The insistent ringing of the phone woke Kagome from her afternoon nap. Groggily reaching for the receiver she lazily looked about her home. "Higurashi house." Her voice had a slight huskiness to it. "Hi, Higurahi, it's me Hojo." Normally she would have rolled her eyes until she could swear she could see the inside of her own skull, but maybe it was that she was still kind of asleep that she responded "Hojo? Hi! What can I do you for?" Silence was heard for a moment but then conversation reached her ears once more. "I wanted to see if you wanted to go to a movie or something tonight…with me." She responded without really thinking of what the words spewing from her mouth really were. "Sure! It's what ..?" Quickly looking for the clock to find the time, "Six o'clock. How about you and I meet a Wacdonald's in an hour? How's that sound."

Hojo being somewhat glad she received his invitation so merrily replied, "Perfect. See you in an hour."

After hanging up the phone the brunt of her conversation with Hojo hit full in the face. With a hand flying unerringly to her forehead she cried out. "No what have I done?" Different scenarios flew before her eyes as to how to get out of her predicament. While many were VERY enticing she decided to go ahead and keep her date with him tonight. 'I'll be going back to the Warring era soon enough. One night out on the town can't hurt that much. At least I won't have to worry about any demons attacking us.' "Ah! What am I going to wear?!" Hojo or no she was going out and she did not want to look anything but her best. And why not? For the moment she had the luxury of makeup and hairspray not to mention the choice of ensemble her closet held. The more she thought on it, the more the date was becoming appealing.

Half and hour later after frantically changing her outfit multiple times, Kagome was ready to go meet Hojo. She had settled for some back stretch jeans with a cute blue and black crop top pheasant shirt. Slipping on some simple dark blue penny loafers she walked downstairs. Announcing out loud, in case anyone had come home, that she was going to out with Hojo on a date. Slapping a post-it-note with the same message on the back of the door as she told Buyo, her cat, to behave, she grabbed her jacket and walked out to try and have a normal night out.

The scene at WacDonald's was hectic. During the day it was all calm as mostly business people or married women who were out running errands would stop to eat. But as with most places that catered decent food at a decent price once the sun had set the place was crawling with hungry teenagers out to get a quick bite on a small budget. It was also a gathering place for many meeting their dates.

Kagome expertly maneuvered her way through the masses, keeping an eye out for Hojo's light-brown colored head. Nearing the ordering counter she heard her name being called. Looking to her left she spied her friend Ayumi waving her hand back and forth in the air. Inadvertently, hitting the guy standing next to her, which happened to be the male she was seeking, Hojo.

Smiling herself, she made the hand gesture for drink (those who don't know it is holding your right hand as if you had an actual cup in it and tilting it toward your mouth) and titled her head to the side in question. Ayumi responding with an affirmative nod of her head after which, she tapped Hojo on the arm. Drawing his attention down to her, Kagome saw Ayumi's lips moving rapidly no doubt to let Hojo know she'd found Kagome and to question him if he would like a drink as well. Kagome saw him shake his head no as Ayumi turned to look back to Kagome. But as she already seen Hojo's response, she turned back to the counter to order the drinks. After paying for and receiving the drinks she carefully made her way towards the area she'd seen her friends at. Looking around she saw that they had manage to claim their usual table by the window.

"Hey Kagome glad to see you out and about." Ayumi said as Kagome set the drinks at the table. "Yeah a night out is definitely something that I've needed to do for a while now." 'Without worrying about being chased by demons or fighting with a stubborn foul mouthed idiot.' she mentally continued to herself.

"Glad you made it Higurashi." Hojo said by his own way of greeting. "Hey this better not be Coke. " Ayumi had said. "Nah, it Dr.Pepper. Like I would do something like that to you Ayumi." Kagome said. Ayumi who had not thought that Kagome might actually be on a date continued to talk about anything and everything that had happened since they had all seen each other. Which only was earlier that afternoon.

Seeing Ayumi stop to catch her breath, Kagome quickly cut in "Hojo, what time was that movie starting?" Hojo who for the most part had remained silent perked up just the tiniest bit and said after checking with his watch, "I'd say in about twenty minutes. Unless of course, you'd like to catch a later showing."

"I guess we should get going then. Bye Ayumi, I'll talk to you later ok?"

"Wait, wait, wait, WAIT just a minute here. You mean you guys are on a DATE?" Kagome heard all the capital letters in that last word. Trying not to laugh at the comical look on her friends' face she couldn't quite keep a smile from showing. "Yeah we are. So later 'kay."

"You better call me later Kagome." Ayumi half questioned - half threatened. The couple then got up and made their way to the theater.

"Higurashi, what would you like to watch?" Hojo asked as they stood in line to get their tickets. Kagome who for the most part had been spacing out, tuned back into what he's been saying. 'I wish he would just call me by my name for a change.' "Huh? Oh I guess it doesn't really matter. Just as long as it isn't a horror flick." 'I see enough monsters on my own Thank you very much.'

"Then why don't we just wait and see what they're playing and decided a little later? If it's alright with you, we could go get dinner somewhere less crowded than where we were earlier." Hojo asked. "How about we skip the movie tonight. Let's go get dinner, then see where we end up?" Kagome suggested. Already having in mind to drag him to a Karaoke club to try to get him to loosen up a little. She wanted to have fun tonight. What better fun than getting someone stiff to live it up? He looked down to her and she looked up to him. They both broke out in a smile at the same time.

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"Miroku, have you seen Inuyasha?" a certain little kitsune called out. Miroku who had been attempting to meditate did not reply. So being the child he truly was, Shippo continued to repeat his question once a minute, every minute until the monk finally was left with no choice but to respond. If only to stop his annoying little interrogation.
"No Shippo I have not."

"Well then have you see Sango or Kirira?"

"No."

"…" Shippo considered asking another barrage of questions. The monk realized he would get no peace unless he could get the little fox's attention on someone else. "Shippo, you are a demon. Why not simply scent Inuyasha out? There's really only two places he'd be at this moment. Why not try looking for him there."

"Yeah I know Miroku. I was just seeing if you were really trying to meditate. Or if maybe you were trying to think of a way to sneak up on Sango while she's trying to take a bath. That's why I asked if you knew where she was at. Well I guess I'll go look for Inuyasha then."

No doubt Miroku would be leaving his spot in a few moments to go the spring nearby. And if he hurried he could beat Miroku to it and find a good hiding spot to watch the drama unfold. 'Yup, it sure was fun being a child sometimes.' Shippo thought.

Inuyasha sat at the lip of the dry well looking down into it. A sigh escaped his lips, as all he could see was the dark at the very bottom. No glowing blue and purple light signaling the return of his dark haired companion. He had been here at this spot for the majority of the day and watched as the sun began to set and the stars came out. 'How much longer is she gonna stay mad. Stupid female. She should've been back by now.'

"You know you should go get her." Shippo's voice echoing his own thoughts. Startled, and more than a little bit embarrassed about being caught mooning over Kagome, Inuyasha lashed out at the kitsune. Hitting him over the head several times before growling out. "Shaddup stupid. I don't have to go get nobody." But his voice didn't quite hold the bite he wanted to it and his punches, though still painful, didn't hurt as much as they normally would have. 'Great I'll only get three knots instead of five this time. He must Really be missing her.' Shippo thought.

"You know you are the only one who can go through the well Inuyasha. If I could, I would've gone to get her yesterday. She has been gone almost a week now. How much longer…" Shippo trailed off, finally noticing that Inuyasha had gotten up and was already a quarter of the way to the village.

'Stupid dog.' he thought ungraciously as he also got up. Not to follow Inuyasha. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him the hot spring .If he really pushed it he could get in time to see Miroku arrive. A smile was etched on his face as he neared his destination.