…reeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
*KA-BLOOIE!!*
A fireball erupted in the center of the shrine, billowing up in an enormous fireball that matched the intensity of the fireball coming in. Then again, the fireball coming in to cause this secondary fireball came in at a screaming four hundred miles an hour. And thus with this dramatic show, the zero-G toilet from space station Mir returned to Earth.
Needless to say, Higurashi Kagome never knew what hit her.
Said girl blinked and blinked again in the glare, as she found herself looking at the explosion billow up before her, just a few yards away. "What in the world just happened?" she asked, quite puzzled. She looked around to take stock. "Wait," Kagome said, realizing something. "How did I end up over here?!"
"KAGOME-CHAN!!!"
Kagome's ears perked. "Mama!" she said, turning around.
"Kagome-cha~~~n!" screamed Kagome's mother (whom I call Mei because it's a nice name and as good as any) as she came rushing out of the house built on the shrine.
"NEE-CHANN!!" squealed Souta, following.
"Kagome!" croaked Grandfather Higurashi as he hobbled out of the house after the two.
"KAGOME-CHAN!!!" wept Mei as she ran towards Kagome, tears streaming down face.
"I'm okay, Mama!" Kagome assured her weeping mother, running toward her with arms outstretched to hug the scared parent. "Please don't cry! I'm—"
*FWOOSH!!*
"GYEEEEK!" screeched Kagome, as she billowed right through Higurashi Mei, as insubstantial as the morning mist. She reconstituded almost immediately, but it was still a disturbing experience, disturbing enough to stop her dead in her tracks.
(The Author apologizes for the horrid pun.)
"Oneechan!" "Kagome!" came the shouts of Souta and Grandfather Higurashi as they approached.
"Sou—" *FWOOSH!* "GAH!" *FWOOSH!* "GEH!" Kagome yelped in protest for each time her integrity was disturbed by the passage of both family members. She staggered, regaining her balance, then turned to find the whole family rushing toward the substantial hole in the ground being revealed by the dissipating smoke and dust. "What in bloody hell…?!!"
Mei collapsed to the ground, clawing at the dirt, crying out Kaogme's name woefully. "MY BABY! MY BABY!" she also wailed in addition to screaming out her daughter's name. Souta, being the big, strong boy in the family, clutched to Mei's side, whispering that everything was going to be okay. Grandpa Higurashi could only creak along, as his old bones were getting dry and flaky.
"SHE'S DEAD! MY BABY'S DEAD!" wailed Mei.
"Hold on, Mama! Maybe it isn't Kagome! Maybe it was someone else!" consoled Souta.
*PLOP*
A hand gripping a bookbag handle fell to the ground. The bookbag had the name 'K. Higurashi' on it. (She was taking English this semester and thought it would be cute.) The hand looked somewhat familiar too.
"Ewwww…" Kagome remarked, staring at her own dismembered hand.
"I think that confirms it, tho'…" sighed Souta.
"WAAHHHHH!!!!" bawled Mei, tears streaming from both eyes.
"What's going on here?!" Kagome's mind was in chaos. After saying goodbye to Hojo-kun, the last thing she knew before the big boom, she heard something coming at a fairly fast clip from behind. She had just barely turned when the explosion happened, and she didn't even really see anything. Then she found herself twenty or so feet from an enormous fireball erupting before her.
Then she became invisible and insubstantial to everyone. No one saw her, no one heard her, no one felt her. It was almost as if she was… was…
"You're dead, I'm afraid," said a voice behind her.
Kagome shrieked, and turned around. There she saw a young man dressed in a Soga Jr. High School boys' uniform. "Who are you, and why are you wearing a Soga Jr. High School boys' uniform?"
"Because I figured this situation is weird enough for you without me wearing a Soga Jr. High School girls' uniform," the young man stated flippantly.
Kagome got the revolting vision of this handsome young man in a Soga girls' uniform and felt a distressing chill. "I did not need that image in my head!" she said, her voice unsteady.
"Sorry," shrugged the man in black. "It's the rather droll sense of humor I have whenever I'm on the job. I really should remember that it's traumatic enough being dead without the jokes."
Kagome blinked once more. "Do I know you?" she asked. The dead girl wracked her mind (since her brains were now vapor) for whether she knew this person.
"Sort of. You knew me as Hojo Daisuke," the strange man said. "Although my real name is Miyomoto Gunchou. No relation," he added.
"What are you?" came Kagome's next question. "Why do you look so different now?" There was the third.
"First question first, Peanut. I'm a Grim Reaper."
"Grim Reaper?" Kagome asked.
"I collect souls. Souls of people who have died. Like you," Hojo/Gunchou said informatively.
Denial.
"Dead?" asked Kagome. "I'm not dead! I can't be dead! I had so much to do!"
Anger.
"YOU JERKS!! How dare you snuff out a young woman's life in her prime!"
Bargaining.
"Please! Please!" begged Kagome. "I'll do better at math! I'll plug up the Bone-Eater's Well! I'll cut out all distraction! Take my math teacher instead!"
Acceptance.
Kagome collapsed to her ephemeral knees, emotionally exhausted. "So this is it, huh? Then end? Alright… what do I do next? Do I go to Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, or what?"
Hojo smiled. He smiled in a way that wasn't at all pleasing. "None of the above. You, Pumpkin, are drafted," he said, the smile now sharklike.
"Drafted?"
"See, normally, you dead types normally go off to your final destination," he explained. "Unfortunately, in your case, there is a complication. It's this little matter of going back in time. Big no-no on the cosmic score sheet. It's pretty serious, and more than offsets your good points." He shrugged. "Besides which, I just happen to have this unexpected opening, and you're the first person to die and fill her shoes."
Kagome blinked. Then blinked again. Then she let out a primal scream of frustration.
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(Posted Sat, 08 Jan 2005 10:06)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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