Foolish Games

01/07/04

Sango is an unsuccessful songwriter, who is struggling to be discovered – by anyone. Miroku is a retired moffia leader, who has resided in the city to try to lead a normal life – with someone. Both have a past they would rather forget, but sharing an apartment, shouldn't they at least communicate?

M+S pairing, slight I+K, K+A, N+K, S+K, yah…

Rated PG-13 for some mature subject matter and maybe some language.

All the Small Things

Sango was up and at it once more, for she had gotten over her bug and was as good as new – health wise that is.

This morning Sango's lower leg muscles really needed a good stretch, for she hadn't exercised since she had gotten sick. She slipped into her blue jeans and her black halter-top and she began to do small exercises to warm up.

Sango grabbed her black jacket and her wallet then she hurried to the door.

"Where are you going?" Miroku asked from his position at the kitchen counter.

"I'm going out for a run!" she called out and then shut the door behind her.

"Okay… she's an athlete, a musician, good looking, smart, persistent… gets what she wants… man, she's near perfect!" Miroku rolled his eyes then sipped his coffee. ~

Sango hadn't had the chance to explore her new home that much upon her arrival, but she had made a mental map of the direction to the city's park – where she was heading right now.

Her hair bounced with her body as she ran in a skipping motion, and then she moved her body as she turned a corner. She loved how her body felt when she ran. Everything about it. Her breathing, her muscles moving, her sweat, the way her hair clung to her face after an hour of jogging, she even loved the way she smelt afterwards.

She felt the skin of her thighs brush against the material of her jeans. She knew jeans weren't meant for running, but all her clothes were in her laundry basket and she hadn't gotten around to washing her clothes – these jeans were all she had left.

As her running shoes trudges against the cement, her eyes searched for her turnoff. Then she was the street and then she even heard the rubbed side of her shoes scrape against the sidewalk's edge as she ran along to road to pass several people.

She saw them stare at her – she was use to it. She knew everyone hear had black hair, while she had a dark brown colour, and easily stood out in a large crowd. But it had always been like that, after all, she lived in Japan, and most Japanese had black hair. If not, they had died their hairs a different colour.

Sango saw the park, and she hurried up, she found a jogging path where already many people had gone to jog alongside the small gravel road. She went at her own comfortable pace – which was pretty fast.

Suddenly, a girl ran up beside her, panting lightly, but seemed to be at a comfortable pace for herself; "hi!" she smiled then breathed in.

"Hi…" Sango didn't notice until after that her voice had trailed off, then she bit her lip.

"Higurashi Kagome." The girl held out her hand as she ran.

"Taijiya Sango." Sango took her hand and shook it lightly.

"Are you new here? Because I've never seen you here before." Kagome smiled, slightly weak.

"Yeah, I live in the Domino building." She nodded

"Wow! That's the highest living class in Tokyo. Congratulations." She smiled.

"Thanks," Sango smiled back – looking at her for once.

"So, I may seem a little nerdy asking you all these questions, but how old are you?" Kagome asked.

"Ah…" Sango bit her lip and thought, "I'll be twenty in September." She answered: "you?"

"I'll be nineteen in November." Kagome smiled.

"Oh, are you in college?" Sango asked politely.

"No, I've taken an extra year of high school." Kagome laughed nervously.

"Oh… I'm not in school," Sango sighed.

"That's okay. What job do you have?"

"Unemployed. Living with a rich guy who can pay my rent." Sango smirked.

Kagome laughed; "so what do you want to do?"

"Become a song writer."

"Oh, really?"

"Yep"

"Don't you want to perform your own music?" Kagome asked

"No way!" Sango yelled, making Kagome gulp, "sorry. What I mean is: I'm not a singer in the way I wish I were. I'm more of a musical singer than a band singer or anything like the stuff I try to write songs for."

"Oh! In that case, why don't you try out for the town's musical? You could meet a lot of people and show off your stuff." Kagome suggested as she looked down at her watch.

Sango cleared her throat nervously; "well… I do have a musical voice… but I don't have the guts to be in one."

"That's okay. Try-outs are this Thursday if you change your mind. So if you'll excuse me, I gotta go to school now!" Kagome said then ran off in a hurry.

Sango smiled; "nice girl."

Sango then heard faint music – she turned and stopped when she saw a teenage boy walking across the park with his headset covering his ears. But his music was so loud even Sango could make out the lyrics and sound clearly, it was like he was purposely drowning out everything except the music.

Just then something clicked in the back of Sango's head, where she found her mind being drowned out by an anonymous sound and words began to flood through her present thoughts. She had a song idea.

Sango grabbed a pen from her pocket, but to her dismay, she had taken off the booklet that use to hang from her belt and now she was galvanized. "Crap!" she hissed then she bit her lip and looked down – at her jeans.

Her brown eyes lit up why not? She quickly found a bench and then she began to write on the denim. She wrote quickly for she knew the idea would soon leave her – for good.

"Take me down and let me drown!

Don't wanna hear the other sounds no more!

I want it to pull me under

Coz baby, I just wanna drown… in the music"

Sango's writing was very large, so then she began to write down on the other pant leg.

"Let the rhythm out beat my weakened heart

Let the melody corrupt all my thoughts

Abuse its tone

Discrete its base

Let the rhapsody melt me inside"

I'm doing it! I'm actually writing a song! Eat that, Koharu-chan! Sango smiled to herself as she continued to write more.

"Take me down and let me drown!

Don't wanna hear the other sounds no more!

I want it to pull me under

Coz baby, I just wanna drown… in the music

Let the song harmonize with my soul

Let it just drown me.

Let me drown in the music

Take me down and let me drown!

Don't wanna hear the other sounds no more!

I want it to pull me under

Coz baby, I just wanna drown… in the music"

"YES! I did it!" Sango cheered – then noticed everyone was staring at her, so she then quickly left. ~

Sango stepped out of the bathroom – feeling refreshed after a cold shower. She slipped into a red skort and then back into her black halter. She tied her hair up against and then she slipped her handbag over her head and rested it on her shoulder and got ready to leave.

"Hey Miroku!" she called out.

"Yeah?" Came his response from the living room.

"I'm going shopping, I'll be back in an hour!" And with that she left.

"Wait Sango do you…" Miroku came out only to hear the door shut behind her, "…want your laundry done…"

Miroku looked around and thought for a moment; now… would she mind terribly if I did her laundry without asking? He raised an eyebrow at the thought. "Yeah, she probably wouldn't." he smiled and then went up to her room.

He opened the door only to find it in the same state, as it was when she was sick, only worse. Doesn't this girl ever clean her room? Damn cleaning habit. He told himself as he began to clean everything up.

He was actually thankful most of the personal clothing was already in the laundry basket, now he was just picking up the loose articles of clothing and tossing them in, along with a sweaty pair of jeans with strange scribbles on it. She'll really want this done. He then took it all to the laundry room. ~

Sango came back an hour later, with a bag from the local mall. "I'm back!" she let Miroku know and then she hurried up to her room. Only, when she opened the door to find the clean room, she swore to herself that she entered the wrong room.

Last that she remembered, her room with filthy. There was clothes everywhere and papers all over the place, and her guitar was out of its case. But now all her clothes were off the floor, all her papers were in neat piles on her desk, and her guitar was put back into his case. Wait. Her clothes were off the floor. Her jeans. Where were her jeans?

Sango opened all her drawers and found that there wasn't anything, meaning they were somewhere.

"Sango! Your laundry is finished!" Came Miroku's voice.

Laundry? Sango came in to get her clothes to do her laundry. Meaning someone had done it for her – but who?

"Sango?" Came Miroku's voice again.

Sango heard herself snarl; "Miroku…!" she muttered and then ended up yelling his name in the end as she came back out and glared straight at him. What man in their right mind would do their female dorm partner's laundry?! Sango wanted to know as she stomped over.

"What?" he asked – he didn't know what he had done wrong.

"You washed my clothes?" She asked in disbelief.

'Ye-ah… was I not supposed to?" he asked

Sango felt her eyes bulging open at that question. "Damn straight you're not supposed to do that!" she shrieked.

"Whoa! Sorry! Okay, I won't do it again…" he flinched nervously.

"You washed my jeans you idiot!!" She screamed again.

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'll kill you!" She screeched and then lunged at him.

Miroku dodged her and then ran away as she chased him. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU SHAKUJO I'M GOING TO WASH YOU IN THE LAUNDRY WITH YOUR CLOTHES!!" She yelled as she dodged the couch.

"You'd touch my clothes?" he asked as he jumped over the love seat.

"EXACTLY!! YOU SEE A PATTERN THERE?!!" She continued her chase.

"Wait… is that why you've gone insane?" He stopped and then grabbed her wrists and looked at her red face. "I thought you wouldn't mind, seeing that you don't even do your own laundry."

"What? You idiot, I'll kill you!" She yelled and then reached for his neck. ~

A girl opened the door and came in, "Shakujo!" she called out sweetly and then walked in. "Shakujo, are you here?" she asked.

She heard some kind of noise, she walked over and then she found Sango on top on Miroku. When she saw this she gasped.

Sango stopped trying to strangle him and then looked up. Miroku stopped struggling from underneath her and then looked up too.

The girl blinked, "this is a bad time… I'll come back later." She smiled nervously and then hurried out.

"Huh?" Both of them said in unison, "is that what you wanted?" Miroku added.

Sango glared and then kicked him in the groin, "hentai!" she yelled and then she stormed away, picking up her laundry basket and taking it to her room. ~

Sango looked sadly at her faded jeans, where the ink no longer was visible. And to think I could have actually written a decent song to make some money off of… she sighed and then tossed them away carelessly. She then noticed a card on her night table, she leaned over and picked it up and read it aloud.

" Kugutsu Naraku… in search for a female singer, doesn't have to be good, just has to be loud. Come to the Domino building, on the fourth floor, room 319…" she mused for a moment, and then she changed into her jeans and then put on her red jacket.

She passed Miroku trying to stand properly and then without saying a word she left once more. She walked down the pale hallways and then came up to room 319. Sango hesitated, but then she closed her eyes and knocked quite loudly, and regretted it – knowing they would hear her.

She heard someone coming to the door. She heard the doorknob turn and then the door swung open and then stood Naraku. "Sango, I mean, Taijiya Sango, right?" he smiled faintly.

"Yes." She answered confidently. "Still interested?" She held up the card he had given her before.

"Absolutely." She hated that answer, but showed no reaction.

"Hey guys! She's here!" he called back. "C'mon, I'll introduce you to the band."

Sango followed him in and there sat two girls and a guy; "Kagura, Kanna, Musou, this is Taijiya Sango." He motioned towards her. "Sango, this is Mai Kagura." He gestured to a teenager with short black hair in a small ponytail who had deep crimson eyes – she assumed they were contacts.

"No, these are my real eyes, Sango." She smirked – she was indeed very beautiful.

"That's Mai Kanna, Kagura's older sister." He told Sango then whispered; "believe it or not." He pointed at the short white blonde girl who wore all pale colours yet had enchanting blue gray eyes.

"And this is Onigumo Musou." Naraku gestured to the other male with long dark hair who wore all leather.

"Yo!" he gave her a peace sign.

"Okay, well, Kouga-kun isn't here today. So we'll just get started without him. You're right on time for band practice, Sango." Naraku smiled kindly then they made their way over to the band set-up.

"What would you have me do?" Sango asked.

"Well, you're our lead female singer, so please, stand in the middle." He told her.

Sango's eyes widened; "lead?! Oh no! I'm sorry, but I am most definitely not a lead singer! You've heard me before!" she protested to Naraku.

"And you were perfect, so do your thing." He handed her the microphone and then he went to stand playing his base guitar while Musou went behind to play the drums.

"Do you know "Paint it Black"?" Kagura asked

"B-by Vanessa Carlt-ton… ye-ah…" she stammered – her nerves getting the best of her.

"Just relax Sango. We won't judge you. Just do your best… and your loudest. You need to drown Kanna and me out as much you can." Kagura smiled kindly and then patted her shoulder.

Sango felt chills creeping up her spine as the music began to play. She closed her eyes and then took in a deep breath. It was an obscure song, so she would definitely sing with emotion.

"I see a red door and I want it painted black…" she gasped at realizing how good it sounded.

"Go on," Naraku whispered from his position.

"No colors anymore, I want them to turn black

I see the girls walk by, dressed in their summer clothes

I have to turn my head until my darkness goes."

"Dude, where'd you find this girl?" Musou whispered.

"On our roof." He smirked.

"I see a line of cars and they are painted black

With flowers and my love both never to come back

I see people turn their heads and quickly look away

Like a new born baby it just happens every day

I look inside myself and see my heart is black

I see my red door and it's heading into black

Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts

It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted black, oh baby

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted black, oh baby

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue

I could not foresee this thing happening to you

If I look hard enough into the setting sun

My love will laugh with me before the morning comes

I wanna see it painted, painted, painted black, oh

Black as night, black as coal

I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky

Painted, painted, painted black, oh baby

Painted, painted, painted black!"

Sango took in a very deep breath, of exhaustion and shock. She had no idea that kind of voice had been submerged inside her diaphragm like that. She was so quiet usually, or belted it out without control, but Kagura and Kanna were both babbling excitedly about how sensational she sounded.

"I think we found our ticket outta here." Naraku whispered to Musou.

"You mean we found our lead female singer?" Musou corrected.

"Right, whatever." Naraku muttered. ~

Sango looked down at her watch after the long practice – 8: 57; "I guess I should head back before Shakujo calls security out to find me or brings another hoard of women into our dorm." She groaned

"You live with Shakujo Miroku?" Kanna asked quietly

"I pity you, really, I do." Kagura told her.

"Thanks, but I must be off. See you next Thursday!" She told them then hurried out.

"Well, she's great. And we're great. So of course, we'll win the Battle of the Bands!" Naraku pepped talk them.

"You're forgetting our lazy, idiot of a lead male singer, Kouga." Kagura muttered.

"Somebody say my name?" The brown hared man strode in his gangster outfit and then he clapped hands with Musou.

"You missed practice again, Kouga." Naraku glared into the boy's aqua blue eyes.

"Whatever." He shrugged, "Wha'd I miss?"

"Meeting our new little sensational addition to the band." Kagura smirked.

Kouga sat down and listened as they all began to tell him about the newest member of the band.