A/N: Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing. Sorry I've been slacking off on my stories, I've been so busy with just everything else that's been going on around me. This chapter is short, but prefaces for an interesting chapter 24. I tried to maintain that casual, colloquial tone Sango's chapters seem to always have in this chapter...

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or anything else mentioned in this story; duh. XD
Rated: Mature For crude language, sexual references, and mature situations.

CHAPTER 23

She stared at me, wide eyed, in surprise and perhaps alarm. Maybe this wasn't one of my best ideas, but my appearance shouldn't have provoked a reaction like this. However unwanted I was, I decided that I had come with a mission and I wasn't leaving until I got what I wanted.

"Yo," I said casually, and she looked at me; like, really looked at me. I couldn't help the blush that dusted my cheeks.

"Hi," she finally said. It was then that I realized she looked excruciatingly tired. Maybe I had come at the wrong time…

Sighing, deciding that I was just not wanted anymore, I steeled myself for whatever was coming and just began to speak in hopes of saying everything I wanted before she asked that I left.

"Look, I'm sorry about how I acted towards you and how I forced myself on you with that kiss. That was a shitty thing to do; it was also shitty of me to tell you to fuck off because you didn't deserve that. I understand you didn't know how to react to me; that was probably the first time something like that ever happened to you," I spoke and then paused, trying to remember everything I had so beautifully planned to say when I got here. It was all absent, however, and I was losing my train of thought.

"I just… I just want to be friends again. I'm done with being a whiney bitch. I'm done with all of the crap I put myself through. I just want to be your friend again, because I miss hanging out with you and stuff."

I stopped, and apprehensively stared into her amazingly blue eyes. Would she accept me again? Would she hate me forever? Would she….cry? What? She was crying. Why was she crying?

"Kagome?" I asked with my eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"No, Sango," she breathed.

My heart dropped.

"No Sango. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

She clenched her jaw and brushed her loose bangs from her face. Her hair was being held back in a low ponytail; that was new.

"Please come in for a little while," she offered, biting her lip gently. She looked worried and I couldn't help but wonder if I made her uncomfortable, which was stupid because it was obvious I did.

I nodded an ok, silently, and followed her in and then proceeded to shut the door behind me. I gave myself a mental pat on the back as I managed to follow her into the living room without staring at her backside in those shorts she was wearing—oh, and I could add her flawlessly beautiful legs to that too. She sat down and turned the TV off and I immediately wish she hadn't because of how deathly quiet her house was. I guess her mom and brother were out. I sat down, as far from her as I could in hopes of making her feel as much at comfort with me as possible.

"I'm sorry, Sango," she spoke softly.

I opened my mouth to protest and she silenced me with a threatening look. I felt instantly awkward. I didn't like this tension between us at all.

"I… I should've gone to see you at the hospital. I was afraid you wouldn't accept me, though, and then when I saw you at the mall…"

She sighed heavily and continued, "I could go on all day with excuses, but that wouldn't change the fact that I wasn't there when you needed me most."

"It's ok, Kagome," I mumbled with a blush. "At first, I was really put down by it. I had no ambition to leave that place. I would just sit there and sulk and Kagura's constant whimpering didn't help either… But then, when Asuka came to see me, I was just angry. I felt I was constantly angry, all the time. Angry at you! Can you imagine that? But then—,"

"Who is Asuka?" Kagome interrupted suddenly, as if remembering something. I mused over this reaction for a moment before I remembered she had asked me a question.

"Oh," I paused, wondering how to explain this. "Well, to make it easier to understand, I could say she's my girlfriend." I linked my fingers together in my lap. I'd be getting my finger brace removed soon. I was anxious to bend my fingers again.

This situation seemed surreal. I felt as if I had been too hasty in coming to see Kagome, but I had always been a person that was quick to act on decisions I made. So what if it had only been an hour or two since I had woken up from the nap I had taken with Asuka? Asuka certainly supported me with smiles and encouraging words. She was a wonderful person.

"Was she the girl with you at the mall?"

"Yeah," I frowned at the thought of that moment. I realized that I couldn't keep my inner bitch in all the time.

Forcing the frown from my lips I asked Kagome, "Would you like to meet her? She came with me, but asked to stay in the car."

"You left her in your car?! That's so—," Kagome stopped suddenly, as if she were afraid to finish her sentence for fear of offending me. I knew what she would have said next would've been a joke, but I realized she must've been afraid to joke with me.

"Are we… are we cool now? I mean, I'm not angry at you; do you accept my apology?" I mumbled with a blush.

"I guess so," she said hesitantly. With a soft smile that lit up her electrifying blue eyes, she spoke, "So are you going to go get her, or what?"

I couldn't help the smile that split onto my lips as I replied, "Oh yeah, definitely. You'll love her."

I skipped out to my car; but it wasn't a prance-like skip, it was one of those skips you do when you want to move faster, but not jog or run. Kind of hard to explain, but that was what I was doing. Asuka watched me with wide eyes, obviously ready to comfort me if things had gone badly. I flung the door open and collapsed into her because I tripped on the curb next to where I parked. Her arms came up around me and I welcomed the embrace. Pulling back, I kissed her straight on the lips.

When I pulled back, I couldn't help but admire her cute little blush. I smiled and she smiled back.

"I take it everything went well?"she suggested with a slight tilt of her head.

"Oh, yes," I smiled. "She wants to meet you."

Suddenly, her face went pale, cute blush gone.

"I… I don't… um, well," she began to stutter and I had to wonder why she was so shy all the time. Asuka was an easily likeable person. What would cause her to be so nervous about meeting people?

"She's really nice, and I think she'll like you," I coaxed lightly, a bit worried.

"Oh, I'm not worried about her liking me," she smiled hesitantly and I had to wonder. What was it, then? I cocked my eyebrow upwards in hopes of her answering and she blushed and looked away.

"I think I might be a tad bit jealous of her," she admitted after a long while.

"Aw, Asuka," I sighed and stood up and away from the car. "Don't bother yourself with that. This is a just friends kind of thing."

"I know," she sighed. "I just… I'm not sure of how I will react to her. I'll either be really jealous of her because you like her, or really upset because she won't accept your offer. I don't know if I should meet her yet."

"Oh, come on," I smiled lightly, offering my hand to her. "It would mean a lot if you would at least come in for a little while."

She sighed hesitantly and took my hand, allowing me to pull her up. I held her small hand as I led her up to the house, smiling all the way. I was really happy and I couldn't help it. When we got up to the house Asuka was dead silent. I was beginning to worry about her and how she reacted to others; I felt it had something to do with the bullying that was going on at her school. Would those boys ever stop?

In the living room, Kagome sat waiting, with drinks and snacks for us. I jumped straight into introducing them because I felt it was important that they knew and liked each other.

"Kagome, this is Asuka," I gestured, pulling Asuka closer so she could shake Kagome's hand.

"Asuka, this is Kagome."

"It's nice to meet you," Kagome said politely, smiling her beautiful smile as she did. Asuka smiled timidly as she pulled her hand back after shaking Kagome's.

"You too," she replied. I sat down and she gave me a sideways glance with her dark eyes. Kagome sat down too and Asuka sighed gently and followed suit by sitting very close to me.

Kagome smiled at Asuka before turning to me to say, "She's really cute, Sango."

The small girl blushed brightly only to add to that and I couldn't help but be proud of her.

"I agree," I said as I felt her hand grasp mine between us.

From then on, Kagome seemed focused on getting to know Asuka and the small girl opened up a little. Kagome had a way with people like that; making someone feel welcome and wanted. I took the time to watch the two interact and admire them. Kagome was very casual and open with Asuka and, despite the fact that the brown eyed girl was shy with her; she somehow got a lot of information out of her.

My observations had to end when the Kagome heard her cell phone ringing up in her room.

"Excuse me," she said, hopping up and dashing towards the stairs to answer it before it went to voicemail.

"How do you like Kagome?" I asked the younger girl as she leaned into me, tiredly. I wrapped my arm around her, enjoying the small size of her body and her warmth.

"She's nice," Asuka replied, almost inaudibly. "She's easy to talk to and generous. What I like about her most, is how happy she can make you."

I blushed and pouted for a split second, despite the fact that she couldn't see it.

"Why would you say that?" I asked suspiciously as my eyes fell onto Asuka's half finished juice.

"The moment you came outside, I could just sense this change in you. You've been smiling nonstop and you've constantly got your arm around me. I can just… oh, I don't know. I've never seen you like this before. I enjoy it, but it's a bit unsettling."

"Oh," I mumbled pulling away from her slowly. "I'm sorry."

"No! No… don't be sorry," she said, quickly reaching out for me again with a hint of worry in her deep dark eyes. That was all I could see, at least, and I had to wonder how she really felt about my sudden change in mood. My tongue found my lip ring again and I felt bad about her not having someone to make her happy. I wanted to do that for her, but I knew I couldn't when I was so wrapped up in Kagome.

"God, I'm some sort of asshole," I sighed heavily, just as Kagome walked into the living room. Her blue eyes looked unsettled and worried and at hearing that her expression damped quite the bit.

"Is everything… ok?" the cerulean eyed girl asked with a slight frown.

"Ah, yeah," I said quickly, some sort of fantastic lie, and stood. "I kind of need to get Asuka back home."

"Oh… ok then," Kagome said, looking a little down heartened. That's when I realized she looked lonely and I had to wonder where the rest of her family was.

"Kagome, where's your mom and brother?"

"Souta had a soccer tournament this weekend so they went out of town. I decided to stay here for a little while, catch up on some studying and all…and get some rest."

I nodded my approval of her answer, because she did look awfully exhausted.

"Ok, well you do that," I nodded to her. "Thanks for having us."

"I will, and thank you for coming over. It was really nice to meet you Asuka," Kagome smiled at the small girl and Asuka smiled back.

"You too."

As we headed towards the door, I couldn't help but wonder why Kagome looked so frazzled and tired. She was usually full of energy all the time.

"Oh, wait, Sango," I heard her call after me and I stopped and turned.

"I… I wanted to talk to you about some stuff," she said with a bit of frantic demeanor seeping into her eyes.

"Do you need to talk about it now?" I asked, with worry mounting in the pit of my stomach. I knew Kagome had been acting strange.

"Ah, well," she glanced at Asuka and then shook her head. "It can wait, I guess."

"Ok," I said trying to keep the concern off of my face, but to no avail. "I'll call you later, I suppose."

Kagome's eyes looked wet, as if she were about to cry, and it hurt me to see that. What could possibly be bugging her so much?

"Um, yeah," she pressed a smile onto her lips. She quickly wrapped her arms around my waist and I nearly died at the contact. I was so comfortable; I didn't want to leave and had to force myself to pull away from her.

"I… I'll see you later, Kagome."

As I walked out to the car, the silence was killing me. Asuka was silent, the air was silent, the earth was silent. I started my car and began to drive, turning off the radio to perpetuate the silence. It was strangely comforting, and I really wanted to think hard about Kagome and what could possibly be troubling her.

The sun was slipping down past the horizon, casting hues of pinks and oranges across the expanse of the sky. It was hot and orange, searing eyes that glanced towards it for far too long. Despite its blinding tendency, the sun gathered all of my thoughts for one bright moment and cleared my mind of its turmoil. When I stopped at Asuka's house I walked her to her door and bade her goodnight. I kissed her, like a good girlfriend would, but not out of obligation. I kissed her out of loyalty and appreciation. I kissed her because she was always there for me and she accepted Kagome as a friend. I kissed her because she looked beautiful when the warm rays of the sun glanced against her pale skin.

"Thank you so much, Asuka, for everything," I said, kissing her soundly once more. She smiled at me, with half hooded eyes, and I felt my hand disappearing into her hair. If I could have my way, I would kiss her until she couldn't stand any longer. I would kiss her until her knees grew weak.

She pulled away, not annoyed at all by my sudden amorous mood. She didn't speak, as silent as the setting sun, and disappeared into her house with a smile.

I was content as I made my way back home. My worries about Kagome were buried beneath the haze of warmth Asuka had lent me. That would be just enough to allow me to wind down for bed and prepare myself for the long phone conversation I planned to have with the cobalt eyed beauty who was once again my friend.

Thanks for reading! Please review!
-Enigmatic Ethereality