Chapter 1: A Chance Meeting
Fal's hazel eyes opened slowly as the alarm clock beside her bed went off. She was shivering, not from the cold, but from the night that had invaded her dreams yet again. The memories of it weren't complete. It confused her greatly. She forced herself to sit up, then to her feet before turning off the alarm. Her eyes scanned the room as if she expected someone to be in it.
It's been so long since that night though, she thought to herself as she walked to the tiny washroom that hardly deserved that name. The room was grubby, the person before her had let tons of grim and grit build up until it was at the point that it couldn't be cleaned no matter how hard she tried. Fal reached into the shower and turned the knob that controlled the water. She made sure not to put it too far into the hot section, otherwise it'd burn her. As she waited for the water to warm she brushed her hair to get out the knots.
Fal slipped into the water quietly, enjoying the warmth. She nearly shrieked when it became icy against her skin. Jumping out, she hammered on the wall snapping at the person in the neighbouring apartment. She had been lucky enough to finish washing her hair when the water had gone cold. Fal turned it off not wanting to raise her water bill too high.
Her hazel eyes went to the mirror as she wrapped a towel around her slim body. Fal's hair was darker than it usually was, from the moisture, it was typically a brown, her skin was a creamy sort of gold that was darker than most people's in the island country, and white scars stood out against the skin plainly. Dragging her eyes away from her reflection she started to dry off then went to get dressed. She glared at the door when someone started pounding on the wood.
"Give me a moment you two!" She said at the door knowing who was waiting on the other side of the thin wood.
"Well then, hurry up! Remember, we were going to go get breakfast today?!" Shiro called back and leaned against the door waiting for Fal. He wasn't alone, Tekuto Akia was with him, and both were friends of hers.
"I'm hurrying!" Fal snapped back. Several seconds later she yanked the door open, sending Shiro falling into her apartment.
"Hey!"
"You should know better than to lean on doors."
Shiro was silenced by that. Fal stepped over him and watched as he got up; as soon as he was out of her room she closed the door then locked it. Shiro's light hair that was a bit purplish was messy from the fall backwards that he hadn't been expecting. His red eyes closed tightly when he rubbed the back of his head, "Man, I think I bumped by head pretty badly."
"It's your own fault," Fal grumbled but looked up at Shiro once she stepped behind him to see if it was that bad, "it appears just to be a bump, but I can't tell too well, you're too tall." she sighed.
"Why don't we get going, if it's too bad to stop Shiro from eating then we can be worried." Tekuto said. He was a bit worried but he knew that it was probably nothing serious so he didn't let that worry show overly. His silver eyes looked around the hallway, it was empty besides them.
Fal looked at the two guys then nodded before leading the way out of the apartment block that they all lived in, "So you guys weren't going to starve while waiting?" she asked.
"We thought we were going to you took so long." Shiro grumbled.
Fal sighed exhaustedly, "Food. Is that all you can think of?!"
"Girls. You forgot girls." Shiro stated.
"You keep talking like that and no girl will want to go out with you, especially that Akira one you've been talking about."
"You keep hanging around with us all the guys will think you're taken. When are you going to get yourself a boy Fal?"
Silence was the answer. She didn't even hear the question. Fal had frozen when a shadow passed over their heads and the heads of the others in the large crowd they had joined after leaving the apartment block. Shinigami. Her body shivered, it doesn't matter, it's probably just the Residential Shinigami, Fal stop worrying yourself, she thought to calm herself.
"Hey, Fal, you coming?" Shiro said to her, somewhat loudly. He was getting impatient. His eyes had narrowed when he had also noticed the Shinigami. He didn't like them at all. It seemed that Tekuto was the only one not to notice the shadow, though even he had.
Fal blinked then snapped out of it, "Huh? Oh yeah... Coming!" she said then ran after her friends.
"Ah, I'm so full I can't eat another crumb!" Shiro's voice rang out in sheer bliss.
"I don't think we could afford another crumb." Tekuto and Fal laughed.
"Looks like that bump on your head wasn't so bad after all, huh Shiro?"
"Shut up!"
The laughter died away was they noticed the price on the bill. It was expensive. "Um guys, think we should split it?" Fal asked. None of them would be able to afford it themselves and still manage to pay their bills and rent.
"Wow, yeah, we should." Tekuto said as he picked up the bill and looked at it. He started to figure out how much each person would have to pay. He then stated it to the others and got his portion out.
Fal's head moved in a slight nod. Her eyes closed and she tried to think of how much money she had to spare. Already she was almost done with the amount she had just earned and she needed to get a few things for herself and her falcons. She had a lot of the birds, many more out of the country, after having them for awhile they started to breed and she had more than she could handle. I should sell some of them, she thought, at least then I'd have some more money. She'd rather sell them than release them. She sighed; she didn't have time to worry about that.
"Fal, earth to Fal! Come in Fal... Falon!" Shiro said waving a hand in front of her face as he spoke. It was only her part that they were missing for the bill.
"We need your part so we can leave." Tekuto provided when he saw how confused Fal looked. "You've been zoning out on us lots today, what's with that?"
"Oh, sorry." Fal muttered then got her share out of her wallet and set it out on the table, "That should cover my part. What do you mean Tekuto? I'm not zoning out on you I swear!" she said. She knew that she had been zoning out on them often so far and it wasn't like her too.
"Yes you are. Never mind, you're too stubborn to answer if you didn't answer the first time. Where should we go now?" he asked.
"The mall?" Fal muttered the question quietly.
"Alright, can we make it quick though?" Shiro asked.
"You just want to be quick so you can try to catch Akira's attention. Why don't you just ask her out already?" Fal hissed a bit.
"Because I'm not sure if she actually notices me that much." Shiro sighed; he wanted to be sure that he wouldn't be turned down if he asked.
"Ask. Getting turned down might be good for you. Don't avoid risks." Fal muttered then stood up. She noticed that Tekuto had gathered the money and had gone to pay at the till.
"I don't see you asking any boys out, why's that?" Shiro asked wanting to get the conversation off of him not being able to get himself to ask the girl he liked out.
"Because I don't like any of the guys that I know."
"You play for the other team or something?"
"Yeah right. You know I've dated a few guys. My mind is just on other things right now Shiro. I don't want to put up with this kind of thing right now."
Tekuto came back and looked confused, since he had missed most of the conversation he didn't understand what was going on at all. "Should we leave?" he asked. Both Shiro and Fal nodded before leaving the restaurant, they started to head for the mall.
Standing on a high roof, dark blue eyes surveyed the area he was supposed to be in charge of. Brown hair was being moved from the wind rather quickly, it didn't seem to bother the man though.
"Damn it, why me of all people?" he asked himself out loud before he jumped off.
~ ~ ~ ~
The mall was a busy place, crowded with people either going one way or the other. It was just as packed as the sidewalks were outside, yet Fal managed to get to where she wanted to go easily. She hated crowds, but she knew how to navigate them-it had taken her forever how to learn to do so.
Both Shiro and Tekuto had gone off on her. Tekuto had noticed that his girlfriend was working and near her break so he had gone off to hang out with her. The girl was small, friendly, blonde, and had a good personality. Fal liked her, she was even gladder that she liked Tekuto's eyes. She had seen Tekuto go out with some girls who's only intentions were to get even more people to make fun of his eyes. Shiro had seen Akira walking around in the mall and had gone to join her. Of course, both guys had told her and said that they were sorry. She didn't care, she was just glad that they were out of her way, sometimes they were annoying to shop with.
Fal stepped into a kimono store, mostly just for her own curiosity and want to visit a friend, she loved the way the kimonos looked. She could even afford one though, even with her being a friend of the owner's. She had shown up there many times to admire the silky clothes that she had befriended the owner. When she entered today the woman smiled lightly.
"Why hello there Fal! How're you today?"
"Good you?"
"Excellent now that I have someone to talk to."
"I've just come to look again." Fal's eyes went from the woman to some of the kimonos that were hanging up. She walked over to them and ran her hand over the embroidery. She had been taught how to make them a long time about, but out of practice she wasn't sure if she'd be able to any more. She had been tempted to try again sometime soon but she never had enough money to be able to buy the things that she'd need to do so. She did have some very old things left and she had one kimono that she had made but it was rather simple in design, unlike the ones that she was looking at now.
"I figured that, all you do is look when you come into here unless there's a sale then you might buy something but normally all you do is look." The woman said.
Fal's lips twitched into a smile, "I don't have enough money to spend on one of these pretty things, no matter how much I'd love to get one. My old one is plain, but it's still good for use." She said.
They talked for awhile longer until Fal left to go to other stores; she stopped by many but never walked out with a purchase. The only store that she game out of with some bags was the grocery store, even then she didn't have much. She went home to put the food away, carefully winding her way through back alleys so the bags wouldn't be pummelled in the crowds on the sidewalks.
When Fal got home she put the groceries away before going into her fridge where there were some pieces of wild meats. She got a fair bit of what was left then left her apartment to go to where she kept her falcons. Fal stepped into the shed that she was allowed to keep her falcons in and gave them the meats. She then called a few to her and told them to go out and hunt, she knew that they'd come back so she wasn't worried about them flying away on her. She let the ones that she had told to go hunt out before opening the window for them to use to get back in. She left to go have a nap in her apartment. Hopefully this nap won't be restless like last night's sleep, she thought.
Despite her hopes the nap was just as bad, the same dream intruded on her once again. If this keeps up I won't be able to function in the day, she thought she knew that it would be rather bad if that happened. She couldn't just rely on her falcons to feed her; she needed more than just wild meats to survive. She needed a place to hide, a life to live to make her hiding place harder to be found. She couldn't be found.
Fal got out of bed then got herself ready to go out for a walk. She believed that it'd help her clear her mind. Leaving the room she turned off the lights then locked the door. She went out of the apartment quickly then started running through the streets-taking the emptiest ones she could find-it was like she believed that she could outrun her own thoughts and memories that were after her sanity.
Fal slowed when her sides and chest started to hurt. Hands on her knees she tried to breathe properly, damn it, I'm so weak in this form, she thought to herself. She hated it. Slowly she went into the park and found a place that was grassy and empty of others. Her body started to take her through intricate patterns of movement. It didn't help her aching torso at all, but it did help her mind to begin to find some peace. For now.
He had been sitting up in a tree, staring at his cell phone when a girl ran under and started to more in strange patterns that he didn't recognize. It was interesting, the most interesting thing all day. She doesn't seem to have any spirit energy, man, humans are so strange! He thought, he didn't recognize the girl at all, and he didn't care to.
Fal collapsed on the ground when she was done, her sides and chest rising up and down frantically as she tried to breathe. It was even harder than after the running. I should probably get up and walk... that's better than laying here trying to breathe again, she thought. Deciding to do that Fal forced herself to get up and start to walk, out of the sight of the pair of eyes that she hadn't realised had been on her the entire time.
She wandered the streets as her breath came back. Gladdened when it returned she didn't try to break into a run once again. She knew that it'd lead to the same winded state once again. The scent of rustic blood began to tickle at her nostrils. It had taken her awhile to notice it but when she did it was all that she could smell. Wh-what the hell?! She thought and tried to calm her beating heart. The scent vanished as soon as it had come. She knew that there was no blood around her; she had been looking frantically around for it so she could see the cause. There had been no crimson, sticky liquid visible. Eyes still scanning around the area Fal continued walking, shivering as she hoped that that wouldn't happen once again.
Nearly half an hour later it did. Not just her smell this time, but also her sense of sight and touch. She shuddered when she started to lose herself. The people around her started to fall down to the ground. Dead. And bloodied. She heard screams echoing in her ears too. It drove her crazy. S-stop… she thought and looked up at the moon, she started to run, picking roads that had no bodies in them.
The man that had been watching Fal in the park walked down the road, he was visible to humans now. He looked up at the sky and sighed, annoyed, he didn't like this mission at all. I'm in the eleventh division, why the hell am I here doing thirteenth division work?! He thought to himself as he kept walking. He nearly fell over when a girl ran into him. He caught her in his arms on reflex.
"Hey, what are you doing?! Watch it!" he snapped. He was hardly in the mood to be assaulted by a human. His eyes widened when he saw the girl's hazel eyes, "Hey, you're the girl that was at the park…" he whispered, now that he was this close to her he could feel the spirit energy that she was hiding. He recognized the spirit energy she was hiding too; it was that of someone he knew from a long time ago.
"Fal?"
Fal looked up into the man's dark blue eyes. She looked at the messy brown hair that he hadn't seemed to have brushed that day. Her eyes widened when she recognized him for whom and what he was. "Ryoichi…?" she whispered.
"Fal… I…I thought you were dead."
