Award-winning Debut by Ariel

Ready, set!

Chapter One: Ready, set!

Kagome put away her pencil just as the bell rang, signaling that lunchtime had finally arrived. She happily grabbed her lunchbox from her bag and pulled up an empty chair, seating herself across from her friend's desk.

Sango was already waiting for her with a smile as Kagome sat, twirling a few strands of her loose, long hair between her fingers as she watched Kagome slide the lid off her lunchbox.

"So what's our class doing for the festival?" Kagome began, pulling out her chopsticks.

"A play. Of course, you'd know if you weren't late this morning. What, you overslept again?" Sango glared at her, albeit playfully, and crossed one leg over the other in an interrogation stance.

Kagome laughed nervously, recalling the angry beeping of her alarm clock when she had woken that morning, notifying her it was well past the third period and she had to hurry to make it for the fourth - and receive a smaller scolding for once again being late. She had a bad habit of turning off her alarm every time it sounded until her sleepiness wore off enough for her to comprehend just how late she was. Her family was already used to her death-like state of sleep and smartly didn't try to wake her after having experienced her terrible mood several times, because it seemed that she never woke up on the right side of the bed unless she was over-ridden with the fear of being late.

"Uh, a play, huh. Which one are we doing? Don't tell me it's Romeo and Juliet again!" Kagome ran her fingers through her hair, changing the subject quickly in an attempt to be let off.

Sango seemed to take the bait and sat back into her chair as her boyfriend brought her lunch, which he bought at the school cafeteria. She thanked Miroku and gave him a quick smile before turning back to Kagome. Miroku obediently returned to his circle of male friends with a dopey grin plastered over his face.

"Nah. It's a Japanese script with a Feudal Era setting. It's called 'The Shikon' and we're doing an excerpt from the original story where the priestess meets a demon and they fall in love," Sango replied with enthusiasm, grinning at Kagome with an unknown spark beneath her brown eyes, "there's even a kiss scene!"

'Ah.' Kagome thought to herself, choosing to ignore her friend's overrated giddiness. 'I know that story. It was one of the old story books in Grandpa's small collection.'

"So, which group am I in? Props?" Kagome asked while stuffing herself with the noodles in her lunchbox. She was horrid at acting and all of her friends in class knew, so she was sure they wouldn't do something as insensitive as to nominate her for a role, even if it were something as simple as playing a flower.

Apparently, though. She was wrong.

"You're the priestess." Sango replied nonchalantly as she took a bite out of her own meal, as though she were suddenly discussing the weather.

Kagome just knew she heard wrong, or her brain was still sleep-induced and was refusing to process normally, because her friend certainly did not just say that she was playing the main role in the class play for the school festival!

But the blatant nervousness in her friend's usually confident features assured Kagome that things were exactly as she had just heard.

"What did you say?!" Kagome screeched, shooting up from her seat and towering over Sango, suddenly making the taller and more mature woman look very small in comparison.

She didn't care that she was receiving shocked stares from everyone in her classroom, or that the students passing by in the hallway had stopped in their tracks after her sudden outburst. She didn't even care as the noodles that were only halfway into her mouth faced an untimely demise tumbling onto the floor.

Sango flinched and Kagome could've sworn she heard an audible gulp coming from the girl under her glare.

---

"How did it turn out like this? How dare you allow it to turn out like this!" Kagome repeated to Sango for the millionth time that day as it neared the time for the second school festival discussion. Sango had told her that the whole class was to stay after school ended for a thorough meeting between each group.

Of course, the changing of roles were out of the question, since it seemed that Kagome won the majority of the votes by not being present.

Kagome seethed as Sango waved to her from the costume team while she started toward the circle of the ones who were going to be on stage. She spotted her friend Inuyasha and Sango's boyfriend Miroku among that circle, and glared angrily, knowing that they were part of the plot that got her into the situation.

"Alright now, here's our cast. Let me explain the storyline that I have in mind," said the class representative as Kagome sat down into an empty chair. Apparently, she was also the one who would be writing their script.

The moment that she spoke, Kagome knew she was in grave danger, because their class representative, Rin, was quite well-known for her love for sappy romance stories, and she could only imagine what kind of script she was whipping up behind her dark-rimmed glasses!

"Okay, for those who have no idea how the story 'the Shikon' goes," Rin began, "it's a historical piece set in the Feudal Era, five hundred years ago. Legend has it that there was a powerful priestess who protected the Shikon Jewel with her life.

"The Shikon Jewel is rumored to have the ability to grant any wish, even if it were to have eternal youth or to bring back the dead. For demons and half-demons, simply holding the jewel would bring unmatchable power, and therefore many have tried to possess it by violent means. The priestess in the story is a descendant of the one who created the jewel, and was born with the duty of protecting it, just like her ancestors have been."

Kagome retreated into her own thoughts as Rin explained the historical background of the Shikon and went into the plot of the original story. She had read the book before, and loved it dearly. She adored the priestess and her companions' adventures, and she had always felt deeply touched at the forbidden romance that blossomed between the priestess and a very powerful demon. She couldn't believe that she was going to be acting out one of her favorite stories with her atrocious acting skills!

She sighed silently to herself and turned her attention to Rin as she began the explanation of their script.

-End chapter one-

A/N: I can't believe I'm writing this 30 days before my entrance exams. My excuse to myself is that I'm practicing my English skills. ;-) I think everyone knows who's gonna be the male lead!

I'm a shoujo manga lover, and I thought it would be fun to bring the idea of class plays during high school fests into a KagxSess story. Let me know what you think!