Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters.

Acknowledgments: I didn't come up with the idea of this story. I got it off from a challenge on Ssp from Forest Karma.

Author: Showtyjennie Beta: Sweet and Sour Suki

[The Hidden Voice]

Chapter 5

Things Seen Behind A Singer's Eyes

Most people would think that siblings were people that would assist one another. Some people may also think that brothers were usually positive influences to their younger sisters. Older brothers were kind, loving, and overprotective. They also have a strange urge to protect their younger siblings if they were put in an unsafe situation, or at least Miki wished they did.

Oh, how she wished they did.

Miki stood fuming with her arms crossed beside a not-so-still pool. I might add that she was soaked, cold, and thinking about ways to get her revenge. Never had she been this humiliated before! Inuyasha's friends could have seen her fall into the pool! It seemed that their sibling rivalry had now stepped up to a new level.

'But, ah, Inuyasha... you should have known the consequences,'

Across from her stood a delighted Inuyasha. In his grip was a katana with its shiny black sheath on. His eyes danced with a mischievous glint which showed that he was obviously pleased with two things: his gift –the katana, and his carried out plan to get back at sister, which he must say, worked out perfectly. And all because of a humiliating prank she had pulled.

His body lowered itself into a fight-or-flight position incase Miki decided she would rather kill him now instead of standing there yelling her head off. He watched as her eyes narrowed and her facial features darkened considerably.

'Now where have I seen this before?' He wondered.

He took note of her fist tightly clenching.

'Oh, shoot! She's gonna blow!' He realized with a start.

Immediately, he unsheathed his sword, which he reasoned was only for his defense. That's right. Just for self-defense. It wasn't like he was scared.

Miki took one step forward and he cautiously took one step back.

He could just feel his sixth sense tearing at him to run, but it wasn't like him to run. He'd stand up to any challenge, and there was no way he'd back off now. Besides, he had the sword. That had to help him some, it just had too... his life momentarily depended on it.

Miki had a dangerous smirk on her face as she slowly advanced on Inuyasha. Did he really think he was safe with just that sword?

The question brought her to wonder why she had even bought it for him. What was she thinking? She should have known he would have used it against her!

Such thoughts were forgotten because at the moment, Miki did not wish to think rationally. She really was an honest, generous, and kind person, but Inuyasha had a remarkable ability to send whatever patience she had crashing down.

'That ability will be his downfall, ' Miki thought savagely.

"Onisan.." Miki said as sweetly as possible. She even tried to give him the innocent look.

The innocent look meant promising pain and a future full of humiliation. This was the last thing that warned Inuyasha as his instinct screamed at him to flee.

'To hell with this!' Inuyasha thought anxiously.

He figured this was going to be the only rare moment he backed out of a challenge.

He quickly sheathed his sword and took off in a sprint towards the nearest safety-zone: inside the house. Miki followed not to far behind him.

She had a murderous look in her eyes.

- - - -

"We're going live! On five. Four..."

The person that was currently counting down out loud now had his finger digits showing the countdown.

After Kotono saw the last finger digit go down, she spoke out loud, "Hello! You are watching 'Kotono Mitsuishi', and today we have an important guest here. She will also sing for us live on JTV!"

A respectful applause broke out from the audience that was part of the show.

Kotono stood perfectly straight while holding the microphone with her hands. Her nails, that were just freshly manicured, reflected the light that brightly lighted up the huge room. Her usually serious face broke out into a wide grin that showed her perfect, white teeth.

"But before I introduce our mystery guest, I need to inform you of the latest news. It seems that the handsome Yashuhiro Shinohara has decided to take a six-month break from the music industry. Yes, I know ladies, very depressing! Especially since we've been looking forward for his upcoming tour!"

There were 'aww' noises coming from the audience. Some even burst into tears.

"Not to worry! We can count on the fact that we'll see his attractive face around spring!" Kotono reassured.

Another polite applause erupted but then died down instantly.

"Also, Kouga Kubota has released his latest album: 'The Love Of My Life'. The album consists of the smash hit: 'Racing to you'. Expect to see it in stores! Now, enough of the news, I introduce you to our guest for today. Everyone give a hand to Kikyo Kagawa!"

A louder applause erupted immediately and most of the audience stood up.

A confident, gorgeous Kikyo walked out smiling onto the mini-stage.

- - - -

Sesshoumaru had always thought that 'Kotono Mitsuishi' was a ridiculous T.V show. He reasoned that it didn't have a significant existence, and it only posed to entertain dim-witted adolescents.

So why in the world was he watching it?

He told himself that it was because he did not wish to take part in the meaningless party that was being held in the other side of the house. He had also seen an enraged, wet Miki chasing Inuyasha. Sesshoumaru knew better than to interfere with their quarrelling –it would only drag him into it, which is the reason why he was avoiding them. All these reasons lead him up to do an uncharacteristic act.

'I knew I should have never come,' Sesshoumaru thought regretfully.

But he knew down deep inside that he came for his mother's sake, and even for the irritating Inuyasha. He had to admit to himself that somewhere inside the cold demeanor of his existed a heart.

Suddenly, the large door that was far to his right opened and slammed closed. Unsurprisingly, Inuyasha was leaning uneasily with his back against the door. He was gasping for air while he held the sheathed katana defensively. His eyes quickly darted around the room scanning for any unwanted company. It took a few seconds before Inuyasha realized he wasn't alone in the room.

'Sesshoumaru?' thought Inuyasha.

He was bewildered, and at this state, he briefly forgot about his present condition with Miki because of the shock of seeing Sesshoumaru.

'He actually came? 'Inuyasha thought and was even more perplexed.

"Hello, brother,"

Inuyasha grinned.

"Yo, Sesshoumaru!" Inuyasha greeted back.

"I see that you have not improved your speaking skills,"

'Why that ... He's still the damn bastard that I know!'

Inuyasha didn't say this out loud because he feared he would only cause more trouble in his already chaotic birthday. He would have said some sort of foul insult to Sesshoumaru, but he figured that having Miki already guaranteeing him that he wouldn't live much longer was bad enough. Insulting Sesshoumaru would only cut whatever time he had left to live in half.

'Damn siblings, '

With much effort, Inuyasha forced himself to not utter anything offending and gaze at the flat screen T.V.

Sesshoumaru knew Inuyasha was having a difficult time keeping his mouth shut. He smirked.

'That's right, pup. Don't say anything,'

Inuyasha was briefly alarmed when he saw an all too familiar face.

'Kikyo! '

Inuyasha dug his hands into the large pockets of his jeans searching for two pieces of thick, rectangular shaped paper. He found it in his right pocket, and unconsciously clutched it as if his life depended on it.

Not too long ago Miki had all but thrown the tickets at his face while declaring that he was a 'malicious jerk ' and that he didn't 'deserve the two tickets to Kikyo's concert '.

Miki, however, missed the thankful gleam in his eyes. His sister was now in the room, having made an unnoticed entrance by InuYasha, and she threw a small delicate statuette of a historic hero (with impressive aim) at Inuyasha's head. Fortunately for him, he caught it and hurriedly placed it on a large pillow.

Inuyasha, now presently clutching the tickets in a safe distance from Miki, knew that there was something odd about this whole prospect.

'Sesshoumaru watching the Kotono Mitsuishi show? That doesn't make sense... unless...'

"So, Sesshoumaru, I didn't know you watched the 'Kotono Mitsuishi' show, much less that you had a thing for Kikyo Kagawa," Inuyasha bit out mischievously.

If he didn't make a direct insult maybe he could still gain the upper hand.

"Yes, It's a habit I took up recently," Sesshoumaru stated sarcastically. His face, however, didn't show any emotion at all.

"Ah, I see," Inuyasha said while knowing all too well that Sesshoumaru was mocking him.

"And as for Kikyo, if I recall correctly, you were the one who had been fond of her. I may also add that she will never meet you nor feel affection for you, so you're wasting your time,"

Inuyasha glared daggers back at Sesshoumaru.

"Hey, at least I can have emotions, unlike you!" Inuyasha countered.

He was about to continue rambling about the subject until he heard a familiar sweet voice from the T.V.

He immediately launched himself towards the T.V screen while forgetting once again of his current situation with Miki and now Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes but did another very uncharacteristic thing: he sat down to watch the T.V.

He simply told himself that he was just 'observing' the screen just incase for reference, to once again logically explain himself.

- - - -

"So tell us, Kikyo, why did you break up with the love of your life, Yashuhiro Shinohara? And also, was it hard for you?" Kotono eagerly questioned.

"Eh... um,"

Kikyo tried as much as possible to look calm and pleasantly astonished at the personal questions.

'Come on, Kik, It doesn't serve a celebrity well if she can't answer simple questions!' Kikyo advised herself.

Though they were pretty personal questions.

"Yashuhiro decided that he... rather enjoyed being in the presence of ... women. In fact, he enjoyed being in the presence of many of them," Kikyo spat the word 'many' as if it dripped with poison. She also purposely didn't answer the second question assuming Kotono would only impatiently move on to another.

"So you mean to say that there were more than just one woman that he slept with?"

That was not the kind of question Kikyo was hoping for.

"It would seem so," Kikyo said even more bitter.

She knew she was showing how she obviously felt about the breakup. No doubt there will be more newspapers talking about it but with a fresh, catching title: 'Kikyo Kagawa's anger over Yashuhiro Shinohara's disloyalty '.

It also wouldn't do her good if Yashuhiro knew she was angry. She wanted him to get the impression that she didn't care.

Readjusting her sitting position, she gave a happy, content illusion.

Kotono, at first baffled by Kikyo's sudden change in expression, decided to move onto another subject.

"Kikyo, your concert will be presented two days from now. How do you feel?"

Kikyo felt pleased with the change of subject.

"Oh! I'm excited! I want to know how the audience take my new style of music,"

- - - -

Inuyasha keenly listened to the list of questions in which Kikyo answered graciously.

Sesshoumaru, on the other hand, was deciding if 'observing' the screen in case for reference was such a good idea. It couldn't be too good of an idea if it made him feel like he was going to slice through the mechanical item with a blade.

He watched amused as Inuyasha, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaned closer to the screen in an attempt to capture every word said.

'How touching,' Sesshoumaru said sardonically.

And then he heard it, the horrible noise that was supposedly music. The sound did not come pleasant to his ears; it only served to aggravate him to no end. It was coming from the Kagawa girl who was now 'singing'.

How could someone make millions from singing like that?

Her voice rose higher, which caused Sesshoumaru, who was known for being able to keep a straight face, to wince.

It was true that her voice was on tune, but the quality of it shattered whatever praise should be given to her for being able to sing in tune. It all seemed phony. Her appearance, her facial expression, how she spoke when answering those questions, and now, how she sung.

After the thoughts stuck on him, humiliation sunk in.

His brother was obsessed with this all-phony wench.

Hours after the show had finished; Kikyo angrily slammed the door of her limo close.

'How dare she! '

Kikyo edgily barked at the driver to take her home.

'How dare she! That self-centered, snobbish bitch! How dare she ask such question!'

Kikyo recalled one of the last questions Kotono had asked before the show ended.

"Is it true that you lost your virginity to Yashuhiro Shinohara?" Kotono had boldly asked.

As the car pulled through the streets, crowds of people waved at her passing limo. It was like nobody cared about who she really was. All they knew was that she was an international singer by the name Kikyo Kagawa. She was something to question at and eat off of. It felt as if she was only something to be admired because of her talent and her features. Did they not see that everything she had ever done in public was all just an act? Did anyone admire her for who she really was? They all think I have a perfect life, but do I really? Do I have a perfect life? I already knew the answer. I wouldn't be thinking about this if I had a perfect life.

I wouldn't be thinking about vanishing.

How would I ever be able to pull it off?

I could pay someone to take my place temporarily. No, that won't do... No one would ever believe my impersonator because they were all too familiar with my appearance. Unless. .

Unless Higurashi took my place. .

[Author's Notes]

I'm sorry if this chapter didn't really come out so great. I was in a hurry to finish this chapter before I leave. So I ended up writing it in two days. Thank you guys for the reviews! =] You guys don't know how much I delight in getting reviews. It lets me know if people actually like the story! Gahh... I won't be writing for a month because where I'm going, they don't have net. =/ I'll try though!