Chapter 10 everyone! This is the start of the "Find Ryuichi" arc. I hope you all enjoy.

Episode 7: The 13th day part 1

Hiro's Apartment

"Okay Hiro, what's this 'really interesting thing' that you wanted me to rush over here for?" The slayer asked. Hiro was going to explain it to him as if he didn't already know the deal but after peering at the newspapers with headlines about the missing former slayer, he had an idea that Shuichi already knew. But he decided to tell them anyway.

"Shuichi, I'm not sure if you found this out on the news, but Ryuichi Sakuma is missing and has been missing for nearly two weeks now with no one seeing or hearing from him. Sure there were countless sighting according to the police department but many of the leads they had were dead ends. Now I know what you two are thinking: why am I talking to you about this? Well that's because you know since you have a knack for finding what's missing Shuichi, maybe we could search for Ryuichi Sakuma ourselves. It's said that anyone who finds him gets a 100,000 yen reward."

"100,000 yen, are you serious?!"Both Shuichi and Ken asked simultaneously. Wow! They thought. Ryuichi bust have been a little more well-known than they initially thought. The price seemed right and in Shuichi's mind, so did the adventure. That is, if he could go through with it without getting caught again.

"That seems like a great Idea Hiro except we're both still grounded and I'm still Maa's slave until summer vacation starts." Shuichi whispered to his friend. "Besides, shouldn't we just leave this kind of stuff to the police?"

Hiro then began to explain more about the situation and the case of the missing slayer turned out to be much more of a mystery than Shuichi or any of the monks initially thought.

"The police haven't found even one trace of since last week. In fact even a few of the officers on this case went missing, too. Because of that we should be careful not to be part of that statistic." He continued.

"There's one more problem." Shuichi started to point out while still whispering. "Ushio has me on the graveyard protection agency tonight and I don't think I'll be able to get out of it."

"That's why we'll be starting our search right now!" Hiro exclaimed. "This afternoon we will begin our search for Ryuichi Sakuma!"

While Ken wasn't really paying attention to what exactly they were whispering about he could tell that it was possibly another hare-brained scheme that they had come up with that he would somehow get dragged into. This would be his first time being along for the ride of Shuichi and Hiro's misadventures. Oh, if he only knew what kind of crazy antics he was getting himself into with these boys.

And so the search for Ryuichi began and not to the best start. The trio ended up missing the crosstown bus and it wouldn't be coming for another twenty minutes. Not to mention they had hardly any clue where to start looking for the missing man. Shuichi thought about asking his new watcher or one of the monks but knew that if he did, he would land in a lot of trouble. They had to start across town where according to K; there was a lot of vampire activity. If only they were able to catch the bus before, then the search would have gone more smoothly. Unbeknownst to the boys, something wicked would be approaching Tokyo after sunset. Something so wicked that no mere mortal, not even a vampire slayer would be safe from.

It was Friday the 13th. According to Shuichi's lessons, every Friday the 13th was the harvest; A time when swarms of vampires would appear after dusk and prey on hundreds if not thousands of humans all over the world. What was different about this year's harvest was who was leading it. Many harvests up to that point were led by "nobody" vampires who could very easily be defeated even by a rookie slayer. This time, the grim reaper of slayers himself was in charge which made things even more morbid for the unsuspecting mortals in the city.

After waiting in boredom for twenty minutes the crosstown bus finally came and the trio was able to start their mission. Well, Shuichi and Hiro saw it as a mission and Ken was just along for the ride. He had no knowledge of vampires or any supernatural being of any kind. Shuichi was hoping to keep it that way at any cost. Even if it meant doing something to erase his memory of what he may see.

"Shindou, I don't think this is a good idea." Ken stated. "Taking the law into our own hands might end up getting us all killed. You sure you wanna keep this up? I mean is a big reward really worth practically committing suicide?"

"This isn't about the money!" Shuichi exclaimed. "Well, maybe it is for Hiro but not me. You see I…sort of know Mr. Sakuma and I want to make sure he's okay."

"Maybe, but I still think we should turn back. I don't know about you, but I heard on the news recently that people have been seeing monsters in that part of town and many people have been turned into those monsters after being bitten. I don't know whether it's true or not but I'm not taking any chances with my life. Some of us would like to have a 18th birthday thank you!" Ken explained and ranted. Shuichi began to realize that when it came down to it, he was putting his life on the line for very selfish reasons. Even if he doesn't want to be a slayer, this would be his first official yet unofficial duty as a vampire slayer: Finding and rescuing Ryuichi alive and protecting his classmate and crush.

"Ken, I know that somehow, everything is going to work out." He reassured his worried friend.

"I hope for god's sake you're right." Ken replied as he leaned against Shuichi. 'There's been a lot of weird stuff happening and I don't want you getting mixed up in it. And I really don't want you ending up like Taki.

The bus ride continued in a seemingly normal fashion. The bus was heading across town and passengers went on and off as per usual with every other bus ride but something seemed very wrong about this bus ride to Hiro. He signaled the stop for the East Shibuya station but it didn't stop there. At first he thought that maybe the driver forgot and mistakenly sped past the stop but then he signaled more stops and the bus kept moving eventually he saw that the driver had even started running red lights. He got up and tried to find out just what was going on.

"Hey, driver, I pulled that lever and you didn't stop at all. And you just ran a few red lights. What's up with you?!" When Hiro peered into the driver's window, he saw no one there. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Two minutes later the bus driver reappeared but this time he looked a bit different. His body was transparent and he had an incredibly disturbing grin on his face. He turned to the red haired boy with that ever so unsettling grin.

"This ain't no ordinary bus, child." He answered. Hiro's eyes widened and he realized they were in deep trouble ocean deep trouble!

"You and your buddies have climbed aboard the spirit bus. And you're all on a one way trip to the deepest depths of HELL!" Suddenly with that last word, his voice got much creepier and more sinister. Those very words that the teen just heard made chills go down his spine and hairs stick up from the back of his neck. The trio unwittingly started their search on a ghost bus! On top of that, their destination wasn't a pleasant one either. The bus sped up exponentially, phasing through other vehicles including an eighteen wheeler. Shuichi and Ken woke up to the many bumps that the ghost bus was plowing over. They soon saw Hiro, frozen in fear from what he realized was happening.

"N-Nakano, What's up with you?" Ken asked.

"Hiro, is something wrong?" Shuichi questioned.

"G-Guys, we need to s-stop this b-bus, now!" Hiro stammered in fright.

'Stop the bus? What is he-'Before the rookie slayer could finish his thought he saw that the driver as well as a few of the passengers were transparent and the bus appeared to run one red light after another. That was when it hit him, sort of.

"Ahhh! We're on a hijacked bus!" Shuichi shouted in panic. Hiro punched his friend upside the head and then pulled him closer to tell him the real situation.

"No, you idiot, this is a ghost bus and we're heading straight for hell unless you find a way to stop this thing!"

'Ghost bus? I remember Taki said something about that a month ago but I didn't believe him. I should have though; if I did then he wouldn't have died the way he did. Now I'm in this mess,too! Ken thought to himself.

"G-G-Ghost…AHH!" Shuichi panicked even more after hearing that. The poor boy could barely handle vampires but he was even more terrified of ghosts. The bus kept speeding through the city passing through every other vehicle that was in its way until it eventually sped into a tunnel. Time was running out for our heroes!

Meanwhile, back in Shuichi's neighborhood, Maa was waiting for his old nemesis and the new leader of the upcoming harvest, Yuki. Tonight would be the night that he would finally have his revenge for the torture that Yuki put him through years ago. He would have revenge for the friends that were killed by this creature of the night. He would have revenger for the months he spent in captivity and was at Yuki's mercy. He hoped he would get that revenge one day. Little did he know, he would be greeted not by Yuki, not by a swarm of vampires but by an old friend believed to be long gone from this world.

"Maa, it's been forever since I've seen you." A familiar voice greeted. The blond couldn't believe who it was!

"Taki, but you're dead! Wait, You're one of them now aren't you?" Maa asked. The teen then bared his sharp teeth. It was true, Taki really was one of them.

"Right you are, old friend." He answered. Before he could make any sudden moves he was hit with a bag containing holy water. It was only enough to stun him and buy the living teen a short period of time to fight back. He was able to keep Taki Down for a bit, leaving him nearly immobile and semi-conscious.

"I suspected as much…"

And there is chapter 10 everyone. I hope you all enjoyed I'll see you next week.