Well... seems I'm actually continuing this... huh, who knew? Funny how I came here with the intention to write serious stories... oh well, this works too. Hopefully I can get up another plushie story soon and another chapter of "Foolish Thoughts and Complications." I've decided that the title of his story shall be read "Death! (or Not...)" I don't know why but writing it like that makes me feel special. ;
Disclaimer: Takahashi owns Inuyasha and Togashi own Yu Yu Hakusho.
Ch2
Kagura's feather whooshed through the air as quickly as it could after Botan's oar, the wind streaming along quickly beside her. She was probably taking limbs of of trees and thing like that, but frankly she did not give a damn. She was free. Period. And if this psycho-bitch was telling the truth, then she would have the chance to come back to life and finally have a real chance to live. There were still so many things she wanted to say… things she wanted to do. Birds seemed to be fluttering around in her non-existent stomach as she remembered how he had been there with her, how he had come knowingly to her side.
Botan did a little loop-de-loop in the air, and, feeling so light-hearted at the moment, Kagura was very strongly tempted to do the same.
Great, she thought to herself, a sardonic half-smile fleeting across her face, her happy-disease is contagious. Hope the accent isn't…
"This," sang the overly-joyous, falsely British voice "is the River Styx!"
The wind spirit glanced down from her feather at what looked to be a river of souls traveling across a barren plain. It was a stark, sickly landscape that would have churned her stomach had she had one. It vaguely reminded her of the river of Tekkei's blood Naraku and friends had traversed to reach the border between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Of course it reminds me of that… I'm at the border of the living and the dead.
"If you look, Kagura-chan, you'll see Lord Koenma's castle straight ahead! Isn't this exciting?!"
Kagura raised an eyebrow. "You don't get out much, do you?"
"Now, now, no need to be rude! You'll want to suppress that type of attitude around Lord Koenma. He holds your life in his hands now, you know."
Kagura flinched at her last comment. "Screw him," she spat, an image of a mini Nara… well, basically a Hakudoshi popping up in her mind. "My life is mine."
Botan's sun-shiney aura faltered for a moment. "Sorry about that… I tend not to think before I speak sometimes…"
No shit…
"Whatever." The ghost turned her attention over to the monstrous castle looming before her. If this Koenma was another Naraku then there truly was no freedom for her, but perhaps he wasn't. After all, Botan worked for him and she seemed happy enough (although Kagura was still certain there were some illegal substances involved in that…)
"We're here!"
The girls jumped off of their rides as the feather simply disappeared and Botan stashed hr oar over her shoulder. That's when she noticed something strange; Kagura could feel the air around her even better than she could in life, but she could not feel the ground under her feet. Walking over the colossal stone building, Kagura touched her hand to the wall, but this time she could feel it.
How strange…
"You're a ghost now," said Botan, practically reading her mind. "You can only feel the castle because it has a strong spiritual energy about it. You won't be able to feel the ground or anything up in the living world."
Kagura was thoughtful for a moment as she processed this information. "I can feel the wind."
The happy-hostess looked mildly surprised at her statement. "That's odd. I suppose it's because of who you are. First I've heard in all my years of doing this job."
Without another word, Kagura pushed open the ancient wooden doors and stepped inside. Now, if the outside of the place had seemed like some ominous medieval castle, the inside was the total opposite. Stupid-looking blue ogre-demons in business suits scuttled this way and that. Carrying huge stacks of papers and yelling to one another about random people who were waiting to croak or whoever else had just kicked the bucket. The busy atmosphere was almost overwhelming to the wind ghost as she walking through it, the noise ringing in her ears so badly she almost wished she were still listening to Botan's drug-induced glee (almost.)
"What the hell is this?" She shouted over to Botan who seemed completely unaffected by everything.
"This is the main office of Death! This is where all the paperwork is processed and new souls are dealt with!"
Please tell me this is someone's idea of a joke…
At the end of the hallway was yet another large, medieval looking door with a crisp white nametag clearly showing the name "King Enma Jr." Botan approached it and rapped out a little tune with her knuckles.
My gods… does this woman do anything that isn't totally cutesy?
"Come in Botan!" a small voice called from the inside as the heavy wooden door creaked over.
Maybe if use my Dance of the Dead, I can control everyone in here… then I can pin down this Koenma kid and sever whatever hold he has on me… I wonder if my powers even work now…
She sauntered casually into the room ahead of Botan only to find herself face to face with some little kid in a hat almost the size of his body.
"Good evening, Miss Kagura," he said, his lips invisible beneath the giant pacifier.
"Yo." Her voice was cold and flat.
"Well, well, someone seems exactly as we anticipated. Naraku's second detachment, are you not?"
"If you wanna call it that then yeah… sure."
"Very well then. I am Lord Enma Junoir, but most people just call me Koenma. I'm in charge of the afterlife while my father is away."
"I guess I should be used to answering to infants by now."
"I resent that."
Kagura shifted back and forth on her feet; she could actually feel the ground of the castle underneath her and decided it must have some sort of spiritual aura. "So… Koenma, what do I have to do to come back to life?"
"Not one to beat around the bushes, are you? Well, the task is this." The creepy toddler with the muffled voice reached inside of one of his desk drawers and pulled out a small, golden egg."
Cocking an eyebrow, the wind ghost asked, "Let me guess… you want me to scramble this and feed the hungry or some sort of other goody-goody B.S.?"
He gave a small chuckle in the back of his throat. "Oh no… I don't are what you do with it. However, if you can successfully hatch it, you will be permitted to return to life in a new body free of Naraku's influence."
"What's the catch?"
"No catch," he said, still not convincing Kagura entirely and for a good reason; both he and Botan knew that Kagura's fate rested on her own heart. If the egg absorbed her usual evil energy, it would hatch into a giant evil monster and swallow her whole. If she changed her ways, she would be able to hatch an anti-climatically cute fuzzball that had no plot significance whatsoever.
