Fat Brown Lump by Vicious Grin

Competition Blues

This is my first SessKag fanfic. BE GENTLE!! :)

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"You promise?"

"Promise"

"Alright. Seriously, don't let me down!! I'll see you around noon. Bye!"

Kagome Higurashi hung up the small, white, house phone, hooked it up to the receiver in her room and sighed. She had just gotten off the line with one of her closest childhood friends, Inuyasha Taisho. The two had known each other since they were very young, thanks to their parents being close friends already. Now they were both seniors in high school ready to go off to college in a few months.

Inuyasha had been pretty popular in school. He did exceptionally well in every sport he attempted, received good grades, and was nearly inseparable from Kagome. Most of the school assumed the two were dating, despite their many attempts at denying it, but they found it much easier to just ignore the rumors.

Like Inuyasha, Kagome appeared to be very friendly, and she usually received high marks on her report cards. Unfortunately, this year her grades seemed to be getting on the low side. She seemed to be constantly distracted and found it near impossible to stay focused, especially when she was around Inuyasha. At least she had archery. Nothing could ever distract her from that. It was her one true passion and her reason for calling him that morning.

Today was one of her big competitions where several other schools would be competing against hers for the first place title, and she needed Inuyasha to be there to help keep her focused. He was always there encouraging her to keep going, even when she knew some matches were impossible to win.

All the competing archers were allowed one person to act as a coach along the sidelines and naturally Kagome chose him. She trusted him more than anyone and always went to him first when she had good news. He always congratulated her with great big bear hugs that seemed to last forever. She loved his hugs.

Letting out a faint chuckle, Kagome walked over to her bedroom window and looked out at the sun rising over a just waking up Tokyo City.

'Today seems like a nice day,' she thought to herself, 'I think its time I finally tell him.'

She took one last look outside before retreating back into her room to prepare for the competition.

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Inuyasha hung up his cell phone after ending his conversation with Kagome and walked downstairs to the kitchen. His half brother, Sesshoumaru, was already fully dressed and sitting down reading the morning newspaper while munching on a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. A/N: (I likes my Fruity Pebbles!!)

'Business man eating a box of kiddy cereal. Damn, I wish I had my camera...'

"Morning Sess." he said, walking past him grabbing the box of cereal.

"Yasha." he muttered, not looking up.

"Did Kagome tell you about her competition today?"

"Yes. She asked me to tell you to behave yourself at this one. Apparently you threatened another girl with a licorice stick at the last competition." he smirked.

"Hey! That girl started it!"

"They always do." he replied, getting up to leave. "Be ready by 11:00. I don't want to be stuck in traffic."

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Kagome put the finishing touches on her white and green school uniform and admired herself in the hallway mirror.

"Kagome! Hurry!" her mother called from outside, "You'll be late!!"

"Coming!" Kagome rushed back to her bedroom, grabbed her bow and arrows, ran outside and hopped into her mother's car.

"You're looking awfully nice for a competition." her mother commented.

Kagome blushed. "Well, you know... this is a big one. You want to leave a good impression."

Her mother raised an eyebrow before backing out and heading to the stadium.

When they arrived, it looked as if hundreds of people were bustling about trying to get good seats while the competitors wandered around trying to focus on one thing or the other.

Kagome gulped.

"Don't worry you'll do fine."

She looked up to see her mother smiling down on her.

"Souta and I are going to find our seats. I'll see you as soon as its over." she said, placing her hand on her shoulder, then walked off.

"Good luck, nee-chan!" Souta waved.

Kagome smiled and waved back..

'Where are you Inuyasha???'

She wandered around the stadium searching for the hanyou's unmistakable white hair and dog ears, but to no avail. Just as she was ready to give up, she saw a glimmer of white pass by the corner of her eye. She turned around to see long white hair walking toward the stadium seats.

"Taisho-kun!" she called, running over.

Sesshoumaru turned around and saw Kagome running towards him, her brown eyes shimmering in the sun.

She stopped and gave the youkai a small bow.

"Oh, hi Sesshoumaru!"

"Hello Kagome."

His voice sounded so mellifluous when he said her name. She shook her head. 'What the hell?'

"Have you seen Inuyasha? I have to be out there in less than 20 minutes and I haven't seen him anywhere! I really need someone to go back with me to prepare!! My team has no coach!"

Sesshoumaru placed his hand on her back and felt her tense up a bit. "Calm down, Kagome. Last time I saw him, he was off looking for more licorice."

She looked down slapped her forehead. "Yasha..." she growled.

Sesshoumaru chuckled. "Why don't I go back with you? I don't want you being late."

Kagome gasped as she heard a faint bell ring. "Oh no! The first round is starting!" She grabbed Sesshoumaru by the wrist and ran off to find her spot.

'Damnit, Inuyasha.'

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The first round didn't go so great. Kagome couldn't keep her mind off Inuyasha and how mad she was at him. She let it get the best of her and missed the center of the target, nearly missing the thing entirely.

A soft chuckle came from the side. She looked over to see a girl with long jet black hair, obviously from another school, laughing at her.

"Silly girl can't even shoot properly."

Kagome felt her face get hot.

Sesshoumaru walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't let her get to you Kagome. She's just trying to intimidate you."

Kagome looked back at the girl, who was still staring at her with a mock expression, as she walked over with Sesshoumaru to her team's bench. Sitting at the girl's bench was someone who looked very familiar. She squinted her eyes to get a better look. The person had on a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and baseball cap. Then she saw the hair.

"Inuyasha?!"

Immediately he looked up and an expression of horror spread across his face. "Kagome! I-uh...shit."

Kagome didn't know how to feel just then. Her best friend was helping the one girl who obviously hated her while he was supposed to be sitting in Sesshoumaru's spot.

Inuyasha ran over to her. "Kagome! I can- "

She held up her hand. "No. Save it. I have a competition to prepare for." Not once did she bother to look in his eyes.

Sesshoumaru glared at his brother. "Baka." he muttered.

Inuyasha walked back to the girl and sat next to her. Her red and white uniform skirt rode dangerously high up her legs.

"She's not your girlfriend, is she?" she asked him.

"No! Of course not! We're just friends."

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Kagome bent over and held her head in her hands. She bit her lip, trying her best to suppress the tears she felt coming. There was no way in hell she was going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her cry, especially now.

Sesshoumaru placed his hand on her back and gently rubbed it.

"Kagome, Inuyashas an idiot. I know its hard, but you need to try and forget about this right now. You still have two more rounds to go through."

She looked up at no one in particular. "You're right. I can't let them bug me..."

She stood up and went to her mark for the second round. Again, the girl stood next to her.

"You know," she said, her red skirt blowing in the wind, "your little friend is pretty cute."

Kagome felt her body grow hot as a sudden rush of jealousy surged through her body. She bit down hard on her lip and clenched her mouth shut. Inside, her mind was screaming. Before she knew it, she let her arrow loose, missing her target completely.

"No..."

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"Come on, Kagome, this is the last round, and I know how great you are with moving targets." Sesshoumaru tried comforting her.

"I can't do it! Not with that GIRL there!"

He couldn't stand to see her this miserable. He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "Kagome, look at me." She felt herself blush a little. "I know you can do this. The Kagome I got to know better these last three years never let dumb people like these ones get in her way. Just hit your target and you're done. I'll even take you out to lunch right after and we can laugh about it."

She bit her lip. His amber eyes looked dead serious. She had gotten closer to Sesshoumaru the last few years since he had come back from Sapporo to live permanently in Tokyo.

"Alright." she said, picking up her bow, "You're buying?"

He chuckled. "I'm buying."

She smiled and went over to her mark for the last time, doing her best to ignore that girl's taunts. She watched the timer count down.

3...

2..

1.

Five red disks flew into the sky. Using two arrows at a time, she shot every single one down, right in the center. The entire crowd burst out screaming and cheering. The judges were so impressed with her accuracy and speed, they gave her team extra points, bumping her school up to third place, the girl in red next to her received fourth place.

'Well, at least that girl's school didn't get first.'