You would think that after I had…"convinced" Haruhi to keep the old world as it was and not bother to create a new one, there would be peace in my life. I use the term "peace" loosely, since there is nothing peaceful about being dragged around all over the place, looking for signs of ghosts, aliens, espers, or anything else out of the ordinary. In addition to that, I was surprised to find that Haruhi had created a quota of affection for me, and everyday I had to meet it. This was especially hard to do, since she rose and dropped the level of affection she wanted from me every single day as well and never told me the new level of affection she wanted.

Begrudgingly, I must admit that I was not discouraged by this game, and I found myself actually trying to "win" at it, although with Haruhi, you only win if she wants you too. I don't think I could have "won" as many times as I did without the help of the rest of the SOS brigade, and they knew it as well.

It was on one of those "games" that the first, real problems for me arouse. On that particular day, she had left a note for me saying she was in a special place and I had to find her. From school, she had left a trail for me to follow to each clue. To my embarrassment, the trails were made up of various panties, and I knew I had to pick them up in the middle of public and keep them, since Mikuru would probably want them back. I had to do it in front of everyone too; another of Haru's damn tests to see how loyal I was to her.

"Sometimes makes you wonder how in the world did you fall in love with her, doesn't it?" came a thin voice from behind me.

I turned around to view the speaker, and just from the quick glance at him, I knew I hated this guy. Dark eyes sparklingly with mirth, short blonde hair all in a tangled mess, thin lips in a smile that could have been a sneer for all intents and purposes, and pale skin: all of these were thrown together to make this guys face. He seemed oblivious to personal space, as his face was not two inches from mine. I backed up from him.

"What did you say?" I asked. The smile turned into a frown, and his lips parted with a sigh.

"Please don't ask me to repeat myself. It cramps my style." His voice was not that unpleasant, but for some reason, it made me hate him even more. "You know what I said. I was talking about that girl who left a trail of panties for you to find and follow." He pointed at the pair of panties I still had in my hands. Frantically, I stuffed them in the plastic bag in which I kept the rest of the panties I had picked up.

"How do you know I'm in love with her? I could be doing this as a favor to someone she's been tormenting." I muttered angrily at the stranger, turning away from him. I honestly hoped the guy would get the hint I didn't like him and would go away. However, it seems I have the curse of attracting stubborn and oblivious people to me.

"Because you're the only person I've seen following a trail of panties so you could find Haruhi Suzumiya and fill your daily affection quota." came the cold response.

When I say, "cold response" I don't mean just the tone of this guy's voice. The air that came from his mouth seemed to chill me to the bone. I decided that this guy was worth taking a look at more closely, and so I turned around to face him.

Once again, he was too close for comfort and I backed away. Clothing wise, he was wearing simple jeans, sandals (which was odd for November) and blue t-shirt. Oddly enough, all the colors he wore seemed darker than normal, even though I could have sworn the color of the shirt was the same shade as the sky.

I suddenly remembered some of the specifics of what he had said, and I couldn't help my shock showing in my face, drawing a malicious smile from this stranger.

"How do I know about your love quota with Haruhi you might ask?" the man chuckled. Well, I can hardly call him a man. He seemed to be a high schooler as well.

By this time, my mind was made up about this guy, and what he was. "So are you a ghost? We haven't encountered one of those yet." I asked, loosing interest in this bozo even as I spoke the words.

He looked at me in surprise. "Ghost? How dare you call me a ghost!" he gave me a deep scowl. I was a little bit awed at how offended he was at the label.

"If you're not a ghost, then what are you? We already have an alien, time traveler and an esper, so if you're one of those, we don't need your services."

The stranger looked at me blankly for a moment, and then let out a hearty laugh. This laugh was one of most horrible things I have ever heard. At the time, I didn't know why, but it was still one of the most horrible things I have experienced in my life.

"You don't need my service now, which is true…" the kid said, absently pointing to what looked like a random building across the street. "Eventually, you will need my service. Let us talk a moment." He put his arm around me and forced me over to a bench.

We sat in silence for a moment, as the guy pulled some cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one. "Those will kill you." I said out of the blue.

Once again the kid let out a hearty laugh, sending shivers down my spine. "You are one of the funniest people I have ever met Kyon." He laughed, inhaling on the cigarette and using it up almost instantly. "But let's drop the jokes and talk business here."

"Business? And how do you know my name?" I asked, and the kid looked at me, a serious look had taken over his face.

"Kyon, it hasn't been to long since Haruhi almost changed this entire earth to revolve around her and you, has it?"

I answered him honestly, as it seemed this guy knew a lot more about the situation then I had thought.

"You wanna know how many times she has remade this world under your "watchful eye" ever since you two got together?"

"Well, none really."

"Wrong answer. The correct answer is 12,346 different worlds." The kid let out a tired sigh.

I started. "That's impossible! She's been kept entertained! I haven't felt this world change at all!"

"This world has remained the same that is true. She's been creating completely separate worlds outside of the influence of this world, all of them revolving around you and her."

"huh?"

"Oh yes. In world number 3,951, she's an all powerful sorceress who is fighting some evil emperor because he was kidnapped the handsome and kind prince: You."

I blinked in surprise. She had created a new world with her and I in it? There was magic? When did all of this happen? The stranger continued.

"In world number 6,721, she is the sweet and basically worshipped nurse who saves a bunch of people's lives everyday. Currently, she has just gotten tempted by the new, handsome doctor of the hospital, AKA you, and you two are alone in an unused room at the hospital..." The stranger grinned and gave a chuckle as I flushed slightly.

"Why would she create all this different worlds?"

"Oh come now Kyon. She's a high school girl. She day dreams a lot, and at night time…well…"

"I get it, I get it!" I said angrily, making the kid laugh.

"How do you know all this?" I asked quietly.

The stranger's face turned serious. "Do you know how much work it takes to build a world? Each new world needs new rules to run it, and that gets a little tiring, especially when it comes to life and death."

As I looked into the stranger's face, I saw it in his eyes. I can't find the words to describe what I saw, and personally, I'm glad there isn't a way to put into words what I saw. I guess my face was contorted in horror, for the stranger laughed.

"Do you know how tough it is for me to find new ways to do my job is all these different worlds? Even after I find all the ways for me to do it, I have to keep up with all these different worlds. Frankly, I'm very tired of all this." The stranger tapped his fingers against the back of the bench.

"How can you possibly be death?" I said quietly, and the stranger snorted.

"Is it that hard to believe? You've got a girl who can create worlds as a sweetheart. Why think it would be impossible for me to take a physical shape?"

"But there are people dying all over the world at this very moment!"

"Correct, and the rules are already made here, so I get to kick up my heels and relax. Well, part of me anyways; the rest of me is doing my job in those other thousands of worlds."

I inched away from death. He simply smiled at me. "I can tell you feel like bolting, so I'll make this quick. Make Haruhi stop making these other worlds. I don't care how you do it. If you can't, I'll have to resort to my back up plan."

My heart fluttered in fear. "You'll kill her?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"Yeah, wish me luck! I thought you were smarter than that Kyon. I couldn't kill her even if I wanted to, she's that powerful!" Death smiled evilly at me. "Instead, I'll just kill you in all the worlds she has, and will ever, make. If my guess is right, she might get depressed without you; she'll either kill herself, or undo the entire universe. Either of those options works for me."

I gaped at death, and he simply shrugged. "I'm telling you this now because I want to give you a chance. Just because I am death doesn't mean I hate life. I have a job to do, and that's the simple truth." Death absently looked at his watch. "I will give you one month to stop Haruhi from creating these new worlds." Death gave a genuine smile to me, and I felt actual kindness in his smile. "Good luck."

I blinked, and he was gone. I jerkily stood up from the bench and looked around. He was nowhere to be found. What was to be found was Haruhi, walking towards me. One look at her face, and I could tell I was in trouble.

"Kyon! Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting to show you the new designs I had for the SOS brigade armbands! Are you that slow? I had thought that I might split the bill for them being made 50/50 with you, but now you're defiantly paying full for them!" With that, she grabbed me by my tie and started dragging me down the street.

As she complained loudly about me to me, I thought a moment about what death had said she would do if she couldn't ever be with me. The thought of Haruhi sitting alone in closed space, forever crying over me was unbearable. At that moment, I resolved to make sure Haruhi would never cry, and that death's challenge would be met and beaten.

I snapped back to reality due to my realization Haruhi had stopped dragging me and was looking at me. "What?" I asked nervously.

"Nothing." She said simply, and continued dragging me down the street.