The next morning, Kagome woke up early and came downstairs in hope of running into the kitchen. It took her a while to find it in the large house and she found herself in the same spot several times.
"Good morning." A voice said. Kagome jumped.
"H-hello." She said nervously. She was scared of sounding stupid if she said the wrong thing in English.
'Sango told me you have trouble speaking English. Well, I'm not to great at Japanese, but the cereal is in the cupboard to the left.' She was shorter than Kagome, and she had dark brown hair and eyes. Her hair was pulled into a single tail at the side of her head. It was rather cute.
"Ohayou!" Kagome said, glad to speak what she was comfortable with. "Watashi wa Kagome desu! Arigatou."
"Onegai... I don't speak Japanese so well. I'll teach you English soon enough."
Kagome nodded, and took out the cereal, poured it into a bowl and added milk. Another person came down the stairs, and soon another after that. Luckily the kitchen was large, because half a dozen people were seated at the counter, not counting Souta, Mom and Sango and Miroku. Kagome tried to introduce herself to them, but her English was shaky.
"H-hello... I am Kagome. Cousin of Sango." She said to one of the other boys. He looked up.
"Hey! I heard about you from Sango! You came from Japan!" He said enthusiastically. "I'm Kouga. My mom was Japanese."
"I... I'm sorry... My English bad." She fought out, feeling stupid when someone sniggered.
He smiled. "I'm sorry. I forgot."
She managed a weak smile in reply. She walked away from the loudly chatting group to go and find Sango. Maybe she could get her to translate.
Kagome found the staircase and climbed it, finding the hall that held all of the bedrooms.
"Sango-chan!" She called, feeling very stupid.
One of the doors opened, and she poked out her head. 'Kagome? What is it?'
'You think that maybe you could translate some of this for me? All of these people are American or part Japanese...' Kagome said quickly.
'Wait for a minute.'
Kagome nodded. Soon Sango came out of her room and led Kagome down the hall. 'Have they been mean to you?'
"Iie." Kagome said, shaking her head. 'But I can't understand what they try to tell me.'
'I see.'
'By the way, can use the phone?'
'Sure, there's one by the TV in the living room.'
"Arigatou." She said breathlessly. 'I'll be right back.' Kagome ran back down to her room and looked through her things until she found the slip of paper that he had handed her back on the plane. She rushed back down the stairs, and picked up the phone. She was nervous as she dialed the number with shaking hands.
It rang twice. Then someone picked up.
"Hello?"
'Ayu? It's Kagome!' She said hurriedly.
"Oh, you must be that girl he told me about. He's out right now, but he asked for me to take your number if you called."
Kagome furrowed her brow. "I am sorry. I do not speak good English. What do you want?"
"Your number. Phone number. What is your phone number?" He said slowly. Kagome put her hand over the receiver.
'Sango! What is this place's phone number?' She asked.
'223-5678' She replied.
'Thanks,' Kagome turned back to the phone. "Two.... Two... Three... Five... Six... Seven...Eight..." She said uncertainly.
"Thank you. I'll tell him you called."
Kagome didn't know how to reply, so she hung up.
'Kagome! Come meet my friends.' Sango said happily. Kagome walked over from beside the TV.
'This is Kouga, you've already spoke with him.' She said, pointing to the boy with long black hair and aqua eyes.
"Kawaii..." Kagome said, referring to the boy's looks.
"Kawaikunai..." She snorted in reply.
"Hey! You two shouldn't talk about me behind my back!"
Sango rolled her eyes and Kagome laughed. 'Anyway. This is Hojou, this is Rin (you talked to her already too), this is Miroku, this is Jakotsu, and this is my little brother, Kohaku.'
Upon hearing their names, they waved.
'I can speak a little Japanese too, so if nee-chan isn't around, you can talk to me.' Kohaku said, smiling. He was quite cute, a little older than Souta, with light freckles from the sun on his cheeks and nose.
Kagome smiled. "Arigatou, Kohaku-kun."
He blushed slightly, and turned back to the paper he had been reading. Sango glared at him.
'He's just showing off.'
'Am not!' He argued. 'I was just offering to be nice!'
'Shut up, Kohaku.' Sango turned back to Kagome. 'Today we are going down to the ocean. I bet you want to come.'
Kagome felt a rush. "Hai!"
'Go get on your bathing suit. Meet us down here in an hour.' Sango said with a smile. Kagome nodded and bounded back up the stairs. In fifteen minutes, she was ready, wearing her bright red bikini that made her feel confident. She wrapped one of her towels around her waist and slung a bag over her shoulder. She looked at herself one last time in the mirror, and went back down stairs.
A couple of the guys were watching TV on the large couch and she could feel the attention shift from the device to herself. Only Jakotsu continued to watch the Usher video.
"What?" She asked in shaky English. The boys gave her a burning look, and went back to the TV. She shrugged it off and stepped outside. The weather was nice. It was June. School would be out soon anyway, so she didn't see why mom would make her go.
A warm breeze made her sigh. She could smell the ocean. The sound of waves crashing made her feel suddenly relaxed. She opened her eyes and looked around. She could see her rented car near the porch in a little mini garage. Sand stretched out until a light blue mass of water hung near the horizon.
'Ocean View.' She said to herself. The color of blue reminded her of Kouga's eyes. She blushed. No time to be thinking about other men, Kagome. You are looking for love from a man you met on a plane. Not one you met in the kitchen.... She shook her head free of thoughts about both men, and walked down the wooden steps, careful not to get a splinter.
Her foot set down on the powder sand. She felt the soft substance squish between her toes. She looked around her. Everything was a deep shade of green. A large forest covered mountain rose out of the land to the left of the house in the distance. So this was Hawaii.
Kagome tried to suppress the giddiness that swept over her. She ran out over the sand in her happiness and stopped just yards from the ocean. There was no one to be seen for miles. She had it all to herself, and she would never take it for granted.
She let out a whoop and ran into the warm water. The waves were large, and she didn't want to get too close, so she waded up to her knees.
'Hey! Kagome! Check this out!' Sango said, running behind her. She was holding a surfboard. Kagome's eyes widened. Sango waded into the water, fighting against the water. She paddled out to a respectable distance.
'Grab one, I'll show you how. They are in the shed beside the house.'
Kagome nodded, and ran past where she had unceremoniously dumped her towel on the sand and sprinted back to the house. She found the shed that Sango had described, and threw the door open. Inside there were at least a dozen nice-looking surfboards. Kagome picked a black and red one, closed the door, and ran back carrying the board under her arm. Sango was surfing a large wave as Kagome waded in. Sango rode it out until the board's fin stuck in the sand and then jumped off.
"It's really simple if you get used to it." Sango said in English. 'You'll never learn if I don't at least talk to you in English.'
'But I won't understand what you're saying.' Kagome joked.
'Kagome, I'm being quite serious...'
'I'm sorry.'
---
After exhausting all of her energy, Kagome trudged back to the beach house and collapsed on the couch. Jakotsu was watching 'Bad Boys II'.
'Do you speak Japanese? Your name is Japanese.' Kagome said, looking over at him. He was a little feminine looking, but she thought nothing if it.
'Yeah. I just don't really talk to that many girls.' he said with a light giggle. 'I was happy to have a Japanese family move in. You'll be surprised how many Japanese people live in Hawaii.'
'Do any of them speak Japanese?' Kagome said with a snort.
'Only a few. You'd have to look for them really hard.'
'I see.' Kagome said distractedly. The phone was ringing. Kagome picked up.
"Hello?"
'Kagome? Is that you?'
'Ayu!' She said happily. 'Where were you? A friend had your cell.'
'Oh, I had to go get settled in my apartment. I didn't think to bring my phone. I want to see you again. When can we get together?'
'I dunno, maybe today. I don't really know where I am... or where to go...'
'You're in luck. I know Miroku, one of the people staying in that monster of a house-' Kagome laughed. '-I also know where it is. I can come pick you up. We can go to one of my favorite places and have lunch.'
'Okay. What time? You have to let me get dressed, I just came from the beach.'
'Just wear something over it. No one cares here in Hawaii. You'll see people all over the place in their suits.'
'I think I'll change. Come in a half an hour! See you then.'
"Ja ne."
"Ja ne."
Kagome hung up the phone and Jakotsu tapped her on the shoulder.
'Aieee!! Don't do that!' She said, jumping about a foot in the air.
"Gomen..." He said, with a huge girlish smile. She could see he had applied lip-gloss. 'That was.... Ayu, right?'
'Yeah...'
'Yes! My baby is coming over!' Jak went into a glimmery state that scared Kagome out of her wits.
'I gotta go change... Bye Jak!'
'Oh! Oh! Me too! (I have to reapply my eyeliner!).'
Kagome fled.
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hoorah!!! hoorah!!! YAY! I love love triangles... wait.... love.... octagons? How many people am I including again? EEEEHHHHHH.....
hey hey! You guys are falling down on your reviewing job!I know this chapter was a little slow, but it gets better.
NEXT EPISODE (;) 15