Takemichi Angst Prompts

9) I'm Better Off Dead

Inspired by Episode 1 of Yu Yu Hakusho

(I don't think this is too much of a spoiler since it literally happens in the first episode.  BTW highly recommend. The English dub is great if you're interested)

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“Did I seriously just die?” Takemichi asked himself.  He was floating about.  Watching over a chaotic scene down below.  There was an ambulance, carrying his dead body in a stretcher.

Takemichi scratched the back of his head sheepishly as if he only made a teeny tiny mistake.

He heard someone click their tongue behind him.  He turned around to see a blue haired lady in a kimono flying on a broom.  “Are you a witch?”

“What? No.” She shook her head.  “I’m a grim reaper.”

Takemichi raised a brow.  “I thought grim reapers look like skeletons with a black hood and a scythe.”

“That’s only in movies.” The girl scoffed.  

“So,” he said.  “Are you gonna take me to hell now or…?”

The woman shook her head in amusement.  "You're not going to hell, silly.  I'm here to give you a second chance at life."

“Huh? Why? I don't suppose you do this to everyone that died?"

"You're right," she said, nonchalantly.  "We don't."

"What makes me so special?"

She pulled out a notebook from her pocket.  "You weren't supposed to die." She said as she flipped through the pages. "It says here, the kid you saved, was going to live."

"What?!" Takemichi exclaimed. "He was gonna get run over by a car!"

"And the car would veer to the left, leaving the kid with a scratch."

"Huh?" Takemichi was confused. 

"So, saving him was all for nothing." The grim reaper said as she closed the notebook. 

Takemichi could only sigh in defeat. All for nothing huh? He's heard that his entire life. 

"Can I see the kid if he's okay first?" Takemichi asked her instead. 

The grim reaper lady led him to a hospital. They were still flying in the air, observing a window where they saw the kid being bandaged up by a doctor.  He seemed to be there with his mom. 

Takemichi smiled.  "At least he's okay."

Takemichi turned to her. "You can take me to the afterlife or whatever."

"You don't want to live again?"

"Nah. I'm sure no one would care if I died." Takemichi smiled sadly.  

“What makes you think that?”

“I bring nothing but trouble.  I’m in the strongest gang ever! But I can't fight to save my life.  I left my friends for them.  I broke Hina’s heart multiple times.  I’m not a good friend or boyfriend. My parents don't even love me.  I’m better off dead, not gonna lie.”

“Oh wow.” She was shocked.  “I’m sorry that you feel this way at such a young age.”

The grim reaper looked at his eyes.  Even in death they were full of life. But there was sadness too.  A quiet acceptance of whatever happens to him. Be it good or bad. 

"Before we go, there's something I'd like to show you."

"What is it?"

"You'll see," she said enthusiastically.  "and then, you can decide what to do next."

Takemichi looked at her suspiciously but nodded anyway. "okay then, whatever you say."

Later that night, the duo were floating around Hina's house.  

"What are we doing here?" Takemichi asked.

"Just watch."

Suddenly, he could see people inside her house.  He saw the Toman captains, Hina and the Mizo Mid.   They were crying. 

"Say, why would my wake be in someone else's house?"

"Well, you don't have family, do you?"

"Oh yeah!" Takemichi laughed at himself.  "I forgot."

"That Hina girl must like you a lot then." to have your body in her house was left unsaid. 

Takemichi smiled. His expression softened into a love struck puppy. "She's the best."

Then his face became sad.  "I don't know why she picked me."

The blue haired lady on the broom didn't say anything to that. 

"You should go inside," She said. 

Takemichi floated down and into the house.  Hina was crying while her parents were comforting her.  

“Idiot.”

Takemichi looked at the source of that comment.  It was Mikey.  "Who told you to be someone else's hero?"

"You're my hero, dammit." He was crying and smiling at the same time.  His eyes clearly showed pain and grief while he was trying to smile to cover it up.  Trying to stay strong like the leader he is.  Like when he put up a front when Draken was hospitalized.

Speaking of which, Draken was beside him.  He wasn’t overtly crying but his tears wouldn’t stop falling.  

Takemichi stared at everyone in his wake.  Everyone he saved were all here.  Crying for him.  Even Taiju is here.  He was grateful to Takemichi for helping him reconcile with his siblings.  Taiju, Koko and Inupi all decided to make him the Black Dragons commander.  So Taiju’s respect for him was clear. He didn't think he was worth crying over. 

His Mizo Mid friends were here as well, even when he didn't spend too much time with them anymore because of Toman and all the things that happened.

Hina’s father, who did not approve of him, was also sad.  He wasn’t emotional like the others but Takemichi could only sigh in relief that he wasn’t overly happy that he was dead.  He was glad that her father didn't hate him that much to actually celebrate his death.  He was expecting for that to be honest.

The door opened and two new guests arrived.  It was the boy he saved and the mother. 

The two of them knelt in front of his coffin, paying their respects. 

"Thank you for saving me, onii-chan!" The little boy said with the cutest voice.  "I hope we can play again tomorrow!"

The mother tried her best to keep her tears in.   The boy was too young to truly understand what death is.  

"Thank you, young man.  For saving my baby."

The mother bowed deeply towards his friends, regretting that her son's savior and their friend had to die. 

Takemichi, feeling overwhelmed with the revelation of people caring about him, flew away and into the sky.  He broke down in tears and despite being dead, his heart felt full.

“So?” He heard the grim reaper ask from behind him.  "What'd you think?"

He harshly wiped his tears and turned to look at her with new found determination on his face.  “Does your offer still stand?”

The grim reaper smirked.  “Of course.”