On the Road: A brief inside view of the Sealed Demons
Author's note: Hello, there! Basically I just loved The Feel-good hit of the summer, by disco_vendetta (up on AO3) and really wanted to adapt it to the Inuyasha Fandom. So, yeah, the writing is mine, but the idea is hers.
I don't even care if you like The 100, just GO READ IT!
(Oh, and enjoy, of course!)
WHEN I knock on the immaculate white door, I can't deny I'm feeling nervous.
It's only natural, after all, I was about to meet the most popular band in the indie scene and, as a huge fan myself, it was quite the big deal in my book. Plus, everyone knows Sesshomaru can be intimidating.
If you somehow escaped the Sealed Demons fever that has been assaulting the world for, at least, the better part of the last fourteen months, now is the time to get to know them. They're preparing to make an international tour for their new CD, Change the world, and they're better than ever.
When the door was thrown enthusiastically open, though, I couldn't help but grin a little. Kagome was the one to see me in and her bright smile was enough to ease a bit of the tension in my shoulders. She ushered me inside her flat – this huge open space with tall glass windows that is so sunny you feel like you're in a meadow instead of in the middle of New York City -, already offering me a very diversified set of choices of teas and coffee. Her place is homey and smells like Jasmin and vanilla and it's exactly what you would expect of Kagome's flat. Her blue eyes are even more piercing live than on camera.
I say no because I have no idea what to choose.
Sango is quick to follow, not quite as fervent as her band mate, but with a sweet welcoming demeanor that almost made up for Inuyasha's annoyed glare from the other side of the room. Miroku comes out of the kitchen with two steaming mugs in hand and a giant chocolate cookie between his teeth, but he manages to give me a greeting smile nonetheless. With him in the room, every member of the Sealed Demons was present. Talk about overwhelming.
I say hello and wave awkwardly. Inuyasha's golden heavy gaze is still following my every move as if he hadn't decided yet if I was a threat or not – which is probably his exact thoughts. It conveyed the 'you better not be' message quite clearly. I thank them and say I really appreciate their sparing the time to give me this interview.
"It's no trouble." Miroku shrugs easily, having set both mugs on the small center table, no visible sign of the cookie left. "We are glad you're coming with us." Inuyasha grunts from his spot, making clear 'glad' isn't the word he'd use, and Sesshomaru lifts his eyes from his phone for the first time since I came in with a skeptical look. "Most of us, anyway." Miroku smirks.
"Don't mind the assholes." Sango chirps, sitting in a bright green armchair by the window with one of the mugs her boyfriend brought in. "Taisho men seem to think they aren't allowed to agree with anything."
"And you say I'm the asshole." Inuyasha retorts sharply. He finally seemed to approve me enough to be, at least, directly addressed to. "What's up, man?"
"Just ignore them." Kagome says, going to sit by Inuyasha and tucking her legs underneath herself. "You'll get used to the sour moods."
I chuckle a little and Inuyasha glares at her – but in a soft way, I guess. Sesshomaru doesn't seem to care enough to keep paying attention to what's being said and turns back to his phone.
I hang around Kagome's place for two more hours, my sketchpad and pen at the ready, but I never get around to writing anything. They're far too entertaining.
Sango and Miroku are the ones in charge of talking to me, giving me directions about where we should meet the next day, what should I bring in my baggage and what to expect. Kagome's responsible for not letting Inuyasha scare me away, in her own words.
They all bicker like a real family – Miroku and Kagome are exactly the kind of siblings we imagine them to be: close, loving and very invested in bullying each other. Inuyasha seems to communicate entirely through banter and Sango doesn't as much argue as she slaps Miroku every time he does something inappropriate. Sesshomaru only talks once. He stands up, I'm suddenly very aware he is almost 1,90m tall and a very commanding presence despite his elegant lean build.
He says he's heading out to meet Rin, his fiancée – yes, the engagement was confirmed by their publicist two weeks ago – and goes to the door without so much as a glance back.
"Good riddance." Inuyasha says, gruff, rolling his eyes. Sesshomaru keeps going, unfazed. It seems that this is their usual routine.
Kagome calls after him and, against all my expectations, he halts. He doesn't make it to turning around, but he's clearly listening. "Please give my gift to Rin. And don't be late tomorrow." She says with a sweet smile.
Sesshomaru answers he's never late, which isn't hard to believe, and adds that he will, almost as an afterthought.
Just like that, he's gone. No one seems upset about the abrupt departure, on the contrary, all of the other members of the band seem very used to the bassist's behavior.
Kagome must notice my surprised expression because she smiles softly.
"Like we said, you'll get used to it."
I return the smile even if I'm not sure.
I MEET them promptly at 8 a.m. sharp the next day, leather bag in one hand and a fedora hat I wasn't sure was convincing. My stay with them should last two weeks, during which we would go to nine different cities in their tour bus for them to perform, and I wanted to mingle. They appear very normal at first sight. Kagome and Sango were wearing what seemed like identical destroyed skinny jeans and Partners in Crime t-shirts. Inuyasha didn't seem to have slept two hours, if that much, and was hanging around simply in bright red sweat pants and no shirt or shoes in sight. Miroku was fiddling with his microphone cables in a Sealed Demons t-shirt and old jeans and managing to not look narcissistic while doing so.
If they weren't all insanely good-looking, they could easily pass by an ordinary group of twenty-something friends going for a road trip. Well, the gigantic tour bus also gave them away.
Miroku was the first to spot me, he gave me a friendly lop-sided grin and waved me over.
He asks me if I'm ready when I'm close enough. I say I'm cool, going for detached composure, but the way his azure eyes crinkle at the corners show me I'm not very good at it. I'm a reporter, not an actor. Clearly.
"Good." There's laughter in his voice. "Let me tell you, I love all about being a musician, but untangling cables is a nightmare."
I ask if he doesn't have someone to do this to him and his eyes snap right back to mine, I get scared I offended him somehow. He seems to assess me for a moment, but then shrugs one shoulder.
"Nah, we don't need a huge staff. We're normal people, you know? We can do our own shit. Besides, we're already in six here – seven, with you -, not many more can fit into this bus for fourteen days."
He's grounded and reasonable, which makes it a bit easier to look at him like Miroku The Person instead of Miroku The Vocalist. He sends me inside, telling me to find a bed to bunk over. Then he seems to think it better and describes his luggage for me so I know what to search for and instructs me to stay in the under bed of his bunker.
"You're screwed if you're sleeping by either Inuyasha or Sesshomaru, their sleeping pattern is horrible." He tells me. "And you're dead if you end up either by Kagome or Rin, so… But if you really want to push your luck, I suggest Kagome. Inuyasha's a good guy under all that attitude."
I decide I don't need to push my fragile boundaries, so I dump my bag over the bed in Miroku's bunker.
Inside, Sesshomaru is sitting in the sofa with a petite girl on his lap – Rin, 24, plastic artist and the loveliest creature in the planet. I can't make out what they're saying before his eyes pierce through mine with a decidedly unfriendly scowl, but his voice is so deep and smooth, he doesn't even sound like the same person.
Rin looks up at me and beams. She offers me a delicate hand to shake and it's impossible not to notice the shiny diamond in her finger. It's also impossible not to notice the way her hand and Sesshomaru's are always hovering over her barely bumped stomach.
"He didn't want me to come, you know." Rin says, but her eyes are fond. "But I'm barely three months in. It's too early for me to start missing on his tours because of the pregnancy."
"Not too early to stay in better places than a cheap bus." He points out, as coolly as ever now that I'm present, but with a discernible concerned edge.
"That's why Sesshomaru's making me stay at Hotels in every city we stay." She sighs, like they had this argument a thousand times over.
"And for once the idiot is damn right." Inuyasha says, coming in. He has their amp under one arm and his guitar case on the other. "You shouldn't sleep in these uncomfortable ass beds in your condition."
"You are such mother hens." Kagome comes in, huge smile in her lips. "This baby is going to have the most over-protected family in the history of civilization." She and Rin share a knowing smile and none of the guys actually denies the affirmation.
Little after ten, we're hitting the road.
NOTHING PREPARES you for a road trip with a band that acts like a family. More than acting like a family, a closer look shows they actually are one. Even Sesshomaru and Inuyasha, whose bad relationship is a world-known fact, care for each other deeply when push comes to shove. Inuyasha watches over Rin almost as closely as his older brother. Miroku mothers them all, reminding his friends left and right they need to eat and sleep and, occasionally, shower (that's Inuyasha and Miroku's probably just teasing because that long, lush mane of silver hair takes an enormous amount of time to wash).
They do regular stuff, like play cards and board games – Sango and Kagome turn out to be scarily competitive, I win one round and I'm not even sure it was worth it – and, of course, they sing along to their playlists. Except for Sesshomaru, but he watches over it and let himself be hugged by his fiancée or Kagome from time to time.
Listening to them sing like this, informally and just for the fun of it, is really something. The vocal chords of the group, Miroku and Kagome are unsurprisingly great at it, but Sango can actually rap as hell and Inuyasha has a deep tone that, with a bit of training, could work wonders. Kagome continually tells him so, to which he just responds with a gruff grunt, but his cheeks are dusted pink.
Kagome also likes to snapchat a lot. I even make a token appearance in a few of her videos. She talks to their fans like she's just updating her friends and it's the actual best. My favorite snaps are the ones where she pranks Inuyasha just so she can capture his grumpy reactions. I follow her account not five seconds after I discover she actually has one (it's priestessnotprincess, to those of you who are now interested).
On the first night, to test the terrain, I ask them about how they started the band. I think it's a safe enough subject.
MIROKU: It actually started out as a joke. Inuyasha used to sneak in into pubs and local punk clubs when we were younger and he played in quite a few of them, but never really considered having his own band – he was this antisocial kid who didn't even know enough people to start a band. When we were eighteen, I wanted to impress girls –"
"Girl, singular." Kagome cuts him. Miroku rolls his eyes good-naturedly.
MIROKU: Anyway, he wanted to impress my sister, but would never admit.
INUYASHA: I didn't.
"Yes, you did." Kagome counters again and smiles teasingly while the others laugh. Seeing my curiosity, she adds: "We hated each other back then. We couldn't agree on anything and he was always being an asshole…"
INUYASHA: You were no flower either, wench.
KAGOME: See? That kind of stuff. He used to call me wench every chance he got.
MIROKU: Stop interrupting me or this is going to take all night. - He stops what's clearly the beginning of an old argument. - Anyway, I thought it would be fun and Inuyasha would take any chance to play his guitar.
I nod as I quickly write down the words 'Miroku = fun' in my sketchpad.
ME: What then?
INUYASHA: Then this idiot made me help him serenade under Sango's window and she threw a calculus book at his head. It was great, we would never work without a good drummer anyway, she just proved she had a strong arm. The entertainment was a bonus.
Sango's laughing in earnest.
"Did nothing to fix his head, though." She adds, with a smile.
"Anyway," Miroku continues, giving ugly looks to the other three. Inuyasha quirks an eyebrow daringly. It's the first time, I think, I see him openly having fun while I'm around. "Kagome stomped her foot that, if we were going to have a band, which we weren't even sure to start with, then she was going to be in it. She signed for piano lessons the next day."
The girl in question blushed a bit.
"Yeah, judge a girl for being excited."
"And she was already a youtuber with quite a lot of views, so it really boosted our popularity." Miroku completes. "It's the only reason I let her in." He stage-whispers and his sister shove him in the side.
I hold back a smile.
"Sesshomaru?"
He doesn't seem anywhere near inclined to answer, so Rin takes over.
"Not one of them can play the bass. Inuyasha can manage a few notes, but he doesn't seem to understand that a bass isn't the same thing as a guitar." Inuyasha, predictably, grumbles at that. "They tried this kid from school for a while, he was even ok, but not very into rock. Eventually, he said he couldn't do it anymore, right before one of their biggest gigs so far."
"So Sesshomaru jumped in?"
"Not exactly." Rin smiles, amused.
"I wanted nothing to do with my brother's puny band." He says.
I ask what happened and notice I'm really invested in their story. It doesn't seem likely that Sesshomaru could be easily persuaded to join the at the time garage band.
"Well, we thought we were screwed." Kagome says. She's wearing a flannel shirt that is a lot bigger than her slender shoulders and I'm quite sure I've seen Miroku using before. "I remembered Sesshomaru used to take bass lessons when we met, so…"
"So this crazy girl barges into my house ordering my asshole of a brother to go dress himself and come with us or she swears she's going to smash his car to bits and pieces." Inuyasha says, chest puffed like he couldn't be prouder if she cured cancer.
"I wasn't going to follow through with the threat." She says vaguely, with a too innocent smile playing on her lips. Both Taisho brothers turn to her with identical cynical looks.
"Violence, the greatest way to start a rock band." Sango says and winks.
The rest of the night they spend going down the memory lane, talking about unforgettable moments we, as fans, also know by heart, like their epic concert in Rock in Rio or that one time Kagome passed out mid-show and ended up hospitalized for a month.
Inuyasha and Miroku are visibly brittle at that. Even Sesshomaru seems a little upset at the reminder.
"I freaked out." Miroku says, all signs of humor draining from his face in a heartbeat. "No one knew what was going on. She had a headache before the show, but she said it was no big deal." He glares at his sister now and she just watches me attentively. "Then she's out cold right in the middle of a song and Inuyasha has her up in his arms before I could even think. We drove like maniacs to the next hospital. I think the nurses got scared of us for life."
"It's true." Kagome says. "They terrorized the whole staff, everyone was weary of me."
"They weren't doing anything fast enough." Inuyasha almost growls. "They kept saying we needed to wait, but no one ever came. So, yeah, maybe we were a little rude, but good thing, that. She had water in her brain, no one could explain why that happened, but if she hadn't gotten help as quickly…" He trails off and crosses his arm, an ugly scowl in his features. "I don't give a damn, the whole staff can hate me and the three next generations of my family for all I care."
"Sesshomaru was just as bad." Rin pipes in. "While Inuyasha was almost burning the place to the ground and Miroku was around shaking the doctors into compliance, he called a few people and got the director's personal number. I don't know how he didn't end up with a lawsuit up his ass after how many threats he laid out."
Sesshomaru stares me down, daring me to comment on it.
Because I like being alive, I don't.
It's getting late and Sesshomaru and Rin take off to the hotel where they're spending the night so I'm left with just Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku.
"Go to sleep." Kagome tells me when I yawn, attempting discretion and failing. "We have a full day tomorrow."
I go. But, in the middle of the night, when I get up to grab a glass of water, I see Inuyasha and Kagome are sitting together on the lumpy couch sharing some game on her iPad. Her legs are thrown over his lap and he's holding the gadget over them and she has one hand up in his hair, caressing his fluffy ear from time to time.
I go back to my bed as silently as I can, but I feel the way Inuyasha glances up at my exact direction.
I don't say anything, neither does he.
THE NEXT day is indeed very busy. Hectic, even.
At two in the afternoon they had scheduled a photoshoot for the tour promotion. They're doing shots separated through gender first (they're Kagome's favorites, she informs me, since she and Sango have a really great dynamic while Inuyasha and her just fight all the time) and couples later. While they're shooting the boys, Kagome takes some time to have a one on one with me.
She's wearing another pair of destroyed jeans and a crop top that shows she has no exceeding body fat. Her hair is up in intricate, but deceptively messy and easy braids, so she looks gorgeous without trying too hard. The result is breathtaking.
"Shoot." Kagome says cheerfully as she hops in a backstage chair beside me.
The first thing I ask her is the ever present question what her and Inuyasha are for each other. They get asked this a lot and I almost crossed it out or tried to go around it, but I've been around her long enough now that I know she doesn't care if people are straightforward. And it is a really great question they tend to dodge in every press conference, so I might take a chance.
"Family." She says without even pausing to think. I smile because that's exactly what I've been expecting her to say.
"Any romantic feelings involved?"
"There's absolutely nothing romantic about Inuyasha. C'mon, you've met him!" She laughs merrily. Kagome is all charm in interviews and the camera. It's partially who she is, sure, but there's no small amount of cunning in her getting every reporter wrapped around her little finger. Having experienced this first hand, I can assure you all it's lethal.
"Fair enough. And Sango?"
"Sango is probably the best person I've ever met. She may take a little while to warm up to people, trust never comes easy to her, but once you've got her love, you've got it forever." Her voice is soft and she doesn't hide her appreciation for her drummer. "She's kind and forgiving and she has such a good heart, you know?"
"She strikes us at the type, yeah. Despite having a great arm and deadly aim." Her laughter is a clear sound, almost as beautiful as her singing.
"She's got that too."
I ask if she's always approved her relationship with Miroku.
"It was one of those unavoidable things. I've known they were it for each other since so early on I don't know how it is to live a life where I don't know it, it's like what I…" She trails off and seems to change her mind about what to say next. "Like the connection I feel with her and Inuyasha. They're not my blood family, but that changes nothing." She settles with.
I take the opportunity to breach the subject of her family. What it was like when she was younger and used to live with her mother, Miroku and their baby brother, Souta Higurashi, who is now 14.
"You can find out all that in my youtube channel." She winks at me, teasing. "I used to talk a lot about my home life in there. I lived in Boston with my mom and my brothers. We missed each other like crazy, but they're happy Miroku and I are happy. My little brother is also not upset that I send him every new videogame I see and think he'll like. Miroku says I'm spoiling him too much."
I comment that's sweet and she says he's a sweet kid.
"Did you ever regret choosing the life you did?"
She pauses for a moment.
Her answer is a firm no. "This is my life, without my past I wouldn't be me. Of course, I could see myself being happy back at Boston, with a quieter life. A more normal life, I guess. But, like I said, I'm very happy with the place I am now. I love my friends, my music, my flat. I'm very thankful." Kagome is so sincere when she speaks I can't help but feel happy for her as well.
I ask her if she likes the Big Apple.
"Do people even call it Big Apple in real life?" She asks me, amused. And then answers that yes, definitely.
ME: What's your favorite thing about it?
KAGOME: Oh, everything. - Her blue eyes sparkle. - I love Central Park, it's the biggest cliché ever. I also love that, no matter what time at the night or day, there's always somewhere up and running. I've got a pretty chaotic schedule and, even though I'm an early riser by nature, I'm more often than not working until late at night, so that's awesome. I also adore that you have a store with mouthwatering bagels like every other corner.
She lists all this nonstop and I'd have been surprised if I had never heard her sustaining the ending note of Sacred live. She says that she also loves that the people she loves the most are always surrounding her and they never feel lonely, what, according to Kagome, is very important to all of them. It seems an important detail, so I ask if I can know why.
"Oh…" She sighs and looks away, contemplative. "It hasn't always been easy, you know. The name of the band has such a deep meaning for us for a reason, we all got our demons."
ME: Who picked the name?
KAGOME: I don't think I've ever said that before, but it was me. We didn't know what to name it and… It sounded right.
I want to know what inspired her and she gives me this look, like there is something really funny about it only she is private to.
"Well…" She clicks her tongue. "See if you can find something about it when you're interviewing Inuyasha. Make sure you tell me all about it later."
CURIOUSLY, SESSHOMARU is next.
It probably has something to do with the small smiling woman ushering him on. He rolls his eyes and looks at me with obvious distaste, but he agrees with it.
ME: Thank you for having this talk to me. - I say in a manner of opening. - You're not the most talkative in the group, now.
SESSHOMARU: Doesn't take a genius to notice.
Sesshomaru is clearly bored. He risks a glance at Rin. She's a little away from us – to give us privacy, she said -, but as she eyes him hopefully and smiles, Sesshomaru visibly resign himself to the task ahead of him. "No, I'm not. I care more about the music than the interviews."
ME: At least you're very good in your choice field. Can you tell us something about your backstory?
His scowl darkens.
ME: Or at least how you've met your lovely fiancée.
I try again. I wouldn't go quite as far as saying his whole expression brightens up at the mention of his pregnant wife-to-be, but his golden eyes clear and his frown softens a bit.
SESSHOMARU: I've met Rin in this art gallery opening Kagome wouldn't stop babbling about.
ME: And you hit it off right away?
He says that not exactly, but Sesshomaru wouldn't elaborate on what concerns he had at the beginning – he eloquently said so in graphic details, so I didn't push.
I ask them if they are over now.
"She's expecting my child, what do you think?"
"That you're a very lucky man.", I say.
For the first time, Sesshomaru looks pleased.
THAT NIGHT they played at their first concert and I watched it from the sidelines of the stage. Knowing more about what they are like in their private moments cast a whole new light in their performance. Besides the obvious chemistry between vocalist and guitarist, I could see clearly now how in sync they are on stage, moving together through the notes without having to think. If she needed a break for water, Inuyasha covered it up immediately with a mind-blowing guitar solo. If one of his strings snapped, Kagome didn't lose a beat before filling his absence with her lovely voice. They worked as seamlessly as a polished clock.
Halfway through the concert, Miroku takes up the microphone between songs and start to instigate the public. He has that kind of charisma on stage that is impossible to ignore and soon enough the crowd is eating out of his palm.
Then, they announce that they have an experiment they want to do and ask if the public is up for it. The deafening roar of voices is more than answer enough.
Inuyasha smirks, dark charm matching his black leather jacket, and dislodge his beloved Fender from her place to trade it with Miroku for the microphone.
The crowd went wild.
"Do you think you're ready for this?" Kagome asks, smiling largely.
Even I am screaming behind the curtains.
Everything is a blur from the moment Inuyasha lets out a breathy 'Birds flying high, you know how I feel'. They duet an incredibly sexy version of Feeling Good in which the sexual tension is so thick in the air I could cut it with a butter knife. His voice is rough and low while hers is melodic and smooth and they barely break eye contact during it.
A few years from now, this will probably be one of their most remarkable moments. They are number one in the top trend in twitter the next day – and for the rest of the week.
I GET INTO my first real trouble when we're crossing the border of North Caroline, a week later.
We were all hanging out in a bar after a meet and greet the day before.
Miroku loves himself some good, artisanal beer. Kagome likes drinks with champagne and berries in it while Sango takes her whiskey cowboy. Sesshomaru only drinks high end sake and both Rin and Inuyasha are having non-alcoholic beverages. We're sharing anecdotes and I'm even managing to score a few points by making them laugh at some of my most ridiculous stories from when I was fresh out of college and trying to make a life out of journalism.
I learn that one of the first songs Kagome wrote for Sealed Demons was Mirrored, about a girl they all knew back in Boston. My tongue itches to ask who inspired her to write We fill the same blank spaces/ a thousand pages apart/ I can still read your imprinted phrases/ Written across his scars, but when I do, a frosty silence is my only answer.
It doesn't get better from then on. Since I have the whole group together, which is a lot harder than it seems when you think in a band of five – six, if you count Rin, what you definitely should – living in such a cramped space as a bus, I try to get them to talk more about themselves and each other.
I begin to ask them about their love lives when Sango cuts me short.
"We know all the media cares about is whether Inuyasha and Kagome are together or not." She says with a sly smirk and a benevolent eye-roll.
ME: That is true, but I wanted to ask about you and Miroku, to be honest. Was it ever difficult?
The air gets a little colder around us. Inuyasha immediately sits with his back straight and is back to glaring daggers at me.
Sango is the one who replies, her tone carefully collected that yes, they had a very rough time at the beginning. The whole group has frosted to Sesshomaru's level.
ME: Kagome said to me once that she always knew you were it for each other, what do you think drove you apart? - It's common knowledge that Miroku and Sango weren't dating when they first started with the band. - There was some really creative news on the media last year.
Kagome says that the band was only starting to gain media attention in a tone that resembles nothing the girl who is all warm smiles. She also affirms that the press made too much fuss over situations that had nothing to do with the quality of their work, but it was all over now.
Her meaning is clear: Don't make the same mistake.
So I shut my mouth before I ruin the story and, very probably, get fired from Rolling Stones.
The two following days are full of conversations that die down when I enter the room and no one looking me in the eye except for Inuyasha, who glares at me whenever I'm in the same coexisting space as him. Kagome doesn't make me tea in the morning and none of Miroku's jokes make sense to me. They shut me out so efficiently I'm left to marvel at how competent their agent have to be to deal with them – Miyouga Satome is his name and, from what I get to know of him later, he is perfect for them.
I get back into their good graces slowly, mostly because Sango seems to accept me back, so they all do her bidding. I'm so grateful I hear her talking about her kitten back at home in miniscule detail for over an hour later – which I'm planning to publish one day under the name of 'Kirara: Bigger than nine lives."
They repeat their Feeling Good version in the two following shows, always with the same fervent reaction from the public and it's great to watch. After one particularly exciting performance, Miroku is hyper like a puppy and agrees to talk to me for his exclusive.
He doesn't want to talk about Sango or their relationship – although he does say that she is the bravest, strongest person he knows, but is happy to make some things clearer about Inuyasha and Kagome's relationship.
MIROKU: They have a great history together. My sister is the kindest person I know and she is the one who help Inuyasha heal. He didn't have the easiest life and she helped him with things no one else could. Inuyasha really opens up to her and that's what makes their relationship so special.
I ask, like I did his sister, if he's ever jealous. Miroku smiles widely at that.
No, he says immediately, of course Kagome is his baby sister, so he is protective, but he knows how much they care about one another, so it's cool. I say they're remarkably easy-going about it and Miroku says that they just lucked out with the people they know.
He's too excited to sit still and answer more questions so I let him go and we all leave for a club. The Blue Moon is a very high end night club downtown in Atlanta, Georgia, whose owner, Kouga Homura, used to know them back in the day.
At some point during the night he says he used to be very fond of the younger Higurashi sibiling, with a sly wink, and Inuyasha growls so loudly I can hear over the deafening music.
FOUR CITIES later, we're arriving to the end of our time together.
Late morning, Sango sits with me. The bright red sweat pants she's rearing is obviously the ones Inuyasha was wearing the day we started the roadtrip and it becomes clear they really don't have boundaries when it comes to their closet, and she's nesting a mug of green tea. Her slight smile is a bit cautious, but she seems mostly open to this interview.
SANGO: I don't think there is much more I can tell you.
She is wrong, of course.
Sango can go at length about Kagome's skill as songwriter. It's not a secret that she is the main lyricist of the band, but Sango admits that they are all from personal experience, impressions, dreams. She speaks softly and with a visible layer of affection underneath her words, it's hard not to get drawn to her speech.
SANGO: Kagome is just so sensible, it's truly amazing. Every song she writes gives us some token of what's like, seeing the world through her eyes and, for me, that's just incredible. Even when she is trying to convey someone else's feelings you can still feel her.
I ask for an example and she says that Race is one of her favorite ones, with the very catchy verse I keep moving forward/ don't dare look back/ maybe I'll push it 'til I'm broken/ maybe I've been broken from the start, that made their very first single.
"It's not about her, you see, but underlying the obvious angst, there's still her shine."
She also says that her father was her greatest supporter, he never even questioned her decision when she said she wanted to take music classes, at barely seventeen. Her younger brother – Kohaku Tajiya 16 – is studying the violin and he makes an appearance in their new CD in a song called Father's Heart, which Kagome composed after Sango's father died as an eulogy. She doesn't want to talk about the subject of her father's passing and I respect it.
Before I let her go do her daily training of Kickboxing and Muay Thai with Inuyasha, I ask her what her favorite thing about the band was. She seems to think for a while and then she smiles.
SANGO: We're honest with each other. I'm completely myself when I'm with them.
IT IS MY last day with them.
Inuyasha is the only one left so I need to interview him before I take the plane back to New York. He spares me some minutes, but definitely not too many, as expected. Inuyasha sits in front of me, almost sullen, clad in old, faded jeans and a WHO LET THE DOGS OUT tshirt. I think if I laugh he may murder me.
INUYASHA: So, what you wanna know?
At his question, I realize he's the one I want to know the most about. I spend the next twenty five minutes asking him how he became interested in music (his father was the great guitarist from the Western Lands, Touga Taisho, he says it must run in the family, but I think it was heavily ironic), how he became friends with the rest of the band (Kagome started talking to him when she realized he was lonely and, even though they spent most of their time together fighting like cats and dogs, she introduced him to her brother and best friend and it escaladed from there), how he felt about his vocalist (to which his only response was: Kagome is hope) and if he ever thought he'd get where he is now (he just chuckles humorlessly and says no, very dryly).
That leaves me with the two biggest questions.
First I tell him what Kagome told me about the name of the band and asked if he knew what inspired her. He finally laughs fully and his laughter is so powerful it fills the whole room.
"How I see it, the name of the band means exactly what it seems: That she freed me and bound me in one breath."
His statement seems weighty with meaning, but I'm not sure I get all of it. Probably not.
And then I ask them if they are together.
Inuyasha simply gets up and say our time is up. Then, before leaving me completely alone in their empty tour bus, he toss me a look over his shoulder, the slightest smirk twisting his mouth up and asks me:
"Don't you think it's obvious?"
I AM BACK with the Sealed Demons almost two months later, when the first part of their tour is over.
Once again, Kagome is the one to receive me at the door, but this time they're at Miroku's place in Soho and she gives me a hug when she sees me, like we're old friends. I feel pretty awesome. She's barefoot and her hair is up in a knot and, although Kagome never loses the cool girl air, it seems very intimate.
They're all piled in Miroku's humongous couch with beers in hand and there's a Super Nintendo on – they're playing Super Mario, proving they're just like us, except a thousand times richer. I settle in just fine and everyone greets me without actually paying too much attention to my presence. Kagome forces Miroku to pause the game so we can talk freely.
We chat for a while, I ask how the rest of their shows went.
SANGO: They were excellent. I mean, we get a lot of love through social media, but it's overwhelming to see how our fanbase grew since last year's performances. All that people screaming our names, it was overwhelming.
MIROKU: I mean, we received a few awards, so maybe that helped?
He gives a self-deprecating smile, but I can see he's gloating. Kagome sends him a dirty look and smiles amicably at me.
KAGOME: Sango's right. Their response to our new songs was so beyond expected! It's crazy to have that many fans showing us love and support. It makes us want to do better, you know? Every time, it makes us want to go forward.
I'm about to say something else when there's a little ping and Rin is rushing to the kitchens, exclaiming the cookies are ready.
I explain to them how my article is going and they give me some input of their own, Rin and Kagome seem especially enthusiastic to suggest things and I write it all up. I hope this piece has made them justice.
Then Kagome asks me one question of her own.
KAGOME: Did you enjoy our time together?
ME: It was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life, I have to say honestly. It was a real privilege to spend time with you and see a little bit of how you function as a family, instead of public figures. I've never been a bigger fan.
They seem satisfied with my answer.
I eat the cookies and they taste like rainbows and unicorns. The chocolate melts in your mouth and it's honest to God paradise. I consider asking to join the band just for the cookies, maybe I could play the triangle?
When it's time for me to leave, I look at them, knowing something like that will, most likely, never happen to me again. Kagome is sitting on Inuyasha's lap while she plays the Super Mario game, Miroku got The Illiad in one hand and is lazily reading it like he had done it a thousand times and Sesshomaru seem content just watching Rin and Sango chatting. As much as Sesshomaru can look content.
I ask them if I can take a picture with them for my own Instagram account, instead of for the article, and they agree, some more willingly then others. I end up with a very nice picture of all seven of us in which all girls are making weird faces, Miroku is messing with Inuyasha and Sesshomaru is doing the whole stony-sexy-thing he does for pictures – it works. Over the course of a week, it has 260 thousand likes and is, by far, the most popular picture in the history of my Instagram.
I close the door behind me – no one bothers to take me to the door, but it's not rude, just their informal way – and can still hear the sound of them laughing and goofing around inside the apartment.
The whole drive to my apartment, I have Change the World blaring in my speakers.
S. Kitsune is a writer for the Rolling Stone magazine. His work has appeared at W Magazine and People, and he now runs a music and travel blog you can follow at .com.