Kagome shivered as the frigid water lapped at her already soaked body. She had no idea why she was here, or where the hell here was exactly. She didn't know how she even got here for that matter. Just a few minutes ago she had been lounging around her house at an oasis in the Bikanel Desert.
She shivered again as a chill stole through her body. She rubbed her arms in a futile attempt to warm herself. There had to be a reason she was here. As that thought passed through her head she noticed a figure approaching her on the exposed ruins.
"Hey! Are you alright?"
With just a hint of déjà vu, Kagome pushed herself up and nodded. "Yeah I think so, just a little cold."
"What are you doing in a place like this, dressed like that?"
She glanced down at her attire. She wore a black sleeveless shirt and baggy black pants that engulfed her tiny frame. She really needed to invest in some of her own clothing. She turned her attention back to him and looked over his odd clothing style.
He sort of reminded her of her friend Jecht; what with his yellow short-sleeved shirt that only went halfway down his stomach and was opened to show off his chest. He had an armguard on his left arm and black overalls. He even had the same weird J on his shorts and on a necklace. The only major differences between the two men were that this one was blonde and had no scars that she could see.
Glancing back at his face she finally answered him. "One could ask you the same thing. But to answer your question, I haven't the faintest idea. I just suddenly found myself here. Now what about you?"
The unknown boy shrugged as he resumed his walking. "Dunno, some… thing attacked my city, there was an explosion, I was thrown into a black mass and here I am."
"Well that's certainly interesting. Well I suggest-" she was cut short as the bridge they were walking on crumbled and they both plummeted into the freezing water below.
Kagome took a deep breath as she felt her body being pulled under. One glance showed her that a fish-like creature had grabbed a hold of her ankle and was pulling her further away from the surface with an expression of glee.
Obviously it thought to make her its next meal however Kagome had no intention to allow that to happen and with a fleeting thought the monster screeched as it dissolved. A shift in the water warned Kagome to move a second before another one of the monsters came flying towards her. Looking around she found the blonde engaged in battle with two more of the creatures. Quickly disposing of the one in front of her she hurried over to help him only to find her skills weren't needed; a much bigger fish had appeared, probably drawn by the commotion, and had attacked the last remaining creature.
The two breathed a sigh of relief only to realize they weren't out of danger yet. The giant fish had noticed the two humans and decided that they would make a better meal than the thing already in its mouth. So once it spat out the bony fish it headed straight for them.
Realizing this new creature's intentions, the man grabbed a hold of Kagome and dragged her along as he tried to find a way away from the giant fish chasing after them. Glancing backward he noticed it was getting closer and silently hoped that the girl would start swimming so that they could speed up, dragging her along was seriously slowing him down. And it appeared that she heard his silent plea as she started to kick her feet and they sped up just in time to make it through a small opening in the rock wall.
Unable to stop, the giant fish ran straight into the wall, forcing the water through and pushing the two further into the rock hallway. Unfortunately the stone wall wasn't as sturdy as it used to be and crumbled from the impact, trapping them inside of the unknown building.
Kagome immediately began to shiver, with her teeth chattering together, she noticed that the male in front of her was cold as well. She could see the goose bumps he was trying to get rid of as he rubbed his arms furiously. "We need a fire," she managed to stutter out.
He only nodded in consent as he looked around. "Stay here, I'll be right back." And before she could say anything he was gone, running down another hallway. He returned a few minutes later with a decidedly triumphant look on his face. "Come on, I got a fire started," he informed her as he led her into a large circular room with aforementioned fire in the middle. It was a small fire, but it was radiating heat and that was all that mattered.
The two teenagers settled themselves as close to the fire as they could without fear of setting themselves ablaze.
"I'm Tidus, what's your name?" the blonde asked once he was settled.
She looked up from the fire and smiled slightly, "Kagome."
"Kagome…" he muttered softly, testing out her name. "How old are you?" he asked suddenly.
"What? I'm 18. Why?"
Tidus glanced over her body and she realized that her wet shirt was clinging to her body. "You don't look like a 18 year old…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked offended as she crossed her arms over her breasts.
He opened his mouth to say something then thought better of it and paused to think of something else to say. "You're very fit. Most teenage girls are skinny but they're more the don't-eat type of skinny instead of the well-toned type of skinny."
"Hm… nice save Tidus."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nevermind…" Kagome closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. As usual her sleep was plagued by memories.
"Move it you idiot!"a white-haired boy shouted, roughly pushing her to the side as he jumped at the monster in front of her. The monster was cut down with one stroke of the boy's sword and blood sprayed all over the two of them.
"I could have handled that Inuyasha. And it would have been a lot less disgusting."
"Feh."
Kagome growled angrily, "Why do you always think I can't handle it Inuyasha?"
"Because you can't wench. The only thing you're good for is finding the jewel shards."
"Damnit! I'm worth more than that!" Kagome sat up screaming.
Tidus shot up from where he was hunched over the dying fire. "Uh, are you ok?"
Kagome rubbed the back of her head sheepishly, "Yeah, sorry… bad dream is all."
"Right…"
Before either of them could say anything else, a giant spider-like fiend jumped down in front of them.
"What the heck is that?!"
"Who cares! Just kill the damn thing!" Kagome shouted, she'd always been petrified of spiders…
Tidus did his best to kill the fiend, unfortunately things weren't looking good from their point of view. Just as that thought crossed both of their minds a loud blast from the sealed door drew their attention.
A bunch of funnily dressed people entered through the dust cloud and a girl came and took a place beside Tidus in fighting the fiend. With her help it was dead in no time.
Kagome watched as the girl took off her goggles and her attention was drawn to her strangely swirling eyes. Al bhed, she thought glancing at the new group warily. And she was right to.
One of the men grabbed Tidus by the hair, ignoring the blonde's shouts and asked aloud, "Fryd ec drec?" (What is this?)
"Y fiend! Eh risrh teckieca! Oac! Ed ec cu!" (A Fiend! In human disguise! Yes! It is so!)
Kagome snorted, he reminded her of Auron when they first met. She decided to step in when a third man brought a blade to Tidus' throat and proposed "Fa gemm ed?" (We kill it?)
"Fyed. Fryd ev ed ec risyh?" (Wait. What if it is human?) the girl opposed.
"Ehtaat. Fryd ev ra ec?" (Indeed. What if he is?) Kagome asked, finally stepping out of the shadows.
Everyone froze and turned to look at Kagome. "Fru yna oui?" (Who are you?) they asked in unison.
"Hud y fiend, drydc vun cina." (Not a fiend, that's for sure.)
"Ruf tu oui ghuf Al Bhed?" (How do you know Al Bhed?) the girl asked suspiciously.
"E fyc dyikrd ed." (I was taught it.) Kagome said like it was the most obvious thing.
"Oui yna lusehk fedr ic." (You are coming with us.) The girl ordered; it appeared like she was the one in charge.
Kagome just shrugged and nodded in acquiescence; anything was better than this freezing shithole.
The female approached Tidus and with only a "Cunno" (Sorry) as a warning, she punched him out.
"Rao! Fyc dryd naymmo halaccyno?" (Hey! Was that really necessary?" Kagome asked angrily. She didn't like when people were excessively violent.
However they all ignored her, and just led her to their ship, one of the men carrying Tidus over his shoulder. They left both Kagome and Tidus on the deck and headed inside.
"Oui yna du cdyo uid rana." (You are to stay out here) the girl informed her.
"Lyh oui yd maycd kad ic cusa pmyhgadc un vuut un cusadrehk?" (Can you at least get us some blankets or food or something?) Kagome asked grumpily. It was cold and she was hungry!
A few minutes later a man come out and approached her. Without saying a word he grabbed her arm and started to drag her back inside with him.
"Woah woah, wait a minute! E cyet fyed!" (I said wait!)
The Al Bhed man turned to look at her impatiently "Fryd ec ed?" (What is it?)
"Frana yna oui dygehk sa?"(Where are you taking me?)
"Oui cyet oui fana lumt yht rihmno nekrd?" (You said you were cold and hungry right?) He acted like that explained everything since he said nothing else and just proceeded to bring her into a room where several other people were sitting around.
Kagome ignored all of them, only forcing a smile of gratitude when a tray of food was set in front of her. She ate happily, reveling in the fact that she could eat to her heart's content. It had been a while since she was able to eat so much; living alone in the desert, it was hard to come across food she was willing to eat.
It was quite some time later that a commotion caught her attention. She had been sneaking around, exploring the ship and avoiding detection for the most part. She glanced out one of the windows and spotted a familiar blonde head. With a smile she rushed back to the first room to grab another tray of food and practically ran outside with it.
"Tidus!" she called happily as she opened the door.
"Huh?" he looked up confusion coloring his features before a grin spilt his face. "Kagome? You're here? And ok?"
"Of course I am, where else would I be?" Now she was the confused one.
"Well I didn't know what happened to you. Last I saw of you was when we were in that cave place before I was knocked out. And I didn't see you at all while I was here. What are you doing?"
"I brought you food," she answered with a smile.
His face lit up, "You read my mind! I'm starving!"
She laughed lightly, "I figured you would be. I was too. They gave me food, but I wasn't sure if they gave you any…"
"No, the only thing they gave me was a couple of bruises and the order to work."
Kagome frowned slightly when the door opened again and the girl from before came back, also carrying a tray of food.
"Fryd?" (what?) Kagome heard her whisper upon seeing Tidus already shoveling food down his throat.
She approached the two sitting strangers and set the tray down.
"More food! Right on!" Tidus exclaimed, having already finished what Kagome had brought him before moving on to the new tray.
Kagome watch in amusement as he began to choke. The Al Bhed girl handed him a canteen that he used to clear his throat. "It's cause you eat too fast!" she chastised, surprising both Tidus and Kagome.
"Hello there. What is your name?" Tidus asked her.
"Rikku."
"So you really do understand! Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I didn't get a chance to! Everyone that oui were a fiend."
"Uh… 'we'?"
"It means 'you'," Kagome informed.
"Who are you guys anyways?" Tidus asked confused.
"We're Al Bhed, at least I am. Can't you tell? Wait… you're not an Al Bhed hater are you?" Rikku asked.
"I don't even know what an Al Bhed is," Tidus replied honestly.
"Where are you from?" Rikku asked suspiciously.
"Zanarkand. I'm a blitzball player. Star of the Zanarkand Abes."
Kagome watched on in slight amusement as Rikku questioned Tidus repeatedly. The young Al Bhed obviously didn't buy anything Tidus was saying. He seemed to realize it too.
"Did I say something funny?" he asked.
"You were near Sin," she replied as if that answered everything. But the look on Tidus' face made her elaborate, "Don't worry you'll be better in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream?"
Kagome smiled sardonically, she remembered Braska and Auron talking about it when she first arrived. She also remembered using it on more than one occasion as an excuse for her odd behavior.
Kagome was brought back from her thoughts when Tidus uttered, "Luca?"
"Okay, leave it to me! I'll get you to Luca, promise! You'd rather stay here? Okay. I'll go tell the others. Wait here. Oh and one thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone." Rikku jumped to her feet and was about to head back inside before she suddenly remembered something and turned to face Kagome, "What about you?"
"Hm? Oh, I suppose I'll go where Tidus goes," she shrugged.
Kagome watched Tidus pace silently. Without warning he turned to face Kagome, "Why did you say you'll go where I go?"
Kagome shrugged again. "We started together," she said as if it made perfect sense. It did in her mind but apparently not to him. "There had to be a reason we both ended up where we did at the same time. Besides I could go for another adventure, my life's been boring this last year." She finished with a grin but in her mind she was thinking, and maybe I can find them if I travel.
Tidus shrugged, "Ok, sounds fair to me!"
Suddenly the ship started to shake and rumble, throwing Tidus and Kagome off balance. They both rolled across the deck but while Tidus was stopped by the railing Kagome slipped right under it and ended up in the raging water.
