Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of these characters.

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Kagome was a professional. Kagome was a professional. Kagome was professional.

She was a professional dancer, damn it!

She had performed on stages a bazillion times with audiences of all shapes and sizes. And on none of these occasions had she been frightened. Well, there was that one incident where she had a serious clothing malfunction during Midnight Mumbo Blast. What little bits of white layers that wrapped around her torso to form a fitting ballroom dress had all but disintegrated. She was left cha-cha-cha-ing and twirling her way around the bits of white fabric on the wooden floor. The audience for a straight 3 minutes and 49 seconds had had a clear view of, well, everything.

But that was just one performance, Kagome mentally hissed at herself. And besides, what she was wearing now was much less revealing. She had on at least a good 6 in2 more fabric than the white, hoochy dress she had worn for Midnight Mumbo Blast. And, well… what exactly was she wearing right now?

Still hidden backstage, Kagome had time to briefly glance down her figure. She was wearing a pink, layered mini-skirt that was well above her knees, a light-pink sequence shirt (was it a shirt or a bra?), metallic 2-inched boots that came up mid-shin, and a fitting, black blazer with a line of metallic buttons lining the cuffs.

Kagome eagerly pulled at her mini-skirt and mini-shirt hoping to cover up more of her exposed self while briefly wondering how the stylist had squeezed her into the ridiculously revealing outfit without her notice? The past two hours had been a blur. In fact, the past week had been a blur. The series of seemingly ludicrous events had all led up to this moment.

This one moment where she didn't have to be Kagome Higurashi, because she was Kikyou Kaguya. A famous pop singer- not a friendless, broke college student struggling to carve out a living.

She desperately grasped onto anything to convince herself why this was going to work.

Because she was a professional dancer!

Because, from head to toe, she was dressed like Kikyou!

Amid the dull roar of thousands of excited people chanting Kagome's "name," Kagome made out the distinct, slightly high-pitched voice of Shippo a few feet behind her.

"Kaguya-san! There you are!"

Kagome spun around to face him, still surprised of his young age even after working closely with him for week. Shippo looked no older than she did yet he stood confidently and important-looking with a mini-tablet attached to his forearm by Velcro.

"I've been looking for you!" He exclaimed, and then quickly speaking to his earpiece, "Yes, yes, I've found her! Prep the hydraulics!"

Focusing his attention back on Kagome, he said "You'll be going on in five minutes! We need you on the hydraulics right now! Do you have your ear piece?"

Kagome felt for the hard plastic hanging securely around her ear and the speaker attached to it. She felt for the bumps where the rhinestones were. Shippo, after checking the device, spun her around to check the small module discretely strapped to her back, under the hem of her mini-shirt. After seeing that they were secure and working properly, he led her down a flight of steps and through several corridors pushing past the hustle of dozens of busy, active people. Kagome recognized some to be her backup dancers and singers. Some were undistinguishable workers; others were members of her live band. Aside from the workers, all were dressed as flamboyant and revealing as she.

Unaccustomed to the dim lighting, Kagome allowed Shippo to grasp her arm and lead her.

Once they were essentially under the stage itself, Shippo did one last wardrobe check.

"Alright, you know how it's going to happen- remember to smile and to go through all the things we've rehearsed."

Kagome, now starting to feel herself tremble, nodded nervously while doing a frantic review of her rehearsal.

Shippo grasped her shoulders, which was awkward considering his short stature, and looked straight into her eyes, "Hey, it's going to be okay. This isn't your first concert, Kaguya-san! Just kill it like you did in the past!"

Kagome could only smile nervously.

"You have two minutes; I'll be back real quick to count you down." Shippo then darted off while pressing the screen of his tablet.

Kagome inhaled deeply, trying to calm her breathing and her nerves. She loudly exhaled and shook her arms and legs trying to get back feeling into them all to no avail as she remained meek, cold, and frightened of the aspect of failure.

She tried again to reassure herself. This was going to work…

Because she, for the past week and up to about three hours ago, had rehearsed the choreography and routine over and over!

"Good luck, Kikyo!" some of the backup dancers hollered at her as they quickly got into their own positions. Kagome nervously smiled back.

Because Naraku said she was a spitting image of Kikyou!

"I expect you will do extraordinarily well." A low voice said close behind her.

Briefly startled out of her nervousness, Kagome turned to face the speaker and was surprised to find it belonged to the handsome piano accompanist, Sesshoumaru.

Something was cleverly hidden in his message. Unable to decipher his true nature and what he intended in his message, Kagome searched his amber eyes for any hint to go along the suspicious tone hidden in his voice.

His alluring eyes, although half hidden under the dimness of the light, were sharp and bright. She traced his eyes down the line of his high nose to his perfect lips, which were at the moment smirking.

Above all the noise, Kagome heard Shippo cry, "Kaguya-san! You're going on at 5…4…3…"

Kagome was already positioned on the hydraulics that would lift the platform she was on so that she would be leveled with the stage above. She would make her grand entrance.

Forgetting Sesshoumaru, she braced herself.

"2…."

And most importantly, she told herself, this was going to work because she didn't have to sing live.

"1!"

This was why this was all going to work.