Chapter 38 – Lone-Star State, Part 1

Sai Summers

With Stein's words about the demon tools, I turned and looked up at Kid. His eyes were serious; he offered me his hand and pulled me up f rom the pavement. When he pulled me up, he over compensated for my weight, and pulled me into his arms. Kid put his head on the right of mine, and I could feel his hair fall onto my ear and face.

"Watch what you say…" He whispered, holding onto my right arm firmly. Both his words and breathe chilled my ears.

Footstep hit the paving stones behind Stein. Spirit stood behind him, and he avoided idle chit-chat. "Sai. You have an assignment."

Kid stepped to the side, and I was able to face Spirit. "What am I doing?"

"Shinigami-sama wants you to go out to the site of that explosion and investigate it. Shouldn't be too much for you to handle." He paused, and his eyes shifted down and to his right. "But he wants you to go alone."

I narrowed my eyes on Spirit and his cheap suit. "How do you expect me to get out there? That's a day's walk at least."

Footsteps approached again. "You can take Soul's bike." A light, yet tired, voice stated. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

I looked up at Maka who had come up behind Spirit. She cared her yellow sweater in her left hand, and her face showed a lack of sleep. "I feel bad borrowing it again." I told her, watching the pavement in front of me. "I will eventually get my own, I promise. Tell him 'thanks' for me, Maka."

"He'd never tell you no, you know that." She tried to smile, and I wondered if there was a bit of bitterness behind her words.

I tried to make light of the situation. "Don't let anything happen to him while I'm gone." I jested.

Maka looked distraught and I sighed. Maybe those weren't the right words…I sound like a brat.

I swallowed uncomfortably and stared for the stairs. No one stopped me.

When I got to the end of the patio, I was overtaken with a putrid smell.

I covered my mouth with my left hand and swung on my feet. "What's…what that is smell…?" I mumbled through my fingers.

Kid gripped my shoulders from behind and supported me with his chest. His head hung over my right shoulder. "That's the smell of death." He whispered. "When a human dies, the Shinigami can smell it, the more that die at once, the stronger it is."

A squeak escaped my mouth, and I felt unsteady on my feet. Even shutting my eyes, reality continued to spin.

"You'll get used to the smell. Go and get the souls that are there, bring them back. Just that. Nothing more."

"I don't know how to collect the souls." I mumbled.

His hands squeezed my shoulders. "It's innate to the Shinigami. You should have no issues when you're there. Do what comes naturally."

It seemed more natural to run from here to avoid the smell.

The conversation was getting away from me. "Kid, I really don't know what I'm doing…I feel like I'm going to throw up."

He ignored my desire to vomit. "Contact my father if something goes wrong." He sighed. "…in case I'm not here."

"I don't know…" I looked up at his eyes.

Kid's eyes were cold in response. "Sai."

I nodded absentmindedly. There was no point in fighting him – he wanted the conversation to end.

His expression went dark. "And…"

I eyed Kid wearily and shook me head. "No, you don't get to tell me that…" I told him. My words sounded bitter in my ears. "You have no right to tell me to run from it, if you won't…"

Kid simply stared at me. His mouth was twisted in a half-frown; it was difficult to tell if he was depressed or angry, or both.

He blinked and sighed. "I'm going to see Jonathan at the library this afternoon. We should have something back on the papers today. I will also stop in and see Soul."

"Please don't tell him I might run into the Kishin."

His voice was flat. "I have no intention of doing that."

I tried to smile at him. "Thanks. I'll be going now."

I left Kid at the top of the patio and started down the stairs. My heels clacked against the stone stairs.

There was a shadow moving downward at my left, and although my first response was to fight, I tried to remain steady on my feet. Maybe wearing heels was a bad idea…

I looked up and found Kid standing in front of me at the base of the stairs. He had bounded down from the patio to meet me. While he stood on the street, I stopped on the first step; even standing six inches higher than normal, I was still a half-foot shorter than him.

Kid lifted his arms. He cupped his hands over my shoulders, and held his forehead against my own. His skin was cool, but not the deep cold I had felt over the last week. There was something warm and comforting about him. I wanted to put my arms around his waist, but he was a few inches too far from my reach.

As his shadow fell across my face, I could see the monochromatic color contrast of the white strips against the black background of his hair. His natural musky odor was a pleasant – and ironic – contrast to the smell of death I had gotten from the souls.

Not surprising, the Shinigami smell better than the dead themselves. Being beyond death's immediate reach has its benefits.

"Kid…" I whispered.

His voice was firm, yet kind. "Be safe."

My voice and soul shook; his initiation of physical contact pulled at my heartstrings. "I will."

Kid took a step back, and a slight breeze blew between us. He half-turned, putting his right side in front of me, and extended his arms in front of him.

"Watch. Focus your mind on the Death Room." He instructed.

He flicked his hands, and produced the sign of the devils' horns using his fingers. On the paving stones in front of him, an outline of the Shinigami's mask appeared as a fuchsia light. When an erratic and distorted image of Shinigami-sama appeared above the outline, Kid let his arms drop back to his sides. Stepping off of the stairs, I stood at Kid's right.

Shinigami-sama was as cheerful as always; even his mask seemed to smile. It was as usual a striking contrast to his son. "Ho ho~! Kid-kun, Sai-chan! I am glad to hear from you."

I raised an eyebrow, and then quickly tried to hide it. Sai-chan…?

"Hello Shini…" I had to stop and correct myself. "Death-san."

Shinigami-sama seemed pleased at my prescribed informality with him. "I am glad to see you are well." He turned his attention to Kid. "And Kid, your stripes look as cute as always…!"

I eyed Kid and bit my lower lip to keep from giggling.

Kid eyed me in displeasure, and then turned his attention to the holographic Shinigami-sama. "Father, I was instructing Sai how to connect with the Death Room."

Even though the poor connection, it was possible to see Shinigami-sama bounce in place. "Very good, very good." His gaze darkened. "Sai, it's important that you retrieve those souls…and…"

I blinked. "And?" I wasn't aware there was a catch.

His mask shifted into a façade of seriousness, and the eye holes shrank into half-moons. "There's something else I need you to do while you're there..."

***

Dust clouds, bramble and sagebrush blew by me as I sped through the desert on Soul's red and orange motorcycle. My destination was a remote church with a small congregation, thirty miles north of Death City.

I parked the bike under an overhang of a cave a dozen feet from the whitewashed-walled church. Or it would have been walled had the walls and roof not been in piles of rubble on its floor and sides. The roof looked like it had been ripped apart and had then fallen inward, and the walls were blown out. Only the rear wall, which was flush to a cannon wall and the white-wood front façade, remained standing.

Rounding the near wall of the decimated church, I stood at its front and looked up.

Etched into the façade above the door was the black outline of a star.
It was that star shape that alerted me to this destination, and my secondary objective.

I stepped onto what had been the left, front door and it rattled beneath my feet. Despite their sturdy hardwood construction, both doors had been blown out as well; the brass hinges looked to have been ripped apart by a gale force wind, and were nothing more than twisted metal. I knelt down and noticed the cement steps were cracked and jagged. I used the fallen doors to cross the threshold.

The smell of death was strong; my urge to run from it was high.

I could see twenty to thirty blue, flaming orbs hanging in space at my eye level.

The congregation was dead, and the reek of death was powerful.

Steadying myself with my right hand on the doorjamb, I reached out with my left to the orb closest to the door; it shrunk and absorbed into the palm of my hand. I lightly gasped. Oops…hope it's supposed to do that…

The smell dimmed slightly.

I extended my right hand towards the next closest orb.

There was a tiny sound of pebbles scraping the dirt and I froze. The orb and my arm continued to hang in space. Someone's still here…

The sounds stopped. Nothing moved.

I extended my arm a bit farther and took the next orb into my palm. It dissolved into my hand.

A whisper blew through the dilapidated building: "Shinigami…"

As I turned towards the disembodied voice, the roar of a chainsaw blared through the church, and footsteps wracked the loose floorboards.