InuYasha Fan Fiction / Fruits Basket Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ The Tournament ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 4 )

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First actual chapter!

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The 17-year-old Asian girl walked on the pavement, her feet making no sound against the hard ground. She hummed a tune softly to herself as she traveled towards her destination. Muscles tensed slightly beneath her denim shorts and her sky blue tank top as she sensed herself, or her body more likely, being watched by someone behind her. She rolled her eyes.

`People these days,' she thought.

Oh well, she was almost to the dojo, where she was going to meet some friends. She decided to ignore whatever it was that was bothering her and quickened her pace slightly. Soon, she arrived at her friend's dojo, where she walked up several steps into a room with several hallways branching out from it. She took the far left one, knowing her way around.

The girl walked down to the far end of the hall, where she slid open a door on her right. The room was already occupied by three people. Two of which were sparring each other. One was a human-like kitsune female, who looked to be in her early twenties. She had long black hair with silver highlights that was pulled into a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way. Her bright silver eyes were narrowed slightly in concentration as she gracefully sliced and parried.

The girl's opponent was a human male, with long red hair also pulled back in a horse-tail. On one cheek was an x-shaped scar, and he too was deep in concentration, grunting each time he blocked an attack. At first it seemed like the girl would win, but as her face showed a hint of triumph, she was disarmed, her opponent's sword tip at her throat.

Her face fell as her opponent said, "I win."

The newcomer clapped saying, "Good try, Suki. But he was your master."

"Yes, but I'm almost there, aren't I, Kenshin?" said Suki.

"Hai, I must agree. You are getting even better," replied Kenshin.

The third person in the room, who was sitting on the floor, got up with a groan and stretched. He was a 19 year old, known as Sagara Sanosuke. Dark eyes glittering, he addressed the other girl.

"Sooo, Sapphire! What brings you to our humble dojo?" he asked suggestively.

Sapphire, her own turquoise eyes sparkling, replied, "Oh,…nothing…just checking up on my special man."

Sano grinned, and wrapped his arms around her slender waist, hugging her close.

Suki rolled her eyes at her man, Kenshin, who grinned and did the same. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Suki, as she snuggled against her former Battousai.

"Oh! Hey, Sano, Sapphire! Did you guys get the letter?" she asked.

"What letter?"

"The invite thingie to participate in some tournament!"

"Ohh. That thing. Yeah, I got it a while ago. Why? Are you doing it?" said Sapphire.

"Hell yes!" exclaimed Suki.

"Well, so are we."

"We?!" exclaimed Sano.

"Hai. WE. You and I are going to participate together," said Sapphire decisively.

"Does that mean that I have to?" asked Kenshin.

"Hai," replied his human-like kitsune girl.

Both men groaned inwardly.

"Did you hear though?" asked Suki, "The present team champs are the Spider Mark team!"

"Hai, I heard. With that scum, Naraku and his mate, Ramoira," said Sapphire.

Sano and Kenshin stopped groaning.

"Did you just say Naraku?!" asked Kenshin.

"Yeah," replied Suki, "And there's that other youkai, Juuromaru with his thing, Kageroumaru.

"Well, we have a little score to settle with those two," said Sano, smirking.

Both girls grinned at each other. Now they got them going!

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"Oi, wench! Just who do you think you are to stay for so long?!" yelled the inu-hanyou.

The sixteen year old Kagome Higurashi sighed, exasperated.

"How many times must I tell you, Inuyasha?! I have SCHOOL!" she yelled back.

Inuyasha had, yet again, shown up at her house early in the morning, at her window. She had, rather unwisely, opened that window, and let him in. He then proceeded to berate her for saying one night later than she said she would.

"Shh!" said Inuyasha suddenly, as his ears twitched, "I hear someone coming!"

"Quick! Out to the well house! I'll meet you there!" whispered Kagome.

Inuyasha sprang out the window, as the young miko hurriedly shut it. Just then, Mrs. Higurashi knocked on the closed door with a soft, "Kagome?"

"Yea, Mom?" asked Kagome.

Kagome's mother opened the door to see her daughter sitting at her desk, looking hard at her open Geometry textbook.

"Kag, honey. This was outside on the front porch," she said, depositing an envelope onto the desk.

"What is it?"

"I don't know. It had your name on it, except it said "To: The Miko Kagome". I thought you would know."

Kagome shrugged.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's something that important."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled.

"Okay then. You let me know if you need anything though."

With that, she made as if to walk to the door, but stopped and walked to the window instead. She opened it and called out, "I'll have some Ramen ready in 5 minutes!"

Still smiling, the older woman turned and walked out of her daughter's room.

Two seconds later, Inuyasha jumped through the window.

"How'd she know I was there?!" he demanded.

"I don't know," said Kagome absently, "She's my mother. Mothers know lots of things."

"Hey, what's that?" asked Inuyasha, pointing a claw at the envelope in Kagome's hands.

"I'm going to open it to find out."

Kagome slid her index finger underneath the opening and was about to open it when she remembered the last time she tried to do that. It resulted in a not so pretty envelope and an almost cut finger.

She held the envelope up to Inuyasha, her blue eyes asking for his help.

He sighed inwardly and slit the envelope with a claw.

"Arigato, Inu-kun," said Kagome.

The hanyou grunted his welcome.

Kagome took the paper out of the envelope and started to read it.

"To the Miko Kagome and any who may be interested. You have been invited to participate in a tournament. This is a gathering of all fighters, from ningen to youkai, everywhere to test speed, strength, and skill. There will be six teams, one of which is the present champion in this tournament. You, to whom this notice is addressed to, are expected to fight. It is also highly expected of you to have a companion as well. Although, as a result of the way the teams are put together, you may not be put with this companion. This notice was designed specifically for the Miko Kagome and is not intended for use of any other kind. Please send your answer back to the given address below and arigato."

Inuyasha looked at it oddly.

After a few seconds, he said, "So are you going?"

Kagome looked at him in shock.

"I think I have to, Inuyasha," she replied.

"But, you can't! Seriously, Kagome! We still need to do more work on the Shikon no Tama!"

"The Shikon can wait, Inuyasha. This seems far more important than that for now."

"You are NOT going. That's final," snapped Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha… I do what I want! And I want to do this Tournament. It's not like I really have a choice!" Kagome cried.

"No! I refuse to let you go! Just shut up and listen to me, bitch!" he yelled.

Kagome fell silent. Not a good thing.

"Inuyasha…I am NOT a bitch. Get out. I don't want to see you here again. Get out," she said, with deadly softness.

A look of regret flashed across the hanyou's face before it was replaced by anger.

"Fine, BITCH. I won't come here AGAIN."

He leapt out the window and Kagome waited for two seconds before…

"OSUWARI!!!"

THUD

Muffled swearing and curses came from somewhere near Goshinboku. The God tree. It brought back memories. Memories of when she first slipped into the Sengoku Jidai. Of when she woke Inuyasha up from his 50-year sleep. A lot of memories…

Kagome waited until she was sure that Inuyasha had gone back through the well. Sighing, she closed her textbook, and grabbed her letter. Taking the stairs two at a time, the girl was out the front door soon. Kagome walked to the local shops; it wasn't very far, only about a half mile or so. The Higurashi shrine wasn't THAT isolated, thank you very much.

At the shops, Kagome was soon set upon by her friends. Of course, she'd known that they'd be here, searching through the crowds of people for guys.

"Kagome!!!" called Yuka.

The miko turned to see two of them, Yuka and Eri. She fixed a small smile on her face as they came over.

"Kagome! Come on! There's tons of people today! There's GOT to be a cutie or two out there, somewhere!" said Eri.

The two friends dragged Kagome off to go get a slushie, while they inspected all the people.

"Hi, what can I get you?" asked the worker at the slushie shop.

"Um, I'll just get a small cherry."

"Kagome! What's gotten into you?!" demanded Yuka, "I'll get a medium strawberry watermelon."

"And I'll have a medium raspberry lemonade," said Eri.

Yuka paid the cashier the money and the three girls sat at a small round table with an umbrella giving it some shade. After a few minutes of sipping their frozen treats, Yuka said in a low voice.

"Semi-cutie at nine oh clock."

Eri's head swiveled to her left, and Kagome slowly glanced in that direction.

"Aw, come on, Yuka! He wasn't THAT cute!" exclaimed Eri.

"Yes he WAS!"

"No he WASN'T!"

The banter went back and forth for a minute or so until Kagome got a little tired of it and said, "There's one!"

Sure enough, as though by luck, there WAS a cute guy in the direction she was pointing in, but he was going in a different direction.

After that, Kagome stayed silent for the most part, adding a comment occasionally.

Yuka and Eri squealed about a few more boys. Then, Yuka spotted something that made her completely speechless.

"Yuka? Yuuukaaa....," said Eri, waving a hand in front of her friend's face. When she failed to get Yuka's attention, she too directed her sight towards where Yuka was staring.

What she saw made her stop dead in her tracks. It was only after a few seconds that Kagome realized that her friends were totally silent, staring off at someone or something. With a sigh, Kagome turned her eyes towards that direction.

`Oh Kami-sama,' she thought.

Even she had to admit that the one walking in their direction was cute. No, not cute, he was HOT and handsome. He was walking directly towards them, as though he was intending to actually come and talk or something. A dark gray cloak swirled around his broad shoulders, held together by a clasp. He was wearing black leather pants, only making him all the more enticing.

Pitch black hair fell down to his neck, while dark blue eyes scanned his surroundings. When he came within range, Kagome was hit by a wave of power. This man was youkai. Except there was still a small part of a human in him. Like Inuyasha. Except, Inuyasha had a bit more ningen in him. This one was only about a quarter human. The other part was pure youkai. She could sense all the power radiating off of him, though he kept most of it well contained. His finely chiseled features portrayed no emotion whatsoever, making his face a blank mask.

`But I bet he does have emotions, like Sesshoumaru-sama," thought Kagome.

He was quite tall, almost as tall as Inuyasha's older half-brother. Tentatively, the miko sent out a small tendril of her power towards the man, to see how strong he was. Her little part of energy struck a powerful shield of dark energy and disappeared. Yet, at the same time, that darkness was almost good in a sense. She stared at him as he drew nearer and nearer.

Then, he disappeared.

Kagome snapped to attention.

`Where'd that guy go?!' she thought frantically, as she shot up from her seat.

She couldn't sense him at all. It was like he was able to shield himself from her, she thought as she turned to where she last saw him. Nothing. Only normal people for the most part.

Then he was at her back, his warm breath caressing the back of her slim neck. Yuka and Eri suddenly realized that their dream guy wasn't there anymore and looked up to see him behind their friend, standing very close to her. They watched in astonishment as picked Kagome up bridal style and flew off. He flew off.

Just like that. He lifted off the ground and a split second later, he was gone. They didn't even see him fly off, but they just assumed so.

The stranger's touch galvanized Kagome into action. As she was about to struggle, the man whispered in her ear, his mouth so close, she felt his lips tickling her ear.

"Don't move…Its not going to do you much good. You can't get free, and even if you did, you'd fall a long ways."

Kagome stopped and glanced down. She quickly averted her eyes as she gulped slightly. It WAS a long way down, and it sure didn't look like there was anything soft to land on…

The young miko sighed mentally in defeat and glanced down once more. They were getting higher and higher, and now they were over a rocky gorge, where a fissure lay, a thick black line running for miles…And they were right over it, following its path.

"Eep!" squeaked Kagome as unwanted pictures of dropping and falling to her death entered her mind. She buried herself into her captor's broad chest, enjoying the warmth emitting from it, as she listened to his heartbeat.

After a few minutes of silence, Kagome's eyes started to close, as she slipped into a dreamless sleep. Her captor turned his stormy blue eyes on the girl in his arms and studied her for a minute before resuming his concentration on getting to his destination.

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Kagome woke to find herself in a softly lit chamber, lying on a bed, in the well furnished room.

"Wh-where am I?" she spoke aloud to herself.

"You are in my home," came a deep, quiet voice.

Kagome jerked her neck around, to see the man who had taken her from her friends.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?!" she demanded.

One second he was standing by the door, and the next he was right in front of her, standing very close. Too close. He lowered his head so that his face was level with hers and caught her gaze with his own.

"You are not one to demand of me," he whispered, with deadliness.

Kagome returned his stare with her own defiant look and didn't say anything.

"Good. Questions and answers will come in time," he said, as he straightened and made to walk out of the room.

"Wait! You could at least tell me your name!"

He turned his head slightly and said, "You may call me Nekoroku."

Then he left, the door shutting behind him.

"Nekoroku," whispered Kagome as she slumped back onto the bed.

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AHH!!!! That's chapter one!!!! Didn't want to bore you people with my writing!!!! Hope you liked it!

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