I have created a Spotify Playlist of the songs used, so you don't have to go hunting for them. The Playlist will be updated as the fic is updated, so there'll be no spoilers about what's coming down the road.
See my profile for the link to the playlist.
Songs in this chapter in order of use, and placed in the story when to hit play:
(1) Love Me Harder – Ariana Grande ft. the Weeknd
(2) Hallucinations — PVRIS
Barely a breath into her new apartment, and Kagome was already rushing out to start her new position with the orchestra. Luckily, her place wasn't too far a commute, and she found herself walking that first sunny day into work.
The first day was fairly mundane, with the usual pleasantries of meeting new colleagues, signing a bunch of documents, and getting settled in before she started training filling her time. During her lunch break, she was at her desk and eating when her phone buzzed, reminding her that she had that session with Kouga later today. She quickly did a map search of the studio, verifying how long it would take for her to get there after work, and realized just how long the train ride would be, and in rush hour, she wasn't exactly looking forward to it.
But, she had to remind herself that this was a fantastic opportunity. She was going to be the title artist on a song being produced by a major record studio. That's not nothing. She had to admit, the idea of it was definitely a fantasy — listening to a song she sang on the radio?
'How much cooler does that get?' she wondered, finishing up her lunch and returning to work with one of the composers with whom she was shadowing.
She promptly left work with enough time to make sure she caught her train, and got there just in time for her appointment with Kouga. She'd only been to this particular studio once before; with Sango that day she first met Kouga and the guys.
She shook her head, trying to steady herself, as she used the buzzer available at the main door. It quickly released and she was inside, being greeted by a receptionist. After signing in a time sheet to make sure she was paid for the session, the woman led her down the hallway to the studio Kouga had rented out for the afternoon.
The receptionist took the door handle and opened it for her, letting Kagome walk in before saying, "He shouldn't be much longer. Feel free to make yourself comfortable while you wait."
She nodded towards the lady in thanks before she left, leaving Kagome to put her bag down and remove her light jacket. She contemplated sitting on the couch, but when she looked at the console, she decided to take a better look at it while she waited.
It was quite the set-up, overwhelming her with just how many dials, sliders, and controls there were. She wondered how guys like Kouga and Shippo could even keep track of what everything did.
Even with her own limited experience making music on her older laptop, along with programming her keyboard, she was still out of her league when it came to this level of production.
Before she could think on it too long, she heard a soft knock behind her. She turned abruptly to see Kouga standing in the doorway, just watching her with an admiring look.
"Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on ya," he said in a charming tone.
"It's alright, I was just checking out the console," Kagome replied sweetly, gesturing to the electronics behind her.
"I can see that. You ever used anything like that before?" Kouga asked, genuinely curious.
She shook her head, "No, but it seems like it'd be a lot to figure out."
He chuckled at that, "Honestly, you kinda just learn as you go. That's how I did it."
"Really?" she asked, surprised to hear that. She had assumed Kouga would've had some kid of music training or background.
"Yeah," he said, removing his jacket and sitting at the console's chair, beginning to flick on various modules and computers, "I wasn't able to get access to classes or anything like that growing up, but when I was a teenager, I bought my first laptop and just started messing around with music production apps. Eventually, I just kept buying more and more equipment with the money I made and taught myself what everything did, one control at a time."
"That's impressive," Kagome said admiringly.
"You think so?" he asked, swiveling around to look up at her.
She elaborated, "That you can produce such great sounding music, and all that skill was self-taught? Yeah! That's impressive!"
Kouga smirked up at her, enjoying how her smile lit up the room, before asking, "So, you ready to cut your first single?"
Kagome nodded, "Where do we start?"
Over the next three hours, she and Kouga would record and rerecord her vocals, laying down various tracks and backing vocals that harmonized with herself and the other singer they'd chosen to be the featured artist. Needless to say, she was initially taken aback when she didn't hear Inuyasha's voice come through her headphones, but instead, a higher pitched, and more well-known, singer. Though she could appreciate the reason for the choice — in many ways, it did suit the song better — she still missed the timbre of Inuyasha's voice as she sang beside it.
After they got the last few tracks laid, Kouga invited her into the room to give the rough cut a listen. She came in and sat beside him at another of the chairs that he'd pulled up for her to use, as he showed her various controls that he was using to manipulate the track, letting her hear the change in real time so she could put it into context. It was a good learning experience, that was for sure.
"It's an amazing mix, Kouga," she complimented him," I can't believe how quickly you managed to get this sounding as good as it does!"
She genuinely meant it; the song was good, and though she had been unsure of her singing, hearing how good it sounded with all the music and effects, she couldn't help but be impressed. He didn't reply to the compliment, instead, just smiling back at her.
As she listened to the song, she leaned over the console edge to make an adjustment, oblivious to how Kouga was staring at her. Though he'd almost never taken his eyes off her, she didn't feel his gaze burn into her the way Inuyasha's did, and so she was curious when she turned to look back and saw him just quietly staring at her, almost in awe.
"Is everything alright? Did I mess up something?" she asked, genuinely wondering why he was staring.
"Kagome…" he said softly, not breaking eye-contact with her.
There was a beat of uncomfortable silence as Kagome waited for him to continue. When he instead shifted to fully face her, instinctively, Kagome felt herself lean back into the chair. Not in a dramatic fashion, but just enough that she felt more comfortable with the distance between them.
She could tell he had something on his mind, but before he could make it known, the pair were interrupted by the studio door opening abruptly.
"Hey, wolf! You ready to get this over wi—" Kagome had been facing towards the door of the studio, so when it opened, she was the first person Inuyasha saw as he burst in through the door.
Kagome suddenly felt her heart beat a little faster at seeing Inuyasha walk in, and mentally, she breathed a sigh of relief, before sweetly greeting him, "Hey there."
Before Inuyasha could even reply, Kouga had spun around in the console chair, his tone immediately doing a 180 from a moment ago, "What the hell is wrong with you, mutt-face?! Did you not see the sign that said In Use?! What if we were recording?"
Inuyasha was swiftly brought back down to reality with Kouga getting up in his face, his tone picking back up its initial gruff resonance, "Yeah, well you were already 15 minutes over the time we were supposed to start the session, so I said fuck it and invited myself in!"
Kouga and Kagome both looked over at the clock, only just now realizing they'd gone over the scheduled time. Kouga muttered under his breath, "Shit..."
"I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to take so long, Inuyasha," Kagome apologized as she stood from her chair, bowing politely.
The two men looked at her confused before Kouga quickly stopped her, "It's no worry Kagome, really. Inuyasha's pick-ups can wait a bit longer. I actually need one last thing from you before we finish up."
Inuyasha gave Kouga an aggravated look before setting his guitar down beside the couch, unlatching it and taking it out of its case.
Kagome, focused on Inuyasha's movements for the moment, replied mindlessly, "Oh, what else do we need?"
When he sat on the couch, realizing it was still going to be a bit, he rested his guitar on his lap and starting to tune it, only vaguely paying attention to what they were talking about. Kagome turned away to look back at Kouga as he replied, "I just want you to do a last run through of the song, maybe 2 or 3 takes. If you wanna do any vocals runs, feel free to do them now, and I'll kinda pick and choose pieces I think work the best for the final version. But if you wanted to adjust anything, or try anything out, now's the time."
"Oh, sure thing!" that was the only signal she needed to excuse herself out of that room.
She quickly moved to the door to enter to recording area, and she settled herself back in front of the microphone with the headphones on, as Kouga queued up the music to go again. Kagome took a moment to calm herself. Why was she suddenly so flustered? Was it because of the awkward situation with Kouga earlier? Or was it Inuyasha walking in on said awkward moment? Him seeing her alone with Kouga… why did that suddenly make her feel like she needed to explain that nothing was going on to him? She didn't owe him an explanation. He knew they were going to be recording together for the song, so why…?
Because she didn't want him to get the wrong idea about her and Kouga… because she didn't want him to think she was involved in him. She wanted to keep things professional with Kouga. And dating him just wasn't part of that plan.
As she heard Kouga count her in, she deftly glanced up through the glass window, watching as Inuyasha strummed on his guitar a bit, but his eyes quickly flickered up to meet hers. She gave a small comforted smile before letting her eyes slide closed and taking in her breath, doing her take.
Her eyes remained closed as she did take after take, but she could feel Inuyasha's eyes boring into her from behind the glass, like as if she could feel him standing right behind her, breathing down her neck. It sent a shiver down her spine, and with the lyrics she was singing, she felt like she was on fire. Burning. She felt exposed, like he was seeing a version of her she'd never shown anyone before, even with Kouga sitting beside him. She tried to control her voice, not wanting to show any hint of her current emotional turmoil to the two men, but it resulted in her voice coming off as wavering and too stiff, even if it was still impeccable overall.
After the second take, she took a long drink of water as Kouga encouraged her to do one more, "You're onto something interesting, Kagome, but I can tell you're holding it in. Really let it out. Let it all go and leave nothing else."
Kagome nodded and took a quick breath. Exhaling through her mouth slowly, her eyes were shut as she tried her best to steady herself. That burning feeling, that warmth, it wouldn't go away.
But… what if she leaned into that feeling?
She dared opening her eyes again, instantly meeting a harder looking stare from Inuyasha, like she was the only thing he was focused on. He'd stopped strumming on his guitar, just resting back against the back of the couch, his jaw firmly set in place. Everything about him, from the way he sat to the way he looked, the way he spoke, the way he just existed… it did things to Kagome she'd never felt before. Would it be so bad to just embrace that feeling?
With Kouga counting her in one last time (1), Kagome decided, 'What the hell…'
The vocal runs she did were unlike any other take she'd done prior; up and into the whistle notes, her head and neck gently leaning back to open up her vocal chords, she let out the most sensual sounds. Light and soft, airy and wistful, but enough power behind it to feel both controlled and wild all at once. She raised her arms above her head limply, expanding her diaphragm to its limits and letting her body do what it needed to produce the sounds she felt were needed to express the way she was feeling. She felt like she wasn't even aware of what she was doing in her own body, like she was having an out-of-body experience. Her skin felt numb, her spine tingling, everything weightless; like as if her legs weren't even supporting her.
When she finished her take, it took her a moment come back down to earth, her hands running along the music stand for support. With only the sound of her own heated breathing in her ears, it was quiet for what felt like an eternity between when she finished and when she heard Kouga come back into her headset, "That was… that was amazing, Kagome!"
Before he could comment further, Kagome quietly excused herself from the studio, ignoring the suddenly concerned look Kouga was giving her. She made her way into the hallway and towards the restroom, and once inside, locked the door firmly in place.
She rested her hands on the door before leaning into it, pressing her forehead into the cool metal, and letting it bring down her body temperature.
'What is wrong with me?!' she screamed at herself, flipping to press her back against the door and letting her eyes wander over the small room, and wondering what the hell just happened to her. She'd never sang like that before. She'd never felt like that before.
Her hands ran over her abdomen, hoping to quell a sudden tightness growing in the pit of her stomach.
After a few minutes of standing there against the door, her breathing calming more, she decided to rinse her face, splashing water to help bring her back to reality. When she looked up at herself in the mirror, she could see just how flushed she was. Was she sick? Maybe she was coming down with something?
'That has to be it,' she told herself. What else could explain it?
When she eventually exited the restroom, she opened the door, not realizing someone was standing in front of it.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She quickly apologized, "I didn't mean to take so long in there."
"You alright?" she didn't expect to hear Inuyasha's voice asking her that. She peered up through her bangs and was met with his amber eyes looking down at her, concerned, "You left in a bit of a hurry. You feelin' okay?"
He could probably see just how red she was, maybe even hear her heartbeat going a mile a minute, "I— I'm not sure, honestly."
She definitely felt unsteady on her feet., though she was not prepared for Inuyasha to feel her forehead and cheeks with the back of knuckles. His touch was soft and gentle. She tried her best to not come off as stiff, but she was sure she failed. He made a sound, like he was agreeing, "You definitely feel warm."
Kagome couldn't bring herself to respond, feeling somewhat petrified in place.
Inuyasha continued, "Tell you what, if you think you're able, why don't you sit in on my session with Kouga? And afterwards, I'll make sure you get home alright."
She stayed quiet for a moment before finding her voice again, "I—Is that alright?"
"Sitting in? Yeah, I doubt Kouga will mind," he voice was assertive, "Just wanna make sure you don't collapse tryin' to get yourself home."
She scoffed a little, "I'm not completely helpless, ya know."
Inuyasha gave her one of those handsome smirks that he rarely showed, "I'll take your word for it."
Kagome nodded weakly, "But… Thank you. I'd appreciate the ride."
The pair made their way back into the studio room, with Inuyasha following behind Kagome to make sure she didn't fall over herself.
"She's gonna sit in on the session, if that's cool with you, Kouga," he'd said it in such a matter of fact in tone.
"You sure you wanna stick around, Kagome? I can order you a cab home, if you'd like?" Kouga offered, turning to face them both.
She waved it off, "It's alright, Kouga. I'm just feeling a little off. Besides, Inuyasha's offered to give me a ride home, and he knows where I live anyways."
"Oh?" She didn't quite notice it as she sat on the couch, making herself comfortable, but Inuyasha definitely felt Kouga's cold stare at the insinuation, as if asking Inuyasha silently, 'Oh you do, do you?!'
"Let's just get this over with so I can get her home," Inuyasha redirected easily, not wanting this night to go on any longer than it needed to. He walked towards the recording booth with his guitar in hand, leaving Kouga just snarling at him from the console, before turning his attention back to Kagome, "You sure you're alright to stick around?"
Kagome paused, looking over at Kouga's worried demeanor, and replied reassuringly, "I'll be fine, really."
His face eased a bit, letting a moment sit before he asked, "Listen, I wanna thank you for coming in and doing this session today."
She was surprised at that, "I should be thanking you, Kouga. You didn't have to offer me the song. I'm just grateful for the opportunity."
Kouga paused for a second before saying, "You know you could do big things, right?"
Kagome just stared back confused before letting him continue, "Like, you could easily get signed here, if you really wanted to go that route. Maybe, we can catch up sometime, and discuss the options further?"
Kagome felt that tension from earlier again, when she and Kouga were alone together. How was she supposed to respond to that?
"It doesn't have to be a date or anything. Purely professional," he continued quickly, waving his hands in an attempt to stave off any concern that he was being inappropriate, "You've got something special, Kagome. I just wanna be a part of fostering that."
The tension eased a little with that, with Kagome thinking on it for a second longer. Would it be so bad to just accept his offer? Just a casual lunch meeting about her future in the industry. That was perfectly normal and professional, right…?
Before she could stop herself, her politeness overtaking her brain, she replied, "Sure, that sounds great."
Without much longer to even react, they were both distracted again when Inuyasha's guitar feedback gave a hitched squeal through the speakers as he plugged it into his amp.
With everything set up, Kouga explained that Inuyasha was doing pickups for a different song, one that was being used by another artist at the studio, and the executives wanted to punch up the guitar on the track.
"Ready?" Kouga asked, punching in with the microphone that was feeding into Inuyasha's headphones. He just gave Kouga a thumbs up before resting his hand back on the neck of the guitar, getting his fingers set to the chords as his demeanor remained rock steady. His gaze now never raised to meet hers, though her eyes remained fixated on him.
Kouga fed in the instrumental demo track, and Inuyasha's strumming reverberated through the speakers.
Kagome could've watched him play for hours — there was just something so mesmerizing about it. His hair would sway ever so lightly in its high ponytail, and every time he would play a run, he'd lean back just a little, adding just a bit of a wiggle in his hands to give the sound that extra bit of vibrato.
They went for quite a while, maybe five or six takes in a row without really stopping, just slight variations on each take. Kouga would only offer mild direction, and Inuyasha would accommodate the request easily. They clearly had a pretty synchronized working relationship, despite their volatile personal dynamic. She could see Inuyasha start to sweat after multiple takes, with the collar around his white t-shirt getting that tell-tale sign of perspiration and his bangs slightly matted to his forehead and cheeks. She wondered if that was how he'd look doing other activities…
When Kouga asked him to play the run at the end of the second chorus again to overlay, it was definitely a harsher sound than she was using to hearing from his guitar playing. He was leaning into it, completely enraptured in what he was doing, oblivious to the world around him.
After a few more takes of that riff, Kouga spliced together a rough cut while Inuyasha was quickly wiping down his face with a towel and taking a chug of water. He added in a vocal track that wasn't present in the instrumental, letting Kagome hear it for the first time.
"The lyrics are great," Kagome commented, listening closely to the more refined version.
"Oh, you think so?"
"Yeah. Who does the writing for these songs?"
Kouga hesitated for a second, "Well, normally I write a lot of the stuff I'm producing, like the song we did earlier. But this one was written by dog-breath in there."
Kagome looked back into the booth and watched as Inuyasha disconnected his guitar, "He works as a song-writer for the studio too?"
Kouga shrugged briefly, "Sometimes. I think it's stuff he thinks isn't good enough for him to use in his band, so he sells it off to the studio for cheap."
As the song came to the bridge at the end, Kagome listened a bit more intently; the singer had a more alto to mezzo-soprano range, but Kagome could hear they were straining to do some higher notes to harmonize with the choruses.
"She sounds like she's working to hit those high notes," Kagome commented casually.
Kouga replied, almost sounding defeated by it, "Yeah, she wasn't exactly my first pick for the track — didn't quite have the range I wanted for it — but I work with what I got."
Kagome sat up from her spot on the couch and asked, "Would it be okay if I tried adding some of the backing vocals?"
He spun back to look at her, "You sure? You've already been singing a lot today. I don't wanna wear your voice out."
Kagome shook her head, and laughed, feeling light and giddy, "I feel fine. Actually, I feel I great!"
Kouga smiled at her enthusiasm, "Alright. Whatdya have in mind?"
"Keep the parts with her lower range in, and I'll add some higher harmony. I can easily get those notes for the track, and you can modify it to sound more like her voice."
Kouga agreed, and called Inuyasha to come back in, having Kagome swap out with him. As he passed her, he asked, "You sure you wanna be doing more? You looked just about ready to faint earlier."
Kagome smiled up at him and nodded, "Yeah! I dunno, I seemed to have gotten my energy back all of a sudden."
He smirked back at her and simply replied, "Whatever. Just don't pass out on me."
With a soft giggle, Inuyasha blushed at her eagerness, and quickly moved back into the room with Kouga, watching as Kagome got herself ready behind the microphone again. (2)
With a count in, Kagome was in the chorus, and bounced back and forth ever so lightly to the rhythm of the music.
Hallucinations, you occupy
My imagination's running wild
New sensations, sweet temptations
I can't tell what's real and what's…
The take ended for the chorus, and Kagome asked, "How was that? Did that work?"
Kouga's reply was emphatic, "That was exactly what it needed! Let's do the rest of the track."
Kagome nodded before adjusting her headset, smiling eagerly as she got ready to go again.
After another few goes at the chorus, Kagome asked Kouga to let the bridge play out after the next take and into the end of the song. She wanted to enjoy the energy that the guitar was offering by playing in her ear.
Hallucinations, you occupy
My imagination's running wild
New sensations, sweet temptations
I can't tell what's real and what's…
Hallucinations, they satisfy
Our imagination's running wild
New sensations, sweet temptations
I can't tell what's real and what's…
Hallucinations, nations, nations
Hallucinations, nations, nations
Hallucinations, nations, nations
Hallucinations
Inuyasha's guitar riff echoed in her headphones, and Kagome danced to the rhythm, unabashedly bouncing along with the beat, the mental image of Inuyasha playing his guitar fresh in her mind. That feeling from earlier came rushing back, and instead of fighting against it, she embraced it.
Hallucinations, you occupy
My imagination's running wild
New sensations, sweet temptations
I can't tell what's real and what's
Hallucinations, nations, nations
Hallucinations, nations, nations
Hallucinations, nations, nations
Hallucinations
As she finished, Kagome suddenly felt very present in her body again, and realized she'd likely just embarrassed herself with the way she was dancing around and singing. She looked through the window, expecting to see the two demons laughing at her ridiculous behavior, but was instead welcomed by them both bobbing along with the last few notes of the song and satisfied looks on their faces.
Her embarrassment slowly fading away, she asked while catching her breath, "Was that good?"
Kouga gave a toothy grin, punching in, "I think you just secured this song as a hit."
Her smile lit up the room.
Another one in the books! I wanted to really get this chapter out so I could get to the fun bits I have planned coming up. Hehe
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Until Next Time…