Chapter 2:  by Kojika85

Aoshi gave an overly dramatic sigh as he sat watching the flickering screen. Unconciously his thumb pressed the button on the black rectangular instrument commonly known as a remote. He dared to allow his thoughts to venture to his present demise. He seemed to go from popular bass player in a semi-famous band, to a couch potatoe. Oh how the fates seemed to frown upon him. It was all because of HER! A simple slip of a girl, hardly anything to mull over, and yet, this creature had managed to make his life a living hell.

Misao Makimachi. How he loathed that name. Because of her and her incessant attentions, he had been booted from his band only to watch on the sidelines as they made their climb to stardom. Hardly the most noble of reasons to have comrades shun him.

He sighed once more and ran his hand through his wayward locks. His piercing ice blue eyes gazed upon the screen, as he witnessed a cluster of insane asylum escapees attempt to achieve an archaically simple goal. Surely these people HAD to be insane, if they truly did compete in some of the ludicrous challenges offered them. Then again, some people would do anything for money. This show only succeeded in making that fact painfully obvious. Aoshi gave a glare at the screen once more. Fools.

A shrieking resonating beside him tore him from his musings. Upon looking at the caller i.d. he noted with some distaste, the number of one of his more persistent creditors. No doubt, the hounds from hell were nipping at his heels in the form of financial sharks. Funny how they reminded him of a certain blue haired, blue eyed, blood hound. He spared one last glance at the screen, his previous thought echoing in his mind.....'anything for money.'

Perhaps he, Aoshi Shinomori, found himself in such dire straits, as to seek the financial stability offered by a game show where people remarkably resembling humans, subjugated themselves to such tortures. One question remained. Should he even entertain thoughts of such wanton desperation? A quick look at his caller i.d. beside him with it's numerous unanswered calls answered that question for him. Yes, yes he was.

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Kouga sighed in long suffering. The nuisance otherwise known as Ayame, was once more tightly latched onto his forearm. He noticed with mild amusement as his hand became an interesting shade of red, causing his veins to puff out. Said woman droned on about how much she was looking forward to visiting the Pacific. True, he usually wasn't the type whom usually stooped to dubious acts in order to rid himself of the mindless prattle put out so effortlessly by Ayame, but at the moment anything short of sewing her mouth shut appeared welcome.

True he had told the fiery red-head that they were going to the Pacific, but conveniently left out the minor detail that it was not going to include a nice hotel and spa. No, this trip was going to be somewhat different. He had made sure that the two of them would be admitted to compete on the reality series Survivor.

Surely the woman would turn pale at the notion of not having electricity and a telephone in ready supply would cause her enough alarm to fail out right, if not demand to be voted off the first chance she got.

Yes, then he would be left alone to enjoy the peace and quiet that accompanied the great outdoors, as well as the company of someone other than the emotional chatter-box he was forced to accompany. Her father being a major business manufacturer, and his own financial prowess had landed him in this volatile relationship.

She fawned over him, and he recoiled in fear of inadvertently being the cause of her possibly breaking a nail. Heaven forbid one of the perfectly sculpted bundles of dead cells should hope to detach itself. Hell she spent enough of his money on the damn things that they deserved a bank account of their own.

Said nails were now dug deep into his skin. Kouga looked down at his companion to see that she was looking at him with puzzlement and anger.

"What did I do now?" His voice was surprisingly stable. Ayame looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you just going to sit there and allow that....that...waitor, to treat me with such disrespect?!?" Now all eyes within the quaint restaurant were upon them.

"Well then let me rephrase that.....what did HE do now?" Kouga suppressed another sigh as she went on about how he dared to attempt to serve her water from the tap rather than the cultured purified and pampered water she had requested.

"I asked for a Dasani, and he gave me this crap!" Said crap was now splashed all over the poor unsuspecting waiter as he was close to wringing her spoiled neck. Had he chosen to do so, Kouga doubted anyone would have truly minded. He would more than likely have received cheers from the other diners.

Kouga shook his head, and silently vowed to one day find a woman whom he would be better equipped to court. After his little triste with this woman in the Pacific, he would be on the prowl again. Certainly not all women were like this. Why can't more be like HER? Kouga found his mind drifting back to a woman he had met while back-packing on the Moores of England.

Time had long since erased her face, but her name and voice echoed through his mind still. Someday I want to be with a woman like that. Outgoing, intelligent, sincere, and most of all; a woman not afraid to get dirt underneath sculpted nails!

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Inuyasha had just hung up the phone after another costly long-distance talk with his long-time girlfriend. He couldn't believe their luck. Somehow, they had both been selected to appear on the show Survivor.

He tossed the baseball cap off his head and threw it towards the eight empty Dr. Pepper cans lining his bar. He needed to practice his aim, never know if that sort of thing will come in handy for those different challenges.

He couldn't help the sigh of happiness that escaped his lips. If he won the million dollars he could afford to have Kagome move out to live with him in Philadelphia. Of course, he knew she loved New York, but surely she would give up her ridiculous idea of being a 'working woman' and be his wife.

What girl wouldn't want to marry him? He honestly couldn't think of any reason for the two to not get hitched. They had dated for so long now. This game should be the last spark in their lives before being married.

He smiled, his white canines flashing. This game would allow him to be her knight in shining armor in front of millions of viewers. Maybe even in front of billions of viewers! As soon as he won the show he knew exactly what he would do. That's when he'd get down on one knee and propose, on live television.

Inuyasha kicked his dirty shoes onto his coffee table, ignoring the fact that some of the sketches Kagome had made for him during their vacation together were now soiled by the action. His life was perfect and was only about to become more perfect.

Suddenly the phone rang again. "Shit," Inuyasha cursed as he leapt to retrieve the phone from the cradle. It was Miroku. But he didn't hear a word he said as he stared in horror at the ruined sketches in his living room. "Kagome's going to kill me."

"What?" Miroku asked confused from the other end of the phone.

"Nothing, what did you say?" Inuyasha closed his eyes, refusing to see the mud covered sketches. It was times like these that he was glad that Kagome didn't live with him. She'd probably leave him in a heartbeat with as much a neat-freak as she is. She was almost as bad as his stupid older brother.