A clear blue sky without a cloud in sight filled Soul's vision. His face glistened with sweat that perspired on his forehead and neck as the hot sun beat down on his head. He hated how it seemed to look down on him and laugh.
Thank Shinigami my hair is white, or I'd really be suffering here, he thought to himself. A self-deprecating smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth.
Though the heat was blistering, the path he was walking along offered decent coverage. Long rows of maple trees lined the sides of the trail, providing much-appreciated shelter from the early autumn sun.
Soul was shuffling down the dusty road with his hands shoved deep into his jean pockets, shifting decaying leaves out of the way with his sneakers, when he heard someone shouting in the distance.
"SOUL~," the voice dragged.
With a lazy turn of his feet, Soul looked back in the direction of the disturber. There, bounding out from the dense foliage of the trees, came Black*Star, and much further behind him, running at a break-neck-pace just to keep up, was his weapon, Tsubaki.
Soul breathed in deeply and dragged out a tired sigh, realizing the leisurely walk he had been on just a moment ago was now destroyed and distorted into a not-so-pleasant social encounter. Though, considering Black*Star was the one ruining it - yet again - that was putting it lightly.
Black*Star bounced over with a humongous grin plastered on his face and came skidding to a screeching, overly-dramatic halt just before he would've run into Soul.
"You want me to do something, Black*Star, don't you," Soul asked, the question coming out as more of a statement than anything else. But instead of answering him right away, Black*Star just closed his eyes and flashed a grin, too large for his face. The smile made him look extremely boyish and innocent. It suited him.
"HURRY UP, TSUBAKI!" Black*Star swiveled around and screamed down the path. "YOU CAN'T KEEP YOUR GOD WAITING FOR A SLOWPOKE AT A TIME LIKE THIS!" He bellowed through his hands which he had lifted to form a makeshift megaphone around his mouth. (Like he needed one.)
Soul's own hands shot up to cover his ears, as he attempted to block out the splitting cry. At Black*Star's command, Tsubaki came racing towards them, like the bottoms of her shoes had been ignited. As her slender form got closer, tiny beads of sweat became visible on her ivory skin, falling from her face and sailing through the air behind her, splashing and breaking when they ultimately hit the ground.
She was a pretty girl. Her black hair was long and swayed loosely behind her in its usual high ponytail, and her breasts were large and perky, bouncing up and down under her clothes with every step.
Once she made a steady stop, she left a few paces between her and Soul - probably trying to make up for the fact that her meister had basically taken Soul's bubble of personal space, said 'Death you,' and bunted it across the city limits.
Soul and Tsubaki made eye contact. She gave a sweet smile, put her hands behind her back, and tilted her head to the side.
"Hi, Soul," she softly muttered, her voice a little breathy. Her nostrils flared in and out and her chest heaved as she took some time to catch her breath. Even though her breathing was clearly labored, it was extremely controlled, showing off the endurance and physical stamina she had built up through her training. Soul nodded curtly.
He let out another deep sigh and set a scowl on Black*Star. If looks could kill. But the spiky blue-haired boy didn't seem to notice and kept on smiling profusely up at Soul. Bumbling idiot.
"What do you want?" Soul asked him. His annoyance at Black*Star's presence was clear in his voice.
"To talk to you, of course! Why else would we be out in the middle of nowhere?"
"I don't know," Soul shrugged, "maybe you were just looking for someone to pester. That is your specialty, after all."
"HUH?! HOW DARE YOU! I AM YOUR GOD! DO NOT INSULT ME!" The loud boy knocked on Soul's head as if he were pounding on a wooden door. Soul's eyebrows furrowed, the right one twitching above his eye; his hands had balled into tight fists by his sides, exposing the whites of his knuckles. He was doing his best to control himself, but his deep breathing exercises were not having as much of a calming effect as Soul had hoped.
Tsubaki let out a laugh that sounded like something of pity and nervous anxiety mixed together and did her best to usher Black*Star off to the side. When she had placed him where she deemed to be a safe distance away, she scolded him with a gentle tone about his actions and left him under a tree to think by himself. It was like watching a mother discipline her child. Utterly ridiculous, but Soul thought their odd parent-child dynamic was why they worked so well together as partners. They just fit.
After walking back to Soul, Tsubaki proceeded to explain why they had gone out to find him in the first place. While they talked, Tsubaki would occasionally glance over her shoulder to make sure Black*Star was still sitting under the tree, not getting into any more trouble. He was pouting and gouging the dirt with a stick he had found nearby, grumbling quietly (for once), but he wasn't making any more of a nuisance of himself. Thank Shinigami.
According to Tsubaki, they'd apparently been searching for Soul all morning, and when he wasn't found at his apartment and he hadn't been seen in town yet that day, Black*Star had figured that he must be out walking again, so there they were.
"Sorry about that, Soul. You know Black*Star," Tsubaki laughed softly.
"Yep," Soul replied, brusquely. Despite getting a bit of humor out of all of this, he just wanted to be left alone. Was that so much to ask?
"Well anyway, the reason why we came to talk to you today concerns the DWMA."
The Death Weapon Meister Academy, Soul unconsciously filled in. Ah, great. What the hell is going on, now? A twinge of annoyance was creeping back into his brain. Every time he tried to do anything quiet by himself, something loud and obnoxious (i.e. Black*Star) or something totally uncool (i.e. school) got in the way.
Disregarding Soul's obvious grimace, Tsubaki continued.
"Lord Death has decided to host a special tournament or challenge of sorts at the school for all meisters and weapons who are interested in participating. It's being held so He and the teachers can evaluate how well the meisters and weapons fight together. For students who don't have a weapon or meister partner yet, it's so they can assess their strengths in battle and what they need from a partner to complete their skills." Tsubaki iterated as if she were reading from a flyer.
"So we were thinking," she spat out quickly, "since you like a challenge and you don't really..." she stopped, wringing her hands and shifting her weight in a restless and distracting manner.
Soul stayed silent waiting for her to finish, but he could feel rage swelling up inside of him. He knew exactly where this conversation was going. "W-well, what I mean to say is, since you don't have a partner at the moment, that maybe," Tsubaki paused again, studying him, revising her final points, "you might like to enter into the weapon division so that you might get one?"
By the end her words were so quiet and muted, Soul practically had to read her lips to make them out. Tsubaki looked at the ground impishly and pushed up dust with the tip of her boot. She knew how delicate the subject of getting another partner still was for Soul.
To top it off, at this point, Black*Star was now yelling obscenities to no one in particular, still sitting under the tree, flailing his stick around, and complaining about having to sit in "time-out" like a two-year-old.
Soul started his deep breathing exercises again, hoping that maybe they might work a little better this time. After a bit, feeling calm enough to make out words without raising his voice, Soul lifted his head to look Tsubaki in the eye.
"I don't know."
A deep frown had set on Soul's face and his nose twitched slightly with every breath of crisp air he breathed in. It felt like he had inhaled mint leaves and was breathing water. It burned. Repressing the anger that was pulsing through his veins was proving difficult and all Soul wanted to do was punch a large hole straight through something.
"Fighting for no reason but to be assigned some half-ass partner? Doesn't sound cool."
Soul wasn't the type of guy to rely on a partner in battle anymore, anyway.Not since the last time. They all knew what had happened, yet the subject of a partner continued to be brought up in practically every conversation. Besides, Soul was badass all on his own. Having to babysit someone else would only prove to be a burden.
But what if it's not? I mean, it is a challenge after all, and I do like a challenge. Showing off my skills in the arena would be cool. Maybe seeing my abilities will impress Lord Death so much he'll recognize me as a capable weapon and not even give me a partner. Maybe he'll even make me a Death Scythe on the spot!
Thoughts swirled around in his head. Should I go? Should I not go? They all clashed together causing a splitting headache to unfurl, making anymore thinking utterly impossible, and frankly, plain painful. But despite the mental agony, the things that always beat down any other decision he may have made were those memories. I will not go through that again. I swore to myself I wouldn't.
"Not again."
"Not what again, Soul? Is everything okay?" A soft voice asked.
"What?" Soul's eyes flew open and he looked over to see Tsubaki watching him with her eyebrows pushed together in worry. She was touching his shoulder, in her motherly way. He figured she was trying to be empathetic. "No. Uh- I mean, yeah, I'm fine. N-Nevermind. I'm not going to the tournament. I just want to be left alone for a while, 'kay?"
Soul shook his head as much to rid himself of the horrible memories as to dispell any thoughts of him even possibly competing. It caused his mop of white hair to twist back and forth, making it messier than it already was.
"WHAT?! BUT YOU HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TOURNAMENT! YOU ARE A WEAPON WITHOUT A MEISTER! YOU NEED A PARTNER! IT'S BEEN TWO FRICKIN' YEARS, MAN,"the short boy belted from under the tree. He had stayed there for as long as he could, and to his credit, Black*Star had done a decent job of keeping out of the way. But hearing Soul's response to the school's challenge pushed him to break from Tsubaki's discipline order. "YOU HAVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TOURNAMENT! I WILL NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG. GET. OVER. IT," he continued, yelling into Soul's scrunched up face, arms flailing above his head.
Soul covered his ears, desperately trying to drown out some of Black*Star's cacophonies, wiping off spit that had flung onto his cheeks. A guttural growl reverberated from the back of Soul's throat. This was not something he wanted to bring up anymore. Ever. He just wanted to bury it and never dig it up again.
Why can't they get that? He wondered. Why can't anyone get that?!
"JUST LET IT DIE, WILL YOU?!" Soul screeched back. Right then, a few birds who had been perched in the trees, nearby, took flight and flew away. Black*Star's eyes bugged from their sockets and Soul could practically hear the bells ringing in the boy's thick skull.
Black*Star shook his head to regain some of his hearing and turned back to Soul. Exasperation was engraved in the creases on Soul's forehead.
"Uh..." Black*Star lagged, taking a couple steps towards Tsubaki, putting a bit of space between the two boys. "Alright, Soul," he said, chuckling lightly like the white-haired boy had told some kind of joke. "You don't need to fight. But just promise me that you'll think about it, m'kay? Even if you don't sign up, just come to see us, man," he motioned back and forth from Tsubaki to himself. That over-sized grin of his was present once again. "It'll be awesome! We plan on kicking some serious ass out there in that arena! You got that?" Black*Star threw a big thumbs up in the air.
Soul huffed and closed his eyes, pulling his chin close to his chest. He took a few deep breathes to clear his head, (though the calming effect was still little to none), and organized his thoughts before meeting Black*Star's gaze.
"Yeah. I got it, buddy." With Soul's mind somewhat at peace and the frustration beginning to subside, he flashed Black*Star his signature toothy smirk and slowly stretched out a fist.
"ALL RIGHT!"Black*Star cried out and bumped his knuckles together with Soul's. Tsubaki closed her eyes and gave a small smile, letting out an anxious breath. She seemed relieved to know that Soul would at least give it some thought.
After all three of them had exchanged friendly smiles and nods, Soul turned around and began sauntering down the path again. Once he had progressed far enough from where he had left his two friends, Soul threw a lazy hand into the air to signal a final goodbye and disappeared from view.