AN: Exams are over (completely bombed the last question on my math exam ;.;) but I still need to get my science done before April 26th and I still have 2 and a half books left:sighs: Sometimes...I really hate school.

Now let's see, Inuyasha was actually pretty cruel in the last chapter. You're right, he was meaner than he usually is but he's really resentful at the moment. A lot of things happened all at once before he left for the trip so seeing a double of one of those things he wants to escape (somewhat) it's pretty easy to be really snappy. Don't worry though, he'll get along better with Kagome and the others as the story progresses.

Did I mention I'm a die-hard Inuyasha-Kagome fan? I don't have anything against any other coupling (a popular one I've seen around being Sesshoumaru-Kagome) but I tend to favor canon pairings, mostly because that's the way it's suppose to be in the real story. Though this is a fanfiction and the plot may be completely different from the original one, I like to retain some of the originality of the characters from the actual story (completely ignoring Completely Pure, that story is so messed up at the moment...).

I think that's about it for notes this time, don't forget to R&R!
-Air Angel

Chocolate Wishes

Chapter 5: Second First Impressions

I waited patiently beside Sango as she spoke on the phone with who I assumed was her brother. She used the same tone I used when I spoke with Souta, maybe it was the universal tone used between older sisters and younger brothers, who knew.

Sango said her goodbyes and ended her call before passing the phone over to me. We ended up using Kagura's personal cell-phone, though at first there were many attempts at trying to not let them use it on Kagura's behalf.

"Thanks a lot for the help, if you weren't here I probably would still be arguing with Musou."

"No problem," I said while slowly pressing in the number for my own home, making a mental note to deduct a bit of money from my prize to pay Kagura for the long distance fees, "You reminded me that I should call home also, I'm suppose to keep my mother up to date with everything that goes on during this summer."

"While you make your call, I'm gonna grab a snack, want anything?"

Pressing the 'call' button, I brought the phone up to my right ear and listened too it ring, "Can you get me one of those mini-sandwiches and some punch...or whatever they have for a drink?"

"Sure, I'll be right back than," she wandered off towards a table of food that was setup shortly after my meeting with the wall earlier. A click rang in my ear as someone picked up and yawned out what seemed like a hello.

"Hey Grandpa, how are you?"

"Kagome? Where have you been! I've been worried sick!"

I blinked, "What are you talking about Grandpa, Mom and I both told you I was going on a trip."

"Trip? What trip? Have you been kidnaped and they're making you say you've gone on a trip?"

"Grandpa, just put Mom on the phone," I could feel my right eyebrow twitch. Sure my Grandpa was a great guy and all, but he had a really bad memory and seemed to always be jumping to conclusions. It was best to just ignore him and wait to speak with my Mother.

"Hello Kagome,"

I smiled, not that she could see it through the phone, "Hey Mom!"

"Are you having a nice time?"

"Oh yeah, it's great. They'll be announcing the winners soon, I can't wait to get this show on the road," I said happily. Actually, thinking back on all the recent events, excluding those that had anything to do with Inuyasha, I actually was having a fairly good time.

"Souta's playing some new video game he borrowed from a friend so I'm afraid we might miss the show announcement."

"That's ok Mom, I can just fill you in next time we get a chance to talk."

"Alright, have you met any of the other winners yet?"

"I've gotten to meet two so far."

"Really? They nice?"

"Sango's great, she reminds me or...well...me."

I heard her laugh, "Well it's nice to hear that you'll have another female with you, you can trade life stories and find out what you have in common like old friends. What about the other person?"

Rolling my eyes at the old friends comment, I thought about what I should say about Inuyasha, "The other is a guy..."

"A boy? Well...is he cute?"

"Mom!"

"What, is he not?"

I sighed, "He's a youkai and doesn't seem to like me very much."

"Did you do something to him Kagome?"

"Hey, he was the one calling me names and insulting me."

"He must have a reason for acting that way."

"Well he did think I was someone else at first," that was true, he seemed pretty mad at this Kikyo person, not that I knew why... "but than again, once he found out I wasn't her, he got even worse!"

"Now why would he do something like that?"

"How would I know?...I guess it's possible that he liked that person he thought I was, he did get upset when I mentioned that he might've liked her...and when he realized that I wasn't who he thought I was, he tried to cover-up his mistake by insulting me more..." I blanched for a moment, why did it seem like I was talking to myself except out loud now? One of those inner conversations that people have to sort out problems.

"That could be a possibility, couldn't it?"

"Mom...you are as tricky and manipulative as ever aren't you," I stated.

"Thank you dear," I could practically hear her smile on the other side of the phone, " Now if what you think is true, what are you going to do?"

"What am I going to do?" what exactly did she mean by that?

"If he had such a strong reaction to your presence, thinking you were that other girl, he must've really liked her at one point, and possibly still now. The girl must've hurt him somehow and when he saw you, felt that hurt again. From there, he could've masked his true emotions with that of anger."

"But he didn't have to still be mean when he found out I wasn't her," I whined, much like a child would when they weren't getting their way.

"Love is a powerful emotion Kagome, what would you have done when you realized that you had mistaken a different girl for the one you loved? You would be shocked and also a little bit unnerved, shocked for obvious reasons and unnerved because you'd never think that you could mistake someone you loved dearly. As a male, most of them have a thing about pride and wouldn't want to show weakness, especially to a female."

I stayed silent, thinking over what she had said, "Do you really have to make me feel guilty?"

"It's my job."

"You're so kind," I muttered lowly as I noticed Sango making her way back the refreshment table with two plates and a pair of styrofoam cups in hand, "That still doesn't stop him from being an egotistical jerk."

"No, but you can't blame him now, can you? Honestly Kagome, you seem to be taking on Grandpa's way of jumping to conclusions. Here I thought I had a smart daughter with a good head on her shoulders."

"Mom," whining, I pouted, oblivious to the fact that I knew she couldn't see me.

She just chuckled.

"Alright, I get your point. I'll call you again as soon as I can, okay?"

"That's fine, don't forget to have fun this summer."

"I won't, bye," I ended the call and quickly took one of the plates and cups from Sango.

"Something wrong?" she asked watching as I finished off the mini-sandwiches on the plate in under a minute.

"Nothing," I said before chugging down the juice in the cup, "Just that parents are conniving and making me go on a guilt trip now."

We took our seats once more, Sango to my left and Inuyasha to my right, not that I looked at Inuyasha at all. Every time I even saw a glimpse of him I felt my guilt set in again. Well, actually it wasn't so much guilt anymore, it was more of a load of pity would flow through me.

What did the person do that could've hurt him so? Sure, if he was just an egotistical, arrogant, idiot of a male, I could probably think of a thousand ways I'd want to torture him but really, no one is ever really only like that, are there?

I was taken out of my musing from a bop on my head. Looking up I saw Kagura's head hovering above me, "What?"

"It's almost time to go on, are you ready?"

I blinked, "But the other winner isn't here yet."

"Oh he's here," she said rolling her eyes, "We just had to restrain him from molesting half the workers."

"...What?"

"Well, he actually would've been here at the same time as Miss Natsuame had he not been flirting with the hotel staff and missed the ride."

"Where is he now?"

She simply nodded her head to the direction of the door, "He should be on his way right now, Goshinki, another co-worker of mine, is in charge of him now since the original one quit because of his roaming hands."

"Roaming...hands?"

I heard some voices coming from the doorway and tilted my head to get a better view, I wanted to see who this other winner looked like.

The door swung open and a burly man, obviously one of those obsessive bodybuilder types, walked in. I blinked and shuddered a little, I never liked those types of people.

I was relieved when I heard Kagura address him a second later as Goshinki, instead of whoever the other winner was. Really, I don't think I could've handled two months with a bodybuilder. For some reason I just can't stand looking at them for too long.

"Goshinki, where is Mr. Kangeki? Don't tell me you lost him."

Blinking, the man glanced over his shoulder before sighing, "Wait a moment."

I watched him lumber back into the hallway once more, this time noticing that he had to tilt a little to get through the doorway. Did I mention that tall people also tend to creep me out?

Stretching my arms and yawning a little, I glanced at the doorway every few seconds, anxious to see who my last...vacation-mate would be.

Suddenly the room seemed to shake and the door burst open to show a clearly pissed off Goshinki dragging a teen behind him, who seemed to be waving at some person or people that must've gotten left behind.

Surprisingly, other than Sango who looked bewildered at the enormous angered man, the rest of the crew seemed to act like seeing an enraged bodybuilder was a normal occurrence. I snuck a peek at Inuyasha but was disappointed to see him just watching the man with a half-bored, half amused smile.

Goshinki literally picked up and dropped the teen into the last empty chair beside Sango, "Mr. Kangeki, you will remain in this room and in this very seat until I get back, do you understand?"

The menacing look he gave to the guy almost instantly had him agreeing, "Understood!"

"Good," Goshinki turned and headed back towards the doorway where Kagura, Kanna, and Musou seemed to all be waiting for him. Once they disappeared out the door, the guy breathed a sigh of relief.

Never one to wait long for anything, I stuck out my hand to him across Sango, "Hi! I'm Kagome Higurashi."

Quicker than I thought, my hand was suddenly held in his, "What a lovely name for a lovely woman," I heard a snort from beside me but ignored it, "I am Miroku Kangeki, at your service."

I almost laughed as he tilted his head in an attempt to bow without getting out of his seat, next I felt his thumb rub the back of my hand and quickly pulled it back.

Flustered, I could only make out a 'heh' sound. Thankfully, Sango came to my rescue.

"I'm Sango Natsuame," she said stiffly, making me look at her. Was something wrong? Her voice seemed very cold now...nothing like the girl that had been begging Musou to use the phone when I had first seen her.

Oblivious to the way Sango was acting, Miroku smiled brightly, much like those smiles shown in commercials...except without the little sparkle, "As am I, fair maiden."

She just stared at him flatly, "What are you, a hundred years old? Don't talk like you're from a completely different time. Not only does it make you look stupid, but there's no way in hell that lines like that could ever impress anyone."

"You wound me," he said dramatically and moved to look like he was clutching his heart, "Alas, what have I ever done to you?"

I could hear Inuyasha make a gagging noise, but instead of laughing, I was more interested in watching Sango. Her face had turned a dark reddish hue, though, it wasn't red due to embarrassment, "What have you done? I'll tell you what you've done you letch, you groped me at the hotel yesterday!"

A look of enlightenment filtered across his face, "Oh, that was you?" Out of all the things he could've said, he had to say something like that...and sound so innocent at the same time.

Sango slapped him so hard that a red hand-print was visible on his face. The look of surprise on his face, not to mention the fact that the hand-print didn't seem to be fading, almost had me feeling a little sorry for him. Keyword being 'almost'.

Keeping my snickering to a low, I tugged on Sango's sleeve and whispered in her ear, "Explain to me later."

She nodded while shifting her chair closer to mine, and farther from Miroku's.

"Well...," Miroku said slightly dejected, "Who would you be?"

"Inuyasha Kaneme," Inuyasha mumbled, obviously not wanted to speak with him.

"Oh cruel world, why must you be as mean as to leave me with such un-open people?"

"You brought that upon yourself," Sango shot at him.

Before he could get anymore dramatic, the door opened and Kagura walked in, "Alright, it's almost show time! You better be ready 'cause I don't care if you're not."

Have I mentioned that I've never been on a stage before? Well now you know, not that knowing I've never been on a stage before made much of a difference with the whole experience.

The irony was that we had been lead out of out seats in the backroom to go sit in seats on the stage. The curtains remained closed so we were still hidden from the media's eye, not that they couldn't lift up or push the curtain aside if they wanted.

Everyone seemed to be running around doing last minute checks, and I half wondered if we should be sitting in the order in which the tickets had been announced to be found in. This time Sango had opted to sit the farthest away from Miroku as she could, switching seats with Inuyasha. Not that the switch mattered much to me, I was still sitting between the two of them in the end.

Kanna appeared with a tray of cups and instructed us all to drink the water. Something about how the lights on the stage heated up quickly which, in turn, heated up the whole stage area. I suppose she just didn't want to be blamed if one of us passed out from dehydration due to the heat.

I looked at the others in the corner of my eye as I drank the water, Sango had gulped hers down in one shot and was now playing with the cup. Miroku on the other hand was slowly sipping his like one would with a cup of hot tea. Inuyasha had yet to drink any.

I nudged him lightly and he glanced at me, "What?"

"Drink your water."

He rolled his eyes, "I don't have to listen to you,"

If it had been earlier, I would've shoved the cup down his throat but the conversation I had with my mother nagged at me in the back of my mind. Of course, it didn't stop me from feeling upset with him.

"Just drink it."

"And why should I?" he replied offhandedly.

"Why can't you?"

"..."

"My point exactly," I looked at him calmly, "Look, you're a youkai and you're more sensitive to things, right? Meaning you're probably more sensitive to the heat of the lights also. I'm not trying to act like a mother, forcing you to eat your carrots or anything," I teased, "but I'd rather not have you fall face flat on the floor because you've overheated."

He didn't reply at first, instead he just stared at his cup, "Keh, it's not like a stupid light could knock me out."

I sighed and turned away until I heard a quick gulping noise and the sound of something fitting the floor behind me. Looking back at him, I watched him just stare at the curtain in front of us, cup gone from his hand.

I couldn't help but smile a little, especially when I heard someone behind me curse about people not throwing things out properly.

"Don't think that this makes us friends."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"And I still hate you."

"Same here."

"And you still stink like shit."

"Hey now that's going to fa,"

"BUT," he said interrupting me, "I think I can tolerate you."

I blinked, maybe we could survive the next two months together.

"Just make sure you take a shower later. I don't know if I could last more than a day smelling you like you are now."

And here we go again...

Translation Notes:
From now on, romaji addressed in previous chapters will not be mentioned here. After all, you should've read the other chapters first. If you didn't...uh...well...go read them, you chapter-skipping person you!

Kangeki - To Impress
- Kangeki simply means 'to impress' or 'to move'(but we're not going to get into that...)

I actually had a hard time thinking of a last name for Miroku, at first I wanted to use something that related to being a priest or monk, that away it could've been used as a nickname by Sango but I soon gave up on that idea. Really, the whole 'houshi' thing is used so often that I didn't want to use it again (not to forget that houshi, with different kanji, means star and he really isn't the star of this story :P). I thought of using something like void (kuhaku) but besides it sounding to much like kohaku, I didn't really like it. Now, without the religious title, and the kazana, what is Miroku left with? Other than being human, he has his playboyish personality. From that, Kangeki just popped out. Looks like it made an impression on the chapter title as well.