Chapter Thirty: Shopping

"It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not."

-Andre Gide, Autumn Leaves

Kagome regretted this, she had already heard from the others about how her going out in her current 'condition' was a bad idea and Jade seemed to want to ban her from leaving the house outright – but a mysterious illness wasn't really the best way to try and hide from someone that clearly already was on to all her lies from her time traveling in the well. She had to go out with Kyoya now that she'd agreed to it, but now that they were here she was at a complete loss as to what she was even supposed to do. He'd taken her to a rather expensive upscale mall where she never would shop normally. Half the names she didn't even recognize and a lot of the stores were clothing. She didn't really like to get clothes for people since she couldn't predict styles so mostly she looked at the grandiose decorations as she walked uncomfortably next to her escort – who had thus far been the perfect gentlemen.

Kyoya had opened and held doors for her and they'd chatted about how nice the weather was today for this time of year. It was still chilly but they couldn't immediately see their breath on exhaling so it was rather warm for late December. She was all the more nervous thanks to knowing he'd seen some sort of change in her body right away – he'd remarked on the change to her hair and then said he liked it but Kagome didn't really find that to be much of a compliment. It was just someone else unwittingly complimenting the madman that put her in another body.

Of course, she was apparently being followed by at least one of her guard's who had been turned invisible and that only added to awkwardness since she knew most of what they were talking about was probably being listened to. Pushing aside that problem she tried to focus more on her other issue – what the hell did you get mystical men with magical powers and super samurai anyway? What could she possibly buy them that they couldn't just get themselves?

"Not really the sort to make a list of what to get people?" Kyoya asked curiously when they'd wandered a little while with her just staring uncertainly.

"Am I that obvious?" Kagome hung her head a little. "I'm sorry Kyoya, you were nice enough to ask me out but I've been so busy with the dance and family coming to visit that I haven't really had time to think much about shopping."

"Not to worry," He answered as if it wasn't at all an issue. "Who do you need to buy for and we'll go through them one at a time, just figure out what they like."

"Well, I'm not completely sure myself – I haven't met some of these family member's before – they live pretty far away and were on my dad's side." Kagome could kick herself with the lies she kept having to come up with but she knew almost nothing about her father and hopefully neither did the spy standing nearby. He nodded thoughtfully so she supposed her plan for a ruse would function for the time being.

"Well, we can go by your impressions of them too I suppose." Kyoya remarked, clearly getting a better idea as to why she was having a hard time. She supposed she appreciated the support even though she wasn't fully convinced this poor guy wasn't just one more that had been enchanted. She pushed away her feelings of guilt – the guy had actually dug into her life without permission – she could at least get people gifts this way. She eventually managed to come up with ideas – most of them were less than conventional and got a lot of moments of surprise but Kyoya didn't seem concerned with the money portion of their outing.

She'd figured out something for her family fairly easily, she'd gotten Albel, Jade, Ishida, Ed, Kazama, Ghaleon, and Sephiroth gifts. She couldn't really get something for Kyoya with him right in front of her – not that she was sure she even wanted to. Then Kaiba she was a little frustrated with – and he was a millionaire, he could buy anything he wanted. She wasn't sure if there was anyone else she should even get gifts for so she left it at that and walked with her day's benefactor over to the table where people were wrapping things. She handed them over and they walked to a nearby bench to sit until the presents were finished.

"So, um, I heard that you are part of a host club? What do you do exactly?" Kagome thought it best to at least attempt to make conversation.

"Mostly we sit and have tea with lovely young women and keep them company – it's an interesting past time that allows us to build social relationships within our own circles." Kyoya remarked, uncertain himself as to why he was being so forward with the girl. She seemed very different today compared to their dance only two days ago. Her hair was different but even her face seemed somehow younger – was she just wearing more make up? There was something about her that didn't seem right – perhaps the dance lighting left his senses more muted than he was accustomed to.

Kagome laughed and he stared at her curiously, that wasn't the sort of reaction he expected from his answer as to the host club – he'd had a fair amount of different replies but that was new. Kagome shook her head. "Sorry, I just thought of something random."

In truth she'd thought about how much hosting a bunch of men and trying to keep them all happy sounded a little like her own life and couldn't help but be amused at the irony of it. She figured it best not to leave it at that. "I think that would get old, always worried about pleasing others and keeping them content – do the girl's ever get jealous of each other?"

"Sometimes." He admitted, smiling a little. "But, Tamaki, our club leader, doesn't tolerate negative behavior well and has removed women from our accepted roster for it before."

So much for asking him if he had any ideas on how to deal with it. Kagome just nodded and glanced back out the window – this was so awkward. She wondered idly where Roy was following them? How did one have a normal conversation to get to know someone when they had a magically invisible escort?

"It is a fair club to have on my list as having managed the funds of." Kyoya stated thoughtfully before altering the topic again. "Are you hungry? I could get us a table at one of the restaurants near here – I think you might enjoy it."

"Not really." Kagome said with a sigh. "I have a lot of people staying at the house from out of town and while they're sort of close they're the distant family I mentioned. I'm not really supposed to stay out late."

His expression seemed a bit crushed a moment and Kagome couldn't help herself. She added. "But I'd take a rain check if you want to later." before she realized that was probably a bad idea.

"I think that would be all right." Kyoya answered with a nod. Uncertain himself why he'd suddenly asked her out. He rarely did things impulsively, almost never – and this was the second time he'd just asked her out. There was something about her that was a paradox.

"What sort of gifts do you like? You seem to have everything." Kagome changed the topic as they picked up the bags of wrapped gifts – each with a spot for a small note as well as who it was for and from already filled in – must be nice to have this much money to have someone even write out your tags.

"Do I?" The brief remark was telling for the empathetic girl that perhaps not everything on the surface of this boy was what she should assume was true. He probably had his own issues and problems that money couldn't solve the same as anyone else. "I have to say, the gifts I most appreciate are often the smallest ones that hold the largest gestures. I got a hand made card from one of my friends at Ouran last year – they're a scholarship student so they could not afford large presents. It was a surprisingly thoughtful first."

"Aw, that's such a cute idea." Kagome said, as if disappointed she hadn't thought of it. She and Haruhi were somewhat alike in their occasional moments of naivety – Kyoya could appreciate that. He'd gotten out of bed for this girl on a weekend and he still wasn't even sure why. He'd pushed it off on his curiosity about her stories about illness not adding up but then he hadn't asked her once about her past – his premise was to apologize for his spying so it was a double edged blade. He had to walk a fine line if he wanted to learn anything.

"I imagine if we walk for a while you'll find things that fit the people you have in mind, and if not, there's always gift cards or home made ones." Kyoya answered politely. Pulling the keys from his pocket and tightening his coat when they got the exit – not far from the wrapping area.

After a while, with a little more small talk, the pair reached his car and were dropped off at one end, Kagome pulled her coat a little tighter. Despite being the afternoon it felt a bit colder than when they'd arrived. She stared out the window after they got things put away and got into the car. She had lied about not being available but she didn't want to lead yet another guy on – even though she felt a certain kinship toward Kyoya she thought it must be the spell. She felt that way for most of the guys, and she didn't want to lead on even more.

Then, having told him she wanted to go out later didn't really help that. If she didn't have enough trouble already with this whole 'body snatchers' theme going on. "I'll be pretty busy through the holiday's I'm afraid. Can we go out again after the new year?"

That seemed reasonable...it gave her other group of admirer's almost two weeks to fix her. It wasn't just going back on what she'd already offered but hopefully she'd be back in her own body by then.

"I'll make plans if you don't mind me figuring it out. First Saturday after the New Year?" He asked, glad he'd have time to actually plot out a date. Though he felt a pang of disappointment that it would be such a long time. He smirked to himself. What an odd feeling, actually caring about someone else – and someone he barely knew at that.

Sometime later...

It was still well into the afternoon when she was dropped off at home, running up the long stairs had become habit in her years of living here at the shrine – she had leg muscles most women would kill for. Kagome slowed slightly as she reached the top of the steps and walked closer to the house. There was more to it than when she left – at least two or three rooms given how much more had been added to the outside- what in the world were they doing?

Going right inside she frowned at the few in her living room – Ghaleon, Mustang, and Sephiroth were there but she could hear muffled conversation from the kitchen as well. The men glanced up at her as she entered and she only scowled back.

"What the hell is going on? Why does my house have more rooms than I left it with this morning? Don't you think people will notice?" Kagome snapped, not sure if any of them were behind it but needing to express her displeasure with the change.

"It was Curtiss' idea." Mustang spoke, a vague smirk edging at his lips which only annoyed her further – she didn't care how attractive they were they shouldn't be messing with her home without permission. "Though he is not presently here I can explain at least part of it. A lab needed to be maintained to keep your real body in health while still researching how to possibly reverse the transformation."

"And neighbors!"

"None of your neighbor's are likely to notice given the glamour's in place to make any onlookers believe otherwise." Mustang replied. "No one is allowed in the shrine at the moment regardless and you can only see the true grounds at the peak. I doubt many would climb those stairs for the fun of it. It's actually a fair cover story, I have to give Jade planned it fairly well."

"And how the hell do I explain a lab to my mom when she gets back?" Kagome was trying to not yell but them not telling her first was grating. "You all knew about this."

"I didn't, I don't live here like the rest of the freeloaders." Sephiroth remarked from his place in the room. She scowled at him anyway and looked back to the dark haired man trying to reason with her. "Tell Jade I need to speak with him and no more changes to my house without permission! Why are you here Sephiroth?"

"For you." The direct answer reminded Kagome all these men weren't too likely to try and annoy her just for the sake of doing so. Most wanted to help her... "We cannot know how long you will be in this body and it seemed logical when I was informed as to your predicament to teach you to fly."

End Chapter

Whew, this chapter was really hard for me. I tried working on it a half dozen or so times since my last chapter was put up but my muse is cruel when it comes to this crack fic. Glad I'm able to get a chapter up now. Next chapter: Flying lessons with Sephiroth XD

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Thanks to all of you who review, even if it's just a few words it always makes me happy to see them.

Sin of the Fallen - LOL, not sure if she would want a harem, she's pretty stressed as is.

kakashixangel - well he noticed but just reasoned it off - as most people would. Kaiba doesn't show up much cause he doesn't trust Kagome and is a busy dude. Much like Kyoya really.

Amu4ever - Just depends on what I feel like whenever I'm working on the fic.

tohru78 - Not sure yet, maybe she will, maybe she won't.

VixenKitsune147 - Yes, i agree. I think they'll be some jealousy turning up before too much longer - beyond what's already there.

TheBurntWaffle - LOL I like Kazama as well - and I am glad you like the grandson thing. I was really happy with it. I love the idea of Kazama being related to Sesshomaru XD