Virtual Reality by KuraiTenshi

Chapter 1

So... I know I still have a few unfinished stories, but I couldn't resist doing this one. I do not own the rights to Inuyasha and others, Rumiko does. I also don't really own this story, I just twisted it to fit my Sesshoumaru and Kagome fantasies. :) The VR story came from one of Katie MacAlister's books "Blow Me Down," so no one can say I stole it. I'm giving her credit. She is a fantastic writer! Well, I hope you enjoy!

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~~*~~Virtual Reality~~*~~

~*~Chapter 1~*~

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"You wanna know what your problem is?!"

She waited for the rumble from the distant clap of thunder to fade away into nothing before answering. There was no point in speaking until she was going to be heard. "Yes. The fact that people seem to think that just because I work on animals and not humans that they can walk all over me, quote their own prices, and be positively sure that I would have been up at 3 in the morning anyway."

Ayumi sighed. "No, that's not it and you know it."

"Ah, then it must be the blatant disregard of Congress by revoking the funding pushing veterinary students into the large animal field, therefore only increasing the need for more qualified workers within the food industry, which is already sorely lacking. Considering the recent outbreaks of diseases like the avian flu or mad cow disease, it's just plain ignorant."

Another sigh followed, drawn out and martyred as only a best friend and room-mate could pull off. "No, not that either. You're just spitting out nonsense and you know it."

She frowned at the computer screen, giving Ayumi only part of her attention as she typed up a report that was due the next day. It sounded like a storm was coming, and she wanted to finish before she had to turn off the electronic equipment. This report was too important to lose to fried equipment. That would just be her luck. "No? Hmm. Well, you must be talking about the asinine way the legal system works that says if someone's own pet injures them while in my building, it's my fault and responsibility, therefore liable to pay for their injuries as well. All because someone can't handle their own stupid pet."

"No! I'm not talking about that! You're not even listening to me. Stop sprouting bullshit and pay attention to me for a minute."

Another rumble of thunder stopped conversation for the count of five. "You wouldn't by any chance be referring to the fact that I have a best friend who doesn't understand the concept of not disturbing her roommate while she's working."

"N-O spells no. Besides, you're always working. I wouldn't interrupt your working all the time if you did something else for change."

Kagome rolled her eyes. She couldn't understand what had gotten into Ayumi, but was trying not to let it bother her. "It will pay the bills later on when it gets me through my exams at the end of the year. It pays for this place we share, even on the measly salary I get now. Hand those journals over there, please. Are the stereo and TV off? It sounds like that storm is heading right for us."

"Yes, of course they are, and you didn't answer my question," Ayumi answered after she passed her the small stack of scientific journals, hands on her hips, glaring at Kagome.

"I did. Four times, in fact." Kagome smirked. She loved messing with Ayumi.

"Kagome!"

"Hmm?" She double checked a couple of statistics in the fact sheet, adding them to the report where she thought they fit.

"I asked you a question." Ayumi huffed, tapping her foot irritably on the floor.

"And I answered it." The silence that followed, pregnant and pointed, bothered her enough to disrupt her train of thought. She took her hands off the keyboard and swiveled in her chair to face Ayumi. Whatever it was, it had to be pretty important for her to have kept on for so long. "All right. You have my undivided attention. For... er..." She glanced at the clock. "Forty-five seconds."

The blue flash of lightning and a subsequent loud crack of thunder were perfectly timed with Ayumi's "45 seconds! Kagome!"

Kagome heaved a martyred sigh that rivaled hers, fighting to keep the smile from her lips at Ayumi's look of righteous indignation. Ayumi definitely had a thing for the dramatics, as she was showing with her present little display. "Very well. I'm prepared to be especially generous. We'll say you lucked out on account of the extremely bad weather. You have two minutes. I suggest you use them wisely."

"Your problem," she said, following Kagome into the kitchen as she refilled her coffee mug with komodo dragon Asian roast and plenty of sugar, "is that you don't know how to have any fun anymore. You haven't been out in over 5 years!"

Kagome gave into the urge for a little eye roll and made sure everything that safely could be was unplugged. Another blue-white flash illuminating their tiny back yard heralded the onslaught of the storm. The rain started coming down like stones.

Noting her skeptical glances she continued. "I'm serious Kagome. Dr. Fealsright says that people like you use the excuse of work and their studies to compensate for the things that are lacking in their lives."

"Dr. Fealsright?" The name made her want to laugh. Kagome leaned her hip against the counter and sipped her coffee, watching her best friend as she stood in front of her. They really were quite opposite. Ayumi's short, thick strawberry blond hair was unruly, defying all attempts by hair spray, styling mousse, and industrial strength hair gel to form it into something other than a wild tangle of curls; while Kagome's thick, silky raven locks with hints of blue fell in soft waves down her back to her waist. Ayumi's eyes were a light hazel with straight brows that refused to arch no matter how many trips to the beauty salon she made; where Kagome's were a deep dark sapphire that changed depending on her mood, with brows a girl would dream of, perfect arches and low maintenance. Ayumi, was supermodel thin, gorgeous, but with few curves; while Kagome's figure was slim, but with curves that would attract any man's attention. Even their interests were opposite. Kagome's field of interest was veterinary science, whereas Ayumi's was acting. But they loved each other to death.

"Dr. Ruth Fealsright. Hello, she my acting instructor! The one I introduced you to last week!" Really? How could such a smart girl be so forgetful?

"Oh, right; the one who wants to start a home for starving acting students and thinks I should encourage you to express yourself in artistic media rather than apply yourself to the rest of your classes. It's quite an interesting attitude to find in someone proclaimed to be a doctor. What is her doctorate in again, I extremely curious."

"Everyone loves her," Ayumi protested, her hands flying around as she talked. So trying to ignore the jab on her idol. "She's all that, and she knows the coolest people. She managed to get me an interview with LS Taishiro. The LS Taishiro."

"Ah. Good. Umm, hate to sound sheltered, but apparently I've been hibernating for the past five years, no one has had the pleasure of updating me on today's top celebrities." The sarcasm was just dripping off her voice. "Who is LS Taishiro? Is he a singer? Actor? One of those guys on a reality show who sits in pools of insects, then eats them, for millions of dollars. Perhaps a politician who did a Bill Clinton?"

Ayumi gave Kagome a look that might not have been out of place if a five headed purple and green dragon had suddenly popped out of her forehead and red bunnies had sprung out of her nose. All she was doing was proving her point that she needed to get out a little. "He's only the hottest guy online in the entire world!"

Kagome's brow quirked with interest. "Internet boy toy?" She asked, walking toward the door. She couldn't stand leaving her work unfinished for much longer. Even if she couldn't use the computer, she could still be looking through her research.

"Try millionaire software genius," Ayumi answered, swiftly moving to block her retreat from the kitchen. She knew exactly what Kagome was up to. "He lives here, right here in Tokyo. He has only created an inexpensive virtual reality unit that will revolutionize the Internet world by making fantasy real, and bring the unbelievable to the grasp of everyone with a computer and an Internet connection."

Kagome cocked and eyebrow at her. That was quite the mouthful for her. "There's no way you came up with that on your own. Got that from a press release, did you?" Kagome smirked.

"Yeah." Ayumi had the grace to look a little embarrassed but quickly covered it up with antagonism. "LS Taishiro and his VR game are the hottest thing on the entire planet right now! He sent me a beta version of his new VR simulation, one of about 6 made right now. Everyone is talking about it. It's due to be released in two months, and its going to totally blow every other online game out of the water. Don't you pay attention to anything?"

"I've been busy trying to set up my life, get school finished with so I can get a real job." With a quick dodge to the left, she managed to squeeze around Ayumi and out the door. She followed Kagome down the hallway.

"You're always busy; that's exactly my point!" Would the girl never get it?

"Yes, I know; you think I need to play. I heard you the first time. Hold on a sec." They paused to count between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder. "Five miles. It's getting closer. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get this report done before the storm hits, then I think I'll do a little research for Dr. Worku. He's never as prepared as he should be for his undergraduate class, and being that I suffer as his assistant, I thought I'd better prepare him."

"Dr. Fealsright says people who work all the time and don't give their inner child time to play die of heart attacks before they're thirty."

"Oh really?" Kagome asked, brow quirked, sitting at the computer.

"You're almost thirty," Ayumi pointed out.

Kagome glared at her. "I'm twenty-five, Ayumi. That's not even close to thirty. And need I remind you that you are only a year and a half away from me when it comes to reaching thirty."

Ayumi smirked. "Five years, Kagome. Five years, then ahhh!" She clutched her chest and feigned a heart attack. "And I'll still be a young twenty-eight flaunting it in your face."

The unfinished report nagged Kagome, but behind Ayumi's teasing she sensed some real concern; as needless as it was. Some people just liked to work more than others. But, she really needed to spend some more time with Ayumi. However, with grad school and work, there really wasn't much time for anything else. "Point taken, you think I need a few more leisure activities in my life."

"Any leisure activities. You don't do anything but school and work."

Kagome sighed, deciding not to argue that reading was a leisure activity. She knew exactly where this was headed. "And what exactly would you suggest that I do with this 'leisure' time?"

Ayumi beamed and took a huge breath. "Feudal Quest."

Kagome brows furrowed together. "Excuse me? What was that?"

Ayumi rolled her eyes. "Feudal Quest. It's the online game LS Taishiro created, the one he's converting over to a VR world. Remember, I just told you that he sent me a beta VR unit. It's part of the next-generation release, and I got to see it months before it was made public."

She frowned, absently counting the time between lightning and thunder, wishing Ayumi would just get on with it. Then it dawned on her. "You're not talking about that RP something that glue you to the computer for the entire summer for twenty hours a day, are you?" It would explain why she was so wound up. It had been what made her go out and buy a second computer, for work only.

"Kagome, it's RPG. It stands for role playing game. You would know if you stepped out of your little bubble for more than a cup of coffee or bathroom break. And technically its a MMORPG, a massive multiplayer online role-playing game."

Ayumi wouldn't even look at her. "Ahh, I see. So this is the game you were so obsessed with that it that had you dressing up like a demon exterminator for three months straight, running around claiming the need to kill the youkai supposedly residing in our furniture."

Ayumi glared at Kagome, color flooding her cheeks. "It's called cosplay, and it's perfectly normal. I was just having fun. Unlike some people I know. There was nothing wrong with the way I acted. And it's not just a game," she said, her hands on her hips. "It has layers. That and it's about to become virtual reality."

"Uh-huh, sure." She turned back around to her desk. "As I recall from what you showed me, it was simply a simulation of some vaguely feudal Japanese setting with murder and mayhem. Hardly anything worthy of such praise."

"That's only part of it. Most players think that the goal of the game is to kill as many of the opposing side as possible, for example to kill off as many demons as possible if they were a demon exterminator., but really the game is a series of quests leading you in search of a single jewel. Right now, my group is about to go into defense mode to protect their village against the cold-hearted Lord Sesshoumaru, who desires no humans to reside on his land."

A puzzled look came over Kagome's face. Ayumi was way to into this. "Your group?" She asked, making a mental note to talk to her at a later time about her unhealthy addiction to online games. It would do no good to talk to her when she was all keyed up about it.

"Yeah, I'm a taijiya, or demon exterminator." She stated like it was reality. "The entire village I live in is filled with others like me who have dedicated their lives to eradicating the world of youkai before they exterminate us. It was actually a real village in feudal Japan, as are most. LS Taishiro said he did tons of research on feudal Japan to make the setting and characters more believable."

Kagome sighed. "I guess it sounds interesting and all, but it does absolutely nothing for you career-wise. Running around feudal Japan won't get you recognized, or get you published."

"Actually it can. How do you think I got that beta copy? My experience with the game is the reason LS Taishiro agreed to do the interview with me at all. If I had been just some old uninterested fan of his, he would never have agreed to do it." Ayumi smirked. "Come on Kagome, I know how you love to beat things up. You can vent your frustrations on anything you want in there. It won't matter. You could even mend the people you beat up if you wanted to, to practice that medical training of yours. There really aren't any potions or anything throughout the game. If you get hurt, you're out for a good while until you heal, or have seen a healer. Or, you could go with the flow, and do some of the quests. It really is amazing."

"Hmm." Kagome gave in a little and thought of what these supposed demons would look like and how satisfying it might be to beat them to a pulp, not to mention practice some medical techniques.

"With your fighting background you're bound to surpass everyone else and be able to level up pretty quickly. Not to mention your medical expertise. You'll have everyone coming from all over the countryside coming to get treated by you. I swear, you'll be so good at it and it will be so satisfying that you won't want to put it down. Then you'll be able to join me and my group defend our home. We will get to do something together again, walking around the countryside to defeat pestering youkai at nearby villages. It will be so much fun!"

Kagome grasped for a reason not to participate. She really, really, really didn't want to do this. "The name of this thing is Feudal Quest. I know for a fact there were no vehicles of any sort during the feudal era and I have no desire to walk 40 miles between villages. I rather like sitting down on my ass all day long."

"You're such a bore! You won't even try! Won't even look at it! Come on Kagome! You can be such a bad friend at times, I swear!" she wailed, throwing her hands in the air in a gesture of sheer frustration.

Kagome knew she wasn't a bad friend. She would admit to being a bit more into her work and studies than was normal, but she took pride in the fact that she was a determined student, and took responsibility for making sure that her classes and research work were completed to the best of her ability. Despite all that, the underlying plea in Ayumi's voice sent a sliver of guilt through her. She really had no interest in wasting her time playing a frivolous and nerdy online game, but if it would make her feel like she was including Ayumi more in her life, it wouldn't hurt her to at least take a look at it.

"Okay... I give. If it will make you happier. I'll give the game a once over."

She was silent for a moment, too stunned to speak. "You will? You'll actually sign on? The whole thing, VR unit included? Really? You'll love it! It's so cool!"

Kagome frowned at the words 'sign on'. "How much does it cost to sign on?" There was no way she was going to do this if it cost money. Money was tight as it was.

Ayumi's face lit up. "You can use my account. We get four characters per account, and I've only made one. You can make one, just to see if you like it. It won't cost you anything. Here, I'll write down my password and user name." She snatched up a scrap piece of paper from Kagome's desk and scribbled out the name 'Taijiya Ayumi' and the name of our deceased goldfish. "Later on you can get your own account so we can play together at the same time. Maybe I can get a second VR unit."

Kagome's hands shot up in defense. "Whoa there, hold on a second. I just said I'd take a look. I have no intention of doing anything more nor wasting any of my..."

She stopped in the doorway, her eyes filled with anger. "I knew it! You won't go into it with an open mind. You'll just look and say it's a silly time waster."

If the shoe fit... "Hey now. I'm just as capable as the next person of keeping an open mind," she said, giving her most believing look she could. It didn't work. It never did.

"You will not. Your mind is already made up into thinking it's unworthy of your time."

Kagome held up her hand to stop her. This had to stop here. "I admit to being a bit biased, but I will promise to give the game every chance. Happy now?"

"No." She answered, still glaring at her.

Kagome frowned. "Are you questioning my word of honor?"

"Yes... No... Maybe. It's just that you are so... so..."

"Dedicated to my studies?"

"Dead," she answered, throwing her hands up in a frustrated gesture. "Honestly Kagome, you don't do anything fun. This VR game has all sorts of thinks that you'll like, if you just give it a chance."

"I do have interests beyond that of a scholarly nature," she pointed out, vaguely insulted.

"Name one," she countered.

Kagome glared at her and ignored the challenge. "I said I would give the game a fair chance. That's the best I can do."

Her eyes narrowed as she chewed on her lower lip for a moment. "I know! You have to make it to at least second in command."

"I what?" Kagome's gaze strayed back toward the computer screen and her work.

"You have to make it to at least second in command within your group. It's a goal. You like goals. You're always telling me to have them." She hurried on before Kagome could point our that the two things weren't the same. If you advance in the game to become at least the second in command of the group, I'll know you really kept an open mind."

"And exactly how hard is it to achieve this status within the group?" She asked, flipping to her SAES program to analyze the results of the study she completed.

"It's a piece of cake. I became second in command, in like... well... really quickly. I'm the leader as of now."

Kagome wasn't stupid. She knew how these games worked. Had to since Ayumi did nothing but play those stupid games then talk about them for months on end. To advance you had to open a secret passageway or collect some object or run over a magic spot or something silly like that. It shouldn't be too much of a challenge for her, and if it kept the peace, it would be worth the sacrifice of her time. "Hmm, okay."

"Alright!" She could have swore the girl was about to do a cartwheel in the middle of the room, she was so excited. "You can use my laptop since it already has the game client on it. I'll bring it and the VR parts down here right now. You can play on the battery so you don't have to be plugged into the wall in case the power goes out. Thank you so much for actually trying it!" Ayumi gave her a quick hug before running out of the room. "I'm going to tell my group that you're logging on later, so that if they see you they'll be nice to you and stuff."

"Wait a second! Ayumi, I didn't mean this second... kuso." The door to her room almost slammed. She started to roll her eyes again, but switched to a flinch when another loud peal of thunder and gust of wind made the windows rattle. As quickly as she could, she finished typing up the report, emailed it to her school account, then made a quick backup of all her recent work. She would kill something if she lost anything due to a simple storm.

"You are so anal it's not even funny," Ayumi said fifteen minutes later as she deposited her laptop on my desk, plugging the power cord into the wall. On top of it sat a pair of thick black wraparound glasses.

She finished backing up all her files and storing them away before she even acknowledged her. "If it's worth doing, it's worth having backed up. I definitely don't want to do it over. It never turns out as good as the first time. Why are you plugging that in? The storm is almost on top of us."

Both were silent as another flash-boom shook the house.

"I don't get a good connection to log on to the system on the battery. It's just to log on. Once you're into the game, you can unplug it. Here is the VR unit. Cool, huh? Looks just like a pair of shades. There're speakers built into the part of the glasses that sits behind your ears, so you hear everything, and here..." she flipped down a fiber-optic-sized black extension from the sides of the glasses... "here is your microphone. The software has speech recognition capabilities, so you can talk to other characters just like you normally would. It's so totally cool."

"Uh-huh," she said, trying to avoid her as she shoved the glasses toward her face, but it was useless. A few seconds later she was wearing the VR glasses. "I can't see anything."

"They're not turned on. Here, let me do it. Okay, you're set. Gotta go do the rest of that homework you're always bugging me to do, before we lose the lights," she called over her shoulder as she hurried out of the room. "It's all set up for you to log on with a new name, and I told the taijiya to look out for you. Oh, and I put you in the village of Edo. You won't find out your job title until the game progresses a bit. Have fun!"

"Hey! Don't think I don't see through your hit-and-run tactics! I know full well what you're doing!" Kagome sighed as her laughter spilled through the hallway after her. "Manipulative little redhead," she muttered as she turned her attention to the colorful screen that seemed to float in the air before her.

A game client screen that read "Welcome to Feudal Quest. Please log in or create a new character to enter the game" blinked slowly in front of her.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Right. Let's get this over with." She reached out somewhat blindly for the keyboard, able to see only dark, vague shapes of the computer and desk behind the virtual images that danced before her eyes. "Name... Kagome Higurashi."

"That's supposed to be your character name, not your real name," came a slightly tinny, ethereal voice drifting from the heating duct in the wall.

"Do your homework and stop listening at the heater," she yelled, deleting her name. "Character name... I don't have a feudal era-ish name. Um..." She tipped the glasses down her nose and looked around the room for inspiration, her eyes landing on her latest Japanese anime purchase. Who said she needed a last name? She could just go with her first name if no one else had it then add something Japanese on the end like... "Kagome Sada. That sounds like it could be good character name that fits the game."

She typed in the character name, picked a few character traits (female, long wavy black hair, and a curvy figure that most matched her own). As she was about to click the CREATE A CHARACTER button, a tremendous crash of thunder hit simultaneously with a blinding flash of lightning. Down the hall, Ayumi shrieked as a second crash rocked the house. The lights flickered into a brownout. Mindful of the cost of her laptop, Kagome leaned across the computer and grabbed the power cord at the same time another flash of lightning struck. As she pulled the plug free, a blue arc of electricity shot from the outlet, connecting with her at the same time another deafening roar of thunder shook the house.

She must have hit the RETURN button as she jerked with the flow of electricity going through her body, because the last thing she remembered seeing before she sank into an abyss of darkness was a little spinning sign on the game screen saying "Entering Feudal Quest..."

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I hope you enjoyed! Please review and let me know if you would like me to continue! If you don't tell me you like it, then how am I supposed to know to finish up another chapter?