"…Oh, hi…" a red-nosed teary-eyed Sango said with a shaky smile as she answered the door. Kagome took in her friends' appearance: she was wearing her I'm-Depressed grandma pajamas, her nose was red and running, and her eyes were puffy from crying. Sango attempted a smile, but quickly burst into new tears at the door.

Kagome merely stepped inside her friends' cozy apartment and closed the door, "Good morning sunshine" she said with a smile, she held Sango's shoulders supportingly as Sango loudly sobbed.

"Okay!" Kagome said with a brisk clapping of her hands, Get dressed, get dressed" she walked to the other side of the apartment and opened Sango's lacey curtains, letting in a stream of bright light. "Staff meeting in 15 minutes!" she called.

"I'm going back to bed" Sango said with a sniff, "I have no reason to live" she pulled her quilted comforter up to her chin.

"Aw, the sun's out" Kagome said cheerfully.

"Okay, just—" Sango blew her nose loudly on her favorite hankie.

"Look what I brought" Kagome said in a sing-song voice as she neared the bed her friend was sleeping in. She dropped down a black shirt with pink on the elbows onto her friend.

"Cashmere?" Sango asked in surprise, she sat up and grasped the piece of clothing. Kagome sat on the edge of her bed—dumping the contents of the black Sephora bag onto the bedspreads.

"Put it on it'll make your eyes look fiercely gray" Kagome said with a tender smile. Sango clutched the shirt tighter as she whimpered at her friends' kindness.

"Now get up" Kagome said kindly, "I'm not going to let you lose your job on top of everything else" she said determinedly.

Sango looked up with teary eyes at Kagome in gratitude.

"Aw, come here" Kagome said with open arms, Sango quickly embraced her friend as she sobbed.

Kagome patted her back supportingly, "You only dated the guy a week"

"It was…" Sango stifled a sob that was lodged in her throat, "The best week of my life"

Kagome—while still in the embrace—looked at her friend curiously.

As the taxi pulled up, Kagome and Sango saw Ayame waiting on the corner with three drinks from Starbucks.

"Hi" Sango said still slightly stuffily as she and Kagome got out of the cab, "I don't really want to talk about it"

"Okay, okay" Ayame said as she nodded understandingly.

The three walked for a few steps.

"Why does this always happen to me?" Sango wailed, coffee in hand, "Things are going great for like a week and a half and then it's over and I am mystified!" she looked between her two friends, "Seriously! I am mystified because it always starts off so well!" Sango began walking off, leaving her two friends to trail after her.

"Poor baby" Ayame said as she trotted after Sango.

"I think we should just roll with this one" Kagome said—intervening from Ayame's comfort talk.

"But Miroku and I had such a connection!" Sango said, continuing her one sided rant. "The first date we had was so beautiful," she wiped a lingering tear from her eyes, "I cried" she gave another little sob before walking through the glass doors—once again leaving her friends behind.

"Wait, you mean 'one glistening tear' right?" Ayame asked concerned and mortified if Sango said no.

Sango shook her head with a sad smile, "No, I was really emotional", Kagome and Ayame stared at Sango with a horrified expression, "I even told him that I loved him"

Kagome and Ayame stopped dead in their tracks.

"After how many days?" Kagome asked, nearly cringing at what her friend would answer.

"Five…?" Sango replied, she glanced at her friends, "Two…it was how I felt alright! I wanted to express myself"

"O…kay…" Kagome pushed the 'up' button for the elevator, "Well…what did he say?" she asked.

"Oh, he didn't have to say anything" Sango said with a loving smile, "I knew that he felt the same way"

Kagome and Ayame glanced at each other.

"But then…" Sango remembered, "He started getting really busy, and I didn't know where he was. I kept calling him and calling him…he was never home—"

"Calling him?" Kagome asked with a wince.

"I didn't leave a message" Sango said as her defense, "He didn't know it was me!...My number's blocked" she added.

"Oh!" Ayame said realizing something, "I'm sure he just thought it was one of his friends, men frequently call their friends answering machines and hang up twenty times" she said with a grin.

The elevator finally came and the three stepped in, "I know why he broke up with me" Sango said suddenly—breaking the elevator's silence.

"I'm too fat" she said with a shrug.

"You're not fat!" her friends yelled.

"But Sango, if the most beautiful woman in the world did the things you did any normal guy would still go running in the opposite direction" Kagome reasoned as the three walked across 'Shikon no Tama' lobby.

"No" Sango said with a pout, "No guy would go running from you Kagome. You could…barf all over a guy and he'd say 'Do it again!'"

"Ha!" Kagome gave an incredulous snort, "That is both incredibly disgusting and categorically untrue—if I did the same things you did I'd get dumped too"

Kagome, Ayame, and Sango walked into a bright room comfortably furnished with throw pillows and plush seats.

"Okay family, shoes off" said the leader and head of 'Shikon no Tama' magazine, Yura.

The staff proceeded to remove their footwear, as Yura plopped down in her large cushy chair, with crossed legs and arms held up with eyes closed in meditation.

"And breathe…and out" there was a loud WHOOSH as everyone let out the breath they were holding.

"Okay Rin" Yura said in business mode, "Let's start with you"

"Okay!" Rin said cheerfully, "The 'Botox for Beginners' piece, now it's a little scary but, mostly upbeat. Now I'm on 'What your Gyno won't Tell You' it's also pretty scary but you know, upbeat"

Kagome rolled her eyes, and her and her friends shared a secret laugh.

"And I finished my research on 'Deadly Pedicures', the woman who contracted that fungus from the unsterilized tools, it's a terrible story…but surprisingly…"

Kagome and Ayame mouthed the word that they knew she would say.

"Upbeat!"

"Marvelous" Yura said with a ghost of a smile on her lips, "So what's next with 'How to with Kagome'?" she asked.

"Well…" Kagome opened her mouth—unsure of what to say, "Actually…I've been working on something a little…different" Kagome paused to think of how to say it before she spoke again.

"It's…it's a political piece and—"

"No"

"But—"

"Kagome, you work on 'Shikon no Tama' magazine. We are fashions, trends, diets, cosmetics surgery, solicitous gossip, that's 'Shikon no Tama'" Yura said relentlessly.

"Okay bit look—"

"Kagome!" Yura said, cutting Kagome off, "Okay, the column is new for you, when you turn it into a 'must read', you can write about whatever you want. Until then you write about whatever I want. Understood?"

"Yeah" Kagome said dejectedly.

"So Sango, what've you got?" Yura said, turning her deadly gaze onto Sango.

"Um…I'm sorry…I wasn't feeling well—"

"She got dumped" Ayame explained.

"Ohhhhh nooo! Poor Sango, what a hellish ordeal for you" Yura said sympathetically, "But…you are looking fabulous" she said with a grin. Sango brightened slightly at the complement.

"Are we loving the way Sango looks all?" Yura asked everyone.

Everyone nodding their heads in agreement.

"I…haven't eaten since the split…"

"Good for you!" Yura exclaimed with a smile, "Oo! Write about it!"

"I can't use my personal life for a story" Sango said shocked that Yura would even suggest that.

"Oh, I understand completely" Yura said with a flick of her wrist. She then turned to the rest of the room, "Who here can turn Sango's personal life into a story?"

Rin eagerly raised her hand, nearly jumping out of her seat, "Oo! I can!" she exclaimed.

"Go" Yura said to Rin.

"Wh-what? No!" Sango shouted.

Yura looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"With all due respect Yura, Rin has no business mucking around in my personal life, and I can't let her!" Sango said with her head shaking furiously, "I just can't!"

Kagome looked around her, at her frantic friend, and at Yura.

"I'll do it" she said raising a hand.

Everyone turned to look at her. "Oh?" Yura asked.

"What?!" Sango asked as she glanced at her friend in horror.

"I'll do it! Sort of. You will be my inspiration"

"For?" Yura asked still staring curiously at Kagome.

"Well…look at Sango. She's…a…great girl right?"

"Yes…" Yura said slowly.

"Well…" Kagome glanced at her friends' face for help, "Er…" she looked again at her friend shaking her head furiously, "An amazing woman…"

"Yes…" Yura said, now intrigued, "Go on"

"…But…she…has a problem hanging on to relationships" Kagome said slowly, "And doesn't really know what she's doing wrong—like most our readers"

"Uh-huh…go on" Yura prompted.

"I was thinking that…" Kagome looked towards the ceiling, hoping that an idea—any idea at all—would be painted in bright letters up there, "I…would start…dating a guy and…" Kagome looked at her friends for help, but they were just as bewildered as her, "Drive him away—but only using the classic mistakes women—like Sango—" Sango stared open mouthed at her friend, "…make. I'll…keep a diary of it and…it'll be a sort of…how to…in reverse…" Kagome glanced feverishly between her two friends.

Yura smiled to herself, "What not to do…"

"Uh…yeah" Kagome grinned with self-congratulations for pulling her—and her friend—out of a really tight spot.

"How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days…yes, go" she gave a prompting nod towards Kagome, "Alright Frankie, what's new in the shoe world?—"

"Um…excuse me Yura but...why 10 days?" Kagome asked shyly.

"Five days is to short and we go on press in eleven—yes Frankie?"

Kagome sat there in disbelief that she had really opted herself to do this, with a cringe, she looked towards her friends—expecting them to be appalled at what she had gotten into. Instead, she was surprised to see Sango mouthing a genuine 'Thank You'.

"…maybe toss in something spiritual as well, who is that chic Buddhist Richard Gear cavorts with?" Yura asked Kagome, Ayame, and Sango, as they all descended down the stairs.

"…The Dali Llama?" Ayame suggested.

"Yes, he's fabulous" Yura said, "Oh! Here's my 10 o' clock" she warmly gestured towards two women standing in the downstairs lobby, "Welcome" she said with a charming smile.

"Hi" the two women said smiling back.

"Kagura Spears and Kanna Green" Yura said motioning to them, "We're going to cook in some fabulous tie ins for the fall" she rubbed her hands excitedly, "Ayame: Fashion and Trends, Sango: Health and Fitness" Sango blew her nose, then looked apologetically,

"Sorry" she said with an embarrassed wave, "Hi".

"And Kagome Higurashi, our resident 'How To' girl" Yura said continuing the introductions.

"I've seen your column Kagome" Kagura said, "What are you working on now?"

Kagome opened her mouth to speak when Yura stepped in front of her.

"'How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days'" announced, "She's actually going to start dating a guy, and then drive him away in a week and a half"

"Sounds needlessly vicious" Kanna said with a small smile.

"It's going to fabulous" Yura assured, then turning to Kagome, "Now all she has to do is run along and find the lucky guy—go go go!"

"Nice to meet you" Ayame said to the two women with Yura with a wave. As the three walked off, Kagome nearly laughed.

"Now I just have to find the guy…find the guy" she said.

Kagome grinned to herself as she and her friends walked out of the building, Find the guy, she thought, Shouldn't be too hard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hello! Yes, this was written before the first chapter was posted. I know that you probably want to strangle me because I more than likely have the third chapter written—but believe me! It's for your own good! Really…it is. And I have the honor of saying that his in the longest chapter I've ever written—no no, scratch that. I wrote an 8 page chappie before…oh well. Well I hope that you guys liked it! Please review! Toodles!