A/N: Yay! Thanks for all the reviews, you guys! They really made me feel all giddy and excited. I really appreciate the feedback.

Kawaii Lara-Chan: Thank you so much for your review! You were the first one, and for that you get extra kudos from me. You have no idea how nervous I was when I checked my review box. I was so afraid that there wouldn't be any- so thanks a lot!

Snippets: The almighty aqua-angel has reviewed! Thanks for encouraging me and helping me with the chapters. (Note to readers: everyone read aqua-angel's stories on fictionpress.com- they're really good ^ - ^)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. The style and tone changed slightly for Kagome's character- it's not as crazy as the last chapter, but still pretty light and good 'ole filler-ish. Now on with the chapter!!

Jeopardy in the Sengoku Jidai (Part I)

(As told by Kagome)

It was a perfect day.

The sky was cloudless this afternoon, the sun wasn't roasting us (thankfully), and the spot we were resting at had a beautiful crop of trees. I yawned and smiled.

It was finally time to take out my books and catch up on the fifty-odd days I had missed at school helping gather the Shikon shards and fighting evil youkai. Time-traveling had really helped me with my time management skills, at least.

I opened my math book and started to read the section I had placed a bookmark on: sine and cosine graphs. I scratched my chin lightly, frowning. Somehow this didn't seem familiar. I turned the page...

Backwards.

The FOIL method? Nothing clicked in my brain. I turned another page back. Still nothing. I bit my lip. A horrible thought was starting to form in my head, but still I kept turning the page and skimming, trying desperately to find a familiar subject, anything! Finally, I smiled. Ah! Now this looked familiar! 5x + 8 = ?

My eyes widened in shock. No, it couldn't be! My math skills had been reduced to doing basic algebra!

I opened my history book. Who was Lenin? Wasn't he the president of the United States of America during the 100 Year's War? Or was that King Charles III? I could remember reading all about it in school, but now, why I couldn't remember anything? I tried to calculate when I had last studied. It had been nearly seven weeks. So that meant at school, my class was three chapters ahead. Or was it twelve? I closed my books solemnly, as my worst fears had been confirmed. 

I was getting dumb.

With this new revelation, I calmly got up from where I was sitting, and calmly decided on what I was going to do: I screamed.

"What are you yelling for, wench? Stop it! You're damaging my ears!"

I froze. I had completely forgotten about Inuyasha. One of his pet peeves, aside from Shippo on a sugar high, was me screaming. I frowned, and turned to meet him.

I was a little surprised to see his expression: he looked worried. His ears were perked up, but I was sure it wasn't from annoyance. He must've been on the alert and thought I was in danger when I had screamed. No wonder he was angry with me. I softened up at that point, but then he just had to open his mouth again.

"If you're getting dumb, it's no reason to scream your head off!" His eyes were amused.

"I am not getting dumb!!!!" I shrieked. I covered my mouth and immediately wished I hadn't said that. Inuyasha, on the other hand, looked triumphant.

"Admit it- I heard you say distinctly that you couldn't remember anything from your books," he said, smirking.

I flushed. Those extra-sensitive ears of his were really irritating sometimes. "Were you eavesdropping on me again?" I asked, on the defensive. It was a bad move.

The hanyou's ears perked up in annoyance. "Feh! I didn't need to eavesdrop on you- anyone could hear you for miles with that incredibly loud high-pitched voice of yours!"

I could feel my face darkening, but unfortunately for him Inuyasha didn't notice the warning signs. 

3...

"What are you so upset about, anyway?"

2...

"Studying in a school is a lot easier than chopping off youkai heads. Can't you pull yourself together and memorize a few things?" 

1...

"Hell, if I went to school, I bet I could do a lot better than you!"

"OSUWARI!! OSUWARI!! OSUWARI!! OSUWARI!! OSUWARI!! OSUWARI!!!!!!!"

There. That made me feel better.

I dusted off my hands next to the Inuyasha-shaped crater in the ground, and stood up, gathering up my dignity. A faint groaning could be heard. "Wench," I heard him mutter.

"Osuwari!" I added for good taste.

Another thud, and a groan.

I was about to walk away, when suddenly a light turned on in my head. It wasn't my memory, unfortunately, but it was good enough to make me smile. Inuyasha needed to learn a lesson. To be honest, I was kind of getting tired of sitting him every time. I turned around 180 degrees, and put on my best innocent smile. Inuyasha looked up at me with a resentful glare.

"Say, Inuyasha," I said silkily, "You may be right."

The hanyou struggled to his feet, swaying. He stared at me, confused. "About what?"

"You may be right when you said you would do better than me in school. After all, you're the one who does all the work around here. If it's anyone who's going to defeat Naraku, it's definitely you. I just don't have that kind of strength." And then I glanced down modestly, as if I had just poured out my soul to him. There. That surely did it.

As I expected, there was a dumbfounded silence for a while. Then, I sensed him shifting uncomfortably as he no doubt suspected that something was going on. I could practically feel the internal dilemma, debating whether to voice his suspicions or not. Finally, he folded his arms and said, "Why are you telling me this?"

I grinned slowly, and I swear he cringed slightly. I was giggling inside. "Well, you said so yourself that you could do better than me, right? Well, here's your chance to prove it: we're going to have a contest to see who's the smarter one, you or me. Of course, since you're already so sharp, you'll beat me for sure."

For a moment, he was silent. And then, a smirk slowly replaced his thoughtfulness. "All right then. I get what you're trying to do. You want to make me think that this will be easy by flattering me, and then humiliate me on the day of the contest. Well, I accept your challenge. I'll study hard from your books and I'll beat you, hands down."

I gritted my teeth as he smiled haughtily. So he had caught on to my plans. If he really did train, I would have a tough opponent on my hands. Fine then. I would prove him the better.

I smiled again. "Very well. We'll have three days to prepare. Sango-chan, Miroku-sama, and Shippo-chan will write up the questions and be the judges."

He grinned in turn. "Fine by me. But I'm warning you, I'll be tough to beat." And with that he walked off, gathering half of my books and obviously smug with himself.

I crossed my arms, glancing at his retreating back.

Hmph. I can beat him. I'm sure I can. All I need is some really intensive studying...

*********************************************************************

"You're going to what?!" was Sango-chan's reaction when I told her about the contest. We were sitting under a tree together. I had just come back from making the deal with Inuyasha, and was convincing her to help set up the contest. Miroku-sama tilted his head curiously and Shippo-chan bounced around excitedly. I made a mental note to hide the chocolates from him next time, and explained the conversation we had.

The others listened earnestly while I talked, and when I was finished, Miroku-sama spoke. "So you two finally snapped, huh?"

This wasn't the kind of reaction I had been expecting. "What do you mean?" I demanded, waving my arms impatiently. "This is my one chance to prove Inuyasha wrong! I've been putting up with his sarcastic comments and retorts about my schoolwork for ages, and now I can finally embarrass him and show him what a pain it is!"

I crossed my arms, unaware that I resembled a certain ill-tempered hanyou...

The others looked at each other. "Well," Sango-chan finally said, "It should be interesting, at the very least."

I jumped up. "So you two will be the judges?" I exclaimed. They nodded.

At this point, Shippo-chan jumped up. "I want to enter the contest, too!" He whined. "It sounds like so much fun, Kagome!"

"I'm not sure if you're up to it, Shippo," Miroku-sama told him gently. "Kagome is learning very complicated things in her school, and besides, I'm sure she and Inuyasha want to go at it alone."

Although he probably hadn't meant to suggest anything, my face started to turn scarlet at the innuendo. "Well, anyway," I said hastily, "I'm going to go study now. Remember, we both get only three days!" I walked off to a quiet section of the campsite where I could study in peace.

There, I flounced down on the grass and took several deep breaths. I opened up my books and read at a furious pace, driven by a new passion for learning. It wasn't half-bad.

Inuyasha didn't stand a chance against me...

**********************************************************************

It was getting cold. Opening my eyes, I could see that the sun had hid itself behind the clouds. It was going to be a chilly morning.

I yawned and stretched, causing several pages of notes and textbooks to slide off of me and my sleeping bag. I quickly gathered them up again to save them from the damp grass. 

Somehow, they had become something like my favorite stuffed animal overnight, and feeling them close to me as I slept gave me a very cozy feeling. If I had predicted before that it would come down to me being this affectionate about my schoolwork, I would have jumped off the nearest tall building to spare myself. At least when you're dead you can't dream about molecular theory and British imperialism, which was what had actually happened to me overnight. 

I got up and headed for the stream, reciting the periodic table in my head and humming an aria from Verdi's "La Traviata".

And this was just the beginning of Day Two.

**********************************************************************

"Scholasticism, the system of education and philosophy whose goal was to reconcile the philosophy of Aristotle and the church, was practiced only by the educated clergy..."

As Sango-chan passed me a bowl of ramen during breakfast, I was as always burrowed in my books. Yesterday, I had studied until the sun had gone down and there wasn't enough light anymore. I had already made good progress and I was confident that Inuyasha wouldn't be anywhere near the level that I had reached.

Suddenly I blinked and looked up from my textbook. "Say, where is Inuyasha, anyway?" I asked. There was an extra bowl of ramen next to me, a sure sign that the hanyou hadn't stopped by.

Miroku-sama, Sango-chan, and Shippo-chan were seated around the campfire like I was, and glanced at each other. "He's off in the woods somewhere," Sango explained. "He's been at it all last night and the last I checked, he was still studying."

I frowned. Was he really this determined to win? I knew that I had an advantage over him because I knew a lot more about my world than he did, but at this rate...

I stood up. "I'm going to go find him and tell him to get some breakfast before he kills himself," I announced, determined to see just how well the hanyou was doing.

"Wait, Kagome-sama!" Miroku-sama called. I turned to him. "I'm sorry, but Sango and I both agreed that the two of you are not allowed to see each other when training. In other words, no spying. You're going to have to wait until the day of the match."

I sighed. I gazed into the direction of the woods, trying to imagine whether Inuyasha really was pulling this off. Something about the mental image of him furrowing his brows at a book seemed strange to me.

"All right," I said finally, settling back down. Just then, Inuyasha himself came strolling up to the fire. "Ha!" he exclaimed, taking the bowl of ramen. "I knew that we were going to have something good this morning."

I peered at him from the corner of my eye. He seemed to be cheerful, but then again he always wore that expression when he was eating ramen. After trying to analyze Inuyasha's mood, I wrung my hands and gave up after a while. It was much easier to just go back to my studies.

A few hours later after breakfast, I was sprawled out on the grass again, my textbooks flung around me as if they were a part of some occult ritual. Miroku-sama and Sango-chan were busy preparing the questions back at the campsite. Tapping my pen against my paper, I tried to solve a complex math problem involving more letters than numbers. I was lost in thought when suddenly a shadow crossed over the page I was looking at.

Startled, I turned over and saw Inuyasha standing there. He must've been there a long time, because he snorted as soon as I noticed him. At least I didn't scream this time.

I stood up to meet him. "What are you doing here, Inuyasha? I thought you weren't allowed to spy on me," I accused, crossing my arms.

"I wasn't trying to spy on you," he said angrily. "If you want to know, I'm doing just as well and probably better than you are. I've already gone through four textbooks from the front to the back."

I flushed red. It couldn't be true, could it? I had only skimmed over three.

"Well, Miroku-sama said specifically that we aren't allowed to see each other until the day of the competition. So you'd better leave right now."

I didn't like this. The conversation we were having reminded me of yesterday when we had first started our feud. Inuyasha only shrugged and said, "Having any second thoughts about the competition?"

"If you're only here to taunt me, then I'm going to leave," I retorted, picking up my books. I was amazed that I hadn't lost my temper. I walked across the field indignantly and settled under a tree.

It was only after I opened my books did I realize that my notes were gone.

******************************************************************

If I thought my nerves had been on edge before, they were definitely on fire now and beginning to rage out of control. Not surprisingly, Inuyasha had been the one who had poured the gasoline and lit the match.

As I climbed slowly up the tree, struggling to keep my useless skirt from revealing any parts of my body they shouldn't be revealing, every nerve in my body was tinged with anger. I finally managed to balance lightly on a branch and I took the binoculars from around my neck.

After months of experience from spying on people, I knew exactly what I could and couldn't get away with. With Sango-chan and Miroku-sama's private moments, I could scream at the top of my lungs and they still wouldn't notice me (which is one of the reasons why I sincerely believe they're in love). Inuyasha, however, was another story. Trying to sneak up on him was as easy as trying to take a bone away from a dog.

So this time, I decided to bring my binoculars. Even if I couldn't hear what he was doing, actions would be more than enough to confirm my suspicions. I peered through the lenses, scanning through the trees for where I thought Inuyasha had been earlier.

I clenched my fist tightly. I was completely sure that he had stolen my notes. That was why he had come to "check up" on me. If I caught him copying down my notes, I was sure I would cause him some major pain. But on the other hand...

If Inuyasha had stolen my notes, it meant that he wasn't doing as well as he had bragged to me. I smiled as I spotted a streak of red in the middle of the trees, and focused the lens.

And there they were. Inuyasha had the notes piled up on his lap, reading them one by one as if he would be caught any moment. Well, he already had been. I opened my mouth to say the word, but at the very last moment, I stopped myself. I hadn't yelled "Osuwari" since the day before, and I wasn't going to start now. I would have to think of some other way to make him pay.

I was trying to think of a possible plan when suddenly I remembered why he was stealing my notes. I grinned evilly. I had a sudden burst of understanding for Naraku- it sure was fun to come up with all these schemes. Oh yes…

To be continued...

*********************************************************************

Next Time on Attack of the Filler Arc: Now that Kagome has challenged Inuyasha, what is in store for them? And how desperate is Inuyasha, anyway? It looks like Kagome has another evil plan up her sleeve- find out what it is soon!