Hmm, I'm finally writing something for a different series? My, how unexpected this is, I haven't written for a different series in over two years. Anyhow, I started to replay Blazblue recently and decided that I should dabble in the world of fan fiction with it. Anyhow, I wanted to write something fluffy, but since it's hard to do due to the games events I decided to go with the academy route. A little cliché yes, but if I can write something cute, I'm happy. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this little story!

Date Published: 11/17/13
Word Count: 5,172
Page Count: 9

Soft Spot

No matter who the person is, they had to have some sort of weakness. People, no matter how calm, cold, and collective they are must have something they are weak against. At least, this was what Makoto thought as she observed a certain blond-haired fellow from across the room.

"Hey, Noel. What do you think is Jin's soft spot?" asked the brunette squirrel beastkin to her companion. They where currently hanging around the student council room of the NOL's military academy, doing nothing in particular. The room wasn't anything exciting, just your typical classroom with the same bland tables and uncomfortable chairs. The two girls where sitting at one of the tables that where further back in the room, which gave them the perfect location to observe the other people in the room.

"Huh? Soft spot?" repeated the girl next to her. She had shoulder length blond hair and light green eyes that looked very similar to the fellow of their subject, "I guess his hair? It does look really soft, kind of like your tail," she replied in a soft tone with a smile crossing over her face. She couldn't help but imagine what his hair felt like, but quickly switched gears to fantasizing about being able to cuddle up with Makoto's soft brown tail. After all, it made a wonderful pillow, especially for those cold days!

Makoto on the other hand couldn't help but sigh as she began to droop her tail a bit, "Noel, I'm not talking about what part of him you think is soft, I mean his weak spot. You know, like your obsessive love of pandas?" she explained in a bit of an annoyed tone. Really, how did she come up with that conclusion? Wait, this is Noel she's talking to so it made sense.

"Oh," was her simple response as her head moved downwards a bit, "I honestly don't know. I don't think there is anything he would have a weak spot for. He's just so cold, and I really can't read him," she explained to her friend. Maybe it was just her, but no matter what she was doing, he would always send a cold gaze that could possibly freeze someone. Due to her shaky (if you could even call it that) relationship with him it made it difficult for her to become close enough to him to see if there was anything he had a soft spot for.

"Yeah, that's the problem I'm having. He's just so cold, I'm having trouble narrowing down what it could be," spoke Makoto while looking over to Jin. She was able to get along with him better than Noel, even being able to start-up a short conversation here and there but no matter what she tried she couldn't figure out his weakness. At the moment he was busy helping the young Carl from the elementary division with something. Carl was sitting at the edge of a table in front of the room, while Jin was standing besides him explaining something or other to him. Whatever it was, she really didn't care about it; she just wanted to find his weakness.

"What made you come up with that?" asked a now interested and curious Noel. She couldn't help but look over to him as well, but unfortunately he turned his head at the same time to catch her gaze. That resulted in his eyes gaining some malice and a scowl crossing over his face. Noel couldn't help but shiver a bit from his look, "What did I do to make him hate me so much? I wonder, was it because he saw my poem? Did that little thing make him hate me that much!?" she thought solemnly while a sigh exited her mouth, "Why do I have to have such terrible luck?"

"Well, you know how he is Noel. He's so anti-social and fakes being nice to like, 99% of the people here. I was wondering if there was anything that could make him seem, well, happier," explained the female squirrel. She has always wondered why he was this way, and if anything would brighten his usually gloomy day, "Anything to clear up his pms would be nice."

"Hmm," mumbled Noel while bringing her hand to her face, "It would be nice if he was less mean to me. So maybe a cute animal would brighten his mood?" she asked. Sometimes, even the meanest of people have weak spots for those cute, adorable, fluffy little critters that roamed around. Just a simple meow from a kitty would make her squeal, so maybe just the sight of something cute would make him seem a little happier?

With that comment a little invisible light bulb went off above Makoto's head. She quickly stood up from her seat, walked behind Noel, moved her head towards her ear and began to whisper her plan.

After Makoto pulled her head away Noel turned to her, a surprised look taking over her soft face, "You think that could work?" All Makoto did was give her a bright smile while nodding her head. This plan had to work, since she was the one who came up with it after all!

With that, Noel also stood up from her seat, a look of confidence taking control over her usually unconfident face. They then proceeded to walk towards Jin and Carl who were discussing something or other. Jin had retained his posture from before; he didn't seem to notice the two girls sneaking up behind him.

After some whispering, the two of them decided to put their finalized plan into motion. Noel, after mentally preparing (or at least trying) herself she spoke, "Um, could you turn around for a moment Jin? We want to show you something."

Jin sighed after he heard Noel's voice, a little annoyed that she was getting in his way of work, but still turned around with the usual scowl on his face. When his brain registered what his eyes where picking up he said in irradiated tone while raising his hand to his head, "What the hell are you doing?"

Makoto was sitting on the floor before him, swishing her tail back and forth with her eyes glued to him. She was giving him the puppy dog look, and it seemed that her eyes where glistening with cuteness and innocence. She was hoping that maybe, just maybe he would let out a small smile due to her adorableness. Of course her ears picked up on Noel going on how cute she looked. Jin on the other hand looked at her like she was some type of fool, "Don't you think I'm adorable?"

"No, absolutely not. Now if you don't mind Makoto, I have work to finish," he spoke in an indifferent tone, and with that he turned his body back around. Carl who had moved his head over to see what she was up to speak, "Miss. Makoto, I think you look adorable, but he's helping me, so could you come back later? Then you can continue, what ever you where doing," and with that he returned to the papers before him.

"Damn it," mumbled Makoto while standing upwards, she then began to walk back to where they where before. Noel quickly followed after her, "I was hoping he would have a weak spot for cute things. Maybe I should find an actual animal and test it out on that jerk. How could anyone resist my cuteness?" she asked while her voice began to waver a little. How could he be completely unaffected by her, "At least cute little Carl thought I was adorable! I should go hug him later!" she exclaimed with her voice regaining its usual happiness.

Carl happened to hear that comment and began to shutter at the thought of her hugging him. The last time she hug tackled him he really thought she was going to break his back, "I don't want to die by hugs," mumbled the young blond-haired, blue-eyed boy. Just remembering her over affectionate hugs, the amount of pain he felt, it made him cringe.

The girls returned to their previous location and took their seats. The first plan was an unfortunate failure, so they had to come up with something else to test out on Jin, "Okay, back to the drawing board. What else could we test on him to see if he has a weakness of it?" spoke up Makoto.

"Um what about sweets?" asked Noel, "Sometimes even cold people pull out a smile if it's some sort of treat," she explained while her eyes wandered over to his back. Sweets where just something that any person could enjoy, unless they where some type of health nut. So maybe, just maybe, he could crack an almost non-existence smile over the appearance and aroma of a sweet? Noel couldn't help but feel a little hungry after thinking about them.

"Sweet snacks ehh?" Makoto mumbled to herself while looking at the wall above her head. She just stared at the white ceiling, taking in the nonexistence pattern while thinking over this idea, "We could try it. Where are we supposed to get something sweet from though? I ate all of mine during lunch, and I don't feel like going to the cafeteria."

A chipper smile crossed over Noel's face after her somewhat furry friend's comment, "Well, I actually have some on me! I decided to bake some this morning, and I thought I could share them with everybody!" with that explanation she reached over to her brown bag with a panda key chain attached, and pulled out a small plastic bag. Inside of it was what looked like chocolate chip cookies, but they most certainly weren't normal cookies. Despite them looking like food, they where emitting some type of deep, dark, evil aura that everybody but Noel could sense.

Makoto just looked at the food Noel seemed just so proud of. Despite her chipper attitude, Makoto knew that those sweet snacks where extremely lethal. Noel of course either didn't want to admit to her failure as a chief, or was just delusional of her how dangerous her food could really be.

"Noel, we're trying to make him smile, not keel over," she explained in a very serious deadpan voice.

"Makoto! My food isn't that bad!" she responded with a bit of a shaky tone. She just looked at the usually energetic girl, directly into her cold and serious hazel eyes. After some time, Noel emitted a little squeak of defeat, which resulted in her head dropping in defeat, "Alright, you win." She just knew that when Makoto had that look, she had to either give up, or prepare for a fight. Of course she couldn't help but wonder why everyone thought her food was just so terrible.

"Good. Now then, what else do we have at our exposure?" Makoto mumbled to herself while looking around the room. There had to be something else she could test on him. The only problem was that they where currently stuck in a gigantic school, and the nearest stores just sold student supplies. Of course there are other parts of the 15th Hierarchical City of Torifune, such as the business district located on the sixth level. Too bad though they where on the fourth level and it would take too long to go out, buy something, and run all the way back.

"Damn it. What can we use?" she though hardly, wondering just what she could use. The room was just a typical classroom with very little items. The dorms where too far away, being on the seventh level and all, and he'd be gone by the time she got back.

"Oh, maybe he has a weakness for romance novels!" declared Noel happily, a bright smile replacing her gloomy look from before, "You know how there are some guys who just can't help themselves and become engulfed in a great romance? Maybe we can try it out on him and see how he reacts! I even have one on me!" with that she began to reach for her bag yet again to pull out the latest sappy thing she was reading.

"Noel, just no. I can't see Jin reading anything that involves romance or is cute unless it involves brotherly love, incest, bondage, kidnapping, and a lot of violence," she explained in a half-joking, half-serious voice, "And you better not be reading something stupid like romance between a human and a vampire!"

Noel might not have spoken a word, but her face gave away the contents of whatever thing she had buried inside her bag besides the cookies of doom. All Makoto did was sigh, sometimes she was just way too obvious and easy to read. Only if Jin was as easy as her, maybe then things would be going a lot smoother.

Now what else could they try on him? Animals where out of the picture for now, the sweet test would be conduced at a later point, and anything to do with romance novels where out of the picture. Makoto just started to look around the room, waiting for something to pop out at her that she could use.

During her plotting, the door to the classroom opened and a figure walked into the room. It was none other than the last member of her trio, Tsubaki. She was carrying a stack of papers before she placed them down on a desk that was to the right of where Jin was standing, "Here's the surveys from my class Jin."

"Thank you for your help," he responded as he turned his body to face her, a slight smile crossing his face. This simple gesture seemed rather out of character for the usually cold yet polite fellow. That though was the trigger for the calamity that would soon ensue the classroom.

"That's it! I knew waiting for the trigger would bring me great fortune!" Makoto thought happily while standing up, and soon her tail started to swoosh back and forth with much excitement. Noel watched her actions, while having no clue why she seemed just so happy. Though at the same time she felt oh so compelled to play with her tail, it was as if it was taunting her, telling her to swat at it like a kitten.

"Oh guys!" declared the brunette as she happily trotted over to the three people surrounding the front desks of the room. She stopped a bit further back from the open space between Jin and Tsubaki, "Jin if I, hypothetically speaking of course, kidnapped, poisoned, molested, tortured, mentally traumatized, and almost murdered Tsubaki, what would you do to me?" she asked in the most cheerful voice ever that did not match the tone of her creepy hypothetical question.

"Makoto! What are you talking about?" asked Tsubaki, a look of surprise and a bit of fear crossing over her face and engulfing her eyes. This was unlike her friend, sure she was a little energetic with whatever strange ideas that crossed over into her brain, but this was completely different. It sounded like she was plotting something evil.

Jin moved into the space between him and his childhood friend, a very, very ticked off look taking over his usually cold face. He moved his right hand onto her shoulder and gripped it tightly, "I'm not sure if you're kidding around or not but," he paused for a moment, "I would probably beat you until you're begging me to kill you." His response was straight to the point, a complete serious tone that was filled with an evil tint in his green eyes. The glasses he was wearing seemed to make it look even more sinister somehow.

A silence engulfed the whole room; no one wished to speak a word. Even a mouse would be afraid to make a simple squeak due to Jin's intimidating sentence. Noel looked absolutely terrified, wondering what he would do to her if she did something to annoy him. Carl was surprised by this response, and Tsubaki appeared to be a little embarrassed by his words. Makoto on the other hand was surprised for a moment, but soon her face busted into a bright smile, "I knew it!"

"Knew what? What are you getting at?" asked Jin as he pulled his hand away. He was a little startled by this comment. First she was making hypothetical scenarios of torturing his childhood friend, and now she was right about something? At times he wondered how anyone could understand what she was hinting at.

"I knew Tsubaki was your soft spot!" she said very happily, looking like she was about to jump up and down with joy. She had always had a little theory that he had a special little spot just for Tsubaki in his frozen heart! After all, it seemed he was only really nice to her, while being unsociable with others. Now she had evidence to back up her grand theory, along with teasing privileges! She's going to have fun bugging Tsubaki when they get back to the dorm room!

"That does make a lot of sense," added in Noel who was still behind the desk a little but further up, "I mean, you are always extremely nice to Tsubaki while somewhat cold to almost everyone else. You may be polite to them, but you aren't exactly friendly."

"I agree completely. You two are very close so it make sense you'd have a soft spot for her," added in the young Carl, wondering why Makoto seemed so interested in their relationship all of a sudden.

The two childhood friends where both silent, it seemed that neither was quite sure of what should be spoken. Jin's eyes moved towards the red-head that seemed somewhat embarrassed by this revelation. He couldn't tell why she seemed so unnerved by this, wasn't it obvious? After all, out of all the people he interacted with, she was the only one he would smile for.

"It shouldn't surprise you all. I thought anyone could figure that out," he explained simply as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It seems that people are much stupider then he originally thought, it's quite sad. If they are only realizing this now, he wondered what was in store for the people of the future.

"Look at that, he didn't deny anything! Now then, how long will it take for them to hook up?" asked Makoto in a taunting tone. If they care just so much about each other, shouldn't they get together already? After all, she knew that some of those feelings had to be romantic one way or another. It also didn't help that she knew for a fact, despite that whole brother bull crap, that Tsubaki had it bad for Jin.

"Wh-what? It, it isn't like that between me and brother Jin!" yelled Tsubaki, whose face looked as red as her hair. No matter how much she tried to get it through her friend's head, they would always jump to some sort of conclusion! Sure, she does love him, just not in the way they are jumping at!

"Really?" teased Makoto while moving closer to her companion, "Then why are you so embarrassed? Huh Tsubaki? Just admit it, he obviously cares a lot about you, and we all know you feel very strongly for "brother" Jin." Makoto had a large grin on her face, tormenting Tsubaki about her relationship with Jin is always so much fun! She still couldn't understand just why she seemed so reluctant to express her feelings to him, for they where just so obvious. At the same time she was happy that she didn't, for she wouldn't be able to torment her about it!

Jin just sighed at this exchange, "I will never understand this girl and her meddling with others businesses." He watched as they continued this exchange and before he knew it Noel walked down from where she was sitting and started to throw her own little comments in, "Makoto is right Tsubaki, you should just go ahead and admit it."

"Not you too Noel! Why must you two insist on this?" asked Tsubaki while sighing a bit. It seemed that no matter what she said, these two weren't going to leave her alone. It was rather childish of them to start bothering her over something like this.

Carl watched closely as the game of teasing and denying feelings continued onwards like a train with no stop in sight. He looked over to Jin who seemed like he had nothing to do with this whole entire mess. He decided to ask him, just out of curiosity of his own observations, "Mr. Jin, just how do you feel about her anyway? I mean, do you just care about her like a sister, or more along the lines of what the others are hinting at?"

Jin looked over to the young boy, who was too young to be asking about this sort of emotion. Nonetheless he did begin to wonder about it; he actually never gave much mind to what type of feelings he had for her. It was something he tried not to think about, and when he did, he pushed it to the farthest corners oh his mind, acting as if it wasn't there.

He did indeed have strong feelings towards her that he was certain of. Just to what extent was the question, he knew it's not like the love he has for his brother. No matter what happened between them, he couldn't forget his past with him. At times it was akin to what he would have felt towards Saya, if she weren't the evil little monstrosity she was. At other times though, they seemed to be completely different, something much stronger compared to what he would have felt towards her. When he felt like that though, he would always shove it away, pretending that it wasn't there. It was like he was lying to himself about how he truly felt, much like Tsubaki.

"I'm actually not that sure Carl, but perhaps it's close to the emotion they are hinting at," now he wasn't sure why he was talking about this with him. Carl was just a child, what would he know about such a thing? Though, it's ironic that it was a child that caused him to think over it rather than the two girls who started this whole mess. Perhaps it will be through this child he would come to the realization of what those feelings where, or perhaps he would stop lying to himself.

"Great, now I'm confused. This is why I push these thoughts away," thought Jin while giving the young boy a small glare, if he didn't open his mouth he wouldn't be thinking of such a thing. For all of these years, he has always tried to think of her just as a sister. Now thanks to this small child who has never dealt with such a thing is causing him to be thinking differently again.

"Well," started up Carl, a little afraid of that look he was given, "If it's close enough, shouldn't you say something? I mean love is something that is meant to make people happy, that's what my sister says anyway. It seems that she cares for you in that way, and you think you may feel the same, so shouldn't you do something?"

Happiness says the boy; love says the boy, what other idea is this boy going to spread around his brain? He looked away from the child who has completely screwed with the way his brain operated. There it was again, that thought that he always pushed away. It was like a piece of a puzzle, when it was put together everything made sense. At the same time he didn't like the picture that final piece made, so he was always throwing it away. No matter how much he threw it away, he would always stumble across it again, to see the whole entire picture again.

With his hand to his temple, he returned his gaze to the girls; Makoto wasn't easing up on her attacks. Noel supplied some extra strikes from the sideline, and Tsubaki took one after another replying the same way over and over. It seemed more like she was trying to convince herself rather than her friends who knew it was a lie. Perhaps she just didn't want them to know for some sort of strange reason.

"Man, are you fickle! I never met someone who was so dead set on denying the obvious!" complained Makoto who seemed to be getting sick of the whole entire fiasco. That though didn't stop her from continuing onwards with her advance, "Just come out and just admit it!"

"You're just as fickle Makoto!" declared the red-head back to her companion, "I don't feel that way towards brother Jin! I don't get way you won't stop going on about it."

"I wouldn't be doing so if you stopped being super fickle about this! It's always like this; you deny things that are obvious to the rest of us because you're too scared of admitting it! It's like you're afraid to admit it 'cause you don't want things to change!" yelled Makoto who was getting annoyed with her friend.

"Hey, come you two. Don't start fighting, where just playing around, right Makoto?" added in Noel who sensed the growing tension in the room, she didn't want her friends to start fighting over this.

Jin noticed that this was turning from a friendly game to a heated argument. Now this was getting on his nerves even more. It's bad enough that Carl caused the idea he might actually love her to return to the surface and recreate that image he always threw away; now these two might start to fight. Oh how he hated dealing with people when they where like this, and how he hated when things were brought back to the surface despite how hard he tried to bury it away.

Instead of allowing this argument to continue onwards he walked towards the girls. He didn't say a word to any of them, but they all grew silent as soon as they noticed that irritated look on his cold face. He moved his arm out towards Tsubaki and grabbed her wrist in a gentle manner. She was surprised by this sudden action and just looked at him, "Jin?"

"Come on, we're leaving," with that simple sentence he started to guide her towards the door. He was getting sick of all of this, the idea from Carl dancing around his brain, the insinuating from Makoto and Noel, and Tsubaki denying everything just like him.

Jin was expecting some sort of comment from one of the girls, but they spoke nothing. They just let them be, no more tormenting or ideas spewing from their mouths. At the same time it was like some sort of silent victory for them, as if this showed he had a stronger feeling hidden away.

When the two reached the hall, there was not a single soul to be seen. That though wasn't all the surprising; it was after school and most of the students had returned to the dorms or where running around somewhere. There wasn't any sort of student council meeting today, so none of his fellow members where around. It was just the two of them.

"You're always saving me Jin," spoke up Tsubaki from behind him, "When we where kids, you would always come in and take me somewhere if I was caught in a dead-end argument." He didn't have to turn his head to know she was smiling, a soft expression having crossed over her face along with a little twinkle in her eyes.

"I guess you're right. I'm always saving you from some sort of predicament you managed to get yourself caught up in," he replied in a tone that no other person would ever hear. It was the way he would only talk to her, in a soft and caring way. It was something that seemed just so foreign to him.

"Thank you for saving me," she spoke in a soft tone. It was then he was certain they where both liars. He knew back in that room, she wasn't being truthful about her feelings. Now though, when it was just the two of them, she could express them in a way that no words were needed. In that moment he pulled his hand away from her wrist and came to a stop.

"Jin?" she asked while almost walking into his back, "Why did you stop?"

He turned to look at her. He wasn't sure why he felt compelled to act in this way, but he could just blame it on Carl. It was that boy's fault that he began to feel this way again. It's his fault that this time that the image created by the puzzle wouldn't diminish. It was his fault that he couldn't pull away that tiny little piece that created this picture in the first place. He stretched his hand out to her, and this time he placed his palm against hers, squeezing it gently.

He intertwined his fingers with hers, much akin to what he did as a child, and began to walk again. He didn't need to explain his actions, it was a just something that was brought on by these events. He might as well dote on his soft spot since that feeling inside his frozen heart wouldn't leave him alone this time.

He figured she was taken back by his actions considering she had just denied her feelings towards him. Nonetheless she squeezed his hand, a feeling of pure bliss taking over her body. Though they where both silent, there was just some much to say. Even so, they both remained silent while enjoying the warmth.

They where both liars, they both denied the way they felt towards one another. Only when they where alone together did they erase the lies they created and embrace the truth that was there this whole time. It was only then would he acknowledge the image he constantly destroyed in his head. It was only then would she acknowledge the feelings she kept hidden in her heart for so long. It was only then they would feel each other's warmth, something they had longed for in secret. It was only then they wouldn't lie to each other, and acknowledge the love they had. Even if they wouldn't speak those words, they both knew through these little actions that they cared. Even when they returned to their state of deception, a little part of them would always remember. A little part of them would still be longing for the moment they will be able to break down the walls and acknowledge what they felt for each other.

Well, that was longer then I expected! I'm not really happy with some of this since it is completely different from what I originally wrote but oh well; it's Jin/Tsubaki fluff so I'm happy. There really needs to be more for this pairing! That, and since is my first one, there is always room for improvement! I'm sorry if anyone seemed a little bit out of character. I'm still working on getting the characterization down. My main problem was with Jin; he's such a pain to write when he's not being crazy over Ragna or being mean to Noel. Anyway, thank you for reading, and please review!