Authors' Notes: And we are back again with an extra long chapter to make up for the delays (conventions tend to do that to us two, and we'll be at A-kon in Dallas in a few weeks, so expect another delay in new chapters then)
Anyways, here are some minor notes on the side-cast:
Kaguya- The 2nd Movie Villain. Very eccentric woman who sought out suitors to get her strange and valuable gifts.
Ayumi: The wavy black-haired girl out of Kagome's 3 friends in modern time.
Abi: Anime episode 146 Princess of the birds (to be precise, a bird-youkai) who is hired by Naraku to help kill people and form a river of blood.
As always, please- read, review and enjoy
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Chapter 3: The Ways to Be Gay—Part 2
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Inuyasha went into the kitchen, quickly retrieving a cup of ramen from one of the cabinets and putting in the microwave to heat. Tapping his foot impatiently, he watched as the small numbers ticked away the time until his meal would be completed.
"Keh, why can't they make these things work faster?" He muttered, the time elapsing slower than he would have liked.
The slight beeping indicating that his food was finally finished, he snagged up the cup of noodles, grabbed a Mountain Dew from the refrigerator and trudged back into the main room.
Plopping down on the couch, he reached over and flipped on the radio.
"All right, and that was 'Another Postcard' by the Barenaked Ladies," The campus DJ's voice intoned, "Next we have…okay, what fruitcake out there requested this one?"
Blinking, Inuyasha paused in eating his ramen on hearing Naraku's strange comment.
"Well, I'm surprised we even have a copy of it to play, but… this is 'The Way He Makes Me Feel' by Barbara Streisand."
As the song began to play out, the white-haired young man slowly sat down his cup of ramen and looked about for a pen.
Fruitcake…Jakotsu… The way he makes me…
Finally snagging up a waylaid pen from the nearby end table, Inuyasha quickly dug out the list from his pocket and scrawled it down.
Barbara Streisand.
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In the apartment directly below Inuyasha and Bankotsu's, Kagome walked out of her bedroom when she heard her roommate enter the apartment. It's awfully quiet upstairs right now, She reflected as she greeted Ayame. I wonder what Inuyasha's up to? There's usually a lot more noise up there.
"Kagome," Ayame interrupted her thoughts as she plopped down onto the couch with a basket of what Kagome assumed to be the laundry she'd demanded Kouga do for her. "Kouga is such an idiot." Kagome sat down next to the redhead and blinked.
"What did he do now?"
"Anyone with half a brain knows that you don't wash panty-hose with normal clothes." With an irritated sigh, Ayame reached into her laundry basket and pulled out a pair of tan panty hose. Kagome took them from her hands and investigated the small rip near the top of the garment. The dark-haired girl bit her lip in thought for a moment and tapped her chin.
"Do you need them now?"
"Yah I was needing them tonight, and this is the only pair I have in this shade." Ayame explained.
"Okay, well we'll put nail polish on them where the rip is, that will hold them for at least one wearing," Kagome reasoned. Ayame nodded.
"Good idea," She stood up and went to the bathroom to retrieve a bottle of nail polish.
"Oh and Ayame..." Kagome ventured as her roommate reentered the room with the bottle.
"Eh?"
"I'd suggest you not let Kouga do your laundry again."
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It was only a matter of moments, and the cup of ramen was completely empty. Inuyasha, having gotten frustrated with the radio was now back to wracking his mind for more items for his list.
Okay…what's something girly that gay guys might use?
After thinking on it for a few seconds, yet another item came to mind.
Nail polish.
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The work lights flicked on and the shadows of what would soon be the rides and attractions of the local amusement park loomed in the darkness of the evening.
"Shit, I am missing out on the local ballgame for this…" A tanned man with a long black braid muttered as he took off his safety hat and looked dejectedly to the nearby toolbox.
"Hiten, I don't remember paying you and your construction company to slack off when we have deadlines to meet," A proper female voice intoned as she walked up towards him. He just shook his head, already used to dealing with his slightly eccentric employer.
"Kaguya, I see we're looking lovely this evening as usual," Hiten casually remarked, his eyes skimming down the woman's figure, her tight dress hugging her form perfectly.
"What do you want this time?" She shot back, smirk set in place at catching him at his little attempt to get on her good side.
"Well there's a ballgame tonight that I really wanted to watch…"
"Oh really now?" Kaguya said, sauntering over to his side, "And you see… there's this little present I'd really like as well…" Hiten sighed, knowing all to well where this was going. If you wanted anything from Kaguya, it wouldn't be cheap.
"What?" He muttered. She laughed.
"The jewelry store downtown just got a set of lovely golden earrings with rubies in stock. Don't you think they'd look lovely on me?" Looking back at her, the black-haired man sighed on realizing his situation.
"Fine fine. Expect them on your desk tomorrow night, I'm going home."
"Have fun watching that ballgame," Kaguya called out as he walked off, "And I can't wait to see those earrings!"
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Deciding that there was nothing else he could possibly come up with that would be "gay" Inuyasha found himself turning to something else for potential answers- the television.
Arming himself with the remote, he began his habit of flipping through the channels looking for anything interesting- or in this case, anything that might assist his plight to make his roommate gay.
Just about to flick the channel once again, he paused on hearing the current voices from it.
"Houjo, if you could please show the next item," A wavy-haired woman said as the camera panned over to a brown-haired man.
"Of course, Ayumi. Our next special here on the Home Shopping Network is a set of twenty-four karat gold earrings. As you can see, these would make a lovely gift, so all you husbands and boyfriends out there, listen up."
Tuning out the rest of the specifics on the merchandise, Inuyasha's mind began to piece a few things together.
Wait, there are some gay guys that wear just one earring to let other people know they're gay or something…
Putting the pen to the paper once again, he wrote it down.
Earrings
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Unbeknownst to Inuyasha, downstairs the phone was ringing in Kagome's apartment. With a sigh, the young woman picked the receiver up.
"Hello?" She paused as she glanced down to the caller ID. "Oh hi Mom!"
"Good evening dear, how are you?" The woman on the other end inquired.
"Fine, fine just was helping Ayame get ready to do a presentation for one of her night classes."
"Oh am I interrupting you?"
"No, no she just left." Kagome sat down on the couch and leaned back.
"Ah that's good," Mrs. Higurashi paused, and Kagome heard the voice of her younger brother Souta piping up in the background.
"Mom I have a question…"
"Souta, can it wait I'm talking to your sister."
"It's no problem," Kagome shrugged and adjusted the phone.
"All right what is it dear?" The older woman asked.
"Do I have this right?"
"Hmm?" Kagome could a rustling of paper on the other end.
"This rainbow- do I have the order right?" Souta explained. "It's a painting I'm having to do for art class." He sounded slightly annoyed at the prospect of his assignment.
"Well ah there's an acronym for the order of the colors of the rainbow…" Mrs. Higurashi interrupted herself. "Father get Buyo away from the counter, would you? He's trying to eat our dinner again." Kagome smiled lightly as she listened in on the chaos of a night at her family's home. There was a light grumble from her Grandfather, and she heard his footsteps going to retrieve their enormous pet cat before he made a meal of the family dinner.
"Mom if it's a problem I'll call back for you in a bit…" Kagome offered.
"Oh no it' fine!" Mrs. Higurashi replied. "Okay Souta it's Roy G Biv- Red, orange, yellow green, blue, indigo, violet."
"I don't have any indigo paint… do I?" Souta asked, slightly crestfallen. Kagome laughed lightly from the other end.
"Tell him to mix his blue with a little bit of purple."
"Oh, thank you so much Kagome!"
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Still absently flipping through television channels, the white-haired young man frowned as he continued to try and think up stereotypical 'gay' things.
Gay things…well they do have that whole flag-symbol-sorta thing…
Smirking on figuring that this might be one of the easier items to implant on his roommate, Inuyasha added it to the list.
Rainbows.
Sighing on seeing that out of over hundred television channels- there was nothing 'gay' on at that moment Inuyasha turned off the TV and went over to the computer.
Why didn't I think of this before, I'll just search for gay stuff on the internet.
After waiting a few moments for his computer to load, he opened his web browser, opened up a search engine and typed in simply the word 'gay.'
The page loaded, and the first result came up.
Hot Gay Porn. Only $9.99 a month!
At the result, Inuyasha just balked for a moment before quickly closing the window.
Definitely NOT that!
And with that thought in mind, he turned off the computer and returned to his task of searching the hundreds of television channels for information.
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Kagome placed the phone on the hook and darted her head up when she heard a knock at the door. "Hmm- I wonder who could be here. Ayame's presentation is still going on…" Standing up she made her way over to the door. "Who's there?"
"Ah- it's me, Miroku…" Kagome turned the lock and cracked open the door, allowing Miroku and the woman with him- Sango to enter her apartment. "So I wanted to explain why we didn't have play practice today…" Kagome went back over to sit down on the couch, and Miroku followed. Sango sat next to him, although she made sure she was a safe distance from his roving hand.
"Why did we not have play practice? I was tutoring anyway… I couldn't have stayed the whole time," Kagome explained.
"Well, yes and since Akitoki is your costar." Sango ventured. "He's the one you were tutoring right?" The black-haired girl nodded.
"Actually the reason I called off practice is because I'm thinking of rewriting the script." Miroku smirked.
"….Again?" Kagome inquired, exasperated. "Miroku that's the third time!"
"It's my first student run production," He shrugged. "I want it to be perfect." Sango rolled her eyes.
"Miroku, you're an idiot."
"Why my lovely assistant director doesn't approve of my actions?" He gave her a wink. "Although whether you approve or not Sango, there's no one else I'd rather have as my assistant."
"Hmph, whatever," Sango managed, clearly flustered. She turned away as a blush crossed her cheeks. Kagome gave her a knowing smile and then switched her gaze back to the young man.
"So what's the brilliant rewrite?"
"Well I'm thinking about making the play a…" He paused for effect, "Musical."
"What?!" Kagome exclaimed. "First it's a pirate story, then it was a western, and now it's a musical?"
"Well that is if the cast can sing…" Miroku clarified.
"Miroku!" Sango cut in. "We are not doing a musical. We don't have the sound system needed and we don't even have an accompanist or anyone instrumentally talented, let alone a knowledgeable music director."
"I really wouldn't be comfortable doing a musical…" Kagome reasoned.
"Ah- Well… I uhh… thought it was a good idea."
"If you make it a musical- I'm quitting," Sango threatened. Miroku's eyes widened and both of the women in the room knew they had won.
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Having come to the point that he wasn't even really looking at the screen while flipping through the endless channels in hopes that anything at all might catch his attention, Inuyasha stopped for a second as he stood to see what Bankotsu was up to.
He has been really quiet tonight, and…I don't think he even ate dinner. Peeking through the crack into his roommate's room, Inuyasha knocked.
"What are you doing in there?" Starting at where he sat slumped over a desk, Bankotsu looked up.
"Oh, Inuyasha, you off the phone with your Mom finally?"
"Keh! I don't talk to my Mom that much!" The black-haired man gave a knowing smirk.
"Sure you don't. So what do you want?"
"Uh… you didn't eat," He muttered. Eyes shifting to the clock, Bankotsu blanched.
"It's that late already?! Shit… I guess I got tied up doing homework…" With that he quickly stood and made his way over to the door. Walking past Inuyasha, he made his way towards the kitchen.
Stupid Bankotsu. It's obvious he's still pissed off about Jakotsu not asking him. Inuyasha thought to himself, pausing for a second as he heard the door downstairs closing. Hey…who would be visiting Kagome at this time of night? He frowned, Not that I…I care about that or anything…Keh…
Following Bankotsu back into the other room, Inuyasha paused as he looked at the current show playing on the television.
"Next up is the musical, "A Chorus Line" telling the tale of young women and men's dreams to be part of a dance line."
Keh, look at those guys dancing that's so…
His eyes widened and making sure Bankotsu was occupied with fixing a meal, Inuyasha quickly pulled out the list and wrote it down.
Musicals.
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The 'Closed' light flickered up front in the window, yet the lights inside were still on.
"Yura, thanks for sneaking me in like this. With my job running the blood bank part of the hospital most of the damned day, finding time to get a haircut isn't easy," The woman remarked. With a giggle, the short-black-haired woman replied.
"Don't worry about it Abi. I don't mind staying a bit after hours for a chance to trim that lovely hair of yours." Abi smirked.
"Well how about after this we go get something to eat?"
"Oh my that sounds nice, what do you want to get?"
"Hmm, how about chicken?" She remarked, watching as the other woman styled her hair.
"Sounds good to me," Yura said, reaching for another comb.
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Inuyasha turned away from the T.V. startled when he heard a string of curses from his roommate in the kitchen. "Huh?" He stood up and made his way into the kitchen. "Hey, what's the matter?" The white-haired boy asked, wondering if he'd screwed up his cooking or something of the sort.
"Damn hair got caught in the cabinet when I shut it," Bankotsu pointed out, as he finished tugging his long black braid from the closed cabinet door. Inuyasha raised his eyebrows.
"Keh, if you're catching it on shit, why don't you just cut it?" He inquired honestly. Bankotsu's eyes widened.
"What? I've spent a lot of time growing it out. I'm not going to just cut it!" The dark-haired man shot back. Inuyasha blinked, a thought tickling at the back of his mind.
"What, do you like… primp it or something?" He inquired, thinking on how Jakotsu wore his hair tied up most of the time.
".....No! I just take care of it!" Bankotsu retorted. Inuyasha shrugged, and began walking out of the room. "Keh, it's not like you don't do the same thing." He grumbled, but Inuyasha was already out of earshot. Once he was in the living room he looked at the list and hesitated a moment before grabbing his pen. Brushing a piece of his long silver hair out of his face he wrote down the next item on the list.
Hair primping
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Over at the other apartment complex, Jakotsu made his way over to the door and yanked it open before Sesshoumaru could get the key in the slot.
"Okay Sesshoumaru, start talking!"
"I do not see why you would be interested in the events of my evening," He replied casually pushing past him into the room.
"Oh you can tell me about your date later…" Sesshoumaru frowned.
"Why must the terminology 'date' always be associated with my outings with Kagura?"
"Because she's your girlfriend. Now you can talk about your love life later, right now I want to know something else." Raising an eyebrow, the white-haired young man leveled his roommate with a glare.
"I know you were upset about the shampoo thing earlier, but that was no reason to hide my snake plush!" Jakotsu pouted.
"I did no such thing. You have just misplaced it," Sesshoumaru replied, then with a frown he continued, "And I still do not see your reasoning for sleeping with such a thing." The black-haired man failed.
"Hey! I can sleep with a stuffed snake if I want to."
"But you're not a child." Jakotsu frowned.
"Excuse me for not having a hot boyfriend to cuddle up with," He retorted sticking out his tongue.
Without a word, Sesshoumaru walked past him into the bedroom and bent beside the bed. Sticking his hand underneath he felt around until coming across the missing plush animal.
"Here. Sleep," He said simply, standing to exit the room. With that Jakotsu just smirked and caught his arm from behind.
"No way Sesshoumaru. You aren't getting out of telling me about your date."
"What Kagura and I do is not of your concern." With a laugh, he followed him into the other room.
"Is it that R-rated?" Sesshoumaru glared.
"Should I be wondering about the fact you sleep with a stuffed snake?"
"Hey!"
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Inuyasha grumbled as he tapped his pen on the paper, his homework seeming the least of his problems at the moment.
Pausing to look up from his notes for a moment, he noticed Bankotsu enter the room. Opening his mouth to speak, he paused when noted his roommate's eyes falling on the small stuffed koala bear Jakotsu had given him for Christmas that sat on the shelf.
Watching him closely, Inuyasha slowly slid the crumpled list out from behind his other papers.
Well, Jakotsu did give it to him…
Trying his hardest to pretend that he was just making a side-note on a scrap sheet of paper, Inuyasha scribbled it down.
Stuffed Animals.
Going back to his homework, he glanced up when he saw Bankotsu switch on the television, which Inuyasha had turned off a few minutes before so he could concentrate on his notes. With a shrug, he looked back down to his work as his roommate flipped through the channels. He paused a few moments later when he heard that Bankotsu had settled on a channel to watch.
Eh, what's he watching? Is that… The sounds of a familiar song wafted across the room. He gave a confused look to the television, and confirmed that Bankotsu was indeed… watching a Cher music video. What the hell? Cher!? And he seems to be enjoying it… "Hey Bankotsu," Inuyasha spoke up. The black-haired young man looked up. "Why are you watching Cher?"
"Umm well it was the only thing on," He replied.
"Do you actually like it?"
"Well yes, it's a good song… why?" Bankotsu inquired innocently.
"Keh- never mind." Inuyasha looked down to the list that was lying beside his homework. Most guys don't like Cher, and I could swear that I've seen stuff about gay guys really liking her… so I think that would count. Taking his pen to the list, he wrote.
Cher
Smugly regarding the paper, he looked between Bankotsu and the list.
Well I think this is enough… the problem is…
His satisfied expression dropped.
The problem is… how in the hell am I gonna get ahold of all this gay stuff?
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Preview for Chapter 4:
InuYasha has finally gotten a list of all the things he needs to convince Bankotsu he's gay and get out of the situation with Jakotsu. The problem now is- how is he going to get all these items? Well…Kagome did say she was willing to help him out…