Niara: Hey! Uh, look, I don't update well and sometimes leave things unfinished, so, please bear with me if it takes me a long time to update any of my stories. Thanks!
And please review, but no flames. Those will be used whenever I next go camping.
BTW, the only time traveling is done by the Scouts in their story line. Kagome never traveled through the well. That whole mess will be explained in a different way at a later point.
Summary: When someone dies, all people have to fight to move on with their lives. But when the person who died is someone like Kagome Higurashi or Serena Tsukino, how can three people, so bound up in their friends' deaths, let go of the past and move on with their lives? (RH/I)
Disclaimer: I own nothing, save my vague resemblance of a plot and any OCs that might happen to appear.
That's Life, Folks
Chapter 1: What Follows After Death
Emerald eyes stared out the window of the car as the rain splattered against it, making odd shapes and tiny rivers as the water flowed towards the bottom edge of the window. Three years next week…
In a week, it would be the third anniversary of his beloved mother's death. He glanced at the blurred reflection of his silver haired father and sighed softly. Of all the people that had known his mother, Kagome Higurashi, Inuyasha had taken her passing the hardest. The half-demon hadn't removed the ring that he and Kagome had bought to signify their engagement in the years after her funeral, as if it were a constant, throbbing reminder of the first person to judge and accept him for who he was instead of what.
"Papa?" Shippo asked, turning to look at the hanyou. "Do you think Mama would be proud of us?"
Inuyasha was silent at first, thinking his answer over in his mind. "You've got nothin' for her not to be proud of when you see her in heaven, kit."
Shippo nodded, ducking his head slightly so that his auburn hair hid the sad look in his expressive eyes. He knew what his father had said was true. And he also knew, in his heart he knew, she was ashamed of him.
Ashamed of him for letting Inuyasha fall into this state of self-loathing and self-disgust. This state of self-destruction.
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'Great, rain,' Rei thought as she trudged up the stairs of the temple, the two bags of groceries clutched tightly to her chest as she bent over to protect them from getting wet. 'Why do these things always happen to me?'
/Because you deserve it/ a nagging voice answered her thought, rising from the depths of her mind. /Because you let her die./
Growling softly at herself, Rei set the bags under the cover of the porch of the temple while she hunted for the key, shoving that voice into the pocket of her mind once more. At last she found the key, glad that she might be able to make it inside before she caught a cold. Picking up the groceries, she unlocked the door and entered, removing her wet shoes at the door before making her way to the kitchen. As she put her food in the cabinets, she noticed that her hands were shaking and sighed heavily, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a nightmare.
After setting aside what she was going to use to make her dinner, Rei went into the bathroom and turned on the water, filling the tub as she left to get some dry clothes. The sound of the water was the only other sound to be heard in the large temple as she made her way between the rooms. Her grandfather had finally passed on two years ago and Chad had left at last, returning home to his family, wherever they lived. The others had all gone their separate ways after Serena had died, none of them wanting to be so close to the memories that still haunted Rei, leaving her alone.
Not bothering to close the door, she turned off the water in the now full tub and shimmied out of her wet clothes, pushing the cold, still damp locks of her long ebony hair behind her ear before slipping into the hot water, all the heat in the room suddenly flowing directly towards her. Ducking her head beneath the water, she stayed under the scalding water as long as she could hold her breath before she was forced to surface, water mixing with silent tears as they slid down her pale cheeks.
It was happening again. Every time she tried to drown herself or slit her wrist, something stopped her, some feeling or omen. Or maybe it was her cowardice rearing its head once more, refusing to let her end her life, wash away her guilt with her own blood. Sighing, she leaned back and closed her eyes, absorbing the burning heat from the water.
There she lay for an hour, tears crawling down her beautiful face to splash into the steaming water, counting each second that passed. At last she opened her eyes and stood up, water sliding off of her body with sudden splashes. She stepped out of the tub and onto the rug, ignoring the steam that was rising off of her body and hair. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she completely dry and dressed in dry clothes, her thigh-length hair loose as she went to fix dinner, the silence of her prison echoing in her ears.
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Niara: Thus ends chapter 1. I realize that I'm not really explaining much right now, but all things that are mentioned here shall be explained in the chapters to come. Thanks for listening to my rattling. Please review! It keeps starving authors healthy!