THE FINAL DAY

Kagome woke up an extra hour early eager to begin the school day and to get to the end of the day, although she looked for inuyasha in the masses in the hallway and in her 3rd period class. he was no where to be found. A deep anger burned behind her usual calm face revealing an inner fire that inuyasha had made become an inferno of emotion, his intent was to provoke a burning desire to win, and that is just what he did.

When the time came, the 8 remaining combatants stood ready, silent, each focused on the trials to come and then it came time to see who would make the cut. Miroku stepped out onto the floor in the usual manor

"Congratulations for those of you who have made it this far, but today is the last day" Miroku began "because of what has happened the last time, all of you will all need to sign wavers relieving this school of any and all liability for injuries you will sustain in the matches to come."

Some seemed rattled by the decree that there WILL be injuries in their matches but Kagome just thought of it as a "no rules" waver allowing her to do as she wished. Grappling gloves were issued and the first set of matches began

"NEXT TWO STEP OUT" Miroku yelled

Kagome stepped out, the fires that had been burning deep the whole day made her very eager and barley able to contain herself a cold sweat ran down her face as her opponent took his position, to her there was no sound it seemed like an eternity that she stood there lost within herself thinking only of how she could win, her heart was racing her muscles still calm and her mind had gone from a turbulent malestrom of emotion into a steady machine with on goal: To Win. The adrenalin pumping through her system had taken care of anything she might have felt along the lines of pain, and every sound that drifted in the room had been tuned out. Before she knew it the formal bows were over and the match had begun, her opponent violently jerked forward in a lunge step. He may as well have been lunging at a stone, kagome stood there motionless eyes glaring at her opponent, as far as she was concerned there were no spectators, there was no fear, there was no need for any control, and with a blinding speed that she had not shown yet. The real match had begun, a spinning back kick, found a crossed forearm block to hit, her opponent grunted as he quickly countered the attack with a kick of his own, however when the kick came close to kagome she dropped her right foot down taking her opponents foot below her to the ground. Almost immediately a flurry of kagomes punches were matched by a series of blocks everyone who was watching could tell the girl was pissed. Kagome jumped backward into a fighting stance (right leg back) Again the unfortunate man faced a statue. A violent storm had just settled into a calm sky, if only for a moment. Kagome took a step forward with her right foot, as she did she spun to her left side and launched a powerful back kick. As her opponent let out a grunt as the sudden and powerful attack hit home, he could not hold his ground and slowly slid back a foot. Before the unlucky man knew it Kagome's leg had retracted and chambered for yet another kick he was able to doge this one and counter with a front kick aimed at kagome's vulnerable torso, however before the attack scored a hit kagome had her hands up to block. As kagome stood up she latched onto her opponents right leg with her left hand in one swift motion she brought it above her head and used her left foot to sweep her opponents other leg out from under him sending him to the floor, leaving him an easy target for a punch scoring her the first hard earned point for the match. It almost appeared as if time had slowed down for kagome her punch sailing through the air finding a soft spot right below her opponents ribs, dead center. Her opponent was down but by no means out.

"TAKE YOUR POSITIONS, GO!!" miroku sounded off the score was 1 to 0.

Yet again they stared hard at the other, as the man stepped left kagome followed mirroring his every move to near perfection, this was one of her tricks, the boy leapt in only to be face to face with the same move from kagome, in frustration he tried a speedy jab but only found himself in a lock with kagomes' fist knuckle to knuckle a perfect imitation. Kagome then began her offensive a swift front kick with her right leg was swatted harmlessly aside by her opponents left hand, no sooner than her foot hit the ground she was lauching a left. Punch which quickly found its mark on her opponents face, which spun his helmet slightly.

"BEGIN"

Kagome's opponent was just 3 points from a loss, he bolted in with a flying kick which forced kagome on the defensive furious kick after kick was either dodged or blocked with great speed, it was a swift back kick that had found its way past kagome's defenses and scored a hit on her chest. Everything stopped for kagome, a scored hit? On HER!?.

once again everything began to stop for her. Although a small hit and only tied them up, to her it was almost as if she had been disgraced. She hardly waited for the match to begin before she was upon her opponent. Fighting as if her very life depended on it after a series of dodges and parries she found her opening and was able to send her foot straight through a hole in her opponents defenses as she let out a great yell. It found its mark deep within her opponents chest sending him back onto the ground. For good. A moment seemed like a lifetime for her, 3 medics crowded around the downed boy, she only grasped how serious his injuries were when they had to stick a tube down his throat because his diaphragm was in a spasm. As her lust for the win soon wore off with the adrenalin, she soon realized what she was willing to do for a win. It hit her like a ton of bricks; she has something in common with kikyo the need to win no matter who gets hurt,

"WINNER, HIGURASHI" Miroku sounded out, but it was a hollow victory as kagome went into the locker room, and cried, all she could think of was her past, the person she hurt and what it meant that she had seriously hurt another person just to advance, just to win, this time it was a locker she took her sadness out on, and when she could not bare to see herself in the mirror, that was the next thing to go. But she knew that she had to be out there for the next match. Her last match.