The Apprentice, Tokyo

Chapter Three

Kikyou riffled through the racks of lingerie. It seemed that this year’s season was rather elegant compared to last year. She pulled out a long, flowy red silk ensemble and held it up to Kagome.

“What do you think?” she asked the two men on their team.

Miroku’s face was stuck in an appreciative leer. “Nice.”

“I will need to see it modeled before I make any quality assessments on the garment,” Sesshoumaru answered coolly.

Kikyou pressed the hanger into Kagome’s hands. “You heard the man, go put it on.”

Kagome’s face flamed red as she tried to push the lingerie back towards Kikyou. “Oh no, it would look much better on you. Red isn’t really my color.”

“It will look better on your figure since it accentuates the bust size. I’ve a more willowy frame,” Kikyou argued. “I’m right aren’t I Miroku?”

“Yes, definitely.”

“Why is it that you would ask him and not me?” Sesshoumaru demanded.

“Because Miroku notices everything about a woman’s body where as you don’t notice anyone. We’re all beneath you,” Kikyou answered giving Kagome a push towards the changing area.

When Kagome left Kikyou held out the other two articles of clothing she had picked out earlier.

“What’s this?” Miroku asked, inching behind Sesshoumaru and away from the clothing. It reminded him of something the men from Dancing with the Stars might wear under their dancing costume.

Sesshoumaru held up the scrap of clothing by the tip of his fingernail. “I do not believe this material will fit.” It reminded him of a g-string dowsed in glitter and smelling fruity. He sniffed. “Smells like strawberries.”

“Probably tastes like them as well,” Kikyou surmised.

“Tastes?” Miroku asked, backing away further.

“Why are you being such a prude? I’d think you’d be experienced in this sort of clothing,” Kikyou pointed out.

“Yes, well, I’m not used to having someone shove gay apparel at me,” Miroku argued.

Sesshoumaru looked down at him disdainfully. “Jakotsu’s line does not have only women and gay men’s apparel. If you had read the report his staff left for us you’d have seen that he is trying to create a more equal line for heterosexuals now.”

“Whatever, then you wear the strawberry candy thong.” Miroku began to walk towards the changing area. “You dressed yet Kags?”

“Um, I don’t think I can come out wearing this,” Kagome answered.

“Sure you can, we’re all professionals here,” Miroku encouraged.

Kagome scoffed. “Professionals? What do you mean by that!” she screamed outraged peeking her head around the curtain.

He waved her comment aside, “Come on out. You’ve got to see what Sesshoumaru is going to try on!”

She bit her lip and protested when he reached for her arm through the curtain and tried to drag her out. “No! There’s a hole in a very inappropriate place!”

His jaw dropped open. “Are you sure its inappropriate?”

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and approached the changing area. He held out a gauzy black wrap. “I believe Kikyou forgot to give you this part.” Kagome snatched the wrap and put it around her waist before coming out from behind the curtain. “I’d have to say it looks very nice.”

“Nice?” Kikyou asked. “Nice! Is that the only word you two testosterone overloaded buffoons can use to describe what you think?”

Miroku shrugged. “If we had said ‘fine’ that would have been one thing. But we both said nice. There isn’t enough blood in our brains to come up with something more descriptive. Sorry.”

Kikyou shrugged. “I suppose that’s an acceptable explanation.” She poked Sesshoumaru in the arm. “It’s your turn big boy. Put that on.”

“Put what on?” Kagome asked innocently, adjusting the wrap more firmly around her waist. She didn’t want a gust of air from the air conditioner to create a breeze she’d rather not feel.

“Exactly.” Sesshoumaru answered her showing her the scrap of clothing.

Kagome looked at the thong, then her gaze traveled down to his crotch, before she came back to rest her eyes on the thong. “I don’t think that’s going to fit.”

A slow, arrogant smile crossed Sesshoumaru’s lips. “Would you care to try and help me put on my wardrobe?”

Miroku cleared his throat noisily, not appreciating the successful flirtation by the white haired royal. He was a noble prize winner, he saved lives by his research, and here he was being upstaged by a prude! Well, at least he was supposed to be a prude, Miroku was starting to wonder now. “I think it would be wise if we worked on the commercial and not just the wardrobe.”

“Maybe later,” Sesshoumaru whispered, leaning down to where only Kagome could here. She giggled nervously, earning suspicious looks from both Miroku and Kikyou.

“I’ll just go put my clothes back on and hang this back up,” Kagome said retreating quickly behind the curtain once more. The other three walked back towards the clothing racks and sat on the ground in a circle.

“We should play off our strengths,” Kikyou pointed out.

“We should model a couple,” Miroku added.

“How about a scene at a piano bar? You know where there is a siren singing on the piano while someone else plays,” Kagome suggested joining them.

“I do not play the piano,” Sesshoumaru said stretching out his long legs and crossing them at the ankles. “I do have some experience with both directing and filming. In college I filmed an independent short film that won quite a few awards.”

“That’s fine, being that I’m the world renowned pianist I thought it would make sense if I were to play,” Kagome explained.

“I’m not much of a singer,” Kikyou admitted, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Besides, I agree with Miroku that it needs to be a scene with a couple.”

Kagome smiled broadly. “Well, that’s why I was thinking Miroku could be the siren.”

“What? No way! I can’t sing and I’m not wearing….that!” Miroku gestured towards the strawberry thong still in Sesshoumaru’s hand.

“You do want to win, don’t you?” Kikyou asked, dark eyes narrowed.

“Of course, but…”he trailed off.

Sesshoumaru tossed the strawberry thong towards Miroku who caught it on reflex. “The two of you have complementary colors. I like the idea of role reversal.”

“I am not going to sit on top of a piano with all my junk hanging out,” Miroku deadpanned.

“Of course you won’t! The human body has so many oils that its terrible on the finishing of any piano. And I’m not going to have you smear your bodily fluids on my Steinburg!” Kagome exclaimed. “I’m not saying you’re dirty or anything,” she amended reaching for his hand and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

Miroku lifted up his other hand that held the thong and he glowered. “Fine, what do you three stooges have in mind since I’m obviously out of the loop here.”

“The scene would be set up to where Kagome is playing the ivory keys and you’ll be lounging on top of the piano, fully dressed in a tux. She’ll be dressed in some sort of elegant gown as well,” Sesshoumaru visualized.

“Sesshoumaru could do the narrator’s voice.” Kikyou turned to him, “You’ve a very deep, sexy voice. You’d be perfect.”

“And the concert can be the build up, you’re thinking ‘what kind of sexy things are those two wearing underneath it all?’ And then you show the musicians in the lingerie celebrating the performance.” Kagome let go of Miroku’s hand in order to clap hers in excitement. “I love it!”

“Wait,” Kikyou halted her enthusiasm with both a word and a raised hand. She looked at Miroku thoughtfully. “No, that won’t work. Two problems, if you just have the musicians having the fun then the audience will feel like they can’t participate. And second, you two look too much alike.”

Sesshoumaru took back possession of the strawberry thong and grinned at Kagome arrogantly. “Looks like you’ll be helping me into this afterall.”

Kikyou reached across for Miroku’s face and trailed her finger along his jaw. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get over your shyness. Get up, we need to pick out our wardrobe.” She rose to her feet and then looked down at Kagome. “Do you know of a song?”

“I have just the one. We can use a song I just wrote, its one of the few with lyrics. It will be perfect for this. And I can have a piano and stage set up in two hours.” Kagome smiled before turning to Sesshoumaru. “How much crew do you need for the filming? We were given a budget.”

“I could use someone for sound but I can handle the filming and the lights myself. Can we come up with the dialogue ourselves?” Sesshoumaru stood and offered his hand to Kagome and then quickly brought her to her feet.

“Do you need help with words, Sesshoumaru?” Kagome asked quietly.

“Oh please, stop flirting and get serious,” Kikyou snapped startling the pair. “You, make sure that thong fits.” She gestured towards Sesshoumaru and then to Kagome. “You, call your people and have that piano brought to the studio.”

“She sure knows how to take charge,” Kagome muttered as she and Sesshoumaru sauntered away to do their respective duties.

“No doubt,” Sesshoumaru agreed.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

“No.”

“Hell no.”

“No way in hell.”

Kouga and Inuyasha looked at one another, arms crossed defensively over their chests. “No,” they both reiterated together.

“Oh please, it’s just acting,” Kagura pointed out.

“Then why don’t you do the scene with Sango,” Inuyasha suggested. “I’d rather see that anyway,” he looked towards Kouga.

“Yes, I agree. I’d much rather see two women making the moves on one another,” Kouga agreed.

“Stop being such babies!” Kagura yelled in annoyance.

“What part of ‘no way in hell’ is it that you don’t understand?” Inuyasha growled. “Besides, I like my idea better. Having one guy with a girl on each arm.”

“Chauvinistic pig,” Kagura sneered.

“Perverted bi-ouf,” Inuyasha’s words were cut off when Sango jabbed her elbow harshly into his gut. “Hey that hurt!” He complained after catching his breath.

“Inuyasha is right Kagura if you think of it logistically it makes more sense to showing off more women’s lingerie. There are far more pretty sets of women’s lingerie than man’s clothing.”

“You call that clothing? I call that a scrap of clothing. I’d rather go commando than wear something like that under my suit,” Kouga growled.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

“You know there are a lot more things here than just lingerie,” Kagome pointed out as she scoured the racks after making her calls. She pulled out a beautiful, low cut silver gown that would fit like a glove. She held it up to Sesshoumaru. “What do you think.”

“Nice.”

She shook her head, “hopeless.”

He reached out for the dress and ran his hand down the silky texture. “I like the feel of it. Makes me want to run my hands all over it,” he gave her a meaningful look making her blush. “How do you know the gambler?”

“We met years ago when my tours sent me to perform in a couple of his casinos. He’s a good man,” Kagome explained. “What do you think of the song I picked out?”

“It’s nice.” Kagome’s eye twitched. “I greatly enjoyed it,” he amended.

“I like the script you wrote out,” Kagome admitted. “What do you think it taking Miroku and Kikyou so long?”

“Perhaps they are practicing their lines,” Sesshoumaru suggested.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Naraku hung up after firing one of his vice presidents in his Kyoto division. Idiot. He couldn’t believe the man actually believed he could get away with embezzlement. He’d have to call upon the ninja clan that he liked to use for cleaning up such messes.

The loss of money was one thing. The loss of pride was unacceptable. He’d make sure that the man paid dearly. He wouldn’t kill him, but he’d make sure he lived a long, miserable life.

With his mood properly soured he decided to check in on how his contestants were doing. He turned on the monitor across from his desk and flipped through the channels until settling on the group with Kikyou, Kagome, Miroku, and Sesshoumaru. He felt that this team would function better together with more creativity and productivity.

After all, he had personally selected the teams. If anyone wanted to complain that he rigged his own reality television contest, they’d be absolutely correct. But what the heck? He didn’t want to hire someone to be his apprentice unless he thought they deserved it.

A sly smile spread across his lips and he was quite glad that he chose this competition to be about selling lingerie. He sat up straighter as he was able to identify the means this team intended to sell the product.

He found his foot tapping slightly at the melody coming from the piano music and he would have to admit to being impressed by the professor’s singing voice. Who’d have thought?

He watched the entire scene lay out and thought they had created a very brilliant strategy. He grew more entertained and impressed when he saw the second half of the commercial would consist of the ‘after the show’ events.

His only concern was that viewing audience might enjoy the second half of the lingerie commercial a little too much. He didn’t want some old man or woman keeling over with a heart attack at seeing the two sexy couples.

He turned up the volume so he could hear their words before they worked up the scene.

“We have to do this correct the first time,” Sesshoumaru said.

“Why?” Kagome asked.

“Because apparently there is only one way to get this underwear off,” he answered.

She frowned, “what do you mean?”

“Ready?” Kikyou asked behind the camera, Miroku standing beside her. They were both wearing robes.

“Yeah,” Kagome called slipping off her robe and waiting for Sesshoumaru to do the same. After tossing their robes off stage, they stared at each other with hungry eyes. Without thinking, Sesshoumaru reached out, his hand falling possessively onto Kagome’s arm, trailing along the silky material.

Kagome’s eyes traveled down his muscular chest and landed on his briefs.

“Cut! We can’t film that!” Miroku cried out. Two pairs of eyes looked at him blankly. “The robes, they are Jakotsu too, aren’t they?”

They both nodded mutely. “Keep them on. Sesshoumaru you can slip off Kagome’s and she can push yours back but without showing us….more than we want to see.”

“Speak for yourself,” Kikyou muttered. Naraku’s lips thinned at hearing her comment. He didn’t like the fact that it bothered him that she should enjoy the looks of one of her teammates.

“You both look like you’re about to eat each other,” Miroku added.

Naraku changed the channel to spy on the other team. He’d rather wait until the official viewing of the lingerie commercial. Besides, everything was being recorded, if he really wanted to…research his possible candidates for apprentice he could do it at his leisure later.