Freedom at Last?

"Actually, I have just the thing. I know you've just arrived, but I would like you to come down to the DWMA. I know you're not feeling well right now, so do you think you'll be able to make it over here?"

"I'll try," Kurai told Death. He turned and grabbed the room key from the table, pushing it in his pocket as he left as soon as he could. He rushed to the stairs and ran down, ignoring the elevator because it would take longer. He rushed passed many people and meisters, his tail flying behind him as he ran through the entrance of the DWMA building and tripped. He hit the floor a bit hard, the kishin egg throbbing in his soul as it intensified the craving another time. He was minimally losing focus, his eyes watching students and instructors as he ran into the restroom and locked the door, sitting against it breathing deeply. "Calm down... Calm down... Anxiety is the trap," he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and breathed.

Suddenly the door swung open. It was Sid again. As a teacher he had the key to lock and unlock the restroom.

"I saw you run in here, Lord Death sent me to get you. Can you come with me again, please? There's someone here that can help you, well, we think he can help you. He can show you a way to learn to fight against your kishin egg and stop it from overcoming your soul."

(I bet teachers disturb students all the time (joking) >:3)

Kurai had his hands together, breathing calmly and focusing on holding down the kishin egg. He heard Sid walk in and it disturbed him, armor growing over his body as it had when he first absorbed the kishin egg into his soul. "Give me a moment," he told Sid as he clasped his hands together, pinky missing because the armor had only four fingers for the hands. The armor looked so alive... It was warm because it was alive; it was a piece of Kurai after all. His tail curled around to his left foot, Kurai taking in a deep breath before he exhaled and stood, eyes closed inside the armor as he focused on keeping the egg from surging the craving through his mind again. "I bought a bit of time," he told Sid while he kept his hands together. "Lead quickly..." He followed after Sid upon the instructor moving.

Sid nodded at the request.

"I won't waste any time."

Sid then requested to exit the restroom moving hastily.The destination wasn't far from the restroom, but Sid knew that with Kurai's current condition it would be quite a strain on him. He then stopped at a door to a classroom and opened it. Inside was a man with glasses, grey hair and a large bolt sticking out of his head, sitting backwards on a swinging chair.

"Ah you must be Kurai, thank you Sid."

Sid nodded and exited the room, closing the door behind him, leaving the two alone. The man began to turn the bolt in his head, the bolt making a clicking sounds as it rotated, until it clicked into place.

"My name is Franken Stein, but you can call me Stein. I am 3 star meister, I left the academy some time ago and now I teach here. So I understand that you are having some problems with controlling your soul?"

Kurai could tell that Stein was in the room, but he hadn't met him before; it was apparent by the fact his scent was new to him. "Y, yes," he spoke as he sat down against the door of the classroom. "U, usually I've been stronger; I've resisted five pulses without a problem but this time, the third is beginning to kill me." His armor disappated as he looked to the instructor with his eyes. "My vision's beginning to cover in crimson; I'm slipping slowly but surely." His hands were still together as if praying, the kishin lowering his head a bit. "I don't understand it... I've had no souls; the egg shouldn't be doing this to me." Kurai wasn't accepting the egg's strength anymore; he was more or less resisting it, resulting in his own weakness. He felt his hands be forced apart without his consent, one lashing itself into a wall as if punishing him for resistance.

Stein approached Kurai and placed a jug of water in front of him.

"Inside this jug is a special type of water which absorbs soul wavelengths. It's called Kyūkon Water. The kishin egg inside you is trying to absorb your soul, so this jug should teach you to resist it. Now I have to warn you, the effect of the water is very powerful, and I suggest you start by dipping a single finger in it, and gradually try to fit you whole arm in. If you are able to resist the effect of the Kyūkon Water, then you shouldn't have much of a problem resisting your kishin egg, and you will still be able to harness it's power."

Kurai listened to Stein after he had set the jug of water down in front of him. The kishin looked to it in light fear. "Absorbs... Soul wavelengths..." The thought repeated in his mind a few times, though there was no other way to learn to resist the egg. He got his hand free from the wall and moved it over, touching the water gently with a single finger as had been recommended. It was a really weak pull, Kurai cautiously sliding his hand in as the tug on his soul strengthened. He closed his eyes a little bit, putting a lock on his soul as the egg throbbed again, sending the craving for souls throughout his body. Having to resist two things was more difficult than one, but the method seemed to work a bit; however, Kurai was afraid to dip more than just his hand into the jug in fear the egg would sabotage him. "D, do you think I can really do it," he asked in light fear to Stein.

"Although I fear if you put too much strain you may accidentally release your kishin egg, the water will not be harmful to you, even if you were to put all of your arm in at once right now it would just make you feel extremely weak and drained of energy, so long as you don't drink the water all at once, that would most likely be lethal."

"I believe a meister of your status should be able to handle this, so long as you don't go overboard, we don't want that egg to overcome your soul."

"I'm not a meister anymore," Kurai told Stein as he, with a deep swallow, lowered his arm bit by bit. His eyes paled a bit and widened as the pull of the water strengthened again, feeling his soul being tugged in three different directions; the water, the egg, and his own pull. He began to strain lightly, shedding a few tears into the water as he cried out in struggle, holding to his soul as if his life were on the line... And it was. "It hurts so badly," he told Stein as he leaned against the sturdy, thick jug containing the water. "It's like I'm being torn apart!" Unknowingly he bagan to pull at the egg's strength to resist the water, his struggling slowly subsiding as the egg's throbbing began to occur less.

Stein looked down at the hybrid of kishin egg and human, his glasses shining with the light.

"Don't strain yourself. If the pain gets too much take your finger out and only place the tip of it in the water. Don't worry if you need a break either, this can be straining and we'll probably be here for a while. Most importantly we don't want your kishin egg to overpower your soul, this activity is more dangerous to you than others, but it is also more important to you than others that you complete this."

(Figured putting it all together in this post is better than leaving you with another mini post, so here ye go; the last of hte exercise and the struggle for control so your post can be lengthy ;3 (if it's too much for one post I can edit~))

Kurai listened to Stein giving advice, and he took it with gratitude. He began to repeat the process of withdrawing his arm and placing it back into the jug of strange water, usually when he was about to fall over the edge of sanity. Hours passed, perhaps a quarter of a day, before Kurai seemed to finally be capable of lasting with his arm in the water; however, it didn't come without its faults. His eyes looked strained, Kurai collapsing onto his back after his most recent attempt. He wasn't quite sure when he had arrived, but he saw Death watching him as he was sprawled on the floor, the arm he was dipping into the water over his torso. "When did you get here," he asked a bit tiredly, his heart beating stronger than it had before he had arrived. His soul was stronger as well, Kurai quickly sitting up after he had caught his breath a bit. The kishin egg was still surging, though he had survived it quite a bit more than he had without the exercise. He stopped all thought about Death being present when he found himself thinking a lot; he had to focus on the egg.

He put his hands together gently and crossed his legs as he had in the restroom after leaning up, taking a deep breath. He placed a challenge against the egg in his soul and the war began, the large struggle emphasizing his wavelength a bit. He fought against the egg, attempting to smother the craving it kept pushing through his mind and body. He lost focus for one moment and it surged against him again, withering the smother he had attempted. The eye on his forehead cracked open a bit as he got back to focus and struggled onwards. He gritted his teeth a bit and tightened the grasp his hands held. "My soul is mine... I won't succumb to the egg... It will succumb to me. It's my power; I'm not its," he thought to himself, and the thought made his stance stronger. The struggle for balance proceeded for at least an hour before he had his third eye shut down again, Kurai loosening his grasp; he had smothered the egg and taken its strength, the kishin falling onto his back again as he released his hands and set them on his own eyes. "My head's throbbing," he spoke out in complaint before he started laughing a bit. "But I guess it'll have to do... I just survived a trip towards death..." He then sprawled his hands out and looked to Death. "No offense Death." He seemed to be better, and when his laughing subsided, he rubbed his forehead. "Sorry to take so much of your time though; I should've known how to control it from the beginning... I feel so stupid."

"Don't worry about that," said Stein.

Death looked at him through the mirror that Sid had wheeled in.

"You shouldn't feel stupid, kishin eggs are extremely powerful, that's why becoming a kishin is so easy. I still wish that there was a way to convert you back into a human however, seeing you as a kishin just feels wrong... Perhaps a healing wavelength would help, but then again it might just enforce the good within you, and even then there's only one person I know that has a powerful enough healing wavelength to even have a chance at it, and she's currently positioned in Oceania. I guess we'll just have to wait for an opportunity to arise. Until then, your soul should be able to overpower the egg enough to conceal it from most soul seeing meisters, so you shouldn't get any trouble. Let me know if you have problems, but until then, see ya!"

Death then disappeared from the mirror and Sid took the mirror away.

Kurai listened to Death speaking that it was saddening to see him as a kishin. It made him a bit upset as he stood up and looked to Stein. "Why does it upset him so much... It's not like I'm killing people," he spoke to the instructor as he turned his head aside. "And conceal it? Every student here knows what I am; I've seen their glares." He then shrugged a bit and looked to Stein again. "Anyway, thank you; I probably would be a typical kishin if you hadn't helped." He held his hand out as though someone other than Death had some sort of respect for him.

"We've tried to hide you up until now as much as possible, rumors did spread from the people that did find out, but I highly doubt that they will be able to see the egg now, so anyone that looks t your soul will most likely believe that you are a human and dismiss the rumor as nothing more than a cruel lie. As for why it concerns Lord Death, I believe it's just because you have a kishin egg, and he's seen the true destruction that they can cause..."

Stein looked away it this point, as if thinking about something. He then snapped back to reality and looked back to Kurai after he thanked him. He then nodded at Kurai.

"Don't worry about it, you did all of the work, I just gave you the water."

Kurai smiled a little when Stein's last statement was spoken; however, he lowered his hand when it seemed it wasn't going to be taken in welcome. "Still," he told him as he went to the door, pulling it open. "If there weren't people around that could help I wouldn't be here." He pulled the door shut after exiting, Kurai headed for where Death resided. He wanted to talk to him face to face instead of through a mirror.

Stein nodded as Kurai left.

When Kurai entered the death room Spirit was startled. He noticed Kurai walk through the gates and head towards Lord Death. He stopped in the way of his path.

"What do you think you are doing here? You can't just barge into the Death Room without permission!"

(Quick overview of who Spirit it pwease? o3o)

"I can if I have a kishin egg inside of my soul," Kurai told Spirit, his brow twitching a couple of times. "So please move... I'm here to talk to Death, not you." The way he spoke Death's name made him seem disrespectful, but he felt really close to Death as family, especially since his mother was deceased now. He stopped his twitching and looked forward to Death. "I'm rather here to find out a few things... Is that so bad now?"

(You probably know him as Death Scythe from the anime, but his real name is Spirit, you'll find that out in a few episodes, I forgot that you don't find out at the beginning x3)

Death turned and noticed the commotion.

"Don't worry Spirit, I think I'll let him in. Hiya, Kurai! What's the problem?"

(Ah, understood o3o)

Kurai stepped forward when Spirit seemed to move aside and let him pass. He pointed a finger lightly at Death as if answering the question with a single gesture. "What you think about me is the problem... I'm some good meister to you, but you always seem disappointed just because I have a kishin egg in my soul." He balled his hand into a fist and dropped it to his side. "I'm not killing anyone Death; today was the one time I've had a problem with the egg..." He turned his head away from the strange being. "You keep saying things about purification, but what if I don't want to be purified?" He turned his head back to stare Death in the face. "What if I want to use my strength to help souls... To use my power as a kishin for good." He looked down. "I ate my own partner Death; I owe it to her to at least use it and not lose it."

"I'm not disappointed in you, I just don't like the fact that there is a kishin egg lying within your soul, if you were to loose control of it, even for a second, you could end up becoming evil, and then, well, you'd have to be killed. As for the purification, I feel the power of a kishin egg may not be worth the risk, and Scarlet, well, perhaps she would be separated as well if that were to happen."

Kurai gritted his teeth lightly. "What should I do to prove that I'm not going to lose control of it," he asked Death, looking him straight in the eye. "What sort of thing could you possibly want me to do to prove it? Rip my own teeth out and hand Scarlet's fragments back to you or push myself to the point I nearly transform and then recover?" He wasn't making threat; he was just exaggerating things that could happen. "If anything I deserve the chance to prove it after being locked up for three months..."

"Hmmm..."

Death paused for a few moments. He seemed to be pondering something, perhaps some options for Kurai.

"I trust that you will be able to control your kishin egg for now, we'll lower the monitoring to a minimum. We'll do a quick evaluation of you ever few days, just to monitor the egg. As for Scarlet, I think we should look into options for separating her from you, I think she's been attached to you for long enough. Do you have an ideas?"

Kurai looked to Death. He grasped one of the few purple teeth he had after armoring himself, and with strength, ripped it from the armor. It made him cry in pain, but he held the fragment of her blade in his hand. "I met this weapon once," he told Death. "She... Told me I could resonate with her as fragments." He continued to pull the teeth out until they were all out, the armor disappearing before Kurai dropped the fragments to the ground. "But you see, being caged for three months, I don't remember how to resonate with her."

"Hm... Perhaps it is time for you to go back to Professor Stein again, he is our best teacher when it comes to resonating. He should still be in his classroom, tell him that I sent you and explain what's going on, he'll understand."