Shadow Reapers

Hill-

Hill was standing in the front of his classroom shuffling papers on his desk, watching students file in and take their seats. His mind was somewhere completely different though. He hadn't been in contact with the kids much lately because he wasn't much help when it came to feild work, but he did know quite a bit and could offer them a meeting place and they could use all the books he had whenever they needed to. He would wait until after class to talk to them.

Kestrel

What do I say? Kestrel wondered, feeling the pressure of his hand on hers and then suddenly Kai reached across to brush a stray lock of hair away from her face and for a moment she did nothing, just for a moment she allowed herself to dream; she'd never had a boyfriend before and it felt so nice. But it wasn't right. Not with Kai, and something was very wrong. Kestrel pulled away with an understanding smile.

"I say you're not Kai at all, your aura is wrong and..." her voice trailed off as she saw, just a moment too late, that Audra was stood at the door to the canteen, her aura unmissable upon the black canvas of Kestrel's mind. Kes pushed her chair back and turned to go but Kai caught hold of her hand and pulled her towards him, lacing an arm around her back and running his hand slowly across her bottom.

"I'm serious," Kai hissed in her ear.

"Look, if this is a joke or some kind of training mission - just stop it alright! Audra is over there and she can see us and..."

"Hey chill," Kai cut in. "If you wasn't so flamin' hot I'd be so outa here: you've got a right mouth on you. But come on, what do you say - give me a chance?" Kestrel shook her head and started to break away but then Kai's next words froze her:

"If you leave now, you'll not find me again and the real Kai will have some real trouble getting his body back if you follow my meaning. So come on, we'll have a date, we'll have a laugh and then I'll give your friend his body back." Kai flashed her a smug smile, knowing that she was stuck.

Stella-

I looked at my watch at least twelve times in my lecture that morning.

In all the excitement of last night, I couldn't believe that I had nearly forgotten that I needed to be at the airport by two. It was eleven now.

I was so excited about seeing my best friend again. We hadn't seen each other in so long, whenever I was in Dublin he was always busy in Belfast, but now, at last, we could catch up.

But I still had time for lunch before that, and as usual, I was hungry.

I headed in the direction of the cafeteria. I saw Kai and Kestrel sitting at a table together. I frowned. Kai was staring at her chest.

I wondered if I should warn her that he wasn't single, then I realised that she knew that, and they were probably talking about demons or something crazy like that.

So instead I sat at the next table and took a textbook out of my bag. The goings-on of my own life were far-fetched enough that I didn't need a novel.

*If you need anyone to die, I don't care whether a Hollow has to kill Sally or Damien, I really do not care.*

(We don't need to kill off any characters. Just to give you all a little warning, there's going to be some swearing in this post.)

Before Kestrel could answer, though, someone grabbed Kai by the ear and pulled him away. "Hey, what's the big deal!?" he shouted.

"What the hell are you doing, Kai!?" Kestrel recognized that voice. Audra had caught them.

For a moment Kai looked confused, but when he saw Audra's face he smiled and said, "Hey, baby, what's your name?"

Audra pulled harder on his ear, causing him to yelp in pain. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, Kai. You know my name, I'm your fucking girlfriend!" Everyone in the cafeteria was now watching.

Kai blinked. "Girlfriend?" Realization grew in his eyes and he smiled. "Ahh, girlfriend. How about we just skip the date and get into bed?"

Audra released Kai's ear and shouted, "What the fuck is wrong with you, Kai!?"

Kai lifted his arms in mock surrender. "Hey, chill out. There's no need to get mad, there's enough of me to go around." Audra lost it. She simply lost it. She lashed out at Kai and struck him in the face, and it wasn't one of those sissy girl slaps, no, it was a full on punch.

Audra wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but her voice caught in her throat when Kai turned his head back to face her. He didn't look hurt at all, there wasn't even a red spot on his cheek where Audra's fist had hit him. Kai was completely unharmed.

"Hey, you've got to calm down, babe," he said in a smooth voice. "It's not nice to hit people."

Before any of them could say anything the cafeteria doors swung open, slamming against the walls behind them. Ichidan walked in with a determination in his eyes. He pointed at Kai and shouted, "Hold it right there!"

Kai's face was blank for a moment, then he smiled, turned and ran. He was heading toward an open window, obviously making an attempt to escape. But before he jumped out a black figure jumped in through the same window and blocked his path. Kai froze, because the black garbed man in front of him was the real Kai.

(Again, just keep this inside of the cafeteria. And just a reminder, the real Kai is invisible to anyone who can't see ghosts, so no one in the cafeteria except our characters can see him.)

Audra

I stopped, staring at the two identical figures. The casually dressed Kai and the black-robed Death God Kai. What the hell was going on?

"Kai?" I asked.

They both looked at me.

"What the hell is going on?"


**I'm still pretty tired. This is all I've got for now.**

"You've got nowhere to run," Kai said to the impostor.

The temporary soul stared at the Death God Kai for a few moments. The only noise in the cafeteria was the sound of regular students whispering to each other. The temporary soul smiled, and suddenly threw a kick at Kai.

Kai reacted quickly to the attack and took a step back. The impostor used the momentum generated by the first kick to propel himself to throw a second roundhouse kick. Kai leaned back so the kick wouldn't hit him in the head. When both of the enemy's feet had touch the ground he jumped and threw one more kick at Kai's face.

Kai moved his head and grabbed the imposter's foot. "You... I mean I... why?" Before he could say anything else the temporary soul jerked his leg out of Kai's grip and used his other leg to hit him in the head.

Kai was unable to fight back with his weapon for fear of damaging his physical body. The temporary soul caught him off guard and landed a very solid kick to his stomach, and another, and another.

Audra turned to Ichidan, her face full of confusion and worry. "What's going on?" she asked.

"It's a long story, one we can't talk about here," he said, motioning to the rest of the cafeteria. All the students watched with confusion. In their eyes, Kai was attacking the air. The students whispered things like, "What's he doing over there alone?" and "Why is he kicking the air?"

"What can we do?" Audra asked.

"We can't do anything without getting in his way," Ichidan said. "We have to let him fight this one."

The impostor landed three more strikes to Kai's stomach before jumping in the air and using all his strength to kick him in the back. The strength of the attack was such that it threw the real Kai across the cafeteria, plowing through and knocking over all the tables and chairs in his way. The students began to panic and got as far away as they could, most of them running out of the room. Someone even yelled, "It's a poltergeist!"

The temporary soul grinned as he watched the real Kai using one of the fallen chairs to get himself back on his feet. Kai spat out the blood that was in his mouth and said, "You're going to pay for that."

The imposter's grin widened even more before saying, "See ya!" and jumping out of the window. Kai and the others rushed to the window to see the impostor standing on the grass. He turned his smiling face to them and gave them one more taunting smile before running away. Just seeing him run off tore a gasp from Kai's throat. His body ran off with a speed that was unnatural for any human. He could easily outrun a car at that speed.

"What's going on?" Kai asked. "Who exactly is he...?"

"Can it be...?"

"What is it?" Kai asked.

Ichidan shook his head. "No, there is no doubt about it. He is a modified soul!"

Stella-

I watched, bemused for a few minutes as Kai fought... well, Kai. I stood up, wanting to help, but then it was difficult to decide who to help. There was a stampede for the door, and I walked towards the fight.

Just then, one of the Kais shouted "See ya!" and jumped out the window. I wandered over to where the others were standing, Kai completely out of breath as his body ran down the street. (Can you be out of breath when you don't have a body? I thought to myself. Weird.

"Never a dull moment with you lot is there?" I said. "Who's that, and why do they have Kai's body?"

"Modified soul," Ichidan said by way of explanation.

"Being?" I asked.

Ichidan sighed and began his explanation. "A long time ago, a plan called 'Spearhead' was started by the Soul Society."

"Spearhead?" Stella asked. Kai, Audra and Kestrel were all listening in, too.

"Yes. Souls specialized in combat were inserted into dead human bodies, and used as soldiers against the Hollows. Of course, the plan was a failure."

"So, they took dead bodies and made soldiers out of them?" Audra asked, her voice tinged with disgust.

Ichidan nodded. "They were combat-only fake souls created only for this plan, designed to strengthen a part of the body to superhuman strength and speed when inserted. We called these Modified Souls, or Mod-souls for short."

"But putting souls into dead bodies and making them fight?" Kestrel asked. "That's just terrible!"

"Exactly," Ichidan said. "'Spearhead' was cancelled because of how inhumane it is to make corpses fight. When it was cancelled, a purge order for all mod-souls already made was issued, but..." He rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Who would've thought there were still a few left out there?"

Kai interrupted his speech. "So what you're saying is that they were made for and then destroyed for the convenience of the Soul Society?"

"Something like that."

"And you agree with that?" Kai asked, his voice edged with outrage.

"It's not about agreeing with it or not," Ichidan told him. "Mod-souls have to be destroyed. It's a rule of the Soul Society. And don't forget this: The rules of the Soul Society are created to protect the souls of you humans." The voices of students and teachers could be heard in the hallway outside of the cafeteria. Ichidan climbed through the window and said, "Let's go! Don't you want your body back?"

It'd be just swell if somebody posted something.

I'm blank on ideas for this one! Sorry!

Kestrel

"Well yes but..." Kai hesitated and Audra pushed him towards the window and soon everyone was piling through and chasing after Ichidan.

"How are we going to catch him - did you see the speed he was going?" Kai demanded, running alongside Audra and Ichidan. "We don't even know what direction he went so how do you know we're going the right way?" Ichidan did not pause in his running but he pointed over his shoulder, directly towards Kestrel who did not see the gesture, her eyes staring far into the distance at something else entirely.

"We just run in the direction she's staring. She's watching him, can't you tell? And as to speed, he's using a human body that will soon tire," Ichidan replied.

"My body," Kai said. "And I'd rather have it back in one piece."

"I have a question..." Stella cut in, "Why are we running when proffessor Hill is over there just about to get into his car. If we say it's important, I'm certain he'll drive us." Ichidan hesitated and then nodded before saying to Kestrel:

"Watch where he's going, don't lose him." And then they all made their way over to the car, very briefly told professor Hill that it was extremely important and began to drive with Kestrel directing Ichidan who was behind the wheel while Kai was sat in the passenger seat, ready to be the first out and the others were huddled in the back, attempting to explain it all to a rather astonished proffessor Hill.

_______________________

It's not much but it's a post, right?

Stella-

"I don't understand much of this either," I said simply to the rather gobsmacked teacher. "Something to do with souls, and death and... clones, I think."

Audra sighed and began to give a much more competent explanation. I leaned forwards and looked around.

"So what happens if Kestrel stares right through a wall?" I asked, curious. "Do we drive through the wall, or do we go around?"

"We go around, I would have thought that was obvious..." said Kai slowly.

"Okay, it's just you never know with souls and stuff. You might have special powers that make cars go through walls without completely creaming whoever's inside."

"No, but you might," Ichidan said irritably.

"Really?" I asked. I couldn't help myself.

"You will probably have some. Although," he swerved tightly to avoid an oncoming lorry. "Getting cars through walls probably isn't one of them."

"Left!" Kestrel exclaimed and we took a sharp left.

"I've always wanted to be in a car chase. And to jump out a window. Dreams are coming true today, huh?"

"Let's just hope nightmares don't come true," Kai said darkly. "Look, there he is!"

Kai's body was nothing but a blur on the side of the road.

"Janey Mac, he's fast," I said.

The mod-soul ran beside the car with such speed that it shocked everyone. Kai turned to Ichidan and asked, "Can't you get any closer?" as he rolled down his window. Kai planned to grab his body as soon as they got close enough.

"I'll try."

The car edged closer and closer to their target. Kai poked half his body out the window, keeping a firm hand on his seat as he did. The mod-soul looked at him and didn't seem the least bit surprised, in fact he looked amused. As soon as Kai had his hand only a few inches away the impostor stopped running.

The modified soul stood in the middle of the road and watched as the car screeched to a halt. He laughed and jumped onto a building to continue his escape by rooftop as Ichidan tried to turn the car around.

"We'll never catch Kai's body at this rate!" Audra exclaimed.

Kai watched as his body jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Even though the modified soul had stolen his body he couldn't help but think, How does he feel now that he's gotten a hold of my body? Made and destroyed for one's convenience, but he somehow survived through that. Although he finally obtained a body, he's still forced to constantly run away.

How would that feel...?

--------

"Yeah! This is so fun!"

The modified soul shouted his joy as he jumped from house to house with bounds of at least 100 yards each. The pedestrians on the streets all watched in awe as a 21-year-old man practically flew over their heads.

The mod-soul smiled at the shocked expressions of people watching him. Everyone is looking at me all surprised! This is just too much to take!

He landed on a fence built on the roof of a tall building and began running along the thin path. "I've heard that there were many differently skilled mod-souls," he said as he jumped onto another building, "but I'm happy for the outstanding abilities I have!"

He used all his strength to jump across an empty school playground. As he flew through the air he saw a group of kids huddled behind a shed used to store gym equipment. "I wonder what they're doing?" He landed very quietly on a tall stone fence so he could watch from above as the kids played handheld video games.

----------

"I've found him!" Kestrel shouted.

"Where is he?" Kai asked.

Kestrel pointed left and said, "Over there!" Ichidan turned left at the nearest intersection only to slam on the brakes when he did. Before them sat a traffic jam, one they had no hope of getting through in a car.

"We can't go any further," Ichidan declared.

Kai opened his door and got out. "I'm going ahead by foot, you guys can catch up as soon as you can." He jumped onto the roof of a nearby car and made his way over the traffic jam. Since he was invisible he didn't have to worry about anyone seeing him.

----------

The mod-soul watched the kids clicking away on their little games. He was oddly fascinated by the movements on the screens.

"Classes like P.E. are just too boring to attend to, right?" one of the kids said to his friends.

"Yeah, it's much more fun to skip and play video games."

A virtual explosion sounded from the speakers of one of the kids' games. He sighed and said, "He lost again." He began clicking away fiercely at the device, saying, "Fight properly! Who do you think created you in the first place?"

"Why not delete it?" one of the kids suggested.

The modified soul's eyes widened at the sound of those four little words.

"That's true. Those who don't listen to their master, die."

Another explosion sounded from the game's speakers. "He really deleted it," one of the kids said, surprised.

"It's okay, I'll just make a better one."

The kids laughed, and as they did the mod-soul's grip on the fence began to tighten until cracks started to show in the surface. His eyes were filled with rage as he jumped and landed beside the kids.

The children gasped when the man appeared from nowhere. "W-What do you want?" one of them asked.

The mod-soul's breathing had become heavy and ragged with rage. He suddenly lifted his foot and screamed at the top of his lungs as he brought his foot down over the kids.

"Stop it!" The modified soul's kick was stopped by the true owner of his body, who had arrived just in time to help the kids.

Audra

I bolted. I had jumped out of the car as it rounded the corner, taking off as I recognized my boyfriend and the modified soul. I sprinted down the street, toward them, only to have my heart skip a beat at the last moment. There were children there.

I waved to them, climbing the fence into the playground as Death God Kai forced possessed Kai back, away from the kids. When they gaped at me, I shouted.

"Come on! Let's get you somewhere safe!"

They only looked at the two Kai's - well, the one, physical one - and nodded, following me with gameboys in hand.

"What's going on?"

"Is he insane?"

"What's he gonna do?"

I answered every question with a quick lie that was easily believed. "He's not crazy. He has flashbacks. He'll be fine. My friends will take care of him." And so on.

The mod-soul fought with all his might but this time Kai was able to dodge all his attacks. He moved around each attack with such grace that it put his physical body to shame. Without the burden of a real body it was actually easier to fight. "When I'm calm, your moves are nothing to me," Kai told his opponent.

The mod-soul jumped into the air and came down with a flying kick. Kai ducked and rolled out of the way, going back to his feet a moment later to block a round-house kick. He used both hands to grabbed the modified soul's leg, lift him into the air and throw him. The impostor did a mid-air flip and landed on his feet.

"Kai!" The others had just arrived from the parking lot. The mod-soul obviously knew how much of a chance he stood while outnumbered, so he hopped over the fence and ran off, again.

"Come back here!" Kai yelled as he ran after his body.

Ichidan's phone suddenly began to ring. "Wait, Kai!" He opened his phone to look at the message that had been sent. "There's an order."

"What!?" Kai's outrage showed clearly in his voice. "At a time like this!?"

"A Hollow is going to appear. It's close."

"Dammit!"

Ichidan turned to Kestrel, Stella and Professor Hill. "Things are going to get dangerous real soon. Go find Audra, take the car and get out of here."

"But, we want to help!" Stella said.

"You are helping," Ichidan explained, "we need you four to keep following Kai's body. When we're finished with the Hollow we'll catch up with you."

Once Ichidan received Stella's cell number he and Kai ran off to find the Hollow.

------------

"Dammit." The modified soul jumped from building to building trying to get away. "the Death God and those brats totally ruined my mood!"

An eerie howl in the distance caused the mod-soul to stop in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder, gazing into the distance with wide eyes. "I sense a Hollow. It's around where I was earlier..." He turned his whole body around to face the direction where he was sensing the Hollow. "...Is it going to attack those brats?"

Their words and laughter still echoed through his head. "Why don't you delete it?" "It's okay, I'll just make a better one."

His eyes were filled with doubt. Should he just leave those brats to get devoured by the Hollow, or should he go back and help them?

--------------

Kai and Ichidan ran down the street with nothing but the orders on his cell phone to guide them. He stopped running when the phone started beeping.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked as he stopped beside him.

"Something's wrong with the Spirit Phone's signals," he said. He tried holding it up to his ear to see if he could hear anything. "Did the battery run out, I wonder?"

"What!? Are you serious!?"

Ichidan sighed and closed the phone. "I can't get a hold of the Hollow's location..."

---------------

Audra had brought the kids to a teacher before leaving with the others, just to be safe. Apparently they weren't supposed to be playing their gameboys during class time, as punishment their games were confiscated and they had to clean up around the schoolyard.

"Damn this after school cleaning!" one of the kids complained.

"This isn't fair! Why won't they believe what we said?"

"Because we usually misbehave, right?" one of them asked.

As they complained a centipede shaped Hollow floated over their heads, looking down at its prey. It let out its eerie howl as it plunged down toward the kids, but before it could get to them someone jumped into the air and kicked it in the head. The kick was so strong that it broke off some small pieces of the Hollow's white mask.

Because of the kick the Hollow's path was redirected and it ended up missing the kids by a coupled of yards, but the force of it hitting the ground was so great that it created a small shock wave that threw the children off their feet. As the smoke began to clear one of the kids got back to his feet and said, "W-What was that!?" When the smoke cleared they saw the insane guy from before.

"It's the college student from earlier!" one of the kids shouted.

The mod-soul yelled as he charged toward the Hollow. One of the creature's long snake-like limbs extended to stop his advance but he kicked it out of the way. Another limb came from above, this one he didn't see and it ended up getting him in the shoulder, cutting through his shirt and skin.

"What's happening!?" one of the kids shouted as they witnessed the guy's shoulder suddenly split open and start to bleed. The Hollow was invisible to the kids, so when it made a movement that caused the ground to shake all three of them panicked and ran away.

Once the kids were out of the picture the mod-soul turned to face the Hollow. He kept a hand on his bleeding shoulder. He suddenly turned and jumped onto the fence. The Hollow chased after him as he made his way to the school's roof. Once they were both up he stopped and faced the Hollow once more.

"You interfered with my meal, and then you run around like a coward," the Hollow said. "Although I don't know who you are, don't come out to fight me if you can't handle me!"