Shadow Reapers

Kestrel

Kes stared closely at the glowing reiatsu within the pearl and for a moment she was content to feel it flowing clockwise, swirling around its container in a smooth, unbroken pattern. And then she tried to control it. She found that willing it to change direction had no affect but when she imagined it changing direction, the flow seemed to slow or pause before resuming its relentless movement clockwise around the pearl.

Time trickled by and Kestrel concentrated harder. She took herself through the process again and again, each time at a slower speed, imagining how the reiatsu flowed forward and then how it would gradually slow and twist around to flow the other way. But still it was not enough. The reiatsu would slow or pause but it wouldn't change direction.

There must be more to it! But wait... Urahara said he couldn't explain it with words and yet, I'd have no trouble explaining what I've done so far... I have to do something else, something you can't explain with words.... Kestrel focused her mind on the problem, trying to think of a solution but of course, every solution she thought of could be thought of in words so eventually she stopped thinking and merely concentrated on the pearl and her desire for the reiatsu to flow the other way.

And then she knew. She couldn't have explained how she knew or what it was that you were supposed to do but she knew and she did it and the reiatsu changed direction immediately with no halt in the flow, as if it had always flowed anti-clockwise.

"I've done it," Kestrel said. Urahara looked doubtful and surprised at the same time.

"Let me see," he commanded and Kestrel passed him the pearl, knowing that the reiatsu's flow would not change direction again until someone forced it to.

(What just happened on my part was unintentional, actually. By saying it was something that couldn't be explained with words we ended up not needing to explain it at all, lol.)

Urahara looked at the pearl with examining eyes. Satisfied, he looked at Kestrel and smiled. "It looks like you've figured it out."

She nodded. "It's still hard to understand how it works."

"It always is." Urahara explained, "Reiatsu is nothing like electricity or the energy that comes from the sun, but it is energy all the same. It is the life force of all creatures, human, Death God, even Hollow. Without it, nothing would exist. Once your mind and body figured out how to manipulate reiatsu you could do whatever you wished with it."

He smiled and patted Kestrel on the head. "But that's a lesson for another day. It's late, you should be heading back home."

"Just one thing before I go."

"What's that?"

His hand was still on her head when she looked up at him. "Why would you want to kill the modified soul?"

A confused look passed over his face. "This is interesting, why do you care?" His voice wasn't angry like most people when they asked that question. Instead he made it should like it was supposed to, a question.

(I was going to have a shot at explaining it but I'm lazy and I'm sure you all have awesome imaginations.)

Kestrel

Kes paused as she considered her answer, as she thought about how Mod Kai had used and abused Kai's body, how he had touched her and then held her close to him, his words tickling her ear, probing across her heart strings and striking all the wrong notes. She thought of how he had run like the coward that he was but then... he had saved those boys. She answered slowly and quietly but there was a clarity to her voice that made the words ring out about the room:

"Everything has a right to live, has a right to want things that they can't have and he fought so hard to hold onto it and yet... when those boys needed help, he was there. He didn't have to turn around and go back but just the thought of those boys being killed by the Hollow was enough. He's done some wrong things but so have I, so have you, so has everyone. And I'm rambling now and you're probably not even listening, I mean who gives the blind girl more than a second glance? She can't see if you're paying attention to her or not so what's it matter? But he, he did the right thing, he knew he could lose everything but he did it anyway... that's why I care, because he cares, because this life matters to him and yet he put others first."

Urahara watched her for a moment, his eyes cold and calculating. But then he smiled and said, "My, it sounds like you've all made another friend." He lifted his hand off her head. "I admit, when I came to collect the modified soul I hadn't known that you all thought about him like that. You have to understand that I was only thinking about the safety of you and your friends."

"He's not a threat anymore," Kestrel corrected. "He's proven himself, I think he will help us from now on."

Urahara nodded his head in agreement. "Having a modified soul on your side would help a lot, when Kai has to leave his body to fight Hollows the mod-soul can fight with him if he so chooses. Now that I think about what you've said, I feel sorry for what I had set out to do."

"It's getting late, I'm sure you're exhausted." Urahara led Kestrel back to the ladder.

Kestrel

Kestrel paused at the top of the ladder. "Thank you for teaching me, sir." She smiled and bowed briefly before hurrying down the path towards the college. As she neared the building, Kes slowed her pace and entered Stella's room cautiously in case her friend were sleeping.

"Hey," Stella greeted her. "Sally's still out so we can make as much noise as we like."

"Great!" Kestrel replied, seating herself on the bed and running her hand across the neat sheets that suggested it hadn't been slept in much recently. She breathed in the scent of perfumes and the hint of alcohol that drifted over from Sally's side, smiling happily at the surroundings that were starting to become familiar.

"So what name did he choose? And where is he? Who's he staying with?" Kestrel asked excitedly.

"Well he didn't exactly get to choose his name," Stella replied with a giggle as she launched into the story of Kon's new body and the decision for him to stay with Kai.

"Let's hope they don't kill each other," Kestrel giggled.

"And what about you? Did you learn anything new?" Stella demanded.

"Yeah though I'm not sure how useful it will be but I learned how to reverse the flow of the reiatsu in the pearl."

(Let's skip to the next morning.)

Kai's alarm blared on his bed-side table. He lazily reached over and hit the snooze button before rolling onto his side and going back to sleep.

"WAKE UP!!!" Something soft and plushy landed on his head, but it was hardly noticeable so Kai just ignored it and continued to sleep. "Hey, it's time to get up, lazy ass!" The thing on his head started jumping up and down until Kai finally got fed up and grabbed it. It made a soft squeak when his hand curled around the thing's neck.

When he opened his eyes he saw Kon in his hand clawing at his fingers in a futile attempt to make him let go. "...can't...breathe..."

Kai sighed and tossed the stuffed toy at the door. It made another squeak as it bounced off the door and onto the floor. Kon got to his feet and pointed at Kai. "That's abuse! You'd better stop abusing me or I'm gonna call the cops on you!"

As Kai got out of bed he said, "And what are they going to do, send you back to the toy store with all the other defective toy lions?" There was a knock at the door. "Who is it?"

"It's me!"

Kai recognized the voice as Audra's. "The door's unlocked."

Audra opened the door, she was wearing a black tank-top and skirt this morning. As she walked in she began to say, "Good mo-" Squeak!

Audra looked down to see she had stepped on Kon. The stuffed lion gave her a thumbs up when he said, "Nice angle!" He was obviously talking about what he saw under Audra's skirt.

Stella-

Sally had stuck a note on the fridge.

Dudette, your Irish friend turned up. I don't know where you are, so we've gone out. Soz mate... hope you're okay, wherever the hell you are. Sall.

Dammit! How could I have forgotten that?

Slightly depressed at the fact that my new friends had completely taken over my life, I showered, dressed, and went to meet Kestrel.

"Good morning," I said. "How are we today?"

"It's all good," she said smiling. "You?"

"My two best friends completely ditched me, which totally sucks. But on the bright side... myeh, whatever, my life has taken a dramatic turn, blah blah blah... I was going to set the two of them up anyway."

"That does suck," she agreed. "Should we go meet the others?"

"I suppose so... so you going to Uruhara again today?" I asked as we began walking down the corridor.

Kestrel

"If he'll have me," Kes replied. "I'll take all the training I can get!" Stella laughed lightly as she led the way down to Kai's room.

"Very determined, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically. Kestrel nodded, smiling happily as she resisted the urge to trail a hand across the wall and count the doors between the start of the corridor and Kai's room. She'd need to know soon enough if she could find it on her own but she didn't like making her handicap obvious.

"You should call Sally a little later and go meet up with her and your other friend. Have a fun day. I mean, there's always time for them to be alone together later, right?" Kestrel smiled again though this time it wasn't completely genuine as she thought about how few friends she actually had. Kai, Audra and Stella all seemed to view her as a 'new friend' but to Kestrel, they were her only friends. [i]Is it selfish to always expect them to spend time with me?[i] Kestrel wondered as Stella said 'That's a good idea,' and knocked on Kai's door.

From inside, there were shouts and the sound of something being thrown against a wall and then Kai's congratulations of 'Nice throw, that'll teach him' before the door was opened by Audra.

"Hey there, what's going on?" Stella asked.

"We're just teaching Kon some good manners," Audra replied, moving aside for them to enter the room.

"Hello," Kai greeted them, "What brings you here?"

"Just thought we'd come and see how Kon was settling in," Stella replied. Across the room, the teddy lion pulled himself to his feet and scowled.

"They're trying to kill me!" Kon declared moodily. "I want to stick with you two for the day!"

People! I'm going to Canada for two weeks on Friday! Would you mind looking after Stella for me in my absence? You don't have to do much with her, just make sure she doesn't you know, die... Please? You can pack her off for a holiday in Fiji for all I care, just that I can get back into it when I come home.

Stella-

I picked up the toy. "Oh, how can you say 'no' to such an adorable face?"

"Less of the 'adorable' please," he grumbled. I laughed.

"You know, I would totally look after you if you could learn to behave yourself in public. As in, generally teddies don't walk around or give me cheek."

He had no answer.

"Be good," I warned him, setting him down.

"Seriously, that thing's perverted," Kai said, eyeing the lion.

"Don't give him such a hard time, it's difficult to adjust," I said in my best 'teacher' voice. "So, are we fighting evil monsters today, or taking a break?" I asked.

I'll be going away pretty soon too but I shall look after your character during your first week of absence and then I'm sure the others can take care of both Kes and Stella =)

Kestrel

"You're taking a break, remember," Kestrel said pointedly, pulling herself out of her morose thoughts. "And I'm sure Kai and Audra wouldn't mind one too. We've all done a lot these last few days so I say we have a relaxing afternoon."

"Sounds good to me," Audra replied, "But who's going to look after Mr Teddy?" She climbed onto the bed and leaned back comfortably against Kai who smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

Kon scowled and stuck his little tongue out at her, folding two cute, fluffy paws across his chest.

"I can look after myself just fine!" Kon declared.

"No chance," Kai replied. "We'll have to take it in turns, let's draw straws. Shortest to longest decides the order."

"So shortest keeps him today and next shortest gets him tomorrow?" Kestrel asked, watching as Kai jumped off the bed and searched the room for something to use as straws.

"Exatly," he replied, "But we'll have to use pencils. There, these four are different lengths." Kai held the four yellow pencils out for everyone to see and then turned around. When he turned back, only the blunt ends of the pencils were showing, the rest covered by both his hands.

______________________________________
So who wants Mr Teddy for the day? I really don't mind either way, it's up to you guys...

(Canada? That's pretty cool. I myself am Canadian, I live in Hamilton or 'Steel City' as we like to call it.)

(I just got back from school with my final marks. I got 90 in college level math, 84 in art and 92 in animation which is the second highest mark in the class. My art teachers were so impressed with my improvement over the year that they gave me a giant paper pad that teaches you how to make your own comic book and four drawing pens. With the marks I got from last semeter's classes I'm betting I'm going to be graduating with honors!)

They drew the pencils and figured out the order. Kestrel would look after him today, then tomorrow it would be Stella's turn, then Kai, then Audra. "I guess I'll be watching him today," Kestrel said.

"Yay!" Kon jumped at Kestrel with sheer joy that he didn't have to spend the day with Kai. But when he jumped he was aiming for her chest. Stella caught him in mid-air before he could.

"Not so fast, little man," she said.

"That's right," Kai said. "If you try anything like what you did in the cafeteria yesterday I'll give you to Audra so she can give you a make-over."

Kon shuddered at the thought. He nodded and said, "Fine."

Stella turned to see a small T.V. on top of Kai's counter beside his mini fridge. She handed Kon to Kestrel before walking over to it. "I haven't seen the news yet this morning. Do you mind?"

"Go ahead," Kai said.

Stella turned it on and flipped through the channels, stopping once she found channel 3. "...This just in, the death of 45-year-old Harrison Ford has been confirmed when his body was discovered this morning by his next-door neighbours."

"Someone died?" Kestrel asked, a little shocked.

"That must suck," Stella said.

"Harrison Ford..." Kai thought for a moment. "That name is familiar."

The news report continued. "Mr. Ford taught math at a boarding school for over twenty years. He was also one of the victims of the shooting that took place in the same school only three years ago." A picture of the teacher appeared on the screen beside the reporter.

Kai gasped as he recognized the man. A memory shot through his mind like a dagger, he remembered Mr. Ford being shot in front of them before the shooter turned and shot Kai. He looked at Audra, he didn't need to tell her anything. Her expression showed quite clearly that she recognized the teacher, too.

"Among others during the shooting a total of three teachers and eight students were injured, including one eighteen-year-old boy who was hospitalized for three weeks after protecting his girlfriend by using his own body to shield her from a bullet. This death is one of many mysterious deaths, all of which were victims of this shooting." The reporter listed off the names of those who had died in the past few months, all of them had indeed been either shot or involved in the shooting three years ago. "Forensic scientists are currently debating the cause of these deaths as all the victims showed absolutely no abnormal symptoms before their deaths."

"The man responsible for the shooting three years ago was a man named Eric Fleming. After being subdued by local law enforcement he was deemed mentally unfit for mainstream society and was sentenced to five years of prison and therapy. Though three months into his sentence Mr. Fleming committed suicide." Kai got up off the bed and turned off the T.V. before he could hear anything else. Everyone was silent.

KAI! You cannot kill Harrison Ford!!!!!!!!! He's like, the love of my life! You can NOT do this to me!!!

Sorry. I watch vintage Star Wars too much.

Stella-

"I'm guessing that that report is something to do with you guys."

Kai nodded, once. I paused, not knowing what to say *except you know, beating my breast and pulling out my hair because Indy is dead!*.

"Mysterious deaths? Wonder what's causing them."

"Thanks, Stella, that's really reassuring," Kai said sarcastically.

"Sorry," I said with a shrug. "One of my friends is planning to go into forensics, it's all really interesting stuff. But I'm sure it's coincidence."

"What if it isn't though?" Audra asked quietly.

I didn't know what to say, again, and usually, I was never lost for words.

"Well, you're a death god thing. They can't die, can they?" I asked. "Can they?"

Kestrel

Kes held the teddy lion gently by the paw as she watched the flickering auras of her friends.

"This shouldn't change our plans," Kestrel said. "You three take it easy. Stella can go meet her friends and Kai and Audra can spend some time together, somewhere public. Then I'll go see Ichidan and find out if this Eric Fleming could be behind it. Then we can all meet at Urahara's tonight and decide what to do about it."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Kon asked. "I mean, don't take my opinion for it but I think you could do with a rest, why not let Kai and Audra do the research?" He patted Kestrel's arm cautiously and stopped when Audra and Kai frowned at him.

"No, no, I'd like to ask Ichidan a few questions anyway so I might as well go and like I said, we can all meet tonight and talk it through," Kestrel insisted. "I've got nothing else to do anyway and it beats staying in the dorm and I can find Ichidan much more easily than anyone else...."

It was decided, Kestrel would talk to Ichidan about what they had just hear on the news while the others would enjoy their time off. Stella went looking for her friends while Kai and Audra went to the arcade.

Before they had left though, Kai suggested Kestrel wear a backpack so she could carry Kon around without anyone getting suspicious. The mod-soul was, obviously, against the idea, which meant Kai insisted on the idea. Everyone else agreed that it was safer this way so Kestrel wore a backpack to carry around the toy.

As Kestrel searched for the former Death God she was surprised to find him sitting in a tree out in the courtyard. As she got closer she noticed from the shape of his aura that he was texting on his cell phone. She called up to him, "Ichidan, what are you doing up there?"

The Death God closed his phone and slid off the branch to land beside her. "I was checking to see if any new orders came in this morning."

"Did they?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Looks like we've got some time to relax. So, how's Kon doing?"

The stuffed lion in question started rummaging around in Kestrel's backpack before unzipping it and poking his head out. "I can't breathe in there!"

"Keep your head down!" Kestrel said as she pushed him back in. He made a squeak when she forced him back in. She zipped her backpack up again but made sure to leave some of it open so Kon could get some air, although why a stuffed toy would need air she couldn't understand.

"I see even you've already started torturing him," Ichidan said with a smile.

"I'm trying not to, we just decided it was safer this way. I actually wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Kestrel explained everything she had heard on the news report, even the part when the reporter said Eric Fleming committed suicide three months into his sentence. "Do you think there's any connection?"

Ichidan rubbed his chin for a moment in contemplation. "It's been three years since he committed suicide, and if he was that mentally unstable it's possible he changed into a Hollow."

"But why would he go after everyone involved in the shooting?"

"Usually the first people Hollows go after once they've changed are people they knew during their life. In this case he's probably going after the people he wasn't able to kill while he was alive."

"Do you think he might come after Kai and Audra next?" she asked.

"It's possible," Ichidan told her, "but these deaths all happened in the city where the shooting originally took place. If the Hollow had kill that teacher this morning he would have to come all the way over to Toronto before he could get to Kai and Audra. But don't worry about it, if he does get close Soul Society will notify me immediately. Although it might have been a better idea to leave Kon with Kai so he could transform into a Death God if the need did arise."

(Hey kitty, do you want Kestrel to fall in love later in the story?)

So, can anyone post something? I know Ayumi may be out of commission for a bit because of her arm and Stella's going to Canada. Will you be able to post something before you leave for your trip, kitty?