Chapter 2

On the second day of summer vacation, my grandma shipped me off to these fighting/self-defence camp hours away from home. The camp was all summer long and it was known for making boys become men.

I was not pleased when I found out I'd be going. But I figured that getting stronger and becoming a "man" would sure as hell beat getting drowned in the lake from all the kids who hated me. It was worth a shot.

The training there was hard. Everyone got up at the crack of down and trained until the stars were out. You trained every day except for Saturday, which was our free time.

I was only at the camp for a week and, believe it or not, I actually made friends. No, not the kind of friends that shoved me in lockers and tied my shoelaces together like some of my other "friends" did. I'm talking about real live friends who actually cared about me. It was totally different then what I was used to.

Everyone at that camp was awesome. All the guys treated eachother as equals. There were maybe one or two odd kids out who were real jerks, but as long as you steered clear from them and didn't let them get to you, everything was okay.

I hung out with the same group of guys every day. Our group consisted of Miroku, Kouga, Sesshomaru, Ginta, Hokaku, and me. Kouga, Ginta, and Hokaku had been at the camp for a few years before and were already pretty good fighters. Sesshomaru was really quiet and serious, but he kicked some serious ass when he needed too. I found out later that he was my second cousin twice removed…or something like that. And then Miroku. He became my best friend there out of all the guys. He actually wasn't even there to fight. His dad co-owned the camp so he just hung out there every summer.

The constant training was really difficult, but, as each week passed it became easier and easier. A little over two weeks in and I had already gotten some defined abs and some more muscle mass.

One of the instructors had to bring his daughter with him for the summer, even though it was a boy's only camp. Her name was Yura. She sat on the docks by the lake and tanned almost everyday, avoiding the boys all the time. Our instructors told us that she was "off-limits". They didn't want a girl to interrupt with our severe training.

On one of my free days, I was heading down to the lake for a nice quiet swim and I completely forgot that the area I was headed to was "Yura's unofficial territory." I didn't realise that then so I just stripped down to my trunks and jumped in the water. After a few minutes of swimming I heard a faint giggle. I whipped around in the water and saw Yura sitting on the edge of the dock, her feet dangling in the water.

"Hey you."

She said to me, which just made me nervous. Would I get in trouble if I spoke to her? I answered anyway.

"Hey…"

"What are you doing down here? I thought you boys were supposed to avoid me like I'm the plague or something."

I wouldn't have called Yura 'gorgeous' or 'beautiful' but she wasn't a sore sight for eyes either. She was just kind of plain. She had short black hair and a skinny body. Nothing too special about her. But she was a girl that wasn't mocking me, so I took that for something.

I had climbed up on the dock beside her and we chatted for a really long time. The sun had gone down and we were still talking.

"There's nothing to do here at all."

I remember she had this pouty look on that made her look like she was trying to be cute. It kind of worked.

"Other then working out…no there's not."

I actually thought there wasn't enough time to be bored at the camp, but I didn't say that.

"Want to do something?"

"Like what?"

And then she leaned forward and kissed me. Not even a sweet little kiss. It was a full throttle tongue involved kiss. My first kiss. And I just kissed her back.

From then on, every spare time I had I would head down to the dock and have these make-out sessions with Yura. We didn't really care for eachother too much, but it was something to do. Plus she gave me a lot of advice about how to make a good kiss a great kiss. I learned a lot from her.

Eventually one night, about a month and a half into summer, we slept together. It was nothing really. We had just gotten bored of just kissing. So we took the next step. Now that was fun. Our daily make-out sessions changed to quickies in the change room or behind the shed. It really pumped my blood and I found that it made my training way the hell more intense. People were noticing my improvements too. I was noticing improvements in myself.

After two months, camp came to an unfortunate end. We had an award ceremony and much to my surprise, I won the 'Best Fighter' award. I was so stoked.

Saying goodbye to everyone was really hard. If I were a girl I would've balled. Miroku and I swore to keep in touch, as well as the other guys. Yura and I simply hugged goodbye. It didn't bother me the slightest that I'd probably never see her again. I didn't love her. And as much as I hate to admit it, I had plainly just used her as a sex buddy. But she did the same so the feelings were mutual.

I entered that camp as a self-conscious, weak, scrawny kid. But when I left I was a confident, strong, tall, young man who's whitish-grey hair turned a striking silver and whose previously freaky gold eyes shimmered in the light.

And I was so ready for grade ten.