Problematic: Chapter 5

Grell swore, loudly.

It came so suddenly from his rouge lips that William titled his head in mild surprise towards the redhead, unsure of what to think of his interesting choice of words.

"Calm down, we can do this." William muttered to Grell, summoning the recruit scythe and trying to steady the unfamiliar grip in his hands. Next to him, Grell nearly exploded in a mixture of fear and anger.

"We can do this? Are you seeing what I'm seeing, dear William? I'm seeing a Demon and two new recruits, not even out of the Academy, who haven't reached their peak strength yet and are armed with only practice scythes that can break as easily as a biscuit."

"Sometimes, Sutcliff, it doesn't hurt to be optimistic."

"Ha, says the pessimist." Grell scoffed, summoning his own scythe and shaking his head. "We're doomed… I do hope this will end with at least a little bit of drama. I'll guard the girl's soul until she dies; you distract the demon." William nodded at Grell's words, a feeling of dread sinking into his stomach as he took a graceful leap from the top of the barn. His feet made no sound as they landed on the grassy field, and he glimpsed Grell jump down into the barn itself from a hole in the roof.

The crimson eyes of the demon followed William, as it perceived him as the most obvious threat. William quickly found himself wishing he'd let Grell do the distracting; the gender-confused redhead was considerably stronger than William, and could probably last a lot longer than he could.

William wasn't too sure how guarded he should be until he saw the demon, but quickly regretted not being instantly alert as, quicker than he could blink, the demon was in front of him and attacking. William brought the scythe up quickly, parrying a sharp blow from the pale hand with the tip of the scythe. Oddly, it cut skin, but the recoil from connecting with the hand sent a shudder through William and made him stumble. The demon seemed momentarily distracted by the speed of William's blocking, and William responded accordingly with a well aimed kick to the abdomen. Peak strength be damned, he was stronger than an average human and he'd use it to his advantage. William shifted his stance, scythe held securely by his side with the tip towards the ground, one hand out to block any major attacks.

Adrenaline kicked through his body as the demon made towards him again, attempting to come up behind him and attempt to snap his neck; he could still be killed from extreme assaults, after all, until his body properly shifted into the change of a Shinigami. The end of the scythe spun around before William did properly, knocking hard at the legs of the demon and ripping at dark shadows that coiled around the demon. A feral growl escaped the throat of the demon, and William didn't need to hear it or see the glint in the demons eye to know it had started to get serious. Where the demon had been going easy to play a game with his opponent, he now knew that the Shinigami recruit was going to make the fight as hard as he could.

For the moment, William had the advantage.

The demon didn't know William's fighting tactics, nor the full strength of the Shinigami; William knew the full strength that demons could be capable of, and was more careful than the demon.

He kicked and jabbed with the scythe, slowly but effectively blocking the demon and moving him further away from the barn. Both were quick, moving so fast that the average human would have difficultly focusing on the two of them as they fought. William sustained bruises where bones should have broken on the normal human, grazes where there should have been deep cuts and a growing hatred of demons as the one fighting him quickly learned William's way of fighting and started to use it against him.

But he could do it; William pressed on, blocking a blow meant to swipe his feet out from under him and feeling confidence start to sweep inside him and make him feel he could turn the battle in his favour…

Until a blow from the demon snapped his scythe clean in two.


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Grell paced before the young girl, waiting for her to die so he could go outside and help William. For all he knew, his academy partner could be getting skewered as he waited, and his only way of knowing would be the few seconds after the sounds of fighting stopped and an angry demon would then descend on him.

The girl on the floor whimpered, going for his legs a second time and clinging to one of them desperately.

"Please help me, sir, I'll do anything. I'll become your servant; I'll give you half my father's cows, sheep, and anything you want. Just please don't let me die." The girl was sobbing her heart out, but Grell only shook her off his leg with the slightest pang of sympathy. Girls like her, they'd been the reason he'd been murdered; she was supposed to be dead already, wasn't she? Grell scoffed, looking at the book in his hand before realising he'd have to kill her himself if he wanted to have any chance of saving William. It would be going against every rule in the book; Shinigami collected souls, and hardly ever outright killed a dying person. They had to wait; interference was not a thought that was encouraged. But the excitement and alarm was fighting that.

Shrugging at his internal voice, Grell slit her throat with the scythe and snipped her soul.

He didn't even watch the cinematic record; he could see flashes of it and it mainly consisted of farm life. He judged it quickly, tucking the book under his arm and kicking the barn doors open with enough force to draw the attention of the demon.

He did it just in time, it seemed, as the demon was leaning over a beaten and physically exhausted William and was seemingly ready to finish him off. Grell gave a manic giggle that made the demon pause and gave William a chance to move away. In a speed that would put a demon to shame, Grell moved to stand in front of William and gave the demon a once over.

"Ooh, just look at those muscles! Guys like you just send shivers down my spine. I'd just love to have a riveting conversation with you!" Grell gave a dramatic shudder and allowed his eyes to wander down over the demon. The demon recoiled in disgust, and Grell gave him a toothy grin. He meant nothing by it, but time was golden and his only distraction was suggestive sentences. His eyes flashed at the double noises of disgust; one from the demon and one from William. The dark haired Shinigami stood up and limped to the side, spitting blood onto the floor and watching as Grell attacked quite suddenly.

The demon honestly didn't see it coming; Grell's movements were much quicker and stronger than William's had been, and it completely threw the demon off guard. The demon lashed out with a kick; Grell jumped and used the outstretched leg as a perch to leap into the air and bring his scythe down hard onto the demon. He moved last minute, but Grell's scythe combined with his momentum and strength had cut through demon skin and bone and completely severed the arm of the demon from the elbow down.

William had to resist the urge to cringe as he picked up the forearm and hand and flung it into the barn which they were steadily approaching. He threw in a few hits where he could, but Grell was content to fight to his hearts content, and he seemed to be winning. Grell had managed to back the demon into the barn in mere minutes. His attacks, although random and not thought out, were unexpected and hard. A well placed kick with Grell's heels sent the demon flying towards one wall, and William knew that had Grell been at his peak strength, the demon would have crashed right through it. As it were, the demon merely splintered most of the wood, and stood up carefully with half the skin on his back ripped apart.

"I thought you were supposed to be a challenge! Oh how I hate a man I can't chase properly!" Grell blew him a kiss before moving swiftly back in front of the demon and lifting a leg to kick the demon across the face.

The demon caught Grell's leg with his only hand and stopped him, the momentum meaning nothing to the demon as he pushed Grell back across the room. William stepped in before the demon could destroy the stunned Grell, and attacked slowly. He was still exhausted, and suspected that several ribs had broken. Before he could get injured, he heard Grell's voice from across the barn.

"Oh how convenient; move Will~" William did, just in time to see a lantern race above his head and collide with the demon's clothing. The demon became drenched in liquid, and William turned quickly to watch Grell.

The redhead took one of the splintered planks of wood and dragged it harshly across the wall of the barn, the strength and speed of the friction and movement setting the end of the wood on fire. A wicked, manic laugh left through the Shinigami's lips before he swung it directly towards the demon's head.

The entire thing happened in less than five seconds. The demon set on fire, and Grell pushed him into the hay with the end of his intact scythe before moving backwards. The flames rose quickly, and the two Shinigami decided to quickly leave the barn before they become engulfed in the rising flames.

"We need to leave; it won't die from a simple fire." William warned, but Grell had started to sway, a grin still on his face.

"That was fun, Will. I don't understand why the Academy won't let us fight demons regularly." He was getting giddy with exhaustion, red hair whipping around his face wildly in the wind. Oddly enough, William found that he seemed to fit in with the flames behind him and the burning farm, but pushed it to the back of his mind. Grell stumbled, and William grabbed his shoulders to stop him from falling.

"Will? Let's not do that again…" Grell giggled, but William only felt a strange wash of relief; if Grell hadn't intervened when he did, it was unlikely that either of them would be alive right now.

All thoughts vanished from his mind when the redhead collapsed into his arms seconds later.