The rain beated down on the window of the ward. Besides the sound of the rain, the sounds of the beeping monitors, the soft soles of the nurses on duty, and the muffled cries of the other patients echoed through the walls of the closed room. They kept passing his room, completely oblivious to the sounds that only he could hear. The things that could be seen only by him. No one could possible know of the things that he had to endure, with no one to confide in without being accuse of being insane. These things were beyond anyone else's understanding.

Maybe it should end tonight. Let the creature take him. As long as he could remember, the thing has been tormenting him, first with the taunts of his father abandoning him back when he was young. And nowadays, it was the death of his mother those many years ago. He was tired of the torment and pain, the questioning looks of complete strangers. Even his own family was questioning his sanity. He leaned on the wall, tired of it all. He just wanted this all to stop. Get his life as normal as possible after having all these apparitions take control of his life.

It's time to end it…he thought to himself.

The chill returned into the room. A dark red aura slowly formed in front of him.

"So…" a voice said, deep, husky, evil.

"Have you finally made your choice?"

"Yes…" he said, dark eyes fading.

The voice laughed. The very structure of the room was altered.

He began to panic. He was alone in the darkness, the damn darkness of god knows where. The ground beneath him grew soft and uneven. To his horror, it was the many decaying corpses of hell beneath him. Instinctively, he started to back away, trying to find someplace where his bare feet, wouldn't touch the soft flesh of the soulless dead. But hands lashed out and held him in place. The dark shadow with glowing red eyes was coming closer to him. His dark eyes went wide as he subconsciously held his breath in fear.

Is this really how I'm going to die?

The cold grip of the spirit clasped his smooth face.

"You will be my means of entering the world of the living…" the spirit said.

He could have sworn he saw it grin.

Before death took its final toll, something strange happened.

The spirit cried out in anguish as a slash of light sliced through it. Almost as instantly as the spirit appeared, it vanished. The hands and arms of the dead that held him prisoner released him and disappeared along with the bodies of the dead. The last thing he saw before blacking out was a slim silhouette holding some sort of object, and piercing blue eyes…


She stared intently at him, as he told of the things that happened the night before. She wrote down a few things when appropriate, showing him that he still had her full attention. But, she couldn't help but wonder about his state of mind as these 'apparitions' of his continued to grow more graphic, up to the point when he claims that he could actually feel the cold hands of the dead in Hell.

"Let me get this straight…" she said calmly, making sure what she had heard thus far was correct.

"You've had a vision of Hell? And then some bright light came, and you supposedly came back to the world of the living…?"

He glared back at her, eyes cold as usual.

"I wasn't expecting you to believe me…" he said solemnly.

She sighed. He was the most difficult of all of her patients. But she couldn't lose her patience with him, as much as she wanted to.

"Look," she said, sliding her glasses off. "I'm trying to understand. I want to help you, but you need to let me know what's going on in your mind. Or else why continue this? You have to trust me…"

"You know what…" he said, getting up from his chair. "You can never trust someone who thinks your crazy…"

He then disappeared back into his room, ending the session.

Dr. Kagome Higurashi sighed for the umpteenth time that day. There was no getting through to Sesshomaru Takahashi.


"… it seems as of your son case of Psychosis may be reaching it highest extreme…" Dr. Higurashi continued, after sharing her notes with Toga Takahasi, and his son Inuyasha.

"The latest of his… 'Apparitions seem to be getting more graphic. As of late, he keeps claiming that he's been to the depths of Hell and back. Even having the dead reach out to him…"

"That's sounds insane…" Inuyasha muttered, not meaning the comment to be heard by anyone else.

Dr. Higurashi shook the comment off and continued.

"Quite frankly… I'm a little concerned. His condition seems to be getting worse rather than improving. I have to increase his dosage of neuroleptics. And possibly try a few more sessions of family therapy…."

"Dr. Higurashi…" Toga spoke up. "We tried therapy in the past. No one can get close to Sesshomaru…"

"I see… Mr. Takahashi. Then the best we can do for your son at the moment, is keep him under close observation. If it gets to the point where he injures himself, then we have to go to another extreme…"


Sesshomaru sat on the bed as he stared out the window. His thoughts were still wrapped around the events of last night. The thing that puzzled him the most was the source of the light. He was sure he was going to die that moment. But then the spirit disappeared, looking like it was in deep pain. Then those blue eyes. Whom did they belong to? He leaned back until he was lying on the bed.

This nightmare still wore on. Whatever the thing with blue eyes was, it only made the nightmare continue. It was as if he's never to be liberated from these 'spirits', if that's what they were. His family sent him here, only with his best interest in mind, trying to cure him from these visions and help him settle his state of mind. Try to get to the core of it all. But none of them could imagine the things he saw, the things he felt, any of it.

"Shit…" he muttered. "I think I finally reached the deep end…"

"You're not crazy…" a voice suddenly said.

Sesshomaru sat up, alert from the sudden appearance of the voice. But no one was in the room. It was just him and him alone.

"Great… more voices…" he said. "As if I'm not insane enough…"

"As I said…" the voice said. "You're not insane. In fact… you seem to be more alert than anyone else in this entire city…"

Sesshomaru got up. This was getting ridiculous. It was bad enough that there was something out to posses him, supposedly, and now something was declaring him sane. This must mean he was defiantly insane.

"If I'm not crazy, as you say, then why don't you show yourself…?" Sesshomaru said, staring up at the ceiling.

"Is that all it would take to settle your worries?"

"Not even half of them."

"Holy shit… all those meds that doctor has been giving you totally altered your aura. This is not good…"

Sesshomaru looked back out the window, hoping to see something out there, the person behind the voice.

"You have seen Hell hm? That was not Hell…"

He jumped as the voice seemed to come from right behind him. All he saw when he turned around was the door.

"That was the border between this world and the next. The Spirit Realm. Those corpses were the souls waiting for judgment. It's amazing how many are stuck in limbo. Most of them have been there for hundreds of years, and yet they still await judgment. The wait sometimes drives them mad and they decided to kill time by disrupting the world of the Living. Does that answer a few potential questions that haunted your mind for years? Why they seem to want to pick you in particular…"

"Shut up…" Sesshomaru said, lying back down on the bed, hands on his head. This argument from this latest episode was giving him a massive headache. This was getting out of control. He closed his eyes, hoping the throbbing pain in his head would just disappear.

"You're a hyper- sensitive…" the voice continued. "You're not crazy, as I said so many times before. You are able to sense the spirits of the Realm. What they're thinking, what they're doing, a perfect medium if possible… a perfect partner in the hunt for him…"

"Partner?"

Sesshomaru opened his eyes. Sitting on the edge of his bed was a young girl.

Her ebony hair cascaded down her back, over the black jacket she wore over a white tank. Her long legs, clad in black boots, were stretched out in front of her. She was delicately holding on to a scythe. She looked back at him, her dark blue eyes taking in his form. A smile came across her beautiful features.

"You will help me find him…" she said. "Lasher is always after hyper-sensitives. He needs strong medium to hold his aura…"

"Who the fuck are you?" Sesshomaru shouted, not wanting to deal with this anymore.

The girl lowered her head.

"Forgive me… I usually don't forget my manners. I got too excited after finding you…"

She looked back at him, eyes sparkling in excitement, but deprived of life.

"I am known… as Reaper…"

Reaper…


Dr. Higurashi stopped in her tracks. Something was wrong.

"Dr. Higurashi?" Toga asked.

"Is something wrong?"

"Wait here…" she said suddenly, running in the direction where Sesshomaru's room was.

Father and son looked at each other confused.


Reaper's head perked up as she heard the approaching footsteps.

"Damn it…" she muttered. "I thought we could get started today… but perhaps another time…"

She then turned towards Sesshomaru.

"I'll be back soon… expect to see me again…"

In the blink of an eye, she disappeared, just as she appeared, out of no where…

Sesshomaru went pale. There was something different about this spirit. She seemed to carry nothing but an aura of destruction and death. What was this to do with his apparitions?

The door swung open and Dr. Higurashi stood there out of breath.

"What happened?" she asked in a haste.

Sesshomaru didn't answer.

"Reaper…" was all that escaped his lips.


Hikaru: Hope you all are enjoying this so far. Next chapter will be up ASAP. In the meantime, please review!