A/N: I need those lyrics, my loves.
About the formatting… *crosses her eyes* we're working on it. My apologies. We'll get it done soon enough. Fanfiction.net reads HTML my arse. *snerks* This is kinda short, my apologies, the next chapter will be better.
Disclaimer: If I owned them, the books would be released in English at the same time as the Japanese. None of this "translation" stuff, I can write both. ^_^.
No… really… I can…
A Day Without Rain is NOT mine. It's Enya's. which leads me to...
Thank yous! This chapter has been dedicated to Jezunya! She gave me this song, and is a model example of why ALL OF YOU SHOULD READ MY AUTHOR'S NOTES.
Yep. That'll happen.
Annnnnnnd besides her dedication, for her help she gets this lovely stuffed Inu-chan plushie, Houjo's head on a platter, and major hugglies from me. Thank you SOOOOOOO SOOOOOO much.
Random thought: My father wants James Earl Jones to replace Richard Harris as Dumbledore. "Harry… I am your father…"
Chapter 2
A Day Without Rain
Ever close your eyes?
Ever stop and listen?
Ever feel alive
And you've nothing missing?
"Hard to believe.." Siri commented, looking around at their dorm room.
"Hmm?" Kagome asked, looking from where she and Sango were reviewing the travel booklet, stretched out on Kagome's bed in her sleeping bag, since her normal blanket (Sango had a sneaking suspicion it had been made out of Inu-Yasha's old Yukata) was packed for the trip. Due to the absence of little things like that, the entire room looked oddly barren. Bags were piled on the two small tables, all four laptops stuffed into well padded duffels. Siri's sewing machine was boxed, perched out of the way on top of the dresser. Enough clothing for three weeks (the brochure assured them they wouldn't need any more for the four month visit) were tucked into their bags—two people per bag. Most of their books, except the ones they'd been ordered to bring, had been resold to the campus bookstore, they wouldn't be back until the third trimester of the year. Siri's Wizard Of Oz movie poster still hung taped to the wall, with Aiko's Gundam Wing and Fushigi Yugi posters, but the small knick knacks that usually cluttered the rooms—Siri's books, Aiko's ratty stuffed hippo, Sango's shoujo pages scattered over the floor—were all missing. The bookcases were empty, the floors clean, the beds made. The room looked like it could be lived in… it just wasn't.
"This." Siri waved a hand. "It looks like we're packing up to leave, which I normally associate with the end of the year, but it's only November. And everything looks out of place!"
"Why?" Sango deadpanned, raising an eyebrow. "Because it's not scattered on the floor?"
"Errrr…" Siri looked sheepish.
Aiko poked her head through the open door, Miroku and Inu-Yasha behind her, 'how did we get into this?' expressions on their faces.. "Guys, they want our bags down in the quad so they can load them into the busses…" Siri, Sango, and Kagome cast disdainful looks at the bags.
"Getting those down the hall and into the elevator is going to be… an adventure." Kagome mused, searching for words as she neared the end of her sentence.
"You mean, a pain in the ass." Siri corrected, gazing at the two overfull heavy duffels.
"Hey, guys, no sweat." Aiko pointed out, jerking her head back in gesture towards the two behind her. "We got muscle." Sango cackled while Kagome cocked a cynical eyebrow.
"You two don't mind?"
"Bloody hell, YES, we—" Inu-Yasha paused to bite down, hard, on Miroku's hand, which had effectively covered his mouth before he could finish. Miroku winced, but didn't remove his hand. The only response they head was a rather muffled, "feh."
Giggling, the girls all grabbed their carryon bags, which were considerably lighter then the two duffels. While Miroku and Inu-Yasha each grabbed a duffle, the girls caught the elevator, chattering excitedly about the trip. Occasionally, one of them would try to drag the guys into the conversation, only to be greeted by grunts and, in Inu-Yasha's case, stifled yelps of terror while the elevator was moving.
Eventually, they reached the Quad. Busses were parked by the road, and the luggage already there was hurriedly being loaded into the bottom cargo holds.
"We're goin' to this place by bus?" Miroku hissed. Kagome, Aiko, and Siri glanced at him and cracked up.
"Sorry…" Kagome managed eventually. "No, Miroku. We can't cross the ocean in a car. We're taking the busses to an airport, from there, an airplane--" there was a shriek from Inu-Yasha.
"Nu-uh. I saw those things! Nothing that big should rightfully be able to float that way. Or that high" He shook his head vehemently.
The others exchanged glances. "Inu-Yasha, it's perfectly safe. Siri takes them all the time, to go from here to Texas and back…"
"Yeah!" Siri put in, smiling brightly. "don't worry, Inu-Yasha, they're just big elevators…"
Aiko choked down a laugh at the horrified look on Inu-Yasha's face. Kagome sighed. "Siri, dear, you aren't helping…" Siri's face split into a bright, cheery grin that clearly said, 'I know.' Inu-Yasha groaned again. Kagome couldn't help it, she started giggling slightly. "I'm sorry, love…" She gasped, seeing the hurt look on his face. "Just… the way you looked…" She dissolved into laughter again.
"Feh."
Inu-Yasha sat in his seat, curled in a tiny ball and wincing. He had Kagome on one side, Siri on the other. Across the aisle from them, Aiko and Sango looked suffering while Miroku pressed his nose to the glass, squealing in delight. Aiko glanced at Siri. "We haven't even started moving yet, Miroku." She pointed out wearily.
"But we're so high off the ground! And the windows are so weird! And…"
"Yes, dear. We know." Sango sighed. Even though she, too, had never been on a plane, she was doing a better job of containing her enthusiasm then her lover. Kagome stifled a giggle, leaning against Inu-Yasha, who'd slumped down in his chair like he was trying to hide.
"It's all right." She promised him as the airplane began to taxi down the runway. Poor Inu-Yasha sat, huddled in his chair, determinedly not looking out the window at the turns of the runways. He dared a glance up as the airplane pulled to a halt at the runway. Kagome shook her head silently. "You know, for someone who can actually fly…" she teased, watching him. The airplane started again, gaining speed as it continued down the runway. Inu-Yasha meeped and sunk further into his chair as the plane angled itself upwards and took off the ground.
When the landing gear retracted and jarred the plain, the look on Inu-Yasha's face spoke that he was going to be physically ill. 'Helpfully,' Siri passed him a barf bag.
Miroku just thought the whole thing was really, really cool.
The plane steadied when they reached cruising altitude, and Inu-Yasha relaxed a bit, actually looking out the window. By the time the stewardesses came around with drinks and snacks, he'd not only calmed downed, he'd asked Kagome if they could switch so he could look out the window. Relieved, she'd complied, and bent her head together with Siri so they could discuss a plot complication that was stalling Siri in her latest story. Overjoyed by his friend's newfound enthusiasm, Miroku engaged him in conversation over all four girls' heads (literally), leaving them to their own devices to amuse themselves. Luckly, this was not a tenth of the disaster it would have been had their positions been reversed. Mid-flight found their positions reversed once more, Aiko curled up next to Inu-Yasha, reading, Siri curled up next to her, dozing under a pair of blankets. Kagome and Sango were on the other side of the aisle with Miroku, talking quietly and explaining to everyone giving them odd looks that Miroku and Inu-Yasha had never ridden on a plane before. Since most of the campus who knew them thought they were bumpkins anyway, Kagome thought the not-entirely plausible explanation went over rather well.
By the time the beverage cart had come around a third time, about an hour before they began to land, their positions had again changed. Siri was still asleep, a third blanket added to her pile, making her look like a large, blue lump. Kagome was dozing next to her, sleepily trying to regain her blanket, leaving little doubt of where the third had come from. Aiko was across the aisle from them, also asleep, leaving Sango alone to sketch and brave the two over-excited boys. ("It's smooth enough that you can draw? Even the car is too bumpy for you to draw in..."). Soon enough, Sango put down her drawing and followed in the footsteps of her friends, head pillowed against Miroku's shoulder.
Eventually, even the joy for Miroku wore off, and he too fell asleep, head resting on top of Sango. None of them stirred until Inu-Yasha woke them up for their layover in Glasgow.
The blue, dotted carpet of the airport terminal was covered in backpacks and half full mini duffels. Teens stretched out in the aisles, heads pillowed against messenger bags. Discmans had been removed from bags and hooked to headphones, cd cases scattered between groups of students.
"Why did they have to choose such a long layover?" Aiko wailed softly, her head resting on Kagome's stomach.
"Prices." Kagome answered, head resting in Inu-Yasha's lap.
"Why did we have to have a layover at all?" Siri asked, flopping onto her side.
"Prices."
"Feh."
Sango and Miroku returned, arms full of goodies from a nearby concession stand. Siri perked up brightly. "Got my cherry coke?" Wordlessly, Miroku handed her a 20 oz as he and Sango took seats on the ground next to Inu-Yasha, leaning back against a group of empty seats.
"You two are making the next run." He informed Inu-Yasha as he passed Kagome and Aiko a sprite.
Inu-Yasha nodded in agreement, tearing open a bag of potato chips.
"Flight # 116 to New York, Flight #116 to New York, Takeoff time has been delayed due to technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience—" College students spread throughout the terminal moaned loudly.
"Another hour?" Inu-Yasha half wailed, half bellowed.
"At least." Kagome muttered.
"I need more munchies." Siri moaned, regarding her empty bag of chips.
"Three hours." Kagome muttered, browsing the wall of cheap paperbacks and magazines. "I don't believe we've been out there for three hours."
"And counting." Inu-Yasha muttered, standing behind her, arms full of snacks, "bestsellers," and bad romance novels Kagome'd piled on him. "Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings?"
"Potter ma-thing. I believe Siri has a copy of Lord of the Rings in her bag."
Kagome considered and grabbed the paperback copies of all four Harry Potter books. She'd read them before, but hey, they were in English AND the British releases, they were cute. A sudden thought occurred to her.
"Inu-Yasha, can you even read English?"
"Errm..." he shifted uncomfortably. "Kind of. Miroku's better, Sango's better then him, why?"
"Cuz otherwise no one but me and Siri will be reading this. Aiko pretends her language is good, but..." she snickered slightly and Inu-Yasha shook his head. "We'll read them. Don't worry. Why not get some've those game magazines?"
Kagome picked up one and browsed through it. "Maybe..." she mused. "I know Siri likes the table problems..." Mind made up, she grabbed a general one, one of crosswords, one of table problems, one of mazes and one of word searches. "Here. We've got pencils back there. And get some extra batteries incase our Discmans start running out. Anything else you can think of?" He shook his head. All she saw was is bangs bobbing over the stack of stuff in his arms. Laughing, she took half of it and dumped it on the counter. As the clerk was ringing up their purchases, she felt someone else dump their stuff on the counter next to her. She glanced over, recognizing the tall, slim figure with long brown hair. "Hey Sabrina."
When the girl glanced at her, Inu-Yasha recognized her as the rude one with the sycophants who'd knocked Siri over the other day on the quad. She brushed a bang out of her face and half-smiled. "Kagome, hey. Buying for an army there?"
Kagome nodded, strained. "Something like that. I'm surprised you aren't."
"Akane went and got stuff for pretty much everyone, but I didn't really trust her to get me what I asked for, so here i am."
"Woe is you." Kagome muttered, grabbing their bags. "How is Akane?"
"Hmm? Oh, Akane's fine." The girl Kagome'd addressed as Sabrina dragged her eyes away from Inu-Yasha. She sounded as though she didn't know and really couldn't care less. Kagome appeared to have noticed, too. "Nice baggage." Sabrina continued, eyes back on Inu-Yasha.
"I'm not the one with baggage here." Kagome said softly, taking the last bag and turning to go. Sabrina pasted on a sticky sweet smile.
"Oh, that's right, Sierra forbid you from talking to me, didn't she? Sorry, wouldn't want to get you in trouble with mommy..."
"C'mon, Inu-Yasha." Kagome muttered. "Goodbye, Sabrina. Tell Akane I said hi."
Sabrina's mouth twitched with what she obviously considered victory. "Sure, whatever. Bye, Inu-Yasha."
He gave her a confused, polite nod, and followed Kagome off. The terminal was across the hall, they were nearly back when he noticed Kagome was holding her shoulders rather stiffly. "Kagome?" He asked softly.
She shook her head as he turned her to face him, smiling slightly. "It's nothing. She just... gets under my skin." He nodded, knowing it was deeper, but not daring to press.
"Let me help with the bags, at least?" Not that it mattered, they were nearly back at their seats.
She nodded in agreement and handed him half of them as they crossed the last few feet. Inu-Yasha noticed Siri's eyes locked on them since they'd left the store.
"Why do you even try being civil?" he heard her ask softly as Kagome handed Siri another cherry coke. Kagome just shook her head rather sadly.
A/N: Well, another chapter come and gone. They'll reach america... some day.
Rain Akugi!
Inu-Yasha: Let me help with the bags, at least?
Kagome: Cewtainly! You take the blond, and I'll take the one in the toibin!
Inu-Yasha: -.-;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Thank You:
Emmi-Chan: That's cuz it WAS long. Almost twice as long as I normally make my chapters. But this ones short. Heh... sorry... You met Jo Dee Messina? COOOOOL! Teehee, Bring On The Rain actually inspired this story when I heard it in a movie theatre.
Ichu: no problem, my new muses have REALLY pulled me out of my slump. Thanks for reading!! I'll try to be better about timing in the near future.
Strawberry Goodness: Yay! Glad you liked it! Yeah, i know, I'm sorry. The formatting troubles I've had with FF.Net... let's not even go there. But it should be better soon. Thanks for wading your way through anyway!
Usagipegasus: Yup, America, here they come. Are you as frightened as I?
Ever close your eyes?
Ever stop and listen?
Ever feel alive
And you've nothing missing?
You don't need a reason,
Let the day go on and on.
Let the rain fall down
Everywhere around you.
Give into it now,
Let the day surround you.
You don't need a reason,
Let the rain go on and on.
What a day, what a day to take to.
What a way, what a way to make it through.
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child.
Only take the time
From the helter skelter.
Every day you find,
Everything's in kilter,
You don't need a reason,
Let the day go on and on.
Every summer sun,
Every winter evening,
Every spring to come,
Every autumn leaving.
You don't need a reason,
Let it all go on and on.
What a day, what a day to take to.
What a way, what a way to make it through.
What a day, what a day to take to a wild child.