Chapter 9: The Recital (Part 1)
Kagome had been really busy during the weeks leading up to Nana's recital with helping her brother and sister with their homework, secretly helping her step-mother curate several collections, and designing outfits for her sister to wear. Her sister was playing several different instruments. She had managed to get the schedule for the recital, so she knew when her sister was going to be on stage and how much time she had to change. Her sister would be opening the recital on the piano and transitioning to the flute soon after that. There would be about fifteen minutes until she was on stage again. After that she would play the harp. Thirty minutes later and she would be playing the ocarina and closing with the violin.
She had seen and heard the pieces her sister was playing and knew the sort of mood she wanted and could coordinate outfits for her sister. For the opening numbers she had decided her sister should wear a dress that came just beneath the knees. the bodice was lace and the part that flowed around her legs was made of a soft material. She had asked one of the maids for her sister's measurements. She already received her step mother's, father's, brother's, and Nasaka's measurements and had made their outfits for the night. They hadn't been handed out yet. She was going to do it the day of the recital. She just had to finish the outfits for Nana, and she had a few days to do that. The designs were already done and the basics of the outfits sewn together. Right now she just had to make a few alterations and add the finishing touches.
"Ane," a voice called from her doorway, and she turned to see Nasaka standing there. Her eyes were wide as she looked at the mannequins that house the dresses for Nana. "They're beautiful," she whispered.
"Hey imouto." She smiled at her sister as she came in and closed the door. "Did you need something?"
"You've been very busy lately. Is this why?" She asked as she ran her hand over the lace bodice of one of the dresses. The longest one had what looked like a wrapped bodice that moved into a flowing floor length gown. The third dress looked like a lolita type of dress with frills, ribbons and bows. The puffed sleeves were white and went under a green strap that was about an inch thick. The white blouse looking attachment was closed by a black ribbon. It vanished into the green dress that looked like a green vest that was laced with black ribbons. the cinched waist turned into a pleated but fluffed skirt that had little bows every third pleat. There was a white under layer tipped with white lace that was the cause of the fluffed skirt. It looked like something you would find in a video game or a shojo manga.
"Part of it," Kagome admitted to the girl. She looked over the dresses. The shortest was green, white and black, the middle length dress was sapphire, to bring out her sister's eyes and the longest dress was white, to give the girl an angelic feel. "I have been making outfits for all of us for something that is happening this weekend." She smiled at her sister. "These are almost done. The others are done but stored away safely." Nasaka nodded. She looked around her sister's room. She still wasn't used to anything like this, but she didn't want to interrupt what her sister was doing. She just looked at her sister's bookshelf as she went back to what she was doing with the dresses. A book seemed to pull her attention, so she pulled it out and flopped on one of the cushions in her sister's room. She opened it to the first page to see a picture of a woman holding a baby. There was a man next to her looking down at the bundle. She flipped the page to see a girl in pig tails with familiar eyes on a bicycle. Her knees were scuffed but she was smiling brightly, as if proud as she seemed to peddle forward.
Nasaka looked at page after page. They seemed normal. Times in Kagome's life, like the first tooth she lost. A first day of school. Birthdays. So the next page was weird to her. A male with silver hair, amber eyes and dog ears in red. A boy with the lower half of a fox. A woman in skin tight black suit with pink armor. A male in what seemed like monk robes. A woman that looked similar to her ane, but the hair and eyes and skin tone was all wrong. There was a weird creature in servant robes and a twin headed dragon. There was a girl with a side ponytail in a checkered kimono missing a few teeth standing next to a silver haired, golden eyed male in all white. "Rin and Sesshomaru," she whispered, gaining Kagome's attention.
"Nasaka?" She came forward to see her sister had her album open. It had been charmed to only allow people with a certain amount of spiritual power and awareness to open, so she was surprised to see that she was able too open it. She sent her miko ki over her sister to see it there. There was power there, not fully awakened, but seeming to guide her sister. She sat next to her sister on her knees. "You must be very special to have been able to open my album." Nasaka looked up at her. Her eyes were wide with question. She gently took the album from her sister's hand and closed it before setting it off to the side.
"You are special, imouto. I should have realized it sooner." They moved to her mediation section of her room and lit some incense. She pulled another cushion over and sat, signaling her sister to sit across from her. "You are like me." She steadied her heart rate and took a breath and summoned her powers to her hands, which glowed blue. Nasaka gasped, eyes wide in wonder.
"I can do that too?" She looked surprised.
"Eventually you will be able to," Kagome said. "Have you noticed anything telling you not to do something or to do something? Have things happened that you cannot explain?"
Nasaka thought back on the short life she lived. There had once been a dog that had tried to attack her. She had gotten scared and the next thing she knew there had been a small dome around her that had scared the dog off. Nothing else could come to mind, other than feeling the draw to her sister's photo album.
"I was almost attacked by a dog once. I remember feeling so scared cause no one else was around. When it lunged for me, a bubble thing came up around me and the dog crashed into it before running away," she admitted. "I didn't tell anyone cause I knew they wouldn't believe me." Kagome smiled at the girl. "You believe me, right?"
"Of course, imouto. You do need to get control of it though. When the power inside of you full awakens, it could cause a lot of problems."
"I don't want to hurt anyone!" She seemed scared.
"You won't, imouto. I will make sure of it."
~Saturday~
Kagome looked at the tickets in her hand. Her father and step mother had already left for work. She would have the suit and dress she designed for them delivered soon. She had even scheduled to have a makeup artist and hair dresser reserved to go to her step mother's work at 1700 (5PM). The recital started at 2000(8PM) so it would give her three hours to get dressed, get her hair and makeup done and head to the school to meet up with them. Nana had already left to the school for a rehearsal with the others involved with the recital. She would be sending over the dresses over with one of the maids that had studied hair and makeup before coming into this profession. Satoshi would be hard at work today, with driving the maid to the school to help Nana, and picking up her father and stepmother after dropping off her, Naosuke, and Nasaka. She had already put in an order to have a bouquet of pink stargazer lilies, white calla lilies, pink roses, and daffodils.
"Ane!" Her door was thrown open by Nasaka. She twirled once, the skirt of her dress flairing out around her before settling once she was done twirling. "I love it!" It was a blue dress that fell around the young girl's knees. It had no sleeves and a cinched waist. Lace was laid over the bodice and had butterflies across the waist and down into the skirt.
"I'm glad, imouto. Come here so I can do your hair." The girl sat in front of her and she brushed out her sister's hair before placing it in a bun with white butterflies interwoven through her hair. "Now go put on your stockings so I can finish getting dressed." The girl ran from her room and Kagome pulled her own dress on. It was a halter styled sapphire colored dress that showed a bit of cleavage. It hugged her figure and had a split that ended at her mid thigh. the material at her waist was given a folded look that pointed towards the slit in her dress. Her hair was swept up into an elegant due, her bangs brushed so that it swept to the side. Her makeup was light and she grabbed the black strappy heels she had. She walked into the hall to see Naosuke in the black pair of slacks she made for him. The shirt was a white button up and he was wearing the black tie with sapphire designs on it. He blazer was in his hands with his black dress shoes.
"This suit fits remarkably well, ane," he commented. His hair was wild on his head but he had styled it to be that way.
"It should," she commented. "I spent a lot of time on it." He nodded and looked his sister over. They way she looked made him feel like he had to protect her from the males that were going to be at the school. He turned as his imouto came out of her room. "I already sent father's and your mother's clothes to them. Satoshi is probably waiting for us." They nodded and headed down stairs. They got into the limousine and they were off to school.
~Head Quarters~
He looked up at his door when there was a knock. He looked at the time to see that it was almost 1830. He looked to see Satoshi there and he was holding a garment bag and an envelope. "I was directed to drop these off with you, sir." He came forward and held out both.
"What is this?" He took the envelope to see a letter from his eldest, saying that it was for a family outing, and that he needed to pick up his wife. He shrugged it off and looked at his desk. All his work was surprisingly done. He had noticed that some documents he hadn't looked at but they were in the review pile. He had looked it over then to see perfection. So he had finalized them. Some were contracts with other companies and they seemed to balance the demands of both parties. It made several meetings go by quicker and had him home at a decent time each day. He would need to get answers to who had been in his office.
He grabbed the garment bag and headed for the bathroom in his office to change. He looked at it before changing. This suit seemed to fit him better and the material was soft against his skin. It was a dark blue and the shirt was a white button up and the tie was a dark blue with a black pattern and a dark blue blazer. he straightened everything and admired the look of it. There were no sizes or brand on the suit so he was confused by this. He shrugged it off and came back out. His old suit was placed in the garment bag and Satoshi took it from him before following him to the limousine. They would need to leave now if they were to get his wife on time.
~1700 - Hisagawa Nanao's Office~
There was a knock at her office door and she stood to answer it. The moment she had, there was two women that came in, a garment bag in hand and bags of hair stuff and make-up with them. She closed the door to address them but the garment bag was hung up and she was pushed into a chair. One woman started doing her make-up while the other started on her hair. She hadn't even managed to get a word out. The two women just went into conversation and worked. She wasn't sure what was going on, but after forty-five minutes later her make-up was done. She hadn't seen it, but the woman assured her that she looked great. The other woman finished forty-five minutes after that and she was told to change into the dress in the garment bag.
She unzipped it and looked at the dress. It was an emerald color that complimented her green eyes. It was a single strapped dress and looked similar to what she imagined a Greek woman would have worn. It brushed her ankles. there was a braided golden cord sewn onto the waist of the dress. Her gold braided necklace was in a case in the bag and emerald earrings were placed in her earlobes, and emerald ring was placed on her finger and she had golden Hermes heels on her feet. An emerald clutch was placed in her hand. She looked at the dress and couldn't help but love it.
The two women smiled at their work and came out of their stupor when there was a knock on the door. They hustled out of the room as the male leaned against the door frame.
"Don't you look gorgeous." He grinned at his wife.
"You startled me." She brought her eyes to his form. This suit complimented him and she didn't remember him having this suit in his closet. "I don't remember that suit."
"I didn't have it before. I just know Satoshi was directed to drop it off at my office and that I had to come get you." She nodded. Her work had finished several days earlier than she thought it would be done. Notes on artifacts and antiques had been made before she could look at them. She wanted to know why that was, but who could she ask? "Let's go, the kids are probably waiting for us. This is supposed to be a family outing." She moved across the room after saving what she was working on. She locked her office and took his offered arm. She blushed. She hadn't dressed like this since the dinner party they had for the company for Christmas.