Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ By the Light of a Bloodied Moon ❯ The Life Between Death ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2 - The Life Between Death

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
--Isaac Asimov

What we commonly call death does not destroy the body, it only causes a separation of spirit and body.
--Brigham Young

~*~

When a person dies, according to the Life Span list in the House of Candles, their spirit is sent to the next life. This list is carefully kept track of by gods who work constantly in a department known as the Ten King. However, this list is only a record of those that die of normal deaths. Murders and accidents caused by those in third parties are unknown until they are listed on the Death list and appear in the next life.

Whenever a flux occurs in unknown deaths a different division is often called upon to investigate. This department is known as Enma-Cho. Furthermore, within this section is Enma-Cho's Shoka Division, a division which works within Japan. This division is made up of a small group of people who are in charge of collecting spirits of the dead and delivering them for judgement of their life's deeds. However, since they are often called upon to bring in people who haven't died yet, theses people are unofficially called "Shinigami", gods of death.

These Shinigami are assigned to one of nine sections of Japan and almost always work in pairs. This is a precautionary measure to keep them in line and on track with their duties. It has been commented upon that those who often choose to become Shinigami do so out of selfish desire. The reasoning behind this comment is as a Shinigami, these `gods' are able to travel to the living world. This `privilege' makes the Shinigami the highest-ranking employees of JuChoOh, answering directly to EnmaDaiOh.

~*~

"And Shinigami are among the lowest paid," thought Tsuzuki gloomily as he looked into his now empty billfold before glancing forlornly at his partner. "Neh, Soka-chan. Take me to diner tonight?"

Hisoka Kurosaki, forever fated to be in the body of a sixteen-year-old boy, was Tsuzuki's partner. Tsuzuki could still recall the cold cynical eyes that had first greeted him on their first assignment in Nagasaki three years ago. At that time the young man had taken Tsuzuki to be a vampire which had been killing innocents and after sneaking up on Tsuzuki, had held him at gunpoint in a crowded park. Had the GuShoShin not shown up, the young man might have seriously hurt him.

Then, later that night when one would assume bad feelings would have been forgotten, the young man had continued acting very hostile towards him. The end result was a duel over dinner, which led to Tsuzuki fooling his partner into eating one a treat covered with hot mustard.

Unfortunately this had forced the green-eyed boy to guzzle down the only liquid at the table - a small glass of sake sitting in front of Tsuzuki. Tsuzuki found out quickly that his new partner had absolutely zero tolerance for alcohol as the youth fainted a second later. Fortunately, there had been a silver lining to the incident. For after carrying the teen up to bed he was given a glimpse of a vulnerable boy cheated out of a full life.

Tsuzuki had been moved by the young man that night and had decided the boys cold and outright rude behavior was probably because of his current status. This theory was only strengthened as that fateful case had progressed. Hisoka apparently discovered he was an Empath at a young age and his own family had taken to locking him away and treating him like a demonic creature. When the then thirteen-year-old boy had managed to escape his cellar prison, he had only run across a murder scene. The murder had seen him and chased down, raped, cursed and slowly killed Hisoka through dark arts over a span of three years.

Tsuzuki found himself clenching his fists in anger at the recollection and almost missed Hisoka's body flinching away from his side. Piercing green eyes turned upwards towards him in silent accusation and Tsuzuki sheepishly realized he had forgotten to shield his emotions from his partner. It was so easy to forget that Hisoka's empathy was so strong that he didn't require touch to feel the emotions around him - or even thoughts if they were `loud' enough. Deciding it might be wise to distract Hisoka from any probable scolding for a lack of shields Tsuzuki decided to repeat his question from earlier.

"Treat me to diner! Please Soka-chaaaaan!" he whined, hoping his imploring features would soften the Empath.

"Baka. I suppose I must since you seem to have used all your money," sighed Hisoka, as if the answer was obvious. "You had best hope Tatsumi-san does not find out about your overspending again."

"Sank-you! Soka-chan!" cheered Tsuzuki ignoring his partner's choice of words.

Yes, his partner still seemed rather cold towards him after four years of being partners, but he knew better. While it may have been an honest insult when they first met, Tsuzuki had come to the decision that for Hisoka, the word baka had many different connotations. This time, he was sure, the word baka was a fond `thank you for caring but be more careful' statement. Moments like these made him want to hug the young man and never let him go.

The smaller shinigami suddenly tensed beside him and a telltale blush spread over the his fair skin.

"KWAAAAIII!" Tsuzuki exclaimed feeling a warm fondness sweep over him.

This comment only caused Hisoka to turn an even deeper shade of red and for a moment Tsuzuki though Hisoka was going to beat him over the head like usual. He was pleasantly surprised however, when the young man turned quickly and began to stalk away quickly. Tsuzuki laughed softly to himself, pleased with the new actions and took off after his partner.

~*~

Hisoka found himself cursing his fair skin as he felt his face burn in response to his embarrassment. Tsuzuki once again deliberately broadcasting his emotions. There had been a time when he would have beat the older Shinigami silly for such an act, but during this past year he had found himself less willing to hit the violet eyed man.

He supposed it was probably because he was growing used to it. But another voice that had reared its head recently suggested Hisoka was beginning to reciprocate those feels back to the violet-eyed man. When such confusing thoughts arose Hisoka found himself wishing for a brick wall to smash his head against. He may have been an expert at reading others' emotions, but when it came to his own he simply had no idea of what to do. Further frustrating was knowing it had begun after meeting Tsuzuki. He was not sure exactly when Tsuzuki had gotten past so many of his barriers and was sure the older man took pleasure in getting past them. However, it was not a cruel tearing of barriers that he was used to but an odd gentle breaking down that had caught him off guard so many times.

"Soka-chaaaannn…" crooned the violet-eyed man from behind him, breaking Hisoka's thoughts.

Hisoka felt a bit relieved to escape the thoughts and paused in his steps. He normally would have berated Tsuzuki for the nickname but allowed it to pass for the moment and instead choose to glower slightly at Tsuzuki instead so the man would not get any funny ideas. However, Tsuzuki was unaffected and smiled at him in a way that could only be described as flirtatious.

Just as Hisoka was sure his partner was going to tease him for blushing earlier a dark chill passed over him - followed almost instantly by a burning pain that knocked his knees out from under him. Just as his face was about to smack the concrete of the sidewalk Tsuzuki caught hold of him with a small cry of concern and pulled Hisoka up into his broad chest protectively. Empathy enhanced by touch sent Tsuzuki's strong protective and concerned feeling flooding over the young man and he clutched the older Shinigami's trench coat as he desperately sucked in the less painful feels like a ward against darkness.

Eyes clenched closed in an effort to focus on rebuilding his shields he found himself hoping that when he reopened his eyes the curse marks on his body would not be glowing and that the moon above would still be a peaceful blue rather than a bloody red hue. His shields were repaired quickly and as the pain regressed he once again opened his eyes. Unfortunately, what he saw behind the concerned and half-panicking Shinigami holding him was a blood red moon. And judging from how Tsuzuki's eyes kept straying over his figure, he did not doubt the curse marks on his body were pulsing angrily.

"He's near," he informed Tsuzuki bitterly.

As if to back his words a tremendous flash lit the air a little further up and a scream rent the air. Even as Tsuzuki gently released Hisoka from his protective arms Hisoka strained in vain to see what was going on beyond the thick line of trees ahead.

"Hisoka," inquired Tsuzuki as if wondering if Hisoka would be able to go.

Hisoka looked towards the trees as more lights flashed and nodded slightly to say he was all right. It had been a while since he had seen that man, the one who had cursed him to die and haunted he and his partner since his first death. The last time he had met the man, Tsuzuki had nearly taken his own life. He looked over at his partner in concern, but Tsuzuki's gaze was locked on the trees, an unreadable expression on his face and his mental shields up.

"Let's go," said Hisoka, forcing whatever feelings of concern and fear away for the time being.

Tsuzuki nodded and took off at a run and Hisoka followed, all the while aware of the coming danger and almost wondering who was fighting him. He was unprepared for the answer when he and Tsuzuki finally exited the path and entered the battle scene… or what was left of it.

Small fires littered the ground, trees were charred and uprooted, smoke and the faint smell of singed skin hung in the air and nearby the body of a teenage girl lay sprawled in a pool of her own blood. Finally, in the center of it all, Muraki Kazutaka stood in the center, unscathed and dressed in a clean white suit while at his feet lay lay a young girl an odd clothing bleeding and looking severely battered.

This scene only caused Hisoka to run faster as he desperately hoped to reach them before Muraki could harm the girl further. He clearly understood the rising fear in his partner therefore, when Muraki suddenly kneeled next to girl and spoke to her.

"MURAKI!" came a desperate and angry cry from his partner. "Leave her alone!"

Ice blue eyes glinted with an unholy pleasure as the silver haired man stood calmly and smirked at Tsuzuki. Doubtless the satanic man had known the Shinigami had been near and was now playing up Tsuzuki.

"Ah, Tsuzuki-kun," he purred, as both Shinigami stopped a couple of feet away. "A pleasure to see you again."

Despite the new shields, Hisoka did not miss the spike of anxiety in Tsuzuki's emotions, nor did he miss the half-frightened noise his partner made. Urged by an unknown voice to protect his partner from a dangerous situation, Hisoka pulled out the gun he habitually carried and pulled back the hammer in a threatening manner.

"Back away from that girl you Bas.." he hissed but paused as Muraki turned his cold calculating eyes towards him and smiled maliciously.

"Ah, the brat. Of course you would be with Tsuzuki again," he sneered, and Hisoka flinched as his curse marks pulsed in warning.

Angry, Hisoka prepared to step forward to confront the mad man only to halt as Muraki suddenly hauled the girl to her feet. Brilliant green eyes glazed with unknown pain swept about in an unfocussed manor and Hisoka noticed the arm Muraki had grasped was bleeding severely and hanging oddly in his grip. With a certain feeling of helpless matched by his partner, they were forced to watch Muraki place an arm around the girl's neck in a threatening position and hold her close, smiling smugly at them the entire time.

However, Hisoka was distracted from his personal feelings by a strong eruption of emotions from the girl. A dark sense of foreboding caused Hisoka to move his focus to her and he lowered his shields so he could focus more on her. Meanwhile in his peripheral vision he watched as Tsuzuki stepped forward towards the pair with an ofuda in his hand.

"Let her go Muraki!" demanded Tsuzuki, anger radiating from him and bombarding Hisoka's quickly lowering shields.

Hisoka winced and stepped back slightly as Tsuzuki's being radiated the painful feelings of raging anger and panicked fear and forced himself to bare it even as he fished out his own ofuda from his back pocket in preparation for a protection spell.

"Ah, Tsuzuki-san. You know I can't throw away my dolls so easily," informed Muraki maliciously as he petted the girl's head with a false appearance of fondness. "But don't worry. She cannot compare with you."

Hisoka felt his stomach turn at the reference of being a doll and unbidden images of the night he encountered Muraki entered his mind. That night he had managed to sneak away from the cellar and had been enjoying actually being outside in the fresh summer's night air. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and the gentle sounds of the night light had been as a symphony to his deprived senses. Then all had grown deathly still and instantly hell had broken the peace as the moon seemed to change its colors to a blood red and he saw a man slashing the throat of …

His grotesque memories were broken sharply by a wave of desperation from the girl. Hisoka gasped slightly as the girl's eyes began to glow with a faint green light and he refocused his empathic powers on her to determine what she might be thinking. What he met was totally unexpected. Rather than thoughts or high emotions he was met with a powerful aura much like the Shikigami. He stared at her stunned a moment and then a wave of determination sent another dark realization over him. The girl was going to use whatever her power was on her captor point blank. Almost in slow motion she seemed to regain her strength and then she was wrenching herself free of Muraki's grip.

"Tsuzuki, get back!" he exclaimed breaking out of his awe inspire trance.

He raised his ofuda hoping Tsuzuki would have the sense to do the same and watched in horror as the girl murmured something and raised her left arm towards Muraki. A ball of glowing emerald green energy appeared and began to grow and Hisoka watched as Muraki mimicked her actions with a blue energy of his own.

Hisoka's attention was torn away from the two as he sensed Tsuzuki's growing horror on the fringe of his almost non-existent shields. The man was staring at the two combatants with a lost look in his eyes. Not stopped to think, Hisoka ran forward and wrapped his arms around Tsuzuki just as a blinding light enveloped the area.

Emotions burned through Hisoka's senses as the last of his shields vanished. Pain. Anger. Desperation. Fear. Despair. Resolve. Darkness. Unable to determine or sort whose emotions he was receiving, Hisoka found himself nearly dragging Tsuzuki down to the ground with him as he felt himself being overwhelmed. However, he would not block the emotions. He needed all his strength to maintain the shield protecting them.

When the light finally dissipated most of the louder emotions had faded leaving only the anger and despair. Those, he safely assumed were Tsuzuki's feelings and he gently let go of the man and looked back towards the place he had last seen the girl. She was still there, standing with her head skywards as if in shock and Muraki was no where to be seen.

An almost unearthly smile then blossomed on her face and her head tilted slightly, revealing a solitary tear on her cheek. Her eyes were frighteningly large and were still glowing with a faint light as she seemed to look over at them. Her smile seemed to grow a fraction and Hisoka wondered if he had felt a flash of contentment from the girl.

Then girl suddenly began to fall backwards and Tsuzuki sprang past him with a despairing cry. Hisoka watched as his gentle hearted companion caught her and began to check for a pulse. Hisoka did not need his empathy to know she had passed on and said nothing as Tsuzuki looked up at him with forlorn eyes.

Hisoka walked over to them and placed a hand on his partner's shoulder in a small sign of support. They had been too late. Abruptly the girl's clothing vanished and a different set of cloths reappeared. Then the body seemed to shudder in Tsuzuki's arms and the girl's mouth opened and breathed in loudly. Both Shinigami blinked in surprise and Hisoka looked at the girl in wonder.

"What is she?" he asked, watching as cuts on her body began to heal.

"I don't know," answered Tsuzuki looking up at him in perplexity. "She was dead, but now she's breathing and her body is healing itself as if she were a Shinigami."

A soft warmth passed over them and Hisoka felt his eyes widen in surprise a faint image of a naked girl began to appear laying next to Tsuzuki.

"Impossible! It's her spirit," exclaimed Tsuzuki, his eyes growing wider in shock. "Her body is still alive but her spirit is not in it."

"Perhaps she is in a coma?" inquired Hisoka, blushing as the undressed girl continued to gain color and solidity.

Tsuzuki absently noted his partner's discomfort and thoughtlessly shrugged off his trench coat and handed it to the young man. As Hisoka used the coat to lay over the nude spirit Tsuzuki pondered Hisoka's theory. Faintly Hisoka recalled rumors of a case where a spirit had to be returned after its body had fallen into a coma. At this point there were really only a few people who would know for sure.

"Hisoka, see if you can carry her spirit and I'll take the body. We should show her to Watari and see if he knows what is going on," commanded Tsuzuki obviously coming across the same deduction.

Hisoka nodded and after a moment of awkward movements he had picked up the female spirit. Tsuzuki glanced down at the strange body in his arms and then with a sigh he glanced towards his still blushing partner. A moment later the Shinigami were gone with the girl. What they were not aware of was the gleaming eyes watching them.

~*~

The ranks of the Shinigami are filled with a small group of unique individuals. Each is diverse in background and a strange and unique talent. One such person is Watari Yutaka. Assigned as the Shinigami of the Sixth Block (Chiki) he is the only known Shinigami within the Shoka Division who has medical knowledge. Not only this, but Watari is also known as the division's scientist.

Furthermore due to a lack of activity in his block, Watari often has free time which he uses for experimentation. Normally a scientist experimenting would be little cause for alarm but for Watari's fellow Shinigami, it held one threat; one of them might end up his guinea pig. Stories of the unlucky souls who happened upon one of Watari's `finished' experiments were legendary in the Shoka Division. After all, it was not every day that when you bit into one of the office donuts that you found yourself changed into a four year-old child with the mind of an adult… And Watari did all of this for his one major goal - to discover a formula that would change a male body into a female one.

So it was no surprise to Hisoka and Tsuzuki that when they teleported into Watari's lab/medical room that the blonde haired Shinigami was surrounded by a forest of beakers. A small plump owl who often kept Watari company hooted a welcome to the pair and gently nipped his human companion's ear as if to alert the scientist of having guests. Watari jumped slightly he was startled out of some deep musing and turned to the pair with a bright smile.

"Oh my!" he exclaimed upon seeing the girls in his co-worker's arms. "What happened?"

"Muraki," hissed Hisoka, as if he needed no further explanation.

Indeed, Watari knew he did not need one. He as well as the rest of the Shinigami in the division knew of Muraki and the things he had done. He was certainly not on his happy list. No sir.

"Please lay them in the beds in here," he requested, opening the door to the infirmary and walking in.

The two younger men followed him in and as he went to the shelving unit holding his medical tools he heard the squeaking of the bedsprings as both unconscious girls were laid on the beds. Gathering the tools he needed he turned back to Tsuzuki and Hisoka. If you two would just wait outside, I will go ahead and take a look at the girls and see if there is anything I can do.

"Just girl," said Hisoka quickly.

Watari blinked as he looked at Hisoka in confusion and scratched his head lightly.

"There are two here, Bon. Did one only faint?"

"Actually, one is the body and the other is her spirit," informed Tsuzuki softly. "We got there to late and she used the last of her strength to blast Muraki. We brought her to see if you knew why her body would still be alive and yet her spirit would have separated from her body like this."

Watari wondered for a moment if the violet-eyed man was pulling his leg and simply stared at him a moment. Then he glanced over at Hisoka. When the young man said nothing Watari realized Tsuzuki was not fooling around and looked at the `girl' on the beds. This was going to be a challenge and he loved challenges.

"Bon, could you please go tell the GuShoShin that I will need them to get information regarding spirits and comas," asked Watari, not looking away from the girls. "And Tsuzuki-san…"

He paused considering if he should let the Chief in on this just yet. Just a few hours earlier news had been received that Hajime Terazuma, a Shinigami from the fourth block, had been unfortunate enough to get in the way of a wild punch from Chizuru Akamine from the first block. What was so unfortunate was that Chizuru, being a female, had been all Terazuma needed to transform into the large Shikigami, KaGanKokuShunGei, or Kuro-chan as he preferred to call him for sake of a shorter title. Wakaba, Terazuma's partner, had been sent out immediately to find him and return him to his normal state. However, the chief had yet to receive word as to Wakaba being successful, and thus he was on edge.

"Tsuzuki, perhaps you had best fetch Tatsumi-san," he decided, going for the next best option.

Tsuzuki did not waste any words and headed straight out of the door. For a moment Watari found himself admiring the man for his concern for the stranger brought in. Then again, for Tsuzuki this was a normal act. Never mind mortals were generally not allowed in the Meifu. But it was not for him to judge now. At this time he had a patient to check out.

~*~

When Makoto finally began to regain a sense of awareness, she was met by the pleasant feeling of warmth soaking into her body. Not the warmth of a blanket or a shirt fresh from the drier, but a warmth her memory associated with sitting in sunlight. She smiled slightly at the tickling in her body and slowly blinked her eyes. However when no light greeted her she found herself gasping in fear. She was certain there was sunlight in the room, but her eyes were not taking it in!

"She's awoken!" exclaimed a male voice excitedly, breaking through her rising panic. "Tsuzuki, wake up!"

Makoto frowned slightly and blinked her eyes again even as she heard a loud yawn escaped from someone at the opposite side of the bed. She looked in the direction of the yawner and heard a startled gasp from the person. Now totally unnerved by her sightlessness Makoto shot her hands upward to her eyes.

There were no bandages, just her eyes and she unintentionally gasped as she realized the implications of her situation. She heard a door opening quickly and footsteps neared the bed. She felt a flash of fear at not knowing who she was surrounded by and she sat up suddenly, flinging a light sheet that been covering her off. There was a startled yelp and hands grasped her shoulders.

"Wait," exclaimed the owner of the hands, sounding familiar. "You will hu…"

Makoto did not give the man a chance to finish as her fighting instincts brought her hands up to the captive hands on her shoulders. Grasping the hands firmly, she heaved.

"Tsuzuki!" exclaimed the male voice from earlier even as the man she flung over her cried out in surprise.

To her credit when the sounds of a painful sounding crash came she flinched and she realized that perhaps she had thrown someone she should not have thrown. However, she chose to not dwell on this possibility for the moment and continued to try to stand.

"Please do not move," requested the male voice from earlier, even as Makoto's feet set themselves on the ground. "Tsuzuki-san was merely trying to keep you from hurting yourself. Also, you are not exactly decent and may want to cover yourself again."

Makoto blanked slightly at the revelation and almost hesitantly, she reached her hands up and touched her waste. When she only met up with skin she felt her face flame up and she shrieked slightly in utter embarrassment. Hurriedly, she shot a hand up to her chest to cover what she could and pushed her other back to seek the sheet she had been covered with earlier.

Someone moved behind her and a pair of hands gently wrapped the sheet she had been seeking around her from behind. For a moment Makoto was too speechless with embarrassment to say anything and looked down to where she supposed her feet were dangling. Then with a defeated sigh she looked back over her shoulder to where she supposed her helper still stood.

"Please. Where am I and why did you bring me here?" she inquired softly. "And who are you people and for that matter what did you do with my cloths?" She paused and took a calming breath. "I know you aren't doctors. Though I think I recognize some of your voices from when I was fighting that silver haired freak."

There was a soft sigh and she heard someone approach the bed from a different direction.

"I will try to answer some of your questions," said a young male voice as the squeaking of mattress springs signaled he was now atop the bed next to her. "But you may think some of the things I tell you are strange."

"Believe me, I have seen a lot of strange things. You do not need to worry," informed Makoto as she pulled the blanket around herself a bit tighter. "I bet I have seen things you cannot even dream of."

This entire situation was frustrating her and she felt as if her whole world was shifting and spinning out of control.

"You may be wrong about that," informed the voice of a young man coolly. "You are currently a disembodied spirit which is still taking a solid form. Your actual body is lying across from us in the next bed in a coma as it tries to heal itself from your final attack…"

Makoto felt herself bristle at the statements and opened her mouth to talk debate her `death' only to quiet when a hand was abruptly placed over her mouth.

"Let me finish please," said the young man in a voice the brooked no argument. "When my partner and I came across you in the park you had been fighting Muraki Kazutaka. He tried to hold you hostage against us, only you suddenly used a strange power that not only chased him away but also caused you to technically die. However, instead of staying dead your body started back up and began to heal at an accelerated rate. Then your spirit exited your body despite this and in an effort to find a solution we brought you here to Meifu. We had been hoping to get you back into your body."

"So you are saying you are some kind of grim reaper?" asked Makoto, doubtfully. "And what do you mean you had been hoping?"

"For the first," said a new voice suddenly as shoes cliched across the floor towards the bed. "We prefer the term Shinigami to grim reaper. The title grim reaper is purely an American phrase and not respectable for those in our line of work. To answer your second question with the simplest answer… Your physical body expended most of its life energy. Unable to actually support your spirit, it choose to reject it so it could focus instead upon repairing the body."

Makoto blinked, not sure whether she should believe such a statement. However, she had heard far stranger things from her brief encounters with Setsuna to be too shell shocked by such information.

"From what Watari told me, while your body may be healing at an accelerated rate, it is not regaining its spiritual energy quickly at all," continued the new man in a very business-like manner. "It…"

"It is actually slower than normal," interjected the voice, which had announced her awakening earlier. "It is almost as if something is holding it back from doing so."

TBC

Author's Note: I do not have any idea of how all you other authors manage to spit out chapter after chapter like you do! Hopefully though, this chapter is worth the wait for those who want to read it. I have noticed at the end of some chapters authors tend to add little notes to those kind enough to review their chapters, so I am going to do so too. ^_^ Not that I am trying to be a copycat, or something.

OH! And if I may suggest a wonderful site for those new to Yami no Matsuei. http://theria.net/yaminomatsuei/ holds all sorts of wonderful information not only about the anime, but also about the manga (which is were most of my information will be drawn from). It even has translations to the manga which is really great if you want to know what has happened in the story line! You can also check out: http://www.sakura-crisis.net/ if you want to download some of the translated manga. ^_^!!!