A/N: This fic is dedicated to DarkAngel048 cause there apparently aren't enough Kagome/Naraku fics. So, Happy Valentine's, sweetie.
Brilliant Dance
"The last one." I murmured, watching the flames slowly lick the wood then greedily swallow the letters I threw in. After finally throwing in that last one I bid a very hateful farewell to Inuyasha. "Cheating bastard."
The phone rang and I swore to Hell and back if it was him I'd explode. I mean, seriously, woodland critters in a blender wouldn't match the screaming I would inflict upon his self-proclaimed hyper-sensitive hearing. And then I'd kill him… or something violent. Sighing, I answered the phone on the fourth ring.
"Hullo? Kagome Higurashi speaking." I said as cheerily as I could muster.
"Hello! This is Milly Maxwell. My parents are the owners of Midnight Rising, the club you applied at." A soft-spoken yet perky young woman said.
"Oh!" I stood rigid for a moment, cheating exes momentarily forgotten. "Yes! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. Your parents were very kind to me in the interview." I babbled. 'Oh, shut up!' I berated myself.
Milly giggled. "Good to know. Anyway, I'm calling with, I hope, great news. Not only did they accept your application for employment, but also your request to perform Sunday through Thursday evenings." I accidentally let a squeal escape. "You sound happy." Milly laughed. "But from what I heard of your demo, you definitely deserve it. It was slammin!"
I blushed, thankful she couldn't see me. "Thank you very much. So, um, when do I start?" I hoped I didn't sound as nervous as I felt.
"Next Thursday. That sound good to you?"
"Wonderful! Miss Maxwell? I do believe you've made my night. Thank you so much."
"You're very welcome. Come by the day before and I'll show you your rounds, alright?"
"Perfect. See you then, ma'am."
"Just Milly, if it's all the same to you." She said laughing. "Ma'am makes me feel old. Or like a drill sergeant." She made an unpleasant sound and I could just picture the delicate shudder.
"Then I insist you call me Kagome." I said cheerfully.
"Okay, Kagome. I'll see you soon. Goodbye."
"Goodbye." As soon as the phone was in its cradle I squealed ridiculously loud before calming. As I contemplated my glass of red wine, I smirked. "What a bittersweet evening."
3 Weeks later… Wednesday Evening…
I gathered together some of my favorite songs for the week to sing at the club. For some reason, I was in a Dashboard Confessional kind of mood. I left my waist length raven hair down, pulled on some snug, faded blue jeans, a new pair of black sneakers, and a white tanktop with black lettering on the front that wrote out my favorite quote from the Christian Bible. I wasn't particularly religious, despite how I was raised, but this particular quote struck home with me.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, it always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
"Love never fails."
-Bible 1st Corinthians 13:4-8
Looking into a mirror, I decided to toss my thick nest of hair into a manageable bun. I made my way to work in my new car… well, new to me. It's a '98 Corvette and cherry red. I was so excited to finally be able to buy a car. It wasn't perfect but it was in pretty good condition. Made me smile, anyway.
I arrived twenty minutes early, so I decided to grab a quick bite to eat… and bug Milly while I was at it. She was seriously the best chef the world of cooking had to offer. I stepped through the employee entrance after parking my baby out back.
"It's already on the table." Milly said before I could even greet her. Inside the employee lounge she had a dinner for two set up.
As she sat down to eat her share of the fresh veggie lasagna, I forced my bottom lip to tremble and my eyes to go wide. "Thank you, oh Lord, for sending me an angel who is blessed as an artist in the kitchen."
"Hey! It had nothing to do with a blessing and everything to do with hard work. I worked my ass off at the academy!" she snapped jokingly.
"And yet you sit so easily for someone with no ass." I commented dryly. She waggled her fork at me and threatened to take my food away. I inhaled it before making my last snarky remark. "So, if that's not your ass in your pants, it must be your ego. No wonder it's so huge." At her enraged shriek, I cackled and bolted to clock in and get to work.
Sango, a coworker and friend of mine, hurried over to me. "You just clock in?" she asked and rolled her eyes at her own question as I affixed my waist apron.
"Yeah, but I've been chilling in the back with Mills. She made me supper." I said sighing with a grin and rubbing my belly appreciatively.
Chuckling she hurriedly asked me to take table seven. "I know that's my round, but I'm full up at the moment." She hugged me when I smiled and agreed. "Half an hour and I'm already on overload. Ugh!"
I plunged my hands into my apron pockets to don my nametag and grab my order pad and pen. I headed over to table seven. Pausing to shove my tongue back in my mouth, I moved towards the customer before he had a chance to see me eye-fucking him. 'Get a grip, Kag! You wanna get fired your first month?' I shook my head to clear it and stopped in front of him, not even having to fake the big smile gracing my face. This guy had the longest, thickest black hair braided down his back. Was it wrong that I now had fantasies of rolling around in his field of midnight tresses? Kinda?
His shoulders were broad, and when I managed to finally see his profile my whole body went on red alert. 'Oh, gawd, oh gawd, does he have to have all those sharp features and angles? He looks like a wealthy aristocrat.' Squish, walk, squish, walk. 'Gah! Get ahold of yourself! You'll definitely get shit-canned if the boss catches you licking along his high cheek bones… and down to those full lips…' I pinched my thigh. Hard. "Okay, ow, fucking, ow!" I whispered and cleared my throat, pen at the ready when-
"For the last time!" I jumped when he slammed his hands down. "I don't… want…" He trailed off, a soft flush suffusing his heavenly face when he turned to look at me and caught sight of my nametag as well as the order pad I held.
"Cool your jets, Turbo, or you'll blow a gasket." I blurted, still in shock.
"I am… so… My apologies, miss. I thought you were the woman who has been harassing me for the last ten minutes." He said embarrassedly, though he also looked exceedingly sad.
"It's okay. I understand. It's, like, a form of rape, in my opinion. No means no, right?" I blurted. 'Oh, my gawd, where is this verbal diarrhea coming from? !' my brain shrieked at me.
To my great relief, he merely chuckled and nodded. "I agree." He murmured and I fucking creamed myself. A few seconds went by and I touched his shoulder. He looked so sad underneath the smirk he had sent me.
"Are you okay, honey? You look so sad." I asked gently. 'You fuckwit! You don't call strangers endearments! Your job! Think of your JOB!'
He looked at me in surprise, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why do you care?" he asked softly, slowly.
I cocked my head to the side and thought about it. 'Aside from you being magically delicious- Oh, come on, brain. At least work with me here! He is not Lucky Charms!' I dropped to one knee and studied him. "I don't know. Just do." And it was the truth. He seemed taken aback by my answer. I shrugged, rising when he stayed silent. "What can I get you to drink? You look like you want to get at least a little drunk."
"I do." He said and laughed. "Whiskey. A double." He added before I left. Smiling, I retrieved his drink, leaving him with a glass of water, as well. An hour later, business was slowing a little and I dropped another double with the guy, who I'd learned was named Naraku. His dark eyes reminded me of the color of a good chocolate. Yum.
I began to walk away after our little silent smiles to one another when he grabbed my wrist. I raised a brow at him and he released me immediately.
"I'm not." He said at length. I cocked my head to the side. "You asked me earlier if I was okay. I'm not." He clarified. I smiled at him and sent a signal to the bartender. He flashed me a thumbs up, so I slid into the booth across from Naraku.
"I'm willing to lend a friendly ear, if you want." I offered, holding his gaze.
His thoughts seemed laid bare before me. 'Should I tell her? Why?' Then his eyes seemed to say: "Why the hell not?" Which is exactly what he muttered aloud. I waited patiently and folded my hands on the table between us. "A woman." He said simply and downed the whiskey quickly. "She and I were together nearly three years. A few nights ago I walked in on her cheating on me. I… I didn't even get angry. I merely walked up to her while she was stammering out lies, took her hand, and pulled my mother's ring off of her finger." He sipped his water, no movement or expression gracing his beautiful face. "She had smiled in relief when I took her hand, probably thinking I was forgiving her, then she started screaming at me as I walked away with the ring.
" 'Damn you! You can't do this to me!' and the like. I stopped, looked her dead in the eye and said: 'Kikyo, I just did.'" He smiled bitterly at his hands and took another sip of water. "She was so shocked at how I was handling the situation that all she could do was scream and beg as I walked away and out the door." He sighed. "She had been cheating on me for two months with that… that guy! How could I have been so blind?" he demanded from his water.
"I know how you feel." I murmured, shocked that I was crying for him. For myself, too. Naraku frowned but nodded for me to continue. "About three weeks ago I found out that my high school sweetheart had been cheating on me for the last year. With eight different women… talk about making me feel like a waste of space." I added in a mutter. "Five years of my life wasted on a dirt bag like him. I moped for days on end until I realized he wasn't worth it. After I figured that out, I burned everything I ever received from him. That same night, I received a phone call from here saying that I got the jobs that I applied for. It was… a bittersweet evening, to say the least."
I jumped when Naraku leaned forward and dabbed at my tears with his handkerchief. "What a pair we make." He said gently. "And instead of making me feel better, I ended up making a sweet thing like you cry."
"You didn't make me cry. I just care too much." I joked and he smiled at me. Genuinely, that time. It even reached his eyes. "I just wanted you to understand that I empathize with you. I don't pity you, though. Now you're out of a terrible relationship and have the chance to find someone who will be worth your time." He smiled bigger at that.
"Thank you." He said at length. We both looked over at the bartender when he whistled sharply.
"My fiver's over, honey." I checked my watch and bit my bottom lip thoughtfully. "Would you be willing to hang around for about another hour?"
"I could do that. As long as I don't get in trouble for nursing water the rest of the time." I grinned and nodded. "Then I'll stay." He said, kissing the back of my hand.
'Swoon!' I swallowed thickly and finished up my rounds. About thirty minutes later I started helping the house band set up so I could perform. I gave them the music they'd need and went in back to change. I put on a black and silver halter top before adding makeup to match; black mascara and liner, silver shadow, and glitter-gloss. After shaking my hair out of its precarious bun, it waved around me and I grinned at the end result before jogging out on stage.
"Good evening everyone!" I said cheerfully into the mic. There was scattered applause and some catcalls. "Knock it off, Miroku, or I'm telling your wife." He looked sheepishly over at Sango and she rolled her eyes at her husband's antics. "I apologize but this just happened to be the mood I was in when I picked out tonight's music." I gestured for the band to start up, swaying my hips and locking eyes with Naraku. He was staring at me intently and I winked.
"So this is odd,
the painful realization that has all gone wrong.
And nobody cares at all,
and nobody cares at all.
"So you buried all your lover's clothes
and burned the letters lover wrote,
but it doesn't make it any better.
Does it make it any better?
And the plaster dented from your fist
in the hall where you had your first kiss
reminds you that the memories will fade.
"So this is strange,
our sidestepping has come to be a brilliant dance
where nobody leads at all,
where nobody leads at all.
"And the picture frames are facing down
and the ringing from this empty sound
is deafening and keeping you from sleep.
And breathing is a foreign task
and thinking's just too much to ask
and you're measuring your minutes by a clock that's blinking eights.
"This is incredible.
Starving, insatiable,
yes, this is love for the first time.
Well you'd like to think that you were invincible.
Yeah, well weren't we all once before we felt loss for the first time?
Well, this is the last time.
This is the last time…
This is the last time."
As the last chords died, applause sounded and Naraku smiled sadly at me. Thank the powers that be I didn't faint when I saw Inuyasha enter the establishment with a woman dressed in so much red, I was sure she'd bled it from her body; red dress, red streaks in her short black hair, red shadow, red lipstick, and the Devil's red grin. I quickly looked back to the audience knowing that if Sango caught sight of me she'd immediately notice the dimming of my smile.
What I didn't expect was to see Naraku look where I had and his face to harden into a scowl. Yet, when he turned back to look at me, we had a mutual understanding. That was his Kikyo with my Inuyasha. Fucking figures. 'Of all the gin joints in all the world, blah, blah, blah. You know the saying.' I bit back a snarl as Inuyasha flashed me a malicious grin. He had no idea that I sang. Probably just thought I tooled around on my ratty fucking guitar for no real reason. The bastard never did really pay attention to me while we were together.
I turned to face the band but spoke into the mic. "Change of plans, guys. I've only got one song left in me tonight. I'm feeling a little… sick." I grinned in Naraku's direction. "Maybe a little medicine is in order." I winked and was pleased to see him flush while Inuyasha frowned suspiciously. I addressed the band again. "I'm gonna need backup vocals, okay?" They grumbled, people laughed, but they agreed, anyway. "The Best Deceptions, okay?" They nodded and began.
I watched gleefully as Inuyasha stared at me in absolute shock. "I heard about your trip.
I heard about your souvenirs.
I heard about the cool breeze, in the cool nights,
And the cool girls that you spent them with.
Well I guess I should have heard of them from you.
I guess I should have heard of them from you.
"Don't you see, don't you see, that the charade is over?
And all the "Best Deceptions" and "Clever Cover Story" awards go to you.
So kiss me hard 'cause this will be the last time that I let you.
You will be back someday and this awkward kiss that tells of other people's lips will be of service to giving you away.
"I heard about your regrets.
I heard that you were feeling sorry.
I heard from someone that you wish you could set things right between us.
Well I guess I should have heard of that from you.
I guess I should have heard of that from you.
"I'm waiting for blood to flow to my fingers,
I'll be all right when my hands get warm. Ignoring the phone,
I'd rather say nothing. I'd rather you'd never heard my voice.
You're calling too late too late to be gracious you do not warrant long goodbyes.
"Don't you see, don't you see, that the charade is over?
And all the "Best Deceptions" and "Clever Cover Story" awards go to you.
So kiss me hard 'cause this will be the last time that I let you.
You will be back someday
And this awkward kiss that screams of other people's lips will be of service to giving you away.
Keeping you away!
"I'm waiting for blood to flow to my fingers,
I'll be all right when my hands get warm. Ignoring the phone,
I'd rather say nothing. I'd rather you'd never heard my voice.
You're calling too late too late to be gracious you do not warrant long goodbyes.
"You're calling too late.
You're calling too late…
You're calling too late."
I took a pen out and jotted down a note while the band settled into a soft slow song. I had the stage hand take the note to table seven while I went to gather my things from the back room. Clocking out "sick" I made my way over to Naraku my belongings in tow. I watched from a few feet away as the woman I gathered to be Kikyo talked down at Naraku.
When he saw me, he smiled and stood, pleading with his eyes for help. Grinning, I held my jacket by one finger over my shoulder before going to him and raising up on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Ready to go, honey?" I asked saucily, feeling a bit powerful. 'The powah! …okay, that was embarrassing even if nobody heard it…'
"Who are you?" The little red devil demanded.
'Wellll… a little white lie wouldn't hurt.' I smiled. "Me?" I asked innocently. "Why, I'm the club's diva." I eyed her up and down a little disgusted. "Let me guess. Little Red Riding Hood?" I chuckled and watched Naraku toss a handful of bills onto the table before putting his arm around my waist.
"Ready, darling." He said. I eyed him hungrily, not having to fake it in the least.
"You make those jeans look good." I purred. "But they'd look even better on my bedroom floor." Kikyo's jaw dropped and Naraku's Adam's Apple bobbed hard.
"That can be arranged." He whispered as we walked away. I knew I was slick with want, and that little whisper just sent me to wondering how I was going to peel myself off of the vinyl interior of my car once I sat down in it. 'Guhuhuhuh.' I mentally shuddered.
"Now, wait a goddamned minute!" Kikyo snapped at our backs. "I'm not about to let you take off with my fiancé!" she screeched.
"Where's your date?" I asked calmly, freezing her mid-rant. "Knowing Inu, and I do, I'd say he's probably in the bathroom fucking some random chick." I said crudely. Kikyo blanched and raced to the restrooms. Upon hearing her screaming, Naraku and I shared a cruel chuckle. "So, you drive yourself or can I offer you a ride home?"
"Since I took a cab here with the intent of getting rightly pissed, I would very much appreciate a ride. By the way," he murmured as we left the building, "thank you for that. It not only felt great, but I think I just needed it. You're my hero."
I jokingly curtseyed. "I live to serve."
He raised a brow. "And what about your earlier come on?"
I blushed. "You actually want to go back to my place?" I asked incredulously. He chuckled and tilted my face up. I trembled and let out a moan when he kissed me. Wasn't expecting that at all.
A short drive and a comfortable chat later…
"It would seem I was correct." I said looking at my bedroom floor while cuddled in Naraku's embrace. "Your pants do look better there."
His rumbling chuckle set my heart thumping excitedly in my chest. "So it would seem." He murmured and nibbled my earlobe.
"Mmmmmm…" I rolled and gasped when, instead of pinning him, he moved quickly, pinning me. He slid back into me quickly and we both moaned. Never thought I'd be grateful for cheating exes. But I was. Immensely so. Especially when he did that rolling motion with his hips- "Oh, God!" Yeah. That. The kiss that followed was absolutely toe-curling, soul-scorchingly amazing. Not to mention the sex. Oh, the intense coupling I'd never experienced before in my life!
The next morning-
"I can't believe we dented the wall." Naraku said, coughing to hide a laugh.
"Don't look so pleased about it! My landlord is gonna kill me." I pulled my hands down my face in annoyance.
"Didn't hear you complaining about it last night." Naraku whispered in my ear. I blushed and couldn't help but laugh.
"Fair enough. Breakfast?" I asked as we dressed.
"Breakfast." He affirmed. "My treat." He pulled me close touching our noses together cutely. How could I deny him? I couldn't. And didn't.