Sango bolted out of class when the bell rang and ran over to Kagome's house. The dark-haired girl opened the door when someone knocked, surprised to see her best friend.

"Sango, hey."

She hugged Kagome tightly, "are you okay? I've never seen you walk out like that!"

Her poor friend couldn't hold it in anymore and collapsed in Sango's arms, "he broke up with me! My heart…it hurts so much, Sango!"

"It'll be okay, Kagome. I'm here for you."

They stayed that way for a few more minutes, until Kagome let her go and wiped her eyes, "thank you, and I'm sorry you had to see that."

Waving her hand, Sango grinned at her, "hey, I'm your bestie for a reason. And anyway, we are going to go out and having fun tonight, my treat. You don't have to think about him at all, okay?"

Wiping her eyes, Kagome smiled, "right! I'll go change."

"Wear something nice! I'm taking you to an expensive restaurant."

"Oooo, such a classy date."

They both laughed as Kagome ran upstairs and Sango walked across the street to her house, making sure both of them were dressed to impress. Kagome tried to be quick, making sure her black halter dress was all smoothed out and put on her three-inch high- heeled black suede ankle boots. Looking in the hall mirror, she checked her smoky eye makeup and clipped one side of her hair, leaving curled dark tendrils at her temple. The sparkly berette was just the right touch as she put sparkling chandelier earrings on with matching choker and bracelet. Hurting or not, she was bound to go out with her best friend and try to forget…even if it was just for a night.

Maybe she overdid it. Seeing her mom and brother, she looked around, "where's Sango?"

"She just ran to her house and then she was coming back for you, dear."

"Okay, so…how do I look?"

Kiori smiled sadly at her daughter, "lovely, but is there no way for you and InuYasha to make up?"

Her mother got to hear everything when Kagome got out of the bath and gave a sympathetic and sad smile. Kiori had hoped they could stick it out til the end, having never seen her daughter so happy and so open before.

Giving her a forlorn expression, Kagome sighed, "not any time soon, Mom."

Sota shook his head, "that sucks, because he was awesome."

"Yes, that's too bad. I thought you two were going to make it."

Kagome was about to say more when Sango burst through the door, wearing a violet empire waist mid-length spaghetti strap dress with black strappy heels, pink eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and hair long, cascading down her slender back. Kagome never saw her friend put forth so much effort in her appearance before, "you ready, Kagome?"

"Yeah."

Turning to her mom, she gave her a small smile, "we'll talk about it some more later, okay?"

Kiori just smiled at her sweet daughter, "alright, dear. You two have fun."

Sango grabbed Kagome's arm and pulled her away, "don't worry, Mrs. Higurashi! I'll keep her safe."

Getting in the car, Kagome giggled and looked over at her friend, "you must be planning to snag a guy tonight."

Winking at Kagome, she turned around, "you never know, anyway, I have reservations for us."

Kagome stared out the window, "reservations where?"

Sango shook her head and grinned, "uh uh, it's a surprise."

Rolling her eyes, Kagome turned the radio on, "fine, but it better be some place nice. I didn't get all 'dolled up' for nothing."

That made Sango laugh as they made their short journey to the restaurant.

"Wow, Sango, this is nice! How could you afford it with your weekend job?"

Shrugging, she entered and asked for one of the rounded booths whispering something to the waiter that Kagome couldn't hear, but waved it off as they were seated.

Kagome lifted the menu up and studied it, unaware of the people approaching, until Sango pushed the menu down, "Kagome, this is my boyfriend, Miroku, and this is…"

Glancing up, the poor girl turned three shades of red, one darker than the other.

InuYasha was staring in disbelief at two things, one, Miroku's girlfriend, his student, Sango Hanada, and two, his blind date was Kagome!

"Kagome, it's nice to meet you."

He put his hand out, pretending like it was their first-time meeting. Kagome blinked a couple of times before forcing a smile and taking his hand, surprised to see him bring it up to kiss. Shockwaves of pleasure hummed in her body like an electric current of yearning and desire, betraying the agony in her heart.

Gulping, the hanyou moved to sit next to her, surprised at his need to feel close to her once more.

Miroku watched them with a big smile, "well, I don't think you'll have a problem forgetting things tonight."

Sango laughed nervously as he scooted in close to her, "same goes for Kagome. Just have fun and stop thinking about your broken heart, okay?"

Turning red, she sputtered her words out, "wha, what do ya mean, Sango? I never said anything about…"

Sango waved her hand dismissively, "save it. What kind of bestie would I be if I couldn't see your emotional pain?"

InuYasha wrapped an arm around Kagome's waist and she jerked her head to face him, wanting to hate him, knowing she should, but when she gazed into his golden depths, it tore down the walls she tried desperately to build. A tear trickled down her cheek, but he gently wiped it away with his thumb.

"Please, don't cry."

"I'm sorry, I just thought I could get over it and move on, but I'm not strong enough to endure this."

Sango watched with her mouth open, and the pieces of the puzzle finally started coming together.

Miroku leaned into her and smiled, "InuYasha seems like a good match for her. Maybe now he can get over that student of his."

Swallowing hard, Sango cleared her throat, "Kagome?"

The dark-haired girl turned to her friend and knew she'd been found out, "please Sango, you can't tell anyone. I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, but the least amount of people that knew, the better. Do…do you forgive me?"

"On one condition."

InuYasha held Kagome's hand on the table and looked at her, "we're listening."

Glaring at her teacher, Sango pointed a finger at him, "First of all…stop breaking her heart. If you want to be together then just do it! However, if I find out you're just using my friend to get your rocks off, then I'll personally castrate you, teacher or not."

The young girl lifted up a butter knife to get her point across. InuYasha gulped hard and then looked into Kagome's eyes.

"Kagome, will you walk outside with me for a second?"

Sango raised a brow as her friend scooted out of the booth, "Kagome, you're really going with him?"

Nodding, Kagome pleaded with her eyes for understanding as InuYasha waited at the entrance for her.

Poor Miroku had no idea what was going on, "wow, I had no idea my hanyou friend worked so fast. Maybe he'll get lucky tonight."

Turning to him, Sango sighed, "you're hopelessly oblivious, babe."

Outside with Kagome and InuYasha, she stood a foot away from him and crossed her arms.

"What is it? Didn't you say all you needed to earlier?"

Closing his eyes, he groaned in frustration, "did you really think I wanted to end it?"

"That's usually what it means when you break up with someone, oh yeah, and mention that we may not even get back together."

Right…she did have a point.

Looking at her, he furrowed his brows, "I may be a teacher, but I don't know everything and this (he gestured back and forth, pointing to her then him) is way beyond my expertise. I'm so messed up inside! My feelings towards you could ruin everything I've worked for!"

Moving close to him at a slow steady stride, she got in his face with fire blazing in her eyes.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before. And just in case you have forgotten, you weren't the only one taking risks here; I could be just as ruined as you, but the difference is that I'm willing to live dangerously as long as I can be held in your arms…as long as I can have you."

Gazing into her midnight blue depths, InuYasha stood there with his mouth open for a few seconds, unsure how to answer, and so amazed by her passion.

"I'm… I'm tired of hurting both of us, and as much as I want to be with you, we both need to really think about what's at stake here. My job, reputation, and life…your school reputation and this could even follow you into college; your beautiful name could be tainted if we were found out."

Lifting her shaking hand, she dared to glide her fingers down his jawline, "I'm willing to take any persecution as long as I can still be with you."

This day, had been nothing short of the longest emotional rollercoaster of their lives, and this on and off situation wasn't good for either of them. Stepping back, Kagome took a deep breath in and gave him a straight face.

"Let's enjoy this night for now, like a real blind date, then tomorrow we can meet and finally figure out what we want to do, okay?"

Kagome possessed a maturity and grace he never saw in her before, and all he could do was nod and smile softly at her, offering his arm.

"Will you come back to the table with me?"

Taking his arm, she agreed, surprised to hear him softly whisper to her, "you look incredible tonight. I'm sorry I didn't say it before."

Smirking, she elbowed him a little, "you don't look so bad yourself."