"Head Administer Ying, files from headquarters."

At the soft voice, Xiu Ying looked over her shoulder to see one of the newer department shinigami standing at the door to her office, waving a thick stack of papers in her hands.

Accepting the documents with a polite smile, Xiu Ying internally sighed. Despite the hundreds of years she's been doing this, the documents seemed to be growing in quantity. The amount of new shinigami they received was beginning to pale in comparison to the growing populations and the subsequently resulting incidents, much less counting the souls that even qualified to become reapers.

It was becoming a little tedious.

"Thank you, Jing An. Can you please take these to the Personnel Division on your way back." The dark haired woman picked up the recently finished death-books, everything but the printed pictures written out in a sharp, scrawling script.

An important official would die today, or a few, rather. There would be a slew of massacres in the imperial palace, an uprising. She didn't care about the outcome, but it had left more work than usual today. As Xiu Ying was arguably the oldest and most experienced of their administrative branch, and she was the one that dealt with the issuing of the more important reapings as well as a variety of other high-clearance topics, which she supposed was more interesting than the common administrative work.

After so long, however, she couldn't bring herself to feel anything more than a slight pity for these humans. They simply did not interest her anymore, outside of the work they make her do. It had been more than three hundred years since the last time she remembered even wishing to leave the Shinigami world, where she labored more out of habit than anything.

She doesn't even bother with keeping up with the changing times anymore, other than the meaningless dates she issues for pathetic souls. If she had the time to stick her nose in every turn of the dynasty, no work would get done.

Watching her subordinate walk away with the familiar pep of uncertainty found in new recruits, Xiu Ying shook her head.

Perhaps she was getting too old after all. But what else was there for her to do?

There was no "retiring" for Shinigami. It was either work and a will or to fade away into the last afterlife. Yes, her term of repentance had passed around hundred years ago, but she had no urge to simply pass. Those that actually chose to immediately were few and far inbetween, but she was aware that she was reaching the older spectrum of a shinigami lifetime. Although, judging by the centuries that the glasses makers have lived, she could still hold on for much longer if she wanted.

She truly saw no point in being reborn just yet. Here, there was work to do, departments to support. As the populations grew, more and more branches were becoming understaffed, and the terms for newlings were being extended. Before she left, she would like to at least make sure the department would be in capable hands, and she highly doubted HQ would let her go so easily in the first place.

With the slightest hint of reluctance, Xiu Ying turned back to her paperwork, resigning herself to her current fate.

x

Hazy yellow-green eyes stared at the desk, staring unblinking holes into nothing. There was an almost-dazed look on the female Shinigami's face. If it wasn't for the furious working of her hands in grabbing, writing, and sorting papers, then one might've thought she had become a corpse. A few times here and then, the door to her room would slide open and familiar footsteps would come to set down and take away papers silently. The process went on almost unendingly, the workers performinging their duties with their usual purpose, accustomed to the the woman's strange state while they worked a routine like bees in a hive.

As her hand reached out only to finally meet the cool surface of wood, Xiu Ying finally stalled. In a heartbeat, her gaze brightened and she sat up, bringing her mind back to the present. Her eyelashes slowly fluttered open and shut a few times before she cracked all her fingers and twisted her sore wrist with a grimace.

The work might be laborious, but it was equally as mindless, once one had gotten used to it. For a while now, she hasn't had to actually focus to do her work and to do it efficiently. Rather, she's become taken to a sort of napping that she ended up developing over the decades while filling and filing and signing off forms. It didn't affect her work nor the quality of it, so she had been quite content, as Xiu Ying typically took most of the overtime with precious few time to actually sleep. Not that her body, in this state, particularly needed much rest. It was considered a treat to sleep, though, as reapers could still recall a slight bit of the pleasure that came from rest.

Standing up, Xiu Ying stretched until she felt every single bone in her body pop comfortably before sliding open the rice screen door that led to the small space of her empty workspace.

As she walked to the kitchen, Xiu Ying checked her specially made watch to see how much time had gone by. The face wasn't a clock, but rather a string of numbers that counted up, since Xiu Ying had trouble keeping track of time when she wasn't even aware what day it was. Currently, the face read '13 hours, 42 minutes'.

Not bad for massacres.

Shinigami, despite not actually being living creatures, still required subsistence in some form. Much less nutrition or really flavor than humans, yes, but still enough to fuel their bodies in some way.

All the departments of China's Shinigami Dispatch(current dynasty: Qing) had their own canteens, and the food was typically near-flavorless. Although the vast majority of Shinigami did not mind much as they lost their appetite for food long ago.

She preferred to take her meals alone, but it was refreshing at times to fetch food at the communal dining hall. All the new recruits still had a spark that was enjoyable to watch.

Most people didn't bother her as she entered, but she exchanged brief greetings with the occasional familiar face.

It took a while for her to finally reached the front, where all sorts of food was displayed. Although she felt no hunger, her mouth started watering. It was for the best that her body decided what to eat, since she wouldn't at all if it had been up to her.

Just as she took a bowl of porridge, a hurried shout of her name made Xiu Ying turn around. A panting young man ran up to her, and she waited patiently for him to take a few breaths before he spoke.

"A-administer Ying, HQ is requesting you for an urgent matter. Please head over as soon as possible!"

Xiu Ying gave a short glance to the food in her hand before setting it aside without much reluctance and nodded to the boy.

It took her less than five minutes to make it to the building where headquarters was housed, an elaborate building within a wide courtyard. Showing her identification, she bypassed the guards and kneeled when she entered the room designated for hearings.

The situation, as she was told, was a sudden mass poisoning in the south, resulting from contamination in the water. There was no time to write out and pass the documents through all the levels, so she was temporarily given authorization to accompany their best reaper to provide information for judgement verbally until the rest of the forms came in.

What a coincidence, she had just been longing for something more...interesting to do.

These events, while not common, were not exceedingly rare and Xiu Ying had performed the task many time, occasionally even across continents during times of great calamity. Internally, in her own country, she found herself taking such assignments around once every hundred years. They were becoming understaffed, yet the recruits other branches sent were typically useless in some form, and thus their training took up manpower as well.

Matters like these required quick movements, as dying souls left unreaped were highly likely to attract demons. Their allure of the suffering and their desperate pleads for life would be irresistible bait to demons. And thus, their souls would be devoured and lost. It was only relief that these types of unplanned events would typically not attract the higher-level demons, preventing the formation of contracts.

Those were always pains in the sides of grim reapers, as the soul would virtually be gone, yet the human still alive.

Receiving the list of temporary names, a stamp, the Black Pen, and a safety scythe, Xiu Ying hurried off to the retrieval division, aware that there was no time to lose. She was met with Retrieval District head Mo Nan Gong, who was typically the other part chosen for these missions.

They exchanged nods of familiarity, and he handed her a cloak. Xiu Ying strapped on the safety scythe, which was made for defense purposes only, and swung on the cloak before the two took off.

Their portal landed them on the roof of a house in a small town. Immediately, Xiu Ying was met with the sight of bodies, some collapsed, and others sitting or weary. If not dead, they were all on the verge.

The sky was slightly overcast, but light enough for her to see clearly.

Glancing over them all quickly, Xiu Ying let the information flood into her head, checking the first name on the list before pointing out a man to their side, facedown in the dirt road.

"Guo Bu Wei, 34, merchant…"

In half a minute, they judged and Nan Gong reaped, taking care of the struggling records deftly. Like this, they continued on, finishing off lives with a practiced ease.

Near body number thirty, Nan Gong started struggling, beginning to tire from the efforts of pacifying the souls. Xiu Ying could only watch from the side as he took longer and longer to reap, as although her soul was fairly strong, her ying made her a powerless existence in the world of the living. It was because of that imbalance between the living, which could only be interacted with yin, the symbol of life, that made females incompetent to be field reapers. Their energies were strongest in the world of the dead, as ying was the passive existence of death. Or at least, that was the reason that she knew.

Moreover, her temporary scythe could not collect souls, so she could not help regardless.

At around their fiftieth body, Xiu Ying began to catch sight of demons. Low level ones that flitted around the bodies, spirits at that point, but demons nevertheless. A few reapings later, she had to start chasing the more solid ones away. At death seventy, Nan Gong had to start killing them.

There were still around fifty names left before reinforcements would arrive. Yet, Xiu Ying soon had to take out her own weapon at the occasional demon that would attempt to get her away from their prey. Ten more names and both her boots and the ends of her cloak were stained with black blood. Twenty more, and they had already lost eight souls.

Nan Gong was not doing well. Xiu Ying was worried if they could finish the last ten, as the reaper was struggling to breathe and having trouble even standing.

This many deaths were exerting on anyone.

It was at that moment that they found the hell hound, eating not only the soul, but the body of their next collection.

Before then, all the demons had been mid-level. A struggle for Nan Gong to deal with while reaping and tired, but still manageable. A hellhound, on the other hand, was much more dangerous.

The problem was, their next few bodies were in its vicinity.

"I don't thin-" Xiu Ying was cut off by Nan Gong leaping down, swinging his modified qiang scythe down.

It sliced into the side of the creature's oily black fur, missing it's target as the hound moved. Picking its head up, blood was still smeared at its mouth, the hound snarled and snapped at Nan Gong, who tried to back up only to stumble.

Trying her best not sigh, Xiu Ying grabbed her scythe and jumped down from the roof where they were using to avoid demons as well. Her feet hit the dirt and she immediately grabbed the other reaper by the back of his shirt, yanking him further away just in time to miss a vicious bite that would've undoubtly left a nasty scar.

Swiping at the beast with her weapon to make it back off slightly, Xiu Ying gave Nan Gong a look.

"We need to retreat. Call a portal."

Nan Gong shakily stood up, shaking his head.

"I can take him, there's no need."

The hellhound attacked again, knocking Nan Gong onto his back. His arms bent, blocking deadly nails and teeth with his scythe as a snarling face tried to snap at him through the spaces.

Xiu Ying only spared a second to be astonished at the stupidity of her partner before she was spurred into action.

Slicing at the hound's face, Xiu Ying was taken back when it grabbed her scythe instead and yanked it from her hand, swinging it's head to toss it to the ground a distance away.

"..."

Now unarmed, Xiu Ying had become a much more favorable target.

She jumped away, missing the terrible bite of its jaws, then again and again, dodging roughly. It was not an action she could keep up for long, and she could already feel her low energy draining further.

"Nan Gong! Portal!"

But the man was already next to her, stabbing forward with his weapon.

Xiu Ying resisted the urge to curse the man into oblivion and grabbed the small pouch at his belt where she knew all shinigami kept their designated devices, taking advantage of the distracted hellhound.

There was one main portal, leading to the shinigami realm, and two emergency single-use ones.

Nan Gong was slightly further away now, and only he could activate the main portal as it belonged to him.

With a yell of "Catch!", Xiu Ying tossed the golden portal ring at him, which was caught successfully. Immediately, he opened it and entered, knowing that uninvited beings can't enter.

The hellhound didn't follow Nan Gong, however, seemingly unwilling to leave its food after chasing away one of its 'competitors'. It turned its sights once again on Xiu Ying.

For a moment, the two faced off. The portal was open, but the demon was blocking it and Xiu Ying was aware that simply charging at it with her level of practical skill was an incredibly bad idea.

Slipping her hand into the pouch, Xiu Ying plucked up one of the remaining portal rings.

In an instant, the hellhound lept. In the same second, Xiu Ying threw the ring open behind her, turning and leaping for it.

Just a step too slow, she felt hot pain sear down her back before she crossed. But the portal only allowed her through, and she landed on her back in the middle of a stone street, cold rain pouring down and drenching her as wet pebbles dug into her wounds. Writhing in pain, Xiu Ying hissed through her teeth and her eyes desperately darted around.

Where had it sent her? The emergency portals were wild cards, and it seemed she had drawn the short end of the stick.

Her hair was up in the standard bun worn by the paper departments, so at least it wasn't plastered to her face, but Xiu Ying could only look around herself in muddy confusion and pain.

Stone-carved shops, carriages, street lights and cobblestone roads.

Xiu Ying tried to read a nearby street sign, but her vision kept blurring. Shaking her head, wet hair slapping her in the face and water dripping down her face, she took off her glasses only to squint angrily at them.

No wonder she was having trouble seeing. The lenses were cracked.

Well, wasn't this just wonderful.

Despite the chill and wetness of the pavement, as well as the multitude of blood that was being washed off of Xiu Ying by the heavy rain, she tried to stand up, only to find black creeping at the edges of her vision.

Hell. She hasn't passed out since she first became a damn shinigami!

She was going to kill Mo Nan Gong the next time she saw him.

Despite her weakened state, Xiu Ying felt surprisingly lively. Her heart was pounding in her throat, pain was curling up her spine and her back in throbbing tendrils, she was soaked and freezing and close to blacking out, and yet...

This was the first time she'd felt alive in a long while.

Never before had she been put in such a dangerous situation.

Something she knew to be troublesomely devious clenched her heart for one gratifying moment of pleasure, before she shoved it away.

Stumbling over to the pole of a sign, Xiu Ying leaned on it, heaving, before trying her best to make out what it said.

West...Minister…? English.

She was typically the one that sent reports and information abroad as well as receiving them. A few times, such as in the case of the black plague, she had been called to assist with paperwork and reapings. As such, she was well-versed in a multitude of languages and some regions over her many years.

This definitely wasn't China. Rather, wasn't it Britain?

God, then that meant they most likely wouldn't find her for a while. Reapers very rarely went into other countries, as it was seen as interference. Moreover, the amount of paperwork needed for even a brief visit took days to finish.

For the time being, she would have to rely on herself.

At least her surroundings appeared somewhat decently safe. All she had to do was… contact someone, or find a safe space for the night to rest and heal. The scythe she had slipped back into it's spot at her waist was a comforting lump. If she had to use it, she could.

Xiu Ying was uninterested in the human world, but she wasn't an idiot. Humans were depraved beings, and even if she couldn't exactly die again through this body, it would just cause more problems for her. Much less the other things that could happen.

The glasses were no longer any use. In a rare show of frustration, she threw them on the ground and crushed them underneath her foot(she walked a few steps before her meticulous nature caused her to go back and pick up the bent and crumpled metal to throw away in the nearest trash can).

The situation was truly wonderful. She was tired, injured, cold, wet, and now blind as well to boot. She knew nothing about Britain, other than the language. Hell, she didn't even know much about her own country, much less one a sea away.

After wandering for what she could only guess to be about half an hour, her body was finally giving up. She had no idea where she was, it was a smaller and more secluded street, hopefully less likely to be disturbed. Xiu Ying was aware she was at her limit, so she dragged herself into the nearest alleyway and collapsed into the corner, away from the trash while still being hidden from sight.

The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was what looked very blurrily like dark boots coming around the corner.