"Fuck!" He exclaimed in a vicious growl, throwing his sword violently against the wall of their sleeping quarters before dropping himself to the floor and slamming his back against the rough, concrete wall. Clawed hands dug into his stained silver hair as he forced his eyes shut. 'It's all my fault,' he thought bitterly to himself, reliving the match over and over in his head, fixating on every little thing that had held him back and then…
He roared out in pain and frustration uncaringly, slamming a heavy fist into the ground, splitting the thin skin that covered his knuckles while various expletives rolled off his tongue in a snarl, his ears pinning to the back of his head.
It had all happened so quickly.
One moment they were winning and the next, well... The next she was staggering to the ground and bleeding out, her uniform barely recognizable below her chest as her blood soaked into it and spilled out around her. He could still smell the coppery smog that permeated the air as her blood pooled on the ground too quickly to fix, forming a crimson pond, drenching her, marring her pale skin. He could still hear that torturous gasping as she choked on her own blood - desperate for air, desperate for survival - her doomed gaze searching for help; searching for him.
Neither came.
In short, it had been a bad day.
Truthfully, most days were bad but that day… that day had been complete and utter shit. They hadn't just lost any ol' player, they'd lost their healer.
A heavy sigh came from one of his living teammates who walked in behind him, taking a seat at the opposite end of the shelter that comprised their sleeping quarters. He was just as sad, distraught, and frustrated as his half-demon comrade, though he chose to keep it to himself. Instead of taking it out on the floor or his own body, he slowly sank down along the wall, lazily letting his staff fall to the side, the rings clattering and scraping as they fell. "Calm down, Inuyasha," he muttered pejoratively at his friend and teammate. He ran a tired hand through his dirty charcoal-colored locks, violet eyes closing tiredly and head shaking while swallowing down the bile in his throat from the image of their good friend lying lifeless on the floor in the Arena in a pool of her own blood.
"Calm down? Calm down?!" Inuyasha hissed, brusquely lifting his head out of his hand to glare and snarl at the man. "We just lost our healer, Miroku! Our fucking healer! And I'm supposed to be calm?! We have another match in two days! Two!"
"We'll get a new healer, you know that," Miroku answered, his voice shallow and resigned. All players were replaced, eventually… No one was too important to keep, not here. "And if not, they'll give us a sub for our next match."
The Games were never stopped. For any reason. A cruel and constant reminder that no life was that important. The world would continue to turn, games continue to run, whether you were alive or not.
"Both of those options are worse than going without a new healer," Inuyasha snapped, shaking his head and staring, unfocused at the ground. His shoulders slumped, a heavy frown setting in. 'I-I'm so sorry, Kikyo…'
Kikyo was their healer.
Previously one of the most seasoned and formidable players in the game, Kikyo had been one of their best players. Now she was dead. D. E. A. D. Gone. Or, at least, she was dead to them. None of the Players really knew what happened after a Player died in a Game, if it was real or not, but no one wanted to find out either. It always looked more than real enough. It was just assumed that when you died in the Arena that you were… done.
After all, that was one of the rules; no one escaped. At least, not alive anyway.
Every team needed five players. The rules were strict on that too. Each Player had a role and each team needed a healer. They would likely have a sub for the next game, but after that. It was on them to train and protect their new, inexperienced and presumably weaker healer.
'If I couldn't even protect Kikyo… h-how can I protect a novice?' The guilt and grief tore at his chest as Inuyasha thought about Miroku's words, about Kikyo's death. She was just another and also not.
It sickened them all. Or, at the very least it sickened Inuyasha, Miroku and the rest of their team because for every lost teammate another innocent soul would be pulled into the same twisted game they had fallen victim to. It was an abhorrent cycle that had gone on for years. Though time, like everything else in the Grid, was artificial, making it hard for them to say for sure exactly how long they'd been there, how long the games persevered. More importantly, there was no sign that it was letting up. They were just as trapped, just as cornered as they'd been since their very first day. Soon they would meet their new healer. It was merely a matter of patience and, in the meantime, survival.
"I know you're mad but can you not destroy our sleeping quarters?" Another teammate sneered, walking up to the two men, with their fourth and only other living teammate on her shoulders. Her mulberry eyes were practically red with frustration and mourning as a result of their last round. "Punching holes in the floor won't bring her back or stop the Creators from replacing her. We need to get better. Simple as that."
"Sango's right," Miroku replied, resting his head against the thin cement wall that outlined their sleeping space, "let's go over what went wrong today and not make the same mistakes next time. No doubt other teams will try to exploit our weakness and we need to be prepared for that."
"This is sickening!" Spat Inuyasha, glaring between the three of them, "you're both acting like her life was meaningless!"
"That's not fair to accuse of us and you know it!" Sango fired back, "we all did everything we could to keep her alive! She was a good healer and that made her a target. You, out of all of us, should know that's how these games work! We failed her as a team and - if we want to protect our next healer - we all need to be better."
"Inuyasha, if we want to give her life meaning we need to prevent any of us, our new teammate included, from dying. We need to learn from our mistakes and prevent them," Miroku sighed, looking up at the rusted metal roof that hung above them. "Every other team will know our healer is new and inexperienced. We need to be smarter until they are brought up to speed."
"Can't we just trade the runt for a different player?" He remarked bitterly, looking up and over at their fourth and final member.
"Hey!" He replied nervously, clutching onto Sango tightly.
"Inuyasha, that's not fair either!" Sango scolded, "Shippo contributes a lot to our team."
"He's a disadvantage and you know it," Inuyasha snarled, looking at the little fox demon. "He's weak on a good day and we're vulnerable."
"You know if we trade him he'll die," Miroku stated firmly. "We aren't trading Shippo. I understand this is hard-"
"We're all dying in here!" Inuyasha exclaimed, "isn't that obvious? Why is he so fucking special?!" Inuyasha knew he wasn't being fair. He knew it wasn't Shippo's fault, it was his. He just… he hadn't been able to get there. He hadn't been able to prevent another woman from dying in front of him. It was what it was and he hated it.
He hated every goddamn second of it.
He hated how helpless he felt. Inuyasha was the most experienced player on their team and yet it didn't fucking matter. He was no fool, he knew that what "experience" in the Grid really meant was that he'd witnessed more needless death than the others. That he'd had to watch, powerlessly, as teammate after teammate, opponent after opponent, was slaughtered in front of him all in the name of winning. Most days Inuyasha could trick himself into thinking that if he was fast enough, strong enough, vigilant enough, that he could protect those around him.
Not that day though.
That day reality slammed against him like a tsunami hitting land to remind Inuyasha that he was nothing compared to the forces around him. Nothing but a weak, pathetic excuse for a half-demon, slowly rotting and aging in a never ending game of carnage, all true hope and light quickly stomped out by any number of other teams desperate for the same thing; freedom.
Miroku looked up and over at Sango before responding, "why don't we call it a day and tomorrow we can go over everything?"
"But-" Sango began before cutting herself off. She rolled her eyes then resigned herself. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth fighting the men. They were always too… emotional about the whole thing. They always needed to be reigned in and given direction, but Sango could see looking between them that there was no reaching them that night. It had been a bad day and tomorrow would be worse, but at least then they'd have slept and washed some of the grime off.
"Fine by me," Shippo muttered bitterly, sticking his tongue out at Inuyasha. He hopped off Sango's shoulder and walked over to his bed, before turning to Miroku, a not-so-simple question surfacing in his mind. "What-what do you think our new healer will be like?"
"Scared," Miroku replied simply, looking out as the last of the artificial light faded from view, "I think they will be scared."
Her consciousness dipped in and out. Initially the blackness alarmed her but as she fought to become lucid, she sought out the blackness in order to evade the harsh agony of cognizance.
Searing, unbelievable pain radiated through her skull and bled into every other facet of her existence. She was sure that she could even feel the ends of her hair in pain. With incredible effort, she opened her mouth to breathe, only to cough violently and involuntarily, every cell in her system screaming from immeasurable agony as the numbness of her previous state fell away.
Her brain began moving at an excruciatingly slow pace. Every thought began as a bubble that immediately popped before words or real concepts could form. She didn't know what she needed to do or what was what, she just knew that everything hurt.
She wanted the pain to stop. It was so intense, so completely overwhelming, that she began to understand why people would beg for death.
Then she heard it.
A high pitched yell that cut through her like a guillotine through a neck. She winced reflexively and immediately felt an all new kind of pain that had her coughing and whimpering like a literal kicked dog. She couldn't make sense of the sounds around her, other than the pitch and subsequent pain that followed as she tried to put the pieces together.
She could feel a presence getting closer. It was small but unfamiliar.
And it was running at her.
Panic crashed into her like a hurricane. Her momentary flirtation with the desire for death abruptly thrown aside as her will to live clawed its way forward, her mind scrambling to get the cogs moving again, finally forming a single coherent thought: 'get up! Get UP!'
Her eyes fluttered open, the light of day piercing. Her stormy gaze looked around, everything a blur and entirely too bright to process as she tried to make sense of where she was and how to escape, how to get help. She could see… 'green?' The pads of her fingers skimmed the surface of what was beneath her, over the soft blades of green, her face scrunching at the peculiar sensation. 'Grass… I-I'm… on.. grass? That… where?'
Using energy she didn't have, she gripped the grass between her fingers and pulled in a futile attempt to steady herself then push her body upwards.
Another high pitched yell had her entire state of mind scrambling in its already distressed and disoriented condition. The yelp cut through her like a goddamn chain saw, violently and with an unanticipatedly staggering power. She slumped back into the ground, burying her face, taking in belabored breaths as the presence closed the distance between them.
She swallowed hard, fixating on the energy around the creature approaching. It was small, cool but not cold, almost reassuring and tranquil despite the yell. The energy around it was a little chaotic, parts moving and flaring out in spurts while others seemed stable. 'A-a kid?'
Then she felt it.
Another aura.
That one, the second energy, burned like a giant star that lit up her whole mind in a blinding heat and light that refused to dim even as she scrunched her eyes as tightly as they would go. It was wild and fierce, staggering in its beauty and essence. It held such strength and heat and-
She bit her lip. She needed to get away from that one. That one… that one could hurt her. That one would ruin her and she couldn't fight back.
It held no malice that she could tell but that wasn't what had her spiraling further into panic and desperation. It burned with an intensity that put true infernos to shame and she could feel it despite knowing it was a good distance away. It was as if the tendrils of that energy were spreading out to wrap themselves around her. She'd never seen or felt someone else's energy do that before.
It was so unnaturally strong, concerningly so. She forced herself up, onto her hands, eyes opening anew and fixating on the green grass that shouldn't have fucking been there but, somehow, was. Slowly, painfully, she began to crawl. Her dull nails dug in for added traction, her muscles crying out in protest as she forced herself to slide along the damn, dewy grass.
"Stop!" Yelled the high pitched voice again, coming closer, almost upon her. "Please!" The owner of the excruciatingly high sound begged, "I won't hurt you!"
She turned, a reflex, a new wave of pain tearing through her. She fell again into the grass, her body refusing to listen as she attempted to move again, tears spilling out both from pain and the fear that tore at her sanity. "Please… help… me…" she slurred, consciousness dipping in and out again.
"I will," the voice promised as it took up a spot right in front of her, "Inuyasha! Over here!"
'Inu…ya…sha?'
Inuyasha swallowed thickly, staring down at her. Players came to the Arena in all conditions but this? This… he'd never quite seen this before. She was bloody and battered, unconscious and, over all, not in good shape. Physically she looked… Okay, she had a great shape to her, hourglass and all that garbage, and her limbs were intact - that was good, sure - but she was dirty, bloody, and the swollen bruises that littered her skin were evident even through her fucking clothes. If he didn't know better he would have thought that she had just been taken from the Arena, not entering it.
Shippo danced around her, little feet bouncing from side to side, panicking, not knowing what to do or how to help as her body went limp, tension bleeding out of her muscles as her head slunk into the ground, making him yelp. His eyes were already brimming with tears as he looked between Inuyasha and the woman. "Wha-what do we do?!"
"Tell Miroku we need to borrow a healer," Inuyasha groaned, running a clawed hand through his silver bangs. "I'll get her to camp."
Shippo nodded vigorously but looked down at her once more before leaving. "She-she's nice," he mumbled, wide green eyes looking at her with concern and an odd tenderness that wasn't usually reserved for strangers.
"You don't know her," Inuyasha muttered, rolling his eyes. "Now, go," he commanded, coming up next to her and kneeling. He had smelt the blood long before they found her, which was how he found himself out searching with Shippo so early in the day to begin with. Normally it took a few days for a new Player to be located but this one had been dropped off near their campsite within twenty four hours of their previous healer's death. In short, it was odd.
Like her and her condition.
Women were rare in the games.
Healers were rarer still.
All of it peaked of something strange that Inuyasha wasn't privy to.
He could see her hair was matted with blood, her body and clothes covered in a black dirt, which was also strange given that there wasn't dirt like that in the area. Inuyasha leaned closer, sniffing her and trying to make sense of all the scents. The aromas that clung to her were gross. They seemed almost fake, like stale air and plastic, but her natural scent beneath had him in an immediate choke hold.
Inuyasha pulled away, recoiling as it broke through the odors that clung to her, and shook his head. He didn't have a word for it other than lethal. It was both just a little too familiar and maddeningly thrilling.
He slowly slid his hands underneath her, preparing to pick her up off the ground, when she groaned loudly. It didn't take a genius to realize she was in pain, though he had been hoping that she'd fully slipped out of consciousness to make all their lives a little easier for the moment. "Hey," he murmured with a softness that surprised him. "I've got you, we're going to make sure you're okay. Don't try anything stupid."
As he brought her up, close, and off the ground, Inuyasha noticed the way she pulled herself into him, as if even being fully pressed against his chest wasn't quite close enough.
Her skin buzzed underneath his touch, her fear quelling as his aura surrounded her. She relaxed incrementally. The flares of his energy that had been snaking out to her earlier, she vaguely realized, weren't threatening. Yes, his energy was huge and luminous but as he held her, his entire presence wrapping around her, she felt oddly comforted. He wouldn't hurt her.
Not like the other one had.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the way her tiny fingers curled around his shirt, her muscles shaking as she moved every inch of herself closer into him, as he began walking back to camp. He looked ahead as he moved, holding her against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder, while his ears paid close attention to her breathing. The barest of whispers escaped her lips every so often, half questions that died in the air between them due to her frail condition. Her face was scrunched, her dark bangs obscuring most of her features while her body heat and touch bled over him, making him almost uncomfortable.
He shook his head as he walked. There was something off about this one. But, Inuyasha was sure they would find out soon enough what that was. There was no use fixating on it right then or trying to solve that mystery when she was in desperate need of medical attention. That was a problem for future Inuyasha to deal with. Or repress.
Whichever really.
Miroku jumped out of their sleeping quarters, hair in disarray as he sprinted toward Inuyasha's figure as the half-demon approached from the edge of the campsite. Miroku immediately cringed as he took in the sight that was their new, battered teammate.
"Fuck," he muttered, dark eyes examining her state. "I-I don't think we've ever gotten a Player in her condition before."
"Exactly, which is why… we need a healer," Inuyasha quipped, blinking rapidly and narrowing his gaze at his friend. "Why are you still here yapping at me? Go talk to the fucking wolves!"
Miroku nodded, quickly slipping his suit and grabbing his staff before setting out toward the wolves' camp. The wolves were another team locked in the Arena who Inuyasha and his team occasionally fought against. Their groups had formed an alliance ages ago that had transcended individual Players. Their teams had each agreed on a quid pro quo; they would alternate throwing games to prevent causing genuine harm to either and in exchange each team would offer assistance to the other in tough spots.
Tough spots like this, when new players needed training or someone needed extra healing. Although Inuyasha hated the flea-bitten wolves, their alliance had significant value. It had saved their asses on more than one occasion.
And likely would again.
Inuyasha knew that they needed the wolves' help before their new match as this new healer would be expected to fight. That was another one of the Creators' rules: if you were alive and able, you were expected to perform.
Whether you were "able" to fight had always been a loose standard. Really, if you could breathe, if you still had a heart beat, your ass had better be in the Arena on game day. It was as simple as that.
Hence why a healer was such a coveted role on a team. Players had to be in their best shape to survive. To survive they needed to win in the Arena. As such, showing up to the Arena battered or ill-rested was a problem. Healers bridged the gaps left between previous battles.
Except, Inuyasha and Miroku had lost their healer the day prior. It left them at a significant disadvantage. This was why the alliance had been made to begin with. Losing a healer was the worst case scenario for most teams. That rang very true for them then.
Sango stepped out of their quarters next, mulberry gaze quietly taking in the scene before releasing a heavy sigh. "I know you're upset but did you have to take it out on the healer?"
"Excuse me!" Inuyasha snarled, "she was like this already!" He was a lot of things, brash, rude, crude, and even surly, but one thing Inuyasha was not was abusive. He'd take his anger out on the Grid itself, not the people in it.
Especially not this woman.
She looked like she had it bad enough.
Sango approached, gaze narrowing as she evaluated the petite girl in his arms. She was barely stirring, her breath far too shallow and blood still dripping down her head. Sango grimaced upon closer inspection, eyes widening as she looked up at Inuyasha. "Wh-why did they do this to her?" She murmured.
Inuyasha shrugged noncommittally, he had been wondering the same thing. "Maybe… she fought them?"
Sango frowned, like Miroku and Inuyasha, she had been in the Grid for years. She could barely remember the day she arrived, let alone how she'd gotten there. The only solid memory of that time was the fear she learned to ignore. Fear would kill even the best of Players here if they let it. "Maybe," she mumbled, stepping back and giving the poor girl some space. "Well, this explains what gave Shippo such a fright."
"He's always scared, what's new?" Remarked Inuyasha, rolling his eyes.
"Yash… we aren't trading him, you know that right?" Sango responded.
"I didn't-I didn't mean what I said last night."
"Good, because you know he looks up to you…"
"Oh for fuck's sake! Not with that again!" He growled.
Sango shrugged before gesturing for him to bring the girl closer. "Come on, let's try to clean her up a bit before the wolves get here." She walked ahead of Inuyasha, grabbing what medical supplies they had on hand and walking with him toward the river.
Inuyasha could feel her stirring against him, her groans of pain a little louder than before. "This is going to hurt," he mumbled softly into her ear before slowly kneeling down next to the river bank. A muffled sob escaped as Inuyasha placed her down despite his gentle movements.
Sango swallowed loudly, her frown unusually large on her face. "This is going to sting," she warned before splashing water on the woman.
She cried out, curling herself into a tighter ball, a single hand gripping onto Inuyasha's wrist nearest her before a shiver ran down her spine. He looked away. He had to. His ears pinned to his head as Sango continued to splash her with more water followed by a worse, more desperate cry. Her grip tightened around him but he still couldn't look.
Inuyasha wasn't really sure why or what was coming over him but it was involuntary, his head turning away and eyes forcing themselves closed at the piercing sound of her cries. He had seen men, women, and children dismembered, disemboweled, bleeding out, you name it and he'd probably seen it, in the Arena. He'd been a Player for a long time. Nowadays, he normally looked at gruesome scenes of death the same way someone normal might offhandedly notice a stranger walking by them in a crowded city if they cared to pay attention at all in the first place. It was just another day in his life but her cries? They pained him, they created a deep ache in his chest that constricted his breathing and forced him to chew on the inside of his cheeks just to keep quiet.
Maybe it was the pitch of her voice or her obnoxious scent but every twitch, every sob, every whimper felt like an arrow to the chest, and he would know. He'd taken several of those.
"She seems to have taken a liking to you," Sango joked, trying to make light of his obvious and unusual discomfort.
"As if, she's barely conscious," he huffed, glaring over at his teammate.
"Hmm," was her only response as she watched the water turn red as it retreated back to the river after mixing with the woman's blood. Carefully, Sango pulled out a cloth and began to tenderly wipe away the rest of the dirt and grime that covered the woman's face. "I know this is probably a strange thing to say but… she's a lot more beautiful than I would have thought."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Scoffed Inuyasha, narrowing his eyes further at Sango.
She shrugged, pretending not to notice the way Inuyasha had stiffened at her comment. "Well, for one… Miroku is going to hit on her," Sango replied, eyes flitting up to Inuyasha for a brief second before looking back at what she was doing.
"Great," he hissed sarcastically. "Just what we need."
A heavy silence descended between them, Inuyasha occasionally daring to look down at the woman while Sango watched him closely. His gold gaze fixated and softened whenever he looked down at her face. Her skin looked about as tough as a flower petal, with the same brilliance of a pearl. Her raven hair, when not caked with blood, had a nice sheen to it, even wet. Above all else she looked… soft. He clenched his jaw and chewed on the inside of his cheeks, 'she won't last a goddamn day.'
Inuyasha could hear them before he saw them and it forced a low growl to tumble from his throat protectively.
Sango rolled her eyes, leaning away from the girl, "guess that means that the wolves are here."
He nodded, before trying to move away from her. The wolves' healer would need better access to the woman and space but as Inuyasha tried to stand and pull away, he realized their new healer still gripped his wrist with a strength that was perplexing. He was sure that she was unconscious or teetering on the edge of lucidity. 'So how the hell is she holding me so tightly?'
"Oi," he muttered to Sango, "I think we've got a problem."
Sango raised a single eye brow over at him. "Just one?" She joked before looking back over at him.
"I'm serious," he sneered, "she's got a fucking vice grip on my wrist."
"Inuyasha, you're a demon… You're ten times stronger than she could ever be. Just remove her hand," Sango sighed, waving her hand flippantly in his direction. "Over here!" She announced, turning her attention to their friends and watching as Miroku and two other familiar faces approached.
He tried, he really did, to simply peel her hand off of him but it-it wasn't working. As Inuyasha tried, he found again and again that he was merely digging into his own flesh and he wasn't about to remove his entire wrist over this. "What the…" he muttered, pulling his bloodied claws away. He could feel the sting of cuts in his own flesh but he also felt a strange heat licking at those same wounds immediately after.
Inuyasha tilted his head to the side, brows furrowing as an idea formed. With his free hand, he sliced his arm just above where her hand was fixed and waited.
"What are you-" Sango began, noticing just as Inuyasha purposefully tore at his wrist before stopping, her criticism dying in her throat, eyes widening as the skin on his arm stitched itself back together before them. "She-she's healing you?"
He nodded dumbly because, really, what else could he do? That was highly unusual for a healer. Even the best healers in the games couldn't heal while unconscious.
"What happened here? Did the mutt get so annoyed he literally bashed her in the head?" Cackled the self-important wolf demon, walking over with his team's healer.
"Oh, fuck off," Inuyasha snarled turning toward the leader of the wolf team.
"Koga," warned the female wolf next to him, "we're here as a favor, remember? Plus, we have a match later today, so let's make this quick."
"Thank you, again, for doing this on a game day," Miroku interjected.
The female wolf smiled over at Miroku, then looked down, "Inuyasha? Could I have some space?"
"Sure," he replied, lifting his arm, "if you can get her to let go."
"This is fucking ridiculous," Koga muttered stepping up to the woman, ignorant of the way her face scrunched as he approached, reaching for her hand. "You act like she's actually strong versus just another goddam human," he grumbled.
Inuyasha watched with a slight smirk, watching with unfettered glee to see exactly what would happen, the result of which he would have never predicted.
Koga blindly reached forward, digging his claws into the space between her palm and Inuyasha's wrist before a pink flame erupted, clawing up his hand and arm. He jumped back in surprise, yelping at the pain before thrusting his arm into the nearby water.
It took all of Inuyasha's strength not to burst into a fit of laughter.
"What the fuck?!" Koga exclaimed.
"See?" Inuyasha scoffed, "not so easy to remove her."
"Is this some type of trick?!" Hissed Koga, as the female wolf came up beside him, taking his injured hand into hers to heal it.
"Not that we are aware of," Sango remarked dryly.
"Be careful, Ayame," Koga warned, lip still in a snarl as ocean blue eyes glared at Inuyasha.
"I will be," she murmured, sitting herself next to the new healer after she was finished with Koga. Ayame's hands hovered over the girl, searching for the currents of energy she fed on to find and repair a body. Kneeling over the woman, Ayame smiled to herself, releasing a brief, "ah."
"'Ah' what?" Inuyasha asked, a little too eagerly.
"Your new healer is strong," she replied, bright green eyes meeting gold. She knelt down a little further, getting closer to the woman's ear. "Hi, my name is Ayame," she began, noticing the smallest little twitch in the woman's face. "I'm going to heal you. It will be uncomfortable for a moment but you should feel better soon. Okay?"
"Why are you talking to it?" Koga sneered, peering over.
"Because she's not unconscious," Ayame replied softly, glaring at Koga. "Keep your voice down, her head is probably pounding."
"Whatever," he muttered, walking back toward where Miroku and Sango were standing watch, both quietly staring with wide eyes, immensely intrigued.
"Okay, I'm going to place my hands on you," Ayame cooed, watching the woman's face intently as she grabbed a flower petal from her hair then lowered her hands onto the woman's chest. "I'm going to feel around you for the wounds, this may feel strange." Ayame crushed the petal between her palms then ran her hands over the woman, all while watching her expressions. As her hands gravitated toward her head, Ayame saw her grimace and heard a faint whimper. "Good news is that the only major injury is to her head and it looks worse than it is. There won't be any lingering damage," Ayame stated looking up briefly at the others standing by.
"This will sting for a second but have faith in me, okay?" Ayame asked, placing her hands directly on the woman's head.
Inuyasha felt her grip around his wrist tighten further as Ayame put pressure on the wound. After a moment though, her grasp loosened and he watched as all the muscles in her face and body began to relax, until her hand merely hung around near his. Inuyasha released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as her own breathing began to sound stronger and her heart no longer a faint sound but a steady beat in her chest.
"There," Ayame cooed, smiling at her. "That should feel better."
Miroku cleared his throat, once, twice, three times before Inuyasha looked over at him. The man gestured for Inuyasha to join them several feet away from her as Ayame worked. Inuyasha rolled his eyes, hesitant to leave her side but begrudgingly resigning to give her space all the same.
As he stood to leave, Ayame jolted forward abruptly, "hey hey hey, don't try to get up yet," she mumbled, looking and speaking only to the woman.
Inuyasha turned, his entire body freezing in place as his gaze connected with hers for the first time. The woman's eyes were open and looking up at him, half-lidded and clearly exhausted but even still, he could see the brilliant sapphire within them, dancing like a flame that refused to be blown out. He felt drawn to it like Narcissus to his reflection. He couldn't pull away from her, at least, not until those same eyes shut and her entire body went slack, exhaustion winning over her despite leaving him shaken to his core.
"So," Miroku stated, interrupting Inuyasha's budding thoughts and feelings, "our new healer is a weirdo…"
"Yes," Koga confirmed succinctly, ignoring the odd exchange between her and Inuyasha.
"She is strong," Ayame corrected sternly, "and she lost a lot of blood."
"Is that why this is taking forever?" Koga whined.
"Yes, the wound is closed but she's too cold to leave." Ayame explained, running a hand tenderly through the woman's bangs. "What's her name?"
"We, uh, we don't know yet," Sango interjected. "We found her and then went to you."
"Ah," Ayame mumbled, finally removing her hands, tone softening as she perceived the young woman next to her. "She'll be okay now. Just let her rest and… be gentle when she wakes up."
Ayame was one of the newer players to the games. Although time was hard to measure in the Grid, since her, only a few other Players had been added. Unlike many of the others, she remembered clearly what it was like to wake up in the Grid. Including the fear and confusion that came with it. Not to mention the depression that typically followed before a resigned acceptance found purchase in a player.
"We will," Sango promised. "Inuyasha, since she seems to prefer you… you wanna grab her and carry her back?"
"Do I have to?" He bemoaned, though he immediately walked over without having to be asked again and slid his hands under her. As he shifted her in his arms, Inuyasha wasn't the only one to notice how, again, she moved closer to him.
Sango paused, taking a mental note of how she seemed to innately reach for him before turning and walking back to the camp. Now that that was settled, they needed to convene as a team and work on their strategy. New, strong, or not, their next match was only a day away and they still didn't have a plan.
Miroku thanked the wolves and let them know they would be in touch before following his teammates back to camp. "What a relief!" He exclaimed, coming to walk next to Inuyasha. "Glad she's okay now."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes, 'is anyone ever really okay if they're here?'
Shippo sat anxiously around the fire he built, legs bouncing as the group re-emerged back at the campsite.
"Is she okay?!" He blurted the moment he made out their forms between the trees. "She doesn't look okay!"
"She'll be fine," Sango explained, taking a seat next to the fox. "She needs to rest though, okay?"
"We have a game the day after tomorrow," Shippo continued, worried green eyes following Inuyasha as he walked into their sleeping quarters. "Sh-she won't be ready."
Sango sighed heavily, looking over to Miroku for back up. The man ran a hand through his hair, watching the fire flicker as he attempted to bring his thoughts together. "We need a strategy here. We have a healer, so they won't give us a sub. We need to assume she isn't trained to fight or anything. So, what do we do?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Inuyasha growled, coming back out and taking a seat across from Shippo and Sango near the fire after depositing the girl in her new bed - Kikyo's old one. "We stick to the original plan, just… the second person to finish their tasks aids her instead of giving Shippo extra back-up. Third and final member goes to whoever is having the most difficulty."
"What if we abandon the player-to-player strategy for this round?" Sango suggested. "We can't leave either her or Shippo out on their own. It's too risky."
"Oh, so we let ourselves get dog-piled?" Snapped Inuyasha as he wrapped his arms across his chest. "Pass."
"I think Sango has a point here," Miroku interjected, "we need to assume that she won't be able to hold her ground and really, she probably won't for a while. We should possibly re-think our approach, at least until she is brought up to speed."
Inuyasha rolled his eyes and huffed before glaring at Miroku. "We can't baby her… she will need to learn and learn quickly that she needs to be able to handle it or she'll die."
"I don't think that will be a problem," Sango remarked snidely. "What is your issue? Why are you so against giving her a fucking minute to acclimate? No one is saying we permanently change our approach but we do need to make some shifts until we know what she can do and how other teams are going to take advantage of us."
"My problem, Sango, is that we already have a liability," Inuyasha snapped, a clawed finger extending and pointing at Shippo. "This girl makes two. We are three people now carrying a five person team!"
"So, what do you suggest?" Miroku asked, his index and middle fingers coming up to rub his temples. He could already feel a headache forming. It most certainly was going to be a long couple of days.
"We could trade her," Inuyasha stated matter of factly, the words falling out before he even really thought about them. "Ayame said she's strong. That's a selling point probably reflected in her profile. Several other teams want a stronger healer. She looks old enough to handle herself. Another team can get her up to speed and we can get a healer that knows what they're doing."
Inuyasha frowned at his own suggestion. He didn't particularly like it but, the longer his words hung in the air, the more rational it seemed not just to him but to Miroku too. There were a number of potential advantages to trading her.
He didn't really allow himself to think about the pit forming in his stomach at the actual premise of getting rid of the woman.
An uncomfortable silence fell between them as Sango and Miroku considered his proposal. Trades happened all the time and for various reasons. Sometimes partnerships fell apart or sometimes new players just didn't jive with the rest of the team. It wasn't uncommon for seasoned and/or new players to be put up on the trading floor. Miroku looked over solemnly at the woman then sighed heavily.
"Okay," he finally stated. "Let's put it to a vote. All in favor of trading the new healer, raise your hand."
Inuyasha rose his and waited, amber eyes flitting between Miroku and Sango as both slowly rose theirs as well. Miroku lifted his hand shortly after Inuyasha but Sango had held out, worrying her lip before closing her eyes and bringing her hand up at a glacial pace. Inuyasha didn't like the plan but it was the only one that guaranteed all of their survival and at the end of the day that was what was the most important factor, not what team you were part of or which logo you wore into the Arena. "It's settled then-"
"No," Shippo bit out in a snarl, his green gaze narrowing and staring down Inuyasha. "Trade votes need to be unanimous."
All three turned to look at the little fox, who stood on the log next to Sango, his little legs shaking, while the rest of the fox demon child stood with a hardened resolve. "I didn't raise my hand," Shippo announced.
"Shippo, for fuck's sake!" Inuyasha groaned. "This is your life on the line too!"
"I'm not trading her," Shippo declared, his tiny hands curling into fists as he let out a nervous breath. "She stays."
"Why?!" Inuyasha snarled, "because you think she's nice?!"
"Because she's strong too!" Shippo spat, hopping off the log and jumping in Inuyasha's face. "I know you felt it," he hissed. "She's strong but also… because she needs us. None of the other teams will protect her."
"Shippo," Miroku began, his voice far more understanding than Inuyasha's aggravated tone. "You're putting a lot on us-"
"I'll defend her," Shippo stated, turning his ire toward Miroku. "I will."
"Yeah right," sneered Inuyasha.
"I will!" He bit back, growling at the half-demon. "You can gripe as much as you want! I won't vote to trade her!"
"Fine," Inuyasha spat, "then it is your responsibility to save her dumb ass in the next game! You want to pretend you're a man?! Then you get to deal with the consequences like a man!"
"Inuyasha-" Sango began, using that condescending and slightly mother-like tone she always got when she felt he was acting like a petulant child.
"No, I don't want to hear it!" He exclaimed, whipping his head around to face her. "Shippo is sticking his neck out for her, fine. But he's sticking his neck out! I'm not going to be held responsible for this!"
"No one holds you responsible for Kik-"
"Oh fuck off!" He snarled, getting to his feet. "That's the unspoken rule with this team! I'm the one that saves your asses! I'm tired! I can't keep rescuing you all all the fucking time! Shippo wants to man up, let him! Go ahead, runt! You can finally see first-hand what hell you each put me through every fucking round!"
"Enough," Sango hissed, standing with her fists at her side. "You can be upset, Inuyasha, but you can't take it out on us. We're a team."
"Then maybe my team should figure out how the hell we're going to take care of two dead weights instead of silently expecting me to shoulder it!" He spat, "I'm outta here. Let me know when you have a goddam solution!"
Sango clenched and unclenched her fists as Inuyasha turned then immediately bounded out of their camp, launching into the air and heading in the direction of the Arena.
"Where's he going to go?" Shippo remarked snidely, crossing his arms over his chest, worry and insecurity settling in.
"He'll probably go watch the games," Miroku sighed, letting his head fall into his hands.
"You guys… you guys aren't mad at me for wanting to keep her… right?" Shippo asked, his voice starkly weaker than it had been a moment earlier.
"No Shippo, we're not," Miroku commented. "It just… complicates things. But… you're a member of this team and your input is valued. Inuyasha just… he doesn't like to not get his way."
"I'm going to get breakfast prepared," Sango muttered, ignoring the conversation and turning on her heel before stalking over to their food rations.
"Shippo, will you help her?" Miroku asked, "I'm going to go see what's happening in the Square."
"Yeah," he mumbled, fidgeting with his fingers.
"Shippo, don't worry. We won't let anything happen to you," Miroku stated, attempting to reassure him.
"But… but what about her?" He asked, looking up at his friend. "There's… she's different."
"Why do you think that?" He pressed.
"I felt it. Kikyo, I only ever felt it when she was fighting but this healer… the air around her… it's like static." He tried to explain, his gaze falling to the ground, unfocused as his face scrunched up while he attempted to articulate what he felt. "It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up."
"The Grid magnifies everyone's powers," Miroku explained.
"Yeah, I know… still…"
"Well, we'll find out eventually right?" He smiled, getting to his feet.
Shippo nodded, his gaze falling back on the small woman who had curled herself into a tight ball again. "Yeah…"
Miroku meandered through the Square, his arms hanging loosely at his side, violet eyes carefully scrutinizing each of the other players around him. The Square was a common space, a designated area where game schedules, match-ups, scores and trading took place. Similar to a town square, it was where things happened, at least where things outside the Arena happened. Games were played in the Arena, Players and teams lived in and trained in the spaces allocated to them in and around their sleeping quarters, and the Square acted as a strange middle ground. The air was always thick and tense in the Square because grudges and rivalries never stayed in the Arena, they always spilled out regardless of whether or not they were supposed to.
Some teams liked to pick fights outside the Arena, seeing it as a different form of training and strategy. Most, though, went to the Square for supplies, news, and the occasional socialization outside their own team. The socialization was what brought Miroku there.
He needed to see an old teammate.
Like most players, Miroku had been on a few teams prior to landing his current spot on the same team as Inuyasha. Inuyasha had been in the game longer, but the half-demon and Miroku had quickly fallen into a rhythm. From then on, they stuck together. As a pair they'd been traded to a team with Kikyo as a healer. Similarly, they all worked together well and when a fighter died, Sango was added. In what seemed like no time at all they had formed an almost unstoppable team. Their fifth player had been a problem though. Often going rogue or purposefully messing up strategy for attention. It had caused rifts and even resulted in a number of injuries and losses.
When they offered that player up on the trading floor, Sango had noticed that another team was trading a child; Shippo. Children never lasted long in the Grid. They weren't fast or strong. They were often scared and weak. They had agreed as a unit to protect Shippo. Sure, their fifth player had been pissed that he had been traded for a child, and they had never reached their previous height since bringing Shippo on, but their team had been stable for some time by that point and had earned a reputation as respectable fighters even after adding and keeping the kitsune child.
It had been a long time since their rhythm had been shaken up though. They weren't the best team in the Arena, but they were still one that plenty of others would have liked to knock down a peg for extra points or a better chance at advancing. That was the main reason Miroku had decided to head to the Square so quickly in the day. He normally went at night, he generally preferred the evening crowd, but Miroku needed to get a better sense of exactly what they were up against. The sooner he did that the better, especially with Inuyasha already in a huff.
"Miroku, good to see you again," murmured his old teammate as he feigned interest in a new set of armor available for purchase at an automated market station.
"Good to see you as well, Hachi," he whispered in response, keeping his expression mute. "Is your team treating you well?"
"As well as can be expected," the raccoon-dog replied. "I've heard from the grape-vine that you got a new healer this morning.
"We did," he answered, frowning at how quickly gossip had spread despite the overly large physical size of the Grid. His violet gaze looked around him briefly, taking stock of where other players were and what they were focusing on. In the Grid, almost nothing was private. Your business was always someone else's business too, because anything and everything would be used against you if it could be weaponized. It was a cut throat world, plain and simple. "What else, pray tell, have you heard?"
"That she's… strange."
Miroku nodded lightly, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "What extra resistance can we expect?"
"A lot," Hachi explained, taking a pause to pick out a different piece of equipment to look at. "Rumor is that she's strong."
"Kikyo was strong too," Miroku murmured defensively. "This doesn't change-"
"Kikyo was strong. She was a formidable opponent," Hachi interrupted. "Your team won matches you shouldn't have - earned points others felt entitled to - with her assistance. Other teams want to prevent the newbie from becoming the new Kikyo."
"Great," Miroku sighed heavily, shaking his head. "So… no easy rounds."
"I would say not. I would expect her to be a target."
"And Inuyasha?"
"People think he's weak. He hasn't been the same since-"
"Thank you, Hachi," Miroku interrupted in a firm mumble, smiling weakly. "Anything I can do in return for your kindness?"
"If she ends up being as strong as people fear, I'd like a healing session," he asserted. "I'm sure you've noticed… a few games ago I suffered a bad hit."
"I did. I was very happy to see you alive in the next round."
"Our healer isn't strong enough to fix it completely," Hachi continued. "I have nerve damage in my left arm."
"Understood. I will work with her," Miroku promised. "Stay safe, friend."
"You as well."
Hachi casually walked away, leaving Miroku to stare at the armor in front of him. After their last round, he had been expecting Inuyasha to be a target. In fact, that morning, he had been hoping that Inuyasha would be the main player other teams targeted. It wasn't because he wished ill on Inuyasha or held any sort of grudge against his friend's outburst, it was because Inuyasha wasn't weak. He could and likely would beat out any opponent they faced in the coming match ups easily. Hearing that their healer would be the prime target was a problem though.
His violet gaze flitted across the various forms of armor and he sighed heavily. Each team received certain awards and bounties after games. Each performance yielded certain scores, which translated to cash that each team could spend on extra food, clothes, medical supplies, power ups for the next round, you name it. They had been hoping to use their accrued earnings to upgrade their campsite and training materials.
Miroku swallowed down his disappointment and fear, taking a few steps to his side where Hachi had previously been standing and began filtering through the various forms of armor available.
Their healer would need extra protection. Even if it weighed her down, it was better than having her lose an arm or leg during her first battle.
"What the hell is all of that?!" Sango exclaimed as Miroku dumped his purchases on the grass next to their sleeping quarters so the clamoring sound would be more muted.
"If we aren't trading her, we need to protect her," he explained, ignoring the look of shame and frustration on Shippo's face. "I talked to Hachi. The other teams will be targeting her."
"Wait… what?" Sango stopped, originally intending to ream him out for spending their hard earned cash on things that didn't consist of training upgrades. "I thought Inuyasha was going to be the target after-"
"Yeah, I thought so too," Miroku mumbled, "but Hachi said word has spread that she's strong or at the very least, odd. The other teams want to stomp out any chance that she'll be the next Kikyo."
Sango muttered expletives to herself, crossing her arms over her chest and staring down at the armor. She no longer questioned his decision but she still didn't like it. "They are going to hammer her," her voice was coated in a sadness and sense of regret Sango didn't often portray openly.
"Yes, they will." Miroku agreed solemnly. "I got her a few different types of things to try out and I got some stuff for Shippo as well."
"Good thinking," Sango murmured, kneeling down to examine it, already pushing back the emotion that had been brimming in her tone. She sighed loudly, dragging her fingers over the material. "Your breakfast is by your bed."
"Thanks, has Inuyasha-"
"No, he's still sulking… somewhere."
Miroku turned, examining the woman sleeping in Kikyo's old bed. "How is she?"
"Breathing," Sango joked, a small and resigned smile dancing on her lips. "She no longer looks like she's pained but I'm sure we'll know when she wakes up."
"Probably. Okay, so…" Miroku began, switching gears in his mind, "I'll eat and then we should train. Without a trained healer we should focus on evasive procedures."
"I agree."
"Shippo, get suited up!" Miroku commanded. "We're going to practice as soon as I finish eating."
"But what about her?" He asked, walking over and pointing at the healer. "We can't just leave her here can we?"
"She'll be fine," Sango assured. "Inuyasha will come get us when she's awake. He'll probably know before us anyway."
Consciousness slipped back with a chilling welcome. She kept her eyes shut, sucking in hard, sharp breaths and swallowing down the fear that ate at the edges of her sanity. She struggled to remain calm, artificially forcing her breathing to even out and attempting to keep her expression relaxed in case she was being watch-
"I know you're awake."
She bit down on the side of her cheek. It was all still fuzzy. She recognized the voice and the heat around her but nothing else. Slowly, she pulled her eyes open, taking notice of the dirty grey, cement wall a few inches from her face. She waited… expecting to feel that mind shattering pain from earlier but it didn't come.
She wiggled her toes, then her fingers, and waited. No pain. She took in a single, large breath then pushed herself up. She smacked her mouth together. It was dry and despite just waking up she felt anything but rested. Sapphire eyes trailed along the wall and down, briefly examining the bed below her before she turned, steeling herself to face the owner of the voice.
The healer sat up, twisting around, her gaze landing on… 'A boy?' Her head tilted to the side. It had been a long time since she'd seen any one that looked like him, obviously demonic but also incredibly human in appearance.
"What's your name?" He asked sternly, gold eyes burning a hole through her.
"Uh, K-Kagome," she murmured, biting on her bottom lip wanting to pull her eyes off of him but unable to work up enough strength to resist. He was beautiful. Hair that looked about as soft and brilliant as diamonds threaded into silk. Despite the scowl he wore, she couldn't help but admire the contours of his face. He had long lashes but his eyes… she felt like she was looking directly into the sun. "And yours?" She managed to get out.
"Inuyasha," he replied flatly, an ear flicking to the side, drawing her attention. He watched her eyes dart upward and pupils widen as her lips parted. He rolled his eyes. "The rest of the team is coming."
"Team?" She questioned, practically coughing out the word.
He shook his head, pushing himself up and disappearing behind another cement wall. Kagome worried her lip, looking around at the concrete box that appeared to house five beds and opened up to what she could only guess was a campsite. A blacked fire pit sat at the center, with a few large logs stationed around it like benches. She looked around, noticing the expanse of trees and shrubs that provided the illusion of privacy, though there were no dividers or…
Kagome twisted and turned, cringing as she realized that it didn't appear that there was any plumbing.
"What?" He scoffed, coming back over with a metal cup and roughly extending his arm out to her.
"Where…" A lot of questions passed through her mind then. Where the hell are the walls? Where are the toilets? Where is my mother or brother or grandfather? But one specific question seemed to trump the others. "Where am I?"
"The Grid," he replied dryly, as if bored by her otherwise perfectly reasonable question.
Kagome frowned, her head tilting to the side and eyes closing, holding the water he'd given her before he plopped down on a bed in the concrete box. "I don't… is this a joke?" She murmured, shaking her head as her brows knit together.
"If it is, I'm not laughing," he sneered.
"She's awake!"
Kagome immediately turned, instantly recognizing the high pitched voice and blinking quickly at the small demon that bounded inside and stood excitedly in front of her. His eyes were wide and bright but they held a somber note that shouldn't have been in a kid's gaze that pulled at Kagome's heart strings.
"I'm Shippo!" He exclaimed, taking a step closer, a fluffy tail wagging slightly behind him like a puppy.
"Shippo, don't yell," Sango scolded, walking in after, with Miroku in toe, all three wearing matching grey suits. "She might still have a headache."
"I'm sorry," he murmured, looking up at her expectantly.
Kagome smiled down at him and extended a hand, "hi, Shippo. I'm Kagome."
He eagerly took her hand, shaking it vigorously and beaming up at her. "See Inuyasha! I told you she was nice!"
Her eyes flitted back up to him in time to see the man roll his again.
"Kagome, I'm Miroku and this is Sango," he stated, taking a seat in what Kagome assumed was his bed as the others did the same. "We were quite worried about you."
She sipped on the water in her hands, blinking quickly and turning back to Inuyasha. She recognized his face. The others' too, but they were less distinctive. Her head fell to the side again, sapphire eyes picking apart each and every feature, including the fluffy ears-
"Oh my god," Kagome exclaimed, the cup sliding out of her hands and crashing onto the floor.
"What?!" Shippo asked, running over and grabbing the cup, watching her with grave concern as the color drained from her face.
"You're-you're… a Player," she murmured, her heart rate picking up.
"Well this is new," Miroku mumbled, "most new players don't understand-"
"New players?" Kagome snapped, turning to him. "Wha-what are you talking about?"
"Welcome to the team, princess," Inuyasha remarked irately. "You're a Player too."
Kagome shook her head back and forth rapidly, closing her eyes and swallowing hard. "No, that's not… that's not right… I didn't-I didn't sign up."
"Great," Inuyasha scoffed, looking up at the metal roof and shaking his head, "they gave us a mentally ill one."
"Hold on a minute," Miroku interjected, "how did you know Inuyasha was a Player?"
"His face used to be on like half the advertisements!" Kagome exclaimed. "I couldn't go to a corner market or grocery store without seeing him or a wolf demon or someone else from the game."
"What the fu-" Inuyasha hissed, leaning forward and looking at her like she had two heads.
"How do you know the games?" Miroku questioned, raising a hand to silence Inuyasha before he yelled at the woman or otherwise derailed the conversation.
"It's… it's a… T.V. show…" Kagome mumbled looking around, her hands extending around her body and feeling everything as she dragged the pads of her fingers across the bed and the wall. "This has to be fake," she muttered, ripping at the fabric and materials beneath her. "No, no… I was… I was… going to the store…" she continued, before pausing, looking down at her arms. "You can't feel pain in a dream," she continued, muttering to herself in a panic, reaching for her skin and pinching hard.
"Not a dream," Inuyasha stated, ignoring the look of sheer horror that painted itself across her face as she realized the same thing.
"Kagome?" Shippo asked, walking over to her. "Are you-"
"Shippo, give her some space," Sango suggested firmly, recognizing the distant and sick look in Kagome's eyes as reality slowly began to sink in. The fox demon backed up, watching her as the healer stood off the bed and turned to exit the space, shaking her head and mumbling to herself still.
"Can we get a refund?" Inuyasha muttered. "We have a broken healer!" He snapped, looking at Miroku. "What the fuck are we going to do now?!"
"Give her a fucking minute!" Sango hissed, standing to follow her out. "Kagome!"
She ignored Sango, looking around the area, hands shaking as she took in her surroundings. "Where are the skyscrapers…"
"The what?" Sango asked, walking a few paces behind her.
"The skyscrapers?!" Kagome yelled, tears pricking at her eyes as she twisted around violently but only noticing that a few paths had been worn into the forest around their campsite. She looked up and to the sides, her lungs constricting and her head feeling far too light. "Where the hell am I?!"
Sango stepped forward, advancing slowly as Kagome continued to unravel, "this is the Grid, or at least, that's what we were told…" She tried to explain softly.
"What did you mean by 'T.V. show'?" Miroku asked, walking out and observing the two women closely. No one else had come in here crying of T.V. shows or towering buildings. No one else had a clear memory and yet… she did. She had remembered what she was doing right before it all went black.
That was more than a little intriguing to Miroku.
Rivulets of water tumbled from Kagome's eyes as she paced, looking all which ways, "where are the directors and-and-and-"
"Hey, I hate to break it to ya," Inuyasha snapped, leaning against the outer portion of the concrete wall that housed their beds, "but there aren't any 'directors' or shit. This isn't a fucking show. This is hell. Buckle up because you ain't gettin' out and we have a round the day after tomorrow."
"Inuyasha!" Sango spat, whipping her head around. "Can't you see she's on the verge of a mental breakdown?!"
"Yeah, so? Break down. Fall apart. Just get the fuck back up by game time. I don't want to end up like the taijiyas."
"But I didn't sign up!" Kagome screamed, leveling a heavy glare at Inuyasha.
"So fucking what?!" He snarled, pushing himself off the wall and stalking over to her. "You really think any of us willingly chose to be here?!" Inuyasha hissed, stopping only when he was standing right in her face. "Wake the fuck up, princess. None of us wanted to be here! We all woke up in this hell, just like you! So go ahead and find a fucking crevice to cry in and come back when you're fucking hungry and ready to fight. Because it's that or die. Your fucking choice."
"Inuyasha," Miroku warned, "enough."
"No! I'm sick of this garbage!" He roared back, turning and looking at each of his teammates, letting his gaze linger on Kagome. "We don't have time to baby her! We don't have time to keep fucking playing nice! People in here are dying and I would prefer not to be one of them!"
"D-dying?" Kagome mumbled, "I-I don't understand, that's not-"
"Not what, princess?" He growled, that burning stare searing into her again.
"Players aren't supposed to die…" she replied weakly, hearing how hollow and pathetic her words sounded in comparison to his, as her gaze passed over him again. This time though Kagome couldn't help but notice that Inuyasha looked like a killing machine. Earlier she had been fixated with all the things that made him look ethereal and stunning. Standing in the clearing, tears running down her cheeks with a look of pure fury in his eyes, Kagome couldn't help but see all the things that made him something else entirely… All the things that made him a predator: the claws, the fangs, the muscles, and the feral energy that flickered around him, threatening to swallow him whole.
He stared at her, hard, gaze narrowing, closing the last minuscule space between them, keeping his heated gaze locked with hers as he spoke in a dangerously low and unmistakably vicious growl, "we do - slowly, painfully. I've watched children be ripped to shreds. So, tell me again… we're not supposed to… what?"
"She thinks this is a game," Shippo stated weakly, his solemn comment cutting through the tense air. "Like… for fun."
"Why the hell would you think that?" Inuyasha snapped, never taking his eyes off her, captivated by the storm that was forming inside them.
"Because that's what I was told it was," Kagome replied, looking back at him, her lip trembling as she felt her sanity begin to crumble to nothing more than ash in her mind.
"You were lied to."