Nice Spirits and Scary Monsters

The Agent in Black
The horrid creature had unleashed its inhuman screech before it disapated from Joshua's view. He just stood there, unmoving from his spot as the mysterious swordsman sheathed his blade. The man took a deep breath before he turned around to Joshua's direction. He proceeded forward, causing the student to take a defensive stance. This only made the man of mystery stop in his tracks, giving the boy a funny look.

"Wait... you can see me," the man asked in an not-so-amused tone. Joshua only nodded. Instantly, the mystery man's face when from calm and badass-like to an expression of comical horror!

"SO YOU WERE ACTUALLY GOING TO FIGHT A HOLLOW?"

"A wha-"

"A HOLLOW! YOU KNOW...THE THING THAT WAS CHASING YOU!"

"Ohhhh! That thing... I was actually going to hug it!"

An anime sweat drop appeared behind the mystery man, left utterly speechless at the answer. He took a deep breath, trying to get his bearings together. He looked at the student with a "WTF" expression as he weakly pointed at him.

"You must've been dropped on your head when you were a baby, am I right?"

Joshua only tilted his head innocently, unsure on how to respond to that question. The man rubbed his eyes in irritation, groaning to add even more to it.

"Anyways, I have to guide a spirit to the afterlife. It's been um... nice talking to you," the man said, struggling due to the awkward and irritating atmosphere that was around him. As he went to the spirit, he pulled out his blade, sheath still intact.

"W-wait! A-are you going t-to kill me?" the spirit said in a fearful tone. The man shook his head in response.

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you. I'm going to send you to a better place."

"Ah, thank you kind sir."

As the man in black tapped the spirit's forehead with the pommel of his blade, a portal opened beneath the ghost. As he was going into the portal, the spirit had a smile on his face, satisfied of the life he had led. The student sat there as the events had unfolded, mesmorised as the sight before him. Then he thought that me must be seeing things, so he wiped his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing anything. But when he opened them, the man in black was still there, but the spirit that he wanted to talk to was gone. Joshua looked back at the red-headed stranger while pointing at the spot where the spirit formerly hovered.

"Did you just..."

"Don't worry. He's at a better place now. The thing I did was called a Konso ritural," the mysterious stranger responded as he placed his sheathed sword back into his obi.

"Wait wait wait! Hold on! So that ghost guy was sent to a better place because you poked him with your sword?"

"Yep."

"And that scary thing was what you call a 'hollow'?"

"Yep."

"Then... who are you?"

The stranger smirked at the question. He went up to a wall and leaned on it. He took a deep breath as if he was preparing for one heck of a lecture.

"Well, I guess I'll start with my name. I'm Renji Abarai, shinigami and former lieutenant of the Sixth Division."

"Renji? Man that's an awesome name. I'm Joshua Westfield, Second year at Kasumi High School!"

Renji smirked once again as he stood back up. Then he broke out in laughter! Joshua was once again clueless, tilting his head to the side. After he stopped laughing, Renji wipped a tear from his eye.

"Why are you laughing Renji?"

"Ah! Nothing really. Don't take this the wrong way, but I doubt that we will ever see each other again."

Joshua made a pouting face, clearly displeased with the answer. Renji on the other hand, could have careless and waved before he disappeared. Joshua sighed to himself as he made the journey back to his appartment.