InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Marriage of Convenience for Whom? ❯ Cereal Twins ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Inuyasha is the property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz productions.

 

I have nothing against people suffering from ADD, its just any easy reference.

 

I have never lived or visited Hollywood, sorry if I did and I butchered what your hometown is like. My bad.

 

Don't do drugs.

 

A/N: Ok, this chapter is the product of a tiny epiphany of mine during a drawn out family dinner. Basically, all I ask is that you keep an open mind when reading.

 

That being said, this chapter is just plain silly.

 

See you on the flip side.

 

Chapter 3

 

Kagome sat, sipping her tea as she looked out the window from her room.

 

Her room.

 

She probably could have fit three of her school-leased apartments in this one nook of Kikyou's house. Looking around, she took in the sitting chairs, the doors to the bathroom and closets, the television, the bay windows, ending on the softest bed she had ever slept in.

 

Turning back to the window, Kagome looked out at the California hills. She was trying to make sense of the night before, but understanding wasn't exactly coming to her.

 

Inuyasha sure as hell blew hot and cold with her, and it was driving her crazy. After he yelled at her in the theater lobby, he had led her into the screening, taking her hand when they began to walk down the aisle. She couldn't help the small blush that crept over her face at the attention even though Kikyo never blushed. Then he had ignored her through the rest of the movie, rudely shushing her when she asked a simple question. But as they threaded through the crowds, he had taken her hand again. Kagome scowled, wondering if he had done it to benefit the lingering paparazzi.

 

The strangest thing had been in the limo outside her sister's house. She had just murmured her goodbye and thanks to him when his hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. He had leaned so close that, for a moment at least, Kagome thought he was going to kiss her, but he didn't. Instead, in a voice filled something like regret or disappointment, he told her he was sorry for “what had happened” and that he hoped that they could “move on” although his “offer still remained”. Kagome had mumbled a response and then pried her wrist out of his grasp, replacing it with her fingers. She gave him a warm hand squeeze and a smile that she knew wasn't anything like Kikyo's icy-but-beautiful stare and slipped out of the car.

 

The look in his eyes bothered more than anything: his golden orbs were filled with such sadness, but such longing. What had happened between her sister and Inuyasha?

 

In less than a month, she would be married to the man, as a long as they stayed on schedule…

 

And before then Kikyo had a lot of explaining to do if it was going to work. Whenever Kagome had asked, all involved said that things would be much better if Inuyasha stayed in the dark. Everything could fall apart if he found out what was going on right under his nose.

 

Sighing and looking down at her tea leaves, Kagome couldn't help but wonder how this was all going to work out.

 

More than anything, she was confused. For the longest time, she had had a star crush on Inuyasha, always being secretly jealous of Kikyou for all the movies they made in spite of her sister's assurance that he was in fact an ass. Now they would be bound together—what did it all mean? What was she supposed to feel if anything?

 

Pinching her eyes with her thumb and finger, she sighed and picked up the schedule Kikyou had sent to her room earlier the morning. In so many words, her sister was telling her that she wasn't allowed to see the light of day unless the starlet deemed it so. On the up swing, Kikyou's house had more toys, food, and open space to keep someone with ADD occupied for a very long time. Unfortunately, Kagome had never been one to sit still.

 

Kikyou was afraid that someone would spot Kagome and they would be screwed. Kagome wished she could have argued that she was used to dealing with people mistaking her for her older sister, but she couldn't. She had been at the same university for longer than she'd like to think. In the process though, most people had come to know her for her, and she really couldn't remember the last time someone confused her with Kikyo.

 

There was a knock on her door and a moment later, Sango popped her head in.

 

“Good morning sleepy head,” Sango smiled, walking over to Kagome and handing her a Styrofoam coffee cup. “How's last night go?”

 

“What, you don't read the tabloids?” Kagome motioned the spread of newspapers that had been delivered with the schedule. Each cover had a different view of Kagome falling and Inuyasha catching her just before she splattered herself all over the red carpet.

 

Sango examined them with a smirk before commenting, “I've seen worse. Don't worry about it. You were hardly a blip on the morning entertainment news, and what they did say was speculation about your upcoming `marriage'. As long as you don't care about what UFO watchers think, I wouldn't give it a second thought.”

 

Sango moved to the other chair, across from Kagome, plucking up the girl's schedule as she moved.

 

“Wow, I'm surprised Kikyou can type this well,” she said, giving the paper a once over.

 

Kagome gave her a dry look. “Regardless, it seems like she has me penciled in not to leave the house ever.”

 

Taking Kagome in over the top edge of the paper, Sango rolled her eyes. “Do you have any idea how much you can fuck things up if you were seen?”

 

Kagome shrugged. “Do you have any idea how stir crazy I'll get staying here?”

 

“I thought you did research and wrote papers. Why not do that to pass the time?” She took a sip of her own coffee.

 

Looking at her hands, Kagome bowed her head. “I—I was scheduled to work, but I was dating this guy. We were talking about moving in together, but because of my research, we didn't have a lot of time to ourselves.” She took a deep breath so she could continue. “I talked with my advisors and the university and got my work put on hold so that we could take the next step. When I told him about it, he said it was great, but that he knew as soon as we got settled in, I'd just have to go back to work, and he couldn't deal with that. So he left. He didn't understand—I was almost done with school as it was!” Kagome let out a sad sigh, looking again to the window. “I hadn't gone back yet because I didn't feel I could take it. Then Kikyo showed up with this…I just wish I knew what he was thinking when he left.” She finished, bringing her gaze back to Sango.

 

“There was someone else,” Sango said simply.

 

“Wh—what?” Kagome couldn't believe her ears.

 

“It was a cop out. He took the first door out he could get to, its that simple. Knowing guys, he probably had someone waiting for him once he got away from you.”

 

“Oh.” Kagome felt as if she was going to be sick.

 

“You didn't love this jerk, did you?” Sango chuckled.

 

Kagome looked at her hands again, flexing her fingers. “I thought I did, but now, looking back, I'm not sure what I felt for him. I just know it hurt when he left.”

 

“Well maybe Inuyasha can help you get over him,” Sango said, giving her a sly smile.

 

Unable to stop the blush that spread across her face, Kagome tried her best to hide it by looking at the window and not at Sango.

 

Sango let out a long breath. She liked Kagome almost as much as she liked Kikyou. Pulling her palm pilot out of her bag, she flipped though her schedule. The day was really just a catch up day, and there wasn't much to catch up on. A few invitations to RSVP to, but since Kikyou had been on set for most of the passed year and a half, there really wasn't all that much paperwork to do.

 

“Tell you what, since I brought up the sensitive subject of your ex, I'll take you to the grocery store. Kikyou said I was supposed to go shopping for you, but you can come with me.”

 

“Really? I can get out of the house?” Sango could almost have sworn that she saw Kagome's ears visible perk up.

 

“Yes, at least for today. Tomorrow though you need to sike yourself up for finding something to do inside Kikyou's castle. Now get dressed, and I'll go find a hat and shades for you to wear.”

 

“Hat and shades?” Kagome raised an eyebrow.

 

“A disguise. I'm not taking a ticking paparazzi bomb outside without a certain level of protection.”

 

With that, Sango picked up her coffee, gathered her bag, and with a smile, left the room.

 

XXXXXXXXXXX

 

Inuyasha was curled up on the couch in Miroku's home, catching the morning gossip shows with the rest of Hollywood as they scrambled to get ready for the day. Inuyasha however was not scrambling. He was celebrating. Not only was the rumor mill not talking about Kikyo's trip up, but they were gossiping about the possible “engagement/marriage/courtship” between him and Kikyo. Not a word about him frequenting gay bars.

 

He couldn't help the cocky smirk that spread over his lips as the lacquered blond in a salmon suit stared directly into the camera and said in an oh-so-perky voice, “We've been speculating about it for years and it looks like it may have finally happened. Inuyasha and Kikyo may finally be in an item, but will there be wedding bells in their future? Check out this Hollywood Dish exclusive picture our camera man managed to get from the inside of the theater.”

 

For several seconds the screen was filled with the image of Kikyo kissing his cheek: the same picture that all the other stations had been playing. One of the popcorn boys must have had a camera sold the picture the networks.

 

Yes, because most marriages were cemented by a friendly peck on the cheek, Inuyasha mused, his smirk faltering for a second.

 

Kikyo had kissed him. Granted, it had only been a nip to calm him down, she still kissed him. Him, the man who the last time she had seen, she said she would rather star in From Justin to Kelly Part II than be involved with. She had always held him at an arm's length, but when he asked her to dinner, she looked frightened, then exploded.

 

Did she know his secret?

 

Inuyasha shrugged. Maybe this would work out after all. He hadn't been thrilled with the fact that the studio's idea of damage control was to betroth him to a woman who obviously hated him, but in the face of the go-go boy scandal, it hadn't seemed that bad.

 

Now it wasn't looking bad at all. Maybe he could still get Kikyo to come around.

 

Maybe she already had.

 

XXXXXXXXXX

 

Half an hour later, Sango's sleek black car pulled up in front of what she dubbed a “grocery store”. To Kagome, it looked more like a ritzy department store.

 

“Kikyou said to buy you whatever you wanted for the next week,” Sango began as she stuffed her cell phone and car keys into her leather purse.

 

She and Kagome were a very mismatched pair as they made their way to the supermarket. Sango in her pressed black suit and long straight hair matched the spotless car she drove. Her shiny black heels clicked along next to Kagome's trudging sneakers. The girl's shoes matched her ratty jeans and baggy t-shirt. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, then covered with a tattered baseball cap. Both women wore dark sunglasses, though Kagome's looked more for someone recovering from a drug addiction than Sango's trim shades.

 

They walked through the sliding glass doors and into the air-conditioned building. The place reminded Kagome more of an over-sized bath store than anything else. Everything was in wooden barrels or wooden shelves…she was beginning to wonder what the refrigerators would look like.

 

Sango got a cart, pushing it as she walk in step with Kagome. “Kikyo said that you'll be eating dinner every night with her and her husband, but you need to make sure you have something for breakfast, lunch, and any snacks.”

 

Kagome nodded silently, taking in the rows and rows of overpriced organic food. How did her sister afford to shop at a place like this?

 

Sango directed Kagome to the cereal aisle, none of the names she recognized, but the pictures of the grain inside did look vaguely familiar in an all-natural sort of way.

 

Kagome was reaching for something that looked as though it might actually have sugar in it, when the parcel was plucked out of her grasp. Glaring at the person who had taken her would be cereal, she was surprised to meet the eyes of a hanyou. Though demons were assimilated into the human world, it was still a bit of a shock seeing such an obvious one in public. Usually they donned a disguise so they could go undetected and undisturbed.

 

Regardless of what youkai were supposed to do, the one clutching Kagome's cereal was blatantly not human. His hair was long and billowy white while the creature's eyes were an amber Kagome had only seen in demons and people with contact fetishes. But these things could, and often were, created by makeup artists. What really tipped the young actress off that her cereal snatcher was a demon were the two puppy ears perched on the top of his head.

 

“That's my cereal, I saw it first!” Kagome growled, reaching out for the bag that the hanyou held in his arms. He moved at the last movement and Kagome only grabbed air.

 

The hanyou in question gave a pointed look at the shelf realizing that he was gripping the last bag of that particular brand. He moved his golden orbs to the woman who was trying to take away the prize that he had won.

 

“Well, looks like I'm better with my hands,” he shrugged, tuning to go.

 

Kagome fumed. She fisted her hands down at her sides, glaring at the half demon's back as he began to leave. Tick marks popped around her head. In a flash, her hand lashed out and she snagged the bag of sugar wheat and jerked it out from underneath his slackened arm.

 

Thanking God that she wasn't wearing the horrible trip-prone shoes from the night before, she turned and bolted as fast as she could in the opposite direction, hoping that she would find Sango who had mysteriously disappeared. That woman seemed like she could kick anyone's ass—including a demon's.

 

She had only made it to the frozen shrimp puffs when the close proximity of the stomping behind her became extremely apparent. The next instant, she felt strong hands grasp her waist, and a moment later, she was pinned to the ground. It happened so fast that she only just managed to fling the cereal bag out from underneath her, saving it from certain crushing.

 

Kagome didn't have time to ponder the weight pressing her into the tile floor of the supermarket or the fact that her baseball cap was missing—she was too busy watching her cereal being snatched out of her hands and the hanyou cereal thief's back as it disappeared behind a display of cheese blocks. On her feet in an instant, Kagome was trailing the man, not one to lose something like sugar. As a college student, she knew the value of sugar all to well.

 

Cursing as she saw him duck behind a stand of diet soda, she doubled back an aisle, choosing another that had every kind of cigarette known to man—both in and out of place in a store made for Hollywood health nuts. She was just in time to see him heading for the checkout and more tick marks flickered around her head. In a move that surprised even her, she increased her speed and tackled him. She caught him beautifully in the side, tumbling them both to the ground. The cereal went flying. They landed, the hanyou's back pushed against the floor, Kagome's head buried in his chest, praying that she didn't land on the ground and get a concussion.

 

They stayed like that for probably longer than was needed: the hanyou was stunned that the girl had been so bold. Sure he pulled shit like that all the time, this was the first time anyone had come after him—she could be a worthy opponent. Kagome on the other hand was catching her breath, trying to think of a way to get up while maintaining her dignity and still get away with the cereal.

 

The sound of a tapping high-heeled shoe brought both of them crashing back to reality. The man looking up over his shoulder, Kagome lifting her head met the raised eyebrow of Sango.

 

In the hands of Kikyo's assistant rested the much sought after bag of cereal.

 

“Lose something you two?” Though she was keeping an impassive façade, her voice held a note of humor.

 

“God! I can't take you anywhere!” A voice called from behind Sango, and was soon followed by the appearance of a man in a black suit with a contrasting purple tie and shirt combo. Hands on hips, looking in a weird way like the male version of Sango, the man glared down at the cereal twins.

 

“Kagome, you really need hurry. Time restrictions, you know.” Sango cut in, looking slightly impatient, not to mention worried.

 

Kagome drew in a breath, catching Sango's meaning. Finally it clicked where exactly she was and what exactly she was doing. Picking herself up, she blushed down at the demon she had used as a safely net. She had to catch her dark sunglasses to keep them from slipping off.

 

“Um, sorry…maybe I'll see you around?” She scrambled to her feet, then half heartedly reached back to help the hanyou to his feet. Their eyes met and Kagome could swear that she had seen that man before, but she knew she didn't know any hanyou.

 

“Yeah…” He shook her hand, his eyes shifting to Sango, locking onto the bag of cereal. Kagome saw the move, flicking her attention back to him. They looked at each other, then back at the bag in Sango's arms.

 

Sango screamed as the hanyou and Kagome rushed her, tossing the bag into the air in the process. She stumbled backward, unable keep her balance as the pair rushed by her. Sure that she was going to fall, she was more than a little surprised when a pair strong hands gripped her around the shoulders, staying her until she could get her balance. She was about to turn and thank her savior when she felt a warm pressure brushing over her backside. Sango had been in Hollywood long enough to know what it was.

 

Righting as best she could, she turned on her heel with a squeak to look the man in the eye who had been groping her ass. Purple eyes met hers, and she had to admit that for a pervert, he was rather handsome. His black hair was pulled back into a tiny ponytail, and somehow that worked for him. There was a collection of gold rings in his ears.

 

If he hadn't been just fondling her, Sango was have sworn the man was gay.

 

No matter, she thought with a shrug. Raising her hand, she brought her hand down hard on his cheek in a slap, leaving a red handprint across his face.

 

Meanwhile the cereal had been spinning in the ceiling as its pursuers stood beneath the bag of sugary goodness, waiting for its descent. The half demon was the first to get his claws into the cereal, but he once again underestimated the hunting prowess of Kagome who leaped in the air, snagging the other side.

 

They were in a dead lock.

 

“Give it back—I saw it first!” Kagome growled, punctuating her words with tiny tugs on the sack, praying that the demon's claws didn't tear though the already battered plastic.

 

“No! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find sweet stuff in a store like this?” The hanyou snarled back, standing his ground.

 

“Shop somewhere else then!” She gave a particularly hard tug, but stopped short as the sack had begun to rip, spilling some of his precious contents. The jerk of the movement though sent Kagome's druggie shades slipping off the bridge of her nose.

 

The man froze, letting his claws slip out of the cereal-bleeding bag. “Ki-Kikyo?”

 

Hugging the bag to her chest, Kagome froze. Shit.

 

“Her stunt double,” Sango came to the rescue. Her shiny black shoes clicked against the tiles as she walked up to stand next to Kagome. “I'm her agent, would you like to book her? She's free for birthday parties, but we prefer younger children—they're less likely to see through the disguise.” She flashed Kagome a sideways look of warning. With slightly shaking hand, Kagome slipped the sunglasses back over her eyes. She felt something hit her in the back, and as carefully as possible, she looked down behind her to see her hat being waved at her by an impatient Sango. Cringing at her clumsiness, she took the cap back and did her best to nonchalantly slip it back over her ponytail-ed head.

 

The hanyou eyed Kagome, only half listening to Sango. He shook his head at her offer and Sango shrugged. “Well, we have things we need to get to.” Sango said with a tight-lipped smile. “Good day.”

 

Sango pivoted on her squeaky heels again and headed for the ice cream without waiting for Kagome to follow.

 

Kagome for her part looked down at the cereal in her hands and for a moment thought about giving it to the hanyou…but no, it was hers. She turned to follow Sango but she felt a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Hey, girl…uh Kagome?”

 

She looked back to hanyou, eyebrow raised. “I'm keeping the cereal, you let go.” Her grip tightened.

 

“Yeah, uh keep it. Would you like to get some coffee some time?”

 

Kagome stared back at him in disbelief. A hanyou was asking her out? No one, man or demon had asked her on a date since her last boyfriend, and that had been near the end of undergraduate.

 

She shrugged, he seemed nice enough. It would be breaking Kikyo's rules, but how much would it hurt if she kept up the disguise?

 

“All right,” Kagome said with a small smile. “Give me your number, I'll have to check my schedule.” At his look telling her that he didn't believe she'd call, Kagome wrote her cell phone number across his hand as well as her instant messenger screen name.

 

As she walked off to find Sango, still clutching the bag of cereal, Kagome's step had a little more bounce in it than it had for the past couple days.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

 

A/N: Again, another chapter that wouldn't die. I was all like, sure, I can get this in in under six pages, but no, it had to keep going. Urg.

 

Ok, I know this chapter took a sharp plot turn, but I think I can make it work—give me at least another chapter or two to prove it. It will kind of go in the direction of the Kagome-Inuyasha-Kikyo love triangle, but with Kagome being both people. No, I'm not really sure what that means, but I think it will look better written out. I'll try to make it more clear in the next installment, but if it gets insanely out of control, don't be surprised when if there are massive re-writes. I'm playing, let me work my “magic”.

 

Thanks to my reviews. I would write more about you guys because you are great, but its late I just got back from a heinous wedding (think that My Chemical Romance Helena video by someone who listens to rap and country). For the sake not plagiarizing in the future, dragongigi, I like the way you think, and I'll see what I can do. If I do use your ideas (or anyone else' for that matter) and forget to credit you, bitch me out. I'm a forgetful fuckwit at times, and I hate ripping stuff that's not mine without citing. It makes me feel like more of a bitch than I already am.

 

Questions, ideas on how this acid trip on speed should go? I'll try to be more responsive next time.