Sorry about the long wait!

Disclaimer: Once I rule the world.

Iwould like to thank Niklas (the Lament) for ideas and encouragement.

Technical Problems

Chapter Four

-

The telephone's ring sounded in his ears. He hoped she was home.

"Hello?" Oh, joy! She was there!

"Hello, my dear, Sango." Miroku said happily.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your date! Speaking of which, we need to plan somewhere to go...I'm free Sat-"

The telephone dial tone cut him short. But! No matter! For there was re-dial!

-

Her phone rang again. No! There was no way in hell she was going to pick it up. It might behim. Him, the reason she was avoiding the phone like the Bubonic Plague. Him, the reason why she was cowering under her kitchen table. Him...

...her date for Saturday whether she liked it or not.

She picked up the phone.

"Hello? Miroku?"

-

Inuyasha ran his hand through his hair. What was he going to do? His shift was going to start in a hour. He could just skip work, avoiding a very awkward confrontation with Kagome. No! That was the wimp's way out! He jumped out of bed and got dressed, combed his hair and brushed his teeth. He didn't bother for breakfast, he could pick up something in the break room.

Locking the door behind him, he jumped down the stone steps, and almost landed on a flower. He looked at it. It was rather pretty...

"Ahhhh! I'm dying! Everything is turning black!" It squeaked, but it's dying words went unnoticed by Inuyasha as he plucked it from the ground.

-

He strutted in, hands clamped firmly behind his back. This might have been the first time Kagome had seen him without a powdered sugar stain somewhere on his clothes.

"This is for you." He stated gruffly, handing her the flower, roots, dirt clods and all.

"It was just...I'm allergic to chocolate...and..." he said, trying explain his strong reaction to the girl scout cookie.

When he peeked over to look at Kagome's reaction, he saw that she was looking at the flower curiously. What? The wench had never seen a flower before? He was about to say something rude but then he actually caught sight of the flower. It had been stripped of it's petals.

Maybe it was because he held on to it to tight. Or maybe it was because he had picked it up roughly. But the point is that the flower wasn't "rather pretty", anymore.

Inuyasha was speechless.What if she hated him for giving it to her? I mean, giving someone a dead flower was usually considered as a way to say "I hate you." or "Go to hell." But then she said something that made Inuyasha squeak.

"I love it. Thank you Inuyasha."

"Squeak." was the most masculine answer he could give her.

Now, it wasn't the actual answer that reduced Inuyasha to a mouse. No, because anyone with manners would have said the same thing. But it was the genuinity of it that made him squeak. That, and the fact that she actually took a vase, filled it with water and put the mutilated flower in it.

-

He was on Cloud 9 for the day. Miroku wasn't usually this uppity, and it made all his co-workers nervous. One man, pushed into it by force, confronted him about it.

"Takagashi? I was just wondering why you are so...um...happy...and dancing with the water cooler."

He grinned at the nervous man, and offered his hand.

"Why? Do you want to dance with me?"

"No! N-no...that's alright. Just why?"

"If you really want to know," Miroku's grin was growing wider by the second. "I have a date with the most beautiful woman in the world!"

The other man's eyes grew wide.

"Takagashi...you aren't...d-dating Higurashi are you?"

Miroku looked at his strangely.

"No, she's just my friend. Why?"

He blushed a rather healthy shade of red and looked towards the floor.

Miroku grinned wider then ever.

"Houjou? Do you like, Kagome?"

Houjou blushed more and shuffled his feet.

"You know,...I could set you up, if ya want." Miroku leaned against his dance partner, the water cooler.

"Really! You could!"

"Of course, of course!...For a small fee."

Houjou sighed and got out his wallet.

-

Don't worry! I'll have the date next chapter! I have all kinds of ideas floating around for it!