&&&&&&&
"Hey, InuYasha, looks like we got a few cuties on the crew this season, eh?" Miroku had his feet up on the club room coffee table as he cracked open his ice-cold MGD.
"Ya, well they ain't dogs at least…hey, toss me one of those. InuYasha needed to drop the 3-ball in order to run the table against Kouga.
Clack.
"Whoop! That's another Jackson ya owe me, bud. Cough it up."
Kouga crushed the bill into a ball and bounced it off of InuYasha's head. He then dropped himself into the big chair as he grabbed the remote and flicked through the channels until he hit "Sports Center".
"You guys gonna hang out tonight, right?" InuYasha took a gulp with an audible belch right behind it.
"Yeah, we deserve to have some fun." Kouga accepted.
"Are you kidding? We got qualifying tomorrow. No way." Miroku said resignedly. InuYasha retorted.
"Yeah, ya old geezer. Turning into a doddering oldster right in front of my eyes. Geez, are ya sure you don't need any help getting into and out of the cars by yourself? I'll bring ya back some "Depends" in case ya pee yourself by accident." Kouga guffawed while Miroku shot him a look that he was not amused.
"Suit yourself. C'mon Kouga."
&&&&&&&
"Well, where the hell is he?" Totosai was getting even more anxious. Kouga had just climbed out of his car, having made his second run. He had clocked 178.28 mph, more than enough to qualify.
"How the hell should I know?"
"You were with him last night, right?"
"Hey! He got his paws on some strange and got lucky, I guess. I can barely remember how I got my own ass home." He ran his fingers through his hair as he took off his helmet. His head was still pounding from lack of sleep and last night's bar-hopping.
'Remind me not to do that again anytime soon.' He told himself.
Totosai considered his options. Kouga had qualified his own car. Miroku was already in the qualifying queue and he wouldn't be able to make his runs and get back to the pit area in time. He had only one choice.
"Higurashi!"
He yelled over the roar of the car just passing. Kagome was going over the choreography of fuel cell replenishment, tire changing, as well as windshield cleanup and driver refreshment with the rest of her crew. She excused herself and ran over to him.
"Yes sir."
"Kagome, it looks like I'm going to need for you to try to qualify the "57" car. You've already done warm-up laps in the cars, so it's not like you're a total novice."
"But that's InuYasha's car!"
"I know. He's… indisposed at the moment." Totosai sought to salvage his star's credibility as best he could.
"Is he ill?" Kagome became concerned.
"Listen. Enough with the 20 questions. Are you up to it or not?" He hoped that throwing down the gauntlet would change her attention.
"I… well of course."
"Good. Here's your authorization slip. Yura has the car already in the queue. Good luck."
"Thank you… I…"
"Enough, girl. Call in to me as soon as you've got the 2-way hooked up. Now get your ass in gear!"
"Yes sir." And off she ran.
&&&&&&&
Yura looked up as she saw the other girl approach the official and give him what looked to be an authorization slip.
'That's Kagome. Where's InuYasha?'
The official waved Kagome on and she walked up to the car. '57' was a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Actually, it was a fire-breathing beast with the fiberglass skin of a Monte Carlo.
"Hi, Yura."
"Where's InuYasha?"
"Totosai said he's ill or something, so I'm going to do the run today."
"One second."
The queue had moved so Yura inched up as well. She locked the car down, then grabbed the bars of the roll cage as she pulled herself out through the 'window'. More than a bit disappointed that she wouldn't be seeing her crush this morning, she resolved to find out exactly what had happened to him. She nonetheless helped Kagome in after she secured her helmet.
"Listen, good luck out there. The girls will all be pulling for you to do well."
She patted Kagome's helmet and gave her a "thumbs up" which Kagome returned. Kagome moved up as the next car left for its run. Two more cars and it was her turn. Yura ran back to the pit area.
"Higurashi, do you copy?" Totosai's voice crackled inside her helmet.
"Copy. I'm next."
"All right now listen up. You'll get a warm-up lap and then the qualifying lap. We only need to get the car to 170 mph to qualify. This will be a piece of cake for you, got it?"
"Got it. A piece of cake."
The official gave her the signal and Kagome shifted into gear. Although the Monte Carlo weighed almost 3500 pounds, the 750 horsepower engine sent 550 ft/lbs. of torque to the drive wheels, and she took off like a shot.
In six seconds she was passing 100 mph. She shifted gears once again. In another six seconds she passed 140 mph. Her heart pounded in her chest at the thrill.
"All right Higurashi. You're doing fine. Just keep her steady and follow the line and you'll be all right." Totosai looked up as she zipped past the pit area the first time, the engine whining that it wanted to be let out even more.
"Got it. Copy that."
150 mph.
Kagome was almost panting with excitement as she fought to keep control of her emotions. This was as fast as she had ever gone with the trucks.
160 mph.
She was approaching the start of the qualifying lap.
Yura had by now informed the rest of the crew that Kagome was driving '57' and they all stopped what they were doing to follow her progress.
Talladega, Alabama was already hot that morning. 88 degrees hot at 9:30 am. That was fine. She could scorch the tires if she needed to. Kagome had a little over 1 mile left of the two-and-a-half mile oval to get to speed.
This was it. She had to downshift to slow into the turn, coming within 1 foot of the wall and then she gunned it.
155 mph.
160 mph.
165 mph.
She saw the finish line less than half a mile away, and coming up fast.
'C'mon Higurashi.' Totosai twisted the wire of his headset around his fingers as she thundered past the pit the final time.
There it was! She passed the magic number with 600 feet to spare, clocking out at 174.628 mph. The pit crew whooped and hollered.
'You go, girl.' Yura thought to herself with pride.
"All right Higurashi. You did well. You can take it easy on this next lap. InuYasha's in, and he'll just have to work his way through the field."
"Sir, I think I can do even better."
"That's not necessary. It's your first time at this speed and you've done enough. Just ease back and coast through this lap."
Kagome thought about what Totosai said for all of three seconds. She bit her lower lip. The car felt so right to her. She knew she could go even faster. If she disobeyed, however, she might never see the outside of the pit again.
She was going for it.
Downshifting into the turn before the starting marker, '57' almost squealed its delight over her decision. The tires gripped the surface, and she rolled out of the turn at 158 mph.
162 mph.
170 mph.
An assistant tapped Totosai on the shoulder as he was working on the chassis specs for Miroku's car.
"What is it?"
"Ah, I thought you told her to coast…"
"What!" He dropped his tablet and ran to the edge of the pit barrier
"What's the gun say!" He yelled.
"She's already at 177.25 going into the final turn!"
"Higurashi! What the hell are you doing!" He shouted into the headset.
With a roar of defiance, '57' rocketed past the pit toward the official timer. The number flashed on the big board.
188.82
"Holy shit! I think she got the pole position." The pit crew buzzed excitedly among themselves.
'57' rolled to a stop at the designated area and the crew practically yanked Kagome out of the car, slapping her on her back and helmet, some of the guys even hoisting her up into the air.
Totosai was at a loss. He had to keep his crew disciplined. The way they were whooping just now meant that he would have to wait until later to admonish Kagome privately for her transgression.
Kagome, astride the shoulders of two of the crew lived in this moment as if she had just won the race itself. She had gone faster than she ever had before. She would never go back to anything else.
&&&&&&&
Kagome walked out of the women's locker room and turned down the hall, nervously chewing her bottom lip. Deep in thought, she almost bumped right into InuYasha, the "golden boy" of the NASCAR circuit as he exited the men's lockers. Her eyes brightened at the prospect of finally meeting him. As soon as he saw her, his face disintegrated into a growl.
"Listen you, next time, keep your ass out of my car, understand? I would have gotten there in the next 5 minutes."
Kagome's short-lived feeling of pride turned quickly to one of frustration.
"I got you the pole position!"
"So that makes you hot shit, huh? Well that's nuthin'. I could do that blindfolded."
InuYasha stopped walking to turn and face her fully. Finally getting a good look at her from this proximity, he realized just how attractive she was. Dark hair cascading past the shoulders, beautiful deep brown eyes, and a fresh face untouched by makeup. And the way her ass filled out that jump-suit…
'Damn. Miroku was right.'
His eyebrow cocked and a wicked smile grew on his face.
"Hey, I got a pole you could get positioned on, sweetness."
He moved in even closer as his expression changed from one of annoyance to one of smooth seductiveness. He put one hand on her waist, while the other trailed up the zipper of her suit from her navel, through the valley of her breasts, to rest on her chin. She was so taken aback, his behavior was so inconsistent with his image, that it took Kagome a moment to get over the shock.
CRACK!
"Ass-hole!"
The sound of Kagome's slap was heard echoing down the hallway. InuYasha grimaced before prodding the suddenly tender area of his face with his finger tips.
"Shit! What did you do that for, bitch? Are ya that homely that no one ever comes on to ya? You should consider it a favor I'm doin' ya. Damn it, this is my photo side, too." He growled at her, his romantic mood changed suddenly.
"Nobody does that to me, ya understand?"
"Hey! What's all the ruckus?" Kouga stepped from the men's locker area.
"This stupid bitch hit me!"
InuYasha had his fists balled up, ready to strike. Kagome gave him a look that dared him to take a swing. Kouga laughed.
"Well it wouldn't be the first time, now would it?" He eased himself between the two combatants. Turning his back on InuYasha, he took Kagome's hand into his own as he bowed to her, his eyes sparkling up at her.
"Please excuse my friend's behavior. I don't know exactly what he said or did to upset you, but allow me to apologize on his behalf." With that, he leaned forward and kissed the back of Kagome's hand. Her anger immediately diffused and she began to blush.
"Oh… well… I… Please, you shouldn't have to clean up his messes."
She squinted an eye back to InuYasha, who was still fuming behind Kouga.
"Believe me, I've got a lot of experience doing just that. You're Kagome, right?"
"Umm… yes." She looked back and forth between the two, not sure if she was being played in a game of 'good guy, bad guy'.
"Hey, you did really well out there today. Keep it up and you'll be on more posters than me or this meathead here."
"Well now, when's the wedding gonna be? I didn't know you were gonna marry the bitch!" InuYasha shot back.
"My name's not BITCH! It's Kagome. Ka-go-me. Got it?" She glared at him once more as her anger resurfaced. Kouga whistled.
"Whoo. Hey now, let's all cool it. And we'd better get some ice on that slap mark, dude. It'll take a lot of make-up to cover that."
He almost laughed, but thought the better of it. Grabbing InuYasha's arm, he dragged him down the hallway, turning back to wink at Kagome.
"See ya later Kagome." Kagome smiled back as her blush started to return.
"Yeah. I'll see you later too! This ain't over by a long shot, you got that!" InuYasha made one last attempt to salvage his pride.
She turned to continue down the hallway towards Totosai's office, her thoughts finally coming back around. She wasn't looking forward to this. She was probably going to have her head handed to her, but she knew she had it coming.
&&&&&&&
A/N: Next pit stop – Sesshomaru and Naraku give the boys of Team Hikada a real run for the money.
Cynical chaos: thanks for your continued support. Hope it gets better.