Labyrinth

Summary:

Based off Jim Henson's Labyrinth

Souta is Kagome's brother who is an annoying spoiled brat. Once again Kagome is stuck giving up her Saturday to babysitting him and she can't take it anymore. She wishes for him to just go away forever. Unfortunately for her, the demon king, Inuyasha, comes and takes him away. Now Kagome has to follow Inuyasha into his world and go through the labyrinth, a twisted maze of deception, in order to save her brother before it's too late.

Chapter One: To the labyrinth!

"Kagome! I need you to watch Souta for me tonight!" Kagome's mother, Rumiko, called up the stairs as she gathered everything she needed for her date. Her past husband had passed away a year ago and she thought that Souta should grow up with a father to connect with. It was only recently that she started dating again, and she loved it. She had forgotten how exhilarating it was to be out there meeting new people. Not to mention how fun it was to dress herself up.

Kagome sat up off her bed as she set her book down on the light pink night stand. She frowned hearing her mother's demand. She didn't even ask if she was doing anything tonight, she was just expected to babysit. Kagome jumped off her bed and headed for the stairs. 'I've been stuck babysitting that little brat for too long. I won't lose another Saturday.' Kagome thought as she stood on the top stair. "I have plans. Hojou and I were going on a date tonight! I'm busy so get gramps to babysit!" She yelled down to her mother.

Rumiko stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at Kagome giving her a glare. "You know that your grandpa is out playing bingo with his old friends tonight. There's no one else that can watch Souta so you need to do it." She said as she grabbed her purse from the table and checked that she had her keys.

"Mother!" she whined. "I've had my plans longer than you! I need to go out tonight! Why don't you stay and watch the brat."

"Kagome!" Rumiko rebounded as she glared up the stairs. "Don't call your brother such a thing! Now you will listen to me and watch your brother like a good big sister should!" Rumiko finished before walking to the door slipping her shoes on. "I will be home at midnight." She said simply before leaving.

Kagome clenched her fists as she stomped back to her room slamming the door shut. "AH! Why is it always me that has to give up my plans?! Why do I always have to be the one that has to babysit!?" Kagome yelled as she sat down on her bed. She rolled over on the bed and let off another yell into her pillow. When she finally calmed down she slowly sat back up. She frowned sensing that something was missing in her room. She quickly got off the bed and looked around. Her room was stuffed with toys and memorabilia of her father.

Kagome's father had died not long after Souta was born, maybe a month or two after. Souta was a colic baby so he never stopped crying. All day and all night, he would cry for no reason. It drove everyone insane from the lack of sleep. Tensions were always high. Kagome buried herself in school work to try and drown out the crying. Though she couldn't help but to overhear the constant fights her mother and father always had.

One day, her father left telling them all that he had to go on a business trip. That was an obvious lie. They all lived in the shrine that her father ran along with her grandpa. Why would a shrine owner go away on a business trip? A business trip to Hawaii, as it turned out later. But he never made it there. The plane he was on experienced technically difficulties and crashed into the ocean. There were no survivors.

Kagome believed that it was all Souta's fault that her father died; all Souta's fault that her father needed to leave in the first place. And now she was stuck giving up her Saturday to him.

Kagome's anger built up again in remembrance. Then she noticed what was missing. Her stuffed animal her father had gotten her when she was born. "Souta!" she yelled as she turned on her heal and ran to Souta's room. She threw open the door seeing Souta lying in his crib so innocent.

"I knew it!" She yelled as she grabbed the stuffed bear from his grip. "That's mine! Don't you dare touch it!" she yelled at him as she hugged the bear to her chest.

Souta instantly started crying once the toy was taken from him. He sat up in his crib and reached for the toy.

Kagome glared at him as she took a couple of steps back. "Stop it! Stop crying this instant!" she yelled. "It's mine!" Kagome fell to her knees as she covered her ears to try to drown out the crying. "I hate you! Stop crying!" She glared as she stood back up. "Stop crying! What do you want?!" She yelled as she went to the crib. "You want a story? Huh!?" Kagome backed away again. "Fine, you want a story? Here's a story."

"Once upon a time, there was this beautiful young girl whose mother always made her give up her Saturdays to watch the baby. And the baby was a spoiled child that cried to get everything he wanted. He wanted everything to himself and the young girl was practically his slave. But no one knew that the demon king had fallen in love with the young girl and he had given her certain powers." Kagome paced along the room while reciting the lines of her book.

"So one night, when the baby had been practically crewel to her, she called upon the demons for help. 'Say your right words…' the voices from the shadows said to her. 'And we'll take the baby away; you will be free.' But the girl knew that they would take the baby away forever and ever and turn it into a demon like them. So the girl suffered in silence until one night when the baby had gone too far and she was hurt by the words of her mother. She could take it no longer!"

Kagome paused as she let out a sigh. "Enough crying already…. Stop it, stop it!" Kagome said as she went back to the crib and picked Souta up and started bouncing him on her hip. "I'll say the words!" She threatened. "No I mustn't…" she said as she turned towards the window. "I mustn't say…"

Rain started pouring outside as a thunderstorm rolled up. Wind blew the branches of the tree against the windows. There was a flash of lightening far away and a low growl of thunder followed a few minutes later.

Kagome looked out the window. "I wish… I wish…" Kagome looked back down at Souta as he cried louder, "I can bare it no longer!" Kagome held Souta up above her head. "Demon King! Demon King! Where ever you may be! Take this child of mine far away from me!" Kagome paused as a flash of lightening lit up the room. She sighed as she slowly brought Souta back into her arms. "I wish… I wish I knew what to say to make the demons take you away." She said as she walked back over to the crib and set Souta back down. She pulled the covers over Souta hoping that that would make him stop crying and go to sleep.

She walked away from the crib and back to the door. She stopped as she put her hand on the light switch. "I wish the demons would come take you away…" she switched off the light, "right now." She finished in a whisper before she turned and headed back to her room.

Suddenly the crying stopped and Kagome paused. She frowned as she looked forwards wondering if he had fallen asleep so soon. Kagome shook her head, 'it takes him forever to stop crying.' She thought as she slowly turned back towards his room. 'Something's not right.'

"Souta?" she asked cautiously as she flipped the light switch on, but the light remained off. "Souta, are you all right?" she asked as she carefully walked into the room. She watched the crib seeing as it looked like he was lying in there, but wasn't moving.

Kagome's suspicions grew as she stopped by the crib. "Souta?" she called one more time before pulling off the covers. She gasped seeing that nothing was there. "Souta!? Where are you?" she yelled as she took a couple steps back.

There was quiet mumbling all over the room, but whenever Kagome turned towards the sound, there would be nothing there. Kagome grew frightened unsure of what was happening. "Souta… is that you?" she asked, but her only answer was laughter from an unknown source.

Suddenly the windows flew open as a gust of wind blew Kagome to the ground. Kagome covered her eyes as rain splashed her. The windows slammed shut and a silver dog with shining golden eyes stood in front of her. Kagome backed up against the wall too frightened to think.

The silver dog obviously smirked at her fear before transforming into a human in front of her eyes … or at least something like a human. Whatever it was stood at least a head above her if not more. He had long silver hair reaching to his lower back. Atop his head was a pair of matching silver dog ears. He wore a black overcoat that flared back as if it were some makeshift cape. He had on black pants to match his black leather boots. The only thing that he wore that wasn't black was his loose blood red shirt and deep purple beaded necklace that seemed to have fangs every other five beads.

Kagome pushed herself up to her feet while her instincts told her to run, but she couldn't leave, not without Souta, where ever he may be. "W-who are you?" she asked as she pushed herself up and tried to look fearless.

That only made him smirk more. His fangs poked out from his mouth as he walked towards her. "Me? I'm Inuyasha, King of the Demons." He said as he stood in front of her. He crossed his arms as he looked down at her. It wasn't as if he was trying to intimidate her, but he had to admit it was rather entertaining to watch her shake in fear.

Realization hit Kagome, hard. "Demon King…?" she repeated not really believing what was going on. She shook her head. "Please, Inuyasha, I need my brother back. Please give him back to me." She begged him.

Inuyasha laughed as he flipped his leather cape back over his shoulder. "What's said is said." He said simply.

"But… but I didn't mean it." Kagome said as she tried to keep her tears down. What would her mother say? 'Uhh mom, I kinda lost Souta to demons by wishing him away. She would never believe it. She would never forgive me.' Kagome thought

"Oh you didn't?" he said in mock surprise. "Well, that's a shame." He said as he shrugged it off with little concern.

Kagome bit her lip. "Where is he?" she asked slowly.

Inuyasha controlled his urge to roll his eyes. "You know very well where he is." He said as he walked about the room observing the little things that decorated the room.

Kagome frowned as he paid little attention to her when she was talking so seriously. "Please… please bring him back. I need him."

Inuyasha stopped as he looked back over at Kagome. "Now, now, Kagome, you know I can't do that." He strolled back over to her and stopped in front of her. "Why don't you go back to your room and forget about the baby."

"I can't…" Kagome said quietly as she quickly lost control of her emotions. Thoughts of being blamed for losing her baby brother clouded her head.

"Here… I've brought you a gift." Inuyasha said as he pulled out a jewel. It was light pink looking just like a normal crystal, but to Kagome, it had a strange feel to it that she couldn't explain.

"What is it?" she asked as she quickly wiped away a stray tear from her eyes.

"It's a crystal… nothing more." He said as he started to play around with it in his hands, twirling it this way and that on the edge of his finger tips, but it perpetually looked like it was on the verge of falling. "But if you turn it this way, and look into it, it will show you your greatest dreams and desires. But it's not a gift for an ordinary girl who takes care of a screaming baby. Do you want it?" he asked as he held it out to her and spun it in his hands. "Then just forget about the baby." He said as he smirked. Her eyes followed the jewel and he could tell that it interested her.

Kagome slowly broke out of the spell. She shook her head to him. "No, I can't do that. He's my brother." She said as she looked up at him. "I just need my brother back."

"Kagome." Inuyasha said as anger seeped into his voice. "Don't defy me." He said as he took the crystal and slipped it back into his pocket. "You're no match for me, Kagome." He laughed out as he started circling her.

"But… I need to get my brother back." Kagome begged as she tried to watch him while he was circling her.

Inuyasha stopped behind her getting tired of her asking for her brother. "He's there," Inuyasha said as he looked over her head and through the window, "in my castle." He watched her run from him and look out the window. He stood there a few moments watching her look over his labyrinth. He smiled lightly.

Kagome held onto the frame of the window sill in horror as she looked upon a large maze. It looked like it went on for miles until it reached a large castle, probably in the center of it all. She barely recognized Inuyasha appearing behind her until his voice broke her daze.

"Do you still want to look for him?" he asked in a mocking voice knowing that she would never figure her way through the labyrinth.

Kagome turned around and paused seeing that she was no longer in her brother's room, but instead standing on some dusty cliff with dying trees. "Is that... the castle beyond the demon city?" she asked trying to seem as if there was nothing wrong, nothing to fear.

Wind blew Inuyasha's hair back and nearly pushed Kagome over, though the wind seemed not to touch anything else. Inuyasha couldn't help but admire her attempt at bravery though it was so obvious she had little courage. "Why don't you just turn back, Kagome? There's no way you can make it to my castle."

Kagome sighed as she looked back upon the maze. "Don't you understand? I can't, he's my brother. I need to get him back." She said as she clasped her hands hoping that he was alright. "Besides, it doesn't look that far."

Inuyasha leaned back against the tree. "It's further than you think." He said figuring that if he frightened her enough, she'd just give up. "Time is short." He said as he pushed himself up. Inuyasha watched as Kagome turned towards him, again Kagome was playing to be confident. He could smell her fear, but he had an oversensitive nose, thanks to being a dog demon.

As Kagome turned to face Inuyasha again, an old clock appeared next to him, but it wasn't an ordinary clock. Instead of going 1 through 12, it went to 13. Kagome looked from the clock to Inuyasha.

Inuyasha continued deciding that if she wanted him back so much, he'd at least give her a small chance. "You have 13 hours to solve the labyrinth until your baby brother becomes one of us, forever." He said as he backed away from her. He laughed as he and the clock disappeared.

Kagome stood where she was before she turned around and looked out at the maze again. "It doesn't seem that hard." Kagome lied to give herself some cofidence. She took in a deep breath as she gathered up her courage and quickly ran down the path that would lead to her great adventure, in the labyrinth.

Hojou straightened his tie. Even though they were just planning to go out to WacDonalds, he felt like he had to dress up for Kagome. He wore a dark blue suit with a black tie to top it off. He rang the doorbell and shifted his feet nervously. He had tennis shoes on since he didn't own dress shoes, but he had gotten black spray paint and sprayed them hoping that it wouldn't be obvious that they were tennis shoes.

He frowned when no one came to answer. He moved to the side and tried peering into the window. It was rather dark, but looking up he could see Kagome's room light on. "Maybe she's just taking her time in getting ready. Girls…" He said as he smiled to himself and went back to the door to wait for her.

AN: well, maybe it kinda sucks, but it's something new and worth a try. You can flame me or whatever, but I'll ignore you (unless its constructive criticism and not just saying you suck), though reviews are still welcome. FYI, I'm in the mood to finish writing this so my other stories will still be in the process of making, though after this, I want to finish off Parenthood since it's so close to being finished.

Also for this story I was considering having the songs in here or not. I'm really not sure since it seems more like a movie thing to have songs since you can't hear songs in writing. What do you think?