Yay! I'm baaaack! Everyone's okay back home in London. I heard about some nail bombs there too but I'd already come here by time. I've already moved house here in Colombia. To HayLin4, Kiwi-San, electricdragon, lalalalala2, Sesshomaru girl 101, ranchan23, the squabbit, Fluffyluva246, Guardiangirl624, Lady Kagewaki Kracken l.w, Kiwi-San, TaijiyaSango2498, crainess, Viperthe strange (thanks), Kellychankitty, Inu-chan's luver, coolmarauders, Kei-Ookami.kara.mori and every one else who reviewed I am so grateful for all your continuing support, love yas!
Disclaimer: All Inuyasha characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and not Kyuuketsuki-san…no matter how great Kyuuketsuki-san may be.
Chapter 23: Beauty Tips for All
Another day at the dance academy, and Kagome headed down to the cafeteria to grab a bite. Inuyasha had stayed behind to ask Annie something so Kagome had gone down without him. She arrived at the cafeteria and met with Sango, Ayame, Kagura and Kouga. They all sat down at a table while Kagome joined the queue with a couple of trays for piling food on and Kikyo arrived shortly after to join them. After a few minutes Kagome was staggering towards the table under the weight of a vast amount of food piled up on top of the trays that she balanced with her hands. Soon they were all tucking in and not one single crumb was left when they finished. Kagome sat back in her chair and rubbed her full stomach, then glanced down at her watch. She frowned. Where are the others? They should have come down a while ago.
Kagome tapped Sango on the shoulder. "Mmm, Sango, you didn't happen to pass Inuyasha on your way down did you?" Sango shook her head and frowned.
"No, and come to think of it, Miroku hasn't appeared yet, d'you think something's wrong?"
Kagome shrugged and leaned back in her chair again. She then sat up straight and turned to Kagura.
"Kagura, where is Sesshoumaru?"
Kagura blanched, "What, just because I dance with him doesn't mean I go every where with him, are you accusing me of something? I don't know where he is!" Kagura babbled. Kagome raised her eyebrows at the unusual outburst. Kagura positively burned with embarrassment but did her best to try and look dignified. She sat up straight in her chair and crossed her arms.
"Ahem, actually when I was leaving the dance room, I bumped into Inuyasha. It seemed he wanted to speak to Sesshoumaru about something. Oh, and the creep Naraku was with him as well. I thought it rather strange too." Kagura added, seeing the confused expression on Kagome's face.
"That's really weird. Inuyasha never speaks to either Sesshoumaru or Naraku willingly, nor does he miss the opportunity to stuff his face with food. I noticed his absence yesterday and the day before too but I never though much of it." She turned to Sango, "What could he be up to?"
Sango shrugged and began to wonder if Miroku was somehow involved. He also had been missing yesterday but she had assumed he was chasing after those pretty ballet dancers from room B6. Kagome stood up abruptly and began to exit the cafeteria and the others followed suit, they still had the rest of the afternoon to perfect their moves.
Ooo
Kagome opened the door and found Inuyasha already there, warming up his joints and stretching. Kagome opened her mouth to ask what he had been doing but Annie cut her off by ushering her to the middle of the room to stretch.
The music began and both Inuyasha and Kagome performed their sequence, which was nearly perfect. Annie was impressed by their progress, hardly any mistakes were made and they even remembered to smile (or grin, in Inuyasha's case) at the 'crowd'. When they finished Annie applauded them and congratulated them on their improvement.
"Well, you've learnt everything I've taught you, all that's left is to continue to practice until it's time for the competition. Oh, and Mr Tippytoes told me to inform you that tomorrow, all participants have the day off to prepare for the contest and of course, to rest well. We don't want anyone collapsing now, do we?" Annie said.
Kagome nodded eagerly but Inuyasha was beginning to sweat. He was nervous, this was worse than preparing for a battle with Naraku because this time, there were a lot of people coming to watch and the judges keeping an eye on every move performed.
There was a loud rapping on the door, startling Inuyasha slightly. Annie skipped over to open it and in bustled two, short, stocky women in their mid fifties with pins in their mouths and tape measures draped around their necks.
"Ah," Annie exclaimed, "These two wonderful ladies are from the costume department on the fourth floor of the academy. They will be making your outfits."
Kagome squealed and hopped up and down with excitement, while Inuyasha gawped at Annie.
"Gaaaah? Outfits? No way! I ain't gonna play dress up and make fool a myself in front of everyone!" He yelled, dodging the woman who was trying to wrap her tape measure around his body.
"Inuyashaaaa…" Inuyasha cringed and froze. "Osuwari!"
CRASH!
"You can measure him now." Said Kagome, glaring at Inuyasha as she lifted her arms so her waist could be measured.
Inuyasha groaned into the floor.
Ooo
"I'm telling you Sango, I have not been flirting with the ballet dancers again! I swear!"
"Houshiiii…you better tell me the truth right now!"
"But Sango, my sweet, I am telling you the truth!" Miroku pleaded.
"Señor! Just tell the stupid trrruth already so that I may carry on with the lesson!" Lorenzo barked.
Miroku let out a sigh of utter exasperation.
Ooo
Fleur smiled proudly as Sesshoumaru and Kagura performed the last step and she wiped a tear from her eye.
"Monsieur, zat was absolutely perfect!" She purred. She heard an 'ahem'. "Oh, you too mademoiselle." She said in a bored tone, waving her hand impatiently at Kagura.
Kagura fumed and clenched her fists. How dare she be treated in this manner! Sesshoumaru glanced at the angry wind sorceress and was surprised at how he had almost smiled with amusement. He found Kagura a very curious creature; she was capable of making the great Sesshoumaru grin (almost) at her crazy antics. It was fascinating.
Afterwards, they were measured by two short, stocky women, despite Kagura's protests and Sesshoumaru's venomous glares, and then they were allowed to leave after Fleur had briefed them on what was to happen the following day. Fleur waved at them when they exited and sighed when they had gone. Goodbye, monsieur. Do me proud in the contest.
Ooo
Sean applauded Kouga and Ayame on their fantastic performance, they had done extremely well. Kouga had a smug expression on his face and Ayame was looking enormously proud of herself. Just then there was a knock on the door and when it was open, the same short women barged in to measure the demons.
Ayame was happy to cooperate but Kouga was certain he was being attacked so he fled from the woman trying to reach him, running round and round the room creating a powerful cyclone.
"KOUGAAAAAAAA! THEY JUST WANT TO MEASURE YOUUUUU!"
Kouga stopped dead in his tracks and looked about him and saw Ayame, red in the face from screaming. The little woman waddled up to him, panting like crazy and managed to fling the tape measure around his neck to prevent his escape. She nodded at Ayame in appreciation and Ayame smiled. Finally, she had obtained a little control of the wild wolf prince and maybe she would be liked better for it.
"I hate you Ayame. You have humiliated me!" He growled as he lifted his arms to have his chest measured.
Ayame scowled. Maybe not.
Ooo
Naraku and Kikyo were just about to leave the dance room when Lola stopped them.
"I just wanted to say…" Lola began. This was very hard for her to admit, "You two have shown unbelievable prrrogrrress these past few days…you arrre possibly the…the best students I have everrr taught. Therrre! I said it!" She cried.
Naraku smirked. "Well that was unexpected. And I didn't even have to threaten you with death for you to say it."
Lola narrowed her eyes at him. "You had betterrr do me prrroud in that contest or I'll-"
Naraku silenced her by raising his hand. He turned to the door but then swung round and pointed upwards.
"Oh my! That spider is enormous! And it's going to land on your head!" He yelled.
Lola let out a blood curdling scream and dove for cover and Naraku burst into peals of evil laughter.
"Hm hm hm…sorry, I must have imagined it. Hm hm hm ha ha ha ha ha haaaa…"
Even Kikyo was giggling when they left the room which surprised Naraku greatly. He had never been able to make her laugh before unless it was at his expense. Kikyo caught him staring and ceased immediately.
"What?" She challenged. Naraku shrugged.
Ooo
Everyone met downstairs at reception, which was currently swarming with workmen carrying ladders, middle aged women bustling about holding colourful decorations and excited dance students getting in people's way. Mr Tippytoes was skipping around happily, helping in any way he could and as soon as he caught sight of Kagome and the others, he danced up to them with a sparkle of excitement in his eyes.
"ithn't thith magnifithent? The ballroom ith being decorated for the contetht, oh the colourth! It'th tho beautiful!" he exclaimed, jumping up and down eagerly. Kagome took a small step back to avoid getting hit by one of Mr Tippytoes' flailing arms.
"Oh yeth, I trutht you have all been told about tomorrow?" When they nodded he continued, "Good, well tomorrow the academy will be clothed for decoration tho don't bother coming. Ah, and I believe you've been measured ath well, tho you'll eventually thee your outfith on the day of the competition-"
"Whaaaaat?" Inuyasha cried. "You mean that the first time we get to see what our clothes look like is on the day? What if they're disgusting?"
Kagome shushed him as best she could, "Inuyasha, he's done this before! Please don't make scene."
"No, no Kagome, it'th quite alright. Yeth it'th my fault entirely, I'd fallen behind on the making of the outfith, but worry not! I have an army of theamthretheth at my command!" cried Mr Tippytoes pumping a fist into the air.
Inuyasha looked him, then at Kagome in confusion. "An army of what?"
"Seamstresses. They're women who make clothes." Kagome whispered.
Inuyasha shook his head and faced Mr Tippytoes. He pointed a threatening finger at him.
"Those clothes better be perfect, or I'll hunt ya down and…Sesshoumaru?" Inuyasha twirled around for a moment, "What's that word ya always use?" Inuyasha barked.
"Disembowel."
"Yeah…that's it." Inuyasha whipped round and prodded Mr Tippytoes in the chest, "I'll hunt ya down and dis-em-bow-el ya. Sesshoumaru, was that right?" Inuyasha turned his head and saw Sesshoumaru nod approvingly.
"Got that? Answer me, you freaky bas-" a quick look at Kagome's murderous expression, "Ba-ba-ba-bi-big…big, booby!" Inuyasha snarled, as though that was what he had meant to say all along. Mr Tippytoes gulped and nodded. Inuyasha smirked and lowered his finger.
As they were leaving, Kagome mouthed an apology to the shaken Mr Tippytoes and waved at him sweetly. Inuyasha must have frightened him pretty bad, why does always have to terrorize everyone he sees? Oh no! What if he threatens the judges at the contest? NO! Kagome, think positive!
Kagome began to chew her bottom lip in anguish as she tried to push all the negative thoughts out of her brain. She didn't succeed. Inuyasha glanced at her while they walked along to get to the Yoru Hotel.
"Kagome, If yer hungry, there's food at the hotel. Ya don't have to eat yer own mouth." He teased, but she didn't even seem to hear him. Inuyasha shrugged.
Ooo
"There he is girls! That's the man who got me out of the elevator!"
Feminine squeals echoed around the foyer and soon Sesshoumaru found himself surrounded by swooning, screaming women. He looked at the others quizzically but what he saw caused a rise in his ire. Inuyasha had a stupid smirk plastered all over his face, Miroku was staring with a mixture of jealousy and longing in his eyes and both Naraku and Kouga were gawping at the scene open mouthed. The girls were already climbing the stairs and Sesshoumaru could distinctly hear a giggle escape Kagura's lips as she reached the landing of the first floor. Sesshoumaru clenched his fists and pulled his fur pelt, which was currently being stroked by several women, out of reach. He strode away from them but they clung to him like monkeys, some scribbled numbers on scraps of paper and tried shoving them into his armour. He had no idea what those numbers were so he slapped their hands away. Was it possible to drown in a torrent of human women? He deeply regretted having to leave his swords in the house of Inuyasha's wench. He could have used them already.
"Wow! His hair is so sooooft!"
"I wanna touch it!"
"let's get him into the elevator again!"
"Hey! It's my turn to feel his biceps!"
"Gerrof! He's mine!"
Sesshoumaru's left eye began to twitch uncontrollably and he flexed his claws. He could hear Inuyasha's raucous laughter and it very nearly made him see red, but he couldn't transform here, it was too risky, so he concentrated instead on controlling his rage. Impatient, he pushed his way past the silly females and made his way to the stairs, at a rather quick pace. He ignored the complaints and whines of the women and he brushed past Inuyasha, who was rolling around on the floor in hysterics.
Inuyasha wiped a tear from his eye, "Man…that was gold!" He got up to his feet and patted Miroku on the shoulder sympathetically. Miroku sighed as all the sulking women walked out of his reach.
Ooo
It was one o'clock in the morning and everyone in the hotel was sound asleep…well, except for a few demons of course. Miroku sighed for the umpteenth time that day and took the pillow off from over his head.
SNOOOOOOORRRRE! Grunt whine SNOOOOORRRE!
Miroku groaned. How can anyone sleep through all this racket?
He turned his head and let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. He could make out the figure in the bed next to his…it looked like Inuyasha. He was sitting up, as usual, and his head was slumped over his chest, his arms tucked into the sleeves of his haori. He was snoring loudly and occasionally making growling noises. Miroku turned his head to look at the bed on his other side. He squinted. It was Naraku, lying with his bottom in the air and snoring happily into the night. Miroku lifted his head from the pillow and peered at the bed situated in the far end of the suite. Kouga was lying spread eagled on the bed and was munching on a jumbo sized packet of Doritos, crackling the packet noisily and grunting with enjoyment. Miroku let his head fall back and he grabbed at his hair with both hands. He was really tired. He flipped over to his side and decided to concentrate on the moon, visible through the panes of glass of the window. What he didn't expect to see was the silhouetted figure of a full grown dog demon staring unblinkingly at him with eerily glowing eyes. Miroku gave a small yelp of fright and burrowed under the covers, shutting his eyes tightly and reminding himself that Sesshoumaru was not going to kill him while he slept.
Ooo
Kagome yawned and slowly got out of bed, stumbling slightly in the dark as she felt her way to the bathroom. She almost reached it when she heard the tap run in the kitchenette and she froze. She whipped around and her eyes travelled the room as she searched for the intruder. She tiptoed to the mini kitchen and peered in, receiving the fright of her life as a ghostly body floated up to her.
"Jeez, Kikyo, you scared the heck out of me!" Kagome whispered hoarsely, placing a hand on her wildly beating heart. Kikyo took a sip of water from the glass she held in her hand and stared at Kagome boredly.
"I did? Good." She muttered, and she floated off to her bed, leaving Kagome to steady her breathing.
Ooo
The next morning, after breakfast, the gang was all set to practice and prepare for the following day. Miroku was sitting on the sofa reading a magazine Kagome had brought to the room, Inuyasha was flicking through all the TV channels and Kouga was spread out on the floor constructing…something…with the bars of soap he had found in the bathroom. Yes, they were all working very hard. Sesshoumaru was nowhere to be found since Kagura had barged in and literally dragged him out of the room to get him to practice with her, much to his surprise and amusement.
"Oi, Miroku, what's Naraku doing?" Asked Inuyasha, prodding a button on the remote. Naraku had locked himself in the bathroom with and was currently humming to himself. There was a crash and the sound of Naraku cursing and it became obvious that he had tripped over his own feet and fallen to the ground.
"Practicing his moves." replied Miroku, turning a page of the magazine.
Just then Ayame burst in and looked around the room until she spotted Kouga. She stomped over, grabbed him by the ankle and hauled him out of the suite, despite his screams and protests. On any other occasion Inuyasha would have been splitting his sides with laughter but exactly the same thing had happened to him earlier that morning with Kagome. He and Miroku shuddered.
"Nooooo! My soap castle! It's ruined! Leggo a me woman! You're embarrassing meeeee!" Kouga yelled, banging his fists upon the ground. Ayame continued to heave him along until she reached the corridor, there, she let go of his foot and stood over him with her hands on her hips.
"You, Kouga, are going to practice with me RIGHT NOW! If you have anything to say, I don't wanna hear it. I want us to look perfect tomorrow and if you let me down, I'll…I'll…" She thought for a minute, bent down to level her face with Kouga's and lowered her voice to a whisper, "I'll tell Kagome you named your tail Mr Wiggles!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Oh yes I would."
After seeing the horrified look on Kouga's face she grinned triumphantly and held out her hand, which Kouga took reluctantly.
Ooo
Sango plonked down onto the sofa and stretched her tired legs. She had just finished practicing with Miroku and they both ended up exhausted. Kagome was in the bathroom rummaging through the beauty products in the cabinet beneath the sink and Kikyo was out practicing with Naraku on the corridor of the fifth floor. Kagura was staring out the window as if in a daydream and Ayame was in the kitchenette getting a glass of water. The sun was getting ready to disappear for the night and the sky was tinged with oranges, pinks and yellows. While it had been at its highest point, the whole group had been working hard trying to perfect their moves and better their presentation. Now it was time to rest and improve their appearance for the next day, well, the girls were doing that because the guys were sprawled about in their suite pigging out on all the food.
Kikyo floated into the room tiredly and went to get some water. Kagome came out of the bathroom with her arms full of beauty products and she spilled them upon her bed. She rubbed her hands together with glee.
"Right! I found about five packets of beauty masks. You just have to add water and rub it on your face." She added, seeing the looks the other girls were giving her. She darted to the kitchenette and brought out a large mixing bowl, a spoon and a bottle of water. As the others watched in fascination, Kagome opened all of the packets and poured the powder into the bowl, adding water every now and then and mixed it all together. The mixture was now thick and creamy and smelt of cucumber.
"Okay! Now just stick your hand in there and get a glob of this stuff…" She reached into the bowl and did so, "And smear it on like this."
She spread the creamy face mask onto her cheeks and dabbed her nose and forehead with the stuff until her face was completely covered. There were 'ooh's and 'ah's from the girls and they all followed Kagome's example, except Kikyo who felt it unnecessary to improve the complexion of her skin since she was dead.
"Everyone done? Great, now just relax for half an hour and wait until the cream hardens. Then we can peel it off." Kagome told them. She lay down on her bed and sighed contently. Kagura, Sango and Ayame flung themselves into their beds and Kikyo hovered above them, sniggering at how ridiculous they looked.
Just then, a loud banging on the door was heard and Inuyasha's voice interrupted their relaxation time.
"Hey! Kagome! D'ya have any more Doritos? That mangy wolf ate the last packet!"
Kagome groaned and lifted herself off the bed and went to the kitchenette to search through all the food. She found a large packet of Doritos behind the brownies.
"Yes! We've got one packet!" Kagome called out, reaching in and grabbing it. "You can come in, Inuyasha, the doors open and everyone's decent."
She heard the knob turn. She walked out of the little kitchen and was about to hand him the packet of Doritos when Inuyasha let rip a blood curdling scream. Kagome screamed with him.
"What? What? What is it?" Kagome shrieked. Inuyasha pointed at her face frantically.
"Monster! What have you done to Kagome! I'll kill you!" Inuyasha roared, flexing his claws.
"No, no, no Inuyasha! It's me!"
Inuyasha gasped, "It even has her voice! I'll destroy you for taking Kagome's body!" He was about to leap into the air when he spotted the other girls staring at all the commotion. He yelled in fright.
"Oh no! It's got you all too!" Inuyasha cried. The packet of Doritos lay forgotten on the floor and Inuyasha continued with his ramblings of body snatching demons until Kagome gave up trying to explain and decided to settle everything once and for all.
"Inuyashaaaa…"
Inuyasha pointed a mocking finger at her and smirked. "Ha-ha! You're not the real Kagome so you can't say-"
"OSUWARIIIIIII!"
SMASH!
"Damn." Said Inuyasha into the floor. When the force of the spell had worn of, he picked himself off the floor and demanded an explanation which Kagome graciously provided him with, adding a few more 'sit's here and there.
"So…" began Inuyasha as he got up from the floor once again, "that stuff on yer face is actually to make ya look pretty? I don't think you've got enough on then, Kagome."
Kagome's eye began to twitch and instead of sending him to the floor again she stomped over to the mixing bowl – which was half full – and scooped out a handful of the cream. She bagn to slowly stride up to the confused hanyou.
"Uhhh…Kagome? What are you doing?" He asked anxiously.
"I'm gonna make you pretty." She grinned. And before Inuyasha could turn and run, his face had been smothered with cucumber freshness and Kagome was squealing in triumph. He spluttered and wiped some of the cream from his eyes. He growled angrily and was starting to retaliate but Kagome dragged him to the sofa and sat him down, forcing him to relax and go through with the half an hour wait.
"Come on, Inuyasha, just sit and unwind for a moment. You can even go to sleep if you want."
Inuyasha gradually ceased his growling and slowly closed his eyes.
"There, see? You just-"
A loud snore escaped Inuyasha's lips and Kagome stared at him in surprise. "That was fast."
Kagura had gotten out of her bed to gawp at the hanyou in the beauty mask and burst out laughing, but Kagome shushed her for fear of waking him up because a sleep deprived Inuyasha was a grumpy one.
There was another knock at the door.
"What's going on in there hanyou? Everyone heard you screaming so they made me come over and see." Came Naraku's voice from the other side of the door. Kagura and Kagome looked at each other, the same plan formulating in each of their minds. Kagome nodded and Kagura went to grab some cream. Kikyo hovered above them and finally understood what they were about to pull off. When Kagura positioned herself beside the door, Kikyo decided to linger around the mixing bowl for a while.
"Helloooo? Inuyashaaaa?...Kagura, are you in there? Is anyone in there?" Naraku called out. Kagura, with her free hand turned the knob carefully and whipped open the door, she raised the glob of cream above her head and-
SPLAT!
Naraku coughed and bent over, bringing his hands up to his face.
Kagura looked at him in confusion and back at her hand, which still held the blob of beauty cream. She heard a snigger from the other side of the suite and their was Kikyo, bobbing up and down in the air, her hand dripping with excess cream. So…
Kagome led the half blind Naraku to the sofa and explained how soft his skin would be in half an hour. Naraku lightened up considerably at that.
Kagura shrugged. She had wanted to be the one to pelt him with cream but obviously Kikyo had gotten there first. She walked away from the doorway and went to dump the glob from her hand into the bowl. She turned her head and sighed. She'd forgotten to close the door.
Sesshoumaru was striding past their room at that moment and glanced inside as he went. He paused and took one step back to stare for longer.
Kagura gazed at him, then at the blob of cream and grinned like a maniac.
Sesshoumaru stepped into the room. He caught sight of Inuyasha and Naraku lying back on the sofa with some kind of…Sesshoumaru sniffed the air…cucumber puree on their faces. He noticed Kagura march up to him and he could smell that cucumber aroma off her face. He looked down at her disapprovingly but she, in turn, grinned at him mischievously and held up her cream-filled hand. He glared at her, with his eyes forbidding her to carry out the action he was certain she would carry out.
"Don't you dare." He said icily.
"Oh wouldn't I?" She grinned and raised her arm but Sesshoumaru caught it swiftly.
Kagura was getting impatient. She wanted to see him covered in cream!
Kouga barged in, asking for the packet of Doritos that were long since forgotten. Ayame shot out from her bed and led him to the mixing bowl, spinning him some tale about making a cucumber flavour dessert and would he like to try some? Kouga was considering his reply but before he could say anything, Ayame had grabbed his hair and shoved his face into the beauty cream. He protested greatly but Ayame pleaded with him until he eventually yielded and plonked himself onto the floor.
"Come on, Sesshoumaru, you arrogant ass, it's good for your skin!" Kagura said convincingly.
"My skin is already perfect. I have no need for useless, feminine beauty products." He replied, his voice void of all emotion. Kagura tried to wriggle her arm from his grasp but it proved futile.
Miroku knocked on the open door and complained about being the only one left in his room. He gawped at the cream covered people in the room and was about to head out when Sango decided that she owed him a punishment for flirting with those wretched ballet dancers, even if he hadn't admitted to it yet.
"Oh houshiii!"
"Yes?" Miroku said, turning around. Sango slapped him in the face.
"That's for not telling me the truth about the dancers yesterday."
"But Sango! I was telling the…but, what's this? My face!" Miroku cried. He realised Sango's hand had not been empty.
Kagura was still attempting to bring Sesshoumaru down, but he refused to succumb to her creamy punishment.
"But don't you want to make your face look even more perfect?"
"We both know it's impossible to do that." He replied in a way that made Kagura's anger and desire to smother him in cream increase. She felt his grip on her arm loosen a tad. She smirked.
"Nothing's impossible, you overconfident narcissist!" She screamed, and wrenching out of his grasp, she rubbed the cream in his surprised face. He coughed and spluttered, spitting out the drops of cream that had found their way into his mouth. He shot her a piercing glare.
"You insolent-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." She muttered and putting her hands on his shoulders guided him over to the sofa and forced him down on it.
"Look, your brother isn't complaining! Maybe he's not as babyish as you are." She pointed out, knowing this would touch a nerve.
"I am nothing like that half-"
"U-huh, yeah sure." She mumbled and pushed him back, making him rest against the back of the sofa.
Ooo
Everyone slept soundly that night, even Miroku. When the cream had been finally peeled off their faces, Naraku was the first one to race to the bathroom and peer at his reflection in the mirror, running his hand over his skin.
"So soft!" He sighed.
Even Sesshoumaru had nothing to complain about when he discovered that Kagura had been right in saying that his skin would feel even softer than before. Inuyasha and Kouga were for once united in their grumblings about silly, girly feeling faces and Miroku had continuously rubbed his cheek, sighing and wondering if this was what Sango's skin felt like. The girls had felt refreshed and rejuvenated, ready for the contest and prepared for anything.
They all awoke the next morning feeling a little nervous of course, they had breakfast and set out for the dance academy along with the rest of the dancers they would have to compete against. As she climbed the steps Kagome realised with a jolt that she would be competing against all her friends, not working with them. She glanced at Sango and Miroku's content expressions and then at Inuyasha's nervous one. She smiled at him and placed a hand one his shoulder. He looked down at her hand in surprise and looked at her with a slight blush. He smiled back. At least she would have him at her side…always.
A/N: Phew! Nice and long to make up for the wait. The dance contest is on the next chapter, but I'm not sure when it will be up since my parents have set up the 'half an hour on the computer' regime. Don't forget to read and review!
