I own nothing

Chapter 6

The water was warm as Kagome jumped in, running her hands through her hair as she came up she looked around the small room. Hojo sat at the edge with his legs dipped in the water, watching Kagome as she swam around. She was the only one in the pool.

"Hojo-kun!" Kagome called from the other side of the pool. "What are you doing, why aren't you swimming?"

"I will Higurashi, I will." He called back.

Kagome dipped her head into the water and started to stride back and forth. Swimming down lower into the pool she though back to her first meeting with the white haired boy. His expression as he saw her in the same clothes Kikyou had worn. No! She thought to herself. I can't let this happen again..I have to..get over IT! Swimming up, she took a gasp of air before plunging back down. Closing her eyes she swam when suddenly she felt her head hit something hard.

Quickly Kagome put her feet on the bottom of the pool and stood up. She looked up and found her face to face with Hojo. She looked him in the eyes and blushed. She turned her eyes away, not wanting to see his stares yet she still felt his eyes locked upon her.

Kagome heard the sound of water as he moved in closer to her.

She felt his arms around her waist; Kagome looked down and closed her eyes.

Hojo touched her face and lifted it so that she saw his eyes, the longing in his eyes.

Slowly his face moved closer and closer.

Kagome felt his soft breath on her face and Hojo felt her quick breath on his.

He was so close, holding onto her tighter he pulled her closer and planted a kiss on her lush pink lips.

Hojo kissed her gently and pulled away. He looked her in the eyes - there were tears. Kagome felt the hot tears on her face again. She lifted her hand up and let it go, full force on Hojo's sweet face. She felt her hand sting as she ran through the water (with great difficulty) and into the change rooms. Hojo stood in the water, confused, holding his red cheek.

Kagome changed as fast as she could and ran out of the poolroom. Running down the hall she felt the tears pour down non-stop. Why am I crying? She asked herself. Why did I hit him, why did I let him kiss me? She slowed down as she held a hand up to her heart. Why does it hurt so much here? Kagome quickly made her way out of the gym and into the sunshine. As fast as she could, Kagome ran home To her temple, to her sanctuary.

Running full force into her room, she jumped onto her bed and plunged her face down into the pillow. However, the tears couldn't come, no matter how much she wanted to cry into her pillow, to take comfort in it's small crevasses. Neither of her parent's were home; the only person she had was her cat. Taking a quick shower, Kagome headed for the tree again.

Unwillingly, her feet guided her back there. Kagome kneeled down before the tree and looked up. Light shone through the gaps in the leaves and cast small shadows on the grass. Thinking back to her small childhood toy, she crawled forward and began to dig for it. Only she found it gone from where she had buried it. There was a small spot in the dirt from when she had placed it in the ground, it seemed to have disappeared entirely, not even disturbing the ground around it.

Kagome looked up at the tree again. It's branches swayed as a small gust of wind blew by. Lifting her hand, Kagome touched her lips. The exact place she had felt Hojo's kiss. The feeling still lingered on her skin. It had been so long that someone had actually treated her like that; she was so used Inu Yasha's insults that she had forgotten so much. Kagome sat there thinking deeply. Every single insult he called her came flooding back.

Bitch.

Wrench.

Moron.

Idiot. All of them came back. It made her forget, forget everything. Being with him made her forget what she had valued the most in life. Her happiness. As she realized this fact, Kagome felt her heart break. After falling in love with him, after everything she did, after every time he hurt her she finally saw the truth in it all.

If I were to return to him, I'd never find happiness again. She thought. Being in love with him, it made me hide my own pain, from myself. Kagome covered her face with her hands as she tilted over into the grass.

"They were all lies to myself." She repeated as she cried. As the tears slowly stopped, Kagome lifted herself up again. She looked up at the tree, standing in the sunshine watching over her. A smile crept across her face. Now she knew why. After knowing Inu Yasha, she grew stronger, smarter. Kagome realized this and smiled. Although her heart felt as if it had broken into millions of pieces, she was finally able to smile again.

"I can forget him, I can forget my love for him." She whispered to herself as she gave a small bow to the tree.

As she bowed, she though she heard the tree creak, as if it was disapproving her decision.