Chapter 6: Practices

Kagome was up early despite the long night she had going through her notes on the kyudo team and finishing up her homework. She managed it and had plenty of ideas, however she was wondering what to do to get funding to repair the kyudo club room. It was in such a state of disrepair. It was sad to see, but they could at least take care of a few things. She did have quite a few contacts from her time at the junior Olympics. She was also a candidate for the Olympics in the next few years. She'd think about that later.

She cleared her mind as she walked out the door into the brisk, early morning air. She completed her warm up and started out on her run and towards the hill that led up to Shiratorizawa. She came to the base of the hill and took off up it at a run. She got to the top only to run into Ushijima Wakatoshi. She hadn't actually ran into him but had managed to dodge him just in time.

"That could have been painful," she murmured to herself as she started to run beside him, easily keeping stride with him. He seemed surprised to see her, but it didn't show beyond his eyes. She studied him from the corner of her eye and noticed that his gait was steady. "You seem to be better this morning," she commented offhandedly.

"I took your advice," he said easily. "I had noticed my knee didn't feel right and I had put off buying new running shoes, but your advice made me re-evaluate my plans for that day." She nodded and they kept going, a nice silence between them. They made it a bit further and she noticed the time.

"It was nice running with you," she said easily, not breaking her stride. "But I do have to head back if I am to make it to school on time. Have a nice day, Ushijima-san."

"You too, Higurashi-san." He watched as she turned around and started off back towards where they had met twice now. She was interesting, to say the least. She was also able to keep up with him at a run. There wasn't too many people that could do that, so she must run a lot. He had a feeling that he would be seeing her more often if today was anything to go by.

~Scene Change~

Kagome made it to school early. She had ran into the maintenance man and had asked him if there was any leftover paint anywhere. He was surprised by her addressing him because no one ever really did. He wasn't used to anyone being any where but the club rooms this early in the morning. He thought about it and looked at her.

"What would you need with paint?" He looked at her. She wasn't someone he recognized, but from the uniform, he could tell she was a student here.

"The kyudo club room's paint is fading and cracking. I wanted to paint the walls after scraping the old paint off. I know the kyudo has seen a decrease in funding over the last few years, but the state of the club leaves much to be desired."

He nodded at that. That club room experienced many issues but the school gave him the bare minimum to fix any issues. Holes that had shown up in the door were often patched with whatever wood he had on hand. Other issues had band-aid fixes, but it only delayed more issues. The only reason he had gotten funding to repair the ceiling and roof was because it was a safety hazard.

"I can see what I have, but no promises," he said gruffly.

"Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated." She gave him a smile before heading out towards the kyudo club room and range. He shook his head and continued looking at the list he had before him. He had to fix an A/C unit on the third floor and the stove in the cafeteria. One of the toilets in the girls' bathroom was clogged. He sighed as he got back to work. There always seemed to be something that needed fixing.

~Scene Change~

The volleyball team decided to call it a morning and had gotten changed before heading towards the school. They heard a weird sound coming from a building off to the side that they noticed but never knew what it was for. It did look rundown from the outside, so they had thought it was never used. They went to the side and looked over the wall and into what looked to be a yard. There were targets against a wall. They could see arrows sticking out of it, all closely clustered together. Another lodged itself into the center, and they turned to see Kagome standing at the other end placing another arrow on her string. She was still in the school's uniform, so she wouldn't need to change. They had simply watched as she released another arrow. They were silent as she continued on. It really was a sight to behold.

"Are you guys done staring?" Her voice knocked them out of their daze. "The bell did just ring, so we should start heading to class."

"Ah, gomen," Sugawara said for them. "We're still not used to seeing something like this." She nodded and placed her bow away in a locker. They watched as she headed inside and moments later was walking off to class. They hurried behind her and into the building towards their classes. They were still embarrassed at getting caught by her. She was just mesmerizing with her fluid movements and the grace and poise in which she stood. She just made it seem so easy, but they knew it could be deceiving.

~Scene Change~

"Higurashi-sama, good morning," Hatori said as she entered the room a few minutes before class started.

"Good morning, Hatori-san," she greeted in return. She could see the faint blush on his face. She knew that he either had a crush on her or he was that much of a fan of her. Either way she wished that he would treat her like a normal teenage girl, not like some idol. "I take it all the club forms were taken care of?"

"Of course. Sakaguchi-san and I had split the work." She nodded. "We really do need to find a manager to help out with the club." He could see a few of his female classmates sending Kagome dirty looks. There was a respectable distance between them, but they probably didn't like the fact that the two of them were speaking. He was sure that they would soon approach her and try to warn her off, but she didn't seem the least bit interested in him, which was a bit disheartening. He wasn't really all that conceited, but he wasn't without instances of the opposite sex admitting to having feelings for him. He had tried to date a few times, but they always complained that he didn't have enough time for them. They were in high school and he was in a club that did take some of his time away from anyone he dated. Now he didn't really want to date anyone, unless it was Kagome. He didn't see that happening any time soon.

"I'll talk to some of the underclassmen and see if I can find someone willing to take the position, now that the applications are done." He nodded. He could see that there were many a male that admired her. He couldn't blame them. She was attractive, but he liked her for her prowess in kyudo. She was a national champion and she was considered an Olympian. "I am also looking to see if we can find a sponsor for the kyudo team. I have a few contacts I can call to see if they are willing. It should help us get funding to make repairs and get some new equipment for the club." He nodded and looked at the time. She seemed to notice the time as well because she headed towards her desk. "We can discuss this more during break." He nodded and went to his own desk right before the starting bell rang.

~Time Skip~

Hatori sighed as he was stopped in his steps. He had went to drop off the last of the applications with the club advisor only to be stopped on his way to the club room afterwards by a classmate. She was blushing and looking down at her toes. Her hands played with her hair shyly, though he knew she was anything but shy. She was also a bit mean spirited. Every girl before her that had confessed to him had met with an awful prank from her. He was actually extremely turned off by her behavior. He couldn't be with someone like her, and he had easily told her that before making his way towards the club room.

"It's because Higurashi showed up, isn't it? I see how you look at her." She was red in the face from anger.

"I might like her, but she seems to have no interest in me," he commented. "If anything, she has assured me of one thing." He glared into her eyes. "I cannot be with someone like you. You bully anyone that so much as looks my way. You pull pranks and embarrass others just for admitting to what they feel. Personally, I think you need to grow up and realize that this behavior won't get you far." He kept walking and soon made it to the club room. It was obvious he was angry when he came into the club room.

"Vice Captain is upset," Mochi said from the side.

"Ah." Garachi said back. "Mikki must have finally confessed. She probably made some sort of comment about the hime." Hime was said with so much sarcasm, though Mochi wasn't one to pickup on such things.

"Why wouldn't he like my idol?" Mochi asked. "She's the best." Garachi scoffed but looked towards Kagome when she came into the room. She started to blush at Kagome's entrance. There was a mousy looking girl beside her that was blushing.

"Everyone, this is Hinoshi Kaede. She is going to be our manager for the year." The girl blushed and tried to hide behind Kagome. "Please treat her kindly." There was a resounding "Hai" from the group before her. Kagome turned to the brunette sporting thin framed glasses and gray eyes. "You can have a seat in the stands and observe for today." She nodded and headed to the stands and took out the notebook her senpai had provided her with. "I have a notebook for each of you." They just now noticed the stack of notebooks sitting off to the side. "It has where you are weak and some of your strong points as well as exercises to do to help with improving where you are weak. Come grab the notebook with your name on it." They moved forward and found their notebooks, looking over each others shoulders and murmuring about what they saw.

"Man, your shots did suck yesterday," some said to someone else.

"At least it says I have good form," he said as he squinted to read what was on the bag. "I can barely see that far, let alone aim," he murmured lowly.

"Tori, go see an optometrist," Kagome said from behind him. "Glasses might help with your aim." He jumped and stuttered an answer. Though he murmured a complaint how he was going to look nerdy with glasses on.

Sakaguchi came forward and looked at them. "Higurashi-sama was kind enough to provide us with ways to improve where we are weak. Today's practice is to go through what she has for you to do written down. You have forty-five minutes to accomplish what is listed, then we'll practice our shots and hopefully get further pointers from our residential national champion." They groaned but started with what was listed in their note books.

"I'm going for a run while they do this," Kagome commented, turning towards the door. She pulled on her running shoes and took off running. She hadn't changed out of her kyudo uniform, making them murmur about how crazy she must be to run in the heat in such a uniform.

"Call her crazy again and all of you will be going for a run as well in uniform," Sakaguchi said, silencing the first years. She looked at her list and sweat dropped before starting on what was in her notebook. She silently thought she was in hell. Her idol looked to be a cruel task master.