"Ahhh!" Soul stretched his back after he jumped through the portal. "Alright now, let's do a name count" he said. Everyone lined up in front of him as he walked by.

"Maka"

"Here"

"BlackStar"

"Here"

"Tsubaki"

"Here"

"Finally," he teased her,

"Liz"

"Here"

"Kid"

"Present"

"Patty"

"Hahahahah!"

"Crona"

"Here"

"Cool guy… I am here" Soul said and nodded to himself once in agreement.

Liz rolled her eyes and Maka smiled.

"I'm kind a hungry" Crona said awkwardly and everybody's bellies growled.

"Heheheh, me too" Patty agreed, "let's all go over to the buffet! Com'on Crona!" she grasped his hand and marched him towards the dining area of their hotel.

Maka held on to the tail of Soul's jacket and walked behind him, BlackStar and Tsubaki were arguing already because he told her about the tracking device he plans to install onto her.

"If anything, YOU'RE the one that needs it, every time I have to chase after you!" she shirked when he lifted her and carried her on his shoulder, "we are not doing this again! Put me down BlackStar,"

"Are they really gonna fight within the same hour they reunited?" Lizzy asked out loud.

"They missed each other is all," Kid gave his arm for her hand to rest on after looping it through the gap. "Glad all of that is over with. Now, the real vacation begins" because he said that so lowly and dark, it sounded like a threat; Liz laughed while he guild her to join the others. When they arrived, Soul carried three overstuffed plates back to the table and ran back to the line to get one more food item. Maka sat with Tsubaki, both chatting about what happened while she was gone. BlackStar stood in line with Patty and Crona but kept one sharp eye on Tsubaki and another to the plate. Kid spotted a man in a white button down shirt and black pants in shiny black leather shoes carrying a tray of what looked like expensive campaign.

"Good sir! A drink here please" Kid called out using his rich boy voice and the man looked at him weird but otherwise walked by and offered a drink.

"Please don't get drunk tonight," Lizzy pleaded him,

"Just one glass will do me," he promised.

Everyone eventually got their food and beverage, joined the others at the table and sat, ate, shared laughs, told stories until they were all full. Soul patted his suddenly overgrown belly, "man… so full!" he groaned happily.

"I'll help you to your room," Maka raised his arm for him to place around her shoulder and helped him up. Together they stumbled towards the elevator. Tsubaki shrieked when BlackStar lifted her again and carried her up using the stairs. Crona wasn't ready to retire yet so he asked Patty if she would like to join him on a stroll around town or to the beach. "Okay!' was her excited reply and together they left.

Kid was at the register paying off the plates, "Mahalo, have a good night sir!"

"Thanks," he told the clerk and made his way back to get Liz. "I'll walk you to your room," he told her. She nodded her head and followed him to the elevator. Once they got to their floor, Tsubaki was demanding BlackStar to put down her luggage all the way to his room. Maka's giggling voice was coming from further down the hall from what Kid guessed to be Soul's room.

"Want to come inside and have some tea?" Liz offered, Kid nods his head and opened the door for her after she unlocked it. 'It's a mess in here,' he thought. Lizzy's face blushed, the condition of the 'girl's room' was embarrassing.

"Ermmm."

"Why don't you change out of those clothes and freshen up," he suggested, "I'll come back to get you, we can have tea in my room. Maybe a game of cards."

Lizzy liked his idea way better, "I'll be about twenty minutes" she told him. Kid lightly nudged his face against her cheek,

"I shall be back."

"Alright, you can sleep on the bed, I'll take the floor" BlackStar told her after he placed her things in the closet. Not bothering to mention that the door behind them was another bedroom that he could use.

"This is wrong!" Tsubaki said,

"We live together back home, what the hell is the difference?" He asked irritably,

"Well… Uh, it's just that…" She couldn't find a delicate way to put it, "We have our own bedrooms back home,"

"We have our own bedroom here," he said, "now in the showers with you, I can smell that kidnapper's scent on you and it irritates me."

Tsubaki finally gave up arguing and just decided to go along with it. She knew that he was just taking extra precautions now because he was really just worried about losing his partner again.

"Hey…Tsubaki" BlackStar turned around to face her, and that's when it hit Tsubaki. She missed it somehow these past few weeks, months even; that he'd grown a lot. There he stood close to eye level with her; arms, legs and abs are now longer, and because of all the intense training he's done, he's been rewarded with a build body. Even his face matured some. "It's great to have you back" he said and for a second, one corner of his lip twitched upward. A smile or a smirk, she really couldn't tell.

He didn't just grow physically, somewhere along the way the boy she'd always seen him to be was now suddenly becoming a man.

Tsubaki felt strange, deep in her belly there was a flutter that tickled her. "It's great to be back" she replied softly and entered the restroom.

"Are you serious? You're not pulling my leg are you?" Soul couldn't believe the how much he missed out on.

"Yup, and then Crona kept getting all these pretty local girls practically climbing him, and then Patty; She was so jealous" Maka laughed some more.

"Damn! How did Crona do it?" he wondered,

"Beats me," Maka's hand blindly reached over to find her glass of water but instead she knocked it towards herself. A large portion of it splashed on her white t-shirt.

'Breast….' He noticed, 'when in the hell did she grow those?!' bewildered, he stared directly at the light pink bra that was now visible underneath her shirt. Maka stood up, searching for a towel and Soul got an even better view when she turned to her side.

"Where are the rags?" she asked, he pointed to at the kitchen and she walked in that direction.

It's wasn't just her front that developed, her rear actually has a slight bump. In fact, her usually mid-thigh skirt looks more like a mini skirt with her legs being long and shapely. 'But this really isn't weird, she is growing after all… No matter what, she's still Maka…' he told himself.

He's yet to admit to her that he actually has deep feelings for her. Not that it was surprising to anyone, least of all himself. Getting off of the bed, he went through his things "Here, go change into this" when she walked back with the rag, he held out a black long-sleeve shirt that read "MERCI" in big white letters across the front. After she took it from his hand, she went into the bedroom while he went out to the patio. "I'm done!" she called out and he hesitated to go back inside. Dear Lord, but he was excited. The image in his head of seeing her wearing his shirt was surprisingly arousing. He groaned lowly when she called him to come in now.

"MERCI"

"Heheheh, did you see that seagull?" Patty pointed at the bird that just swallowed a whole fish.

She grinned when it made a squawking sound and Crona smiled along with her. 'So bright,' he thought. She really was everything he wasn't; and instead of feeling intimidated by her easygoingness, he admired her for it.

"Patty, look over there" he pointed at two albino doves sitting in a tree.

"Aww!" she gaad, "so cute!"

Crona matched his pace with her to move closer, "you'll need to be quiet if you don't want frighten them away," he whispered to her.

"Okay" she whispered back. They watched the birds nestled to get comfortable, then eventually they fell asleep on the tree branch.

"Their cuddling" Patty giggled,

"Birds style I guess" he agreed and smiled when she snickered, "let's back away now so they can sleep" he whispered and together they crept backwards.

Resuming to their walk, a group of thugs blocked their way to
getting back in their hotel. "There's a fee for using my sidewalk" the one in front informed, he then held out his hand, expecting cash to land on it.

"I didn't bring any money," Patty announced to Crona,

"Me neither," he told her.

"Mister, do you mind if I call my caretaker to pay this fee?" she asked the head thug.

"Uh… Uhmm okay" he stood with his arms crossed now, waiting for them to make that phone call.

Patty pulled out a hot pink cellphone with a butterfly bedazzle design on the back. Clicking the speed-dial button, she awaited patiently for Kid to pick up.

"Hello, this is Death the Kid," he answered.

"Hi Kid!"

"Eh' hello Patty,"

"There's a bunch of guys here and they want us to pay a sidewalk fee!" she told him.

"Patty, there's no such thing as a sidewalk fee. They were built for the community to use freely."

"Oh… Okay, I'll tell them you said no!" with that she hung up the phone.

"Patty wait!" Kid shouted on the phone, "damn it, she can't fight with me or her sister," he looked at the mini clock on his bedside table, "I've got twelve minutes until it's time to get Liz." He noted before he went out to the balcony and skateboarded in the air towards the direction of Patty's soul wavelength.

It didn't take long to find them, mostly because of how loud the thugs were demanding their fee to be paid. But, instead of diving in there to help, Kid sensed Crona's wavelength moving dramatically in the air. The look on his face indicated that Crona was beginning to lose patience.

Tired of always getting picked, he moved Patty to stand behind him.

"What the hell are you looking at me like that for?" the biggest one of them asked, Crona remained silent. "You better quit looking at me like that" the man warned. Crona narrowed his eye some more. Getting a bit angrier and angrier by the second, the big thug reached out to grab the front of Crona's shirt but Crona brushed his big hand away easily. "You little,"

He reached over a second time and Crona quickly snatch his wrist and squeeze. "Leave me alone" he said darkly to the man howling in pain.

"You brat!" the gang went after them but all were thrown back by the force of his wavelength. He finally released the man's wrist and was about to move forward until Patty started giggling,

"What's so funny?" he wondered. Patty shook her head, grasp his hand into her's and marched him to the hotel.

"You mention that you were sharing a room with Blackstar right?" she asked,

"Yes"

"Sissy is probably worried by now, so we should call this a night, mkay?"

"Okay"

When they made it up there, they found Crona's luggage outside the front door with a note that reads, 'Tsubaki is in here, find another roommate. –B'

"Ummmm…. Wells then" Patty said and Crona tilt his head sideways, looking like a confused puppy.