Um… I apologize for the long wait, but first semester of senior year is a lot of work which is the main excuse I'm going to run with. Good news though, all my college applications are done. Kind of… (A few supplements left. Bleh.) But more time will be opened to updating! I'm working on NoRMal now so there should be an update for that soon. Hopefully.

Walking Tightropes

Chapter 14: Sabotage

The fact of the matter is that sometimes, if you really want to win, you have to play dirty. That's just life.

-x-

Monday and Tuesday were absolute disasters— InuYasha gave out so many kisses that I was beginning to lose my mind—so I decided there was only one way to hold onto my sanity: Sabotage. Since I was in charge of the betting polls today, sabotage should come easily.

I spent my entire day mentally developing a plan on how to prevent anyone else from kissing Inuyasha. I was in the middle of history when the light bulb finally went off and it was so simple, I almost felt stupid for not thinking about it in the first place. All I had to do was keep track of the highest female bidder and right before the event started, outbid each of them in every category. And I would bid under a fake name this time so I wouldn't have to worry about the embarrassment and then I'd pretend the girl left before collecting her prize. I even thought of the line I would use to tease Inuyasha: "I guess you're not as hot as you thought. That girl ran away from you."

It was fool proof, emphasis on was.

When I sat down and started collecting bets, I realized how much I miscalculated the desperation of the girls at this school. The bets they placed were ridiculously high.

There were three parts to the Cookies n' Cream event: eating contest, individual race, and then team races. The eating contest was simple: see who could eat the most Oreos in two minutes. The individual race was to see who could eat ten Oreos first the proper way (licking off the cream first, then dunking the cookie in milk, and then drinking all the milk). The team races were basically the same, but with columnists vs. reporters and editors vs. photographers. That was a total of four categories I had to outbid girls in and I couldn't do that. Hell, I couldn't outbid even one girl.

The lowest of all the highest bets placed was forty-five dollars.

Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with Wednesday's results either. The girls must have teamed up today because there were a lot of three-way ties.

After the event ended, I tried to haul ass out of the school before Inuyasha had a chance to run into me. It would have been extremely hard to not act insanely jealous. And I didn't want to have to explain my absence from Bean Café yesterday, either. We had managed to avoid the elephant in the room so far, but I had a feeling Inuyasha was about to burst and confront me—I could see it in his eyes. And, considering I didn't want to talk about placing a bet or my bad relationship with God, I kind of needed to go before Inuyasha managed to finish up with the long line of girls he had to kiss today—AKA the main reason I didn't feel like pretending to be happy.

I was pulling out of my parking space when Bank jumped in front of my car and spread his arms out. "STOP!"

"Shit!" I slammed down on the breaks just in time to prevent Bank from turning into a pancake. I rolled my window down and stuck my head out, glaring at him. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"It's Patricia," he said, ignoring my question and walking over to my car. "She won't start. Can you try giving her a jump?"

I looked down at the dashboard. Inuyasha would be out here in two, three minutes tops. "I don't have any cables with me."

"I have them in my trunk," Bank assured me, walking over to the passenger's side to get in. "I'll hook it up for you and everything. I just need you to rev your engine."

"I highly doubt your car is having issue with its—"

"Her."

"With her battery," I corrected myself, rolling my eyes. I drove a few rows down to where Bank had his busted car parked and slid into the parking space beside him. "I think you just have to face the fact Patricia is getting old," I told him as I got out of my car to open the hood. "Look at it, Bank. The paint is peeling!"

"You're still beautiful," Bank cooed, patting Patricia's trunk before opening it to retrieve the jump cables and I just sighed. Bankotsu and his Patricia.

We tried jump-starting the battery five times, but nothing happened. My get away time deteriorated with every failed attempt; I wasn't about to let Bank suck up any more of that precious time.

"Come on, Bank," I started before he could suggest trying for a sixth time. "Let's just go. I'll drive you home."

"And leave her here?"

"Bank," I was losing my patience and Bank seemed to catch on, giving up on trying to win me over with his pout. "I don't want to wait here all day. I'm stopping by Smoothie King to talk to Sango and I'll even buy you a smoothie. Large," I added, hoping it would coax him into leaving with me before a certain somebody showed up. Besides, I had plenty of money to spend seeing as I didn't use it to outbid any of the girls in the polls today. "You can call Ginkotsu to pick Patricia up for you later. Maybe he can even fix her." Bank had six older brothers and Ginkotsu was the mechanic in the family.

Bank sighed and looked longingly at his car. "Maybe your car isn't strong enough. We should wait for Inuyasha to come out so we can try his truck. There's much more muscle behind that monster truck."

"We?" I shook my head and started unlatching the cables from my car's battery. "You can wait for Inuyasha and get a ride home from him if you want, but I'm leaving."

"What exactly happened between you two?" Bank asked, taking the cables off Patricia and carrying them back to his trunk and I took that as a sign he was riding with me to Smoothie King after all. "Last week you would have waited an hour after school just to hang out with Inuyasha."

"No, I wouldn't have."

"Thirty minutes then," Bank shrugged. He closed his trunk and locked the doors and then, finally, got in my car with me. "The point is, you're avoiding him and that's not cool." We buckled our seatbelts and I started the car, ready to pull out. "Is this because he's doing you a favor and kissing all those girls?" I grunted, but didn't actually verbalize my response. "That's not fair, Kags."

"Life's not fair," I grumbled and Bank clucked his tongue. "Don't you always tell me to stop pretending around people?"

"You usually don't listen to my advice."

"Well, I am now and I don't feel like pretending I'm not extremely jealous or annoyed by the fact Inuyasha kissed thirteen girls today." I put my car in drive and pulled out. "Sorry, but I'm not in the mood to just grin and bear it while they all line up and kiss him. And after all that trouble I went through…"

"What trouble?" Bank asked, looking genuinely interested as he fiddled with my radio. My face went blank as I stared ahead. Me and my big mouth. "Kagome…"

"I'll tell you later," I promised. "When we get to Smoothie King, that way I can tell you and Sango at the same time." No need to explain my embarrassment twicein one day.

Bank found a radio station that satisfied him and sat back in his seat. "Whatever you say," he shrugged. "Can I borrow your phone to call Ginkotsu? Mine died earlier today."

"It's in my bag," I answered, tilting my head towards the backseat where I had thrown my stuff. Bank fished my phone out and frowned down at the screen. "What?" I asked, glancing at him and then back to the road, careful not to hit any of my peers who were starting to flood the parking lot (meaning Cookies n' Cream was officially over).

"Inuyasha just sent you a text telling you not to leave yet." Bank looked at me expectantly. "Are you going to do the right thing and wait for him?"

Inuyasha was just stepping into the parking lot when I drove past him and towards the exit.

"The right thing," I told Bank, "is overrated."

-X-

"Start a tab, Sango," I ordered as I walked into Smoothie King which was surprisingly empty for only four in the afternoon. I walked up to the counter she was standing behind, working the register, and set my bag down before searching for my wallet.

"This is a smoothie shop, Kagome," Sango pointed out to me, "not a bar."

"I've got a lot to vent about," I told her, pulling a twenty out of my wallet. "Two large Caribbean Ways, please." Sango raised her brows at me and I rolled my eyes. "The other one is for Bank. He's just finishing a phone call. Can you give us your employee discount?"

"Nope," Sango shook her head, ringing up my total and taking my money.

"Stingy," I grumbled under my breath and Sango laughed. I turned to the girl who also wore the purple Smoothie King shirt and smiled at her. "Hey, Chaeryn."

Chaeryn was like Sango's own Erin, only way more mild mannered. She was a junior at East High and I'm pretty sure she was one of Sango's "sources" for other schools' gossip.

"Hi, Kagome."

"How's it going?"

"Good." She smiled at me briefly before looking past me, out the front windows. "You said Bankotsu was with you? I don't see his car."

Chaeryn had a very obvious crush on Bankotsu which was one of the main reasons I felt sorry for her. She must have suffered from some rare form of brain damage to be attracted to that dumbass. It was a shame that my friends completely took advantage of this sweet, innocent girl; Sango's using her as her mole and Bank taking advantage of her unrequited love for discounts on smoothies. My best friends were horrible and manipulative people.

"Yeah, Patty broke down so I'm giving him a ride home," I informed Chaeryn.

"It's Patricia." I turned around to see Bankotsu stalking into the store, glaring at me. "I'm offended by your lack of caring." Bankotsu crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. "Some friend you are."

"Is Ginkotsu going to pick it up for you?"

"Yeah. He says he'll try to fix her up, too." Bank leaned on to the counter and looked up at the menu that hung on the wall behind Sango and Chaeryn. "Can you add a caffeine charge to my smoothie?"

"It'll cost you extra," Sango told him and Bank looked at me expectantly. I grumbled under my breath but told Sango to just add it to my tab.

"Hi, Bankotsu," Chaeryn chirped, beaming up at him. "You, uh…You look very nice today." She blushed at her weak attempt at conversation.

"Thanks…" Bank forced himself to smile at her, carefully avoiding eye contact.

"Did you have a good day today?"

"My car did break down today, so, no," Bank shook his head. "Not the best day."

"Oh. Right. Duh." Chaeryn hit herself in the head and laughed awkwardly. "That was stupid…"

We all sat in an awkward silence for a few seconds before Sango finally spoke up, saving Chaeryn from trying to engage Bankotsu in another failed conversation.

"Do you have any more Korean bands to tell us about?" Sango asked Chaeryn and Bankotsu groaned. Chaeryn moved here from Korea three years ago and she successfully got me and Sango hooked on a few Korean boy bands, much to Bank's dismay.

"Chaeryn," he ordered, looking her in the eyes for once, dead serious. "Do not tell these two about any more bands. I cannot go through anymore of their obsessed phases. Bigbang was more than I could handle."

Chaeryn laughed lightly and tucked her short black hair behind her ears, biting her lip. "There's this one band, CN Blue," she ended up confessing after she threw the last of the ingredients in the blender and started it. Bank slammed his head on the counter. "I think you'll really like them."

"I'll check them out now," I said, pulling out my phone and opening the browser to search CN Blue.

"Hey, your shift is over," Sango told Chaeryn, pointing to the clock. On cue, a car pulled up in front of the shop and honked the horn. "And your mom is here."

"Your mom is still picking you up?" Bank asked her, raising a brow. "I thought you were old enough to drive now."

"I am, but my mom insists on picking me up." Chaeryn's face was bright red as she gathered her stuff. "Bye, Sango. Bye, Kagome." She looked at Bank and smiled extra wide. "Bye, Bankotsu."

"Bye," we all said in unison, waving to her as she left. When the door shut behind her, Bankotsu let out a long breath of relief.

"I don't know how long I can keep dodging her advances," he said, staring at us almost helplessly. "Smoothie discounts aren't worth it."

"Why don't you like her?" I asked Bank while Sango went to stop the blender and pour our smoothies. "She's really nice and pretty and she actually likes you. You're not going to meet another person like that in a million years."

"I don't want to date a girl who's obsessed with me."

"She's not obsessed with you," I argued, crossing my arms. "She just likes you a lot."

"That's obsessed," he mumbled under his breath and I hit his arm. "You can't get mad at me for not liking someone. She's not my type."

"I can get mad at you for using her for smoothie discounts and then shrugging her off when she tries to hold a conversation." Bank rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath and I hit him again. "What is your type, anyways?"

"He likes older woman," Sango reminded me, pushing our smoothies towards us. "Ms. Kido is his ideal woman." Bankotsu nodded proudly and I rolled my eyes. "If I remember correctly, you actually came in saying something about how you were going to vent?"

I frowned, taking a straw from Bank and jabbing it into my drink. "Inuyasha kissed thirteen girls today," I told her and her eyes widened. "Thirteen girls. That's a lot!"

"That's… thirty-nine seconds?"

"It's an eternity!" I shook my head and took a sip of my smoothie. "I don't know what I'm going to do, Sango," I sighed. "I can't take another day of this and none of my tricks are working."

"Tricks?" Sango's eyebrows disappeared beneath her bangs. "Please, do tell."

I contemplated lying for two seconds, but then Bank and Sango both gave me their speak-the truth-and-nothing-but-the-truth-so-help-me-God stares.

"I tried rigging the betting polls," I mumbled and Sango gasped while Bank busted out laughing.

"Are you serious?" Sango stared at me. "Kagome."

"I had to do something after he kissed Yura yesterday!" I exasperated and Bank just laughed harder. "What if he kissed somebody worse than that? I don't think I could take it."

"Who could be worse than Yura?"

"The crazy girl from Monday who tried to eat his face off," Bank answered for me and I nodded in agreement.

"I highly doubt that's happening again."

"You'd be surprised," Bank told her. "Inuyasha told me yesterday Yura tried shoving her tongue down his throat."

"In three seconds?"

I rested my head on the counter. "I can't take this anymore."

"Wait, wait, wait." I turned my head to the side to look up at Sango. "How did you try to rig the betting polls?"

"I was going to outbid everyone in all the categories under an alias and, obviously, I wouldn't show up so nobody would kiss Inuyasha. I just underestimated how much money people would put down on a bet…"

"Think about all the good it's doing the paper."

"Fuck the paper," I cursed. "I'm going to go insane."Bankotsu and Sango laughed at my misery and I lifted my head to glare at them. "You know, best friends are supposed to offer advice and help their best friends with their problems, not laugh."

"You should have talked to Kikyo then."

Kikyo already knew about my plans. Going to her and admitting that I tried rigging the polls would have made it even worse. Besides, she would try to blackmail me into giving her something else. Like my first born child.

"I need my friends. Please help me," I begged them (more Sango than Bank. Bank was infamous for giving bad advice). "My sanity is at stake here."

"I don't think you had any sanity to start with," Bank snorted, leaning in for another sip of his smoothie.

I snatched his cup away just as he was about to close his mouth around the straw. "Have fun finding a ride home."

Bank snatched his drink back. "Because you're an emotional mess due to your incapability to tell Inuyasha how you feel, I'll let that slide."

I lifted my hand to hit him on the head, but the bell over the door rang, signaling another customer, and I lowered my hand. We waited for Sango to serve the customer and for him to leave before resuming our conversation.

"What you need is a much more effective sabotage plan," Sango informed me.

"You're seriously going to encourage this?"

"You have to make girls not want to bet for a kiss at all so you don't have to worry about trying to outbid them." I nodded my head enthusiastically while Bank shook his. "How do you accomplish this? You spread a rumor."

"Like he's sick or something?"

"Exactly!" Sango clapped her hands. "It has to be something big, something nobody wants to get. Like herpes." Bank and I stared at her. "Okay, yeah, that's a bit over the top."

"A lot over the top," Bank corrected her.

"He has a cold, then."

"No," Sango shook her head. "That's still not big enough. You can still function when you have a cold. I got it!" Sango smiled widely at us and Bank leaned back a bit farther from the counter. "As of today, Inuyasha has the kissing disease." My brows furrowed and Sango rolled her eyes. "Mono, Kagome, Mono."

"Oh…" I nodded my head slowly. "Nobody wants to get Mono. You're out for a week at least." I frowned. "But how are we going to make it seem like Inuyasha has Mono?"

"Kagome," Sango placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, "You can make people believe anything if you're convincing enough."

"Oh." I grinned at Sango. "I gotcha."

"So let me get this right." Bank pointed back and forth between Sango and me. "You're going to spread a rumor that Inuyasha has Mono because you can't just tell him you like him?"

Sango and I looked at each other and shrugged. "Yeah."

"And you won't even have to worry about your conscience," Sango promised me. "I'll do all the rumor spreading."

"There's something seriously wrong with you two."

"In fact…" She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started tapping away. "I'll start right now." She smiled at both of us. "Gotta love modern technology; information spreads ten thousand times faster."

"I love you, Sango," I gushed and she brushed her shoulders off like it was nothing. "You should say he got it from Yura," I added. "She wasn't here today so it could be considered credible."

Bank shook his head. "You're a horrible and manipulative person."

I draped my arm over his shoulder. "It's why we get along so well."

-X-

When I got to school the next morning it was clear that Sango had come through for me. When Inuyasha and I walked to Calculus, people gave InuYasha cautious stares instead of their normal gazes of appraisal. When he was getting his gym clothes out of his locker, he sneezed and the girl who had the locker next to his actually took a step back and looked at him like he was diseased. And, as far as she knew, he was.

"You'd tell me if I had something in my teeth, right?" Inuyasha asked, ducking his head as another girl walked by and stared at him on our way to lunch.

"Of course I would," I assured him. "What kind of friend do you take me for?" Inuyasha stopped and stared at me, suspicion in his gaze. "Ouch."

"I'm serious, Kagome. People are staring at me like I have the plague. Does my breath stink?" He made a move to breathe in my face but I pushed him away from me before he could.

"Why are you being so self-conscious?" I asked as we walked into the cafeteria. "People are probably just getting over you and your ego can't handle it so it's making these delusions that people are avoiding you."

"I'm currently a prize for your betting polls," Inuyasha pointed out as we made our way to the lunch table where Sango, Ayame and Bank were already sitting. "People don't suddenly get over me like that."

"Wow," I grumbled. "And here I thought you were going to argue with me about not being an egomaniac."

"I'm not an egomaniac."

"Your actions clearly say otherwise."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he sat down next to Bank and I sat next to Sango, across from him. "Hey does my breath stink?"

"How am I supposed to—" Inuyasha breathed right in Bank's face and Bank immediately slapped Inuyasha. "What the hell man! That's so…."

"Job well done," I whispered to Sango and she gave me a head nod in return.

"That shit's gay," Bank grumbled, pushing Inuyasha again and he laughed. "Don't fuck around like that anymore. I'm serious."

"I was just joking," Inuyasha said, clapping Bank on the shoulder, but he flinched out of Inuyasha's reach. "Really?"

"I'm serious, man."

Inuyasha snorted and shook his head, opening his bag of chips. He turned to me and opened his mouth to say something, but something to the right of my head caught his eye.

"Did you see that?" he asked, slapping Bank's arm with one hand and pointing to a girl walking by, staring at him, with the other. "She looked at me like I was diseased! You saw that, right?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Bank's voice squeaked and I wanted to slap him. Because he's tactless and blunt, he makes the worst liar ever.

"Why are you talking like that?"

"What're you talking about?" Bank's voice cracked and he cleared his throat excessively, making Inuyasha raise his brow. "I'm talking the same way I always talk."

"You always sound like a prepubescent twelve year old?"

"Shut up, jackass," Bank grunted, shoving Inuyasha. "Did you watch the movie I gave you the other day?"

"Nah. Kagome ordered me to watch season two of The Office."

"How far are you?" Part of me actually cared, but the majority just wanted to change the subject before Bank really screwed up.

"First two minutes of the very first episode."

I gaped at him. "I gave it to you Monday!"

"I have a life, Kagome."

"The Office is life."

"I have band practice and work and homework and—"

"You copy Sango's homework."

"Yeah, her calculus homework. For my other classes—"

"You read cliff notes for lit instead of the actual book"—we finally started reading a real book: Jane Eyre—"and you copy off me for reading quizzes." Inuyasha's face fell flat. "And there isn't any homework for weight management or music theory."

"Well, work and band practice—"

"Inuyasha." I reached across the table and placed my hand over his. "You have to make time for The Office. There are no excuses."

"Just because you're obsessed with the show doesn't mean I—there!" Inuyasha pulled his hand from mine and pointed to a table behind us and I looked over my shoulder just in time to see a girl whipping her head back around. "I know you all saw her that time."

"I have no—" Sango stomped on Bank's foot, stopping him from making another horribly voiced lie. He just glared at her.

"Be honest with me." Inuyasha leaned in closer to me and looked me in the eyes. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"Well, your head is tad bit too big to fit through the door…" Inuyasha rolled his eyes and waved me off, sitting back again. "I mean, come on, Inuyasha. You're freaking out over the fact every girl isn't gawking at you anymore."

"You have to admit it's a bit unusual."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I think Kouga is finally starting to rub off on you," Ayame said, finally joining the conversation. Up until now, her phone had been more interesting than us. "That's the kind of crap he says."

Inuyasha glared at her. "Don't compare me to that douchebag."

"If the shoe fits…"

"You guys do look like you wear the same size," Bank noted, looking under the table. "Do you ever share shoes with him?"

"Hell no!"

"I was just asking," Bank defended, throwing his hands up in surrender. "But now that I think about it, you both have long hair, demon blood, demon descent with dog connections…"

"Um, excuse me," a voice whispered behind me and Sango and I both turned around to see a short, Erin-sized girl with long, brown hair that curled at the ends. She had wide brown eyes and long lashes. She was a midget, but very pretty.

"Yeah?" Sango asked while I was too busy sizing the girl up.

"Are you sure he's really sick?" She whispered, tilting her head towards Inuyasha. "My friend said she saw him running the track last block and said he looked fine."

"Um…" I drew a blank. This wouldn't be a problem if Inuyasha was normal and didn't try in weight management. Seriously, it's gym class, an easy A. Who the hell puts forward legit effort?

"Have you ever met Coach Rowan?" Sango asked, taking over. The girl shook her head. "Do you have any idea what an overbearing slave driver he is? He thinks his students are being trained for the military, not realizing they only took that class for a complete bullshit course."

"So…"

"So," Sango exasperated, "Inuyasha was pretending to be okay so Coach didn't make him do extra exercises. Right, Kagome?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Once, I didn't put a lot of effort into my workout because I had really bad cramps and he made me stay after school to run miles to make up for it." True story. Well, truth be told, I actually stayed after school because I asked to go to the bathroom and skipped class because I was boycotting the weight lifting exercise.

The girl's eyes widened. "Can he really do that?"

"Yep."

"So of course Inuyasha didn't want to go through that experience so he exhausted himself in there," Sango continued whispering. "I mean, just look at him."

"You're both impatient and cocky."

"You're both kind of show offs."

"Oh!" Ayame clapped her hands. "You even wear the same jeans."

"Face it man, you're practically identical."

Inuyasha's face was pale with the realization of how similar he was to Kouga and his eyes were wide.

"Oh my God." The girl covered her mouth in horror. "Coach Rowan is the devil."

"Yes, he is."

"I mean, he's obviously sick!"

"Clearly!" I agreed, shooting Sango a look and we both bit back our laughter.

"I just can't believe it." She shook her head. "Why did he even come to school today?"

"Stubborn," I shrugged.

"Oh yeah," Ayame agreed, pointing to Inuyasha. "Kouga is really stubborn, too."

"And he's still doing the Odd-Ball Olympics, too?" the girl asked, her brows furrowing.

"He's loyal. Wont' break a promise no matter what."

"Just like Kouga," Ayame relayed to Inuyasha and he let his head fall on the table. "You're actually really good at this," she told me, turning to face me.

I just smiled and patted Ayame on her shoulder.

"And we're telling everyone about it so they know not to bet," Sango continued explaining. "We don't want the whole school coming down with it."

"Oh, okay." The girl smiled and took a step back. "Thanks for clearing it up from me."

"No problem." We waved as the girl walked away and I waited until she was out of earshot before turning to Sango. "You are a genius."

"I know."

"Hmph," Bank scoffed from across the table. "More like a conniving—" I stomped on his foot this time and he winced before glaring at me. I looked back at him like nothing happened.

"Just remember," he pointed his finger back and forth between me and Sango, "Payback's a bitch."

"What?"

"What's wrong with you?" I asked Inuyasha, whose head was still on the table, ignoring Ayame's confusion. I'd explain it to her later. Or not. Now that I think about it, this rumor is kind of excessive and may be just as embarrassing as yesterday's failed attempt at rigging the betting polls. And Tuesday's attempt of placing a bet.

I'm starting to feel kind of pathetic.

"We literally just told him 23 ways he and Kouga are alike," Ayame informed me. "They could be twins."

"I think I'm going to be sick," Inuyasha groaned and I couldn't have been happier. Everyone within earshot just heard Inuyasha basically confirm he had Mono. And Inuyasha was always dead tired after lunch and usually kept his head down during fourth block (I knew this because he always bitched about his teacher bitching about him sleeping in class).

My job here is done.

-X-

"Terrible Three."

"No."

"Terrible Trio."

"No."

"Terrific Trio?"

"How about you stop with the alliteration," Kikyo advised me. "It's tacky."

"Why the fuck does Aki need team names anyways?" Sango asked. "Tell him he's doing too much."

"This is the first time Aki has put actual effort into a newspaper related event; I'm not going to curb his enthusiasm." Sango and Kikyo both groaned and fell back on the grass. "Stop complaining and help me think of a name. Aki starts announcing teams in two minutes."

"Leap frog is lame."

I looked at Sango, but she just shrugged. "Was that a suggestion?"

Kikyo rolled her eyes. "It's a statement."

Today's event was leap frog. We were just playing leap frog on the football field, racing against other teams. There were a total of eight three member teams competing in the leap frog tournament and Aki, at the last minute, decided he wanted every team to have a name he could introduce them with. So that left me, Sango and Kikyo sitting on the sidelines with a few minutes to come up with a name for a tournament we planned on throwing in the first round because none of us really felt like trying.

"Does it really have to have trio in it?" Sango asked.

"There are three of us…"

"Just pick some random name and get it over with," Kikyo sighed, sitting back up. "Aki's coming towards us."

"No regrets?" I asked her. "No take backs?"

"Just do it."

"Hey Kags," Aki greeted me, notepad in hand. "What's the name for you three beautiful ladies?" Kikyo scoffed. "It was a compliment Kikyo. Don't roll your eyes."

"We're the Banana Hammocks." Aki raised his brows at me and Sango stifled a laugh. Kikyo gave me a wide-eyed threatening look.

"Are you sure about that?" Aki asked me.

"Yep."

"You do know what that means, right?" I nodded my head. "And you really want to be called that?"

"Kagome," Kikyo warned me. "If you—"

"Write it down, Aki." I turned and smiled at Kikyo. "No regrets, right?"

"I fucking hate you."

"Kagome!" I turned my head to see Ms. Kido walking towards me as Aki moved on to the next group, a frown wrinkling her brow. "Do you know if anything's wrong with Inuyasha?"

"No," I lied, standing up. "Why?"

"Hitomi just showed me the list of bidders and there really aren't any female bidders which is odd considering yesterday there were almost too many girls."

"That does sound odd." Sango cleared her throat behind me, silently informing me that I overdid it. "But there's always tomorrow. And guys still bet on you, right?"

"Yes. And there was one girl bidder so—"

"Wh-what?"

"—at least there's a few extra dollars going in."

"Yeah… But, um, just out of curiosity, who is the girl bidder?"

"I think her name was Akina. She's right there." Ms. Kido pointed to a girl standing off to the sides in jeans and a sweatshirt. "Are you going to thank her?"

"Yep!" I was making my way across the field to thank the girl who ruined my almost perfect plan. Thanks a lot!

"Hey!" I called out to the girl when I reached the other side of the field. "Akina, right?"

"Yeah…"

"You placed a bet to kiss Inuyasha?" She nodded. "Okay, you see, Inuyasha actually has Mono right now so, we've been telling all the girls not to bid because we don't want it going around and…" Akina looked like she was about to laugh in my face, "I'm sorry, is there something funny about this?"

"No, it's just…" She bit back a smile and shook her head before looking at me again. "I've had Mono before and it's like being hit by a bus. Inuyasha wouldn't be able to do that"—she pointed to Inuyasha, who was slap boxing and laughing with Miroku—"if he really had mono."

"It's the early stages," I retorted. "Look, I'm just trying to help you out so—"

"Thanks but no thanks." Akina gave me a tight lipped smile and headed towards the bleachers. "I think I can judge for myself what serious Mono looks like considering I've had it."

That… I let out a long breath to keep a hold of my temper (this whole week has really been testing my patience) and then headed over to the betting polls where Hitomi was cleaning up, the time to place bets having ended.

"Hey, Hitomi," I smiled at her. "How's the betting?"

"Pretty shitty, actually." She slid the clipboard where all the bets were recorded to me. "Only one girl placed a bet."

"It's because Inuyasha has Mono." Hitomi raised a brow at me. "It's in the early stages."

Hitomi gave me a knowing smile. "Right…"

"You know—" Hitomi looked at me expectantly and I gave up on trying to defend myself. "Never mind. Who'd she bet on?"

"Shinji's team."

"Seriously?" I groaned, finding Akina's name on the clipboard. Now if I wanted to make sure there was no chance of anyone kissing Inuyasha I had to beat Shinji, the idiot gung-ho on winning. "And she only bet one dollar!"

"No need to throw down forty when there's no competition."

Ugh! Why did all my plans blow up in my face?

"Good afternoon Shikon High! Today, on this wonderful October evening, Shikon Times brings to you the first leap frog tournament!"

"That's my cue to go back to my team." I handed Hitomi back the clipboard. "Give it to Raiden before the first race. He's announcing the winners today, but he's also referee."

"Aye aye, Captain."

I ran back across the field to Sango and Kikyo who were lying on the ground instead of stretching like the other teams.

"Get up," I ordered, grabbing Sango's hand and pulling her to her feet. "Start stretching or doing squats or whatever. Loosen up."

"Why?" Kikyo asked, sitting up on her elbows. "I thought we agreed not to try."

"There's been a change of plans." I reached to pull Kikyo up, but she slapped my hand away. "We have to beat Shinji's team."

Sango's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me; we're going to beat Shinji's team."

"Have you looked at line up for the tournament? We are the last team, while Shinji's team is second—we'd have to make it all the way to the finals to beat Shinji."

"Which is why I'm telling you to warm up." I started doing lunges while Aki continued announcing team names. "Get up, Kikyo."

"I don't sweat," she told me. "I'm not busting my ass just for you. Why do we have to win all of a sudden?"

"Because…" I looked to Sango for help but she just glared at me as she did squats. No help from her end. "Because I told everyone Inuyasha had Mono to keep girls from kissing him, but this one girl decided to bet anyway and she bet on Shinji's team so that's why we have to beat him," I rushed out. "Okay?"

Kikyo snorted and grinned her smug/condescending smile. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously, so now would you get up?"

"'You've really gotten desperate, Higurashi," Kikyo laughed as she stood up. "First trying to place your own bet and now this."

"You did what?"

"Kikyo!"

"Oops. Did I say that out loud?" She gave me a smile that wasn't at all apologetic. "Sorry 'bout that."

"You failed to mention this when you told me and Bank about trying to rig the betting polls yesterday," Sango added, smirking at Kikyo.

"Sango!"

"Wow." Kikyo bit back her laughter. "Really desperate."

"I hate you two."

"And, our final team compiled of the three beautiful Shikon Times ladies, Sango, Kikyo, and our editor-in-chief Kagome, the Banana Hammocks!"

"Right back at you," Kikyo whispered in my ear as she draped her arm over my shoulders and waved to the crowd.

-X-

Thankfully, the first three races to get to the finals were easy. Everybody else seemed to feel like half-assing the races and because I forced us to try, it wasn't very hard for the Banana Hammocks to advance. So the only problem we had when it came to going against Shinji's team was that our legs were tired and Kikyo was two seconds away from murdering me because she had sweat stains under her pits.

"Alright, this is the last race guys," I told them in our huddle before we started the final race. "Just a hundred yards and we're done, we win the trophy, we're champs."

"There's no trophy, Kagome," Sango deadpanned.

"Then let's just strive for the satisfaction of winning, 'kay?" Sango grumbled under her breath and Kikyo rolled her eyes. "Hands in guys. Banana Hammocks on three. One, two, Banana Hammocks!" I was the only one who threw my hand up and yelled—Sango and Kikyo just walked out of the huddle and onto the field. I think they may be tired of me tiring them out. "Okay, next time! Energy people, energy!"

"Kagome," Kikyo sighed. "You are really pissing me off."

"Sweating is a natural body process," I informed her and she glared at me. "If you didn't sweat you couldn't maintain homeostasis and you'd overheat and die."

"Thanks for the biology lesson."

"And the finale is here! The showdown between the Banana Hammocks and Blood, Sweat and Tears will determine the leap frog champion! Would the teams please take their mark on the end zone line?"

"Ready to get whooped?" Shinji smirked at me as we lined up on the starting line. "Your legs are starting to look a little wobbly."

"I'm actually fine." All those stupid leg exercises we did in weight management finally paid off. "You should be worried."

Shinji gave a non-too-subtle glance at Kikyo and Sango. "I don't think so."

"Alright, we'll start on the count of three. As in one, two, three, and then go."

"So would you like to look more alive?" I whispered to my team. "The other guys are sizing us up."

"I'm tired," Kikyo snapped at me. "I've hopped across this damn football field three times today so excuse me for wanting to sit down for two seconds."

"It's just one more time, Kikyo," I encouraged her, giving her a pat on the back. "Then you can lie down like a log for all I care."

"I'm going to choke you and then lie down like a log."

"Maybe you'd like to rethink that?"

"Three… Two…"

"Seriously, Kikyo, we're friends."

"By your standards."

"One… Go!"

I cut my argument off with Kikyo and crouched so Sango could hop over me and then Kikyo could hop over both of us. After our first rotation, Shinji's team already seemed to be a yard ahead of us so I coaxed Kikyo and Sango to move faster which resulted in Kikyo stepping on my hand before jumping over me. I would like to think it was an accident, but I knew Kikyo. Just around the fifty yard line, one of the members of Blood, Sweat, and Tears stumbled and fell and we managed to take the lead. I tried to maintain our slight advantage, but Sango and Kikyo were starting to slow down—they didn't take gym classes every year like me which seriously hurt their stamina—and we were practically tied with Shinji again, but he had taken a slight lead in the last five yards. A ribbon of tissue paper had been strung across the finish line for the winner to break and just before Shinji could hop across it, claiming victory, I tripped over Kikyo's hand (I think she tripped me on purpose), stretched my hand out, broke the ribbon and tumbled face first into a mouthful of dirt.

Yum, I thought as I rolled over onto my back. I love the taste of fresh dirt in the afternoon.

"Nice going," Kikyo grumbled as she got off her knees. "Graceful finish."

"At least we won." Kikyo shook her head and stalked off the field, heading back towards the building. "She could at least show some gratitude."

"Just be glad she gave up on choking you," Sango advised me, plopping down on the ground next to my head. "I think there's something about sweating and being called a banana hammock all afternoon that pisses Kikyo off."

"…You have a point."

"We won!" Shinji cheered, hopping up and down. "We won!"

"What?" I picked myself off the ground and hurried over to Shinji. "We clearly won. I fell over the finish line before you did. I broke the ribbon."

"But you fell over it, you didn't hop. That doesn't count."

"That's bullshit!"

"This is leap frog, Kagome. You don't win by being a klutz and tripping over the finish line. That's like cheating."

"That's winning. Don't start twisting the rules because you can't stand losing. Raiden!" I beckoned him over, pointing an accusing finger at Shinji. "Tell him I won."

"I—"

"You can't win like that!" Shinji cut Raiden off. "If that's the case the person with the longest arms would win because they could stretch their arms over finish line. You can't win like that."

"I'm sorry, would you like to consult the leap frog handbook?Stop being a punk and just accept defeat."

"Maybe I would if you actually won…"

"I won! Just because you're a little bitch—"

"I'm the bitch?" Shinji laughed. "Who's the one always complaining about the dumbest shit and biting everyone's head off when they don't get their way?"

"Um… that would be you. In case you forgot, you almost cried because you lost in Cookies n' Cream yesterday."

"I wasn'tcrying!"

"Oh, right." I rolled my eyes and slapped my forehead. "Your allergies were acting up. Silly me."

"You tried throwing a girl in the pool on Monday when she kissed your boyfriend, in case you forgot. I'm pretty sure that's the epitome of insanity right there."

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Oh, right." Shinji, slapped his forehead, mocking me. "Your fuck buddy. Silly me."

"I'm going to rip your hair out of your head."

"Come at me!"

"Okay, okay!" Raiden stepped in between the two of us before I could lunge for Shinji's hair. "Just… chill out."

"Things seem to be getting intense on the field… It looks like there's a disagreement over who won."

"Just tell him I won already," I ordered Raiden brushing my bangs out of my face. When Raiden hesitated I looked up at him to see him biting his lip. "Raiden."

"Look…" I widened my eyes at him and he placed a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. "It was a close call. I—It actually has to be considered who won."

"What?" I gaped at him and Raiden flinched. "But I broke the ribbon!"

"I know, but Shinji makes some valid points so I'm just going to talk it over with the board and—"

"The board?" I wrinkled my brow. "Who's on the board?"

"It's just me, Aki, and Ms. Kido. We decided to make up a board just in case a situation like this happened."

"What, are you going to rewind the play and closely evaluate it?"

"Kagome."

"Sorry," I apologized, letting out a breath of air. I'm not usually this angry, but after busting my ass to beat Shinji, it really ticked me off that our effort might go to waste because of one questionable play. "Just hurry up." Raiden nodded and jogged off the field, leaving me standing next to a smug Shinji. "Stop smiling like that—this doesn't mean you won."

"Right…"

"I'm still going to rip your hair out," I reminded him. "Don't forget about it." Shinji tapped his chest and mouthed for me to come at him again and I was tempted to, but Sango grabbed the back of my shirt before I could make a move.

"Calm down, tigress," she said, pulling me back. "It's just a game."

"It wasjust a game, but, Sango," I looked into her eyes, "I really hate Shinji."

"Let it go, Kags. It's just one kiss." I frowned and she draped her arm over my shoulders. "I'll treat you to smoothies as a pick me up."

"I'd prefer ice cream."

"Ice cream it is then. Meet you at Coldstone after this?" I nodded and she smiled just as Raiden came running back up to us.

"So?" I asked him. "What's the verdict?"

"We decided—"

"And, after intense arguing with the ref and much consideration, it has been decided that the winner is… Blood, Sweat, and Tears!"

"Yes!" Shinji cheered, jumping in the air. "Hell yes!"

"Really, Raiden?" I looked at him and he shrugged.

"We voted on it and majority said Shinji won." I rolled my eyes and threw my hands in the air. "Sorry, Kags."

"Why do I even try?"

"Yay, you won the leap frog tournament," Sango sarcastically cheered as Shinji gave his team high fives and did an extra fist pump. "Go sit down somewhere. It's not like you get a trophy."

"Don't be jealous, Sango. But hey," Shinji held his hand out to Sango, "Good game."

Sango stared at him like he was crazy. "Again, you're the champion of leap frog."

"So…" I turned my head to see Inuyasha standing behind me with his hands in his pockets, half smiling, half smirking. "Banana Hammocks?"

"It was a spur of the moment thing," I waved off. "Not my best moment."

"No, I'm sure it's every girl's dream to be a part of a team whose name means thongs that make guys' junk look huge."

"I finally checked something off my bucket list." Inuyasha laughed and I smiled at him. "On a brighter note, you only have one girl to kiss today."

"Really?"

"Yep. I was working so hard because I thought your lips deserved a break, but it looks like I couldn't help you out after all."

"I could tell you really tried." Inuyasha smirked at me. "You have quite the temper."

"Yeah, it… pops up every now and then."

"I'd have to quit if I didn't want to kiss anymore girls, though."

"Maybe you should." Inuyasha raised his brows at me. "I mean, as a suggestion. I'm not saying I want you to quit—you're really a big help—but if you want to…"

Inuyasha nodded his head. "Right…"

Why the hell was everyone saying "right" like that?

"Since I only have one girl to kiss today do you think you could stay long enough to hang out when I'm done?"

"Um, sorry, but I can't."

"Oh."

"Yeah." I gave Inuyasha a brief smile and began to walk towards my stuff. "I'm busy tonight"

-x-

I slammed my head into a wall a billion times as punishment for my stupidity.

-0-0-0-0-0-

And that's all folks. Hopefully, since I've basically given up in French, I'll try to spend more class time writing instead of sleeping and the next chapter will be up in a reasonable amount of time. I'm opening The Office 2013 box calendar at midnight and maybe I'll bring in the new year with a few reviews too? Pretty pretty please review!

Happy New Year!

~Kimiko888~

So we made this facebook page once upon a time and only six amazing people liked it. You guys are really disappointing me. If you like us on facebook, you'll know our progress on stories. And sometimes our not-so progress, progress. Kimiko can be a very lazy person, as a matter of fact, she is insanely lazy. I believe we have a link to the page on Kimiko's profile so like us on facebook. It would make us feel popular. Also, hope you guys had a fantastic holiday season and I wish you the best in 2013!

~hanmajoerin