Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.
Chapter Six: Let the Game Begin
Kagome yawned and looked over at the sleeping body next to her. The room was filled with grumbling noises and the sound of an alarm clock being smacked around. Sango was still sleeping heavily beside her.
Shippo, Miroku, and Koga all managed to sleep in the second queen size bed in the hotel room. Kagome looked over the side of the girls' bed and saw the pallet that Inuyasha had made on the floor inbetween them. She grinned as she remembered the threats of painful death he made to the boys if any of them tried anything.
They were all tired. Likely it was because they spent the evening out. They had been singing karaoke and going from dance club to dance club all night long. They only managed to drag themselves back to the hotel a couple of hours ago.
Kagome giggled as she listened to the others moan and grumble about getting up at insane hours. Then it hit her.
There was only one bathroom.
With a cry she leapt up on the bed, knocking poor Sango to the floor, and made a mad dash for the bathroom. Just as she almost hit the door the others realized when she was doing. Luckily her headstart gave her just enough time to close and lock the door.
"Hurry it up!" Inuyasha yelled. "We all hafta take turns ya know!"
"I need to go to the bathroooooom," whined Shippo.
Sango screeched, "You are a dead woman if you use all the hot water!"
"If you guys slept in your OWN room you'd have your OWN bathroom!" Kagome yelled as she hopped into the shower.
Though she was tempted to take a nice long shower, better yet, a bath, she decided to be merciful. She quickly washed her hair, scrubbed herself down, and hopped out. Then she realized her problem. No clean clothes.
"Sango?" she called.
"Yeah?"
"Can you toss me some clothes?"
Kagome ignored the snickering and pretended to not hear the suggestions the guys were making, or the loud thwacks as they got knocked upside the heads.
After she was dressed she opened the door, letting Shippo in next.
One by one the group showered, dressed, and packed their belongings. They were checking out. It had seemed odd that they would be staying at headquarters instead of coming back to the hotel, but they didn't ask questions.
Kagura drove the now silent and nervous group back.
"Welcome back," Naraku said with a smile as he greeted the players. "If everyone would take their places, we can begin."
Kagome let herself be led to one of the openings in the machine. She didn't like it when they started hooking up an IV.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"In the game you eat. When you eat, then nutrients will be supplied to your body through the IV. If you do not eat, then your body will get no food."
"We could starve?" Shippo asked.
"Not if you eat."
Sango screamed. Kagome looked to see a technician sprawled on the floor. After some questioning, they were told how answering the call of nature would be handled. If Kagome wasn't weirded out before, this was sure to put her over the edge.
More monitors were hooked up, and Kagome was beginning to panic. She did panic when the pulled out a long needle.
"What is THAT for?"
Kagome tried to escape. But felt a pinprick in her arm. She continued to struggle, hearing her name being called out by Inuyasha and Sango. It did not take long for darkness to engulf her.
It felt like her body was buzzing. She felt completely awake and aware, which she thought was rather strange considering she was sure that she had just been drugged to sleep. Slowly she began to feel less like she was floating and more like she was standing on solid ground.
The first thing she saw was Sango. And she looked AMAZING. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and she was wearing some sort of black leather suit, complete with black with pink trimmed armor. At her waist was a sword and she held in her right hand the largest boomerang Kagome had ever even imagined.
"Wow!"
Sango smiled. "Is that a good 'wow' or a bad one?"
Kagome grinned. "Definitely a good one."
Next Miroku and Shippo began to materialize. Miroku held a golden staff, sharp on one end with rings dangling from it. He wore semi-traditional monks robes and sandals.
Shippo, however, was barely recognizable at first glance. Instead of being a slightly short red-headed teenager, he was not barely two feet tall. He hands looked normal, but his feel looked like an animals feet, and he even had the cutest little puffy tail.
Kagome squealed. "Shippo? Eeeeeee! You look so cuuuuute!"
She couldn't help herself, she scooped him up and spun him around. She was slightly surprised to find that he weighed about as much as a small dog. Weird… she wouldn't have expected an illusion, something in virtual reality, to actually have weight.
"I like your outfit," Miroku said with a grin and a sparkle in his eye. Sango hit him in the head before assuring Kagome that she looked fine.
Before Kagome could look down at her own outfit, another member of their group showed up. It was Koga. Kagome smiled at his transformation. He certainly looked like a wolf demon to her. His legs, shoulders, and torso were covered in an armor that seemed to be accentuated with fur. His enviable long black hair was pulled up into a high ponytail and he wore a headband.
"Koga! You have a tail too! Just like Shippo!" Kagome reached down to touch his tail. It was soft.
That's about when Inuyasha makes his appearance. Kagome drops Koga's tail and stares open mouthed at her friend. His face and the red clad body seemed mostly the same, but his hair was long and silver! It was gorgeous!
"Inuyasha?" Kagome gave another squeal as she caught sight of the two twitching appendages on the top of his head. "You have doggie ears!"
"Nice outfit," Koga laughed.
His comment stopped Kagome's reach towards Inuyasha's soft looking doggie ears. That's the second comment about her outfit. She looked at a blushing Inuyasha before looking down at her outfit.
No.
No no no no no.
"No fair!" she screamed into the darkness. "What pervert designed my outfit? Where are my miko robes?"
Even Sango couldn't help but laugh at poor Kagome's predicament. Instead of being dressed as a warrior she was dressed in a schoolgirl's outfit. Worse, the sailor style outfit of a JUNIOR high schoolgirl.
Just as she was about to stamp her foot and demand that the game be rebooted, her friends began to disappear.
