Class Trip Ch. 8- Of Duels and Demons

TEN MINUTES EARLIER

Inuyasha and Hitoshii threw their ramen cups in a trash bag that had been set up near the campfire, and proceeded to walk to their tent to get the equipment necessary for their duel (A/N- see ch. 5!). Hitoshii grabbed his bokken and turned to Inuyasha.

"Did you bring your bokken with you?"

Inuyasha looked puzzled.

"No. But-"He was cut off mid-sentence.

"Hey!" Hitoshii leaned out of their tent and grabbed a boy who was walking by. "Akio-kun, did you bring your bokken with you?" (A/N- yes, yes, Utena reference... I couldn't resist!) The boy nodded, looking past Hitoshii to the strange figure of Inuyasha behind him.

"Can I borrow it?" Hitoshii asked, breaking the boy's gaze away from his companion.

Akio looked at him oddly. "But Hitoshii-kun, you have yours right there. Why do you need mine?"

Hitoshii grinned. "It's not for me! It's for Inuyasha-kun, there." He gestured over his shoulder. "So, can I borrow it?"

Inuyasha was in a bit of a shock over the honorific, but was starting to notice that everyone used them in this time. 'Keh! Weird. Why does she like this time so much, anyway? Everyone acts so strangely.'

While Inuyasha was puzzling over modern mores, Hitoshii was explaining to Akio about the duel, and why he needed the other boy's sword.

Akio shrugged. "Sure. I'll go get it. But does this guy know what he's getting himself into? I mean, you are the captain of the kendo club!"

Hitoshii grinned again. "I'm sure he knows what he's getting into. He knows a lot himself, at least if he fights as well as he talks about fighting!"

Akio raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but ran off on his errand.

Hitoshii turned around to address Inuyasha again. "He's on the kendo club, too. He's really good. If I wasn't around, he'd probably be the captain."

Inuyasha nodded. It made sense that the leader of a fighting group would be the one who was the most skilled. 'I suppose Miroku would be the leader of our group if something happened to me,' he mused, 'then Sango after him, being female and all.' He snorted softly. 'I'd have a Hiraikotsu mark on the back of my head right now if she'd heard that!'

Hitoshii noticed the noise. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Iie. I'm fine." Inuyasha shook his head. "Just thought of something funny."

Hitoshii looked like he was going to ask what, but as he was about to, Akio returned with the bokken and handed it to Inuyasha. He nodded and accepted the wooden sword, giving the air a few practice swipes. He grimaced. 'How the hell am I supposed to fight with this thing!? It's not even sharp! And it isn't even HALF as long as Tetsusaiga! These humans fight with these things? No wonder they're all so weak! They don't even use real weapons!'

"It's basically going to be a freestyle duel, so you can use whatever kinds of moves you want," Hitoshii told Inuyasha as they moved to their appointed 'dueling ground' at the edge of camp. "But it's just a friendly match," he continued as he began to stretch, "so we don't have to take it too seriously. If either of us gets hurt we'll both have to go home, so let's take it easy, okay?"

Inuyasha agreed, despite the fact that he was confident that in a real fight Hitoshii would be the only one hurt. Hitoshii finished his stretching and stood up.

"Shall we begin?" Hitoshii asked, then smacked himself. "I'm starting to sound like my cousin!" he said by way of explanation to the confused-looking hanyou. "Anyway, are you sure you're ready? You don't want to warm up at all?" He seemed concerned.

"I'm fine." Inuyasha said firmly, using a voice he had unconsciously stolen from Kagome.

"Alright then........." Hitoshii sounded unconvinced. "Guard." The boy took up his starting position, and Inuyasha copied it.

Akio, who was still standing around and acting as official judge incase both of them suddenly collapsed and no one could figure out who won (like that would ever happen!), started the match quite simply.

"Begin!"

Neither combatant moved. Akio took several brisk steps back. He knew the kendo club captain well enough to know that if he didn't start a fight right away, it was going to be a helluva match!

Hitoshii and Inuyasha were sizing each other up. From the first second of the match they had both known that the other knew a thing or two about fighting. Both their stances were perfect- compact, but loose enough that they could instantly move to attack or defend. Inuyasha's opinion of this human kept rising. He was actually a decent person, and had been kind to him- though he doesn't know you're a hanyou Inuyasha's subconscious kept repeating- and he seemed to actually know how to fight.

Suddenly, as if at an unseen signal, both boys rushed forward, bokken cracking together loudly in the semi-quiet clearing. For a moment they stood, swords crossed, trying to push the other back (though Inuyasha wasn't trying very hard). Then, just as suddenly, both leapt back as quickly as they had moved forward, and went back to sizing each other up. Each's opinion of the other's strength had been raised a few notches. Inuyasha was unusually impressed. He hadn't expected a human to be as good as he was. 'Either he's naturally talented, or he has demon blood in him somewhere along the line.........' Inuyasha pondered, his attention off the fight for a few seconds. Hitoshii took the opportunity. He wasn't as surprised as Inuyasha at his opponent's strength. He had, after all, witnessed him carry five packs and three tents for more than an hour and not slow down a bit. His opinion of his new friend was about as high already as it could possibly get.

Hitoshii lunged in while Inuyasha was distracted; ducking below his guard and forcing the hanyou to leap back in the most undignified fashion in order to avoid the blow.

'He's fast for a human. I didn't even see that one coming. I might actually have to put some effort into this fight!' Inuyasha grinned. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he leapt forward. Now it was Hitoshii's turn to go jumping back.

"You're fast!" He commented, sounding quite relaxed and not at all surprised.

"You aren't so bad yourself." Inuyasha complimented, slightly surprised to find out that he really meant it.

They charged forward again, swords clashing over and over, and both leaping all over their small clearing to avoid the other's blows.

By this time, they had gathered quite a crowd. Most of the class had determined that this was much better entertainment than anything they may have brought with them to do. Kagome cringed as she approached the area, worried that she would find the bruised and bleeding remains of a former kendo club captain when she arrived. It was bad enough that Inuyasha was attracting all this attention, but if he actually beat Hitoshii......... Kagome could only imagine the commotion it would cause. And eventually, someone was going to realize that Inuyasha did NOT go to their school, and was therefore NOT supposed to be on the trip......... Kagome's imagination kept going through all the worst-case-scenarios that it could come up with. So many, in fact, that when she actually arrived at the scene she could not believe her eyes. Hitoshii was not unconscious or dead, and both seemed to be having quite a good time!

'So, if I don't have to worry about Inuyasha getting hurt.........and I don't have to worry about Hitoshii getting hurt.........then I can just sit back and enjoy the show with everyone else?' This was a new prospect, since in every other fight she could recall Inuyasha being involved in, she had been much too busy worrying about staying alive to just sit and watch him fight.

After a few minutes of watching, Kagome was almost in awe. She had always known that Inuyasha was a good fighter, since he always won and all, but she had never noticed that he actually had some pretty amazing moves. 'I suppose I never really thought of him as a swordsman. I mean, he acts like such a thug.........nothing like a samurai with an honor code or anything like that.........he just fights anyone who pisses him off......... but really, he's pretty good.........no, he's amazing! And he's so FAST!' She marveled, unaware of how much she sounded like a groupie. She was so used to watching fights between demons that Inuyasha's speed didn't seem to be anything remarkable, especially compared with the speed of Kouga or even Sesshô-maru, but compared to a human he was like lightning. Kagome found herself cheering along with the rest of her class at all the stunts the two fighters were pulling off.

It was a bit of an awakening for her, in a way. Though she was cheering along, she was mostly lost in thought. There wasn't really a way to describe Inuyasha except as Inuyasha. She didn't really know what that meant. Before, she would describe him as an annoying, insensitive, violent jerk. But now.........she wasn't sure what she would say if someone asked her to describe him.

'Imagine that! I can't even think of how to describe the most important person in my life! Wait.........where did THAT come from!?' Kagome shocked herself back into reality, promising her annoying inner voice that they would have a conversation about this soon. "I wish Sango-chan were here. It'd be nice to have her opinion........." Kagome muttered.

"What?" Eri asked in her ear, causing Kagome to nearly jump out of her shoes.

"E- Eri-chan!" Kagome stuttered, obviously having not noticed her friend was there. "What did you say?"

"I asked what you said! I can't hear you over all of them talking." Eri gestured to the crowd, most of which was busy negotiating bets. "So, your boyfriend's fighting Hitoshii, huh?"

Kagome blushed. "He is NOT my boyfriend!" she stated for probably the millionth time, and definitely not the last.

"Whatever. Do you mind if I bet on Hitoshii instead though? I mean, you know, because........." Eri blushed slightly as well.

"I'd advise against it." Kagome said, with a bit of a knowing smirk creeping onto her face.

"Why?" Eri asked, wondering why Kagome would suggest betting AGAINST the best fighter in the school.

"Because he doesn't stand a chance."

Eri gave her a disbelieving look, but put her money away and turned her attention back to the match.

The duel was still going strong, and the ring of students who had gathered had backed up to give the combatants an area about 20 yards across to fight in. The bets had finally all been made, so most of the conversation was devoted to cheering on whichever fighter they had bet on.

Then, it was over. Hitoshii had tried to come in above Inuyasha's guard, swinging his bokken in a tight arc aimed at the hanyou's collar bone. Inuyasha ducked under the swing and forced Hitoshii to leap back to avoid a hit just under his ribs. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Hitoshii knew it was over. His heel sunk in a patch of the ground that apparently used to be the home of some furry woodland creature. The sudden shift in his weight shifted the boy's momentum to fast for him to react. He landed on his butt in the grass with a dull thud. Inuyasha was over him in an instant, the point of his wooden sword to Hitoshii's throat. They paused there a moment, then both of their faces split into wide grins.

"Well fought!" Hitoshii exclaimed, taking the hanyou's offered hand and hauling himself off the ground.

'You did well yourself, you know! If you hadn't tripped, that fight could have gone on all night!" They both laughed, Hitoshii brushing the dirt off his pants as they did so.

Kagome's head lifted suddenly at the sound. 'He's.........laughing!? Inuyasha is LAUGHING!? Wow.' Kagome smiled. 'He looks so happy. Who would have thought he'd make a friend here?' Kagome blanked out for a few moments, lost in the sight of Inuyasha smiling and laughing, his golden eyes shining brightly in the late afternoon sun.

A pair of orange-red eyes were also watching the same scene from the tree line some space away. The owner of the eyes watched for a few moments, nodded slightly, then turned and ran off the way they had come.

Later That Night

Kagome and Eri were in their tent (the one a whole 2 feet away from the boys' tent) getting ready for bed. The rest of the evening had been pretty boring. The boys were probably still sitting by the fire as they had been for the whole evening, deep in a discussion of sword techniques. The girls had gone to catch up a bit, which mostly involved grilling Kagome about her new 'friend'. Kagome wasn't really interested in answering their questions at that point, with half her class listening, so she found out more about what they had been doing than they found out about Inuyasha.

Eventually, she and Eri had decided to go get ready for bed. Ayumi was getting even more bubble-headed than usual due to being tired, and Yuka hadn't been talking much for the last half-hour or so (if Kagome didn't know better, she would have said that the short-haired girl was plotting something). Kagome was still running over the events of the evening in her head when Eri said,

"Hey, Kagome?"

Kagome gave her a little "Hn?" in response, earning her a smack on the shoulder from her friend.

"Earth to Kagome! You've been spaced out all night! What's going on? Are you getting sick again?" He friend seemed almost worried.

Kagome sighed. "No, I'm not sick, Eri-chan."

"Then what's going on!?" Eri sat down on her sleeping bag and waited, the look on her face making it very clear that she wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Kagome sighed again, then sat down opposite Eri on her own sleeping bag- by now so well used that it almost didn't look like a sleeping bag anymore.

She then said the words that she would very much regret.

"What do you want to know?"