Wish I Were You
Sakura Katsana
Disclaimer: I'm only doing this once and that's only because it's a tradition... I don't own Inuyasha.
Sakura's Note: You guessed it; another story written by me. The idea has been eating away at me for a while, so I decided I should post it. I will try and update every week so that it keeps with real life dates. (The first mentioned date in this chapter is today, October 1st.)
I don't want to give anything away, but I will tell you this: It won't be a cliché.
Enjoy, and please R&R!
Chapter One: The 'Normal' Life
Sesshoumaru flipped the pancake expertly. Twenty chocolate chip pancakes down... twenty pancakes to go.
"INUYASHA!!!"
Kohaku winced from his spot at the kitchen table. "Sango's gonna kill him this time."
"Less pancakes to make." Sesshoumaru said dryly.
The angry pair chose that moment to storm into the room, Inuyasha hurrying in first, followed by an irate Sango. Both simultaneously plopped down at the table, only one dry. Sango glared at him, taking the orange juice before her brother could.
"Hey, calm down! I was only trying to wake you up... if I didn't then you'd be late for school. You should be thanking me."
"It's a Sunday!" Sango argued, whapping him over the head. "And you could have just jumped on the bed like yesterday, you didn't have to dump water over my head!"
"Keh." Inuyasha grabbed a plate and filled it to the brim with pancakes, "It was funner that way."
"Funner isn't a word." Sesshoumaru admonished, taking half the pancakes off Inuyasha's plate. "And don't be so greedy; other people need to eat breakfast as well."
"Yes, mom." Inuyasha saluted his elder brother, grabbing the syrup straight out of his sister's hand.
Sesshoumaru glared but remained calm, tossing a few more pancakes onto the large pile in the middle of the table.
"Where's Kagura?"
"Sleeping."
"No fair! How come we have to be up at dawn to eat your precious pancakes and she gets to sleep in?"
Sesshoumaru looked over his shoulder, sending his younger siblings a glare that spoke volumes. He raised a fist, and then uncurled one of his fingers. "One: It's not dawn. Two: She's my girlfriend; therefore she can do what she wants. Three: She has a right to sleep. Four: The reason she has a right is none of your business. Five: Stop looking at me like that."
Inuyasha snorted in disgust, and patted Sango's back as she choked on her juice. Kohaku was blushing and picking at his food absentmindedly.
Being the second oldest, Inuyasha was the first to speak. "Why is it that you enjoy traumatizing everyone at the breakfast table?"
"Because it's funny." Sesshoumaru admitted, sitting down to eat his own cooking. The others looked over at him in shock. Their oldest brother?
"You have a sense of humor?" Kohaku asked in awe, dropping his fork.
Sango and Inuyasha snickered behind their pancakes as Sesshoumaru looked up at their usually quiet brother with an open mouth.
The rest of breakfast was just like every other day. The siblings took punches at one another good naturedly, and attempted to fluster their stoic elder brother.
After the table was void of pancakes, Inuyasha got up and dropped his plate in the sink. Sango followed in his footsteps. He smiled inwardly. Time to test how gullible his sister was. "Sango?"
"What?" She paused in heading for the stairs.
"What's one plus one hundred?"
Sango frowned. "Inuyasha, if you're that stupid then I'm not going to tell you- Inuyasha?" She looked towards the stairs just in time to see the last of his silvery white hair disappear. With a scream of anger, Sango ran up the stairs two at a time. "Don't you dare close that bathroom door!"
He closed the door.
Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes, "Works every time."
Kohaku nodded in agreement, putting his own plate in the sink. "Sess, aren't you going to save anything for Kagura?"
"Why should I? She went home last night." With a sly smirk Sesshoumaru went back to his room, leaving the dishes for one of his unfortunate siblings.
"Dolce and Gabbanna or Gucci?" The fashion coordinator held up the two outfits. "Personally, I think that you should switch halfway through the day. That way, you'll be showing how fabulous you look in both green and pink."
Kagome stared at the woman, unable to speak, with a nail file poised over her pinky. The green ensemble could be called a bikini with streamers, whereas the pink one was way too furry. The heiress to the Higurashi fortune also knew that these outfits were not from Gucci or Dolce and Gabbanna -- they were Yuka's personal designs.
The woman standing in the middle of the heiress' walk-in closet looked at Kagome expectantly.
"Well?"
"Personally... Yuka... I think both of them are a little too bold for me." Sugarcoating things was a must when working with the eccentric fashion guru. Why her father had hired Ms. Yuka Utani was still a mystery to Kagome.
"Kagome, really! All the teen celebrities are showing skin. If you don't start getting with the times then you'll be left in the dust. A has-been!" Yuka snatched the magazine Kagome had placed next to her and turned to the fashion section. "These are perfect examples of-"
"Sluts?" Kagome guessed. "Really, Yuka, I am not going to strut around in something that revealing just for the publicity!" The fashion coordinator opened her mouth to rebuke but Kagome held up a hand. "And the heiress to eighty-six million dollars is never going to be a has-been." Even if I wanted to.
Yuka threw up her hands, releasing both of her creations in the process. "I can't work under these conditions! Millionaire heiress or no, you're just too much! Tell your father I quit."
"Tell him yourself. You see him more than I do." Kagome stood, grabbing the two outfits off the ground with an unreadable look in her eye. "Here, I'm sure you'll find another famous girl to wear your collection and you'll make millions."
Yuka was a bit shocked at the girl's change of attitude, but smiled politely anyway. Kagome, you really are a nice girl... Yuka made her way out of the monstrous closet into the bedroom, and then to the door. Yuka opened it and stepped out into the hallway. ...But your fashion sense sucks. With that, Yuka headed towards the elevator. Wonder if I'll still get this week's paycheck...
"Hey Sango."
"Drop dead."
"Ooh, touch-y."
"Inuyasha, will you not just die?"
"Where's the fun in that?" The boy flopped down onto her bed, causing his sister to fly off and onto the floor. "Plus, if I died... who could blackmail you about having a thing for my best friend?"
The desired reaction occurred and Sango blushed red enough to rival her brother's current t-shirt. "Get out of my room, Yura."
Inuyasha sputtered, jumping off her bed in alarm. "I don't like that... hair obsessed wench! She's obsessed with me and my hair!"
Sango sighed, "Go away or I'm calling her."
"You wouldn't."
"Watch me."
The two siblings stared one another down for a few moments before they finally grew bored of one another's company and Inuyasha left the room. A minute later, rap boomed from Inuyasha's room and Sango was off to complain about the noise.
The Circle of Life at the Dawson home continued.
Kagome was nervous.
Nervous was sugarcoating it. Kagome was more like terrified. Her father had called her to his office, telling her to come at ten. She'd just had enough time to scarf down her fat-free bran muffin and a glass of orange juice before she was forced to burn it all off by running up seven flights of stairs to the top floor of the Higurashi building.
Could she have taken the elevator? No.
"If you're going to miss your daily workout with me, then you're going to make up for it."
That's what her personal trainer had said. Right now Kagome was ready to throttle her personal trainer.
When the clock struck ten, she stood right outside the mahogany doors that led into the office of one of the most powerful men in the world. She hadn't seen her father for two weeks for a few reasons. One: He had been in Venice looking at some property for their fifth summer home, and two: they'd had an argument right before he went.
Kagome knocked on the door, knowing better than to just barge in on the man.
"Come."
What a way to welcome your one and only daughter... Kagome put on a brave face and entered the office. "You called for me, father?"
"Still using that tone, princess?" Her father chuckled, "You're not still angry, are you? It's been two weeks after all. Speaking of time, how were you during my absence?"
"Fine, I guess." Kagome shrugged, playing with a snap on her denim jacket. "How about you, fa-- daddy?
Luckily, her father missed the slip up. "Wonderful. I've gotten us a villa off the coast of Venice for the summer."
"That's... good." Aren't four enough? There's only one summer a year.
"Kagome?"
"Yes, dad?"
"Do you remember our argument before I left?"
Kagome nodded, "I do."
"Well, I've got the perfect solution." Her father had that look that only her father could make. The one that meant he had an idea... one she wouldn't like. "You argued you didn't need so many bodyguards, and you wanted a chance at a normal life. I really don't understand why, but your needs come first, princess. So, I've decided that while you're living your 'normal' life, you'll be getting publicity as well."
Kagome's stomach dropped into her feet. "Dad, please tell me you're not going to throw me into some reality show."
Her father laughed, a little over exaggerated if you asked her, "Of course not! Besides, reality shows are being overdone right now. You'd have to be all but naked to stand out among the rest."
The heiress gaped. Her father hadn't really considered that, had he? "So what are you talking about?"
"A contest."
"A... contest?"
The millionaire nodded with enthusiasm, holding his hands out like proposing a headline. "Swap Lives with a Hotel Heiress!" He seemed very proud of his idea and was ignoring the ever-paling face of his daughter. "The contest will open tomorrow, and end Friday. Whatever lucky girl wins will become an heiress for three months while you live their everyday, simpleton lifestyle!"
This could not be happening. There was no way that she was going to live with complete strangers for a three whole months! I want to live my own simple life, not someone else's!
And Kagome said just that, except with a lot more colorful words in between.
Mr. Higurashi's expression changed from ecstatic to livid the moment Kagome closed her mouth. "I go through all this trouble to make you happy with this normal life and you aren't satisfied? You yell and curse, no less! Kagome, this is not only fulfilling your dream but is also the perfect thing this family needs to ensure us more publicity. If you are going to take over this company you're going to need to make a name for yourself other than an heiress. What better way to get your name on the front page? You will do it. No buts."
Kagome glowered at her father. How could he be doing this? "You expect me to be able to live a normal life with cameras in my face while I'm sitting there taking algebra notes?"
"The winner's name will be announced on television, but her location will be concealed from the public."
"The second I show my face at the house someone's going to blab to the press! I won't have a moment's privacy, and neither will the family I'll be staying with! It's a bad idea, father, and I won't do it! There are too many problems and I refuse to have a part in it."
Stormy eyes glimmered as the posh princess reappeared on the screen, sitting in a Hawaiian patterned bikini next to her pool. A panther was lounging lazily behind her, its tail dangling into the crystal clear water.
The ebony haired heiress pulled off her Gucci sunglasses and winked at the screen, "Remember, this could be your life for three whole months! Go online to the official contest Website and download your contest entry form today!"
Sango gasped. "Oh... my... God!"
Inuyasha entered the living room from the kitchen, "What are you squawking about?"
His sister shot him a glare, but quickly snapped her attention back to the screen.
Figuring he'd have to find out for himself, Inuyasha looked over the couch at the screen and frowned. "Swap lives with Hotel Heiress Higurashi! How catchy." Inuyasha scoffed, grabbing up the remote. "Come on, you're not actually thinking of entering that are you? I'm changing the channel."
"Fine. Knock yourself out."
"Hotel heiress..."
He changed the of the century, winning the life of Kagom-"
"What is this?" Inuyasha growled, throwing the remote down.
"It's been like this since noon." Sango informed, "Nothing else is on. Even your favorite channel is caught up in the 'contest of the century's' spell. I can see why though."
"Oh yeah? Why?"
"Because, it's the perfect opportunity for girls like me," she smiled for emphasis, "to ditch annoying brothers like you," she poked him in the chest, "for ninety blissful days."
Inuyasha crossed his arms defiantly, "And who said that you could even enter this competition, huh kid?"
"Excuse me? I'm not a kid; I'm only eleven months younger than you. And secondly, I don't need permission to enter a stinkin' contest."
"You really haven't thought this out, have you sis? Take a moment to force your teeny, tiny mind to think about it. If you win, you'll be winning her life, and she'll be getting yours. Which means, Sesshoumaru has to be ok with a complete stranger that's bound to bring tons of reporters with her coming here."
Sango didn't say anything; she just sent him a chilly glare before turning off the TV. She hated to admit it, but he was right. Would their older brother go for something like that? She was the only girl in the house, and the only one that could remember not to wash flour-covered dishes with hot water.
"But, then again I shouldn't be all that worried about it. It's not like you'll win anyway." He jumped over the back of the couch, landing right next to her. "Sesshoumaru doesn't even have to know."
"Sesshoumaru doesn't have to know what?" Kohaku ambled into the living room, a bag of chips in hand.
"About Sango's little contest to get rid of us." Inuyasha scoffed, snagging a handful of chips as his brother passed. "But with the chances so high, why bother Sess with it?"
Kohaku sighed. They never straight out told him what was going on.
"What makes you think I won't win?" Sango said through clenched teeth.
"A lot of things." Inuyasha got up, tired of the argument already. "Anyway, I'm gonna go bother Miroku at his job." On his way out the door, he looked over his shoulder. "Sango, wanna come?"
He received a glare.
"Ooookay... We'll be over later, so don't have one of your giggly friends over, alright? Kohaku, want a ride over to Rin's?"
Both older siblings suppressed smirks when their brother's face lightened up, "Sure." The two brothers exited the house, leaving their sister with her thoughts...
...And a downloaded entry form.
"Your last interview is in fifteen minutes. After that, you'll be able to spend the rest of the day however you'd like. Julie, your new hairdresser, will be by at six though." The man with the clipboard droned on, but Kagome tuned him out in favor of watching the little goldfish swimming in its tank on the desk. It wasn't like she hadn't heard this stuff before; it'd been six days since the contest had started.
She couldn't believe she was doing this...
What if the winner had something scaly like a lizard or a turtle? What if they had snakes?! Did that mean that she would be at risk of poison-filled fangs biting into her flesh for 90 days?
Realizing her father's personal assistant was still talking she figured she better pay attention and stopped her out of control thoughts.
"...Announcing the winner tomorrow at three after most teens are out of school. All the major television stations are going to participate. You'll pick one of the slips of paper from the tube, read it out loud with a smile, cheer, and then walk off the stage."
Kagome nodded, "Time for my close up," she sighed, mooching off in the direction of their indoor tropical paradise.
"Mr. Higurashi, Naraku Webb is here to see you."
The rich businessman pushed the button on the intercom, making it beep. "Send him in immediately."
"Yes sir." Then the voice of his secretary was gone.
A few moments later the door opened and a man in his late twenties entered. He was dressed in casual corporate attire -- the kind not-so-important underlings wore to impress the ladies. "What is it, sir? You seemed quite urgent on the phone."
Mr. Higurashi had never really gotten over how chilling his employee's voice was, but he was a valuable asset and the voice was a small price to pay for the wonderful work the man did for him. "My daughter's contest ends tomorrow and I want to make a few last minute changes."
Naraku knew that tone, and knowingly closed the door to disable any attempts at eavesdropping from the other staff. "What will you need?"
"Kagome wants to experience the normal life of a teenage girl and doesn't seem to like learning the ways of this business. If she doesn't get the proper training Urashi will be sold after I'm gone, most likely to that tyrant Onigumo. The last thing I want is his daughter having any say in the future of this company."
"No one wants that girl involved in anything." Naraku agreed, "Kikyo wouldn't care about what the profit margins are, she would run this place into the ground out of spite."
"Exactly. If someone wins this contest and Kagome ends up with the perfect Beaver Cleaver family then there is no hope for handing the company down to her. She'll be sold on the normal family deal... but, if she gets a life that isn't exactly picture perfect then my daughter will never think of detaching herself from her good fortune ever again.
She doesn't know how good she really has it... and I'm determined to make sure she ensures the company staying in the family. I care about her too much to see her living in some two story home somewhere for the rest of her life."
The Higurashi employee didn't exactly see what was so wrong with a two-story house, but didn't divulge this information. "So you wish for me to filter the entries?" Naraku concluded, rising from his seat across from Mr. Higurashi.
"Yes. Make sure no one that wins has the kind of family that will make her lose sight of what's important. Oh, and if they have a snake... it's even better."
Naraku looked up at that one, a bit confused but shrugging carelessly anyway. "I will."
"Hello, I'm from the ASPCA. We're doing a census on the species of pets in the household." Naraku's fingers drummed on the top of his polished maple desk as he raised the volume to his earpiece. "Do you, or anyone else in your household own an animal?"
The girl on the other end rattled off a few different pets.
"Is that all? I'm kinda in a hurry."
Naraku gave a faint glare, but answered in a collected manner anyway. "Yes, thank you for your time." He ended the call and drew an X next to the contestant's name. This contest was very time consuming, and it was ending tomorrow. Ah well, it wasn't his phone bill...
He quickly dialed another number and waited as it rung three times.
A bored sounding masculine voice answered. "Dawson residence."
"Yes, I'm from the ASPCA. We're doing a census on the types of pets in the household."
"Um... may I ask why?"
Naraku was floored for a moment before he came up with a quick excuse. "We're trying to make a more approximate count of abused animals, and we need a full count in order to get that information." Translation: He was basically pulling stuff out of thin air.
"My sister has a cat..." he said, apparently as uninterested with this conversation as Naraku. The Higurashi employee mentally cursed. Another of those? "And, if you consider a python a pet-"
"Thank you." With that Naraku slammed down the phone and made a check by the contestant's name. "Wow, there are gonna be less contestants than I thought..."
Inuyasha hopped onto the bus, heading to the back with Miroku trailing behind. Sango hopped on next, followed by Kohaku.
"Kohaku!" Rin flagged down her boyfriend from her spot near the back. "Hey Sango, Inuyasha, Miroku."
There was a chorus of "hey" as the two juniors and the sophomore found their respectable seats in the back of the bus. Miroku dropped down between his best friend and the heavenly maiden Inuyasha had as a sister.
"So... Sango..."
Sango did not like where this was going.
"Today's Friday..."
"Really? Thanks, I didn't know!" At his sarcastic look she waved a frantic hand, "No! No! I mean it! Today's the end of the contest! The bus home better drive fast!"
Inuyasha's did a double take. "You entered?!"
Rin and Kohaku looked behind them curiously, eyeing the three older teens confusedly. Rin was the first to speak, "You mean the one where you win that heiress' life? Half the school is entered!"
Sango ignored her brother's indignant sputtering and nodded. "That's the one."
Inuyasha finally regained some semblance of self-control and shook his head sadly, "I can't believe you..."
"What? I can't pass something like this up. Three months as a rich girl is plenty appealing to me."
"I did." Rin supplied, "Maybe it's because I have Kohaku, though... I have something I'd miss too much if I actually won..." Kohaku blushed, but seemed pretty pleased with this newfound information nonetheless. "Plus, the twins Missy just had need someone to look after them."
Missy was Rin's dog. They didn't know who the father was, just that instead of about six pups, Missy had given birth to twins -- Ah and Un. Rin had decided to name them based on their first sounds because they'd sounded so adorable.
The bus stopped and a flock of chattering girls flooded on board, the word 'contest' coming up more times than once. As they made their way to their seats the bus screeched, rolled back, and then resumed its route.