Virtual Reality
Chapter Two
Kagome sighed, briefly closing her chocolate eyes. "Inuyasha... there's no reason to shout like that," she stated calmly.
"No reason?" the dog demon repeated, narrowing his golden orbs at her in annoyance. "You don't fucking know where this stupid object is!" He growled for a few moments, the sound vibrating through the air and into her body. She found the noise sexy, but she wasn't about to say that. Knowing him, he would make fun of her if she did.
"Will you just relax?" she demanded hotly, her hands on her hips. Her brown eyes filled with an inner fire, revealing just how angry she was. "I know where we can go to find out the location, so just chill!"
Inuyasha blinked, his white fuzzy ears on top of his head twitching a little, the adorable movement tweaking the miko's heartstrings. "Okay, and where is that?" he asked, giving her an impatient look.
"Delphi," the raven-haired girl answered, trying to keep her temper from running away from her. "We're going to visit the oracle."
"And just how are we going to translate the answer she's going to give us?" the silver-haired demon wanted to know, feeling hesitant about their current game plan. He didn't trust oracles; they were too hard to understand. In his two years of playing the game, he had never heard of a single person who had received a straight answer from an oracle. The annoying AIs tended to be difficult just because they could, and what was even worse was they couldn't be killed or physically harmed in any way.
Kagome rolled her eyes at him, taking a deep breath. 'Is he purposely trying to get on my nerves?' she wondered. "I don't know how, but it's the only lead I have. If you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it." She stared at him expectantly, waiting for a response.
Inuyasha thought for a few minutes, but he came up with nothing, much to his disappointment. With no idea what he needed to find, he couldn't even figure out which world to search in. "Fine. We'll do it your way, but if it doesn't work, don't blame me," he snapped, crossing his arms to show his resolve.
"Don't worry, I won't!" she shot back, her temper become shorter as the seconds passed. He kept pushing her buttons, and she didn't even know how. It was almost like he could read her and predict exactly what would annoy her the most. She couldn't stand people who could do that.
"Good." He nodded his head. "Now, I'm guessing you don't know how to get to Delphi, do you?" His tone was condescending and rude, making her blood boil. Never in her life had anyone been so disrespecting toward her.
Kagome snorted. "Despite what you think, I do know the way there," she answered stiffly. "Which is a good thing, considering you probably don't know how to get to Delphi."
"Feh." Inuyasha paused, his golden eyes holding a small amount of uncertainty. He hadn't known the way. "Well, start talking. How do we get there, Miss Know-It-All?"
Growling, the miko glared at him, aptly conveying her displeasure to him. If he was going to be rude, then she was going to do the same. "Simple. We use Amaterasu's cave to get to Greece. Then, we walk to Delphi."
"Wow... you really blew me away with that set of directions," he commented sarcastically, mentally grumbling over how pathetic the female was. Just when his opinion of her improved, she did something to bring it back down.
"Well, since you obviously think you can do better, you can get us to Amaterasu's cave and to Delphi," Kagome retorted evenly. "If you do that, then you can say 'I told you so.' Okay?"
The silver-haired demon grinned evilly. "Sure thing." He knelt down, moving his long locks to the side and baring his red-clothed back. "Get on."
"Alright." The miko did as he wanted, automatically clutching his haori shirt in her hands. "Do you know the way to the cave?"
"What do you think, wench?!" Inuyasha snapped, wondering if she ever shut up. He was betting that she didn't, and he was beginning to wish for some duct tape to close her mouth with.
She huffed as he began to run in a south-east direction, his speed making the scenery rush by once again. His breath came smooth and even, revealing just how easy it was for him to keep up the amazing pace. Long locks of his silver hair whipped around, hitting her in the face, making her grumble. The style of travel was easy on her feet, but it left much to be desired when it came to other comforts. For instance, his hair was a problem, and his haori was so rough that it irritated her hands.
Kagome sighed, knowing that she didn't have much a choice about how she arrived at the cave. Her partner was stubborn, and she highly doubted she could convince him to do anything about his hair. Mentally shaking her head, she rested her cheek on his shoulder, slightly burying her face in the crook of his neck to avoid his lashing tresses.
With nothing to do, she allowed herself to relax. She caught a whiff of his scent, finding it spicy and masculine. It somehow matched his personality--firm, a little rough, but nice enough to keep her attention. Inuyasha was rude, but he was kind enough to carry her instead of force her to try to travel by foot at his incredibly quick speed. For that small action, she was grateful, and it wasn't so bad if she ignored his hair and his rough clothes.
"How far away is the cave?" Kagome inquired, trying to make out some of her surroundings; she failed.
"About twenty minutes or so," he replied. "There's a large village not too far away from it. We'll stop there so you can get some more arrows. You're probably going to need them."
The miko nodded her head. "Sounds good. Greece probably isn't any safer than Japan," she commented, knowing that she most likely correct. Japan was relatively safe since so many players hung out there, spending their time killing monsters and such.
"I know it's not," Inuyasha stated as he turned due east. "There's actually more monsters in Greece than any other world I've visited, so I suggest you stick close to me while we're there."
"No arguments here," Kagome responded, a small wistful smile on her face. She wished she could protect herself, but since she couldn't do that yet, she opted for letting someone else do it. As long as she stayed alive, she didn't care too much who kept her from dying. "So, what worlds have you been to?"
"Greece, Rome, China, Africa, the Americas, Australia, Turkey..." He paused, obviously thinking. "I can't remember any of the other ones."
Her jaw dropped, astonished by all the places he had been. It was almost unbelievable for her. "How long have you been playing this game?" she inquired, amazement in her voice.
"About two years," the dog-eared boy replied nonchalantly. To him, it wasn't all that big of a deal how long he had played. Other people had been around much longer than him, and he even knew a few. He wouldn't call them friends, but they were acquaintances.
"Wow... I've been on for only a month," Kagome stated, her eyes wide, appreciation for his accomplishment in her voice.
"One month?" Inuyasha repeated, sounding shocked. "You've been on for only a month and you already have a quest?"
She nodded, not understanding why he would ask such a question. Surely it wouldn't matter when a player received a quest from the Elven Council. "Yeah."
"What are those stupid Elves thinking?! You're still a newbie, and you never send newbies on quests," he declared, his tone one of frustration. "It's like sending them on a suicide mission!" He slightly shook his head, making a sound of disgust. 'I don't know what's going on with the Elves, but I think they're losing their common sense. I've never heard of them sending a newbie on a quest before.' He made a face. 'Fucking idiots.'
Kagome and Inuyasha were silent after that, both thinking their own thoughts, except the demon did more mental grumbling than actual thinking. The miko mused over what the Shikon no Tama could possibly be. Since she knew nothing about it, it could be anything, and she didn't like that fact. For all she knew, the Elves had told her to bring them a palace or something from some little-known realm. She doubted that, but it was a possibility.
She was still thinking when the demon stopped running, slowing to a walk right outside a village. He looked around, setting Kagome down. The village was more of a town, probably containing about two thousand people at least. Buildings lined the criss-crossing streets, small stalls littering the square and surrounding streets in the center of the large village. Men and women of all ages wandered the streets in kimonos, purchasing different items from stalls and shops or chatting with friends and neighbors.
His golden eyes watchful, he followed Kagome to a fletcher's stall along one street. As she picked out and paid for some high-quality arrows, he kept one eye on her and one eye on the rest of the village. Most of the people seemed normal players and game AIs, so he didn't worry about them. He was more concerned with other demons, mikos, and priests. More often than not, it was a demon who caused problems, but sometimes mikos and priests killed other players for the fun of it.
"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked as she walked up to him. "It's around noon where I live." She had programmed her computer to tell her when it was time to eat meals, and the alarm had just gone off. Like any normal human, she needed to take a break from the computer, eat something, and visit the bathroom.
"Alright." He nodded in understanding. "We meet back here in half an hour; however..." He glared at her. "If you're not here in thirty minutes, I'll leave you here and go on by myself."
The miko rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever." She flapped her hand at him, showing him just what she thought of his threat. "I'll see you." Then, she saved her game and logged off.
She found herself in the normal VR area, a link to her email account in one corner of her vision. More links littered the screen, but she ignored them. Instead, she went to the shut down button and pressed it. When she did that, everything became black.
Kagome pulled her VR helmet off, shaking out her dark hair as she set the helmet down on its small platform. It almost felt strange to be back in the real world, especially since the game felt so real. In the game, she could feel everything as if she was really there. She felt like she was supposed to have a quiver of arrows on her back even in the real world because that was what she was used to.
Sighing, the brown-eyed girl went over to her desk and sat down in front of it. "House?" she inquired.
"Yes?" the house responded.
"A turkey and cheese sandwich please," Kagome requested politely, and a three foot robot quickly wheeled it in, setting it on her desk before leaving. She ate her sandwich, contemplating everything that had happened in the game.
Inuyasha was a strange guy, especially since he spent half his time arguing with her. The other half of the time he wasn't too bad. He had been nice enough to carry her and stop at the village so she could buy more arrows. Also, when she had said that the Elves had given her a quest after a month, he had actually become angry on her behalf. So, he really wasn't a bad guy, just an easily angered one.
The raven-haired girl finished off her sandwich and headed for the bathroom. When she was right outside the door, a four and a half foot high, fast moving, dark-haired boy ran her over to get in there first, almost slamming the door in her face.
Kagome blinked a few times, a little surprised by what had just happened. Normally, people didn't run around her house, although if anyone was going to do it, then her younger brother Souta would, as he had just proved. For some reason or another, he was in a hurry.
Ten minutes later, she was still waiting for him to get out of the bathroom. Frowning, she pounded on the door. "Hey, Souta! Hurry up in there, would ya?" she shouted.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he replied. "I'll be out in a sec. Keep your skirt on."
Kagome rolled her eyes, and Souta almost ran her over again when he came out of the bathroom. His hair had been neatly combed, and his face had been washed.
"What's your hurry?" she asked before her younger brother sprinted around the corner.
"I'm meeting a girl at the cafe!" Souta shouted over his shoulder.
She looked at him with slightly wider brown eyes. "You're what?!" When people met in the VR world, they sometimes met at a special cafe in the center of town. The cafe building was the only other structure other than a house that was ever built in any town, and they were usually big, about twice the size of any house. The cafe served food and drink, but she didn't quite know what one looked like from personal experience. She had never visited one.
"Don't worry. I'm taking a 'bot," he replied before he shot around the corner and out of sight.
Kagome shook her head and entered the bathroom. There were days she worried about her brother. She had never felt any desire to meet anyone in the real world, but obviously he was different. Well, since she couldn't see anything wrong with him meeting a friend at a cafe with a 'bot at his side, she wasn't going to say a word.
She finished her business in the bathroom and went back to her room. Somehow, although she didn't know how, she still had five minutes before she was supposed to meet Inuyasha back in the game.
Shrugging, she sat down and put the VR helmet on.
Kagome smiled as she found herself in the busy village once more, the many people hurrying about as they shopped and chatted. She didn't see Inuyasha, so she wandered around the street a little, admiring some of the jewelry in a nearby stall. A particular piece caught her attention--a gold choker studded with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. The sunlight made it sparkle and gleam, revealing just how beautiful it really was. She couldn't even image how much it was worth, but she guessed that it cost a couple of million ruyu.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" the stall owner asked in a calm, musical voice. Her deep brown eyes gazed out of a young, lovely, pale face that was framed by long midnight-black hair that came down to her waist. She was dressed in a white and pink kimono decorated with lilac and pale blue flowers. "My husband made it himself."
"It's gorgeous," the miko replied breathlessly, amused and a little surprised by how much the other female looked like her.
"He said that I was the inspiration for it," the woman said with a laugh. "I'm not so sure about that, but I still love it. It's my favorite piece of his."
"I've never seen anything like it." Kagome smiled at the female, forming an instant liking for her. She thought the woman was so kind and sweet, sort of like she expected an older sister to sound. "And if I owned something like that, I'd put in a safe or something."
The stall owner returned the warm expression. "That's not necessary. There are enough spells on this stall to keep anyone with the intent to steal from touching it or anything else of mine." She gestured toward the jeweled collar. "Go ahead and have a look at it."
The miko blinked a few times. "Okay." She reached out and gently took the necklace in her hands, turning it this way and that in the light. "I can't even begin to imagine how much work went into this... or how much it'd cost." She put the gold piece of jewelry back, her eyes lingering on it for a few moments.
"It took my husband about a month to make it," she responded. "And he has yet to put a price on it."
"Wow..." Kagome gave the collar one last wistful look before turning her attention to the other pieces of jewelry at the stall.
The woman ever so slightly cocked her head slightly to one side. "This is your first time here, isn't it?"
The raven-haired miko nodded. "Yes. I stopped here for arrows, and I'm heading out to Amaterasu's cave in a little bit."
"Would you mind some advice?" the stall keeper inquired politely.
Kagome shook her head. "Not at all." In truth, she usually welcomed advice, especially if it was free. She didn't always take it, but she saw nothing wrong with at least hearing a person out. "I'd love some advice."
"I've never visited Amaterasu's cave, but I've heard a person must pay to use it," she stated. "And just recently there have been rumors of a demon on the other side of the connecting bridge who attacks mikos... only mikos."
"That's strange. If you're going to kill mikos, why not kill the priests too? After all, both can kill a demon with magic." The miko frowned slightly but quickly brushed her worries aside. "Well, thank you. I appreciate the advice."
"You're welcome. Take care of yourself, and make sure to come back and see me," the stall keeper responded, a small smile on her face and a kind look in her deep brown eyes.
"I will," Kagome promised, her tone sincere. "And you take care of yourself, too." Smiling, she turned and began to walk off. After taking a few steps, she turned and waved to the woman, running into someone in the process.
Surprise apparent on her face, she fell to the ground with a small "Oomph." Guilt washed over her, mainly because it had been her fault that she had run into the person. She hadn't been watching where she had been going.
"It usually helps if you keep your eyes looking in the direction you're walking," a young male voice commented.
Kagome looked up to see Inuyasha standing above her, his arms crossed over his chest and an almost amused expression on his face. She blushed slightly. "Sorry about that."
The dog-eared boy offered her a hand. "It's okay, but I want to get going now," he responded. "With everything else the stupid Elves have thrown your way, they probably didn't give you much time to complete this quest either."
She accepted the hand, allowing him to pull her into a standing position. "Actually, I have a year," she informed him dusting the dirt off of her clothing.
"A year?!" Inuyasha exclaimed in surprise. "They gave me only ten days, but they gave you a year?!" It seemed unfair to him, even when he considered the fact that the miko was a newbie and he had been playing for two years.
"They certainly didn't give you much time," Kagome stated, eyes wide. "Most people have a month to complete the quest. I wonder why they didn't give you a month." Her expression turned thoughtful as she contemplated that question.
While the Elves were creative, they were big on being fair. They hated people who cheated, and any player who hacked into the game to give himself or herself an advantage were promptly deleted and banned from the game. Needless to say, she couldn't come up with a single reason for his short time limit.
"I don't know why they did that, but next time I see a light bulb, I'm going to have the little sucker take them a message for me," he snapped.
"You could always write them an email," the raven-haired miko suggested. It sounded logical to her.
Inuyasha snorted. "And have it sit in their inbox for months as they sift through all their complaints? I don't think so." He shook his head. "C'mon. I'll deal with that later. We should get going." With that said, he began to walk off, easily working his way through the crowded streets.
Kagome followed him, keeping practically on his heels. She wasn't about to lose the guy who was protecting her, so she stayed close to him.
He led her right out of town and into a field just like the one they had been in when the dragon demon had attacked. No cave was in sight, but the miko guessed that it had to be close. After all, Inuyasha had said that the village was near the cave.
As she walked through the field, Kagome had a forbidding sense, as if something bad was coming. It wasn't an obvious feeling, more like a tingling in the back of her mind, telling her to beware. Unsure of what to do since she had never sensed anything before, she ignored it.
The wind shifted, and Inuyasha froze, turning his gaze skyward as he sniffed the air. "Hurroks," he whispered. "Get low and stay there."
Brown eyes widened, surprised by what he had said. Hurroks were rare game-created AIs that were horse- like creatures with bat wings, claws instead of hooves, and fangs. They normally only appeared once a year in a group of about five or six. The main reason they were so rare was they were fast and strong, which was bad enough, but some of them had a incurable poison in their claws. The worst thing was that they were practically immune to magic.
The dog demon drew his sword, the piece of junk quickly transforming into its powerful fang-like state. He crouched down, golden eyes still scanning the skies. "Here they come," he informed her, a growl ripping its way from his throat and out his mouth as four flying black horses came out of the distance.
When they were close enough for Kagome to see, she immediately noticed their huge leathery wings that were twice the size of their stallion-sized bodies. Dangerous red eyes framed with short black eyelashes stared down at her with a look that predators only gave their prey, causing her to shiver. The feeling of forbidding surrounded her, telling her exactly what she had sensed. She had felt the hurroks coming, although she didn't quite know why or how; however, she knew she had to worry about the questions later. Her first problem was the incoming enemies.
Without caring whether her magic would have an effect or not, she drew an arrow out of her quiver and notched it, preparing to fire. As soon as the ugly AIs were close enough, she planned on shooting her bow and seeing just how quickly the creatures could dodge. If she was lucky, she would hit at least one.
Once the hurroks were close enough, Inuyasha leapt up, swinging his sword at one. "Kaze no Kizu!" he shouted, and streams of orange power erupted out of his blade. The attack hit the flying monster head on, but it didn't seem to have any effect. The creature continued to fly around, swooping down to attack the dog demon.
Kagome fired her shaft, putting some of her magic behind it. The arrow grazed the back of one hurrok, but it hit another in the base of its left wing. The injured monster screamed in pain as its wing glowed for a moment and then vanished, leaving it without the ability to fly. It fell to the ground, crashing down about ten feet from the miko.
A little amazed that her magic had been so affective, she fired another arrow. She hit the fallen hurrok in the head, causing the rest of its body to glow and disappear, leaving only her arrow. At the sight of such success, a feeling of triumph rose up in her, but she forced it back down. She didn't have time to celebrate since there were three more hurroks flying around.
Inuyasha, after taking a few swipes at a dive-bombing hurrok with his sword, glanced over at Kagome to see how she was doing. She was busy taking aim at a flying monster high up the sky, completely missing the hurrok coming up behind her.
"Kagome!" he screamed, ripping his attention away from his opponent to run to her aide. Knowing that he had little time, he leapt over the girl's head and into the air, his path perfect for a head on collision with the attacker. "Bakuryuuha!" He swung his blade at the creature that was charging at the miko's back.
Power erupted from his sword, engulfing the hurrok. When the power faded, so did the enemy, much to the dog demon's relief. He had half-expected the attack to fail just like the kaze no kizu had failed.
An evil smile on his face, he rushed to attack one of the last two hurroks as Kagome fired an arrow at the other one. Her target dodged, heading for Inuyasha as the arrow fell to the ground. Both hurroks raced towards the demon from opposite sides.
"Shit," Inuyasha snapped, knowing that he'd only be able to take out one with his new attack. He also understood that Kagome couldn't fire one of her arrows for fear of hitting him. Scowling, he dodged as best as he could; however, one of the hurroks pulled off an indescribable maneuver, raking his claws over the dog demon's shoulder, drawing blood.
Cursing, the silver-haired male swung his sword at the AI. "Bakuryuuha!" In another blast of power, the creature was gone.
Kagome fired two arrows in rapid succession, one hitting the final hurrok in the leg while the other buried in its neck. The AI glowed briefly before vanishing like he had never existed, leaving her arrows to fall to the ground.
Feeling pleased with herself, she gazed at the sky, finding no hurroks up there. The battle was over, and the hurroks had lost. She smiled, and turned to her ally. "We did it, Inuyasha!" she exclaimed happily. For the first time since she had started the game, she didn't feel so useless.
"Yeah, we did," he responded, falling to his knees as he clutched at his wound with his free hand. His other hand held onto his sword, the action more subconscious than anything.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome ran to his side, helping him sit down on the grass. She examined the wound, her eyes filling with fear as it began to bubble. He had been poisoned by one of the hurroks.
"Fucking hurrok had poison in his claws," Inuyasha grumbled, remembering exactly what that meant for him--death. He was going to die, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. He would just have to go through the whole stupid registration process again, and he was not looking forward to that. It had been tedious enough the first time. He doubted he would be lucky enough to start off from where he had last saved his game, especially since the Elves didn't even like him enough to give him a month to complete a quest.
The miko watched the demon close his golden eyes. "Don't go to sleep, okay!" she ordered. "I'm going to see if I can do something about the poison."
He snorted, fighting between amusement and annoyance at her determination to do something that could no be done. "You can't, and you know it."
She violently shook her head. "I'm still going to try," she insisted. 'Well, my powers were highly effective against the hurroks themselves, so let's see what they can do with their poison.'
Praying to the Japanese gods for a miracle, she placed her hands on his wound, allowing the blood to flow around and over her fingers. Closing her eyes, she gathered up her magic and applied a little to the area under her fingers.
Inuyasha hissed in pain. She was a miko, and she was purifying him in her attempt to destroy the poison. "Stop it!" he snapped. "That hurts!"
"Oh, shut up," Kagome retorted. "It's not like the poison isn't hurting you already. We have nothing to lose by me trying!" She returned to what she was doing, shoving some of her power under his skin, trying to keep it from purifying him in the process. As the demon cussed her out for the useless pain she was putting him through, she felt something happen. She could sense something change.
A feeling of hope invading her heart, she forced as much of her magic as she could into him through the wound, sensing it flow through his entire body. She opened her eyes as she backed away, immediately noticing that the golden-eyed demon was glowing a faint purple-pink color, but his wound was gone, completely healed.
Inuyasha flexed his fingers, a smile creeping onto his face. He couldn't feel the poison anymore, and his whole body felt like it hadn't even gone through a battle. "Not bad," he commented, standing up and sheathing his sword. "It seems like the trade-off for not sensing demons is that you have some powers that are a little different from a normal miko's."
Kagome stood up to take another look at his shoulder. It seemed perfectly fine. "I hope you're not complaining," she stated. "Because I think me being different just saved your butt."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he muttered, turning towards the east. "Now, let's get to that cave." He began walking, the miko following him. "It's about a half mile away."
She didn't respond because she was seething on the inside. 'I save his life, and he can't even say thank you?! What is his problem?' she wondered. His lack of manners annoyed her, but she figured she wouldn't receive any thanks from him unless she forced it out of him.
Kagome was in the process of mentally calling Inuyasha some rather creative names when they finally came upon the cave. It stood in the middle of the field with a single tree growing just outside the mouth. A life-sized statue to Amaterasu stood outside, and a small platform stood at its base, giving players a place to put their offerings to the sun goddess.
Remembering the stall keeper's words, the miko hung back as the demon continued to charge forward. "Inuyasha... I think we're supposed to pay for entrance," she informed him.
Inuyasha ignored her. "Feh." He took one last step that would bring him into the cave, but instead of entering, he hit an invisible wall. "What the hell?" he exclaimed, slashing at the barrier with his claws. It didn't seem to do any good, because he still couldn't enter the cave.
Kagome walked up to stand near the mouth, looking around for any reason for the barrier. The only things she could see other than her and the golden-eyed male were the statue and the tree. Figuring that the tree wasn't all that important, she turned her attention to the statue.
The statue was beautifully crafted out of light stone, and she could see even the finest details, right down to the eyelashes. Her gaze drifted down to the platform, finally noticing that there were words chiseled into the surface. She read the message and sighed.
"What?" Inuyasha snapped, crossing his arms. "Are you done examining that worthless thing?"
"It's not worthless," she shot back. "And this is the reason we can't enter. We're supposed to offer something of beauty to the sun goddess before we can enter the cave."
"Something of beauty?" he repeated, scowling. He didn't like the idea of having to offer anything just to simply travel to another world. It seemed stupid to him. "I knew there was a reason I've never used this cave before."
Kagome chewed delicately on her bottom lip, trying to think of something. Suddenly she was hit by a bolt of inspiration, making her eyes light up. She took the red blossom from behind her ear and placed it on the platform, congratulating herself for keeping the lovely flower even though she hadn't known it would come in handy.
The flower vanished, and she stared in shock. 'What happened to my flower?!' she wondered, reaching down to hesitantly touch where the object had once been. She felt only the stone surface of the platform. "Well, I guess the offering was accepted."
Inuyasha studied her for a moment before trying to enter the cave, easily succeeding. The wall had disappeared, much to his surprise. He had thought the offering thing was a huge joke.
Kagome followed the demon, having no problem walking into the cave as well. She smiled, partially because she had done well to accept the stall keeper's advice. 'Ten points for me,' she thought with a mall amount of humor. 'I'll have to really thank her next time I'm in that village.'
Then, the two found the connecting bridge, which was a hole in the floor, and jumped down it.
A woman with long blond hair smiled at two others, the look of ancient wisdom in her eyes practically glowing as she pointed down to the reflecting pool, which just happened to show an image of Inuyasha and Kagome falling down the hole to Ancient Greece. "It has begun."
CotA: Yea!! Chapter two! I was amazed by how fast I wrote this. :) But please don't get used to this speed. I haven't even started on chapter three, and it's probably going to be just as long as this chappie... maybe even longer. Oh, and I'm going to make the same offer I usually make. If you want, I'll send you an email whenever I update. For those of you who are on my mailing list and want off, just send me an email and I'll remove you. Well, I believe that's all.
Sess-chan: Not quite. The review responses are below.
PWA: Wow! I've never seen you so enthusiastic. I just hope that my other chapters excite you just as much.
Sakura-chan: I know exactly where this story is going... for once. Since I've planned out the entire thing, chapter by chapter, I have an easy to follow game plan.
Yanou: I've combined ideas from all different sources. .Hack//Sign is one of them, Tamora Pierce is another, and Diadem is a third.
Silentslayer: I'm glad you like this so far. If you can't tell, I worked hard on the first chapter.
Inu-chan 613: I don't believe originals are all that weird. And I'm not going to tell you what happens in the end. You'll just have to read and find out.
dog demon: Thank you for the compliment. I do try to be creative.
Demongirl6381: I'll update as soon as I can, okay?
ME: "twist"? I'm guessing that you're referring to the fact that they're in a virtual world.
Drake220: I've never heard of the Otherland books, but I think I've heard of the Dragonbone chair. I may just have to check them out from the library or something... well, if they have them that it.
Salamander: I'll try my best not to leave you hanging... although I do have a habit of using cliffhangers.
Pinkjasmine: I will continue, but I don't know about the fast thing.
Flowerblossom: I'm happy too. I like this story better than my Rome one, if only because I know exactly what's going to happen in it and everything. This is an Inu/Kag, and if they get hurt in VR, they don't get hurt in real life, so you don't need to worry.
Eruinichil: I'm not going to tell you much, but I will say that you'll get to see Sesshoumaru eventually. :) And I'm not really sure about longer. This story is going to be 10 chapters plus an epilogue. I can tell you that I'm not going to leave it off, especially since everything is planned out.
Voldy's Lover(Yummy): Thanks.
Sieyo- san: I tried to come up with something original enough that people wouldn't say I stole another ff.net writer's idea.
Raining Fire: Thanks! ^_^ It's nice to get such positive responses from my readers. I appreciate all the support.
Kittymui: Yes, I know .hack//sign. I've seen a few episodes, and that was just one of my inspirations.