Together in Tokyo by Silent Taiyoukai

A New Life

The apartment was littered with boxes. Open boxes, and empty boxes. Boxes of clothes, dishes, books and bedding.

There was still a lot of unpacking to do, but if she had to rummage through one more of those boxes Kagome thought she would go insane. For days now she had come home after working her new job and spent the wee hours of the morning stacking dishes into the cupboard and hanging up her rumpled clothes. Her days off were spent shopping for cheap furniture and trying to fill the fridge on her meager budget.

She was finally living away from her family, but she was not alone. Half of the boxes belonged to Yuka, her dear friend who was now her roommate.    

Kagome‘s life was very different from what it had once been. She was no longer a fifteen-year-old girl that split her time between the past and the future. She twenty-three and working nights as a sous-chef in a Tokyo restaurant, living with her best friend in Tama New Town. The rent was high and her salary was modest, but with Yuka to help her she would manage. She had to.

She had lived at home long enough. She had gone eight years with that dead well mocking her from the shrine house. Every time she thought about what could have been, she could hear the well laugh at her. Living at home with the shrine lingering just outside her window had begun to drive her out of her mind. As long as she lived in that house, she knew she could never move on. Moving out was her new start at life, a welcome, much needed change.

Kagome sat on the balcony in nothing but a halter top and shorts, enjoying the warm summer night. It was one of her few days off and she had slept the day away, even though she had not intended to.

The scene she looked out upon was shrouded in twilight, the sky in beautiful shades of red and gold. She looked out past the winding, hilly streets, over the roofs of apartment buildings, small shops and houses, across the river and over Tokyo.

Somehow the sight of that bustling city gave her hope. She was living in the largest housing development in Japan. She would meet new people and make new friends, and life would go on. Or so she hoped.

Kagome couldn’t help but think about the fact that she was the only person alive who could remember when Tokyo had been nothing but a little fishing village. She would have to teach herself to forget. She wasn’t living in the past anymore.

Kagome sighed as the apartment door opened. She turned to watch Yuka stumble in. She was still in her scrubs, and her arms were filled with shopping bags.

“Kagome, I’m home!” Yuka said musically, closing the door with her foot.  

“Need any help?” Kagome asked, watching as Yuka struggled to get all the bags on the counter.

“No, I’m fine! How much unpacking did you get done?” Yuka said.

“None,” Kagome sighed, “I was so tired I didn’t wake up until five minutes ago.”

“Oh,” Yuka said, and gave a shrug. She skipped over and knelt down beside Kagome.

“Look at that view. Awesome, isn’t it?” Yuka asked.

“Yep,” Kagome agreed listlessly.

Yuka giggled, and Kagome was startled as she was taken into a tight embrace. Yuka’s hug was so intense Kagome began to feel an unpleasant pressure behind her eyeballs.

“I’m so glad we’re roommates!” Yuka said enthusiastically.

Kagome took a deep breath as Yuka released her just before her lungs threatened to collapse. Yuka clapped her hands together excitedly.

“Oh! And you wouldn’t believe the guy I saw on the way to the market!” she nearly screamed.

“Yeah?” Kagome asked, trying to sound interested.

“I tell you, he was gorgeous. Long black hair…”

Yuka continued to talk, but Kagome quickly stopped listening. Yuka’s babbling became background noise, and Kagome barely registered when her description of the guy she met came to an end.

“Sounds handsome,” Kagome said, though she hadn’t really heard any of it.

“Gorgeous,” Yuka swooned, “But a little shy. I said hello to him and he just kept walking. Didn’t say anything.”

Kagome snorted. Sometimes Yuka could be so naïve. “Sure he was shy and not just rude?”

Yuka’s eyes widened a little. “I dunno,” she shrugged. “ But with guys like him walking around here, maybe you’ll find someone you like.”

“Yuka,” Kagome grimaced.

“What?” Yuka said, jumping to her feet. “You’re single! I know your thing with Hojo ended badly, but you gotta get over it! I swear, that jerk from middle school dumping you must have stunted your relationship growth. You need to find someone who sees how awesome you are.”

Kagome looked away so Yuka couldn’t see as she rolled her eyes. That jerk from middle school hadn’t dumped her. The well had simply separated them into two different parts of history. After Inuyasha, Kagome’s love life had been a horrible mishmash of bad dates, fleeting relationships, and a single broken heart. She and Hojo had dated for nearly a year before Kagome broke it off. Poor Hojo had been crushed, but for Kagome the feeling of being single again was a bit of a relief.

Kagome was ready to make some new friends in her new life, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted anything romantic. Trying to get their finances straightened out and settling into her new job and sleep pattern was stressful enough.      

“Yeah, I’m awesome all right,” Kagome said weakly.

Awesomely weird, a little voice in her head said, and Kagome scoffed. As usual, Yuka didn’t catch on to her sarcasm.

“That’s the spirit! Come on, let’s have dinner and we can unpack some more,” Yuka said, and dashed off into the kitchen.

They made quick work of eating, leaving all the dirty dishes piled up in the sink. Afterwards, Kagome stumbled off into the bathroom. She opened all of the cabinets, the closet, and the medicine cabinet, but couldn’t find what she needed.  Kagome went into Yuka’s room and found her collapsed onto her bare mattress and wearing nothing but her underwear.

“Yuka, did you buy toothpaste?” Kagome asked. Yuka groaned and cracked open an eye.

“Whoops,” she said weakly, “No. I think I might have forgotten toilet paper, too.”

“Great,” Kagome sighed. “I’ll be back.”

“’Kay,” Yuka said, and was snoring before Kagome even left the room.

Grabbing her leys and purse, Kagome threw on slightly more presentable attire and left the apartment for the first time that day. She took the stairs down to the first floor and stepped out into the warm night air. It was a long walk to get where she was going, but the streets were quiet. She walked through the courtyard of a neighboring building, past residential houses and across a wide strip of road. Cutting through a few narrow side streets brought her to small row of shops and convenience stores.

She went into one of the stores and came out with more than she went in for, two heavy bags of toothpaste, soap, toilet paper, shampoo and other things she couldn’t remember seeing in the bathroom. Sometimes Yuka was useless when it came it buying practical things.

She cursed as the handle of one of the bags slipped from fingers and a container of shampoo went rolling down the sidewalk. It ran into the base of a streetlight and came to a stop, and Kagome went trudging after it. She bent to pick it up, and as she did so a little flash of light caught her eye.

There was a man standing in the stairwell of the apartment complex across the street, a lit cigarette held between his fingers.  He took a drag on it, and the end flared a bright red. He was standing shirtless beneath a yellowy outdoor light, placing his deeply set eyes into shadow. Kagome raised her hand to him in greeting. He retreated in a swish of long ebony hair, up the stairs and out of sight.

Shy or rude? Kagome laughed and sighed. “I hope all my neighbors are that friendly.”

She dumped the shampoo back into her bag and continued on her way home.