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First Note
Do it for the paycheck. Inuyasha grumbled. That was why he was here, in the pressing heat of summer. He was irritated by the cacophony of the cicadas in the trees, but more so the incessant buzzing coming from the four girls sitting in the classroom, staring at him.
None of them wanted to be there, in that room of the condemned. It was the summer “makeup” class mandated for the girls who were destined for remedial school. It was not a class actually intended to teach the girls anything, it was just there because whoever was in charge seemed to think it would keep them out of fucking trouble. And if they just wanted to talk to one another for the six-week course and ignore him? All the better. The girls’ voices, as much as the cicadas, were why Inuyasha had splurged on those noise-cancelling headphones — the ones that fit in his triangular ears perfectly and drowned out all the racket he had no desire, nor need, to hear.
“Hello hello hello!”
The chirp was so loud and musical that it caused Inuyasha to jump, drowning out the incredible trumpet solo that had just begun playing.
The bright eyes of Kagome Higurashi appeared in the doorway. When Inuyasha looked into the stormy gray irises, he always wondered how a color as normally dull as gray had the power to sparkle, but in Kagome’s eyes fucking sparkled nearly as bright as her too-chipper personality.
“Ah! I see you’ve got Taisho-sensei this summer girls, you are in for a special treat!” Kagome’s singsong tone didn’t even sound sarcastic. “Let’s see. Can you please raise your hand as I call you? I like to get to know everyone in my program.”
That did cause Inuyasha to scoff. And apparently Kagome noticed.
“Right. Who’s Kanna?” Kagome called, seeing the girl with the bright blonde hair and the dark brown eyes raise her hand passively, “Good! Okay… Kagura?” The crimson-eyed girl right next to Kanna, whose hair was held up in a messy bun with chopsticks and blood-red lips without a hint of lipstick, shot a single finger up noncommittally. “Oh I love those hair sticks! Great… how about… Rin?” The girl sitting in the last row, whose hair was down, but jutted out in all different directions, raised her hand, but her bright brown eyes never made eye contact. “Welcome! And finally, Shiori!” The final girl, one with glimmering periwinkle hair and luminous violet eyes, one that Inuyasha had noticed too (because she was hanyō, like him) simply nodded, her eyes narrowed at the overly chipper woman taking attendance.
“It’s nice to meet you all! I’m Higurashi Kagome, and I run this program. You’re all here to… see what we can do about your future. And Taisho-sensei will be helping!” Kagome eyed Inuyasha carefully, her eyes still light and airy, though as she glanced at his desk, there was a flash of disapproval, which she covered fast. Before she continued, Kagome smoothly walked over to Inuyasha, swaying her hips hypnotically (at least to Inuyasha).
“This is not a program with a curriculum, so we try to find things that may motivate you somewhat,” Kagome continued, not missing the scoffs of each of the girls. “That could be something you like…” Kagome was now leaning over Inuyasha’s desk. “Or perhaps…” She reached out her hand closer—closer, “something Taisho-sensei likes.”
Swiftly, Kagome pressed several buttons on Inuyasha’s cell phone in rapid succession, causing the pleasant jazz that was drowning everything out to switch sources and begin blaring directly out of the horrible cell phone speaker.
What the fuck? Inuyasha almost blurted it out, but caught himself at the last minute, settling for staring at Kagome in disbelief. He was now very clearly in trouble.
“You might not have to prep and teach in this room, but you do need to pay attention,” Kagome growled under her breath, though from the giggles of the demons in the room, Inuyasha knew she’d not done it quietly enough.
“Hey… Taisho-sensei,” a small whispery voice broke Inuyasha and Kagome out of their standoff: Shiori’s. “What… what sort of music is this?”
And that was how Inuyasha Taisho introduced four delinquents and a do-gooder school counselor to jazz.
Second Note
“For you,” Kagome smiled, holding a little wrapped package out to Inuyasha. “Open it.”
She’d become quite the regular in his classroom, and… well… he wasn’t going to say that he minded. It took some of the awkwardness away from the class, where he sat in front and just blared jazz music to the group of girls he’d all but given up on. A group of girls, he was learning, that… the world had given up on, so he needed to take a number.
Inuyasha used one of his claws to excise the little box from the wrapping paper, his eyes going wide when he saw what was in it. It was a speaker. Not just a speaker, but a red Bose bluetooth portable speaker, which could connect seamlessly to his phone.
“The girls deserve to hear the complexities and subtleties of the music,” Kagome whispered, leaning close enough that Inuyasha was bathed in the sweet sakura and vanilla scent of her. “And… I thought this might help.”
“This is… too much…” Inuyasha grumbled. “I can… uh… I can pay ya back.”
“Nonsense,” Kagome chuckled, patting Inuyasha lightly on the shoulder, “It’s a gift.” With one final squeeze, Kagome headed out of the room. “You never know, the littlest things sometimes end up meaning the most.”
Kagome had a habit of being cagey… and… well… beautiful. She clearly cared deeply for the students, even though Inuyasha had been a dumbass about them.
“Hey Inu-chan, what is that?” said Kagura, the first girl into the room, followed slowly by Kanna.
Inuyasha barked at Kagura the first time the girls had used the nickname, to no avail. And now, he found it quite endearing (...not that he would ever admit it.)
“Courtesy of Higurashi-sensei.” Inuyasha displayed the little speaker, “So you can all get a better picture of the richness and complexity that comes with jazz.”
Commissioned art by kalcia
“So what are we listening to today?” Kanna interjected, a small smile appearing on her normally porcelain face.
“I figured we listen to one of the greats, so today is Miles Davis day,” Inuyasha declared, as both Rin and Shiori made it through the door.
Unlike the first day, all of the girls now sat close to Inuyasha’s desk. Mostly he turned on jazz and let them read manga or talk, but more and more, they were asking him about the music. And sometimes, without even realizing, they were sharing things with him.
He had all their files, he knew why they were there. But somehow, through the horn of Armstrong or from Etta James’s voice, he was starting to understand beyond the why.
Kanna and Kagura were both from the same foster home. Their guardian (some asshole named “Naraku”) seemed to be one of those kid collectors that Inuyasha hated—taking in as many children as he could get paid to. And it showed, because he’d never seen Naraku drop them off or pick them up, because to him, they were nothing but a paycheck (fuck, that was initially something that Inuyasha had in common with that shithead). But as he got to know them, Kanna and Kagura just wanted someone to tell them they mattered. Somehow, during an improv piece, he’d come to understand that underneath their cold and callous exteriors were people who deserve second chances.
Rin’s parents had died when she was still young, and she lived with her aunt, Kaede. Kaede was able to keep a roof over her head, but couldn’t provide much more than that, so Rin was left to her own devices a lot. Instead of getting help on homework, or rules to keep her focused, she was given free rein. Which she was too young to properly handle. But Rin was also angry, mostly at god, for taking away her parents and sticking her with her stuffy old aunt who seemed content to do the bare minimum. It was during a Wyndon Marsalis solo that Rin felt compelled to share, because (her words): “sometimes the way he plays the horn sounds like he’s yelling at God to pay attention, too.”
And Shiori. Inuyasha knew he shouldn’t have a favorite student, but, well, he did. Shiori liked nearly everything that he liked. She picked up on the little stumbles in the live recordings that Inuyasha had heard, too. Shiori was the child of a struggling single mother: a human single mother who’d given birth to a hanyō. Something she and Inuyasha shared. The chip on the shoulder was also something that she and Inuyasha shared. Shiori’s favorite was actually Ray Charles, because she loved the way that pianos had nuance, and she, being a bat hanyō, could hear it.
“Does Miles play keyboard?” Shiori asked shyly.
“He does,” Inuyasha answered (goddamn he was glad he actually did some… research… before class). “Though he is mostly on the trumpet.”
“Inu-chan?” Kagura piped up, “We’ve been listening to a lot of soloists… um… do any of these guys have bands?”
Third Note
“No.” Rin was shrieking, “Are you kidding?!”
“Not at all!” Kagome beamed. “They’re borrowed, at least for now. But… I think we may be able to figure out a way to budget for this if you... well, if you find that you like it.”
Inuyasha couldn’t do anything but gape at the woman, who he’d begun to realize brought a spring to his step. Who made him smile when he woke up in the morning knowing he was going to see her, and sigh dreamily as he thought about her at night. The woman with the wavy black hair and the sparkling gray eyes, with curves he wanted to explore and full lips he couldn’t push out of his head, had brought the girls instruments.
“Where… did you get these?” Inuyasha gasped, trying to shove down the feeling that Kagome Higurashi had been sent from heaven to gift his little class (and his shriveled heart) with warmth and love.
“Oh, I have my ways,” Kagome giggled that musical laugh of hers that Inuyasha wanted to listen to all day, every day. “The jazz seemed to be going so well that I just thought, well, ‘Why not? You’ll never know if you can play unless you try!’”
Yep, Kagome Higurashi had managed to procure a saxophone, a trumpet, a keyboard, and a drumset for Inuyasha’s ‘delinquents.’ The instruments were a mildly scuffed and dull, giving away that they were probably used, but the way that all the girls’ eyes lit up was shinier than any instrument he could have picked up, probably for more money than his summer paycheck was gonna be.
“I claim the saxophone!” Kagura tumbled toward the sax, grabbing it before anyone else could lay their hands on it. “Looks like I am gonna need some sunglasses to make this work.”
“Drums are mine!” Rin shoved forward, sitting down immediately and began to bang the cymbals.
“Until ya get some idea of how to actually do that, do me a favor and try quietly,” Inuyasha growled, bringing a frown to Rin’s face. She defiantly tapped the drumstick back on the cymbal, producing a much more pleasant ring than the first bang-induced din.
“Does… anyone mind if I try my hand at the keyboard?” Shiori asked, tentatively. When none of the others objected and both Inuyasha and Kagome nodded, she hurried her steps and sat down behind the keys.
“You okay with trumpet Kanna?” Kagome asked, passing the last instrument to the stoic-faced girl.
“Sure,” Kanna said, fingering the instrument, but neither Inuyasha nor Kagome missed the slightest smile that ghosted her face.
“Looks like we got ourselves a little quartet,” Inuyasha breathed.
“That you do,” Kagome winked, her hand wrapping its way around Inuyasha’s bicep. He couldn’t help but flex; she was so damn close.
Kagome turned to leave the classroom, but not before Inuyasha followed, leaving the girls to the awkward first squawks and hoots and bangs and clangs of new musical instruments.
“Higurashi-san!” Inuyasha chased after her, catching up just as they both were out of earshot (although given the noise, it probably wouldn’t have mattered.) “You… you know that I’m a jazz enthusiast, not a jazz musician, right?”
“It’s a good thing that the best way to learn a skill is to teach it, huh?” Kagome giggled.
“But… but… what if… what if I can’t do it?” Inuyasha muttered. And Kagome’s eyes trailed up to the top of his head. No doubt because his fucking ears were drooping.
“Taisho-san.” Kagome leaned in, close enough he could smell the morning tea and miso on her breath, “One thing that I’ve learned about you from our short time together is that… you are a lot more than you appear, and that when it comes to it, you care.” She squeezed Inuyasha’s bicep one more time. “I believe in you, so… you should believe in yourself, too.”
“You’re not the one who is gonna have to teach four girls how to play jazz,” Inuyasha grumbled, though he could not deny that Kagome’s giggle at his words made him happy. He sighed. “Well, if you are gonna find a way to get them musical instruments, then I suppose I better find a way to teach them how to play ‘em.”
Final Note
“One… two… three… four…” Inuyasha called, tapping his baton on his desk.
One would have assumed that six weeks with four disaffected and delinquent girls would have been a waste of a summer. But instead, here was Inuyasha, staring down the pink faces of a jazz quartet that materialized four weeks prior.
Kanna and Kagura took breathing and embouchure exercises seriously, and before he could blink, they were blowing out notes and melodies from their brass. Kagura seemed to love to freestyle on her saxophone, which usually worked, but sometimes she’d throw in a particularly loud and obnoxious note to make Inuyasha flinch. Kanna, despite her passive face and unflappable demeanor, seemed to have sperm whale lungs, because she could hold a note nearly as long as Louis Armstrong. And, perhaps because the girls spent so much time together, they could play nearly in sync with one another.
Rin seemed to unleash a wild child that lived and breathed drums. She developed a rhythm exceedingly quickly, mostly through near constant drumming on every surface with every facsimile of a drumstick she could get her hands on: pencils, pens, twigs, and even pocky sticks (that ended in a mess…) were fair game. But, it had worked. Her handwork was impeccable, and she could carry a rhythm without paying attention to the metronome (yet another “gift” from the ethereal Kagome Higurashi.)
And finally, Shiori. She asked if she could take the keyboard home, and carted the 88-key monstrosity back and forth to their class every day. By the third day, she was playing things far beyond “Chopsticks,” and by the first week, she was handling some of the classics like Alla Turca by Mozart. Shiori was a prodigy on the keys. So much so that Inuyasha was already talking to her mother about whether she wanted to audition for any conservatories (Inuyasha figured if tuition needed to be covered, he’d squirreled away plenty, but Shiori didn’t need to know that…)
And so, on the last day of their little summer program, the girls had prepared a concert for an audience of one: Higurashi Kagome.
They’d chosen to show off by doing nearly every jazz classic they’d worked on over the half hour ‘concert’, much to Inuyasha’s chagrin. But, goddamn if they weren’t doing an incredible job.
Fucking six weeks. And he had a goddamn jazz band on his hands. How the hell had that happened?
Well, it was probably because of the gray-eyed woman in front of him who emanated sunshine. Because, six weeks of being in Kagome’s presence would bathe anyone in endless warmth and comfort. As much as he was conducting for the girls, he was also conducting for Kagome, to try and give her a musical version of how much joy she’d brought into his life.
But there was more. He’d gotten the girls a gig. It was a senior center, sure, but it paid a bit and would give the residents a little music in their lives, too. Hell, he wasn’t entirely sure how much live jazz music the senior center got, hoping that the elders would be a willing and enthusiastic audience. The girls had worked so hard and… they’d really made a turn for the good; it was the least he could do.
After the half-hour serenade was over, the girls took a bow. Somehow, even though she was only one woman, Kagome made them feel like they’d gotten a standing ovation.
“Oh my god! This… was… incredible!” Kagome squealed, still trying to contain her joy. “In six weeks, you did this! Did… did you have fun?”
“Fuck yes,” Kagura answered, causing gasps and giggles from the girls, and a growl from Inuyasha; Kagura always did like to push her luck.
“Enough to keep doing this next year?” Kagome asked; how were her eyes even more sparkly now than before?
“Yes,” the girls answered in unison.
“But… I’m not sure I can afford the trumpet,” Kanna interjected. “I went to the store and saw how expensive they are.”
“Oh! Well, surprise number one is these are officially yours,” Kagome declared. “I got them from the music department before they went to overstock. Since they were for students, I got a pretty good discount.”
The girls all answered in a series of squeals and hoots. (Inuyasha was skeptical of the scale of the purported “discount,” but Kagome was also definitely magical, so who was he to challenge?)
“What’s surprise number two?” Shiori asked, still fingering her keyboard—her keyboard.
“Well… I saw how hard you and Taisho-sensei have been working and… I wanted to try something,” Kagome started. “So I talked to the administration and… I was able to get you all back into your normal schools.” Kagome waited for the gasps to die down. “On the condition that you keep playing for the community,” she continued.
“Seriously?” Rin squawked, “Aunt Kaede isn’t going to have to send me across town?”
“Nope!” Kagome laughed. “But… the condition is serious. You better promise Taisho-sensei that you will continue to play.”
“We will!” Kagura answered, fist-bumping Kanna.
“So… what is your band called?” Kagome asked.
The girls all leaned in, whispering to each other conspiratorially, then giggling.
“The Grumpy Dogs,” Rin said, which caused all the girls to keel over in laughter, joined nearly immediately by Kagome.
“Fitting,” Kagome said, her gray eyes twinkling as she looked at Inuyasha.
Seeing as it was the last day, Inuyasha let the girls go early, waving their goodbyes.
“See you on Thursday Inu-chan!” Rin called, heading toward her Aunt Kaede. “We can’t wait for our grumpy debut!”
“Yeah yeah yeah….” Inuyasha grumbled, but he didn’t think he’d ever been so touched.
When Kagura and Kanna finally disappeared, rounding a corner, Inuyasha sighed.
“So… you still in this only for the paycheck?” Kagome’s musical voice appeared behind Inuyasha, stepping right up to his side.
“Y—yeah,” Inuyasha teased. “And maybe a couple other things.”
“Other things, huh?” Kagome said, her gray eyes finding Inuyasha’s.
“Not every day a jazz band gets named in honor of you,” Inuyasha chuckled, “all because… they had somebody who actually cared about them.”
“Two people,” Kagome corrected. “Don’t sell yourself short. You saw through the write-ups and the attitudes, down to a quartet of lonely girls just looking for someone to pay them attention.”
“Not without you, Higurashi-san,” Inuyasha admitted. “I would have worn my headphones and fucked off, giving up on those girls too. But… you don’t let people give up.”
“Please, call me Kagome,” Kagome said, then took a breath, as if she was encouraging her voice onward. “And… when I see someone who needs a little push, I… I like to push them.”
“Kagome,” Inuyasha said, tasting her beautiful name on his tongue, “Are you trying to say I need a little push?”
When Kagome’s face flushed with an adorable little blush, Inuyasha decided to take his chance. After all, the greatest jazz performances in history were often part improv.
“Kagome… any chance you’d want to…” Inuyasha started, encouraged to see her eyes widen and her lips curl into a little hopeful smile. “Have dinner with me?”
“I… I would love to,” Kagome beamed.
It was all Inuyasha could do not to bend down and give this woman made of sunshine a kiss. But he resisted, for now. Instead, Inuyasha settled for leaning in and pulling Kagome’s body to his, feeling her arms rope around him and her head rest on his chest. It was… well, he’d been dreaming about this moment for six fucking weeks.
“Thank you for not giving up… on the girls… or on me,” Inuyasha whispered into the crown of Kagome’s head. “And… please, call me Inuyasha.”
Before Inuyasha knew what was happening, Kagome’s lips had found his. But he leaned in and he kissed her lips that tasted like jasmine and bathed in the happy little sigh she let out as her tongue found his.
“Don’t you know Inuyasha,” Kagome whispered, her gray eyes still shimmering as she looked into his, “In jazz, it's the little flaws that make the music richer.”
And before Inuyasha could reply, Kagome leaned in for another kiss.