InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ An Inuyasha Adventure ❯ At the Arcade: an Inuyasha Adventure ( Chapter 1 )

Inuyasha came through the well looking for Kagome. He glanced briefly about, then, neither seeing nor smelling anything out of the ordinary, he bolted across the courtyard to the back door of Kagome's house.

Mrs. Higurashi stood at the sink, washing dishes. “Oh, good afternoon, Inuyasha. If you're looking for Kagome, she is still at school. Would you like to wait in here for her?”

Inuyasha considered, then decided he would rather wait by the road. Thanking Mrs. Higurashi, Inuyasha left the house and jumped into the branches of a large tree on the top of the hill overlooking the road. He perched on a slender branch, balanced on hands and feet, and peered down at the traffic, both mechanical and pedestrian. There were lots of people, but none smelled like Kagome.

Inuyasha found himself imagining what types of lives the various people might have. They certainly dressed strangely, and smelled strangely, too. Their human odors were often overpowered by floral or minty scents. It was hard to get a clear scent of who—or what—he was seeing.

Finally, Kagome came up the path, chatting with a few of her girlfriends. She looked so happy, thought Inuyasha. So young. He was about to jump down and surprise her (after all, her girlfriends all knew him by now, even if they didn't know he was a demon) when part of their conversation registered with him.

“I think the one in the middle is cuter,” remarked Eri, glancing backwards.

“No, I like the tall one better.” Kagome replied. “Look at those muscles! I wouldn't mind going out with him.”

“Careful, he saw you looking!” said Ayumi, giggling.

Inuyasha looked beyond the girls to where they were looking, and saw three teen-aged boys walking slowly behind them. One of them glanced up at the girls and smiled, but otherwise they were caught up in their own conversation. Inuyasha couldn't make head or tail of what they were saying.

“I got up to Level 10 yesterday. Today I will beat it!” said one of the boys.

“Yeah, right! I'll play against you and we'll see who beats---hey, those girls are looking at us!”

Momentarily all three boys stopped talking and looked at the girls, who hurriedly turned around and continued to walk up the steps to Kagome's house. As the boys continued on by, the girls giggled again, and waved good-bye.

“After we finish our game at the arcade, we're going to get some noodles. Why don't you come and meet us then?” called out the taller of the boys, the one Kagome said she liked.

“Maybe we will,” replied Kagome.

 

Inuyasha was stunned. He didn't know whether to jump out of the tree and confront Kagome or to attack the three boys for being so forward. He did neither, and sat rooted to his branch high above them all, as each group slowly went off in different directions. Stupid humans, they never even realized he was there.

What was it about human boys that Kagome liked? Was it their clothes, their strange lifestyle (what was Level 10?), or the fact that they were human? On impulse, he decided to follow these boys and find out for himself. Admittedly, the part about going for noodles was an added incentive.

He jumped from his branch all the way to the sidewalk far below, then realized as he received startled stares from passers-by that he would need to dress like these modern humans if he wanted to blend in. He wasn't worried that he would lose them, as he had their scent, such as it was.

So quickly that he was at most a blur to the passing motorists, he alternately ran and jumped through a nearby high-rise housing complex where some people had laundry hanging from poles outside their windows. He picked a few items that were similar to what those boys had been wearing, and went back to his tree to put them on. He reverently folded his red outfit and left it high in the tree, wedging Tetsusaiga firmly against it so the whole thing wouldn't fall. He felt a little silly wearing the jeans. He still needed shoes of some sort—and a hat to cover his ears.

He remembered that Kagome's grandfather kept sandals outside of the shrine, so he snuck by there and borrowed a pair. The red baseball cap he usually wore when he was in Kagome's world was hanging inside the back entrance to the house. As he grabbed it, he overheard Kagome's mother ask her if she had seen Inuyasha.

“Well, he must have got tired of waiting for you and gone back to his own…home,” she said, changing “time” to “home” at the last minute so as not to confuse Kagome's friends.

 

Inuyasha bounded down the walkway to the spot where he last saw the boys. He felt like a modern human boy himsef, with his jeans and t-shirt, sandals and baseball cap. Of course, his white hair flowed out from beneath the cap, but other than that, he blended in.

He knelt down on the sidewalk and sniffed, drawing a few curious stares, which he answered by glaring back with golden eyes. People gasped, and made a wide berth around him. No matter, he found the trail and followed it through the city.

Here. This was the place for sure. The scent of the boys was strong and it ended at this doorway. He went into the building under the neon sign that read “Arcade.” And stopped. And stared. The room was filled with teenage boys, even a few teenage girls, and…machines that spat noise and colored lights until his head spun. He leaned against the wall just inside the doorway and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

These giant boxes were like Kagome's television, but much louder, and…Inuyasha leaned forward…much more interesting! Here two brightly colored creatures battled with swords, and if he was not mistaken, the boy planted in front of the box was controlling their movements! But what was that other box, with big machines exploding in a black sky? Or that one, which showed men in ugly green clothes covered in what looked like blood aiming sticks at each other?

Inuyasha moved slowly around the room, standing behind one machine and then another. Yes, these were games and the human boys were the players. He wanted to try!

He moved behind one of the boys who had been following Kagome and watched him battle a giant Oni-like creature. “Fly above him!” Inuyasha yelled. “Use your momentum to sever his head!” In his excitement, Inuyasha gripped one edge of the console with his claws, leaving distinct punctures in the metal. His other hand curled and raised in a slashing pose above the head of the on-screen Oni (and incidentally above the head of the boy who was playing the game.)

The boy glanced behind him, annoyed, then flinched when he saw Inuyasha's raised hand. His eyes took in Inuyasha's hair, his eyes, and his teeth. Inuyasha immediately clamped his lips shut to hide his fangs before the boy got a good look. Sheepishly, he lowered his arm and let go of the game console. “Sorry.”

“Do you think you could do better?” asked the boy.

“Of course.” There was no doubt about that in Inuyasha's mind.

“Fine, you can play against me. I'll be the Oni.” He moved over to one side of the machine, laving room on the other side for Inuyasha.

After a moment, Inuyasha said, “I don't know how.”

“Look, put your hands here, and here.” He moved Inuyasha's hands into position. His eyes widened as he noticed Inuyasha's nails, but he didn't say anything. “Push that way to go up, or down, push the other one to swing the sword. Got it? Did you put money in…never mind, I'll do it for both of us.” The boy withdrew some coins and deposited some on Inuyasha's side, some on his own side.

“Ready? Go!”

At first Inuyasha couldn't make his human do what he wanted. More than once he raised his own hand, curved into claws, in frustration. But each time he did, the human on screen would stop moving and the Oni, controlled by the other boy, would score a hit. “Game Over” said the machine.

“No!” shouted Inuyasha. “Again!” As the game began over, a tinny voice came out of the box. “LEVEL ONE,” it said.

The two boys began to draw a crowd. Inuyasha seemed unable to stand still and jumped and twisted along with his on-screen human, but now he knew better than to take his hands off the controls. He was able to keep up with the other boy now, and they played on, oblivious to the crowd around them cheering them on. Level 2, Level 3, Level 4….

Finally Inuyasha was able to use his move—he made his human jump high into thei air over the Oni and he slashed down with his sword, just as he would have done in real life with Tetsusaiga, cutting off the Oni's head. “GAME OVER,” intoned the machine.

“What? Why? Do it again!” said Inuyasha.

“No, you beat the game. You did it!” The boy whom he'd beat, and the other boys around them all wanted to clap him on the back and shake his hand. It was all Inuyasha could do to stop grinning and revealing his fangs for them all to see. He shook hands as gently as possible, but it seemed that the boys, if they thought about it at all, just thought he had untrimmed fingernails.

The two other boys who had been part of the original group joined Inuyasha and his new friend. “He doesn't have any money,” said the first boy, then he grinned. “But he beat Level 10! After the first game, he didn't need any money—he just kept racking up the points.”

Inuyasha beamed, although he wasn't too sure what they were talking about. When he told them his name, they helped him put it on the screen so the “high scorer” read “Inuyasha.” He tried a few more video games, with his three new buddies in tow, and by the end of the afternoon he had become quite a hit at the video arcade. Everyone knew his name and he had acquired somewhat of a reputation as a game-player.

 

“I'm hungry. Let's go eat,” said the tall boy, the one Kagome liked. That sounded great to Inuyasha. They would go to the noodle place and Kagome would be there, and she would see him along with the other three boys. He glanced at the taller boy, comparing himself. Same sort of clothes, except for the shoes. He didn't think he could stuff his feet into those sneakers the boys all wore—already the sandals were irritating his toes. Now he played the same games. What was not to like? Kagome would see that he was better than these human boys even at being human.

With a faint grin on his face that made his new-found friends a bit nervous, he followed them to the street. Again he was assailed with all sorts of smells that were not human boy smells. His head swiveled left and right. Good thing he had Sota's red cap on, for his ears kept trying to swivel too.

He smelled the noodle place right before they walked in. It smelled heavenly. They all put in their orders except Inuyasha.

“Do you have those instant ramen noodles?” he asked the waiter.

“Inuyasha! No, you must let us order for you. Where are you from, anyway? Instant noodles!”

Inuyasha gestured vaguely in the direction of the Higurashi shrine. “Over there, but far away.”

“That explains it. I know I never saw you at the arcade before.”

The boys ordered Inuyasha a steaming bowl of the same noodles that they had, and watched him practically inhale it. They all ordered a second round. Suddenly Inuyasha's head jerked up, and his cap wiggled on his head. “Kagome,” he said softly.

Moments later, the shop door opened and Kagome walked in with her friends. They looked around the room and smiled when they saw the three boys from school as well as a fourth boy. A little electric jolt ran through Kagome.

“Inuyasha!” exclaimed her girlfriends. “Look, Kagome. Inuyasha is over there with those boys!”

“Inuyasha,” repeated Kagome. She looked at him only to find him staring intently at her with his amber eyes. She shoved her way through the tables and placed her hands down on the table facing him. “What are you doing here, Inuyasha?” she asked, taking in the jeans, the baseball cap, the claws delicately holding chopsticks.

“Ah, you know each other?”
“That's Inuyasha, Kagome's boy---friend who is a boy.” Eri explained. “He visits her sometimes.”

“Come sit with us,” invited the taller boy, moving over on the bench seat. Kagome slid in next to him, watching Inuyasha's eyes widen then narrow. She smiled.

“Nice clothes, Inuyasha,” she commented.

Inuyasha's cheeks reddened.

Kagome turned to the tall boy. “Thank you so much for inviting us. I hope my friend Inuyasha wasn't too much trouble. I didn't know that he would be joining us.”

Inuyasha glared at her.

“We met Inuyasha at the arcade,” explained the boy. “He's quite good! You should have brought him around earlier. We could have used his skill in last month's competition.”

“Inuyasha, I had no idea you were good at video games!” said Ayumi. Then she turned aside to the tall boy. “Inuyasha's from out of town. He comes tovisit Kagome every now and then. He's really quite nice.”

Inuyasha inclined his head towards Ayumi, thanking her silently for her compliment. He sneaked a look at Kagome, who was sputtering into her noodles at the notion of Inuyasha being nice. Well, he could be nice. It felt good to receive all those compliments. Being human wasn't all that bad.

“And I'm even better in real life,” he boasted.

“What do you mean? Do you mean you know martial arts? You can really fight with a sword?”

Kagome hastily cut off Inuyasha's reply. “I'm sure he's just kidding. He knows people don't use swords in this day and age.”

“I know. They use guns,” said Inuyasha. “I beat that game, too.”

Kagome's blood ran cold at the thought of Inuyasha with a real gun. “You do realize those were only games, don't you?”

The others looked at her in amazement.

“Of course I do—do you think I'm stupid?” yelled Inuyasha. People turned to look at their table.

“Shhh! Inuyasha, I think it's time we went back home. Thanks, everyone. We had a great time. Bye!” Kagome stood up, and the tall boy stood up too so that Inuyasha could get out.

“Yeah, it's time I headed for home too.”

“Me too. This was fun, though. Let's do it again.”

“OK. Inuyasha, you need to come again too. Call us next time you're in town.”

Call? Inuyasha imagined standing on top of Kagome's hill yelling out their names. “I'll find you,” he said. “I remember your”—he caught Kagome's disapproving glance—“faces. Next time, I'll bring my sword and show you what I can really do.”

Kagome rolled her eyes, then grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door. “Come on. Bye, everyone!”

 

They walked slowly back towards Kagome's house. “Do you really like that boy's muscles?” asked Inuyasha, flexing his own. “Better than mine?”

Kagome looked at him critically. “No, I just never knew you had any. You're always covered up by that red suit. I like your muscles, now that I see them.”

Inuyasha grinned, fangs and all. “Maybe I'll keep these human clothes then…”

“By the way, where did you get them?”

“Uh…”

“Never mind. Don't answer.”

 

They stopped briefly at the tree, where Inuyasha changed into his red outfit. He brought his bundle of “human clothes” to Kagome, who put them in her bottom dresser drawer. The hat and the sandals went back to where they belonged.

“We'll have to get you sneakers next.”

Inuyasha shuddered.

The gathered a few supplies for the trip back, including some instant Ramen noodles and some potato chips, a lollipop for Shippo, some cola for Miroku, and some extra bandages just in case. After saying their good-byes, they made their way to the bone-eaters well and jumped in.

 

“What took you so long?” complained Shippo as they climbed out of the wll in Inuyasha's time. “You said you were going to bring Kagome back.”

“I did. She's right here. I had to wait for her to finish school,” explained Inuyasha.

“That's not exactly true, Inuyasha. You made some friends of your own this time.”

Miroku raised his eyebrows. Friends? “And what did you do with these friends?”

“We played games. I'm the best! I beat Level 10!” said Inuyasha.

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