o.O.o.O

Dance, Dance, Koishii

darkenedmoonlightflame

Hiten/Kagome/Bankotsu. I might have polls up at the bottom in later chapters!

KxHxB. AU. Meet Kagome: serial man avoider slash klutz dancer. Meet Hiten: cold mercenary slash badass womanizing demon. Whoa, deja vu? One going in for the ultimate achievement, the other just trying to dance without getting punch dumped down her shirt. Each not noticing the world crashing and clashing around them, attractions brewing.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Inuyasha, or else all my stories would be weird branches off it. This story, idea, and writing is entirely mine, however.

(A/N: (sigh) I didn't finish my hopeful 'update-everything-by-Christmas' wish. So instead I've resigned myself to updating this instead with another chapter. I hope this has a little crackle of tension-mystery and darkness in it… if not… erm, sorry?

(Yes… (small voice) I did publish another story. BUT it's a ONE-SHOT (one chapter, means it's done already)—Mistletoe Shall Be My Death. Christmas-ish enough for me. And… there's another one too. (covers mouth) Rescue Sango!… But enough about that.

(Ahem, without further ado.

(So, presenting, Dance, Dance, Koishii. Part 7 (happy grin). This is coming along nicely… 7 chapters and barely starting the plot! Oh. (sees glares) I'll be quiet. (zips mouth))

Dance, Dance, Koishii

Part Seven

ELITE; bEtRaYal; JaKoTsU's IdEnTiTy… PaRt II

"It's not what you think-" I hear those words, and within a flash, my finger danced against the TALK button, cutting off Sango abruptly.

I hate myself today.

I've isolated myself from them all. All the people I love.

Or used to.

Now I detest them.

I don't have the satisfaction I want from the simple action. I slam down the brawny black cell phone onto the nightstand next to my bed. I ease up the tension as I hear a sickening crunch. My arm relaxes, and drops to my side. Then I pick it up, feeling the fire of anger again. I step over to my window slowly…

My hand pushes aside the latches, opening it and drawing the cool night breeze inside. My arm stretches out over the beautiful landscape scene that I've no eyes for. They're utterly focused intensely onto my fingers.

I send the impulse, retracting my hand as though it's been burned, and let the offending object drop, melting away my rage.

I close the window, locking out my troubles.

"What should I do?" I ask the empty air hovering above my lips. "What have I done?" My eyes slide closed, and my lips part, as I slip into an unburdened world of dreams and illusions.

For the next three days I refuse to wake, eat, or acknowledge the world of pain surrounding me, a stifling blanket. Instead I live in my fantasies.

…

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…

"Up." Kage commands, "You can't avoid them all for forever."

"Yes. I can." And I roll onto my side, continuing to wallow in self-pity. Then curiosity strikes me. "Why not?" I ask haughtily.

"Because I think there is something you'd like to remember soon."

"What would that be?" I turn onto my back, eyes staring blankly at the pristine white paint on my ceiling. "I'd rather die." I announce, feeling depressed.

"You can't." She stops, then says so softly I have trouble hearing it, "You already have."

I lurch up. "W-Wha?"

"Today is the anniversary. Get up." I don't understand. How could I have died? What could have happened? My mind is whirling, lost in a catastrophic storm of questions and inquiries. "Get up, and I'll show you." Show me?

Still, the promise is alluring and enticing.

I sit up, swing my legs over the edge of the bed, and stand for the first time in three days.

…

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…

"I—we swore it. We swore we died today, only eight years ago. Don't you remember?"

I'm facing a bleached, platinum white cross embedded in the loose soil. It lies flat, on top of a small mound. I dredge through memory, thinking. Nothing. "Who… who is it?"

"He." Kage corrects absentmindedly, for once sober. "Was. He was your friend. They killed him. Because of it."

"B-But?" My brow is furrowed, and I twist a lock of hair between my fingers. "I was only seven? Why?"

"I can't tell you." She says it so mysteriously. It sparks my interest, and I am immersed in it, forgetting my petty arguments, or so they seem.

The death of a boy I've never known, who I should know. Fascinating. "Is this important?" I whisper to the cold, chilled air on the hill of the tranquil forest's center. It overlooked the edge of Tokyo, highlighting the buildings in shadowy detail.

"Very." Her tone is aloof. "You buried him yourself." She tries maintaining a light tone, but fails.

"Oh…" I sit down after a bit of climbing the thick tree nearby, trying to think. It's almost on the tip of my tongue. My mouth betrays me somehow, forming a word—name perhaps?—I can't quite recall. Yet I have. "Hitokiri."

"Hai!" Kage's voice is excited, and I can almost see her eyes sparkle with hope. "Go on!"

"Shush, I'm looking, I'm looking." I am puzzled by my own choice of words. Looking, not thinking.

Looking.

I know it has to do with this.

But…

HOW?

As the sun pulls into a current, sinking down, Kage's voice is filled with disappointment. "It's alright." The tone is dismal, and all the same I stand up, ever careful of the distance between me and the ground, brushing off a stray clump of dirt from my three-day old outfit. "You smell."

"Hey! I do n-" I halt. My blood turns to ice, and my palms tingle ferociously until I am forced to cling to the cross over the elusive Hitokiri's grave.

A little boy wrinkles his nose at the filthy little girl, huddled in a once-beautiful sundress, knees pulled to her chest. "You smell!" The little girl looks up through her gray-blue orbs.

"I do not!"

The boy himself is caked in mud and filthy grime from the slum streets. "You do." The girl makes a face.

"That isn't a nice thing to say, all the same." She mutters, looking straight beyond the boy. "Where are you?"

"Right here, doofus." She searches, unable to see him.

"Please, come closer?"

He does a dramatic sigh, and inches forward, stopping and feigning to the right for a change in her face, or a turn of the head. Nothing. "I…I can't see." The child whispers, burying her face in the stained dress, huddling closer and closer into herself for comfort.

The boy's face softens, then his eyes turn to steel. "That's so sad." He says in a way that means the opposite. "I don't believe you." So arrogant, he sticks out his tongue. Then he stops, seeing the tears gushing down the sides of the torn dress. A frown envelops his features. Shaking his shaggy head, he makes a face at the wall behind her.

"I'm sorry you don't." The girl murmurs in a calm, unbroken voice.

"Yeah." There is an awkward moment of silence between them.

She gets up, dusting herself off as best as possible. "See you." She doesn't look up, instead feeling her way blindly along the sidewalks. The boy looks conflicted.

"Oi, wait! Wait!" The girl pauses.

"H-Hai?"

He seems about to say something, then changes his mind. "Where are you going?" His tone is almost mocking.

"I'm going… I'm going…" She freezes, then sinks down onto her haunches. "I don't know where I'm going. I'd have to say to aniki… if he's still alive." A look of pity covers the boy's face, before he sighs and makes up his mind to help.

"Well then! You won't last a minute out here without vision! Sazoshitara Hitokiri-san at your service! I've decided to help you, and now you're stuck with me forever!"

"I don't know." She says, almost darkly, "Forever is a long time…" He seems confused, almost frightened for a moment, letting out a shudder, and is glad she can't see him. He takes a deep breath. There are so many questions to ask, only he cannot ask them, for it is like written street law, don't ask of others what you didn't dare ask yourself. It hurt too much.

His chest puffed out comically as he got a reassuring idea. He'd take the weird wretched little thing under his almighty wing, however short and leaky it was.

"Well, when I say forever, I MEAN forever! Now let's go find your aniki." And with that, he takes her hand, laughing and pulling her along.

"Oh K-Kami…" I manage, as my forehead burns and my eyes flash and blur, before I succumb to the overwhelming darkness.

…

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…

"Will she… be okay, dokutoru-sama?"

"Hai, Taijiya-san."

"Oh, arigatou!" It's sincere.

I hear voices.

And for once, I don't doubt my sanity.

"Kagome… I'm sorry." And with that, I felt her presence leave.

I bolt up straight. SANGO! That was Sango's voice! I forget my hatred and the rift between us. I'm panting, and then I feel the eyes. "W-What?" I ask, breathless and trying to be enraged at the familiar faces I see here. Bankotsu, Miroku, Sango, and Jak are seated uncomfortably, sharing a chair and lumpy 'sofa' bag among them. Sango returns with her coffee, inhaling it in.

She follows their eyes. Gasping, the coffee falls to the floor, its plastic cup smashing, warm liquid spilling. Darting over, she embraces me as though I've done nothing wrong. "Kagome!"

"What happened to me? Why am I here?" Tokyo Hospital. In a glaring white room smelling of over-used lemon-scented disinfectant. With an entire ton of plaster and gauze on my arm, and a bandage or two around my torso.

This wakes the others from trances, and Bankotsu is up at once, next to me, standing there quietly. "The real question was, what were you doing?"

"Nani? I was sitting there, watching the sunset. Thinking." I added to the conversation softly, not willing to recount the occurrences.

Bankotsu seems untrusting. "Thinking? Thinking was what made you faint and fall off a twenty foot tree?"

I say nothing.

Now I know what happened.

But why?

"I… I guess so."

He's unrelenting. "Oh really? So far from the shrine, ne? Why would you go up there? It's nothing but a piece of dirt worth kuso!" Raving now, I can easily picture him with foaming lips and entirely red eyes. It's scary how easy.

I shrink back into the scratchy covers.

"ZANMOTO BANKOTSU!" Jak thunders, "Be ashamed of yourself!" A vicious bickering ensues, and then Bankotsu falls silent, glaring at everything and everyone. I notice his gaze fall harsh in particular at the bedside table. A vase with flowers. A vase full of begonias and snapdragons lay there in the beaming sunlight, the multi-color petals seeming to laugh as they swayed in the wind. There was a thin crimson ribbon tied onto a small bunch of roses in the center. White and dried, yellow, and a rose leaf. There was a perfect, intimidating black one, in which something seemed strange.

'Hiten…' Was my first thought, upon setting eyes on the ribbon. I inched my hand towards it, tugging it loose to inhale the scent lingering on it. My eyes had unconsciously closed, and Bankotsu twitched.

"Who sent those?" He demands.

"Ignore him," Jak huffs, brushing back a flyaway. "He's just the jealous type of guy." I turn to him. There are purple triangles that look like snake fangs under his eyes, and he's wearing… a kimono? His hair is up in a feminine style. And now I know what's been missing.

I stare, rigid. "So, what's goin' on?"

Miroku slumps, inhaling deeply. "It's a long story."

"Do I look like I'm going anywhere soon?" He glances at me, and pokes Bankotsu, who growls and sits on the bed by my feet.

"We're not who you think we are." He begins, looking me straight in the eyes, earnest. Something pulls at my heart.

"Then… who…?"

"We're-"

"Sorry we took so long to find you!" Sango interrupts, elbowing Bankotsu hard. I'm so confused. Why won't they come out and say it? Am I that untrustworthy? "We were so worried…" She adds, softly and earnestly, hazel eyes swimming. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you Kagome."

"…" I don't say anything. I don't really have anything to say. Even if I did, I'm not sure if the giant lump in my throat would let me. "Tell… me… what?"

"… I'm sorry." She repeats, sadly, like it tears at the fabric of her being to say that. I know she wants to say more, but doesn't. Or can't. Settling instead for hugging me tightly, like she never wants to let go, I can feel her shoulders quiver slightly.

"Don't mention it." I somehow say, the urge to be alone overwhelming. Anything, I'll say anything—just go away! "C-Could I have some alone time…?" I look at Jak. "Please, Jak?"

"Of course." Jak says, then stops. Quietly in a whisper he adds, "Jakotsu. My name is Jakotsu." I hide the sudden feeling of drained strength, slumping down flat on the bed, arms at my sides. I hear the door close gently, and then I can't stop. It's like a dam inside me has snapped, and the tears flow down my cheeks.

It's because of everything. Everything and nothing, that's my problem.

What with Jak being the elusive Jakotsu. How obvious it was, and I didn't see it. How my friends are hiding something. The new memory. Everything Kage says I should remember that I'm not. My eyes close, shutting off the tear ducts' production.

My fist is clenched, and I slowly unfurl it. The small cross. I bring it closer to my face, staring at it.

"Say, what's your name?"

"Huh?"

"I said, what's your name?"

"Oh." The little girl stared at the ground for a moment, before brightening. "Nagori Kage! Short for Nagori... Never mind! It's not important!" She smiles unabashedly.

The boy laughs slightly at her sudden overwhelming spirit. "Nice to meet you. Are ya hungry?" A loud grumbling noise is heard, and she blushes. "I'll take that as a yes. Come on. We'll stop at the orphanage first."

"O-Okay." The little boy pulled her to her feet, grinning mischievously and brushing a strange or two of raven from his eyes.

"Let's go."

I rub the bridge of my nose experimentally, sitting up slowly to stare at the flowers. Sighing, I tug at the crimson ribbon. It comes free, and I stare at it, gaze lingering longer than it should at the kanji on the back.

Things are not always as they seem.

How ironically true. I laugh bitterly for a second, then stare off into the distance.

This place…

So repressing. I have to get out…

"Not yet." Kage commands smoothly, "Not yet."

And so, we wait.

…

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…

I am so bored that I have begun counting the cracks in the ceiling. My arm feels fine, and it itches via plaster. "Think." Kage says.

But I can't. This whole place is insane. There are men, not doctors either, outside in the halls. Patrolling, watching. It's more like a prison than a hospital. I've taken to staring at the ribbon, trying to remember.

No luck.

…

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…

"Okay," I say calmly so as not to betray any emotion. "I'll see you later then." Sango looks at me for a moment, almost like she can tell something is wrong. Then it passes, the look on her face, that is, and she shakes her head slowly and waves energetically with her entire arm.

"We'll be back this afternoon, okay, Kagome?"

"Hai, Sango. It's Monday. What could I possibly need, other than something to do and my schoolwork?"

"Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"Positive."

"SANGO! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!" Miroku shouts, beckoning hastily from his convertible. "HURRY!"

"Sheesh." Sango mutters, giving me a maternal smile before darting out the door.

"Good." Kage grins coldly. "They're gone. We move."

I peel off the already cracked plaster, depositing it in the garbage. Thanks to Kage, our healing rate is accelerated. A lot. I open the hospital gown, peeling off the clean fabric bandages, where the sniper has hit me. I was lucky the doctors didn't mention it. Or did they? The bullets have already pushed themselves out a while ago, so maybe that's why they didn't mention it.

I check on them quickly, then snip the bandage with the scissors lying on the nightstand, re-wrapping them around myself, only on my breasts instead. "Done." I mutter, closing up the gown and tying the remaining bandage around it tightly, cinching it until it almost hurts.

Sighing, I take a last look around the room. I glance at the flowers. They shouldn't be left. I take them form the vase, drying them on the bed before tucking them inside the gown. Taking everything else that belonged to me with, I check the room once more.

Eyes softened, I flee.

I may be forgiven, but that doesn't mean I intend to stay. But where will we go?

To my surprise my own mind answers the question, not Kage.

Anywhere but here, it says, Anywhere.

(A/N: OOOOOOKAAAAY. Well, now that that's done, and it was okay, I can go work on updating something else. So… erm, not much to say really. Have a splendid 2006, maybe?)

Thanks to all who have reviewed. You are appreciated. I still haven't gotten my toll, but I'll be nice and update anyhow.

Vocab: (last section and this'll be up! YAY!)

Kage- shadow

Sazoshitara Hitokiri- once a boundless city of memory (is you put it all together)

Hai- yes

Oi- hey

Aniki- respectful term for 'elder brother'

Kami- god

Dokutoru- doctor

-sama- respectful add-on for places of nobility and those that you show great admiration, etc to

-san- add-on to a name, usually meaning Mr., Mrs., or Ms.

Arigatou- thank you (semi-informal)

Nani?- what?

-ne?- add-on to the end of a question, usually for emphasis (EX: Inuyasha sure loves his ramen, ne?) (Inuyasha: STOP USING ME AS AN EXAMPLE! (tears hair out))

Kuso- shit

And so this comes to a close.

Ja ne,

o.O.o.O darkenedmoonlightflame O.o.O.o

And company. My adorably annoying muses.

Chapter Finished: 1-01-06 (WHOOT! 2006!)

Post: 1-01-06. Lucky you.

Spell Check: Yep.

Brain Check: Hnn. That's not funny 'Kotsu. But then again, it is. (But you're still going to be pocky-starved for the duration of the next chapter. Heheh, who knows how long that'll be!)