Chapter Six: The Band Meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

The ride to wherever took so long that Kagome eventually fell asleep in the passenger seat. She had stayed awake for the first hour, but when it looked like Sesshomaru wasn’t inclined to conversation she silently drifted off. Sesshomaru didn’t mind the fact that his passenger had fallen into unconsciousness. In fact he preferred the silence and lack of distraction. It had been such a long time since he had taken this route that he really needed to concentrate on his driving. Once they had finally arrived, after three hours of driving, Sesshomaru decided to wake Kagome.

Kagome was jarred from her sleep by a sharp jolt of her body. Her eyes blinking furiously she finally focused on the form of Sesshomaru. She then realized that he had given her one good shove to wake her up and that meant that she had fallen asleep while he was driving. She began to feel bad when he said, “Get out of my car before you drool on my leather”. Then he slid out of is car and walked over to a house. That statement had erased any guilt that she felt for leaving him alone on such a long drive and just made her angry. She scrambled out of his ‘precious’ car taking all of her things with her and ran to catch up with him. But not before checking around her mouth just incase his statement was true. It wasn’t.

“I was not drooling and you know it, Sesshomaru!”

“I did not say that you were drooling, I merely said that you should get out of my car before you began drooling.”

“But I had to be asleep for a while before you said that.”

“Two hours to be exact and given the average four hour sleep cycle you would have eventually entered REM and your muscles would have relaxed, thus your jaw would become slack and you would have drooled on my leather. Gathering that sleep cycles are different for everyone I thought two hours was a good length of time to allow you to sleep.”

“I see that someone has been reading his psych book. So it had nothing to do with the fact that we had apparently arrived at your chosen destination?”

“The arrival was a contributing factor of getting you out of my car awake.” He said, ignoring her first comment.

“I can’t believe you! You make me skip school just to bring me out to the middle of nowhere and now you’re saying that I drool?”

“You catch on quick.” With that said, Sesshomaru went inside the house.

Kagome came out of the room that Sesshomaru had assigned to her dressed in the orange bikini with a huge towel wrapped around her. When she finally made her way downstairs she saw Sesshomaru on the phone in the kitchen so she just sat down at the island and waited.

Once Sesshomaru was off the phone he said, “The pizza is on its way, your absence at school is not only covered, but excused, and now we can chill on the beach.” Kagome sat there dumbfounded.

“You got all of that done in just ten minutes?”

“Good, aren’t I?”

“I’ll say.”

***

School had let out for the day and Sango was practically shaking with nervousness. She had to go home and get ready for her date with Miroku. She didn’t know what to wear, how her hair should look, or how to do her make-up. She was completely screwed. Just then Kohaku walked up to her. “I suppose that the band meeting is off?”

“Oh shit! That’s right. I completely forgot about that. I was too wrapped up in my date. Oh damn!” She quickly whipped out her cellphone and began calling everyone. She hadn’t seen anyone all day and couldn’t figure out why everyone was M.I.A today, but she probably wouldn’t have noticed if they had sat down right next to her at all through out the day.

So far, she had found out that mostly everyone was busy today anyway with projects, presentations, and work. Now all she had to do was call Kagome. Once Kagome answered her cell Sango could hear a TV in the background.

“Speak.”

“Kagome, where are you? I didn’t see you at lunch today.” not exactly what she intended to say, but things happen.

“I’ll tell you later. Anything else?” Just then it sounded like someone was laughing. Some guy to be exact.

“Who are you with?” Again, she didn’t mean to ask, but curiosity is hard to ignore.

“A friend. Is there a reason you called or did you just feel like playing mom for the day?”

“Look! You don’t show up for school and we had a band meeting scheduled for today and no one knows where you

are. Of course I’m going to ask questions. Now, where are you and with whom?” Damn curiosity.

“I’ll give you the full report tonight. Is that all?”

“No, I was calling to let you know that the meeting was cancelled because I have a date tonight. We’ll meet tomorrow morning at 11. Got it?”

“Yeah, and I want a full report from you on my desk by tomorrow morning, missy.”

“It’s as good as done ma’am.” With that Sango hung up the phone and continued to stress about her date.

“Who was that?” Sesshomaru asked as he offered Kagome the popcorn.

“Just Sango telling me that the band meeting is cancelled.” She said as she took a handful of popcorn, tossed one in the air and caught it in her mouth.

“What was the meeting for?”

“Brainstorming for our song.”

“My band just appointed songwriters. They come up with several songs for a challenge and we vote on the best.”

“Well, not everyone is as experienced with this contest as you are.”

“I guess not. What movie do you want to watch next?”

“MADAGASCAR!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I just love those monkey/ squirrel/ lemur things. ‘ Physically fit, physically fit, physically, physically, physically fit!’ Love ’em.”

“I must say that you have some issues that you need to deal with.”

***

“Too spiky, too metallic, too dark, too… too WRONG!” Sango stood there glaring at her closet trying to figure out what she was going to wear on her date. Hearing her shout of frustration, Kohaku quietly made his way into her room. He laid a rather large box on her bed and walked out as quietly as he came in. Sango, who was focused on her closet didn’t notice her brother or the box he left. She did, however, notice it when she sat on it. “What the hell?” She said as she turned around to see what it was that she sat on.

“What’s this?” She said as she opened the slightly squashed package. Inside was a beautiful forest green dress with matching shoes and handbag. There was also a note lying on top that said:

Have fun on your date tonight.

-Kohaku

‘I’ll be sure to thank him later.’ She thought as she ran into the bathroom to get ready.

***

Kagome opened the back door to her house as quietly as she could. From outside it looked as if everyone had gone to bed. There were no lights on anywhere. Kagome closed the door and prayed that it wouldn’t creak. She crept silently through the kitchen and into the living room. As she passed the chair with the back facing her she suddenly got a vision of her mother sitting there waiting for her like in the movies. She made her way upstairs and successfully entered her bedroom. As she closed the door a light came on behind her. The only thing that she could think of was, ‘damn’. She spun around quickly to face her mother who had made herself rather comfy on her bed.

“Hello, mother.” She said automatically.

“Hello, Kagome.” Ms. Higurashi said looking sternly at her daughter. “The funniest thing happened to me today. I went to work and had a relatively easy workload. I come home expecting both of my children to be at home ready to eat dinner. Do you know what I found, Kagome?”

Kagome gulped and asked, “what did you find, mother?”

“I found your thirteen year old brother in his room playing video games by himself. You know what he told me when I asked about you?”

Kagome shook her head and said, “No, what did he say?”

“He told me that he hadn’t seen you all day, that you hadn’t come home yet. I don’t mind you going out after school, but I do expect you to tell someone where you are going. Do you understand me? Am I being clear?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Now where were you all night?”

“The most popular guy in school chose me to spend his day with and I couldn’t possibly turn him down.”

“The most popular guy in school, huh?”

“Yes ma’am.”

Her mother did the most unusual thing at this news. She slid off of the bed beaming from ear to ear and gave her daughter a hug. Then she said, “It’s good to see you making friends, dear. Though, the next time you go out please leave a note.”

At this, Kagome thought, ‘I would have had I been able to or even knew where I was going or for how long.’ Her mother left her room smiling and Kagome had gotten off without punishment. Now, all Kagome wanted to do was sleep, so she fell face first on to her bed and as she glanced at her new clock by her bedside. It read: 1:43 am.

Kagome opened her eyes and was immediately faced with the clock, which read: 10:26 am. It took a few moments for her to come to, but when she finally realized her plans for today she sprung from her bed and raced to her bathroom. She was out of the house by 10:45 am and was sprinting to Sango’s house.

‘Where is Kagome? The meeting is about to start.’ Sango thought. Just then Kagome came bursting through Sango’s bedroom door. She stood in the doorway desperately trying to get air into her lungs. Sango rolled her eyes and said,

“Well, now that you’ve finally arrived we can start the meeting. The challenge was only to introduce us to the audience. So, we need a song that will represent us as a group and more importantly it has to be a good song for Kagome. Any ideas?”

Akari, who was sitting on Sango’s computer chair, spoke up. “So it has to be a song for Kagome?”

“Well, let’s just put it this way; she can’t sing a song that directly says that she’s a guy. Is that good?”

“So she can be portrayed as a lesbian just as long as we don’t call her a boy?” Masurao said from his spot on the

floor.

“Right”

“Now that my sexuality is completely up in the air for the rest of the year; how about some song ideas?” Kagome said as she looked rather miffed in her spot by the door.

“I think we should do an upbeat song. We seem like a lively group of people.” Akari said.

“Though, most of us are pretty edgy if not dark.” added Masurao.

“So let’s do something that brings those together.” Sango suggested as she adjusted her position on the bed.

“Let’s make a song that has all of our characteristics in it, but it’s all about me. I don’t mean that in a narcissistic way either.” Kagome said.

Masurao decided to add his own opinion to the conversation by saying, “Well if it’s going to be edgy then the song will have to make you sound confident.”

“It looks like we know what we’re doing then. Let’s get to writing.” Sango said as Kohaku got his notebook and pen ready.

As most of the members left Sango’s bedroom leaving behind Kagome and Sango they both sat on the bed to begin the most important conversation of the day. Both had been waiting for this moment since their phone conversation the previous day.

“Okay, so you have to tell me everything.” Kagome got comfortable on the bed. Sango looked a bit embarrassed about last night’s date. “I take it that the date went well?”

Sango’s reply was a blushing nod. Kagome was rocking in her spot with anticipation when she screamed, “Spill it already!”

Sango’s expression changed in an instant as she began, ” The Monk picked me up at six o’clock on the dot. Then we went to this cheesy Italian restaurant, but at least he tried.” She obviously had gotten over her embarrassment because she was right back to being the tough girl.

“What were you guys wearing?”

Sango gave her a once over before coming back with, “What are you wearing?”

Kagome looked down to see that had Tigger slippers on her feet followed by her rainbow toe socks, hot pink Bermuda shorts, red plaid skirt and a yellow T-shirt, and frowned.

“What? You don’t like my new look?” Sango just shook her head. She got up and walked over to her closet and pulled out the dress she had worn on her date.

“Wow, I bet you looked hot in that!” Kagome said from her twisted position the bed.

Sango shrugged and said, “He didn’t seem repulsed by it, so I guess I did.”

“Well, duh!”

“Anyway, after dinner we went to see this really cool band in concert.”

“Really? He took you to a concert? Hey! You never said what he was wearing!”

“Ugh! If you care so much… he wore a white button-up with black pants. Okay?”

“That’s it? He had better of looked damn good in such a plain outfit. Anyway, how was the concert?”

Sango plopped back down on the bed and shrugged. “The band was cool.”

Kagome looked exasperated as she said, “Yeah, you said that already.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Something about Miroku, maybe?”

“We KISSED, alright? We kissed and I liked it. Can you believe that? I actually liked it.”

“Whoa! You kissed on the first date? You little slut.” Kagome said sarcastically.

Then Sango switched gears instantly, “Speaking of sluts. Who were you with all day yesterday?”

Kagome’s shock was evident. “Oh… um ehomaru.” She muttered as she turned away.

“Who? I didn’t catch that.”

“Sesshomaru. I was with Sesshomaru.”

“This is a nice bit of information. Since when are you and Sesshomaru friends?”

“Look, it just kind of … happened. Don’t look at me that way. I’m being honest!”

“It just happened?” Sango looked rather skeptical at this. “So what did you guys “just happen” to do all day?

“Oh well, you know,” Kagome said as she began to edge towards the door, “we just hung out. That’s all.”

As she reached the door Sango said, “So after all you just put me through all I get is “we just hung out”?”

“Pretty much.” Kagome opened the door. “It’s not like we kissed.” She laughed and then dashed out the door.

Sango sat in her room fuming.

Chapter 5

Chapter 7