Moi-Moi: This chapter is mostly filler. I won't blame you for skipping it. I mean, I wouldn't skip it cause it's pretty awesome. But you can...if you want. Wouldn't recommend it though. :)
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It never ceased to amaze Danny just how easy it was to slip back into regular life after facing life-threatening situations. Just a few days ago, he'd been held captive by Kagome's grandmother and nearly wasted. But now, he was happily enjoying a burger and fries at the Nasty Burger with Sam and Tucker. Maybe he was just really adaptable? Danny sipped his soda as he listened to Tucker enthuse about the latest handheld device that he was saving up for. It was a bit difficult to understand him at times due to Tucker's slightly stuffed nose, however.
"Seriously, Tucker. You should be home getting some rest. You're sick," Sam chided and covered her nose and mouth with a napkin.
"It's nod dat bad, Sab. Besides, I god orange juice instead ob Cola today," Tucker said and displayed his cup for Sam to see before sniffling. Sam frowned at him and folded her arms over her chest.
"I don't know, Tuck. Maybe you should head home and take some medicine. Just in case," Danny suggested with a placating smile. Tucker slumped over with a defeated sigh.
"While you do that, I'm going to the bathroom," Sam said as she stood.
Danny watched her go before quickly turning to Tucker. "Tuck. I need some advice," Danny whispered. Immediately detecting the change in tone, Tucker raised a brow as he sipped his juice. "We're supposed to be going to the fair tomorrow and I'm totally freaking out."
"Why?"
"I didn't get a chance to tell you, but after Kagome dropped me home a few days ago I kissed her again," Danny whispered in a strained voice.
"Woah," Tucker replied with eyes widened in surprise. "And?"
"She didn't look freaked out. She checked on me the next day and she didn't seem upset. She didn't really say anything about it and I don't know if that's a good thing or not," Danny fretted.
"Baybe id is? Baybe she likes you too, dude," Tucker suggested.
Danny pursed his lips as he stared down at his fries. "You think I should ask her out? Like officially?"
"Why nod?" Tucker replied with a carefree shrug. "Ebery one already thinks you're dating."
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Why is it that all the bathroom stalls have to be out of order when you need them the most? Seriously? Sam felt tempted to speak to the manager- not just because of her needs but for the employees as well. Who thinks that they can run a business without providing a working bathroom for its employees!? Instead of unleashing her wrath on that unsuspecting soul, Sam made her way back to her table.
"Baybe she likes you too, dude."
Sam instantly froze. She could instantly recognize Tucker's stuffy voice.
"You think I should ask her out? Like officially?"
Danny? Sam's eyes widened with a soft gasp. She ducked behind the swinging doors that separated the bathrooms from the rest of the restaurant. They hadn't been able to secure their normal table. It was a busy lunch hour so they'd been forced to take the worst table in the restaurant- the one closest to the bathrooms. But that didn't mean that she should take advantage of this and eavesdrop.
"Ebery one already thinks you're dating."
Were they talking about her? It's true that almost everyone amongst their peers knew how she felt about Danny. They hadn't been able to escape the teasing during freshman year. But they weren't even dating! Not then and definitely not now. Nobody was even accusing them of being together anymore. They were too busy spreading rumors about Danny and Kagome...
"If you think about it, going to the fair wouldn't have been too bad of an idea for a first date," Danny said with a soft chuckle.
"True. You can still ask, dude."
"That's okay. We're all going tomorrow. Well... Sam, Kagome and I are. You're staying home and getting better," Danny hinted.
"Whateber. Just ask Kagome when you're ready."
Kagome? Danny wanted to ask Kagome out? Honestly, Sam wasn't surprised. It was glaringly obvious how Danny felt. But she couldn't just stand back and let him ask her out! He'd be crushed when she rejected him (again). She had to stop him from-
"I will. I think she'll say yes. I mean, we kissed again and she didn't ask to just be friends after. That's progress," Danny said in a determined voice.
Sam froze. Again? Danny and Kagome had kissed again? When? Why? Did... Did Kagome like Danny? Since when!? Peeking out through the crack between the open doors, Sam could see Danny smiling at nothing in particular. He had that goofy grin on his face of a boy with a crush. She wanted to be mad. She wanted to shout some sense into Danny, but what could she say? Aside from admitting how she felt, what could she say to Danny now? It's not like she could accuse Kagome of trying to hurt him. Kagome had saved his life! She even tried to spare his feelings time and time again.
Sam moved away from the doors with a sigh. She couldn't be mad with Danny. It's not like he could control it, just like she can't control how she felt. But, what could she do? What was there to do besides remain on the sidelines as usual?
"If you don't tell him, he'll never know."
Kagome was right. But she couldn't tell Danny now! Danny would just let her down gently and then want to stay friends. If she told him now, it would definitely ruin everything. It would be better if he didn't know. At the very least, Sam wanted to stay friends. And as long as they weren't shoving their happiness down her throat, she could tolerate Kagome and Danny dating. Taking a deep breath, Sam stepped out through the doors.
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Kagome held up yet another dress for scrutiny before tossing it backwards onto her bed. Why was this so hard? She groaned loudly before starting over at square one. She'd spent the last twenty minutes trying to find a decent outfit to wear out today. "It shouldn't be this hard. We're just going to a fair. It's no big deal," Kagome muttered as she pulled a skirt out of her closet. She held the skirt to her waist and looked at herself in the mirror.
"Kagome?" Kimiko's voice called out through the bedroom door.
"You can come in, mama," Kagome said tossed the skirt onto her growing pile of clothes.
"Sweetheart, I just wanted to give you an extra twenty for food," Kimiko started as she stepped into the room. "Woah! What happened in here?" Kimiko asked when she spotted the state of Kagome's room. She was sure that every pair of shoes that Kagome owned was all over the floor. A large, colorful pile of clothes and hangers rested on the bed.
"I'm trying to find something to wear," Kagome answered.
"How's that working out?" Kimiko asked with a chuckle and carefully stepped into the room.
"Not good," Kagome moaned.
"I've never seen you so worked up over clothes. What's up?" Kimiko asked as she started picking up shoes from the floor.
"Well... I was just going to wear what I normally wear when I go out, but then Danny texted me that Tucker was sick and Sam can't make it. So, it would just be me and Danny going today. And then, nothing looked good enough," Kagome explained.
Kimiko placed her hand on her chin as she hummed pensively. "I see... Well, what about...this, this, and this?" Kimiko suggested and grabbed a black crop top, a pair of ripped denim shorts, and a red and black flannel shirt. "You can wear some of those sneakers you like with it."
Kagome's eyes widened. "Mama! You're a genius! Thank you!" Kagome said while pulling her mother in for a tight hug.
"You better hurry up and get ready. Danny will be here soon," Kimiko advised while leaving twenty dollars on an unoccupied corner of Kagome's bed. Kimiko left the room with a smile on her face. Kagome had never put this much care into her appearance when Danny was concerned... Something must have changed. Was Kagome developing feelings for Danny? "How sweet," Kimiko muttered to herself.
When she reentered the kitchen, Kimiko found Judai eating his cereal and reading a comic at the table. "What's your plan for today, Judai?"
"Vlad wants to do a male-bonding thing," he responded.
"That's nice," Kimiko smiled encouragingly.
"He wants to play golf, mom. I'd rather be hexed," Judai scoffed.
Kimiko shook her head with a frown. At least he was going... Before she could question him further, they both heard two knocks on the front door just before someone shouted a "good morning" throughout the house.
"Good morning, Danny!" Kimiko called.
Seconds later, Danny appeared in the doorway with a smile on his face. "Good morning. Is Kagome ready to go?" he asked.
"She's just finishing up. Why don't you have a seat while you wait?" Kimiko suggested. Danny nodded once before taking the seat across from Judai. "So, should I consider this a date?" Kimiko asked with a sly grin.
"Uh! I-I don't think so. We're just hanging out. Sam and Tucker were going with us too," Danny explained.
"But they aren't anymore. And if it's just the two of you, that's like a date. Isn't it?" Kimiko asked with a smirk on her face. When Danny's cheeks turned a nice shade of pink, even Judai chuckled at his discomfort. "I'm just teasing you, Danny. Relax. It's good to take things one step at a time. Ne?"
"What do you mean by that?" Danny asked.
"I'm ready!"
"Oh, you look great sweetheart," Kimiko gushed when she spotted Kagome standing in the doorway.
"Yeah. You look... really...yeah," Danny said, struggling to find the right words.
"Thanks, Danny. You look really yeah too," Kagome replied with a grin. She was only teasing, but Danny still found himself getting embarrassed.
"Now, you kids have fun, but be safe. Look out for each other."
"We will, mama. Let's go, Danny," Kagome said as she hoisted Danny up by his arm. "See you later!"
"Bye, Kagome!" Kimiko called out with a smile.
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With the amount of people that had gathered, the sounds of the upbeat pop song that was playing were almost drowned out. Danny had reasoned to himself and Kagome that they should hold hands so that they don't get separated from each other. Seeing the logic in his reasoning, Kagome slipped her hand in his with only a small amount of hesitation. "What do you want to do first?" Danny asked and looked over at her.
"Hmmm," Kagome hummed as she pursed her lips in thought. She could see various booths with all sorts of games and foods. In the distance, some rides were already in motion with people crying out happily on them. On her third sweep of the fair, Kagome's eyes widened. "Look over there. Is that what I think it is?" Kagome asked and immediately started towards the right. Danny wasn't sure what had caught her attention, but it must have been pretty-
"Wow! An entire booth dedicated to Danny Phantom?" Kagome mused as she looked over the booth. A few teenage girls were running the booth- each one wearing a black tee with Danny's famous "DP" insignia on the front. "They've got photos, plushies, and tee shirts," Kagome said as she smirked at Danny.
"Uh... No thanks," Danny replied as he stared at the million images and likenesses of him.
"Hi there!" a redheaded girl with a high ponytail greeted them. "Would you like to join the Phandom today? For today only, every new member also gets a free tee shirt."
Glancing down at the sign hanging from the table, Kagome grinned at the spelling of "Phandom". "What if I just want one of the Danny plushies?" Kagome asked.
"You can play our Ghost Fighter game. It's a dollar to play and if you can hit at least thirty bad ghosts in a minute, then you can win a plush and a signed, Danny photo," the girl said and showed them a picture of Danny Phantom poseing confidently.
"Is that really Danny's signature on the bottom?" Kagome asked with a grin as she leaned in close to observe.
"Totally! Our chapter President was able to get his signature so we just copy it onto all our pictures- with Danny's permission of course," the redhead assured.
"Wow. Danny's Phantom's signature. That's pretty special," Kagome said to Danny. Danny shot her an amused look, but didn't respond. "I'll definitely play. Can I have a tee shirt instead of a picture though?" Kagome asked as she placed a dollar on the counter.
"If you can hit thirty, bad ghosts, sure!"
Accepting the water gun, Kagome waited for the machine to start. With a few loud whirs and clanking noises, the timer began. It was relatively easy. These girls had done a good job of capturing the likeness of all of Danny's enemies and a few generic ghosts. Every once in a while, a cut out of Danny Phantom would pop up to trip her up. And after forty-six seconds, Kagome had reached her goal. "Way to go! Here's your tee shirt and you can take any Danny you want," the girl said and handed over the black tee.
"Thanks!" Kagome grinned and took down a medium-sized Danny. As the two started walking away from the booth, Kagome slipped her hand back into Danny's. "Now, I have two Dannys."
"I'm not sure how I feel about there being so many me's all over town," Danny commented with a slight frown.
"You should be happy. You're a teen heartthrob. You've got practically every girl in town tripping over their own, two feet," Kagome said and playfully bumped Danny's shoulder with her own.
"Every girl?" Danny asked skeptically.
"Okay. So, Valerie doesn't like Phantom," Kagome replied.
'What about you?' he wanted to ask. The question was literally at the tip of his tongue. All he had to do was say the words and then he'd know! He'd faced all kinds of evil-doing bad guys. He could do this... "What about you?" Danny asked. He did it! And he didn't even stutter once! Yes!
"Me? I wouldn't say that I'm tripping over my feet. Do you realize how impractical and dangerous it would be to date a superhero?" Kagome answered with a smirk. "But, he does have a nice butt."
Danny's face flamed. Not only was he no closer to figuring out how she really felt about him, but now he couldn't get her words out of his head! Did she really think his butt was nice or was she just messing with him?
"Hey... Isn't that Paulina and Dash over there?" Kagome asked and pointed ahead of them.
"Yeah. It does look like them," Danny agreed and slowed his pace. Two of his least favorite people together? If only he could go invisible right now...
"We can go somewhere else if you want. I don't care to hang around Dash. Besides, they're on a date and I don't think we should-" Kagome was saying while she diverted their path.
"Kagome! Over here!"
"Dang it," Kagome whispered before turning. Paulina was smiling brightly, but Kagome could see the strain in her smile. Paulina was definitely not enjoying herself. Dash was none the wiser to Paulina's discomfort and silent screams for help, however. "Hey, Paulina. Are you having fun?"
Translation: I'm so sorry.
"Yeah. Dash just won me this stuffed zebra. It was the only animal missing from my "African safari" collection," Paulina replied with a smile.
Translation: Shoot me.
Kagome didn't understand why Paulina couldn't simply reject Dash and leave it at that. Then again, Dash was the only boy (aside from Danny Phantom) that Paulina had ever shown any interest in. And the Latina wasn't about to date someone she had no interest in. For a social butterfly like Paulina, having limited options probably sucked. Kagome didn't completely get it, however. Having no options to her just meant that she'd be single. Being single wasn't the end of the world...
"Hey, Kagome. Nice Danny Phantom doll. Did Fenton win that for you?" Dash asked. The jock somehow managed to feign interest while still sounding insulting.
Kagome could already feel Danny tensing next to her so she squeezed his hand once. "No. I won it myself. I thought it'd be fun," she answered.
"Don't count on Fenton to be able to win anything here," Dash said with a loud laugh. Even Paulina smirked slightly at Dash's attempt at humor. At least Paulina had the decency to cover her smirk and turn away for Kagome's sake.
Kagome frowned when she felt the slight spike in Danny's ghostly energy. "Are you sure about that? I don't think so," Kagome replied. She was going to regret this later, but it had to be done. Looping her arm through Danny's, she rested her head onto his shoulder and said, "He might surprise you. Danny's really good with his hands."
If she wasn't dying of embarrassment inside, she might have laughed at Paulina and Dash's expressions. Both of them looked absolutely astonished at her words, but Kagome didn't falter. From the way Danny stiffened next to her, she was sure that he was just as surprised. Dash was the first to recover. "Really? Then you wouldn't mind a little challenge. Huh, Fen-ton," Dash asked while leaning towards Danny challengingly.
Danny narrowed his eyes. "What are we? Twelve?"
Dash ignored him, however. "We can play that," Dash suggested and pointed over to the left. Everyone turned simultaneously to see what he was gesturing to. "Who ever can get the puck to go higher wins. I mean it's obvious who's gonna win. I'm having a harder time deciding what I want from you after I win," Dash said and lead the group over to the brightly colored, strongman game.
"I'm so sorry I got you into this. You don't have to play his game," Kagome whispered.
"Kagome, did you forget?" Danny asked with a smirk. "Superhuman, ghost strength?"
"You mean the strength that you're technically not supposed to have?" Kagome replied with a raised brow. Danny frowned a bit. "Don't use too much strength. You don't have anything to prove."
Danny nodded once. It would have been nice to finally shut Dash up. But, it wasn't worth it. He knew he could pummel Dash any time. But it so wasn't worth explaining to everyone how wimpy Danny Fenton could easily bench press nearly two hundred pounds.
"You first, Fenton," Dash said and offered Danny the hammer. Taking the hammer away from Dash, he glared up at the blonde boy's condescending smirk. "Don't hurt yourself, Fentina."
"Knock it off, Dash," Kagome warned with a glare.
"What? I'm concerned for him. Wouldn't want him to pull a muscle or something," Dash shrugged easily but still held a taunting smirk.
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Danny swung the hammer. They all watched as the little puck flew up the column before stopping just short of the red bell at the top. "Better luck next time, kid," the operator said before starting to shout, "Step right up! Step right up!"
"Hand it over, Fenton," Dash commanded with a scoff. Danny felt tempted to shove the wooden hammer into the jock's chest with more force than necessary. Instead, he offered the mallet with a roll of his eyes. "Let me show you how it's done. Pay attention to a real man, ladies."
Kagome rolled her eyes while Paulina checked her nails. Glancing at Danny's stoic expression from the corner of her eyes, Kagome gazed back at where Dash was getting ready to lift the hammer. Discretely, she waved her hand at the mallet just as Dash was attempting to swing it.
"Agh! Damn it!" Dash shouted as he strained to lift the mallet. Once he struck the lever, everyone watched the puck rise by one foot.
"What's wrong?" Paulina asked with a raised brow.
"I don't know. It just got really heavy," Dash said while rubbing his shoulders soothingly. What the hell? He couldn't have pulled a muscle. The stupid hammer was no where near that heavy before...
"Don't strain yourself, Dash," Kagome said while feigning concern.
"Seriously, Dash. You might pull a muscle or something," Danny inputted. Stifling a giggle, Kagome buried her face in Danny's shoulder.
Dash growled while narrowing his eyes at Danny. "I'm going again," Dash announced and gave the operator another dollar. This time, he made sure to bend his knees as he gripped the hammer tightly by its handle. With a look of utmost concentration, Dash hoisted the hammer over his head. Before he could swing his arms downward, Dash suddenly felt a sharp pain in his foot. Once again losing his balance, Dash immediately released the hammer and gripped his injured foot in his hands. Unfortunately, gravity quickly brought the hammer down onto his uninjured foot. With both feet in searing pain, Dash hollered loudly before falling to the ground.
"I warned him," Danny said with a shrug.
"It was my foot, Fen-turd!" Dash objected heatedly.
"Whatever you say, Dash," Danny smirked.
In between giggles, Kagome took Danny by the hand and said, "We're gonna go. See you guys later."
Dash wanted to object, but he was having a hard time deciding just what to say. He'd just lost in a test of strength to Fenton of all people! He'd never thought he'd see the day. What rotten luck! What would Kagome think of him now? Everyone would probably be talking about how much weaker than Fenton he was by next week.
As they walked with no particular destination in mind, Kagome smirked at Danny. "I saw that, Fenton. I'm pretty sure that if you couldn't use your super strength, ghost rays were off-limits, too," Kagome said.
"What about you? I saw you using your magic on the hammer," Danny accused with a grin.
"Well then, I guess we're both cheaters," Kagome giggled. Danny chuckled once before taking Kagome's hand in his. A bright warmth erupted in his chest when she interlaced her fingers with his.
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Moi-Moi: Awwwwwww... How sweet! Poor Dash though. He didn't stand a chance.
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