This one's a little longer, but I had a lot of fun. I really love these guys. Thanks for the prompts and reviews!

Prompt: This one's a different take on the Kishin Vajra AU. (Honestly, it's been bothering me for a couple months because I realized I could've done this instead of what I have now.)

Rating: T

Warnings: Torture (Asura eats his weapon too so...)

There was something wrong with Vajra. He knew there was because he could feel it in his friend's soul. It was dampened enough that he couldn't identify what exactly was wrong, but still obvious. That worried him, scared him even, because something was wrong with Vajra, but he didn't know what it was!

Maybe he was just really upset because he hadn't been taking him on missions. Perhaps he should talk to his friend now, maybe explain himself and ask what was wrong? Asura was just worried that Vajra would misunderstand. Or worse, maybe something would be really wrong with the man! Maybe he was sick...maybe he was hurt! He hoped Vajra wasn't hurt, that was exactly why he wasn't bringing his friend on missions lately. The memory was still fresh too, the day he decided not to bring Vajra along anymore...

.

.

He was sitting next to Vajra, who was laid out on his bed and hadn't moved at all. It was unsettling. So very...not Vajra. No, not at all. Vajra was bright and happy. Always moving around with a smile on his face while dragging his meister behind him. He was always talking even if no one was really listening, because really, one could only hear the story about how he'd gotten stuck in the railing on the stairs so many times. Vajra laughed and danced and tried to make him have fun too. He wasn't supposed to be like...like this. So still, so...dead.

Asura brought a hand to his partner's neck frantically, relaxing again once he felt a pulse. It was the same as it had been five minutes ago, beating strong and steady. For the past three days it'd been the only sign of life from his friend, aside from the constant rise and fall of his chest. It was the least he could do for the man after what had happened. He knew he was being reckless but it had worked out so far for them. Get in, get out. That was how they worked, but then on their last mission he had let his guard down.

A witch had tried to attack him, but Vajra jumped between him and the attack. It struck the man's chest, blood spurting from the exit wound before Vajra had collapsed. He killed the witch though there was no memory of that, only a gaping black spot in his memory and a satisfied feeling. The Reaper struggled to move the man, but finally managed to get him up. The feel of warm blood slickened his grip, but he had managed to get them both home without farther incident. Once they took Vajra, Asura had spent hours in the bath trying desperately to scrub the feeling of his friend's blood off of him long after the actual blood had been washed away. He had even rubbed his flesh raw in some spots, but it hadn't mattered then. Vajra was hurt worse than that and he let him get hurt, so he deserved even that little bit of pain.

Right after he had gone to his friend's side, only leaving when he absolutely had to. He was so scared. It was wrong to see his friend appear so lifeless, but again Asura knew it was his fault. The other's did too, and they made sure he knew it. Eibon constantly found ways to slip it into their conversations when he came in to check on the unconscious man. Anything from "If you were more careful" to "You should know better" would find a way to be said.

His own father had even pulled him aside the day afterwards, not to comfort him or offer some kind of reassurance. Oh no, he couldn't have done that. Not for him. Instead he had been lectured on his behavior again. "I know we've talked about this before, but you have to stop being so reckless. I warned you before, that someone could get hurt someday and now look! Vajra is hurt now! And why is that?"

"...he protected me..." He had mumbled, staring at his feet as the elder Reaper continued.

"That's right. He protected you. He isn't meant to protect you, he's only human. Humans aren't like us Asura, I know you know that. They can't take the same level of damage we can. If they somehow manage, it will undoubtedly kill them in the end. Vajra got lucky, Eibon was able to heal the worst of it, but you cannot let this happen again. He could die next time. You keep him safe, not the other way around. Do you understand me?" Asura nodded quickly, but in all honesty he hadn't known. Vajra had never been hurt so badly before and because he himself looked sort of human...he just thought...he thought they were the same. He knew the man's soul was different, but he figured the man had the same resilience...No one had ever taught him differently.

Excuses. It was his fault and that was that. It didn't matter if he had known or not, his friend should not have to protect him. But how could he protect Vajra? He was his own person, if he decided to take a hit for Asura he would. Nothing would get in his way once he decided to do something. The only thing he could think of was leaving his friend behind so he couldn't get hurt.

...yes,Vajra would not like it, but he had to leave him behind from now on. He couldn't lose Vajra, Vajra was the only one who cared about him. So the man would not be coming with him on missions any more.

.

.

Yes, he had done it for Vajra. He had thought he'd made the best choice, but Vajra just seemed upset about it and Shinigami had been getting mad at him lately. He tried to explain himself to his father, but every time he made an attempt the words wouldn't come out. What if the shade thought he was blaming him? He'd surely get scolded for it and lectured by the others later on. He had a different problem with Vajra. When he looked for his friend, he would never stay in the same room for long, running out before Asura could even open his mouth. Vajra was avoiding him.

It was such a weird concept. Vajra never avoided him, in fact he usually had trouble getting rid of him. Asura shook his head, looking into the nearest room. Vajra had just been there, he felt his soul. The best thing he could do was follow the man around all day until he could corner the man and explain himself. That was exactly what he did too, and there was no doubt that his friend was ignoring him now. Every time he was about to enter a room, Vajra would leave through the opposite side.

Finally, Asura was sure he knew what to do and stopped following the man around. Once it was dark out and Vajra had been in his room for awhile, Asura snuck in. The door creaked and his eyes darted to his friend's sleeping form. The man didn't even stir and the Reaper breathed a sigh of relief as he slipped inside. The door closed quietly and Asura leaned against it, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling.

What was he doing? What if Vajra didn't listen to him? What if he didn't want to be his partner anymore? No, no, no! He couldn't do this! If Vajra didn't want to be partners anymore he wasn't sure what he would do. He couldn't find another partner, no one would probably want to be his weapon after this...And he didn't think he could get along with anyone else besides Vajra. That's it, better to leave things as they were so he didn't have to feel so anxious about Vajra's reaction.

Asura quickly turned around, fumbling with the knob for a moment and gave a sharp tug before the door finally opened. He'd forgotten that Vajra's door always got stuck, but it didn't matter now because he got it open. Just as he was about to slip out, a hand flew past his head and slammed it shut again. The Reaper squeaked and spun around on his heels, flinching back when he came nose to nose with his weapon. "V-v-vaj... Vajra..."

The man did not look pleased to see him but he didn't look angry either. He just looked tired and a little confused. Asura thought he might even look sad, but that wasn't an expression he had ever seen on Vajra before so maybe he was imagining it. "What are you doing?" He asked, straight to the point as always.

"U-um...I uh..." Asura trailed off, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself before trying again. "I-I, um, I wanted t-to talk..." He wrapped his arms around his chest, hugging himself in an attempt to calm down. The Reaper's gaze stayed fixed firmly on the ground as he waited, but after a long time without a response, he began to panic. Vajra was done with him, wasn't he? That's why he wouldn't answer. He was through being partners with someone like him and Asura couldn't blame his old friend. He wouldn't want to be partnered with someone who just suddenly left him behind either...

At the Reaper's silence. Vajra sighed and removed his hand from the door only to latch on to the boy's arm. "C'mon, sit." He said, patting the space beside him as he sat down. "What do you want?" Asura just stared at him for a moment, fidgeting nervously with his long scarves. When Vajra pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a frustrated sigh, he panicked.

Asura clapped his hands together and bowed his head. "I'msorryIhaven'tbroughtyouonmissions!" He blurted out too fast to fully understand before going on. "I-I was scared, I didn't want you to die! You already got hurt because of me and father said humans are not as resilient as we are so you could get killed easier! I don't want you to die, but I don't want you to avoid me anymore! I'm sorry, don't hate me!"

"Um...oh, okay? I don't hate you you know. Don't think I could." Vajra stated hesitantly as he tried to process what his friend had said. "I'm sorry too. I did avoid you for the last few months, but I kinda assumed you just didn't want to be partners anymore." The man clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder while offering a gentle smile. He could feel the tension slowly leave the Reaper as his shoulders slumped. "If you want to make it up to me, bring me on your next mission, okay?"

Asura nodded frantically, making himself a little dizzy as he replied. "Yes! Yes of course! It's the least I could do for you!"

"Well, yeah, I guess." The weapon shrugged. "Though you know what I'd prefer?"

"No."

Vajra grinned at his friend, shaking his head. "You didn't even hear me out."

"I know it would probably be lewd and not something I want to hear." The Reaper pointed out bluntly, watching the man cross his arms and pout like a child. He hid his smile in his scarf so Vajra wouldn't see it, even if he already knew. "...um...do you think...do you think that it will be alright? It has been awhile since we've worked together after all..."

"Of course! We work well together anyway, so I bet we'll be able to get right back to it in no time." The man reassured, a grin replacing the pout he had seconds ago.

"Okay, I hope so."

Things were going so well. Shinigami had been ecstatic when he had seen Vajra with him for their next mission and Asura was extremely relieved to not be lectured about going alone. Vajra kept chatting away at him too, and it was a pleasant distraction from the Madness he always felt gnawing at the back of his mind. They had killed the witch fairly easy as well, and Vajra hadn't even tried to change from his weapon form this time so there was no worry about him being injured.

Now, the problem became apparent after the mission. They had been ready to leave when they were attacked by a pre-Kishin. It was easily dealt with, one blast from Vajra and there was nothing but a soul left. No, the problem came when Asura went to take the soul. The feeling of...of wrongness was what threw him off. It was so horribly familiar that he just couldn't seem to place it at first. The reality of what his Soul Perception was telling him sunk in, weighing heavy in his stomach like a rock.

There was no way. No way. Vajra would never ever consume a human soul...right? He was too good, too nice. He cared too much about other people to do such an awful thing. But Asura couldn't deny that the same feeling he felt from the pre-Kishin soul in his hand was also coming from Vajra's soul. In fact it was stronger than that pre-Kishin soul.

"Asura, hey, are you alright?" Vajra asked, concern slipping into his voice. The Reaper's grip tightened around the weapon when he spoke. No, he wasn't alright, he couldn't believe this. He couldn't believe that Vajra...Vajra is a pre-Kishin. Oh god this was his fault, if he hadn't abandoned his friend...

"You... you're..." Oh god he couldn't do this. He was shaking so badly, tears pricking at his eyes. "Y-you are a...a K-k-k..." Asura found he couldn't say what he wanted to. If he said it out loud, he would have to accept it and he would have to kill Vajra. He didn't want to kill Vajra, Vajra was his only friend, the one person he was able to talk to. If he killed Vajra...he might go mad himself, or his father would kill him for it.

"A Kishin? Yeah!" The man giggled a bit, adding, "I can't die now so you'll never have worry about it. I did this for you! Isn't it great?' the Reaper shook his head frantically.

"No! I-if the others find out...they...they'll kill you! I...I should k-k-ki..." He stopped speaking, taking a deep, shaky breath and wrapping his arms around his chest while holding the weapon tightly in his hands. "I-I'm supposed to k-kill you...m-maybe I don't have to though... maybe father can take all the souls you've collected and we can help you get better. Th-then you won't have to die!" Asura nodded to himself then, a smile hidden under layers of scarves. They could fix this, he was sure!

"You can't really believe that, right? They'll kill me the second you tell them and you know it! You could beg them to try that and I doubt they'd spare me, especially not for you." He put emphasis on the last word while Asura flinched at his harsh tone. "You're Shinigami's son and he's never made any exception for you. Not in training, not in missions, not as for as long as I can remember. Unless I'm wrong and he actually started treating you like family instead of just another warrior."

Asura felt his nails dig into his palms as he murmured, "I know...I know..." Vajra was probably right. He usually was right about things like this. But...but he still had to try, right? He just had to make sure his friend wouldn't run away. There was only one thing he could think of to stop him. "Okay...okay you're right..." He couldn't believe he was going to do this. He was scared but he had to, so he could help Vajra.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he missed Vajra's next words. He brought the weapon up to his mouth as carefully as he could without alerting his friend to his intentions. It was easy to pretend he was going to bite his nails, it was a habit he had whenever he was stressed or scared and right now he was both. When the weapon was close enough, the Reaper opened his mouth as wide as he could and shoved it as far as he could, gagging a bit. He did his best not to vomit, but it was hard. Despite being a small weapon, Vajra's weapon form was still just too big to swallow easily.

The bladed ends sliced his throat open inside, a metallic taste filling his mouth quickly as red spilled out past his lips. Still, the young god hadn't realized how poorly thought out this plan was until he felt the blade of Vajra's weapon form sink into the soft tissue in his stomach. Someone screamed...or was that him? He couldn't tell, to focused on the splitting pain inside and the blood dripping from his mouth. Everything blurred, the world toppling over and spinning uncontrollably.

Eventually it stopped, the pain in his stomach still throbbing. He was laying on the ground, arms wrapped tightly around his middle. When he got there he didn't know, but he did know he couldn't waste anymore time. Vajra was was screaming at him across the resonance link, but he paid him no mind. It took time for Asura to get to his feet, but as soon as he did he took to the sky. He kept one hand over his stomach while trying to fly as smoothly as possible to keep from jolting the internal wound.

Vajra was silent, had been for a while. It unnerved Asura, but he guessed it was better than an angry Vajra screaming obscenities at him for the whole trip. At least until he spoke up again. "Asura, I'm only going to say this once so you better listen." There was a dark edge to his tone that made his Meister flinch, despite the jolt of pain the action caused. "You are going to land, spit me back out, and we're going to pretend that this never happened. If you don't, I can guarantee that you'll regret this."

The threat made him somewhat nervous, but he couldn't think of any way Vajra might hurt him as he was so he kept flying. "I'm sorry, but I can't." The Reaper said finally, immediately feeling the wave of displeasure and anger Vajra sent through the resonance. "I...I won't let them kill you, I promise. I would never let them k-" He didn't get to finish speaking as Vajra cut him off.

"Damn right you won't, I warned you that you'll regret not listening to me. You won't even make it home." Asura didn't get the chance to ask what he meant by that when he felt their resonance link disconnect, like a twig snapping in half. A surge of panic hit him first, but that was expected. He was rarely aware of it, but Vajra was always in resonance with him in or out of battle. A broken link was supposed to mean something bad happened to him. Was the man okay then? Maybe he should just-

"Vajr- GAAAHH!" The sudden burning that erupted in his stomach had the Reaper curling in on himself in mid air. His arms wrapped around himself, hands digging into the fabric of his blazer and tearing it apart. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt! Asura felt his focus slip and one second to the next he realized he was falling. It happened to fast, he was in the air and then he was on the ground and his head hurt, his arm hurt, he was burning... "Stop! Stop it! Vajra it hurts! It hurts!"

"Then you'd better let me go right now." The man said as their souls resynchronized. A moment later the burning was gone and Asura found he wasn't sure how to free the weapon. He sat still for a long few minutes trying to think of how to do this. "Well?" The man asked impatiently.

Panicked, the shinigami blurted out, "I don't know how?! I don't know how to get you out!"

"Are you serious?! Just shove your fingers down your throat until you vomit! That should do it!" Vajra shouted at him in his mind. Nodding Asura pushed himself up so he was kneeling, one hand immediately covering the source of his pain. The other hand came up to his mouth slowly only to drop back to the ground.

"I can't!" He shouted, panic lacing through his voice. "I can't, I can't, I can't!" It was too scary, he didn't want to let Vajra free until he fixed him. The man would be killed if he didn't, but now he was hurting him, burning him from the inside. Did he really want to save someone who hurt him like...No! He couldn't think like that, it wasn't Vajra's fault it was the Madness!

A sudden heat in his gut reminded him of his current situation and with a panicked squeak, he did as he was told. The dirt covering his hands left an indescribable, but still disgusting taste in his mouth. That in itself was enough to make him nauseous. His stomach clenched and the blade dug deeper, refusing to budge even as he heaved everything else out. One of his hands tore through another layer of clothes, trying to remove the object stabbing into him.

"Asura..." The man called him, the warning tone immediately catching the Reaper's attention.

"NO! No more! Please, I tried! I tried, I tried!" Vajra growled as his friend begged, and then Asura was burning again. The frightened boy screamed, an ear-splitting sound that echoed through the empty land. Screamed and cried and, God, why wasn't anyone helping?!

"You're spoiled you know?" Vajra's voice rang out, grounding him when his conscious started to slip away. "Sure the others think you're useless. Sure they talk behind your back, ignore you like you aren't there. Treat you like the weapon they trained you to be, but they still spoiled you. You've got everything, a large home, tons of things to play with, tons of books to read, warm food and a soft bed. They give you presents to sometimes, when they remember you. They've never let you feel real pain. Let's fix that, shall we?"

All he remembered before blacking out was a flash of white hot pain, blurred vision, and the distant sound of screaming. When Asura woke up again, he realized a few, horrifying facts: 1) he was hurting all over, blood dripping down his hands and onto the ground. 2) People were running away from him, screaming in terror. And 3) he couldn't stop himself from chasing them down and tearing through them. A choked sob escaped him, and Vajra's deranged laughter echoed all around him. He wondered where he went wrong.