Chapter 2: Red Giant
"A Red Giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution."
It was an early Saturday morning, and as usual Tsubaki was out of bed making breakfast for Black Star. After setting Black Star's food on the table, she called for Black Star to come eat. Black Star emerges out of the room already dressed in his yellow sweat shirt and teal beanie, about to head out the door. Before he does Tsubaki asks where he's going and why doesn't he want to eat breakfast. He rudely replied that he's not hungry and Sid called him in for an early lesson; with that he leaves the room. In reality, Black Star called Soul and Kid and asked if they wanted to meet up and hang out at the basketball court. A lie for a lie, a tooth for a tooth you might say.
"He's a complete dick! I don't even understand why Tsubaki would go out with a guy like him, he takes advantage of her, he lies to her, for Lord Death's sake he fuckin' tongue wrestles with her in public!"
Black Star curses and swears about the man as he aims for the basketball hoop, missing it by inches.
"Well Black Star, I'm sure there's something about the man Tsubaki finds intresting."
"Oh sure Kid, like every girl likes a guy that's arrogant, selfish, overconfident and doesn't care about her needs! I mean he's like a, like-"
"Like you, Black Star?" Kid says finishing Black Star's sentence.
Black Star turns with an offended look on his face.
"Haven't you noticed how you've acted when you were younger? You were always self-absorbed and belligerent, picking fights and proclaiming your excellence to deaf ears. No offense Black Star, but he sounds exactly like you."
"I AM NOTHING LIKE THAT BASTARD! I DON'T USE HER JUST SO I CAN BE BETTER THAN EVERYONE ELSE! I'M FRICKIN' 15 YEARS OLD NOW, I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON FROM LAST TIME!"
Black Star hurls the ball at the basketball net in anger, bouncing off the headboard and almost striking Soul in the face.
"Calm down Black Star, before you hurt someone! Me and Kid are just trying to help you with your problem."
"Problem? I don't have a problem! It's the fact that Tsubaki's out having fun while she should be helping me with my stuff!"
Soul and Kid wait a moment for Black Star to relax. After a while, Soul asks Black Star a question.
"Why do you need Tsubaki for help anyways? Youv'e always been doing work yourself and whenever you did something wrong you made yourself do penalty excercises."
"Soul's right, you have been known for your independence when it came to school work, so why decide now to ask for help?"
Black Star remains silent to Soul and Kid's questions. Soul finally gets an idea to why he'd been acting this way.
"...Black Star..."
"...Yeah?"
"...You have feelings toward Tsubaki, don't you?"
"..."
"...I don't wanna talk about this anymore."
Black Star retreats from the conversation and leaves the basketball court. As he leaved he throws the ball towards the net without looking, he gets two points.
Not wanting to return back to Tsubaki to make things feel more awkward, Black Star decides to walk around the city.
"Maybe walking will get this stuff out my mind."
As Black Star walked, he begins to remember his years as a toddler, and when he was 13. Always causing trouble, getting into things, and making a huge hassle for Sid and the other teachers. As Black Star aged, he always loudly claimed that will be the greatest assassin that ever lived, and not even the gods themselves will stand in his way. Girls never found Black Star as a "mature, young gentleman" and they often stayed as far away from Black Star as possible; which is one of the reasons why he doesn't understand girls and the way they act. Maka was the closest he ever came to knowing a girl, even though she showed more of a tomboy side than a regular girl. When time came for the Academy Opening, Black Star of course stood atop the Academy and boastfully shouted how amazing of an assassin he is and he'll make the next Death Scythe; too bad that speech fell on deaf ears. He remembers hearing a faint clapping coming from the courtyard, he looked down to see a tall, black-haired girl. Her name was Tsubaki Nakatsuka, 18 year old Dark Arm chain scythe. She's sweet, compassionate, and has a very accepting nature. She's the bestest friend you could ever have, and is a warm, giving person.
Black Star repeated those last words in his mind, calming him down somewhat. Out of all the people he's met in his life, Tsubaki was the only one who ever accepted him for who he is, and she's convinced others to do so too.
"She' the only one..."
Later into the day, Black Star had stopped to hang out in front of Deathbucks. The storeowner there knew him well and offered him a free coffee. He sat there and drank his coffee as he scanned the streets of Death City; bustling crowds, noisy honking cars, the polluted air filling his lungs. He remembers something Soul said about this.
"It's amazing how madness can overcome us so easily."
"Like breathing."
"We breathe air every millisecond of our lives, so normally and casually."
"When the air around us becomes polluted, and we breathe in the infected air,
we cough, we gag, our bodies tell us something we inhaled doesn't belong within our systems."
"Like madness."
"When we experience it once, our minds tell us to regain control."
"Then we experience it again, and again, and again, and again."
"Soon enough, our mind begins to accept it, as well does our bodies."
"It becomes like breathing, except we allow the polluted air into our lungs,
slowly but surely killing us, decaying our bodies from the inside out."
"And then...we become nothing but a pile of dust."
"Madness is like breathing, it comes to us so naturally."
The words Soul said continues to haunt Black Star, like the time he almost became overcome by madness from the Fey Blade. Tsubaki was the only thing that saved him from following in his father's footsteps, and he's still grateful to this day.
At mid-day, Black Star heads back to the house; in a more happier, positive manner than he was before. As he turns a corner, he spots a familiar, ugly face.
It was the deep red-headed glutton that stopped by his house before, and all the things Black Star said about him was right.
There were a group of girls surrounding him, all of them seemed similar to the women Maka's father would be seen with; fake, nerveless breast implants, a majority of makeup, eyeliner, and mascara on their faces; they wore tops and skirts that barely covered anything, and wore high heels and combat boots that could stab your eyes out. It was apparent on the women's faces what he and they had bee doing all day.
"I knew it! I knew the guy was a no-good, pig-headed, gluttonous bastard!"
Black Star rolled up his sleeves, preparing to throw down with the backstabber, but someone from behind grabs his shoulder. It was Soul, who was lucky to catch him before he went and made things worse.
"Soul? What are you doing here?"
"Apparently saving your ass."
"C'mon Soul, you see the guy! He's a man-whore, a frickin' gluttonous, pig-headed, backstabbing man-whore! Now stay back, this won't take long."
"Black Star, hold on a sec. I know the guy is, as you said, a man-whore, but it's better if Tsubaki figures this out for herself."
"What are you talking about, Soul? I can't sit back and watch her fall for every corny line that guy says, I have to do something!"
"You will Black Star, just not now."
Black Star turns to find that the man had vanished, so he had no choice but to let him go.
"Are you sure this is gonna work, Soul?'
"Trust me Black Star, I've dealt with situations like this before. Never once had these plans failed on me."
Before Black Star leaves, Soul offers him something.
"Here Black Star, I'm gonna let you borrow this."
"...Your ipod? Why would I need this?"
"I figured cause of all the stress your dealing with lately, you could listen to this to calm your nerves. It helps me whenever I'm stressed out or upset about something."
Black Star scrolls through the playlists Soul had on his ipod, he finds one song that stuck out from the rest.
"Give Him Up?" Haha, I'd never thought you'd listen to this kind of music, Soul."
"Hey, I share this ipod with Maka, so there's gonna be a few girly pop songs on there."
"Sure." Black Star says sarcastically.
"Just be sure to return it, smartass." Soul says in a kidding manner.
Black Star and Soul do their usual high five and go their seperate ways. On the way home, Black Star becomes curious to the song he mentioned earlier. He puts on the earphones and begins to the lyrics of the song.
"She's crying,
On the phone
Everyday, it's the same but she'll never know"
"He's lying, he's not alone
"at the bar, grinding hard with another hoe"
So wasted, he stumbles in throws the keys on the couch acting innocent,"
"She won't ask, where he's been, just a kiss from his lips 'cause he misses him
All this time, it kills me"
"This is the game that plays always gonna cheat
Night after night, another girl, another drink,
She doesn't she that she should be with me"
"She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
"He wakes up, to go to work
Takes his keys his CD's and a gucci shirt"
"He's practiced, and well rehearsed
Every line, by design in the mirror first"
"She's dressed up, it's Friday night
sitting home, all alone hoping he's alright"
"He calls her, he's workin late
She's never thought, that he's got another dirty date"
"All this time, All this time, it kills me"
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
"They say, come what may
But I can't seem to get you off my mind"
"They say,come what may
But can't let you fall for every line"
"They say, come what may
But I can't watch while you forgive him"
"Everytime,
Everytime,"
"This is the game that plays, always gonna cheat
Night after night, another girl, another drink"
"She doesn't see that she should be with me,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up"
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
She's gotta give him, g-g-give him up,
As Black Star listened to the lyrics, he began to realize how they related to his situation; the backstabbing boyfriend, the innocent victim, the frustrated witness, it all related so much to what Black Star's going through.
Just as Black Star got into the song, it ended.
"...What? that's it? He just tells about how he should she be with him, but he doesn't do anything about it?"
Black Star looked at the ipod again, seeing the bar had come to its conclusion.
"So this song, has no ending?"
A/N: I had to work through a thunderstorm on this! Good thing my trusty laptop stayed on.
For those of you who wanted Black Star to give the man a beat down, Sorry! Not this time! But the man will get his, lik they say, karmas' a bitch. XD
I'm trying to make each chapter named after something that relates to whats going on in the story. I'm planning to make this story 4 chapters, that's if I run out of ideas.
Also, OMG no Soma at all in this chapter! D8 But still some good old fashion Soul creepyness.
Give Him Up belongs to Faber Drive, not me
Read!Comment!Review!Enjoy!