Konichiwa. Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am especially thankful for my
pre-reader who had always reread my work and made all those corrections and
those great suggestions. Well, here's chapter 4.
We finally get to see what cross-over this is.
Disclaimer: All usual disclaimers apply.
Family
Chapter 4: Death
He felt himself floating peacefully. Duo opened his eyes
to see that his whole world turned up-side down, literally. He's
floating in mid-air. "Wahhh! What happened?" He looked down to
see pieces of machinery, some of which resembled his gundam,
scattered all over the place...and finally his body. "What?!?!
I'm DEAD!?"
Pieces of memory flashed back into his head. He was on a
mission with Heero. It was a trap. They had a new secret weapon
that resembled a cannon of some sort. The enemy fired at Heero.
He pushed Heero away and got hit...and the rest is pitch black.
"Woah, I *AM* dead!"
"Oh, so you figured it out, have you?" said a cheerful
voice behind him.
Duo spun around and did a double-take at what he saw.
There was a girl that looked not much older that he was. She had
long, blue hair tied up in a ponytail and large, pink eyes.
Nothing special about that...except that she was floating on an
oar, in mid-air!
"Dare?" Duo asked a bit cautiously.
"My name is Botan," the girl answered happily, yet politely,
"and I'm here to lead you back home. You are Duo Maxwell, the
one who calls himself Shinigami, ne?"
"Ha..Hai"
"Then you're the one. Come on, Koenma-sama's waiting for
you, and he's a busy man. Just grab on to my oar and off we go."
"Who's Koenmaaaa!" His voice could be heard fading away as
they blasted off.
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Moments later, they arrived at the gates of the Hall of
Judgement. They were huge, very intimidating doors, actually.
On the other side of those doors was another story. There were
probably hundreds of oni running around running the busy
Reikai office.
Botan continued walking, not noticing the massive activity
around her while all Duo could do was stare.
"Botan-san, you're back."
Duo looked at a young woman in front of them. She was a
short young lady who looked no older than he was.
"Konichi-wa, Yukina-chan. How was your day?" inquired Botan.
Yukina had been working in the Reikai office ever since
Kuwabara died.
Koenma needed more ferry-girls anyway, so she was hired. As for
Kuwabara, he was also working in Reikai. Since he was once a
Reikai tentai with Yuusuke, they are working to train up new
recruits. Yuusuke was also here to help because he wanted to be
closer to Keiko. Keiko had died when she was 87. Koenma had
allowed her to appear younger, about 20, so she could also work
as a ferry-girl. (Hey, who would want an old hag picking them up
to their after-life. Just imagine Fushugi Yuugi's Taiitsukun as
a ferry-girl. It's not a pretty sight.)
"Busy, as usual," responded Yukina, "due to this war,
there's many more souls to be guided back to Reikai." She
stopped to look Duo over. "So he's Duo. They're right. He
lookes nothing like his parents."
Duo began to take interest in the girls. They knew his
parents? Before he could ask, Yukina turned to leave. "I've got
alot more work to do. Nice meeting you Duo. I'll see you a
while later, ok?"
Duo watched the retreating girl. "Come on Duo," urged
Botan, "Koenma is not a patient man."
Botan led them to another set of massive doors. Inside,
there sat a young man that looked about Duo's age, stamping
papers.
"Koenma-sama, I've brought Duo here to see you." said Botan
and she walked out of the room.
The young man looked up. That's when Duo noticed the
pacifier in his mouth and the letters 'Jr." on his forehead.
Koenma had also looked Duo over. He took out his pacifier out of
his mouth before saying, "Duo, do you know why you are here in
front of me instead of my father?"
Duo began to look a bit nervous. "Iie. If it's because I
used your name..."
Koenma just snorted, waved his hand in the air, and
replied, "Forget about that. The name fitted you more than it
ever fitted me." Duo let out the breath he had been holding.
Koenma continued,"You are here so you could have another chance
in life."
"Huh? Why are you doing this?"
Koenma sighed and rubbed his temples as if he had a massive
headache. "Because you are not supposed to die yet. Heero could
have survived that blast, not you. Another reason is because of
your parents."
Duo perked up. All of his nervousness gone and was
replaced by curiosity. "My parents? You know my parents?"
"Yes. In matter of fact, they're my friends and have done
many great survices for me. I'm only doing one in return. I've
already sent two ferry-girls with a stretcher to bring your body
here, where you shall be resurrected. Then you shall leave with
them." Then the phone started ringing. Koenma picked up,
listened to the message, and hung up. "They have arrived."
The two massive doors behind Duo opened once more. Duo
turned slowly and saw two figures walking towards them. Duo
stared nervously and said in a shaky whisper, "Mother? Father?"
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Question of the day: Can you guess who the parents are?