Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

So, I'm back and I don't think it's been a long wait. Compared to how long it usually takes me to update a story, I mean. This is a fill-in chapter that turned out to be longer than I expected, but I personally like this chapter. It was pretty easy to write actually. Please enjoy!

Walking Tightropes

Chapter 11: Pests

Intervention (dictionary definition): interference in the affairs of another.

Intervention (my definition): an excuse for friends to lecture you and eat all your food. And honestly, they can be annoying, but I'm too nice to tell my friends that because I know they're just trying to look out for me. But still, they're annoying.

-x-

Even though I was supposed to take part of the "stuffing flyers for the Odd-Ball Olympics in everybody's locker" event, I overslept and I pulled into the school parking lot fifteen minutes before the bell was scheduled to ring. Fourteen minutes and thirty seconds before the bell was scheduled to ring I was being ambushed.

I had unlocked my doors so Inuyasha could slide in for breakfast as usual, but a second later the passenger and back door were being thrown open and Sango and Ayame both slid into my car.

"This," Sango said as Ayame reached up from the backseat to lock my doors again, "is an intervention."

"An intervention?" I wrinkled my nose. "For what?"

"Well, it's not really an intervention," Ayame clarified, leaning over the armrest. "It's more like a talk. We need to have a talk."

"But, it's an eye opening talk, so that makes it an intervention."

"There's Cinnamon Toast Crunch back here!" Ayame announced, having found the breakfast I stored in the backseat. "And milk, bowls, and spoons."

"How many spoons?" Sango asked. Apparently my "intervention" wasn't as important anymore.

"There's a whole box of plastic spoons and two actual bowls."

"Perfect! Kagome can have a bowl of cereal and you and I can share one." Ayame was already pouring cereal into the bowls. "Kagome, you are a genius. I had to skip breakfast in order to make sure I got here early enough for the ambush and I am starving."

"That was actually supposed to be for Inuyasha…"

"Which brings us back to the reason we're here." Ayame passed a bowl to me then propped herself on the armrest between the front seats, leaning back against Sango's chair so she could face me. "You were on a date with Inuyasha last night and before you two get all boyfriend-girlfriend we think you should think a couple things through."

"How did you know—"

"I called Kouga last night and he told me Erin was over so I talked to her for a while and she told me that you were on a date with Inuyasha."

I told Erin it wasn't a date.

"And then Ayame called me and I decided we needed to have a meeting." Sango took the spoon Ayame handed her and scooped up a spoonful of cereal. "For one thing, you need a crash course in communication because it shouldn't have taken us two hours after Kouga called you to figure out you were on a date."

"Right," Ayame agreed, sticking the spoon in her mouth. "You should have told us you were going out the second he asked you. That's what best friends do."

"He caught me by surprise," I defended myself, starting to eat my breakfast. "He just emailed me we were going out and I didn't check my mail until seconds before he rang my doorbell."

"How sweet," Sango cooed.

"We're not dating," I made sure to put an emphasis on the "not". I knew they're already thinking along the lines of "Kagome and InuYasha are dating", so I want them to know that we're not. "And aren't you supposed to be putting up flyers for the Odd-Ball Olympics?"

"Since you didn't show, the rest of us decided that it wasn't necessary for us to shove flyers in lockers." I gaped at her. "Don't worry, we made all the freshmen and sophomores do it."

"Was Kikyo behind this plan?"

"You should be glad she's not searching for you because she wants to wring your neck for making such a big deal out of the flyers and then not showing up. You've been labeled as a hypocrite for the rest of the day."

"Joy."

"I don't know if you two realized this, but we're off topic," Ayame mumbled through a mouthful of food. I was highly aware of the fact that we were getting off topic; it was part of my plan. "We had something to talk to Kagome about, remember?"

"Right. So, you and Inuyasha." Sango gave me a serious look. "If you break-up, it's going to be bad; worse than any other break-up because Inuyasha is our friend and—"

"And when there's a break-up in a group of friends everything is awkward between everyone," Ayame finished for Sango. "Either people take sides and the friends split or everyone doesn't know how to act around the two who broke up and nothing will ever be the same again!"

"That seems a bit melodramatic…" I didn't see the point in pointing out that I'd have to date Inuyasha before we could break-up since it seems that such "tiny" details don't matter. "You and Kouga break-up all the time, but nothing really changes."

"That's because we only temporarily break-up and we'll get back together eventually so the world isn't off kilter for too long."

"Uh-huh."

"We're just saying you need to carefully think over all the outcomes that getting in a relationship with Inuyasha can lead too," Sango put in simpler terms. "Inuyasha will be the first guy you date within our group of friends and if you guys break-up under false pretenses—"

"False pretenses?"

"You know, all those lies you make up to get out of a relationship when you realize the guy doesn't compare to Dai or when he confesses his love to you," Ayame explained. "If you break-up with Inuyasha using one of those bad excuses and he finds out the truth—"

"That you're in love with Dai and he was just used as a replacement."

"—shit is going to hit the fan," Ayame finished. "I mean, think about it, one of your friends may hate you which would cause a total rift within our group. Unlike when you broke all those other guys' hearts, you'll have to see Inuyasha every day and talk to him and the guilt will eventually eat you alive!"

"Alright Ayame," I said, holding my hand up. "Calm down."

"What she's trying to say is that you can't run away from Inuyasha if you two break up." Sango's eyes widened. "Holy crap, Inuyasha will be the first ex-boyfriend you'll actually have to face."

"Would you two stop it already?" I asked in a rougher tone. I love these two, but they weren't doing something that I tend to appreciate: listening. Sango and Ayame finally turned their attention to me. "For one, I'm not dating Inuyasha and if I did date him there's no guarantee that we'll break up. And two," I pointed my spoon at both of them, flicking milk onto my dashboard,"I don't… run away from my exes. God, first Erin and now you two."

"Oh, you don't run away?" Sango gave me a knowing look before turning to Ayame. "Shall we remind her of the Akira break-up?"

Oh God.

"Kagome," Ayame said, falling into the role of Akira as she placed her hand on Sango's shoulder. "I think… um, I think I love you."

Sango stared at Ayame blankly for a second before her eyes brightened and her smile grew really big. "Oh my God, I really like you too, Akira!" Sango said, clapping Ayame on her back. "But, I don't think this relationship is going to work for me anymore. Wow. So, I'll see you in math. Bye!" Sango turned to me. "And end scene. We never did see poor Akira again after that."

"You two should be ashamed for memorizing every detail of that break-up," I mumbled. "And he's in our Calculus class."

"You should be ashamed for breaking up with a guy like that," Ayame countered. "You're a cruel, cruel woman Kagome. Ah, the humiliation of Akira. I felt his heart breaking."

"Yeah, he hates you now."

"Thanks for the pleasant reminder," I said, rolling my eyes. "Is there a point to this though? I get that I made some really… really bad mistakes in the past, but I've learned from them. Things will be different with Inuyasha. The Inuyasha that I'm not dating."

It had to be rehearsed or God really just loved supplying me with ironic scenes because at that exact moment Inuyasha's face appeared in Sango window. He looked a bit disappointed and I wondered if he could hear me through the window. Sango looked to see what I was staring at in the window and she turned to see Inuyasha looking at her and Ayame with confusion.

"Give me the sign, Ayame," Sango ordered, and Ayame leaned back to grab her backpack to pull something out.

I'm hungry, Inuyasha mouthed to me through the window, rubbing his stomach. Before I could answer him Ayame had handed Sango a piece of paper and Sango slapped it over the spot where Inuyasha's face was.

"What does that say?" I asked Ayame.

"Meeting in session."

I rolled my eyes and rolled down Sango's window so I could talk to Inuyasha. I was getting tired of my "intervention" anyways.

"That means get lost," Sango said to Inuyasha when the window was completely down.

"Kagome and I have this thing where we have breakfast every morning and it was her turn to bring the food so I haven't had breakfast yet, and that means I'm hungry" Inuyasha explained to Sango. Then he looked down and saw the bowl of cereal in Sango's hand. "Is that my breakfast?"

"I was hungry?"

"They ambushed me," I told him. "I'm sorry they stole your breakfast."

"You can have the cereal box," Ayame offered, passing Inuyasha the box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. "Dry cereal is good, too."

"I think he wanted some alone time with Kagome actually," Miroku said, appearing in the window next to Inuyasha as Inuyasha took the cereal box. "Hello my dearest Sango."

There was a thud coming from the front of my car and I turned my head again to see Bank splayed out on my hood with his face pressed up against my windshield. "Feeeeed Meeee," he droned.

"What the hell are you all doing here?" Sango asked. She held up her sign so all the guys could see. "Meeting in session."

"It means get lost," Inuyasha told Miroku and Bank and Ayame snorted.

"So you know the bell is going to ring in five minutes, right?" Bank asked, scooting off my hood and moving to stand next to Inuyasha and Miroku. "You and I," he said pointing to me, "need to work out picture stuff for the Odd-Ball Olympics. The yearbook staff wants to know who's participating in each of the events so they can start getting names together for the descriptions ahead of time."

"Right… We're still actually in the discussion process for that," I mumbled. The Olympics were next week and The Shikon Times was still completely out of order and nothing was set in stone. "I'll get back to you."

"That reminds me," Inuyasha said, digging into my box of cereal (well, I guess it's his now). "I got the games for the carnival ready and the company wants to know where to bring them next week."

"That's also still undecided..."

"Really, Kagome?" Miroku asked. "You suck at planning events."

"Shut up." I finished off my bowl of cereal and drank the milk before grabbing my book bag and getting out of my car. Sango and Ayame finished their bowl and hopped out the car too. Once we were all standing outside, I locked the doors. "I don't see you planning any events."

"Because I know I'm incapable of taking on such a huge responsibility." Miroku draped his arm around Sango's shoulder and started leading us towards the building.

"I think Kikyo may have mentioned something about finding a spot for the carnival," Sango said over her shoulder. "And this talk isn't over."

"I thought it was an intervention."

"An intervention?" Inuyasha shot me an amused smile of some sort. "Are you a drug addict or something?"

"She's a sex addict," Bank corrected him and I wacked him over the head. "Ow!"

"Don't be an asshole," I growled. "That's the reason you can't get a girlfriend." Everyone at school was finally starting to forget about my so called "sex addiction" (the quarterback was caught drunk driving over the weekend and got in an accident where the victim is in critical condition, so the rumor about me was finally topped) and now here's Bank trying to bring it back up again. In front of Inuyasha. I was just this close to killing him.

We walked into school and I could still see a few of the underclassmen from the newspaper staff shoving the last of the flyers into lockers before the bell rang. I noticed Hitomi struggling to jam a flyer into one locker, getting frustrated and slapping it with her hand then going back and kicking the locker… leaving a dent. I'm starting to feel guilty about the work we make the younger members of the staff do.

"…all over me," Bank was saying when I tuned back in and Miroku was laughing while Inuyasha shook his head. "I could have a girlfriend, but I chose not to. I enjoy being a free man. So, no Kagome, it's not that I can't get a girlfriend, but I chose to devote myself to my photography and schoolwork instead of a girlfriend."

"Aren't you failing math?"

"Alright, I devote myself to my photography." The bell rang over our heads as we laughed. "Shit, I've got to get to my locker. I'll see you guys at lunch!"

Bank took off down the hall and Miroku kissed Sango before heading towards his Honors Discreet Math class, clapping Inuyasha on the back as he passed. Inuyasha said he had to stop by his locker and that left me alone with Ayame and Sango… again.

"Did you see that?" Ayame asked me. "Did you feel the bond of friendship between all of us? If you break up with Inuyasha that could be ruined."

"We're not saying we don't want you to date Inuyasha," Sango clarified.

"Because we really do," Ayame insisted. "Really, you guys would make a perfect couple."

"But just make sure you really care about Inuyasha before you decide to date him." Sango gave me another serious look. "And it's not just because we don't want our friendship to be messed up, I don't want either of you to get hurt. Okay?"

I could tell Sango was being sincere and she really wanted the best for me (it was kind of obvious, considering we've been best friends for eight years). Besides, who knew how I would react if I did actually have to see one of my exes every day? It actually could be disastrous.

"I'll think long and hard before I decide whether or not to date Inuyasha," I told them. "I promise."

-x-

Naomi stood in the pouring rain, wiping furiously at her eyes as she watched Sam approach her slowly through the curtain of rain, his feet making sloshing noises in the mud. Why didn't she just run to her car and drive away to deal with this confrontation later, possibly never? Why did she stand there waiting for him to break her heart?

"You," Sam grunted as he reached Naomi, his bangs beginning to block his vision, "are a pain in the ass."

"I can say the same to you."

"Except I didn't go run off with my high school sweetheart, get pregnant, and then come back here just to confuse the hell out of some other poor guy in order to feel safe and loved! You just fucked around with my heart and then—" Sam sucked in a breath, stopping himself. "This is coming out wrong."

"No say it," Naomi urged, but Sam kept his lips shut as he stared at the ground. "Damnit Sam, say it! Tell me you hate me! Tell me I'm a bitch! Stop holding it in and say it!"

"I hate you!" Sam shouted in Naomi's face. "I hate that you're so fucking fickle with your relationships, but every time I close my eyes your face is there! And every time I think about moving ten billion miles away from this place I get that pathetic thought that you might come back to me and I can't leave! And I fucking hate that you make me look like a pathetic fool, waiting for the girl who ran away!" Sam took in a deep breath and looked down that the drenched girl who held his heart. "Are you happy now?"

"Do… do you really mean that?"

"Christ!" Sam shouted, shoving a hand through his hair. "Damnit Naomi, don't play stupid. If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say all that shit!"

"I'll stop," Naomi mumbled looking up into Sam's murky green eyes through the pouring rain. "I'll stop running away from you. I'll stop—"

Sam was quickly growing sick and tired of all their talking. He's a man of little words and he emotes himself through his actions. He grabbed Naomi around the waist and pulled her to him so that every inch of their bodies were touching, his wet lips crashing down onto hers and his hand moving up to tangle in her hair. His tongue probed her mouth open and—

"I see someone's feeling horny."

I yelped and slammed my book shut in surprise, looking up to see Kikyo sitting on the desk in front of me with a giant smirk on her face. Sango was sitting next to her, straddling the back of a chair cracking up, and a blush began to creep on to my face.

"Reading an adult fiction book doesn't mean I'm horny," I defended myself, tossing my book to the ground in hopes that it would somehow just disappear. "It's called broadening my horizons, Kikyo."

"I might have been able to buy that if you weren't reading Deadly Temptation," Kikyo pointed out. "And if the people on the front weren't only two bases away from a homerun. Honestly Kagome, that's not the kind of reading material you should be carrying around at school."

I usually don't stray far from my young adult fiction, but I was in the grocery store with Mom this weekend and the need to buy a book just hit me full force. Unfortunately, the grocery store only sells adult romances in their book aisle (which I would usually avoid because they're cheesy and melodramatic) and I just had to settle with them. It turns out that Deadly Temptation is basically a soap opera on paper and addicting in a hotly romantic way. I've read three steamy scenes so far and considering the way the Sam and Naomi confrontation I was about to hit my fourth, but then Kikyo decided to throw in her two cents and shake me from my reader's trance.

"You've been reading under your desk all day," Sango commented, sliding the book over to her with her foot before I could stop her. "Just what is so interesting about this book?"

"Don't—" I tried to lunge for the book when she picked it off the floor, but Sango leaned back in her chair and moved the book out of my reach. "Sango, please don't read that."

"Read it, Sango," Kikyo ordered and Sango grinned, flipping to a random page, I hid my face with my hands. It's one thing to read Deadly Temptation, it's another thing completely to have your friends pry the book open and publically embarrass you because of it.

The whole point of a guilty pleasure is to feel guilty about it, that's why you don't want anyone to find out. Do I want my best friend to know I've read graphic sex scenes in this book? Not really. And it's not like I enjoyed reading the scenes, but… it's just something I'd rather not have people know. I watched as Sango's eyes widened at some of the stuff she read and her mouth fell open. I am never buying adult fiction again.

"Well, now I know why Naomi left Sam for Jack," Sango said after a few minutes of skimming, sliding the book back to me and I shoved it in my book bag, swearing to never take it out again. Sango turned to Kikyo. "Jack was much better at finding her g-spot."

"Sango!"

"It's just what I read."

"You know," Kikyo started, "if you just started dating Inuyasha you wouldn't have to read books to get—"

"Okay!" I shouted, cutting Kikyo's sentence off. I did not like how quickly downhill this conversation was going. "New topic."

"Has Inuyasha still not asked you out on another date?" Sango asked, leaning in close. "It's been fifteen hours since your last date ended."

"I said a new topic."

"This is a new topic. Earlier we were talking about the fact that you were horny and that you were reading that book to—"

"I'm not h—" I stopped myself when I realized just how many members of the staff had made it into the newsroom. "I am honestly having trouble figuring out why I'm friends with you two."

"Because you love me."

"I don't ever remember agreeing to the two of us being friends."

"You'll feel better when you admit that we are." Kikyo just rolled her eyes and I smiled. "So, I heard you have some leads on the location for the carnival?"

"I do." Kikyo's eyes narrowed. "But first, where the hell were you this morning?" Only then did I remember Sango telling me that Kikyo wanted to strangle me. "You've got some nerve telling me it was so important to be here this morning and not showing up!"

"I overslept," I mumbled, shrinking in my seat. "And it's not like you had to put the flyers up."

"I still had to get up early!" Kikyo did not look happy. "I swear Higurashi, I am going to—"

"So, we were talking about the location for the carnival?" Sango cut in, saving me from being decimated. "Where'd you book the carnival?"

"I didn't book it, I just found somebody willing to lend their property to a bunch a teenagers that will leave the place covered in trash."

"Damn. I have to assign people to the clean-up crew," I mumbled to myself. I would have just made all underclassmen do it, but after seeing Hitomi this morning, I was starting to fear that the other youngsters would start to hate us. "So, where is it?'

"Suzuya Park."

"Suzuya Park?" I frowned. "But that's such a long drive!"

"That's the only place I found willing to let us hold a carnival," Kikyo snapped. "It's not like you were doing any looking around for a place. You were too busy on your date."

Sometimes you just know when it's best to cut your losses and just agree with Kikyo. Agreeing with Kikyo usually leads to a happy ending.

"Alright, I'll get the money for the place from Mrs. Kido and I'll drive down to the park tomorrow. Thanks Kikyo."

"Yeah, whatever," Kikyo waved off. Typical manners just weren't good enough for her. "Oh, and I have my article." Kikyo tossed her typed article on my desk. "It's tips for what do on a first date. It's for boys and girls."

"You do know you're actually supposed to respond to the letters people write to you asking for advice, right?'

"Yeah, but all their letters were boring this week so I wrote some other kind of advice. Tell them to try again next time."

"You're impossible," I sighed, placing her article on top of the stack I had picked up from my basket when I walked in. "Do you have your column, Sango?"

"Yep." Sango dug in her bag and pulled out a folder before handing me her column. "An exclusive on Ren's drunk driving incident."

"How the hell did you manage that?" Kikyo asked. "That kid's suspended and on house arrest and his parents aren't letting anyone in their house."

"I never reveal my sources."

"Alright guys," Mrs. Kido walked to the front of the class and all talking died down, "let's go ahead and get started. As you know, today was your deadline so make sure you turn in your pieces to Kagome before we leave today. Today we're going to work on getting last minute details for the Odd-Ball Olympics and the carnival figured out and make some posters to put up around the school." Mrs. Kido looked around to make sure nobody had any questions. "Do we have a place for the carnival yet, Kagome?'

"Yes we do. Kikyo said that Suzuya Park is willing to let us hold it there so I'll stop by there tomorrow after school."

"Good, good. And do we have the food and games together?"

"My dad will provide the food," Kikyo confirmed.

"And Inuyasha said he already got the company for the games, and I've already got a band that will play."

"Great." Mrs. Kido seemed relieved to learn that things are running smoothly. "So let's just focus on next week."

We spent the rest of the meeting confirming who was participating in which events, who was in charge of bringing supplies for that day, and who was working the betting booth on each of the days. Aki was assigned to be the permanent announcer so he managed to get out of participating in any event, but the rest of us each had to partake in two (I was doing the pool event and leap frog). Then we just made posters to post around school early the next morning.

While other people were working on posters, I took the time to look over a few pieces so I wouldn't have to do too many tonight. I actually paused for a second, reading over one aspect of Kikyo's advice.

And do not, under any circumstance, mention the two of you being friends on the date. You may just be saying it to save yourself from possible rejection if the person doesn't return your feelings, but you cause the other person to second guess themselves. If the person asked you out on a date, they obviously want to be more than just friends.

Crap.

-x-

"Alright missy," Erin began, charging right into a conversation I just knew I wouldn't like as she approached the counter with determination in her eyes. "Spill. Tell me everything, start to finish."

"Nice to see you too, Erin," I greeted as I smiled at an approaching customer. "I hope you see that I'm at work and I have a customer and it is not polite to carry on a personal conversation when I should be giving the customer my full attention." I smiled again at the woman who approached my register. "Good afternoon ma'am. I hope you didn't have any trouble while shopping."

Erin's stare was basically burning holes in the side of my head. "Did T.J insert some kind of chip in you to control your speech or are you just trying to annoy me by not telling me what happened last night?"

"Is it really a crime to want to keep some things to myself?" I scanned the woman's shoes and rung up her total and she handed me a card. "Debit or credit?"

"Debit."

"It's a crime when you call me during the date and then try to avoid all questioning." Erin sat on top of the counter so she could match my eye level. She didn't seem to care about the wide-eyed look the customer was giving her at all.

"I didn't call you during the date. Kouga called me to tell me about you and you took the phone from Kouga."

"Details, details," Erin waved off.

"And did you really have to tell Ayame that I was on a date when it wasn't a date?" Erin rolled her eyes. "Seriously Erin, they ambushed me this morning and gave me this long talk about how I shouldn't rush into anything with Inuyasha because it can be really bad if we break up since he's managed to infiltrate my group of friends."

"Infiltrate?" Erin raised her eyebrows. "That kind of has a negative connotation to it."

"You know what I mean. They replayed the Akira break-up for me."

"Who?"

"A—" I stopped myself when I remembered Erin numbered my exes. "He was Failure… nine."

"Oh, that guy." Erin's eyes widened. "Oh. Yeah. That was not a good way to break a guy's heart. And in the middle of the hallway, too."

"Yes, I know; big mistake."

"As long as you learn from your mistakes." Erin slid off the counter and pulled out the trivia cards, sliding half the deck over to me. "So, the date?"

"It was fun, but it turned out Hojo worked at the arcade and he—"

The chime over the door rang and when I looked over to see Hojo. Thanks for another ironic moment God, really.

"Shit!" I dropped my half of the trivia cards and ducked under the counter, out of view.

"What the—really, Kagome?" Erin asked and I assumed she saw Hojo wandering around the store. "Really?" she looked down at me and shook her head. "And you say you don't avoid your exes."

"I usually don't! But every time I see Hojo things always get ugly and it is not good employee behavior to start a screaming match with a customer."

"We've already gone over the fact that T.J secretly loves us too much to fire us. We're horrible employees, honestly, but we still have our jobs."

"We've never bitched a customer out before."

"There's a first for everything."

My entire face fell as I stared at Erin seriously. "Not for this." I got up on my knees and peeked over the counter to where Hojo was browsing the section for sneakers. "Damnit, why won't he leave?"

"He obviously wants to see you," Erin pointed out. "He probably wants to get back at you for showing up to his job and torturing him with your presence… with another guy. I actually think this behavior is a bit overdue."

"Thanks," I grumbled as I sat down on the floor with my back against the counter. "Now he's just going to stalk me forever."

"Not forever," Erin assured me, "but you hiding is giving him the satisfaction of knowing he gets to you. You can't let the enemy win like that!"

I looked up at Erin, not all that convinced. "I actually don't want to have to interact with him though. You see, I've discovered this thing recently: guilt."

"Just because you feel guilty doesn't mean you should hide your face." Erin yanked on my arm and even though she's such a short person, she had no problems pulling me up. "You can't be ashamed because you told him you don't love him."

"I can for shoving the fact that I was on a date a week later in his face."

"Alright, we're just going to take this one problem at a time, Kagome. One problem at a time. You have too many issues for me to fix in one day."

At that moment Hojo glanced up from the shoes he was surveying and spotted me. He dug something out of his pocket and started heading our way and I felt like running. The look on his face—smug and cruel—made it obvious that interacting with him would not be pleasant.

"I'm going to be sick."

"Get some confidence!" Erin ordered as she smacked me in the back, effectively causing me to straighten up. "You weren't this bad when failure number 12 was being an ass."

"Because Ryuuji was in the obvious wrong," I pointed out as I watched Hojo's approaching form with dread. "There's a lot of gray when it comes to me and Hojo."

"No, there's a lot of assholery on his part and a little bitchiness on yours."

"Gee, thanks."

"It's normal break-up standards," Erin informed me. Hojo was only five feet away by now. "You just have to make it clear that you don't regret breaking up with him. By hiding, you make yourself look guilty."

Probably because I feel kind of guilty.

"Hi," Hojo greeted with a smile that I hadn't seen since we broke up. I didn't really miss it. "How are you this afternoon?"

"Cut the crap," Erin bluntly stated and I jabbed her with my elbow, a sign which she ignored. "I know all about you."

"I read online that we can offer trivia questions for the store to use and I came up with this really good one," Hojo continued, ignoring Erin. He set the piece of paper he had pulled out of his pocket earlier on the counter and slid it to me. He looked up at me and smiled, his eyes twinkling. "I think you'll really appreciate it, Kagome."

Common sense told me not to look at it, but everyone is entitled to their moments of stupidity. I slid the card closer to me and slowly turned it over to read it.

Who is the biggest slut at Shikon High?

My face fell and I looked up at Hojo, whose grin could give the Cheshire cat a good run for his money. "The answer is you."

I ripped the card to pieces moments before Erin had a chance to lean her head over and read what it said. I quickly threw the pieces in the trash. "You need to leave," I told him. "Now."

"I don't think your boss will appreciate you trying to push paying customers away," Hojo stated proudly with a smug grin, hitting me with my own words. "I saw some really nice sneakers back there, actually. I think I'm going to look around for a bit longer."

I watched as Hojo sauntered back towards the sneaker section with new swagger. Okay, that guilt feeling? Yeah, it's long gone now. It's been filled with the desire to gouge his eyes out.

"What was the question?" Erin asked, her voice surprisingly soft.

"It was nothing," I insisted, flipping through the trivia cards I had abandoned earlier. "I just wish Hojo would disappear. Really."

Erin stared at me for a few seconds longer than usual before she made something up in her mind.

"You know, Hojo is nothing but a smelly, rotten pest."

"Too bad I can't squash him like one..."

"But you can."

"Erin." I gave her a warning look and placed my hand on her shoulder. "I like being able to work with you. Don't get fired."

"Honestly Kagome, Hojo is nothing but a fly. He's constantly buzzing around when all you want him to do is just go away. I'll show you how to get rid of a fly." Erin picked up a shoe from one o the return boxes and chucked it at the back of Hojo's head. My jaw went slack as I gaped at her before finding my brain and ducking under the counter before Hojo could see me. "Hey you," Erin started demanding, pointing her thumb at the door "get out."

"Erin A. Chiba!"

"Damnit!" Erin cursed. "Now T.J is going to eat my head off!" She looked down at me while shaking her head. "The things I do for you."

I'm beginning to think that now is a good time to reevaluate the people I become friends with.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" T.J hissed when he reached the counter and I tried to shrink myself into the smallest ball possible. I didn't exactly want to be discovered at this moment.

"That guy was stalking Kagome and it should be one of our top priorities to protect our employees," Erin answered. "Right?"

"Erin…" T.J ground out through clenched teeth. "You do not have the authority to throw shoes at customers."

"Well, it wasn't clearly stated that I couldn't. And it's not like you were doing anything to keep the crazy stalker from creeping on Kagome."

"You—"

"And if I called the police it would bring too much unwanted attention to the store and I don't think you really want that. T.J, I was doing what's best for everyone."

"You…" I could see T.J pointing his finger at Erin from my hidden spot. As usual, he was outsmarted by a teenage girl and once again, at a loss for words. "You…" T.J sighed. "Where is Kagome?"

"She's—" I hit Erin's leg to let her know that I didn't want him to know I was hiding under the counter. "She's in the bathroom… giving birth to her secret baby, so it would be very unwise for you to go in there at the current moment. I mean, unless you want to be mentally scarred for life by seeing someone go through labor, I—"

"Erin!" I shouted, blowing my own cover. I cursed to myself and then picked myself off the ground. "You normally tend to not suck at cover stories. Just saying I was in the bathroom would have been fine."

"I got no sleep last night, I basically got the tar kicked out of me for no good reason, and I'm pretty fucking crabby right now; you're going to get some shitty excuses."

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before turning to face a fuming T.J. "Hey T.J."

"Was that boy stalking you?"

It shocks me how willingly T.J believes some of the things that come out of Erin's mouth.

"Of course he was!" the little truth stretcher answered for me. "He gave her a suspicious note that she ripped up because it freaked her out so much! He wanted her to meet her behind the store." Erin gave T.J a knowing look. "You should just kick that guy out on his ass."

"Excuse me." We turned to see Hojo standing behind T.J, his face red with anger. "But one of your employees just threw a shoe at me!"

"It slipped," Erin shrugged. She lifted her tiny hands and wiggled her fingers. "Butter fingers; I can't hold a damn thing. Everyone hated having me on their team when we played flag football in gym."

"Do you really believe this bitch?" Hojo hissed, pointing a finger at Erin and I was beginning to see the side of Hojo I had become familiar with lately—the asshole side. "She said Kagome was having a baby in the bathroom."

"Just how long have you've been listening to our conversation, Mr. Stalker?" Erin asked, raising a brow.

"I'm not a fucking stalker!"

"Eavesdropping is a very common trait of stalkers." Erin turned to T.J again. "All fingers are pointing in his direction."

"Is this how you conduct your business?" Hojo snapped, now turning his direction T.J now and I felt bad for my manager. He was stuck in the middle of an argument between Erin and Hojo; that's one of the worst things a person can go through in life. "You let your employees talk to customers this way and throw shit at them?"

"Some customers deserve to have shit thrown at them," Erin mumbled and Hojo glared at her. "What? You are harassing Kagome."

"I'm not doing anything to harass Kagome," Hojo sneered.

"Kagome?" I looked at T.J when he called my name and he gave me a serious look. "Was this guy harassing you in any way?"

"Of course—"

"I'm asking Kagome," T.J cut Erin off with a firm tone and she backed off. "Kagome?"

I'm at a fork in the road. If I admitted to Hojo being the jealous ex, showing up to my job to annoy the hell out of me, and make me feel like dirt, then Hojo would only get more pissed off and the situation would only worsen. On the other hand, if I let Hojo get away with this, Erin would chew me out for letting Hojo win and crumbling to his will. It's actually a hard decision to make.

"He's…" I looked around at all three of their faces, trying to figure out which route would be the best. "He—"

"Tell him what the notecard said," Erin demanded, still glaring at Hojo. "What did this bastard write you?"

"He's just an ex," I told T.J, avoiding the subject of the "trivia" question.

"Just an ex," Hojo scoffed, glaring at me. "Is that all I am?"

"You're a real asshole too," Erin snapped.

"Well Kagome's a fucking whore!" Hojo shouted and I flinched. I looked around the store and I was highly aware of the fact that people were starting to stare at us. "The ficklest bitch I know. We broke up just last week and she's already—"

"She doesn't like you," Erin said slowly, as if Hojo was stupid. "Get over it."

"I'm sorry I can't just move on to the next girl a week after I confess my love to a coldhearted bitch," Hojo seethed, glaring at me now. "I'm not as easy as Kagome, Shikon High's number one slut."

"She's not—"

"She's dated half the guys in our graduating class!"

I just took all of Hojo's insults, waiting for the fight to be over. A part of me wanted to stand up for myself, but another part—a larger part—was aware of the fact that I deserved it. I stomped on Hojo's heart and went out with Inuyasha a week later—I hurt him. And the sooner Hojo got this all out of his system, the sooner everything would go back to normal. Hojo would finally be able to just forget about our relationship and only think of me as a whore instead of constantly saying it to my face.

"It's the truth," Hojo continued, hissing. "She's just a dirty whore."

Erin obviously didn't believe in just letting Hojo get all his hatred towards me out of his system.

"You," she started, reaching up and snatching Hojo by his collar, bringing him down so he was eye to eye with her, "should really shut the hell up because Kagome is one of my best friends and I will have you thrown in front of a firing squad if you ever call her anything besides her name again."

"Get off me, midget," Hojo growled, trying to release himself from the vise grip Erin had on his shirt, but Erin only held tighter. She was surprisingly strong when she was pissed off.

"I will—"

"That's enough, Erin," T.J barked in his superior tone, trying to get a grip on the situation. I saw him glance around the store and notice all the people staring and he yanked Hojo away from Erin. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, sir."

"That's it?" Erin looked at T.J. "You're just going to ask him to leave? You're not going to have him banned from the store or even throw him—"

"You're not off the hook either, Ms. Chiba," T.J snapped at Erin, his glare shutting her up, though she still looked livid. Her hands formed fists at her sides as she unwillingly submitted to T.J. "I'll talk to you later." Still keeping his hold on Hojo, T.J led him to the door. T.J caught my eye and hesitated for only a second before he looked at all the gaping customers and dragged Hojo outside.

"T.J's too soft," Erin huffed, glaring at the door. "He should have banned him from ever stepping foot in this store again."

Now that Hojo was gone and he wasn't screaming in my face anymore, I realized it was silent in the store. I chanced a glance around and noticed all the faces that were staring at me, gaping with judgment in their eyes. Oh joy. People outside of school know I'm a slut too.

I raked my fingers through my hair and fought off the stinging in the back of my eyes. I would not cry in public. I smiled at the lady who had been standing behind Hojo when he started telling me off, waiting to check out.

"Can I check you out?" I asked in my most polite voice, sounding as if the events had not just occurred seconds ago. I was very good at pretending.

"Um…" The lady looked hesitant to speak in the silent store. "I guess I'm ready now."

I nodded and took the boxes from the woman's hands, trying to ignore the silence. How long were they going to stare at me? How many of them actually were looking at me and thinking that I was a dirty whore?

The door chimed and T.J stepped back in. He looked around the silent store for a second and then just headed for his office in the back, slamming the door shut behind him.

"Do you think she's Kagome Higurashi?" I heard a voice whisper from the back of the store, but I didn't dare look up to try to figure out who it was. "I've heard about her when we were playing against Shikon a couple of weeks ago and their players said—"

"Hello Shoe Carnival shoppers and good evening!" I looked over to see Erin shouting into the mike, blindly searching for the stack of trivia cards we had forgotten about when she threw the shoe at Hojo. "We're just a tad bit behind but it's time for some Shoe Carnival trivia! Who wants to win an amazing discount on their purchase today?" There was a small amount of cheering. "Oh, that was weak. Who would be happy to walk away with a free pair of shoes?" The cheering was louder this time and it seemed to satisfy Erin. "Well, if you can tell me…" Erin quickly looked down and snatched one of the trivia cards up. "What future soviet dictator was training to be a priest when he got turned on to Marxism?" The chatter that usually filled the store after a trivia question started up and the feeling of normality slowly started to return. "The first one with the correct answer gets to spin our magical wheel of discounts, so think fast!"

Erin put the mike away and I finished up with the lady at my register, bagging her boxes and sending her a polite farewell as she gathered her things and left.

"Thanks," I said turning to Erin. "Really."

"You're thanking me for doing my job?" Erin raised a brow at me. "I was actually under the impression that I was supposed to ask trivia questions."

"I'm serious Erin." I looked into her eyes and smiled. "Thanks for sticking up for me."

"It was nothing," Erin shrugged. "Friends don't leave friends on the battlefield. But, I swear to God, Kagome, if you ever let one of those jerks you call exes talk about you like that again, I will kick your ass for just taking it. I don't care about your discovery of guilt, you don't deserve to be treated like that and I will hurt you if I ever find out you allowed some asshole to put you down." Erin glared at me. "I'm dead serious."

I smiled at her. "Have I told you that you're a great friend?"

At that moment T.J's door opened and he pointed to Erin and motioned for her to come into his office with his finger. He looked pissed.

"You could definitely mention it more often."

-x-

"Say it again."

I grabbed my bag from under the counter and stood up, finding Erin slumped over the other side of the counter. She had spent the rest of our shift in T.J's office being lectured and, judging by the look of her, it turned out to be as bad as I assumed.

"Say what again?" I asked as I reached back under the counter to grab Erin's messenger bag for her.

"That I'm a great friend so I don't regret throwing a shoe at that jerk."

"You're an absolutely phenomenal friend and I'm lucky to have you." I locked my register and stored all the shoes that had been brought back for a refund under the counter for somebody else to put back. "How bad was it?"

"He docked my pay for the next two months. Two months, Kagome! I mean, we were already getting paid minimum wage so to just take off from that? That's breaking the law!" Erin groaned and flopped on top of the counter, her arms stretched out in front of her and her face pressed against the cool countertop. "I hate my life."

"At least he didn't fire you."

"Yeah, but I don't think he loves us as much as I said he did." She turned her head to look up at me. "Do you know that it is absolute torture to have T.J bitch you out for four hours? I thought God had sent me to hell early."

"You'll live," I told her. "You bum off the band for most of life's necessities anyways."

"True." Erin pulled herself off of the counter and dragged her messenger bag off as well, tossing it over her shoulder. "Well, let's get out of here before T.J remembers there's something else I did that deserves lecturing."

"Okie dokey." I threw my bag over my shoulder and headed around the counter to meet Erin and we both headed towards the door. "I'll drive you to Kouga's house as a thank you."

"But Kagome," Erin whined, "I don't want to go to his house. He was a jerk to me this morning."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. He ate all the cereal before I woke up and I had to have oatmeal!" Erin made it sound like it was a huge deal and I rolled my eyes. "Don't roll your eyes at me, I really wanted that cereal! And you know what he told me?"

"What?"

"He told me to suck it up and go to school. That's basically telling me to go to hell!" Erin crossed her arms and huffed. "I'm not ready to forgive him yet."

I laughed as we came to my car and I unlocked the door. "Well, we won't go to Kouga's right away then. I have to make a stop anyways."

"Where?" Erin asked as she opened her door and got in.

"Bean Café." I got in and started the car, buckling my seat belt. "Inuyasha's working again tonight."

"Gross," Erin said, wrinkling her nose. "Now I get to see the two of you all lovey-dovey."

"We're not—" I stopped myself when I remembered how futile it is for me to try to convince anyone that I wasn't dating Inuyasha. "You'll be fine," I said, putting my car into reverse. "I promise not to kiss him in front of you."

Erin fiddled with my radio, changing the station every time a song she didn't like or commercials came on, as I drove to Bean Café. I've taken a habit in going to visit Inuyasha every day after my shift since Sango told me where he worked and we usually ended up eating pie while talking. With all the pie I've been eating, I've actually been trying in Weight Management.

I pulled into the parking lot and parked, checking the dash. "Well, there's still ten minutes left until closing," I told Erin. "I usually don't go in until right before he switches the open light off."

"Uh-huh." Erin had started to doze off half way to the coffee shop. "Does anybody even buy coffee this late at night?"

"Some people are going to be pulling all-nighters or starting a long trip."

"Isn't that what Starbucks is for?" Erin asked.

"Some people like small shops." I looked into the front window to see Inuyasha working behind the counter, but there was nobody to serve. "Nobody's in there though."

"Then go inside already." Erin shifted in her seat, bringing her legs up so she could curl up in a ball. "I'm going to be taking a nap."

"You sure you don't want to come in?" I asked as I pulled the keys out of the ignition. "There'll be pie."

"I'll have to skip this one. I really don't want to watch you two flirt."

"Whatever." I opened my door and got out. "I might be a while."

"Mmhmm." Erin was already going back to sleep. "See you later."

I shut the door behind me and walked up to the shop, knocking twice before opening the door. Inuyasha had his hair pulled back in a ponytail and he shot me a quick grin over his shoulder. Despite how annoying everyone's assumption of me and Inuyasha dating had been earlier, right now, at the moment when I was finally alone with him, I didn't mind so much anymore.

"Hey," Inuyasha greeted me over his shoulder as I walked over to the counter. "How was work?"

How was work? That sounded like a question a husband asked his wife—not that I'm hinting at anything!

"You know, the usual," I shrugged as I sat on the countertop watching Inuyasha's back as he washed dishes in the sink located behind the counter. "Erin threw a shoe at a customer and got lectured for our entire shift and she's getting her pay docked for two months."

Inuyasha turned around wearing a disbelieving look. "What do you do there?"

"Work." Inuyasha raised his brows. "Hojo came in today," I finally confessed. Because of what happened with Ryuuji, I had made up my mind not to tell Inuyasha about the Hojo incident, but lying to him turned out to be harder than I thought. "And then it just went downhill from there."

The amused look on Inuyasha's face fell. "What happened?"

"It was nothing," I tried to wave off. "He was just being… angry. And he's just a douche bag, like you said, so I don't have to take anything he said seriously."

"What did he say?"

I just looked at him. "I'm pretty sure you can guess." Inuyasha looked like he wanted to hit something. "It's not a big deal, it's—"

"It was obviously serious enough for Erin to throw a fucking shoe at him!"

"Erin was just being Erin. She… She just felt like throwing a shoe," I lied. "It's nothing."

Inuyasha leaned back against the sink and crossed his arms. "Then tell me exactly what he said."

"He was mad that I was out with you yesterday a week after we broke up," I shrugged, looking down at the floor. "And some other stuff, but," I hurried before Inuyasha blew a gasket, "Erin already gave me the speech of how I shouldn't let anybody call me a sl—bad things and if I ever let it happen again she'll kick my ass."

"I'm going to beat that punk's—"

"Don't do anything, Inuyasha," I begged and he looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to stop him from beating Hojo to a pulp. "Honestly, it'll just make things worse and he'll hate me even more."

Inuyasha looked like he would fight me on my decision before he finally stopped to take three long (emphasis on long) deep breaths. "I really hate this guy."

"Me too." We were silent for a few seconds. "So," I started, "do you have any pie for me today?"

Inuyasha sighed. "There's some pecan pie left. Do you like that?"

"It doesn't sound very good." I'm not really a nut fan. Inuyasha placed a saucer with a pie covered in pecans beside me and looked at me for a decision. "Well, I guess I could try it."

Inuyasha grabbed two forks that were resting by the sink, but before he handed one to me he paused, staring at something behind me, cocking his head to the side. "Is that… Erin?"

I turned around to see Erin's face smashed up against the glass making disturbing faces as she waited for us to notice her. "Yeah… She said she was going to stay in the car and take a nap."

"Why is she with you, again?"

"I'm taking her to Kouga's after this to thank her for being such a stand up gal."

"I see."

"I know you two can see me!" Erin shouted and she stopped making faces and removed her face from the glass. "Open the door, already. It's cold out here!"

"Should I let her in?" Inuyasha asked.

I shrugged. "She definitely deserves it."

Inuyasha placed the forks down beside me and jogged to the door to open it for Erin. She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, glaring at both of us.

"Were you two actually contemplating whether or not to let me in?"

"Yeah?"

"Jerks." Erin hit Inuyasha in his arm before walking up to join me on the counter. She picked up one of the forks Inuyasha had placed down and took a large bite out of the pie. A second later she was spitting the pie out on the counter. "That's nasty."

"Damnit, Erin," Inuyasha cursed. "I just finished wiping the counter down!"

"Sorry."

"Why'd you get out of the car?" I asked Erin.

"Well, since you didn't leave the keys in the car, I couldn't turn the heat on and I was getting cold so I couldn't fall back to sleep. And then my iPod died so I had no music or games to keep me entertained… which means I had nothing to do. So that's why I'm here."

"Why were you making those faces against the glass?" Inuyasha questioned, taking a forkful of the pie, liking it much more than Erin did. "You looked deranged."

"I thought it would be funny."

We were at the Bean Café until about 10:30, just talking and I got to work on editing a few articles while I was there (I grabbed them out of my car while Inuyasha and Erin argued over the best kind of pie). We probably would have been there all night if Kouga hadn't called Erin, demanding to know where she was. Sometimes he was more like an overprotective father than a brother.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," Inuyasha waved as he headed toward Triple G. "Bye Erin, bye Kagome."

"Bye," we both said in unison, opening the doors to my car.

"I better see you at Kouga's on time," Erin called out to Inuyasha and he just waved her off. "I'm serious!"

"Bye Kagome," Inuyasha said again.

"You said 'Bye Kagome' twice," Erin pointed out to him, shouting across the parking lot.

"I lllllliiiiiike Kagome."

Erin looked like she was contemplating whether or not Inuyasha suffered from brain damage and I just snorted, shaking my head. That line was from Spongebob.

"There's something wrong with you, Inuyasha!" Erin yelled at him. "Go get your head checked!"

"Bye Kagome," Inuyasha said again, opening his car door and winking at me. "Now I said it three times for good luck."

"Weirdo," I mumbled as I slid into the driver's seat and shut the door behind me.

Erin got in and turned to me. "Don't make me have to throw shoes at Inuyasha if you two ever break up."

"We're not even dating."

Erin just laughed as if what I said was the funniest thing on earth.

-x-

I really don't need to reevaluate my friends; I have the greatest friends a girl could ever ask for.

-0-0-0-0-0-

All done with that chapter and the next one is the Odd Ball Olympics! Finally! And I'm going to ask again for events that can be used for the Olympics AND Carnival games. I have a few, but I'm still coming up a bit short. You can give me your ideas when you REVIEW!

And, last chapter we reached 100 reviews (thank you InuKags for being the 100th reviewer) and hanmajo made a banner for the occasion. If you want to see the banner you can email her at hanmajoerin at yahoo dot com.

Don't forget to review again!

~Kimiko888~

And my job… has been COMPLETED!

~hanmajoerin