Kuroshitsuji © Yana Toboso

OCs © reaper-of-lost-souls

A/N: Sorry for not putting up a chapter in a while. Not that I've been busy, but I just never found the modivation to review another chapter… well now you start school. Woot! Let's see what happens~

! #$%^&*()

Two weeks have passed since you started life here in the shinigami realm; actually it was almost three now. You recently learned that the reaper you were supposed to room with wouldn't become a reaper for quite some time, maybe another year or two, but you were still excited yet frightened. What if you didn't get the classes you wanted? Oh that would be horrible! Luckily there was one person you were able to talk to and it was that boy Marwin Leberecht. The rest of the reapers seem… weary of you as if they already knew you were a demon. Or something else… but you couldn't quite put your finger on it.

Maybe because you excelled in all your studies? Every class was easy for you. After all you've already lived a full cycle. You know how to read and write in many languages, even the ancient ones. Sorting books was a cinch, writing was easier, though you had to make sure you didn't accidently write in the demonic script. That would give you away for sure. Weapon making was another easy and cool class. You had so many ideas for weapons that could kill that the teacher was even impressed, though when you threw out the idea of a multi tool pocket knife the impressed looks turned sour. Then there were the actual dispatch classes that consisted of all of the above, but mainly combat lessons. That you understood. Kill the enemy and reap the soul. Hah! Their demon dummies looked pathetic. At least in hell they used live action servants. Those barely even moved and only when there was a breeze. Another thing you excelled in… but now the higher ups were getting suspicious and you knew you'd soon be in trouble. For a first year to excel so well within their first month was barely unheard of, but surprisingly you heard it wasn't impossible.

"Just because I'm getting A's in my classes they want to talk to me early," you pouted, walking down the hallway with Marwin as he stared at you with unsure eyes.

"Really now?" he snorted. "Why? You're in trouble for being too good? –"

"I-I don't know! Maybe they think I'm a strange soul? I don't get it –"

"Well maybe you had experience when you were a human and it's shining through, but how would I know," Marwin shrugged. "I've only been here for a few weeks now."

"… I-I don't know if I can do this –"

"Sandra calm down," he chuckled lightly and patted you gently on the back. "It will be okay. Just believe in yourself and who knows? Maybe you're not in trouble."

"Maybe… well bye Marwin."

"Bye, and will I see you this afternoon?"

"M-maybe… I'll try to get to that party," you answered and went down a different hallway, more narrow and calmer then the main stream hallway with the students walking back and forth to their classes. You walked right up to a small room at the end of the hallway, letting in a deep breath before opening the door widely and walking inside.

Inside there was a group of reapers talking among each other, each looking professional and wearing their own style of the reaper outfit. Some had red mixed with black in their outfits, others blue, but each one of them didn't pay you much attention until you coughed into your hand to get their attention. "Y-you wanted to see me… sirs."

"Ah yes, little Alessandra Moore. You've only been born as a reaper for three weeks, correct?"

"That is right sir –"

"And you have A's in every class? Even I'm impressed," the man chuckled darkly, reminding you of one of those fallen angels that wanted to see you suffer and his minions be in pain. "Hmmm… well Miss Moore, by your scores you're fit for any job and even your teachers are interested in having you in their departments –"

"Thank you sir –"

"But," he huffed, silencing you before you could say anything further, the slight smile on your lips turning into a solemn line while you listened to the man speak. Dang, this guy must love having power. "But, Miss Moore, I heard in notes that you wished to be in the dispatch department."

"That's correct sir –"

"But are you sure that's the department for you? It's dangerous, especially for women, and you'll be confronted by demons almost every week, maybe every day –"

"Sir, with all due respect," you spoke, unable to keep the quiet escapade up anymore and stood up straighter, trying to talk as professional as you could, "I may be a woman, but don't let my looks deceive you. I am a hard worker and I'll get the job done. Demons, pah! Hate them! I just want to snap some heads… that's all. Paperwork would be so dull. I don't mind pushing papers into corners and doodling on them, but having to type and write and give papers back and forth, memorization of files and organization and such has never been my cup of tea. Sir, if you let me be a member of the dispatch department I promise not only to work hard, but I will never let a demon touch any of the human souls, ever. Even if they're contracted I wouldn't even let them get near... Sir…" You didn't know what else to say, standing firmly wondering if you said the right thing. Okay you don't hate demons, but you wouldn't mind snapping some heads. They always come back alive and well in hell. Maybe humiliated, but alive. So you could keep true to your words… you hope.

The man sighed, still giving you an unsure look. You stared back at him, your eyes squinting and knowing he was trying to read your mind. Trying to see what your thoughts were, if there were hidden intentions in your words. Indeed there were, but your goal after a while will be to infiltrate heaven, once you're done here. "… I feel we should continue her on –"

"Nonsense," another reaper huffed. "I don't like her attitude. Much too young to be given special treatment. I doubt a reaper her age could even handle the pressure –"

"Come now gentlemen," a reaper off to the side chuckled darkly, your eyes turning to him out of curiosity. "You said so yourself you're in need of new trained reapers and this is a prime pupil."

"Are you saying you could train her Undertaker –"

"Give me a year, two tops."

"But you'll be putting a young recruit on the front lines of a war," another reaper spoke, this time a female rather than the overpopulated men at the table. "Even if she has promise, demons will rip her apart, no matter how good she may be –"

"I-if you don't mind," you quickly interrupted, "but I believe I'm up for the job… ma'am." You smiled weakly, but honestly you were interested in this 'war' they were talking about.

"… You heard it from the young lady herself," the old looking reaper said, the man whom they called Undertaker and you wonder why he had such a name. "She's up for the challenge."

"For gods' sake, fine!" the one who had been interrogating you agreed, "but this is your little problem Undertaker, not mine. You still have a job to do regardless of letting an apprentice on board."

"Roger little sir," the man chuckled darkly and the other reaper snorted, your eyebrow rising at how rude this Undertaker reaper was. "And I'll like to speak with Miss Moore afterward. Are we adjourned ladies~… and gentlemen?"

"I suppose," the other reaper sighed, standing up and the rest of them followed.

You stood unsure of what you were supposed to do, watching the Undertaker continue to wait for the group of reapers to go before sighing and standing up. "You're a snippy one."

"I'm sorry sir –"

"And that's what I like in my group. You see little Alessandra –"

"I prefer the name Sandra," you smirked, the man giving you a curious glance as you chuckled lightly, "ah, sir."

"Right… I prefer reapers who don't mind to get their hands dirty," the man continued, walking around the table and towards you. That's when you noticed how tall he was, how strange he was. He wore a long black coat and long silver hair. Yet he didn't look old at all, like the rest of the reapers around here. He wore black rimmed glasses that shaded his eyes from view, but you could tell he was staring down at you, judging you, wondering what your motives were. "You see young Sandra, I am the manager of a special operations force, a branch off of the dispatch department. We're low key and barely anyone knows about us. If they do they only assume we are dispatch members, understood?"

"Y-yes sir? –"

"Good," he smirked, a mysterious folder appearing in his hand from behind his coat and he handed it to you. "Here are the details of your training. I want you to spend the remainder of your freshman month reading the provided books for the dispatch students. Memorize the techniques and skills and at the end of the month during your performance evaluation I'll be asking you to show me what you know. If you retained enough then I'll take you on as one of my pupils. Understood?"

"… I guess sir –"

"You seem hesitant child –"

"W-well this is a lot to put on a freshman –"

"You said you were up for the challenge and if you don't want to do this you can back out now," he chuckled darkly, your eyes glaring at him wondering what was so funny. "You'll probably be put in the dispatch classes, take your sweet time learning how to be a reaper or~~… you can join my unit and take down demons right here, right now. Plus you'll learn everything first hand instead of sitting in a desk learning about paperwork and reaping from teachers. What do you say? Are you up for the challenge, girlie~?"

"I say… sure why not," you shrugged and then smirked. Oh boy, a fast track! You didn't even think it'd be possible, but here's one now! "I'm going to be a reaper, right. Might as well start early."

"Good… see you at the end of the month Miss Moore."

"Thank you sir," you bowed and waited for him to leave, putting your head up and turning back towards the door. You didn't know why you had this feeling of accomplishment right now, but you had to tell someone about this. Marwin, yes probably him! Yet… what sort of mess are you getting yourself into?

! #$%^&*()

)(*&^%$# !

Reading through the folder was a nightmare and doing everything on the list was worse. A long list of books you had to read, all within the month. Barely a month, ten days tops. Battle plans and strategies, combat tactics and weapons. So many things to read about, so little time. "Well… I guess being the way I am comes in handy," you chuckled darkly; glad you didn't have a roommate as you got to work.

Once you got down to the nitty gritty of the books all you had to train for was different styles of battle and how to communicate when you're in the field. Hand motions you taught yourself in about an hour, two tops. Then the hard stuff, the combat training. You couldn't seriously fight a floating piece of air and you didn't want to ask Marwin for help. Yes, it was great that you were moving up the ranks so quickly, but you don't want to hurt the poor boy. For one thing you didn't know how to fight in this way, using various weapons like reapers do. Mainly hand to hand combat was your thing, and even then your eyes glowed whenever you did. Secondly, if you hadn't figured out, was the problem of your eyes. Your eyes would turn back to their dark red color, usually just purple, because of the strain of energy you had to use in this quick training. That's why you were training in your dorm room, mainly training your eyes to stop changing colors. If you could do that you could train in the arena and finish the demonstrations at the end of the month, but… will you be able to master it?

"Come on…" you growled, calming your breath down and letting your eyes turn back to the shinigami color. "You can do this… come on!... Damn… If brother was here what would he say? Oh I know~. 'Calm the fuck down!'… Right." You didn't know why you came to that conclusion, but calming down seemed like the best strategy. You close your eyes, concentrating on your intended goal. You imagined a weapon in your hand and you gracefully arc it over your head, ready to strike. You opened your eyes, staring at yourself in the mirror. Your eyes stayed the shinigami green and yellow, but the yellow was shining as intently as your purple eyes and even red eyes would. "Well… that's better," you smirked slyly and narrowed your eyes, pretending you had a partner in the room and began to attack him.

The problem with practicing in your room was that there was no space. You had to imagine he kept escaping your attacks and mesmerizing on the other side of the room. Eventually you stopped, panting from the workout you were giving yourself. You looked back to the mirror and noticed your eyes were still green/yellow. Good… then you can move on.

The ideas you learned while you were in hell was that one cannot simply stop. They have to keep fighting, keep trying to better themselves, or else they're dead meat. You've seen demons attack each other for no reason, a reason why you were taught to fight in the first place. You've spent days without food, training with your siblings. It was your father's way of bettering his children, pinning them against each other till one came on top. After a while you were going easy on your own siblings just because you were a pure blood… but that idea won't let you down. Reapers are entirely different creatures, different souls. They were more like humans souls, yet turned into a divine creature. You wondered how that could be, but then again you were wondering about a lot of things now a days. You were just glad you were moving up in the ranks so quickly and barely half a year has gone by since you left home. Hmmm… it's strange to see how time flies in an area you're not used to.

Deciding to take a break you put your shirt and suit coat back on, having discarded the top material, still wearing and under shirt, so you wouldn't get sweat all over it. The pants you didn't care too much for because you'd have to be moving around in them anyways… but the heeled shoes were horrible. You eventually stole a pair of shoes, again, just so you wouldn't have to wear the heels. It was strange that the soul of Jonathan Copper had disappeared now, dissolved into your soul. You wondered if he was still there watching from the side lines or completely gone, but you did know that you won't taste the sweet forbidden fruit of a soul for a long time. You also wondered if the reapers were looking for the man, but then again it's been about a month now. Can't be too big of a deal, right?

You walked to the cafeteria, noticing the day had gone by and night was beginning. Good, your favorite type of sky, you smirked happily. Because of your assignment you ditched your schedule, something that Undertaker reaper told you to do so you could spend your time solely on the performance evaluation. You carried a book with you as you walked, reading the details word for word and wondering how in the world you'd be able to block a technique like that. So many things to memorize, so little time. You sighed and closed the book, rubbing your temple as you began to grab your food. You had to take a break. It was too much! Plus you've been up for a few days now, you think four, so it's best to sit down and maybe nap. You ate, you read, and then ate again. You put your head down on your book, groaning in annoyance. Damn, you had a headache.

Suddenly you heard snickering and looked up, seeing that same old geezer of a reaper showing up with a cup of tea in his hand and a biscuit in the other. "How's the studying?"

"Dreadful," you complained, sitting back in your chair and giving him a pout, "but then again I've been cooped up in my room studying for the past four days so I guess that's expected."

"Four days? Usually a reaper can handle two, three tops," the man giggled, sitting down beside you at the empty table, but then again only a few reapers were sitting and eating, all dispersed in their own places like it was the library or something. "What are you stuck on?"

"Oh… just battle tactics and stuff," you shrugged. "I already went through the paperwork, organization, even strategies in the field, but actual fighting is what I'm stuck on. Can't exactly ask my friend if he can help since he's working on his own studies and I'm not particularly in the mood to make friends with a bunch of gym buffs in the arena. Plus I'm tired… I need a break."

"I'd love to help you dear, but I do have paperwork to fill out," he chuckled lightly, "but keep working. You'll be fine."

"Right… you don't even know if I can fight at all, do you?" you snorted, but shrugged again as you stood up and grabbed the snacks you had on your tray into your hands. "It was great talking to you, but I just want some time alone."

"Sometimes time alone is best dear, but don't make it a habit," he told you simply, a nod coming from you in reply and you walked away with your empty tray. It's not like you wanted to be rude, but you need some space. You're so use to being alone for days at a time that having someone to talk to is getting on your nerves. With Marwin wondering if you're ever going to go out and party and Undertaker showing up it's becoming a bit too much… but that hill away from everyone probably won't be occupied, right?

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You grinned happily, staring up at the stars as they twinkled with all their might. You wondered to yourself if stars were really angels fluttering around in the breeze, munching on the last of your sweets before sighing and getting up. You opened the book, noticing it was how to wield large objects like a scythe, and grabbing a random long stick you had come across for a walking stick you began to pretend you were fighting an opponent.

Strangely enough the long feel of a scythe felt perfect between your fingertips, like you belonged with that sort of weapon. Your wrists twisted in the air, the pretend scythe circling over your head and landing on the other side. You jumped away, flipping through the air, a sly smirk appearing on your lips while you continued. You didn't know why this was so easy, this reaper business, but even a scythe seemed simple in your mind. Now using your claws to hack people apart, ways of seducing souls, that's something you always had to work at. This, however, was perfect~. You laughed and in a wide arch you killed your invisible opponent pretending his head rolled onto the ground. You felt your eyes were going to flash purple any second, but letting out a calm sigh and pausing you knew they didn't. "Hmmm… I can't get too into this I see," you sighed and began again, the same technique over and over again till it was like clockwork. Strike to the left, to the right, at the legs, upper cut.

You didn't even notice the pair of eyes on you, the pairs to be exact, until one of them emerged. "So this is what you're up to," the reaper said, your head turning and a smirk appearing on your face.

"Yes, it is. Why are you jealous~?" you grinned.

"No I'm happy for you," your friend Marwin responded, noticing the book you had lying off to the side and noticing the figures in the pictures. "You actually know what you're doing, u-unlike me."

"… Do you want to talk?" you asked, the boy staring at you as if you were crazy, but then sighed and shook his head.

"Yes… it's just… I'm not doing well in any of my classes a-and I don't even know what I should be doing around here. What if I'm just a dolt with nothing going for him around here –"

"Don't say that," you snorted, beginning your training again as you slashed at the invisible opponent. You still hadn't decided if it was a demon or a reaper, but honestly you were pretending it was an angel, a despicable angel out to take your pure soul. "I bet deep in your heart you know what you want to do. Perhaps you're not destined to be in the dispatch, but what about the glasses department? Human resources? There's lots of opportunities out there Marwin. All you have to do is look."

"I-I guess if you think about it that way –"

"Yeah see? You don't have to be the norm Marwin. Just be who you want to be," you shrugged and went back to training, the reaper giving you a smile and a nod.

"O-okay Sandra. Thank you… You know what, how about I make you an offer."

"What'll that be –"

"Tomorrow after my classes we head down to the arena to train. Who knows~. Maybe I'm a natural fighter too." The grin on his face made you want to blush, but then the smile faded on your lips.

You had a century's worth of battle experience and honestly you never wanted to hold back on an opponent. "… I won't go easy on you –"

"I wouldn't expect you to," he smirked. "Besides you seem to need a partner to train with. I can just be stand in dummy. You work your moves around me."

"… If you'll be fine with the fact that I'll see you as any other opponent –"

I'm completely fine by that," he chuckled. "Now I'm going to get to bed. It's getting late."

"Good night," you waved, but the thin smile on your lips faded away as you turned back to your invisible opponent and continued to fight. You knew you were cramming at least two, if not, five years of work into a few days. If you worked hard though they'll see you as you want to be, right? Plus now that Marwin offered… you were afraid for his safety. You don't know your own abilities, but you might as well give it a try, since he offered after all.

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! #$%^&*()

"Thank you," you accepted a card symbolizing which room you were training in, Marwin also taking a card from the man's hand and walked from the front desk to the arena. The arena was a bit different than just a large pit for reaper to fight in. There were several rooms that created more places for reapers to spar, the large space usually reserved for top notch reapers or reapers who had showed up early. Sadly Marwin and yourself showed up a little too late to get a room of rather large stature, but not something you wished to fight in anyways. It was just a room with a large ceiling for space to jump around and swing death scythes in the air, stoned floor that has been cracked and retouched several times and stone walls. Actually it reminded you of home, except for the glassed window that led out to the larger arena outside. That large arena was usually used for field training, and once again if they had shown up earlier they may have been able to spare in such a room. Oh well… though you didn't like the idea of people watching you supposed it'll have to do. It's not like you have a bunch of your siblings laughing at you as your older brother pinned you to the ground with his chains.

"Alright," you thought as you closed the door, having to leave it unlocked while you looked at the equipment you were both allowed to use and noticed they were actual death scythe blades. "Let's get started."

"What do you want to do first –"

"I need to get used to the techniques. It's like a sequence of attacks rolled into one and depending on the order it differs on how your strike. For example," you pulled out a large death scythe, similar to the small little death scythe much older students get to train with on a daily basis. The handle was wood and the blade was simple steel, but it was worn and used, yet still polished and beautiful in your eyes. You don't know why you were drawn to such a weapon, but the older death scythes always fascinated you. "… There are different numbers, ten techniques in total. Four is a striking technique; seven is defensive, and others in between. I will do all ten techniques how they are in the book, and then I want you to defend yourself as I strike you with the techniques. They may falter because I'm attacking, but the point is to use these basic techniques while you defend yourself… so pick your weapon Marwin."

"R-right," he chuckled nervously, deciding to grab a sword since the death scythe was rather large for him and he wondered how in the world you could hold the weapon so easily. Even the sword seemed heavy and difficult to hold, but this is just training. He'll be fine… probably. "It's weird to see you so serious about this Sandra."

"Well this isn't something to take lightly," you shrugged, his eyebrow rising when he noticed you grabbed a piece of cloth out of your suit coat and placed your glasses in a pocket so they would not get broken. "When you fight it's to the death, no exceptions. Even if you see no hope of victory you have to try to win… that's how I've been taught."

"Ah! So you do remember some of your human memories!?" He grinned happily, but your emotionless expression still didn't falter.

"… Yeah, I guess so," you mumbled and tied the cloth over your eyes so you couldn't see.

"Then why the blindfold –"

"Instincts. Use your other senses to find the enemy. By closing your eyes you can calm yourself down and a technique to fall back on if you become blinded, but don't worry. I'll train without the blindfold, but I need it first to get my bearings." You noticed the boy nodding, but you knew that wasn't the true reason. Okay, so when you were in hell you had a lot of training with blindfolds and restraints around your arms or legs at times, but the true reason was in case you normal demonic eyes began to glow. You couldn't have Marwin noticing, not so soon. That's one of the problems you had and a reason why you agreed to do this. "… I'll show you the techniques first and then you can jump in."

"Okay," he agreed and sat down on a nearby bench, watching you cautiously as you began.

You started with one, counting up to ten. You twisted the handle in your hands, striking an invisible enemy as if you were truly attacking someone in the room. You could feel Marwin's energy becoming feverish, even scared at your motions, but he asked for this. It's not like he can back out… well he could, but you'd be disappointed. You didn't have trouble with your eyes at this point. You've trained yourself enough in that area, but now with an actual opponent you may run into some problems. "… Okay," you stopped, instinctively turning to the reaper that was sitting on the bench. "Those are the techniques. All you have to do is defend yourself while I strike, alright?"

"S-sure," he chuckled nervously and stood up, a frown on your face while you slinked your arm around the handle of the long weapon and slouched onto the scythe.

"If you're not up for this please back out now before I accidently cut up your face or something –"

"No! It's simple enough. I just have to defend myself, that's all. I-I can do this, and don't worry about me," he smiled, but you knew inside he was shaking.

Oh well, you thought. Humans tend to not know their own limits and will push themselves. You won't let that stop you, not one bit. "Then tell me when to start. I'll start with one."

"O-okay," he agreed and stood a few feet away from you in the center of the room. "Then… go –"

He yelped in surprise as you strike quickly, practically knocking him off balance as you swung the blade. Mainly to wake him up than anything else. "One," you counted, turning towards the boy and attacking him from all four sides. You heard his sword clank against your scythe, but he was weak in the arms. He barely had enough strength to block your attacks. "Two," and then you went on a defense, swiping at his feet and aiming for his head. "… Three," then you made a curved arc over his head, only snipping a small part of his hair off as you did. "Four." You strike for the center, almost hitting him in the chest with your long blade if he hadn't held up his sword to defend himself in time. "Five," you strike only at his feet, tilting the blade up higher and almost cutting his legs in half. If he hadn't jumped away in time you would have sliced him up the middle. "… Six," then you ran at him with all you had, intimidating him with the blade, but striking him in the gut with the end of the handle. Marwin gasped in surprise and was thrown backward, slamming into the stone wall and slumping to the ground. "… Are you spent –"

"N-no," you heard him cough, a light chuckle leaving his lips as he wiped blood from his mouth that you could sniff highly on the wind. "I didn't expect the strength. C-ontinue."

"S-ure," you tried to smirk back, but that smell of blood will become a problem soon. You let in a deep breath, trying to push your demonic senses down so you wouldn't accidently bite off his fingers. "… Seven," and you ran at him, only slipping down and evading an attack he could have thrown at you. "Eight," and you swiped at his neck, trying to take off his head. "Nine." Then you jumped over his head, swing the death scythe behind you aiming for his back. "Ten," and you stopped his attack with your blade behind your back, your eyes staring down at him darkly, but happily they were able to stay the shinigami green and yellow. "… Okay," you sighed, your stoic demeanor fading as you chuckled lightly and scratched the back of your head. "You're okay right?"

"Yep –"

"Then we'll just keep doing this for a while and maybe we'll step it up later," you told him, running at him to start the techniques again.

! #$%^&*()

A/N: That's that! Now you're getting special privileges, but why? =O You'll have to find that out later ;3 and hope that you'll pass the upcoming exams. Seems you don't get along with Undertaker either XD Well there'll be more fun in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Comment if you wish. SEE YOU LATER!