A/N:  Okay, hate this title, and I'm not too happy with the chapter, either.  I actually wrote it really very quickly in the midst of a whole bunch of problems going on, which I discuss at the end of the chapter.  I'll probably rework this chapter later, so feel free to comment on how you think I should. 

I'm off on a ROAD TRIP tonight so I probably won't be able to update for awhile.

Disclaimer:  Not mine.  Never have been, never will be, but if you want to make an issue of it…bring it on.

Rating:  Eh…mild.  You make up your own mind from there.

Thanks:  Considering I just had a huge fight with my boyfriend the day I read these reviews, I am veryveryvery greatful to all of you for writing them.  They really made me feel so much better…so good in fact, I couldn't think of leaving on my road trip which will put me off of ff.net for a few days without first giving you a little something and an explanation as to my absence. 

Eartha:  My friend!  I'm glad it's fun to read my story, with all the angst in it, I was worried it might not be.  I think the angst is going to be making a comeback soon, though (as soon as I can, that is…read above!)  I think I'm going to use a whole lot of ideas, different things going on with them, a la Beatles "Long Days Night" / Austin Powers opening.  I've got some really wicked thoughts of things to put them through.  ^_~  I don't really know if the guys dressed the girls yet or not, but they certainly know something about the way the pjs got on them even if they didn't! 

Lady Jade:  Awww…thanks, really!  I'm very happy that the transition worked well.  I felt it was a little rushed, but if it read well, then I'm satisfied.  I'm flattered that you think I'm a talented writer.  I think I've said before that writing is my passion and it pleases me to no end that people actually enjoy my style and my ideas, and so on.  As my note says above, the actual big spa day adventure part I was planning is going to be a little bit in coming…I'm moving back up to school and that transition is starting tonight!  whew!  I'm tired and I haven't even started the drive yet!  ~_~;;

Moon Fairy:  -_-.  So sorry, but you'll probably have to wait a little for the big spa day fun.  This post is only a little glimpse into it, and a very rushed one at that.  ^_^  Royal Authoress, huh?  Hehe…you're too much!  (have I told you how much I adore your reviews?)

Sailor Universe:  Yeah, I really hope that how they find the spa works itself out in the end…you know me and planning…or, rather…lack of planning!  ^_~

Evil Irish Eyes:  You're too wonderful!  You really know how to perk up a girl's spirits!  What am I going to do with all those compliments?  If I'm not careful, they'll blow my head up to the size of a balloon!  I'm glad you're enjoying my story, though!

RinoaOHeartilly:  Well, about the speed of my updating… I think maybe subconsciously I was doing it cause I was afraid this would happen…I was trying to finish before my trip, but I didn't get to it and now I know I won't be able to update until at least the beginning of next week.  I'm glad you pointed out the cab scene, I was actually really rather proud of it so I'm of course very glad that it amused a reader as much as it did me while I wrote it!  ^__^

Chapter 15: Hanging By A Moment

"I'm living for the only thing I know / I'm running and not quite sure where to go / and I don't know what I'm diving into / just hanging by a moment here with you."

-Hanging By A Moment, Lifehouse

"Do you really mean I have to take off all my clothes and walk around in this all day?" Sango asked, holding up a white, ankle length robe with the spa's insignia on the left breast pocket.

Kagome smiled.  "It's okay, Sango, really, it's sooo comfortable!" Kagome was already starting to take off her shoes. 

"But I'd have nothing on underneath!" Sango insisted, whispering and blushing.

"Ah," Kagome paused in unbuttoning her jeans to smile at Sango.  "Don't worry," she said soothingly.  "This is a women's only spa."

"You mean…" Sango lifted an eyebrow, looking around the comfortable looking room with closet looking lockers.  "…no men?"

Kagome shook her head.  "No men."

Sango narrowed her eyes.  "No possibility of a perverted m…" she paused.  "…guy trying to catch a glimpse of you?"

"Nope…" Kagome sat down to pull off her jeans and then stopped, mid pull.  "The only men you'll find are the ones who work here."

"So there are men!" Sango exclaimed, then groaned, as her head was still hurting. 

Kagome tried not to chuckle.  "It's okay," she insisted.  "They're…trained—they're not perverts and won't try to peek…" Kagome thought about it.  "Actually, most of them are gay."

Sango rose a confused brow.  "What does them being happy have to do with it?"

Kagome did chuckle then.  "No…not gay-happy…" she finished pulling off her jeans triumphantly and folded them carefully before sticking them in the locker.  "Gay meaning they aren't attracted to women," she said, trying to put it in as mild a form as she could.

"Oh!" Sango's eyes widened.  She had heard of this phenomenon in the households where the women had male servants and their husbands didn't wish them to be…compromised.  "You mean like eunuchs."

"Ye…" Kagome started, then her eyes widened in surprise as she remembered what a eunuch was.  "No!" she exclaimed, shaking her head.  "I mean they prefer other men…not women."

Sango's brow furrowed.  "Really?"

Kagome nodded.  "And it's usually such a loss for women-kind…" she trailed off, pulling the t-shirt over her head. 

"How so?" Sango asked.

"Most of them are really cute," Kagome finished.

"Hm…" Sango answered, still deep in thought.  Finally, she started to undress.  "I see."

Kagome smiled to herself as she pulled on her robe.  She was in for a day of explanations, if this was any indication.  Ye, Gods, how was she to explain the body wrap?  'Well, one treatment at a time,' she thought, brushing out her hair while Sango finished.  "Ready for the steam room?"

'Steam room?' Sango thought as she pulled on her robe.  She smiled as the soft, pliant material caressed her skin.  "Oooh…" she cooed.  "This really is comfortable!"

Kagome started to lead her to the steam room's ante room.  "Well, don't get too comfortable in it…we'll be leaving it behind in a minute."

Sango groaned.  "What now?"

Kagome handed her a body towel and a hair wrap.  She pointed to the window leading into the steam room where a few women could clearly be seen inside, wrapped only in towels.  "You'll suffocate if you go in there with the robe," Kagome explained.

Sango looked at the towel, wondering how much of her it would actually cover.  "Can I give it a shot with the robe?" Sango asked.

Kagome laughed.  "No," she answered.  "I don't want you fainting at the very beginning of this thing."

Sango groaned.  "Well, it can't get much more embarrassing than this, huh?" she asked as she let go of the robe and slipped the towel around herself. 

Kagome thought about the sheet you wore on the lower part of your body for the massage, the scrub, and the lack of…anything you wore while they were putting her in the wrap and decided wisely not to comment.  "Hn," Kagome vocalized non-commitally as she opened the steam room door.

As soon as she stepped inside, Sango was hit with the feeling that all the breath had been stolen from her lungs.  The steam assailed her body and almost choked her.  'This is the ante room to hell,' she thought. 

Kagome saw her problem.  "Shallow breaths until you get used to it," she told her.

Sango did as she was told and found it easier to breathe.

Kagome watched her.  "If it's too uncomfortable, Sango, we can skip this."

Sango looked at her as the clenching feeling left her lungs.  Kagome looked fine, she was starting to glisten a little as she sweat, but otherwise, she looked fine.  She would not back out.  If Kagome could do this, so could she.  She was an exterminator, for Buddha's sake!  "I'm fine," she said, starting to walk further into the room.

Kagome led the way to the stair like benches surrounding the room and sat down, choosing the middle one so she could rest her legs on the bottom one.  Sango followed her and did as she did.  Soon, Sango realized that it was becoming easier for her to breathe in here than it had been outside. 

As soon as Kagome saw that Sango was adjusting fine, she took a deep breath, leaning back on the top bench and closed her eyes.  "I always start here after I've been drinking," Kagome spoke, answering Sango's unasked question.  "It cleans out the system…makes me ready for the rest of the day."

Seeing as how Sango was starting to feel decidedly more clear headed already, she had to agree with Kagome.  She leaned back as she saw Kagome do and crossed her legs at the ankle, feeling the steam run through her pores.  She sighed contently and closed her eyes.  "I think I'm going to like it here, Kagome," she said dreamily.

"Mm," Kagome agreed.  

+~+~+

Mirouku looked up…and up…and up…until he had to take a step back before he was able to see the top of the building.  He wondered how it was that it didn't topple over.  'Either it or I will,' he thought, feeling a disturbing loss of balance as he looked up at it.  He looked back at the first few feet of it and massaged the back of his neck.  "How can you be sure this is where they are?" he asked Inuyasha, awe struck.

Inuyasha did not look pleased.  As a matter of fact, he looked disconcerted as hell.  "How the hell should I know, monk," he growled.  "I just…" he shrugged.  "…know."

Mirouku filed that away for further study and possible use but thought better of commenting.  Instead, he grimaced at the behemoth of steel and glass before them.  "It looks like a tower of torture and unspeakable horrors," he announced.

Inuyasha cocked his head to the side to be able to get a different perspective of it.  It was made up entirely of glass and it gleamed in the sunlight like a jewel held up to the light.  "It looks…interesting."

Mirouku glared at Inuyasha.  "You would think that."

Inuyasha glared back at Mirouku.  "What does that mean, monk?" he asked threateningly.

Mirouku smiled diplomatically.  "Nothing, just that it seems…your style."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at him, but didn't comment further.  "Let's get inside," he announced.

"Lead on," Mirouku commanded playfully.

"Feh," Inuyasha mumbled as he walked up to the door. 

+~+~+

"Okay," Sango broke the comfortable silence.  "Care to illuminate me on your results?"

Kagome opened her eyes lazily.  "Hm?" she asked.  "Results?" 

"The results of your test," Sango prompted.

Kagome sat bolt upright, nearly knocking the woman working on exfoliating her skin backwards.  "What test?  I don't have a test!" she exclaimed.  "My next test isn't for another month!"

Sango reached out a hand to calm her, stopping the woman's progress on her own skin.  "No, not those tests…" she said, a smile playing on her lips.  "The test you were conducting last night."

It took Sango's words a few moments to get past the pure dread in Kagome's mind.  When it did, she looked first relieved, then embarrassed.  She looked at the woman she had nearly knocked over and smiled apologetically at her.  She smiled understandingly and Kagome glared at her friend.  "Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed on a whisper. 

Sango chuckled.  "Sorry."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at her and was pleased to find that it only mildly ached rather than the sharp pain it had caused first thing this morning.  "You're not, really, are you?"

Sango shook her head, still chuckling.  "It's just…" she paused, her laughter hindering her from continuing.  "It's just that you went from relaxed to crazed in five seconds, flat!" 

Kagome humphed, leaning back into her previous position and closing her eyes.  "I won't deign that one with an answer, Sango."

Sango chuckled some more.  "So long as you deign my initial question with an answer, I won't mind."

"Which was?" Kagome prompted, her voice once again low with relaxation.

"Oh, no, you won't get out of it that easily," Sango insisted.  "Your experiment last night, regarding a certain person?"

Kagome sighed.  "Do we have to talk about this now?"  she asked.  "I'm actually starting to feel better."

"I take it, it didn't go well?"

Kagome sighed.  "Oh, it went over great…got all the answers I needed…"

"So?" Sango prompted.

"So, I'm in love with the fool," she announced angrily.

Sango smiled and had to be reminded by a tap of the woman's hand that she should avoid making facial expressions.  "So…"

"So, what?" Kagome asked, her irritation obvious in her voice.

"What are you going to do about it?" Sango felt as if she were pulling teeth.

Kagome was silent for a few moments as the woman removed the mask on her face.  "I don't know," she admitted.

Kagome sat up as soon as the two women had left and looked at Sango.  "The only thing I know is that I do have to find a way to forget about him."

"Easier said than done, Kagome," Sango said sympathetically.

Kagome frowned as she pulled on her robe.  "Who's side are you on, anyway?"

Sango shrugged into her robe and smiled at Kagome.  "What about the other part?"

Kagome paused as she slipped on her slippers, but didn't look up to meet Sango's stare.  She had tried not to think about it, and thankfully, her dreams last night were non-existent.  "You mean about Death?" Kagome asked softly.

"Yes," Sango answered, just as softly.

Kagome sighed, then shrugged, slipping her feet into the slippers and meeting Sango's eyes.  "I'm…um…" she faltered, looking for a proper word to describe her state of mind where the prediction was concerned.  "…waiting."

Sango frowned.  "Waiting for what?"

Kagome shrugged again, leaning back on the table.  They would be kicked out of there in a minute, but until then.  "For him to make his move, I guess."

Sango looked at her friend shrewdly.  "And what about in the bathroom at the club last night, what would you call that?"

Kagome's eyes opened wide.  "How'd you…?" she trailed off.

Sango shrugged.  "Oh, I don't know the details, but you're not the only one who can sense magic," she said.  At Kagome's upraised eyebrow, she explained.  "Mirouku sensed something that he couldn't quite name, but when you came out, white as a sheet, I knew something had gone on."

One of the estheticians popped her head into the room and smiled pleasantly at them before closing the door with her outside.  Kagome smiled at Sango.  "That's their polite way of saying they need the room, come on, we'll talk on the way to the next appointment."

"I'm not going to let you change the subject, Kagome," Sango warned.

Kagome smiled as she opened the door.  "I promised you girl talk, didn't I?"

"Hn," Sango answered noncommittally as she walked out in front of Kagome.  "So, where to now?"

Kagome smiled.  "We've got the Asian Herbal Wrap next," she announced.

Sango frowned.  "Why does that sound vaguely like food of some kind?"

Kagome grinned, but didn't comment.

+~+~+

A/N:  Okay, sorry that this is so short, but the truth is that this was written amidst a surprise stop over of a friend where she got stranded at the local airport and I had to go pick her up, bring her to my house to spend then night and then take her back to the airport in the morning and all of that was in the midst of last minute packing…can we say ROAD TRIP!  I've got quite a drive waiting for me tonight…13 hours! 

Anyway, I probably won't be able to write let alone get online for the next few days since I'll be driving for 13 hours and then have to get settled into my new place for the next few days.  I'll probably be thinking of the story, (Did I say it was 13 hours?!) might even be able to sneak a few pages, but…I definitely will not be able to post anything. 

Okay, review please!  I know it's not a lot to review on, but assure me that you guys are still out there and that I won't lose you all after the few days hiatus!   

This chapter will probably be updated or edited as I go, I just wanted to post something before I signed off for the drive, just so you guys knew what was going on and why I hadn't posted…don't want to leave the handful of you out there actually interested in my story hanging!  ^_^ ;;