Bleach Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Life ❯ Second Chance ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Bleach or any of the anime/manga characters.

Warnings: Mild Language

Second Chance

 

Kagome stared down at her body in horror.

“Is that… I guess I'm dead, huh?” she asked, looking at a stunned-looking Urahara.

“I really hate the cliché, but I told you so,” Urahara sighed. “But it really shouldn't have been that quick.”

“This is very bad,” Kagome said, touching her body.

She closed her eyes in concentration, trying to push her way back into her corpse. She gave a frustrated growl after several minutes of it not working.

“You can't get back into your body. Sorry. Ichigo, could you-”

“You're not sending me off,” Kagome growled, surprising the assembled.

“Well, you can't exactly stay here forever,” Urahara said, his tone almost apologetic.

“I know that. I don't intend to stay dead… Unfortunately, I can only heal other people effectively. Even with the wound, I could only purify the poison and prevent the wound from growing… I have something too important to do to die.”

At that, Urahara actually seemed to sneer.

“Oh? That's a pretty arrogant thing to say. I just told you. Everyone dies.”

“Yeah, I get that. But I can't die now. I still have something of importance to do, before I can rest peacefully.”

“What do you think is so important?” Urahara asked, genuine curiosity breaking into his tone.

“I'm the guardian of the Shikon no Tama. It's almost complete, but there are still some shards left to find, and then I have to find the other segment. Which involves killing a demon. Which means I can't be dead.”

Urahara's mouth worked, though no sound came out for several seconds.

“The Shikon no Tama? That's impossible. It vanished hundreds of years ago.”

“Yeah, it vanished. Right into my chest. And it was brought out recently. And then, I shattered it.”

“Even the Shinigami know about that jewel. That a modern-day priestess would be its protector… It's hard to believe.”

“Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, I'm too dead right now to prove what I say," Kagome sighed, staring down at her body.

“I'll admit that your mission's pretty important, if what you say is true,” Urahara said, standing up.

Kagome saw very clear hesitation and reluctance in his eyes as he came to some kind of decision.

“There's a way for me to get back in my body, isn't there?” she guessed, surprising him.

“Yeah, there is. It would bring you back to life if you pull it off, but…”

“But what?” she asked anxiously, seeing a strange cast to Ichigo's expression now.

“It could end very badly,” Urahara finally said.

“I'll do it,” she said without even a trace of hesitation.

“It'd probably just be better for you to go to Soul Society. If you do it, you might turn into a monster.”

“A monster?” Kagome asked curiously. “What kind?”

Kagome watched in silence as Ichigo brought his hand up flat to his face. She couldn't for the life of her understand why Orihime's hands turned white where she was gripping them together, or why Ichigo's expression was grim.

And then, Ichigo's hand swiped downward. The power that exploded into the room was incredible. She stared in fascination as a Hollow-like mask formed, covering Ichigo's face.

The mask's design seemed quite simple, compared to the Hollow from before. But Kagome was too focused on the massive power coming from the Shinigami to care. And then, her eyes found Ichigo's, and she was surprised at the colors.

His eyes were narrowed, black oceans with yellow orbs inside. And Kagome could somehow tell he was waiting for her shock or horrified expression.

She surprised them when suddenly, she suddenly started laughing.

“That's what you consider monstrous? I'm sorry, but I've seen things far more scary. You've got lots of power, but I've seen actual demons. I was actually in love with a hanyo once. Now then, Mister Urahara, I don't care what happens. I just need to continue living with my friends.”

Urahara considered this, his expression thoughtful.

“Alright. It's on you. I'll be back soon.”

And then, Urahara vanished from Kagome's gaze.

She turned to find Ichigo glaring at her, and immediately felt bad.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. It's just that… when you said monster, I thought you meant a literal monster.”

“I do. I'm a monster,” he said, staring at the ground.

Kagome couldn't help but see Orihime's obvious want to comfort the Shinigami, and Kagome sighed.

“You're not a monster. Not even close. You're not human, completely, but that doesn't mean anything. The one that killed me… that is a monster,” she growled, still seeing the glowing red eyes.

“So, it was a demon that killed you?” Orihime asked.

“Yeah. I got separated from my group, and… You know what? It's not really important… Since I don't have to worry about dying now, I have to ask. How'd you heal me, anyways?” Kagome asked, changing the topic and praying they didn't push it.

Orihime put her hands together, and Kagome watched in fascination as her hair pins exploded in light. And then, six small, floating people were surrounding her.

Kagome stared at the spirits in wonder as they circled her head.

“These are my powers, Shun Shun Rikka,” Orihime said, smiling as they zipped around Kagome's head.

A small, blonde man floated in front of Kagome's face, a brilliant smile on his face.

“Hi! I'm Shuno!” the man exclaimed brightly.

“Umm… Nice to meet you,” Kagome said with bewilderment on her face.

Suddenly, a girl appeared beside Shuno, her body covered in a large red dress.

“Umm… I'm Ayame,” the girl said, obviously shy.

“We're Orihime's healing powers!” Shuno exclaimed, wrapping an arm around a very bright-faced and embarrassed-looking Ayame.

“Really? Well then, I guess I have you to thank for me lasting so long,” Kagome said, smiling brightly.

Ayame looked down at the ground, nearly in tears.

“S… Sorry we couldn't save you…”

“We didn't know what had happened to you, so we could only close the wound a little. Sorry it wasn't enough,” Shuno added.

“As long as I'm able to come back to life, it's fine,” Kagome said. “And thank you, anyway. It helped me last a little longer.”

“Well, then, have a good day!” Shuno exclaimed brightly.

Suddenly, the spirits exploded in light, and the pins were back in Orihime's hair.

“That's some power,” Kagome remarked.

“Thank you. They've helped me out a lot.”

“So I'm guessing it's not as simple as healing, huh? If it were, you probably wouldn't need to know exactly what happened to heal.”

“That's right,” Orihime said, eyes wide.

“How'd you guess?” Ichigo asked, eyes narrowed dangerously.

Kagome was taken aback by the pure hostility in his expression, and Kagome felt she'd made some kind of mistake.

“I'm a priestess. I can heal. Generally, I've never had to know the exact specifics of an injury to heal it. So, it's obviously different from healing as I understand it. I just went off that realization and took a guess.”

This seemed to placate Ichigo, who then went outside, and for several minutes, Kagome and Orihime talked. The girl's strangeness quickly endeared her to Kagome, and she felt that she'd have a new friend if she managed to return to life.

And then, Urahara suddenly appeared out of thin air, two people in tow. A tall, willowy boy with bright blond hair and a Cheshire smile across his face quickly walked toward her, next to Urahara.

Meanwhile, a short blonde girl stood back, looking like she absolutely didn't want to be there.

“So, what do you think?” Urahara asked the boy.

Kagome blushed against her will at the scrutiny the boy was giving her. He circled her, a critical expression showing on his features.

“What's it matter? She's probably going to fade if she doesn't get to Soul Society. Why the hell are we here?” the girl growled.

“You know, that is a good question. Why exactly are we here? Hiyori's right about her needing to pass on.”

Urahara gave an apologetic smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well, it seems there are extenuating circumstances.”

“Tch. What kind of `circumstances?' Ichigo, do yer damn job and send her ass off,” Hiyori growled, glaring at Kagome.

Kagome met Hiyori's glare evenly, which seemed to anger the small girl.

“You got a problem, bitch!?” she snarled.

“I need to return to life. I don't intend to move on to the afterlife until I've finished my mission.”

“Mission? Don't be so pretentious, you little-”

Before the girl could finish, a massive power surge went through the air, coming from outside.

Suddenly, everyone but Kagome took off. While they ran outside, Kagome tried to move, but found a chain holding her to her body. With a growl, she severed it at a long length and took off for the power…

 

A/N:

There's the newest chapter! Sorry the chapters have been so short so far, but I'm trying to compartmentalize the story so it's broken down for easy reading, instead of massive pages that take forever and a half to load.

As always, I'm always open to critiques as well as compliments!