I don't usually like AUs, but I got this idea, and I thought it would be pretty cool. Anyway, you don't want to hear me babble about these things, you just want to read, so without further a due, let's get it started.

"So, you've heard about the contest right?"

"Of course I have, who hasn't? It's been all over the news and it's on the cover of every magazine!"

"Did you enter?"

"Of course I did! Didn't you?"

Kagome was just about ready to gag. Didn't these girls have anything better to talk about than some stupid contest? It was way too early in the morning for this crap.

She was on the local bus, heading to school with about twenty other students that were from her school. Luckily for her, the two gossip twerps were from another school, she could tell by their uniforms.

She could feel the bus come to a halt. When the doors opened, a few students got off, and so did the two gossiping girls.

'Thank God' she thought, 'I don't know how much more of that I could have taken!'

She gave a sigh. Kagome was never one to care about celebrities and the newest happenings in that world. Unfortunatly for her, it was hard to NOT hear something about that world nowadays.

She looked through the small bundle of students, and could see an older man with a newspaper. The headline was bold and clear:

'THREE DAYS LEFT TO ENTER! COULD YOU BE THE LUCKY WINNER?'

It was just some stupid contest going around the country. The most famous artist in all of Japan, Inuyasha Takahata, was holding a large competition. All you had to do was send in a recording of yourself singing a song and send it in. Then, they were going to pick a winner, and the victor would get to be part of a song on his next album. So now, every girl and their mother was entering in hopes to win.

Because you know, contests like this NEVER happen.

Kagome felt the bus come to a stop again. This time, it was her turn to get off with the rest of her classmates.

She had just finished settling at her desk when Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi all gathered around her.

"Kagome, are you sure you're not going to enter?" asked Eri. Kagome rolled her eyes. They had been asking her that same question for the past month.

"Yes guys, I'm sure. You know I hate all that stuff."

"But Kagome," protested Yuka, "you have the best voice in the school! There's no way that you could lose!"

Kagome scoffed at Yuka's comment. "It doesn't matter. There must be thousands of girls entering that contest."

Ayumi gave her back a little hit, "Yeah, but the difference is that you'd actually WIN! Those other girls are just no talent losers who wish that they had your voice!"

Kagome looked away from her friends. Why was it so important for her to enter the stupid thing?

"Kagome, if you never try anything, you'll never get what you want in life! Just take a shot at it! Who knows? You might find something you really like!" said Yuka.

Was this really so important to them? Kagome sighed. She couldn't believe what she was about to do.

"Alright, alright, I'll submit an entry into the stupid contest, then will you guys leave me alone?"

All three girls smiled and crossed their hearts.

"Good. And don't forget that the only reason I'm doing this is because you guys talked me into it. Remember, I never wanted any part of this!"

"Fine Kagome, whatever!" said Eri, "Just record your tape at the new music store and send it in. They're letting you record for free today since the contest is ending soon."

Kagome sighed. This was really not her day.

School ended and Kagome walked out of the building as fast as she could. If she took too long, the other girls would follow her and nag her until she finally got the shop.

She walked through the crowded streets of the city and eventually ended up outside of the new music store. She stood outside the door and just waited there for a while.

'What am I doing?' she asked herself, 'this whole thing is probably a big scam anyway. Why should I even care?'

Kagome was about to turn away when three figures grabbed her from behind.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked one.

"Yeah, you said that you were going to make a CD today!" said another. Kagome breathed easier now that she knew it was just her friends taking her from behind.

"Kagome, is it really so hard to just record your voice and send it someone? Once you do, we'll leave you alone! Doesn't that sound nice?"

Kagome looked behind her and saw her friend's faces. They all had pleading looks across their features. Would it really make them that happy if she entered?

"...Fine." she said finally. The other three began to jump for joy as all four of them entered the store.

It looked small from the outside, but now Kagome could see that it was pretty big on the inside. There seemed to be rows of CD shelves that went on for miles, and off to the right, they sold quality music sytems like ipods and sterios.

Her friends led her to the back of the store, where she could see three rooms behind a counter. On the wall above the rooms were two flatscreen tvs, both playing footage from Inuyasha Takahata's latest concert.

"Hello girls, can I help you?" asked a man from behind the counter. Yuka was the first to speak.

"Yeah, we were wondering if our friend here could make a recording. She wants to enter the contest for the spot on Inuyasha Takahata's next album."

The man behind the counter laughed a little and began to seach for something in his work space.

"Yes, I haven't met a girl yet that hasn't wanted that spot." he said. He pulled out two binders, fairly thick and set them on the counter infront of the four girls. Each page was in a plastic page holder and out of the side were tabs that read different kinds of music.

"As you probably know, we're doing free recordings today for that very contest. All you have to do is find a song that you like from in here and we'll let you record it. Sound simple enough?"

Kagome nodded at the man and began to browse through the collections of music. There were catagories galore, including rock, pop, and even Anime Hits.

She eventually decided on something from the anime catagory and stepped into one of the three roooms after telling the man behind the counter what she wanted.

She closed the door behind her and looked around. the room was very small, and it had a single window that faced the store. She could see her friends waving at her from outside. There was a stand in front of her and a set of headphones. On the wall, there was a small monitor that had a blue screen on it right now.

She took the headphones and put them around her ears. As soon as she did, she heard the man's voice.

"Ok kiddo, once you hear the intro in those headphones you're wearing, the words will appear on the monitor infront of you. Easy as can be."

Kagome took a deep breath as the music began to play.

On the outside, Eri asked the man what Kagome had picked.

"She chose a song from that anime Full Metal Alchemist," he said, "the first ending song I believe."

All three girls sqealed in unison.

"I love that song!" they all said together.

Kagome was ready, and the first lyrics appeared on the screen. She inhaled deeply again and began to sing.

Itsumo no shisen ni kimi ga ite kokyuu ga dekiru

Boku ni totte nara Sore dake de

Mou Juubun na hazu na no ni

Ken still had the earphones that let him hear what was going on in Kagome's room. As soon as he heard her singing, he stopped moving. It was so…beautiful.

The three girls watched Ken and tried to get him to wake up.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Chippoke na boku wa kurikaesu ayamachi bakari

Dorehodo tsuyosa wo te ni shitara

Nani mo kizutsukezu sumu no?

Ken snapped out of his trance and looked at the three girls.

"My God, your friend has the most beautiful voice…" he said, "do you think she would mind if I play it on the store speakers?"

Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi looked at each other maliciously.

"Sure," said Yuka, "she's love to have her voice on the speakers.

With a stupid grin, Ken connected the sound in his headphones to the speakers in the store. As soon as the vocals and music were turned on, everyone in the store seemed to freeze, just as Ken did.

Mayowazu ni Kono ai wo shinji ikiteyuku

Fusagaranu kizuguchi mo gyu'tto dakishimete

Futari wa aruki-tsuzukeru Ato ni wa modorenai kara

Ima demo kono mune no oku Kesenai tsumi wa itamu kedo

DARLING

Every person in the store was looking up at the ceiling as though the source of the beautiful sound would just come crashing down. Most of them didn't want to move as though any kind of motion would break the wonderful sound forever.

Ano hi ushinatta aijou ni setsunasa wo oboe

Boku wa senmei na kono sora no aosa ni sukoshi tomadotte

Tatoe moshi nani ga gisei demo Tada hitotsu shinjita

Kimi no massugu na me ni utsuru setsuna ni saita hana no iro

Muryoku demo kono sadame Tsuyoku ikiteyuku

Te wo musubu taion wa zutto tokeatte

Dattara issou no koto seotta batsu nara tsurakute mo

People started heading to the cashier and others who worked in the store, asking things like "Who is that?" and, "Where can I get her CD?"

Moshi tatoe kimi to kono mama

Sekai no nami ni sakarau dake da to shite mo...

As everyone realized that the sound was coming from the recording rooms, a small crowd began to form and cheer. The three girls couldn't help but give a shout to their friend

"GO KAGOME!!"

However, Kagome couldn't hear them. She was too into the music.

Mayowazu ni Kono ai wo shinji ikiteyuku

Fusagaranu kizuguchi mo gyu'tto dakishimete

Mayowazu ni kono sadame Ikiru ikiteyuku

Kimi to nara eien mo kitto tsunagatte

Futari de tada mae wo mite dou ni mo naranakutatte

Soredemo kanarazu kimi wo kono te de mamori-tsuzukeru

DARLING

She exhaled as she finished and wiped a bit of sweat that was on her head. She thought that it went pretty well. A small machine in the room pushed out a disk, which was the recording that Kagome had just made. She took it and opened the door, only to be met by cheering fans on the other side.

She had no idea what was going on. The people in the store must have heard her! Before she could as any questions, she was mauled by the audience.

"Oh my God, you were so good!"

"Do you have a CD out?"

"Will you sign my leg?"

The crowd continued to yell questions at her, wanting to know everything about this amazing girl. Kagome was afraid she would suffocate from all of these people, but was suddenly pulled out of their grasp, and before she knew it, she was running away with her friends.

They ran about three blocks before stopping to take a rest.

"See? We told you you were good!" said Yuka between breaths.

"Yeah, there's no way in hell you can loose that contest!"

Kagome blushed a little from her friend's comments. She looked at the disk in her hand. Maybe there was a chance that she could win…

Maybe…

The next day, she mailed the disk to the production studios.

A couple of days later, the manager, the producer and Inuyasha were all in a room listening to all the entries.

"Ahhh! Are we done yet?" said Inuyasha becoming annoyed. They had been listening to this crap for days! The producer laughed.

"Sorry Inuyasha, but we have plenty of music left to listen to." He said. Inuyasha threw his head against the table they were sitting at. Today was not his day…

"Alright, who's next?" asked the producer. Inuyasha's manager pulled out another envelope and read it.

"This one is from Kagome Higurashi, age 16." He said. He plopped in the disk to the system, and the music began to play.

From the moment the first line of vocals were sung, the three men in the room ceased to move.

"Her voice…" started the producer as soon as the song finished.

"It was…" tried the manager.

Inuyasha was speechless.

"I don't think we need to hear anymore." Said the producer. "Miss Higurashi is officially the winner!"

Inuyasha's manager began to jump around for joy, then exited to alarm the press. This was sure to make headlines.

Inuyasha was still star struck.

That girl…Kagome Higurashi…

She had stolen his heart.

I had to repost this chapter because there was a problem, but I think it came out better! Anyway, review please!