Disclaimer: Nope, no owner here... You might want to try the other side of the world.
A/N Hello, everybody. Here I am back with another chapter when I really need to be working on that English oral presentation later on this week or studying for the three tests I have coming up. But this is more important, right? Ooooh! I did get more ideas at my race, by the way. Evil, fun, hilarious ideas that you will see in the chapters to come. Anyway, I don't have much else to say, except thanks again for all the incredibly nice reviews and prepare yourself for a little more action in this chapter and the grand entrance of who I'm sure you've all been waiting for (you know who they are) in the next chapter. On with the fic!
"Sango-o-o-o-o!!!" Kagome wailed as her friend pushed her down the black diamond hill and she hit all the imperfections of the slope on the way. "You'll pay for this!" she yelled over her shoulder as she flew straight down the hill with her legs and arms stuck out to the side, making her resemble a star.
It was the next day of their vacation and they had come out once again as soon as the hill opened. They had ridden the gondola up to the top of the mountain and Kagome had suggested that they start off their day with a nice easy run they could warm up on. Thinking thoughtfully of this, Sango had promptly pushed Kagome down a hill labelled with the second highest rating of difficulty and which also happened to run the entire length of the mountainside. Kagome was not liking the situation.
Stumbling and falling a few times, Kagome finally managed to complete the run and reach the bottom of the mountain where she found her two "friends" waiting patiently for her by a nearby chairlift.
Fuming, she skied up to them, but before she could say anything, Ayame spoke up. "Gee, Kagome, where were you?" she asked in mock innocence and confusion. "We were thinking that we might've been able to get another run in before you got here." Sango nodded in agreement.
Kagome glared at them for all she was worth. When she noticed them shift slightly in their skis and steal a nervous glance at one another, she let a sadistic smile slowly spread over her face. "Oh, just you wait, you two," she warned menacingly. "I'll get you back even worse and when you least expect it." She let out a dark chuckle and her two "friends" laughed nervously.
"But for now," Kagome continued on in a ridiculously cheerful voice that did nothing to relief Sango and Ayame's apprehension. "Let's continue skiing, shall we?"
After the next couple runs in which Kagome didn't try anything, Sango and Ayame relaxed somewhat but knew Kagome would never forget so easily. They figured they were safe for now since Kagome said it would happen when they didn't expect it. That didn't bode well for the future, but at the present, they assumed they were not at risk.
Eventually they found themselves facing the lowest level of difficulty hill, a green circle, which was littered with beginners and little kids.
"Is there any way to make this run exciting?" Sango asked.
"I know!" Ayame said, answering Sango's rhetorical question. "Snow plow race!"
"Cool," Kagome said, ready to get some sillyness out of her system. "What are the rules?"
"Um..." Ayame trailed off as she looked to Sango.
Sango immediately lowered her voice and spoke in an official's tone. "Alright, listen up! These are the rules. The snow plow must be a complete V; no cheating and skiing properly! All racers must avoid skidestrians instead of trying to go right through them-"
"Skidestrians?" Kagome asked.
Sango shrugged. "What else am supposed to call skiing pedestrians?" she asked in her normal tone before switching back to her official's. "Poles must be at all times held from between your knees and stuck up straight behind you-"
"Why?" asked Ayame.
"Proper form," Sango informed them.
Kagome gave her an odd look. "You've got some weird rules."
"All participants start at the same line when I say go and the first one to pass the last tree at the bottom, wins!" Sango finished.
"Alright!" cheered Ayame as the three of them lined up at the top of the hill.
"Everybody ready?" Sango questioned. At Kagome and Ayame's affirmative nods, she said, "On your marks, get set, go!"
The three of them pushed off and inched forwards, careful to keep their skis in perfect Vs. Dodging a "skidestrian", as Sango liked to call them, Kagome pulled behind the other two but soon caught back up as they were forced into the same situation. Ayame pulled ahead of her friends at a snail's pace but her first place was soon usurped by Sango and then Kagome. They frequently changed place positions but were all fairly equal.
They all started to feel the back of their legs burning after a while, but ignored it in order to concentrate on the final stretch of the race. As they neared the last tree, Ayame managed to sneak in front with Kagome just behind her. The final score: Ayame, first; Kagome, second; and Sango third.
"No fair!" Sango moaned. "My legs hurt too much on that final part!"
"If you can't take the intense competition and amazing skill needed to partake in this death defying sport," Kagome said with a wicked smile. "You'd better stay out of the way of the pros."
"Urgh!" Sango grumbled in frustration as Kagome and Ayame high-fived. "I can't race on an empty stomach anyway. Let's go eat." she begged.
Her friends giggled but complied, skiing over to the nearby lodge. In the lunch line, Kagome decided on a different meal that day and ordered a cheeseburger. Sango and Ayame gasped as if she had just broken some sacred rule, but she did her best to ignore them as she took her burger back to their table.
"I can't believe she just did that," Sango whispered to Ayame, but loud enough so that Kagome could hear.
"I know, I mean, is it something the poutine did?" Ayame asked in consternation.
"Never!" Sango wailed. Then, taking her fork and digging in to her poutine, she cooed, "It's okay, I still love you, I'll still eat you."
"You don't hear that everyday," Kagome said dryly. Her friends shot her dirty looks and she gulped and went back to eating her cheeseburger. "I'll make it up to the poutine, I swear!"
Sango and Ayame shook their heads in disgrace. "I don't know if we even want to be seen with her anymore," Sango said to Ayame, who nodded.
After the three girls finished eating their sacred poutine and their blasphemous cheeseburger, they dumped their garbage into the trash can and left the lodge to retrieve their skis. They took their first run a little slowly since their stomachs were fairly full from their lunches, but they were ready to take the second run full force.
Kagome pushed off down the hill first, with Sango and Ayame following behind her. She was halfway down the hill before a wave of dizziness and nausea swept over her. She stumbled a bit before she was able to stop and she immediately put her head between her knees as effectively as she could in her ski outfit. Sango and Ayame immediately stopped alongside her with concern written all over their faces.
"Kagome, what's wrong?" Ayame asked in a worried tone.
"I... feel... sick," Kagome managed to get out between deep breaths.
"Okay, just relax," Sango instructed her friend. "Ayame and I will hold you from either side and we'll take you back to the condo, alright?"
Kagome weakly nodded and allowed them to grasp her and take her poles away from her. Slowly the trio skied down the run which luckily connected with another that led straight to their condo. It was a horrible experience for Kagome, whose head was pounding and stomach was churning the whole way there.
Once they reached their destination and got out of their skis, Sango and Ayame half-carried Kagome up the inside stairs to their reserved condo. Once inside, Kagome immediately yanked herself out of her friends' grip and into the bathroom. When they heard retching noises ensue, Sango dashed off to her bag to retrieve some medicine while Ayame entered the bathroom and stood, rubbing Kagome's back.
After a few minutes, Kagome backed away from the toilet, but Ayame shook her head at the pills Sango offered the sick girl. "Hold off a minute, Sango." She turned to Kagome. "Did you feel sick this morning, Kagome, and not tell us?"
Kagome shook her head no. "I was fine," she panted. "Right up to the point where you guys saw me stop on the hill. All of a sudden I felt so dizzy and sick. Ugh..." Kagome trailed off as she turned back to the toilet to continue throwing up.
"I thought as much," Ayame said when Kagome finished.
"What's wrong with her?" Sango asked.
"I think she just has a little bit of food poisoning," Ayame responded. "My dad got it once when we were on a ski trip. Once Kagome gets it out of her system, she should be fine."
"Probably that burger," Sango said knowingly. "See where that got you, Kagome? You most likely angered the poutine gods."
"Stuff it, Sango," Kagome said weakly before her stomach decided it was a good time to try to remove the offensive food once again.
The rest of the afternoon was spent by Kagome sporadically flushing her system of the bad meat and Sango and Ayame comforting her with the knowledge that it was temporary. When Kagome finally seemed to have ridded herself of the contents of her stomach, she settled down on the couch and took a nap.
Upon her waking, Kagome was immediately bombarded with questions from her friends on her state of health and whether or not she was feeling okay. She nodded to their inquiries and sat up. Other than a slight wave of dizziness, Kagome found that she felt perfectly fine.
"What time is it?" she asked groggily.
"About ten to seven o'clock pm," Ayame chirped.
"We've stayed with you all afternoon and evening," Sango added. "With nothing to entertain us but ski commentaries. Are we good friends or what?"
Kagome considered something for a moment before deciding to mention it. "Do you guys want to go night skiing then?"
Ayame looked at her worriedly. "Are you sure you're up to it?" she asked. "I mean, you just got over this food poisoning, are you sure you should ski right away?"
"I'm fine," Kagome assured her. "I threw it all up already so there's nothing to worry about. It's like it never happened."
"If you're sure..." Ayame conceded slowly.
"Well, if Kagome's up to it, I sure am!" Sango said. "We missed the whole afternoon of skiing so this will at least make up for some of it."
They made their way back outside bundled up and carrying their equipment while Kagome attempted to shrug off the bout of dizziness that was threatening to overtake her. Sango and Ayame didn't seem to notice her troubles, something for which she was grateful since she didn't feel like being babied anymore or shoved back inside.
Once they were all ready to go, they skied down to the awaiting chairlift and rode it up to as far as it would reach. Getting off, they slid down to where there was a choice between two hills; one that was open for night skiing and one that was closed due to grooming.
"Alright!" Sango said excitedly. "Let's do this thing!"
She pushed off first with Ayame soon following. Kagome was about to follow when all of a sudden, the bout of dizziness that she had been pushing down consumed and disoriented her. She couldn't tell what was going on around her as the world became a blur. She vaguely realized she was sliding backwards, but her brain didn't register the implications of it even as she passed the warning sign of hill grooming. The dizziness was finally too much and she blacked out, collapsing and sliding down the hill.
A/N Eek! Sorry to leave it there, guys, but the next chapter should be really good, so don't kill me. By the way, groomers are these big machine-thingys that the hill management people drive up and down the hills at night to flatten out all the turned up snow from the skiers during the day. I think some people have died by accidentally falling into their path, so Kagome's got herself quite the situation there, eh?
Also, my friend got food poisoning the way Kagome did once... I think the meat was undercooked. So it is possible! Another girl on my ski race team also got food poisoning, but it was from fish.
Speaking of my race team, we didn't win the race, but I think I came in fifth or sixth for the girl's division. There were some really, really good racers there! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope to get the next chapter out soon in between all the projects, tests and assignments that are due. Exams are next week! Ack! Talk to ya later, guys!