• Her mind ran over the routine one more time before the teacher on the sidelines began pacing impatiently. In the stands were her classmates, all looking wide eyed at her, expecting something miraculous to happen, but the fear of something utterly unbearable also filled their excited eyes.
    The teacher clapped his hands loudly. “Come on, Tessa! We’ve been through this ten times! Just do it!” He barked, grinding his teeth.
    The girl swallowed hard. She gripped the wooden pole in her hand tightly, hoping that something would happen to make the test go away; a fire drill, a gas leak, a bomb threat, hell, even a real bomb, just something to get her out of what she was about to do. But nothing came, and at the bottom of her heart, she gave a small smirk of enjoyment as she raised the scythe above her head and stared at the demonic form before her.
    “You’re life is of no value to the world anymore,” She said in a cold voice, startling herself as she did so. “So it is time for you to move on. Will you cooperate with me or will you fight and make this a merciless battle?”
    The demon gave a smile. Tessa rolled the scythe in her hand, pointing the edge with the smaller blade toward him. On the side of the blade was the word ‘merciless’ and on the other, a long curved blade, was ‘mercy’. The demon had chosen his fait, and the battle was going to be something her classmates hoped it wasn’t.
    The demon gave a mighty leap at her, claws aiming for her fleshy throat. She merely took a step to the side and the demon landed with a loud thud on the gym floor. It got up again, this time growling angrily. Tessa turned around, again pointing the scythe at him. “Sir, I do not wish to use this on you,” She said quickly. “If you’ll just calm down I can make this as painless as possible.”
    The demon didn’t respond. He just continued his attack on the spaces she was standing moments before he gave a monster like leap and she would merely take a step to the side, dodging his attack and sending him rolling on the hard wood gym floor.
    “Tessa, do it now!” she heard her teacher shout angrily.
    Tessa gave a quick jump at the demon, who quickly rolled out of the way; something Tessa hadn’t expected. She tucked her head and tumbled, regaining her footing as fast as she could, but it wasn’t fast enough.
    The demon was suddenly beside her, claws slashing at the scythe itself. She pulled back, holding her breath for a quick moment and then taking a shot at him, but it was too close, the blade of the scythe was already burning with bloodlust and it didn’t care if it was its owners blood.
    “Nagawa!” Tessa shouted, dodging a hit destined for her throat.
    “Focus,” her teacher shouted. “Don’t give up! You can do it, Tessa! Come on! I’m not always going to be there!”
    “This thing wasn’t meant for close combat!” Tessa shouted.
    Her teacher said something she didn’t understand. Just as he was speaking, she did something he warned her not to do while in battle; blink. The very second she did, a quick hand flew up and ripped the scythe out of her hands along with tearing her shirt. The weapon went flying through the air, hitting the light as it did and reminding Tessa how she got into such a situation.
    -Flash back-
    Tessa had gotten a full scholarship to Hitachi High, a combination of high school and college. On her first day, she was only a meek teenage girl who had no clue beyond the world she was born into; the world of humans and demons of the nice kind. When she arrived at the school, she had been somewhat surprised to find a variety of beings; things like vampires, werewolves, oni, giants, and so on.
    “Hello,” She slid the door to the side, being somewhat surprised to hear someone greet her before she even had a chance to enter the room. The man, her teacher, gave her a quick smile and a small bow. “I’m Mr. N. You must be Tessa.”
    -end flash back-
    Tessa snapped back to the fight as she did a quick back flip to balance herself. The scythe was still tumbling through the air but the demon was hot on its trail. She cursed to herself, thinking what she was taught would happen if the person who was going to die got a hold of the scythe.
    -Flash back-
    “You must be Tessa,” Mr. N said with a quick smile. He stepped aside, revealing what seemed like a glass case that would normally support something of great value. But within the case was a staff made of old wood. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
    “Uh, same here,” She said quietly as Mr. N turned around and opened the case. She looked around the classroom, finding it full of students eagerly peaking up at her with a great deal of interest. She gave them a quick wave. “Am I interrupting something, sir? It seems like you’re taking a test or something.”
    “Oh, no. We weren’t doing anything besides writing down the number one rule now that you’re joining the class,” he said, turning around slowly. “Think fast,” he tossed the pole at her. She caught it quickly, fumbling at first, but then pulling it close to her chest where she gave a quick gasp. “Good. Welcome to Hitachi High, Tessa. Here, you’ll be trained for your new career.”
    -end flash back-
    Tessa jumped for the scythe, feeling the pole in her hands for a quick second before spinning around and landing the short blade in the demons head. He gave a wicked cry of pain and recoiled as she pulled the blade out.
    “This could be a lot easier on the both of us,” She growled. The demon only gave her a roar of anger and charged. Tessa, with a smirk, did the same. As their paths crossed, the blade sliced through the demon evenly.
    -flash back-
    She didn’t make a sound on her first day at the school, if she did, Mr. N didn’t notice it. Only seconds after she had taken the staff he dragged her off, literally. It was as if she had fallen into a shock that only allowed her to glance around fearfully, gripping the long shaft in her hand as he pulled her down to the dark part of the school. Once there, along with several other teachers all looking on with much interest, he stood her in front of a large iron door and pointed at it.
    “Behind this door is everything that would scare the living piss out of an adult no matter what species,” he said slowly. “And in your hand is something that would scare the crap out of it.” He opened the door quickly. The room filled with shrieking screams and the smell of dead bodies. He took a quick breath and gave Tessa a rough shove. “Have fun.”
    -end flash back-
    Tessa lay on the cold gym floor with wide eyes staring at the ceiling above her. Her white hair fanned out and tangled in her free hand while the other was still wrapped around the handle of the scythe. Her crimson eyes looked over toward the stands where her classmates applauded her happily. She gave a miserable whine and stood slowly.
    “Narrow,” she called. “This wasn’t fair! How can I not blink? It’s like asking a prostitute not to have sex!”
    Her teacher looked at her in shock. She gave a reluctant sigh, finding her pants drenched in blood and her shirt ripped down to her bra. She pressed her lips against the blades of the scythe and they vanished quickly, leaving a layer of tainted blood on her lips. With barely any of the scared eagerness she used to have, she wiped it off slowly.
    “Give me another one,” She shouted, balancing the pole on her middle finger.
    “Later,” Mr. N said quickly. “Right now we need to clean up this mess.”
    Tessa sighed, walking to the bleachers. She sat down, closing her eyes and remembering what it was like the first day in behind the iron door.
    -flash back-
    It was dark, damp, loud, and smelled like death. With every passing minute it seemed like a month had come and gone. She scared beyond belief. When she felt for the door, she only felt a hot liquid she later drilled in her mind as blood. The sound of the long winded scream was unnatural and coming from the very end of the room. Tessa held out the pole, poking the ground to make sure it was still there. As she made her way across the room, her body began to tremble with deadly intent. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and the smell became more of an unwanted sprits of perfume. By the time she had made it halfway across the room she was no longer a scared girl. She knew, outside the door a new day had dawned, and a new woman was behind the iron doors.
    Outside the door Mr. N and the rest of the staff were waiting. Mr. N had opened a small hatch in the door so they could hear the mindless screaming and monitor if Tessa was clawing at the door as she had done the whole first day they threw her in there. The second day she barely made a noise and the third day there was silence.
    “I don’t think it was a very wise idea to throw her in there without knowing if she was the new ripper,” one of the teachers whispered.
    “She didn’t die when she touched the scythe,” Mr. N shrugged. “That’s a sure enough test.”
    “You didn’t die when you touched it,” the same teacher said.
    Mr. N glared at him. He took in a quick breath and was going to respond when the screaming was suddenly cut off. He turned toward the door in shock.
    “Impossible,” he whispered. “Didn’t it take the last one a month? He didn’t even stop it. She couldn’t have- there’s no way.”
    He ran to the door and threw it open. Just as he did, something hot hit the side of his face with force enough to knock him down. Tessa glared down at him, face serious and splattered with blood.
    “It’s still beating,” she whispered.
    Mr. N looked down in horror at the heart that was in his lap. As she said, it was still beating, pumping blood onto his suit. Tessa took a step out of the dark room and placed the scythes blade on the heart. It gave a loud thump, and then deflated slowly.
    -end flash back-
    “Why me?” she asked Mr. N as he joined her on the bleachers. “Why, out of the whole world, would you choose me?”
    Mr. N gave a grunt. “Come on. You have to wash before Parents Day begins. I don’t want you parents to kill me before I give them the news that you’re the new Death, the Grim Reaper, Jane the Ripper-”
    Tessa jabbed him with the pole. “No more puns, Narrow-sensei, or you’ll be next on my list.”