Chapter Text
MARCH 7 | 7:48PM | MUSUTAFU, JAPAN
HUMANS WERE SUCH FICKLE THINGS even after death. It is what makes them hard to let go off, and what makes it difficult to let go, themselves.
See, the process of death is a mystery to the living. Death itself is not what they fear, but the reality that they do not know what will happen next, and what they will leave. It’s the state that occurs right after losing human consciousness that causes fear to strike their hearts. The things, places, and people that they had formed attachments to all disappear in the blink of an eye, or rather, the moment they close their eyes.
Their attachments and uncertainty are what makes them such fickle things.
Himura Kagome knows of death. It has always been close to her like a distant friend, after all. One could say that it is a part of her. Though she has not truly known death, she sees it everyday, and she sees it to a much greater extent than most. That is what makes her so familiar with it. It’s a word, it’s a concept, and it is a reality that she has come to accept.
But Uchiha Itachi was an enigma that had suddenly appeared out within the span of her much desired familiar days. He is the red rose that bloomed amidst a bed of snow-colored roses, with minuscule thorns protruding on its stem. It’s unnoticeable, but if you held your hand out to touch it, you’d be sure to bleed, unintentionally .
He seems like a nice man, but Kami, he reeks of death so much that Kagome herself had to recoil due to its strong eminence.
“Good evening, Himura-san.”
There he is. Uchiha Itachi. All dressed up in his clothes that matched the color of his hair and eyes. His long hair is tied lowly and his face is settled to an openly blank expression. He wore a black long-sleeve button up shirt and slacks that were the same shade. Even his shoes up to the watch that is wrapped around his left wrist were the same shade. It was as if he wanted to blend into the shadows around the shady area of Negi’s. The unknown intention behind it unsettles her and only encourages a feeling of nervousness to slowly envelope her.
“Ah, yes. Good evening.”
She wonders how she isn’t stuttering yet. You see, Uchiha Itachi’s appearance and the strong eminence of death are not exactly what causes fear to grow within her whenever she sees him. There is something strange about him. Like an invisible crushing weight of emotions all surrounding him which always consequently affects her. It’s like boulders being thrown over both your shoulders, and surrounds your body in a tight manner.
Like being suffocated by the sudden burst of a dam, causing you to drown.
Kagome pulls out a chair at the very corner of Negi’s. Away from where the cluster of customers sat, and away from her boss.
“You can sit here.” Kagome says, patting the seat she had pulled out before scrambling towards the chair right beside it in the square table.
“Thank you very much.” He utters with a polite smile. He takes a seat a little bit slowly, not making a single noise before turning his head to face her.
Uchiha Itachi. There is something wrong with him.
“Whenever you would like to begin.” He says with a short nod, clasping his hands together with his elbows leaning on the table.
Kagome nods her head shakily, looking out towards the customers to avoid eye contact with him. She hopes that he doesn’t think that she’s being rude.
“H-Have you experienced the death or deaths of loved ones, Uchiha-san?”
He takes a long while to answer as if taken aback by her question. His voice comes out flat. “Yes.”
“You see, my quirk allows me to have some sort of connection with the dead.” She began, turning her head to glance at his face and waiting for something to show—something that would help explain the odd things that she has witnessed around him.
“Yes? Please get to the point, Himura-san .” He states firmly, almost a little tense.
Death appeared to be an off-limits topic with him, but Himura thinks that this fact helps her connect things a bit inside her head. But with the way his eyes suddenly blazed crimson, like sharp knives stabbing into her own, she couldn’t help the way her skin suddenly grew cold. Her hands had simultaneously become clammy as she fumbled with it under the table.
Fuck. Why do I feel like this?
(I shouldn’t have talked to him. I shouldn’t have looked so scared. I shouldn’t have worked at Negi’s. I should’ve left the first time I saw him. I shouldn’t have associated myself with him at all. )
“I-I—” Kagome takes a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, “Sorry. You’re kind of scaring me. Please don’t look at me like that.”
As if brought back to his senses, he shook his head and sighed deeply, leaning back against the rest, “I... I-I apologize. Please continue.”
“I can see the souls of the dead.” Kagome blurts out, “T-The restless, usually. Those who have yet to attain peace in order to fully pass on. They stay in this world; wandering in places that they have grown attached to within the span of their lives. They roam around the land of the living and follow people who they haven’t settled conflicts with yet. And you know w-what makes me so scared of you, Uchiha-san?”
Time seemed to halt when Itachi sat frozen on his chair.
“It’s the fact that around a hundred souls follow you around every single time I see you. Most of them have the symbol of a fan stitched on the back of their clothing. There are children crying and the older ones are so angry that I can feel it. They crowd around you so much that sometimes, I don’t even see you. They’re behind you, beside you, and sometimes, in front of you, screaming about things that I don’t understand.”
Something in his eyes seemed to die. Like a small flame lost underneath a sudden typhoon. Suddenly, his eyes grow more tired and the lines that run uniquely on his face become prominent.
He bit his lips and uttered, barely above a whisper, “I… I see.”
The silence that comes after it is suffocating. His eyes stare down intently at the table with his back leaning in exhaustion against the rest. Gone was the air of elegance and calmness that he had a while ago. He looked so pitiful at the moment with his brows furrowing and his mouth twitched to a small frown that Kagome regrets saying anything even if he had been the one to request for an answer.
(I shouldn’t have explained it so much. Maybe he will fear me like the people in my life did.)
“B-But I think I can help you!” Kagome blurts out and that seemed to startle him out of his drowning thoughts.
“I’d like to help you.” Kagome repeats slowly, “If you’re okay with that.”
He looked to be thinking it over, but a spark had grown once again in his eyes. His lips weren’t twitched down to a frown anymore, rather, they were set to a straight line, almost appearing determined. He then looked at her with a small smile that slightly reached his eyes. His ebony eyes glimmered a spark of hope. She wasn’t sure if it was real because it was gone for the next second.
“Alright, but let us talk about this more first before doing anything.”