A/N: New story, sporadic updates. Hopes everyone enjoys it. There are some mistakes so I apologize in advance if y'all come across one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Sword Art Online

Chapter 1: A New World

"I finally got it!" shouted her younger brother Sota, holding a box high in the air as if it was a treasured item. Well to the young boy, it probably was, after all he was such a gaming geek. Kagome sighed, not really pay attention to what her brother was saying, who was going around showing their mother and grandfather the features of the console, a new model called the NerveGear which supposedly allows the player to feel as if experiencing the real thing except it was all based in the virtual world.

"You spent all your money on a gaming system?" she swore that sometimes her brother was just too much. Instead of finding a girlfriend or doing something for once out of the house, he stayed inside after school and work, playing until late at night when their mother makes her rounds and convinces him to leave the game for the next day.

Sota stuck his tongue out, annoyed that his older sister was trying to downplay his joy of the limited edition game and gaming system. "Look, you and I have different interests, so go play with your dollies and I'll play with my game." He was the lucky few who didn't have to wait in line for days for the duo package to come out since he had the connections. He was very happy and excited to finally get it, since it was excessively commercialized with awesome features and graphic. He was nearly shaking in his bones.

She ignored his smart-ass mouth, snatching the box from his hand. Sota grumbled, but waited until Kagome sated her curiosity of the state-of-the-art gaming equipment ever invented and the added game that was held as the first ever virtual reality game that included real-like online interactions with multiple players.

"Why did you get two headsets?" she furrowed her brows.

"You know how I get when I'm angry with a game." Ah yes, Sota's tendency of completely destroying the game controller in a fit of rage when he loses; his temper tantrums were always amusing, especially since he had to buy a replacement himself. "Now, if you don't mind, I wanna start playing it right away." he snatched the box right back which earned him a swipe to the back of his head.

She and her mother watched as the unfazed boy practically ran up the stairs, carefully shielding the box while giggling. "How did he get that game, it must've been expensive."

"Your brother is very stingy with his money, he only ever spends it on games you know." the older woman giggled. "Ever since he heard of the commercial, he has been saving his part-time earnings."

"I think he's a little too obsessed with games, he's almost fourteen. Shouldn't he be hanging with kids around his age or something, all he ever does is play games all day."

"His friends are game fanatics as well, I wouldn't be surprised if they all went and bought that silly game."

"I don't know, anything manual is fine, but this NerveGear… it's a helmet, it seems dangerous." she frowned, eyes narrowing when she recalled what it looked like, it was a rather strange device. "I'm just worried mama."

"I'm sure he's going to be alright, Kagome." her mother said, heading towards the kitchen with her. "The worst that could happen is him frying his brain from playing that video game too long."

Kagome shook her head, smiling at her mother's attempt at humor. "I guess you're right."

"Hey brat!" Kagome yelled upstairs. "It's time to eat!"

No reply came, not the usual 'I'm coming' or the noncommittal grunt when he would be too stuck on the game to actually hear what was being said. Kagome placed her hands on her hips, that boy has been playing that game ever since he bought it this morning. She didn't even hear the telltale signs of him stomping out of his room, in fact the house sounded completely quiet. Usually Sota would have the T.V turned to the highest volume, which could be heard clearly from downstairs and cause her to grab the broom and jab the top against the ceiling. But there was nothing, just a strange silence.

"Mama, did you hear anything at all since Sota bought that game?" she asked the busy woman who was adding the finishing touches to their meals.

"No, I would have guessed he would be making a lot of ruckus."

"I did too, but it's super quiet, I'm gonna check on him." Kagome walked up the stairs, the floorboards creaking with each heavy step. Arriving at her younger brother's door, she opened it without knocking, knowing he wasn't doing anything that could potentially gross her out.

Her eyebrows flew up, taking in the quiet room and the fact not even the T.V was turned on. She saw that her brother was laying on the bed with the helmet on. He looked to be asleep, but his eyelids were twitching after every couple seconds.

What on earth do kids these days play? She poked him hard on the ribs and then shook his shoulder when he didn't respond. She knew better than take the helmet off; every time she interrupted his game, it was like unleashing a demon and he would rant loudly for more than an hour each time she was in close proximity to him.

She headed towards his desk instead, seeing a thin manual guide with the name of the product in large print. "Sota, mama prepared lunch, get up." she absentmindedly demanded to the unmoving body, more focused on the booklet to really worry about the comatose-like state of her younger brother.

A VRMMO device that was compatible with the game, Sword Art Online. Or should she say, exclusively designed for that game.

"Kagome! How is Sota?" her mother voice came, interrupting Kagome from skimming through the glossy pages.

"He's still playing the stupid game!" she shouted back, sitting to read the manual more thoroughly. She had to say, it was really interesting and very sophisticated. To feel everything in a game, virtual reality that involved all the five senses.

But if all the senses were focused on the game itself, would they be able to feel the urge to use the bathroom or when the stomach was growling from hunger or when the body feels dehydrated? And the fact if the body wasn't moving after a long period of time, they could definitely develop pressure ulcers. She knew this since Sota would sit on his bed for hours without moving and always complained about his butt being red and tingly afterwards. Anyways, it doesn't really explain anything about health concerns in the booklet.

"You're lunch is getting cold!"

"Mama, he's stuck on that game, he's not even moving!" Unfortunately, that made the older woman rush up the stairs, worry showing in all her movements and expression. She gasped when she noticed her son's stilled form.

"What happened, why is he like this?" her mother moved close, gently shaking the boy's shoulder, trying to arouse him from the game.

"I guess it's part of the game," she handed the booklet to her mother after getting a vague idea of what it does. "I'm not even sure how to wake him without taking his helmet off, but I rather not hear his mouth."

"Well, we could unplug it." the older woman started heading towards the small cord, which was plugged to a small, vertical disk reader and connected to an outlet. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind starting over."

"Mom wait, I don't think that would be a good idea." Kagome stopped the woman inches from touching the cord. "It's a VRMMO, I could just go in there and find him, give him a chance to save his game and we'll be back." she said when her mother gave her a questioning look. It didn't disappear and her confusion grew even more.

"A what?"

"It's all connected mama and I'm pretty certain he haven't made it far in the game, he never played it before." Also she was now curious about it; it was adventure-based that features monsters, reminding her faintly of her past trips to the Feudal Era. "I also want to check it out."

"Kagome…" her mother started to reprimand, concern shining in her brown eyes though her daughter's own bluish eyes gleamed with vivid curiosity. "Well… just be careful." she sighed.

"Mom, it's just a game, nothing's gonna happen." she grabbed the other headset and took the abandoned booklet to see how the thing was programmed. "The cord isn't gonna reach from my room, do we have another futon I could use?"

Quickly, the woman left the room to the hallway closet, grabbing a regularly frequented futon that Sota's best friend used when he came over for game night. At the time, Kagome read through the detailed instructions while her mother set up the futon. With everything set and in place, she laid down after placing the helmet on and connecting the cord to the headset and to the disk reader.

A small beep signaled that it was up and running, escalating in volume as it warmed up.

"Quickly find him Kagome." were the woman's left words, nearly being drowned out by the noise emitting from the headset.

"I will mama, don't worry, everything is just fine." she took a deep breath, readying herself, she felt oddly nervous, but excited in a way. "Link Start." Her vision blacked out before a bright light started peeking from a distance, rapidly increasing in intensity before a rays of different colors flooded her sight.

Several pop screens came up, checking if her senses were in tune with the game and then a screen where it states whether the player was new or returning. Since she haven't played this before, it read her mind and clicked sign up. After filling in the basic information and having it be accepted, she arrived at a character creation and that was when her first thought came into mind.

How was she going to tell who was Sota? Every time he played a game, he usually picked a female character with large breasts and thick thighs… the little pervert. She wondered if he really chose to be a woman in the game, that would make her search even more difficult. And not to mention, his name, since she knew he wasn't about to use his given one.

Well she will get to that bridge soon enough.

Picking features that came close to her real life image using the default choices, since she wanted to get her task done as quickly as possible, she selected start and everything turned gray with large, floating words welcoming her into the game before a flash of various blues appeared within her sights.

Blearily, she blinked, feeling disorientated. She looked down, staring at her black boots as she tried to gather her bearings. Strangely, everything felt real, as if she was experiencing the sensation from the real world. She could even feel the sun's rays and the gentle breeze as it fluttered by. She could even smell the air, a crisp scent very unlike the polluted world she came from. Her heart started beating faster, her body tensing as she began hyperventilating.

Girl, calm down, it's just a strange game. she kept repeating in her mind. Raising her hands to her face, amazed yet nervous of every feeling she experienced when she curled her fingers, she noticed from her peripherals glimmering blue lights appearing all over of what seemed to be a town's center. And soon other players arrived, whom looked more amazed than nervous about everything, like it was expected to be synchronized intimately with the game. Well, too bad for her, she wasn't much of gamer and she didn't really read the manual extensively to the game before coming. Her eyes widened even more when she started moving, not even falling over or anything. This too weird.

Fireworks started firing into the sky as the large crowd behind her started to cheer. She didn't have time to celebrate some game, she was here trying to find her hard-headed little brother. And judging from how big the crowd was, which was increasing with each passing second, it would take nearly forever. She started running towards a random direction, not noticing two boys running behind her.

"Hey, wait up!"

She stopped, looking behind.

"You two look like you played this game before." a man with dark magenta hair said after catching up panting with his hands on his knees. Kagome furrowed her brows, before pointing at herself. The man frantically nodded, excitement in his caramel-colored eyes. "Were both of y'all in the beta test?"

Beta test? "Um, I'm new here, I'm just looking for someone." However the other boy, with handsome features, nodded his head to the pink-haired man's question, confused.

"But you seem to know your way around here." he blinked, puzzled. "I was hoping if you could show me the basic, okay?" he turned his attention back to the tall boy, clapping his hands together in a praying like manner. "I'm begging you!" he pleaded.

Maybe this boy could help her, especially in this virtual world. "If you don't mind, I would like to know as well."

"My name's Klein, nice to meet you!" he said with a cheeky smile, pointing to himself.

"Karashi." Kagome said, taking a couple seconds to remember what was the name she gave herself. The boy blinked, one eyebrow raised when he finally smiled and nodded, willing to take some time out and help out a couple of newbies.

"I'm Kirito."

"Kami, this is so difficult." she grumbled to herself, sitting on a patch of grass as she watched the man named Klein try his turn with the large bluish boar. He was promptly rammed by said animal in the crotch area, a wince escaping her mouth when the man gave an agonized cry through gritted teeth.

"Enough, you don't actually feel pain in this world." Kirito informed the downed man, hands on his hips as he watched the pitiful display with nonchalance.

Kagome grabbed a rock, thinking. She should have paid more attention to Sota playing games, but she knew that all she had to do was aim to actually hit the target and unfortunately, not once did it do anything but have the creature ignore her like the pebble was an insignificant bug. She concentrated, brows furrowed as a tunnel like vision with only the boar in sight appeared. A pinkish aura enshrouded the rock and without hesitation, she threw it. The boar squealed, disappearing in fragments of blue lights.

A tiny pop up screen appeared where the boar was killed, giving her experience, money and items that included the hide and tusks. A silence enshrouded the clearing before Klein exclaimed loudly.

"How did you do that?!" Klein practically ran towards her, grabbing her shoulders with curiosity shining in his eyes.

"I simply aimed and focused." she explained, discreetly trying to have the man let go of her shoulders by stepping back. She grumbled when the man just followed her like a puppy.

"I see I don't have to teach you about the initial motion input." Kirito said, watching her carefully. "However, you killed that boar with just a rock."

"Wait, you don't even have a weapon with you." Klein noticed, checking her out which caused her eyebrow to tick.

"I randomized what I wanted to be." she didn't particularly cared, she wasn't even being serious enough to go through painstakingly what her character archetype should be.

"You must have gotten the platinum edition that was recently put on the market with the original." the handsome boy mused. "You are definitely a tanker, but you have a new power that is only seen in the new version."

She honestly didn't know what a tanker was or this new power Kirito said. "Tanker?"

"What? You don't know?" Klein leaned in close.

Kagome shrugged her shoulders. "I'm looking for someone, I didn't pay much attention to what archetype I picked."

"Well a tanker is usually at the frontline, dealing massive amounts of damage. It's primary role is to survive while herding enemies away from allies." Kirito said, explaining her role.

Great, I'm usually a supported, distance fighter… why didn't I take a minute to pick something else. she groaned in her mind. But she calmed herself knowing she didn't have to play this game ever again after getting Sota to log off.

"You should get back to your lesson Klein, I'll practice over here with the other boars."

Klein nodded, walking away from the girl to another boar near them. Kirito lingered a bit, staring before following the pink-haired man. Kagome narrowed her eyes, those two guys were irritating. Kirito reminded her of Sota especially with his know-it-all attitude and Klein was too goofy.

The hours passed and she felt tired, as if her endurance was seeping away with every pebble she thrown at the boars, destroying them with a single hit and collecting the rewards.

"You want to conserve your energy, you'll feel lethargic if you use your powered attacks too often." Kagome nearly jumped out of her skin, she was stuck day-dreaming when she decided a small break was needed. She didn't notice that Klein and Kirito was standing behind her. Klein had a big smile on his face, his stance confident while the other boy had a small smile.

She lifted her hand to her face, blocking the strings of lights from the sun as it continued sinking down, the skies a warm orange with swirls of clouds floating around. "It's hard to believe that this is just a game, everything seems so real." she commented, hearing the chirping of some creatures from above.

"Yeah, whoever designed this is a genius, it's really amazing, spectacular." said Klein, awestruck as well with the virtual world. "Aren't we lucky to be born during this time?" he gave a smirk at the two other players.

Kagome shrugged, it didn't matter much to her.

Kirito gave a smirk in return. "You make a big deal out of everything."

Klein huffed. "It's my first time playing! I only bought the NerveGear to play SAO. I was lucky to be standing in that line for a couple days and getting one of the ten thousands copies of the game." he then turned towards Kagome. "What about you Karashi, did you wait in line?"

"No, my brother went and bought it for himself, I'm looking for him right now." she sighed, rubbing her head.

"Ah, so you're gonna team up with him huh?"

"Nah, I'm here to take him home, it was lunch time when I was in the real world, but I don't know if time here is different… it should be right?"

"It's a bit faster, but you wouldn't feel the difference." Kirito answered, staring out at the horizon.

"I'll find him eventually, anyways Kirito, you beta test this game before, how far along did you get?" she wanted to change the subject, she really didn't know these two guys like that.

"Yeah, I'm curious too. You're super lucky to be one of the thousands players to try this out."

"I only made it to the eighth floor over a couple months, I planned on reaching it in one month."

"Wow, you're really into this huh?"

Kirito merely smirked, taking his sword out to glance at it. "Ever since I was beta-ing, SAO was all I could think about, night and day."

Gods, him and Sota would probably be best friends. Kagome thought, making sure her face didn't look like she was stale facing the guy.

"…I feel more alive here than anywhere else." he gave a small chuckle. "Do you guys want to continue hunting?"

"I would but I'm feel really hungry." Klein said after holding his stomach, they could hear it growling. "I'm logging out."

"Eating food here will only make you think you're not hungry."

"I've already ordered a pizza and everything," he informed the group. "Once I've eaten, I'll return and we could continue then."

"Yeah, I probably log out too… if I knew how…" she trailed off, receiving incredulous glances. "What?" she grumbled, feeling a bit defensive. She didn't know the game like that.
"It's easy, just swipe your hand like this." Klein demonstrated the action and his menu came up. Kagome followed suit. "Anyways, thanks a lot Kirito for helping me with all this stuff, I really appreciate it." His menu fell away as he reached to shake hands with the other boy. "I know some guys from another game, I plan on heading with them, you could friend them if you want, the both of you."

Kirito was shocked, but then he looked down, clearly looking put out. Kagome didn't say anything, it wasn't like she would see them again.

"Well of course if you don't want to, that's fine." Klein reassured them, taking in the dejected expressions of both. "I'll introduce y'all another time and we team up to do some quests."

"That would be great Klein." Kagome said with a forced smile, the man was really friendly and she could tell he was kind-hearted.

"Yeah, sorry… thanks though."

"I'm glad to have met y'all acquaintances, I'll see you guys around." Klein grinned, coming up to Kagome with a handshake which she returned.

"If there's anything else you need to know, just let me know." Kirito offered.

"I'll do that." with a wave, he opened the menu as did Kagome. Only to be stumped.

"Where's the log off button, I see a door that's all." Kagome frowned, carefully looking through the entire menu window to see if there was a trick being played or if it was cleverly hidden.

"You're right, mine doesn't show either." Klein scratched his head, his eyes squinting.

"It's on the bottom of the main menu, there should be three main boxes towards the right." Kirito informed them, looking up his own screen to see if he was experiencing the same problem. And unfortunately he was, there was no log out button on the screen.

"Well today is the first day, I'm sure there's bugs they haven't worked out yet." the pink-haired man tried to reason. "Everybody else must be panicking."

"You would be too soon, it's already five-twenty five."

"What?!" Kagome and Klein both yelled out. She couldn't believe she already spent four hours in this game and she haven't even came across Sota yet.

"My pizza and soda!" Klein dramatically shouted, his hands gripping his long strands.

"My poor mom…" she groaned to herself, a figurative dark cloud forming over her head. Kami, she was failure. She told her mom she would get Sota, but the entire time, she instead spent training and getting too fixated with the game.

"There must be some way to log off!" Klein was clearly panicking. Trying every possible way to leave the game, his shoulders slumped when it didn't work.

"I don't think that's possible, unless the stupid helmet picks up our desires to leave." She have been saying mental commands since this little problem came up, but she was still stuck in the virtual world.

"We're mentally connected here, we can't more our real bodies. The only other way is for someone to take the NerveGear off." Kirito grimly told them.

"W-what? But I live alone!" Klein exclaimed, his eyes wide at that particular outcome. How would anyone enter his house? "What about you two?"

"My mother and sister would eventually come to check once dinner starts."

Kagome sighed. "My mom, she's probably in the room already, most likely worried."

"You have a sister!?" Klein quickly latched his hands on Kirito shoulders. "Sure Karashi is a hottie, but we're in the virtual world and anybody could be either male or female."

Kagome's eyebrow twitched. "I'm not a man! If I were a man why would I play a woman?"

Klein shrugged his shoulders, "Some men are like that, especially the older men… but since you just said you're not a man, so how about it?" he released Kirito's shoulders before grabbing her hands, looking in her eyes.

"What are you doing?" she growled out, she brought her knee up sharply, which made him fall back in pain while holding his genitals. "There's always a time and place for that, and now isn't the time and can you stop that, you shouldn't feel pain."

"It's a habit, but anyways you're right, there's more important things going on than trying to flirt with you." Kagome's brows creased, habit? She shook her head, poor guy must get kneed a lot.

"It's strange how they haven't logged us out yet, probably everybody tried calling the head honcho, wouldn't they be receiving alerts and stuff?" Kagome inquired, looking pointedly at the only member of their temporary group who actually played the game before.

"Yes, but they haven't even made an announcement about this dilemma." Kirito replied, his eyes serious.

Suddenly, loud thuds of a bell rang from a distance away, causing everybody to look in that direction. Kagome shivered, feeling an ominous vibe from the heavy soundings of the bell. A bright flash appeared and a second later the players from all over the starting level appeared with a shimmer of blue.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Kagome inched closer to Klein, who had a blush on his face when her body bumped into his.

"A forced teleport, what is going on?" Kirito looked around, trying to find anything out of place that could actually explain this peculiar occurrence.

"Hey, what's that?"

A flickering red hexagon showed, flashing with a bold print that said warning. Soon the sky was covered with it, some even saying system announcement. A dangerous red glow reflected off the buildings and practically on every object. Kagome gasped when a vivid dark red liquid started pouring from the lines, reminding her of blood. It started forming, flashes of sparks ignited. Some of the other players looked frightened, not knowing whether this was part of the game or not.

What took shape looked menacing, fully formed into a giant floating figure cloaked in a red garb that shadowed its face.

The crowd started muttering, their confusion speaking loud. Kagome narrowed her eyes, until she heard someone call out her given name.

"Kagome is that you!?" she looked at the tall boy before her in confusion. "It's me, Sota." Of course she wouldn't be able to recognize him since he chose his character to have long, silvery hair, reminiscent of a certain dog-eared fellow and golden eyes. "Do you know what's going on?" she shook her head.

Then it spread open its arms in a welcoming gesture, speaking in a male's voice.

"Attention, players. Welcome to my world"

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