So here it is, the long awaited chapter...one that no one will read, as they've forgotten the story by now... T.T

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha or any of the characters... though I ever wish to... Inuyasha that is... the others... well... Rumiko Takahashi can keep...

Learning to Let Go

Target Acquired

Sango waited patiently for Kagome outside of their school. Her backpack weigh a tong, so she didn't exactly know how long she'd be able to wait. Sango turned around to see Kagome coming down the sidewalk.

"Hey Sango." Kagome said happily.

Sango looked at her friend, giving her a sarcastic smile. "Ready?"

Kagome looked confused. "Ready? For what?"

Her friend rolled her eyes. "For, you know."

Kagome widened her eyes and looked away. "What do you think?"

Sango sighed tiredly. "Then I'm going home." The dark haired girl began to walk away from her friend.

Kagome reached out and grabbed Sango's wrist. "Wait a minute," she said. "I never said I wouldn't, I'm just not prepared."

"Oh, okay." Sango said, smiling. She pulled off her backpack and reached in. "Here."

Kagome looked at the box of spearmint Tic-Tac's and glared at her friend. "Not that kind of prepared."

"Okay… sorry." Sango said, putting the mints back into her bag. This time she pulled out deodorant. "It's this, right?"

Kagome rolled her eyes and slapped her friend upside the head. "No, stupid. Not physically."

"Then what? Psychologically?" Sango asked. Kagome nodded and started walking in the other direction. Sango followed her. "It's hard to imagine you not being mentally prepared."

Kagome looked back at her friend, more than a little surprised at what she'd said. "Why's that?" she asked.

"Sure you may not be the Albert Einstein of math, but this is your area of expertise." Sango replied. "It would seem out of character for you were freaking out about something so trivial."

Kagome shrugged. "I got nothing to worry about. As long as he doesn't show up at the dance tonight."

Upon hearing news of a dance, Sango started to put in the effort to pay attention. "Dance? Tonight?" she sputtered. "Since when?"

"Since a week ago. Didn't you see the posters?" Kagome asked.

Sango shook her head.

"The notice in the announcements?"

Again Sango shook her head.

"Anything?"

"No!" Sango wailed. She shifted her backpack. She noticed Inuyasha coming toward them. "But whatever. Now's your chance!"

"Do I have to?" Kagome complained timidly, noticing Inuyasha herself.

"5…4…3…2…1…GO!" Sango yelled, pushing Kagome in Inuyasha's general direction.

Kagome stumbled in front of Inuyasha. Thanks Sango, making me look like an idiot.

"Uh…Kagome, I'm not getting a ride today, 'kay?" Inuyasha said, resisting the nagging urge to give her a weird look.

"Really?" Kagome asked. No shameful ride home…

"Yeah."

A long awkward silence followed.

"In that case…" Kagome grabbed Inuyasha and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Sango stood jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Kagome actually…

"Sango!" Kagome called back to her. "I gotta go! Mom's here" She quickly make her was to her mom's car, not giving Inuyasha, or Sango for that matter, a second look.

"Oh…my…God… She actually…" Sango stammered.

"Hey!" Inuyasha called to Sango, a very bewildered look on his face. "What was that about?"

Sango shrugged, playing innocent. "You're not going to…the dance tonight, right?" she asked. If he said yes, this could all blow up in not only Kagome's face, but hers as well.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Yeah, I think I might."

The colour drained from Sango's face. "You sure? I mean I heard it's supposed to be pretty boring," she sputtered.

Inuyasha shrugged again. "Meh. I told Kikyou I'd take her." He walked past Kagome's emotionally overloaded friend. "You and Kagome planning to go?"

Sango just kept looking forward, eyes unfocused. "Uh-huh," she managed to urkle out.

Inuyasha stayed silent and kept walking. Hope I don't see you there, he thought. The inu-hanyou almost said it out loud, but that would've been mean. He had no problem with Sango. It was Kagome that weirded him out more than a little bit.

Sango stiffly turned around and watched Inuyasha get into a black S.U.V. she waited till the vehicle was around the corner before she broke into a run for her house. The million-pound backpack quickly forgotten.

Kagome stood in front of the mirror, holding shirts up to her body. It wasn't that she didn't know what would match her skirt, which was black (A.N: Theoretically, anything goes with black.), but what would look good on her. Not like it would matter. No one would notice on the dance floor, the strobe lights would make it almost impossible to see. Either way, no matter what Kagome picked, she'd always ask Sango if the shirt looked good on her, or if it made her look fat. The answer would always be either: "God, Kagome it looks great on you!" or "Dammit girl, it doesn't make you look fat." In which both answers would be followed by a short speech about image.

Kagome frowned to the mirror as she held up a red tank to her chest.

The phone rang and the young girl's head snapped to it. Quickly abandoning the shirts on her bed, Kagome made a mad dash to answer it.

"Hello?" she said into the receiver.

"…Ka-Kagome?" Sango panted out on the other end.

"Hey Sango!" Kagome answered brightly. "You okay over there?"

Sango and cleared a throat and continued to even out her breathing. "We've got a problem on our hands."

The girl on the other end laughed. "Tell me about it. Should I go with a red shirt, or stick with my signature green--?"

"Kagome!" Sango interrupted, still catching her breath. "I didn't run home with fifteen extra pounds on my back, almost get hit by a red Pontiac Sunfire, attacked by a Shih Tzu, and mauled by three Calicos to complain about fashion problems." Kagome shut her mouth and Sango continued. "It's about the dance."

Moving the phone away from her ear, Kagome looked at it in disbelief, as if it had sprung eyes and buckteeth in mere seconds. "Don't tell me you're not going!" Kagome whined into the receiver. "Don't do this to me Sango!"

Kagome's friend sighed. "I think it's you who should stay home."

"What?" Kagome squealed, going from despairing teenaged girl to… something else.

"He's coming to the dance."

"He?"

"Yeah," Sango confirmed. "He is going to the dance because he is taking her."

It was because of Sango's emphasis on the two pronouns that Kagome finally caught on. "HE'S WHAT!" she yelled.

"y-yeah, so…" Sango stammered, her voice shrinking. "Still planning to go?"

Silence ensued.

"Yeah! Course I am." Kagome chirped.

Sango coughed. "Wow, so much for not being prepared for repercussions," she said. "Oh well, with all the lights, it'll probably distort his face (A.N: If that's ever possible)."

Kagome laughed. "Maybe you're right. And it's a dance after all."

Sango silently agreed. "I'll see you at school then."

"Hey wait!"

"What?"

"So red or green?" Kagome asked again.

Sango was silent over the phone. "Either one, Kagome. And yes, they'll look great on you, and no, they make you look fat." With that, Sango hung up.

Kagome smiled to herself and the phone down on the hook. She sighed and picked up the red shirt. "I hope you're right Sango." She looked at the reflection in the mirror and cocked an eyebrow. "About the lights that is."

Sorry it took so long! But this chapter is only up thanks to Mikki (Fire Dragon6666). Sorry for the typos and grammitical errors. I'm not good at what I do. And the usual plea for Reading and Reviewing... That's it...

Bai