InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Life Sucks ❯ The Switch ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Life Sucks
By: ShoukaMiko
Chapter 2: The Switch

Blanket Disclaimer for Life Sucks: I don't own Inuyasha , its characters, songs, or any other songs I put on here by other groups.


"Rise and Shine!"

A girl with short hair, neat, even bangs and sharp facial features leaned over a nearly comatose Kagome. Yuka frowned at the still sleeping figure and shrugged her shoulders looking toward Ayumi and Eri for help.

Shoulder length, wavy hair falling forward, the shortest girl bent down to shake Kagome awake. "Kagome it's Ayumi, Yuka and Eri. You have to get up! We have a busy day ahead of us!" She was hoping the raised voice along with the fierce shaking would do the trick but…

"Uuunnnn five more minutes mom it's Saturday…" Kagome mumbled while letting out a yawn that would put a lion to shame.

Eri scowled fiercely then suddenly perked up. " Wait one second I think I have an idea." The short haired, wild banged, petite figure walked out of Kagome's room, leaving the other two teens standing on either side of the bed exchanging confused looks.

"I'm back!" Eri walked in, cheerfully carrying a glass of ice-cold water.

The other two girls' eyes widened in understanding. Both of them backed away from the bed quickly not wanting to be in range of Kagome's wrath when she woke up.

< SPLASH! >


"WHAT THE HELL!?" Kagome roared sputtering and coughing as she bolted from her bed.

"Sorry Kagome-chan but your gonna sleep valuable shopping time away." Eri said noticing she had the now empty glass in plain view. She panicked a second then swooshed the offending object behind her back, grinning a little to widely.

"Shopping at this indecent hour of the morning on a Saturday!" Kagome whined. It was 12:00 in the afternoon.

"You want to look good for your date with Hojo don't you?" Yuka asked, hands on hips.

" You mean he still wants to go out with me after everything that happened yesterday?" Kagome grimaced at the memory while ringing out her hair over the carpet.

"Of course he does! Just because you're a klutz doesn't mean he's gonna stop liking you." Everyone sweat dropped while looking at the clueless Ayumi.

"All the more reason you should look your best." Eri said with an enlightened look on her face.

"Alright, fine, but next time just shake me and ask me to wake up or something. Sheesh!" Three pairs of eyes rolled as Kagome left the room, Yuka slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand and sighed loudly.


******

"Oh no! It's 6:00 already and the concert starts at 8:00, I'll never make it!" Kagome dropped all the bags on the floor of her room and started flinging things out of them mercilessly. The girls had ransacked nearly every clothing and shoe store in the mall to find the perfect outfit for Kagome. They ended up settling on an asymmetrical black tank top with red and white see through detailing. The straps of the tank top were pieces of the red and white see through stuff tied at the shoulder with more of it covering where the black material cut off just above her belly button. With that she wore red leggings with black roses detailed up the calf and black strappy sandals with platform heels. To top off the look she had a black and silver choker with black leather wrist cuffs with silver studs. "Hey," she thought out loud, " it's a rock concert so why not. Besides I do look kind of good." She quickly straightened her hair and put eyeliner and shadow to make her eyes look smoky.

She took a step back from the mirror and smiled with deep red lips at the results. She caught the reflection of one of her posters in the mirror and gave a contented sigh. The Sengoku Jidai was one of her favorite bands and she was finally going to be able to see them in concert. A few of her friends said that she looked like the lead singer but she always shrugged it off as one of those things people said when they wanted to be nice.

She was suddenly jolted back to reality when the doorbell rang. Kagome threw open the door. Her footsteps thumping down the stairs as she went running. Seconds later the thumping could be heard coming back up the stairs as Kagome ran for her purse where she dropped it on her bedroom floor.

******

Hojo fidgeted nervously at the door to the shrine house where Kagome lived. He had always thought it was an interesting place to visit with its ancient well and the Goshinbuko tree that was hundreds of years old.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Kagome's mom answered the door. He blushed a little since he was wearing ripped blue jeans and a t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off and slashes ripped in the chest. Not his idea of a great first impression to the person who could ultimately keep Kagome from dating him.

"G-Good evening Mrs. Higurashi." He managed to stutter. "I'm here to pick up Kagome-sama."

Kagome's mom flashed him a bright smile not at all affected by his outfit. "Hello Hojo. Don't worry Kagome will be down in just a second." So saying she took a step back to yell up the stairs, "KAGOME, HOJO'S HERE! YOUR GOING TO BE LATE FOR THAT CONCERT YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WERE PLOTTING ABOUT!"

"MOTHER!" Kagome yelled running down the stairs. She skidded to a halt in the entryway.

Hojo's mouth dropped open in appreciation of the outfit that was hugging every one of Kagome's curves as she rushed at him. While he was still gaping she had grabbed Hojo's hand pulling him toward his parents car and nearly flinging him into the driver's seat.
“Be careful you two! And have fun!” Kagome's mom waved from the door way.

“Thanks mom!” Kagome briefly waved back before turning quickly to Hojo."Hurry we'll be late!" Kagome said as she plopped into the passenger's seat and slammed the door.

Even as he started the car and made the car practically fly down the road he kept throwing glances in Kagome's direction.

"K-K-Kagome you look… you look…wow!" Hojo said as he nearly drove his car into the one in front of him.

Kagome gave a small smirk. ` Mission Accomplished.'


******

" Sango you have to do it. There's no other choice!" Miroku said as he tuned his bass guitar and made sure that the amp and other equipment were connected properly.

Inuyasha was scowling over in a corner of the stage trying to ignore the conversation going on as he put down his guitar. It was black with red claw marks slashing diagonally across the body. Everyone agreed that it totally fit the moody lead guitarist who now had his arms crossed in front of him in his signature pose.

He watched as Miroku was trying to convince Sango to take on the responsibilities of lead singer for the night. He sighed at the figure huddled nervously in her seat behind the drum set.

Sango watched Miroku fiddle with his bass. It was black with a swirling purple black hole painted on it. She looked at the bass player himself and hid a blush. So he didn't look too bad in his tight red tank top that clung to his muscles and baggy black cargo pants. So what. It's not like she hadn't seen him in stuff like that before. She herself had her hair up swept into a high ponytail, wearing a black halter-top that had a red silhouette of her two-tailed demon kitty Kirara on it. Black hip hugger pants finishing off the look.

Getting herself under control she said, " I can't, I haven't even practiced singing the songs! Plus I'm over here beating the crud out of my drums. Who ever heard of a drummer being the lead singer of a band?!"

"You know all the songs just as well as Kikyo did. If it's your singing voice that your worried about, don't, you have a beautiful voice if I do say so myself." Miroku said soothingly as he gave his full attention to the blushing Sango.

Sango was taken back for a second by the sincerity in his voice as she lost track of her friend's hands. Big mistake…on his part anyway.
< CRASH! >

Miroku held his head in both hands where Sango had slammed it into one of her cymbals.

"Seriously Sango-sama, I was only trying to be comforting." Miroku pouted looking indignant (not to mention in pain).

"Oh and I suppose massaging my backside is supposed to soothe my nerves" Sango snarled between clenched teeth.

"Doesn't it?" Miroku said in the most innocent voice he could muster.

Shippo decided to take that moment to pop up. As he noted the huge welt on Miroku's forehead he shook his own head, knowing the only way the bass player could have gotten that. The resident techy of the band turned hesitantly toward Inuyasha not wanting to become a victim of his already bad mood.

" All the pyrotechnics are set up and working, I've got all the lighting planned out and in the computer, and the sound systems are working great. Everything should be ready to go in time for the concert in a couple hours. We're still going to do it, right?" Shippo tensed; ready to run if Inuyasha decided to take that moment to explode.

Inuyasha's eyes snapped down to where Shippo was standing wringing his tiny hands. "Of course we're still doing it! Just because that stupid wench decided to bail on us doesn't mean we have the option of giving hundreds of fans their money back does it? Besides it's too late to do anything else. We'll just have to go through with it and hope our fans won't burn us at the stake."

Shippo gave a small gulp and tried not to think what a barbecued kitsune would taste like.

******

`Ten minutes to show time.' The little fox demon thought. He sighed wishing that Kikyo would come back. He had never really liked her, but the band needed her. Hopefully this concert wouldn't be a total flop but he wasn't too sure. Everyone was in such a bad mood, and Sango was a total nervous wreck. He decided the best thing for him to do was to get to a concession stand and buy out it's chocolate supply to calm his nerves.

*******

Kagome and Hojo took their seats. `Not that we'll be sitting for long.' Kagome thought, her stomach fluttering in anticipation. This was going to be her first rock concert and she couldn't be more excited. They had great seats, which got Kagome wondering if Hojo hadn't been planning this for a while.

Kagome shrugged that thought off as she turned to Hojo. "Do you want anything to drink? I'm going to the concession stand to get a soda."

"You don't have to get up Kagome-chan, I'll go and buy you whatever you want." Hojo offered, pushing his brown, short hair out of his eyes.

Kagome shook her head shooting up out of her seat, " Don't worry about it. I'm too excited to sit still right now anyway. What do you want?"

"A diet Pepsi would be great." Hojo said unaware of the slightly surprised grimace Kagome tried to hide. She had never liked the after taste of most diet sodas. She shook it off and flashed Hojo a smile.

"Be back in a sec." She threw over her shoulder as she raced to the already dwindling line. A sure sign that the concert would be starting soon.

Not even a few seconds after she got there, she felt a frantic tugging at her hand. She looked down to see a little fox demon with a fluffy tail. He was wearing blue jeans and a red Nautica shirt. On top of that though was the thing that really made Kagome's eyes widen. The kitsune had an all access crew member badge hanging around his neck.

"Come on! Everyone's going to have a cow when they find out you're here! What are you doing anyway? You should be back stage not getting a snack!" Shippo was doing his best to drag Kagome through the crowds.

`Wow,' Kagome thought, `maybe I won some seat raffle and they're going to give me a pass backstage. Wait! What if someone else won it and they just have me confused with that person. Hmmm, better to keep quiet about it for now.' Kagome followed the small figure in front of her hoping she didn't die of shock before she could get some autographs.

Sango spotted her first. Her expression changed from shock to relief in record time. She was sure she was going to die of an anxiety attack before she even picked up her drumsticks. `Well,' she sighed, releasing some tension as she did so, `at least she came around before it was too late.'

In less than a second Kagome's excited expression turned to one of panic when she saw the drummer of the Sengoku Jidai striding toward her with a grim determination. `Oh no,' Kagome started panicking, `she knows I'm not supposed to be here. Maybe if I try to apologize they'll still let me stay back here.'

"Look, I'm really sorry. I…" Kagome began.

"Kikyo, now is not the time for it, but I'll admit I'll even want to hear that apology after the show. Right now we have to get your butt on stage." Sango said even as she was dragging a very confused Kagome behind her as Shippo went to attend his electronic equipment and computers in preparation to start the show.

"But…" Kagome was doing her best to hang back but the tall female figure in front of her was stronger than she looked. Who's Kikyo? Why did that name sound like it should mean something to her?

"Here give me that." Sango said as she snatched Kagome's purse and threw it off stage. "We'll discuss the whole name thing afterwards, right now we're already running behind schedule." Sango said quickly to try to keep `Kikyo' from having second thoughts.

Kagome was dragged up a set of stares then unceremoniously flung out into blinding lights.

She thought her heart had stopped.

In front of her was a sea of people, giving up a deafening roar. For a few seconds she was paralyzed, not knowing what to do, looking very much like a dear caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler. Finally her brain again took control of her body as she tried to turn around and run off stage.

Before she could take a step she ran into a wall of skin, muscle and black leather. Her heart skipped a crazy beat when she looked up into golden eyes that looked strangely homicidal at the second.

"So! You came crawlin' back, huh Kikyo?" The tall, smirking face glared at her with a look that could break a person in half.

"I…" Kagome breathed.

"Don't bother! After this you're still out of the band! Right now just make yourself useful." Inuyasha growled as he pushed past her.

"Ooww damn it!" Kagome snapped, rubbing the offended shoulder. `What the heck! She hadn't even done anything wrong and she was getting tossed back and forth like a friggin hacky sack! Damn Kikyo, who ever she was!' Kagome took a sharp gasp, eyes widening in understanding. In her mind she could see the poster and the figure at the forefront of it. That girl must be Kikyo! `They think I'm the lead singer of the band!' she thought now terrified of what that implied.

Kagome searched desperately around for an understanding face. The drummer looked kind of dangerous as she focused on the task ahead, twirling her drumsticks as accurately as one would handle a weapon. Kagome probably didn't want to be around when she found out the truth. She then turned to the figure she had bumped into barely now noticing the dog-ears inside the flowing, long, and silver hair. She wasn't all to blame though, considering her first view had been of a tall, lanky, muscular, body clothed in tight black leather pants, an open matching vest and combat boots.

Kagome shook herself out of her thoughts. No help there in any case. She watched him while he moved a speaker that was bigger than he was tall with little effort.With that black scowl and razor sharp looking claws, he wasn't exactly exuding a welcoming attitude. Her eyes finally found the one figure that didn't look as affected by this turn of events as everyone else. Kagome took a deep breath and walked over to the tall figure wielding a bass guitar.

"Hey… hi, there's been a mistake. You see I can't…" Kagome started in what she thought was a reasonable voice. Apparently she was wrong.

"Hey don't worry about it. You can explain everything after the show. Maybe Inuyasha will even let you stay on. Oh, incidentally we've changed the line up. We're doing Fukai Mori first, then Change the World, then My Will, and we're ending with Dearest. Everything else is the same. Got it?" Miroku said all of this while wondering why Kikyo looked uncharacteristically terrified. It wasn't like her to show her emotions to the world.

"Uuuuhh…" Kagome's head was spinning, now that she knew there was no way out of this and no way to save herself.

"Keep your chin up. You'll be fine." Miroku said reassuringly while giving her a wink and making a clicking sound to go with it.

Kagome walked hesitantly up toward the microphone but realized how exposed and vulnerable she felt with nothing but the mike stand to hide behind. She quickly took in her surroundings and found what she needed.

She picked up a black guitar with red claw marks, quickly giving it a tuning check. It couldn't have been more perfectly tuned than if she had done it herself. She took a deep breath to steady herself. `Okay, Kagome, it's just like when you play these songs for your friends after school don't freak out.' Kagome suddenly remembered something and quickly searched the crowd. Hojo was there, staring at her as if she had suddenly sprouted wings on her back. Kagome focused on him trying to pretend she was only playing for him and her friends out in the quad area or on the bleachers by the football field.

Inuyasha had walked back on stage after checking in with Shippo one last time to make sure everything was ready and that the necessary changes had been made. What he found was that his guitar was missing. He stared at the empty stand for a second not being able to understand who in their right mind would take his guitar. He looked at Sango first who was obviously ignoring him, then at Miroku who was trying very hard to stifle a laugh. What the heck could be so funny his friggin guitar was missing! Then on a hunch he followed his friends amused gaze.

"OI KIKYO! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING WITH MY GUITAR?!!"

Kagome was too focused and too unused to being called Kikyo to notice the hanyou roaring at her.

`So she's ignoring me. Well let her make a fool out of herself. I know for a fact she doesn't play the guitar.' Inuyasha thought dryly. Luckily he had brought his dad's old guitar. He still practiced on it when he needed to think clearly. So, yeah, he had really needed it these past couple of days. He brought out a sleek black guitar with white/silver lightning all across it's face.

Kagome had finally turned around to see if everyone was ready. The crowd was getting rowdier than ever, feeding off of its own screams. Kagome was a second away from panicking when her fingers found the familiar first chords of the song on their own. After a bit, the astonished band began to play with her. She began to sing. Her beautiful mezzo-soprano voice ringing clearly and calming the crowd.
Romaji Lyrics
English Translation
fukai fukai mori no oku ni ima mo kitto
okizari ni shita kokoro kakushite'ru yo
I'm sure that the heart I left behind
still lies hidden in the heart of the deep, deep forest.
sagasu hodo no chikara mo naku tsukarehateta
hitobito wa eien no yami ni kieru
Exhausted, without the strength to search
people vanish into the infinite darkness.
chisai mama nara kitto ima demo mieta ka na
If it's so small, I wonder if I can see it even now?

Inuyasha had never heard `Kikyo' sing so passionately. He looked over at her, a confused scowl on his face. She had always been about the business of music, about getting the notes and rhythms perfect and in tune. She would never have embellished or… or…show her heart like she was doing now. And since when could she play the guitar?!

Kagome lost herself in the music. Closing her eyes at times to be able to feel it better, to let it run through her body to wash out all the negative things she was feeling. It was a dream come true to be able to make music like this and be able to call it hers, if only for a moment.

* boku-tachi wa ikiru hodo ni
nakushite'ku sukoshi zutsu
itsuwari ya uso wo matoi
tachisukumu koe mo naku
* As we live on,
we lose a little bit more.
Shrouded in falsehoods and lies,
we stand frozen to the spot, unable to cry out
aoi aoi sora no iro mo kidzukanai mama
sugite yuku mainichi ga kawatte yuku
The days pass by and change,
without us even realizing how blue the sky really is.
tsukurareta wakugumi wo koe ima wo ikite
sabitsuita kokoro mata ugokidasu yo
Overcoming that made-up scheme, we live the present,
and our rusted hearts begin to beat again!

Miroku and Sango exchanged glances. Who was this person? Was it really `Kikyo'? `Kikyo' sang perfectly even if it was a little cold and lacking in passion. What she was doing right now though, even if you could tell she was uncertain in some places, maybe a little flat in others, she made up for it in passion and warmth. `Kikyo'?

toki no RIZUMU wo shireba mo ichido toberu darou
If we can find the rhythm of time, we can fly once again [1]
boku-tachi wa samayoi nagara
ikite yuku doko made mo
shinjite'ru hikari motome
arukidasu kimi to ima
We live our lives
wandering to the ends of the earth.
Believing (in you?), now I begin my journey with you,
in search of the light.

Kagome stared out at the crowd putting her soul into every phrase. The best part about it was that she knew the crowd knew that too, and they were responding to it.

*repeat chorus
* repeat chorus
boku-tachi wa samayoi nagara
ikite yuku doko made mo
furikaeru
michi wo tozashi
aruite'ku eien ni
We live our lives
wandering to the ends of the earth.
Closing off
the way back,
we walk on for eternity.
tachisukumu koe mo naku
ikite yuku eien ni
We live our lives standing frozen to the spot,
unable to cry out, for eternity...


((*special thanks to Inuyashaworld.com for the lyrics.))
As the ending notes faded the crowd came back up to full volume. Kagome looked over at where Hojo was going crazy, an empty seat next to him that wouldn't be occupied tonight. That's when it hit. She was on stage with her favorite rock band of all time... and she was posing as their lead singer. She bit her lip holding back a scream of happiness.
To think if she had taken no for an answer and let Hojo get their drinks, she wouldn't be up here right now.

She turned back to beam at the other members of the band but all of them were looking at her as if she were an alien from another planet. Well she thought she had been doing ok.

They breezed through Change the World and Kagome was beginning to get the hang of things better including her confidence. She was surer of herself and even began to make shy attempts to work the crowd.
(A/N * I wish I could give proper recognition to the person whose fanart inspired the coming description of Inuyasha. Whoever it was thanks.*)

It was during My Will that they finally started having technical difficulties. Inuyasha was strumming out the opening chords when a shift down the finger board of his guitar made his finger catch on a loose thread from the sided detailing of his worn leather vest. By the time he realized it though, he nearly missed the next series of chords because of it. He scowled down at the string that was determined to catch on his claws and make a more permanent home.

`Keh, I'll take care of this little problem in a sec.' He thought as he made like the bad ass he was with the guitar, with complicated fingerings and wild strokes. Miroku raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't think Inuyasha had been in any mood to show off.

"Grrrrrrr…" Inuyasha growled menacingly as he ended up even more tangled than he already was. Sango could tell something was up when Inuyasha started jerking his guitar around. The thread had caught on one of the tuning pegs making it nearly impossible to move because it had also tangled the actual vest into the mess. His guitar solo was coming up and he'd be damned if he missed out on it because of some stupid wardrobe malfunction.

Sango's, Miroku's, and finally Kagome's attention was caught by what was going on. Inuyasha had gotten fed up with the whole stupid thing and ripped the vest right off of himself with a sweep of his free claws. His whole upper body stripped to the waist; silver hair billowing all around him wildly as he ripped into the solo almost as violently.

Kagome started blushing furiously. She started wishing the phrases in the song weren't so long; she could barely catch her breath.

Inuyasha had and evil grin on his face when he saw what his situation was doing to `Kikyo'. Heck if he had known what it did to her he would have been doing this ages ago. He decided to have a little fun with this as he walked, pointedly closer to `Kikyo'. His movements reminiscent of a jungle cat stalking prey. Kagome went pale as soon as she saw him closing the space. She almost forgot the words to the next part of the song as Inuyasha came closer.

`Focus Kagome, Focus!' She said doing her best to ignore the hanyou next to her who was glistening a little with sweat from the heat of the lights. She saw the smirk on his face and realized, `That chauvinistic prick is trying to intimidate me!'

She challenged him by stepping into his space then. That did it. He was surprised at the determination in her eyes, as if she was daring him to try anything. Before they knew it their guitars started answering the challenges they exchanged back and forth for awhile. Miroku and Sango could only look on helplessly and try to keep up as the two battled it out on the guitars in their impromptu duet. Meanwhile the crowd was loving it, and grew louder with every riff.

Finally Kagome got a hold of herself as she pulled away and finished the last couple stanzas of the song. Inuyasha went back to his spot with a new-found respect for the girl he thought he knew.

The concert continued without too many more mishaps. Kagome got too close to the edge once and had to be pulled back by Inuyasha, who had to latch onto her tank top with his claws, but otherwise it went well. Kagome sang the last lines of Dearest in a haunting tone and the crowd went absolutely crazy!

Kagome finally got to take that long sigh she had been holding in and waved out at the audience as the lights died down. She was barely turning when all the band members, including Shippo this time rushed her for explanations, apologies, and in some cases congratulations for one of the best concerts they had done yet.

"I can't believe you came back Kikyo. What changed your mind?" Sango said trying to catch her breath after nearly being run over by one human, a hanyou, and a kitsune.

" It's lucky I found you on the way to the concession stand `Kikyo'! The concert would have been a disaster without you!" Shippo said while at the same time shoving a piece of his precious chocolate in his mouth.

" Wow, Kikyo-sama that was truly a unique performance! I've never seen you let loose like that." Miroku smiled down at her approvingly.

"Hey Kikyo, don't you want to tell us aaalllll something?" Inuyasha said snidely "You know something in the way of I'm sorry and I was being a great big b…"

"Kikyo, Kikyo, Kikyo!" Kagome shouted in frustration, not being able to take the whole mistaken identity thing anymore. " Whoever she is she's NOT ME!!"

Inuyasha snorted his disbelief. "Stop playing games Kikyo. I know your smell and you…" Inuyasha hesitated because now that he had taken a breath there was something… "You're not Kikyo!!"

Everyone backed up to take a look at the now unknown girl in their midst.

" Of course I'm not Kikyo! That's what I've been trying to tell you all along! My name is KAGOME! Ka-go-me!"