A Chat With Death

By: Neko-chan

Disclaimer: I own this story! Yay! Finally, something that I actually own!

A/N: If anyone likes this.......I'll think about making a little series about this. Oh....and.....this is why you don't want to have insomnia.......weird ideas come to you for no apparent reason.

The red-headed teenage girl put the chess set on her bed, moving the pieces around until she was satisfied. Glancing quickly at the alarm clock by her bed with sharp gray eyes, she frowned in annoyance. He's late, she thought. The time, 2:00 a.m., glowed back at her in bright red numbers. This is the third time this week...... The girl sighed and sat softly on her bed, careful not to disturb any of the chess pieces.

As she was playing with a rook absently, he appeared. Arashi raised her eyes, giving Death a bored look. "You're late," she commented. "You were supposed to be here an hour ago."

He shrugged and sat on the bed, facing her over the chess board. "Sorry, you know that I've been busy," he answered her. He shot a grin at her, his violet eyes crinkling good-naturedly. A lock of shoulder length midnight black hair fell into his face; he shoved it away with a long suffering sigh and stretched his black wings to their fullest extent. "Besides," he continued, "you have insomnia.......it's not like you're losing any sleep over waiting for me."

Arashi snorted her amusement and made her first move, moving on of her pawns two spaces forward. "Your turn," she replied, her gray eyes narrowing thoughtfully as Death moved his knight. Grinning smugly to herself, Arashi moved yet another pawn and took his knight; while he, in turn, took that pawn.

Arashi glared at Death over the chess board; he only gave her his usual charming smile. Sighing in exasperation, Arashi moved her rook. "So, where were we in our discussion last night?" she asked as Death moved his white bishop close to a pawn. Arashi smile broadened; she easily saw this trap. Instead, she captured Death's other knight.

"We were talking about me and my purpose here in the Universe," he replied, glaring at the chess board thoughtfully. The more he stared, the more patterns he saw. Hissing in triumph, Death captured Arashi's black knight.

Grinning happily, Arashi took his rook. He had fallen so easily into her trap. But, then again........he might be setting her up for a trap later on in the game. Death was sneaky like that. "So," she began, "what exactly is your purpose in the Universe?"

Death frowned, thinking deeply, as he took on of Arashi's many pawns. "My purpose? My purpose in this Universe is to teach people just how precious Life is. So many people throw away Life, they don't realize the great gift that was bestowed upon them. So, I have to teach them that Life is short and that people should treasure it with all of their soul."

Arashi frowned in thought and captured Death's last pawn. "But....what about the people who don't care about their lives?" she asked, resting her chin in one of her palms.

Death's violet eyes darkened to royal purple. "Then they never understood just how precious that gift was. And so I have to teach that lesson to them......by killing them."

Sighing, Arashi took Death's second rook. "Don't you think that that's somewhat harsh?" she asked as he stole a fourth pawn. Death shrugged and glared when she captured his bishop. "I mean....some people don't care about their lives, but they can learn to care......"

Making a sneaky and calculated move, Death captured her second black knight. Replying to her comment, he said, "True.......but some people just don't care at all, no matter how hard you try to convince them otherwise."

Her frown darkening, Arashi took his queen and added it to her ever-growing pile of chess pieces. "But still......people should be give second chances." Death shook his head sadly at her naivety and reached down to move a chess piece. And the Silencer blinked in surprise. The only chess piece he had left was his king; and even then, the young red-head had managed to box him in. There was no way he could move.

"Oh...." Arashi began, smiling at him gloatingly, "did I forget to mention? Checkmate."

Death sighed and handed Arashi the final chess piece unhappily. "You won.......yet again," he grumbled, just loud enough for Arashi to grin at him happily.

"Death you may be........chess player you are not," was Arashi's reply to his mumbles. Death gave her a crooked smile and stood up. Giving her a quick kiss on the forehead, he faded away.

"See you tomorrow night," he whispered before he faded away completely.

Arashi grinned to herself and settled under her bed covers. Turning off the light, she soon fell asleep. Her dreams were haunted by a dark angel with midnight black hair and wings, and sad, haunted violet eyes. But, for some reason, the eyes began to brighten.