The Grade Race
Chapter 5
Sango lightly pressed the flashing talk button on her phone, and glanced at her clock as she brought the phone to her ear. '10:17 a.m., huh?' Sango shot up in bed when she heard what she thought to be was Miroku's voice say, "Sango-" But his voice disappeared as swiftly as it had come. In its place was some rattling noises and incoherent yelling. Sango breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Kagome's happy voice say, "Good morning Sango!" 'Okaaayy…' Sango thought. 'What's up with me? Was I expecting him to call or something? To apologize for yesterday if anything, but… oh well.' "Good morning Kagome. What is it?" Sango replied after a moment of silence.
"Wellll…" Kagome began. "I just thought you've been working so hard in school lately, that maybe you and I should just have a girl's day out today at the new ice skating rink that just opened up. And besides, it's the middle of summer, so it would be nice and cool there, don't you think?" Sango sighed and answered Kagome's question with a question of her own. "Kagome… this isn't going to be like last year where you asked me to come with you to the mall, when you were really just trying to set me up with Takeda-san?" Kagome snorted at Sango's question. "Kuronosuke? Ugh, no! That was a total mistake. The two of you had absolutely no chemistry whatsoever! Do you honestly think I would do something that sneaky and underhanded now? You know me better than that, Sango!"
Sango narrowed her eyes at the phone and mumbled, "Do I?" Sango heard a pathetic whimper come from Kagome on the other line, and after juggling the pros and cons for a few minutes, Sango answered, "Okay, sounds like fun. When would be a good time for me to go over to your house?" Kagome pondered for a moment, and then replied, "How about… does 11:30 sound good?" Sango nodded, though she knew Kagome couldn't see it, so she added, "Sure that sounds fine to me. I'll see you then."
"Wait, Sango!" Kagome yelled in a rush before Sango could hang up. Sango brought the phone back to her ear. "What?" Kagome muttered something Sango couldn't make out for a moment, and then told Sango, "Wear something pretty, okay?"
Sango quirked her eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips, balancing the phone between her shoulder and her head. "And why is that, Kagome?" Kagome giggled then quickly cleared her throat and replied, "Just because. You don't dress up very often, do you?" Sango placed her hand back on the phone and replied with a shrug. "I guess not. Okay, bye now."
"Bye! See you later!" With that, Kagome hung up. Sango hung up as well, then went to her closet to select the proper attire for ice skating.
Sango pulled some clothes from her closet. Once changing, she sat down at her desk to study for her history test on Monday. At 11:20, she put her pencil down and neatly stacked her papers up together, then clipped them into her school binder. Sango was actually looking forward to going ice skating with her best friend, as she descended the stairs, humming a happy little tune.
Although, she wasn't expecting to see her seventh grader brother Kohaku blockading the front door. He stared intently at Sango and inquired, "Where are you going? Are you seeing a boy? Who is it? Mom and Dad are gonna be so angry when they find out! They-" Sango cupped her hand over her brother's mouth and explained, "I'm just going to the ice skating rink to hang out with Kagome for the day. And do you really think I'd allow a boy to mess up my chances of getting into Tokyo U?" Kohaku shook his head. "That would be stupid of you. And Mom and Dad may not know, but I know you wouldn't do something that silly." Sango gave Kohaku a big hug, then nudged him with her foot and opened the door. "So you see? Problem solved." Sango walked out onto the porch and Kohaku began, "But, sis, you have a te-!" Sango waved her hand and called out as she shut the door, "See you later, Kohaku! I love you!"
As Sango drove over to Kagome's house in her bright red neon, she inspected herself in the mirror. Sango wasn't sure if what she decided to wear really was the 'pretty; Kagome was talking about, but she hoped it would do well enough. She had picked out a navy blue top that flared out at the bottom and a blue jean knee-length skirt with a pink ribbon running up the side. She also wore a light weight cream colored jacket shawl thing that draped over her shoulders. For an extra touch, she applied some light pink eyeliner. After lightly swaying her head to the catchy tune on the radio for another six minutes, she edged into the driveway at Kagome's house.
Sango walked onto the porch and rang the doorbell. At first she was surprised when the door opened, and she couldn't see anyone at the door. But then she looked down to see Kagome's little brother, Souta, holding the door open, still in his blue pajamas. "Oh, Sango! Hi!" Souta looked behind Sango on both sides. "Um… would Kohaku be with you by any chance?" Sango laughed lightly and replied, "No, he's back at home. I just came by to pick up Kagome. Is she ready to go?" Souta had to think about this for a minute, and then he opened the door wider and replied, "Yeah, she's in her room. Come on in." As Sango slipped off her shoes before walking into the family room, she told Souta, "Kohaku's at the house all by himself right now, but I could maybe drop you off over there when Kagome and I are ready to leave. You two could hang out for the day if you want." Souta beamed at the older girl. "Would you, Sango! Awesome! I'm gonna go change!"
Sango smiled as the energetic little boy scrambled off into his room. Kohaku and Souta had been the best of friends for as long as Sango could remember. In fact, Souta and Kohaku were the reason that Sango and Kagome had met in the first place. So Sango was grateful to her little brother. She knocked lightly on Kagome's door after climbing up the short staircase. "Come in!" Sango heard Kagome call from inside the room. Sango opened the door just in time to see Kagome toss her cell phone aside. Sango looked skeptically at her best friend as she walked into the hallway. "I'm ready. Let's go! Oh!" Kagome looked Sango over for a minute, then smiled in approval. "Very pretty, Sango!" Sango blushed and replied, "Thank you." Then she added, "Oh, I asked Souta if he would like for me to drop him off at my house so he can play with Kohaku today. Do you think that would be okay with your parents?" Kagome shrugged. "I don't see why not."
Sango nodded. "Let's get going then!" As Kagome and Sango put placed their shoes back on at the door, Kagome called out, "Mom, Grandpa! I'm going to the ice rink now!" As Souta rushed from the room running the brush through his hair, then tossing it to the couch, Kagome added, "And Souta's going over to Kohaku's house! Kay?" Mrs. Higurashi answered, "That's fine! Just make sure Souta's home by nine!" Kagome nodded and quickly said as the three walked out the door, "Alright! I love you guys! Bye!"
Sango turned the keys in the ignition as Kagome slammed the door on the passenger side, and Souta bound into the backseat. As soon as the tires of Sango's car started to turn, Souta was yammering endlessly about his school, football, and other things little boys like to talk about. Shortly after, Sango pulled up to her house, and Souta jumped from the car and sprinted to the door. Kohaku answered the door before Souta even knocked, and the girls could hear the boys yelling from inside the car. Once the door shut, Kagome exhaled in exasperation. "Where do little boys get their energy?" Kagome asked to no one in particular. Sango smirked and answered as she steered back onto the road, "A little thing called sugar."
About halfway to the ice skating rink, Kagome's cell phone started ringing. Both girls jumped, but calmed down when Kagome reached into her purse and flipped open her cell phone. A shiver ran up Kagome's spine and a very amusing expression struck her face for a moment. Sango glanced at her friend and asked, "Something wrong?" Kagome shook her head and swiftly flipped her cell shut again. "No, it's nothing."
"Damn it, why won't Kagome answer her phone!" Inuyasha looked over to Miroku sitting nervously across from him. "What's your problem?" Miroku answered, "I don't know… doesn't this underhanded somehow?" Inuyasha answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Not really. Not for Kagome. She does this all the time. And since when are you nervous?" Miroku laughed and shook his head. "Well, whatever."
Sango shivered as she and Kagome stepped into the ice skating rink. In the middle of summer, she certainly wasn't used to the cool temperature. As Sango looked around, she found the ice skating rink had just been finished one week before. Some places inside even had that new paint smell. After renting their ice skates, the girls went straight to the rink. Kagome skated beside Sango at all times because while Kagome had taken two years of figure skating lessons, Sango had no experience on the ice whatsoever.
The girls chatted while they skated in circles around the rink. Though she fell down several times, Sango was enjoying herself immensely. As the day wore on, Kagome became anxious for some reason, and kept looking around, as if she was expecting something. Sango decided to ignore it and continued to skate.
When Kagome heaved a heavy sigh, Sango looked to her friend and asked, "Okay, what's the deal? All day you've been so-" Sango couldn't finish because she quickly found herself falling forward. "Ah! Sango!" Kagome called out. Sango shut her eyes and prepared to hit face first onto the cold hard ice. Though it was only ice, it still hurt. Especially since it was so cold, it burned if you fell on it. But instead of the freezing sore feeling that came from falling on the ice, Sango felt something warm wrap around her, and she soon realized, she wasn't hitting the ice!
Sango opened her eyes in puzzlement, and looked up at her rescuer. Sango jumped back in shock, causing her to slip and fall on her butt when she saw it was Miroku beaming down at her. "Wha, wha, wha, wha- what are you doing here!" Miroku quirked an eyebrow and answered, "What? Can't I just come skate without a reason?" Sango placed her hands on her hips and stated simply, "No. I don't tend to believe in coincidences, Houriki." Sango suddenly came to a conclusion, and then turned to her friend who was whistling innocently. "Kagome…" Kagome laughed and tried to make up an excuse, "Well, you see, this is…" Miroku stepped in between the two girls and explained, "I was going to ask you out myself, but Kagome thought you would never agree to coming here with me. Thus, she set this whole thing up. So don't be mad at her."
Sango sighed and slapped her forehead. "Why do these kinds of things always happen to me?" Then, she remembered something Miroku had said, and it caused her to redden immensely. 'Ask me out? As in a date! No way!' She shook her head, and waveringly hoisted herself up off of the ice. "You know, I don't really care whose fault this was. I should be getting home anyway. Come on Kagome." At first, Kagome allowed Sango to lead her out of the rink, but then she saw Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye. She tugged on Sango's arm in the opposite direction. "At, at least let him buy you lunch Sango. It is almost 3 now." Sango narrowed her eyes at Kagome and muttered, "What are you thinking, girl? There's no way-" Kagome stood on her tiptoes and whispered in Sango's ear, "If not for Miroku, do it for me. I want to spend some time with Inuyasha. Please?"
Sango sighed in defeat, and then the two girls made their way back to the boys still standing in the middle of the rink. When Sango told Miroku, "I'm open if you want to try to apologize for this." Kagome did a fancy twirl and giggled happily. Inuyasha gave her a strange look, and she simply smiled.
Sango began to skate off, and Miroku rushed after her. "I can get you lunch if you'd like." Sango inquired suspiciously, "What? Are you trying to buy forgiveness or something?" Miroku smiled innocently. "What would you do if I was?" Sango rolled her eyes and leaned against the railing out side the rink. "Spit it out."
Miroku took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry if you feel I'm trying to make things difficult for you, I'm really not. I want us to simply have a friendly competition. So… no hard feelings?" Sango absorbed his apology, then replied, "Friendly, huh? Alright. I'll forgive you for this whole incident, but, that doesn't mean you're completely off the hook. I will take my place as number one back." Miroku shrugged and smiled. "That's fine. As long as such a lovely lady as yourself can forgive this lowlife." Sango rolled her eyes, "Oh, please."