"We have acquired the means
To exceed our natural span of life,
Never suspecting that the world itself
Was finalized in its existence"
A Wolf's Cry
Chapter Twenty-Four- Epilogue"Hey…Kagome?"
Blue eyes quickly met chocolate.
"What?" asked the said girl curiously.
"What do you think?"
Kagome blinked. "…About what?" She had been gazing off into space while drinking a sprite from her favorite fast food place, WacDonalds.
She sighed when one of her friends raised their eyebrows. She had once again missed the conversation her three friends, Sango, Blue, and Ayame were having.
"About going to the festival tonight of course!" exclaimed Ayame excitedly.
Sango put down her drink. "It's been a while since we've all gone out together as a group. This would be the perfect opportunity."
Kagome stopped twirling the straw in her soda and smiled brightly. "That sounds like a great idea!" And it would be. High school was really sucking for her these few weeks with all the homework and projects as well as tests.
Her three friends smiled back at her before one of them, Blue, looked at her watch. "We should leave and get ready or we'll be late," she stood up from the table and waved. "We'll meet at your house Kagome. I'll see you later!"
After waving back to Blue, the remaining girls finished their food and said goodbye to Kagome. She was the last to leave since she didn't have to walk far to get to her house.
On her way home she let her thoughts get the better of her. She had heard everyone talking about the festival in school and it seemed as if everyone would be going.
Even the people she hoped to not see.
But she knew she couldn't tell her friends she could not go because of that one little thing. Besides, she would make sure she didn't run into any of the people she disliked. If in the small chance that she did, she would ignore them.
And they were right. It had been forever since they had gotten together. Each of her friends did have a boyfriend that they spent most of their time with. Sango had Miroku, Ayame had Kouga, and Blue had Hige.
Kagome stopped in mid step, a sudden thought catching her attention. Her eyes narrowed.
Was this another one of their plans? Kagome distinctly remembered the last time her friends had done this to her. They had set her up on a date with Hojo, which had, unsurprisingly, gone badly.
She had become very uncomfortable and in the end, dropped him like a bag of rocks with some sort of an excuse.
Kagome shook her head. I swear if they do that I'm going to punch them all in the head.
With a huff, Kagome resumed a firm stride home…only tripping a few times before she recovered somewhat gracefully and continued on.
"I'm home!" yelled Kagome as she kicked her shoes off before waling into the kitchen to see her mom cooking.
"Welcome home Kagome! How was school?" asked her mother happily.
Kagome dropped her bad next to the dining room table. "It was the same as always, nothing new," she sat on the floor. "Hey mom?"
"Yes?" called her mother from the kitchen.
"Do you think it would be alright if I went to the festival tonight?"
Her mother looked up from her cooking and gave Kagome a warm smile. "I don't see any reason why not. Are you going with friends?"
Kagome nodded.
Her mother turned to look at the clock and said, "You better get ready soon or you'll be late. Do you know what you're going to wear?"
Kagome, who was just about to head up the steps, turned her head to look at her mom. "Yea, thanks mom!" she said before disappearing up the steps.
Her mother kept smiling even when Kagome was out of sight. She was happy her daughter would be hanging out with there friends again. It had been a while since she had heard her daughter ask to go out.
After going through, what Kagome thought, a thousand yukatas, she finally found her choice.
It was a nice white yukata that had pink flowers scattered on it with a matching pink obi.
Finally she thought to herself exasperated.
"Kagome!"
Kagome's head shot to her door, "Yea mom?" she yelled.
"Your friends are here!"
"Ok!"
Grabbing a little matching purse, Kagome quickly ran through all the things she had in her head. Finding that she wasn't missing anything, she hastily ran down the stairs.
Souta's head popped out from his room. "Hey! Where are you going?"
Not missing a step nor bothering to turn around, Kagome answered him with only an "Out!"
Shaking his head he went back into his room to play video games.
By the time she was at the door to meet her friends, Kagome was out of breath and huffing. "Sorry…huff…for making…huff…you wait."
Her friends smiled down at there hunched over friend.
"We weren't waiting long so don't worry," said Blue as she pat Kagome's back. "Breathe."
Kagome laughed after she regained her posture. "Thanks." She stared at her friend and observed what they were wearing. Sango was wearing a plain pink yukata while Ayame wore a yellow with a pink and purple butterfly print. Blue wore a black yukata that had white flowers spread all over it. They all looked so pretty compared to her.
She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to face her mother.
"Have fun tonight," she said as she kissed her daughters cheek.
Kagome beamed at her. "I will, thanks mom!" Turning back to her friends, Kagome put on her sandals and headed out the door.
Ms. Higurashi watched until she couldn't see her daughter anymore then closed the door. She headed to the kitchen and tasted the food she had been cooking all-day and grinned. "Souta," she called. "Dinner's ready!"
It was already dark by the time they arrived at the festival and it was very crowded.
"So what do you girls want to do?" asked Sango, looking around.
Ayame jumped, "Lets eat!"
"Ok!" everyone agreed. With no more to say, Ayame led the way to a nice little food stand where they ate different meals but shared a few rice balls. The food was very good…
And Kagome couldn't stop eating.
She hadn't even noticed that her friends had left until they called her name.
"Kagome!" she looked up just as she was licking her fingers clean. "Come on Kagome, let's go!" shouted Sango who was waving.
Kagome nodded her head vigorously and quickly paid the man. Just as she turned, her shoulder connected with something hard and she spun on her sandal and lost her balance. A pair of hands grasped her arms tightly so she wouldn't fall.
Kagome immediately tensed and opened her eyes, which she had closed in reaction to losing her balance.
"Are you alright?" came a masculine voice.
Time slowed down. She wasn't able to say a thing. The boy who had caught her was maybe a few years older than her and very handsome. He had a very nice skin complexion that went well with his short dark hair and blue eyes…weird. She had thought it was only she and Blue that had blue eyes in all of Japan.
Kagome blinked a few times and regained her voice. "Sorry about that."
He released her but didn't move to walk away. Instead, they both stood there studying each other.
I know that face, thought Kagome to herself. Then she remembered something. "Wait a minute. Were you-" she was cut off before she could say any more.
"Kagome!" "Kiba!"
They both turned in the direction that their group had called them from at the same time.
The man stayed silent while Kagome answered her friends almost hesitantly. I guess they didn't. "Coming!" She turned to the man who was in front of her and bowed. "I have to go now. I'm very sorry about bumping into you." She turned and left, not looking at him.
She continued to not look at him until she was sure she put a good few feet between them. When she did turn to look in his direction, she could only see his back. She found herself not able to look away.
Where have I seen him before?
She tried to remember but couldn't since her friends kept tapping her shoulder and asking her questions.
"What?" Kagome asked, a little irritated.
Her friends didn't seem to notice or care.
"Who was that?" asked Ayame loudly, eyes wide. "He was pretty handsome."
Kagome blushed. "I'm not sure but for some reason I think I've seen him before…"
Sango put her finger to her lips. "I've never seen him around school so I don't think its possible. Maybe he just moved here?"
The group tried to find him but he was already lost in the crowd.
"Anyway," said Blue suddenly. "Lets enjoy the rest of the night before we have to leave!"
Everyone but Kagome nodded. She still couldn't keep her eyes off the spot where she bumped into him.
"You all right Kagome?" Sango patted her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts with a sheepish grin.
She scratched her head.
"Yea," she answered.
Ayame turned and pointed in the direction she wanted to go. "Then lets go!" she announced before marching off. The rest of the girls followed her into the night to enjoy the festival.
The End
Credits
Writer: Dark Paine
Publisher: Dark Paine
Special thanks to:
All of the Reviewers
Evil Hamster of DOOM for giving me constructive criticism.
Everyone who has me on their author/story alert
Everyone who has me or my story on their fav list.
Thank you all very much!
Next Story to be done:
First Love
Kagome/Youko
AU Kagome is a poor peasant girl who barely makes ends meet...Her love life is just as bad, if not worse. But that all changes when a mysterious man 'saves' her...InuYasha/YuYu Hakusho crossover.
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CripticWolf
Until Next time, take care of yourselves, and each other.