Hope you liked chapter one! Here's #2 :]

Chapter Two: A Prickly Thistle

I started grinding my teeth together as I looked her; Hana had been giving me a run for my money since we first started here. I always felt like I was catching up to her, even though she was probably the younger one. I did my best to slow down and keep my distance from her.

Hana was a Rapier Meister. She was a quiet and somewhat sensitive girl. She was small and fragile looking, as if anyone could easily break her in half. The white and black lace trimmed Lolita style dress she wore didn't help her presumed image. The rare times I've heard her speak, the voice was soft and gentle like the presence of a ghost. With her long hair - the shade of blooming flowers- and her bright spring green eyes, she looked like the meaning of her name. Hana looked just like a flower.

But from what I heard about when she was in a fight, Hana was ruthless and incredibly skilled.

"Pinky, if you walked any slower you'd be a statue." Fletcher teased, letting an abrupt laugh escape his lips.

This got Hana's attention, she turned around to face her, and with her eyes steady on mine I felt as if I should be very cautious.

"You haven't seen Thorn around have you?" She asked in her whispering voice.

Thorn was Hana's weapon, bold and very charming with a pleasant French accent. He had blood red hair and coal black eyes, a lot of the boys at this school thought he was cool and he flirted with about every girl in the academy. Thorn and Hana were as different as chocolate and vanilla ice cream; it was probably why they worked so well together.

"Never mind," she whispered just as I placed the face to the name. Hearing footsteps behind me I turned and saw the tall weapon strolling towards us, when we made eye contact Thorn gave me a playful wink.

"Bonjour Arya, congratulations on your victory." Thorn purred, I found it easy to understand why a lot of girls fell victim to his charm.

"Thorn, please... Death is waiting for all of us." Hana begged.

"She's right," Fletch said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and started to lead me down to Death's door.

HANA POV

I wasn't so sure I could work with Ayra and Fletcher; I am not one to trust so easily. Thorn and I had collected eighty-nine souls so far, so when I took this job I thought we could just get it ourselves. I guess Death had another idea on that. He told us in the meeting that the reason he wanted us on a team was because this was a mission usually considered for two star students. If we managed to do well then we would be raised to that rank.

"Hana, qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" Thorn whispered into my ear, his breath a hot burst of air against my skin.

"I'm just worried." I looked around the empty alleyway. I could feel Arya's soul about a mile or so away.

"Care to expand on that?"

"I'm worried that I won't work well with others." I confessed. Something inside of my squirmed just a little bit. I was speaking a half truth; I hoped that Thorn couldn't detect it.

"You're also worried that you'll be the weaker link," Thorn added with a sideways glance at me. He had a smug look on his handsome face. "Our souls connect daily mon amie. I know you better than you know yourself."

I felt my face grow hot. I still tried to hide things from him and it was foolish. I planted myself into the ground and tried to sift through my anger and embarrassment.

"Don't just stand there; we have a Kishin to kill." Thorn barked over his shoulder.

Before I could even take a step forward I felt something tug at my sixth sense. It felt like someone was yanking onto my hair. My body turned towards that feeling, I knew it was the Kishin. It was just a few blocks away from me. Arya was a little bit closer but I wasn't aware of how well she could sense souls.

"Thorn, weapon mode now!" I ordered, my tone shifted from its usual dainty doll one to a fierce fighter. The moment I felt the cold metal of the hilt of my weapon I felt as brave as any warrior. Gripping it tightly I rushed forward, letting my sense of its evil soul guide me.

By the time I got there Arya was already aiming an arrow- or attempting to. Every time she brought up her bow, the tall and looming monster would extend its pale and decaying arms, forcing her to abandon her attack and dodge.

"Hana, you've got this." Thorn's voice rang in my head.

Nodding I tucked the sword towards my body, with the Kishin's attention on Arya; I had the perfect moment to make an attack. Racing forward I made sure to stay out of sight completely as I raised my sword and let it plunge into the creature's side. Blood bloomed out, trying to spray me in its mist but I backed up to avoid the mess.

If there was one thing I hated, it was messes.

The Kishin howled in pain and recoiled from its attack on Arya. Now it focused its wild eyes on me; with its mouth open in a snarl it lunged for me.

I leapt away on dancers legs, smirking. "You're going to have to go better than that." I taunted as I ran circles around it. Every now and then the tip of blade would meet its skin and sink deep into it.

Just when I thought I was going to wear it down the beast released a hellish laugh. It extended its hand out, palm up as if it was about to catch something. Looking from Arya to me, it grinned like the big bad wolf. In one quick crushing motion it closed its palm.

My world went into crushing darkness.

I was frozen in place by confusion.

What was this?

"Hana watch out!" Thorn screamed.

A second later a claw as sharp as any executioner's axe raked down the right side of my body. I stumbled back tripping over my own feet as I tried to make my world out in the darkness.

"What are you blind?" Thorn continued, "move!"

"Thorn, I think I am..." I whispered, the fear in my body was turning my courage cold. I wanted to slink away and lick my wounds.

"Then use your other senses, you're not dead." I could see Thorn's face in my mind's eyes. I could feel the trust he had in my abilities and in his own training. I took in a deep breath and turned up the volume of my sixth sense. Ever since I was very young I'd always been very sensitive to other worldly things.

"Arya, can you see?" I shouted not bothering to turn my head to look at her. I needed all of my concentration on the Kishin.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She shouted back. Her answer was all that I needed.

"I am going to distract it long enough for you to get a few shots in. Aim for either the throat or heart."

I felt the air change around me as a small whooshing sound filled my ears, I moved as quickly as I could to the left. I felt just the sharp tips of the claws kiss my already bleeding wound.

Back and forth I went, dodging the blows as best as I could. The longer that it went on the clearer the picture of the Kishin's movements became to me. The demon and I were dancing; dancing was something that I was better at than fighting. We spun in large looping circles; I dipped by body down gracefully when his arms would come crashing towards me. It was a waltz that was going to lead to certain death. Only one of the dancers was going to win a prize in this competition.

Suddenly a series of howls came from the Kishin. Arya's arrows must have been right on their mark. Taking my chances I blindly leapt into the air, knowing I was only a few near the enemy. I tilted my blade to make it into a killing blow, aiming for what I hoped was its neck. When Thorn's body sunk into the flesh I used my body weight to carry me and the blade across and down. This time it was unavoidable to get splattered by its evil blood.

By the time I landed on my feet the world filled my eyes, bright and colorful like a dream.

"Damn Hana..." Arya whispered, her eyes were wide in what I hoped was admiration and not fear.

I looked over at her and gave her a nervous smile. I knew that I looked as awful as the Kishin behind me, maybe even worse. "I try my best."

"Don't start celebrating now," Thorn warned in a growl. "Look."

Arya and I snapped back into reality, the Kishin was still grinning. Its head was flopping side to side like a wobbling stack of books. Its hands were reaching out for a small carelessly stitched bag. The bag that it kept the nine human souls in- plunging its head into the sack it inhaled every single one. Little by little the wounds on its skin started heal. Soon, it started to look stronger. Tossing the bag aside, no longer needing its services the Kishin looked at us with an evil grin. But it didn't lurch forward into an attack. Instead it turned tail and ran into the night; it ran faster than my shocked feet could ever carry me. The monster left us all alone in the night with the moon shining over heard like a disappointed parent. This was going to get a lot worse before it could ever get better.