AN: Ooh look at that- I actually updated within two weeks. I wanted to get this chapter in before I'm flooded with schoolwork. Hope you like!

The 'A' Game

Chapter One: Intervention

"Open up!"

Kagome blinked her eyes blearily, the sound of a familiar voice rousing her from sleep. Mumbling a few unintelligible words, she rolled onto her stomach and pressed her pillow over her head to block out the noise.

There was a quick rapping against glass.

"Ugh," she groaned, and languidly pushed herself onto her feet. Kagome ran her hands through her bird-nest-looking bed hair and leaned forward to open the lock on her window. "Sango, you better have a good excuse for waking me up on a Sunday morning. During summer break."

Mentioned friend snorted and climbed through into her bedroom. "I'm surprised you weren't already awake. Figured you'd gotten up at the crack of dawn to do some trigonometry or something. Isn't that the Kagome Higurashi way?"

"Um, school starts tomorrow, so no. Hard no. Even I deserve to sleep in once in a while. But oh wait- no, I don't, according to my amazing and equally amazingly awful best friend Sango Taijiya."

Laughing, Sango sat down on her bed. "Wow, you're so scary right when you wake up. No fear; I predicted this and prepared an apology gift." She reached into her crossover body bag and presented a box of cupcakes, slathered with white icing that read, 'THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM' in green letters. "Get it? 'Cause we're juniors now? Ha ha. I'm so funny, I know."

Kagome rolled her warm brown eyes. "Okay, fine, I accept your apology. Just because it involves food, which is undoubtedly my only weakness. You snake." She paused to open the box and reached for a cupcake. "Wait. Since we're celebrating, shouldn't we call Ayame and Rin? You know, to commemorate the last day of freedom before entering the prison that is school?"

"Oh please, you love school; don't lie. You couldn't fool anybody even if you tried. And I have called them, but Ayame is training for the opening athletics meet that's in a week, and Rin has an audition. But they're meeting us for lunch. By the way, we're going out for lunch. Oops. Followed by dessert. Lots of it. And karaoke."

Kagome proceeded to tugging a brush roughly through her long, black waves while simultaneously trying to yank a fuzzy blue sweater over her head. "I don't know, Sango, I still have to finish the last book on the summer reading list..."

Sango sighed. "Kagome, I love you. I really do. But you need an intervention, and I'm going to give it to you. You work so hard, yet you don't allow yourself nearly as much rest as you deserve. It's a bit unhealthy."

"You know why."

"Inuyasha," Sango replied, without missing a beat. "God. If I weren't your best friend, I would think you're in love with him or something. It's borderline obsessive, don't you think? And- Oh, my goodness, I nearly forgot to tell you. They broke up."

She stuck a bobby pin in her hair and plopped down on the floor next to Sango's feet. "Who's they?"

"Inuyasha and Kikyo. They're done, finished, over. Just like that, after two years of dating. I was beginning to wonder if they were going to get married after high school. Their babies would the most socially awkward little things ever. But really attractive."

Raising her brows, Kagome asked, "Where'd you hear that? I'm sure it's just a rumor."

"Well, I heard from Ayumi who heard from Eri who heard from Yuka. But everybody knows now because it spread like wildfire the second it got out. No one knows what the reason for their breakup was, only that it was one sided. Kikyo dumped him. Apparently it was a cold, hard dumping. I didn't think she was capable of something like that."

"People have a funny ways of surprising you," Kagome agreed. But she was just as stunned. Kikyo and Inuyasha became a couple almost at the beginning of freshman year and were, hands down, the strangest pair to roam the halls of Shikon High. While Inuyasha was disturbingly popular and highly sought after for being 'unattainable and cold', Kikyo was the most anti-social character anyone had ever heard of. She was eerily beautiful, with porcelain skin and raven-black locks that ran down her back, but had virtually no friends due to her seemingly inanimate personality.

Despite the odds, people had to admit that they were rather interesting together, and the unlikely match seemed to be unusually happy for the duration of their relationship. Whatever drove them apart had to be a force to be reckoned with.

"It's weird. I mean, it's not like I knew them or anything, and they were plenty strange, but they really did seem to love each other. Anyway, since we're on the topic of relationships, tell me: how's it going with Hojo? You guys have been dating for, what, a year and a half now?"

"One year and three months," Kagome corrected. "And it's going fine."

Sango pursed her lips carefully. "Fine," she repeated slowly. "That's it? Fine? What does that word even mean?"

She bit into a cupcake, the frosting smearing on her upper lip. "He's sweet and doting and I like him well enough. He respects my space, and I his, so there's never any problems. But he goes to his all-boys school and I go to Shikon so it's not like we get to see each other enough for any of that to change. Our relationship, in my perspective, is at a standstill. That's all there is to it."

"Well that's boring. Are you thinking of breaking up with him?"

Kagome made a face. "I've thought about it... but I'm not sure. Maybe. He's just so great, though, that'd I'd feel bad about ending it without any solid reason. That reminds me. I heard from Rin that she set you up on a blind date? Next Saturday? My little girl, all grown up... feels like only yesterday that you were ranting about how men suck and how you hate them all. This is a pivotal moment of your life and I couldn't be prouder. Though... knowing Rin, I'm a little scared. She said you two would be perfect for each other, but her judgment can be a little... clouded."

"I only agreed because she swore to me that she had my best interests at heart. Which is questionable, but I wasn't going to say that to her face because then I'd have to worry about Rin-Revenge, and that should be the least of my worries right now. And stop trying to distract me! We're have a girls day out and that is final. Now go put on some eyeliner and do something about that hair of yours."

"Kagome, are you home?"

Pulling off her sneakers, Kagome dragged herself into the lounge and deposited herself onto the couch. "My voice is absolutely shot. I lost track of how many hours we spent just singing our lungs out."

Mrs. Higurashi just smiled pleasantly, drying her wet hands on her apron. From doing the dishes, probably. "Well, was it fun?"

"I had a good time. I think. But now I'm starting to feel the aftermath, and let me tell you, it's not pretty. And I have school tomorrow, dammit." She dragged an arm across her face and just lay there, breathing.

"Would you like me to fetch you some dinner, honey? I made curry."

Kagome shook her head. "It's okay. I think I'll just rest for a while."

"Make sure you sleep early tonight," her mother reminded her. "You don't want to be late for your first day. Which I already know would never happen, but, you know, as your mom, I feel that it's necessary to say those kinds of things once in a while. Anyway, I'll prepare a warm bath for you."

She smiled and sat up. "Thanks, Mom."

"I'm proud of you, Kagome. Always."

Kagome, however, was not proud of herself.

It'd been two years. Two years, and she remained inferior to Inuyasha. It had to end, and it was going to happen this year.

As Kagome lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling, she felt the butterflies in her stomach hatch and begin to flutter about, ensuring that she was not going to get the eight hours of sleep she'd planned; she was just too excited.

Tomorrow, it all began.

Tomorrow, she would get serious and kick her rival's ass like only Kagome Higurashi could.

Thinking back on Sango's earlier comment, how people would think she was in love with him, Kagome couldn't disagree. She didn't know the first thing about crushing on somebody, because that wasn't exactly the relation she had with Hojo, but it couldn't be much different than this: the anxiety, the butterflies, the thrill of knowing she would see him soon.

If academics were love, then Inuyasha was, undoubtedly, her soulmate.

And Kagome was going to make him realize that she was his.

AN: Thanks for all your lovely reviews... I read them all, and respond to each of them (unless you don't have an account or you disable private messaging). Please continue to leave your thoughts, as they motivate to keep writing!

Have a fantastic day! :)

~Nyony