summer lovin'
Title: summer lovin'
Rating: PG-13, for Inuyasha's cussing and implied sexuality. Tsk, tsk!
Summary: AU. Camcorders and blueberries sum up their summer in few minutes each day of smiles and cloudless afternoons. InuKag.
WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN-
I wanted to do a vlog fanfic, I've always wanted to and I think I finally know how to word it. Kagome is sort of…more outgoing, has a more flirty/playful attitude here. But hopefully Inuyasha is still same-same. Feel free to point out any mistakes. Thanksies!
Day 1 – 4: 23 p.m
"Never thought you were the type," She leans forward, raven hair tied up yet still somehow tumbling down her shoulders before tapping the lens. Inuyasha scoots back but keeps the camera trained on her.
"To what?"
"To vlog. Film. Record, you know." Kagome smiles, a smile that could make a winter day brighter (but of course, that is horribly, horribly mushy and Inuyasha abhors mushiness.)
He shrugs, lowers the camera from his eyes and gets off from his seat on the bus, following the Higurashi girl as they exit the bus. As the bus whirs back to life and drives away, he sets the camera to his eye again.
"Introduce yourself," He grumbles. Kagome turns towards him, a smile on her face as she starts to walk backwards, facing the camera, a tote slinging lazily on her shoulder.
"Hello! The bestest yet most annoying friend ever Inuyasha Taisho is behind the camera, forcing me to introduce myself." She pauses, laughs and folds her arms as her eyes focus on the lens, her film-self almost as cheery and upbeat as the real Kagome. "My name is Kagome Higurashi, I live in the shrine three blocks from where we are now, I'm graduating this year and Inuyasha was forced to do this senior project. Oh, and I'm gorgeous. Or not. Up to you."
"Wataru-sensei only gave us this option." Inuyasha explains with a snappish tone in his voice.
"I just have to do an essay. Much easier, much more Inuyasha-like," Kagome points out as Inuyasha folds the tiny screen and turns off the camera as they round the street, the shrine in sight.
"By the way," Inuyasha calls as she bounds up the steps to the ancient shrine. "Bestest isn't a word,"
She shrugs, throws him a grin before sliding the door closed. Sighing, in exasperation and in the summer heat, he walks away.
Day 8- 2:00
Kagome is the type of girl Inuyasha can do anything with.
He could walk in shirtless and she'd just puff her cheeks, roll her eyes and then proceed to poke him with her manicured index finger mumbling "Show off!" before turning back to whatever garnered her attention.
He could call her a skinny wench and her face would redden slightly before she'd slam her fist into his chest screaming "Jerk!" (But in all honesty, it didn't hurt one bit, but he pretended to flinch just for her satisfaction.)
Inuyasha could simply sit in the garden shed- winter, summer, spring or fall- with a bowl of instant ramen for him, a cup of white tea for her and just sit there, in the most comfortable silence he'd ever (ever) experience.
But one of his favourite things to do with her was to play board games.
He was never the one for board games, but Kagome had a closet-a whole goddamn closet- of them and he sort of, kind of, maybe liked them.
"What the hell is taupe?"
"A color. A greyish brown, I suppose." Kagome pipes before smiling smugly. "You're losing,"
"No, I'm not," Inuyasha insists, placing letters on the Scrabble board before throwing a smirk as simultaneously holds the camera. She gasps, throwing a punch on his shoulder before turning to the lens.
"Viewers, let me say this. Inuyasha is rude, rude, rude. Who uses the word distorter anyways?" She shoots a disdainful look at him as she rearranges the letters on her little shelf of Scrabble tiles. "You, apparently."
"Winning is winning."
She scoffs, picking up her ginger ale ("How can you like that? It's shitty medicine in a can!") and sips it, her straw stained with her pinky-berry lipstick as Inuyasha clumsily trains the camera on her next word- obnoxious, and then in the corner- hanyou.
Day 11- 5:11
"The grass is still dewy."
"So?"
"There could be worms."
"Whose bigger, the worm or you? Quit being a girlish freak."
"I'm acting like one 'cause I am one." Kagome grumbles, puffing her cheeks before reluctantly slamming to the ground, Inuyasha already lounged on the dewy hill, fresh from the drizzle the day before, his camera lens to the sky and his voice bored.
"Day something-"
"Eleven!"
"Shut up, it's my vlogging project. Day eleven, nine days until graduation. Uh…okay, what I have learned about high school, my insights." Inuyasha pauses, as Kagome unzips her bag and sifts through it. He shoots her a glare, attempting to shush her up, to which she responds with her blue eyes rolling and more zipping sounds. "Anyway, Wataru-sensei, I learned to never use corridor D's vending machine because it eats your change, and that Miroku used to use the first floor janitor's closet as his hook up place, but not anymore, because he's a whiny pussywhipped loser and everyone's taste in music is total- Argh, what the fu-"
Inuyasha stops his recording and looks at the pebble-shaped spherical thing that was just thrown at him, settling itself between two cold blades of grass. Tentatively, he picks it up and squishes it until it pops.
"Blueberries, dummy!" Kagome exclaims as Inuyasha scowls, wiping the meat of the fruit on his shirt. "You're an idiot."
"At least I aced that history test-"
"Oh God, that was last semester, you got your week of free lunch, shush." She adjusts the position of her slender legs as she holds onto the flimsy container of blueberries, popping one in her mouth before speaking again. "I'm sure Wataru-sensei isn't asking about trivial things like music, squandered money and ew- really, the janitor's closet?" Kagome winces. "Anyhow, he's asking about what you learned. What changed you during the last four years, insights, all in all."
"These are insights. I was just about to add everyone has crappy taste in music, most girls are skirt-raising whores-" (She promptly shoots a glare, to which Inuyasha responds with a smirk before shrugging it off) "The guys are hormonal, whiny a-holes, and everyone is just a dumbass, all in all."
"Someone has whole lotta pent up angst."
"Please,"
"Just bubbling underneath you. All that angst." Kagome proclaims, sounding quite put upon with a silly smirk twitching at her lips before she pops in two more blueberries. Inuyasha sighs, because Kagome is strange- strange in the way her hair is always perfectly cascading down her back, the way she sits, the way she hardly eats any food yet always concludes that she's full- and then he grabs one of the tiny, delicate fruit and chews on it like bubble gum, it's sweet yet sour taste spreading the inside of his mouth.
"You wanna know what I learned about high school?"
"You're gonna tell me about it either way, moody wench," Inuyasha mumbles under his breath, adjusting himself so that he is no longer lying on his backside but sitting cross-legged, camcorder lens focused on Kagome.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing," Inuyasha responds back. The camcorder is already recording as Kagome realigns her legs again before staring straight at the camera, almost shocking Inuyasha with the determinedness of her eyes as she pulls on a strand of her dark, dark hair.
"Well…it's immensely corny but straightforward. Life goes on. After a guy breaks it off with you, you're still breathing. After three failed college applications, you're still smiling with your brother as he kicks your butt in Mortal Kombat. After shrieking like a banshee and falling into the family shrine's ancient well, just for some stranger guy to haul you up," (She shoots an all-knowing, genuine smile at Inuyasha) "You're still enjoying a sunset. You're still alive. And that's that."
There's a minute of silence, of just the distant rumble of cars in the far-off highway, of kids playing Frisbee and of Kagome teetering side to side before Inuyasha concludes; "You're cheesy."
"And you're still Inuyasha." She retorts, tossing another teeny-tiny blue coloured fruit at her best friend before flopping herself on the damp summer hill.
Day 16- 2: 49 p.m
Inuyasha was never much to take little things into detail. Ripped cloth on his jeans? Meh. Blood prickling from his fingers after punching a wall in a fit of rage? Lick it off. Kagome spinning in that immensely sparkling cream-coloured graduation dress that made him look away- okay, scratch that, he took that into mind.
He especially couldn't give a rat's ass about the weather. If it was obtrusive, screw that, the weather didn't decide, he freakin' did.
Kagome took notice of teeny things ("Ooh, Shippo's so cute and fluffy!" or "Ant hill, Inuyasha, don't squash them! INUYASHA!") and she was the complete opposite; weather determined everything for her.
"Look!" She cries, one day as they exited from the bubble tea shop, green tea apple with jelly for Kagome, black tea for Inuyasha, 'cause again, he couldn't give a rat's ass about complexity like the Higurashi girl.
"What? What?" Inuyasha turns his head from side to side, alarmed his amber eyes follows the direction Kagome is pointing at- right up at the sky.
"It's hot and sunny and perfect weather for swimming."
"There's no pool nearby," Inuyasha retorts dryly, noisily slurping his bubble tea before Kagome stops abruptly and a sly grin spreads on her rosebud lips, the heavy summer breeze curling her raven hair (Almost like a malicious villainess, Inuyasha remarks in his mind.)
"Who says we have to swim in those chlorinated open boxes of water?" Kagome pipes and then seizes Inuyasha's hand, and next thing he knows, buildings and vehicles are whizzing by in his eyes before his vision returns, acknowledging his surroundings.
"I am certain that this is the scene in those movies where the best friend takes months and months to gain trust of some guy, only to bring her prey to an empty forest for mutant wolf-ostrich hybrids to eat him alive." Inuyasha concludes.
Kagome bursts in a fit of giggles before calming herself, rolling her eyes as she leads him through prickly twigs and thin trees, the air slightly cooling around them. Absentmindedly, Inuyasha tosses his plastic bubble tea cup aside and waits for an answer, which Kagome finally gives at they reach a rather thin, but deep-looking creek, with a tiny waterfall brimming at the end.
"Where-?"
"Oh, we're somewhat nearby the shrine. About twenty minutes. One time, when I was ten, Sota was being a typical, reckless seven year old and ran off and Mama wasn't home and Grampa was snoozing so I found him in a tree, babbling around some stream." Kagome shrugs nonchalantly as she approaches the creek, bending down and dipping her hands in the water. She lets the thin, clear water thread through her fingers before shaking it off. "He doesn't remember, but I do. It seems clean, and it's cold enough to cool off."
"Ooh, ooh, lemme guess, like oh my God. We have like, oh my gossshhh, no swimsuits. So we are, a-ha! Gonna totally skinny-dip." Inuyasha mocks, clapping his hands and putting on a somewhat pitchy voice. Kagome, slightly amused (but still very, very disturbed) quirks up an eyebrow.
"…No, actually."
Inuyasha reddens. "Oh."
"I was going to just wade in; it doesn't get very deep until you reach the waterfall."
"Oh." He repeats, still reddening from his stupid display of stupidity.
Kagome kicks a stray pebble, his lips twitching as she leans over and roughly takes off Inuyasha's backpack and grabs onto his forearm. "Any valuables?" she whispers in his ear.
"Whoa, what the fuck Ka-" And he's toppling, toppling onto the waist deep water in his pleated uniform pants, the tips of his hair dipped into the creek water. She laughs, her bright eyes sparkling as she doubles over. "Damn you to hell, wench."
"You're going down with me anyways!" She cries back, happy, happy as she could ever be because a blue sky and him is all she really needs, and as sappy (horribly, horribly sappy) as that sounds, it's true. Kagome smiles, kicks water as the awkwardly wading Inuyasha before she jumps in, submerging herself in the cool summer water before she feels his arm encircling her waist, laughing, a sound that's rare and wonderful.
Day 19- 12:00
"Did you show it?"
They're walking down the hallways of their school, Kagome running her fingers down the rusty lockers of the high school, staring at her shoes as Inuyasha opens and closes the tiny screen of his camcorder
"Yeah." He returns the camcorder into his backpack.
"Did they like it?"
"They liked you mostly, your parts." Inuyasha mutters absentmindedly as a few stragglers walk past them. She smiles, smug and content, before bumping her shoulder playfully with Inuyasha's.
"You make your words sound melodic…in a horribly vulgar way."
"So then it's no longer melodic."
"You put yourself down too much."
"Therefore, I can improve," Inuyasha says, with a genuine tone lacing through his voice. Kagome nods, and suddenly her voice changes, into a sombre and nostalgic tone as she looks up from her shoes and stares straight ahead.
"It's strange, isn't it? Four hellish but fun years and we're just leaving." She shakes her head, letting out a light laugh. "And college. College, college, college."
"How far is Tokyo Metropolitan from Todai?" Inuyasha questions, shuffling through his history papers, internally cursing that damn fatass history teacher who's drooling half the time.
"An hour and eleven minutes away." She replies immediately. Inuyasha stops, closes his history book and regards the girl, lips pursed, head tilted and eyes wistful. "An hour and eleven minutes, approximately."
"You searched it up?"
"Of course," Kagome responds, turning to give him a sad smile.
"Obviously," He begins, hoping oh-so badly to avoid tears (goddamn tears). "We're going to visit each other, have parties that get everyone smashed, etcera etcera. An hour and eleven minutes isn't that much, really, you crazy girl. At least it's not a sea apart."
"Well," Kagome starts tapping each locker with a knuckle. "You were considering Princeton in the States…"
"Yeah, but my wonderful English is too much to handle for America," Inuyasha snaps back sarcastically. She laughs, a quick laugh and she stops tapping the lockers, hands falling to her sides.
"I guess," she muses aloud, "An hour and a handful of minutes is much better than a country, in retrospect."
"It is," Inuyasha nods, a boyish smile playing on his lips. Kagome nods back, smiling back before nudging his ribs and thrusting her chin out to point out a silhouette cutting through the hallway.
"Mother have mercy," Kagome murmurs, holding in a fit of laughter.
"They're hooking up again, that damn lech and her quirk of dominatrix attitude." Inuyasha groans as the two speed up their step, only to see a janitor's closet swing close and hear the muted cry of "Don't touch there, Miroku!".
Day 20- 4: 40
Inuyasha decides to the lie down the hill, no longer dewy but dry as bone from the strange, desert-like heat and just stare at the sky, which was a Kagome-like thing to do, but he realized that it was somewhat relaxing.
He knew his father would gripe about the grass stains that were inevitably going to taint his dress shirt, and how Sesshomaru would smirk behind his father, possibly thinking something along the lines of "imbecile half-demon brother."
But the thought of graduation; gradu-freaking-ation, started to make him feel sort of…what was that word? Nostalgic, about it all. He even brought some blueberries (he kind of liked them. Not too sweet, not too sour.) and ate them. Inuyasha wanted to call Kagome, but God knows how long she'll take, especially since graduation was twenty minutes away, and every damn detail had to be picture perfect.
To his surprise, his eyes acknowledged a figure, in a shimmery knee-length dress beckoning him with a confused look on her makeup-patted face.
"Inuyasha…" She starts. "Your shirt'll get-"
"Dirty, I know, I know," He waves it off dismissively as she tentatively sits down, awkwardly, because she doesn't want to mess up her dress, her hair and God forbid, the expensive shoes.
"Graduation," She says after half of minute of silence. Kagome claps her hands, hoping to incite some enthusiasm. "Yay…!"
"Woo hoo, party it up," Inuyasha responds sardonically before slightly tilting his head so that he faces Kagome, who stares up at the sky, her eyes squinting from the unfiltered sunlight. She notices him staring and bites her lip.
"Hey, Inuyasha?"
"Feh, what?"
"Feh;; that's not even a word. It spellchecks on document processors," She mumbles to herself before continuing. "What…what did you say about your insight with high school?"
"I didn't say anything in the vlog."
"But you had to."
"I used your footage and passed it off as mine." Inuyasha admits, receiving a death glare from Kagome before he lifts himself off the ground, smirking. "But my real opinion?"
"Yes, your real opinion, please, please, please." Kagome begs, clasping her hands together and putting on a pleading face. He rolls his eyes, ignoring her attempt to look cutesy, even though he's going to look like a ball of sappy, rom-com mush after this.
"Well, what I learned so far from this four year experience. Well," he stops, checks to see if she's paying attention (she is, with widened eyes and hands still clasped) and continues. "It's the fact that independence…can only go so far. I remember the first couple of months of high school; my policy was to fly through those years by myself, and only myself. And then Miroku came in, and then you and then Sango, even that middle school loser Shippo and I realized that I needed support. A moral system. Something to keep me in track. Independence is good but friends are," He flinches at the sentimentality of his words. "Ugh, better. Way, way better."
"Way, way better." Kagome repeats, letting out a light chuckle and wrapping her pinky finger around Inuyasha's, leaving it to linger there as she nods. "Much better,"
"Mm hmm," He replies noncommittally, because the feeling of her presence sort of derails his mind a bit (a bit). Kagome finally sighs, a sigh that's neither of vexation or contentment, just a sigh before she fully clasps her hand over Inuyasha.
"Just carry that along in life and you'll be one happy trooper," she teases, slightly squeezing his hand as she smiles. Inuyasha rolls his eyes, but he knows it's true, and everything she says with that voice of hers always seems true (and half the time it is.)
Kagome squeezes his hand tighter as she stands up and attempts to haul him up, but he just lazily gets on his feet and loses his balance a bit. Kagome, her fingers through entwined through his, tilts her head towards left.
"Come on, we've got a graduation to attend to."
"The rest of our lives, also," He says casually. Kagome nods, serious but at the same time not (How does she do that? He muses to himself.) before the two run down the hill, gravity bringing them down and the wind caressing them carefully.
Author's Note: A bit of sappiness but it's hard to avoid. Hope you enjoyed.