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Inuyasha stared blankly at the woman sitting just across the table from him, food untouched as she yammered on for the second straight hour about everything she liked to do, how busy she was, how many friends she had that always wanted to spend time with her, the constant male attention, the fawning gifts, the endless shopping trips, and she said it all into the compact mirror she had barely put down, fluffing her hair and checking her teeth after every third sentence or so.
He tried very hard to appear interested and engaged, riveted even, but he was running out of steam.
He couldn’t even really blame her, she was kind of the prettiest girl he’d ever gone out with, absolutely striking in every way someone could be, but it was clear they just had different priorities.
It was just so hard to date as a hanyo.
“Can I get you guys any refills?”
Immediately his attention was stolen from his date, and he stared helplessly up into the most beautiful set of glittering blue eyes he’d ever seen.
Kagome
Wordlessly he held up his drink and nodded, and the waitress Kagome grinned and poured more water in his glass.
“And you?” She turned to his date, and the girl rolled her eyes and sneered.
“Obviously not. And I’ll thank you not to flirt with my date right in front of me!”
Inuyasha paled, horrified at such an accusation aimed at the sweetest, kindest, most welcoming person he’d ever met, even if he did only know her in the context of her job here at this restaurant.
“Sorry for the confusion!” The cute waitress chirped, pulling the pitcher of water away from the table, “I’m just here to refill drinks and check in. Do either of you need anything?”
“Maybe the check? I think we’re… ready to get out of here.”
Inuyasha’s eyes went round as the girl he’d met here leaned suggestively over the table and stroked the top of his hand, lust clouding her expression.
“Uh, split checks, please.”
The fingertip stroking over his knuckles stopped abruptly, and he winced as he glanced over into stone cold brown eyes.
“Excuse me?” His date asked him, and he shrugged.
She snatched up her purse and stormed out of the restaurant, and he sighed, slumping as he took out his wallet.
“Alright, guess I’m covering the whole thing after all.”
“Sorry about that,” Kagome said, and turning his attention back to her felt like stepping into the sun.
“She was really pretty, too! And it looked like it was going better than the last one with the pet rocks.”
“God, don’t remind me about pet rock girl.” He groused, handing over his credit card, and then he grinned as she giggled delightfully at him.
“I’ll be right back with your receipt!”
He watched her walk away, and he pretended for just a moment that maybe she was there with him instead, and just going to the bathroom before she’d return and they’d share a dessert.
He sighed again, disgusted with himself and how utterly hopeless he was, and then he glared at the uneaten salad and grilled fish he just got stuck paying for.
Requesting to split the check was always how he tried to subtly get out of going home with any of the women he brought out, and 9 times out of 10 it worked.
The other one time was split between girls not taking his hint, or doing like tonight and sticking him with the whole bill anyway.
But dating was hard for a half demon.
The world had progressed quite a long way from hunting his kind down to eradicate them, but there was still so much prejudice. Forming friendships was already like walking a minefield, most of the time it wasn’t even worth trying to push anything past that.
“Here you go, your receipt. See you next month!”
She hadn’t meant it to embarrass him, and he had any excuse ready to go from the fact that this was the nicest dining establishment in the whole town to the fact that he lived just down the road to explain why he only ever brought dates THERE.
He knew what food he liked, the prices were fair, the AC was always perfectly set, the atmosphere was nice, the patrons were quiet…. And it certainly had nothing to do with getting to see a certain warm and wonderful waitress.
He stood and hurried out, setting off toward his nearby apartment, looking up into the moonless night and thanking his lucky stars he’d shaken that woman off even if it had cost him a wasted salmon dinner.
He was tired now, ready to go to bed and rest up so he could get back to normal life tomorrow, back to the stares and whispers and insults and glares that the sunlight would bring as the sunrise bleached his hair white and polished his eyes bright gold, and he would open his dating apps and try again for next new moon.
Because yes, dating was hard for a half demon, but it was even harder when you only had one night a month to do it on.
Inuyasha had to admit, even just to himself, that this month’s date was going well! The girl he’d asked out was sweet and engaging, asking him as many questions about himself as he did about her. She didn’t have any inanimate objects she kept as “pets” that he had to offer bites of his food to, she didn’t talk into a mirror instead of his face, she didn’t chew with her mouth wide open or reach over onto his plate or get so wasted on cocktails she couldn’t stand, or any other number of awful things he’d endured on New Moon dates passed.
He was… actually optimistic, especially when she talked about her time she spent volunteering.
Caring about the less fortunate was a good sign, he thought, it meant her heart was big and open, and if he was going to broach the subject of seeing someone when he wasn’ts fully human, that’s exactly the type of heart they needed to have.
His attention was still totally snared by Kagome when she would check in on them, but moving on from hopeless crushes took time, and maybe he’d finally found someone he could actually move on with.
And then her phone rang.
“Hello?” His date said into the receiver, and things had been going so well that he ignored the blatantly bad manners involved in answering a call at the table.
“Oh yes!! Put them on!! Baby? HI BABY! HI MOMMA’S BABY!”
Inuyasha’s eyes blew wide open; kids were not something she’d mentioned having on her dating profile, and not something he’d even taken the time to think through his feelings on.
Would he be alright dating someone with kids? Might be for the best since he was almost certain no one would want to have kids with him.
Could he even be good with kids? Could he-
“Who’s the sweetest doggy in da world?! You are! You are! You’re da sweetest doggy!”
‘Oh no… a dog person…’ Inuyasha paled. Things had just gotten much more complicated.
If his ears were still at the top of his head, they’d be laid back in his hair.
He had a complicated relationship with dog people.
They either stared at him in suspicious derision as they steered their dogs far away from him as if he’d attack them at any minute, or they got really weird and tried to treat him like a pet.
Being a Dog-Person around “dog people” had never been anything but uncomfortable.
‘If my mom had to have kids with a demon, why couldn’t see pick ANYTHING other than an inu?’
“Are you being so good for gramma? Oh yes, yes that’s my good doggy girl’ I love you! I love you! I’ll see you later!! Bye bye!!! Ohhhhhh I miss her. I love dogs so much. Do you have a dog?”
“Uh….” Inuyasha stammered, scrambling for a response that wouldn’t make him look weird. “I think I’m more of a cat person.” That was a lie. Cats hated him usually, but at least his date was speaking and laughing at normal decibels again.
“You’re cute, so I think I can forgive you for that. Besides, once you meet my little Princess you’ll be a goner!”
“Ya think?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck and wondering where Kagome was with an offer of the check.
He was almost certain now this wouldn’t work out, but things had been going so well, so maybe-
“Oh. No.” The tone of his date’s voice went so cool so fast he felt the temperature fall several degrees. He turned in the direction she was glaring, and watched Kagome lead someone who was very obviously part yokai to a nearby table. “I think it might be time to leave.”
“What, no dessert?” He probed, wanting to push for a little more confirmation.
“I no longer think this is the type of establishment we should be in.”
He sighed.
There it was.
The undeniable proof that this date was going to go absolutely nowhere beyond tonight.
And things had been going so well.
When Kagome approached his table, it was with relief that he requested the split checks.
His date took hers and left in a huff, and Kagome rang him up with a sympathetic smile.
“What changed? It seemed like you both were having a really good time. You actually seemed interested this time.”
He looked around at all the stuff littering the countertop around the register; he didn’t often pay AT the register so the menagerie of candies and business cards were foreign to him and gave him something to look at other than her as he tried to come up with something less extreme than the truth.
Kagome was as professional as they came, so she’d been nothing but sweet as she’d led the Hanyo dining there to the table, but he couldn’t risk her changing her tune now that it was just the two of them talking.
He wasn’t ready to have every illusion shattered.
“She uh… chews really loudly.”
Kagome snorted and handed him his receipt.
“Guess it’s better to be picky than too permissive when trying to find your life partner, eh?”
“Y-yeah. That’s… that’s it.”
“Well, see you next month Inuyasha.”
He stopped and stared at her, his heart hammering as every thought fled.
She rarely used his name, usually sticking to the more professional “sir,” and every time she did he forgot how to speak.
“Yeah, next month… Kagome.”
His eyes were probably deceiving him, but it almost looked like she was blushing, and if he hadn’t had such a sharp and disastrous turn in his date he would probably let himself believe she was.
He just needed sleep.
He turned and hurried home.
“I don’t see why you needed to borrow something nice if you’re just going to that same old restaurant by your apartment.”
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and continued to pull the comb through his currently black hair.
“It’s the most reliable place in town.” He repeated the same old, unsuspicious answer he always gave.
But Miroku had always seen through him since they were just kids.
“You sure it’s not about that waitress you told me about that one time?”
He almost dropped the comb in his shock, but he’d learned a thing or two about keeping a tight poker face when Miroku was trying to get one over on him.
“Her? No. I got over her weeks ago.”
“You sure?”
“Totally.”
“Then why is your face so red?”
“Goddamnit.”
”I knew it. Yasha, my brother, my friend, my oldest confidant… stop being a creep and just ask her out.”
“I’m not being a creep…. And I can’t just ask her out.”
“Why the hell not? You see her all the time, it’s not like you’d be a stranger.”
“I don’t see her all the time… I see her once a month…”
“Once a… oh. I see.”
“Yeah. Oh. She’s only ever seen me like this, and to even get her number I’d have to show up as a Hanyo or ask for it while I’m on a date with someone else, which is just sleezy.”
“Or you could go on a new moon night alone, but Yash, I think you’re over thinking this. She probably wouldn’t care that you aren’t human.”
“Oh fuck off Miroku, you know the odds of that are too low to risk.”
Miroku shrugged and leaned back against the wall, meeting Inuyasha’s eyes in the mirror.
“Well wouldn’t you rather know? Then you wouldn’t be so hung up on her and you could stop self sabotaging in the romance department.”
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and straightened the tie he was wearing, the one he’d pulled out of Miroku’s closet that was the most tame option he owned, and stuck his hands in his pockets to give himself one more once over.
“I’m not self sabotaging. I’m just… trying not to be closed minded about who I accept a date from. Which is definitely not the same thing as being desperate.”
“Mmhmm. Im sure. Listen, man,” Miroku said, placing a hand firmly on his shoulder, “I don’t care who you date or why, I just want you to be happy. You’re my oldest friend, and I’ve always believed you deserved every happiness, Okay?”
Inuyasha felt his eyes widen and his cheeks darken.
Miroku was largely a snarky, smooth talking asshole but he was still more prone to bearing his soul than Inuyasha had ever been.
He fought his usual instinct to lash out and swallowed down his embarrassment.
“Y-yeah, thanks man.” He forced out, but he could see that Miroku was still skeptical. “I really am trying. And… maybe soon I’ll try with Kagome. But not yet. I can’t yet.”
Miroku sighed and shrugged, and then tapped the underside of his Inuyasha’s chin so he’d lift it, giving Miroku’s hands access to the awful knot he’d tied in the borrowed tie.
“You are so helpless with these. Will you ever learn?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Miroku chuckled, finished straightening the tie, and cackled loudly as Inuyasha ran from the room at his offer of a condom.
Inuyasha kept his mind totally blank as he stared at the empty seat across from him.
If he didn’t manage to silence his thoughts, he’d be humiliated.
He checked his phone again, still finding the screen totally empty and message free, and found the time had inched forward yet another half hour passed the agreed upon meet up time.
He sighed and decided it was time to face the music- he’d been stood up, and Miroku’s stupid tie had gone to waste.
His menu sat untouched at the side of the table, his glass of water unsipped, the basket of complementary bread cool and uneaten, but he still took out his wallet to fish out some kind of tip.
Kagome had remained upbeat and positive the whole night, even as it became increasingly more clear that his date was not showing up, offering to fetch him things despite turning down all of her offers.
She deserved something, especially since he’d hogged a whole table someone else could have tipped on.
He sighed again when he opened his wallet and found no cash, which meant he’d have to go up to the counter to… tip on a zero dollar bill.
Embarrassing.
“Here.”
He startled as a plate of food was slid in front of him, and he looked up to find Kagome standing over him, a sheepish smile and another plate of food.
“Mind if I… join you? My shift is ending, anyway.”
He blinked, her words slowly trickling down and settling in his mind one by one, sharp darts of pity striking true and deflating the rest of his carefully constructed confidence.
He frowned and shoved his walled back in his pocket.
“I know I probably look pathetic, but you ain’t gotta-“
“No no! That’s not it at all!” She cut in, sitting in the empty chair with the other plate of food. “I really am getting off soon, and I haven’t had time to eat yet. And since you don’t have any company tonight, and you’re in here a lot but we never have time to talk, I thought… maybe..”
He blinked again, his cheeks warming slightly, and then he was grinning and completely forgetting about the girl he was supposed to have been there with, fully immersing himself into the one he’d always wanted to be there with.
Kagome was brighter and more beautiful than he’d ever imagined she could be, and having all of her attention turned on him felt like basking in the sun, like he was part cat instead of dog.
Her smiles were true and she asked as many questions as she answered, listening to everything he said and showing genuine interest.
He’d never been on a better date in his life, and the fact that it wasn’t actually a date threatened to send him toppling down a steep cliff he would never hope to climb again.
He was on cloud fucking nine, and if he never felt this way again, it would be worth it.
He felt like the luckiest bastard in the world.
“What is this, anyway?” He asked, taking another bite of whatever pasta dish she’d placed in front of him.
“It’s my favorite thing on the menu, and one of the few things you haven’t tried yet.”
He stopped, the fork halfway to his mouth as he realized what she’d said.
She had recognized his ordering habits.
She knew what he hadn’t eaten.
His heart fluttered and hope creeped up from the shadowy corner he’d stuffed it.
She was paying attention, and even though he tried to tell himself it was because she was just an attentive server, that excuse felt hollow.
“Well it’s good! I should start ordering this more often.”
“I don’t think you’ve ever had the cheesecake either, have you? Should I get some?”
“You’re right, I’ve never had it. I hate cheesecake.”
“What?!”
“Vile stuff. Who decided cheese belongs in cake?”
“Inuyasha you can’t be serious. Cheesecake is decadent.”
“Cheesecake is disgusting.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this! I guess this means I’m going to have to drag you to my favorite cheesecake place until we find one you like.”
His eyes widened, and he nearly choked on his last bite of pasta, but judging by her pretty blush and the nervous sparkle in her eye, his ears were not deceiving him.
She had extended the invite to see her outside of the restaurant.
She was…. She was interested.
He gulped and forcibly stopped himself from flinging himself right over into her offer, throwing all caution to the wind and flying head first into the opportunity to be hers, and to make her his, but she didn’t know what she was proposing, she didn’t know him.
Not the real him.
So he had to tread carefully.
“Yeah, that… that sounds…”
“Alright alright love birds, out of my restaurant! We’re well passed closing!”
Kagome blanched and looked around, noticing that every table had been cleaned and every chair hair been put up for mopping except theirs. She hurried out of her seat and grabbed up their plates, but Inuyasha stopped her with a hand on the wrist.
“Hey, let me help with that.”
“No no, it’s fine, I’ve kept you long enough.” She said, grabbing his hand and holding it between them for a moment before releasing it and stepping back.
“And uh, don’t feel any pressure about the cheesecake thing, I’m sorry if-“
“I’d love to.” He responded before he could think better of it, a creeping sense of dread trying to stifle his excitement, but her soft smile was worth it for now.
“Hurry it up, Higurashi! We all wanna go home!” Someone called back from the kitchen, and she flushed.
“Oh uh, my number-“
“I know where to find you,” he said with a grin, and she giggled nervously.
“Right! Well, I’ll see you soon then, Inuyasha.”
“See you soon, Kagome.”
She shot him one last smile over her shoulder and hurried off to help the rest the her coworkers close, and as he watched her disappear into the back of the restaurant, the deep shit he’d just buried himself in finally made itself known.
He knew she expected him to show up here before the next new moon, and would likely see him waiting until then as a rejection.
But what else could he do? He couldn’t show up as a Hanyo out of nowhere after getting to know him for months as a human, that was the kind of thing he would need to break to her gently.
And he hadn’t even decided if he would or not yet.
‘Fuck.’
“Come on man, just help me this one time with it and I’ll never ask you for anything again.”
Inuyasha was practically pleading, trying to keep his voice down so as not to draw too much attention as he looked helplessly at the wall of hair dyes looming up in front of him.
“I’m not helping you dye your hair, Yash. I’ve never done anything like that before, it wouldn’t come out well. And I’m not putting myself at the mercy of your claws just because you won’t grow a pair and confess to the girl you like.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” he replied, ignoring miroku’s scoff. “How hard could it be?”
“Exactly, so you can do it yourself.”
“I can’t reach the back!”
“This is a terrible idea Yasha. What’s next, contact lenses?”
“Uhh…. No?” Inuyasha murmured, ripping a box of black hair dye from the shelf and tossing it in his basket.
“Please don’t tell me you bought contact lenses…”
“Not an expensive pair!”
“YASH-“
“It’s just the one time, I swear. Just long enough to meet up with her one more time, and then I’ll tell her; I promise.”
“This is going to end badly, I just know it.”
“Maybe. But Sango decked you in the face on your first date and you’re still together, so maybe it’ll all work out?”
“You don’t have my charms.”
“Oh fuck off. I’m getting the hair shit, I’ll be there in an hour.”
He clicked out of the call and stuffed his phone in his pocket, turning to walk back down the hair care aisle. He grabbed a couple bottles of the shampoo he used, specially formulated for yokai hair with fur texture, and rounded the corner to head toward the check out.
He was stopped in his tracks when he almost collided with a much shorter person, and the sweetest scent he’d ever smelled on another individual momentarily blinded him. He closed his eyes and inhaled before cruel reality dumped back out over his head like icy water.
“Inuyasha?” He heard in a familiar voice, and his eyes popped open in horror.
He looked down slowly, his soul chilling deep down in the depths of his being when bright blue eyes sparkled up at him.
Kagome.
And he was still visibly a Hanyo.
“Uh…” he said lamely, and Kagome tilted her head in slight confusion.
“Inuyasha? It’s me… Kagome?” Her tone was measured and careful, a tentative step, but his head was swimming with panic.
He lifted his hands in a sign of surrender, or maybe defense, and took several quick steps backwards, dropping his basket to the ground.
“Uh. No? No. NO.” It was barely coherent, but it was all he could force out, all he could do to deny her claim that he was, in fact, the Inuyasha she’d come to know, but he was not, in fact, as human as she’d assumed.
“Wait, what-“ she said, reaching out, and though there were no walls behind him, he felt cornered by all the the things he’d been trying to hide from coming out at once to force him to face them.
He wasn’t ready for this.
He wasn’t ready.
He turned and ran, relying on his supernatural strength and speed to carry him out of the store and straight back home, where he planned to hide away and lick his wounds in secret.
He would tell no one of this encounter, especially not Miroku, and he would pray until the New Moon that Kagome would believe she had been mistaken.
Staring up at the sign over the door, Inuyasha heaved a sigh of resignation and prepared to walk to his potential doom, flowers in hand and excuses in tow.
Work had been so busy.
His mother had fallen ill.
A family emergency with his young niece.
Car in the repair shop.
Anything, anything to make Kagome believe he had not been in that store on that day, and that he hadn’t subsequently been avoiding her like his life depended on it.
He could see his reflection in the glass door, black hair and brown eyes and human ears to top off his crisp, buttoned up shirt and smart blazer.
No tie this time, but he’d still dressed nicer than usual.
Maybe it would come across as though he’d really been looking forward to this despite his absence.
Maybe he wouldn’t have to grovel and lie and explain away to buy himself a little more time.
Maybe tonight would be the last night he got to look into crystal eyes that burned so bright and warm.
He straightened his spine and walked inside, smiling at the host who led him to his usual table and left his menu, accepted his free water and bread, and then tore one roll into little bits as he anxiously awaited Kagome’s arrival so he could launch his Attack of the Thousand Excuses.
“Hello sir! My name is Yuka, I’ll be serving you tonight. Can I get you started with-“
“Hold the fuck on,” he interrupted, dropping the massacred roll back into the basket, “where’s Kagome?”
Yuka, the new waitress, bit her lip, her eyes flicking to the door that led to the back of the restaurant.
Something was up, and she wasn’t supposed to say.
“Is she here? Is she sick?”
“No… I mean yes. I mean-“
“You mean….???”
Flustered, Yuka sighed and wiped a hand down her face.
“She asked me to trade sections with her tonight. That’s all I know.”
“What section is she in?”
Yuka pointed toward a section of seats in front of the bathrooms, and he spotted her immediately, sparkling smiles pointed at a table full of besotted looking wolves. If he had claws tonight, they’d be gouging the table top.
“Now that that’s settled, can I-“
“I’d like to move.” He said, never taking his eyes away from the mongrels who’s eyes were glued to Kagome’s backside as she walked away from their table to put in their orders.
“Sir, you can’t just move. We have a seating system.”
He pulled out his wallet and took out a wad of cash, slapping it on the table before collecting his things and near sprinting to the other side of the restaurant.
“Hey thanks!” He heard Yuka shout after him as she scooped up the tip he’d left her, and then he took the booth behind the rowdy wolves and waited.
She came back with a tray of drinks, big bright smile plastered right on her face, but it wavered as she caught sight of him, and he wanted to kick himself.
‘Fuck me, I can’t do anything right.’
Kagome turned her attention away from him and onto the wolves, and he bit down his jealousy, actually thankful he didn’t have the rest of his Hanyo attributes pushing him to stake a claim and chase away the competition.
He was on thin ice already.
Kagome approached him with an obvious apprehension, one he was certain had been born of her realization that he wasn’t all human after all, and she’d tried to initiate a romantic link between them.
If that was the case, he would simply apologize and leave, but not without trying to fix things first.
“Kagome I’m sorry,”
“Inuyasha I’m sorry,”
They began at the same time, and he was so baffled that she would think she had any reason to apologize, he went quiet too long, and she plowed on ahead, taking his chance to clear the air, put her at ease, and distance himself from the Hanyo she’d run into, at least for a little longer.
“Im sorry if I made you uncomfortable at the store the other day. I know we’d… agreed to exchange numbers, but that doesn’t mean you’d want to be approached in public by someone you hardly know.”
“Is that why you changed sections?!” He asked, his well rehearsed speech fizzling and dying on the tip of his tongue, and she blushed and shrugged sheepishly.
“I was trying to give you some space. I thought you might need it after I made you so uncomfortable.”
He blinked and his jaw dropped open. This was not what he had expected to confront, and all of his carefully laid plans and scripts fell useless to the floor.
“You thought you made me uncomfortable?!”
She sat down across from him, brow furrowed in confusion, and though the wolves at the next table over had quieted so they could eavesdrop, they paid no mind to anyone outside their shared booth.
“Of course. You were so spooked when I said hi, I thought I had to have upset you. I would never want to do that.”
“Wait,” he said, pinching his eyes closed and shaking his head in an attempt to force his thoughts in order. “How… what makes you think that was me?”
Her brow furrowed further, her head tilting to the side, and in an ironic twist she looked like the puppy at the table.
“I mean… he looked just like you. Either that was you or you’ve got a strikingly similar doppelgänger running around. Even with the different hair and eyes, it was uncanny.”
Inuyasha looked down at the table and let his mind spin and pick up possibilities he hadn’t m yet dared pick up.
Was that hope? Was that acceptance? Was that unconditional connection?
She was not afraid he would hurt her. She was afraid she’d already hurt him.
“Inuyasha,” she said softly, and he felt her hand close gently over his, drawing his attention back up. “Did you… think I would care? That you’re not human, that is.”
“Most people would.” He said simply, and her smile went a little sad.
“Well I’m not most people.”
“I’m… realizing that.”
“Are those for me?” She asked, nodding her head toward the forgotten bouquet.
“Oh uh, y-yeah.” He stammered, clumsily scooping up the flowers and thrusting them out at her.
All the times he’d done this before with a parade of women should have given him enough practice in the suave department.
But there just hadn’t been anyone like Kagome.
“Thank you.” She said, and he could hear her heart in her voice, could see it in her eyes.
Had he ever been so lucky?
“Can I give you my number now?”
He laughed, relief and disbelief making his voice shrill.
He didn’t care.
He could be embarrassed tomorrow.
“Absolutely.”
They exchanged numbers, and then she quickly walked him out after several harsh glares from her manager.
“Can I call you when I get off in a couple hours?”
“Hell yeah.” He said, not bothering with hiding his eagerness or playing it cool.
After the shenanigans he’d pulled, and the ones he’d been ready enact, she deserved to know how he really felt at the very least.
“And Inuyasha?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve always thought you were cute… but I liked the silver hair better.”
She kissed his cheek, before dashing back inside, and he stood there staring wide and blank faced down at the ground, waiting for his brain to kick start back out and catch up with the fact that all of his dreams had just come true.
His heart raced and his mind drifted back and forth like he was living on a cloud.
“Hell yeah!” He shouted, spinning around and pumping one fist into the air, and then his stomach growled, making him laugh an uncharacteristically giddy laugh.
He was going home alone again tonight, like so many other new moons before.
But unlike those other nights, he was taking something much richer than hope home with him.
He was taking promise.
His phone chimed, and he swiped it open and grinned again to see just two emojis from Kagome’s new contact: a blushing smile, and a bright red heart.
He was the luckiest Hanyo that had ever existed.