Inuyasha x Labyrinth

I own nothing. Pairing unknown as of yet. Please enjoy.

Glancing back and forth between the two, Kagome let a small huff of inpatient air out as they continued to banter back and forth and glare at each other. Crossing her arms over her chest, a foot began to tap at the dusty ground beneath her feet, and cleared her throat. Sadly, it got no reaction from the two across from her, so she decided to take in her surroundings. Best way to understand, if barely, the territory she would be marching into.

The three of them stood atop a hill... or was it a knoll? It was dusty with pale and dry looking plants, and an oddly out of place Grandfather clock with a face reading 13 hours instead of the traditional 12. Everything was glittering, as if coated in a fine layer of frost, but seeing as the sun was blazing from across a vest nothingness of a wasteland, that couldn't be so. The air tinkled and shimmered with the little breeze that played about them.

Looking down, she followed an old beaten worn path to a vastness of The Labyrinth. She swallowed hard. She could make out the castle, seemingly at it's center, that was still so far away. The outer walls also seemed to shimmer in the light, and she could make out pale dots floating about weaving against the dark stones.

Beyond, she could make out the twisting walls and pathways, some areas were left wide open, some seemed to drop completely, giant trees of all shades of greens and browns blocked some views, to the far west mountains rose, while to the east the labyrinth seemed to blend into fields... She squinted when she saw something gleam and shine far beyond the castle... but she couldn't make it out. If she had to hazard a guess... she'd say it was an ocean. Perhaps.

Turning back to the bickering two, she let out another huff and pushed herself between the two, not really caring what either of them would do to her for her rude action. She had a younger brother to save, and when she got him back, because it was a question of when and not if, a certain spoiled brat to deal with. No one got away with wishing her brother away. No one.

"As entertaining as watching to two of you... argue, I'd rather get to the task of getting my brother back." she raised a brow in Sarah's direction when the other girl flushed and sheepishly coughed into her own hand.

The male, as she couldn't really call him a man as that pertained to humans which he clearly was not, drew himself up to his full height. It seemed he had forgotten all about her presence and was caught arguing with a teenage girl. The action made him far more imposing, even more so now that he was in his element.

His gaze took in the girl -young woman- that Sarah had become. In all honesty, she didn't really change all that much, personality wise. She had learned lessons in certain areas, having peeked in on her and the boy after she won Toby back, but overall, not much has changed. She had become enraged when he had showed up, with the young asian woman at his side, announcing that Toby had been wished away.

But once a deal had been worked out, she had been nothing but a cocky little thing all over again. It doubled so since she already had beaten his Labyrinth. She even went so far as to mock it, which was not a wise thing to do, as the Labyrinth was very much alive, and she was technically not a runner as she didn't wish anyone away this time.

Turning to the other young woman that somehow managed to reign Sarah's personality in, he was shocked still to see such... emotion in her eyes. And such odd eyes for one of her race, such deep blues. That had been his first sign, a sign that she either knew, or held, magic herself. It was the main reason to allow this little... deal to allow them to run for their respective brothers. It would give him a chance to understand what exactly she was.

He smiled as his eyes settled on Sarah once again, it only grew when she flinched back slightly, and he opened his mouth, choosing his words well, knowing it would put her on the spot, seeing as she wasn't alone this time.

"All rules apply, as you well know them, though there is one change." he brought an arm up to hold the elbow of the other, a crystal appearing in his right hand. He moved his hand, the crystal rolling from the back of his hand to his palm and then back again, he watched how Sarah once again followed the crystal movements as he spoke. Though the other one, she watched him solely, and he smirked causing her eyes to narrow and he knew he felt a spark of something as a result. "Seeing as you didn't wish your brother away, this time, you are not technically, a runner. The challenges of the Labyrinth will be a little more... formidable."

Sarah herself didn't understand what he was going on about, though it could be nothing more than another scare tactic to try and leave Toby and take the offered exchanged of her dreams coming true in return. Though, now that she thought about it, he didn't offer her her dreams.

"You have thirteen hours to win your brothers back, if not..." his voice echoed around them as he disappeared from their sights.

Sarah fidgeted on the spot as Kagome simply turned her gaze from where he stood to her classmate. Her ears were already ringing with the unasked questions about what the Goblin King had said about wishing her younger brother away before.

Though when she turned to meet the other girl's gaze, she didn't see any judgment or disbelief in her eyes. They were questioning, but nothing more.

"When I was fifteen... I wished my brother away to the Goblin King. I obviously beet him and got Toby back... but..." she shrugged her shoulders, not really knowing what else to say.

"The past is the past. The best we can do, is learn from it and hope not to make the same mistakes."

It unnerved Sarah at how... calmly Kagome was taking all of this. She furrowed her brows in confusion as the other girl simply turned and began to move towards the Labyrinth.

"That's all you have to say?" she didn't mean to sound angry, but this place had a way of bringing sides of herself that were best left alone.

Kagome sighed as she turned back to face Sarah, her tongue darting out to wet her dry lips.

"We all have said, done or know things we're not proud of, myself included. Who am I to judge, about something you did before we met? I will admit, that wishing away your brother is shocking, but I can tell you learned your lesson on that one. Correct?" she waited a few minutes until the other girl shyly nodded her head, though she still looked confused. "Then what more is there to say? Do you want me to scold you for wishing your brother away or something?"

"No. It's just, when people hear stories where a person wishes someone away, they always get angry and jump to how cruel those people are. I was sort of expecting you to do the same."

"I'm not like other people. Besides, those people most likely wanted something to happen to someone in their lives. The only differences between them and you were, that you knew what words to say and someone was listening."

A silence settled between them, it wasn't uncomfortable, and it allowed them to go over the words they had just shared.

"Let's get going. As they say, A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." once again, Kagome moved forward, Sarah quickly made it to her side. They walked in silence before Sarah spoke up.

"What do you think he meant by the challenges being more formidable?"

"How should I know? I've never been here before. But if I think about it, he said that because neither of us wished our brothers away, we weren't runners. So my guess is, that runners have a sort of safety net."

"Safety net?" Sarah frowned, not really following where her classmate was going with this. It also sort of twisted something deep in her gut that she was the one asking all the questions and not the other way around.

"Did you, in any way shape or form, get injured your last time here?" Kagome glanced at the green eyes brunette next to her. They had paused at the foot of the hill while Sarah quickly ran through her memories of the time she wished her brother away, and just as quickly shook her head negatively. "Then my guess is, that while the Labyrinth is challenging to those willing to take a chance to win back those wished away, they aren't really harmed. A sort of free pass if you think about it. But since we didn't wish our brothers away, my guess is, that we don't really have that pass. Now, I'm pretty sure, that the King won't allow us to come to too much harm, but I'm guessing he's bending the rules to allows us the chance to win back our brothers."

"Him giving us a chance?" Sarah snorted lightly, finding it hard to believe, not after everything he threw at her the last time.

"I'll put it the same way I did for him. Toby is your brother, Souta mine. Jenny had not right to wish them away, as they weren't in any way shape or form, hers to begin with. As such, she wouldn't risk anything to win them back, which is pretty much an unfair trade if you ask me. So I came up with a deal and we brought it to you, which you agreed to and now here we are."

They picked up again, moving towards the wall, where a small creature was going about doing something... Kagome wasn't sure as to what, though it looked like some form of gardening, if she had to describe it. She turned at the startled gasp that Sarah let out, seeing a wide eyed and wide smile look on her face, and reached a hand out to try and stop the other girl, but she was a fraction of a second to slow.

"Hoggle!"

Kagome raised a brow. Hoggle? It left her wondering if that was a what or a who, before she moved to stand next to Sarah. Said girl froze in place when the creature turned, showing them an angry face explaining how it wasn't a Hoggle. So was Hoggle a thing or a name?

"I... I'm sorry. I thought... you were a friend of mine. Do, do you know what happened to Hoggle?"

So Hoggle was a who.

"No. Now go away. Tuig very busy." the small creature huffed and went about organizing things into piles. Twigs, branches, pebbles and rocks, dried bits of grass or moss even. Why... she didn't know, but seeing as Sarah was upset and lost in her mind, Kagome stepped forward.

"I'm sorry, but I was wondering if you could show us how to get into the Labyrinth?"

The small creature paused and blinked large eyes at her, it's face was rather... round compared to the rest of it's body, which was rather thin and twig like. Bare feet which were rather long, shuffled about in the dirt, led up to knobby knees, it wore a mis-match of various fabrics stitched together, even some fur, or feathers. It allowed it's thin arms, which ended with long hands and fingers, that almost seemed much to large on it's body. What was surprising was it's rather neat and trimmed beard and mustache, and stark red cap.

He muttered something under his breath, but it was loud enough for her to hear that it was in a language that she didn't understand.

"You get's in through there. Now leave. Tuig very busy." he waved a spindled hand in a direction just behind her, where she turned to see a door that wasn't there just a few moments ago.

"Thank you!" she called after the surprisingly quick creature as she grabbed Sarah's hand and began for the large double doors.

"I don't understand."

"Understand what?" Kagome asked keep a light hold on Sarah, whom was still lost in thought.

"He helped me last time, this is where he's supposed to be." the girl frowned, as she kept her eyes on the ground.

"Like he said, things are different this time. I highly doubt he's going to make this easy for us, especially since you've already done this before. That would be cheating."

"But he cheats all the time!" Kagome blinked wide eyes at the sudden outburst, never once experiencing such from the girl next to her. Or better said, witnessing such.

"How so?"

Sarah began ticking things off on her fingers, and Kagome winced at each things that was listed off while also internally chuckling at how frighteningly similar the two actually were.

"He stole time from me, tried to send me back to the beginning, poisoned me, trick me into forgetting Toby, dropped me in the Bog of Eternal Stench, and he even sent the Cleaners after me!"

Kagome wasn't sure what, the Cleaners, were, but from the sound of them, it wasn't a bunch of people that simply cleaned up simple messes. Blinking a few times, Kagome took it all in.

"What are, The Cleaners?"

"Think of a meat slicer-n-dicer on wheels." Kagome flinched back at that, having had close calls with such things before.

"Why would he do that?" he had stated that, though not exactly, that Runners were actually safe from falling to harm while trying to win a wishes away child.

"I... may have called the Labyrinth... a piece of cake." Kagome chocked on air. Sarah just admitted to insulting his kingdom. Kagome knew better than to do such, it would be like telling Sesshoumaru that the Western Lands and his home were like a small little hut. She wouldn't insult his... anything... well... there were those few times when he was there sort of enemy. But those didn't count.

"No wonder. You pretty much insulted his kingdom."

"But sending the Cleaners after me! It wasn't fair!"

"Who said life was fair?" the questioned startled Sarah into losing the retort she was about to say. She was shocked that she fell back into an old routine, glad to have Kagome next to her to rant and rave about the misdeeds she suffered through at the Goblin King's hands, and remembered the lessons she learned during and after her last visit here.

"Let's get going, before we lose too much time." Kagome spoke up, shaking Sarah out of her thoughts, and both turned to open the doors.

They had barely brushed their finger tips across the ancient surface when the doors suddenly burst open, and a large strong wind rushed past them. Though not from within rushing out, it was from within, that much was for sure, it sucked the both of them in.

Sand, dust, glitter small rocks and twigs flew past them as the tried to keep their footing on solid ground, no matter how they slid against the solid surface. Till finally, they were both in the air, and landing heavily against a solid wall before them.

The doors to the Labyrinth slammed shut with a resounding echo as soon as the two of them landed on cool cobble stone. The ground beneath them seemed to shake and rumble and a wind rushed past them with such strength that they pushed themselves flat against either the wall or ground.

Soon it settled, and two curious young women chanced a peek, blinking rapidly. Slowly, they picked themselves up, putting things back the way they were before their sudden and brief flight.

"Well... that's a way to make a girl feel welcomed." Kagome muttered as she pulled a hair tie from one of her pants pockets and began to pull her hair up into a tight ponytail.

"That... was new. Even for me." Sarah wavered lightly on her feet, keeping a hand on a wall, the other one out before her just in case. Looking up, she nibbled on her lower lip lightly, she had a feeling Kagome was right, things were a lot different now. "Do you have an extra tie?"

Kagome finished securing her hair before pulling out a second hair tie and handed it to Sarah. She glanced down in the only two directions, both of which seemed to go on forever. While she waited for the other girl to finish with her own hair, Kagome spotted moss with eyes growing on the walls, and shivered.

"I've know the saying, that the walls have ears, but this... I'll admit, it's sorta creepy."

"I don't know if they're deliberate, but they're all over the place. As far as I know. But let's get going, 13 hours isn't a lot of time in a place like this. Keep your senses sharp, and don't trust your eyes. Not everything is as it seems here."

Kagome nodded her head in understanding. Illusions. Something else she was also familiar with. She followed after Sarah, the girl did have prior experience after all, but she would only follow for so long and to a certain degree. But her best bet were in her hands, and not her own.

The two of them walked gingerly down the path, each taking up a wall to run their hands along. Moss eyes following after them, the Labyrinth shifting in other areas, as if taking a deep and needed breath after so long a slumber.

An ancient magic, yet new, had been introduced to it's own. And it relished in the feeling of life itself walking down it's paths once again. For now, it would wait and watch, contemplate on what this new magic could do, and what to do in return.

It waited.

AN: This little thing popped into my head while reading random fanfics and crossovers in hopes to over come my current writers block. It worked, kinda, just not the way I was hoping it would. Hmmm.