If Only for a Moment ☓ You and Her

Stranger Things Have Happened

The following was inspired by a prompt on my own tumblr sideblog, gaygirlprompts. Feel free to take a gander.

The corpse isn't pretty - but what corpse ever is. Naoto Shirogane has seen too many corpses for a girl of only twenty, and they have never been pretty. Sometimes it makes her wonder why she'd gone to such lengths to become a detective.

She remembers the countless cases she'd assisted her parents on, and then her grandfather when they passed away. The tireless hours spent studying old case files and sharpening her mind to a deadly point just to further her family's legacy.

And then there was her secret little gift that gave her quite the edge over others in her shoes.

She didn't want to believe that her ability to communicate with the dead had everything to do with how successful she'd become in her field, but she wasn't going to lie and say it had nothing to do with it, either. Besides, her ability to talk with ghosts relied solely on their desire to talk with her, and that was assuming they stuck around after kicking the bucket.

She hasn't seen this girl's spirit, yet. Just her body - collapsed unceremoniously in a heap in the middle of this dank alleyway. She's dressed fairly well, showing that she most likely came from an upper middle-class background if not a wealthy one. She's young, too - barely older than the detective, herself. It's different from the last victim.

The only way Naoto can be sure the girl was killed by the same person is the multiple stab wounds to the chest and a red X drawn in likely her own blood across her lips.

Cameras flash as the other investigators take crime scene photos upon crime scene photos. It'd be enough to make her dizzy had she not been so used to it, but suddenly it is not the bright lights that have her attention.

"Ugh, how tacky..."

Naoto doesn't raise her head or make any indication that she's noticed the spirit. She watches calmly from the corner of her eye, acting as if she is still enraptured with the details of the body at her feet.

Yikes...that sounded weird...

"Really, how many times has the dreaded Red X been used in mystery novels? Try some originality, asshole."

Several.

Naoto feels her mouth quirking up at the corners. It is rare that she encounters a spirit that takes their death so easily and in such good humor.

"If you hadn't been wearing that stupid fuckin' mask I would've been on your ass with my ghostly self by now...count yourself lucky."

Naoto covers her snicker with a cough and turns to walk deeper into the alleyway, away from the other investigators. She makes sure to bump slightly into the ghost girl's shoulder, just enough to get her attention. Chances were that she had already attempted to interact with passerby and had realized that she was unable to touch regular people - though ghosts could eventually touch inanimate objects with a certain amount of effort. For some reason, Naoto - as a medium - could touch and be touched.

"Hey, watch it Miss Priss!" She hears the indignant grunt of the girl behind her, before she inevitably realizes that this is the first person she's been able to interact with since waking next to her dead body. "Wait...hol'up!"

Strange, echoey footsteps follow Naoto farther into the alley, scurrying like a little mouse.

"Hey, you! You just bumped me!"

Naoto snorts, but keeps it quiet so as not to draw attention from the other live ones nearby. "Oh, did I? You'll have to forgive me."

"I knew it! You can see me! Wait...are you just another ghosty-goo? That would make this discovery slightly less sensational...eh, no offense." Naoto stops, pretending to study possible evidence before deigning to answer.

"Not a ghost - just a detective." She hums under her breath, just loud enough for the dead girl to pick up on. Spirits have pretty handy hearing, as Naoto understands it. It was quite interesting, actually - she'd met a ghost who had been deaf in life but had regained its hearing in death. They must have sensed things differently than humans - through other means than bodily functions. "Luckily enough for you, I've been speaking with your kind for a while, now. I'd be happy to give you some tips in exchange for your help on this case."

"Oh? Straightforward, aren't you?" The ghost crosses her arms and eyes the detective with more than a little wariness. "How can I be sure anything you know is useful?"

"Hm...have you teleported, yet?"

"Tele-...wait, I can do that?"

"Of course," Naoto shrugs slightly, a smug look in her eye as she moves to "investigate" another area, "I'm told it's quite simple, even for beginners. Close your eyes and picture a place nearby. Focus on it, solely, and you should pop over easily."

The ghost eyes her suspiciously for a few moments, as if to determine whether this is a prank or not. After a while she seems to make up her mind and try it out. It takes a bit, she just stands there squeezing her eyes shut and scrunching up her nose cutely until...

She disappears. An excited shriek pierces the air, then, and Naoto stands there as the ghost girl comes hurtling back into the alley as fast as her feet will carry her.

"Holy crap, you were right!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Naoto sighs, resisting the urge to shake her head. "Okay, now that you've seen how I can help you...will you do the same? Help me catch your killer."

"I'll...do what I can..." The girl becomes solemn, brows furrowing. "I want that bastard to pay."

Naoto hums affirmatively and nods once. "Then it's a deal. Let's bring him to justice, together."