Disclaimer: Sure! I own InuYasha! And look over there: a field of flying
pigs. And is that hell freezing over? I believe it is!
AN: Sorry 'bout that. I'm a little POed at the moment because my computer doesn't let me use italics or bolds or even the little star things (you know, shift 8? Yeah.) I don't know why. I'm using Microsoft Word, so I don't know why it's doing that. Oh well. If anyone can give me any help, my e-mail is olivia(underscore)montgomery(at sign)nobles.edu . . . Thanks!
NEvee, this chapter should be interesting . . . sorry that my chapters are short and sloppy. Trust me, I didn't intend for them to be that way. My computer . . .well, let's just say if there's one more slip up it's going out the window. ;)
Okay.
Enjoy!
---
Way Enough
---
This . . . cannot . . . be happening . . .
This . . . CANNOT . . . be happening . . .
"Y-you mean to tell us that we're going to have to row . . . together?!" Sango stutters at the petite old man, inching away from Miroku.
"Precisely," Myoga replies rather calmly. He cracks an eye open to see our extremely pale faces. "What? Oh, don't tell me you didn't read the second page of the letter you all got . . ."
No one moves. Myoga sighs.
"Oh for cryin' out loud . . . do I hafta explain everything to you all?!"
Miroku, wanting to break the awkward silence, puts a hand behind his head and says, "It's possible," while managing a nervous laugh.
Myoga takes a deep breath. "Look. This is a famous camp with high standards of its' oarsmen and women. We only choose the best of the best to come here every summer. My scouts search all year for the top rowers to take this opportunity, do you understand me? This isn't some joy ride. You're here to finish this rivers course in least amount of time possible."
. . .
'Okay . . . I already knew that . . .' I think silently. 'But what's with the girls?!'
"You all are the best of the best, regardless of your gender," Myoga says softly. "My scouts have performed tests and you are all equally strong. So don't be cocky Mr. Youkai . . ."
I perk up, my eyes narrowing in confusion. 'Can he read minds . . . ?'
The silence falls again, but this time, Kagome breaks it.
"Um . . . coach Myoga? I-"
"Please. Just Myoga." He smiles.
'Okay, so he calls me cocky and he's just peachy-keen with miss 01 over there . . .'
"Um, okay. Myoga, when do we start rowing?"
Myoga nods rapidly as if to answer her any second. "Ah, ah, yes. You will be starting later this afternoon."
. . .
"WHAT?!" we all shout in unison.
Myoga cocks his head to one side. "What 'what'? You're coxwain will be meeting you at the dock in one hour. I suggest you get all your important essentials together and get ready to rumble!" He's almost ecstatic at this point, causing the rest of us to take a step backward.
He sighs again. "Oh well. I'll just leave you to your business. Just follow the steps out the back door of the cottage and they should lead you down to the dock." He turns slowly to walk of the creaky cottage. "Farewell! I shall see you soon!" He gives us one last large smile and shuts the screen door behind him.
. . .
We all take a deep breath and turn to our bags to remove anything we need. My big mouth being one of them. "I can't believe this . . ." I mutter, tossing things across my corner of the cabin.
"Can't believe what?" Miroku replies.
"I can't believe we're stuck rowing with girls! I've seen girls row at school and trust me, it ain't pretty." I continue to whisper.
"Um . . . InuYasha? Has is somehow crossed your mind that I attend your same school?"
. . .
". . .possibly. . .but that's not the point! I don't want to be going easy on a bunch of nail filing, make-up wearing, hair obsessed morons!"
"We're right here!!" Sango and Kagome shout together. Sango takes over. "We can hear your every word, and trust me, I don't know about the bimbos at your school, but you will not have to go easy on us."
"Yeah, yeah. You just keep telling yourself that."
"Why you little-!" But Sango's interrupted by Miroku.
"My dear Sango, I hope you know that while my friend here has other thoughts, I do not think of you as weak or anything of the women he just described." I roll my eyes.
"Um, thank you . . . I think . . ." Sango replies rather stricken. She doesn't even feel the heat rising in her cheek bones.
"I'm glad to hear that. For I'd like to ask you-"
"Oh for crying out loud, not this again!" I grab my bag and push out the door, nearly breaking the screen. I just manage to hear the 'would you bear my child' speech and the famous slapping sound right on afterward.
I sit down on the steps and reach for my little bag that my "mother" had packed for me to bring along in the boat. Luckily, I'm already wearing my uniform underneath my clothes so I don't have to change. I throw the mini bag over my shoulder and use my anger to kick my real bag into the trees.
Eh, I'll get it when we get back . . .
. . .
If we get back . . .
---
God this is a nice boat . . .
It's perfectly straight; the riggers are completely in tact, and there's nothing out of place.
This is like what the professionals use!
I slowly run my finger along the side of the glossy black fiber glass. I remove my finger to find a tiny hint of dust.
Well, that's no good.
I look on the side of the brand name – Millennium. Hm. Never rowed in one of those before . . . looks pretty new, maybe a year or two old. I duck under the boat in it's slings to look on the side where the personalized name is supposed to be placed –
The letters, 'S-H-I-K-O-N' are written in clear gold writing. I reach up to feel the 'K' which is slowly beginning to peel off.
"Don't bother, the second we put the lettering on, the 'K' never really felt it needed to plaster up straight," a familiar feminine voice calls from the entrance of the boat house.
Kagome.
"How do you know?" I ask without looking her directly in the eyes. For some reason, I just don't want to look at her beautiful doe eyes . . . what the?! Where did that come from?!
"I live in this neighborhood. I would always come down here every summer and see them push the rowers off the dock. I remember when we first got this boat three years ago."
"Oh . . . do you and Sango go to the same school?"
"Used to. She moved about a year and half ago to live with her dad and little brother. But she promised me we'd row together again so, I guess, here we are." She smiles.
God damn that smile! I stare at her directly in the eye. She's wearing her usual crew suit uniform that's colored in navy blue like everybody elses.
The thing I hate about crew wet suits is the fact that they show everyone around the person just what their curves look like.
And by the gods, hers are near perfect. Her hips, her breasts, everything! For some reason, I can't get over it.
And she's also has her hair tied back in a low ponytail. Something strikes me - with her hair like that she looks almost like . . .
No. Nevermind. I'm not going to think about that now . . .
"Are you okay?" She snaps me out of it.
"Wha? Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. Um . . . can I ask you another question?"
"You just did," she laughs playfully and strides away from the boat house and down toward the dock.
I blink.
Then I sigh as I pull my long hair back and tie the bottom of it with a black strip of cloth that I always bring. My own crew suit is starting to kill me.
"You know, if you were checking her out, you should have done something," a whiny little voice calls from behind me. It scares me half to death. I jump slightly and whirl around to find that no one is there . . . creepy . . .
"Down here, genius." I look down to the source of the whiny voice.
It's a kid. A little kid. A whiny little bastard of a thing- "Why did you scare me like that?! Who are you?!"
"Shippo! The name's Shippo. And I didn't mean to scare ya. I just wanted to give you some advice."
"I don't NEED advice from a six year old!" I step back a little so my neck doesn't have to kill me from looking down.
"I'm not six, you idiot! I'm ten an- hey!" he whines as my fist meets the top of his skull.
"Don't call me an idiot, you little brat!" I dig my fist in further.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Cut it out!"
"Make me!" By this point, I'm enjoying it.
"InuYasha!" Kagome shouts from the entrance of the boat house, her smiley expression gone from two seconds ago. "Let him go!"
"Why should I? He's a little prick!"
"Let him GO!" She screams loud enough for my ears to split.
I release the red-haired ball and rub my ears. "You didn't have to scream, wench!"
"Yeah?! Well you don't have to call me wench OR kill our coxwain!"
. . .
"WHAT?! That little ten year old is our COX?!"
"YES! That's what I just SAID!" She shouts louder.
"WHY are you SHOUTING?!"
"WHY ARE YOU?!"
I growl. She huffs and walks toward the cox who is now on the other side of the boat house. "Are you okay?" She says in the same sweet voice she had spoken to me earlier.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are the other rowers?"
"They're coming. Can I get you anything?" She smiles.
"No, thank you! Wow. You're really nice! Why d'jya go with him?" Shippo smiles as he looks my way. I stagger back without realizing it.
"Wh-what?!" Kagome stutters. "Oh, n-no! We're not- uh . . . together . . ."
"Oh! Well that's a relief. I was going to say you could do a lot better."
"WHAT?! WHY YOU LITTLE-!!"
"What are you so angry about, InuYasha?" a very red faced Miroku says next to Sango at the front of the boathouse. And I'll tell ya right now, it wasn't the blushing kind of red . . .
Sango's wearing almost the exact same thing as Kagome except she has a black sash around her hips and her long brown hair is up in a high ponytail.
Miroku's wearing the same suit I have on cause it's the only ones our school gives us. Other than that, and the hand prints on his face, he looks pretty damn normal.
"I'm not angry," I growl under my breath.
"Yes you are." Miroku grins widely.
"Is this everybody?" Shippo asks. Kagome nods in response. "Okay! Hands on Shikon!"
"What?! We're going already?" Kagome asks bewildered.
"I have orders from Myoga to get you guys out on the water asap."
"Are you really our cox?" Miroku blinks.
"The best in the region!" He responds proudly. "Well? What are you waiting for? Miroku, Sango, grab the bow, InuYasha, Kagome, grab the stern. Come on, people! We're wasting time here!"
We all scramble to our feet and do as told, hooking our hands on the rim of the boat.
"Up to your shoulders on two, one, two!" We obey as the boat rises in the air up to some shoulders and to the heads of others. The height difference might cause a problem . . .
"Walk it slowly out of the boat house on two, one, two!" Shippo can barely reach the stern end let alone guide it down and along the dock.
For a high class boat, this is pretty heavy . . .
Naw. It's probably just because we don't have enough man power.
We finally get it aligned and Shippo shouts. "Go over to the left side of the dock."
We scoot our way over to the left dock side and wait for commands as the boat seems to be getting heavier. I prepare myself for lifting.
"Over your heads on two, one, two!"
The boat rises above our heads as we all scoot under with both hands on the rim of the boat. It turns out, Kagome was almost even with me on the other side. So when she came in, well, I believe we're a little close at the moment . . . wonder how Miroku's doing . . .
"EEEEEPPP!!!"
Enough said.
Kag and I can feel the boat slipping backward. Something's going on back there if Sango just screamed.
Shippo doesn't panic. "Roll it over into the water on two, one, two!"
It practically flies out of our hands as the heavy piece of fiber glass dives into the water.
"What was that?!" Shippo screams from our end of the boat. "You nearly snapped the rudder off! What happened?!"
Kagome and I lean against each other as we pant. A few seconds later we actually realize what we're doing and back away sharply. I look back to where Sango and Miroku are standing. Sango is furiously red and Miroku looks like he just won the lottery.
Kagome walks over to Sango. "What happened?"
Sango sighs and whispers to Kagome in her ear. She blinks and then laughs loudly.
I walk over to Miroku, curious and ask, "Mind telling me what happened?"
He sways back and forth as he hums. "She let go of the boat."
. . .
"Why?"
"You were pretty close to Kagome, too, just then, were you not? Don't tell me you didn't have an urge to touc-"
"MIROKU! NO, as a matter of fact, I DIDN'T have an urge to do THAT! Man . . . don't you ever learn?"
"Nope," he says smiling slyly. I roll my eyes.
Shippo sighs. "Okay . . . Kagome and Miroku, you two are typically starboards right?"
They both nod. "And InuYasha and Sango, ports, right?"
I nod and Sango repeats.
"Okay . . . theeeenn. . . well, it would be best like that . . ." He makes little hand movements as if he were drawing a diagram while he thinks. "Okay! I've got it."
. . .
"Got what?" Kagome asks, puzzled.
"The order from stroke to bow! It'll go InuYasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku. Everyone clear?"
. . .
"NO WAY am I being in front of that PERVERT! Do you realize what he can DO from behind me?!" Sango screams amongst the silence.
"Sorry, but that's the way it is." Shippo grins. "Now go get your oars, they're the ones with the golden 'S' on them.
We all walk in to retrieve our oars.
---
After everyone is set and in the boat, oars locked, bags tucked behind the person sitting in front of you's seat, hair tied, and all that jazz, Shippo hooks up his cox box and speaks.
"Can everyone hear meeeeeEEEEE??" the box squeals. We all cover our ears. The noise is unbearable.
Shippo turns the left knob down. "Oops! Sorry about that. Can everyone hear me now?"
We all nod shakily. "Alright! Count down when ready!"
I crack my wrist. "One."
Kagome adjusts her seat. "Two!"
Sango scoots up a little farther. "Three . . ."
Miroku also scoots up a little farther. "Four."
Shippo's voice echos over the speaker. "Alright! Push off the dock, my fellow oarsmen!"
We do as we're told.
. . .
Only to find that our boat is completely uneven.
Shippo quivers. "O-okay! Set up the boat! Ports up, starboards down!" Miroku accidentally went up, and Kagome thought to do it too, so she put her oar up as well. It almost tipped over so Sango leaned toward the other side, when she put her oar down, but when I did it too, the boat started leaning the other way, so Sango got scared and sat upright again.
Shippo shouts, "Starboards up, ports down!"
No one moves.
He sighs. "In the middle."
We sloppily bring ourselves down to where the oars are supposed to be.
I definitely think we made it worse.
This is going to be a looong trip.
---
AN: Um, woot. Please review! The more you review, the more I update! ;)
AN: Sorry 'bout that. I'm a little POed at the moment because my computer doesn't let me use italics or bolds or even the little star things (you know, shift 8? Yeah.) I don't know why. I'm using Microsoft Word, so I don't know why it's doing that. Oh well. If anyone can give me any help, my e-mail is olivia(underscore)montgomery(at sign)nobles.edu . . . Thanks!
NEvee, this chapter should be interesting . . . sorry that my chapters are short and sloppy. Trust me, I didn't intend for them to be that way. My computer . . .well, let's just say if there's one more slip up it's going out the window. ;)
Okay.
Enjoy!
---
Way Enough
---
This . . . cannot . . . be happening . . .
This . . . CANNOT . . . be happening . . .
"Y-you mean to tell us that we're going to have to row . . . together?!" Sango stutters at the petite old man, inching away from Miroku.
"Precisely," Myoga replies rather calmly. He cracks an eye open to see our extremely pale faces. "What? Oh, don't tell me you didn't read the second page of the letter you all got . . ."
No one moves. Myoga sighs.
"Oh for cryin' out loud . . . do I hafta explain everything to you all?!"
Miroku, wanting to break the awkward silence, puts a hand behind his head and says, "It's possible," while managing a nervous laugh.
Myoga takes a deep breath. "Look. This is a famous camp with high standards of its' oarsmen and women. We only choose the best of the best to come here every summer. My scouts search all year for the top rowers to take this opportunity, do you understand me? This isn't some joy ride. You're here to finish this rivers course in least amount of time possible."
. . .
'Okay . . . I already knew that . . .' I think silently. 'But what's with the girls?!'
"You all are the best of the best, regardless of your gender," Myoga says softly. "My scouts have performed tests and you are all equally strong. So don't be cocky Mr. Youkai . . ."
I perk up, my eyes narrowing in confusion. 'Can he read minds . . . ?'
The silence falls again, but this time, Kagome breaks it.
"Um . . . coach Myoga? I-"
"Please. Just Myoga." He smiles.
'Okay, so he calls me cocky and he's just peachy-keen with miss 01 over there . . .'
"Um, okay. Myoga, when do we start rowing?"
Myoga nods rapidly as if to answer her any second. "Ah, ah, yes. You will be starting later this afternoon."
. . .
"WHAT?!" we all shout in unison.
Myoga cocks his head to one side. "What 'what'? You're coxwain will be meeting you at the dock in one hour. I suggest you get all your important essentials together and get ready to rumble!" He's almost ecstatic at this point, causing the rest of us to take a step backward.
He sighs again. "Oh well. I'll just leave you to your business. Just follow the steps out the back door of the cottage and they should lead you down to the dock." He turns slowly to walk of the creaky cottage. "Farewell! I shall see you soon!" He gives us one last large smile and shuts the screen door behind him.
. . .
We all take a deep breath and turn to our bags to remove anything we need. My big mouth being one of them. "I can't believe this . . ." I mutter, tossing things across my corner of the cabin.
"Can't believe what?" Miroku replies.
"I can't believe we're stuck rowing with girls! I've seen girls row at school and trust me, it ain't pretty." I continue to whisper.
"Um . . . InuYasha? Has is somehow crossed your mind that I attend your same school?"
. . .
". . .possibly. . .but that's not the point! I don't want to be going easy on a bunch of nail filing, make-up wearing, hair obsessed morons!"
"We're right here!!" Sango and Kagome shout together. Sango takes over. "We can hear your every word, and trust me, I don't know about the bimbos at your school, but you will not have to go easy on us."
"Yeah, yeah. You just keep telling yourself that."
"Why you little-!" But Sango's interrupted by Miroku.
"My dear Sango, I hope you know that while my friend here has other thoughts, I do not think of you as weak or anything of the women he just described." I roll my eyes.
"Um, thank you . . . I think . . ." Sango replies rather stricken. She doesn't even feel the heat rising in her cheek bones.
"I'm glad to hear that. For I'd like to ask you-"
"Oh for crying out loud, not this again!" I grab my bag and push out the door, nearly breaking the screen. I just manage to hear the 'would you bear my child' speech and the famous slapping sound right on afterward.
I sit down on the steps and reach for my little bag that my "mother" had packed for me to bring along in the boat. Luckily, I'm already wearing my uniform underneath my clothes so I don't have to change. I throw the mini bag over my shoulder and use my anger to kick my real bag into the trees.
Eh, I'll get it when we get back . . .
. . .
If we get back . . .
---
God this is a nice boat . . .
It's perfectly straight; the riggers are completely in tact, and there's nothing out of place.
This is like what the professionals use!
I slowly run my finger along the side of the glossy black fiber glass. I remove my finger to find a tiny hint of dust.
Well, that's no good.
I look on the side of the brand name – Millennium. Hm. Never rowed in one of those before . . . looks pretty new, maybe a year or two old. I duck under the boat in it's slings to look on the side where the personalized name is supposed to be placed –
The letters, 'S-H-I-K-O-N' are written in clear gold writing. I reach up to feel the 'K' which is slowly beginning to peel off.
"Don't bother, the second we put the lettering on, the 'K' never really felt it needed to plaster up straight," a familiar feminine voice calls from the entrance of the boat house.
Kagome.
"How do you know?" I ask without looking her directly in the eyes. For some reason, I just don't want to look at her beautiful doe eyes . . . what the?! Where did that come from?!
"I live in this neighborhood. I would always come down here every summer and see them push the rowers off the dock. I remember when we first got this boat three years ago."
"Oh . . . do you and Sango go to the same school?"
"Used to. She moved about a year and half ago to live with her dad and little brother. But she promised me we'd row together again so, I guess, here we are." She smiles.
God damn that smile! I stare at her directly in the eye. She's wearing her usual crew suit uniform that's colored in navy blue like everybody elses.
The thing I hate about crew wet suits is the fact that they show everyone around the person just what their curves look like.
And by the gods, hers are near perfect. Her hips, her breasts, everything! For some reason, I can't get over it.
And she's also has her hair tied back in a low ponytail. Something strikes me - with her hair like that she looks almost like . . .
No. Nevermind. I'm not going to think about that now . . .
"Are you okay?" She snaps me out of it.
"Wha? Oh, right. Yeah. Okay. Um . . . can I ask you another question?"
"You just did," she laughs playfully and strides away from the boat house and down toward the dock.
I blink.
Then I sigh as I pull my long hair back and tie the bottom of it with a black strip of cloth that I always bring. My own crew suit is starting to kill me.
"You know, if you were checking her out, you should have done something," a whiny little voice calls from behind me. It scares me half to death. I jump slightly and whirl around to find that no one is there . . . creepy . . .
"Down here, genius." I look down to the source of the whiny voice.
It's a kid. A little kid. A whiny little bastard of a thing- "Why did you scare me like that?! Who are you?!"
"Shippo! The name's Shippo. And I didn't mean to scare ya. I just wanted to give you some advice."
"I don't NEED advice from a six year old!" I step back a little so my neck doesn't have to kill me from looking down.
"I'm not six, you idiot! I'm ten an- hey!" he whines as my fist meets the top of his skull.
"Don't call me an idiot, you little brat!" I dig my fist in further.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Cut it out!"
"Make me!" By this point, I'm enjoying it.
"InuYasha!" Kagome shouts from the entrance of the boat house, her smiley expression gone from two seconds ago. "Let him go!"
"Why should I? He's a little prick!"
"Let him GO!" She screams loud enough for my ears to split.
I release the red-haired ball and rub my ears. "You didn't have to scream, wench!"
"Yeah?! Well you don't have to call me wench OR kill our coxwain!"
. . .
"WHAT?! That little ten year old is our COX?!"
"YES! That's what I just SAID!" She shouts louder.
"WHY are you SHOUTING?!"
"WHY ARE YOU?!"
I growl. She huffs and walks toward the cox who is now on the other side of the boat house. "Are you okay?" She says in the same sweet voice she had spoken to me earlier.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Where are the other rowers?"
"They're coming. Can I get you anything?" She smiles.
"No, thank you! Wow. You're really nice! Why d'jya go with him?" Shippo smiles as he looks my way. I stagger back without realizing it.
"Wh-what?!" Kagome stutters. "Oh, n-no! We're not- uh . . . together . . ."
"Oh! Well that's a relief. I was going to say you could do a lot better."
"WHAT?! WHY YOU LITTLE-!!"
"What are you so angry about, InuYasha?" a very red faced Miroku says next to Sango at the front of the boathouse. And I'll tell ya right now, it wasn't the blushing kind of red . . .
Sango's wearing almost the exact same thing as Kagome except she has a black sash around her hips and her long brown hair is up in a high ponytail.
Miroku's wearing the same suit I have on cause it's the only ones our school gives us. Other than that, and the hand prints on his face, he looks pretty damn normal.
"I'm not angry," I growl under my breath.
"Yes you are." Miroku grins widely.
"Is this everybody?" Shippo asks. Kagome nods in response. "Okay! Hands on Shikon!"
"What?! We're going already?" Kagome asks bewildered.
"I have orders from Myoga to get you guys out on the water asap."
"Are you really our cox?" Miroku blinks.
"The best in the region!" He responds proudly. "Well? What are you waiting for? Miroku, Sango, grab the bow, InuYasha, Kagome, grab the stern. Come on, people! We're wasting time here!"
We all scramble to our feet and do as told, hooking our hands on the rim of the boat.
"Up to your shoulders on two, one, two!" We obey as the boat rises in the air up to some shoulders and to the heads of others. The height difference might cause a problem . . .
"Walk it slowly out of the boat house on two, one, two!" Shippo can barely reach the stern end let alone guide it down and along the dock.
For a high class boat, this is pretty heavy . . .
Naw. It's probably just because we don't have enough man power.
We finally get it aligned and Shippo shouts. "Go over to the left side of the dock."
We scoot our way over to the left dock side and wait for commands as the boat seems to be getting heavier. I prepare myself for lifting.
"Over your heads on two, one, two!"
The boat rises above our heads as we all scoot under with both hands on the rim of the boat. It turns out, Kagome was almost even with me on the other side. So when she came in, well, I believe we're a little close at the moment . . . wonder how Miroku's doing . . .
"EEEEEPPP!!!"
Enough said.
Kag and I can feel the boat slipping backward. Something's going on back there if Sango just screamed.
Shippo doesn't panic. "Roll it over into the water on two, one, two!"
It practically flies out of our hands as the heavy piece of fiber glass dives into the water.
"What was that?!" Shippo screams from our end of the boat. "You nearly snapped the rudder off! What happened?!"
Kagome and I lean against each other as we pant. A few seconds later we actually realize what we're doing and back away sharply. I look back to where Sango and Miroku are standing. Sango is furiously red and Miroku looks like he just won the lottery.
Kagome walks over to Sango. "What happened?"
Sango sighs and whispers to Kagome in her ear. She blinks and then laughs loudly.
I walk over to Miroku, curious and ask, "Mind telling me what happened?"
He sways back and forth as he hums. "She let go of the boat."
. . .
"Why?"
"You were pretty close to Kagome, too, just then, were you not? Don't tell me you didn't have an urge to touc-"
"MIROKU! NO, as a matter of fact, I DIDN'T have an urge to do THAT! Man . . . don't you ever learn?"
"Nope," he says smiling slyly. I roll my eyes.
Shippo sighs. "Okay . . . Kagome and Miroku, you two are typically starboards right?"
They both nod. "And InuYasha and Sango, ports, right?"
I nod and Sango repeats.
"Okay . . . theeeenn. . . well, it would be best like that . . ." He makes little hand movements as if he were drawing a diagram while he thinks. "Okay! I've got it."
. . .
"Got what?" Kagome asks, puzzled.
"The order from stroke to bow! It'll go InuYasha, Kagome, Sango and Miroku. Everyone clear?"
. . .
"NO WAY am I being in front of that PERVERT! Do you realize what he can DO from behind me?!" Sango screams amongst the silence.
"Sorry, but that's the way it is." Shippo grins. "Now go get your oars, they're the ones with the golden 'S' on them.
We all walk in to retrieve our oars.
---
After everyone is set and in the boat, oars locked, bags tucked behind the person sitting in front of you's seat, hair tied, and all that jazz, Shippo hooks up his cox box and speaks.
"Can everyone hear meeeeeEEEEE??" the box squeals. We all cover our ears. The noise is unbearable.
Shippo turns the left knob down. "Oops! Sorry about that. Can everyone hear me now?"
We all nod shakily. "Alright! Count down when ready!"
I crack my wrist. "One."
Kagome adjusts her seat. "Two!"
Sango scoots up a little farther. "Three . . ."
Miroku also scoots up a little farther. "Four."
Shippo's voice echos over the speaker. "Alright! Push off the dock, my fellow oarsmen!"
We do as we're told.
. . .
Only to find that our boat is completely uneven.
Shippo quivers. "O-okay! Set up the boat! Ports up, starboards down!" Miroku accidentally went up, and Kagome thought to do it too, so she put her oar up as well. It almost tipped over so Sango leaned toward the other side, when she put her oar down, but when I did it too, the boat started leaning the other way, so Sango got scared and sat upright again.
Shippo shouts, "Starboards up, ports down!"
No one moves.
He sighs. "In the middle."
We sloppily bring ourselves down to where the oars are supposed to be.
I definitely think we made it worse.
This is going to be a looong trip.
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AN: Um, woot. Please review! The more you review, the more I update! ;)