Oh Noooooo! Kagome's crying in a dressing room, but what about the show? The show must go ON, right? Will her crying spell end before it's time for the curtains to go back up, or will Sango have a major catastrophe on her hands? Where has Sango been, anyway? Does anyone else suspect she just wandered off to make out with Miroku in some prop closet? And what about Sesshoumaru and Rin? Are they maintaining their traditions of disappearing for hours at a time only to stumble out of a closet hours later looking slightly mussed? Can someone lock Inuyasha and Kagome in one of those Love Closets? They seem like they need it. Will Kagome realize what's up with Inuyasha, or will she just go on throwing a pity-party until the play is ruined and Sango shoots her in the head? Will Kikyo offer any answers to the constantly meddling Kagura and Kouga? Will Naraku do something nasty? To someone other than Kikyo? Speculations run rampant, but the facts can be found here in…
*****
Center Stage
Part 23
*****
"Kohaku, are you alright? What's going on?" Kagura had just finished interrogating Kikyo about Naraku and Kagome, and just in time for intermission. It seemed the perfect chance to talk to Kouga, but as soon as she had headed across the backstage area, she had run into the extremely distraught stage manager. He was even more harried than usual, and that was saying something, so Kagura couldn't in good conscience just abandon him.
"Terrible! What's going on? Where is everyone when I need them? Where's Rin? Where's my sister? This is supposed to be her problem, not mine!" Kohaku looked to be about thirty seconds from a total nervous breakdown.
"What problem? What's wrong now? Talk to me, Kohaku." Kagura tried to calm the boy down, but he was practically inconsolable as he leaned against the door of a dressing room.
"What's wrong? You want to know? Okay, we started intermission about two minutes ago, but what the audience didn't see was that as soon as the curtains closed, Kagome ran off the stage crying about something, locked herself in this room, but not before Inuyasha chased after her." Kohaku surmised. "So now we have two lead actors locked in the dressing room, one of them apparently trying to convince the other not to…do whatever depressed girls do, and just come and finish the play like a normal responsible human being, but in the meantime, I'm stuck waiting for the door to open so they can change into costumes I don't have because I can't find Rin either, and she's not answering her headset, and neither is my sister or Miroku! That's about all."
"Um…that's…bad." Kagura bit her lip before knocking on the door. "Hey, you guys, now's not the time! Get out here!"
"Go away!" Inuyasha's voice answered angrily and Kohaku raised his eyebrows expectantly at the assistant art director. She shrugged slightly. At least she'd tried.
"Uh, how about I go look for Rin. You deal with this." Kagura decided quickly.
"Yeah, thanks!" Kohaku called after her. This play was getting too crazy, and she would frankly be very happy when it was over, once and for all. "But it's only opening night…gah." Rolling her eyes, the red-eyed girl began searching for the Rin, as well as Sango and Miroku. Somehow, she was positive that it would be a fruitless search.
"Curtain is supposed to go up in ten minutes!" Kohaku called out to everyone who could hear him over the headset. "Where are you guys! We're having an emergency!"
----------
Kagome had tried to slam the dressing room door shut as soon as she reached the dark sanctuary, but Inuyasha had slipped in before she could get there, and he'd locked the door behind him before flipping on the light. She had looked up at him as fat tears continued to roll down her face, her lower lip jutting out pitifully under red-rimmed eyes. She had been upset, but the look on Inuyasha's face was terrifying. She'd never seen him so angry before, and she momentarily wondered what he intended to do to her, locked in a dressing room. But then she blinked and the world made a little more sense. She remembered that this was Inuyasha. This was the boy she'd taught to make daisy crowns when they were only seven. This was her best friend, and he'd sooner hurt himself than do anything to hurt her. And yet, he looked so very furious with her.
"We need to talk." He sounded calm, but dangerous at the same time. If she hadn't known him so well, she might not have noticed it, but she knew that she was treading a very fine line at the moment. The fact that she didn't know what was pissing him off so much didn't make the situation any better.
"You're mad at me." She stated the blatantly obvious, but it seemed to be the only thing her mind was really processing at the moment, so she expressed it. She supposed it must be better than staring at him speechlessly, still crying. At that thought she wiped away her tears in frustration. Why was she such a crybaby?
"You think?" Inuyasha asked her, apparently not feeling any amount of pity for her emotional state.
"What…did I do?" she wanted to know, pressing her palms to her eyes and leaning against the back wall of the cramped dressing room. It definitely wasn't designed for two people, that was for sure.
"God…Kagome…you're so fucking…I never know what you want!" Inuyasha told her, looking ready to rip his hair out in frustration.
"You two! Get out of there! You need to change!" Kohaku knocked on the door, a twinge of panic in his voice. "Now's no time for…privacy!"
"Go away!" Inuyasha shouted, and he put the full force of his anger into it. Kagome wished she could escape through the back of the wall. What had she done? "Just…tell me the truth."
"About…what?" Kagome was so utterly confused and slightly angry with Inuyasha for ruining her chance for a private crying session. It was unfair.
"Naraku…what is he to you?" Inuyasha's tone wavered slightly with controlled anger. And Kagome realized that he wasn't mad at her. He was mad at Naraku. But what for?
"He's just…Naraku." Kagome licked her lips, but Inuyasha was obviously waiting for more. "He's my friend, I guess. I sort of…feel sorry for him."
"Feel sorry for him?" Inuyasha snorted, but he seemed slightly relieved. Kagome wondered what he'd thought she would say.
"He's been through a lot." She spoke up, feeling a little braver now that she was defending a friend. "And everyone always tends to think the worst of him. It's not fair."
"You think he's such a nice guy?" Inuyasha wanted to know. "Is that why you were kissing him?"
"I…what?" Kagome was dumbstruck. When had she ever kissed Naraku?
"Shippo saw you at the theater. After you left to talk to him." Inuyasha accused her. "Nice talk, huh?"
"That? He kissed me! I didn't do anything!" Kagome protested. Before Inuyasha could answer her, Kagura pounded on the door of the dressing room.
"Hey, you guys, now's not the time! Get out here!" she called out.
"Go away!" Inuyasha sounded ready to tear apart the next person who knocked on the door. "I saw you two earlier tonight! He kissed you again! And you let him!"
"What do you care anyway!?" Kagome wanted to know. "Since when do you get to say who I can kiss or not?"
"So you did kiss him! You admitted!" Inuyasha pointed at her wildly.
"You're an idiot!" she screamed back at him. "You have no right to play high and mighty with me now! You're the one who was kissing Kikyo before!"
"Would you stop it with that!" Inuyasha stamped his foot angrily. "That was ages ago and I already told you she kissed me!"
"Then it's just the same! So leave me alone!" Kagome demanded. "You don't have any right to demand answers from me like this! I never did anything!"
"Oh, so it was so much better when you did the same thing with me over Kikyo?" Inuyasha wanted to know.
"That was different!" Kagome stepped toward him, glaring angrily.
"How? It seems just the same to me!" Inuyasha insisted, "I didn't do anything then but you still freaked out!"
"I thought things were different then!" Kagome told him, jutting out her chin. "I was being stupid! I know you don't care about me like that, so let's just drop it, okay?" she swept past him, and when he grabbed her arm she wriggled away, opening the dressing room door and running off to change. Kohaku looked as though he was about to kill them both.
"Oh god…Rin, where are you? We need Inuyasha's costume change now." Kohaku's voice crackled over the main channel of the headset, panic thick in his tone. "They just came out and…Rin? Are you on? Does anyone know where Rin is?"
"Probably in some closet with Sesshoumaru." Kagura's voice answered as she hurried back toward the backstage area. "I've got the costume, one second."
"Oh, good, I see you, thanks. Tell Naraku to start his monologue, we'll be ready in a second for Sakage and Midoriko." Kohaku's sigh of relief still sounded slightly hysterical as Kagura and him practically shoved Inuyasha into his costume for the next scene. "Sango, have you seen Rin?"
"After that, Sakage and Midoriko were traveling companions, constantly at each other's sides, always ready to defend each other. Sakage's skill with the sword grew until it surpassed Midoriko's own ability. However, Midoriko was focusing on honing her spiritual abilities, and those were far stronger than the powers of any other priest or priestess in all of memory. Still, her jealous sister fancied her own abilities as comparable to those of Midoriko's. Rei did grow in skill, and soon her master sent her out on missions of her own, destroying youkai and helping nearby villages. Yet she could not help but notice that while Midoriko's assignments ranged from basic enough to exceedingly dangerous, her own missions were often on the easier level. The part of it that worried her most was that it took a great deal of her skill to deal with even mediocre youkai, while her sister was often conquering much greater numbers of high level youkai with relative ease. She grew increasingly bitter toward her sister, but Midoriko was unaware of much of this, as she rarely saw her sister because it was a rare coincidence when both of them were at the temple concurrently. But they were sisters, and they would meet again, and until then, Rei's anger grew." Naraku boomed through the opening monologue of the second act, and when the lights came up, Inuyasha was on stage, changed and ready to go, but looking a little angry. Although arguably, Inuyasha almost always looked a little angry.
"I don't think Sango has her headset on." Kouga's voice answered after a long pause over the channel. "Whoa, quick costume change you guys."
"Thanks." Kagura answered. "Um, hey, Kouga, you think that Kikyo's parents came tonight? I know they don't really get along with her."
Kouga took the signal easily, switching to channel three, where he was greeted by high giggling. "Rin?"
"Who else is on this channel?" Kagura's voice joined his.
"Uh, just me." Rin told them. "And Sesshoumaru."
"Sesshoumaru? How'd he get a headset?" Kagura wanted to know.
"I found one." He answered in a tone that brooked no argument. "Did I miss my entrance?"
"No, no, you're done for now." Kagura assured him. "Let's just switch to channel two, Kouga."
"Sango and Miroku are on that one." Rin told them. "I wouldn't recommend it." And then there was another round of high giggling. "No! Put it down, Sesshoumaru—"
Kagura switched back to the main channel. "Kouga? Kouga, can you hear me?" she peeked out at Kikyo and Inuyasha out on the stage. They were doing a remarkably good job of acting naturally even after Shippo's information had been imparted to Inuyasha. Maybe it was because he would likely be angry with Kagome, and Kikyo was the one he was onstage with at the moment.
"I'm here." He answered her. "Why don't you just come here?"
"Uh…yeah, I think they can spare me for a few minutes. I'll be up there in five." Kagura told him, weaving her way back outside the auditorium and making her way up to the door that would let her back in right next to the light board as the play continued onstage.
"Oh, it's just you." Inuyasha spoke dismissively to Kikyo.
"Just me? Be careful, Street Boy, I have great powers with which common men wouldn't dare to meddle. You should show proper respect." Kikyo reminded him.
Inuyasha made a face at her before answering. "I'm no common man. Or haven't you been hearing of what I've been up to these past two years?"
Kikyo considered before answering. "Well, I will admit that your speech, at least, has improved quite a bit since you have taken to following my sister about the land. However, though you may take a boy out of the gutter, feed him, dress him, and train him how to speak and act, he will still never be anything more than a gutter-snipe."
"Shut up, wench." Inuyasha growled at her. "You're still pissed that Midoriko's better than you, right?"
"My anger has made me into a stronger priestess than you might think. But where have your feelings gotten you?" Kikyo challenged.
Inuyasha turned to look at her in shock. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm obviously referring to your feelings for the dear miss Midoriko." Kikyo told him in mocking tones.
"You don't know anything about that." Inuyasha grumbled.
Kikyo arched a dark eyebrow. "Don't I? Well, I thought you should know that Midoriko will likely never leave her calling to marry, much less to the likes of you. I may not like my sister, but I do respect her standards more than that."
"You don't understand shit." Inuyasha told her angrily just as Kagome came onstage, causing him to forget all about the other girl as he rushed to meet her midway. "You're back."
"It seems that we have our work cut out for us this time, Sakage. Are you up for a challenge?" She asked him, sounding considerably less cold than she had before intermission, making it clear how much Midoriko had grown emotionally.
"We can handle anything together, right?" he asked her, but the smile he sent her way did not reach his eyes. Kagome couldn't believe he was still mad at her.
"How pathetic." Kikyo observed. At first, she thought that the other girl was referring to their argument, but she was simply acting.
"What's that, sister?" Kagome turned to the supporting actress.
"You still call me that as though you hope to remind me of that painfully useless bond. I was speaking of your little puppy." Kikyo indicated Inuyasha with a careless wave of her hand.
Inuyasha glared at her in response to the name. "Would you shut up?"
"As you won't tell her, I think she ought to hear it from her sister. Sakage's in love with you, Midoriko. He wants you to leave off being a priestess and marry him so that you might give him many babies and a clean home. How does that idea suit you?" Kikyo smiled, an expression that was overly sweet and obviously directed toward the idea of Midoriko's discomfiture than toward the possibility of happiness.
"Rei, do not speak of things which do not concern you. Sakage, come. We leave in the morning." Kagome's voice was hollow, weary, and worn down.
"Uh…okay." Inuyasha followed her offstage as Kikyo rolled her eyes at them both. The lights came down as the backstage crew bustled.
"Okay…now close the backdrop curtains." Kohaku's voice could still be heard giving orders as Kagome prepared for the next scene. "No, close them…the other rope, Ayame."
"I'm trying!" came the voice of the young crew member over the short distance to the ropes and through the channel of the headset. "How's it go again, Kouga?"
"Pull the outside rope, Ayame." Kouga's voice was not patient, and sounded more than a little irritated.
"Oh! I got it!" Ayame sounded overly pleased with herself.
"It's about time." Kohaku sounded much more irritated that Kouga. "Ayame, I'm sorry, but you're off curtains. Tsuyu, you take over."
"What! No! I swear, I can do it right! One more chance." Ayame was pleading as Kouga waited for the order to bring up the lights. Kagura opened the door, moving to sit next to him and giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
"Hey babe." He greeted her, switching off the speaking function on his headset. "What's up?"
"I talked to Kikyo." Kagura told him, ignoring the continued ranting of Kohaku on her headset. "She said something about how everything was meant to happen tonight, and that I didn't have to worry about it because she has it under control. She did say that if there was any kissing, Kagome didn't initiate it and was likely an unwilling party. So that's good to know."
"Kagura? We need Kagome's yukata!" Kohaku's request caught her unaware. "Come on…the scene's supposed to start now…"
"I'm coming…just…" Kagura cursed under her breath, switching to channel three. "Rin?" she ignored the sounds of giggling as she got the art director's attention. "We need Kagome's yukata backstage now. Got it?"
"Oh…yeah…um…lemme just…" Rin made rustling noises, and Kagura switched back to the main channel before kissing Kouga quickly once more.
"I'll see you later, Kouga. I've got to get back down there before Kohaku blows a blood vessel." With that, she took her leave, heading back down around to the backstage entrance. She saw Rin ahead of her, hair tousled and blouse slightly askew as she raced with an armful of silk to take the yukata backstage.
"Oh! Rin, thanks a lot." Kohaku's voice came over the set then, and Kagura finally made her way up the backstage entrance stairs, waving at the two as she moved to help them with Kagome's costume change as soon as possible. "Rin, I've been wondering where you were at. Do you have your headset turned on?" Kohaku asked the still flushed girl, though her state wasn't as obvious in the low lighting afforded backstage.
"Oh…yeah, I just…um…was busy." Rin explained as they finished and Kagome rushed back out onstage, "Okay, that's it."
"Oh…god, lemme go help them move the set before the lights come back up." Kagura hissed as she noticed the haphazard state onstage. "No lights yet, Kouga." She came over the headset.
"Well, I better get going then." Rin smiled at Kohaku who licked his lips before calling out to her in a hushed voice.
"Wait." He moved over to where she was at the top of the short staircase that led out into the hallway. "Rin…I need to talk to you."
"Oh…okay." Rin turned off her headset momentarily as she saw Kohaku do the same. "What's up?"
"Well…um, I've known you for…um, a long time now. Like six years, right?" Kohaku began.
"Yeah, ever since I became friends with Sango." Rin nodded.
"The thing is…I've always liked you a lot, Rin." Kohaku rushed on, hoping that if he just spoke quickly enough, he could get out everything he needed to say. "You're not like other girls, you know? You're always so happy and good and you make everything seem better just by being there. There are some days when just…just having you say something nice to me, that's enough to make my whole day worth it. I mean…I know that you're taken and all that, but I just wanted to…to tell you. I'm in love with you, Rin." His cheeks were so hot, he felt as though they would catch fire. And her cheeks, he noticed with some amount of delight, were just as flushed. Could this mean that she felt the same way as him? That after all this time, thinking that he couldn't compete with Sesshoumaru…maybe after all, she'd wanted him all along.
"Kohaku…" Rin didn't know what to say to all this. How could she have missed the fact that Kohaku was infatuated with her? She prided herself on her powers of observation, and yet she'd always taken Kohaku's adoration as something else, and now she felt incredibly stupid and guilty for letting things continue so long. She glanced over to the stage, where Sesshoumaru was just finishing his scene with Kagome and Inuyasha. How could she let him down softly?
"Please, Rin," Kohaku moved forward, and before he could let himself think about it too much and lose his courage, he lunged forward and caught her mouth with his, kissing her firmly as joy exploded inside of him. He was kissing Rin, after all this time…
"Excuse me." Sesshoumaru's voice had a note of coldness that seemed strange even to Kohaku, who yelped and jumped back in shock. His eyes were wide with fright as he looked up at the older man.
"Kohaku, I'm sorry." Rin gave him a sympathetic smile, and he felt like melting through the floor. He wanted to die right then. "I love Sesshoumaru, and I always will. I'm sure that somewhere out there, there's another girl who would be happy to be with you."
"I should hit you." Sesshoumaru's voice was rougher than Kohaku had ever heard it, his eyes cold and calculating, his arm firmly latched around Rin. "But I understand what made you act. I would take any risk to be with Rin. If you apologize, we will simply pretend that this never happened."
"I'm…I'm sorry." Kohaku told them. And he really was. How had his life become so horribly confused?
"Um…Kohaku…come help me!" Ayame's voice came over the headset as she tried to change the set by herself, and his shame was immediately forgotten.
"I'm coming, calm down." Kohaku muttered something about incompetence and headed off to help the pigtailed girl on stage. As the last prop was placed, everyone left Inuyasha and Kagome onstage alone while Kohaku hissed into his headset. "Lights, now."
"Sakage, we need to talk." Kagome was sitting at a table with Inuyasha onstage, pretending to share dinner.
"What do you mean?" he asked her.
Kagome pursed her lips, wondering if there was some way she could cut the upcoming scene without incurring the wrath of Sango. "Before, when we were talking with Rei…" she finally spoke her line reluctantly.
"Oh…that." Inuyasha looked down at his plate, poking at the dish nervously. "I didn't say anything to her. She was just talking."
Kagome set her cup down with a sharp noise, looking up at Inuyasha. "How do you feel about me, Sakage?"
"What?" Inuyasha affected shock and confusion. "I told you, she was just talking. You shouldn't worry about it."
"Then tell me the truth so I know." Kagome insisted.
Inuyasha fidgeted for a quiet moment before glancing up at her cautiously. "What good will the truth be?"
"The truth is always the best possible response." Kagome answered, a trace of her earlier propriety coming back into her voice.
Inuyasha snorted at her polite tone. "Don't start with that philosophical bullshit now."
Kagome frowned at Inuyasha before going back to her normal tone. "Don't change the subject. Tell me the truth."
Inuyasha seemed to hesitate before speaking. "Fine. You want the truth? Here it is." He licked his lips, pressed his palms to his lap before standing and pacing nervously as he continued to speak without meeting Kagome's eyes. "When I met you, I thought you were beautiful and mysterious. I saw myself in you, too, and I had to know more. I never intended for things to become this way. You have to understand that, Midoriko. But the truth of it is that more than anything else, I want to be with you for as long as I can. The times when we are separated, even for the night or a few hours, are too long for me. When I think of my life and what it's become, you are always there in all the most important times. My life began on the day that we met, and it will end when we part ways. Midoriko, I understand your life. I understand that I will never be more than your companion, but I am in love with you, and I will always stay by your side as long as you'll let me be there, and even after then I will be with you in my own way."
Kagome felt her heart thud strangely in her chest as she stood up to face Inuyasha. "Sakage…"
"You wanted the truth. I gave it to you. Now lets never talk about it again so we can both be happy as we were." Inuyasha looked slightly sheepish, but he stopped pacing as he stood in front of her, still fidgeting slightly.
"Sakage, I lacked the courage to say it, but you speak the truth of my own heart. I love you as well." Kagome felt the blood rushing up to her cheeks and cursed her own stupidity.
It's just a play.
It's not how I feel, or how he feels for that matter.
Right?
Inuyasha was looking at her in wonder. "What?"
Kagome felt as though there was something in her throat, but she made herself answer him. "Do not force me to repeat myself, Sakage. You heard what I said and you would not shame a woman such as myself in wasting such words on repetition."
Inuyasha looked around him as though seeing the world for the first time. "And then…if you love me…and I love you…we could…" he left off there, stepping toward her as she turned away from him in shame that was all too real.
What am I doing? Calm down, Kagome.
But his eyes…is this real for him?
"Sakage, no." she spoke her next line with a wavering voice. "You know what I am. You said it yourself. I can never offer you more than companionship. I may love you, but it is wrong."
"How is it wrong?" he wanted to know, stepping toward her again as she moved away, glancing back at him nervously.
"Sakage, I mustn't be selfish." She told him, willing her voice to be strong. "I would love nothing more than to live a life quietly at your side, away from all of this death and pain, living only with you and ignoring the world that has forever ignored us…but…I cannot abandon them, Sakage. The people need me. I know how strong I am, and I fear what would happen to this world without me…perhaps in itself, that is selfish." She considered.
Inuyasha stepped toward her again. "Midoriko, you can't just brush this off as easily as that. Do you understand that this world will have to survive without your powers one day anyway? No matter what happens now, you will die one day, Midoriko. You cannot be so foolish as to think this can be ignored. And yet you refuse to live what life you can while you have the chance? Why?" seemingly upset that she wouldn't look at him, he forcibly turned her to face him, his eyes desperately asking her for answers.
Kagome had to look away before she could find her voice and remember her line. "Yes, but should I not use these powers while I can?" he let out a sigh before answering her.
"Can you never use them again if you learn to love?" he asked her and Kagome racked her mind for the next line. It was so hard to think with his eyes boring into her. Whether or not they were speaking from the script, something was different. He was trying to tell her something, and it was in his eyes. What was it?
"T…the master—" she finally got two words out before he kissed her, so suddenly she forgot exactly what was going on.
He's supposed to kiss me. It doesn't mean anything.
It's just a play.
Why does it feel so real?
Inuyasha looked utterly flustered as they broke, and it took him longer than usual to speak his next line. " Screw the master! Are your powers gone?"
"Um…no…" Kagome kept trying to meet his eyes, but he wouldn't look at her straight on.
What's going on?
"See? I don't see the problem here!" Inuyasha crushed his lips to hers again, so hard she felt her mouth might be bruised with the force of it. And yet…it didn't hurt. He was telling her something. She heard a voice in her mind then, and she could have sworn it was his.
You're mine.
It was surprising enough that she pushed him away, just as she was supposed to. "Wait! Stop it!"
"Why?" Inuyasha's eyes looked genuinely injured, and he was still gripping her wrist tightly.
Mine.
Kagome finally remembered her line, trying to ignore the smoldering eyes burning into her. "It…isn't proper!"
"Why not?" Inuyasha sounded genuinely angry.
Wait…we're acting, right?
It's just a play.
You're mine.
"Because…I said!" she sputtered after a confused pause.
What's the truth? How does he really feel right now? Why won't he let go of my hand…it hurts…
But I don't want him to let go…do I?
"Do you want me to stop it then?" Inuyasha asked her.
"Well…Sakage…you must give me time." Kagome had almost said Inuyasha, but caught herself just in time.
"Time?" Inuyasha didn't look happy, but he finally let go of her hand. "I wait all this time to tell you how I feel and you tell me to give you time?"
Kagome rubbed her wrist. It was sore…and somewhat cold. " Sakage…please. Tomorrow morning. Give me that much, at least."
"I suppose…I could never refuse you anything, in the end." Inuyasha admitted. "Tomorrow morning you'll decide, then?"
"Yes, I promise." Kagome felt a blush reaching her cheeks again as the lights, thankfully, went down. He couldn't see how all this was affecting her.
You're mine.
Remember.
Kagome rushed backstage for a quick change into her traveling clothes before rushing back out to the freshly changed set, sitting on a fake boulder by the side of a road. Inuyasha was standing right beside her, and for some reason, her cheeks wouldn't cool down as the lights came up, so she lowered her face slightly. She didn't want to broadcast her childishness to the entire audience. Licking her lips, she spoke in a controlled tone. " Sakage, why have you been giving me such looks all morning? It is as though I stole something from you."
"You haven't told me yet!" Inuyasha exclaimed as though he'd been holding it in for some time.
"No…I suppose I haven't." she replied.
There was a long pause before Inuyasha spoke up. "Well then?"
"What?" Kagome blinked at him, honestly surprised at his intensity.
"Have you decided?" he prompted her, and she felt the blood rise to her cheeks again. Why was she taking this so seriously?
"Sakage…how can I say this?" she began, determined to get through the scene without making a complete fool of herself. "I've never been in a situation like this before, and it is difficult to know what is right."
"I understand that." Inuyasha nodded, though he sounded more impatient than anything else.
"I think that it is strange." She continued thoughtfully. "Though you never knew your parents or anyone close to you, you understand love much better than I do. And though it took me a long time to think these things through, in the end I see that you are right. There is no reason for me to choose between love and being a priestess. I am well capable of both, as I have loved you a long time already without failing in my duties."
Inuyasha's face lit up as he kneeled beside her. "Midoriko…I was so worried that you would say no." he leaned forward, and even though she wanted to escape, Kagome let her eyes flicker closed before his lips met hers, much more sweetly than before.
It's strange…like he really does love me.
But it's just a play. He's only acting.
After he pulled away, she found her voice again. "I'm sorry for making you wait so long. But now that I have decided…"
"After we finish this job, why don't we marry?" Inuyasha suggested, and Kagome wondered if he could see how horribly she was blushing. If he could, he was doing a good job of acting natural about it. "We will have to do it in secret, of course, if you do not wish for your master to know of this."
Kagome nodded sharply. It was just a play, after all. "We can work on the details later. For now, we have a job to do." She stood up and they both left the stage as the lights went down so that the set could be changed once more to resemble the inside of a building. Bracing herself with a quick reminder that the play was almost over, Kagome took her place beside Inuyasha as the lights came up once more.
"Is something wrong?" Inuyasha asked her curiously.
Kagome shook her head as though distracted. "It's nothing. Go ahead. I will be there shortly."
"Don't be long. Tomorrow morning we will have to take care of those youkai, and you'll need some rest." Inuyasha's sweetness and concerned seemed perfectly honest, and Kagome hated him for it. She was blushing again.
"I know, I know. Don't worry so." She waved him away and turned to meet the girl that was striding across the stage toward her.
"Good day to you, Midoriko." Kikyo had a slight smirk on her lips.
"Sister, why are you here?" she demanded, able to get back into character now that Inuyasha wasn't distracting her. "The master did not say that you would be assisting us in this mission."
"What concern is it of yours?" Kikyo shrugged slightly. "I am a priestess just as you are. I am here because I live to destroy those youkai who would kill humans."
"That may be true, but perhaps this mission is…not right for you." Kagome told her coldly.
"Not right? Don't you mean that it's too much for me?" Kikyo demanded. "You underestimate me, Midoriko. You know nothing of how powerful I have become."
Kagome pursed her lips before speaking again. "Rei, I do not wish to fight with you on this, but I would at least like to know if this was the master's decision."
"No, it was not. I followed on my own." Kikyo told her, lifting her chin defiantly.
"I see. Rest now. We shall speak of this in the morning." Kagome finished before sweeping off the stage in a flurry of silk. The lights went down as Kikyo left the stage as well, all of them changing into their armor backstage before hurrying out as the lights came up.
"I don't care if she wants to come or not, she's not going to do shit in battle but slow us down." Inuyasha insisted as though the lights had lifted in the midst of an argument between the three of them. He was currently addressing Kagome as though Kikyo wasn't even on the stage. "We're a team, but there's just the two of us, Midoriko. We can't just add someone like her."
Kikyo clicked her tongue in irritation. "I'm sure I can be of much more use than you, Street Boy."
"If you insult Sakage once more, I will change my mind and send you back to master, sister." Kagome's voice was iced fury, but Kikyo shrugged lightly.
"I'd like to see you try it. I will show you two today what it really means to be a priestess." She claimed, clenching her fists stubbornly.
Inuyasha crossed his arms before replying. "Fine, but only if I get to show you what it really means to stab your ally accidentally."
"Both of you stop it." Kagome stood between them. "I haven't the patience for this, and this is exactly the sort of attitude that will cost us if we go out to fight this way. Now, I know neither of you get along well, but try to put aside your differences at least for today and we should all come out of this battle all right."
"Whatever." Inuyasha still refused to look at Kikyo.
"Fine, fine." Kikyo relented after a pause.
Kagome sighed slightly. "I suppose that's the all the agreement I'll be able to get from you two. And just as you are pretending not to hate each other, I will pretend to be convinced that it's true. Now then, let's go."
"About time." Kikyo left the stage with both of them as the lights dropped and there was change of scene to a battlefield full of youkai puppets created by Kagura and Rin. The three actors headed out to meet the threats as the lights came back up.
"How many are there?" Kagome asked of the puppet youkai that were seemingly attacking Inuyasha, Kikyo, and her relentlessly as they continued to speak their lines.
Kikyo pressed a sealing spell to one of the puppets and it keeled over only to be replaced as quickly as it fell. "Too many! I thought it was suspected to be only five or ten!"
Inuyasha snorted slightly. "That's the trouble with suspicions. They're sometimes wrong."
"You think? This is ridiculous!" Kikyo seemed furious.
"I know that I've purified at least twenty on my own so far." Kagome agreed.
"They just…keep coming!" Inuyasha slashed his sword to no avail.
Naraku's voice boomed through the sound system as they continued to fight. "The warriors fought for many days, bravely defending their small group, but after a long time, it became apparent that the battle would likely never end."
"God dammit…I can't…believe this." Kikyo sounded dead on her feet.
"I wonder…how many…are left?" Kagome asked, though it sounded as though she didn't expect an answer.
Inuyasha shook his head slightly. "A million…we've killed at least a million."
Kikyo snorted, sounding almost like Inuyasha for a moment. "Bullshit…that's just what if feels like."
Kagome sighed slightly, warding off the constant onslaught. "I'm so tired."
"They'll have us…soon." Kikyo spoke, panting slightly as though she'd been fighting for hours. "I should have…stayed at the temple…let you die alone."
"Gods…even now, you're such…a bitch." Inuyasha snorted slightly.
"I try." Kikyo gave him a halfhearted glare.
Kagome spoke up again, "I…have a plan. If…it works…we might live."
"What if it doesn't?" Inuyasha wanted to know.
Kikyo rolled her eyes. "We're dead, genius."
"If I can link my spirit to yours and Rei's, the three of us can use force to make all the youkai into one enormous…energy ball…thing." Kagome theorized, and Kikyo snorted.
"Okay, we're dead." The other girl surmised.
"You mean…like a soul of youkai?" Inuyasha asked Kagome, ignoring Kikyo's misgivings.
Kagome nodded slightly. "That's the idea. If…I think that together we can seal that large of a soul."
Inuyasha shrugged as though he wasn't about to stake his life on it. "Only plan we have, I guess."
"Do I even…get to say no?" Kikyo asked wearily, but they were ignoring her.
"Midoriko…no matter what happens, I love you." Inuyasha told Kagome, who felt her voice catch in her throat before she managed her next line.
"I love you too, Sakage." She told him.
"If we live…I'm telling on you to the master." Kikyo told Kagome, obviously joking.
Kagome ignored the other girl, furrowing her brow in determination. "Here we go everyone."
----------
"Okay…final scene's coming up." Sango picked up her headset and put it back on, adjusting her hair and buttoning her shirt up hurriedly. "We need to get out there. I really wanted to see how Kouga's pyrotechnics come out on the battle scene."
"Ah, yes, the long awaited explosion." Miroku was a bit slower to straighten himself, looking around a bit for his headset before putting it on and turning it to the main channel. "We could always see it tomorrow night, Sango dear."
"Miroku…please?" Sango was very rarely petulant, but for a few private moments that Miroku had the pleasure of claiming entirely for himself. "We've been missing for half the performance and we're supposed to be in charge. Let's go be responsible, come on." She offered him a hand to help him stand up from the pile of costumes strewn about the dressing room that they had locked themselves in about half an hour ago. He took the hand, pulling down harder than she had expected so that she tumbled back down to land on top of him.
"Oops." He grinned up at her wickedly, his hands holding her down against him in case she got any new ideas of responsibility.
"No, I'm serious, Miroku." She insisted, wriggling away from his grip and placing hands on her hips. "Come on then, or I'll leave you in here with the costumes."
"Oh…fine then." Miroku sighed in mock sadness, standing and brushing himself off before planting a warm kiss on the side of Sango's neck. "Let us go fulfill our duty then."
"You can be so poetic when you're mopey, you know that?" Sango teased him, tweaking his nose as they left the dressing room as inconspicuously as they could. "Do you think anyone's noticed we were missing?"
"I'm sure they have." Miroku assured her. "The director and the writer maintaining radio silence for well over an hour? Isn't it a bit suspicious, especially considering the fact that the director is well known for his good looks that drive the writer to distraction as she takes any excuse to get him in a dark corner alone."
"Um…that sounds like an edited version of the truth to me." Sango pulled a disapproving face and moved a more respectable distance from Miroku as they walked up the stairs to the backstage entrance of the auditorium where they could hear Naraku reading a monologue that gave the actors time to change just before the final battle scene.
"Midoriko concentrated all her powers, teaming up with her lover and her sister to form a fourth soul, a soul made of youkai energy. Everything froze in time as the fight raged between the three friends and the enormous fourth soul. Midoriko could feel her friend's weakening, their souls caught between their bodies and the fight, and suddenly the tie severed, leaving the four souls to battle inside of Midoriko. She pushed the fight into a smaller and smaller area, as it grew extremely hot and the power of the four souls became concentrated. And as she was squeezing the fight out of her body, it lodged in her heart, creating a jewel which shot straight from her chest and leaving all the youkai as well as their enemies frozen, their souls and power taken and frozen into the jewel of the four souls." Naraku spoke on as the lights came up on Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kikyo while backstage all was still in chaos.
"No, Ayame…that's it." Kohaku's voice came over the headset and Sango spared an amused grin as she spotted her brother racing over to the crew member who was struggling to bundle up the costume Kagome had just changed out of and was almost buried under the folds and layers of it. "Give it to me…just…yeah, okay."
"Does he ever turn these things off?" Sango asked the director, one eyebrow quirked. "I think he likes the power a little too much."
"Reminds me of a girl I know." Miroku commented softly, leaning in to kiss her cheek as they moved to watch the final scene. They were right on time for the end of the battle, when the warriors were finally fought to a standstill and in a great explosion of light and smoke, created by a disturbing knowledge of pyrotechnics courtesy of Kouga, all was consumed and the story was concluded with a few closing lines from the narrator.
"Time would eventually weather these discarded bodies away, but their souls are forever trapped inside this mysterious jewel, the jewel that, it is said, can grant any wish, though it deprived it's creators of all of their own hopes. Or perhaps, even fighting together eternally, they have found happiness. Perhaps they have found peace at last." Naraku finished and Sango did a little dance of happiness at the sight of the explosion.
"Oh…so perfect." Sango clutched her hands to her chest as the show ended with the roar of applause. Reaching down, she hit the button to speak into her headset. "Great job, everyone get ready for curtain calls. And Kouga?"
"Yeah boss?" the voice held a teasing lilt, and Sango smiled to hear it.
"I owe you a kiss for that explosion. Amazing, completely." She told him.
"I object." Miroku's voice came over the headset and she turned to see him standing just behind her.
"Yeah, keep your kisses to Miroku, Sango." Kagura's voice entered the conversation. "I suppose I can take care of Kouga if you really think he deserves it."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of stealing him from you, Kagura." Sango laughed good-naturedly. "Lights up for curtain calls. Oh, Kohaku, your curtain girl is doing a great job, I must say."
"It's because I switched to Tsuyu." Kohaku answered as the lights came up and actors began moving out for curtain calls.
"Thanks anyway." Tsuyu's timid voice came over the headset and Sango waved across stage at the girl.
"I could have done it…oh, Kohaku, I just dropped some…why's this paint here?" Ayame's voice was tinged with fear.
"Oh…god save me." Kohaku cursed a bit before going to assist the other crew member who had just dropped a prop tray and tripped over an empty paint can. "Sango, can we fire volunteer workers?"
"Let's talk about it later, baby brother." Sango offered.
"Gah! Don't call me that." Kohaku was still busy trying to straighten up Ayame and her mess. Sango turned her attention to the last members of the cast bowing before they all formed a line and bowed out while Tsuyu shut the curtains.
"Great job everyone! It was wonderful! Now, let's all go greet our public, get cleaned up, and then head over to the cast party." Sango clapped her hands in delight, more than ready for some praise to reward all her hard work.
"Where's it at?" Kouga asked over the headset. "I think Kagura said something…"
"At Miroku's." Sango told them. "His parents are out of town for the night, so he has graciously offered to host us there."
"No one get any ideas, however." Miroku's voice came in then. "If anyone will be performing lewd activities that parents would disapprove of, it will be my dear Sango and I."
"Miroku!" Sango turned to swat him, but he'd ducked away far before he had finished talking. It was a job well done and for most of the members of the cast and crew, life was finally starting to resemble something normal, whatever was normal in their experiences.
*****
The End (Of Part 23, That Is)