A/N: Enjoy lovelies!!!
Mari woke up to Kidd lightly shaking her shoulder. "Mari... Time to get up."
Mari sat up quickly and her head rushed. She held it as a headach began to pound her temples. She looked over at Kidd, flinching a little. "Oww." She said.
He smiled and straightened. She looked him up and down, already in his clothes. She looked down at herself, in his clothing. "Uhm." She said and laughed. "Could you..."
Kidd held up a stack of clothing, a small masked-shaped thing on top. "What's this?" She asked, holding up the mask.
Kidd looked uncomfortable. "It's an Eat Mask." He said simply. Mari looked at him questioningly. He smiled a little. "It's if an academy student is though to have been infected with madness or... maybe commits an act against the rules, they have to an Eat Mask." He looked to the side.
Mari nodded, not minding for some reason. "Okay." She had remembered seeing a few people around the academy wearing masks that had looked similar. They had seamed odd to her. Not apart of the school almost. Once, in the first week she had been there, she had bumped into a small girl wearing an Eat Mask, and the little girl had looked up at her with glowing red eyes. Mari took the clothing and went into the bathroom. She changed into the clothing and slipped on the shoes. She brushed out her hair and tied them into pigtails. She walked out of the bathroom, holding the eat mask in her hand.
She looked at it as she held it up. It was black with white writing. It was simple leather with the big letters EAT across it. She tied it on at Kidd's nod and pulled her hair out of the strings. She looked in the mirror and flinched a little at her reflection. The mask didn't help the way her cheeks were sunken from blood loss and the bruises painting her arms and neck. She sighed and touched one bruise on her cheekbone, her hand brushing the soft leather of the mask.
"Okay." She said. She reached her arms up, noticing how much longer her hair had become. She looked down at the hem of her shirt and saw how it rode up when she moved her arms and pulled it down. She had seen the tattoos when her shirt came up. Everyone would be able to see them.
Kidd blushed. "I can grab you a different shirt if you want." He said.
Mari shook her head. "It's okay." She hated it, but to be honest, she had liked the way the red dye appeared on her now smooth skin. The skin around the tattoos was perfect, showing no scars. She had also noticed how much faster her bruises had healed. They were only pale red marks now. She grabbed Kidd's arm after putting on the black jacket he held out. "Let's go." She said.
They were walking to school with Liz and Patty when Mari noticed some people staring at her on the streets, holding their kids hands tighter, and walking faster. "Kidd?" she asked and he looked over at her. "Do people in death city know what the Eat Masks mean?"
Kidd nodded. "Yes. They do." He held her arm tighter as they saw a few teenaged boys in an ally, one lifting a stone with a look of hate on his face. "Come on." Kidd said, pulling Mari along and looking at Liz and Patty.
"Who was that?" Mari asked.
Kidd looked over at her. "It was an academy student."
Mari blinked. "But he looked sort of... evil."
Kidd nodded. "His name is Leo Deatsing. His family has been going to the academy for generations now, a long line of meisters."
Mari's eyes flickered back to look at the boy and their eyes met. He held the stone in one hand, fingering the rough surface. Mari's eyes widened as Leo pointed at her, anger streaking his face. But also another look of something else.
Kidd looked at Mari staring back at Leo. "His family is famous for their ability to resonate souls. They way they fight is they'll have their weapon and then they start singing. But they resonate with their enemy as well. They almost... "sift" through their enemies memories until they find a weakness they can exploit and use against them. They bend the memory and turn it into a thought of death and agony, then they kill their enemy with their weapon."
Mari squeezed Kidd's arm a little. "That's scary."
Kidd nodded. "And that's how they developed their last and nickname. Deatsing, is also Death Singer. We call anyone from their family who fights like that a Death Singer.
Mari shivered a little. "That's sort of cool though." She said.
Kidd looked down at her. "They basically sing anyone they hate to sleep to the point of death and you think it's, cool?!" Kidd hit his face with his hand as they continued walking. Mari, Liz and Patty started laughing.
The reached the steps at about six thirty and started walking up them in the early morning cold. Mari snuggled into the jacket, thankful for its warmth.
When they got to the top, there was a bunch of people gathered. Mari, Kidd, Liz and Patty halted as they saw some academy students, a teacher, and Leo and his people.
When Leo saw Mari, his face almost lit up with anger and excitement at the same time. "Mari Eat Ikiru!" He said.
Mari flinched at the Eat that was now in her name, probably complementary to the mask. "Yes?" She asked.
Leo smiled and held out his hand though they weren't at least ten feet away from each other. "I wanted to introduce myself properly. I'm Leo Deatsing, second son of Nicolai Deatsing, and Angela Deatsing. I was trained to use my power when I was three." He smiled with perfect white teeth. "I do believe you know my father. He is your and your boyfriend's... how should I put it... Therapist?"
Mari's eyes grew wide and her muscles clenched up at the mention of the man. Now he had a name. Nicolai. Mari stepped away from Kidd and walked until she was five feet away from Leo. But before she could get to him, a wall of girls and boys were between her and her target, all holding sharp looking weapons, all pointed at her.
She could feel the anger down to her fingertips but she controlled herself. "Mari Eat Ikiru, the only daughter of James Ikiru, and Aya Ikiru, both deceased. My mother died when I was five, and when I was eleven, my father locked me in our house and never let me leave. Even to go to school. He died a couple of weeks ago."
The boy looked at her through the wall of people. "Stand down." He whispered and all the people separating them seemed to almost disappear. He walked up to her and grabbed her chin with his hand, tilting it up to look into her eyes, wearing an expression his dad might wear. "Such pretty broken eyes..." He said, lost in their blue color. Mari stood there and looked straight back at him.
Kidd walked up behind her and reached out a hand to grab Leo, but Mari held up a hand. "It's okay Kidd." She said. Kidd stepped away, mistrust on his face as Leo continued staring into her eyes.
"Such pretty... broken eyes." Leo said again. Suddenly, his soul slammed into her and she gasped as he started resonating with her. She clenched her teeth and looked him in the eye.
A flicker of surprise flashed across his face as she started resonating with him. He smiled and their souls seemed to flicker around them. They were both dark and evil looking.
His was blue like any other human soul, but there was jagged music notes sticking out of it and it was ten feet tall and enveloped both of them.
Mari's was blue also, but it seemed to flicker with red light every few seconds. There was also three, big keshin eyes that looked like the pupils were moving around, searching. Hers was the same size and it lined up with Leo's, creating a soul barrier out of some nightmare.
Suddenly, the sound of the outside world was cut off and the shapes outside faded a little until Mari couldn't make out the details. Leo sighed and his grip on Mari's chin loosened. "I'm sorry I looked so mean." He said. He smiled at her. "I was trying to seem tough cause that's all people know me as."
Mari's face was blank for a second, they she started laughing a little. "Why would you pretend to be someone your not? Isn't that silly?"
He looked around at their combined soul. "Yeah..." he said. Mari glanced up at his face and noticed he had a nice smile and she couldn't held but adore the way his short blonde hair fell. "Well... I want to seem tough so I can get a good weapon. I've been going to this school for a few years and I don't a have an official weapon yet. No one can resonate long enough for my special trick to work.
Mari smiled, forgetting he couldn't see it through her mask. "Well maybe that's why you can't get a weapon."
His face was blank for a second, then he face palmed. "I never thought about that! Dang it!" They both laughed for a second, then he looked around at "their" soul. "I looked you up in the school records." He blushed a little. "When I was reading about you, I started realizing how strong you were. I asked my father about you and he said you were strong." He looked to the side. "My father is a bad man. Not all the time... but he's bad. I'm nothing like him. I promise." Mari nodded a little, believing him. "I instantly wanted you as my partner."
Mari fidgeted a little. "I... think I have a partner though..." she said.
Leo looked her collarbone where the tip of one of the keshin eyes was peaking from under her shirt. "Amme..." he said and Mari nodded. "She has a new partner I think..."
Mari jerked. "Wh-what?" she asked, her chest squeezing tight.
Leo looked her in the eye. "I... think his name is Sora."
Mari died a little more inside but she knew it was true, remembering her telling Amme in her crazed state how she didn't want to be partners anymore. "Okay." Mari said and Leo's eyes lit up.
"Really?" he said as if he had just got a puppy. "We're going to be partners?"
Mari nodded. "But I have one rule." She said and Leo looked at her.
"What's that?" He asked.
"You have to act like yourself." She said.
He nodded. "Fine. Deal." He looked at her and bit his lip. "Also... I have a mental disorder... thought you just might want to know..."
Mari laughed. "All the more interesting person!"
He smiled. "You're the first person that's said that to me..."
The soul barrier shattered around them and Mari looked around. All of Mari's friends were here now and everyone was in a fighting stance or in weapon form. "Mari!" Kidd called, Liz and Patty in his hands.
Mari held up one hand. "Kidd-"
His eyes flashed with anger when he saw Leo so close to Mari and Liz and Patty began to turn into their death cannon form, pointed at Leo. "Move Mari!" Kidd yelled and everyone behind Mari and Leo got away as fast as they could.
"Kidd! Stop!" Mari yelled as Liz and Patty started telling him the resonance rate and noise level. "KIDD!" She yelled.
"Ready to fire." Patty said.
Mari: OMG OMG OMG OMG THIS SUCKED SO BADDD!!! III'MMM SOORRRRYYYYY!!!!! I NEEE IDEEAAASSS!!! PLEEAASSEEEE!!!! *CRYING BLOOD* HEEELLLLLPPPP MEEEEEE BBAAEEEEESSS!!!
*Takes breath* THANK YOU FOR ALL THE FOLLOWS AND READSSSS!!!!!!