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Kira sat atop one of the city's many high rise buildings looking out towards the setting sun. Her scythe draped over her shoulder, its long curved blade glinting in the orange-red light of sun set.

"James."

The silver-hair reaper called over her shoulder with her new-found comanding voice; vibrant blue eyes stared hard at the air vent that hid the boy from her view.

"James!"

She called a little louder and the sound of stumbling answered her along with a string of mild curses.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I heard you. Jesus Christ it's hard to switch from one appearance to another!"

A tall, dark teenager appeared from behind the vent in his casual dress of a long t-shirt and baggy jeans. Barely nineteen, James became a reaper after he was shot and killed during a tousle over territory between two rival gangs. He had survived the first bullet to the chest, but the second one to the head was what did him in, yet as the older reaper looked upon the newbie she saw no evidence that he was gunned down, just like her, the Reaper healed his wounds and gave him the option of burning in Hell or becoming a reaper.

"If you weren't so rebellious I might actually give a crap, but since I'm not happy, shut up and let's go; our shift is going to start soon."

She always found it strange how reapers clung so desperately to the human side of themselves, their former lives and tried to incorporate it in everything they did using terms like "work", "shifts", "job" to describe what they did, yet their career was far from normal. Just like Kira was under the direction of Rihannon a much older and wiser reaper, James was the apprentice of a reaper who perferred to be known as The Englishman. While Kira knew all the ropes and her instructor had all but abandoned her, the young reaper before her was just that: young, inexperienced, new to the job.

The Englishman may have been his mentor, but the Grim Reaper (Mr. Head Honcho himself) had instructed Kira to "supervise" the teenager while he was working, show him the ropes and all that jazz. She figured the Reaper felt that James would feel more comfortable working with someone who was new like him too. She may have been working at this job for ten years, but in this gruesome world she was now a part of, experience came when the number of years worked reached triple digits.

"You're pretty a**l tonight; whatever happened to 'taking things at a reasonable pace'?"

She rose to her feet and spread her black feathered wings; even at full height the teen was still taller than her, but she had intimidating eyes to make up for that.

"Hurry up and get into your uniform; your first job is about to start."

Once again was the use of human terms like "uniform" to describe their own unique attire; her own wardrobe consisted of a black, ripped corset dress that showed way too much of her leg for her liking, (but it wasn't as if she had much of a say anymore) a pair of raven black wings, and long silver hair pulled back into a pony tail. Her scythe was light weight, black with intricate ancient carvings on it and on her face, just like all the other reapers working under Mr. Tall, Dark and Scary (a.k.a. the Grim Reaper), starting from the lower cheek and disappearing beneath the jawline was a set of black triangular tattoos which looked more like scars than markings of ownership.

James had a set of these markings too, but it was so hard to tell with his dark skin; he stepped to the ledge where she was, standing by her side, tall and daunting, but still with an innocent and boyish gleam. Resting on his shoulder was his own personalized scythe; his matched the same skin tone and texture of his uniform, a dark crimson, tough as aged leather, rough, yet smooth like reptiles' skin. Kira was under the impression that the Reaper had a morbid sense of humor for when he made James's uniform, he had an almost identical appearance to the demon living in the mines from the first movie of Lord of the Rings.

"Come on."

She urged and he gave her a rather smug look before closing his eyes picturing his reaper form, locking the image in his mind as his body began to change. It was hard to concentrate when he felt his flesh contort and change to something unfamiliar, but he held on long enough so that he made a full transition on his first try. Now an ungodly eight and a half feet tall in a body that resembled little of his human form; with a long, thick tail, scaly wings, ram-like horns, and four ghoulish fingers the only human thing about him was how he stood, on his hind legs with a human-like torso, too long arms resting at his sides, gripping the redicuously long scythe.

"About time."

She said no longer disturbed by his appearance, the monster made an attempt to smirk, but it was rather difficult.

"What can I say? I like to take things slow, at a easy pace."

His voice matched his demonic look, but she still detected the layer of James beneath it. Rolling her eyes the blue eyed woman stepped up to the edge of the building and leapt off, spreading her wings, she flew above the concrete buildings to their destination.

"Who is it tonight?"

The teen asked in a voice that when spoken from behind sent an involentary shiver down her spine, but like hell was she ever going to show it.

"It's a rogue soul. One that managed to get away the first time we tried to get him; his name's Carl Henry Goldston, since he's close by the notebook glows and illuminates his name."

Something felt different this time, the air had a lightness to it, a kind of purity she was unfamiliar with; being a creature of the darkness this lightness made her very uncomfortable. Spoting the rogue soul Kira signaled James to split up and silently swoop down to the back alley where Carl rested from constantly running. They landed near the corner so that they would have the element of surprise, but as they rounded the corner a bright white light filled the dark and filthy alley.

"What the f-"

James began to say as he approached, but Kira shot her scythe out to stop him dead and slowly backed away for the light burned them both.

"Shut up and stay back. I'm going to check it out."

She ordered and quickly slipped into the lighted alley, taking cover in the shade from the dumpster; clamping a firm hand over her mouth to keep from screaming out from the pain. Peeking over the edge of the dumpster her worst fears were realized; it was an angel. Even at the distance that she was, she could still hear his soothing and sweet melody of a voice taking to the lost soul and with a simple touch he sent Carl Henry Goldston up to Heaven. Looking down at her notebook in disbelief she saw the Carl's name slowly fade until the ink was gone.

The angel then turned to her, he detected her presence as a dark spot in his pure light. He smiled lightly, kindly and she narrowed her eyes at him. Seeing no point in hiding anymore, she straightened up and hesitantly stepped out into the openess of the alley. The angel in response dropped his vibrant light so that she was no longer in pain, but still captivated by his purity, his wholeness that she no longer had. His aura was so strong compared to hers, in order to stand up with some dignity she had to release some of her own dark power so she could feel comfortable.

"Why hello young reaper, I'm sorry, but that man is out of your reach, what you planned for him was not your descision to make; he deserves forgiveness, not damnation."

She tried to fight his voice, but it was made to draw people in, it had such a soft sound to it reminding her of all things good, but she had been warned of this so his spell would not work on her.

"It's my job, not for an angel like you to decide! What is with you?! Why aren't you trying to fight me? We're ememies so draw your sword!"

She raised her scythe, but the angel did nothing but smile even wider and give her a polite bow like a gentleman would do to a young woman.

"I'm not sure, it is procedure that should I encounter a reaper that I engage in battle, but I have not the fighting spirit you so adamantly possess."

He stepped towards her and she raised her weapon up in preparation, but he lifted his hands in a form of surrender, that smile never leaving his features. He kept coming closer and she didn't know what to do; he wasn't doing anything threatening and she firmly believed it was wrong to attack someone unarmed and unprepared. With him never slowing his pace as he drew closer, she backed away until she was against the wall; the reaper thought of disappearing into the brick wall and getting the hell out of there, but there was something in his eyes that kept her from moving once she hit the wall.

"If you're not going to fight me then what the hell are you doing?!"

His hand came up and she shut her eyes tightly, gripping her scythe tightly when she felt a soft, warm hand caress the side of her face; the touch was gentle, kind... caring. Deep blue eyes met the golden ones of the angel, confusion and shock swirled into an unfamiliar brew deep within her.

"I can save you."

He said with more levels of honesty and sincerity than those that could be found in a human; he eyes widened at his statement.

"I can free you from this."

Her heart slammed out of control from his words; what was he saying? He could save her? She wouldn't have to kill anymore? Opening her mouth she was trying to say something when the angel flew away from her and right where he stool and dark red scythe swung down and buried itself deeply into the asphalt.

"Kira! You okay?!"

It was James, he finally got enough nerve to take on the pure being while its defenses were down; the angel looked at James who was so new he could still see the remants of his soul that were unaffected by the transition from human to reaper, but new reapers were unpredictable in their fighting, the angel wouldn't dare try to take on this monster of a being. keeping a safe distance he flared out his white aura and James reeled and howled in pain, quickly backing off, but Kira remained frozen where she was. He looked upon her with that same smile coming back to his lips; bowing once more.

"My name in Cain if you were curious. It was a pleasure meeting you... Kira."

The way he said her name had heat unexpectedly poo,ling deep in her gut; but in a flash he was gone and darkness over took the alley once more. Tearing herself away from the wall she went to check on the teen whom had switched back to his human form; on the floor and curled up in a little ball, the reaper clutched his face which slowly began to heal itself from the burns.

"I think you just learned a valuable lesson here."

She said finally getting her voice back, the boy looked up and her with a cruel glare.

"Oh yeah? Please doin't keep me in suspense, you know how I always fawn over lessions like these."

He said with bitter sarcasm; the female reaper carefully, yet roughly helped him to his feet and took to the air.

"There are only two things that can harm or kill a reaper: other reapers and angels."