Chapter 47 – Under the Influence, Part 2

Sai Summers

I sighed. "How long have you suspected Justin?"

Stein's voice was cold. "Since he returned from the factory you were injured at."

His commentary made little sense. "But Justin wasn't attacked; only I was."

Stein sounded sure of himself. "Justin was the 'student' sent to clear out the mess following you getting hurt. I would have sent Kid alone, but Spirit had arranged for his detainment, and I figured it was too dangerous for anyone else."

I didn't understand; I hadn't seen him injured until he came from the desert. "Was Justin attacked at some point?"

"No, not in the traditional sense. We'll discuss this at a separate time." There was a pause. "Sai, push the red button on the phone."

I did, and then made the mistake of putting the phone back to my ear.

His voice rang loudly in my ear. "Can you hear me?"

I pulled it down from my head. "Yes, you're quite loud, thanks." I complained while rubbing my ear. "Would have been nice if you had told me that was the speaker button."

Stein ignored my complaint. "Can Kid hear me?"

I sighed. "No, hold on…."

Sitting down, I laid the phone on the phone on the box-top of the packaging it had come in; I looked at Kid who seemed detached from the situation. "Hey…don't look so baffled."

Kid scowled at me. "I know what a phone looks like…I'm just surprised, I guess."

Stein continued. "As I told Sai, it's imperative that we increase our technological prowess at Shibusen – we need to keep up with our enemies."

Kid let the situation go quickly. "Did you say that it appeared that Justin was not subject to an enemy attack in the physical sense?"

"From what I can tell, yes."

"Then he would have had to been infected by the black blood previously." It was obvious that Kid's voice was bitter.

"He may have been attacked in the past, and has been hiding it."

Kid balled his fists. "Father couldn't tell?"

"Independent Weapons – especially someone as skilled as Justin – would have no problem hiding those attributes. Your Father would have to be looking for something, and he trusts Justin…why question someone you have faith in?"

Kid and I looked at each other.

I tried to lighten the mood. "That is odd coming from a professor. Maybe you're the one really infected with the black blood."

There was a moment of silence.

Stein continued. "Anyway…Sai, do you know the story of Noah?"

My response was autonomic. "The guy with the big boat?"

I watched Kid put his right hand to his forehead with a light slap.

I dropped my shoulders. "I take it that wasn't the right answer."

There was a moment of static from the phone and Stein resumed talking. "Noah was one of the original Eight Shinigami, and assistant to Eibon in the creation of the Demon Tools."

Eibon…

" I'm going to back up a moment, though. I want you to fully grasp the situation." He paused. "The original Demon Weapons were created by the Witches, in order to create chaos in the world. The Demon Tools were created to combat that. However, the Witches were not aware of how powerful their creations were. They gained the ability to reason good versus evil. And most people…things…with a conscious consider rampant destruction as evil. But it wasn't until they began to be told to kill humans that they realized they had a choice. And slowly the Weapons left the grasp of the Witches and pleaded with the Shinigami for help. They agreed to take the Weapons under their wing."

I pondered that thought. "How many Weapons were there back then?"

"Too many, almost; and far too many unskilled ones. Great power is only useful if utilized properly. It was one of the reasons Shinigami-sama created Shibusen; to harness the power of the untrained and organize them."

I took a stab at comprehending the situation. "Am I correct in that the original Meisters came from people who were close to these Weapons?"

"There was no real pattern or plan in the beginning. Meisters come from anywhere, for any reason. The old texts say that some felt 'compelled' to come, though."

Wrong again…I suck at this game…

Stein must have noticed my line of questioning. "Someone doesn't study much, do they?"

I shrugged, even though only Kid could see. "No one's perfect, Professor."

"Anyway, as you can imagine, the Tools had no real use at this point – not with people or creatures with minds and souls of their own. So the Tools were put to other uses. Kid got to see one of them in action recently – as the tuning tool for the Desert Train."

I looked over at Kid, whose eyes and mind seemed distant.

"Hmm." Was all I said in response.

"Eibon noticed that using the tools for other purposes was of large benefit to the Shinigami, and set to work making other Tools that could be helpful in non-battle related situations." "He also helped in the creation of some of the education systems used at Shibusen – this was around the time of the founding, about 800 years ago."

I couldn't understand what was wrong with that. "So…all of that seems fine…"

Stein's tone was dark. "However, his assistant Noah wasn't satisfied. Maybe he was just so used to battle technology."

"Okay…"

"Well, Noah, the obsessive note taker he was, set about documenting and cataloging the Tools that had fallen into disuse." Stein paused, as if he had to recall all of the data from memory. "This catalog became part of ARK…which is also known as the Book of All Things."

The problem wasn't obvious to me. "So what's wrong with that?"

"Well, the more Noah learned, the more obsessed he became with power. A usual case of 'with great power comes great responsibility.'"

I stated the obvious. "That doesn't sound good."

"Well, around three hundred years ago, Eibon became curious as to what Noah was working on so diligently – so one night Eibon decided to ask Noah what he had been working on, and Noah showed Eibon his notes. Eibon decided he could use they paperwork as the basis of a new Tool. He would even give half-credit to Noah himself.

You may have noticed some of the Tools are double-signed. These are the Tools that having multiple creators. All of the others ones were created by Eibon alone. He felt it unnecessary to sign Tools that he alone created."

Stein sighed. "Anyway…getting off track..." The sound of papers shuffling could be heard through the phone line. "Eibon looked at what could be made from the notes, and decided that ARK would be best used as a holding place for all of the data it could find, and an unlimited amount of pages for more to be written down: the ultimate word-vault. Oh, and don't get confused – what is known as the 'true' Vault is in the basement of Shibusen, and it just a storage room. The Original Tools – the ones created at the beginning – that have fallen into disuse were stored in there.

Not surprising, Noah was thrilled. Here would be a creation he helped make, as Noah had become obsessed with the power. If he could write down the statistics of the Tools, they could be created over and over again, as weapons of war. Unknowing of Noah's intentions, Eibon was very close to doing just that, but fate intervened.

In a rare event, Shinigami-sama had fallen in love with a woman named Mari – who just happened to be human. While I'm not too familiar with the personal matters behind the affair, I can tell you that within a year she was pregnant.

It then came to light that Mari would lose her life upon giving birth – those humans who give birth to the children of the Shinigami have their souls absorbed by the child during the birth. It's no one's fault – it just happens. Mari was well-aware of her fate, and accepted it willing; however Shinigami-sama was not so willing to do so. He requested Eibon to adapt ARK's purpose to one of true storage of objects, not just data – the Book of All Things. It was the only chance they had to keep Mari alive, by placing her in a location where time wouldn't advance. He wanted to make ARK a place of 'no-change' – where no one ages, and no one dies.

Unfortunately, Mari went into labor early, and ARK was not yet completed. Eibon used all of his resources in an attempt to complete it. Eibon was hindered by the fact that Noah turned on him when he learned what ARK would be used for – not as a Tool he could use in combat, but as nothing more than a place to keep people, places, and things – a vault. Without Noah's assistance, the completion was slowed.

When Eibon learned he wouldn't be able to save Mari's physical body, he decided to try and save her essence. He used some of her blood to complete the writing on ARK; her soul was wrestled away from the child's grasp, and was used to create TESLA, a tool that provides Soul Sight, said to have the ability to restore sight to those who have lost it. However, TESLA has never functioned properly, and is currently in Shibusen's vault.

Things at Shibusen changed afterwards. ARK disappeared shortly after – and with it, Noah. Feeling a failure, Eibon went into hiding; nothing has been heard from him sense the incident with Mari. Shinigami-sama made a rule that no human was allowed to bear the child of the Shinigami – and all relationships have to be arranged."

My eyes narrowed. That's why Kid went to ask permission…

Stein could be heard sighing. "And as I am sure you have figured out, that child is Kid – that marks his age at nearly three-hundred years old. Two-hundred and ninety-four years, exactly."

Staring at the phone, I reached my right hand out to where Kid was supposed to be sitting, but nothing was there. I turned and realized he was gone. I jumped up and ran to the door; holding myself up with the doorframe, I surveyed the living room. The patio doors were open and the floor-length curtains blew in the wind.

Soul stood watching the door, eating an apple. "He jumped off the patio…how weird…"

My confusion broke. I yelled "Kid!" and headed towards the open doors.

Maka threw he arm up in front of me, grabbing me at the shoulders, and forcing me to stop. "Clothes, Sai, clothes! Don't go outside like that!"

I struggled against her. "Let me go!" I shouted.

She flipped me around and pushed me back towards my room. "Go change!"

I grabbed for the closest things in my closet and dumped my nightgown on the floor. It turned out to be a short, black, pleated skirt and the form-fitting top that the sisters had given me recently. In my haste and confusion I nearly forgot my boots – but there was no way I could go out into the streets at this point without them.

When I appeared in the doorway, Maka yelled, "That's not much better!"

This time I passed her and her words by. I took the living room in three or four strides, but came to a halt on the patio.

Holding onto the wrought-iron patio railing, it was obvious he was long gone.

"Sai!" Soul's voice appeared behind me. "We'll help you look for him."

I was silent for a moment, and stared out into the city.

"You're not going to ask why he ran." I asked quietly.

Soul shrugged. "It's Kid. He'd run away if your ribbons were mismatched."

My eyes burned. "Soul…thanks."

He held onto the railing as well. "Go, we'll be behind you."

I gripped the railing, steadied myself, and then threw myself over it. I landed with as light of a thud as possible in combat boots. "I'm going to Shibusen!" I yelled upwards at Soul.

Soul cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "We'll check his house, then."

I raised my arm and hand up at Soul in confirmation. "Alright!"

Maka appeared on Soul's right, on the balcony. "Hey! Keep it down! The neighbors are going to get mad!"

I bit my lip and look away from the balcony.

"Here!" she yelled down, and I looked back up. Maka threw down a black bundle of cloth towards me. When I unwrapped it, I found it to be a scarf.

"You're going to freeze. At least wear that, too!"

I tied it around my legs as a belt, and ran off in the direction of the school.

Maka's voice echoed in the empty alleyway as I ran away. "Hey! Wear that right!"

***

My gut instinct had been correct. I found Kid sitting on the top step of Shibusen's entrance. The moon was behind him, and he sat in shadow.

I saw Kid eyeing my bare legs and midsection as I came up the stairs. He appeared to be frowning. "Why on Earth are you dressed like that this late at night? You're going to freeze."

"I didn't take much time to consider it." I grinned mockingly. "Someone jumped off my balcony, and I had to find out where he went."

He half-smiled. "I admit it was not my most mature moment."

I wasn't going to let him talk away the problem without an explanation. "Are you running from me, or from what happened tonight?"

"I'm afraid that if I'm happy, something terrible will happen." Kid hung his head. "And I'm afraid…now you can see who the monster really is."

I snorted. "If either of us gets to be worried about rejection, I think it should be me. No matter how I am changed by the blood infusion, I am still human at the core. At the end of the day you will leave me because we can't be together – you will live far longer than I can."

"I…ran because I feared this would be the one thing that would chase you away…I never wanted you to know." He squeezed. "Anyone can become strong, but only…only the truly bizarre…can live for so long…"

I flipped the situation on him. "And what if I'm on borrowed time, Kid? We don't know if the Shinigami blood will cause my body to decay."

He scowled and looked away. "Don't say that…not after what I did."

"But you know…" I provoked. Be honest with me, damn it…

"Stop!" He yelled, holding his head with his hands. "Just…stop…tonight has been hard enough to hear."

I decided to let the subject go; I sat down on the step below him, between his legs.

He buried his face between my left shoulder and neck. "I'm sorry…I'm…I'm just scared you'll suddenly be gone."

I took a moment to wallow in self-pity. "So am I."

But my mind wouldn't let something else rest. Say it!

I held onto him the best I could in the awkward position we sat. "You know, I do realize that I don't always express I care."

Kid didn't respond.

I didn't like him not paying attention. "Eh, Shinigami-kun …"

Kid jolted slightly. "Eh? You said…"

"Kid…I love you...." I whispered.

His words were quiet. "What did you say?"

I put my right hand into his hair, messing the pattern the white stripes on his head fell in. "I said 'I love you.' Why are you so surprised?"

"I…" He started.

There was the sudden sound of slicing flesh and ripping cloth. Something cold and hard stabbed me in the leg.

I arched my back and saw the reflection of the end of a sword blade; it jutted from Kid's chest and was close enough to me to draw blood from my leg.

He leaned back slightly, allowing me to see the look on his face. The color was draining from Kid's face as I watched. "Sai…run…it's here…" He muttered; blood ran from the left corner of his mouth and his golden eyes dulled. I gingerly put my right hand to his left cheek, and found it growing colder the longer it was there.

Looking behind him at his left, a shadowy figure stood teetering.