Her feet slipped on the wet leaves as she rounded the corner, the cold air shocking her throat and lungs as she inhaled deeper, faster. Shoes pounded heavily across the ground, causing mud to slash up her leg. Her steps beating in time with her heart as she pushed on. Among the steady pound of her heartbeat echoed in her chest; she felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead as a splatter of rain hit her chin. She didn't notice that it was starting to drizzle.

She glanced at the vibration watch on her arm; she knew she should have stuck to her old ways and let Sango wake her up like always instead of getting a fancy clock. Because, look, late to her first date to a hearing guy who happened to be amazing at sign; and handsome.

As the red gates came into view, her cheeks are suddenly kissed pink like a spring rose, the blooming color so cute against her skin. She suddenly felt awkward, bashful, and coy, even going as far as attempting to hide her rosy features behind her slim fingers.

As Kagome scanned the crowd at the shrine, she realized she saw no sign of him. She started to move amongst the families, her eyes moving with each passing person, noticing any glint of white, hoping it was him. Then she began looking behind everything, even places where a child wouldn't be. She continued until several heads turned in her direction. It felt like someone had suddenly started a fire inside her system, and her pale skin slowly turned to a shade of a plump strawberry as the sea of confused faces stared back at her. She had their attention, might as well use it.

Kagome placed the tip of her thumb on her chin, her index finger extended, creating an "L" handshape, then bend her index finger twice, her brows lowering as she asked. Making sure she doesn't sign too fast. She touched the side of her forehead with the tips of her fingers, her hand in a flat shape. Form both hands, she turns them into "1" handshapes, drawing a couple of large circles in the air with the tip of each index finger. The movement for each hand; up, back, down, forward, and so on in an alternating circular motion.

Quickly pointing to herself, she touched her finger on her cheek near her ear, then moved it in a small arch, touching it near her lips. With her dominant hand, she creates a "C" handshape and draws two circles in front of her face. While keeping her arm in front of herself, with her palm up. She used her index finger to make small circular motions, about the size of a coin. The movement is in her arm, not in her wrist, imagine drawing a small circle on the underside of a table.

(Who knows sign? I'm Deaf and looking for someone)

That's when she saw it.

Whenever she tries to communicate, reach out, or ask, she sees it, every time. Fake smiles and waves. They always reminded her of how isolated she was from them, from the hearing world, and she would get this taste in her mouth. That taste would make her anxious, but she knew that they were just looking for a way to pass her off, not to offend, to become someone else's problem.

She was scared at first when she was little because she only thought of them being uncaring to her. But as she grew and more time passed, the more she realized why they acted the way they did, and she can't blame them. She could see why they were more afraid of her, they didn't know how to communicate, and she wasn't even mad. So, she'll keep letting them smile.

She smiled her own fake smile as she walked away from the crowd. Hearing not a thing in her silent world, not the sweet music of the birds nor the thrust of the wind blowing the grass, not playing of children, nor the swaying trees. She would sometimes imagine what it would be like to hear people when they talked. Their voices might be deep like the ocean or high like trees, they might be empty or cracked with emotion, they might be raspy or harsh. The sound of when someone laughed, or when someone cried. The soft lilting melodies of music, and the rumbling of thunder. But instead, she was locked inside her quiet world.

The breeze tousled Kagome's hair and pinked her cheeks. The heat that had been in the wind just last week had evaporated into the sky. It provided life to the long grass at the side of the street, still yellowing from the high summer sun. The strands swayed out of time with the gusts brought on by the traffic, a postage stamp echo of the meadows she knew as a small child.

Autumn had finally decided to come around. The leaves had changed colors, lining the trees with speckles of orange, red, and yellow. When the wind blew, they came down, breaking delicately off of tree branches and fluttering down to earth like confetti.

This had to be her fresh start. It's the most mysterious thing as if everything that happened to this point in time was foreshadowing what comes next. It feels as if that book closed, and a new one opened, appearing one word after the other, yet slowly as if they have a calmness the first volume never possessed. And they come as a piece of original music, drops of rain upon a spreading leaf, chaotic and rhythmic all at once. And as these words form, in deepest blue dancing over a white page, they are as dance steps, her own motions, deliberate and intuitive, yet also guided by the ever-present music. And this is the way of everything, chaos, synchrony, guidance... and everything with a sprinkle of destiny.

A tree hunkered low to the windswept hill as if it wanted nothing more than to be sheltered by the tall grasses that waved golden in the late autumn wind. Its branches fanned out wide, separating from each other; the petals of a blossom only a meter or so from the ground.

Kagome sat against the tree, one hand clasping the toe of her worn sneaker. She looked down at her top; in the light, it was kind of see-through, the sun peeking through the holes of her sweater. With the nail of her thumb in her mouth, she studied the shrine, biting down harder than she had intended and breaking a fragment of it. She noticed a pigeon was coming closer, alternating between pecking at the ground and watching her with its head cocked. She let out a laugh, releasing some of the anxiety. Dating was tiresome. She was exhausted from telling people that she was Deaf only for them to decide that was too much for them to handle.

But meeting someone new was also a spiritual fulfillment. Despite how things turn out, she loved the journey that begins. The most essential idea is to be able to get a real feeling for who they are over a few weeks and months without ever forming an opinion of them. Let them develop as an old polaroid photograph, nice and slow. Perhaps they are a lifelong friend, a lovable scoundrel or a person too damaged to give in an emotionally warm and nurturing way. So, all she can say is she is glad they met.

As she scanned for his tall form, light hair, and trade-mark puppy ears, some of the eyes turned her way, their faces hard. She rechecked her phone. No message. It was past three, the time of their meeting. She closed her eyes as she determined next time to meet somewhere to not stick out like a sore thumb, somewhere she could sit and hide behind a computer or a book, a cafe perhaps.

The vibration of her phone went off like an annoyed rattlesnake. Kagome pulled it up, looking at the envelope icon on the screen. She could feel the fear in her chest, waiting to take over, sitting there like an angry ball propelling her towards anxiety she just doesn't need. She pressed the screen to open it.

Inu:

02:50 P.M. / Today

[ Shit, I know. I'm sorry, I'm running late. Just wait until I get there. ]

The weight lifted from her shoulders as if a large child had just leaped off after a pleasant piggyback ride. Her brain tingled like a hand that's been sat on for too long. A smirk was playing at the corner of her lips as she sat staring at her cell phone.

A phone holds a thousand memories. Not just in the hundreds of pictures that could tell her story, but in the text messages and the ones she never sent, in the games, she played to pass the time away secretly waiting to hear from him, in the way her fingers pressed against the glass just to respond to his messages… but most of all, a phone remembers the silence it had to endure between people.

She felt the blackness come over her. Like a sheet, not a layer of warmth but a layer of coldness, making her shiver in the autumn air. But somehow, it's making her eyes feel heavier. She finally closed her eyes, sending her into a dreamless sleep.

When she opened her eyes, she found a tall man towered over her; his face mere inches to hers, waving his hand in front of her. She hadn't seen him for nearly three months, and she was struck anew by his good looks. His appearance alone was seductive. His rugged features were alluring. His white hair, which shined in the sunlight illuminating from the trees, was combed back into a man bun. As if the Gods had made him just to spoil her eyes. His piercing amber eyes were full of intensity, a thin pair of lips that were in a straight line. He had on a light blue cotton button up; the sleeves rolled up to the elbows with a pair of black pants, which tied everything together.

Inuyasha.

He pointed at her; his eyes showed the kind of gentle concern her mother would use. He spelled out the letters: "O" and "K." He held his hand with his middle finger bent at his large knuckle a few inches from his forehead and stomach. Then he brought both his hands inwards to make contact with his body.

(Hey, are you okay? Are you sick?)

She was mortified, frozen to the spot. She couldn't believe it had happened, and in front of everybody too. Blushing would have been better, but what she did was go as red as a beet and heat up like a hot stove. You could have cooked an egg on her face, sunny side up. She wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. She wished she could drop through a Scooby-doo style trap door in the floor. But there was no rescue from this embarrassment.

Inuyasha hanged back, allowing her time to compose herself, fighting back the smile that wanted to break out. What happens next, he's going to want to remember for a long time, so while his gaze is soft, he doesn't drop his eyes for a moment. There's a kind of blushing that shows the soul, a sort of compliment to the eyes, and the delicate sweetness within.

She turned her head to the side to avert her gaze, but the sudden rosiness of her cheeks gave her away. As she attempted to hide her face behind her fingers, her cheeks became a color to rival the rose-pink hue of her nail polish and peek through the gaps.

Her hand was delicate, shaking gently as she reached for his. In that split second before his touch, every nerve in her body and brain was electrified. It's the anticipation of being together in a way that's more than words, in an entirely tangible way. His hand fit perfectly in hers, her long and thin fingers, completing the space left in his. He felt like sandpaper or perhaps stone, rough and unfinished. It suited him, she thought, looking into his deep eyes, cheeks reddening. Hers, a tiny palm with long, delicate fingers. They held hands for no more than a few seconds before she pulled away to sign to him.

Kagome felt like every fiber of her being was vibrating with anticipation. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins. Her hands trembled as she signed, and her eyes were wide. She pointed at him, then took her index finger together with her middle finger and tapped them together with her thumb as she shook her head. She quickly pops up her index finger between her fingers, between her middle and ring fingers with her palm down. She tingled from her head to her toes, as wore the facial expression of a small child who didn't know if they should ask or not.

(I didn't think you were going to show.)

He could tell just by the way she walks that she's a bit insecure; her shoulders were hunched over as if hiding the treasure inside of her. Her footsteps are light and timid as she walked with him, watching him through nervous eyes. He could only imagine what might be going through her mind, thoughts like, what does he think of me? Can he even understand my sign? I must be a freak. He knew those thoughts all too well.

He gave a small smiled as he answered. He pointed to himself, then touched the side of his forehead with his fingers, his hand flat. Hoping to lighten the burden Kagome carried on herself, he assured her that it wouldn't happen again, he held his index fingers out in front of himself, palms up. Then roll his hands over, so they are both facing downward. He held "A" handshape and held his hand in front of himself and pull it back sharply. Then something unbelievable happens, like a light turning on in a dark room, her eyes lighten, and she smiles back. Wow, he wondered, smiles really do have power. They can reach places the sun can't and warm the very soul.

(I know. It won't happen again.)

He held his index finger to his lips and then placed a flat hand on top of the thumb-side of his other hand that was in a fist. Inuyasha reached his hand out to her, hoping that she would accept it, forgiving him in the process.

(Promise.)

Her smile was one of happiness growing, much as a spring flower opens as she raised her hand near her lips then move it forward towards him.

(Thank you.)

They laced their fingers together, she pressed her body towards his arm, allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder. The softness and gentle touch of his arm against her made her tingle. They walked, looking at all the clouds, trying to find animals and shapes in them. They didn't speak because, in their own way, they were already communicating.

The sky continued to rotate as the sun rose higher and higher, the birds resumed their singing, and the clouds made more shapes. Then dusk arrived, dull and cold; bring rain with it.

They signed with each other for what seemed like hours until Kagome finally dropped her gaze. She looked back up at him; a gentle flush of pink had appeared in her cheeks that made her look vulnerable. He held his breath as she leaned up and tentatively pressed her soft lips to his cheek. His head had gone hazy; his body became stagnant at the sensation of her lips against him. So sweet and silken, it's enough to melt even the hardest hearted man. Just as he was going to lose himself in this moment, she retreated, hiding her face in her hands.

Inuyasha suppressed a smile. He could tell from her blush that she really liked him. Her usual even pale had a rosiness to it, it was cute. He grabbed her hands, pulling them from her face so that she could see him. He pulled her close to him, staring at her intensely. He wasn't looking at anyone else; he was only looking at her. He could see the way she was trembling.

He cupped her cheek, startling her, but quickly relaxed. She bit her lip, before taking the plunge, giving him one solid nod.

The scent of rain is dark and heady. A stillness falls over the temple, and in the silence comes a low crackle of thunder, rolling across rooftops to the pattering of tiny raindrops. For a moment, everything stops. Even the wind holds its breath. A streak of hot silver splits the sky, and the downpour begins.

The rain runs down their faces to where their lips meet, each of them tasting the cold drops. Instead of detracting from the intensity of the moment, it brings them to new heights. Inuyasha pushes his lips in more firmly, and the wave that runs through her was intoxicating, making her head swim as she pulled back to take in his beautiful face.

There is something so heavenly about a kiss in the rain, a tender moment that just won't wait. It is that burst of affection that is expressed, not caring if the water soaks through to chill the skin. It is a connection that shows the strength of the feeling, the mutual need. It is a rebellion against the elements. Nature can bring rain, but their inner sunshine comes through just the same.

They rested their foreheads against each other and closed their eyes for a moment, enjoying the tingle on their lips. Kagome's skin shivered where he touched her, and her heartbeat erratically in her chest so hard that she thought it might fly out. There were butterflies in her chest, but it felt good.

She finally admitted to herself what she knew all along but was too afraid to admit it: she liked him also.

A lot.