This fic is very loosely based upon the life of Edgar Degas (with artistic liberties taken ^^;). Also, the story was inspired by the song Tiny Dancer by Elton John. I do not own Tiny Dancer or Inuyasha. The material presented in this piece belongs to their respective owners. Not me.

Previously: "With a weary sigh, she rolled over and resigned herself to another night of what had become routine suffering. That night, Kagome dreamt feverish dreams of stormy seas, perfumed combs, and angrily pensive artists."

Kagome awoke the next morning to the sun peeking through the dusty window, the reflection turning her normally sky-blue eyes to a purplish haze with the balmy red dawn peeking over the hill. She yawned, careful not to disturb her irritated lungs, and stood up to stretch her thin arms in front of her. A drowsy sigh escaped her lips as she began changing her clothes and packing her ballet uniform into its customary bag to be toted around throughout the course of the day. The slowly awakening young woman paused as her brain cleared away the sleepy fog, and she realized that there was the possibility of seeing Monsieur De Gas again. Despite the fact that today was pay day, the thought of seeing that brute again had her feeling quite melancholy. She ignored the sudden acceleration of her heartbeat, for which she could come up with no reasonable explanation.

Due to the fact that the day was Friday, and Fridays were always scheduled to be Kagome's big shows, practice started at 8:30 instead of the usual 11:30, so Kagome left her dingy little flat shortly after 7'o'clock.

Meanwhile, Sesshomaru had hardly slept a wink the previous night, so he was out wandering restlessly, trying to find something to occupy his mind other than his trepidation and fear of returning to that ballet studio. He hated trepidation, and he hated fear, especially when they were coming from himself in such a foolish and unwarranted manner. He had been listlessly ambling around one of the slums when he rounded a corner and ran head-on into a short, pale woman with silky black hair and electrifying grey eyes. Upon looking at her face, Sesshomaru's mind ran off of the track of offering the customary apologies, but instead derailed and defaulted to anger. His eyes narrowed and his fists clenched.

"Where do you think you are going, witch? First, I must put up with your disgusting presence and insult to my existence which you displayed yesterday, and now you taint my person with your revolting touch? Your very existence offends me. You dare to touch me, you treacherous little bitch?" He finished with a scowl, which quickly melted into confusion when he saw the girl's face whom he had just verbally assaulted. He had thought that this little spitfire had been the little ballerina, Kagome, but this girl was certainly not her. Though her face and form were almost identical, their composure and attitudes were certainly most different.

Her thin black eyebrows were drawn together as her large slanted grey eyes seemingly glared lightning bolts at him. A slender hand snapped up to rest upon her hip, and her red-painted mouth opened in an expression of irate hostility. "Who the hell do you think you are? I have done nothing to you, and here you almost knock me into the street and then berate me like I'm some low-level slave?" Sesshomaru could smell the scent of opium wafting from her clothes, her breath, her hair.

He paused. This was certainly not little Kagome. She was obviously not even from the same country. This rude little minx was almost certainly from China, a smuggler of high-quality opium from the Far East. He took a long look at her eyes, which were slightly longer than he remembered Kagome's being, and her face was much more round than the little Japanese dancer. He came back to reality when she cleared her throat, clearly waiting for an apology from him, as she was entitled to.

Just as Sesshomaru began to bow his head and issue his not-so-heartfelt apologies, he heard a string of curses from a short distance away. He looked up just in time to see his brother, Inuyasha, wheel around the corner, tucking his shirt back into his pants, a long cigarette dangling from his lips. Upon seeing his elder brother, Inuyasha wrapped his arms around the little Chinese woman. "Hey, this bastard bothering you, Kikyou? Hey! Sesshomaru! You leave her alone, you hear? She's mine." Sesshomaru quickly turned around and walked away without saying a word as Kikyou disentangled herself from Inuyasha's arms with an expectant look on her face. He did not see Inuyasha hand over a wad of cash to the woman, who smirked and escorted him down a shaded alley.

Sesshomaru began briskly walking away, destination anywhere as long as it took him away from Inuyasha and his women of questionable repute. He found himself about a mile away from Madame Midou's studio, and in his state of mental disarray, he decided to walk toward it. After a couple of minutes walking down the cobbled road, he heard an overly cheerful shout, one far too bright for such an early time in the morning. He turned around to see none other than tiny little Kagome bustling toward him, package in hand, presumably carrying her dancing outfit.

"Bonjour, Monsieur De Gas!" the suddenly cheerful Kagome called as she caught up to walk next to the tall, gloomy artist. "How are you this morning? It's quite a lovely morning, is it not?" She beamed up at him, though inside her mind, fear was running rampant through her thoughts. She thought he heard him mutter, "It is far too early for such trouble," but she decided to pay no mind.

"I see that you are heading toward the studio, sir? Are you returning today? I do hope you are, for I feel that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot as it were," she babbled, stopping with a huge bright smile to extend her hand in a conciliatory handshake. However, seconds later when she cracked open one eye, she saw to her dismay that Sesshomaru had not stopped at all. In fact, it appeared that he was steadfastly ignoring her. With a small sigh, she jogged back to his side. "I'm going to be performing the headline act tonight at the theatre. Would you like to attend? Perhaps we could start anew!"

Sesshomaru continued walking forward, and without so much as sparing a glance in her direction, he tonelessly bit out, "There are a multitude of things that I would rather partake in, such as watching grass grow, or the cleaning of chamber pots, or-"

"Okay, I get it! You certainly do not have to be so rude about it, you know," Kagome replied somewhat sullenly before she tilted her head high and walked ahead of him to the studio.

Sesshomaru sighed as he rummaged around in his knapsack for his charcoal pencils. Despite the headache blooming in the center of his skull, he was bound and determined to accomplish something today. However, so far, the day was not seeming too promising.

Thank you so much, everybody on dA, Dokuga, and on FF, for the lovely reviews! I most definitely appreciate them! :'D