Thank you every one for pointing out my stupid mistake on having Miroku call Kagome ‘Kagome’. That was purely a slip. He originally meant to call her Kekki, but I’m stupid like that. On Tuesday, not to my knowledge, my grandfather died. * We didn’t stay on the beach for too long. I could tell Inuyasha was getting antsy just lying there and not training, and, heavens forbid, letting Naraku get ahead, so I was the one suggested going back. He didn’t put up much a fight, but he still had this mysteriously thoughtful look on his face. Inuyasha never looked thoughtful, so it was rather weird for me to see. When we got back to the beach house, the first person we saw sitting on the front step was Miroku. He was supporting a red mark on his face, meaning he probably unintentionally pissed Sango off. Probably from groping her, or something. I sighed and shook my head, turning to make a teasing comment to my black hair friend, when Inuyasha hurried ahead of me to Miroku’s side. He leaned down and whispered something into the surprised boy’s ear. To my horror, Miroku grinned, then started to laugh. I mean, really laugh. He looked at me, then just laughed harder. Okay, so I was starting to get offended. Bear with me, here. It isn’t fun when one of your best friends just looked at you and started cracking up. I frowned, then looked down at my bathing suit to make sure everything was still there, then looked over my shoulder to see if I sat on anything. Miroku continued to laugh, and soon Inuyasha started to laugh lightly, too. My frown was replaced by a scowl. “What?! Do I have something on my face?” That caused them to laugh harder, and I clenched my fists to my side. “Hey!” Miroku was the first to compose himself. He stood up and brushed the sand off his clothing, before moving over to me. I almost died with surprise when he reached down and took both my hands, holding them up. “Mi… Miroku! What are you doing?!” “Kekki…” “Wh-what? Why are you looking at me like that?” Miroku’s face split into a grin. I took a step back. “Are you a kleptomaniac, or did you steal my heart on purpose?” “Wh-what?! Miroku! That was so awful!” I could feel my cheeks start to redden, and Inuyasha nudged Miroku out of the way. “Mmm, girl, your mom must be a baker, because you’ve got some nice buns!” Okay, now my face AND my ears were bright red. “Inu.. INUYASHA!” He laughed and jumped back, just in time to dodge a fist that was aimed at his stomach. Miroku took his place, and I took a quick step back. “If you.. If you say another stupid line..” “No, no! I promise, this isn’t a pick-up line. I just have another question…” “If you ask me to bear your children…” “I have more class than that.” His grin widened. “Hey, Keks. Do you sleep on your stomach?” I looked at him skeptically. “No. Why?” “Can I?” “MIROKU!!” “Oi, Miroku!” Inuyasha called, starting to laugh again. “She’s gunna blow!” Miroku snickered and turned around, running quickly back to the safe haven of his home, Inuyasha right at his ankles. Now, would you let someone get away with something like that? That’s right, I didn’t think so. Of course I gave chase, yelling obscenities at their bare backs. Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at me, nearly doubled over from laughing. “Hey, Kekki?” “What?!” “Are those real?” “INU~YAAAAAASHAAAAA!” School Daze Chapter Fourteen: Pick Me Up By Clara Eventually, I did catch up with them and was able to leave them with some rather nasty bumps on their heads and several bruises. They cracked up the entire time, though, which didn’t make my vengeance feel very satisfying. After ‘successfully’ beating my friends up, I sat next to Sango on the couch, back straight and hands on my lap. I probably looked like the picture of fury, but that was okay with me. Sango had heard and seen the entire thing, but she barely even react. Hell, all she did when I beat her almost-boyfriend and Inuyasha on the head with some sort of dictionary like book was sip her iced tea and watch with her head resting on her palm. I did manage to get a grin out of her when I started calling them crude names in various different languages. “Relieved?” Sango asked as I leaned against the cushions. I shot her a grin. “Yeah. That was fun.” “I bet.” Sango took another sip from her iced tea, then glanced at Inuyasha and Miroku, who were crumpled on the ground and muttering some very choice words about violent girls. They both still looked amused, though, which only caused me to huff more. We sat (well, Inuyasha and Miroku were lying down) like that for awhile, Sango idly sipping her drink with her eyes closed and me calming down with the silence. It had felt good to run around like that, though.. Miroku looked remorsefully up at me from the ground. “All those curves, and no brakes..” I threw my shoe at him. It hit him square on the forehead, and he and Inuyasha started snickering all over again. My other shoe ended up bouncing off the back of Inuyasha’s head. “Ow! Hey, you jerk, I didn’t say anything!” “You were the one who gave Miroku the idea!” I shot him a sulky look, which he returned with a impertinent smirk. Kouga took that moment to walk in, clad in a pair of dark blue swim trunks and a towel around his shoulders. He was holding a tube of sunscreen. “Yo.” “Hey, Kouga,” I responded, leaning back against the cushions. “What happened to Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum?” Sango half grinned. “They decided to use a couple of stupid pick-up lines on Kekki, and she... responded violently.” “Oh.” Kouga blinked, then grinned. “Hey, Kekki. Is it hot in here, or is it just you?” I threw a pillow in his face. * “Too bad the rest of the team isn’t here,” Miroku commented as he rubbed some sunscreen onto his shoulders. “So they can improve their skills, right?” I asked, finishing my stretching exercises. Inuyasha had given us five minutes to get ready to train, which didn’t really mean anything. We spent the entirety of it stretching and putting on sunscreen and whatnot. It wasn’t as if we brought our gloves and balls along with us. I mean, we all ate, breathed, and slept baseball, but that was usually just during the season. Not during break. Definitely not at the beach. “Feh. Yeah, right,” Miroku snorted, rolling his shoulders. Sango moved up beside him. She liked the thought of working out with the boys, since lacrosse season was going to start soon. In fact, the only person who wouldn’t be training was Kikyo. I wondered where she was, since she seemed to have just disappeared after I left to the beach. “I’m only saying that because,” Miroku continued, breaking me out of my thoughts, “they should suffer like we do.” “That’s very Zen of you, Miroku,” Sango said, rolling her eyes. She tied one of the homemade leg weights around her ankle. “Damn right I’m Zen,” he retorted, grabbing the other leg weight before she could and wrapping it around his own ankle. “I am completely one with myself, and all that.” She conked him on the head with a rather impressive looking staff that I had never seen before. He yelped and rubbed the new bump she gave him, then straightened up and glared at both of us. “At this rate, brats, you’re going to leave me brain damaged.” He walked off with the air of an offended-old-lady. I found this quite humorous. Sango did too. We let this be known quite loudly. Don’t get me wrong, though. Inuyasha got his revenge on me for beating him and Miroku up quite soundly. He had very clever ways of torturing not only me, but anyone who decided to train with him. I was beginning to realize why Kikyo didn’t wait around. “Hey! Kekki! Eiji! You’re falling behind!” Inuyasha called from over his shoulder. Damn him. Running in sand is hard enough. Anyone who’s been on a beach knows that well enough. Sand does not do a good job at supporting your weight and sinks when it’s dry enough (hell, even when it’s wet), causing you to have to bring your legs up high enough to avoid tripping and falling. It’s a complete pain in the ass when you have ten pound leg weights on each leg. By the time we finished a quarter mile, I thought I was going to die. “Inuyasha!” Kouga grumbled from behind the other boy. He wasn’t having much trouble keeping up with him, but he was sweating a lot. “You’re insane, you know that? It’s like, ninety-plus degrees out here, the sand’s hot, and you’re making us run?” Miroku was at Kouga’s side, and Sango was a couple feet behind them. I was running just a bit faster than Eiji, which made me feel absurdly pleased with myself. That didn’t say much, though, since we were several feet behind Inuyasha. I was feeling just a bit inadequate here, let me tell you. It made me thankful I didn’t come as ‘Kagome’. I would have died of embarrassment, surely. He didn’t let us take a break until about a mile and a half. It felt like a hundred miles though, and I let this be known by nearly falling over. I didn’t, though, not just because I didn’t want to look bad in front of Inuyasha and the others. Sand and sweat just do NOT mix. “Okay, guys!” Inuyasha clapped after around five minutes. “Let’s go before we get all relaxed again!” He jumped to his feet and grinned easily at us. Several groans chorused from the group, but we all sluggishly got back to our feet. I didn’t know where he got all that damn energy, but I wanted it. * By the time we stopped running and convinced Inuyasha to let us go back to the beach house, I felt like a walking zombie. No kidding. My legs were on fire and felt like they were going to collapse from beneath me at any moment, I was more than a little dehydrated, and I was breathing much faster than normal. I felt like I was going to spontaneously combust. We all took a dip into the ocean after we regained our breath and our heart rates dropped back to normal (and after stretching, of course. Duh), only going in far enough for the water to reach our midsections. Luckily, the ocean was rather calm that day and I didn’t have to worry about any waves knocking me over. I don’t think I would have been able to get back up again. “I don’t think this is good for our systems,” Sango commented as I dunked my head under water. I flung my short hair back, for once thankful for its length. Running with long hair was a pain. “Running as much as we did in weather this hot, then going into water this cold… isn’t that unhealthy?” “I don’t know,” I breathed contently, running my fingers through my hair and slicking it back. It spiked in the front where it was shortest, probably making me look funny. Or at least interesting. “But it feels almost sinful.” She cracked a grin at that and started to walk back to the shore. “You know, we didn’t bring large enough towels to dry ourselves off..” I pointed silently up at the sun. “Well, that works. I just hate getting sand on my feet when I’m wet.” I nodded and followed after her, rather shakily. My legs felt a lot lighter than they should, and it still felt as if I was running. I sighed and started to stretch again, after getting back onto ‘solid’ land. The others were doing the same as me. Best not tear a ligament or something, hm? “Oi, Kekki!” Inuyasha called. I looked up from touching my toes. “You did put on sunscreen, right?” “Yeah. I’m not stupid, or anything..” I frowned at him. He frowned back and stood up, moving beside me. I took a step back. I had the feeling he was going to spout another cheesy pick-up line at me, but.. ..all he did was lightly slap me on the back. “AAAAGH!” I jumped a good foot, hands flying to my face. “OWOWOWOW!” The others looked up at my cry, and I started dancing around in pain. I’m not sure where I got the energy from. “Man, Kekki, you look like a lobster! What kind of sunscreen did you use?” I scowled after I finished dancing, then reached over into the small bag I had been carrying around with me for just in case. I pulled out my tube of sunscreen and tossed it to Inuyasha, who caught it easily. He looked at the tube, then looked back up at me. His eyes were dancing. “Sunscreen, hm?” He turned the tube around so I could see the label. Sun oil. “DAMNIT!” * We made our way back to beach house after that, me muttering some very crude words and lagging behind everyone. Ever since Inuyasha let it be known that I was burnt as all hell, I was hurting. Badly. I hated sunburns. They always made me feel as if my entire body was on fire or something. Not only that, but they left rather interesting ‘tan’-lines. Thankfully, though, Sango had some Aloe Vera back at Miroku’s. At least I didn’t have to have that stupid sunburn for too long. Inuyasha, who had been in the front, noticed I was falling behind. I saw concern flash across his face and he fell in step beside me. “Hey, Kekki. You all right, there?” I gave him a small nod and an even smaller smile. “It’s nothing much. My legs are just weird feeling.” He still looked concerned, and I could feel my face grow hot under his gaze. As if he could even tell if I was blushing or not. That was the only thing this stupid burn was good for. “Hey, now, you don’t have to come with us tomorrow when we run again. I mean, since you don’t seem you can handle it…” “HA!” If anything could get my adrenaline running, it was something like that being said to me. I mean, hey, it’s not as if I was completely out of shape. I had never done anything like that before, though. Affronted, I quickened my pace until I was next to Kouga. He glanced at me, then gave me a grin. “Hey there, pretty lady.” I blushed again. “Yeah, pretty lady who looks like a lobster right now,” I grumbled. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Inuyasha walk quickly back to his original place. He was staring straight ahead, and I could almost feel the waves of displeasure coming off him. Hoo boy. “Eh, you’ll always look gorgeous to me,” Kouga said, smiling. I could feel my cheeks redden more. Inuyasha was now periodically throwing dirty looks at us from over his shoulder and I started to feel guilty. Or two-timing. Or something like that. “You okay? Leave it to Inu to not think ahead…” I looked ahead at Inuyasha. His back was to us again, this time completely tense. Yes, he had very, very nice muscles… …but he was sulking, and I felt guilty. “I’ll be fine.” I flashed Kouga a charming smile, then hurried over towards Inuyasha. Unfortunately, my foot caught. “Eek!” I fell gracelessly onto my stomach, ‘oof’ing when I landed rather roughly. “Owowowowow,” I hissed, closing my eyes. Thankfully, the others didn’t laugh. I think they were too concerned to laugh, since I had a feeling my ankle was twisted in a funny way. It sure felt like it was. To my surprise, though, a pair of strong arms lifted me up. I blinked my eyes open, surprised and looked up. Inuyasha continued to walk steadfastly towards the beach house, carrying me. I could feel myself blush again, but instead of saying anything, I just leaned my head against his chest. Oh, yeah, I was getting it bad. * “OWWWWWWWW!” “Hey now, girl, quiet down,” Sango ordered. We were in our room sitting on the floor. I was sitting in front of Sango, who was currently applying Aloe Vera on my scorched back. “It hurts!” I whined, squirming a bit. “Quit moving, stupid!” Sango admonished. I threw her a glare over my shoulder, then turned to look fixatedly ahead again. The Aloe Vera did feel cool and relaxing against my back, sure, but I swear she was putting it on too roughly. “What a way to relax,” I grumbled, looking out the window. It was a nice, big window, and I could see the sun just starting to sink. “I was seriously hoping I could learn how to surf.” “Well, getting back into shape is important, too.” Sango said, closing the Aloe Vera with a snap. “There, you’re all finished.” “Thanks.” I stood up and stretched my arms way above my head, cracking my back in the process. “Mm, well, twisting my ankle and getting burnt as all hell usually aren’t included in training.” “Your training, that is. Wait til Inuyasha decides to take us ‘hiking’.” I looked over at her worriedly, pulling on a loose shirt. I wasn’t about to get more burnt, even though the sunset was starting. “Fantastic,” I grumbled. “Hey, I’m going to go watch the sunset, okay?” Sango nodded. “I need to talk to Miroku, anyway.” “Talk,” I asked, “or talk?” Sango smacked me upside the head. “I swear, Miroku has corrupted you.” I chuckled and walked towards the door. “See you in a bit, Sango.” I hobbled down the stairs, partially from the fact that my legs were sore as hell, and partially from the fact that the ankle I twisted still hurt a bit. Miroku, though, the friend that he is, met me at the bottom of the stairs. “You okay there, Kekki?” He wasn’t taking any chances, thankfully. “I’ll manage. Sango was looking for you, by the way.” He nodded, then handed me something. I nearly dropped it from surprise. “Where did you get weights?” “We’re an odd family,” Miroku shrugged. “Where are you heading?” “Just gunna watch the sunset,” I grumbled, starting to lift the weight with one hand. Yay. I got to be sore all over tonight! Miroku nodded, then cracked a grin. “Inuyasha also ordered us to do one hundred sit ups tonight. Think you’re up to it?” “Inuyasha’s insane,” was my answer as I headed to the door. I have a feeling he nodded in response, but since I couldn’t see him I wouldn’t know. It was thankfully cool outside, and the sky was bright with several different colors. I sighed with relief and sat on the step next to the other person claiming it. “Hey, Yuka,” I greeted, still lifting the ten pound weight up and down with my right arm. “How’d you find us?” I switched to my left arm after forty. “It wasn’t that hard,” Yuka answered. She didn’t look at me. Her eyes were fixed on the sky. “Your friends were creating holy hell in the front here, earlier. Or at least two of them. I saw you at the dance with them, so I figured you’d be staying here too. When I asked, the boy nodded, then asked me out on a date.” I snorted at that. “I see you’ve met Miroku.” “Is he really that desperate?” Come to think of it… “Well, no.” I blinked. “I don’t know why he acts like that, actually. He’s… unofficially going out with Sango, another friend of ours.” I looked up at the sky. Reds and oranges were clashing together over a light blue, streaming across the sky and highlighting every cloud in its way. Okay, so I was feeling kind of poetic. “What brought you here, though, aside from wanting to hang out with me?” Yuka sighed, folding her arms on her lap. “Well, I’m staying the night here, too, so I figured I would come and see you.” I blinked. “You are? I thought this was just a day thing?” “Nah.” She sighed again. “One of them has a house up here. Kagura, I think Hiten said her name was?” She frowned. “Well, anyway, I couldn’t exactly be around them anymore. They’re rather… stuck up.” I grimaced and nodded, all at once feeling guilty for sticking that kind of responsibility on Yuka. “Ah, Yuka..” “Hey, before you go on and apologize, don’t worry about it. You would have done the same thing for me.” Her frown vanished and was replaced by a nice smile. “Hiten really isn’t that bad when we’re alone. It’s only when we’re with his friends do I feel like a… a prize or something.” She leaned back on the palms of her hands, tilting her head to look at the entire sky. “I could almost say I like him.” “Like him?” I repeated, incredulous. Sure, the boy was attractive, but… Well, the horror stories I’ve almost heard about him! Okay, so that sounded kind of funny even to me. “Not romantically!” Yuka hurried. “I just… I just sometimes get the feeling that he’s never been in a relationship like the one he is in with me before. We fight over the stupidest things, and sometimes I totally change my opinion just so we can debate about it. I don’t know. It’s.. well, it’s fun.” I blinked. That kind of sounded familiar. My attention was caught by someone walking up to us. The look on Hiten’s face let me know he had been listening for awhile. Yuka didn’t notice him, though, and continued. “I don’t know. I’m so confused. Even though I know he isn’t the most.. trustworthy guy, I somehow get the feeling he wouldn’t do anything to harm me or anything, you know?” She smiled a bit. “It’s probably just a stupid hope, anyway. Don’t mind me, Kiki, I’m just babbling.” “Kekki,” I corrected quietly, watching as Hiten stopped again, looking at Yuka with a peculiar look on his face. He didn’t look mad or anything… just lost. “He isn’t anything like Ryo, who used to shower me with presents and compliments and all that kind of mushy stuff. I kind of like it. Not being smothered to death, you know.” She looked at me and cracked a grin. “I even feel kind of jealous when he looks at other girls.” Hiten reacted to that. His mouth opened a bit, almost as if to form a protest, before remembering that she didn’t know he was there. “So you think you wanna still see him after the month is over?” “I think… I think I might.” She grinned a bit, looking back up at the sky. She still hadn’t noticed him, somehow. Hiten definitely reacted to that. He took a step forward, paused, then took another step forward. “Hey, Yuka!” he called as if he hadn’t been there to hear everything. I crossed my bear legs in front of me, still lifting the weight methodically up and down. Yuka started, then looked up quickly at Hiten. She blushed for a fraction of a second. “Whaddya want?!” “Your sexy, sexy body?” his voice was teasing, and I blinked. That was something Miroku would say, not Hiten. “Stupid,” Yuka growled back, throwing her sandal at him. He laughed and caught it. “Come on. We’re going out to dinner. You can talk to your transvestite friend later.” Yuka’s other shoe clubbed him square on the face. I was the one to throw it this time. “I hope you get eaten by a shark!” I shouted at him as Yuka hurried to retrieve her shoes. Hiten chuckled and rubbed his nose. “Maybe you should be pitcher. Your aim is dead on.” I blinked. That was the first time Hiten said anything remotely nice to me. “Yeah, yeah,” Yuka grumbled, bending down to put her sandals back on. “Come on, I’m hungry. You’re paying, right?” “Of course,” he sighed. “I don’t think you’d eat if you had to pay.” “Not with you, at least.” She flashed him a catty grin, as if to say ‘oh! In your face! Point for me, Thunder-boy!’ I laughed quietly. “See you, Sekki!” Yuka called, waving at me. “That’s Kekki!” Hiten laughed and waved too. “Nice burn you’ve got there, by the way.” With those sweet parting words, the two hurried off. I grinned a bit and put the weight down, watching as the last rays of sunlight darted across the sky. It almost looked as if Yuka was falling as fast as I was. I just hoped she was falling for the right guy. .:end chapter fourteen:. Oi! I didn’t reveal Inuyasha’s and Kikyo’s secrets! Ha, sorry about that. Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough! ^___^ Oh, and for you Sesshomaru, Rin, and Jaken fans (not all together, you perverts), they’re going to appear in chapter sixteen or at the end of chapter fifteen. Ha! I’m actually planning ahead! .:next:.