Ch.2- Phantom
Kagome sat still, or tried too, but she was so, soo nervous…
She was still…very nervous. See, tonight was the first time she would ever play the lead role in an opera, in front of millions of people no less. Kagome struggled not to fidget as makeup was applied amply to her sapphire eyes and rosy cheeks.
After the cosmetic specialists bustled away to annoy more people, Kagome stood up, adjusted her indigo dress complete with ruffle after ruffle, lots of lace, and heavy sleeves piled onto her slender arms. The dress would be more bearable if it wasn't so... dang heavy! Kagome could barely stand. She shut her eyes and tried to calm herself, imagining what the celebration would be like after the performance. All the food that would be ordered and brought out… the musicians that would surely get drunk and start playing…and arguing, and beating each other over the head with their instruments.
Suddenly she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. Startled, she whipped around to see none other then Miroku there, eyebrow quirked at her anxiety.
"Are you ready, Mademoiselle Kagome?" Miroku suavely asked Kagome nodded, taking short gasps of air, and took one last deep breath before the plunge. She headed off toward the stage; stopped, and looked over her shoulder at Miroku.
"Miroku, please just call me Kagome." She grinned before stepping out unto the stage.
In short the play was a complete and utter success. Kagome stood on stage, joyfully gazing at the millions of smiling and clapping people before her. She watched out of the corner of her eye, two backstage workers pulling on the ropes that allowed the curtains to move back and forth. Kagome quickly curtsied, before the curtains closed. Once the curtains closed fully, Sango ran up to her beaming widely.
"Wow, Kagome that was great!" she panted, out of breath. Kagome blushed; everyone was congratulating each other and having a cup of something strong. Abruptly everyone stopped what they were doing to look at a woman with red eyes and hair pulled back high on her head with two feathers poking out, who had stepped forward. She opened a fan placing it over her face, hiding all but her eyes from plain view. Her eyes swept over the people around her
"Now! Let the party begin!" yelled Kagura, sweeping her fan upward, causing dangling ropes overhead to swing from the gust of wind the fan created, cheers erupted.
Backstage workers raced to the storage rooms, pulling out tables and chairs as quickly as they could. They rushed back to the stage and set up the tables. The ballerinas skipped over to the freezers in the kitchen, and sprinted back with ice cream, saké, pudding, cake, salad, rice, sashimi, and leftovers that were still good from previous nights. Anything and everything was brought out.
During the time were the party was being set up, Shippou sighed sadly. Miroku, who was smiling at all the bustling activity, glanced at his young friend.
"Why, Shippou, would you be miserable about a party?" he asked draping one of his arms around his friends shoulder. Shippou glanced at him wearily.
"You do know this will make a dent in our profit and will add to our payment bills?" Shippou asked, strained. Miroku glanced at him surprised, before sweeping his gaze over the almost finished preparations.
"Profit? Why, my dear, young comrade…why should we worry? Business is skyrocketing!" Miroku hollered gleefully waving his arms in the air. Shippou glanced at Miroku, unconvinced.
"Shippou, don't worry, everything's going to be fine. Profit and payment bills are nothing to worry about." Miroku stated half seriously. Shippou sighed and nodded his head slowly. Miroku beamed back at his partner.
Miroku then rubbed his hands together in glee. "Now…let's see if we can help…" he grinned. Glancing around, he noticed a musician who was carrying a huge container of saké head toward them. Miroku's eyes lit up.
"Monsieur! Let me take that off your hands!" Miroku yelled chasing after the man as he rushed by. Shippou watched, and sweat dropped once his friend had departed.
"This is not good…"
While preoccupied, nobody saw the girl in white that had been in the audience during the play, creep silently to the entrance. She stood out like a soar thumb, but who would notice her with all the hustle and bustle about.
She took her time heading down the grand staircase, not a sound came from the girl, not even the sound of shoes tapping against the marble flooring. She silently opened to the door, and entered into the dark, Paris night.
Only one person noticed this girl in white, as she stood on the curb and glanced out at the darkness of the night. The women who spotted the girl opened her carriage door.
"Kanna!" the person half whispered half shouted, watching as the girl slowly moved her head to where the elegant carriage was parked. The person turned its head to look at the girl in front of her, as she played cat's cradle with strands of hair that the person had given her. The girl looked up from her game, and grinned.
The person grinned back, and turned to look at the open door to find the girl in white standing there.
"Did you record it?" the person asked huffily. Kanna nodded ever so slightly, and, reaching into her white jacket, revealed a round mirror.
"Yes…Madame Kikyou." She said slowly. Kikyou grinned, helping Kanna into the carriage. Kikyou leaned out to see if anybody was around before shutting the carriage door with care. Kikyou turned to face Kanna when she was sure nobody would be around to hear what was happening within the carriage.
"Kanna, show us what you have recorded." Kikyou demanded in a monotone voice.
Kanna clicked a button on the back of the mirror, as the beginning of the performance was revealed unto the mirror. Like a movie.
Kikyou watched as Kagome entered on stage, said something funny, making the crowd laugh, before breaking out into song.
Kikyou frowned, this Kagome was good.
"Come over her-here…Hiccup" slurred a, now drunk, Miroku as he motioned for Sango to sit next to him on a bench. Sango glared at him before turning her back to him, and looked around the room.
Practically everyone was drunk, everyone. Ballerinas were flirting with the musicians and actors, while backstage workers were swinging around on ropes from the rafters. And, like Kagome had predicted, the musicians were hitting each other over the heads with their instruments.
Shippou watched the proceedings; he had tried to keep things under control. But, everyone was so big, and he was so small. He had just decided to stay and avoid everyone when a ballerina had threatened to hang Shippou by his ears from the rafter with a bra. Shippou flinched at the memory. His eyes widened when he saw a musician, holding a drum, staggering under its weight, threw the drum at the cello player, Bankotsu, who picked up his cello, like a baseball bat, and drunkenly swung at the drum. He missed, causing the drum to whoosh by Bankotsu and hit Kouga instead, whom was looking for Kagome and was standing right in the direct path of the drum.
Shippou sighed as he watched as Kouga shoved the drum off himself, picked up the drum, and chucked it at an amazing speed toward Bankotsu. He turned away, so he didn't see Bankotsu get knocked out, or see Jankotsu start a fist fight with Kouga for 'hurting his boyfriend.'
"PERVERT!" yelled a voice. Nobody stopped to see what the commotion was about. Shippou sighed, and headed toward the noise. He arrived to find a struggling Sango sitting on Miroku's lap with his arms around her waist, asleep, and murmuring.
"More sake…b-beautiful…Sango…pleases n-no…waits for me…woohoo……no really…of…sures…" he said puckering up his mouth as if to kiss. Shippou glanced at Sango who was now sitting on his lap with her arms crossed and fuming. Shippou sighed.
"Hold on Sango…" he said exhausted, dragging his feet while he looked for a crowbar.
Kagome had escaped to her room right after everyone started drinking and getting a little bit tipsy.
She had changed into normal wear, which was a black skirt with a blue shirt and a brown vest, she had also taken out all the pins and ribbons that kept her hair in a nest of black curls on the top of her head. Kagome shook her head, allowing her hair to be cascade down into a mass of tangled curls. She closed her eyes, and was reaching across her desk to retrieve her hairbrush, when a shot of pain ran through the tip of her fingertip.
"OW!...what-?" she had opened her eyes, and noticed the source of pain instantly. For it had popped out from all the clutter of stuff she had on her desk.
It was a rose, with a black ribbon tied around it.
She lifted it up and smiled, a distant look crossed her face. She jumped, as if remembering something, and left her room in a rush to go to the dungeons.
This was where she was now, as she lifted the match to the single candle that occupied the room. She watched as the candle wick sputtered to life, and then she carefully blew out the match. She sat down on her knees, watching as the flame danced, flickering and flitting around. Her thoughts drifted to when she first came down into these dungeons.
A 5 year-old Kagome was shaking as she lit a candle, it was so cold and dark. She had come down here to escape all the people, so many people. She watched the flame, but her site of fire was soon blurred by the welling up of tears.
Her father had died.
She gripped her skirt and allowed the threatening tears to fall.
"Oi, will you stop crying already?" asked or more like demanded in an annoyed voice.
Kagome looked up to find herself looking at a mirror, reflecting a red-eyed girl with messy black ha. She turned away from the mirror to try to find the owner of the voice. She stood up and turned her head but couldn't see another soul in the room.
"Wha-? Where are you?" she asked, still looking around the room. Seeing nothing but the mirror, the candle, and the stained glass window that was coated with many years of dirt and dust.
"I'm here." the voice, definitely a boy's answered.
"Why can't I see you?" Kagome concentrated to find out were the voice was coming from; she could hear the rhythm of water dripping unto the floor from the ceiling.
"Keh, I don't want you to see me idiot." The boy answered, Kagome couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from, for it echoed and never seemed to have a source.
"Well…excuse me!" Kagome huffed, crossing her arms. There was a long silence resonating across the room.
…………………
"Have you left?"
"No. Do you want me too?" she replied snappily. Another static pause.
"Well…you could stay here…I…do…get…well…lonely……by myself…"he stuttered. Kagome smiled even though she couldn't see the person.
"My name's Kagome." She started happily. All she got in reply was her echo.
"Inuyasha." Was the boy's final reply.
Kagome grinned, this was the most she had ever smiled since her father had died.
"OI! Stop ignoring me!" rang out Inuyasha's voice as Kagome was brought back into focus.
"What?" Kagome hadn't known that Inuyasha had started talking. She heard a growl echo through the room, it had been frightening at first, but she had gotten used to this after 10 years of talking and arguing with him. Now it seemed more like a puppy vying for attention.
"You can be such an idiot sometimes…" she heard him mumble, loud enough that she could hear it.
"Why you ignorant little…um…jerk!" she shouted at him, it was a good thing that the dungeons were way underneath the main building for if they weren't everyone could've heard them.
"HAH! Is that the worse you can do wench?" he asked mockingly.
"NO!" Kagome screamed at back at him.
"Good thing that Kikyou person is gone,…she sounded awful. That background almost hit her…such a pity." Inuyasha said disgust hanging on his every word. Realization dawned on Kagome.
"OMG! Inuyasha! I can't believe you! Releasing that background!" Kagome said surprised.
"I did you a favor…I saved everyone from her singing." He replied simply avoiding the question. Kagome thought about it before bursting out laughing. After she had stopped, the two had lapsed into silence.
"You did ok tonight…" started Inuyasha. Kagome perked up.
"Really? You came out and saw it?" she asked happily.
"Feh, I have to watch everyone, whether it's the bad, the good, or the best actors…"he paused.
"Or maybe some idiotic, stupid, talent-less, person I know…" he finished jokingly. Kagome, at the last comment, burst.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" she yelled, clenching her hands in a quite unlady-like demeanor.
"Who're you going to kill?" asked a voice. Kagome spun around and saw Sango leaning against the doorframe, chocolate eyes looking at Kagome suspiciously. Kagome looked around the room and saw her self peering at her from the mirror.
She quickly pointed at the mirror, seeing her reflection just as quickly point back at her.
"That person…?" she half stated half asked. She saw Sango's reflection as she raised an eyebrow.
"What were you doing down here?" she asked. Coming up behind Kagome, Kagome sighed and turned around to face her friend.
"I was…p-…practicing singing! And…talking to myself?" she answered. Sango still stared at her weirdly.
"Soo…you're going to kill yourself?" she asked. Kagome nodded, and then shook her head, fixing her mistake.
"No…I-I was berating myself." she paused.
"And arguing with myself." She finished finally, flinching when she heard a muffled snicker. Sango glanced at her friend's nervousness, but then her eyes shot wide in realization. Taking Kagome by the arm she led Kagome out of the dungeon.
"Come on Kagome, lets go see what movies are playing…"Inuyasha waited for their voices to become softer, and there footsteps started fading away before snickering at Kagome's foolishness.
His snickering echoed through the damp dungeons.
(GO PUPPI-CHAN! bLuSpHinx)
(She saw, she studied, she FINALLY FINISHED!) Puppi-chan