Bleach Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ New Life ❯ Trials ( Chapter 4 )

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

Warnings: Strong Language

Trials

 

Urahara straightened, his face all business now.

“Alright, I'll explain things quickly. I'm sure you've noticed a strange sluggishness in your movements by now. Maybe it's hard to breathe?”

Kagome looked up from the people gathered behind the shop owner, surprise clear in her face.

“Yes, a little. It got really bad before, with that guy upstairs there.”

Urahara nodded, a small smirk taking form.

“Only a little, huh? I'd thought as much. You must've had a lot of power to begin with. Then again, you're a miko, so it really isn't that surprising. The difficulty with being dead is that ghosts generally don't have enough power to move around and breathe freely.”

“But I'm breathing fine, now,” she said, a model of confusion.

“Yes. You're not an ordinary ghost. The first test is being able to get to that point… I'm still going to put you through it, though, just to see where you're at.”

“Umm… okay.”

Urahara snapped his fingers and the small girl behind him stepped forward, a comical set of boxing gear covering her. She moved automatically to catch the gear Urahara threw her, staring down at it blankly.

“Uh…”

“You're going to need that.”

“For what?”

“The test is simple. You have to knock Ururu here down before she knocks you down.”

Kagome stared at him incredulously, to which he smirked.

“Problem?”

“You could say that. I'm not going to hit a kid!”

“Then it's simple. If you don't knock her down, you'll die,” he said, his entire demeanor becoming deadly serious, a strange sensation coursing through her at the look in his eye.

Without any warning, the girl suddenly launched. Kagome gasped and dove to the side, narrowly dodging the hit. Which put her at the perfect position to which as the rock near where she'd been standing exploded.

“You don't seem like you've fought before,” Urahara said, a speculative gleam to his eyes and his tone comic.

“Usually, purify with bows and arrows. I've only ever fought hand-to-hand a few times, and usually I lost…”

“Then you'd better learn fast.”

Kagome jumped up as the girl began to charge once more.

Thanks to the strength her lower body had gained from all of the group's wanderings, she managed to avoid several of the girls lightning-fast strikes in quick succession. And then, she surprised both of them when she lunged with her own attack.

The hit landed right in the girl's face, and sent her backward several feet. Kagome stared at her hand and the girl's small, bloody nose in horror.

She wasn't expecting the girl to suddenly move with so much speed. Suddenly, she teleported, it seemed, right in front of Kagome, leg already in motion.

Kagome once again surprised herself when her instincts kicked in and she actually blocked the attack. But her footing hadn't been good, so she still found herself barreling through the air, right through a large, thick boulder.

She could somehow sense the girl's rapid approach, and she quickly dove away. Just as she got out, the rock exploded, and Kagome flung her leg upward with every bit of power she could muster on instinct.

She felt the hit connect, and saw the girl flying backward. Groggily, she pushed herself to her feet, a hand to her head and her vision slightly blurry.

Slowly, her vision returned to normal, and with that came the realization that there was clapping to her side.

She looked to find a brilliant smile on Urahara's face as he clapped enthusiastically.

“That was excellent! I had to save Ichigo from Ururu's counterattack.”

“I thought I had to knock her out,” Kagome said, scratching her head in confusion.

“The test is dodging the first attack. Ichigo also managed to hit her, but she probably would've killed him on the second counterattack. I've never seen someone that wasn't a fully-pledged Shinigami do that.”

“So… I passed?”

“You passed… Umm, how long's your Chain of Fate been severed?” he suddenly asked, staring at the length of broken metal.

“Since I broke it.”

Urahara groaned at the answer, taking in its unbelievably short length.

“This isn't good. It's already breaking down.”

“Breaking down? You mean disappearing? It did that when I used my powers on that guy before.”

“Then we need to hurry to the second test immediately,” he said, his tone putting Kagome into a panic.

“Why? What's wrong!?”

“It's already so short… The chain is what keeps a soul anchored to the world. I don't think I told you what exactly a Hollow is before. When a person's Chain of Fate is severed, if a Hollow doesn't eat them quickly, they begin to lose their sanity. And eventually, their chain begins to corrode, and they become a Hollow.”

“You mean… I'm going to turn into a demon?” Kagome asked, staring down at her chain.

“In time. But don't worry. It was all part of the plans anyways.”

“Then why the hell'd you scare me like that!?” she snarled.

“You're scared now?”

“You made it sound like we had no time!”

“Oh… Well, in a short time, you're going to either be alive, or a Hollow. And make no mistakes. If you come out of this a Hollow, we will kill you.”

“Then get on with it,” Kagome growled.

Urahara suddenly made a strange incantation that Kagome couldn't follow, and he brought his hands up. Suddenly, a massive cavern opened.

Before Kagome knew what was going on, magic filled the air, and her arms were bound immobile behind her back. And then, she was flying downward, screaming as the ground grew closer at an impossible rate.

She swung herself and pushed off the wall, slowing herself that the land didn't break anything, though she groaned at the sudden pain and humiliation.

“This is the Shattered Shaft. Your arms are bound, so you'll have to figure out a way out besides climbing. And the only way out's by being a Shinigami.”

“Oh, glad you're so insightful,” Kagome growled, pushing herself to her feet.

“Then you'll love this,” he deadpanned. “Once your chain's completely corroded, you'll be a Hollow. The process would usually take a really long time, but there's a special gas down there that speeds up the process. Even if your chain wasn't cut so short, you'd have a maximum of 72 hours to get out. That's about it…”

Suddenly, a red-headed boy popped up beside Urahara, smirking.

“And if you start to get hungry, just yell up.”

“Umm… okay,” Kagome said, thinking it seemed to be a rather random thing to say after what she'd just heard.

Before she could give it much consideration, though, a sudden pain filled her chest, and she looked down to find that her chain had suddenly sprouted multiple small, bloodthirsty mouths. And one had bits of her shirt in it.

“Okay, no hands? Guess that means I have to use my feet, huh?” she mused.

With a shrug, she took off. She first tried to get up the wall, but her soles slid almost immediately back down the vertical wall.

Just to prove to herself it wasn't a fluke, she tried it a few more times, all ending with the same result.

With a sigh, she relaxed herself. She examined the wall, thinking of ways her friends would get out.

The thought of Miroku and Sango finding some way to break out of the bindings came to mind, but she wasn't supposed to do that. Shippo'd probably just scamper up the wall using his feet, while Kirara would just fly up.

That left what Inuyasha would do. He'd probably wear himself out using all of his stamina and energy trying to break his arms free on the sole purpose that he didn't like being told what to do.

The thought brought a smirk to Kagome's face, but then the crushing realization that they probably thought she was dead hit her. Hard.

She couldn't stop the tears that flowed freely as she thought of Shippo, who would probably be the most effected by it.

And the sudden sadness changed, with unbelievable speed, to anger. She could suddenly see Naraku's mocking eyes, hear his cruel laughter. And she hated it. She hated him.

But, even more so, she hated herself for letting herself be tricked so easily into dying.

And then, she forced the anger into one focal point, and took off. She made contact with the wall, and immediately pushed off. She'd seen Inuyasha's almost graceful movements. She'd watched before as he jumped and flipped from wall to wall when he couldn't use his claws alone to climb something.

Unfortunately, he had always had his arms usable to balance out, which she didn't. Which is why he'd made it to the top, and she fell flat on her back after making it about three jumps up.

“Ow! Fuck that hurts!” she yelped, having fallen on a particularly sharp rock.

And unfortunately, the chain had fallen on top of her as she landed. She quickly rolled to her stomach and rose, biting back a scream at the horrible agony the small fangs brought.

And then, she noticed that when an encroachment of the chain fell off, the mouths vanished and seemed to not come back for several minutes. But there were only four encroachments left. The realization shocked Kagome, making her realize a lot more time than she'd thought had gone by, as there had originally been fifteen.

“How ya doing down there?” Urahara yelled, his silhouette showing at the top of the hole.

“Oh, just peachy,” she growled.

“Glad to hear it.”

Suddenly, pain filled Kagome's chest once again, and she stared in horror as another encroachment fell off, her never having noticed the mouths appearing. Horror filled her as suddenly, all of the last three suddenly grew mouths simultaneously.

“I guess that means it's over. And it's only been 23 hours,” Urahara sighed.

“Screw that.”

Kagome's entire body suddenly pulsed with power, the cavern filling with pink light.

And she took off. She kicked off the walls, using the power to form a semi-solid foothold in the wall. Unfortunately, the power broke at the last second and she landed with a painful thud just as the last encroachment broke. Suddenly, a mass of power and white, choking, cloying goo sprouted from her neck, covering her face.

“Looks like you are like Ichigo,” Urahara's muffled voice said.

Suddenly, everything went black, and Kagome felt that she was someplace else.

She blinked her eyes in surprise at what was before her. A tall woman with transparent, silver goggles stood before her, pink hair blowing in a wind Kagome didn't feel. Somehow, she got the impression that the woman's pearly-white eyes weren't an effect of the glasses, either.

“So… just what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?” the woman growled, surprising Kagome.

“Umm… What?”

“You beat so many demons. Even that filthy bastard Naraku's afraid of you. But you can't beat a demon that's inside of you!? What the hell!? You're just a massive joke, aren't you?”

“What was that?” Kagome snarled, standing up to the woman.

The woman smirked, apparently taking joy in the pink glow that suddenly lit Kagome's eyes.

“Good. That light in your eyes means you're pissed. Use that. Beat this thing that's currently taking over your body!”

“I'm trying, damnit!” Kagome growled, throwing power into her body, which she could somehow feel simultaneously while in this strange world.

“There you go! Get more angry. You've seen how Inuyasha gets. Do that.”

“I'm not-”

“What?” the woman sneered. “You mean you care more about your propriety than staying alive?”

“Of course not. I couldn't get up that damn wall.”

“Hmm… So you couldn't figure out how to go up on your own, huh?”

“Yeah, that's right.”

“Well then, let me help you,” the woman said with a small, edged smile that put Kagome instantly on edge.

“Umm… How?”

“Glad you asked.”

The woman snapped her fingers, and suddenly, Kagome was falling, a scream ripped from her lips.

Suddenly, millions of boxes were falling all around her. She looked incredulously at the woman, who was now floating beside her.

“There are sure a lot of boxes… Can you find yours?”

“Sense mine?”

“Yeah. Only one should belong to you.”

Kagome gulped, understanding the woman's words. She'd never been very good at sensing energies, unless it belonged to the Shikon. But, as her life literally depended on it right then, she focused.

And it took her only seconds before she found it, right at her side. She opened it and stared at the sword hilt that stuck out in confusion.

“I'd advise you pull it out. We're getting close to the ground,” the woman said, bringing Kagome's attention down.

“Shit!”

Her hand wrapped around the hilt and she ripped it from the box. And suddenly found herself holding a blade that was half of her body in length.

“Congratulations. You're now a Shinigami,” the woman said, smiling.

Kagome looked down at the realization that she was no longer falling, and found herself back on top of a building.

“Who are you?” Kagome asked, staring at the woman.

“Me? My name's Kumori Suishou. I'd advise you remember it. Bye now,” she said, a bright smile on her face.

And then, the world around Kagome faded…

 

A/N:

Kumori- Shadow

Suishou- Crystal

Well, there it is! Kagome's transition into a Shinigami. Be sure to tell me your thoughts!