I dragged Ryoko into our apartment by his ear and slammed the door shut behind us. I shoved him away from me and he stumbled drunkenly before catching himself on the coffee table. He sat down on the couch unsteadily and I shook my head in disappointment.
"Why is it that no matter where we live, whenever Mieko isn't around to control you, I always find you doing something that could jeopardize your safety?!" I shouted. I threw his bottle of liquor at him and it shattered on the wooden floor of the living room.
"You don't have to monitor everything I do, Crys! I'm allowed to have some fun!" he argued.
I let out a frustrated growl and kicked the coffee table, sending its contents crashing to the ground. "I'm just trying to watch out for you, Ryoko! You're a fucking idiot. First, back home, you started taking fucking steroids to get pumped out. Now, you're staying out getting wasted at night on the street with complete strangers. You're a student of the DWMA now, kishin target you even more so than before; you could be attacked if you're alone!" I yelled.
"Let me do what I want, you act like you're my mom! You're just my meister!" he snapped back.
"I'm just your meister? That means a hell of a lot if you ever want to become a Death Scythe for Lord Death!" I retorted.
"I could give a shit less about whatever the fuck you fight to make us stronger. I'm in this for Mieko!" he shot back.
I halted my argumentative response, my jaw slackening ever-so-slightly. I closed my mouth and put my palms up in surrender. I started backing away from him, shaking my head with a bitter smile. "You know what? Do whatever you fucking want then. I only say this stuff because I care about you," I said, "Remember when you and Mieko helped me years ago? I'm just trying to return the favor because you mean so much to me. Clearly I don't mean as much to you."
I saw guilt wash over my arrogant, drunken weapon partner's features for a moment. I spun on my heel and walked towards the front door. I snatched up my leather jacket from the armchair and shrugged it on, zipping it up over my shirt. I violently yanked on my combat boots and laced them up in a careless hurry.
"Crys, I–"
"Shut up. Just shut your mouth. You've made yourself clear enough," I snarled. I yanked open the front door and slammed it shut behind me, the booming sound reverberating through the empty corridor of our apartment building.
Ryoko and I always clashed when Mieko wasn't around. I had a tendency to care too much about him and he was a shallow, unfeeling person. We were two opposite ends of the spectrum, and really the only reason we got along was because of Mieko. If it weren't for him, we probably would have desynchronized a long time ago.
Since we first started the DWMA, Mieko had already made one friend, which was Maka. They were both bookworms, therefore they bonded rather quickly. Ryoko and I were alone in the apartment because Mieko had gone to the DWMA library for the first time with Maka. To say he was excited was an understatement. He had a passionate relationship with books that I could never fully comprehend.
I shoved open the door of the apartment building and stepped outside into the chilly nighttime air. I rubbed my hands together and clenched them tightly to generate heat for myself. My breath billowed out in a cloud in front of me then disappeared into the night. For a place that was so hot during the day, it was surprisingly chilly after the sun set.
The moon was sleeping overhead in the midnight sky that lacked twinkling stars. Luckily the streetlamps lining the sidewalks were illuminating the streets, otherwise I would have been walking in complete darkness. I stared down at the rocky cobblestone road under my boots, studying the intricate details of the stones that were worn with age.
I hated when Ryoko and I fought. It happened quite frequently, normally about things that were stupid and trivial. Our personalities conflicted and clashed, which was why I often found myself in shouting matches and heated arguments with him. When it came down to it, I knew somewhere in my heart that he didn't mean the things he said half the time and that he cared about me in some way that he just couldn't express, but his uncaring words still stung.
I spotted something from out of the corner of my eye, like a shadow moving in the alleyway across from where I stood. I whipped my head in the direction of the movement, warily inspecting my surroundings. I was wandering the streets, weaponless, in the middle of the night – not my smartest idea. I had just reprimanded Ryoko for doing the exact same thing, though his perception was impaired by alcohol. Even so, if anything attacked me I would be utterly defenseless.
I continued walking down the street, picking up my pace slightly because of my paranoia. I didn't exactly know what my destination was until I saw the steps of the DWMA. It was really the only place in the city that I was familiar enough with to know it was open in the middle of the night. I figured if I found Mieko maybe he could calm me down a bit.
A sound of scraping metal sounded from behind me, but before I could turn around, something metal pressed into my throat. My breath hitched as a low, rumbling cackle pierced the air from behind me. I kicked my foot back, nailing whatever was behind me where it counts, and twisted my way out of its grip. I spun around quickly and found myself face-to-face with an ugly, deformed kishin. From the left side of its head protruded a spike, and under its right eye was a black spade tattooed onto its skin. Its soulless eyes bore into my own and its tongue lolled out of its mouth at the sight of my soul.
"Don't bother putting up a fight, you're mine," the kishin hissed. It ran at me and I dodged its attack nimbly, causing the creature to slam its head into the stone stairs of the DWMA. The creature was brave for coming so close to the Academy. I couldn't help but wonder why it would do such a thing just to chase after me. There were plenty of other defenseless humans around Death City to attack.
I was knocked off my feet and thrown back by a strong force. I found myself pinned to the hard concrete, a few yards away from the steps of the DWMA. The kishin's cold, metallic hand was pressed to my throat and restricting my movement. It leaned down to me, baring its sharpened fangs in a sinister grin.
"You're going to die anyway, why not end it early and let me do the honors?" it snickered evilly. I stiffened in its grasp and squeezed my eyes shut. What could I possibly do? My weapons were way too far for them to ever hear me if I called.
My gaze flickered up to the steps of the DWMA. I was just outside a building that teemed with students of Lord Death in the daytime who fought these monsters, just like I did. Someone was bound to be walking out. It was worth a shot. I parted my lips and let out an ear-piercing scream that ripped through the air like a knife. The kishin visibly winced and brought its face closer to mine, pressing its hand into my throat harder.
"Shut your mouth, girl," it snarled. It dragged a metal claw along the side of my face and I felt blood drip down my cheek. "I always enjoy seeing your kind suffer before I take your tainted soul and make it my own, but you seem to be quite the little pest. I'll end you quickly."
Just as it raised its claw to pierce through my heart, it was shot through the chest. It crawled from on top of me, turning its attention towards its new attacker. It tilted its head to the sky and let out a frustrated yowl. It launched itself towards its assailant, but before it could reach the source, it was bathed in a shower of round, purple orbs accompanied by the sound of a shooting gun.
"Die, you asymmetrical disgrace."
The creature disintegrated before my eyes as its body was whisked away into black ribbons, leaving behind nothing but a glowing kishin egg soul. A whirring sound descended behind me, then disappeared suddenly. A person in black dress shoes stood over the soul and it was sucked from the ground into a small, silver container gripped in their pale hand.
Two hands that matched the one previously gripping the silver container reached down to me. At closer inspection, I noticed three silver bands around the person's slender middle fingers on both hands. I cautiously took the person's hands and they effortlessly pulled me to my feet. My savior was dressed quite properly; he wore a black suit with four white stripes down the center, three on each shoulder, and a silver skull positioned at the collar.
"Are you alright?" he asked. My eyes immediately shot up and locked with his. My heart skipped a beat. His eyes were ringed and golden with an almost hypnotic quality about them. Though his eyes were entrancing and his words were caring, his expression was quite blank.
"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you very much for saving me," I responded, bowing my head gratefully. My eyes roamed the rest of his face, from his pale skin to his black hair that had three shockingly white stripes on the left side of his bangs. That was surely a questionable statement of fashion.
"Why are you wandering by the DWMA at night?" he asked. His eyes narrowed suspiciously and his gaze seemed to penetrate through to my very soul. He had soul perception, I assumed. I would never get used to that distant, scrutinizing stare in a meister's eyes when they looked at me for the first time.
"I was just going to visit the library...I'm a meister here," I replied.
He raised his perfect eyebrows, almost as if he didn't believe me. "A meister? Where is your weapon, then?" he queried.
"One of them is in the library, where I was going, and I'm having a bit of a fight with the other one, so he's nowhere to be found," I answered, avoiding eye contact with him. His brows furrowed and he parted his lips to say something, but sealed them again before any words could escape. His eyes focused on my soul again and he bit his lip in thought.
"Who are you, may I ask?" he inquired.
"Crystalin Vaux," I responded hesitantly, "Why?"
His eyes widened at my answer and he took a step away from me. I tilted my head in confusion and looked over my shoulder to see if something was behind me. He dipped his head in a respectful greeting.
"I apologize, it was very rude of me to ask for your name and not give mine. I'm Death the Kid, Lord Death's son," he said, "You're the new girl on my team, correct? The one with the dual weapons?"
It was my turn to be shocked. "Yeah, that's me. Are you the other meister on my team with two weapons?" I asked.
He took out two silver and black pistols from their holsters and expertly twirled them around on his pinkies with a nod. The guns were engulfed in a purple glow that made him flinch and pull back his hands. Once the light disappeared, two girls stood on either side of him – a tall one with long, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, and a shorter one with shoulder-length, platinum blonde hair and blue eyes.
"What's the point of putting us in a holster when we can just transform back?!" the dirty blonde girl complained.
"Yeah, it makes me feel all scrunchy!" added the shorter girl in a childish voice.
"These are my weapon partners, Liz and Patty," Death the Kid said, first gesturing to the taller girl, then to the shorter one, "It's a shame I couldn't meet your weapons."
"You can meet them tomorrow. They'll be in class with me," I said with a friendly smile, "Hopefully both of them will be."
"Alright," he remarked, "Well, I'd better be getting home, it's late and we just got back from an assignment. Stay safe getting to the library."
"Thanks again for saving me, De–"
He interrupted my sentence and cut in, "You can just call me Kid." Before he turned around, he broke his stoic demeanor and flashed me a charming smile that made my heart leap. He left me at the bottom of the steps at the DWMA with my heart pounding in my chest at an irregularly rapid pace.