Okay, look, responses NOW. Aren't you excited?!
acrimsonnight: Awww, look at the nice long review! Thank you thank you thank you! Okay, let me answer your questions, if I can;
I'm going to boarding school. . .Let's see, I move in September 7th, yes. That is correct. I am going because, well, I applied for a scholarship to this particular place because it looked cool, art based education and what not, but I decided I wouldn't go if I didn't get the super huge scholarship because it's pretty fucking expensive for a place that isn't even a college. It seemed pointless. However, I got first runner up for that thing and then, they started dangling financial aid in front of my face and then, they started sending me all these letters and packages. I'm a sucker for attention. So I said yes, and now I'm going. That was a nice big long explanation, but you asked. . .Sorry if I bored you.
Yukari was beaming because in this story she's a bit out-of-it. The kind of person that's a weird combination of a soccer mom and a drug addict. However, she may have had hidden motives, you never know. . .
Yes, Hojo is a little sweetheart. I hate sweetness.
Well I'm not saying if it said, "I LOVE KAGOME." Hee hee, I'm a terrible tease. I make my poor readers guess at everything. Pretty soon they'll all hate my guts, just wait. But I will say this: supposing it did say that (and I'm not saying that it didn't either), it would be stalker-creepy, but in a cute kind of way. Hopefully.
I'm not going to tell you what person Kagome was unknowingly thinking of because it would spoil the surprise. :)
Well it did sound like stalker work. I wouldn't want somebody rifling through my underwear. Okay, it depends on just who would be doing the rifling. Hmm. . .
I'm so glad you're interested when I update! Ooo, I have a fan!
Love the long reviews, it's a comfort. Thanks!
ruinku: Hey, thanks for the support!
Tsuki Yume: Ha ha, good point. There are many many computers where I'm going, but they aren't necessarily the issue. The issue concerns time and the lack thereof. I guess I'll just have to make time, won't I?
MitsukiKikistar: Glad you got used to Inuyasha being gay. I don't know if you've noticed, but I didn't try to tweak his personality that much. He's basically the same character. Makes you wonder about his preferences in the series. . .You never know, maybe Kikyo actually shot him with the arrow because she caught him cheating with Jakotsu. Just kidding. Hey, thanks for the support, I'll bet Queer Eye is his favorite show. Ha ha.
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Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha for cripes sake. Quit sending people after me.
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Chapter 9-The Boy Next Door
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I was sitting on a bench massaging my ankle. The room had wood floors, one wall was all mirror. To the casual observer, it looked like a dancing studio. Lucky guess. It was. But for actors.
My fingers fondled the heel of my foot appreciatively, it had been little over five days since I had gotten my cast removed, and I was enjoying ever minute of it. It wouldn't be easy to forget that cast. I mean, hell. It was so itchy by the time I went in to get it taken off that Inuyasha had already had to rip sharp objects out of my hands on several occasions. I'll admit that I'm rather confident, even when I know what I'm doing is impossible; like, for example, cutting a cast off with safety scissors.
Everyone had signed it. I eventually got so bored that I forced myself to manage with the crutches, and Inuyasha wasn't about to carry me to work either. So when I made it into the hall very gradually word spread and people came out of their rooms with felt-tip markers in their hands. Sango of course gave me her signature, and Miroku. Inuyasha wrote something rude and crude where I couldn't see that made all the ladies gasp.
And then, when I made it to the theater to sign some forms and what not, everyone there signed it. Even people that I didn't know. I'm pretty sure the entire staff there made their mark on my bandages, except for Kikyo. However, I'm not complaining.
From my family, I got a single phone call from my mother and a cute little get well card from Souta, which was given a permanent honorary space on my bedroom windowsill. My mother, though she got points for speaking to me, was hardly as cute. She managed to express her concern half-heartedly with no malice, but no real worry either. She also represented dad, who apparently cared just as much as she did and was only allowed a brief mention in a very short string of comments related to my injury.
I continued to wait on the bench. These practices were starting just in time for me to get used to life without a hurt foot again. Well, not really practices, they were more like auditions. Again. This time, however, it was for a part.
Yukari had given me all the details over the phone shortly after I had finished celebrating destructively. My eyes wandered to the place on my arm where I had sketched out everything she told me in black marker. Several showers later it was faint and somewhat difficult to read, but the essentials were still there. I squinted at my skin for a while before raising my head and looking around. It was a bit lonely sitting there all by myself, and I blamed the absence of everyone else on the fact that I had shown up an hour later so as not to risk an accident similar to the one I had just experienced regarding an audition.
But time was running out for everyone, and now I was starting to worry that Yukari had told me to come to the wrong room in the theater to meet my fellow actors. Yet I had no other options but to continue to sit on the bench and wait, so that was what I did.
A few more minutes passed, and I grew more and more tense as they passed. My fascination with my foot had dwindled and I was very soon completely absorbed with concern. It would not be good to mess up my first day, I wouldn't be rid of the embarrassment for weeks. Then again, I knew in the back of my head that Hojo would smile and help me recover in the presence of people who were far more experienced than I was, and thus the superiors I was trying to impress. Yeah, Hojo wouldn't let me crash and burn so easily.
Just then, my thoughts were interrupted as someone began opening the door. I sat up immediately and began walking towards it, immensely relieved and already talking non-stop.
"Hi," I said jovially, "Are you here for the auditions too? Is this the right room? I've been sitting here for a while, I don't know if I'm where I should be, I'm new, I – "
My mouth shut with a nearly-audible snap as a pretty woman with waist-length black hair emerged from behind the door and closed it silently with a withering stare directed solely at me. Kikyo.
A well of anger stirred in me at the sight of her, but I quieted it thinking that this was not the time to hold grudges. It was a time for fresh starts, and I was going to take advantage of it. Dropping my surprise, I smiled politely. "Hello," I said again.
She smiled, badly. My first thought was that the half-sneer, narrow-eyed 'smile' was a poor attempt at making me believe that she wasn't actually thinking something that didn't yield a smile – about me. Then I remembered that Kikyo was an actress and realized that she could have summoned a decent fake smile if she'd wanted to, and this evil look was the real thing. It was the kind of look that stereotypical, snobby, rich old ladies give to everyone else just before they say something like, "charmed." Kikyo did not say "charmed." Kikyo didn't say anything at all.
But I was determined, and decided that she would get used to me if I continued to express the fact that I meant her no harm. "You're here for the auditions, right?" I asked her innocently.
Her murderous smile faded immediately. "Of course I am."
Well excuse me. Third time's a charm, I told myself with dwindling faith in my plan to make amends. "So I'm in the right room?"
"I would think so," she snapped coldly.
"Ahh...Great." I looked around uselessly, "Well, that's a relief."
She didn't respond. Just stared at me icily with the poise of a statue.
Stupidly, I tried again to make small conversation and devoted my entire attention to her once more, "So have you been an actress long?"
I should have seen it coming. Nine times out of ten when something is unnaturally quiet and evil, it's two seconds away from going off. Albeit, it was a rather silent explosion, but an explosion nonetheless, and one that stung very much at that.
Kikyo advanced on me a few steps like a panther stalking it's prey, and stopped abruptly about a foot away. Then, looking down at me from above, she started to speak in heated tones with vocabulary that was as sleek and dangerous as the edge of a knife.
"I haven't the slightest idea what Adrian and Myouga were thinking, but I can tell you right now that I certainly wasn't thinking the same thing," she began, "I would like you to know that in my opinion you have the acting ability of a rock and it is highly unfortunate that I was the only one competent enough to realize that. However, the fact that you managed to flagrantly seduce the rest of the judges does not in any way mean that you are actually deserving of the station you've been so stupidly granted. I'm sure that up until now you've allowed yourself to believe that you actually have the skill to participate in this theater but I assure you," she leaned in closely, and hissed, "it doesn't exist. I advise you not to pretend that you're something you're not, because I can see straight through your poorly acted performance."
I stood there blinking several moments, caught completely off-guard by Kikyo's sudden outburst. My mouth opened a little as I was about to say something, and as it did so I could feel the tears collecting in my eyes.
But just then, as I was on the verge of bursting into tears and expressing some sort of pathetic comeback to Kikyo, Hojo and Yukari bounced through the door together. Yukari ran to me immediately and gave me several happy pats on the back with a string of congratulatory compliments while Hojo emerged at her side, smiling.
As Yukari threw her arms around me in a crushing hug, my eyes wandered back to Kikyo over her shoulder and I saw that she was grinning darkly. Then Hojo attracted my attention, as his companion had released me and he was stepping up to the plate shyly. Swallowing my tears, I gave him a little smile, and felt my hurt disappearing gradually as he gave me a look that suggested he was purely enjoying just standing near me. Then, before I had much time to react, he wrapped me up in a tender sort of embrace.
I hugged him back, suddenly finding myself in a realm of bliss, when again my gaze was pulled back to Kikyo. She had a different look on her face that time. It was one of shock, surprise, and then it became one that was calculating. I didn't bother trying to figure out what she was thinking though. I didn't want to know.
"Oooo! I'm so happy you got in Kagome!" Yukari was still squirming with glee beside me.
Hojo let me go awkwardly and I smiled up at him. His face was a vivid red and I found the fact that he was still old enough to blush and fumble around in the presence of girls to be absolutely adorable. It was a dream for me, a sensitive guy who A) wasn't gay, B) blushed, C) stuttered a little when nervous, D) liked theater (and still, not gay!), E) wasn't Kouga, and finally, F) wasn't Inuyasha either. Kikyo's harsh reprimand hovered in the background of the moment, stamping its foot for attention that it certainly wouldn't get from me anymore.
I turned to Yukari, filled with a passiveness that made me more calm and content than I had been in days. Suddenly I felt like I was a head above the rest, and Hojo was the only one level with me. Together we looked down on everyone else, not in a prideful sort of way, but just happy, bright, enjoying each other's company at the top of the world where we suddenly understood everything.
"Thanks Yukari," I said gently, watching her jump up and down, grinning.
"We're going to have so much fun!" she clapped her hands once. I saw Kikyo set her purse on the floor and pull out a water bottle from the corner of my eye. She looked around at the walls with disgust while screwing and unscrewing the top of her bottle as if it were her sinister weapon of torture. She really didn't strike me as a particularly happy person.
People filed into the room gradually, some greeted Kikyo, until the crowd grew large enough so that she was lost in it. Nearly every one of them found me where I stood, practically clinging to Hojo and Yukari, my only connections in the little sea of faces, and congratulated me somehow. In the earlier moments before there were many actors in the room, I was sufficiently introduced. By the time Mr. Grey had arrived to conduct us around into some form of order, I had learned quite a few names.
He waved around and called out in his deep, resonant voice, telling us to quiet down. At first he suggested forming a circle, but that idea was lost in the crowd of persistent voices and eventually he just settled for standing on top of an overturned crate from the corner to continue to tell us to shut up. When we did, he began speaking loudly about what the agenda for the next few hours would be like.
"Now," his arms dropped to his sides, "Today we are going to start trying to form a cast for our next project, Romeo and Juliet. But first, I would like you all to acknowledge the presence of our latest fellow actor, Kagome Higurashi."
I pulled a Hojo and went pink as many sets of eyes came to rest on me. One at a time was fine, but when they all suddenly decided to stare at me it was almost too much. Performing in front of an audience was going to be tough.
They burst into applause immediately after they'd trained their gazes on me, and Mr. Grey smiled fondly. I returned the smile, with a little difficulty because I was still trying to get used to all the attention. Instead of being hurt or insulted, I knew suddenly that out in the room Kikyo was probably sulking bitterly and her hands were undoubtedly folded or at her sides, but they most definately weren't clapping. My thoughts on the subject at the time were something like: fine, if the bitch doesn't want to applaud me, fuck her.
As the cheering faded, Mr. Grey's voice leapt up again and a plan of action was formed.
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We were going out alphabetically. Out and in front of a decent crowd of about fifty people to read snippets of dialogue from a sheet of paper. This was not what I was used to, doing the acting thing in front of a group, a big group. My experience came to about two or three elementary school plays and my tryout before three good-natured guys and a woman with the temperament of a wet cat.
Hojo and Yukari had last names that came before mine, and so I watched them. They were both bright and splendid, and had roughly the same style about them. Secretly I was crossing my fingers for Hojo, thinking in the back of my mind of him as Romeo, and what was steadily appearing impossible, me as Juliet. There was no harm done if we were acting like we were in love, was there? No, no harm at all, purely innocent. However, if Yukari and Hojo both acted roughly the same, we had a problem. There couldn't be two Romeos.
Kikyo stepped up, and gave a performance that, I cannot deny, was pretty darn good. Deciding that it would sting all the more if I made it obvious that her shower of insults was on par with the buzzing of a fly to me, I clapped heartily for her so that she saw me in the crowd. Then I made sure to mouth the words, "good job," and wink. She looked furious.
But my entertainment and comfort were short-lived when I was ousted from my spot among the actors and nudged onto the stage of the upturned crate. The expectations of lots of people was weighing on me tremendously, but I found that all I had to do was keep my lifelines clearly in my head. Hojo and the prospect of being his Juliet, and Kikyo and the prospect of beating her to pieces.
It was over shortly, and when I was finished I listened closely to the muttering that swept the people before me before strong applause reached my ears. My eyes found what had very shortly become my arch-nemesis and I gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up with a huge, open smile. Having finished reaping the benefits of a performance well-completed in theater bully department, I shifted my attention to Hojo and Yukari.
Yukari was jumping around energetically, something that was making me think more and more of her as a ferret, and Hojo was still clapping. He lifted his hand up and out to me, and after a few puzzled moments on my behalf I realized what he was doing and let him help me off the crate, a pointless thing that made me glow all over.
To my dismay, the process was repeated, this time, more selectively. Mr. Grey had been taking notes the entire time, and using them as a guide, he called names out randomly and this time, those who were called were shuffled into a room off to the side. The next phase of the operation was more relaxed, so I was too. There weren't people all around to make me nervous anymore.
I did my bit, Hojo and Yukari, who were also called, did theirs. So did Kikyo, and all the rest, and then that was done.
But before we were to breath easy, call backs were once again initiated. But this time, the contenders of the fight were few. They consisted of Kikyo, Hojo, and Me. Kikyo and Hojo entered the ring together first, with their heads held high, and left me standing with Yukari outside the door, free to speculate about the goings on inside.
A few minutes later Kikyo emerged, alone, and paused once in her step to give me a look obviously reserved for the very lowest creatures of the earth; namely me. . .and just about everyone else. I took her place inside after Yukari wished me good luck.
Hojo was standing with Mr. Grey and Myouga, who up until then I hadn't noticed in the swarm of actors. They were conversing quietly when I walked in, and then at my entrance Hojo was left by himself as the other two retreated to their seats, which had been set up just a few feet from us.
I walked to him with my hands folded on top of each other, primp and sweet as a junior high girl. Mr. Myouga announced to me that Hojo had officially been chosen for the part of Romeo, and my heart soared. Immediately I drew my own conclusions, and decided that my presence could only mean one thing. . .
They were considering me for Juliet.
Acting with Hojo was a breeze. I was more comfortable than I felt I'd been in a long while, and just let the words tumble out of my mouth with a pretty picture of myself bedecked in a flowing gown, leaning over a balcony and expressing my love to Hojo in front of a fake full moon and castle courtyard in mind.
Before I knew it, it was over again, and I was looking up into my partner's eyes in the wake of a sudden rush of blissful peace again. I would have been content to just stand there and waver before him like a flower, but Mr. Grey yanked me away from that idea.
He thanked Hojo and myself for our performance, and together we left. As we were walking out the door, the most amazingly wonderful thing happened.
I felt a hand snake around mine gently, and my eyelashes fluttered. Hojo gave my fingers a quick squeeze and whispered, "You did very well, Kagome." Then without another word, he released my hand and Yukari faced us from where she'd been waiting next to the door.
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"Romeo will be played by Hojo. . ." A last name was no longer necessary for Hojo. He was so well known and loved in the theater that everyone just called him Hojo, or picked from a variety of nicknames.
There was a wave of clapping, not very wild because it was expected news. He regularly secured large parts in the plays, often leads, and Yukari had already spread the news eagerly when we told her after coming out of the room.
Myouga grinned and hesitated, his eyes hovering over the recently compiled cast list. I knew that he was about to announce who was to play Juliet.
It'd taken a while, the rest of the auditions. The parts of the main characters was important, but hardly the biggest concern of the directors of the play, Mr. Grey and Myouga. There was a whole other bunch of parts to deal with. So after tackling one bit of the equation, they moved on to sort everything else out, and according to plan, made a cast list.
To be exact, it'd taken several hours. My name was not called again, and neither was Hojo's, but Yukari's was. In the many minutes surrounding her leaving us for the room of doom, we sat together on the floor, the three of us, and played cards with a deck that Hojo had brought along.
"Juliet will be played by. . ."
I pretended to look unconcerned while my hand, still clutching a royal flush, drooped slowly. Yukari was chewing on a pen, and it sagged as well. The fingers that were reaching towards the stack of cards in the middle of our group fell to the ground inch by inch as Hojo stared as well. Gravity pulled on the three of us in the heat of the moment.
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Thunderous applause, Yukari screaming in my ear, Hojo almost falling over in excitement and surprise and sending all the cards flying. I looked out at everyone, trying to breath with arms clamped so tightly around my neck. A spray of cards glittered like party confetti in front of my eyes.
There was a rush of ecstacy roiling around inside of my gut. I was no longer wasting time with wimpy emotions like "passivity" and "happiness." I wasn't taking any prisoners, I felt like I'd just won the game show of the century, and I was fucking ecstatic.
Hojo was grinning next to me a twinkle in his eye, the boy next door. . . In years to come I'd find myself looking around for that very smile, feeling a little let down when I failed to spot another like it, or the same one. It was the moment and the circumstances that made us both, Hojo and me, so wonderfully pleased.
I didn't know it then, but trouble was brewing on the horizon. I'd really gotten things going when I'd gotten that part. Hadn't actually expected the situation to go so far. . .but it did.
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Perfect activity for a rainy day, updating. Second only to playing in the rain. Hm. . .
