Kagome finally reached her house, and surprisingly enough the rain didn't stop pouring when the key hit the lock. I mean, isn't that always what happens, as soon as you get home, the rain decides to stop? She took off her red pumps and placed them on the blue matt by the door, slightly relieving the pounding of her feet. Mental note, don't run in heals anytime soon, and build a ramp up here, those stairs are killer.

She quickly glanced around, looking for her younger brother, not being able to find him she did the next best thing, yell of course. "Sota, I'm home!"

A boy about twelve came running towards her from the second floor. He jumped onto the banister and slid down, right into his sister's arms. She, on instinct reached out and caught him in mid-air, barely keeping her footing. "You're getting a bit to big for that." She said while dropping him back onto the ground.

"I know, but I'm waiting for the day that you topple over." He said, a smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Well isn't that lovely, it's so nice to know I have such a caring and compassionate brother. So, how was school then?" She walked into the living room and threw herself onto the couch, immediately joined by Sota.

"Fine, some kid got caught cheating on a test though, you should have seen it, the teacher marched right over and pulled out a fat red marker and wrote 0/100 really big. Oh, and Kohaku and I put a lizard in Mr. Yuro's drink." He paused. "Ya, it was a pretty normal day."

"Well that's good, but it looks like baseball practice is canceled." She said while stealing a glance outside. "Why don't you call the team and tell them?"

"Sure thing, and don't forget you promised meatloaf tonight." He said while running out of the room. She just shook her head wondering how the hell he remembered that.

After dinner Kagome walked upstairs to her room and pulled out her Pre-Calculus book, why did that class never fail to give out homework? By the time she was on problem 36 she was ready to gouge her eyes out just so she wouldn't have to look at it. Thoroughly annoyed she picked up her book and tossed it over on her bed, knowing if she didn't take a break it was very likely she would burn the blasted thing.

"Alright, I'll see how Sota's doing." She crept over to her brother's room, two doors over, and peeked into his open door. She suppressed a laugh, wondering if that's how she looked about a minute ago. Kagome quickly walked away towards the stairs and down into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and pulled out a box of strawberry ice cream. She also pulled out two bowls and placed two spoons in them. Finally making it back upstairs she turned the corner to see Sota attempting to drill holes into the page with his eyes. She walked over and shoved the bowl under his face and gave a slight laugh when she saw how big his eyes got. Together they walked over to his bed and started eating.

"Thanks sis, I really needed this."

"I could tell." She replied while stuffing her face with another spoon full of ice cream.

"Hey sis, can I ask you a question?"

"Ahh, no!" She yelled.

"But why not?" He looked up to see his sister with an extremely pathetic look on her face.

"Oh sorry Sota, I spilled ice cream on my leg and it was really cold." She picked up a napkin and quickly wiped it up. "Now what did you say?"

He smiled, that was just like Kagome, without even meaning to she could lighten up the mood. "Well, I kinda wanted to ask, well, how to ask a girl out." A slight shade of pink appeared on his cheeks.

Kagome stopped everything she was doing, the almost melted spoonful of ice cream hanging inches away from her mouth. She put it down and stared at her brother. "You like someone?" She took a few more seconds to make sure that she had heard correctly, and then she bombarded him with questions. "Do I know her? What's she like? What's she look like? She cute? Maybe we should invite her ov-"

"Kag's! Come on I'm serious, I don't want to mess this up, I really like her."

"I'm serious too. It's my duty to look out for my baby brother, speaking of which, I can't wait to show her your baby pictures!" She squealed.

"Kagome!"

'I'm kidding, well at least about the last part." Her ice cream had already melted so she drank it, leaving the bowl empty. "Listen, if you really want this to last, and you really like her, be yourself. If she doesn't like that then she's not worth it. I know it's harsh but it's true, no one who you have to completely change yourself for is worth the heartache that will eventually come. Does that help at all?"

"Sort of, but how do I do the actual asking out part?"

"Um, I guess you could do something that would represent you or your personality. I guess if you want to get more romantic you could be a bit more creative. Like, you could get the rest of the baseball team to help you, maybe a sign or something I don't know, it kind of varies. Just express you, that way she knows what she's getting into. It may not be the most romantic thing ever, but it's honest, besides, you'll have plenty of time to make up for it on dates, which by the way, I will be chaperoning."

She got up from her seat and grabbed both empty bowls. "Now come on, let's wash these and finish that math homework."

Kagome stayed up till Sota's bedtime helping him with his homework and had amazingly enough just finished her own. She looked over at the clock to see it reading 12:37, hey, she might actually get some sleep tonight. She yawned and walked over to her bed when suddenly the phone rang. "Now who could that be?" She reached over and grabbed it, clicking it on. "Hello?"

"Kagome, there you are, so how's everything going?"

Kagome desperately wished she could hit something right now, something, anything, just to make up for her stupidity, why the hell didn't she check caller id? "Hello mother, everything's fine, how's Venice?"

"Splendid, everything is amazing here, the food, the people, the sights, I couldn't be happier. By the way, I'm not going to be coming home for a few more weeks. Caleb and I are going on this incredible cruz and then heading over to France, so, see ya."

"Wait! What do you mean another few weeks? We haven't seen you in four months and even that was brief, Sota's birthday is in three weeks mom, you can't miss that again! He's turning thirteen, that's suppose to be a big turning point in a kids life, he needs his mom there, no matter how much of a flake she is!"

"Do not take that tone with me young lady, I can do what I want. I am a grown woman, unlike you, who has a responsibility to her boyfriend, but I guess you don't know anything about responsibility now would you! You should just feel lucky that I take the time out of my busy day to call, it's not like I have to do that, or wire you money to pay the bills!"

Kagome could feel her eyebrow twitch, not only was she getting lectured on responsibly by a woman who had never once shown it, but was also being threatened with eviction by her own mother.

"So, you forget to send it half the time anyways, just do us a favor and don't call, at least if we don't know about your fake promises you cant continue to break Sota's heart!" Kagome slammed the phone down ready to tear the nearest thing apart. She knew her mother wouldn't call again, hell, it probably didn't even register in her mothers mind that Kagome was furious and had purposely hung up.

"Kag's?"

Kagome turned around to see Sota standing in her doorway, her face dropped, had he heard?

"Was that mom again?"

"Ya, it was." She whispered, but loud enough for him to hear. For some reason her throat didn't want to seem to work, maybe it was because she really didn't want to say what she knew she was going to have to.

"What did she say? She's going to be here for my birthday right?" He asked anxiously.

Kagome could feel her eyes watering, not for her sake, but for her brothers. She had already been through this, she had grown up with it, after her dad died, her caring loving mother left. She turned into a selfish bitch that only considered herself. Luckily she had her grandfather for a couple of years, but he died when she was in fourth grade, once again leaving her alone, well, except for Inuyasha, she could still hear him swearing to always be there for her, well, obviously things changed. She didn't want Sota to grow up with that same pain, she knew she couldn't erase all of it, but a little is better then none. It absolutely killed her to say her next words. "No honey, she can't make it, but she's really sorry."

Kagome could see her brother desperately trying to hold back his tears and she quickly got up and walked over to her little brother and pulled him into a large, protective hug. "It's alright, why don't you stay with me tonight? Then we can get up and make pancakes together, alright?"

"Alright."

The two then huddled together in Kagome's oversized bed, Sota holding onto her tightly. Kagome pulled the covers up over Sota's face, trying desperately to protect him from the harsh realities of life.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kagome sat next to the big school tree waiting for her friends to arrive. It was already lunch, and she was starving. Luckily she had brought her lunch today, which she really only did when she got up and made breakfast with Sota. They always made too much, mainly because Sota had a tendency of spilling half of the batter so she just naturally made extra.

Luckily Sota hadn't brought up the subject of their dim whit of a mother, she was worried that he might. Normally she wouldn't be but she was still fuming from last night's conversation and didn't know what she might have said to Sota if he had brought her up.

Kagome reached into her backpack and pulled out a large packet of pancakes, there had to be at least 13 of them in there, good thing to, because she was hungry. She reached back in and pulled out a water bottle and an apple.

She looked over when she felt a figure sit down next to her, it was Sango who had also brought a lunch. She pulled out a sandwich and chips, along with a can of coke. Then she saw Sango's eye's wander down to the bag full of pancakes, which was the other reason she would bring so many, for some reason people liked her food, especially her three best friends. Sango looked at her pleadingly, Kagome rolled her eyes and reached into the bag, throwing her one. "Your pathetic."

"Yet I still got one." She said still smiling. "You ok?"

Kagome ran the tips of her fingers through her hair. "Ya, I just, didn't have the best of night's last night, that's all."

"Your mom called didn't she?"

Kagome looked down at the ground. "Ya, she did."

"Are you sure your going to be ok Kag's, you just, seem more down then normal, well compared to when she usually calls anyway."

"It's just," She sighed. "She's not going to be here for Sota's birthday."

"What! No, she can't, this is a really important year, she can't miss it!"

"Well, according to her she is and can. I really don't know what to do anymore Sango. She's ripping up Sota's heart day by day. Maybe if he had some type of father figure, it would be better you know, but he doesn't. I seriously doubt grandpa or dad are going to manage it back from the dead and Caleb, not even going to attempt that notion. I'm out of idea's, raising yourself is one thing, raising another person is totally different. I don't want him to go through the pain I went through."

"Kag's, maybe you should call up your dad's family, maybe they could do something?"

"Why would they talk to us? Dad left them remember, both sides wanting nothing to do with the other, why would they want to help his kids? No, I can't do that, I'm just going to have to continue playing the mother, father and sister all in one. Oh, hey, did I tell you Sota likes a girl?"

"What? No way, aw, he's growing up so fast. I swear it's like Sota and Kohaku were just screaming baby's pulling on our hair. Though, you gotta admit, the fact that their best friends is kind of weird."

"Na, it's because we spent so much time together, they decided the only way they would get a chance so soak us with water balloons was if they worked together, it's only natural they became close." Both of them broke into fits of laughter, each remembering when the two had attempted to pelt them with water balloons only to have Sango and Kagome soaking them with the hose, yes, that was a glorious moment.

They eventually looked back up, a glint in their eyes till Sango noticed something. She elbowed Kagome so she turned around only to see a furious Rin marching towards them. She huffed and threw her backpack down on the ground, sitting extremely close to it. She whipped out an orange and was throwing the outside pieces in random spots, every now and then stopping for a few seconds and growling only to continue to mutilate the poor orange even more so.

"Um Rin, you ok?" Asked Kagome, but was starting to wish that she hadn't. Rin looked like she was going to hurl the maimed orange at her for just daring to ask.

"Alright? Alright? Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be alright? It's not like every time I pass by Miroku he starts going on about how cute a couple Sesshomaru and I would make, and how adorable our kids would be. It's not like he made up a song about it or anything. It's not like I'm going to rip him into tiny little pieces for even suggesting such a thing!"

Out of the corner of her eye Kagome saw Sango spit the coke out of her mouth. Looks like Sango has something to do with Miroku's new hobby. I'll have to ask her about it later, I wonder if I should tell Rin, has Sango done anything to me lately? Not that I can think of, ok, I'll let this one slide. "Ok Rin, why don't we just give Miroku a break, we all know he's joking, how the hell could we know if your kids would be cute unless we used one of those machines that merges baby pictures to see what kids would look like? So why don't we just go get some of yours and Sesshomaru's pictures and find out ok?" Kagome was using every once of will power not to laugh.

"Ya, ok, your right, we'll just… no wait, WHAT THE HELL? That wasn't funny Kag's!" She chucked her once upon a time orange at Kagome who dodged just in time. She turned around to see it smashed against the tree.

"Yes- it- was!" Laughed Sango, she was currently leaning into her lap, her face turning red from laughing so hard. "I can just picture it, it would be like the family from hell. Mom and dad would always be trying to kill each other, brother and sister would sit and take bets on who was going to be sent to the mental house first." She toppled over from laughing so hard.

Rin jumped up and was suddenly on top of Sango attempting to strangle her. Kagome, seeing that she might have to attend a funeral in the near future if this continued, decided to intervene. "He Sesshomaru, hey Miroku."

The two immediate shot up and sat down as if nothing had happened. Rin started brushing her fingers threw her hair while Sango was brushing dirt off her clothes. They both looked up around the same time, fully prepared to explain why they were rolling around in the dirt during lunch, to said people, only to see that they weren't there. "Hey, where'd they go?" Asked Sango.

"Who?" Asked Kagome.

"Sesshomaru and Miroku." Answered Rin.

"What gave you the idea that they were here?" Replied Kagome.

"But you just said hi to them?" Argued Sango.

"No I didn't? But even if I did, why would you two suddenly stop tackling each other?" Said Kagome slyly.

"So, anyone seen Ayame lately?" Asked Rin.

Sly one Rin, sly, I'll let it pass, for now. Kagome looked over at both girls, "No, I haven't, usually she's out here as soon as me."

"Think maybe she's still in the cafeteria?" Asked Sango.

"No harm in trying, we've already been here for 15 minutes, she should have been here 10 minutes ago." They all got up and started to walk over, leaving their things behind, knowing no one would dare touch them.

Well, all accept Kagome who grabbed the remaining pancakes. Before reaching the door she felt a pair of eyes on her, she looked over to see Rin staring at her hand, well, more like what was in her hand. "Your just as pathetic as she is." She said while pointing to Sango.

"Please!"

She picked one out and threw it over to her, that leaves what, five more for me? They walked in, noticing how a path was slowly cleared for them, one of the many perks. "I don't see her anywhere."

That was until she heard a loud. "Kouga! I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do!" There was no mistake there, that was defiantly Ayame's voice. The three quickly walked over to where all the commotion was to see Ayame and Kouga, standing next to each other behind the counter. Wait, behind the counter? What the hell were they doing behind the counter? That's where the cafeteria people were supposed to be, not students.

"Um, Ayame?"

Ayame turned around to see her three friends starring at her expectantly. She currently had mashed potatoes and gravy drenched over her once spotless clothes, compliments of Kouga, and chocolate cake in her hair, once again, complements of Kouga. "This stupid jerk volunteered me!" She thrusted her hand in Kouga's direction, completely forgetting about the spatula covered in potatoes in her hand. It went flying strait towards Kouga and landed on his face, though he seemed unfazed.

"Only because you did the same thing." He said smirking the whole way through.

"Only because we made a deal. You loose the race and you volunteer, I loose, I volunteer, and it just so happens you lost!"

"Ya but no where in there does it say you can't join me." If at all possible an even larger smirk was plastered oh his face.

"You-you, there isn't even a word for you!" She yelled.

"What can I say, I'm a pour loser. Now, about these mashed potatoes." He reached over and picked up the tray of lettuce, a devilish look in his eyes.

"Kouga, don't you dare, you knew that was an accident." She yelled.

"Ya, well, I kind of don't care." He reached over her and poured the tray on her. She opened her eyes to see that little pieces of carrots, lettuce, cucumber and radishes were sticking to various parts of her body thanks to the mashed potatoes and gravy.

That did it; she reached over for the remainder of the mashed potatoes and hurled it at him, about the same time he was picking up pieces of cake. Unfortunately for him, he stood up about a second to soon cause the mashed potatoes made a direct hit with his face, leaving him throwing blind. The cake that was once in his hand went flying over to a huddled group of senior girls, who well lets just say, in seeing Ayame throwing food, took it as a cue that they could.

Kagome soon found herself ducking under a table, trying avoid the various foods being thrown around. She suddenly felt something hard against her back only to look into the eyes of Inuyasha. Under the small table, they came to a silent truce. Kagome peeked around her side to see ice cream being thrown in her direction. "Down!" She yelled.

Inuyasha ducked, it just barely missing him, but as soon as she attempted to sit back up he pulled her back down, saving her from a flying hamburger. Suddenly they were joined buy three more bodies. Kagome looked up to see Rin, Sesshomaru and Miroku sitting with them. "Isn't this supposed to happen in elementary school?" She asked.

"Come on, put Ayame and Kouga in the same room together, let alone having to work together, and that's like putting me with Sesshomaru, or Sango with Miroku, or you with Inuyasha, something is bound to go wrong. That's just how it works."

"So anyone seen Sango, or maybe the one of the destructive duo?"

"Last I saw Sango she was crouching behind the water fountain. What about you three?" She turned to face the men sitting next to her.

"Behind you trying to dodge any oncoming food." Said Sesshomaru.

Rin turned around to see Sango diving over to their direction, landing in Miroku's lap. "Sorry guys, I tried to talk to Ayame but there is no way she was going to leave without putting Kouga in a coma first." She suddenly felt something brush up against her backside; with that slight move she realized where she was. "Ahh, Miroku you letch." She quickly jumped off of him and towards Kagome and Rin.

"Hey, you're the one who went diving into me." She stated.

"Ya Sango, maybe it was a subconscious thing. Maybe you two should go on a date some time." Said a giggling Rin.

Sang swung her head over to Sesshomaru's direction. "Hey Sesshomaru, you have any extra baby pictures lying around?"

"Uh oh." Whispered Kagome.

Suddenly Rin was once again lunging at Sango, luckily Kagome was ready. "Ladies, do not make me tell any on listeners what happened July 7 2003 cause I swear I will scream it from the top of my lungs here and now!"

The two immediately stopped and looked at Kagome trying to decipher if she was serious or not.

"Alright, we need a plan of escape." Said Sango while dodging a smashed up banana. "Now, if we maneuver past the lunch square we should be able to make it to the un-tipped tables. Then we can crawl through them but after that it's a free for all. A few dodges are going to have to be made here and there but over all it's our best bet."

"What if someone doesn't make it, what do we do then?" Asked Rin.

"We should group up, in three's probably, considering there's only two directions to go."

"Alright, Inuyasha, Rin and Sango you go left. Miroku, Sesshomaru and I will go right, ok?"

The two girls looked at their leader. "Agreed."

Kagome looked at the three men sitting next to her expectantly, but their faces were completely blank. "Since when do you three act like that?"

"Like what?"

"All in charge."

Sango looked furious. "Since men decided to take a step down."

"Excuse me?" Asked Inuyasha.

"Look, you got a better plan?" Asked Rin.

"Well, no."

"Then shut up and move!" Kagome grabbed Miroku and Sesshomaru just as their table was turned over, leaving them completely uncovered. They each took their places and ran, finally making it to the tables. Kagome dodged underneath and crawled towards the end of a set of tables, soon joined by Sesshomaru and Miroku, each panting.

Miroku looked at her. "One question, what the hell happened July 7, 2003?"

Kagome smiled. "Everything that concerns three out of four of you."

"What's that mean?"

"That means I can't tell you."

"But it has something to do with us?"

"Just kind of a lot."

"But your not going to tell us?"

"Correct." Apple juice went flying past their heads. "Maybe we should leave now." Kagome quickly stood up and make a break for the door, closely behind her were two extremely curious gods. When they reached the door the swung it open and ran out as fast at they could. They walked over to the park bench next to the door and sat down. Suddenly the door swung open again to reveal Sango, Ayame and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha looked over at the two. "So now will you tell me what happened July 7, 2003?"

"No!" They both screamed.

Suddenly the door opened and out stepped none other then a pair of completely caked in food, Ayame and Kouga. "Wow, it's messy in there." Motioned Kouga while Ayame nodded in agreement.

Their six friends looked at them in disbelief, they were the ones that caused it! Miroku looked over at Ayame and walked over to her. "So will you tell us what happened July 7 2003?"

Her face suddenly went pale, all color was drained, though, the four noticed that she stole a quick glance at Kouga. Suddenly a scowl was plastered on her face. "Kouga, why the hell are you such a jerk?" She then hit him over the head and walked over to her friends. "And how the hell do they know about that?"

"Hey, it was either that or we would be giving two eulogies at the end of the week for our recently departed friends that killed each other." Answered Kagome.

"Kind of leaning to the later on right now." She grumbled.

"Ok, how about we get you cleaned up and away from Kouga." Kagome looked over at her friend for an answer.

"Ya, he needs to be able to run for the track meet in two weeks." Said Rin in agreement.

"Don't think that would be very likely if he has two broken lags." Added Sango.

"Fine, but only because he's in track, when the seasons over…" She made a slitting motion on her throat, indicating her anger.

"When the seasons over he'll be in football." Answered Sango.

"Come on, cant the world give me a break. I'm a good person, what'd I do wrong?" She said throwing her hands up and walking away towards the girl's locker room. Her three friends shook their heads and followed her.

Suddenly Kagome turned around and scanned the area. "Damn, I lost my bag of pancakes." She turned back around and went into a slight jog to catch up with her friends.

Kouga walked over to his friends, a piece of cake sliding off his head. "So what's this about July 7, 2003?"

"Not sure." Answered Sesshomaru.

"No clue." Answered Inuyasha.

"Not sure I want to know?" Answered Miroku.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Firevien73- Does anyone remember the name of the girl that Sota asked out in the show? It would be a big help, cause I was thinking about putting her in it a bit more but I just can't remember her name. Thanx if you do. R&R please!