Ahem…. Well, I realize that I have not contributed to this site in a long time, or indeed written in a long time. *Laugh* And that if I am posting to fanfiction, I definitely should be updating my (REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY) old stories but I couldn't help myself. And in fact, what I realized was that I suck at writing in sequence because I jump a lot, and also that my writing style has changed so much since I first started my other stories (and lost my new chapters when my computer crashed, twice) that I figured I might as well attempt to dazzle you with a new (short) story that's inspired off of the fact that I joined debate at my school and I have a debate tournament tomorrow, lol. Enjoy!

The hundreds of hearts beating rapidly in anticipation, the most uncontrolled sounds of heavy, nervous breathing, the rapid chatter of nerves filling the room with enough stimuli to give this ice prince a migraine. But it was always thus, at these competitions. The stench of human nervousness permeating the air, wrinkling his noble nose. A slight smirk tugged at the corners of his lips: these losers had no chance against him. Ruthlessly logical in his thoughts, arguments and attitude, just the hint of his mere presence sent a shiver of trepidation and fear through the hearts of his so called competitors. Sesshoumaru deigned to perch himself in one of the chairs provided by the school hosting the debate competition and surveyed the others milling around in the room whilst waiting for postings to be posted. As always, he had a personal bubble of empty space around him. It formed naturally because of his demeanor. The other debaters from his school also stood aloof and apathetic, Kikyo was the only human on their school's debate team but from afar she blended in with their coldness. Sesshoumaru glanced briefly at her, golden ice clashing with an equally icy brown. At first, he was extremely opposed to having a human as his partner, but he grudgingly admitted, that she was adequate at it and her cool logic matched his. They had never lost as a team, if in fact it called be team. He had said it on the first tournament they had been partnered together, if they lost, even by one round, consequences be damned, he would ensure she never debated in an official capacity again. He looked away, assured that the message had been delivered same as all the other tournaments before, no defeat accepted. Or else.

In stark contrast, Kagome was bouncing in her black peep toe heels in a mixture of anticipation and nervousness. It never failed to get her nerves strung up no matter how many debate tournaments her and her partner had been to before. Inuyasha laid a clawed hand on her shoulder, still looking away from her, cheeks slightly pink at the intimacy of their touch, a silent reminder to calm down. Kagome stopped obediently, smiling softly at him, noticing his ears were swiveling around in an unconscious gesture of nerves that even he couldn't control. Kagome took his hand from her shoulder, and enclosed it in hers instead, giving it a reassuring squeeze. There was nothing to be worried about; they were the best in their school and possibly their league. They had clawed their way up the ladder, suffering defeat at the beginning but their hard work had paid off and they had made nationals last year, Kagome grinned, this year was going to be their year. She could feel it.

"POSTINGS!" an anonymous voice yelled, causing a stampede inside as everyone ran to see where they would debate against each other.

Inuyasha smirked mirroring Kagome's expression as together they joined in the mayhem, fighting against the masses to reach the postings first.

Sesshoumaru clicked his tongue once in annoyance and exasperation at the uncouth way everyone behaved at the yell. There was no need to behave like animals. He and Kikyo glided gracefully to where the postings were, a bubble of space forming around them even as people pushed others out of the way to reach their goal.

Let the competition begin.

Yes I realize it's extremely short but as an excuse, I DO have a debate tournament tomorrow so I do need to sleep early tonight considering I need to be at my school at the ungodly time of 6:30 tomorrow morning (and I need to practice my piece, lol). So I will update the day after tomorrow if I can (Damn you last minute Christmas shopping!) and if not I'll update whenever I can for this story (and my others)! As always, constructive criticism, compliments, ideas for plot twists, ramblings and anything else are welcome.

^-^