Forever Midnight by nightsong

The First Night

A/N: I've been reading here for a while and decided (finally) to write a K/S story of my own, so here is "Forever Midnight", by me, Nightsong. Hope you like it :)

The night was quiet and calm, and a sultry breeze blew gently across the tiny balcony where Kagome lounged with a drink, staring down twenty floors at the bustling city below. It was her only night off from the pizza place that she had agreed to run until her best friend and manager, Sango, returned from maternity leave.

She sighed and covered her face with one hand, the other still clutching the skinny glass in her lap. She wanted to quit the lousy job and get on with a life free of the disobedient, disrespectful teenagers that seemed to fill every position at the crappy restaurant, but she didn't feel right about leaving her friend, a new mother, with the added stress.

She hated making difficult changes, but hated even more the feeling that overcame her when she considered that some would think her lucky to have a job to quit or even a home to go to at the end of the day. It left her in a rotten place, always feeling like she shouldn't complain at all about her life, but still, she couldn't feel blessed. All she could think about was that she should want to give more, do more, for others, but she didn't want to, and that made her feel even worse.

She took several long swallows from her drink, draining the glass of its pungent contents. She stood, resolved suddenly to escape her apartment and the self-deprecation she had induced by drinking alone. She tugged on shoes and snatched up her purse, telling herself that even the bar across the street was better than her tiny apartment.

As she locked her door, she had an unfamiliar feeling, like a pull at her soul. It felt like thousands of tiny hands were tugging at her to go, so she did, easily writing off the feeling as 'anxiety to get out'.

The bar, Pete's, was overly familiar to her, from the tchochkes on the walls to the smells of beer and stale smoke. Miroku, Sango's husband, usually ran the place, but tonight it was their mutual friend Inuyasha. He grinned broadly at her as she entered, and she offered him a feeble smile in return as she took the furthest bar seat from the front.

He approached after a few moments with a drink and slid it into her hands across the bar.

"Vodka tonic," he said, and before he could cross his arms in front of himself, she knocked it back.

"Keep 'em coming." He frowned at her, but poured her another anyway. As he moved to give it to her, he suddenly stopped.

"Throw it down like the last one, and I won't give you another." He extended it to her again, and she snatched it from him. As she started to take her first sip, she sneered at him.

"So what's the time limit on this thing then, because I'm here to get drunk, and last time I checked, there were plenty more bars in the city where they won't bother me about how fast I do it."

Inuyasha nearly reeled back with shock at her words, but by the time he had collected himself enough to call her on the uncharacteristic comment, she was apologizing.

"I'm so sorry Inuyasha, I'm having a really hard..." Life, she thought, "...time, you know, with the pizza place since Sango's been gone." He gave her a look that said he didn't believe her, then sighed.

"Yeah, I know, Miroku mentioned it." He noticed her glass was empty again and glared at her.

"What?" she gave him an innocent look. "I meant what I said about going to another bar, even if it means paying for my drinks."

He was still glaring at her when he poured her another. He put it on the bar in front of her with a 'clack'. He pointed at her like a mother lecturing a child.

"Okay, get this: It's not like I give a shit whether or not you get drunk, but if you keep it up at that pace, I'll be the one who cleans up after you puke in the bathroom, if you even make there. I'm about to go in the back and sort out a new keg, so there had better be at least half of that drink left when I get back, or I'll make you find somewhere else to drink, got it?"

He muttered to himself as he headed for the back, and she smiled despite herself. She might have been indignant, had she not known he was totally right, so she just peered quietly into her vodka, not quite as sorry for herself as before. As she sat there, ebony hair shrouding her in anonymity, the door opened, but she didn't bother looking up.

If she had, however, she might have prepared herself for a confrontation with the man who strode angrily toward her.

Just as she lifted her drink to her lips, a tight, icy grip seized her wrist which, coupled with her alcohol-augmented reflexes, caused her to lose her grip on the glass. It hit her bar in front of her, drenching her in cold alcohol.

She spun to face the offender who had ruined her drink and her evening, and found herself staring into the most beautiful face she had ever seen.

The man stared at her for a moment, ire rolling off of him in waves, the only indication of which was the hateful look smoldering in his eyes. Within a few breaths, however, the look in his eyes became contrite, then faded away into something unreadable.

She put on her best mean face, determined that she would not be cowed by the powerful looking man that towered above her. She looked at the hand that still crushed her tiny wrist, then into his face challengingly, then wrenched herself, with some difficulty, from his grasp. She tried to retort but, suddenly, the feeling from the hallway in her building assaulted her anew, infinitely stronger this time.

They stared wordlessly at each other for countless minutes, the vodka forgotten and still dripping into her lap, until the silence was broken by an angry shout.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kagome's gaze snapped to the doorway of the back room, where Inuyasha fumed with his hands on his hips.

"Well?!" her friend demanded, and she looked back up at the stranger who now returned with interest Inuyasha's angry glare.

"Watch who you speak to in that tone, pup, or I will render you incapable of speech to silence your insufferable prattling."

His voice was menacing and deadly, the low rumble sending a jolt through Kagome's inexperienced loins.

The tension between them increased until Inuyasha exploded at the sight of the spill that had drenched Kagome, and the bruising wrist that she now clutched to her chest with her good hand. He nearly leapt over the bar, grabbing for the stranger who chuckled and backed up a few paces.

As though she had been shocked to life, Kagome leapt to her feet and dashed out of the bar, needing desperately to escape the burn that lit through her stomach in the presence of the tall, unknown man.