Kagome's Paths

Kagome's Paths
by Kagehoshi
Ch 4 Twists and Turns

Upon reaching the walls of the Labyrinth, Kagome was greeted by cold stone and green ivy. No sign of an entrance anywhere. She continued to walk hoping to find something somewhere that would give her a clue on how to get into the Labyrinth.

As she rounded the corner a strange sight met her eyes. It was a man! But he was only a foot high, and wearing little brown cotton trousers, and a green vest over a long sleeved white shirt. A little green cap rested on his head and his feet were covered by what looked like leather slippers with curled toes. He was doing something odd, walking towards a large rock nearly three times as large as he was with a determined look in his eye.
'What is he doing?' Kagome wondered. Then to her amazement the little man grasped the boulder firmly in his hands and proceeded to lift it above his head. Kagome's eyes widened in shock as the little man tossed the boulder into a large pile of various sized rocks nearby.

“Go little guy.” Kagome mumbled to herself as she walked forward. When she got close enough she paused and cleared her throat. It would probably be a good idea not to startle a creature that could lift 50x its body weight.

“Hello, my name is Kagome. It's very nice to meet you.” Kagome waited for him to respond but when none was forthcoming she continued on ahead. “What's your name?” The little man turned to face her, glaring at her with one squinted brown eye he spat and responded curtly.

“Gnert.”

“Nert?” Kagome asked, wondering at the strange name.

“Gnert.” He replied more forcibly, and Kagome picked up on the subtle sound of a 'G' before his name.

“Ah, Gnert.” He nodded once in confirmation, “I don't mean to be rude or anything but what exactly are you?”

“Gnome.” Once again his answer was short and to the point.

“Well Gnert the Gnome, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“You have.”

“What?”

“You asked Gnert a question already.”

Kagome blinked then sighed in exasperation. 'Don't let him get to you Kags. You should be happy he finally said a full sentence' With that thought Kagome continued as if nothing had happened.

“How do I get into the Labyrinth?”

Gnert blinked then began talking to himself as he started walking quickly along the Labyrinth wall his little legs going much faster than one would think. Kagome had no choice but to trail along helplessly behind the Gnome as he mumbled darkly to himself.
“Knows to ask the right question straight off, this one does. Got no fun like Hoggle. Foolish Hoggle falling for human girl. Gnert won't fall, no no. Gnert knows his place he does. Foolish human going into the Labyrinth.”

“I don't mean to interrupt you or anything.” Kagome broke in, “But I don't suppose you'd help me, would you?” She had no clue what was going on or what he was talking about, but she needed to get her brother back and she didn't have time to dawdle.

“Gnert is helping, Gnert is showing how to get into the Labyrinth.”

Kagome instantly felt bad, she hadn't meant to be so rude, she was just a little frustrated.

“I'm sorry I snapped at you, I'm just worried about my brother. I shouldn't have assumed you were ignoring me.”

“It's not smart to assume things. Especially in the Labyrinth, no no. Not smart to ignore things either. Will get you in trouble it will. Silly human going to get hurt she is.” Gnert started mumbling again and quickened his pace. Soon Kagome was standing in a little Courtyard complete with fountain and flowers.

“Is human sure she wants to go into the Labyrinth?” Gnert asked staring up at her with a curious look on his face.

“My name is Kagome. And yes, I am sure.” Kagome said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest in defiance. Gnert shrugged the pointed to a set of large ornate doors set into the wall.

“If you is sure, then there you go. Labyrinth is in there.” Gnert began to walk off mumbling to himself once again.

“Oh wait!” Kagome called out as the small Gnome began to disappear around a corner. He paused and turned back to face Kagome.

“Gnert has done his part he has, no more help will you receive from him.”

“No, that's not it.” Kagome said warmly smiling beautifully at the Gnome, “I wanted to thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.”

Gnert blinked as if not quite understanding what she had said, but then his expression lightened and he gave a little bow to the young girl.

“Gnert likes this one, he does. Much nicer than the others she is.” And with that the little man walked around the corner and out of sight.

Kagome sighed and turned to face the open door. It was dark inside and Kagome could smell mold and fungus. Her skin crawled at the thought of what could lay beyond those innocent seeming doors. Snapping her head up Kagome straightened her shoulders and marched forward refusing to let some silly doors intimidate her. After all she had faced lots of scary things in her journey in the past, and this time her brother was at stake. She wouldn't lose him just because she was slightly frightened. As she stepped through the doorway she expected to be met with a mass of different corridors all leading in different directions. Instead, only one corridor met her gaze, one that seemed to stretch on endlessly in both directions. Expect the unexpected. Maybe there will be openings further on down the way. She thought, before determinedly turning to her right and marching down the hallway. The corridor was filled with dead branches and tree limbs, which she had to continuously skirt. The walls and the corners were filled with mold and fungus, which she had an eerie feeling was watching her. She continued for a short time, but when no openings were forthcoming Kagome began to run, desperately seeking something that would bring her closer to her brother. Out of breath and annoyed beyond belief Kagome stopped and rested her arms upon her knees.

“This is ridiculous! What kind of maze is this?!” Kagome yelled in frustration before slumping against the Labyrinth wall.

“KoNIchiwa!” A bright cheerful voice spoke out above her. Kagome looked up in surprise only to be greeted by the sight of a large blue butterfly.

“Did you just say Konnichiwa?” She asked in shock, 'since when do insects speak?'

“No I said KoNIchiwa, but that's close enough.” The rather pretty bug answered if possible even more cheerfully. “Would you like some tea?”

“No, thank you. I really need to solve this Labyrinth, but I can't even seem to get started. I don't suppose you know the way?” Kagome asked politely, she was willing to take any help she could get.

“No sorry I'm just a butterfly. Are you sure about that tea? It's honeysuckle.” It flitted around her head and Kagome noticed how beautiful the markings on its wings were.

“That does sound lovely, but I really need to get into the Labyrinth, but I haven't found a single opening yet.”

The butterfly chuckled and said, “If the openings were that easy to find then it wouldn't be much of a Labyrinth now would it?” He flitted over to the other side of the path, “In this case your eyes are your greatest enemy.”

Kagome frowned and rubbed her head in thought. “My eyes are my greatest enemy? So I should just close them and see what happens.” With this in mind Kagome stood and taking a deep breath closed her eyes. With the loss of her vision her other senses became stronger and Kagome began to notice things she hadn't earlier. She could smell the mold growing on the walls and taste it in the air, she could hear the breeze coming from her right and feel it as it passed over her skin. Hey, wait a second! A breeze from her right? Kagome snapped her eyes open and looked towards her right. A solid brick wall greeted her vision and she frowned in confusion. She could clearly feel the breeze as it blew through the passageway, yet that should be impossible with the solid wall there. Unless the wall wasn't as solid as it appeared. Gathering her courage Kagome walked forward, her hands held out in front of her, ready for impact, but none came. She continued to walk forward only to find that what she thought to be a solid wall was in fact…

“Oh My!” Kagome exclaimed in surprise and pleasure, it was an optical illusion. There was actually an opening in the wall, it only looked solid because of an identical wall behind which blended in together. In much better spirits now Kagome went off into the new passage way.

“Oh wait! Don't go that way!” The butterfly called out behind her. Kagome paused and turned around to face the fluttering insect.

“Why? What's wrong with this passage?” Kagome asked in a confused voice, surely there couldn't be that much of a difference between the two ways.

“That way will take you to the castle!” The butterfly warned, fear making his voice shake slightly.

“But that's exactly where I want to go.” Kagome said firmly. The butterfly flew back a couple of inches and began to flit in agitated patterns.

“Why do you want to go there? Nothing good ever happens there.”

“Nevertheless that is where I must go, I don't have a choice.” Decision made Kagome walked down the pathway, no hesitation apparent in her steps. Watching her go the butterfly twitched his antenna in agitation.

“Shame, she was such a nice one too. Oh well not much I can do.”


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