Of Death and Demons

Chapter 9- Edge Of Insanity

Classes were boring, again. And of course, a class with Rin was anything but boring. We entered a large empty concrete room to find another class there.

"Ah, you're Shinigami's class. Come on in." The speaker was a man in his late twenties, with a gun strapped to his side. "I'm Takami, another first year teacher. Now, it seems we just have to wait for Shinigami." he said.

He smiled but it didn't match his eyes. They were cold and calculating, and sizing us up. Rin walked in and looked at everyone.

"Shall we start?" he asked Takami, who nodded.

Rin walked in front of both classes and started to explain.

"Today, we are testing battle skills. Every year Takami and I hold a competition on who train their students better. One from my class versus one from Takami's. This year it's Takami's choice. Take your pick." he said. He stepped to the side for Takami.

"Keigo! Meet my best student, Shinigami." An angry but otherwise plain looking guy moved away from his class. "Shinigami, you know what student of yours I'm going to pick. Let's see if she's truly as powerful as you saw see is."

"No, I cannot permit that. She's in an unstable state. You'll be risking your student's life." Rin protested.

"My choice, Shinigami."

Rin sighed and said, "Misaki, go."

Me? I took off the sword on my shoulder and went to the center of the room.

I took my stance and Keigo did the same. I carefully examined his sword. His was a more medieval style opposed to my katana style. His was meant for power while mine was for speed. I lunged at him and feigned to the right. But as I moved to the left, his blade smacked into my ribs. I rolled to the side and took stance again. He came at me this time and I prepared to dodge. However, he was faster than I expected, barely leaving me time to jump back. His blade grazed my cheek. I felt a trickle of blood come down my cheek. I feigned to the right again but as he went left, I kept going to the right. I cut his arm, his sword arm. I dodged out of reach of his blade. I touched the blood on my cheek and looked at it. Then I looked at the boy kneeling on the ground holding his arm. There was a small pool of blood under his arm. Something inside me stirred, feeling joy at the sight of blood. And it craved more. I tried to fight it but it took over. A strange purple aura surrounded me as I lunged at the downed enemy. He managed to block me at the last second. I twisted my blade, pulling the sword out of his hand. It clattered to the ground far out of reach. I jumped back trying to stop. But the thing inside did not want to give up. It wanted more blood and fighting. It took over again, causing me to lunge at Keigo. He had just gotten to his feet, still holding his bleeding arm. A dark laugh escaped my lips as I swung down on the unarmed Keigo.

My sword clashed against the handle of Rin's scythe. The shock of attacking Rin let me take control again. I jumped back in horror. The aura disappeared. Everyone stared at me in shock. I sank to me knees, struggling to understand what just happened. Rin came over next to me.

"Misaki, it's alright. It's not a serious wound, and I promise I will explain this." he said.

"Do you really promise, Rin? You realize that'll put your head on the chopping block, right?" a voice said. Rin became extremely tense. "Oh my, I didn't realize she was so cute. I think I'll keep her for awhile before I complete my mission."

"Takami, take your class and get out of here. Leave my class, they deserve to know." Rin said urgently.

I looked at who had entered the room and was surprised. It looked like a slightly older Rin with a seven foot scythe. Takami took Keigo and his class and left.