Hey, guys! I know updates have slowed down, but that's mostly due to the fact that I was finishing up a semester, and I just celebrated a very important birthday this week. As we go into the summer, I do have some responsibilities—nearly full-time hours at my internship, a second job, and a summer class—but I will hopefully have more time and energy to spare for drabbles!
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.
Life Goes On
Part 11
"We," Kagome said grandly from the doorway, "Are going to the beach!"
"Correction," her boyfriend responded, leveling a heated glare in her direction from his position behind his big, stately desk. It was, as was customary those days, overflowing with paperwork and forms and goodness knows what else. For someone who had never really cared about the company, he sure had become an important part of it. "You, Sango, and your brothers—plus, that brat Shippou—are going to the beach, while I sit here, all alone, signing things. Over and over and over again." With a defeated sigh, Inuyasha slumped over onto his elbows. "Being an adult sucks."
Kagome laughed airily, adjusting her extremely large floppy hat with one hand, the many bracelets and bangles on her arm clinking together with a musical jingle. "Thank goodness I still have three years left before I join the 'real world,' huh?"
"Bite me."
"Inuyasha, keep this conversation work appropriate," Sesshoumaru scolded as he walked past the open doorway, giving a barely perceptible nod of hello to Kagome.
His younger brother was so busy spluttering and blushing that he wasn't able to come up with a comeback before the man had disappeared around the corner. Even knowing Sesshoumaru was likely out of earshot, Inuyasha jumped to his feet and angrily shook his fist in his general direction. "I didn't mean literally!" he shouted before collapsing into his chair with an irritable noise strangling its way out of his throat.
Kagome laughed again, looking genuinely happy. "I like your brother."
"Why?" Inuyasha demanded in an exasperated voice. "Why on Earth does anyone like him? He's such a… such a…"
"Keep this conversation work appropriate," Kagome admonished with a wide grin.
"You're lucky you're cute," he shot back. His glower would cause a lesser person to tremble.
Kagome waved his attitude away with her hand. "That's my line. Anyway, I'm off to beach. Want me to collect seashells for you or something?"
"Please don't."
"Yeesh, you spoil sport."
"I hope you get a sunburn," Inuyasha called after her retreating back.
Kagome didn't stop to turn around, only raising her hand up in a parting wave as she continued walking. Inuyasha swore he could see her shoulders shaking with barely contained laughter.
Sango smoothed the lotion down the length of her arm. Although she and Kagome had spent equal amount of time outside, Sango was already much tanner. Kagome tended to burn… which explained why the slightly younger, slightly shorter, more-than-slightly paler girl was slathering on her third layer of sunscreen while Sango was just beginning to put the finishing touches on her first.
"Inuyasha," Kagome was saying primly while rubbing lotion into the skin on the bridge of her nose, "Is turning into a bitter old man."
"He's always been bitter," Sango pointed out, crossing her legs at the ankles and adjusting her sunglasses. Several yards away where the waves were lapping gently at the sand, the three boys were playing and splashing each other. They'd traveled several hours in the car, and it was nice to not be all cramped in the same very small space anymore. "Now he's just bitter in a suit."
"At least he's the cute kind of bitter."
Sango lowered her back to her towel, closing her eyes against the sunlight that beat against her eyelids despite her dark shades. "Yes, your boyfriend is very attractive. But I think he needs a haircut."
"Yours too," Kagome retorted. "At least Inuyasha goes all out with the long hair; Miroku has a small little ponytail. What does he think this is… the nineties?"
Despite herself, Sango laughed. "Hey, you think they grow their hair long, because they can't grow beards?"
Kagome snorted. She clapped her hand to her mouth, embarrassed, but the older couple camped out several feet away shot her an annoyed look anyway. "Oh my God, I think you're right! Can you imagine either of them with mustaches?" The girls giggled together for several minutes, until the old man cleared his throat loudly.
"It's the beach," Sango snapped at him. "You're supposed to enjoy yourself here."
"Well, I never..!" the old woman gasped when her husband was too shocked to respond. Within seconds, they were packing up their things to move further down the beach. Kagome had a guilty, apologetic smile on her face, but Sango looked pleased with herself.
"Seriously," the brunette said with an eye roll that Kagome could feel more than see (due to Sango's sunglasses). "If you come to the beach, you have to expect loud kids and teenagers and laughter. It's the beach."
"You didn't have to snap at them," Kagome reprimanded. Sango shot her a look, and Kagome looked away, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "Okay, I probably would have, too. Eventually. Maybe," the blue-eyed girl admitted grudgingly.
Several hours later, as the sun was dipping below the horizon and sending orange streaks across the water, Sango and Kagome began to pack up their things. Even the boys looked exhausted—worn out, but content. Kagome, meanwhile, was happy when she discovered her pale skin was a shade darker and only the tops of her shoulders felt a little raw; it was the only part of her that she expected to be pink and peeling by morning.
"Kagome," Sango said suddenly, her arm reaching out and grabbing her best friend around the wrist. The brunette's voice was very quiet, her tone low. Her eyes were glued on someone several yards away, a slim woman walking along the surf. She was slim with pale skin that almost glowed in the moonlight, and her long, black hair trailed behind her in the slight breeze. Kagome leaned forward and squinted, trying to get a better look at her features.
"She's beautiful," Kagome said offhandedly.
"She looks a little like you," Sango pointed out. "Well, sort of. Her hair's a completely different style, she's even paler than you are, and I think her eyes are a different color—gray instead of blue—but other than that, you two could be sisters."
"Eh," Kagome said, squinting harder. "I don't see it."
Sango frowned at her best friend. "Who do you think she is?"
"Uhm," Kagome said with an eyebrow raised, looking surprised at Sango. "That's the lifeguard. She's been sitting ten feet away from us in that giant chair thing all day."
"Oh."
"Name starts with a 'K.' Some kind of flower, maybe?"
Sango went back to packing up her things, losing interest as the woman moved further down the beach and out of sight. "Ever notice how like half the people we know, including you, have names that start with 'K'?"
"And the other half, including you, have names that start with 'S'?" Kagome said with a disdainful sniff. "I think we need more variety. Or more friends with diversified names."
"Look at you and your big words! Thank goodness our boyfriends have 'I' and 'M' or else we'd have to drop them."
Kagome giggled, but suddenly straightened up, her eyes lighting up with recognition. "Kikyou! Her name is Kikyou. It was stitched on the back of the jacket she had hanging off that big chair thing."
"The lifeguard tower?"
"Yeah, that."
"Doesn't that name sound familiar?" Sango asked thoughtfully, taping her chin and looking in the direction the woman had disappeared in.
Kagome mirrored her pose, straining to see the figure in the distance. She thought she might be able to see the smallest dot moving further away. "Uhm… nope, not really." With a shrug, Kagome reached down to hoist up her bag before turning towards the boys. "Souta! Kohaku! Shippou! Let's go home!"
