Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha

Okey Dokey folks, I have finally gotten around to it and updated this story! Yeaaah! And hanmajoerin edited so there shouldn't be any mistakes. And now, you all can read and hopefully enjoy this chapter. There's so little to say now that I'm not apologizing for late updates.

Walking Tightropes

Chapter 4: Strawberries

Top 5 Reasons to hate The Morning Ribbet:

5. It's a stupid name.

4. It's boring.

3. They rule over almost all forms of school advertisement, getting rid of the need for posters which I actually like (brightens the halls).

2. The anchormen/women are all stuck up people who love hearing themselves talk and are unbelievably full of themselves.

1. They're Shikon Times arch enemy.

-x-

"We're losing funding."

I only came to the newsroom to see if there were any finished pieces that I need to look over and grab the pictures from Bank, but imagine my surprise to see that Ms. Kido was actually sitting there, waiting for me to deliver this bad news.

Believe it or not, the newsroom is one of my stress free zones at school. It's just a small room since Ms. Kido works with mentally disabled students and they don't need a large class rooms. The school didn't have money to toss out so giving us a real newsroom dedicated just for the newspaper was out of the question. There are four computers on the far back wall, Ms. Kido's desk in the front, a row of desk filling up the middle, and two tables on the left wall devoted solely for the newspaper. I don't have my own desk that inputs a boss-like image in the minds of others, but I do have my own little basket on the corner of one of the tables. The reason I call the newsroom a stress free zone is because of the view. Ms. Kido snagged a room with a large window overlooking the football field, which is nice, but behind that there is a forest where you could see the top of the trees which is a great view in fall when the leaves are changing color. The view helps banish the stress caused by college applications, schoolwork, and actual work. Today, though, the scenery wasn't lessening the stress that was building up after Ms. Kido dropped the whole, 'we're-losing-funding' bomb.

""What?" I asked Ms. Kido, falling into an empty desk in the front. "H-How…" I shook my head. "Are we losing funding for the paper?"

"Not enough people are buying the paper and with so many budget cuts, the newspaper is nowhere near the top of the school's priorities list." Ms. Kido sighed as she massaged her temples. "The principal's been warning me about this for the longest time, but I figured we'd manage, but when the treasurer came up to me today and…" Ms. Kido looked me in the eyes and I prepared myself for the worst. "They might shut us down."

I was preparing myself for the worst, but I was hoping I wouldn't hear the worst. After the school stripped the Lit Magazine from me, I'll be damned if they try to take the paper-something I've devoted three years of my high school life to- away.

"How could we be losing funding?" I demanded to know. "Each member has the responsibility of raising a hundred and fifty dollars for the sole purpose that the paper doesn't shut down at a time like this. What about all that money?"

"That money is to be collected over the course of the year, used for next year," Ms. Kido clarified. "I'd be shocked if any of you even collected twenty bucks for the paper."

I decided not to comment on that. "What about the money we collected last year?" I was now up and pacing. "Where's all that money?"

"We used most of it to send three of the senior writers to prom last year since they were having financial problems and the staff here is such a tight knit family, we donated the money to them."

"Ugh…" It was great seeing Akira, Keiko and Seiji be able to go to prom, but that generous act is back to bite us in the ass. "How much do we have left over from last year?"

Ms. Kido picked up a sheet of paper off her desk. "We have… two hundred and fifty left." She offered an apologetic smile. "It won't even last us until the end of the semester."

I groaned as I deafeningly fell back into a desk again. "Great. Just great."

"I'd hate to leave you alone with this problem, but…" Ms. Kido was getting up from her desk, her purse over her shoulder and a stack of papers under her arm, "I have to leave early today for a conference with my daughter's teacher so…"

"It's no problem," I waved off, forcing myself to smile. "I figure we can hold a meeting tomorrow with the rest of the staff and sort things out." I nodded my head, liking the idea. "Yeah, that sounds good."

"You see," Ms. Kido said smiling, "decisions like these are what got you your editor position."

"I thought it was because I was one of your favorites."

"Shhh," Ms. Kido hushed me, raising a finger to her lips. "I'm not supposed to play favorites." She laughed as she headed towards the door. "Are you leaving?"

"Nope," I shook my head. "I'm meeting Bank for pictures of the last football game since Aki got distracted by the cheerleaders again."

"Teenage boys…" Ms. Kido said, shaking her head. "I can trust you with the privacy of my classroom, right?"

"Of course."

"Great. I'll see you tomorrow, Kagome." Ms. Kido waved as she left the room and me alone with the knowledge that the newspaper might be stripped away from me.

"It's all their fault." I mumbled to myself as I grabbed the papers from the small metal basket named, 'Editor—Kagome Higurashi'. I always get a sense of pride when I look at it, but now all I can think about is how horrible that bin will feel when it won't have 'Editor—Kagome Higurashi' taped to it all because the newspaper will no longer exist.

The hardest thing about the newspaper is trying to actually sell it. Not only do people think the newspaper is boring—I guess I'm not helping change that way of thinking—but Shikon Times has some serious competition with the announcement crew that gives people daily updates about school life without making them pay a dollar fifty or making them read; which teens don't like to do these days, apparently. And then they can have all these special segments, like teachers dancing in snuggies (disturbing) and little commercial-like segments for events like the dodge ball tournament and upcoming plays (both entertaining). It's hard to compete with a modern source of media though the newspaper has its own—announcements can't dish out gossip on the new transfer student— but most high schoolers are too cheap to buy a newspaper and too lazy to bother reading it. Some honestly don't give a damn about what's going on at Shikon High school. So, in other words, The Morning Ribbet—consequence of having our mascot be a frog, which I still think is stupid because who is going to be afraid of a frog?—is our biggest competition. So far, it seems they're in the lead.

"We should break a camera and put them out of business." I told myself as I picked up the piece of paper on the top pile I had retrieved from my basket, liking the idea more and more. "Then all the people will come running to the paper to stay in touch with what's going on at school and Shikon Times will become—"

"Did I miss her?" Bank asked as he came running through the door, searching the classroom for any sign of Ms. Kido. "Is she in the bathroom? Teacher's lounge?"

"She's going to meet her daughter's teacher," I told him, rolling my eyes at his half depressed look as he slumped into a chair beside me. "You and the rest of the male population at this school need to come to terms with the fact that Ms. Kido is married."

"Only when people start calling her Mrs. Kido, will I give up on my future wife." Bankoutsu declared and I just shook my head. Ms. Kido is undeniably the hottest teacher this school has. With her long orangey-red hair and sea-foam green eyes…and not to mention she has a great fashion sense. Half the guys on the newspaper staff joined just so they could be in contact with her since she doesn't teach regular classes. It's becoming a very common trend for guys to have crushes on Ms. Kido.

"Do you have the pictures?" I asked setting the article I was reading aside.

"I certainly do." Bank pulled a folder out of his bag with exaggerated flourish and dropped them on my desk and I opened the folder, nodding my head in approval at the shots he got.

"You do realize that if you had remained a part of the staff here you could see Ms. Kido every day without having to run across campus to try to see her before she leaves, right?"

"Kagome," Bank said with a flat face. I've been trying to make him regret leaving the newspaper ever since I found out he wanted to be on the yearbook staff. "We agreed that I'd keep embarrassing pictures of you out of the yearbook as long as you dropped this guilt trip you keep trying to send me on."

"I know," I sighed. "I'm sorry."

"And besides, I heard Shikon Times is going under."

"How'd you know that?"

"I was hanging around the office." Bank casually shrugged. That's it, I am spending my lunches in the office from now on. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know," I admitted, resting my head in my hands. "I don't even know where to start."

"How about a fundraiser?" Bank suggested. I snapped my head up and looked at Bank as if he were a god. He had taken out a bag of chips and paused one chip's journey to his mouth. "What?"

"Bank, you are a genius!" I reached over and hugged him, catching him off guard. "Now all I have to do is hold the meeting on what we should do for our fundraising event." I smiled, collecting my stuff with new found confidence. "You just lifted a huge burden off my shoulders."

"Now you're forever in my debt." Bank said easily standing with me and stuffing more chips in his mouth.

His tone made me suspicious. "What do you want?" Bank opened his mouth but I quickly cut him off. "I'm not doing anything embarrassing, illegal, or dangerous."

"I just need you to read over a few of my college essays," Bank said, looking at me as if I was crazy. "Calm down."

"Oh, I can do that." We walked over to the door and I locked Ms. Kido's room up. "You want to go somewhere?" I asked, knowing very well that Bank's house was always crowded with his six brothers and finding peace in there was about as easy as finding peace in a mosh pit.

"I would if I could, but I can't." I looked at Bank questionably. "I have to be at work in… five minutes."

"You work on the other side of town," I pointed out. "That's at least a twenty minute drive."

"I guess I'll be late," Bank shrugged.

"Didn't you have detention yesterday because you racked up too many tardies?" Really, I can't remember one time Bank actually was on time for anything. He even showed up an hour late for my birthday party last year. Two hours the year before.

"What can I say? I have an issue with being on time."

-x-

"…and now we have a meeting tomorrow to pick out fundraiser ideas." I told Sango through my cell phone as I stacked my little green basket full with cartons of strawberries. They're my substitute for coffee since I can't stand the bitter taste that's always left behind. No matter how much cream and sugar I dump in it, the bitterness never leaves. "I hate holding meetings."

"Because you're bad at it?"

"Bad at it?" I stopped picking up strawberries, about to drop my seventh carton in the basket. "I am a great speech giver! The problem is when you guys—"

"Kagome," Sango cut me off, "you work about fifty different quotes into one paragraph. Hate to break it to you, but that's not a 'great speech giver'."

In my defense, when I Googled how to write a speech—because I suck at speeches—I came up with results that said I should use quotes because they 'are easy to relate to' and 'leave an impact'. "You would understand the meaning of my quotes if you all weren't talking when I'm trying to fill you in on important information."

"I'm just saying try to minimize the amount of quotes you shove into your opening speech, okay?"

"We'll see." I replied, grabbing two more cartons of strawberries before finally leaving the produce section. Because of my obsession with strawberries, my mom refuses to foot the bill which is probably the only reason I am working at Shoe Carnival. "Anyways, I called you to tell you about the meeting so you could pass it on to the staff through email since I'm working until eight tonight and then I have to write my Annotation Essay on Great Expectations and then I have to do Calculus homework and then—"

"I gotcha'," Sango interrupted. "You got way too much work and you might forget to email everyone about the meeting."

"Exactly." I was heading to grab some whipped cream-because who can have so strawberries without whipped cream? I can, but it's much better with whipped cream. "Oh, and text everyone too; they don't always check their email."

"Alright. Do you need me to do anything else for you?"

"If I'm going to stay up until midnight working, how many cans of whipped cream do you think I'll need?" I asked, staring down at the CoolWhip cans that lied in front of me.

Sango sighed. "It would be more effective if you just got coffee to help you stay up."

"I can't stand coffee, it's more addictive than cigarettes, and strawberries are healthier than coffee any day."

"Not when you're drowning them in whipped cream to stay awake. Why don't you at least drink Mountain Dew? That's a great energy booster."

"Maybe I'll grab a bottle at check out." I looked back down at the CoolWhip. "So how many cans for nine cartons of strawberries?"

"Good Lord, Kagome! You're going to get yourself sick." There was a pause where I suspected Sango was expecting me to comment but I stayed quiet. "I'd take four, but not to use in one night."

"Of course not." I grabbed four cans and carefully dropped them in my basket, making sure I didn't hit my strawberries in the process. "Thanks for the help Sango."

"No problem." Sango said and then she hung up.

I struggled to keep the items in my basket from falling over as I waddled down the aisle. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, considering the basket was significantly heavier from when I picked it up last. I couldn't even hold the basket by the handles, and had my arms wrapped around the basket, securing it against my stomach as I tried to make it to check out in one piece. I have got to start using carts.

I was halfway down the aisle when I was blindsided by a toddler in the front of a cart as he grabbed a hold of my arm, tugging it, causing my secure hold on the basket to falter. The next thing I knew my stuff was splayed out on the floor, a few strawberry cartons opened up, letting the strawberries run free, and my four cans of whipped cream rolled down the aisle, one hitting someone's foot as it stopped.

The person bent down to pick up my can and I looked at him gratefully before the color drained from my face. Shit.

"This," Inuyasha said as he walked towards me with my whipped cream in his hand, "is the most strawberries I've ever seen in one basket." He stopped in front of me, lifting his brows. "Are you in a baking contest, or something?"

As soon as Weight Management ended, I successfully avoided Inuyasha for the rest of the day. When I saw him in the hall I went the long route to class. At lunch, when I saw him at my usual table, laughing with Miroku and Bankoutsu, I grabbed Sango and dragged her to the library with me and I scanned the halls before I made a dash to the bathroom in the middle of History (there was a pop quiz). I have issues when it comes to facing embarrassing situations like, I don't know, Inuyasha knowing I have a 'sex addiction'. Just trying to disprove that is embarrassing. Do I just go up to him and say, "Hey, I don't have a sex addiction so I'm not going to jump your bones any time soon, no worries." That just doesn't seem right.

"No," I said, taking the whipped cream from his hand and dropping it in my basket, then crouching to pick up the few cartons that hadn't burst open and spilled their guts. "I just need a snack for later."

"Nine cartons of strawberries? For a snack?"

"They're like my energy booster," I explained, taking a carton Inuyasha handed to me. "Like coffee."

"Coffee actually has caffeine in it to help keep you awake." Inuyasha said as the order for a clean up on aisle six went off over our heads. "Why don't you just drink coffee?"

"Coffee is disgusting and causes more deaths than lung cancer," I bluntly stated. "Not to mention it gives you bad breath."

"Oh," Inuyasha said, a bit taken aback. "So you don't like coffee?"

"No."

"So, why strawberries?"

I sighed, picking up my basket—only five cartons of strawberries intact—and stood to face Inuyasha. It always took a while to explain why I had a bag of strawberries in the morning opposed to the cup of the ever popular coffee. "When I was younger my dad always drank coffee and when I asked him why he told me it was to help him stay awake at his boring job, but when I asked for some to keep me awake at 'boring school' he said I couldn't have any. Then when I kept complaining he told me that coffee was just something people drink to make them happy." Inuyasha raised his brows amused, but I decided to overlook it. "So, I told him that I loved strawberries and that they made me happy. After that he would have a bag of strawberries for me every morning right beside his coffee pot." I hooked my arm under the basket handles. "And that is why I substitute coffee with strawberries."

"Okay," Inuyasha said leaning back on his heels, nodding his head. "But I still don't get how that helps your energy."

"Apparently if you eat healthy, it gives your body a lot more energy." Inuyasha didn't seem to believe me. "The sugar in the whipped cream helps."

"Ah…" Inuyasha said nodding, before shooting me a lopsided grin that made my heart skip a beat. "Well, I was glad I got to see you again today. You seemed invisible for the rest of the day after Weight Management."

"Well…I am quite the busy body," I mumbled, stepping around him. "Busy, busy, busy." I picked up two cans of CoolWhip as the worker in charge of cleaning the mess came rushing by. "In fact," I said, backing away from Inuyasha and he just kept walking towards me, smirking, "I have to be at work soon so…"

"I don't think you have a sex addiction." Inuyasha bluntly stated and my face went up in flames. How can he just say that so…so casually?

"I-I…I n-never thought y-you thought I had a…a…" God, I still can't say it. And I'm turning back into a bumbling fool again. My face is as red as the strawberries in my basket. "I don't have a sex addiction." I mumbled, managing to get out in one sentence. "Hojo was just being an—"

"Ass," Inuyasha finished for me, shrugging his shoulders. "I know."

"Oh." I was running away from the fact that Inuyasha heard about the sex addiction rumor, which, as it turns out, he didn't believe. Now that I know all that running away I was doing felt…stupid. "Well—"

"Now you can stop avoiding me, right?" Inuyasha asked with a smile and I just nodded my head. "Good. It's nice seeing you around." he said with a smile as he began walking away, tossing a hand over his shoulder in a lazy goodbye. "See you tomorrow, Kagome."

All I could do was stare after him, dumbstruck, as he sauntered down the aisle and around the corner with an untouchable amount of swagger. Too cool to touch and too hot to keep your eyes off of.

Damn.

-x-

The next morning when I walked into Calculus, reciting the speech I was planning to give to the newspaper staff in my head, Inuyasha was already in his seat, working on the warm-up written on the board. On my desk was a small Tupperware container filled to the top with strawberries.

"What's this?" I asked Inuyasha as I dropped my bag into my seat, lifting the container and turning it over in my hand for inspection.

Inuyasha looked up at me, before looking back down at his sheet of paper. "Looks like strawberries."

"Did you put these here?" I asked. In the back of my mind I wanted Dai to have magically found out about my little obsession and left these here as a little gift. In the forefront, I wanted Inuyasha to have left them here.

"Yep," Inuyasha nodded, not looking up from his paper. "Fresh from the Farmer's Market. The unfertilized fruit tastes even better."

"Hm." I peeled the top off and bit into a red strawberry, surprised at how sweet it was without any whipped cream or sprinkled sugar. "Oh, wow. That is good."

"Told ya."

"Thanks Inuyasha," I said smiling at him as I pushed my stuff out of my chair and claimed my seat. "It's really nice of you to do that for me." Nobody has prepared my strawberries form me since Dad died.

"It's nothing." Inuyasha shrugged off, but I didn't miss the way his lips curved up into a smile or the slight blush that painted its way onto his cheeks.

-x-

"Order! Order!" I demanded hitting my hand against the podium Ms. Kido had borrowed from the Drama department for our meeting. "We have important things to talk about."

"Yeah, like why we never have food at these meetings." Aki grumbled and I shot him a glare.

"And why we keep getting last minute memos," Kira, a reporter, complained. "I was supposed to have a date this afternoon, but I have to come here."

"Well too bad, so sad." I said and she shot me a nasty look. "Now, we—"

"Is this about the deadline again?" Shinji interrupted. "Because I could really use another week to get a better grasp on the local music scene."

"The deadline is still tomorrow, paper is published on Friday," I confirmed, ignoring a few groans, "No excuses."

"But Kagome—"

"There was a reason behind this meeting!" I shouted, effectively quieting the room. "We're losing funding." The room burst into pandemonium and it took a while to quiet them all down again. "There are budget cuts and the Newspaper isn't at the top of the school's priority list." I said, relaying what Ms. Kido had told me yesterday. "And because we sent Akira, Keiko, and Seiji to prom last year, the little money we raise each year has dwindled down to two fifty." A lot of people looked like they wanted to speak but kept their mouths shut. "So I called this meeting for two reasons: pick a fundraiser idea and to discuss ways to outdo The Morning Ribbet."

"Boo!" The staff called in unison except for a few confused freshmen, still oblivious t the rivalry.

"But we can't just come up with any ideas," I continued. "We can't just do a bake sale or car wash or…"

"Calendar!" Aki shouted from the back of the room and a few guys snickered.

"Absolutely no Calendar," I denied. "We—"

"But the Calendars for other clubs get so much money. We should just—"

"We don't want to follow other clubs examples," I cut Aki off. "We want to be original, unique, otherworldly."

"You mean weird?" Kikyo asked, unconvinced. Kikyo and I have this funny, friends-when-we-want-to-be-but-not-really relationship. It's a 'friendship' based off sarcastic remarks and mutual respect for the other's talent. Kikyo recognizes that I'm a good editor and I acknowledge the fact that, even though she runs in the popular crowd, isn't a complete bitch—I call her a semi-bitch—and as our advice columnist she gives good advice and is actually a good writer; as shocking as that is.

"I mean," I started, pausing in case someone wanted to cut me off again, "we need to bring something new to the table. We need to get the student body excited and ready to throw their money at us. We need… we need…" I looked over to Sango who was slowly shaking her head, warning me not to do it, but I can't resist such a good quote. Screw Sango. "We need to seek out new life and new civilization."—the room broke into groans—"To boldly go, where no man has gone before!" I finished, shouting over the groans. "Oh come on, it was not that bad."

"Quoting Star Trek?" Kikyo asked. "Really?"

"I'm actually surprised you knew it was Star Trek.." I mumbled, Kikyo's response was a roll of her eyes.

"What does seeking life and civilization have to do with fundraisers anyway?" a freshmen up front mumbled and a few surrounding people nodded their heads in agreement.

"It means we have to do something new and exciting," I clarified. "So, we need to think of ideas, set a date, pick a location… ask the principal for permission… make posters…" Sheesh, this is a lot more work than I thought it would be.

"Why don't we just ask the announcement crew to work it into their announcements?" a freshman asked, honestly innocent.

"Freshman!" A guy called from the back, followed by a few more, and the girl with short brown hair and glasses turned bright red.

"We never," I said through clenched teeth, hating just the mention of The Morning Ribbet in my safe haven, "go to The Morning Ribbet for anything. They are our competition when it comes to delivering school information and the reason we might be shut down. We don't like the announcements."

"Oh," the girl said blinking. "Sorry."

"Just as long as you know to never mention them in this room again." I assured her, forcing myself to smile. "Alright," I walked over to the whiteboard, uncapping a marker, "Who has ideas?"

"Calendar!"

"I already said that was out of the question." I countered immediately, pointing at Aki. "Rejected! Next?"

"A festival!"

"Too expensive!" I rejected. "Next?"

"We could sell something," someone I couldn't identify offered from the back.

"Now that," I said, writing the idea in a bubble on the board, "is a start. Now we just need to figure out what to sell." I drew lines out from the bubble and turned back to the staff. "What are we going to sell?"

"CDs!"

"Movies!"

"Handmade bracelets!"

I wrote down the ideas on the board even though I was rejecting them in my head. CDs and Movies were too expensive and it would take too long to make all those bracelets. "Any other ideas?"

"I heard some people like strawberries," Sango piped up, smirking at me. "Especially one's from the Farmer's Market."

"What?"

"Shut up," I told her as she started laughing and I moved on. "Next?"

-x-

I used to just like strawberries because, yeah, they were sweet and they reminded me of my dad. It was a very nice to have that memory with me every morning, almost in a bittersweet way. But now… now I can think of Inuyasha too every time I eat a strawberry.

-0-0-0-0-0-

Alright folks, that's what you have for chapter 4. About the fundraiser; thanks to the help of hanmajoerin, I've come up with an idea but I would really like your own personal ideas on unique fundraising ideas so I might be able to include some of your ideas in my Odd-Ball Olympics. Also, again thank to hanmajoerin's assistance, I have ideas for chapter 5 so it might not take me too long to update. I hoped you liked this chapter and please REVEIW!

~Kimiko888~

hanmajoerin has an evil plan to save the world. Now that she finished editing this wonderful chapter, she's going to figure out the physics…maybe.