Summary: Utau's best friend and fellow celebrity. Kagome Higurashi is coming over. Not only is Kagome a model for Sesshomaru's company but is Ikuto's rival in music. How is everyone going to react when they find out she has her own Shugo Charas? And will the two rivals develop feelings for one another especially with Utau giving explicit consent to Kagome for getting together with her own brother.
AN: Pairings for this story have already been decided so please do not push for a certain pairing or anything specific to happen. Also Utau's outfit in the first chapter has been revised. Something about her wearing that much black to meet with a friend just didn't sit well with me. I have added the descriptions for the dresses in the photograph that Kagome had.
Warning: Timeline in Shugo Chara has been messed with so will not completely follow cannon
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
Japanese Vocabulary:
Aniki- polite form of older brother
Arigato- less formal version of thank you
Gomen- less formal version of sorry derived from gomen nasai and is interchangeable
Gomen Nasai- formal version of sorry
Imouto- younger sister
Itadakimasu- a thanks or prayer said before eating
Kami/Kamis- god or gods
Konbanwa- good evening
Konichiwa- good afternoon/hello used any time after morning and before nightfall
Miko- Shinto shrine maiden or female servant of the gods
Minna- everyone or everybody
Musuko- son
Musume- daughter
Oden- a dish usually served during winter times and is a dish served in boiled water with many different ingredients and udon noodles.
Okaa-san- mother or someone else's mother
Otou-san- father or someone else's father
Otouto- younger brother
Sashimi- thinly sliced raw fish can be tuna, salmon, or ect.
Shinshin Ramen- a spicy type of ramen that is served at my local ramen shop
Sumimasen- excuse me or less formal version of sorry
Tempura- deep fried vegetables or seafood
Watashi wa ...- I am ...
-chan- suffix mostly for girls or someone younger than yourself to show endearment
-kun- suffix mostly used for boys to show endearment
-nee- older sister suffix used to show familiarity
-nii-older brother suffix used to show familiarity
-san- Miss, Mrs, Ms, or Mr; suffix used to be polite can used
-sama- suffix reserved for people of higher station's usually someone more powerful or of a higher station.
Walking down the street to the ramen shop, Kagome and Utau continued to converse. "Kagome-chan what were you doing with those kids?" asked Utau, who was trying her best not to insult the elementary school's Guardians, in fear of her best friend's wrath and well known short temper.
"Oh them, they just wanted to know why I was at their school and who I was," Kagome waved off and then continued with her hands clasped behind her while minding her purse. "You know it was really surprising to see one of my old dress up dolls."
'Dress up dolls?' thought Utau slightly perplex for a moment before a look a realization came to her face. "Oh you mean like what you used to do with Souta-kun, ne?"
"Hai, that's right. We caught up with each other a little while I was waiting for you?" explained Kagome as they continued to walk.
"So who was the lucky brat, who got to be one of your old dress up dolls?" questioned Utau curiously, all the while hoping that it wasn't the kiddy-king.
"Oh you'd be surprised Utau-chan. It was Nagi-kun, the boy with long purple hair." elaborated Kagome slightly waving a hand to make her point.
Releasing a relieved sigh, Utau was glad that it wasn't Tadase who was an old friend of Kagome, but the Nagihiko boy who currently had no shugo charas. 'Thank the kami that it's not the king brat. I wouldn't know what to do if he was Kagome-chan's friend.' thought Utau as a small smirk began to form on her lips. 'Well this would make getting her and Ikuto-kun together a little."
Finally after a ten minute walk the two friends finally made it to the small ramen shop. The shop was a quaint little family run restaurant where every food selection was homemade and without the use of instant mixes. The homemade items ranged from noodles and dumpling skins to broth and tempura mix and to sauces. Stepping into the little restaurant together, Kagome's and Utau's ears were immediately assaulted with the whispers and exclamations about them.
"Is that Taisho Kagome and Hoshina Utau?" asked one customer to another.
"What? No way! Where?" exclaimed another.
"That can't be them," said another customer. "Taisho-sama and Hoshina-sama would never come to such a place. They're too big of celebrities to come her."
Quickly ignoring the commotion their appearance made, the two best friends waited patiently to be seated at a table. Once a waitress had spotted them, she walked over to the pair and immediately had them seated in a booth in the corner that would insure their privacy. After quickly thanking the waitress for her thoughtfulness, Kagome and Utau took their seats at the booth.
Once seated Kagome immediately scanned the room and took in the interior design of the place. The interior of the shop was very spacious, the room had golden wallpaper adorning the upper half of its wall while the bottom half was adorned by a beautiful rouge which gave the place both a comfortable yet professional atmosphere. Lining the walls were other seating booths, all of which also had the same dark red or even brown leather seats and onyx black tables that were attached to the walls. At the front of the room was also what looked to be a long row of dark cherry wood counter seats with an accompanying onyx counter top. Looking up, Kagome noticed that the restaurant also had a mural painted on the ceiling that seemed to be praising the Shinto gods. Smiling because of the mural as she had noticed the miko that was in the center, Kagome turned back to face her best friend since she was nine years old.
"So what did you call me up for?" asked Kagome rather bluntly wanting to know why her friend had called her.
"Can't I just want to see my best friend again?" commented Utau innocently, a little too innocent really.
Narrowing her eyes, Kagome quickly countered her by saying, "Utau-chan we both know you don't talk or even call someone without a reason unless Tsukiyomi-san."
"Alright you got me Kagome-chan. Never was able to pull one over you," sighed Utau as she grabbed one the menus that the waitress had left them. "But even after five years you still don't use Ikuto-kun's name."
"Well that doesn't matter," declared Kagome as she grabbed the other menu that had been left with them, immediately getting a little irritated at the thought of shameless, at least in her mind, and fellow blue haired teen. "Now you called me for a reason, what is it?" asked Kagome in a business like tone and closed her menu after quickly finding the food selections for her meal. Before Utau could answer her, the waitress from before came back.
"Konichiwa, are you ready to order?" asked the waitress politely. Quickly turning to the waitress, Kagome placed down her orders, "Hai I would like an order of oden and a side order of vegetable tempura, please."
Seeing that it was her turn, Utau quickly followed with her order, "One order of shinshin ramen and a side order of sashimi and tuna rolls." Quickly writing down their orders, the waitress said, "Okay so that's one shinshin ramen, one oden, one tempura, one sashimi, and one tuna roll. Is there anything you would like to drink?"
"I'll have a green iced tea, and what about you Utau-chan?"
"I'll have a jasmine iced tea." Immediately after writing down their drink orders, the waitress gathered up the menus gave them a quick bow and left towards the kitchen.
Once the waitress was completely gone, Kagome once again asked, "So what did you call me for?"
"Sanjo-san and I were wondering if you'd be willing to play the keyboard for one my concerts next week?" explained Utau as she clasped her hands together and closed her hers in a pleading manner.
"I'll do it," answered Kagome, 'Wow she actually agreed to play for me. I thought I was going to have to beg and bribe her this time," thought Utau as she was just about to thank Kagome, but was stopped when Kagome continued to talk. "If and only if, you agree to come model with me for the next two weeks."
'I knew there was going to be a catch to this. She would never do this without something in return.' was the continued thought process of Utau. "Fine," agreed Utau reluctantly, not liking that she has to do something for someone else even if it is Kagome.
"Oh it's not that bad," reassured Kagome. At that moment the waitress decided to come back with the two girls' drinks and said, "Your meals will be done in a few minutes." She then promptly walked away from their table and went help another customer.
After the waitress left, Kagome continued on, "Modeling isn't that bad, if you have to you can bring Tsukiyomi-san with you, just keep him on a leash or something. Honestly, I don't understand what you see in your brother."
'Hmph you'll be saying something completely different when you see him again Kagome-chan.' thought Utau deviously as another smirk crawled onto her lips. 'If I can't have Ikuto-kun, I might as well get him the best person I know for him.'
"He's not that bad," commented Utau as she lightly sipped her tea. "You are going to be working with him for this whole week and the next."
"WHAT!" exclaimed Kagome, abruptly shooting up from her seat. Seeing that she was making a scene, Kagome quickly gave a deep bow to the other customers and one to the owners while mumbling gomen nasai under her breath. "How could you not tell me I was going to have to work with that shameless flirt?"
"Well I didn't think it was all that important, after all were going to be spending time together aren't we Gome-nee," said Utau all the while using her childhood nickname she had use to call Kagome by.
"Calling me that isn't going to work this time Utau," stated Kagome furiously. "Because you happened to forget to tell me that one little detail, you're not going to be modeling with me for two weeks..." Sighing in relief, Utau was just about to ask how that was a punishment when Kagome finished with her sentence with a large smirk on her beautiful face. "You're going to be modeling with me for the next month."
Cursing in her mind for forgetting about telling Kagome that Ikuto would working with her, and now she had pay the price of a whole month of torture under Kagome. "Fine." sniffed an upset Utau.
"Modeling with me isn't that bad," commented Kagome and was going to continue speaking, but stopped when the waitress came and place their food down in front of them. Together the two celebrities grabbed a pair of chopsticks and called out, "Itadakimasu" before they began to eat. "You still remember the company I was with when we were little?"
"Not really," admitted Utau as she paused in her eating to talk and drink some tea. "Why? You're still modeling there, right?"
"Nothing really, I just wanted to know if you remembered how we met. And yeah I'm still working under Sessho-niisama's company," said Kagome shrugging off the question. "If you really don't remember maybe we can jog your memory a little?"
"You don't mean..." said Utau who was not sure if her guess was right and as she was speaking Kagome pulled out her photo album from her purse. Once her eyes fell upon the sapphire colored album that was littered with butterflies, Utau's jaw almost dropped open in disbelief. "You did bring it!"
"Of course I would, when I know my best friend is calling me to go out," laughed Kagome when she saw the look on Utau's face. She then proceeded to flip through the album's pages until she reached one that was about a third into the book and turned it over to show Utau. "The album has every picture taken before I even started modeling. It even has the data chip that has the video of the day we first met."
Seeing the little chip brought back a very specific memory to both Utau's and Kagome's minds.
Flashback
Tokyo Concert Hall, Tokyo, Japan 7 years Prior Mid Afternoon
"Ikuto-kun," cried out an eight year old Utau, who was dressed in a light blue knee length dress with short princess like sleeves and cobalt blue bows, as she pulled on the arm of her aniki. "When is it your turn to play?"
The boy known as Ikuto had dark blue hair that reached the nape of his neck and cobalt blue eyes and was ten years old. He was currently dressed in a dark blue satin vest and a light blue dress shirt that matched his imouto's dress in color with a pair of complementary black slacks. Gripping his black violin case a little tighter than how he was previously holding it, Ikuto calmly turned his head down a little to his sister and quietly answered, "I don't know, imouto."
Seeing that her brother and crush didn't know, Utau started looking around for someone around Ikuto's age or an adult that may be able to help them. Utau continued her search in vain because all the adults were working on equipment needed for tonight's competition and the other children were all in the resting rooms waiting for the competition to start. Still to intent in her quest to locate someone that could help them, Utau never noticed that Ikuto had already spotted someone and was walking towards them while dragging her with him.
Finally giving up on her search for now knowing her aniki would be able to find someone soon, Utau began to look around the backstage. She had never been to the backstage; sure she's been to the backstage for her ballets, but never for a music competition.
Every she looked she saw men and women working on something be it either lights or sound systems. Everyone had seem to bust to have even notice them, other than the lady that had directed them here.
'Everything here is so different from the ballet studio,' thought an amazed Utau as she continued to look over the place. Her sky blue orbs still dancing about the scenery, Utau never noticed that she and her aniki had stopped walking and that Ikuto was talking to someone. When she did finally notice that Ikuto was talking to someone, Utau was immediately ready to happily greet the person who was helping her aniki. However, upon seeing the person he was talking to she immediately regretted the person's appearance. Because the person in front her and her aniki was a really pretty blue tinted raven haired girl and looking up to Ikuto, she knew he thought the girl was pretty too. Analyzing the girl, Utau noticed the raven headed girl actually had really pretty blue eyes and was wearing a beautiful black dress. 'That's a really pretty dress I wonder where I can get it?' was her first thought as she examined the girl. 'I bet she's going to try to take Ikuto from me. I'll show her.' continued Utau's thoughts menacingly as she once again looked at the girl's face.
"Why are you asking her? We can just go ask an adult. I bet she doesn't even know where the schedule us herself!" declared Utau triumphantly thinking that she had put the other girl in her place. 'Ha not so smart now are you.'
She was so into her happy thinking that she never noticed the scowl that formed on the other girl's
face. Clearly upset that the younger had pretty much just called her stupid, the raven haired girl just continued to speak with Ikuto and told him where he could find the schedule, "The competitors' schedule is post near the entrance to the stage. I suggest you better hurry up and find out when you're going to perform, since the competition is starting soon."
Seeing that the other girl had utterly destroyed her argument, Utau huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, and glared at the other girl. Still glaring, she heard Ikuto say to raven haired girl while giving a bow, "Arigato. By the way watashi wa Tsukiyomi Ikuto and this is my imouto Tsukiyomi Utau. What is yours?"
In her mind Utau thought rather sulkily and angrily, 'Why is he thanking her? We could have just asked one of the stage people for the schedule. I bet she's only doing that to make me look bad in front of Ikuto-kun. And why did he tell her our names it's not like will see her again.'
Much too deep in her thoughts, Utau never heard the girl's reply to her brother's question nor did she ever notice the smirk that had appeared on her face. She was then snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the next set of words that came out of the raven head's mouth, "By the way only competitors are allowed back here no exceptions NOT even for family members. I suggest you take your imouto out of here before I call security."
Immediately snapping out of her thoughts once those words had processed through her mind, Utau was fuming at what the girl had said and was ready to fight the girl for all she was worth and in her mind she was worth quiet a lot. But looking for the raven head, the girl was already walking away from her and Ikuto and very soon disappeared into the crowd of people that just happen to pass by at the time.
Still fuming, Utau didn't notice that Ikuto was walking off to where the girl said the schedule would be and that he was also leaving her behind. So not wanting to be left alone and possibly get lost she quickly ran to catch up with her brother. When the two did arrive to the location of the competitor's schedule, Utau was left gapping in surprise that the girl was actually right about where the schedule would be.
'I can't believe that girl was actually right. Why couldn't I have done that? Then Ikuto-kun wouldn't have ever had to see her,' were some of the thoughts that were going through Utau's mind. In fact she was gapping in shock so much so that she never got a chance to look at to see when Ikuto would be playing before Ikuto was dragging her off through backstage entrance and to the audience to find their parents.
Ikuto quickly located their okaa-san and otou-san and told them when he would be playing. After telling them, he left her in their okaa-san's care before promptly leaving to return to the backstage and resting area. Once Ikuto was completely out of her parents' sight, Utau's okaa-san promptly placed Utau comfortably in the seat between her and her Utau's otou-san. Once her okaa-san was sure her only daughter was comfortable did she stop fussing over her asking if she wanted anything to drink or eat. However, Utau pretty much just ignored her mother the whole time she was fussed over, but soon came to attention when the lights in the concert hall started to dim to signify that the competition would be starting soon.
It was possibly half an hour later that the competition had officially started and before she knew it, Utau saw Ikuto standing on stage with the competition host calling out his name and adding some comments to, "Our next competitor in this division is ten year old, Tsukiyomi Ikuto on his violin playing the song Moonlit Sonata by Beethoven. Tsukiyomi-san is the only son of the well-established violinist Tsukiyomi Aruto and it seems that his son would be following in his footsteps."
She had almost squealed in excitement at seeing her aniki on stage but was stop when her otou-san had clamped a hand over her mouth while motion with his other hand to stay quiet. Very soon after that announcement Utau heard nearly everyone around her except for her parents, whispering to one another.
"So that's Tsukiyomi-sama's musuko?"
"I wonder if he's as good as his otou-san."
"I wonder if he's as good as Higurashi-sama's musume."
Those where just some the whispers and not everyone was just whispering either, they were also looking at her family like they were some kind of zoo. But what really got her attention was the name Higurashi. 'Where have I heard that name before and who is this Higurashi girl? She can't be better than my Ikuto-kun,' thought Utau.
On the stage it looked like Ikuto was not affected by the whisperings, especially if he had bow and violin at the ready. Soon Utau heard the judges tell him, "You may begin when you are ready."
With that said, Utau saw Ikuto promptly begin playing the song that he had picked for this competition and soon that same song reached her ears. Utau soon fell into sweet comfortable bliss at the familiar song that she had heard possibly a hundred times at home since Ikuto had decided to enter the competition and had found out the theme.
Before she even knew it the song came to an end and Utau opened her eyes, not knowing when she had even closed them in the first place. By the time her eyes were fully opened, Utau was only able to see Ikuto leaving the stage with his violin and bow. With Ikuto having already performed, she immediately started to zone out, that is until the name of the last contestant came up. "Now I would like to present last years competition winner, Higurashi Kagome and her violin who would also be playing Moonlight Sonata but by Debussy," announced the host and as soon he finished saying that did Utau see the same raven haired girl as from earlier step on stage. In her mind Utau was thinking, 'What's so special about her? Sure she's last year's winner, but I bet Ikuto can beat her hands down.'
None the wiser to Utau's thoughts the host continued, "Higurashi-san, as you all remember me saying, was last year's competition winner with her piece on the erhu. She is also the only daughter of our chairman for the Higure Music Competitions. This year she has decided to perform on a different instrument. Now let us give a warm applause for Higurashi Kagome."
'Now I know where I've heard that name before, otou-san use to mention one of his tomodachi was Higurashi Akira. Didn't the host guy say that the competition was founded by the Higurashi family? But what the heck is an erhu?' went through Utau's mind as her face took on a look of confusion.
Now with her attention fully taken, Utau tried to see what was so great about the Higurashi girl and just focused intently on her. Not even hearing the host or judges Utau just watched and listened to what the raven was going to play. As soon as Kagome began to play her violin and the sweet melody began to pour out of its strings, Utau soon became one of the first people to fall under violin melody's spell.
The song was so very enchanting to her ears and had soon led her mind into a wonderful fantasy. A fantasy that consisted of her being the singer that she wants to be and with friends, who were there for her and not because she was a Hoshina. The fantasy also had her entire family together, including her grandfather.
The sweet violin melody finally ended a few minutes later with Kagome still on stage as she curtsied and bowed to the judges and audience. When the song ended, everyone had been left speechless and in a sweet daze. After a few minutes everyone was applauding Kagome as she once again curtsied and bowed to everyone. Utau who had been one of the last ones to awaken from the daze was even clapping for the girl even though she found her to be a rival for Ikuto's affections. Some those that had applauded for the raven haired girl had even thrown bouquets of various different flowers to her; they obviously have been fans of her from previous years. She then saw Kagome catch one of the bouquets and with one final now and curtsy left the stage with her head held high. 'Wow that was even better than Ikuto, now I know what's so special about her,' thought Utau still in a slight daze. 'I wonder if I can be as talented as her someday.'
For the rest of the competition, Utau was left in her thoughts. She even forgot about her crush on her aniki during that time period. It wasn't until the awards and closing ceremony that she awoke from her daydream and thoughts.
"Konbanwa minna!" was what she heard the host call out to the crowd as all of today's competitors slowly walked onto the stage behind him. Utau noticed that every person on the stage seemed to be separated into groups depending on age. But then she noticed that there was also a small group consisting of three people of three different ages. 'I wonder why they aren't standing with their age group?' thought Utau curiously as she waited for the host to continue speaking.
"As many of you know how our tradition goes in our music competitions, the winners from last year's competition play a duet with this year's winner or runner-up for the closing ceremony. Now, I would like to call up last year's winners starting from the elementary division; Higurashi Kagome, in the middle school division; Yuugure Dante, and in the high school division; Kaze Haru!" A loud applause then thundered through the concert hall for the last year's winners with the host cutting it off as it died down.
"And now for this year's runner-ups in the elementary division we have..." the host paused as he dramatically opened the envelope. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto!" A loud applause followed her aniki's name and Utau watched eyes fixated on Ikuto as he made his way to the front of the stage and accepted the plague and trophy that he had won from the host, all the while clapping enthusiastically. Once Ikuto had his awards in hand, Utau saw that her otou-san had his camera out and had apparently taken a picture of Ikuto with his first award. Then she saw her aniki retreat to the area next to last year's winners once the applauses were over. Patiently Utau waited for the rest of the runner-ups to be called, so that she could find out who the winners were. She was really sad that her aniki did not win the competition, but she hoped the Kagome girl did even if she was not her aniki.
"Now that we have announced all of this year's runner-ups, it's time to announce our winners!" Loud cheers and applause met his announcement and Utau was just about bouncing in her seat. Next to her, she was absolutely sure that she had her parents giggling and chuckling at her current behavior. "First is our elementary division winner and that is... Higurashi Kagome our reigning champion for the last three years and hopefully for more years to come, but in our middle school and high school division!"
Much applause came to meet the name once it was announced and Utau swore she had even heard some people whistling at the raven haired girl. Utau watched the pretty girl blush a pretty pink like that of a cherry blossom and then walk up front to receive her trophy and plague. She continued to watch Kagome pose next to the host for a few moments with her trophy, violin, and plague in hand and to her, Kagome seemed to be waiting for the flash coming from the cameras, which had suddenly appeared, to end. Then she saw Kagome give the host a hug and curtsy to the judges and audience before heading back over to where she had previously been, once the flashes had ended. The rest of the winners were soon announced after the applause for Kagome had died down and it was then time for the closing ceremony.
Utau watched the winners of this year and last year's competition and runner-ups intently as they passed off their awards to some very convenient stage hand and got theirinstruments ready for the closing number. Behind the winners and runner-ups, all of the other competitors were disappearing off to the side of the stage or to the reserved seats in the audience. Soon the winners and runner-ups were partnered together by division and were ready to play. Each person in the group had different instrument in his or her hand be it the flute, the trumpet, or as like Ikuto a violin. One was even sitting at the piano that was off to the side of the stage.
'Speaking of violins, when did Higurashi-san change instruments?' thought a very confused Utau. In Kagome's hands and lap was not the beautifully carved violin that she had earlier but a new and, well to her, very strange instrument. The instrument was about the size between a viola and cello and had forced Kagome to have to sit in a chair to play it like the cello player.
Together the competition winners and runner-ups soon began to play. The song that had been picked was Ladies in Lavender by Nigel Hess and before long the song ended. The stage lights dimmed until the concert hall was completely in the dark and then turned back on with all of the lights in the concert hall on. When the song had ended everyone in the audience had stood up and applauded the children that had performed the ending number.
Once the applause had stopped, Utau saw each and every competitor walked off the stage and into the audience where their family and fellow competitors were. In the area that had the other competitors, Utau was pretty sure each and every person was exchanging emails and cell numbers with each other to keep in contact because most likely not everyone that had competed had been from Tokyo. When she was sure that the group had finished giving out their numbers and emails to each other, Utau saw her aniki walking towards her and with Higurashi trailing not far behind him with three unknown males and one female. The adults in the group behind Kagome, which was only three, seemed to be around the same age as her own parents and the last person in the group seemed to be a few years younger than herself. The female was most likely Kagome's mother, concluded Utau after noticing the similarities between the woman and Kagome that went from their hair and skin tone to small details like their facial features. The youngest of the males was obviously Kagome' otouto, who had the same hair and eye color as the older girl and the somewhat similar facial structures. One of the older males was probably Kagome's otou-san and she decided that it must have been the darker haired one of the two because he had the same sapphire eyes that Kagome and the younger boy had. The other male couldn't possibly had been Kagome's otou-san because he had gold eyes and silver hair and bore no resemblance to the other two children.
Deciding to forget about people behind her aniki for the momemnt as he walked up to their family, Utau called out with a smile upon her face, "Ikuto-kun congratulations!"
"Hai congratulations, Ikuto-chan," their okaa-san congratulated once he was right next to them. Turning to face her husband she asked, "Aruto-koi, don't you think Ikuto did a splendid job in his very first competition?"
"Hai," answered Aruto quickly a bit weary of the sweet expression on her face. "Well done musuko, you've made me very proud."
Returning the smile after settling himself next to his family, Ikuto thanked them, "Arigato otou-san, okaa-san, imouto ."
"Ikuto-chan who are your friends behind you?" asked their okaa-san, as she gestured to the people him.
As Ikuto was opened his mouth to introduce the people behind him was stopped when his otou-san said, "Higurashi Akira long time no see."
"Tsukiyomi Aruto, how have you been?" the dark haired man greeted their otou-san with great familiarity.
"Otou-san," Utau called. "Is he that friend you use to tell me and Ikuto-kun about?"
"Aruto, you've been telling your kids about, ne?" laughed the now apparent Akira.
"I don't want to be rude koibito, but may you please give the introductions for the rest of us?" asked the apparent wife of Akira.
"Sumimasen Kunloon-chan. Aruto-kun this is my wife Higurashi Kunloon," said Akira as wrapped an arm around his wife. Then moving the two children who were next to Ikuto until they were in front of him he continued, "And these two chibis are my pride and joy, my musuko, Souta, and my musume, Kagome."
"As in the Kagome that just won your family's competition, ne?"
"Hai," answered Akira with a smile. "Well I've introduced my family. How about introducing yours to us, ne?"
"Hai, hai Akria. This is my wife Tsukiyomi-Hoshina Souko, it seems that you already know my musuko, Ikuto, and this blond girl next to me is my musume, Utau." answered Aruto as he gestured with his hand to each person.
As this entire conversation was going on Utau was just ignoring the adults and staring curiously at the two kids across from her. She mostly watched Kagome, and she saw her walk back to the silver hair man that Higurashi-san had forgotten to introduce. Looking at the tall man's face, Utau became somewhat frightened at the glare that if looks could kill she was sure Higurashi-san would be more than six feet underground and burning in black flames. She was actually so frightened that she had to hide behind the skirt of her okaa-san's dress. Before the two fathers could continue their conversation, Utau saw Kagome interrupt the two conversing men by tugging lightly at the end of her otuo-san's shirt.
"Otou-san I believe you're forgetting someone," Kagome said while gesturing to the still unknown silver haired man that stood behind her. Looking at the man again, Utau noticed that his fierce glare had lessened, but anyone could tell that he was most likely beyond furious for being forgotten.
"Ah, gomen nasai Taisho-sama I hope you can forgive me. It's just I have not seen Aruto-kun in many years and I..." apologized Akira as he gave a low bow to the silver haired man. "Minna, this is my musuko's manager and older brother figure Taisho Sesshomaru."
"Ah...Konbanwa Taisho-san," greeted Aruto.
"'Konbanwa Taisho-sama," greeted Utau and her okaa-san.
"Hn," and slight nod of his head was the only indication that Sesshomaru even acknowledged them.
"Now that we have introductions over with, how about we let the children explore the place, ne minna?" asked Kunloon after seeing the boredom and shyness on the children's faces.
"Hai, that's a wonderful idea," exclaimed Souko while clapping her hands together. "Ikuto-chan, Kagome-chan how about you two take your siblings out to explore this area."
"Hai okaa-san," answered Ikuto.
"Okay Tsukiyomi-san," replied Kagome.
"We are going to be seeing each other a lot these coming years, so me Souko-oba, Kagome-chan."
Blushing lightly, Kagome quickly answered, "Hai Souko-oba."
That was the last thing Utau heard before Kagome and Ikuto both proceeded to drag her and Souta off to who knows where in the concert hall. As the kids left they never saw that Sesshomaru had followed behind them.
Arriving to where ever her aniki and Kagome had dragged them off to, Utau noticed that their group had been taken to the backstage of the stage. Soon an awkward silence fell upon the small group of children as they just stood there facing each other, boy to boy and girl to girl. Thinking that it was best to get over the awkwardness of what had occurred earlier that night, Utau was just about to open her mouth to apologize when Kagome started to speak. "We didn't really get off on the right foot when we first met did we? So how about we start over, ne?"
"I'd like that." replied Utau with a smile on her face as she grabbed a hold of her aniki's arm. "Hi Kagome-san and Souta-san, watashi wa Utau and this is my aniki Ikuto."
"It's alright, anyways watashi wa Higurashi Kagome and this is my otouto, Souta. It's very nice to meet you." said Kagome returning the greeting while gesturing towards her brother when she said his name. "You can call me Kagome or Gome if you like, just so you won't get us confused with the rest of our family."
"Gome... Gome-chan...Gome-nee," decided Utau with finality and a happy grin on her face.
"Hi Utau-san, can I call you Utau-nee?" asked Souta as he began to bounce with pent up energy from having to sit still in the concert hall for the past two to three hours.
"Huh... okay, but only if I can call you Sou-chan," bargained Utau, who was happy that she had been forgiven and given a second chance.
"Yatta Utau-nee!" cried Souta happily while throwing his little hands in the air, then turning to Ikuto he asked, "Can I call you nii-san?"
"Eh why not, go ahead," Utau heard Ikuto answer.
"Yatta!" was the resounding cry from the little boy, who was obviously eacatic at the prospect of two more sibling figures. "Nii-chan are you going to marry Gome-nee someday, so you and Uta-nee can be my real nii-chan and nee-chan?"
Hearing the innocent question Utau started to see red at the idea of anyone marrying her aniki but her. Before she could say a single word was cut off by Kagome placing a gentle arm on her shoulder and saying, "Sou-chan it's not nice to ask someone to marry me when he and I don't want to."
"Demo nee-chan!" whined Souta as he proceeded to grab a hold of Kagome's skirt. "I want a nii-chan. Sesshomaru-sama doesn't count, he's your manager and he almost always here on business."
"I thought you wanted to be like Sessho-nii."
"Of course I do, I want to be just like Sesshomaru-niisama."
"Am I the only one lost?" commented Utau confusedly.
"Iie imouto, no you're not," replied Ikuto who seemed to be just as confused as her.
"Tsukiyomi-san, Utau-chan what do you like to do?" asked Kagome after she had finished talking to her otouto.
"Kagome-san call me Ikuto," Ikuto replied first. "And I like to play with cats and my violin."
"Okay, but to have to call me Kagome. Not Kagome-san, but just Kagome. What about you Utau-chan?"
"I like dancing and singing," answered Utau immediately.
"Really are you any good?"
"Otou-san and Okaa-san tell me so. You want to see?"
"Sure why not" was the reply she received from Kagome and an excited "Yatta!" from Souta.
Very quickly, Utau began to show the two Higurashi what she had learned in dance for the past several years. "Sugoi," gasped out Kagome and Souta. "That was beautiful."
"Arigato minna," thanked a lightly blushing Utau.
"Utau-chan what do you think about working with me and my manager for the next year?"
"Working on what?" Utau asked with her little head cocked to the side and her golden pigtails falling gently down to the side.
"Nee-chan works as a model for Sesshomaru-nii's company," supplied Souta happily.
"You work as a model?" asked the ever quiet Ikuto incredulously.
"Hai, why do you think Sessho-niisama was introduced as my manager?" asked Kagome curiously. She was seriously starting to think Ikuto was pretty dumb. "Sesshou-niisama is my aniki in nearly all senses except for blood. He wants me to be his heir one day," she continued looking down at her feet sadly. She didn't really want to be the heiress to her aniki's company; she already was the heiress to her parents' company. 'Why can't I just be normal for a change? Why do I have to be the heiress?' Kagome thought to herself.
"Nee-chan's been modeling for the company since she was four," piped in Souta quite happy about being able to brag about his onee-chan. He really loved his onee-chan she was his role model along with Sesshomaru-niisama. He wanted to be just like them one day.
"So what do you say Utau-chan? Would you like to work with me on my next photo shoot?" asked Kagome hopefully as she lifted her head to stare at Uatu. She really wanted another girl, a real girl, on the set with her, she was getting tired of all the stuck up girls she had to work with and she didn't want to always force Nagihiko and Souta to dress as girls either.
"Ano…I'm not sure," answered Utau hesitantly as she clasped her hands together behind her back while looking down to her feet.
"Come on Utau-nee," called Souta with a big smile. "Modeling with Nee-chan is really fun. You get go to all these fun places and play dress up."
Kagome gasped in surprise when she saw Sesshomaru appear behind Ikuto and Utau and little Souta, but an idea quickly formed in her mind upon seeing her nii-sama when she remembered Utau's hesitance. "Nii-sama!" cried Kagome as she proceeded to go over to Sesshomaru and pull on his arm. "Onegai, may I have Utau-chan come model with on my next photo shoot?" she pleaded to Sesshomaru with big puppy eyes.
"Hn," was Sesshomaru's only response to Kagome's pleading before looking over Utau's form. He noted Utau's dancer physique, which was quite similar to Kagome's, her long blonde hair, skin color, facial structure, and eye color. His eyes quickly drifted over to Ikuto and noted his physical appearance as well. "This Sesshomaru will allow this imouto."
Kagome squealed loudly in delight, but was immediately cut off. "Demo the boy must come as well and you are the one who will be showing the two around and how things are to proceed at the company." stated Sesshomaru as he interrupted Kagome's celebration. "Is that understood Kagome?"
"Hai," answered Kagome with a low. Behind her Souta was cheering loudly while Utau had jaw dropped open and Ikuto looked as if he did not care. "Domo arigato, Nii-sama."
"This Sesshomaru expects to see you all at the studio for the next session. Kagome will give you the need information." with that said Sesshomaru turned and walked off. Ending the discussion and making it so that Utau and Ikuto must be go to the next photo shoot.
"Don't worry Utau-chan, Ikuto-kun," assured Kagome. "I promise it's a really fun experience. You'll have a lot of fun. I just know it."
Flashback End
"I was such a brat when we first met, ne Gome-nee?" asked Utau while playing with the straw of her iced tea as the two came out of their memories .
"I'm pretty sure we were all brats," assured Kagome while taking a nice long sip from her green tea just as their waitress returned with their orders.
"Sumimasen, here are your orders," stated their waitress as she placed each one of their food orders in front of them. Once all the dishes were placed onto the table the waitress left, leaving the two teenagers to continue conversing with each other. The two girls' mouths watered as they stared at their orders. Quickly gathering their chopsticks together, the two called out a quiet Itadakimasu together before digging into their respective meals.
"You know what Gome-nee?" questioned Utau between bites of noodles.
"Nani, Utau-chan?" responded Kagome once she swallowed her bite oden.
"You lied about those photo shoots when we were little."
"Hey it's not my fault," sighed Kagome. "I didn't know Tsukiyomi-san didn't like doing stuff like that. You on the hand looked like you having fun watching the guys be forced into different outfits. Besides we got to keep some of the dresses from those shoots. Don't tell me you didn't like that?"
"Iie, I actually liked watching the boys struggle. That was a lot of fun. Demo, there was a lot of pain before the actual shoots." Utau winced in phantom pain as she remembered all of the wigs and contacts that she was forced to wear during the first year of modeling with Kagome. "I'm kind of glad okaa-san and otou-san made me a model of our own company. There was so much less pain that way."
"But now you have paparazzi following you around everywhere you go," interjected Kagome. "At least with Nii-sama's method no one actually knew how we really looked like."
"True," replied Utau with a sad sigh, remembering the good old days where she wasn't stalked by photographers and other people. The two quickly finished off their meals companionable silence and paid for their meals. Once done, the two left the restaurant to find somewhere to hang out.
"Ne, Utau-chan do you want to head over to Nii-sama's company?" asked Kagome as she pulled her arms above her head to stretch.
"Sure," answered Utau as she clasped her hands together behind her back. "I don't mind getting myself reacquainted with our debuting company. I haven't been there since we were kids."
With that said the two changed directions from where they were walking started walking to where Kagome knew would be the company building. While the two walked, they chatted together and talked about different times during their childhood together reminiscing about things they had done together. The two even talked about what had happened during the last year of their during which they had been separated and were not allowed to contact each other, with the exception of a dire emergency where the other must be with the other. The last thing the two had even talked about were each other's shugo chara, who were all currently absent. Kagome's charas being with Sesshomaru and helping him set up for that day's photo shoot while Utau's were off promoting her new songs.
Soon the two teenagers reached the Taisho Inc., and Utau was just as amazed as she had been when she had first come to Taisho Inc. The building that Taisho Inc. resided in was easily twice the size of Easter, if not more. Utau's mouth was opened and her eyes were wide in shock. She would probably never get used to how big Taisho Inc. was no matter how many time she would visit the company to see Kagome. While Utau was stuck in shock, Kagome walked in front of Utau and stood in front of her. In nice loud voice, Kagome announced to Utau, "Welcome to Taisho Inc. Utau-chan." As Kagome spoke the building seemed to gleam in the sunlight and the glass double doors at the front of the building were thrown open in welcome of the two girls.
AN: For those who don't know what an erhu is there is a picture and website for it on my profile and it's pretty much a much more advanced version of a violin, viola and cello. It can play any pitch and note that the other three string instruments can and it only has two strings. The notes and pitches played on an erhu are unique to it and most of time cannot be reproduced by any of the other three string instruments. I plan on learning the erhu from my uncle after I finish learning what I want from the violin.
More pictures have been added and I'm sorry if the adults seem OOC in the flashback I don't really know how the Tsukiyomi parents really act. I actually didn't plan for the flashback to last over ten pages, but I wanted to explain and project more on Kagome and her family. I also have a feeling I used a bit too much Japanese in this.
Anyways please review with criticism if you have any, but if it's about the time placement of the whole story I don't want to hear it. I got enough of that from a stupid reviewer on my story The Duel Champion's Daughter. You can find that review on the last page and it would be the third or something from the bottom.
Most definitely not my best work, but I've had everything here written since last year in June and only had the last few paragraphs in the flashback and the ending that gave me writer's block for last year on this. Please don't ask about the "accident" you'll find out about it when Kagome see's Ikuto again. If there is anything wrong with this chapter please tell me. Most of my stories are half the time typed on my phone, so the format is weird more than half the time. Review please!
2014/3/17 AN: Don't leave reviews about SOPA or anything unrelated to the story. The review will be automatically deleted. It's misleading to authors, and no one has time for that crap. Do something else like signing a petition instead of bothering me and other authors.