Shinigami has an audience with the great Black Star, which gives him an idea. Spirit worries, as per usual, as Mira Nygus continues to handle a mission's unexpected result. Kid decides he doesn't like scythes.

Spoilers – This chapter contains slight spoilers of chapter 54 of the manga, and speculations on its events.

Chapter 2

"Are you sure about this?"

Someone had to ask the question, and Spirit Albarn had long since resigned himself to the fact that he would be the one to do so. After all, no-one else in the Shibusen faculty was very willing to ask just why Shinigami had decided to take in a child of the Star Clan. The still fairly new Death Scythe reckoned it fell to him, as Shinigami's Weapon and a fellow parent, to make sure his eccentric Technician knew what the heck he could be letting himself in for. Frankly, Spirit didn't particularly mind; Black Star needed to be looked after by someone and the little boy deserved a loving family, what child didn't? Even so, Spirit was wary as he once again brought up a familiar subject with Shinigami.

"What other option is there?" The god replied, as he had done on several occasions before. "We can't give him up to a human city; he has great potential as a Technician. Amongst…other things."

"Exactly. It's all very well when he was a baby, but he's growing up. And there are plenty of people in this city who suffered because of the Star Clan. People will judge him for it; it'll be no good for him."

Spirit insisted a little hotly, concern over the boy's history overtaken by some paternal instinct to defend one who couldn't help who his parents were. No-one could change that, of course, but Black Star's past was more ominous than most.

"You don't need to remind me, Spirit. Where ever the child is, he will face difficulty. Shibusen, Death City is the best place for him; he can grow and learn our rules and way of life. I believe he can thrive here. What we must all be aware of is that his father's sins in no way predetermine Black Star's own path." Shinigami tapped the base of his mask thoughtfully, tilting his head in contemplation.

And such an opinion had brought the Star Clan child to where he was today, having been raised by Shibusen. Shinigami often checked up on Black Star, feeling an understandable sense of obligation towards him. But almost every time he saw the child, he was disappointed to see that the question of his soul remained (whether Spirit brought it up or not). Shinigami knew better than to assume that Black Star was bound to seek the Kishin's path, but he had never before encountered a child born of eggs-of-kishin of any kind. The Star men and women had retained their humanity to an extent, but what effect if any their corrupted and corrupting souls could have on their child was simply unknown.

The fact remained that he was the son of White Star, a man whose lust for power – whatever the initial motivation – had led him and his clansmen so far down the path of the Kishin that it had taken a force made up of Shibusen's strongest teams, Spirit amongst them, to eliminate them. It was a tragedy. No-one involved in that conflict would call it anything less. And one simple fact had made it all the more worse, for not a bit of Shibusen's reconnaissance had revealed that the Clan had a child in their midst. Technicians and Weapons alike had gone to the settlement to kill. They had not suspected for a moment that one pair, Syd Barrett and Mira Nygus would discover a baby. A baby, who under the often erratic but well meaning care of the partners and the Shibusen staff, had grown into a sturdy, energetic boy of five. Well, 'energetic' might be a bit of an understatement…

The quiet atmosphere of the Death Room was broken by a crash. Spirit took a step backwards as he was rushed at by a small, green-haired figure with his arms out-stretched. Black Star veered around the Weapon and circled the mirror, all the while making the noises of what Spirit supposed from his gestures was meant to be an aeroplane. Shinigami watched the performance, nonplussed.

"Sorry to interrupt!" Mira Nygus hurried up behind Black Star, "he saw a plane outside. He's got it in his head to, um, fly… Hey, hey get off that!" Black Star was balancing precariously with one foot on the top of a cross. He swayed, and would have fallen if Nygus hadn't made to grab him, catching the boy before he could hit the floor.

"Good morning, Black Star!" Shinigami greeted the boy from his mirror, waving happily.

"Mornin'!" Black Star replied, hanging awkwardly from Mira's arms as she put him back on his feet.

"Tell me, Black Star, do you like Shibusen?" Shinigami leant forward eagerly.

"Yep! Mira's nice, an' Sid's funny! And…they give me chocolate."

"I see." Shinigami nodded, as though satisfied. "Mira tells me you run around a lot, and Sid's been teaching you how to fight?"

Black Star responded by straightening up and, with remarkable dexterity for one so small, pulling off a series of kicks and punches in neat succession.

"Y'huh. You see? You see that?!"

Shinigami and Mira clapped politely;

"Really good!"

"Great!"

"Do you like to fight, Black Star?" Spirit asked.

The boy's already bright grin widened. "Yup. I'm going to be strong."

"Um. Any reason why?" Shinigami wondered as Spirit side-stepped Black Star's continued practice that was coming a little too close for comfort.

"Cos."

"'Cos'?" Shinigami repeated.

"Sid's strong. Mira's strong, Shinigami is strong…" Black Star paused in his would-be attack of the Death Scythe to tick the names off on his fingers. "So, the great Black Star needs to be really, really strong too!"

"I don't think there's a need for it." Mira opined gently, silently acknowledging the 'great' that had slipped into the boy's vocabulary of late. Every bit of the child's life seemed aimed, in a haphazard childish way, to be based around this new notion of strength and greatness. Too young to have a real aim in mind, Black Star had nevertheless found something to work towards. It was the sort of thing Sid often wished his students would express in their work. Beside the nurse and his Weapon, Shinigami smiled, having come to a decision.

"Now, now, Mira! It is good for a boy to have a goal. You're doing very well, Black Star. I am very pleased with you." Shinigami put his hands together as he spoke, nodding emphatically to the fierce little soul.

The words seemed to break through Black Star's zeal and he stopped, for a moment looking up with pride and delight at the Shinigami. Then it vanished, replaced by a determined scowl that in a few years could almost look intimidating. He poked a thumb to his chest.

"Of course I'll do well! I'm Black Star!"

---

"Well, that was something." Shinigami said once Nygus and Black Star had left.

"He sounds very happy. Enthusiastic." Spirit agreed.

"Yup, doesn't he?! You know what, Spirit?"

"What's that, sir?" Spirit responded, pointlessly because he already knew the answer.

"I think he's going to do well here. Black Star wants to be strong; that's always a good trait – in moderation – for Technicians."

After saying goodbye to Shinigami, Spirit walked away shaking his head. Only five and Shinigami was already seeing Black Star as a Shibusen student? He was glad he had years to wait until that became an issue for Maka, even as her natural curiosity at this age led her to wonder what her mummy and daddy did for a living ("kill monsters" wasn't quite the sort of thing you could say at school, even if it was in Death City). Frankly, the idea of having a Technician as a daughter scared Spirit.

He knew from experience how dangerous the work of Shinigami's agents could be, how fractious and demanding the relationship between a Technician and Weapon was in the early stages. At least if Maka was a Weapon there was something practical he could teach her in the process of transformation, the elements of a Weapon soul, but genetics had robbed him of that simple connection. Even if she became a Technician, Maka would remain in her Spirit's eyes his little girl. He wasn't sure he could face the responsibility. Mira would find her own way to deal with her child (as Black Star surely was, in a sense), and Spirit just hoped he'd find out how to help his own.

---

Spirit grimaced as his blade smacked to the floor once more. It had been Shinigami's idea, of course. No-one else would have suggested giving a Weapon to a five-year old, even a five-year old god. Alas, here Death Scythe was being inexpertly wielded by Death the Kid. Actually, 'wielded' was too generous a term. Thus far Kid had only managed to lift Spirit, something that he wondered at seeing as even with suitable soul resonance he was no lightweight in Weapon form.

"It's traditional, you know!" Shinigami said as he placed Kid's hands in the right position along the scythe's shaft.

"Yeah. Who was the Death Scythe before me? Andrew was a sword, right?" Spirit pointed out this discrepancy wryly. That said, having been born a Scythe in his family he'd never gotten away as a child from the death allusions bound up in the very form. That and farming. The fact his own father was a historian who specialised in Weaponry didn't help… His musing was cut off as he was swung once more, this time with a pretty decent aim, though it was less down to Kid then the fact Shinigami was guiding the route of the Weapon that was several times Kid's size.

"Let me try again, on my own!" Kid said. In his 'space', Spirit shrugged;

"Fine. Just take it carefully, okay?"

Kid walked some way from Shinigami across the Death Room. Spirit knew he was being dragged behind the boy, which not a good sign. Matching the child's soul wavelength hadn't been a problem – it had stabilised completely over recent moths, and now practically resembled that of any other child, as more or less did his level of soul perception. It also helped that Spirit had become familiar with Shinigami's own soul, and knew the nuances that made it similar and at the same time so different to that of a human. These traits, Kid's own soul shared. Without that in mind, Spirit would never have agreed to this test, and indeed Shinigami would not have suggested it.

Kid paused for a moment. If Shinigami didn't know better, he'd say his son was going through the process more diligent students did; of collecting his thoughts so as to resonate more comfortably with his Weapon. It was helpful in most disciplines within Shibusen, and not just combat. In reality, the boy was just nervous. He'd never wielded any sort of Weapon before, and the fact his first was a scythe, a tool emblematic of death in many cultures was probably unnerving him. But Shinigami had trust in Spirit, and knew that if the resonance wavered at any point he would sever the connection between the two to avoid causing Kid harm.

This had all come from the meeting with Black Star the other day. If he knew what he wanted to do at that age, Shinigami thought, why shouldn't Kid? Unlike the Star boy, Kid already had a predetermined place in the world; he was born that way. And Shinigami had decided it would be good to teach him about it early. He watched as Kid straightened up, carefully positioning Death Scythe over one shoulder and managing to do so through a combination of his unnatural strength and Spirit's ability to control his soul wavelength on a minute level.

Kid felt the scythe between his hands. With a blade at one end, Death Scythe was hardly as 'neat' as Kid would have liked, but he didn't mind; father had seemed so eager, and Kid wanted to learn from him. The scythe seemed oddly familiar, which was odd in itself - he didn't know father's Weapon that well. But he felt he had used such a thing before, to take the souls of living things, to kill, to defend humankind. He felt as though he had done so a multitude of times over countless years. And this was funny to Kid, because he knew he was only little. Father said so a lot.

Keeping his hands in the grip father had shown him, Kid swung Death Scythe round, the black blade making a satisfying swishing sound as it cut through the air. Once was quite enough for Kid's small arms, however, and just as the boy thought it was going really quite well…his hands slipped. Taken aback by the unexpected force with which he'd been swung, Spirit found himself clattering across the Death Room floor until he had the presence of mind to transform before he damaged something. Landing in a crouch, he looked back to Kid who stood panting slightly some feet away from him.

"How…was it?" Kid asked Shinigami, who was clapping happily.

"Very good, Kid! You've definitely got the idea."

"I think I've done that before." Kid said quietly.

Spirit got up, straightening his tie.

"Well, we practiced a bit before, but let's leave it there, huh?" He didn't want to risk the boy hurting himself, and hoped one near-success was good enough for Shinigami.

"No. I mean before." Kid began, but stopped with his head on one side, rather like the pose Shinigami took when he was thinking;

"Never mind."

---

"He remembers." Shinigami sighed, signing the final piece of paperwork of the evening whilst not really paying attention to its contents.

"You think so?" Spirit was more cautious on today's Weapon practice with Kid, deciding that just because the boy seemed to think he'd wielded a scythe before – living or otherwise – it didn't necessarily mean what Shinigami seemed to think. All children had imaginations, after all.

"There was always the risk, of course. But for him to recall such a thing…" Shinigami sighed once more, his mask reflecting his concern.

"You can't be sure. And even if he's 'remembering' stuff you've done, couldn't it be helpful for Kid? You let him use me today because you want him to learn about being a death god. If he understands it through his genes…isn't that something?"

It was rather a pithy suggestion, and Spirit wasn't sure he believed it himself. Kid was, in a way, created from Shinigami's own soul and certainly shared his power.

The three white lines on his hair were testament to that fact, the indelible connection between father and son that would one day ensure that Death walked the earth once more. The lives and destinies of both were linked. To someone of a poetic mindset, it would seem quite neat. To Spirit Albarn, it was merely depressing and he tried not to think about it too often.

"I suppose..." Shinigami shared his Weapon's uncertainty. He looked to Kid who had fallen asleep in a chair that was far too large for him. Picking the child up in one huge hand, Shinigami headed towards the door of the Death Room.

Walking through Death City had always been a curious experience for Shinigami. The citizens often regarded him with awe and respect, though some had little of either for the god. He tended to respond to those politely enough, for he did not think a few detractors were worth getting worked up about. Now, at night, he sensed the few animal souls that fled from his presence as he walked. Others, such as cats watched him with the same bland expressions their ancestors had once regarded him with. Shinigami liked cats because they weren't as bothered by him as other creatures were.

"Father?" Kid had woken up, and blinked sleepily up at his father.

"Hmm?"

"I liked it today."

Shinigami smiled inwardly.

"Did you now? You did very well for a first try! I'm proud of you, Kid."

Kid considered his words for a moment, and then nodded as though satisfied. Before Shinigami could say anything else, Kid had closed his eyes once more. After a moment, he added;

"I liked it, but…"

Shinigami stopped as he reached the door of Gallows Mansion.

"But?"

"I don't want to use Death Scythe again. He felt funny."

"That's to be expected. You've never used a Weapon before, and I know how you like things to be symmet- neat and tidy." Shinigami assured.

"No, not like that. I mean it was like…it wasn't the first time I'd done it. And he's not neat." Kid agreed.

"I see…" Shinigami said, not entirely sure that he did.

"Well, you're a shinigami, so you don't need to have a Weapon. We have…other ways of defending ourselves. Today was just a test to see if you could use a Weapon." Actually, Shinigami having the odd traditional quirk, it had been a test to see if Kid liked to used a scythe.

"Maybe…maybe I won't." Kid muttered, half to himself, before sighing and closing his eyes once more to sleep.

---

Regardless of Spirit telling him that the episode was just Kid being nervous, or imagining things that weren't there Shinigami was unsurprised that, when Kid eventually decided that he wanted to raise a Weapon for himself, scythes were something he had absolutely no interest in. Not that he'd admit it to his son, but in a way the elder Death was slightly disappointed…