He opened his eyes, squinting immediately as the flash of whiteness he was greeted with slowly faded into a light blue. Looking around frantically at his unfamiliar surroundings, the first thing he noticed was that his feet weren't touching down on anything. He was levitated off the ground. At least, he thought it was the ground. The entire area he was in appeared to be a spacious room, a never ending one if observed for too long. Fluffy white clouds floated serenely around the tall black crosses that jutted out of the colorless floor, not a single sound was heard throughout the entire place. Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of dozens of small blue, glowing orbs with tails that wiggled animatedly from the top. They all drifted in the same direction, passing him in silence, and he noticed that he, too, was slowly moving along with them.

He was dead. He must've been. Why else would he be in a place that seemed so much like the so-called heaven everyone expected to go to?

It all flashed through his mind. The drunkenly swerving car, the heart-stopping impact, the feeling of being thrown off the bike and hitting something. Something hard. Most likely the wall of rock just off the road.

Ghosted pain shot through the back of his head and the side of his ribcage. The last thing he felt before he found himself here.

Looking in front of him, he saw a particularly large cloud blocking his path. Instead of floating around it, he simply passed through it, making it dissipate into a thin mist as he came out the other end.

A man clad in a dark cloak hovered over him. His jet-black hair with distinct white stripes moved gently with the light breeze of the room. His intense amber eyes looked down at him fiercely before confusion sparked in them, his brows knitting.

"You," the cloaked man addressed, lowering himself. "You don't belong here."

"What?"

"This is the dimension of the dead. And you have not yet died," the man explained. He motioned to the blue orbs surrounding them. "You take the form of a living body, not the dead's soul."

He looked down at himself, noticing his clearly human hands. But they seemed to radiate an unnatural light, as did the rest of his figure.

"Your spirit has been expelled from your body," the man pointed out. He slid a hand out of his cloak. "Unfortunately, as a reaper, I cannot allow you to stay here. You must go back from whence you came and return to your still-living flesh." The reaper's eyes suddenly glowed white and a bright light shot from his hand.

"But-!" he was cut off by the sudden rush of wind caused by whatever was shooting from the reaper's hand. It engulfed and blinded him.

Moments later, he felt the strong wind subside and he slowly cracked open an eye.

He found himself in a desert, remembering only three things. He was in a motorcycle accident, he lived in a place called Death City, and his name was Soul Evans.

Maka Albarn stepped off the busy, crowded sidewalk in exchange for a small, cobblestone path leading into the colorful, refreshing scenery of the public park. She often opted for this shortcut when she felt particularly stressed after a formidable test or a busy day at work. The luscious greenery often calmed her down and the scent of blossoming flowers always gave her the energy she needed to walk the rest of the way home through the never ending hustle and bustle of the city that couldn't care less if you were tired or not. Though it was fall now, and many of the flowers had withered and gone to sleep, not to be seen again until the next spring, Maka loved breathing in the cold, crisp air while looking around at the brilliant gold and red leaves gently falling off the tree branches and crunching below her feet.

Even at the age of twenty one, Maka couldn't help but grin as she ran childishly down the path when she saw no one was looking, as a rather strong gust of wind blew the colorful leaves around her. Her thin, sandy blonde pigtails were tied low, unlike the high twin tails she wore when she was still in high school, and they bounced off her shoulders as she slowed down when the wind subsided to a gentle breeze, letting the leaves ease to the ground. She took one last look at the branches above her, the sound of rustling in her ears, before shifting her eyes down.

Before her, stood a man, to her embarrassment. He must've seen her sprint down, smiling wildly like an idiot. She should've double checked if there was anybody in front of her. Taking a closer look at him, she found that his dark boots weren't touching the ground. They were a few inches above it, actually. His body was outlandishly ashen, as though he'd stepped out of a black-and-white film, except his clothes reflected the current time's fashion. He wore what looked to be a black leather jacket over a v-neck and light jeans. The only spots of any distinct color on him were his vivid, glowing scarlet eyes.

Said eyes shifted to peer into her own wide emerald ones. Her breath hitched and she stepped back cautiously. He couldn't possibly have been human. No human would have such unruly white hair and red eyes, or sharp teeth. Wait. Sharp teeth?

No, she wasn't imagining it. The man's lips parted slightly when he grimaced, revealing his frighteningly serrated teeth as his eyes scanned her body up and down, making her tense up with apprehension.

"Who would've thought a girl could have such tiny tits," he muttered to himself, blatantly staring at her chest.

Maka gave an offended gasp, blushing as she hid her chest with her petite, thin hands. "E-excuse me?!" she sputtered. Sure she lacked the assets most girls her age had, not that she really cared. But that certainly didn't mean a random stranger's words couldn't hurt her pride a bit. Were they really so small that they weren't even visible when she wore her tight, form fitting trench coat?

The man's face turned to surprise. He glanced over his shoulder. Seeing that no one was there, he turned back to her. "Wait. You talking to me?" he asked, pointing a finger to his chest.

"Yes, I'm talking to you!" she spat, "Just who do you think you are?"

His eyes widened, a wide smile gracing his face, "Thank God," he breathed, giving a quiet, short laugh before directing his ecstatic grin at her, "I thought nobody would ever see me."

Maka furrowed her brows, "What?"

"Maybe you can help me!" he exclaimed quickly. He drifted gracefully closer to her, giving Maka a closer look at the hopeful spark in his crimson eyes.

Putting a few steps of distance between them, Maka asked "What do you mean?"

"It's a long story, but hear me out, okay?"

"Yeah, no, I'm leaving," Maka said, walking around the strange man, thinking to herself that she'd forget about the whole thing and just go home. Go home and make a nice, steamy cup of tea. Then, curl up on the couch under her soft, fluffy blanket and read a book… Yeah…

"No, wait!" the man called out in desperation. "I need your help!"

Looking behind her, she saw his grey hand reach out to touch her shoulder. She felt nothing as she watched his fingers go into her shoulder, to her horror. Squeaking and flinching back, she cried out, "Just what are you?!" Noticing, once again, his sickly unnatural dull coloration and the way he stayed suspended in the air as he slowly backed off.

The man took a moment before answering, a pained look crossing his face briefly as his shoulders slumped. "I guess you can call me a ghost," he sighed. He watched her eyes widen. "But I'm not really dead."

Maka frowned. An undead ghost? It didn't make any sense.

"That's why I need you!" he urged. "You're the only person that can actually see me. You have to help me find my body so I can go back to living again."

"Find your body? And why would I have to help you?" Maka asked, starting to get a headache from all the insensible information. "Can't you find it yourself?"

"I would if I could," the ghost answered wistfully. "The only problem is that I lost all my memories. The only thing I remember is my name, that I live here, in Death City, and that I was in a motorbike accident."

Maka bit her lip. Not actually dead? Lost memories? A motorbike accident? It all just didn't add up. But, she couldn't just walk away from him now. Not when he looked at her with such pained eyes.

"I-," she sucked in a breath, "I can't." She continued before he could say anything, "I'm too busy with school and my job. I've got too much on my plate to add finding a ghost's body to it."

"I don't think you understand," he sputtered, "You're the only person I've met that can actually see me, hear me, and talk to me."

Maka knew she couldn't, she simply could not. With her currently trying to juggle her difficult courses and a part-time job to make the next rent payment, she just didn't have the time or energy for such a ridiculous request. Besides, it wasn't like her to even believe in the existence of ghosts. Then again, she couldn't deny that the ashen man floating before her wasn't one. It was enough that she even bothered talking to him, let alone help him with such a ridiculous task.

Looking over, she saw that a woman pushing a baby stroller was coming towards them. Turning back to him, she lowered her voice, "Sorry, ghost boy, but you're gonna have to find somebody else to haunt." With that, she turned on her heels and began walking away.

The ghost, however, wasn't about to give up so easily. He followed close behind her, pleading for her help as she tried to ignore his constant whining. It wasn't as though she could acknowledge him, not with all the people surrounding her, anyway. They'd think she was crazy. He'd followed her for a good ten minutes now, never ceasing his begging. Maka was just about ready to rip her own face off because he wouldn't shut up. Not only that, but he was still trailing behind her and she was only about a block away from her apartment complex.

"C'mon! I told you already! It took me an entire week just to find this fucking city. I can't just let someone who can see me leave! Quit ignoring me, there's no one here anyway!" he cried.

"Ugh! Will you just shut up already?!" Maka hissed, whirling around to face the man. He floated back in surprise at her irritated outburst, but grinned.

"Finally! So, does that mean you will help me?"

"No!" Maka snapped, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Now leave me alone!"

She turned back around and walked furiously towards her apartment building. She entered the lobby and noticed that he was still following her. She shot him a warning glare which he met with a determined look.

"I won't stop until you say yes," he smirked.

Huffing angrily, Maka walked up the stairwell.

"I'll haunt you forever," he threatened jokingly. "And keep bothering you until you say yes."

"Shut up," she muttered, reaching her floor.

"No. I need help, and you're the only one who can. Geez, woman, don't you get it?! The. Only. Person!" he stressed, finally reaching his own limit in patience.

"For the love of mankind, I get it! I'm sorry I can't help you, now go find someone else who can see you and ask them!" Maka roared, turning to face him, her voice echoing down the hallway. Looking to the side, she saw her neighbor, a tall woman with short black hair and rectangular glasses, stare at her, mouth slightly agape and eyebrows quirked. Maka laughed nervously, "Sorry, Bluetooth," she lied, pointing to her opposite ear and glowering viciously at the man. Her neighbor simply passed by her calmly, muttering something about young people these days acting strangely.

"Pff, serves you right," he sneered.

"It's your fault Azusa thinks I'm crazy now! You know what, fuck you," she spat, jamming her key angrily into the lock and turning it. She slammed the door behind her, starting to peel off her trench coat when she heard a voice right next to her.

"Don't you know ghosts can go through walls?"

Maka yelped, whirling around to find the man hovering right beside her. Groaning, too tired to yell at him anymore, she flopped down on her small couch. "Fine," she sighed in defeat.

"What?"

"I said, fine,"

"For what?"

"Helping you, you dumbass!" she cried, rolling her eyes wearily.

"Really?!" he asked excitedly, grinning wildly.

"Yeah," said Maka, noticing his growing glee, "But, I can't start until after I get through the exams in a few of my classes."

"Yeah, sure, that's fine," he said, most likely ignoring her and only thinking about the fact that he'd finally convinced her.

"You said you remembered your name," Maka started, watching as he turned his attention to her, "I never caught it."

"Soul Evans," he grinned.

"Maka Albarn," she smiled back.

"Pleasure working with you."

A/N: I've been pretty excited about this story since I thought it up during the summer. I have to say, it was inspired by Full Moon wo Sagashite (Full Moon, for short) by Arina Tanemura. If you haven't read or watched it, I should inform you that there is a character that was thought to be dead since he was thought to be a shinigami, but it turned out he was in a coma or something (I was a bit confused by it, but I think that's about right). Also, I must've edited this chapter at least a million times and I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you look forward to the rest of this story, it should be about 5 chapters long. I've written up to chapter 3 and planned out all of chapter 4. Chapter 5's planning is nearly done, and since I have HSPAs next week, I won't have homework to hinder my creative processes.

I hope you enjoy this short little teaser of a chapter and until the next one, I bid you adieu!

Btw, reviews are wonderful and seriously motivate me. Any at all would be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

PS: any announcement regarding chapter updates or story progress for any of my stories will be posted on my profile.