A/N: So, Singer and I have discovered the wonder that is Soul Eater, and I have to say, I love it. Stein is officially mine. xD So's Mafune, but that's not really the point. He's still babysitting Angela.
O-o-O
Prologue
The cries of the panicked woman echoed down the deserted streets, the moon above partially obscured by menacing cloud cover.
"So...hungry..." the Kishin pursuing her moaned raspily. "Souls..."
It honed in on the defenseless woman, opening it's mouth and hissing.
"You know, it isn't polite to strike a woman. Let alone one who can't defend herself." a cool voice interrupted.
A pair of glittering grey eyes gleamed from a nearby shadow, closely followed by a set of pearl white teeth, canines especially sharp.
"Souls..." the Kishin moaned again.
"Such a pity. You could at least attempt to speak about something other than souls, you know."
The Kishin ignored him, looking at the now retreating woman's back longingly.
The shadow moved. A tall man, his hair a blinding white comparable to snow, stood. The ends of his feathery hair nearly reached his elbows, a matching cream scarf fluttering lightly in the faint breeze that had picked up. A grey sweater hung loosely on his lithe form, the collar lined with fur and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Black jeans hung low on his hips, and combat boots laced up to his shins. Between long pianist fingers, a deck of cards flew with ease, only pausing every few seconds to pull a thin cigarette held neatly from in between his teeth and exhale.
"Hello there." he grinned widely, feathery white hair falling into his eyes and covering his sunkissed skin for a moment. When the strands blew away, there was a darker gleam to his grey eyes, and his teeth seemed sharper.
"Jace. Don't play with your food." another voice scolded mildly.
She stood confidently, looking rather unconcerned about the Kishin standing only a few feet away from her. Her feet were clad in a pair of tall white heels, enhancing her long legs, which a pair of black jeans hugged. Her well shaped hips stood out above the waist of her jeans, as they were riding just as low as her companions. Her shirt consisted of a tight black sports bra over her large chest. A pair of white fingerless gloves were pulled over long nailed fingers, the hem intricately detailed with black symbols. Her eyes resembled that of a soul, the pale blue standing out against her paler skin. Her dark red hair fell over her shoulders in a long loose braid, and she vaguely flicked it back over her shoulder.
"Souls...kill!" the Kishin screamed suddenly, leaping towards the newcomer. She stared unblinkingly at the Kishin, completely unaffected by the large, dangerous creature coming at her.
Rather, she grinned.
"Jace."
The white haired male seemed to just disappear from his place behind the Kishin, reappearing in front of the woman, his grey eyes glimmering darkly as he took a protective stance.
"Don't. Touch. Her." he snarled, baring his teeth.
His cards glowed from in between his fingers, and he brought one up to his face, eyes appearing black. Flicking his fingers, he sent the card flying through the air, through the Kishin's bulbous throat.
The woman crossed her arms, sighing, and stepped forward to retrieve the card.
"That was disappointing." Jace sighed, beginning to shuffle his cards again. His eyes still gleaming, he watched the red soul manifest from the remainings of the Kishin's soul. "Really, Ryuu. You never let me play."
"Not tonight, Jace." Ryuu frowned.
Jace let out a growl, taking a long drag of his cigarette before exhaling towards the sky, his cards placed back into his pocket. Before placing the cigarette back in between his teeth, he prowled over to the glowing soul and grabbed it delicately, studying it silently before taking a bite out of it, and then another.
Humming, he put out the cigarette. "What's next?"
"We're at seventy-one souls now, Jace." Ryuu shrugged, her arms remaining crossed. "I know you're in no rush to get to one hundred."
Jace's scowl deepened, but said nothing. "Whatever you say, Ryuu."
O-o-O
Lord Death stood in front of his mirror, his white mask blank as usual as he studied the two figures through the mirror.
"Hm. Perhaps I should send someone out to bring them back to the Academy." he mused. "They could be quite an asset to the DWMA, if they came. But, it's unfortunate that they are so wary of others. Especially the weapon."
The Lord Death sighed delicately, glancing back at the white haired male and his female counterpart.
"OH KID~!"
O-o-O
Death the Kid stalked down an alley, his eyes darting back and forth as his posture remained relaxed. Liz and Patty strolled along beside him, Liz watching the shadows around them warily and keeping an eye on Patty.
"So, what are we looking for exactly?" Liz asked, crossing her arms behind her head and looking up at the sky.
"The Shadowhunter." Kid replied coolly.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!" Patty yelped, waving her hands back and forth in a panic. "We can't do that!"
"And why not?" Kid frowned, doing his best to ignore the fact that the two sisters in front of him were not symmetrical to one another.
"You mean you don't know?" Liz asked, her hat falling to one side as she tilted her head.
Seeing Kid's look of confusion, she sighed. "You know how me and Patty were when we were on the streets?"
At Kid's nod, she continued. "Well, if you compare me and Patty to Jace Shadowhunter, we're nothing but infants in power."
Kid's eyes widened for a moment. "Impossible."
"No." Liz said. "It's quite true. He hides in the shadows, attacking ruthlessly and without warning. Everyone on the streets is scared of him. We've seen him once, years ago."
"Again, Impossible." Kid insisted, putting his hands in his pockets.
However, a glimpse of grey caught his eye, and he whirled, only to see a pair of grey eyes staring unblinkingly back at him.
His own narrowed, and in a second had stepped forward to see who or what was watching him. The eyes in the shadow blinked, and as he reached out, realized there was nothing there.
"Kid?" Liz asked.
Kid was baffled, but retained his composure, though at the moment he wanted to climb to the tallest peak of the tallest symmetrical mountain and cry out to the world in his happiness.
Oh, how he wanted to see those beautifully symmetrical eyes again!
O-o-O
"Jace! How could you have been so stupid!" Ryuu yelled, a vein pulsing in her forehead. "What if you'd been caught!?"
Jace snorted, his usual scowl tugging at his lips.
"You know they wouldn't have." he growled. "Other than those Thompson sisters, no one could possibly catch me when I don't want to be found."
Ryuu sighed, already spent at yelling at the male in front of her. "I know. I just worry about you, that's all."
Jace said nothing, bringing out his deck of cards. With slow, deliberate movements, her began shuffling them again.
"Are we going hunting again tonight?" he finally asked.
"You're a glutten, Jace." Ryuu moaned from her place on his bed, an arm thrown over her face.
"Damn straight."
O-o-O
"Let me get this straight." Kid said quietly. "You refuse to assist in finding the Shadowhunter because you've seen his face!?"
"Pretty much." Patty looked up from her place on the floor, her crayons out and causing mayhem on a piece of paper that was sure to be important, but didn't care.
"Sorry Kid, but it's true." Liz closed her eyes and shrugged. "Growing up here, it's pretty bad news if you meet another weapon."
Kid sighed, attempting to keep himself from throttling the two women in front of him.
By now, the sky was beginning to darken, the sun falling lower and lower in the sky, the promise of night and the possibility of rain coming with the arrival of clouds overhead.
They wandered alleyways for a while, and at one point Kid had to rescue Liz from Patty as she was dragged into a toy store.
Finally, the night came, and the lights from windows were the only way to see the path ahead of them. Between street lamps, the shadows loomed, and Liz and Patty became noticeably more tense as time went on.
"Would you two please stop your twitching?" he finally grated out, a tick mark appearing on the side of his head.
"But-" they started to protest, but were cut off when a scream echoed down an alley ahead.
O-o-O
"Jace!" Ryuu screamed as the white haired male crumpled to the ground, the Kishin rearing up before his limp form and howling in pain.
Jace had managed a couple of heavy blows to the Kishin, but unfortunately, this one had some kind of toxin on its skin that left heavy burns on Jace's own.
Coughing, Jace rolled out of the way a second before he would have been crushed by the Kishin. His hands were heavily burnt, and the black marks trailed up to his elbows erratically. Another burn on his cheek where the Kishin had drooled on him was a bright crimson.
"Stay back, Ryuu!" he roared back as she took a step forward. Hesitantly, she did as Jace told her to, putting her trust in the frail beginnings of their bond.
Snarling, Jace turned back to the Kishin, eyes glowing black as coals. "You want my soul, asshole?" he hissed. "Well, you're not gonna get it."
As if the burns on his arms weren't paining him at all, his deck of cards was suddenly in his hands, and he drew a card from the top. Flipping it around, he revealed the king of hearts.
"It seems your luck is against you." Jace smirked. "I can play with you as long as I like."
The Kishin howled again, diving for Jace's motionless body.
He took a step to the left, narrowly dodging the arms that glowed a sickly yellow. However, the Kishin's snake-like form whirled back around, arms coming for his stomach.
Flinching, he blocked the blows with his already burnt arms, and the slow hiss of something burning filled the air.
Ryuu's eyes widened in shock, and she was about to jump into the fray and help when a sudden voice said, "Liz. Patty."
She turned, only to see a male about her own age standing next to her, two glowing pink orbs flying down from the air and landing in his palms, taking on the appearance of two identical pistols.
I know those pistols... she thought. Those are the Thompson sisters! Patty and Liz!
She hit her palm with a fist as the realization dawned on her. She remembered those two now! Jace had said something about them once or twice in the last couple of weeks, though she couldn't remember what to save her life.
The sound of a gun being fired brought her back to the present. Bullets peppered the ground and the Kishin, but there was suddenly no sign of Jace anywhere.
"Jace!" she yelled, looking for any sign of his white hair.
Kid glanced out of the corner of his eye at the red haired girl, wondering what on earth she was doing here if there was no sign of anyone else around other than the Kishin.
Unless..
The Kishin reeled back from the force of the bullets, its howls getting louder each time a bullet connected with its flesh. Ryuu caught a glimpse of Jace, pinned underneath the large frame of the beast. Panic shot through her as she realized he wasn't moving.
"JACE!" she screamed, darting forward. Her heels clicked heavily against the cement, her jeans moving exactly as she did.
The Kishin lunged for her, leaving Jace's prone form on the ground. She slid, her jeans thankfully keeping her from getting too much damage from stones, and rolled out of the way of an attack, her eyes clear and focused.
She stepped aside as Jace had done only minutes earlier, dodging before backflipping easily and getting out of the way of the follow-up attack. Her agility was in perfect shape, and tonight was no exception.
Bullets were still flying through the air at the Kishin, but nothing mattered to Ryuu other than getting to Jace, who was now beginning to stir from his position on the ground.
"Jace!" Ryuu yelled, this time a note of relief in her words. "About time, you lazy ass! Can I get some help here?"
He said nothing, though he did make it into a kneeling position before glowing a dark blue and disappearing into Ryuu's hands, where he reformed into a deck of large black cards. Ryuu nodded before bracing herself against something. Jace appeared for a moment on the cards' reflective surface, looking bloodly and worse for the wear.
'Don't get cocky.' he warned her. 'Go for the throat, and make it quick.'
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go, Jace!" Ryuu grinned ferally.
Kid watched in astonishment as the Kishin was cornered by the red haired girl, her eyes determined. Keeping up the steady stream of bullets, he allowed her to take care of the situation, just a little curious to see what would happen.
Perfect symmetry... he thought to himself as Ryuu flicked the cards at the beast, dividing it cleanly through the middle as they collided.
She then proceeded to collapse, Jace reforming next to her, reaching out to collect the soul before he fell forward. Cards fell from his pocket, scattering around them.
You're an idiot... Jace thought before he too fell into darkness.
O-o-O
A/N: Ryuu, you're an idiot. Jace told you to be quick.