"Eyes on Soul," Maka said, adjusting her tie so the wire to the two-way radio on her skirt was better hidden. She could see her new partner through the glass of the café window.

"Roger," Marie replied. Then, in a fonder tone, "I have eyes on you. You can leave your outfit alone; no one can see the radio. Over."

Maka took her hands off her coat, which she had been buttoning up. The radio set felt heave from where it had been hooked into the waistline of her skirt. "Roger."

"Also, it's not supposed to rain today, so you don't really need the coat," Marie continued, her tone teasing.

Maka rolled her eyes. "Roger."

"I saw that. Over."

"Proceed with patrol?" Maka asked, ignoring the older woman's comment.

"Yes, and if do you come across the kishin egg that's been reported and you can't handle it, let me or one of the others know," Marie reminded her. Again. Maka was going to start keeping track of how often Marie gave her that safety warning.

She had handled numerous kishin eggs going out on missions with her parents. While she kind of understood Marie's concern. It was a little bit annoying that the older woman didn't seem to think she was capably of handling one, even when she had a weapon partner.

"Roger," she finally replied. The codes they used to signal that they had heard each other were really starting to grate on her nerves.

Maka stepped out from the alleyway and began walking towards the café across the street, unable to shake her nerves. Being out in public always made her a little bit uncomfortable. She very much doubted anyone would actually recognize her, but the witches had spies everywhere.

She pushed the door to the café open, grateful of its coolness. It was hot out, and her long black coat didn't really help her stay at a comfortable temperature.

Soul was at a corner table one with one of the fancy coffees that the café was known for. He was reading a book, and with a start she realized it was the one she had left at the party for him. From a distance it looked like it could be an academic journal about anything. It was only from a closer distance that someone could see it was about soul resonance.

He glanced up at her, making eye contact before looking back down at the book with disinterest. She didn't know what that was supposed to mean.

She bought some iced sugary nonsense drink to go and headed outside, bracing herself to return to the heat. There was a prominent fountain close by, and she sat on the edge of it, sipping her drink.

Soul exited the café soon after, walking in her direction, but not actually looking at her. He settled down next to her on the fountain without acknowledging her. He had closed her book and tucked it under his arm.

Maka stood up, throwing her now empty cup in a trash bin. She nodded at Soul, indicating that she wanted him to follow her. He gave her a grin with his sharp, pointed teeth and she had to remind herself to stay professional. She'd been thinking about her future weapon partner a lot since they had first met.

"This is all kind of stupid, isn't it?" Soul asked, gesturing at the two of them. "All of this spy acting or whatever? Nobody is going to think we're doing anything weird."

"It's important," she countered, defensive. "Just in case. Also, you're kind of famous–"

He scoffed at the word famous, and she frowned, unsure if he was taking things seriously.

"You are! People could take notice of who you're hanging out with," she replied, earnestly.

She glanced around, sizing up the amount of people around them. It seemed like an area with a lot of tourists. A family of four passed by them, the mother giving Maka a strange look, probably because of the long black coat. An older woman on the other side of the street did a double take when she Soul, but kept walking. A guitarist on the street corner gave them a look, unsubtly nudging his tip box in their direction. There were already a few dollars inside.

"Maybe we should have done this at night." Maka groaned.

"Maybe," Soul said, shrugging. "I'm not even sure what we're doing."

"It's a patrol," Maka explained, feeling a little bit guilty about the lack of information Soul had been receiving. Apparently Black*Star had been the one to tell Soul about where to meet her. She hoped the blue-haired boy's personality hadn't shaken Soul too much. "Everything should go well. You probably won't even have to use your weapon form."

At the last bit, Soul looked up at her. He seemed surprised, but also a little bit disappointed. She wondered how long it had been since he last used his weapon from.

"At least, not for now," she amended, offering him a smile. He accepted it, giving her one in return. It seemed like she was able to read him fairly well, and it seemed like he could understand her as well. That bode well for their partnership.

"So this is like kind of a test run?" He asked, as they rounded a corner.

"Yeah, pretty much," Maka confirmed. "I guess it's just like a patrol I would do anyway, but with you along just so you can get a sense of what we're up against.

"Riiight," Soul drawled. "So what is one of these kishin eggs supposed to look like?"

"Well," she replied, combing her memory for a near exact definition. "A kishin egg occurs when a someone consumes innocent human souls. If they eat too many, they can turn into a kishin. As for what they look like, it can vary. A lot still look human, while others… don't. But I think you'll know one if you see it."

"Alright." Soul shrugged.

They were getting pretty far from their original destination, and this was the first time she had done a patrol in the city they were in. However, she had done a lot of research, and it seemed like they were following her pre-planned route. Soul was willing to follow her lead, which worked well for her. She knew it was something her parents had argued over when they used to go on patrols.

She saw that they were getting into a harbor area, with some dilapidated brick buildings further to the left, along the waterfront. While they were probably once mills of some sort, they seemed to have been converted to storage areas in more recent times. There was a strong smell of brine and rotting wood, and the concrete ground was getting rougher.

"That looks like a perfect lair for a kishin egg," Maka said, pointing out the brick warehouses to Soul.

"You want to check it out?" He asked, uncertainly coloring his tone.

"Yeah, I can get us back-up if we need it," she replied, pulling her coat aside so her radio was visible. Soul nodded at her and they began walking to the warehouse area.

Soul suddenly jabbed her in the arm, and she spun around to look at him, annoyed. He nodded in the direction of some stacked boxes to the side of one of the buildings, and she followed his gaze.

It seemed she had been correct in thinking that Soul would be able to tell a kishin egg when he saw one. There was a creature with near translucent skin perched on one of the boxes, almost hidden behind one of the buildings. It's once human face seemed contorted and flattened, it's mouth open and twisted. There were blue orbs floating around throughout its body and she prepared herself for a fight.

The kishin egg looked at them, it flat black eyes narrowing. Its lips tore into a ragged grin and it stalked forward, it's large tail swinging back and forth, leaping down from the box it was on. It was the most far-gone kishin egg she had ever seen. It's transformation into a fully fledged kishin could be only a few souls away.

Soul was already transforming into a weapon and she caught him by the handle of the scythe.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Ready," he replied, his voice echoing and fainter in the new form.

She charged at the monster, exhilarated. She finally had a weapon partner, and she was finally directly fighting a kishin egg without help from an adult. Marie's voice crackled in through the radio with alarm, but the rush of adrenaline and the blood roaring in her ears drowned the voice out.

Maka took a swing at the monster; only for it to rear back on it's hind legs before trying to stomp down on her. She jumped out of the way, compensating for the fact that she had an actual weapon. They had changed positions; she was walking backwards, headed towards the area with the boxes. It continued to stalk forward, drawing the attention of a few onlookers. She readjusted her grip on Soul. The situation was getting bad.

It swung its large tail at her, but she managed to avoid it. She wasn't prepared for the rebound and got smacked into a pile of boxes, which almost fell on her head. Her radio got torn off on some loose edge and she kicked it away with frustration.

"Maka?" Soul asked, after she had rolled out of the way. The boxes crashed to the floor, temporarily preventing the kishin egg from getting any closer.

"I'm fine," she said, through gritted teeth. "You?"

"I can definitely keep going," he replied, though his tone exuded concern.

The kishin egg leapt over the fallen boxes with ease, watching her struggle to stand up. "An unregistered weapon?" It growled, curious. Its gaze was on the scythe in Maka's hand. "I've never eaten one of those before."

"Maka…" Soul said, waiting for a response.

"Don't worry, Soul," she replied. "The only time you'll touch him is when you're freeing the innocent souls trapped inside his body!"

With those words, she jumped back onto one of the stacks of boxes, using the height advantage to bring the scythe down on the monster's head. The former human had grown too large to get out of her way in time, and the scythe hit its mark. Maka rolled out of the way and looked up just in time to see the innocent souls being freed, while the red one hung in the air. Weighed down by it's transgressions.

Soul transformed back into human form, standing up and then helping Maka get to her feet.

"That was incredible," he whispered, exhilarated. He dropped his arms to turn around and look at the soul hanging in the air. "What do we do with it?"

"You eat it, right?" She asked, like he was supposed to know.

It seemed like he approved of the answer, grabbing the soul by it's tail and lowering into his open mouth.

Maka watched with interest as until she heard her name being called. And then the reality of the situation kicked in. "Shit."

Soul finished gulping down the kishin egg before looking at her in concern.

The boxes in front of the two teens seemed to explode to either side, revealing Marie. At first, concern seemed etched into every part of her face, but when she saw that they were okay, her expression quickly shifted to fury.

"What were you thinking? I told you to call for backup and you don't even answer your radio? I thought you were dead for a full two minutes! What was I supposed to tell your father? I–"

"Her radio came off in the fight," Soul said, defensively. Marie turned her glare on him, her one visible eye glistening with some undefined emotion.

"And dragging Soul into a fight with a late stage kishin egg when he has no actual experience!" Marie continued, before turning to Soul. "My name is Marie, by the way I'm with the same organization as Maka. How many times have you used your weapon form?"

"Not counting just then?" Soul asked, rubbing the back of neck sheepishly. "Um, twice."

Maka turned to him with surprise and alarm, while Marie nodded grimly.

"It was dangerous," he said, trying not to sound defensive.

"It still is," Marie responded, sighing. "Stein and Spirit are doing damage control with the witnesses. I'm glad you two are safe."

Maka had forgotten about the people who had actually seen the fight and felt guilt settle into the pit of her stomach. "Is everyone okay?"

"It seems like the civilians are fine, but it doesn't change the fact that you messed up." Marie sighed. "The patrol is finished. You two can go home."

Maka turned to Soul, who shrugged. She awkwardly stuck her hand out and he shook it, a wry smile gracing his face.

"See you when I see you," he told her. He walked back in the direction of the city center, probably to catch a bus or something.

"Yeah, see you," Maka faintly responded. Marie put her hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

"Despite not calling for backup when you obviously should have, that didn't go too badly." She stated, trying to sound upbeat. "You probably have more patrols with him in the future."

The woman paused for a moment, pressing her lips together in disapproval. "Maybe with fewer kishin eggs though."

Maka quickly rolled out of the kishin egg's path, neatly jumping back to her feet, with Soul already slicing through the air. The kishin egg charged forward, and Maka stepped back accordingly, preparing for it's next attack.

The rooftop fight had already been going on for a few minutes, and it was a good thing she had worn her gloves. Her hands were starting to get so sweaty that simply holding on to Soul would have gotten increasingly difficult.

The once human slunk around her, looking for an opening. It stood on two feet but its back was hunched over so much that its hands dragged on the ground. Blood and saliva mingled together in its open mouth and dripped down its sharpened, grayish teeth.

"Not fair," it was muttering. "Not fair."

"What does it mean?" Soul asked, quietly. Maka couldn't help but wonder about that herself.

"It doesn't matter right now," she replied more to herself than to her weapon partner. The kishin egg took advantage of her momentary lapse in defense and charged at her, teeth bared.

Maka swung at it, only for it to dodge out of the way at the last second. She gritted her teeth in frustration. "Coward!"

"Mabaa would never had let this happen," the kishin egg grumbled. It was the most coherent thing she'd heard out of the former human during their fight, and the fact that it even brought up the former grandwitch's name was shocking.

"Mabaa?" She said, surprised.

The kishin egg, probably assuming that it had caught her off guard, charged towards them. Maka smoothly swung Soul through its distorted form, causing it to unravel until only a corrupted soul remained.

Soul gracefully transformed back into a human. He plucked the soul from the air and dropped it into his mouth.

Maka laid down on the flat rooftop, tugging her gloves off and slipping them into her jacket pocket. She wiped her sweaty hands off on her skirt and noted how much they were shaking. She hated all the leftover adrenaline. The fight was over, and she was exhausted, but her body couldn't seem to understand that.

She heard Soul sit down next to her, and they shared a moment in quiet, resting after the intense fight.

"Mabaa?" Soul said.

"She was the grandwitch," Maka replied. "But it sounded like that kishin egg missed her. Like he was unhappy with the Gorgons' rule."

"It could have been," Soul mused.

"I know Arachne and Medusa want to form more kishin and spread madness across the world. Why would the kishin egg be mad about that?" Maka whispered.

She sat up, and pain shot across her abdomen. She cried out in pain, pressing a hand where the pain was radiating from.

Of course, Soul was immediately at attention. "Maka? What is it? What happened?"

"I must have gotten injured during the fight," she responded. She gingerly pressed her hand against the wound. "Best case scenario it's just a bad bruise. That's what it feels like, at least."

"We should get you back to –" Soul began to say, before realizing he had no idea where Maka actually lived. "Wherever," he finished. He stood up and offered her his hand.

She accepted it, carefully getting to her feet. "You mean the meeting place with Azusa?" She asked, a smile playing across her lips.

"You know what I mean," Soul replied, looking to see if there was a way to get off of the roof without too much jumping around. He saw a fire escape, and nodded towards it.

Maka immediately understood his intent, and they headed over to rusting metal stairs. "How many missions have we gone on now? Not counting patrols?"

"I dunno? This must be our tenth, right?" He said.

"I think you're right," Maka confirmed. She eyed a step that looked particularly rusted and skipped over it. "I guess it's probably safe to say you aren't a double agent for the witches or government or whatever by now." There was definitely a teasing quality to her tone and he couldn't help but return it.

"Cross my heart," he replied, smirking.

They reached the end of the fire escape and Maka hopped down onto the pavement below, grunting as she jostled the presumed bruise on her chest.

"How are things with your family?" She asked, bluntly.

The teasing mood evaporated.

"Not great," he responded with equal candor. "They caught me turning my arm into a blade and I got a whole speech about how much they've sacrificed by keeping me safe and how apparently the 'Evans name' is all that's protecting me from registration. And then I tried to explain the whole thing with Black*Star and the window."

Maka turned to him, her eyes widened in surprise. "He actually did that? I really hoped he was kidding."

He shrugged. "It's not a huge deal."

"And your parents?" She asked.

He shrugged, turning away from her inquiring gaze. "They thought it was a little bit of a big deal, but I handled it."

"42-42-564," Maka blurted out, suddenly. "It's not – I mean Lord Death isn't going to answer, but if you need to get in touch with the DWMA, for anything, you can write on a mirror or a window or something."

"Huh," Soul said, processing the information. "42-42-5 what?"

"564," Maka confirmed, looking at him.

"I'll remember," he told her, nonchalantly. "Hey, while we're here do you want to do some sightseeing?"

She gave him a weird look. "Don't you live here?"

"No, this is Queens," he replied, incredulity creeping into his tone. "I live in Manhattan."

She rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest. He noticed how she flinched when she made contact with the bruise.

"Or maybe you should get back to the DWMA," he amended. "Can't really fight if my meister's really wounded."

"I'm not!" She exclaimed, smiling. "Or at least, not badly."

"Why don't we let Azusa decide?" He asked, turning a street corner. They were only a few blocks away from the meeting place.

"That might be a better idea," she confirmed, gently probing the sore spot.

"42-42-564?" He asked.

"That's it!" Maka exclaimed, sounding genuinely delighted, and he couldn't help but smile along.

"We'll be taking on more and more kishin eggs in no time!" She continued. "Maybe we'll get to take down a kishin – or a even witch!"

"Before we do anything else, you need to get that checked," Soul reminded her.

"Yeah," she responded. "It'll be fine, but yeah."

They started down a new street, leaving the echo of after-battle relief in their wake.

A few hours later, in a different part of the world, hollow footsteps echoed against the marble floor or a church. A sword opened his mouth, and screamed.

A/N :)

Okay, so what I understood from canon is that you have humans (or meisters), who can turn into a kishin egg by consuming innocent souls, and then the kishin egg can turn into a full on Asura-type kishin. For the kishin egg part, I made up appearances based on how far gone they were, because the appearance of kishin eggs varies a lot in the anime and manga, although there does seem to be a tendency to base them off of real people?

Other notes: I honestly cannot emphasize how much everyone's comments and feedback are helpful to me. The reviews help my motivation so, so much. So extra thanks to Winged Serpent of Light, , clexausic, and kittenlover15! I appreciated the feedback on where to put my A/N, and now I'm wondering about the title. I'm not sure if it fits, but I can't think of anything else, so if you guys have suggestions, let me know!

I have way too much to say in these notes, they're going to end up being half the length of the chapter. The next chapter I have to write and edit from scratch, so we'll see how that goes. Wish me luck!