Ch 2: The Meeting.
"Wow, I would have never anticipated it would end like that!" Setsuka said 3 hours later.
"But you read the book! 5 times! How can you not know what's going to happen!" Chris said lightheartedly.
"Well so did you! Actually you read it 9 times," she said smartly back to him.
"No I didn't! I only read it 8 times…" He retorted the last few words trailing away.
"9, 8 whatever same difference, but you cant say that Voldemort's death was going to be so flashy.
"Well I expected as much, I mean its pretty faithful to the book, unlike the others."
"Yea well I'm glad I came, and I'm glad you came with me." She said softly, slowly turning red.
"Well I'm happy to be with you…" he said also turning red.
They stared at each other happily for a few seconds until the laughing of the other moviegoers told them that this was hardly the place.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow Chris?" she said awkwardly turning still redder.
"What? You live a block away from me and you don't want me to walk you home? Well I never!" he said in mock offence.
"No, no it's not that, it's just… I don't want you to go out of your way."
"It's no problem at all Setsuka! I'm happy to do it." He said happily
And with that, they walked out of the movie theater and into the cold winter air.
"Wow, it's a lot colder than I thought it would be." Setsuka said shivering
"Here, let me." Chris said and took off his coat and put it on her.
"No, no please Chris, it's too cold for you to be out in nothing but a t shirt."
"Setsuka, I'm fine, let's just get going."
And they set off into the night, talking about what happened in the movie they saw, without a care in the world, just happy to be with one another, but they had no idea what was going to happen next.
"Here we are, here's my shortcut I always take to get back to the neighborhood," Chris said walking Setsuka over to the alleyway he had taken just hours earlier. "Wow its creepy here in the night." He commented
"Chris, can we go around I'm scared." Setsuka said anxiously
"Don't worry Setsuka, I'm here, no one is going to hurt you while I'm with you, I promise" Chris said staring confidently into her deep hazel eyes.
Halfway through the alleyway Setsuka felt their visitor watching them
"Chris, there's someone here, besides us, don't ask me how I know, I just do," She said practically petrified.
"What? How do you kno-"Chris started to say but was blindsided by a hooded man with a mask. He was burly and muscular, he had a knife in one hand and an insane gleam in his eyes, and he was advancing on Setsuka.
"EEEEEEEKK! Setsuka shrieked and started to run, but she caught sight of Chris still recovering from the reprehensible blow he received, and stopped in her tracks, standing up to this beast of a man, when he got close, Setsuka knew that she was in trouble. He took a swipe at her, she stumbled back and dodged, the man saw his chance and lunged at her but then something caught his eye at the last second,
"Setsuka, I promised no one would hurt you when I was with you. And I intend to keep that promise," Chris said standing in front of her after hurling a huge chunk of asphalt at the man.
"Chris… I don't know what to say… WATCH OUT!" she shrieked at the last second, Chris just barely dodged the knife but not without injury, it cut through his arm, but it wasn't a deep blow.
"Ah!" He gasped, clutching his bleeding arm, "well he got me again, but only by a cheap shot, this guy clearly has a mission with them, this isn't just some raping, this man wanted them dead, but why?
"Chris!" Setsuka yelled but it was too late, the man cut across Chris's leg and then commenced to pummel Chris mercilessly with his enormous fists. "NO! CHRIS!"
"Setsuka, if I don't make it out of this, I want you to run as fast as you can to the police and report that there is a killer loose.
"NO! Chris! Don't talk like that! You will make it through this!"
"Promise me Setsuka, if I die, run! Don't even look back, just run as fast as you can!"
"No Chris I won't abandon you!"
"PROMISE ME SETSUKA!"
"I… I promise…"
And with this Chris put his full attention on the man; he searched for a weak spot, but was disappointed at how huge and muscular this guy was. The man caught Chris across the cheek with a jab and smashed Chris into the wall of a building; Chris crumpled under the shock and collapsed.
"AH! CHRIS!" Setsuka screamed and remembering her promise, began to run. But luck was not on their side; just as she began she tripped and skidded three feet away from where she began. The man loomed above her with superhuman speed, and got ready for the killing blow.
"No… not here… not now… I won't… I won't let you hurt her… I WON'T!" and with this, he got up, but his limbs were weak, he didn't know how he was going to save her, but he would, he wouldn't let her get hurt. Out of the blue, Chris heard this voice in his head, but it wasn't him thinking, it was a feminine voice. It was saying "release your anger. All the anger you have welled up until now. Release it all on the man." And Chris didn't need telling twice. He stared hard at the man. Thinking of all the injustice he had lived through all the anger that welled up inside him for the past 15 years. He felt like he was going to explode, until he heard the voice say "now!" he yelled, Chris yelled and the man was struck by lightning, out of a clear night sky he was struck by lightning and lay sizzling when Chris realized that he did that.
"What…what did you do to him Chris?" she asked staring at the still sizzling body.
"I… don't really know, there was this voice in my head that told me to release my anger at this guy, and I did and it just… happened"
After the shock of the guy being struck by lightning died down, Setsuka ran up crying and gave him a kiss on the cheek and a long embrace. "Chris! I'm so glad your okay!"
"I would put my life on the line, just for you Setsuka." He said back, "but what I want to know is why this guy wanted to kill us. We're just kids, we don't have a lot of money, and I doubt a rapist would go through that much trouble."
"Chris, this man, he has… horns!" Setsuka said stepping back from the body.
"What? So he does! Weird! What do you think it could mean?"
"I think that I can answer that," a feminine voice said from above them.
"What? Who are you!" Chris looked up in astonishment, there sat a girl in Japanese garb and blue hair, sitting on an oar, "and how are you floating in the air!"
"Allow me to introduce myself; I am Botan, the ferrywoman of the river Styx"
"What! You must be nuts! How can you be death? And if you are, how can I see you!
"Well, you, both of you actually, have powers, have either of you ever seen things, things that no one else saw?" Botan asked while floating down next to them
"Well yes actually, when I was a kid I saw monsters, in my closet. But when my mom came in she didn't see anything" Setsuka said
"Ah! There you are, you see demons, they are a special breed of demons, quite harmless actually, that feed on children's fears, but not the children themselves.
"But wait, lots of kids see monsters in their closets, does that mean they have powers too?" Chris inquired
"Well only at a very young age. When children grow to be about 8 most of them lose their sixth sense. But you two are special; you have kept your awareness to the supernatural since birth! And you Chris also show some promise in spiritual strength."
"Are you getting this Setsuka?" Chris asked her
"I think so, but I still don't understand why that man attacked us."
"Ah, I'm glad you brought that up Setsuka, that man isn't really a man, as you already have seen, he has horns. One of the telltale signs of a demon, actually it was kind of a test, I wouldn't have let him kill you; just injure you within an inch of your life. I needed to see whether you had the fortitude to become Detectives of the Spirit World."
"Whoa, detectives? We aren't even out of high school yet! How can we be detectives?" Chris asked taken aback
"Well yes, actually the detective prior to you was your age, actually one year younger when he started being spirit detective. Unfortunately he died six years ago, we hoped that we could handle the demons ourselves but without him, we were soon swamped in paperwork, so we found we NEED a new spirit detective, and originally I was only testing you Chris, but I see Setsuka has some potential too so we are going to draft both of you as partners, but only if you accept of course."
"Setsuka, what do you think?" Chris asked,
"As long as I'm partnered with you" she said before she could stop herself, "I mean it umm... would be an honor! Yea that's it! An honor!"
"Well than its settled, jump on, I'm going to take you to spirit world," Botan said ignoring Setsuka's increasingly red face.
When they were all on the paddle, Botan said "hold on!" Setsuka then without thinking held Chris tight and they both blushed, and then they flew off into the night sky.
