Deadly Games

Chapter 2

Smiles at Rumiko Takahashi I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters. They were created by the wondrous Rumiko Takahashi-sama. Cowers away from threatening lawyers I also do not own any aspects similar to any of the Mario Party games that may be used in this fanfic.

Sango sighed deeply as a nice breeze blew over her. It felt so nice; she didn't want to wake up. But, she was already awake, and she was confused about why she was feeling a breeze. Hadn't she fallen asleep in Kikyo's tent? She lazily opened her eyes and pushed herself up on her elbows. She was lying on a platform in a grassy field surrounded by trees. Past the treetops she saw smoke and the very tips of rooftops. On the platform in front of her was an old wooden well. Directly above her was a clear and baby blue sky. She rubbed her eyes and blinked twice. Was she dreaming? Were her eyes tricking her? She raised her fist and slammed it down onto the platform. She cringed as a sore sensation tingled up her arm. Nope, she wasn't dreaming. So it must've been the latter.

She looked over her shoulder and saw Kagome snoozing peacefully behind her. She turned to face her best friend and shook her. "Kagome-chan, get up!" Kagome groaned and blearily opened her eyes. She sat up, stretched, and yawned. "Hey, Sango-chan. What's wrong?"

Sango put her hands on Kagome's shoulders and said with worry, "You want to know what's wrong? Look around!"

Kagome gaped as she took in the scenery. "Where are we?"

Sango looked around a second time. "I don't know, but… but it looks familiar somehow." Suddenly, Kagome realized something. "Where are Inuyasha and Miroku!"

She heard an irritated voice behind her grumble, "We're right here; you don't have to be so loud." Kagome turned around and saw the boys also waking up. She threw herself at Inuyasha and shouted with relief, "I'm so glad you're okay! I'm so scared! Where are we? What's happened?" Kagome then noticed how close she was to Inuyasha and leapt backwards.

Inuyasha stifled a laugh at her antics, and then became dead serious. "If you don't know what's going on, why do you expect me to?" Miroku nodded. "It appears none of us are clued in to the situation. The last thing I remember was falling asleep while were playing that game. But obviously, we are not in Kikyo's tent any longer."

The other three nodded, when a sound came from inside the wooden well behind them. A bright blue light exploded out from inside the well, and a childish voice spoke, "I think I can clue you in." The four friends turned to the well as the light began to dwindle. All was quiet for a short moment, when something popped out of the well and landed on the platform in front of them.

It was a small boy with orange hair and light green eyes. He wore a light blue kimono shirt with white leaves on it in various places, an orange fur vest, navy blue pants, and a light blue held his small ponytail in place. Strangely, his feet looked more like paws than feet, his ears were slightly pointed, and most noticeable about him was his orange furry and poofy tail.

Inuyasha snorted. "Hey kid. Did you lose a bet or something?" The small boy's eyebrow twitched and he cleared his throat. "Ah, no. I am Shippo the kitsune. But you can just call me 'Game Guy'. I will guide and assist you as you play Feudal Fairy Tale!" Miroku closed his eyes in deep thought. "Feudal Fairy Tale? Where have we heard that before?" Kagome piped up, "I know! That's the name of Kikyo's board game!" Shippo smiled broadly. "Oh, but Feudal Fairy Tale is no ordinary board game. You, my friends, are in Feudal Fairy Tale."

All four shouted, "WHAT!" Shippo smiled and continued to explain, "The general rules of the game are just as Kikyo-sama described to you before, but of course, as you are now actually inside the game, the rules are a bit different." Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Just spit it out, kid." Shippo glared at Inuyasha. "That's Game Guy-sama to you! Anyway, like Kikyo-sama said, there is a mini-game after each turn, and there are twenty turns. If any one of the players cannot make it out of a mini-game, they don't get to go on to the next round. You are all playing to make it out with your lives, but… only the winner will be allowed to leave. The others will have died, or are stuck in Feudal Fairy Tale forever. Those are the stakes. Good luck to all of you. If you have any questions, summon me and I'll assist you in anyway Kagura allows me to."

Inuyasha cocked his head to the side. "Who's Kagura?" Shippo crossed his arms. "She's who sent you here of course!" Inuyasha glared. "What!" He looked up to the sky. "Kagura, whoever you are, show yourself!"

Kagura's smug face appeared in the sky. "Hello. I'm sure Shippo has told you the rules. But, there's something else you must know. You are collecting Millennium Stars that can sense the Shikon shard Kikyo has hidden inside this game." Kagome shouted up to Kagura, "What have you done with Kikyo!" Kagura smiled. "Oh, she'll be fine… maybe." Tears welled up in Kagome's eyes. "Kikyo…" She whispered.

She buried her face in Inuyasha's chest, and he wrapped his arm around her back. Kagura continued, "As I was saying, the Millennium Stars you will be collecting have the ability to sense the Shikon shard. But only some of them. If you find a star that cannot sense the Shikon shard, you will have to play a penalty mini-game. The winner is the player who finds the Shikon shard. Whichever one of you wins will be able to use the Shikon no Tama to grant their wish. But afterwards you will become a slave to Naraku and serve him the rest of your life. The others will be trapped here. Have fun playing! Ta ta!"

Miroku looked around as Kagura's face faded away and said sarcastically, "So, I guess it's a lose-lose situation, huh?" Sango glared at Miroku. "Houshi, be serious!" Miroku shrugged. "I'm sorry." Kagome pulled away from Inuyasha and wiped her eyes. Shippo cleared his throat again.

"If you're all done, let's pick the play order, shall we?" The four nodded and Shippo continued, "Please step up here." He gestured to four up-raised platforms. A pink one, a green one, a red one, and a purple one. Sango stood on the pink platform, Kagome stood next to her on the green platform, Inuyasha stepped onto the red platform, and Miroku took his place on the purple platform. Shippo looked over the four, then nodded. He snapped his fingers, and four swiftly spinning dice appeared above Kagome, Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha's heads.

Shippo explained, "Whenever you're ready, jump up for your dice. Call out the number it lands on when you grab it. Whoever has the smallest number goes last, and likewise, whoever has the largest number goes first." The all nodded and Shippo concluded, "Just stop the dice whenever you're ready." Inuyasha impatiently pushed down on the platform, and the spring pushed him up towards the dye. He grabbed hold of it, and mumbled, "Let's just get this over with." He glared at the block, and turned to Shippo. "Four." Shippo simply smiled.

Next, Miroku cautiously pressed down on the platform and allowed it to send him up. He reached for the dye and came back down. He showed the block to Shippo and stated, "Nine." Inuyasha and Miroku looked at the girls, and they looked to each other nervously. They counted in unison, "One, two, three!" They jumped up together and fell back down their platform with their dice. Sango spoke first, "Eight." Kagome gulped and stated, "Six." Shippo nodded energetically.

"Okay! So the order is Miroku, Sango, Kagome, Inuyasha! Before you begin to play let's get you into better attire!" Shippo conjured up a small blue fire in his tiny palms and tossed it towards the four. The flames engulfed them, and when it dissipated, they all looked completely different.

Instead of the tan khaki pants, pink floral print tank top and a blue jean vest, Sango wore more of the attire of a warrior. Her overall outfit was a black body suit, and the top had a Chinese style collar. The collar was pink and the piece of material that went across her chest was also pink. A small white clasp held it to the shirt. A gold ornament adorned the left of her top. Pink shoulder pads rimmed with white rested on her shoulders, and red cloth held them down. The elbow pads matched the shoulder pads and a piece of red cloth wrapped around her wrist. Her sleeve continued on her hand and connected to her middle finger with a red band. A pink piece of armor stretched from the bottom of her chest down to her thighs and a red belt wrapped it around her waist. There was a piece of armor in the back that was the same as the one in the front without the upper part. She wore black boots with a piece of cloth wrapped around it at the middle of her foot. Softer pink armor went from the rim of her boots and up to her knees.

Sango spread her arms and looked herself over. "I- I look like that demon exterminator I used as a playing piece!" She stuttered. "That's right." Shippo replied.

Kagome's white short sleeve shirt and green pleated skirt morphed into a miko style outfit. She wore a white kimono style shirt with red string sewn across the bottom of the sleeves. Her pants were a dark red color and there was a bow neatly tied at the waistband. Kagome shrieked, "I look like Kikyo!" Shippo rolled his eyes. "More specifically, like the miko playing piece." Kagome nodded. "Right."

Miroku's new outfit was very similar to an average monk's attire. He wore a black robe with a purple over robe tucked into the collar and held there with a bow. A purple armband with light blue beads wrapped around it appeared on his right hand. Miroku scratched his head. "Hmm… very interesting. What is the purpose of changing our clothes?" Shippo looked to Miroku and replied, "It helps create a fuller game play experience, and your new clothes are better suited to this environment."

Inuyasha's muscle shirt and pants changed into totally different clothing. His shirt was similar to Kagome's, but his was red with black strings on the sleeve bottoms. His pants also matched Kagome's. But a rosary was now wrapped his neck. It had plum colored beads with a white fang looking bead every five regular beads. Even more strange was the fact his eyes turned gold, he grew fangs and razor sharp and long nails, and his hair went from ebony black to a pearly silver color!

Inuyasha tucked his arms into his sleeves. "What the heck am I supposed to be?" Shippo answered, "You are the resemblance of the hanyou playing piece." Inuyasha shouted, "Hanyou! I thought he was a demon!" Shippo shook his head. "No… he was a hanyou." Suddenly Inuyasha felt a strange sensation on the top of his head. He looked away from Shippo and saw Kagome hovering in front of him, reaching for something above him. He grabbed Kagome's hand. "What are you doing!"

Kagome pointed above Inuyasha's head and whispered, "Cute…" Inuyasha looked around. "Cute? What's cute?" Shippo snapped and a hand mirror appeared in his tiny palms. He willed it over to Inuyasha, and Inuyasha snatched it from the air. He screamed in surprise and shock when he saw the fuzzy twitching dog ears on his scalp. What really scared him was the absence of his regular human ears on the side of his head. Inuyasha threw the mirror, and it disappeared into thin air.

Shippo clapped his hands. "Well, let's get this game started now, shall we? Miroku, you go first." With that, Shippo disappeared into his blue fire.

Miroku cautiously bent his knees as another spinning dye appeared above his head. He jumped up, and caught the dye in his hands.

… Let the game begin…