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The Misadventures of Not-Really-Kagome
Part One: Drum Corps International

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Cast of Characters

Kagome Higurashi: Our loveable heroine. Plays percussion, sings, directs the marching band, keeps a continuous journal, vies for Inuyasha’s attention and affection. Enjoys buying presents for her friends, video games, and reading. In the minority where she lives on account of being Catholic. Is called a genius by friends but modestly turns down the label.

Mama: Kagome’s mother.

Mr. Terada: Kagome’s main band director. Drum corps fanatic who marched with Phantom Regiment.

Sakura Kinomoto: Another close friend of Kagome’s. An excellent artist, loves to run. Plays flute, piccolo, and guitar.

Syaoran Li: Sakura’s boyfriend. Plays tenor saxophone and has just started attending Kagome’s church. Sings in church choir with Kagome.

Miaka Yuki: One of Kagome’s best friends. Loves books and reads incessantly. Plays bassoon and piano and sings rather well. Acts with the school drama department.

Lita Kino: Kagome’s older friend. Is attending college but finds time to say hello to her high school friends. Has had at least a million boyfriends, all but one or two of them band members. Plays clarinet and contrabass clarinet.

Kikyo: One of Kagome’s best friends and sadly her greatest rival. Claims she doesn’t like Inuyasha, is cute and sweet and friendly and musically talented and bubbly and giggly and girly. Loves to hang out with guys, especially Inuyasha, but enjoys being single. Directs the band with Kagome.

Inuyasha: The object of Kagome’s affection. Plays clarinet and piano, acts, polite and very cute and intellectual and naturally outgoing. Questions math problems—has to know “why.” Attends a different church than Kagome. Took Kagome to Prom but apparently nothing has changed between the two of them.

Usagi Tsukino: One of Kikyo’s best friends. Acts at the theater with Inuyasha, is a year older than him, Kikyo, etc.

Mamoru Chiba: Usagi’s boyfriend. Debatably Inuyasha’s best friend. Acts at the theater with Inuyasha and Usagi.

Soichiro Arima: Plays tenor saxophone. Two years younger than Kagome, Sakura, etc. Good friend of Syaoran’s and goes to Kagome’s church. Sings in church choir with Kagome and Syaoran.

Hideaki Asaba: Plays trombone. Likes duct tape and skateboarding. Introduces himself as crazy. Good friends with Soichiro. Attends church with Soichiro, Syaoran, Kagome, etc.
Duo Maxwell: More or less an idiot. Plays trumpet (a statement which makes the previous sentence redundant). Friend of Inuyasha, Kagome, and other band nerds. Known for breaking his arm while jumping onto some girl’s car windshield.

Satoshi: Kagome’s video game-obsessed semi-otaku genius little brother.

Sota: Kagome’s youngest little brother (younger than Satoshi). Is obsessed with all sorts of automobiles and high school fashion.

Dr. Ikari: Retired band director who helps Mr. Terada and Mr. Masaki. Feared by freshmen and seniors alike.

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Kagome bounced up and down on her heels and waited for the rain to stop. “I caaaan’t sit stiiiill…” she moaned to her mother as she paced back and forth, returning to the doorway. “And have you seen Mr. Terada?”

“No, I haven’t seen him in a while. Why don’t you call him?”

“Well, it’s not like I’m going to go meet him in this rain.” Kagome glanced down at her white collared shirt. She really wanted to perform in this outfit, but if the rain didn’t stop, it looked like she’d be changing into a turquoise blouse.

To pass the time, Kagome raced back to the ticket table and dug through her purse. She double-checked all the gifts—Sakura, Syaoran, Miaka, and all of them had been given their necklaces. She only had a few people left to take care of—Lita, Kikyo, and of course Inuyasha.

She smiled to herself. Inuyasha had said he was coming! He was bringing Usagi, Mamoru, his sister, and Kikyo. –Kagome frowned inwardly as the list came to mind. What was Kikyo doing with that group? –Of course Kikyo and Usagi were best friends, but why had they ended up coming with Inuyasha? That made one couple, one little sister, and Inuyasha and Kikyo, who might as well have counted as a couple, too. What did Kagome want to bet that Kikyo had ridden in the front seat next to Inuyasha?

“The rain’s lettin’ up,” a man near the doorway commented. Kagome looked up. Sure enough, the raindrops had stopped falling and left a perpetual cool over the stadium in which only half an hour ago it had been over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Kagome smiled and stepped out from underneath the awning. She watched the cars driving by, wondering what Inuyasha was driving now. She hadn’t seen him for over a month and hadn’t talked to him for two weeks before the afternoon’s conversation. She thought back to that conversation and frowned.

“Hello?” Inuyasha’s voice came pleasantly over the phone.

“Hey! I was just calling to make sure you were coming to DCI and, if you weren’t, I was going to try to convince you. –Because Phantom’s staying at our school and I got to see them practice and they’re doing Faust and it’s just an awesome show! There’s an ‘Ave Maria’ in it, and it’s the one we played at Christmas!” Breathlessly Kagome finished her pitch and waited for a reply.

“Oh, I’m coming! I can’t wait! I’m bringing my sister and Usagi and Mamoru and Kikyo and we’re going to go get dinner now but what time does it start?”

Kagome paused a moment to figure out where one sentence had begun and another ended before answering, “Um, 7:30.” She was too distracted. That name. That name! Kikyo. He was bringing… Kikyo.

“Great! I’ll see you there, okay?”

“Okay. Don’t be late!” Kagome added cheerfully. She hoped Inuyasha would keep his word. After all, she was going to be singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and she hadn’t really told any of her friends. She wanted it to be a surprise. But, she added to herself, now Inuyasha had the added distraction of Kikyo. Would he pay her any attention at all? 

Kagome snapped out of it. “I’m going to run around,” she called to her mother before disappearing elsewhere. She paced the souvenir area, scanning the crowd. If she didn’t see them soon, she was just going to go seek out Mr. Terada.

Kagome was lost in thought when it suddenly occurred to her that someone was calling her name. She snapped back into reality and saw Inuyasha’s mother’s SUV-thing parked almost directly in front of her. Usagi, Kikyo, and Inuyasha were all waving her down with big grins on their faces.

“Heeeyyy!” Kagome exclaimed, bouncing up to the passenger-side window. “Hallelujah—it stopped raining!” She threw her arms up in the air, trying to get some of that nervous energy out. (…It wasn’t working.)

“Hey, I have a question,” Inuyasha called from the driver’s seat. “If this weather keeps up, we’re still having the show, right?”

“Yeah,” Kagome said. “They’ll perform unless it’s lightning. But really it’s stopped raining already. –Ooh! I have presents! I’ll be back!” She spun on her heel and made a beeline in the opposite direction.

Kagome ran through the crowd at top speed, exclaiming, “Scusi!” Only two nights before she had flown home from a nine-day trip to Italy, and she still couldn’t stop speaking what little Italian she knew to ordinary Americans. At least, she thought, “scusi” sounded rather like “excuse me.”

“Hey!” Kagome called to her mother and brothers as she sprinted in the VOLUNTEERS ONLY door to the check-in table. She dug through the purse on the chair, then just picked the whole thing up and headed back out. “Inuyasha and them are here!” she added in explanation as she headed back out the door.

“Oh, hey, Kagome!” Syaoran stopped her after she’d gone only a few feet.

“Yeah?” she called, hyper with coffee and nervousness. She bounced up and down as Syaoran tried to talk.

“Sakura, Miaka, Hideaki, Soichiro, ’n’ I were thinking of ditching our parents and sitting together during the show. D’you wanna join us?” Syaoran asked, talking a mile a minute as usual.

“That’s okay, but we have great seats,” Kagome grinned back apologetically. “Top row, right in front of the press box, on the fifty yard line. And my mom will want me to stick around. –I’ve gotta go. Inuyasha’s here!”

As Kagome ran off, she thought back to when she had just gotten her senior ring. She asked Syaoran to turn it. He had asked her was she going to get Inuyasha to close the ring, and she had blushed and answered with a weak “maybe.” At the present, Kagome had given up on her senior ring at eighty turns. She still wanted Inuyasha to close it, but she was slightly afraid to ask. –Whatever the case, Syaoran and his lot were rather perceptive. They knew how much she liked Inuyasha, and… well, they could handle that kind of truthful excuse.

Kagome weaved through the shopping crowd, glancing at the Phantom Regiment booth. She made a mental note to ask her mother for that white “Faust” shirt and jogged towards Inuyasha’s car.

Duo was standing in front of the window talking to Kikyo, so Kagome took a minute to wave her greetings to Usagi, Mamoru, and Inuyasha’s little sister (all of whom were sitting in the back seat). “Move, Duo,” she instructed.

“Why am I always in the way?” Duo whined.

“Hey, Kagome! What do you have there?” Kikyo bubbled.

“I can’t give you anything yet ’cuz there’s a thing in the way,” Kagome replied, hitting Duo’s arm in the hopes that he would move.

“Gaah!” Duo exclaimed in exasperation. “I’m gonna go talk to Inuyasha where I’m not in anybody’s way!”

Kagome quickly filled the spot where Duo had been and produced Kikyo’s gift—a St. Christopher medal from the Vatican. Kagome was entirely too hyper to explain the medal and did so in an unusual mile-a-minute manner. “Oooh! Lemme see! I’m Catholic!” Mamoru called from the back seat, somehow maneuvering so his head was up in the front seat and looking over Kikyo’s shoulder. He proceeded to tell Kagome something about a rosary; she had already lost interest, however, in this side of the car. Kikyo had her present. Now it was time for Inuyasha’s.

Kagome skipped around the front of the car. Duo turned to give her a look, then made another noise of exasperation. He grumbled something about leaving and disappeared from sight (and mind, as far as Kagome was concerned).

“I have some presents for you,” Kagome grinned down at Inuyasha.

“I have something for you, too—just not with me,” Inuyasha explained apologetically.

“Really?” Kagome grinned. She had asked for some edelweiss; but even though Inuyasha had responded, “Yes, ma’am!” she hadn’t really expected a present. She felt like she was floating on air. “—Well, I got you a medal, too—blessed at the Vatican.” She handed the little paper bag through the open car window.

“Thank you,” Inuyasha replied genuinely, reaching into the little bag and pulling out the medal for examination. Kagome didn’t go through the whole explanation because she figured he had heard her telling Kikyo. Then, with a bigger smile, she dug through her purse and pulled out a larger box. “And I found these for you at the Coliseum.” As she handed him the box, she announced the little figurines inside: “Roman action figures.”

Inuyasha was astounded and overjoyed. –There were really no better words to describe it. He repeated what she had said—“ROMAN ACTION FIGURES!?!” and laughed and made happy exclamations and showed the box off to Mamoru. The two of them argued over whether Inuyasha should keep the whole set (Mamoru wanted “the little lonely one without his helmet on”) and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the present.

Kagome added, “And it’s in English!” in reference to the package, and Inuyasha began a short conversation about how everything in Austria had been in English and made him feel stupid. Kagome told a few quick stories about Italy, and as soon as Kikyo asked about drum major hats Inuyasha decided to get out of the car and open the door. Kagome started walking around to the other side of the car, and Inuyasha stopped her.

“You don’t have to leave—we’re just going to get out and go in. You can come with us.”

“I have to talk to Kikyo,” Kagome explained before running around to the other side of the car. She started trying to tell Kikyo everything at once—they were ordering hats but Kikyo had forgotten to tell the band moms so they hadn’t been ordered yet and the polo shirts weren’t done yet but the guy was going to get to them “soon” and raisins surprise her that was a joke from Italy don’t ask and she was about to go crazy because she was singing the National Anthem but don’t tell Inuyasha because she wanted it to be a surprise!!

On the way back into the stadium, Kagome lost Inuyasha, Duo, Kikyo, Usagi, Mamoru, and Inuyasha’s sister when her mother and brothers came up to ask her where Mr. Terada was.

She didn’t really speak to Inuyasha for the rest of the night.

He had bought Kikyo’s ticket and brought her to the show. Kikyo had ridden up front, of course. Next to him.

They had sat together during the show. And although Usagi and Mamoru and Inuyasha’s sister had been there, they had still been… together. Meanwhile, Kagome had been up in the stands with Mama and her two crazy-antsy-whiny brothers Satoshi and Sota.

Before the show, standing on the track and waiting for her cue, Kagome had looked up at her friends in the audience. Inuyasha had expressed his approval at the fact that she was singing, and Kikyo had waved to Dr. Ikari. He had looked up in mid-sentence and remarked to Kagome, “Oh, look. It’s Kikyo and Inuyasha.”

Kagome hated the way that sounded because it sounded so perfect. Kikyo and Inuyasha. Kikyo-and-Inuyasha. KikyoandInuyasha. It worked.

They worked.

And where did that leave her?

—At Intermission, Kagome had run around hoping to run into Inuyasha. He, however, stayed in the stands, saving seats for the rest of his group. Kagome didn’t feel up to climbing over people, so she had a conversation with him from over a hundred feet away by waving her arms around.

Inuyasha made a motion with a hand and opened his mouth to indicate singing. He then gave Kagome several thumbs up and mimed applause. Kagome threw her arms out to take a bow and accidentally hit a passing girl. The rest of the conversation was spent when Kagome ran up the stands to ask where Kikyo or Lita was. Inuyasha gave her the helpful answer of “they went that way” and she headed off to find them.

—At the end of the show, Inuyasha, Kikyo, and the others had gotten up and watched the finale from the railing by the track. They had left at the first chance they got without as much as a look in Kagome’s direction.

Finis.

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Sailor Margaret says…

Confused? I thought so. Too many characters? Of course. Is this anecdote the slightest bit worthy of publication, even on the Internet? Probably not. But does it make me feel vaguely better to write this? Heck yes.

If, for some reason, you’re still reading, expect more chapters in this slightly boring saga. If nothing interesting comes along soon I’ll do some flashback chapters. Thanks for reading “The Misadventures of Not-Really-Kagome.”

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