Previous Chapter:
Kaede asked. "You wouldn't have to wear the weights while out in public, showering or sleeping, but if you keep them on while cleaning up your cabin and hiking with the groups then it might speed up the process of building your stamina." she added. Kagome looked at Kaede over the rim of her cup and smiled while saying "That seems easy enough."
Now:
Kagome woke up and rolled out of bed and stood. Unexpectedly she fell on her face. "Ahh!" She yelled as she did a face plant. Her muscles hurt so bad it was unreal. She pushed herself up with her hand and stood up and limped into the bathroom and turned on the hot water. She undressed and stepped in to let the scolding water soothe her aching limbs and back. She sighed as she felt her muscles relax and the pain slowly left until it was a small ache that was bearable.
After being in the shower for about an hour she got out feeling refreshed. She sighed as she was glad to get the chance to take such a long shower. She had woke up and hour earlier to do so and it worked considering she could hear Ayame beginning to wake up to take her shower. Kagome slipped on a pair of black cutoff sweatpants that ended below her knees and a teal tank top that said thanks for looking on the back of it. When she was done she brushed her teeth and combed her hair.
She then walked out right as Ayame was about to knock. She smiled and walked past her and over to her dresser. "Hey Sango." she said as the girl sat up and looked at Kagome and yawned in return. "Hey." Sango then watched as Kagome lifted some objects that looked like a back brace, leg braces and arm braces off of her dresser and start to strap them on her self. "What are those?" Sango asked gesturing towards the fabric Kagome just strapped around her stomach and pulled her shirt over it. "Oh, these? They're weights that Kaede's having me wear in order to build up my stamina. If you ask me I think they're working because I've never been so sore in my life." Kagome said giving a small laugh as she wrapped the weights around her calves and fastened them securely.
She then wrapped the last pair of weights around her lower arms and secured them while standing and getting accustomed to walking in them. She sighed as Sango asked "Just how much extra weight is that on you body?" Kagome shrugged and said "Ten pounds is what each weight weighs so fifty pounds. At first it didn't seem like that much but you can feel it after a while."
Sango gaped and said "Wow! I thought Dad was tough on me by making me wear weights that were five pounds on the first day of training but I guess not." Kagome laughed and said "Lucky! I had to do all kinds of stuff that made these feel like a ton. Like doing laundry the old fashioned way, you have no idea how hard it was to lift my arms above my head to hang them on the line to dry!" "Not to mention carrying the buckets of water back and forth." Sango's brows disappeared in her hairline at hearing this. 'Kaede is a tough teacher.' she thought.
They heard a thump and then a loud groan and looked over to see Rin laying on the floor with a pained expression on her face. "That was a weird dream." she mumbled. Kagome smirked and said "Was it about Sesshomaru?" Rin who was still partially asleep said "Yeah he was cha-" Her eyes popped open and looked at Kagome and Sango while blushing profusely. "By the way I walked into the cabin a couple nights ago and could of swore I heard some rather disturbing noises coming from your bed when you and Sesshomaru disappeared. What was that?" Kagome asked in a child like innocence while looking at Rin with wide innocent eyes.
"Oh! It was nothing like that I promise that." Rin said quickly. "I promise…we were just… making out." Rin added quietly while blushing and looking away. Kagome smiled and said "If you say so." She knew Rin was telling the truth since she wasn't the type to lie right to their faces for her own good. "It's the truth Kagome!" Rin pleaded while getting up. Ayame then walked out of the shower fully clothed in a green tank top and brown shorts. "What's the truth?" Ayame asked around the toothbrush that was poking out of her mouth. She pulled her hair up in two pigtails while everyone but Rin said "That Rin and Sesshomaru did some heavy making out." Rin ran into the bathroom while blushing and yelling "Sooooo what!" They heard her start the shower after grabbing a white spaghetti strap shirt and a pair of deep blue sweat pants with a small smile on her lips.
After Rin got out of the shower Sango took hers and came out wearing a gray t-shirt and purple shorts. She had her hair pulled up in a high pony tail and she grabbed her shoes and slipped them on. All the others were standing by the door with their shoes on. She walked over to them and Kagome opened the door and turned to walk out. Instead of moving forward though she ran into a hard chest and fell forward just enough so that she could feel the weights take her down. Her eye twitched as she couldn't exactly get away quickly enough do to her stupid weights as she noticed the chest belonged to Sesshomaru. He was looking down at her with his cold gaze before he said "Good morning Miko." He noticed her struggle and looked to see her weights while he lifted her to a standing position. "Thanks." She said as she frowned at the objects strapped to her. 'These are gonna be more trouble than they're worth today.' she thought.
Rin walked up to Sesshomaru and hugged him while they all came out of the cabin. They were all heading for the mess hall when they heard "Hey you guys we've been looking for you." They looked behind them and saw Takai and Kaiya coming towards them while holding hands and smiling brightly. Well Kaiya was smiling brightly while Takai was smirking. 'He must of picked that smirk up from the guys.' Kagome thought while asking "When did you two become so close?" Kaiya beamed while saying "He asked me out last night when we were finished discussing the winners of the Scavenger Hunt which we are going to announce in…five minutes." Kaiya said while looking at Takai's watch.
They all turned and ran towards the mess hall as fast as they could. They all ran through the door right as Ayano was yelling at everyone to shut up. They all shivered as she gave them a look that said "You better get your asses planted somewhere or all hell will break loose." They rushed to an empty seat and sat down while they old later went over to all of the bored looking counselors and got a clipboard with some white papers attached. She flipped through it with a blank look on her face and then cleared her throat.
"The winners of this year's Scavenger Hunt is…" She gave that pause that was suppose to get them on their toes but the only thing it got her was an eye roll from the uncaring teens. She grumbled something that sounded along the lines of "Kids these days." Then continued to say "The winners are Kagome and Inuyasha who found almost every object and also the one that was the hardest to locate. That was the white, yellow and purple flower that is hard to find and mostly grows on ledges of cliffs." Kagome and Inuyasha were smiling and hugged each other and when she mentioned the flower they sweat dropped and thought about how Inuyasha nearly killed himself for that damned flower.
Kagome then pulled Inuyasha up to Ayano as she said "Good job now you get to keep all the objects you found." At this she shoved the bag of stuff into Kagome's arms. The two teens looked at each other with clear disappointment etched on their face as they headed back to the group of friends. They got there and they all headed back to their cabins to wait for Takai and Kaiya to get them for the hike.
When they made it to the cabin Inuyasha sat on the floor by Kagome's bed and Kagome sat next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder while saying. "Darn all that work for nothing I thought they would let us not have to participate in some of the hard activities or maybe let us have a fun day." Kagome sighed and dumped all the objects out of the bag and frowned when a dull, round, pink object rolled out and onto the floor with a light tapping sound. "Hey you two we're going to go sit by the lake so can you tell the counselors where we are?" asked Rin from the doorway. "Oh sure." Kagome said as she bent down and picked up the pink marble like object. She noticed it had a chain attached to it and that it was some kind of necklace.
"Hey Inuyasha? Do you remember finding this?" She asked while showing him the necklace. "No but it looks like its one of our prizes." he said as he handed her a paper with some writing on it that said "Congratulations! You two did way better than anyone has done for a long time. So here are some old artifacts we found in the head office." Kagome shrugged and looked at the necklace. She couldn't seem to put it down so the slipped the chain over her head and let the jewel lay against her chest beneath her shirt. She then saw at the bottom of the paper some writing that said 'Hey you two! Go to the storage shed behind the mess hall by the head's office and look around for interesting stuff! -Kaiya and other counselors.
"That girl scares me sometimes." Kagome said. "Agreed." Inuyasha replied. Kagome then pulled out all of the flowers that she had found in the meadow that day with Inuyasha. Her smile fell slightly when she saw how they had wilted and then her attention was caught by a blazing red flower. "Hey isn't that the flower that took forever to find?" Inuyasha asked while pulling it out. "Yeah I can't believe it's still fully alive." Kagome said while taking it from him and staring at the six red flower petals that each had a white spot at the bottom and tip. She stared at it and thought 'That's weird but it looks like its in better shape than when I picked it.'
She then heard the front door open and in waltzed Kaiya with Takai in tow. "Hey where is everyone?" she asked looking around. She got down on her knees and looked under each bed and then to make it better she opened the dressers and yelled "Hello? Guys you in here?" Kagome quirked and eyebrow while nudging Takai and whispering in his ear "What have you been feeding it?" "Camp food." was his only reply while he shook his head and grabbed Kaiya around the waist and pulled her to him. "So where did the others go?" he asked.
"They said they were going to the lake back there." Kagome said while pointing behind her. "Me and Inuyasha can go get them for you if you want." "Hey who said I would go get those idiots?" Inuyasha asked while folding his arms over his chest. "I did so let's go." Kagome said while grabbing his hand and pulling him up off the floor. The task was a bit difficult though since she was already sore from training and she had the additional fifty pounds on her body.
They walked out the door and started towards the lake. Inuyasha looked down at Kagome and saw that she was sore from the training. He stopped her and bent in front of her with his back facing her. She got the message and climbed onto his back and leaned her head on his shoulder. Inuyasha noticed her looking at Kagome squinted to see who it was and immediately stiffened in annoyance. Inuyasha felt her tense and looked at the person sitting with the others. He landed a couple feet away from the others and walked up to them and Kagome slid off of his back. "Hey guys Kaiya and Takai want us so I guess its time for the hike." Kagome said. "Hey Kagome I was going to ask you something and then I saw your friends but you weren't here. So I'll ask you now. Do you want to walk with me on the hike?" Hojo asked while walking up to Kagome oblivious to the growling demon next to her.
"Oh I'm sorry Hojo but all I'd do is slow you down. My muscles are sore and I can hardly walk and I want you to have fun. I don't want to make you wait for me." Kagome said while giving a smile that looked more like a grimace. Hojo didn't seem to notice this though and said "Oh it wouldn't bother me. I think I might even have something for sore muscles." Kagome who was holding hands with Inuyasha (proves how clueless Hojo is) was getting mad at his stupidity and poor Inuyasha's hand didn't stand a chance against the death grip. Inuyasha fell to the ground while trying to pry his hand out of Kagome's. "Oh I'm sorry Inuyasha." She said while massaging his hand tenderly.
"Keh. She's walking with me." Said Inuyasha as he rubbed his hand and then wrapped it aroung Kagome's waist possessively. "Kagome wouldn't go out with someone like you so why are you putting your hands on her?" asked Hojo while glaring at Inuyasha. Inuyasha growled at the part 'someone like you' and said "Oh yeah, then why the hell are we dating?"
Hojo looked at Kagome and asked "Kagome is this true?" Kagome just smiled an awkward smile and said "Yeah it's true. I'm sorry but I don't like you like that Hojo so stop asking me." Hojo however just puffed out his chest and said "I'll still try and I will succeed." Kagome just sighed. 'It's no use trying to stop him.' she thought. Hojo glared at Inuyasha before stalking off into the woods and towards the cabins. Kagome sweat dropped and grabbed Inuyasha's hand and then said "Well we wouldn't want to make the two lovebirds wait for us."
"Yeah we wouldn't want them doing anything in your guys' cabin that would embarrass them." said Miroku with a perverted smile on his face. The smile didn't last long for Sango frowned and hit him over the head with a stick nearby.
"He'll never learn." said Inuyasha while grabbing his collar and pulling him behind them. Kagome looked back every time she heard a loud thump followed by a groan of pain as Miroku was dragged over rocks and other protruding objects. She winced when his head fell in a hole and then popped back out painfully.
'Eww that's gotta hurt.' she though while turning back around.
Miroku woke up to find himself laying on the hard dirt ground and winced when he felt the back of his head. 'Damn Sango can hit harder than hell.' Miroku thought while staring at the girl sitting on the opposite side from him.
"So the hike is going to be all day which will be about seven hours so wear something comfy and bring water." said Takai while putting his hands behind his head and yawning. Kaiya looked up from whatever it was she does and said "Good luck Kagome."
"Huh? Why are you wishing me luck?" Kagome said while looking up from the dirt she was drawing in with a stick.
"Because I noticed that you have extra weight from those weights you are wearing. So its gonna be like double the trouble for you girl." Kaiya said while appearing by Kagome's side and poking the weights on her arms. "Why do you have them anyway?" Takai asked while pulling Kaiya aaway from the irritated Kagome.
"Oh I'm a miko and my trainer is Ms. Kaede and these are suppose to help build up my stamina quicker." Kagome said while looking at Takai.
"Oh you're a miko that's so cool Kagome!" yelled Kaiya while Takai simply nodded his head and smiled. Kagome laughed and said "Yeah."
The group then walked over to the larger group of campers that were standing by the edge of the forest at the mouth of a narrow trail just wide enough for two people to walk side by side comfortably. Kagome then watched as Ayano stepped up at the mouth of the trail onto a huge rock and spoke into a megaphone.
"You will all be going on this hike whether you like it or not so line up and I will be at the other side of the forest where we will be camping for the night before heading back in the morning."
Some random person then asked "Mrs. Ayano? How will we know where to find you if you're going ahead of us?"
Ayano then said "My nephew will be leading you through the forest and to the clearing I will have set up for you." At the mention of nephew, a tall dark haired boy stood up and walked forward towards Ayano with a look that said he wasn't happy to be doing this let alone be at this camp. He had on a pair of jeans that were faded and worn through and a black flannel shirt with a white wife beater on under it. The flannel shirt was unbuttoned and the shirt showed of his well toned abs. His long black hair was pulled back into a low braid and he had a purple four sided star in the center of his forehead.
Kagome studied him and noted that something didn't feel right about him and when she saw his cobalt eyes look in her direction she looked away. 'He's just scanning the crowd for a familiar face.' she thought.
"My name's Bankotsu and hey I don't like this anymore than you all do so quit complaining because if I have to do this then so don't you." he said in a calm voice. He turned to his aunt that was glaring slightly at the mention of him not liking this and he smiled at her with a charming smile. "Auntie I would do it for you though and I won't complain." he said. Ayano snorted a short laugh at his tone and knew he was sucking up sarcastically. He smiled and jumped down from the rock and turned and started to walk up the trail while saying "Let's go. Don't wander off either cuz I will leave your lost ass out there." All the kids immediately fell in step with each other after him. Sango dragged Miroku in towards the end and they walked behind rin and Sesshomaru who walked behind Ayame and Kouga. Kagome and Inuyasha brought up the rear of the hikers and they were listening to all of the conversations of the campers who talked super loud.
They each laughed when they heard a funny conversation and they shared jokes.
"Hey Inuyasha what all do you know about priests and priestesses?" Kagome asked while she hopped onto a rock and then jumped down next to him. "Well I know that the strongest priestess that ever lived was the priestess Midoriko. There are stories about her in lots of ancient writings but I can't tell you much cuz I don't know myself." Inuyasha said while shrugging. "You're a bunch of help." Kagome said jokingly while grabbing his hand.
"So what kinds of stuff can they do?" she asked. He looked thoughtful for a moment trying to think of something she wouldn't already know. "I heard that a priest named Mushin once brought a person back to life but in exchange for his own life. So you should be able to heal people. You can also put up barriers to protect yourself." Inuyasha said while looking up at the sky. "Cool." Kagome said excitedly.
After about an hour of walking Kagome was starting to drag her feet and her muscles were becoming strained. She somehow managed to keep the fact that walking was becoming hard for her to herself and she smiled because she didn't want to ruin anyone's day. It was so beautiful out and she didn't want to stop just because her muscles were tired.
"Hey Inuyasha race you to the top of that cliff!" yelled Kouga tauntingly. "Keh you could only wish, wolf!" Inuyasha replied while glaring a friendly glare. He had become good friends with the wolf and knew he could rely on him if needed but that didn't erase the competitiveness or annoyance in the strange friendship. Kouga smirked and said "You just know I'll beat you so you're not even going to try." "Hey that's not true I could beat you anytime!" Inuyasha shouted.
Kagome laughed at how easily Inuyasha was provoked and said "Good luck Inuyasha, you can be there and back before he even makes it there." Kagome then squeezed his hand and stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. Inuyasha smirked and jogged up to Kouga and Rin ran up to them and yelled "Go!" The two demons raced forward at an incredible speed while they both pushed each other and yelled profanities. Kagome giggled as she watched them both fall on their faces and hop up and continue running.
She then jogged up to Ayame and walked by her since Kouga left her to race. "Hey Kags. Kaede must really know how to toughen you up fast." Ayame said while looking at the slight sweat on Kagome's brow and the weights.
Kagome took her new nickname into consideration and smiled when she decided she liked it. "Yeah she asked me to wear these and I think she knew it would be one hell of a work out." Kagome replied while lifting her arms and rolling them to stretch them. She sighed when she was done and asked "So what's going on with you and Kouga?" Kagome wiggled her eyebrows while poking Ayame in the side playfully. She sighed dreamingly while saying "He's so cute and I think I'm in love and we've only been going out for less than a week." Kagome laughed lightly and said "Well you're lucky it's like love at first sight!" Ayame smiled and looked up and gaped. "Kagome, Honey I feel so sorry for you."
"Huh? Why?" Kagome asked puzzled then followed the gaze of her friend to see a hill that had to be straight up and down with sharp gray rocks protruding out from it. "Oh this is going to be impossible." Kagome groaned out while stopping to look up the towering hill. She sweat dropped when rocks tumbled down and narrowly missed the kids at the bottom who screamed and dodged for their lives.
"They're trying to kill us!" Rin said while watching a rock bounce down the mountain like hill. Kagome nodded her head and looked over towards where Inuyasha and Kouga ran and saw that the idiots were at least three miles away. The only thing she could see was Kouga's bright blue shirt and Inuyasha's silver hair.
Kagome turned and watched as Bankotsu climbed up the hill with ease and her eyes widened when he finally made it to the top and yelled "Hurry up slow pokes or I'll leave your sorry butts behind. Kagome uttered something about impossibility and watched as Sango and Miroku both made it up the hill passing by campers who were having a hard time.
Kagome then watched as Rin climbed onto Sesshomaru's back and she then playfully said "Rin you cheater." Rin giggled then held on when Sesshomaru jumped onto a stable rock halfway up and then in one great leap made it to the top. "Kagome I could give you a piggy back ride up there if you want I'm a demon so I'm just as strong." Ayame offered but Kagome shook her head while smiling.
"Kaede wanted me to get in shape and I can't do that if I take the easy way out of things." Kagome said while starting up the hill. She bent forward sharply as she grabbed onto a root that was growing out of the hill. Ayame jumped up onto a rock she sensed was stable and waited for Kagome to make it to her. She turned her head down and focused on her nails and when she glanced down the hill Kagome was nowhere in sight. She frowned and then looked up the hill and saw Kagome standing on a rock looking down at her. Ayame gaped at how quickly Kagome had made it up the hill and jumped up next to her gracefully. "You're good at this Kagome." she exclaimed. "Thanks you can go ahead without me I'll catch up." Kagome said while getting her footing and climbing up. She passed several other humans and smiled when she saw a blur of green and brown go by. She glanced up and saw Ayame standing up with the others. She made it to the top and was surprised that the weights hadn't made her fall down the death bringing hill.
She looked around and noticed that she was the only human besides Sango and Miroku that was up here. The rest were demons. Well except for Kikyo who was standing next to Naraku and Kagura. She saw Kikyo glare at her and all Naraku did was look at her with that chilling smirk of his. Kagura seemed to not care all to much and was leaning against a tree. Kagome saw her hair blowing in the wind but noticed that there wasn't a breeze. She then considered that since Kagura was a demon she could probably control something like the wind.
Kagura felt someone staring at her and glanced up to see Kagome looking at her with a questioning look. She realized that she was controlling the wind and that was what the girl was looking at. She gave a small smile and nodded at Kagome as a hello. Her smile widened a bit when Kagome smiled then looked away. She didn't understand why Kikyo hated Kagome so much. She hated hanging out with Kikyo but it was either that or face her wrath and she didn't feel like getting bothered by Kikyo. All Kagura wanted was real friends that would actually care about her problems and not have everything about them. She then heard Kikyo and Naraku talking to each other about Kagome and Inuyasha. She rolled her eyes before closing them and waiting for all of the kids to make it up the hill.
Kagome was good at reading some people and she could tell when a person had good intent and she could tell that the demon Kagura didn't really seem to be real friends with Kikyo. She also noted that Kagura seemed like a nice person that wouldn't hurt someone by getting pushed into peer pressure. Kagome then saw Inuyasha and Kouga jump up the deadly hill while panting and glaring at each other.
"I was the one that won the race." they both yelled at each other. They then got into a full blown battle about who the winner was and didn't notice when all their friends walked away while shaking their heads.
"Hey wait for us!" The two male demons yelled in unison while running after their friends. "Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled while running up to her. She grabbed his hand and smiled as she watched Kouga do the same to Ayame. "Kagome I'm so sorry I wasn't there to carry you up that hill." Inuyasha apologized. "Who took you up it?" he asked. This kind of irked Kagome that he thought she needed someone to carry her up it. She huffed while turning away from him. "I climbed it myself thank you very much. I don't need help for everything you know." Inuyasha laughed while saying "Wow wasn't it hard climbing that with those weights?" "No it wasn't that hard but I'm sure I'll be feeling it tomorrow when I'm in agony." Kagome said while looking at him lovingly.
Inuyasha wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She laid her head on his shoulder and relaxed against him while listening to her surrounding. The other teens were goofing off and doing stupid stuff and she heard someone's ipod playing way to loud for the person's ears. She then concentrated harder and blocked them out and listened to the sound of the birds singing and the squirrels barking at the noisy humans.
Kagome was filled with a sense of peace and her eyes snapped open when she felt an eerie chill crawl up from her toes and up her spine. She shivered as she felt she was being watched. She looked around and didn't see anyone staring in her direction. The pricking of her skin slowly faded away but she still felt eyes on her.
Inuyasha noticed her tenseness and he noticed that there was a demonic aura that was nearby. He could tell it was powerful and it made his senses go on high alert. He then felt Kagome shiver just when the demonic aura flared and then faded completely. Some how the aura seemed so familiar and he looked to Naraku but he wasn't doing anything but talking to Kikyo nonchalantly. He frowned and rubbed Kagome's arm to soothe her. She looked up at him and smiled one of her big bright smiles that he loved so much. He smiled back and they both pushed the effects of the aura out of their minds.
Finally after they crossed a stream by jumping across on boulders, went down a hill, and through a large expanse of forest the teens found themselves in a huge clearing in a valley. They saw a little village of tents and walked towards it eagerly. It was getting dark and when they made it they saw Ayano sitting down on a log in front of a fire. She smiled up at Bankotsu and said "Thanks you did a good job and you're right on time too." She gave him a small hug and yelled at the kids giving them instructions. There was to be four girls to a tent and four boys to a tent. No mixed genders in the tents and no wandering off during the night.
Sango, Rin, Ayame, and Kagome all eagerly ran into a tent and found that it was equipped with sleeping bags and lots of blankets. They all smiled and ducked back out of the tent and sat around the fire to find that there were hot dogs cooking on a rack that was sat over the fire. Ayano then said "Go ahead and eat girls." They all grabbed buns and got a hot dog and put all the stuff they wanted on it.
They all sat down and started to eat the hot dogs while laughing about all the people that fell or stepped in mud during the hike. "Did you see when Hojo fell in the stream?" Kagome asked while laughing at how he hopped onto a rock and slipped while splashing loudly into the water. They all laughed and were soon joined by the guys who sat down by their perspective girl. Well Sango and Miroku weren't girlfriend and boyfriend yet but you could tell it was gonna happen.
Most of the campers who stayed up were telling ghost stories or what ever scary story they could think of and the girls became bored because they weren't scary at all and decided to go to bed. Kagome stood up and kissed Inuyasha goodnight and walked into her tent followed by Ayame, Sango and Rin. They all slipped off their shoes and shrugged when they saw they were going to have to sleep in their clothes. They were to tired to care.
Kagome unwrapped all of her weights and sighed when she got the last one undone and put it on the tent floor. "Having those off feels so great." She said while laying down and saying "Goodnight." "Goodnight." They all said to each other before falling asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.
I hope you liked this chapter and I plan to update as soon as possible. Please review! Oh yeah I forgot to say that: I don't own Inuyasha! I wish, but sadly I don't, but I will live and continue wishing I owned it and writing for my readers! XD
