Chapter 1 - A Boy's Past

        It's 12am. The usually bustling streets are now silent, the cars now parked and the lights from houses penetrating the dark like fireflies are turned off. There are no chirping birds, no wildlife, it's as though time itself has stopped. The silence is unusual, few people would believe that Furiko street could ever be this quiet.
        The silence was broken by the light tinkling of glass bottles falling over, it was soon accompanied by the sound of discarded newspaper being slipped on and the metallic sound of a trash can being knocked over. A youth stumbled about the main street moving this way and that with no real purpose, his movements were completely random. He staggered into a side alley and leant against the wall, he slid slowly to the floor.
        Blood. Crimson red blood flowed freely from a wound in the youth's left shoulder to the hard concrete floor. He grunted and clasped the wound with his hand breathing deeply. Pain. It was nagging insistently at him, pushing his limits of endurance. He knew he had to do something about it soon or he'd pass out. The youth held his hand open palmed over the wound and through clenched teeth muttered, ``Asya lend me your strength'' A glowing orange light surrounded his left arm and briefly illuminated the shadow-soaked alley.
        It was healed, good as new.     The youth stood up and walked briskly to the other side of the alley and away from the street. The firefly-like lights of the houses were already flickering on and probing at the darkness, trying to find out where the noises and light that had interrupted their silence had come from.
        The youth continued onwards, this time in a certain direction. He left Furiko street and walked east towards the Ohiro district. A voice like the tinkling of fine china reached his ears, ``Brother are you all right?''
        The youth's left hand twitched slightly and he answered calmly, ``Of course thanks to you…''
        The china-like voice continued, ``We did it though didn't we? Me and you! Together!''
        The youth continued on and muttered back, ``Yeah we did it…….together…..'' The bright neon lights, bustling streets and mild traffic melted around the youth as he walked onwards. He stopped at an intersection and turned right. After another 2 minutes of walking he found it, right where he had left it.
        It was a Pyro-Bike. However to merely call it a Pyro-Bike was an insult! This was a fully tuned and customised Flare-Tread XD! The bike gleamed in the eerie orange glow of the streetlights, the engine was 4 prex compared to the usual 2 and it's full speed was roughly 400MPH. The usual tri flame symbol of Xeno-corp had been removed and replaced with a golden lightning bolt. The bike's high intensity beams of light tore the darkness apart, the 4 prex engine sang loudly into the empty, silent night. The youth smiled and muttered so quiet that only he could hear, ``Yeah…together''
        The bike shot off into the streets of New Tokyo at 200MPH leaving behind a rapidly fading trail of light.


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Everyone in the world is born with a talent. Some people can run fast, some are strong, some could write great poems and some could lead nations. Mine? I wouldn't call it a talent, I'd call it a curse. You see ever since my mom died I've been able to see and sense spirits. At first it was scary and unnatural but it soon became a normal part of my life, the spirits of the deceased were very helpful and friendly. I soon found out they could be too friendly…but what did I know? I was just a kid….it all started when I was 13…

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The factory was dead ahead. It was huge at least 5 miles wide and the tall power storage towers seemed to stretch and touch the sky itself. The entire factory was surrounded by greenery, countless trees and hedges surrounded the plant, it was part of the New Tokyo Revival Scheme, the government trying desperately to replace what they had stolen from the land all those years ago.
It was a Nero Optics factory, a factory designed to develop new ways to deal with illnesses by affecting the nervous system. When it had first opened it had been heavily criticised but the now 3 year old plant had already succeeded in curing AIDS and was on the way to curing Cancer.
A young boy dashed down a nearby hill straight towards the factory. While running he panted, ``Nyuh….give up Ichigo, you too Atsuma you know I always win at Hide and seek!''
Two 17 year old spirits were gliding out in front of the boy, the both grinned. Ichigo shouted back, ``We'll see about that! If you manage catch us in this factory then we'll give you an aura boost!''
The youth halted suddenly, leaving an imprint on the grass, the spirits continued to glide forwards before realising they weren't being followed. They glided back. Atsuma said teasingly, ``What's the matter? Giving up already?''
The young boy breathed deeply, the wind gently caressed his hair and made his scarf dance elegantly in the breeze. He looked Atsuma straight in the eye and said, ``Are you sure we can go in there? And will you really give me an aura boost?''
The pair of spirits laughed, Ichigo calmly said, ``Of course we can go in! With the amount of tours they give the place is practically open to the public 24/7! It's totally safe and if by some miracle you win then we'll give you an aura boost!''
The boy hesitated, he knew technically he shouldn't be in the factory but Ichigo said the factory was used to the public so it was okay. Besides if he won the both Ichigo and Atsuma would give him some of their power, boosting his aura, with that he could maybe finally master a new spirit technique!
His mind was made up, he grinned and said, ``I'll give you a ten second head start!'' The two spirits closely followed by a thirteen year old boy raced towards the Nero Optics factory.

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There was a light metallic clank as the young boy creeped forward slowly, he leapt out and said, ``Found you Ich….damn!'' It had been like this for about 20 minutes. He had been chasing and losing them! He had never imagined the plant would be this….big! He lent on a huge gas tanker trying to catch his breath. It was time to think, the boy took in his surroundings.
He was in the containment facility, this was where the factory held all it's different equipment and formulae, he should definitely be careful in here. There were several giant gas containers each easily the size of a small house, maybe even bigger! The hard metal-grated floor seemed to shout whenever he took a step and the lights were dim. It seemed that there was no one around. The boy came to a conclusion, he would have to use a spirit technique.
He clasped both his hands together and closed his eyes. He slowed his breathing and concentrated, a cobalt-blue light enveloped him but his eyes remained shut. If you looked really closely you would see that the blue light that enveloped him was actually hundreds of tiny shining balls. Suddenly they all began to fade, one by one. The cobalt light grew dimmer and dimmer until there were only two tiny balls of spirit left. The boy grinned and whispered, ``Gotcha!''
The two balls orbited around the boy and suddenly stopped, both pointing in the same direction. These two tiny spheres represented Ichigo and Atsuma's aura, the spheres were drawn to Ichigo and Atsuma, so they would lead him right to them!
For three minutes he followed the spheres, up and down staircases, round corners, through unlocked doors. Occasionally he would have to duck out of sight, most of the workers presumed he was another worker's child so he didn't have to be too careful. He noticed the spheres grew brighter and brighter as he went onwards, soon they were pure white, it was obvious that Ichigo and Atsuma were behind this door.
He hesitated. The door was big and there were at least 10 different types of locks, not only that but there were several signs saying things like ``Do Not Enter'' or ``High Authority Only'' The young boy took a step forward and the door slid smoothly open. The inside of the room held countless computer terminals and screens, lights were blinking from all directions. He walked inside and the door slid shut, he looked around. At the front of the room was a huge glass dome that provided a view of the workplace below. He looked harder and suddenly saw Atsuma gliding forwards! If he didn't catch him now then he would escape and they could be here for hours!
All deceased spirits have powers. It depends greatly on the circumstances, if someone was killed unexpectedly and held resentment then there was a chance they would turn into an Iki-Yashi, horrible monsters who pray on the living, however not all spirits end up like that. Nearly every spirit can move objects slight distances and whisper words to the living, very few people can actually see spirits though.
As the young boy rushed towards Atsuma, Ichigo used what little spirit powers he had to throw a chair in the way. It all happened so fast! The chair appeared, he fell straight onto a control panel and suddenly there was a warning signal blaring out. He could see the employees below running this way and that trying to escape, soon they fell to the floor twitching. He looked on with horror.
``Ah, dangerous stuff that nerve gas!'' Atsuma said casually.
``Of course! Look at them, twitching! That's unhealthy!'' Ichigo laughed.
The boy turned around with a look of horror and screamed, ``What Have You Done!!!!!''
The pair of spirits grinned at each other. Ichigo glided closer and said simply, ``We were both killed in a train wreck ten years ago although I'd call it murder. See that man down there?'' Ichigo pointed to an dead man in his mid fifties, ``That's the man that designed the train we were killed on, if it wasn't for him we'd both be alive right now!''
Tears fell freely from the boy's eyes as he chocked, ``That's no reason to d…do this! Why me?''
Atsuma floated forwards and tutted, ``Duh! You're the only one who can see us! That bastard got what he deserved! As for the others….well I guess that's their problem!''
The pair of spirits both laughed but stopped when they saw the boy. His fists were clenched into fists, he was shaking with anger, flames started to appear around his fists. Ichigo and Atsuma backed off slowly both thinking the same thing, it can't be his aura! Can it? The boy looked at them both with a fierce gaze, and lost control! He screamed, ``YOU BELONG IN HELL!'' A searing jet of green flame shot from both of his fists and wiped the spirits from existence.
He fell to the floor crying, his two friends….fakes, all these people were dead and it was his fault! He ran, ran from the room, ran past the bodies of the dead, ran out of the factory and as far as his feet would carry him.
It was 2 hours later. A man marched through the scene, he ignored the dead bodies, and nodded briefly to his colleagues given the gruesome task of bagging and tagging them. He marched to the central control room and gave his ID to the sentry. It took a few seconds then he was allowed in. He looked at the DNA squads and ordered, ``Okay I want to know who's responsible right NOW!''
A woman clad in the black suit of a CSI reported, ``The DNA matching sequence is complete sir! The culprit….a thirteen year old boy by the name Taku Ryoshii!

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So there I was. 13 years old, an orphan and now a fugitive from the law. It was on that day I realised that spirits couldn't be trusted and that they all belonged in the Celestial Plain, not here. As far as I cared they could all be exorcised….all but one….
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