Kagome finished hugging all of her friends good bye at the door of the temple. They called back to her "Happy Birthday Kagome" as they left. Hojo stood back and watched the group of giggling girls. He held a Kagome's present behind his back. He was feeling a little self conscious with all of the girls giving him sideways glances. He sat thinking of how pretty she was dressed in her light blue kimono. She looked even better than she did in her school uniform. Kagome said her final good byes and turned to see Hojo there. She started to blush a little since they were now alone in the entrance hall. She tried to think of something to say and finally went with "It was so nice of you to come to my party Hojo."

"It was my pleasure I was so happy to hear that you were going to be well enough to have a party."

Kagome did not have much to say to this cause she still was felling guilty for lying to him and all of her friends. She had not really been sick instead she had been back in time trying to collect all of the jewel shards with her new friends. Who were probably waiting for her to come back and get back to work.

Hojo noticed how uncomfortable she was and thought it was because he was still there. He cleared his throat and decided to get this over with quickly "I got you a present. I was not sure what you would want, so your friends helped me pick something out for you."

Kagome took the little package and held onto it for a minute unsure whether she should open it or not.

Hojo smiled and said "Go ahead open it up."

Kagome hesitated for just a second more and smiled back and started to neatly open the gift. She was afraid to tear the paper because it was so beautiful. She pulled off the lid of the little box inside to see a beautiful comb for her hair. It had a white orchid with a small butterfly engraved in it. "Oh Hojo it is so beautiful. You really did not have to you have already given me so much."

Hojo stepped closer to Kagome and pulled the comb out of the box "Yes but all of that was to get you better and now that you are and school is out maybe we could go out more often," he said as he slide the comb into her hair. Kagome blushed as she reached up and lightly toughed the comb. Hojo continued on "It looks perfect in your hair and patches your dress. I will have to thank your friends for all of their help."

Kagome found her voice finally "Hojo it is the perfect present thank you so much." She hesitated for a second though because she did not want to say what she knew she had to. Finally she took a deep breath and said "Hojo I would love to go on more dates with you but this summer I am going to have to spend a lot of time away for days at a time." Kagome thought of the lie she had made up with her mother and regretted more than ever that she had to lie to people. She finally told Hojo the lie. "My great aunt is getting older and needs someone to stay with her on a more regular basis so this summer I am going to be spending a lot of time with her in the country. I will only be home a couple of days a week."

Hojo's face dropped at the thought of seeing Kagome even less than he already did.

"But" Kagome said in a lighter voice, "when I do come home I would really love to spend some time with you. That is if you still want to?"

Hojo smiled as he thought that at least she still wanted to see him. He would be happy even if he could only see her once a week. "Of course I still want to. I think it is great that you are being so helpful to your family. It shows how responsible you are. Here I will give you my number so when you do come home you can call me and we can set up a date. Hey you could even call me from your Grandmothers house if you wanted to."

Kagome's heart dropped how was she going to get out of this one. There was no way she was going to be able to call him from the past. She was going to have to think of a lie again. "Umm I don't think I will be able to. My ummmm aunt she really does not like to use the phone and has strict rules about it. I think it is something with the older generation…" She knew that it was a horrible lie and could see that Hojo was confused by it. She hurried on to distract him from it. "I will be sure to call you as soon as I get home though so we can go on a date."

It seemed to work because Hojo smiled again. He pulled her in and gave her a hug. "That will work for me. I can't wait." He let her go. "Have a happy birthday and a safe trip."

Kagome walked him to the door, and said goodbye. As Hojo walked away she gently touched her comb again as she thought about Hojo. This led to her thinking about Inuyasha. She wondered if he would even think to get her a birthday present. She really did not know what to think of Inuyasha half the time he treated her like she was the worst thing to have happened to him in his whole life. The other half he made her feel special and needed. Okay so it was more like ¾ and ¼ of the time but that was not the point. She shook her head and went back to the kitchen where her mother was cleaning up.

"So did you have a good birthday Kagome?"

"Yes thank you so much for everything."

Her mother looked up and smiled, "You are so welcome, you deserve to have some fun every once in a while. I was wondering if you wanted to take your friends some of the food we have left over. Maybe have a little birthday party on the other side with them before you go to bed?"

Kagome ran around the table and gave her mother a big hug "That is such a good idea, thank you so much."

Her mother handed her her backpack which was already packed with all of the food. "Here you go have fun and see you latter tonight."

Kagome kissed her mother and ran out the door. She hesitated before jumping in the well trying to decide if she should change her clothes before going over. She decided she would be okay since she was only going to be there for a little while, so she jumped down the well.