POV: Takuto

Sunlight caught in my eyes as I woke late in the morning to a gentle voice cooing softly to me, "Ta- chan, Takuto…Takuto-sleepy- head-chan wake up..." I immediately recognized the voice and cracked my eyes open just enough to see her but not enough for her to notice. She was sitting on the bed next to me, leaning over me with one arm on each side of my body.

I smiled, grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. "Just a little longer, please?"

I whispered lovingly into her ear. "Ah, Takuto…okay…" she whispered back to me as she cuddled up to me where she lay on my chest.

'She' was a beautiful woman with long dirty-blonde hair like autumn leaves at sunset and lucid green eyes that saw deeper inside you than you yourself dared to look. She wore a long white night-gown that made her look like a Kami-sama (goddess) when the light hit her from behind and silhouetted her figure. I couldn't stop touching her if I wanted to. Her just being near me made my heart race, when she spoke I couldn't breath, when she touched me, my skin set on fire and I melted away to nothing. My life was her…

When I finally released her for us to get up she got up and stood by me where I sat on the edge of the bed. I looked up at her questioningly. She smiled and took my hand…she placed it on her stomach and told me to close my eyes. When she said I could open them again I found a picture face down on my lap. I grabbed the photo with my free hand (she wouldn't release other one) I looked up at her before looking at the photo, she stared down at me with a look combining worrying and longing. I knew she wanted me to look at the photo so I fulfilled her wish. The photo turned out to not be a photo at all, it was a frozen screen from a sonogram, in it you could barely make out a figure. "The doctor said I'm two months along."

I looked down to the ground then stood up quickly, I could tell she was worried about what I was thinking, I knew she thought that I was about to reject the child and her. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into a tight embrace, she took a second to recognized what just happened, so to help her along I whispered into her ear "I love you, I love you so much…" I woke up just before I could finish the sentence.

POV: Aiyuki

"Chief of Shinigami, I didn't expect to be called in by you anytime soon." I said partially to myself as I walked alongside the Chief.

"Yes, I wouldn't think you would. I usually don't call upon your people, we are practically opposites in our professions, aren't we." She stated it like a question but I knew it not to be. "This all may be true but it doesn't mean we can't help each other out every now and then."

"What could you be implying?" I stopped walking and looked at her, attempting to dig under those stale eyes to understand what she was thinking, it was of no use though.

"I mean an arrangement so you watch over some of mine who are watching over a young girl. I've been worrying about this one since the beginning, about the girl. She is very special and I don't want any mistakes made in her fate. My shinigami have a year to spend with her, you could stay with them in the human world until their time is almost over, you know so you don't have to see that, and then you just return here or whatever you'd like." She sounded like a real business women the way this proposition rolled off her tongue like water down a mountainside.

"If I were to accept this agreement…how would it profit me?" I asked being as wary and cautious as needed.

"That part is simple you've had a weight upon your chest since your death, longing…desire…its going to develop into misery one day, then you'll not be more than one of us humble shinigami. If you were to accept my offer you would be given a chance to satisfy that thirst of yours…and maybe even shed some light upon that dark spot in your heart." She smirked as she squawked out these sadly truthful words. "Isn't it supposed to be a bad thing for Kami-sama such as yourself to have such clouds hanging above them?"

"I see your point. After all I'm sure you know as well as I that I cant be called a true God with this lingering pain. I guess I have no choice but to accept, I'll alert my superiors of my upcoming travel. I should be able to leave in a few hours." I said as I turned to leave.

"Very well, then I will make ready your passage, we don't want you getting lost now do we?" she seemed quite satisfied, its for matters such as these that I have as strong feelings against shinigami, as I do.

I returned to the lake at which I had met with the Shinigami Chief before, she was awaiting my arrival as expected. We shared few words as she opened a gateway for me to pass through. The most we spoke the whole time was simply her asking a question, "Would that be of him then? The photo in there?" she asked pointing towards the locket draped around my neck.

"Yes, as a goddess I could only take what was on me into the afterlife so this is my most cherished possession. The only picture I have of him, the only picture I have." I said before quickly stepping through the colorful, swirling circle.

When I stepped out onto the other side I found myself in a large room with little furniture. The only wall art in the room was an old lunar chart, hanging above a desk. I checked a piece of paper the Shinigami Chief had given me before my departure.

Dear Aiyuki-Kami-sama,

You should be in the human world when you read this the girl who you'll be guarding is named Kouyama Mitsuki, she is twelve years old and has Sarcoma as I said before she is due to die in one year. As for the shinigami, their duo's name is Negi Ramen, I picked it out myself. Please watch out for Meroko, she can be quite possessive and very territorial, just think of her as a mother wolf and you should be fine.

P.S. I hope you find it and that it is everything you remember it to be. Memories are precious, make the best of them.

"Mitsuki-san, huh?" I said to myself waving my hand and making the letter vanish. "Now lets see, how should I go about this? I could just wait for them here and then tell them what's what, nah. I could find them and tell them then, nope they wont believe me…hmm, this could turn out to be quite troublesome. Just as I was thinking this I heard the voice of an old woman "Tanaka-san, where are you?" She shouted.

"Well, this might work out well after all…" I leaned out the doorway and smiled as I saw the woman wandering about the main house.

I flew over to her to examine the specimen closer. I paid close attention to all her features, she seemed to be someone who was once very attractive. I derived my own version of a relative of her and flew away to the front gate.

There I made sure there was no one watching and quickly adopted a human form, similar to the woman whom I took to be one of Mitsuki-san's relatives. I made it seem as though I had come to visit them by creating a suitcase, then I rang the doorbell and waited. When a plump woman came to the gate I took her to be a maid and softly asked if I could come in.

She looked at me with caution in her eyes but nevertheless opened the gate and escorted me to the house. I walked in and left my shoes and bag at the door. "Eto…excuse me, but where is Ojii-sama?" I asked the maid with my finger to my lip. "Is she not home?"

"Madam is in the other room, please stay here and wait while I go get her."

"Hai."

A few minutes passed and the maid returned with the old woman. Time for a little magic. I hated myself for doing this but it had to be done, I walked up to the old woman and stared her in the eyes. After a while of maintaining eye contact I reached out and took her hand, "Ojii-sama…" I whispered.

Suddenly there was a bright recognition in her eyes and she smiled "Ryou-san, I didn't know you were coming to visit, why didn't you call?"

"I'm sorry Ojii-sama. I called once while no one was home and meant to call back but forgot and thought I had already made plans with you. I came to visit since I hadn't seen you in so long. Where's Mitsuki?" I came up with an excuse then changed the subject as fast as I could.

"She's at school, come we'll have tea." She said leading me away.

"Ojii-sama, let me just grab something real quick then I'll come find you." I told her wheeling around to my bag.

POV: Mitsuki

I walked in the front gate and Tanaka-san immediately came and told me to come into the main house. What could I have done now? When we walked through the door we were greeted by laughter and pleasant small talk. Tanaka-san seemed worried by this for some reason.

Tanaka-san lead me to the dining room where we found Grandma and a girl with long black hair sat drinking tea and reminiscing over pictures in a photo album. The girl saw me and smiled. "Mitsuki, who is that?" Meroko asked from my backpack. Is shrugged as an answer.

"Mitsuki-san say hello to your cousin." Grandma said from her seat at the table.

"Ojii-sama, let me greet her first, after all the last time she saw me she was so young she might not remember." The girl said getting up and walking over to me. "Hello, Mi-chan, I'm your third cousin Nagita Ryou. Do you remember me?"

"Uhm…I think I do…yes." I stumbled a little confused. The girl smiled and said that she was happy that I remembered her. She leaned in to hug me and I didn't stop her.

"Mitsuki, listen, I'm not your relative and you know that. Just go along with it and I'll explain everything to you later. Oh, and one more thing, please make Meroko-san stop staring at me like that, its kinda freaking me out." The girl whispered quickly in my ear while hugging me.

"Grandma, I'm going to go to my room and do my homework okay?" I decided to trust her for now.

"Mitsuki-san, your cousin hasn't seen you in years that is very rude of you to hide when we finally see her again." Grandma scolded me.

"Ojii-sama, its okay if Mitsuki has homework to do. I don't want to get in the way of her studies, and besides I would really like to freshen up with a bath if I could." The girl said glancing at me with apologetic eyes.

After the girl named Ryou took her bath Tanaka-san put her up in the extra room in the guest house. I waited until Tanaka-san left and then sat down to talk to Meroko. "Mitsuki who do you think that Ryo-girl is? She seemed to know you pretty well, and your grandma seemed to know and like her." Meroko started to ask a million questions at once like always.

"I don't know who she is. She told me she wasn't my relative and that she'd explain everything when we were alone, I think we can trust her." I replied.

"If she's lying to your grandma why do you think she isn't lying to you?" Meroko was obviously agitated by the situation.

"Meroko, she isn't lying! She knew that you weren't a doll, she even knew what you name is. Maybe she's another shinigami, just transformed like you did that one time with Ooshige-san." I said trying to get her to calm down.

Meroko just looked worried after I said this "Mitsuki, if she is another shinigami that isn't good. She could go back to the Chief and tell her about what we've been doing with you. If that happens we'll be replaced and then you won't get to transform anymore…you won't be able to sing anymore!"

"Meroko, I don't know why you're worried about something like that, I don't care what you do. In fact I support rebellion against the Shinigami Chief." Ryou said from above us. She was definitely not human, it seemed she had been flying above our heads listening to our entire conversation. Even ignoring that she still didn't seem human, she was wearing some type of long white coat with beautiful designs on it, underneath that was a short matching white skirt and tall white boots. Her unnaturally long hair was pulled up into a highly decorated bun and a small gold locket just barely peeked out of the color of her coat. To finish of her all white ensemble two feathery, white wings had sprouted from her back.

"Oh, and by the way, I'm not a shinigami I'm a goddess." She said as she floated down to the floor.