Chapter
8: The Show must go on
The night that
everyone had been working so hard for had finally arrived. Everyone had gotten
in costume; Kaede had fixed Inu Yasha's hair to cover his ears in case his hat
fell off. It's amazing what a few bobby pens and a can of hairspray could do.
Everyone gathered in the rehearsal hall before the show started. Not everyone
was completely done getting ready yet, but there was always a cast call to make
sure everyone was on time about an hour before the show. He would have plenty
of time to sort things out with Kagome. The role was called, except for Kagome.
Inu Yasha looked
throughout the room, thinking that the pins holding his hears down had somehow
muffled her name; his eyes searched almost franticly, even his face showed the
slightest bit of emotion. Sesshomaru stood in front of the cast of 43, he
glanced about the room in a slow gesture, "I'm sure a few of you noticed that
Kagome's name was not called. Her mother just informed me that she was involved
in a car crash." The cast gasped and whispered among themselves, though Inu
Yasha sat, numb, all he could hear was Sesshomaru's words. "I'm not sure if
she'll be here tonight, though the show will go on regardless. We're prepared
for anyone to be absent from this play. if it turns out Kagome will not be with
us tonight, Rin will play Juliet tonight. She knows most of the lines, and
improvisation may have to be an issue. I'll.. keep you updated"
Like Inu Ysaha,
Sesshomaru usually kept his emotions in check. Though throughout the past seven
weeks with almost nonstop rehearsals with Kagome during the last two, he had
grown rather attached to his lead actress. Though, also like Inu Yasha, his
emotions betrayed him in this situation. "Inu Ysaha, are you alright?" Miroku
looked over to his friend. His brows furrowed at his obvious lack of attention.
Sango already had her phone out and was talking to Kagome's mom, which was what
Inu Ysaha was paying attention to.
"Yes ma'am, I
understand. I just know Kagome had been looking forward to this for a long
time.. please tell her we are all worried about her... yes ma'am, I will,
goodbye" Sango shook her head, "Some guy ran a red light and hit her head on.
She tried to stop, but it was just too late. She'll be okay.. we're just not
sure if..."
As far as Inu
Ysaha was concerned, he couldn't listen to anymore, he went backstage and sat
on Juliet's bed that would later be brought on when it was needed. Rin walked
past him wearing the dress Juliet was to start the play with and his heart
sank. The depression Romeo possessed in the first scene with him in it, would
be real this time. Inu Yasha delivered a very convincing Romeo during his
depression, though, could he act as he should when such a horrible thing has
happened. Inu Yasha wanted to explain to Kagome just how he felt; he wanted to
tell her that no matter what he said before, he thinks of her more than he lets
on. He put his headphones on, he simply couldn't listen to Rin deliver Kagome's
lines.
Something about it
seemed awkward. His only chance would be to distance himself so he could remain
in character. The party scene arrived and the chaos backstage was amazing. This
scene was always special to Himself and Kagome because it was the first they
had rehearsed together, and now for the first time in front of an audience, he
was not performing it with her. Romeo sought out his Juliet on the stage,
searching to see her face through the crowd. This was all a bad dream, a
worst-case scenario that had come true. He reached out his hand to grab Rin's,
and he turned her to look upon her face. He looked up at Juliet, his depression
melted away the instant he saw her eyes. This was not Rin staring back at him,
yet it was his Kagome.
He hadn't heard her
arrive because he had his headphones on during the scenes with Juliet. His eyes
brightened as he spoke his lines, dreading the thought of her moving from his
kiss like she was staged to. "Then move not while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged" he kissed her; the kiss took
Kagome by surprise. This was not Romeo who had kissed her, but Inu Yasha.
"Then have my
lips the sin that they have took." she said, a look of understanding was hidden
in her eyes, he looked to her and saw it before he spoke again.
"A sin from my
lips? Oh trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again" He kissed her again, his
lips sought after hers in a needy way, the dancers around them, looking for
their queue to part, though Inu Yasha wanted nothing more than to continue.
There was no time
between scenes to talk to Kagome. Inu Yasha couldn't speak to her until the
play was over. The play went over flawlessly, the packed theatre got quite a
show. The actors took their places for their bow; Kagome and Inu Yasha would
come out last, coming from opposite sides of the stage to meet in the middle.
They walked out on stage and took hands and bowed, Inu Yasha's hand stayed
clasped to hers even when people came up to talk to them after the play. He
simply refused to let go. They went backstage after the crowd had dispersed and
he did something she had not been expecting at all. He hugged her so tightly
she thought she wouldn't be able to breathe. His face nuzzled her neck in the
curve where the neck meets the shoulder, "I was so worried" he whispered to
her.
She had wrapped her
arms around him gently; she moved her hands along his back in gentle circles.
"It looked like you didn't see me do my first scene! At the party scene, it was
like you hadn't even seen me. I looked for you, but I couldn't find you."
"I didn't watch, I
didn't know you were here. I couldn't watch Rin do you lines. She's a good
actress, but..." he raised his head to her ear now "she's not you"
Their meeting
backstage was interrupted by Sango and Miroku. Both had changed from their
costumes and taken their makeup off already. "You sly dog.." Miroku said, the
blush evident on Kagome's cheeks.
That comment of
course was rewarded by a punch in the stomach by Sango, "Common you two, my mom
invited everyone to have dinner at home. Kagome I'll help you out of your
costume."
Sango and Kagome
went their way, Inu Yasha watched her as she left the backstage area, he had
already pulled a number of bobby pins form his hair, his right ear stuck up
freely. "I was going to tell you she was here.. But you didn't seem like you
wanted to talk"
"Yeah.. I wasn't in
the mood to talk to anyone really.."
Sango's mother was
as accommodating as ever. She even had fresh bandages for Kagome's burns form
the airbag in her car. The airbag had burned her forearms, but luckily the
costume covered that up. "You were lucky Kagome! do you realize had you not
tried to stop, there would be no way you would be walking around right now"
Sango's mother remarked. She was busily wrapping Kagome's arms, having to put
some ointment on them first of course.
Of course, Inu Yasha
watched Sango's mother take care of Kagome. His ears flattened on his head.
Everything in him told him to be careful, but he had stopped listening to those
annoying voices and gone with his heart. He loved Kagome. Out of everything in
the world, he knew that much. They say, you never know what you've got until
it's gone. The thought of losing what he loved was enough for Inu Yasha. IT
scared him more than anything in his entire life had.
Kagome made Inu
Yasha act like he normally wouldn't. Tonight, he drove slowly for once in his
life. He knew Kagome wouldn't openly admit her being scared, but he knew there
was no way she wouldn't be. Riding in cars isn't the same for a while after an
accident. "Kagome, we can stop at my place for a while.. it's halfway, you can
rest a bit, does that sound fine to you?"
True, he was being
overly nice to her, when just the night before he had told her that he would
never see her that way. He couldn't deny that he had feelings for Kagome, and
he was sure she had feelings for him too. They made their way up to the
apartment. He opened the door for her and went in after she did. "Thank you Inu
Yasha, you've been so nice to me tonight" she said. If she hadn't known any
better, she would say he had developed feelings for her. Though, the thought of
last night kept running through her head.
Inu Yasha put his
hat on the chair, just ears standing up. "Kagome, it's the least I can do" He
walked over to the window, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and leaned
against the wall, he looked more out the window than at her. He knew what she
was going to ask, so he answered it before she could even ask it, he didn't
want her to ask what he meant, he would explain, "Last night. What you said..
What I said. I didn't mean it how I said it Kagome"
"Oh I understand
that" Kagome had sat down on the couch "You can't help it if you don't have
feelings for me Inu Yasha, I know that"
She plastered on one of
her sweet smiles. The subject was still sensitive to her, she had been sure he
returned her feelings. Though, Sango's gift of reading people failed. "No" he
said gently, he looked to her now. "What I mean was that I wasn't sure of
myself until today. Until I saw you instead of Rin, until I realized that, if I
lost you, I'd be losing half of me, the better half.." He made his way over to
her. "Kagome, I was wrong about last night. More than anything I'm sure that I
care about you deeply. And I... well" he'd never been too great at expression
his emotions, with that, he leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her
lips. His lips were soft against hers, it was faint, hardly a breath of a kiss
in the first place.
Kagome didn't know
what to say, she couldn't believe this was happening, she reached up and pilled
him back down for another kiss. He leaned down, pulled by her arms, one of his
arms rested on the back of the couch while the other rested on its arm. She
hadn't ever kissed anyone before, she had told him that much when they had to
rehearse. He dominated the kiss, his lips became more urgent, her eyes were
closed and he watched her for a brief moment before closing his own. They broke
the kiss only for air, "I take it.. that I'm forgiven then?" Inu Yasha mused to
her, a half smile working on his lips.
All Kagome could do
was nod, he sat down on the couch beside her and when he lay down, she lay down
with him, over the top of him. He gently picked up one of her arms. He looked
at the bandages there before he placed sweet gentle kisses down her arm.
"W..What are you doing?" she asked. Watching him handle her with such care made
Kagome's expression soften.
Though, he smirked,
still continuing his line of kisses until it reached her palm. He placed a
sweet kiss there before he spoke, "I thought that would be pretty obvious by
now.. I'm kissing it to make it better" She looked to him and watched him blink
innocently, his ears twitching back and fourth as he did so.
Kagome looked over
to the clock that was atop Inu Yasha's piano, "Oh! I have to get home!" she
said, starting to get up.
However, she
couldn't move. Inu Yasha's hands had gripped her by the hips and again, that
innocent expression graced his face "Your mother knows"
"My mother knows
what?" Kagome looked down at him, he had started to run his kisses down the
opposite arm now, taking just as much care of that one as he had the first.
He placed a kiss
in her palm before answering, "That you're not going to be home tonight.
Remember? You want to Sango's"
"but I' not staying
at.... ooooh I understand" She laughed then, she moved her hands up to his ears
and rubbed them gently, "You sly dog, you've deceived my mother. You you..."
she stopped when she heard him Purr. "awwwwwwww"
He opened his
eyes halfway, he had one of those dopey grins on his face and he never stopped
his purr. His golden hues glazed over, his hands still held her hips to his. He
nuzzled her neck, still purring, the rumbling in his chest made Kagome giggle a
bit. "You, really shouldn't do that" he nuzzled her neck, slowly he worked his
way down to her chest.
"Why not?" Kagome
shot back.
She wasn't answered
but she was flipped over, her hands falling from his ears, but he
maintained his purr. "Because I like it, maybe even too much" he lay on top of
her now. His weight put mostly on his arms. To state better what he meant, his
hips pressed down to grind against hers. Though he would behave he rested his
head on her chest, and he listened to her heartbeat. She moved her hands back
to his ears and started to rub again, faster this time though just as gentle.
His purring became louder; she could have sworn she heard a slight moan
accompanying his purr. He nuzzled her chest, he moaned again as she didn't
stop. "uhn... Kagome" He tilted his head up to look at her. The sweetest
expression graced his face, that of pure bliss. "You don't play fair.. you
cheater"
Kagome giggled, as
she looked down at his face, "all's fair in love and war."
Still she hadn't
relented, she leaned down and kissed the top of his ear, a gasp mixed with a
moan now escaped his lips. She knew what it meant to touch his ears that way.
It was like she was touching something else of him, something she would play
the up most attention to. "mmm.. Stop Kagome.. Please? It's torture..
beautiful, sweet, annoying, blissful torture to know this is as far as I can
take you" as he spoke, his head nuzzled her chest.
"I never said that"
she said, this comment took Inu Yasha completely be surprise. He lifted his
head to look in her eyes, looking for anything he might have misunderstood. Her
hands had fallen from his ears when he looked down at her.
His purring had
stopped, both golden eyes wide at what she had said. Surely, his hearing had
been messed with during her ministrations. "You... you mean you don't mind
if.." She shook her head no and that was all the permission he needed. He
leaned down and kissed her neck, nipping at t just below her ears. He felt her
reach up to stroke his ears again, but this time a low growl escaped his
throat. "It's my turn now.." he muttered, she had teased him for long enough.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Cliffy ^_^ whatcha think? Should I continue? I dunno
if I should put a bit of a Sango Miroku thing in, ah well, I don't wanna make
it too long. Reviews please!! Continue or no?
*~*Hugs and kissies*~*