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Kagome

It was hot as hell out at the Carter Barron that day. The body heat emanating from all those people didn't help. Sango had somehow convinced me to go to the D.C Blues Festival with her. I didn't know anything about the blues, other than suffering through my personal blues. Sango wanted to get my mind off the obvious. I still felt like such a fool for ever believing that Koga would take me seriously in a relationship. We had been doomed from day one because of our diverse backgrounds.

As the last act was finishing up, I started voicing my thoughts out loud. "I still can't believe I was such an idiot!"

Sango brushed her shoulder against mine on the blanket. "You need to let that shit go."

"But how could I have not seen it coming?"

"Oh, please. No woman could have seen that coming. Sure, you and Koga had issues, but another woman never crossed your mind and you know it."

"He made me think he cared."

"That's because he does care."

I glared at her. "You really think so?"

"Kagome, it isn't like he was making booty calls over at your crib like he was doing with her. He moved you in. He took you around his friends, his coworkers, his snooty parents."

"You have a point." I slammed my palm down on a gnat that was attacking my leg. "It took a lot of nerve for Koga to present me to his parents." I paused as a guitarist started ripping up a tune onstage. After a moment of thought, I asked, "So why would he cheat on me?"

Sango smacked her lips. "Because he's a man, Kagome. You used to criticize me for accepting Kagewaki's creeping, but that is what men demon or no demon do. I would rather have a man who steps out every now and again to experience some variety in life than not have a man at all."

"Are you suggesting that I take Koga back?"

She shrugged. "I'm simply saying, if not Koga, then who? Look around. Nothing but a bunch of no-good men who think they're the salt of the earth because of the male-female ratio in this town. Most men today act like they're doing you a favor by even paying you attention. That's why I'm keeping Kagewaki for as long as he'll have me. Ain't shit else out here. Either way, odds are, we will all be sharing dick.

Sango's dismal outlook on love and relationships was actually beginning to make sense to me. I thought Koga loved me down to my dirty drawers, despite the disrespectful things he'd said and did from time to time. Now I found myself crashing with Sango, still working in that dump, and the few men who tried to talk to me, I wouldn't have fucked for bone marrow.

"Koga's giving you a chance to cool off," Sango said. "It hasn't been that long, but trust me when I say he'll be calling soon or showing up at your job again; hoping that you have come to your senses. You need to figure out what you plan to do when he does show up."

"He's not going to bother me anymore. He knows it's over."

"I doubt that, because men never truly believe that we will leave them. In their convoluted minds, they are supposed to walk away from us. Especially men like Koga-rich, successful, named as a great catch in magazines. Kagome, that man thinks that you're coming back and. . ."

"And what?" I waited for to respond, but she didn't. "And you think I'm going back, too? Right?"

"I honestly believe that you need to weigh you options. Peep out all these chicks running around here half-naked. Competition is thick. If you have a man willing to make any kind of commitment to your ass, even if it isn't a total commitment, you need to consider yourself lucky as shit. Kagewaki may not be a superhero, but he is damn sure my superman. He might dilly and dally with some whores, but he knows who keeps the home fires burning."

"You sound foolish!" I damn near yelled at her. "Do your parents know you feel like this?" I asked, trying to make her feel even an ounce of shame.

"My parents don't love me, not with the kind of love a man brings to party."

"Let's drop it," I said, totally disgusted. Not with Sango-with myself. Part of me was wondering if I should at least hear Koga out at some point.

The amphitheater was full of beautiful women…most of them with other women. The young ladies had it rough. They had to dress sexily to compete; they had to lower their standards to get a man; and a lot of times they even had to support a man to have one in their bed. Shit, Koga was looking better by the second.

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