Chapter 2

Girl's Troubles

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Kagome flopped onto her bed, sighing. Sango sat down beside her, ruffling her already messy hair. "Kagome, you should—"

"Let go, I get it!"

'Get a boyfriend…' Sango grinned, saying, "That wasn't what I was going to say…but…" She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "That is a good point."

"Well I can't forget it!" Came the muffled words, due to Kagome's head buried in her pillow.

Sango shook her head sadly. 'Oh…the thought just brings up bad memories…however, now is not the time to dwell on them…'

"Kagome, I'm not asking you to forget. I just want you to…let go of the past. It'll help."

"No it won't!"

Sango pressed on, her eyes gleaming wickedly, determined to get Kagome to perk up. "Move on, find the perfect guy, get married, have children—"

Kagome shot up, startled. "Wha—?!!!"

"I'm telling you, all these cells in you brain must be on a rampage! You need to set 'em free and do what they tell you to!"

Kagome froze.

Sango laughed wickedly inside her head. 'That should get her…and to add a little wood to the fire…'

"How 'bout Kouga? Or…maybe Totousai! Or…Myouga-sama?" Sango shook her head. "Nah, too small and old. What about…Sesshoumaru! He's fabulous! Perfect for the job!"

Kagome held up three fingers. "Sango…just what are you implying by too small?"

Sango leaped up. She backed up to find her self at the door. "Eh…Kagome, calm down…"

Kagome let down one finger. "Don't you 'calm down' me! And what the hell does Sesshoumaru have to do with this?! He's like…three hundred and something old (in youkai years, of course), but that's old!"

Sango zoomed downstairs. "Oh my dear Kagome, but he's only what? 19 in human years? And you're…17 turning 18?"

Kagome let down another finger as she fumed. "Sango! Come back here, you lazy coward!"

Sango opened the door, ran out, shouting, "See ya later Kaggie!" just as Kagome let down the third finger.

Kagome sighed and flopped down once more on her bed, before deciding it would be nice to stroll into the park, find a bench, and sit down to read a nice novel.

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Inuyasha stumbled. Ouch. His injuries from Sesshoumaru's blows still hurt. "What the hell?!" He stared at the girl sitting on a bench, reading a book. 'Kikyou?'

'Could it be? Could she have come back? After all these years…' His thoughts ended, as he was about to take a step forward.

"What, my dear half-brother, are you doing?" A harsh voice scorned. "Father will not be pleased when he hears about this."

"Huh?" Came the startled reply.

"Tsk. Father will hear of this. Letting your guard down? Such a terrible so—"

Inuyasha growled. "What the hell do you think you're saying?! You've got no right to—"

"Spy on the poor young girl? Why, Inuyasha, how old is she? Fourteen? Fifteen? Sixteen?"

"Get the hell out of here, Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha hissed.

"Very well, half-breed. I will let father hear of this." Sesshoumaru turned and disappeared.

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The girl turned her head slightly. She lifted her head up just a little bit, and saw a flash of white hair and gold eyes. "Wha—?" She narrowed her eyes slightly at the bush just a couple of meters away. She cocked her head. It was filled with the aura of two inuyoukai, one half-blooded, one full-blooded. They seemed familiar…very familiar.

"Shouldn't have let my guard down…" She muttered to herself. She flashed another glance at the bush. "Maybe…just maybe…" She gathered herself.

Kagome stood up with her novel in hand. She began walking leisurely toward the direction of Sango's apartment. Just as she was out of sight, she barked out toward the bush, "Osuwari."

She heard a boom. "Ahh…that's a nice sound…"

What was he doing in the bushes? What was he thinking, spying on her? After all that had happened, wouldn't Inuyasha think to leave her alone? Didn't he realize that she had her own thoughts and views? Did he expect her to do whatever he thought? Didn't she even have her freedom? Was he just trying to hurt her with the past? Didn't he understand that it was all Naraku's evil?

Kagome's eyes welled up with tears at the thought of the past.

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Sango and Kagura were nodding off to sleep, both of them wrapped up in warm, cozy blankets while sitting in front of her TV when she heard the loud booming knock on her apartment door. "Huh?" Came the startled reply from the two youkai. (A/N: Yea, I pretty much made everyone in here youkai.)

Sango flung the blankets off herself onto the couch and walked to the door. When she saw Kagome, and her eyes brimming with tears, she straightened up and gathered Kagome into a big hug, all the while soothing her. Kagura sauntered up to the pair, and asked, "Kagome, what's the matter?"

"Shhh…Kagome, cry, just cry. Let out all your tears, you poor child. Tell me, Kagome, what's wrong?" Sango comforted.

Kagura seemed to pull herself together as she commanded lightly. "Well now, crying isn't going to help…"

Sango glared. "Kagura! Crying will help let her grief out! You wouldn't want her to keep on the emotion inside of her until she bursts! She's been through a lot of…evil! I want to protect her! I want her to be safe! So be quie—"

"All right, all right." Kagura lifted her hands in surrender. "Whatever. Let's just all go out, have a cup of tea, and let Kagome poor out all her worries! It's better than, say," Kagura motioned to the messy apartment. "Moping around in this messy apartment. No offense, Sango."

Sango sighed. "You're right, as always. Besides, after Kagome cheers up, I'm dragging both of you cleaning my apartment with me!" Her face brightened up at this idea.

Kagura and Kagome (who seemed to have finally woke up from her stupor of grief), both groaned at the slight thought of Sango in full-charge-cleaning-mode. She was unstoppable…except when Miroku showed up. Except at the moment, he was in the country, helping his sick grandmother, which…wasn't going to help them much.

Kagome scrunched up her face, and whined. "But…Sangieeeeeeeeee…I don't wanna clean up your messy apartment…it's boring…"

Sango shook her finger at Kagome. "No 'but's young lady! If you want boring, I'll show you boring!"

Kagura laughed weakly. "Eh…no thanks."

"You're a good girl, Kagura. But Kagome here…"

"Hey! Stop teasing moi." Kagome pouted.

A change of mood suddenly hit the trio of young women.

"Awww…Kagome…you're so cute while pouting!" Sango squealed.

Kagome stuck her tongue out at her while Kagura came up with another bright plan.

"I know! That's how we'll get you a…"

"Kagome! Do the puppy eyes!" Sango squealed again. "Those are even cuter!"

Kagome pouted again and added the so awesomely cute puppy eyes. "But Sangieee…"

Kagura giggled, and took out her cell phone. "This is the cutest thing ever! I've got to take a picture!"

Just as Kagura was about to take the picture, Kagome frowned. "Sango…ano…what were you saying? Get me a what?"

"Huh?" Sango said. "What question? Oh, ask Kagura, she's the one who began it; I have no idea what goes inside her mind."

They both turned to look at Kagura, who was busy complaining about the picture of Kagome she had taken. "Kagome! Why did you have to frown, eh? Now this picture is all busted! Hmm…let me see…maybe I can cut this…and…oh! That old picture; the one from the prom in high school with Hojo, could I use her smile in that? Nah…too many bad memories. What about…"

Kagura broke off as she noticed the two pairs of eyes staring at her like she was crazy and the silence broken by the annoying tapping sound made by both Kagome's and Sango's feet.

"…Uh…hi?"

"Kagura…what was that sentence you never finished?" Kagome asked, just a teensy weensy bit annoyed.

"Which one? You mean this one? 'What about…'"

"Kagura…stop playing dumb!" Sango grated out.

"The one where you said, 'I know! That's how we'll get you a…"

Kagura giggled. "Oh…that?"

'Kagome will never figure out what hit her…and if this plan works with the help of Sango (if I can get her to help)…then our Kaggie will be so happy! She'll melt Sesshoumaru's heart of ice, and everything in the world will at long last be in peace…except Inuyasha, of course.' She shook her head pitifully. 'He would be rampaging the seven hells if he could.'

"Kagura?" Sango waved her hand furiously in front of her face for several minutes before she responded.

"Huh?" Oh. Right. She had quite forgotten about Kagome and Sango there. She bent down and whispered into Sango's ear, "Kaggie and Sesshie, sitting in a tree, K-I—"

Sango squealed again. "Ohmygod! That'll be my dream come true!" She squealed again. "So…how do we do it?"

Kagura whispered something into Sango's ear, and they both giggled as Kagome watched them suspiciously.

Sango was nodding as Kagura was shaking her head. Then they seemed to agree on something, both heads nodding at a fast pace while indistinguishable murmuring took place. Sango squealed once more before Kagome's patience finally snapped.

"What," She demanded. "Do you two think you're doing?!"

Kagura nudged Sango in the ribs and murmured to her something that even with Kagome's acute hearing couldn't hear. Sango nodded again.

"Well?!" She snarled. This was very unlike Kagome, but you have to understand that she was going through a lot of stress lately.

Sango whispered something unclear to Kagura. "Yeah…youkai…abilities…overdrive…hmm…"

Kagome just noticed her head was starting to hurt. A lot. A red consuming cloud was consuming her. She couldn't see clearly, just a mass of red. Someone screamed. Her last thought before she blacked out was, 'What the heck is happening?'