Shinagami, The Angel of Death

She was fair and merciful to those who deserved it, but she ruled with an iron fist. We first met when I was nine and she was seven.

She became the gang boss at eight because some of the local drug dealers had decided to break the unspoken rule.

No one messes with the Shinigami, her name for the street, and anything that belongs to the Shinigami, including people and places.

I hadn't even known what the word Shinigami meant till I heard about her. I had looked it up when we got home and found it was a japanese word for death god.

It fit her to a T.

They had decided to use her home, a huge old building that was once a set of apartments, as a hiding place for their drop-offs.

Those, she dealt with quickly and efficiently. My dad, a cop, and I had been on the way home from the grocery store when the call came in that there was a tip-off for drug-trafficking. He had been the closest one to it, so he had decided to check it out.

When we had gotten there, we pulled into an alley beside a building. When my father saw it, he had gone white, I hadn't understood why till later. We had pulled up at the Shinagami's lair. And he was right to fear.

My dad had looked at me and said that if I got out at all he would beat me. I had believed him. He had looked to serious for me not to.

But, like all children after a while the threat lost substance and I got out and followed him anyway. They were piled on the porch in front of the ragged front door.

The bodies that is.

My father was leaning down to check their pulses, when I hid behind a column of the porch. He sighed with relief after checking each one.

Then he looked up when a laugh came floating out of the shadows. It was her, I found out, the Shinigami

"I didn't kill them, so don't worry captain, they will suffer much more in prison," a soft husky voice said in a velvet over iron tone, I should now my mom had one to though not to that degree.

"What were they doing?" my father asked quietly. There were footfalls, and out of the shadows and into the lamp light came an angel. There was no other word for her.

She had long straight perfectly golden hair that stopped above her butt and there were braids holding back the rest of her hair that made her look like she was wearing a crown. She had sapphire blue ices that looked like ice-chips. Her face was a perfect heart shape and her skin was clear and pale.

An angel.

But, a demon, a death god.

"They were in my territory and that is enough to get them killed, be glad they were not," her voice had chilled considerably. My father had nodded, which had shocked me a lot, and had cuffed each unconscious man. Then he called for back-up.

She had been silent and completely still the entire time he did this. Then the wind had kicked up behind me and buffeted me against the column. She had frozen. Then she had disappeared only to reappear in front of me.

"This is no place for children," she had told me while staring into my eyes. My father had frozen, terror in his eyes at what she would do. But, he had nothing to worry about, she protected children with her heart and soul. Not that we knew that then.

Then I blacked-out. That was the first time we had met.

I can never remember what happened after that. Not even a blur, it was like I was there and then I wasn't.

When I woke up, we were already home. I was lying in my bed and my father was sitting in a chair beside me.

Worrying, as usual.

He had looked up when I had moved. Then he had leaned over, hugged me tightly and said something strange.

"Promise me you will always be careful, son. I don't know if she will want a piece of you or not when your older. But please for the love of god be careful."

I had promised him I would, not knowing what had meant. And that was my first meeting and experience with the one known as the Shinigami. But, I am afraid not the last.