Freedom at Last?

Kurai sat back against the wall of a cage. He had been kept here for the last few months after being captured by Death and an instructor. Still lost by what the instructor had been referring to as "tame," he had found himself being used in classrooms for different purposes; instruction about kishin powers, instruction on kishin anatomy... Once he had been forced to actually fight to demonstrate just how serious the students should take their instruction. The room was dark with only one window, though it wasn't like it made much of a difference. Kurai was in his kishin armor, eyes closed since he couldn't see from within it. He could hear, though, and he heard a door open as he shifted a little uncomfortably with his wrists cuffed to prevent a variety of things he could do to harm someone. "Who's there," he asked.

Sid, a meister teacher from the academy, had unlocked the door and walked in. He stood by the door but decided not to walk into the room.

"Come with me"

His body showed no sign of fear whatsoever, despite the fact there was a powerful kishin in front of him. He was experienced enough to be used to kishin eggs now, but his dagger weapon and fellow teacher Nygus wasn't with him, he was defenseless. A bold act from the academy, sending a teacher to confront a kishin egg with no strong means of defense, but then again, they had known this kishin long enough to know he wasn't much of a threat to him at the moment. There were plans to attempt to purify Kurai but no actions were taken. Perhaps some light was about to be shed for Kurai.

Kurai laughed a little bit when Sid stood at the door. "In the case you haven't noticed I'm not exactly fit to open the door," he told him. "Remember this cage is locked genius?" He shook his head lightly as he leaned back against the back of the cage. None of hte instructors had seen his real appearance; since his capture he had stayed in his armor to be protected. "Where's your weapon? I can't smell or hear anyone other than you here... Did they send you alone?"

Sid grunted.

"If you had wanted out of that cage I know you would have done it already, but I'm going to play along with your little 'weakling' charade and unlock that cage."

As he paced over to the cage and unlocked the door with his key he was almost taken aback by the fact that Kurai was able to sniff out the fact that Nygus was not accompanying him. No other kishin egg had been so vigilant, but then again, most other kishin eggs were concerned about nothing else but eating souls. This kishin egg also didn't seem to be as physically powerful as others, but as was mentioned before, very vigilant, and also clm and collected. After unlocking the cage Sid repeated himself.

"Come with me"

Kurai stood up. He had to be at least a bit taller than Sid due to the armor he was wearing, the kishin stepping from the cage obediently. "If I wanted to die I would've broken out... I'm not that dumb." He turned and looked to Sid, the eyes in teh shoulders of his armor staring at the instructor. "I don't get why you all seem to be so tense around me; I haven't attempted to strike you; I haven't cursed at you." He growled a bit and turned his head away. "I'm not a monster; I still have a soul like you."

Sid looked at him, his eyes going vacant. It seemed he was looking at his soul, and right enough he was. He saw a small light blue soul, the personality seemed to be caring, surprisingly to Sid. He saw something red within the soul. He soon realized what it was. Kurai had an ordinary human soul, but inside the human soul, was a kishin egg. He had never seen anything like it. It was almost like the human soul was acting like a force field, to stop the kishin egg from getting out. Sid stopped himself from getting lost in his thoughts by looking back up at Kurai.

"For the final time, come with me"

He then walked outside the cell and waited for Kurai to go through the door.

Kurai shook his head gently. "Fine," he spoke as he turned towards the door. He marched towards it, the claws of his armor hitting the ground and making a light noise. "Don't have to be so bossy... It's not like you haven't had me in your classroom and I've disobeyed..." It was the truth; he had been following orders like a good little soldier as he let Sid lead him to wherever they were headed.

Sid led him through the dark halls of the low level of the DWMA. Candles lit up the corridors but it didn't quite help the darkness. There were busts of Lord Death in indents in the walls, some of them in odd or humorous positions. They reached a flight of stairs and Sid began to climb them. He hadn't said a word during the entire journey and wasn't planning to. He reached a door and opened it, leading to a bright hall with doors leading into classrooms. It was quiet, most likely because classes were on. He lead Kurai through the halls until they reached the front entrance, where Sid exited the building leading Kurai outside. He then stopped at the famous stairs of the DWMA, massive in length. He then turned to Kurai.

"You're free to go."

Kurai followed obediently, though he started to question where Sid was leading him when they got to the halls with classes. He wasn't taking him into a classroom, but instead leading him outside. "Free go to? Is this a joke," he asked. "You've kept me locked up for three months and now you're letting me go?" He shook his wrists with the cuffs on them in light frustration. "What's the catch? Sending me out to be killed?" He turned and faced the outside world, unable to see it, yet still smelt and heard people. "Or are you going to just kill me when I step down. I'd like to hear the reason from Death himself."

Sid smirked.

"There's no catch, however we are going to have to be monitoring you quite closely for a while until we're certain that you aren't a threat to the public. Even you don't know how long it can be contained."

After the final sentence he lightly tapped Kurai's chest, clearly referring to his soul and the kishin egg inside it.

Kurai snarled a little bit at Sid. "I've kept it held down for three months; that should be enough proof!" He stepped back towards the DWMA's entrance. "I want to speak to Death." He struggled a bit, breaking the chain of the cuffs on his wrists since he was "free" supposedly. "I want to know why I'm being treated like some sort of experiment."

Sid sighed. He beckoned Kurai and began to enter the DWMA again. He entered the male bathroom and stopped at a mirror, where he carried out the ritual. He breathed on the mirror making it mist up before writing '42-42-564'. While he was doing so he also spoke.

"42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door."

Death appeared on the mirror.

"Hiya! Sid! How ya doing?"

"Lord Death, sir, Kurai would like to speak with you."

Kurai looked to Death in the mirror. For the first time since capture, his armor faded, revealing his red eyes and long, dark hair. "Death, I'm not a test subject," he told him in light annoyance. "You've already suspended my entire enrollment at the academy from a few years ago... Why did you keep me in a cage and now wnat to release and monitor me? Haven't the last few months been enough to show I won't hurt anyone?" He put a hand over his heart, feeling the kishin egg struggling to get free and hatch.

Death looked at him, he seemed to be emotionless, but then again, he was wearing a mask.

"Kurai, I've explained this to you before. The DWMA was set up to combat humans that have taken the path of evil, otherwise known as kishin eggs. We are very well aware that you wish no harm, but when you first came to us we had no choice but to lock you up, seeing as you could have been lying. Now that we know more about your situation we're allowing you to leave but we have to monitor you, or rather, your kishin egg. If you are unable to contain it for even a split second it will devour your soul, leaving you only with a kishin egg in place of your soul, or an evil human. We are happy to allow you to work with us but you present too great a risk to the academy to go any further. The safety of Death City and its inhabitants are our top priority, and we can't have you destroying it."

"Work with you," Kurai questioned Death. "I've been poked and prodded by instructors teaching students... I haven't learned a thing since I was captured and wasn't hardly fed like you told me I would the first day... I don't even have a home to go to now and you're telling me I'm a risk?" He turned around and wrapped his arms upset. "Do you know how many times I've wanted to kill one of the instructors for food yet strayed away from it... If anything being caged here was like fighting a kishin..." He tapped his bare feet against the floor lightly. His stomach then growled and he sat down in complaint. He wasnt hungry for normal food; he was craving a spirit, his teeth aching to pull one in.

"Exactly my point, craving human is an aspect of a kishin egg. It's already beginning to overcome your human soul. You were a highly respected meister here at the academy, we don't want to loose you. Consider your options carefully."

There was then a slight silence.

"Well, see ya!"

With that Death disappeared from the mirror. Sid then turned to Kurai.

"Are you satisfied now?"

Kurai struggled for a moment before he stood up and turned from Sid. "No, but it's not like it's going to make a difference if I'm satisfied or not, is it, he asked the instructor as he stepped towards the door to leave the restroom. He turned his head to look at him. "I don't even have a home; my mother passed away last month, remember?" He shook his head and looked forward. "She's gone and the only thing that really doesn't treat me like a monster is Death now. So hurray." His voice wasn't enthusiastic. He stepped out with the door shutting behind him, the kishin walking towards the exit of the building with the cuffs still on his hands.

Sid opened the door after him hastily. The kishin egg had left quite abruptly, and the last statement had shook him slightly. He didn't realize how lonely Kurai was, but to come out and say that the only person that respected him was Lord Death himself had surprised him. He felt a little spark of sympathy for the kishin egg.

"Hold on a second, you forgot your keys."

Kurai paused hearing Sid, and he turned his head to look at him. "I dont have a house Sid; I had no keys when I was chained up and caged." He turned it forward, just feet away from the exit of the building. He could hear the bell for class to be over ringing, Kurai standing still holding his ears from the sensitivity; he hadn't heard hte bell go off so loudly since he was always behind a closed door where it didn't reach.

Sid once again caught up with Kurai again.

"I mean the keys to your apartment. We know you don't have anywhere to stay, so we're paying for your accommodation until you're ready to pay for your own. It's private and everything, we're not going to spy on you there."

He put his hand out with the keys to the apartment.

"It's room 7, in that building there."

He pointed to a relatively nearby building with his other hand.

Kurai looked through the window of the entrance door to the building where Sid pointed. The bell had shortly stopped, and after taking the key in his hand he stared to Sid. "Private... Ha, don't lie." He stepped through the entrance doors for the second time that day and looked forward to students staring at him. He sighed and walked down the steps, looking to the building he had been pointed to. When he got to it, he immediately went up to the room and pried the door open, shutting it tightly after walking inside. "So much for privacy," he mumbled looking to the camera. He waved at it. "Hello Death..." He tossed the key to a nearby table and looked to a mirror on the wall, Kurai shaking his head while he sat down and looked at it. He felt the egg in his soul grasping at him for freedom, it causing his craving to increase. He struggled to prevent it but got up and walked to the mirror. "What was that saying..." He blew on it and wrote numbers he remembered, attempting to contact Death.

Suddenly, Death appeared on the mirror.

"Hiya, Kurai! Nice to see ya! How's the new apartment? Have you thought any more about what we discussed?"

(I was actually being genuine when I said it would be private, but oh well x3)

(Genuinity lost xP)

Kurai looked to Death. He felt a bit proud that he actually remembered what he needed to do to contact him from a mirror, though his pride was scarred a bit when the kishin egg throbbed. "I've, er... Never been aroudn so many people like this," he told him. "So, the apartment's fine... But I'm craving someone's soul on a deadly scale..." It had to take great control and willpower to fight the craving as much as he was to let Death know. "So, um... Perhaps you were right, and I need to be trained on it." He was beginning to shake lightly.

"I'm sorry Kurai, but I can't do anything for you. You see, we don't know much at all about helping kishin eggs, as a case like yours is very rare. Perhaps we could try some experiments, but I don't really know how we can help you. Do you have any suggestions or ideas perhaps?"

"Do you know anyone that can train someone to strengthen their soul," Kurai asked Death. "I mean... My soul is strong as it is, but I'm starting to feel weaker. Everyone has their limits, right?" His finger began to increase hte pressure on the mirror, it cracking a bit distorting Death's image into two separate locations. "I want privacy, but can someone guard the front entrance?"