Authors Note: Been a few months, sorry about that; life was keeping me held up. I was also spending my free time doing a more thorough outline of the rest of the story, which I should have done from the start, I'm sorry (And outlined possible Part 2 to this story, as well). I'm also planning to go back and fix up the past 4 chapters because while outlining, there were things I decided I wanted to add or change.

This chapter was originally longer, but I actually split it in two with this chapter and chapter 6.

As always, let me know what you thought of this.

There was plenty of laughter in the air as kids ran around, chasing each other and as parents chatted, watching their children play while bonding with other new and veteran parents. The town was lively, full of so much life despite its small size.

The Hawaiian town was situated on a small beach, despite the beautiful landscaping, it was still relatively small with not as many tourists coming through compared to other places. Most of the people he had come across were citizens of the town rather than just visiting for a nice beach trip. The people were friendly, with the kind of population that seemed to know each other or try to be friends with each other. There was a shopping district where most of the things sold were local, as well as a larger store chain for other appliances and products.

Kid had been in the town for roughly two days, staying in a quaint little bed and breakfast place with Liz and Patty, investigating the town and it's people under orders from his father.

This was, after all, the hometown of the Water Witch Kai and the sorcerer Maleko whom was residing in the academy. If they were to catch the witch they needed to know as much as they could. She had been mostly unknown until recently, and what information they had gotten from the boy hadn't been nearly enough to find anything hadn't been much that Spirit was able to tell him before he was sent off to investigate, as most of what Maleko had given them hadn't been the most useful on locating Kai.

But he had given them plenty of information on the town and certain individuals who may and hopefully could give Kid more information than the child had provided.

From what Kid understood, the people didn't actually know Kai was a witch, and he wasn't going to be the one to break it to them when they didn't need to know. They believed wholeheartedly that Kai Palakiko and her adopted son Maleko Palakiko were both completely human.

A part of him wanted to tell them they weren't, but he bit his tongue.

For the most part the information that the citizens gave him wasn't anything too groundbreaking, but any information would be good information.

Patty was off doing her own thing, excited over the sights and would have probably run off on her own if Liz wasn't there to keep her in line. That didn't stop her from going from stand to stand in the market as Kid went about questioning whoever he could on the sorcerer and witch respectively.

"I don't know what I can really tell you," an elderly lady said as she sorted out some of the fresh loaves of bread she had on display for shoppers. "Kai has always been a nice young lady, you know? It's a tragedy of what's happened to her and her son, and I hope that they're both okay."

To protect them, or rather to protect Maleko more so than Kai, the official story was that upon a witch attack which had devastated their home, Kai had gone missing while Maleko was taken into Shibusen to recover from the attack. It wasn't a complete lie, they were just leaving out the part where the boy and Kai were both a part of the witch community.

But Kid just gave a nod, reaching out to rearrange the loaves in a more orderly pattern, "I understand your concern, Ms. Ramos. I can promise you that the boy is okay," he said as he worked. "But anything you can tell us about Kai Palakiko is appreciated, it can help us to find her."

Ms. Ramos gave a hum as she wiped her hands clean on her apron. "Well, Kai's been living in this town for a good five years or so. She never really talked much, wasn't much of a social butterfly after all. She liked the peace and quiet but would come out to the market place here all the time for her shopping, she was a favorite customer for lot's of us. Always polite, respectful, had more manners than a lot of people her age," the woman explained. "She always tried to keep her distance, but she was never a bad person."

Well, Kid had his doubts on that.

"She got along with her neighbors, never got involved in any petty drama," Ms. Ramos continued and brought a hand to her cheek with a heavy sigh. "But she always seemed sad, you know? I think she was dealing with some things, depression, maybe. Even though she was always polite and pleasent, Kai always had this… melancholic look to her? I always figured it was because she lived alone in that house of hers, maybe she was lonely? She never spoke of her family, except that she was on bad terms and hadn't spoken to any of them in years and so I had assumed that was probably it."

Years? Kid glanced over to Liz who was holding her sister by the hand, she was looking back at him with an understanding expression. Years. That could be just a couple to a few hundred given how long witches could live for. But if she was on bad terms with any relatives, and always alone as the baker said, then that meant there wasn't as much worry that she might be working with close relatives.

He'd rather deal with a single witch than a group of them.

"So she was always alone? Never had any family or friends from out of town come and visit?" Kid asked her patiently as he finished arranging her baked goods, satisfied with the symmetrical arrangement, not a crumb out of place.

Ms. Ramos hummed, smiled at a passerby and then let her attention fall back on the young Death God. "Well, not really. At least not as far as I know. It wasn't until she went and took in Maleko that she started socializing more. She would interact with other mothers more often, she had no experience taking care of a kid, let alone a little boy like hers, and would look to the other moms for advice."

That made sense, it was normal for new parents to seek out advice from other parents, right? Well, he wasn't a parent, so he wouldn't know. "What about Maleko? He was… adopted, right? Where did she meet him?" Maybe she would have gone back to where they met, there was a possibility she had other ties to that spot.

"Yes, a little over a year ago she went on a trip oversees. Somewhere in Asia, I think? She never really specified where she went, no one asked and she never said. But when she came back, she had brought Maleko back with her. Of course she gave him that name, apparently he didn't have one prior," Ms. Ramos confirmed, her tone that of pity.

"The boy could hardly speak more than a few words of English when she brought him back with her," her grandson a young man who helped run the business with her cut in after joining them from the back. "I think Kai said he came from a pretty rough background, he was pretty beat up, too. Lots of old scars and bruises, so we all kind of kept our noses out of it out or respect for his privacy."

That sounded like Maleko, from what Kid had been told, the boy was covered in old wounds. He never said anything about where he was from, either, but, it was clear by the way he looked that, even though his skin was deeply tanned from living under the sun for so long, he was probably Japanese in descent. "Can you tell me about her relationship with Maleko?

"Oh, she absolutely adored little Mal," Clementine, the grandson, said with a laugh. "I mean, I don't blame her. Even though he has his quirks and was almost impossible to understand for the first two months, he's a real sweetheart. He's always willing to lend a hand and he's just so happy its contagious. But really, Kai loved the boy, after she came back from her trip with him, it was like she was a completely different person, you know?"

"She smiled so much more often, and it was usually genuine," Ms. Ramos added with a smile of her own, "she'd come by and ask for any recipes that'd be good for growing kids, always going above and beyond to try and provide a happy and healthy life for the boy. She was protective of him, too. She could be real fierce if someone was threatening him."

So far there wasn't anything Kid could say was really helpful, but he nodded appreciatively to everything they said. "Following the witch attack, do you know of any places she may have gone to hide? Anyone who might have taken her in following the incident?"

Clementine made a face, "Unless she had Maleko with her, I can't imagine her going anywhere without him," he admitted. "She rarely talks of her family, we don't even know where she used to live before moving to this town, and when she goes on trips she never says to where."

"You don't think she's in any serious danger, do you?" Ms. Ramos asked.

More like she was a serious danger to them, but again, Kid kept his silence on the matter. "I can't say if she is or if she isn't, that's why we need to find her."

The elderly baker wrung her hands nervously as Clementine wrapped an arm around her shoulders. It made their height difference even more striking as they stood close together like that, looking at the young teen with concern.

"Just, promise us that you'll find her? Bring her back safe? Kai really is a good girl and if she's hiding, I'm sure there's a good reason," Ms. Ramos began still playing with her hands, "and I'm sure that Maleko must be frightened being separated from her like this after what happened."

Kid offered the two a faint smile, "We're doing everything we can, miss, it's our job to protect and to save people," he didn't want to tell them that it be from Kai that he'd be protecting people from.

But the pair seemed to accept his words and the young reaper bid his farewell, walking away from the stand to rejoin with the sisters.

"How'd it go?" Liz asked as he got between the two, leading them on as they started walking out of the outdoor market.

"Same as all the others," he was sure he'd questioned virtually everyone in the market, and they all had the same answers.

Kai was a polite young woman who preferred to keep to herself, occasionally mingled with other parents when their kids played, never did anything too strange, and never really talked about herself or her past with anyone. It was hardly anything different from what Maleko gave them. In fact, he'd say the child gave them better information even if none of it gave them any leads.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair to fix some strands that came out of place. "Either way, we're heading back out tomorrow. I'm going to comb through their home once more, you two can spend the rest of the day however you like."

Liz tilted her head, "Are you sure about that?" she asked, "if you need us to do anything…"

"I should be fine on my own. Of course if you guys are able to gather any extra intel on the witch, that would be great." What information they did have was scarce and, frankly? Embarrassing. "But you two go and relax and keep out of trouble," Kid assured them.

The look on Liz's face said that she wasn't too sure about leaving him on his own here, but Patty was already heading off the other way and she would need to keep an eye on her sister.

"Alright, but call us if something happens," Liz said, heading after Patty.

When both the sisters were a good ways away, Kid turned on his heels and headed towards the Kai and Maleko's home.

There wasn't a whole lot left of what had once been Maleko and Kai's two story house that was still standing. The witch who had fought Stein and Marie in there had done an immense amount of damage with her explosive spells and most of everything was either destroyed beyond recognition or crumbled to the ground.

The house was beyond repair, and when the DWMA were finally done with their investigations, what was left would be demolished, the land cleared and a new house built atop it for a different family.

Just the sight of it, the disarray everything was in, the chaos of it all, it didn't sit well with Kid. But he swallowed back that feeling it gave him and stepped over a few pieces of where a wall had probably once been, listening as glass crunched under his feet.

He could still make out parts of what each room was. There was a sink and a fridge that was fried, the food inside had gone bad a long time ago without the refrigerator working. Someone must have tossed it all out because the smell, while not gone, wasn't as strong. Part of the stairs was still standing, but the upper half of the stairs had fallen. As had a good chunk of the second floor. A kids bed was lying broken and on its side in a pile of drywall and wood.

There was a lot of blood on the wall and ground, too. Probably Maleko's and the witch who died here.

It was probably too much to ask for, especially with how often and thorough the place had already been searched, but Kid was hoping he could find something. Maybe a postcard, a letter, a journal, something of Kai's that could tell him where she went. But as he rummaged through what remained of desks and closets, there was nothing he could find.

There were toys. Maleko's. The basement had several old unfinished potions and reagents, as well as a few recipes. Kais. But nothing concrete. He'd even found a few photos, almost of all them had Maleko in them. None of them looked older than a year.

"Where did you go," Kid muttered as he stared at a shattered picture frame which had a picture of Maleko and Kai together on the beach, his eyes on the woman.

There was a creak farther behind him, followed by a small crunch of broken glass under a boot. The sound of someone scrambling to get across the wreckage. Kid put the photo back down and turned around.

Standing behind him was a boy with curly brown hair and fierce red eyes. He looked no older than nine, but his expression and posture was as though he was trying to look bigger and older than he was. He had a mean face, too, one that said he didn't put up with what others did or said, an aggressive air to him.

"You're the guy from Shibusen, right?" the kid demanded, crossing his arms across his chest as he glared at Kid with a scowl. "The ones trying to find Kai and figure out what happened here?"

"That's right," Kid answered as he approached the child, most people in the states didn't call it by that name, impressive. The boy wavered but refused to back away. "I'm Kid, and what's your name?" he tried to have a friendlier tone as he spoke to the boy, to try and not scare him, but he doubted he would scare the kid either way.

The boy hesitated, like he was remembering being told not to give his name to strangers, and then, "David Kaiwi."

Ah, so this was David. He was listed among the people that Maleko told the others about. Someone the kid considered a best friend, though much of what he said about the boy, and how David treated him, sounded more like bullying to Kid. "I see, Maleko's talked about you a bit," he said and saw David's expression change into something less angry for a short moment.

"You're… you're keeping him safe, right?" David asked, and before Kid could respond. "When we heard of what happened, everyone was saying that Maleko got hurt really badly, and then that he got taken in to the Academy for his own protection because the witch attacked his home and Kai's missing. But, he's going to be okay, you guys are keeping him safe?"

"Well, of course," so far Maleko hasn't shown any hostility or made himself a danger to the students. Plus he was still a child himself, there was no reason Kids father would issue an execution order on him. "We're doing everything we can to keep him safe and healthy while we try and solve this issue."

David stared at him, as though trying to find some kind of lie, something that would let him say that Kid is wrong. But after a few moments of finding nothing, his body relaxed and he kicked at some broken chunk of wood.

"Good," David breathed, head hung low. "Good. Maleko, he's… he's not a bad kid. He's a really good person. Extremely stupid and way to trusting, if he doesn't have someone looking out for him there's no way he'd be able to make it, he'd end up walking into the middle of the road because he got too distracted, or he'd follow a stranger into his car because he's too trusting. So he needs someone to keep an eye on him and help him out. But, he's a good person."

His voice seemed strained, like he was fighting back so much emotion. Instead he looked up and let it out in the form of anger as his eyes alit with fury. "He didn't deserve to get hurt like that! So make sure you stupid meisters and weapons do your job and keep him safe, okay?" he snarled.

And then Kid started to understand.

Maybe it wasn't so much as bullying like what he had initially assumed from what Maleko said. He could see David being the kind of child who was harsh, he seemed to have a very angry attitude and he was likely a volatile child, but he could see him being the type of boy who never meant harm, wanted to protect his friends and maybe anger and aggression was the only way he knew how to act towards others.

He said that Maleko needed someone to keep an eye on him, and maybe David was just trying to do that in his own way. Not that his method was entirely good.

"And you got to keep him away from Kai if you find her," David added.

That got Kids attention. This was the first time he's heard someone say anything about the woman that wasn't a praise or something positive. But David's request, or rather demand, it sounded desperate, fearful. His eyes were angry, but there was something behind them when he mentioned the witch.

Fear. He was scared of her.

"Why do you say that?" Kid asked tentatively, "Everyone else seems to think quite well of her, why do you think she has to stay away from Maleko?"

The boy looked nervous, darting his eyes about as though looking for someone who might be spying on them. After a swallow, he spoke, not looking Kid in the eyes. "I don't care what the others say, she's not normal. She's not… human. She's a monster and she's a bad person," he gritted out. "She's got the whole town, Maleko included, brainwashed. But she's not a good person and I don't think he's safe with her."

The way that he said that, it sounded like it was from personal experience.

"David, did something happen?" Kid asked, keeping his voice firm so that the child knew that he wanted the whole truth, wanted to know what it was that Kai did.

He swallowed again and then, "One time, several months ago… it was probably one of the first few months since Maleko came? We were playing and, well, I was being really mean to him like really, really mean. I ended up hurting him, shoved him out of a tree. But I didn't mean to hurt him!" the boy added quickly, a crack in his voice. "I didn't want him to break his stupid wrist, things just got out of hand. Kai was scary. She had this face that, she wasn't showing any emotion at all, but you knew she was angry, and it was terrifying.

"Then, the next day I went out with my parents to swim. We were at the beach over by the hospital. I went into the water and then a tendril was wrapped around my ankle tugging me down. The water was tugging me down. It wasn't—it wasn't natural," there was panic rising in his throat and he brought a hand to his throat. "I was drowning. I would have drowned if my dad hadn't pulled me out. But, I looked up at the hospital and, and Kai was at the window to Maleko's room and staring right at me with that same scary face. I know it was her who did that, I just know it. She's protective of Maleko, I hurt him and so she tried to kill me."

Considering her magic was manipulation of water, and with how fiercely protective she was of the boy, Kid found it impossible to not believe David.

"I tried telling others, that she was the one who did it, that she tried to drown me, but no one believed me," David continued and he fought back the terror in his voice. "They said I was just trying to find something to blame for the experience, and since I'd never liked Kai… and Maleko didn't believe me, either. He was so scared when he heard what happened, even though I hurt him, he brought me candy the next day to make me feel better. To make me feel better even though I broke his damn wrist the other day!" he gave an almost hysteric laugh.

"And that's not the first time. She's always had this dangerous air about her. Whenever the waves get really bad, abnormally so, like they're actively out to get people, she's usually been in a really bad mood that day," the boy was actively yelling now as he threw his hands into the air, "And she's always super careful not to let people get too involved in her life, and people who cause her a lot of problems, get too involved, they end up dying in the ocean, and it always gets written off as some kind of accident or tragedy that she had nothing to do with! And no one suspects a thing!"

David was heaving for breath, his eyes wild, not with the fury of earlier, but with fear, terror.

He was absolutely terrified of Kai.

Just what sort of trauma that the child was dealing with at the hands of the witch wasn't something that Kid could imagine. He knew that many could be unreasonably cruel, perhaps a part of him had thought that Kai wouldn't be. But Crona state was proof that being a mother didn't make you kind..

Kid knelt in front of the boy, hands on his shoulders. "We know that she's a witch, we believe everything you say about her," he said slowly, "we're trying to find her and I can promise you that when we do, she will be judged for any and every crime she's committed. You don't have to be afraid of her."

David hesitated, eyeing him warily. "How can I be sure you're going to find her?" he asked, "you didn't even know who she was until recently."

"That's true," Kid agreed, "she did well to hide herself over the years. But now we know who she is and what she is, it's going to be a lot harder for her to hide," and, if all else fails, they could always use Maleko as bait to draw her out. But that wasn't something he should say in front of the child.

The idea of using a child, even if he was a sorcerer, just to lure out Kai left a sour taste in his mouth. It wasn't the sort of thing the good people were supposed to do. But, Maleko was still a sorcerer, could they really say he was completely innocent?

David didn't respond for what felt like minutes, but when he did, his voice was small. "What about Maleko?" he asked and Kid felt his heart drop a little. "I know… I know he lived with her and he's probably been brainwashed by her. But, you're not going to hurt him, are you?" his heart dropped even more at the pleading tone the child had now.

"I don't get why Kai was so invested in him, Maleko is the biggest idiot that I know! But there's probably a reason why she cared so much about him," he continued, his chubby little fingers twitching, "But, he's a good kid. He's does what people tell him to, and he doesn't try and cause trouble. He's not a, he's not bad like Kai is."

David was a good child, better than Kid had initially assumed coming from the bully-victim relationship Maleko had unknowingly described his friendship with the boy as. But, if Maleko's comments about David striving to be a meister in the future were right, then the child could become one of the best. He was aggressive and would have issues of his own to work through, but it was clear that the boy's heart was in the right place.

Perhaps he hadn't even realized how he treated Maleko was bad, maybe it was just to try and keep the smaller boy safe or make him stronger. Whatever the reasons for the way David treated Maleko despite the claim of friendship, Kid didn't know. He just knew right now that David really did care about Maleko.

"I can't make promises, but we will do what we can to make sure he doesn't get hurt" Kid said with a soft smile. But in the back of his mind he knew that if needed, the academy may have to use Maleko to get to Kai.

But for now, so long as they could keep Maleko away from witches, away from any possible contact with Kai, they might be able to keep from having to hurt the boy. If they can keep Maleko in the dark, keep him from turning on them, there shouldn't be a problem.

How hard would it be to keep him from contacting witches, anyway?