A/N: Hey all!

Here is the second chapter of the night, as promised! I hope you all enjoy this story and will continue to stick with me. I have every intention of finishing this story, however long it takes. I will not abandon it halfway and will not give less than 100% effort to creating a good story for you all. I look forward to seeing you all next month and would love any reviews that you are inclined to give. Reviews really help to motivate me to work on this story.

Thank you all for standing by me,

Your appreciative author,

Spiral of Destiny

All three Blade Children moved back at the sudden aggression turned on them. They watched him carefully, trying to determine whether his threat was real or merely a false show of posturing. Their suspicions were confirmed when a pop sounded from his gun, sending a bullet soaring over Rio's head. Rio vocalized in surprise and Kousuke cursed as he stepped protectively in front of Rio and shot. Shinu dodged easily, turning his gun on Eyes. The performer had by this point drawn his own gun and shot at the attacking teen. Again he moved out of the way in time, as the shots were slower and less accurate than real bullets. A second shot whizzed by on Eyes' left, forcing him back a few steps down the alley.

As the performer retreated Shinu turned once more to Rio and Kousuke. By this time both Blade Children had begun moving towards Eyes and had to hop back farther down the alley as he aimed and fired a third time, impacting the ground a short distance in front of their feet. With a laugh he advanced toward them, watching as they joined Eyes near the end of the alley.

"Run little Children, run!" Shinu called into the air, raising his gun once more for another attack. By this point the assault had directed the small group toward the back of the alley and the absence of any artificial light left the party in relative darkness. Rio, Eyes, and Kousuke stood with their backs facing the nearby dead end, air guns trained on the approaching teen. They knew the air guns weren't enough to bring him down, but they couldn't afford to risk discharging an actual firearm where others could hear it.

Shinu advanced until he was roughly fifteen feet from them. He stood stationary for a moment before lowering his gun and bending forward. The sound of laughter filled the air as he took his time enjoying the sight before him.

"Well that was fun." He smirked as he straightened up, staring a challenge back at the angry Blade Children before him. "But no. I'm actually on your side. Thanks for the good time." Around him audible clicks sounded as guns leveled on the still grinning man.

OOoOoOo

It was late when Kirie heard a knock at her door. She had been relaxing on the couch when the interruption came and she begrudgingly rose to see who was bothering her at such an hour. When she opened the door she was met by an older woman in her late forties. She stood a few inches shorter than Kirie and so had to raise her head in order to meet the younger woman's gaze.

"Can I help you?" Kirie asked, not recognizing the woman. The stranger smiled pleasantly, though it didn't fully reach her eyes.

"Yes, I believe you can, Miss Tsuchiya." She crossed her arms behind her back, standing confidently. "I assume you received my letter?" Kirie's eyes widened, her mind flashing back to the letter that still lay on her desk back at Tsukiomi. After having nothing happen in the two weeks since receiving it she had all but forgotten about it. Her eyes narrowed.

"Yes I did. Who might you be?" Humor bled into the stranger's eyes and she laughed a light, clear laugh.

"Now now, no need to be so on guard, my dear. While your position doesn't call for it, it seems that we are both on the same side here." Kirie looked at her with confusion and the woman's smile warmed. "May I come in? This conversation isn't best had in a hallway." Kirie blocked the doorway more fully.

"Not until you tell me who you are. Your letter was less than cordial if we are supposed to be on the same side." The woman frowned.

"Oh dear, I'm afraid you misunderstood my meaning." Concern was evident in her voice. Kirie remained guarded. The woman sighed, running a hand over her forehead. "Miss Tsuchiya, you seem to have taken my letter as a threat when it was only intended in goodwill." Kirie didn't budge. The woman crossed her arms over her chest, seemingly upset.

"What do you want?" Kirie's tone was hard.

"Only to speak with you for a moment in private."

"Who are you?" Kirie asked again, earning a brief look of surprise from the woman before a soft smile returned.

"I suppose you wouldn't remember me. We worked in different departments, after all." Kirie waited patiently as the woman straightened confidently and dropped her arms.

"My name is Ikari Min. I am the leader of the "Savers".

oOoOoOo

Eyes, Kousuke, and Rio stood staring into the eyes of the newly identified Blade child before them. A mix of suspicion, anger, and betrayal marked their faces, though these emotions barely registered on Eyes' features. Eyes had lowered his gun, but Rio and Kousuke still stood ready to shoot. Shinu Hachima stood across from them, his back to the alley opening and a calm smirk on his face. His posture was calm despite the dual guns trained on his person.

"You seem surprised."

He commented sarcastically, his smirk hardening as he watched Rio's stance stiffen and the gun level more fully at his chest. He could see the anger in her eyes.

"If you're a Blade child and on our side like you say, then why did you try to kill us just now?" Shinu shrugged.

"Kanone Hilbert did it."

A bullet whizzed past his head to bury itself into the concrete several feet behind him. He leveled his eyes on the shooter, malice and laughter rippling within them.

"Come now. It's not like I said anything that wasn't true."

Rio tightened her grip on the gun, ready to fire again. A warning look from Eyes caused her to relax slightly, though anger still burned in her gaze.

"You'd be wise to answer the question."

Eyes advised coolly, his tone betraying nothing. Shinu's features grew serious, mirroring Eyes in almost a mocking and condescending way.

"Please, if I had been trying to kill you, you would be dead. I was shooting wide the entire time. You'd have had to try to get hit by those shots. I just thought I'd try playing with the four of you like you did with little Narumi. I assumed that was how you liked doing the big "Blade Child" reveal." Kousuke cursed and moved to attack Shinu, but again Eyes held him back.

"True or not, your reasoning is foolish. If you are attempting to make allies you are doing a poor job of it." Eyes stated coldly. Shinu shrugged.

"Making allies wasn't really my goal." He said dismissively. Rio and Kousuke tensed again. Shinu chose to look at Eyes. "My even coming here was coincidence. I work nearby and was going home when I saw you three. I only got involved at all because you were about to get stabbed. I hadn't intended on revealing myself any time soon." By this point he had returned his gun to his coat pocket and stood with his hands concealed for warmth.

"You should have stayed out of it, then!" Kousuke bit, glaring.

"And then what?" Shinu met Kousuke's gaze. "You two would be picking your performer up off the ground after a stab wound. I'd think you'd be glad he was spared a repeat of last year." Kousuke grit his teeth. Shinu settled back on his heels, his posture relaxed. "As for allies, I don't really need them. I'm not on the "Hunters'" radar to the same extent as the rest of you are. The fact that all of you didn't know about me is proof of that. But I'm willing to work with you if you'll have me. I heard about what happened to Takamachi. The rumor around school is that she's sick, but that's not the case, is it?" The grimace Kousuke gave him confirmed his suspicion. "I'm sick of the "Hunters" doing whatever they want. Something must be up if your two strongest are both back here." Kousuke was about to say something but Eyes held up a hand to silence him.

"Why are you trying to get involved? You said yourself that this was a chance interaction. Why continue?" Shinu seemed to ponder the question for a moment.

"Because I don't want to see any more of the Blade Children die needlessly and you all seem to have the best chance of ensuring that. At the very least you have the most chance of drawing the "Hunters" out into the open." Kousuke growled, glaring at Shinu.

"We don't need your help. You just attacked us!"

"That wasn't attacking you. That was messing with you. There's a difference."

"Do not simply dismiss him, Kousuke." Eyes cautioned, ignoring Shinu's retort and considering his offer. Kousuke glared angrily back at him.

"Why not, Rutherford? We don't have time to deal with this right now! Ryoko's in the hospital and the "Hunters" are going after us all the time!"

"Which is why having someone else on your team would be beneficial." Shinu interjected,silently filing away the information about Ryoko for later.

"Shut up!" Kousuke snapped before turning back to Eyes. The performer watched him calmly, considering his words.

"Kousuke's right. At the moment we have no reason to trust you. You may have saved me once but you also attacked us, in earnest or not. Your intentions are rather unclear at this point." Shinu nodded.

"I'll accept that." He turned to look at Rio, who was splitting her attention between watching him and watching Eyes. "What are your thoughts? You've been rather quiet so far." Her gaze hardened as she looked at him.

"I don't trust you."

"Enough to risk not accepting my offer to help?"

"Yes."

"Even if not accepting ends up with some of the Blade Children getting killed?" Rio looked at the ground, uncertain.

"We've never needed you before. The Blade Children are still alive even without you!" Shinu turned to look at Kousuke.

"Yes, but you're down a member right now, aren't you?" Kousuke grit his teeth, glaring.

"Why do you even want to get involved? I don't buy the answer you gave us earlier. If you were simply concerned about the Blade Children you would have involved yourself far sooner than this. You even said that you wouldn't have done anything if circumstances had been different." Rio had lowered her gun and now looked Shinu in the eye. Her face was serious, expecting an honest answer. Shinu turned to her.

"You want the truth?" Rio nodded. Shinu's face darkened.

"I want to get involved because out of all the Blade Children you six seem to be the ones with the closest connection to Kiyotaka Narumi."

"Kiyotaka Narumi?" Surprise registered on all three faces. They'd never expected that answer.

"Are you trying to find him?"

"In a way, yes."

"Why would you want to find that man?" For the first time Kousuke's words weren't hostile. Shinu shrugged.

"No real reason." He paused for effect. "I just want to kill him for filling the Blade Children's heads with the false hope that they can be saved." Silence fell over the group, persisting for several minutes. When it finally broke it was Rio who spoke.

"It isn't a lie." She looked desperately at Eyes for validation. "We can be saved! Kiyotaka said so!" Eyes gave her a nod, though it wasn't confident. She turned back to Shinu, her eyes angry. "How can you say that? Don't you want to be saved?"

"That man can't save you. He sent little Narumi instead, didn't he? Where'd that get all of you? Stop living in fantasy and wake up. The Blade Children are born from darkness and are destined to go back to that darkness. We can't be saved. No one wants us to be saved." Eyes placed an arm protectively over Rio. "If I'm going to be saved then it's going to be through my own strength, not through the promise of some so called man-turned-god."

"You have no right to tell her that. There has to be a way for the Blade Children to be saved; a reason that we exist. I cannot believe that we have no place in this world." Eyes said. Shinu laughed at the hopefulness of Eyes statement.

"Of course we have a place. Our place is in darkness. The world is wide and dangerous. It is somewhere that is designed perfectly for the Blade Children. The Blade Children are murderers. Thats all they'll ever be seen as. But it's inevitable that we'll be seen this way because that's what we've been designed to be. To deny this fact is to deny the very existence of the Blade Children. It's not some happy fate and it's not something that you can escape. You can try but it's never going to happen. Don't be delusional, Izo."

Shinu watched with calm coldness as his words sunk in. Eyes did not appear to be effected, almost as though he had already acknowledged what Shinu had said to be true. Rio looked far more upset.

"No! We can't just accept that we were born to die. If that's the case then what was the point in us being created in the first place? We can be saved! I know we can! Kiyotaka said so!"

"We can't be saved. We were born to die. Kiyotaka is delusional if he thinks that fact can be changed, and you're delusional if you thing he actually believes it can be changed."

His tone held mocking amusement, though it was difficult to detect the true emotions that were laced behind it. "What was the point in us being created in the first place? There was no point! We were a mistake; a set of beings who should never have existed in this world. Simple as that."

His gaze was condescending and cold as he looked down at Rio, his eyes and expression carrying cruel laughter. Rio stepped a bit closer to Eyes, who moved to guard her against the aggressive stranger.

"That is enough of that. Whether we were born just to die or whether there's a chance we can be saved makes no difference. What's important now is making the most out of the life we've got left."

Eyes turned his gaze fully on Shinu, his face expressionless and emotionless.

"You're one of the Blade Children. You should at least understand that much."

A smirk crossed Shinu's lips as he lowered his head in mild acknowledgment.

"Fair enough."

oOoOoOo

Kirie sat in a chair across from the newly identified member of the Savers. While she didn't recognize the face she remembered the name from her time working on the Blade Children Project. Ikari sat comfortably on the couch and looked far more at ease than Kirie.

"Thank you for letting us move this inside. This is much nicer than standing in the hall."

"What did you come here for?" Kirie folded her arms.

"Always so direct. I like that. Alright then, first let's address that note I sent you. It seems you've taken it out of context." Reaching into her coat pocket she withdrew a folded piece of paper and extended it for Kirie to take. When she'd unfolded it she was met with the familiar words that she'd read over a dozen times.

Hello Ms. Kirie Tsuchiya,

As you are a member of the Watchers and undoubtedly up to date on the current situation surrounding the Hunters and Blade Children, I feel it is only right to contact you.

Whatever your former involvement, it is time for you to remove yourself from this battle. Neither the Hunters nor the Blade Children should be your personal concern any longer. Rest assured that I will take care of them. Things have been allowed to get terribly out of hand, so now I feel I must step in.

Keep your Watchers out of this situation and let the professionals handle things. If you intend to continue claiming to be a "Watcher", then be just that. Stop involving yourself and playing both sides. Do as I say and no misfortune should befall you. You are a smart woman so I am confident that you will make the right move in this situation.

Thank you for your contribution thus far.

Respectfully,

IM

"That wasn't meant as a threat." Kirie looked up from the paper. "You see, I intended it as a warning. As a Watcher you have a duty to remain impartial, but you're constantly getting involved with the Blade Children. With the Savers getting involved there's no longer a need for you to risk your position in order to try and assist those children." Kirie watched her silently. "At first I thought you'd taken my letter to heart and stopped getting involved, but when I heard that you'd gone to visit the Blade Children at the hospital, as well as called that pianist, I knew you were in too deep."

"What do you mean?" Kirie was still defensive.

"What I mean is that you're too emotionally involved with the Blade Children. The Watchers are impartial observers. But you can't do that anymore. You care about the children."

"So what if I do?"

"My dear, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. Only that it doesn't align with the ideals of the Watchers. It's only a matter of time before the higher ups see what I see."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"Nothing at all. I'm here for personal reasons."

"And those would be?" Kirie's eyes narrowed. She could feel the stress building. Ikari met her gaze.

"I want to offer you a place in the Savers." Kirie's eyes widened is shock.

"Why?"

"You care about the Blade Children. I just don't want a time to come where you want to help and can't because of your position as a Watcher." Kirie looked down thoughtfully. She glanced up as Ikari rose. "I don't expect an answer now. Take your time and think about it." She bent over and placed a slip of paper on the narrow table between them. "Here's my number. I can show myself out. Goodnight, Miss Tsuchiya." Kirie nodded gratefully and watched until the door was closed and she was alone once more. Slowly she turned to look at the piece of paper lying on the table and the letter still held in her hand. Sighing deeply she rose to her feet, picked up the paper slip, and exited the room.

"Those Blade Children are nothing but trouble." She mumbled as she walked.

OOoOoOoOo

Silence fell over the Blade Children once more. It was evident that the topic of conversation, coupled with the traumatic events of the evening, had sent most of them to their emotional breaking point. Rio looking broken and Kousuke appeared to be trying to fight back despair as well. For the time being his anger had cooled.

Eyes and Shinu stood watching each other. After several moments the performer sighed.

"I think it is best if we continue this another time. I appreciate your offer to assist us, but let us talk to the rest of the Blade Children before any decisions are made." Shinu bowed his head at the dismissive answer.

"Very well. That seems like a more than reasonable request." He turned his shoulder to the trio, preparing to return the direction he'd come. "I'll leave you all for tonight, then. Be safe going home." With a light wave he turned his back on them and walked back to the entrance to the side street and left the alley.

Once he was gone Eyes placed his hand on Rio's shoulder and gently ushered her forward in the direction of his apartment. Kousuke followed silently behind.