InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Siren ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 13 )
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 07.22.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 8.8K | Visits: 477 | Status: Completed
Oy ve, I get home from New Mexico just to leave again. I've hijacked a computer and am posting simply because this is getting ridiculous. I've been sitting in a 50 degree room for the past three and a half hours, freezing my butt off, staring at a Mac screen. I'm bored.
I've got nearly forty pages of this chapter finished so far. It isn't quite what I wanted it to be. For one thing, I've still got a crapload of stuff to add. So, when I have the beast known as Windows back, I'll be adding more to this. For now, enjoy what is essentially the first third of the Mega-Chap.
Kagome gets a bit giddy in this, Inuyasha gets overprotective again, Eri, Yuka and Ayumi put in appearances, Hiten shows up, Jinenji is...Jinenji, meet Kyle.
Disclaimer: I still own nothing. Ghost Love Score belongs to Tuomas Holopainen. The Magic Flute is either Public Domain or belongs to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's estate. Gackt belongs to himself. Kagome and Monique's banter belongs mainly to Julie Andrews and Carole Burnett. Kagome's introduction to Lakme is based on the introduction another soprano gave the same piece. Reference to 10 Things I Hate About You among others.
Note: In lyrics, italics are Kagome, bold is...Whoever else. On GLS, my formatting got screwed, I had it to where the chorus was at almost the exact timing, but Compy hates me...
“I still can’t believe you’re ‘Tamino’,” Kagome shook her head.
“I can’t believe we’re all in the same production,” Monique added.
“I can’t believe you actually auditioned for the ‘Königin’,” Sal laughed, pointing his fork at Kagome.
The ‘Fresh Faces’ company was almost a month into rehearsals and, so far, everything was going well.
Unless you counted the fact that the company’s ‘Pamina’ hated Kagome’s guts, and the guy playing ‘Monostatos’ constantly hit on Monique.
Justin, the production’s ‘Papageno’, and Maureen, the aforementioned ‘Pamina’ were going over their scene and duet right now, so the three friends were free to chat and eat.
“No, no, no!” Stefan, the director, cried out. “You’re happy to hear that your mother sent him! Happy!”
Kagome choked on a piece of lettuce and Monique whapped her on the back solidly. “Just because the daughter you had when you were two hates your guts is no reason to be shocked.”
Kagome glared at her friend playfully.
“By the way,” Sal spoke quickly, waving a hand. “Who is the father?”
After flinging a few random items at him, Kagome sat back in a huff, pouting childishly. “You all hate me.”
A few minutes passed before Justin sauntered over and dropped into a chair. He leaned his head back, threw an arm over his eyes, and muttered, “All yours.”
“Alright!” Stefan shouted to gain everyone’s attention. “Maureen, you’re already up there, why don’t we run through the mother/daughter scene?”
In response, Maureen crossed her arms angrily and Kagome let out a pitiful whine.
“Oh come on!” Stefan snapped. “Just this last scene, then you can leave.”
When the two women were finally on stage together, the fur began to fly. Kind of…
“Oh, so regal, Mother,” Maureen taunted. “Did Versace make that flannel?
“Shut up,” Kagome retorted smartly…What? Her head hurt…
“Owwie!” Maureen pouted sarcastically. “That was harsh! Did it take you long to think it up?”
Kagome glared at her. Thank God Maureen was a decent actress and singer or Kagome would have been really tempted to kill her.
“Would you two knock it off already?” Kurt, the bass playing ‘Sarastro’, called from his place off-stage.
Rolling their eyes, the women finally began reading the scene.
It was about that time that a very annoyed hanyou, trailed by a rather giddy Rin and the ever-stoic Sesshomaru, meandered into the auditorium.
Monique, recognizing the hanyou, waved them over.
“I’ve always hated German,” Inuyasha muttered, collapsing into a chair next to Justin. “What the hell’s going on anyway?”
“Kagome’s trying to get her daughter to kill someone,” Monique gave him the condensed version.
Rin was busy staring at the stage with a dazed look, “’The Magic Flute’! Oh, I’ve always loved this one!”
Kagome’s voice cut off any smart remark Inuyasha could have made about that. “Siest du hier diesen Stahl?” she paused for a second, then asked, “D’you want me to run through the dagger thing now? They got bored the other day and choreographed it.”
Stefan nodded dumbly. Who’d done what?
Kurt, who happened to be near the ‘prop buffet’, tossed the ‘dagger’ prop onto the stage.
Kagome picked it up and began displaying it to Maureen as she completed her lines.
Rin’s eyes grew large. “Tell me she’s going to do it?”
“What?” Sal grinned. “Kill her? No.”
Monique swatted at him, hiding her own smile. “She’ll sing it.”
She did, in fact, sing ‘it’...’It’ was actually a bit eerie to Inuyasha. The melody and the vocals actually sounded kinda happy, but there was the coldest expression, not to mention one of the ugliest sneers he’d ever seen, on Kagome’s face.
She was also, worryingly, overly fixated on that dagger.
He finally asked when, during a rather bird-like vocalization, she actually caressed the damn thing, “What’s with the blade?”
“It’s the only thing that’ll kill the priest,” Rin was grinning.
Moving ever so subtly away from his brother’s fiancée, Inuyasha returned his attention to the stage…Where Kagome was brandishing the weapon and circling the other woman, still wearing the sneer and singing something undoubtedly threatening given the way the other was reacting.
When she stopped circling and began another odd vocalization, he piped up again, “Is she…Laughing?”
“More like cackling madly,” Sal supplied. “Evil genius, plan coming together, that type thing.”
Whatever it was, it was over now. Kagome had stopped circling, stopped vocalizing, and was now offering the dagger, cradled in her hands, to the other woman. The woman looked to the dagger, then at Kagome, and shook her head, falling to her knees, burying her face in her hands.
Kagome merely sneered again and, facing the audience, raised the dagger towards the ceiling. An offering to some angry god. Then, once again brandishing it, she turned it towards herself, singing something about a ‘Mutter’, which was probably the first word out of the whole thing that Inuyasha’d understood.
Then she was silent. Suddenly, she turned and, furiously, stabbed the blade into an unwitting set piece. After one last scathing look at the other woman onstage, she stormed off.
Monique and Sal simultaneously threw their hands into the air in triumph. “Finally!” they both shouted.
Justin simply stood and stretched. “See ya,” he called, walking out.
“I told you this would be a good idea,” Rin muttered to Sesshomaru. “See, it’s not boring, is it?”
Inuyasha opened his mouth to disagree when a flannel-clothed blur latched onto his neck from behind.
“Nice boyfriend, bitch,” the woman onstage snarked.
“Why the hell are you hugging me?” the hanyou was seriously considering sending Kagome to a psychiatrist.
“I just realized you look like Gackt!” the unusually chipper singer announced.
“I look like a cross-dressing J-Popper?” Inuyasha snorted. “You just made my day.”
Releasing his neck to swat the back of his head, Kagome pouted, “J-Rocker, not J-Popper. And Gackt is hot.”
“Still,” he protested. “There’s the whole ‘cross-dressing’ issue.”
Turning to the two other women near her, Kagome whined, “Rin, Monique, back me up here?”
Monique tilted her head, assessing. “Mmm…I dunno.”
Rin, on the other hand, immediately chirped, “I’ve been telling him that forever!”
“Sess,” Inuyasha was very close to twitching. “Get these crazy women away from me.”
“And risk them attacking me?” Sesshomaru smirked slightly and rose. “Not likely.”
The group slowly made their way out of the auditorium, Kagome and Inuyasha bickering the whole way while Rin and Monique nudged Sesshomaru and Sal.
After swatting Kagome’s hand away from his ears for at least the tenth time, Inuyasha let out a slight growl.
Still weirdly happy, Kagome squealed, “The puppy purrs!” Then she reached for his ear again.
This time grabbing her hand, Inuyasha snarled exasperatedly, “Bitch, what did I tell you about sugar!”
Before Kagome could answer, or giggle, Maureen’s coldly amused voice came. “Well, well. I may not have gotten the part,” the soprano wound her arm around her boyfriend Hiten’s neck. “But at least I didn’t get the abusive boyfriend.”
Instead of glaring at the other woman, as Monique was doing, or even raising an eyebrow, like Rin, Kagome began to laugh. Hysterically. Her knees practically collapsed under her and she leaned on Inuyasha’s shoulder for support.
“That’s-” a giggle, “-a good one.” Snort. “Tell me another-” insane laughter.
“What is she on and where did she get it?” Sal wondered aloud.
Finally calming down, Kagome fanned her face, saying, “One, he is, for the fiftieth time, not my boyfriend! Two…” she paused for a long while, staring at Hiten. “Just wait.”
Then, miraculously recovered, she marched off.
Swallowing hard, Hiten tugged on his newest conquest’s arm. “Let’s go, Maury.”
“Well,” Rin forced a smile. “That was awkward.”
Inuyasha wasn’t so tactful. “What the hell was that about?”
Sesshomaru saw an opportunity to annoy his brother and took it. “She’s your woman, you ask her.”
Much screaming, hollering, and denying later, Inuyasha, Rin, Sesshomaru, and Kagome were all piled into what Inuyasha had termed ‘Sesshomaru’s Money-Mobile’.
“What was that?” the hanyou glared at the singer from across the back seat.
“What was what?” she gave him the most innocent expression she could muster, then turned her attention to the interior of the car. “This is…Nice…What is it exactly?”
“Leather,” Inuyasha answered shortly. “Stop changing the subject.”
Dropping the act, Kagome sighed. “Look, if you want the whole story, ask Kouga! Or, better yet, ask Sango!”
Sango was more than slightly surprised to find herself detained by a rather frustrated-looking hanyou.
“Tall guy,” his speech was unusually clipped. “Black hair. Braided. Knows Kagome. Details, now.”
The demon exterminator stared at him, confused, until the description clicked in her mind. “When did you meet Hiten?”
“I didn’t. Not the point. Details.”
“Well,” Sango settled into a chair, resigning herself to being late to Sesshomaru’s ‘surprise meeting’. “He’s an ass for one…”
Kagome was trying to listen to what the tour manager was saying, honest. But it’s rather hard to concentrate on anything when a golden-eyed, dog-eared hanyou won’t stop staring at you.
“…New dates…” the imp of a tour manager was chattering. “Overseas…”
Now more than slightly annoyed, Kagome kicked at the hanyou’s leg underneath the table. He merely raised an eyebrow.
“What is your problem?” she hissed.
His lip twitched in what was either a grin or a snarl, but, other than that, nothing.
“…Japan…”the imp continued, giving them a slight glare.
“Would you quit it?” the hiss turned into a furious whisper. “You’re freaking me out!”
“Something you’d like to share?” Kagome was honestly five seconds from throwing the imp out the closest window.
“Can it, toad,” Inuyasha’s voice was flat. Then, when he addressed Kagome, there was a slight snarl, “What the fuck happened with that asshole?”
Sputtering, the imp/toad began an incoherent rant that was stopped when a slightly amused Sesshomaru muttered, “Jaken.”
David, who’d heard the entire spiel about the new concerts at Tokyo and Ruisrock, nudged Thom awake. James, having heard pretty much every argument the pair had had, rolled his eyes.
Kagome glared at Kouga, who shrugged, and then at Sango. “I cannot believe you told him!”
Irritated at being ignored, the hanyou snapped his fingers in front of the singer’s face. “ADD girl! You told me to ask her! Now, what the fuck happened?”
Naraku, sensing an oncoming World War in the form of the two bandmates, stood quickly, asking, “Who wants coffee?”
After everyone else had left with some lame excuse, Sango leaned back in her chair and watched the verbal ping-pong match. ‘My god,’ she laughed silently. ‘They’re like three-year-olds…’
“I’m not telling you!” Kagome finally shrieked.
“And why the hell not?” the hanyou bellowed back.
“Because!” she floundered for a response. “Why do you want to know?”
“I just-“ his mouth snapped shut. Then, quietly, he added, “Keh, forget it, wench.”
Silence reigned for a few seconds before Kagome spoke again, “Tomorrow, Uni auditorium, 10:30?”
Nodding, Inuyasha said shortly, “Sounds good.”
“Dinner?”
The hanyou shrugged and the two left, leaving Sango with more than a few questions.
Erianna, or Eri for short, was beginning to understand why Yuka hadn’t been able to reach Kagome for the past year…Kagome simply didn’t want to be found.
“And Michael is soooo gorgeous,” Yuka trilled. “And he totally looked at me in class!”
Ayumi rolled her eyes and shook her head good-naturedly. Despite being almost ready to graduate from college, Yuka still had the same mentality she’d had in high school.
“Anyway,” Yuka waved a hand. “What’s new with- Oh my God!”
Eri and Ayumi followed her glance. A young, ebony-haired woman was trying to tug an amused, silver-haired man, with the most adorable ears, out of the building.
“Oh my God! Kagome!” Yuka was already on her feet, moving towards the pair.
The other woman took a very deep breath before pasting on a smile, “Yuka! Long time no see!”
“I knew it!” Yuka wasted no time in latching onto Kagome’s wrist and hauling her over to the table.
Eri and Ayumi both gave her sympathetic gazes when Yuka shoved her into a chair and began the interrogation.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” Yuka could be really intimidating when she glared.
“Erm,” Kagome bit her lip, stalling. “Forgot to pay the bill?”
Hazel eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch more.
“Didn’t recognize the number?” the suddenly meek miko squeaked.
The eyes were now extremely dangerous slits.
“Busy?”
“You’re in my seat,” an annoyed voice came from over her shoulder.
Pursing her lips in a mock pout, Kagome told him, “Pull up a chair.”
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. Looking at the already overfull two-seater, he asked, “Where, exactly?”
Glancing around the table, Kagome realized she had a way out. “Fine, take it,” she stood. “I only came to talk to Tyson anyway.”
“Who?” four voices chimed.
“And here are your-“ Hojo arrived, carrying a tray of drinks. “Oh, Kagome. You’re not on duty today…Unless I missed-“
“There was no memo,” Kagome cut him off, fidgeting slightly. “Where’s Ty? I need to talk to him.”
“He’s,” Hojo trailed off, looking around for the elusive owner. “Around.”
Muttering something, the singer massaged her temples. “Fine! I’m going to look for him. You!” she pointed to Inuyasha. “Stay here. You three!” she gestured to her old friends. “Be nice.” And then she was gone.
Almost as soon as she was out of hearing range, the three women turned to the hanyou. “Story. Now,” they demanded.
Kagome had no sooner returned from giving Tyson what amounted to a ‘Two Months’ Notice’ when a shell-shocked hanyou yanked her into his lap, held her there with two hands on her shoulders, and, as macho as could be under the circumstances, cowered behind her. Kagome merely arched an eyebrow and sighed.
Eyeing her friends, Yuka in particular, she asked, “What did you do? You’ve got him clingy.”
Squawking indignantly, the three women protested, “We didn’t do anything!”
Still cowering, Inuyasha managed to snarl, “Why didn’t you tell me I’d need a damn human shield around them?”
The singer let out a light laugh and twisted a hand behind her to begin playing with his hair. Naturally, he growled at the action, but, unwilling to give up his only form of defense against the ‘New Spanish Inquisition’, he put up with it.
Yuka grinned only somewhat maniacally.
Eri, a bit unnerved by Yuka’s impression of a mad scientist, spoke up, “I hear there’s some interesting entertainment here…”
“Mmm,” Kagome shrugged, supplying her standard excuse. “She’s probably taking the night off, something big going on tomorrow. Maybe after that she’ll show up.”
Before either Eri or Ayumi could say anything, Yuka chimed sweetly, “So, Kagome. You’re working with Hojou, any romance there?”
“Don’t even start,” Kagome warned, half to her old friend and half to the hanyou who’d begun growling in earnest.
It was 11:15, about fifteen minutes to ‘show time’, and everyone was preparing in their own way: Miroku was trying, operative word ‘trying’, to chat up Sango, which resulted in a lovely fuchsia handprint emblazoned on his cheek; Naraku was reading Edgar Allen Poe; Inuyasha and Kouga were playing off each other to make sure that both of the guitars were tuned; and Kagome was standing off to the side, bent over to where her hair was pooling on the floor.
“No, that’s a G,” Kouga shook his head.
“That’s what I’m doing,” Inuyasha narrowed his eyes.
“I don’t know what the hell that is, but it ain’t a G!”
The hanyou strummed the chord again. “It’s a fucking G! The guitar’s downtuned!”
“Oh,” Kouga smiled nervously, remembering the handwritten note ‘Dropped D’. “Right.”
There was a high-pitched squeak, followed by a gasped “Shit!” and Kagome bolted for an exit.
The four men watched her streak past. Kouga shrugged and called out, “Sango! You’re on duty!”
Sango simply rolled her eyes and pointed to her watch.
Kagome waved meekly at the crowd in the Recital Hall. “Hi. I know you guys are just getting comfortable, but I need you to follow me.”
No one moved.
“Um,” she cleared her throat. “Please?”
Making a great show of packing up his things, the second chair cello was the first to react. The rest of the orchestra followed, soon joined by the choir, the audience and, finally, the judges.
Feeling very much like an airline stewardess, Kagome smiled, chiming a somewhat snippy, “Right this way!”
The walk only took about three minutes; it was the set-up that was going to take a while. Glaring at his co-workers half-heartedly, Michael, the percussionist began reassembling his instruments.
While everyone else was preparing, Kagome was busy fielding questions from three very disgruntled judges.
“Was this absolutely necessary?” one judge, a young man with somewhat unruly brown hair, snapped.
“Yes,” Kagome answered simply, a placating smile appearing on her lips.
“Why?” the second judge, a middle-aged, motherly woman, shot the first a warning glare.
“Unfortunately, what needs to be set up is not accommodated by the Recital Hall facility,” the singer recited. Then, grinning lightly, she clarified, “It means we won’t fit.”
The third judge, an older man with a taste for new things, smiled. Teasing slightly, he asked, “And what’s needed?”
“I was hoping someone would ask that,” the grin became a genuine smile. “We need space…And amps, mics, oh, and speakers…But mostly space.”
The judges all exchanged glances, but none said anything.
“Well,” Kagome looked to the conductor and the choir director. Receiving nods, she concluded, “We’re ready to begin.”
Leonard Handel, the eldest of the three judges, watched curiously as the young woman shot glances at the three men on either side of her, receiving a shrug and two slight nods, before turning completely around to face the man somewhat hidden behind a large drum set.
The two exchanged words, too low for Leo to hear, the woman pointed to the conductor, the man gave a short nod, grinned, said something, and laughed as the woman turned back around, red-faced.
The conductor began his count.
The first thing Leo noticed was, rather than creating a sort of ‘Requiem’ feel as two earlier students had, she had instead followed the pattern of an overture. Beginning simply, with only a drum beat backing the sharp notes of the chorus, she allowed the music to build, slowly adding in sweeping strings and majestic horns, before the harsh sound of the distorted guitars arrived to both set the mood and to offset the delicate sounds of the orchestra. Now ‘free’, the strings set off on a grand run.
It was nearly a minute into the piece before the tempo slowed to a moderate 4/4 and the woman moved to the mic. Leo’s eyes narrowed slightly. He knew about these egotistic composers who thought the only ones who could truly perform their work were themselves.
Next to him, Julia sighed. “Give her a chance.”
He merely shot her a look.
“We used to swim the same moonlight waters”
The quiet, almost dazed, soprano broke into his attempt at a retort. The woman was still at the mic, looking rather melancholy.
“Oceans away from the wakeful day”
Julia gave him a pointed look just before the tempo kicked up again and the choir began its chant, the light, nearly ethereal voice floating over them.
“ My
My fall will be for you
My love will be in you
Fall
If you be the one to
Will be
Cut me I’ll bleed forever
My fall will be for you
My love will be in you
For You
If you be the one to
Cut me I’ll bleed forever”
Leo’s hand began moving of its own accord, making notes as he watched the stage intently. The abnormally light-haired guitarist had crossed the stage and was muttering something to the other guitarist, occasionally shooting glances at the singer. The dark haired man merely smiled secretively.
“Scent of the sea before the waking of the world
Brings me to thee, into the blue memory”
Gentle woodwinds underscored the brief verse before the group flew back into the chorus. This time, though, the conspiring guitarists seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, headbanging as they were.
Julia, he noticed, stifled what was either a giggle or a coo.
Women were odd.
He would have commented, but the woman onstage distracted him with what sounded very much like an operatic line.
“Into the blue memory”
Then, with only faint horns, strings and a light synth behind her, she switched to a more singspiel tone.
“A siren from the deep came to me
Sang my name my longing
Still I write my songs about that dream of mine
Worth everything I may ever be”
She looked…Dazed, he concluded, simply staring through everything. While she took a breath to continue, the drums reappeared, playing a small lead-in with the bass. Then the piano took over, a simple, delicate melody to underscore the next stanza.
“The child will be born again
That siren carried him to me”
A small, odd smile had appeared on her face as her hand reached out slightly towards an unseen figure. The pale-haired guitarist had crossed the stage again and was watching the singer with an expression midway between worried and amused."First of them true loves
Singing on the shoulders of an angel
Without care for love ‘n loss"
The piano melody ended with a scale run just after the last line, and, as if she thought the piece weren’t different enough, she had added a guitar solo. Brief, but melodic, it both served the purpose of closing out the first section and bringing in the next.
While the guitar’s last note hung in the air, the strings took up a low melodic interlude that built gradually until the choir rejoined, this time in a gentle legato vocalization. Soon the band had rejoined, turning the tempo into a waltz.
Swaying lightly, the woman regained her position in front of the mic. Leo blinked; he hadn’t even seen her move.
Julia shifted in her chair. He heard her murmur something under her breath.
“Bring me home or leave me be
My love in the dark heart of the night”
“Oh, hush!” Julia shushed Nick, the young upstart who’d been sour all day.
Nick retaliated, juvenilely of course, by sticking out his tongue.
The woman took no heed of what was happening at the judges table, and, still looking out of it, stretched a hand out in front of her.
“I have lost the path before me
The one behind will lead me”
As the verse repeated, a lone soprano provided harmonies, dropping out on the last line as the seemingly bewildered woman allowed her voice to ‘fall’. 1
There was silence for perhaps a split second before the strings picked up in a rapid, repeating melody that would not have been out of place in a psychological thriller.
Backed by short drumbeats, the choir began a staccato chant, at once beautiful and eerie.
“Take me
Cure me
Kill me
Bring me home”
Gradually, ever so gradually, they began climbing up the scale.
The dark-haired guitarist jerked his head towards the singer and the pale-haired one nodded, in turn mouthing something to the singer, who smiled briefly.
“Every way
Every day
Just another loop in the hangman’s noose”
The music returned to the waltz time count, the guitars adding a harsh element to the rhythm. As if on cue, the woman began her own sharp, staccato echo of the choir’s chants, only now, her voice seemed desperate; her expression caught between pleading and frightened.
“Take me, cure me, kill me, bring me home”
Her hands flew to the sides of her head and she shook it forcefully, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the image of…something.
“Every way, every day
I keep on watching us sleep”
Her hands slowly moved from her head, her eyes panicked. Timidly, she began to stretch out a hand.
“Relive the old sin of Adam and Eve
Of you-“
The hand was drawn back quickly, as though burned.
“-and me
Forgive the adoring beast”
It truly was a fascinating show. While the woodwinds and strings played something that could only be called ‘modern Renaissance’, the woman had spun to where she was facing away from the audience. Leo saw her hand push itself through her hair as she took a very deep breath, both guitarists watching her warily.
Finally, one of them said something …And Leo found that, at the moment, he’d kill to be able to read lips.
The bombast had returned. The winds and horns spun down only to have the strings fight their way back up. Once they reached their destination, the group on stage leapt back in, though the woman was still facing the back of the stage.
And the choir was not to be forgotten. They’d returned to the quick, sharp notes of the beginning, and, if one listened hard enough, there was another voice accompanying them.
The choir stopped and the woman turned, backed by the drummer.
“Redeem me into childhood
Show me myself without the shell”
She didn’t look frightened now. A soft smile bloomed on her face as she continued.
“Like the advent of May
I’ll be there when you say
Time could never hold our love”
The chorus had returned. The orchestration was mostly the same, the woman’s voice was still flowing over the sound of the choir, but there was something…Off… Not so off that it was bad, mind you, just something that tickled the back of Leo’s mind. Something different…And it wasn’t the fact that Nick had shut up, either.
After the second repeat, the woman’s voice rose and then dropped out. As the strings picked up and she moved to stand off to the side, Leo found out what was bothering him.
“-love will be in you
You were the one to cut me
So now I’ll bleed forever”
The choir continued its chant, repeating. The band continued its rhythm. The strings however were following their own pattern, offsetting the others.
Again, she’d differed from the pattern several had used. Rather than gradually slow to a stop, the piece kept the pace right to the very end, which was quite abrupt.
Everyone onstage froze for a split second. Then the pale-haired guitarist ruined the moment by nudging the singer playfully. She countered by gently pulling his hair before the darker guitarist swung her around, laughing. The three were soon joined by the drummer, who had jumped down from his perch. The keyboardist, however, shook his head and muttered something to someone offstage.
Julia, who was having a grand time watching the group, was rather annoyed when Nick interrupted.
“Excuse me,” he sniped. “We aren’t finished.”
The woman shot a warning glance at the pale-haired one when he muttered something that the judges couldn’t hear.
Leo rolled his eyes before adding gently, “We just need a couple more questions answered.”
The woman, smiling, answered gamely, “Shoot.”
Julia cut Nick off, “Where did you find inspiration for the piece?”
The woman’s smile faltered slightly, “Life, I guess.”
A muffled curse came from the wings.
Sparing a glance in the voice’s direction, she continued, “Soundtracks.”
Seeing Nick open his mouth again, Leo spoke quickly. “And who are your friends up there?”
The woman looked around. “These weirdoes? Oh, they’re just a bunch of very talented people that I happen to work with.”
Nick was too quick this time, “Names?”
Miroku, who hadn’t failed to notice Inuyasha’s obvious dislike of the third judge, muttered, “Down boy.”
Naraku, who had paused in helping Tero dismantle the setup, spoke first, “Naraku Wynd.”
“Kouga Oakam.”
“Miroku Shizukesu.”
Inuyasha would have been perfectly content to stay quiet and continue glaring at the man but Kagome was eyeing him, silently begging him not to screw this up…That and Miroku was digging a drumstick into his back. “Inuyasha Mamoru.”
Nick’s brows shot up. “Mamoru? Any relation to-“
“Half-brothers,” Kagome interrupted, then grinned nervously. “Anything else?”
Julia smiled reassuringly. “Did you always plan for…” she tapered off, unsure of what to say.
“The band?” Kagome guessed. At the woman’s nod, she shrugged. “Yeah. I was always hoping they’d agree. I mean, I planned for just the choir and the orchestra too, just in case, but-“
Miroku gave his trademarked Innocent Grin #47. “She bribed us.”
Kagome shot him a glare. “Since I have infinite money in my bank account,” she rolled her eyes.
Miroku’s grin didn’t change. “I don’t recall any money…”
Madame could be creepy, Kagome concluded. She’d materialized out of nowhere while the judges were still questioning. After several pointed remarks, the woman had simply announced that Kagome had best be there early the next morning because the rehearsal for her recital with Monique was going to be very long.
Kagome mentally translated that into ‘You two are in big trouble.’… Probably because they hadn’t turned in the program.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. They’d turned in a program, a ridiculously simplistic program, just to keep her off their backs while they worked on the real program. Speaking of which…
Kagome glared at the seemingly innocent piece of paper in front of her. ‘Où va la jeune Hindoue’, ‘Je suis Titania’, and ‘Les oiseaux dans la charmille’ stared back. Three coloratura arias that had no place being anywhere near each other…And all in French. She could just see Monique cackling as she selected them.
She sighed. She’d have more than enough time to strangle the mezzo tomorrow. For now, she had someone to call.
Someone she should have called a long time ago.
“Run!” his mother’s voice echoed in his ears. “Go!”
He did. Fleeing, he heard his mother screech out, “He’s not here! Oh, poor you!”
The sharp crack of a gun and a cut-off scream caused him to turn. The group was slowly filing out of his home. He stood frozen for a moment, the implications of the last thirty seconds running through his mind.
He was about to charge back toward the house, to do what, he didn’t know, when the home he’d shared with his mother all his life suddenly erupted in flames.
Jinenji woke abruptly. Sitting up, the Psychology major looked to his clock. 4:07. Too early to call.
Stumbling out of his bedroom, he made his way to the kitchen. No point in trying to sleep now, he figured.
Retrieving an apple from his fridge and making a note to go shopping, the hanyou began methodically working through his memories, sorting what he knew had really happened from what seemed to have happened.
Facts: There was a raid on his home. His mother encouraged him to flee. He’d fled. She’d taunted the group. There had been a scream and a gunshot. The house had burned. He’d run to- His answering machine was blinking.
Frowning, Jinenji moved to it, pressed the ‘play’ button, and waited.
“You have one new message. Today at 1:19 AM.”
That earned a raised eyebrow. Who called that late? Or was it early?
“Jinenji?” she seemed cautious. “God, I hope this is the right number.”
Kagome had called. She sounded less…broken…than she had the last time he’d spoken to her. Of course, that had been when she was still healing from the Hiten debacle.
“I know I haven’t called in a while and I’m sorry,” there was mumbling in the background and a muffled ‘In a moment, sweetie’ before she continued. “I have a recital tomorrow, well, today really, and I know the whole ‘Opera’ bit isn’t really your thing, but if you wanted to eat afterwards…” a yawn. The ensuing sentences seemed rushed. “Mister- Professor Mamoru’s offered to have a sort of catch-up dinner. Kouga, Kagura, Sango, Kikyou, everyone’s going and I…I just…Perkele! I just wanted to know if you’d be there. I miss talking to you. I just wanted to see you again, before-“
He nearly cursed the beep that signaled the end of the message.
Kyle tilted his head. When he’d started dating him, Kyle had been convinced that Salvatore Cardona was quite sane…Now, well…
“No, love,” his boyfriend giggled. “I can’t save you…No, I know that…” a mad cackle. “Call someone else to save you!”
Kyle narrowed his eyes. Sidling up behind his lover, he wrapped his arm around the tenor’s waist.
“Oh, of course, darling!” Sal crooned. “I’m sure both of you need a,” he paused, letting out a suggestive cough, “break.”
The blonde raised an eyebrow at that, moving to rest his head on the other man’s shoulder. Now, he could hear some of what was being said on the other line.
“Perv!” a decidedly feminine voice shrieked. “…Not….Sex…. Kouga…”
“Oh, do!” Sal goaded. “Just take pictures for me!”
He disconnected the line. Sighing, Sal tossed the phone on the counter of the small kitchen. “I swear, that girl needs to get laid.”
Not moving, Kyle queried, “Kouga?”
“Nah, he’s taken,” Sal smiled. “Good eye candy, though.”
Pulling away, the green-eyed college student pouted playfully. “You need eye candy?”
“Hey, none of that” Sal turned, giving his lover a gentle kiss. “Besides, you get Depp. I get Kouga.”
Kyle laughed slightly, returning the kiss.
The two men remained liplocked for a few moments, simply enjoying each other’s presence, before Sal broke away.
“C’mon,” he gave another light kiss. “She’s got that thing tonight and she’ll be Bitch-zilla if we don’t show…”
“Dinner?”
A laugh signaled the acceptance of terms.
Remember me
Remember me
But, ah, forget my fate
The blue-haired Dido begged the audience. Monique was coming to the end of her program.
‘But….Ten!’ Kagome remembered her friend saying when she finally saw the program. It had taken a bit of pouting, but Monique had finally accepted the list. Then she’d turned the tables.
Kagome had gone fairly easy on Monique when selecting pieces. The mezzo had already performed almost all of them, they were fairly well known, and most ran about three minutes. Monique had not been so kind. Sure, there were fewer pieces, but most ran at least six minutes. Kagome had performed perhaps two of them, but that was alright, she’d had two months to learn the others. And naturally, they were well-known…Notorious was more like it.
Kagome had been about to murder the other woman when Monique had graciously pointed out that, while she had not included Lucia’s ‘mad scene’, she would be more than happy to do so.
“And of course,” Monique’s voice broke into her thoughts. “It’s tradition in a split recital to have a duet. So, if my partner-in-crime hasn’t ditched me, she’ll be joining me for the next piece.”
Kagome sighed and left the wings. Moving to stand beside Monique on the stage, she quipped, “You rang, Mistress?”
Monique grinned. “And if you look carefully, ladies and gentlemen, you’ll see a rare creature!”
Kagome froze. Looking around her slowly, she raised a hand and pointed to herself in question.
The mezzo nodded. “The soprano who willingly gives up the spotlight!” she finished.
Pulling out the pencil ‘holding’ her gelled and sprayed hair in a twist, Kagome pretended to make a note on her hand. In a stage whisper she read off what she ‘wrote’. “Never…Give…Monique…Caffeine…Again…. 221;
Nodding as though satisfied and replacing the pencil, Kagome smiled at Monique. The other woman narrowed her eyes.
“This next piece is the song of Godiva and British Airways,” Monique turned back to the assembled crowd.
Kagome pinched the bridge of her nose. “It’s about flowers,” she corrected.
“And flowers,” the blue-haired vocalist conceded. “It’s probably the most well known piece in the program.”
Pointedly, Kagome interjected, “Without further ado, ‘The Flower Duet’ from Lakmé.”
Kagome knew exactly why Monique didn’t care for this piece. It was slow, flowing, pretty…And pointless.
The piece’s only point in the plot of the opera it came from was to show that the women wanted protection for the title character’s father and to get them out of the way so a bunch of Brits could come admire said title character’s jewelry.
After the five minutes of ‘sleep-therapy’ opera, Monique curtsied and urged Kagome to do the same. Moving to stand closer to her friend, Kagome did. The crowd, recognizing the signal, began to applaud politely.
When the two performers rose, Monique feigned irritation, whispering loudly and harshly, “Get out of my spotlight.”
While the audience, those who got the joke anyway, laughed, Kagome pretended to be frightened and scampered out of Monique’s ‘personal bubble’.
Nodding sharply, satisfied, Monique thanked those assembled for coming, promised to return, and handed the program over to Kagome, saying that she had just enough time to get to Starbucks before it closed.
“Oooh!” Maria Veln, the accompanist grinned. “Bring me a grande Mocha Frappe please!”
Monique, walking off the stage, waved a hand over her shoulder. To Kagome she called, “Don’t forget your ‘woo-woo’s!”
The audience laughed again. Kagome was genuinely confused. “’Woo-woo’s?” she muttered, casting a somewhat frightened glance over her shoulder.
Maria smiled, clueless.
Shuddering, Kagome started her half of the program.
“Normally, we’d let you guys out for intermission,” she shrugged. “But since our combined programs are only about an hour, we’ll just have a little ‘party’ at the end and call it even.
“As Monique explained earlier, in choosing the programs we tried not to stick to common recital pieces. We wanted to do something a bit more challenging. You’ve probably noticed that there are a few odd choices; this next one is one of them.
“’Lakmé’ is an opera that, while filled with beautiful music, is a bit lacking in the story and character development department. It’s your standard ‘boy meets girl, boy wants girl, girl wants boy, boy can’t have girl, boy leaves girl, girl kills self’ opera.” She shot a glance to Maria. The woman had finished her first bottle of water sometime during Monique’s program and was fighting with her second.
“Somewhere in between the ‘boy meets girl’ and ‘boy leaves girl’ parts, Lakmé’s father, a Hindu priest, is pretty angry that someone got near his daughter. To flesh out exactly who, he takes her into the marketplace and orders her to sing.
“The song that she sings is a story: A young girl, an ‘untouchable’, is making her way through the woods one day when she stumbles upon a young man being attacked by a tiger. Desperate to save him, she runs to his aid,” Kagome allowed herself a slight ironic smile. “With bells on. Literally. By playing her,” she formed quotes with her fingers, “’magic bells’ the girl manages to save his life.
“The story doesn’t say whether she sacrifices her life for his,” she paused. “I like to think that she does. What it does say is that the girl is afraid of his reaction to her status. She didn’t need to worry. The man reveals himself to be,” she closed her eyes, trying to remember the Hindu god’s name, “Vishnu, son of Brahma. He takes her with him back to ‘heaven’ as thanks for her deed.”
Maria had gotten the bottle open and was just closing it when Kagome turned again. Nodding, the soprano continued, “Explanation over. The reason for this piece, as well as several others, being chosen is that it is an excellent example of coloratura. For those of you giving me clueless looks, those really high, really fast notes that we show-off sopranos like to do.”
Maria hid a grin while she gave a chord. After humming to be sure she had the key, Kagome smiled. “The ‘Bell Song’,” was the only thing she said.
The beginning of the aria was more focused on the story, slow, flowing, melodic. As the story progressed and the girl saw the trouble the man was in, the music changed accordingly, becoming more frantic. Then came the bells.
In direct contrast to the earlier section, this part was ‘fast and furious’. The singer had to vocally reproduce the bells…And seeing as Kagome had no ‘bells’ to guide her, it was a bit more difficult. The segment culminated in a held high note followed by a quick trip down the scale and a very abrupt chord from the piano.
Then came the dramatic/heroic section. The music was again the slow, flowing tune as the god revealed himself and gave the girl her reward.
Revisiting the bells reintroduced the coloratura. Needless to say, the ending High E was welcome to Kagome.
The piano’s final chords rang in the air as the applause began. Kagome didn’t miss the glances exchanged by her old history professor and her Composition professor. She also didn’t miss the mouthed ‘There’s no need for a note to be that high’.
Grinning, she shook her head, exchanging her own glance with Rin, who had accompanied Tai; she was the only other one in the house willing to stomach an hour of nothing but Classical music.
The next number, Kagome explained, was pretty much the exact opposite of the first. “The character was obviously, if you’ll pardon the reference, from ‘Planet Look-at-me, Look-at-me’.”
She had been in a play as certain fairy queen and had then shown her amazing ego with an aria. It wasn’t one of Kagome’s favorite arias, but she managed to get through it.
“You’ve seen the self-sacrificing Hindu girl and the vain ‘Titania’. This next girl is a bit different,” she sighed. “She’s a doll. She has no emotions.
“Her aria is designed to show two things about the ‘automaton’ known as ‘Olympia’. First of all, as a doll, she never has a bad day; everything’s puppies and kittens and bunnies and rainbows for her. Secondly,” she began bouncing slightly, seemingly irritated. “She never misses a note.” The door Monique had exited through received a rather heated glare. “I don’t pretend to be that perfect, but I’m going to try. ‘Les oiseaux dans la charmille’ from ‘Les Contes D’Hoffman’.”
Contrary to Kagome’s belief, Jinenji, while not an avid fan of it, did enjoy opera. In fact, when he’d seen the small blurb about the recital in the paper, he’d made plans to attend. The only truly new information Kagome’s call had yielded was that there was to be a ‘get-together’ afterwards.
I'm tone deaf
Never could understand pitch
Some people you know can sing ‘so-la-ti-do’
And claim they can tell which is which!
Kagome was closing out her program in her typical non-conformist style: with a tongue-in-cheek, and obviously false to those in attendance, declaration of a flaw.
The subtle scratching of pen on paper drew his attention from the stage. The woman next to him was making more notes. Judging by her nametag, he concluded that she was a ‘scout’ for a Classical label. Probably Erato given the letterhead on her notepad.
A purposely flat note caused him to wince and drew his attention back to Kagome, who was gesturing frantically at the accompanist.
Sal pulled back from the two women he’d just hugged. To the taller, blue-haired one he accused, “You made me cry!” To the smaller one, he asked pointedly, “No Königin?” Both women swatted him.
Hugging his two friends again, he pouted, “Only a few more months.”
Kagome shook her head, smiling. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’m not interrupting something, am I?” a half amused, half nervous voice broke in.
The smaller woman pulled away from the hug to smile welcomingly at the hanyou hovering near the group. “Jinenji! You came! Here, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
The IHOP waitresses were probably a bit surprised to find such a large group heading in for dinner at nearly midnight.
Kagome, returning from the bathroom, stared at the plate in front of her seat. A happy face made out of Reddi-Whip© smiled back. Sitting down, she glanced around the table. “Alright. Who did it?”
Kouga smirked while everyone pointed to the history professor.
“Traitors,” the inu-youkai affected his patented ‘Sit Down and Shut Up’ glare.
“Don’t work, Mammy,” Kagura snorted a laugh.
Sango choked on her coffee. “’Mammy’?”
“He can’t put me in detention,” the wind-demoness grinned, looking a bit like her boyfriend. “Why the hell not?”
Kikyou gave a rather un-Kikyou-like snort. At her former teacher’s hurt look, she waved a hand. “Sorry, not funny,” was all she managed before she broke down into giggles.
Soon, all the women were laughing, save for Rin who was hopelessly out of the loop, letting out broken sentences as they did.
“-and when he sat-“ Kagura threw back her head, howling with laughter, and pounded a fist on the table.
“-Coach Cover-“ Sango chortled.
“-‘Not sportsmanlike’-“ Kagome and Kikyou threw out simultaneously, pointing at each other.
“-your hair-“ Kagura shrieked, pointing at Kagome.
Kouga, remembering the Van de Graaff generator incident, let out a snicker of his own
“-blackmail!” Sango cackled.
It was a long while before they all calmed down and even afterwards the girls were still having trouble drinking anything without giggling.
After about the twentieth random snort from the women, Tai turned his attention to the hanyou, who’d been observing everything quietly. “So, Jinenji, Kagome mentioned you were working on a Psychology degree. How’s that working out?”
Smiling, Jinenji told his former teacher that, not only was he interning as an assistant counselor at a high school in town, he’d been offered a permanent position at the school when he completed his degree. Turning to Kagome, he narrowed his eyes, “And what’s new with you?”
“I’m going to be traveling again,” the woman started hesitantly.
“Austria again?” Jinenji frowned in thought, remembering where her studies had sent her the summer before.
Kouga snickered.
Biting her lip, Kagome framed out her explanation. “Not exactly,” she began slowly.
Well, I'll see what I can do to clean this up once I get back home. For now, it's going up as is. I'm quite tired of going through and translating everything into HTML because the computer doesn't like the original formatting. This will more than likely be reposted in a few days, but for now, just drop me a line. Send in ideas, rants, complaints, whatever.
Until later. Ja ne.