Common disclaimers on the characters Rin and Sesshomaru, who are intellectual property of the esteemed Takahashi Rumiko-san's InuYasha series. Oh and that I don't own. I'm only a poor college student after all.
Skater Boy,
By Winterwing3000
"InuYasha!" Kagome chirped as she approached the abandoned and drained fountain. Behind her was her friend and classmate, Rin. They were both still dressed in their school uniform. Kagome waved her hand enthusiastically when she saw the silver haired boy look up.
Rin resisted a laugh when the boy suddenly fell over, the skateboard rolling away from him. He had help up from his friend. Kagome bounded with a quicker step over to him and began to tease him. Rin hung back and stood a fair distance away from her friend as she observed her surroundings.
They were at a park located a few blocks away from her school. There were five other boys, aside from Kagome's boyfriend, who were hanging out at the fountain. They were not wearing uniforms, but graphic t-shirts, baggy jeans, and sneakers. Some of them had unusual hairstyles or caps, even piercings. But they all had skateboards with them. Some of them were doing tricks on the steps down the fountain. Others were hanging around smoking and chatting.
"Rin! Come here!" Kagome called her friend over. Rin trotted over, trying not to draw attention, but that was not possible as every pair of eyes suddenly landed on her.
"InuYasha, this is Rin! Rin, this is InuYasha," Kagome introduced the both of them. Then she started pointing out the other characters around. "That's Kouga, Miroku, Ginta, Hakku, and Sesshomaru."
The others only looked at her or gave her a quick wave. But Rin managed a shy grin at InuYasha. "Hi. So you're the famous boyfriend that Kagome wouldn't stop talking about!"
"Heh." InuYasha discretely straightened his shoulders a little more. "Kagome's told me you've never been here before."
"Nope, she's always too busy to come out and play," Kagome injected. "She's actually here so that we can work on a project. So we're going to sit over there and work."
InuYasha shrugged. "Sure. I'll walk you home when you're done."
Rin had never seen Kagome smile so widely before she was dragged off to the corner of the fountain. Once they were comfortable and had their sketchbooks out, Rin asked, "So what did you have in mind for our art project anyway?"
"Right in front of us!" the dark-haired woman declared as she swept an arm. "It will give our bat of a teacher a shock for the rest of her life! And they are creators of art, in a different aspect. Can you image us capturing their movements completely on paper? I think it'd be awesome!"
Rin mused on Kagome's explanation and smiled. "Okay. I'm guessing I should focus on the others while you're busy making eyes at InuYasha, right?"
The other girl had the decency to blush. Rin received a light slap on her back. "That just means you have more guys to ogle at."
They laughed and began their work.
After sketching down the general outlines of each subject, Rin was captivated as she looked at their skateboards.
"Ne, Kagome, are all the skateboards different intentionally?" Rin asked. A frown appeared on her face when she missed the chance to further examine the boards flying around.
Kagome hummed thoughtfully. "Probably. I know InuYasha had his newest one customized. You can always go and ask one of them."
Rin looked at Kagome as if she were crazy as she protested, "I don't know them! It'll be kind of rude to just ask them to show me their board."
"It's fine! You're going to talk to them sooner or later!" her friend encouraged with a slight push. Rin stood up unsurely and looked for the most approachable skateboarder. At first, she wanted go over to InuYasha, but he looked extremely focused at the moment. Her eyes flew over to the group who were still smoking and chatting at the other end and decided that it probably wasn't a good idea. She looked down and found her friend deeply immersed in her own drawing, so Kagome wasn't going to be of any help either.
Sighing quietly, Rin slowly walked around the premises, making sure to stay out of the way as she looked for someone to ask. She paused at the steps, where a loner was sitting. He looked almost like InuYasha.
"Hey look out!" a boy cried suddenly from behind her.
Rin felt the impact before she had the chance to move out of the way. A skateboard knocked into the back of her legs and she fell forward from the force. She covered her face, dropping her sketch notebook and her pencil. The stone steps jarred her as she landed and she felt her elbows and knees stinging.
"Are you okay?" a low voice asked her as she was helped into a sitting position. The girl blinked, dazed.
She looked over and found that the person who helped her was none other than the person she was staring at. He had some very long eyelashes. He cocked an eyebrow and waved a hand in front of her face. He repeated, "Are you okay?"
A wild blush appeared on her face when she caught up with her thoughts. "Ah, yes! I'm okay. Thank you for asking."
"Sorry about that," the guy with the black ponytail said on her other side. He looked somewhat guilty as he apologized. "Take care of her for me, will you Sesshomaru?"
"I'm not the one who knocked her over, Kouga," Sesshomaru deadpanned.
"I was going to get her some band-aids from the corner store," Kouga defended. "I'll be right back."
Rin watched unsurely as they spoke back and forth and could only nod, bewildered, when Kouga skated out of the park. Something was suddenly thrust in front of her face and she jerked her head back. It was her sketchbook and her pencil.
Sesshomaru looked at her as he gave her back her possessions. "You dropped them."
"Ah, yeah…" Rin slowly took them from him. She stared at the scuffle marks on the white page and sighed sadly. "It's all dirty now."
She peeked at the boy next to her, but he said nothing and stared off into the distance. So she busied herself with redrawing her figures and sketches on a clean page. Just as she finished, Sesshomaru spoke up. "Why were you drawing us?"
"Hm?" Rin glanced at him. "Well, Kagome and I are working on an art project together and it has to reflect art that's not just a painting on a wall. And so, she thought that it'd be cool if we capture you guys' movements on paper, because skateboarding is an art too, you know. You're expressing something with your body. And your skateboards are works of art on their own."
"I see," Sesshomaru intoned as he looked down at the skateboard next to his feet. Rin followed his gaze and remembered her purpose of wandering around, before she was introduced to the dirty ground.
"Ah, that's right! Uh, do you mind if I see your skateboard? I really wanted to incorporate it into my project!" she asked with a smile, then she hastily added, "But only if you want to!"
"Hn," Sesshomaru stepped on end near the back wheels and the board snapped up. He gripped the front nose of the board and placed it onto his lap with the wheels facing up. Rin leaned closer to take a good look at the design.
"Death's silent kiss?" she read once she distinguished the words from the splash of colors. "Does this mean something?"
The older teenager shrugged. "It's not hard to incur injuries, especially at a place where everything is made of stone or concrete. Sometimes, they add up and we die."
Rin felt slightly worried at his lack of expression when he said that. "But isn't that why you're supposed to wear protective gear?"
He looked at his gloves. There were no knee-protectors or helmet present. "Then there's no thrill. We don't just do this for fun. The danger of it is just as important."
"That's so weird," she muttered underneath her breath without realizing it. Her eyes widened. "Ah, I'm sorry! I mean, it's just a little strange that you'd do it for danger, but I guess it's different for everyone!"
Sesshomaru snorted. "It's fine. I wouldn't expect you to get it anyway. You don't look like you're much of a danger magnet anyway."
She rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously. "Except for when your friend's skateboard flew at me!"
He didn't laugh like she wanted and that only made her more nervous. Instead, the boy gave her a long side glance then his eyes dropped to her sketchbook in her lap. "You said you wanted to get a reference…?"
"Ah, right, right! Sorry, I got sidetracked!" Rin apologized as she quickly started penciling the design of the skateboard. Sesshomaru silently watched her as she drew. She was careful to take in every minute detail available to her eyes, especially the curves of the twisting letters.
It wasn't long before she was done. The brown-haired girl smiled as she looked proudly down at the page dedicated to the underside of the skateboard.
"It almost looks the same," The silver-haired boy commented idly just as she turned to him, her grin widening at his approval.
"I'm glad you think so!" she said happily while closing her sketchbook. "Maybe I'll understand what you like so much about this danger of skateboarding when this project is over!"
Sesshomaru looked to the side and then faced her again with a smirk on his face. "You're a pretty weird girl."
Rin became indignant at his remark and couldn't help but let her mouth drop open. She was at a loss for words. "W-What! That's kind of mean for you to judge so quickly, isn't it?"
Once more he shrugged. Rin wanted to confront him for his indifference but nearly jumped out of her skin. Without warning, Sesshomaru leaned toward her and pressed his cool lips against her glossed ones. It ended quickly and he said, "I'll walk you home later."
Then he stood up and hopped on his skateboard with practiced ease. He darted toward InuYasha, leaving Rin stunned at the stone steps. She stared wide-eyed at him from her seat with one hand on her lips. It was her first kiss.
"Huh, it seems like Sesshomaru really likes you," Kouga stated after witnessing that little unexpected moment between them. He had a bottle of antiseptic and a box of band-aids in his hands.
Rin didn't hear a single word Kouga said as he cleaned her wounds.
A skater boy took her first kiss.
She couldn't help but wonder, was this what people called flirting with danger?
NOTES: This is Alternate Universe.
Everyone in this chapter is within the age range of a high school student (between 9th and 12th grade).
AN: I'M BACK! After a three and a half year long hiatus, I return with this baby. It came out a little bit cliché for my taste, but the theme forced me in this direction (for the lack of a better excuse). I hope to wrap up this long term project by the end of this July. I'll be posting every month, so please anticipate!
A big shout out to my lovely readers and reviewers who stuck with this story despite the long wait! I really love you guys! Thank you so much!
This is for the LJ Community, 30 kisses, without the underscore. This is from List Alpha, theme #3 (punk)