Kenji turned the corner and was faced with a farouche battle. Two more monsters have appeared and the men in black kimonos were losing foothold. One of them was thrown into the sky and landed with a sickening thud behind a wall. Another was picked up and crushed in the beast's hands then thrown back down again. Kenji was shocked. He stood transfixed at the fight when suddenly… 'Rip them apart, Buraddoshīkā!' (The Bloodseeker). The man whom had saved Kenji thrust his sword into the air and it suddenly started to glow and change its shape. Now he was holding three curved blades, or rather three curved blades were now attached to his hand. 'What was that?' said Kenji. 'blood seeker? And why did the sword change its shape?' The man jumped back a few yards and disappeared.

With a flash and a burst of speed he reappeared behind the first hollow and sliced straight through it. For an instant it screamed and then is simply disappeared. No, to be more precise it looked like it dissolved. As if it was burned away by an invisible fire. Without warning the other hollow ambushed him. He managed to deflect one's attack and retaliate against the other. 'Squad regroup!' he called. Yet he realised his squad was lying all around him. Dead. 'Shit!' he exclaimed while parrying another blow from one of the remaining hollow. Kenji looked at them. One was considerably bigger that the other. But they both seemed a lot stronger that there fallen comrade. One looked like a horned beast, like a bull on his hind legs. The other like a gorilla.

'He he, what's the matter shinigami?(Death god/Soul Reaper) Not strong enough?' asked the gorilla. 'Are you afraid?'

'Never!' replied the man. 'I'll never fear your wretched kind!' He charged at them. Kenji couldn't see what was happening. They were moving too fast. Here an instant. Gone the other. Then Kenji heard the one hollow scream. The gorilla reappeared on top of a house clutching the stub that used to be where its arm was. 'Cheeky mongrel,' said the gorilla. 'You'll pay for that!' The man reappeared atop another house. He seemed to be gaining strength. 'Ha! Let's see you keep up with me.' He said. Out of nowhere the bull crashed into him. Sending him flying across the houses and fell some distance away. The hollow gave chase, and Kenji followed after. 'Why am going where it is dangerous?' Kenji said to himself. 'Have I gone insane?'

He found them in a park right around the corner. They had already resumed fighting. The man in the black kimono was bleeding, badly. But the bull looked like he was wounded as well. The gorilla was sluggish but persisted in fighting. They kept going for another 30 odd seconds before the man in the black kimono struck the gorilla through its face. With a deep howl it dissolved into thin air. 'Yes!' said Kenji. He was getting exited for a moment before the bull struck from behind again. The man was now badly injured. But he persisted, and stood back up. He struggled to keep his balance. The bull, slowly advancing towards his prey. Without realising what he was doing Kenji picked up a rock and threw it at the bull like hollow. 'What am I doing?' Kenji thought. The bull turned around and stared at him. 'So, you want to play too?' said the hollow. 'Fine then. The more the merrier.' It got down on all fours and started stampeding towards Kenji. Time seemed to slow down. Before Kenji could react the man in the kimono appeared in front of him and stabbed forward. The two collided, and slid past Kenji and landed in a pile just behind him. Then there was utter silence.

The hollow dissolved and the man was left lying on the ground. Kenji ran towards him. 'Hey are you alight?' Kenji exclaimed, stopping beside the man whom had rescued him. Kenji realised this man was not going to make it. There was blood everywhere. The man looked up and smiled. 'I'm ok, it's just a few scratches.' he said weakly, and coughed up blood. 'Hang in there I'll go get help,' said Kenji. But what help could I get? He realised. This man was a ghost of some kind. Traditional medicine wasn't going to help him much here. 'Hey kid,' the man said and held out his hand. 'Stay out of trouble ok.' Kenji reached for him and grabbed his hand. 'Hey are you going to make it?' Kenji asked. Before the man answer, something strange and terrible happened.

The curved blades dissolved into something that resembled soft sparks that drifted into the air. The man in the kimono, whom had saved Kenji's life, started glowing blue and also slowly disappeared into a cloud of soft spark like particles. 'No,' said Kenji. 'This isn't right. He didn't have to die like that.' Kenji felt saddened by the event. He sat in silence for a few while. He wasn't sure how much time had passed but he realised he had to get home. He got up and started walking. He knew there was nothing that could be done. I did manage to help in some way, he thought. Then the second strange thing happened. Kenji would only later realise that it was on this day that his life really had change… permanently.

Kenji looked up. The particles that had drifted into the air were rotating around him.

'What is going- whoa?' Before he could do anything the particles flew straight into him. Pain struck his body for an instant, and then it was replaced with a soft warm feeling. He wasn't sure why, but to Kenji it somehow felt familiar. He watched as more white particles were absorbed by his body and, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. 'Huh?' said Kenji. 'What on earth was that?' He inspected himself. 'It seems like I'm ok,' said Kenji. 'I wonder if that was supposed to happen. Did it happen because I can see ghosts?' The sound of sirens broke Kenji from his thought and he decided that it wasn't a good idea to hang around. He turned and ran back down the street. He needed to go find his school bag he had dropped and head back home before his parents started getting worried.

Kenji arrived at his house 40 minutes later. His mother was the first to greet him. 'Kenji are you alright?' she said. 'Yes mother I'm fine, why?' replied Kenji. He had decided to play dumb and not know about the incident. 'It's on the news,' said Kenji's mom. 'There was another one of those strange accidents.' She pointed to the television set. 'It was in the area you had to pass through on your way home. I thought something had happened to you when I realised you were late' she continued. 'I got so worried. Where have you been!' Kenji regarded his mother for a quick second and said: 'Mother I'm fine, I had decided to take a long rout today. I was bored of walking the same way home every day and decided to go somewhere else.' Kenji's mother looked relieved. 'Thank goodness for that,' she said. 'Now hurry and go wash your hands. Dinner is almost ready.' 'Sounds good,' said Kenji. He smiled and headed off to his room. 'Seems like thing will go back to normal after all.' Kenji said to himself.

It was the weekend. Kenji was sitting down on a bench near the fair grounds. Kazuki would meet up with him there. It had been 3 days since the incident with the mysterious men in black kimonos and the creatures called hollow. Since then, Kenji had begun to have nightmares. Nightmares about a war, all he could see was fire, chaos and destruction. He also remembers seeing a figure admits the fires. It looked like some animal of sorts but couldn't tell what it was. In truth, the dreams were beginning to scare him.

'What's wrong with me?' said Kenji. 'Was it because of what happened 3 days ago? Did it have something to do with that man whom had dissolved into those particles? Did it affect me somehow?' Kenji sat in silence for a while. He closed his eyes. He tried to shut out the noise of the outside world. 'What were they?' Kenji thought. 'Didn't the gorilla like monster call him something? What was it?' Kenji concentrated harder. His thought kept flashing back to his dreams. Suddenly he remembered it. Shinigami.

'Yes that was what he called him. A shinigami.' Kenji's eyes opened again with a shock. 'Death god,' said Kenji. 'Those who rule over death and guide the spirits of the dead to their final resting place.' None of this was making any sense. He remembered that there had been a discussion on the topic of shinigami in his language class before. It was when they had done a particular poem. The poet had referred to the shinigami as "Soul Reapers". The western equivalent was a "Grim Reaper".

'So that what it was,' said Kenji. 'I saw a shinigami.' He wasn't sure what to think anymore. He wasn't even sure they had existed. 'Hey, how long are you gonna sit and day dream?' Came a voice. There was a sharp pain at the back of Kenji's head. 'Hey, you bastard! Whoa- aagh!' Kenji had jumped backwards from shock and had sent him and the bench he was sitting on tumbling over. Kenji didn't have to look up to know that it was Kazuki.

'What's the big idea? Knocking someone over the head like that.' said Kenji. 'I had called your name twice.' Replied Kazuki. 'You didn't seem to be paying any attention at all.' The two of them where walking through the fairgrounds. They would meet up with other friends on the other side. 'Sheesh, you didn't have to hit so hard you know.' Said Kenji. 'Yeah you are right. I'm sorry.' Kenji looked at his friend, and then smiled. 'Well alright now that that is settled what you want to go do first?'

Kazuki seemed relieved. He had noticed that Kenji had been acting strange lately. He also noticed that he had looked more tired than usual. Whenever he had asked him if he was alright or whether he had been there at the scene of the accident, Kenji would just change the subject or tell him that nothing was wrong. It seemed Kenji was becoming his old self again. Maybe he simply needed a break. School work was getting rough and all.

Kenji and Kazuki were on the train going back to Kazuki's house. The two sat and chatted about what they had done that day and what they were going to do the rest of the weekend. It was getting late. The stars were out. Not too many people were on the train as well. To Kenji, things seemed to become more peaceful. He had hoped that a weekend spent with his friend would help him relax. 'Don't be fooled… something terrible is going to happen.' Said a dark and deep voice. 'What?' said Kenji. 'Who's there?' Kenji looked around but saw nothing. 'What's going on? Are you ok?' Kazuki asked. Kenji realised that Kazuki hadn't heard the voice.

Kenji looked out the window, they were passing over a bridge. Suddenly Kenji and Kazuki where thrown back as the train's breaks kicked in. A few seconds later there was a sound like an explosion, and then a crash. The train jolted and Kenji realised that the train had been derailed. The two of them were thrown into the air. Kenji watched helplessly as solid ground came speeding towards the windows of the cart they were sitting in.

Kenji could feel his own heartbeat. It wasn't fast. It was steady. He reached out, his hands started to glow. He could feel some sort of energy flow through him. The white particles from three days ago appeared before him. He felt it strain him. He felt like was about to pass out. 'Don't worry, returned the voice. 'I won't let anything happen to you or your friend.'