Chapter 4

Elimination – Round 1

          A Japanese archery official came over to Kagome in order to tell her information about the next round of the competition. When he saw her in tears, he figured that she was merely crying tears of joy.

          “Congratulations, Miss Higurashi,” one of them told her, as he looked at a stat sheet. “You have qualified 2nd for the elimination round, and you will be facing an archer from Greece in the first round, as she qualified in last place. Her name is…”

          The official suddenly noticed that Kagome had completely ignored her and ran off, heading for the exit to the stadium.

          “Miss Higurashi!” he called, running after her, but it was too late. Kagome had found her way out of the stadium, and as a large crowd also was on their way out, he could no longer find her.

          Kagome was waiting for her family, and as they came to her, they too began offering her congratulations. It took a minute for them to realize that she was upset.

          “What’s the matter, sis?” Sota asked her.

          “Ki… Ki… Kikyo…” Kagome stuttered through her tears.

          “Kikyo?” Kagome’s mother asked.

          “Kikyo,” Kagome said, her voice filled with anger. “She’s here!”

          “Who’s this Kikyo?” Kagome’s grandfather asked.

          Kagome had never told her family about Kikyo, and this was the worst possible time for her to have to explain who she was. So she came up with the easiest description she could: “She’s my rival.”

          “Rival?” Kagome’s mother asked, thinking Kagome was only feeling disappointment over being in second place. “Kagome, you did well. You should be proud of yourself.”

          “She… she’s always there,” Kagome cried. “Always!”

          At this point, Kagome’s mother became quite worried. Her daughter had just turned in one of the best performances in the history of Olympic archery, but here she was, hysterical, upset about some girl who was apparently haunting her. So she put her arm around Kagome and told grandfather to get a cab, so they could go back to the hotel and talk things out.

          After an hour-long talk with her daughter in her hotel room (while Sota and his grandfather were off watching a basketball game, at her request), Mrs. Higurashi finally thought she understood the situation. If not for her father-in-law, she may never have been able to accept this crazy talk of time travel, half-demons and reincarnations. But now she seemed to have it straight: Kikyo, a rival to Kagome when it came to InuYasha’s affection, had somehow traveled through time to compete in the Olympics against her.

          “How do you think this Kikyo found out you were in the Olympics?” Kagome’s mother asked her daughter.

          “InuYasha,” Kagome answered. “That’s the only way.”

          “So you think InuYasha did this to you in order to spite you?” Kagome’s mother asked.

          “He was mad at me for not spending time with him, for delaying our search for Naraku, for being better than him at something,” Kagome responded. “But I didn’t think he… loved her more…”

          Mrs. Higurashi sat in silence as Kagome’s eyes began to well up again. Her daughter was in love with InuYasha, who apparently was choosing Kikyo over her. But one thing gave her hope.

          “Kagome,” Mrs. Higurashi continued, “InuYasha may have had Kikyo come here to get back at you, but there may be more than that. Maybe he misses you so much, that now he has become very angry, and this is his way of taking out his anger.”

          “He doesn’t care about me!” Kagome cried. “If he truly missed me, if he truly wanted me, he wouldn’t do this! He loves Kikyo so much more than me that he wanted to rub it in my face! I’m never going back to the feudal era! Never!”

          She took the three jewel shards that were in her pocket and threw them across the room. “I don’t need those anymore!” she yelled. “I don’t need to see that fool ever again!”

          At that statement, Kagome’s mother thought of something Kagome had not mentioned: “Maybe InuYasha came with her.”

          “So what if he did?” Kagome snapped. “I don’t ever want to see him, or that stuck-up Kikyo ever again!”

          “But Kagome,” Mrs. Higurashi said, “at least Kikyo will be at the competition tomorrow.”

          “And I won’t!” Kagome yelled. “I’m not going to compete. I quit!”

          “Kagome, it’s the Olympics!” Mrs. Higurashi protested. “This is the chance of a lifetime! If you drop out you’ll always regret it. Besides, it’s your country you’re representing.”

          “I don’t care,” the upset Kagome replied. “I can’t go there.”

          Kagome’s mother thought it not best to argue with her daughter anymore. She simply hugged the tearful Kagome, feeling very sad for her daughter’s troubles.

          The Japanese archery officials showed InuYasha and Kikyo to their apartment in the Beijing Olympic Village. The officials then told the two that they would be around to pick them up the next morning for the elimination round, before leaving.

          Once they were out of the room, Kikyo gave InuYasha a cold look. “Aren’t you going to thank me?” she asked him.

          “Yeah, I guess,” he replied. “I just wonder how Kagome feels now.”

          “Why do you care how she feels?” Kikyo asked. “I thought you brought me here to get back at her.”

          “I know I did,” InuYasha responded. “But I don’t want her to hate me or anything… how did she look when she saw you?”

          “She looked stunned,” Kikyo answered.

          “Did she look upset?” InuYasha questioned.

          Kikyo became frustrated with InuYasha’s constant questions about Kagome. “InuYasha, if you truly cared how she feels, why did you bring me here?” she responded.

          InuYasha looked down in silence, as Kikyo had made a good point.

          “InuYasha, forget about her,” Kikyo said. “I want to die here with you.”

          “Enough of that nonsense!” InuYasha snapped. “You came here to win this competition, not to die!”

          “As you wish,” Kikyo replied. “But however that girl feels- that’s your fault.”

          When Sota and his grandfather returned to the hotel room late that night, they were met by Mrs. Higurashi outside the room, who told them that Kagome was sleeping inside.

          “That’s fine, we’ll just be quiet,” Kagome’s grandfather said.

          Mrs. Higurashi gave a weak smile. “No, you won’t,” she replied.

          She walked them down to the lobby, where she told them about Kagome’s refusal to compete in the Olympics anymore. When Kagome’s grandfather heard this, he began to shout, furious that his granddaughter would bail out on her country.

          “I told you that you wouldn’t stay quiet,” Mrs. Higurashi said.

          “I can’t believe it! She’s giving up a chance at honoring her country over that InuYasha! This can’t be!” Kagome’s grandfather yelled.

          “Mom, she can’t quit,” Sota remarked. “She’s so good… I admire her more than ever.”

          “Relax,” Mrs. Higurashi replied. “I have a feeling that all she needs is a good rest, and everything will be fine tomorrow morning.”

          “I’m not going!” a furious Kagome yelled, with her arms crossed.

          It was the next morning, and Kagome’s family was pleading with her to go to the event, but she refused. She was now angry, instead of sad, and she was feeling quite stubborn.

          “The nation of Japan is counting on you!” her grandfather shouted. “This is important to millions!”

          “I don’t care!” Kagome snapped. “They can have Kikyo!”

          “Kagome,” her mother gently said. “Please.”

          “Nope!” Kagome responded. “I’m not competing!”

          “But sis!” Sota pleaded. “You can win this thing and beat that girl and get back at her!”

          This changed Kagome’s demeanor from angry to sad again, for she thought about Sota’s statement, and realized her mindset: that she can’t beat Kikyo.

          “I’m not… I’m not embarrassing myself,” Kagome said. “I’m not giving her the satisfaction of beating me.”

          There was a long silent pause, before Sota spoke up.

          “Sis, if you give up now, she has beaten you,” he commented.

          Kagome then realized that what her younger brother was saying to her was true. Allowing Kikyo to stop her from chasing her dream would be worse than having to see her smug face.

          “I guess you’re right,” Kagome said. “What could I do without my brother for help?”

          And with that, she led her family out of the hotel room, ready to compete in the next round after all.

          Kagome’s family arrived at the stadium, where they took their seats in the stands, while Kagome walked over to where the other archers had convened. As she went over to meet up with the Japanese archery officials, she saw two familiar faces walking into the area – InuYasha and Kikyo.

          “Ka-Kagome!” InuYasha exclaimed, feeling quite embarrassed, while Kikyo stood there silently.

          Kagome stared at InuYasha, gave him a disappointed look, then turned around and walked away. He looked on after her, wanting her to turn back and say something to him, but she did not.

          “She didn’t even say ‘Sit’?” InuYasha wondered. “Does she… not even care?”

          “That’s your problem,” Kikyo told InuYasha.

          A Japanese archery official showed Kagome the bracket for the tournament, which had her competing against a Grecian archer in the first round. The official noted that Kikyo would have a bye through the first round, which caused Kagome to sigh with frustration. He then told Kagome that she would actually be competing in the first match of the day, so she should get ready.

          Kagome walked over to her seat to wait for the announcer to declare the beginning of the round. She saw her family in the stands and waved to them, although not nearly as enthusiastically or happily as she did the day before. She then looked over to the other side of the stadium and noticed InuYasha, who sat in his seat with a long look on his face. She quickly averted her eyes off him, and tried to mentally prepare herself for the round – but she was having a tough time of that.

          The public address announcer gave his proclamation that her match was to begin, and the Grecian archer stepped up to aim her first arrow. In these head-to-head matches, each archer would shoot four ends of three arrows each, for twelve arrows total. The player with the higher score after the four ends would be the winner of the match.

          The archer from Greece shot her first end terribly, putting arrows in the “5,” “3,” and “4” rings. She was clearly frustrated by her performance, but it was nothing new; having qualified in last place, she had been having control issues ever since the beginning of the qualification round.

          Kagome took her mark and fired her first arrow. This one hit the “7” ring, an uncharacteristic mistake for Kagome, who had not hit any ring outside the “8” ring since she had been here in Beijing! The crowd gasped as she then hit the “6” ring with her next arrow. Her final arrow hit the “8” ring, giving her a 21-12 lead after one end, but it was clearly not the type of performance Kagome was capable of.

          The crowd seemed to ignore the fact that the Grecian archer had started off poorly. There was disbelief in what had just gone on with Kagome’s first end. This girl had looked like one of the greatest archers in the history of the sport just a day before; what had gotten into her?

          As the archer from Greece posted a much better score of 24 in her second end, Kagome felt herself completely losing focus. Her stomach churned as thoughts of InuYasha and Kikyo kissing crossed her mind. All she could see was that cold stare of Kikyo’s, a look of silent arrogance. When she walked up to shoot her next arrow, she clearly was not feeling right, and the crowd let out a giant gasp as her first arrow hit the “3” ring.

          The Japanese archery officials began to scramble as they saw Kagome struggling. This girl was the one they selected, the one they thought would bring home the gold. Now she was falling apart here in the first round. As she hit the “6” ring, the officials shook their heads in disbelief. They felt helpless, though, as there was nothing they could do. Kagome fired her final arrow into the “7” ring, giving her a 16, and thus barely keeping her lead, at 37-36 after two ends.

          Archery experts watching this were stunned at what was going on. Neither archer looked worthy of even being in the Olympics; was there something wrong with the bows they were using? Or was the wind blowing too harshly? They could clearly see that it was not, so they scratched their heads in befuddlement.

          The Grecian archer put up a score of 22, and unbelievably enough, the pressure was on Kagome. She put her first arrow into the “8” ring, but then fired both of the others into the “7” ring, matching her opponent’s 22, and keeping only a one-point lead at 59-58.

          The archery experts started scrambling through the record books to find the lowest-ever score by a winning archer in an elimination round. The Japanese archery officials crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. Kagome’s family looked on with worry. InuYasha felt incredibly guilty. Kikyo watched without a care.

          The archer from Greece finally hit the “9” ring, then hit the “8” ring twice to give her a final score of 83. This meant that Kagome needed at least a 25 to win, or a 24 to at least tie.

          No one felt worse about her performance than Kagome, but she just could not get her mind focused. Every time she even looked at the target, it reminded her of Kikyo. Her mind was so out of focus at this point that she grabbed the bow just hoping her shots would find the target. Her first arrow hit the “6” ring, and yet another gasp went up from the crowd. Was the #63-seeded Grecian archer about to pull off one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history?

          Kagome found enough focus to hit the “8” ring with her next arrow, but she found herself in an inevitable position: either hit the bullseye, or be eliminated in the first round. And considering that she had not even hit the “9” ring yet in this round, things looked utterly bleak.

          She had a 30-second time limit to shoot the final arrow. With that time, she began to think about how the effort it took for her to get here, and how far she had come as an archer. Then, suddenly, a voice rang out of the stands.

          “Come on, Kagome!”

          It was the voice of InuYasha. Kagome was shocked to hear him, but hearing him support her gave her all the confidence she needed. She looked over at him in the stands, winked at him, then fired her final arrow at the target.

          A match-tying bullseye.

          The crowd erupted with cheers as the score came up, 83-83. The archers would now shoot extra arrows to determine the winner. Experts began discussing who they thought had the advantage. But at this point, there was no discussion.

          Every ounce of Kagome’s confidence and focus had returned.

          The Grecian archer went first, and she shot an 8. Many wondered if Kagome would be able to match her, but when they saw Kagome’s next shot, there was no doubt.

          It hit the very center of the target, as perfect as you can get.

          And with that, the crowd roared with cheers. Kagome’s family celebrated, seeing the final score come up, 83-83 (10-8). The Japanese archery officials hugged each other with glee. Kagome and the Grecian archer shook hands. But no one in the stadium cheered louder than InuYasha.

          “Kagome Higurashi advances to the second round!” the public address announcer said. Kikyo simply looked away, giving no response.

          Kagome was thrilled that she had won, but even happier than InuYasha had called out to her. She looked over to see him in the stands, and he was standing up clapping for her.

          Those first eleven arrows weren’t me, Kagome thought. Next round, I’ll show everyone what kind of archer I really am.