InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dead Famous ❯ The Headlines ( Chapter 10 )

Author's Notes: Believe it or not, but I'm actually making more of an effort to watch my spelling and grammar these days. I'm actually going back and reading over the chapter, but still, because I've just spent the last few hours writing the chapter, I tend to skim parts and miss some of my mistakes.

If you see any, just pretend they're not there. ^_^

Dead Famous

Chapter 10

The Headlines

"Here's the estimated time line of the Genji project, the one I consulted you about yesterday?"

"Yes, I remember." Naraku thoughtfully chewed his pen as he watched Sesshomaru across the desk. Sesshomaru may have been founder of their corporation but Naraku was manager to Sesshomaru's management of the computing company. "Have you got the details worked out?"

"Of course." Sesshomaru read from his planner, following the lines with his biro. "The actual work phase will last about three days…"

"I see…"

"Then I'll spend about two or three weeks meeting with representatives from our suppliers because you're too lazy to see them yourself." Sesshomaru flipped the page. "Then I'll spend a week in Cyprus to tackle the nervous breakdown that will be coming on right about then… back again for six more weeks trying to remind you of the things we discussed here today and trying to make you understand the complex issues regarding this project. Then out of spite because my secretary is prettier than yours, you'll cut my funding, rearrange my department and shut down the project."

"Mm hm." Naraku nodded to show he followed (though if truth be known his eyes had glazed over somewhere around the word 'representatives').

"At which point I'll jump to my death from this office window, a bitter shadow of the man I once was." Sesshomaru closed his planner and looked across at Naraku with hooded eyes. No, he didn't particularly like his only boss.

Naraku blinked back. "Should I be doing some motivational pep-talking right about now?"

Sesshomaru sighed and opened his planner, making a few final notes and calculations. "If I time my leap right you'll just be leaving the building…"

There was a knock on the door and Naraku looked up to see Rin the secretary scurry inside, Sesshomaru didn't have to look up to know it was her. "Mr Sesshomaru sir, I just got a call from your PA - she says it's Agent."

"Urgent." Sesshomaru corrected her without looking up from his doodle of Naraku hanging by the neck in a set of gallows with crosses for eyes.

"Oh - urgent, yes, urgent." Rin agreed hastily. "She says it regards Fushira Hashimoto."

Sesshomaru's pen froze on his planner. "Fushira… Hashimoto?"

"Yes, that's what she said." Rin nodded hard.

"Are you certain?"

"Um…" Rin consulted her post-it. "Yes, yes, Mr Fushira Hashimoto… or it could Furry Honda Motors…"

Sesshomaru waved a hand at her. "Thank you, Rin, that'll be all."

"You're welcome." She piped and pickled off out the door again. Sesshomaru set down his pen slowly and looked up at Naraku. "Can I use your phone? I need to call my brother's agent."

~*~

"So how's your week been so far?"

"Ok, I guess." Kagome spoke into the phone to her mother as she browsed the contents of her new wardrobe. She had more clothes in there than she knew what to do with… deciding what to wear was becoming increasingly difficult. "I'm still holding out for Saturday when I can come home again."

"Don't be in such a rush. You're friends tell me that Yuka is ready to murder you when you arrive back." Her mother told her with a laugh.

"Is she still mad that she put my name in the draw?" Kagome pulled down a pair of hipster jeans and a cream jumper.

"Only a little."

"How's Souta?"

"Idolising Inuyasha more than usual."

Kagome sighed, wishing that her brother didn't feel that way. There was really nothing about Inuyasha that deserved idolising… "And Grandpa?"

"Still wondering where you are and who Inuyasha is." Her mother laughed. "But how are you getting along with Inuyasha? Last time we spoke you said you couldn't stand him."

"Oh, he's not all bad." Kagome said, realising she meant it as she said it. "I mean… he's not overly mean and cruel… just a bit lazy, unpredictable, volatile, unreliable and disturbed - very, very disturbed."

"Oh." Her mother sounded slightly surprised. "But you are being tolerant, aren't you, Kagome?"

"What's the supposed to mean?" It sounded like her mother was being reproving there.

"Well usually when you have friction with people, which thankfully isn't very often, you tend to butt heads with them rather than try and compromise." Mrs Higurashi told her honestly. "You are trying to compromise like I told you, aren't you?"

"You told me to change him!"

"And have you made any headway with that?"

Kagome tutted loudly with a sigh. "I told you. His skull's too thick. And I'm learning that head-butting that walnut isn't getting either of us anywhere. Oh… by the way I've been meaning to ask…"

"Yes, dear?"

Kagome knew it was a long shot, a very long long shot, but it was worth a try. "Yuka's been an Inuyasha enthusiast since she saw him shopping with his mother when she was a kid, right?"

"Oh yes. A story that she never tires of telling people." Her mother agreed.

"Well, then can you ask her if she heard anything happening in 1992 involving Inuyasha? If there was one person who would remember every year of his life, it would be her." Kagome told her. "So can you ask her for me?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"I… uh…" she didn't want to say that she was deliberately being snubbed from the topic of 92 by the crew there at the villa. If she told her mother, she would then righteously not ask Yuka thinking that Kagome was prying (which she was, but Mrs Higurashi didn't need to know that). "He's busy right now." She eventually lied.

"I'll ask her. Anyhow… I hope they're feeding you well there - but then I'll see for myself tonight." Her mother said.

"Tonight?" What was tonight?

"It's Thursday today - the award's evening? Aren't you going with Inuyasha?"

Kagome had completely forgotten with the last three days of excitement. "You're right…"

~*~

"Did you know that the school girl could play piano?" Inuyasha asked Miroku idly at the breakfast table. The older boy glanced across at him thoughtfully, still chewing his toast.

"Sure. I saw her playing in the classic room a few nights ago." Miroku admitted before going back to his morning crossword puzzle in the newspaper. "Which reminds me, Sango wants you to put microphones in each room - we couldn't hear what she was playing. What made you ask?"

"No reason," Inuyasha rolled the nuts he'd taken out of his muffin around his plate. "Only… I heard her play last night."

"Really?" Miroku didn't look up from his puzzle. "What did she play?"

"I dunno…" Inuyasha frowned as he tried to remember the eerie melody that she'd played from the night before, but it still eluded him. He stopped playing with his leftovers as he tried to think back to what he'd felt. "It was weird… like this mood that passes over you, it made me sad and confused… the sound just creeps through you…"

Miroku stared openly at him. "So she's good?"

He shrugged and went back to messing with the muffin crumbs. "She's alright I guess…"

"She sing?"

Inuyasha shook his head half-heartedly.

Miroku smiled slightly and went back to his crossword just as Kikyo entered. As usual she was skipping breakfast in favour of being a workaholic. Inuyasha frowned as she came to a stop behind his place at the table. "What?"

"I need to have a word with you…" she glanced briefly at Miroku. "In private."

Miroku raised his eyebrows at her but she ignored him, watching Inuyasha closely instead. Inuyasha merely shot Miroku a disgruntled before standing and following Kikyo to the other side of the room. Even though he'd been pointedly snubbed, it didn't stop Miroku from straining to try and catch what the agent whispered in the superstar's ear, or from trying to decipher what she was saying from the changing expression on Inuyasha's face.

He watched closely with a frown as he saw Inuyasha's morning scowl slowly fade into blank shock. When Kikyo stopped talking and stepped back, trying to gouge his reaction as much as Miroku, he began to look angry…

"No… no… that can't happen…" Even Miroku could hear Inuyasha as his voice rose in volume. "No - they can't do that!"

Kikyo just shrugged helplessly. She looked apologetic. "I can't do anything about it, Inuyasha."

Miroku's frown increased as Inuyasha started growing frantic. "They can't - no - I won't-!" for a moment it looked as though he were about to grab Kikyo and shake her, but somehow he managed to restrain himself and with one last agonised look at Miroku, he practically fled out of the breakfast room.

Kikyo cleared her throat slightly and straightened her jacket before looking over at Miroku, realising he was staring at her with intense scrutiny. "What?"

"What the hell did you say to him?" he demanded angrily, slightly shocked at witnessing Inuyasha lose it so fast… though it wouldn't have been the first time that kind of thing had happened.

Kikyo just shrugged slightly - her way of saying it was none of his business. "I better make sure he doesn't go do something he'll regret later." She said in a low voice and walked out after Inuyasha, at a slightly more hurried pace.

Miroku sighed deeply and went back to reading his newspaper, mildly wondering what had crawled up both their arses. It was only when he turned back to the front page of the paper that he found his answer…

"Ah…" he said.

~*~

Kagome descended the steps that morning with a click in her heel and an all around feel-good feeling. She was energised, she was happy (now that she had spoken with her loving mother) and she was determined not to let Inuyasha get to her today.

That was until she bumped into him as she turned the corner towards the breakfast room. "Watch where you're going, bitch!" he barked in her face and shoved her aside so he could keep moving, leaving Kagome stumbled with only the wall to catch her from falling to the floor.

"What the hell's your problem?!" she shouted after him angrily, hands bracing with clenched fingers against the wall. "PMS again?!"

Ok. That little vow that Inuyasha would not ruin her day was quickly disregarded. Her day had officially been wrecked thanks to the creep now angrily storming up the stairs she'd previously come down. She made an irritated sound in her throat and pushed herself back upright again with a huff. The nerve of that guy…

Kikyo bumped into her next - except the agent was slightly less brutal about it and apologised absently to her. Kagome watched her disappear up the steps with growing confusion before deciding that it was probably none of her business (for once) and carried on to breakfast.

Miroku was the only person left sitting at the table reading an article in the newspaper, everyone else had eaten and gotten on with the work day. She, being a late-riser, now had to scrounge up a decent breakfast out of what was left. She eventually settled for half a bowl of soggy fruit. As she began slurping down her peach slices she glanced up at Miroku who seemed to be reading with a lot more concentration than he usually exacted in anything he did. "What are you reading?" she asked.

"The man…" Miroku started slowly as he set down the paper and slid it towards her so she could read. "The man who killed Inuyasha's parents has been granted an appeal that could spring him out of jail twenty-five years too early."

Kagome swallowed hard as she dropped her spoon back into the bowl and grabbed the paper to read the headline.

"Evidence of Prime Minister's Death Due to be Re-examined…?" Kagome frowned in confusion. "Fushira Hashimoto, 43, who six years ago received a life sentence of imprisonment for the murder of the former Prime Minister and his wife… is due to receive an appeal in court next week…" Kagome read down in silence for a moment or two. "He's claiming it was manslaughter whilst driving under the influence of alcohol…" she looked up at Miroku. "Since when were Inuyasha's parents murdered? I thought they died in a car crash."

"They did." Miroku pointed at the picture of the fairly average looking man beside the article. "But guess whose truck crushed their car against the lorry in front of them?"

"That's terrible…" She gazed at the man in the picture with a mixture of feelings. "Inuyasha was only eleven and his parents were killed by this - this drunk fool?"

Miroku sighed. "It was murder, not drunk driving. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I was in that court the day they declared him guilty… no way that man didn't do it deliberately. He wasn't even sorry."

Maybe this was why Inuyasha had been so upset. Great… now she felt bad for lashing back at him. She felt like the bad guy all of a sudden. "They can't possibly let him get out of jail for doing something like that…"

"They might… depends on the court now." He stood up and retrieved the newspaper. "If he says he's sorry and acts all guilty then they might decide six years was all he needed and let him go free."

Kagome sighed deeply and glumly pushed her dribbling fruit around the bowl, suddenly very disheartened in what should have been her good day. Miroku smiled compassionately at her and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "I'm sure Inuyasha will be glad to know you sympathise."

"He'll take it as pity and hate me for it." She told him quietly.

"Then you are getting to know him better than I do." Miroku said and left her to eat her breakfast in peace.

Kagome spent a few minutes mulling over the headlines of the newspaper, unwillingly beginning to feel bad for Inuyasha. She tried to imagine how she would feel if her parents had been murdered by someone at the tender age of eleven. Eleven was old enough to remember for life, old enough to feel the loss more deeply than a younger child, but it was also too young an age to be able to handle the loss alone like an adult might be able to.

She'd once had a dream that her mother had died from getting caught between a automatically closing garage door… she'd woken up crying and had been scared witless of it happening in real life for the rest of the week. It had terrified her until she'd realised that it had only been a dream.

For Inuyasha, Kagome's greatest fear was a reality. From what he'd already told her, losing his parents had almost driven him to suicide. What could he be going through now? Now that their apparent killer was appealing for a release. Kagome hadn't missed the part where the article had pointed out that they expected the sons, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, to give testimony at the appeal.

That was when Kagome decided that she had to go talk to him. She pushed away from the table and set a brisk pace for the first floor bedroom, room 6, where Inuyasha had last been seen heading to. No one was around when she arrived there, and she looked around hesitantly, expecting Kikyo to jump out from behind a bin and tell her off for annoying the almighty Inuyasha. But nothing happened… so she cautiously knocked on the door.

She got no answer.

She knocked again, a little louder, wondering if he was even in there.

She still got no answer.

So once again, she knocked. "Inuyasha, I know you're in there. Please open the door." If he was in there, he'd open the door, knowing he hadn't fooled her. If he wasn't… then no one would be any the wiser that she'd talked to an empty room.

Fortunately her bluff worked and she heard footsteps within. In a moment the door was open and Inuyasha was looking down at her expectantly. He didn't seem so upset now. "Do you want something?"

"Uh…" Kagome was thrown for a loop now… she'd come to see if… well… she didn't know what she'd come to see him for. But she'd expected him to be upset and angry… but he was evidently fine. "I saw the headlines of the newspaper…"

He frowned and glanced up and then back down at her. "And that means… what, to me?"

Hadn't he read the paper? "About Fushira Hashimoto appealing for-"

"Oh that!" he suddenly laughed. "Yeah, I know about that. Kikyo told me."

She stared at him. "Are you ok… with that, I mean?"

He shrugged. "Sure." He gave her a vague shake of the head. "I don't care about that anymore. I mean, why should I give a shit that he murdered my parents in cold blood because my father's policy cut his wages by a hundred yen a month when he'd… already…" he trailed off, looking like he was getting a headache. "And why do I keep telling you these things?" he shook a finger at her. "You're good, you're very good."

He slammed the door in her face.

Kagome remained rooted to the spot, quickly realising that perhaps he wasn't as alright as he seemed. She tentatively raised her hand again and knocked on the door quietly.

It opened and he looked down at her expectantly, once more wearing that 'everything's fine and normal with me' façade. "Back again so soon?"

Her brow lowered slightly and she folded her arms slowly. "That's not going to work on me, you know. You can smile and pretend you're fine, but I know that it's all just a mask."

He stared at her. "Oh, right…" he nodded as if taking what she'd said into deliberately. "So now what do you want me to do? Start crying like a little baby and tell you all my troubles in the world? All the troubles that I hide behind my little mask?"

"There's no need to get sarcastic…" she scowled. "I just came to see if you wanted to talk."

"If I ever wanted to talk - if I ever really wanted to talk I would go talk to someone. But the last person in the world that I'd to talk to would be you." He folded his arms, mirroring her pose as he leant against the door frame.

Kagome mentally cursed his stubbornness. He might not want to talk, but perhaps talking would help him. Cook had told her that he never talked to anyone… well, not about the stuff that mattered. Whatever had been bothering him since he was a child was still there, and he was still refusing to rid himself of the burden, refusing to get it off his chest and talk about it.

It would fester and rot inside him for the rest of his life, if he kept it hidden behind his 'nothing's wrong' expression. It would turn him bad from the inside… in fact it already had.

"So how's the view from your balcony then?" she slipped through the gap between him and the door faster than he could react to. "Wow, it's very big in here, much bigger than your last room." She moved over to the window and cocked her head. "Oh, very nice… you can't see the beach from here, the cliff blocks out all the people and gives that impression of being in the quiet countryside."

"What are you doing?" he drawled from the doorway, having turned to follow her progress.

"Just… checking out the view…" she moved her eyes to his four poster canopy bed. "And… checking out your mattress." She walked over and sat down with a plop on the bed and smiled widely. "Wow - is this one of those mattresses designed by NASA to stop you getting back problems?"

"Feathers actually." He kicked the door close with his foot and came to lean on one of the bed's posts. Kagome tried not to worry too much about him having shut the door… at least he wasn't kicking her out. She braced herself in case he tried anything on with her.

"Mm. Feathers. Not my thing." She shook her head. "I think feathers belong on the bird."

"I don't think the bird really cares where it's feathers go when it gets killed to be put on a plate for Sunday dinner." Inuyasha said nonchalantly.

Kagome glanced back at him, trying to decipher what his expression meant, but once again it was unreadable and blank. She turned to look across to the window instead. "I had this dream once where my Mom died and-"

"Let me guess, you woke up crying and now you understand what losing your parents is like?" he laughed caustically as he moved to sit on the opposite side of the bed to her, their backs to one another. "Oh please."

"No… what I meant is that I wouldn't understand. I can't imagine what it's like to have both your parents die on you and leave you with no one in the world. I wouldn't know what it's like to… to have someone angry enough to murder the people you love like that…"

Inuyasha was quiet, but she felt the bed bounce slightly as he fell backwards to lie flat on the quilt cover behind her.

"Look, I know you find me annoying and too out-spoken, but I think you need to listen to someone for once." She turned to look down at him. "Cook told me that you never told anyone about what happened in 1992… and you're still carrying those memories and keeping them to yourself. I'm not asking you to spill your guts or anything, but you may want to think about talking to someone about what happened… someone you know and trust… Miroku? Or Sango? Maybe your brother?"

He made a ghost of a shrug. "Why should I tell them? They already know what happened."

"Who told them?"

"Everyone here knew. They didn't get their juicy little details until the police turned up and told my parents who went around telling everyone."

It still bugged her that she still didn't have a clue what had happened back then. "Well you may feel better if you tell them yourself."

"No I won't."

"You don't know that for sure because you've never told anyone."

"Kaede had this wonderful teaching." He told her, arm still strewn across his face. "She said that whenever you felt angry or sad or bitter or scared you should push all your negative feelings into a tight little ball and force it into the soles of your feet."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Where it will rot and destroy you from the inside out."

"That's what she said as well…" he smirked slightly, but his voice sounded strange. "She never really liked me."

Kagome wondered why Kaede would tell him something like that as a beat of silence passed in the room. She let her guard down slightly, sure that he was beyond trying to make a move on her now.

"Did Cook tell you what happened in 1992?" he said in that thin, strained voice.

Kagome looked back down at him curiously, put at a disadvantage now that she couldn't see his face. "No… it's not my place to know."

"I can't tell cook." Inuyasha went on. "She's too old… too close to the family."

That was a stupid excuse in Kagome's opinion.

"I couldn't talk to Miroku about it. He's my friend… but not close enough to be a friend to confide in. Not Sango… she takes orders too easily, too careful about keeping her job I suppose. She gets as frustrated with me as you do though…"

Was he going somewhere with this?

"Not Sesshomaru… he's the worst brother in the world. He doesn't care about my well-being - just his image. Not Kaede because she hates me. And I wouldn't tell my parents because they kept pressuring me to do what you're pressuring me to do now." He dropped his arm back to his side and gave her a melting smile. "Which means I won't be telling you either, darling."

Damn… he'd sounded like he was leading up to the big confession as well. Kagome held on to her patience and tolerance like her mother had advised. "I'm not forcing you to tell me…" Though I wish you would just spit it out for your own sanity as well as mine…

"You told me to listen… I think I'll listen to Kaede and just keep my mouth shut." He sat up and turned to face her, looking appreciative. "But I admit, you almost had me there. But don't think for one second that I doubt you won't go running to the press the instant you learn what happened."

Kagome was genuinely stung. "I don't expect you to trust me - but I'm not ruthless enough to do that kind of thing!"

"Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. I don't really know you, so I don't really know what you'd do either. Plus, I don't really care enough to tell you."

What a load of… Kagome steeled her thoughts and took a deep breath. "Fine… you don't have to tell me. But I better warn you that I'll find out eventually."

"Sounds like a threat." He raised en eyebrow at her.

"It's just a warning. I'll find out on my own, or you can just come to me and tell me in your own time - which I think will be better for both of us in the long-run."

"I feel like you want me to admit some sort of crime."

"You didn't kill anyone in 92, did you?" she pounced on the hint at once, even though she knew he was being sarcastic.

He visibly flinched at her suggestion. "I never killed anyone… in 1992…" Kagome stared at him openly, watching his unguarded expression slowly slide into a distant look. Now what did that mean?

"Inuyasha…?" she frowned slightly. "You look like you're about to cry."

"Good boys don't cry… they don't tell tales…" he said in a flat, monotone voice. His eyes came back into focus and he gave her a stony look. "Are you satisfied yet - or do I have to throw you out of my bedroom?"

"I can find my own way." She gave a loud sigh and stood up, heading for the door. "Try not to let Hashimoto upset you too much."

"It's not him that's upset me." Inuyasha said darkly. Kagome glanced back at him at she reached the door. She half wanted to go back and try to coax something out of him again. She didn't know why but she had an odd feeling that maybe if Inuyasha just opened up a bit more to someone… anyone he wouldn't be such a difficult person to be around. He was too busy keeping himself on that pedestal away from the rest of the world that he was having trouble communicating with it.

"I'll see you at the awards then." She said quietly and shut the door gently after her as she left.

Inuyasha sullenly glared at the window, his jaw clenching tightly in a growing irritation that he was struggling to contain.

Stupid girl… butting in on matters that simply didn't have anything to do with her! She'd angered him this time… no, frightened him more like, because he had been on the verge of telling her everything. Telling her from the beginning to the end and then… and then what?

He could see that her dislike in him was causing her to try and change him… that scared him because he didn't know what person she wanted him to change into? He still had no idea what he wanted, what his future held… he still had no idea who he was. Who he should be?

It was strange… his identity crisis had hung over his head like a cold shadow, blocking out the sun, ever since he was six. But only in the last week had it all been brought to a painful focus that he just didn't want to deal with… he couldn't deal with it. It was just too soon.

But Kagome was not going to be dissuaded from having her way with him till Saturday…

~*~

"So nothing happened in 1992?" Kagome frowned as she ran her fingers in a pattern over the carpet of her bedroom. "Absolutely nothing?"

"Nothing whatsoever." Yuka told her over the phone.

Kagome pulled her hand back onto the bed and rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "That's impossible - something big happened in 1992. There must be some mention of it somewhere."

"92 is officially the quietest year Inuyasha has ever had, apparently." Yuka sounded very sure of herself as she said this. Kagome had to believe the expert. "There was absolutely no news or gossip about him or the family that year. His father had just finished his term as prime minister and was having a quiet period - his mother went of the modelling scene for quite a few months. There was no real action from these guys until early 1993 when Inuyasha was announced to be taking lessons in some sort of violent style of kick-boxing."

"So you could say that '92 was a suspicious quiet year then…" Kagome said more to herself than Yuka.

"Well anyway - don't forget to give us a shout out tonight when you go on telly! And don't forget to come back with Inuyasha's autograph - he can make it out to Yuka Sato."

Kagome smiled and laughed. "Ok. I won't forget. It's the least I can do for you."

There came a knock on the door and Kagome glanced up. "Oh, I better go, there's someone at the door."

"Is it Inuyasha?!"

Somehow Kagome doubted that. "No, it's probably just Sango. Bye, Yuka."

"Bye - and say hi to Inuyasha for me!"

"Will do." Kagome hung up before she could make anymore requests. She set the phone back in its cradle and hopped off the bed to go answer the door. Her suspicions were proven correct as Sango slipped into the room without invitation and a box under her arm.

"Guess what I've got!" Sango said mysteriously as she set the box down on the bed.

"A bomb? Does it tick? I don't want a repeat of what happened upstairs down here." Kagome eyes the flat box sceptically.

"Don't be silly, look!" Sango flipped the lid off and pulled out the dress from within. "It's your dress for the award's!"

Kagome's breath caught as she stared at the dress in shock. "You… you want me to wear that?"

"Mm hm." Sango held the dress up beside her own body to let Kagome see it's full extent. "We knew that, because you're only fifteen, we can't have you flouncing up the red carpet with a little bit of tissue over each nipple that most of the women will be doing. Miroku said you wouldn't mind, but I thought you'd prefer something more substantial than that."

It was a beautiful dress, Kagome had to give it that. In fact… it looked too beautiful, too intricate in its design and stitching to have been made in just a few days. "Did they make it for me?"

"Well…" Sango shrugged and forcefully passed the dress onto her. "Actually, it belonged to Inuyasha's mother. She only wore it once, at one of the prestigious shows - she took it down the catwalk and back and never wore it again. She's roughly you're size… a little taller and narrower in the hip maybe, but the tailor made a few adjustments to fit you so it should be all right."

"Will Inuyasha be ok with me wearing this?" Kagome ran her hands over the dark red, veil-like lace that served as the cover for the red silk dress beneath. It only one sleeve that flared out at the wrist, the other side was just a strap that went around the upper arm. Kagome was sure she'd never worn anything as bizarre as that before.

"He probably won't even recognise it - his mother wouldn't." Sango smiled. "Plus, I think red might suit you. And… it's Inuyasha's favourite colour."

Still… somehow, Kagome had the feeling that wearing this red dress that used to belong to his mother would simply serve as the red flag of the matador. She had a feeling he'd take one look at her and give her merry hell all evening.

But still… it was a beautiful dress.

AN: I can't believe it… 1,0 reviews before chapter ten? Thank you so much to everyone on ff.net who's reviewed so far! I appreciate it a lot ^_^