"A/N: I'm so sorry it took me so long to crank this out. It's still pretty rough (in my opinion, especially since no one beta'd for me), so please be kind when you leave comments! Constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome though, and reviews give me life. They're a magic elixir to my poor, weak writer's ego. Thank you so much!

Chapter 12.

Kagome arrived on set bright and early, checking in with the stunt coordinator, Kaede, right away. The motherly older woman grinned upon seeing her; they'd worked together before and got along famously. In a way, Kagome thought of Kaede like the grandmother she'd never had. Kaede had decades of experience putting together stunts and avoiding injuries. While she wasn't as young as she used to be, she knew who to delegate to and what to look for. Her one eye was incredibly keen and could spot a hazard or possible liability a mile away.

It was a relief to see her on set; Kagome knew that her presence meant that what could have been a very long day would be significantly shorter and have a lot fewer hiccups than some shoots. Kaede quickly ushered Kagome off to hair and makeup. Washing, drying, and straightening her unruly locks easily took two hours. Popping in brown contacts, her transformation was almost complete. The makeup artists did the rest, being mindful of the fact that Kagome would be sweating at least some of the products off.

Finally, the artist declared herself done and Kagome looked in the mirror. She was almost a perfect duplicate of Kikyo, a fact that never failed to make her cringe a bit. Gently she touched her cheek, noting how the artist had applied a bit of a contour to make her natural bone structure appear little higher, slanting her eyes ever-so slightly to perfectly mimic the famous actress. The artists' work was really very well done. However, It seemed like a lot of effort though for the body double to go through. Usually the resemblance didn't need to be this...precise. Shrugging, she thanked the team of hair and makeup artists anyways and turned her attention to a full-body mirror while they shuffled off to the next actor needing their attention.

Flicking through the script and the stunt instructions, she almost rolled her eyes. There was nothing spectacular today or particularly interesting. A few solo dance shots, a few trips, falls, stumbles, and of course one scene where she gets drenched in water. This promised to be a long, tedious day. She thanked her lucky stars that Kaede was here once again. The hardest part of this kind of work was making sure the camera caught just the right angle; Kaede's single eye was the absolute best at doing just that.

The other piece of the puzzle was up to Kagome. She needed to act just enough like Kikyo to fool the audience. Taking a deep breath, she began practicing some of Kikyo's mannerisms and expressions. Kikyo was deliberate with her movements. She was always far more restrained than Kagome, which gave her a subtle aura of mysteriousness. The tilt of Kikyo's head, the length of her stride- these were all things Kagome practiced. Having doubled for the other woman so many times before, it didn't take long for Kagome to slip into her role. Satisfied that she was prepared, she stepped out of the makeup room. Time to do her day job.

It didn't surprise her to see Inuyasha on set. He was well-known for doing his own stunts, after all. What did surprise her was the hard thump in her chest when she laid eyes on him. She couldn't look away as his nose twitched before his head turned her way. Those golden orbs widened in surprise for a split second before he turned his gaze sharply elsewhere. She pushed down her irrational disappointment. Really, what had she been expecting? There wasn't anything between them. She was his dance instructor, and that was all.

So why did it bother her so much that he had barely looked at her?

She seriously needed to get it together. Thankfully, she didn't have a lot of time to dwell on her own thoughts. Her name was called, and she was soon pulled into her challenging stunt work.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a reprieve from the hanyou, when they shared so many dancing scenes. It was hard not to notice his stiff posture or the way his eyes wandered uncomfortably away from hers each time they shared the set. Inwardly she sighed. Guess she could count this as a one-sided crush. Which, she reminded herself, was probably for the best. She was impressed with how well he managed to hide his discomfort; for this sort of work, there didn't need to be as much chemistry as there was on set.

Still, she knew him better than that. She knew what it felt like when his hands left burning marks on her skin. She knew what it was like when Inuyasha allowed himself to let his passions show, his eyes that burning golden color that drowned her entirely. Kagome shivered involuntarily at the memory of his hands gliding up her thighs during their salsa lesson. Maybe that was why it bothered her so much when he flawlessly performed, and yet dropped his hands away as quickly as possible. There was nothing technically wrong with any of his movements; There was just none of the fire that she'd come to expect. It was frustrating.

But who was she to be bothered by that? She and Inuyasha had nothing between them, Kagome reminded herself. Nothing at all.

She was relieved when she moved on to other scenes where she did some solo dance work and the trips and falls. What was somewhat unnerving was Inuyasha's occasional interest in her work; but she was able to tune him out. She was a professional after all.

Inuyasha tried to ignore Kagome; but it was so, so difficult. It was hard to look at her directly- her resemblance to his ex-girlfriend was downright creepy. But watching her work was fascinating. She transformed herself entirely, taking on the persona of Kikyo perfectly. She was a talented actress in her own right as she embodied the famous actress. It was between takes that he was reminded that this was Kagome and not Kikyo- her warm smile and engaging conversations was proof of that.

And yet, she looked so much like Kikyo. He shuddered. He loathed Kikyo with every fiber of his being, but Kagome looked so much like her. What did that say about him? Was he really so specific to a certain type? Or was he, god forbid, subconsiously trying to replace Kikyo?

At that thought, he visibly shuddered and repressed a growl. Absolutely not. He wouldn't ever try to recreate that woman's presence in his life. She'd caused him so much hell. And yet, all day he found himself constantly reminding himself that the woman he was working with today was Kagome, KA-GO-MAY. Unfortunately his eyes and brain still saw Kikyo, and as a result, he found himself struggling to work with Kagome for the first time. He was torn between his attraction to Kagome, and this portrayal of Kikyo she was perfectly presenting.

But by the end of the day, he had a solid respect for the dancer's talent. She handled each of her scenes, even if they were embarrassing, with professionalism and a sense of humor. Kagome also clearly was in Kaede's good graces. The grandmotherly woman often graced the younger woman with a soft smile or pat on the shoulder. Inuyasha tilted his head as he noticed this; Kaede was never so considerate with him. What did he do to get on the old hag's bad side?!

Kagome smiled tiredly as they wrapped up the last scene, gratefully washing the makeup off her face. After so many hours and so many touch ups, her skin needed air desperately.

Plus, it was nice to see her own face again in the mirror instead of Kikyo's.

Suddenly it struck her that maybe that was why Inuyasha had been acting so weird. Maybe her resemblance to Kikyo had thrown him for a loop. The makeup artist had done a particularly exceptional job today. Shrugging, she changed into her regular clothes and exited, scanning for a stack of schedules that were sure to be nearby. Finding her target, she quickly snagged one, folding it neatly into her pocket.

"Nice work wench".

Kagome jumped and spun, coming face to face with Inuyasha. She squeaked his name and stumbled a step back before regaining her composure, gripping a hand over her heart as her eyes shot daggers at him.

"You've got some nerve sneaking up on me like that! And what do you mean, 'Wench'?!" she snapped.

Inuyasha surpressed a smile. He really enjoyed seeing her riled up, especially when she was back looking like herself. Those big blue eyes lit with a fire all their own as she put her fists on her hips, lower lip protruding in an ever-so-slight pout as she glared.

"Feh. You heard me." he grabbed a schedule too, sliding a glance at her. "You did good work today."

Kagome paused. Did he just compliment her? Her heart skipped a beat before she was able to answer. "Thanks. You did too."

"Yeah I always do." he smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "I guess you want me to forget about the times you stepped on my feet then?"

Inuyasha gave her a snort. "Like I said, if you didn't have such big feet it never woulda happened!"

"I DO NOT HAVE BIG FEET!" she shouted, drawing a few curious looks their way. She blushed, dropping her voice back down. "I'm leaving. Good night Inuyasha." She huffed, storming out the door.

He allowed himself to smile as she left, thoroughly enjoying the view. As the saying goes, hate to see them leave, but love to watch them walk away. Then he mentally slapped himself.

He was NOT going to turn into Miroku. He was going to stop these thoughts right now.

Speaking of the lecher, Inuyasha busied himself with finding out where his wandering manager had gotten off to.

Meanwhile, an exhausted stunt actress collapsed dramatically onto her couch. "I'm sooo tiiirrreed" Kagome whined to her unsympathetic friends.

Sango poked her in the side. "Did you get the schedule?"

Not bothering to get up from her face-down position, Kagome reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here's the shooting schedule. Have at it."

Sango and Shippo eagerly took the treasured paper to the dining table and unfolded it.

Kagome tuned out their conversation. She was too tired for this right now, and besides, those two never let her down. They could plan the whole endeavor; all she needed to do was follow their diretions. Flipping onto her back and closing her eyes, she mentally reviewed the layout of Hiten's house. She'd gotten a pretty good look at where the jewel was, at least before a gorgeous silver-haired actor had showed up.

No, she was NOT going to think about him right now. She'd had quite enough of him for one day. She was absolutely not going to think about their brief exchange while she was getting the schedule, or the way he'd finally focused his gaze on her and actually complimented her...

She frowned and forced her thoughts back to the job at hand. She could have her fantasies all she wanted once this job was over. For now, she needed to focus on how she was getting into that glass case. It was large, as it had housed several other items. Unbolting it from the floor and lifting it up was out of the question. Cutting it would leave a fairly obvious mark, and if possible, she'd like there to be little or no trace of their crime. The longer she could go without detection, the better.

Sango's voice pulled her from her reverie.

"Looks like the morning after tomorrow would be a good time. He's going to have to leave the house before sunrise to get to the set, giving us an hour or so of darkness to get in and get out."

Shippo agreed, and they both looked in Kagome's direction. Sitting up, she nodded. "If that's the best time, let's do it. Now, how are we getting into the case?"

She shouldn't have even bothered asking, because a maniacally delighted grin lit shippo's face. Of course he had a device or gadget for that. The tech junkie loved high-tech toys, so absolutely he'd found a way to get his greedy paws on a super-fancy glass cutting tool.

God, she loved that little shit. Smiling, she listened attentively as he showed her how to work it and how to put the cut piece back in place, leaving barely a mark. Kagome practiced a few times, testing it out on a window or two until she felt confident she could use it on the real thing. Suitably impressed, she gave Shippo a high-five. "Perfect!"

The fox beamed, and launched into the technical details of how he was going to disable the security system. Luckily, the whole house was hooked up on a "smart system", so he'd be able to disable the locks long enough for them to get in and get out without any issues. Listening to his plan, Kagome felt reassured that this would go without a hitch. Sango piped in here and there with questions, but overall the plan was as straight-forward as any.

Just how Kagome liked it. By tomorrow, she'd be able to hand over a jewel shard to Naraku and buy herself a little reprieve from his badgering, at least for a while.