Disclaimer: Inuyasha. Is. Not. Mine. There. Happy?
Author's Note: This chapter is up because I love all of you. I still think it needs more editing, but I did promise it would be out soon, and with all the exams and work coming up, I don't have much time to edit. It's now 2 in the morning where I am and I've got a mountain (no joke) of work to tackle if I'm to survive this semester, so if it's a little less than you expected, bear with me, okay? ;;) The next chapter will be juicier, I'm very sure, and if you're Miroku/Sango fans, there'll be more on them there. It's set the day of the auditions, so if you want it out asap, leave me a review and tell me what you think of this one so I know how to fit the succeeding chapter to out mutual enjoyment of the piece.
Also, importantly: I confused Kagome's friends' names. Eri is Kagome's theatrical enthusiast friend while Yuka is the one without a headband. I've corrected it in the last chapter as well. ;;) Thanks for bearing with me! ;)
Why do I sound so droning today? Must be because I've been running on caffeine for the past 35 hours.
To all my reviewers, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! This chapter is out for you and all my readers—you guys keep me going! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Chapter 8
Scheming and Preparations
"You do know that the mangy wolf is back, right?" Inuyasha hissed, the mere mention of Koga making his teeth clench, exaggerating the sharpness of the air passing between his lips.
The tall, red-haired boy beside him nodded noncommittally, seemingly absorbed in his reading though Inuyasha knew better. He was a kitsune after all—and most kitsune, when grown, were a far cry from Shippo—the fox-kit he'd had for a neighbor since he was a child. Besides, Shuichi Minamino was no average kitsune—in his real form, he almost resembled Inuyasha to the point that a few indiscriminating demon slayers and spirit detectives had come after Inuyasha, believing him to be a relation of the famous Makai Thief, Youko Kurama.
After several years served as penance for his crimes, here Youko Kurama sat, in the body of a human youth, no indication of his being a youkai evident even in his scent.
Youko Kurama was, however, very present in Shuichi's mind—Inuyasha knew that much. He didn't trust the indifferent demeanor for a second, and knowing that Shuichi was scheming and that Shuichi knew that he knew that he was scheming—
Right, spare yourself the agony, Inuyasha, he told himself, willing himself to relax despite the involuntary tension that gripped him whenever he was around Kurama's type—it was like being with Sesshomaru's creepy business associate. What was his name again? Naruto? Nara—damn it! Focus, Inuyasha!
"I need you to help me," he said in a low voice, his eyes fixed on Mesho-san as she walked back to her desk, casting a scrutinizing glance about. When her dark eyes caught his he bowed his head lower, ears twitching in anticipation to flatten themselves against his head if she began to shriek.
Kurama was keeping almost statuesquely still, but Inuyasha could see that his eyes weren't moving over the page. Long moments later, Mesho-san was contentedly leafing through a book, apparently oblivious to everything and everyone else around her.
Inuyasha watching her so strenuously that Kurama's soft voice nearly made him jump—and scream.
"I have nothing against Koga," he murmured mildly, and his green eyes lifted to meet Inuyasha's—revealing bottle-dark pools of serious contemplation. "You said you need me to help you, but don't think I missed the underlying implication." He gave Inuyasha a quick surveying glance, the corner of his mouth quirking up in understanding as he continued. "Koga levied some blows, I see, but I'm very certain you got your hits in. If you're looking to continue your fight with him, then I have absolutely no business in it."
Inuyasha growled, his temper more than spiked from Kurama's apparent misunderstanding and the remark on his not-so-spiffy appearance. "I didn't say I was going to fight with him again. And I sure as hell didn't say that I need you to help me sabotage him. I just need you to help me gain an inch over him."
The redhead leaned back, lifting a brow and no longer holding back his smirk. "And this has something to do with the theater guild because...?"
"He's auditioning," Inuyasha intoned fiercely, one of his claws twitching murderously. "He's doing it to get close to Kagome, I'm sure of it."
"And if he is?" Shuichi leaned forward suddenly, his gaze narrowing on Inuyasha's face. "It's not like Miss Higurashi is any business of yours...is she?"
Immediately wary, Inuyasha looked away and shrugged. "If she is, it's none of your concern, is it?"
Kurama smiled suddenly and shut his book with a soft snap. Moving his chair back quietly, he made to get up, saying, "You're absolutely right. None of this, in fact, is any of my concern—"
"Damn you, kitsune!" Inuyasha ground out, glaring at him and jumping to his feet, only half-conscious of the need to be very, very quiet now. "Why can't you just do me this one favor without asking any questions!"
"Be glad that I'm just asking for answers and not a different kind of price," the fox warned quietly, his eyes shimmering with gold at that instant. A second later they were back to the deep viridian green Inuyasha was accustomed to, paired with Shuichi Minamino's signature polite smile. "If you answer well enough, I'll help you."
Inuyasha stared hard at him, trying to dig past the cool composure that was blocking Kurama's emotions. When nothing happened past him beginning to feel dumber and dumber as the silence stretched on, he sighed heavily and shot Kurama a reproachful glare.
"Define 'well enough'," he snapped sourly.
Shuichi took his seat, placing his hands serenely on the desk, his eyes strangely understanding. "Just tell me the truth, Inuyasha. It's all I need to hear."
---
"Oh dear, you don't look well at all!" Eri exclaimed, cupping Kagome's pale face in her hands and clucking her tongue disapprovingly. She pursed her lips, turning her face to Sango and shaking her head in a way that told them what she was even worse. "You're not auditioning too, are you?"
"Thankfully, no," Sango replied with a wrinkle of her nose, her eyes flashing with meaning.
"Oh, don't take it wrong, Sango," Eri scolded impatiently, releasing Kagome's face to walk over to the other girl, who was lounging against the doorframe. "It's just that you two both look terrible, and considering tomorrow's the opening for auditions, you need to look your best."
The three of them had gathered in one of the university theater's dressing rooms, which were yet to be assigned as the theater was not yet holding shows. As quiet as it was inside, however, there was a low buzz of activity filling most of the building that morning—mostly maintenance staff and a fair number of production crew that were already prepped for their jobs. Opening night was nine to ten weeks away, and the university's head director had already pulled up his sleeves and set up all the preliminary activities. He had already delegated most of the work, particularly in terms of production and technical work, and was already turning his attention to the main event.
Apparently, the script had been finalized, and with everything being set up, it was time to find the core of the production. The auditions would be starting soon.
Too soon, Kagome groaned inwardly, wondering how Eri would manage to bring her up to speed in a day. Talent was definitely something good going for a person—but in contrast, insecurity for a whole host of reasons—lack of preparation, lack of tertiary exposure, lack of—hell, just plain lack—could wash out even the most concentrated of talents. She plopped down resignedly against the wall, mentally viewing today's timetable. Slashing out her subjects, she had four hours of break time to work on things with Eri and then an hour to finish up some other work while she waited for Eri to finish class. Then Eri would come over and they'd practice...and practice...and practice...
It's going to be a long, long, day.
"I'm sure Kagome will be fine," Sango reassured her, forgiving Eri's apparently unintentional slight. She awkwardly patted Eri on the shoulder. "She's just tired."
"I should think so, after what happened yesterday," Eri agreed, clucking her tongue as she turned from Sango and seated herself at the dresser, starting to take measurements. "I'll tell you something though, Kagome—if you do make the cast it'll be great publicity. The whole Inuyasha/Kagome/Koga scandal is blooming all over the school and people are bound to empty their pockets to see a development on it."
Kagome's mouth dropped as she was unceremoniously shaken from her grim contemplation of the next 24 hours. "Inuyasha/Kagome/Koga scandal! What the—you can't be serious!"
"Is it really so bad, Eri?" Sango inquired worriedly, almost as strained over the impact of the rumors on Kagome's chances of being cast as she was over the fact that her friend was now involved in a scandal.
"It's wonderful, actually!" the other girl countered, oblivious to Sango's meaning. "Can't you picture it? Inuyasha and Koga will definitely come to see the play with Kagome in it at the very least, and who knows what will happen then? I can already see them in the front row, center, vying for your attention!" She giggled as she now began testing the lights. Her expression grew serious, however, as she added, "It's a tad worrisome though."
" 'Worrisome!' That is the understatement of the year!" Now that the possibility of that happening had occurred to her, Kagome felt violently sick. She wouldn't be able to take another of Koga and Inuyasha's fights—it was bad enough on any given day. If they began slashing each other up during the play...
"Now, now," Sango interjected soothingly, "let's not get ahead of ourselves." Her own cool faltered somewhat when she caught the slight frown on Eri's face. "Unless there's something else wrong that we should know about?"
Absently, Eri replied: "I want these lights. How come I didn't have them in my dressing room last time?"
"Could you please concentrate!"
"Right—sorry." Embarrassed that she'd spoken aloud and inadvertently let them in on the shallowness she had been working so hard to make everyone believe wasn't there, she cleared her throat and regarded Kagome seriously. "At the very least, if they fought they'd make a fuss. At the worst they'd upstage us. Since you can't sort them out—though if you need help with that, you know you can always—"
" '—since you can't sort them out'—please continue," Sango cut in icily.
Though she shot her a contemptuous glare, Eri continued on her former train of thought. "Since you can't sort them out, we're going to have to make damn well sure that no matter what happens, you'll be so good that the audience wouldn't notice if the theater was crashing down on them."
"Please, Eri," Kagome waved her hand, embarrassed and more than a little pressured by her words. "Nobody's that good."
"And we've still got to get her past the auditions," Sango added worriedly. She shot Kagome a hasty look. "Not that I don't have any faith in you—"
"When it comes to this?" Kagome laughed, patting her arm graciously. "I wouldn't blame you."
"But you can have faith in me," Eri scoffed loftily. She gave Kagome a comforting squeeze on the shoulder and even ventured—considering how Kagome's high school friends were often at odds with her—to take Sango's arm. "Believe me, when I'm done with you, you will be able to accomplish what I've just said. And don't worry about the auditions—I've got the ideal part for you to read."
"You sure move fast," Sango complimented, warming towards Eri despite the prickles that were still between them. After all, it was for Kagome's sake, and if Eri could still do things like this for a friend, perhaps she wasn't half bad.
Eri gave Sango a smug smile, but her cheeks pinkened in a way that told them the compliment still had the effect praise was made for—because it was sincere.
"Of course," she muttered, detaching herself from Sango awkwardly and walking over to where she'd deposited her bag. "You'll have to photocopy my script and read through it—even the parts you're not reading—so that you get the feel of the play."
"What is the guild doing this semester?" Kagome inquired a bit apprehensively. The theater guild was one of the pride and joys of the university—and the city for that matter—for the very reasons that made her nervous. Apart from the degree of phenomenal excellence it held as its standard, they were known for—in recent years, at least—making productions that were in short a bit too forward for some of Kagome's personal tastes. She appreciated the art, of course, but seeing herself doing scenes from some of the theater's past productions of Swan Lake and Nosferatu...she shivered. As a member of the audience she'd left overheated and decidedly uncomfortable. She didn't know how she was going to survive the production process if this semester's production was anything like the ones she'd seen. "You guys aren't doing anything...progressive...are you?"
Eri laughed, reading the worry behind Kagome's tone and interpreting it correctly. She pulled the thick manuscript from her bag and began flipping through the pages, glancing up only to give Kagome a teasing look.
"Honey, we are nothing, if not progressive," she smirked. "But you needn't look like you're about to be raped, the part I have in mind for you is completely innocent."
"What are you doing this year?" Kagome repeated, mollified to an extent but still nervous.
"Do you know Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night?"
"I think there's a foreign film coming out about that one, modern context," Sango murmured thoughtfully. "The one with the What A Girl Wants actress...what was her name again?"
"Amanda Bynes, and you're right," Eri answered briskly, stopping. As her expression made apparent, she'd found the part Kagome was going to read for. "We're changing some of it, though we're retaining the time period. Mostly we're expanding character roles, and the part you're going to read for is Duke Orsino's servant, Valentine." She handed Kagome the script. "It's not a very difficult role, but our writer's made it quite substantial, so your professor is bound to credit you as much as she would if you took on something meatier. Who knows? After this you might consider it! It could be your reintroduction to theater! You were pretty good in high school!"
"This is different." Giving her standard reply whenever anyone brought up her excelling in something in high school, she momentarily pushed Eri and Sango out of her immediate awareness and focused on the role, running through the opening lines of her character. She'd seen The Twelfth Night only once on TV as a child, and Kagome was only vaguely aware of the storyline. She didn't have time to thoroughly read through the original play—was that even advisable, considering it could color her portrayal of the new Valentine?—so she was just going to have to rely completely on the material Eri had given her.
So...as to first impressions of her character...
"She's very kind—she seems to feel Orsino's pain quite acutely," she murmured absently, flipping the page.
"Yes," Eri agreed, bending next to Kagome and reading the scene from over her shoulder. "Shigure-sempai expanded the servant role into a sort of little sister thing, and she's very attached to Orsino. She ultimately gets close to Viola—who's disguised as a boy, Cesario—and unwittingly falls in love with her. Viola's in love with Orsino, however, and Orsino's in love with the lady Olivia. When Viola is sent to Olivia on Orsino's behalf, Olivia falls in love with Viola—again, unwittingly—and Viola, who's very much in love with a man, is now burdened with two females' attentions. Valentine gets wind of Olivia being in love with her 'Cesario' and of course she attempts to intervene, conspiring with Olivia's other suitor in the hopes that she will eliminate her competition by getting her married off to someone else. Apart from that, she also encourages Orsino's pursuit of Olivia, when formerly she had nothing but bad things to say about the woman."
Sango held her head, trying to process everything she'd said in under one minute. "How do you manage to say that without getting confused?"
For once declining to brag, Eri shrugged. "I've read the script."
"Seems like she's willing to be mean for love," Kagome observed as she flipped through the script to find the lines that interested her. "So she's not the simple 'kind' character I initially had in mind. Sounds like a great role," she summed up, brightening. She began rummaging through her bag for a highlighter, already picking out what she'd read. "I think I like the part where she's telling Orsino to go for it and Orsino confronts her about her weird behavior. See here—she gets all awkward, and after Orsino leaves she gets into a total guilt trip over how selfish she's being by 'pushing the blind towards the Abyss for the chance to steal its true desire'."
"Referring of course to Orsino, with the 'Abyss' being Olivia and 'its true desire' Cesario," Eri clarified. "Excellent choice—it'll give you a chance to really show how deeply you can draw from the character, plus it's practically monologue, so you won't need me to be interjecting another character's lines all of the time."
"Your Shigure-sempai writes a lot of heavy-sounding lines," Sango commented. She gave Kagome an encouraging smile when she looked up from the script, a slight frown contracting her brows. "I'm sure you'll pull it off without bringing it over the top, though."
"Thanks," Kagome grinned. "It'll need some work, though."
"Let's get started then, shall we?" Eri suggested, straightening. "I've got class in an hour. We've got to start by checking the mood of the play at this point. By now Viola's told Valentine about the whole Olivia fiasco—oh! That scene is particularly delicious! We can try it if you like—an alternate if we don't pull this scene off so smoothly..."
The two of them promptly began discussing the role and the two optioned scenes. The distance between them and Sango was now more than physical, and the other girl sighed resignedly. She understood that Kagome had a lot on her plate now, and as a friend she wasn't about to add to it if she could help it.
But she did want to talk to Kagome about things. They had taken an interesting spin yesterday, during the scene with Inuyasha and Koga. It had shaken a fair number of people, and for all her being used to these kinds of things, she was no exception. Of course, she'd been concerned greatly about Kagome, and nearly as much for everyone else who was there, but...
The sight of Miroku's blood had nearly killed her.
It was on his arm, and was just a flesh wound, but she'd nearly fainted at the sight of it. Looking into the very eyes that had made her pull it together with all the reassurance and comfort in the world, she had felt immeasurable hatred towards Inuyasha and Koga, who had caused him pain. It had given her the strength she needed to haul Koga far enough from Inuyasha just as Miroku had grabbed hold of his best friend. If Inuyasha hadn't come to his senses within moments—what had come over him, causing him to howl like that?—she was fairly certain she'd have become much more violent than necessary.
Bastards should be glad I don't lug my Hiraikotsu around these days, she thought darkly, a flash of the same anger sparking in her heart once more. She hadn't been able to vent it out on the actual objects of her aggression, so it was still there, festering somewhere alongside the horror and pain of seeing Miroku hurt. When she'd returned from taking Kagome to the infirmary for a checkup (just in case) and had gone back to see to Miroku, she'd found the cafeteria clean—but deserted.
She'd nearly driven herself insane with worry, spending half the night trying to sleep and half the night trying to get herself to pick up the phone and call him.
It's not like it would be weird, she'd told herself over and over again seconds before she'd stomp her foot and climb resolutely back into bed. You two are friends...well...sort of...and it would be a really nice gesture.
Instead, she'd spent the early morning torturing what was left of her nerves as she listened eagerly—but discreetly—for news of Miroku from the dozens of people who were talking about the fight. It was a good thing that she wasn't in Kagome's company at the time—if she didn't need them, she would have been tempted to rip those people's tongues out for half of what they said about the incident. Of course, when one of them had mentioned that he'd seen Miroku parking his car that morning with only a tight bandage peeping out from beneath the short sleeve of his polo, she'd nearly kissed him—gossiping tongue and all.
Deciding her companions wouldn't mind if she stretched her legs and walked around a bit as she brooded, Sango exited the room as quietly as possible, looking back to make sure they were not disturbed, as she pulled the door shut and heard the satisfying click.
And then she turned, moving forward and running into something that she was faintly certain was a wall.
---
"Unbelievable!" Inuyasha ground out, slapping his copy of the script down onto the desk and giving Kurama an incredulous glance, oblivious to the hamburger wrappings that flew off the table at the action. "How the hell am I supposed to understand that?"
After the fifth attempt at explaining the entire plot to him as Inuyasha perused the roles, Kurama steadied his drink on the rattling table and sighed. Giving the curious onlookers and the shocked staff an apologetic glance, the look he gave Inuyasha expressed his thinning patience more than eloquently.
"If you don't behave yourself," he said tersely, "we'll never be allowed into WacDonalds again. Trust me, that is not something that would inspire me to help you. Got it?"
"Fine, fine," Inuyasha grumbled, straightening in his chair and flipping the script open again. "But seriously, all the circles in this goddamn plot is making me dizzy. Won't it be easier if we just pick out one character?"
Kurama arched a brow. "It's what I've been suggesting we do since we got here."
Inuyasha gave him the finger, but his grin was sheepish. "Give me a break, okay? I've been holding out because I don't know what part Kagome's going to be reading for. It'll be a hell of a lot easier for me to get what I want if she's my partner."
"I'm sure Koga's thinking the same thing." At the tightening of Inuyasha's expression and the low growl that reached his ears, the kitsune leaned forward and gave him a weary look. "Think, Inuyasha. Before you can worry about who Kagome's character will end up with, you have to be in the play. Now hurry up and pick a character you like so we can get cracking. And if you complain about the lines one more time, I'll shove that script down your throat."
Further Author's Notes: The contest you guys, remember! Three characters from other animes are present here, so give it a shot. ;;) Also, to my non-member reviewer—here's my thank-you!
fire: Here's the update! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I really hope you waited—I'm going to wait for your feedback. Thanks again! ;)