Author's Notes: It's been a while since I could hold my head up high. It's been a while since I FRIGGIN' GOT A CHANCE TO WRITE!!
Anyway my schedule should be looking a lot better very soon. Seniors in my school get out on May 21 (yes I am feeling pretty smug) so I'll have more time from now on.
Couple bits and pieces of news. First of all, 18. Not only is that my age, but it is also the number reviews the last chapter recieved in a period of 24 hours. I don't think I've ever gotten such a dramatic response before. It's certainly very flattering.
To address a few general questions: Yes, I did write the band's songs myself; Yes, we will find out mroe about Kirara's past in this chapter; No, we will not find out more about Kouga this chapter; No, yes, yes, no, no, Good Lord NO, yes, yes, and maybe.
On another note, Thessalian has finished touching up her sketch. You can find it on her website at http://livingreflections.web1000.com/forgreywolf.html so now everyone can see. Go to http://livingreflections.web1000.com/fayash1.html for the frames-free site.
Also the angst and interference from Kouga will have to wait until chapter 17. This chapter wasn't supposed to happen, but it did.
Let the Music Be Your Master
Chapter 14- Love Can Turn to a Long, Cold Burn
Kagome felt like she was going to explode. She would have shouted in joy, but her throat was too strangled with excitement. She would have danced, but she doubted she could have found the right step. Inuyasha sang that song for her! The fear of rejection was no longer an issue.
She spent the whole encore performance of Otherworld staring at Inuysha and wondering. Wondering what it would be like to be held in his arms, what it would be like to fall asleep beside him and wake up to see him before anything else, what it would be like to kiss him.
"Thank you, everybody, and good night!" Inuyasha shouted as he triumphantly held his guitar over his head. The band took a bow and hopped offstage amidst the thunder of applause. "What did you think?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome could tell from the way he was looking at her though, that what he was specifically asking was what she thought about the song he sang for her.
"It was perfect," she said with a huge smile. She would have said more, but Toutosai chose that moment to show up.
"Well boys," he said, "I am impressed. How would you like to do shows here ever Sunday, Monday, and Thursday for the rest of May?"
"That's a rhetorical question, right?" Shippo asked. "Sign us up!"
"And so begins our first step on the road to success," Miroku grinned. "We need to celebrate!"
"Again?" Sango asked in mild disbelief. "We just went to the beach Tuesday."
"Ah," Shippo chided in, "but that was to celebrate actually getting the gig. This one is a celebration of the fact that the audience thinks we kick ass."
"We'll do it at my place," Inuyasha ordered more than volunteered. "Let's go!"
****************************
The drive back was like any trip in the car with the boys. Singing and music. This time, they were systematically going through Led Zeppelin IV. They made a stop at the supermarket to pick up extra food, letting the girls make half the decisions to be fair. Shippo was even kind enough to forfeit three of his choices to Kirara, earning him a few extra kisses when they got back to the car.
Kirara was a little nervous, however, when she saw the underlying anxiety in Shippo's eyes. He was about to do something neither of them would find pleasant and was just gathering up his courage. If Kirara knew anything about people, he was going to ask her what had her so upset the other night. Not that she could blame him.
This was going to be tough. He was going to ask sooner or later, and Kirara knew that if they were going to be together, she would have to tell Shippo the truth eventually. She just hoped it wouldn't push him away.
****************************
When the group returned to the Morimoto house, Sesshoumaru had left a note behind saying that he was going out and wouldn't be back until late. "Try as I might," Inuyasha had commented to Kagome, "I still can't get over the idea of our older siblings screwing each other."
The whole celebration was movies in the home theatre, music and dancing, and a whole lot of junk food. Predictably Miroku had insisted on playing a lot of Rush.
When he put in the Counterparts album and put the stereo on shuffle, the first song to come up was one Kirara really did not want to hear. Cold Fire. Why, oh why, did she have to hear that one when she knew she was going to say something tonight that might change her relationship with Shippo for the worst?
Things got a little better when Inuyasha shoved Miroku aside after beating him on the head for trying to control the stereo and put in a Scorpions album. Hard rock love songs were at least a little better, though Kirara just couldn't shake Cold Fire from her mind.
****************************
As the excitement wound down, everyone went for their rooms while Kirara and Shippo settled into the home theatre again. Shippo steeled up his courage. He just had to know what was bothering Kirara and he had to know now. "Kirara... I..."
She quickly interrupted him however. "I know. We need to talk." She seemed to dread this as much as him. Figures she'd know what he was about to do.
"Tell me everything," he said softly.
Immediately, tears began welling up in the girl's eyes again. "Why does it have to be so hard? You don't understand what I've been through, what this is like."
"You're right, I don't" Shippo admitted. "That's why I want you to tell me." He cupped her cheek in his hand and gently turned her to look at him. "Please."
"Alright," Kirara sobbed. "I'll tell you. My mother, Midoriko, was one of my father's patients back in our hometown. They fell in love shortly after she was pronounced cured and then they got married and had two sons and a daughter. My mother always wanted a daughter so she became really protective of me. Too protective. She started regressing to her old unstable state and this time, no amount of help from my father seemed to do any good.
"One day, a boy was teasing me on the playground when I was five years old. My mother saw and she immediately rushed over and began slapping the little boy. The boy's mother panicked, tried to stop Midoriko, and everything snowballed from there."
Kirara paused and sniffed back a sob. Shippo took her hand in his and squeezed it lightly, trying to offer whatever comfort he could.
After a minute, she continued. "After that she was committed. She was too dangerous to be allowed in public in the court's eyes. I can't say I blame them. She spent two years locked away, screaming at the guards to let her see her daughter. She wasn't the woman I knew.
"I was seven years old when she escaped. The police were alerted and my dad locked all the doors and windows. We all knew she'd be coming for me." Kirara couldn't hold it anymore. She burst into tears, trying to will her breathing back to normal as her eyes swelled shut with the salty pools in her eyes.
*****************************
The worst part of the story was coming and Kirara knew nothing would ever be the same once it was revealed. But she didn't stop now. What choice did she have? One particular lyric went running through her head. 'I'll be around if you don't let me down too far.' Shippo would be so disappointed in her to hear this. The other lyric she remembered only made things worse. 'The look in your eyes as you head for the door is a cold fire.'
There was no turning back now, though. She had to finish. "She reached our home in the middle of the night. She broke in through the backdoor... The police were supposed to be there, but they weren't.
"My dad tried to stop her, but she threw him down the basement stairs in their fight and he broke his arm and got a concussion. She then went for me..." This would be the hardest part of the story to tell. But she had to.
"She tried to take me away, but I wouldn't stop struggling. The police pulled up and my mother grabbed a steak knife. She said that if she couldn't have me, then we'd be together in the next world where they couldn't pull us apart. I panicked. I fought as hard as I could, grabbed her hand with the knife, and squeezed my eyes shut.
"Somehow... somehow..." Kirara choked out, "I had turned the knife around and plunged it into my own mother's heart. I'll never forget the look she gave me before she died. She looked so crushed, betrayed. Her own daughter had killed her!" She was now shaking strongly with her sobs. She thought she could control herself, but retelling that horrible night broke down all of her walls.
'The look in your eyes as you head for the door is a cold fire.' No, she couldn't stand to look at Shippo now. The look on his face as he realized what she had done and how she had let it eat her alive from the inside out all these years. She had never been able to tell anyone this before. She could never find the words. It was as if her ability to express herself had died with her mother. And now Shippo knew the truth.
She felt the couch shift as if a weight had been lifted off of it. Shippo was going to leave her! It was just a she had thought. She was so close, but because of the mistakes she had made, he was going to leave her. She would be all alone and she had only herself to blame for it.
****************************
Shippo sat numb for a minute as the depth of Kirara's story sank in. He couldn't blame her for being upset. But what could he do? He stood up to think, but realized his mistake when Kirara doubled up on herself and cried even harder. She thought he was going to leave!
Shippo panicked and immediately dropped to his knees in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and she tensed up. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
Kirara remained tense for another moment before shuddering and melting into his arms. She threw her arms around his neck as she continued to sob. She buried her face in his shoulder, tears soaking his shirt. All Shippo could think of doing was to continue holding the girl in his arms and whisper his promise to never leave her again and again.
****************************
Author's Notes: Not a lot of chapter for such a long wait. I'll get started on the next one today to compensate.
I graduated! A whole summer to write and earn money to spend on CDs and Dungeons and Dragons!
Next chapter will be Today Is Your Birthday, Happy Birthday To You. We get to see Koga stir up some trouble at Kagome's birthday party. It will end in a little cliffhanger that will be followed up by the sappiest thing I've ever written in my life.
Quick thank you to Shadows for telling me about Cold Fire. It certainly made for a nice touch of angst.
One final note. Has anyone else seen the trailers for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Am I the only one who thinks that movie has a great potential to either rock or suck? It does have Sean Connery, so it's at least worth giving a chance.
Anyway my schedule should be looking a lot better very soon. Seniors in my school get out on May 21 (yes I am feeling pretty smug) so I'll have more time from now on.
Couple bits and pieces of news. First of all, 18. Not only is that my age, but it is also the number reviews the last chapter recieved in a period of 24 hours. I don't think I've ever gotten such a dramatic response before. It's certainly very flattering.
To address a few general questions: Yes, I did write the band's songs myself; Yes, we will find out mroe about Kirara's past in this chapter; No, we will not find out more about Kouga this chapter; No, yes, yes, no, no, Good Lord NO, yes, yes, and maybe.
On another note, Thessalian has finished touching up her sketch. You can find it on her website at http://livingreflections.web1000.com/forgreywolf.html so now everyone can see. Go to http://livingreflections.web1000.com/fayash1.html for the frames-free site.
Also the angst and interference from Kouga will have to wait until chapter 17. This chapter wasn't supposed to happen, but it did.
Let the Music Be Your Master
Chapter 14- Love Can Turn to a Long, Cold Burn
Kagome felt like she was going to explode. She would have shouted in joy, but her throat was too strangled with excitement. She would have danced, but she doubted she could have found the right step. Inuyasha sang that song for her! The fear of rejection was no longer an issue.
She spent the whole encore performance of Otherworld staring at Inuysha and wondering. Wondering what it would be like to be held in his arms, what it would be like to fall asleep beside him and wake up to see him before anything else, what it would be like to kiss him.
"Thank you, everybody, and good night!" Inuyasha shouted as he triumphantly held his guitar over his head. The band took a bow and hopped offstage amidst the thunder of applause. "What did you think?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome could tell from the way he was looking at her though, that what he was specifically asking was what she thought about the song he sang for her.
"It was perfect," she said with a huge smile. She would have said more, but Toutosai chose that moment to show up.
"Well boys," he said, "I am impressed. How would you like to do shows here ever Sunday, Monday, and Thursday for the rest of May?"
"That's a rhetorical question, right?" Shippo asked. "Sign us up!"
"And so begins our first step on the road to success," Miroku grinned. "We need to celebrate!"
"Again?" Sango asked in mild disbelief. "We just went to the beach Tuesday."
"Ah," Shippo chided in, "but that was to celebrate actually getting the gig. This one is a celebration of the fact that the audience thinks we kick ass."
"We'll do it at my place," Inuyasha ordered more than volunteered. "Let's go!"
****************************
The drive back was like any trip in the car with the boys. Singing and music. This time, they were systematically going through Led Zeppelin IV. They made a stop at the supermarket to pick up extra food, letting the girls make half the decisions to be fair. Shippo was even kind enough to forfeit three of his choices to Kirara, earning him a few extra kisses when they got back to the car.
Kirara was a little nervous, however, when she saw the underlying anxiety in Shippo's eyes. He was about to do something neither of them would find pleasant and was just gathering up his courage. If Kirara knew anything about people, he was going to ask her what had her so upset the other night. Not that she could blame him.
This was going to be tough. He was going to ask sooner or later, and Kirara knew that if they were going to be together, she would have to tell Shippo the truth eventually. She just hoped it wouldn't push him away.
****************************
When the group returned to the Morimoto house, Sesshoumaru had left a note behind saying that he was going out and wouldn't be back until late. "Try as I might," Inuyasha had commented to Kagome, "I still can't get over the idea of our older siblings screwing each other."
The whole celebration was movies in the home theatre, music and dancing, and a whole lot of junk food. Predictably Miroku had insisted on playing a lot of Rush.
When he put in the Counterparts album and put the stereo on shuffle, the first song to come up was one Kirara really did not want to hear. Cold Fire. Why, oh why, did she have to hear that one when she knew she was going to say something tonight that might change her relationship with Shippo for the worst?
Things got a little better when Inuyasha shoved Miroku aside after beating him on the head for trying to control the stereo and put in a Scorpions album. Hard rock love songs were at least a little better, though Kirara just couldn't shake Cold Fire from her mind.
****************************
As the excitement wound down, everyone went for their rooms while Kirara and Shippo settled into the home theatre again. Shippo steeled up his courage. He just had to know what was bothering Kirara and he had to know now. "Kirara... I..."
She quickly interrupted him however. "I know. We need to talk." She seemed to dread this as much as him. Figures she'd know what he was about to do.
"Tell me everything," he said softly.
Immediately, tears began welling up in the girl's eyes again. "Why does it have to be so hard? You don't understand what I've been through, what this is like."
"You're right, I don't" Shippo admitted. "That's why I want you to tell me." He cupped her cheek in his hand and gently turned her to look at him. "Please."
"Alright," Kirara sobbed. "I'll tell you. My mother, Midoriko, was one of my father's patients back in our hometown. They fell in love shortly after she was pronounced cured and then they got married and had two sons and a daughter. My mother always wanted a daughter so she became really protective of me. Too protective. She started regressing to her old unstable state and this time, no amount of help from my father seemed to do any good.
"One day, a boy was teasing me on the playground when I was five years old. My mother saw and she immediately rushed over and began slapping the little boy. The boy's mother panicked, tried to stop Midoriko, and everything snowballed from there."
Kirara paused and sniffed back a sob. Shippo took her hand in his and squeezed it lightly, trying to offer whatever comfort he could.
After a minute, she continued. "After that she was committed. She was too dangerous to be allowed in public in the court's eyes. I can't say I blame them. She spent two years locked away, screaming at the guards to let her see her daughter. She wasn't the woman I knew.
"I was seven years old when she escaped. The police were alerted and my dad locked all the doors and windows. We all knew she'd be coming for me." Kirara couldn't hold it anymore. She burst into tears, trying to will her breathing back to normal as her eyes swelled shut with the salty pools in her eyes.
*****************************
The worst part of the story was coming and Kirara knew nothing would ever be the same once it was revealed. But she didn't stop now. What choice did she have? One particular lyric went running through her head. 'I'll be around if you don't let me down too far.' Shippo would be so disappointed in her to hear this. The other lyric she remembered only made things worse. 'The look in your eyes as you head for the door is a cold fire.'
There was no turning back now, though. She had to finish. "She reached our home in the middle of the night. She broke in through the backdoor... The police were supposed to be there, but they weren't.
"My dad tried to stop her, but she threw him down the basement stairs in their fight and he broke his arm and got a concussion. She then went for me..." This would be the hardest part of the story to tell. But she had to.
"She tried to take me away, but I wouldn't stop struggling. The police pulled up and my mother grabbed a steak knife. She said that if she couldn't have me, then we'd be together in the next world where they couldn't pull us apart. I panicked. I fought as hard as I could, grabbed her hand with the knife, and squeezed my eyes shut.
"Somehow... somehow..." Kirara choked out, "I had turned the knife around and plunged it into my own mother's heart. I'll never forget the look she gave me before she died. She looked so crushed, betrayed. Her own daughter had killed her!" She was now shaking strongly with her sobs. She thought she could control herself, but retelling that horrible night broke down all of her walls.
'The look in your eyes as you head for the door is a cold fire.' No, she couldn't stand to look at Shippo now. The look on his face as he realized what she had done and how she had let it eat her alive from the inside out all these years. She had never been able to tell anyone this before. She could never find the words. It was as if her ability to express herself had died with her mother. And now Shippo knew the truth.
She felt the couch shift as if a weight had been lifted off of it. Shippo was going to leave her! It was just a she had thought. She was so close, but because of the mistakes she had made, he was going to leave her. She would be all alone and she had only herself to blame for it.
****************************
Shippo sat numb for a minute as the depth of Kirara's story sank in. He couldn't blame her for being upset. But what could he do? He stood up to think, but realized his mistake when Kirara doubled up on herself and cried even harder. She thought he was going to leave!
Shippo panicked and immediately dropped to his knees in front of her. He wrapped his arms around her and she tensed up. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere. I promise."
Kirara remained tense for another moment before shuddering and melting into his arms. She threw her arms around his neck as she continued to sob. She buried her face in his shoulder, tears soaking his shirt. All Shippo could think of doing was to continue holding the girl in his arms and whisper his promise to never leave her again and again.
****************************
Author's Notes: Not a lot of chapter for such a long wait. I'll get started on the next one today to compensate.
I graduated! A whole summer to write and earn money to spend on CDs and Dungeons and Dragons!
Next chapter will be Today Is Your Birthday, Happy Birthday To You. We get to see Koga stir up some trouble at Kagome's birthday party. It will end in a little cliffhanger that will be followed up by the sappiest thing I've ever written in my life.
Quick thank you to Shadows for telling me about Cold Fire. It certainly made for a nice touch of angst.
One final note. Has anyone else seen the trailers for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Am I the only one who thinks that movie has a great potential to either rock or suck? It does have Sean Connery, so it's at least worth giving a chance.