Author Says: 100 reviews! Woah, I never expected that. Thank you to everyone who read, and reviewed. I won't make you wait very long, here's chapter 37 of How Long?

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Inuyasha walked out from room 126, Kikyo's current room, to meet Sango, Miroku, and Kagome in the waiting room. There was a sea of people in the waiting room, making it hard to spot Kagome, but fortunately for Inuyasha he spotted Miroku, shaking his head from side to side.

Inuyasha bumped and shoved people to get to Miroku. There on Miroku's lap was the face of the most beautiful girl in the whole world, Kagome, sleeping very peacefully.

"How can she fall asleep on me?" asked Inuyasha pointing towards Kagome.

Miroku glared up at him, and shook his head.

"You baka, it was either she sleep or she cry the whole night. She fell asleep crying, Inuyasha." explained Miroku.

"Oh." was all Inuyasha can say.

Sango suddenly came in and pushed him to the side, and sat beside Miroku, handing him one of the two coffees that she bought.

"What the hell did I do to you?" Inuyasha asked Sango.

"What the hell did you do to me? What the hell did you do to Kagome, huh?" Sango retorted, emitting a very angry aura.

"I didn't do anything to Kagome." admitted Inuyasha.

"Yes, you did. Think about it. Why did you have to drag her into this, while you could've just let her stay at the beach with us." Sango yelled.

"Huh, what's with all the yelling?" Kagome asked sitting up.

"Nothing Kagome, go back to sleep." Miroku whispered.

Kagome looked up and immediately knew what was going on. Sango was arguing with Inuyasha again about the whole "Kikyo" ordeal.

"It's okay you guys. Oh by the way, how's Kikyo?" Kagome asked Inuyasha.

"Oh she's alive." Inuyasha chuckled.

"Kags, how can you ask about Kikyo?" Sango said, confused.

"Maybe that's because she's a nice person." Inuyasha replied for her.

"You guys Kagome's tired, can I just take her home?" Miroku begged, just wanting to get out of the waiting room.

"I am?" Kagome questioned.

"Yes you are." Miroku pleaded with his eyes.

"Oh, right. I wanna go home." Kagome said.
"Let me take you home." Inuyasha grabbed Kagome's arm.

"No, I think you should stay here with Kikyo, she needs you more than I do. Besides, I trust Miroku." Kagome decided, praying that Inuyasha would not let her, and insist on taking her home.

"Okay fine. But monk, if you touch a single strand of her hair you are dead." Inuyasha threatened.

Kagome sighed and tried to hold back tears, and followed Miroku out into the parking lot; purposely "forgetting" to kiss Inuyasha goodbye.

Inuyasha looked at the form walking away from him, for the time being.

"I messed up big time." Inuyasha muttered to himself.

"Yeah, you did." Sango replied.

"Kagome really loves you, not like the witch of the west." with that said, Sango stood up and left Inuyasha, with his thoughts.

--

"Thanks Miroku. I really appreciate it." Kagome said.

"Your welcome, I really don't like being in hospitals." Miroku smiled.

Kagome sighed and headed up the shrine steps, taking them two by two. Kagome looked back at Miroku and waved.

"Hm, the angels must be crying." Kagome said, as she felt little droplets of rain fall on her.

Kagome stopped in front if the wooden door and got her keys out; she slid it into the little hole and twisted it to the left, and pushed the door ajar.

"Hi mama, I'm home." Kagome announced, looking at the living room where her mother sat with Hojo. Wait, what, Hojo?! What is he doing here?

"Oh, hi Kagome. How was your day?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

"It was good." Kagome lied, thinking about how Inuyasha left her for Kikyo, even though the witch needed him more than her.

"Uhm, hi Kagome-chan." Hojo waved at her.

"Uh, hi Hojo-kun." Kagome waved back.

Kagome squirmed under her mom's and Hojo's gaze.

"Uhm, I'll just go upstairs and change." Kagome said nervously.

"No, wait. Hojo has something to say. So I'll leave you two alone for now." Mrs. Higurashi announced.

Kagome stopped dead on her tracks when her mother said that. She then looked back and found her mom standing up and motioning for Kagome to take her place on the couch.

"Uh, what exactly did you want to tell me Hojo-kun?"Kagome asked after making sure that her mom was out of earshot, refusing to call him just "Hojo."
"I wanted to greet you a happy birthday. And to give you this." Hojo smiled, grabbing a box from his pocket.

"Uh, thank you. But you shouldn't have gotten me anything." Kagome tried to smile back.

"That's non-sense." Hojo joked.

"No really no need to get me anything. And if you have any self preservation you would be out of my house now." Kagome muttered.

"What did you just say?" Hojo asked stupidly.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Never mind. Here. Enjoy." and with that Hojo-kun left the house leaving only Kagome, the box, and her mom.

Kagome looked at the red box that sat weightlessly on her left palm. Fingering the fine lines that the box was made of, she hesitated to look and see what was inside such a delicate box; she slowly opened it and peeked inside. What she saw was nothing out of the ordinary, but it still put her in a state of shock; inside was the her old engagement ring, gleaming and shinning as she picked it up. The ring still hasn't lost the power to capture her eye every time she would lay eyes on it. It still had the same elegance it did before, it almost seemed like nothing had changed. She reacted the same today as she did almost two years ago, when Hojo had given it to her.

"Uh, now what am I supposed to do with this thing?" Kagome held the ring by the stone.

"Throw it away for all I care." Kagome's mom muttered.

"But I'd be wasting a precious gem. Why not take the gem out and display it." Kagome claimed.

"Or you could be nice and give it back to Hojo and say that you can't take it." her mom smiled.

Kagome thought long (A/N: about 2 minutes.) and hard about what her mom had told her. She really couldn't accept this gift for a couple of reasons:

Inuyasha was now my boyfriend.

I think that accepting this gift might give Hojo the wrong idea.

It's gold. I'm allergic to gold.

Inuyasha would kill Hojo.

It looks expensive.

It's a pink sapphire.

I don't like pink.

Just because.

Kagome chuckled realizing she could just give it to Sango on her birthday, which was a month from now. But first of all, she had to pry the stone off of the ring, because Hojo, had the ring engraved, "Hojo and Kagome 2-14-2005."

Kagome lingered on the thought almost forgetting the events that took place today on her birthday. Almost. But not quite. Who could forget a birthday that was mostly filled with sorrow, and pain. But it wasn't all that bad, Inuyasha had taken her to an utterly romantic place, set off fireworks that professed his love for her, and he had prepared her dinner, even thought its all ramen. The thought and effort was counted, told her many cliché phrases, kissed her, watched the sunset with her, and told her that she was more beautiful than the sunset.

"Shake, shake, shake, shake, uh, shake it." Kagome's phone sang.

"Hello?" Kagome said as she answered her phone.

"Hey, Kags. You home yet?" Sango replied on the other line.

"Oh, hey. So what made you call me at this hour, love?" Kagome joked half-heartedly.

"Called to check on you sweetie."

"Love, you up to a sleepover? I need to tell you something."

"Yes, I've been wanting to sleepover at your house for some time now. We always sleepover at Inuyasha's." Sango breathed.

"Very funny. It's not like you don't like spending all those extra time with Miroku outside of school."

"Shut up. See you in 5." Sango said ending their conversation.

--

Inuyasha drove home, at a reasonable speed; his mind was filled with unanswered questions and unclear feelings.

If he still loved Kikyo, what would happen to Kagome? If he didn't love Kikyo, why did he come to her aid?

"Gah! This is all so fucked up. How can you be confused with your feelings? I thought that only happened to girls." Inuyasha yelled at himself.

--

"So Hojo came over today and gave you this ring?" Sango repeated, still holding the ring on the palm of her hands.

"Yeah, and I know what to do with it." Kagome grinned at what she thought earlier.

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"I'm home." Inuyasha announced to no one in particular.

"Hey honey. Do you want some dinner?" Inuyasha's mom asked.
"Yes please." Inuyasha said as he sat down across from his mom.

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"Kagome I've been meaning to ask you a question." Sango revealed.

"Go ahead and shoot." Kagome smiled.

"About the whole Kikyo thing. Uhm, how can you just let Inuyasha drag you with him to the hospital, to see Kikyo?" Sango spat out Kikyo's name like it was poison.

"I don't know. I was hurt, because he practically chose her over me, but I knew she needed him more than I did." Kagome spoke.

"But that's what you've been saying the whole day." Sango persisted.

"But it's the truth." Kagome whined.

--

"That was great, thanks mom." Inuyasha claimed and ran up the stairs, into his room.

"Your welcome honey." his mom said.

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Author Says: boring chapter I know. But wait for it. It'll come.

Very very special thanks to those who read and review!

Ciao!