InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Treading Water ❯ 18- An Unexpected Surprise. ( Chapter 18 )

Kagome's jaw worked soundlessly for a minute as sadness and anger chased each other like a rabid dog chasing a kitten around her mind. Finally the words made their way out.

 

“Kouga…The dance is Friday night. I've been asking you to go since Halloween. I've already bought my dress and our tickets.” Her fingers twisted together as she explained, feeling bad. A dance seemed trivial compared to helping family move, but it wasn't her family and her plans were months older than his. How could he give her less than a week's notice that they were going cross country!? Through it all the pain that he had brushed off her plans and made his own radiated slowly through her heart.

 

Kouga looked at her a moment before opening his mouth.

 

“Look Kaggie, I can't dance, I hate dancing, I wouldn't be caught dead at a high school dance. Besides, I need to help my cousins. My family is important to me. I'm sorry doll, I can't.”

 

With tears shining in her eyes Kagome glared at him half-heartedly.

 

“You couldn't tell me you can't dance months ago when I first asked you to go? I wouldn't mind so much if you just gave me an answer, but you sit there and pretend nothing is wrong and then less than a week to go I finally get an answer out of you. Next time you don't want to do something that's important to me just tell me so I don't count on you.”

 

Kagome walked past him and threw the door wide, holding it open for him in clear dismissal.

 

Kouga sighed and walked slowly to the door. “Look, Kaggie, I'm sorry. I really am. You're right, I should have told you. I just…it's embarrassing, ok? I guess I'll see you next weekend?” He asked hopefully.

 

She sighed sadly and nodded. “Yeah, sure Kouga.”

 

“Have fun at your dance, Kaggie.”

 

Kagome grunted noncommittally and closed the door after him quietly.

 

Long after the door had closed and she was left with her thoughts she heard his words echoing in her mind. Besides, I need to help my cousins. My family is important to me. She snorted. Like family isn't important to me! This isn't about what's important, I wasn't trying to fight over his priorities. It's about honesty and working with the other person!

 

She sighed and turned off the lights, plunging the house into darkness. Slowly she made her way up to the bathroom, where she decided she needed a good soak before bed.

 

~o~o0o~o~

 

 

During lunch at school the next day her friends chattered on, but Kagome just couldn't focus on the conversation. She kept wondering why there was such friction between the two of them. She cared for him, he cared for her. He was smart, funny, good looking, sensitive and thoughtful(usually), so where was the problem?

 

Suddenly she was aware that some of her friends had wandered away, and Sango and Miroku were looking at her.

 

“I'm sorry, what?”

 

“Talking about the dance, Kags. Koharu and Akitoki are obviously going together. And I think Yura and Ayumi might be bringing dates. But am I going to the dance with you or is your boyfriend taking you?” Sango asked.

 

“He's not going. He made other plans.” Sympathy flashed across Sango's face before she wiped it away.

 

“Sango! Kagome!” Koharu called as she came over.

 

“Hi guys!” She waved energetically as she sat down next to her friends. “I'm sorry if I interrupted anything, but I have absolutely no idea how to do my hair for the dance. Any ideas?”

 

Kagome thought for a moment. “Sango and I are going to the dance together. If you want you can come home from school with me on Friday and we'll get ready and drive to the dance together. Akitoki and Miroku can meet us there.”

 

Koharu considered a moment and smiled. “Sounds good. But can we swing by my place on the way to your home? I'd rather not be carrying the dress all day.”

 

Kagome nodded. “That's fine, leave your make-up and dress at home and we'll get them on the way.”

 

Once Koharu had bounced up and away, most likely to find her missing boyfriend, Miroku and Sango turned back toward Kagome. Miroku crouched down in front of her, forcing her to look at him, a small smile on his handsome face.

 

“Are you ok, Kags? I know you were planning on going with your guy.”

 

Kagome nodded sadly. “It doesn't really bug me he isn't going. But we had a fight because he doesn't tell me things. He never told me he wasn't going, and waited until last night to tell me he had made other plans.”

 

Sango narrowed her eyes. “Can I smack him?”

 

Kagome laughed, the first truly happy sound they had heard from her all day.

 

“It's ok, Sango. I don't need him to have fun at the dance.”

 

An odd light entered Miroku's eyes at her statement, and then he thought back and remembered going with Kagome and Sango to buy their tickets.

 

“Hey Kags, can I buy that extra ticket off you then?”

 

Kagome gave Miroku a quizzical look before fishing in her backpack for her wallet. She pulled out the ticket and deposited the money Miroku handed her.

 

“You already bought your ticket, Roku, who's that for?”

 

“I just like being prepared.” He said with a smile. “I've got this gut feeling one of ours friends doesn't have a ticket yet.”

 

“Oh, ok.”

 

The rest of the week flew by as all of the students eagerly awaited the winter formal.

 

Friday morning Koharu hopped in Kagome's car with an extra bounce in her step. Sango and Kagome even smiled through their most awful classes. Miroku actually got away with grabbing both Kagome and Sango's butts without being knocked senseless. Yura and Ayumi gushed about boy-toys that they had just met and were dragging to the dance.

 

And that caught Kagome's attention.

 

Pulling Yura away from everyone else Kagome spoke in a hushed whisper. “I thought you were with Botan. What happened?”

 

Yura looked away from her friend's concerned look and started wringing her hands nervously.

 

“I, uh… She…we, uh. Well I… it didn't really work.” Yura looked down and noticed the knots she was tying her hands into and pulled them apart angrily.

 

“Are you ok?” Kagome's concern colored her voice heavily.

 

Yura nodded and smiled tightly, count on Kagome to care no matter what. “It wasn't her fault. It was just a little weird for me. I've never had a girlfriend before and…to tell the truth,” Yura looked up to remind herself that Kagome wouldn't judge her, no matter what, “Botan's nice and almost perfect, she just…doesn't have a dick!” Yura blushed slightly at her own admission.

 

She looked up and noticed Kagome was bright red and it looked like she was convulsing, instantly Yura was worried. After a few moments Kagome couldn't contain herself. She burst into quiet laughter, trying not to draw attention to where the two of them were practically hidden behind a classroom. Yura smiled and chuckled, it did seem a bit funny looking back on it.

 

Smiling genuinely she answered the questions that she knew Kagome needed answered before she would be content. “It's ok though, I talked to her about it and apparently she was expecting something like that from me, we're still friends, and she and `Miji are still close as ever.”

 

Kagome nodded, relieved everything was ok before she threw her arm around Yura's shoulders and the two walked back to their friends in companionable silence.

 

After school Sango, Koharu, and Kagome piled into Kags' car before heading for Koharu's. Within ten minutes of stopping Koharu came back out of her parents' apartment carrying a dress bag and two cases full of make-up and hair accessories. Less than ten minutes later Kagome turned off her car in her parents' driveway and proceeded to lead the procession of high school girls to her room.

 

Koharu had been about to ask where Sango's dress was when Kagome threw open the door to her room and the two dresses stared back at the girls from the closet doors.

 

They decided to eat before getting dressed and swarming into the kitchen where Mrs. Higurashi had prepared a variety of finger foods. She smiled softly as she remembered her own school dances and how she had discovered things like soup and rice were not the best before dance dinners, they always took too long to eat and left one feeling over-stuffed and not very pretty.

 

Souta popped his head into the kitchen when he smelled food but quickly disappeared when he saw the gaggle of girls that descended upon the food like cats on tuna. Mrs. Higurashi smiled when she saw her son and quickly took a plate out to him, she made sure none of her kids were starving.

 

After the light dinner the girls made their way back to Kagome's room, faces lit by contented smiles that came from perfectly filled bellies.

 

Kagome had already decided to put half of her hair up in a nice round bun with two chopstick like hair pins holding it together while leaving the rest of her hair to fall gracefully down her back. She pulled two boxes of shoes from her closet and opened one box as she handed the other to Sango.

 

Kagome's shoes matched the white of the dress, were closed-toe and had a strap across the ankle so she could dance and not lose them. Sango pulled her shoes free and untangled them. They were the same stunning cranberry as her dress and strappy sandal type shoes. Koharu's shoes were classic black character dance shoes.

 

Sango, who would choose comfort over safety every day, pulled her hair into a high ponytail so she wouldn't have to fight with her hair and the high dress collar.

 

When they were done Sango and Kagome turned to Koharu and attacked her. A good hour and a half later her hair sparkled, literally. The girls had used hair spray and curlers to quickly curl Koharu's hair and then pinned it back off her face with a few clips, finishing the effect by spraying her hair lightly with some glitter Kagome found in her bathroom.

 

Just about the time the girls finished Koharu's hair the phone rang and Kagome leapt to answer it.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey Kags, it's Miroku.”

 

“Hi Roku, we're just about ready here.”

 

“Well the dance starts in about half an hour—“ Kagome turned a panicked gaze to the clock to see he was right, “so Akitoki and I are head out. We'll meet you there. I think we'll be in separate cars, in case someone wants to leave early.”

 

Kagome nodded, still trying to convince herself being a few minutes late would be ok.

 

A few minutes later she hung up the phone and turned to her friends. “Koharu if you want to come home with me you can, or Akitoki can bring you home, he and Miroku are bringing separate cars.” At Koharu's nod Kagome grabbed her purse and doucle-checked it's contents before looking back at her friends.

 

“Everyone ready to go?” The other two girls also checked their purses for things like wallets, phones, tickets, lipstick, mascara, lip gloss, blush, you know, the essentials, before nodding and following Kagome to her car.

 

The ride to the dance was a bit tense, each of the girls hoping to have a good time, no one was really paying attention to the music on the radio.

 

Kagome parked the car under a light, trying to be safer than the average bear, and the three walked towards the entrance together.

 

At the large double doors leading to the hall hosting the dance they were met by a beautiful sight.

 

Three extremely handsome males in dress shoes, nice slacks and crisp button down shirts of different colors, and all waiting good-naturedly, gazing at them as they arrived. One had a shy smile creep onto his face, another had a sincere and joyful smile on his face, the third was smirking devilishly.

 

Kagome gasped, he wasn't supposed to be here.

 

 

 

|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|

 

 

Hai - Yes

Nani - What?

Onegai - Please

Konoama - Bitch

Temee - Bastard

Hajimemashite - Nice to meet you.

Ookami - Wolf

Oi - Hey

Nani shiyagaru - What the fuck?

Kiba—Fang

Tsume—Claw

Shinkuu—Vacuum

Arashi - Storm, Tempest

 

A/N:

 

Alatero - I hope the thing w/ your comp is nothing too serious…we come to depend on computers so completely that if they die we feel as though we lose months of our own lives. If I was you I would email myself or copy to cds any information you can't bear to lose, just in case the problem gets worse unexpectedly.

 

And super squishy hugs to inuyashaloverr, for always making me feel my work is appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

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