]Kid woke up on his back on the bed and Black-Star's arm wrapped around his shoulders. The star snored softly against one of Kid's shoulder, but the man still felt a shiver of cold go down his spine. The shinigami sat up, trying to do some math in his head and discovering that it was now mid-fall and it was going to start getting cold soon. Tsubaki's probably already thought about this and there are most likely already extra blankets and clothing laying around.
"Hey Kid, Black-Star, it's time to go." Tsubaki said, knocking lightly on the locked door.
"Okay, give us five minutes." Kid called back and rolled out of bed. Shivering from no longer being under the warm blanket.
"Kid?" Black-Star groaned, reaching out for the body that was no longer in the bed.
"It's time to g o on the run Black-Star." Kid stated and stepped into his boxers.
"I don't wanna." The star whined and threw the blanket over his head.
"Get up." Kid grabbed the blanket and yanked it off of Black-Star, exposing him to the chilly air."Unless you want me to leave without you and have you miss all the fun."
"I hate you." Black-Star grunted and sat up.
"Sure you do." Kid winked at the star, grabbed a shirt from the floor and slipped it on, only to find that it was a little too big.
"Did you just put my shirt on?"
"It was an accident, moron." The shinigami rolled his eyes and removed the shirt.
"Deja vu." Black-Star smirked. He wasn't smirking long when Kid threw the shirt at his face.
"We have to get ready, the others are waiting." Kid stated.
Kid and Black-Star quickly dressed and left the room. A young boy, introducing himself as Cylas, handed the men two bowels and stated he was joining them on the run.
"When are we leaving?" Kid asked Tsubaki when he joined the woman who was leaning against a wall.
"After you guys get done eating."
"What's with the teen...Cylas?"
"There's a certain place I want to go to and I need Cylas' skill."
"What skill could that child posses that me and Black-Star don't?"
"He's not a child, he's sixteen."
"Hes a child."
"You and Black-Star left when you were sixteen."
"I was seventeen, Black-Star was sixteen and that's not the same thing. I'm a shinigami and Black-Star's...Black-Star."
"Could we have one day without someone arguing over something stupid?" A broad girl asked. "Cylas is getting impatient and is ready to go." She stated before walking off.
"What skill does he have?" Kid asked when the girl was completely gone.
"He's a climber." Tsubaki answered.
"A climber? Have you not meet Black-Star? He would climb on top of the DWMA everyday and you two would jump tree to tree for your missions. Why do you need Cylas?"
"Black-Star's shoulders are too broad." Kid raised an eyebrow and sipped from his bowel. "Where we're breaking into, we need Cylas."
"What are we breaking into?"
"You'll see." Tsubaki winked.
After Kid and Black-Star finished eating, they meet the rest of the group at the front door. Giriko was complaining about leaving without Justin to Tsubaki while Cylas played with the strap on his belt. The girl from earlier watched the boy, her arms crossed and waiting to go.
"Who's the girl?" Black-Star asked.
"'The girl' is named Lexi." The girl, Lexi, snapped.
"She's here to keep and eye on Cylas, the boy gets distracted easily." Tsubaki stated, having finally gotten Giriko to calm down.
"Let's just go so we can get back." Giriko stated and started to leave.
"Hold it there big-boy." Tsubaki stepped in front of the man and pushed him back. "If you're living here, you're doing this our way. I lead."
Why?"
"Because I can't die." She said and took off. Black-Star went after her and Kid gestured for Giriko to go and the shinigami watched Cylas and Lexi leave before bringing up the rear.
"How far is this place anyway?" Giriko asked as he watched Black-Star climbed the fence.
"Not far, but far enough." Tsubaki stated.
"What kind of an answer is that?" Giriko grunted as he threw himself over the fence.
"One I give people I don't trust yet."
"Smart girl." Giriko chuckled. Cylas climbed over the fence without a problem, even going back to the top to help Lexi get over.
"Maybe he's not that bad." Kid commented to himself and joined the others on the other side of the fence.
"Why is it that you can't die?" Giriko asked when they took off.
"Ask Free, he's better at telling the story than I am."
"He is pretty good at stories, although I'd think I'd be better. He's no fun, he's serious the whole time. The audience will fall asleep if you don't add a comedy release. Maybe use a silly voice or act something out with your hands or-" Cylas stopped his monologue when Tsubaki froze. The woman put one hand in the air, she held two fingers up, made a fist, then one finger, back to a fist, held up five fingers and gave them a thumbs up before taking off.
"What is she doing and why are we just standing here?" Giriko asked.
"There are two kishin demons, she's going to take care of them and we count to fifty before going after her." Lexi answered.
"What?"
"It's a little hand thing we do." Cylas said. "The first number is how many kishins there are, second number is how many people are necessary and the third is how long we wait times ten." The boy chuckled.
"Fifty." Black-Star said and ran. Giriko went after the man, Cylas bent down to pick something up and Lexi had to shove him forward so he would realize they were going.
Tsubaki waved to the group, two dead kishin demons laid at her feet. Cylas ran up to one of the kishins and tapped it with his foot, jumping several feet back and letting out a yelp when the demon turned to dust. The boy laughed and went over to the other kishin, kicking it as well. He let out a shout of surprise when the kishin gurgled and grabbed his leg. Lexi quickly reacted and stabbed the kishin in the face with a sword.
"Guess I didn't cut deep enough." Tsubaki said with a nervous chuckle.
"Don't worry, at least he won't be kicking corpses anytime soon." Lexi stated as she patted the slightly shorter boy's head.
"The place is close, another three minutes or so." Tsubaki stated. "Come on Cylas, I know that there's going to be candy where we're going."
"What? Yay!" Cylas grabbed Lexi's wrist and followed Tsubaki.
"What a child." Kid sighed.
"Candy!" Black-Star ran after the three, letting out a cheer as well.
"Even grown ups like candy." Giriko stated, smiling down at the shorter man. Kid watched Black-Star run, remembering when he had grabbed candy bars for Maka, maybe Giriko had a point.
"They better have Crunch bars." Kid said.
"Won't know till we look." Giriko took off, Kid hesitated a second before letting out a sigh and following the group.
They made it to the building without any more interruptions. Tsubaki kicked open the glass doors and walked in. Cylas ran in and disappeared with Lexi right behind him.
"A bank? What's so special about a bank?" Giriko asked.
"I found suckers." Cylas returned with a sucker in his mouth and a basket filled with more.
"I have a feeling we're not here for old suckers and cash." Kid stated and took a lolly from the basket. Tsubaki didn't answer the shinigami and grabbed Cylas by the shoulders, turning the boy to face a large vault.
"Cylas, do you see that vent up there?" She asked, pointing a finger up. Cylas hummed and nodded his head. "I need you to get up there and climb through the vent. When you reach the other side, find a panel with buttons and press, four, four, six, nine. Got it?"
"Yep."
"Repeat the numbers."
"Four, four, six, nine."
"Can you do this?" Cylas pulled the sucker out of his mouth, the candy top gone.
"Easily." The boy said, crunching the candy between his teeth. Kid went up next to Cylas, trying to see a route the boy could take to get up there. Kid looked at Cylas to give a suggestion and stopped himself, seeing Cylas' eyes twitching back and forth.
"Is he okay?" Kid asked.
"He's fine. This is how he works." Lexi answered and without warning Cylas took off. The boy ran up one wall and leaped off of it, wrapping his arms around a pole. He quickly jumped to another pole, higher up. Cylas scrambled up the pole a little and threw himself at the wall with the vent. His fingers dug into the small ledge on the wall and he hung by one arm while the other worked on removing the vent covering.
"He's like a monkey." Black-Star chuckled.
"Reminds me of someone I know." Kid said. "Remember my first day at the DWMA? You were on top of the building and jumping around like an ape."
"You used to always climbed buildings like a monkey." Tsubaki added and the group laughed.
"Adults are so weird." Lexi muttered. The three adults flinched when the vent covering clattered against the ground. "Four, four, six, nine!" She shouted at Cylas as he shimmied through the vent.
"Got it!" Cylas' voice echoed.
"How long do you think it's going to take him?" Giriko asked, grabbing himself a sucker and putting another one in his pocket. Tsubaki held up a hand and counted off from five. She reached zero and snapped her fingers, the large safe opening. "Oh look, a brick wall." The man clapped his hands. "This was so worth our time."
"Wait a minute." Tsubaki snapped and walked up to the brick wall, a confused Cylas trying to figure out what he did wrong. "Don't worry, you did what you needed to." Tsubaki placed her hand on a brick that had a small red dot on it. She tailed her hand to the right by four, down four, right six and up nine. Tsubaki pressed the brick and stepped back. "Here's what special about this place." She said with a smile as the brick wall split down the middle and pulled apart, showing another room.
"Oh my God!" Cylas shouted and sprinted in. "This is awesome!" The boy jumped on to ribbons that hung from the ceiling.
"What is this place?" Lexi asked as she and the others walked into the room.
"Back in the day before the kishins this was a great place to party...a circus." Tsubaki pointed at Cylas, who was now spinning on the ribbons.
"How do you know about this?" Kid asked, bending down to pick up a small kazoo.
"During the first year that you guys were gone, I started to hang out with some people and the owned this place."
"This place is so cool." Black-Star commented and wondered off.
"Why are we here?" Kid asked.
"You guys look for anything useful. I came here for something I forgot long ago." Tsubaki answered truthfully and walked away.
"Hey Kid, I found the candy!" Black-Star waved his partner over to a large chest he was kneeling in front of. Kid sighed but joined the man anyway, filling his bag with the surgery treats for the young ones back at the apartment. Giriko went over to the bar and filled his bag with soda cans, sipping on a beer as he did so. Lexi started going through the other boxes and filling her bag with random items such as plates, bowels, silverware and canned food. Cylas continued his playing on the ribbons.
"I found it!" Tsubaki cheered.
"Found what?" Black-Star asked through a mouthful of chocolate.
"It's my guitar." Tsubaki played several chords. "I worked here myself for a while and I was in charge of playing music with several other people. When the kishins came I had to leave this behind."
"Nice to know we came all the way out here for some wood and string." Giriko muttered and went over to a wooden door.
"That's a cool guitar." Cylas said upside-down on his ribbon.
"Are you guys ready to go?" Tsubaki asked, slipping her guitar on her back.
"We haven't checked behind this door." Giriko stated and kicked the door.
"It's just props-" Tsubaki grabbed her knife when Giriko was attacked by kishin demons.
"Cylas get down!" Lexi ordered and stabbed a kishin that got too close to her. Cylas pulled a knife from his belt and threw it down, the blade stabbing into the head of a kishin that was sneaking up on Lexi. "Nevermind, stay up there."
"Where did these little shits come from!?" Giriko cursed, hacking away at the kishins attacking him.
"We need to get out!" Kid shouted over the demons' screams. Cylas let out a cry as kishins shook and clawed his ribbons and caused him to fall.
"Cylas!" Lexi ran over to the boy.
"My ankle!" He cried.
"Help!"
"Black-Star, get Cylas. I'll take care of Lexi." Kid said to the star and pushed his way through the kishins.
"The door's closing!" Giriko shouted, killing kishins before running past the closing brick wall.
"A kishin must have pressed the button, everyone go. We can't open the wall from the inside."
"Come on Lexi." Kid grabbed the girl's wrist.
"What about Cylas?"
"Black-Star's got him." He stated without looking and dragged her towards the exit.
"Come on Cylas." Black-Star picked the boy up to his feet.
"My ankle hurts." Cylas whined, leaning on the man.
"You probably just sprained it." Tsubaki stated and helped Black-Star get Cylas on his back. "Go, go, go." Tsubaki pushed the star forward.
"You're coming, right?" Black-Star asked.
"Of course, now go!" Tsubaki pushed Black-Star again and the star ran.
"Where's Tsubaki?" Kid asked when Black-Star joined them outside of the building.
"She was right behind me."
"Tsubaki!" Kid called out for the woman.
Everyone froze when they heard the brick walls slam shut and a scream.
Ending a chapter like this is what I'm famous for.