Fateless Encounter

Gyakusetsu Nagori reclines against a lamppost, lets out a long sigh, and draws a slender arm across her sweat-covered brow. She’s been guiding traffic around a nearby street construction sight for nearly four hours on end, in a dead summer heat, and her fortitude and patience is nearing its limit.

"IT’S HOT!!!", Nagori cries out suddenly, startling some passing pedestrians, before assuming a drooping posture and uncomfortable expression. “I really should have brought a water bottle… huh?” Her gaze shifts upward to a new sight. A young man in what appeared to be a samurai cosplay with a very authentic looking katana at his wasit, walks through the street, a sense of wonder and awe evident on his face. To Nagori’s shock and dismay, the strange character begins walking past her and across the street… directly into oncoming traffic!

“WAAH, wait what are you doing?! Come back!” The stranger seems entirely preoccupied with staring at the towering skyscrapers above him, and doesn’t respond. In a fit of panic, Nagori races to between him and the approaching vehicles, closes her eyes, holds out her stop sign and yells “HAAAAALT!!!” at the top of her lungs. The raucous sound of squealing fills the air as the drivers slam their breaks, and the lead car, a van, loses control and swerves into the next lane. With a deafening crash, the green sedan collides with a car speeding in the opposite direction.

Malik nearly jumps in surprise, not from the speeding metal demons the humans were possessing, but the woman screaming at him. She can....see me? He thought incredulously. Her japanese was strange, given that she told him to go to an inn, but he wasnt that dense. Her actions all but indicated she had wanted him to stop. Which meant she did not know that he was a Shinigami. Malik was silent for a moment, and briefly considered leaving, but her actions were sincere, and he didnt think he could leave without causing more commotion.

"Trouble caused by me, apologize I do, de gozaru." Nagori could tell in that moment that this stranger was perhaps not quite what he seemed. He had a strange accent, very strange accent. When he looked at the crash he seemed puzzled, as though not quite sure what to make of it.

"Exorcise humans from metal demons you should, de gozaru." he added.

Gyakusetsu stares at Malik like he's speaking another language... which he basically is. "Metal demons... wha-?" Nagori is cut off as the construction team leader behind the two of them begins roaring at her. "Nagori! What the hell have you done?! Get over here! Your ass is getting fired, and you better hope you have insurance.. hey! Come back here!"

Nagori grabs the haori-covered stranger by the scruff of his neck and speeds away from the scene of the accident. "I can't afford this!!!"

Fast Food, Faster Customers
Gyakusetsu Nagori stuffs her face with cheeseburgers as she mutters through a full mouth, "Pfhis iff arll wool falwpft." After swallowing, she reiterates. "This is all your fault! I had a nice job, and you just go and throw yourself into traffic like that! Do you have a death wish or something? What the heck is your problem?!" Malik and Nagori are seated in a pair of plastic seats in a restaurent of the world-popular fast food chain, Wacdonalds. After taking a long swig from an extra-tall cup of soda, she continues. "Well, what is it? Are you stupid, or just suicidal?"

Despite himself, Malik can't help but smile at the womans antics. She was a little strange, but she was very lively, in a freshing sort of way. He was a little confused though, that man before had said that he wanted to put her in a fire, so for the life of him he couldnt understand why she was so angry. Then again, he could tell that their respective languages had...diverged, or rather, the modern langauge had developed differently than the Yamato language he spoke, so there was bound to be some mistranslation.

So he nodded sagely as she released her frustration, and carefully listened to what she said. It took a moment for him to process the information, not that he was slow of mind, but he had to decipher and cross-reference the meaning of her words. Lest he misinterpert them. He realized that this entire debacle was likely a misunderstanding. She could see him but not identify that he was actually a spirit. So he cut straight to the matter at heart.

"Death I seek, no, Death I am. Unknown lady, address your name de gozaru." he said.

"Crazy, is what you are. I'm Gyakusetsu Nagori." She bows with a flourish, and continues energetically, "And what's your name, stranger? Are you going to eat that?" Nagori snatches some french fries from his side of the table and starts eating them without waiting for a proper response.

"Zerozaki Malik." Is his curt response. He watches with interest, as the people around this restaurant stare with a mixture of shock and disbelief. It seemed that Gyakusetsu-san wasn't aware that to everyone else she was talking to an empty space. To emphasize this point, he reached forward with his right hand, having it phase completely through his food.

"See? Death I am. Empty seat, Gyakusetsu-san is talking, the people believe de gozaru." Removing his hand from the table he continues. "Spirit veiwing, Gyakusetsu-san know as possible? Malik thinks Gyakusetsu-san weird, see spirit, see human, see no difference de gozaru." Here he smiles as he points to the food. "Compensate food, cannot do de gozaru."

A stray french fry falls out of Nagori's open mouth, and she glances around the interior. Sure enough, most of the patrons are staring at her with expressions of akward bemusement. Her face becomes flushed with a mixture of embarassment and agrivation, and Nagori spits out, "Oh now you tell me you're a shinigami. Right after I buy you a meal. It does explain alot about you, though... your weird way of talking, your clothes, and your ignorance of the ways of us advanced humans." Gyakusetsu emphasizes 'advanced' as she continues to talk with her mouth open, her top covered in crumbs.

She was angry with him. Well he figured that would be the case, given the horrible miscommunication between them. But, he supposed, it was just as well. He thought of responding with a retort, but caught his tongue. He had seen back in the Academy what happened to male students who couldnt keep their mouth shut. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned as they say. So instead of responding with a biting retort, he opted to do the honorable thing, and simply admit his mistake (he was afterall partially at fault here).

"Apologetic, Malik is, de gozaru. A solution known, this one, interested Gyakusetsu-dono, de gozaru?" Nagori didn't miss the change in her suffix. Dono was usually given to powerful lords and those of high station, which meant he was trying to emphasize the sincerity of his apology, assuming you could call it that.

"Oh you want to be my slave? Yes I suppose I could live with that, Zero-kun.", Nagori sarcastically answers.

Malik looks somewhat insulted she would say that, but doesnt press the issue. Instead reaches into his kosode, and withdraws something, holding it tightly in his hand obscuring its features. He reaches forward, with the object held out and Gyakusetsu Nagori would recognize it as the "skull symbol" of Shinigami, when he touches her forehead with it.

Her spirit is immediately ejected, causing her physical body to slump and then ceremoniously drop onto the table with a dull thud. The residents who had been looking at her now stare in shock, with one man, quickly rushing over to assess the situation.

"What happened?" One customer asked. "I don't know, she just fell over, is she alright?" Another asks. Within minutes an ambulance is called in, once they establish that Nagori's body barely has a pulse and is to be rushed to the hospital immediately. Malik has the audicity to look pleased with his action, compared to the look of horror on Nagori.

"See, solution, de gozaru."

It takes a few minutes for a slack-jawed Nagori to come to bear on what's happening around her, but the sound of the double doors of the ambulance slaming shut snaps her out of her trance. "Wait! Where are you going?! That's my body!!" She rushes out of the restaurent and down the street, as she attempts in vain to keep up with the speeding emergency vehicle. "Waaiit!!"

Woven Threads
Chuckling to himself, Malik made his way out of the WacDonalds, watching as the woman Gyakusetsu-san, comically chased after the ambulance. But like a moment, this encounter had come and gone, leaving an interesting but humurous memory. He didn't have many, so this would be one of a handful that he would treasure, but now was not the time for sentiments. He was late, but he hoped that the agency, would be accomodating, afterall he had been lost for a....few days now? Oh well, he'd find his way, he always did, and pulled out hastily drawn map from his sleeve. It looked like it was made by grade schoolers, with chibi figures pointing arbitarily in various directions along with arrows, and drawn streets. It had only taken a few hours (which to Malik felt like a few minutes), before he finally managed to find the building in question. Surprisingly the map had been quite accurate.

Without pause he simply phased through the door's, appearing in a bustling hallway, with whom he assumed were aids and detectives, handling all manner of affairs from paperwork, acquisitions, mission assignments, etc. He walked through the halls, phasing through whatever and whomever was in his way. His senses keyed on in one signature in particular, it was noticably dense ---for a human at least, and judging by the layout and the sign that said "Head Inspector", he figured that was the boss and made his appearance in his chambers.

Inspecter Gaki doesn't bother looking up as the spirit enters his office. He doesn't spring up from his soft, cushioned chair, nor does he spill his coffee in outrage. He does not yell, or curse, or shout, or lay a barrage of insults upon the intruder. He does not cast a binding spell, to trap the offender in a random object. What he does do, is take a long, drawn out sip from his coffee mug (which reads "#1 Boss"), and lays it down before uttering a single word.

"Knock." The diminutive, child-like person in the chair exudes an aura of murderous intent. Gaki's cold, predatory eyes pierce into Malik with a depth of hate and revulsion he has never experienced in his long life.

Malik doesnt appear to be fazed by the murderous intent, afterall he's been accustomed to such killing intent his entire life. But he does respect the man and his station, and true, it was rude of him to suddenly pop in like that. While he wasnt one to stand down, it would be bad to establish that kind of working relationship as the liason to the Shinsengumi. And since it was his error, he would take responsibility for it. So he relented, phasing back through the door, and held up his hand before the door. Summoning forth a bit of reiatsu he sent a small pulse to the door, just enough to mimic a knock. When he heard Inspector Gaki roughly say, "Enter." he did so, phasing through the door once more.

When Malik enters this time, Gaki is instead smiling as he gestures for Malik to sit down. "You've come a long way, Mr. Zerozaki. And I'm sure you have many questions." As Malik begins to respond, Gaki cuts him off, "Unfortunately for you, and fortunately for me, your silly questions aren't my problem. I've assigned a field agent to be your guide, to assist you in transitioning into a routine in the mortal world, and to answer any questions you may have." A furtive knocking comes from the door. "Enter"

A familiar looking girl with long, flowing black hair comes in with her eyes closed and a hand hanging behind her head apologetically. "Sorry I'm late, Chief. I had a medical emergency, so you understand..." Nagori's gaze shifts to the person sitting quietly next to her. "YOU! You bastard! Do you know how much it costs to get taken to a hospital like that?! I'm going to..." She tapers off into silence as Gaki stares at her. She turns to flee. Gaki taps a staff that suddenly appears in his hand onto the floor, and with a loud "POP!" Nagori transforms into a newt.

"I don't like yelling in my office." Gaki suspends the panicking newt over a boiling-hot mug of coffee. "For the next two moths, you are to be the guide and assistant of this shinigami. You have your mission, and you will fulfil the responsibilities of the role with the professionalism and respect I've come to expect from those working under me. Understand?" The newt nods enthusiastically, and in a cloudburst of smoke, a tearful Nagori reappears next to Malik, bowing and nodding robotically. "Excellent." Gaki takes a long sip, and returns to the paperwork on his desk. "You may leave."