A/N: Bleh. I'll be completely honest when I say that I completely forgot that I had this story to work on these last…err…two weeks. I've been too addicted to Catster and Dogster. XD Woops!

ding ding DBZAngelX wins the prize! Yes, Asu Akiko is Sakku Aiko mixed up! nod nod On top of that, Aiko and Akiko are two of my favorite Japanese names. Hehe…

sweat drops If I ever leave the fic alone for two weeks like that again, please bang me upside the head…or PM me. Knowing how it goes, I'm probably just being forgetful, as usual. It's one of my charming traits.

Many thanks to my six awesome reviewers, Merklin (your review gave me the warm and fuzzies! XD), DBZAngelX, Shadow of dusk, lpgohanfanatic (formally DBZChick 1), SuperSanne, and Gohan'sUltimatepower. Love you guys lots!

Disclaimer: Dragonball Z is owned by Toriyama Akira and Toei Animation. Yuurei's name, Aiko/Akiko, Reizo, and Mijime are my own characters. Don't steal them!

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"AIKO-ONEESAN!"

"AIKO! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Goten whipped up some of his tears. He and Yuurei had been searching for Aiko all morning, but had come up with nothing. The last they had seen the girl, she had been holding a whip, ready to kill him. Goten didn't care that she tried to kill him. He knew that Aiko must have been provoked by something for her to come after him like that…well, he did know she and Yuurei had to take his life eventually, but she had tried to do it prematurely.

Yuurei sighed. "Goten, I don't think she's in this area. Maybe she went to the city? I know she said she wanted to look around Satan City…I think she was still interested in West City, too. I would say that we should split up to cover more ground, but with the way she was acting, I don't want you going anywhere without me."

"Yuurei-oniisan…why would Aiko-oneesan attack me like that?" Goten asked.

A shinigami's JOB was to do stuff like that, that's why. She had no right to try to complete the mission early though.

"You realize that the two of us will have to take your life, right, Goten?" Yuurei said grimly.

"I know. It's your job. I can't get in the way of fate." The child said sadly.

Yuurei looked up in the sky to see a certain Namekujin descending to the ground.

"Look's like Piccolo's here." Yuurei commented.

Goten smiled a bit. "Piccolo-san! What are you doing here?"

"I live out here, kid. What are YOU doing out here so early in the morning?" Piccolo asked, obviously not seeing Yuurei.

Goten sniffed. "Yuurei-oniisan and I are looking for Aiko-oneesan. She stormed off last night."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow…err…the skin where he would have an eyebrow, anyway.

"What?"

Yuurei turned into his plushie form within a puff of smoke.

"Goten, you're terrible at explaining things, so let me take care of this." Yuurei rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Oniisan!"

Yuurei smiled a bit before his face fell into a serious expression again. They needed to find out what Aiko was up to. There was no time to waste.

"Aiko tried to take Goten's life last night. Our job as shinigami is to take the soul from our target and deliver it to Emna…when their time is up, and only when their time is up. She was attempting to take his soul too early. His time isn't up yet. After her failed attempt at getting his soul, she flew away so fast that I couldn't catch up with her. There are only two places I think she could be: West City or Satan City." Yuurei explained.

"So what are you waiting for! Go find her!" Piccolo yelled.

Yuurei winced. "You see…that's the problem. We need to find her quickly. I need to be by Goten's side at all times to make sure Aiko doesn't try to take his soul again. Unless we could split up, we only have luck to depend on when it comes to finding her today."

Piccolo scowled. He didn't want this woman killing Goten. He didn't want to lose another person who was close to him. If he could only see these 'shinigami.' If he could see shinigami, he could look for Aiko in one city while Yuurei and Goten went to the other.

"I can allow you to see shinigami, Piccolo. I'm connected to Emna."

Piccolo growled lightly. "Kami. Don't you know when to leave me alone? When we fused, the deal was that you'd remain quiet."

"All I'm offering is help."

"Why would you want to help your evil half?"

Kami chuckled. "You're not evil anymore, Piccolo. You were purified fourteen years ago."

Piccolo saddened as he thought of his late friend.

"Will you accept my proposal or not, Piccolo? You want to protect Goten, don't you? For him at least."

"Fine." Piccolo gruffly responded.

The mental image of Kami grinned. "I thought you would. Tell G-" Kami paused. He couldn't let Piccolo know who Yuurei really was. If he did, it would make Piccolo try to fight the fate that had befouled Gohan, which could lead to even more chaos. "Tell Yuurei to transform back into his shinigami form. You should be able to see him."

Piccolo looked at Yuurei. "Transform back into your shinigami form."

Yuurei blinked. "Why?"

"Kami, my other 'half,' claims that he's allowed me to see you shinigami. If it's true, you can go search Satan City for Aiko with Goten, and I'll search for her in West City."

Yuurei nodded and grinned as he transformed back into his shinigami form.

Piccolo's eyes widened when he saw Yuurei. It was the same reaction he had when he saw Yuurei in his 'living' form. Despite the dog ears, dog tail, and wings, he still looked so much like Gohan.

"Judging by the look on your face, I'd say you can see me." Yuurei said.

Piccolo nodded. "I can see you. What's this Aiko look like? I at least need a description so I can locate her."

"She's wearing a knee length, sleeveless, red dress, has a red hair band in her hair, is wearing boots, has long, blonde hair, blue eyes, cat ear, cat tail, wings... She's neither tall nor short. She's pretty much in-between. I think that's about it." Yuurei explained while rubbing his chin.

"I'll go look for her." Piccolo glared at Yuurei a bit, and was somewhat shocked when Yuurei didn't flinch or show any sign of fear like most people, even Goku, did.

"You swear to protect Goten, right?" Piccolo asked.

"Of course!" Yuurei grinned as he and Goten lifted off the ground to fly to Satan City.

Piccolo also lifted off the ground and just stared at the pair for a second before shooting off towards West City.

Yuurei laughed a bit. "Ja, Piccolo-san!" The shinigami felt like those words had rolled off of his tongue many times before. There was so much about Piccolo that seemed somewhat familiar to Yuurei.

"Are you ready to go, Yuurei-oniisan?" Goten asked.

Yuurei smiled as he ruffled Goten's hair a bit. "Yeah. Let's go."

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"I'm such an idiot, Reizo-kun." Aiko sighed as Reizo stroked her hair.

Reizo grimaced. He hated it when Aiko got all pessimistic. Aiko was the kind of person that was just meant to always be optimistic.

"You're not an idiot, Ai-chan. Everyone makes mistakes. Every shinigami was once alive, and every shinigami's life ended in the same way: suicide. I know how you feel! I've had to live with my memories the whole time I've been a shinigami!"

Aiko sighed. "I wish I could go back to being so blissfully ignorant. Not remembering my life as Akiko…"

"I wish I didn't have to remember my life either, Aiko."

Aiko glared. "I wish I would become a ghost. It would end my pain."

"It's because of the fact that you want to become a ghost that you won't become a ghost. Not only that, but you're a full shinigami. It would be tough for you to become a ghost." Reizo tilted her head up so she would look at him. "I don't want you to become a ghost, Aiko. I don't think Yuu-kun wants you to become one either."

"I have to go back there."

"No you don't. If you don't want to go back there," Reizo paused, "I'll do your job and take that kid's life."

Aiko's eyes widened. "Reizo…!"

"Sssh!" Reizo brought his fingers up to her mouth. "We won't tell Master. Do you not want to go back to Earth?"

"No…I don't want to go back." Aiko responded honestly.

Reizo smiled sadly. "I'll be back, Ai-chan. I'm going to end your suffering by taking the load or your current target off your shoulders."

Aiko nodded as Reizo disappeared.

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"Where is she?" Yuurei growled.

Goten continued looking around the city. "Be patient, Oniisan! We'll find her eventually!"

Yuurei sighed. Why did Aiko have to go and be such a pain? What had provoked her to attack Goten, anyway? It was uncalled for!

"This city's really big, isn't it, Yuurei-oniisan?" A few people stared at Goten like he had grown two heads. After all, they couldn't see Yuurei, and to them, it looked like Goten was talking to thin air.

"Aw! How cute! He must have an imaginary friend!" One woman commented to her companion, who rolled his eyes. Goten sweat dropped. "Why are people so weird, Yuurei-oniichan?"

"They can't see me, Goten." Yuurei laughed. "Don't tell me you forgot already!"

Goten blushed. "Oh yeah… Sorry, forgetfulness is in my jeans…though I'm not wearing any jeans! I'm so confused…"

"It's GENES, Goten. G-E-N-E-S. Genes. Not jeans"

Goten just blushed even more as he and Yuurei walked through the city.

"I miss Aiko-oneechan."

Yuurei sighed. "I miss her, too. I never would have thought I'd say that, either."

At that moment, Yuurei's eyes widened as he saw a blur of what looked like Aiko rush into the alley behind him. Forgetting about Goten momentarily, Yuurei ran into the alley after her.

"AIKO!" Yuurei looked around in the dark alley to see no one. Only a few mice eating some food that someone had left.

"Damn it! Where'd she go!"

Goten tried to find Yuurei. He had lost the shinigami in the crowd of people, and since Yuurei didn't have a ki, he couldn't try to search him out that way.

"Yuurei-oniichan!" Goten saw a person who looked like Yuurei, on the sidewalk across from him, and without even looking, crossed the street.

The next few moments went in slow motion for Goten. The truck's horn boomed through the air, as Goten fell into a coughing fit from his cancer. The child weakly looked up to see that the truck wasn't stopping. At that moment, Goten thought that his life was gone for sure.

It was at that moment that he felt himself be picked up into someone's arms, as the person jumped to the sidewalk, scrapping his or her back on the cement.

"Ow!" A female voice said. "Are you okay, kid?"

Goten looked up to see his savior. The girl had long black hair that was tied in two pig-tails and sapphire eyes. She didn't appear to be too tall. She was wearing an overlarge white t-shirt along with biker shorts and green fighting boots.

"I'm okay. Thanks for saving me, lady!"

The girl smiled. She may have been a grouch to most people, but she loved children.

"It's no problem. That's my job!" She proudly stated. "My name's Videl, by the way."

"GOTEN!"

Both Videl and Goten looked up to see Yuurei flying towards them. Videl gaped. How in the world was that guy flying?

Yuurei grabbed Goten and pulled him in for a hug. "I'm so sorry, Goten! I shouldn't have left you like that!"

"It's okay, Oniichan. I know you were worried about Aiko-oneechan." Goten pulled away from the embrace and looked at Yuurei. "Did you find her?"

"No. I could have sworn I saw her!"

"Ahem!" Yuurei and Goten both looked up to see Videl glaring down at them. "What exactly is going on here?" She put her arms on her hips and walked up to Yuurei. "How can YOU fly? What's with the ears, tail and wings, anyway?"

Videl rubbed Yuurei's cat ears. The shinigami blushed. What was she doing? How could she see him, anyway?

"What's this universe coming to?" Yuurei held his head in his hands. "Another person can see shinigami now."

Videl's eyebrow twitched. "Shi..ni…gami? A GOD OF DEATH?"

"Calm down! You look like a real idiot right now, you know!" Yuurei yelled. "To everyone here, you're yelling at thin air!"

Videl glanced at a few people around her to see them looking at her like she was insane.

"It looks like Mr. Satan's girl has finally lost it!"

"I don't care if she's crazy, she's still hot and I'll make her my girlfriend!"

"Who's Videl-san talking to, Momma?"

Videl glared. "SHUT UP!"

Everyone immediately did just that, but continued staring at Videl.

"STOP STARING!"

"Right, Videl-san!" They all said at the same time, as they went back to their business.

Videl sighed. "I must be going crazy. Seeing ghosts? Sheesh!"

"Stupid, I'm not a ghost. I'm a shinigami. Ghosts are pitiful souls that just wander the universe pointlessly.. I have a purpose!"

Videl just continued glaring at the shinigami before she lightly snorted.

"What's your purpose? Killing people? That's what books on mythology describe shinigami as doing."

Yuurei glared. "I'm keeping the universe in balance by doing that!"

"Videl-oneechan! Yuurei-oniichan!" Goten cried. "Stop arguing! I'm hungry!"

Videl sighed. "Listen, kid, I may have saved you, but I've got a life, too, you know."

Goten began to lightly cry. Soon, it changed from light sniffles to an all out bawl.

"WAAAAH! ONEECHAN'S SO MEAN!"

Videl gulped. "Okay, okay! I'll get you ice cream! Is that good enough?"

Goten happily nodded, happy that his "make-people-pity-me" attack had worked.

As Videl and Goten walked off to get ice cream, Yuurei looked up to see Reizo sitting on top of a building.

"You." Yuurei sneered. "You have Aiko, don't you?"

Reizo smiled. "So what, Yuu-kun? She came with me willingly."

Yuurei just growled.

"Not only that, but she asked me to exterminate that child in her place." Reizo smirked.

Yuurei clenched his fists in anger. "You tried to kill Goten today, didn't you?"

"Maybe so. The pleasures of illusions. I appeared as Aiko to throw you off, then I went over to Goten and appeared as you, so he'd cross the street right when that truck was coming. If only that girl hadn't have gotten in the way. I may have to kill her if she interferes next time."

"Reizo…" Yuurei clenched his fists even harder. "REIZO!"

Yuurei sped towards the shinigami, but hit some kind of barrier.

"Uh uh! No hurting a fellow shinigami, Yuurei! Just left me have Ai-chan, and I'll leave you alone."

"Never!" Yuurei yelled, as he tried to get through the barrier.

"Shinigami-san?" Videl called, as she held her cone of ice cream, as well as Yuurei's.

"Ja, Yuu-kun. I'll see you next time!" Reizo said as he disappeared.

"He got away…" Yuurei sighed.

Videl looked up at the shinigami, noting how sad he looked.

"What happened between you and that guy? Who's this 'Ai-chan?'" Videl asked as she handed him his ice cream.

Yuurei contemplated over whether he should tell the girl the whole story or not, but somehow he felt like he could trust her. It wasn't like she could do anything to harm him or Goten, anyway.

"Let's sit down. I'll explain then. It's a rather long story." The shinigami blushed lightly as he held out his free hand to her. "Oh yeah. My name's Yuurei."

Videl shook his hand. "I'm Videl. Nice to meet you."

Yuurei smiled. "Let's go talk."

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A/N: I had absolutely no creativity while writing this, so I hope it's bearable. Yes, Videl will play a role in the fic. Don't like it? Don't read it. Sorry if there are a few errors. I didn't have time to thoroughly proof read the chapter, since I need to be at school in a few minutes. Eh he...

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