~*~More Than What She Seems~*~

A/N: I am SO SORRY for the long update!

Chapter 7: Mix-up

It was another school day and the gang sat quietly in the gym, staring straight ahead at Mr. Kuno.

"Today, I am going to teach you the basics of kendo," he announced. "And then tomorrow, you'll all be competing against each other in an all out kendo war. Now watch as I, a master in kendo, show you some impressive moves."

*****

"You call those moves impressive, man?!" a boy shouted in the audience.

Mr. Kuno turned to him, "Be silent, you!"

The class laughed.

"Enough!"

The class laughed harder.

"THAT'S IT! ALL OF YOU GO GET A UNIFORM OVER THERE IN THE CORNER AND GO INTO THE LOCKER ROOMS TO CHANGE INTO THEM! NOW!" Mr. Kuno roared.

The class silenced and grimly did what they were told.

*****

"This totally sucks!" Sango whined to Kagome.

Her friend nodded in agreement.

"Actually," Kagome said softly. "Mr. Kuno wasn't THAT bad. I mean, his moves were actually impressive a little."

"A little," Sango giggled. "Keep that in mind: a little."

"Did you even pay attention?" Kagome asked.

"Of course not, but this isn't really SO different from my hiraikotsu."

Kagome just shrugged back.

*****

"Now go fetch yourself a mask over there!" Mr. Kuno barked. He walked over to a pile of wooden katanas and picked a few up. "When you have your mask on, stand in a line and I'll give you your katana."

"A bit grouchy, isn't he?" Miroku whispered to his best friend.

"Yeah.." Inu Yasha nodded.

"OKAY! GET IN LINE!" Mr. Kuno shouted. "WHEN YOU GET YOUR KATANA, STAND TO THE SIDE!"

The two boys grimaced and put their masks on.

*****

All the students were paired up with each other, but they didn't know who their opponent was because of the masks..except Kikyo's partner.

"Oops!" Kikyo giggled behind her mask as she dropped her katana for the 10th time. "Sorry about that."

*****

"What we're going to do is an elimination process!" Mr. Kuno instructed. "And we're going to keep doing it until we're narrowed down to the two top kendo fighters!"

"Which will be you.." Miroku nudged his best friend. "And definitely Naraku."

Inu Yasha rolled his eyes. Naraku was a huge rival when it came to kendo.

"That bastard," he growled. "I WILL beat him!"

*****

"Go!" Mr. Kuno blowed his whistle.

CLACK

CLACK CLACK

CLACK

CLACK

After a few minutes, half of the class was already eliminated..Kikyo was among them.

"Next round!" Mr. Kuno screamed and then blew his whistle.

The new pairs fought each other for another few minutes and then half of the new group was eliminated.

There were only 10 people left (they started out with 40 people).

*****

Inu Yasha swung down his katana and managed to connect with his partner's mask. His partner groaned in disappointment and then walked over to the group of eliminated people.

Inu Yasha narrowed his eyes at the other nine people left.

'One of them is Naraku,' he thought.

A few moments after, the number of people that hadn't lost yet decreased from 10 to 5.

"Since there's an uneven amount of people, one person will sit out until we reach the final two," Mr. Kuno explained. "So.."

He pointed to one of the five, "You, out for now."

The person walked a few feet away and stood near the "eliminated" group.

"Ready?" Mr. Kuno called out to the two pairs.

The pairs got into ready position.

"GO!"

'No, this isn't Naraku,' Inu Yasha swung at his opponent. 'This person is too easy.'

He took another swing and grinned behind his mask when he felt his katana hit his partner's arm.

"Gotcha," he smirked and then watched as the person strode over and took a seat among the other classmates. His eyes shifted over to the other pair and he growled quietly.

The winning partner of the other pair was facing him.

'Naraku!' he thought and gritted his teeth. 'I know it's you! Finishing off your opponent first-before me-doesn't mean anything!'

"OKAY! You, the one who sat out! Face off against that person who finished first!" Mr. Kuno yelled.

Inu Yasha watched as the person who sat out walked over to their instructed partner and took their stance.

"Ready?" Mr. Kuno asked.

The pair nodded together.

Mr. Kuno blew his whistle.

The partners began striking at each other.

CLACK

CLACK CLACK

CLACK

CLACK

CLACK

CLACK CLACK CLACK

CLACK CLACK

Inu Yasha watched with impatience. Finally,..

CLACK!

One opponent connected with the other opponent.

The loser's hands shook and their katana fell to the gym floor.

"We have a lot of time left so..last two people, take your spots!" Mr. Kuno shouted. "Let's see who's better!"

Inu Yasha walked over to the right side of the gym while his opponent walked to the left side. They took their stances.

'I will beat you, Naraku,' Inu Yasha swore to himself.

"Begin!" Mr. Kuno blew his whistle.

Inu Yasha charged at his partner and swung his katana down. The person blocked. He swung again. They blocked again.

Inu Yasha growled. And swung at his partner over and over again.

"I'm-not-going-to-let-you-beat-me," he said breathlessly.

His partner struck at him before he had the chance to strike again. He dodged and swung back. They blocked.

CLACK

CLACK

CLACK CLACK

"Naraku has gotten better," Miroku remarked as he watched from the audience. Several classmates watched the match with fascination.

CLACK

CLACK

CLACK CLACK

CLACK CLACK

"Damn you!" Inu Yasha hissed silently as he blocked. His partner swung down their wooden katana again, but with even more force. His katana flew out of his hands and clattered to the ground. Finishing it off, his opponent swung down one last time and connected with his mask. Inu Yasha winced when he felt the mask cracking (if you read Ranma ½ comics, it shows that the masks used for kendo covers the whole head and a kind of fencing looking "screen" covers the face..).

'I lost..' he balled his fists. '..against Naraku!'

Mr. Kuno walked between them and clapped, "Good job you two! Now everyone, please take your mask and katana and put it back in their piles."

He cleared his throat, "Oh my. My throat is sore. Let me go get some water from my office for a minute.."

With that, Mr. Kuno strode off.

After the gym door closed, the rest of the class made no move to take off and put away the equipment. Instead, they stared at the two students who stood before them.

Inu Yasha pulled his mask off and looked angrily at the person before him.

"Smirking behind that mask, aren't you?" he snarled.

The person shook their head once.

"Liar!" Inu Yasha scowled. "Take off that mask so I can talk to your stupid face!"

The person made no move for a moment, but then after a moment they started to pull off their mask.

"Bastard," Inu Yasha growled, making his way towards them. "I'll kill you, Naraku!"

"I'm not Naraku," the person replied. They took off their mask completely.

The entire class gasped.

Inu Yasha stared at the person in shock and stammered, "K-Kagome?!"

*****

School ended quickly for the four friends.

"I can't believe you beat him!" Sango exclaimed. "Man, I'm beginning to think that you're good at everything!"

"It's no big deal," Kagome answered softly. "My grandmother taught me a thing or two about weapons a few years ago..especially about the bow..and the staff..and the katana."

Sango just continued to praise her.

"She beat you, man," Miroku shook his head in amazement at Inu Yasha. They were walking behind the girls. "I didn't even know it was her. I thought it was Naraku."

"Me too," Inu Yasha admitted.

"You were doing a lot of useless and unnecessary cussing and swearing weren't you?"

"Yeah.." Inu Yasha replied with embarrassment.

"I think you owe Kagome an apology for that."

"I guess."

"I'll help you with that," Miroku said innocently. He turned away from his best friend and then tapped Sango's shoulder.

She stiffly turned around. "What?"

"Would you mind if I walked you home?" Miroku grinned.

"Yes, I would!" she huffed and crossed her arms.

Kagome smiled when she saw the blush on Sango's cheeks.

"Oh, come on, Sango," she urged. "Just let him."

"Think of it as a 'make-up' for all of those times when I groped you," Miroku added.

Sangos eyes flared at the word 'groping', but she gave in, "Fine."

He smiled and then made a reach for her hand.

She backed up a step, "But NO touching me in ANY way!"

He sighed, "Deal."

They walked through the school gates together.

Kagome smiled at the sight.

"Um, Kagome?"

She spun around at the voice. Inu Yasha stared back at her.

"Yes?" Kagome asked.

"I'm..sorry about the swearing and all," he looked away.

"It's okay," she smiled back at him. "It was just a mix up that you had."

"Well..is there any way how I can make it up to you?" Inu Yasha asked, blushing a little.

"Yeah," Kagome answered. "Walk me home."

"Okay.." he blinked.

She grabbed onto one of his hands, wrapping her hand firmly around his.

Inu Yasha's blush grew bigger.

"Let's go," Kagome smiled warmly at him.

He nodded back and followed her.

A/N: If this chapter seemed boring to you, I'm sorry. -_- But the next chapter gets good!

Here are some answers to questions that you might have:

Why did Kaede tell Inu Yasha all of that stuff about Kagome (chapter 3)? The answer is: Let's just say..she trusted him immediately. Why? I suppose it's because he was a hanyou and you know Shippou is a demon and Kaede doesn't care if he is or isn't..and probably because when she saw Inu Yasha, she had a feeling that he would never hurt Kagome (hey, this chapter doesn't count because he didn't KNOW it was Kagome!) ^_~

Wouldn't Inu Yasha have smelled Kagome's scent while they were facing off against each other (this chapter)? Answer: Let's just say that all the students were wearing thick uniforms and that they were sweating so it was hard to tell who was really who for Inu Yasha.

Who was the person that sat out (this chapter)? Answer: It was Naraku.

Wouldn't Inu Yasha have noticed the height difference between Kagome and Naraku (this chapter)? Answer: Well, hm..tough one. I suppose the kendo uniforms made if harder to tell..and you can't exactly see VERY clearly through a mask so Inu Yasha didn't see the height difference..if he DID see the height difference, he'd know right away that he was facing off against a girl.

What happened to the school wall (chapter 4)? Answer: The school had it fixed.

Did Shippou get his candy (chapter 5)? Answer: Yes, he did ^_^

Anyways, please review! ^.^