Kagome was just entering the house when her mother called her on the phone. The girl took off her shoes and ran to the living room.
"It's Ayumi." Mrs. Higurashi said and gave her daughter the receiver.
"Hello..." Kagome said.
"Kagome-chan, hi!" Ayumi said sounding happy. "I just wanted to be sure you got home."
"Thanks for worrying, Ayumi-chan." Kagome smiled too.
"I was thinking..." the other girl started.
"What?" Kagome asked a little uneasy.
"Since tomorrow is Saturday, I was thinking if we could go to the park." Ayumi mumbled.
"To the park?" Kagome wasn't sure why her friend was so nervous.
"You see, there's a friend of mine who invited me... and I was thinking if you could come with me..." Ayumi managed to say, her nervousness increasing.
"So, you're on a date tomorrow?" Kagome smiled. "Why do you want me to come?"
"You see..." Ayumi started and Kagome could hear the cable of the receiver being twisted. "I've never been on a date before..."
"Is that so?" Kagome mocked her friend.
"Kagome-chan, it's not funny!" Ayumi almost screamed.
"Don't worry, Ayumi-chan, I'll come." Kagome said.
"Thank you so much!" the other girl said happy. "I'll come pick you at 6, ok?"
"Ok." Kagome said.
"Bye." Ayumi said and the girls hung up the phone.
'Oh, I wish Inuyasha could ask me out...' Kagome thought sadly while gong to the stairs. 'But he doesn't even know what a date is.' that last thought made her smile.
"Kagome," Mrs. Higurashi called from the kitchen. "Dinner is ready."
"I'm not hungry, Mama." the girl called back. "I'm going to bed."
"Ok, good night." Mrs. Higurashi said and Kagome continued up the stairs and in her room.
She left her bag on the desk and lied on her bed. She closed her eyes and suddenly a vision of Inuyasha pinned to the God Tree startled her and she sat up.
"What was that?" she asked herself and stood up.
'I guess I'm over exhausted...' she thought and went to her wardrobe from where she took her pajamas and clean underwear. 'I need a hot...' she yawned. '...bath...'
Kagome relaxed in the bath-tub and closed her eyes. She was just drifting off to sleep when another vision of Inuyasha appeared. He was laughing and Kagome thought how good he looked when he was smiling.
'Wait a minute...' she sat up in the tub. 'Why am I remembering those things? I must be really tired...' she lied back down.
When she went to bed she had another vision of Inuyasha. This time he was being stabbed by Sesshoumaru. Kagome shivered all over remembering how close to death the hanyou was that time.
"I'll have to talk to Kaede-baachan about those visions..." she mumbled and slowly drifted off to peaceful sleep.
It was morning in Feudal Japan. A certain hanyou was walking through the forest. The village was visible in front of him. A strange group of people was approaching him – a monk, a demon exterminator, a cat demon and a kitsune. They were hurrying toward the hanyou.
"Inuyasha!" the angry kitsune yelled at him. "Where have you been? Where is Kagome?"
"I sent her home." the hanyou answered and passed them by.
"You did what?" the monk was shocked.
"Inuyasha, what's wrong?" the demon exterminator asked concerned. "You've been acting strange for days. Why don't you tell us?"
Inuyasha gave out an annoyed sigh and continued walking. He knew he was going to tell them, he was tired of keeping everything to himself. He even regretted for not telling Kagome – after all, for him she was the only one who could fully understand him. The others smiled knowing they had won and followed him.
A few minutes later the group was in Kaede's hut. They were sitting around the fire, waiting for breakfast. The old Miko was out to see a sick villager. Inuyasha was silent and the others were getting nervous.
"Inuyasha..." Miroku started.
"You remember when Naraku almost killed Kikyou, right?" the hanyou asked and the others nodded. "Before she fell in that river of shouki I had some strange visions of her. And now... now I have the same visions about Kagome, and nightmares..."
"So, that's why you sent her home." Sang said mostly to herself.
"Yes." Inuyasha nodded. "I'm afraid something bad is going to happen and I don't want her near."
"Did the nightmares and visions stop?" Miroku asked.
"Yes, the moment she went through the well they stopped." the hanyou nodded again. "I just hope she doesn't return until everything is over."
"Whatever it is..." Shippo said quiet.
Kagome was running up the stairs to her family shrine. The sun was setting and she was obviously in a hurry. She got to her house, opened the door and yelled to no one in particular that she was going to the past. Then she looked at herself for a moment and shook her head 'No time...' She was wearing a short light blue summer dress with thin shoulder straps.
'That Ayumi! I'm late because of her!' Kagome growled in her mind. 'I will never go out with her!'
With that the girl jumped in the well. On the other side Inuyasha was in the hut with his friends when he suddenly caught her scent. He growled and stood up.
"I knew I had to take that shard from her..." he said and ran out.
The others just shook their heads. They didn't follow him knowing that he had things to clear with Kagome and they didn't have place there.
TBC