Chapter 10

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'Kagome?'

'Ummm…'

'Kagome, wake up dear. It's 11:00am.'

'What?' I looked up at my mom, who was sitting at the edge of the bed shaking my shoulder lightly. Then I realized what the deal was. It was Monday!

'Oh Crap!' I got up as if I had been stung by a bee and ran to my closet. 'Why didn't my alarm go off? And why didn't Inuyasha or anybody wake me up? I'm so late!'

'Honey, calm down.' My mom said. Then she came over to me and began braiding my hair. This always calmed me down.

I put down the clothes I had gathered in my arms and tried to relax, since the scare of being late and my sprint to the closet had caused my injured head to start hurting.

'Why wasn't I woken up?'

'Inuyasha told me this morning that you hit your head at the prom, so we decided it would be best if you skipped school today to sleep in. Are you feeling ok?'

'My head hurts a tiny bit when I move it too fast, but that is to expect. I'm fine, don't worry.'

'Ok.' She finished the braid and put a rubber band around the end. 'Are you hungry?'

'Starving.'

'I made you some Miso soup and a bowl of rice. It's all on the stove.'

'Yum! You're awesome!' I kissed her on the cheek and went downstairs to enjoy my day off.

At School (Third Person)

'I can't believe she still hasn't called. She promised!' Sango exclaimed as she harshly erased the section of homework that she had just been working on.

'As I've said a hundred times, she is probably still asleep. I will tell her to call you as soon as I get home.' Inuyasha said. Like Sango and most other students, he was doing the homework that he hadn't had time to do because of the prom.

'Calm down my dear, or you are going to poke through your homework with the eraser.' Miroku said. Sango immediately stopped erasing and blushed in response to him calling her "dear". Miroku noticed this and smiled. Then he added; 'Maybe we could go visit her after school.'

'Would that be ok with your family?' Sango asked Inuyasha with hopeful eyes.

'Definitely.'

'It's decided then!' She exclaimed excitedly.

'What's decided?'

'Hey Ayumi!' Miroku said 'We just decided that we are going to visit Kagome after school to see how she's doing. Do you want to join us?'

'Not really. I have other things to do.' She turned toward Inuyasha. 'Can we talk for a sec?'

'Sure.' Inuyasha replied. Then he got up and followed Ayumi out of the classroom.

She took him to a flight of stairs which was now deserted, and both sat down on the first couple of steps.

'What's up?' He asked.

'Well… I was just wondering whether you wanted to go out with me tonight. I have two free tickets to the movies, and afterwards I thought we could go grab a bite. What do you think?' She nervously smiled at him.

'Well…I…'

'Or you could hang out with Kagome and the others as you guys had already planned. I guess we could postpone….'

'That's ok. We'll go out tonight.'

'Really?' Her face lit up.

'I promised you at the prom that I would make it up to you, didn't I?' He smiled.

'Kagome, your friends are here!'

'Coming!' I said as I got off the couch and walked into the hall.

'Kagome!' Sango yelled. Then I was pushed back considerably as she jumped at me and hugged me tightly.

'Sango…Can't…Breathe…' I said.

'Sorry!' She let me go. 'Are you ok? How's your head? I was so worried!'

'I'm completely fine. It was mainly a big scare.'

'Don't worry my dear Sango. As Inuyasha said yesterday, Kagome can be quite "hardheaded."' Miroku said. I heard my mom's giggle coming from behind me.

'Ha, ha, ha. This is fun. Let's make fun of the injured person!' I said sarcastically as I crossed my arms. I wasn't actually offended by the comment, but I was still a bit irritated with Inuyasha, which is why it bothered me.

'Kagome dear, sometimes you r sense of humor is the size of a pea.' My mom said. I tried to protest but she started talking about something completely different before I could mutter a word. 'Sango, Miroku, would you like to stay over for dinner?'

'Sure, thanks.' Sango said.

'That would be lovely.' Miroku followed.

'Great! I will make some more rice and add more beef and vegetables to the stew. It will be ready in 15 minutes!' She walked into the kitchen smiling and actually hopping a little bit.

'She really likes having people over.' I told Miroku. Sango already knew this, since she had been coming to my house for many years.

'Oh, I almost forgot! Mrs. Higurashi!'

'Yes dear?' My mom poked her head out through the kitchen entrance.

'Inuyasha wanted me to let you know that he is not coming home for dinner.'

'Really? That's a shame! He loves my beef stew.'

'Why isn't he coming?' I asked a bit nervously.

I really hoped that he wasn't avoiding me, even though he had all the right to be mad. I mean, I did mess up his prom night, made his girlfriend angry and sad, and finally snapped at him when he was staying up late on a Sunday night just to take care of me. Before anybody replied, I saw Sango looking at me and I realized from her expression that I was not going to like what was coming.

'He's gone on a date with Ayumi. They left together from school.' Miroku said.

Sango had been right (as usual); I did not like that answer. I tried to hide my aversion by answering nonchalantly.

'Oh well, it's about time. It was kind of weird that they hadn't been on a date after going out for two weeks.'

'Definitely weird. For both their sakes I hope that they will finally kiss tonight.' Miroku said. Then he looked around him to make sure my mom wasn't around, and gestured us to get closer to him. He whispered: 'And if he is lucky, they might even do more than kissing. If you know what I mean…' He smirked.

Slap!

'What was that?' My mom asked from the kitchen.

'I clapped my hands Mrs. Higurashi.' Sango yelled as a bright red handprint began showing on Miroku's face. 'I am sorry if I somehow offended you, my dear Sango. The last thing I want to do is make you uncomfortable.'

'Just don't talk about Inuyasha that way again.'

'Ok…'

I had just stayed quiet and fidgeting after Miroku's comment. Sango knew how much it bothered me to hear about Inuyasha's and Ayumi's relationship, so she just looked at me with a worried expression on her face.

'Hey Miroku, why don't you go watch some TV while I explain to Kagome the material that we went over today in class?' Sango asked.

'Don't mind if I do.' He went into the living room and I heard the TV turn on as Sango and I went up the stairs towards my room.

'So, did you guys do a lot today?' I asked, still feeling a bit down. I looked for my textbooks and notebook.

'That's not why I brought you up here.' Sango said.

'What? But you said…'

'I wanted to talk to you about what just happened.'

'Don't worry about Miroku. He's been slapped so often that he is practically immune.'

'I meant what happened when Miroku made the comment about Inuyasha and Ayumi kissing and—'

'I don't need a reminder! I know what he said.'

'And you looked so sad.'

'I'm not sad. I am just…worried that he is angry at me for snapping at him last night.'

'You snapped at him? What did he do?'

'Once again he began saying inappropriate things to me. You know how he calls me beautiful and other stuff which he should only be saying to his girlfriend? Well, I told him to explain why he did it and he completely avoided the question. For instance, I told him that the stuff he does makes it look like he likes me, and he replied 'I do like you'. Argh! He can be so frustrating.'

'He said that he likes you?'

'It is not what you are thinking. He always does that in order to avoid answering very personal questions.'

'But what if he meant it?'

'He didn't!'

'You don't know that.'

'He has a girlfriend.'

'So? That doesn't prove that he doesn't like you.'

'But he can't like me... we're—'

'—not related Kagome. Your parents might be going out, but you two are neither siblings nor related in any way that would make liking each other wrong.'

'I don't—'

'Fine! I will not tell you again that you two have feelings for each other.' Sango paused to calm herself down. 'But, please, do me a favor. Tonight, when you are in bed relaxed and ready to go to sleep, please think about what Inuyasha really means to you. And don't just ignore the possibility that you might actually like him. Look for the true feelings which hide inside your heart.'

'Dinner's ready!' We heard my mom yell from downstairs.

'Let's go or the food's going to get cold.' Sango said.

'Yeah…' I replied. As I went downstairs I started feeling butterflies in my stomach as I thought about what I might find out later tonight.

Eleven O'clock

At 11pm my friends were long gone and I was sitting in our living room watching TV with my mom and Izanagi. We were watching an action movie featuring Misako Koizumi, a beautiful sixteen year old model who had recently become Japan's newest sensation.

'How old is this girl? Eighteen?' My mom asked.

'Sixteen.' I replied. I only knew this because Eri, Ayumi and Yuki are obsessed with her, and throughout the last month they had spent several hours just talking to me about her style, personal life, etc… Actually, I wasn't even paying attention to the movie. My attention was fixed on the white clock hanging from the wall.

'I guess the make-up makes her look older. But I have seen her in magazines without make-up and she's still really cute. Don't you guys think? In a few years she is going to be a real beauty.'

'Uhuh…' I kept looking back and forth between the TV and clock.

'She ate at my restaurant once, back in Hiroshima. That was a year ago I think… Yeah. I remember talking to her about Inuyasha. I think I also showed her a picture. Before leaving the restaurant she said that she would like to meet him, so she asked me to tell Inuyasha to send her a Facebook message.

'Did they ever meet?' My mom asked, loving this kind of gossip.

'I told Inuyasha about her later that night, but he said that he wasn't interested.'

'But she's gorgeous! And she's a model.

'He said that she wasn't his type.'

'What is his type then?'

'I asked the same question. Apparently he likes dark haired women, with a thin but still athletic body type, brown eyes, who are intelligent, fun, caring and, quote 'in love with life'. I think they also need to enjoy reading and be relatively active. So, even though Misako was nice, she did not stand a chance with her blond hair and blue eyes.'

'Interesting…' My mom said quietly. She seemed to be thinking hard. 'Kagome honey, what does your friend Ayumi look like? I forgot.'

I had been listening intently to the conversation; enjoying the fact that now I knew a bit more about Inuyasha. Ayumi's name, however, brought me back to the frustrating reality of waiting for Inuyasha to come back from his date.

'Well… She has dark hair and brown eyes. She does not play sports but she's pretty thin… I guess he found someone close enough to his dream girl.' I said, with a fake smile on my face. 'I'm really tired. I think I'm gonna go to sleep.' I stood up.

'Ok. Goodnight honey.'

'Goodnight, little lady.'

Before exiting the room I turned around to finally ask something that I had wanted to know for the last few hours.

'Izanagi, what's Inuyasha's curfew? Because Miroku invited both of us to go to a party he'll be throwing next week and wanted to know when we'll be available to set an ending time that'll work for everyone. Mine is eleven thirty on weekdays and two on the weekends.' It was all true , but that wasn't the main reason for my question.

'I actually changed it when he turned seventeen. It's twelve thirty on weekdays and three on weekends.'

'Twelve thirty? And he gets enough sleep to do fine in school the next day?' My mom asked.

'He does completely fine on only a few hours of sleep, unlike me. Also, even though he was allowed, he almost never came back that late, since his friends' curfew was earlier.'

'Sneaky.' She cuddled closer to him and slowly kissed him on the cheek.

'Ok… Well, thank you. Goodnight. ' I waved and left quickly since their lovey-dovey act was making me uncomfortable. Once in my room, I put on my pajamas and got into bed, feeling completely exhausted even though I had slept for eleven hours the night before. I looked at the alarm clock on my nightstand. Eleven thirty.

'They have been out for so many hours… What the hell are they doing?' I said to myself as I looked out the window from my bed. Just then, the memory of what Miroku said came back to haunt me: 'And if he is lucky, they might even do more than kissing. If you know what I mean…'

'Damn Miroku.' I cursed, covering my head with my pillow.

After a few seconds I placed the pillow back on its rightful location and looked at my alarm clock once again. 'Less than one hour till curfew… Ugh, and I can't get the image of them out of my mind.'

I could stand neither the wait nor the stupid image any longer, so I decided to focus all of my attention on something which would hopefully turn out to be useful.

'…think about what Inuyasha really means to you…'

Sango's request materialized in my head.

'What he means to me…What does he mean to me? He's my good friend. He's someone I enjoy hanging out with. Someone I feel comfortable and safe with. Someone I love talking to…

Love… I don't really know whether my feelings are those of love. Probably not. I am too young to be in love. Aren't I?

…don't just ignore the possibility that you might actually like him …

Love… But my heart does beat like crazy when I see him. And it feels like electricity when we touch. And when he looks at me with those eyes, and grants me with this smile, which I noticed he only uses with me (my smile)… I can feel like he…loves me…

Love… But that makes no sense. He asked someone else out. Someone who is practically his ideal woman... If he loved me he would have asked me out, not her… But even if he loved me, which I doubt he does, he wouldn't ask me because our parents are going out, and that would be weird…

Love… But we are not related…It shouldn't be a problem…And he's shown signs that he might like me… He calls me beautiful, stays up late to talk to me, takes care when I am hurt and comforts me when I am sad…He treats me like I'm special… even more special than…

There is no way.

I put my arms over my eyes, feeling like I had just lost an internal battle by a lot. A few minutes passed, and just as I was about to fall asleep I saw a light from the corner of my eye. It was coming from outside. I got up, knowing its source.

And there he was, wearing dark jeans and a fitting white t-shirt. He was now getting out of the car and coming into the house. The front door closed. Footsteps were closing in. I felt an unknown force make me go back to bed and fake sleep. 'What's wrong with me? As if he was going to come into my room at midnight—'

The doorknob made a noise as it was turned. I froze. I could hear his food steps getting closer to my bed. Then, they stopped.

My heart was racing when I felt his hand touch my cheek. His hand was a bit chilly from being outside, but his touch was like a feather's. Then his hand moved to stroke my hair, and he pulled a lose strand behind my ear. Suddenly, his touch left me. However I knew that he was still there, since I hadn't heard anymore footsteps. Seconds went by and I was getting nervous from having Inuyasha just stare at me as I 'slept'. 'Why is he—

KISSING ME?'

He was kissing me! It wasn't my imagination. I knew I was wide awake when I felt his lips touch the right corner of my mouth. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was enough to make me dizzy.

I felt his lips leave my skin, and shortly after I heard his footsteps moving towards the door. It opened and closed, and thus I was left alone.

And there, at that precise moment, I realized what I had known for a while but was too stubborn to acknowledge.

Inuyasha likes me and I love him.