Terry was in her senior year. It was his last year at a regular high school before he would enter his next phase of life as a student. But his school life would be different from everyone else’s. Everyone would be applying to colleges while he would be preparing to go to a very different place.

 

….

 

“You’ve got nowhere to hide little boy.” said a creepy looking monster.

 

“Why would I hide from you?” the boy replied

 

“You’ve been running from me this whole time.” The thing chuckled

 

“But that’s because I wanted to steer you away from the neighborhood back there. That place is full of innocent people. I couldn’t let you hurt them much less reveal your presence.”

 

“You mean-?” the monster said stepping back

 

“Yes. I’m a Death Meister and I’m here to seek your soul!” the boy shouted

 

The monster faltered. Then looked straight at her.

 

“Ha! Even if you are a Death Meister, there’s no way you can beat me!” the monster laughed. “Do you have any idea how many souls I’ve consumed?”

 

The boy glared at the monster.

 

“We’ll see about that.” he said

 

“Maru!” the boy shouted

 

Another boy around the same age as the boy appeared. He wore a white collared shirt with a black vest, black jeans, and sneakers. He had black hair that was spiked up and slightly slanted to the side.

 

“What’s this? Is that your boyfriend?” the monster snickered

 

“No. He’s my weapon!”

 

The boy reached out and he grabbed his hand. At once the spiky haired boy turned into a black ninja straight blade

“Come and get it you freak!” he shouted.

 

The monster ran straight towards him and swung its fist. He jumped up and dodged it. He swung again and the boy dodged again.

 

“You can’t keep dodging.” It laughed

 

“No. But I can attack.” He said

 

“Let’s see you try. Swing Stri-“

 

“TOO SLOW!”

 

The boy jumped up and swung her blade. He landed on his feet and smirked without looking back.

 

“WHY YOU I-I”

The monster disappeared and in its place was a floating red soul.

 

“Hey Terry. You didn’t get hurt did you?” The blade Maru said.

 

“No. I’m fine. C’mon. We have to destroy this soul before it attracts more monsters.”

 

Maru transformed back into his human form and grabbed the soul. He stared it for a long second and crushed it. The soul disappeared and the little particles were absorbed by Maru.

 

“How are you feeling?” the boy asked

 

“Well. Now I’m not as tired as before.” Maru chuckled.

 

“Good job.”  he said giving Maru a high five.

 

“No. We did a good job.” Maru smirked.

 

“Alright. Let’s go.” the boy said.

 

“Where to?” Maru said

 

“Home. I gotta rest up.” He said putting his hands behind his head as he started walking away.

 

“It’s my first day back at school tomorrow.” he said

 

“School huh? That place you went to all the time before you were a Death Meister.”

THE STORY BEFORE THE STORY

 

Terry was an ordinary high school girl. His grades weren’t top of the class, he was an athlete, he was president of her school dance club, so he pretty much lived a normal teenage life. But he was bored with it. He argued with his mother a lot and ended up going out a lot during the summer. But on one particular day in the summer, he found a black ninja blade lying in an alley. He wondered what a ninja blade was doing on the street. What was it even doing in this city? He picked it up and felt a shock run through him. She yelped and dropped it out of pain. He grabbed his hand and stared at the blade for another minute before he picked it up again and wiped the dirt and grime off of it. He knew that his mother wouldn’t be too happy if he brought back a ninja blade. So he put the blade back in the alley in a box so it wouldn’t get dirty again. 

 

A few days later, he came across a bunch of big bad looking dudes about to beat up a boy. The boy was dressed nicely and had his hair spiked up. The men had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. The boy just glared at the men.

 

Terry was astounded and mad. He was astounded that the boy was not scared but he was mad because the boy was being dumb.

 

“Why are you smiling kid?” The man grabbing his shirt said.

 

“You’re ruining my shirt.” He said still glaring at him. “This shirt definitely costs more than what you and your friends are wearing all together.”

 

“WHY YOU!”

 

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Terry shouted

 

He was shocked at himself. What was he doing standing up to these men? He knew his sense of justice was far greater than most people but he usually wouldn’t get involved in these kinds of situations.

 

“What are you gonna do about what we’re doing?” One of the men laughed.

 

He ran towards them and started swinging at them. The man dropped the boy and tried to stop him. Terry managed to knock out the air of some of them. But he couldn’t take all of them down. A man had punched him. He flew back. He got up and ran at them again. He had learned karate when he was 5 but he stopped when he turned 13. It had been almost four years since he had stopped learning. He tried to remember what he learned but could not move in time. Another man slugged him in the stomach. He coughed up blood and was about to get up when a hand was put on his shoulder.

 

“Why are you protecting me?”

 

It was the boy.

“You don’t know who I am. I might have done something terrible to them and you may be protecting the wrong person. You’re here struggling to make them back off yet you don’t know why you’re trying to stop them. Don’t be dumb. This isn’t a place for a kid.”

 

Terry said nothing for a minute. Then he looked at him in the eyes.

 

“I may not know who you are but I will not stand by and watch anyone get hurt. I’d rather be the one to be hurt. And don’t look down on me because I’m a kid because you're one too. It’s not like you did anything super cool. I’m going to take down these guys and you’re gonna thank me.” He said.

 

“Heh. I admire your guts. Whaddaya say I put in a little effort now. I think I wouldn’t mind getting my shirt dirty for you. After all this is your second time taking care of me.” He said smirking

 

“W-What? I’ve never even seen you before.” Terry said

 

“Hey what are you two talking about over there?” one the men said moving closer. “Want me to shut you both up?”

 

“I’ve never met you before. How could I have taken care of you?” Terry said confused.

 

“Think again.” The boy said grabbing Terry's hand.

 

All at once, he felt the same shock he felt a few days back. He felt energy running through his body. His adrenaline was rushing. There was a surge of power that was running through his body. All of a sudden, the hand that he was holding had turned into a hilt. He was now holding the black ninja blade he had picked up on the street.

 

Can you hear me?

 

“W-What? I don’t understand.”

 

I’ll explain later. First let’s get rid of these guys.

 

“You want me to kill them?!” He shouted

 

No. Concentrate. What do you see?

 

“I see red fire balls.”

 

I’m guessing that I’ll have to at least explain that they’re not human for you to kill them.

 

“WHAT? How are they not human? Look at them!”

 

No. They’re disguised as humans. They were after me because they wanted to take my power.

 

“How can I trust you? You’re not human either I’m guessing.”

 

You can choose not to trust me. But you’ll regret it if you don’t.

 

The “men” were now coming closer. All of a sudden they turned into monsters for an instant.

 

He gasped.

 

I’m guessing you saw. Now hurry. Take them out!

 

The “men” were now swinging punches at him. As if he had done it her whole life, he dodged all the punches and struck all of them.

 

All of them fell to the ground and turned into the weird fireballs.

 

He looked at the blade he was holding.

 

“What have I done? I’ve completely ignored my morals and KILLED PEOPLE!” Terry said shivering with fright.

 

You’ve done nothing wrong. If you hadn’t come along, I would have been stripped of my powers and they would have turned into something worse and most likely would have destroyed your city.

 

“I don’t understand.”

 

You will soon.

 

The blade turned back into a boy. The boy crushed the fireball in his hands and turned back to Terry.

 

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Maru. Your new weapon.”