't know; that's what we're trying to figure out. Best we can tell is that someone did something to him and dropped him off there and altered his memory.”

 

She knew Dr. Yamato, looked up to him as a mentor and respected him as a professional colleague, but that's all he was, another Historian like herself, of no use to anyone for any criminal purpose. “But who would do such a thing?”

 

Harry gazed at her intently over his glasses, as if deciding whether or not to answer her question truthfully or not. Seeming to come to a decision, he said quietly, “We think that he had some sort of information that the people who attacked him wanted.” He leaned towards her, “Do you have any idea as to what kind of information he would have had that other people would have wanted?”

 

Kagome shook her head. “I knew him professionally, and that was about it,” she replied as the waiter returned to take their orders.

 

The waiter came and they surprised themselves by ordering the same thing again and laughed in spite of themselves.

 

“Maybe Hermione was right in setting us up,” Kagome said, grinning.

 

Harry smirked, “Good, at least I wasn't the only pawn in her matchmaking games.”

 

She laughed, “Hardly, it was `Harry this' and `Harry that' and `You'll love him, he's sweet and bright and funny and I'd just love it if you two got on.'”

 

“Glad I wasn't the only recipient of that line,” Harry said, amusement dancing in his eyes. He leaned in towards her again and whispered conspiratorially, “How am I doing on that anyway?”

 

“Brilliantly,” she said, still smiling.

 

The rest of dinner went smoothly, filled with good conversation and plenty of laughter. For the first time in a very long time, Kagome felt like she could be herself. Harry peppered her with questions about her childhood and living in Japan and she returned the favor by demanding blackmail material on Hermione. She was enthralled by the pranks Ron and Harry managed to pull on Hermione while they'd been at school together.

 

She frowned when the waiter appeared with the check, signaling that her evening was coming to an end. She pulled out her purse to pay for her half but Harry stopped her.

 

“You can pay next time,” he said, winking at her.

 

She flushed, cheeks burning.

 

“Aww,” he teased, “You look so pretty when you're blushing.” Which, of course, made her blush more.

 

He helped her into her coat and offered her his arm, which she gladly took, and walked out into the cool night air. They walked amiably for a while, just taking in the streets of London and enjoying each other's company.

 

Kagome couldn't deny the obvious mutual attraction, but more than that she just enjoyed talking to him. He seemed so nice, but not in the overbearing nice way that Houjou had been. Harry was just… Harry. She wasn't falling all over herself like she had been with Inuyasha for so long, and there was more of a connection between them than she had ever felt with anyone she'd dated in college.

 

And there was just something about those wire rim glasses combined with the messy hair that gave him a charming, boyish look. It was hard not to sigh happily when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her in closer to him as they walked.

 

When they reached her apartment building she glanced up at him and smiled, “Thank you for a wonderful evening, Harry.”

 

“You're welcome,” he said gently. “I had a good time too.”

 

“Maybe we could get together again?” she asked hopefully.

 

He nodded, eyes shining in the moonlight. She felt her heart pound against her ribs as he leaned into her, his hands resting on her hips. Her eyes fluttered close, and she tilted her head up towards him, waiting with bated breath for the feel of his lips against hers.

 

“Well, well, well,” a voice said, dripping with sarcasm.

 

Kagome jumped away from Harry as he whipped around to see a man in a dark cloak emerge from the shadows, holding a stick level at Harry.

 

“I only came here for her, and I manage to meet the famous Harry Potter,” he said. Kagome saw Harry's hand linger around his pants pocket. “And don't even think about going for your wand, Potter, you know full well you can't attack me with all these muggles around.”

 

Kagome looked from one man to the other, utterly confused. Muggles? Wand? What the hell?

 

“What do you want with her?” Harry growled as he stepped in front of Kagome, hand still hovering next to his pants pocket.

 

“Just to talk. It seems that Professor Higurashi here knows the location of an object my boss is most anxious to get his hands on,” the man replied with a sinister grin.

 

“And who exactly would that be?” Harry asked.

 

What the hell? And how did this man know Harry?

 

“No one you need concern yourself about,” the man retorted. He saw Kagome inch towards Harry and sneered, “Consorting with muggles now, Mr. Potter? That's worse than associating with mudbloods.”

 

A look of raw fury erupted on Harry's face as he drew his own stick out of his pocketand for a moment Kagome was actually frightened of him.

 

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and softened briefly, “Stay behind me, I'll protect you.”

 

Her mind reeled. She had seen some strange things in her lifetime, but this was just utterly bizarre. The sense of déjà vu combined with the surreality that some madman was after her for information she didn't know she had and the fact that their attacker actually knew who Harry was overwhelmed her.

 

But, déjà vu works both ways. “What do you want with me?” she asked, feeling her long-dormant bravery return.

 

“Oh, so she can talk,” the man snickered.

 

Her eyes narrowed and calmly and forcefully repeated herself, “What do you want with me?”

 

His eyes flitted between Harry and Kagome, and his gaze eventually settled on her. “Accio Kagome!” he cried. Kagome didn't even register what was happening before she found herself hurtling through the air towards their attacker.

 

Harry cursed himself for hesitating, `This is not the time to be worrying about the Muggle Secrecy Statutes!'

 

“Expelliarmus!” He didn't have even have time to react before he heard his wand land several meters away in the other man's palm. `This isn't going to end well,' he thought.

 

Kagome, completely frustrated by the whole situation, shrieked, “What in the bloody hell is going on here?! Who in the hell are you and why do you both keep screaming in pseudo-Latin? How do you know my name? And what's with the sticks?!”

 

Their attacker turned on her and hissed, “Immobulus!” and Kagome fell silent, completely unable to move. She screamed inside at the familiar sensation of being frozen. She watched his attention move back and forth between her, her captor, and what she decided must have been his wand.

 

Her captor saw this, “Don't even think about it, Potter. The Killing Curse probably won't work on you, since you are The-Boy-Who-Lived, after all.” He paused briefly and Harry watched in horror as the man moved his wand from him to Kagome with a sinister smile, “but I'm sure it'll work fine on her.”

 

Understanding the threat, Harry slowly lifted his hands in surrender and stood very still. The attacker kept his wand leveled at Kagome and he didn't want to make any sudden movements.

 

“I am going to unfreeze you, but you are not to do anything other than answer my questions, do you understand?”

 

Kagome would have nodded if she could, but he seemed to understand that she agreed to his terms by the sheer panic in her eyes. Even if she didn't know what exactly the Killing Curse did, the name was enough for her to know that he meant business.

 

“Good then. Finite Incantatem.” Kagome was flooded with relief as she regained control of her body but the man still had his wand pointed at her and she tried to be as still as possible.

 

“Madam Higurashi, I understand that you are an expert on an item known as the Jewel of Four Souls,” he said. “Because I work for someone who is terribly interested in this item, I was asked to find out what you know of it, and you will answer my questions. Are we clear?”

 

She nodded.

 

“Where is it?” he asked.

 

She couldn't help it, she snorted. “What do you mean where is it? I don't know.”

 

His beady eyes narrowed. “Where is it?” he repeated.

 

“It's just a legend, a myth,” she said incredulously. She knew that that wasn't true, but she hadn't seen it in five hundred years anyway, and all the primary sources she'd studied had said that it had simply disappeared.

 

A nasty smile crept onto the man's face. “Oh no, my dear, we know for a fact that you know that isn't so.”

 

Kagome had the good grace to blush and quickly glanced at Harry, who was staring at her, clearly confused. She took a deep breath - she didn't know how much this man knew, so she took a leap of faith and told him what Historian-Kagome knew instead of what Miko-Kagome knew.

 

“I honestly don't know where it is. Our primary texts tell us that it has not been seen in over five hundred years,” she said, biting her bottom lip and praying to high heaven that he would accept that answer.

 

The man frowned. “Your colleague, Dr. Yamato seemed to think that you know more than you're telling,” he said cautiously.

 

Kagome gasped, anger flashing on her face, “You're the one that hurt him? You bastard, he was a nice man and he didn't deserve that!”

 

She saw Harry's jaw drop in her peripheral vision. `Yeah, well, I've been in more dangerous situations than this, shot my mouth off and lived to tell about it,' she thought wryly.

 

Gritting her teeth, she said, “I don't know where it is now. And even if I did, I certainly wouldn't help you find it.”

 

He studied her very carefully with a knowing look, as if she had just said something very important. “Yes,” he said at last. “But you know where it was before, don't you?”

 

She didn't have time to respond because Harry was already running towards her screaming at her to get out of the way.

 

“Accio wand!” he cried as his wand flew into his outstretched hand and pointed it at the attacker.

 

He only laughed at them, “I'll be back for her,” before he vanished with a pop.

 

Kagome sank to her knees; exhausted, confused and panting heavily. Harry knelt beside her checking her for any damage as she cradled her head in her hands. The power of the moment overwhelmed her and the last thing she remembered was Harry's concerned eyes and the warmth of his arms around her as she collapsed into him.

 

“Dammit,” he muttered. Making a quick decision, he scooped her up into his arms and walked out of the alley. Thankfully Ron and Hermione's flat was nearby and they would be safe there for the time being.

 

`I'm going to have so much explaining to do when she wakes up,' he thought grimly. `And things were going so well too.'