Disclaimer: Do I look like Rumiko Takahashi to you? Wait... you can't see me... I might just be able to get away with it yet...
A/N Hello! This chapter's for sleep walking chicken and HAP because of your very first review. I already had this planned out before you reviewed, but I thought you'd appreciate it. I wanted to respond to it earlier, but I didn't want to give anything away.
Hee hee, it's okay gansta-girl, I understand your frustration. But Inu's here now, so yay!
Thanks for everyone else's reviews, too! They're all so nice and I'm glad you're all liking so much. There's an A/N at the bottom you should read too before leaving.
Okay, here's your promised chapter before my agonizing exams. Ugh... exams...
"You should have at least thanked him," Ayame chided Kagome for the fourth time that morning.
"Not with that attitude," Kagome protested. "I will thank him, but then was not the time. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Ignore his insults and give him a sappy thank you or defend myself like I did?" Kagome skilfully flipped the pancake she was frying and continued. "Anyways, with any luck, we won't see them again anymore. I mean, they're these awesome amazing racers in this super-human race league. They'll probably be doing all the double black diamond runs and we won't run into each other."
"I think you're hoping for a bit much there, Kagome," Sango butt in. "We're here for a whole two weeks and there's only so many double black diamond hills they can ski on before they get bored of them."
Kagome sighed. "Do you enjoy ruining my life, Sango?"
Sango grinned. "Every minute of it."
Kagome smirked at her as a thought crossed her mind. "Oh, I dunno, Sango; it's even like you want to see that Miroku guy again, eh?"
Sango shuddered. "On your life! That guy is a total pervert and really, really creepy!"
Ayame giggled. "But, you gotta admit, guys, they all were pretty hot."
"What?!" Kagome cried. "Please, Ayame, you did not just say that."
"Oh, come on, Kagome," Ayame said. "You may not like them, but they are good-looking."
"Even I've gotta agree with Ayame on this one," Sango said. "Even though Miroku's still really creepy and I wouldn't feel safe unless he was at least ten feet away; no, twenty feet; heck, I wouldn't feel safe under the same roof as him!"
"Ugh, whatever," Kagome said. "Pancakes are ready!"
Sango and Ayame scurried up from the kitchen table they had recently been occupying and grabbed their plates. Loading them up with two massive pancakes each, they sat back down and dug in. Kagome joined them, and after a few incoherent attempts at conversation, the three girls decided it would be better to eat breakfast in silence.
After cleaning their empty dishes, the girls prepared for another day of skiing. When Kagome had finished zipping up into her green and white ski suit and buckling up her ski boots, she turned to her friends.
"Onwards, we go!" she said, grabbing her skis and poles and heading out the door, with Sango and Ayame just behind.
They had just reached the chairlifts and begun their wait in line, when Kagome recognized with dread a voice that spoke up directly behind her.
"Well, well, well, look who we have here," it said. She slowly turned around and saw the last person who she wanted to see at that moment in time.
"Oh, great; racer boy," she retorted. Inuyasha was standing in line behind her with Miroku and Kouga.
"Trying to improve your skiing by falling into the path of a snowmobile this time instead?" Inuyasha smirked.
"Ha, ha. You think you're so funny, don't you?" Kagome said.
"Actually, yes," Inuyasha said as he smirked at her again.
She glared at him before turning back around with a huff. "Of all the nerve..."
"Pervert!" Sango screeched, making her tune back into the world and realize that Miroku had tried groping Sango through her snowsuit.
"Oh, great..." she muttered to herself. "This day just gets better and better."
"Hi, Kouga!" Ayame said brightly to the boy behind her.
"Uh, hi," Kouga responded.
"You guys just get out?" Ayame questioned.
"Yeah, this'll be our first run," Kouga said. "Figure, we'll take it easy."
"Says you," Inuyasha cut in. "You're such a wimp."
"At least I don't smell like dog crap," Kouga shot back. "And is there a problem with not wanting to break something before the competition next week? The competition, by the way, that I will win?"
"You'll win when the devil straps on skates," Inuyasha snorted.
"Uh, you guys wanna do the first run with us, then?" Ayame interrupted their bickering.
"Ayame!" Sango and Kagome both cried in anguish.
"What?" Ayame asked innocently as the three of them skied forward to mount the chairlift.
"Why did you invite them?!" Kagome said, exasperated.
"Why not?" Ayame responded with that same innocent look plastered on her face.
"Urgh, you're impossible," Sango told her.
"I try," Ayame said, grinning.
When the three friends unloaded from the chairlift, they noticed the boys immediately followed them upon disembarking themselves. In hopes of losing them, Kagome started skiing towards the nearest hill as fast as she could. Her hope was in vain, however, since Inuyasha shot past her and stopped to block her path.
"Going somewhere?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Away from you," Kagome said, digging her poles into the soft snow and pushing herself past him towards the hill. "Got a problem with that?"
Inuyasha shrugged casually. "Suits me just fine; just don't expect me to come save you again."
"Hmph! Stupid little kabajabilru..." she trailed off incoherently. "I can take care of myself!" She promptly shoved off the top of the hill as if trying to prove her point.
"Didn't know you liked double black diamonds!" Inuyasha called down the hill after her.
"Double black diam... Oh crap!" Kagome uttered as she streaked past the double black diamond rating of the hill. She let out a shrill scream as she noticed she was approaching icy moguls.
Hearing the scream, Inuyasha muttered, "Stupid girl!" before lowering his goggles and heading down the hill after her.
"Ahhhhh!" Kagome screamed as the distance between her and the moguls rapidly shrunk.
Just as she was about to shoot off the first mogul and become the first human to fly, a strong grip encircled her upper arm and swung her around to the side, effectively stopping her. Kagome looked up at her saviour, surprised to see Inuyasha looming over her.
"I, but... you and... hill... moguls... ice... double black diamond!" Kagome wailed before collapsing to sit on her butt at Inuyasha's feet.
"Keh. I knew you couldn't ski," Inuyasha said, lifting his goggles off his face and settling them atop his head.
Kagome immediately straightened and stood up. "Well, sorry, Mr. Ski-God sir, that I'm not as good as you; but that doesn't mean I'm a bad skier!"
"You were hardly turning at all; plus you were pivoting all over the place!" Inuyasha retorted.
Kagome shoved her face up close to his, ignoring the swirling depths of his golden eyes. "I was in a bit of a state of shock, mister!... What do mean, pivoting?"
Inuyasha turned his face to the side, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Why should I tell you after saving your ass twice and receiving no thank you?"
Kagome gritted her teeth, but bit back her next remark. After all, he did save her twice, and she had acted completely ungrateful; even though he'd acted completely rude and inconsiderate... "Fine. Thank you incredibly much for saving my ass twice; now would you tell me what pivoting means?!"
"Wow. That was really convincing and genuine; I could tell it came straight from your heart," Inuyasha said sarcastically, wiping a fake tear from his eye. But he continued anyway, "Pivoting is when you just turn your whole body around and then you skid around the turn. What you want to do is roll your ankles so that the skis bite into the hill and then pull you around the turn; not the other way around. Although I wouldn't start practising on this hill; it's a little too advanced for you."
Kagome looked at him closely, trying to determine whether or not he was making fun of her. Since she came to no conclusion, she shrugged and said, "'Kay. But how am I supposed to finish this run? Those moguls aren't exactly inviting."
Inuyasha eyed her. "If you can follow me through half of them, we can ditch this hill for the next one over by that path down there. If you think you can handle it, that is," he finished cockily.
Kagome held her head high. "I can take it," she replied stubbornly. "Just lead the way."
Inuyasha skied past her started slowly manoeuvring through the moguls, being sure to keep Kagome right behind him. When they finally escaped the dreaded bumps, they skied through the passage connecting the hill they were currently on to another, which was luckily a lower level of difficulty. When they reached the bottom of that run, they spotted their other four companions patiently waiting for them near the chairlift.
"What took you?" Kouga asked as they skied up to them. "Are you okay, Kagome?"
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, unfortunately, to him," Kagome answered, jabbing her thumb in Inuyasha's direction.
"Keh. Some grateful person you are," Inuyasha said, glaring at her. "Would you rather that I had left you to become a human projectile?"
"It's not that. It's that you were so rude about it afterwards," Kagome informed him.
"Whatever. Let's take the gondola this time," Inuyasha said, ending the argument.
"Good idea, Inuyasha," Miroku said, turning to Kagome. "May I help you out of your skis, madame?"
"Uh, thanks, Miroku, but I don't think..." Kagome trailed off as Miroku's hand applied itself to her butt. "Aiiiiiiieee!!!" she screeched as she leapt for the nearest thing to her. This just happened to be Inuyasha, but she was still clasped into her skiis and so she more like fell on him, toppling him over like dominoes.
"Hey!" came Inuyasha's muffled protest. "Get off!" He shoved Kagome off of him as all the others proceeded to smack Miroku over the head. "Urgh, I'm so gonna kill you, Miroku!" Inuyasha growled as he stood up. Kagome scrambled up after him and used him as a wall between her and his perverted friend.
Miroku, meanwhile, laughed nervously at the death glare Inuyasha was sending his way, and quickly dashed for the gondola. The others popped out of their skis and ran after him. They caught up with him as soon as he stuck his skis into the holding slots and boarded the little cabin.
Once inside, Inuyasha smacked Miroku over the head harder than anyone else had. "You stupid pervert!" he said heatedly.
Miroku rubbed the forming lump on the back of his head. "Ow..." he whined.
"So you guys excited about that race next week?" Ayame asked Inuyasha and Kouga, trying to return the atmosphere to somewhat normalcy.
"Uhhh..." Kouga and Inuyasha looked at each other.
"What's the matter?" Kagome asked.
"Well, we would be excited if not for all the damn reporters and our stupid coach Myouga following us around everywhere," Kouga finally responded.
Ayame looked from Kouga to Inuyasha. "You guys share Myouga as a coach?"
"Yeah. I mean, might as well," Kouga told her. "Less cost if we split it."
"So why are you trying to get away from Myouga?" Sango inquired. "Aren't you supposed to train with him?"
"Yeah, but we also need some time to unwind before the race; some time to relax and have fun," Inuyasha said. "I mean, we won't like skiing much longer if all we do while participating in the sport is do annoying training exercises."
"So what about those reporters?" Kagome asked curiously.
Inuyasha snorted. "They all want to know every single detail about the 'fastest seventeen year olds alive' and their every single thought on the upcoming competition." Kouga nodded in agreement.
"Oh," Kagome said softly.
After about five more minutes of light-hearted chatting, the gondola reached the top of the mountain and they grabbed their skis and headed out.
"This looks like a good one," Miroku said, indicating a blue square. The others nodded and they started down.
About halfway down, the girls noticed the boys, who were skiing ahead of them, indicate for them to slow down. They saw all three of them spin to side, stopping and flinging up snow that showered a group of people in the middle of the hill. When the girls approached, they saw Inuyasha, Miroku and Kouga standing on the hill a little above some now very snowy snowboarders. Many of the snowboarders were smoking, but now they all looked very ticked off.
"What's your problem?" a boy with a long dark braid trailing down his back spat.
Inuyasha gave him a disgusted look. "Sorry," he said sarcastically. "If you weren't right in the middle of the damn hill, I might not have come so close to hitting you. I'll look harder for your bodies blocking the run next time," he sneered.
"It's none of your business where we choose to sit," a girl with short black hair and a red headband spoke up.
"I'd say it's our business if you're trying to kill us with second hand smoke," Kouga said, kicking his ski into the snow and flinging some more snow onto the group of about seven or eight.
"That's it!" the boy with the braid yelled. "Get 'em!"
Inuyasha, Miroku and Kouga yelped and quickly turned to the girls who had stopped nearby to observe the scene, grabbing their wrists. "Let's get out of here!"
The six sped down the hill as the smoking snowboarders hastened to put out their cigarettes and take up pursuit.
Looking behind, Miroku shouted to Inuyasha, "They're gaining on us!"
"Like hell!" Inuyasha shouted back. "Everybody, tuck!" He crouched down, sticking his elbows between his knees and holding his poles so stuck out horizontally behind him. Everyone else mimicked his actions and their speed increased tenfold.
Skidding to a halt at the chairlift, they quickly mounted it before the snowboarders reached them. When they unloaded at the top and were searching for a new hill to ski down, Ayame suddenly called out, "Snowboarders at four o'clock!"
"Ski away!" Miroku yelled. He skied off as fast as he could, the others following, and their pursuers not far behind.
They skied around frantically for the rest of the morning, going from hill to hill, desperately intent on shaking the snowboarders whose wrath they had provoked.
A/N Alrighty, there be your much sought after chapter. Hope you liked it! ^_^
What I wanted to mention is that I really have no disrespect to truly talented snowboarders, or beginners. If your good at snowboarding then I congratulate you, 'cause it does take talent. I've never personally tried it, because I've always hated the thought of having my feet strapped together and not having independent movement. So I've got nothing against really good or beginner snowboarders (because you're just learning it). What I do hate, however, are snowboarders like in this chapter. Ones who sit in the middle of the hill and obstruct everyone else who trying to have a good time's path, just 'cause they think they're incredibly cool or something. Especially when they just sit there and smoke. There's kids on the hill! I mean, come on...
Anyway, enough of my ranting. I just didn't want anyone to be offended or get the wrong idea.
I'm gonna have a lot of fun with these snowboarders... heh heh... I'll shut up now.
Bye, and tell me what you thought of it! I gotta head out to another race now. Sigh... Hope we win!