The It Couple
Chapter Eleven
"Hold on," Kagome said as she and Sango were throwing away their food trays, "Why is Inuyasha calling me?"
"Ohhhhh shit," Sango said, looking very sheepish and very, very guilty.
"Sango?"
"I may have told Miroku about your going to the HFA's without considering that he's probably with Inuyasha right now." Sango winced and threw up her hands.
Kagome was a little confused by this reaction. What was wrong with Inuyasha knowing? Surely he'd be glad to see her there.
She answered the call. "Hello?"
"What do you think you're doing?"
Kagome blinked. "Hi, Inuyasha. Good to hear from you, too."
"Never mind all that. Answer my question." He sounded furious. What the hell was going on?
"I'm...going to the Hollywood Film Awards tomorrow night?"
"With Kouga Okami."
"...Yes?"
"Oh, nothing. I just thought you were smarter than that."
"Excuse me?" she said, eyes narrowing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sango inch away toward a nearby bench and sit down, still with that expression like she'd been electric-shocked.
"You heard me. You know who Kouga Okami is. Different girl every month, every week even. And you just signed up to be tabloid news."
"It's not like that at all!" Kagome said frenetically, "Ayame's just out of town last minute, and we sort of hit it off in the limo yesterday, and-"
"And his intentions are completely pure and wholesome, are they?"
Kagome was unable to speak for a moment, and when she could again, pure blind fury had edged into her voice. "One, he's promised to be a gentleman. Two, even if he isn't one, I'll be surrounded by other people. Three, my plans and who I go out with are none of your business. Weren't you just asking me about my dating life the other day, practically encouraging me to put myself out there? I don't see the difference between that and what I'm doing now."
"There's a world of difference!" he screamed.
"Well, I'm afraid I don't see it and I don't understand why you're being this way," Kagome replied, her voice starting to tremble. Don't cry, don't cry, don't you dare cry in front of him.
"Your picture will be all over the paper. People will put two and two together. And they'll instantly start comparing you to your sister!"
"And that's just the worst thing that could happen to me, isn't it?" Kagome snapped, the tears spilling out of her eyes now, "I mean, you've been doing it to me for years, all of you, comparing me to Kikyou, but when the public does it it will be different, won't it? Who gives a shit what they have to say. I want to go out, I want to dance and drink and have a good time and I want to pretend for just one fucking night that I'm not just Kikyou Higurashi's kid sister."
There was stunned silence on the other end of the line.
"I want you to leave me alone from now on," Kagome said, her face streaming and her voice choking back a hoarse sob, "You're bad for me."
She hung up and sank into a crouch, face buried in her hands. She felt Sango rush over and place a comforting hand between her shoulder blades, and she turned and threw her arms around Sango.
They remained there on the concrete sidewalk for a good ten minutes.
Inuyasha stared at his phone, unable to speak, breathing heavily.
"Well, that went well," Miroku said, and ducked as the phone whistled through the air toward his head.
"Kagome, what's wrong with your face?" Kikyou said, looking up from her exercise bike with mild curiosity. Naraku didn't even break from his lifting reps.
"Nothing," Kagome said, half-heartedly reaching up to cover her bright red nose and cheeks, her eyes swollen from tears, "Just a sneezing fit."
"Well, take a Benadryl," Kikyou said, returning to her pedaling with a shrug.
Kagome nodded and went on to her bedroom.
Once inside, the tears began to flow again. Thank goodness Sango had been the one to drive to lunch; Kagome didn't know how she would have made it home without her.
She'd just told Inuyasha that he was bad for her. Full stop. And it was true, wasn't it? Unrequited love was always bad for a person. Especially when the object of said unrequited love was instead in love with your older sister. There was no competing with Kikyou, not when it came to men's hearts. Kagome had always sort of understood this, and yet…
And yet.
There was no question, he was bad for her. She had been fine during the six months without him, able to stand on her own and breathe. She just needed to recreate that distance again.
That's not quite true. You were miserable those six months without him.
But that was different, wasn't it?
Wasn't it?
Kagome sat at her desk and buried her head in her arms.
"I feel just horrible," Sango finished. She and Miroku were sitting side-by-side on his living room couch, comparing notes, relaying each side of Inuyasha and Kagome's conversation as they had heard it firsthand.
"Yeah, this is rough. I get why Inuyasha would worry for her, but, as he usually does, he picked a shitty way of going about it." Miroku lit a cigarette and put his lighter back in his pocket.
Sango leaned back on the couch, smoothing down her leather miniskirt and propping her bare feet onto the coffee table. "Houshi," she said softly, looking at him with those beautiful brown eyes.
Miroku gulped and almost got ash on himself. "Yeah?"
She smiled softly. "Can I bum one of those off you?"
"I didn't know you smoked."
"I don't; I bum cigarettes as needed." She recrossed those long, fabulous legs. Miroku's mouth felt very dry.
He pulled another cigarette out of his pack, put it in his mouth, lit it, then handed it to her. She inhaled, closing her eyes, her long lashes dusting her cheeks.
This is hardly the time or the place, you moron. Get it together. Miroku couldn't feel himself succeeding, however.
"See?" she said with a grin, "If you just bum as needed, you always get the nicotine buzz. Like it's your first ever cigarette."
"Economical," Miroku said, dimly aware that he was staring and finally able to shake himself out of it.
Sango flipped her long ponytail over the other shoulder, brow furrowed. "So what should we do?" She met his eyes again.
I can think of a million things.
"Wh-what?"
"About this Inuyasha-Kagome situation," she said blankly, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Oh." Cold bucket of water, right over my head. Miroku, you idiot. Get your get in the game.
He chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "Guess I'm still a little hungover. Sorry."
Sango smirked, and he just knew she was remembering that play-by-play of texts he'd sent her last night.
"As far as Inuyasha and Kagome go, we need to play a little chess. Keep them apart the whole night if we have to. We need them bursting to talk to each other by the end of it." Miroku stubbed out the butt of his finished cigarette.
Sango's eyes lit up with mischief. That was it. That was the look that practically drove him crazy. "You want to force a confrontation rather than avoid it," she said, the corners of her mouth turned upward. She set her lit smoke in the ashtray and leaned in towards him.
"Bingo."
"This will shove Kagome's name into the spotlight; you do understand that?"
"Might add another juicy angle to the whole thing, though. Like we were saying, Kagome's a big girl. She should know what she's getting into. If she doesn't, well, lesson learned. She'll just need a few months to get over it."
"Houshi, that's mean." The way her nose wrinkled a little, yet she remained smiling. Dear lord.
"I've told you before, babe. Yes, we're her friends, but we're amoral pieces of shit here to promote a movie first. We'll be her shoulder to cry on when it's all said and done. No harm, no foul."
"What about Kikyou?"
"Oh, she'll be at home with that meathead. Don't worry about her."
"You don't think this will make Kikyou a little angry to see her sister and her ex fighting it out all over the papers?"
"Oh, I know it will. You know Kikyou. Doesn't like anyone else touching her things."
"That's...diabolical," Sango said, her eyes full of glee, "You fucking genius."
God dammit.
Miroku couldn't stand it any longer; he lunged forward, grabbed Sango's face with both hands, and slammed a hell of a kiss on her. She whimpered in surprise as he pulled her across the couch toward him, running his hands through her ponytailed hair.
Get a grip get a grip get a fucking grip.
He tore himself away from her mouth as quickly as it began. "Christ, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that-"
She threw her arms around his neck, climbed onto his lap, and whispered against his lips, "You're a fucking genius, Houshi."
And they fell into each other, knocking over the tableside lamp as she straddled him on the couch, clothes flying every which way.
Sango's lit cigarette in the ashtray proceeded to burn slowly down to the butt, unattended.
"You're going where?" Kikyou said, her beautiful face screwed up in what looked like the beginnings of a temper tantrum.
"To a nightclub," Kagome said, hands clasped in front of her, looking as singularly innocent as she possibly could, "With my friend from middle school. You remember Ayumi Hito?"
"Not at all," Kikyou said dismissively, folding her legs under her on the couch and returning her attention to her TV show.
"So I'll be gone all tomorrow night and maybe some of the next day. You can handle it, right?"
Kikyou rolled her eyes and let out a sound that was half-groan, half whine. "If I have to," she said, "Guess I'll have to stay home then."
You were going to anyway; you said that to Naraku earlier.
"I mean," Kagome said, wringing her hands awkwardly, "You and Naraku will have the house to yourselves all night. That's kinda romantic, right?"
Kikyou shrugged. "He's been kind of a bore, lately. Ever since he started getting jealous over Inuyasha, he's trying to watch me like a hawk. It's tiring."
Kagome flinched at the mention of the name. "He's just so in love with you that he's afraid of losing you. Reassure him."
Her older sister raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you become such an expert?" She scoffed and turned the volume up on her show, a not-too-subtle method of dismissal.
Kagome walked back to her room.
Since never.
Okay I know I've talked about feels before, but jeepers this is getting ridiculous. I know this chapter is a little bit shorter, but I wanted all the pre-HFA stuff concentrated in one place before getting the ball rolling next chapter.
ALSO YAY FOR SANGO AND MIROKU LETTING NATURE TAKE ITS BLESSED COURSE HALLELUJAH! This should have an...interesting effect on their working dynamic, for sure, especially since Sango previously insisted that they keep it purely professional.
I had a question to ask all of you loyal readers. Quite a few reviews have mentioned some of the seedier aspects of the Hollywood game, many of which I have so far elected to leave out of the equation.
How does everyone feel about upping the rating so I can include some of the more rowdy stuff? It's fine with me either way; I'd just like to know what you guys prefer. I probably won't do full-on lemons on since they are notorious for removing anything questionable, but I can possibly do simultaneous postings of the lemon sections on ao3 if that's something y'all are interested in.
Vote in the reviews - T or M rating? I may go back and edit some earlier chapters to reflect the change if it happens. Thanks everyone! I love you all to pieces! - meggz0rz