Curtains
By Raven
The last notes of the Nutcracker Suit rang out through the packed theater, and Sango Hidoriko waited with her partner to take her bows. As her music started, the tall dark-haired girl smoothed her stiff lavender tutu before stepping out on Pointe. Her partner put his hands around her waist for a final lift, and the applause rang out as she curtsied.
For the past year, Sango had been practicing with Koga and the rest of the cast for the Tokyo Ballet's first annual tour of the Nutcracker. Now they were back in Tokyo, the curtain closing on their final performance. As the curtains closed, the cast flooded backstage to vanities and dressing rooms, where they would take off their costumes and makeup for the final time. Running to catch up with her, Sango gave her double a big hug. "Kagome, we're done! Fini!"
Kagome laughed and hugged her back. "Bravo! Bravo! I'm so glad you did the last performance, I'm pooped!" she sighed, flopping down on the settee of the sugar plum fairy's dressing room.
Sango laughed and started to change out of the uncomfortable brace-backed costume. "I still can't believe it's over," she smiled, her eyes slightly sad.
Kagome nodded. "What's the first thing you're going to do when you get home?"
"Give m brother a gigantic hug!"
"Yeah, how's Kohaku been lately?" she asked, concern on her features.
Sango smiled. Ever since she had lost both her parents in a car accident six months before, her 19-year-old brother was all she had left. She groaned as she felt the beginning of a headache. "He's fine, but he just took a new assignment. Sometimes I wish he would just stop doing work for the FBI. I mean, we're not even American for heaven's sake!" Sango slipped on her coat and gave Kagome a big hug. "Rehearsals start tomorrow for Giselle, you coming?" she asked as she yanked the door open.
Kagome nodded and waved. "Yeah, see you then." Falling back on the settee, Sango heard her dial her fiancé's number as she closed the door. "Hello? Hi Inu-koi….."
Sango yawned as she opened the door to their apartment. "Kohaku, I'm home!" she called as she opened the door. Looking around, she noticed the apartment was unusually dark. "That's funny. He knew I was coming home…oh well, maybe he just stepped outside for a minute," she thought out loud as she opened to door to his bedroom-and screamed.
The bed was covered in blood, and a body was sprawled across the deep red sheets. She ran to it, tears streaming down her face and touched it's neck. It was warm and sticky, and something rather greasy came away on her fingers. Inspecting it further in better light, she realized what she was feeling was wax. Turning on the light in her brother's room, she found that what she thought was her dead brother was a wax model, and her brother was nowhere to be found.
Getting her tears under control, she dialed the police, trying to get her thoughts in line. A rather high male voice picked up on the other line. "Name and Address?"
"Hidoriko, Sango. Fifty-five Takahashi Boulevard, apartment number seventy-three."
"What's the problem?"
"My-my apartment was broken into. I just wanted to report it."
"Was anything taken?"
Sango hesitated. "No."
"Thank you, we'll file it. Have a nice night." The line abruptly hung up, and Sango glared angrily at the phone. "People need more courtesy," she muttered as she began to clean up the mess.
~*~*~
"Thank you, we'll file it. Have a nice night." Koga slammed the phone down on its receiver, and turned to glare at the sniveling mass of flesh in front of him. "You thought you maybe turned the heat up?!" he growled. "Well you did. She reported a break in, not a murder."
The lump began to snivel and back away. "I-I-I w-was cold," he cried pitifully. "It was an accident!"
Koga's eyes narrowed, and he got up from behind his desk. "An ACCIDENT? Well I don't hold well with accidents, Hiten. This is the last job you will ever screw up for me again. Do you hear me? The. Last. One." Raising the gun, he fired, and the sniveling mass didn't even scream.
Spitting on the body, he walked to his phone, and paged his front desk. "Send the cleaning crew up here," he groaned. "This meeting is over." He turned to the body as he entered his private elevator in the wall behind his desk. "I am the ruler of an empire. Did you sincerely believe I would hold well with mistakes? Now I have another memory to…fix." The doors shut the view from sight, and he dialed a number on his cell.
~*~*~
A/N: Well, I decided to try this out, so tell me what ya think! *wink wink* It doesn't get much happier, but the plot will get better, I promise!