The chapter for my other story is coming up very shortly.
Disclaimer: We all know that I own squat. Not even the song that will be featured later on.
"KAGOME! Get your ass down here! You're coming with me weather you're dressed or naked!"
Rats… she was serious. Kagome hurried to lock her bedroom door and pressed her back against it just as the furious banging from the other side began. I guess the lesson here is that when your over protective best friend tells you to dress up and go out with her instead of staying cooped up in your room studying like a mad woman, she means business. Kagome sighed and looked over to her clock on her desk. The big red numbers mocked her by displaying only 2 minutes since the banging commenced.
'Maybe she'll give up,' Kagome mused in her head idly before Sango, who was busy rapping a beat on the other side of her door with her fists, and yelling at the tops of her lungs.
"We've got two hours until the show starts so I can bang here all night! This door is only so strong you know."
Feeling the urge to just give up Kagome looked towards the ceiling and prayed to the higher power that Sango would just leave her to her studying. Why is this night any special? She spent almost every other night studying, so why break the cycle now? She was very happy alone in her room, with her beloved text book. Undisturbed, calm, and completely safe. That's right, safe was good. It was very good.
"Sango, I really don't want to go. Another time? Please?"
Kagome pleaded and turned to face the door. It was quiet for a moment. Kagome stared at the door knob with distrust. Should she peek to see if Sango left? Why not? She unlocked the door and cracked the door just a bit to stare into the hallway of the two-bedroom flat she shared with her best friend since middle school.
'Okay, she isn't to the left…'
Kagome instantly regretted turning right when she came face-to-face with a very pissed off Sango.
"Ohhh hey Sango! Wow, you look nice. You should hurry up and go out so-"
Her words died on her lips as Sango pushed past Kagome and entered her room. She sat on the bed and looked at Kagome expectantly. She scoffed and crossed her arms.
"Well, you look…. Kagome what the hell are you wearing? You aren't wearing that to where I think we're going right? That outfit is certainly acceptable for working at the shelter, but not where we're going,"
Kagome hugged herself defensively and backed into a corner. She donned an oversized army green sweater, tattered jeans and flip flops. Kagome looked at her incredulously.
"NO! I wouldn't be caught dead in this. I wasn't planning on going." She rolled her eyes and picked at her fingernails. Sango placed a hand at her chest and pretended to breathe easy.
"Thank you. I thought staying here all these nights was beginning to take a toll on your poor little self." She stood from the bed and brushed past Kagome and dove into her closet. Kagome shoved her face in her hands and mumbled incoherent words, probably cursing Sango, but she didn't even know. When Sango returned she placed Kagome's dark brown Bardot baby doll dress into her arms and ordered her to change at once.
Kagome obliged gingerly and when she returned Sango tossed her the wedge boots she hasn't seen in ages. Kagome stared at them in awe and ran her hands over the delicately aged leather and toyed with the zipper.
"Where did you find these?"
"I found them at Jakotsu's. Now hurry up and get in this chair. Your hair looks fried.
Once Sango was finished dolling Kagome up in makeup and straightening her hair she was dragged to the car. Once inside, Kagome looked at the time: 7:30 p.m.
"You for real took an hour caking this gunk on my face and straightening my dead hair. You know I hate glamming up to go nowhere." She began to dig in her purse to pull out a wet nap and began tearing it open to rub off some off this disgusting paint called eyeliner.
Sango slapped her hand down and took the wet nap. She threw it out of the window and drove the car out of the parking space. Kagome frowned and blew up into her side swept bangs to amuse herself.
As they pulled in to the parking lot Kagome noted that the sunset was duller than usual.
'Thank you, air pollution.'
"Let's go Kagome."
They both walked into the modern café. Kagome tried to make a beeline for the bathroom but Sango grabbed her elbow and sat her in a table towards the center.
"See? If someone would've gotten ready when I told them to we could've gotten better seats."
"Better seats to what?" Kagome asked while playing with one of the corners of the menus.
"Didn't you listen to anything I said to you this morning? Just for that I'm going to let you wait it out. See what happens."
Kagome looked at Sango and stuck her tongue out childishly and Sango smiled at her.
Before Kagome could fling her fork in Sango's direction a loud raspy voice could be hears through the speakers. She looked towards the stage and there stood a scruffy man about five feet tall.
'So tonight is talent night, huh?'
She pretended to act disinterested again by reading the menu.
"We'll kick off the night by bringing in some new faces to the stage. Enjoy yourselves." He waddled off the stage and the show began. Sango pulled the menu away from Kagome and she huffed and crossed her arms on the table.
As much as she didn't want to admit, she was having fun. First a man doing a stand up routine graced the stage. She related to him on having nosey friends which made his routine that much funnier.
After, a short and thin little girl came up and sang a capella. How that big of a voice came out of such a little girl would amaze Kagome to no end. Furthermore, a few more people came and performed. Some did poetry, one did dance, and others just had a conversation.
Getting slightly bored, she tried to slide out of the chair she sat in and look for the bathroom until the scruffy man came back on stage.
"Give an applause to the acts ladies and gentlemen," He paused to clap himself, his massive arms rippling under his buttoned shirt. "Now let's quiet down for our regulars."
He walked off stage again and Kagome almost died. More talents? She huffed and sipped at her grape juice and poked at her half eaten tuna sandwich they had ordered sometime along the fifth act. She was just about to devour the rest of the act when the lights dimmed and the stage lights picked up.
'Great, where is my sandwich?' She quickly thought before hearing the whispers of the crowd –mostly women– cooing at the next performance. Curiously, she looked up at the stage to see a man holding an acoustic guitar. He was something else…
His hair was silver, for one. Long and wispy. He was tall and muscular. His corded forearms peaked from his button down shirt that was folded at the elbows. He was barefoot, causing her eyebrows to rise but she didn't get to think anymore when Sango leaned over to her.
"Isn't he cute?"
"Yeahhh," She answered absently. "That's a pretty hot guitar. Looks expensive…" She trailed off as Sango smacked her forehead and turned around.
Kagome knew what she was talking about. She just didn't want to admit that she was ogling a stranger. His eyes were downcast the whole time as he situated himself on a stool center-stage. His delicately pointed nose twitched a bit at the unfamiliar scents and his pursed a bit in concentration. His eyebrows furrowed and when he pursed his lips even more, a dimple appeared.
The women in the audience gasped and leaned forward, ready to swoon over his every word- if he were to say anything. Kagome rolled her eyes at them and played with the hem of her sleeve before he cleared his throat on the stage. His powerful hands rose up to the guitar coddled in his lap. His clawed fingers strummed the guitar melodiously, just once, and every female in the room swooned.
Kagome looked over unbelievingly at Sango, but was shocked to see her best friend engrossed with the act.
She was now disturbed.
"You have got to be kidding me…" Kagome droned out before a bunch of hushes were sent her way. She rolled her eyes again as she turned to the stage again and acted interested. She absent mindedly watched his fingers tune the guitar. He still hadn't even looked at the crowd yet.
He strummed the guitar again, but this time he moved his other hand to contour the beginning of his song. If this song had no lyrics, it would have been perfect already. Watching his barefoot tap to the beat of his song, she missed the rest of his band moving in behind him, in the shadows.
But she didn't care; she was far more interested in this man performing.
She all about passed out with the rest of the women in the crowd when he began to sing.
This town is colder now, I think it's sick of us
It's time to make our move, I'm shakin' off the rust
I've got my heart set on anywhere but here
I'm staring down myself, counting up the years
His voice was smooth, as if lulling someone off to sleep. With every breath that he took to sing the next sentence she could feel his lyrics strum the cords of her own feelings.
Steady hands, just take the wheel
And every glance is killing me
Time to make one last appeal for the life I lead
And with that, he looked up at the audience. Her breath hitched in her windpipe as she looked deep into his eyes of honey that looked out into the crowd. They looked pained and she immediately felt the need to know his story.She began tapping in sync with his foot also, staring at his lips. They looked full and she imagined them to be tough, being a man and all. The band she didn't remember getting on stage began their entrances as the song gained momentum and his voice held more power.
Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah, I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're 'here' not 'there'
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, can you see what I see?
…With all her might, she wished she could see. If it would have made him any better. She could connect to this song, taking a chance to glance at Sango who was busy swaying like the rest of the audience.
They're tryin' to come back, all my senses push
Untie the weight bags, Some never thought I could
Steady feet, don't fail me now
Gonna run till you can't walk
Something pulls my focus out
And I'm standing down
Scanning at the crowd, his eyes landed on her. His amber eyes set her ablaze as her hands suddenly felt sweaty. She began panting softly as jealous gazes from the rest of the audience began to bore holes through her body, but that's not what bothered her. The sense of him singing to her, coming up on his level, was scaring her.
She definately was not calm.
'GET A GRIP KAGOME' she yelled at herself in her mind but it did nothing to soothe her nerves. He gave her the once over and she didn't know weather it was her or her imagination, but she swore she saw the corner of his lips curve up slightly into a smirk before he lowered his head again to his beloved guitar.
Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be, oh
Stop and stare
You start to wonder why you're 'here' not 'there'
And you'd give anything to get what's fair
But fair ain't what you really need
Oh, you don't need
His melodic voice reached its peak as she felt her chest pang with a hidden emotion. She gripped the edge of her seat eager to read deeper into his words if it meant he would merely just look at her again.
What you need, what you need, what you need
Stop and stare
I think I'm moving but I go nowhere
Yeah I know that everyone gets scared
But I've become what I can't be
He sang the rest of the song without looking up again, finding the fingerboard of his guitar far more interesting as his hair began to fall over his shoulder softly and ever so slowly. His hands slowed down their strumming until the last music heard from his guitar was the soft vibrations from the last bar.
The lights came back up and the crowd applauded while women whistled and a majority of the people stood. Kagome, on the other hand, sat down neatly in her chair and clapped softly, staring at the ground
"OH. MY.SWEETNESS! He was singing right to you Kagome! How did it feel? Was it moving? Did you like it?" Sango leaned forward onto the table as Kagome looked at her irritatingly. She couldn't believe she fell under his spell. He wasn't singing to her, just making an example out of her. She hoped he was satisfied.
"I didn't feel a thing." She said before finishing her grape juice and playing with her spoon. She realized that she still had that awful makeup on and looked around for the bathroom, when she spotted it a little backstage.
"Awwwww c'mon Kagome! You should've seen your face! You were so into the performance and you know it. You know what? I think you liiiiike himmmmmmm."
Sango giggled as Kagome flicked her spoon over to her and got up after announcing that she 'had to pee.'
Walking briskly back stage to the blinking light of the bathroom she felt herself step on flesh. She immediately lifted her foot up before she applied her weight onto it. When she looked down, it was a bare foot. One she saw just minutes ago. Realization hit her and she was stuck at his knees. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, not now, anyway.
"Well, little lady, someone left their manners at home, didn't they?" His voice was just as smooth as when he sang. Yep, it was that guy alright,
She definately didnt feel safe.