The Acrobat

Chapter 1: The Disaster

A/N: This fanfic, of course, is AU, and I will not be taking any flames, as usual, although I hardly mention it. Enjoy!

Kagome sipped her coffee and eyed her friend, Kikyo, cautiously. Sure, she liked Kikyo and everything, but when Kikyo got excited, she'd make Kagome do the most dangerous things, and this was another of those times. Kagome secretly wished that Kikyo wouldn't come up with something silly this time.

"So, Kikyo, what bizarre thing are you cooking up for me this time?" the teenager asked, finishing the rest of her drink and folding her arms on the table.

"No, no, it isn't crazy this time, Kagome," Kikyo mocked her friend by pushing away her drink and folding her arms on the table. "I was just wondering…"

The moment Kikyo said those four words Kagome couldn't help cringing a little. Every time Kikyo was excited and about to make her do something bad, she'd always start off with 'I was just wondering…". It was hard for the high-school girl to believe that Kikyo wasn't going to make her do anything dangerous this one time.

"Kagome, snap out of it! Aren't you even listening?" Kikyo sighed. Kagome was one of those day-dreamy people who couldn't keep focused on one thing for long. "Hey, Kagome, are you going or not?"

"Eh? Sorry Kikyo…what were you saying?" Kagome smiled, shaking herself free of all her previous thoughts.

"I said, daddy gave me two tickets to go to the 'Jewel of Four Souls Circus' this Saturday from 10 to 11:30am. Do you want to come or not? It'll be great!" Kikyo squealed.

"What did you…oh my gosh! You've got to be kidding me! The 'Jewel of Four Souls Circus' is the best around here!" It was Kagome's turn to get hyped up. "You actually THINK I'd pass up a chance like this? I'm going with you!"

"I knew you'd see the light," Kikyo smiled. She loved someone going along with her to wherever, especially if it was Kagome.

"Well, I guess our time is up…it's 3:00pm now, and mom wants me back at 3:15pm, so I've got to get going," Kagome said at last. "I'll see you tomorrow then! Same time same place?"

Kikyo shook her head. "No, sorry, I'm all booked up for the rest of this week. I'll see you on Saturday, then. Ciao!" and with that, the two friends parted.

Kagome smiled happily as she moved slowly but surely out of the restaurant. Kikyo and her visiting one of the most famous circuses known for miles around! Now SHE'D have a story to tell her other friends when she got back to school the Monday after she'd gone to the circus. And best of all, she'd be making them envious, and not the other way around!

Moving a little faster, she began to whistle a sonatina, and soon Kagome was dancing through the mall in time to the sonatina, humming all the way, until she bumped into somebody and stumbling backwards.

"Watch where you're going, woman! If you don't start now, I swear, I'm going to hand you over to people who help the blind!" a rough man's voice said. Looking up, Kagome saw a rather handsome-looking man. He had golden eyes, big muscles and silvery hair, and a little bit of something furry was poking out from under the cap he wore. Besides a cap, the man wore cool jeans and a tank-top that showed off his upper torso nicely.

"Well, maybe YOU could watch where you're going, if you're assuming that I can't!" Kagome retorted, and, forgetting completely about Kikyo and the circus, stomped out the nearest mall door, with people staring at her more than ever.

The days leading up to that special Saturday passed very slowly for Kagome. Whenever she wasn't doing her homework, she would be daydreaming, imagining herself asking for at least one of the acrobats' autographs, and maybe Kikyo and her cheering on all the performers. Oh, how fun it would be!

After what seemed like torturous months, Saturday finally arrived. Feeling excited, Kagome jumped out of bed and whistled. Remembering the boy she had bumped into at the mall, Kagome frowned and wondered how anybody could be so rude. Of course, she'd had to be rude back, but that was only because he'd started the rudeness. If only he'd apologized…maybe by allowing her to pull off his cap to see what those furry white things under his hat were.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the telephone. Shaking herself free of the man, Kagome walked over to the telephone, picked it up, and placed it to ear. This proved to be a big mistake.

"ARE YOU READY, 'COS TODAY'S THE BIG DAY!" Kikyo squealed loudly, and Kagome jumped at least three feet high in the air.

"Kikyo…I know that it's the big day…can you please lower your voice? What do you want now?" Kagome rubbed her temples, her eardrums still ringing from her friend's loud voice.

"Kagome, remember how we arranged for me to pick you up (A/N: I didn't put that part in)? Where are you? It's 9:30; we're going to be late if you dilly-dally any longer."

"WHAT, IT'S THAT LATE?" Kagome practically screamed. She hadn't even had breakfast yet! Oh well…maybe she should buy a muffin at the place later. "Look, I've got to go now. I still haven't changed. Come in if you want. See you later!"

Hurriedly slamming the phone down, Kagome rushed to her wardrobe. From it she extracted a pair of denim jeans and a halter tank top. Quickly changing, Kagome clattered down the stairs. In the kitchen she saw Kikyo talking to Sota, her younger brother.

"Hey Kikyo, let's go," Kagome said.

"Let's go, then," her friend complied, throwing back her hair. Smiling one more time Sota, she followed Kagome out the door and into her flashy Lexus (she had given Kagome the keys to her car).

Getting into the drivers' seat, Kikyo looked at her watch and made a shocked expression. "Oh my gosh! We've only got fifteen minutes left! Let's go!"

The car was suddenly brought to life with an earth-shattering roar. It took all Kagome's self control not to scream out that the person sitting right next to her was a lunatic.

Five minutes later Kikyo pulled into the car park nearest to where the show was to be held. Kagome secretly wondered how her friend could manage to back into the parking space without bumping into anything else and still drive so haphazardly. Jumping right out of the once alive vehicle, Kikyo smirked at her friend. She knew what Kagome was thinking. "I'm just good at that kind of stuff," was her reply, before she strode towards the exit of the car park.

Two minutes later found the two girls sitting in a huge, crowded theatre. The stage looked as if it was smeared with some greasy substance, and Kagome had a feeling she knew why.

"Kikyo, why do you think the stage floor looks greasy?" Kagome whispered to her friend, who was eating up most of the popcorn.

"I can't believe-eh? Oh, I think…" Kikyo trailed off as she finally noticed the stage floor (they were sitting in one of the front rows). Her eyes widened, she finally whispered back to her friend. "They probably want to show that the performers wouldn't be put off by anything."

"I guess that's a reasonable answer," Kagome said, turning back to look at the stage. Wait! Was that a man laughing/smirking over there, and was that a can that said 'oil: flammable' over there? That meant…the observant teenage girl was about to whisper this observation to her friend but she was interrupted by a loud, booming voice: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE'RE PROUD TO PRESENT TO YOU…THE FAMOUS 'JEWEL OF FOUR SOULS' CIRCUS PLAY!" At this announcement several people cheered, and Kagome clamped her hands over her ears, momentarily deafened by the loud roars of the audience.

"NOW, FIRST, WE WILL HAVE…THE STAFF FIGHTER!"

More applause as a man in a bluish-purplish suit came out, wielding a long, golden staff. He had black hair, which was tied into a short ponytail. Smiling confidently, the man began his routine, which was mainly showing the audience staff-fighting. After that, there came a beautiful lady with a huge tiger and a big boomerang. She was wearing a pink and black outfit. Smiling nervously, the woman began her routine. The crowd 'oohed' and 'aahed' as she threw the boomerang and hit wooden dummies with amazing accuracy.

Then there came a tiny boy dressed in an old-fashioned haori. Grinning, the cute little child began doing all sorts of neat tricks, like turning a tiny spinning top into a gigantic one, and making illusions. It was rather scary, but when the lights turned on again, the crowd cheered louder than ever. And best of all, the greasy floor did not faze any of the performers.

Then there came three men, all wearing black martial-arts kimonos. Kagome inwardly gasped; one of them was the man she'd bumped into the other day! Trying to hide her sudden blush, Kagome made a mental note to skip him when they allowed people to ask for their autographs. Kikyo, noticing her friend blush, looked in the direction Kagome was looking at and smirked. She had a matchmaker job to do now.

"Hello, our names are InuYasha, Koga and Miroku. I'm sure you will recognize Miroku here. For those who do not, he is the staff-fighter," the man called InuYasha said. Kagome narrowed her eyes. InuYasha? That was a fishy name. Suddenly, she realized something else-only the ignorant man she'd met was wearing a hat. The other two were not. Very fishy.

"We're here to show you what kind of acrobatics we do," Koga carried off from where InuYasha left off. "Are you prepared to see all sorts of wonderful things?"

The three men soon had their peers yelling with agreement, and that included Kagome and Kikyo. Kagome wanted to know what kinds of acrobatics the three men did, and Kikyo because she didn't want Kagome to think that she hated the guy called InuYasha, even if she wasn't really hyped up about what kinds of acrobatics they could do.

"What did you say? Speak louder!" the man called Miroku yelled out. Another dim guy, Kagome thought tentatively.

Of course, louder hollers were heard from the crowd, and the aftermath left Kagome's ears ringing.

"Ok, let's begin, and this show will star me!" Koga smiled at everyone, and Kagome could swear she'd heard a few girls sighing with happiness and Miroku and InuYasha growling in the background. Are they sighing because they think they're in love with him? Kagome thought. Stupid girls. She didn't realize that Kikyo was sighing because of Koga's arrogance.

The performance started. InuYasha was handed a long, 10-inch wide flat log, and Koga and Miroku helped carry the log. When they came to the middle of the stage, InuYasha let go of the log and quickly jumped on the log and everyone but Kagome held their breaths, hoping that InuYasha wouldn't fall and make a fool of himself. InuYasha glanced at everybody for a moment before jumping lightly off the log, doing a somersault in the air, and then coming back down on the log. Kagome couldn't help feeling scared for the man that had been so rude to her a few days ago.

They each took a turn at performing tricks on the log, each performance harder than the last, and InuYasha ended up back on the log again, twirling and somersaulting and playing with fire on the log. That was when disaster struck.

InuYasha was just about ready to jump back down on the log, but he lost his footing and fell down onto the greasy 'oil: flammable' floor, and well…you can guess what happened next.

The whole stage suddenly burst into a million pieces, and Kagome screamed and flung herself across Kikyo, trying to protect her friend, but Kikyo somehow managed to protect her friend from the sharp wooden stage instead.

"Everyone, hurry up! Get out of here!" a male voice said. Kikyo, however, was paralysed; she couldn't move out of pure fear. Kagome, however, was writhing underneath like a worm. "HOW CAN YOU FORGET ABOUT THE THREE ACROBATS ON STAGE?" she managed to scream. Finally managing to put Kikyo safely in the hands of a guard, Kagome hurried past the burning flames and onto the stage, nearly tripping over something soft.

One acrobat! Reaching for the soft, fleshy object, Kagome realized that it was InuYasha. Even though she would've left him alone if the situation wasn't too serious, the man was unconscious, and she wouldn't let the world lose one life. Grabbing InuYasha's arm, Kagome, with some difficulty, dragged him to the exit of the theatre and thrust him into the arms of the guards.

"He's unconscious, as you might know…" Kagome told the guard holding InuYasha. "Take care of him; I'll go look for the other two."

"Miss, it's alright, since the other two have made their way back," the guard informed Kagome. "You'll be famous once people hear that you saved InuYasha Taisho; he's the star of the circus."

"Oh," Kagome stated, feeling at a loss of words. "Oh yes, by the way, have you seen a girl wearing a green t-shirt with a blue flower on it saying 'hello Lavender'?" Kagome asked, wondering if the guard still remembered that she'd given him Kikyo.

"Miss, yes, I have. She said she's gone to the toilet, miss."

After the incident was taken care of, news soon went around that InuYasha had lost a lot of blood from the scratches he'd received when he'd fallen, and with bits of the stage flying at him, that was an extra bonus. What the guards needed was for someone sensible to look after the acrobat whilst they reported the news to their manager, who was currently on vacation with his family in Hong Kong.

As soon as Kikyo heard this, thinking that it would be the perfect opportunity for Kagome to get to know InuYasha better, walked up to a guard and said quietly, "Me and my friend will look after InuYasha while we're gone, okay?" Shrugging, the guard gave his consent and began shooing the rest of the crowd out the doors. Kagome was about to follow but Kikyo held her back. "We're looking after InuYasha, okay?" she whispered.

"You WHAT!" Kagome couldn't hide the shock that overcame her in an instant. "Look, InuYasha's big-headed, arrogant, rude, and-"

"And you like him," Kikyo finished off, and she held up a hand to stop her friend from protesting. "Look, just give him some help, okay? The guards deserve a rest after what happened today."

Numbly moving her head up and down, Kagome followed Kikyo to the room in which the guards had laid the famous acrobat. The room was light and airy, and the walls were a nice lemon colour. This kind of room would've comforted Kagome if only a sudden thought struck her head.

Who had put the flammable oil on the stage?

A/N: I like how the story's going…but anyways, I hope you've enjoyed the 6 page long chapter! Please review!