AN: Okay I will be doing the cultural festival thing, I know I said it was a dance in earlier chapters but I didn't want to screw up the Japanese culture any more then I already had lol so it will be in this chapter if it kills me! Lol But yeah enjoy! I don't own Inuyasha or any of the songs in this chapter, R&R! oh and I got a band name :D
It was Saturday morning. Social Misery was already setting up in the small courtyard where they held the cultural festival to practice. They had been told that they weren't the only band playing at the dance. Zuki was positive that the student body would enjoy their set better then the other band's set. Zuki had brought along her iHome to play an upbeat song to get her band mates pumped for the show. The spent the morning practicing their songs and working on little tweaks. The band left the school to get lunch at a nearby WaCdonalds (:D). Sui was being extremely quiet, which was unusual.
"Sui, you okay?" Zuki asked before popping a fry into her mouth.
"Huh? Oh yeah, just nervous I guess," he mumbled blushing slightly. Zuki cocked her head and looked at him curiously before shrugging and finishing her chicken sandwich. Suddenly Ayame let out a shout which made everyone jump.
"Sorry, just had to let some nervous energy out," she giggled. Zuki smiled and shook her head taking a sip of Coke.
"We have performed before, no reason to be nervous," Zuki said eating some more fries. Ayame sighed and looked out the window with a nod. Zuki looked around and noticed everyone was done. Zuki and Ren collected the trash and deposited it before leaving the restaurant. They walked happily back to the school chatting excitedly about performing. Zuki knew the real reason Ayame was nervous was because Kouga had asked her to the dance. Kouga was the captain of the demon football team and was almost always voted for homecoming king. Zuki patted her friend back as they walked through the gate to the courtyard. Zuki quickly walked over to her iHome and spun through the songs on her iPod to find the one she wanted. Zuki grinned when she found it. The song started to play and Ayame giggled with excitement. Sui gave Zuki a small smile as Ren groaned. Zuki and Ayame started to sing along to Queen's "We are the Champions"
"I've paid my dues, come on Sui sing," Zuki said pulling his arms. After awhile all four band members were singing along at the top of their lungs. Zuki didn't notice that they had attracted a small crowd of unfamiliar boys. At the end of the song Zuki struck a pose and held the note longer then Freddy Mercury.
"Zuki, you're crazy," Ren said laughing at her.
"I may be crazy, but at least I'm not tone deaf, no wonder you're a drummer Ren, you can't sing for shit!" Zuki said laughing. Ren just shrugged.
"I like the drums, they help suppress my rage." Ayame and Zuki laughed then another song of Queen's started to play. Both girls started to sing along.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come Easy
Little high little low
Anyway the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me
To me
The boys joined in with the girls singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Even the strangers joined in with the singing. Zuki took a good look at them. She figured they weren't high school students, they looked to be about the age of Yasu. Sui and Ren seemed to know them, nodding their head in greeting. They sang the song until the end then Zuki sat on the ground laughing.
"So, are you guys Social Misery?" One of the strangers asked. Zuki nodded with a huge grin.
"Yup, who are you?" She asked grabbing her ankles.
"Strip Projection, we're the other band playing tonight, that is if our lead guitarist and singer ever show up," the boy with black hair and blue eyes grumbled.
"Don't worry Ryu, he's always late, he'll show," a boy with bleach blonde hair and red tips said lazily with an odd inflection.
"Who's your-," Sui cut Zuki off by grabbing her arm and pulling her up.
"Look at the time Zuki, we better go," he said pulling her away. The other band looked confused but Sui but just started chatting with amongst themselves.
"Sui, what the hell?" Zuki asked pulling her arm out of his grasp.
"What?" He asked nervously. Ayame and Ren had followed them glancing back at the other band.
'Well, they don't seem to be very competitive, of course we still haven't met the singer," Ayame said sizing them up. Zuki looked at them more closely. The boy who had been called Ryu was wearing a tight black shirt with dark blue jeans and a black studded belt. On his forearm he had a dragon tattoo. Zuki smirked at the irony. The boy who had let her know Ryu's name was dressed a bit more flamboyantly. He was wearing a silver muscle shirt and skin tight black leather pants. Know that she watched him interact, she realized that he was gay. The third band member was a girl who had dark black hair. Zuki wondered if she had highlighted it with purple because it shimmered purple in the sunlight. She was wearing black baggy cargo pants and a tank top that showed her midriff with Tomo on the shirt. Blue drumsticks were sticking out of her back pocket. She had a nose and lip piercing as well as many ear piercings.
"Well, by their appearance I would think they play rock. Well it's a different sound then us so I'm not worried," Zuki said tapping her chin with one finger. Zuki shrugged and turned around walking to the school.
"Let's go get ready," she said taking Ayame's arm. The girls walked into the locker room where the had dumped their bags with their makeup and costumes. Zuki pulled on her black and white checkered skirt then one black sock and a white sock. The socks went up to her mid thigh, but there was still a considerable amount of leg between the socks and skirt. She pulled of the t-shirt she had be wearing and pulled out the red corset like shirt. Slipping it on without taking off her black bra she looked at herself in the mirror. Nodding in approval she went over and pulled on her black leather heels that went up to her knees. Zuki pulled out her accessories and makeup and walked over to the big mirror over the sinks. She had a big red rose that she pinned into her hair. Before she had left home, Ayame had helped her straighten her hair. It fell in sharp layers around her face and shoulders. Happy with her hair Zuki then started to apply the makeup. Zuki used a black sparkle eye liner pencil to draw a design branching off her right eye. They were vines that wrapped around her eye and formed a dragonfly. After putting on some mascara, dark green eye shadow and red lipstick she noticed Ayame come up behind her. Zuki turned to look at her friend. Ayame had on some jean capri pants and a dark green strapped corset. On her feet were green and pink wedges. Ayame had let her hair down and it was framing her face in ringlets.
"You look hot Ayame, when you put that kimono on after the set Kouga will be drooling. C'mere and let me do your makeup," Zuki said happy she made her friend smile. Zuki brushed on some dark green eye shadow to make Ayame's eyes pop, she put some light bronzer on her cheeks and some light pink lip gloss.
"There, perfect, now lets go get the boys and practice a bit with the brass guys before we have to go on," Zuki said letting Ayame jump off the sink. Zuki and Ayame found the two boys leaning against the wall outside the girls locker room. Ren was wearing a vest with no shirt underneath which showed off his tight abs. He had on some low slung jeans and left his head bald. Sui was wearing the same jeans but had on a dark blue tank top letting his ripped arms out in the open. Sui had spiked his brown hair and painted on his traditional green stripes over his eyes and cheeks. Zuki never knew where the tradition came from, but it suited him perfectly.
"Lookin' good boys, let go," Zuki said making her way back out to the courtyard. The brass boys were there in black dress pants and a white dress shirt with a black skinny ties. They were standing by the stage putting their instruments together.
"Great! Finish getting ready, we will make sure everything is tuned and then we will go through the two numbers we haven't played together," Zuki said jumping up on the stage with as much grace as possible when wearing a skirt. Zuki helped Ayame up on the stage and soon everyone was on the stage practicing their numbers. Zuki noticed that the three members of Strip Project were standing in the shade listening, they all seemed to enjoy the music. When they were done practicing they clapped. The quiet girl ran up to the stage.
"You guys sound great!" She said sweetly. Zuki noticed that she was mostly looking at Sui.
"Thanks, I look forward to hearing you guys," Zuki said with a grin.
"I'm Kaiko, nice to meet you," she grinned up at Zuki.
"Suzuki, but everyone calls me Zuki," Zuki responded with an equally bright smile. Kaiko nodded then walked back to the band. Zuki noticed Sui was watching her form not paying attention to his guitar.
"Pretty hot huh?" Zuki said pulling her guitar off and setting it back in it's stand.
"Wha? Huh?" Sui mumbled almost dropping his own guitar. Zuki chuckled as she shook her head then jumped off the stage.
The strings of lanterns and lights set around the courtyard were dimmed a bit. The stage that was erected for the entertainment was black. There were spotlight trained on the stage to light up when they started to play. The music that was playing was an upbeat happy tune that kids were dancing around too. Zuki looked over the bobbing head and smiled, the stage was her home. She looked around at her band mates and the brass guys getting their thumbs up. Zuki caught the eye of the guy in charge of the lights and gave him a thumbs up. She glanced back at Ren and he counted out the beat. They started out with I Want You to Want Me, then Played Come on Eileen. The crowd was wild for their songs, it took some time for the crowd to quiet down so they could play Can't Take my Eyes Off of You. They finished the song and Zuki was sweating under the spotlights, she was glad she had used waterproof eye liner and mascara.
"Thank you! This next song was written by our talented Suikotsu, both he and I will be singing it together," she said moving her mic stand over a bit so Sui could bring his up next to her. Sui resituated his guitar and looked at Zuki expectantly. Zuki glanced back at the brass guys and nodded to them. After they nodded back, Sui strummed the beginning of the song as Ren played along on the symbols. Sui slowed for a bit and looked over at the brass quartet to lett them know to start playing. (AN, the song is I Know, by Save Ferris, it was on the Ten Things I Hate About You soundtrack, I suggest looking it up because it's hard to do it justice in writing) Everyone joined in except Zuki who just danced around on the stage waiting to come in singing. When her part came on she made her way up to the mic and looked at Sui pointedly.
My mama said to stay away from guys like you
She said they were nasty
Make me do things I don't wanna do
Zuki was singing to Sui who would glance up at her every so often with a smile.
Stay away from bad boys
They've got one thing on their minds
Their hormones are raging
And they want it all the time
Sui joined in to sing the chorus with her.
And I know , know
Cause she said so
And I can't just let you go
And I know, know
Cause she said so
And I can't just let you go
They took a short singing break as the brass guys played and Sui stepped up to the mic to sing his part.
I love you very much
You're nice to see and nice to touch
But I would never ever treat you wrong
Been waitin' for you all along
They sang the chorus together again
I know, know
Cause you said so
And I can't just let you go
And I know, know
Cause you said so
And I can't just let you go
The music changed a bit as they both sang sweetly into the mics looking at each other.
I can't let you go
Oooo hoo hoo
I can't let you go
The music changed again as Zuki took the mic off the stand and stepped up to the edge of the stage to sing to the crowd.
I said I want you to know
I said I want you to know right now
I want you to know
I said I want you to know
Know
Everyone started to yell the last part and Zuki held out the mic telling the crowd to sing along.
Shout!
Shout!
Shout!
Shout!
Hey eh ay ey
Zuki held out her mic again so the crowd would echo her for this part of the song.
Yeah ay eh ay
Yeaheh aeh eah
Yeah eh eah eah
The band picked up and played the beginign of the song again as Zuki went back and put her mic in it's rightful place to sing with Sui again.
And I know, know
Cause you said so
And I can't just let you go
And I know, know
Cause you said so
And I can't just let you go
Sui sang the chorus as Zuki sang "No" over him and doing some long trips with her voice. She sang vowels for a bit before finishing the song.
No! Never let you
Gooo!
Zuki smiled and Sui who grinned back, enjoying the cheers they were getting from the crowd.
"Thank you! We are done for the night, but don't worry, the live entertainment will pick right up again with Strip Project!" Zuki said as her band mates packed up their instruments and headed off the stage. Ayame and Zuki threw their instruments at Ren and Sui before running to the locker room to change. The girls were bombarded with cheers and took a step back beaming at their friends. Sango, Rin, and Kagome had offered to help them put on their kimono's after their set. Zuki was very happy about this because she wasn't sure if she would make it out in time to hear Strip Project. Zuki stuffed her performance clothes in her dance bag, thanking her friend profusely for helping her. Sango was wearing a light blue kimono with pink cherry blossom branches paterned over it, with a matching pink obi. Kagome had on a deep red kimono with cloud and wind patterns on it, her obi was silver. Rin was wearing a dark blue kimono with yelloy flowers and a yellow obi. Zuki glanced herself over. She had picked out a dark blue kimono with cloud and crane patters over it, her obi was a light blue. Ayame was wearing a dark green kimono with purple iris's over it, her obi matched the color of the flowers on her dress.
"You two look amazing!" Kagome squealed. Zuki thanked her with her eyes too out of breath to say anything.
"Let get out there! I hear them starting up!" Sango said peeking out the door. The girls ran as fast as they could in kimono's almost running into their dates. Inuyasha had asked Kagome to be his date, which made Kagome the happiest person alive. Sango had allowed Miroku to escort her on the condition he didn't grope her or any other girl for the entirety of the dance. Zuki and Sui decided to go as friend. Zuki had snuck Rin and Sesshomaru in so they could hear them play. Ren had asked a girl in his class, and Kouga had asked Ayame. Zuki took a moment to gauge Kouga, Inuyasha, and Miroku's reactions to the girls. This would be the first time they saw them, the girls had said they weren't allowed to pick them up. Miroku was grinning ear to ear, thrilled with being able to escort Sango to the dance. Both Kouga and Inuyashas jaws were on the floor. Kouga was the first on to make a move, he quickly walked up to Ayame and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Kagome and Inuyasha watched them and blushed furiously.
"You look beautiful, Kagome," Inuyasha whispered walking up to her.
"Thanks," she said shyly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Zuki wanted to squeal with happiness but instead decided to drag Sui in front of the stage. When she got there, her jaw was on the floor. She had been hoping the lead singer was good, but she recognized his voice all to well, and then she recognized his face. Bank was their lead singer, and when she heard him sing the song she had helped her downstairs neighbor write, she knew that Bank was the stranger. She stood there and gaped at him not being able to move from her spot on the dance floor. Sui was looking from Bank to Zuki a grimace on his face.
"You knew?!" Zuki screamed at him her voice shrill. Sui flinched when she screamed and then nodded looking at the ground. She felt someone touch her should and looked around to see Ayame. Ayame looked just as surprised as Zuki, but she wasn't as hurt as her. Zuki felt her eyes burn, No! she screamed at herself. I won't cry over this…this asshole! Zuki closed her eyes willing herself not to cry, when she realized it wasn't working, she ran.
Zuki sat in Kikyou's hospital room with Kagome. It had been two weeks since the cultural festival and Zuki was still fuming. Bank was completely in the dark as to why Zuki was giving him the cold shoulder. Earlier that day, Kagome and Ayame were hanging out at the dance studio shop with Zuki when Bank tried to confront her.
"Zuki, what the hell is going on?" Bank demanded. Zuki just glared at him before talking to her friends some more. Bank had had enough of the cold shoulder and was going to make her talk. Grabbing her shoulder, Bank spun Zuki to look at him. Bank opened his mouth but was silenced by a hard slap. Bank recoiled touching his burning cheek. Zuki's face was flushed with anger.
"Leave me the hell alone!" She screamed. Bank walked to her to try to talk some sense into her but Kagome blocked his way.
"Leave her alone! You're an idiot if you can't figure out why she is so pissed. We know you knew it was her helping her! You couldn't bother to tell her what was going on could you? You were just trying to mess with her, stop trying to talk to her or you will have me to answer to!" Kagome was poking him in the chest making him back up.
After Kagome's outburst Zuki had decided she couldn't be around him anymore. Ayame walked home as Kagome and Zuki went to the hospital. Zuki didn't want to go home, or be alone, so she tagged along with Kagome. Kagome sat holding Kikyou's hand talking to her, the doctors had told them that if they talked to Kikyou she might wake up sooner. Zuki wasn't comfortable talking to Kagome's cousin so she sat by the window listening to music. Zuki was jolted out of her thoughts when Inuyasha walked into the room. Inuyasha gave Zuki a small smile before going to stand behind Kagome. Zuki noticed that he had a determined look on his face. Not wanting to cramp his style Zuki got up mumbling something about food.
Kagome watched as her friend walked from the room quickly.
"Hey, how is she?" Inuyasha asked jerking a thumb over his shoulder. Kagome sighed and shook her head and looked back at her cousin.
"Bank tried to talk to her again today, I kinda blew up at him and he backed off." Inuyasha chuckled and put a clawed hand on her shoulder.
"Any change with her." Kagome didn't need to ask who he was talking about by the change in his voice.
"No, not that I've noticed anyway, I keep talking to her but I just don't feel like she's hearing any of it," Kagome said trying not to cry. Before Kagome could say anything Inuyasha had pulled her up off her chair and pulled her into a strong embrace.
"Inu…yasha?" Kagome whispered into his shirt. Inuyasha pushed her head into his shoulder when she tried to pull away.
"Just, just stay like this," he whispered his voice husky. Kagome slowly closed her eyes and relaxed into the embrace.
Zuki watching silently from the door frame as Inuyasha embraced her friend. Zuki couldn't help but smile, happy that her friend was finding love. She figured that Inuyasha had heard her but he ignored her. Zuki was listening to "Somebody to Love" by Queen, smirking at the rightness of the moment. After awhile, Zuki moved to close the door when she heard the machines in the room go berserk. All three people in the room jumped at the sudden loud noise and then looked down to the small woman in the bed. Inuyasha let out a strangled cry and released Kagome. Kagome had covered her mouth with her hand her eyes widening. Zuki was almost knocked to the floor as a team of nurses and doctors rushed into the room. Zuki didn't know what was going on, but Kagome looked scared out of her mind. Inuyasha had retreated next to Kagome and was holding her hand tightly. Zuki slowly made her way over to her two friends as the doctors and nurses stepped back from Kikyou. This time Zuki gasped ripping her headphones off. Kikyou was awake, and glaring at Inuyasha and Kagome.
"Well, it seems you have moved to take my place cousin."
(AN: Whew, okay so I realize that my story isn't centered around Kagome and Inuyasha right now, but it will be! I prefer to add a character in to help with everything so I don't change the original characters nature.)