In the aftermath of the party
Koga woke up with a splitting headache. He sat up, grimacing and clutching his head because it felt like it might at any moment fall off, or explode. WHY was he so damn stupid? He had to work that night, too. Oh yes, that would be fun, standing there turning hamburgers with a hangover the size of Tokyo.
"Hello," said a voice behind him. He turned, and saw a girl sitting on the side of the bed, fixing up her hair. Wearing his shirt.
...wait a minute. His shirt? What was she doing there? And where was he?
"Uh," he said. Not a great conversation-starter, he admitted to himself, but his mouth hadn't really caught up with his mind yet. Or maybe it was the other way around. He wasn't sure.
"You're at Jinenji's house," said the girl, correctly interpreting his look of general confusion. "In his guest bedroom, I believe it is."
"Who are you? Why are you here? Why are you wearing my clothes?" asked Koga wildly, although at the same time in a distant way pleased that his oral organs had started functioning again. A brief frown of annoyance passed over the girl's face, but then she grinned.
"Whoa, seems you were even more pissed that I thought, if that's humanly possible. Once again then: I'm Kagura. I'm wearing your shirt because it's rather cold today and my dress is not what you'd call warming." She stood up and twirled around, displaying the short, tight and very revealing dress she wore underneath his shirt. It had a curious pattern of fans. "As for the reason I'm here with you... well, do try to use your brain for once, why don't you?" She blew him a kiss and walked out of the door, leaving him to put two and two together. When he had thought for a while he arrived at four.
"Oh shit," he groaned, putting his head in his hands.
*************
"I can't believe that."
"Well, it's true. I heard it from Jili, who was at Jinenji's party. I know it's true."
Sango turned her head, looking away from the earnest face of her classmate Cherry, who was the prime spreader of gossip in the school. She knew everything about everyone, and everything that had happened everywhere. She knew what everyone had done, and how they had done it, and why. She knew things about people they didn't know themselves. She even knew some things that hadn't really happened.
'He slept with Kagura?!'
Sango couldn't believe it. That wasn't like Koga!
"Actually, it is rather like Koga," said Kagome sadly when Sango ran this past her. "Koga as he used to be, anyway. He used to be different from how he is now. He's changed a lot."
"Since when?"
"Since he met Kagome," said Miroku. "And even more since he got to know you. But I don't know what's been wrong with him lately."
"But Inu-yasha's been a lot with him in the last week," said Sango, turning to Kagome. "Doesn't he – "
"It's a bit rocky right now," Kagome interrupted. "I'm not talking to Inu-yasha that much at the moment." She stood up abruptly and walked away, much in the same way her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend? Perhaps-boyfriend? – did when he was upset about something. Sango looked helplessly at Miroku.
"Why do all the relationships suddenly fall apart?"
"I know what you mean," Miroku sighed. "I just decided I'm straight and broke up with Mark. ...Nah, just kidding," he added as Sango stared.
"I'm fine, which means that I can take care of all my friends' problems. Convenient, hey. Now, what's this about relationships? Apart from Kagome and Inu-yasha's, I don't see any relationships in the danger zone."
"Well, no, it's not as if it's a relationship..." said Sango awkwardly, seemingly finding her feet very interesting. "But I just realized I really like Koga, and I guess I was sort of imagining he liked me too. And then this happens – he is so cold all of a sudden, and now this with Kagura! I mean she's the skankiest girl in school!"
"Pretty good though, by Koga's standards," said Miroku thoughtfully. Then he saw Sango's look of disgust. "Er, just kidding." He reached out and gave her a hug.
"I'm sure it will be alright, sweetie. Just ignore him for a while and think about what you want. Or do the brave thing and talk to him. Either way, it'll work itself out somehow."
Sango squeezed her eyes shut and rested her head against Miroku. She wanted to thank him – for being so kind and for always knowing what to do...
"Miroku...?"
"Yes?"
"Take your hand off my butt please."
"Oops."
...so she didn't beat him senseless. That counted as thanks, didn't it?
*************
Two weeks passed, even worse than before they had become friends, for some weird reason. Sango found that she could not even look at Koga without wanting to strike him so hard he'd wear the mark for a month. How could he be such an unbelievable bastard? How could he lead her to believe that he enjoyed her company and liked her, and then just decide that he never wanted to see her again, regardless of how much this might hurt her? And hook up with another girl only days after?
'Thoughtless idiot! Bet he was really just playing around, seeing how far he could get with me or something!'
Koga couldn't understand why she was so angry at him – it wasn't as if she'd care about anything he did, was it? She had her Snap, didn't she? The two of them were spending an uncanny lot of time together, but Sango usually looked upset or mad rather than happy.
'Good, they probably hate each other already,' thought Koga with satisfaction. He didn't wish any luck to that relationship.
"This can't go on," said Miroku one day. He and Kagome were sitting together during a break in classes, in which Sango had stayed behind in the Art classroom to finish a painting.
"It sure can't. Have you seen the way the dodge around each other?" asked Kagome.
"Of course I have. I'm in the same P.E. group as them. Sesshoumaru made them partner each other during the last lesson, because they were the only ones who'd done judo before. They hardly touched each other, and we're talking judo here. You know, the pyjama sport where you walk around in circles hugging your opponent," Miroku said, not bothering to point out that Kagome and Inu-yasha were behaving very similarly around each other.
"Didn't Sesshoumaru do something about it?"
"Sesshoumaru didn't notice. He was too busy having one of those silent rows with Inu-yasha."
"You mean where they stare at each other for twenty minutes and then start making snide comments about the other's mother?"
"Exactly."
"Never has a divorce caused so much trouble."
"Anyway, back to Sango. What shall we do?"
"...with the drunken sailor, what shall we do with the..."
"I get the feeling you're not being entirely serious."
"I just don't know what to do," said Kagome, looking very upset. It was, Miroku reflected, hard to care about people like Kagome did – you were always feeling sad for others. So caught up in the troubles of your friends that you didn't have time for yourself.
"I mean, how are we supposed to achieve this? Make them friends again? Last time it took months for them just to stop thinking of switchblades as soon as they came within a hundred-metre radius of each other."
"I think they just need to talk to each other to fix this up," said Miroku slowly. "I can't help but feel there's some huge misunderstanding at the bottom of this that needs to be cleared up for them to become friends again. Beats me if I can figure it out though. And I don't have a clue of how to make them talk to each other, short of locking them in a small room for hours and letting nature run its course."
"But we have to do something," said Kagome desperately. "I can't stand seeing Sango so unhappy!"
"She looks pissed off rather than unhappy, if you ask me," observed Miroku. "But it's starting to tick me off, too. So we'll give it a week, right, and come up with lots of nice matchmaking ideas. And also... you promise me you'll talk to Inu-yasha, OK?"
"Yeah, yeah," muttered Kagome, waving a hand vaguely. "But firstly, I'll talk to Sango and you talk to Koga of you can. Try the man-to-man talk. You've practiced it a lot on Inu-yasha, I know, so I figure you're an expert now, right?"
"Are you mocking me?"
"Darling, I would never dream of mocking you."
"Good."
"I never dream of the daily occurrences in my life."
