In Time, Death
By Alesyira
Summary: The author likes to contemplate who's actually in charge.
Forest
- 1660 -
A bird chirping outside startled her from a light doze, and her eyes flew open as she remembered where she was. Kagome blinked, glancing around the room cast in pale grey from the pre-dawn morning light.
Koenma's childlike form stretched awkwardly beside her, his upper half draped in a loose heap across one of her arms. He rolled over and yawned widely, revealing a large puddle of drool that had accumulated beneath his face.
She snorted quietly and pulled her arm free, wondering how often he got to sleep. Two weeks, he'd boasted the previous day.
Two. Weeks.
She knew he wasn't mortal.
She had other friends like Shippo that didn't need sleep very often, but what would that be like? She couldn't imagine giving up those hours of rest (at least, when they weren't interrupted by a nightmare or an ambush) to let her brain reset. Such moments were necessary for her body to recuperate after all the physical and mental stresses she managed to find herself in. She needed to be able to relax and let herself drop off into quiet oblivion. She briefly closed her eyes in exasperation, feeling a twinge of jealousy that others could remain so functional without wasting a quarter of their life resting.
She sat up with a sigh and straightened her slightly disheveled clothes, then fished a brush from her pouch to conquer her tangles. She was mildly annoyed that she'd been sent here to help Koenma before she could go home again, but on the flip side, she was thankful that she'd been able to burn a good chunk of her countdown timer with sleep.
After her last few too-early jumps, having longer than twenty-four hours to recover seemed to have done her some good. She'd managed this last trip with only the temporary blindness. She hoped to never again experience the immense pain she'd felt when she'd had less than an hour to recover between her trips. She'd begun to suspect the timer wasn't for her device overheating, that it was really to somehow prevent herself from coming apart at the seams, so to speak.
Maybe Tek hadn't known she'd suffer like that.
Maybe their experience of overheating devices potentially bursting into flames had been accurate, and she just didn't fit the pattern of their expectations.
"Sorry." Koenma's voice startled her from the spiraling thoughts. She paused her brushing and looked over at him, then grinned as she watched him wipe at the side of his face with a sleeve.
She shrugged with nonchalance and put away the brush. "Everyone has to shut off now and then, even if it ends up messy."
He scowled at her amusement.
"Anyways," she said, hiding a little smile behind her hand, "How far away is our next problem spot?"
He rolled his shoulders and carefully got to his little feet. It was painfully cute to see him wobbling around as an unsteady, pint-sized child. "After we backtrack to our arrival spot, it'll be within a mile. The deaths for this one have been all over the place."
"You aren't going to stay like that, are you?" she asked with an arched eyebrow. She wasn't sure how quick he could move with such short legs, and if it came down to some kind of fight, she didn't want to have to worry about a tiny-tot underfoot. Shippo had been skilled at keeping out of the way while he'd been a little fox kit, but Koenma the toddler just seemed clumsy.
He sighed in resignation and blinked back into his taller shape. "I was really hoping to get carried around this morning," he grumbled.
She frowned and glanced at him askance. "How old are you again?"
He shrugged.
"Such a baby," she muttered under her breath, stuffing her belongings back into her pouch with a bit more force than necessary.
"I'll go get you some breakfast," he offered with a sheepish grin, then fled the room at her perilous glare.
After eating, they made inquiries about any travelers or townsfolk that had gone missing. For such a decently sized settlement, Kagome was surprised there had only been rumors of three disappearances in the last few years.
The merchants that had anything else to share had found it strange that some of their southern suppliers barely visited anymore, while those from the north were still coming at normal intervals.
"That matches pretty well with where we arrived," Koenma said as they backtracked south along the road. "If we count all the deaths that happen within a mile of the breach, this is one of the worst places we currently have in our records."
Kagome hummed, reaching out for the hint of power that would lead them to the opening between realms. A few tired and dusty travelers heading north passed them without comment as they walked. She wondered where each of them had come from and how many friends of theirs may have been lost to a strange place, never to be seen again.
Less than an hour after leaving town, they found what they were looking for.
A break in the treeline opened into a small clearing just to the side of the road. An inviting circle of logs and an old fire pit waited there, beckoning weary travelers to step closer and take a rest.
Kagome let out a low whistle. "If the people that have died were mainly travelers from elsewhere, it would make sense. Anyone from town would be much more likely to ignore a resting spot this close to home."
Koenma shook his head in disbelief. "This place isn't just one of the worst in total numbers. The deaths have been increasing steadily. It's one of the reasons I've been worried the breaches could be getting bigger."
She shook her head, stepping carefully around the edges of the chilly sensation of magic hanging motionless in the air. Roughly the length of one log, it spanned halfway across the small clearing. "This is the same size as the others. I don't think it's getting bigger, but the only reason I can think of that more people have died is that this place is just becoming more popular with travelers, and somehow no one has realized the danger."
"Search parties going missing in search of other parties," Koenma muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's take a peek on the other side," he suggested, holding out a hand.
They stepped through the breach together.
The thick morning fog had rolled in, concealing the ground with an opaque mist that gave Kagome an immediate sense of deja vu. She glanced around at the trees scattering the area, feeling a misplaced sense of familiarity.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a brief glimpse of an arachnid as tall as an average human moving with absolute silence through the trees some distance away. She shivered and nudged Koenma to pick up his rocks already so they could get out of there. The last thing she wanted to deal with this morning was an over-sized spider.
He fished around in the foggy mess for a handful of stones as Kagome watched out for any more spiders or adorable fluffs with razor-like teeth that might want to take a bite out of their ankles. (She didn't have a ravenous vine to kill her enemies this time around.)
They were done in less than fifteen minutes, and she ushered them back through the breach with a huge sigh of relief.
"If humans have been falling through here more frequently," she said as he tossed his stones around the clearing, "then maybe something further should be done to cut down on the accidental trespassing."
Koenma nodded thoughtfully, looking around at the fire circle and well-worn logs. "We should do something about it."
Kagome put her hands on her hips and chewed on her lip. "The last place was trying to close the breach?"
He nodded. "I'm not entirely sure how they were trying, but I offered some of our reserves of magic to help them try until it worked, or until they could get the breach somewhere that less humans would fall through."
"Do you think they'd be willing to try the same thing here?"
"Possibly. We'll start negotiations."
"In the meantime," she murmured, looking around. "This place is far too welcoming to anyone needing a quick break."
"You're right. Maybe we can bring in some landscapers to plant a bunch of thorny bushes."
"You saw how well that worked earlier. People just assumed it was protecting something."
He nodded with realization and pressed a hand to his chin as he considered options.
"Koenma, you have a bunch of people that work for you. This might be one of those times you should delegate. Assign the cleanup to a group of people you trust. They can block off this spot to keep away the travelers. Cut new roads that aren't quite so close, and maybe invest in some more appealing stopping points elsewhere. Think of the paperwork reduction."
Koenma's eyes sparkled with unbridled pleasure, and his breath whooshed out in a shuddering sigh.
Kagome clamped her lips together to hold back a laugh at his response.
"Delegate," she reminded him. "We've done what we can here, and I do not want to be moving heavy things when we still have three other places to take care of."
He rolled his eyes. "Okay, boss."
AN: this one's short. Not sorry :) next one is making good progress, so hopefully will post by end of weekend since I made you guys wait so long for this one. Please don't forget to review or kudos on AO3! either I have a few crazies that have read these fics a lot of times over or I just have a minuscule portion of (cherished) readers saying anything. anyways. three more mini adventures left! What trouble will the daring duo get into next time? Stay tuned!