[A/N]: Another Chapter! Enjoy!

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' "Yuuko is a witch, but she's not like the souls we collect of this dimension.' "

' "She's a kind woman. She'd never intentionally hurt anyone especially not you, Kiddo."'

' "I want you to get to know her.' "

' "You two are very much alike.' "

The words floated around in Kid's head as he hurried down the dark hallways, feeling little more than a common thief then a shinigami as he clutched his bag close to his person. Kid settled down into the empty chair in the lowly lite witch's archive. No one would be there at this time, seeing as how classes were canceled and all staff personnel went home hours ago. He took the journal from his messenger bag and set it on the table in front of him carefully, trying not to stress the last few seams binding the book together. His fingers brushed across the soft worn leather cover, tips just barely grazing over the hypnotizing butterfly before the odd familiar feeling from before ghosted around in the back of his mind as he stared at it, sending shivers down his spine. He gently flipped the book open and thumbed through the first couple of yellowing pages, skimming over the light conversations at first, eyes scanning the page, picking out pieces and parts from the text before he stopped, noticing the signatures. The entries alternated between 'Death-dono' and 'Yuuko-Chan' from telling century old tales to each other to having direct conversations about obscure topics like tea types and how long certain flowers bloomed. One would write two or three entries at a time before the other would write back. The earliest entries were probably at least a couple of centuries old. 'Some of these characters aren't even used anymore.' He flipped back to the first page and started to read.

The Past

Yuuko opened her eyes slowly as her head spun with disequilibrium. Her dull senses were slowly crawling back to her, trying to exorcise the nauseating vertigo from her mind. Her gold eyes shifted violet as the blurrily tried to make out any coherent shapes as she floated in the center of the black endless void. It extended out far beyond reach in all directions, filled with nothing but a soft rippling sound unlike any earthly noise she could conjure to memory. She felt so tiny and weightless. She struggled, trying to turn her head to the side or move her body in any sort of fashion that would allow her to sit up just the tiniest bit. With her limp limbs splayed as they were, Yuuko felt like a puppet with cut strings left to crumble alone on a stage floor. That was the consequence of disobeying your elders. She could almost hear the almost exhausted chide just waiting for her at home. 'It was just a little accident.' Thin threads of pain ran along the tendons of the tired muscles under the pale white skin of her neck. Her shoulder length black hair haloed around her as it wisped about in something akin to a warm wind. The light rippling grew louder now, this time being escorted by the soft sound of footsteps as circles of pale blue light illuminated out from their source, lighting a small path in the dark world around her.

The creeping pain subsided as her small body became stiff turning her into little more than a living corpse in rigor mortis the more she struggled. 'If I even am alive.' She thought. It turned from a petrous ache to a worrying numbness, quelling her movements as well as limiting her range of vision to one side of the abyss. The soft pale blue light from the ripples of circles caressed her right cheek as the heavy rigid sole of a thick black boot appeared. Yuuko's dark burgundy eyes traveled up the boot to a small pale leg, then further up to a pair of black shorts and a black shirt with a skull on it. The delicate light barely kissed the very edge of the young boys jaw. The only thing she could see clearly where the dark, pretty blue eyes peering down on her.

Her tongue felt heavy as she forced it to move. "What's your name?" He stared down at her silently for a minute, then two before smirking. "Why should I tell you?" Yuuko's lips tugged. "Because it's rude not to." His lips softened into a smile. "Are you a witch in training?" He asked. "No." She said, trying to shake her head.

"So you can't control my soul just by my name?"

"Maybe...maybe not." She smirked this time. He knew his stuff. She would have shrugged for the dramatic coy effect she loved so much if only she could move. "So, what am I here for exactly?" He leaned down, kneeling next to her. "Don't worry, you won't be here long, you just nearly killed yourself, but you're not dead yet."

'Great.' Yuuko sighed; she was definitely going to get an ear full for this. Obaa-chan really won't be happy. She tried to turn her head away and swallowed out of slight fear when the numbness in her body caused her to freeze completely immobilized, cutting off all sensation in her body and preventing her from moving her face. She settled for averting her eyes instead.

"So, what were you doing?" He asked. "Climbing a tree." She huffed out with a pout, avoiding eye contact. "Really? So that's where..." He put his hand in his back pocket. "...theses came from." He pulled out a handful of tiny red malus flowers. "I was wondering why they were floating around here." Yuuko stared wide eyed at the little buds. It was early spring in her world. Only the blossoms at the very top of the towering trees had bloomed. "I thought maybe the death room had maybe opened up another dimension when I left." He gently brushed hair behind her ear before putting the flowers back in. She turned her eyes to him again before speaking. "Thank you. Is there any way I can move again?"

"Oh, right. I nearly forgot. Here..." His small child-like fingers lightly brushed her porcelain white skin. Suddenly the numb sensation dispersed as if he'd unshackled her from heavy invisible manacles that had twisted their screws around her tight and she could finally move. Yuuko sat up, rolling her neck and stretching out her body.

"That any better?"

"There's a kink in my neck." She whined, pouting.

"Sorry, but I'm not supposed to do that or hang around in here really." He said, shuffling his feet and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Yuuko stood up. "Is there any way out of here?" She said, tilting her head to the side in curiosity. He looked at sidelong before looking away, puffing out his cheeks in thought before turning back to her. "Sure, follow me." He grabbed the loose material of her red chrysanthemum printed kimono and tugged her forward. Load rumbling filled the room followed by a surge of raw soul wavelength energy. Yuuko marveled at the feeling passing through her, it made her feel like an ant in a jar the second someone captured lightning in it, like it could become too much at any second and fry her just like that ant, an awe inspiring and frightening amount of power. "We probably should get out of here soon." He said, looking over his shoulder. A thick wall of dark grey smoke began to roll in behind them. "My Dad'll be here soon." With that said he darted to the right pulling her awestricken form along as they headed deeper into the void. "He'll definitely suspend me from the human plane if he catches us in here, and as cool as my room is there's not much to do after a while." An arch of light appeared in their path as they made a mad dash for it, the cloud almost nipping at their heels. The boy tumbled through the portal head first, tripping over his own feet and bringing Yuuko down with him as they flopped head over heels down the steep hill of a suddenly lush landscape.

Yuuko landed face first in the dirt, a second later the blue eyed boy came down, crash landing into her using her back as an inflated stunt bag. The abrupt landing acted as something of an electrode, forcing the rest of the raw energy from her body and dispersing it into the solid ground. She groaned as he rolled off of her, glaring as he sprang back up holding his hand out to help her up, completely unhurt. She turned her head away pushing herself up and putting a hand to her throbbing head. She could only imagine what she looked like, her black hair mussy and frizzed with bits of grass and twigs sticking out haphazardly from her head to her toes. 'Well,' She thought, 'at least he doesn't exactly look pristine either.' Which was true. His black shirt was littered with brown stains and grass. There was a small rip on the side of his board shorts and more mud and shrubbery clung to his legs and boots. A bit even touched his head along with the slightly long strands of hair flopping down across his face. She couldn't help, but giggle. Even if they both just escaped the clutches of death these dirt stains would sure as hell have their mothers sending them right back! He pushed his bangs away, dark blue eyes looking at the laughing girl. A goofy smile curved his lips as he guessed her train of thought. A little laugh of his own joined her gentle giggles. He stuck his hand out toward her a boyish grin splitting across his face. "I don't think we've introduced ourselves yet. I'm Death." She grabbed his hand in the surprisingly firm of her much smaller one and smirked. "I'm Destiny." He laughed again lifting an eyebrow. "Really?" Yuuko put her hands on her hips as she took the time to survey the local landscape of the place they'd been plunged into. "Yeah," she said, not taking her eyes of the edge of the forest clearing. "We already danced around each other coming down the hill so I must be."

"Oh, come on! I already told you mine."

"No you didn't. I can already tell that title goes to your dad back there." She made a dramatic sweeping motion with her arm, putting on her best face of exasperation as she tilted her head back theatrically looking at the heavens. He blew out a sigh, mumbling something under his breath. "My names..." She could barely even make out the first few whispers he called words, but she couldn't hear the most important part. Putting her hands back on her slim hips, Yuuko looked at him pursing her lips together as he just continued his uneasy grumbling. "Alright, I'll make you a deal. If you tell me your real name, I'll tell you mine." He sighed, head held low. "Why do we have to bargain?" she stepped closer to him, tapping his nose with her pointing finger. "Equality is key in both life and dealings. What is exchanged has to be equal in value, not too much, not too little. It has to be evenly split. The deal must be symmetrical that way or bad things are bound to happen." he looked at her suddenly serious face. "Really?"

"Yes." He huffed. "Fine." Yuuko clapped happily, switching back to a carefree grin. He bowed his head. "They call me...Kid."

"That's what you're so embarrassed about? It's cute." He tried to cover up his flushed cheeks by looking anywhere, but at her. "Only until I become a full Shinigami though. Then I'll get the title of Death!" Yuuko smirked vivaciously, lifting her chin high in a mock haughty pose with her hands once again at her waist. "You say that like it'll stop you name from sounding so cute, Kid." He glared as she cackled. "That's enough; tell me your name now." They had been wandering forward steadily toward the wood throughout the conversation. Yuuko pulled herself up on top of the massive trunk of a fallen log. She swung her legs, thinking. "My name...? Well let's see. Huh..."

"What?" Kid asked. "I don't know it seems that fall did a little bit more damage than just almost break my neck." She said getting up to balance on the large mass. Kid looked at her dumfounded. "You can't remember your name!" She looked back at him and one glance at his wide naive, trusting eyes was her undoing. Yuuko laughed so hard she had to grab onto the bark of the truck to make sure she didn't fall off. Tears pricked her eyes as her uncontrollable laughter filled the crisp pine smelling air. "Hahaha, don't make that l-look." Her bottom lip quivered as she tried to hold in the giggles. "You, you look so-" She laughed again this time losing her balance a rolling off the log with a thump. Kid waited patiently for her to finish, arms folded and combat booted foot tapping. She looked up at him from the ground, grinning like a mad woman of a sugar rush. "My name's Yuuko." He sighed, letting it go in spite of himself, mumbling. "Why'd I have to meet a goof ball like you?" Yuuko flipped her stomach, resting her chin in her palm. "There is no such thing as coincidences in this world. There is only the inevitable." She said with a cat-like grin; swing her legs in the air.

The Present

Kid closed the book silently and pushing it off to the side before letting his head hit the table. One of his lifelong questions being answered. 'Now I know where my symmetry obsession comes from...' It was nearly midnight before he packed all his stuff up and was ready to leave. He looked at the journal one last time, contemplating slipping it back in his father's office before he left. He shook his head, sliding the diary in his bag. His father probably already locked it anyway. He contemplated the entire drawer full of similar looking books he'd seen earlier, starting to formulate a plan. 'I'll have to see those other ones some other time too."

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[A/N]: You know the drill. R&R