It was cold and dark and damp when he woke up, and he leapt to his feet. A scream caught in his throat as he saw where he was. Slowly he remembered that he had gone to sleep underneath a bridge on the edge of town the city. It seemed the best place to hide at the time.

He breathed a sigh of relief, for a moment he had thought he was back in the temple's underground tunnels. In his dark, cold cell, with nothing but the sound of the passing Sentinels and the water dripping from the ceiling. If he had woken up back there, he would have lost it. He didn't like having dreams of escaping. They always got his hopes up and it hurt to see it was only a dream.

Rubbing the last of the sleep from his eyes, he pushed himself to actually move. Trudging out from beneath the bridge, he decided to wander the city. It was getting dark, maybe he could find someone drunk enough to steal from and not get caught? He hated to do it, but it had been a few days since he'd last found some food.

As he rounded a corner, a shrill scream pierced the air. Two new souls entered into his current range, headed towards him. One a human and one...evil human soul. Well then, looks like he had something to do.

...He really hoped it wasn't too strong this time. Asura knew that he was in no condition to fight at all, let alone firght another pre-kishin. It was just that he was afraid of his father finding out that he could have done something and didn't. The man was always drilling it into his head that it was their job as shinigami to protect humans from things like this.

Asura made his decision and took off after the two souls. It wasn't long before he caught up, but he cursed that he had to stop and catch his breath. This pre-kishin was no different than the others, twisted and deformed like the rest he'd seen. He couldn't understand why though, since he never saw Vajra like that.

Either way it didn't matter right now because what did matter was the woman it had cornered. Asura would have to say that she seemed pretty brave though, as she was holding up a broken bottle as a weapon. Even so, she was obviously scared.

Without a second thought he moved, bringing it down with an axe kick to the back and pulling the woman out of the corner. He didn't bother to see if she had run away as his attention was drawn back to the creature. It seemed to have recovered very well judging by how quickly it got back to its feet. The monstrous thing turned it's head towards him and as usual, there was a surge of fear. But for once Asura was glad to be scared. 'I was always stronger when I was scared.'

Quick as lightning, the pre-kishin darted forward, bladed claws outstretched in a swipe the would have cleaved him in two had he not ducked under it. Asura let himself fall into his back and- this was a horrible idea! I'm going to die! -used the creatures momentum to kick it over himself and send it sprawling out on the ground. But again it was up in a flash and he had just barely rolled out of the way as the claws came down again.

Now back on his feet he was practically dancing around the claws and fangs that swiped and snapped at him. He just needed a proper opening to get a hit in, but it wasn't easy without having all of his powers and being out of practice for who knows how long. After spinning out of the way of another attack, he was distracted by the sudden shout of the woman. "Look out!"

Snapping back to the fight he saw the clawed hand moments too late and it closed over his head and forced him down. A scream tore from his throat and he could sort of see through the panic the other hand raised to strike. Time slowed down for him as he watched the hand come down and then there was fire and he was free again. He scrambled backwards, his breathing quick and shallow.

There was more fire that engulfed the kishin egg and when it faded, the red soul was left in it's place. Asura briefly realized through the panic that his hood had fallen off and he quickly pulled it up again, ducking his head as the meister of the newly arrived team approached him.

It was a team of girls, he noted and the one in front of him had pink hair and green eyes. She wore an outfit similar to the other girl, a creamish colored shirt with green trim and a pleated, green skirt. As the weapon was currently busy, the other girl approached him and knelt by his side. The girl stared at him for a moment, then said, "Are you okay? That looked painful, what the hell were you thinking? You can't fight a pre-kishin without a weapon partner."

Asura flinched back at the girl's loud tone as she lectured him. In a quiet voice, he muttered, "...ah...well, it's my job to protect people from things like..." His voice trailed off as he stopped and glanced back to where the creature was. "A-at least..well, father said so..."

The girl stared at him, in disbelief. "What?! Your dad told you to do this? That's ridiculous!"

At this point, the young shinigami was sure she didn't know he was related to Death. She must have thought he was human then, and Asura couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. The fearful voice in the back of his told him they might be enemies, so he'd just pretend for now. "I-I suppose..."

"Hey, Kim! Are we good to-" The other girl stopped mid-sentence as she saw him, and crouched beside her meister. "Oh wow! It's you! You're pretty famous back at school, you know?"

"Huh?" Asura could only stare with a dumbfounded expression at the weapon before him. She wore and outfit identical to her Meister and had long, dark brown hair and eyes to match.

"Jackie?" Her meister Kim, he thought, seemed just as confused.

"Yeah, remember? Some of the others were talking about a boy with red eyes and black and white hair coming to their aid, or just showing up during the missions. Just look at him, he fits the description." At the weapon's words, a look of recognition crossed Kim's face.

"Oh yeah! Wow, I remember.." Kim said, grinning proudly at her own self accomplishment. "Well anyway, we should probably introduce ourselves. I'm Kim and this is my partner Jackie! And you are...?" She trailed off, and it took a minute for Asura to realize she wanted his name. He would have given it too, if not for the fearful voice in the back of his head saying to not trust them. Especially the weapon of the duo.

He eyed the long haired girl cautiously and shook his head, feeling a bit of panic settle in his stomach. The two of them visibly deflated at that, but neither of them tried to push him. Instead, the weapon girl smiled and offered her hand to him which he shook just to avoid possibly upsetting them. "Well, it's nice meeting you anyway. Do you think you could answer something for us?"

A quick glance was shared by the two, and they both focused on him again. "D-depends...what do you want to know?" He couldn't keep the quiver from his tone, but it seemed like the girls didn't notice or didn't care. They only offered what he thought was meant to be a reassuring smile. Instead, it only made him more nervous, setting off all sorts of alarms in his head to not trust them, all because the friendly smile reminded him of Vajra.

The same smile his old weapon had when they'd met, after a battle, when he'd lied to him and tricked him, when he'd forced this collar on him and shoved him into a cold and dark room and left him an-

"W-woah! C-calm down!" The voice cut through his thoughts and he snapped his attention to the sound. It was Kim, he thinks, but he isn't really sure. Now though he notices that he was shaking badly, taking quick, shallow breaths and fidgetting anxiously with his clothes to the point where he'd ripped a new hole in them.

It's Jackie who speaks first while he tried to calm down. "Sorry...I didn't think you'd lose it like that..." She hesitated to continue but seemed to finally think of a way. "Um, so, I don't know if you know where you are, but you're in London, capital city of England in the British Isles. We're here for a mission to knock down the number of pre-kishin in this city."

When he didn't immediately respond to that, Kim chimed in, "Yeah, there's also this guy from our class,Ox Ford, who's here too. He's writing a paper on the Holy Sword Excalibur. I think he he gone of earlier, heading out to the, oh what's it called?" The pinkette turned to her friend for help, somewhat pleased to see Asura calming down again, and even looking somewhat interested.

"You mean the 'Eternal Cave'?" Jackie supplied for her, earning a 'Yeah, thanks' in return.

Slowly, almost as if he were afraid to ask, Asura asked, "Excalibur... Is here?" He was afraid that they would just turn around and laugh at him for believing that, or that it would turn out to be a trap.

"Well, not here as in, in the city, but here as in, in the British Isles." Jackie clarified for him. He nodded, taking in the information. While he wasn't sure if he should trust these girls, he figured Excalibur could probably help him. Maybe he should investigate it?

He buried his face into his scarf to hide the smile on his face. If he could find Excalibur, he could probably find his father as well. Surely the little white...honestly, he wasn't even sure what Excalibur was, but he was confident that he would know where Shinigami was. He quickly muttered a thanks to the two girls and hopped to his feet.

Before either could stop him, he left. Kim and Jackie were on their feet quickly, ready to follow him, but the boy was already gone. Kim looked dumbfounded as she stared after him. "Damn! That guy's fast for someone who just got pummeled by a pre-kishin!"

"Yeah, huh. I was going to ask him if he wanted to join the DWMA. He's really good."

"Yeah, I know. I bet he'd do really well!"


Things couldn't ever be easy, could they? First, there were rumors of a mystery boy, who sounds more and more like his long dead son with every report he gets. Then there was the fact that one of his students gets infected by Black Blood and that another Kishin may be rising. And then the problems with setting up for the DWMA's anniversary party, which was not really his problem but Spirit insisted on whining to him when things went wrong.

And to top it all off, his other son, his little Kiddo, was glaring up at him. The boy was demanding answers about the Kishin underneath the school. And he was currently at a loss on how to explain it to Kid. "Father, please. 'The Kishin closest to us', what does that mean? Whatever it is, I can handle it."

He had to sigh at that. He couldn't tell Kid that he wasn't sure he could handle it. He just couldn't help it. Shinigami never wanted to remember the events that led up to the whole battle against the Kishin. But how to explain this to Kid? He wasn't sure if he should mention his brother, well of course not. He wouldn't do that unless he had to, but he could always leave that detail out.

"...father?"

Kid's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he sighed. Leaving the mirror and motioning for his son to sit, he shifted to his more human form. Kid was surprised by this and he was somewhat uneasy now as well. Rarely did Shinigami use his human form anymore, so it seemed to emphasise the importance of the talk they were about to have.

"Alright Kiddo, I suppose I can't keep this from you forever. I just need you to bare with me for now though, as you should know what happened to lead up to this. Before I tell you, you need to promise to listen to that story." He said in a deeper voice than the boy was used to. Sure he heard it before, but so very rarely.

"I promise father."

Nodding, Shinigami sighed. "Alright then, so you should know that so much happened before the Kishin came to be. Do you remember when I told you about the Eight Warlords who'd fought with me against the witches?" When Kid nodded, he continued. "Among them was a Meister/weapon pair, the most powerful duo to ever serve under me. The Meister was called Asura, and he was so strong, many considered him to be second only to me."

The shade paused, shaking his head clear as he continued, "But Asura was an anxious and fearful individual. He was cautious around most everyone despite knowing the other Warlords for a long time. So, to help him, I paired him with Vajra, a weapon of the same name. Vajra's easy going and optimistic yet understanding personality fit well against Asura's tense, fearful, and somewhat pessimistic outlook. A classic opposites attract."

"..okay, but father? What does this have to do with-"

"I'm getting to that Kiddo." He cut his son off quickly. "At some point, Asura became reckless, diving head first into battles seemingly without thought. He was getting out of hand. It was after a particular mission, where he'd decimated the enemy stronghold single handedly, that I forbid him from missions for a while. And by extension, Vajra..."

"While they were unable to attend the missions, the rest of us left to a long battle. When we returned though, Asura and Vajra were no where to be found. They'd vanished." Shinigami paused again, taking the time to gather his thoughts. Kid meanwhile had a contemplative look on his face.

"So one of them became the Kishin?" Kid wasn't surprised, when he'd heard that he figured the story would wind up that way. His father nodded.

"The one I'm ashamed to say I never suspected. Looking back, there were signs but..." The death god trailed off and sighed, deciding to go on with his story. "Not long after the two vanished, we began getting reports of a man wearing a red pinstripe blazer and unnecessarily long black pants, who wrapped his whole head in scarves. That description fit the missing Asura, and they'd said he was killing humans and consuming their souls."

"But?" Kid knew there was a twist, and he already figured it out himself. However, he felt it best to have his father finish his tale. Maybe then he'd feel better after sharing. "It wasn't Asura, was it?"

He watched his father shake his head for a moment before running a hand through his hair. "Ah, so smart Kiddo. No, it wasn't Asura. It was Vajra. He'd purposely framed his Meister for whatever reason. But I didn't realize it was him until our battle. The things he'd said were disturbing at best." As his father paused again, Kid thought. It must have been bad for his father to be so worked up over it.

"You see Kiddo, Asura trusted me. I was supposed to protect him and I didn't. He was my s...apprentice and he trusted me so much..." If Kid had noticed his father's slip up, he didn't say anything. "I failed him. I'd thought him dangerous because of his reckless behavior, but I never bothered to confront him about it. I believed he was trying to become a Kishin so easily."

"When I saw Vajra's face beneath those scarves, I was angry, and when he spoke, it was in this deranged voice, going on about how he'd fooled Asura so easily. How he'd sealed Asura's power and how Asura had screamed and cried for our help and we weren't there Kiddo. He'd killed his Meister and I couldn't stop him. Knowing Asura hoped to the end that we'd save him..." Shinigami's hands balled into a fist at that and Kid could see his father shake in a barely controlled rage.

"I don't entirely remember that battle. Hearing him say those things...I just, I dunno, snapped. But I couldn't kill Vajra, and not for lack of trying either. He just...wouldn't die. So I did the next best thing I could think of." Kid would admit that he was well beyond frightened by this point. He'd never heard his father sound so...so furious. It was obvious how much Asura meant to him.

Still Kid swallowed his rising nervousness and asked, "What did you do?" Though he knew he was afraid of the answer. Shinigami looked at his younger son, his only son now, and suddenly slumped over, putting his head in his hands. Right away Kid was by his side, worry for his father evident.

"I sealed him away...and then I rooted my soul to this land so that he could never leave. But I can't leave either. And then in honor of Asura, my best Meister, I built this school to teach weapons and their Meister's." Shinigami finished his story quickly then, not willing to dwell on the subject any longer.

Kid was shocked, there was a Kishin underneath the school? That was...downright horrifying. Kid looked slowly between his father and the floor, his brain trying to catch up and work through all he'd been told. The younger shinigami liked to think he knew his father well. Well enough to know that he wasn't one to drag out stories like this unless he didn't want to tell you. And this might be the longest by far.

He thought back to how his father had reacted once he'd reached the part about this "Vajra" who became the first 'd never, ever seen Shinigami so furious. He was still shaking, but now had his head up and a weak smile on his face, as if trying to reassure his son.

Kid found himself unsurprised by his father's anger. Despite the fact that this happened over eight hundred years ago, he doubted his father ever told anyone about it. It was a pent up whirl of anger and guilt that seemed to spur his unusually long story. Kid couldn't blame him, he'd probably be the same if something like that happened to his own friends. The thought made him sick.

"Father..." He stopped for a moment, not sure how to continue now that his father was focused on him. "Why...why tell me all this? You could have told me that there was a Kishin underneath the school and left it at that...like I'm sure you did for the staff here."

The man shrugged, not answering at first. Then he smiled again, "I think you deserve to know. I could have just told you what I told some of the teachers and Spirit. But I guess...I wanted you to know what happened to Asura."

'I wanted you to know what happened to your brother.'


To say , or the Snake witch Medusa in disguise, was happy would be an understatement. No, she was ecstatic. Her research on the Black Blood was going well, and it was most defindefinitely ready for tomorrow evening.

To top off her mood, she was now confident in the identity of Shibusen's newest fascination. Asura, the Kishin's Meister, Shinigami's son, and the most powerful Warlord aside from Shinigami himself. And if the rumors were to be believed, the boy could barely handle himself against a single pre-kishin now. She had to take this opportunity.

Tracking him down though would be a problem. Asura was just showing up anywhere, even halfway across the world from where he was last seen, It was puzzling but then, there were rumors that his weapon was secretly practing rune magic and teaching Asura for emergencies. And he could have been using something more complex than the usual runes.

It didn't matter much to her though, as she was sure he'd eventually find his way here, to Death City. She'd have to have someone who could catch him before he reached Shinigami. Or maybe she should wait? Oh well, she'd worry about catching him after reviving the Kishin, but she should still be on her toes. Asura always was an unpredictable one, and that made him dangerous.