Disclaimer: Inuyasha… surprise, surprise, isn't owned by me. # Sigh # If only I was born a few years earlier and thought of some good ideas including a cute half demon and a smart girl that go around collecting shards… :P

Make Me

Kagome hopped out of the Corvette to be greeted by a busy and relieved Sango. "Thank God you're here. We're on a rather tight schedule here, so you won't be able to unpack and have a tour until you deal with the paparazzi. They're raging for an interview of some kind, so there's going to be a press conference in hour. That's where Miroku comes in."

"Miroku?" Kagome squeaked. "What about – uh, what about you?" Kagome had been spooked by what evil actions Miroku had up his sleeve ever since Sango let slip about how offensive he could be too.

"I won't be there. I handle paperwork, mostly, and Miroku handles all PR things and social gatherings, so he'll be helping you. Inuyasha will be there too. Don't worry; he's a pro, so he'll be able to deal with the awkward questions for you."

"That's not really what I was worried about concerning Inuyasha…" Kagome mumbled.

"Anyway, your suitcases will be up in your room, which you can see after. We have to get you ready right now."

As Inuyasha stalked past them, Sango called out, "Inuyasha, press conference in sixty."

He simply nodded to acknowledge he had heard, and carried on stalking on.

Wow… it's like being in an army… they're certainly organized enough…

She was whisked away to be fiddled and made up with, as well as being dressed up, not dissimilar to a doll, much to her dismay.

She stood in front of the mirror in an even shorter skirt then her school one and a painted face. Kagome tugged nervously on her skirt, trying to pull it down an inch more, before letting her hand touch her face in bafflement. "I look… my face looks like it's been rubbed with dirt… and I don't think I've ever been this red – even that time when I got toilet paper stuck to foot and I didn't even notice… I mean, it was so long, and it was pink so everyone saw it right away, and I didn't know until I got home and Souta nearly bust his ribs laughing…"

Sango hid a smile behind a hand. "It's meant to be like that. The camera has a funny way of twisting things. With your pale skin, you'd come off sick and the make up helps to hide that. It's surprising but once you're on TV you'd look normal." She sighed. "Everything on television has to be exaggerated…"

Kagome turned curiously to her. "What'd you mean?"

A abruptly blasé look made it's way on Sango's face, but loud chattering suddenly erupted into a nearby room, startling them both. Sango got over it quicker then Kagome. "It's the paparazzi." She heaved a sigh again. "Come on then, let's get it over with."

"Kagome Higurashi! Kagome!"

A thousand voices called her name when she appeared into their sight – and Inuyasha's as well. He'd paused at the doorway and took in… well, her. She was twisting around, trying to pinpoint each voice with their owner, trying to answer all of their questions equally – which was damn near impossible. No wonder she was whirling around like that – he wasn't surprised if she gave herself whiplash soon.

He stepped in and the flashing and clicking and calling went up a notch. He sauntered in casually, intending to go past her, but began slowing down as soon he reached her proximity. Inuyasha could read her like an open book. She looks… tense. Her eyes were too stressed, and she looked pale under that heavy orange pancake foundation.

He caught hold of her wrist. "Wench, sit down." He quickened his pace again and led her to two chairs in the middle of the stage, where two microphones had been placed and helpfully adjusted to their height when seated.

The questions came like bullets, shooting just as fast and with hopeful anticipation of catching someone unaware.

"How do you feel about winning, Miss Higurashi?"

"How were you chosen?"

"Inuyasha, what caught your eye about Kagome?"

Miroku glided on, serene as ever. "Now then, why don't we ask one at a time? It'll be easier on Inuyasha and Kagome."

"Kagome, tell us your feelings when you won."

Kagome's mind went rather blank, save for a memory of…

"What?"

It was definitely not squealing, or sobbing. It wasn't even gasping. The screeching could be permitted, but it sure as hell wasn't the pleased kind.

"I absolutely refuse… to live with… him for three months!"

Yuka, Eri and Ayumi stared at Kagome in incredulity, which Eri snapped out of nearly immediately. She rushed over to Kagome's side and shook her lightly. "Baka! What are you doing? This is a once in a lifetime chance!"

"I didn't even want to come here!" Kagome hissed back. "What makes you think being chosen will make me do a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and suddenly want him?"

No… that didn't sound quite right…

She glanced across Inuyasha, who was grimacing. It was obvious that memory hadn't exactly escaped him either…

She looked at Miroku, who returned her gaze innocently. They'd gone over this in the dressing room.

>

"OK… so if something doesn't sound right in your head, it probably won't sound too good out loud. Just paste a smile to your face and spew something cheerful and school-girly out. And give the reporters your happy bullshit tale about how thrilled you are about how you won and you can't wait to spend three months in Inuyasha's joyful company…"

He trailed off at Kagome's dry look.

"I know…" Miroku sighed. "He's a bastard… but if you catch him in a good mood, you can tolerate him. Just."

He was sitting on some haphazardly placed table, with Kagome on a lower level then him, her sitting on what looked suspiciously like a deckchair.

Sango appeared. "Kagome-chan! Your outfit's ready!"

She got up and stretched, unknown to her that Miroku was admiringly watching her lithe limbs tauten and lengthen.

Kagome made to move to the changing cubicle a little way behind him when he stopped her.

"Kagome…?"

She looked back inquisitively back at him. "Yes?"

Miroku gave a gusty sigh and got up as well. He gathered her hands in his and reeled out his speech. "Kagome, I may have only known you for as little as two days, but in those two days you've captured my heart, and I feel… as if we've known each other forever. I know I'm just a lowly superstar manager, and I don't really have anything to offer apart from my love. But I'm willing to give all you see before you." He gazed soulfully at her.

Kagome smiled nervously. "Uh… is that so…"

"I have a favour to ask you."

Kagome had a bad feeling about that favour. "What is it?"

Miroku sighed, looking down at there clasped hands and then up at her. "I wish that you would bear me a son."

Damn. My eye's twitching…

There was a long silence, in which tumbleweeds rolled along in the background.

"What's my favourite colour?"

Miroku was at a loss for words. This really isn't really how I wanted it to go… or even how it usually goes… He glanced down at her school skirt, as well as deeply appreciating the long shapely legs it exposed. "Uh… green?"

Kagome bit her lip. "Miroku… Green isn't my favourite colour!" She sighed, and unclasped their hands. "It's yellow. I guess we didn't really know each other forever then. Oh!" She put a hand to her mouth. "Oh no! I guess I can't have your child then! Ah well… I'll get over the disappointment."

Miroku watched her suspiciously. She sounded awfully cheery for a girl who was meant to be crippled with loss… "So… you're not going to bear me a son?"

"No. I'm not going to bear you a son," Kagome agreed patiently.

"Why not?"

He was suddenly hit on the head with a very large and heavy blunt object. Ah… now it's turning out how it usually goes…

She stepped over him into the changing cubicle. "Miroku… if that speech came from anyone but you, I would've fallen for it. Your acting skills rival Inuyasha's…"

"Really?" The lowly superstar manager got up, rubbing the bump on his head unconsciously. "What gave it away then?"

There was a rustling sound indicating Kagome changing her clothes, which didn't cover Sango's laughter. "You were staring at my chest."

>

Kagome stuck a smile on her face. "I was really, really happy. I've been a fan of him for so long, and I couldn't believe I actually won-" she grated out. "-That I just felt it was like some dream."

Yep. Definitely a dream… hellooo, nightmare.

"It was just so thrilling… I went a little mad, you know?" She gave a little laugh, and looked back at Inuyasha pointedly, and was satisfied at seeing him wince a little.

They were almost done, when Miroku glanced at his watch. "All right, only time for one last question."

Another faceless reporter held up a hand and asked with a voice just as bland that would blend in with the mass. He would be forgotten as soon as the question was answered – but the question in itself was interesting. "Inuyasha, I repeat – what caught your eye about Kagome?"

Her figure. No… that won't go down well. Her legs?…I don't think that one would either, but that skirt she's wearing right now really…Focus! Focus!

The fact was that he'd only chosen her because she didn't like him. She'd genuinely thought that the other girls were crazy for wanting to win. Hell, he had no idea why she hated him and he didn't care. So he'd picked her out of spite, knowing that she would regard three months of him as sheer torture.

That and the fact that she was hot.

But then again, the hotness was outweighed by the personality, which was showing in a purely negative light. She was too brash, too outspoken, and she had an impressive vocabulary… which spelled bad news for him because that meant more complicated insults then he could ever think up. She was smart… too smart… it'd get her into trouble one day, and he could already tell she was one of those people who were too goddamn nosy for their own good and would try to 'sort him out.' He'd met plenty of those people before, and he prided himself on the fact none had succeeded.

The only downside was that none of those people had been hot young schoolgirls either.

Yeah… she was more trouble then she was worth. She'd tip his world upside down and start trying to change the way he acted, the way he felt, the way he saw the world… No. Things had to be kept the way they were now, and he was not about to let some schoolgirl ruin him.

The plan was simple: She'd be just like the others. He'd have her and when she left a wad of money would be there to shut her up. Nothing would be different.

"Inuyasha?"

A voice broke though his reverie and he realized that everyone was waiting for his answer.

"I think… that what it is about Kagome is the fact that she was different from all the rest of the girls I've ever known. She's honest, innocent, funny, and I think she'll liven up the Inuyasha household for a bit. She's loud, she can act, and she isn't afraid of anyone, and she makes me think – she's a real challenge. "

Kagome fidgeted in her lap, not wanting to look at anything around her. She'd never really accepted compliments well, and the rousing speech made her want to curl up and die. In front of so many people, as well. God help her.

"Oh," Inuyasha added, sliding Kagome a suggestive smile. "She's gorgeous too. That helps."

There was a collective "Aw…" and an "Oh look! She's blushing! That's so sweet!"

Kagome growled mentally. I am not blushing! It's the war stripes they painted onto my face, you moron! She sighed to herself. I am not falling for this… God, they've all got long 'touching' speeches up their sleeves, don't they?

Nothing else was said, apart from some mutterings from the reporters as they left the room, shown out by Miroku. He walked back up to Inuyasha and Kagome and stretched. "Inuyasha, man. That last one was good. Was it even honest?"

Inuyasha chuckled. "The only one out of the lot."

Kagome got up slowly and quirked an eyebrow. "I'm loud?"

The superstar looked at her and shrugged. "More so when arguing."

She took a step towards him. "And I'm gorgeous?"

"Again, more so when arguing, but you don't look like a monster now."

Another step. "Oh, thanks," Kagome rolled her eyes. "And I make you think? Inuyasha, that one was a lie. You don't possess enough brain cells to think."

Ouch. Miroku winced. He could predict a fight coming up – and no way in hell was he going to be used as a pawn in it. "Ooh… look, I can hear Sango calling me!"

Neither noticed he left. They were nose to nose again, this time not in a glaring contest, but more in a contest of wills.

"And this is where I was telling the truth… you're a challenge, I'll admit it. You're annoying me all the time and I really don't like that, which in turn makes me not like you. And when I don't like people, I either get them the hell away from me or – like in this case, where I'm not allowed to kick you out into, say, Australia, - then I do what I can to annoy them back. It's simple. You'll get it."

Inuyasha had leant down to say this softly in her ear, but the further he'd got into his speech the more he bent, so by the time he'd finished, his breath was fluttering against her collarbone. Despite the harsh meaning his words were punching into place, the impact of them were being distracted by his lips grazing her neck.

She couldn't move. Literally.

Her frustration clenched – the frustration at this guy, the frustration at his words, the frustration at the effect he was having on her – no way did she like this. She hated him, hated people like him. But despite that, she wanted to close her eyes and sink into the feelings he stirred inside her… which was wrong. Utterly and totally wrong. This guy really knew how to push her buttons. Kagome was shaking, hard, out of anger. He was doing it to spite her. She knew it.

Kagome Higurashi was the type of person who needed closure. She'd known this ever since she'd seen a movie when she was nine and it had ended with a cliffhanger. She came out of the cinema feeling hollow and discontented, thousands of questions invading her mind, all of which, she thought bitterly, could have been laid down to rest if they'd just made the rest of the damn movie! Since then, Kagome had learned her lesson and tried to not start things if she knew they didn't end. Sure, she might not like the ending, but at least she would know it was an ending of some sort.

Kagome Higurashi was also the kind of girl who never backed down from a dare. Coupled with the closure need thing, it meant that she had to follow this through. Maybe she hadn't started it, but she was damn well going to finish it.

Kagome took a line from him. She brushed close enough to Inuyasha to make sure he would feel her breath on his skin, and felt him shiver slightly. "Bring. It. On."

The girl has no idea what she's playing around with.

"All right. It starts… now." he smirked, lifting her head up to face his, making sure to keep eye contact. Then he did it. The thing that would really make her mad. She was going to give him sheer hell for this… and he didn't give a damn about the consequences.

He pressed his mouth against hers.

>

Am I evil, or am I evil for leaving it like this? Bear in mind Kagome's not going to like this… To make it clear, it's not a 'kiss.' I regard kisses as things that express love – or at least want – but Inuyasha is doing it purely to piss her off. Therefore it's, um, mouth to mouth resuscitation… only without the lack of oxygen and the want to save someone…

So, you guys know what Inuyasha's choice of weapon is… wonder what Kagome's is going to be? # Innocent smile #

OK… I might be evil but I still need reviews to sustain me… please? Onegai?