InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Siren ❯ Chapter 9 ( Chapter 9 )
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.27.2005 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 791 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing.
A/N:Tero is Kagome's cousin on her dad's side. He lives with the rest of the Vuorinen family in Finland, works at Spinefarm, and is taking some time off to annoy his cousin. He calls her 'Seija' (Say-yah) because, one, it's her middle name, two, it's easier for him to pronounce.
“You look different,” the hanyou noted. “Did you grow a few inches finally?”
“Blame the shoes,” was her quick answer.
“I don’t think my brother’s underlings merit,” he glanced at the shoes again. “Three inch heels.”
“They shouldn’t,” Kagome agreed. “I just feel better when I’m taller.”
“They don’t merit make-up either,” he drawled.
“Are you going to let me in?” she smiled up at him. “Or are we going to play ‘Extreme Makeover’?”
He stepped aside, but shushed her. “Don’t say that phrase! The walls have ears.”
“Why would the walls care if I said ‘Extreme Makeover’?”
There was a gasp from a hallway to the right. “Did someone say ‘Extreme Makeover’! I love that show!”
Inuyasha winced, then glared at her, “I was never here.” He disappeared down a different corridor.
There was a clicking of heels and a very effeminate man appeared in the threshold. “Now, where did Inu-kins go? I thought I heard him,” the man trailed off. “Oh well.”
Kagome tried not to stare. The man was wearing burgundy lipstick with two dark blue triangles of eye shadow that made him look like a cross between a mime and a clown. And he was coming closer.
He gave her an appraising look that reminded her of Dr. Frank-n-Furter and continued walking forward, “Well, what do we have here? You must be the 3 o’clock.”
Kagome nodded, “If you could just show me where the conference room is, I’d-“
“Aw, Hun, say no more,” he clucked. “Jakky’s gonna show you whatever you need. But first, Darling, you need a better jacket. If you’re meeting with M and J, you want to look fab-u-lous,” he practically squealed the word.
“No, thanks,” Kagome inched away nervously. “This one’s fine.”
‘Jakky’ pouted. “Well, if you’re sure,” he smiled brightly. “Right this way!”
Kagome watched him walk off. “It takes a very secure man to walk like that.”
The first thing she noticed was that these two probably belonged in a law-firm. The second thing she noticed was that there was an intercom conveniently located behind them.
“Miss Higurashi,” the first began. He was broad-shouldered and looked very annoyed with her already. “You are here so that we can go over your ‘contract’ with Nazo.”
The second spoke up, a sharp-featured woman, her hair in a severe bun. “Despite what Mr. Mamoru may have told you, we are the final say in this deal. We will look at some of your material-“
“Your personality-“ the man added.
“And your appearance in order to assess your commercial possibility,” the woman finished. “Now, we may begin.”
“You just had to give her those two, didn’t you?” Inuyasha joined his brother in watching the meeting.
“If she survives them, she can survive the press,” Sesshomaru waved a hand. “Think of it as preparation.”
Inuyasha shrugged. “You want popcorn?”
“Strangely enough, yes.”
“How would you describe your material?” the one Kagome had decided to call ‘Lilah’ asked.
“It’s a bit hard to describe,” Kagome began, wondering how to phrase it.
“Try,” snapped ‘Butch’.
Pursing her lips, Kagome thought for a moment. “Melodic metal with a female voice,” she decided.
Butch snorted, “And you think that’s marketable because?”
Kagome froze.
“Damn,” Inuyasha snapped. “I hate it when he asks that one.”
“Patience,” Sesshomaru grabbed a handful of popcorn. “Patience.
“It’s a simple question,” Lilah goaded.
Kagome gave her a deadpan glance. “And I was about to answer it.”
“By all means,” Butch waved a hand.
“It’s marketable because it’s an angle almost no one has tried,” she glared at the man.
“What do you call Evanescence?” Lilah threw out.
“Goth-Rock-Lite,” Kagome answered immediately.
“Kagome two, M and J, one,” Inuyasha tallied.
“So you’ll be screaming over guitars,” Butch shrugged. “So what?”
“I do believe I said melodic metal,” Kagome sighed.
“And the difference would be?” Lilah smirked.
“Iced Earth: Standard American metal, loud guitars, strong male voice, screaming, what have you,” she gestured vaguely. “Kamelot: melodic metal, harmonized guitar and keys, smoother vocals, occasional symphonic elements. Are you getting all of this, sweetheart, or do I need to repeat myself?”
“I think we got it,” Butch narrowed his eyes.
“And just what, in your opinion, would possibly make you different from the legions of female ‘rockers’ out now?” Lilah cut in.
“Name some of these ‘rockers’,” Kagome intoned.
“Amy Lee,” Butch huffed.
“Vibrato,” Kagome retorted.
“Christina Aguilera,” Lilah smirked.
“I write my own music,” Kagome furrowed her brows. “And I said ‘rockers’, not ‘bubblegum pop girls’.”
“Avril Lavigne,” Butch grinned.
Kagome’s head dropped. “I can hit High C without straining. ‘Rockers’ people!”
“Bonnie Tyler,” Lilah was frowning now.
“Better,” Kagome nodded. “Clearer voice.”
“Whitney Houston,” Butch looked proud of himself. The two women simultaneously raised eyebrows. Somewhere else in the building, one brother coughed, another laughed.
“No cocaine,” Kagome answered slowly. “Can we move on?”
The two brothers continued to watch the interview as the two execs asked stream after stream of pointless questions and Kagome became more and more frustrated with them.
“They ought to segue into a break before too long,” Sesshomaru noted.
“And how do you think they’ll do that?” Inuyasha pouted at the nearly empty popcorn bowl.
“Hopefully without violence.”
“Well, Miss Higurashi,” Lilah closed her notebook and lowered her glasses. “From what we’ve seen, you’re calm-“
Again they did the ‘twin’ thing. “Charismatic-“
“At ease-“
“Charming-“
“And you probably have one hell of a stage presence,” Lilah concluded.
“Er,” Kagome looked skeptical. “Thanks?”
“The only thing left to work on now is your image,” Lilah looked positively evil.
“It does need work,” Butch agreed.
“How so?” Kagome was seconds away from bolting for the door.
“I’m thinking,” Lilah tilted her head, before grinning broadly. “Leather.”
“Skirt,” Butch added.
“Mini?” Lilah turned to him.
“Micro,” he affirmed.
“Halter.”
“Greys.”
“Hair?& #8221;
“Blue.”
“Highlights?”
“Green. ”
“Three,” Inuyasha began counting down. “Two, one.”
Kagome sputtered. “Hold it!”
They turned to her innocently. “What?”
“You have to admit, darling,” Lilah smiled condescendingly. “It needs work.”
“No,” Kagome shook her head. “I’m not playing ‘Gothique! Barbie’ to compete with the Amy Lee’s! I’m not playing ‘Slut! Barbie’ to compete with the Britney’s and Paris’s! In fact, I’m not playing ‘Barbie’ period! And I sure as hell am not turning my hair into a Jackson Pollack so you two can get your jollies!”
“Unwilling to change for the good of the music,” Lilah’s notebook was open again.
“Bullshit!” Kagome stood and slammed her fists on the table. “Are you two trying to attract fans or rapists?”
“There’s no law saying they aren’t one and the same,” Butch shrugged.
“A fan doesn’t care what the band wears,” Kagome seethed. “A fan is there because the music affected them somehow. And if you two can’t see past the dollar signs to recognize that, I don’t know why you’re in this business!”
The execs rose. “We’ll let you calm down before we continue this.”
Kagome glared at them, “Why don’t you-“ she clenched her teeth before seemingly relaxing, smiling coldly and waving. “Veda kateeni.”
“You too,” Butch nodded then followed Lilah out the door.
The singer dropped into her chair as soon as the door shut. Reaching into her handbag, she fished out her cell. She dialed a number and sat back.
“Speak,” a male voice answered.
“Tero?” Kagome asked hesitantly.
“Seija?” Tero was probably grinning ear to ear. “Why are you calling?”
“I think I blew it, Tero,” her head dropped into her palm.
“Aww, it’s not so bad,” her cousin soothed. “What could you possibly say?”
“’Veda kateeni,’” she answered miserably.
“Oh,” he was quiet for a moment. “Yeah, you fucked up there.”
“Tero,” she whined. “How do I fix it?”
“Honestly?” there was a sigh. “Grovel. Grovel, grovel, grovel.”
“No Broadway for a month when you get here,” the woman muttered.
“You’ll forget that after a few Blue Angels,” he laughed.
“Nothing doing, Caveman,” Kagome smiled.
“I won’t tell if you won’t.”
“Tero,” she warned.
“Aww,” he was probably pouting. “Seija? Please?”
“No, Tero.”
“Kirota,” he swore.
“I’m hanging up, Tero,” Kagome shook her head at his antics.
Tero responded by blowing a raspberry and beginning to sing, “I like to be in America, Ok by me in America!”
Kagome disconnected the call, dropped the phone, put her head in her hands, and began to laugh. “What am I going to do with you?” she asked no one.
“What? Are they just going to leave her there?”
Sesshomaru turned to his brother. “I don’t pretend to understand them.”
After a short period of nothing but twiddling thumbs, Kagome was a bit annoyed to find that there was no clock in the room. Sighing, bored, she again reached into her bag, this time for her Music Comp final.
Spreading her work in front of her, she began working on the music, humming as she went. Several times, she found herself humming ‘America’ and had to erase the last few notes.
When she got to a point where she could logically stop, she did. Then her phone rang.
“Aw, crap,” picking the phone back up she answered the call. “Hello, you have reached Happy Dales Hospital. This patient is out for the moment, if you’d like to leave a message, buy her an answering machine.”
“You hooker,” a laughing voice reached her ears.
“Kagura,” she smiled. “Hey.”
“Mr. Mamoru,” Josephine poked her head into the room. “You’re very hard to track down.”
“Thank you,” Sesshomaru moved his attention from the monitor.
“Yeah,” Michael could be heard from right outside the door. “D’you teleport around here or something?”
“Was there a point to this?” Inuyasha rested his head on the back of his chair before idly turning the chair from side to side.
“We’re sending in the Kotsu’s,” Josephine smiled. “They’ve been bored.”
“Hmmm,” Sesshomaru nodded.
“No ‘leather micro-mini’s’ though,” Inuyasha continued half-spinning. “She might kill someone.”
“Leather’s Jakotsu’s area,” Sesshomaru supplied. “Warn him.”
“Will do,” the two were gone.
Kagome finished writing down the address Kagura had given her. “Next Friday, two o’clock?”
“Yeah,” Kagura affirmed.
The door clicked open.
“I’ve gotta go,” Kagome said hurriedly. “Tell him I’ll be there.”
“Got it,” Kagura hung up.
Kagome turned her phone off and slipped it back in her bag.
“Darling!”
‘Oh, no,’ Kagome’s head met the wood of the table.
“Oh, poor thing,” the effeminate voice cooed. “She’s falling asleep.”
A slightly more sensible voice said, “I believe you startled her, Jakotsu.”
“Oh, shut-up, Banky,” Jakotsu snapped.
“Would both of you kindly move out of the doorway?” this voice was quiet, restrained.
Kagome raised her head.
“Thank you,” the third voice said. There were footsteps and a large briefcase was placed in front of her. Opening the briefcase, the man spoke.
“We were sent to work on your image,” one large leather-bound notebook was placed on the table. “Michael and Josephine already briefed us on your opinion of leather mini-skirts-“
“Which is totally bogus, by the way,” Jakotsu broke in.
“If you like them so much, you wear them,” Kagome muttered.
“What do you think she’d say if she knew he does?” Inuyasha stage-whispered to his brother.
“Um, ew. I really did not need to know that.”
“There’s your answer,” Sesshomaru flicked a kernel of popcorn at his brother.
“Moving on,” the sane one in the room rolled his eyes. “Unlike most people, we prefer to base the style of the band on the music.”
“That’s a good way to do it,” Kagome nodded. “Goes for continuity.”
“Quite,” he smiled. “At any rate, we’ll need a sample of your music before we can design the wardrobe.”
“I don’t have any recordings,” Kagome shrugged. “Sorry.”
“Lyrics might help,” ‘Banky’ pointed out.
“I think I can do one better than that,” Kagome grinned, reaching into her bag again.
“Ooh,” Jakotsu rolled his eyes. “We’ve got a regular Mary Poppins here!”
In response, Kagome dropped a rather thick folder on the table. “It probably won’t ever make it on an album, but it oughta work.”
“I’m sorry,” Jakotsu snapped. “I don’t speak music-ese. A translation?”
“Music Composition,” Kagome spoke slowly. “Final. Orchestra. Chorus. Must write music. Understand now?”
Jakotsu huffed, ‘Banky’ nodded, the third man picked up the folder. Leafing through the pages, he spoke. “Rather ornate, isn’t it?”
“I’m trying to pass the class,” Kagome smiled wryly. “But I don’t really want to be a run-of-the-mill Classical composer.”
“So you have to completely blow them away?”
“The ones doing the grading are a bunch of ‘experts in the art of composition’,” she snorted. “Unless they get Zimmer or Pip Williams, I won’t be impressed.”
“It isn’t finished?” ‘Banky’ asked.
“Can’t pass the class if you don’t finish the final,” Jakotsu chirruped.
“It’s not due for almost three months.”
“Damn you and your overachieving kind!” ‘Banky’ snapped good-naturedly.
“Children, settle down,” the calm one closed the folder and replaced it on the table. “Lyrically, we’re looking at something dark.”
He began searching for something in the briefcase, muttering to himself, “Where did that ruddy thing get to now? I swear, it must have legs…Ha! There you are!”
“And I thought you were the sane one,” Kagome smiled.
“I don’t think anyone can be sane in this building,” Jakotsu shook his head.
“I take offense to that,” Sesshomaru pointed at the monitor.
“Get over it, Sess,” Inuyasha was spinning in the chair again. “You’re nuts and we know it.”
The dark haired studio-exec glanced around. No one familiar.
“I spend half -day on a plane and my cousin can’t even be at the airport on time,” Tero grumbled, waiting by the curb.
“I heard that.”
“It’s true,” he turned to glare playfully at her. “I’ve been standing here for all this time.”
Kagome pouted at him for a moment, then sniffed and turned away from him, “Then I guess you just don’t want to meet the guys…”
“Shut up, Seija, and help me with my luggage.”
“Let me guess,” Tero gave his cousin an odd look, before continuing in Finnish. “Your drummer?”
Inuyasha’s ear flicked. He couldn’t understand a damn word they were saying. “English please?”
The lanky man grinned childishly. “Hello,” his accent was reminiscent of ‘The Siren’s. “My name is Tero. Hurt Seija and die.”
Kagome swatted her cousin on his arm, “Ignore him.”
“Who the hell’s ‘Seija’?” the hanyou looked between the two.
Tero faked a shocked gasp and Kagome rolled her eyes. “Who is Seija? Seija is only the best female vocalist in the world!”
Miroku reached the doorway to the room just in time to hear the beginning of the man’s rant. Amused, he watched Inuyasha try to look annoyed while Kagome turned some very interesting shades of red.
“Seija Vuorinen is a goddess!” the man nearly shrieked.
“Alrighty then,” Inuyasha looked slightly afraid of the foreigner now. “I’m going to go…Tune the guitar,” he hurried to his corner.
“Mama Vuorinen would approve,” the new arrival nudged Kagome.
“Thanks, Caveman,” Miroku could swear Kagome’s face invented a new shade of scarlet. “I need to hide now.”
Miroku decided it was as good a time as any to announce his presence. “Nonsense! He’s only being honest.”
The singer let out a weak chuckle and scampered from the room.
Tero thrust out a hand, “You must be the drummer.”
Miroku and Tero quickly began talking about their backgrounds in music, occasionally throwing out a question to Inuyasha who, pretending to be ignoring them, would grunt in response.
“He’s the ego of the group,” Miroku told Tero.
“The guitarists always are,” Tero smirked slightly. “So what’s taking him so long to tune it?”
“It always takes him forever,” Miroku shrugged. “I think he’s bonding with it.”
Even though he knew they were only trying to get him riled up, Inuyasha had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping at them.
“He might be tone-deaf,” there was an obvious laugh in the Finn’s voice. “Maybe we should test him?”
“Tero!” a very annoyed shriek came from outside the room. “You are not going to use the Sonata Test on him!”
“Seija,” Tero forced a grin. “Where’d you come from?”
“She’s been right outside the door the whole time,” Inuyasha muttered.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kagome waved a hand. “No tests!”
Miroku glanced over his shoulder at his friend. “Angeles,” he mouthed.
Inuyasha shook his head. “Too easy,” he mouthed back, grinning, already beginning a very fast Malagueña.
“I don’t care about Spinefarm’s standards!” Kagome rolled her eyes at her cousin. “You aren’t-“ She broke off.
Peering over her cousin’s shoulder, she addressed the hanyou, “I think you’ve proved your point.”
“Eh,” Tero shrugged. “He’s not horrible.”
The woman’s hands clenched into fists, “Just call me when the other two get here.”
“Where’re ya goin’ now?” Inuyasha asked her back.
“To find someone sane!”
It was only five minutes before both Kouga and Naraku showed up. Apparently, they’d both gotten lost and had ‘teamed up’ to find the place.
After the new arrivals had been introduced, Tero turned to Inuyasha. “Alright, go fetch.”
Kouga smothered a snort of laughter at the hanyou’s glare.
“Why me?”
“One: You actually know your way around,” the Finn smiled, obviously enjoying being a nuisance. “Two: You’ve been whining about that ‘damn caterwauling’. I say you find out what it is.”
As it turned out, the ‘damn caterwauling’ was, in operatic terms, a vocal warm-up. Evidently, Kagome had gotten bored being in a room by herself.
“We’re all here, your majesty,” he knew he’d startled her even without her sudden squeak. “So, if you don’t mind, we’d like to get started.”
Whatever Tero had been expecting from a practice, this wasn’t it. The five chatted and bantered amiably for ten or fifteen minutes while tuning up, then they turned to the real reason for the event.
The all-important folder.
“Ten songs,” Kagome stared at the folder on the table. “You’d think it’d be easy to pick.”
“Lay ‘em on the floor, spin around and point to one,” Inuyasha suggested.
“Let’s start with an opener,” Miroku thumped the hanyou with a drumstick. “That one, Stargazers.”
Kagome nodded and began writing a list in her notebook.
“And then?” Naraku questioned.
It was quiet for a while. No one really sure of what to suggest.
“That ballad,” Inuyasha said suddenly.
“That’s helpful,” Kouga muttered.
“Which?” Kagome picked up several sheets of paper.
“The one you did for Rin.”
The singer replaced all but one sheet. “There’s still no music for it,” she warned.
“Doesn’t matter,” he waved a hand. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Upbeat to ballad?” Tero threw out. “I’m not sure that will work.”
“I never said to make it the second track,” the hanyou said tightly. “Just put it on the album.”
Tero stuck his tongue out at the guitarist. “What next?”
Again it was quiet.
Kagome spoke haltingly. “I have some new ones, but I’ll need a male voice.”
“Why?” Miroku waved a hand, gesturing for her to continue.
“Unless you want a female Devil and a female Pharoah,” she pointed to two pages.
Kouga quickly snatched up both of them. He scanned the first, nodding occasionally before flipping to the second. His reaction was comically similar to Inuyasha’s reaction to 10th Man Down.
“’Today I killed’?” the hanyou smirked.
Kouga shook his head mutely. He continued scanning before clearing his throat and reading from the paper. “’Who the hell are you for me? But a mortal dream to see? This apathetic life must drown, Forever just for me.’”
The wolf demon calmly reordered the papers, set them on the small table, then turned to Kagome, “What the hell were you on!”
The singer gave him a flat look, “Crack. Look, it was a freakish dream with an owl and-” she broke off. “And I just don’t want to explain it right now, ok?”
“An owl, eh?” Miroku waggled an eyebrow.
The next week went by in a blur. Band practice, meetings with execs, extra lessons with Madam, outings, appearances as the Siren; everything flew by.
The good news was that the guys all got along pretty well. They’d bicker, naturally, but all of them were coming up with ideas and each of them could expand on the others’ ideas.
At this rate, they’d be ready to record in two months. Tops.
Kagome fell onto her mattress. Another long, trying, and, ultimately, satisfying day was over. Rolling onto her side, she studied her wall. The paper Inuyasha had read was missing, replaced by the unfinished ‘Gethsemane’.
The incomplete poem/song was one that she was very attached to. If she could only finish the thing she’d be set.
‘Can’t believe that jerk read my wall,’ she rolled over. ‘What? He can’t just close his eyes? He has to read?…He has nice eyes….He’d probably be really damnhot if he’d just smile…’ she blinked. ‘ The hell? Gah! Sleep! Now!’
Trying to force herself not to think, Kagome eventually fell asleep.
Uh-oh, her mind's running away with her... Meh, I know, this chap was really short and mostly filler but I needed to get it out of the way.
Coming next chap: Tero's reaction to the Siren, the interview with Naraku, and Kagome butts heads with Tarja Turunen's worst fear...