Chapter 1: Innocent

"Class dismissed," Stein-sensei said as he turned around and rolled back to his desk on his office chair. "Make sure that you clean up. I'm not your mother so make sure everything is put away," and he went back to looking through papers he needed to grade.

All of the Shibusen students gathered up their experiment items and wandered around the room gradually putting items in their respective places. The tables little by little cleared of scalpels, Petri dishes, and frog innards. The smell of formaldehyde ever so slowly was leaking out of the room. A couple of students had opened the windows and the door about twenty minutes ago because people were beginning to get sick from the smell. When all of the dissecting items were in their places the students collected their bags and headed out of the classroom; they didn't have to smell or see the horrid corpses of frogs for the rest of the day. Maka Albarn, one of the smartest kids in the entire class, packed up her bag as she made sure that she had all of her books together and stood up to head home. Just as she was about to step away from her seat and head home she heard someone speak to her.

"Um...Maka-chan?" a timid-like voice called from behind her.

Maka turned around and saw Tsubaki Nakatsukasa looking down at her from the row above her. She looked almost uncomfortable as she stood there silently in her thoughts. Her dark eyes were shifting back and forth as if she was expecting someone to jump up unexpectedly behind her. Her shoulders were practically touching her ears as she nervously twiddled her fingers. Maka saw Tsubaki's school bag hanging from one of her shoulders ready to go at anytime. She seemed as if she were in a horror film and she was going to be the first victim.

"Tsubaki-chan? Is something wrong?" Maka asked her concerned. Tsubaki appeared frightened of something or another.

"N-no, nothing's wrong. I uh...C-could I talk to you for a second?" Tsubaki stuttered uneasily.

Maka was a bit surprised but she nodded and they headed to the wide hallway of the school. All of the students should've been gone by that time so they should have a bit of privacy away from both students and teachers. They stopped just outside the doorway to talk.

"So what is it that you need, Tsubaki-chan?" Maka asked as she leaned against the wall.

"Well, uh, I need some…advice about...something," she replied hesitantly.

"Advice? What about?" Maka asked. She was a bit troubled about her. Tsubaki didn't usually come to talk to her like this, not unless Black Star and Soul have gotten in trouble again. The other thing was that she'd just tell her up front about the two troublemakers. Tsubaki's eyes kept shifting back and forth from Maka to the floor, then the wall and back. She also hadn't stopped twiddling her fingers, actually, it seemed like she was twiddling them even more than before. It was Tsubaki's behavior that was making her worry.

"Well, it's about, um, Black Star..." Tsubaki said.

Maka sighed, "What trouble did he get into this time?"

"No, no! That's not what it is," she said almost hysterically, "It's...something else,"

Maka jerked her head up in surprise. "Something else? What happened then?" she asked confused. Black Star is always getting into trouble some way whether alone or with Soul. She figured he and Soul did something yet again and that's why Tsubaki wanted to talk to her but apparently that wasn't the case. Something was obviously bothering her; Tsubaki is more on the quiet side but she's not really timid or stuttering like she is now.

"Black Star didn't do anything wrong...It's just, uh..."

"…Tsubaki-chan? Would you like to talk somewhere else? You seem to be really nervous about this. And I have a feeling that this might take a while. How about we go outside? It's really nice today,"

Tsubaki almost jumped in surprise but relaxed immediately and nodded. She knew that talking to Maka was a good idea. They walked together to a big shady tree that was in front of the school. As they walked Tsubaki took a great deal of time attempting to find the right words for what she wanted to say. She didn't quite know how to word her predicament correctly. Every time she went over it in her head it just sounded wrong to her. They arrived within minutes, giving Tsubaki not much time at all to come up with a clear sentence.

The two girls placed their bags against the base of the tree. Maka sat with her legs off to one side since she was wearing her skirt. Tsubaki sat, stiffly, on her knees, as she has been taught since she was a child, facing her advisor. The wind was a slight breeze, just barely strong enough to move the leaves on the tree. All around, it was peaceful.

"So, what do you need advice about, Tsubaki-chan?" Maka asked curiously. The whole way to the tree, Maka tried to figure out what Tsubaki wanted to tell her. It had something to do with Black Star; she obviously knew that, however that could mean anything. The two had been partners since Tsubaki had arrived at Shibusen not too long ago; but they were pretty much inseparable. Is something wrong with Black Star? Maybe…Maybe Tsubaki wants to change meisters! She would be nervous about admitting that. I don't blame her either. I'd probably want to change meisters if I had one like him…

"Um, there's something that I want to tell Black Star…but…I don't know how to say it…" she replied quietly. Her cheeks were starting to turn a bright red. "I was thinking…maybe you could help me figure out how to tell him…"

I think I'm right. She's embarrassed about it. Black Star just really isn't suited to fit anyone. Tsubaki changes her soulwave to match his so they can work together in the first place. He is really irritating too. He hasn't even been able to get any souls for Tsubaki, Maka thought. But just to make sure she wasn't wrong for some reason she asked, "What is it that you want to tell him?"

Tsubaki was quiet for a little bit. She slightly started fidgeting in her seat as if she were suddenly uncomfortable in that spot. She had also started nipping at her bottom lip while she spoke. "Well, uh…you see…" Her face started turning brighter and brighter red. She was having trouble figuring out just how to say to out loud. Usually she was the one being told this kind of thing; she was usually the advisor. She's kind of like the older sister to everyone else. It was quite odd for her to be in the opposite position.

"Tsubaki-chan, it's alright. You can tell me anything. We're friends after all," Maka assured her. Maka had leaned forward and put a hand on Tsubaki's shoulder as she gave her an encouraging smile. "Don't worry, I've got your back," She wanted Tsubaki to be able to tell her so that she would be able to clarify her thoughts. She really did consider Tsubaki her friend. Tsubaki nodded and took a breath.

"Maka-chan…I…well…I think I like Black Star," she finally said. THUNK! A large object had landed hard on the tree, surprising both girls right out of their seats. The object had coming hurling from Maka's right-hand side. Tsubaki fell onto her behind while Maka fell backwards.

It smacked into the tree head on and slowly slid down. A boy with blue spiked hair fell onto his back when he hit the very base of the thick tree. After a stunned second, the boy jumped up and struck a pose, pointing to the sky.

"Behold! God has entered the scene!" He yelled with an immensely confident smirk on his face.

"Black Star! You idiot! What are you doing?" Maka yelled as she jumped up from her seat. Her legs were apart and both hands were on her hips.

"Huh? Oh, hi Maka! When did you get here?" he asked as he faced her, retiring his pose.

"I've been here this whole time! I was talking to Tsubaki-chan if you hadn't noticed," Maka was obviously irritated at him. He had completely interrupted a private conversation. She looked over at Tsubaki and saw that her face was practically a tomato. Oh no, did he hear her?

Black Star quickly turned to Tsubaki, ignoring Maka, and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come on, Tsubaki! We need to go train so that I can make you into the strongest weapon and so that I can surpass God!" he said excitedly and started for the training grounds dragging Tsubaki along helplessly behind him.

Maka sighed, "He's too much of an idiot to listen to anyone else. I don't think he heard her though. She surprised me, I wasn't expecting that."

"Wasn't expecting what?" a voice asked. Maka looked to where Black Star had come from and saw her partner, Soul Eater Evans, walking towards her. Soul had his hands in his pockets and had a bored look on his face. He was obviously attempting to look cool as usual.

"What're you doing here?" she asked him as he stopped in front of her.

"Well, I was hanging out with Black Star when he suddenly spotted Tsubaki and took off," he explained, "What was it that you weren't expecting?"

"Nothing," she said as she crossed her arms and turned her head away in a frown. However, she made a realization. "Wait, you were with Black Star? Why didn't you stop him from suddenly interrupting us like that?"

"He took off before I could stop him," he said as he shrugged a shoulder and looked to one side. Maka sighed heavily, giving up a meaningless fight. She looked to where the two disappeared. So Tsubaki likes Black Star? This should be an interesting ride…