One week.
Two weeks.
Three weeks had passed since Myoga drove a crying Kagome home.
He didn't believe her for a minute when she tried to convince him that she was only crying because she was tired, and if she hadn't been tired she would have had more control over herself.
He walked her up to her room, tucked her in for the night and made sure she was safe. After that he went home himself, worrying about her the whole way.
Naturally, the next morning she was completely recovered, as expected of someone who is practically allergic to drama. Mr. Taisho of course, decided not to appear at all, so no one knew what was going on with the infuriatingly cold businessman.
Kagome, however, resumed her working life as if they had never fought. She sang Italian songs on Tuesday's and Thursdays. She spoke Italian with Cosmo. Work at the shrine wasn't particularly busy so she brushed up on her history.
She even babysat for Sango on some days. But something wasn't right. No matter how he looked at it, she didn't seem like herself and it got worse everyday. Myoga was actually the only person to know that something had even happened and he didn't like being the only one who knew.
They never even talked about it. He never asked about how she felt on the subject and she never volunteered information. Thank goodness that Taisho man hadn't returned to the bar yet, because the feelings Myoga was harboring toward him weren't exactly warm and fuzzy. He would have worried constanty for Kagome, should that man walk in while she was at the bar, only she never came anymore.
It really made him blue, as well as angry at Mr. Taisho. It also made him suspicious; you didn't get that angry over a job refusal.
Two weeks after that night, Myoga finally hinted to Sango that Kagome needed someone to talk to that wasn't an old man. And so the young mother immediately scheduled a girls' night with her friend, planning on leaving her baby at home with her husband. When she asked Myoga why he thought Kagome needed it, he had given her the bare minimum of what he had come to call the ugly 'job incident'.
This piqued her curiosity and she devised a plan to get the details out of Kagome. Sango knew her friend well enough to know that she was inwardly screaming for someone to share her experience with, whether she knew it yet or not. That, and she needed to find out if this jerk was worth the time it took to beat him up or not.
The appointed night came and a stack of specially selected movies had been prepared. It started with Disney cartoons and ended with romantic comedies. She picked these movies because they were the ones that always cheered Kagome up when she was down.
Sango arranged them in random order and set them on the coffee table of Kagome's living room. She was surprised Kagome hadn't done it herself. In fact, Kagome wasn't even home yet.
She took the opportunity and looked around the house. She walked into the kitchen not noticing anything too different, at least nothing to give away Kagome's state of mind.
Just then, the door knob turned and Kagome herself walked through the door. Speak of the devil, as they say. She had a grocery bag in each hand as well as several adorning each arm and she hobbled in like she was entering an empty apartment. Sango watched her from the kitchen and waited to be noticed, which she really shouldn't have to do since they had been planning this night for a week.
She finally caught her eye and Kagome hobbled into the kitchen, "Sango! What are you doing here?" she asked as she set all of her grocery bags on the kitchen table.
Sango crossed her arms and gave her an expectant look, "I'm here for the girls night we've been planning for a week." She watched as comprehension dawned on Kagome's face.
"Oh my gosh, I forgot about that." she said, genuinely surprised. She sat down on a chair and pushed her bangs away from her wide eyes. Sango decided to busy herself with putting away the groceries as her friend pondered her sudden memory loss.
"Well, anyway, what's been up?" Kagome asked and tried to smile a little. Sango noticed that it took her some effort to look happy, "It's been okay, how are you?" she frowned.
"Same old, same old." Kagome responded flatly, getting up to help put some of her groceries in the cabinets. Sango knew very well that nothing was 'same old, same old'.
Kagome wasn't even chattering as she put up the cereal boxes and moved on to place things in the refrigerator. It was like Sango wasn't even there. She watched her friend place a few bottles of rum in the fridge and wondered how it had gotten this bad without her even knowing something was wrong. Kagome never drank rum! She would always tell Sango that it was nasty stuff, too strong for her.
But Sango also knew that she drank stuff she didn't like when she was in a bad mood, or if she had had a crappy day.
The cheerful atmosphere around Kagome was seemingly gone, which disturbed Sango most of all. It was like she was on auto-pilot, living her life but not really there, putting up a front to keep people from asking questions.
It reminded her of someone filled with misplaced guilt and regret, someone who was trying to block memories. It reminded her of the time following the end of Kagome's previous relationship.
Sango understood now that when Myoga asked her to talk to Kagome, he wasn't asking for a sleep-over. He was asking for an intervention.
She needed to work fast if she wanted to see results. As soon as the last of the groceries were put away, Sango ushered her friend to the living room and sat her on the couch. Within seconds, Beauty and the Beast was on; one of Kagome's favorites.
In between the movies, the two would talk, catching up with each other's lives.
By the time they had gone through several more cartoon movies, there was a different atmosphere in the room. It wasn't much, but it was a step in the right direction. Kagome took the time to lose herself in her daydreams, just like she normally would. And that distracted her just enough to cheer her up a little bit.
As they moved on to the romantic comedies, Kagome regained some life back in her eyes. She laughed at the jokes and Sango had a feeling they wouldn't be needing those bottles of rum anymore. She had come just in time too. This had been her mistake the last time Kagome had been like this. She had left her alone without anyone to be with.
This was the correction of her mistake, what she should've done in the first place.
Sango thought, as she started The Wedding Date, that it was partially Kagome's fault it had nearly gotten bad the previous time. She had convinced everyone she was fine and almost sunk into depression alone. Sango couldn't quite remember what had saved her friend from a total downward spiral the last time, but whoever it was, they were owed a big thank you.
Eventually, they ran out of movies to watch. Sango looked at the clock as Kagome smiled contentedly and stretched her dormant muscles. It glowed 2:30am. It was still fairly early in terms of sleep-overs, so Sango decided to provide a topic of conversation.
"Kagome, what the hell happened?" she asked bluntly. She never did like beating around the bush.
Kagome just looked at her in amusement, "How do you do that?" she asked with a smile, feeling much better, "You always see right through me."
"I might see through you, but I can't read your mind." Sango continued with a smirk, "Now what the hell happened to you?"
As she watched Kagome's face, she could practically see the story being summed up and condensed. Kagome never was one for gory details unless you asked for them
"Businessmen are stupid." she began with a serious face. Her friend couldn't help trying to hide a giggle behind her hand. It wasn't just because she thought that the statement was funny, though. It was because she was beyond relieved that Kagome was finally snapping back into herself again.
"And why are they stupid?" Sango asked, still giggling. Kagome took a deep breath and Sango prepared herself for a loud rant, which is exactly what she got.
"They're stupid because they offer you a job, and then avoid you for five months while you wait for them at a certain place so you can tell them your answer, but they never show up!" she paused in mid-yell, her voice getting louder.
Sango smiled, "How rude."
Kagome nodded at the obvious statement and continued, "And then you refuse the job and they freak out like it's the end of the world! They insult your friends and intelligence and you yell at each other until they storm off. You don't see them, hear from them, or know if they even exist anymore for weeks. Stupid, stupid businessman!"
Kagome slapped a pillow laying on the couch and huffed and crossed her arms. She decided to leave out the suffocating pressure so that her friend wouldn't worry.
Sango smiled softly and scooted closer to her on the couch. Kagome found herself enveloped in a hug and put a hand on her friends arm.
"You had us worried, there." Sango said. She knew that she had acted just in time.
Kagome smiled and hugged her back, more than thankful that her friend was there. Because if she wasn't there... well she didn't know what would happen, but it wouldn't be good.
Now that she thought about it, the last time she had felt this way was right after she and her boyfriend broke up. He had harrassed her and she didn't know what to do or how to cope with it.
What had kept her from going crazy that time?
Oh yeah, she thought in realization, that was when she had met him.
That was when she had met Sesshoumaru.
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Well I'm sorry it took so long. Gah this summer is busy.
Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon, wish me luck!
Well, review and tell me what you think, even though this chapter is short.
3 ^_^