Labyrinth

 

Chapter 3: Dangerous Games

 

            To say that Kagome had been a little uptight since the “incident” with the old bird would have been a huge understatement.  In reality Kagome was extremely shaken.  For a moment, for just a moment, she had forgotten what a dangerous game she was playing.  This place was real.  She could die here, and her mother would never know what happened.  For all she knew her brother was already dead.  But she had to find him.  She didn’t have the right to get distracted; she didn’t have the right to relax, to laugh.  It was all her fault, one way or the other.  No matter how she looked at it, this was her mess to clean up.  And if she wasn’t careful she’d just be one more stain on the Labyrinth walls.

            These were all games.

            Except that they weren’t.

            This was life and death.  She wanted to be mad at Inuyasha for doing this to her.  But hadn’t she already admitted that it was all her fault?  And now she knew that he had been serious when he had said that he couldn’t help her get through the Labyrinth.  He had never even seen the inside of the Labyrinth.  Not outside of his own castle.  He was a prisoner, as much a victim as she.

            And she wasn’t going to forget this time.  She wasn’t going to forget that at any moment a trap could spring and she could die.  Because it was stupid to forget.  Because it was worse than stupid to forget - it was idiotic, it was careless, it was ungrateful.  The fact that Shippo had helped her avoid the traps didn’t mean they weren’t there.  And eventually they would run into something the kitsune wasn’t prepared for, because there was no way he was prepared for everything, because, after all, he was just a child.  And was it really fair for her to depend on a child for her life?

            Probably not.  But she had no other choice.  She comforted herself with the thought that he would probably follow her even if she did tell him to go away.  With that thought firmly in place it seemed alright to be glad he was there, alright to share just the smallest portion of the burden.  He had volunteered.  And it wasn’t as though he’d be exactly safe even if he left her.  He did live in the Labyrinth. So, really, being with her might be a good thing… right?

            And in the back of her mind she knew she was making excuses, but in the end the lonely, helpless part of her won out and she thrust the guilt to the back of her mind and buried it in a shallow grave.

            It was his choice to stay with her.  And she wasn’t going to take that away.

            “Are you okay?” Shippo’s voice pulled her from her tortured thoughts.  Which was probably a good thing as they were only running in circles and were probably doing the opposite of what she had originally intended –which was to remind herself why she had to be vigilant.  She couldn’t exactly be vigilant and observant if she was lost in thought.  She suddenly realized that Shippo was still staring at her.

            “Ummm… I think so.”

            He snorted softly, “Well, that’s reassuring.” She wondered where he’d learned that – the snort, and the mocking sarcasm that so often colored his words.

            She reached out to tug a lock of auburn hair, “Watch it kid.” She warned softly.  But they both knew she wouldn’t do anything to him.

            “Only if you will.” He quipped, but there was seriousness in his eyes.  He wanted her to pay attention.  He was worried about her.

            She sighed, “Why did you have to grow up so fast?” she questioned softly.

            He shrugged, “Because if I hadn’t I’d be dead.”

            He was so casual about it, but it wasn’t fair.  He was only a child…  But then, no one ever said life was fair.  After all, if life was fair she wouldn’t be here.  If life was fair there wouldn’t have been a here to be.  Yep, life stunk.  Period.

            And it was about time to get out of her head and back to the Labyrinth because Kagome really, really didn’t want to die here.

            Suddenly Shippo shifted on her shoulder, and she looked back (a slightly awkward movement, but one she was becoming accustomed to) to see him sniffing the air.

            “We’re almost out of the maze,” he whispered.

            Kagome wondered why, exactly, he was whispering.  It wasn’t as though he had told her some great secret - and there wasn’t any one else to listen anyway.

            “Out of the maze?” she echoed.

            He nodded, “yeah, only the outer ring of the Labyrinth is an actual maze made of stone walls, the rest is… different.” Kagome couldn’t tell if he was reluctant to tell her about the other dangers of the maze, or if he just didn’t know. He continued before she could ask, “If we’re lucky we can go through the gate… but if not… well, there are other ways.”

            Kagome’s nose wrinkled in distaste, thinking about the gate she had argued with earlier.  Talking gates were decidedly annoying, she decided.  And she, of course, would know based on her vast amount of experience with all of… one talking gate.  Okay, so she wasn’t an expert, but she had a fairly good idea that talking gates were never a good thing.

            “It doesn’t talk does it?”

            Shippo stared at her as if she’d asked him if she was currently flying and shook his head.  “Noooo…” he tilted his head, “Why would the gate talk?”

            “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because the gate on the outside of the wall did.”

            He looked confused, “There’s a gate on the outside of the wall?”

            She blinked back at him, “Shouldn’t there be?”

            He shrugged, “I’ve never seen one… which doesn’t really mean much, I guess.” He was still giving her that strange look. “Anyway, it’s not that kind of gate.  At least, it hasn’t been any of the times I’ve seen it.”

            “Hasn’t been?” she was doing a fairly decent impression of the Grand canyon, what with the constant echoing and all, and she hated it, but she was so very, very confused.

            “Well,” he sounded a little uneasy now, “See, it isn’t always the same.  That’s why I said we could go through it if we’re lucky.” He picked at a spot on his shirt, not meeting her eyes, “It isn’t even always… umm… sometimes it isn’t even there…”

            Now it was Kagome’s turn to stare at him like he was crazy.  “Sometimes it isn’t there?” this place was so nuts it made her want to tear her hair out. She remembered having heard somewhere that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results – what, then, did it mean if doing the same thing did bring different results?  That was not at all a pleasant thought.

            “Anyway,” Shippo plowed on, some cheerfulness creeping back into his tone, “we should know soon enough.”

 

***

 

            Shippo hadn’t been kidding when he had said they would know soon enough.  No sooner had the words left his mouth then before them there materialized two gates and two stone statues.  Having learned from the bird not to trust the appearance of stone, Kagome was betting they were guards.  Ugly guards too, they looked like walking boars in armor carrying heavy axes. 

            “Two gates?” Kagome shot Shippo a harsh look.

            “I said it changed!” he defended himself.

            Kagome let it go and cautiously approached the gates.  Neither ‘statue’ had moved yet, and both appeared to have their eyes closed.  But when Kagome got within a yard of the first one its eyes snapped open, proving that at least part of her initial assumption was correct.

            “Who goes?” It ground out.

            Kagome faltered, “Umm… my name is Kagome, and I would like to get through the gate…” she trailed off uncertainly.  Which gate did she want to go through?  Did it even matter?

            She could have sworn the thing smiled, and it was not a cheerful sight.  In fact, it was almost nauseating.  The thing’s breath stunk.

            “Certainly,” it nodded, “You may enter the gate.”  And he stepped to the side, allowing her passage.

            Kagome looked at Shippo, utterly lost.  That was far too easy.  Shippo seemed as lost as she, but he just shrugged.  Kagome took a hesitant step forward, eyeing the guard suspiciously, and when the second boar’s stone axe suddenly fell before her she nearly screamed.

            “What was that for?” she snapped, backing up a step.

            “Are you sure you want to go that way?” the creature asked.

            “Umm…” Kagome tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, a somewhat nervous habit, “No?” it was more a question than anything else.  How could she be sure of anything?  She didn’t know the first thing about this place.

            “I’ll let you in on a secret,” the second guard leaned close to her in a conspiratorial manner, placing a hand to shield its mouth from the view of the other guard. “My brother there is trying to trick you.  You see, behind his door lies destruction, but my door will lead you to Labyrinth city.”  Kagome darted an uneasy glance between the two boars, fighting the urge to take another step back as this second creature also had positively atrocious breath.

            “Umm… it does?” she managed to ask, though she could hardly breathe.

            “Yes.” And then the guard straightened, giving her some much needed breathing room.

            Kagome took an even more hesitant step toward the second gate, but the first guard stopped her by speaking.

            “I wouldn’t do that.” He warned, “He always lies.  In fact, he is not capable of telling the truth.”

            Kagome looked back at the second boar, who seemed vaguely amused at the accusation.  “That might be true.” He agreed, “But maybe you are the liar.”

            Now Kagome didn’t know what to think.

            “I’ll tell you what, girl,” Kagome wasn’t even sure which boar was speaking any more.  “We’ll strike you a deal.  You see, one of us always lies,”

            He trailed off and the second boar continued, “And the other always tells the truth.”

            The first continued again as both boars moved in front of their respective gates, “You may ask each of us a question.  And then chose a gate accordingly.”

            “One gate leads to your goal.”

            “And the other leads to your death.”

            And then they both stood at attention, grinning at her like fools.

            Kagome knew this riddle, or at least one similar to it.  The problem was, the riddle she knew only involved one… well, grinning idiot.  And she was fairly certain it didn’t work quite the same way.  In the riddle she knew there were two villages, one of liars, and one of truth tellers.  There was a man standing at the fork in the path that led to the two villages and you had to learn from him which village was the village of truth tellers.  The problem was you could only ask the man one question, and you had no idea whether he came from the village of liars or truth tellers.  So you had to ask him to tell you the way to his village. If the man was a truth teller, he would point to his own village, which was where you wanted to go.  And if the man was a liar he would still point to the truth teller’s village because he couldn’t point to his own.

            The trouble was she didn’t know which of these two was honest.  And she had no guarantee either one was.  Or even if they were consistent.  She could ask the first boar if he was his brother.  If he always lied he’d say yes, which should mean that the other boar was truthful.  In which case she could simply ask him which gate was correct.  If the first boar was the truth teller he would answer ‘No’ to her question.  Which would mean the other brother was the liar and when she asked him which gate was correct she could take the other one.  But what if neither brother were honest?  Or, worse, what if they were just like everyone else, sometimes lying, sometimes telling the truth.  There was just no way to find out what she needed to know in one question, or even two.

            As she puzzled through this her thoughts were interrupted by Shippo tugging insistently at her sleeve.

            “Kagome,” another tug, “let’s go.”

            “But,” she started to protest, but he was already moving away, and it was very uncomfortable to walk and lean down at that angle at the same time.

            “Come on.” He insisted.

            Kagome started to follow, but then she thought of something.  She stopped and stared at the two gates, thinking through what the brothers had already said to her. “Shippo, I know which gate!” she said brightly, laughing at the simplicity of it.  And she stepped back towards the gates.  But Shippo wasn’t going to let her go.  He tugged her just out of the guards’ line of sight.

“Just wait a few minutes, Kagome!” he pleaded, “The gates aren’t going anywhere.”  Kagome wasn’t too certain of that considering how they had seemed to materialize in front of them minutes before, but she did wait, albeit impatiently.  And it turned out it was worth the wait.

Not many minutes after Shippo had pulled her away a small turtle creature approached.  Kagome thought it might have been the turtle from earlier –when she was outside the Labyrinth – but she couldn’t be sure.  Suddenly she realized that the turtle was going to go through one of the gates.  Eagerly she watched, hoping to discover the truth so that they could pass through.

One of the boars stepped aside and the turtle passed through the gate.  For a moment all seemed well, then there was a blood curdling scream and a splash of blood.  The boars laughed hysterically.

Kagome felt sick.  That was the door she would have chosen.

“They’re both liars, Kagome.” Shippo explained solemnly, “You see, whichever gate you choose becomes the way of death.  There is no safe path.”

Kagome was having serious issues steadying her breathing, and she looked at Shippo with both admiration and pity.  He was too wise for one so young.

Seeing her distress Shippo sought a way to distract her.  Jumping up on her shoulder he smiled, “hey!  Let’s play a game!”

Her eyes darted to him in something akin to panic.

“An easy game,” he reassured her, “something without consequences.” He grinned.

Kagome nodded uncertainly, and the kit grinned.

“Umm… how about ‘I Spy’?” he asked.

Kagome agreed. That was a safe enough game.  No way to get hurt, no punishment for the loser.  Yes, that was safe enough.

Unfortunately it was also very boring as after several attempts they realized there was really nothing to spy except stone walls… But it did keep Kagome’s mind off other things.

            Ironic considering not an hour before she had been trying to keep her mind on the dangers of the Labyrinth.

            “Umm… I think I’m done with this game.” Kagome finally protested.

            Shippo grumbled, “All right.” He grudgingly agreed.  “Maybe that’s enough games for now.”

            Kagome whole heartedly agreed.  She had had enough games to last her a lifetime.

            “Hey, Shippo?” he glanced up at her, “I thought you said we were almost out of the stone maze?”

            Shippo lifted his head and gave a sniff. “Not as close as before… the gate is kind of a shortcut.” He admitted, “But we’re still less than a half day away.”

            Kagome groaned; did this place even have days?  It still looked exactly the same time of day to her.  Which reminded her…

            “Umm, Shippo?” he looked at her, “How long do you think we’ve been traveling together exactly?”

            “Well…” he frowned a little, “it’s kind of hard to say, but I think it’s been almost a day.”

            Just great.  A day?  Her mother was surely home by now.  And she’d have Kagome’s hide if she and Souta ever returned.  Of course, every thing else was screwy here, so she could always hold out on the hope that time was screwy here as well.

            “Are you okay?”

            Kagome forced a smile at the kit’s obvious concern.  “Yeah, just … thinking.” She had been going to say thinking about her family, but since he didn’t have any…

            “Kagome?” she was instantly drawn by the sadness in his tone, “tell me about your family.  What’s it like to have a brother?”

            She sighed heavily; obviously he had followed her line of thought.  But then, maybe that was alright.  If he couldn’t have a family of his own then maybe she could share hers with him.

            “Annoying.” She chuckled, as that was the first word that popped out, without her even thinking about it first.  Then her tone and face softened, “And wonderful.  We can get on each other’s nerves, but we love each other.  When I’m sick he gets my homework, and when he’s sick I sneak him ice cream.” she grinned.  “So it’s good.”

            “I didn’t have any brothers or sisters.” Shippo told her, “but I wish I did.”

            Kagome reached up to tousle his hair, “Tell you what.  If you find mine – I’ll let you keep him.” She gave him a wink and he giggled, all solemnity forgotten.

            “Promise?” his eyes were sparkling with happiness.

            “Sure.” She shrugged, “But you have to promise to give him back when mom comes home.”

            “Deal!” he announced grandly, offering his hand in a mimic of her gesture at their first meeting.

            Kagome took it and grinned.

            Even in a lousy, crazy place like this, there were still good people.  She took that as a positive sign.  Of course, Kagome always had been an optimist…

 

***

 

            “Shippo?  What is that?” beneath their feet the monotonous stone had changed.  Ahead of them the stone could be seen in all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors - blue triangles in green circles next to red squares and orange half moons.  It looked like a child’s playground.  And Kagome didn’t trust it.  After all, one game of ‘I Spy’ was not enough to make her forget the rest of her experiences in the Labyrinth.

            Shippo didn’t seem too upset though. In fact, he eagerly jumped out onto the first shape.   

            “It’s a game.” He urged her, smiling.  “Like – hopscotch.  You just jump on the right shapes.” He demonstrated, “See?” he turned to grin back at her.

            Cautiously Kagome followed after him; after all, there was no way to go around. “And, ummm…” her brow furrowed in concentration and she didn’t take her eyes from the ground to look at him while she spoke, “what, uh, what happens if I make a mistake?” she already knew that one could pay a high price for a misstep in the Labyrinth.   She shuddered as she remembered the decapitated bird and the hapless turtle.

            “Ummm,” Shippo once again paused to look back at her, “that would be bad.” He said solemnly, “You don’t want to do that.”

Kagome could feel the sweat trickling down her back, great, she was going to smell like a locker room when she got out of this – if she got out of this.

 “H-how bad.” It was getting harder to concentrate.  As her fear grew, her coordination diminished.  Her vision was blurring around the edges, and her legs were trembling. <this is not the time to faint, girl> she mentally scolded herself.  Suddenly she was swaying and she shifted her foot to regain her balance.  The earth shifted beneath her with a sickening rumble and a sharp crack.  And when she looked down she could have sworn there was only blackness beneath her.

            “That bad.” She heard the kit whisper.  And then she was falling.

            “Shippo!” she cried in desperation, searching frantically around her, but the young kitsune was gone.