AN: Biting off more than you can chew? What's that mean?

No, seriously, guys, it was bugging me that I was doing something for all the main weapons and meisters but THE GREAT BLACK STAR and super-sweet Tsubaki, so here I am, taking on 42_souls' table 2 as I... Probably shouldn't, in the form of oneshots.

This chapter was inspired by a subtle change in character I spotted in Tsubaki over the course of both the anime and the manga. OK LET'S DO THIS.


Black Star and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa were partners, and he fought through her with unrivaled and selfish passion.

She had been the way he channeled his greatest feelings from the start. When he was angry, she came down upon his foes amidst spray of blood. When he was upset, she was the lone voice that told him it was alright; when he was happy, she struggled to hold him down as he tried to share his joy with the world in his own special way. And when he took on tasks that he couldn't handle and ended up defeated and bitter and ready to try again (but harder next time, much harder), she merely wished him luck and offered herself to him, and she would give him advice birthed from her disapproval of his violence.

She was his weapon. His soul fit against hers like fated pieces of a two-part puzzle, and they resonated with a power born from affection and fear and a thirst for success, the cheap steroid of greed boosting his strength and will to fight. He would surpass God, and Tsubaki would remain by his side, he was sure, because she cared about him. As far as he was concerned, she was the only one whose opinion of him actually mattered. They had been together since their arrival at Shibusen, fighting and failing and never giving up, and she had a never-changing view of him - you're a fool, a silly and strong fool, but that's how we work, so it's fine by me, Black Star - and as long as he never changed and she never changed, they would still work just fine.

But she had changed, and he had changed her.

Yes, he fought through her - endlessly - only now she let him do as he pleased, slaying whomever he desired with no protest. In the beginning she would peer up at him from the blade with her eyes wide and her cheeks pale, advising him to be careful, Black Star, her principles radiating off of her in an infectious aura and influencing his every decision. But now she merely sat back, that same old disapproval now completely silenced. It was as if she had just given up, and he had driven her to that; he had forced her into silence because he wanted to do what he wanted to, and he had never outwardly taken her advice to heart. Essentially, he had shut her up.

He'd never wanted that.

He drove her into the enemy and wondered. If someone presented him with a wounded strong soul and a young witch now, would Tsubaki's disapproval reach him, or would she keep silent? Was she really still there keeping him from making mistakes and being truly ruthless, or had she placed too much blind faith into him? Was he making mistakes right now without realizing it? She told him that she would always believe in him, but it was always her body language and her soul itself that let him know when he wasn't being humane. She was his conscience, and now she was silent.

He glanced down at her. Her silvery visage smiled at him through the red on her blade, uttering a sincere be careful, Black Star, and he couldn't help but notice that the smear of blood made her look like a beautiful and helpless monster in his fists.