InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ This Year Might Just Be A Little Bit Different ❯ First Dates Are Always The Hardest ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter 6: First Dates Are Always The Hardest

 

Yami 396

 

Warning! This chapter is dedicated solely to the continuing relationships of InuYasha and Kagome. I'm the author and InuYasha and Kagome have taken way too long to hook up on their own. This is a little break from all the drama in the past two chapters. Enjoy FLUFF!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha or Yu Yu Hakusho. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Yoshihiro Togashi. I just like to put the characters through hell…

 

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“Training?” asked Kagome. The shock was evident in her voice, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. With the way the past few days were going, Kagome had her doubts that she would ever be able to return to her previously normal life. Her mother smiled at her.

 

“Yes, training. You will start within a week,” her mother informed her. Kagome bit back a groan.

 

“What kind of training,” she asked, trying not to show her disappointment. Midoriko smiled. She knew an unwilling student when she saw one.

 

“I'll train you in the powers of a priestess,” Midoriko began. “I can teach you to recognize a demonic aura, sense the presence of the jewel, and shoot Sacred Arrows.”

 

“Sacred…Arrows?” Kagome said, uneasily. She had tried to take archery lessons before, with disastrous results. Her instructor had informed her, none too kindly, that Kagome was not made out for archery and that she should drop the notion of being a world-class archer before she killed someone.

 

“You don't know what they are, I assume,” Midoriko said, when she saw Kagome's face.

 

“No, I don't. I was just remembering my previous archery lessons,” Kagome replied, not bothering to go into detail. Midoriko didn't need to know she wasn't good at archery.

“Yes, your mother told me about them.” Kagome sweat-dropped.

 

“She did?” Kagome asked apprehensively.

 

“Mmhmm.”

 

“Mom!”

 

“I'm sorry sweetheart, but she asked,” her mother said with a laugh. “And I couldn't very well lie and say you were excellent.”

 

“That instructor didn't like me! I wasn't half as bad as she said I was!” Kagome protested. For some reason, she wanted to look good in front of Midoriko. Something about radiated respect and complete self-control. It was all a bit discerning to Kagome.

 

“There's no reason to be ashamed, Kagome,” Midoriko said, as if reading into Kagome's soul. “You don't have to be good at the something the first time around. All you need to do is work at it. I'm sure you'll do fine.” Kagome was a bit reassured. Still, it seemed that her social life was going down the drain, at least to Kagome.

 

Unbeknownst to her, her closest friend and advisor was plotting a way to cheer Kagome up.

 

“Ugh! I don't know what to do!” Sango threw her pillow at her wall for effect. “I can't buy her something, then she'll know what I'm trying to do. And I can't use a holiday as an excuse! Christmas is too far off, and it's nowhere near her birthday! The only holiday I can think of is Halloween, and who gives out presents on Halloween!?” she finished, throwing up her hands towards the sky, as if asking for divine intervention. Divine intervention came in the form of a phone call.

 

“Umm, Sango-neechan,” Kohaku had heard her yelling, and being the timid boy he was, he didn't want to interrupt her rant.

 

“Yes, Kohaku-chan?” she asked in a gentler tone, to which Kohaku was happy about.

 

“You have a phone call,” he said, handing the cordless phone to her.

 

“Who is it?” Kohaku shrugged. He truthfully didn't know who the caller was, and for some reason or another, the caller had asked to remain anonymous. He left.

 

“Hello?” she asked, expecting Kagome or another one of her friends, and that it was just Kohaku playing a prank on her. She was not prepared for the response.

 

“Why my dear Sango-chan, hello!” Miroku's voice came over the receiver, causing Sango to almost drop it.

 

“Houshi-kun!” Sango was momentarily stunned. “How did you get this number!?”

 

“I have my ways, Sango-chan, I have my ways,” he said.

 

“I told you not to call me Sango-chan!” she said, blushing furiously. It was the first time a boy had ever called her.

 

“But what else can I call you?” Miroku asked, teasing her.

 

“What do you want?” Sango asked, becoming impatient.

 

“I was wondering if you would like to have a little fun,” came the answer. There was an audible gasp over the phone line that did not come from Sango or Miroku.

 

“KOHAKU!” Sango yelled, her embarrassment causing her voice to jump several octaves. “Get off the other phone line!” There was a click, and then silence in which Sango tried desperately to control the blush that was spreading all across her face, and Miroku tried to regain some of his hearing abilities.

 

“My Sango-chan, I didn't know you could yell so loudly,” he said at last, rubbing his throbbing ear.

 

“You. Are. Such. A. PERVERT!” Sango said, emphasizing the last word. Miroku sighed.

 

“Your brother misunderstood my intentions,” he said.

 

“And what exactly are your…intentions?”

 

“To have a little fun,” he said innocently.

 

“Not at my expense,” Sango said. She could just imagine the look on his face right now.

 

“I was thinking more of at Kagome's and InuYasha's expenses,” he said.

 

“What's that supposed to mean,” Sango asked him, a bit suspicious.

 

“You know, egg the two of them on a little bit.”

 

“Egg them on?”

 

“Yeah, set them up on a date,” Miroku said. Sango laughed.

 

“Yeah, that'll be the day. They wouldn't go on a date with each other is they were the last two people on the planet!” she said.

 

“Yes, that is a problem,” Miroku said in all seriousness. “But if we don't tell them that they're going on a date together, then they might say yes,” he finished ecstatically.

 

“You mean like a blind date?” Sango asked him.

 

“Exactly.”

 

“I don't know, Houshi-kun, InuYasha doesn't seem like one to go on a blind date,” Sango said, skeptically.

 

“If there's something in it for him, then he will,” Miroku said. “And I have just the thing!”

 

“What?” Sango asked, slightly amused at this point.

 

“A redeemable coupon for two months worth of ramen at Ramen World.” Sango tried not to laugh, but the image of InuYasha cramming as many ramen cups down his throat as fast as he could replayed over and over again in her mind.

 

“That's…that's just…too…too…funny!” she said, in between laughter. “Where did you get that?”

 

“You'd be surprised what you can find on E-Bay if you look,” he said.

 

“You mean you actually looked something like that up on E-Bay?” Sango asked him. “Was this prank premeditated?”

 

“Actually I've had this coupon for a year now. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to use it,” he said, causing Sango to burst out into laughter again.

 

“Don't you think it might have…umm…I don't know…expired?” she said.

 

“InuYasha doesn't know that.”

 

“He'll kill you when he finds out.”

 

“That's why I have a one-way only flight ticket to Hawaii.” Once again, Sango went into a fit of giggles.

 

“I don't know if I want to get involved in this,” she told him.

 

“But I need you to talk to Kagome for me. She'll be suspicious if I talk her into it,” Miroku said. Sango realized that he did have a point. Kagome did trust her more than she trusted the pervert.

 

“All right, I'll do it. But if I get injured in the process, it's your head that's going to pay the price,” she warned him.

 

“Thank you, Sango-chan,” he said. “I'll see if I can get you a ticket to Hawaii too, that way we can enjoy it together!”

 

“Goodbye, Houshi-kun,” Sango said, rather forcefully.

 

“Bye, Sango-chan! Tell Kagome-san that she'll meet him on Saturday at Botan's Diner at eight o'clock,” he said, hanging up before Sango could ask him where that was. She stared at the phone for about a minute, apprehensive and yet contemplating at the same time.

 

“If I go through with this, Kagome-chan is going to hate me forever,” she thought aloud. “But she's been a little depressed ever since she found out about the Sacred Jewel. This will cheer her up if not for a little bit.” With that, she dialed Kagome's number. Two rings later, Sango heard the familiar voice of Sota answer the phone.

 

“Hello, Higurashi residence,” he said, with practiced ease.

 

“Hi, Sota-chan. Is Kagome-chan around? It's Sango,” she replied.

“Oh, hi Sango-san!” Sota said. “She's upstairs complaining about having to take archery lessons.” Sango raised an eyebrow.

 

“Kagome-chan's taking…archery lessons again?” she asked. Sango also knew about Kagome's bad aim.

 

“Yeah, and I don't want to be around when she starts shooting those arrows,” he said. “Would you like me to get her?”

 

“Yes, please.”

 

“One minute.” Sango assumed he had run upstairs to get Kagome and took that time to try to formulate a plan to make Kagome believe her white lie.

 

“Sango-chan?” Kagome's voice came through the phone. “What's up?”

 

“You know those online dating things?” Sango asked her.

 

“Yeah. Don't tell me you actually went for one of those!” Kagome said, shocked. Sango never dated, especially online, with `all those perverts hanging around.'

 

“Actually, I didn't,” Sango said, knowing the eruption that was soon to take place and braced herself for it.

 

“Then why did you ask…Sango-chan, you didn't?!” Kagome said, horrified.

 

“Well, you seemed depressed so I thought you would jump at the chance to get out and have a go out with somebody new,” Sango said, trying to keep it from escalating into a large-scale argument.

 

“You are such a hypocrite, you know. What if he doesn't like me?” Kagome asked her, glaring at the wall as if it were her best friend that she was currently fuming at.

 

“I told him that you were too shy to talk to him yourself, and that you would like to meet him at Botan's Diner on Saturday at eight o'clock.” Sango heard the sigh of exasperation on the other end.

 

“Sango-chan…can't you go instead of me?” Kagome asked her.

 

“Nope, sorry. I already told him what you looked like, and he really wants to meet you,” Sango replied back. “If only you knew,” she thought to herself. There was silence on Kagome's end and Sango wondered briefly if she had hung up.

 

“Fine, but if the gut turns out to be some kind of weirdo, I'll get even with you,” Kagome warned her. Sango gave a little cheer.

“So tomorrow after school we'll go shopping and find you something to wear!” Sango said.

 

“Yeah, sure,” was the half-hearted reply from Kagome.

 

“I have to go know, okay? Bye Kagome-chan! See you at school tomorrow!” With that, Sango hung up, leaving Kagome staring at the phone with dismay.

 

Meanwhile, Miroku was having the same amount of luck with his victim.

 

“There is no way in hell that I'm going to go on some stupid blind date!” InuYasha e-mailed Miroku. Miroku sighed and typed a response.

 

“But she wants to meet you!”

 

“I don't want to meet her!”

 

“You can't tell a girl that, you'll crush her feelings!”

 

“And I care?”

 

Miroku sighed. He hoped Sango was having an easier time than he was. “Just for one date. Then you'll never have to see her again,” he wrote.

 

“And what makes you so sure about that?” came the response.

 

“Because after your date, I'll come in and I'll make her forget all about you.” Well that was a big lie, but Miroku couldn't help it.

 

“No.”

 

“Would you do it for something?” Miroku asked him.

 

“What is this something Miroku, I don't trust you,” InuYasha replied back.

 

“Oh, just a coupon for all the ramen you could eat in Ramen World, but you wouldn't be interested in it,” Miroku wrote, knowing what would come next.

 

“For how long.”

 

“A month,” Miroku wrote, examining the little orange paper. He noticed that at the bottom it said it had expired December 1, 2003. He grabbed a marker and blotted it out.

 

“Fine, I'll do it,” InuYasha wrote back. Miroku smiled. It was exactly like he had planned.

 

“Okay, you'll meet her at eight o'clock on Saturday at Botan's Diner. Is that alright?” Miroku never found out because the next message he received read:

 

“Unless the two of you want to pay the next phone bill, this conversation is over.”

 

Miroku had to grin. InuYasha had been using his cell phone to instant message him, and from he looks of it, his brother was not happy about it. It didn't matter. The stage was set, and all that was left to do was to watch the unwilling actors perform in a front row seat.

 

School went by too quickly for both InuYasha and Kagome's preferences on Friday, but neither would say what was wrong. Of course, everyone could tell they were both anxious, especially when InuYasha sent Koga flying into the wall at lunch. Miroku and Sango were just glad to get out of there without being found out.

 

“We have to leave early today, I hope you don't mind,” Sango said, as she pulled Kagome out of school when the final bell rang.

 

“What's your hurry,” InuYasha snapped, foul-tempered.

 

“It's girl's night out tonight,” Sango said, making up a quick lie on the spot. “No boys allowed.”

 

“Feh. I wouldn't want to go anyway,” he said. “Besides, Miroku wants to see something on the Internet since his computer's broken.” That too was a lie, but InuYasha wasn't about to admit to anyone that Miroku was going to help him find something to where on his blind date. Miroku knew that if left up to InuYasha, he would go looking like a bum.

 

“Well, that's settled,” Miroku said. “I'll see you ladies Monday then.” With that he and InuYasha left, leaving Kagome and Sango to walk home together.

 

In about an hour-and-a-half, Kagome found herself feeling completely out of place in a store called Kang-Lin.

 

“Sango-chan! This place looks expensive!” Kagome whispered to her.

 

“Yeah, I know. It is,” Sango said. She was too busy trying to find someone in the store.

 

“I can't buy something in here! I don't have enough money!” Kagome complained.

 

“Don't worry,” Sango reassured her. “I know someone who works here. Our families are really close and we always get discounts here. Ah! Nuriko!” Sango called out and waved to someone. A very pretty young woman came forward with long black hair smiling happily at Sango.

 

“Sango! I'd never thought I'd live to see the day that you would come into this store!” she said, playfully teasing Sango.

 

“I'm not here for me, Nuriko,” Sango said. “You see my friend has a blind date, and she needs something nice to where.” Nuriko looked at Kagome.

 

“You brought her to the right place. Looking at her right now, I'd say she'd scare the guy so much he'd leave at the first sight of her,” she said, making Kagome bristle with anger.

 

“Now, now, Nuriko. Don't tease her. She'll take it the wrong way. Kagome-chan, this is Korin Nuriko. Nuriko, this is Higurashi Kagome. Nuriko was only joking, right?” Sango explained.

 

“Maybe,” came the sniffed reply. “So what do you want?”

 

“I don't know,” Kagome said, still a bit angry.

 

“Well then, we'll just have to look around,” Nuriko said, and with surprising strength, dragged Kagome around the store, stopping to pick out a few items from racks until they stopped at the dressing rooms. “I want you to go in there and try on one outfit at a time and come out to show us,” she said.

 

“Wouldn't it be easier if you just went in with me?” Kagome asked, trying to get some feeling back into her arm. Nuriko laughed. “What's so funny?”

 

“I can't go in there. I'll be fired!” Nuriko said. Kagome looked at Sango for help.

 

“Kagome-chan, Nuriko is a man,” Sango explained, enjoying the look of total confusion that passed over Kagome's face, and then to be replaced with a slight look of disbelief. “Go try on the outfits, we don't have all day,” Sango said, looking at her watch.

 

“Okay,” was all Kagome could say, her brain was in a mental fog.

 

“Seriously, Nuriko. I thought you were going to cut your hair,” Sango said to him, a bit reproachfully.

 

“I meant to, but when I got there, I decided I didn't want to anymore,” Nuriko said laughing. “Besides, Miaka likes it this way.”

 

It took another hour and about two-dozen outfits before both Nuriko and Sango were satisfied with the way Kagome looked. Her outfit consisted of a light blue spaghetti-strapped shirt with silver inlay and a pair of black Capri's with the same silver design in them. Casual yet elegant.

 

“Sango-chan…how am I going to pay for this?” Kagome asked her. She had seen the price tags on them. They were a hefty amount of yen each. Sango only smiled.

 

“Consider them my gift to you for going through with this,” she said.

 

“I couldn't,” Kagome protested. Sango shrugged.

 

“I told you I could get a discount. If it's really bothering you, then you can teat me to something to eat, I'm starving!” As if to punctuate Sango's remark, Kagome's stomach growled.

 

“Fair enough,” Kagome said.

 

“You know, I could get into a lot of trouble by not making you pay the full price,” Nuriko informed the two.

 

“You always give my family a discount and you've never gotten caught then!” Sango told him. Nuriko laughed.

 

“I was kidding, kidding. Here. Now get lost before the manager comes and yells at me.”

 

Miroku also found it very hard to find an outfit for InuYasha. Most, if not all of the clothes in his closet were either black or red, and not were the slightest bit dressy.

 

“Don't you have any other colors,” he asked InuYasha in exasperation,

 

“Nope,” came the sullen, if not slightly sarcastic return.

 

“No…happy colors?”

 

“No!” It came out as a growl.

 

“You don't have to get all huffy about it, I was just asking,” Miroku snapped, trying to find something that wasn't wrinkled.

 

“What are you looking for in there?” InuYasha asked him.

 

“Mothballs.”

 

“Very funny.”

 

“That's all I've found so far.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“You can help, you know.”

 

“You said I couldn't.” Miroku emerged briefly from the closet.

 

“No, I said you couldn't wear anything that makes you look like a bum,” he corrected. InuYasha shrugged and turned away.

 

“Hurry up,” he snapped.

 

“We could always steal one of your brother's shirts…” Miroku trailed off because the look on InuYasha's face suggested murder, and he had the slight suspicion that he would be the only casualty. “Relax, I was only kidding. I guess you could wear all black if you have to.”

 

“Feh.” He was obviously still annoyed at Miroku.

 

“If you don't cooperate, you won't get your ramen.”

 

“…”

 

“I thought so.”

 

After another twenty minutes of arguing and some name-calling, they both agreed on a pair of slim black pants, which Miroku made InuYasha take the chains off, and a slightly too small black tee, which InuYasha didn't want to wear, but Miroku used the ramen threat again.

 

So naturally, Saturday was a very stressful day for the two unwilling and unknowing participants.

 

“I'm telling you Sango-chan, the look on InuYasha's face is going to be priceless,” Miroku said to her, the two of them already staking out the diner, and Miroku with his camera phone.

 

“Are you sure we should be here?” Sango asked, more worried than amused. “What if they see us? We'll be killed!”

 

“But I wanna see their faces,” Miroku whined. Sango sighed.

 

“If this turns ugly, don't think I'm going to bail you out,” she warned him. “I'm a fast runner. I'll leave you behind.” This was not entirely true, Sango was very loyal to her friends, but she would never let Miroku know that she considered him one. He opened his mouth to say something, but he caught sight of Kagome before he could say anything.

 

“Ah, there's the lovely Kagome-san,” he said. “Now all we need is her knight in his shining black armor.”

 

“Her what?” Sango asked.

 

“InuYasha refused to wear anything slightly colorful, except if it was red, and we couldn't find any red shirt that was appropriate for the occasion,” he explained. “And there's InuYasha, the baka, he came in through the back.”

 

“I already told the waitress at the front that table four was reserved,” Sango said, referring to the overly chipper blue-haired woman that was taking reservations and seating. Kagome walked up to her, and was shown to table four. InuYasha followed suit after a few minutes of fruitless searching and was also shown to table four.

 

“And now to watch the play unfold,” Miroku said, positioning his cell while Sango shook her head.

 

InuYasha made his way over to where that weird blue-haired girl, Botan, as the nametag said, had shown him. He was a little surprised to see a young woman with long raven black hair sitting there, a menu partially covering her face. Her scent was familiar, and he wondered briefly if she was someone who went to his school.

 

“Hey,” he said, a little hesitantly. She looked up and stared at him with light brown eyes, framed by hair. She was very pretty. And very familiar…recognition suddenly flared in her eyes, followed by confusion and then anger. She flew up.

 

“InuYasha!?” she squawked at the same time InuYasha yelled, “Kagome?!” They both stared at each other.

 

The voice that had spoken to Kagome sounded familiar to her, but she wasn't expecting to see gold eyes staring back at her when she looked. At first, she thought it was a mistake, but then realized that the odds of the two of them running into the same place where Sango had told her to meet her blind date… “Oh, so that's how she wants to play, huh?” she thought angrily, as she jumped up.

 

“What are you doing here,” she asked him, trying to keep the anger out of her voice, lest he think that she was mad at him.

 

“I should be asking the you the same question,” he replied, the anger in his voice evident. He wasn't angry with her, he was just confused, and that made him agitated.

 

“Well I'm sorry!” Kagome snapped. “How was I supposed to know you were going to be here too? Sango told me I was going on some blind date thanks to the wonders of the Internet!”

 

“Sango told you that you were going on a blind date?” InuYasha asked, his mind starting to piece together what had happened.

 

“Yeah, why?” she asked, when she saw that he knew something.

 

“That damned Miroku said the same thing to me!”

 

“He did?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“We've been had, haven't we,” Kagome said, bursting out into snickers about their stupidity.

 

“Yeah, we where had, and I'm going to have my revenge!” InuYasha said as he walked to a particularly large fern whose leaves were shaking conspicuously.

 

“Don't,” Kagome said, making him turn around and stare at her. “We'll get back at them, we'll just have to make it better than theirs.” InuYasha shrugged.

 

“You want to go? That Botan thing said that the table had been already paid for,” InuYasha asked, jerking his head towards the door.

 

“And I wasted all that money on this outfit to wear it for an hour,” Kagome said, a little said, but jokingly nonetheless.

 

“You can wear it again. When we have revenge on our so-called friends,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Come on, I'll take you home. I drove here.”

 

The drive to Kagome's house was actually quite pleasant, with the two of them laughing and talking about different ways to extract the coming and deserving revenge on Sango and Miroku. For Kagome's taste, it ended all too soon, as InuYasha pulled up to her house.

 

“You can leave me off here,” she said, but InuYasha insisted that he walk her up the stairs, lest she fall down and hurt herself, as the stairs were many.

 

“And you climb up these every single damn day?!” he asked her, out of breath when they reached the top.

 

“Yep!” she said with a smile. “Thank you for driving me home,” she said, suddenly very embarrassed. He looked away.

 

“You're welcome,” he said, as if he was not used to saying those two words together. “What the hell…it sounds as if we actually went on a real date!” He turned red at that thought. He turned and leaned over to say goodnight to her, just as she did, and for one fleeting second in time, their lips brushed against each other. Naturally, the two of them jumped away from each other, and as each of their faces burned bright red, they looked everywhere except at each other. Finally they mumbled an incoherent “Goodnight” and “See you in school,” before Kagome returned to the sanctuary of her home and InuYasha to his car, each wondering what exactly had just happened.

 

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I…Hate…Writing…Fluff! I just can't write hit! Anyway…Sango and Miroku fluff in the next chapter! Then back to the serious stuff.