Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha? *snaps fingers* What gave me away? Was it the me writing a fanfic or the fact that my name lacks a certain Rumiko Takahashi ring to it?
A/N 0.o Wow...eh heh...gee...*scratches back of head guiltily* Sorry about that Naraku in a speedo deal... I honestly didn't mean to traumatize you all...please accept my humblest apologies. But if you really want to know why I wrote it and where it came from then *points finger* blame my friend Spacewolf! She gave me image first and suggested that I put it in. I can't stand guys in speedos, so she knew it would gross me out. But after thinking about it for a while, I realized how ingenious an idea it really was and I decided to share my pain with all of you. (Naraku's also evil, so I had to keep that image up; and I KNOW you guys weren't expecting that. ^_~) I'm truly sorry for putting the image in your heads, but know that you don't suffer alone.
D-E-V-L-41, I regret to say that I'm actually not actually famous. I have been interviewed a few times before, but not in the same manner reporters flock to celebrities. I just hate the reporters so much because I can imagine myself in that position and having every aspect of my privacy invaded and displaced to the public. Reporters seem to have no morals or qualms about what they ask famous people, and that just bugs me to no end.
And for those of you who are starting to wonder when the romance will begin, never fear; it's on its way! Just please be patient; after all, they've only really known each other for three days (this chapter starts with Thursday, which will be their fourth day). There'll definitely be more 'moments' between the couples, so hang in there!
Oh, and just a quick shoutout to Skiddy16. Canadians unite! ^_~ (I read it in your bio. I DO read them, people!) Nothing wrong with other nationalities, of course, but it's cool to find someone else from my country. ^_^
And I'm now on March Break! Booyah! A whole week off! ^_^ This'll hopefully give me more time to write.
But, anymewho, I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter so much (despite Naraku, I still got 36 reviews! Woohoo, I wuvs you all!), and voici the next chapter!
~*~
Inuyasha rolled over and looked at the time on his watch. It was 8:00, and, as his growling stomach reminded him, it was time for breakfast. He grumbled and slowly got out of his comfy bed.
Wait.
Breakfast equaled Kagome trying to cook it. Which hadn't really worked the past two mornings. Which suggested it probably wouldn't work today.
He sighed. He'd have to think up an alternative before she blew up the condo.
Thinking of Kagome also brought another thought to mind. It was her birthday on Saturday; isn't that what she had said? Even if him and Kouga and Miroku had only known her for little more than three days, they ought to get her something. But heck if he knew what girls liked as birthday presents.
He stumbled into the bathroom and had a quick shower. Blowing his long hair dry, he tied it back in a low ponytail, like he always did when skiing, and then dressed for the day.
He entered the main part of the condo to find Miroku and Kouga scouring the cupboards, trying to find something to eat. He told them of his idea to get Kagome something for her birthday.
The two boys looked at him, dumbfounded looks on their faces.
"What?!" Inuyasha snapped.
"D-did you just think of another human being?" Miroku stuttered.
Kouga knocked one side of head, as if trying to get something out of his ear. "I must have not heard you correctly. Did you just say something considerate?"
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Har, har. You bums; you're just jealous you didn't think of it first," he said, crossing his arms and straightening himself proudly.
Miroku and Kouga exchanged a look.
"What!?" Inuyasha snarled, cracking his knuckles.
"N-nothing, Inuyasha," Miroku said quickly. "It's a brilliant idea. I mean, why didn't I think of it?"
Inuyasha leaned back, a satisfied smile on his face. Then it faltered and he asked hesitantly, "So what do you think we should get her?"
A smile spread across Miroku's lips almost before Inuyasha had finished his sentence. "You should just leave it all up to me, guys. I'll get my gift plus both of yours for her. I always know exactly want women want." His smile slipped a bit under the pressure from the intense glares sent his way from Inuyasha and Kouga. "Or not."
"I say we just ask Ayame and Sango," Kouga said. "They'd know."
"That works too," Miroku said, still slightly shying away from Inuyasha's glare.
"Good, then," Inuyasha said, finally tearing his intense gaze from Miroku and walking towards the door. "Now I'm gonna go make sure Kagome doesn't come within a five mile radius of a frying pan."
~*~
"See ya, guys!" Kagome shouted to Sango and Ayame as she headed out of the condo on her way to cook Inuyasha's breakfast. At least it's the last time I'll have to be doing it, she reminded herself. But I'd much rather cook Inuyasha's breakfast for eternity and beyond then repeat that experience last night. Ooooh, Naraku. Gah, I'm gonna need some SERIOUS therapy after this...
She continued skiing towards the boys' condo, but when she got there she saw Inuyasha waiting outside, presumably, for her. When she neared, he grabbed her arm and turned her around.
"Inuyasha, wha-?"
"Oh, no you don't," He said, clipping himself into his skis. "We're going to go eat in the lodge this morning. I don't trust you."
"Me?! What does this have to do with me? You're the one that was the problem!" Kagome protested as they started skiing towards the lodge.
"Hah! You were the one cooking; don't try to blame it on me!"
Kagome let an frustrated sigh. "You're exasperating!" she called as she sped up and reached the lodge.
Inuyasha hastened to follow her. When he caught up and they were putting their skis on the rack, he said, "And what's that supposed to mean?!"
"Figure it out for yourself, you jerk!" she said, bursting into the lodge before stopping dead in her tracks. Everyone in there, though there weren't too many, was staring at them.
"Um..." Inuyasha said, at a loss for words. All of a sudden, the staring people turned back amongst themselves and began whispering furiously.
"Did we miss something...?" Kagome wondered aloud.
"Apparently," Inuyasha said, just as confused. "But hell if I know what it is."
"Right...well, let's just carry...on..." Kagome said, edging towards the food line, Inuyasha behind her.
As they passed, the whispering grew and a few individuals pointed in their direction. Kagome and Inuyasha continued uncertainly, their argument forgotten when faced with this strange reaction to their presence.
When they had each ordered some bacon and eggs, they made their way to the person standing behind the cash register, in order to pay. Standing beside her counter was a news stand. Kagome glanced at it briefly before turning back to the lady. Her eyes snapped back to it, however, when her brain had registered what she'd seen.
There was her face, glaring out at her from a few different tabloids. Not only she was in them though, but Inuyasha as well. She grabbed as many different ones as she could see and turned to Inuyasha. "Buy these!"
Inuyasha glanced at them and his eyes widened. He quickly paid for them and they dashed off together to find a free table. Once they had found one fairly secluded, they spread them out on the table before them.
The first one was somewhat of a collage of pictures of them together. There was one of them the night before, when they were in their bathing suits, Inuyasha carrying Kagome and smiling down at her. Another was Kagome peeking over Inuyasha's shoulder when the reporters had bombarded them the night before. One was them holding hands as Inuyasha led Kagome out of the reporter mob. And the last one was one of Inuyasha and Kagome on the chairlift, the latter leaning on the former and laughing her head off. The headline read, 'Is this a match made in heaven?'
Inuyasha and Kagome blushed simultaneously and reached for the next one. 'Is this love knocking?' Below the headline was a picture of them on the chairlift, when Kagome had been knocking on Inuyasha's head while he glared straight ahead, his arms crossed.
Kagome had a horrified expression on her face. "Is this what those reporters think...? Wait. Is this why all those people were staring and whispering when we walked by?"
Inuyasha didn't stop to think, but grabbed the next one. It was a shot of him and Kagome slipping on the pancake batter and falling towards the floor. At the top of the page were the words, "Are they being swept off their feet..." and at the bottom, it continued, "...and falling head over heels in love?" Inuyasha groaned and buried his face in his hands to conceal his growing blush.
Kagome shakily reached for the last one. There was a photo of Kagome's first day of cooking Inuyasha's breakfast, when they were attempting to put out the burning eggs. She would have laughed at the headline if she weren't so incredibly embarrassed at that moment. 'Are things heating up in the icy recesses of Devil's Mountain?'
Inuyasha and Kagome looked at each other before abruptly turning away, cheeks pink, and found other fixtures in the room that looked fascinating.
"Hey, guys!" They turned to see Sango coming towards them. She noticed their tortured looks and asked, "Hey, what's up with you two?"
For an answer, they shoved the tabloids towards her. After looking them over, she burst out laughing. "T-that's-that's so funny!" she snorted as she collapsed in an empty chair, still chortling.
"It is not!" Kagome said indignantly. "That's what those stupid reporters are leading everyone to think! I don't want everyone to assume that me...and him..." she sputtered, pointing from her to Inuyasha and back again.
Sango just laughed harder. "It's just so corny and-and funny!"
"Sango! Dear Sango!" Miroku's voice came to them. They turned to see him approaching, a huge grin on his face as he waved a few tabloids over his head. "We're famous!"
As soon as Miroku reached them, Sango's arm shot out and grabbed the tabloids from Miroku's hands. The first was a picture of the two of them in the trees with Miroku's arm around Sango's waist. 'Alone in the bushes?' the title read, giving it a rather suggestive ring to it.
Sango's laughter abruptly died and glanced quickly at the second one. It was the picture of her falling on Miroku in the pool. The headline, 'Getting better acquainted?' wasn't helping matters in the least.
"Okay, well, at least that one was expected," Inuyasha said, jabbing a finger at the picture of them falling into the pool.
"That doesn't make it any less humiliating!" Sango snapped. "And now people will think that me and the perv...oh no..." she said, catching a glimpse of Miroku's expression. He looked as if he'd just died and gone to heaven. "Get those thoughts out of your head, lech! Don't you dare think this means anything!"
Miroku only sighed blissfully and gazed lovingly back at her. Frustrated, Sango shot up from her seat and headed towards the food line, not forgetting to smack Miroku on the way. As she passed a few tables, she finally noticed the whispered that followed her, something she'd been oblivious to before. She turned to glare at the onlookers.
"It's not what you think!" she yelled and everyone quickly turned back to their food, not willing to risk the wrath of the furious girl before them.
~*~
"Of all the nerve..." Ayame muttered to herself. "First Sango suggests that we eat in the lodge because she doesn't want to face another one of my breakfasts, and then she takes off without me. Boy, is she going to get an earful when I get my hands on her..."
She skied up to the lodge and was leaning her skis against the rack when she heard her name called. Spinning around, she saw Kouga coming towards her, after just having deposited his own skis against the rack.
"Hey! What're you doing here?" she asked as he came up beside her.
He shrugged. "There's not a ton of food left in our condo so Miroku and I decided to eat here. But the ass left before I was ready and left me behind in his haste to reach his 'dear Sango.'" Kouga snorted.
"Well, then, we have something in common." Ayame smiled at him. "Shall we?" she said, indicating the lodge doors.
Kouga nodded and they sauntered in. They had barely taken two steps before a girl about thirteen years old ran up to them, with what looked like a tabloid in her hands.
"Could I have your autograph, please?" she asked with a ditzy smile.
"Uh...I guess..." Kouga said, taking the offered newspaper. Glancing down at it, his breath caught in his throat along with Ayame's beside him.
Glaring up at him was a photo of them together on the chairlift with the old couple, his head on her shoulder and her arm around his head. A headline read, 'Top skier hides secret affair!'
Kouga seemed to be having an extremely difficult time forming coherent words, so Ayame frantically thought of a way to get out of this 'situation' unscathed and with dignity.
When in doubt, act like everything's normal.
"Oh, dear, Kouga," Ayame said suddenly in a wistful tone as she shot a meaningful look at the boy. "They've finally found us out. Whatever shall we do?"
Kouga gave her an incredulous look. The girl before them remained oblivious.
"Well, don't just stand there gaping like a fish!" Ayame said, and managed to laugh primly. "I know it's surprising, but there's no helping it now. Might as well just sign it." She slipped an arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder. She looked up at him with a glare and nudged him in the ribs.
"O-of course," Kouga said, though his voice was a little strained. He mechanically took the girl's proffered pen and signed his name at the bottom of the picture.
"You too!" the girl insisted to Ayame.
"Uh...ok..." she stiffly took the pen from Kouga and signed her name under his. "There ya go! Have fun skiing, now!" she said cheerily as she offered the tabloid and pen back to their owner.
"Thanks!" the girl replied, turning away. "And you guys make such a cute couple!"
Kouga and Ayame blushed as they jumped apart.
"Ayame...what was that?" Kouga asked uncertainly.
"The tabloid or my little 'display?'" Ayame asked.
"I know what that damn tabloid was!" Kouga said with a slight snarl in his voice. It was a good thing Ayame could tell it was at the reporters invading his privacy instead of her question, or she might have been offended. "What was your 'display' about?" He didn't sound angry, just slightly confused.
Ayame avoided his eyes. "Well, I was thinking that maybe...we could make it into a trick...you know, like we did on that chairlift? But this time it would be like tricking the country instead of just an old couple. I mean, wouldn't that be kinda challenging?" she asked, starting to get an excited look in her eyes and tone. "And just think! It might help you get over your phobia of reporters! 'Course it wouldn't be real or anything, just pretend..." she added hastily.
She glanced up to see his reaction. It remained thoughtful and focused on the ground. She held her breath. Would he think she was being too presumptuous?
But all of a sudden, a huge smile broke out on his face and he stepped towards her in order to enfold her in a giant bear hug. "That's ingenious!" he said. He pulled back and looked down at her with a sly grin on his face. "Gods, is this going to be fun..."
~*~
"Why are we doing this again, Kagome?" Inuyasha asked.
"If we can't see them, they can't see us," she replied.
"It doesn't really help that we're hiding our faces with the tabloids with our pictures on them," he said as they made their way towards the doors leading outside.
"Oh, crap!" Kagome said, and frantically lowered the newspaper from her face. Everyone in the lodge was staring at them. "See if I ever trust that statement again," Kagome said with a slight scoff.
Inuyasha lowered his own tabloid and looked bewilderedly at her.
"How did Sango and Miroku manage to get out so easily?" Kagome moaned, doing her best to ignore the onlookers.
"Um...I think it's called 'using the back door,'" Inuyasha said. "Something you protested doing, for whatever reason I'll never be able to figure out."
"Thanks for reminding me," Kagome said dryly. "Now I feel like a complete dolt."
"As well you should," Inuyasha nodded sagely.
"Oh, shut up, you," Kagome muttered and turned away from the prying eyes. Her eyes landed on a poster displaying two ice dancers skating together. Below their picture was the announcement of an ice dancing competition being held the next day, not too far away from Devil's Mountain. "Oooh, ice dancing! I love watching it!" She turned to Inuyasha who had a slightly disgusted look on his face. "What?"
Inuyasha quickly wiped the expression off his face and replaced it with a placid one. "Nothing."
She turned back to the poster and sighed. "What I would give to see it! 'Course the tickets would probably way too expensive... Maybe they'll play it on TV tomorrow night..."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as a thought came to him. Hmmm...he could...he had certain...but then he'd have to...and then...ugh...but she...and her...but his...and the...but he could...but then...oh what the heck!
He'd do it, but now was not the time to dwell on the consequences. Now was the time to get out of this lodge. He sighed as he and Kagome held up their tabloids again in a futile attempt to escape scrutiny and made their agonizing way out of the lodge.
~*~
A/N Well, the pesky reporters' actions have finally caught up with them; which can only lead to more fun and disaster! ^_^
And just what IS Inuyasha planning? And what are the mysterious 'consequences?' How will the public view the sudden blooming 'relationships?' What stories will Ayame and Kouga spin to fool the country?...And what exactly was Miroku planning to get Kagome for her birthday? Find out in future chapters of King of the Hill!...Well, maybe not the Miroku present thing; I'm not even sure if I want to know...
Hope you liked this chapter and hope to hear your comments! ^_^ And remember, I should have at least two more chapters out this week (hopefully) since it's my week off and I have practically NO homework. How sweet is that? I mean, FINALLY, a break...well, anyways, talk to you hopefully sooner than later! ^_~