A/N - Sorry for the long wait, I've been waiting for a month for someone who said that they would beta read for me to send back this chapter; they never did so I did my best, enjoy.

Chapter 3

Problems in Paradise

Kagome stood resting her hands on the podium in the front entrance of a fancy Italian restaurant looking slightly harassed as she looked through the ledger in front of her. She had been on the phone with this 'gentlemen' for half an hour; he didn't seem to understand that they were booked for large partied through the next three months. As far as she could tell he had offered her anything short of a Roils Royce to get a table for twelve in the next three days. Looking up from her ledger her eyes scanned the room trying to figure out a way to fit his party into the main dining hall, not that she would accept his bribe, but the restaurant policy require her to make the attempt. The dining hall had a gilded appearance, it was really quite breath taking; the high ceiling painted in an angel motif supported by gold colored carved columns. The raised area to her right, sectioned off by a gilded rail and a short flight of stairs, held all the tables for two, small round tables with a gold and white table cloths adorned with a red rose in a turned glass vase, two ivory candle sticks, gold trimmed crystal goblets, and red cloth napkins holding the gold silverware. She sighed, there wasn't any way she could get the in there. Turing her attention to the center of the room, she looked for a way to fit the party into the center hall, the larger round tables in the middle wouldn't be any good, they didn't want to be separated. Along the back wall was the only place that held square tables, granted, the banquet halls residing behind the doors on the left and back walls would be ideal, but there wasn't any way to get his party in.

She looked down to her seating charts for the next few days, this didn't help, of the six tables she couldn't find a time that had enough open for her to use them, even if she called and asked to change other guests reservation times. 'Arrogant, pompous, jerk.' she thought silently still appraising the ledger, 'Guy's like him think everything should just bend to their will.' She clenched her delicate hands into fists. 'Just like him.' She shook those thoughts out of her head, it wouldn't do her any good to get herself so worked up; it could even cost her. Being a hostess in an upscale restaurant she was expected to act in a way outlined at the start of her employment, she wasn't allowed to argue or be rude to the customers in any way.

She picked up the cordless phone and spoke in a calm collected tone, "Sir, I'm sorry but there doesn't seem to be any way that I'll be able to fit you in. If you would like you may leave your number and if we have a party cancel we can set you up with a table at that time." It wasn't likely that one of the dining halls was going to open, but at least she could pass him off to the dinner host.

"What a useless bitch." She heard softly over the receiver, then a louder voice. "Very well, my number is 555 – 7756, and I expect that the next person I talk to be the manager apologizing for your behavior." She heard the click of his phone and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. She couldn't help but feel she should have expected something like this to happen, guys like them always came in pairs. She looked over at her manager, he was a nice man, a bit portly, but nice all the same. She saw his slightly grayed mustache twitch as he held back a smile at her annoyance.

He had overheard the situation and seen how she had handled it, she never ceased to amaze him; she had the patients of a saint. He had been hard pressed to find someone for the hostess position before she waltzed in the door; he had had to fire seven people in the three months period after the elderly man who had held the position for many years retired. She was his savior from the endless paperwork, she had been working for him for two years, and she deserved a raise. "Ms. Higarashi, I just want to tell you…" He was cut off by the phone. She gave him an apologetic smile as she picked up the phone and gave the well rehearsed lines.

"Sorry to bother you miss, but I need to speak with a Kagome Higarashi." All traces of a smile slid from her features.

"This is she, what is this regarding?" 'Who would be calling me at work?'

The reply came quickly from the dull, drab female voice in her ear. "This is Mrs. Anderson, vice principal of Sunrise High School, I'm calling about your son, Kojuro Higarashi. He and his friends got into a fight in the school parking lot, they aren't seriously injured, but I must ask that you come in and escort him home, all the other students' parents have also been notified."

"It should be obvious that I'm working right now, so I'm not free to rush over there." She frowned, "Besides if school was over why are you detaining him?" She shook her head lightly trying, and failing, to comprehend the woman's logic.

"He was still on the school's premises, so he is still in violation of our rules." Her curtness was grating Kagome's nerves; she didn't have time for this.

"I don't get off for another two hours; what do you expect me to do?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but that's not my problem. Your son will not be allowed to leave without a parent or guardian present."

Kagome sighed. "I'll do what I can." She hung up the phone, and turned to her manager who was still standing in front of her listening to her conversation. She opened her mouth but he immediately cut her off.

"Go." She gave him an indignant look, "I'll cover the end of your shift. You've worked here for two years in which time you have never been late, never called in sick, and never left early. If anyone here deserves a break, you do." She smiled a small smile at his approval.

"Thank you sir and I promise this won't happen again." She grabbed her purse from the shelf under the podium and walked over to the time clock pulling out her employee I.D. card.

Before she could swipe her card her manager walked up behind her. "Also, I would like to see you first thing tomorrow." He saw her become ridged, he knew why; it was the same line he gave before he fired an employee. "Nothing bad, I just want to speak with you." He saw her relax and fought off a laugh as she clocked out. She was his best employee, and she seemed to he was only biding his time before getting rid of her.

She turned to face him, "Goodbye sir, and thank you for letting me go early."

"Think nothing of it Ms. Higarashi." He smiled as he watched her, muttering to herself, walk out the front door towards the parking lot. His voice softly echoed his thoughts, "Such a beautiful woman…"

'Kojuro, what were you thinking?' Kagome thought as she pulled out the keys to her car. She climbed into the car a sped off towards the school, 'I hope he's happy now, I had to leave work early and missed out on two hours pay and tips.' She frowned, she didn't want to let out all her anger on the drive down, she needed to save it to yell at her son. She knew it was useless, she just couldn't stay mad at him, all he had to do was give her 'the eyes' and he could get away with murder; in her eyes at least.

Luckily, for Kagome at least, the restaurant wasn't very far from the school. So within a few minutes she was pulling into the students' parking lot of her son's school. She took a deep breath, preparing to meet with the vice principal and other parents. She couldn't help but wonder who had started the fight, she hoped it wasn't Kojuro, she didn't want him turning into his father, or getting into a fight with more than just fists involved. Looking across the parking lot she could see several other parents arriving to claim their children, she recognized Allen and Scott's parents from the few occasions when they had met, but the others she had never seen before. 'Just how big was this fight?' She was bewildered; she had only expected one or two other sets of parents, not four.

Wondering what kind of trouble her son had gotten him self into she exited the car and walked up the grass lined walkway into the main office. The high counters, excellence posters, and elderly faculty, made her feel as though she was back in high school her self. Illogically feeling as though she was the one in trouble and not her son, she approached the counter and spoke to the elderly woman behind it. "Excuse me, Miss?"

The woman looked up from her paperwork and squinted at Kagome through thick glasses. "Yes, how can I help you?" Her voice was weary with age, yet rough, like sandpaper. Kagome held back a wince, the odd combination in her voice increasing Kagome's ill ease.

"I got a call from Mrs. Anderson about…" She began, but the woman cut her off.

The woman's voice took on a hard edge. "Through the door," she pointed at a door behind Kagome. "…and to the right. They're waiting for you." She immediately turned back to her paperwork.

"Thank you." The woman took no notice of Kagome's curt reply. Turning she walked through the door the woman had indicated, and found six teens sitting on the rows of seats lining the walls lining either side of the vice principal's secretary's office. She recognized Allen and Scott sitting between their parents arguing, she saw three other students sitting on the other side of the room one arguing with his father, another sitting silently between his parents, the third made her stop and draw breath in shock, he looked almost exactly like him, and sporting a black eye and split lip. His parents hadn't arrived yet; she didn't want to be here when they did, no sense chancing they were who she thought. She looked back to her right, her son sat a few seats away from his friends, sporting a fat lip, a cut above his left eye, his shirt torn, and bloodied knuckles. Her eyes softened from their analytical evaluation, his head hung in what she could only assume was defeat, she didn't like to see him upset; it always broke her heart.

She sat down in the seat next to him and waited for him to acknowledge her, she knew he would tell her what had happened in his own time; it was just his way. She saw several of the other parents look her way when their children indicated her son to them; she really wished she knew what had happened. As if reading her thoughts, her son's voice softly broke through their circle of silence, "He nearly hit us." It was soft spoken but clear to her ears. "I was so tired of him, running around like he owns our school." Her brow furrowed in question but she didn't interrupt, nor did he look at her; his eyes were glued to the floor. "I don't know what came over me, one minute I'm joking with my friends, then, next thing I know I'm picking a fight with him; Allen and Scott by my side ready to back me up." He sighed, "We started at it, then two of his friends," he nodded in the direction of the two boys she didn't know sitting with their parents. "Try and jump me from behind; that's when Allen and Scott got involved. They pulled his friends away from us as we continued to fight, until the teachers came out and broke us all up."

He sighed and finally looked at his mom, "I'm sorry Oka-san, I know you don't want me fighting, I don't know what came over me." He gave her those sad puppy eyes; he wasn't trying to get off without punishment, he just wanted to get the look of disappointment off her face.

It worked like a charm, a sad smile appeared on her features, "You got caught up in the moment; I can understand that. But what I don't get…"

She was cut off as another woman entered the room, her designer clothes and perfectly manicured nails indicating that she rarely associated with anything less than the upper class of society. Her long straight black hair flared out behind her as she turned her head toward the remaining teen, "Inutashio, we're leaving. They have no right to hold you here." She spoke loudly over the hushed conversations of the other families, loud enough to get the vice principals attention.

Kojuro saw his mother's face take on a look of unadulterated hatred; he'd never seen her this angry with anyone before; he didn't understand. He was about to ask her what was wrong when she spoke, "Well, well, well, if it isn't Kikyou; still think you're better than everyone else, and teaching you son to do the same I see." Kojuro gaped at her, but quickly shut his mouth when it agitated his split lip. He saw his friends looking at him in confusion and he shrugged; their guess was as gook as his, he had never seen his mom act like this.

The woman, Kikyou, turned toward Kagome with a blank look, taking in her appearance. An evil smile crossed her features, "Why goodness me, 'The Cling', or, I guess now it's the shrine madden turned whore." Her sickly sweet voice turned Kojuro's stomach, he realized that he'd been right, this woman was a bitch. He could feel his blood beginning to boil again, no body spoke to his mom like that, no body. Before he could react he heard a similar sickly sweet voice from the seat next to him, warping a voice he knew all too well.

"A 'whore' you say?" She wore a false smile that could rot teeth, "This coming from a woman who slept with ninety percent of the guy's in high school." She paused relishing in the indignant look on the woman's face, she had waited years for this. "But, all that aside, do tell, why, if your son doesn't even go to this school, is he here so often? If he wants to go to public school so bad why don't you let him? He could be exactly like his father; you know, get some trashy gold-digger pregnant and marry her when she shows up with his kid." All wyes were now on the two women, even the vice principal's who had exited her office moments before.

All class forgotten, Kikyou balled her fists tightly, gritted her teeth, and ground out, "'Gold-digger'; did you just call me a 'gold-digger'?" There was fire in her eyes; Kagome's nonchalant shrug fueled her anger. "At least Inuyasha took responsibility for his son; unlike whatever shit paid you."

He was going to hit her, damn the chivalrous crap. He jumped from his seat; only to find her on the ground cradling her face with Inutashio by her side trying to help. His mother stood above them still lowering her fist, "Kojuro," she didn't take her eyes off Kikyou, her voice cold as ice. "Next time, kick his ass."

"Dude, your mom totally kicked her ass." Scott's awed admiration seemed to break the stupor that had befallen the gathering. Everyone turned their eyes to Kojuro looking for an explanation, he shrugged, he had absolutely no idea what was going on, his mother never acted like this.

Kagome broke out of her rage induced trance and looked guiltily around the room, a slight blush tinting her cheeks. Her eyes locked with the vice principals, "I'm sorry M…"

She was cut off by Kikyou, still on the floor and regaining her composure. "You should be sorry, you stupid bi…"

Kagome's eyes lowered back to Kikyou and she cut her off. "I wasn't apologizing to you."

Kikyou got back to her feet and glared at Kagome, "Well then we'll just have to see what my lawyer has to say about this." She stood up and walked to the door; Inutashio trailing behind her. Pulling the door open she turned to the vice principal, "Mrs. Anderson, if you try to hold my son here again I'm going to do everything in my power to ruin you." With that she stormed out of the office. Inutashio followed, after sending a glare at Kojuro, slamming the door behind him.

Kagome sighed, "Mrs. Anderson, I must apologize for my actions. This is far from my usual temperament. It's just that woman; she's always had a knack for rubbing me the wrong way, even when I had no idea who she was." She looked around at all the other eyes on her; no one spoke, so she continued, "I also owe all of you an apology. I'm sorry you had to see that." The parents looked at each other, she knew what they were thinking; they were atoning Kojuro's actions to her 'bad influence.'

After a few moments of furtive muttering from the families Kagome was getting irritated. In a calm collected voice she spoke again to the vice principal, "Is there anything else? Or, are we free to take out children home?"

Mrs. Anderson, who had been staring at Kagome, blinked a couple of times; seeming to just realize that she had been the one to call them all here. "A-ah, yes," She stuttered trying to gain control of herself. "Yes, well I just need to inform you all that, for fighting on school property, all students involved will be receiving a month's detention." Her secretary handed her a file, "I just need your signatures on these forms, then you're all free to go." She handed out the papers in the file to their respective students. Receiving the needed signatures she handed them back to her secretary who began filing them. "Thank you. It was nice meeting you all." She retreated into her office, still looking slightly out of it.

Nothing else was said as the families left the office and walked out to their respective cars. Kojuro watched his mom as they got into their car, deciding now was as good a time as any, he asked her the question that had been running through his head since her little display, "What was that about?"

She didn't answer for a moment as she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Then, in a resigned voice, she began. "I knew her in high school, we were on opposite ends of the social ladder, her 'the popular' and I the 'looser'." She took a deep breath, "While we should have had the typical minimal interaction, I happened to be friends with her boyfriends friends. I thought he was an as… a jerk, she thought I was trying to steal him from her. He didn't care whether his friends were friends with me or not, to my amazement he even defended my friendship with them; which lead to the argument that caused them to break up.

"The next few months were touchier for me, I guess she figured if she got rid of me then they would get back together. Then she just vanished, she was gone for the rest of the school year and part of the next. When she came back she immediately started back onto her old tactics, picking on me and trying to get him back. "She closed her eyes but reopened them quickly, as much as she wanted to block the memories, she didn't want to kill them. "I over heard her tell him that she'd had his kid and that she wanted them to be a family. She finally got everything she ever wanted, he married her, I got shoved out of the picture, my boyfriend, your father, left me for someone else, and I was miserable." She glanced at her son out of the corner of her eye; he seemed to be concentrating on what she was saying. She sighed, "That's what that was about; just bad blood from high school."

Kojuro was silent for a moment still thinking about what she told him. She was leaving something out, he knew it, he just didn't know what. "So, you knew 'the Hayou' in high school, you were friends with his friends, and she didn't like that." He looked at her as they turned into the trailer park they lived in. "But how did that cause my father to break up with you?"

She stiffened; she hadn't meant to say that. Pulling into the driveway she relaxed, "It doesn't matter, it's in the past.' Getting out of the car she opened the front door and went inside leaving Kojuro in the car.

He knew that was the end of it, she wasn't going to tell him anything more. He sighed getting out of the can and headed into their home. Opening the door he turned back looking at the late afternoon sun, 'I'm missing something, and I have a feeling it's staring me in the face.'

"Kojuro, are you trying to air condition the city? Come inside and close the door." Kagome called from inside, "We still have your punishment to discuss."

Kojuro winced as he closed the door, he didn't want to discuss punishment. 'Isn't a month's detention punishment enough?' He sat on their shabby couch across from his mother on the mismatched loveseat and waited for her to speak; he didn't have to wait long.

She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, "You know that I don't approve of fighting, and as much as I would like to ground you until you're eighteen, my behavior today won't allow me to. Therefore, I'm going to have to do something less extreme." She took on a thoughtful expression, "But first, let me clean that cut, I know you don't want a scar on your forehead," she paused and smirked, "I might have to start calling you Harry."

Kojuro laughed as Kagome walked into the kitchen to get their first aid kit, she didn't crack jokes often, and when she did they were rarely funny; but there was just something funny about her comparing him to the main character of one of her favorite book series. He was glad that she still had a scene of humor, she'd had a hard life because of his father, and he hated the man for that. It didn't really matter to him that the man had never been there for him, just that he'd made his mother suffer. She was disowned by her family and friends, forced to drop out of school, which, as far as he could tell, she loved, and had to get a job, all at the age of fifteen. He could remember back when he was little, she'd been so depressed, her small smiles she gave mow were equivalent to any other person rolling on the floor with laughter. As his mother reentered the room with their first aid kit, the neutral expression back on her face, he wondered what she thought of him. All he knew of the man was that he was inu youki, and she hadn't even needed to tell him that. He had figured that out for him self; that is of course once he realized that not everyone looked different at night. This was the other thing he hated his father for, the traits of a hayou inu youki.

Kagome laughed softly at his disgruntled face, she had tried to teach him to accept himself for who he is, but he always seemed to disregard her attempts. She hoped that his band would help him see that it wasn't a curse, though it was a double edged sword, all performances were going to be at night in his hayou form. People he knew would probably think he was dressing up to look like 'The Hayou,' and be cruel about it; after all, it isn't normal for peoples' form to change every night.' She didn't want to think about it, it was his choice and he would have to deal with it how he saw fit. The bemusement fell from her face, "Don't think I'll forget about your punishment."

"Of not course. You never forget anything." He pouted, "Why are you going to punish me anyway? I didn't do anything that you didn't." Looking her in the eye he saw them steel over.

"Keep up the attitude Kojuro and I'll cancel your birthday party." A look of dawning came across his face, she laughed inwardly. 'He forgot his own birthday; poor kid.' "What, did you forget your sixteenth birthday? Or, were you planning on staying fifteen forever?"

"I didn't forget," he replied quickly, his voice slightly higher than normal. "I-I-I just didn't think you would do something that mean." 'She's not gonna' buy it. How the hell could I forget my own birthday? Especially after she told me she had something special planed.' This was going to be his first true party; usually it was just his mom, him, a small cake, and a few presents. He just hoped she didn't set it up as to much of a kid's party.

"You're right, I won't. But, what I am going to do is not let Alicia and Valerie come and give you their gifts, I never thought they were appropriate and now I have a reason to not allow them."

Kojuro blushed slightly, he knew what kind of 'gifts' those two gave; and, while it was great that he could have college girls hanging all over him, the fact that they were work friends with his mother kind of spoiled it. That and they liked physical contact even when just talking to him, or any other guy they liked, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was shy where girls were concerned, "So that's gonna' be my punishment; sounds fair." He tried and failed to keep the relief he felt out of his voice and off his face.

Kagome looked directly into Kojuro's eyes, 'Can I even call it a punishment if he's relieved?' He didn't hold her gaze; his eyes fell to the floor. 'I wonder what he's thinking about. I'm sure he realizes he isn't actually getting punished, maybe he feels guilty about it.' A yawn escaped her, 'Oh well, no time to ponder now. I need some sleep.' "Are you hungry?"

Kojuro gave her a strange look thrown off by her seemingly random change of topic. "No, I'm good." He saw her yawn, and smiled at her, "Go to bed Oka-chan. You don't have to worry about me; I can feed myself."

She gave him a tired but thoughtful look, "You know; you're right… Maybe you should start making me breakfast."

"Not if you want to survive it," his voice was dead serious, and then he smiled. "Or, I can make you ramen."

Sighing she stood up and started toward her room, "You and your unhealthy obsession with ramen." He started laughing, "I'm serious Kojuro, all that processed garbage is going to reek havic with your stomach one day." Shaking her head at her son's continued laughter she entered her room.

'A nice hot shower and then bed,' she thought as she pulled a rove and a pair of pajamas out of a dresser drawer. Stripping off her clothes she threw them in the hamper and pulled on her robe, it would be a bad idea for her to enter the bathroom in her birthday suit; not when she had to share it with her son. She knocked on her door to the bathroom, she figured that he probably wasn't in there but after that time she walked in on him in there, they decided to always knock before entering.

Starting the shower to let the water heat, she began cleaning off the counter, 'Amazing, I can get him to keep his room clean but I never could break his habit of trashing the bathroom.' She sighed, as much as she loved her son, all she wanted right now was a bathroom of her own; one she didn't need to clean before using. Hanging her robe on the back of the door she stepped into the stream of hot water, letting it wash away the stress of the day. 'Maybe Kojuro's right. Maybe I do work to hard, but if I don't then I'd be hard pressed to get the money for college when we need it. I could get it from his father, Kami-sama knows he has enough, but he doesn't even know about Kojuro; he'd probably try to take him away from me, I couldn't handle that.' Taking a deep breath she watched a rivulet of water run across her bare skin, 'I've put myself on display, through both my jobs I'm getting indecent looks from men, and unlike other girls I work with, I don't like it; he wouldn't like it either.' She sighed, 'Why an I worrying about this now? This is my time to relax.'

Silencing her mind she finished her shower put on her pajamas and lay down in bed with a towel still wrapped around her hair. 'I wonder what's taking him so long to reply. All I want is one little critique, and here it is four months later, with only two weeks to go and I still don't have it.' She pulled the covers tightly to her chest. 'T should have known he wouldn't do it, he doesn't care enough; it was just a game to him. It's either that or she intercepts his mail. Either way I need to start thinking about what else I can get Kojuro, I can't leave him with nothing.' She yawned, 'Oh well, I'll have to think about it tomorrow, right now I need some sleep.' Burrowing deeper into her covers she quickly drifted off to sleep.

Kojuro stood from the couch and stretched, wincing slightly as he pulled what he was sure was a developing burse on his chest. 'I can't believe I'm not grounded. It's just too good to be true.' He walked over to the phone, 'I'm so stupid, forgetting my own birthday. I didn't even remember long enough to invite people, how's it going to be any different than any other year if nobody shows up. Besides, Oka-san has to work that night so she won't even be there, it'd be depressing sitting here alone on my birthday.' Picking up the receiver he began to dial Allen's number, 'I hope they aren't in to much trouble, I really don't want us to miss our first gig; and I know Allen will sneak out to go if he has to.' He finished dialing and listened to the line ring.

"Hello, Smith residence." Said a woman's voice over the phone, she sounded a little angry to him, and me started regretting calling.

"Hi Mrs. Smith, it's Kojuro; I was wondering if I could talk to Allen for a moment, not long, I just need to ask him one question." He paused a moment waiting for a reply. After a moment's silence he continued, not wanting to be hung up on. "I could just ask you if you prefer, since he would just have to ask you anyway."

"That's acceptable, what do you want?"

'She's defiantly angry.' He put on his sweetest most innocent voice. "I just wanted to know if he'll be allowed to come to my birthday party, it's not for another two weeks, and I know he's probably grounded and everything but, it would mean a lot to me if you would allow him to come."

"We'll see. But, for now, he isn't allowed to use the phone or talk to his friends, more specifically, you. Good-bye Kojuro."

"Alright thank you Mrs. Smith. I truly appr…" He heard a dial tone in his ear. "She hung up on me." He stated to his own disbelief, granted she had never really liked him, she thought he was a bad influence on her precious baby boy, but she had always liked him better than Allen's other friends. 'Oh well, I guess I could call Scott and ask him now. I just hope his parents are a little less angry.'

Picking the phone back up he dialed Scott's cell number, he didn't expect an answer, but if he could avoid his parents he was going to. After two rings there was an answer, "S'up Dude?" It was unmistakably Scott and he didn't seem to be grounded, seeing as he still had his phone.

"You aren't grounded? How'd you swing that?" Disbelief filled Kojuro's voice.

A laugh was heard through the phone, "Naw, I ain't grounded, Pop's proud that I 'stood up to a bully.' Hell he wanted to raise my allowance, Ma' wouldn't let him though." Scott sighed, "But, s' cool, at least I'm not grounded. Speakin' of which, ain't you grounded? We all know what your Ma' thinks of fightin'"

"Yeah I know what you mean. I'm surprised I'm not grounded till I'm eighteen, which is what I think was her original plan, but she said she couldn't do it because she got into a fight less than an hour after ours. All she ended up doing was forbidding two of her friends from giving me their gifts and tha…"

"Dude! Her friends? From work? Which ones, was it the two who wore the G-string bikinis to my pool party?"

Kojuro sighed, 'I never should have taken them to that.' "Yeah, and they do have names you know, they're Alicia and Valerie. But she doesn't approve of them spending too much time with me you know."

The disappointment in Scotts voice made Kojuro gape, "Damn, they probably would of given you some great gifts Dude."

Kojuro was glad that Scott couldn't see him at the moment; his face had gone quite red. "Yeah I suppose they do."

Scott laughed, "Oh, I forgot, you ain't no good with girls, you get all mumbly and shit. Dude, you need to get over that; once Demonic becomes famous you're gonna' have girls hanging all over you twenty-four seven. And, Dude, if you don't put out, they gonna' start thinking you're gay."

Kojuro's face became even redder, "I'm not gay."

"I know that Dude but they won't, and you're gonna' need to show them that." Kojuro could hear the wide smile in his 'friends' voice, "What, you gonna' save it for the wedin' night. A man needs to get laid, he will die without it."

"Our priorities are different Scott, you want sex and I just want to play." He paused, "So you going to come to my party or what?"

The line was quiet for a moment as Scott pretended to think it over, "Sure Dude, I'll be there."

Kojuro smiled relieved to be off the sensitive topic, 'Kami-sama, I am a mama's boy.' "Cool, it's at my house in two weeks, don't forget."

"I won't, I'm not the one who forgets important things that would be you."

"Well if you're done picking on me I'm gonna' go. And if you get a chance see if you can talk Allen's parents into letting him come."

"Will do Dude. See you at school tomorrow?"

Kojuro smirked, "You say that like I'm the one who ditches class."

"Well I can always try to get you to join me can't I?"

"Try and never succeed." Kojuro sighed, "I'll see you tomorrow Scott, and don't ditch the teachers are going to be looking for an excuse to expel us now."

"Alright, Alright, I won't ditch tomorrow, and I'll see you in school. Later Dude."

"Later." Hanging up the phone Kojuro walked toward his room, 'I don't have any home work so I might as well get some practice in.' He pulled a box from under his bed, the one place his mother never looked, and opened it. It was full of old photos and stuff he had found in a box his mom had thrown away years ago, he didn't know who all the people in pictures were, but he assumed they were her family. He picked up what looked like a family portrait; there was an old man wearing a shrine robes in the back along with a reserved quiet looking woman in an apron in front of them stood a young boy and the only person he recognized, his mother. He guessed this was taken just before 'the incident,' as he preferred to call it, she looked to be around his age.

'I'll become famous, that will show them. Then I'll track them down and rub it in their faces, they'll be sorry they did that to mom.' He didn't hold any ill will for himself, he had never even met them, they never got the chance to hurt him; but he sure as hell wasn't going to let them be happy about what they did to his mother, they'd enjoyed it long enough.

He trough the picture back into the box and pulled out a cassette tape, the thing was ancient, but it worked like it was nearly new. 'She must not have listened to this often; it'd be all warped if she had. I wonder if my father gave it to her. If he did I wonder how he got 'The Hayou' to sing it for him.' He put the tape into his walkman and rewound it while unplugging his guitar from his amplifier, he didn't want to wake his mom up after all; she'd had a bad day.

Playing the tape he strummed along with his guitar, trying to recreate the tune; he'd been trying for years, so far he had gotten through the song without error only twice. As the words started he sang along softly, it was kind of sad when he listened to the lyrics, the man was begging for forgiveness, and basically saying that she is his reason for living. 'He was never granted forgiveness, if he was he'd be here now, I wouldn't have grown up without a father.'

When the song ended he pulled the tape out and stared at it. He had all 'The Hayou's' albums, even some stuff that had never been released, but this song was no where among his collection, it only existed on this tape. From the sound of it, it was recorded in someone's garage, and, if it was a message from his father, it was made when 'The Hayou' was his age, making it likely one of a kind. He liked to think about it that way, he had something no one else had or ever would have, the one and only recording of a song by 'The Hayou' from before he was famous. 'I wonder how much people would pay for this, it's old and a bad recording, but it's also one of a kind.' He saw the scrawled writing on the label, it had only one word and was the reason he could never sell it. There in what he assumed was his father's writing was his mother's name, the tape was hers, no matter who has it, it belongs to her.

'Her name might just increase the value, it's the only thing that has been found that doesn't have 'Kikyou's' name on it. It would introduce the idea of a love affair between them.' He laughed lightly to himself, 'She said herself she thinks he's an ass.' Sighing at the thought of the money they could get for the one thing he knew he could never sell, he put it back in the box, picked his guitar and began playing a few of the songs they would be playing in the gig. 'Wait, the gig is tonight,' he thought almost frantically 'Assuming Allen's parents let him out of the house. Damn, Scott's right; I am the one who forgets important things.' Getting up from his bed he replaced the box beneath his bed and began preparing for the gig.

A/N - It is probably going to be a while untill I can update again, I haven't had any time to write. Forgive me I'm working 7 days a week and taking college classes, well failing them anyways, and I don't have any time to think let alone wright. Any way I appoligize.