A bus really.
"I don't understand how I am going to do this. Last I checked I am dead." He said running his hands through his hair, trying to sooth him self but failing epically.
"That is why we don't expect you to do this by your self we are giving you Kuga to work with." The kid said smiling evilly at him.
"That's all well and good kid but how am I suppose to get her to work with me? I am dead and as you so eloquently stated clogging a bus radiator. How is she suppose to hear me, see me or even take note that I am there?" He asked becoming more frustrated by the second.
"Well that's already taken care of. Come on we wouldn't give you someone to work with who hasn't had there inner eye opened. Natsuki Kuga is a very observant person she sees into the truth of things she has had to. By the way the name is Nagi and you will call me Nagi. I was here before the human race was thought up so are you ready to do this baby boy?" Nagi said looking at Reito coldly.
Reito swallowed hard, "is there any advice you could give me that may help me get through to her."
"Sure first of watch her for a while get to know the person you thought was unworthy of being loved, and if I were you I would remember all of the ghost movies I had ever seen. No one will be able to see, touch or hear you unless they have their minds eye opened. Lastly well prey she doesn't feel threatened by you." Nagi advised as he stamped some paper work. "We are done here give this to the guard at the shoot and he will direct you to where you need to go."
"How do I get a hold of you, I mean I have already messed up fate enough? I understand that I need to get Shizuru and Kuga together that's the easy part but how do I fix the loose ends for Fumi without messing up fate more?" Reito asked already feeling the weight of this mission.
"Focus on getting Natsuki and Shizuru together then we will talk loose ends. I will get a hold of you for that, after all you're not the only one who has to work on these loose ends."
Reito nodded and left the room with the guards showing him the way to the soul shoot.
'I really hope he takes my advice on that preying bit he wouldn't last two seconds in a fight with Kuga. Huh ah well at least he doesn't have to worry much he is dead already,' Nagi thought to him self with a sigh. "Now all I have to do is find a good bumper soul for Fumi."
Reito followed the directions that the guards gave him and found him self standing at what looked to be a huge toothless mouth complete with a tongue that acted as a red carpet. He handed the papers Nagi gave him to seven foot tall guard standing beside the gaping mouth. He looked the paper work over looked over at Reito and shrugged and stroked the mouth's upper lip. The mouth closed then began to talk.
"Location," the mouth demanded in a booming voice.
"One foot away from subject Duran wolf baby 607," the guard shouted.
"One foot away from subject Duran wolf baby 607," the mouth replied its voice making the room shake.
The guard stroked the mouth's upper lip once more and the mouth opened wide. The guard the walked up to Reito grabbing the scruff of his collar and the back of his pants then hoisting him up and tossed him into the mouth which closed then promptly swallowed.
Reito slid down the shoot head first screaming the whole time. The tunnel was dark and damp but he soon seen a light at the end. He took a deep breath getting ready for another long scream only to find the wind knocked out of him as he landed on a hard wood floor six inches away from a bed that should have its own zip code. Reito lifted him self from the floor and looked into the monstrous bed to find Natsuki Kuga sprawled out and all grown up.
She looked just like she did when they were all in high school, but there was something different about her. It wasn't the fact she was taller or that her chest was now fully developed though both of those things were true. He took a closer look and realized that the difference was he had never seen her asleep it was as if all the harsh seriousness of her expression melted away to a soft innocence in her sleep.
'If Shizuru seen you with this expression, I can under stand why she would be smitten. You are a thing of beauty,' Reito thought as looked on.
Her forest colored eyes snapped open. She growled and went right into attack mode. She went from looking like an angel to snarling like a pissed off demon. She launched her self at him fist clenched ready to pound him into something not to dissimilar to a form of meat putty. For being a dead man his self preservation instincts were still alive and very well.
He dodged the potentially lethal attack and ran for the door and tried to grab the handle only to have it go through his hand. Panicked he ran across the room and kept running to keep his distance from her and she was gaining on him.
'Crap, crap, crap if she catches me I am dead…. Wait a minute I'm already dead,' he thought to him self coming to a dead stop right in front of a wall leading to the hall.
'I finely get to hurt this stuck up prissy puke,' Natsuki thought as she was about to land a blow that would hospitalize any one.
"CRACK!" was the sound that the wall behind him made as the hit Natsuki landed.
"Son of a ….. This is so not right," Natsuki exclaimed trying to remove her now injured fist from the wall it went through.
Reito looked down and smirked to him self, not only did her fist go through him harmlessly it was now stuck in the wall. He side stepped so her arm was no longer going through him, and then cleared his throat.
"Now that we have established that I am already dead so you can't kill me and I can't even touch you can we talk about this?" He asked sarcastically.
"Why in the hell is an investment banker want to be in my room?" She said though clenched teeth as she extracted her fist from the wall.
She looked at her bloody hand and flinched as she
removed a shard of wood that was imbedded between her middle and index fingers.
"This is going to need stitches," she said to her self. She then looked up. "You haven't answered my banker," she said in a calmer tone wondering why this pretentious ass was back in her life, and how in the hell he got in her room.
"So you don't remember me, I am Reito Kanzaki we went to school together," he said in introduction.
"I know who you are you stuck up ass hole but why are you in my house. Oh don't tell me you're playing the part of the ghost of play ground past. You know the last I heard you won and Shizuru Fujino and you were on your way to a happily ever after." She said dispassionately.
"We go married two months ago actually," he said with pride.
"Well I would say congratulations but seeing as I can't kill you because you are already dead my condolences," she said smartly then went to the bathroom to clean her wounded hand and grab the first aid kit.
'What the hell did he die just so he could continue to rub my nose in the fact that he could make her happy and I couldn't.' she thought as turned the tap on.
"I am not finished talking to you Kuga we have some things to discus."
'Like how happy you are,' she thought with a snort as a flash of Shizuru smiling at her crossed her memory. She used her uninjured hand to splash cold water on her face and shake the memory away.
"You're going to have to wait seeing as I don't want to bleed to death hearing you brag about getting the girl."
Reito looked down noticing for the first time the small pull of blood where she had been standing. He looked at her as she exited the bath room with a roll of butterfly tapes, bandages and disinfecting wound wash.
'I wonder how long she has been able to fight like that,' he thought looking at her.
Her white tank top was blood smeared and her blue boxers had splashes of blood on the left side where her wounded left hand had dripped on them. Her body was packed with lean muscle that spoke of a life of hard work.
'That was not the kind of body you could get at a gym,' he thought remembering that she was part of most of the sports clubs in high school.
She walked over to her bed shoulders slumped cradling her hand. She began pulling the edges of the wound together with the butterfly tapes.
"Shouldn't you see a doctor about that?" Reito asked looking at her with worry.
"Sure I will be getting right to that as soon as I find a way to get rid of you, till then these will do fine. To get that started what the hell do you want." She asked distractedly as she bandaged the wound.
"Well that's the rub, I actually need your help, you see…."
"Why should I help a power hungry snob like you? Don't you have enough money to throw at the problem?"
"Shut up poor house and I will explain it to you. Should I use little words so you get it?"
Natsuki laughed, "Now that's rich my standing in class ranking was higher than yours across the board. What I never understood is why you always called me poor house. Never mind that's not important. What the hell do you want me to help you with?"
Reito thought about it and she was right she graduated with honors in both math and science. He gulped and spent the next hour explaining the situation of fate and what they were charged to do fully disclosing his bad in this twisted mess.
Once he was done Natsuki looked at him like he was nuts then looked at her hand then the wall then at him again.
"Okay maybe I do need a doctor; I have done lost my fucking mind. Who am I going to get to take care of Alyssa while I am visit the doctor?"
"I don't know but you do need to have that hand looked to." Reito said feeling worried that she did not really react to the news that the world was going to end unless she helped him.
"It's not my hand that needs to be seen to it's my mind. Why am I talking to you? You are a delusion a trick my mind is playing to tell me that I have lost it."
"You are not crazy, and I am sure there is a way to prove it," Reito said thoughtfully. "Ah! We can prove that I am dead I got hit by a bus the yesterday it should be all over the news by now."
"Proving your dead won't prove that I am not crazy hell that means I see dead people they would still lock me up." She said looking up at him and then smiled a little, "really a bus." 'Serves his self serving ass right to become road kill,' she thought with a small smile.
'Of all the ways to die why did it have to be something she would find amusing,' Reito thought to him self with a sigh.
"Well this isn't finding out if you're really crazy or you just see dead people, and if I failed to say this before we are in this for the world." Reito said face palming.
"Fine," Natsuki said looking at the clock. The glowing green numbers stated it was four in the morning. "Well seeing as I can't just go back to sleep lets go see if you made world news."
Natsuki left her bed room and walked down the wide stair case, which stopped in the sunken living room.
'This is a nice home,' he thought to him self looking around the living room with interest. He first noticed the game consoles were lying out in a messy disarray in front of an entertainment center that even he was drooling over. 'Still likes video games, no change there,' he thought as he continued to look around noticing a dog plushy tossed hap hazard on the over stuffed leather sofa. He studied the well loved plushy seeing that one of the eyes were a blue button the other was black, and it's body was full of patches that screamed hours of rough play with a child. He shook his head and finished assessing the room finely taking note of a huge container of color pencils, colors, markers, erasers and other such things. Next to the container was a stack of work and activity books geared toward children in grades k – five.
"You have kids," Reito exclaimed loudly.
"No I have a five year old little sister that you will wake if you don't keep your voice down," Natsuki said picking up the television remote.
"You do know you are the only one who can see or hear me," he mumbled more to him self than to her.
She turned the TV. on and started flicking through the channels trying to find a news station.
"World news is channel one fifty six if you have the same provider we do."
"You're in Tokyo."
"So it would be channel one twenty six," Reito said.
Natsuki turned to channel one twenty six. "Now for business news. Kyoto had big news for business yesterday as a merger between Fujino incorporated and Kanzaki enterprises was signed," the female anchor said looking straight at the cameras. "On a tragic note after signing the merger Reito Kanzaki was hit by a bus That had been high-jacked on the way to his vehicle saving the thirteen passengers."
"Well at least your death was a good thing for those passengers," she said feeling some what bad for ribbing him over getting hit by a bus.
"It's better than nothing," he said shrugging.
"So now that we know that I am not crazy I just see dead people, what do I need to do to get rid of you?"
"First you need to marry Shizuru, and then we need to settle loose ends with Mai, Mikoto and Fumi."
"Married! You didn't say anything about getting married during that hour long explanation of why the world was going to end." Natsuki said in a panic.
'I can't get married I have the kid to worry about I don't need some one else to worry about, and she didn't want me then why would she want me now? I am over being a play thing for others to mess with.' She thought remembering how Shizuru use to tease her.
"It's the only way to bring our child back into fate's plans." Reito said hating the idea more and more.
"So you want me to marry your knocked up widow?" Natsuki asked falling onto the sofa.
'Great another thing I was right about she never gave a damn about Shizuru,' he thought in disgust.
"I never said that was what I wanted," Reito said glaring at her. "As far as I am concerned you don't even deserve to breathe the same air as she does much less be loved by her."
'Typical wants my help but still sees me as trash.'
"So then why are you asking me to help you?" she asked honestly curious.
"Because it's the only way to insure that everyone I give a damn about gets to live their lives without the world ending, and if there was another way I would take it." Reito said becoming more frustrated. "You know Nagi told me I was less deserving of her than you, and for my peace of mind I hope like hell he was right."
Now that I have chapters one and two revised, with more of the feelings I forgot to put in I will work out chapter three I should have it out this time tomorrow. So please review and tell me how you feel about the revision.