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CHAPTER 8
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Kagome started at the mall, to look in the
jewelry stores. If they didn't have it she would look
in bigger ones outside of the mall and as a final
result she would look on the computer....maybe E-bay?
She dreaded this though because she was terrible with
computers. Well, here she was at the first Jewelry
Store: Jankoutsu's Jewels. Stepping inside she
wandered around the entire place looking through all
the glass cases. Nothing. She might as well ask if
they had it in the back or something. She walked to
the man behind the register that sat on the biggest
glass case and reached into her backpack to take out
the book. Opening it to the page with the picture of
the jewel she turned it to show to the man.

"Umm, Mr. Jankoutsu? Do you happen to have this
necklace, or know where I could find it?"

The man studied the picture and wrinkled his brow
in thought. Kagome bit her bottom lip in anticipation
of his answer. He shook his head and looked straight
into her eyes. "No." Kagome's shoulders caved a bit in
disappointment and she put the book back in her
backpack. Sighing, she said Thanks and left. She
didn't give up hope though, 'I mean, what were the
chances of finding it in the first store anyway?'

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'I mean what were the chances of finding it in the
first twelve stores?' sighed Kagome, 'They should have
been bigger.' Kagome had left the mall, which had five
jewelry stores, and had traveled all around town,
looking through seven more. She had looked in a phone
book and found there were only thirteen jewelry
stores. This was the last one, it was either she finds
it here or she had to resort to the internet.
::shudder:: So, taking a deep breathe to calm her
nerves, she took her first step towards the store, and
stopped dead. The sliding doors slid open to reveal
guess who. Kikyou and her cronies. She was blabbing to
them and walking right towards her without noticing,
it looked like she was gloating about something. She
turned her head and locked sight on Kagome. Kagome
gulped as Kikyou marched towards her and stopped only
a foot away. Without thinking, Kagome spoke first.

"What are you doing here?", she really did want
to know. Why did she run into her here of all places.

"My dad owns this place, baka. I should be asking
you the same question though. I can tell you now that
you can't afford anything in there."

Kagome scowled and her blood began to boil, but a
glint of light caught her attention. Kagome's gaze
flicked to the large jewel around Kikyou's neck. Guess
what it was......the Shikon no Tama. Why me? thought
Kagome desperately.

Kikyou followed Kagome's gaze to the jewel around
her neck. "What? You like it? I was just telling
Kagura and Kanna about how my dad came across it and
paid two million dollars just to get it for me. He
wasn't even sure if I would like it or not, funny eh?
That's dad all right, always spoiling me." Kikyou gloated to Kagome.

'Two million? I wouldn't have been able to afford
it even if I had found it......I gotta get Kikyou to
give it to me! Time to put what I learned from my
psychiatrist to good use.'

"It's ugly." stated Kagome, praying it would
work.

"What?" growled Kikyou with a heavy scowl.

"I've seen little kids walking around with
plastic versions of it that look better."

"What would you know about how pretty it is?
Anything that costs two million is pretty."

"Think what you like, it's not my problem." said
Kagome with a smug look.

"C'mon girls, we don't have to waste our time on
her." said Kikyou before striding past her, Kagura and
Kanna following like lost puppies. When they though
Kagome was out of earshot, Kagome heard Kikyou turn to
her friends and tell them.

"We're going back to my place to change my
necklace."

Kagome wanted to burst out laughing, 'Leave it up
to Kikyou to never wear anything someone called ugly,
even if that someone is of no importance.'

Reality hit Kagome like a ton of bricks. 'Great,
now Kikyou doesn't want the necklace, but I still
don't have it.' It seemed like a dead end, but Kagome
knew what she had to do. She needed that necklace, and
if she had to steal it in the dead of night, she
would.

So Kagome played out the rest of the day
normally, hoping she wasn't acting any differently in
her dread of the night to come, she didn't want to
raise suspicion. When everyone in her house was
asleep, Kagome sat up in her bed and grabbed her
backpack of supplies. In her all black stealth outfit,
she'd seen enough movies to know what to do, she crept
downstairs and out the door, into the dead of night.

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A/N: I promise I'll update more often. I'm really
trying!! Gomen nasai........