Disclaimer: the two of us are story writers, not musicians. All songs used/borrowed(?) throughout Walking Tightropes belong to their respective artists. This chapter features songs from My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. Also, InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Erin and Yaten belong to hanmajoerin.
Songs (in order): Party Poison - My Chemical Romance, This Ain't a Scene, It's An Arms Race - Fall Out Boy, Planetary Go - My Chemical Romance
Walking Tightropes
Chapter 17: Tingling
Woah. Did you feel that? My I'm-So-Into-You senses are tingling.
-X-
"Hey, hey!" I reached out to grab the back of Aki's shirt as he walked by the picnic table I was sitting on. Unsurprisingly enough his camera was focused on some girl of absolutely no significance (to what the paper needed; I never met her so I had no right to call her worthless.) "See the stage over there? Yeah, I want pictures of that, not your usual collage of girls."
"Aye aye, captain," Aki saluted me, but the second I let go of his shirt he started walking right back towards that girl so I yanked him back over.
"Sit," I ordered, pointing to the spot on the table next to me. "I need to supervise you when you take pictures."
"But, Kagome..." Aki started to whine, "Don't you think I've taken enough pictures for the day? This thing has been glued to my eye 24/7! Just let me have my fun."
"Aki, you're on the newspaper as a photographer and photographers take pictures of relative material. A girl's ass is not relative to the paper."
"That's a matter of opinion."
"That's a matter of fact." Aki had a look of disagreement on his face, but climbed up on the table anyway. "Once you get about fifteen good pictures of the concert for me, I'll let you go."
Aki muttered something under his breath as he messed around with the settings on his camera, but I didn't care enough to demand to know what he was saying and Erin was approaching, still covered in whipped cream.
"Smile!" Aki called out to her and Erin, for whatever reason, stopped and posed like an Egyptian while Aki snapped the picture. "That's one down, fourteen to go."
"I said of the concert." Stupid Aki. I turned to Erin as she took a seat on the bench of the picnic table. "You didn't go to get changed yet?"
"Nope," Erin shook her head. "You'd be surprised at just how much stuff a manager has to do because all the band members are lazy, irresponsible, and forgetful dumbasses." Erin sighed and rubbed her temples. "But, I got it all taken care of now, you know, because I'm a genius. What's with your new threads?" Erin asked, motioning to Inuyasha's sweatshirt. "If I'm not mistaken, that's Inuyasha's hoodie," she said with a raise of her brows.
"It is," I confirmed, my cheeks almost cracking from my grin. "It's to replace my wet shirt."
"I see," Erin said, stroking her chin and I rolled my eyes.
"It doesn't really mean anything."
"Right, because so many high school boys are nice enough to give girls articles of their clothing." Erin nodded her head for a second before giving me a look that asked if I thought she was stupid. "Your ability to be in denial when everything is so freaking obvious never ceases to amaze me."
"I'm just an amazing person." Erin shook her head just as I noticed Ayame approaching with an all cleaned up Sango who was carrying a funnel cake from the food booth Kikyo's dad set up.
"Smile!" Sango struck a pose while Ayame covered her still pie-covered face with her hands.
"I found Sango for you, but she used her change of clothes for herself," Ayame explained as the two sat across the picnic table from Erin. Sango set her funnel cake in the middle of the table but slapped Aki's hand away when he reached for some. "It seems like you found yourself something to wear after all though."
"It's Inuyasha's," Erin told them and Ayame's eyebrows shot up while Sango's eyes widened as she sucked powdered sugar off her thumb and forefinger. "Yeah, I know. You're still a mess though."
"Did Kouga not have enough time to lick you clean?" I asked and Ayame blushed while Aki's head snapped around.
"He had to rinse off and get dressed and then he and Inuyasha got into some stupid argument when they were supposed to be loosening up. He lost all his appeal after he started talking about assholes and dickheads." Ayame rolled her eyes. "Dumbasses, really. Oh, and Bank told me to tell you goodbye. Renkotsu's coming home from college this weekend and the whole family is having dinner together so he had to leave."
"You know," Aki started, giving what he thought to be a sexy smirk to Ayame, "if this Kouga guy is so unavailable, I'll be happy to take over his job and lick that whipped cream off you."
Erin stared at Aki like he was insane. "Who is this guy?"
"If Kouga heard you right now, you'd be broken in half like a pretzel stick," Sango told Aki.
"This is Aki," I introduced him to Erin. "He's a photographer for the paper and a pervert."
"And no," Ayame answered Aki, "you can't even touch me."
"Why is Aki here again?" Sango asked me.
"Because he can't be trusted to take good pictures of the concert without supervision," I explained. "I caught him while he was chasing after a random girl."
"She's actually in my photography class," Aki defended himself, pouting. "And if you're so concerned about your precious pictures, why don't you take them?"
"Because—"
"Because things with lots of buttons overwhelm Kagome and she might take too many snapshots of Inuyasha, revealing something she's trying very hard–and failing –to keep hidden."
"Thanks for your two cents, Sango," I mumbled and she just grinned at me.
"Speak of the devil." Erin nodded at Inuyasha in the distance as she pinched off a piece of funnel cake and popped it in her mouth. "Here comes Kagome's Prince Charming."
I rolled my eyes but smiled and waved at Inuyasha as he jogged over. "I thought you guys were going to perform in"—I looked down at my phone screen—"eight minutes."
"We are, but I found an extra shirt in the Band Van and grabbed it for Erin." Inuyasha tossed Erin the shirt and she reached out to catch it before it fell to the ground. "Why are you guys all the way back here?"
"Oh, you know," I waved off, "we like to watch you guys from afar."
"Kagome doesn't want to look like a groupie," Sango explained, telling Inuyasha the truth. "The fact that she's wearing your hoodie would only further imply that she's chasing after you."
Well, I was going after Inuyasha—I just didn't want to look desperate doing it.
"Actually, it would give off the implication that she's dating Inuyasha since she's wearing his clothes while all the other girls are just screaming at him to throw something like a guitar pick at them because they're starved for another kiss." I looked at Aki, surprised to hear something relevant come out of his mouth. "What? It's all just a matter of observation."
"We're not dating," I told Aki and two seconds later I wanted to slap myself. I was supposed to encourage the idea of us dating, not shoot it down every time someone mentioned it. "I mean—"
A strangled squeal came from Erin and we all looked at her holding out the shirt Inuyasha had dropped off—she was grinning like a mad woman. The shirt was a black Clap Your Hands Say Yeah t-shirt, and if my memory hadn't completely given out on me, I'm pretty sure that used to be Yaten's shirt. I think he wore it the first time I stopped by Kouga's garage to hear Midnight Blues in the making.
"Oh my word, this is my favorite shirt!" Erin buried her nose in it and when she lifted her head to look at us, her smile was even bigger. "I swear to God, it still smells just like Ya—ummy," Erin said, catching herself."Yummy, like Ginta's cologne."
Yeah, it was Yaten's shirt. I don't really know why Erin hadn't told Inuyasha about Yaten since he was already inducted into our family of friends, but I honestly didn't understand why Erin did half the things she did to begin with. I just took her avoidance of the topic as my sign not to tell Inuyasha about Yaten myself. Who knows, maybe she already planned a time to explain it to him and had no interest in starting an emotional talk with Inuyasha right now, in the middle of a park, right before a performance. Erin hated people seeing her cry too, and bringing up her dead boyfriend— his full story, not just a few pleasant reminders—usually came with tears.
"Ginta doesn't wear cologne," Ayame pointed out and I saw Sango open her mouth to scold Ayame for missing the let's-not-talk-about-Yaten hint, but she caught herself and bit her lip a few seconds too late.
"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed. "And you always complain about how junky their apartment is and how the two of them smell like they've been living in the pigsty that is their apartment."
"I'm pretty sure I never said all that."
Erin actually did. Usually she went on a long rant about the disgustingness of the twins' apartment after crashing on the couch for more than three days.
"Yes you have," Inuyasha pressed. "On numerous occasions."
"Uh, you need to be getting to the stage."
"That's your way of avoiding the question."
"No, that's my way of telling you, you need to get on stage." Erin slapped Inuyasha's butt and he jumped forward a few feet, blushing. "Come on, move it!"
"Don't do that!" Inuyasha yelled at Erin, turning around so she couldn't reach out and do it again. "That's more than a bit uncomfortable."
"Think of it this way: now we're even from Wednesday."
Wednesday?
"That was an accident and you know it!" Inuyasha defended himself. "I would never deliberately do that."
That? I shared a look with Sango and Ayame, but they were just as much out of the loop as I was.
"Uh-huh, likely story," Erin nodded off, unconvinced. "I'm pretty sure that's what all guys say after they grope some girl's boob. My innocence was ruined!"
A ruined innocence and a boob. Yeah, I've definitely heard enough of this conversation.
"No, Erin was complaining about how confusing her math homework was when we were taking a break from practice on Wednesday and I was just going to pat her on the shoulder," Inuyasha hurried to explain, shooting glances my way, but I didn't do much to acknowledge them. "But then just as I was reaching out, she started standing up and I touched it for like a second. Erin's completely over exaggerating the story."
"No, Inuyasha is under exaggerating it." Erin pointed an accusing finger at Inuyasha. "That boy is a pervert!"
"Don't lump me in the same group as Miroku and that photographer!"
Aki looked up from his camera. "I'm not a pervert, man. I'm just not afraid to show the world that I am one thousand percent straight. You've got to be bold in times like ours."
"Do yourself a favor, Aki, and stop talking," Sango told him. "You're starting to sound too much like Miroku."
As for me, I just laughed because that's what's expected of you in awkward situations. I had a tendency to think irrationally when words like "InuYasha" and "Erin" and "boob" came up and all my thoughts lead to situations where Inuyasha and Erin became much more than friends and that made something stir in the pit of my stomach. It sucked since I knew that it was next to impossible, but it made me feel like an idiot for even letting the idea pass through my mind.
But, when I started thinking along the lines of irrationality (usually triggered by slight bits of jealousy) I learned that it was best to laugh the thoughts away.
"Don't worry, Editor Lady," Aki assured me when it became obvious that I was laughing too long for it to be natural. "I'll touch your boob so you can make it even with Inuyasha."
"If you touch me, I'll kill you."
"I love a girl with sass," Aki grinned cheekily at me, but scooted a few cautious inches away from me.
"Where's Miroku?" Ayame asked Sango, picking off a piece of her funnel cake.
"I don't know. Last time I saw him he was... standing on stage." Sango gaped at the stage and I turned around to see Miroku running back and forth across it, shouting something and flailing his arms around. "That idiot."
"Aki." I snapped my fingers at Aki but he was already standing on the table and snapping pictures. "What the hell is he doing up there?"
"Revealing to the school that he's our Fighting Frog mascot," Ayame answered as Miroku started doing the running man and then the worm, both of which were some of our mascot's signature moves. "Not that it's that much of a secret since there's only a handful of people idiotic enough to take on the job."
"You know, the new school's mascot, the tiger?" Sango asked. "Yeah, he's really giving Miroku a run for his money. The guy did a flip at the football game last week."
"And his head didn't even fall off?"
"Nope. Stuck like glue."
"Kouga paid Miroku ten dollars to run around the stage and pump the crowd up for us," Inuyasha explained, before our talk of mascots went on for too long. "The idea is to have the crowd screaming our name by the time we step on stage so it's like we're making this grand entrance."
"Was this Kouga's idea?"
"Who else would think that way? Of course it was Kouga."
"So Ayame," Sango started looking over to Ayame with a smug expression, "how's your plan to tame Kouga's ego going for you?"
Ayame sighed. "I've learned to just accept it."
"Cop out."
"When I say 'Midnight,' you say 'Blues!'" Miroku was shouting into a wireless microphone that someone had given him, making it possible for us to hear him from all the way back here. "Midnight!"
"BLUES!"
"Midnight!"
"BLUES!"
"Well, it's good to see the crowd actually participating." I turned to look at Inuyasha as Miroku started dividing the crowd in half and getting each half to say one part of the band's name. "I think this is your cue to get back to the stage."
"I'm going, but don't you think you want to walk with me?" Inuyasha asked as if it was the only logical choice available. "Being up in the crowd is way better than sitting back here."
"MIDNIGHT!"
"BLUES!"
"Right, because being in the center of screaming teens that are pressing up against me is exactly what I've always dreamed of." I shook my head at the hopeful look on Inuyasha's face. "You know how I went to your first gig and sat back at the bar? Yeah, that was for a reason."
"And you can't forget about her fear of being considered a groupie," Sango added and I gave her a tight lipped smile as a token of my gratitude.
"Besides," I tossed my arm over Aki's shoulders, "I'm on babysitting duty because this guy has issues with taking significant pictures for the paper and I can't rely on Bank to cover his ass this time."
"I think he's old enough to look after himself, right Aki?"
Aki stared at Inuyasha blankly. "I'm seventeen you know, not seven."
I snorted and removed my arm from Aki's shoulders and sat back on my hands, smiling at Inuyasha. Behind him, Miroku alternated between throwing his hands in the air to get the crowd to scream louder and pointing to each half of the crowed like a conductor. "Maybe next time."
"Can I hold you to that?"
"Yeah."
"Alright then, that's a promise." Inuyasha looked me in the eye for an extra second to confirm this before he finally turned to Erin. "Do you need a piggy back ride to the stage so you can be our tyrant and order us around?"
"Nope." Erin held up her shirt and smiled. "I'm going to go get changed."
"Okay, I'm going to go then." Inuyasha was about to take off in a sprint when he stopped and turned around to face me. "I plan on seeing you after we sing so don't go taking off."
"Darn." I snapped my fingers. "My plan was foiled yet again."
Inuyasha shook his head and then took off towards the stage while Erin gathered her stuff to go get changed in the bathrooms.
"So that's you when you're flirting," Aki spoke up after a while, tossing his arm over my shoulders, his hand dangling just few inches above my breast. "I must say, it's a great honor to watch the queen in action."
I stared at Aki's hand. "Move it or lose it because I can get a hold of a butcher knife."
Aki's hand was gone in a millisecond. "You know, you have a bit too much sass for me."
"And now," Miroku said right into the microphone, drawing my undivided attention, "I finally bring to you, Midnight…" Miroku pointed to the crowd.
"BLUES!"
On cue, the band ran up the side steps of the stage and revealed themselves in the spotlights. The cheering only got louder, but I was pretty sure most of the people never heard of Midnight Blues. I had to give Miroku credit for his ability to pump up a crowd. I am also very grateful for the fact that the band is amazing and can live up to—go beyond the crowd's expectations and I wouldn't get any complaints come Monday.
Kouga walked up to the mic. at center stage then took a moment to smile at the crowd, wink at somebody at the front, and perfect his stage presence face. "Well, obviously, we are Midnight Blues." The crowd greeted him with loud cheering again. "I'm not going to talk for five minutes or anything like that. Let's just get to know each other quick before hopping into the music. It's important to know us first, so you can look us up online, praise us…" Kouga tilted his head down and looked up at the crowd through his lashes, his blue eyes hypnotizing even from my spot all the way in the back, "Love us." Kouga's voice had dropped to a husky tone at that last suggestion and Ayame rolled her eyes.
"It's just his stage presence," she explained to us.
"Yeah, he becomes a complete sex god," Sango mumbled. "Oh wait, he's always like that."
"On the drums we have Ginta," Kouga introduced and Ginta waved his drumstick above his head and tapped the cymbals lightly. "His twin brother, Hakkaku, is our bass man," Hakkaku strummed one note, "And on guitar is—"
"INUYASHA!" A group of girls screamed from the front of the crowd and the rest of the crowd went wild. "WE LOVE YOU!"
A flash went off to the side of me and, after blinking away the dancing spots of color, I turned to glare at Aki.
"Really Kagome, we need to use some of these pictures where you're extremely jealous." Aki turned his camera around to show me the picture. "Your eye is twitching and everything in this one. These pictures would make great entertainment." Aki turned to Sango. "I think they could really support some gossip in your column, too."
"They would…"
"The concert, Aki," I cut in, before Sango thought too much about harassing Aki for those pictures. "Take pictures of the concert."
"It's a shame, really," Kouga was saying when I tuned back into the band's introduction. "All of you girls have been going crazy over that dipshit when you could have had me." A few girls—a lot, actually—screamed for Kouga, but it didn't even match Inuyasha's. "Unfortunately, I graduated from Shikon already and you missed out on all of this." Kouga lifted his shirt to reveal his rock hard abs, tucking it under his chin and strutting around the stage, motioning to his abs and receiving a deafening cheer from the girls in the crowd while Inuyasha sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes in the background.
"That cocky bastard," Ayame muttered under her breath while I jabbed Aki with my elbow to make sure he got pictures.
"This is so wrong…" Aki frowned at me. "I prefer to take pictures of women, Kagome, not men."
"Regardless, sex sells," Erin pointed out as she rejoined us at the table. "The fact that Kouga takes full advantage of that knowledge leads to more fans for Midnight Blues. And now that we have Inuyasha?" Erin smiled deviously. "Our fan base shot up overnight after that first performance with him."
I shook my head. "Shameless."
"Look who's talking," Erin sang out in a sarcastically high know-it-all voice. "How exactly did you get people to place bets for the Odd-Ball Olympics again?"
I hung my head. "Point taken."
"Oh, I want you, too," Kouga said as he finally let his shirt fall. "But, I have a girlfriend and she's definitely the jealous type. I love you, Ayame!" Ayame blushed. "And I'm going to show it to you as soon as we finish up this performance."
Ayame's mouth gaped, and the pretty blush left her face. "I'm going to kill him."
"Well it's not like he plainly said, 'I'm having sex with Ayame'," I reassured her. "Not all people have their minds in the gutter."
"Kagome," Ayame gave me a blank look. "This is high school."
"It's not like you're very discreet about your sex life though," Sango said, dropping the last of the funnel cake into her mouth.
"That's just when I'm talking to my friends and it's like a joke," Ayame emphasized. "That idiot went and announced it to the whole damn school!" Ayame crossed her arms and glared at the screen. "To be so blunt about it is… wrong. I'm going to kill him."
"We're doing all original songs for this performance, but it's not hard to catch onto the chorus so, and this is an order, start screaming the lyrics as soon as you get them." Kouga was placing the mic. back on its stand while giving directions to the rest of the band when he remembered something. "Oh! And we would like to thank Erin A. Chiba, our outstanding manager, and Kagome Higurashi, editor-in-chief of the Shikon Times for letting us perform here tonight. You can look us up on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and for all our information." Kouga looked over his shoulder again for confirmation from the rest of the band. "We are Midnight Blues."
Ginta immediately started up on the drums, jumping into a song I didn't recognize, but Ayame and, of course, Erin knew and wide grins spread on their faces. Ayame grabbed Erin's hand and started dragging her towards the frenzy of a crowd as Inuyasha and then Hakkaku joined in.
"This is not a song to be sitting in the back for," Erin called out over her shoulder as she ran off after Ayame.
Maybe, but I was still fine with sitting on the picnic table.
"Is it just me or did Inuyasha get better from the last time we saw him?" Sango listened intently to the music that seemed to get louder and the rhythm Inuyasha was playing a second ago changed and her mouth fell open. "Damn. He's good."
"Amazing."
Kouga bobbed his head to the music, snatching the mic. from its stand. "Everybody pay attention to me I got the answer, I got the answer: street walking cheetah with a capitol G. So get your hands up, now get your hands up." Kouga pumped his fist in the air and the entire crowd followed suit, jumping up and down with the beat. I watched Inuyasha the entire time though, my eyes glued to his every move.
"Hide your eyes we're gonna shine tonight," Kouga sang, shielding his eyes from the spotlight for only a second. "Sub-atomic never get the best of me. Ain't a DJ gonna save my soul!"
"My soul!"The rest of the band shouted into their microphones.
"I sold it long ago for rock 'n' roll. Drop the needle when the tape deck blows- I gotta shout this out so everybody knows!"
"Oh shit, I do know this song!" Sango cried out shaking my leg. "They played it at the first gig Inuyasha had with the band. Remember?"
I listened to the song and then thought back to a few weeks ago. "Oh yeah, they did. That was the night you kept saying wild every five seconds because you went and got drunk."
Sango glowered at me. "If you really want to share drunk stories I've got quite a few on you. I'm recalling that one night when you did a dare and—"
"Okay, okay," I cut her off, highly aware of the fact that Aki was staring at the both of us, waiting to hear more. "Point taken."
"Inuyasha would be the first musician I've dated," I told Sango over the music as Kouga sang the second verse, my eyes still trained on Inuyasha. It was harder to look away from him when he was on stage; everything—everything —he did on stage screamed perfection.
"I thought you were still waiting for him to ask you out."
I smiled at Inuyasha on stage, huddling deeper into his hoodie. "I just have a feeling."
"And," Aki chimed in, leaning closer to me, "if it happens to go wrong, I wouldn't mind being a rebound."
I grimaced and leaned away from him. "Don't count on it."
-x-
"INUYASHA! WE LOVE YOU!"
This concert was turning out to be, arguably, the best half an hour of the year. If that same chorus of girls from earlier stopped shouting, I wouldn't have had to attach the arguably part to it. Did they not realize how obnoxious they were? Some people actually wanted to hear the music instead of their unattractive, high pitched, witch-like yelling.
"Now look at that," Sango started, leaning closer to me. "All of those girls are up there screaming and cheering for the band." Sango stole a glance at me. "Screaming Inuyasha's name."
"Well he deserves it," I shrugged, not willing to give into her games. "He's amazing. A gift from Yaten."
"Who?"
"You can go now, Aki." I dismissed Aki instead of bothering to answer his question. "I think we got—" Aki was gone before I could even finish my sentence. "I didn't think my presence was so horrible."
"Compared to chasing after girls with a camera, your company sucks." Sango slid onto the table to sit next to me, stealing Aki's former seat. "So back to what I was saying: what are you going to do about all those groupies?"
"Nothing. It's not like they're real competition. Unlike them I actually know Inuyasha, so my chances are a lot better than theirs."
"I don't know…" Sango kept pushing. "Guys really like girls who support them and that's what they're doing. But what are you doing? Oh, that's right, nothing."
"Sango, please," I pleaded just as the guys started up their next song. I was ninety percent sure that if Yaten didn't write it, he was the one who decided to call it "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race."
"Remember that huge fight Ayame and Kouga got into years ago over what seemed like nothing? Do you remember what that argument was about?" Sango leaned forward so she could look up into my eyes.
I gnawed on my bottom lip. "Yes…" Kouga was mad because Ayame didn't really show up to gigs and treated them like they were nothing which was a big wound to Kouga since he pretty much devoted his life to the band.
"So do you see why Inuyasha might fall for a girl who's not afraid to scream her adoration for him in the middle of a crowd?"
I turned to face Sango. "Why do you do this to me? I was very confident in the thought that Inuyasha would ask me out today—did you really have to make me second guess myself?"
"Aside from my amazing ability to get great gossip before anybody else, I have some kickass matchmaking skills and I'm really liking the image of you and Inuyasha together so I want to accelerate the process as much as possible," Sango answered, leaning back on one hand and examining her nails as if it were nothing. "And I really want to be in the crowd. It's kind of weird to start jumping and head banging outside the mass of people."
I let out a breath of air and thought about it for a second. I did want to be in the crowd with everyone else and have Inuyasha just look up and catch my eye and smile at me, but I also wasn't that fond of tightly clustered groupings. I wasn't claustrophobic or anything I just… didn't like them.
"If you really liked him, you'd put aside your own discomfort to try and make him happy."
"Fine." I got off the table and Sango did a victory pump before jumping off the table and following me. "But I'm doing this out of my own will, not because you persuaded me."
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Sango waved me off as she led the way into the crowd of people that were all screaming and jumping around. If I died because I got trampled, I was definitely coming back to haunt Sango since she was the one who talked me into this. "Get your elbows ready; I think Erin and Ayame are at the front of the crowd so we're really going to have to force our way through if we want to catch up with them."
"All the boys who the dance floor didn't love,"Kouga breathed out into the mic., taking long breaks in between each phrase to give himself a chance to catch his breath, "and all the girls whose lips couldn't move fast enough- sing until your lungs give out!"
I elbowed about five people in the ribs and received three dirty looks as I pushed my way through the crowd when Inuyasha stepped up to his mic. to sing. Kouga was taking a break, throwing his hands up to try to get the rest of the crowd to sing along.
"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race. This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race," Inuyasha sang and I stopped short for a second. He had his eyes closed and he was moving his lips around the mic. in a way that was so unconsciously seductive it made me want to scream. And his voice…
I think I'm in love.
"Now you!" Kouga shouted pointing to the crowd and they sang the lyrics back to him while I continued forcing my way to the front with Sango. Now I really wanted to be able to see Inuyasha up close because even from back here he looked like a million bucks.
"This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race," Inuyasha sang again and the same chorus of girls got even louder, screwing up my concentration, again.
"Louder!" Kouga shouted, standing up on an amp and cupping his hand around his ear just as Hakkaku and Inuyasha dropped out. Ginta played a beat on his drums while Kouga, Hakkaku, and Inuyasha all started clapping along, coaxing the crowd to sing the lyrics for them.
"THIS AIN'T A SCENE, IT'S A GODDAMN ARMS RACE! THIS AIN'T A SCENE IT'S A GODDAMN ARMS RACE!"
The rest of the band quickly joined back in as Ginta's tempo immediately increased and the crowd around me started jumping again with their hands raised above them in the air.
"I'm a leading man,"Kouga sang, still standing on the amp, "and the lies I weave are oh so intricate, oh so intricate. I'm a leading man and I lies I weave are oh so intricate, oh so intricate…" Kouga held the note until the rest of the band came to an end and then he lowered his mic. taking in a big breath and bowing at the same time. When he stood back up he smiled at the crowd. "I'm amazing, right?"
"He means we're amazing," Inuyasha corrected him. "Kouga's just average."
"You're lucky Erin even let you sing with your shitty voice."
Sango and I still had a bit of shoving left before we reached the front of the crowd and I was completely determined to reach Ayame and Erin before Kouga and Inuyasha's little spat ended. If we did that I could be front and center by the time the next song started up.
"Okay, before we start our next song the park and organizers of this event would like to remind you to please pick up after yourselves because nobody wants to pick up your crap," Kouga read off a sheet of paper someone had handed him. We were almost at the front. "And anybody who took part in the pie fight is expected to stay after and help clean up." Kouga crumpled the piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket. "Yeah. So, back to important business, this is going to be our second to last song of the night and it is a requirement for everyone to be jumping. If I find one person standing still, you better hope I don't find you after this."
"You can't threaten people, dumbass!" I heard a hiss to my right and I whipped my head around to see Erin glaring up at Kouga on the stage, Ayame standing next to her.
"Erin!" I called out and she turned around and smiled at me. I grabbed Sango's hand so she could follow me and we threaded our way through the crowd until we finally reached Erin and Ayame. "Hey."
"Isn't this concert amazing!?" Ayame gushed, grinning ear to ear at me and Sango. "They're doing all of their most hype songs and I haven't stood still the entire time." Ayame pulled her shirt away from her chest, fanning her face. "I am so tired right now."
"Does this mean you forgive Kouga for earlier?"
Ayame scowled. "No. But it does mean that I really appreciate his performance and he's just going to have to be happy with that."
"Hey, you oaf!" Erin shouted at some gigantic guy who moved to stand right in front of Erin. He looked to be almost six and a half feet tall and poor Erin was only 5'1". The guy didn't hear her though as the band started up the next song. "Great! Now I can't see. Giant in front of me, can you move!"
"Let's just move further to the front," Ayame suggested and we all nodded our heads, following her through the crowd until we were in the cluster of girls that stood at the front of the stage. Good. This is just where I wanted to be.
Kouga held the mic. close to his mouth and started to sing. "There might be something outside your window, but you just never know. There could be something right past the turnpike gates, but you'll just never know." Kouga slowly started walking around the stage and he caught Ayame's eye and winked at her. I caught the lazy grin she returned so yeah, I highly doubted that Ayame would carry out her plan. "If my velocity starts to make you sweat then just don't let go. And if the heaven ain't got a vacancy, then we just, then we just, then we just, then we just-
"Get up and go!" Hakkaku and Inuyasha both sang into their microphones before they both stepped back from their stands while Kouga stepped up to the front of the stage during his brief break from singing.
"I said to jump!" He shouted to the crowd, jumping up and down in time with the music until the crowd got the hang of it and he stopped, nodding his head to the music instead, walking around stage for a real chance to gather his breath before he started singing. "Ladies and gentlemen, truth is now acceptable, fame is now injectable, process the progress. This core is critical, faith is unavailable, lives become incredible now, please understand that—"
"I can't slow down!" Ayame and Erin were singing along, jumping up and down and tossing their heads side to side. "I won't be waiting for you. I can't stop now, because I'm dancing!"
"This planet's ours to defend. Ain't got no time to pretend. Don't fuck around, this is our last chance!" Kouga leaned over the front of the stage and reached out to grab a few hands as he sang. "If my velocity starts to make you sweat, then just don't let go. Cause the emergency room got no vacancy—"
"Then we just, then we just, then we just—" Sango, Ayame, Erin, and I, all sang together facing each other as we jumped.
"Then we just get up and go!"
"Who they want you to be. Who they wanted to see. Kill the party with me and never go home!"Kouga pulled his hand away from the crowd and went back to working the stage. "Who they want you to be. Who they wanted to see. Just leave the party with me, and never go home!"Kouga stood back at center stage, putting his mic. back on his stand as he sang. "You're unbelievable, ah, so unbelievable. ah, you ruin everything, no, you better go home." Kouga patted his chest as he sang, "I'm unbelievable, yeah. I'm undefeatable."
"Yeah!"
"Let's ruin everything, blast it to the back row!"Kouga shouted, pumping his fist and jumping in the air twice. "They sell presentable, young and so ingestible, sterile and collectable, safe- and I can't stand it! This is a letter, my word is the berretta. The sound of my vendetta against the ones that planned it!"
"God, I need a break," Sango gasped for air as she stopped jumping for the first time since the song started, kneeling over so she could rest her hands on her knees. "Holy son of a gun, I'm beat!"
"You should have signed up for a gym class with me and Ayame," I told her as she breathed heavily. "You might have actually lasted the whole song."
Sango just waved me off. "I have better things to do than sweat in the middle of the day."
"You keep eternity, give us the radio. Deploy the battery, we're taking back control. It gives the energy light up the effigy."Kouga took the mic. back off the stand and began walking around the stage. "No chance to take it slow, by now I'm sure you know, know, know, know, know." Kouga started jumping on stage again and he saw Sango keeled over and he pointed at her, motioning for her to jump with his hand.
"Get up and go!"
"Uhhh." Sango stood back up and started hopping lazily, barely lifting her heels off the ground. "How does Kouga have the energy to sing and run around stage and hop around?"
"Talent," Ayame answered for us, smiling over her shoulder.
Sango shot me a knowing look. "I guess you're going home with Kouga tonight then."
"No!" Ayame snapped.
"Then you just don't understand what it means to hold a grudge."
"Shut up."
"INUYASHA!" The girls that now surrounded me shouted out again and though it still annoyed the hell out of me, Inuyasha finally stepped out of his music zone long enough to actually interact with the crowd and I took this to my advantage, jumping higher and waving my hands above my head so he would see me.
Inuyasha was giving his newfound groupies a half smile when he caught me waving at him and actually had to do a double take. I smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. Unlike all those other girls I got a full smile.
"Are we still having fun? Are you holding the gun? Take the money and run. We'll never go home!" Kouga moved around the stage, doing an excellent job as the hype-man, but I kept my eyes glued to Inuyasha who looked incredibly happy and repeatedly glanced over at me.
"Do you still wish you were sitting in the back?" Sango shouted at me, obviously having caught on to Inuyasha's staring.
I rolled my eyes. "Being a groupie may have its benefits."
"Now just imagine all the wonderful things that come with girlfriend status."
"Shut up," I grumbled, shoving Sango and she laughed, spinning away from me before jumping along to the music again.
-x-
"Ayame!" Kouga was the first to run up to join us at the picnic tables which we had returned to after the concert ended. He wrapped his arms around Ayame's waist from behind and kissed her neck. "Let's get going."
"Oh, I'm going home with Sango tonight." Ayame looked over her shoulder just in time to see Kouga's entire face fall. "Did I not tell you that?"
"You seem to have forgotten our tradition. You see, I do an amazing job performing on stage and that really turns you on and then we go back to my house and—"
"Well tradition should always be broken at some point in time."
"No, that's rules," Kouga corrected Ayame, finally removing his arms from around her waist. "You're supposed to cherish tradition."
"And you're not supposed to announce our private life to a whole crowd of frickin' strangers!" Ayame snapped at Kouga, shoving him. "I go to school with those people!"
"Miroku always says to have no shame in your game."
"Kouga!"
"Why didn't you tell me you could actually sing that well?" I asked Inuyasha when he and the twins joined us.
"I only sang three lines," Inuyasha shrugged as he slid his hands into his pockets. He looked me up and down. "Is the hoodie keeping you warm?"
"Extra cozy." I rubbed my hands up and down my arms for extra effect and Inuyasha smiled at me. "But seriously, I thought someone like you would love to brag about your singing skills along with your guitar skills. You know, since your ego is already huge and you enjoy being praised for everything."
"Please stop making me feel like I'm Kouga," Inuyasha mumbled, dragging his hand down his face. "I'm not the one who took my shirt off just for an applause."
"Because you already kissed a bunch of girls earlier this week to gain their applause."
"And we all know whose fault that is." Inuyasha smirked at me while I faked innocence. "Thanks for helping me gain my first few groupies though. It really means a lot."
"Sure."
"I'm also glad you decided you weren't too embarrassed to stand in the crowd and cheer." Inuyasha grinned at me. "You look good in the front row."
"You look better on stage," I complimented him. "And I did appreciate all those smiles you kept shooting me."
"I liked your winks."
"It's because I liked your singing."
"And I'm not liking all this flirting," Ginta mumbled under his breath. "I think my stomach's starting to churn..."
"Alright," Erin started, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "After-party at—"
"Ikebe's!"
"No, WacDonald's," Ginta argued, shooting down Hakkaku's suggestion. "We went to Ikebe's after the last gig."
"WacDonald's isn't even a celebration spot!" Hakkaku shot back. "We should go to a karaoke bar."
"WacDonald's has cheap food," Ginta pointed out. "More bang for our buck."
"We're going to a karaoke bar," Erin decided which meant the decision was final. "The one out by Smoothie King stays open late."
"And I get discounts at Smoothie King," Sango added. "Drinks on Miroku!"
"What?"
"To the Band Van!" Erin cheered, throwing her hand in the air before leading Ginta and Hakkaku in the direction of the parking lot while Miroku and Sango followed shortly after, bickering over Sango volunteering Miroku to pay.
"Wait for me Sango!" Ayame called out, pulling away from Kouga and he gaped after her. "I'm catching a ride with you and Miroku."
"Ayame!" Kouga called after her. "What about our deal for me to clean all that whipped cream off of you?"
"I'll take a shower!"
Kouga growled under his breath before chasing after her. "Ayame!"
"You coming?" Inuyasha asked me as he started to follow the others. "I came with the band, but I can ride with you to the karaoke bar."
"As tempting as that sounds, I have to stay behind for clean-up duty." I pointed off into the distance where Aki was gathering up the clean-up crew. Kikyo managed to blackmail me into getting out of it and Sango had won a bet earlier this week and she swapped places with some sophomore. I was unfortunate enough to be the head of clean-up duty and there was no way I could get out of it. "And I'll probably end up just going home after this to take a hot shower and sleep." I gave Inuyasha an apologetic smile. "Sing a Michael Jackson song in my absence. No, better yet, record it. Ginta and Hakkaku are really funny when they do karaoke together."
"It's not going to be the same without you."
"Kagome!" Aki was calling out to me and waving his hands above his head. "Let's hurry up and clean now so we can leave early. It's getting cold!"
"Duty calls," I told Inuyasha walking away. "Next time though," I promised. "You're going to love my rapping." Inuyasha laughed, not being able to imaging me as a rapper yet. "I'll give you your hoodie back on Monday."
"Kagome!"
"I got to go." I started jogging towards Aki and the rest of the group and I waved at Inuyasha over my shoulder. "I'll see you later!"
"I'll call you!"
"Well it took you long enough," Aki huffed when I finally joined the group. "What's the plan?"
I looked around the park which was littered with plates and napkins and soda cans and wrappers. Why did people have to be so messy?
"Divide and conquer."
-x-
Ding dong!
"Achoo! Stupid dunk tanks." I rubbed my already red nose with a piece of tissue before balling it up and tossing it in the trash on my way to get the door. Apparently, all my ex-boyfriends had better aim than I thought when it came to a dunking booth and they were the reason for my fast developing cold. "No more baseball players," I swore to myself as I reached for the knob. "Never again."
I opened the door and surprised myself by not being surprised to see Inuyasha, unannounced as usual.
"Hey," he greeted, stuffing his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. "So… it's kind of cold out here."
"Yeah, you can come inside," I told him, rolling my eyes and Inuyasha smiled, stepping in and closing the door behind him before following me to the living room. I settled back into my spot on the couch, bringing my legs up to my chest to wrap them in the blanket I draped over my shoulders. "So what brings you to my house this time?"
"I didn't feel like going home and I don't mind hanging out with you," Inuyasha shrugged, sitting down next to me and grabbing the remote. "Am I intruding?"
"No."
Inuyasha froze. "Is your grandpa awake?"
I snorted. "No. He won't scream at you for dishonoring me tonight."
Inuyasha shook his head as he relaxed back into the couch. "Your grandpa honestly scares the shit out of me."
"Don't worry about Gramps. You can come by anytime," I assured him as he flicked through the channels. "It's nice having you around."
"Good." Inuyasha looked over at me and smiled and I felt all warm and fuzzy inside. He looked back at the T.V and a while passed between us in silence.
"So," Inuyasha said, speaking up again. "You guys had quite a turn out."
"Yeah," I agreed, pulling my blanket tighter around me. "The paper definitely won't be closing now." I looked at the T.V. "Thanks for helping out."
"With a success like that you should celebrate." We both looked away from the screen at the same time to look at the other. "You busy tomorrow?"
"Asking a day in advance are we?" I grinned at him. "I was starting to get used to you randomly showing up on my doorstep."
Inuyasha laughed and scratched the back of his head, looking down. "Yeah… So are you?"
"There's an exclusive paper staff party at Kikyo's tomorrow to celebrate, but that's in the afternoon."
"So tomorrow night, then." Inuyasha stared at me earnestly. "Are you busy then?"
"Hmm…" I tapped my chin, pretending to really think about it. "Are you good at baseball?"
"No..."
"Then I'm free." Inuyasha's brows furrowed together but I smiled widely back at him. "Seven o'clock good for you?"
"It's a date."
-x-
Inuyasha didn't leave my house until almost three in the morning, mainly because he thought he heard Grandpa stirring in his sleep. But even after he left he was all I could think about.
-x-
To be honest I feel extremely guilty about my lack of updating. Sometimes I look at my stories and see how long ago it was since I updated and I just want to cry. And when people favorite stories I haven't updated in a while I feel even worse and think 'I have to write the next chapter,' but then that frustrating thing known as school work rears its ugly head and then I just go on feeling guilty. I am soooo sorry I'm a terrible person when it comes to updating—I will try harder! My schedule for next semester offers more time for writing in the mornings so I will try to force myself to go to the library and type before I get overloaded with work.
~Kimiko888~
WE'RE ALIVE. This chapter was supposed to be put up ages ago but so many things came up... like school work and more school work and the occasional illness and school work. Kimiko and I are cutting the filler next chapter and jumping right back into the plot of Walking Tightropes (we're fucking pumped). As far as updates go, we can't promise anything constant, but we're still plotting and writing behind the scenes. Thanks for your constant support and understanding!
~hanmajo