Chapter 1

Tea Party With Death

'Huh...? Where am I...?'

I opened my eyes slowly, blinking away my sleepiness. I turned my head from side to side, perhaps to adjust my pillow. I raised my hand my sheets, but then I realized that nothing was there.

I bolted up, alarmed. I looked around and rubbed my eyes, only to find out that I was no longer in my room. No, rather I was stuck in this place.

"Where is this?" I asked myself.

It was as if I was stuck in an eternal void. Around me, colors danced and warm rays of light flickered. But there was nothing else here aside from me. I was the only living creature- no, I was the only creature in that void. There was nothing else.

I looked down at my feet and realized that I had been floating. Instead of finding a bed or a floor, I found myself casually floating above ground. Actually, there was no ground. It was as if this room overlapped all corners and ending. There was no beginning, there was no end.

I looked at my hands, opening and closing them, inspecting it in case something weird had happened to me. Once I looked at my hands, I noticed that I wasn't wearing my duck pajamas. Instead, I was wearing a single black robe over... hold on, I feel a breeze down there...

I blushed in embarrassment before looking down, making sure someone wasn't below me.

A crooked and irritated smile made its way on my face.

"Who the hell is the perv who undressed me and forgot to give me my underwear?!" I cried out loud, my face still red.

"I'm surprised you still act as if nothing had happened."

I stopped caring over the fact I had no underwear after hearing someone speak.

I looked over my shoulder and saw a woman. As if there was a solid floor beneath her, she was in a proper sitting position. Her hair was dark black and her skin pale. She wore a black Japanese kimono decorated with floral print. Her eyes were closed so I wondered what color they were.

As if reading my mind, she slowly opened her eyes. I gasped. It was as if I was looking through a kaleidoscope. Her eyes were beautiful, constantly changing its color from silver, to brown, to red, to blue.

"You have caused a great deal of trouble."

Only when she spoke to me did I snap out of my daze.

"… I swear whatever you accuse me of doing, it was not my fault."

The beautiful lady gave me an unimpressed look.

"At least... not on purpose." I protested, continuing to defend myself.

She covered her mouth with her sleeved hand. Her body was shaking, and I was worried she was having a seizure. But then I realized she was laughing.

I scratched my head and looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Was it something I said?" I wondered out loud.

"You're a weird human.'"the woman said as she finally calmed down.

I gave her a look that says 'you-are-way-weirder', but instead of getting mad, she made a shooing motion with her hand, as if she was swatting away a fly with as little effort as possible.

"But let us be more serious and frank with each other here." the woman said as she composed herself.

"Fine. First of all, do you have any extra underwear with you?" I asked, my face showing no signs of embarrassment. "It's a bit cold down there, and I really don't like it."

Alright, was it just me, or did I just see a huge drop of sweat roll down the side of her head?

"There are no material possessions in this plane.' the lady said. 'In fact, I'm surprised you haven't figured out where you are yet."

I gave her a quizzical look. I closed my eyes and thought; what's the last thing I did?

My eyes snapped open as I heard of a sound of a car colliding with another object. I looked to my left and found that a small space in the void had turned itself something similar to a gigantic movie screen.

In the screen, a teenage girl had just been hit by a huge bus. I tried to look closer and saw someone trying to shake her awake.

My eyes widened. "That's-"

"You."

I looked at the lady. She sigh sadly and waved her hand. The screen brightened a bit, and I was able to make out my face as the teenage girl who had just been hit by the bus. I blanched at how much blood gushed out of a wound from my forehead and how hard my friend was crying.

She waved her hand again and sigh.

"You weren't supposed to die so soon." she said. "You were supposed to avoid that bus and die peacefully after marrying a man and having two children."

I looked at her weirdly. "You sound as if you're god or something."

She laughed. "Dear me, I'm the Death Goddess."

"… come again?"

I stared at her incredulously. Her? A god? And wait, if she's the death goddess, then that must mean-

"Yes. You're dead." she said, smiling.

"Don't say it so casually!" I said. "And don't smile either!"

'"Seeing the souls of the dead, I'm amused that your reaction differs to most." she said. "Most would be begging to come back to life again while others would deny the truth."

"No use denying the truth here in the first place." I said. "I mean, I just saw myself die in that screen. So? What now?"

The goddess waved her hand and instantly a tea set complete with sweet biscuits appeared.

"Tea."

I stared at her.

"Seriously?" I asked her.

She nodded and poured some tea on a cup before handing it to me. I took it in my hands and felt a bit better. It's almost like I haven't felt warmth for a very long time.

"You're stuck in the void between life and death, or the bridge that connects both the living and the dead." the goddess said as she offered me a sugared biscuit. "Only here can you still feel both 'alive' yet feel 'dead'. Do you understand?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Now that you mention it, I feel like my body is empty. It's almost as if my existence is wasting away, like I'm slowly dying painlessly. But..."

I took a sip from the tea, which was surprisingly warm and delicious.

"I still have my senses so... I guess it's pretty weird."

I looked up from my tea cup. "And hey, you said I wasn't supposed to die! So what do I do now?"

The goddess wrapped her fingers around her chin and hummed.

"I could bring you back to life." she said.

I spewed out my tea. "Holy- you can just do that?!"

She nodded. "But since you're already considered dead in your world, I can't bring you back there."

"Uh... can you elaborate please?" I asked, my head spinning slightly.

The goddess smiled.

"There are many different worlds, but me and Life still keep the balance over them. For example; the world you used to live in is World A. Since you died in World A, it's impossible for you to come back there because of the law."

"Law?" I interrupted, curious.

"The dead cannot come back to life." the goddess said, her face growing serious. "No one must bend these rules, that is what my role is for. But here you are, someone who isn't supposed to die, talking with Death. The only thing I can compensate for this is to give you another life in another world."

I scratched my cheek. "Well, what world?"

"Actually, as I said, there are millions of worlds." the goddess said. She looked a bit irritated over this fact. "Your world, World A, created so many dimensions or layers to create another world that it's hard to keep count. Simple things such as fantasy books, mangas, or even plays are already a separate world from World A."

"And you're still in charge of all the deaths that tragically occur in each world?!" I asked, gobsmacked. "Holy cow, that's like equal to the number of stars in this universe!"

The goddess nodded gravely. "Which is why I only have ten more minutes to speak with you." she placed her tea cup on a table and waved her hand again. Both the table and the biscuit half-way in my mouth disappeared and I pouted in disappointment.

"So, what I'm supposed to go through is something similar to reincarnation right?" I asked.

The goddess nodded.

"Ahh, but what world would accept a fully grown teenage human so instantly without getting suspicious?" she said. Then she snapped her eyes to the right and waved her hand.

Insantly, another small screen appeared in the void. A man with dual colored hair was fighting against some sort of demonic creature. His sword gutted its head and blood spewed out, along with some Japanese kanji words.

I noticed that the man had silver colored hair on top and black hair on the bottom. His eyes were piercing red. But what caught my eye was the fact that he was severely injured and that he was wearing a tattered kimono.

"W-woah." I stuttered out.

"He's pretty stubborn." the goddess mused thoughtfully. "He should have died a few seconds ago, and yet he cheated death. Men."

I looked at her weirdly.

"Who is that guy anyways?" I asked.

"He's from a world where ayakashi, or demons as modern people call it, co-exist with humans in the modern era. He is called the grandson of Nurarihyon, the Supreme Commander of ayakashi and the Lord of Pandemonium." The goddess explained. Then her eyes widened in realization before she snapped her fingers.

"Yes! Now I got it!" she said out loud.

I raised my eyebrow. "Got what?"

"A place where I could sent you!"

I looked at the screen where the silver haired man was engaged in a fight against some woman who had tails attacking him and I knew that this was going to be a bad idea.

"Oh no. No no no! You are not sending me there!" I protested.

"Well, if there is any other world you would prefer-"

"How about less violence, more smiles?" I asked meekly as the screen showed a footage of the guy being stabbed in the lower abdomen by a spear. "Ouch- that has got to hurt."

"All worlds have violence. I mean, your world had two World wars." the goddess deadpanned.

I blanched.

"So it's decided!" she clapped her hands.

"Nothing is decided!" I cried out. "Damn it woman, don't decide my fate so easily!"

"I can give you the privilege of your name and appearance, but as for what type of species you'll be, where I place you, and what will happen to you will be my decision. Don't forget I'm still a goddess." when she said the last part, her face was seriously scary that I think it was a good thing I wasn't wearing any underwear.

"Right." I said. I turned to the screen where the red eyed man was this time fighting a man with golden hair and gold eyes. He was naked, but he was really, really fit. Like, ten pack. Woah mama.

"Ria." I said. "I always liked that name, and since I have the chance to choose myself, I'd stick with that."

"I'm planning on making you a Kitsune yokai instead of a regular human." the goddess said. "It would be boring for you to go through another 12 years of school then resume your life like a normal mortal. Way to boring."

I looked at her nervously. "Well, that is the way I want to live my life though..."

"And why a kitsune? That means... uh, a fox demon right?" I asked.

"In that world, you'll be excused as a reincarnating yokai. Maybe not similar to Hagoromo-Gitsune but-"

"Pfft- Hag-O-grandma?"

The goddess rolled her eyes. "Hagoromo Gitsune is a reincarnating yokai who possesses human children and waits for their darkness to reach its peak. Afterward, she'll let the child grow into an adult and rule. Kitsune yokai are also reincarnating yokai, but only Hagoromo Gitsune is capable of possessing and manipulating humans to her will."

"And uh, I won't look like a bastardized version of a fox, right?"

The goddess shook her head. "You might have a tail though, because each time a kitsune reincarnates, a tail appears."

I shrugged. "Ah well, a tail won't be that bad."

"Great! Now, here we go~"

"Wait!" I cried, raising my hands. "Right now?!"

The goddess nodded and snapped her fingers.

"A fox kitsune named Ria who has been reincarnated once from the death of a human! By the way, you're not allowed to tell anyone about my existence or the fact that I exist, okay? Okay!"

"WAIT A MINUTE!"

But the damn goddess didn't listen to me and the next thing I knew, a large black hole appeared below me and sucked me inside, taking me into the darkness.

[A/N:] Hi guys! Don't throw pitch forks at me please for publishing another story. w"

This fanfic will take place after the battle in Kyoto, so don't get your hopes up. Although I will include the final battle (which btw was only seen in the manga [you guys should read the manga])

Review ducklings~