A/N: Well, here I am with the second installment of COTT. This chapter is dedicated to Silversnapdragon and Sango17. Thanks for being my first reviewers, guys! This chapters for you!
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-Chapter Two: The Accident-
"I can't believe I lost to that arrogant jerk!" Kagome berated herself as she ripped off her racing helmet while walking down the barn isle.
The officials of the race had announced InuYasha Takahashi and Midnights Trouble the winners by a nose, with Kagome Higurashi and Kat Wink second and the horse, Dog Bite, and his rider coming in third.
Kagome kicked the outside of an empty stall. Normally, she was okay coming in second, but when it came to losing to that arrogant, pompous jerk InuYasha, she hated it. She turned around, her back pressing against the stall, and slid down the stall door, crossing her arms and propping them up on her knees, brooding.
And she felt even worse when a certain silver haired person stopped right in front of her, she could almost feel the smirk that she knew was on his face.
"What do you want, Takahashi?" She growled out, not looking up at the man she knew was smirking down at her.
InuYasha squatted down in front of the young jockey and smirked right in her face."Just came to see how the woman was doing," He replied.
Kagome glared at him with her angry brown eyes. "This 'woman' had a name. Its Kagome. Ka-Go-Me. Either use it, or get out of my face." She said and quickly stood up, walking past InuYasha, completely ignoring him, and into the nearby stall where Kat Wink was to groom the Thoroughbred.
InuYasha stood and followed her. Kat, being the curious horse that she was, stuck her head over the stall portion and investigate the strange silver haired person leaning against her stall door.
InuYasha reached up and patted the Thoroughbred on its velvety nose. "Hey there horse," He said, watching Kagome out of the corner of his eye as she carefully groomed the horse. "To bad you didn't have me to jockey you during the race. You probably would have won if you did." He said, knowing that he was really rubbing Kagome's nerves the wrong way.
That comment snapped what little resolve Kagome had had not to say a word to the silver haired jockey. She stood up and threw the curry comb she had been using on Kat just moments ago to the straw bedded floor of the stall. She pushed the stall door open, pushing InuYasha along with it. She calmly closed the stall door, not wanting to startle the dapple grey Thoroughbred inside, and then turned flashing eyes to the amber eyed man that was smirking at her.
"You have no right to say that." She hissed at him through clenched teeth, her hands fisted at her sides.
InuYasha smirked in amusement. "Oh, I have every right. This is a free Country, ya know." He said, making the flame of Kagome's temper flare even more.
"You don't have to tell me that, you sexist pig!" She all but yelled at the dog eared man, quickly losing her temper with him.
InuYasha felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise and the smirk vanished from his face. "I'm not a sexist pig," He growled at her, sounding very much like a dog.
Kagome scoffed at him. "Oh, so you just have something against women, particularly me! Since you don't seem to rag on Sango or any of the other women jockeys as much!" She did yell this time, throwing her hands up to empathize her point.
That snapped InuYasha. "Women don't belong in the racing world!" He yelled back, grinding his teeth I the process.
Kagome glared at him, refusing to back away, or lose, the argument at hand. "The only difference between you and a woman is the anatomy! A woman can do anything just as good as a man can!" She all but spat him, so angry now her hands were shaking.
InuYasha clenched his fists together, his knuckles cracking as he did. "No they can't. And me beating you in today's race proves it." He said, feeling some form of triumph as he said those words.
Kagome opened her mouth to yell at him again, but just then Miroku came around the corner. "Kagome, you need to get ready for the next race," He said and then stopped short when he saw the young black haired jockey and InuYasha. InuYasha grinding his teeth, and Kagome with his fists clenched in anger.
Kagome took a deep breath and stepped back from InuYasha. "I'll meet you at the stall, Miroku," She said in a clipped voice and walked away and towards the womens locker room.
Miroku and InuYasha watched her leave the barn, and then the young trainer turned his gaze onto InuYasha, who was now clenching his fists in anger. "InuYasha, I would appreciate it if you didn't upset my riders right before a race." He said calmly, so calmly you wondered just how angry he could get when he actually did lose his temper.
InuYasha crossed his arms over his muscled chest. "Feh, I don't care. For all I care that woman can just fall off a horse." He said and then stomped out of the barn in the opposite direction that Kagome had taken.
Miroku sighed and then turned to go into the stall that was next to Kat Wink's stall. This stall held his most promising Thoroughbred yet. He could only hope that Kagome could get calmed down in time for the race.
Miroku walked into the stall to see a pure white Thoroughbred filly dozing in the corner of the stall. "Come one, Jewel, time to wake up and get ready for the race." He said with a welcoming pat on the horses velvety nose.
The horse opened its large, liquid brown eyes and stared sleepily at the human man standing in front of her.
Miroku smiled and clipped a lead shank to Jewel's halter, leading her out of the stall.
Jewel's track name was Shikon no Tama, The Jewel Of Four Souls, but everyone knew the two year old Thoroughbred filly as Jewel. It was extremely rare for a pure white Thoroughbred to be born, and even rarer for a person to own one, and Miroku was one of the lucky few who did own one.
Jewel had been sired by his prized stallion, Wind Tunnel, and her dam was Passage Through Time and she was as fast as a shot gun. And, for some reason, she would only run her best when Kagome Higurashi was jockeying her.
Miroku led the white horse out of the stall and then walked her out through a crowd of people, who murmured in excitement at seeing the Thoroughbred, Shikon no Tama, whom they had been hearing about for quite dome time, and then entered the saddling paddock.
It wasn't long after that that Kagome arrived carrying the small racing saddle in her arms.
Miroku could tell that she was still really upset she had had with InuYasha Takahashi. "Kagome, try to calm yourself. You know how intune Jewel is with your emotions." He advised as he took the racing saddle out of the jockeys hands and placed it, along with the saddle pad, high on Jewel's withers.
Miroku bent over and caught the cinch and then buckled it, making sure it was nice and snug and not lose at all.
Kagome frowned at him. "You don't have to tell me how to treat Jewel, Miroku," She said irately and took the Thoroughbreds bridled head in her hands.
Kagome had been there the very day that Jewel had been born, she was the first person who ever rode the filly when Miroku started training her and she had a very close relationship with the white Thoroughbred.
The trainer straightened and sighed. "Look Kagome, I just don't want your common sense to be clouded by your anger. This is Jewel's first race and I don't have to tell you that it can be really dangerous." He cautioned her.
Kagome ignored Miroku's words and swung up into the saddle, not even bothering to wait for the trainer to give her a leg into the saddle. She knew that Miroku was just trying to help her, but at that moment she didn't want any help from any man. Even if said man was one of her closest friends.
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InuYasha pushed his way through the crowded stands to get to the rail. The ninth race was about to begin and that albino Thoroughbred of Miroku's, Shikon no Tama, would be runnig her maiden race in it.
He'd heard a lot about this filly. Her dam had been a derby winner when she was younger and the sire was a Triple Crown Winner, and everyone was eager to see what this white filly could do.
As InuYasha waited for the Thoroughbreds to make their way to the starting gate, his mind wandered back to the encounter he had had with Kagome not to long ago. He bristled as he remembered their heated argument. She had no right to call me a sexist pig. He thought angrily to himself.
He was jolt out of his thoughts by the announcers voice naming the Thoroughbreds and their jockeys as they paraded onto the field. He could instantly see which one was Shikon no Tama. The pure white filly stood out like a sore thumb among the other blacks, dapple greys, bays, and chestnut two year old Thoroughbreds.
So, this is Miroku's prized two year old Thoroughbred, huh? He thought to himself as he eyed the filly with a trained eye, watching her every movement. He had to admit, the young horse did look rather good. The filly had long legs, a finely shaped head, showing good breeding, a muscled neck and chest, pointed ears that were always on the alert, and there was excitement shining in the Thoroughbreds eyes. Not that nervous excitement that Thoroughbreds get right before a race, but the excitement of a challenge.
But something wasn't right with the Thoroughbreds jockey, Kagome Higurashi. Her jaw was clenched tight and her eyes were still flaming with anger. "She can't still be angry about earlier," He muttered aloud to himself, not caring if the people that surrounded him on all sides heard.
But apparently she was.
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Kagome took deep soothing breathes as she and Jewel reached the starting gates, trying to calm herself. Get a hold of yourself, Kagome! Don't ruin Jewel's first race! She kept repeating to herself.
They didn't have to wait long to be loaded into the gates. This time, they had the number one slot.
She crouched low over Jewel's white neck, gathering her silky white mane in her hands. She drowned out all sound around her, only concentrating on calming her raging temper. It's gonna be okay, just count to ten. One. . . two. . . three. . . fou- Before she could even count to five, the starting bell rang, the gates flew wide open, revealing the track, and Jewel sprang forward with a burst of speed, surprising Kagome and throwing her off balance.
Kagome was thrown roughly to the left, the only thing keeping her from falling from the Thoroughbreds back completely was the handful of white main that the jockey clutched tightly in her hand, holding on for dear life.
She desperately tried to right herself in the saddle, but it was a useless attempt. Jewel was spooked by suddenly seeing her jockey suddenly on her side and was also thrown off balance by the sudden weight that was pulling her to the left, so that's where she veered off to.
Jewel veered sharply to the left, ramming into the number four horse as she did. The jolt threw the agitated Thoroughbred off balance even more and she lost her footing on the dirt turf and her hooves went out from underneath her and she fell, her full weight landing on top of Kagome.
The young jockey cried out in shock and pain.
Jewel struggled to her feet, grunting with the effort, getting off Kagome, and took off running down the track, running to catch up with the rest of the Thoroughbreds that were continuing that race as if nothing had happened at all.
But when Jewel had gotten off of Kagome, that also left an opening for the other large Thoroughbreds to trample over the fallen jockey.
The young jockey had no time to roll out of the way, so Kagome did the only thing she could think of. She curled herself up into a ball, making herself as small as possible.
She cried out in pain as one Thoroughbred stepped on her thigh, and as a another kicked her in her lower back. She was in severe pain. I don't know how much more of this I can take, She thought desperately just before a hoof came crashing down on her helmet protected head and all the world surrounding the young jockey dissolved in a swirl of pain and darkness.
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A/N: There's chapter two. And as well as another cliffie! Don't cha just love me? Lol. Anyways's I would like to get at least four reviews for this chapter, please. I really enjoy writing, I honestly do, but you all out there in fanfiction land have to let me know your enjoying my writings as well, okay? Well, until the next installment, Ja ne, Mina-san!
Rogue Hanyou