"Where in the seven hells ARE we?" Inu Yasha growled as he looked around them.
"I don't know," Kagome edged closer to the hanyou. "but it sure seems familiar for some reason..."
"You're on the planet Gittaline." came a voice from behind them.
Inu Yasha and Kagome spun around quickly to see an odd-looking boy standing there. He wore a taxi-driver beret, and following him around was a small white dog, wagging its tail contentedly.
"Say, aren't you...?" Inu Yasha began.
"U-1!" Kagome gasped. "Inu Yasha! He's Gitaroo Man!"
"WHA? what!?" U-1 backed up, and the dog growled.
"That's impossible!" the hanyou grumbled. "Didn't you tell me that was all just a game?"
"It is! But? how did we get here?" Kagome looked around, nervous.
"Maybe that demon you sensed earlier transported us here." Inu Yasha deduced. "Now we gotta worry about getting back home."
"I don't get it!" the dog suddenly spoke up. "How did you two figure out that U-1 is Gitaroo Man so quickly?"
"Oh! I'm sorry!" Kagome apologized quickly. "It's a long story, but to make it short, where we come from, you're just a game."
"A..." U-1 uttered.
"...game?" the dog finished for him.
Kagome nodded.
"And what's this about a demon bringing you here?" asked the dog.
"Kagome sensed a demon with Shikon shards, but before we could tackle it, it brought us here." Inu Yasha grumbled.
"That doesn't sound good," said the dog. "'Cause incidentally, this world's got a couple of problems itself!"
"Like what?" Kagome blinked.
"Like the Gravillian family." the dog replied. "I'm still not sure what kind of mischief they're gonna try, but U-1 and I are pretty sure we can handle it."
"Speak for yourself, Puma!" U-1 glared at the dog.
"Hey! What have you got to worry about?" Puma's tone was confident. "You're Gitaroo Man!"
A voice called out from the direction U-1 had been heading in. Inu Yasha and Kagome stepped aside as a girl about U-1's age approached him and the dog.
"Hey, U-1!" she said cheerfully. "What are you up to?"
When U-1 didn't answer immediately, Inu Yasha glanced at him, only to find hearts where the kid's eyes should have been. Just great, this idiot had a crush on the girl... NOW what?
"I was just... on my way to go meet you... hehe..." the infatuated boy replied.
Inu Yasha was about to cut in with something fresh, but another cocky voice beat him to it.
"Like she'd wanna hang out with a loser like you!" a boy in a blue shirt screeched his skateboard to a halt in front of them, popped the board up and caught it easily.
"Kazuya, be nice!" the girl scolded the other boy.
"Pfft! Fine..." Kazuya rolled his eyes. "but I still don't get why you bother with him, Pico."
"Um... WE'RE STILL HERE!" Inu Yasha bellowed when he'd felt ignored long enough.
"Oh!" U-1 was suddenly jolted from his trance. "I was just... helping these out-of-towners..."
Kazuya looked Kagome and Inu Yasha over disgustedly.
"I'll say their out-of-towners!" he muttered, roughly taking Pico by the hand. "Let's get out of here, Pico."
Kazuya tugged her arm, rendering her speechless beyond a hurried goodbye. U-1 stood rooted to the spot.
"That jerk!" he fumed. "One of these days..."
"U-1, why don't you just go after her?" Kagome asked.
"B-Because... uh... well..." U-1 stuttered.
"Because he's a wimp, that's why!" Inu Yasha gave U-1 a half-hearted kick to the rear end, but it was enough to send the kid sprawling to the ground. "Keh! If Kouga were ever to pull a stunt that stupid, I'd throw his ass on the ground so hard, he wouldn't get up for–"
"OSUWARI!"
*CRASH*
"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?" Inu Yasha snarled.
"Sorry about that." Kagome helped U-1 to his feet. "Inu Yasha's not exactly what I'd call Mr. Nice Guy, but he's got his good points... when he wants to show them..."
"How the heck did you make him fall like that?" Puma sniffed cautiously at the floored hanyou, then nimbly dodged out of the way of retaliating claws.
"Oh that?" Kagome mused, not having had to explain in quite some time. "You see that rosary around his neck? There's a spell on it that makes Inu Yasha hit the ground when I say 'Osuwari!'"
*CRASH*
"OW! Damn it!" Inu Yasha growled.
"Must come in pretty handy I'm guessing..." Puma blinked as he witnessed the spell being used again.
***********************************
"If you would just LISTEN TO ME," Puma growled. "then it wouldn't be so hard!"
"Aw, Puma, come on!" U-1 whined. "We've been practicing for an hour now. Can't I at least have a break?"
"I'm sure you're friends wouldn't whine about it." Puma sighed. "Right, Inu Yasha?"
"Keh! Leave me out of it!" the hanyou turned away sharply, more interested in his bowl of GitaRamen.
After an apparently failed attempt to go out with Pico, U-1 and Puma invited their new friends home for a bite to eat and to help them get familiar with the world around them. Once they had acquainted Kagome and Inu Yasha with their home, U-1 fixed up some instant GitaRamen, which the hanyou had all too willingly dived into. Now, Puma was teaching U-1 the basics of being Gitaroo Man, but after several failed attempts, the boy was getting sick of practicing.
"Inu Yasha's not really the musician type if you ask me, Puma." Kagome chipped in. "But he definitely knows how to use the Tetsusaiga."
"The what?" U-1 and Puma uttered simultaneously.
"She means my father's sword here." Inu Yasha mumbled through a mouth full of food and gripped the sheathed blade to point it out. "I'm the only one that can use it though."
Puma seemed to stare at the sword curiously before approaching Inu Yasha cautiously.
"What is it, Puma?" U-1 asked.
"Inu Yasha," Puma's gaze didn't stray from the weapon. "Would you mind if I had a closer look at your sword?"
The hanyou didn't see any harm in letting the smaller dog look at it, and it wasn't as if Puma could use it, so he calmly drew it from its sheathe and laid it beside him on the ground.
"It only looks crappy when I'm not using it, just so you know." Inu Yasha explained quickly before shoving more food in his mouth.
"It just looks like a rusty old katana blade, Puma." said U-1 as he came over to get a better look. "What's the big deal?"
For a long moment, Puma didn't say anything, and that only served to peak the curiosity of those around him. Even Inu Yasha slowed the rate and volume of his munching when Puma didn't say a word.
"I knew it." the dog said, finally breaking the almost perfect silence in the room. "This sword is actually the gitaroo of ancient times, the Tetsutaroo!"
Inu Yasha suddenly spit out all of the food in his mouth.
"YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!" he hollered. "My Tetsusaiga is NOT one of your stupid musical instruments!"
"Are you serious!?" Kagome picked up the blade. "How is that possible?"
"There was another line of Gitaroo Men at one time," Puma explained. "But we thought that they had all died out ages ago. Inu Yasha, if you're the only one that can use it, then you're proof that the old Gitaroo line still exists!"
"Wow..." Kagome uttered.
"Whoa..." U-1 swooned. "Now I'm even more confused! Puma, what does all that mean?"
"Look, you idiots don't seem to understand that THIS..." Inu Yasha picked up the Tetsusaiga and promptly transformed it. "is a sword, NOT A GITAROO! Eh? What are you all staring at?"
Kagome and U-1 pointed timidly at the transformed demon blade, and Inu Yasha quickly turned it over to see what they were gawking at. There, embedded in the wide part of the blade, was a large green sphere that glowed steadily in time with Inu Yasha's heartbeat. Needless to say, the hanyou was outraged.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY TETSUSAIGA!!??" he bellowed.
"TetsuTAROO, Inu Yasha." Puma corrected him. "And we didn't do a thing. You transformed it yourself, remember?"
"THIS WASN'T HERE LAST TIME I CHECKED!!!" Inu Yasha pointed furiously at the recent change to his favorite weapon.
"Inu Yasha," Kagome gestured for him to calm down. "Maybe it's just a temporary side effect of being here."
"W-What do you mean?" Inu Yasha brought his voice down to a more tolerable level.
"Think about it." she continued. "The Tetsusaiga never looked like that until we got stuck here in Souta's game. Maybe once we find our way back, your sword will just turn back to normal."
"For your sake, you'd better be right!" Inu Yasha sighed.
"Nobody's going anywhere!!" came a sudden, squeaky voice.
"Uh oh! What's that!" U-1 panicked.
"Get ready, U-1!" Puma transformed into a red, dog-shaped amp and hurtled THE Gitaroo straight at U-1. Inu Yasha had to pull Kagome back a bit as U-1 caught the instrument and instantly transformed into Gitaroo Man.
"Wow..." Kagome blinked.
"Weird..." Inu Yasha muttered.
Just then, something big and sharp came whirling out of nowhere straight at them. Inu Yasha, used to dodging Sango's boomerang, threw Kagome and himself on the floor and out of harm's way. Puma did the same to Gitaroo Man.
The weapon whirled to a halt easily in the hands of their attacker. When Gitaroo Man and the others looked up, a very red and black weirdo was standing there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is Chapter 2. Where would you like to go next?
