Amu opened her eyes to the sound of furniture scuffling against the floor and rolled her eyes. Just in time she moved just as Meroko lunged for her. Meroko screamed and crashed into her desk. "Ow ow ow."

"That will teach you not to try and sneak up on someone." Amu rolled her eyes. Though if she hadn't learn from last time when she flew out the window then maybe she'll never learn.

"You no fun Amu-imuto." Meroko knew Amu did not like being called that but still did it anyway. "Stop calling me that."

"I think it's cute." Meroko giggled while Amu rolled her eyes. "Come on Amu, we only have one job to do today. Let's go explore the human world again."

"We did so two days ago." Amu really was not looking forward to seeing the human world. She was sick of seeing people walking around without a care in the world. "I want to stay here."

Meroko pouted. She could at least pretend like she likes hanging out with me. But Meroko was not fazed by Amu's attitude. This is all she has known from Amu. Ever since she arrived seven years ago and became her partner Amu has always been cold. Meroko has never even seen her smile before. "What time do we have to be down there today?" Amu asked.

Meroko pulled out her small journal. "In a few. It's just a dog's soul that we have to take."

"They're so boring." Amu groaned. Meroko giggled. "I know but it is our duty as a Shinigami to collect all souls..."

"No matter the being." Amu finished. "I get it." The two flew out of Amu's room. The Shinigami's world looked fairly similar to modern day Japan except most of the people here flew around. As they past Meroko said hi to a few fellow Shinigamis as Amu kept her head straight. When the two got to Meroko's small apartment, where their portal was located, the two flew through, appearing in what looked like a garden. "So where's the dog?"

Meroko looked down at her journal and pointed to their left. "About 10 miles that way." As they flew they were stopped by the sound of music. "What is that?" Meroko thought out loud but when she heard no comments she turned to see Amu just looking. So pretty, so sad. "Amu?"'

Amu turned to Meroko's worried face. "Nothing, let's hurry."

The closer they got to their destination the louder the music got until behind a small traditional house, was a blue hair colored boy playing the violin for a large, shaggy dog. The dog's breathing was slower than the usual. "Ah, here's the poor thing." Meroko flew down, ignoring the boy. "Amu, do you want to…Amu?" Amu had not moved but instead stared at the boy with wide eyes. "Amu am I going to have to do this?"

"So pretty." Amu whispered to herself. Meroko figuring she was not going to get her attention, flew up just as the dog's heart stopped and its spirit flew out of its body. It ran up and licked Meroko. "Hey hey" Meroko laughed. She waved her arm, opening the portal to the spirit world, and the dog ran through.

The boy stopped playing much to Amu's display. "IKUTO." Meroko and Amu turned as a smaller boy with blonde hair glaring as he ran towards him. He knelt down by the dog and began crying. "How dare you do this you black cat."

Ikuto shrugged and Meroko could hear his footsteps as he left. "Well that was mean." She sighed. "I know he is sad but he should not have taken it out on the dude. Oh well, Amu, let's go to the subway." She turned around to find herself alone. "Amu?" Where did she go?

"AMU. AMUUUUUU." Meroko was flying around, following her trail. "Aw, I want to go to the new cute store." She was in a park when she caught sight of the pink hair. "Ah, AMU—" She stopped, eyes wide at the sight.

The boy, Ikuto, was playing his violin once again as Amu sat on the steps looking up at his with the same amazed eyes from before. Her chin rested on her fists as Amu leaned in closer. This was new to Meroko. In the years Amu had always showed a small interest in music (Meroko learned Amu's parents ran a music store and also taught Amu to play the piano) but her eyes only got big for a few seconds before she returned to her cold look and she never smiled. And then it hit her. Amu was smiling. Meroko had seen Amu give small grins but those were in the moment small smiles that quickly turned sad. This smile was full of joy, excitement, and one other emotion Meroko couldn't pinpoint.

"Amu?" Amu turned to Meroko. "Hi Meroko." Meroko sat down next to her. "He really does play the violin pretty."

Amu nodded. "But it's so sad. The notes are so sorrowful."

"Really?" Meroko couldn't tell until Amu pointed out but the notes did seem to have a sad touch to them. "Now that you mention it, it's really depressing." The two sat listening, well Amu was listening and Meroko was still staring at Amu's face. "I never heard any music like this before."

"Really? All music sounds the same to me." Meroko shrugged but shrunk back at Amu's glare. "Music is not all the same. Each one has a different story."

"If you say so." Meroko looked up. "The sun is almost setting. This day went by so fast." She stretched her arms. "Well it's time to go back. Come on Amu-imouto." Meroko set to fly off when she noticed Amu not following. "Amu, if we are not back they'll send Ren and I don't want to hear another lecture from him."

Amu sighed sadly and stood up, bowing to Ikuto and flew up. "Let's go." As they flew Amu smiled to herself, promising to hear him again.