Now that I've angered you all with the conflict introduction, lets move on and deal with it! Will our heroes be able to overcome the evil witch and her terrible powers of seduction? Will Kouga be able to resist the coolness of Kagura and her sweet ass ride? Will Kouga ever get his poor car to start? Will some dumbass key his car while it's left out there overnight and have to face the terrible wrath of Kouga? Will Kagome hear of how Kikyo usurped her role at the end of last practice? What will she do to avoid a coup? Why is Naraku so creepy? Will Miroku be able to get through play practice every day without copping a feel? Will Rin and Sesshoumaru ever do anything other than "work on his costume?" Will Shippo get a little go-cart to honk the horn with his little hands so that Agent Kishuku will squeal in satisfaction? Will I ever stop asking silly questions? Time to find out in this part of…
*****
Center Stage
Part 6
*****
"Inuyasha, Kagome, could you please come talk to me for a moment." Sango asked after she had finished critiquing the other actors. "Everyone else, you're free to go home."
"Alright, Souta, go wait with Kouga in the car." Kagome motioned for her brother to go along after the technical director. "I'll be out in a minute." She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, though; as she was almost positive she knew what this was about.
"Kagome, I have to be fast when I drop you off today, okay?" Kouga came down the aisle, pausing as he reached Inuyasha and Kagome who were waiting for Sango to begin speaking to them. "I promised Kagura and Rin that I'd help with set construction."
"That's fine. I'll be as fast as I can." Kagome nodded sharply as she watched him go. From backstage, Kikyo emerged as though she had been taking her time about getting ready to leave. She sauntered over to the edge of the stage and sat down behind where Kagome and Inuyasha stood, dangling her feet innocently.
"Kikyo?" Sango addressed the other girl expectantly.
"Yes?" she arched an eyebrow at the writer in question.
"I was trying to talk to these two." She pointed out. Miroku's hand was on her back again, and she was glad for it's comfort.
"Oh, did you mean alone?" Kikyo stood after some time, still lingering on the stage until Sango nodded, pointing toward the door with her pencil.
"Kikyo, please leave." Miroku had no compunctions about being blunt with the other girl. She made a slightly sour face at them before she finally complied, pausing at the door.
"You're going to give me a ride home, right Inuyasha?" she asked, her gray eyes widening slightly.
"Fine." Inuyasha still wasn't sure why the pale girl wouldn't leave him alone, but after that kiss in the hall it seemed his whole life was one long torture session.
"Go, Kikyo." Miroku raised his voice slightly. It wasn't angry, just a bit sharper than necessary. Sango touched his thigh lightly, and he smiled at her to show that he wasn't upset. As the door shut behind Kikyo finally, Sango turned her speculative gaze on the pair standing before them. Rin and Kagura were supposed to be getting to work on set construction, but they had kindly left the auditorium for the moment.
"Kagome, Inuyasha." Sango didn't know how to address this subject delicately. She decided that it was best just to say what she was thinking. After all, she'd been friends with these two people for as long as she could remember. She should be able to speak honestly with them. "Would you mind telling us what the hell is going on?"
"He started it." Kagome answered immediately. She felt a bit foolish at her thoughtless response. After all, she wasn't a child.
"Whatever, I didn't do shit." Inuyasha crossed his arms and leaned back against the stage. He wasn't about to take blame for something he never did.
"Oh, yeah, your tongue probably just fell out of your mouth. Thank god Kikyo was there to catch it." Kagome rolled her blue gray eyes away from him, glaring at the ceiling as though it was the source of her problems.
"It wasn't like that! It was barely a peck." Inuyasha defended angrily, turning to Kagome at her accusation.
"Yeah, and she barely tried to take my part as soon as I was gone." Kagome shot back, facing him now.
"That was your own fault! You're the one who stormed off like a fucking baby!" Inuyasha shouted at her.
"You're the one who…" Kagome stopped halfway through her accusation, taking a breath and turning away. "Never mind. I don't even want to talk to you right now."
"I don't want to talk to you either." Inuyasha answered.
"Okay, I think I've got a good idea about what's going on here." Sango rolled her eyes at her two friends, momentarily embarrassed at their behavior. Miroku was still there though, and that was always good. If only everything in her life could be so perfectly simple. "I would have thought that you would talk to me about this before now. I mean, I know you two had a fight last week, because everyone had to hear it, and then Kagome just ditched half of practice after that."
"I am sorry about that." Kagome interjected immediately, blushing sheepishly.
"I know you are." Sango tilted her head slightly. "However, it was very immature to let your personal lives interfere with this. Kagome, you want to be an actress. What kind of actress storms off and abandons a project because she had a tiff with her boyfriend?"
"He's not my boyfriend!" Kagome was startled at the strength of her denial.
"Yeah, you realize that now." Inuyasha sulked.
"Inuyasha, could you shut up right now?" Sango asked him, her tone perfectly polite. He looked a bit startled before he nodded, looking away as though he was embarrassed at how he was acting. He should be. This is ridiculous. "Thank you. Now, Kagome, if you would answer the question?" She tried to focus her anger at this situation, letting Miroku rub it away with his ever-present hand. I don't know what I'd do without him right now.
"A bad one." Kagome answered after some time spent shuffling feet and avoiding Sango's clear gaze. Why did she feel like she was going to start crying any moment now? I will not start to cry in front of stupid Inuyasha.
"Thank you." Sango even managed a small smile for her friend. That was the key, to remember that they were her friends, no matter if they were ruining her senior project or not. "Now, Inuyasha," she addressed the sheepish looking young man as he stood grumbling to himself silently. "Did you kiss Kikyo?"
"She kissed me." Inuyasha clarified.
"Yeah, and you were so resistant to the idea." Kagome grumbled angrily.
"Thank you for your helpful comment, Kagome." Sango stopped the other girl sharply. Miroku was kneading her neck now. She was definitely going to have to remember to tell him that he was the best part of this entire production after this. "Now, Inuyasha, Kikyo kissed you. Then what happened?"
"Why do we have to fucking talk about this?" Inuyasha snapped irritably.
"Because it's affecting your performance and I won't have it!" Sango didn't mean to yell, it just happened. Miroku's free hand reached over to squeeze her arm as his other hand continued to move in a soothing manner back over her shoulder blades. "I'm sorry." She breathed deeply, trying to focus on the feeling of his hand on her back, sending warmth into her tired flesh even through the barrier of her shirt. "I didn't mean to yell at you, but this has been bothering me for almost a week now. Now, the two of you…you've been my friends since preschool, and I think you've had a thing for each other since…well, about that long. There have been times when I thought that you two would just never get together, or that maybe I was imagining it, but I entered this play thinking that no matter what happened, you two would act professionally toward each other on the stage. However, you're performances have slowly begin getting worse and worse ever since the sudden drop off after your fight. I think what I'm trying to say here is that…this is my senior project, but it's more than just some requirement I have to meet. You know better than most of the people here how much this means to me, and if you think I'm going to put up with mediocre efforts and let your love life become more important than this play, you're wrong. If I don't see a return to the level I've come to expect from the two of you, I swear to god, I'll…I don't know, but I may have to get rid of both of you. I really don't want to have to recast the leads at this point. We've only been in rehearsal for a month, but the performances are scheduled in February. I don't want to lose valuable time to something stupid, and I don't want to have to schedule extra rehearsals to train two new leads. Please, you guys, just pull it together. I mean it."
"I'm sorry." Inuyasha shook his head. "Can I go now?"
"Yes, you can both go." Sango wished she could make the rest of the world disappear for a good hour. Well, she supposed that Miroku was doing a good job. She'd keep him around for sure. "Tell Rin and Kagura that they can come back."
"I'm sorry too, Sango." Kagome turned to the girl, her eyes full of tears. "I do know how important this is to you. I'm really sorry." And with that, they both left Sango and Miroku alone in the auditorium.
"Those two…I feel like I'm losing control here, Miroku." Sango let her head fall against his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head softly, hugging her loosely.
"You're doing your best, Sango." Miroku told her softly. "You can't always be in control of everything."
"Miroku," she looked up at him, smiling slightly. "I'm keeping you."
"As though I would leave." He smiled back, leaning down for a kiss.
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"Inuyasha," Kagome grabbed at his sleeve, her fingers trembling as they left the auditorium. "I think…Sango's right, Inuyasha. We need to work this out."
"Look, I didn't do anything wrong here." Inuyasha looked upset, but he looked angrier than anything. "You're the one that's fucking things up."
"You…" Kagome couldn't even continue. Tears were still welling in her eyes when Inuyasha turned to leave as Kikyo noticed them and came up to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Let's go, Inuyasha." She told him before turning back to offer Kagome a wide smile. Seeing her smile like that…it was the last straw for Kagome. She rushed forward, busting through the doors and leaving them behind her as she ran blindly toward home, not even remembering that Kouga was waiting for her until suddenly she heard him calling out and he caught up to her, grabbing her shoulders as she stood sobbing brokenly by the side of the road.
"Kagome, god…" Kouga didn't know what to do. Whatever had just happened must've been bad, judging from how hysterical Kagome seemed at the moment. "Come on, Kags. Let's get you home, okay?"
"I…they…god…" Kagome collapsed against Kouga's chest, letting him hug her to him as he whispered words of comfort into her hair. She always smelled so nice, like strawberries and something else he could never place.
"It's okay, Kags." He kissed her hair, as he rocked her slightly, hoping to calm her down as she cried into his chest.
"Kouga…you're always there." She told him after her crying had subsided, letting him continue to rock her and hold her. "Always there."
"Just for you, Kags." He told her, letting his eyes closed as he concentrated on the feel of her in his arms.
"Kouga…you love me, don't you?" she asked after sniffling slightly. Kouga's movement stopped suddenly. He felt as though his whole world has just lurched sharply to one side and he needed to regain his balance.
"I…um…Kagome…" he didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to stop blushing, and he definitely didn't know how to breathe.
"It's okay. Let's go." She grabbed his hand and walked back to his car, where Souta and Shippo were waiting for them impatiently. Kouga got in the car, trying to act completely normal as he drove the way back to Kagome's house. He tried not to see the way she was looking at him from the passenger seat as Souta and Shippo talked in the back. He felt like something important was supposed to be happening right now, but he wasn't sure what. He didn't know which way he should go, what he should do. Kagome was the one he wanted, right? She was the best thing he could think of, it seemed. She was so…
"Thanks for the ride, Kouga." Kagome was still there, but Souta and Shippo were suddenly gone. Kouga vaguely recalled telling Shippo something about getting some cookies, but he'd been so worried about Kagome that he couldn't think past that. "Kouga?"
"Y…yeah?" he looked at her, feeling incredibly nervous. This was it. This was his chance.
"I need…Kouga…" she leaned forward sharply, pressing her lips to his for a brief kiss. "I think I need this right now. Is that…um…is that okay?"
"Inuyasha." He spoke after a moment. "You still want him, don't you?"
"Kouga…I don't know what I want anymore." Kagome's tears spilled down her cheeks. "But I can't…I can't be alone right now."
"Kagome." Kouga reached forward, brushing her tears away slowly. "Do you want to go out for some coffee?"
"I thought you had to…" Kagome's eyes widened softly.
"Well, you're more important than that." Kouga told her. "You're the most important thing to me."
"Thank you." Kagome smiled, and yet somehow, her heart wasn't in it.
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"I can't believe you ditched us yesterday, stupid." Kagura was seated next to Kouga at the circular table. "You're helping tonight, right?"
"Something came up." Kouga glanced at the girl next to him who kept shooting glares at Inuyasha while picking at her lunch. "I guess I should be free this afternoon. Kagome?"
"Huh, what's that?" Kagome turned, trying to act as though she wasn't trying to glare a hole through Inuyasha's head. She couldn't believe he even had Kikyo eating with them now. Was she never to be spared from Inuyasha and his faithful puppy's antics?
"Kagura wants me to help with sets after practice today." He asked. "Does that sound good to you?"
"Sure, I guess." Kagome had to remember why exactly he felt he had to ask her, but then it came back to her. Stupid Inuyasha. And if Kikyo leaned any closer to him…
"What, is she your mom now?" Kagura laughed at the exchange, biting into a carrot stick.
"She's my girlfriend." Suddenly, silence struck through all the conversations that had been taking place at their little table. Kagura stopped mid-chew on her carrot, Rin and Sango whirled to look at Kouga, and even Miroku looked over with interest. Inuyasha was remarkably less subtle about his thoughts.
"Your what?" He barked, standing up at the table as though he intended to leap across at Kouga and rip his throat out. Kouga wasn't scared of him or anything, but it was kind of surprising. But then Kagome stood up placing her palms on the table calmly, leaning over to face Inuyasha, her eyes narrowed.
"Kouga and I are going out now." Kagome told him, her voice soft, but very cold. "I am his girlfriend. Does that bother you?" There was a long pause, and the tension at the table was nearly palpable.
"It's fine." Inuyasha told her finally, his voice nearly a growl as he squeezed the orange he'd been holding tight enough that his fingers dented the peel.
"Good." She hissed, turning to Kouga. "I'm leaving now. Later, guys." She turned to leave, picking up her bag before she paused, turning back and grabbing Kouga's face with both hands, pressing a firm kiss to his lips before glaring at Inuyasha and storming out of the cafeteria. Suddenly, the orange smashed in Inuyasha's fist, pieces of it flying into Miroku and Kikyo's lunches as juice squirted from it.
"Ow, my eye…Inuyasha." Kikyo was obviously upset by Inuyasha's sudden outburst as well as the fact that he suddenly wasn't paying any attention to her. He stormed out of the lunchroom, leaving the others to stare after him. He didn't care though. This was ridiculous! If Kagome thinks I don't see what's going on here, she's fucking crazy!
"Kagome!" he called out as soon as he caught sight of her just down the hall, slamming her locker shut with unnecessary force. Not bothering to slow down, he marched straight up to her, nearly pinning her against the locker as he stopped himself with his arms on either side of her.
"What do you want now?" she asked, trying not to look frightened by the anger in his eyes.
"Who's better?" he asked suddenly. For some reason, it was the only thing he could think to say at that moment. "Him or me?"
"Kouga's more experienced." Kagome told him, arching one eyebrow at him in challenge.
"Oh really?" Inuyasha pressed his lips to hers, not really thinking his actions through as his hands went to the sides of her face, pulling her against him even as she tried to pull back. Kagome couldn't take it, her head was flooded with messages, all of them conflicting, and his mouth was just so hot and so urgent. In a way, this was just like when they were kids. Every time she had tried to win, every time she had tried to be the one in control, Inuyasha had always one-upped her. He insisted on winning, on having the last word, on always getting everything he wanted without even having to work for it. Not this time. He couldn't just take her like another one of his victories, tossing her in the closet and forgetting about her. Balling up her fists, she felt her world go white hot with anger before she felt the fist connect with his gut, the kiss effectively cut off as Inuyasha bent over, lurching against her with the wind knocked out of him. She shoved him away.
"Not this time, Inuyasha." She told him as he stumbled slightly, gasping for air momentarily. "You think it's that easy? You just kiss me and I forget all about Kikyo, all about you leading me on, letting me believe that there was something between us that was more…god Inuyasha. You're so selfish."
"Kagome…" he regained his breath. "You're the one dating someone else. I never told Kikyo to fucking follow me around. She just does."
"You made me feel something, Inuyasha." Kagome told him, her eyes brimming with tears. She hated all this drama. She felt like such a crybaby. "But you know what, you can't have everything you want. You've chosen Kikyo, and that's your problem."
"Chosen Kikyo?" Inuyasha was suddenly angry again. "So that's how it is now? Fine. Fucking fine." He stormed back to the lunch room, not really caring if Kagome was following him or not. She's being such a bitch!
"Inuyasha, where'd you run off to?" Kikyo stood slowly as he tromped over to her angrily. "I was wo—" He cut her off with a firm kiss before grabbing her hand roughly and yanking her away from the table.
"Come on. Apparently you're my girlfriend now." Inuyasha grumbled at her as he led the stunned girl away from his still confused friends. Back at the table, Miroku turned to Sango and took her hand in his, kissing it softly.
"Thank you, Sango." He told her, smiling slightly.
"For what?" she wanted to know.
"Putting me in a stable relationship." He answered. "I will forever be grateful to you if you will just keep me there."
"Miroku…" Sango flushed deeply at his words, looking around to see if they were drawing too much attention from their friends. However, although Rin was smiling at them warmly, ever the avid supporter of their relationship, Kouga seemed to be overly occupied with his food and Kagura was obviously shooting him meaningful looks every few moments, but he was avoiding her gaze, so it wasn't working out very well. "Yeah, that sounds good." She smiled back at her boyfriend, leaning forward for a soft kiss.
*****
The End (Of Part 6, That Is)