A/N: Well, it sure took me long enough, but Chapter 2 is finally up. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you guys, nor have I forgotten about the realms(Hee hee hee get it XD?).

Same as before, The only thing I rightfully own is the story. Oh yeah, there is a big chance that I will throw in the Demon Stone characters in future chapters. I don't own them, either.

Chapter 2: Freedom

'It's done. They finally did it, but they picked a hell of a time to do it. I can't believe they would do this to me,' Keitaro thought to himself. He was delt the hardest blow of his life; The girls he was with abandoned him, and they chose to do it in this strange new world. A place where Elves, Dwarves and the like apparently share the same land with humans. A place where ancient weapons were legally carried. A place called Faerun.

Three days ago...

"Shinobu!" "Where are ya?!" Keitaro, along with Naru, Motoko, Kitsune along with Su and Sara began looking for their blue-haired friend, and without a clue as to where they were. Wherever it was, it certainly wasn't Japan. It looked more like Europe. Or somewhere along that vein.

"This is all your fault, you know" Naru barked at her male counterpart. "How is that, Naru? I had no idea that that symbol whatever it was would bring us to this place" Keitaro replied.

"You should have held her hand!" Motoko said.

"If that's the case then we all should have held hands" Kitsune butted in. Naru was about to say something, but she felt Kitsune had a point. But she still felt anger towards Keitaro for dragging them all into this.

"I hope she's alright, and in hood hands" Keitaro said to no one in particular. Little do they know, she actually is in the best of hands. But that's another story.

Their walking and searching eventually led them to a gate, leading to a city, guarded by two armor-clad men armed with spears.

Kitsune spoke to them. "Hey guys. What's with the costumes? Shootin' a movie or something?"

The guards looked at her like she was crazy. "What are you babbling about, woman? These clothes are required for our job" one guard said. "And what is a movie?"

Keitaro was about to speak on their behalf, but…

"Stay quiet, pea-brain. I will do all the talking" Naru threatening said, effectively shutting him up. "Listen, gentlemen. We are not from around here, and we are lost. Can you tell us where we are, like what place is this?" Naru asked, trying to be diplomatic.

"This, milady," one guard replied, "is Baldur's Gate."

"Baldur's…Gate? Never heard of it" said Naru.

The guard face-faulted. "YOU NEVER HEARD OF BALDUR'S GATE?!! ONE OF FAERUN'S FAMOUS PORT CITIES?!!" from the way he yelled that one out, you could swear even the animals around them stopped doing what they where doing just to pay attention to the conversation. "What rock did you crawl from?" asked the guard.

"A place called Japan" Naru retorted.

"…Where??" the guard asked, confused.

"Japan. You know, that big island next to China? What rock did YOU crawl from?" Naru said, returning the gesture.

By now both guards were confused, not knowing what to make of these people or this conversation. "Whatever. You going in or not?" the guard finally asked, exasperatedly.

Everyone finally proceeded to enter through the gate into the port city. Keitaro took this time to ask his questions

"So, um, this land is called Faerun?" Keitaro asked.

The guard was losing patience, but tried to stay calm. "Yes, Faerun. A continent in the wonderful world of Albeir-Toril, or Toril for short" the guard answered in a mocking tone, with a fake smile to match. "Any more dumb questions you wanna ask?"

"N-no not at all thank you" Keitaro blurted before hurrying through the gate.

The site before the newcomers astonished them all. Not only did this place had a Medieval feel to it(people walking around wearing suits of armor, carrying Western swords, spears, axes and the like), but they saw things totally out of place--at least to them; They saw Elves and some Dwarves!

"This looks like something out of those Peter Jackson flicks!" Kitsune said, amazed.

They proceeded to tour this place with everything appearing to be safe. Of course Keitaro's clumsiness always seemed to tick off Motoko and Naru, who threatened to make him know suffering before the day's over if he kept being a thorn on their backside.

Motoko got next to Naru and spoke silently "We must do something about him. It's bad enough that because of him we were spirited away from our home, but we have to deal with his inherent foolishness? This adds insult to injury!" she growled.

"I know, I know. I wish we could do something about this now" Naru admitted, equally angry.

"Oh, soo hungry" Su moaned.

Everyone agreed and went to the nearest food stand. Naru had the others put whatever money they had together and tried to buy something for all of them, but…

"No. This will not do at all. Gold and silver coins only or you can forget it!" the owner of the stand said.

Naru tried to reason with him. "Sir, you must understand, we are not from around here and--"

Silver and gold only! No exceptions!" the merchant cut her off. "Now get lost, will ya? You're holding up the line!"

Naru huffed and stormed back to her group.

"What now?" Kitsune asked.

"We may have to find work" Keitaro answered, concerned.

"That will not be easy" Kitsune said. "If only Shinobu were here…That's it!"

"What's it?" Naru inquired.

"We could work at some inn as cooks!" Kitsune said with giddiness.

"Smartest thing I heard all day" Sara said.

By some miracle, they managed to get a job at an inn near the ports. This was not a place to take lightly; It welcomed even the most dangerous people, from assassins to pirates. Keitaro, unnerved by these shady people, allowed his inherent clumsiness to take effect, which got him yelled at by the boss and his friends. As he spilled the tray full of food and drink after falling, a dangerous-looking hooded man grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up ot face level.

"Listen, punk. I did not sail here all the way from shithole Calimport to suffer your weak in the ass service!" he growled. "I want my food, and I want it now. Got it?"

"Y-yes sir" Keitaro stammered before being thrown to the floor and kicked in the ass, much to the other guests' amusement. His co-workers and the boss, on the other hand, were not so amused; in fact, most were pissed at Keitaro, especially Naru.

"He's gonna get us killed one day" Naru muttered.

Despite Keitaro's shortcomings, everyone made enough in gold to do some serious provisions shopping to gear themselves up for surviving this new world. They got their food too, of course.

For the next two days, things were not so well at the inn; In fact, it got worse. Mostly due to Keitaro's clumsiness and overall ineptitude. Could anyone blame him? He was being pressured by the boss and Naru and Motoko the whole time. Then the boss finally decided to cut his losses.

"OF ALL THE KOBOLDS I HAD WORKING IN MY INN, YOU SIR ARE THE WORST!!" the boss shouted at Keitaro, with his friends, excluding Sara, Su and Kitsune, listening. "Your friends can stay if they want," he continued, then he added something Keitaro dreaded hearing: "But your ass is fired!"

"Wha-what?" Keitaro was incredulous.

"YOU HEARD EXACTLY WHAT I SAID!! GET YER ASS OUT OF MY INN NOW!!!" The boss roared, making himself clear. Keitaro was at a loss for words. Now Naru took this opportunity to do what she and Motoko always wanted to do.

"And we don't want to see you again, either!" Naru spat. "We need you to get lost!"

"Naru, are you crazy?" Keitaro said. "This is not our world and…"

"Spare us the details" Motoko said with an even tone. "We can manage perfectly without you."

"But…"

"Stay out of our way and away from us" Motoko hissed, drawing her sword and pointing it at him threateningly. "We want you cleared out of this inn right now, before you get us all killed!"

Keitaro was shaken like a leaf. He somberly packed whatever provisions he had in a sack and left, without saying a word. He was in a daze, shocked and saddened at what just happened, as he left the vicinity of the inn. He just propped himself against a wall, not caring what went on around him, or the fact that it started to rain.

'It's done. They finally did it, but they picked a hell of a time to do it. I can't believe they would do this to me,' Keitaro thought to himself. He decided to walk into the nearest weapon shop to wait out the rain, and would leave the city as soon as the rain stopped, going nowhere in particular. He didn't care where he went or what happened to him anymore.

As he stood in the shop, he allowed his eyes to wander, looking at all the weapons on the walls until one item caught his eye; A regular steel hand-and-half sword. He couldn't help but silently marvel at the craftsmanship, despite the fact that it was a blade of Western make. He got a good feel for the weapon, noting its balance, and paid cheap for it, feeling that he may need to use it, wherever he goes, despite the fact that he doesn't know how to use it properly. Yet.

As soon as the rain stopped, Keitaro left Baldur's Gate. The guard from before took notice and spoke to him. "Hey, you're that guy from the other day. Where did your girlfriends go? Did they dump you or something?" The guard had no idea how spot on he was.

"Yeah" was all Keitaro felt like saying before he sadly walked away.

"Ahh, don't let it get you down" the guard said. Unfortunately, Keitaro did not want to listen and kept walking.

Keitaro found himself on a road in the middle of nowhere surrounded by vegetation, the sun slightly shining past the clouds. He stared at the beautiful afternoon sky, and listened to the wildlife around him solemnly.

Then something dawned on him. Something he never would have imagined. Something that made him really happy. No Hinata apartments, no abusive tenants to deal with, no worrying about college entrance exams, none of that. And on top of that, he was in a strange new world where adventure and excitement was possible.

For the first time, he was free!

Keitaro ran down that road, smiling the whole time, imagining the infinite possibilities of his life in Faerun, forgetting about all the troubles weighting him down. He set up camp on a nearby mountain that night, lit his campfire, ate whatever food he brought with him and gazed at the beautiful starry night sky, with the occasional shooting stars flying by, with a warm smile on this face.

For the first time in years, Keitaro felt liberated.

He knew freedom.