Here's the latest chapter. It was a bit difficult to finish… Then again that's probably because I've been on a transformers binge… I'm watching the G1 series for the first time… It's actually kind of funny in the corny kind of way. One of the autobots called Megatron a "Mega-meatball" and I realized how many different ways his name could be made fun of. Lol, like "Mega-aft" or "Mega-nerd" etc…

…

Kyvain allowed the familiar energy of his zanpakuto to wash over him as destroyed yet another car. He was alone in an old junkyard, taking his frustration out on the vehicles around him and had been doing so for several hours. The frustration that he had been feeling for the past couple of weeks had been building and building until he felt like he was going to explode but he just did. Not. Know. What to do.

No… He knew what he had to do. He just didn't know how to.

Syketon had befriended a shinigami. No. Worse. She had become a shinigami.

All that work to keep his two lives separate – to protect those close to him – worthless! One lone shinigami had managed to unravel all his work and now threatened to reveal not only himself but Match and Pyro as well.

Match and Pyro… Kyvain slowed in his slaughter of the machines around him to ponder of the two Quincy. The siblings had confronted him shortly after Rukia had come into their lives. They wanted to know just what he planned to do now that this threat had appeared. So he told them.

Nothing, he had said and they had both gaped at him in shock before Match's temper won out. She always did have a short fuse.

"What do you mean, nothing?" Match had shouted, grabbing hold of Kyvain's shirt. "We're to just watch as Syke gets dragged into this mess? You're not going to do anything?"

Pyro, the more level-headed of the two, had watched uncertainly as his sister bombarded the young soul reaper apprentice with more and more questions until Kyvain snapped.

"I can't!" he yelled back then faltered, surprised by his outburst. Pyro and Match had been surprised, too. Match had backed up, looking concerned while Pyro's eyebrows furrowed.

"It's because of him, isn't it?" He asked, realization dawning as he gazed at his friend. "He's ordered you not to interfere."

Kyvain nodded shortly, not trusting himself to speak.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Match shouted, anger starting to rise again. "What could he possibly gain from this?"

Kyvain sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know." He admitted, "But now I can't even try to balance it out by revealing myself on my own without contradicting orders. He wants me to keep an eye on her." He grit his teeth. "If I told her I was a shinigami just to get closer…" He trailed off then sighed again. "I don't like this." He admitted.

The siblings glanced at each other before turning back to Kyvain.

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

Kyvain grimaced, already knowing his answer and as he told them, he knew he had said the right thing by their expressions.

"I'm going to tell him no."

Tegan sighed in exhaustion once she reached her room. Kicking her shoes off as she made towards her bed, the girl crawled up and sat cross-legged on the covers. She had managed to get the brat of a child off of his sibling but she had never met a kid more irritating. She had chewed him out thoroughly before the girl had taken pity on her brother and distracted Tegan with a tour of the candy shop. Tegan, being a candy addict, had agreed to buy a bag of whatever they chose. The boy had wasted no time in grabbing seemingly random things of candy and kicking her out of the shop. Tegan planned on going back in a few days just to bug the snot out of the little shit. She'd show him that she wasn't so easy to get rid of.

Dumping the bag of candy on the bed before her, she gazed at it in disinterest before her eyes settled on a piece that was steadily rolling towards the edge of the bed.

Seeing that it was unwrapped, Tegan had no objection to loosing this particular piece but, just as it reached the bed, she came to the realization that if she let it fall, she' d still have to pick it up.

With exaggerated grievance - she leaned forward to grab the candy – and missed.

Her tired mind couldn't even come up with an expletive as she watched the sweet fall off the side of the bed – and land in the mouth of one of her plush toys – a large polar bear that she had named Candy Cane when she was younger.

Tegan had to blink at the irony.

Now if the mod soul was anybody else, he probably would have stayed quiet once he landed in the stuffed animal until he could easily escape and not make a scene in doing so. This would allow him to avoid any conflicts and problems.

However, the soul mod was not anybody else and therefore as soon as he had a mouth to use, he screamed exactly what was on his mind just as Tegan bent down to pick up the "candy" that she had dropped.

"You kidnapped me!"

Tegan reacted appropriately.

She screamed "Holy shit!" - lost her balance - and fell off the bed.

The mod used this to his advantage and scrambled to all four feet before bolting for the door. Tegan did not hesitate. She, too, scrambled to her feet before leaping at the possessed stuffed animal.

They both went down in an un-glorified heap.

"Let go of me!" The mod soul screeched. "I won't go back! I won't! I won't be killed too!"

Tegan grabbed hold of him and sat back with the mod in her arms as he cried and tried to escape. Her eyes softened as she tried to get his attention. "Hey… Hey!"

The mod soul froze at her shout and turned to look at her.

"Why don'tcha explain to me whatcha are first before you go assuming that I'm going to do anything with ya."

The mod soul stared at her a moment before sticking his nose in the air. "Humph. As if you don't know."

~Set 'm on fire. Tha'll make 'm talk.~

No, Tegan thought, that won't help at all. And he's terrified enough as it is.

That was true enough. Underneath the brave front that the creature was now putting, Tegan could feel him shaking in her arms. She had seen stray animals act like this when she had managed to get hold of them. Terrified – but not willing to let anyone know. She'd have to keep calm and try not to scare him anymore than he already was.

"Well. I don't know actually. Considering a minute ago you were a piece of candy." She deadpanned, blue eyes locked onto his cold black ones.

The mod soul's ears flattened. "Candy?" he asked incredulously.

Tegan nodded calmly, although she was practically giddy inside. "So… If you don't mind me asking – why would someone be trying to kill you?"

The possessed polar bear stared at her. Tegan somehow knew that if the doll had eyelids, the creature before her would have blinked slowly before he hesitated then answered. As it was, they merely gazed at each other before the bear, fear still evident in his voice, asked.

"Do you know what a shinigami is?"