GENERATION BLEACH 100 Themes: 34: Tropical
"Yosh, we're finally here!" Isamu Sado exclaimed as he leapt out of the humid and cramped mini bus that had taken them all out here in the first place. The sun was shining at a glorious thirty+ degrees Celsius. A warm summer breeze blew as the palm trees swayed and the sea salt gave the air a sweet smell. He kicked of his sandals and felt the soft white sand beneath his toes; it felt like silk. His soft brown eyes took in the landscape as his wavy brown hair rustled in the breeze. He grinned and ran on further.
"Remind me again why we rented a mini bus," Yosuke Ishida groaned as he stepped out next and stretched his back. He pushed his glasses up his slight nose, tucked his lop-sided black fringe behind his right ear and moved out the way so that his un-identical twin could get out of the hot vehicle.
Her long black hair fell over her shoulders as she jumped out. She looked up to her younger twin with her violet eyes identical to his and adjusted her own glasses before placing a hand on her hip and stating "It was your idea genius."
"Oi Ishida, have your little twin feud later, can you get out the way?" Arata complained as he banged his hand on the side of the bus.
"Jeez Hirako, a please wouldn't kill you," Suzuko complained as she moved aside.
Arata stepped out and took in a deep breath a walked away from the torturous van. His short, spiked blond hair failed to move in the wind due to his use of hair gel (which he constantly advertised). His narrow brown eyes scanned the area as he eerily grinned at the warmth.
"Hey is anyone gonna go get Sado-kun? He kinda just jumped out and ran towards the sea," Hisa Muguruma giggled as she and her green haired twin sister watched Isamu running around in the sand.
"Let's go join him, it looks like fun!" Hina smiled, pressing her left cheek to her twin's right to make the number '69'.
"Hai!" and with that, they both leapt out the door and ran to join their friend, their short, curled green hair bouncing in the breeze; grey eyes sparkling in the summer sun.
"Hisa-chan! Hina-chan!" Masaki Kurosaki called out after her energetic friends "Mou, where did they go?" She asked as Yosuke helped her out of the mini bus.
"They're chasing after Sado," Suzuko smiled.
"Isamu-kun?" Masaki looked out for him with her warm, golden-brown eyes that squinted in the sun's direct light. Spotting him, she laughed and her long auburn hair got tucked behind her ear. She stepped out further and stumbled as she took her shoes off. Putting them next to Isamu's sandals, she followed in his messy footsteps.
"Where are they all going?" Hiroyuki Hanakari quiered as he hopped out of the bus and onto the white sand. He flicked his oversized light brown fringe as he blinked his big dark brown eyes (almost always mistaken for black). "Is that Masaki and 69? [what the twins are referred to as]" he giggled and stretched his arms up. "Ah I can't wait to make sand castles and go swimming!"
Suddenly another door slammed shut and a weary Kitsune Matsumoto walked round the front of the bus "How that kid still has so much energy I have no clue," and with that he collapsed on the ground; for once not caring about his perfectly groomed strawberry blond hair. Lying on his back he placed a hand over his pale, ice blue-green eyes "Why did I have to drive? It was three straight hours! Shiro you told me thirty minutes!"
"Oops," Shiro Hitsugaya smirked as he stepped out the bus.
"You bastard..."
Shiro took in a deep breath and twisted his back to stretch out his cramp; being tall in a small vehicle really didn't help his muscles. He flicked his fringe out of his silky brown eyes and ran a hand through his spiked white hair "If I would have told you how long the journey really was you wouldn't have done it. Besides, you're the only one old enough to drive."
"You're eighteen! I'm only a year older!" Kitsune violently shouted back in his over emotional fatigue.
"Oh yeah, I forgot," Shiro smirked back at his childhood friend.
Kitsune Growled, he wasn't in the mood to be arguing. So he simply stood up and walked off towards the shack they had rented to get a cool drink.
"S-so hot ... need ... cold ..." Haruki Hitsugaya gasped as she practically fell out of the mini bus before her older brother caught her "Th-thanks Shiro-nii..." she whispered as black circles swirled in front of her blue-turquoise eyes. Her shoulder length hazel brown hair fell over her face as Shiro sat her down.
"Hitsugaya-kun would you like some water?" Akemi Urahara asked as she stepped out the door, a bottle of water in hand and a beach bag in the other.
"Yeah I think it would help her, thanks," Shiro said as he took the bottle from Akemi and handed it to his sister. Akemi smiled and moved aside to look at the beautiful beach awaiting them. Her big brown eyes shone in awe as she tucked her long wavy brown hair behind her ear. She pressed down her lemon yellow summer dress and walked towards the shack to get everyone a drink.
"Finally, fresh air," Sora Kurosaki groaned as he walked out the mini bus and stretched his arms above his head with his hands together "Being at the back of the bus seemed such a great idea at first..." Sora said sarcastically as he blinked his grey eyes and scratched his spiky black hair.
"Is everyone out now?" Shiro asked as Sora slammed the sliding bus door shut.
"Yeah. Come on, let's go find everyone. I have a feeling Isamu had some kind of energy drink before we came, so he's probably terrorising some innocent by-passers," Sora said casually as he walked past a worried looking Shiro.
Shiro sighed "Come on Haruki, let's go."
"Mou Shiro-nii, it's too hot!" Haruki wined.
Shiro huffed. She was way too stubborn. Suddenly an idea came across him. It would cool her down and give him a chance for some quiet and cool himself. He peered around to look for what he needed. He scanned the area with one hand shading his eyes. Palm trees, sand, the shack, more palm trees... ah, there. Just what he was looking for.
"Fine," Shiro said, louder than required. He then walked towards his younger sister and bent down.
"What are you-? WAH!" And with that Shiro picked her up and held her on top of his left shoulder. She started to squirm, but luckily for him she was very light "Shiro-nii what are you doing? Put me down!" she called out, causing a lot of attention being turned towards them.
Shiro smirked and made his way to the left of the beach where his destination waited. As he started to approach the pier, he kicked off his shoes into the sand and (with one hand) managed to unbutton his thin shirt and awkwardly slip it off as he began to run up to the edge.
"Sh-Shiro-nii what do you think your-" Just then Haruki managed to turn her head around to see the frontward path and see the fast approaching edge of the pier "SLOW DOWN YOU'RE GONNA GO OFF THE EDGE!" she shouted.
"That's the idea!" Shiro laughed "You said you were hot, well now it's time to cool off!"
"Shiro-nii, Shiro-nii! Wait, Wait, WAIT, WAIT!" but it was too late, for Shiro jumped off the edge with a big leap and into the icy sea water with a scream.
Near by, Sora, Akemi and Kitsune were watching from the shack, and had seen the whole thing. Akemi started to laugh as both their heads popped up gasping from the water and Haruki started to moan and whine at her brother for being so stupidly reckless.
"That idiot." Kitsune sighed. He shook his head, but still managed to make a small smile. He swirled back around in the bar chair to face his large cocktail he had prepared himself. He had made a list of instructions and ingredients he needed for all his drinks so that he could indulge in them whilst relaxing at the beach with no adults to impress or listen to. He was going to get drunk, and no one could tell him not to.
Akemi however was getting really hot, even in her summer dress. She stretched out her arms and moaned "Mou it really is hot though." And with that, she pulled her pretty dress over her head and folded it up on a chair, revealing her white two piece bikini with yellow, pink and purple spots. She tussled her hair so that it rested behind her shoulders rather than half in front and half behind. She put one hand on her hip and turned to face Sora and Kitsune.
"Are you guys coming or are you staying?" Akemi smiled.
The two teenagers meanwhile just starred, each with a fierce red blush planted on their faces. Sora firmly shut his slightly open mouth and nodded. He tugged his white polo shirt over his head and walked with her to the sea. Kitsune, still in shock of Akemi's bold strip, grabbed his cocktail and swallowed it all in a couple of big gulps. After he gasped and wiped his mouth with a wide grin and followed the other two with a happy "Wait for me!"
On the other side of the beach, Hiroyuki and Masaki were planning a surprise for everyone.
"Do you think it should be individual players?" Masaki thought.
"I think teams would be more fun!" Hiroyuki grinned "Besides, it means more competition, and you know everyone, they are so competitive," They giggled together sitting in the sand and continued to plan in secret.
Hisa and Hina were near by watching the two cousins laughing and wondered what was going on. Isamu was floating on his back in the cool sea, soaking up the sun with his arms behind his head. He breathed in and sighed contently. It was so nice just to be able to relax and not worry about hollows or arrancar. Hina shaded her face with a single hand with her other on her hip as she searched for Isamu in the sea. Hisa looked at her older twin, blinked in question and asked "Nee-san, what are you looking for?"
"Sado-kun, I can't see him!" Hina pouted. She continued to look before she spotted his body floating in the distance. She beamed and sprinted to the point of the beach where the wet sand met the lapping waves and (with her incredible leg strength) leapt into the air and called out "Sa~do~-kuuun~!"
Isamu meanwhile was pleasantly enjoying the sunshine before he heard her voice. The feint calling of his name caused him to open one eye with a 'eh' sound. Suddenly his glorious sunshine and peace was blocked out by the shadow of Hina plummeting towards him. His eyes suddenly snapped open and he screamed "AAAAHH STOP!" But it was too late because her fast falling self crashed into him with a huge splash.
Hina started laughing wildly on the beach shore and decided to join and so almost mimicked her twin with a slightly lower jump but still crashed in almost the exact same spot causing yet another huge wave of salt water. After the water had calmed down considerably, three heads bobbed up one-by-one. Hisa and Hina started laughing and turned to Isamu; expecting to see him laughing too.
However they only turned to see him with an exhausted expression and swirls in his eyes as he murmured words of which they could only make out 'can't' 'black' and 'kill'. Hisa cried out "Wah, Sado-kun is drowning!" as Isamu slowly started to sink.
Hina grabbed him firmly and shook him violently, causing splashes around them "Sado-kuuun! What's wrong! Speak to me!" Isamu finally snapped out of his water head and gasped for breath, only to take in gulps of water.
"Hina, H-Hina stop!" Isamu stuttered as she started dragging him to the shore. As she did this, he was too low down to get any air, but too high up to be fully submerged in the water, and was failing to breath.
"Oh no!" Hina said as she shook Isamu's weak body "Sado-kun is dying! I must perform mouth to mouth or else he die! I'LL SAVE YOU SADO-KUN!" she shouted as she puckered her lips.
At this Isamu snapped his eyes open and wailed "NO! NO! NO! I'M FINE I'M FINE!" he tried to get her away from him as she still neared his face. It took him to literally grab her face in his hand and shout "STOP IT!" for her to stop. But still she insisted – not convinced that he was ok.
"Everyone, guys can everyone come here please!" Masaki called happily, waving her hand high so that everyone could see her. Hiroyuki stood next to her, grinning as everyone started to approach. First were Akemi, Sora and a very rosy-cheeked Kitsune, soon followed by a wet Shiro and Haruki. Yosuke, Suzuko and Arata then followed, and lastly Hisa, Hina and Isamu.
"So what is it Masaki?" Sora was the first to ask.
Masaki smiled "Well, Yuki-chan and I decided on a little competition to get everyone excited!" At this, all the teenagers took interest and looked towards Masaki. She continued "Everyone will split into two teams; boys and girls, and work together to win," Once again, everyone nodded in understanding and listened for the big revealing "The contest is a volley ball competition!"
Masaki laughed in her own excitement and waited for everyone else to as well. She opened her eyes to see bored eyes staring back at her. She sighed in defeat "And the winning team gets a cash prize … borrowed from my dad."
At this, all eyes lit up as devious smiles formed and the genders spilt, running off into the distance screaming "WE'RE IN!"
Masaki looked at them all the shook her head. Smiling she commented "Honestly." She was going to go back to the shack when she noticed Arata still standing in front of her. He seemed bored with his hands in his red trunk bottoms and his heads turned to the side, looking at the others with that look that said 'what the hell are you doing?' Masaki tilted her head to one side and queried "Hirako-kun, aren't you joining in?"
Arata turned to her. He shook his head and placed one hand behind it "No, for several reasons. One; there's no way I can play volley ball. Two; you need at least one more judge. And three; the teams would be uneven if I played."
Masaki smiled "Ah I see now! Ok then, you'll be our third judge!" Arata nodded back and stepped round to help Hiroyuki set up the volleyball net.
On the left side of the pitch, the guys stood in a circle, building … some sort of strategy.
"Right…. So how do you play volleyball?" Kitsune said.
"Seconded," Shiro added.
Sora starred at them both, trying not to let his irritation show "You're joking right?" they just looked back at him with still blank and confused expression. Sora faced palmed. "My god, we have only a little bit of time to explain volley ball to two people."
Masaki called over to everyone in reminder "Everyone! Please make your way to the court!"
Sora held his face in both hands "Make that no time." he mumbled.
Yosuke started "Well first you have the right front, middle front and left front where-"
"Basically," Isamu butted in, coming behind Shiro and Kitsune, holding each of their shoulders in a hand "You see the ball come at you, you hit it with your fist. Simple as! Now let's go!" Shiro was going to say something before he and Kitsune (along with everyone else) were shoved towards the court.
On the other side of the court, the girls really were thinking of a strategy.
"Ok! So, how about I'll take right front and Hisa-kun you go right back to be my rotation. Seen as we have no middle front, Ishida-kun, you go middle back and just switch to front when we break. Hitsugaya-kun, you go left front and Hina-kun you go left back to rotate with Haruki," Akemi directed with a stick on the sand with her own small diagram.
The girls all grinned and called "Yosh!"
And with that Masaki called "Everyone! Please make your way to the court!" and they did.
Haruki was the last to follow and anxiously thought to herself "This plan sounds great… it would be even better if I knew how to play! What do I do? How do you start?"
She frowned as she took her place on the court. However, seeing her older brother and Kitsune looking so worried, she knew she wasn't the only one who couldn't play. Being the only three from Soul Society had it's downfalls sometimes. She sighed to herself, this was going to be interesting.
Masaki then took her place by the side of the court with a silver whistle hanging round her neck, and her long hair tied in a ponytail. Hiroyuki stood next to her with his hands on his waist, beaming as usual. Arata just sat near-by and sighed 'it hasn't even started and I just know something's gonna go wrong…'
"Is everyone ready!" Masaki called.
"Hai!" the girls team shouted, ready in their positions.
"OSU!" Sora and Isamu shouted. The other guys nodded with awkward expressions.
"Alright!" Masaki fist pumped into the air, which she then spread to display five fingers "Five! Four! Three!" at three everyone got into prepared positions "Two!" fingers locked together and everyone was readying themselves "One!" Masaki blew her whistle and the ball was served by Suzuko.
The ball headed towards Isamu who locked his fists together behind his head and bashed the ball downwards overhead towards the ground, the other side of the net. However at the last minute, Haruki stepped underneath and hit the ball upwards towards the boys team again. The ball was headed at a fairly slow speed towards Kitsune, who started to panic.
"What do I do?" he called over to Sora.
"Just hit it!" Sora shouted back.
"FINE!" Kitsune shouted as the ball approached him. He built up his momentum as his reiatsu slowly started to rise with a dark pink (almost red) aura building around him. Suddenly his reiatsu flared around him and he jumped into the air and violently screamed as the innocent volley ball approached.
"W-whoa! Ki-Kitsune you don't-!" Sora started, but it was too late, for Kitsune slammed the ball down with a fiery fist as it plummeted towards the girls team. Faces were plastered with absolute fear as the ball zoomed towards them, the girls started to scream
"WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT!" But suddenly the ball slammed into its unfortunate victim; Hina. A small explosion sand and dirt exploded. The dirt blew into everyone's eyes as they yelped and looked away. The sand storm then slowly faded away to reveal Hina laying on the ground, semi-unconscious and dizzy eyed.
"S-stop the world… I w-wanna get off," she slurred.
Masaki blew her whistle loudly "Time out! Injury!" and with that she rushed onto the court and knelt with Hisa next to the dizzy twin "Hina-chan?"
"K-kowaii…" she mumbled.
"Mou, she can't play anymore, she's too confused," Masaki said as she sat back.
"You'll have to fill in for her Masaki," Arata called from behind her. Masaki turned around and thought. But meanwhile, Isamu and Sora heard this comment and froze.
"Yeah I guess. Ok then! From now on, I'll be taking Hina-chan's place!" Masaki loudly announced.
Suddenly Akemi laughed and cheered, but Sora and Isamu screamed "NO!" The other guys on the team turned around to them as they all formed a huddle again. Isamu held his face in his hands saying muffled 'we have no chance'.
"Guys this is bad," Sora whispered
"What's so bad about Masaki playing?" Yosuke asked frowning.
"Masaki plays for Karakura girls volleyball team; she's the best in the state!" he almost cried.
At this Shiro clenched his fist and whammed it into the back of Kitsune's head, at which he let out a loud yelp. Kitsune cradled his head, half bent over "What the hell was that for?" he hissed.
"You were only supposed to hit it! Not slam it into her head!" Shiro hissed back. Kitsune mumbled and rubbed the throbbing spot on his head. They all resumed their positions on the court, without rotating, as it was an injury time.
Masaki took Hina's place and took down her hair to tie it again; it flowed in the light as she shook her long golden-auburn locks. She ran her fingers through her hair and pulled it into a neat ponytail. He then sighed contently and turned around to face the net and called "Ready?"
Sora mumbled back quietly "O-osu…"
Kitsune cursed to himself, thinking about what an idiot he was, whilst Yosuke sighed and widened his feet apart in a bracing position, waiting for the girls to serve. Isamu and Shiro meanwhile were staring at Masaki's rather bent over and revealing position of her chest. Deep red blushes crawled over their cheeks as they watched her.
Meanwhile on the side Hiroyuki couldn't stop laughing at the change in teams; they were so screwed! His laughter carried over the pitch towards Sora. He heard the irritatingly loud laugh and growled at him "You little brat…"
Arata then blew his whistle and the match started again with Masaki serving. She hoisted the ball into the air calling out "Yosh!" as she jumped to meet the ball and slammed it into the dirt on the boy's side of the net.
As quickly as it been blown, the whistle blew again "Point one to the girls," Arata said as he marked a large '1' on the score board under the girls side. The boy's faces all twitched at their pathetic defeat. Isamu whined.
"We're gonna lose sooo bad!"
The ball was tossed to Yosuke who was serving. He waited intently for the whistle as the girls calmed down from their win. Arata then took a deep breath and blew into the silver whistle. Yosuke then threw the ball into the air into the air and hit it upwards in the sky towards Akemi who promptly ran towards it and jumped high to bat it down. But as she jumped, her chest moved upwards as she batted the ball towards Kitsune.
Both Kitsune and Sora at this sight almost died and went to heaven. Sora smiled goofily and thought to himself 'This is so paradise. Just paradise…' Kitsune just stared with dazed eyes and a somewhat adoring smile as the ball hit his head with speed and forced him to the ground.
Arata called out again "Point two to the girls."
Akemi covered her mouth and skipped towards the net "Matsumoto-kun, are you alright?"
"Oi, Kitsune, you ok?" Shiro said as the others made a circle around him. Kitsune just laughed drearily with a bloody nose and said
"So worth the pain… so worth it…"
Sora growled and shouted "I'm calling time!"
Arata commented back "You can't call time-"
"I SAID I'M CALLING TIME!" he shouted back. Arata just made a 'tch' noise and sat back down. Sora came back over to everyone else and hissed "Guys, we can't lose to them. If we lose this, we lose our pride as men. Look, just picture the girls as that really sweaty lunch lady at school."
"Who?" Kitsune asked.
"The one who spat in your food," Shiro answered with a smirk, remembering his reaction.
"That bitch…"
They all then turned around and envisioned the girls as the terrible lunch lady. Then, simultaneously, they all shivered and shook their heads. Sora then said "Ok guys, we can do this. Who's gonna win this?"
The rest answered "Us!"
"I said who's gonna win?" Sora shouted louder.
"US!" they all called.
And with that they all placed one of their hands in a combined circle and victoriously released them with a loud and confident "OSU!"
On the other side the girls stretched out as they watched the boys huddle together. Masaki stretched down and touched her toes; Akemi stretched her arms out in front of herself and groaned. Suzuko stood in the middle and watched as the boys all suddenly stared at them in disgust. She frowned back at them as they turned away. She rolled her eyes, probably some stupid plan they were thinking of to win. She sighed and turned round to face the rest of the team, she saw Akemi stretching. Suzuko narrowed her eyes at her. Throughout the whole match Sora had been starring at Akemi like some kind of love struck fool and she had no clue!
Suzuko walked up to her with her hands in her hips. She bent down to face her as Akemi was bent over stretching.
"Urahara-kun," Suzuko said. Akemi looked up to her smiling with a 'hm' sound "Let's see who can get the most goals. Winner takes victory, yeah?"
Akemi looked back, confused "What do you mean Ishida-kun?" she blinked her eyes innocently as her brows creased. Suzuko twitched, 'She really has no clue?' she thought to herself. Suzuko sighed in aimless defeat.
"N-never mind…" she mumbled as she walked away.
Arata neared the court lazily, and cupped his hands to his mouth and called "Everyone back in places please!" after he then sighed and sat back down in his ref chair as both teams approached their correct positions and rotated accordingly. Arata Then blew the whistle and the match began again, this time being served by Shiro.
He tossed the ball into the air and batted it down with a large fist towards his younger sister. Haruki promptly ran back to catch the ball with her joint hands and hit it back with a 'hah!' The ball flew swiftly towards Isamu who shouted "I got it!" before batting it over the net triumphantly towards the sand. The ball landed with a thud as he cheered loudly.
"Finally…" Arata mumbled before shouting "Point to the boys."
The boys all cheered and high-fived each other in victory, even though they were still losing. They then resumed their positions on the court and got ready to play again. Arata blew the whistle once more and Masaki served, but this time they were ready.
Masaki threw the ball high and bashed it downwards to the other side of the net. This time Sora ran forward and slid in the sand on his knees to hit the ball back before it hit the ground to Yosuke who the quickly ran and hit the ball back to Hisa. Not expecting the quick rebound, Hisa panicked as the ball approached her, squealed and ducked as it sank into the sand (avoiding the same fate as her twin).
"Point two to the boys," Arata called out, surprised himself. At this the boys cheered louder than before. Their strategy had really worked?
They settled as the whistle blew again and Suzuko served. Before she did she thought to herself 'I have to do this… I have to get the next point or else the guys will get over confident and crush us!' with that she narrowed her eyes at her younger twin brother. He didn't look ready. She threw the ball into the air and smashed it down towards him. However she underestimated his attention span, for he hit it back just as fast as she had thrown it. She then called back "Not so fast!" as she hit it back to him again. With more force Yosuke batted it to Suzuko who batted it back again. This process got faster and faster until they were in an all-out battle of who would drop it first. They hit the ball back and forth violently with something that sounded like war cries.
"Uh… guys?" Isamu said as the rest of both teams watched them; he sweat-dropped as they continued to ignore him. This looked like it was going to go on for a while.
** THREE HOURS LATER…
By now, both teams had sat down and/or wandered off to do something else. The girls had all gone to either sunbathe or eat, and the guys had resulted to burying Kitsune – who had fallen asleep. Yosuke and Suzuko still continued to violently thrash the poor volley ball back and forth.
Sora, Isamu and Shiro were all sitting around Kitsune's limp and sleeping body, constantly pouring more and more sand on top of him. Isamu was now in an almost robotic action of cupping his hands, scooping up sand, twisting round, and pouring sand. This had been repeating for almost thirty minutes. Sora was doing the same but with only one hand – Shiro the same, and at some point Hiroyuki had joined in too. Shiro huffed and stood up "Is there a bucket somewhere?"
Hiroyuki looked up and twisted round to reach for his plastic beach bucket. He then turned and gave it to Shiro in one hand "What do you need it for?" he asked.
"You'll see," and with that he walked down to the shore of the sea. With one hand on his knee, Shiro arched over and scooped up some sea water with the bucket as it washed into the sand and under his toes. Then he stood up, and walked back. The others looked up in question as he approached, but he simply crouched and poured the salted water onto the sand which was already on top of Kitsune. Quickly the sand changed colour from light to dark and sticky "It'll be funnier when he wakes up now," Shiro laughed.
The others laughed quietly at his comment; but it was true.
Suddenly out of the sky, the tortured volley ball flew at lightning speed. The boys all screamed and ran out the way as it zoomed towards them. Shoving each other out the way, they scuttled towards the girls who were on the other side to them. Then, without warning, the ball crashed down right in the centre of Kitsune's sleeping forehead. He bolted awake with a loud 'OW!' however, due to his sticky coffin, he was unable to move.
"What the-?" he said as he moved his head to see himself buried "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO ME?"
But before anyone turned their attention to him, they all stared at the two heavily breathing siblings on either side of the net. At the say time they both breathlessly called out "I won! *scowl* no, I won! *scowl* No me!"
Arata then butted in calling "Actually, neither of you won," at this they both span their head to him with an exhausted 'eh?' Arata smirked "The ball landed on the middle line. That means no one gets the point; the match was a tie."
Both looking sufficiently worn out and severely irritated, they simply crashed out in a heap on the ground and whined.
The near-by crowd had started to disperse, whilst Masaki and Akemi were left behind, still sunbathing.
"Sugoi! Suzuko-chan has amazing stamina!" Masaki grinned as Akemi rubbed some sun screen on her tanning back "She should join my team, she'd be great!" Masaki giggled as she watched the Ishida twin practically fall asleep on the ground.
Akemi sighed and smiled; they really were exhausted. She huffed and sat back on her heels "All done!" Masaki moaned happily and closed her eyes to sunbathe. Akemi was about to say something, but she had already covered her face with her towel. She looked around; she needed someone to put sunscreen on her. Akemi then turned to see Sora just wandering off to get something from the shack. Before he could reach there he called out to him "Sora!"
Sora turned around at the sound of his name. He looked around to see Akemi waving at him – holding a bottle. He frowned at her and walked over "Are you ok?"
She nodded at him and smiled as she handed him the bottle of cream "I just need you to put some sunscreen on for me," she then pulled her hair round her shoulder and carefully un-hooked her bikini – still holding up the front.
Suddenly Sora froze. Did she really just ask him to put sunscreen on for her? He stared dreamily at her soft skin and blushed. He shakily took the bottle and stuttered "I-I-" But before he could finish he was butted out the way at the speed of light and into a pile of sand nearby.
"I'll do it for you Akemi! Let a man do it, not some helpless kid," a sandy Kitsune said as he rubbed the white sunscreen between his palms with a triumphant smile.
"Oh, ok," Akemi smiled back hesitantly.
But just as he was about to place a hand on her back, he was pushed to the ground and rolled away. He coughed and spluttered as sand entered his mouth. Kitsune whipped his head round to stare at a pissed off Sora "Dude, what's the problem?"
"I think that' my line! You shoved me!" Sora shouted back.
"Well you were being to slow!" Kitsune retorted.
"I was just about to do it!"
"Well I can do it better than you!"
"I have softer hands!"
"I have more womanly hands! So mine are softer!"
"HA! You just admitted you have womanly hands!"
"Dammit that isn't what I meant!"
They then both wrestled each other to the ground as puffs of sand and dirt flew around them. Death threats and insults were tossed around as they locked arms and tumbled around like school kids. Suddenly they both turned around and shouted at each other "I'll show you I'm better!"
They then both span around to Akemi, pointed at one another and both called "Akemi! Tell this idiot I'm better!"
Suddenly they both stopped and stared as they saw Shiro rubbing cream onto Akemi' back "Sorry guys," Akemi laughed "You were kinda taking a while…"
"SHIRO!" they both screamed in anger as the white haired boy sighed.
"I wish you two would just grow up."
A few hours had passed and the sun had already set. They had all planned to sleep out on the beach – well, someone (Yosuke) had forgotten to book a hotel, so the beach was the next option after the minivan. The sky was a beautiful velvet black and the stars shone in the sky like glitter, dusted all over. The strongest of the guys (Kitsune and Isamu) had gone to collect some drift wood from the shore further down the beach to start a fire, and the girls had prepared beds for, almost, everyone from the blankets and cushions in the shack. Dinner had already been eaten, prepared by Shiro and Yosuke – the best cooks out of every one – and had gone down a treat. The 69 twins Hisa and Hina had had a 'who-can-eat-their-dinner-the -fastest' contest and had got terrible indigestion as a prize. But now after everything had settled down, only Sora Akemi Masaki and Isamu were still awake.
Masaki had walked off somewhere down the beach to where the fire light didn't flicker, and the rest were sitting around the blaze in warmth. They looked around at their sleeping friends; Hisa and Hina were snuggled together as sisters; Arata slept near them both, sprawled out on the ground snoring; Yosuke and Suzuko were back to back on their sides; Hiroyuki was tucked up to his nose under his blanket that had been shared top-to-tail with Haruki who was next to Shiro; next to Shiro was Kitsune who – in his sleep – kicked out his leg into Shiro's shin. At this Shiro unconsciously moved the back of his hand to slap him across the face, at which Kitsune turned over and groaned.
Isamu, Akemi and Sora, who were watching, laughed quietly "Even when asleep they still fight," Sora whispered.
Isamu looked around "Is Masaki still not back yet?" Sora looked to him and shook his head "I think I'll go find her."
"Ok," Sora said. And Isamu started to walk off towards Masaki. He stuck his hands in his pockets and strolled away from the fire. The sand was cold and dry beneath his feet as he walked. He looked ahead to see Masaki standing in the moonlight. Her hair flowed in the light midnight breeze; but she looked sad.
Isamu came to stand by her side silently "Hey."
She didn't say anything back, Masaki simply sighed softly.
"Hey are you alright?" Isamu asked, smiling small.
Masaki tried to smile "You seemed to have fun today," Isamu nodded and chuckled. Masaki continued "Hina-chan seems to like you a lot," she smiled casually.
Isamu laughed "Yeah, she's funny, isn't she?"
Masaki half frowned "That' not exactly what I meant."
Isamu looked at her with his head to one side, almost like a puppy "What do you mean then?"
Masaki turned slightly away, her hair falling behind her "Hina-chan… do you… like her?"
At this Isamu stopped. Something about her wasn't right. It wasn't that she was sad, nor was she angry. She just seemed… worried. Isamu tried to turn the conversation around and so smiled and poked her arm gently "Why, Masaki are you getting jealous?"
Masaki span round and smiled playfully "No! I was just wondering, seen as you were spending so much time with her and her you."
Isamu looked at her and arched his lips into a smile "She's a good friend, but I can assure you nothing more" he said, laughing with an arm behind his neck. Masaki huffed and looked at him smiling. Suddenly she giggled and pushed him backwards. Losing his balance, Isamu fell back and into the incoming sea shore. He sat with his mouth open yet smiling at the shocking cold. Masaki covered her mouth before she burst out laughing.
"You are so gonna pay for that," Isamu said quietly as she started to run away. Masaki screamed quietly as he started to catch up with her – dripping wet. Suddenly he snagged her from behind and put her over his shoulder; and with one swift move, he turned around and dumped her into the icy water below.
Sora and Akemi were watching from close by, sitting at the fire. They laughed as they saw them begin to splash each other in the sea water. Akemi giggled and sighed, leaving her hands sitting at her sides.
"Today was great," she said quietly as she looked up to the stars. Slowly she yawned and leant her head on Sora's shoulder.
Sora looked at her with beaming eyes and blushed slightly. He smiled to himself as he felt her breathing get heavy as she started to fall asleep. He looked down to her empty hand and filled it with his a he clasped it. "Yeah, yeah it was."