Chapter one is rather short. Probably the shortest chapter I've ever written for any story. Gasp! But I'm not gonna bother to make 100% sure.

CHAPTER ONE

Wake up, sleepy. I SAID WAKE UP, DAMMIT!

"HIEI! RISE AND SHINE!"

Shadow's annoying voice easily broke into Hiei's sleep. One red eye blinked open. He stared up into her identical red eyes, groaned, and rolled over.

"WAKE UP!" Shadow screamed. Hiei mumbled something in a whiney voice and pulled a pillow over his head. Shadow crossed her arms.

"KURAMA! I NEED SOME HELP HERE!" she screamed into the hall.

"What is it?" came the redhead's voice.

Shadow pointed at a lump under the blankets and a pillow on her bed.

"Hiei. He won't get up."

Kurama sighed and set down the duffel bag he'd been packing. He walked to the bed, put his hand under the covers, and dragged Hiei off the bed by the back of his shirt. Once the little demon was lying on the floor staring up at them, he walked out of the room and continued packing the bag. Yusuke rushed by the door, then backtracked slowly and stared.

"Um... Hey Shadow?" he said, trying to ignore the state of chaos her room was currently in, and the little fire demon lying on her floor.

"Hmm?"

"Where did you put my swimming trunks? The green ones?"

"I don't know. They're probably still in the washer."

"What?!"

"Drier. Check the drier," Shadow said absently, poking Hiei's chest.

"Leave me alone!" Hiei whimpered. He tried to crawl back into Shadow's bed.

"Come on Hiei! You're delaying us!"

"Just don't take me with you and you wouldn't have to worry about it," Hiei retorted, curling up under the blankets again and closing his eyes.

"KURAMA!" Shadow screamed.

"Shadow! They're not down there!" Yusuke complained, appearing at the door.

"Well I don't-- Here they are," Shadow said, pulling a pair of green swim trunks out from under her bed and tossing them to Yusuke.

"Shadow!" Eclipse ran into the room. She stopped and looked at Hiei. "He looks comfortable."

Shadow glanced at him. He was asleep again. "KURAMA!"

"Do you have any sun tan lotion?" Eclipse asked.

"I don't know! Do you think I can keep track of the contents of all four or five bathrooms in this house? I don't even know how many bathrooms I have in this house! Here"-- Shadow pulled a wad of money out of her pocket--"go buy some."

"Okay!" Eclipse said, all too happy to take all Shadow's money and go to the store. She ran out of the room. Shadow took a deep breath.

"KUR--"

"WHAT?" Kurama yelled, coming into the room. Shadow pointed at Hiei again.

"HIEI JAGANSHI!" Kurama yelled, grabbing Hiei by his shirt and dragging him out of the bed. "WAKE UP!"

"I don't want to go!" Hiei whined.

"Too bad. I'm not leaving you here alone for a week or two. I still say you'd have fun. Come on," Shadow said, pulling Hiei to his feet. "Go pack."

Hiei walked out of the room, grumbling and mumbling and making other incoherent noises as he walked up the hall.

"Shadow!" Kuwabara ran into the room holding three suitcases. "What do I do with these?"

"Do you really need all those?" Shadow asked.

"Yes!"

Shadow sighed. "Put them down by the door with the rest of your suitcases, genius."

"Okay!"

"Start packing, Shadow. I'm gonna go make sure Hiei isn't sleeping again," Kurama said, walking out of the room. Shadow grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed a handful of clothes in. She didn't even pay attention to what she was shoving in there. She filled two suitcases full of clothes, then grabbed a smaller bag and stuffed it full of hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and other such items. Lots of Tylenol, since she was sure she would need it. She looked around her room, which had been covered in piles of clothes and such a few minutes ago.

The night before, she had strewn clothes all over her room, but only the clothes she had wanted to pack. So as long as there wasn't anything lying on the floor, she was good. (After strewing clothes everywhere she had fallen asleep on a particularly comfortable pile of socks and Hiei had taken her bed since his room was being used for suitcase storage (how inconsiderate. Living in a mansion and kicking somebody out of their room to store suitcases in it when there were plenty of unoccupied rooms))

Her eyes fell on a pile of bathing suits in the corner. They were all black, most of them one-piece. She stuffed them all in a suitcase; she'd sort them later, along with the rest of her clothes.

"SHADOW!!!"

Shadow sighed and walked into the hall at Hiei's summon.

"What is it, Hiei?" she said dryly.

"Why do I have to go?" he asked, dragging a suitcase behind him.

"Because I SAID SO," Shadow yelled. "You got swim trunks in there?"

"No," he said dryly.

"Here," she said, tossing him two pairs of swim trunks: one black and one dark blue. He caught them and looked at them, then sighed.

"You're going to swim, Hiei, if I have to throw you in the water myself," Shadow said coldly. "And that suitcase better be packed or I'm gonna make you wear Kuwabara's clothes. You're not getting out of this."

"It's packed, okay?! God, you're evil," Hiei muttered, stuffing the swim trunks into a pocket on his suitcase.

"Huh-uh. Not evil," Shadow said. "I'm EEEEEEEEEEvil."

"Whatever..." O_o

"ARE WE ALL READY?" Shadow screamed at the top of her voice.

"Almost," "Yes," "No," and "AAAHHHHHH!" were the simultaneous answers from various parts of the house.

Shadow sighed.

"We're gonna be late."

"Late? Is there a specific time limit?" Hiei asked.

"No, but if we don't leave soon, it'll be dark by the time we get there. I want to have a little bit of time before dark, so we can look around, at least."

"Why can't we do that at night?" Hiei asked.

"We can, but it's easier during the day, and besides, we might wander up the wrong back alley and get mugged or raped or something," Shadow said, shrugging.

"You know, people can get raped during the day," Hiei said dryly.

"Shut up, Jaganshi, you freak," Shadow said.

"Whatever, but it's true."

"Shut up."

"Fine." Hiei dragged his suitcase down the stairs, not bothering to pick it up, so it went 'thud' on each step. Suddenly there was a lot of thuds that were a lot louder too. Shadow ran to the stairs and saw Hiei sprawled at the bottom with his suitcase on top of him.

"Falling down the stairs isn't going to get you out of going to--" Shadow stared. Hiei was asleep again. "JAGANSHI! WAKE UP!" She threw her own suitcases down the stairs at him.

"Owwww!"

Finally, they were under way. Shadow, Eclipse, Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Yusuke were going on vacation.

They had bought a van for transporting the six people and their luggage. Actually, it had a camper attached, so that was where four of them would sleep. But the other two would be sleeping... in the van.

"So, Shadow, how long is it gonna take us to get there?" Hiei asked.

"I don't know."

"More than an hour?"

"I don't know."

"I'm going to sleep," Hiei said. He reclined his seat, pulled a pillow out of somewhere, and promptly fell asleep.

The trip didn't take that long. Kurama drove. Hiei slept. Yusuke and Kuwabara played Gameboys with link cables ("I'll trade you my Magikarp for your Pikachu." "What? No deal, baka!"). Shadow and Eclipse played cards. Don't ask where they found enough space to play cards. They just did.

It wasn't dark when they reached their destination. Shadow was happy. Hiei wasn't.

They arrived safely...

at...

the...

BEACH!!!

Party time!