The next morning, Terazuma was surprised to see his clothes folded up nicely inside of a bag beside his desk. He made a mental note to thank Kurosaki next time he saw him- he knew Tsuzuki wouldn't have bothered to wash and nicely fold them. Not even a minute after he sat down, Tatsumi appeared in the doorway.

"Terazuma, Kannuki, the Chief has a case for you and would like you both to meet him in his office."

"We haven't had a case in a while." Kannuki said as she and Terazuma made their way to Chief Konoe's office.

Terazuma nodded. "Yeah, but it will be nice to get out there and do something again. I'm tired of sitting around doing paperwork all day. And you know how Kuroshungei is, he gets restless if I don't call on him for a while."

Once they reached the Chief's office, the pair took a seat.

"Terazuma, Kannuki," Konoe started, "to get right to the point, there is a young woman on the Kiseki who is still alive, and a young man who is also on the Kiseki but still roaming the world of the living."

"Are the two cases related?" Terazuma asked.

Konoe nodded. "Yes. They were to be wed. The man was murdered, but never showed up at Meifu. A Shinigami was sent to retrieve him, but he has gone into hiding and refuses to move on. The woman, as you can imagine, is heartbroken. She has lost the will to live. While she has attempted suicide via drug overdose, she was rescued by family and brought to the hospital."

Kannuki frowned. "That's so sad..."

"We're Shinigami, Kannuki. Of course our missions are sad."

"I guess that's true..." Kannuki sighed.

Konoe passed a folder of papers to Terazuma. "Here is all the information you need on the case."

Opening the folder, Terazuma took a look at the three pictures paper-clipped to the inside front cover of the manilla folder. The first was of a beautiful young woman. Her auburn hair cascaded down to her waist, and there was a sparkle in her blue eyes that could belong only to somebody who was loving life. She had an average build, though she was quite clearly not an average person.

The second picture featured the man they were looking for. He was a handsome, dark-haired and dark-eyed man. He was a bit muscular, but had a playful grin on his face, as if he had just been jokingly teasing somebody.

The final picture was of the two together. They were standing in front of their house, arms around each others' waist, her head resting on his shoulder. They both wore radiant smiles, seemingly as happy as could be with each other. They looked like they didn't have a care in the world, and the girl looked far from the type that would commit suicide. A tragic end to a soon-to-be happy couple.

Terazuma looked over the address of the woman, then closed the folder. "Is that all, Chief?"

"As long as you don't have any more questions, yes."

With that, Terazuma and Kannuki were dismissed, and headed back to their office to get things ready to go.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well, the girl should be easy to find, but I don't know about the guy." Terazuma said as he and Kannuki were making their way to the house of the woman, Arai Aimi.

"What do you mean? He'll be right with his fiancé."

Terazuma raised an eyebrow. "He's trying to avoid being brought to Meifu. It would be foolish of him to stay around her, he'd get caught instantly."

"Oh, Hajime, you don't understand." Kannuki said, shaking her head. "Why do you think he doesn't want to be caught? He doesn't want to leave her. Of course he's going to hang around her, he is just going to be careful not to be seen by anyone he deems suspicious. If he gave the other Shinigami the slip, he must be able to sense spiritual powers to a degree, which isn't unlikely since he is no longer alive himself."

Terazuma thought about it for a moment. That did make sense. "But she's trying to kill herself. It must be hard to him to witness that."

"I'm sure it is torture for him. But, that could be why she wasn't able to properly overdose. He somehow alerted whatever family was around, they found her and took her in."

"How can you figure all this out so easily?"

Kannuki smiled. "Simple. They are in love."

Terazuma shook his head. When Kannuki explained it like that, it made so much sense. He figured it was a girl thing, because he himself would have never thought of it like that. If it was as easy as Kannuki made it sound, they'd be back in Meifu in no time. He just wished he was allowed to chase down the murderers. Unfortunately, it was against the rules as a Shinigami to interfere.

It wasn't long before they had located Aimi's parents house (Aimi had been staying with her parents since her fiancé got killed). Terazuma hoped she'd be home alone. It would make questioning her a lot easier. Nobody else had to know they were Shinigami. He was prepared, however, with an old badge from when he was a detective. He'd even gotten into uniform for the event. He knocked firmly on the door three times and waited. A moment later, an older woman opened the door, Terazuma guessed this was Aimi's mother.

"Mrs. Arai, I presume?"

"Yes...and you are?"

"You may call me Terazuma, ma'am. I'm here to ask your daughter questions about her fiancé."

The woman frowned. "Oh, I'm not sure that it's a good time to be talking about it. I don't want her to get depressed talking about it."

"Please, Mrs. Arai." Kannuki said with a slight bow. "Talking to her will help solve this case, and perhaps put her mind at some rest."

Mrs. Arai seemed to hesitate a moment, but stepped aside. "Alright. Please, go easy on her. This has taken a tremendous toll on her."

The two Shinigami followed Aimi's mother up the stairs to Aimi's room.

"Aimi, sweetie, two people are here to speak with you." The mother said after knocking on the door.

A young girl opened the door, looking both similar to the pictures Terazuma had seen and yet completely different. She was rather skinny, unhealthily so compared to her healthy weight in the pictures. Her eyes were red and sunken in, eerily dark, with not a hint of the sparkle they once contained. There was not even a shadow of a smile on her face, her lips turned down at the corners.

"Yes?" She squeaked, trying to sound more lively than she was, but the sorrow was still thick in her voice.

"We'd like to speak to you for a few minutes." Terazuma said. He glanced over at the mother. "Alone, if that is alright."

The mother opened her mouth to protest, but Aimi interrupted. "It's fine, Mom, I'll speak with them alone."

Mrs. Arai sighed. "Alright. But if they bother you, you come and tell me right away, okay, honey?"

"Yes."

As the mother walked away, Terazuma and Kannuki followed Aimi into her room. She pulled two chairs out and set them to face her bed, then sat down on her bed and motioned for them to sit as well. "I've already told the police everything I know. I don't know what else you want from me."

"We aren't here for what you think we are." Terazuma said, taking a seat on one of the chairs, Kannuki sitting on the chair beside him.

"Then what are you here for?"

"Arai-san, you have to think about what you are doing to yourself." Kannuki said, looking at the young woman with empathetic eyes. Terazuma couldn't help but be reminded about how very caring Kannuki was. She could easily be considered a sister to just about anybody.

Aimi was silent.

"You've lost all will to live, haven't you? You can't keep continuing like this."

"That's none of your business..." Aimi muttered in a cold tone that Terazuma would never have guessed could come from somebody that once had such a kind appearance.

"Arai-san-"

"You have no clue how hard it is!" The young woman suddenly yelled, tears forming in her eyes. "Everyone says the same thing, but nobody truly understands how hard it is to just move on! I love him... We were...supposed to get...m-married..." That was as far as she got before she started crying, unable to speak anymore.

Kannuki got up from her seat to sit beside her. She put an arm around Aimi, who accepted the comfort and cried into her shoulder. "We aren't asking you to move on, Arai-san. I know it must be hard for you. What I am asking you to do, is to live your life."

Aimi looked up at Kannuki. "How? How am I supposed to do that? He was my life, there is nothing left without him!"

"He hasn't left you, Arai-san."

"What do you mean?"

Kannuki smiled and glanced over at Terazuma before turning back to Aimi. "He's been with you this whole time. He's currently hiding from us, however."

"Hiding from you? Why would he be hiding from you?"

"We are Shinigami. He doesn't want to move on."

Aimi gasped. "Sh-Shinigami? Then, you are here to find him?"

"Yes, that's half of it." Terazuma said, "The other half is you. Because you have lost your will to live, you have shown up as deceased. As Shinigami, we are supposed to make sure the deceased find their way to Meifu."

"Then...you can help me! You can help me be with him again!"

"Ah, hold on, Arai-san." Kannuki said. "Before you make such a decision, perhaps you should talk to him."

"Talk to him? How?"

Kannuki smiled. "Nakamura-san, why don't you come out? Don't worry, we want to help you."

Much to Terazuma's surprise, a few moments later, the young man did indeed appear. Though, being without a body, he was invisible to his fiancé. He sat down beside her, knowing she couldn't tell he was there, and looked at Kannuki with saddened eyes.

"Why is it so quiet?" Aimi asked, looking from Kannuki to Terazuma and back.

Kannuki got up from the other side of Aimi to stand in front of the couple. "Nakamura-san is sitting beside you right now, though you cannot see him. He's been trying for some time to communicate with you, but doesn't know how. Isn't that right, Nakamura-san?"

The man nodded.

"He's here?!" Aimi said, her voice growing higher in pitch.

"Yes, but hold on a moment. I can allow him to speak with you momentarily, however, as the procedure requires a lot of energy, it won't be able to be maintained for long. I suggest that whatever you both wish to say, you say it quickly."

Kannuki searched her pocket for a specific ofuda, then reached out and softly stuck it to the man's chest. It was a variation of the same spell she used to return Terazuma back to himself when Kuroshungei took over. Terazuma didn't know exactly how it worked- he wasn't too good at creating ofuda spells like she was- but he knew she had worked hard on perfecting it. The only problem was it drained the energy of the spirit it was attached to. Taking a tangible form without a body took an incredible amount of energy. As it was, Aimi still wouldn't be able to touch him (Kannuki was still working on making the spell more powerful), but she would be able to see and speak with him.

A gasp from Aimi affirmed the spell worked.

"Aimi? Can you see me?"

Aimi looked to be on the verge of tears. "Yes. Yes, I can!"

Nakamura smiled. "I've been wanting to talk to you since the event happened. I've been watching you...Aimi, please, I beg of you, don't throw your life away."

"Minoru...I'm so sorry...but I...I miss you so much...I just want to be with you again."

"I know, but suicide isn't the answer. Continue living your life. You'll see me again when the time is right." He leaned in and gave his fiancé what would be a kiss if he was touchable.

Terazuma felt incredibly awkward, but Kannuki's eyes were sparkling. He just hoped this would be over soon.

"I have to go...please, take care of yourself. Promise me."

"I will. I promise."

"Thank you." Nakamura smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too."

With that, Nakamura vanished back out of his fiancé's sight, the now-crumpled ofuda falling to the floor. He looked at Kannuki. "Thank you. I'm ready."

Kannuki pulled another ofuda out of her pocket and pressed it to the man's forehead. A moment later, he was gone, heading to Meifu for his judgement. She then looked at Aimi.

"Well, I suppose that since you want to live again, we can't bring you back with us."

Aimi nodded. "I'll continue living, for him. Thank you so much for your help."

Kannuki smiled and winked. "Just doing our job."

Terazuma stood up, and the two Shinigami departed. Once outside, Terazuma spoke.

"Count on you to make things to so smoothly."

Kannuki giggled. "It wasn't that hard. He was going to give us a difficult time if he couldn't speak to his fiancé first, and we had to bring him back, and, since she regained her will to live, we can't take her back anymore. She's off the Kiseki."

Terazuma shook his head. It was just like her to pull something like that off without breaking the rules. Not like there was anything anybody could do about it now anyway, since they had gotten the person they were supposed to and taking somebody that wasn't on the Kiseki was a terrible violation. The rules didn't say anything about preventing the two deceased from communicating, and, at the time, Aimi had been considered deceased. Of course, Terazuma knew that, if it had been just him, he would have probably ended up just finding the man, taking him, then taking the woman after. Kannuki, however, simply wouldn't have allowed that.

"It's kind of busy over here..." Terazuma mumbled, looking around. "Let's find a more secluded place to get back to Meifu."

Kannuki nodded in agreement and the two made their way to a back-alley. After all, they couldn't just up and vanish in front of the eyes of all the living people around.

"Is anybody around?" Kannuki asked once they had found a small area behind some houses.

Terazuma turned around and peeked around one of the corners to make sure nobody was nearby. Before he could say anything, Kannuki screamed.

Terazuma spun around. His eyes widened in horror. A man was standing behind Kannuki, one of his large hands covering her mouth, the other holding a gun to her head.

"Move, and she dies."

Author's Note: I apologize for the cliché moments in this chapter. I wasn't originally going to give Terazuma and Kannuki a case, but the thought popped into my head the other day, and it sounded like it would work in well with the story and spice it up a bit. You'll see why next chapter. It's a slight change, but I promise that it ties in to the original idea of the fanfic, and I hope you all enjoy it.