Hey Guys,

So I am now back from my cruise, which was amazing! I wish I could have updated more or earlier but I have good reasons. My ship did have internet, but it was pricey at about 80 cents a minute which would make going online a real blow to my back account. And well, I couldn't update earlier today because my ship was delayed. You see, a crew member experienced a medical emergency the night we began heading back from Mexico to America and we turned around to get him or her medical care. However, before we could get to port in Cozumel, the person passed away early early in the morning. And so, we headed back to America with the loss of a member of the staff delaying us. Of course, this was no problem when everybody really thought about it, because we only turned around in an attempt to save a human life.

Anyways, enough about that. While gone, I did get work done and have two profiles, one for characters you've met before and will see many times and one for characters that will star in a mini-arc after the Xenolith arc. Speaking of Xenolith, I finished chapter 25, which ends with them getting to the castle, so get ready because soon enough, it will all be getting serious in this story. But I know you are all ready for that to happen.

So, I should stop babbling now, because it's time for you guys to read the next chapter of DBR. Enjoy,

xKiha

"You really know where he is now?"

The three bookreaders nodded, serious looks plastered on their faces as they told Flynn about what was now going on in their group. They couldn't exactly keep the puppet master's location a secret from the sophomore, because even if they tried to he would eventually find them out and that wouldn't make their situation any better than it already was.

Flynn frowned, not wanting to say the wrong thing and sound like he knew nothing about what was going on. "How did you guys figure that out?"

"Some kind of a voice crept on me and began to speak, promising to give me the knowledge I wanted if I brought them the purple gem they wanted rather badly. And so, without my consent they buried the image of the placement of Xenolith's castle inside my mind, something I constantly see even when I don't wish to." Kenja sighing to himself as he continued to speak even so. "The only troubling thing is even though I now know where he is hiding, I still want to know more about this man before going into this blindly. I do not know if I would be comfortable with rushing into battle to fight a man I know nothing about."

The wind on the roof began to blow Kenja's hair around, the blond sighing as he tried to keep it in place. The group had decided to use the roof of the high school as a place where they could speak to one another and since nobody seemed to be troubled by this right now, why couldn't they? It was a safe place that they could use to speak about the demon battle without having to fear other peers hearing about something that would best be kept a secret.

"Well," Flynn adjusting as he swallowed, not sure he exactly wanted to say anything at all but finally deciding this would be for the best that he at least gave this a shot. "I know somebody who might just be able to help you with that problem. Somebody who might have some information on what you want to know."

"Really?" Kimiko saying as Michael sat up in interest, both looking to the young doctor in interest in just what he was about to say. "Who is he?"

"A close friend of mine." Flynn replied, still trying to be cautious with his words. "However, he's sort of hard to talk with because he's not exactly a social kind of guy."

"Hey, I did it with Aislinn, I can do it again." Kimiko said as she offered Flynn a smile. "So, who is he?"

Although he didn't want to say it, Flynn knew sending in the brunette would be a mistake he wasn't going to make for the rest of the group. "Kimiko, I don't think you should be the one to do this. Setsuna probably wouldn't respond to you very well."

The girl frowned, trying not to show the upset she felt as she shrugged, Flynn looking over the group and smiling as he began to focus his heterochromic eyes on the blond of the group. "I think Kenja should be the one to talk with him. You are a pretty calm guy so you won't lose your head if this takes a turn for the worse, which means you just might be able to handle this. And you're a rather approachable guy, which could work in your favor."

Kenja's azure eyes first looked to Kimiko and Michael for some form of consolation or approval, seeing them give him half hearted looks before turning back to Flynn. "Alright, but if I must do it, can you be certain that this person has the information we need?"

"Yeah, I'm positive he knows exactly what you want to know. The only thing is it isn't easy getting it out of him, so you are going to have to keep yourself calm and be able to handle whatever exactly is thrown at you, got that?"

"Yes." Kenja nodding slowly, hearing the severity in the voice of Flynn and understanding that this wouldn't be a simple game of the minds but a real conversation he couldn't mess up on. "Don't worry, I will have no troubles."

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"There he is, just try to make this quick, alright?"

Kenja and Flynn stood in the hallways as school ended, the blond looking in the direction Flynn was talking about only to see a rather interesting looking guy standing in the hallway as he retrieved some of his stuff from his locker, most likely gym clothing but he seemed to pause for a moment. Flynn not waiting for Kenja to say anything before shoving the freshmen forward, seeing the helpless look that Kenja gave him but choosing to ignore that as he was pushed over there.

"Uhm," Kenja finding himself frozen for a moment before he swallowed and took in a deep breath, calming himself and feeling more than ready to do this thing. "Excuse me?"

The stranger closed his locker and at once looked to the blond who suddenly felt intimidated, taking in another deep breath and remaining his usual zeal and calamity.

This sophomore did peak his interest though, standing a little taller than Kenja and having a rather muscular frame. He had long black hair that reached his neck, two long black bangs that framed his face and seemed to tease his deep red almost magenta eyes. The eyes themselves held within them anger and wrath that wasn't very comforting to Kenja, but looking into them further he almost could feel depression. His skin was rather pale and it was made more apparent by the vibrant colors of his school uniform, fascinating the blond who continued to give this person a soft look he hoped could make this work.

"What do you want?" The somewhat deep voice of the elder male coming out rather coldly towards Kenja who knew he might as well give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

"My name is Kenja Sedai," The blond replying smoothly. "I am friends with Flynn Fukisa and he told me if I wanted information for a certain subject that I was to talk to you for the answers I was looking for."

The teenager sat down on a bench under his locker, wringing his hands together. "I'm Setsuna, Setsuna Yuuki." Pausing as he realized that Kenja had mentioned Flynn and frowning, looking to him with a cocked eyebrow. "How exactly do you know Fukisa?"

"Well, I believe circumstance would be the proper way to explain that one." Kenja replied, not sure how to approach what he was going to say. It was more than likely that Setsuna was a bookreader but he hadn't ever gone out on a limb and approached somebody with his book out like Kimiko had many times before.

"Alright, just get to the point; I have stuff I want to get done." Setsuna muttered as he leaned against the lockers, obviously anything but interested in the blond.

'Don't be paranoid; you are doing this for the greater good.' Kenja reaching into his bag and pulling out his orange spellbook, showing it to Setsuna with a serious look imbedded within azure eyes. "I believe you know what this is."

Something changed in Setsuna right away, the tension in the area beginning to grow a sour that Kenja didn't want to be near as he shifted his weight. The sophomore glared at the blond for a moment before sighing deeply, running his right palm through his bangs and muttering to himself. "Perfect."

"I believe this means you know exactly what I am talking about." The younger boy said, sitting down on the bench opposite Setsuna as he placed Kesai's book on his lap, mind surging with every reaction he might end up seeing now.

"Yeah, I know what that is." The sophomore replied, not making any eye contact with Kenja at all, which didn't make the situation any better for either of them. "What the hell do you think you're going to get out of me though?"

For a moment Kenja didn't know if he would be able to say this, drawing in another deep breath as he looked to the closed off raven haired teenager. "Flynn told me that you had some information on the puppet master, or rather that you could tell me more about Xenolith."

Once again, something seemed to change in Setsuna in almost an instant, lifting his head to show dilated red eyes as his lips curled with the next thing he spoke, or rather hissed. "What do you want to know about that murderer!"

Kenja managed to keep himself composed, drawing in a deep breath but finding himself clutching the spine of his spellbook rather tightly to the point where his fingertips had turned a rather deep shade of red. "It isn't exactly a what, it is more of a—"

"What do you want to know?"

'Keep yourself level headed, no reason in getting angry at him even though he is not exactly very thrilled to be speaking to me. It does not give me a reason to treat him the same way.' Kenja offering the unhappy Setsuna a level-headed look and a halfhearted smile. "I will take any information you can give me, anything will be better than the lack of information I have right now."

After hearing Setsuna muttering something under his breath, the red eyes of the elder looked back up to Kenja who shifted in his spot once more. "Be more specific, I'm not going to ramble on and on about everything."

"Alright, what does he look like?"

Setsuna ran his hands through his bangs once more, trying to run through all these scattered memories about what he didn't want to think about. "He has these soulless grey eyes that stare into you and a psychotic smile to match. Long red hair with black accents that curls around him in these strange spirals. He's almost as tall as you and he wears this ratted black cloak that has faded, but it has…it has the bloodstains of his victims left on it as a symbol of what happens when you go against him."

"What is the name of his bookreader? What does he or she look like?"

"His partner's name is Yuu. He has a completely shaved head, so he only has black stubble on his head and his green eyes are creepy, almost completely empty but yet cold. He's a pretty tall guy, towering over most people at over six foot. He wears this old white suit that is basically a worn out grey because who knows when he last changed his clothing."

Kenja felt intimidated just by this information, not wanting to ask the final thing he wanted to know but knowing that he had no choice if he wanted to be able to be completely aware of what was going to happen to them and what to expect when they went to Xenolith's castle. "Alright, this one may be difficult. What type of spells do they have and what kind of a person is Xenolith?"

This was the one thing that Setsuna didn't seem very angry about, clenching his fists for a moment before looking away from Kenja to show he didn't want to answer this one but for some reason felt that he had to anyway, shaking his head but still finding his words anyway.

"Xenolith, his spells are pretty strong for the uselessness you would think they would have. I think I heard you call him puppet master before and you would be right to call him that, he gets into your mind and can force you to do whatever he wants you to. The only problem is he loves every moment of it; he treats you just like a toy when you are under his control and he wants to fuck you up. Xenolith wants nothing more than to turn you into his own play toy and then ruin you. He will play with your memories and try to turn partners against one another, all while laughing and smirking to himself as if he gets off on making demons suffer while scaring their partners.

"His spells are pretty much open and shut, he uses energy spells but his favorite spells to use involve getting into your mind and making you his puppet. Not to say his energy spells aren't strong, no they are but he prefers not to use them unless he wants to intentionally physically harm you. He prefers to create emotional scars because it brings him some kind of satisfaction."

"I see." Kenja saying as all of this information began to play around in his mind, almost being able to hear the voice laughing in his mind already. "This will not be an easy fight when it comes down to it, I don't believe resilience alone will stand a chance."

"No, something like that won't hold up to a guy like him."

The blond nodded, taking this all into consideration with the knowledge that Setsuna knew much more about this than he could hope to. "I see, well may I ask one more question of you?" The raven haired teenager seeming to have no problems with this as Kenja seemed to slightly smile to himself in satisfaction. "All I want to know is how exactly you know all of this. How do you know so much about Xenolith?"

Right away it became very aware that he had crossed the line, Setsuna glaring at Kenja before grabbing his bag and standing up. Before he could say anything the sophomore had begun walking away, pausing for only a moment as he spoke from over his shoulder. "Tell Fukisa I want to talk to him and that he knows where to find me."

Before anything could leave the mouth of Kenja, Setsuna kept walking and was soon out of the building, leaving the rather stunned blond behind as he leaned against the lockers and let out a heavy sigh. Had that gone well? Sure, he had gotten his information and nothing could have felt better than the relief of understanding, but he couldn't help but wonder if he had done something very wrong when he asked that one question. Oh, stupid, stupid!

Then again, maybe he was feeling like he had failed because Setsuna was kind of cute in a strangely appealing way. Not that mopey guys did it for him, but something about this sophomore felt a little different in a way that confused the blond even more as he thought about it, shaking his head and trying to clear the thought from his mind.

"Hey, Kenja!" The blond turning to see Flynn and smiling softly as the teenager went to his side and gave him a warm look. "How did it go with Setsuna? Did you get the information you wanted from him?"

"Yes," Kenja replied softly, standing up as he placed his spellbook in his bag. "He was anything but happy to see me around him, but he did sit down and answer the things I wanted to know even though I could tell he would rather be anywhere but where he was right then."

"Well, that's good. I guess he liked you at least a little bit then, Setsu doesn't always give people the time of day when they annoy him, which is why I figured you would be the most suited to go and talk to him." The sophomore seeing this shiver go down the spine of the freshmen and wondering what that was about before looking around. "Anyways, where did he take off to?"

"That is more complicated." Kenja saying as he gathered all of his belongings, frowning to Flynn. "You see, I asked him why he knew everything he did about Xenolith and he just got right up. I must have struck a nerve or something but I had no intention of doing anything of the sort. However, before he exited the building he told me to tell you that he wanted to talk to you and that you would know where to find him."

"I see, well that's just Setsuna," The doctor sighing, unintentionally telling Kenja that he had in fact said something very wrong. "Don't worry about it for now, he will tell you everything if he wants you to know about it. But for now, you did fine and I'm proud of you for doing that so well, then again you're a pretty smart guy so I shouldn't be that surprised."

The blond blushed slightly at the compliment, nodding before going to leave the building. "Well, I can only hope I didn't hurt him in any form. If I did, could you tell him I regret saying what I did that hurt him."

"Yeah, I'm going to go talk to him now." Flynn offering him a smile as Kenja left the building in a soft sigh, the doctor trying to smile as he knew what he was about to deal with when he approached his friend.

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"You're late, Fukisa."

Flynn sighed as he found Setsuna sitting on a bench in the park, nodding as he sat down beside his friend. "Sorry, I had to talk to somebody before I came over here."

"It was that freshmen kid, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was Kenja," Flynn leaning up against the bench with a nod. "He was a bit worried about you after you just walked right out of the room after he asked you what seemed like a harmless question."

"I didn't want to answer it, is that such a bad thing?"

"To him it was." The doctor replying, seeming to be quite used to the snarky tone of Setsuna. "You got him all worried he did something wrong or that he hurt you in some kind of way. You could have been a little easier on him, Set, it wouldn't have killed you."

"Hey, I gave him all the information he wanted," The raven haired boy said to justify his actions. "I just didn't want to bring him up. The freshmen didn't need to know that and I didn't want to tell him about it, you can't blame me."

"I guess not," Flynn saying as he sighed, looking away from his friend for a moment. "But this isn't exactly what he would have wanted, is it? I know it hurts to talk about it, but that doesn't mean you need to be angry with Kenja. Honestly you should probably try and talk with him; I think you would get along with him rather well."

"And why is that? Why would we be friends?"

"Just like you he is a very smart person for his age, not exactly social but instead managed to find himself friends with people because of the situation he ended up in. Not to mention he is also suffering all the time, but instead of struggling over a death he is struggling over the thought that he could die any day because of the disease he has spent his life with. You both suffer but handle it in different ways; it might not hurt to try his way of coping someday."

Setsuna rolled his eyes, scoffing as he leaned against the frame of the bench. "You have gone soft, those freshmen are obviously screwing with your mind Fukisa."

"All I am saying is it might not hurt, especially because Kenja wants to take out Xenolith along with some of his friends. They want to do exactly what you want, so would it really hurt to be there to see the revenge you want carried through?"

Setsuna didn't want to think about it too much, shaking his head with a sigh escaping his lips. "I don't know if I want to become connected to them, but if they are going to take that murderer out I will have to think about it. At least for Nora, to get the justice he deserves."

"There we go, that's more like it." Flynn said, offering his friend a warm smirk. "I doubt you will regret this choice, they aren't bad people and I have faith that they might be able to do this."

"Tch," Setsuna chucking to himself in amusement. "Whatever, Flynn, I'm not going to make friends with them, I'm just going to help out so I get to see that bastard go down. Nothing more."

Flynn nodded, sighing to himself but feeling accomplished anyways. He hadn't expected to get this far when it came to Setsuna, so this was more than a little bit of an improvement. Now he just had to make sure that the team was ready to take down Xenolith, to have the strength to go in and take him out without so much as breaking a sweat.

'What a foolish child you are, nobody can face me and win against my power. I will murder once again, but thank you for bringing me closer to the treasure I am seeking. The closer you get the closer I get to having exactly what I want and for that I must thank you. Your mind, Flynn, is nothing but my play toy now and I cannot wait to play with you more as I study what you think will be threatening to me. It's almost funny when I think about it, how frightening you think you all shall be when compared to me. I wish I could show you how amusing you all are, the more I see it the more I find myself laughing.'