Disclaimer: I am neither J. K. Rowling, nor Rumiko Takahashi and I do NOT own the Harry Potter universe or the Inuyasha universe. No matter how much I want to.

Rating: M, for adult themes, mild swearing, violence and lemon

Warnings: This is probably going to turn into a crack fic.

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Sirius was contemplating the teenage girl he had found. She was floating, apparently unconscious, in the middle of the square hole. He kneeled to the edge and looked more closely. She was around Harry's age – fifteen, maybe more – and clearly of Asian ancestry. Long black hair, short green skirt and a weird sailor blouse. The ensemble made him think of a school uniform, which Sirius doubted greatly it was. What kind of person would design such a revealing piece of cloth with the express idea to have it be worn by teenage girls?

Once the clothing issues were no more the most important thing on his mind, Sirius tried to wake the girl. He attempted diverse methods but, since she was out of his reach and he had nothing to throw at her, his possibilities were limited. He eventually resolved to call her to get her attention.

Of course, he had no idea if she could even hear him.

"Hey! Girl! Can you hear me?"

"I can," sprung a voice behind him. "And I am not deaf."

Sirius jumped to his feet, startled, and his jaw went slack as he found himself facing the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Waves of incredibly long silver-white hair rippled from a high pony tail, floating around her as if she was underwater. Her strange garments, a long dress that looked like a kimono with very long sleeves of pristine white shade, except for the bright scarlet cherry blossom patterns adorning the left shoulder. The pale glowing skin of her face was contrasted with strange indigo markings in the form of two fine stripes on each of her cheeks and a crescent moon on her forehead. Her eyes were the purest gold, rimmed with long white lashes and Sirius lost himself in this gaze.

"I… Miss… Madam..." he finally struggled, at a complete loss of words.

"Lady," offered the woman with a delighted smile.

"Oh, of course" he stammered before regaining a bit of calm "Milady, I mean no disrespect but could you tell me who you are? And if you could also enlighten me on what is going on with that poor girl and- wait, hold that, where are we?"

The lady had raised an amused eyebrow at the stream of question.

"Surely you must have guessed by now," she replied softly, "but you are beyond."

"Beyond?"

"Beyond the mortal realm. You are dead."

"Yes," said Sirius. "Yes I can know that. But what is this place? Why am I… why are we alone? I'm certainly not the only person to have died in the last minutes. And… is death a train station? Why is death a train station?!"

The lady smiled at his frantic tone, but her eyes remained serious.

"I will not answer you for two reasons. One: I have been to intermediary places before, but never to this one in particular. Two: you would not be allowed a second life if I were to tell you the truth of beyond."

She frowned a bit.

"And I have already revealed too much."

"And what about this girl?" asked Sirius. "What is she doing here, if that is not a secret of some sort?"

The lady turned her golden gaze to the floating form in the square pit.

"This priestess comes from my home world. It would seem that she is required elsewhere. Perhaps to yours," she mused briefly for herself before turning back to the girl: "If that is the case, the powers that be should have accorded themselves on an exchange…"

She frowned a bit more:

"But then, why would I have been called here? It is not my place to watch over the departed. Was there a mistake?" She turned towards the ceiling: "Inu no Taisho, who is this man and why was I awoken by his death?"

Sirius followed her move and looked at the ceiling, half expecting some strange person to float down from it, but nothing happened. He turned back to the white lady.

"I'm not sure if that helps," he declared, "but my name is Sirius Black."

"It does not really help," she replied with an apologetic smile, "but it is still something."

There was a short silence.

"And where are my manners?" she suddenly exclaimed. "My apologies, I should introduce myself. I am known as the Fang of Heaven. My name is Tenseiga."

She bowed her head very gracefully and Sirius replied in kind. He then turned to the white train station.

"Well, Lady Tenseiga. What happens now?"

She pointed at the green and gold train that was still waiting, his only door opened to a warm colorful interior. Sirius felt an urge to go and sit on the leather seats he could see from the windows.

"The train seems to be the path to your afterlife," she mentioned and then pointed at the hole with the girl floating inside, "but the well was opened when you were attempting to board. I suppose the powers that be need you to go down the well to complete the exchange and allow them to wake the priestess."

"You mean she would wake up here?"

"Unlikely. I suppose she would wake where you left your world."

"The Gate?"

"If that is what you call it, then yes."

"You think she'll be fine?"

"She will wake up, cross the Gate and arrive, fully alive, to your world."

"Well then," he said walking towards the hole, "I can't just let her here. Plus, I guess I'll wake up in her world too, right?"

If this was a second chance at life, he was not going to say no. As tempting as the green and gold train was, it was not comparable to the possibility of living again.

"Your body would appear down the well," stated Lady Tenseiga. "Of that I am certain. But in your current condition… it could very well be a corpse."

His head snapped back to her.

"What? Why?"

"You died before crossing the Gate. The priestess was alive when she crossed."

Sirius looked at the square hole in the ground. Then he looked at the green and gold train. He sat down and took his head in his hands.

"So… either I go to my afterlife and let this poor girl stuck here for eternity or I go down that hole and die a second time… well, then I guess I'll go to the afterlife, anyway, so…"

"No," she cut him off. "I am unsure of what would befall your soul, but I am quite convinced you would not come back to this …train station as you call it.

"Then what would happen to me?"

"I believe your soul would be destroyed."

"Oh… Shit."

She nodded.

"Indeed."

There was a long silence during which Sirius looked at the unconscious girl. He did not know anything about her, apart that Lady Tenseiga had called her a priestess, which probably meant it was a nice girl. She was very young. Approximately Harry's age. If she had crossed while alive, then she certainly had a family who'd be waiting for her. Friends, parents, siblings… If she never came back, it would be just as if she were dead to them. They would miss her the same way. Could he, in good conscience, go to his afterlife and let everyone that she knew believe she had died?

"Perhaps there is another possibility," Lady Tenseiga suddenly stated.

Sirius sharply turned his head towards her.

"We could force another exchange."

"How?"

The white lady brought a hand to her side and unsheathed a sword. Sirius blinked. He could have sworn she did not have the blue sheath tucked in her belt a second ago, but there it was.

She raised an arm and the blade began to glow a faint blue. Then, slowly, carefully she brought the sword down; as if she was cutting something that he could not see. Her measured slash created a bright slit through the air.

"If we remove you from the exchange, they will be forced to bring in someone who is not dead yet. And I know someone who might be convinced to resurrect you."

She sheathed the sword and offered him her hand.

Not really having a better option, he took the hand and followed her through the slit.