Okay, it seems like people are actually reading this, so I'll clear some stuff up. Probably should have done this before it got to the ripe old age of Chapter 11, lol.

Basically I imagine the story to be taking place maybe a few years, (two years?) after the events of the manga. Most of it's based on the anime, with a lot of plot points taken from the manga (Stein and Marie's kid, a lot of the stuff with the insanity wavelength). This means most of the main cast are around 17-20 at this point.

But, but! As a reader, you're free to imagine any context you like for the story!

And thank you so much to anyone who's reviewed; getting reviews (good or bad) gives me a lot of motivation.


In her defense, Tsubaki really had meant to go after Maka. The problem was that she sometimes cared a little too much.

She had begun to walk the long, winding path to Kid's office, but on her way there she had been struck by how beautiful the stained-glass windows along the hallway had been; admired the way the sun had a way of striking the colorful glass just the right way and painting intricate, luminous patterns on the otherwise dull marble flooring. She liked the scenery of the DWMA when it was empty, like this. There was a studious feeling in the air.

And then, of course, she had noticed a slight flaw in the pattern. An object; out of place. A silhouette where there should have been a perfect orange panel.

Of course she noticed, she was a Nakatsukasa. She was born of generations of ninja-weapons. Being able to spot a single flaw in a mile of evidence was etched into her DNA. Nothing escaped her.

Her pretty bright eyes shine inquisitively.

Who was sitting on their own out there?

She decides that she'll check on them quickly, and then she'll afterwards catch up with Maka.

She's probably still in her meeting, anyway.

She retraces back a few paces to the side door, to get out on the balcony and pushes it open gently. Her heart races suddenly as she sees a lone figure dangling precariously off the edge, in the distance.

"S-STOP!" she calls, suddenly stuttering, running towards them.

The albino-haired culprit whips his head round, agitated by the sudden noise. His spooked expression turns to ambivalence as he spies who the interloper is.

"Tsubaki? What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Soul!" she catches up to him, panting a little from the worry rather than the exertion."I thought you were someone about to jump off the edge!" she exclaims, before narrowing her eyes. "You're not, though, right?" she double-checks, just for posterity.

"No." He scoffs.

Up closer, she notices how rough he looks. Fatigue creates dark rings on his eyes, and the onset of a 5'o clock shadow scaffolds his jaw. His hair is a little unkempt, and he doesn't appear to have slept. She's struck with an errant thought:

Why doesn't Black Star ever grow a beard? He'd look more grown-up. It could suit him!

"You look a little tired, Soul. What's going on? Maka said you were missing this morning." She hoiks herself up so she's adjacent to him and realizes that there's actually a hidden layer of bricks jutting out from the under the wall which would have prevented him from falling.

Soul kicks his heels with blatant frustration.

"It's fine." He says dispassionately.

She doesn't seem too bothered by his abruptness, because she understands he has trouble talking about his feelings sometimes.

Let's try something else.

"Have you and Maka sorted out your argument?" she asks, probing gently.

"I don't want to talk about it." He frowns, still not looking at her.

She smiles kindly.

"Of course." she nods, understandingly. Because she's Tsubaki; she understands. "Your stubble really suits you, by the way," she compliments him because he looks down, and she thinks he probably needs it.

He's caught off guard. "Oh." He reaches up and wantonly strokes the offending stubble. "Uh, thanks. I would usually shave, but I haven't really been home," he answers. She nods enthusiastically. Probably more enthusiastically than the statement warranted. "I could probably do with a shower, too." He comments of himself drily, making a face.

"Ah, well. You know, if you don't want to go home, you could always shower in the Shibusen locker rooms!" her eyes sparkle as she delivers the tip. "I sometimes do, when I want a little more privacy. Black Star… isn't always the best roommate for having a lot of privacy." She says dubiously, her eyes crinkling with an escaped giggle.

"Yeah, I learned that recently." He chuckles too, smiling goofily into the middle distance. "Bet having Maka was like a dream come true, huh?"

Tsubaki nods in agreement. "It was a refreshing change! But, living with anyone has its ups and downs, don't you think?" she asks innocently. "Me, for example. Sometimes I can be a bit of a nag about recycling! It drives Black Star nuts. He loves to throw paper straight out!" she rolls her eyes good-naturedly. "And in the same way, sometimes Maka can take her emotions out on the people she loves."

Soul's eyebrow twinges upwards curiously.

So, that caught his attention, then.

"She can be a moody cow." He agrees a little harshly, now turning his head to meet eyes with his companion. "Although, I had assumed that she reserved that for me. And Spirit, obviously." He adds, with just a hint of questioning in his tone.

He's asking me if Maka's ok.

Tsubaki takes a few seconds to think.

"Sometimes Maka can have trouble understanding people's motives… when they're aligned with different values than her own." She replies, stringing her sentences together with care. "For example, she often questions me as to why I put up with Black Star all the time. She doesn't understand why or how somebody would want to partner with such a… strong personality, because she doesn't enjoy being challenged."

"What do you tell her?" Soul wonders aloud.

"I tell her that I enjoy being partnered with Black Star. I believe in him, and I see the best in him." She doesn't hesitate. "But Maka doesn't understand, because she doesn't see the world the same way as me."

"So she's a stubborn beast," Soul makes a face. "Although, I might have to agree with her on that one." Tsubaki laughs lightly. Against his better judgment, Soul gets drawn into Tsubaki's hypothesis. "Okay, I'll bite. Why is Maka recently so pissed at me?"

Tsubaki bites her lip.

"I really shouldn't have gotten involved…" she starts, but Soul shakes his head.

"Too late." He contradicts.

Tsubaki takes a pensive inhale before answering. "I think she'd like you to be a little more… forthcoming. She finds it frustrating, when you keep things from her. It's healthy for a weapon and meister to share things with one another." She replies, truthfully.

Soul shoves his hands in his pockets, expecting as much.

"Yeah, well. It doesn't really matter now, anyway." He drawls, his eyes drawn back out to the overview of the city ahead of them. He frowns to beat away the burning sun in his eyes, and he frowns harder because its October, and what the hell right did the sun to be so bright?

"It still matters, Soul." Tsubaki puts a hand on his arm. "Whatever has happened, you and Maka will be fine. I really believe that." She's telling the truth, but she still tries hard to sound genuine.

He's not entirely sure what possesses him to tell her. Perhaps it's a heatstroke, from sitting out here all day. Perhaps it's the knowledge that gossip in Death City spreads like wildfire anyway, and it was a matter of time before she knew. Perhaps he wants to challenge her, to surprise her somehow; stop her from telling him things he already knows.

Either way, it's deeply uncool.

"What if I kissed her?"

He's painfully aware that he sounds like some sort of awful pre-teen drama novella, but dammit, this is his life.

To her credit, Tsubaki doesn't react much outwardly. Her eyelashes flutter a few times in quick succession, and she cocks her head.

"Do you think that will change anything between the two of you?" she asks. He's gratefully relieved that she doesn't hound him for more information, but of course she didn't. She's Tsubaki; she understood people's boundaries.

"I don't know. Probably." Soul scratches his stubble. "It wasn't really me." He attempts to explain. "The, uh. The black blood kinda took over." He's aware that it sounds like he's making excuses now, but if Tsubaki doesn't believe him, she doesn't show any signs of it.

Black Blood? So there's something else going on, here. She'll note that one down for later.

"How have things been since?" she tries.

"Weird." He answers definitively. "She just… she was fine with it. She forgave me." he kicks his heels against the wall again. "Said she 'understood' it wasn't me." His scowl deepens.

She censors herself before she's about to ask what the problem is. He'd probably just clam up if she oversimplifies it too much.

This is Soul we're talking about, not Black Star.

"You're worried it was." She states, more than asks.

He doesn't reply, but his dejected body language is more than enough for her to understand.

"Soul, you know that you need to talk to her." Her voice comes gentle as she appeals to his better side, his more communicative side. "You need to tell her, not me. I know that she'll understand. All she wants is for you to try." she finishes with an empathetic smile. Soul considers her advice for a second.

"I try." He answers, truthfully for him anyway. "I try hard, actually."

"She wants you to try doing things her way. Talking it out. Opening up." She explains immediately.

"There's so much other stuff going on." He plucks an excuse lazily from thin air. "It would seem stupid, and childish."

"What other stuff?"

"Like, for one - this kishin we fought last night. It's still out there, and apparently it can… it can manipulate my black blood. Y'know, insanity wavelength. So that's a whole lot of fun we've gotta deal with." He explains further. "And then, I mean, where do I start? Jesus, our whole job is life or death."

Huh. The kishin manipulated his Black Blood trait? And he said it's still at large. Pieces are starting to fall together…

Again, she stores it away for future use.

"All the more reason to talk to her!" she says, moving back to her previous argument. "Soul… all those things you listed – you know you'll be far better equipped for them if you and your Meister understand each other." Her face turns thoughtful. "Black Star and I often have short periods of Resonance troubles, you know." There's a brief silence, and she's guessing Soul already knew that. He's friends with Black Star, after all. "Before a big battle, sometimes he can become hard to read. It's like he isolates himself, preparing himself for what's about to happen."

"How do you deal with it?"

"We talk." She answers simply. "It may surprise you, but Black Star acts totally differently when it's just the two of us."

She remembers that Maka has often said the same of Soul.

"Huh." He replies, stoutly. He doesn't elaborate further, but something appears to have clicked in his head. She appears to have changed his mind.

"Everything okay?" she wonders.

"I guess…. I guess I should go and find her then, I guess." He surprises her.

Tsubaki's face breaks out into a pleased smile, before she suddenly remembers the reason she came here at all.

Oh no, Maka!

She was so busy trying to get Soul to talk to her, that she forgot about trying to get Maka to talk to her!

Oh well. Maybe one was as good as the other? Still, she hoped the girl was ok.

Especially since it seemed that their mission had been particularly rough…

The pair of them twist round and step off the balcony edge in unison. Tsubaki brushes a little stone dust off her white dress.

"I was actually just on my way to find her, when I stumbled across you. I think she's just in a meeting with Kid, but I'm not sure how long it will take. We could go together and see if she's still there, if you like?" Tsubaki offers warmly, making a move to follow Soul as he departs, but he shakes his head.

Tsubaki's cleverer than she lets people think, Soul realizes. In one conversation she'd managed to find out about the mission, about Maka, and the kissing. He makes a mental note that he should be more on guard around her- the girl had barely flashed a smile and he had told her everything.

Well, he still had one trick up his sleeve.

"Thanks, but I think I probably need to speak to her by myself." He gives her an apologetic look. "You know how it is. Gotta go tell my Meister how I feel." He continues, his mouth curling upward in a strange look.

"I get it, Soul. Good luck!" she calls, a little confused by how out of character he's suddenly acting.

"I would suggest one thing, though."

"Hm?"

"I think that you should take your own advice, in future." He flashes her his teeth in a quick smirk, before taking off in the opposite direction and leaving her flustered in his wake.

Tsubaki's body freezes in surprise as his meaning clicks, and her entire face flushes involuntarily with embarrassment. When the initial shock wears off, she stares thoughtfully after his diminishing figure in the distance.

Touché, Soul.


At the other end of campus, Black Star plods along the marble hallway, his thick brown steel-capped boots scuffing along the floor as he does so. He realizes with a start that he's damaging his shoes and switches up his walking to the exact opposite; lifting his knees up high and triumphant with each step. Then; lifting the steel toes in his boots becomes too troublesome and he reverts back to shuffling.

From the look of it, you would never believe that he's one of the most accomplished technicians at the academy.

A few times he alternates between the two, absently whistling as he inadvertently looks like an utter madman clonking down the hallway. He's blissfully ignorant of the bizarre stares he receives from a few NOT class students who are late to class.

"Hurry along to class!" he points down the hall with a goofish smile on his face. "You need to learn so you can be strong and powerful, like me!" he tells them, his intentions golden but his execution poor.

The two girls look blankly back at him.

"But… we're NOT students…" one of them tries, but Black Star's already plodded too far away to be listening.

He's got a goal in mind, and that goal was to find his weapon, and assist her in comforting Maka. When Tsubaki had first asked him to go with her, he'd figured he probably had better things to do. But then he'd thought about it: with his buddy Soul nowhere to be found, everyone being in a bad mood and Tsubaki off somewhere else… what else was there to do?

He'd tried Kilik, first of all. There was no way he was going to spend his free period hanging out with Ox or even worse, Harvar, so Kilik had been the obvious first option. But that hadn't lasted long, namely because Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder were currently going through their obnoxious tweenaged years.

He misses when Kilik's duo of Earth Shaman used to be cute and Chibi. As a pair of 12 year olds, they totally stole his thunder.

Literally, in the case of one of them.

He'd excused himself semi-politely and then wandered the hallways dejectedly for a couple minutes. His boredom, and tingling sense that something interesting might happen had of course, led him to his current activity of choice, which is shuffling/high kneeing it to Kid's office.

He eventually does arrive, and when he does he's met by a curious sight.

Maka stands a few paces from the door, eyes closed and her forehead leaning against the wooden panelled wall to one side. He quirks an eyebrow.

"Have you fallen asleep standing up?" he asks, half mocking and half sincere.

"No." she grits through her teeth, not moving. "Just stressed."

"What's the haps? I bet I can make you feel better!" he shoves a confident thumb towards himself.

Maka opens one eye to a slit and stares him down. Somehow, the glare of a single, half opened eye manages to pierce Black Star's confidence and he flinches at the side.

Jeez, women can be scary when they're pissed.

"Was it Kid? Did he say something mean?" Black Star probes further. "I'll beat him up for you! I'm serious, I'll do it!" he exclaims, relishing the excuse to start yet another fight with his part-time friend.

"No, he didn't say anything, you idiot." Maka groans at his audacity. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to make you feel better, dummy!" he laughs at her stupidity. "Now feel better!" he instructs her, as if he's casting some sort of happy spell and those are the activation words.

To his surprise, she snickers lightly. Senses that he's not trying to be a pain in the ass, he's trying to help. She's a little touched.

"Thanks, but I'm not sure there's anything that will cheer me up right now." She stands up and removes herself from the wall, glancing back at Kid's door where she can still hear muffled voices and an atmosphere of tension. "Look, something's going on. In the city." She divulges, figuring that it wasn't exactly a secret.

Black Star is suddenly all ears.

"Like what?"

"Something powerful. Soul and I fought it last night, but it… it got away from us. It had the same power that Asura had, and Medusa, too." She glances up at her company. "Y'know, manipulating insanity wavelengths?" She shudders at the mention of it. "Soul lost his mind, temporarily. And this morning I found out that Professor Stein was affected, too."

Black Star's ears prick up.

"Was Soul okay?"

"He was fine, I guess. I think it's rattled him, though." Maka glances once more at the closed door. "Professor Stein seemed pretty cagey too. Judging from the way him and Miss Marie were acting… this could be more serious than we realized."

Dammnit, he'd expected some girly crap, not this.

"What're are the academy going to do?"

Maka shrugs. "They're keeping us posted. I guess they need to determine the threat level before they make it common knowledge. Don't want a widespread panic."

Black Star frowns thoughtfully. "And Soul's missing?! He could be being manipulated right now! Jesus, Maka, we need to find him!" Black Star's eyes widen as he speaks, remembering the last time the madness had taken hold of Soul in Russia. It had been nearly two years ago, now, but none of them were likely to forget the events of Asura's return in any haste.

"Forget it. I sensed his wavelength." She replies quietly. "That's what I was doing a second ago," she references her weird wall-leaning. "He's around, and he's fine right now. He's just… hiding from me." Her voice comes out very small.

Oh, so it was like that.

"Why's he doing that?" he asks redundantly.

"I don't know. Maybe he's mad at me." She sighs, looking a little tearful and withdrawn. "I don't think he wants to be my partner anymore. He wants to work on his own." She spills, bitterly. "I think he hates me."

Funny how one minute Maka could be such a raging badass, and then next she was a soppy mess.

And Soul was no better!

"Soul's an idiot!" he exclaims, with emotion. "I love the boy, but he's a clinical moron. Hiding from you? That's such a pussy move! Especially with a powerful enemy out there!" Black Star rages. "I should speak to him-"

"No! Don't," she practically growls, resembling her weapon for a second. "That's the last thing I need." She sighs, her shoulders slumping.

Black Star considers her, one brow quirked.

"Fine." He puts his hands up, surrendering. He adds slyly: "Just so you know, you're an idiot, too."

"What?"

"I said: you're an idiot." He scoffs. "For thinking that Soul would ever abandon you as a partner. The boy is obsessed with you, for one thing."

Maka seems surprised. "What?" she repeats.

"I mean, c'mon Maka. The last few weeks, all he does is mope around the place. Trust me! I had to live with him. And it was no fun!" Black Star reveals. "He may be a brooding moron, but there's no way in hell that he hates you. Probably the opposite." He blows air out his cheeks, irritated. "Jeez, you two."

Of all the things he could be doing in a spare hour…

How the hell did he end up doing this?!

Maka stares at her friend like he's just sprouted an extra head.

"Ugh, why are boys so annoying…?" she bemoans, half to herself.

"Eh." Black Star shrugs nonchalantly. "Knowing him, shutting you out is probably his fucked-up way of keeping you safe." Black Star shakes his head. "Especially if the Black Blood's been acting up." He adds, sagely.

Man, sometimes he impresses himself with his own wisdom.

"Yeah, I get that. I just wish he'd tell me what was on his mind." Maka bristles.

"I'll tell you what I would do!" Black Star starts, deciding that she needs his particular brand of advice. "I would be like: HEY SOUL! YOU'RE GONNA TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON RIGHT NOW, ALRIGHT?!" he bellows, causing Maka to wince. "If you channel the great Black*Star, he'll soften right up." Black Star winks.

She snorts derisively, wishing that she hadn't dropped all her books on the way to Kid's office so that she could clonk him on the head with one of them.

"Right, right. And when that genius plan doesn't work, what then?"

"It will." Black Star balls his fists determinedly. Maka's about to come up with another snarky retort, but is rudely interrupted by a piercing high-pitched sound emanating from the ceiling.

It's the shrill wail of the school bell, indicating that it's the next period.

"I need to get to my next class." She makes a face, cutting their conversation short. "Crap, I got to run- I have to grab my books." She remembers, cursing. "I left them when I came here…" she trails off slowly as Black Star swings his backpack off his back and rummages through it with a determined look on his face.

"Here. I picked them up for you." He hands the three thick volumes to her with a genuine smile. "Figured that something serious must have been up, if a nerd like you dropped her study books on the floor."

She hesitates, taking back her previous thought about wanting to clonk him on the head, and is struck with feelings of gratefulness.

"Thank you," she expresses, taking her books off from him and cradling them in her arms.

"Psh. It was nothing! You should come to expect a certain level of greatness from me, after all!" he flashes her one of his characteristic kilowatt smiles. "I gotta run, too. I have gym!" He exclaims.

Ah, gym. The only class he consistently aced, and actively enjoyed.

"Seeya!" he pivots round to call in her direction.

"Bye…" Maka's left bemusedly and pensively staring at his departing outline as he decides to start his cardio training early, by sprinting rapidly down the corridor in the opposite direction.

He's no longer weighed down by the steel in his shoes - in fact, there's a noticeable bounce in his step and a proud grin on his face.

A whole free period at his disposal, and he'd spent most of it counselling that nerd.

Tsubaki would have been proud.