Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story (they are all the property of Rumiko Takahashi). Also, the distribution of this work of fanfiction is illegal unless you email me receive my written consent. For my email address, please visit my profile. Nice and serious.
A/N: Nice... a double update... Anyway, I probably won't be updating for a while. I'm working on my fictionpress stories. But enjoy!
Oh, and one more thing... Inuyasha's personality may seem very weird, but he's an immortal, he's been leading many people down to Limbo for thousands of years. That includes royalty, people of eloquence, and also incredibly smart bookworms. Of course some have that has got to rub off on him, right? Also, he just does that to make himself look cool, he'd really just like to sit back and use slang all day. And his real way of talking will come out gradually.
Death's Wish
Chapter 2
Death's Labour
For Kagome, the simple walk up the steps of her home seemed endless. She shook with loosely-held anticipation as she imagined the scene that would unfold inside the shrine. She envisioned many slightly different scenarios, all ending with her embracing her family and laughing at a shocked Inuyasha. Nothing had annoyed her more then when the white-haired boy had tried to stop her from communing with her parents and brother, but it soon became known to her that the dog demon, as deadly as he had first come across to be, had a bark much worse than his bite.
"—understand? Hello? Don't make me threaten you with my sword."
"Hm? Oh, Inuyasha, what were you saying?" Kagome hadn't noticed that she had frozen on the second step to her house. She shook her head as if to clear it of something and repeated, "What were you saying?"
She turned fully to acknowledge him, noticing that he looked rather disgruntled. 'I knew that he had a temper, but it only took that to make him mad? Geez...'
In reality, Inuyasha was annoyed to find that he wasn't being taken seriously. And, unfortunately for him, his growing suspicion of her loss of fear was completely justified. The dead girl had become much more cheery. She had also become very comfortable in her guide's presence, much too comfortable for Inuyasha's taste.
Just a moment before her lapse in concentration, she had latched herself onto her immortal companion's arm. Inuyasha had been acutely aware of the close proximity between them and had immediately grumbled his complaints. All that he had gotten in return was a saucy little wink, and a pat on each ear. Then she had let go, and walked in front of him, soon coming to a disturbing halt for a few minutes. His thoughts at that moment were as follows:
'I can't believe this! I'm Death, for Hell's sake... she has got to acknowledge me for what I am. And what the hell is she doing just standing there? I'm going to have to give her a little scare, just to show her why she should stop treating me like a-' this thought soon leaked into a rather strange expression. Kagome noticed and blinked, but continued to have a firm hold on him. His usually frowning features had grown distorted—his new expression was strangely mixed. There seemed to be a bit of sadness in his face, yet a bit of happiness as well. But most of all, his eyes... they wreaked of surprise. Inuyasha had just been about to think 'friend', before he realized what had been tweaking his conscience. He and Kikyo had been friends, before their relationship grew to something more.
He was going to have to surprise her... act weirdly to stall her from going into her old home, and then scare her.
So this was where they had left off, and Inuyasha commenced his plan. "I said: once we go in there, hold on tightly to me. Understand?'
She immediately gasped and stepped toward him. "Wh-what did you just say?"
"Again with the whole not hearing me thing? I didn't think that a person's level of intellect had anything to do with their level of hearing, but now I'm beginning to doubt that. Or maybe it's just because you're a woman? No, I'm pretty sure Sango can hear fine. It must be a question of intellect."
"Sango...? Who's she? Wait a second, are you trying to imply that I'm stupid? I'll have you know that I get relatively good grades, well, not in Math, but-" she paused, her mouth set in a grim line. "Why did you say you wanted me to hold on tightly to you?"
'This girl is really something else. Well, she's basically begging for me to execute the plan, so I'll oblige.'
"I wanted you to hold on to me, because being near you makes me swoon. It makes me think of someone great before you. You're just as beautiful as her, and I'd be insane if I didn't at least try to love you!" Inuyasha was just wondering where all of that romantic blather came from when he saw the tears threatening to spill over her lids. Her eyes were tightly closed, and he was beginning to worry. Was his love that painful to comprehend?
"I-Inuyasha, I-" now Inuyasha was getting more than a little upset, and, without any hesitation, he picked her up by the collar and lifted her up before him. Knowing full well that since she was dead the only pain she could feel was that of the heart, Inuyasha began to laugh darkly.
"You fell for it?" His voice had taken on a deep, echoing tone. It seemed to be full of a heavy silence, although it was certain that the voice permeated the air surrounding it.
"Huh? I-Inuyasha, please..."
"Please what? You really thought that you were even worth taking to Limbo? You refused to fear me, refused to even acknowledge my power. So, I decided to commit the kind of spiritual sacrilege that only Death could get away with. I planned this whole thing, making you feel attracted enough to me to get comfortable. And now, with that lie about my love for you, I will tear your soul apart and let your empty body float away. Would you like that?" He laughed mirthlessly.
Although on the outside he seemed not to care for her at all, some of his vital organs seemed to fill with heavy rocks as tears flowed, unbidden, down the girl's cheeks.
Kagome's heart seemed to shrivel up as she heard his words. Was he really that good at acting as if he wasn't all that bad? Now, anger swelled inside of her. She had never felt attracted to him! Maybe she had felt a few pangs as she saw his handsome appearance, and his cute ears, but she had never felt for him emotionally. All she wanted to do was do what others hadn't. Find a place in his heart and make him put his guard down, just so she could feel as if she was worth something. She was pretty sure that no one else had managed to make him even like them.
Although she couldn't feel any pain, and she was sure that there weren't going to be any marks on her neck if she ever survived, Kagome felt horribly scarred. It was as if she would never be able to forgive him, figuratively or literally. The latter was what scared her the most. Yes, his plan had worked for sure, her fear had risen to impossible heights, and she now opened her eyes to look at the boy before her.
Parting her lips, she managed to squeak out in what she hoped was a suitably brave tone, "FYI, I never felt emotionally attached to you!" Then she added hastily, "Of course, for your additional information, I never felt physically attached to you either!" This was a lie and they both knew it, but for a moment Kagome thought she saw something alien to her flash in his eyes. Then it passed.
"Hah! Does it matter? And now, for the grand finale!" Letting go of her shirt, he unsheathed his sword and presented it to her.
Kagome had been awaiting the feel of the, now very enticing, floor against her. But she was held, suspended in the air, only able to punch and kick the nothingness around her, flailing uselessly. She watched as he took out his sword, flinching as it grew to a monstrous size. Both him and the frightening weapon began to glow with the absence of light. She opened her eyes wide as the sword came closer and closer to her. It was moving very quickly, but to her it was as if everything was in slow motion. She was proud of herself for not letting out a sound, but maybe she would have if she was inhaling any air.
Inuyasha swung the sword toward her in one large arc, then waited for a scream, anything, discovering that his victim wasn't breathing. He swore under his breath, something which escaped the girl's notice, and then thought to himself, 'Maybe I'm going a bit too far with this one? Nah...'
Kagome closed her eyes, waiting for whatever the hell was about to happen. Hey, she had no idea what it felt like to have your soul ripped from your body. She waited for a few extra seconds, then tentatively opened her eyes. The tetsusaiga was about a milimetre away from what she guessed had to be the area surrounding her soul. Inuyasha's eyes had been as red as they were the first time she had seen his sword transform, although she hadn't noticed until now, for obvious reasons. They slowly returned to normal, a beautiful ring of gold, first just tinging the centre of each eye, then spreading throughout the iris, was the trigger for the demon sword to become ragged once more.
Guilt was etched across his features, and Kagome was beginning to suspect that it had all been a joke. Her eyes became two angry slits as her hands clenched into fists. Inuyasha nervously smiled and said, "April fools?" Now he knew that he had definitely gone too far.
"You idiot! Why the hell would you do something like that? And you say that my intellect is defected... How could you be so stupid as to try and pull something like that as a prank?"
This, unsurprisingly enough, made the temperamental Inuyasha go on the defensive. "It wasn't for something as belittling as a stupid prank! It was for something, something much more-" he then stopped, he had been about to say 'mature'. But was it more mature? He changed his argument. "It was for something less playful! You weren't taking me seriously enough, so I decided to give you a little scare."
Kagome stood there, speechless. Inuyasha took that as a good sign and opened his mouth to talk; he was silenced however, by the explosion that came from around Kagome's direction. Or, maybe it came from her?
"A LITTLE SCARE? YOU'RE TELLING ME, THAT WITH YOU COMING THIS-" Kagome held her thumb and forefinger a milimetre apart from each other, "CLOSE TO ME WITH YOUR SWORD, THAT WAS A LITTLE SCARE? IF YOU THINK THAT THAT WAS A LITTLE SCARE, THEN YOU'VE GOT BIG PROBLEMS!" Inuyasha's ears lay flat against his head now.
Inuyasha jumped, then composed himself. "Well, maybe if you had understood how powerful I really am, and how very little lenience I really have, this wouldn't have happened! You need to respect your elders, er, your betters and understand that I can snap your puny little body, uh, cut your puny little soul in half!" It wasn't until after he had finished with his tirade that he knew that those were the wrong things to say. It was obvious that the girl had a fiery temper once incensed and that he had provoked her. He was going to get it now.
He was desperately trying to make light of the situation in his mind, 'She's just like Sango, what with the whole temper thing. The two would really hit it off.' His thoughts were immediately ruptured and emptied out of his head, like air in a balloon, by the loud reply from Kagome.
"OH, CUT THE CRAP! ENOUGH OF THIS, 'I'M ALL-POWERFUL STUFF', I WAS JUST TRYING TO GET YOU TO LOOSEN UP A LITTLE! AS IF I'D ACT THAT WAY AROUND ANYONE UNLESS I PITIED THEM! AND HELL WILL FREEZE OVER THE DAY YOU BECOME BETTER THAN-"
"Actually, that's just a common misconception, just like my tetsusaiga. Hell is actually a place of ice. Carry on now." Inuyasha said all of this quite mildly, prompting her to continue with little flurrying gestures.
"Uh, then... Hell will freeze over, er, when- Hell will get very hot when-" she was interrupted by a sudden burst of genuine laughter from Inuyasha.
"Y-you actually believed that? You better get less gullible in Limbo, otherwise Naraku will send you to Hell just for spite. He does that a lot you know. Hahahahaha-" he suddenly clamped his mouth shut.
Kagome was prepared to give him the beating of his life when she realized the complete levity of the situation. She began to laugh uncontrollably, Inuyasha's lips trembling to follow suit. And why didn't he? His conscience was pounding at him even more. 'I just told her a lot of things about the people I hang around with. Or at least, a lot of things about a person that I can't stand to hang around with. And also, where did I get all of that stuff earlier? Where did it come from? It's like I was talking to Kikyo when I said that I'd be crazy if I didn't pursue my love for her; well, the only thing that was pretty much true, and which was obviously directed at Kagome was- was her beauty. It might not surpass Kikyo's, but it comes pretty close.'
He clamped so hard on the insides of his cheeks with his teeth that red welts immediately appeared, only to vanish a few moments later. Inuyasha roughly took Kagome's wrist and began to propel her towards the door to her shrine. He had wasted enough time with his 'little scare' and he was eager to make it into Limbo, with or without the girl. He was always interested in seeing what colour each person's soul was, and- 'Damn! I forgot about the whole soul-cutting thing! Well, I'm not supposed to do it until she's ready to make it to the spirit world, but... should I warn her?'
"Wait, there's something I have to tell you."
"Yeah, Inuyasha? Ouch, let go of my wrist first!"
Inuyasha shamefully let go of her wrist as he straightened and mumbled a small apology. Ignoring Kagome's shock (when had he ever apologised? Ever?) he plowed on, "Look, you know that thing about tearing your soul from your body?"
"Yes." Her jaw was set now, and her eyes sparkled angrily.
"Well, uh, what do you think people look like wherever they're going? I mean, Heaven and Hell, that sort of thing."
"Of course they'll still have their bodies! I mean, look at you."
"Well, I'm an immortal, so-" Kagome's mouth formed a perfect 'o'. It closed, opened, opened, closed. Inuyasha would have commented on how much she looked like a fish if he hadn't valued his ears. "You don't mean..."
"Yes, that is what I mean. I'm going to have to, uh, use the tetsusaiga to sever your spirit, your soul, from your body." Kagome turned red. And not out of embarrassment, Inuyasha could understand that much at least. "B-but on the bright side, at least you'll be very- very colourful?" He finished weakly.
That was the icing on the cake for the poor girl, but when she saw Inuyasha cover his ears for protection, she managed to calm down. "Look, I'm not going to shout at you. Mostly because I wasn't lying when I said I pitied you. But can you please tell me why you didn't make this clear earlier? And then you can tell me what it feels like, et cetera."
Now it was Inuyasha's turn to look like a fish, his mouth opening soundlessly. Then he said as rudely as possible, "You'll see when it happens. I don't feel like explaining to you. I've had to explain enough for your sake. I even had to alter my speech slightly, just for you! So leave me alone, I have to deal with enough torment in my daily life, I don't need you to make my labouring even worse." They had been gradually migrating down the stairs ever since Inuyasha had carried out his plan, and now the affronted boy walked steadily up the stone steps. Pausing in front of the door, he inclined his head slightly, even as he was completely turned away from Kagome, and she took it as her cue to follow.
She was just as injured as he, and angrily wiped a few tears from her eyes. Thinking that Inuyasha couldn't hear her at all, she sniffled very quietly then let the salty water overflow. Not even caring anymore, she resolved to keep quiet and just wait out the time remaining until her trip to, hopefully, Heaven.
As Kagome reached the second step to the top, she waited silently for Inuyasha to open the door. He didn't however, but swiveled around to face her instead. Not only had he smelt the product of her crying, but he had also heard her faint sniffle, just as clearly as if she had blown her nose. As he turned, he found that that exact appendage of his was very close to Kagome's. He rarely ever thought dreamily of anything, but now was just as good a time as any. 'If I just imagined that she was Kikyo, which would be very easy in the circumstances, I could just tilt my head the tiniest bit, and then- and then-' and then he came to his senses and backed up quickly.
Composing himself, he said breathlessly, "What? What is it?"
"What? You're the one who turned around like that! I should be asking you the same question. Wait, I already have-"
"Why were—why are you crying? What have I done now?"
"You knew?" She scuffed one immaculate loafer on the stone beneath her feet. Then she noticed something. If she looked hard enough, looked, crazily enough, with her soul... she could see someone else's foot!
"Of course I knew! I... what are you staring at? Don't tell me you can see-"
"What the hell is that thing? There's another shoe, just like mine, but completely dirtied. It looks kind of like Yuka's!" Stepping back, she was amazed to find that if she looked within herself, and then looked out through her eyes, holding that same glazed look... she could see other figures! She could see a sort of alternate reality! The edges of her eye sight were growing hazy, Inuyasha was disappearing, and the whole world looked different. She hadnt realized before that it was strange that the shrine looked as impeccably clean as it had before (thanks to Mrs. Higurashi). It also hadn't struck as her weird that right before she fell down the well, the shrine was charred and blackened, but after she got back out it was perfectly intact.
Now her beautiful home was- was, well, was charred and blackened! And directly in front of her, right where she had been standing before, was one of her best friends, Yuka. She stuck her hand right through her, then backed away in alarm. Now, she could see the form of Eri, another one of her very good friends.
'I remember now... they were the two friends left. Ayumi, I couldn't save her! She drowned... Oh, why couldn't I save her? But, I can't think of her now. What's going on around me?'
She hesitantly stepped through the two of her friends, who she noticed looked completely bedraggled. Then she saw a large, burly fireman standing before the two. He was evidently speaking, although Kagome couldn't hear him. She guessed what he was saying, though; he was telling them that it was too early to go inside, the smoke wasn't cleared... bodies not found. She then stepped through him, immediately shutting her eyes against the sight that she now beheld. Everything was in complete ruins: there were some broken legs of chairs and other furniture, here and there; the rest was hidden by smoke, little licks of flame, and firefighters.
Now she turned back, she wanted to see the well. No one was around it, obviously not knowing about her dead body. Being too afraid to risk not being able to get out again, Kagome leaned over the lip of the well, peering closely. There, deep down, she could see her own crumpled body. Many bruises lined it, the skirt was hiked up, and, Kagome supposed, several bones were broken, but still, the body looked relatively fine when compared with Ayumi's. Swallowing audibly, Kagome turned away from the sight of her own cramped body and decided to try and let someone know about it.
Running back to where she had first stood, she attempted to brainstorm a way to alert everyone to her presence. For some reason or other, her spirit kept on telling her (figuratively, of course) to go into the wrecked shrine. Blinking back tears, she stepped through the original fireman, and then onwards into the house.
She ran up to her room, ignoring the fresh new prickle of something behind her eyes. But when it continued and her eyes were as dry as usual, Kagome began to worry. She could see a faint apparition in front of her, telling her to get out of the shrine, but she ran right through it and then stopped. Focusing as she had done when she had seen the figure of Yuka before her, she managed to get up a staircase without seeing anything else.
When she had gotten up to the second floor, she continued to walk on. Her body automatically stopped in front of the remains of her old room. She reverently looked at everything, then reached to touch something. 'But wait, I won't even be able to touch it! I tried touching the door frame and I almost fell through the wall! But let me just try... there's no harm in that.'
To her surprise, the object felt solid against her cool palm. Kagome began to perspire as she thought of what she could do. 'I can touch my own stuff! So, I'll just throw this at them so that they think that something from a tree is falling, I'll make it come from the direction of the God Tree. It's right next to the well, maybe, hopefully they'll go over there?'
Bounding down the steps, having to make sure not to slip through each one by jumping quickly, Kagome ran through the firefighter and her two friends impatiently. She was now situated beside the God Tree. She threw the object that she had found... a crumpled piece of paper. Almost jumping with delight when they ignored the actual thing and came over to her, Kagome watched gleefully as both her friends ran over to where it had come from. They were now mouthing words to each other, smiling sadly as they looked at the old well. Then one of them leaned over it, and—screamed, or, at least Kagome thought she made some sort of loud exclamation. The firefighter now came over out of concern, and probably curiosity, too. They all looked in horror at the body of the girl they had been trying to contact for a long while now.
At that moment, Kagome began to grow very tired. She didn't feel overcome with sleep either, the prickling at the back of her eyes was back, and her very spirit seemed to hurt (she wasn't really sure how, though).
Closing her eyes, and then reopening them, she saw her right arm was poised above her, as if she had been just about to cheer. Inuyasha was standing in front of her, looking vaguely worried but somewhat impressed. Wait, worried?
"I can't believe you were able to do that... Kikyo's definitely in you right now- I mean, why didn't you listen to me? You should've gone out of the shrine and unfocused your soul!"
"Inuyasha, were you worried about me? I don't know why you would be, but it seems like it."
Inuyasha was speechless, recovering himself, he said, "I-I wasn't worried about you at all! But what reason? What reason? If you had stayed like that for too long, your soul would've grown too weak. And then- and then it would've grown... faint, when I cut it. Then you'd be totally out of existence. So, are you gonna- going to thank me for saving you from that, or what?"
"You can see it all the time, can't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You did that on purpose, didn't you? You wantedme to do it. You were testing me. And then you got too scared and you tried to get me out of it. You actually—I saw you. I saw your eyes. I remember now; your eyes were completely red for just a second, red with black slits for pupils. Like they always are when you're doing something—something magical. You kind of, forced me to focus just for a second so I could get... intrigued. Isn't that right?"
"Uh, someone's gotten slightly smarter..."
"I try. I just figured it out now, anyway." Of course she had to finish humbly. "But why?"
"I-I wanted to see if you were weak or not. It was for my own amusement. I just remembered that they would've left your carcass rotting, so that couldn't be it." Inuyasha was actually telling the truth when he said that he hadn't remembered her body. The only thing that was important to know for his occupation, was the status of each soul.
Kagome didn't know this little tidbit of information, though. She swayed with compassion for the poor, emotional boy. Little did she know, he was overly emotional at the moment, but not because of her.
'I can't believe I actually did that. Just to compare her with Kikyo. Why can't I get over that stupid girl? Who went over to the side of evil?'
Deciding to waste no more time, Inuyasha, in a repeat of what had happened before, grabbed Kagome's wrist and proceeded to open the door to her shrine. "Get ready, and remember. They can't see or hear us, unless you decide to talk directly to one of them. In which case, I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
"And why is that? I can do it if I want to! You can't stop me!"
"You're right, I can't. Well, I can, but I won't. It'll only do emotional damage to you, anyway. This is your Present, I'll show you your Past later. The reason for my warning is this." He pointed before the two of them, eyes following his taut finger, Kagome surveyed the scene.
There was her family, sitting around a table. The whole thing was pleasantly surreal, and Kagome felt the urge to step in and talk to them. She frowned slightly when she saw an empty chair. All of her family looked joyous, though. Was that the reason? She had to admit that seeing her family digging into a perfectly scrumptious meal; dumplings, miso and pork ramen, oden, all home-made—in the midst of her absence, was slightly unnerving. Kagome was beginning to see a downside to being permitted to see all of this.
But although she was having a few second thoughts, she was entranced by the comfortable family environment that she hadn't known she'd missed.
She stared at her little brother, Souta, gobbling his food as if he was ravenous. But of course, no one in the Higurashi family had ever even been capable of being more than just a little hungry. Under the watchful eye of Mrs. Higurash—who was now digging into her own food; and her wonderful cooking skills, everyone was eager to eat whenever possible. Kagome's father, Mr. Higurashi, was taking a few bites of his food, he was too into calling up the stairs for someone to focus completely on his delicious food.
But more importantly, or at least to Kagome, was to let all of it sink in. To absorb the warm atmosphere, become a part of it. 'To hell with Inuyasha! I'm going to tell them all about myself being dead, and—wait a second, if this is the present without me, then they should already know I'm dead. And they don't look very desolate, anyway.'
Kagome looked questioningly to Inuyasha for answers. Her eyes silently asking why he had been so adamant about her not talking to them. Then she realized.
"Inuyasha, they would be scarred, even if this is an alternate reality, if they saw a ghost, right?" She was sure that that was the answer. Inuyasha, however, shook his head. He seemed almost amused, and yet he looked at her pityingly. Now she knew why he hadn't cared when she had implied that he was someone to feel badly about, how could he when she was in this situation? "Then what is it?"
"Look back now."
And she did so accordingly, but still she couldn't see anything wrong. Inuyasha intoned from behind, "Who's your dad calling? Is that your dad? Isn't that your entire family?" He sounded a bit exasperated now, and Kagome was ashamed. How had she not realized that something was amiss?
"I-is there someone there to substitute my existence?"
"You... could say that."
Kagome was a bit frightened now, frightened that the person that was taking her place would be dislikeable. How could she not be if she still wasn't at the table?
"Coming, dad!" Someone was answering from somewhere beyond the stairs. Kagome cringed, who could it be? She was angry at herself, why had she not paid attention to the name that was called? Although, now that she thought about it, the voice seemed pretty familiar.
The someone carried on down the stairs and appeared before all of them. She sincerely apologized for being late to the dinner table. Then, she pointed beyond her family, beyond the meal piled high on the table. She pointed at Kagome and Inuyasha; the former flinching.
Inuyasha shook his head, he had known this would happen. Prodding Kagome in the back, he whispered, "I hate your miko potential, I really do."
The shocked girl could do nothing but stare in front of her, towards the pointing girl.
The answer to who Kagome's substitute was had been pretty obvious. She mentally punched her own stomach. 'I just didn't notice because I was too caught up in the past. I could've gotten it at once if I hadn't been acting all delirious. My Present.'
Kagome and the shocked girl, standing before her family, stared at each other. Inuyasha going unnoticed and the Higurashi family looking confused. They still couldn't see them. As Inuyasha had said, each member of the Higurashi family had to be spoken to individually. Otherwise only a handful of them could see them. And Kagome and Inuyasha hadn't even spoken to the girl.
The girl... was Kagome herself.
A/N: I'm really, really pleased! I did this all in one sitting. Yet again, I'm sorry about the time that it took for me to get over my writer's block. The spelling and grammar should be improved for all of my stories. Before I wouldn't even reread my stories, I was too lazy. You guys shouldn't be expecting an update for this too soon. It depends on the amount of reviews I get, which is usually nxet to none. Oh well. For those of you are finally finished with those annoying final exams, have a great summer!