~*~More Than What She Seems~*~

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha. Never did and never will.

Chapter 2: Rivalry

It was 2nd period. Gym. Kagome stood stiffly next to Sango and stared blankly at nothing in particular.

Mr. Kuno told the class that they would be doing different tests that day so that he could compare students. Kikyo was blabbing loudly the whole time.

"I'm the best archer, fastest runner, and the best at gymnastics in this school!" she boasted. "No one can beat me."

Inu Yasha and Miroku made sick faces at her.

"She's such a jerk," Inu Yasha remarked.

"You can say that again," Miroku agreed.

Inu Yasha's eyes wandered and landed on Kagome.

'She even looks good in her gym clothes..' he thought. Inu Yasha shook his head. 'Wait, why am I thinking about her?'

"I've been informed that there's a new student to this school, so we have no records of her," Mr. Kuno said loudly. "Kagome Higurashi, please come here."

Kagome slowly made her way to him.

"What are your specialties?" he asked.

"Archery, running, and gymnastics,"she answered. A few girls around Kikyo gasped.

"Vey well," Mr. Kuno nodded. "Please take a bow and arrow."

Kagome obediently did so.

"Now," Mr. Kuno cleared his throat. "When you're ready, you can shoot your arrow at-."

Kagome immediately strung her arrow and let it fly. Mr. Kuno stopped talking and watched as the arrow inched closer and closer to the target. The class watched silently.

THUD

"Oh my gosh," once of Kikyo's friends gasped. "It hit right in the center."

"Miss Kikyo," Mr. Kuno said while looking at Kagome in awe. "Please grab a bow and 6 arrows."

Kikyo stood up and marched over to get her bow. Once she retrieved the things, she walked proudly to the teacher.

"Give 3 arrows to Kagome," Mr. Kuno instructed. "And take your place beside her."

Kikyo did as she was told and glared competitively at Kagome.

'I'll squash this bitch like an ant,' she smirked. Kagome blinked. This Kikyo person looked a lot like her. Kikyo had the same black hair (except that it was longer) and was the same height. The only difference was her eyes, which were brown and stony while Kagome's was grayish-blue.

Kikyo strung her first arrow and aimed at the target. She let go.

THUD

The arrow hit right in the center. She then shot her second and then her third, which both also landed in the center.

Kagome took all of her three arrows and strung them all at the same time.

"What are you doing?" Kikyo exclaimed. "Are you that stupid? No way can you hit the target with all three arrows!"

Kagome glanced at her and something flickered in her eyes.

Sango, Inu Yasha, and Miroku stared at her.

'Was that..' Sango thought.

'A look of..' Miroku blinked.

'Determination in her eyes?' Inu Yasha wondered.

Kagome pulled back the arrows and then let go. The arrows whizzed through the air and all three hit the center in the same place at the same time. The class applauded.

"Very good," Mr. Kuno grinned. "I'm impressed."

Kagome bowed, "Arigato."

"Alright Kagome, Kikyo," Mr. Kuno let out a sigh. "Let's see who's better in gymnastics."

Kagome and Kikyo stared at each other.

'This means war,' they both thought.

*****

Kikyo stood at the edge of the mat and got into position. After a few seconds, she flipped and did two somersaults and landed perfectly on her feet again at the other side of the mat.

The class clapped and some of her friends cheered.

Kagome took her place. Sango shouted, "You can do it, Kagome!"

She got into position and flipped twice, did 4 somersaults, a cartwheel and ended it with a graceful split.

The class clapped again and some boys whistled.

Kikyo growled.

*****

Kagome and Kikyo took their places on the track.

"Two laps around the track," Mr. Kuno shouted. "Go!"

The two sprinted off.

'She is NOT going to beat me!' Kikyo thought with clenched fists. Kagome quickly caught up to her and was in the lead. Kikyo pushed herself even more. When they were nearing the finish line, Kikyo caught up and stuck out a foot. Kagome tripped.

"AHAHA!" Kikyo laughed. "I'm going to win!"

Kagome breathed heavily and looked up. She caught her breath as she spotted Inu Yasha. He mouthed, "Run."

She stood up and dashed off. Kagome quickly caught up to Kikyo.

"Bitch," Kikyo snarled. She ran harder and passed Kagome. She passed the finish line. "I win!"

"Two laps," Kagome said blankly as she sped past her.

"Huh?" Kikyo muttered. Her eyes widened. "Oh no! We were supposed to run two laps!"

She tried to spot Kagome and saw that she was already halfway around the track.

"No!" Kikyo screamed. She ran off. "I can't let that girl beat me!"

"RUN, KAGOME!!" Sango yelled. Kagome ran towards the finish line and stopped an inch past it.

"We have a new best archer, runner, and gymnast for the girls in this school!" Mr. Kuno declared.

Kikyo panted towards them and rasped, "Nooooo.."

She tripped and fell flat on her face.

*****

"That was awesome!" Sango hugged her new friend. "You rock!"

Kagome said nothing.

"You totally beat that wench!" Sango continued. She chatted on endlessly while they walked to lunch.

"Sango! Kagome!" Miroku shouted from behind them. Sango turned around.

"Oh, hi, Miroku," Sango smiled. She took his arm, pulled him towards the cafeteria, and chatted to him instead. Kagome turned around herself and saw that Inu Yasha was a few feet away from her.

A moment of silence passed.

"Thank you," Kagome finally said. Inu Yasha looked at her, startled.

"What for?" he asked. He walked up to her and they made their way to the cafeteria together.

"For encouraging me."

"How did I encourage you?"

"You mouthed, 'run'."

"Oh, that."

"That helped me somehow."

They got their food and walked outside to the lunch courts. After settling under a sakura tree, Kagome asked, "You're a hanyou, a half-breed, aren't you?"

Inu Yasha winced.

"I can sense it in you," Kagome stared blankly at him. "I mean, I'm a miko, so of course I would be able to."

Inu Yasha glanced at her.

"It doesn't scare me or anything," Kagome continued. "My cousin is a fox demon, and he isn't bad. A little mischief, yes, but he's as innocent as a child. And anyways, I think your dog ears are so cute."

Inu Yasha blushed faintly. He turned his head and stared at her, speechless.

'This girl is so different from other girls,' he thought.

"Yeah, I am a hanyou," Inu Yasha looked away. "Half human and half dog demon."

Kagome smiled.

'She should do that more often,' Inu Yasha thought as his face softened.

"I like it here so far," Kagome sighed. "I already made a few friends."

She looked up at him again and continued, "Like you."

He blinked.

"And I'm not that worried about being teased this year."

"You were teased at school before?" Inu Yasha asked. Kagome nodded grimly. She lifted up the corner of her uniform shirt and showed him a huge scar. Inu Yasha caught his breath.

"The scars are mostly what cause the teasing," she explained.

"How'd you get it?" he asked, speechless.

"From my mother."

"From your mother?" Inu Yasha repeated. "What do you mean?"

Before Kagome could answer, someone shouted out, "KAGOME! INU YASHA!"

Sango was running towards them while dragging Miroku at the same time.

"Why didn't you wait for us?!" she demanded. "You left me with this pervert!"

"Pervert?" Kagome asked softly.

"Prince," Miroku said quickly and took Kagome's hands in his. "She means prince. Kagome, will you bear my child?"

Kagome blinked, "What?"

*PUNCH*

*SLAP*

Inu Yasha and Sango stood next to him with threatening fists.

"Shut up, monk," Inu Yasha snarled.

Miroku scooted away from Kagome.

"Just forget what I said," he laughed nervously. Sango took him by the ear and screamed in it.

"HOW CAN WE FORGET WHAT YOU JUST SAID?! YOU ASK THAT EVERY SINGLE DAY TO EVERY WOMAN YOU SEE!" she screeched. Sango dragged him away and continued her screaming.

*****

"Your homework for today is to learn about your partner and present it to the class tomorrow," Ms. Kasumi smiled. "Choose your partners now and sit with them, BUT they must be of the opposite gender."

The class jumbled around.

"INU YASHA!" Kikyo screamed from across the room. He winced.

"Help me," Inu Yasha begged to Miroku. Miroku was grinning like a lunatic.

"Sango and I are already partners," he snickered. "But you could always be somebody else's partner.."

His head turned and looked at Kagome who was just sitting in her chair, her eyes covered by her bangs.

'She looks so..sad,' Inu Yasha thought as he watched her with Miroku.

"Take Kagome," Miroku whispered. "She's better than Kikyo AND I bet you she'll talk about things other than clothes, make-up, money, and shopping. It's Kikyo or her, Inu Yasha. Choose."

"I have no other choice, do I?" Inu Yasha said bitterly.

"If I were you, I wouldn't complain," Miroku said quietly. "I just met Kagome today and I think she's a great person."

"I'm not complaining about her."

"It sounds like you are to me. Come ON, Inu Yasha. Here's your chance to get to know her. Either that, or you're going to be stuck with 'the slutty wench'. "

"YOOHOO!" Kikyo cooed. "Over h~e~re, Inu!"

'If she calls me any more nicknames right now, I probably WILL ask Kagome to be my partner,' Inu Yasha backed away a step. 'Wait, why am I even hesitating?!'

"Kagome," he rushed to her desk. She looked up.

"Yes?" she whispered softly.

"Be my partner."

"Wouldn't you rather be partners with HER?" Kagome pointed to Kikyo who was waving her arms in the air.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I like you a LOT more!"

Something quickly flickered in her eyes.

"Fine," she answered.

'Is it just me, or is she blushing?' Inu Yasha wondered with a smile.

"INU YASH-AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Kikyo made her way to him, but tripped on the way and fell onto the hard tile floor. "My nails! They're ruined now!"

Inu Yasha slumped down in the seat beside Kagome.

She mumbled, "Inu Yasha?"

"Hm?" he replied.

"Do you like me?"

He tensed, "I don't know.."

"I meant like me as a friend-not a girlfriend."

"Well then, yeah, I do."

Kagome said nothing else.

"So I guess I should come over to your house and we can do our questioning there, right?"

"I guess," she whispered.

A/N: Boring right now, but it'll get more interesting! ^_^ Review!

Updates will be on Friday.or Saturday. I've been real busy with my homework and this chapter has been sitting in the computer for about a week..so I decided to post it up. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"My Heart is Yours" will be updated around Friday/Saturday too.

AND

I'm not sick anymore! Yay! ^_^ (To all who wished for me to get well..thanks ^_~ you're all so kind)