DON'T OWN, DON'T SUE! SMILES!

Whisperers in the Wind

Chapter 3

The next morning, Kagome was awakened by her bedside phone. Blinking her stinging eyes a couple times after running a quick hand through her hair, Kagome stretched a hand out towards the phone. "Hello?" Her voice was harsh from the sudden awakening.

"Hello, Kagome?" Kagome let out an exasperated moan in response. "Hey, it's Sango." Another moan. "O.k. I just wanted to say I'm going to be a little late, 'bout a minute or so. I had to stop for gas. It was the only way dad would let me take the truck. But I'm on my way."

Kagome tried to get her focus on her alarm clock. Now such luck. "Sango? What time is it?"

"About two 'o clock, sleepy head. What did you do this time?"

Head still in a fuzz, Kagome literary rolled out of bed. She gave a silent curse as she felt her knee hit the floor a little harder than planned. "I'll tell you on the way. I've got to get ready now, but if you get here before I'm done, go ahead and get started without me ok?"

"Don't forget", threatened Sango, "you only asked me for a ride. I'm not obligated to do any more than that. But, because I'm such a good friend, I'll go ahead an hook up the trailer; you can handle the rest. I'm hanging up now. The sooner I let you off the phone, the sooner you can take that shower. And believe me, you need it, I can smell you from here, whoo…".

Too tired to care, Kagome hung up the phone. She grabbed the first thing she could find out of her wardrobe and headed for the bathroom. She took a cold shower to wake herself up. Uhg, she thought, even with his keen sense of smell, Kouga somehow still managed to get us lost! And I'm the one who has to pay for it. Sure, big plus for my mom not getting mad at me, but my hair could not get any worse even if I rolled in a mud pit, ran through a chicken coop, have Souta pull one of his, let's dump flour on Kagome, tricks, and marinated my head in a big, bubbly pot of molasses.

Maybe he was just trying to spend a little time with me. That definitely sounds like something he would do. And who could blame him? It's not like we see much of each other any more. Whenever one of us has free time, the other always has something going on.

Whether it's Kouga's job or my after school tutoring sessions, there's always something that'll get in the way of our friendship. And now I might possibly get a job! Man, I'll be lucky if I ever get a chance to phone him again. Well, I guess those are the consequences with getting older.

Not only that, but mom thinks I should start hanging out with people of my own…status. A part of me wonders if she knows the true value of friendship. It's not about the amount of money you have, but the quality of the person. And I'm going to stick by that, so, I'm going to try harder to keep contact with Kouga. With a new, kind of weird founded confidence, Kagome shut off the water and jumped out of the shower. Now I know why they suggest you take cold showers in the morning, it's amazing the things you think of when you're trying to concentrate on something besides the cold water.

Kagome stepped out the bathroom somewhat refreshed. It WAS summer, and the cold shower seemed to cool down more than just her heated debate over her friendship with Kouga. When did that become an issue anyway?

She stepped from the shower, dressed in a pair of somewhat faded blue jeans, a light green T-shirt, and a towel draped around her shoulders to keep the water from her hair off her back. She was running a brush through her damp hair when someone burst through the door. The girl had her charcoal colored hair pulled back into a ponytail with two main strands left down to frame her face. Her dark brown eyes sparkled with mischief as she bounced on the bed. Her jeans complemented the ones worn by Kagome, while her red tank top contrasted with the green.

"Hey, Sango."

"Hey. You ready yet?"

"No. I still have to load up Nilla, unless you did that already."

"Nope." Sango gave Kagome a smile, "I'll leave SOMETHING for you to do. The trailer's already hooked up. The tack is still in there from last time."

Kagome finished her hair and slipped a hair tie around her wrist. "Ok. Lets go." The two girls took off for the back door, racing through the living room on their way out.

Kagome was stopped by her mother angrily calling her name. "How many times do I have to tell you? No -"

Kagome interrupted Ms. Higurashi mid-sentence. "Running in the house. Sorry, mom, but me and Sango-" Her mom looked at her with a warning glance. "Sango and I, are running late, and we didn't want to make a bad first impression." Kagome smiled innocently at her mother.

"Fine. But next time you pull a stunt like this, I'll have Souta go for you."

"Aw, mom," Kagome cringed ,"not Souta. It'll be the death of us all for sure!" From another room, the two could here his I heard that! complaint.

"No matter. You get the idea. Now hurry along or you WILL be late." Kagome gave her mom a quick hug then ran out the door. Ms. Higurashi was about to say something but thought the better of it. I'll let her slip this ONE time, she thought.

Once outside, Kagome grabbed the nearest lead rope and proceeded towards the trailer. She raised both her hands, stuck both her pinkies in her mouth and let loose a sharp whistle. Nilla pricked her head up from the patch of grass she was eating and trotted towards her owner. She butted her head against Kagome's leg once she reached her destination, looking for treats. "Sorry, girl." Kagome clipped the rope onto Nilla's halter, "not right now." Nilla let out a discontent sigh as she followed Kagome up the ramp and in the trailer. After backing out of the side door, Kagome gave a quick "lets go" to Sango and jumped into the passenger side of the red Chevy truck.

"So," questioned Sango. "Why were you so late getting up this morning? Aren't you supposed to be the early bird?"

Kagome ignored the sarcasm of the last question and started on the story of her pervious night. "I kind of figured that he did it because we don't spend as much time together as we used to."

Sango nodded her head, eyes still on the road. "I agree with you. You haven't seen him in a while. I know you two are busy and all, but, can you really find no time to hang out? I can't remember the last time we all went to see a movie or something together."

"I know. I'm just so busy with school and all. Plus, my mom says that I should really be spending more time with people of my own status. Don't get me wrong, she likes Kouga, but, she thinks I'm, too good for him."

Sango let the subject drop. Now was not the time to get on THAT particular subject. She wanted Kagome to focus more on her interview. But, she had to lift her friend's spirits first.

"Hey, how 'bout this. Lets all go to a movie or something sometime this summer. We can invite Kouga, Ayame, and anyone else you want to go. It'll be fun, and it'll give us a chance to, one, meet Ayame, and two, hang out like old times."

Kagome nodded her head; it was a great idea. First of all, because, after all his talk, Kouga had yet to introduce them to Ayame. And secondly because she REALLY wanted to hang out with her friends again. And she would do that no matter what her mom said.

End 3

THANKS! Sorry if it's going a little slowly at the minute. IT WILL GET BETTER! But, gotta set the stage! Ya know?

PLZ REVIEW! I have yet to know how I'm doing with this story 'cuz no one's reviewing! Oh well. I'm going to keep at it though because I have most of this story already written down. So, KEEP READING! It WILL get better, I PROMISE!