A/N: How could I focus on writing fics?! I'm simply not good at dividing my time between things. GAH! But here's the latest chapter I just finished! *sigh* Remember to review!

Notes:

mysticwolfguardian: LoL! You never know! Maybe Inuyasha will mistake Kag for Kikyo...hmmmm. I like that other idea, I might just use it, altho I might put a twist to that...

VicFan: Yes...I'm thinking about that, I finally made my decision and I think it'll fit into the story afterall!

Lioness Kea: Well, Sango couldn't decide whether or not to marry Miroku because she was still a little shocked and surprised with Miroku's proposing...(I didn't write that in) and so she was in that last scene picking off petals, and then Miroku went back with her to the castle and told the Queen that they were getting married without Sango's consent, so that's why she's a little aghast and like she doesn't care anymore...I don't know if you understood that or not, but I think that's what you're asking for.

And about "freaking out about the ball" they're doing that because if they don't make it back in time, the kingdom might go heirless, but even though they like being commoners, they still like their upscale life, even with it's downs. -_-;;

MoodSightEyes: LoL, thx for thinking that this fic was good!

lindy*girl: I decided not to write anything about him waking up alone, but yea, I bet he would've had a bad time waking up alone!

Skittles: Yes, it's sad that her parents don't recognize her, but you gotta know that Kikyo looks a LOT like Kagome and she needs this small thing to get through with her um...plan. o.O;

~~*~~

To Be A Commoner

Chapter 8

~~*~~

She wasn't used to the pampering and the many new orders of dresses coming in, she wasn't used to any of it. She would have rather looked at different sports and activities than to sit on a chair as people inspected, measured, observed, and schooled her.

Finally, after just a few more minutes, she asked if she could rest. Her teacher cast a reproving glance at her and snorted. "Of course not! You have a ball tomorrow, no time to waste!" This was just the reaction Kagome had prepared for and steadily looked around her unfamiliar room once again. The maids left with their measurements and soon the teacher left.

"Finally!" Kagome breathed with a sigh. "Free!" She danced around a bit then walked to the door, intent on searching for her mother.

She found her in the Grand Hall with Miroku and Sango, she didn't dwell on the matter, it seemed unimportant at the time, but she had to think...Miroku...here? What on earth happened. They were obviously doing something important. "Mother?" She asked, surprised at how calm her voice was. Miroku and her mother started, Sango just shifted her glance towards Kagome from her chair. Now that she faced her decision, Kagome wasn't feeling confident like she thought she would or eager now that she had started her plan.

"What is it?" Her mother said patiently although Kagome could register the eagerness and shifting eyes.

"I want to ask something of the ball tomorrow..." Kagome paused. "Could I talk with you alone?"

Queen Higurashi looked at Miroku then at Sango. "Sure honey, anything." They retired to a far corner of the hall shielded with soft satin curtains.

"I just wanted it to be a masquerade." Kagome said abruptly and made to as if leave when her mother's voice, filled with surprise, stopped her.

"A masquerade? Why would you want that?" She said with utter astonishment.

Kagome sighed yet again and looked directly at her mother. "If I have no choice whatsoever in this problem of getting married, then I want to choose someone who can rule this kingdom with the right mind and positive attitude then just someone with good looks." She nodded her head and parted the curtain when her mother stopped her again.

"I don't understand."

"I just wanted the kingdom to be ruled by someone who's honest instead of some guy whose ego would overwhelm the country..." Kagome's breath came in shorter as she tried to keep up an honest face, she was really making this up from the top of her mind but her mother didn't need to know that.

Her mother looked down at the marble floor and sighed. "Sometimes I swear you know what you're doing, but then again, I have to question myself." Kagome waited with impatience. "Very well, have it your way, either way, we have a new king!" Her mother smiled a half smile and brushed the curtains away, walking with a new dance to her step that really wasn't there. Kagome breathed in slowly, she smiled a little sadly and then walked through the back curtains.

"One thing down, two to go." She whispered to herself.

~~*~~

It wasn't like her to keep secrets from Sango, but she promised that she was going to tell Sango when she got the chance, but that chance hasn't really come yet. She had just spent a good half of the last hour hunting around for Kagome. Retained to the castle, her choices were limited. She soon gave up, there was possibly no other choice but to sneak out of the castle and scour the kingdom for her, she was a vital part to her plan, no matter how Kikyo distasted her.

~~*~~

"Go, don't go, go, don't go, go, don't go, go..." The last petal fell to the floor, a soft sigh issued from the shadows. "What's the use?! Every fucking flower I pick ends up on GO!" Inuyasha slumped against the inn's wall. He was just about to go down and get a bite to eat when Marie came in.

"Inuyasha, got a message." She smiled happily and gave him an elegant piece of folded paper, he immediately recognized the crest imprinted on it. Quickly ripping the seal, he scanned the letter. A small smile crept to his face as he read on, finally, he looked up and was slightly annoyed by the presence of Marie. "What does it say?"

Inuyasha cocked an eyebrow and snorted. "You REALLY believe I'll tell you?" He said ironically as if he couldn't settle for a downright 'no'.

"Inuyasha, if you won't succumb to mercy, then I'll tell about the murmurs you've been having in your sleep.

Inuyasha blinked conspicuously. "What...murmurs..." He said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

"Well...what was that girl's name again? Kagura...Kikyo...Kamari... I know it's somewhere-" Marie pretended to think hard.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha hinted with slight annoyance. "You don't really believe I have dreams of Kagome do you?" He said with slight distaste. "That stupid girl?!"

"O...I don't know..." Marie voiced sarcastically with a hint of innocence.


"Pssh, you don't know a thing!" Inuyasha diverted his attention and ushered Marie out of the door. "Is there anything else you want to bother me about?"

"Quite frankly...no." Marie said with sarcasm dripping from her falsely honeyed voice. "No, not at all."

~~*~~

It was a quiet day after the bustle of yesterday's preparations. The birds sang sweetly in the softly moving leaves as Princess Kagome walked under them and towards an old shrine. It took her forever to convince her waiting ladies to let her take a short stroll across the garden but she did it in the end. "Ah, what am I going to do!" Kagome whispered harshly to herself.

"Do what?" Kikyo voiced harshly and stepped from the shadows in a rather stunning gown. She wore a white blouse with long sleeves under a sparkling silver vest look alike, it had a high drawn up color with no sleeves and ended in a dip in the front and a point in the back. The gown went down and covered her shoes, it was white underneath save for the sparkling overlay of some fabric Kagome couldn't identify, but she knew it was a costly sort of thing and didn't question it. Kikyo's neck was adorned with a silver choker with a moon and star hanging from it, she had on no makeup but a small tiara that held up a messy bun on her head. "I'd thought you like it. You can move freely in this gown even though it looks like something tight and hard to breathe in." She let Kagome gawk a bit longer and then with a look of gloating pleasure turned to leave.

Kagome was so swept up by her dress that she almost forgot what she was going to say. "Ah...K-Kikyo! Wait!" Kikyo turned around slowly, smirking as she did. "I've got a big favor to ask of you. I really need your help." Kikyo cocked an eyebrow and looked at Kagome like she was kidding. "Look, I'll pay you for it, I'll buy you dresses, anything!"

"Anything?" Kikyo voiced with a little hope and one who was thinking speedily of what she could ask of Kagome.

"Yes, anything." Kagome confirmed.

"Well...ask away then." Kikyo said with a slight glimmer of greediness in her eyes.

~~*~~

Kagome stood there looking at her gown, it had a red top with see-through sleeves that were red, there was a semi low dip with rubies sown into the hem. The sleeves were made to cover her hands but you could still see through them, a lighter red color made up the gown underneath, it was covered with small jewel shards that glittered even without the touch of light. Kagome could efficiently guess that when the wearer moved, shadows seemed to quiver and move along with the person although the full light was on the dress, it gave off a mysterious sort of look as well as making people feel in awe of the wearer. Beautiful embroidery of phoenixes was around the edge of the gown and looked as if they would fly right out at you at any moment. A single butterfly pendent sat on the point of the dip in the top. It's wings were silver, dotted with rubies, fire seemed to come off it but Kagome couldn't feel any heat. A golden tiara sat on a velvet cushion at the foot of the gown, it had a dazzling phoenix in a caught action just about to take flight. Its wings were spread and shown orange, red, and yellow. A fiery haze grew and shrank around the phoenix when Kagome moved to see the various reflections from it, the diamonds surrounded the bird but it seemed to sparkle on it's own. A delicate phoenix mask was propped up beside the tiara, it had the original fiery colors, dazzling gems and the fiery glow, it was clearly overdone but would show off anybody who wore it.

Kikyo gawked at the beautiful and intriguing gown in front of her but Kagome had snapped her attention three seconds after observing it. "You can have this gown if you'll do what I ask you." Kagome said confidently to Kikyo who was clearly in awe of it.

"Make it three and I'll do it." Kikyo bargained and Kagome nodded as she shook her hands to get the silver and white nail polish to dry faster.

"Now, the hairdressers, makeup artists, last-minute edit people, etc. will come in around an hour later, they'll do everything for you, the waiting ladies are in the spare room to the left if you want to call on them, try not to give them too much to do, they're really easily agitated and try to act like me. Even though they're a little ignorant of me, they still can point out the smallest mistakes just by looking at you." Kagome informed as she tried to loosen the tight choker.

"Alright, alright, I've been told already what to do!" Kikyo insisted and hurried Kagome out of the room. "I've done this before when you ran away, now get going so they don't see both of us here."

Kagome really didn't mind being pushed out into the corridor, she pressed out the wrinkles in her dress and walked down the marble tiled halls, looking for the guest rooms that haven't been in use.

Her heels echoed off the halls eerily and more than once did she have to purposely cover her head with a sleeve to hide her face. She had wondered through most of the halls and encountered a number of people when a dark male voice startled her.

"Kagome! Wait!"

Kagome unsteadily went on, trying to ignore the voice, which she knew who it belonged. She covered half of her face and scanned the rooms on her right, careful to not falter in her step.

"Kagome! Stop being stubborn!" And in a blur of wind, her arm was lowered to her side and she was staring into dark brown eyes. "You look stunning in that gown. You really should let yourself go more often." Kouga said, checking her out.

Kagome tried to put on her best confused smile but failed miserably. "Ah...who are you?" She asked with at least a tone of bewilderment.

"Don't be silly, I'm Kouga, you know, wolf, prince...ring a bell?"

"I really don't know who you are." Kagome said while walking around him and continuing her walk down the hall.

"Kagome." He said firmly which made Kagome stop. "I know your smell anywhere." She turned slowly around him.

"I'm not Kagome!" She looked furiously at Kouga, he was going to ruin everything if he found out her plan, it was going to go to waste. "I'm Kikyo!"

He stopped for a moment and seemed to be thinking of a way to tell her that there was NO possible way that she was Kikyo. "I've met Kikyo before, and you act nothing like her." He said uneasily.

"Maybe you have some sort of incurable cold that infects the nose or-" She was saved the excuses when Queen Higurashi arrived down the hall and called to Kouga, Kagome made a mad dash towards the stairs just at the end of the hall when she heard her name called. Her automatic reflex was to turn around but for the time being she focused on going against every single nerve in her body.

"Kagome!" Her mom called again and this time she was saved the time of turning around because Kouga had easily caught up to her and turned her around.

"What's wrong with you? There's something on your mind today-" Kagome forcefully threw his hands off of her and walked determinedly down the stairs, she expected a rush of wind but didn't feel one, at last, she let out a sigh and headed for the guestrooms. That, was just too close.

~~*~~

Sango sat slumped in the big chair in her room, thinking over how Miroku and her had met. It was odd really, they had met because of a dancing competition of sorts, but that wasn't the thing that was gnawing at her. "Drat it, drat it all!" Sango grumbled at her hair, which had been touched up, and her makeup put on. She grumbled a bit more and looked fixedly at the mirror before her. Why did Miroku do that...? I know he wants a child...but...does he really love me? Probably not, he's just a perverted freak who likes to lure in stupid women- like me...She was continually battling against herself, arguing that she was being tricked into marrying him and that he only wanted to have a child, but the other part was saying that he truly loved her and that she loved him too. But he's a commoner! SO? What's wrong with that?! I wouldn't be able to marry him then...Who said anything about that?! Your friend's mother has just met the guy, she doesn't know that he's a commoner...Then Sango's eyes widened. Miroku had acted calmly towards the queen like a friend to a friend, he hadn't been surprised when Sango led him into the castle. Then she gasped, they had known all along that they were of royal blood, it just had to be, those BASTARDS! They only want the money, the inheritance! JERKS, BASTARDS! Sango, you baka! HE has the last laugh and what about you? Blind as a bat! Sango closed her eyes and winced as the thought crossed her mind. Of all the stupid people, I'm the one who got tricked, I feel so alone now! I've got to tell Kagome and quick! She breathed in a deep sigh. Inuyasha could've known all along, seeing how we had so much gold...I should've known! What sort of a friend am I if I can't even keep my friend away from thieves! COMMONERS! She screamed the word in her brain and stomped moodily out of her room and towards Kagome's.

~~*~~

A/N: Well...I got tired of writing and thought to post this up before it gets any more boring...etc. Remember to review, I'm still trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together so don't expect an update anytime soon! Review! And thanx for waiting!