Chapter 8 The Date and Dreadful Distractions

Kagome POV

Kagome twirled in front on the mirror one more time before deciding she couldn't make herself look any better for her date, she sighed at her reflection woefully and looked once more down at the clothes she was wearing, she had decided on a green tank and a jean pleated skirt with a jeweled belt. She had blow dried her hair after she got out of the shower so it waved down her back and held just the right amount of volume, she had pulled her hair back on the left side with a emerald dragonfly clip. Kagome flipped the mirror around so she was facing the wooden back of it and turned away from the evil glass prison, slipping on her black flats, she walked out of her room and thudded her way down the stairs. Her mother was in the living room, reading a book when Kagome passed by the door way. She glanced up from her book and caught sight of Kagome. Her eyes widened and she jumped from her seat on the couch and raced after Kagome.

"Kagome, where are you going dressed up so nicely," her mother pried teasingly as she caught up, nipping at Kagome's heels. Kagome whirled around and her mother almost ran straight into her. Kagome scowled at her and huffed.

"You know exactly where I'm going, I told you earlier today."

"On the date with that Hojo boy," her mother teased, "I bet he's really handsome, do I get to meet him?"

"No! This is a one time thing, mom, I told you that earlier too."

"Aw, come on Kagome, you know it's a mother's right to meet her daughter's first date. Although I think you should have gotten gussied up to go on your first date with Ob."

"MOM!" Kagome huffed and blushed. That second the doorbell rang, her mother raced past her towards the door. "MOTHER!" Kagome took off down the short hallway after her mother who reached the door seconds before she did. Her mother gripped the doorknob and flung the door open and Hojo watched as Kagome nearly tackled her mother to the floor trying to keep her from opening the door. Kagome's mother just laughed up at him from her spot on the ground, Hojo, being the gentleman he is, offer his hands to the fallen ladies. Kagome smiled up at him feeling slightly embarrassed and pink, taking his hand to help herself up off the floor. Her mother was still chuckling as she shook the hand Hojo offered to help her up with.

"Now I see how Kagome got so pretty, she had a beautiful teacher," Hojo bowed down and kissed Kagome's mother's hand, she giggled like a school girl. He smiled widely at her and then at Kagome.

"I like him, Kagome, the boy is a flatterer," she stepped back and Kagome stepped forward. Hojo then pulled a small bouquet of wild flowers out from behind his back and handed then gently to Kagome. She smiled shyly and accepted the flowers, sticking her nose close to them and inhaling the sweet scent. Hojo blushed three shades of red and kicked at some dirt at his feet. Kagome's mother walked forward and took the flowers, smelling them too, before pulling them into her chest.

"I'm going to take these into the house and put them into some water before they wilt." She pushed Kagome out of the door and shut it behind her. Hojo smiled shyly at Kagome and offered her his hand. Kagome smiled at him but didn't take his hand, acting like she thought he was ushering her to the car, not offering to hold her hand. He followed closely behind and rushed in front of her to open the door of his car for her. Kagome chuckled lightly; so much for chivalry being dead, maybe tonight won't be so bad. She climbed into the car and watched as Hojo ran around the car to get in beside her. He started up the car and glanced over at Kagome as he pulled away from the curb.

"S-so what movie do you want to see, Kagome," Hojo stuttered over his question, blushing again.

"Oh, I don't know, you choose," Kagome got comfortable in the car and kept her eyes forward.

"Well, I heard there was a great comedy in right now, something like 'Life Sucks',"

"Ooo, comedy, what a great choice Hojo." Kagome watched as Hojo's face lit up. After that, they rode down the road in a comfortable silence.

InuYasha POV

InuYasha huffed and restarted his surfing through the same four hundred channels he just flipped through. Miroku glared over at him and Sesshomaru sighed.

"You know if you can't something to watch, go find something to do!" Sesshomaru growled over at InuYasha impatiently. InuYasha growled back at him and glared at Miroku who chose that time to try and grab at the remote.

"Well, if you're so smart, you giant whipped puppy, you suggest something, you're just mad because Rin hasn't made it here for your date yet, and you,"
InuYasha snapped his gazed to Miroku, "You're antsy because you got conned into going on a group date with Captain Fluffy here and his 'little bird'," InuYasha barked at the two guys.

"Don't you mock me and Rin, she loves that I call her my 'little bird', and what about you Mister Misery, you doom cloud has been following you around all day, just because your precious Shrine is out on a date with another guy."

"WAIT! Didn't you guys say that you guys were going to the movies?"

"Yeah, we're planning on meeting Kilala, Shippo, Ayame, and Koga at the theater at the mall," Sesshomaru was shocked by InuYasha's sudden change of mood, he was smiling and running to get his tennis shoes, "Why? And why are you getting your shoes?"

"Because, don't you see? Shrine is going to the movies tonight with her pretty-boy date, and I may see her," InuYasha hopped around trying to put his tennis shoes and pushed Miroku's head and rushed to grab his coat, "You don't mind if I join you guys, Miro? Do you? Sesshomaru?" The two guys looked at each other and then back at InuYasha, Sesshomaru sighed and Miroku shook his head.

"Fine, you can tag along if it's that important to you, although you don't even know what she looks like," InuYasha growled over at him, "at least you won't be moping around the house when I get home," Sesshomaru sighed. InuYasha practically barked with excitement, jumping around to find his hat. Sesshomaru looked over to Miroku and shook his head, "it's too bad he doesn't know the girls plan on meeting up and ambushing Kagome, so we'll probably end up seeing the movie that she is seeing." Miroku just nodded. There was a rapping at the door, and Sesshomaru jumped up from his seat of his favorite chair and launched himself to the door. Just as he opened it, Rin threw herself into his arms, Sesshomaru lifted her off of the ground and squeezed her, "Ah, how I've missed you my little bird." Rin just giggled and pecked Sesshomaru's lips.

Sango walking in behind Rin and Miroku took that as his queue to greet his lovely lady. He smiled and stood, walking to her with his arms wide open to embrace his love. Sango waited for him to get close, and then punched his in the shoulder as hard as she could muster, Miroku stumbled back slightly and looked at Sango with the expression of a whipped dog. Sango glared over at him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Sango, dear? What's wrong?' Miroku took a second to rub his sore shoulder and looked at Sango with a bewildered look that could make Mother Teressa flinch.

"What? You don't know? I figured since it was your hand that snaked it's way to Eri's behind today, you would know exactly what I would be angry," Sango snarled, "And to think, I'm going out with a pervert like you."

"Oh, love, don't be that way," Miroku cooed moving cautiously towards the smoldering Sango, "You know how I get sometimes when I'm not around you, I just can't control myself. But you also know that I never mean any harm and you are the only girl that I want." He came up to her and slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close, she turned her head away from Miroku and he laid a gentle kiss on her cheek. " Come Sango, you'll still go the theater with me, won't you? I wouldn't want to be the only one there on a Friday night without a date." Sango turned her head enough to glare at him and Miroku just gently began to run his hands up and down her back.

"Fine, I'll go, but don't expect me to be nice, and I wouldn't be expecting much affection from me if I were you," sighed Sango, breaking down under Miroku's gaze. He smiled and pulled into him, holding her close for a minute. InuYasha watched the scene the stair case and then pulled himself up from the step he was sitting on, he pushed Miroku as he walked past and walked to the door.

"Are you guys coming or am I going by myself," InuYasha scoffed at the two couples. The girls just stared at him for a moment.

"I didn't know InuYasha was coming," Rin said as she took Sesshomaru's hand and pulled him towards the door.

"Yeah, well," Sesshomaru looked at InuYasha, who gave him a dirty look, he didn't want the girls knowing about Shrine, he got enough teasing from the guys, "He decided that he didn't want to sit here all night alone, so he felt it would be okay to tag along. Don't worry about it, Rin, let's just go." All of the teenagers shuffled out of the house and into the car to head to the mall. InuYasha looked out of the window intently, with hopes that tonight he might actually have a chance to meet up with the only girl he's ever had true feelings for.

Kagome POV

Kagome walked into the mall next to Hojo, and caught sight of all of her friends huddled around the doors to the theater. She felt her eyes bulge out of her head and her mouth drop open, she realized that every one of them had brought their boyfriends and were planning on going in to see a movie, and she also realized that this was probably just a ruse and the real reason they were all here was to see if she would really make it to the movies and if she would truly be accompanied by Hojo. Her face heated up with embarrassment and anger as they walked up to the large group of teens.

"Well hey you guys," Hojo said cheerfully, "What are you all doing here?"

"Oh, well, we decided that it would be really great to group date tonight, are you guys willing to join us," Rin asked, grinning directly at Kagome. Kagome glared daggers at all of her friends as they all turned to smile shyly at her.

"Actually," Kagome answered curtly before Hojo had a chance to speak, "We were planning on just going to a movie. By ourselves." Kagome emphasized the alone part, trying to discourage the girls.

"Well," Hojo spoke shyly, "I guess it depends on what you guys are planning to see tonight, we're going to see 'Life Sucks'." Kagome cursed at herself for not just walking right past the girls and into the theater.

"Isn't that convenient? That is the exact same movie that we all were planning on seeing." Sango smiled sweetly at Kagome and batted her eyelashes, Kagome glowered at the girls.

"Why don't we all just go in together," suggested Kilala.

"Oh that is just a great idea Kilala," Sango exclaimed and smirked over at Rin. All of the guys just stared intently at the scene that was unfurling in front of them. InuYasha walked back to the group after searching the crowds. He looked around the group utterly confused about what was happening, and that was when he noticed Kagome, and standing next to her was Hojo. He looked around and couldn't understand what was going on.

"Why is everybody so quiet, and what is that wench doing here? Hey, don't you have chickens to behead or curses to lay upon the undeserving citizens," InuYasha scoffed walking up towards her. Kagome whirled around to face him and was surprised to see him standing only inches away from her. She choked on her insults and flung herself backwards away from him. He stumbled away from her as well and both of them stared at each other from a safe distance. The teens around them caught the little shuffle and snickered to one another. InuYasha turned to Miroku burning red and hit him full force in the same shoulder that Sango had punched in earlier.

"Ahh, man that hurts," Miroku whined, rubbing his shoulder and taking steps away from InuYasha.

"What the hell is he doing here," Kagome snarled, "Now I can understand all of you ambushing me, but him?" Kagome shook herself off and glared at InuYasha.

"Oh don't flatter yourself, wench! I didn't come here to ambush you or whatever else you're imagining, I came because I was bored and I was hoping to find somebody I knew to hang out with." InuYasha ran his hand through his hair and brushed off his clothes, like being that close to Kagome could cover him in cooties. Kagome sniffed and turned away from InuYasha and back towards her friends, she hadn't forgotten what was going on behind her back either.

"Hojo and I going in, if you guys insist on seeing the same movie as us, that's fine, you can sit with us and everything, but I won't forget this," Kagome leaned in towards her friends and whispered, "I'll get you guys for this later, you won't know how and you won't know when, heck you won't even know if I'll get you all at once or take you down one by one, but I will get you all back for this later." The girls' faces all dropped and they looked at the floor. Kagome stood up straight, smiled sweetly, and walked back over to Hojo, "Hey, are you ready to go in," she asked with a shy smile. Hojo's face lit up and he nodded leading the way into the movie theatre to buy tickets. The rest of the teens followed behind and got their things for the theatre.

InuYasha POV

InuYasha walked into the theater as the previews started and tried to find a place to sit in the row of his friends. Sesshomaru was sitting on the end next to Rin, who was sitting next to Koga and Ayame, next was Shippo and Kilala, Miroku and Sango followed, and then there was Hojo and Kagome, in that order, which meant that Kagome was sitting on the other end and there was only one seat left in the row, right next her. InuYasha cursed at his rotten luck and his inability to wait until after the movie to go to the bathroom. He hiked up his popcorn and large cola and walked down to the end of the line and took his seat next to Kagome. She glanced over at him but he could tell that she was determined to ignore him.

InuYasha tried to find a comfortable position in the hard, uncomfortable theater chair. He wriggled around and elbowed Kagome in the process, who in turn elbowed him back. He snarled at her and elbowed her again. Kagome pinched InuYasha's arm unexpectedly and he yelped in surprise and pain.

"Shhhh," Rin called from down the aisle. InuYasha rubbed the sore spot on his arm and growled quietly to himself. He just began to pick at Kagome after that for the sheer pleasure of pissing her off on her date.

Kagome POV

Kagome went through the entire movie punching, pinching, pushing, and cursing at InuYasha, she had been so distracted she couldn't tell you what was funny or what the plot of the movie was. She walked out of the theater as fast as she could rubbing and nursing her bruised arms and ribs. Hojo followed closely behind still laughing at the movie. He had been so sucked in by the movie he didn't seem to even notice that Kagome wasn't paying a lick of attention to it. Kagome grumbled to herself all the way to the car, and then all the way to the house. When she slammed the door to get out of Hojo's car, he followed her to the door.

"Kagome? Are you alright? You've been distracted since we left the mall," Hojo spoke quietly, but his voice was full of concern. Kagome decided that she could lead the poor guy along like this anymore, so she turned to him and sighed.

"Hojo, I really like you, I do, but I like you more like a brother or a best friend then I do a boyfriend," Hojo's face fell a little, "But, I felt like we should at least try before I decided that we should just be friends, so I agreed to go out with you tonight, and, truthfully, I can only see you as a friend, and I don't want to lead you on." Kagome flinched away from Hojo after she was finished with what she felt she had to say. She heard him sigh and she opened her eyes, he was looking at the ground, then he looked up at her and smiled sadly.

"Well, at least we tried, right? And I'm really glad you decided to give us a chance before totally rejecting the idea. I really appreciate that you told me this now, Kagome, before I got my hopes up that we would start dating regularly, and I do want to be your friend, if that's what you really want." Hojo sighed again and stuck out his hand, Kagome smiled and took it, shaking it warmly before turning around to go into her home.

"Goodbye, Hojo. Thank you for understanding." Kagome watched him smile and shuffle and then walked inside and shut the door. She listened as his engine started and he drove away, and then she walked up the stairs to go to bed, she could feel as the weight of the day pressed against her. She made it to her room and collapsed down on her bed and sleep enveloped her and her sore arms and ribs.