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Out in the rain.
"I know you can do it, Tsubaki!"
In the sword.
Masamune laughed, "Do you hear him, sister? His faith in you is heart-warming, but severely misplaced."
The weakened Weapon panted on her knees, "B-Black...Star... I'm s-so... sorry..." her breath huffed out and she went limp in Masamune's grip.
He smirked and pulled her closer, "Good bye, little flower."
Back out in the rain.
"B-Black...Star... I'm s-so... sorry..."
"Tsubaki! NO! Hold on! TSUBAKI!" He dropped to his knees by his partner's kneeling body and took her by the shoulders, shaking her, "Tsubaki, answer me! TSUBAKI!"
BlackStar stopped when he felt trembling that wasn't coming from his actions. No, not trembling... laughing. Tsubaki's form shook with silent laughter, then she threw her head back and let it out, "Hahahahaha!"
"Tsubaki?"
Her head snapped down and turned to him, the eyes opening to reveal cursed orbs, "Sorry, Tsubaki's not here. She won't be ever again."
BlackStar froze, "N-no. You're lying." his grip on her arms tightened, "Give her back! Give Tsubaki back to me!" he shook the body-snatcher mercilessly.
Tsu- no, Masamune laughed again, leaning forward with a sly, almost-seductive look, the gender-swapped Kishin's lips grazing BlackStar's ear, "Never."
BlackStar's hands fell limp at his sides, his gaze straight ahead as the words resounded in his head, mercilessly, again and again. Gone. Gone. Gone. "Ts-Tsubaki..." He remembered when he'd first met her.
"Um... hello?"
"Hi! Who are you?!"
"I-I'm Tsubaki. Nakatsukasa Tsubaki. I'm... from Japan..."
"Well I'm BlackStar, and I'm going to transcend god!"
"Oh. Well... that's... very nice. You don't have a partner... right?"
"Nah, none of these wimps is good enough for a star like me!"
"Oh... I heard- I see..."
He knew she'd heard that none of the other Weapons could put up with him. He was enthusiastic, not deaf. Only Kid had ever been able to put up with him, at this rate he'd be Weaponless forever. He felt that internal barrier rising again, "Look, I have to find a partner among these weaklings, so if you'll excuse me..."
"Um, okay then... You... don't want to be my partner, either?"
"Wait, you came to be my partner?"
"Well... yes..."
BlackStar's heart soared, but he kept a blank face, "Well, what can you turn into?"
"Um... A tanto, a shuriken, a smoke bomb-"
"Wait, you have multiple forms?"
"...Yes...?"
"Alright- what was your name again?"
"Tsubaki..."
"Alright, Tsubaki, I've decided you're good enough to be my Weapon partner, so feel honored!"
Her face lit up and she bowed, "Oh, thank you! I do, and I'll do my best not to let you down; I promise!"
BlackStar looked up as Tsubaki's body moved closer. He saw the village elder in her clutches, not able to so much as twitch before blood splattered his face along with the rain. The old man's body collapsed to the ground, his blue-white soul coalescing in the air. Masamune smiled with Tsubaki's lips, flicking his wrist, the voice coming out full of a malice Tsubaki had never known, "Look at that, I don't even need a wielder anymore." She caught him staring in horror and set her face in a worried frown, Tsubaki's voice coming from the usurped throat, "What's wrong, BlackStar? Don't you love me anymore? Am I no longer the sister you've never had?" Masamune/Tsubaki went to her hands and knees in the mud and crept closer, "I know I still love you, BlackStar." then she sat back, snagging the soul from where it floated in the air and bringing it to her mouth.
BlackStar reached out to stop her, "Tsubaki, no!"
She flipped backwards, soul still firmly in hand, "Ah, ah, ah." she chided, "No grabbing. If you want one, you'll just have to get your own."
He watched in paralyzed horror as the glowing orb disappeared behind soft lips and down Tsubaki's throat, "No..."
She looked at him from the corner of her eyes as she licked her fingers, "Mmm, it's so good... I think I'll have another!" She reached out and grabbed the poor boy who'd wielded Masamune earlier.
BlackStar rushed to his feet, "NO! Stop it!"
She paused with the Enchanted sword's blade at the boy's back, "Oh? And who's going to make me? You, BlackStar? Do you really think you have what it takes to kill your partner to save the lives of these pathetic fools that hate you? If you don't, then you don't care about the poor normal people as much as the chance of saving your beloved Weapon; if you do, then you're a heartless bastard who'd kill even his own partner..." BlackStar stared at the ground, his hands curled into fists in frustration. Masamune smirked, "Then these deaths are on you." and suddenly six inches of black steel was protruding from the youth's chest, a pained, shocked expression on his face.
"NOOO!" BlackStar's eyes closed as fingers tightened enough to draw blood, the terrified screams of the villagers ringing in his ears, and tears coursed down his cheeks to mingle with the rain. He dug his nails in harder, using the physical pain to focus him away from the mental agony. Tsubaki, I'm sorry.
Masamune swung at another villager, surprised when her blade met resistance, "Hmm?" she spotted BlackStar at the other end of it, blocking the sword with one of his arm guards, the girl she was aiming for cowering behind him.
The Meister's eyes were hidden by the angle he held his head at, "I said: stop it."
Masamune frowned, "Or what?"
BlackStar looked up at her, "I'll kill you."
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