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[Guestimate]

With the emphasis you are putting on Iwanako's scars, I get the felling that somehow Hannako is, in fact, the freed/escaped Iwanako.

[Doomish]

INTERVAL FOUR - A MISSTEP

There is no greater feeling than when I am inside of someone. Figuratively, not literally. I can feel their heart beat beneath their bones; I use their muscles to conform to my will. I am unable to feel physical pleasure, but in Iwanako’s case, basic human instinct will win out from time to time. She deserves her rewards for staying by my side and being my vessel for so long, especially now that we are coming closer and closer to the pivotal moment when we finally save Hisao.

She falls limply on the bed like a ragdoll as I exit her body. She has deeper scars than before; they are beginning to seep down her neckline and into her ever-present jacket. I am tired, prepared to rest. I nearly killed her from all the work we have been doing and I feel something that would have been akin to remorse were I still able to hold human emotions.

She stops me before I can leave. “H-hold on.” She whimpers. “Do that thing you do to me before you go. Please, I need this.”

I glower at her. She is asking me to perform our usual unspeakable sexual acts; neither of lust nor want, but necessity. She will slip from my grasp if I do not oblige, and I will have to find a new host for my tightly packed psyche. I am not unwilling, but I do not enjoy the act. It is just as in movies. Two actors enter a scene, and they act. It is emotionless, passionless. It is exactly what Iwanako craves. She does not want me, Death, no; she simply wants the release that comes with sex. It is a disservice to the act. It is unnatural. It says little in the way of logical thinking yet somehow she cannot simply ignore it.

So I stoop over her, watching her shrug off the rest of her clothes until she is almost completely bare before me. I wait until she has pulled her bra off and shrugged her panties down to her ankles before I even think about moving. I have to take it slow, I must use almost surgical precision. There are a few places Iwanako cannot stand, a few things I can reach into, strings I can tug that will drive her mad with lust. It disgusts me.

"Do it." Iwanako nods. "I'm ready for you." She closes her eyes so she does not have to see my full form, which I am perfectly alright with. I already know she will not stay that way for long. The less of me she has to see, the better. I reach gently into her brain with one long, several-jointed arm, and she whimpers as I begin to twist and turn the wires that make up her psyche. She will soon not even remember what she is doing, lost in the raw pleasure of my meddling. It makes me want to vomit blood and bile onto the carpet but I press onward.

"A-Ah!" She jitters. I have stricken a chord somewhere deep within what I assume to be the corners of her brain, dark and untouched. Iwanako is still a virgin for the purposes of sexual reproduction; that will come after I leave her. She will mother two children before she finally succumbs to the cause of her death. I trail my fingers along the spot, prodding it mercilessly, causing Iwanako to shudder and shiver. Her fingers fly to her intimate parts and I look away to give her some privacy. Gestures like that are meaningless as I have seen everything that has and will ever occur but she still appreciates them nonetheless. She starts moaning and writhing as I scour her brain for more to fiddle with, and I give my head a light, disappointed shake.

I tire of the teasing eventually and decide to just get it over with. With a gentle shove, Iwanako flips over and splays out on the bed, shuddering in raw agony. I assault the back of her mind while one hand creeps into the folds of her back. This will be the finishing move. With one scratchy, bony finger, I gently trace my way down the inside of Iwanako's spine, meeting bone marrow and vertebrae alike as if I am slicing her open for a dissection. She screams in pleasure as she orgasms, shoving her face into her bedsheets to muffle herself. Again and again she cries out as her fingers dive in and out of her actual areas of stimulation, savoring the pleasure for all it is worth. I release her and leave her to herself; she will not recover from her maddened state of lust for a few hours, which means I will be able to get some sleep.

I resume my state of purgatory and lie in wait for her to recover, watching her attack herself over and over. It is a pitiful existence, being human. The fact that she is unable to control herself because I have unplugged one single wire and stuck it elsewhere is awful, it is embarrassing. Knowing that I was once human, that I myself was once what a scientist would call man makes me ashamed of my entire race. We are nothing compared to the gods of chaos and madness that await beyond the borders of our reality. I decide I can watch Iwanako scream and cry no longer. While she is preoccupied, I decide I must find someone else for Hisao to talk to. I show little interest in saving him but in all honesty he has become a pet project of mine. I want him to live through his days at Yamaku because otherwise collecting his soul would be too easy. I do enjoy a good game.

Several years ago, a seven year old girl kicks her legs. She sits on a swingset on a playground, hanging limply from it. A group of boys walk up to her, chuckling and mischievous.

"Akira Satou." The loudest, proudest of the boys grins. "I hear you're gonna have a sister soon."

She says nothing, staring at the ground. Whether because she wants to be an only child or because her family barely pays attention to her as is, she is unsure.

The leader of the boys sees her lackluster reaction and gives her a punch on the arm to incite the usual enraged response. Instead, he gets only a look of sadness, a look of pure sorrow. Seven years old and she's already experiencing such adult emotions. Instead of getting into a rumble with her as usual, the boys back off, seeing she is in no mood to play nor argue. She looks back down at her feet, wordless. When the new child arrives, will she take a back seat?

It is a few months later now. I watch as Lilly Satou is delivered as any normal child, and it takes her parents almost two months to realize she is blind. She does not react to their faces. She does not see their faces. I have caught a break; occasionally, I do not have to meddle in the affairs of others at all. They will take their own measures and the hands of fate will turn as always without my help. Instead, I watch as her parents decide they do not want Lilly anymore. I gaze on with disgust as they have a raging argument about what to do with her. Her father suggests putting her out of her misery and he receives an awful slap in the face. They live a disgusting marriage, one I want no part of. I determine that they deserve their unhappiness and they will live together for a very, very long time. If I do not intervene right now, Lilly will be put up for adoption and will be out of her parents' hands forever.

A few blocks away, young Akira sits at the park, this time dangling off of the top of the slide in her sorrow. Iwanako has joined my side, her eyes still dull and lecherous. I will not be able to possess her for a few minutes; it is not yet time. Instead, I appear to Akira, stalking into her line of vision from behind a tree. Children react to my presence with glee. They see a happy, fortunate creature. They do not know the true horror of what lurks before them, but I am thankful I do not have to inhabit the awful-smelling Iwanako. She reeks of sex and smoke, and I narrow my eyes at the cigarette fresh between her lips. I gaze between her legs to find she hasn't even bothered to change her clothes. I urge her to stay out of view while I deal with Lilly's sister.

She points at me as I approach. "Hey! What're you?" She turns her little body and comes down the slide at top speed, landing only fast enough to run over. She gazes up at me in awe, as if I am a byproduct of her imagination.

"It... does not matter what I am." I croak at her. "You look a little... down."

She nods, the smile running away from her face. "Oh. You saw that, huh?" She runs a hand through her shining, spiky hair. "I have a new sister!"

"I... see. And you are upset about that?"

She shrugs. "I guess. I don't really want one, is the thing."

I grunt in mock-aggravation. "But you are... her big sister. It is your job to protect her. To keep her... safe."

"Hey... yeah, I guess you're right." Akira blinks a few times, as if she is confused.

I lean in close, kneeling down before her like a servant to my king. "Akira... I learned that your parents are... planning on getting rid of Lilly." I have to act as if I am her friend. I know her type and I know she will run from me if I upset her. If she tries to touch me, as many children have, it will burn her and she will be unable to move her arm for a few hours. I am unsure why it happens but I suppose it's because I was not the one to initiate the contact.

Akira's eyes widen. "You mean they're going to kill her?!"

I wave it away with one of my many hands. "No... no."

"Then, what?"

I almost sigh before remembering I do not have any way of breathing, and thus am unable to perform the gesture. "They are going to... put her up for adoption... as they have threatened to do with yourself when you misbehave."

She hops in place once. "Oh, no! I gotta go stop them!" She brushes past me, dashing from the park and waving her arms like she has become an airplane, personified. "Thanks for the heads up, mister!"

Our contact over and done with, I turn to Iwanako, who is leaning against the tree I emerged from to catch her breath. Akira will rush home, catch her parents about to deliver Lilly to the orphanage, and throw a very large-scale fit. They will refuse to listen to her at first, and an argument will take place that will span weeks. Eventually, they will give up, leaving Akira to protect and care for her sister. Ultimately, Akira will learn to agree with her parents and Lilly will be shipped off to Yamaku to fend for herself, but only when she is ready. Iwanako watches Lilly age with pure despair in her eyes. This is what she wants; this is what she has always craved. A family that cares for her. Parents that pay attention to her. She wants away from myself, away from Death and the constant odor of decay. She wants to be normal again.

It is only after Lilly joins Yamaku and thus our struggle to keep Hisao alive that I realize he has no reason to stay with her. Iwanako hangs behind me, still depressed about our entire situation. Lilly heads off to her usual tea room alone, craving for a friend, for someone to talk to. I reroute Hisao there by having Emi slam into him from the opposite direction, but the meeting does not stick. He talks to Kenji about her and they both agree that she isn't worth his time. I curse under my breath as he joins his friend on the roof once more. This is getting tiring.

"Something needs to change." Iwanako says, stalking to the front of the school with me. "We need to do something differently this time." Hisao's body lands feet in front of her with a horrible crunch and she ignores it, walking down the front path and toward the gates.

"What did you... have in mind?" I lean past her to catch her expression, but the destroyed half of her face prevents me from getting a good look.

"Maybe what Hisao needs is a little art." She turns to me, something clouding her eyes that I cannot quite see. "Maybe he needs to get out of his own funk before he talks to Kenji about the roof. I think that's what we're missing."

For once, I agree with Iwanako. She shows a surprising amount of clarity after the constantly building sexual tension bleeds out of her mind. Maybe I should perform the act more often. Regardless, she offers me a smoke as always and I ignore it. Her attempts at humor mean little to me. I jump back into her body when she isn't looking, grunting as the awful odor invades her nostrils once more. I take Iwanako home to shower off before we leave for our next destination; how she can even get out of her house like this without attracting stares is beyond me. I give little thought to Iwanako herself, as she is simply unimportant in the grand scheme. I take her places because she has opened herself to me. Otherwise she would be just another soul in the middle of my long, long list. The least she could do is keep herself presentable.

The soap and water run down her modest chest and circle the drain. I admire the intricacies of her scars; the shrapnel from the wreck certainly did a number on her face. I feel the deep, pink grooves, gently tracing my fingers down my face. Damage like this is what makes Iwanako human, it is what separates her from me. She will never lose these unless I will it to happen. We wouldn't need to waste her life doing this if she'd just gotten it over with earlier. The human mind can be a very complex entity sometimes. Iwanako does not think of the future very often; she thinks of right now, she thinks of how to make herself happy and fails more often than not. Slipping Hisao the note made her happy, but seeing him in pain did not. Why I have been bound to Iwanako is still shrouded in mystery for both of us, but perhaps it will become clear in time. We have quite a while left in our time together; I may as well make sure she enjoys it.

[nemz]

With the emphasis you are putting on Iwanako's scars, I get the felling that somehow Hannako is, in fact, the freed/escaped Iwanako.

I've been thinking that as well, and this latest chapter comes close to confirming it.

I'm also starting to suspect that Death will eventually end up splitting his time between Mutoh and Nurse to keep a personal eye on things.

[BlackRockHanako]

Liking this story, and also your avatar getting bloodier with every post.

[Bi-Polar Hernandez]

Iwanako X Death OTP

[Mahorfeus]

Liking this story, and also your avatar getting bloodier with every post.

I half expect it to be Misha every time he does something like that.

[BlackWaltzTheThird]

Safe to say a sex scene was not what I was expecting to occur in this story in general, let alone between Iwanako and Death. I'm liking how your avatar changes to reflect the updates on the stories you are writing - it's kind of an expansion of the fourth wall, in that the goings on of the story affect the goings on outside of it. One thing that strikes as odd though; Death seems to go to all this effort to manipulate things such that Hisao will be motivated to spend the festival with someone other than Kenji, failing every time. Why would Death not just manipulate something in Kenji's past that prevents him from ever meeting Hisao? Other than that, another mostly well-written chapter, kudos to you (note the spelling error below, that's the only thing that stuck out to me). I'm very much looking forward to reading more.
Cheers, BlackWaltz.

It makes me want to vomit blood and bile onto the carpet but I press onward.

[BobBobberson]

Knowing that I was once human, that I myself was once what a scientist would call man makes me ashamed of my entire race.

Dafuq? Death was human once? So how did he obtain his soul stealing, body controlling powers? I do hope there is some backstory to how he ended up like this to begin with?

With the emphasis you are putting on Iwanako's scars, I get the felling that somehow Hannako is, in fact, the freed/escaped Iwanako.

Damnit, how did you infer this from the text? Although Hanako did acquire her scars from a fire, not a car crash. Unless Iwanako/Hanako lies about the origins of the scars to Hisao? Although it would make sense since Emi, Shizune, and Lilly have failed to get Hisao to not...die. I'm already calling that Rin's gonna fail, so that leaves Hanako, either the normal one or the Iwanako/Hanako version.

Edit: Where's the original source of Doomish's avatar sans the blood?

[Doomish]

Dafuq? Death was human once? So how did he obtain his soul stealing, body controlling powers? I do hope there is some backstory to how he ended up like this to begin with?

We will learn of this in full soon enough.

[Mahorfeus]

Where's the original source of Doomish's avatar sans the blood?

It's from the Shimmeh. weee is the artist.

[The O.H.L.]

Wow. This story is VERY interesting. I don't know if it's just me being derpy or what but it seems Death's motivation for saving Hisao has changed a few times. Is this intentional? Or have I just been a tard?

[Roamin12]

Oh god, another story by Doomish, just another way to destroy every ounce of happiness in my being. (In a good way of course.)

Liking this story, and also your avatar getting bloodier with every post.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.

And on a random side note: I actually had an idea similar to this a few weeks ago, I started to write it, but scrapped it because I was unsatisfied with it.

[Doomish]

Wow. This story is VERY interesting. I don't know if it's just me being derpy or what but it seems Death's motivation for saving Hisao has changed a few times. Is this intentional? Or have I just been a tard?

Death's motivation for saving Hisao changed because he was possessing Iwanako the first time he thought about it; we haven't heard his actual thoughts on the matter yet.

[Doomish]

Forget it.

[BobBobberson]

I turn to her, frustrated. "Every few thousand years... I need to be replaced, Iwanako." I choose my words carefully. The last person I decided to take under my wing tried to kill me when they found out about this, and I was forced to practically blind them and leave their presence at once.

Why hello there, backstory, nice to meet you! So basically Death is just a practically immortal (but decaying) human with time-traveling space-meddling powers who collects souls. And when Death is about to 'die' (?), he tries to find a good successor for him, one with the mental equivalent of steel balls. The one thing I wonder is whether Death is bound by some kind of law or something that restricts his influence on the physical plane.

Edit: Oh and it's obvious that Hanako's gonna save Hisao's ass now. And since I correctly predicted that RIn failed, I'm calling that this Hanako's gonna be Iwanako/Hanako.