The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
-Buddha
Good Intentions
i luv niki4444
Chapter 27; Daring New Friends
Disclaimer: I do not own Laybrith.
Inoichi frowned as he surveyed the land around him.
He was in a field of corn, a green sea, and try as he might he could not jump! How was he supposed to know which direction to go when he couldn't see over the corn?
A whirlwind flew from nowhere and a smirking man appeared, as the whirlwind dispersed. He was dressed in a traditional white karate GI, his skin was pale white... even his hair was pure white!
The guy- who appeared around 17- was jumping up and down excitedly. "I can't wait!" He cried, enthusiastically, completely oblivious to Inoichi's presence.
"For what?" Inoichi asked.
The guy's grin widened, as he turned to face him. "The grand race of course! You're competing right?" He laughed before Inoichi could answer. "Yes, you are. Of course you are! If you weren't what would you be doing in a place like this!"
The scenery changed, they were standing in front of a few large bushes. A maze to be precise. Inoichi's eyes narrowed, it would have been simple... if he could jump. Unfortunately even lifting his feet seemed to be a problem.
"Only a few daring people can compete! I've been training all year, I'm the best, that I am!" He swelled with pride.
"Who are you?" Inoichi asked curiously, there was absolutely no way...
"Hayate, that's my name! The grand race is my favorite game. And you good sir, what are you called?"
"Inoichi."
"I take it then you wish to play, let us compete in the endless game." He waved his hand toward the maze. "The goal is to get though the maze in three hours, if you cannot the thing most precise to you will be forever with the Goblin King."
Inoichi froze. His most precise thing... Ino. How had she been brought into this? "What's the goal of this? What is the point?"
Hayate smiled wolfishly. "There's no point, just fun and games. It's the easiest way to prove who is the best, that it is!"
Was this guy insane? What was the point of proving you're the best if you lose the thing you love the most? "You want me... to compete with you?"
Hayate laughed. "It'll be fun, fun! So much fun! We'll compete, but face it you must, I will beat you and you'll lose your special love!" He laughed in an insane manner.
Inoichi narrowed his eyes even further, taking a slow step toward him. "What is wrong with the gravity here?"
Hayate hummed in reply jumping up and down easily and called down from the top of the bush. "You my friend, will find in time, your feet will rise with the growing of tide."
Inoichi's brow furrowed. "What?"
Hayate clasped his hands behind his back. "Good has now become bad." He sang softly before darting into the maze.
Inoichi groaned heading in after him.
Confusion, that is the word that best summed up Inoichi's feelings. 'Your feet will rise with the growing of tide. Stupid riddle! And it didn't even rhyme, the guy is an idiot! What could something like that possibly mean?'
Inoichi sighed. "All I want is to help that poor girl."
Kagome Nagata was a mystery to him. Sweet, but nasty. Scared, but never afraid. Those were her four greatest emotions?
Impossible.
She never showed fear, or the evil that lurked within her. Perhaps that was what she was afraid of? Simply herself? "She needs to let go of whatev-"
"Inoichi? Will you talk to me already!" A girl's voice yelled, right next to his ear, he whipped his head around to get a look at the carrier of the familiar voice.
Kagome. She stood there in her usual attire, looking around in anger and confusion.
"Kagome? What are you doing here?" He asked, surprised.
Kagome rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. "I've been here the whole time silly! Why wouldn't answer me before? I've been yelling at you the last 30 minutes!"
Inoichi blinked. "The whole time?"
"Yeah, I was even talking to Akira before you showed up. Where are we?" She repeated
"Inside your mind." He took the time to notice he could jump again, though not very high. "How did you solve the riddle?"
"I knew that you idiot." She snorted, completely missing his question. "I mean where in my mind? I've never seen a place like- OH okay, I think I get it."
"Kagome how did you solve it?"
She gave him a look that clearly screamed, you're an idiot. "I didn't do anything silly. It was all you. Your feet will rise with the growing of tide. Do you really expect me to understand that?"
"It's your mind."
She sent him a fleeting glare, closing her eyes, and rubbing her temples. "Okay, um... Akira was standing by an ocean right? What if the things around my emotions reflect what they are like inside? What if the 'growing of tide' Means the better your character is?"
She sent him another look. "You didn't exactly have pure intentions when you came here. You will be able to walk if you have good intentions."
"Protecting my village is a good mission." He argued.
"But you weren't thinking about what's best for me."
Inoichi had to agree with that one, this was a part of Kagome's mind so she was probably correct. "Alright then smart stuff. How do we get through here?"
Kagome looked around them, "This looks like it could be from 'Labyrinth'. It's a book I read not long ago, but there's no race, the girl just got her baby brother back."
"So it's the same maze? How do we get through?"
She surveyed the area around her. "I don't know, this doesn't look like the same maze. It's just the castle, and the mention of the Goblin King."
It was true, the maze was nothing like the Labyrinth that was depicted in the movie or in the book, instead it looked like a jungle of some sort. And there was supposed to be a gate...
"Come on Inoichi, this way!" She tugged his hand and ran to the left, now they were faced with three new choices, an exit on every side.
Kagome shrugged and ran north, before turning right.
Inoichi sighed following her. "Shouldn't we stay together?" He called, as they first went to the right again, then north.
"Don't worry abo-" She paused, and Inoichi almost ran into her. "Wha-"
She grabbed his hand and looked over to him. "There's a trap up ahead, be prepared to do a lot of jumping around. I am thinking kunai from the walls, but I could be wrong."
He nodded, not bothering to ask how she knew, and they continued on, cautious.
There was quiet, before a series loud explosions went off behind them.
Inoichi whipped around, searching for the source only to be tackled. He took a roll before trying his best to throw off the thing clinging to him, holding him down.
"Don't move!" Kagome hissed, and he relaxed slightly.
"What are you doing?" Inoichi snarled, hearing a grunt from over his head.
"Kagome." A whimper met his ears, before she rolled off him, and dragged him forward by the ankle.
Noticing how slow she was dragging him, he used his hands to push himself backwards, helping her heave him from the disaster that was going on over his head.
He glanced up briefly at the place he ad once been standing and almost wished he hadn't. Kunai were everywhere.
Scattered around the spot he had been walking and everywhere around it. Kagome grunted as she let him go and Inoichi cringed.
He couldn't look, but he knew he had to. He looked over at her and flinched back. She had at least ten kunai lodged into her back and arms, two more in each of her legs.
She had taken them all for him.
"Are you going to be able to walk?" He whispered, he didn't like how quiet she was.
Kagome let out a deep breath and a faint sob reached his ears.
He didn't like the way she was crying either.
She was curled up into a ball rocking back and forth. "The bad men are coming. That's what Aniki said. Nii-san said I should hide, but where can I hide?" She murmured her eyes glazed over in a hypnotized way.
She cringed suddenly her knuckles going white as she clutched them, blood dripped from her nails.
"Pure has become impure, impure has now become pure, good has now become bad..." She sniffled, and her clear tears turned red. Blood.
"Kagome?" Inoichi hissed, but Kagome continued to rock back and forth, her eyes wide open.
"Sensei. Sensei, you'll never guess what happened to me!" Her voice sounded like that of an excited child, it didn't match her half dead appearance at all.
"Kagome Kagome, bird in the cage." She sang softly, her voice once more monotone. "Oh when will it come out. In the night of dawn, The crane and turtle slipped, who's behind you now?"
She started laughing darkly.
'Kagome... what's wrong with you?' Inoichi held out a hand to grab her shoulder, but cringed away when a faint light started to surround her.
"When will you come out? Little birdie in the cage, come and play, come and play. Let me-"
"Kagome."
"-Hurt you. Little birdie in the-"
"Kagome."
"-Cage, come and play, come and play."
"KAGOME!" Inoichi grabbed her and pulled her into his embrace, hoping to somehow break her from her twisted thoughts.
"Let me-" Her eyes went back to normal, her tears once more clear as she muttered. "-Hurt you like you did me."
With that she fainted, and Inoichi was left to tend to a wounded child. One question stayed with him through all the bandaging and muttering of a girl in her sleep.
'What the heck is going on!'
Founders of a new clan were powerful, but terrible creatures. That is what she believed more than anything else.
Unfortunately the others didn't agree, how was she supposed to create the perfect killer when she had three against her?
Akako smiled gruesomely, "Easy, just catch the little bird all by yourself."
She watched the crystal ball in front of her with great malice, tormenting Kagome was like a dream come true, and he just had to take it way!
"That man is ruining all my fun!" She mumbled, watching Inoichi pick Kagome-who was now bandaged- up.
Akako smirked, "It's no matter all will be dealt with in due time."
Her eyes went from angelic to savage as she watched the ball, she'd make sure to add the man's name to the long list of people she would someday kill.
Kagome groaned as consciousness returned to her. She was in a pair of arms, that was the first thing she noticed.
Second thing, her wounds hurt like a female dog... and it felt like said dog was jumping on them as well...
"Inoichi?"
"Yes?"
She burrowed further into his arms. "I'm cold."
The Jonin sweat dropped. "I already gave you my vest."
"I'm still cold."
"It's at least 85 degrees out here."
"I'm dying."
He groaned quietly. "Kagome..."
"Hypothermia."
He slapped his forehead, somehow managing to not drop her in the process. "Kagome."
"Frostbite."
"Kagome."
"It hurts."
"Kagome!"
"What?" She asked, curiously looking up at him.
"You're wounded." He pointed out coming to a stop. "Everything is going to feel cold for a while."
She blinked up at him, "I know."
He looked down at her closely, his eyes squinting. "Have you ever been wounded before."
"...Kouga hit me." She replied, refusing to look him straight in the eye.
"I mean before that?" Inoichi asked eagerly.
Kagome's form burrowed even further into him, seeking comfort and she clutched his shirt between shaky fingers. "No."
"Alright then." He said back softly, tightening his grip on her. 'Liar. One day, you'll tell me, or I will find out when we get through the maze... then maybe. Maybe. I'll understand you a little better.'
She responded with a soft, "Thank you," before murmuring. "I know you didn't have to help me."
He smiled at her, it was a slow, unsure smile. "And you didn't have to push me out of the way."
She huffed, "Not what I meant."
She spoke no further on the matter, and for once, Inoichi was content to never hear the answer.
Kagome was grumbling, she absolutely hated being carried when she was perfectly capable of- "No. You're wounded Miss Kagome."
And what was with the 'Miss'? He had been adding it to her name ever since their earlier conversation! Kagome felt like stomping her foot as she growled back, "Stop that! I am perfectly capable of walking!"
Okay, maybe that wasn't true, but really! Who died and made him You-Can't-Walk-King!
Inoichi shrugged. "I'm still going to carry you."
"INOICHI!"
"Which way now?"
"LEFT!" She yelled back, satisfied when he winced slightly. He turned left despite what a pain she was being. How sweet.
Kagome huffed. 'I know I'm being a brat, and I know I'm probably too injured to get far but...I've lived my entire life being alone, why should I be subjected to this?'
It really did feel weird to know that someone cared enough to carry you, but it also raised the question...
"Am I fat Inoichi?"
He stopped dead and almost dropped her. "What?"
"You know! Am I heavy? Fat?"
He pondered the subject for a moment, knowing how his wife would react if he said the dreaded word... fat.
Suppressing a shiver he shook his head. "No Kagome, you aren't fat. But you are heavy." He muttered as and afterthought, to low for her to hear... or so he thought.
Kagome gave a gasp of horror and struggled against him. "If I'm so fat then why are you still carrying me!" Her face contorted with rage and Inoichi gave a nervous laugh. "Your expressions are funny?"
"PUT ME DOWN!"
He chuckled, a real laugh this time. "Jeez, I was only teasing!" He sobered. "The truth is you kind of remind me of Ino, the lot of you do. Akira, Ito, you. It's not really our personality." He added seeing the growing horror on Kagome's face. "Just your age."
She relaxed. "Thank goodness... no offense."
"None taken, I've noticed you're not exactly two peas in a pod."
Kagome shrugged slightly, and the traveled in silence for a few more seconds. "South. "She murmured, "Then take a right."
He could no longer keep his curiosity contained. "How do you know which way to go? Traps usually signal a dead end." He added, recalling the kunai they'd had an encounter with.
"On the contrary." She murmured, "I've found that there isn't a point putting a trap in a place it will not be used."
"To throw someone off. That's a good use." He replied back.
"I've made correct predictions so far, why are you doubting me now?"
He rolled his eyes. "Because you're wounded, it could throw off your judgment, besides we don't know where you're leading us."
"To the finish."
"You said this maze shifted, what if we're being led back to the beginning."
"Then we're being led back to the beginning."
For the 16th time that hour he let out a sigh.
"Inoichi?"
"Yes?"
"How long do you think we've been in here?" She asked, blue eyes blinking up at him curiously, her previous pouty mode was long forgotten.
A guilty look spread across his face. "Time either slows down or speeds up when in the mind... I have no idea how long we've been here. It could be a few minutes... or a few years."
i luv niki4444
Hayllo EVERYBODY! XD Sorry it took so long, I'll be trying to get another chapter out either today or tomorrow! (If I can't it'll definately be out next weekend!)
Sorry it's short! :( (And not my best) I was writing this and the last chapter when I was in the car for 6 hours trying not to fall asleep! XD
Words: 2,904
'anime tears' I'm SOOOOOO sorry I'm such a bad updater! 'hugs' There now it's all better... right?
Thank you to...
LadyMusa, Vocaloid Marmalade86, Serena Heartfilia, silvermoon, Azumigurl, mikansakuraangel! Thank you guys for the wonderful reviews! 'Gives you cookies and chocolate'
Hope you guys like this chapter, Please review... wait a minute! Why do I put that at the bottom, 'rolls eyes' It's SUPPOSED to be this...
Read, Review, and above ALL else... Enjoy. XD
Ja Ne!
-Niki