Pairings: Inu/Kag Mir/San Sess/Rin
A/N: Hiya! Alright, I have, like, NO motivation! No one's reviewing, yet I get all these hundreds of hits, SO WHY IS NO ONE REVIEWING! T.T
MY GOAL IS 360 REVIEWS! I WON'T UPDATE UNLESS I GET SOMEWHERE CLOSE TO THAT NUMBER!
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Chapter 24
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Although he hid the fact well, there was no doubt that Inuyasha was dead worried. Judging by Sesshomaru's out-of-character behavior, the game he faced wasn't pleasant at all. Plus, by the way he backed away in fear, from RIN of all people! It seemed to give everyone cold chills, and made some realize just how scary some of these games might get.
'Something's not right here…' he thought impatiently. His eyes softened. 'Kagome, you'd better live through this…'
He sighed; she'd been gone for about as long as Sesshomaru was, and it was starting to unnerve him. The dog lord hadn't told anyone what transpired during those dreadful minutes inside the dimension, and he doubted that anyone but him would ever know.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Miroku preparing something lecherous again; rolling his eyes, he walked forward to stop him, but froze in mid-step. He looked behind him as slightly as he could, and could see Hari sitting a couple yards away from him, staring…
…staring very intently, at him.
'What's her problem?' he thought. Curiosity earning the better of him, he began to see if he could probe her mind for any clues; before he could even sense if she was even thinking at all, he felt a sharp snap in his mind, as if someone pulled back a rather large rubber band, and snapped it back at his brain. He hissed in pain, ears flat against his skull. He earned a couple of stares, some even wondering if it was the near-death incident all over again. Inuyasha ignored them, and turned back towards Hari, who was now blushing fervently, and jerked her head downwards, suddenly taking keen interest in a piece of cloud…
Come to think of it, Hari HAD been acting rather strange around him. Perhaps it was because of her human form? It was very likely, yet somehow, it didn't seem as if that had much to do with it.
'Maybe it's just a serpent thing…' he thought absently, once again turning his attention to the spot where Kagome had vanished over half an hour ago. 'God help me, if Kagome is hurt in any way…' he left the sentence hanging, his fist clenched so tightly it was stark white.
Meanwhile, Miroku was trying to silently sneak up on an unsuspecting Sango, who was currently looking over her weapons, meaning that both sword, boomerang, and all her hidden weapons and armor were no longer on her body, leaving her uniform just like a regular black cat-suit, and giving Miroku a special bonus for some perverted actions.
As fate would have it, before the monk could even think of getting within inches of Sango's precious butt, there was a flash, and all turned around to see Kagome, thankfully in one piece, but not without some injuries. Her uniform was ripped slightly, though no where near places where a certain pervert would look. She had dirt across her body, some minor scrapes and scratches, and though she was breathing heavily, she wore a smile on her face, her eyes seemingly brighter than usual.
Inuyasha was the first to reach her, asking immediately whether or not she was okay. She nodded. "I'm not that hurt, Inuyasha. Besides, it's a good pain I'm feeling…"
"…What does that mean, Kagome?" asked a curious Shippo from down by her ankles.
"It means that even though you're in pain, it was all worth it," Kagome replied happily. "To be honest, I thought the challenge would be really hard, and scary, and even life-threatening!"
"Was it?" Shippo asked again, eyes wide with awe and wonder.
"Well, it was kinda hard, but nothing so serious that I wouldn't win. You see…" as Kagome droned on about whatever she had to do, most of her audience not receiving an inkling of what she was talking about ("There was one that reminded me of track at school, man was that a killer!"), ('What is this "school"?' thought Sango), Sesshomaru and Hari were hanging in the back, where it was less noisy. Hari still sat on the ground, her face only starting to lose their redness, and Sesshomaru just kinda stood off in a place where he hoped no one would notice him yet.
'Good, that girl's all right,' he thought, staring as his brother was elbowed in the gut by Kagome as they argued about whatever the hell the two argued about. That wolf demon, Kouga, began laughing and taunting, which erupted into another fight, this time, more violent. Sighing, the dog lord slapped his hand to this forehead, turning his head away from the embarrassing sight. 'If you ever do anything honorable to the family, Inuyasha, I will throw myself into a river…'
Sensing a new presence, Sesshomaru turned and stared at the spot between himself and the group, and sure enough, Nali appeared out of a blast of mist. Hari stood up, her complexion normal again, and walked over to join the others, who were now gathered in front of the great dragon.
A noise that could be recognized as a bored sigh, Nali said, "So, who's gonna play next? To be honest, the next one's usually fun, but in the past 200 challengers I've had at this game, no one's lasted past the first turn." It was more to herself than to anyone else.
Feeling as if being challenged, Inuyasha stepped forwards. "Feh. If you want fun, I'll show you fun," he said smugly, cracking his knuckles.
'Maybe we don't have to win, after all…' Kagome thought idly, watching Inuyasha boast. 'I mean, he's already acting like his old, cocky self…' She shook her head. 'Wait, what am I thinking? He needs his memories, even if half of them are bad ones!' Putting on a disturbingly too-determined face, and scaring half the people around her, she made a silent vow that they'd win this game. She already won hers, Kouga won one, too, two more points and they would win. And Inuyasha was strong, surely he'd pull through?
"Oh, and for this one, there's a special rule," Nali added. "It's optional, but for this one, you may choose a partner that has already played and won a game to join you in this one."
'Then that only leaves me Kouga and Kagome…' Inuyasha thought wryly. 'There's no way I'd choose Kouga, seeing as he's such a pain in the ass, and I'm not putting Kagome in danger. Whatever 'fun' is for Nali, it means danger for humans.'
"Nah, I'm strong enough to take on whatever you can throw!" he exclaimed, giving a fanged smirk. Somehow, though knowing Inuyasha's intentions of caution, Kagome still felt slightly hurt that Inuyasha wouldn't choose her to help him out.
'What a stubborn, soft-hearted, hard-headed jerk!' Kagome thought, tied between feeling insulted or happy that Inuyasha wanted her to stay out of this.
"Very well, let us proceed," Nali then turned, walking slowly towards a newly formed vortex, similar to the one where Sesshomaru disappeared through almost two hours ago.
"Good luck, Inuyasha," Sango said as Inuyasha followed Nali towards another portal.
Giving him a pat on the back, Miroku added, "We'll be sure to bury you six feet under in case you don't make it!" In return, Inuyasha punched him.
"What do you take me for!" he shouted. "I'm not weak, and I ain't gonna die!" And with a huff, he flung himself into the vortex, which promptly closed itself after he disappeared on the other side.
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Inuyasha stared with amazement at what lay beneath him. He was on a platform of some kind, like the ones on castles where the king can look at his followers in the plaza, except this was just a platform made of thin, but solid, earth. Beneath him lay a large, about 20-30-foot high hedge maze. Inside, prowling along the pathways, were demons and other creatures of all shapes, sizes, species, and colors.
'This must be that maze that Nagori warned us about before coming,' he thought disdainfully. He gulped. 'She could have at least told us how huge it was!'
The maze stretched an area of at least nine football fields, three by three. Perhaps it was larger? Since the hanyou didn't know what a football field was, he guessed that the maze was at least the area span of his brother's castle, if not larger. At least, that's how it looked from up here.
"Your goal is to reach the other side," Nali explained, "You will be blindfolded, but able to use any weapons you have at your disposal."
'This'll be a cakewalk, then,' Inuyasha thought, feeling slightly bored. 'Even if I can't see, my ears and other senses work well, and I have my trusty Tetsusaiga…I wonder if Nali would be mad if I used the wind scar and blew up half the maze…'
"Because of your wishes, you have no ally to guide you through the maze, but even so, you are required to play as a human," Nali added, a small gleam catching in her eye. Inuyasha turned to tell her that there was no way he could play as a human, when there was a sudden flash of white light, or something close to it. Inuyasha lifted a hand to his face to block out the evil rays, but they got through anyways. He felt his senses dull, his nails shrink, and human ears pop through the sides of his head. He lifted his tongue to his teeth, to find not a single fang.
When the light faded, Inuyasha stood, black hair draping around him, framing his human face, and equally black eyes staring at himself in awe. He then stared at Nali as if she wasn't a dragon, but some gross, deranged, twisted-up monster.
"…How did you…?"
"Do not underestimate the powers of one of the Ten," Nali said in a stern voice, her eyes gleaming more prominently, making her attain an aura that contained excitement, almost an evil excitement, around her pink form. She turned her gaze towards Inuyasha, and locked eye contact; suddenly, Inuyasha's vision began to blur. Giving a small gasp, he squinted, struggling to see clearly, but his sight was already leaving him. Soon, his entire world went black, leaving him with unreliable, clumsy senses that wouldn't be able to detect a demon until it was right in his face.
"Seeing as it's unfair for you without a guide, I'll reduce the demons by half, and give you hints along the way," Nali compromised, and Inuyasha didn't complain. At least the odds weren't stacked so high, now. "Let the games begin."
Inuyasha felt himself rise into the air, in a sense. It seemed like he was on some sort of lift that rose up and gave him a sickening feeling in his stomach. As suddenly as it began, however, it stopped, and Inuyasha lost balance, leaning onto one of the hedges for support. It appeared that he was at the entrance of the maze. Without sight or smell to rely on in this game, Inuyasha began to feel and fumble his way through one of the pathways, his ears straining to hear more clearly.
"Damn it!" he shouted as he heard something stomp behind him. He instinctively rolled out of the way, hearing a loud blast behind him that could have been a fist, foot, or tail, if the brute had one, anyways. Inuyasha drew Tetsusaiga, expecting to find a rusty sword. Instead, to his great surprise, Tetsusaiga transformed into its larger form, the fur on the hilt brushing up against his fingers.
"What the - ?" Inuyasha tried examining his transformed sword, but a loud roar broke his concentration. Again, he tried rolling to the side, but the demon seemed to learn from mistakes, and managed to graze his shoulder. Blood seeped out from the wound, though Inuyasha paid it no mind. He was more curious about his sword.
'I thought it couldn't transform without my demonic powers,' he thought curiously.
'It is part of my powers as one of the Ten,' came a voice in his head. At first, Inuyasha thought it was Hari, but it became apparent that it was actually Nali who held the mind link with him. 'You turn into a human once a month, and though my powers can make you human, it cannot make the demon blood that courses through your veins recede like they do on the night of your transformation. To put it simply, you are human on the outside, and that includes your senses. On the inside, you are a half demon, where it affects objects that react to that blood, such as your sword.'
"Heh, I get it, now," Inuyasha smirked. He could heard the demon's breathing, and managed to scarcely dodge another blow. Thrusting randomly, he managed to stake the demon right through the gut. It toppled onto the ground with a grunt. Wanting to make sure that the demon didn't try to kill him while his back was turned, he stabbed the brute a couple more times, earning wails of pain, and he felt blood stain his clothes and skin. Finally, he could no longer feel the demon moving under his sword.
The hanyou-turned-human decided to keep his sword out, resting it over his uninjured shoulder, and continued along the pathway, making sure that he wasn't going back the way he came. While he walked, he met no demons, though he met up with many intersections that made him forget which path he took last time. Nali hadn't said anything since their conversation about Tetsusaiga, so he didn't know whether he was heading the right way, or down the path to his death. This unnerved him slightly, but he didn't let it show.
It was only after what felt like eternity that he actually realized how much his shoulder hurt. He had managed to stop the bleeding, but now it ached almost constantly, and when a stick from the hedge would frequently hit it, waves of pain would shoot through his body.
'Argh, damn this human body,' he thought, frustrated. 'They weaken too easily. At this rate, I'll probably be six feet under before I'm even halfway through this god forsaken place! Damn Miroku must've jinxed me…'
x.
How long he had been in this maze, he didn't know. What he DID know was that he was in here far longer than he wanted to be. He managed to find almost a dozen more demons, all the same strength as the first one, and pretty predictable. He also unwillingly found himself quite a few dead ends, and many more paths that he couldn't help but think were looping him around on the same path. Eventually, he made a strategy to dig Tetsusaiga into the ground, stay on the right-hand side of the path, and drag the sword around, making sure he didn't go on the same path twice. Sure enough, the path he'd been walking around on for the past…oh…half hour, maybe…looped around continuously. So, he doubled back to the second intersection he crossed, and turned the other way, to find a dead end. So, he went to the first intersection, turned right, and began his path once more.
Suddenly, before he knew it, he was blown back against the hedge, which seemed to be indestructible, thanks to Inuyasha's curious experiments (he tried to blow the hedges apart and walk out of the maze, but they didn't cut, nor did they blow apart). He opened his eyes as wide as they could go before he remembered that he could no longer see. He heard the swooshing of wind, and skidded to the left, narrowly avoiding what seemed to be a spiked tail.
Hearing a loud roar near his right ear, he rolled forward, hearing the ground crunch up behind him, where a jaw probably sunk right into the ground he'd been standing on. He turned to face the monster, raising Tetsusaiga above his head to blow its brains out; however, the monster seemed to be smarter than the others he'd faced, and he felt his robes catch fire. Thankfully, they didn't burn. At least the fire-proof part of the robes didn't recede.
'God, help me,' he thought as he realized what he was up against: a dragon. It wasn't anything like Nali or Hari, it was much weaker. However, as far as he knew, dragons were clever, agile, and rather powerful. Great…just what he wanted to run into…
'Actually, this is what I wanted to run into…' he thought ruefully, blocking a rather large, clawed foot. Shoving it back, and thankfully knocking the creature off balance, Inuyasha launched the wind scar. It wasn't as powerful, and usually wind attacks weren't very strong against dragons with wings that could easily still the blast, but it was efficient enough to knock the dragon into the hedge, and rendering it unconscious for the time being.
'Must have been a baby,' he inquired, sinking his sword an inch or two into the ground, and dragging it behind him, almost running along the hedge so that the dragon wouldn't awaken to finish what it started. 'But seeing as it's a lot stronger than any of the other dimwits I've fought here, that must mean I'm on the right path!'
Soon enough, he came to another intersection. Right, left, or straight…hmmm…eenie, meanie, minie…ah, hell, Inuyasha shrugged, and chose straight. Setting along the path, he walked as silently as he could so his ears could pick up on anything that was lurking nearby. If he was right, then the closer he got to the exit, the stronger the monsters would become, and he sure as hell didn't want to face a full-grown dragon of that caliber, seeing as it would render his Tetsusaiga useless. The only noise was his sword, which ran swiftly through the soft dirt under his feet.
Coming to a T-intersection, he chose left, and ended up at a dead end. Going the other way, he ran into a human-type demon, more specifically, a cat demon whom controlled the element of water.
The neko charged, hissing, and Inuyasha swiftly stepped to the side, letting the sound of skidding paws hit the ground. Turning with great agile, the cat stood, and launched a spray of water out of its clawed hands. Inuyasha blocked with the flat of his blade, and countered by charging the cat, who tried to leap over him, and hit him from behind; knowing that the cat would do this, Inuyasha swung around sharply, and sliced through the cat's abdomen, causing a yelp of pain. In a last attempt, the cat swung her claws out, and Inuyasha felt a sharp pain slice through his chest, cutting through the soft, fire rat material that he wore.
Two simultaneous thuds were heard, the cat faring no better than the dog. The neko's wounds were deep, but nothing serious to a demon such as herself. Inuyasha was a human, and even though demons think it's strange, humans need most of their organs in one piece. Though his chest wound wasn't very deep, it still scratched the surface, so to speak, of his, what, intestines? Inuyasha didn't know, he didn't study 'health', or whatever it was Kagome explained to him earlier. Still, it hurt like hell, and it pained him to stand.
'Damn it all,' he thought, 'I better not die in here; I won't allow myself to die like this!' Grudgingly, he forced himself to his feet shakily, now holding onto the hedge for more than one reason, sunk his blood-stained sword into the ground, and continued along the path towards where he prayed would be the exit, leaving the wounded cat behind him.
TO BE CONTINUED……