Requirement: 500 words or less.
Word count: 500
Spoiler: Takes place after Manga Chapter 494
Fools in Love
He was such a fool. He should have recognized the signs.
He hurried from the school building, hoping to catch up with Kagome. It had been ages since she had been to school; he wanted to ask her how she was, and see if she would go out with him again. He came to a dead stop when he saw her face light up with a brilliant smile. Even from here, he could see the sparkle in her eyes. He turned to see who she was looking at, and it was him, that boy he had seen her with before, that boy that had come to the cultural festival. It was the boy the girls said she had dumped because he couldn’t let go of an old flame. However, the look on his face said that wasn’t true, either. Kagome walked to him, extending her hand towards him when she joined him. Shyly, he reached out and took hers, and they turned in the direction of the shrine. The look on Kagome’s face made it clear that she was his, just as the expression on his said that he was hers in return. They were in no hurry, like old friends who were comfortable with each other.
Hojo sighed as he turned away. He should have known that Kagome had never been interested in him like he had been in her. She had always been polite to him, and had smiled at him when he brought her gifts. However, she had never smiled like that at him, like he was the only one that could make her happy, like he was the only guy in the world for her. When he thought back, he realized that she had never really accepted a date with him on her own, but that the other girls she hung out with had to talk her into it. When she had gone out with him, she was so distracted she may as well have not been there. Then again, now that he understood, he realized that she really wasn’t – not in her heart, anyway. No, it was clear; her heart belonged to the unusual boy with the golden eyes and long, flowing silver mane. Hojo reached up and ran his fingers through his own hair and just shook his head. He couldn’t compete with that. With a sigh, he turned away and started towards his bicycle, staring at the ground and not watching where he was going.
“Oomph,” he heard as he walked right into a warm body. Luckily, he was moving so slowly and pathetically he didn’t knock her to the ground.
“Hojo? Are you all right?”
Hojo glanced back in the direction that the couple had disappeared to and sighed. “Yeah, it’s just that…”
“Hojo? Would you like to go and get a soda or something? I’m a good listener. I know what it’s like to love someone who wants someone else.”
created 03/14/07
