Malice Melodies

Chapter 2- Beauty in Ghastly Appearances

Rin
"I want to throw some eggs at the audience tonight." I played with the small cross choker I wore. "Do you think Manten will hold them at the edge of the stage for me?"

Hiten stopped applying his eye shadow to look at me. "Yeah, just go find him before we go on. He should be done with setting up."

I giggled, childishly according to Naraku, "Ok, be right back!"

For the show I wore the outfit I had worn for YC's video "Absurd." It was conservative compared to my other outfits that I wore on stage or in videos. My lower half was clad in tight black dress pants while my torso had a simple long sleeved black blouse. At least it would have been a simple blouse if I hadn't insisted that Naraku split it in half, just under my breasts so that my tummy showed off along with a hint of my chest. And I meant a hint of my chest because I wasn't huge or anything, I wavered between a large B and a small C but it gets me by.

I skipped down the hall, singing the opening song for Chobits, and ignoring the looks I received from the groupies hanging out in the back. The girls that hung backstage or followed us on tour were insane. They acted like a bitch to me, tried to be my best friend, or treated me like a baby. All three approaches were lame but I wasn't allowed to be out right rude to them, due to Naraku's orders. Therefore, I kept silent. Besides, they were not as bad as the fanboys we attracted.

"Rin-chan you look so cute!"

I forced a smile and waved before running over to Hiten's younger brother. Of course, Manten would never leave his brother's side. Hiten had protected him from youkai and humans all his life and truthfully, the younger brother would have never survived without his older brother after their parents had died.

Manten was our roadie, the one that set up our equipment while we were backstage getting ready. He was good at his job and with his size and appearance he made crazy fan boys and girls think twice about trying to sneak backstage.

Manten was busy checking out my microphone, the second reason why Naraku allowed the younger thunder brother to travel with us, Manten was eager to please so he often tripled checked small details. However, it took a lot of convincing.

I heard a tape of Hiten's old band, a crappy death metal band, and I thought they sucked. However, Naraku met him and invited him to our house. Kanna and I sat in our den watching them play and I knew we needed him in our band. Naraku agreed but Hiten would only join if Manten could travel with us.

Naraku, at first, had been against the condition of Hiten's agreement on joining. We met the younger thunder brother when Hiten officially tried out and Naraku saw him as a fat, lazy, ugly, stupid excuse of a youkai. Usually that would have been the end of it, when he made a decision that was it. However, I knew Hiten was vital to our success and actually pleaded to get him in the band. Though I think, what really did it was that Hiten volunteered Manten as a roadie.

"Manten, can you do me a favor?"

The large, practically bald youkai looked down at me and rolled his eyes. "Why do you cover your face with that junk and make yourself look so unattractive?"

He was referring to the white makeup I wore with dark eye shadow around my eyes. Along with the contacts, I wore that Bankotsu had helped me pick out, ones that were just white, no pupils at all. I glared up at him, "I like the way I look. Anyway, will you do me a favor?"

"What do you want?" Manten treated me like an annoying younger sister but he did defend me most of the time.

"I feel liking throwing eggs again, you know like the way we did last time we were here in Tokyo. Can you put them at the edge of the stage after we go on so after the first song I can throw some of them? Oh, and can you see if the club has lots of paper towels and things like that for after the show?"

He adjusted the mic for my height, knowing that the large boots I wore would not help, before nodding and asking, "Plan on vomiting blood or that clear liquid you recently started using?"

I cocked my head to the side; I thought I looked cute when I did that, before giggling. "Well, I guess I'll use the blood today, you know get back to the classics."

He muttered things about stupid human girls but told me he would do what I asked. Satisfied, I skipped back to the room where the rest of the band was getting ready. Jakotsu was twirling around in his long black dress but stopped and pouted as soon as he saw me. He put a hand on his slim hip, "Why do you have to do your make-up like that? You would look ultra cute if you stopped looking like a zombie and dressed more like a Gothic Lolita."

Before I could respond, Hiten jumped to my defense. "Leave her alone. Just because you dress like a slut doesn't mean she has to." He walked over to me and smoothed down my hair. "Besides, there is a beauty in her ghastly appearance."

I blushed at the comment and grinned like an idiot at the smile Bankotsu threw at me. Naraku looked annoyed at Hiten and cleared his throat loudly. I put a little bit of distance between us and stared at my brother, trying to slip into my stage persona.

Despite all the rumors, I was still a virgin and quite shy about sex. Even if I wasn't shy about it, I knew Naraku wanted to make sure I stayed pure. Being around youkai most of my life, I knew the scent of a virgin drove youkai wild. It wasn't just that, it helped the rumors. Some people actually believed Naraku was saving me for himself, which I found disgusting since I considered him a brother.

Naraku nodded to me, "Since this is our first show without Saimyoshou, I want a lot of fan service out there. Rin, do you want anyone in particular?"

Before a show, we pair ourselves off and shamelessly throw ourselves at each other during the show. "I think we should fuel the rumors and have Bankotsu together with Jakotsu and me with you and Hiten. Everyone wanted to know if three of us have something going so why not give them something that will prove them right?"

Hiten grinned and pulled me close to him, ignoring the glare Naraku gave him. "What kind of things are we going to do?"

My stage persona took over, as did my trademark naughty grin, "Whatever comes to mind."


Kagome

"Is your brother mad?"

"Mad as insane yes."

I tugged one of his cute ears. "Inuyasha! You know what I mean, was he angry that he had to pick me up and everything?"

Inuyasha rolled his golden eyes and snorted. "He's always pissed about something but I think it has to do more about what Dad told us about."

I frowned, "You mean the merger between Amakoi and Shikon?"

I have had business dinners with the Kiimura brothers before but never with his mom and dad. I was so excited even if it technically was still a business dinner. I had brought over the Osaka footage but Inuyasha hadn't bothered to ask me about it.

Anyway, the family dinner was supposed to be this nice dressed up affair, even if Inuyasha didn't follow that. Everything was fine until Inuyasha's mother asked their father if he had gotten the message from the Water Goddess. Sesshoumaru had been silent throughout the meal but that had gotten his attention. I didn't blame him, the Water Goddess, as she liked to be called, was the founder and owner of Amakoi Records, Shikon Records biggest rival.

"Shikon was his mother's record company and when she died she left it to Sesshoumaru but he could only control it when he became of age, so Dad kind of controls it right now."

"I thought you said your brother is well over 500 years old," I replied. "Isn't he old enough to take over yet? I mean his band is the biggest band in Japan and has made more money for the company than all the other bands combined. He's perfectly capable of handling Shikon records."

He shook his head and mumbled under his breath about stupid human girls, which earned him a hard smack from me, before continuing. "First of all Expressionless is my band. Secondly, in youkai years, he's still considered a teenager but he'll come of age in eight months; though it looks like Dad is making one last big deal to ensure Sesshoumaru's future."

"Maybe he sees it as your dad butting in where he doesn't belong," I guessed.

"He just hasn't forgiven him for..."

Inuyasha trailed off and looked at the staircase that circled the family room, leading into the bedrooms. I looked behind me and swallowed harshly when I saw Sesshoumaru glaring at us. He stood perfectly still with his clawed hands on the railing, just looking at us. The inu youkai looked ready to pounce if we moved, which I was not about to do.

After a few tense moments Inuyasha regained his crude attitude, "What the fuck are you looking at?"

He did not move at all, just kept staring. I knew it was pissing off Inuyasha because I felt his anger practically hit me in the face but I knew he was getting a bit scared. Even in my short time working for Expressionless, I knew that whenever Sesshoumaru was as calm as he was at the moment, he usually did something cruel.

Finally, he ran a hand in his long silver hair and spoke in a tone that never failed to drive his fan girls wild with lust and desire. "Humans and hanyous should not talk about things they could never understand."

He disappeared further up the stairs, going either up to his room or to the recording studio. When the last of his long hair was out of sight, and Inuyasha was sure he was out of hearing range, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Damn bastard is creeping me out more and more lately! Dad should just let him move out but he thinks if Sesshoumaru leaves then he'll never see him again, so he keeps him close by giving into him most of the time."

I said nothing but put a hand to my heart, wincing when I felt its furious pounding. I had told my mother that I loved my job and I was terribly excited when the band had chosen me to be their personal video director. I didn't lie, but I think I should ask for hazardous pay.


Hiten

"I feel something Hiten, something bad."

"Like what?"

Her long pale fingers curled around my wavy hair and her face buried itself further into my neck. "I don't think we should sign with Amakoi."

I looked at her for a moment before I twisted my mouth in a scowl. "Are you crazy? We just left our label and we need to sign with someone before we fade into oblivion along with all the other jrock bands that never made it. We need to sign with them fast while our name is still on everyone's lips."

"It'll be the death of us! I know it..."

She looked close to tears and I felt my heart break a little. Before I had met Rin, I never cared about anyone besides Manten, and certainly not a human, let alone a female one. A part of me hates to admit it but I hated myself for being harsh to Rin. She had that effect on people, particularly male youkai; I swore she was not human but some sort of mystical nymph.

Rin turned around in my arms, her back now facing me. Kikyou, that cold slut, had shown up after the gig and now there was no room for Rin. When we were on the road Rin shared a room with him because she hated being alone and he did not trust anyone (me) alone with her. However, when Kikyou showed up, Rin was forced to have a room by herself but due to her past childhood traumas, she rarely slept alone. At home, I knew she often slept in Kanna's room or vice versa.

I was not surprised to hear a knock on my door a few minutes after Naraku had said goodnight to her. She stood outside my room in small short black shorts and a pink tank top. Wordlessly I motioned her in and we settled down in bed. I never did anything inappropriate to her while we shared a bed but we both knew I wanted to. It's not that I was scared of Naraku but fighting him wasn't high on my list.

Her sniffles brought me out of my thoughts. I gathered her close, made her face me once again, and whispered, "I'm sorry Rin but you know how badly we need this." I kissed her close eyelids and tried to ignore the tears streaming down. "If Naraku decides to sign with Amakoi, I'll sign too and I have no doubt that Bankotsu and Jakotsu will as well."

"And everyone will expect me to sign as well."

"Naraku is the master of melodies, but it's your voice, your words, and your presence that draws people in. Everyone kept help but wonder what you'll do or say next. We need you."

Guilt, guilt was the best way to get Rin to stay. There were many times when I knew she felt her stage ego conflicted with her true self and more often than not, she begged Naraku to let her leave. Nevertheless, she loved the stage, she loved how people screamed her name, how they grew disgusted with her words or acts and how they lusted after her when she did something sexy. She loved to sing, she loved it all, but sometimes she felt drained and never wanted to see a stage again. We knew we needed her. There may be groupies hanging out to see us but once we were on stage, she is the one they come to see. We knew it so we had our ways of making her stay.

A moan broke the silence and Rin blushed when she realized it was coming from the next room, Naraku's room. I grinned at my bedmate's shyness and brought her closer. "Let's watch some TV and block out Naraku's latest conquest."

She bit down on her thumbnail. "I think he actually loves her Hiten... I hate her..."

I kissed the top of her head, "I know you do."

I flipped on the TV and saw a video from Expressionless' last album just start. I snarled in distaste and was about to change the channel but Rin stopped me.

"Wait, I wanna see it."

"What is your obsession with this band? It's bad enough Jakotsu openly drools over that disgusting hanyou!"

"Let Bankotsu deal with that, and I'm not obsessed with them. I just like this song, now let me listen to it." She moved out of my arms and propped her head up with her hand.

I stayed quiet and turned it up a little louder for her, trying to ignore the way her big brown eyes focused on the singer of our rival band.