Disclaimer: Well here goes again, I do not own Inuyasha and the gang!!!!
Chapter 4 : Goodbye my friends
Kagome looked at her answer sheet a bit discouraged. Most of if was a complete blank and what little she had filled was definitively not going to earn her many points. While she should have been upset at the situation, the only thing that she felt right now was indifference. She looked at her right hand, noticing that a bit of dirt remained under her fingernails for all the gardening with Kaede. It was so easy to picture herself in a red and white outfit working in the herb garden under the watchful gaze of a certain hanyou. Sighting, she glanced at the clock "Only five more minutes and it's finally over." she thought.
It wasn't long before the said time was over and she was on her way home. Her mind a million miles away, thinking of a hanyou with silver hair and trying to imagine how it would feel to be in his arms. In fact, she was so far gone in her fantasies that she never heard her friends calling to her. It wasn't until Eri pulled her sleeve that she snapped back to reality. "Wh… What is it?"
"Are you alright Kagome? These days you seem sorta down. I mean, you hardly put any effort in anything you do." said Eri visibly concerned for her friend.
"That's right, you used to be one of the top student of our class, but now it's a miracle that you're even allowed to be attending." Ayumi continued.
"And the worst part is that it doesn't even phase you. You keep having that dreamy look in your eyes like your mind is a hundred miles away. It wouldn't have anything to do with that boyfriend of yours would it Kagome?" asked Yuka equally concerned.
"Not a hundred miles away, 500 years in the past." thought Kagome sadly. "My life is extremely complicated right now and there are a lot of things I need to think about, my boyfriend being only one of them." she lied, hoping to get herself off the hook. The only real issue was if Inuyasha loved her or not. If he did, everything would fall into place perfectly. If he didn't… well she'd rather not think about that possibility.
"If you explained what is happening to us, maybe we could help you Kagome. I mean we're friends right?" said Eri looking at her expectantly.
"Damn they're so persistent, why can't they just get the clue that I want to be left alone?" She thought angrily. "Look…" She was interrupted by a male voice calling her name. "Oh no! Not him, not now!" her anger and frustration already at a dangerous level suddenly climbed higher as Hojo made his way to them. "I have to get out of here or I'm going to explode." she thought frantically.
"Hello Higurashi-san…" he started before a very annoyed Kagome interrupted him.
"Look everyone, I'm really not feeling well right now and the only thing I want to do is go home and rest. So I would appreciate it if you could leave me alone right now. And Hojo, I can't go out with you not this weekend nor any other after that and please stop buying me gifts, it's really quite unnecessary." She said in a strained voice, trying desperately not to snap at the four people in front of her.
"Actually, I won't be there at all this summer, my parents and I are going on a trip to America so I won't be able to see you and with all this studying, I really didn't have time to buy you anything. I was going to apologise about it, but it doesn't look like it's going to be necessary. I was only wondering how you did on that last test." asked a surprised Hojo.
This question caught Kagome completely off gard and all she could do was stare at them, unable to answer. As she looked at each of their faces, she felt her anger fade away. She realised that they were the only people aside from her family that cared about her in this time. "That's right, they care about me and to thank them for their concern, I snap at them. When did I become such a cold hearted person?" she thought suddenly feeling bad about her previous behavior. She suddenly noticed that they were looking at her expecting an answer.
"I'd be surprised if my score reached a two digit number." She finally answered with a hunch of her shoulders. No matter how unimportant that last test had seemed to her, it still hurt a little to know that she had failed so miserably.
They all gasped at her reply. It was Eri that finally broke their horrified silence by saying "Kagome, that's horrible, you're going to have to regroup your grade." This reply was met by a stern gaze from the other three people. "Don't worry Kagome-chan, we'll stick by you no matter what happens, right guys?" Yuka hurriedly added while turning her gaze to her friends who all nodded in response to her question.
"School… grades… it all seems so pointless, so insignificant after all that I've been through with Inuyasha and the others. The pain and suffering we've all had to endure, it made us all grow up, it made me grow up. I just wish there was a way I could tell them that, but it's impossible." she thought before an idea formed in her head "That might just work, well… here goes nothing…".
"Thank you all, I'm really touched that you care. But it doesn't bother me as much as you might think. You see, my numerous sickness made me realise that there's more to life than books, grades and college entrance exams. All the pain and suffering I had to endure changed me profoundly. It made me grow up in such a way that I don't feel as close to you all as I used to. I tried to close that gap, I tried to go back to the one I was before, but I can't. Your friendship is very dear to me, but now I just can't help but feel like we're in two different worlds."
She paused for a second to look at them before continuing with her semi-lie. "I'm going to go away with my boyfriend for a while. We don't know where or for how long, but we don't care. We both want to live and enjoy our existence while we can."
None of them spoke for a long time. Kagome's declaration had shook them up pretty badly and none of them knew how to react. They finally understood what had been plaguing her, but with that understanding came another realisation :She was trying to say goodbye to them.
"Higurashi… when exactly are you going?" Hojo finally asked.
"Probably tomorrow, when my boyfriend comes to pick me up." Kagome answered.
"That's perfect then!" he exclaimed stunning everyone. "Higurashi, you're coming with us tonight. We're going to make it the night to end all night. Let's eat until we can't even look at food without being sick! Let's dance until our legs give away! Let's sing until our voice is raw! Come on girls, lets make our last night together a night to remember!" he finished looking at everyone expectantly.
It wasn't long before everyone started agreeing to his plan and Kagome was soon met with a chorus of "Yeah!" and "Come on lets do it!".
She stood there unmoving, unable to believe that her friends were actually going to throw her a goodbye party. "My friends… Yeah that's right… They really are… my friends." she thought as she looked at their expectant faces. Tears started to form in her eyes as her gaze traveled from Eri to Ayumi to Yuka and finally to Hojo. And suddenly she couldn't hold back any longer, she threw herself at her friends and burst out crying. "You guys… you're the best… you're really the best… Thank you." she said between sobs.
It was really quite a touching scene. The four girls huddled together whith Hojo hovering in the background not sure how to fit in this whole picture. Finally, the tears dried out and Kagome broke free of the embrace and made her way to the only boy of their group. "Hojo…" she started but was cut short.
"Don't say anything Higurashi. One day, I'll find someone just as good as you are." he said with an understanding smile.
"You will, I'm sure of it." she said, smiling back. With that said, she turned around to face the three girls. "Alright you guys, what do you say we show this world what it really means to party!" she exclaimed, feeling like her old self again.
Her friends all sensed it to, their Kagome was back. Even if it was just for tonight, she was really back and they wouldn't waste this opportunity. Tonight was really going to be a night to remember, they would make sure of it. "Lets do it!" they all cried in one voice and with that they were off.
"Sango, Miroku, Shippo, Inuyasha… I wont be able to make it today, I'm sorry. But today is my goodbye party and I don't intend to miss it." she thought to herself before hurrying after her friends.
Author's note: This chapter was a real pain to write, I had no idea how to allow Kagome to make a closure with her friends without making her sound bitchy. I have to admit that I'm proud of how everything turned out. Also before you start throwing tomatoes at me, I DO NOT say that school is unimportant. Being a bachelor myself I can easily understand the importance of education in everyday life. So just bear with it, it's just a story after all. Thank you