Thank you Hoshimare and jamesstutz for your reviews! I don't know about you...but Akigara really really creeps me out . Y'all know where the disclaimer is!

"Who are you?"

"I am Akigara, Mistress."

"What are you, Akigara?"

"I am a Soul Eater, Mistress."

"And what is your purpose to me, Akigara?"

"I am to serve your purpose by collecting the souls of humans."

"And what sets you so far apart from humans, Akigara?"

"Humans have a soul, Mistress. I do not."

"Do you wish for a soul, Akigara?"

"No, Mistress."

"And why is that, Akigara?"

"I do not want a soul, Mistress, because souls make one feel."

"You do not want to feel?"

"No, Mistress." The Mistress turned her gaze to Gyakusetsu, who had been standing near the doors, watching her advocate respond to the Mistress' interrogation.

"Take her to the human world, Gyakusetsu. Retrieve the last soul." Gyakusetsu bowed deeply.

"Yes, Mistress." She beckoned Akigara with a finger, and they both passed through the double doors marking the Mistress' chamber. They glided silently through the labyrinth halls of the Mistress' palace, Gyakusetsu striding purposefully, as she knew the layout well...after spending several thousands of years in the palace, she could walk around blindfolded.

"Gyakusetsu." She paused, and turned to the newest Soul Eater, appreciating her clothing that she and Kuroyuri had picked out themselves; Akigara wore a short Grecian tunic, and heeled golden sandals. With her golden hair, she could've been mistaken for an angel. If only it she had different eyes. Her eyes were blue, and like the eyes of all Soul Eaters, dead. Which was the way it should be, after all; weren't the eyes windows to the soul. And if one had no soul, weren't the eyes a window into nothing?

"Gyakusetsu, was the rest of the Elite human too, and your souls were stolen?" she inquired. Gyakusetsu shrugged, and tapped one foot so that the chains around her ankle jangled slightly to accompany her thoughts.

"No, Akigara. Ginnezudesu, Kuroyuri, and I were all made by the Mistress. All of us, you included, can function off of her soul. We need Mistress, Akigara. Remember that, for without her, the Elite would be dust and you would be in a never-ending coma." Akigara stood on her toes, and twirled in the hall, arms flung out, head tilted, eyes wide. Gyakusetsu was a little unnerved; the girl looked like a grotesque ballerina-doll with her deadened eyes and expression, and the rest of her body moving so gracefully. It was positively creepy.

"So Mistress made you to collect the souls she needs? How old are you, Gyakusetsu?" Gyakusetsu summoned a fan to her hand; she liked to wave it back and forth when contemplating. It helped her think and the motion calmed her somewhat.

"Yes, and thousands of years, respectively," she replied easily. But when Akigara made to open her mouth once more, Gyakusetsu hushed her. "It is my turn to ask a question. Tell me, Akigara. What was it like having a soul?" She stopped moving, and lightly touched her chin with a fingertip.

"It was painful," she replied simply, tracing patterns in the floor with her toe. "It was bitter, and sad, and lonely, and sometimes, entirely too much to bear. It is nice not to have a soul. Not to feel, but to know your purpose." Gyakusetsu folded her fan, and tapped it on her chin.

"I suppose...I suppose I wouldn't like that."

"You wouldn't," Akigara agreed, now stepping one her toes, stretching her legs. "It is so much simpler to be without one. You will never need know envy or sorrow or regret." Gyakusetsu banished the fan with a sharp wave and arranged her skirt.

"Come Akigara. We must go to their world, for your mission is about to begin." Akigara, however, had frozen. She was staring off into the distance.

"You know...there may have been something to being able to feel. I remember...I remember sitting before the sea, and feeling peaceful. Utterly calm. It was nice..."

"Akigara?" Gyakusetsu's voice trembled. The girl turned and smiled cheerfully, her eyes not capturing the warmth of her expression.

"Oh, it's not worth the pain, Gyakusetsu. Very little is. Now, let's go. I want to get this soul!"