He's With Me

Chapter Eight

The first thing Kagome did was call Rin to tell her that her outfit had changed, whch it turned out Rin had been planning as well. Then Kagome showered, blow-dried her hair, put on her necklace and her vanilla-scented perfume that she almost never wore, painted her toenails red, and dressed. At six o' clock, she was sitting on the edge of a chair in the den, trying not to wrinkle her dress, even though her mother said the fabric was supposed to be wrinkle-proof.

''I told you that you didn't have to dress up so much,'' Miroku said from his prone position on the couch. ''Inuyasha will think it's weird.''

''No he won't '' Kagome snapped. Of course, this was what she'd been worrying about for the last two hours. But it was too late now.

The doorbell rang, and she leaped up to answer it beofre her mother could get there.

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It was Rin. She squealed the instant she saw Kagome.

''Oh my goodness! You look fantastic!''

''Come in,'' Kagome said, blushing. ''Inuyasha's not here yet.''

''What a hero your boyfriend is,'' Rin said. 'My loser said he'd meet us there. Which means, by the way, that he'll have already bought his ticket, and I'll have to buy my own. Sesshomaru's a little unclear on some of the basic principles of dating.''

Kagome hadn't thought about that. Would Inuyasha be paying for her? Maybe he'd have to, for appearances, and then she could pay him back later.

''Hi, Miroku,'' Rin said as they entered the den. ''Hey, did I see you at the drugstore yesterday?''

''No,'' he said quickly.

''I thought it was you,'' Rin said, ''but I couldn't figure out why anyone would be buying notebooks and a protractor in the summertime, so maybe I was wrong.''

Kagome gave Miroku a puzzled look, but he didn't meet her eyes. The doorbell ran again, and this time it was Inuyasha. He looked freshly showered and his short-sleeved gray button-down made his eyes look all smoky and dark. His silver hair looked like a halo around him. He was holding a short, dark red rose.

''Holy smokes,'' he said. ''You - that - you - uh...... I like your dress.''

Kagome felt she must be turning the world's brightest shade of red.

''Hi, Inuyasha,'' she managed.

''This is for you,'' he said, handing her the rose. As she took it, their fingers brushed and suddenly he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. It was soft and quick, like a butterfly bumping against her face. Guessing that, that meant Rin was was behind her, Kagome glanced around, but they were alone in the hallway.

So ..................... why did he - ?

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''Inuyasha!'' Miroku called from the den. ''Stop loitering and come in here!''

''Thank you,'' Kagome whispered, shutting the door behind Inuyasha as he stamped his feet on the welcome mat. He looked quizzical, and she held up the flower.

''Oh my God,'' Rin said, poking her head in. ''Did you get her that, Inuyasha? That's unbelievable. Do you know how many times Sesshomaru's gotten me flowers? Zero. He's such a troglodyte. That was the Word of the Day today ; isn't it cool? Man, look how perfect that rose is! You guys are too cute for words. Kagome let's go find something to put it in.'' She fastened her hand around Kagome's wrist and dragged her into the kitchen. Inuyasha went into the den and Kagome could hear the murmur of his voice and Miroku's.

''How much does that guy adore you?'' Rin said, pulling open cabinets. ''Oh here, this should work.'' She fished out a small glass vase ahd helped Kagome fill it with water.

Kagome set the rose in the vase and gently touched the petals. It was perfect Why couldn't this all be real?

They said good-bye to Miroku and set off walking. Rin chattered most of the way, so Kagome didn't have to worry about what to say to Inuyasha.

Normally it was easy to talk to him, but this was different. This was a date. Sort of.

Sesshomaru was standing in front of the movie teater, rocking on his heels, Unlike Inuyasha, he was just wearing T-shirt and ripped jeans, and he looked like he hadn't showered in a couple of days. He also didn't compliment Rin, although Kagome thought she looked totally cute in her dark green sundress. And Rin had been right. He'd already bought his ticket, so she had to buy her own. Inuyasha closed his hand over Kagome's as she tried to pull money out of her purse.

''No, no,'' he said. ''Let me do the boyfriend thing.'' He grinned and she smiled back.''

''Ahem,'' Rin said. ''The boyfriend thing, you say? You mean, taking your girlfriend to the movies, bringing her flowers, telling her she looks nice? Are there boyfriends who actually do that?''

''Hey, I'm here, aren't I? Sesshomaru said grumpily. ''Even though this movie looks super lame. You should be happy enough about that.''

''Oh, I am,'' Rin said, taking his hand. ''I feel so blessed to be honored with your presence, I can't even handle it.''

Kagome giggled, but Sesshomaru huffed out a breath of air like he didn't get that she was joking.

Inside, there was a confusing moment as they figured out where to sit. But Kagome wound up between Inuyasha and Rin, with Sesshomaru on the other side of Rin. Then Inuyasha offered to go get popcorn, and Sesshomaru asked him to get some for him, too. When Inuyasha came back, he was also carrying a large soda and a box of Junior Mints for Kagome.

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''You like these, right?'' he said to her as he sat down.

''They're my favourite, thank you,'' she said. On her other side, Rin sighed loudly, but Sesshomaru missed her meaningful look.

''I figured we could split the soda,'' Inuyasha said, ''but, um, they were nearly out of straws, so I only too one. Is that gross? Do you mind?''

''No, that's okay,'' Kagome said. As she took a sip, she realized it was Cherry Coke, the kind she liked. Inuyasha was a perfect pretend boyfriend. He should take notes for the next time he really dated someone. She looked down at her hands, suddenly feeling sad. She didn't want him to date anyone else. She didn't want to go back to being just Kagome while someone else got to be Inuyasha's girlfriend. And then Rin would pity her, and Kikyo would be so smug.

The lights went down and Inuyasha leaned over. ''Are you alright?'' he whispered. ''The soda seemed to really depress you.''

She laughed. ''Well, it had such a sad childhood,'' she whispered back. ''I feel like we're taking advantage of it.''

''Nah, just putting it out of its misery,'' Inuyasha said with a grin, and then the previews came on.

As the theater went totally dark and the movie started, Kagome began to wonder what to do with her hands. Should she rest them on her knees? Or on the armrest? Or fold them in front of her? Or cross her arms? Was Inuyasha thinking about holding her hand? She slid her eyes ssideways without moving her head and saw that Rin and Sesshomaru were holding hands. Would Rin notice if she and Inuyasha didn't Should she do something, or wait for Inuyasha to do something or -

Inuyasha reached over and took her hand and resting it on top of his on the armrest. Okay. That answered that question. Kagome glanced sideways again and saw that Sesshomaru and Rin were kissing (!!!!) And the movie had barely started! Surely they wouldn't expect her and Inuyasha to do that. Would they?

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A/N: Hey! how was it? did you guys like it? Just a reminder that I've moved to EmoTunaFish0.0 (pename) cause It would seem that my old penname has been hacked. Oh well, Anyway don't blame me if it seems that i've been copied PLEASE READ AND REVIEW PEOPLE!