Disclaimer: The Warui Musubi (still his owners…wah) are gathering around Inu-Yasha, preparing to stab at him with their forks… Then—
(Kagome barges in and the confused riceballs turn to face her.)
Kagome: "Don't eat him!"
Kip (leader): "Why not, foolish…um…foolish fool!"
Kagome (rolls eyes): "That's the lamest thing I've ever heard."
(huge pause as Kip tries to think of something better to say)

CHAPTER 7 – Science Project Catastrophe

After her beating, Kagome avoided Inu-Yasha as much as possible. She knew that he must surely have thought of her as a weakling. She sighed, wishing that she had taken some sort of karate class or something. Too late now, she thought miserably.

Two days after the Kraters event, Kagome was sitting in her science class that, unfortunately, both Kikyo and Inu-Yasha were also in. She retained giving them eye contact. She knew that she had to ignore them. Kikyo ain't hard to ignore at all, Kagome thought to herself. It's Inu-Yasha who's the problem.

As she daydreamed and thought of Inu-Yasha, the science teacher, Mr. Koga, cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Class, today we will split into groups of two and begin working on a planet model," he said loudly.

One girl rose her hand and then asked, "All nine planets in our solar system? And the sun?"

Mr. Koga (Hee hee! It's weird calling him that!) gave the girl a look of confusion. Then he passively said, "U-uh…yes. All…um, nine planets."

Kagome had always wondered how Mr. Koga had managed to become a teacher to begin with. He obviously had no idea that there were nine planets. Or maybe he didn't know that our solar system has a sun. Either way, it was still a mystery how he earned the title of teacher.

"I have all ready put you in groups," he announced.

Kagome heard some girls whisper in giggles, "Oh, wow. He actually did something."

Koga remained ignorant of their giggles. He went on, "Here are the groups: Miroku and Sango"–(a large groan is heard from Sango)–" Myoga and..."

As he named off everyone's partner, Kagome crossed her fingers. A new spark of hope had entered her mind, and she decided that she might actually like to have Inu-Yasha as a partner. Maybe they could work things out and—

"Kagome, your partner is…" Kagome waited for Koga to finish with anticipation.

"Me!"

Kagome stared in horror at her young teacher. His eyes glistened with some mischief.

"What! I can't partner with a teacher!" she cried.

Koga scratched his chin. (Sorry, Koga fans...he's a little on the dumb side in this story.) "Hmph. Fine, dear Kagome. Partner with Shippo if you really desire it."

Kagome was further horrified when she heard Koga—sorry, Mr. Koga—call her 'dear.' He's as bad as Mirkou! she thought.

She was very disappointed to get Shippo as her partner. He was very young and small, and he was incredibly clumsy at times as well. It was a mystery how he had managed to get into such a high level of science at such a young age, and Kagome wasn't sure she wanted to know how it had happened. The point is, though, that it happened, and he was her partner.

To add to her bad luck, listen to what Koga said next. (Evil Koga!) "Inu-Yasha's partner is..."

The world seemed to slow down. Kagome wanted to know the lucky person that got her crush as a partner. She only hoped it wouldn't be another girl.

"Kikyo."

Kagome's world was over. She hated her life. She hated everything, and she never wanted to hear that word muttered again. Kikyo. She felt like punching her sister hard in the face. Kikyo…

She saw Kikyo smirk smugly. She turned away. She didn't even look at Inu-Yasha; she was afraid that he might be smiling. She couldn't bear to see that.

As she fell deeper and deeper into despair, Shippo approached her. Oh, great. Of all things, I have to deal with this kid, Kagome thought.

"So, uh…we're partners then?" Shippo said shyly.

"Yeah," Kagome grunted.

Shippo looked down at his feet nervously. "So, um…what're we gonna make our model out of?"

"Huh?" Kagome hadn't even been paying attention. "Oh! Um…how about…I dunno…"

Shippo's face lighted up, and it was hard to tell that he had even been nervous at all. "How about candy!" (Leave it to Shippo to think of that! lol)

"Oh, uh…sure." Kagome didn't care about anything at the moment.

"Hey," Shippo suddenly bounced up on Kagome's lap. "You don't look like you're feeling very well. Are you okay?"

Kagome was shocked. Had she really been that obvious? She studied Shippo's kidish face. He truly looked to be concerned for her. She tried to put on a fake smile to reassure him, but she could tell that her attempts were in vain.

"I'm going to be fine," she said kindly. "Now you said that you wanted to make it out of candy? So let's get started thinking about what kind of candy we want to use!"

For the rest of the day, Kagome put on her smiling face. But she was pretending. She felt terrible inside, like a shriveled up, dying prune. She swore that she wouldn't let Kikyo get the best of her in the end. But how could she do anything to prevent that? Kikyo all ready had Inu-Yasha; her humiliation was just at the beginning stages in Kikyo's mind.

…

The next day, Kagome invited Shippo over so they could work on their science project. (It was a Saturday.) She didn't want to be alone with Kikyo. She was so relieved when Shippo arrived that she hugged him, surprising him in more ways than one.

She was immensely surprised when Inu-Yasha showed up, though. She blushed a deep magenta and didn't know what to think.

"I-Inu-Yasha…?"

"Kikyo invited me over to work on the science project," Inu-Yasha said plainly.

Kagome couldn't tell whether he was smiling or not. Frankly, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

As soon as Inu-Yasha and Kikyo began working on their model (out of Styrofoam), Shippo pulled out three bags of candy. One of them was half empty.

"I got hungry," Shippo admitted guiltily.

Kagome half-smiled. "That's okay. Now lets use one of these gumballs for Pluto's model. What color is Pluto, anyway?…"

Both groups avoided each other and only talked with their group. It was very awkward for Kagome, and she wasn't much enjoying working on the project. Shippo, however, seemed to be in high spirits.

"Ugh! I spit out my gum somewhere!" Shippo cried suddenly. "What if it's on the floor!"

Kagome calmly began searching for it on the floor when she heard a loud, sharp scream. Her blood turned cold. It was Kikyo's voice.

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she yelled. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS! WHAT IS IN MY HAIR?"

Shippo gulped as he saw a sticky pink wad of bubble gum trapped in Kikyo's long, black hair. Kagome had never seen Kikyo mad in such a terrible, funny way before. In fact, she was struggling to hold back a laugh. For the first time that day, she dared toshare eye contact with Inu-Yasha. He was laughing slightly too. Kagome erupted in a volcano of laughter. Shippo, too, laughed, but his were nervous ones since Kikyo was glaring angrily at him.

Kagome's mother, hearing the sudden outburst of laughter, barged in the room with curiosity. Upon seeing Kikyo's destroyed hair, she said with worry, "Oh, dear."

She smiled though, trying to hold back a laugh. Kikyo looked hysterical with her scowl and horrible hair. It serves her right! Kagome thought to herself.

Her mother drove Kikyo, Kagome, and everyone else to the barber shop immediately. After waiting for half an hour, Kikyo finally came out with a huge glare on her face aimed at Kagome and Shippo.

Her hair, very humorous-looking on her, was shorter than a bob.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this chapter is really short. Sorry. I typed it all in school during study hall. I'm surprised I managed to type that much in just forty minutes...
Anyway, I hope you like it! It's a little different than my other chapters. (Actually, in my opinion, a LOT different.)

Nikk98 – Why Kikyo is so mean…hm. I have no idea. I type and make up as I go sorta, and that's just how she developed.

cyberdemon – Glad you like it!

sparklingcrystal133 – lol, here ya go. Next chapter is now here.

TwistedBlackAndRedRose – Yeah, sorry if Inu-Yasha is a little disappointing in this story. He ain't such an "outcast bad guy" in my fanfic; he's a lot nicer.

Kei-Ookami.kara.mori – And thank you for sticking with my story—every step of the way! You're a good (and very funny) writer too!

kagomeinu – lol. Yes, Kikyo is very mean. But her beatings won't last forever!

darkangel29 – I love your pen name! And I'm glad you enjoy my story!

forgotten-child44 – Heh. I love the briefness in your review.

Nekomata-17 – Maybe Kagome will, maybe she won't…lol. You'll just hafta find out.

Kagome's girl – Kikyo's suffering in this chapter is just the beginning. There are still chances for her to suffer, and I've got plenty of ideas…

madsciencetistvand – I'm glad so many people pity Kagome! Then again, it's hard not to with evil Kikyo doing that mean stuff to her… Grr. I promise Kikyo won't have a smile on her face by the end of this story!
Maia-Toisho – Yep. You got that right!