Chapter 40 – Lone-Star State, Part 3

Death the Kid / Sai Summers

Kid

I had been so ready to disobey my father and fly out to the church, but standing poised between the edge of the patio and the late afternoon sun, I was overcome with the feeling of failure.

His words burned my mind. 'And you wouldn't make it in time to make a difference in the fighting'…

Liz grabbed my left arm and turned my hand palm-up. "Kid, we should go to the clinic to get those splinters pulled out first." She paused and pulled on one of the larger ones. "They won't come out by themselves."

I could feel the dark, sardonic smile on my face. "He's right…I can't keep trying to save her." I muttered.

Liz's voice clicked and she lowered my hand. "Why do you say that?"

I pulled my hand from her grasp and let it drop to my side.

Taking a step down, I sat down on the patio's edge; I rested my elbows on my knees and let my arms hang over towards the center. "She's got more fighting experience than I do…if I was weaker, she'd probably spend a lot of time saving me instead." I chortled.

Patty sat down on the patio step at my right and sat on her hands. "You're not going out there, are you?"

I let my head hang. My hair blew around my face, obstructing my view. What's right…? What's the right way to handle this…? What do I do…?

***

Sai

Things were not going well – at least not for the church.

Outside of the walls being demolished and the façade crumbling, Giriko and I had managed damage most of the pews during our fighting. Several had been overturned and at least three were nothing more than shards.

He was far stronger than I had anticipated. I needed help, or an escape route.

It was hardly an even fight. I was feeling ragged, and he didn't seem to be struggling at all. My skirt was already ripped, and my legs were badly scratched. There seemed no way I'd escape without serious injury if the battle continued much longer.

He wasn't necessarily faster than me, but having a weapon on his person allowed him to move with much more freedom in the cramped church. Even if I had managed to suddenly figure out how to shrink the scythe into a smaller, useable hand-weapon, there seemed no way it would serve any useful purpose.

I was playing defense at the moment, and my scythe was barely serving its purpose as a shield. His kicks were fast and I was barely keeping up. He had the ability to attack from both the right and the left, which left me switching my position every few moments. Every time we connected our attacks, a metallic chiming rang throughout the cannon, and vibrated off of the remaining church walls.

At one point Giriko's foot was coming towards my forehead, and I was backed against a damaged pew that had been kicked towards the façade wall and the wall itself. It was already a cramped space, and there was no chance of pushing back against the wall. I bent my neck as far down as I could, putting myself in a contorted position. I felt the saw vibrate against my skull, and I shut my eyes instinctively.

When the noise and vibration pulled back I looked down at the ground. The pigtail from the left side of my head was lying on the ground, blowing in the wind. He had missed my skull, but had sliced off a section of my hair. I had gotten lucky.

I inhaled quickly and my breath became ragged. Giriko had backed up a few steps and I was able to move. I literally fell out of my cramped position and swung my scythe in a circle parallel to my frame with my right hand.

Giriko's brow briefly furrowed and he lowered his head between his shoulders. "There's something very odd about you…"

I bent slightly at the knees and held the scythe in front of me, from the lower right to the upper left quadrant of my space. "What…?" I panted.

He flashed a toothy grin. "Little monster, aren't you?"

Monster…monster…monster!

I couldn't help but feel a touch of rage, and I ran at him with the scythe slashing from left to right. But he seemed a step ahead, and was able to bounce backwards each time. Giriko was slightly out of my reach each time. On the third swing his jump was short, and I felt the scythe connect against his chest. While the fur and fluff of his coat shredded, there was no way I was able to damage his chest.

I gasped and looked him in the eyes. It felt like I had tried to cut into a stone wall, and I feel back several steps.

Giriko was still grinning as he ran at me. I tried to scoot backwards, but there was a fallen beam behind my feet. I had unconsciously stepped over it before, but it wasn't as easy to jump over it in reverse. My boot caught on the edge and my arms flew up, weapon and all, leaving my torso exposed. Because I was falling backwards simultaneously, Giriko's kick wasn't able to penetrate my personal space deeply, but his kick did connect. The jacket shredded upon impact and pieces of it fluttered into my view, masking my ability to see Giriko in front of me. I could feel the cold steel and vibration of the saw against my abdomen.

I released my left hand and turned the scythe under my right arm, planting it head-down on the ground behind me as a support. I tripped backwards over the beam but my momentum was halted by the scythe. I placed my feet back flat to the floor, and swung the scythe back to in front of me. I ran my left hand over the jagged edge of my jacket, and I realized my right pocket was gone. There was no way to repair it without cutting it extremely short.

There was also the smell of copper and the feel the trickle of warm blood running down my gut towards my ruined skirt. I instinctively wrapped my left arm around my midsection to reduce the exposure of the wound to the elements.

It was then I realized Giriko had stopped moving, and was looking out past the church into the distance.

Something moved to my left in the distance and caught my eye; I half turned to look. A white light, reminiscent of a lighthouse's beam, shone at the top of a distant cliff. It blinked rapidly twice, and then stayed on for several moments.

Giriko was watching the light, and we could both see it blink several times. "Damn, she's calling…" He hissed.

He turned back to me and grinned. "I guess you got lucky this time, little Death. You'll get to run back to the city and hide behind Shinigami-sama's cloak." Giriko bent down at the knees and jumped up to the top of the façade over my head. I turned around and watched the wall vibrated under his weight. I debated the sturdiness of the remaining supports.

"I'll just come back for what I'm looking for…considering you'll have to run along home for 'medical attention.'" He yelled down, as he leapt down from the roof on the opposite side and took off running towards the spotlight.

Unsteady on my feet, I sat down on the church floor and let my back rest against the side of the overturned pew; I panted in exhaustion. I held my scythe across my waist incase he suddenly returned. I can't do this much longer…please let him not come back right away…

I cringed slightly and rolled my head back. Something else more daunting occurred to me. He's not hurt…I didn't hurt him at all…

I had been saved by nothing more than a twist of fate.

Part of me wanted to have been saved by him, part of me was glad he hadn't.

I rolled the scythe into right hand and turned the blade away from me. Pointing the head downwards, I used the staff to hoist myself from the ground. The floor creaked as I put the majority of my weight and the scythe's in a single space. But my body felt heavy and disjointed, and I needed the scythe to steady my frame.

I was using a deadly weapon as a crutch.

When I was fully to my feet, I swung the scythe over my right shoulder; I couldn't afford to put it away yet, there was no guarantee I was safe yet.

A blue soul orb floated past the left side of my head; for the moment they weren't my intention.

Towards the rear of the church was the pulpit; a solid wooden preaching stand. Standing in front of it, I switched the scythe from my shoulder to my right hand; I grabbed the lower half of the staff with my left and swung the blade back behind my right shoulder.

This is why I was selected for this assignment. Shinigami needed someone who could desecrate a church and not hate themselves. Or at least not complain afterwards.

It's not because I was strong, or devoted, or even derived from the Shinigami line…

"Kami-sama, forgive me for what I'm about to do." I muttered.

I concentrated for a moment and swung at the pulpit, smashed across the middle. The force caused the top half to explode out and toward the left. The small wooden cross attached to the front was sliced in half. The sound of the smash echoed across the church and the cannon walls. I had to turn away quickly, as the wood splintered and was tossed across the church by the inertia of my hit.

It was a long moment of noise and violence, but just a moment nonetheless.

As the dust and debris settled to the floor, I looked up at the ruined pulpit. Looking over the jagged edge with care I saw what I was looking for. Letting my scythe rest on my right shoulder, I reached in with my left hand. Despite my desire for care, I could feel my jacket sleeve scratched by the wooden shards.

I pulled out a plaque that was affixed to the center of the pulpit. It was approximately the same size as an eight-by-eleven inch picture frame. On the upper left corner it read Death and in the center was a three-dimensional black stone around the size of my hand – shaped like a star. The center of this plaque was the reason for this church. The people had been worshiping one of the demon tools on accident – or maybe on purpose, originally.

In the lower left corner was a second signature. It read "Eibon."

Eibon…THE Eibon…? What is this..?

The urge to get the star off and be rid of the black was suddenly absurdly strong.

I flicked my right hand and the scythe shimmered out of existence. I shifted the plaque into the cradle of my right arm and started to try and pull the star off.

It refused to come lose despite looking unattached.

"Damn. I really don't want to carry this plaque." I said aloud, struggling with the star. "It won't fit in my pocket."

After another moment I gave up and held the plaque out to look at it. I turned it slightly and the remaining sunlight of the day reflected off of it at different facets. While Shinigami-sama's signature was illuminated by my position in the sun, Eibon's scrawl was darkened by the shadow of the star.

My brow furrowed. This…something's wrong…

It suddenly occurred to me I could read the signatures, and I didn't know why. They seemed to be little more than a collection of scratched lines. I wanted the star from it and to discard of the plaque as soon as possible I cradled the plaque once again, and yanked hard on the star, finally pulling it loose. The plaque slipped from my arms and clattered to the floor.

I stared at the star in my hand, its surface cold and sharp. What does this thing do…?

I switched the star to my left hand and reached out for the closest blue orb with my right. It shrunk and dissolved into my palm. They had been displaced from their original spots during the fighting, but the church – even without its walls – seemed to contain them nonetheless.

As I gathered more, the star warmed in my opposing hand. After the third orb I looked down at the star, but it didn't seem to have changed physically; and only the light of a nearby orb glistened off of it. My curiosity in the meaning of the warmth was not enough to make me consider its reasons at the moment, and I stuffed the star in my left hand jacket pocket.

Absorbing the final soul caused the remaining light of the church to go out, and I was left in near darkness. The sun was already settling at the horizon, and what remained of the light in the sky was a ruddy-purple color, populated by gray clouds.

The evening wind whipped though the remains and I felt a chill on my exposed abdomen. I ran my right hand across the wound that Giriko's saw had left, and the skin was cold to the touch. I turned over my palm and a thin trail of blood was left on my hand. It wasn't as bad as it had been earlier during the fight; the wound was quickly improving.

Even if my fighting didn't improve, my healing was.

***

Kid

Liz and Patty had to drag me – literally – to the infirmary to have the shards of wood pulled from my hands. They had remained with me for the rest of the afternoon, sitting on the patio. Nothing changed, and after a while neither woman said anything to me. I was busy stewing in my own thoughts. As the afternoon wore on, I became lost in my mind regarding the validity of my decision to not go against my father.

Sometime towards dusk the two bid me farewell, and told me they'd see me back at the mansion. While I could understand them not wanting to stay with him while I sojourned in my own mind, I disliked the feeling they were less concerned than I was.

It was dark by the time I heard the roar of Soul's motorcycle blaring towards Shibusen. I couldn't help but feel a sense of released stress when I saw the bike's lights turn towards the school.

Sai parked the bike at the base of the stairs and killed both the headlamp and the engine. She steadied the bike and kicked down the kickstand; climbed off of the machine. As she started up the first set of stairs, I stood and started down the upper set of steps. My back and legs felt stiff after having sat most of the afternoon, but my weariness was little compared to the way she looked.

My heart sank when I saw the condition of her clothes and the slash across her stomach. "Sai, are you…alright?" I questioned. It then seemed a foolish question considering her appearance.

She smiled unconvincingly. "I'm alive."

Sai wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me slightly towards her; I held my arms around her back, and buried my head between her head and left shoulder.

"Hey…what happened to your hands?" She whispered, leaning her head against mine.

I decided to tell the truth…mostly. "I got angry and broke a chair." I told her with a sigh. "I shouldn't have waited here, you could have been killed. I should have at least come out and made sure you were safe."

Her words were muffled by her positioning. "I think that's a little less likely now. And that's thanks to you, too."

I was sure that somewhere in my mind those words made sense, but at the moment I wasn't up for a discussion of them. For a moment I was content to hear nothing but the sound of the evening wind.

Until I put my hand into the left side of Sai's hair.

I pulled back and examined Sai's head in the darkness. The difference between the right and the left was obvious, yet my mind and eyes went back and forth.

I patted Sai on the left side of her head with my right hand. By the third time she seemed unsurprised by my reaction and her eyes narrowed. I pushed back and held her at arms' length. "Sai, your…your hair…it's…!" I stuttered; I couldn't manage to get the sentence out. Taking a moment to gather my thoughts, I coughed into my left fist and started again. "How do you mange to become less symmetrical after every fight?" I asked her, my voice flat.

Sai's eyes narrowed. Her shoulders dropped and she looked down and to her right. "I realize what my hair and clothes look like, Kid. Let it go for the moment." She muttered. "I need to see Shini…err…"

Sai seemed to be growing weaker as she spoke, and I strengthened the grasp I had on her arms. Pulling her back towards me and wrapped my right arm around her shoulders. "Can you walk?" I asked quietly.

Sai looked up at me, her eyes showing disturbance. "Kid…the demon tools…Eibon is involved…" She mumbled.