Award-winning Debut by Ariel
Chapter Four: She Said WHAT?!
Aside from that little accident in the morning, and the to-be-expected scolding she got from Sango for being late, the rest of the day went by without a hitch, and soon she was once again heading toward the extended circle of doom with a quirky Rin in the middle. The blasted script was clutched in her excited hands as she waited for all the members of the acting team and costumes group to settle down so she could hand them out.
"As I've briefed to the acting team yesterday, the excerpt from the original legend that we're performing starts from the Tamada Rebellion, where demon rebels led by a boar demon named Tamada attempted to overtake the Western Lands which our Demon Lord, Taiinu, reigns over. Although Lord Taiinu's soldiers were successful in controlling the offending forces, Lord Taiinu, who had headed into the battlefield under a disguise in order to fight alongside his people, was gravely injured. This will be scene one of our act. Please flip to the second page of the handout."
Rin then proceeded to call out the names of the people who were required for the first scene, which included Inuyasha as Lord Taiinu. The costumes group took notes on the number of battle costumes that would be needed for the scene while everyone else scanned through the script before Rin moved onto the next scene.
"The second scene is where the priestess comes in!" she said excitedly, looking directly at Kagome while said girl gulped and seemed to break out in a cold sweat. While she was thankful that she wasn't doing the opening scene, the mere idea of the stage was nearly enough to make her hyperventilate. "Basically in this scene the priestess, Izumi, finds Lord Taiinu injured in the forest, exchange death threats, then nurses him back to health. For this scene, Inuyasha and Kagome-chan will be the ones on stage. This is on page four..."
The pace continued throughout the rest of the scenes, which alternated between battles and the blossoming relationship between Lord Taiinu and Priestess Izumi. In one heart-wrenching scene, Izumi was possessed by the spirits inside the Shikon no Tama that she guarded over, and attempted to kill Taiinu. But instead of slaying her, Taiinu snapped her out of the enchantment in a show of trust. Kagome was impressed by how loyally the script followed the original story. It seemed that Rin truly did have a knack for script writing! The challenge would be her acting it out, though.
"In the final scene of our script, after the Siege of Edo, the Shikon is broken into hundreds of shards and Izumi must set out to find them while Lord Taiinu is tied down by the responsibility of his lands. In farewell, they exchange a kiss before Izumi leaves." At this segment, Rin released a dreamy sigh. "It's the perfect open ending, there are only a few lines, but it's a scene full of emotion. We're counting on you two, Inuyasha, Kagome-chan!"
Kagome resisted the urge to bury her face behind her hands and groan. She really didn't want it to be so, but her acting was so going to ruin this play!
"Oi!"
She looked up from her task of putting her things inside her bag to meet amber orbs.
"Don't 'Oi' me, Inuyasha. I have a name, use it. Now what is it?" she retorted, turning to face him with her hands on her hips and an exasperated look in her eyes.
"Keh," he said and crossed his arms over his chest, looking away. It was something that he often did when he was embarrassed. So typical of Inuyasha. It was rather cute and it melted her heart.
"It's Sango. She said you had salmon… salmonell- salmonellosis? Whatever that is. Anyway she said she had plans with Miroku after school today so I should walk you home in case something weird happens."
'Sango said I had what?' her mind wanted to scream. Her eyes had already widened to the size of saucers as the words bounded out of the unsuspecting Inuyasha's mouth. She might very well be foaming at the mouth by this point.
Her head swung to the side and her eyes located those of her soon-to-be-dead friend's. Sango had the nerve to give her a corny thumbs up with a face that was bright red due to all the laughter she was suppressing. Kagome shot her a glare that conveyed the promise of a painful death that could send any other living being scurrying for cover, but it seemed that the receiver had become immune to the attack, for she ignored it in favor of flirting with her boyfriend with a flip of her hair.
"… hey, earth to Kagome! So you gonna go home or what, wench?"
Inuyasha's impatient voice filtered through the fires of hell raging inside her brain. With clenched teeth, Kagome mustered the most charming smile she could manage under the circumstances, and grabbed her newly-packed backpack.
"Yeah, coming Inuyasha."
Come to think of it, it was the first time since after elementary school that they would be spending time alone. It had always been Sango who walked with her to the station before going their separate ways to different stops. The guys had their sports club practices and left the school later than the girls on most days.
"You didn't have soccer practice today, Inuyasha?" she asked conversationally as they waited for the train to arrive.
"Nah, not this week," he answered, "my half-brother who had been working in America is being transferred back to Tokyo. I'm supposed to be helping him move and settle in this week since Pops' gone on another vacation with my mom."
"Seriously? I didn't know you had a brother, Inuyasha," she exclaimed, "you've never talked about him before. What's he like? When's he set to arrive?"
She was curious. She, Miroku, and Sango had been invited to hang out at Inuyasha's house a couple of times before, so they had met his parents. They were a lovely couple, and the three, Inutaisho, Izayoi and Inuyasha, made a warm family picture.
"Well, he's my half-brother," Inuyasha said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck in awkwardness, "he went to live in America with his mom after I turned ten so I don't really know him that well. He actually flew in just the day before yesterday and he's already gone in to work this morning, so I guess it's fair to say that he's a workaholic."
"Haha, I see..." Kagome trailed off, dropping the topic as they stepped off the platform and onto the train that had just rolled in. Inside a crowded space wasn't exactly the ideal setting to chat carelessly about the mysterious background story of someone's family.
Besides, there were more important things to think about, and such a serious mood simply wouldn't do for the execution of their plan. As the doors closed, Kagome set her mind on the mission at hand. Operation Capture the Demon's Heart was officially in motion!
"WHAT IN THE SEVEN HELLS MADE YOU THINK IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO TELL HIM I HAD DIARRHEA?!"
Falling backwards onto the plush confines of her twin-size bed, Kagome clutched the phone close to her ear and braced herself for whatever shit her ex-best friend Sango could possibly spew from her mouth.
"It's your punishment for being late today! Anyway, this is Inuyasha we're talking about. I knew he wouldn't know what that was. He probably thinks it has something to do with fish. If he knew then that would've been counterproductive," the voice on the other line said matter-of-factly before bursting out into another fit of laughter, "and he'd never look at you the same way again!"
Why that conniving witch! Damn. She knew she had lost this round against the devil they called Sango. Pinching the bridge of her nose in order to alleviate the anger and annoyance bubbling from within her core, she decided on being civilized.
"Well, Sango-chan," she breathed with controlled ire, "what other tricks do you have up your sleeve now?"
"Did you invite him to practice the script like we planned?"
"I did. He's not more thrilled than I am about the play, but we've made plans to go to his house on Sunday. You and Miroku-kun are invited, too, and you two have better not bail on me!"
"Great! And of course we won't!" Sango said bubbling with excitement, "It's time to move onto the next stage. You and me, on Saturday, we're going shopping for casual clothes that are actually in style. None of that sports jersey and class T-shirt crap for you anymore, missy. Oh and maybe some sexy lingerie, you know, just in case."
Kagome stared at her phone like it had grown crawly legs and a set of antennae. Just what in the world did Sango have in mind?
A/N: This is a light fic, so excuse the caps. I wanted to use actual historical events from Feudal Japan for the legend, but I gave up after slight research, since I'm not exactly a Japanese history wizard (that would be my bro). So every battle name used here is completely fictional!
I'll be trying to follow a once-a-week update schedule from now on, but as mentioned before, the chapters will be short. Also this week will be like hell for me, which is why I posted this chapter earlier than I had planned. I promise there'll be another before next week's over, so please, please, please review!