Death Is Only The Beginning

Chapter 9: Old Friends in New Places

“SESSHOUMARU?!”

“Indeed,” he answered as he walked towards her. “I knew there was something familiar about you when I saw you with Kurosaki, but that energy signal couldn’t belong to anyone else.” He circled around her with examining eyes. “You make unnecessary movements when you fight. You’re still careless as you once were. I wonder if a god of death can die…” He mused to himself in that ever calm tone that hadn’t changed over the centuries.

“I wondered the same thing!” And she was about to let it go at that until she thought of something else. “HEY! Wait a minute…how can you even SEE me??”

He tossed her a glance that momentarily said ‘are you kidding?’ but it was soon gone as he spoke, “Foolish human, have you forgotten who you are speaking to? I have the ability to raise the recently deceased…you think I can’t see spirits? Though I must admit that this is the first time I’ve seen a shinigami in person. How did one such as yourself become involved with soul reaping?”

“When I died…and I’m still mad at you for not trying harder to bring me back…I was sent to the next world and they said that I had a power they could use. So I’ve been training and this was my first time back in the living world…and we can see how that went.” She said as she winced at trying to straighten herself only to be stopped by the injuries on her back. She was quiet for a moment, not really wanting to ask her next question in fear of an answer she didn’t want to hear. “Sesshoumaru…if you’re here, does that mean that the others survived??”

He looked at her for a few moments before looking at her faux body and saying, “Get into your body, girl. There is somewhere I wish to take you.”

~*~*~*~

They had walked in silence through the city and Kagome could steadily feel the pain in her back lessening as it healed within the body Kisuke had given her. They finally arrived at a small restaurant in a quiet neighborhood. It looked like the building had the restaurant on the bottom floor and then extended into living quarters on the second and third floors. She was about to ask what they were doing there when Sesshoumaru placed a hand on her back and nudged her through the door.

Once inside she noticed that it was fairly empty due to the late hour and there was only one couple left waiting on their food at a table in the corner. The kitchen was open and one could sit at a counter and watch the food be prepared by the chef, who currently had his back to them. From what she could tell he looked to be taller than her, but shorter than Sesshoumaru. His dark hair was pulled into a low ponytail and he wore a bandana tied around the top of his head to keep his hair out of his face. When she turned a confused gaze up to a calm Sesshoumaru, said demon looked to the chef and called, “Inuyasha.”

The chef visibly tensed at the sound of Sesshoumaru’s voice and turned around to look over his shoulder while his hands continued to move the food with obvious years of practice. “Yeah, what do you want-” but his words faded away when his eyes locked with Kagome’s. They stood there for a moment just looking at each other, neither blinking, until one of his hands relaxed enough to burn himself and a loud curse was heard while he nursed his wound. Snapping back to reality, Inuyasha turned back to the food to take it off the stovetop before he went to explain to his customers with anxious movements and a tense voice that something had come up and he would pack their meal to-go instead and make it on-the-house for the trouble.

He waited until the humans were out the door and it was locked behind them before he walked to stand in front of Kagome and just look down at her face as if he was searching for something. Then, without warning, he quickly pulled her to his chest and held her tightly in place as he turned his face into her hair and said softly, “You little idiot. I can’t believe you did that…what were you thinking??”

She could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he held her, and she couldn’t stop the tears pricking at the edges of her eyes before she buried her face in his chest and cried as she apologized over and over. Neither were aware of the bored look Sesshoumaru gave them before walking past them and heading upstairs. She sniffled a few times before letting out a watery laugh and saying, “I can’t believe you…I could never get you to cook five centuries ago and now you do it for a living! You food better taste awful or I’m gonna be mad.”

He pulled back slightly watched her wipe the tears from her eyes with the heel of her hand like she used to do and smiled down at her. “Well come on,” he sighed, “let’s get upstairs and make sure Sesshoumaru isn’t going through my stuff. He’s turned out to be a nosy bastard, you know it??” He smiled again when he heard her laugh as he led her up the stairs and thought, ‘It’s really her…I don’t know how he did it and I don’t give a damn. She’s back.’

Once they were settled in Inuyasha’s living room and a tense air had settled between the brothers, Kagome asked, “So…you’re not trying to kill each other anymore…but you still don’t like each other?? Not even a little? I mean it’s been over 500 years and-”

“There aren’t as many of us as there used to be,” Inuyasha interrupted before she started rambling. “A while back Sesshoumaru here realized that he couldn’t be as selective about who he kept as an ally so we kinda agreed not to kill each other out of mutual benefit”

“And so…now you’re a cook,” she said as she pointed to Inuyasha. Then she turned her gaze to Sesshoumaru. “What do you do??”

Sesshoumaru was quiet at first before answering, “I teach history to your friend Kurosaki and his group.”

Kagome almost fell out of her chair at hearing that the demon lord who had once made open declarations of his distaste for the human race now taught high school history to their children. ‘Well who could teach history better than someone who lived through it?’ She reasoned after a moment of shock. “And you’ve been here all this time?? Is there anyone else?”

“We move about once a decade,” Inuyasha answered. “We can’t stay much longer than that or people start to ask questions. There are cities all over the world that still have higher spiritual energy levels. We try to stay in those areas so that we don’t stand out so much. And as for the others…Koga and his bunch found a place they like in the States. It’s up in the mountains of the northern part. There aren’t many humans through there. We see Shippo from time to time…” He stopped when he saw her eyes brighten and hated what he was going to have to do next. “But don’t get your hopes up, Kagome. After you died…he wasn’t the same. He only stayed in the village until he was big enough to fight on his own and then just took off one night. He lives up in the mountains now by himself. He’s quiet now…and angry. The last time I saw him was a few years ago when he asked for help in a territory dispute on the mountain.”

Kagome could feel her heart breaking as she heard what had happened to the happy and energetic little boy she had known in the past. “And you don’t have any way to talk to him?? No way to tell him I’m okay?”

Inuyasha shook his head and tried to change the subject. “So what happened to you?? How are you here now? It hasn’t been long enough for you to be reincarnated yet.”

Kagome gave him a warning look as she said, “Were you waiting for me to be reincarnated, Inuyasha?? Because I think we all know how well that worked out last time.”

He instantly blushed and turned his eyes away from her as he mumbled, “No…I was just saying.”

Kagome smiled at his pout as she thought, ‘I think finally found what’s been missing.’ And so she stayed with the brothers well into night as she listened to their stories, mainly Inuyasha’s, and she answered their questions the best that she could. It was about two o’clock in the morning when banging was heard coming from the front door down below in the restaurant.

“‘The hell??” Inuyasha questioned. “I know I put up the ‘closed’ sign and there’s no way anyone around here would be out this late.” But he walked to the first level of his building with Kagome tagging along behind him. The banging continued until Inuyasha flung the door open in frustration and ground out, “What?!?” But his look went straight to confused when he was met with a group of out of breath teenagers.

“Where the hell…is…Kagome?!” The orange-haired boy asked between breaths.

“Why do you wanna know??” Inuyasha asked in return sounding more like his old self than Kagome had heard all night. But he moved out of the way when she pushed him to the side so she could see her new group of friends.

“What are you guys doing here??” She questioned. They looked like they had all just run a marathon.

“What are we doing here?” Ichigo repeated. “What the hell are YOU doing here?! Do you have any idea what time it is??? Orihime said you were only supposed to be gone for a little while and you just disappeared! We looked everywhere until we felt that huge Hollow by the river, but by the time we got there both of you were gone, everything was soaked, and there was blood on the ground!! Then Chad and Ishida came to help and we still couldn’t find you! Ishida was finally able to find and grab onto that spirit thread/ribbon thing and we tracked you down to here!!”

“Kurosaki, stop making a scene. If you’re going to yell do it indoors.” Sesshoumaru said from the bottom of the stairs. “You also have a paper due in the morning. If it’s not on my desk by the time the bell rings I will find the most obscure topic possible and you will write a twenty page paper on it due next week to make up the grade.”

“Mr. Wangetsu?! Kagome…I……this is too much.” Ichigo relented as he finally came inside and sat at one of the tables to rest his forehead against the smooth surface. The rest of the group followed suit as Kagome ushered them inside and Inuyasha shut the door once again. Once he collected his thoughts again, Ichigo turned to Kagome and said, “What happened at the river, why are you here, and how do you know our teacher???”

Kagome chewed the inside of her lip as she thought for a moment on how to answer the questions posed to her. “Well…” She started and then paused. “Like you said, there was a Hollow at the river, but I took care of it. I’ll tell you about that later though. And the reason I’m here and how I know your teacher are kind of the same…this restaurant belongs to your teacher’s half-brother over there,” she said as she pointed to Inuyasha, “and I knew them both when I was still alive.”

“What?! Dammit Kagome, you know you weren’t supposed to talk to people you knew while you were here! If Soul Society finds out we’re both in trouble! I was supposed to watch and make sure this didn’t happen.”

“I don’t think it’ll be a problem though!” She said quickly before he could get too worked up. “They told me that normal humans shouldn’t be aware of the supernatural…and…well, these guys already know about that stuff.” She knew she was about to open up a whole new series of questions, but that was a vaguely as she could answer without coming right out and saying ‘They’re both demons that I traveled with 500 years in the past because I broke an all powerful jewel that almost gave a crazed half-demon the power to obliterate all life.’

Now all four high school students were paying close attention and looking between the two men and the young female shinigami. “And how do they know about all that??” Ichigo asked suspiciously.

Kagome heard a light –smack- and knew that Inuyasha’s hand had just met his face as he said, “Well we’re going to be here forever…I need a drink.” They watched as he made his way behind his counter and brought out a bottle of sake. He looked to the humans sitting at his tables and asked in a forcefully polite voice, “You kids hungry?” When his only answer was their blank stares, he rolled his eyes and went to his walk in freezer to get an assortment of foods to make some snacks so he wouldn’t have to be bothered with it later.

Ichigo brought his focus back on a nervously fidgeting Kagome and asked again, “How do they know about spirits and Hollows??”

“They…” She started as she continued to think. “They umm…well…Sesshoumaru??” She turned to the demon who sat at the counter with a silent plea in her eyes for some help. When she got a bored shrug she began looking around nervously for some kind of distraction. How would they react to her story?? Would they believe her or think she was crazy? What would Soul Society do if they found out?? There were too many questions and variables, but she wasn’t sure what else she could do short of outright lie…but she got the feeling that they wouldn’t buy anything she could come up with on such short notice.

“Oh to hell with it, Kagome.” Inuyasha finally called from the other side of the room. He was tired of the nervous vibes pouring from her. “Just tell em the damn truth. How bad can it really be?? Me and Sesshoumaru are all the proof you’ll need to back up your story.”

“I guess there’s not much else I can do, huh?” She said as she gave him a sad nervous smile. So taking a deep, calming breath she pulled up a chair and started into the story that would eventually lead up to her death. A few minutes into it Inuyasha placed a platter of food on the table and pulled up a chair next to Sesshoumaru. She left out some of the details and the irrelevant side adventures that they had, but it still took a little over an hour to get everything out in the open. When she was finished there was a silence that fell over the room. Ichigo and his friends looked at each other for a few minutes trying to figure out whether or not to believe it.

Ichigo was the first to speak up. “Magic jewels? Demons?? Time-traveling through a dried up well??? That’s something straight out of a kids bedtime story. I’m calling bull-shit.”

“I think what Kurosaki means,” Ishida clarified, “is that with all that we’ve done, this is still a little far-fetched, Kagome.”

Inuyasha let out a frustrated sigh before he stood up and said, “Look…you kids can’t tell ANYONE about this, got it?? C’mon Sesshoumaru, drop the illusion.” And the brothers reached up to pull out the hair bands holding their long hair back. Once they were placed on the counter it was like the dark hair and eyes just melted away. There, standing in the place of their teacher was a tall man with pointed ears, silvery-white hair, piercing golden eyes that seemed to glow, and colorful markings on his face and wrists. And in his brother’s place was someone who had similar amber eyes, white hair, and dog ear perched on top of his head. “Don’t say demons don’t exist unless you know for sure, kid.”

“I was wondering how you two managed to look human.” Kagome smiled once she saw the familiar dog ears that she had adored for so long.

“We had to attach an illusion spell to something and figured a hair band would be the easiest thing to use.” Inuyasha explained as he looked to see the reactions from the other humans. He couldn’t help but smirk at their expressions displaying various stages of shock and disbelief. “That’s right…we’re demons. And there are others out there, but most of us stay hidden or try to blend in. Before you ask…we’re faster, stronger, and much more resilient than humans. We can smell things and hear things that you could only dream of.”

“So you can hear me when I ask Orihime what the assignment was the night before? Is that why you always seem to conveniently give pop quizzes that I didn’t study for?!” Ichigo directed to Sesshoumaru whose only answer was the smallest tug of a smile at his lips. “How is that fair in any way??” He asked nobody in particular.

“What time is it??” Orihime asked with a yawn.

Inuyasha glanced to a clock at the back of the room and said, “About five in the morning.”

“And I expect all of you to be in class on time with your assignments ready to turn in.” Sesshoumaru added as a cumulative groan was heard from his students.

~*~*~*~

Inuyasha hadn’t been happy when he found out that Kagome only had four days left before she had to return to the place she called Soul Society. But deciding to make the best of the time, he closed his restaurant for the rest of the week and spent the afternoons with her. They’d gone to a secluded part of the river a few times with their respective swords and he’d helped her practice and hone the technique of her sword’s unleashed power. After practicing at different hours of the day and just trial and error, they finally had most of the abilities figured out.

It seemed that the sword exhibited the same pull and control over water that the moon did. They figured out that during the day she had to be near a water source for the power to work and at night when the moon was visible the sword would draw moisture and water from the air around it, not requiring a direct water source. He had gotten extremely jealous when she mentioned that her sword had taken on the appearance of a wolf.

She was a little disappointed that it hadn’t shown itself to her since then though. She’d tried talking to it and calling it out directly, but nothing seemed to work. She was excited to get back to her division and show her Captain what she’d learned while in the living world, but it would be bitter-sweet when she left knowing that some of the people she missed desperately were alive in this world and just out of her reach.

Inuyasha had decided to make a special supper her last night with them and it was just going to be Kagome, himself, and Sesshoumaru. Kagome sat at the table as Inuyasha set the places and they waited on Sesshoumaru, but there was one issue that had been weighing on her mind for a while now and even more so now that she was with the brothers again. She smiled briefly still not used to seeing Inuyasha in such a domestic setting as the kitchen, but the smile faded as she readied herself to bring up the topic. “Inuyasha…” She said to get his attention. “There was an…incident while I was in Soul Society.” He continued to work in the kitchen, but she knew she he was listening when the ears on top of his head twitched and swiveled her way slightly. “There was a Hollow attack on the house I was staying in with the kids I told you about. All but one of them were killed and…in all the debris my Captain found a white baboon pelt.” Her attention snapped up from her hands to the kitchen when she heard a dish break and saw Inuyasha standing completely still.

“Are you sure?” He asked softly as he turned to face her. When he saw her nod he almost lost it. “Shit!! How the hell is he still alive?! You wished on the jewel and he disappeared! Kagome…what exactly did you wish for?? I want it word for word.”

She looked up at him as she thought back to that day before she stuttered out, “I…I wished f-for him to be gone from this world…” And that’s when she realized what she had done.

“DAMN IT TO HELL!! Now you said that there are different worlds.” He clarified after trying to reign in his temper. “There’s the living world where we are now…that Soul Society place that you’re going back to…and that other world where those empty souls come from. If he was banished from this world and he’s not in Soul Society then there’s only one place left for him to be.”

“Hueco Mundo…”

“Yeah…now listen Kagome, if he’s still alive and controlling these Hollow things and he obviously knows where you live…I think we know what his target is. You may not have the jewel anymore, but I know I sure as hell had a grudge against Kikyo for sealing me to that tree. You have to get back and tell those shinigami leaders what’s going on. They can get to that world. Maybe they can stop him before he finds a new source of power. You have to find a way to go back tonight. I’ll let Sesshoumaru know what’s going on. He might know of something that can help.” He said as he walked over to a window and opened it. “You need to hurry so get on my back and I’ll take you where you need to go.”

Kagome nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck as strong legs propelled them out the open window. The familiar rush of wind through her hair and his long hair tickling her neck brought back fonder memories until she realized that he needed directions to the Urahara Shop. They traveled over rooftops and down back alleys until they reached the dirt lot and Kagome dragged Inuyasha inside with her. “Urahara!” She called. “Where are you?! This is an emergency! I have to get back to Soul Society right now!!”

“No need to shout.” He said with a yawn as he emerged from one of the back rooms. “Now why do you need to go back—oh my…” He said as he saw Inuyasha and his ears. “Who is this, Kagome?? And WHAT is he??” There was a wonder coming through in his voice. He’d never seen someone like this in the living world and, being the scientist that he was, his curiosity had detoured from the urgency Kagome had entered his store with.

“We don’t have TIME for that, Urahara. I have to get back to Soul Society now and talk with Captain Kyouraku and probably Captain Yamamoto, too.”

“Fine, fine…” He resigned with a disappointed sigh. “You would have to wait a while for me to get in touch with them directly and have a gate opened, or I have something that could do the trick but it won’t put you in the Court. You’ll probably end up somewhere in the Rukongai and have to go back to the Court on your own…”

“The second one is fine. I don’t have the time to wait right now…I’ve already wasted too much time.”

“Alright then, follow me.” He said as he headed to the door in the floor that had been open when she first arrived. All three of them climbed down the ladder and walked across the dirt ground as Kagome and Inuyasha took in the man-made training ground with awe. “Here we are! My very own gate. Tessai should be down here somewhere…let me find him and we’ll get you back Kagome.” After a few minutes, Urahara came back with the large man and they set the gate up to be opened.

As the gate glowed with a bright light, finally ready for the journey, Inuyasha pulled Kagome to him and said, “Hurry and be careful. You never know what Naraku is planning or when or where he’ll attack…and…since I didn’t get to tell you goodbye last time…” He trailed off as he pulled her closer and closed his mouth on top of hers. It took her by surprise at first, and when he released her she felt dizzy. “Now go.” He commanded as he gave her a gentle push.

“You might want to get a running start, Kagome!” Urahara called after her.

~*~*~*~

Kagome entered Soul Society a few moments later, finally realizing what it was that stayed in the tunnel between the worlds and why Urahara had told her to run. She stumbled slightly when she hit the ground in the Rukongai, but quickly regained her balance and took off again at a break neck speed towards the Court of Pure Souls. As she approached she called for them to open the gate so that she wouldn’t have to lose much of her momentum. She was getting tired and her lungs were starting to burn, but she knew if she slowed down or stopped she wouldn’t be able to start running again for a while. She kept her pace as she passed by the white buildings until she reached her division where she began her search for her Captain.

She found him in his usual napping place on the roof of the division building and practically collapsed when she reached him. “Captain…” She panted out. “There’s a problem…the baboon pelt……belonged to someone I used to know…someone evil. I think he might be in…Hueco Mundo plotting……a way to get to me…and possibly the living world as well.”

Shunsui looked at the exhausted girl and could hear the urgency in every word. The normally relaxed Captain sat up and spoke, “And how did someone like that end up in Hueco Mundo?”

“I wished him there without realizing it. I did it before I realized there were other worlds.”

“Kagome, how can you wish someone to another world??” He said with a hint of skepticism in his voice.

“It’s a long story, but we have to find him or do something. When he was alive he would control people and things into doing what he wanted. I think he may be able to do the same with the Hollow there.”

“Well come on then, we’ll go see if Old Man Yama has some time to hear this out.” He said as he picked her up off the roof so that she could rest and catch her breath.

~*~*~*~

Kagome lay in the bed, Aya at her side, and reflected on how the meeting with Captain Yamamoto had gone. Because of the circumstances she’d been forced to reveal her story so that everything made sense and they had all of the facts to work with. But the old Captain had taken everything much better than she could have ever expected. They said that they were aware of the existence of demons as they too died, but usually their spirits were so corrupted they had to be sent to Hell or Hueco Mundo. There were very few demons in Soul Society which was why Kagome probably hadn’t seen them.

But Yamamoto said that he would call a Captain’s meeting and put together a small team to see if they could track the half-demon down. She was told that she could go home and get some rest before returning to her normal school and work schedule the next morning. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn’t sleep now.

For the first time during the busy day Kagome had time to reflect on what had happened just before she’d made the return trip to Soul Society. Inuyasha had kissed her. She reached up to touch her lips for the hundredth time since coming home. She let out a sigh and, deciding that she wasn’t going to get any sleep at the moment, gently got out of bed and made her way to the windowsill in her living room to look up at the moon. ‘I thought Inuyasha was what was missing in my life…’ She thought to herself. ‘But…even now that he’s back, why do I still feel so empty??’

She continued to think and analyze her relationship with the loud yet charming half-demon. She thought about the past and her feelings for him then and how she’d felt around him during her week in the living world. That’s when the answer came to her like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Inuyasha wasn’t what was missing because I don’t love him like that anymore…so what’s still not there??” She questioned into the night air neither expecting nor receiving an answer.