Life and Death

TITLE: Life and Death

AUTHOR: WotanAnubis

FANDOM: No More Heroes

DISCLAIMER: I don't own these characters and am not making a profit.

RATING: NC-17

PAIRING: 8/8

NOTE: The alternative title for this fic was 'Sex Scene #5', but I thought that might have been a bit too obscure. And possibly not even all that accurate, depending on who you ask.

* * * * *

The girl known as Scarlet Jacobs to those who didn't really know her walked through the emtpy hallways of Santa Destroy High School. Everything around her was quiet. Suspiciously so. She couldn't hear the drone of bored teachers coming from behind the classroom doors or the meaningless chatter of students playing hooky or even the screams of the gang bangers cutting each other up over the colour of their shoes.

Yet for some reason she didn't feel wary. Things in the school were clearly wrong on so many levels, but she didn't feel the sense of danger she probably should.

She soon reached the classroom where she was supposed to be, hidden in the furthest corner of the school building. She didn't really know how she knew she was supposed to be there, but compared to the deafening silence around her it wasn't really worth being bothered by.

She opened the door, stepped inside and froze on the spot. The classroom was completely empty, save for one single person who couldn't have been there. After all, there was only one of her, so she couldn't be both standing just inside the classroom and sitting casually at a desk in the middle of the room. Yet there she was, identical to her. Black skin, white hair, school uniform, black lace gloves with the fingers cut out, the whole thing. Overcoming her surprise, she walked further into the room, towards the strange identical girl. She idly wondered if the other had noticed her. If she was anything like her, she had. As she came closer, she noticed the other girl wasn't exactly like her. For one thing, her white blouse and plaid skirt were splattered with blood and her katana hung casually from her waist. Seeing that, she quickly reached for her own sword before really realising that her impossible twin having her katana was an actual difference. She wondered how she could've forgotten her weapon. She'd never been stupid enough to leave it at home.

The stranger looked up, but didn't turn around to face her. "Took you long enough."

The voice was identical too.

"You were waiting for me?" she replied.

"You could say that."

"Who are you anyway?" she asked.

"Shinobu, of course," the stranger replied.

"Can't be," she said. "That's me."

"That's us," said the girl who called herself Shinobu. She turned around in her chair and smiled. "But it's not you."

"Yeah?" she said. "Who am I then?"

"Scarlet Jacobs, of course," Shinobu replied. "If you are anyone, that is."

"That's just the name on my ID," she said.

"That's our real name, though, isn't it?" Shinobu said.

Scarlet had to concede the point. "So what's this then? A dream? Or