-1- The Meeting

The Mini Cooper Convertible screeched to a halt in the middle of the busy Tokyo Boulevard and was thrust into reverse, executing a perfect parallel parking maneuver in between two other cars. A young woman stepped out of the vehicle, flipping her dirty blond hair and marched across the street and onto the sidewalk ignoring oncoming traffic as if knowing that they were going to stop for her anyway. Special Agent Anna Kyoyama stormed through the door of Public Security Intelligence Agency (P.S.I.A.) and practically ran through the main hallway, almost toppling over people and co-workers alike. Those who saw her coming knew to stay clear of her when she was in this state. She had instilled a special kind of respect in each and every one of them.

She was not in a good mood.

After two years—TWO YEARS—of successfully solving case after case pretty much single-handedly, she gets a call from her boss saying that he:

"…have your partner in the office with me and should come by ASAP to meet him. He's a great guy."

There was no way in Hell that she was going to be silent about this. What did she need a partner for? The thought almost made her want to spit. All she knew about this mystery man was that his name was Yoh Asakura, he was twenty-two, and he was from Izumo.

Izumo of all places…

What did he have to offer her?

"Izumo is nothing but grass and shrines," she was mumbling to herself as she rounded the corner in the direction of the commissioner's office. "This is Tokyo. And I don't need the pampered spoiled rich son of the Asakura family breathing down my neck every waking moment."

She stopped at a door at the end of the hallway. In bold letters: Commissioner En Tao.

She didn't knock.

To her left, sat the secretary's desk. There sat Jun Tao, oldest daughter to the boss. Anna's sudden entrance startled her, almost making her knock over a stack of paper.

"U-um, wait a minute Kyoyama-san. The Commissioner is…"

"He's expecting me," she snapped back unintentionally. Jun was just in the cross-fire of her anger at the moment. She didn't mean to give her a quick retort. It was her idiotic father whom she was angry with. She would need to apologize for being cross…and maybe ask for forgiveness for accidentally coming across his desk and attempting to strangle him. That was usually how their relationship had been since she started her job there. Yes, En Tao was her undisputed authority, but she was good at her job, almost too good. And he, along with many others, had to respect her for that. And it wasn't like she didn't have mutual gratitude for the old man. It was just she challenged him with what she felt were fair questions. And sometimes, she would come across as disrespectful. Not really her fault…

She didn't knock on the Commissioner's door either. She made eye-contact with him through the translucent glass that surrounded his office space. En immediately rose to his feet, fully prepared to hear a verbal onslaught come from the lips of his fiery subordinate.

But her approach was surprisingly calmer than he had first thought.

Her eyes immediately struck the young man sitting in the chair next to the Commissioner's desk who scrambled to his feet when he heard the door burst open. He had long black hair that went down to the small of his back, almost as long as hers. His eyes were dark and calm and his demeanor was suave in a sense, fitting for the suit and tie he had on. But even though his disposition was a lot more pleasant than she had first imagined, it was all she was expecting from a snobby rich boy.

He cautiously smiled at her, "Hello, how are you?"

She said nothing to him, calculating her choice of words. She was debating on whether or not to cuss him out for trying to be chummy with her. He should know just by looking at her, that she was by no means, happy to see either of them. Was he an idiot or something?

Eventually, she dismissed the thought entirely. It wasn't worth the telling off she would hear from the Commissioner.

She turned her attention to En, "You want to tell me what this is about?"

Her rather extensive entrance put an awkward atmosphere in the room, but the boss cleared his throat and gestured her to the seat next to the young man. She was reluctant at first, but she slid into the chair, slightly eyeing her would-be partner out of her peripheral.

The Commissioner cleared his throat again, "Listen Anna, I know you have clearly built up a very prestigious career by yourself over the past couple of years…"

"Clearly," she reiterated crossing her arms over her chest. That made her boss' brow furrow.

"Look, we all know what you're capable of, but you can only do so much by yourself. That's why we brought in Agent Asakura here."

She didn't even bat an eye in the guy's direction. Her gaze was placed firmly on En.

She combated his reasoning,"If what you say about my work is true, then what makes you think I need a partner now? I've been able to handle myself efficiently out on the field. No problem—"

"No, not exactly," En cut her off, and doing so made her glare at him. Even En found Anna Kyoyama to be quite frightening. Even after two years, he looks in hindsight, debating on whether or not hiring her was a good idea.

He started again after faltering, "...the O.I.U exists as a team, and even though I've let you run amok out there leading crime investigations like a free-lance Sherlock Holmes, the stability of having a partner is essential. Our organization is too small to have solo players. I don't need my lead investigator on the field alone. Plus, you know how important it is to find someone else with our unique talents. The only reason you weren't given a partner yet is because we are few and far in between. It was only a matter of time before someone came along."

She sighed out of frustration. She couldn't shake the truth in his words. The Occult Investigations Unit was a group of P.S.I.A. agents with the innate ability to speak to the dead. Finding someone of such caliber was hard to come by anyway. Most people with a gift as such wouldn't tell anyone out of shame. Growing up with an almost fairytale-like ability would be tormenting if closed-minded people were to know about it. And for them to decide to use their power for good, go through rigorous training, and actually make their way onto the team was a huge achievement.

But even so, it was because of this reason that Anna was so prideful of her accomplishments. She had her sob story growing up as an orphan, but she decided to make the best of it and wound up one of the best operatives in the O.I.U. What would she need a partner for after all that she had accomplished? And on top of that, the first person they pick out of the bunch of potentials is a snobby rich boy she could hardly relate with from Izumo.

Well, as much as she opposed having a partner so late in the game, there were some good things in having someone paired up with her. Being who she was, she had to look on the bright side of everything. If she were ever in a tight spot, having a partner watching her back would help. She could recall the many situations in her career where she was staring down the barrel of a gun or barely evading a knife and narrowly escaping with her life. Having someone who she could trust would greatly lower her chances of winding up in a hospital bed. And she hated hospitals. What good would she be to Tokyo or any other place for that matter if she were dead, anyway?

"I don't like this, En," she muttered from the corner of her mouth.

"I know you don't kid," he implored. "… but you're just going to have to swallow it like everyone else on the field. You're no exception. Even the great Sherlock had a partner." he looked at the young man sitting across from her. "I evaluated Mr. Asakura myself. He passed his training with flying colors with similar qualifications such as you, Anna. I think if you give him a chance, I'm sure the two of you will be the best team to come out of the Tokyo O.I.U in in a long time."

She decided to look at him.

Asakura was smiling at her again in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

She frowned. Maybe if he was an eye-sore, she would hate him more, but he wasn't. In fact, he was far from an eye-sore now that she took a second look at him. The thought of accepting that he was actually good-looking made her stomach churn slightly. She rebuked herself for even thinking that.

She turned her circumstances in her head over and over again, and eventually, she gave up.

She sighed again, shaking her head in unmarked disapproval, "…fine, fine."

En smiled happily, glad that she was able to see things his way. That was a rarity. Normally when she came stomping into his office, it was always a complaint of some sort, and he would always give her a half-hearted answer out of shear bewilderment of how intelligent she was. She wasn't the kind of person he could give a half-baked answer to. That was what he liked most about her, and at the same time, he despised it about her. She just never took "no" for an answer. But to his surprise, she took this situation surprisingly well.

Commissioner En rose form his seat, "Good, now why don't you two take the weekend off, get acquainted with one another, yeah? There's a nice café a few blocks away from here. Great lattes…"

Anna ignored him and rose from her seat and started towards the door. She could hear Agent Asakura acknowledge him on her way out.

"Yes sir. Thank you. Have a good evening."

It was a simple, I'm sorry I yelled at you, to Jun, and she was out the door, heading back to her car. Her walk was slower than her entry, but was still intentional. She was hopefully trying to gain some distance from her rather annoying associate. She knew that Asakura was walking close behind her.

"Um, Miss Kyoyama…"

His voice was husky and even-toned. And frankly, she didn't even know why she was noting it. Maybe, it was the profiler in her; to jot down random facts about a person.

Whatever.

It didn't matter. She just needed to make it to her car and she would be home free as long as he didn't bring up—

"I was wondering if we could use the time we had to get acquainted. That café on the corner doesn't sound like a bad idea in fact."

She rolled her eyes.

Like Hell she would. Being alone in a café with him was the furthest thing from her mind. The load of laundry she had left in the washer machine was deemed more of a priority. If she didn't hurry home, they would sour.

She made it to the front door and out onto the concrete steps that lead up to the building before she gave him an answer. She swiveled around on her heels to face him and almost bumped foreheads with him because he was walking so close to her from behind. He stumbled backwards on the uneven asphalt, but it didn't faze her.

"Listen Asakura, I don't like you or this situation that I have unfortunately found myself in, but I need to make something clear to you…" she pointed a stern finger at him. "…YOU are from Izumo. THIS is Tokyo—my turf. I don't care how you were taught or how you did things back home. While we are partners, you listen to what I say, when I say it. No doing things on your own, no solo checks, no nothing. Do you understand me?"

She practically growled her orders at him, but he only returned a smile.

"Yes mam. Understood."

She could feel the vein on her forehead throb. She about-faced and left him standing on the stairs. She finally got to her car across the street and slammed the door shut as she plopped into the driver's seat, mentally exhausted.

That smile of his was going to be the death of her.

Calm down Anna…

She started her car and sped off.

A twenty minute drive across town just to hear news like that. A simple phone call would have sufficed. En owed her gas money.

Her drop-top had the wind blowing her hair about her face and the Yoko Kanno coming from her radio evened out her mood.

Well, at least he wasn't ugly. And jumping to conclusions about his family and him being a snobby rich boy was a bit immature, but that point couldn't be ignored. Regardless of someone's upbringing, the thing that mattered most is what they do with their present time. And from her analysis, her new partner seemed to be doing something right. She didn't know exactly what, but it had to be something good. Otherwise, the Commissioner wouldn't have picked him. She argued with the boss a lot, but she only worked for him because she trusted his judgment.

Yoh Asakura…

Funny name. It'll take some getting used to.

…please be a decent man. That's all I ask.

Agent Yoh Asakura watched as his future partner in the O.I.U sped off down the road until she was completely out of view.

He chuckled under his breath as he stepped onto the sidewalk and made his way towards his own car, "I guess that's a no on the coffee then."

His first impression of Anna Kyoyama exceeded all of his expectations. Asakura was no fool. When he got the call in Izumo from Commissioner En to come to the big city and form a partnership with Tokyo's lead investigator, he did an extensive background check on the renowned young woman.

Over 150 cases solved in as little as over a two-year time period.

Most of them being murder or drug-ring cases.

And she wasn't even a day over twenty-one.

This was no ordinary young lady.

"And she's beautiful."There was no doubt about that.

But getting her to trust him was a whole different story. The first thing he needed to do was at least sit her down and talk to her. He didn't leave home just to quarrel with her. He wanted to get started just as badly just as she did. Maybe even more. He had built up a reputation back in Izumo almost as distinguished as hers. He needed to prove to her that he was nothing but reliable.

"Well, I got a weekend to try and figure things out...hopefully."

He smiled to himself dismissing the thought entirely, "Meh, it'll work out. No doubt about it."