Innocent Kisses in the Rain
Chapter 7
*
"The sixth grade level will be taking a field trip next week on Tuesday taking place during and throughout school hours. We will be asking chaperones to drive a chosen group to the place which you know grows your food. It is not a factory, but many strawberry fields - yes, like a pumpkin patch I suppose - where we will be given a tour of the very old facility and then will proceed to harvest the strawberries that are ripe by this season. After everybody has filled their own basket, we will go back into the facility and they will allow us to use their kitchens to make what we've decided will be a cake - dressed in strawberries. They will explain better when we get there. Please return this permission slip by tomorrow and the amount of money required to participate in this educating experience. If you have and family or friends that are sixteen or older we need as many chaperones as we can get." The teacher winked at them in what he hoped was a playful or friendly fashion, but the aura soon faded when the classroom burst into chatter and excited outbursts.
"I did forget to mention that those coming on this field trip will have to do a… uh - minor write up or report on our activities… How we did them, the information they give us about their history and about the production of… strawberries… Their seasons, their growing habits… You know what I am expecting…" He tried once more at a friendly face but instead gave them a tight smile. His eyes glinted almost evilly as he passed out the permission slips. Then the bell rang.
The class left with a groan and the murmurs of speech continued on into the hallway. Kagome smiled softly though as she rose to meet Inuyasha as he got out of his seat.
"You think your brother can do it? He's sixteen, isn't he?" Kagome asks hopefully.
"There's no way I'm going to ask my brother to breath down my neck while I do something as utterly stupid as picking fruit." Inuyasha sniffs, turning away from her to gather his books.
She huffs back at him and spins on her heel toward the door, "then I will ask him myself you big jerk!"
Inuyasha ground his teeth in annoyance and slightest jealousy as she walked stiffly out of the room. He did not want his older brother to go.
"I'll go." Sesshoumaru's short answer startled her but its evenness was a sign that he was indeed serious.
"Really?! That'll be so much fun!" Kagome exclaimed, having the undying urge to jump on him for a hug.
"I can imagine." Came the grumble behind them. A small smirk appeared on Sesshoumaru's lips.
Kagome looked away.
'Is he doing this because he wants to or because he wants to get Inuyasha angry?' Kagome thought, her face becoming somber.
"Many of the girls in my class have already decided to go. Woman and children." Sesshoumaru comically closes his eyes, leans his head back, and offers his now contented smirk to the sun.
"We're not children." Was Kagome's instinctive answer, and she saw his mouth twitch again.
"Of course not Kagome. You are much more mature than my brother." Sesshoumaru said loud enough for Inuyasha to hear.
Kagome mentally groaned as Inuyasha pounced on Sesshoumaru from behind; as they fell to the ground they began to wrestle - 'as boys will do' - and growling at each other like animals.
Kagome walked on.
*
"The angel was very good - the one that they sent down. She was the descendant of Uzume - the goddess of joy and passion. This woman would surely remind the so called demon about his heritage. If worse came to worse, this angel would not be embarrassed to seduce the 'demon' into coming back to heaven with her. She set out on her search."
Kagome looked through her window at the evening sky, smiling up at the stars.
'This field trip and the report we will have to write will be on top of writing our myth.' Kagome sighed mentally. 'I don't care what anybody thinks. Sixth grade is always going to be remembered as the most complex and exasperating grade - and period - of my LIFE.'
She rolled up in her pink sheets and dejectedly pushed the notebook and paper off her bed.
'Tomorrow Mom will give me the permission slip to turn in. And she agreed to chaperone. Just like Sesshoumaru… We can all eat so many strawberries we'll be so sick… And Sesshoumaru will smile… really big…' Kagome smiles as she falls into sleep about thick cotton candy clouds and the four of them eating so many strawberries that they didn't eat for a week…
*
"Okay! Everybody, please choose a group that you would be comfortable with traveling with and we'll go! I know the way so the parents can just follow me! The younger chaperones must go with an adult, for you will only acquire such high status or power once we've reached our destination." the teacher called above the excited chatter of the classroom in a joking matter, winking again 'playfully'. Kagome giggled and ran to retrieve Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha.
When everybody was with their chosen adult, they walked in an organized fashion to the parking lot. It just looked to a random observer like they were pushing and shoving and rushing to touch the car door first.
~ At the strawberry farm ~
The baskets were passed out and soon everybody was rushing through the vast fields of green speckled pink.
Kagome wore green jean shorts, a pink candy cane striped sleeveless top (the straps were about an inch thick), and a pair of brown hiking boots. Her hair flew about her as she dashed happily into the expanse of sweet smelling fruit.
Inuyasha followed her.
"I want to get really big ones so that Mama can make us a gigantic strawberry cake!" Kagome giggled as she dragged Inuyasha with her.
Sesshoumaru was assigned to kitchen duty for the first half of the trip and 'children supervision' for the second half.
Kagome and Inuyasha wandered farther and farther from the main body of students, searching for the reddest strawberries.
Soon it was relatively quiet.
"I hope it doesn't start to rain while we're out here." Kagome mumbles as she bends down to pick another strawberry. A gust of wind blows her clothes and she stumbles back a step. The sky is spreading grayness as storm clouds slowly creep and crawl across the once blue sky.
"Kagome. It would be safest if we started heading back now." Inuyasha warned, tossing a glance back in the direction they'd come. Almost completely on the other side of the field, the maze of small buildings are almost lost to the sky - small in the distance. But they were still on the grounds.
"You're the last person I'd think would be talking about safety, Inuyasha!" Kagome grunts as she pushes onward, the vines and stalks of strawberries beginning to grow wildly and unorganized, yanking at their clothes.
"You two have come pretty far out." A hushed voice speaks from behind them.
Kagome spins and sees a stoic Sesshoumaru, exasperation barely straining his features.
"See how many strawberries we've picked?" Kagome offers her white basket which is now bulging with big red strawberries.
Wind catches her again and she almost trips.
"We are going to go back now." Sesshoumaru speaks softly, halfway turning the other way.
He is not happy with them.
Suddenly Inuyasha rethinks his earlier request and tugs on Kagome's hand.
"He's just being a kill-joy Kagome. Let's see what's over the hill." Inuyasha insists, pulling her insistently toward the incline.
They were indeed heading toward a hill. Kagome is curious.
"Please, Sesshoumaru?" Kagome asks softly as she unconsciously lessens her strain against Inuyasha's pulling, "just a quick look. You can come too, and watch us…" Kagome begs him for permission.
His eyes narrow at her preference to his brother but he begrudgingly steps up beside them.
Thunder claps in he distance and Kagome stifles a whimper.
At the top of the hill they look down…
The building looks old, much older than the main buildings they had left behind.
The paint is peeling and it looks spooky - like a haunted house from a horror movie.
"C'mon, let's go look." Inuyasha grins and bursts down the hill, dragging a suddenly unwilling Kagome with him.
A strangled "no!" comes from Sesshoumaru as he sprints down behind them, and Kagome lets out a yelp as they hit level ground again. They are running toward what Kagome has dubbed the 'haunted house'.
It starts to rain.
As soon as Inuyasha pushes open the door and the three of them are all inside, they close the door and look around.
Kagome holds her breath, as if expecting to die at any moment.
"The others will have gone inside by now. We could catch sickness if we try to make it back to one of the main buildings in this weather. We'll have to wait it out in here." Sesshoumaru says thoughtfully, though he shoots a venomous glare at Inuyasha as if it was all his fault.
Kagome shakes out a head full of water and walks across the room cautiously.
She runs her hand across the dust covered table top.
"I heard a story about a supposedly 'ghost haunted' place down here. It used to be the main building until they started having problems." Sesshoumaru comments at the scattered sinks and pantry doors that are partway open.
"Haunted?" Kagome asks, choked with fear.
"Ghosts don't exist." Inuyasha bluntly states, brushing past Kagome and flinging open a door.
Kagome shrieks and throws herself backward but nothing happens. Finally, lightening lights the room and Kagome trembles.
She places her basket of strawberries on the table with shaking hands and begins to survey her surroundings.
"Mama will be worried." Kagome says softly.
"I'm sure she will. You should not have come out this far." Was Sesshoumaru's cruel response, but it was laced with frustration and disdain at being in an unplanned and unprepared for situation. The comment was obviously directed at both of them as Sesshoumaru gracefully took a seat on a tabletop.
Kagome picks up a strawberry and tearfully nibbles on the tip.
"At least we won't starve." Comes out of her mouth before she can stop it.
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru glance sharply at her but do not speak.
Time passed. They waited.
Kagome rose quietly and crept to the other side of the room when it seemed Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru were occupied with another one of their arguments.
She cracked open a door and peered into the darkness, curiously.
Turning her eyes back to Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru for a moment, she made up her mind.
'While they bicker the storm away I'm gonna see what all this place had in it.' Kagome smiled an ironic but slightly troubled smile. 'How those most frightened by horror stories love to experience that fear so much - I'll never know. At least the thunder will be quieter if I go down there.' Kagome gulped and padded down the steps.
There were no lights.
Countertops and cabinets met her eyes, all shadowed in dense blackness.
Another crash of thunder.
Kagome gulped and changed her initial plan.
Crawling over to a corner, Kagome huddled in wait for the storm to subside.
*
"Kagome?" His voice called into the shadows of the supposed one floor building.
"We can go now, the rain's gone." Inuyasha called and walked forward, touching the strawberries she had placed on the table.
"Kagome?"
"Where did she go?"
"We need to find her." His firm voice was laced with worry.
They flung open every door as light began to beam in through the windows, and finally they found the door she had entered.
Darkness extended into every crevice in the wall, foreboding and tantalizing all at once.
Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru exchanged a look and Sesshoumaru started down first.
"Kagome?" He asked into the darkness, seeming to park it as if it was water and he was stone.
She did not answer.
Inuyasha began to walk down after him. Birds began to chirp outside.
Reaching the bottom, Sesshoumaru tried the light switch. Nothing happened.
The sound of breathing was heavy in the silence, and Sesshoumaru tentatively followed his ears.
Kagome sat in a corner, staring at the floor as if trying to blot out the world.
Sesshoumaru kneeled before her.
"Kagome, are you okay?" Sesshoumaru asked gently, taking her trembling hands. Her eyes met his.
"Is the storm over?" She whispered.
"Yes. We're going to walk back now." Sesshoumaru said and pulled her up.
She rose on shaky legs.
They made their way back and Inuyasha looked at her curiously, following behind them.
Climbing the stairs, leaving the place, and walking back across the fields was a chore.
When they got back, the parking lot was almost empty. Mrs. Higurashi rushed to meet them though.
"Kagome!" She exclaimed and embraced her daughter.
"Mum. We went too far and had to stay at the old building over there for a while… Where is everybody?" Kagome murmured, looking around.
"Hon, that building was knocked down decades ago. You must have been seeing things. There isn't a building down there." One of the people from inside said at the doorway, "I'm glad you're all fine and healthy though." She turned back to her work.
"Yes, there was a building on the other side of that hill." Sesshoumaru firmly stated.
Kagome's mother shifted uncomfortably, "everybody else went home because the parents were calling worried. I said I'd stay and call your teacher as soon as you showed up." Mrs. Higurashi walked away with a stern look behind her.
"You said they talked about a haunted house back there Sesshoumaru." Inuyasha barked.
"I do not know." Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed. "This is unsettling, this confusion." He hissed.
Kagome rubbed her arms and ventured to ask the lady for a cup of tea.
She then realized…
"I left my basket down at the old ghost place!" She exclaimed, earning many demeaning glances. She blushed and looked away.
The lady smiled and agreed to give her another basket of strawberries when she was going to leave.
Kagome smiled brilliantly and promised Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha that she'd make the best cake ever and invite them and their dad over one night to eat it.
Kagome's mother came back and said she's take them home.
Kagome grabbed Sesshoumaru's hand and smiled brightly up at him. He blinked but returned the favor - just so long as Inuyasha was walking ahead of them and debating the existence of haunted houses with Kagome's mom.