Chapter 52

After World

"My God my head hurts." Kagome groaned as she sat up and took a look around herself but everything was pitch black. "Raiden?" she called out but no reply came. "Don't be a jerk." She groaned as she rubbed at her head, but as she did so she could feel something wet and sticky on her finger tips. "I'm bleeding." she sighed as she rubbed her fingers together to test its consistency. "Ugh I really hate my life." Kagome groaned as she slowly got to her feet. "Raiden!" Kagome called again as she stumbled forward drunkenly.

"Stop complaining!" A male grumbled in reply.

"Who's there?" Kagome demanded as she searched the darkness. "Raiden?"

"Keh! No! Who's Raiden anyways? Your lover?" the voice asked gruffly.

"No," Kagome bit back quickly. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Been so long that you've forgotten me already hu?" the voice replied. High in the sky the clouds parted revealing a vast field filled with mysterious looking flowers that all turned up towards the moon. In the center of the field a dark figure sat atop a large boulder that seemed oddly placed in the empty field but Kagome approached it non-the-less, her mind spinning trying to recognize the mans voice.

"Well maybe you could give me a hint then." Kagome baited as she approached him.

"Keh." the man replied in scoff.

"Don't be like that." Kagome replied as she saw two small ears wiggle on top of his head. 'Oh ears how cute.' she thought to herself.

"I'll be like how I want." the man replied.

"You're so difficult!" Kagome seethed as she glowered at his back. "Stupid Hanyou's" she huffed as she turned her back to him and crossed her arms firmly and as she did so soft, deep laughter drifted through her ears and an electric shock scourged through her body. "Inuyasha!" Kagome declared happily as she turned around quickly but as she did so her vision spilt like milk and she tumbled down into darkness.

Birds chirped happily and the sun shined jubilantly in the skies above as it made its way higher and higher into the pale blue sky above. Raiden woke up slowly, not having realized that he had fallen asleep. Running a hand through his hair he got to his feet and made his way over to Kagome, tossing a few more logs onto the dyeing fire he then brushed the dew away from her face.

"Kagome," he called softly. "Wake up Kagome." He repeated as he patted lightly at her face, in reply Kagome only groaned and scrunched her face together tightly.

"Kill it." she mumbled as she moved her head to the side trying to shield it from the sun.

"Kill what?" Raiden asked, concerned that she had lost her mind.

"The light, the sounds." Kagome groaned, which made Raiden smile slightly.

"There's no time for that, come its morning we need to make our way down, can you walk?" Raiden asked as helped her to sit up.

"I think so." Kagome sighed as pressed her cold hand to fist her sore eyes then to the swollen knot on her head. "Ouch, ouch, ouch." she hissed.

"Careful, you took quite a beating falling down the mountain like that." Raiden informed her as he helped her to her feet.



"Yeah well I wouldn't have fallen down the mountain if someone hadn't insisted we continue." Kagome retorted as she carefully slipped her bag over her shoulder and favoring her right knee as she did so. "Where is my bow and quiver?" she asked as an afterthought.

"If you told me you couldn't see I would have." Raiden replied. "Broken."

"I told you I wanted to camp up top." Kagome glowered, but it was more at the fact that she was weaponless again then at the lightening demon.

"And why don't you take a look up top, my Lady." Raiden suggested with a bow as he pointed through a parting in the trees to the peak and sure enough as he had said before it was covered in snow, more so then the previous day.

"Well before I had fallen I told you it wasn't a good idea any longer but you still insisted." Kagome answered not wanting to lose the small argument.

"Yes that is true but you did agree with me." Raiden informed her as he continued down the mountain slowly.

"Yes well it wasn't full heartedly." Kagome rebutted as she followed him and the conversation ended there as she tried her hardest not to yelp with pain each time she stepped.

Coming to a small stream at nearly the base of the mountain Kagome submerged her leg into the frozen waters, which numbed the rest of her leg but made her knee feel wonderful. After several moments of letting the chilly water run down her leg she pulled it out and patted it dry then washed off the other small scrapes she had collected.

"I feel like a pin cushion." Kagome sighed to herself as she washed off the last scratch on her arm then rolled her sleeves pack down and began to warm her numb hands once more. "A frozen pin cushion at that."

"Are you ready?" Raiden asked as he came back from the forest where he had disappeared while Kagome washed up.

"Yeah." Kagome replied as she threw her bag over her shoulder and followed him back into the forest where he lead her to a small trail that seemed more like a path made by an elk for it was over grown with tall grass.

"This path will lead you to deaths home." Raiden informed her as he pointed down the grass path.

"You're not coming?" Kagome asked as she looked up to his face.

"No, I will not." he replied calmly.

"Why not?" Kagome demanded as she took a step in front of him and she watched as a small devious smile spread across his lips.

"Oh, I owe death something rather important and I'm not ready to give it up just yet." Raiden answered cryptically.

"Do you owe Death your life?" Kagome asked, her eyes narrowed as she tried to read his face but Raiden only laughed.

"No, no, not that." he dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry you're pretty little head about it."

"I guess." Kagome said with a sigh.

"Do not worry it won't take you long to reach Death's dwelling, you will no doubt reach there far before night fall." Raiden informed her as he looked up to the sky.

"Yeah I just hope you're right." Kagome sighed, feeling very uncomfortable without her arrows or Raiden's protection.

"I wish you the best of luck Lady Miko Kagome." Raiden announced as he bowed deeply to her. "I await on baited breath for your final return." he add as he grabbed her hand a kissed it 

before he took off into the forest. Slightly stunned Kagome stood there for several moments, looking off into the direction that he had disappeared in then down at her hand where he had kissed her.

"What a weird guy." Kagome admitted to herself as she wiped her hand on her pants then she turned and continued down the mountain following the path to Death's home. "Across the river and through the woods to death's house we go." Kagome thought to herself as she continued on reluctantly.

It was raining, it just had to be raining, it was always raining, sometimes, well at least that's what it seemed like.

Ka-tink

Ka-tink

The sound of the small stone go pieces being added to the thick board filled the silence between them.

Drip

Drip

Ka-tink

Ka-tink

Sometimes it was just too much, why did it have to be like that some times, why? Sometimes, sometimes life really just sucked. Well that's at least how she put it.

Drip-Drop

Drip-Drop

Ka-tink

Ka-tink

Speaking of which where was she anyways?

Pitter

Patter

Tonk

"It seems you have won My Lord." the lightening demon bowed.

"Tch." The Lord scoffed as he reclined in his seat from the board.

"She will meet Death before night." the lightening demon informed as she rose and bowed then disappeared down the veranda.

Pittar-Patter

Pitter-Patter

Awe, so that's where she was.

Drip

Figures

True to his words Kagome had made it down to the bottom of the hill far before the sun had begun to set. There the grass path she had followed spread out before her into an open meadow of half a mile and at the very edge of the field there at the base of the next mountain was a small grass hut.

"I guess that's it," Kagome muttered to herself. "maybe." she added as an afterthought before she continued on her way. Her knee felt a thousand times better now that she was walking on flat ground and because of the relief of pain she walked much faster. It was a very pleasant 

walk, the sun beat down on her warmly and a soft breeze swept through the meadow rattling the grass. For a while Kagome had lost herself in the lull but once she had come back to her sense's she found herself standing in front of the weathered old shack that could belong to non other then Death. "Doesn't really look like a home for Death… but I suppose." Kagome muttered to herself as she stood uncertainly before the building.

The flap over the door then moved to the side revealing a small girl with one eye silver and the other emerald green, which made Kagome stare at her curiously and atop her head sat two small cat ears in a sea of hair that was the palest shade of pink it almost looked white. The cat girl blinked at Kagome several times and then tilted her head to the side ever so in consideration then blinking once more she stepped out into the waxing day and bowed deeply to Kagome. Startled by this Kagome just stood there, watching and waiting and wondered if that little girl was actually Death and if she was… well Kagome didn't know exactly what she would do but she was going to do something.

"Please enter." the cat girl said gently her voice placid though holding a strange accent that Kagome could not place. She held the flap open for Kagome and motioned for her to enter and she did just that. When she entered Kagome found that the outside and the interior didn't match in the least bit, for on the outside it was a simple one room hut like the one Kaede lived in but on the inside there were at least three rooms. Each was covered with a raw hide door of what looked to be wolf but it could have been something else entirely.

"Nekomusume! What is that smell?" a small boy demanded as he emerged from the back room holding a dripping ladle in one hand, he was very short, an impish looking boy that made Kagome think of what Jaken would look like if he was human except this boy had horns growing from his head.

"She is human Amanjaku." the young girl replied simply and as she said so his sharp red eyes focused on Kagome and she suddenly felt very nervous for she was surrounded by a girl who really was a cat and an oni who's purpose was to provoke ones darkest desires. "I think I made a wrong turn back in Albuquerque." Kagome thought forlornly.

"A human? What does she want?" he demanded.

"I don't know." the young girl shrugged elegantly, but the boy seemed to ignore her and he focused his attention on Kagome making her even more nervous than before then he snorted loudly.

"She doesn't even have a single evil intention in her body! How boring! Send her away Nekomusume." the little oni ordered.

"It is not my place to send them away Amanjaku." she informed him calmly.

"Oh? So it's your place to invite them in but not to turn them out? How useless you are!" he retorted brashly.

"I am plenty useful, it is not my fault that you are too incompetent to notice." she retorted which made Kagome smirk, the small imp boy opened his mouth wide to reply when he was interrupted by a third party member who entered in through the side room that was to Kagome's right.

"Stop fighting both of you!" the intruder ordered fiercely. In her arms lay a monstrous book that made Kagome wonder how the young woman hadn't fallen over from being to top heavily while carrying it. "I swear! I'm gone for two minutes to sort out some business and you're all ready to start throwing punches." she added as she plopped the tome down on a small wooden table and took her seat so she was facing the door which Kagome was still standing in front of. Placing her brush into her mouth she opened the book to a blank page towards the 

middle then pulled her ink stone closer to herself and poured more water into it. "Ok then." she muttered then sighed and looked up to Kagome, their eyes connected for a moment then she blinked several times and sniffed the air twice then turned to look behind herself at Amanjaku. "Is it done?" she asked.

"No." he replied simply as he looked into her face blankly.

"Well." she provoked.

"Well." he copied then turned and went back into the room which Kagome assumed was a kitchen then the woman turned back to Kagome and looked her in the eyes again. Kagome noted that the woman had hair so red it glittered like fresh blood and her eyes were the strangest mixture of color she had even seen.

"What's your name?" she asked as she looked down to her book.

"Hi…Higurashi." Kagome replied after a moment of hesitation but the women only sat there looking at the empty pages of her book.

"Higurashi…?" the woman prompted.

"Higurashi Kagome." Kagome added feeling stupid.

"Higurashi Kagome, Higurashi Kagome Hmmm." the woman mumbled as she began to flip page after page in her mighty book and Kagome couldn't help but notice all the hundreds of names that filled the book in tiny precise handwriting. "Higurashi Kagome, Kagome Higurashi, Kagome Higurashi…. Higurashi Kagome hmmm." she muttered on as if her name was some sort of mantra of salvation then she turned another page and pressed a long finger nail to the page and scanned down it. "Agh! I knew it sounded familiar! Kagome Higurashi!" the woman declared as she looked up from the book and glared at her. "What are you doing her Kagome? You're not dead! I have no time for the living! Leave!" she ordered fiercely with a wave of her hand.

"Hu?" Kagome asked, completely lost by the turn of events as she was being dragged towards the door by the hem of her sleeve by the little cat girl. "What? I didn't come because I was dead." Kagome called back to the woman. "Are you Death?" she asked quickly as she retracted her sleeve from the girls steely grip.

"I am." Death replied curtly as she leaned back in her chair and chewed absently on the end of her brush.

"I've come here for a reason." Kagome informed her as she stepped further into the hut, away from the door and the cat girl.

"And what reason would that be?" Death asked, amused.

"I've come to retrieve the Tetsusaiga and the Sounga." Kagome declared firmly and as she said that malicious laughter erupted from the kitchen but it died quickly.

"Damn and I was hoping you'd come and pay back your debt, alas oh well." Death mumbled to herself then she turned sharp eyes back to Kagome. "So, you want the Sounga and the Tetsusaiga."

"Yes." Kagome confirmed with a nod of her head.

"Hmm, I see." she mused. "And why, would you be wanting these?" Death asked.

"To prove myself loyal to the Western Lord." Kagome answered simply.

"Human Lords?" Death goaded.

"No, Demons." Kagome corrected.

"Demons? Which demons?" She asked.

"Sesshomaru." Kagome answered.

"Oh, Sesshomaru?" Death mused rhetorically as she nodded her head "Do you think he'll be wanting his arm back?" she asked as she leaned forward and placed her brush on her book.



"What?" Kagome asked, not sure she comprehended the question.

"Hn." death replied with a smirk as she got to her feet, her long black kimono fluttering around her loosely making the embroidered butterflies appear to flutter about. "Follow." she ordered simply as she gave a wave of her hand and she disappeared into the room she had entered through. "Some time ago," she started as she began to shift through lots of things that looked like junk but being the home of Death Kagome doubted it was anything but junk. "The gateways to hell were opened by the damn sword Sounga, I really hate that sword! I told Inu Taisho not to make it! But does that rat bastard ever listen to me? Of course not so he goes ahead and has it made! BAKA!" Death more grunted this last word as she moved something rather cumbersome to the side of the pile of stuff. "And well anyways so he makes the sword and dies and the sword is put under a binding for 700 years supposedly of course it only lasts 500 years! Lazy bastards! Now the gateways to hell are opened and Sesshomaru's hand gets thrown in along WITH Sounga!" Death ranted and Kagome couldn't help but feel guilty for she was there for that. "Couldn't you have been a little bit more careful?" Death asked as she looked over her shoulder at Kagome.

"Uh … well… uh… Hmm… umm Sorry." Kagome stumbled as she tried to find something to say for she didn't expect Death to know she had been there as well.

"Meh it's not like you gave them Sesshomaru's arm or Sounga, really I don't even know HOW they got Sesshomaru's arm from his fathers grave but whatever. Anyways that was SUCH a bitch to clean up! Hell is not a good place for Sounga or Sesshomaru's arm, AH HA! I found it!" Death declared happily as she swung around to Kagome holding something long, pasty and clawed in her right hand. "Sesshomaru's arm! Do you think he'd want it back?" Death asked earnestly as she looked to Kagome for an answer.

"Uh well umm I don't know." Kagome replied honestly. Really how the hell was she supposed to know if he wanted it back or not?

"What do you mean you don't know? You two are a… umm… a couple? Mates? I don't know what the hell you kids call it now a days." Death admitted as she turned her attention over to Sesshomaru's missing arm.

"Uh well um kinda sorta not really but yeah …uh no." Kagome replied and Death looked back at her with an unsure look then she went back to examining his arm.

"Well it is a rather good arm and I suppose I could use it for something… hmm oh well." she declared simply as she threw it over her shoulder into a pile of rubble in which she had pulled it from. "So tell me why is it exactly that you must prove yourself loyal to Sesshomaru?" Death asked as she looked intently at Kagome as if she was searching her for something.

"Well I don't really have to prove myself Loyal to Sesshomaru himself it's more like to the other lords." Kagome corrected.

"And why would that be?" Death wondered as a small smile played along her lips and Kagome realized she knew exactly why, she just wanted to hear it from her.

"Because I am Human of course, and must prove myself worthy as such." Kagome replied with a small bow of her head.

"Hmm and why must you prove yourself human?" Death asked.

"So that I can become a demon and be with Sesshomaru and they will know that I won't be weak." Kagome informed her.

"You'll become Demon?" Death asked, extremely perplexed by this. "How? There are no spells or incantations to allow such a thing"

"I will … Use the Shikon no tama." Kagome muttered for the more she thought about it 

the more it just didn't seem right to be using the jewel for such a selfish cause but then hadn't it been selfish of the jewel to have used her as a convoy for its safe passage? An eye for an eye. At hearing this Death's eyes grew wide and slightly angry and Kagome feared that she was going to be reprimanded for even thinking of using the Jewel but then her eyes closed and her face relaxed.

"hmm I see." she muttered then opened her eyes and gave Kagome a small smirk. "Alright I'll give you Sounga and Tetsusaiga but… what are you to give me in turn?" she wondered.

"All I have of value is two bottles of Shojo wine." Kagome informed her.

"One bottle will be good enough." Death declared with a jubilant smile. Kneeling to the floor Kagome slid the pack off her shoulder and opened it, praying continuously that the bottles hadn't broken when she had fallen down the mountain. Pulling out the bag containing the wine Kagome flipped open the flap and there were the two bottles of wine completely unscathed.

"Here." said Kagome as she offered the bottle to Death.

"Oh how wonderful! I haven't had shojo wine in a millennia at least!" She declared happily as she turned to hand it to the cat girl. "We will have this with dinner." she said happily and the cat girl bowed as she took it and left the room to put it in the kitchen no doubt.

"Now then." Death began, bringing attention back to herself. "Sounga is here, in my homes so that will be easy enough to obtain but Tetsusaiga is another matter entirely."

"What?" Kagome asked gravely.

"You will have to travel into hell yourself and retrieve Tetsusaiga." Death informed her somberly

"What? You retrieve Sounga but not Tetsusaiga?" Kagome asked disbelievingly.

"Sounga is the sword of hell, you can't leave it down there! Tetsusaiga is the sword of man, only the purest of demons can wield it." Death informed her.

"Of course." Kagome agreed with a sigh of defeat. "Nothing could ever just go her way for once could it?" Kagome thought mournfully.

"Come we don't have much time, it will be best for you to travel to hell while it is night here, they are less restless at this time." Death informed her as she walked towards a large wall scroll which she pulled to the side revealing another entrance to a rather dark room. "What are you waiting for?" death asked as she looked over to Kagome.

"Oh sorry." Kagome mumbled as she hurried over, making sure not to step on anything as she went, disappearing into the next room with death.

"Leave all your things here, you won't need them nor can you use them over there and they'll only weigh you down." Death informed her as she pointed to the wall were Kagome could place her things and Kagome did just that. "Be very careful while you're down there. You're alive and they despise you for it! If you thought demons despised humans that's like two best friends squabbling between one another compared to how much the dead hate the living."

"I understand." Kagome replied with a sharp nod of her head. For a moment they stood in silence and Death looked at her like she was searching for something once more and it made Kagome feel sick to her stomach.

"Don't," Death began then stopped and her eyes narrowed. "Don't do anything… that you know you will regret." she added her eyes dropping to the ground but then she looked back up to Kagome as if she was going to say something else but then she shook her head. "See that latch on the floor?" Death asked as she pointed to the floor. Following her finger, sure enough Kagome saw the latch on the floor and she found it rather odd that she hadn't noticed it for the 

room was completely empty of everything except a small incense offering hanging from the ceiling that cast a strange blue light amongst the room.

"I see it." Kagome replied.

"That is the entrance to hell." Death informed her calmly.

"Not as grand as I thought it would be." Kagome chuckled dryly.

"It never is." Death replied with a smirk as she headed towards to door. "Oh and by the way, the names Kuri."

"Thank you Kuri." Kagome replied with a bow.

"Don't mention it." she replied with a smirk. "Really I mean it though don't mention it or else I'll have to kill you and I can do that." she replied seriously but then smiled and Kagome wasn't sure if she was joking or not. "Good luck Kagome." she bid as she disappeared behind the wall scroll which looked just like the wall when it was closed. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves Kagome advanced towards the latch on the floor when Death, or Kuri, reappeared from behind the wall scroll scaring Kagome half to death. "I almost forgot to tell you, make sure you close the door really well or else dead things start oozing out and I literally mean ooze its gross and a real pain to clean up. It's weird while you're down there they don't look it but it's like the moment they hit living air that they start to ooze. Strangest thing anyways good luck." and with that she disappeared once more.

"Definitely not what I expected of Death." Kagome admitted to herself as she turned towards the latch once more. "This is really not good." kneeling down to the ground Kagome grabbed a hold of the latch and began to pull as hard as she could but it seemed unable to budge. Placing one foot on the ground she pulled even harder using her foot for leverage the door finally creaked open. Hot, wet, sticky air swept through the room consuming Kagome and casting a wicked red glow around the room. Looking down into Hell Kagome could see nothing but a thick red haze that churned like quick silver, taking in a deep breath that only made her sick to her stomach Kagome took hold of the door and jumped in. Behind her the door to the After World slammed shut.

hdgsajdgajsd

HOMG 280 pages is where this chapter ends! I am so impressed with myself lol anyways yeah interested hmm its getting closer and closer to the end of this story yay! Lol this story has been taking so long! I hope you enjoyed this after the long absent