InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dead Famous ❯ Breakfast at Blossoms ( Chapter 4 )

Author's Notes: Another strange thing about this fic is probably Inuyasha being showcased as an anti-hero. It's not actually that unusual seeing as how in the manga Inuyasha was portrayed as an anti-hero at first and didn't really become a true hero until book two or three (he was quite a questionable hero during those first few books). But really, even I find him quite disgusting in this fic…

Disclaimer: Just to say I have nothing against French people. In fact for someone who lives in britain I am abnormally fond of France… I've been there several times and believe me they aren't all that glamorous (but the country is gorgeous), they're not all that rude but they're not all that polite either (not where I went anyway). I used to have a friend whose family was French who I used to go to school with, and coincidentally, she is a bit of a slut. She got hauled up in front of her head master recently for her skirt being too short so her father came in and complained saying that she wasn't a slut, she was just French… frankly she was very embarrassed.

So, sorry Manon, I may have modelled Angelique Spagni on you ^_^;; (she'll never know…)

Dead Famous

Chapter 4

Breakfast at Blossoms

"Time to get up sleepy head!" Sango lashed back the curtains to the large bay windows, making Kagome flinch back under the snug covers of her bed. Sango turned to look back at her. "Come on Kagome, we have a busy day planned ahead. Welcome to day one of your week in-"

"Hell?"

"-paradise." Sango looked at her curiously. "What's the matter?"

"Urgh… I need to be unconscious." Kagome groaned from under her blanket. "I didn't get a moment of shut-eye last night… someone in the room above me kept making these ominous banging sounds. Made me lie awake all night…"

Sango huffed angrily as she stomped back to the opening glass doors onto the balcony and leaning against the rail to look up. "Inuyasha! I know you're up there - get Angelique out of here!"

Kagome cracked open an eye as she heard a scraping sound from the balcony above. "Angelique isn't here!" came Inuyasha's disembodied reply.

"Then tell Eiko to get lost!"

"Eiko isn't here either!"

"Then tell Rochelle-"

"Rochelle isn't-"

"The weather girl - the cleaner - Natsu - Natari - Hatsuyo - I don't care, tell whoever it is up there to leave, I'm not having you-"

"Relax!" came his abrupt reply. "There's no one up here except for me. I'm just practising, that's all."

Sango seemed to breath more easily. "Alright then, just keep it down." She didn't wait for a response before stepping back into Kagome's room and shutting the glass doors behind her. "I'll get Kikyo to tell him off later, ok?"

"Mm." Kagome pushed the covers back enough to free her arms and rub her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Six in the morning."

"What?" Kagome gaped at her. "But it's a Sunday!"

"A busy Sunday." Sango agreed and moved over to the bed and picked up a bundle of clothes that had been neatly laid out next to Kagome's feet. "Look, I've got clothes enough to sort you for a few days, I'll get you some more later on. The tailor is still working on your dress for the awards evening but you should get that before Thursday night."

Kagome sat up and ran her hands over the clothes Sango had presented her with. All the best designer ranges. "Do I get to keep this after I go home?"

"I don't see why not." Sango shrugged pleasantly. "We're not going to find anyone to give them to apart from some charity. So you might as well take them with you."

"Cool…" Kagome picked up a long suede jacket with a designer label under the collar. "To tell you the truth this is a bigger wardrobe than the one I have at home. I think I have about three jumpers, a few skirts and jeans… and about seventy school uniforms."

Sango smiled, obviously pleased to help the 'less fortunate'. "Well we'll give you extra in that case. Anyway, you get dressed and I'll come back in twenty minutes and take you to breakfast and then perhaps you'd like a little tour around the villa?"

"Sounds good." Kagome smiled and Sango left with a little parting wave.

Kagome examined the clothes she'd been given and sighed slightly. The most expensive labels in the business were laid out on her bed… and yes they looked glamorous and cool, but honestly, she really wouldn't pick them out in the shop as her own taste.

Still, fame and fortune had its perks. Though, Kagome thought as she turned her eyes to the ceiling, it also has its jerks.

True to her word, Sango was back within twenty minutes to find Kagome dressed and ready to go. "Are you going to leave your hair like that?" She asked slightly pointedly.

Kagome turned to look in the mirror lining one wall of her temporary bedroom. She had brushed it… what was the problem. "Why?"

"Nothing… just come here." Kagome approached her cautiously, wondering what she was going to do. The moment she was within range, Sango spun her around and snapped a hair toggle from her wrist onto her fingers and pushed Kagome's hair into a high ponytail. "There." She said when Kagome's hair was suitably off her shoulders. "Much more elegant. Now come on, I'll show you around before breakfast."

The villa was bigger than she'd even first imagined… it was something like Dr Who's police box - fourth dimensional. On the outside it looked big - but on the inside it seemed to stretch on further than the gardens.

"We have an indoor pool around here somewhere." Sango said as they wandered around the ground floor, "For those cold days. And there is a sauna next to that. Breakfast room, game room, cinema room and the classic room."

"What's a classic room?" Kagome asked.

"The room we show to photographers who want to come around and take pictures of the villa." Sango beckoned her to follow. "It's this way, come on."

Kagome was in awe, but she couldn't help but feel a little resentful as Sango led her through the corridors. "Seriously, what did Inuyasha ever do to afford this much."

"What hasn't he done?" Sango responded with a quirky smile as she reached to classic room - a room with large double doors. "This place is soundproof. You could probably kill someone in here and no one would hear the scream."

"Unless the door was open."

"Yeah, then you'd be in trouble." Sango pushed open the doors and led her inside. "But don't worry, I doubt Inuyasha has ever killed someone in here… or… at least I haven't heard anything yet."

Kagome gave her a wary look, wondering if perhaps she was half serious. She didn't get a chance to pursue the subject when she spotted the shiny black piano in the middle of the richly decorated room. "Oh wow… a grand piano…" she moved towards in instinctively. "Does Inuyasha play?"

"Nah…" Sango shook her head with a shrug. "It used to belong to his father. That man was quite a keen pianist… didn't really rub off on Inuyasha though."

"Do his parents live here?" Kagome asked nonchalantly as she ran a hand over the keys gently, lightly enough not to disturb them.

"His parents are dead."

Kagome stiffened slightly and looked back at Sango, seeing her serious expression. "Oh… I didn't realise."

Sango gave her an incredulous smile. "Don't you catch up with the news? They died about six years ago in that crash. It was all over the headlines for like a year."

"I didn't really pay attention to the news when I was nine…" Kagome admitted, but now she felt a little bad. She had really tried to avoid anything related to Inuyasha for most of her life, especially when she was younger. "Inuyasha must have been about… eleven, right?"

"Yeah." Sango nodded. "It must have been tough for him. I didn't start working for him until three years ago… most of what I know about him is what I hear from Miroku. Inuyasha doesn't really talk to me."

"Who looks after him then?"

"Well his aunt used to take care of him, but she walked out when he was sixteen. Said she couldn't handle him anymore." Sango shook her head as if remembering an amusing event. "Inuyasha's been keeping after himself ever since."

He'd done well for a seventeen year old, soon to be eighteen. "Is that why he's such a… such a…" Kagome struggled for a word.

"A jerk?"

"An arrogant a-typical superstar with more money than sense." Kagome nodded. "Is he like that because he's lonely?" Now she was beginning to sound like her mother…

"Inuyasha is surrounded by people twenty-four hours a day. I don't think he gets the chance to feel lonely." Sango's smile changed slightly… until it looked positively sad. "But… I guess he did change a little after that 1992 ordeal."

Kagome blinked at her. "What ordeal?" she frowned. "There was an ordeal in 1992?"

"Apparently he was quite tolerable up until that year." Sango didn't seem to hear her as her eyes slid to the floor. "But after that his behaviour got worse… but people just tolerated it because they had to. It was cruel not to I suppose…"

"What? What are you talking about?" Kagome prodded.

"And as long as people let him get away with whatever he wanted, he just got stuck that way…" Sango shook her head. "Sad really…"

"What's sad? What happened in 1992?" Kagome waved her hand. "Hello? Am I talking to a brick wall?"

"Hm?" Sango seemed to remember she wasn't alone. "Sorry, spacing off again… anyway, do you want some breakfast now? I promised Kikyo that I would feed you at frequent intervals."

Even though Kagome hadn't quite got a straight answer, she was pretty hungry. "Ok. Which way is the kitchen?"

"Oh you're not going to eat breakfast here," Sango replied as she led Kagome out of the classic room and back into the corridor. "You're going to be having breakfast at Blossom café."

"Really?" Kagome began to feel the edges of nervousness beginning to creep up on her. "You mean… the blossom café where all the Tv stars and actresses and singers hang out?"

"Absolutely. Great food as well." Sango said cheerfully as she shut the doors to the put a hand to her ear piece. "Miroku, send a limo round to pick them up. Kagome's ready to leave for The Blossom." She lowered her hand and looked back at Kagome. "Even though you and Inuyasha got off to a bad start I'm sure we can fix things… he really isn't all that bad."

Tell that to Kagome's miffed pride.

~*~

"This was my surprise?" Inuyasha hissed at Kikyo who accompanied him down to the waiting limo outside the villa.

"It's a surprise isn't it?" Kikyo said evenly, but she was obviously getting a kick out of torturing him. "You're going to take Kagome to breakfast and you are going to be civil to her and you are going to make her feel at ease in your presence because if she is not satisfied then it will only work against you. She'll leave next Saturday and her complaints will be all over the paper by Sunday. Got it?"

"Give her some money and shut her up then." Inuyasha said sulkily. "We don't have to actually be nice to her."

"It's called common courtesy. She should get acquainted with it one day." Kikyo passed him his wallet as they reached the limo and opened the door for him. "Now go forth young man and do me proud."

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me." She pointed into the limo. "Now get in."

With a surly sigh he slipped down into the cosy compartment and immediately came face to face with the schoolgirl. Her eyes narrowed instantly and she slid a little further down the seat away from him. Kikyo slammed the door after him, nearly catching one of his ears, forcing Inuyasha to take a seat now that his escape route had been locked.

"Morning." Kagome said politely, looking pointedly away from him.

"Good morning." He returned with sarcastic politeness.

"No, I said morning. I never said anything about it being good." She snapped and turned on him. "You know, this isn't my idea of a pleasant breakfast. I'd much rather stay here and have a chip barm with Sango."

"Well I'd much rather be eating McDonald's with a couple of pigs than be having a breakfast with two-faced fangirls."

"I am not your fangirl." She shot back through clenched teeth.

"Sure you aren't." he said in a patronising tone. She fumed quietly but ignored him after that. She would not let him spoil her fun… and the best way to do that was just pretend he wasn't with her. Damn… she really wished her friends hadn't entered her in the stupid contest…

"What's wrong with your hair?" Inuyasha suddenly asked.

Kagome darted a glare at him. "What?"

"What's wrong with your hair?" He repeated in exactly the same tone.

Kagome raised a hand self-consciously to her head. "Nothing… why?"

"Oh, nothing." He said quickly and looked away.

If that was a trick to try and get her paranoid about her hair… well, it was working. Kagome kept looking for some sort of mirror to figure out how her hair looked… at this rate she was probably going to turn as vain as Inuyasha himself. But he was the kind of vain that would urge him to shoot past speed cameras just to get his picture taken… Kagome had quite a way to go before she got that bad.

The Blossom café was further than Kagome had expected. It wasn't what she'd call 'popping out for a quick breakfast'. It was like driving out for some classy dinner at a fancy restaurant, only at seven in the morning rather than seven at night. Eventually they got there, just about when tension in the back of limo was near breaking point - a point where Kagome wanted to scream and strangle Inuyasha for being such a pompous pinhead.

The limo let them out and drove off, leaving Kagome to trail sullenly after Inuyasha as he went inside the café. It was basically starbucks but with a couple of zeros added to their prices. And because only the rich people and the celebrities came and ate here, there were hardly any fans leaping out of their seats for autographs, or reporters popping out of bushes with cameras.

"What do you want to eat?" Inuyasha asked when they got to the counter.

"I dunno… food?" she shrugged.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You gotta be more specific than that." He condescended.

"Ok…" Kagome looked at the waitress behind the till who was looking at Inuyasha. "I'll gave a glass of water and a muffin."

"Tap water or mineral?" the waitress asked, still with her eyes on Inuyasha who was looking at something on the menu, but Kagome realised that he was just avoiding the waitress… only because she wasn't all that pretty. Kagome felt another wave of loathing for him… what a snotty asshole…

"Um… tap will be fine." She answered.

Inuyasha paid and they moved to sit down at a table outside in the morning sun. The air was mildly warm, but there were signs that it would get a lot hotter before the day was done.

"So if you didn't want to win this competition then why did you accept it?" Inuyasha asked, fiddling with the salt pot on the table.

"Did I have a choice to refuse?" Kagome shot back, watching his fiddling fingers with annoyance. "If I'd said no then everyone I knew would have a go at me for passing up the opportunity. Besides, I thought there was a slim possibility that you would be nice and that a week with a guy so 'perfect' as you would be cool." She gave him a cold look. "I was obviously wrong."

"Ooh… bitter are we?" he gave her a smile that she knew was as phoney as he was. "You're just jealous because you're not rich and famous."

"I'm glad I'm not a rich snob like you." She told him seriously. "Now that I've seen how it's corrupted a person like you, I will quite happily go back to my little shrine and get on with my insignificant, humble life, thank you very much."

Inuyasha shrugged and started looking around the café. Kagome reckoned he was cruising for a pretty face… the same way someone examined magazines on a shelf before selecting which one they wanted to take home. She sighed and looked out across the street. It was quiet since it was so early in the morning, though a few people on the street had noticed Inuyasha, but were either too shy or rich to approach. She turned a disgruntled look back on her star. "So what the hell did you do to deserve all this?"

"Deserve what?" he gave her a bored look.

"As far as I can see you're like that model Jordan."

"What? Blonde with massive breasts?"

"No." she gave him a disgusted look. "Famous for just being famous. There must be more to it than that? What did you do to get this famous?"

"You really aren't a fan are you?" he gave her a genuinely amused look, but it was at her own expense. "You've been living in the dark all these years, you poor thing. Don't you read the news or the magazines."

"I don't thrive off listening to gossip about celebrities. They're boring, stupid and used to be nice people until they got famous." Kagome shrugged. "They don't interest me. You just bored me."

"Charming." Inuyasha turned sideways in his chair to look elsewhere again.

"So? What are you famous for?" she pressed, perhaps willing to admit to herself that she was a little interested to know. Inuyasha was a slightly more interesting celebrity now that she'd met him and realised how fake his image was.

"For whatever." He shrugged. "At first I was just famous because when I was born my dad was the current prime minister and my mother was his trophy wife."

"She was an underwear model wasn't she?" Kagome cocked her head.

Inuyasha made a vague sound. "She was a professional model as well, you know, on the catwalk and all. She lasted a whole seven years, longer than anyone else in the business because she retained her youth and because she was kinda exotic looking with her hair and eyes and things," he gestured to his own features to let her know what he meant.

"Why did she only last seven years?" Kagome asked. Was modelling that hard a job to hold onto?

"She got killed didn't she? In that car crash." The look he gave her was a narrowed one and Kagome immediately realised that she'd put her foot straight into that one.

"Oh… sorry…"

He seemed to regard her callously before giving a small laugh and a smile and looking away again. It wasn't a real smile though. But was it ever a real smile? "She'd still be in the business today if she hadn't died." He tipped his head back. "But I really don't fancy seeing my mother prancing around in revealing underwear all the time."

Kagome tried to suppress her amused smile at that comment. Successfully, she managed to squash it down. "What else are you famous for? There must be more than that."

"Well there was a rather large boost in fame when the parents kicked the bucket." He admitted. "Pity vote I suppose… and while Kaede was looking after-"

"Who's Kaede?"

"My father's sister. My aunt who was my guardian for a while." Kagome had already heard that tale, she realised. "Anyway, while that old bat was 'looking after' me I did the gift jobs."

"Like?" Kagome pressed.

"Like kid modelling? Same thing as my brother for a while, but that was too… uh… too camp I guess. Gave that up after a while." He seemed to strain to remember what he'd done with himself since then. "Then… last year Kikyo made me release that designer range of men's cologne, for which she made me the spokesmodel."

"Oh yeah!" Kagome remembered. "I saw a documentary on that once… They said it sold because it was Inuyasha in a bottle… people would kill for it. But it smells nothing like you…" A casual observation, or she hoped it sounding like one.

"Everyone who buys that stuff has no idea what I smell like." He smiled slyly. "It's the one thing a Tv and a radio and an interview can't give - aroma."

Kagome shook her head. "That's ridiculous."

"It made me rich."

Thanks for the reminder. But there had to be more. "You're only famous because men are going around thinking they smell like you?"

"No… there's the whole fighting thing."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "What, are you some kind of martial artist?"

"I can't believe you're so ignorant." He smirked at her. "Everyone knows that one!"

"I don't!" she defended herself.

"I'm not a martial artist, I never have been and I never plan to be one." He said snippily. "I fight in a ring."

"Oh… so you're like a wrestling champion?"

"Wrestling is a choreographed ballet for wimps who don't want to get hurt. I do the real deal."

Kagome frowned. "What's the real deal?" then she realised. "Ah, you're a boxer of some sort?"

"Of some sort." He shrugged. "And you wanna know the secret to my success?"

"What would that be?" She was genuinely interested now.

"My nose."

She looked at him incredulously, eyeing his nose warily and wondering what that had to do with anything. It was just a nose. It sat in the middle of his face and completed his even features. But it wasn't that spectacular was it? "Your nose…" she echoed slowly.

"Yeah. Broken it twenty-seven times. But it's healed perfectly each time."

Now Kagome understood. Girls wouldn't look twice at a guy with a repeatedly broken, flattened nose. Because he could heal he retained his good looks and charm but at the same time could handle one of the roughest sports in the business. "You're still a dick." She told him bluntly, sitting back in her chair.

"A dick with a good nose." He smirked and was about to go on when he saw something behind her that made him falter. "Oh crap…"

"What?" Kagome turned to see what held his attention. What she saw was a rather familiar face walking towards them. Kagome watched the approaching girl for a moment before remembering where she'd seen that face - or more correctly - where she'd seen those breasts before.

She whipped back around to face Inuyasha. "That's Angelique Spagni!" she hissed under her breath.

"I know." He said in a normal voice. "And you don't have to whisper. She doesn't speak anything other than French."

"Oh." Kagome blinked in surprise. Even more to Kagome's surprise, the model didn't just pass them by… instead, when she spotted Inuyasha she let out a cute French exclamation of surprise and marched right over to him to sit on his lap. "Ma petite puce!"

"Angel honey!" he looked slightly confused. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on a plane back to France?"

"Ma poulette!" The French model wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled against him comfortably.

Kagome gaped softly at the pair. She might as well have not been there for all the attention Angelique gave her. That was just plain rude. "You do realise…" she said to Inuyasha. "That she just called you 'her little flea' and 'her baby chicken'?"

"You understand French!" he blinked at her. "Good - you can translate for me."

"I'm not doing anything for a revolting player like you!" she snapped, trying not to get too embarrassed by watching Angelique's behaviour.

"No, just tell her that while she's great, I don't think this is working out. I think we should see other people." He leaned away slightly as Angelique aimed a kiss on his cheek.

Kagome glanced between the two before snapping her fingers to get Angelique's attention. "He says… Je pense que nous devrions voirs d'autres personnes… Moi même j'en vois depuis trois moins." Roughly translated: I think we should see other people… I have for the last three months.

Poor Angelique sat up quickly, giving Inuyasha a bewildered look.

"Great," Inuyasha said, clueless to what Kagome had translated for him. "Now tell her that she's beautiful and any man is lucky to have her - just not me."

Kagome quite casually turned back to the model. "Il te quitte pour un humain." He's leaving you for a real human.

Angelique gasped and leant back even further, staring at Inuyasha with utter hurt and pain. Inuyasha completely misread the look as a girl who was 'gently' being dumped. "Now tell her 'thanks'."

"Il ne suis sorti avec toi que dans le cadre d'un pari." He only went out with you on a bet. Inuyasha slanted Kagome a strange look… that hadn't sounded like a mere 'thanks' to him.

But that was enough for the French Angel. She drew her hand back and slapped Inuyasha quite soundly across the cheek before getting off his lap and flouncing off. Kagome watched her leaving with mild amusement before turning back to Inuyasha. "Smooth, Inuyasha."

"That went quite well." He rubbed his stinging cheek, but he gave her a suspcious look. "Are you sure you translated acurately?"

"Word for word." She said sincerely whilst crossing her fingers under the table.

"Well hopefully that's the last time I have to face that particular bombshell." He sat forward as their breakfast arrived.

Kagome picked at her muffin half-heartedly eyeing Inuyasha across the table. She knew it was cruel, but she couldn't help but play another trick. "Inuyasha?"

"Yes, Kaguri?"

"That's Kagome."

"Whatever."

"You have lipstick on your cheek."

Inuyasha then spent the best part of that breakfast trying to wipe off the imaginary lipstick that just wouldn't seem to go away…

Kagome realised that if he really was this dumb, then perhaps her week wouldn't be a total loss after all…

AN: Yeah… I know he's being a total jerk right now… but I swear he'll get better, given time… maybe…