Author's Note: Thanks for all the feedback, follows, and favorites, I really do appreciate it! I based Mifune and Angela off their anime appearances just in case anyone was wondering.

Chapter 4: You're Still on My Mind

"Tsubaki, what do you think of the Hotel Arts in Barcelona? I'm thinking of doing the hotel + flight plan with us leaving on June 6th. Maka asked aloud, as she gazed at a website of the best hotels in the Barcelona area.

Tsubaki didn't say anything for a few minutes which caused Maka to call out her name again and turn in her chair towards her.

"Tsubaki, are you listening?" Maka asked in concern.

Tsubaki snapped out of her thoughts and turned towards Maka.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Tsubaki stated softly.

Maka gazed at her friend worriedly and frowned. "Are you alright? You haven't really been putting in any input to any of these places I've looked up."

Tsubaki sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I know; I was just thinking about Angela; I'm not going to be able to really spend a lot of time with her if we'll be gone the whole summer in another country."

Maka nodded her head in understanding. "Why not spend these next few days then with her? We weren't planning to leave until the first week in June sometime and there's still a week left of May right now."

Tsubaki smiled a bit at the suggestion and nodded her head in agreement. "I'm sorry again that I haven't been of much help tonight. I promise I'll try and come up with some ideas in the next few days of places we can visit at least."

Maka only shook her head. "It is fine Tsubaki; just know you can always come to me if you need to talk!"

Tsubaki nodded her head and quietly left out of Maka's room as she closed the door behind her.

Maka sighed as she gazed at her closed door for a few minutes before turning her attention back towards her desk. It was still filled with little reminders of her past relationship with Kid that she needed to put away: a picture of them together at the park, some simple love letters they had passed to each other in class, and of course the necklace he had given her for their first anniversary.

Maka closed her eyes as she tried to block out the memories. 'Kid told me to try and find happiness with someone else and the best way to do that would be to pack away all these memories. Even if it hurts, hopefully with time the feelings I have for him will start to wane…

~X~

Tsubaki sighed as she hung back up her graduation gown back into her closet. Just as she had placed it back onto a hanger, another item fell down causing her to let out an annoyed huff.

Tsubaki picked up the fallen item and realized to her surprise that it was Mifune's old jacket that he had given her as a present for helping him out with Angela.

A familiar lump started to form in Tsubaki's throat as she gasped quietly and clutched the jacket close to her chest.

As much as Tsubaki tried to resist thinking about Mifune since his death, the old memories of the times they spent together started to fill her thoughts.

FLASHBACK

"I think the book I'm looking for is in this aisle." Tsubaki mumbled quietly to herself, as stared at row of books until she suddenly bumped into someone.

"Oh I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" Tsubaki apologized, as she quickly stood up and reached her hand out to the stranger.

Mifune frowned at Tsubaki's hand for a second before eventually taking it and brushing himself off.

"It's alright. I wasn't looking where I was going either." Mifune stated quietly.

Tsubaki smiled and shook her head as she let go of his hand. "What type of book were you looking for? Maybe we can help each other out."

Mifune didn't look like he wanted to talk any longer, but eventually sighed and spoke up again. "I was looking for the children's section. I wanted to borrow a book for my cousin."

Tsubaki smiled and pointed to an aisle further down. "The children's section is about 3 rows down and to your right."

Mifune glanced in the direction Tsubaki was pointing in and sure enough saw the sign hanging above that indicated it was the children's section.

Mifune smiled slightly and turned back towards Tsubaki. "Thanks for your help. I've been wandering around this area for the past 15 minutes."

Tsubaki beamed, but also gave a confused expression. "Why didn't you just ask for help?"

Mifune shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really like to ask people for help. Anyways thanks again."

Tsubaki nodded her head and allowed Mifune to walk by her. Tsubaki watched him go and smiled gently.

'He seems like a nice person even though he was quiet. I wonder if we'll meet again at some point.' Tsubaki thought to herself, as she started to look again for her book.

A few weeks later to Tsubaki's surprise, she did indeed see Mifune again, this time when she was at the mall with Maka.

"Mifune, can you please buy me an ice cream?" Angela cried out, as she tugged on Mifune's jeans and pointed towards the nearby stand.

Mifune sighed and shook his head. "I just gave you a piece of chocolate. You're not going to be able to take your afternoon nap if I give you too much sugar."

Angela pouted and looked like she was ready to start throwing a temper tantrum when Tsubaki walked up to him.

"Hi, I don't know if you remember me, but we met in the library a few weeks ago. This must be your cousin that you were talking about from before." Tsubaki said, as she greeted both Mifune and Angela.

Mifune looked confused for a moment before he started to remember. "Oh that's right, you helped me find the children's section."

Tsubaki smiled and nodded her head before bending down to properly greet Angela. "Hi Angela, I know we haven't met before, but I'm Tsubaki."

Angela gazed at Tsubaki cautiously as she took a quick glance at Mifune to see if it was okay to trust her.

Mifune smiled and nodded his head towards Angela who smiled and greeted Tsubaki excitedly.

"Hello, I'm Angela; I just turned 4! Are you my cousin's girlfriend? Tell him to buy me some ice cream!" Angela asked in a rush.

Tsubaki blushed slightly at Angela's questions and shook her head. "Ah, I just met him."

Mifune sighed and ruffled Angela's hair in order to get her to stop talking. "I'm sorry about that. Angela likes to jump to conclusions whenever she meets someone new."

Tsubaki only smiled and stood back up properly. "It's fine really; Angela is only a child after all. Did you ever find a book that she liked?"

Mifune nodded his head. "She loves to read books about witches; I'm glad I was able to find one. Still though, it can be a handful taking care of her on my own."

Tsubaki stared between Mifune and Angela for a minute before an idea popped into her head.

"I know we just met, but I can help you babysit her if you really needed the help." Tsubaki suggested.

Mifune's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly shook his head. "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that! Angela can really be difficult at times, like now for instance." He explained, as he grabbed Angela's hand before she could go running off to the ice cream stand.

Tsubaki frowned slightly, but still remained determined. "Are you sure? It really looks like you could use the help. I've worked with kids before, so it wouldn't be my first time dealing with a troublesome child."

Mifune sighed as he rubbed a hand through his silver colored hair. "You know, I never did actually get your name."

Tsubaki blinked and realized she had indeed been talking to him this whole time without getting his name. "I'm Tsubaki."

Mifune smiled and nodded his head. "And I'm Mifune. I guess if you're really up for the challenge could you stop by my apartment next Saturday around 2 pm?"

Tsubaki thought it over for a moment to make sure she didn't have any prior plans before nodding her head in agreement.

Mifune wrote down the address to his apartment and smiled a bit in relief as he handed the paper over to Tsubaki.

As Mifune turned around to leave, Angela began to speak up again in a huff. "Wait Mifune, you still never got me an ice cream!"

Mifune frowned and shook his head. "I already told you no." He grumbled out, as he slowly pushed Angela away before she could start causing a scene.

Tsubaki walked back up to Maka who had been watching the whole scene with a smirk on her face.

"What was that all about? You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" Maka asked with a snicker.

Tsubaki blushed and quickly shook her head as Maka continued to tease her. "I just met him in the library the other day that's all. It seems like he could use some help so I'm just trying to be nice. "

Maka arched an eyebrow, not convinced. "It certainly seems like you knew him better than one meeting! Hey, maybe you can invite him to go double dating with me and Kid!"

Tsubaki sighed as Maka started to talk about stuff they could do while going on a double date. After a few minutes passed, Tsubaki took a quick glance down at the paper containing his address and smiled.

'He seems to be a very private person. Maybe I can get him to open up a bit more to me at least.'

~X~

The following Saturday, Tsubaki arrived at Mifune's apartment at 1:55 pm and knocked on his door.

Mifune opened the door up and smiled as he greeted Tsubaki. "I'm glad you could make it. Angela's in the living room coloring."

Tsubaki smiled and nodded her head as she walked into the small apartment and took a quick glance around. Mifune seemed to stay in a regular 2 bedroom apartment with a simple rustic charm to it. Tsubaki walked over to and greeted Angela who was sitting down by the living room table.

Angela turned her fuchsia colored eyes towards her and grinned. "Hey, you're that same lady from before! You really are my cousin's girlfriend!"

Tsubaki only shook her head. "I just stopped by to play with you for a bit; is that okay with you?"

Angela's eyes brightened as she nodded her head in glee. "Come on; let's go play with the dolls in my room!" Angela cried out, as she grabbed Tsubaki by the hand and led her to her room.

Tsubaki played a variety of games with Angela over the next hour and half until Angela eventually became sleepy and was tucked into bed.

Mifune looked surprised by how easy it had been for Angela to get along Tsubaki and smiled as he watched her gently close Angela's door to let her nap.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were good with kids." Mifune said.

Tsubaki blushed and shrugged her shoulders. "I've just had a lot of experience around them, that's all. They have an early childhood program at our school where you can teach kids around Angela's age so it came pretty easy to me."

Mifune's eyes widened at the mention of school. "You go to Death City High School, don't you?"

Tsubaki nodded her head as Mifune smiled and looked out the window. "I remember going there."

Tsubaki frowned at that statement as a million thoughts rushed into her head. 'He remembers going there; how old is he? Oh gosh, I thought he was around my age! 'Tsubaki thought in slight panic.

Tsubaki's facial expression must have started to show on her face because Mifune looked at her in confusion.

"What's wrong? You look like something is troubling you." He asked.

"Ah well, I don't want to sound rude, but how old are you? I'm only 16." Tsubaki asked nervously.

Mifune stared at her blankly before starting to chuckle slightly. "That's not too much of an age difference considering I'm 18."

Tsubaki let out a small sigh of a relief that didn't go unnoticed by Mifune.

"What's wrong Tsubaki? Were you worried we wouldn't be able to date each other if I was like 30 or something?" He asked jokingly.

Tsubaki's cheeks reddened as she let out a huff and avoided meeting Mifune's eyes. 'I panicked for no reason…'

"But seriously though, thanks for your help today. Angela usually has trouble getting along with other people since her parents passed away. I'm about the only family she has, and it gets hard to play with her sometimes when I still have to work." Mifune described.

"What do you do for a living?" Tsubaki asked curiously.

"I teach Martial Arts to some students on the weekends and do some performances with my swords." Mifune replied back, as he walked Tsubaki over to his sword collection in his room.

Tsubaki gazed at the wide array of swords with awe. "Wow that is impressive. I've practiced with a few swords and knives before, but I'm probably not as good as you."

Mifune blushed slightly and shook his head. "Well, you can stop by and watch one of my performances if you want to."

Tsubaki smiled and nodded her head. "I would like that."

~X~

Over the next few weeks, Tsubaki spent most of her Saturdays and Sunday afternoons at Mifune's apartment helping Mifune take care of Angela while he either studied for school or did small performances around town. By now, Maka had begun asking her when she would properly be introduced to her boyfriend which easily caused Tsubaki to blush and deny that anything was happening between her and Mifune even if it that wasn't the complete truth.

"Mifune, it's such a nice day today. Would you like to go to the park with Angela and me?" Tsubaki asked him one Sunday afternoon.

Mifune looked up from polishing one of his swords and smiled. "Sure, why not? I finished work early today anyways."

At the park, Angela began to play on the swing sets while Mifune and Tsubaki watched her from a nearby bench.

Tsubaki looked around at all the children happily playing with their parents and blushed as a scenario popped into her head. 'All of these children playing around kind of makes me feel like Mifune and I are Angela's parents.'

Just as Tsubaki finished her thought, Mifune wrapped an arm around her and brought her closer to him.

Tsubaki's cheeks reddened even further as she took a quick glance up at Mifune whose cheeks were also slightly red.

"You know, at first I thought it would be hard to really trust you and believe you would keep your word to come and visit Angela on the weekends, but you actually did. You're not like most 16 years old I've met or seen before." Mifune muttered quietly.

Tsubaki smiled and nuzzled her head into his shoulder. "You always bring up the fact that I'm 16. I thought you said the age difference between us wasn't a big deal."

Mifune laughed lightly and shook his head as he watched a cloud pass by in the sky. "Well technically speaking, you're still a minor and I'm an adult."

Tsubaki pouted a bit, but then Mifune spoke up again. "But I guess even with those differences aside, I still can't help the fact that I have feelings for you." He finished with a sigh, as he turned Tsubaki towards him and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

Tsubaki sighed in contentment and moved slightly closer to Mifune as the world around them seemed to drift away.

The two of them spent the rest of the time at the park comfortably holding hands and Mifune even gave her a goodbye kiss as she left that made her giddy during her walk all the way home.

"Okay, I think we can really consider doing the double date now. I asked Mifune about it and he said he was okay with next Saturday!" Tsubaki related excitedly to Maka, who was currently making lunch.

Maka grinned and turned off the stove to properly face her. "It's about time! I'll call Kid and let him know!"

The double date turned out well, Maka asked Mifune a few questions about his life, while Mifune finally opened up a bit about some of the stuff he did back when he was a student at Death City High and the plans he had for the future. When the time came for them to split up, Maka mouthed to Tsubaki to let her know all the details of what they did together once she got back home.

Tsubaki sighed happily as stood outside of the restaurant and watched as the sun went down in a colorful burst of red and orange when Mifune suddenly patted her on shoulder.

"Let's head back to the apartment now. I want to make sure the babysitter we left Angela with is doing okay."

Tsubaki nodded her head in agreement as two began to walk down the street. The two of them had only walked about 3 blocks when suddenly the screeching sound of a car rang in Tsubaki's ears. Tsubaki turned just in time to see the headlights of a car moving straight towards them before everything went black.

~X~

'Oh, where am I? What's going on?' Tsubaki thought to herself as she slowly opened her eyes and took in her environment.

A gasp sounded next to her causing Tsubaki to gaze to her left and see Maka along with all of her friends crying and happily patting each other on the back in relief.

Maka wiped her tears away and carefully grasped Tsubaki's hand. "Tsubaki, you're in the hospital. Some crazy drunk driver hit you and Mifune! I thought you weren't going to make it!" Maka managed to get out with a steady voice.

Tsubaki frowned as she peered over at all her friends as her head started to pound. 'I remember going on double date with Maka and Kid and then we split up, but everything after that is a blur. What happened to Mifune during the crash; did he shield me from it?

A couple of minutes later, a doctor came in and ushered her friends back out into the waiting room to assess her.

"I'm glad to see that you've awakened Tsubaki. You're lucky that you only experienced a mild concussion and a few scrapes and bruises to your legs and arms. You should be able to-"

"Where's Mifune?" Tsubaki asked, cutting the doctor's explanation off as she tried to get the metallic taste of blood out of her mouth and searched the room for any sign of his presence.

The doctor looked confused for a moment at who she was talking about, before he let out a small sigh and looked away quietly.

Tsubaki felt her fists tighten in the bed when the doctor didn't immediately respond to her question. In the few seconds of silence that passed, Tsubaki could feel her heart starting to beat faster as she started to assume the worse had happened. 'Why won't he answer me?! Don't tell me he's- No, he can't be…'

"Ah Tsubaki, I know this may be difficult to hear, but he didn't make it. We tried CPR on him for 20 minutes straight, but we just couldn't get to him in time. If you want we can-"

Tsubaki didn't hear anything else the doctor said as she felt her vision and mind go blurry. 'Mifune is dead? He can't be dead…Why is he dead and I'm not? What about Angela? This is my fault; I was the one who wanted to go out and now he's…'

FLASHBACK ENDS

The months following Mifune's death seemed to go by painfully slow for Tsubaki. A part of her, even now still felt guilty that she was alive while he was dead with a small scar across her forehead serving as a reminder of the incident. Angela had ended up being put into an adoption agency where she still remained even 2 years later. All of the personal items that had belonged to Mifune were given to her, but the only things she chose to keep were some of his swords and of course his jacket.

Tsubaki didn't want to personally admit it out loud, but she did feel a little troubled and nervous about really moving on with a new guy, even if it was supposed to be for just the summer. The way Mifune had died had left her feeling slightly numb to the thought of loving anyone, something only Maka and a few others seemed to actually notice.

Tsubaki carefully hung back up Mifune's jacket and wiped away her tears. "Mifune wouldn't want me to be depressed like this. I should just head to bed now."

~X~

The following morning, Soul and Black Star were basically finishing up the main part of their decision making on at least choosing a hotel to stay at.

"Which hotel would you rather stay at: The Hotel Arts Barcelona or Grand Central Hotel Barcelona?" Soul asked Black Star.

Black Star shrugged and let out a sigh. "Either one is fine with me."

Soul groaned and rubbed his forehead in annoyance. "Can you give me an actual answer instead of just being indecisive? If we go with the Hotel Arts plan for example, we can be out of here on a flight by June 6th."

Black Star frowned. "Hey man, you're the one paying for mostly everything. I don't really care where we stay at as long as it's close to a lot of attractions and women!"

Soul rolled his eyes and smirked. "I don't know why you think you'll actually find someone. If you couldn't even be with a girl for a week here, what makes you think you'll get with someone there?"

Black Star shrugged, but still kept his usual grin. "Well, it's not like I'll only meet women from Spain there. I'm sure we'll run into other tourists or foreigners at some point."

"And besides that, I don't want to be like you and just be moody and alone all summer." Black Star retorted, as he walked out of Soul's room to get a drink.

Soul scoffed and shook his head. 'He does have a point though, but every girl I've talked to has always wanted to be with me for some ulterior motive. They either dated me for my looks to make other girls jealous and make themselves more popular, for the money my family is known to have, or to try and get closer to Wes.'

Soul sighed and for a brief moment his mind wandered back to Blair who he thought would be different from the other girls who loved to flirt with him. Blair didn't seem to really care about his looks or the wealth his family had, and for a while he had actually felt happy when they were together despite the reputation she had built up as a heartbreaker.

Unfortunately though, Soul had made the mistake of not listening to those rumors or his subconscious telling him that he would be hurt eventually by Blair, just like the past guys she had toyed with.

"I like how the Hotel Arts Barcelona looks so book that one. I mean both look good really, but that one seems to have more interesting attractions nearby than the other one." Black Star stated, breaking Soul out of his thoughts as he gazed at the computer screen over his shoulder.

Soul blinked in confusion before nodding his head. It was quiet for a few minutes until Black Star spoke up again.

"You know not every girl you meet will be like Blair or the other girls we knew in high school." Black Star mused, knowing what he had been thinking about.

Soul sighed and nodded his head. "That's easy for you to say. You've never even properly held a relationship down."

Black Star shrugged, but continued on with his statement. "True, I've never have, but I do know this trip will go a lot better if you don't compare every girl you meet to Blair or those other sluts."

Soul laughed a bit at that and Black Star grinned at the fact Soul was starting to feel better again.

"You know, I bet you I'll find a girl that likes me as I am before you do." Soul stated with a toothy grin.

Black Star arched an eyebrow at him and grinned back. "You dare to make a bet with a God?!"

Soul rolled his eyes, but nodded his head. "Even if it's only a summer fling, I believe it is possible. It's not like any girls we meet are going to know my family background anyways."

Black Star smirked and let out a laugh. "Maybe, but you know the ladies won't be able to resist me once I take my shirt off!"

"They have to like you for your personality, not your looks stupid." Soul said with groan.

Black Star stretched his arms out for a bit before holding his hand out. "Okay then, we are both going to find a girl who likes us as we are. The first one to find one has to do whatever challenge the other has in mind."

Soul arched an eyebrow at the mention of a challenge, but eventually shook Black Star's hand in agreement.

"You better not cheat either by just forcing a girl to say she likes you." Soul mentioned with a yawn.

Black Star shook his head. "Unlike bets I've made in the past, I'm actually going to be serious about this one. You should be serious about it too; you might actually find someone you'll start to love!"

Soul let out a scoff at that and leaned back in his chair. 'Just because it's for the summer, doesn't mean I can't try. Even though Black Star tends to come up with stupid ideas or plans, I actually like the idea of meeting someone I can finally connect with without having to worry they are just using me.'

~x~

That's it for Chapter 4! Let me know what you think with a review, and as always thanks for reading!