InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Sound of His Voice ❯ Chapter 1

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

Also, secondary disclaimer: I pulled the radio station call letters KGRV out of my ass, to name the rock station in this story K-Grave. Upon Googling I discovered there is in fact a real radio station out there with these call letters, but rather than a widely popular rock station somewhere it’s a Christian station on AM, so I don’t think there can possibly be any confusion that I’m mimicking them! LOL, but even so, here’s my official disclaimer to state that this story has absolutely fuck all to do with that real life radio station. It’s just a coincidence!

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For those of you familiar with my Secret Santa universe, this world is similar – in that it’s a fake America-Japan combination in which humans know of youkai, and hanyou (who are sterile) legally have human rights – except hanyou are even rarer than in my Secret Santa world, youkai encounters themselves rarer as well, as most of the surviving youkai have decided to give humans a wide berth. Most people will go their entire lives without ever having seen a youkai or hanyou, especially in the cities. Still, an old law still on the books guarantees everyone ‘with human blood’ has human rights, and hanyou are rare enough that even the most bigoted lawmakers don’t want to face the backlash that would come from ‘hanyou rights activists’ if they tried to repeal that law. There’s honestly not enough hanyou around for the haters to bother trying to get the law repealed, and especially since they cannot reproduce, hanyou pose no real threat to mankind.

This means that, legally, hanyou can drive, hold jobs, have bank accounts, rent or own property, etc. It doesn’t mean they don’t face discrimination, though. Public opinion of hanyou is rather low, aided in part by hanyou seeming like more of an idea than real people to most folks, a theory rather than a tiny but recognizable percentage of the population. Approximately 0.00005% based on birth records and census data is still a percentage of the population. But this means (if we use the real life population of Japan instead of America as a guide) there’s less than seventy hanyou in the entire country.

Reiki wielding humans are also rarer in this world, and most stick to shrine or temple life, always ready to serve humankind should the need arise, though the odds of a youkai attack are increasingly unlikely as the decades go by, so it’s not completely unheard of for a reiki wielder to choose a normal life, but the odds of a reiki wielder living a normal life in the city encountering a hanyou in that same city are astronomical. It’s easy to see, then, why even somebody from a shrine family and born with miko powers, but who had no desire for shrine life and is working as a bartender, would not think of the possibility that the mysterious, sexy-voiced DJ she’s been crushing on for the last few years might be a hanyou.

(Not that it’ll matter to her because come on, this is Kagome we’re talking about, LOL.)

Enjoy!


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Sighing, and dragging her exhausted body out to her car – the last one in the otherwise empty, dimly lit parking lot…

Thanks for waiting for me, guys…

...Kagome held up her right hand that was making a Wolverine fist with her car and house keys and reached over with her left hand to push the unlock button on her separate, dangling key fob after she got close enough to tell there was nobody hiding on the far side of her car.

Hey, she wasn’t paranoid, but she also wasn’t stupid.

Getting inside her car and immediately closing and locking the door, she sat back for a minute and just moaned in appreciation to be sitting down after nine hours on her feet. Bartending by herself from 6pm-2am (and then having to help clean up the damn place from 2am-3am) without a single break or bite to eat thanks to the 8pm-12am bartender calling out was not her idea of fun. At least her two barbacks hadn’t called out, even if they’d both ditched out on her right at the stroke of three, leaving her to finish closing the till and then lock up the place all by herself without the manager. She didn’t need the manager anymore because now, she was a key carrier, with all the wonderful responsibilities that came along with it.

She’d get used to it.

And at least she wasn’t really alone. Ash was with her, in spirit, at least.

With that thought, she grinned and put her key in the ignition, starting her car, the upgraded stereo that was probably worth more than her old junker blazing to life in the middle of a Slayer song.

The one thing she didn’t like about her new work schedule – although the pay raise definitely made up for it – was that it meant she now had to miss the first two hours of the graveyard shift on the local rock station. That was actually what they called it, too. The station’s call letters were KGRV, and they called themselves K-Grave, so needless to say they played a lot of death metal, especially at night, although they played other metal, alternative, and classic rock at various times, as well. During the ‘graveyard shift’ radio show, from midnight until 6am, the DJ – who had the loose persona of being your ‘ghost host’ although he broke that character from time to time – would take requests, play games with callers to win silly prizes, and just generally encourage his listeners to call in for any number of reasons, just to help make his show more entertaining.

Once, he even dropped the ghost gag to ask his listeners if they were as high as he was right now, and to call in and tell him how effing high they were, and also if anyone was available to bring him a pizza. Kagome figured it was (mostly) all just an act, but she still loved him for it. The DJ, who went by Ash even though that probably wasn’t his real name, was like a local celebrity by that point.

And her not-so-secret crush.

She definitely regretted that except for her new steady days off, Sundays and Mondays, she would always miss the first two hours of his show now, but the pay raise was definitely worth losing her own previous 8pm-12am shift, and as soon as the last customer was out of the bar she’d turn off the jukebox and start streaming the station on her phone while cleaning up. She’d turn it off when she was out the door, to make sure she wasn’t distracted during her brief walk to her car, but that was it. She now had around a forty-minute drive home to look forward to, not including the time it took to swing through a 24hr drive-thru for dinner, and even though she was dead on her feet, she’d stay up to listen to the rest of Ash’s show before going to bed at 6am, just like she always did.

She even listened to him in the shower.

And sometimes she did more than just listen.

She was pulled from her musings when the song ended and his sexy voice rang to life through her speakers.

“You’re listening to the Graveyard Shift, with your Ghost Host, Ash. Are you as burnt out as I am, but just can’t reach eternal slumber? Call me up and tell me why the hell you’re still among the living at this deathly hour. Got a song you wanna hear? Tell me that, too, or else you’re stuck listening to the shit I wanna play.”

With that said, a ballad by Metallica came on, and Kagome just chuckled to herself.

Ash didn’t actually care for the harder music he usually played, not that he’d ever come right out and said so in as many words, but she’d figured it out over the years from little clues like that one.

Kami, has it really been three years already?

She still remembered when he’d first taken over. She’d been so excited because for a brief period of time there had been no graveyard DJ whatsoever after the other one had been fired for some scandal or another. She never used to pay that much attention when it came to the DJs themselves, until there wasn’t one. Thankfully, after a few days of preprogrammed music for six hours straight, meaning the people who always called in with requests were getting rather angry, they’d suddenly had a new DJ, who’d said the previous format of the graveyard shift would stay just about the same, although he also planned on making it his own. By which he meant he wanted to make it their own, the listeners. He’d immediately asked people to call in and tell him what they wanted his show to be like. He couldn’t please everyone, of course, but a ‘no holds barred’ rule on requests went over swimmingly when the previous DJ would sometimes refuse to play certain songs. The station did have an image to uphold, after all.

But as it turned out, Ash opening up the request lines didn’t hurt their image in the slightest, and only gained them favor with their regular listeners, even when he’d play off the wall songs never played by the other DJs throughout the day. Nowadays, the graveyard show offered a bizarre mix of both the hardest songs they ever played and the softest. If they had it in the computer, he’d play it, and since theirs was just one station in a building that also housed their two sister stations down the hall, they had just about everything.

Ash would even sit back and laugh as callers dueled each other, requesting songs they knew somebody else also listening absolutely hated. ‘My friend who listens every night really hates X, so can you play it for me?’ was a common request. Kagome just laughed along with Ash. It was all in good fun, after all.

Her usual nightly request was always Freak Like Me by Halestorm, but she’d already given Ash the heads-up that she would probably only be calling in on her nights off from now on, just too mentally exhausted to carry on a meaningful conversation after working nine hours instead of the four she had gotten used to, and getting out of work at 3am. Having told her he’d miss her nightly calls, but also that he was proud of her for her promotion, he’d promised to play her favorite song for her every night shortly after 3am when she would be in her car driving home. Thinking about it in that moment, however, he had just specifically asked his ‘burnt out’ listeners to call in, and she decided then that she could really use the mental pick-me-up of interacting with him after the night she’d had. Fiddling with her hands-free setup while stopped at a red light, then, Kagome dialed her phone, which was held up in a cradle in her cup holder, and the Bluetooth interface had her phone’s audio now coming from her car’s speakers instead of the radio station.

“Miso Ho Ni soup kitchen, where the customer comes first,” Ash answered after the third ring, and Kagome was very grateful she hadn’t been drinking anything as she busted up laughing, her hands gripping her steering wheel more tightly.

Ash recognized the beautiful sound of her laugh in an instant.

“Kagome!” he greeted happily. “What a pleasant surprise! I thought you said you were only going to call in on your nights off from now on.”

“Yeah, well, I was going through withdrawals and needed a fix.”

He laughed along with her as she chuckled at her own joke.

“Well, I’m happy to help you with that,” he said, still chuckling. “I figured you were probably in your car by now and was actually just about to play your usual for you again. Did you still want to hear Halestorm, or are you in a more…adventurous mood?” he asked her then.

She could practically hear him waggling his eyebrows at her, but she knew he really just meant the ‘adventure’ of letting him choose a song for her. They’d been playing that game for a while now; sometimes he just went ahead and played her song, but other times they flirted, and then he picked something sexual.

“I’ve had one hell of a night, so what I really want is a back massage,” she answered then, and he laughed again. “But since you so rudely won’t leave your studio at my beck and call, I guess the second-best thing is letting you pick a song for me.”

“Your wish is my command,” he said rather seductively before the line went dead, but Kagome knew he hadn’t hung up on her. Music started playing in her car again after that, but only because he’d put her on hold. He hadn’t needed to say anything to her first because he knew she knew the routine by that point.

After the current song ended, she heard a repeat of his phone greeting to her, followed by her own voice. This time, after his closing line to her of ‘Your wish is my command,’ he kept right on talking as he now, live instead of the playback, said, “I hope this soothes those deep aching muscles,” and then Rock Me by Great White started playing.

Kagome laughed again just as the song clicked off and was replaced by his voice telling her, “I love the sound of your laugh.”

“And I love the sound of your voice,” she told him unabashedly, much more interested in talking with him than actually listening to the song he’d picked for her, and she knew he knew that.

They’d been openly flirting back and forth for nearly two and a half years now, after they’d gradually gotten to know one another from her becoming a regular caller after he first took over a little over three years ago. She’d just been so immediately drawn to the sound of his voice that she’d practically felt compelled to call in and actually speak with him, like something was drawing her to him. She had been nervous at first, too, like a schoolgirl with a crush, but he was so warm and caring that she’d gotten over that quickly and became almost unnaturally comfortable around him. Then somewhere after around six months of normal, friendly conversations, her crush on him a complete secret as far as she knew, the sexual flirting had begun creeping into their talks, and she couldn’t even say which one of them had started it first because it’d just developed between them so naturally. She felt like she’d known him all her life

Of course, they didn’t really know each other, because he still insisted on maintaining a professional distance, and she never crossed that line by seriously trying to push for more. She’d just drop little flirty jokes, like her one earlier about the back massage. Once, only once, when they’d been chatting for over an hour in between his other callers and on-air duties, she’d asked him if he would like to get together, go on a date for real, admitting to him that she was genuinely interested, but already prepared for a let-down she’d then immediately started rambling that if not, she totally understood, and hell for all she knew he was married with kids, yada yada yada, and so if he said no, no hard feelings.

When she’d finally let him speak, his answer had been a hesitant, nervous laugh, before he’d admitted that while he was single, no kids, he didn’t think that meeting in person was a good idea. He’d not had much past luck in the dating department, he’d confessed to her. He liked the current thing they had going on, and while he’d said that maybe...one day...he might be brave – or foolish – enough to take her up on her offer, because yes he liked her too, he wasn’t quite ready just yet to take that leap of faith; he didn’t want to risk ruining what they already had. It had been a confession she had not been expecting, and one she could tell was the real thing from him even dropping the intentional sexiness of his voice to speak to her more normally, at a slightly higher pitch, and she’d felt truly touched that he’d at least trusted in her enough to open up so much about his feelings and insecurities. Knowing that he did indeed like her too but was just scared, she’d made a silent vow then and there to wait for him, and to gently encourage without pushing too hard. She had no idea what the poor guy had been through regarding his past relationships, but she’d felt like she was meant to be the one to heal his heart.

That had been nearly two years ago, now, and she’d never brought it up again since, although far from an infatuation that had begun to fade over time, her feelings for him were even stronger now. In a way, despite herself and her better judgment, she knew she already thought of him as her boyfriend, sort of, since up until her recent promotion they used to speak on the phone almost nightly it seemed. She would at least call in to request her song if nothing else, even if she didn’t stay on the line to chat afterward. Just a quick call in to say hi, and reassure him she was listening, even though she’d already told him that she listened every night. If he had been married, or even just already had a girlfriend at the time, she would’ve been able to tell herself he was unavailable and, even if she still liked him, she’d have known it was out of the question. It would have remained a celebrity crush, no harm, no foul. But knowing that he was single, and more importantly, that he was also not actually opposed to the idea of dating her except that he was just worried that if they didn’t hit it off it would ruin their current relationship – such as it was – had her unable to ever fully put the idea of it, or them, out of her mind.

She knew, logically, that he was not her boyfriend, of course, but emotionally she felt that level of a connection to him now, despite not even knowing what he looked like, or if Ash was even his real name. One day, she’d brave telling him that she loved him. Two years was a long time, after all. Surely he had to trust that she wouldn’t reject him by now? No matter what he was afraid might be a deal-breaker on his end. She didn’t begrudge him his secrets, though, because she also understood what it was like to fear the other’s reaction. After all, she’d yet to tell him she was a reiki wielder. Reiki-gifted humans were on the rare side those days, and then most of them chose to maintain shrine or temple lives, marrying fellow reiki users to pass down the gift to their children almost like they were a separate breed of human. But she’d always known that that life wasn’t for her, and realizing she was actually nocturnal, it would seem like the kami had agreed, since early morning shrine duties were definitely not her thing! She much preferred life as a bartender, and actually got a kick out of the fact that the bar where she worked now, Mushin’s Temple, was spoofed off of a Buddhist temple and run by a reiki-gifted uncle and nephew team who’d chosen a…less than orthodox approach to life, shall we say.

She grinned at the thought, and glanced down at her black tank top with a technicolor graffiti-style Buddha on the front and the words ‘Let that shit go.’ She’d definitely landed the perfect job.

Now if she could just land the perfect boyfriend, she thought with a sigh.

Once upon a time, she’d actually thought that maybe she could one day meet Ash in person even just at a formal event hosted by the radio station, to at least find out what he looked like, but she had since discovered that Ash never did personal appearances. The running gag, of course, was that he couldn’t make personal appearances because he was a ghost, and therefore couldn’t be seen in person, but whatever the real reason, he had a right to his secrets. Which naturally only made her more curious, but if all he’d ever be to her was her playful local celebrity crush-slash-phone boyfriend, then so be it, she supposed.

But she did believe she meant something real to him in return. After all, he’d admitted he liked her, admitting he was alone, but yet also nervous of dating. That was one hell of a confession coming from a man who exuded such sexual confidence on-air. That he’d trusted her enough to at least tell her that much after getting to know her, to drop the act and be real with her, even using his real speaking voice, had really meant the world to her. He was obviously telling the truth about liking her in return to have admitted something so intimate. He had many other regular callers, but she couldn’t imagine he shared such personal details about his life with just anyone.

And it was obvious he cared about her with the way he expressed genuine interest in her own life during their talks, as illustrated in that moment when after he chuckled again from her telling him so boldly that she loved the sound of his voice, he changed the subject and asked her with all sincerity, “Rough night?”

“Oh, you can say that again,” she complained good-naturedly. “I’ve had the keys to close up shop by myself for less than a week, and my freakin’ mid-shift calls out. Didn’t get any breaks or lunch tonight, so my feet are killing me, and I’m starving.”

“Ugh,” he verbalized in sympathy, before telling her, “Sorry, be right back.”

“No worries,” she replied.

She knew he had to answer all the other phone lines, after all. And while she was on hold, she got to listen to the radio again. It didn’t take Ash long to come back on the line again, though.

“Welcome to the wonderful world of management,” he said with a sarcastic drawl.

“I wish…on second thought, no I don’t,” Kagome joked with another laugh. “I’m just a key carrier. I guess technically that makes me a supervisor. I’m trusted to run the place by myself, now, close the till and lock the door and whatever, but I still don’t have to deal with shit like inventory or payroll. I just wanted the higher salary, and anyway, the manager is the owner’s nephew, so he’s not going anywhere.”

“Well, congrats on landing the full-time spot,” Ash said then. “It’ll be worth waiting till your nights off before I can hear your beautiful voice, knowing the reason is that you’ve got a better job.”

“Thanks!”

The bar where she worked now, Mushin’s Temple, had two longtime openers who worked 2pm-6:30pm on different days of the week, and three part-time mids who had the 8pm-12am shift, the manager’s wife being the longtime part-time closer who handled the 6pm-3am shifts on Sundays and Mondays. The manager was also always there from 1pm to open up the place and then usually stayed until around 10pm, although he was usually in the back office unless his help was needed in the front, but today had just been his day off so he’d left shortly after the 2pm shift’s arrival, a longtime opening bartender named Akitoki who could be trusted to run the house by himself and who also had a set of keys in case of emergencies, such as Miroku being unable to open up shop for whatever reason, or if something happened on Akitoki’s end and he had to leave and shut it down until the closer’s arrival, when they – now she – could then open the place back up again. That sort of emergency had never happened yet, thankfully, but it was always good to be prepared, just in case.

When Kagome had arrived at 6pm that evening they’d done a quick till swap, Akitoki had closed down his drawer in the back office, and then left. He might’ve been willing to just take a lunch break and then stay for a few extra hours to help out, but the 8-12’er hadn’t called out until around 7pm, and at that point Kagome’d had no intention of calling Akitoki on his cell, asking him to come back to work again. Kagome had notified Miroku of her mid’s call-out, of course, but when he’d asked her if she needed him or Sango to come in to help her, or if she thought she could handle it on her own, she’d told him she’d be fine. It was only Wednesday, after all. No way in all the hells would she have wanted to fly solo on a Friday or Saturday!

“Haven’t you only been at the new bar for like three months?” Ash asked her then. “I’m impressed, that they promoted you so quickly.”

“Right?” she agreed. “I think a couple of the other part-timers also didn’t appreciate the new hire getting promoted over them, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that I never fucked off any of my previous shifts, and I’m actually a hard worker who doesn’t stand around checking my phone in front of the customers,” she said with a snort. “Hold up, I’m next up to order at the drive-thru.”

“No worries,” he repeated back to her, as he put her back on hold because he had other ringing phone lines he had to answer, anyway.

Kagome placed her order at WacDonald’s and was back on the road again when Ash came back on the line.

“Well, right place at the right time, ‘cause I know when you first got hired there you thought you’d probably stay part-time for a long while.”

“Yeah,” Kagome agreed, before taking a sip of her soda. “Usually, the small family-owned bars that only have one or two full-time shifts, usually those people work there for years and become like a part of the family, assuming they weren’t already an actual part of the family in some way, so they’re not going anywhere. It was totally random that their full-time closer suddenly had to quit, but Kikyou’s husband has some kind of big important job, and he got transferred within the company, so they had to move. I don’t know the details. But I was her mid most of the time, and she taught me a lot. Even though she didn’t strike me as having the kind of personality where we could become best friends outside of work, she was always polite and professional to work with, you know? Sango, on the other hand...it’s too bad our shifts are opposite, or else I’d want to go clubbing with her!” Kagome finished with another laugh.

“That probably had something to do with you being promoted, too, if the owner’s niece took a liking to you.”

“Well, it’s not like I did it on purpose, because we hit it off before Kikyou announced she was moving.” She shrugged, and even though he couldn’t see it, Kagome got the impression Ash could sense her body language from her tone of voice. “And then when Miroku asked me if I wanted to apply for the full-time position, my answer was hell yes.”

It was Ash’s turn to laugh at that.

“I’m so glad I got it,” Kagome continued. “Now that I’ve got the full-time gig, which is not just more hours but also a pay raise per hour, I can finally start saving up for a better car, and just generally speaking my life will be a hell of a lot better now. I don’t plan on going anywhere, even if I have to close all by myself every night. And I wasn’t the only one to apply, of course. The other mids did, too. Miroku spent different nights working with each of us, testing us out because fair’s fair. Gotta see who would be the best person for the job, after all.”

“And that was you.”

“Well, not to toot my own horn or anything.”

“Then I’ll toot it for you.”

“Oh, I wish.”

He laughed again.

“It’s funny how both of us just stumbled into the best job ever because of the previous person randomly up and leaving,” he said conversationally.

Over their years chatting he’d told her how he’d already been working at the building that housed the radio station, but not officially as an employee of the station itself, and that when the other graveyard shift DJ had suddenly gotten fired and none of the other DJs had wanted to take over the shift they’d tried to hire somebody new but nobody who’d applied had made it past the initial interview stage, and so then when he’d begged them to let him apply they’d been desperate enough thanks to angry listeners hounding them about the preprogrammed playlists that they’d actually given him a shot, and he’d killed it. He’d done a mock-up show that never aired, just so the bosses could hear how he’d be, including role-play phone call interactions, and he’d told her with obvious pride in his voice that he had been much better at it than they’d expected him to be.

She didn’t know exactly what his job at that building had been beforehand, because he’d been hesitant to tell her when she’d asked and so then she’d quickly told him never mind, because it didn’t matter to her, but she got the impression he’d either been a security guard or maybe even the janitor or something. Not that that would matter to her, because hell, scrubbing toilets was still a part of her job description. The barbacks cleaned up the bar and back kitchen area for her before leaving, including all the glasses, thankfully, but that was it. She cleaned the bathrooms, swept the floor, double-checked the bar and kitchen area, in addition to her other closing duties like counting the till and shutting down the computers, but at least she got to listen to Ash’s show while she did it.

“So now that your ninety-day probationary period is up, you gonna go apartment hunting?” he asked her then.

She’d already talked about wanting to move closer to the new bar because she didn’t like the much longer drive. At her previous salary, finding a new apartment she could afford would have been difficult, but worth it to even get another slum place if it meant putting significantly fewer miles on her car.

Taking another sip of her soda, Kagome nodded as if he could see her, but then rolling her eyes at herself, she sat the paper cup back down in her free cup holder and answered with, “I guess everything really does happen for a reason, because I was going to look in to moving closer to Mushin’s Temple anyway, once my ninety days were up, and I knew my job there was secure, so if Kikyou’s husband’s promotion had been delayed by a month or two, I might’ve already signed a new lease somewhere else before getting my own promotion.” She grinned wickedly. “Now, I can find a much nicer apartment.”

“That’s awesome!” Ash replied, before telling her he had to put her on hold again.

“Let me go ahead and let you go, because my fries are smelling too damn good,” Kagome replied, grinning when he chuckled again. “I just wanna eat, and then get home and get in the shower.”

“Now there’s a visual I wish I could visualize.”

Kagome had no idea what possessed her to say it, but, “Whenever you decide you’re ready to swap cell numbers, I can make that wish come true.”

“Kagome...” he said with a sigh, and she didn’t let him continue.

“I know, I know,” she said with a tone she hoped he could recognize as her trying to wave it off and drop the subject. “So I’ll let you go. You can’t ignore those other callers, after all. I’ll call you on Sunday. Goodnight.”

“Looking forward to it. Bye,” he replied before hanging up, her radio immediately blazing to life inside her car.

Sighing herself, Kagome kept her eyes on the road, but reached sideways into the bag sitting on her passenger seat and grabbed a handful of fries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Staring at the various blinking lights on his switchboard, one light in particular no longer lit, Inuyasha leaned his elbows on the desk and rested his head in his hands for a moment, rubbing his temples.

Kami, how he loved that woman. But there was no way in all the hells she’d be willing to be with a hanyou, and if she ever found out what he was he’d bet dollars to doughnuts that would also be the end of their casual flirting. Even if she continued for a little while for appearances’ sake, since he played parts of their flirting back and forth often enough that his other regular listeners had to know her as a regular caller by that point, he feared it would be forced, and that he’d be able to tell. So while a part of him...a huge part...wanted to take her up on the offer to trade numbers – and ultimately, he was sure, photos – he knew he didn’t dare. Revealing his hanyou self was out of the question, but sending her pictures of his human form would also be cruelly deceptive, and a slippery slope.

What next? Take her out on a date on the night of the new moon?

Thankfully, with her new work schedule, they wouldn’t have time to get together before she had to be at work, even in the winter when it got dark so early. So if they ever did go out on a new moon date, it would have to be either on a Sunday or Monday now, her new regular nights off, and even though it was doable, he also knew that if he went on one date with her then he wouldn’t so easily be able to explain why their next date would have to wait a month or more, until the days and lunar cycle matched back up again. And if he did ever meet her in person, or even just shared photos with her, and then later on at some point down the road the whole ‘hanyou on his human night’ thing blew up in his face, it would only be that much more painful if she accused him of lying to her or betraying her with the deception. It was better to keep things as they were now, and if things eventually fizzled out or faded away, like if she ever one day told him she’d met someone else and had a boyfriend now, well, then at least he could more easily pretend they’d never been serious in the first place, and so therefore it didn’t matter.

A part of him wondered if they were perhaps already at the beginning of the fizzling out stage, since their nightly calls would now be reduced to twice a week going forward. Although on the other hand, she’d told him that and had then proceeded to call him on a Wednesday, he hoped because she had missed their talks as much as he had, so he still held out the hope that he’d at least occasionally hear from her more often than just her weekends now.

Either way, he knew she genuinely liked him. Hell, she might even love him as strongly as he loved her. But she only loved the idea of him, and he was trying his damnedest to convince himself that he only loved the idea of her in return, even though he felt like he knew her pretty well by that point. Especially since she spoke so freely with him, telling him many little details about her life, such as the crappy bar she’d used to work at, and all the different bars she’d applied to to try to escape from that job. She’d never bothered applying to any other type of business once landing that first gig, though, because being a bartender was what she really wanted to do, and she’d had no intention of going back to retail again.

Her very first job, he’d learned, had just been as a cashier in a large retail store at age sixteen, in the evenings after school. That had been before she’d discovered she was naturally nocturnal, still trying to force herself to live according to society’s schedule. But left to her own devices, she’d always naturally stayed up all night long, and would finally feel sleepy once the sun was coming up. Her family had indulged her during summer breaks, she’d told him, but she’d needed to force herself to go to bed at night to wake up in the mornings for school the rest of the year. She’d usually had to knock herself out with some sort of sleep aid or another, and then keep herself awake in the mornings with loads of caffeine, she’d confessed to him during one of their longer conversations.

After turning eighteen and graduating from high school she’d changed jobs at the same store to become part of the overnight freight team, and suddenly, she wasn’t the walking dead anymore. Sleeping from around 6am till 2pm had her waking up feeling refreshed and energetic in the afternoons, and she’d stayed on that job for a couple of years before deciding she wanted to become a bartender. At age twenty, she’d applied around for the position of barback, figuring it would get her foot in the door, and it had. She’d gotten her bartending license while on the job as barback and then shortly after her twenty-first birthday, as soon as a position for bartender had opened up at her bar, she’d jumped at the chance to get promoted. Unfortunately, as time went on and management changed, her job became a lot more stressful. Working there for nearly four years, it had gradually changed from a job she’d loved to a job she’d hated. A hell, she’d told him, his presence in her life had made bearable. Fortunately, her shift had been from 6pm until midnight, and so she’d always been able to listen to his entire show, calling in twenty minutes or so after he started, as soon as she got home. She’d told him when she’d started applying around to other places, and he’d been hoping for her sake that she would find something soon. Finally, she’d nabbed an interview at Mushin’s Temple a little over three months ago, and had been happy to take the job even though it’d meant both a longer commute and fewer hours. She hadn’t cared, she’d just wanted out of that place, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Sighing, he gave himself another couple of seconds to get in the zone, and then he answered one of the other ringing phone lines.

“Ash’s Mortuary, you stab ‘em we slab ‘em.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The nights continued to blend together, one after the other, but Kagome loved her new position. Especially when she received her first paycheck after making the switch. It was true that she didn’t have nearly as much free time as she used to, but what did she usually do with her extra free time before her shift started, anyway? Hang out at the bar. She hadn’t wanted to hang out after work and miss Ash’s show, of course, but having previously been used to starting work at six at her old job, anyway, she’d always used to go in at around six or so at Mushin’s Temple and hang out before her shift started at eight.

The manager’s wife and Sunday/Monday closer, Sango, also loved hanging out there on her nights off, at least on the evenings Miroku was there as well, and so Kagome had gotten to know her as well as she did when the two of them would routinely hang out and visit together from when she got there at about six until her mid-shift started at eight. Even then, after she was on the clock, they would still continue to chat between customers if it was slow enough, and also now, starting her new shift at six, Kagome could still visit with Sango whenever it was slow; that woman was quickly becoming her new best friend.

Sango even knew about her relationship dilemma with Ash, and supported her without telling her anything she didn’t want to hear, like she should give up on him and try to meet someone new. Sango could tell Kagome’s feelings for the DJ were quite real, and so instead of trying to discourage her she told her to hang in there, but also that she needed to speak with him again about her feelings, because the gods helped those who helped themselves. Sango had told her that if they were meant to be together, then if she put in the effort, it would all work out in the end, just like it had with her and Miroku. It turned out, Kagome had learned, that Sango didn’t have her job there because she was the owner’s niece and manager’s wife, but rather, Sango had already been working there and then Miroku had fallen in love with her.

The way Sango told it, Miroku had apparently been crushing on her for quite some time before she’d taken him seriously enough to give him the time of day, because she’d known of his past reputation as a lady’s man and hadn’t wanted to be just another notch on his bedpost. But once he’d convinced her that she was special, that he was a changed man, because he’d never before felt about anyone else the way he felt about her, Sango had made the best decision of her life by giving ‘them’ a genuine chance, and they’d been happily married for over two years now. No kids yet because they were waiting, but they had plans for a family in the future.

And speaking of family, even the bar’s owner, Miroku’s uncle Mushin, was a great guy to work for, making Kagome feel like she was a part of the family even after only working there for a few months, so when he popped in every so often there was never that feeling of ‘Oh shit, the owner’s here!’ like she’d had at her previous job. Both Mushin and especially Miroku were terrible flirts – which she found hilarious given their ‘holy’ upbringing – but really, they were harmless. She was a big girl, and besides, she knew that Miroku knew that if he ever crossed the line, Sango would kick his ass!

All in all, Kagome loved her job, and she’d already started apartment hunting on her days off. It was worth getting up early those days, at noon, so that by the time she had coffee and breakfast the real estate agents were all back from their own lunch breaks and available to show her around. She didn’t want to try to squeeze it in before work the rest of the week, although she would make the time if the apartment looked worth it and that was the realtor’s only opening. Of course, she did her preliminary hunting online first, weeding out the definite nos before even stepping foot in the place, but from checking out the options online she had her collection of favorites – favorite buildings first, and then she’d picked her favorite available unit(s) in each, if there was more than one apartment available in any given building – and then she wanted to actually see them all in person before making her final decision. Unless of course one of them just spoke to her, but that hadn’t happened yet.

She kept Ash updated on her progress, of course. He was nothing but encouraging and told her to trust her instincts. Kagome almost told him about her miko powers and that her instincts actually ran deeper than the average human’s, but decided against it. Even with as much of her life as she’d shared with him over the years, she still felt hesitant to reveal that part of herself, especially when she knew and respected the fact that he had untold secrets of his own. Not that she feared her reiki would actually be a deal-breaker for him, was he ever ready to consider a genuine relationship with her, but she’d still never wanted to burden him with painful childhood memories. She didn’t think her reiki would be a turn-off, but she didn’t want him to pity her, either. Reiki users were rare enough that she had been teased relentlessly as a child for being a freak, and that just wasn’t the sort of thing you told the radio DJ you were hopelessly flirting with. She had barely hinted at something by always requesting the song Freak Like Me, which he now played for her as ‘her’ song on the nights she didn’t call in, but she assumed he probably thought she related it to her being naturally nocturnal.

Still, even though he didn’t know of her stronger senses, she still took his advice to heart, regarding her apartment search and following her instincts. She was waiting for that feeling she’d get that told her ‘THIS one!’

Even though she wanted nothing to do with the life of a miko, that didn’t mean she renounced her gift. Despite her hard childhood, she actually loved being special, being able to sense the various spiritual energies all around her. She even prayed to the kami from time to time, even though she also believed that sometimes, you had to take control of your own fate. Just like Sango had said, the gods helped those who helped themselves. Like take her current job for example. All the sitting around and praying for a better job in the world wouldn’t have done a damn thing if she hadn’t gotten off her ass and went out applying at various places in an active attempt to find something better, but then getting hired at Mushin’s Temple? That had definitely been the kami answering her prayers.

I mean come on, the place is even decorated to look sort of like a temple, and there’s all sorts of Buddha and lotus blossom artwork everywhere, she thought with an amused snort. Their specialty drinks even had names like Evening Prayer and Eightfold Path. Thank the kami that the second one wasn’t actually made with eight different types of liquor! Her favorite signature cocktail was the Shikon no Tama, named after the mythical jewel of four souls from ancient legends. It was made with four types of liquor.

Miroku had been both surprised and delighted to learn she’d actually already been familiar with the story of the sacred jewel. So yes, in her opinion, her landing that particular job was definitely divine intervention, but she’d still had to apply when they’d had an opening, of course. It was like praying to win the lottery. You still had to buy a ticket.

So now, as she sat up in bed late Sunday night in the bed-slash-living room of her tiny rundown studio apartment, laptop on her legs as she clicked through all the available apartments in the next building on her list, she was praying to the kami to help guide her to the right apartment.

“And maybe a man while we’re at it,” she said out loud with a sigh, not paying attention to the time.

Of course, it was just coming up on midnight, and so right at that moment, the alarm clock radio to her left that had already been playing in the background started blasting the bump they always played at the beginning of the Graveyard Shift, which immediately yanked Kagome’s attention away from the listings on her computer screen. Glancing at the small makeshift altar she had in the back corner of the room, then, she rolled her eyes.

“Gee, sign much?” she joked aloud, as if the kami were trying to tell her that Ash was the man for her. “I agree, but unfortunately he doesn’t. Think you can help me out with that?” she asked her shrine, not actually expecting an answer.

Then Ash started talking, and she just sat back, listening to his voice for a few minutes.

It still amazed her that Ash did his show seven nights a week, since the previous DJ only did it Mondays through Fridays, which was usually the case for most radio shows, and even K-Grave’s own morning show, The Early Risers, were off on the weekends. She’d asked Ash about it once, and he’d said he was on a set salary, not hourly pay, so they didn’t have to worry about things like lunch breaks or overtime. He’d agreed to the schedule because the pay was good, and he didn’t mind working seven nights a week right now because, according to him, he had no life, so this gave him something to do. He’d then proceeded to make a ghost joke. Of course he had no life, he was a ghost, after all, har-dee-har-har. But all kidding aside, he’d also confessed to her that he didn’t know how long the gig was going to last, that his contract was ‘at will’ employment, and so he just wanted to enjoy it while it lasted while also putting as much money away as possible, because if he did ever lose that job it might be hard for him to find another one. Apparently, his rent was also pretty cheap, wherever he lived, so he was thankfully able to squirrel away most of his paychecks, he’d told her.

The more she learned about him, the more her heart went out to the guy. As she listened to him on-air in that moment, sounding as charming as ever, compared to the tiny bits of real world information she’d collected about him over the years, she’d come to realize that this was his safe, alternate persona. He was a marvelous actor. But the real man underneath it all was insecure, and lonely, and she longed to be there for him, but he was terrified of losing what they already had if it didn’t work out, and so if she couldn’t be there for him in the way that she wanted, she would at least be there for him in the way that he wanted.

It was with that last thought in mind that she reached for her cellphone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re a dead ringer for my 13th caller. I’m dying to know what I can dig up for you from the tombs.”

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at himself, but nevertheless maintained enough awareness to actually hear which song his ‘winner’ requested. It was a pointless contest, since his entire show was open requests all night every night, but sometimes on quiet nights he had to manipulate his audience into playing along, and acting as if they’d actually won something was great incentive to get them to call in. Besides, the dude did also win a t-shirt, which they actually gave away for free left and right and really, anyone could just walk in off the street at any time and ask the receptionist for one and they’d get it, but that was an untold secret otherwise they’d probably have trouble keeping them in stock!

Watching the time, Inuyasha was counting down the minutes until Kagome might possibly call him, or else he would at least say his usual shout out to her and play her song, knowing she was listening. It was nearly 3am, so he could just imagine she was finishing up with her closing duties and would be heading out to her car shortly. He felt like such a loser, waiting for a phone call that probably wouldn’t even happen, since for the last few weeks now she’d only called him on her days off, just like she’d said she would be doing from now on, but it was his own damn fault for not letting her give him her cell number so he could call her. He really wanted to talk to her tonight.

The following night was the new moon, again, and he was so tempted to pop into Mushin’s Temple shortly after sundown, again, just to get a glimpse at her. Not to interact. Heaven forbid she realized who he was! He just wanted to see her, to put a face to that voice, and if he did so in secret then he could avoid the conundrum of whether or not to reciprocate, since he knew she also wanted to find out what he looked like. Trading cell numbers and photos really had to be out of the question. For months now he’d managed to resist temptation, regarding anonymously sneaking into her work, and as badly as he wanted to, he had no real intention of actually going down there tomorrow night, either. He wanted to with every fiber of his being, but was also at the same time absolutely terrified of something going wrong, even though with tomorrow night being a Friday she’d probably be extra busy and so it’d be easier for him to stay unnoticed if he lingered in the background. It just wasn’t worth the risk, tempting as it was.

It helped that he worked seven nights a week now. He’d used to just be a part-time morning janitor, working for the cleaning company the station owners outsourced. The chemical smells had been murder on his nose, but a job was a job, and while his rent was ridiculously cheap by today’s standards since he still lived in his childhood apartment that was rent-controlled, his mother having added him to the lease long before her untimely death from cancer, he’d still needed some kind of a job in order to keep the place and beggars couldn’t be choosers. The cleaning company had been willing to hire him.

But it had been a somewhat mundane existence, and so once a month, on his human nights, he would party it up like there was no tomorrow. He really was a people person, and the fact that he was actually half dog only made him love people all the more. They just didn’t love him; a lesson he’d learned the hard way. But surviving on cheap foods like rice and ramen, his hanyou metabolism able to handle the abuse, he’d save every penny he could to have monthly blowouts. Sometimes he’d dance all night at a club, buying pretty ladies drinks so they’d dance with him, though he’d never tried to take a non-professional home. He would never do that to an innocent woman. Other nights, he’d forgo the nightclub and get a professional sex worker instead, at a motel that rented by the hour so that it wouldn’t seem unusual to end their encounter before dawn. He felt less guilty about that since having sex with strangers was their literal job, and so it felt less deceptive on his part, as though he were tricking them. It wasn’t false pretenses when the woman didn’t care who he was because he was a paying customer and that was all that mattered. Besides, it wasn’t like he was a kitsune merely wearing a human guise, getting off on pulling a prank. On moonless nights he really was human, albeit temporarily, so in that way, he hadn’t actually tricked them into bedding anything demonic.

He’d still felt marginally guilty about it the first time, of course, but fortunately, she had thought he’d only meant it was his first time with a pro, and she’d still been gentle with him and let him take things at his own pace. When he’d hesitantly told her he wasn’t who he seemed to be, he’d had no idea what thoughts had been going through her head but she’d merely assured him it didn’t matter, that all she cared about was the person she saw standing before her and she didn’t care who or what (probably meaning his profession in her mind) he really was. He was a paying customer and that was all she’d cared about, and she’d been ridiculously sweet about it, reassuring him he needn’t feel nervous. Fortunately, years of porn beforehand had meant he’d at least had a fundamental knowledge of the subject, and the condom he’d worn for her sake since she didn’t know he couldn’t get her sick or pregnant had also helped to desensitize him, so he hadn’t blown his load too soon and had been able to act marginally more confident than he’d actually felt.

Since then he’d had many more encounters with such women, of course, although that had come to a stop over three years ago now, as did partying on his human nights altogether, once he’d landed the job as DJ. It was worth it, though. He absolutely loved his new job, since it enabled him to socially interact with people on a nightly basis. He didn’t mind that it was just over the phone. Some of the bosses made cruel jokes at times, like how he had a real face for radio, as the saying went, but the other DJs were actually respectable since he was an ace at their craft. They gave credit where credit was due. And he honestly didn’t give a fuck if the managers were pleased with themselves for giving ‘the freak’ a chance or whatever. They wouldn’t fire him so long as he kept their ratings up. In the meantime, he was used to living on a budget, and now with his monthly partying temporarily on hold and his paychecks so much more than they used to be, he was saving a lot of money. Nothing lasted forever, but if and when the time ever came that he lost this gig, he’d have a pretty decent savings account, and he didn’t even miss the sex.

Honestly, since befriending and subsequently falling for Kagome, he didn’t even want to have sex with prostitutes anymore, because bizarrely, the notion felt like cheating on his girlfriend now, which he knew was his own twisted mind fucking with him because even though Kagome had broached the subject, he’d shot the idea down. Nevertheless, he was loyal to her in his heart, despite himself, and at the rate things were going he just might one day snap and make the single best, or worst, decision of his life and actually try to make things work with her. He couldn’t imagine she’d wait forever, and neither did he want her to. If he failed to get his head out of his ass in time, and she one day told him that she’d met someone new, he’d only curse himself while also being happy for her. He wanted her to be happy, even if it wasn’t with him.

The longer she stayed single, though…

A part of him couldn’t help but to feel guilty, knowing damn well she was probably waiting for him, still holding out hope.

And he didn’t have it in him to ask her to give up on him.

So yes, it was a very good thing the radio station had wanted to work him seven nights a week, taking advantage of his hanyou status and assuming he wouldn’t complain about the lack of days off, which of course he hadn’t. At first, he had just been grateful for the money, but now, he was also grateful he never occasionally still had a night off during the new moon. Otherwise, if he were still occasionally off on his human nights, he knew he’d be out getting drunk somewhere on those nights, and once he was drunk, he’d probably wind up at her bar, and it’d all go downhill from there. This way, even though the desire to sneak a peek at her was gnawing at him, eating him alive from the inside out, if he ever one day snapped and actually gave in to that desire he’d at least be doing so sober since he’d have to be at work only a few short hours later.

As tempting as it was, though, he wasn’t at his breaking point just yet. He would not be going down there tomorrow night.

It was 3:07am when his board lit up with a new caller, and he felt his heart speed up in his chest, hoping it was her.

“Double Entendre Saloon. Liquor up front, poker in the rear.”

His grin widened when Kagome’s beautiful laughter filled his headphones. The things weren’t designed for the shape of his ears, but that was just as well, because it would be much too loud if they were directly over his ears. His normal hearing was powerful enough that even with just wearing the headphones on the sides of his head he could hear everybody perfectly, and then the headphones fit him correctly the one night a month he needed them to.

“Hey handsome,” Kagome greeted cheekily, and he almost laughed out loud because of his recent train of thought regarding her wanting to know what he looked like.

He knew the possibility existed, however remotely, that he’d one day be spotted by a fan while out doing his monthly grocery shopping before work, and he was mentally prepared to be personable and even pose for selfies if that ever happened, and then local social media would be alight with “I met DJ Ash!” posts, but – thank the kami – that hadn’t happened yet. Kagome had even teased him about it once, telling him outright that she’d tried to Google him to see if that very scenario had ever occurred, and he’d merely clucked his tongue at her and teased her in return about being a stalker, while making sure she could tell he wasn’t actually bothered by her confession in the slightest. He didn’t want to actually send her a picture of his human self, because that felt like lying, but if random pictures already existed on the Internet because he’d gotten caught with his proverbial pants down, and then she independently found the photos...well, that wouldn’t be his fault, then, would it?

Not that he planned on tempting fate in an effort to get recognized on the street during the new moon so that such photos would then exist. That was an even worse idea than sneaking into Mushin’s Temple!

“Have you been peeking in my bedroom window again?” he replied jokingly then, earning more laughter from his favorite caller.

“Not since you’ve been keeping the curtains closed. I thought we talked about that,” she replied, completely ad-libbing for their little improv because this was nothing they had ever once discussed in the past.

She didn’t even know where he lived, and wouldn’t be able to peek in his bedroom window unless she could fly, since he lived on the fourth and top floor of his building and there were no external fire escapes. He usually came and went via the window, but that was beside the point.

“I’ll have to remember to leave them cracked open a bit, just for you,” he said with a suave, flirtatious air, his deep chuckle reverberating throughout Kagome’s car speakers, making her shiver in delight.

She knew it was all just an act, knew the ‘real’ him was a lot shyer than he let on, but on the other hand, this persona was also the real him, or one of his many facets, at least. He felt confident to joke around in such a way because he was in his comfort zone.

“You better,” she replied, keeping the joke going.

She found the shy him endearing, and the confident him exciting, and would gladly help the former become the latter in an in-person relationship. She wasn’t ready yet to give up on the notion of them possibly one day getting together. Especially since every time she talked about it aloud to the kami something would happen that seemed to be a sign they were telling her he was the one.

Like take tonight for example. She hadn’t been planning on calling him, but had just been lamenting quietly to herself about what the future might or might not hold for them, muttering to herself while she had a quiet moment at the bar, wondering what she should do about him, just generally speaking, and no sooner than the quietly murmured words had left her lips did Call Me by Blondie start playing on the jukebox. The jukebox that had been on automatic shuffle at the time because nobody had put any money into it recently. Oh sure, it was possible it had just been a coincidence, but she hadn’t been able to get it out of her head the rest of the night after that. The more she’d thought about it, the stronger the urge to call him had become, as if she could feel that he was actually hoping she would call. And well, of course he was, because he’d told her plainly that he’d miss their nightly talks now that she mostly only called him on her nights off. But maybe it had been more than that. Maybe the kami really had given her a little nudge because he’d really needed to hear from her tonight, especially.

Either that, or she was delusional and just projecting her own wishful thinking onto them. She chuckled quietly to herself at the thought, knowing it didn’t really matter either way. The kami had most certainly never done anything to discourage her attraction to Ash, but much like how praying for a better job wouldn’t have done a lick of good without actually filling out an application, she was beginning to realize that if she wanted to try to take the next step with Ash, the next step was to stop waiting for him to take the next step. Right now she needed to concentrate on finding a new place to live and then moving, of course, but once this busy chapter of her life was over, and she was settled into her new apartment, it would then be time to shift her focus to other things.

Right in that moment, though, she also needed to focus on the road, plus she didn’t want Ash to realize she was lost in deep contemplation, so when he changed the subject and asked her sexily, “So what can I do for you on this fine evening?” she was ready with a reply.

“Oh, I’m sure you can use your imagination.”

“I’m sure I can,” he agreed before the line went dead for only a moment. “Okay, that’s where I’ll cut it. Cool if I air all that?” he asked her in his normal speaking voice, now being much more the real him.

He normally didn’t bother asking her permission prior to airing their conversations anymore, since she’d already told him a while back that he could air whatever he wanted, but she appreciated his vow to keep their most intimate conversations private. Plus once they actually got to talking, he often said things she knew he wouldn’t want aired, so she felt comfortable revealing personal things about herself during those talks, like where she worked, even if they were actually still being recorded. It wasn’t like his bosses gave a shit, or he would’ve told her a long time ago that their talks could get him in trouble. Assuming the bosses even knew about her in the first place, then they probably assumed she was good for ratings, and if it helped Ash keep his job, then she was honestly all for helping their ratings. That was why, those days, she knew to be ‘on’ when he first answered the phone, adopting her own actress persona to a point in order to put on a good show for the other listeners. He would air their back and forth, followed by him choosing a song to play for her. She always let him pick a song for her now whenever she called in, since he played her regular song for her the rest of the time.

“Of course, but you know you don’t need to ask,” she told him then.

“Just making sure,” he replied politely, followed by, “Be right back.”

“Okay.”

With that, the line went dead again, followed quickly by music playing, since he’d put her on hold. After the current song ended, Walk by Pantera came on, which Kagome cranked, and she was just pulling in to the drive-thru when that song ended and their conversation aired. She turned down the volume just enough to place her order, but was still listening, and snickered along with her own original laughter as his silliness made her laugh all over again. After his line of “I’m sure I can,” in regard to him using his imagination as far as what he could do for her, he said in his sexy voice, “This one’s for you, baby.”

With that said, the rock version of Beautiful by HIM started playing, and Kagome had to suddenly fight back wayward tears of happiness as she paid for her food.

Oh my god, that’s so sweet! she mentally squealed as she drove away with her dinner.

And he usually came back on the line right away, but this time he was leaving her on hold, letting her actually listen to the song he’d chosen for her. It wasn’t until the song came to an end that he came back on the line again.

“I’m really glad you called tonight. I was getting kinda lonely,” he admitted, and her eyes started to tear up again, but for a different reason.

“Something just told me I should call you,” she confessed, leaving it at that, since plenty of ‘normal’ people still had the faintest lingerings of a sixth sense that society called a gut feeling those days.

“Good.”

Ash was apparently not in the mood to talk about whatever was on his mind, and instead asked her in that moment, “So, any luck with your apartment hunting?”

“Sadly no,” she revealed. “But I’ll be checking out more listings online on my days off again. Nothing’s just clicked yet, and I don’t want to regret my decision, you know?”

“Totally understandable,” he agreed.

“I’m definitely looking to upgrade to a one-bedroom place rather than a studio, which is what I’m in now, but I gotta find that happy medium between nice and affordable. I don’t want another slum. With my pay raise, I can actually afford something decent. But on the other hand, I don’t want to pay so much in rent that I’m broke again, and can’t save up for a new car, which I’ll definitely need one day.”

“It’s an important decision,” he confirmed. “But I’m sure you’ll find something good soon.”

They continued to chat off and on, in and around him briefly putting her on hold to deal with other callers, during the rest of her drive home. Once she pulled in to her parking spot at her apartment building she told him she had to go, and also that she probably wouldn’t be calling either tomorrow or the next night because she was usually too tired to think after work on Fridays and Saturdays, but she promised she’d call him first thing at the stroke of midnight on Sunday. Or well, rather, technically Monday once it hit midnight. He laughed at that, assuring her he knew what she meant. She almost offered again to give him her cell number, then, but thought better of it at the last moment. If he wanted it, he knew he could ask her and she’d give it to him in a heartbeat. That was part of what she would reevaluate once she was settled into her new apartment. Maybe if she offered the number swap so that she could send him pictures while also promising that he was not obligated to send her back any pictures of himself in return, then maybe he’d go for it. Baby steps. He was obviously still afraid she would reject him if she ever saw what he looked like, and hell for all she knew maybe he was really overweight, or his face was covered in scars or something, but she honestly didn’t care. She loved him. It didn’t matter to her if he was disabled in some way, or covered in old gang tattoos, or whatever it was about him that he thought was a deal-breaker. At that point, he could confess to killing somebody, and she’d gladly provide him with an alibi.

Maybe she’d call him tomorrow night, after all, just to request a different song real quick, and request #1 Crush by Garbage.

She laughed at herself, shaking her head, as she grabbed her fast-food bag and soda and made the quick trek from her car to her apartment building’s side entrance. It wasn’t the nicest apartment, but at least the side parking area was well lit, and the security cameras weren’t just dummies for show. Heading up in the elevator, she sighed as she ate a lukewarm fry. They’d just get nastier if she zapped them, so she’d eat them as-is, although she would zap the burger to heat it back up a bit. It was worth letting her dinner get cold to speak with Ash during her drive home, though. She missed their nightly calls, too. Maybe, after she got herself settled into a new place and didn’t have such a daunting drive home anymore, she could then start calling him nightly again, maybe around four or five in the morning after she was already showered and settled into bed. It was worth a thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday and Saturday went by in a blur of activity. Those nights were always hectic at Mushin’s Temple. She didn’t end up calling Ash with her song request, not that she’d honestly been serious about that in the first place, but she had called him first thing Sunday/Monday night, just like she’d promised. And earlier that night, as well, just after midnight. It was now around 5:30am on Tuesday morning, their conversation long over, and she could hardly keep her eyes open, but was bound and determined to stay awake until Ash finished his show. Deciding then that lying down and ‘resting her eyes’ wasn’t a good idea if she actually wanted to stay awake, she sat up straighter in ‘bed’ – it was actually a fold-out sleeper sofa that she tended to leave in bed mode unless someone was coming over – and sat her phone down before grabbing her laptop off the side table/nightstand, firing it back up again.

Earlier that evening she had completed her search of all the available units in the latest apartment complex on her list. With the next building on her list having only one available unit she’d nearly checked it earlier that evening, as well, but it had been time for her usual routine of showering and dinner, etc., and so she’d ignored that itchy desire to look at it right away, and instead made herself stick to her normal Monday night schedule so that she’d be ready to call Ash at the stroke of midnight. Then a couple of hours ago, when she’d gotten ready for and into bed but was sat up awake to finish enjoying Ash’s show, she had switched gears to checking her email and social media notifications on her phone. She’d planned on checking out this next apartment first thing that afternoon when she got up, before getting ready for work, but now, she needed something other than Twitter to distract herself with in order to stay awake, and YouTube just wouldn’t do when that nagging feeling in the back of her mind was back with a vengeance. She’d actually been wanting to check out this particular apartment for a while now, but also hadn’t wanted to go out of order, still hoping to find something closer to work.

There hadn’t been any order to the apartment buildings that had made her list outside of closeness to Mushin’s Temple. She’d started with the closest apartment complex first, which was actually just down the block from the bar, and then gone from there, all apartment buildings that were ‘definite maybes’ based on other things like price or amenities going onto her list in order of distance from work. This next complex with only one available unit was relatively small, only four stories high with just a few apartments on each floor, and she’d noticed the available apartment had been empty for a long time according to the listing, so she hadn’t really been worried it was a fab apartment in a desirable building that would get snatched up in a hurry if she didn’t act quickly enough.

It was also about a ten-minute drive from the bar, which was about at her limit because honestly, she wanted to be closer to work than that, so if it had gotten snatched up she wouldn’t have cried over it, but she’d added it to the list anyway because the rent was also lower than a lot of the other places closer to the bar, since the newer buildings closer to the heart of the city were obviously going to be the most expensive. There were a couple of other buildings also still on her list because of the price that were also around ten minutes away, which was admittedly a hell of a lot better than forty minutes away, but still. If her car ever broke down on her one day then she’d prefer to be within a half hour’s walk. But this particular building was from the early ‘70s, and there was just something so darn cute about it that she hadn’t been able to dismiss it outright. She’d actually originally contemplated just checking out that single unit right away when she’d first found this building, but had ultimately decided that she didn’t want to go out of order, specifically in case she really liked it, still hoping she might find something closer to work instead that she would also really love so that checking the buildings this far away wouldn’t then be necessary.

But that hadn’t happened, and she was now scraping the bottom of the barrel, as it were. At least now, if it turned out she really liked this one, there would be no dilemma since none of the closer apartments had felt like the right one. Not that she’d hated them all or anything. They were all...fine, but just none of them had clicked.

If nothing ‘clicked’ whatsoever then she would suck it up and go with logic. Weigh the pros and cons of distance vs. price vs. square footage and amenities and all that, and then pick the place that seemed on paper to be the wisest decision when all emotion was taken out of the equation. But if something gave her that ‘This one!’ feeling, then logic would take second chair. All the apartment buildings on her list were already definite maybes, after all, having weeded out the nos, and so in theory any apartment from any building on her list would be acceptable. If she felt drawn to one, even this far away from Mushin’s Temple, then she wouldn’t let herself talk herself out of it just because it was a little farther away from work than she wanted to be. She had to follow her instincts before logic.

This unit was at least cheap enough that she’d be able to put a decent amount of money away towards a new car for the day hers inevitably quit running, which was definitely a plus, and being from the early ‘70s also meant that it was rent-controlled, which was certainly something to take into consideration since a lot of the buildings on her list were newer and therefore not rent-controlled.

Finally clicking on the link for the single apartment listing for this building, then, the first picture loaded, and Kagome froze.

The few other apartments from the ‘70s or ‘80s that she’d looked at so far had all been updated at least a couple of times over the decades, but this unit had apparently never been upgraded in like, ever, and the original (and according to the listing, only previous) tenant had apparently had quite a...vibrant aesthetic. Belatedly, she read the description, which boasted how this ‘groovy time capsule’ combined functionality with ‘a unique sense of style’ that wasn’t seen much with today’s interior designs.

You can say that again.

It looked like the entryway wall on the left was tiled from floor to ceiling with those square foot mirror tiles with gold veining throughout, which was okay with her because hey, last-minute outfit check! The rest of the walls that she could see were all that classic style wood paneling, which perfectly matched the parquet floor of the entryway. Contrasting all the golden wood tones, and orange curtains covering the living room window that was visible straight back, the carpet in the living room was actually dark purple shag.

That was certainly a bold choice, Kagome thought, not that she was complaining.

Not even when she noticed what looked like red carpet in the hallway to the left beyond the entryway, although this one photo being taken from the entrance made it hard to be sure.

The ceiling in the living room – and she assumed throughout the whole apartment – was unsurprising in white popcorn, but she didn’t dislike the outdated texture enough to want to hassle with removal. The thought of all those little bits getting into that carpet made her shudder.

Shaking her head at herself when she realized she was already feeling that feeling, because she was already visualizing this place as hers when she’d only seen the one picture of the living room, she clicked on the next photo in that moment to get a better look at the small open-plan kitchen off to the right, a half wall with countertop space providing a minimal divider between the kitchen and living room. The kitchen area had a ‘harvest gold’ linoleum floor that matched the original appliances, save the dishwasher, which instead had a faux wood veneer that matched the natural wood upper and lower cabinets. The kitchen countertop was panic button red, and the wallpaper was some sort of funkadelic floral geometric pattern in neon yellow and green that burned her eyes the longer she looked at it. She actually had to blink back tears and turn down the brightness on her monitor.

The place was unfurnished, which was both a good thing and a shame. It was a good thing because, if she were indeed to choose this place, she already had a decent amount of furniture to move and wouldn’t want to be stuck with other furniture that would have to come out first, but it was a shame because she really wanted to know what the original furniture had looked like!

She laughed out loud at the thought, now feeling much more awake, and clicked on the next picture.

This photo revealed that the red shag carpet that she’d already been able to see at the hallway entrance off the living room to the left did in fact continue on into the bedroom that was the only room down the short hallway to the right, the hallway and bedroom both also having wood paneling on all the walls (and that popcorn ceiling), and then looking at the next photo after that, it turned out that the bathroom down the hall to the left (which also had wood paneling and a popcorn ceiling) had bright orange shag carpeting – including matching toilet lid and tank covers – that also matched the living room and bedroom curtains. The shower curtain was blessedly an easy on the eyes orange and pale yellow plaid, with nothing neon or eye-burning about it, thank the gods, while the tub (and shower tile), toilet, and sink were all a matching pale yellow.

If that weren’t enough, there was also a modesty wall of sorts made up of those old school glass blocks that obscured the view of the toilet from the tub. Glass blocks!

Holy eclecticism, Batman!

All in all, the whole apartment was gaudy as fuck, but actually, in a kind of totally awesome way, Kagome decided then, realizing that her mostly all-black furniture would actually look rockin’ against those wicked pops of color. Golden wood, orange, and yellow as the main themes throughout, with loud purple and red accents, and then with most everything else black?

Grinning stupidly, she started humming the tune for ‘This is Halloween’ to herself, as she checked just how long this apartment had actually been on the market. She’d seen it had been a lot of days but didn’t remember exactly.

Holy hell, it’s been empty for over a year?!

She supposed the fact that the one and only previous tenant had died there, in their bed, might have something to do with other people’s hesitancy to rent the place, but honestly, it was probably mostly the color scheme, and everyone else seeing the dollar signs it would cost to undo that masterpiece which would then make the cheaper rent not worth it. But Kagome didn’t plan on changing anything (except maybe the kitchen wallpaper), and even though she had to be at work in nearly twelve hours she planned on viewing this apartment that very afternoon before work, if she could swing it.

“Even if I didn’t have my sixth sense that is finally screaming ‘This one! This one!’ I think I’d fuckin’ pick it anyway,” she said to herself with another loud laugh.

She thought of calling Ash and telling him the news, but his show was nearly over now, and they were probably already doing the switch with the morning crew in the studio getting ready to take over, so he wouldn’t be able to speak freely even if he was still the one who answered the phone. Besides, she didn’t want to jinx anything. So instead, she found the work number for the listing agent and called him, leaving a message explaining that she was actually getting ready to go to bed because she worked nights but to please call her back and leave a message of his own if he was available to show her that apartment later today between 3pm and 5pm; she’d be getting up around 2pm and would check her messages immediately. She stressed that she really liked it, and judging by how long it’d sat empty, she imagined he would be ecstatic to get her message.

Indeed, after struggling to fall asleep from the excitement but finally conking out and then being torn back awake again at 2pm by her alarm, the first thing Kagome did was check her cellphone for new voicemails and found that he had in fact returned her call shortly after 9am, when he had gotten her message. He said that he would be delighted to show her the apartment today and could meet her there at 4pm. Jumping out of bed in excitement, then, Kagome breezed through her ‘morning’ routine and was out the door with time to spare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dressed in her work clothes, that being a black neoprene skater skirt (with black boy shorts underneath to help protect against wandering hands, although the skirt was actually her choice because she loved showing off her legs) and a tight black tank top with a psychedelic Buddha silk screen design on the front and the name of the bar on the back that was easy to read because her normally wild tresses were pulled up into a ponytail, black slip-ons and a tiny black canvas purse barely large enough for her phone, card wallet and lipstick completing the look, she didn’t care if she didn’t look professional. She looked professional for her profession, and all the listing agent would care about was closing the deal.

Approaching the apartment building, Kagome was pulled from her current line of thought when she suddenly felt a weird sensation in the back of her mind, kind of like the feel of ghosts when a building was haunted, but...different. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, though, and as she pulled in and found a place to park she actually felt psychically encouraged, like the kami were trying to reassure her that that strange feeling was nothing to worry about. It definitely didn’t feel like anything malevolent wanted her gone. She did hope the specific unit she wanted to rent wasn’t actually haunted, though she knew how to cleanse it if it was, so that wouldn’t be a deal-breaker, but she’d bet once the previous tenant realized she had no intention of changing everything, because she thought it was cool as fuck, they’d leave on their own anyway, a happy ghost.

Meeting up with the realtor and heading inside, however, she quickly realized that whatever she was feeling, it was definitely not ghosts. The ride up in the elevator confirmed it as they got closer to what would soon be her floor and the feeling got even stronger, coming from the top floor above, she realized, when they got out on the third floor. Glancing down as she followed behind the real estate agent, taking note of the classic ‘70s ‘burnt orange’ low pile carpet in the hallway, she quickly realized what she was actually feeling and tried not to let her shock show on her face.

The simple process of elimination had provided the answer even before she’d realized she recognized the energy type. After all, if it wasn’t a ghost, or a kami, then what else could it be, right?

It was a demonic aura.

And a powerful one, at that.

Realizing she actually recognized the sensation had sealed the deal, of course, remembering it from when she’d traveled with her grandfather as a young teen to a shrine that kept many demonic artifacts protected, weapons from ancient times that could have theoretically lured youkai from the wild forest the shrine was nestled against were it not for the protective barrier that prevented anyone from sensing the weapons from the outside. One had to actually be within the shrine’s barrier first in order to feel them. While they were primarily there to be kept safe, passed down amongst the priests and miko there for generations from Feudal times, they also served as educational tools for young people born with the gift of reiki, so that they could learn what various types of demonic auras such as youki and jyaki felt like. Sensing no accompanying reiki in that moment, Kagome realized that the mystery tenant somewhere on the fourth floor might actually own one or more demonic objects without even realizing it, since they wouldn’t be able to sense the youki themselves, but the sensation did not feel evil, tainted with jyaki in any way that could prove dangerous – like a corrupted sword that would ultimately cause its owner to commit murder – and so this far away from the forest she wouldn’t worry about it. Whatever was the source of the aura she felt, it posed no threat to humans and was much too far away from the forest for any youkai of the wilds to feel it and come snooping.

Of course, this entire realization took place in only a few seconds in her mind, and she kept her polite smile firmly in place the entire time, never letting the agent know what had passed through her mind. It was a mask she had perfected over the years. Normals didn’t like to know she was a reiki wielder. Most reiki users stuck to shrine or temple life, with a couple of notable exceptions, of course. Her fake smile became more real as she thought about Mushin and Miroku. Their reiki was weaker than hers, but they were both strong enough to sense her own reiki in return, and while it’d had no bearing on her getting the job she did think it helped explain why she and they naturally got along so well. Kindred spirits and all that. Not just in that they were fellow reiki users, but more specifically, that they were fellow reiki users who wanted normal lives. Kikyou, too.

Kagome reined in her wandering thoughts when the agent stopped in front of the door to the apartment she was there to see and unlocked it.

“I’m sure you’ll love it,” he said with unmasked optimism. “The pictures don’t really do it justice.”

She could tell from his tone that he did not actually like the decor, but she’d already told him over the phone that she did, and she was sure this apartment was a thorn in his side so he was genuinely delighted that someone was actually interested in it.

He opened the door for her then stepped back and said, “Ladies first.”

Kagome entered and slipped off her shoes in the small parquet entryway before the shag carpeting began. Looking around, she realized he was right; the photos really didn’t do it justice. The carpet was like ‘Hello my name is PURPLE!’ while the drapes were like ‘Hi Purple, I’m ORANGE,’ and then heading into the kitchen off to the right, the countertop was like ‘Pleased to meet you both. My name is RED!’

The natural wood wall panels and cabinets, along with the rich golden linoleum and appliances, were all laid back like ‘Hey man, it’s all groovy, man,’ while the kitchen’s wallpapered backsplash area on the far wall, between the upper and lower cabinets, was like ‘What? I can’t hear you! My print’s too loud!’ Kagome was already thinking of options because that wallpaper was even more obnoxious in person. She did want to leave the majority of the apartment as-is, but that wallpaper really had to go. If she stared at it long enough, a ghost image of it would follow her around in her retinas. Maybe the previous tenant had been colorblind?

Of course, that didn’t excuse whoever had made that wallpaper in the first place.

Oh well, at least it’s an easy fix, she thought.

Since most all her furniture was black, perhaps she could just paint over the wallpaper in black, and that way it would be a nice tie-in to her furnishings while fully covering the fluorescent neon. She could even replace the unassuming white kitchen sink and chrome faucet with a black sink and black faucet for an additional tie-in, although she’d keep the original appliances so long as they worked, replacing them with black ones only after they eventually broke. If they broke. Old fridges and ovens seemed to last forever. But there was no microwave, she noticed then, and so a black countertop unit would also help with the color tie-in. She’d either just paint the wallpaper or cover it with black adhesive tiles, something simple. Something like that wouldn’t be too expensive, and she could easily do it herself. Since the spirit of the original tenant was in fact not lingering, it was a non-issue. She could change whatever she wanted to change without the worry of upsetting any restless spirits. She just didn’t want to change too much because she actually, honestly liked it.

She momentarily tried to envision what the cabinets themselves would look like in black as well, but quickly thought better of it, because she wanted to leave all the natural wood alone.

I see your kitchen and I want to paint it black, she sang to herself in her mind, mentally chuckling.

Going with the realtor, then, she continued to walk the rest of the small apartment. It was small, but still a hell of a lot bigger than her current place. It actually had a separate bedroom! What a concept!

She got reintroduced to RED, just in case she could have possibly forgotten what it looked like, but then discovered with delight that the camouflaged wood panel covered sliding closet doors to the left inside the bedroom, starting just past where the door that swung open to the left stopped against the paneled wall, were concealing a rather decent sized closet. That was definitely a bonus. She would probably replace those doors with mirrored ones, eventually, but there was no hurry on that. On the opposite side of the room from the doorway was the window, the curtains making sure she didn’t forget about Red’s good friend ORANGE. The bed, which she was looking forward to buying – a real bed! – would go against the right side wall, with the door to the left, the window to the right, and the closet straight ahead, the head of the bed against the wall that divided the bedroom and living room. Which meant she would have to be careful of having decorative things on shelves on that wall, around where she would put the TV, just in case her bed was ever rhythmically hitting the wall for some reason.

Hey, a girl could dream.
She peeked out the window for a moment to see her view before moving on, which was mostly of residential homes, the heart of the city (and her work) located in the other direction. It was an eastern view, but since the first hints of dawn actually made her sleepy that wouldn’t be an issue, and driving west to work in the evenings wouldn’t be an issue, either. Occasionally having the setting sun in her face on her way to work was nowhere near a valid enough reason to not choose this place, especially with as drawn to it as she was currently feeling, and besides that, a few taller buildings between there and Mushin’s Temple would probably actually prevent that from happening most of the time, anyway.

Going across the hall, then, the bathroom – which was all ‘Hey look more ORANGE, and (stage whisper) yellow’ – had an interesting floor plan, since the narrow rectangular room ran parallel to the hallway. Instead of the sink and toilet together against one of the side walls with the tub/shower in the back, when viewed from the doorway, the tub/shower was actually off to the right, and partially hidden by the open bathroom door that opened to the right, against the tub. Thankfully,  a nice rubber-tipped door stopper prevented the possibility of slamming the door into the tub. The sink was the view straight ahead from the doorway, with extra countertop space and drawers towards the left, cabinet doors beneath the sink. Peeking your head into the doorway and looking left would have you looking at the front of the toilet, except for the aforementioned glass bricks. Instead, that was your view, and you had to approach the sink in order to walk around the mini glass wall to get to the toilet that was partially concealed in a little faux privacy cubby.

She actually really liked that design, the more she thought about it. Yes, theoretically if you were running to the toilet in a hurry that wall could be a major hindrance, but she did appreciate that she could relax in the tub without the toilet staring her in the face. Either way those bricks were staying, because the orange carpet – which was much brighter and verging on neon instead of the darker burnt orange look out in the public halls – had been cut to accommodate their installation, and so if she had them removed there would be an ugly gap in the probably irreplaceable carpet. Leaving the glass blocks in place was definitely better than paying to have them removed and then having to pay to redo the floor in the bathroom.

Carpeting wouldn’t have been her first choice for a bathroom, of course – and especially not shag! – but that was nothing additional mats wouldn’t fix, in a pale yellow to match the existing color scheme, she decided then. Dripping on those when fresh from the shower would prevent the vintage shag from getting overly wet.

Nodding to herself in satisfaction, she left the small bathroom and headed back down the short hallway into the living room, the agent looking at her expectantly while trying not to look like he was looking at her expectantly. She didn’t keep him in suspense.

“I’ll take it!” she declared happily, to the man’s delight.

“Wonderful!” he replied, before asking her if she had time to go with him now to draw up the paperwork.

Grabbing her phone to check the time, Kagome decided to go for it, since checking out the apartment in person had taken all of ten minutes. She wanted to go ahead and get this sucker rented. It required a year contract, initially, but all of her senses were screaming at her that this place was the one, so she wasn’t concerned. Thankfully she was just renting monthly at her current place, and with it also currently being the middle of the month that meant she didn’t even have to rush to hurry up and move out in only like a day or two before she’d have to pay another month’s rent at her old place. She could take her time and move a little bit at a time over the next several days. That night after work she would probably just go back to her old apartment and stay there the night, but she would start the process of packing and leave for work early enough tomorrow afternoon that she could unpack her first carload of boxes at her new place before getting ready for work, lather, rinse, repeat.

In fact, that was how it went down later that night. Signing the lease had been easy, and she’d been giddy all night at work, telling her regulars about finding a new apartment, although she didn’t tell any of her customers where it was, of course. She didn’t think she had any stalkers, but better safe than sorry and all that.

And speaking of stalkers (although she knew she wasn’t really a stalker or else she would have tried to catch him leaving the studio by now), Kagome thought about calling Ash and telling him the good news, but changed her mind. She had just started sticking to her new routine of only calling him on her nights off, and besides, she knew if she talked to him now, she’d wind up excitedly bending his ear all night long and then she wouldn’t get any packing done. If she stuck to her guns and started packing like a madwoman then she could probably be close to fully moved in by Sunday and could then take the time to babble all night long about her new apartment.

In fact, she realized that if she initially focused on packing what she needed to ‘live out of her suitcase’ as were, then she could probably get away with only driving back to her old place tonight and then starting tomorrow she could go straight to her new place to crash after work. Sleeping in her sleeping bag on the floor for a night or two until she bought a bed definitely beat still making that forty-minute drive to her old place at three in the morning, and even though the extra driving would be tiresome, she’d try to take at least two loads to her new apartment in the afternoons/evenings before work. She’d also try to hire furniture movers as soon as possible. The sooner she could officially move in to her new place, the better, where she was then just still going back to her old place to load up more belongings before going home. Yes, this new apartment was home, now.

Grinning at that thought, mind made up as far as her plan of action for the next few days, she resisted her natural urge to call Ash when she got in the car and instead concentrated on what she should pack first when she got back to her old place. She didn’t feel that same kind of almost overwhelming urge to call Ash as she had last week, and so did not feel as if the kami were actually trying to tell her to call him. It was just her own natural desire to speak with him, and she could ignore that for the greater good. She knew she was incapable of just quickly telling him she found a place and then saying she had to go so she could start packing. She knew herself, she thought with a snicker. She was really looking forward to Sunday, when she could bend his ear all night long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pulling the hood of his dark red pullover hoodie up over his head, making sure no stray silvery-white tresses were sticking out, Inuyasha gave himself a once over in the mirror then grabbed his laundry bag.

9pm was probably late enough that there wouldn’t be anyone else in the laundry room, especially on a Sunday night since most people were starting their new work week bright and early tomorrow morning, but it wasn’t impossible that he’d bump into somebody else on his way down to the basement level so he’d just keep his head down and do his best to stay out of everyone’s way. The ‘resident hanyou’ was best neither seen nor heard, but at least nobody ever actually tried to get him evicted. Their landlord was thankfully a decent human being and didn’t even fuck with him like with killing the heat or refusing to fix little broken things over the years. Guy actually took pity on him, but hell, he’d take it. He much preferred a landlord’s pity to a landlord’s ire.

He was pretty sure a large part of it was also because there were never any complaints about him, but how he aided in making sure there were no complaints about him was by making sure to avoid ever ‘bothering’ the other tenants, i.e., reminding them of his presence. The new reiki user was an unknown variable, of course, which admittedly made him a little nervous, but surely they’d have sensed his presence before even renting their place, so they’d made the decision knowingly. He could feel them whenever they were in their apartment downstairs, and he knew his sixth sense wasn’t nearly as strong as a reiki user’s, so if he could feel them then they could definitely feel him, and it’d been a few days now since they’d rented the place. A few days now of him sensing them when he got home in the morning, and continuing to sense them all morning long until they left at various times in the early afternoon, usually coming and going more than once before finally staying gone for the rest of the evening and into the night. He didn’t know what time they got back home at night, but definitely sometime after midnight, since they were still gone when he left for his own job. It was unusual for a reiki user to live in a busy city, and as far as he knew, the few who did were all in the medical field in some capacity or another, so he’d guess his new ‘neighbor’ was probably also a healer of some sort. They worked all hours, after all.

He also supposed, since this person undoubtedly knew he was there but had yet to seek him out, that there were probably only two main explanations for why that could be. One, they were indeed bothered by and/or afraid of him, but not strong enough that they’d let it chase them away from the apartment they’d wanted, and so they were just going about their business while leaving him alone and hoping he’d continue to do the same. Or two, they actually weren’t necessarily bothered by him at all but thought it possible that he was bothered by and/or afraid of them, and so they were actually avoiding him as a courtesy on their part.

Honestly, if they had the best of intentions and came upstairs to his floor, came to his apartment, with the thought of politely introducing themself so as to cease their spiritual awareness tiptoe dance, he probably would freak out for just a split second as he felt them coming, fearing a possible confrontation, but then once they’d made their intentions clear he’d have no problem with it, or them. He would let that be a gesture they could choose to make, though. He had no intention of deliberately approaching them in such a way. If the two of them ever just happened to bump into each other one of these days, well then so be it, although he doubted that would happen since they could sense each other and so could probably avoid it. Not that he actually planned on actively avoiding this person any more than he actively avoided everyone else, though. Say if he were heading downstairs to get his mail, for example, and then they happened to be there getting their own mail at the same time, well, he wouldn’t turn around and go back the other way. If they did, he’d take it as a sign, though, and then work harder to avoid them in the future after that, for everyone’s sake.

But he knew those were worries for another day. Right now, he needed to do his laundry, and he’d felt the reiki user leave their apartment around a half hour ago – which was later than usual, although he knew not enough time had really passed yet for him to actually become familiar with their routine – and so now was the perfect opportunity to get his laundry done in peace before heading to work. Heading out the door, then, locking up and tucking his key into his dark blue jeans, he slung his overstuffed black laundry bag over his shoulder and headed down the hall towards the elevator, his sandal-clad feet silent on the old, low pile orange carpet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kagome was humming to herself as she folded her towels. She absolutely loved that her new building had its own laundry room. Besides the cheaper rent, that was another reason she’d added it to the maybe list despite its distance from work. No more trips to the laundromat for her! And ten minutes each way was a much shorter drive than forty so the ‘distance’ was obviously nothing to complain about. With the amount of money she would be able to put aside into her ‘new car fund’ each month, she’d be able to get herself a newer used car in hopefully just a couple of years or so, and so long as she kept up on the normal maintenance on her old clunker it would hopefully keep on keeping on for years to come. Putting way fewer daily miles on it was definitely a positive.

The miko bartender was pulled from her wandering thoughts when the youki signature on the fourth floor that she’d still been able to faintly sense from the basement level started getting closer, indicating her hanyou neighbor was currently descending in the elevator. Thinking nothing of it, at first, her eyes quickly widened in surprise, unfolded bath towel still in her hands, when she realized her indecision about whether or not she should introduce herself to her demonic neighbor was about to be decided for her, because when the elevator passed the ground level and stopped in the laundry room with her she realized she was about to meet them, right now.

It hadn’t taken her long to realize the youki she could nearly always feel from the fourth floor was actually coming from a person rather than an artifact of some sort, considering the demonic aura moved about in its apartment and even came and went...sometimes via the roof! Even if they’d always used the elevator, though, the odds that somebody merely owned a powerful demonic object and carried it on their person 24/7 would have been even slimmer than the likelihood of them simply being a hanyou, but the fact that she could feel their daily return to their apartment at just a minute or two past 6am, and that that return was via the rooftops, sealed the deal. It had certainly caught her by surprise the first morning she’d felt it, having previously assumed the aura she felt was indeed from an artifact of some sort. She’d initially been surprised to notice the lack of youki coming from above when she’d first gotten home after work that morning, and then when the youki had returned later...that had truly been a wow moment. Hanyou were rare, but not unheard of, and she was not bothered by their existence in the slightest. She’d been both ecstatic and a nervous wreck upon realizing she had a hanyou neighbor.

Honestly, her first reaction had been ‘OMG cool!!!’ at the thought, followed quickly by dread. What if they were terrified of her? How awful would that be?! She would never try to force them to be sociable with her if her reiki bothered them in any way, of course. She’d completely understand and not take it personally in the slightest. But she’d also thought that perhaps she should introduce herself, then, to let them know they had nothing to fear from her.

Then just as quickly as that thought had come, she’d second-guessed herself, because she didn’t want to inadvertently scare the poor dear half to death when they first felt her approaching. Surely they could sense her as well. Of course, figuring they could sense her presence was why she’d felt compelled to introduce herself, so that they wouldn’t end up thinking she was avoiding them. The poor dear was probably used to prejudice, and she wanted them to know they had a friend in her, if they’d like one. Having thought she knew their routine by now, or at least part of it, since they were always gone when she got home and then returned just past 6am – she figured they were probably out hunting or just enjoying the night air or something and then came back home to safety once the sun was coming up – she’d been trying to decide if perhaps asking the landlord was a good idea, instead, if he would tell her which apartment was the hanyou’s. Maybe he would if she explained her reasoning, admitted to the landlord that she was a miko, and told him she meant the hanyou no harm and just wanted to slip a note under their door while they were out, introducing herself in a less confrontational way.

Hell, maybe she could even just give the landlord her note, and he’d deliver it for her, if he didn’t feel comfortable revealing the apartment number. He could even read the note himself, first, if he wanted to make sure she wasn’t secretly being threatening. She’d even actually already written the note, she just hadn’t spoken to the landlord yet. She was hesitating on that front just in case the landlord didn’t actually know one of his tenants was a hanyou. Some hanyou looked more human than others, and the last thing she wanted to do, while trying to reassure the person they had nothing to fear from her, was accidentally out them to the landlord if their demonic heritage was a secret. She’d been trying to think of a way to broach the subject loosely without straight out asking him about the hanyou tenant, to see if she could gather whether or not he already knew. Maybe she could just let it slip that she was a reiki user, in and of itself, and then see if he realized that meant she could sense the hanyou.

Now, though, it would seem all of her worrying and indecision was for naught. Apparently having sensed her in the laundry room, the hanyou had decided that this was the perfect opportunity to get introductions over with, themself. She wasn’t afraid, of course, but she was a nervous wreck again, this time from the simple worry that she’d say the wrong thing and look like an idiot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The elevator had thankfully been available as soon as he’d gotten there, coming up to the fourth floor from the second just as soon as he pushed the button. He crinkled his nose when the doors opened, the elevator reeking of cigarette smoke as it often did (at least to his nose) whenever that particular second-floor neighbor had just recently used it, but there was nothing for it in that moment so he sucked it up. Shuffling inside, then, Inuyasha sent out a silent prayer to the kami that nobody else got on during his quick ride down to the basement.

It wasn’t until he was at around the second-floor level, himself, that he started to feel that familiar tingle of reiki against his mind, and he mentally cursed the kami, then, if they were going to have the elevator open for the reiki user on the ground floor. Then, when he passed the ground floor and the feeling of reiki only continued to get stronger, his irritation immediately turned to panic.

The reiki user was in the fucking laundry room?!

There was no way in all the hells they couldn’t feel him coming! As soon as the elevator arrived in the laundry room the doors would automatically open, and even if he frantically pushed the button for his own floor there was no way he could do it fast enough, before they saw his panicking form desperately pushing buttons in the elevator like a madman. Plus the whole ‘feel him coming’ part meant that even if he somehow managed to remain hidden from their view, there was really no point.

Not at that point, anyway.

If he turned around and went right back up it would be obvious he was running away, and well, fuck it all, but he wouldn’t run away from anybody. Politely avoiding one another was one thing, but at this point, it seemed like the kami had decided it was time for them to stop doing that, at least long enough for him to introduce himself. If the reiki user smelled afraid or otherwise gave off the impression they did not want him there, he’d be the bigger man and bow out so as to avoid a confrontation that could ultimately jeopardize his living situation, but damn it all, he had every right to do his laundry, too! If the reiki user was cordial so too would he be, and he’d stay and do his laundry while letting them do the same. There were multiple machines, after all. But if they wanted him gone, he’d leave. It wasn’t fair, but he was used to it.

Of course, he knew it was also possible they were just politely avoiding him because they were worried their presence bothered him, and so if he turned around and left without at least saying hi it would give the impression that that assumption was correct. He didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by inadvertently making them genuinely believe he was afraid of them. He knew how rare hanyou were. For all he knew, this person was actually eager to meet him but also terrified of spooking him. He was long since used to the ‘exotic zoo animal’ type of admiration that some people gave him, and ‘Oh wow, a hanyou!’ was a much better reaction from strangers than ‘Get the hell away from me you disgusting freak of nature!’ so much like his landlord’s pity, he’d take it.

All these thoughts ran through his head in the time it took the elevator to come to a stop in the basement so that by the time the doors opened he’d already steeled himself, and he exited the elevator in that moment with as much bravado as he dared, eyes hesitantly raised to the room instead of his usual custom of keeping his head down whenever other people were around.

He nearly tripped over his sandal-clad feet when his eyes met the surprised and expectant gaze of the...drop-dead gorgeous fucking miko in her twenties who was still holding her current bath towel in the air unfolded, a small stack of already folded towels on the table before her. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, either a grandmotherly figure or a Buddhist monk had crossed his mind, but not the absolute beauty in simple bleached jeans and white fitted tee standing before him, her long black hair cascading around her shoulders in untamed waves that had him itching to run his fingers through it.

It took him a second longer to find his voice than intended, but finally clearing his throat, he said, “Uh, hi, nice to finally meet you. I’m Inuyasha.”

The miko said nothing, but her eyes widened dramatically, almost comically so. Was she surprised he could talk? Or that he was so polite? He wouldn’t let her reaction upset him, though.

“So yeah, anyway, if it’s all right with you, I also need to do some laundry before work. I work nights. But if you don’t feel comfortable with me being in here with you, I can do it some other time.”

He shuffled awkwardly as he spoke, and didn’t hold her gaze for long, casting his eyes downward once more, not used to saying so much to someone all at once. At least not in person while in all his hanyou glory.

He was no longer looking at the miko’s shocked face, but her continued silence spoke volumes.

“Right. Okay, uh, it was, it was nice meeting you,” he said as he quickly turned to leave, but then her hesitant question brought him, and his heart, to a complete stop.

“Ash?”

He froze, and not just because she had apparently recognized his normal speaking voice even though he used a deeper timbre on-air, but because with just a single word, his stage name, he thought he recognized her voice, as well.

He turned back around and met her eyes again, which were unmistakably hopeful now. Her scent, too, – which, kami, he could get lost in – he belatedly realized had never once spiked with fear, but now held notes of anxiety and excitement.

It was his turn to remain dumbfoundedly silent, while she grew braver.

“It is you, isn’t it? I’d know that voice anywhere.”

He swallowed. Then nodded. Then dared question, “Kagome?”

She dropped her towel and launched herself at him so fast, if it hadn’t been for his hanyou strength and reflexes, they’d have both gone crashing to the floor. As it was, he was in absolute shock to suddenly find her in his arms, his laundry bag dropped to the floor when he caught her, the force of her impact also knocking his hood down, exposing his ears and silvery-white mane. The hug was also over much too soon for his liking, as just as quickly as she’d lost herself she remembered herself again and extracted herself from his impromptu embrace with an embarrassed flush on her cheeks that made her even more beautiful, although that added twinge of humiliation in her otherwise lovely scent had to go. He briefly thought he would love to see her face flushed for a different reason, but then quickly chastised himself for the random thought.

“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” she apologized then with a low bow, starting to ramble quickly as she looked back up and briefly cast her eyes up to his ears before she met and held his nervous gaze with her apologetic one. “It’s just that I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long now and I’ve prayed to the kami to help me with getting you to maybe finally want to try giving us a try and I’ve been so tempted to try to meet you leaving the station at six but I didn’t want to come off like a crazy stalker or anything and then well suddenly here you are and the fact that you’re a hanyou actually makes everything make so much sense now but just so you know that doesn’t bother me in the slightest and I-”

That was as far as she got. The kiss he pulled her into was just as surprising for her as her hug had been for him, but unlike that hug, which had been over too soon for him to fully process the situation, Kagome had time to process and respond. And respond she did. Inuyasha groaned – or was it more like a whimper? – when she kissed him back with equal passion, pouring all of her pent-up emotions, her love, into the kiss, completely unfazed by the fangs in his mouth that scraped teasingly against her lips without causing any actual pain.

Pulling back after a moment, Inuyasha gazed down into Kagome’s stormy blue-gray orbs, and he couldn’t help the stupid grin he knew he had to be sporting at the moment.

Then, he actually laughed.

“So, let me get this straight...” he started slowly, the amazed look in his gorgeous golden honey eyes telling Kagome he was silently praying he wasn’t dreaming. “The mystery woman I’ve fallen in love with over the last three years is actually a fucking miko, of all things, and yet still isn’t bothered by me being a hanyou?”

Kagome initially opened her mouth just to stress how she absolutely was not bothered by his demonic heritage, or his physical attributes, or the psychic sensation of his youki in her mind for that matter, but then the entirety of what he’d just said fully dawned on her and all she could do was stare at him with her mouth agape, tears forming in her eyes. And then it was her turn to kiss him, before he even had a chance to possibly jump to conclusions because of her tears. Her kiss was all the answer he needed to his question, and the fact that he immediately kissed her back told Kagome that he wasn’t bothered by her being a miko, either.

When they pulled apart for the second time, hanyou and miko were both all smiles.

“I never would have guessed it,” Kagome admitted then. “Hanyou are so rare, and I couldn’t feel your youki until I was less than a block away. Since this apartment building is in a different direction from work than my old place I never drove past here during my old commute, so I’d honestly had no idea there was a hanyou in this part of the city.”

“And since I never go near Mushin’s Temple I had no idea there was another miko in this city, either,” he told her then. “I only knew of an old holistic healer named Kaede, who had treated my mother once when conventional medicine stopped working. We were willing to try anything. I’d have even risked forest youkai sensing me and wanting to cause trouble to get her to a spiritual healer in a shrine somewhere, but then her doctor told us about Kaede, who had said she was living in the city to care for her granddaughter after the kid’s parents died in a car accident. She hadn’t wanted to uproot her granddaughter and take her away from her school and friends, so she’d set up shop as a spiritual healer here in the city, instead.”

Kagome had already known about Ash’s...Inuyasha’s mother’s untimely passing from cancer, one of the things that had come up during their longer, more serious talks, but she hadn’t known about the miko part.

“Oh wow, small world! Kaede was Kikyou’s grandmother!” she informed him then.

“What?” he asked with a surprised laugh.

“Yup! She’d told me how her grandmother was a healer and raised her after her parents died, and supported her decision to live a normal life even after she discovered she had some reiki of her own.”

“Huh,” he said. “Two miko at the same bar? What’re the odds?” he joked.

“And that’s not all. Miroku and his uncle Mushin are reiki users, too, which is why he made the bar temple themed in the first place.”

Inuyasha put his hand on his heart and feigned shock as he declared, “It’s an invasion!”

Kagome laughed heartily, and his eyes softened as he smiled at her.

“I love the sound of your laugh,” he told her for the first time in person, and it was her turn for her blue-gray orbs to soften as she gazed upon him with all the love she felt in her heart, and no small amount of physical attraction.

She hadn’t cared about how he might look, of course, because she loved Ash no matter what, but it was certainly a fun bonus that he was so hot. From what she’d been able to see of his face, she’d already thought he was cute the moment he’d first stepped off the elevator, but in a ‘she was totally unavailable and therefore uninterested’ kind of way. Her heart belonged to Ash and Ash alone. But then it turned out this drop-dead gorgeous...she’d guess inu hanyou...standing before her was Ash, and now, well, there was nothing standing in their way, and especially not his looks!

She was already fantasizing about touching those ears.

“And I love you,” she told him plainly, not afraid to admit it, especially after his own confession.

He grinned stupidly, then cleared his throat.

“So uh, I guess we can go ahead and exchange phone numbers now,” he joked, and she chuckled again. “And I assume you had planned on telling me all about the new apartment tonight?”

“I was!” she insisted right away, although it’d been obvious from his tone he hadn’t been implying he was accusing her of withholding information. And in fact, she had been: the fact that she was a miko. But fuck, like he had room to talk, and he also knew that reiki users were pretty rare in their own right, so he totally got it.

“Well, you still can,” he told her then. “Or you can hang out with me while I do my laundry and tell me all about it now,” he added in suggestion.

That said, he picked up the laundry bag he’d dropped in his haste to catch her when she’d flung herself at him, and her light blush had him chuckling quietly as he went about dumping his stuff into a machine.

“Right. Laundry, right,” she muttered half to him, half to herself, a belated reminder that oh yeah, once upon a time she had been doing her laundry, too.

Picking up her discarded bath towel and deciding the floor looked clean enough that it probably didn’t need to be washed again – at least there was no noticeable dirt or dust bunnies – she chucked it back into the dryer on high to kill off any possible bacteria then got back to folding the rest of her towels. While they both worked she went ahead and filled him in on all the apartment viewing details, including the part about actually not realizing he was a hanyou at first, even after she’d sensed him, and later her agonizing about whether or not she should introduce herself, and whether or not to involve the landlord. He confirmed for her then that their landlord did know about him, as did most if not all of the other tenants, so she didn’t have to worry about accidentally betraying his secret and ‘outing’ him if she wound up befriending other neighbors and the conversation came up. The only part that was a secret not even the landlord knew was that he was now DJ Ash. He’d been a janitor for years before landing that gig, and when he’d first changed jobs the radio station had specifically worked it into the ‘verbal’ part of his contract that his identity was to remain a secret.

Kagome understood and agreed immediately never to betray that confidence, although she also said that in her opinion, the public knowledge of him being a hanyou would probably actually help the station’s ratings rather than hurt it. What was more metal than a literal demon, right? He agreed, and told her he would have been more than willing to take that chance if the station had been, but they had not, and it was their decision. The ‘ghost’ persona had also been their idea, he explained, to jokingly excuse why he never did on-location appearances. In theory, he could have gone to the events that fell on his human nights, but if he’d made some appearances then it would have been even harder to explain why he wasn’t at other events, and so it was better if he just never went to any of them.

He easily told her about his human transformation and when it occurred because he had absolutely no intention of keeping something like that a secret from her when it was the one night a month they could actually go out. Besides, being a miko, he knew she’d already know that hanyou had such a time, anyway, and once the nights got short enough she’d have even figured out when it was by feeling his youki leave him around an hour before she’d leave for work. In reply, she merely told him she wasn’t surprised to learn it only happened once a month, considering the strength of his youki. The stronger the hanyou, the less frequently they turned human. Fortunately, as fate would have it, the next upcoming new moon actually fell on a Sunday, he told her then, since he always kept tract of such things, and so he immediately asked her out on an official date for next month.

Kagome tried to argue that it didn’t bother her, being seen with him in public in all his hanyou glory, so they didn’t have to wait that long, but he told her he never went anywhere or did anything as his hanyou self except his job. He would be able to hear the whispers she couldn’t, and literally smell the hatred aimed their way. He wanted to take her out to dinner at a nice restaurant, without such hindrances.

Conceding the point, then, because she didn’t want to force him to do anything he wasn’t comfortable with, she immediately agreed to go out to dinner with him next month, when he was human.

“That doesn’t mean we have to wait until after our ‘first date’ to actually be together, though,” she added boldly. “I mean, we already know so much about each other. I love you, you love me, and Barney lyrics notwithstanding...”

He snorted a laugh.

“...honestly, we could go back upstairs to either of our apartments right now and ‘christen’ our relationship. I’m ready whenever you are.”

He closed his eyes and silently cursed his body’s immediate reaction to her words, the ‘blip’ he felt down below unwanted at the moment. Her sudden change in scent wasn’t helping matters, either, as she clearly got excited herself at the thought. Did he want to jump into bed with her? Hell yes. But more than he wanted that, he wanted whatever this was between them to last. He didn’t want to screw it up.

“I think...I think we should at least try to take things slowly,” he said then. “I’ve never had a relationship before, or at least, not one that lasted more than a few hours on a moonless night, if you get my meaning.”

She nodded her understanding, not bothered by that confession in the slightest. She also remembered her previous thoughts about wanting to help the shy him become the bold him, and it honestly didn’t surprise her that he wasn’t immediately ready to throw caution to the wind.

“We can go at whatever pace you need,” she assured him then. “Hell, I’ve been waiting to meet you for years, so I can certainly wait a while longer for the next level of our relationship. I’m just ecstatic there now is a relationship, because correct me if I’m wrong, but putting aside a timetable for intimacy, we are boyfriend and girlfriend now, right?”

“Gods yes!” he confirmed without hesitation, a relieved sigh escaping with his words from the simple fact that she felt that way.

Likewise, some tension Kagome hadn’t even realized she’d been starting to feel also immediately left her at his reassurance. She smiled warmly.

“Then, in that case, nothing else matters. I’m ready whenever you are, and hell, you were terrified that you being a hanyou was going to be a deal-breaker and that wasn’t true, so I can assure you that nothing else would be a deal-breaker, either, but so that also includes waiting. I can wait, and I will wait, however long you need me to. I’m just glad to finally know you, and I would love to hang out together in either of our apartments on my nights off, until you have to go to work, just doing innocent things like watching a movie. I’m looking forward to the restaurant, but in the meantime, I’d also love to cook for you, if not tomorrow, if that’s too soon, then maybe next week.”

Tremendously grateful for her understanding, and delighted by her suggestions, he agreed that they should take advantage of the next three weeks until the new moon to really get to know one another, finally telling each other anything else they’d wanted to share but had been afraid to. He promised he’d answer any questions she had regarding his hanyou nature, and she agreed in turn that she would also love to share certain aspects of her life as a miko, as well.

“I’m sure you don’t want to hear about how I was teased in elementary school, though,” she said in contemplation. “And like I have room to talk, anyway, I’m sure.”

“Hey, just because I got shit every day for being a hanyou doesn’t mean your own painful memories are invalid. It’s not a ‘who got bullied more’ competition,’ he told her compassionately.

Her heart melted at his words.

“Still, though...” she tried to argue.

He cut her off.

“Nope,” he said, grinning smugly. “You have full rein to bitch about anything and everything, and however hard you think my life was in comparison is irrelevant.”

His smirk softened into a gentle smile.

“Besides,” he added then, “I’m also looking forward to bending your ear with all the stuff I haven’t told you yet.”

Speaking of ears… she thought but wasn’t brave enough to voice out loud. She didn’t want him to get the wrong impression, but she really liked his ears and wanted to touch them.

Unaware of her wayward thoughts, he continued.

“And aside from visiting in person on your nights off before my shift starts, we’ll chat with our cellphones from now on, because some of that shit, I don’t want getting recorded,” he said. Thinking about it a moment longer, he added, “Although, you should still call in on your nights off, so we can do our little on-air game. None of the other listeners know I usually kept you on the line after that. We’ll keep up appearances for the sake of the listeners then I’ll call you back on my cell afterwards.”

“You got it,” she agreed easily. “It’s admirable you take your job so seriously. You’re truly a great entertainer.”

He just shrugged.

“I love people, even if they don’t love me back.”

“Well this person loves you,” Kagome replied.

He blushed a little, but didn’t hesitate to reply, “I love you, too.”

Kagome ended up hanging out with Inuyasha in the laundry room for nearly two hours, her folded towels waiting patiently on the table, until finally, the hanyou pulled his stuff from the dryer. With that the pair finally said their goodbyes, since he had to get his clothes put away asap before they became a wrinkled mess, the clean garments just shoved back into his laundry bag for the trip upstairs. Approximately an hour later, when his radio show started, Kagome was among his first callers of the evening, and they played it off as smooth as ever, doing their usual playful flirting while giving nothing else away. This time, though, after they were done playacting for the other listeners, and ‘Ash’ played the song he’d picked for Kagome – this time Nothing Else Matters by Metallica – he actually hung up the station phone and called her back on his cell like he’d said he would, the pair having exchanged numbers before going their separate ways earlier.

He’d even let Kagome take his picture so she could save it in her phone as his avatar, and she’d saved his contact info under Inuyasha, of course. It helped that Kagome had sort of figured all along that Ash probably wasn’t his real name. She usually didn’t call him by name when she called in to his show, anyway, instead calling him things like handsome or darling more often over the last few months, so getting used to him being Inuyasha instead of Ash would be an easy transition to make. And since she herself always made sure to be ‘on’ whenever she called in those days, for the sake of the show, she would also never slip up and accidentally call him by his true name while doing their little game. Besides, even if she did somehow screw up and let it slip, he’d just not air that call, since he never aired any of the station’s calls live.

Much more importantly, she needed to get into the habit of calling him Inuyasha, because that was who he was, and she didn’t want to slip up the other way and ever accidentally call him Ash while they were out in public together. While she usually didn’t address him as Ash whenever she phoned in, she’d always been thinking of him as Ash in her mind, simply because she’d had nothing else to call him. She liked the name Inuyasha a lot better, though. It suited him.

And yes, he’d confirmed for her that he was indeed an inu hanyou, his father having been a powerful inu-daiyoukai his mother had met by chance while on a camping trip in the mountains. He’d actually already been as honest about that with her as he could be during previous talks, having told her he was the result of an affair, and so he’d never known his dad. He told Kagome then that he knew from what his mother had told him that his father had already had an inu-youkai wife and full-blooded son at the time. He only knew of his inu-youkai family from what his father had told his mother but he had never met any of them. When Izayoi had discovered she was pregnant she’d made the decision to keep the baby, even knowing the hardships she would face as a single mother of a hanyou babe. His father had provided for them in the only way he’d been able, in the form of jewels she’d been able to sell for enough money to cover their rent and other bills for, unfortunately, the rest of her life...which should have been a lot longer until cancer cut it short, her medical bills also cutting the money short, although he’d gotten his janitor job by then so that they wouldn’t lose the apartment.

That was all in the past, though, and Inuyasha was looking towards the future. Namely, a future with Kagome. He still wanted to take things slowly, but not too slowly. He was mostly nervous because he’d never been with anyone as a hanyou before. What if he disgusted her? Or worse, what if he accidentally hurt her? Besides the claws and fangs, he was physically a hell of a lot stronger than a human. His tentative plan was to bring Kagome back to his place after dinner on the night of the new moon, and then go from there. Of course, it now also sucked that he had no nights off. He wasn’t sure if that was something he could change, but one thing at a time. Maybe, one day, he and Kagome would actually live together, and then it wouldn’t be quite so bad, him having to go to work every single night, even on her two nights off, if he would be coming back home to her again in the morning, just in time for them to both to go sleep together in the same bed, and then wake up again together in that same bed in the afternoon, every afternoon.

One could dream, at least.

That first night, they just chatted more on the phone, and Kagome also sent him a bunch of pictures she’d taken of Sango and the others from work, as well as her family, whom she told him then all still lived at home in the shrine house she’d grown up in, in the nearby foothills. It was a modest shrine, the closest one for devotees of the city to travel to. Kagome hadn’t wanted to travel too far in her search of a ‘normal’ life in the city, so home was only a couple of hours away.

Inuyasha hesitantly expressed his concerns regarding how her family would take it, learning she was with a hanyou, but Kagome assured him that no one in her family was racist. She’d never heard a single negative peep even out of her elderly grandfather about the existence of hanyou, namely if they shouldn’t...exist that is. But she also told him that ultimately, it wasn’t their decision, and that even if one or more of her family members didn’t approve, she wouldn’t care. Well, she would care, because it would hurt her to realize they felt that way, but she wanted to be with Inuyasha no matter what.

Only her mother knew about her ‘crush’ on DJ Ash, and Inuyasha told her then that if she thought her mother could also keep the secret, then she had his blessing to tell her mother who he really was. Especially if it would help her accept their relationship, to realize that she hadn’t just randomly met a hanyou out of the blue and decided to date him for the novelty of it, but rather, they’d already spent the last three years getting to know – and subsequently fall for – each other.

Kagome said they would cross that bridge when they came to it, because part of ‘taking it slow’ like he wanted should definitely include not rushing to meet her family, but it was a genuine concern so she didn’t blame him for bringing it up now. But one thing at a time, she said. First, they also had Monday night’s chat to look forward to, then they had to make it through the rest of the week, although Kagome did say they could augment their previous new arrangement of her only calling on her nights off by texting each other the rest of the week. She could at the very least send him a little note every night letting him know she got home all right, and he told her he would really appreciate that. But she also said she’d call after she was done with her post-work rituals, which she admitted she’d already tentatively been planning on doing, anyway, because she’d missed speaking with him every night. She would just call him on his cell, though. Let the rest of the listeners get used to her only calling in on her nights off so that, eventually, it could fizzle out if they wanted it to.

They also made plans for Inuyasha to go to Kagome’s apartment the following Sunday so that she could cook for him. She made a mean ramen, which she already knew was his favorite, of course.

All in all, hanyou and miko were both optimistic that this new relationship of theirs was going to last. It was still mind-boggling for him that she was willing to be with him after discovering he was a hanyou, and especially since she was a miko, but he supposed he understood since her being a miko certainly wasn’t a deal-breaker for him, either. Actually, in a way he really liked that she was a miko, because if he did ever accidentally hurt her, well then at least he knew she wasn’t helplessly at his mercy and instead she could actually defend herself against him, zap him one if he was being too rough, etc. The logical part of his mind told him he would never allow himself to be so careless, of course, but it was a fear he harbored nonetheless, and so knowing she’d had proper miko training and did indeed know how to use her reiki, that at least provided him some peace of mind.

Things would work out, because he had faith in Kagome’s faith in the kami. Apparently, they’d been trying to get the two of them together for quite some time now, and who was he to argue with the literal gods? He was just grateful that that ‘groovy’ apartment had stayed vacant all this time. Just one of the many solids the kami had done for him, not to mention helping him land such an awesome career, which had been what’d drawn Kagome to him in the first place. They almost definitely never would have met if he were still a janitor, and even if by some miracle Kagome had still followed the same career path and landed her job at Mushin’s Temple, and then moved into that very same apartment, without her having already fallen in love with him over two years ago she could have so easily already had another boyfriend. He supposed it was theoretically possible she could have still been single, that they would have bumped into each other at some point and, knowing her bubbly personality, she’d have tried to befriend him. Maybe they would have eventually still gotten together, anyway, but that was a lot of unknown variables, and so he definitely liked the path the kami had laid out for them instead. All things happened for a reason, as his mother used to say.

She also used to tell him that there was somebody out there for him, that he’d find his special someone and not be lonely for the rest of his life. It looked like his mother had known what she was talking about, after all. He wanted to be sad that she hadn’t gotten the chance to meet Kagome, because she definitely would have liked her, but something told him she was probably actually smiling down on him in that moment, probably after giving the kami a hand with playing matchmaker in the first place.

He grinned at the thought, and then finally saying his goodnights to Kagome, when the morning show crew were due to arrive soon, he told her how much he was looking forward to chatting again the following night, and that he was really looking forward to seeing her in person again next week. He knew he could go over to her place that very evening before work if he wanted to, there was no real reason why he couldn’t, except he just wanted to at least try to take things a bit slowly. He’d just accidentally met the woman he loved, after spending years convinced that if they ever met in person it would utterly destroy whatever pseudo-relationship they’d already had, and so now, after thinking they could only ever have a telephone relationship, she was literally his neighbor, and she had not freaked out upon discovering he was a hanyou and had told him plainly that that didn’t matter to her, so he was admittedly a bit shell-shocked and could use a few days to fully process everything before going over to her place for dinner.

Kagome, for her part, said she completely understood, and that she didn’t want to rush him, promising to call in again just after midnight so they could chat off and on for those six hours while he was working, since that was the routine they were used to. Baby steps. She too was looking forward to dinner, though, both next week in her apartment and then two weeks after that, actually out in public, on the night of the new moon. She didn’t say so in that moment, but she hoped he would eventually come around to being willing to go out as his hanyou self so that they wouldn’t be limited to only one night a month, but if that was what he needed she would respect that. She couldn’t imagine what life had to be like for him. Even though she’d been teased as a child, that was only after it was ‘discovered’ she was a reiki user, because you wouldn’t know it just to look at her. She had the ability to stay in the closet, as it were, not that it was fair in any way that she needed to hide that part of herself in order to avoid the chance of harassment, but who said life was fair? Perhaps, if he were ever willing to be seen in public as a hanyou, she’d don a shirt that said ‘Miko and Proud’ or something, so that he wouldn’t be the only one with his differences on display. That was a subject she would broach at a later date, though. In that moment, with just a simple “Goodnight, love you,” she hung up for the day and settled into her new bed, just as the light of dawn was becoming visible in the cracks around her closed bedroom curtains.

She felt Inuyasha’s youki return just a few short minutes later, and she smiled drowsily, looking forward to the day he would be coming home to her. There was no rush, now that she felt it was inevitable. He was her boyfriend, now, and as she drifted off to sleep, that thought gave her very happy dreams, indeed.

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A/N:

Over on fanfiction dot net this is the end of the story, but fear not! For my loyal readers over on this site (and over on AO3) there is a second, bonus chapter. Enjoy!