A/n, oh yeah, just so you know, Eri's is one of Kagome's friends that always follows her around in the anime, she's the one with the headband, straight, shoulder-length hair.

Chapter Twenty Six

"So, who does he like?" Sango asked.

"You won't believe it, he likes Eri. So, let's blackmail, it's more fun." Kagome grinned.

"Oh wow. She's head over heels for him." Miroku added.

"Yeah, so that's why we can't tell Eri that, or there'll be no dirt to blackmail him." Kagome walked over to Sesshoumaru.

"So, will you hook me up with her?" Sesshoumaru asked.

"Well, I know for a fact the Eri doesn't like you, so it'll be tough for me to convince her." Right then, he lowered his head. (aww) and if she knew that you liked her, then she would be terribly sad. Do you want her to be sad, Sesshoumaru?"

"No..." 'That's the last thing I want to do is hurt her, even if it's my own feelings towards her.'

"If you DON'T ask Kikyo on ONE date, then I'm going to tell Eri." Kagome whispered in his ear. 'I feel sorry for him, at least I'll make it up to him later' She smiled to herself, "So are you doing anything Friday night?"

Sesshoumaru grinded his teeth, "Yes, I have a date with Kikyo."

Kagome smiled, "That's great! Good luck to both of you!" Kagome went back to her lab.

"So, how'd it go?" Inuyasha asked.

"Worked perfectly, now all we have to do is make sure he asks Kikyo and avoid Eri at all costs, and have Sesshoumaru avoid her too, at least until after Friday." Kagome sighed.

After science, the gang started to stalk Sesshoumaru, "Ok, so how many classes does he have with Kikyo?" Sango asked.

"Um, let's see, he has 5th and 7th with her today." Inuyasha said. Kagome stared at him blankly, "What? We're buds; I hung out with him and Miroku during the summer." (ok, I always wanted Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru to be non- enemies, so yeah )

"It just hit me, why don't we just ask Kikyo at the end of the day to see if he asked her yet? It's better than stalking Sesshoumaru all day." Miroku pointed out.

"Alright, right after art, we have to run to the tech lab and ask her." Kagome said.

They waited anxiously in the art room for the bell to ring, once it did, they ran out and got to the tech lab in a matter if minutes, out of breath. "Good job Kagome, We're on for Friday night. But he better not stand me up, you're not off the hook until Friday night." Kikyo said when she left the room and went down the hall.

"Well, we got through the first part." Sango sighed.

"Yeah, but now we have to follow them on their date too. Kagome, you have to find out where they're going." Inuyasha said.

Miroku smirked, "You really want her off your back don't you?"

"Hell yes." Inuyasha said as they walked home.

The next day...(Thursday)

"I've heard you've asked her out, you're not going to stand her up are you?" Kagome came up to Sesshoumaru the next day in science at his desk

"What if I do?"

"Then I'll tell Eri."

"Why did I even tell you in the first place?"

"Because you thought I could hook you up."

"No, I thought I could trust you...AND hook me up."

Kagome laughed, "So you better not stand her up, oh, and out of curiosity, where are you taking her?"

"Curiosity killed the cat."

"The cat has 8 lives left." Kagome smiled.

Sesshoumaru growled, "To the French restaurant 'Café de France' on the edge of town."

"Aw, that's so cute, well, you two have fun!" Sesshoumaru muttered something under his breath, "What was that?"

"Oh, nothing." Kagome went back to her desk next to Inuyasha.

"He standing her up?" Sango asked.

"Like he has a choice, and he's taking her to Café de France." (A/n, real place, don't own it, duh)

"That's a cute little place, hey, while we spy on them, you wanna make the best out of it too?" Miroku asked.

"Might as well have fun there." Inuyasha said.

'Why is he being so kind? I mean I know he likes me and all, but I know this isn't him...' Kagome thought.

"Hey Kagome, you want to come to my house after school?" Sango asked.

"Why?" Kagome wondered.

"The guys are having a guy's night out; we might as well have a girl's night out." Sango said.

Kagome smiles, "That sounds fun!"

So after school, Kagome went over to Sango's house and Inuyasha went over to Miroku's house.

"So Kagome, I've been wondering something..." Sango said once they went into Sango's room. It was on the upper level and had 2 windows on both sides of her bed which had a yellow bed spread. The bathroom was connected to her brother's room next door. Sango had a small couch near one of her windows and a desk at another. Kagome and Sango were sitting on the couch with their binders on their laps doing homework.

"What?" Kagome looked up from her homework and waited for Sango to answer.

"Do you have any new feelings for Inuyasha?"

Kagome blushed, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you don't treat him like a boyfriend much; you act like he's just your friend, like normal."

"Well, yeah, he is my friend, and my boyfriend, but, I never really thought about that." Kagome said, 'Well, I have thought about it, but I just try to ignore it.'

"Are you sure you're just not pushing the feeling away or something?"

"And what would that feeling be?"

"Oh I don't know...a little crazy thing called love?" Sango teased and made kissing noises at the word 'love'.

Kagome blushed even harder, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh you know you love him, you can't help it, and I mean come ON! You live with the guy, practically already married to him, and you can't just sit here and tell me you don't have any strong feelings for him!" Sango smirked.

Kagome put her pencil down, "Ok, I live with him, we're going out, our parents are probably going to make us get married and-"

"And?..."

"Oh shit, I love the damn guy, you happy?" Kagome gave up and burst into tears.

"Kagome, I didn't mean to make you upset!" Sango gave her a tissue and comforted her friend.

"No, it's just that it took me THIS long to realize it And I probably can't do anything with these feelings, that's why I let them all bottled up, so didn't have to deal with them! I don't know how to handle this, Sango! You can because Miroku loves you back, and you can share the feelings with him, I can't!" Kagome said between sniffling.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. It'll all work out in the end. And you'll have one less problem after Friday, so don't think all hope is lost because it isn't."

Kagome smiled. "Yeah, I hope you're right."

...

Miroku sat on his bed watching Inuyasha, "Would you stop pacing?!"

"Who says pacing helps you think? It just makes your feet tired." Inuyasha stopped pacing and sat next to Miroku.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How to find out how Kagome feels."

"Why don't you just ask her?"

Inuyasha glared at his friend, "Because that would be stupid, I might as well just ask her to marry me now."

"Why don't you?"

"Because it would be STUPID!"

Miroku sighed, "You're just being difficult, Inuyasha."

"Well, I can't just go up to her and ask, 'Hey Kagome, do you love me?'!"

"Well why can't you? It would certainly be easier."

Inuyasha glared at him, "I don't want to be rejected, get my heart broken, hell I'm only 16!"

"Yeah? So am I and I fell in love with the girl of my dreams."

"Because you know she loves you, too! All I know is that Kagome likes me, and she doesn't even treat me any different than when we were friends."

Miroku patted his back, "I'm sure it will all work fine, maybe you just need some time, or help"

Inuyasha eyed him, "What sort of help?"

"Oh I don't know...but are you up to a little spy practice for tomorrow night? Because I know the perfect people to spy on that MAY have some information that you're seeking." Miroku grinned.

"Man you're evil."

"I know."

So you guessed it, well after the sun set and all was dark, the guys wore black suits...well, more like black jeans, long-sleeved shirts, and hats. They climbed a tree right outside of Sango's window and peered in. The girls were awake in their pajamas talking on the same couch they were before and had their backs facing the window. Luckily, for the guys, Sango had her curtains pulled back enough for them to hide behind, but enough to see them.

"-And then he looked like he was about to die when I told him I was going to tell Eri. I still do not believe that he thinks Eri hates him. I mean who could hate Sesshoumaru. Sure he's not very talkative, but he's nice." Kagome said.

"Yeah, so we're still going to spy on them tomorrow night right?"

"Yeah, but don't think of it as spying, just think of it as tagging along without them knowing. It's no like we're going to sneak around, we're going to enjoy ourselves with our boyfriends." Kagome smiled.

'Gods how I love her warm smile', Inuyasha thought. He turned and whispered to Miroku, "What if we get caught? We're going to be beyond dead."

"Well, we can't let that happen can we?" Miroku whispered back and continued to look through the window.

"So, are you going to tell him?" Sango asked.

"Tell him what?"

"About earlier...are you ever going to tell him? Like you said, you can't keep it all bottled up."

"I know, but I don't know if I should tell him. It might come in a lot of ways for him and me too at how he would react to it."

'Who is 'he' and tell him what?!' Inuyasha thought. It was killing him that he didn't know what they were talking about.

Miroku smiled to himself, seeing that Inuyasha was frustrated trying to figure out what they were talking about, 'Good job, Sango.'

"Whatever you decide, I hope you make the right choice." Sango said.

Kagome perked up, "You know what? I think I'm going to tell him, I just don't know when though." She sighed, "It's just hopeless."

"No it isn't, Kagome. You'll find the right time to tell him. At least you got to the second step; you're going to tell him. The first was realization. The next is actually telling him."

Inuyasha tried to process everything, 'What in the world are they talking about? Realizing what? Tell who what? Man this is confusing. What could Kagome possible need to tell someone that is THAT important? Wait a minute, Sango said something about keeping 'it' all bottled up, what could 'it' mean?" he turned to Miroku, "Hey, do you know what they're talking about?"

"Shush!" Miroku hissed.

"Hey, did you hear something?" Kagome asked.

"No, I didn't hear anything..." Sango said, 'Shit! Miroku, get out of here!'

"Hmm, that's strange, well, it's getting late, can I sleep over here?"

"Of course!" Sango smiled. Just then, they heard rustling in the bushes below.

"Ok, now I'm sure I heard something, Kagome turned around and opened the window, she looked down and saw the bushed moving, "What's that?!"

"Oh, it's probably just the rabbits; they always come into people's backyards." Sango pulled an excuse.

"Alright, if you say so." Kagome closed the window and got ready for bed.

"Damn it Miroku, why'd you push me off the tree?!" Inuyasha scowled.

"The girls were going to see us you idiot!" Miroku got up and dusted himself. "Well, did you hear anything you needed?"

"Barely. I still don't know what they were talking about. I know it was one subject, but I don't know what that subject is, so all of that was useless!" Inuyasha hopped over Sango's fence into his own backyard and went around back to Miroku's house. "By any chance, do you know what they were talking about?"

"Not really, but may I suggest you think back on their conversation and maybe fill in the blank with theories." Miroku got into bed and Inuyasha got into his sleeping bag. He used to sleep over at Miroku's house so often, he just left him sleeping bag there.

All night, Inuyasha was trying to figure out the meaning of the conversation. 'Damn it! Oh, there are 2 things I need to figure out. Who is "he" and what is "it". It is very important probably, and he is someone that Kagome knows and is afraid to tell something to him. Maybe Miroku is right, maybe I should just ask her, or even just tell her. No, that'd be crazy. I'll just deal with this later.' (Man is he an idiot)

The next morning they went to school normally...until it was science class once more. "Kagome, look, Sesshoumaru's going to talk to Eri!" Sango whispered urgently.

"Oh gods." Kagome sighed and went up to Sesshoumaru, "Hey, are you going to talk to Eri?"

"Yeah." Sesshoumaru said.

"About what?"

"Look Kagome, I'm not going to ditch Kikyo, I wouldn't want Eri to be sad if she hates me that much. I just want to know why she hates me is all."

"Oh no need to ask her, I know."

"Why?"

'Oh man, Kagome think!' Kagome hesitated, "She just thinks you're weird beyond all reason, probably because you're so quiet and always to yourself. She thinks you're self-centered."

"Uh, ok..., "he frowned, "So after this date tonight, I never have to date her again?"

"Only if you want to." Kagome smiled.

"Who are you trying to fool? No one would want to be her boyfriend forever." Sesshoumaru scoffed and went back to his desk.

"Phew, that was a close one. We just gotta have the rest of today and tonight to go as smoothly as possible." Miroku said.

"All Kikyo said to do was have him ask her out on a date and not stand her up. She didn't say anything about it running smoothly." Inuyasha smirked.

"No, we have to make this happen. "Kagome said firmly.

"Yeah, whatever." Inuyasha waved the topic off and went back to his work.

Later that night, they all got dressed up formal, yet casual and got Kagome's dad to take them to the café. They made sure they went through the back entrance to avoid Sesshoumaru and Kikyo. They sat where they could see the 'couple' unnoticed. So far, everything was going fine. Inuyasha sat across from Kagome and Miroku sat across from Sango in a square table.

"So, Sesshoumaru, how is this date going for you?" Kikyo asked sweetly.

Sesshoumaru managed to crack a small smile; it was obvious he tried VERY hard, "Fine."

"Oh good because I'm having a great time!"

'Ugh, the day this day will be great will be the day when pigs start flying out of my ass.' Sesshoumaru thought but instead decided to say flatly, "I'm glad you are."

They ordered their food, as did Sango and Miroku. Inuyasha and Kagome were still deciding. "So, what did you do last night?" Sango asked.

"Oh nothing much, just TV and talking, you?" Miroku shrugged.

"Same." Sango replied.

A waiter came up to the group and said, "Excuse me, pardon my interruption, but would you mind moving tables? We have a family would like a table for 4, and well, you all seem like 2 nice, cute couples, so would you mind moving to 2 two seated tables? It would help us out very much on this busy night."

"Why of course." Miroku smiled politely and stood up. "Come on, Sango." Miroku winked at Inuyasha and Sango winked at Kagome as they went over to one side of the café while Inuyasha and Kagome stood to go to the other side.

They were silent as they went to their table until Inuyasha spoke, "So, uh, do you know what their winking was about?"

Kagome blushed, "Nope, you?"

"Not a clue."

"At least they're talking." Sango asked.

"Yeah, so I'm guessing Kagome feels the same was about Inuyasha as he feels about her?" Miroku said after the waiter placed their food in front of them.

"Yup, and Kagome's going to tell him. But she doesn't know when or how."

"Inuyasha just wants to know how she feels first before he tells her."

"So now, all we can do is hope for the best for them?"

Miroku nodded, "The rest is up to them. We've helped as much as we can."

Inuyasha looked up from his menu, "So, what are you going to order?"

Kagome was still looking at her menu, "I don't know, maybe I'll just get a steak."

Inuyasha laughed, "You ARE the strangest girl I've ever met."

Kagome put her menu down and glared at Inuyasha "And what is THAT supposed to mean?"

"Take it as a compliment, you're different, most girls would just get a salad or something."

"Well, I'm hungry. You'd even probably be better of at a buffet."

"Yeah, I know." Inuyasha smiled.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something-"

"Are you ready to take your order?" a waiter stood in front of them holing a notepad and pen said.

"Uh, yeah, 2 steaks, a coke and, what do you want to drink, Kagome?" he looked over at Kagome.

"Lemonade."

"And a lemonade."

"You food will be here shortly." The waiter left walking towards the kitchen.

"So, what did you want to ask me?" Inuyasha asked.

"Oh yeah, um...why have you been acting so strangely? You're not really in a mood swing; you've just been acting weird."

'Maybe because you're making me feel this way and I can't help that this is the only way to express my feeling without actually expressing myself to you.' Inuyasha thought, "Oh, I don't know, maybe it's just stress, do you want me to ask like how I did when I first met you?" Inuyasha smirked.

Kagome smiled, "See? You're being quirky again, you're being you. I just want you to be yourself. You're not trying to pretend someone else. Why would you? I like you for who you are." Their food came and they ate while occasionally looking over at Sesshoumaru and Kikyo's table.
A/n, Might as well leave it here...cousins coming over and then the latest time I will post is Monday probably...so yeah...I'll continue after Monday I think. hehe, I just realized something...a whole bunch of teenagers with relationship problems group up to defeat a 23 year old guy...hehe, they're all teenagers, sorry, I realized this BEFORE, but I never realized how funny it was to me. It might not be to you, but come on...relationship problems...Inuyasha and Koga are 15 in human years, Hojo's 15 and so is Kagome, Kikyo and Miroku are 18, (Kikyo is 2 years older than Inuyasha in human years, lmao) and Sango's 16...well, Shippo's 7...but still...sorry, not much of an author's note, although chapter twenty seven will be up sooner or later, I MEAN SOONER! DON'T KILL ME! Sooner, yeah, ok ; Oh yeah, check out my profile...I usually update it daily unless I forget, fall asleep, or there are computer problems, so yeah, it says how far the next chapter is to posting. And I'm sorry if there are typos; just try your best to make sense out of things...