Counterpart

(A Yami no Matsuei fic)

Disclaimer: I don't own Yami no Matsuei, it's characters or the organizations mentioned in the show. Though I do own the characters you don't recognize.

Author's note: I thought of this while I was doing an 11 hr shift at work, just to keep my brain working. And for some reason I just liked the idea, it's probably been done before but eh.

Added AN: Please forgive the possible OOCness of the YnM characters this is my first fanfic that isn't DBZ related in a loooooong while.

Prologue

Maybe Tomorrow…

The ceiling fan turned round in pulsing beats as the figure lay in the bed staring up at it as it turned, movement next to nothing in the hospital room. Every so often the figure would blink, and had the complete awareness, but there was something different and unknown about this case, a person fully awake and conscious, but in a vegetative state, they could move and react like a person should, but it was like there was no actual thinking pattern, not a single thought inside their head as they lay there bandaged up like a mummy.

"Has she moved today?" A voice asked.

"Only a few times." Came the reply from the nurse and he looked down at the figure and smiled at her. "Don't worry Cat we'll take good care of you I promise."

She just blinked and looked up at the male nurse as he pushed his glasses up his nose. She reached up and he let her touch the side of his face, her body weak and not to fast responsively, her fingers touched the end of his brown hair and he smiled.

"Do you remember me?" He asked.

"Tat… su… mi…" She breathed her voice croaking out a soft reply.

"That's right, just stay with us a bit longer to recover enough so we know what happened to you to prevent it happening again." He took her hand in his.

She blinked again. "Fire…" She gasped in as much air as she could.

"You're lucky, the burns are fading, which is a unique case on it's own, you'll be fine in a few days just stay with us okay?"

Her eyes drifted closed, but the heart monitor continued to beep steadily with her heartbeat.

"She's a strong one, it's been nearly two years and her wounds have nearly healed up, but she only speaks when you talk to her, I don't know how you do it." The doctor remarked.

Tatsumi smiled. "Guess she must like me then."

"Guess so." The doctor smiled in reply.

Tatsumi watched as the doctor left and he looked down at the young woman in the bed. "Your strong, nearly two years refusing to eat, sleep or move from this bed, yet you can still move your limbs and talk, I'm really impressed Catriona. Just a few more days then you can pass on peacefully I promise."

Her eyes opened and she looked at him. "Tenshi…"

He smiled. "I guess I sort of am."

"Bane." Catriona spoke.

"Oh Cat." Tatsumi looked down at her sympathetic. "Bane died two weeks ago. He committed suicide, he didn't think you'd ever recover."

He watched her eyes widen. "Himori…"

Tatsumi looked at Catriona. "Go on Cat."

"Started… fire."

Tatsumi blinked suddenly and her hand fell from his limply landing at her side as she fell unconscious. "Himori… I don't think we know any Himori."

~*~*~*~

The figure stood among the flames silver hair tumbling down the back of the white coat and looked over his shoulder at the shinigami standing there a smile on his face golden eyes glittering while the fire reflected the true evil intent upon them.

"Himori." The shinigami growled green eyes narrowing.

"Eyes like emeralds but don't you worry I'll be seeing them again." The one called Himori disappeared in to the flames.

The shinigami looked round desperately and saw the body lying there slouched over the couch, racing over to the form, scooping it up and racing outside with the body lying it on the ground. "C'mon girl wake up." The shinigami shook her body.

Her eyes flickered open for just the briefest moment.

"My Tenshi…" She breathed.

The shinigami smiled at her. "Stay with us okay Stay with us, it's not your time."

The girl reached up and touched the brown bangs that fell over her eyes. "Guide me to Meifu… guide me." The girl's hand dropped to the ground and the Shinigami's shoulders shook uncontrollably in anger as she raced out of the fire.

"Himori… you'll pay. I swear on my grave you'll pay."

"Cat!" A familiar voice called out.

Catriona looked up at the brown haired figure floating in the air. "Tatsumi…"

"Himori again?" Tatsumi landed and looked at the younger Shinigami.

"This isn't working out I arrive too late always to late and he just keeps killing what does he want with me?" The tears fell.

"I know it's not the time, but I have to mention you're being transferred."

"Transfurred? Tatsumi why am I being transferred? I told the chef I was trying to learn this Japanese lingo."

Tatsumi pushed his glasses up his nose. "Cat, it's only to the Persephone Agency they cover the Southern hemisphere, more English speaking countries. You get to watch over Australasia."

"Dear Megami help me." Catriona sighed.

Tatsumi placed a hand on Catriona's shoulder. "It's not just the language it's this personal vendetta to seek out Himori and kill him, a Shinigami does not inflect death when they feel like it."

"Bane paid the price cause of him. I can't let him… live."

"This is the reason for the transfer, you're serious and full of hate we'll take you back when you've learned not to take everything Himori does so personal."

"You don't care about me Tatsumi, it's just an excuse keep me out of Japan until Himori dies, and when he's dead by his own means or natural causes you'll just drag me back."

Tatsumi knelt down by Catriona's side removing the body of the young girl from the young shinigami's arms and placing the body on the ground, he turned her face to look at his.

"You're suffering and in turn your work suffers, this is the tenth person this week Himori has killed by luring you here, his obsession with you is so unhealthy, you have to leave for their sake and for your own."

Catriona sighed and looked down. "Has these past eight years meant nothing?" She asked her voice low.

"It's meant everything, your circumstance of surviving as long as you did after Himori attacked your house and tricking Bane in to suicide, you were not like the other immortals, your spiritual energy far surpassed what we've seen or expected. Your past hidden so deep that even we don't know your true age. It's for the best you remain hidden from him."

"My past." Her voice fell soft. "I'm a majo I was born one, I was raised as one and even after death I continue to be one, Himori is a majo hunter and he lives to see me suffer."

Tatsumi blinked. "A majo… are you sure?"

She raised an unimpressed brow. " Just cause I don't sit on a broom stick and have a wart on my nose and no pointy hat means I'm not one. Really Tatsumi. I lived as long as I did because of the curse of immortality."

Tatsumi helped her up. "So majo's aren't naturally immortal?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No I was born a mortal, but I broke one of the Wiccian Rede's and the elder cursed me with having to live an immortal life and when I finally didn't care about it anymore and found that someone who was the one true love to break that curse would the second curse would start."

Tatsumi walked with Catriona as she sighed. "You were cursed twice? You must of broken a very important rule."

"I don't even remember which one it was anymore, just the second curse would be that I would burn and die, not only in body but in heart to. When you told me Bane committed suicide my heart broke and I died but all I wanted was revenge and that's what kept me here, turned me in to a Shinigami." She brushed some hair from her face. "I don't even know why I'm telling you."

"I'm your friend that's why I knew while you were alive as well as after your death." Tatsumi smiled.

"The Persephone Agency huh? Do they get warmer weather and better clothes?" Cartiona asked.

Tatsumi let out a laugh. "Only on earth."

"Cursed yet again. I hope the pay is better I need a new coat. I was some fake fur lining to keep the heat in."

"Always trying to find something to look forward too, you're definitely not like any normal shinigami." Tatsumi smiled.

"You got that right, I can pile down the chocolate cake with vanilla filling while I'm still able fit that awesome sized model dress in the store and hook up with a doll that very night." Catriona winked.

Tatsumi laughed, "Chocolate, clothes and guys, it's something that you always manage to be cheerful about. Despite the circumstances."

Catriona cupped her hands behind her head. "Admit it you're going to miss me Tatsumi."

"Well we do have a replacement."

"Already?! Oh that is so unfair. She better not be prettier."

"Actually a he." Tatsumi smiled.

"Oh well that's good, I'd hate to think you were replacing me with someone better looking. And this whole shinigami deal was just a bunch of beautiful dead people."

"Well I have to say your vanity won't be missed." Tatsumi chuckled.

Catriona looked at him a vein throbbing in her forehead. "If you weren't my partner I'd conk you one."

Tatsumi waved his hand about. "If I remember correctly it was me doing the 'conking' one to wake you up while you slept on the job, two to stop you from window shopping when we were guarding a human, three to make sure you didn't over spend you allowance on chocolate oh and four-"

"Alright alright I get the picture." Catriona huffed crossing her arms.

~*~*~*~

Seventy-One years later…

Catriona stood in the square and looked at her watch. "Man has it really been that long…" She mused, she let out a sigh and cupped her hands behind her head and swung on her heels. 'I've been working solo for so long and I always got the job done, what do they expect to accomplish by assigning me a partner now? I haven't had a partner since…' He thought trailed off and she let out a sigh.

"Miss Catriona?" A voice asked.

She turned round and blinked looking at the young girl standing there with blonde hair and amber eyes. "Uh yes?"

"I'm Kira. I'm you're new partner."

"Nani?! You're just a kid!"

Kira raised a brow. "I'm eighteen!"

Catriona scratched her head. "Really well you look like you should still be in high school. Anyway now that you're here lets get on this case. It's very important think you can handle it?"

Kira grinned. "I'm ready!"

"Great. Lets go."

Five hours later…

"Miss Catriona… is this really part of the case?" Kira asked from behind a pile of bags.

"Sure…"

"I'm not sure I believe you, we're only here for two days, these clothes your buying it's enough for a month…"

"Whose the eldest here. Just Follow me… oooooooh is that a cocktail dress!! Eeeee I need one of those! Oooh and it comes with matching shoes and a hand bag!!"

Kira sweatdropped watching her first ever shinigami 'partner' race off in to the store.

"They told me she was a top agent, not a damn shop-o-holic." Kira complained.

~*~*~*~

One Year later…

Tatsumi looked up from his desk and watched as Tsuzuki raced pass a grocery bag in his arms.

"You were late again!!" A voice shouted and Tatsumi smiled as Hisoka tossed something hitting the seventy term shinigami in the back of the head sending him to the floor.

"We nearly lost that case cause of your damn sweet tooth!"

Tatsumi looked down at his desk and pulled open a drawer. Picking out a photo. 'That was ages ago… poor Cat, we never did catch Himori, she must be a tormented soul by now.'

"Yo Bon!" Watari appeared behind him ginning. "Hey whose that? Girlfriend?" Tatsumi just smiled.

Hisoka and Tsuzuki looked over. "You had a girlfriend?" Tsuzuki asked.

"No this was a case I was on eighty years ago, a young girl was burnt in a fire, but her spiritual energy kept her alive in a sort of vegetative state, she only talked and moved for me she responded to no one else, for two years I got what information I could out of her to find her killer, all I got was a name the next day she died. It was a very unique case I've never seen spiritual energy heal someone while they're still alive, unlike us."

Tsuzuki was suddenly peering over the desk looking at the photo and he blinked. He looked at Tatsumi, the surrounding room had a very familiar look.

"Yes she was under Muraki's grandfather's care she died the day you were brought in." Tatsumi replied.

"So are you going to share those with us?" Watari grinned motioning to Tsuzuki's bag of sweet goodies.

Tsuzuki huddled the bag close to him and shuffled off in to a corner.

"Obviously not." Tatsumi laughed.

"So she died then?" Hisoka asked.

Tatsumi nodded. "She was partner right here in this agency, but got transferred to a different agency covering the southern hemisphere of earth, it was before Watari and Tsuzuki came so only me and the chief would be able to tell you about her."

"You had a partner before me? How many partners did you go through? And were you as mean to them as you were to me?" Tsuzuki asked.

Tatsumi smiled. "You're still upset at the half an hour lunch break aren't you?"

"It's not enough time." Tsuzuki sniffed. "I can eat my full three course meals and my desserts in that time."

Tatsumi shook his head just smiling. "I think on her every now and again, you remind me of her Tsuzuki. Her sweet tooth was something that drove the chief mad; she left candy bar wrappers everywhere like banana peels and the chef would fall and slip on them all the time. But she had her serious side and when she was serious she was determined and tormented at the same time. We never did manage to catch her killer. Yet we know he's moved on to Meifu, it's very unusual for someone to go undetected like that especially when he killed so many people in such a small amount of time."

"Do you miss her?" Hisoka looked at him curiously.

"As a friend because that's all the relationship was. A friend and a partner." Tatsumi replied. "It's strange that after all this time again we're finally going to be seeing each other."

"Huh?" Tsuzuki looked completely confused.

"A case has popped up lets go to the board room the chief is waiting."

"But my desserts." Tsuzuki complained.

Tatsumi loomed over Tsuzuki. "Now…" He glared a blue light flashing over him, giving him that scary Tatsumi you better obey now or else look.

"Kay…" Tsuzuki squeaked and shuffled in to the board room like a chibi been told off for misbehaving.

~*~*~*~

Her brown hair whipped about her as she stood on the balcony her green eyes looking over as the cherry blossom petals flew through the wind.

'I can't believe it's nearly been eighty years.' She thought to herself and looked down at the garden below. "Himori I'll find you. You'll pay you bastard Hell won't stop me from getting to you." Her fists clenched and she looked up at the sky. "You made Bane kill himself, if he lived I would have lived too I know I would have, we could have grown old together." She sighed.

"Catriona… yo Cat." A voice broke her concentration.

"Huh?" She looked over her shoulder at her partner who just smiled at her from under blonde bangs. "Oh Kira… what's up?"

"You've been outside a while. You could catch a cold."

"I'll live… I always seem to."

"The chief is calling a meeting."

"I'll be inside soon."

"Uh okay." Kira turned round and walked inside looking over her shoulder at her partner they had nearly been working together for one year now, it was still odd to her to see Catriona's serious moments they didn't suit her.

'Oh Cat I don't understand you, you're the best there is in this entire agency and you've even been a temporary chef. What's wrong?' Kira thought her amber eyes looked down as she sighed.

"Saaaaaaake!" Kira blinked and looked up at the black haired shinigami who covered the scientific parts of their cases slamming another cup of sake down and fell off her chair laughing.

"This better be another crazy experiment Fidelia or you'll get fired for drinking on the job." Kira remarked.

"Experiment… yes… that's what it is…" Fidelia looked left than right her brown eyes shifting nervously.

The door opened to the boardroom and Kira looked at their secretary. Her long red hair floated down past her waist and her blue eyes held a welcoming smile.

"Kira, is Cat coming inside?"

"Soon." Kira replied with a sigh.

"Uh she's in one of those serious moods again, did you loose the girl?"

"No the girl's fine, the evil destroyed but that beast said something that made Cat stop twice." Kira looked over to the balcony. "Whose Himori?"

"It was the last name she said before she died, the name of her killer." Vesta looked at her and nodded. "I can understand her mood, she became a shinigami to hunt him down and kill him, but by now he's obviously already dead."

"Yeah that's what the beast said. 'Revenge is futile when Himori is dead'." Kira replied.

"Oh poor Cat." Fidelia looked over.

"Well lets start this meeting a unique case well almost unique case has come up directly from the castle of candles and it's outside our department but the death is similar to your own Kira." Vesta explained.

Kira blinked and pulled her gloves off to reveal the scars of a curse carved in to each finger. "Like my death… Then it can only be…"

"It's Scarlett." Catriona spoke up from the doorway.

"Yeah." Vesta nodded. "You okay with this case it actually goes in to Japan so you won't know an ounce of their language."

Catriona grinned and waved her hand about in front of her. "Bah I can do this. I managed eight years there in their agency only knowing a handful of words. I'm a big tough girl this will be no problem!" She boasted.

"Alright then…" Vesta looked at Kira. "You know the deal Kira."

"Sure do." Kira smiled. "One English to Japanese dictionary coming up."

"Uhhhhhhh." Catriona's head feel. "Gee thanks."

"Don't forget to bring me back a souvenir." The chief called from her desk.

Kira looked at Catriona as she walked over and took the money from the chief and shook her head walking out.

Later on Earth…

"Sooo this is Nagasaki… it's a lot different than the view you see of it from Chyugocho." Catriona mused as she walked through the streets.

"Well we've been given orders to meet up with the local shinigami agents of this area Cat so please focus."

"Eeeeee is that a chinese holter top?!" Catriona raced off

Kira let out a defeated anime breath and looked round then at her watch. "Where are those two guys any way?"

"Kira look! Look!" Catriona bounced around. "Isn't it lush that would look soooooooo great on me!"

Kira sighed. "Times like this, I prefer serious moody Cat." She complained.

~*~*~*~

"Tsuzuki we have to leave now, we're already running late." Hisoka pointed out pointing at the clock.

"Just a few more minutes Wakaba should be here soon." He waved his hand about and grinned as Wakaba arrived and placed the bag in to his hands.

"There we go Tsuzuki-san."

"Great!" He hugged the bag.

Hisoka frowned and shook his head then grabbed Tsuzuki by the back of the collar and dragged him off.

"Hisoka…" Tsuzuki complained.

"See you." Wakaba waved.

"Thanks for this Wakaba!" Tsuzuki called back.

Hisoka stopped and looked round the square.

"Are we stopping to eat?" Tsuzuki asked.

"No this is where we're suppose to meet the agents from the Persephone agency of Chyugocho." Hisoka replied.

"Oh." Tsuzuki stood up and looked round. "Do we know what they looked like?"

"All the chief said was one was blonde about eighteen and the other was twenty three with brown hair... Tatsumi's old partner." Hisoka replied.

Tsuzuki blinked as he spotted a brown haired woman coming out of a shop holding the bag and she smiled happily. "Hisoka... look."

Hisoka looked over. "It's the shinigami from Tatsumi's photo." They both saw a blonde haired girl join her and waved her finger at the older female obviously upset.

"Well I think we found them." Tsuzuki remarked.

"Let's go." Hisoka raced over and the two women stopped walking when he looked at them.

"Are you Kira?" He looked at the younger girl.

She smiled at him and nodded. "Yes I'm Kira, you must be Hisoka."

Hisoka nodded. "This is Tsuzuki." He motioned to Tsuzuki.

"Hello." He waved.

"This is Catriona, she's my partner." Kira looked at Catriona as she blinked and looked at the three of them her expression completely confused. Kira sighed. "Forgive her she doesn't speak Japanese. It wasn't an option in education while she was growing up."

"This makes it a bit hard." Tsuzuki remarked.

"Nani nani?" Catriona looked from Tsuzuki to Kira and back again. "Nani?" She repeated.

Kira turned to her. "Hisoka and Tsuzuki from the Hades Agency."

"Ooooh okay. Allo." Catriona waved as she smiled.

Hisoka frowned. "Why am I not liking this suddenly?"

"We should head to the hotel to talk." Kira placed the Japanese dictionary in Catriona's hands. "Read."

Catriona just gave out a pathetic whine.

"We won't stop for chocolate if you don't." Kira growled.

Catriona flipped the dictionary open suddenly.

Hisoka shook his head. "I'm kind of glad she doesn't speak Japanese now, I don't need to deal with two Tsuzuki's."

"He likes sweet stuff too?" Kira asked.

Hisoka just sighed and nodded his head.

"Carmel filled cinnamon roll." Tsuzuki smiled as he held up his purchase.

*To Be Continued*