Hi there! This is Don't Fear the Reaper. Originally written for a creative writing class my senior year of high school. It's loosely based off of Stephen King's The Reaper short story. I don't own The Reaper or Inuyasha nor do I profit from it.
I stood before him, trembling. Tears glistened in my eyes as I looked questioningly at him.
"Why me?" My soft spoken words caused him to glance at me sharply.
"Simply because I found you perfect for my collection."
Shock and hurt streaked across my face as I tried to reign in my emotions. "Your collection? You mean to say that there are more like me?"
The only response I earned was a smug smile as he turned his attention back to the meandering hallways.
"You bastard!" I grabbed a handful of his waist length, thick platinum hair and pulled on it. "What is wrong with you? I am the Duchess Kagome and I demand to be returned to my husband!"
His short barking laugh caused me to relinquish my grip on his silken tresses. He turned to face me, his golden eyes flashing. "Frankly, my dear, you are in no position to be demanding anything of me and besides, as soon as you took one glance into that mirror you belonged to me. Now come, we must get moving."
He grabbed my arm and roughly drug me along with him, nearly wrenching my arm from its socket. As we walked I thought back to what had brought me to this place.
My husband, Hojo, had bought a mirror from a man named DeIver. He said it would be perfect for as beautiful a woman as myself. Hojo brought it home and I immediately began to spend enormous amounts of time in front of it. It was like an addiction. I felt wonderful about myself but it felt to me as if there was someone watching me whenever I sat alone in front of the mirror, but I thought nothing of it. I realized too late who exactly had been watching me while I preened in front of the mirror.
I stumbled along behind him as we raced through the halls. He seemed in a hurry to get somewhere but he wouldn't speak to me, uttering only non-committal grunts as responses. I tugged on my arm trying to get him to let go.
"Ow! You're hurting me! Let go!"
He suddenly stopped and released my arm. He looked it over and sighed. He snapped his fingers and a young man appeared. He didn't even glance at him as he barked out his order.
"Take her and have her looked at. Then have the girls help her get ready for dinner. And it had better be soon. Bringing her here has worn down my strength a bit and I would relish a fine meal with an even finer woman." With that last remark he winked at me and vanished down an adjourning hallway that wasn't there previously. "How incredibly strange." I breathed as the polite, red-headed youth led me down another unnoticed hallway. The youth led me down many hallways that I could have sworn weren't there seconds ago, but when I pressed the issue, he merely said that perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention. We arrived at what appeared to be a nurse's ward. A kindly looking older woman stood over a woman who appeared to be close to my age, checking her for injuries.
"Well, Sango, you must be more careful when fighting with him next time. You know that it is hard for him to control his strength at times."
The young man cleared his throat, "Um, Lady Kaede. He asked that I bring her to you, he hurt her wrist." A dark look crossed his face.
She clucked, shaking her head, "Come here, my dear. I'll take a look at you."
I offered up my hand and she gently grabbed it, humming the entire time. "Well, my dear you are lucky that he didn't injure you further. He has a very strong grip and doesn't realize that what he feels isn't very hard may feel bone-crushing to others. Just warn him when it starts to hurt and he won't injure you. Now you may have a lot of questions but I'm sure Master asked to have you properly dressed for dinner. Shippou, dear, you may go. And Miss...? I'm sorry. I never caught your name."
I smiled, feeling at home for once in the last four years that I had been married to Hojo. "My name is Kagome. And where is this place?"
Laughter from the girl, Sango, "Well, Kagome, only one of the eight, no, nine of us here actually knows where we're at. Occasionally we get a visit from the Master's brother and his wife. And before you ask, no we don't actually know his name. Well, Kaede does but she's been asked not to reveal it for some reason I'll never understand. But anyway let me show you to your room and let's get you dressed for dinner. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."
"Is this something he does with all his new "guests"?" I asked.
She thought on it and slowly stated, "No, you're the first."
"Strange."
"It might be, but I feel like in the coming weeks you'll begin to expect the strange."
Read and review please . Also not every chapter will be in Kagome's perspective. This story has been in my brain for awhile. But a lot of credit goes to Elle and my teacher Mrs. Lueders cause she rocks.
