Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own him. Or her. Or any of them. In fact, I don't own anything at all because everything I have really belongs to my parents.

3

A
Pounding Headache
and
Sinking Hearts

OWWW! My head was pounding when I woke up. Where was I? I looked around and saw that I was lying on a couch. I tried to get up but ended up groaning. It was as if my head was being hammered relentlessly. When I tried to raise my head, I felt like the world was spinning around me and I felt like puking. I ended up lying on the couch and examining my surroundings.

This place was completely foreign. It looked Japanese. (AN: They're in LA so this would seem strange.) I saw the door slide open and in stepped… Inuyasha? He looked completely different. His shirt was off and his hair was damp as if he had just taken a shower. He was concentrating on balancing two bowls of ramen. He didn't seem to notice I was awake, but when his golden eyes turned to me immediately, I found his gaze so penetrating it hurt my head. I had to turn my head away which just caused more pain.

"Are you all right?" he asked, almost… kindly? He was such a jerk before, why was I in his house now?

"Yeah. My head just hurts. Do you have any Tylenol or something?"

"Nah, hanyous don't need painkillers. Here, I'll go down to the store and get some, all right? Meanwhile, try to eat. As I say, ramen cures all ills!"

Now what caused this sudden change in his attitude? When did Inuyasha become a gentleman? Was he really concerned about what happened to me?

I called up Kagome's mom, just as Sango had told me to.

"Hello? Higurashi household."

"Yes, may I speak to Mrs. Higurashi?"

"This is she."

"I was wondering if you had some time for a discussion about your daughter."

"Is this the school?" Mrs. Higurashi asked apprehensively.

"Oh, no! I'm Miroku…"

"Miroku, the actor?"

"Well, yes. The reason I called was a proposition concerning your daughter."

"You want to marry her? I'm sure that's out of the question. She probably hasn't met you…"

"NO!" I was alarmed. Propositions had nothing to do with that kind of proposing! "We, that is, my fiancée and I, would like to have her be in our movie. I'm the producer." I don't know why I had just called Sango my fiancée, but she was the first person I could think of.

"Oh..." Mrs. Higurashi almost sounded disappointed. "Well, yes. I'll allow her to act in the movie. As long as she gets her schoolwork done, and I don't want her to travel because she might get into some trouble… you know teenagers."

"Yes, quite well," I said agreeably. After all, I myself was still 19, not that I told her that.

"So, I suppose it'll be fine."

"How about we discuss this tomorrow at 4? Maybe we can come to an agreement about other concerns."

Inuyasha was walking down the street. What an unusual occurrence. He rarely went out into public. There he was entering Long's Drugs. I snapped a few shots and got into my car. This could become breaking news if I worked it just right.
As I walked across the street to Long's, it felt like someone was looking at me. I turned around, but all I saw was a black car turn around the corner. I shook off the ominous feeling and continued into the store.

I quickly grabbed some Tylenol and a few more packages of ramen off the shelves and put them onto the checkout conveyer belt.

I noticed many people staring strangely at me. This always happened in public. I was getting impatient with these pressing looks, so I finally yelled, "I'M NOT INUYASHA! I MAY LOOK LIKE HIM, BUT I'M NOT HIM!"

After that outburst, everyone stared for a while, then turned their heads away, uninterested once more. I'd been through similar situations in public. I found that pretending not to be myself was much more convenient than being attacked for autographs, especially when I was in a hurry.

I returned back to the audition building. I had set Kagome down on the couch in the Japanese set. I could tell she thought it was my house, but it partially was. I felt more at home on the set than in my mansion. So, I had a room connected to the Japanese set. It was a fairly large room, with a window that faced a large cherry tree. It served as my studio. I had even installed a shower and a bed for overnight stays. Mainly, I did my artwork in it. Most people didn't even know I loved to draw. Somehow, it felt like something personal, like my own little secret. Ayame had thought we could expose it as a "sensitivity" issue, but I had told her that it was a part of me that I didn't want to give away. She said I was acting out of character, but that it was all right.

I returned to Kagome. She was curled up slightly with a pained look on her face… and blood was seeping intothe sofa quickly.

I tried to sit up, and barely managed it before my thread started throbbing horribly. I decided to eat a bit of ramen before lying back down. I had just finished my ramen and curled up on the couch before Inuyasha came back. My head wasn't hurting as badly as before, but just changing positions seemed to make things worse. When he entered, a startled look immediately sprang to his face. He was looking at the couch near my lower abdomen. I looked down and saw red splotches marking the couch from where I had been sitting. I groaned inwardly. How embarrassing!
At first, I thought that she was wounded and that was why she looked so pained. I soon realized what the mess was when she had looked down and turned back almost humiliated. I looked at her uncomfortably. Sure, I was supposed to have learned about this in health and science classes, but I didn't recall that they had taught us what to do in these kinds of situations. Uncomfortably, I directed her to the bathroom, and told her I'd get her some pads.

I swiftly ran to Long's once again and walked into the long aisle of "sanitary napkins." Soon I was confused by every label on the packages and just chose a few randomly. One said Super-Maxi and the other said Regular. How was I supposed to know how super or regular Kagome was? I paid for my items hurriedly with many strange looks directed towards me.

Then I walked back to the audition building, hoping that a reporter hadn't seen me carrying around pads. It wasn't my lucky day.

Inuyasha somehow managed to rush back after I had sat on the toilet for only 2 minutes. He slid the door to the bathroom open and shoved in 2 packs of pads. I laughed. Apparently he wasn't well educated in stuff like this.

As I finished up my business in the bathroom, I decided I'd look through his bathroom cabinet. Just to see what he hid behind the mirror.

As I pulled the mirror, I was astonished to see a neatly organized cabinet. A clear blue colored toothbrush and half-used toothpaste that was neatly rolled up at one end occupied one shelf. But the thing that caught my eye was an odd looking stone. The jewel shone in the afternoon light, amber in color, yet when you turned it just right it looked strangely like... I turned it up to the window for more light and gasped when I saw, lo and behold, Inuyasha with a furious look on his face, tinted with an yellow glow.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING SNOOPING AROUND MY STUFF?" he yelled.

I cringed as the loud noise hit my ears. He quickly snatched the jewel out of my hands and stuffed it into his pocket. He glared at me distrustfully and quickly stalked out of the bathroom, throwing me a bottle of Tylenol on his way out and shrieked, "GET OUT OF HERE!" I screamed that I didn't need him anyway as I ran out of the building. Wandering aimlessly, my headache getting worse by the second, I soon got lost. My strength was ebbing when I saw a dark shadow step out of the dark and gently cradle me as I collapsed.

That freaking girl was looking through all of my stuff. She had even seen the jewel. Now she was probably wandering around the building and would come running back to me for help. As I waited for her to come back, I sensed another presence nearby. I swiftly tiptoed into the shadows and sniffed in the very odd scent. It almost smelled like… wolf?
I had been on my way to the bathroom when I passed by a maid. She was about to black out, I could sense it. As I caught her gracefully, I held her in my arms. This was awkward and it wasn't what I had imagined. The girl was different than the other girls I had held this way. For one thing, she was a bit heavier in stature. (AN: He went out with skinny actresses/models, whereas Kagome is normal weight.) As I slowly brushed the hair out of her face, an elegant face was revealed. I sensed Inuyasha's steps before I saw him. He was furious.

"KOUGA!" he shouted. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

I didn't even try to explain. I had only known Inuyasha for quite a while now, and I didn't want to get in his way.

I didn't know why I was yelling at Kouga. He was an all right guy, but somehow the way he had caressed Kagome made me so upset. Kagome shifted in his hands and opened her eyes. She was obviously still in pain, and her confusion filled the air.
Where am I? I'm in… someone's arms. Who is it? Inuyasha? No, there he was next to me. Then, who was holding me? A caring face turned down on me.

"Are you all right? Do you think you can stand?"

"I think so…"

He helped me to my feet and I stood up, shakily.

"So, what's your name?"

"Kagome," I said faintly.

"Hello Kagome, I'm Kouga. It's nice to meet you."

Inuyasha was shooting bullets at Kouga with his eyes. Nervously, Kouga turned around and said, "I have to umm… go now. It was nice seeing you guys." He scurried away. (AN: How un-Kouga like is that?)

"Well, Inuyasha, what was that about? Kouga just saved me, and all you could do was shout at him?" It wasn't like Kouga had done anything wrong. Unless Inuyasha wanted me to die…

"Urmm… well, I thought he might have been… you know… about to rape you or something?" Inuyasha's alibi was too shaky to be true.

"Right…" I said sarcastically.

Inuyasha scrambled for another explanation. "Well, you just looked so… wrong… in his arms. You didn't belong there!"

'Aha!' I thought. 'He's jealous!'

Inuyasha nervously said, "I know what you're thinking, but I'm NOT jealous! I mean, who really cares about you?"

"FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME! PLENTY OF OTHER PEOPLE CARE ABOUT ME! I BET KOUGA CARES 100 TIMES MORE THAN YOU DO!" I yelled. Maybe I was overreacting, but that last comment was just too insulting. I almost felt like crying. My headache was coming back, so I practically ripped open the Tylenol bottle, amazingly still in my hand, and shoved a pill down my throat.

Why couldn't Kagome just understand? She should have known that I hadn't meant it in that way. It was her fault for misunderstanding.

Now I was going to take her home. I showed her to the door, the uncomfortable silence hanging in the air. I opened the limo door for her, and told the driver to take her home.

As the limo disappeared into the distance, I walked back into the building, a sinking feeling in my heart.

Behind the dark tinted windows of the limo, I curled myself in a ball on the seat while drops of darkness soaked into the airy blue of my new dress.
AN: Whew! This chapter is finally done! It took soooo long to write. Well, at least now there's plenty of plot for the next chappie!

Responses to Reviewers!

FallenInsaneDemon: Thanks!

goddessofdisney: Egan… so I guess I go to your school too. hehe. But I'm going to LAHS next year.

xWhit3StaRx: Sorry, I don't know why but they somehow remove what you're saying… like the name of the website? So I'm not really sure what you're saying. Maybe you could give me the URL? I'm not sure why they take it out of the comments, it's kind of weird.

Thanks for the comments! R&R please!