InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Marriage of Convenience for Whom? ❯ Waiting ( Chapter 18 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takashi and Viz Productions.

 

Thanks to my beautiful reviewers: xXAngel of DarknessXx (Winner of my fastest reviewer ever prize. Seriously, I updated fanfiction.net, updated mm.org, checked my email, and her review was already waiting. Damn.), LiLaZnCrAzYgUrL216 (second place in fastest reviewer prize), Rose of Sharon, Jennifer, firevixen73, ioke, inu 4ever, anastassia, Sakura onto Hitomi,102692, ra, Jessie Angel,  anon, darkdork, kagome1312, cutee2054,  and MyInuYashaObsession

 

Ru-Doragon: I haven't really addressed this issue yet, but there is kind of a code of silence for people's identities among the characters. It wasn't Inuyasha's fault the pictures were posted, so it would be bitchy for her tell his big secret. But now that he's hurt Kagome, we might see what Kikyou wants to do with what she knows. This is another something I hadn't thought about too much, so thanks for pointing it out.

 

Autumn_the_Reviewer: As always, thanks for the thoughts—they keep me thinking! I don't want to spoil the story, so patience with the questions.

 

Sassa: In the interest of not giving away since the story is rounding, I don't want to say yea or nay to any of your questions. Still, keep them coming! I've said it before and I'll say it again, but having someone pick my story apart (gently) helps me think about it new ways.

 

srg1: Glad you liked it so much—I was a little proud of how everything fell into place.

 

Tif: I'll see what I can do.

 

Magawa: Yeah, I know, the grammar, the grammar, the grammar. I have had offers for a beta, but to be honest, I don't want to put another human being through my writing schedule. Its bad enough that I have to put up with how I write—one week two, maybe three chapters if I'm really motivated, then nothing for months. Ba! Lol. So I'll work on it when its done and fix all the problems then. Thank you for making your criticism more constructive than critical—it really helps a lot.

 

A/N: Thanks for everyone who offered suggestions and guesses about what will happen next. I hope I don't disappoint. I really wish I could have gotten this thing done last weekend, but I'VE GRADUATED! And even if I could have gotten it all written, since the library is closed, I wouldn't have any Internet access to speak of. I know that seems forever long, but remember when I only updated once a week or worse, like every few months. Don't let the suspense kill you my lovelies. I like working on this story as much as you like reading it, and I really want to get to the end too.

 

Chapter 18

 

Kikyou sat in her living room, all the blinds to all the windows pulled and curtains closed. She was smoking what had to be her fifth cigarette since she had walked through the door fifteen minutes ago. Sango had yet to arrive with Kagome, and though that worried her, Kikyou knew there was not reason for alarm, as of yet. Her security team had done miracles clearing out the crowd of zombie reporters, and at present the paparazzi were lined up along the street, fearing to come any closer.

 

The actress was just lighting up her sixth cigarette when there was the sound of a racing car in her driveway, punctuated by screeching breaks. Sango.

 

A few minutes later, the assistant came into the living room. Sango gave Kikyou a tight-lipped smile and came to stand before her boss: “I have Kagome up stairs in her room. I don't think anyone saw us—I was extremely careful—but you never know.”

 

Straight to business, smart, and reasonably cautious in time of crisis; I knew there was a reason why I hired her, Kikyou mused as she followed Sango toward the room that was Kagome's.

 

While walking through the house, Sango told Kikyou about her sister: “She seems pretty shaken and her arms are bleeding.” The assistant gave the actress a pointed look as she related this part; they both understood: Kami knows what he did to her. “She won't talk to me except to tell me she's fine. Kikyou,” Sango paused outside the door to Kagome's bedroom. “Kagome is clearly not fine. I don't know exactly what is the matter, but at the very least she is severely upset.”

 

Kikyou nodded, now prepared to face her younger sibling—at least as ready as she could be. Sango gave the doorknob a twist and led her boss inside.

 

The room was dark, the shades drawn. Kikyou wasn't sure if Sango had done that as a precaution or if it had been Kagome in an attempt to block out the day.

 

“Kagome, sweetie? Are you alright?” Kikyou asked her sister carefully. She took a few cautious steps, suddenly finding herself truly unsure as to what her sister needed her to say or do.

 

Kagome was sprawled out on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. There was a blank look to her eyes and it was clear she had been crying, but no tears fell at present.

 

“I'm fine, Kikyou. Leave me alone.” There was not anger or force behind her voice and that made Kikyou feel uneasy. She moved toward the bed, and perched on its lip next to the other woman. Kagome rolled her head to look Kikyou in the eye for a moment then moved back to stare upward.

 

“I don't think you are all right, dear,” Kikyou cooed. “You aren't acting like yourself.”

 

The snap in Kagome's mood was instantaneous. With a jolt, she sat straight up and her eye gave a little twitch before she began speaking in a quick anxious voice: “What is fine? What is right? He just wanted me to tell him the truth, and I couldn't even do that. The truth would have just hurt him worse, and I believe he didn't think anything could hurt him more than I already had. And Inuyasha—the hanyou—he really thinks I'm you. He really really believes that I'm you Kikyou and I'm not, but he doesn't know that and he won't listen to me and now he won't even speak to me. Am I even really me anymore?”

 

Kikyou sank further onto the side of the bed and dragged her baby sister up into her arms. Kagome was stiff and unresponsive for a moment, but she finally wrapped her arms around her sister and slouched into the older woman.

 

“Shh shh baby, its alright.” Kikyou soothed her sister, rubbing comforting circles in the younger girl's back.

 

“No, its not.” Kagome sniffled from her sister's shoulder. “They both hate me. You should have seen how…how th-they lo-looked at meee.”

 

“`They?' Kagome?” Kikyou was a little confused. She had expected Inuyasha to be a wrathful fuck wit when he found out he had been played, but who was this they Kagome spoke of?

 

“Inu,” *sniffle* “And Inuyasha.”

 

Kikyou looked over Kagome's shoulder to make eye contact with Sango. Her assistant shrugged, trying to think fast.

 

“Inu and Inuyasha, dear?”

 

“Inu the actor I'm married to and Inuyasha the hanyou.” Kagome explained with sobbing patience. “I didn't want to hurt anyone and…and now they both hate me.” She had stopped crying and lay homelessly against her sister.

 

Kikyou scowled. So not only did she not read my messages, but that idiot hanyou did not do the noble thing and tell Kagome the truth. Unconsciously her fingers drifted to the scratches on Kagome's arms. Such emotion. Kikyou hated to admit it, but the emotion from Inuyasha was a sign that he hanyou felt something for her sister. His reaction to the confusion that had enveloped them all meant he had to feel something towards her sister, to care for her in some way. But, that still did not give him an excuse to be emotionally and physically abusive towards the poor girl.

 

Kikyou had a better grasp on everything. She looked again to Sango, and the actress knew the other woman's guilty expression matched her own. They had been the ones to put Kagome in this position, and Kikyou knew she was more to blame than any others. She should have protected her sister better than this. She had all but thrown the girl to the wolves.

 

Poor, poor Kagome. So willing to help out those you love and look where it gets you.

 

Kikyou had no idea what had been said or done to her sister and it made her furious. Her eyes flared red for a moment with a vibrancy that would have rivaled Inuyasha's when he became a full demon.

 

Regardless of his feelings for Kagome, that bastard had used her sister and then at the first hint of trouble abandoned her. She had cuts on her arms meaning he had physically assaulted her, and god only knew what he had said to her to turn her into the emotional wreck Kikyou was currently holding in her arms.

 

No body did that to Kagome and got away unscathed—especially when Kagome had done nothing more than give Kikyou what she wanted.

 

She might have put her little sister in her present pickle, but Kikyo refused to leave Kagome simply because her role had been played.

 

That lying son of a bitch hanyou would get his. Get his and then a bag of chips.

 

Kikyou squeezed Kagome tighter as another bout of wails passed through her small frame.

 

XXXXXXX

 

Bad grades, bad reviews—Kagome had her fair share of things that she put her heart into only for them to be crushed and belittled before her eyes. Yet, there was something different about the way Inuyasha and Inu had told her off that she found extremely unsettling. What was wrong with her? Why did this of all things have to hurt so much?

 

Kagome was lying in her bedroom at Kikyou's house alone. Her sister and Sango had left her some time ago. They said they were going to get her some food and take care of a few odds and ends. In all honesty, the break from their comfort made her feel a little better. She didn't like to be pitied, and Sango and Kikyou were over doing it so much that even Kagome had started to feel sorry for herself.

 

Rolling out of bed, Kagome slumped over to the window. The shades had been drawn, but bits of light still managed to get in. Dressed in the sweats and bathrobe Kikyou had given her, Kagome felt as though she were having a sick day.

 

She pushed the shades open and pressed her forehead to the glass.

 

How did everything go so wrong?

 

What? Did you honestly think you were going to get through this unscathed? You're supposed to be a smart girl—you should have seen this coming.

 

Kagome shook her head, trying to clear out the thoughts. If she was honest with herself, she knew that she had thought somehow this would all end happily. Kikyou's contract would be protected, Inuyasha's name would be saved, and she would somehow end up with the guy.

 

Very little of that seemed to be likely now.

 

Jerking away from the window when she felt the tears begin, Kagome went back to her bed and flopped down. She knew she needed to get away from her sister, and the house, and everything that remaindered her of Inu…and Inuyasha. It was strange how they almost seemed like the same person sometimes. They liked the same foods, had the same interests. They even seemed to look the same.

 

Kagome stopped herself when her tired mind tried to juxtapose the two faces into one. She was making connections that made no sense.

 

Unless….

 

Unless, you're in love with one of them. You want both to be happy, but really you love one more than the other. Being the damned tenderfoot you are, you can't hurt anyone, so you want them to be the same guy. You are too much of a weakling to know which guy you love, so you try to make the same person so no one's feelings gets hurt.

 

Not that it matters.

 

They both hate you now so much they'd rather spit in your direction than look at you.

 

Flinching at the sudden barrage of thoughts and the ache they wrenched from her gut, Kagome tried and failed to think of something else. She very much needed for her mind not to go there, but it seemed unwilling to listen to her.

 

Kagome had thought that she had been in love with Kouga, but that feeling had been fleeting and nowhere as deep as the present attachment she felt for…

 

Yes miss heartsick fool, who exactly do you have the warm fuzzies for exactly; Your husband or the hanyou? You can't even say. Pussy, pussy, tender foot. You can't say because you wouldn't be able to choose if your life depended on it.

 

Unbidden, the images of both men floated in her mind, one light the other dark. In a flash, the merged into one man, but Kagome flung the picture away. Just because you want to love them both you can't. They are two different men and each deserve someone who can love them for who they are—not by one girl who would be looking for the pieces of them that are lacking.

 

Its not like you are worthy of either of their love. Not that Inu or Inuyasha would take you. Stop dreaming you pathe—

 

Kagome growled, rolling over to jerk a pillow over her head to block out the noise in her mind.

 

She had to get away from this place.

 

But she couldn't. Not until the press had found some new celebrity to pester and the coast was clear. For the time, she was trapped in her sister's castle, waiting.

 

Just waiting.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Kikyou sat crossed legged on her living room floor, smoking her 1 millionth cigarette for the day. The entire living room was filled with fumes, and Mr. Kikyou had long ago disarmed the smoke alarms and dawned a simple mask.

 

“Something needs to be done.” Kikyou finally broke the silence that had been looming over her, her assistant, and her husband.

 

“I know.” Mr. Kikyou answered, but offered no more. His voice was muffled behind the facial mask covering his mouth.

 

Sango was quiet for a moment. She looked thoughtful and finally spoke, “I think I have an idea. I assume that all we need to do is damage control for the press and then get Inuyasha to at the very least apologize to Kagome. Correct?”

 

Kikyou and her husband simultaneously nodded, giving the assistant their undivided attention.

 

“The press is the easy part—we just have to give them something more interesting to take pictures of and write stories about.”

 

Another pair of matching nods.

 

“I can take care of that …” Sango pulled out her organizer and began tapping on the screen, “… this afternoon.”

 

Only Kikyou nodded this time. Mr. Kikyou was too busy looking skeptical.

 

Sango continued: “Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have been making eyes at each other on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. He's been divorced from Jennifer Aniston for months, but the studios have been waiting to leak the story for an opportune moment.” She looked up at Kikyou with a smirk. “It can just be our opportune moment instead. I think if we start the rumors about Brad and Angie hooking up and say that his marriage with Jennifer is on the rocks, people will eat it up. We could even do baby rumors….” She trailed off as she concentrated on the information she was gathering.

 

Kikyou looked over her shoulder at her husband, “See, I didn't hire her for nothing.”

 

“Alright, I've got all that sent off, it should it the presses in less than an hour. The studio isn't going to be happy about it, but they should be expecting this from us.” Kikyou nodded in agreement. “They know you don't take this kind of thing lying down.” Sango shut her organizer and smiled at her boss. “Now for Inuyasha.”

 

Kikyou's placid face twisted into what could only be described as a maniacal grin. “I have a plan for that. First, we're going to need some rope…”

 

XXXXXXX

 

Sango was sitting at the Taijiya's Den, waiting on Miroku. She was in a little trouble with her boss for having spilled the beans about Kagome to him, but Kikyou had agreed with her that he would be a useful asset in their current plan. After Kikyou had told her what she wanted to do, Sango had caved, and told the actress about Miroku. Following a small rant and warning about Sango keeping her mouth shut, Kikyou had thanked her assistant for giving them the one thing their plan needed to be enacted: bait.

 

Impatiently she drummed her nails on the tabletop. At the moment time was of the essence and they needed to get the show on the road. Rumors were already swirling about Brad and Angelina—successfully taking a large chuck of the eyes off of Kikyou and Inuyasha's botched wedding—but Kagome was still locked up in her sister's house.

 

Sango's heart went out to the younger woman. She couldn't take a step out the front door for fear of exposing everything that was going on. And by staying in the house, there was nothing to take her mind off her botched wedding and all the heartache that was causing her. Kagome needed a change of scene along with a healthy dose of closure, and she needed it fast. If she had anything to do with it, Sango would have her closure but nightfall.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Miroku sitting down in front of her. She had not even noticed him approaching.

 

Not waiting for trivial greetings, Sango quickly made her point. “We need your help.”

 

“Alright,” Miroku nodded. He moved his right arm up from where it had been tucked beneath the table to drop a small bouquet of flowers in front of Sango. “Those are for you. How can I be of assistance, my dear Sango?”

 

Sango grinned as she picked up the flowers to take in their sweet scent. “Thank you.” Not one to let endearments get in the way of her work, she charged ahead in their conversation: “We need help in temporarily kidnapping your friend.”

 

Miroku looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. “Is abduction really necessary?”

 

“If Inuyasha is as really as pig-headed as I believe him to be from our limited interaction, yes it is very necessary.”

 

Thinking a little more, Miroku finally nodded. “You're right. With his thick skull kidnapping is the only thing that can be done. God knows he needs too get his shit in order.” Miroku did not realize that he was wondering into dangerous territory until he uttered his next words: “First he goes on and on about Kikyou's sister being his mate and one tabloid story later, he's out of sight. I mean really—”

 

Miroku finally noticed Sango's suddenly seriously worried expression.

 

“Oh shit. I said too much.”

 

Sango only nodded her head. “At least I'm not the only one.”

 

There was a pause and Miroku really did not appear to know what to say, so Sango picked up the slack, though refusing to drop the subject he so wanted to avoid.

 

“He sees her as his mate?”

 

“By smell and the fact that she can actually get along with him on a non-sexual level.”

 

“This is worse than I thought,” Sango said. She stood quickly, gathering up her purse and jacket.

 

“I know,” Miroku shrugged as he stood too.

 

“I mean this could get really bad.” Sango opened the door to the café for the both of them, hurrying towards her car.

 

“I know.”

 

“What do you think we should do? And where are you parked?” She swiveled around, looking for his vehicle.

 

“I took the bus.” Sango nodded and motioned for him to get into the passenger side of her car. “I think the two of them need to sort things out for themselves. Kagome really seemed to like him and Inuyasha is well, like I said,” Miroku finished as he buckled his seat belt.

 

“For their sakes, I hope you're right.” Sango murmured as she burned rubber to get out of the parking lot. “It may not be that simple.”

 

Miroku nodded. He was suddenly extremely grateful for seatbelts, as he wondered how much faster Sango's car would have to go before it became airborne. Five? Ten miles per hour?

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

A/N: So this chapter has taken me like a month and a half to write. My muse left me, my inspiration has come in poorly written spirts at best, and I have moved in with a friend who only has wireless Internet and my computer is so old it doesn't do wireless, so I really haven't had the hope of up dating to motivate me even if I got anything written.

 

But now I'm home for the holiday, and I can update! I know this chapter is kind of blah, but I am so excited about the next one I want to get it out before I have to go back to my Internet-less hell.

 

I don't usually beg, but please, please review ESPECIALLY if you see some gapping plot hole that I appear to be missing. Usually when I have time between updates, I can reflect on what I've written, but giving so little time between posts, I'm afraid I won't foreshadow properly, or leave out something altogether. No worries, though. I'm pretty sure I have all my ducks in a row, so we'll see how it goes. Who knows? If I get enough reviews, I'll have enough of an adrenaline rush that I'll be able to post two more chapters instead of one. Its happened before.