InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Divine Interventions ❯ From Terrible To Worse ( Chapter 7 )

Authors Note: Happy Imbolc, Candlemas, and, for you secular types, groundhog day!

 

Chapter 7 From Terrible to Worse

Michael escorted a now blushing, self-conscious Kagome to a chair on the stage.

Inuyasha thought, “Just where the hell was her humility a few minutes ago?!”

When Kagome tried to voice a question, Michael quieted her with a finger to his lips.

“I don't want his hands touching her!”

Inuyasha could sense a change, a dark rising, in his own blood's scent. He clenched Tetseiga's handle.

“If I don't find control, I'm going to turn into a full demon right here and now!”

Inuyasha felt some of the tension drain from his white-knuckled hands when the man walked away from Kagome and stood at the center of the stage, again holding the microphone. “And now,” he said, smiling, “The Tokyo Travelers and yours truly.”

Eric and his band came on stage with Michael. When the applause died down, they began to play a song. Michael sat in front, on a square, wooded seat. He looked down at the audience, straight at Inuyasha, and with vivid blue eyes and a smirk even more arrogant that Inuyasha himself could manage, he laughed. He slapped his hands against the box and it made a drumming sound. He stood up, and began singing:

Hold on little girl,
Show me what he's done to you,
Stand up, little girl,
A broken heart can't be that bad,

When it's through, it's through,
Fate the twist of both of you,
So come on baby, come on over,
Let me be the one to show you:

I'm the one who wants to be with you,
Deep inside I hope you feel it too,
Feel it too,
Waiting on a line,
I'm waiting on a line,
Just to be the next to be with you.

Build up your confidence,
So you can be on time for once,
Wake up, who cares about,
Little boys that talk too much.
I seen it all go down,
The game of love was all ran down,
So come on baby,
Come on over,
Let me be the one to hold you,

I'm the one who wants to be with you,
Deep inside I hope you'll feel it too,
Feel it too,
Waiting on a line,
I'm waiting on a line,
Just to be the next to be with you.

Why be alone,
When we could be together baby?
You could make my life worthwhile,
I could make you start to
SMILE.

When it's through,
It's through,
Fates the twist of both of you,
So come on baby,
Come on over,
Let me be the one to hold you,

I'm the one who wants to be with you,
Deep inside I hope you feel it too,
Feel it too,
Waiting on a line,
I'm waiting on a line,
Just to be the next to be with you

. . . . Just to be the next to be with you.

(*“To Be With You,” by Mr. Big)

 

When Michael sang the lines

“Wake up, who cares about

little boy that talk too much,”

his eyes darted swiftly to meet Inuyasha's, a goading smile playing on his full, masculine mouth. By the time he finished singing, he was kneeling down in front of Kagome his hand in hers. The audience went wild with applause as Kagome blushed deeply. She was embarrassed, but also touched by Michael's serenade. She was glowing with happiness from his attentions.

“Happy Birthday, Kay,” he said in a husky stage whisper, smiling up at her. Kagome bent down and hugged him, smiling right back. “Thank you Michael, you have made things much, much better,” she whispered in his ear.

She tried to stand up leave the stage and spotlight, but he gently pushed her back down to her seat. “Wait love, your surprise isn't over.”

Kagome's eyes grew wide. “Michael what-?”

“Be still now Kay, just wait.” With that mysterious command, Michael left her again on her chair at the side of the stage. He picked up the microphone again. . . .

“Now what the hell is the bastard up to?”

Inuyasha's patience was beyond worn thin. He suffered through this human's “performance,” and witnessed and heard Kagome and Michael's exchange afterward. Only with the steady effort of his concentration was he able to keep his inner beast leashed. He was still very angry, but underneath the white-numbing anger was a new emotion--a deep, aching sadness.

In his mind, he kept hearing what Kagome had said to him earlier:

“I'm not the same as I was back then, and you do not know me. I don't know you anymore either. . . .”

Her words rang with dawning truth in his head. She had been right. He had made a decision two months ago, made his promise to Kikyo, and Kagome left, heartbroken. He tried to find her, to get back to her as quickly as he could, but he never considered it would be too late. The taste of bile rising in his mouth watching her smile at her new man, he was riddled with doubt about returning with her to his own time. Perhaps too much, had changed for her.

“Idiot! Why were you so upset when you discovered the well was destroyed? Were you just worried about her? Was it because of the shards? Or was it guilt? You hurt the girl deeply and you know it, you knew your decision was bound to hurt her, but you made it anyway. Are you prepared to go back on your promise? Would it turn back time for her if you could?”

Inuyasha was trapped between his duty and desire, and, closing his eyes that suddenly felt leaden, realized he no longer had the right to ask anything of Kagome. Somewhere in a dark, dark corner of his mind, he realized that he was simply witnessing what some part of him knew would always happen after the quest.

“You knew you would be bound to Kikyo, but until it was over, you didn't, wouldn't, let yourself even consider her being with someone else. You wouldn't tolerate another even sniffing around her, would have KILLED this human for touching her! . . .

Yes, but damn it, she was just a girl the last time I saw her! She NEEDED my protection. That's all it was, right?. . . But now. . . . You knew when you saw her, some part of you knew, time has changed her.

Yet, you convinced her to return with you, even after seeing her.”

 

Whatever this man Michael was to her, he was someone special. “Is it right, to make her leave with you now? To bind her to you with guilt and duty?” Inuyasha frowned as his own fractured thoughts answered him:

“But after finding her again, after all this, are you really prepared to let her go?”

Inuyasha smiled bitterly, suddenly recalling all the times he had dismissed her, taken her presence for granted, demeaned her, and allowed her to think he saw her only as a shard detector.

“Could you deserve what you see now, what you are feeling?”

“Maybe I should go back without her and seal the well forever. . . Are you prepared to do that?” The conflict raged in his mind as he watched Kagome, bestowing her radiant smile on the human man. His chest constricted. Even if he should go back without her, he was not ready to concede everything, not yet. “I can still protect her, I can still be her friend. . . .”

. . . . “Ladies and gents,” Michael continued, “A very special guest is here tonight at American Rock. He's making his way to Australia, and stopped over for the night. He's a living classic, a wickedly gifted man. . . . I give you my good friend, Mr. Tom Petty!

The noise from the crowd was deafening. Inuyasha grabbed his ears and winced in pain as a woman standing next to him screamed as if she was being eviscerated.

“WHAT THE FUCK!”

Tom Petty walked onto the stage, waved, and smiled for several minutes as the crowd exploded into a round of banging applause.

“Hhmph! I don't see what's so special about him. He looks old. Not what you'd call handsome even by human standards. He's scrawny and weak!”

As the applause died down in slow waves, he spoke into the microphone. “Good Evening Tokyo!”

Again, a fantastic round of screams. Inuyasha covered his ears and winced again. “Gods if he does this to them just standing there, what the hell is going to happen when he sings?!”

“I understand there's a lady with a birthday tonight,” he said in a low voice.

As another spotlight found Kagome, drawing the attention back toward her, the crowd broke into new sounds, hoots and whistles.

“Aw Shit! This fucking HURTS!”

He looked at Kagome. She didn't look like the wonton temptress in control of everyone only minutes before. She didn't look demure or bashful either. She looked “exactly like the stupid wench next to me screaming my damn ears off!”

She was smiling, a huge, goofy smile, hiding her face in her hands one minute, the next minute looking up and ogling the singer. She didn't scream, but she looked like she could have. “Stupid girl. Look at all these stupid girls!”

Arms folded across his chest, Inuyasha smirked and grunted, “There's nothing special about this man.” No one heard him or if they did, cared.

“This song's for the birthday lady.” With that, the band started playing, and Tom Petty started singing, walking slowly over to face Kagome and singing:

“It's all right if you love me,

It's all right if you don't,

I'm not afraid of you running away, honey,

I get the feeling you won't. . . .

There ain't no use in pretending,

Your eyes, they give you away,

Something inside you is feeling like I do,

We've said all there is to say.

BABY!

Break down,

Go ahead and give it to me,

Break down, honey take me through the night,

Break down, now honey baby can't you see,

Break down,

It's all right. . . .

It's all right,

It's all riiight. . . .

Kagome stood, transfixed. Her eyes wide almost in shock. Tom Petty was singing to her, for her. Kagome was beyond thinking. She could feel her heart racing, knew she was staring, blatantly staring, at him. A part of her knew she wasn't in control of her actions, but even that part didn't care. This was- way beyond amazing, it was sublime.

Inuyasha watched her respond to him, oblivious of EVERYTHING.

“Has he put her under some kind of a spell? I don't sense any powers in this man. What the hell has he done to her?” Focusing his demon senses on her, he could hear her heart rate climbing again, and something else,-- she smelled excited. Aroused.

“Shit Kagome, your feeling THAT?!”

He blushed an angry, furious red. I'm gonna have to get to that damn girl before she jumps him!

At that moment, however, the song was over, and everyone, including Kagome, was clapping. Tom Petty leaned in to Kagome and said “Happy birthday.” Kagome smiled, shyly again, and said “Thank you!” She hugged him and before she pulled away, and he--

“HE KISSED HER! He Goddamn KISSED HER MOUTH!”

In a different time, different place, the man would have been dead for doing that. Here, now, Inuyasha knew he was unable to sink his claws into the filthy, insolent man that dared to do this, so instead sank them into a nearby table, leaving deep, permanent gouges in the varnished wood. He was trapped to watch, to watch and know Kagome enjoyed it.

The approval from the crowd was loud and immediate, as a fresh round of hoots and whistles exploded around him. It was a quick, chaste kiss, but Kagome could have gone into cardiac arrest. As he walked back to the center of the stage to do another song, Kagome noticed Michael standing just off stage, smiling over at her.

She ran to him, and jumping up to secure her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly. Michael caught her by the waist and held her up, as she wrapped her legs around his.

“Michael, I can't believe you made all this happen for me!” Kagome spoke into his black duster, her face buried in his shoulder and his hair.

“Can I take it you liked your surprise then, love?” He whispered.

She moved her head and looked up to face him. “Michael I LOVED every moment of this evening and you know it! Thank you for giving me my best birthday ever!” Her smile of happiness was dazzling.

She dropped her legs from his sides, but they continued to embrace.

“It's been my pleasure love, all mine.” He smiled down at the woman in his arms.

As Tom Petty left the stage amidst a fresh shower of appreciative applause and the Tokyo Travelers began a new set, Kagome and Michael's exchange in shadows off-stage went unnoticed by the human audience. The hanyou, however, stared at them, orange eyes flashing, brighter than usual even for him. He watched, and heard every word.