Let's see what I can do with this...

The Craft

Chapter One

Sen Amaki had always been a strange girl.

At least, that's what her former classmates always told her. Not that she cared, she was an oddity since entering school, and she was a complete mystery to people when she left. No one took the time to understand her, either. She was the girl everyone picked on when she was younger, and she became the girl everyone feared by the time she graduated high school.

Sen was now a woman of twenty-three years, with pale skin and narrow red eyes. She was taller than most girls - 178 centimeters exact, and a fit figure to boot. Her hair was long and black, with streaks of red running through it. It was natural, as odd as that sounded. Her mother's hair was the same color, and her father was jet black. Needless to say, most all of her looks came from her mother. People have even called them sisters before.

In truth, Sen was "weird" for only a handful of reasons. Her clothes, which always consisted of black, white and red. Her art sketches, which had several dark displays and actually made it to art galleries for auction. And the final reason was her outlook on the world around her. An outlook only her parents could understand.

It was nighttime in this part of Shinjuku, and she was sitting at a park bench near the bridge; her sketch pad out and pencils at her side. She was just drawing at this point, no serious project in mind. The young artist was just waiting for a friend of hers. Don't get her wrong, Amaki had several acquaintances who tried being her friends, and she returned the exchange, but she never felt any need to connect with them. Not to sound rude, she was very grateful to them, and they were real nice to her where other human beings would just shrug her off. This friend in particular wasn't like them, though. He was the only person she felt safe with having a full and honest conversation, and the only one who understood her outlook on life. From the way they met to how they conversed, the man she was waiting for was, in all due respect, the best friend she ever had.

She stopped drawing, a smirk on her face. Yes, the "best friend" she only met slightly over a month ago. She still remembered that night, actually. It was in this exact spot.

Sen had taken her perch on the park bench and had been drawing for hours. The sun was setting now, but she knew how to use the shadows of nature to her art's advantage. She never drew people. She couldn't bring herself to do it, despite knowing the picture would probably be real good. She'd been asked to make people several times, but she wouldn't. Their was something she felt inherently wrong with doing this.

It was the later part of dusk and some of the streetlights in the park were already being turned on. Odd, she thought looking up. This had happened before, but not often enough to the point she was used to it. It just always managed to surprise her. Not that it mattered, it wouldn't affect her view of the water just yet. It wasn't much of a river in comparison to others, but she didn't care. This river had a certain charm to it.

The artist looked up and frowned. Someone had just walked in the spot she was working on. He was a tall man, almost ten centimeters taller than she was. His back was facing her, and his hands were in the pockets of his black trench coat. He had a black fedora on as well, and his hair was just as dark as his attire. His shadow was long against the rays of the sun. Interesting, she thought.

Rather than get up and ask the man to move, she began drawing his shape into view. It was simple enough, and shading his figure was a delightful challenge. She finished the entire picture before night could fall, she was so enthused. She didn't know why she wanted to draw this stranger all of a sudden, but she liked how it all came out.

Sen began packing up. She'd normally stay longer, but she didn't think she'd top the picture she just finished. And then some guys came up to her. "Hey, Gorgeous." It was a group of three. "You wanna go somewhere fun? There's a party we could take you to, if you'd like?"

She sighed. "While I do appreciate the compliment, I'm afraid I'm not the partying type. Sorry." She was about to turn away, but one of them twisted her arm and got a knife out. "What do you think you're doing?" She asked outright, more pissed than anything else.

"Sorry, Gorgeous, but I don't recall giving you a choice on this. Now, why do-" Sen used her free hand to grab the guy's arm so she could bite it. After that, she got her other arm free, kicked the knife out of his hand and started kicking all of their asses. "You damn bitch!" One of them cursed once they were all on the ground.

"Like I said, I'm not the partying type. Please ask someone else to accompany you." She told them, smirking down on them before going for her stuff again. Sen never swore in front of people like this, they weren't worth cussing at. It was tempting, but she preferred her own wit and intelligence to trump them than anything else after a workout like this one.

She saw that one of them was heading at her with a knife again, but a gloved hand caught the guy's arm. The man in the coat... With how quiet he was, she forgot he was still there. "Pardon me, miss, but are you alright?" He asked her. His hat cascaded a shadow over his eyes, but even she could see a set of deep violet eyes staring at her. He was smirking, same as she was a few minutes ago.

"Yes," she said, "thank you for the hand." She then looked at them. "Are you lot still gonna insist I come to your party or will you go look for some other girl?" She asked them. The other two were so intimidated by both her and the man that they ran off, leaving the one with the knife shaking, not even trying to escape the ebony male's grip. "I think you can let him go now." She said smirking again.

The man chuckled, tightening his grip so the mugger would drop his knife before letting him go. Once he ran off, the man in black removed his hat and placed it on his chest. "Terribly sorry about that." He told her.

"Don't be." Sen said, smirking. "If you hadn't stepped in, I couldn't account for their safety much longer." The man chuckled with her and put his hat back on; his fingers rubbing against the rim before he stuffed his hand into his pocket. "I'm Sen Amaki, by the way. May I ask your name?"

The ebony male chuckled again. "Kuroudo Akabane."

Sen chuckled to herself again. Kuroudo was quite the piece of work - very intriguing. He didn't tell her much about his life, but he was there to talk to, provide criticism, not to mention have idle chat with. The two weren't ones to normally do that, even with people they've known for years, and yet-

"Another piece, Sen?"

Sen looked up and smiled at her man of shadows. "Of course, Kuroudo-san. A day doesn't go by when I can't draw." Akabane took his seat next to her, allowing Sen to lay her head on his chest. Sen brought up her piece just as his arm came around her waist. "So, what do you think?"

It was an intriguing piece, he had to admit. It was a hand, holding a scalpel with the reflection of an eye in the blade. And beneath it was the body of a patient on an operating table, about to be covered by a blanket. The expression of the eye wasn't angry, depressed, or even pleased. It was a pondering sense - questioning his or her motives.

"Very interesting." He said, smiling. "What was your inspiration?"

"You." She told him. "From surgeon to what again? Transportation specialist?"

"Not the exact name for it, but close enough." He said smiling. Sen nuzzled up against him.

The two stayed quiet for awhile. There was the idle chat of work and friends, but it was nothing new for the most part. Sen had gone into a story about a critic who purchased one of her portraits of him. It was rather amusing. This guy was a lady's man, hitting on Sen, and he had mistaken an up close portrait of Kuroudo as a cross-dressing woman. Akabane didn't appreciate the confusion, but he was laughing more than a bit at the man's reaction at hearing the portrait he bought was of a man.

She was going through another tale when Akabane spoke again. "Sen, there's something that I've been meaning to say to you since we've started meeting here." By this point, Sen was lying on the bench and Akabane's back was to the arm of the bench.

Her brow rose. "And what would that be, Kuroudo-san?"

"This bench is incredibly uncomfortable."

Sen started laughing before getting up. "Well, I guess we need to find a more comfortable spot to hang out." She said while he stretched his back.

He chuckled. "Yes. But not before you finish telling me about this undercover news reporter and the ten million he lost." She chuckled, but she continued with her tale. And the night was once again as enjoyable as ever.

Like always.

Well, I haven't tried Get Backers in awhile. I hope you enjoyed this. I'll try to update soon for you. :)