Chapter 1

She walked slowly down the road and out into the pouring rain. As the tiny drops hit her shoulder one by one, she thought about what she had to do. Looking down at the sword tied to her waist, she noticed something different about it. Red was slowly dripping off of it and into the mud. "Crap!" she thought, and took the sword out of it's sheath.

"Hey Mika..."

She turned on the spot and saw a tall man -that had medium-length, brown hair and cold, grey eyes- standing there with a bag over his back.

"Emerson...I thought we already said goodbye. You know we can't..." she muttered as she gazed into his eyes.

"I know...I was just bringing this to Greg," he said and looked down at Mika's sword. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I was about to look..." she said as she broke her gaze and looked down at her sword. The blood had stopped dripping, but she noticed a cut in her shinigami uniform with her dark red blood seeping through. "Oh...I guess I just got a little cut...it was an accident."

"Come with me and I'll help you wrap it up..." Emerson pleaded and stepped closer to her. "I just have to drop this off then we can go back to my place."

Mika sighed. "I guess..." She put her sword back and started down the road with Emerson.

"So where were you going?" he asked her quietly.

"I don't really want to talk about it..." Mika responded. "I'm sorry..." she added.

"I understand," he replied stiffly. They walked in silence through the rain, which was now coming down harder. With each drop that fell on her face, she had another regret. She wasn't sure if going out after the man that killed her sister was right or not. He was very dangerous, and for the time being, she didn't have someone to help her. Mika thought about Emerson, but what with their history, she wasn't sure if that would be possible. She didn't want to fall in love with him again. The last time had been too painful, even though he was -and still was- the right one.

Emerson knocked on Greg's door and when no one answered, he turned the doorknob, which was unlocked. "That's odd," he said. As the wooden door creaked open, Mika immediately felt a rush of freezing cold air hit her face.

"He can't be here...how can he live like this?" Mika said as she looked around at the disaster. Chairs and tables were overturned and the curtains were torn to the ground. "My gosh..."

Emerson ran up the stairs and told Mika to wait. "I'm not a sissy!" she yelled as she ran up the stairs and found Emerson staring across the room with his mouth wide open. She gasped as she followed his eyes and saw something she would never forget. Greg was lying on the ground with a dagger punctured through his chest.

"We've got to get out of here!" Emerson yelled and grabbed Mika's hand. They ran out the door and sprinted though the rain, all the way back to Emerson's house. "Are you okay?" he asked Mika.

"Uhh..." she replied, white in shock. Then she started to get dizzy, and fainted.