I am soooo sorry about the lack in update! I had a really hectic week of school; but now it is winter break, and I am MOSTLY free to write and read fanfics! I also had a pretty bad writers block for this story. I knew what I wanted to happen, just not all the details. I will normally sit down, start writing a chapter, and finish it in one sitting (even if it's a few hours). Plz forgive me!

Hill-Billie-Race

For the next half-an-hour, Inuyasha felt a pair of eyes boring into his back, watching his every move. It did not startle him as much when Kagome was at his side, but whenever her presence faded, he grew very agitated. Why would someone feel the need to stalk him? He couldn't help but wonder if they had stumbled upon a demon in this time; perhaps they sensed the jewel?

Soon enough, Kagome would show up by his side again, distracting his troubled thoughts to direct his attention towards her, and only her. He would forget the curious eyes scrutinizing him non-stop, turn his head towards the girl beside him, and let his mind revolve around her again until she rolled away from him, leaving his thoughts to wander after her retreating form.

Inuyasha began to helplessly search the skating rink for the inspecting eyes. Kagome had skated off again to go chat with her friends; at least she wasn't with Hojo. That observation reminded the hanyou: where was Hojo? He hadn't seen the hormonal teenager for a while now.

His thoughts were interrupted as yet another announcement came from the DJ booth after the end of another song. "Ok everyone. We are gonna take this time to have a game. We will be playing the Hill-Billie-Race!"

Some people groaned while others cheered at the sound of the game. Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure what was happening as he witnessed most of the crowd of skaters, that once occupied the skating rink, file away towards the exits of the rink onto the carpet ways leading towards the snack-bar, tables, games, front desk, and lockers. Most of the people exiting the rink were the ones that were groaning out their protest.

Before Inuyasha could decide whether or not to exit the rink along with the others, three girls latched themselves onto his arms, leaning in to whisper in his ears. (even though they were on top of his head, 'cause he doesn't have human ears; but they knew that he would here them with his demon hearing and all)

"You have to go and play this game!"

"Yeah, you have to beat Hojo to show Kagome that you're better than him!"

"Look! Hojo is already lining up to race! Go over there!"

Before the girls had a chance to push the hanyou towards the starting line, he whipped around to face them all. "What are you talking about?! What do you mean a race?! Why are people leaving?! Can't I just go with them?!"

The girls stopped with bewildered looks on their faces; they looked stunned, eyes staying on him, not wavering a bit. His body grew tense under their stares, and he visible stiffened. The girls turned to give questioning glances to one another.

"The Hill-Billie-Race," one of the girls continued, turning her attention back to the silver-haired hanyou, "you have to join it. Then win, get first place, and boast about it in front of Hojo. Then Kagome will see how much better you are." She finished as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"You are better than Hojo, aren't you, Inuyasha?"

"Of course I'm better than him!" He snapped, crossing his arms over his chest in his classic 'Inuyasha' pose. He was not about to be insulted by a bunch of immature schoolgirls. "But how do I play?"

As if on cue, the DJ picked the microphone back up to address the skaters: "Ok everyone, this is how you play: Everyone will start here (points to starting line, defined by two orange cones) at the starting line. When I say 'go', you will all race around the rink for one lap before stopping back at the starting line. When you reach the starting line, remove one of your skates as fast as you can, then run/skate another lap with one skate on. After the second lap, stop at the starting line once more; take off your other skate and run the last lap. The first one to finish all three laps is the winner! Everyone got it?" After a few nods from the surrounding kids (mostly boys), the DJ walked back to his booth.

"Did you get all that?" One of the girls was now questioning Inuyasha.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I got it."

The girls just nodded at him before they skated off out of the rink; they did not want to play the game.

…………………………

The kids who were willing to play the game were lined up at the starting line, prepared to bolt off when given the signal. Kagome and her trio of friends were lined up against a carpeted wall surrounding the rink. The wall came up a little above their waists, enough so that they were able to lean forward on their elbows against the carpeted wall. (I know, some people think it's gross that the walls have carpet on them in Skate World. But I think it's cool! So shuddup!)

Kagome scanned the line up of boys, and a few girls scattered in the mix, when her eyes fell upon a boy with long silver hair. "Did you guys put Inuyasha out there?" Kagome quizzed her friends as she turned to glare at them. By the looks of horror on their faces she knew that they had something to do with it. "You guys! Inuyasha just learned how to skate! How could you think that he could race? And the 'Hill-Billie-Race' no less! Do you know how hard that race is!" She pointed an accusing finger at her frightened friends before continuing on her rampage: "And look! Do you see that most of those other boys have roller blades on?! ROLLER BLADES!!! Inuyasha is wearing ROLLER SKATES!!! Do you know at how much of a disadvantage he is at?! He will never be able to get his skates off as quickly as the boys with roller blades! I can't believe you three!" The enraged miko was constantly throwing her hands up into the air, waving her arms about to create more emphasis on what she was saying.

(Roller skates are tied up by laces, normally with four wheels; while roller blades are together using clips that you easily just clip and unclip to get them on and off, normally with three wheels placed in a vertical line)

"Calm down Kagome!"

"Yeah, freak out why don't ya!"

"Besides, Inuyasha is really fast, faster than anyone else out there. He'll beat everyone out there, you just wait Kagome."

"Yeah, don't you have any faith in your boyfriend?"

"He is NOT my boyfriend!" Kagome hissed at her friends. Of course she had faith in him! But this was her era, not the Feudal Era with demons and monsters. This was a modern time game, something that Inuyasha was still not accustomed to.

"Oh! Sorry…I forgot that you already explained the whole 'boyfriend' thing to us already…but you do want him to be your boyfriend, don't you Kagome?"

Kagome couldn't help but blush at this accusation, true non-the less, but very embarrassing.

The DJ seemed to come to her rescue when he announced the race had begun. Boys dashed from the starting line, in a rushed frenzy to be the first back at the start. Before many people could register what had just happened, boys were already plopped to the ground on their butts, struggling to remove their first skate before attempting to rise and race around the rink again, this time, with one less skate.

It was then that Kagome noticed the other person she knew that was engaged in this race; Hojo. She did not notice him before, for she had her eyes locked on her hanyou. But now she saw him clearly: sitting on the floor, easily removing one of his roller blades as if it were the simplest thing ever. Hojo had stood up, balancing on his bare foot, before staggering away from the others still removing their first skate.

The miko searched the mob of boys on the floor of the rink, searching for Inuyasha. She spotted him, his silver hair a bright give-away; he was struggling to remove his skate; he looked as though he were about to rip it to shreds. And maybe he was.

She switched her attention back to Hojo. He was already halfway around the rink on his second lap; two boys ahead of him, also wearing roller blades. She saw Inuyasha flash in front of her, quickly speeding ahead of the other boys that were currently in the lead.

The silver-haired hanyou quickly made it back to the starting line, preparing to take off his last skate, while others were still attempting to remove their first. But he did not seem cocky about his lead in the race; he still seemed to hurry like he would fall behind any second.

Kagome's eyes fell back upon the hanyou, one question that she had forgot to ask herself earlier dug at her mind. 'How did Inuyasha get his skate off so fast?' She had turned her attention to Hojo, causing her to miss his tactic the first time around. Now, she was not about to take her eyes off of him; she was going to find out how he did that so fast.

She watched him intently, squinting her eyes to see him better from across the rink. She watched as he brought a claw to meet the toe of his ugly brown skates. (courtesy of Skate World, of course) The miko wanted to lash out at him; he was shredding apart the skates! And they were not even his to shred! They belonged to Skate World. But she noticed him lightly slice his nail through the strings, binding the skate's front flaps together. He shoved the useless string fragments aside as he slipped his foot from within the skate that now had a gaping opening on the top where the tongue of the skate should have been.

He quickly dashed around the rink once more, finishing his third and final lap, ahead of everyone else. Applause was heard all around as the DJ acknowledged the winner. Inuyasha stood there, his chest puffed out, head held high, his ego being fed with every pat on the back he received from the 'good sports'.

Hojo, of course, looked defeated. But no one noticed, all attention was directed at the winner: Inuyasha. Hojo gazed up at the silver-haired champion, dumfounded. He found Kagome already clinging to Inuyasha, congratulating him on his victory. A look of disgust overcame Hojo's features. Kagome was hugging another boy!

Inuyasha felt that feeling again: someone was glaring at him. Probably just envious, he thought. So he pushed the concern aside, paying more attention to the raven-haired girl in his arms. He returned her warm hug by wrapping his strong arms around her waist. Hoisting her into the air, he spun her around in a circle, listening to her joyful giggles.

'This is how it should be…' He thought to himself.

…………………………

Once again: I am soooo sorry about the late update. Like I said I had a writers block with this story. And I still kinda do. Any suggestions from my adoring readers would help. I was thinking of keeping them at Skate World for the next chapter; and 'couples skate' comes up. But whom would Kagome choose? But I dunno. I might just skip that idea. Anyway, I am having a major writers block for my other fanfic too. If anyone could read it and help me out; that would be great! I have to pack tomorrow cuz I am goin to Sun River for Christmas. We are leavin on Friday and returning on Tuesday. But I am bringing my laptop, so hopefully I will have time to write while I am there.

Luv you all! Suggestions please! Muah!