A/N: On June 17th, 2002, my best friend in the entire world got in a very bad car accident. Severe enough send her to the hospital for two months. Consequently, that affected my writing. I’m not going to say that I didn’t write this summer, but I wrote a lot less, and some stories were put on a hold because I couldn’t write in the style it needed to be written in, due to quite a bit of depression. Unfortunately, School Daze was one of those fics. Fortunately, my friend is out of the hospital and is doing better. She’s getting her memory back, slowly but surely. She still can’t remember some things, and there is the possibility that she never will. School Daze is back in the works, after a summer-long break. My apologies for the long wait. Oh, and for more announcements, feel free to IM me on AIM. My SN’s “CinnamonDreamer”. Without the quotes. Someone brought up something about me adding Japanese dialect into the story. I’m sorry, but I don’t do that. For one thing, they’re already in Japan and, technically, I’m ‘translating’ their dialect. Therefore, they’re already speaking Japanese and writing the dialect in that language would just be pointless and hard for people who don’t know Japanese to understand. Do you catch my drift? * Considering the fact that the ocean is notorious for being teeth-chattering cold, I could actually say without lying that it felt rather decent at the moment. The water was so crisp and clear that I could see the little fishies nibbling at my toes. We were at one of those kinds of beaches, you know, the kind where the water is perfect and the sand is white and the palm trees look like paintings. The overrated kind. Don’t get me wrong, though, it was beautiful. My only problem was what I was wearing. Sound weird? Let me explain. I’m not particularly fond of dresses. I mean, once in awhile I’ll wear them, but truthfully they’re a bit too breezy for me. I usually stick with a pair of pants and a nice, figure-hiding shirt. Anyway, I’m getting off-track. One of the main problems with the dress I was wearing (aside from the fact it was a dress), was that it was white. You don’t wear something white to a beach. That’s like, asking to ruin the outfit. For one thing, the beach is primarily dirt. White and dirt just don’t mix well together. Okay, so I was wearing a white dress. Now that that’s been clarified, let me start where things got weird. Ignore the fact that I was standing ankle deep in water wearing a short white dress. I mean, yeah, that’s weird, but it wasn’t as weird as the next few things that happened. I was standing sideways, my left side to the ocean. Therefore, I was looking to the right. And I was waiting for someone. I’m not entirely sure how I knew I was waiting for someone, but it was just one of those gut-instinct things. Starting to sound a little strange? Okay, prepare yourself. Inuyasha was running down the beach towards me. I could almost hear the cheesy muzak in the background, but what did I do? I started running towards him. And I laughed. We reached each other rather quickly, and Inuyasha grabbed me around the waist and swung me in a half circle. I laughed again, then breathed out his name as he cupped my face and.. I, thank God, woke up. I could literally feel my face do that slow-burn thing. Thankfully, Lady Luck seemed to be on my side and everyone but Inuyasha, who was driving, was asleep. The look that Inuyasha was giving me in his rearview mirror let me know that Lady Luck was just screwing with my head. “So, Kekki, have a nice dream?” Inuyasha asked, a knowing grin spreading across his lips. “For your information, no,” I mumbled back. I think, by that point, my face was maroon. “Oh, I don’t know.” He was still looking at me in the rearview mirror. “I think it sounded pretty interesting.” He cleared his throat, then in a completely over exaggerated impression of my voice, said, “oh, Inuyasha..” Okay, so I right about then I broke the world record in blushes. “I was at your funeral,” I said weakly. His laughing gaze was starting to bug me. “I don’t know..” “Keep your eyes on the road.” “..it didn’t sound like you were at my funeral..” “KEEP YOUR DAMN EYES ON THE ROAD!” He, that punk, laughed. School Daze Chapter Thirteen: Beach Bums By Clara It took another hour for us to get to the beach. You can just imagine how that hour was for me. Let’s put it this way. I was sitting next to Miroku. Miroku had driver’s duty next. Therefore, Miroku and Inuyasha switched places, leaving me with a dark haired boy who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. On my other side was Kouga. Unfortunately, when I shouted my orders to Inuyasha earlier, everyone woke up. Therefore, I was sitting beside a teasing Inuyasha and a vengeful Kouga. Ha. Kagome is NOT amused. Not only did I get teased like hell by Inuyasha and flirted with by Kouga, I had to put up with Miroku’s insane driving and a rather unnerving death glare by Kikyo. Suffice to say, I was getting rather claustrophobic. And car sick. And more than a little homicidal. “GET ME OUTTA THIS CAR!” “Hey, Kekki, relax! We have like, fifteen more minutes,” Miroku said easily. He took a sharp left without turning on his blinker or looking over his shoulder, sending me flying against Kouga. In a rather interesting position. “Oh, sure,” Inuyasha huffed, folding his arms behind his head, “you have a dream about me, then throw yourself all over another guy. Ch. Women these days.” I shot back into a sitting position, then reached over and smacked Inuyasha upside the head. “Ow!” I swear, there has never been a time where I’ve wanted to use the word ‘sit’ more. Why did I agree to go on this trip as a girl? If I were a boy, then at least all that attention wouldn’t be centered on me. Then again, if I was a boy and had that dream… Truthfully, I don’t understand how my relationship with Inuyasha changed so drastically in the span of one night. I know we agreed to just be friends and all, but I was kind of expecting some sort of like, tension or something. You know, like the first date awkwardness. Or maybe like the kind of awkwardness that Kikyo and Inuyasha share. I didn’t exactly expect us to become best buddies.. Okay, so truthfully I was confused. Very confused. Maybe this weekend will clear everything up.. Yeah, right. And pigs fly. * We got to the beach, as Miroku predicted, fifteen minutes later. I almost kissed the ground. I made sure I was the first one out of the van, lightly shoving Inuyasha out of my way. Sango came after me, smiling a bit. All right, so it was natural that she stuck to my side like glue. After all, the only reason why ‘Kekki’ was on this trip was because she and Sango were best friends. It made crooked sense. “Fun, huh, Kekki?” she asked, draping a friendly arm around my shoulders. I gave her a dry look and started to the back of the van, she keeping in step with me. “Oh, yeah. About as fun as running around naked in my school.” Of course, only she and Miroku would get that, but thankfully Miroku wasn’t around to make crude comments. Sango just laughed and reached over to open the trunk. “You come up with interesting analogies, Kag.” I didn’t kill her for using that nickname, since everyone was out of hearing range. “Hey, at least that would be an easy way for Inuyasha to find out..” “Find out what?” Eiji has perfect timing, yanno? “Umm..” I tried to think clearly and quickly. I really did. But I mean, put yourself in my shoes! We’ll see how many good excuses you can come up with. “His surprise party,” Sango cut in smoothly. I swear, I loved that girl. “I was going to tell you about that later, but it seems you beat me to it.” Eiji gave her a weird look. “Inuyasha’s birthday is in six months.” “Always best to think ahead!” Sango flashed a peace sign, but I could tell she was mentally kicking herself for that slip. “Anyway, quit talking and start unloading.” She got this creepy ‘don’t-even-think-about-asking-anymore-questions’ look on her face, then reached around Eiji to grab an oversized backpack. Not thinking about it, she tossed me the bag. I caught it and was knocked over. “Eek!” I landed rather gracelessly on my rear. “What’s in here?! Rocks? “That’s Miroku’s bag,” Sango said cheerfully, tossing out another bag. It landed on top of Miroku’s, therefore, on top of me. “Who knows what’s in there. It’s probably the pretty-boy’s make-up or something.” “Hey!” Miroku cried from somewhere to my right. He came into view, then plucked one of the bags off me as if it weighed nothing. “I heard that.” “Good!” Sango chirped, then tossed out another bag. Eiji caught it. I grumbled at the three of them and somehow managed to swing the backpack over my shoulder. It dwarfed me. Inuyasha appeared, took one look at me, then cracked a grin and moved over to the back of the trunk. He pulled out a relatively small bag, then tossed it to me. Without another word, he reached over and grabbed the backpack from my shoulders and swung it onto his. “Hey, Lightweight, if we let you carry something like that it’ll take us ages to get to Miroku’s house. Stick with something small.” My, I was starting to blush as much as I was falling these days.. “I’m not a lightweight,” I grumbled to his retreating form. He laughed and Sango gave me a knowing smirk. “Keep any and all comments to yourself, Sango.” I straightened up proudly and started to walk after Inuyasha. “Oi, Kagome, before you go..” Miroku beckoned me over, then weighed me down with more supplies. I glared at him from over a closed umbrella. “Hey, don’t look at me like that, manly man. The more we carry, the fewer trips we have to take!” Ah, the mentality of your every day teenager. “Great,” I grumbled, continuing to follow Inuyasha. “I lose one burden and get stuck with another.” “Suck it up,” Kikyo huffed as she walked past me. I blew a raspberry at her back, and she ignored me. Faaaantastic. * I had no idea Miroku was rich. “Woooo,” Eiji breathed out, looking around in wonder. Seeming to not think about it, he kicked off his shoes. I followed his example. I mean, hey, I wasn’t about to get this beautiful place dirty. “This is awesome, Priest.” Sango nodded in agreement, moving around in a small circle to examine her surroundings. In fact, most of us began to wander around, lightly touching things as if we were in a museum. It was, well, it was white. And it was covered with windows and sophisticated, expensive-looking paintings. It even smelled nice. Like lavender or something. I picked up a porcelain cat and whistled under my breath. “Man, you’ve got a nice place here, Miro...” I looked over at my friend, then blinked. He was blushing. From what I knew about him, Miroku never blushed. Not only was he blushing, but he was looking at Kikyo and Inuyasha in an embarrassed sort of way. The two said characters were standing a little to the side, wearing identical expressions of wonder. It was almost as if they had never seen a place like this before. “..ku,” I finished belatedly. I set the cat down quickly after I realized I was still holding it. As discreetly as I could, I edged over to Sango. She looked up from a crystal chess set she was observing. “Hey,” I whispered to her. “What’s up with Miroku, Inu, and the wicked witch from the West?” Sango blinked, then looked over her shoulder at the three of them. Inuyasha and Kikyo still hadn’t moved, and Miroku had switched his self-conscious gaze to his feet. “Ohh..” A look of understanding crossed Sango’s face, and she tugged me further away from the three of them. The three stooges? Yeah, right, if Kikyo ever intentionally did one funny thing in her life, I’d eat my shoe. “You know what? I think I’ll let Miroku or Inu tell you about what’s up.” Great. I hate being the newcomer. It’s like, everyone has a secret that everyone else knows, and when you ask them what that secret is, they just tell you “nothing”. I sighed and moved back over to the bags and looked down at them. They looked out of place. “Hey, Miroku!” I sidled up to his side, and the said boy jumped near a foot. He looked at me as if he was a kid who did something wrong. “Where are we supposed to put our stuff?” It took a few moments for my words to register in his brain. “Oh! Uhm, okay, since there’s three bedrooms, and..” he counted silently for a moment, his lips moving with each number he got to, “..seven of us, it’s going to be three girls to one bedroom, two boys to another, and the other two to the last.” He paused, and thoughtful Miroku became lecherous Miroku. “Unless, of course, you want to share your bedroom with me..” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, then laughed and ducked when not only I tried to smack him upside the head, but Inuyasha and Sango. Those two can move remarkably fast when they’re stimulated. I smiled, though. A thoughtful Miroku was rather unnerving. Not only that, but when he laughed it broke the tension in the room, as corny as that sounds. “All right!” Sango clapped her hands together, taking charge the way only a girl can take charge. “I’m going to go bring the food to the kitchen.” With that being said, she picked up the oversized cooler and walked off. She didn’t ask for directions. I raised an eyebrow at Miroku, and he shrugged. “Don’t look at me. As far as I know, she’s never been here before. I figure she’ll figure out the kitchen is in the other direction after wandering for a couple of minutes.” I shook my head, still smiling a bit. Miroku’s relationship with Sango was just as odd as mine was with Inuyasha. I found my bag after digging around for a few minutes, the swung it on to my shoulder. “Where’s the girl’s room?” I asked. Kikyo moved up to my side and picked up another bag that was noticeably smaller than mine. She was steadfastly not looking at me. Yay! I get to share my room with Miss I’m-better-than-you. I could almost cry. * I changed right after I got to the room, grabbed a towel and some sunscreen, and trucked on out to the beach. I didn’t want to be in the same room as Kikyo for a long amount of time, you realize, and I did want to explore the beach. It wasn’t a private one like I was led to believe, but hell if I was going to complain. There were several people already sprawled across their towels and bronzed, but that’s not what caught my attention. Apparently, someone else thought staying at the beach was a good idea, too. “Yuuuka!” I called. The poor girl was currently sitting as far as she could from her ‘date’, and I’m sure you can guess who that was.. “Kag—Keiki!” She automatically corrected herself just in case, even though I was alone. “That’s Kiki,” Hiten corrected amiably. He was reading a rather thick book and was wearing a pair of wire rimmed glasses. “Kekki,” I said, rolling my eyes. I hauled my towel over to my friend. “Anyway, what are you guys doing here? Date?” I wiggled my eyebrows at them, and, predictably, Yuka turned crimson. “Partially,” Hiten explained, dog-earring the book and closing it. He pulled off his glasses and grinned at Yuka, then turned his gaze to me. “I’m also here because Naraku had the bright idea to have a sort of ‘training’ weekend for baseball. We were allowed to bring… friends, though.” “I’m not your friend,” Yuka grumbled. He ignored her, but he was smiling. “Training weekend?” both my eyebrows shot up. Somehow, I didn’t think Inuyasha would be happy to hear about that.. “Yeah.” He stopped suddenly, then looked at me. I mean, really looked at me. “Wait. Don’t tell me you’re a part of the team for your school..” “Maybe,” I said mysteriously. Yuka reached up and grabbed my towel, laying it flat beside her. I got the strangest feeling that she didn’t want to be left alone with the ‘braided boy wonder’. Hiten got this funny unhappy look as I sat beside them, after removing unnecessary particles of clothing. I mean, who goes to the beach wearing clothes? And before you get any perverted ideas, yes, I was wearing a bathing suit. “You won’t be able to keep up.” I bristled, and Yuka glared at him. “Don’t underestimate Kagome. She’s been playing ever since she can walk. If it were a one on one between the two of you, I’d put my bets on Kagome.” “That’s only because you don’t like me,” Hiten said, still grinning. He flattened himself across the towel, but was looking up at something that seemed to be just over my head. For some reason, Yuka was looking there, too. I blinked, then looked over my shoulder. Kudos to you if you guessed that Inuyasha was standing there. Hiten grinned at Inuyasha’s shocked expression, then waved to the space beside me. “Pull up a towel, Inuyasha. We can make it a double date.” Inuyasha scowled at that description, but flattened out his towel beside me. I got the feeling he didn’t want me to be left alone with Hiten, even though Yuka was there. “What are you doing here, Thunder?” Inuyasha asked uneasily. “Reading ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Charles Dickens for English. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of him.” Even I could hear the thinly veiled insult in Hiten’s light tone. Inuyasha’s glare turned hateful. Yuka shifted uncomfortably. “Though I’d much rather enjoy these two beauties beside me.” I could feel my ears turn red. I wasn’t blushing because Hiten complimented me (you get used to it when you’re always with Miroku), but because I just realized my state of undress. I mean, this is the first time Inuyasha had ever seen me in a bathing suit. Of course I was going to be a little self-conscious. I mean, I didn’t have the most spectacular body. I was stick skinny and wasn’t quite what one would call ‘voluptuous’. It was embarrassing. I have a feeling Inuyasha took my blush wrong, though, because he fell silent and got this sulky expression on his face. We didn’t stay long with them, though. After awhile, I think Hiten got tired of our company and made Yuka move with him somewhere else. Poor thing. I wasn’t complaining though. I needed to talk to Inuyasha. “You know…” I started, looking up at the sky through my sunglasses. It was bright. “They’re not just here as a date.” “Hm?” I couldn’t figure out why Inuyasha was lying out here to tan. I mean, he was already dark. And muscular. And glinting under the sun. And.. Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my face. “The whole group’s here. They’re training for baseball season.” Inuyasha’s relaxed expression did a one-eighty, and he tensed up completely. Ooo. Muscles. “Well, shit. There goes my weekend.” He sighed and sat up. “That is, my weekend and the guys’ weekend. There’s no way I’m going to let Naraku get the better of us!” He punched the sand in emphasis. “Hey, um,” I dug my toes in the sand almost shyly. “I know this sounds weird, but..” I paused, then took a deep breath. “DoyouthinkIcantrainwithyouguys?” I’m talented. Anyway, I did have a reason for wanting to train with them. I mean, ‘Kagome’ is on the team, and there is the fact that I do want to get back in shape.. Inuyasha looked at me from the side, and raised an eyebrow. I could tell he wanted to same something along the lines of how I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them because I was a girl, but thankfully he swallowed any derogatory comments. I was afraid I was going to have to smack him. “All right.” He grinned slightly, then relaxed back against the towel. For a moment, we lay there in silence, before Inuyasha turned his head back to me. “Hey, Kek. You don’t like those kinds of guys who compliment you just to get into your pants, do you?” I blinked, then put on my best serious face. “I love ‘em!” “Wh-what?” I could almost see him thinking something like ‘Is that...is that what she really wants?’ “Calm down. I’m kidding. I’m kidding, okay?” I sprawled out across my towel, stomach first. Inuyasha was looking at the sky with an odd expression on his face. I think I just unintentionally gave Inuyasha an idea. .:end chapter thirteen:. Woo! Well, I’m glad THAT’S done and over with. Anyway, I’ll be sure to explain just what Inuyasha, Kikyo, and Miroku are hiding in the next chapter. Thanks for your patience! Btw.. everyone is entitled to a couple of mistakes, especially if you don’t have a proofreader. .:next:.