Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me.
Chapter Seven: Alone
Kagome tried very hard not to cry as her friends disappeared. Just as everything turned black, again, she felt something. Pain. Lots of intense pain. It felt as if something was being ripped from her hip. Kagome screamed.
Her eyes popped open and the fear she had earlier was intensified a thousand times. She had her friends with her before. But now… now she was completely alone.
Alone… and in a bed in a strange room?
Ok….this is totally weird. She sat up quickly and jumped to her feet. The room looked a little familiar. Then it dawned on her. It looked like the generic room where many role-playing games started. Not very original, are you Naraku?
On the other side of the bedside table was a treasure chest. Kagome only felt a little twinge of guilt as she opened it up. Inside was a small vial. Probably some sort of healing potion. She went to put it in her pocket when she realized that she didn't have any pockets in her new clothes.
After calling the game designers perverts once more, and hoping they were monitoring the gesture she gave them as she said it, she began looking around the room for something that might help.
That's when she spied the yellow bag across the room. Perfect! She tucked the vial of glowing blue liquid in the backpack and slung it across her shoulders. Humming to herself she scoured the room looking for more goodies. She came up with a red feather that sparkled and a green leaf. Since they were the only things in the room that could be moved, she figured she should take them. One thing she learned playing RPGs, take anything that isn't nailed down.
"Ok," she told herself, "Time to get going."
When she left the room, Kagome found herself in a hallway. She tried opening every door she came across, feeling a bit like a thief. Unfortunately, the doors didn't open for her. It didn't phase her though, she would just go on to the next door.
The entire building was empty. But at least there was another treasure chest in the lobby. This one held two blue vials, which she took of course.
Still humming she walked out of the front doors and smiled. It was a small village with a few scattered people. She stood still and watched them. A woman in red was busy digging a hole in a small garden. A man in green was sweeping an area outside of a door of one of the other buildings. A very similar man in green was across the way doing the very same thing. A young boy was racing around and around in a large circle chasing a chicken. The eerie thing was that they kept doing those same few movements, never altering a pattern or a path.
A little unnerved, Kagome decided to take off out of the village and start finding her friends. She passed a few more similar looking people doing a variety of chores…over and over again. She picked up her pace. When she finally saw the edge of town she began to run.
And she ran right into some sort of forcefield and was knocked to the ground.
"Guess I hafta unlock something first," she grumbled as she stood up and rubbed her sore rear. "Time to start chatting with the locals."
She walked to the first person she saw. He was a man in a mostly brown outfit whose job seemed to be pacing aimlessly.
"Excuse me…"
The man looked at her. "Be careful, there are demons in the forest."
"Demons? Really?"
"Be careful, there are demons in the forest."
Kagome smiled nervously. "Yeah… I got that… how do I get to the forest though?"
"Be careful, there are demons in the forest."
Kagome rolled her eyes at her stupidity. He must be a non-playable character, and that is his line.
She ALMOST told him "thank you", but shut her mouth quickly, knowing what his only response would be. Could be.
The next couple of people weren't much more helpful. A woman in an orange kimono had the same line as the first guy. Kagome wondered if she should let Naraku know that repetitive lines like that could be annoying.
"I wonder if Inuyasha and the others are having this much trouble." She sat down on a bench she found and put her head in her hands. She had been wandering for hours and wasn't any closer to being able to leave town. However, she was a few items richer after looting a couple of homes that were unlocked.
Kagome looked down at the item in her hand. It was an arrow. Of course, since she didn't have a bow it wasn't terribly useful just yet.
"I've talked to every single character!" Kagome yelled, hoping the people monitoring would hear her. "Even the CHICKEN!"
Feeling a bit tired, bitter, and defeated, Kagome made her way back to where she began the game. A nap sure sounded good to her.
"Good morning, dear."
Kagome blinked.
"MOM?"
The pretty woman with short dark hair smiled at her from behind the counter of the inn. Sure enough, it was her mother.
"Would you like to take a rest?"
"Mom, what are you doing here?"
Her mother smiled. "Would you like to take a rest?"
"How did you get here? When did you get here?"
"Would you like to take a rest?"
"…Mom…?"
"Would you like to take a rest?"
Mom is a NPC? How is that possible? Kagome sighed heavily. This was certainly not something she expected. Is this real, or do they pull images from our memories for the game? They surely wouldn't have put my mother as a character in a game…
"Yes." Kagome finally answered her mother's question.
Once more everything went dark. Once more she woke up in the strange little room. This time the treasure chest was empty though. Kagome grabbed her yellow backpack and left the room yawning.
This time her mother was waiting for her in the large reception area instead of behind the desk. There were a couple of other people standing about, including her little brother Souta and her grandfather.
"Hey," Kagome said as a greeting.
Suddenly her mother's face lost its smile and looked worried.
"Darling! Your father was hunting this morning and has been captured by Naraku!"
Kagome gave her mother a strange look. "Dad's been dead for five years, Mom."
"You must save him!"
Oh yeah, it's just a game. Kagome sighed and shrugged. "Okey doke. Which way out of the village?"
"Here, take this with you."
Magically, her mother was suddenly holding a small, rather flimsy looking bow in her hands. Kagome took it and smiled. Now I can use that arrow. Wait. I only have one arrow. As luck and the game gods would have it, her mother magically produced three more arrows.
"Thanks!"
"Speak with the priestess Kaede in the next village, she will be able to help you."
Kagome laughed out loud. That was it. That was the key to finally getting to leave the village and start on her journey to find her friends, get the jewel thingie, and get out of the stupid game.
"Sounds good." Her stomach grumbled loudly. "Um…is there anything to eat? I'm starving?" More grumblies.
"Be careful, there are demons in the forest," warned her mother.
"Uh huh, demons in the forest. Do you have any food? Bread? Cheese? Milk? Anything at all?"
"Be careful, there are demons in the forest," warned her mother.
Kagome smiled a little less brightly than usual and waved good-bye to her mother. Once they start repeating themselves its pretty useless to ask them anything. Before leaving the room she spoke to her brother, who gave her a little bag of gold pieces and a quiver to hold her arrows. Her grandfather gave her five pieces of paper with strange symbols on it that Kagome couldn't decipher. Unfortunately no one gave her any food, which was what she wanted most at the moment. She figured she would just have to find some along the way.
First logical stop, the garden.
Kagome managed to pull up a three carrots and one potato. Not exactly a feast, but at least she could munch on a carrot. She poked her head into the two shops in town, but one only sold weapons that she couldn't afford, and the other sold herbs that she had no idea what to do with. She looked sadly at the paltry amount of food in her pack and started out of town.
Koga, Shippo, and Inuyasha are demons, she thought to herself. I wonder if I will find one of them in the forest…
After about an hour of walking Kagome was starting to get a little irritable. You weren't supposed to get so tired playing a stupid game after all. And you sure aren't supposed to get blisters on your feet!
Kagome twirled the green leaf that she had just found in a treasure box hidden in some brush. I wonder what this could be for. It isn't edible. Why weren't we given any instructions? Man, what I wouldn't do for a strategy guide right about now.
With a shrug she tucked the item into her miracle backpack. She smiled. It really was an amazing backpack. No matter how much stuff she put into the thing, it never got full. And it never got heavy. The best part was that all she had to do was think about the item she wanted, and that is the item her fingers would come into contact with when she reached her hand in. It had taken her awhile to catch onto that nifty feature.
Kagome froze.
"What was that?"
There was a feeling in her stomach. An odd feeling she couldn't identify. It was almost like she could hear notes of a vague tune in the back of her head, and it was an ominous one. She tightened her grip on her bow and drew an arrow from her quiver.
It felt like time stopped. Then suddenly Kagome wasn't alone anymore. Keeping her company were two small demons. Rabbit ones from the look of them. Deranged killer rabbits to be exact.
She tried to ready her arrow, but the rabbit on the right attacked too quickly. It ripped into her leg.
"OW!"
The second rabbit attacked as the first one drew back. This one attacked the same leg. Kagome wondered if that second one hit bone. Sure felt like it.
Finally Kagome was able to pull the arrow back and let it fly. It flew. Yeah, flew right between the deranged rabbit demons and landed on the far side of the clearing harmlessly. Kagome cursed at herself. Then gasped. Her arrow simply disappeared!
"I guess I only get one shot."
Worse than that, now she realized she had a very limited number of arrows to use. No second chances. If she misses, she can't go retrieve it and try again.
When she gathered her wits, after having another chunk taken out of her body (this time on the arm) she kicked the rabbit on the right as hard as she could. It dropped to the ground, but wasn't out of the game yet. Next she hit it with her fist over the head. She gasped in surprise when it simply fizzled away.
Unfortunately, the time she spent gaping at the first rabbit gave the second one a perfect opportunity to attack.
A few kicks and hits later, and that bunny rabbit from heck disappeared too.
Kagome fell to the ground. She was completely exhausted! Not to mention bruised and bleeding. Something sparkly caught her attention. She crawled over to it, too tired to actually stand back up.
"Gold!" It was another small bag of a few golden coins. She scoured around the area some more and found a vial of red liquid.
Quickly she opened her bag. After dropping in the money she pictured the vial of blue liquid in her mind and pulled one out.
"One must be a healing potion. But which one?" She thought back to all the role playing video games she had ever played, and decided on trying the blue one. Usually one of the first things they give you is a healing potion.
It tasted pretty much like water, but with a mediciny taste. Suddenly she felt less tired and a little tickly. With a laugh she watched as her body began to mend itself.
"Didn't even need a walkthrough," she bragged to herself.
Another hour later she didn't feel very much like bragging. In fact, mostly she just felt like praying to live. Rabbit demons, squirrel demons, pig demons, and one nasty wasp demon all seemed to be following her every footstep. She was just grateful that they only seemed to attack in ones or twos. Unfortunately she was also down to just one healing potion left. The demons seemed to drop red liquids, money, and more of those stupid useless leaves and an occasional arrow, but rarely did they drop healing potions.
Evil creatures.
Bloody and battered from countless battles, Kagome staggered along the path. She didn't want to use that last potion unless absolutely necessary.
A sound caught her attention and she cringed. It took her a second to realize it wasn't the sound that the demons seemed to make before attacking. This one was different. She looked around and saw something floating away. It looked like the ghost of a flying snake to her. She hurried along, but wasn't able to catch up.
She stopped where she saw the ghost snake come on to the path.
"Another path?" Very faintly Kagome could see another path off to the right. It looked like a deer, probably a deer DEMON, path. Her instincts screamed at her to check it out, so she did.
It was mostly an uphill path. She crossed a creek by jumping on stones and hopped over a fallen tree or two. Luckily the few demons who crossed her path weren't too terribly strong and she managed to keep walking.
The sight at the end of the path made her cry. She found Inuyasha at last.
And he had an arrow in his chest, pinned to a tree.
