Authors Note: Well, updated sooner than you thought, right? I'm on a writing Outshining The Brightest Star binge! Right after this I'm going to start the next chapter! Please tell me what you think in reviews! I'm a little redundant in this chapter, I use the words 'papers' and 'contract' quite a lot in the end...well, there's one word I know I used only once! 'Bejubah!' I don't think I'll be reusing that one anytime soon. Enjoy!
Chapter 3:
Sango woke up, groaning, and tossing to the other side of the bed, showing her destestment of having to get up for another long day. It didn't help that she felt a presense looming over her face, just waiting for her to get up with an element of surprise.
"Kagome...," she moaned opening her eyes to bright light and a pair of grey eyes staring directly at her, "What are you doing up so early?"
"Early? Sango, dear, it's practically 10:30. I haven't known you as one to sleep in this late."
She mumbled something that sounded almost like a string of curses to Kagome's ears before saying quietly, "Yeah, well, I'm tired."
Kagome backed away, sitting on the edge of her own bed while still looking at Sango and waiting rather impatiently for her to get up.
Sango shifted on her side until she was facing her friend, her eyes now wide open as she glared at her, and "You aren't going to leave, are you?"
"Of course not. Not until you tell me who you were talking to until the wee hours of the morning!"
"Kagome-"
"Don't try to pull anything with me Missy! I want to know straight out...was it a boy?"
Sango sat up, rubbing her eyes and pulling her nightshirt over her knees while she curled her legs up to her chest.
Sango sighed, "Kagome...I was just talking to a friend, alright?"
"Are you sure you aren't-"
"Kagome, I swear, I'm not lying to you, okay? We're best friends! I wouldn't lie to you!"
Kagome moved closer and gave Sango a tight hug, "I know, Sango, I know."
=====
Inuyasha watched his girlfriend pace around the room like a maniac, dressed nicer than he had seen her in awhile,"Kikyo! What are you doing? Settle down!"
"Owow! Kik-y-o!" Kouga howled while drooling out most of the milk and cereal he had just fed himself.
Kikyo pushed Inuyasha down on the bed, knocking him straight onto the still sleeping Miroku.
"Ahhh! Bejubah!" was what it sounded like from the other side of the covers.
Inuyasha rubbed his backside while standing up and blushing slightly, "Oh, sorry man."
"Shippo!" Kikyo yelled while knocking on the bathroom door, "For the last time! Would you get out of there?"
"No!"
Kikyo screeched and all of the men covered their ears. Miroku shot upright at the disturbance, looking like he had just heard a tornado alarm go off in the middle of the night. Kouga, who was quite amused by this, pointed and laughed before choking on his spoon and Lucky Charms.
"Everyone calm down! Sheesh!" Inuyasha bellowed, hoping everyone would listen for once. Well, they didn't.
"Shippo! I'm giving you to the count of three to get your scrawny ass out of there before I come in there and personally make you regret the day you were born!" Kikyo banged on the door a few more times for good measure.
Inuyasha looked around the room, shaking his head, regretting that he ever got out of the bed that morning. With Kikyo's yelling, Shippo's whining, Miroku's moaning, and Kouga's coughing no wonder he had a heachache.
Miroku walked over to Kouga, smacked him on the back, and then sat down beside him while pouring a bowl of cereal for himself.
"So, Kouga, what's going on?"
Kouga shrugged spooning some more of the heart, stars, and horseshoes into his mouth, "I don't know, but Kikyo has gotten hot and irritable all at the same time."
Inuyasha sat down with them too, putting a frustrated hand to his head, "Why can't everyone just be peaceful for once?"
"Because, " Kouga took a moment to chew, "Life wouldn't be fun if we were quiet."
"Amen." Miroku gave Kouga a high-five much to Inuyasha's growing disinterest.
Shippo emerged from the bathroom, finally, with a smug look on his face and a towel slung over his shoulder. Kikyo went past him, pushing him roughly to the side and slamming the door while everyone winced.
"So...Shippo...what took you so long?" Inuyasha asked, turning around in his chair enough so that he could give Shippo an unamused look.
"You mean, you can't tell?" he ran to the mirror, checking out his face closely.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and went to the mirror as well, standing behind Shippo and looking at him closely too, "Nope. Not a thing has changed."
"I swear to God! I had a hair there! I must be becoming a man!"
They all groaned, they had enough of those dumb puberty stories from Shippo, especially when they were trying to eat breakfast. The toilet flushed and Kikyo ran out, hopping on one foot while putting on her black heels.
"Honey, why are you in such a hurry?" Inuyasha walked over, opening his arms and expecting a hug.
She opened the door and started jogging down the hall, "No time. Bye!"
"So much for a kiss goodbye." Inuyasha grumbled, closing the door behind her and then plopping backwards onto his bed.
"Dude, we gotta help him find someone new, " Kouga said, leaning in so that even Inuyasha couldn't pick up what he was saying to the other guys.
Miroku smiled, thinking of the girl in the green swimsuit that seemed to have caught Inuyasha's eyes, and vice-versa. They laughed, they talked, they exchanged room numbers, but would it really work with Kikyo around? Of course not. "Guys, I think I have just the girl in mind..."
=====
"You're late, "Kaede warned, already seated at a table on the veranda and a drink set before her.
Kikyo gave her an apologetic look before scooting in her chair and folding her hands together on the table, she really didn't want to make a worse impression than she already had. She made a mental note to beat up Shippo and the rest of the guys for keeping her in the room for so long.
"Uh, I'm sorry. The guys can be a handful sometimes, "She saw the look of annoyance on the old woman's face, perhaps that was wasn't a good thing to say, "Not that they're bad! They just like to be silly! Sometimes...like normal teenagers."
No one talked so Kikyo decided she better rectify what she started.
"I know Sango isn't like that, she is probably well-bred compared to these guys, but they won't pose any trouble and they always get the job done and with quality."
"Oh stop your brown nosing!" Kaede snapped, her facial expression never wavering from one that looked as hard as concrete.
Kikyo looked stunned, but then let her tensness ease as she slouched in her chair. She didn't expect this meeting to start off so horribly.
"Don't get me wrong, "Kaede took a sip of her coffee while looking at Kikyo with a strange glint in her eyes, "Sango is a real firecracker. It's getting harder to have her sign contracts now and then. One day she doesn't want to make an add, the next she doesn't want to have a photoshoot, soon enough she won't want to make cd's. She needs something new, and I know exactly what will help her."
"You do?"
"Yes, of course I do. A collaberation with your boys. Most importantly, with Miroku."
Kikyo took it all in, this was a chance that couldn't be missed. Sure, the guys were famous enough on their own, but with Sango they would be unstoppable! Now only to convince them of the benefits...
"Sango would of course agree, she needs the companionship."
Kikyo cocked her eyebrow. Was this lady thinking of setting them up? Did she think that her own Miroku would fall for her Sango? "Are you thinking that love may be in the air?"
Kaede sat back, twiddling her thumbs and looking thoughtfully to the side, "My grandaughter, Kagome, is Sango's only friend. She's a lonely child, and I just want to see her happy. Miroku seems to be the only seventeen year old male in Japan that may know exactly what she's going through."
"I agree. Fully."
"So, I've got the contracts," she looked through her black leather suitcase that sat in another chair and managed to retrieve a packet of papers, "You need to look these over and have InBetween sign them, along with yourself."
Kikyo leaned across the table and graciously took them. As she sat down she let her eyes drift over the print, seeing that the contract called for one single to be created and produced in a month's time by Miroku and Sango working together. The only technical problems would be getting them together in one room, and liking each other.
"I'll bring these by the girls room by tonight, okay?"
Kaede nodded and offered her hand to Kikyo, who accepted and smiled as she took the contracts in her arms.
"Glad to do business Ms...?"
"Kaede, just call me Kaede. And when Miroku is ready to meet Sango call me or her, either way will be fine."
"Alright, thanks!" Kikyo felt like a giddy schoolgirl as she skipped away. She had just made one of the most intense deals of her life! She wasn't really into business, and this seemed less formal than she expected, but it was done and final except for the signatures.
Now time for tricking the boys into signatures!
=====
It was 1:00 in the afternoon now, and Sango had been talking to Miroku on the Internet for over an hour and a half. Neither of them had shut up since they both logged on.
'He must really like Seiko to want to talk to her this much.' she thought, 'Oh right! I am Seiko. Figures the fool fell for me.'
"Sango? Sango!" Kagome's head came into view from around the corner,"Your manager dropped this off for you to sign, got a minute? She says it's important."
"What's it for? I'm not signing it unless I know what it's for. If it's an add, or a photo shoot I swear-"
"It's not. It's for a single."
Sango didn't mind doing that all that much. She had some pent up feelings she wanted to get out in her music recently; a single would be perfect for that. She didn't have to make a huge commitment of a tour or CD, maybe a video, but that was less work than anything else was.
"Alright. I'll sign," she took the papers from Kagome, and a pen that she offered as well and signed on the line she knew all too well. "Done."
"You don't even want to read it?"
Sango closed the laptop a little as she saw Kagome try to get a closer look of what exactly she had been doing for the past hour or so,"No! I know what singles are about, Kagome. They just give you a different time limit each time and length requirements. It's nothing different."
"Sango..."
"Kagome...look, I know what I'm doing! Geez!"
"Sango! Seriously! -"
Knock, knock. Of course the door would interrupt their heated argument. Kagome didn't mind all that much, maybe it was Kaede and she wouldn't have to explain to Sango that she just signed up for a month long session of hanging out with Miroku and his gang.
When she answered the door she came face to face with a tall black haired girl who looked like a duplicate of herself. This girl had a strange smile on her face that looked almost fake.
"Why hello. Are you Sango?" She asked as if she were a seven year old answering the door for her mommy.
Kagome hoped that this woman felt stupid, how could she not recognize Sango? "Uh, no! Duh!"
"Oh, I'm quite sorry."
"Sango's over there." she said, pointing in the direction of the bed.
"Why, thank you, "Kikyo took the time to 'accidentally' jab Kagome in the ribs and push her to the side of the door while she made her way in uninvited.
"Wait! You can't come in here!"
Kikyo found Sango sitting Indian style on her bed while typing furiously on the computer.
"Why, hello!"
"Huh? Who are you?" Sango looked frightened. Had she bumped her head and woke up here? No, she was still talking to Miroku and she was still in her room.
Kikyo, who was beaming like a weirdo, harshly took hold of Sango's hand and jerked it up and down, "Well, nice to meet you Sango! I'm Kikyo, manager of InBetween. I just came by to drop these off."
She thrust a stack of papers under Sango's nose and them let them fall onto her lap when she made no attempt to grab them.
"What's this stuff?" Sango looked obliviously through the papers.
"Just the things for the collaberation. The guys were excited...and ah! I see you've signed the contract too...I'll just be taking that, " she snatched the contract and turned around, seeing a shocked look on the pop star's face.
"No wait!" it was too late, the mysterious woman who said she represented Miroku's band had already slammed the door in a huff. "Did she say what I think she said...Kagome!"
"What? I tried to tell you! But you already signed, and you even said yourself you knew what you were doing!"
"If I have to spend a month with that bouzo, I'll-" Sango said while shaking her fists in the air.
"Well, Sango, if you back out now there will be legal issues. You're stuck with him. Good luck."
"Thanks." She would need all the luck she could get. Especially if she was expected to spend a whole month with the guy and his lousy good-for-nothing friends.
EyesofMidnight: Seiko? Are you still there?
Waruasobi03: Sorry about that. Someone stopped by.
EyesofMidnight: Oh is this a bad time?
Waruasobi03: No, it's okay...
EyesofMidnight: I was just saying how I wanted to meet you some day. What do you think?
'Oh you will,' she smirked to herself, 'You will.'
Waruasobi03: Sure.
Authors Note: I'm sorry that these keep getting shorter each time! I'm going to have to make the next one longer…. I guess it was just how the chapter played out, there wasn't really anything else I could add!
Thanks to my reviewers:
Soli-chan-You're right! We both rock, that's true. Thanks for the compliments! And really, I wish you good luck with that project! I know exactly what it's like to do last minute things, and it sucks! Am I right or am I right? Hope you got it done in time!
Aamalie-I know, and I'm sorry about not updating. I felt uninspired. I wrote practically all of the second chapter the first day I posted the first chapter and after that I didn't know what to do! And I hope you are well rested for school! Personally I HAVE to get to bed at 9 or 10 in order to wake up in good shape at 5. (I have a 0-hour class, go figures.) Well, thanks!