A/N:UPDATED 4/5: Alright apparantly I didn't clarify this enough so I would ask you to read this review before you continue. This IS a Sess/Kag story... it's just going to be taking the scenic route to get there, also this is a very SAD and DEPRESSING story... there's a lot of strife and hardship... but I promise you that there will be a happy ending for our favorite characters... it's just going to take some time to get there. Thank you for taking the time to read this, as always your reviews are most welcome, but please no flames. If you don't like it then don't read it, and please don't ask that I spill the beans on the overall plot, I will get to it when I get to it. Thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything that belongs to Inuyasha & Co.- my brain would never be cool enough to come up with something that great *sigh*-
Prologue
There have always been speculations about what happens when you die; do you simply fall asleep and never wake up, or does some higher power come to collect your soul? I know that Sesshomaru once claimed that there were imps that emerged from the underworld to collect a person’s soul, but was that always the case?
It’s the unknown that people fear most I think, when it comes to death. And if someone had told me that I would come to discover how it really worked; I might have never continued in my quest to rid the world of the Shikon no Tama.
There was so much blood, and pain, and death in the last battle against Naraku. People who shouldn’t have died did; and it was something I couldn’t live with, so once he was dead and the jewel completed, I made my wish. It was pure in its intentions; but at the same time it wasn’t completely untainted, since in the end I would be happy as a result.
I knew there might be a punishment for it; and was ready to face the consequences of my actions, but when it came down to it I realized that I was only fooling myself.
You have done a great thing in ridding the world of Naraku’s evil; and your friends lives will be spared thanks to your wish. They had said. But there is a price you must pay for gaining something from it as well.
As a part of my payment, they claimed my life; but that wasn’t all of it, oh no because that would’ve been a gift in itself. Your punishment will last as long as each of your friends draws breath; and each time one of them dies, you will be there to witness it.
At first I didn’t understand what they meant; but then there was a flash of light, and then I found myself in front of a mirror. I hardly recognized my own reflection at first, for in the span of a heartbeat, all the warmth and love I carried in my eyes was gone, and my features were flat.
For a moment I mistook myself for Kikyou; and if not for my blue eyes, I probably would’ve thought I’d become her. I tried a smile then and the results were heartbreaking, for it held no happiness in it whatsoever, in fact it was almost frightening.
Along with the changing of my features I also underwent a change in wardrobe; the school outfit was gone to be replaced by a voluminous black robe with a deep hood, and in my hand I held a wicked looking scythe.
“What’s going on? I don’t understand.” I had said.
You have become Death Kagome; and as such you will walk the land of mortals, claiming the souls of those whose time has come. You will watch as the mortals attempt to fight to remain in the world of the living and you will feel their pain as your own. And once they draw their last breath, you will take their souls from their bodies and guide them to the afterlife.
Even then it didn’t really sink in; not until I was pulled away to perform the very duty they’d entrusted me with. My first soul was that of an old woman; and she tried so hard to cling to what life she still possessed in her body, and my own soul ached for her.
“I see you Death.” She had said as her eyes landed on me. “Couldn’t you wait just a little bit longer? My grandchild is about to be born and I would like to hold him or her at least once before my time comes.”
I wanted to say okay; to tell her that I would let her live long enough, but with my new position came the whispers. And they told me there was no such thing as putting off the inevitable; no way I could bend to the whims of mortals.
“I am sorry, but your time has come.” I had as said softly as I could; but my voice came out cold and uncaring, and the pain was absent from my features.
“You’re words belie your tone.”
“I suppose they do.” I had said as I held my hand out to her. “Take my hand, everything will be alright.”
She had sighed then and nodded once before lifting her hand to take my own; and the moment her flesh came into contact with my essence, the breath left her body and she died.
Once she was a spirit, I began to lead her towards the portal that would carry her to the afterlife. During the walk we spoke, and I still remember the words she said to me. But those words I hold close to my heart and will not speak of them.
It was the same way with the next death, and the one after, and so on. For three years I led souls from the land of mortals to the realm of the afterlife; and each of those years seemed an eternity of never-ending grief, and before long I had become numb to it. That is, I thought I was numb to it, until it was time to take a soul that I had known personally in life.
Before that moment I never thought anything could hurt worse; but as I traveled across Japan like the whispering wind, drawing ever closer to my newest charge, I came to realize I was wrong.
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