A/N: Well it looks like my desperateness for reviews has paid off a bit, eh? XD
And oh yeah, I do not own 'Swing Life Away' by Rise Against. Although I ALSO love that song to pieces X3
I advise you find this song somewhere on the internet (just type in 'swing life away listen' or something like that on Google, or watch the music video on Launch while reading this part
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News
Inuyasha frowned, plunking at his acoustic guitar. He tried another chord, and—finally satisfied with the tune of the strings—started playing one of his favorite songs. Yeah, so it was one of the more sentimental songs of his collection. But hell, nobody had to know that.
As he strummed the instrument with practiced ease, he started to sing along in a low voice:
"Am I loud and clear, or am I breaking up? Am I still your charm or am I just…bad luck…"
He closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of the coarse strings. Having long nails, he didn't need a pick; "Loser's nails," he scoffed, and usually earned a scowl from a fellow musician. It was a reason he didn't have many guitar or bass playing friends. Well, not like he cared much.
"…I'll show you mine, if you show me yours first. Let's compare scars, I'll tell you whose…is worse. Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words…"
He put on a small smile as he approached the chorus line of the song, "We live on front porches, and swing life away. We get by just fine here on minimum wage. If love is a labor I'll slave 'til the end, I won't cross these streets until you hold my hand…"
The wonderful, unusual magic that was naturally created by music vanished suddenly when the door banged open to reveal a hysterically laughing Miroku.
"Oh, man," he hooted, pointing, "I knew it! I knew you liked a freakin' chick song!" he grabbed his sides for support, and continued sniggering.
Inuyasha growled and threw the guitar down on the bed. He approached the cackling dark-haired boy and grabbed him by his shirt. Suddenly the humor of the moment was lost, and the room became silent.
"You are so fucking lucky the girls are out shopping, you bastard." Inuyasha snarled, furious that someone had heard him. "So motherfucking lucky."
Miroku stared back at him with wide violet eyes. He had gone over the line, laughing at witnessing something dangerous, like Inuyasha's softer side, and he knew it.
"No one," the silver-haired boy barked, "no one is going to find out about this, you hear?"
The boy he was clutching by the collar bobbed his head furiously up and down.
Inuyasha let go, and Miroku dropped to the ground.
The boy scowled, rubbing his injured backside, "Geez, 'Yasha. Someone can't take a joke…" but was silenced when Inuyasha gave him another death glare. "I'm going out," he announced quickly, and quickly got up off of the floor.
Inuyasha waited until he heard the door slam, then smiled with satisfaction. He turned back toward his bed, picked up his guitar, and started from where he had left off.
"I've been here so long, I think that its time to move. The winters so cold, summer's over too soon. Let's pack our bags and settle down where palm trees grow…"
------------------------------------------
"Ooh, how 'bout him, Sango?" Kagome giggled, pointing at another totally buffed, totally tan, and totally, totally hot surfer guy. Like totally.
Sango whistled, "Break me off a piece of that!" she said, deliberately rolling her syllables.
They laughed, and trudged on, both weighed down heavily by their large Mall-of-Hawaii-super-expensive-because-you're-a-tourist-so-ha shopping bags. Kagome gazed out at the sparkling ocean with a longing look in her eyes.
Sango saw the craving in her friend's eyes, and grinned. "Don't worry Kags, we'll definitely have time to go there."
Kagome looked back at her, and smiled. "It's on the top of my list."
They called a taxi en route to their hotel.
oooo
The raven-haired girl set her bags down on the floor of their hotel room, and heaved a weary sigh, flopping down on the couch. She looked around, "Where are the guys?"
Sango collapsed next to her, and shrugged lazily. "Who knows?"
They sat like that for a while, eyes closed, enjoying the delicious feeling of tired legs. Then Kagome got up to put her purse away, and something fell out, making a loud clink as it hit the ground.
Sango raised her eyebrows curiously as she stared at the object, "Hey Kagome, what's that?" she asked.
Kagome looked down to see what had fell out of her handbag, and gasped. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed as she hurriedly bent down to pick it up, "Mama would kill me if I broke this!"
"So what is it?"
She smiled, "This…this is an incredible relic…." she held the object up, and Sango saw that it was one half of a shimmering pink jewel. Kagome continued, "It's half of the famous Shikon No Tama. My miko grandmother told my mother to give it to me, for some reason. She said it was my destiny, for she had a dream of a spirit telling her to give it to me before I was born…kind of strange, don't you think?" she said, gazing at the crystal fondly, "The other person that has it, is apparently my soul mate."
Sango sat up, intrigued. "Do you believe it?"
Kagome shook her head, still smiling, "Nah…it's just an old wives' tale. How can a simple jewel find me the supposed 'perfect' guy?" she laughed at the notion.
Sango grinned as she hugged her knees to her chest. "I'd have faith in it, if I were you."
Kagome rolled her eyes as she put the crystal back in her purse. "Yeah well," she sighed, "What are the actual odds?"
Little did she know, the boy in the bedroom a couple of feet away from her was holding the other half, wondering about the strange unearthly glow it produced.
oo
'Is it just me, or does this thing look…different?'
As if to answer him, an unearthly glimmer came from within the jewel, winking at him before disappearing back into its pink depths. It even shook a little bit on its string, like someone had pushed it.
'What the…'
He stared at the jewel for a while, then shrugged as he put the pendant around his neck and under his shirt.
'Keh. Probably nothing.'
oo
The door of the suite banged open, and the two girls jumped a foot in the air. Miroku entered, looking absolutely livid, yet thoughtful somehow.
Sango put a hand to her heart, "Damn, Miroku! You scared the hell out of us!"
For once, the boy didn't use any of his perverted charms as he trudged past them without a word. The slam of his bedroom door echoed throughout the hotel room, causing Inuyasha to peek outside of his own one.
"What the hell was that?"
Sango scowled. "His royal lecherness is pissed off."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Wonder what it is now…"
Kagome raised her eyebrows, "What do you mean by that?" she asked the silver-haired boy.
Inuyasha folded his arms behind his head, "Lots of things. Like how one time, the idiot got himself into a poker game with the pros. It was a long time ago, but he still gets awesomely pissed off whenever I mention it. They asked him, and being like the chump he was, he accepted." he paused and glanced at Miroku's closed door, "he lost, obviously, and, not having the money to pay up, he made a deal with the boss."
"What was the deal?" Sango asked, now in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water.
"He had to go out with the boss's daughter."
Kagome gave the boy a confused look. "What's so bad about that?"
"His daughter was a massive, high-class, five-hundred pound beast." He grinned, "She made him pay for her shopping, dinner, and the fucking opera show they saw that night. He returned to our place with a wallet missing over seven hundred bucks and a stiff back from falling asleep at the theatre."
They all laughed, a rare moment of newfound friendship.
"He must've enjoyed that." Sango said, chuckling.
"Anyways," Inuyasha continued, "my guess is that it was gambling, once again. It's not like it's the first time he arrived from someplace like this."
"Do you think we should check on him?" Kagome asked, feeling a bit sorry for Miroku.
The silver-haired boy shrugged. "If you really want to deal with his sob story crap right now."
Silence. "Nahh…" Kagome agreed, and waved it off.
Inuyasha smiled. Something about this girl, he kind of liked…
Wait? Liked? No, not liked, that was too…strong a word. Found acceptable, yeah, that was it. Maybe it was her attitude he…accepted; her mood swings that ranged from kind and generous to moody and pissed off. It was quite fun to watch if he wasn't usually the reason for her angry moods. She really was a fiery bitch.
'Nothing like Kikyou….' He sighed, and his smile vanished. He really needed to get out of this fucking mess. 'And start a new life,' like Miroku had said….
Meanwhile, Kagome was watching the emotions flit around his face with interest. When he was deep in thought, it was like he didn't guard his feelings as strongly. It seemed like violating his terms, reading his features like that, but it was too interesting to pass up.
All of a sudden Miroku's poor bedroom door once again knocked against the wall as the weary dark-haired boy sulkily walked out of it, and nearly crumpled on a beige armchair, staring at the floor.
Sango finished poking around the fridge and pulled out an apple. Upon seeing Miroku come out into broad daylight, she smiled. "So what brings you back into the land of the living, Sport?"
Miroku didn't even look up from the carpet, and mumbled something no one caught.
"Speak up, lecher!" Inuyasha said loudly, and got a dirty look from the other boy.
Sango bit into the apple. "Bad day at the Hawaiian Casino?" Kagome and Inuyasha threw her a look and her eyes widened as she faltered, "Um, just asking! You know, thought you might to check it out and all, and—"
Miroku gave her an odd look, and she quieted down.
Kagome raised an eyebrow, "C'mon, what happened to the perverted, lively Miroku we all know?" she laid a hand on his shoulder lightly. He didn't even acknowledge the action.
Even Inuyasha was confused now. "Miroku? You okay?" he asked, concerned (but only a little!) for once.
The dark-haired boy ran a hand through his bangs, and heaved a great sigh. "I was just walking around the stores and stuff today, and guess who I came across?"
"Who?" They all asked in unison.
He looked up to meet only Inuyasha's eyes. "Jaken. Sesshomaru's told him to inform us that Mushin's dead."
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A/N: ….
Having a bit of writer's block, so updates will take a bit longer, like they did for this chapter. But your patience will pay off
Just some comments/answers I want to say to my BEAUTIFUL, OH-SO-SEXY reviewers:
Drvnkrazee : In answer to your question, Kagome and Sango won a trip to Hawaii along with Miroku and Inuyasha. I don't know if it's clear or not, but since all four of them were the lucky winners, they shared a suite, so basically, they're sort of forced—in a way—to hang out with each other, cuz I mean, you wouldn't just not talk to that person if you were staying in the same hotel room with them…that's just anti-social. Well, IMO. But it's my story, so I make the rules -.- .. lol, and that's pretty cool about the whole 'Kouga Wolfe' thing…high five!
Pyrochi : How are ya, my man? Long time, no review…glad to see your reviews again XD
Sorami : Your review cracked me up for some reason …
LunarAlchemist : Hey, you reviewed, didn't you? XD Actually, I was kind of wondering why the first crappier version of my story had gotten more reviews than this one…this story is one of those get-better-as-you-read types…yyyyeah.
Coolis17 Why yes, that is my last chapter from the first version…wherever did you get it from? I used the lines in somewhat similar ways, except in different situations, as you could probably see from my last chapter.
Yukouchi : Yeah, thanks for pointing that out :3 I fixed it now
blndmnd1 : Heh heh heh…
Remember – don't hesitate to ask any questions, for I will answer them !
But…you must review in order to do that, no?