January 6th, The Monk's Vice Pub & Bar, Happy Hour
"Sango, he's cheating on me."
Sango paused in the middle of filling the glass tumbler with Coke and looked up, studying Kagome's expression carefully.
"Are you sure?" Sango asked tentatively, unable to read the complex array of emotions playing on Kagome's face.
"Not a hundred percent, but… well, he had a bunch of women over at his place at about 9:30 a.m. Moscow time. And…he's never been much of an early riser."
"I see…" Sango finished filling the glass and slid the rum and Coke down the bar to a patron a few feet away. "How do you feel about it?"
"I…don't entirely know. I'm angry, I guess, but not for the reason most people would think."
"You don't love him, do you?" Sango asked astutely.
Kagome buried her head in her arms on the bar. "He treats me like crap." She pulled her face up a few inches to look at Sango forlornly. "It's like my own goals and dreams don't even matter to him. All he cares about is himself."
Sango nodded understandingly as she wiped down a fresh wine glass. She knew the type. And if she was completely honest, she'd wondered if Kouga fit the category. He had seemed nice at first, charming Kagome with flowers and pretty words, not to mention his looks. But after about a year, Kagome had started to seem unhappy, though she refused to talk about it much.
"He just wants his version of happiness. And he assumes that his version will somehow make me happy too, even though he never asked what I wanted. And even though I tell him what I want anyway, there's never any room for compromise," Kagome went on. "So him cheating just…it just feels like the logical conclusion of all of that, I guess. I guess I'm not enough for him. Though I'm not sure I'd want to be, you know?"
"Kagome, don't ever say you're not enough for some dude. It doesn't matter if you want to be 'enough' or not. What matters is that you are who you want to be." Sango looked at her severely across the bar. "And especially don't say stuff like that about a guy who's acted as selfishly as Kouga seems to have."
Kagome sighed. "I know. It's just hard not to blame myself sometimes. I feel like…I feel like if I were just…a stereotypical girl I guess, who just wanted pretty flowers and praise from a man, it would be so much easier. I'd be happy following him around like some lost puppy," she finished bitterly.
"It's obvious from your voice what you think of women like that," Sango observed. "I don't blame you. But I can't really blame them either. Some people are happier doing what's easier. And what's easier is to be a pretty doll for a guy to collect along with his fancy cars."
"And I'm not somebody's fucking doll."
"You're not. And you shouldn't be," Sango agreed.
"He shouldn't be treating me like I am," Kagome huffed. "Get me a strong gin and tonic, would you? I'm sick of thinking about this."
"You got it."