Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, but wouldn't it be weird if I did? Here I'd be, the owner of this world famous anime, writing fanfiction for it. Can you be that much of a fan of your own work? It's something to think about.
A/N All I would like to say is thank you for all the nice reviews! You guys are so nice and it makes me so happy that I want to get the next chapter out for you as soon as possible. Thanks especially to KagomeHigurashi66 for reviewing both chapters! And I completely agree with you about the spelling thing. If it takes longer to decipher a word than it does to read a normal length sentence, there's a problem. I watch the screen as I type so I can usually catch myself. But enough about that! On with the next chapter!
"Kagome, wake up," Kagome distantly heard. A slight pressure was applied to her shoulder and began to lightly shake her. Kagome grumbled and turn her back to it, snuggling down into the warmth of her bed.
"Kagome, wake up or I'll have to resort to extreme measures," came a warning tone that Kagome sleepily comprehended was Sango's.
Wait a minute... What was Sango doing waking her up? Flashes of loading up the van, Ayame and Sango annoying her in the car and them arriving at the condo went through her head and she remembered. The ski trip!
Kagome, now fully awake, shot up to a sitting position, accidentally colliding foreheads with Sango who had just been leaning over her.
"Ow, jeez, Kagome, what was that for!?" Sango cried, clutching her forehead.
"Oh, sorry," Kagome apologized, rubbing her own head. "But the ski trip-!"
"Yes, the ski trip," Sango cut in. "What else do you think we're doing here? Besides, I thought you wanted to get out as soon as possible. It's already eight-thirty, the hill opens at nine, and you're not even out of bed yet. Some fanatic you are."
"Ack! Eight-thirty! Must...get...ready!" Kagome said, scrambling out of bed and trying to untangle herself from her sheets.
As soon as she was free, she dashed into the bathroom adjoining her bedroom to take a shower. When she came out, she put her hair into a low ponytail and dressed in some sweat pants and a dark green turtleneck, not forgetting to wear some long underwear underneath.
She ran downstairs to the kitchen where Ayame and Sango were preparing some breakfast out of some of the cereal they had brought along. Kagome sat down with them and dug into a bowl of Corn Pops. Finishing in record time, she sped over to the sink to wash her bowl as Sango and Ayame were left at the table, still only halfway done their breakfast, staring after her.
"Come on, guys, hurry up!" Kagome hurriedly told them once she had finished washing her dishes. "There's no time to lose!"
Sango and Ayame had just finished eating at this time and so they shrugged, got up, and went to wash their own bowls, Kagome hovering over them like a mother hen the whole time.
"Eek! It's nine!" Kagome squealed, looking over at the microwave clock. "Let's go!"
"Good thing we're in skiing distance of the lodge," Sango muttered to Ayame. "Otherwise, I don't think she'd make it." Ayame nodded solemnly in agreement and then they both burst out giggling.
Finally, Kagome's frantic efforts were enough to persuade her friends to move a little more quickly and soon they had put on their ski boots and all their other ski gear, and they were ready to go. They walked down out of their condo, not forgetting to lock it, and stood on a slope facing the lodge. They layed their skis down and stepped into them. Skiing down the incline and past the lodge, they got in line for a chairlift that the management had just gotten up and running.
As they took their seats and began ascending the mountain, they were able to see how large and glamorous the ski resort really was. The peaks of the mountain rose up and reached out for the sky above and intricate ski runs ran in between them and across their surface. There were more runs then Kagome could count and this, she reminded herself, was only one side of the mountain.
"Wow," Ayame breathed in awe. "I knew it was huge, but I didn't know it was this huge."
"Tell me about it," Sango agreed.
Finally the ridiculously long chairlift ride was over, even though it only succeeded in bringing them halfway up the mountain.
"Next time, let's take the gondola* up to the very top of the mountain," Sango suggested. The others nodded in agreement and began looking around for a run to try.
"Let's try this one," Kagome suggested. "It's a blue square, which usually means intermediate."
"Might as well," Ayame shrugged.
"I'll go first," Kagome offered so that they wouldn't all collide with one another. There was probably a slim chance of that happening anyway since the hill was so wide, but Kagome had picked up the precautionary measure while skiing at smaller hills.
She pushed off and felt the familiar exhilaration she received whenever she flew down a ski hill and the wind kissed her cheeks. She may not have been the utmost best skier in the world, but she'd participated in the sport for a long time and she thought she was pretty decent.
Ayame came down next, a bit more hesitant than Kagome, being a little daunted by the large hill. But her skiing level was just as good as Kagome's and the experience was just as exciting. She soon lost her apprehension and started relaxing into her skiing.
Sango watched her friends go down with a smile, then pushed herself off aggressively. She wasn't any better than the other two, but she tended being a bit more reckless, which either made her quicker than them or made her falls more frequent, depending on the hill and how her day was going.
When the three girls reached the bottom, they rode the gondola all the way up to the top of the mountain and then looked around for a new hill to try. They skied down many different hills for the next couple hours and it was nearing lunch time as they decided to take one last run all the way down the mountain.
They were sharing a chairlift with one other older man when Kagome pointed something out that had been on her mind all morning. "There seems to be an awful lot of really good skiers here. I mean, I expect good skiers to come to a place like this, but the amount of really talented people seems to almost outrank the amount of amateurs."
"That's true, Kagome," Sango responded. "I've noticed the same thing."
At this point, the man sitting beside them spoke up. "That's because they're all racers. There's a competition being held next week that's giving racers an opportunity to earn FIS points."
"FIS?" Kagome inquired.
"Yes," the man replied. "It stands for Fédération International du Ski. Racers who want to someday enter the Olympics or join the National Ski Team first race at these competitions. If they win or do well, they earn FIS points which are very telling about a racer's speed and skill. The more FIS points you earn, the higher level competitions you can enter and when you reach a certain skill or level, you will be recognized by the government and hopefully be given a chance to show the world what you can do. It takes a while to move up in the ranks though, and you must train almost non-stop."
"Wow," Kagome blinked and looked back at the skiers racing down the hill with awe. "How high is this level of competition?"
"Fairly high," the man responded. "The weaker skiers have all been weeded out in the lower levels so this competition should be very exciting to watch."
"That's so cool," Ayame said. "And we'll get to see it too! We're still here next week when it's being held!"
"How do you know so much about it, sir?" Sango asked respectfully.
The man chuckled. "Well, I'm a trainer to one of the racers, you see. I swear he's the fastest seventeen year old alive and I really believe he has a good chance at winning this race. My name's Myouga, by the way, and-oh! Speak of the devil, there's my trainee at the top of the hill." Myouga said.
"Where?" the three girls asked all at once.
"Up there at the top, with the red jacket and black pants. You really can't miss him; he's got silver hair," Myouga added helpfully.
All of a sudden, a flash momentarily blinded Kagome and she realized it was the sun reflecting off a boy's hair that was, in fact, silver. It went down the length of the boy's back and was tied in a low ponytail. The boy himself was wearing a red jacket with patches of black and white spread over it in a fashionable and trendy style and his black snow pants had silver streaks up the side of them. He was wearing a black toque and his goggles were covering his eyes and obscuring the features of his face.
"His name's Inuyasha," Myouga offered. "And he's been hopping up the levels of competition and winning all over the place ever since I started training with him. He is truly gifted, but I hope his talent will stay with him during this competition and he doesn't let his ego get the better of him. This level of competition only holds the best and he's going to need to be able to recognize that to be able to pull through and win. Not that I'm doubting him or anything," Myouga added. "I haven't ever seen him do anything but win."
"His hair's dyed, right?" Ayame inquired.
"Actually, no," Myouga replied. "That's his natural hair colour and his eyes are natural too."
"His eyes?" asked Sango.
"Yes, they're actually gold," Myouga answered.
Kagome half-listened as she watched Inuyasha practically dive off the top of the hill with an incredibly strong push and start speeding down towards them like a streak of lightening. His movements were so fluid, Kagome was inclined to think he was made of liquid. "Amazing," Kagome murmured.
"Inuyasha!" Myouga suddenly called down in an annoyed tone, making the girls beside him jump in surprise.
The speeding figure below them automatically swung his skis to the side and stopped short, flinging up snow.
"What do you want now, Myouga?" the boy called up in an equally irritated tone.
Kagome's opinion of him immediately dropped a fraction.
"Inuyasha, can't you even wait for me?!" Myouga called. "How are you supposed to train without your trainer?"
Inuyasha snorted. "Well then, hurry up, old man!" he shouted back.
Kagome's opinion of him once again took a bit of a nose dive. Didn't this guy have any respect?
Passing over him in the chair, Kagome noted that his skiis and poles were varying shades of red, evidently to match his jacket. I wonder what his favourite colour is? Kagome thought dryly.
Finally, the interminably long chairlift ride was over and the four passengers disembarked.
"Well, I hope to see you girls later," Myouga said as they turned to go their separate ways. "I have to go catch up with my impossibly fast and egotistical racer now, so good luck with the rest of your skiing and I'll see you around!" With that, he raced off in the direction of the hill where Inuyasha was impatiently awaiting him.
"Well, that was interesting," Kagome said as she and her friends moved off to find another hill. "I mean, amazing skier, but I wasn't too impressed with his attitude."
"I gotta agree with you there," Sango responded. "Now let's go eat lunch!"
Ayame cheered and started down first. When they all reached the lodge, they layed their skiis and poles against the designated rack and scrambled inside.
Once the warmth from the fire burning inside reached them, they sighed in relief and then found a table at which they could sit. Leaving their gear with Ayame, Kagome and Sango got into the lunch line to order. Coming back to the table with three orders of poutine, they sat down with Ayame and began chatting about the hill, their morning of skiing, the arrogant boy they'd seen briefly, the competition he would supposedly be entering, and just about anything else that crossed their minds.
Finishing their meal, the three girls headed back out to the slopes for the afternoon. They tested out their skiing abilities and limits by going on a range of hill difficulties, but were careful to steer clear of moguls and glades** since they weren't sure their skills were that advanced. They goofed around together, racing each other, pelting one another with snow every now and then and generally having a good time.
When they arrived back at their condo around four-thirty, they were exhausted, but extremely happy. They were worn out from the day, so after each taking long relaxing baths, Kagome, Sango and Ayame had some quick microwave dinners they had brought with them and then plopped down on the living room couch to see what was on TV. Since they were at a ski resort, many of the channels were ones who offered commentaries on the sport and the first channel Sango flicked to was coincidentally mentioning the upcoming ski racing competition there at the Devil's Mountain Ski Resort.
They tuned in for a while, not learning much more than what Myouga had already informed them of, but listening more closely when they started discussing the top racers and who was most likely to win. Apparently, the boy named Inuyasha was tied with another guy named Naraku for the most amount of FIS points in this level, but another competitor, Kouga was in a very close second. Inuyasha would have to work his hardest to pull ahead of Naraku, who was two years older than him, and watch out for Kouga, who was his own age, coming up behind him to grab first. It was going to be close.
In the female division, a girl named Kikyo was leading in FIS points and two other girls, Kagura and Kanna were vying for the second and third spots.
After a while, the girls tired of watching the commentary and they switched to a channel that was about to play the movie Good Will Hunting. Being one of their favourites ("Matt Damon!" Ayame squealed.), they decided to watch it before heading to bed early due to their complete lack of energy and ability to stay awake any longer.
*the gondola I'm talking about here is like a little cabin attached to a strong cable that takes you up the hill, not the boat thingy!
**glades are ski runs that run through paths in the trees
A/N Alright! That one was really long (to type anyway) so I hoped you enjoyed it. I've got a few things to mention here and then I'll be out of your way.
One, this ski hill is completely made up, so I don't think you'll be able to find it anywhere. If you are able to, then there's obviously something I've missed. ^_^ I made it by pretty much blending Blue Mountain and Mont Tremblant together (they are real).
Two, yes, chairlift rides are ridiculously long, especially if you have to go up a mountainside or even half of it.
Three, poutine is the ultimate ski food and to me it's basically mandatory to have it whenever you go skiing. Mmmm, fries, melted cheese and gravy...
Four, Kikyo and Inuyasha in this story have had no previous romantic goings on and will not proceed to have them. Kikyo's just the lead female racer, an acquaintance and maybe a friend (she's not evil in this either).
Five, FIS is real, though I don't compete in it. I'm not nearly good enough for that so I just race with my ski hill team. In fact, I'm going to a race tomorrow (Sunday) which is probably the day that this'll be posted on. I originally got the inspiration for this story while I was at a ski camp preparing for the racing season so hopefully more good ideas will come to me while I'm there (although I've already got many, many fun ideas...hehehe).
Six, thanks again for the nice reviews and I hope to hear what you think of this chapter!
Seven, I bet everyone's thinking about how long-winded I am and how you wish I'd just shut up and end this A/N. So I think I'll do just that and stop pestering you now. Talk to ya next chapter!