A/N: Sigh.... I'm too nice for my own good. I've decided to start posting again. But this time, I don't care about reviews. I am only posting my chapters because having them on ff.net makes them easier to access (I don't have to search through my huge list of documents). Anyway, that means that no matter how much people beg me to update sooner, make chapters longer, ect, I do not care. I will update when I feel like it. And I will make the chapters only as long as I see fit.

Chapter 9: Party Time

Akane stared curiously at the invitation she was holding.

'Party at the Higurashi Shrine; 8:00pm till 2:00am; bring food.'

"That's strange." commented Kasumi, looking over her shoulder. "Do you even know these people Akane?"

Akane shook her head. "No...and why would they want to throw a party at a shrine?"

"A party?!" Ranma questioned excitedly, running down the stairs and almost knocking Akane over as he grabbed the invitation.

"Can I come Akane? Please? I've never been to a party before!"

"Who said I was gonna go." said Akane, folding her arms in defiance.

Kasumi looked at the two, then smiled sweetly and said "I think it'll be a good idea for you two to go. You might meet some new people!"

"Fine, but we're not staying till 2 in the morning." muttered Akane.

"Of course not." replied Ranma.

"What are you doing?" asked Inuyasha as Yusuke, Kuwabara, Kurama sat writing invitations, the phone directory lying open in front of them.

"They're sending a bunch of strangers invitations to the party they're throwing in someone else's house." said Hiei darkly from his perch on the kitchen counter.

Yusuke looked up from his work, grinning ear to ear. "Loosen up buddy, we won't break anything. It's just some harmless fun!"

"Yes, I don't think it will be too much trouble." said Kurama, scribbling someone's address on the invitation he'd just finished.

"Feh" snorted Inuyasha "As long as it doesn't get me into trouble. I've been sat by Kagome enough to last me a lifetime."

"Maybe if you didn't make her mad all the time she wouldn't have to" offered Sota, who abandoned his video game to jump onto the couch and catapult himself onto the Hanyou's shoulders.

"Besides, I think it'll be fun! And since mom's gone to visit an old friend, she won't be back until tomorrow afternoon, so there's no chance she'll catch us!" he added, reaching for Inuyasha's ears.

A loud growl stopped him, and he quickly jumped back onto the couch.

"Touchdown!" exclaimed Kagome happily as she hopped off the oar and danced around on the sandy shore.

Botan smiled at her antics, then joined her, laughing happily.

Ataru had already passed out on the sand and was snoring lightly. Eventually the other two decided to take a nap as well.

About two hours later, Botan woke up. She stared up at the bright blue sky momentarily before getting up and stretching.

She gently shook the others awake. "Come on guys. We have to get going."

Kagome yawned and opened one eye.

"Five more minutes mom..." she mumbled, rolling over in the sand.

Botan snickered and leaned over Kagome, a mischievous grin spreading over her face.

"BOO!" she shouted in Kagome's ear.

This turned out to be a bad idea, because Kagome screamed, sat up abruptly, and smacked a surprised Botan in the face.

Blinking, Kagome rubbed her eyes, and slowly realized who she'd just hit.

"Oops! Sorry Botan! You really shouldn't scare me like that."

Botan just sat there, a little dazed from being hit so hard; Ataru's laughter ringing in her ears.

Inuyasha bristled as another group of girls walked past him, chatting about school.

"Hey Yusuke..." he said suspiciously "didn't you invite any guys to this party?"

"No way! They'd totally wreck the place!"

"Well, you'd better not try anything" cautioned Kurama "If you do, Keiko will be at your throat faster than you can say 'I can explain'"

Kuwabara snickered.

"Too bad Urameshi. I guess I get to have all the fun! I'm glad I'm not tied down to a girl." he taunted, making his way over to a group of girls who were laughing about something.

Kuwabara must have said something funny to them, because they started laughing even harder and walked away.

"See Kuwabara?" shouted Yusuke "that's why you're not tied down to a girl. You're a joke!"

Just then, he heard someone calling him, and turned around to see a boy with black hair tied into a pigtail; a girl with short black hair tagging along behind him.

"Thank goodness! For a minute there I thought there were only girls at this party!"

"Well, that was the plan." said Yusuke, obviously annoyed. "Who are you?"

"Ranma Saotome. Why would you only want girls at a party? They're so annoyi- "

Ranma didn't get to finish his complaint, because just then, he was hit over the head with a mallet.

"Sorry about him." said the short haired girl. "He really wanted to come along so I let him. My name's Akane"

Yusuke stared at the unconscious boy at his feet, then at the smiling girl in front of him.

"I think I'm gonna go get some punch. Bye!"

"Well, what a strange boy." thought Akane as she wandered off, leaving Ranma to be trampled on.