Chapter Two: Can't I Get Your Number?

"I wonder if my roommate's home," Kagome said as the two of them reached the door to Kagome's building. "Do you wanna come up and see my room?"

"Sure. I don't have another class until noon."

"Okay!" The two started up the stairs. "I think my roommate's on the softball team, actually."

"What's her name?"

"Ayame. She has long red hair; you can't miss her."

"Oh, I think I did meet her once. She's very…enthusiastic."

"Sounds like her. Here's my floor." The two exited the stairwell, and Kagome unlocked the door nearest to the stairs to reveal a decently-sized room with a single bed on each side. She dropped her backpack next to her desk and hopped up onto the bed to the right, which had pastel pink sheets, frilly pink pillow cases, and a thick pink comforter.

Sango sat down in Kagome's desk chair. "Nice place."

"Thanks. I do want to get new sheets, though. Those are from my room at home. Oh and I want some posters for the walls and maybe a new desk lamp."

"My room is kind of bland right now, too. I've been meaning to order some combat technique posters."

"At least Ayame has some posters up." Kagome gestured to the opposite wall, which displayed a large poster of a wolf howling at the moon and a framed certificate that looked like some kind of award from high school softball. Neither Kagome nor Sango could read it from their side of the room. "Do you have a roommate?"

"I live in a quad with three other girls, but I don't know any of them very well. Two of them, Botan and Momiji, have been best friends for ages, and the other one, Kagura, usually keeps to herself. At least I have my own room."

"Well you're always welcome to hang out here!" Kagome offered gleefully.

Sango smiled. "Thank you. I'm hoping to make some new friends this semester. I didn't really meet anyone last year, since classes were online."

"I think I saw a flyer for a party thing happening tonight out on the lawn, do you think you'll go?"

"Oh, I didn't know about that. Sounds like a good way to meet new people."

The doorknob turned, startling the two, and in walked a short-ish woman with long red hair done up in two high pigtails. "Hey, Kagome!" she greeted her cheerfully. She looked at Sango. "You look…familiar."

"I'm on the softball team," Sango replied.

"Oh! I remember you now. Well I just got back from breakfast." She shut the door behind her and set her bag on the floor, then sat backwards in her desk chair, facing the other two girls. "They had these mini muffins that were so good; I ate like twelve of them."

"Oh, shoot, I forgot to eat breakfast!" Kagome exclaimed. "I knew I was forgetting something." She aggressively unzipped a pouch in her backpack and pulled out a granola bar.

"It's almost eleven, I think I'm gonna head to lunch soon," Sango commented. "You're welcome to join me, Kagome."

"Oh, thank you, I actually have a class at eleven and then work right after that, so I probably won't get to lunch until around 4:30 if I factor in the amount of time it takes to walk to the dining hall and how tired I'll probably be."

Sango checked the time on her phone. "You should probably get going to class, Kagome. It starts in six minutes."

"Huh? Shit!" Kagome rushedly zipped up her bag and practically flew out the door. "See you later, Sango!" she yelled as she fled down the stairs.

"I should get going too," Sango said to Ayame. "But it was nice to see you again."

"You too," Ayame replied, munching on a mini muffin that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. "I'll see you at practice."

As Sango exited the building and walked toward the dining hall, she spotted Miroku talking to another student. She didn't intend to say anything, but he spotted her.

"Sango!" he called out, completely disregarding the student with whom he had been making conversation.

"Oh, it's you again."

He began walking beside her. "Don't you remember my name? It's okay if you forgot. It's Miroku."

"Thanks for the reminder," she said dully.

"I actually just ran into Kagome a minute ago."

"Oh, yeah, she was rushing to class. You didn't happen to get her number, did you? I forgot to ask for it when I was with her just now."

"I did, actually, but she was in such a rush she just handed me this card." He held up a small paper rectangle with words printed on it:

Kagome Higurashi
Freshman
(774) 378-3772

Sango chuckled and entered the number in her contacts. "Thanks."

"No problem. Do you want my number, too?"

"Oh, sure."

"It's (532) 437-6876."

"Cool."

"Could I get yours?"

"No."

"Why not? I just gave you mine."

"Because I've watched you get the numbers of every woman you see on campus, and I'm not going to be just another one of your little conquests."

"No, no, I assure you, I just want your number because we're in the same class, not because I'm attracted to you or anything like that."

"Yeah, right. I'm sure that's why you got all those other women's numbers, too."

"Hey, some of them were men!"

Sango rolled her eyes.

"I'll get it anyway when you text me," Miroku reasoned.

"What makes you think I'm going to text you?"

They walked in silence for a moment.

"So, where are you headed?" Miroku asked.

"Just the dining hall. I don't have another class until noon."

"Me too, what are the odds? What class?"

"Uh, English 102, I think."

"I think we're in the same class."

"Oh." The two reached the dining hall.

"Would you like to eat lunch together?"

Sango pondered the opportunity for a moment. She didn't have anyone else to eat lunch with, and making a new friend was a nice idea, but then again, she'd already seen Miroku flirting with multiple different students in the short time she'd been on campus, and she didn't exactly like the idea of hanging around someone like him, at least not alone.

"Sure, we can sit together." She spotted Inuyasha standing in line and joined behind him. Miroku followed. "Hey, Inuyasha."

He turned around. "Who said that? Oh, it's you from class. What do you want?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with Miroku and I."

"Keh, I'm fine eating on my own, thanks."

"Come on, we should get to know each other, since we're in the same class," Sango pressed.

"I guess." Inuyasha grabbed some food and set it down on a nearby four-person table next to a window. "Sit with me if you want, I don't care."

"He's friendly," Miroku commented sarcastically to Sango.

"I'm sure he'll warm up."

Sango sat down next to Inuyasha, and Miroku sat across from her. Inuyasha was only one bite into his ramen when he noticed someone across the room, someone who made his cheeks turn a delicate shade of pink. Sango noticed and looked in the same direction to see a young woman, likely a student, who wore a white sweater paired with bright red flared jeans. She had waist-length black hair in a long ponytail with straight-across bangs and porcelain skin that looked too smooth for this mortal plane. Sango subconsciously touched her own face to feel the bumps of acne on her forehead in comparison. The pale woman noticed Inuyasha, smiled ever so slightly, and continued filling up her drink cup.

"Who's she?" Sango asked Inuyasha.

"No one," he replied a bit too quickly.

"What are we talking about?" Miroku looked up from the salad his face was buried in.

"There's a woman over there who smiled at Inuyasha," Sango replied.

"Oooh, Inuyasha, who is she?" Miroku turned to look at her.

"Don't make it obvious!" Sango objected, grabbing Miroku's shoulder to get him to turn back around but retracting it as soon as he did, then hiding her blush in her ramen.

"She's gorgeous," Miroku commented. "Maybe I should go talk to her."

"Don't you dare," Inuyasha grumbled.

"Why shouldn't I? Unless you two have something going on, Inuyasha?"

"Alright, fine. Her name's Kikyo. We used to go out."

"Maybe you should go say hi, Inuyasha," Sango suggested. "She looked like she wanted you to."

"I don't know. We haven't spoken in a year. She dumped me when she went off to college. I guess she didn't consider the possibility that I could end up going to the same one." He slurped up a pile of noodles.

"Ah, so she is single," Miroku said with a smrk.

"As if she'd ever go for the likes of you."

"And who is that beautiful creature next to her?" Miroku inquired. Sango rolled her eyes.

Kikyo now stood near the drink station talking to another student who had equally long black hair but without the bangs or the ponytail.

"That's Midoriko. She's, uh, a little scary."

Before he could finish his sentence, Miroku was already halfway across the room.

"He's gonna get his ass kicked," Inuyasha commented. Sango watched intently.

"Oh, hey, Miroku," Midoriko greeted him before he could say a word.

"You know my name?" he asked, startled. Maybe she was a little scary.

"Of course I do; we're in the same major." She noticed his confused expression. "We had a class together last semester? We stayed up all night talking on the phone the day before the exam?"

"Oh, right, how silly of me. I could never forget a woman as beautiful as yourself."

Midoriko frowned. "Right. Well, I have a class to get to. See you later, Kikyo." She walked off, leaving Kikyo holding her cup of lemonade.

Miroku turned to her. "And your name is?"

"Kikyo," she replied.

"What a pretty name. Say, would you like to sit with me and my friends over there?" He gestured to the table where Inuyasha was practically hiding in his ramen bowl. Sango gave a half-assed wave.

Kikyo made eye contact with Inuyasha briefly, then turned to Miroku. "I'm actually just finishing up my lunch, but maybe another time." She waved to him, then to Inuyasha before walking away.

Miroku strutted back to the table. "That was a success."

"Surprised you didn't ask for her number," Sango commented, finishing her burger.

"Well, I wouldn't disrespect Inuyasha like that. He clearly has some unresolved feelings for her."

"I do not!" Inuyasha shouted back at him, defensively.

"Well, in that case, I might as well go back and ask before she leaves the dining hall."

"Don't you dare, Miroku." Inuyasha stood up, his bowl completely empty.

"Leaving so soon?"

"While you were over there flirting, we finished eating," Sango replied, gesturing to her empty tray.

"I was investigating, not flirting."

Sango rolled her eyes and stood up, but Miroku grabbed her wrist lightly, causing her to blush for a moment before angrily yanking her arm away.

"Please stay, Sango! Don't make me eat my lunch all alone."

She huffed and sat back down. "Fine. But you sit here and talk to me as a friend; no more flirting."

"Fine, fine."

"Well I'm leaving," Inuyasha asserted. "Gotta go buy groceries for my mom."

"Well it was nice to hang out with you," Sango responded as he walked off.

Inuyasha raised his hand in a wave but said nothing as he exited and made his way down the walkway towards the major road on the edge of campus. He put on his headphones and pulled out his phone to navigate to his music app. Just as he selected a song, his right foot left the safety of the sidewalk just as a bus came speeding toward him.

((Hiya! Sorry it took me so long to update (I hope I don't start saying that a lot); I've just been busy. I think the only note I have is that I chose the phone numbers bc of words related to the characters that are spelled out by the numbers, so ignore the area codes, they mean nothing, but if you can decode the numbers feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think they mean ;) Also, to reiterate, I'm always open to suggestions, so feel free to give me some in a review! I have a lot of ideas for this story but I don't quite know where the plot will go yet. However, I don't need tips on my writing; this story is just for fun, so no criticism please, just suggestions. Thanks for reading!