No, I'm not dead, and neither is this story. I know its been far too long since I last updated. I've had this written for a while but it took me a while to type cause I was always so busy, or just plain forgot. You have my utmost apologizes. And no, I don't own Inuyasha

Chapter 6: The Monday After

The weekend was quiet, no one even bothered to send so much as a text message, much less a phone call. Sango simply sat on the floor in her room, internally torn between the huge fork in her future. Miroku's facial expression was near-unreadable besides the fact that it was not happy. Kagome was near tears the whole weekend, even her mother asking her how the game went when she got home nearly drove her over the edge. She tried distracting herself with other things, but always came back to that night. Inuyasha walked around all week with a scowl and was wondering where the hell everyone was.

When it finally hit Monday, Kagome and Sango met in the morning on their way to school, but only walked together in silence without so much as a nod of acknowledgement to each other. The silence was straining both of them, each aware of the others problems, that's until…. "Why can't you say anything?!" they both yelled. "I…" they both started.

"You first" Sango said.

"No, no, you first" Kagome insisted.

Sango just sighed, "Fine… I was asked out." She said looking away.

"So what? I thought you liked hi…"

"It wasn't Miroku!" She roared back at Kagome causing her to back away a bit stunned. It was this guy Takeda Kuranosuke, we had class together 1st year. His family is well off and he's a nice guy, not-bad looking, but… but…"

"He's not Miroku" Kagome finished understandingly.

"He saw us."

"Huh?"

"Miroku saw us! While Takeda was asking, Miroku was there, listening!"

"Well what did you say?"

"…Nothing. I didn't give him an answer, and I couldn't say a word to Miroku before he walked away. He looked so mad." Sango stared down at the ground in her total loathing. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"Me neither"

Sango stared at her friend in confusion. "Why? What happened?"

"I… I was walking through the crowd after the game and I…"

"You what?"

"I saw Inuyasha kissing Kikyo!" she screamed.

"What?!"

"Well technically she kissed him, but… but…" Her eyes started to water again.

"Kagome, what did you do?"

"…I ran"

"What? You ran?"

"I panicked okay?! I couldn't stand the sight of it!"

"Oh, Kagome…"

Then suddenly a bell burst through the tense of their conversation, and they were quite surprised to find they were already at school.

On the opposite side of the school, not too long ago, in the parking lot, Miroku walked up to Inuyasha's car as it pulled in, or rather he simply walked past it. Inuyasha seeing his friend the whole way in got out quickly. "Oi, Houshi!"

Miroku looked at his long-haired friend, "What?" he said, obviously in a bad mood.

"Geez, what's your problem? I haven't seen you since the game, and you completely skipped Saturday morning practice, you pissed of Myoga something fierce and he said that today he's gonna make you do up-downs till you puke."

"What do you care?" he responded, unfazed.

"What did you say?!" He said aggravated. 'If he's talking to me like this, he must be seriously pissed.'

"Look it doesn't concern you alright, so just drop it." He said turning away heading back towards the school.

Inuyasha followed after him. "Hey come on Miroku, something's seriously got your panties in a bunch, so just vent."

Miroku stopped dead in place and turned back to face him. "Okay, fine. Sango was asked out by another guy okay! Happy now?!"

Inuyasha was to say the least surprised, "What, that's it?"

"That's it? THAT'S IT?! That's all you have to say?!" he yelled back.

"What's the big deal? Guys have asked her out before and that never fazed you much." Miroku looked away and started walking again. "Hey come on" Inuyasha said going after him. What do you think she'll actually go out with him?"

Miroku stopped again. "Why wouldn't she? He's got the looks, the money, the connections…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa" Inuyasha interjected, "who is this guy?"

"… Takeda Kuranosuke."

"Oh… hmm… wow" Inuyasha said as he put the pieces together, "That's a tough one, but anyway she barely knows him, why would she?"

"I can't read minds Inuyasha, I have no idea."

"Wait… did she even say she was or not?"

Miroku hmphed, "No."

"So she's thinking it out, big deal, chicks can never make up their mind about anything!"

Miroku simply groaned as the corner of his mouth twinged upward for a second at his comment, "Yeah, ain't that the truth."

"Don't worry too much about it, how shitty you felt in your head, I felt physically all weekend."

"What are you talking about? No one even got a single hit on you during the game."

"It wasn't the game, it was Kikyo."

"Kikyo?!"

"Yeah, after the game, she came up from behind me and kissed me. Saturday, I must have thrown up three times just thinking about it… I hope she didn't give me mouth herpes or something!"

Now that finally got Miroku to smile and even chuckle. "You never know. You want me to lend you some penicillin or something just to be safe?" he said laughing.

"Oh yeah, no surprise you would have a supply" he retorted laughing as well until he noticed that Miroku suddenly stopped laughing. He looked to where Miroku's eyes pointed and saw Kagome and Sango.

Miroku and Sango locked until Miroku looked away and walked towards class. Sango gripped her notebooks tighter and walked away from the other two.

Inuyasha was left staring down at Kagome, who was looking very pensive. "Hey" he said with a tiny smile.

"Don't give me that" she said blandly.

"Huh?"

"I saw you…"

"Saw me what?"

"You're such a jerk Inuyasha!" she yelled running off.

He was left there all alone with a look of udder confusion. 'What did I do? She saw me doing what? I haven't done anything… PFFT! Women!" He walked to class and saw Miroku, Kagome, and Sango all at their desks ignoring each other.

Mr. Jaken walked in behind him. "Take your seat Mr. Taisho" he said firmly.

"Huh? Oh, sure." He walked towards his desk, eyeing Kagome questioningly but noticed she stared down at her desk the whole time. He took he seat behind her as the lecture started.

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By the time lunch rolled around, everyone seemed lively again, except of course for those four. Sango left the room as soon as the bell hit and Miroku didn't go after her, he simply went to the next class to talk to Hachi. Kagome went to the back of the class and talked with Ayame. Inuyasha was about to straighten things out until Kouga pulled up a chair next to her.

"Hey Kagome…" he said as smoothly as his coarse voice would let him.

"Hi Kouga!" Ayame chirped him, panning for his attention, yet to only go ignored.

"Hey, why were you so down Friday?" he asked.

"I…" she looked up and saw Inuyasha coming up behind Kouga. "I don't wanna talk about it" She finished looking back down.

"Aww… come on, tell your Kouga all about it" he said sliding closer, trying to snake his arm around her. That is until Inuyasha grabbed and squeezed the top of his head with his massive calloused hand.

"You ain't hers ya mangy wolf!" Inuyasha interrupted.

Kouga's face went from gentle to enraged. "What was that dog-breath?!"

"I said you ain't hers and you never will be, so just stop bothering her!"

"Bothering her? I was just asking her a question!"

"No, you were pushing a subject that she didn't want to talk about!" he yelled back. Kagome instantly stood up and quickly walked out of the room without saying a word.

They both watch her the whole way and as soon as she was gone Kouga turned his head to Inuyasha, "Now look what you did mutt-face, you scared her off!"

"I what?!" he retorted turning to face Kouga. She probably left so you couldn't give her fleas!"

"What?!" The two bumped heads pushing against the other growling with teeth bared like fangs.

Kagome walked straight into the nearest bathroom down that hall, knowing Inuyasha couldn't follow here in here. She turned on the faucet and rubbed her face slowly with some cold water. As she brought her head up to look in the mirror, she saw a large mess of black hair, and as her vision cleared she noticed it wasn't hers. She looked ghastly into the devilish smirk reflected in the looking glass.

"Hello again Kagome." She whipped around to face the smiling mug of Kikyo. "Why, whatever is wrong dear? Are you crying?" she asked in her most mocking voice.

"Why are you here?" said Kagome.

"It's the girls room Kagome, do I need a reason?"

"I mean here by me."

Kikyo moved in a bit closer to her "Well I saw you come in here so quickly I thought something might be wrong."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't" she responded flatly. "Just making sure you know about me and Inuyasha."

"I know enough from Friday."

"Aah yes, Friday" she said as if remembering a dream "quite a show we put on huh?"

"You know I saw you? I thought you were too busy…"

"Doesn't matter" Kikyo interrupted her quickly, "All that does is…"

There was a sudden banging on the door. "Kagome!" It was Inuyasha's voice. "I know you're in there, I heard your voice!"

'Why's he here?' Kagome thought, "I thought he'd be too busy with Kouga.'

Meanwhile down the hall, Kouga's head was laying on the desk with a large bump protruding from it, seemingly unconscious with Ayame holding his hand. "Kouga, I know you were mad, but Inuyasha's just physically stronger, you should have known better" she stated before clutching his arm dreamily.

Back at the ladies room, Inuyasha was still talking to a mute door. "I just wanna know why you're so mad. What did you see me doing? The last time we saw each other was Friday, and the only thing that happened that I can think of that day that I wouldn't want you to see was something that completely disgusted even me."

'What?' Kagome rang in her head.

'Damn' thought Kikyo.

"Can you at least let me know you're listening?" he nearly pleaded.

"Inu-" she was immediately cut-off by Kikyo's hand covering her mouth.

"Well fine! Be mad for no reason! Two can play at that game!" he yelled storming off.

When she was sure he was gone, Kikyo let her hand away from Kagome's mouth, but only to grip her arm and dig her far-too-long nails into her skin. "Now you listen to me homewrecker,this is the last time I'll say it. Inuyasha is mine, back away from him or you may just find yourself sucking hospital jello through a straw." Her eyes screeched death into Kagome's and then quickly exited thorough the door.

Kagome stood there for a moment against the sink silently before walking back to class. When she walked in she saw Inuyasha's back to her, talking to Miroku. She walked up right behind him, "Umm… Inuyasha…" she said barely audible.

Inuyasha stopped talking but instantly started up again. "That's odd, I thought I heard somebody trying to talk to me rationally, I must be hearing things Miroku."

"Inuyasha, I don't think you should…" Miroku started.

"But that's crazy, cause when someone talks, it means another has to answer, and since I'm not answering, NO ONE must be talking." He didn't even bother to look back as he walked towards his desk and stared directly out the window.

Miroku looked down at Kagome who was hanging her head. "So what exactly…" he started again.

That is until Sango walked back into the room with the teacher directly behind her. "Everyone take your seats" the teacher said boldly to be heard over the ramblings of the students. Sango quietly took her seat in front of Miroku, careful not to look back at him. Kagome on her way back to her seat saw Inuyasha's gaze never leave the sight opposite the glass. "Mr. Okami" the teacher said, "Could you please put your head up and pay attention." Kouga still had his head down with a throbbing lump. Ayame, who was sitting behind him, discreetly reached over and grabbed his long hair in a ponytail and pulled it back. His head was pulled up and rested on his shoulders with his eyes still in the back of his head. "That's better, now let's begin." She said getting back to the agenda.

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When classes were done, most went home. Miroku gathered his books in his bag, "Alright Inuyasha, let's go, we don't want to be late again."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. It's not like coach can actually do anything that bad to me, besides you already have an entire practice to make for" he replied standing up and walking out.

"Hey wait" Hachi said.

"What?!" Inuyasha barked down at him."

"What about him?" Hachi answered pointing at Kouga who was still in la-la land staring up blankly at the ceiling.

"Just leave him; it's his own damn fault." Inuyasha said walking out.

Miroku on the other hand was a little more rational. "Hachi, I think it would be best if you woke him. HE's needed greatly at practice, and Myoga will be quite sour if he misses it."

"Wait, why do I have to wake him up?" he asked with a hint of fear in his voice as he looked at Miroku.

"Because of that" Miroku said pointing in the direction of Koga.

"Huh?" Hachi followed his finger. "I don't see anything Mir…" he turned around to see that Miroku has completely vanished. "Damn it" he muttered, "I always fall for that." He warily trudged up to Kouga's desk, who was still very dazed. "Uhh… Kouga?" he said carefully while shaking his shoulders.

Kouga's head wobbled in place a bit before falling forward and smashing on the desk. "AAHHH!" Kouga yelled popping up holding his head. "Son of a bitch!"

"Uhh… Kouga…" Hachi said very carefully.

Koga turned to him with fore in his eyes and grabbed him by the collar "Where's that no good… hey… where'd everyone else go?" he said finally looking around at the empty classroom.

"They went home; it's the end of the day."

"WHAT?!" Grrrrr… I'm gonna kill him!" he yelled grabbing his things and racing off.

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Cheerleading practice seemed rather dull, mostly because Sango just didn't seem to care much about leading the practice well, taking all of the "cheer" right out of it. (A/N: If you take the "leader" and "cheer" out of "cheerleader", what's left?)

Football practice wasn't much better. Inuyasha was in a bad mood all day, and he took it out on the scout team by not holding back in his hits like he usually would. Kouga seemed not to really block the scout defensive backs, but rather man-handle them as he would take them to the ground, which for almost any offensive player is a rarity. And Miroku was sailing his passes and missing his pitches. He constantly misread the defense and as he would forgo the handoff to Hachi he several times found a defensive lineman right in front of his face before the large body would come to a stop to keep him from being hurt. None of which escaped the watchful eyes of Myoga. And today it seemed that practice would never come to an end.

When it finally reached 5:30, several people breathed a huge sigh of relief. The girls were a bit frustrated; today had been so slow and seemed pointless. When the football team broke apart to head back to the locker room, Myoga spoke one last thing. "Inuyasha, Kouga, Miroku, I want to talk to you now!" The boys came to the front as the rest left, with Miroku in the middle of the other two to try and keep some good space between them. "I know we won last week, but that doesn't give any of you the right to slack off! The Spiders may not be a great team, but they're no push-overs, and we need to finish strong in our last pre-season game going into our conference opener! Koga…" he turned to him calmly, "You have so much potential, don't blow it with your anger. Miroku… I don't know what's distracting you, but you should put it out of your mind when you come to practice and focus on your targets. And Inuyasha… I know you're supposed to be aggressive, but hurting your fellow teammates will not be tolerated. Is that understood?!"

"Yes sir!" They responded promptly.

"Good, now get out of here." They turned around and started to walk away until "Not you Miroku… you have to make up for Saturday's practice."

"Well, I was close" Miroku said to Inuyasha before stepping back to Myoga.

"I hope you enjoyed your day off, now get 'em choppin!" he yelled as Miroku started chopping his feet, preparing for an onslaught of up-downs.

They trotted back to the locker room in silence, Kouga father ahead. Kouga made it to the door far before Inuyasha and simply went in. Inuyasha made to the door, but before he could reach the handle heard the sound of another door opening. He looked to his left to see Kagome walk sullenly out of the door staring at her shoes. As he made his way over to her, the clacking sound of his cleats forced her to face opposite him.

He took a deep, calming breath, "Hey there"

"What do you want?"

"To talk"

"Oh, so now you want to talk!"

"Look, I know I was being difficult earlier, but so were you!"

"Not by choice!"

H looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"I … well…" she looked up into his bright amber eyes then back down at the steely cold black top. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just shouldn't"

Inuyasha scowled a bit and gripped the facemask of his helmet in his right hand tighter. "Then are you gonna tell me why you've been avoiding me ever since before that?" Her memory flashed back to Friday night, the cheering, the colors, the collisions… the kiss. "Why are you so mad at me?"

"It's because of Kikyo!" she finally screamed.

Inuyasha rose an eyebrow, "Kikyo?" His mind raced back to Friday as well, then forward to this morning, "I saw you" rang in his head as his eyes soon widened. "Wait… when you said earlier you "saw me", you meant… Friday?" Kagome nodded her head, never making eye-contact. "Oh… I see… you thought we… oh no."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You said you couldn't stand her!"

"I can't stand her! I didn't know she would do that, it just happened! And I felt sick all day Saturday because of it too!"

"Why should I believe you?"

"Would you rather believe some bitch that NO ONE trusts?!" Kagome was a bit taken back.

"Inuyasha!" From behind him, Myoga stood at the door to the locker-room with an exhausted Miroku. "Stop yelling at that cheerleader and change now!" Inuyasha regretfully turned around and walked away without a word following behind Miroku into the locker-room.

As soon as the door closed, the one behind her opened to reveal Sango. "Kagome…" she started softly, "I'm not raking his side, but he may have a point." Kagome simply kept her gaze downwards.

The next few days were rather quiet, and seemed to drag on and on because of it. Inuyasha tried to talk to Kagome, but she stated she had simply wanted time to think. Sango had done a great job at avoiding Miroku, who actually did very little of trying to go after her.

Friday had finally rolled around and most of the players were ready for kick-off, most. Kouga had mostly gone back to normal, except he seemed very intense for the game, his practices had been superb, and his kicks were getting longer with more range. Inuyasha was still a bit hesitant, his mind always going back to Monday. Kagome was fighting an internal battle as her conscience was deciding who was lying. Sango was torn, choose smart or choose heart. Miroku was still unreadable in his emotions, but his usual perverted actions had not happened all week, he never even spouted a single innuendo.

After school the cheerleaders were heading out early to greet all of the fans. They stood outside the locker-room chatting until Sango came out. "Okay, let's see if we have everything" she stated for everyone to hear. "Do we have the banner?"

"Check!" said Botan and Momiji yelled in unison holding up a large paper banner that the team would run through as they came onto the field.

"Everyone has their pom pons?"

"Check!" yelled Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka striking a pose.

"And the snacks for the team after the game?"

"Check!" said Ayame holding several grocery bags.

"Good, then we can…"

"Sango." Said a voice flatly to her side. This drew the attention of all the girls. Off to the side, stood Miroku, dressed in full pads, clutching his helmet by its facemask.

"Uh… we should really get going everyone" she said frantically trying to hurry them.

"I need to talk to you now." He stated.

Sango looked back to him with a hint of horror in her eyes. "Sango" said Kagome calmly, "I'll take them out, and you can stay here." She turned to the others, "Let's go already!" The rest of the squad simply nodded and walked out to the game-field leaving the two of them.

Miroku and Sango never moved, him staring at her, her at the ground. "Sango" he said once more getting her to look up at him. "I just want you to be happy."

"What?" she said in disbelief.

"We both know what happened last week, and I simply wanted you to know, no matter what decision you make, I'll be glad as long as you're happy."

"Mi- Miroku…" she started.

"Houshi!" yelled a voice behind the door, "Get your ass in here now!" Miroku sighed calmly and gave her once last glance with a smile before he left her. Sango held in a breath as she leaned back up against the wall and held a hand to her chest. She looked up into the sky as she watched the blazing sun start to turn a shade of orange and red against the faded clouds as it sunk lower.

She trudged her way out to the field where the others were talking to the fans. "Hey Sango!" Ayame yelled getting her attention as most of them came up to her.

"What did he say to you?" asked Ayumi.

"You're not seriously thinking about that pervert are you?" asked Eri.

"Yeah, you were asked out by the Takeda Kuranosuke!" added Yumi.

"You guys", interjected Kagome, "Give her some space. We have other things to do."

"Alright…" the three said slinking away.

Kagome placed a hand on her shoulder "Look, I know it must be tough, but let's not worry about it until after the game okay?" she said soothingly.

"…Ok … thanks" she replied.

"Sure" The clacking of drumsticks overtook their ears followed by the pickup of the band as the players took the field for their warm-ups. "Well, it's showtime" she said shaking her pon poms encouragingly.

The players went through their usual routine; stretching, drills, prayer, the welcoming, and eventually the coin flip. It was decided that the Shinjuku Spiders would receive. The crowd was cheering, waiting for the kick-off. Koga placed the ball on the tee, took his steps back and to the side and rose his hand to show is readiness to the referees. After the whistle, he made his approach, booting the football down the field.

And so the Hanyou-Spiders game was underway.

Well, I have the next chapter written, ready for typing. But it might take some time to get to. But I will let you all know, I have every intention of finishing this story. It won't be one of those stories sitting on a watched list forever but never being updated or finished. I already know how I want this to end, even though that isn't coming anytime soon. So I hoped you enjoyed it being that it was a long time coming. And once more, I'm incredibly sorry.