Shinto

Yu Yu Hakusho, and a bit of Bleach.

I liked Bleach better when it was called "Dragonball Z" and "Yu Yu Hakusho".
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The monotonous, noisy drone filled the bedroom of the dingy, dilapidated apartment at 7:00 A.M. Michael yawned, and then groaned as his hand reached for the button. As he stepped out of bed, the floorboards creaked a cacophonous sound; and with each step, the noise could be heard again and again. He stretched his arms high, and lowered them to his sides. He leaned his body forward into a 45 degree angle with the ground, and he was ready as ever for the day after that part of his stretching exercises. After getting dressed into a bartender's suit and brushing his teeth, he picked up his signature tommy gun and P90; "Liberian Girl" and "Speed Demon".

Michael walked up to the local bagel shop for his breakfast. The usual- a buttered bagel and orange juice to go. Can't quite have a morning without orange juice. With orange juice and bagel in hand, he ate his breakfast on his way to the high school.

Reaching the front entrance, he stopped for a moment to eye a girl sleeping on the bench as many walked past the two of them. For her tiny stature of what seemed to be 5'3" in height, she seemed so strong; but in her sleep, she seemed serene and peaceful.

"Beauty is indeed one of the worst of all snares," thought Michael as he began to stroke her black hair and turned her body to the side. "You shouldn't sleep with your stomach out," whispered Michael with his great, gleaming grin.

"You're in here for a job, Mr. "Man in the Mirror". You're not here for the girls. Let's not forget that, shall we," snickered Speed Demon.

"Of course I know. Besides, I'm not really that interested in younger women. Hell, I'm not that interested in relationships with others."

"Oh really now? You seemed captivated by her," said Liberian Girl in a dirty tone.

"Imagine a suitcase, a backpack, or a briefcase. Your choice. You have to decide what to pack in it to carry with you throughout your life. First, you start out small with your material possessions: from as small as the wristwatch on my arm to your television to your couch and probably at largest, your home. Imagine all the weight pounding down on you. But heaviest of all are your relationships. Friendships, arguments, trust, compromises, responsibility: these weigh down on you the most. Imagine trying to move with this sort of weight. You're essentially a sitting duck and powerless to move against the downward pull down the hill of life. The less we can resist, the faster we die. The more commitment we take, the faster we fall; and we lose less and less ability to move on our own.

People seem to put so much into relationships; it's as if relationships are a bloodsucking vampire of people and their time. It's fascinating how people can value relationships the most and yet they are oh so fragile. Fragile as glass, and with very few of the bubble wrap and Styrofoam pellets to keep them stable and surviving. If it breaks and you still try to hold on to it despite it being broken, you're still carrying a major weight with you until the bitter end by trying to hold onto that something.

We were not meant to be lost under tangled webs of relationships to keep us from moving on in life. If living is to move on continually, we cannot free ourselves if our lives are so complicated from relationships. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans, and the idealistic Catholic marriage that supposedly lasts for a life time. We are not swans. We are sharks. Think logically: if an arm is infected, you amputate it before it spreads. This is the same principle with relationships. We are to avoid major relationships to avoid too much complication and to be able to move freely on our own; and if any relationships, they are simple and quick. All relationships are to be terminated as soon as they are not needed."

"A++ response, would listen again," snickered Speed Demon. Michael kicked Speed Demon. "Ouch."

"Is that so? If that is the case, what about your little sister, Annie," said Liberian Girl.

Michael let the wind blow against his hair, causing it to fly up. He was at a loss of words; but he didn't want to let his weapons' egos know, so he responded the only way he knew: act cool. He nodded to the sleeping girl, and put a fedora on as he entered the building. This was business now.

Thanks to the sunglasses and fedora, nobody seemed to recognize him. This allowed him to do his mission freely without having to face any confrontation about why a 24 year old man was in the school; which he would have to face had he not disguised himself given that everyone was familiar with him. He couldn't let a single soul know he was acting as the demon bounty hunter "The Man in the Mirror". "It's hard enough for a man to deal with the corruption in society, let alone the demons in the world." thought Michael. The world around him was indeed tough due to so much human corruption reigned throughout society and there was the constant threat of demons. He had to fight in whatever ways he could, and he had to make a living; so he had chosen the path of a demon bounty hunter to make a living and make the world a better place- hence his name "The Man in the Mirror": taking a look at himself and then making a change to the world. He couldn't return to the mafia as "The Moonwalker" after what had happened to his sister, so he decided to pose as a newcomer demon bounty hunter to make a living now; and if he made enough of a name for himself on the street, he would one day encounter Liu Haojun and his companions and finally avenge his sister: after all, it would be much easier than charging headfirst again the whole organization at once.

Today's mission for him: two high level demons had infiltrated the school, posing as one of the students. Normally, most demons stayed hidden in the dark nooks and crannies of the city; or hid on the streets- but these ones was different. Morphers. How troublesome, and worse yet, they was stronger and more dangerous than common demons. He'd have to be on his toes.

Suddenly, he saw a mob gather around to watch a rather strong looking girl fight a large boy. He ignored the fight, knowing the girl would win.

"...dat ass," he whispered to Speed Demon.

They chuckled together. It would be hard to root out the demon from the crowd. Suddenly, he saw flames emerge from the center of the mob. It must have been the girl, he thought. For a second, he looked at her dark, dainty eyes and grinned at her with his usual wide, teethy grin for a split second; and then he turned away and vanished. He now realized who she was: Mimoto, or as they called her "Dark Fang". He hoped she wasn't chasing after the same demon he was after. Suddenly, he saw a lone boy. His eyes were swollen and pink, his hair messy and a greasy looking black, and his arms were covered in goosebumps. As Michael looked at him, he clutched himself and he ran with a panicked expression on his face into a classroom among the many students were beginning to enter.

"Looks like we've found one of our demons," said Liberian Girl.

"Darn," thought Michael. Michael realized that he couldn't strike while the demon was in class, posing as a student; nor could he strike the demon during passing time between classes as he'd draw too much attention to himself. He'd just have to follow the demon's whereabouts the whole day. He decided to find some way to relax. He decided to listen to music on his CD player, but the boy playing music by S.S.H. was still there. The radio blaring in the background was too darn loud. He wanted to be able to listen to his own music in peace, rather than what someone else was forcing on his ears.

Two taps to the shoulder, and the boy holding the radio turned around. It was blaring some rather loud music, so he wouldn't have been able to notice otherwise.

"Would you please turn that off?"
"How about no?"

"Good riddance," thought Michael in spite. "Michael, why'd you let him go? He was one of the demons we were looking for and we had him in an isolated situation where we could have killed him quietly without anyone noticing," yelled Speed Demon. Now Michael realized the challenge ahead of him: he had to track down two morphers at once who'd be at two different locations constantly, making it hard to keep track of them. Confused what to do, he looked to his side. He noticed Mimoto's body lay on the stairs with Shinku held firmly into her hands. "That could be problematic," he thought. He reached around her waist and lifted her up. Surprisingly, despite all of her strength she had shown in battle, her body felt light in his arms; and her body against his while in his arms felt soft and gentle; but mostly warm. Perhaps this was a characteristic she had thanks to being half "Dark Flame" demon, he thought to himself.

He was about to lay her down and nurse her, but he had heard a footstep. The footstep grew louder and louder. Shoot. It was a teacher patrolling the hallways. Thinking on his feet, Michael took Mimoto with him inside of a sealed dumpster. The only thing he could do now was wait with the unconscious body of Mimoto; as he hadn't counted on teachers and he couldn't keep watch for the demons as he'd seem suspicious holding the unconscious body of Mimoto with him everywhere; and had he turned Mimoto into the nurse's office, he'd be exposed. He pulled out his CD player, and played Dionne Warwick's "What the World Needs Now" and hummed to himself; awaiting for a safe time to get out thanks to the dead end he had reached.


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Wrote in leniency for a possible hiatus for myself. Might write in a possible extra section of dialogue with Speed Demon and Liberian Girl to explain them more while Michael Jackson's in the dumpster.