Death Is Only The Beginning

Death Is Only the Beginning

Chapter 1: A Warm Feeling

It was happening. The final battle between the shard hunters and Naraku, between Good and Evil, was unfolding before her eyes. They had been fighting for a few hours now and both sides were beginning to tire.

Naraku had come to the battlefield with an almost complete and tainted jewel hanging from his neck. There was only a small chunk missing; the same chunk that Kagome had been squeezing in her small fist. Then the unthinkable happened as the tiniest of holes opened in the shard hunters defenses. A grotesque tentacle, dark in color with poisons, rapidly snaked forward and lodged itself in the shoulder of the young priestess they had meant to protect. A sharp pull and Kagome was hanging in the air, brought face to face with the one creature that had united so many through individual tragedies and betrayals. “Hello Kagome,” he greeted with cold eyes and a sadistic smirk. “Don’t you think the jewel is so much more beautiful when it’s black?? Why not give me that last piece you have in your hand there so that this whole, bloody mess can be done with?”

Kagome could feel her head reeling from the pain of her wound and the poison that was being pushed into her system. She looked through hazy eyes at the glittering darkness that was hanging around a masculine neck. ‘One chance…’ she thought to herself. Lifting her hand that held the final piece of the jewel rested in, she gripped the larger piece and fused them together. She could hear the shouts of her friends behind her, asking what she thought she was doing, but she felt that this was the right decision.

Naraku laughed as he felt the power of the complete jewel pulse across the battlefield. “Do you see this, Inuyasha?! The woman you love has completed the jewel for me before her death ensuring that the rest of you will follow her to the afterlife! All of this power that you feel is mine-” but his words died as he felt the power balance shift from something dark and malicious to pure and calming. He looked down with horror etched onto every inch of his handsome face just in time to hear the small woman in front of him mumble,

“I wish for the evil that is Naraku to disappear from this world forever.”

“NO!!” He screamed as the jewel glowed brightly. “You will pay for this, woman!” He said as his voice began to sound more like an echo. And in his final moments of existence he pierced her stomach through with another poison filled tentacle. As the evil half-demon disappeared, Kagome dropped to the ground with a solid thud and remained unmoving.

‘I feel warm…and tingly.’ She thought as she opened her eyes. She slowly sat up and looked around as she saw her friends and allies running towards her. “I think I’m okay guys…” she said in a hollow voice. She was shocked when her companions rushed past her and turned to look at where they’d gone. Her body lay a few feet behind her and she looked down to notice the chain attached to her chest. “What??”

Inuyasha made it to Kagome’s side first and noticed that all breathing had stopped and the areas around her wounds were black with the poison now running through her veins. “Kagome, hold on…don’t die Kagome!”

“Am I dead…?” She asked nobody in particular. Then she heard the clanking of chains and saw the imps of Hell trying to sever the link to her body. “Stop it!” She yelled as she tried to shoo them away only for them to lash out at her with their tiny claws, forcing her back.

Inuyasha looked up to his brother who had been in attendance for the showdown and yelled, “Do something, Sesshoumaru!! You’re the only one who can save her.”

The quiet demon lord stepped forward and spoke in his even baritone, “Move, half-breed, if you wish for the girl to live.” He then pulled Tenseiga from its place at his side and raised it above his head to land a resurrecting blow to the body before him.

“Hurry up, Sesshoumaru!” Kagome watched nervously as the imps continued their work on her chain. “This is going to be too close!” She closed her eyes tight to wait out the tense moment in darkness. She could hear the rush of air around Sesshoumaru’s blade as it traveled through the air and the rattling of her chain, but she wasn’t sure which she had heard first. Tentatively opening her eyes she looked down to see that she was still out of her body and that the chain that once connected her to a more solid form hung limply from her chest.

The group waited anxiously after Sesshoumaru’s strike for the young priestess to start breathing and moving again…but it never happened. “Do it again, Sesshoumaru!” Inuyasha yelled.

“If it did not work the first time, then it will not work the second time. She is gone, brother. The only thing left to do is pay your respects and inform her family.” And with that said he sheathed his sword and turned from gore that littered the field they stood in.

The rest of the group remain silently by their friend as they said their prayers and let the reality of the situation settle over them. The one that had brought them all together had been taken and none were really sure where to go from here. “Inuyasha…” Sango spoke quietly, “you need to let Kagome’s family know what happened. If the well will even let you through anymore, you should take her home…” They all knew that things would never be the same without her cheerful smiles and peculiar way of speaking, but it was her family’s right to perform the burial rites. This wasn’t going to be easy to tell Shippo who had stayed in the village with Kaede. It wasn’t easy for any of them, but the silver haired man kneeling on the ground needed support right now. For the second time Naraku had taken the woman that he loved, but this time he would have to carry the body home to a family that had relied on him to protect their daughter.

“Not like this.” Inuyasha said in a tone that was just above a whisper. “I won’t take her home looking like this.” Now the monk and slayer really took in the appearance that they had been trying to block out. With two large holes in her body that had pretty much stopped bleeding at this point, Kagome lay on the ground covered in a mixture of dirt and blood, smudging her face and matting her hair. Her clothes were torn and tattered and in bad need of a wash.

It was now Miroku who let his voice be heard. “Inuyasha is right. This is no way for a family to have to remember their child. Let’s take her to the village. Kaede will help us wrap her wounds and remove the grime from her skin and hair. I’m sure we can find a kimono to dress her in. You should be the one to carry her, Inuyasha. Let’s hurry.”

With that, Inuyasha picked up the girl from the future and they made their way back to an awaiting village. Unbeknownst to the small group, there was a restless spirit following them the entire way.

“Are you kidding me?!” Kagome screamed. “You’re going to gift-wrap me for my family?!? NO!” She continued to yell as she stomped her foot on the ground. “Inuyasha! You have to go after Sesshoumaru. Make him try harder! I’m sure he knows some kind of demon spell or magic or something to raise the dead! I could deal with being a zombie…really, I would be fine with that. I don’t want to die!!”

But her words fell on deaf ears. She was almost positive that Miroku could at least feel her presence even if he didn’t say anything. She followed them back to the village and as she watched them prepare her body and mourn her death she was going through some steps of her own…the Five Stages of Grief to be exact…even if it was postmortem.

She followed her friends into the hut while mumbling to herself, “this isn’t really happening. Other people die, but after they live long lives…I’m only seventeen so this all has to be some sort of bad dream. That’s it…it’s a dream and I’m going to wake up any minute!” Denial: check.

Kaede and Miroku started to clean her hair and skin as best they could. “This is total bull!! Naraku you big jerk! Why me?! Why did you kill me??? I hate you! This isn’t fair!!” Anger: check.

They set about wrapping her wounds next, all the while Kagome watching. “Come on…if I’m a ghost then there must be some kind of heaven and some kind of God up there. Just give me one more chance, huh?? I know I’ve done some stupid things, but I put the jewel back together and got rid of it…doesn’t that earn me some kind of ‘get out of jail free’ card or something?? I just wanna have a family of my own and then I’ll go nice and quietly in my sleep or something, no complaining. How’s that sound?? God????” Bargaining: check.

After some time, Sango managed to find a kimono for Kagome to wear home. “Oh come on guys…what’s the point? Why make me all pretty when I’m either going to be burned or go rot in the ground? I give up…I don’t want to come back anymore. My body’s probably all cold and stiff by now anyway…” Depression: check.

Finally the hodge-podge group made their way to the well with Inuyasha so that they could pay their final respects and see her off. Again, Kagome was with them the entire way. “Well, I’m dead. I’m a ghost. I can’t do anything about it now, right? So I might as well make the best of things. I’ll go back to my time and watch over my family. I might even haunt some of the bullies from school! This won’t be so bad. I just hope the well still let’s me go across with my body…” Acceptance: check.

Timing her jump with Inuyasha’s, Kagome’s spirit fell through time to find that she was back in the well house. “I don’t want to see Mama’s reaction. I’ll take my first walk around the city as a ghost and then come back to see Mama, Souta, and Gramps.” Kagome left the well house with Inuyasha but went in the opposite direction toward the stairs that would lead down to the city. She was almost to the bottom when she heard a heartbreaking cry echo from the shrine. “Mama…” She was about to turn around and go back when she felt an suffocating presence that could only be described as malicious.

Kagome turned around to come face to…mask with a large creature that resembled an ape with its black body and a mask with a deceptive smile covering its face. “A little lost soul…” it stated with a deep inhaling breath. “And you smell delicious!”

Kagome began to run down the rest of the steps just as the creature lunged at her. Her feet never stopped moving once she hit the sidewalk. ‘I thought I was through with all of this!’ She thought as she continued to run. The beast was behind her and didn’t appear to want to give up anytime soon. She finally made it to a local park and immediately ran to some bushes to hide. The thing that was chasing her came into the clearing and began smelling the air. ‘Please don’t find me…I don’t want to die again. Can ghosts even die??’ She mused to herself.

She was just beginning to think that it would leave her alone when it turned its white face toward the bushes she was hiding in. Her entire body went numb when it began to stalk over to her and she almost fainted when it towered over her and said, “I found you!”

Kagome closed her eyes and screamed as it reached out to grab her, but its touch never came. She looked up slowly to see its body dissolving and a black butterfly flutter away from the remains. “Wow…” She whispered in awe. Suddenly a hand appeared in her line of vision and she followed the hand up a wrist and arm that was littered with black tattoos. Finally she arrived at a handsome face. The man wore a white headband across his forehead but Kagome could still see more tattoos peeking from the top and traveling up into the hairline of his crimson red hair.

“Hey, you alright?” He asked.

Blinking a few times, Kagome took the offered hand and stood as he gave her arm a tug. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you. I wasn’t exactly to be chased by something like that after I died. What was that?? And who are you??”

“That was a Hollow,” Renji answered. “And I’m Lieutenant Abarai Renji. I’m a shinigami…death god…soul reaper…whatever you wanna call us. You’re lucky I was nearby or else you’d probably be a Hollow too by now.”

“Well thank you, Renji…but I have to go home now-” she said as she began walking away.

“Oh no you don’t, you’re going to Soul Society.”

“Where?” Kagome asked as turned around only to be met with the hilt of his sword. “Hey!” She yelled at him with a glare. But before she could really tell him off, Kagome noticed that her feet were being engulfed in a bright blue light as she sank into the ground.

~*~*~*~

AN: I know, I know…I don’t think it’s quite up to par with my other stories either, but it’s going to get better! I may even come back and revise this chapter some later on. I’ve recently gotten into IY/Bleach crossovers and this is my attempt at one…