Chapter Ten

"What do you mean harvest?" Misao asked, feeling the madness enter her body.

Asura chuckled while still keeping a good grip on her arms. "Believe me, you'll find out soon enough. For now, it's time to start business." He released Misao and flew off the bed. Noah and Gopher bowed down as Asura approached them. "The two of you and Giriko take Misao to a village just north of here. I need more human souls to feed on. Go now."

"Yes Master." Noah bowed as Asura left the room.

He stopped just outside the door and looked back over his shoulder at Misao. "I'm anxious to see how you perform, Misao. Don't disappoint me." He chuckled and then proceeded down the hall.

Misao froze as she felt madness attach itself to her soul. Her skin became ice cold, her heart pounded faster with each breath she took, and all she could see were slight visions of her village being burned down in her head. 'Blood…please hurry. I need you.'

They headed straight for the village Asura instructed them to go to so they could collect human souls as offerings to him. Misao rode on the back of a griffon Noah summoned from the Book of Eibon, while Giriko used his saw legs to skate on the surface of the earth at top speed and Gopher flying next to the griffon with his wings that he conjured from the sleeves of his shirt.

"I hope this is going to be a fun experience!" Giriko said with enthusiasm in his voice. "You better not slow us down girl."

"She won't slow us down." Noah assured him, looking back at Misao from the corner of his eye. "I think she'll be a worthy ally in our mission. We'll have plenty of souls to offer to Lord Asura with her help."

Fear clenched her heart, gripping it tighter as the journey continued. It wasn't long before they were above the village, landing discretely in a back alleyway. Misao jumped off the griffon before it landed. Right as she touched down, Giriko came from behind her and stopped a few feet behind her. "I hope you guys have a plan." She said sternly, crossing her arms.

"What is the plan here?" Giriko asked as well. "As much as I want to, we can't just go out there and start killing people. We have to be discrete."

Noah took a peek around the corner, watching all the people walk around. "Misao, come over here."

Hesitant, Misao stood behind him and looked over his shoulder.

"See that guy over there?"

She looked over to where Noah was pointing to see a young man with short hair that stopped where his neck and torso met. He wore a light-blue sleeveless shirt with white shorts and white shoes. He was at a shop looking through trinkets and random objects. "What about him?" She had a feeling she knew what Noah wanted her to do, but she just waited for him to answer her question.

"Use your charm to get his attention and trust. Then tonight, lure him back here and we'll take his soul. Easy as pie." He smiled at Misao.

She slowly backed away, wishing she had the courage to refuse and then run away. But without Blood by her side, she felt helpless. Doing this would just put more pain on Misao's heart. It wasn't just the fact that she was going to take away an innocent person's soul for a crazed man bent on spreading madness across the globe; it was the fact that she would be betraying Blood and the connection they share as meister and weapon. "I can't." Her heart pounded as the words leaked from her lips.

Noah and the others glared at her as she trembled. "What was that?" Noah began to slowly approach her.

Misao shook her head as she continued to step backwards. "I can't do it. He doesn't deserve it. None of these people do." She kept backing up until she collided with Giriko, who grabbed her both arms and held her in place.

She didn't put up a fight as Noah stopped in front of her and jerked her head to look at him. "It seems you've already forgotten who you belong to. Asura is your new Lord. You serve him with no questions. He can easily take your life now and retrieve that little gem you have in your sexy body." He put his free hand against Misao's exposed stomach and let his hand touch all around her flesh. "But just for his amusement, he's keeping you alive. If you want another reason, your friends are on the line as well."

Her blood ran cold and her heart ceased its pounding the moment he mentioned her friends. "No, you can't hurt them!"

"Oh but we can. However, we'll let them live a little longer if you do this job. Lure that boy back here once the crowd dies down. Are we clear?"

"Yes." Misao let her arms fall to her side once Giriko and Noah released her. 'Blood…forgive me.' Tears finally released from her eyes as she stared back at the young man.

"Good girl. Now get going. We'll be watching your every move."

"Yeah, so don't go thinking you can run off and hide him. You don't bring him back here, you're friends pay the price. Especially that pathetic plaything you call your weapon." Giriko gave her a last warning before she began to move out of the alley.

The tears dried up as she entered the sun and proceeded towards the man. Misao took in a deep breath and moved in. She stood within inches of him, staring at the same little charms that were displayed. "They're beautiful. Aren't they?" she complimented the charms as they attempted to gleam in the little bit of sunlight that came in.

"Yeah, especially the material they're made of. It's pure titanium." The man said back to her with a smile.

"These are titanium?"

The man nodded, taking a random charm off of the hook and holding it up to the sun. "You must be a tourist. Our village is famous for producing titanium. We get a lot of profit from buyers and traders wanting to purchase some for themselves."

"Wow that's amazing." Misao found herself letting go of the threats made to her by Asura's lackeys and just became a normal girl. "I'm Misao."

"The name's Hunter. Say, would you like to hang out with me? I can show you the town."

"I'd like that, Hunter." She walked with Hunter to the merchant who sold the charms and bought one for Misao before heading out to explore.

After touring the town, Hunter and Misao sat down in a restaurant and grabbed something to eat. "So Misao, where are you from?"

Misao hesitated answering that question. "Well…I'm from Ukanda Village. It was destroyed when I was young."

"I'm so sorry." He said with sympathy in his voice.

Misao shook her head, fighting off the memories that entered her mind. "It's okay."

"So, where do you live now?"

"Death City."

"No way, you live in Death City!?" Hunter had enthusiasm in his voice while looking at Misao with excitement. "It's been my dream to visit that place! Have you ever been inside of the DWMA?"

She froze when that question entered her ears. "Umm…not really. But I have met people who go there. They're really nice people."

Hunter sighed as he drank more of his beverage. "I'm currently saving up money to go to Death City. I want to open my own shop there and live on my own."

"What kind of shop do you want to own?"

"My mom and dad are professional sculptors. We make bowls and pots for everyday use. Everyone in my family save up life-savings so we can travel and open up our own shop away from home."

"That's amazing. Well I hope your dream comes true." Misao smiled at him. After laughing with him, she looked to the corner of her eye and saw Noah and the others keeping a close watch on them. She quickly looked away, finishing her meal pretending she didn't make contact with them.

Once it got late, Misao and Hunter sat in a field watching the sun go down. The sun drooled and twitched trying to stay awake, but it was a useless battle. "This is probably the best day of my life." Hunter said, pulling Misao closer in his arms.

"Why do you say that?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Well, it's a little embarrassing…but I haven't been on a date with a girl in a long time."

She saw his face flush red as he said that. "Really? That's hard to believe."

"Yeah I know." Hunter chuckled, looking back up at the sky. "The last girlfriend I had only lasted a month. She was really cute and nice but…her parents didn't like her being with me. So they moved."

"That's horrible." Misao sat up and looked into his depressed eyes. "Why did they not like you?"

Hunter shrugged his shoulders while giving a small smile. "I don't know myself."

It was time. Misao hesitated on moving her muscles as she thought about what her true purpose was for hanging out with this boy. 'I'm sorry Hunter.' She stood up and let the night breeze blow her tears away. "Hunter, let's go back to the village. It's getting late." She held out her hand to him and kept his hand in hers as they walked back to the place where they met.

"I'm glad I met you, Misao. You really made my day."

"I'm glad I met you too, Hunter. And…I'm sorry." She released his hand and kept her head down.

"What're you sorry for?" He looked at her with curiosity until he found himself surrounded by three guys.

Noah laughed as he came from behind Misao and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Well done, Misao. Just like we planned."

"Wh-What's going on? Who are you people?" Hunter backed away with fear running through his body.

"We're followers of the Kishin." Noah answered. "We used Misao to let your guard down so we could take your soul and offer it to him. You should be honored."

"No…please don't do this. Misao help me! Please!"

Misao wanted to help him, but with Noah's arm around her, she herself was afraid to even flinch. "I'm sorry, Hunter. There's…nothing I can do." She looked away as Hunter screamed in pain over the sound of Giriko's chainsaw legs slashing him in half. His blood spilt all over the pavement and his soul hovered in mid-air.

Noah walked over and took the soul. "Well that's one down. We need to collect a few more, so we'll be staying here for a while." He put the soul in the Book of Eibon and went to look for a hotel for them to stay in.

Blood barely paid attention to anything he did since Misao was taken from him. He constantly wore a depressed expression and looked as if he had lost sleep in the last few days. Every day he sat in class just staring into space, thinking about Misao. 'I will get you back, Misao. Please hang on a little longer.'

"Blood, do you mind if we talk?" Soul came up to him after class and led him into the hall. Blood stood against the wall, looking at his feet. "The others wanted me to talk to you about this whole situation. We're sorry for what happened. We should've fought harder and backed you guys up."

"It's not your fault." Blood said in a monotone. "It was mine. I'm her protector, but I couldn't save her."

Soul sighed, keeping his hands in his pockets as he took two steps closer to Blood. "Look, we're all worried about you. We'll get Misao back and then stop Asura. You being depressed and emo like this is starting to affect the rest of us. Misao wouldn't want you moping around would she? She'd want you to continue on with your head up, confident that you'll rescue her. She believes in you…now you have to believe in you."

It didn't take long for Blood to regain his smile back as he looked up at Soul. "You're right, Soul." They bumped fists, chuckling with each other.

"Just stay cool and everything will be alright."

"Yeah."

"Blood, there you are." Blood and Soul looked over to see Sid approach them.

"What's up, Sid? Is everything okay?" Soul asked.

"Lord Death and Professor Stein want to see you, Blood. They're in the Death Room. They said it's urgent."

"Did they find Misao!?" Blood asked with enthusiasm.

Sid just looked at him for a moment. "All they told me was to find you. I don't know anything. You should hurry over there. They said it can't wait."

Blood ran past Sid in a gust of wind and entered the Death Room where Stein and Lord Death stood waiting for him. To his surprise, Kid, Liz and Patty were there as well. "I got here as fast as I could, Lord Death. Do you know where Misao is?" He panted in between his words, his heart racing faster than he could keep up with.

Stein adjusted his glasses before speaking. "First, we have a situation. There is a town in Canada where there have been numerous accounts of disappearances occurring. We managed to get some info from an outside source, who says that most of the victims are men. There have been accounts of female victims. But it's the number of males that is not making sense."

"What do you mean?" Blood asked, finally able to control his heart.

"Eyewitness accounts say that the men were found in the streets dead with their souls taken." Lord Death took over. "Also they all claim that before their death, the men were seen with a young girl who they say is an outsider. However, because the town is always so busy with people, no one can ever get a good look at her."

"Judging by the descriptions from most people who did catch her face, it's possible that the young girl is Misao."

Blood froze once he heard her name. "Misao? But…why would she…"

"There's a good chance that Asura has forced her to capture souls in order for him to regain his power." Stein stepped forward until he was in the center of everyone. "You, me, Kid, Liz and Patty are going to head to Canada and investigate further. If Misao is behind this, we'll do everything in our power to take her back."

"But I'm useless without my meister." Blood pointed out. "As much as I want to go and help out, all I'd be doing is slowing you guys down."

"Not to worry. Come here."

Blood slowly approached Stein. Once they were within each other's space, Stein placed his right palm in the center of Blood's chest while adjusting his glasses again with the other. He then applied a small amount of pressure to his chest which created a slight shock throughout Blood's body. Stein then removed his hand and lit a cigarette. "What did you do?" Blood asked.

Stein released a puff of smoke in the air before answering. "I linked with your soul wavelength. I'm able to match my wavelength with whomever I choose. This way I can use you with no problems."

Please R&R ^_^