I'm back! Sadly today is Sunday, meaning I have school tomorrow. Well, Spring Break was fun while it lasted.

-;-

Maru stiffened slightly, before turning her head in a confused manner. "M-Maka?" She asked the albino. "Soul..." Liz put her hand on his shoulder. "This is... Maru. Not Maka." She said, although she had a depressed aura coming off her.

"I-If you don't mind telling me..." Maru fiddled with her fingers. "Who's Maka?" She watched as the group looked at each other, before answering. Maru sensed the sad atmosphere, and was about to say something, before Kid answered. "Maka was Soul's partner." Kid said.

Maru's eyes widened when she heard 'was'. "I-I'm sorry... did I u-upset anyone?" Maru said. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean to!" Maru said, bowing repeatedly, freaking out at the thought of making someone sad. Soul, who had recovered from his shock just stared at the girl.

"And I thought Crona was jumpy." Was all he said. "Talking about Crona, where is he?" Patty asked, frowning at the absence of the pink-haired boy. "He's on a mission. He should be back by tomorrow." Tsubaki said.

Maru, who was still bowing and saying her 'sorry's' froze. For a second she looked terrified, before she ran out, confusing the group. "Anyone wanna go find out what was so scary that she had to run out?" Black Star asked. Everyone nodded, before following Maru.

The found Maru running into the office, and into the room where the tubes were. They waited until she was up, before going up themselves.

When they got to the upstairs school, they followed Maru who rushed out of the school, and into a forest. Each member hid behind a tree where Maru had stopped. When Maru turned around, she glared at the trees.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked them. Soul came out first with his hands in his pockets. "We could ask you the same." He said, as everyone stepped out from their tree. "I asked you first. Why did you follow me?" Maru asked. The DWMA students were surprised. This Maru acted completely different from the one they had met in the classroom.

"We'll tell you if you answer our question." Black Star said. "I sensed a Kishin nearby." Maru said. "And you decided to handle it on your own?" Kid said, raising both of his brows. Maru blushed and looked down. "I-I'm not used to working with people, okay?" She admited.

"We'll talk about this later, but where is the Kishin?" Liz asked. Maru looked around. "Over there." She said, pointing deeper into the woods. The group nodded and ran towards the area, Liz, Patty and Tsubaki turning into their weapon forms. Soul and Maru, deciding to just use their fists.

The Kishin had a human-like form, except way bigger, and it had black wings. "Ooh..." It hissed. "You want to kill me, eh...?" It said, gesturing to Kid and Black Star who were pointing their weapons at it. It got a good look at the group.

"Ah... A Shinigami and a Grigori soul... eh?" The Kishin grinned, baring it's long fangs. "Gri..gori?" Soul mumbled. Black Star, Soul and Kid turned to Maru, who was glaring at the Kishin. "A tasty treat..." It mumbled. Kid and Black Star were about to attack, before it disappeared.

"Where the hell did it go?!" Black Star yelled, turning his head. When they heard a strangled scream, they turned around to see Maru being held up in the air by her throat. "Maru!" Patty yelled from her reflection. Kid gritted his teeth.

Maru, who was trying to free herself, went limp in the Kishin's hands. The Kishin, who hadn't bothered to see if she was alive or not, grinned, and loosened it's grip. The second it did this, Maru elbowed his hand, and jumped onto it's arm before kicking it's eye, and jumping down, next to Soul.

"Soul, you're a weapon right?" She asked him, not taking her eyes off of the Kishin. "Yeah, but-"

"Transform now!" Maru demanded. Soul decided to trust Maru, and transformed. Maru caught him mid air. "So, anyone have a plan?" She asked the two other meisters and their weapons.

"Attack him from all sides." Kid said. Maru and Black Star nodded, and moved so that they were surrounding the Kishin, who was gripping his eye while glaring the the three meisters.

"1..." Black Star mumbled.

"2..." Maru said, readying Soul.

"3- Attack!" Kid said, starting to shoot the Kishin. Maru and Black Star obeyed and attacked the Kishin. Maru slashed at it with ease, while Black Star attacking the Kishin with Tsubaki in Chain Scythe form. However, the fight wasn't wasy, as the Kishin used it's wings as a shield, and flew away from them a few times, only for the three meisters to catch up.

Realizing they were getting no where in the fight, Maru told the two meisters to stop for a bit. "We need a better plan than attack him from all sides." Maru said. "No offence, Kid." Kid shrugged. "Well what do you say we do?" Soul said in his reflection.

Maru looked up at the Kishin, who hasn't spotted them hiding yet. "I noticed a small weakness in his 'shield'." Maru said, referring to it's wings. "It has the advantage of covering our attacks, yes, but we've been going at this for nearly an hour probably. When I attacked it's back, he seemed to be in more pain than when we hit him anywhere else." Maru said.

"Also, his wings hasn't really been able to block his face." She paused. "And it's feet are completely exposed to us." She finished. "Well, now that we've got his weakness down, what do we do?" Tsubaki asked. "It's just an idea, but Black Star can grab it's feet using Tsubaki's chains, then me and Kid can attack him." Maru said.

Patty let out a small squeal, causing everyone in the group to look at the pistol in Kid's hand. "Ru-chan is so smart!" She said. Maru sweatdropped. Black Star spoke up. "When he's weak enough, why don't we have Kid use his Death Cannon?" He suggested.

"Found you!" A voice said. The group looked up to see the Kishin walking towards them. Maru growled, and attacked, using Soul to point it's chin up. Maru looked at Black Star and mouthed 'now'. Black Star threw Tsubaki, watching the chain loop around it's feet.

Back where they were hiding, Kid, Liz and Patty were charging up.

"Resident stable. Noise at 0.3 percent." Liz said. "Soulwave link fully charged! (I know she says another thing, but this is what I heard in the english dub.)" Patty said. "Preparing to fire. Feedback in 4 seconds."

"3" Liz.

"2!" Patty.

"1."

"Firing now!" Patty said. You could hear the smile in her voice. Kid pointed the two guns at the Kishin, who was now struggling to free itself. "Death Cannon..."

...

In the struggling Kishin's spot was now a floating red soul. Maru and Soul jumped down, Soul turning back into his human form. Maru, who looked more tired than Soul, fell to her knees, panting. Tsubaki, Liz and Patty changed, and rushed to Maru, with Black Star and Kid behind them.

"Are you okay?" Liz asked, kneeling next to her. Maru hissed and grabbed her arm. She ripped off her arm warmers to reveal a gash. She was bleeding. "Shit! When did she get hit?" Soul asked, after swallowing the soul. Maru bit her lip. "When the Kishin had it's hands around my neck.. When it loosened... poison..." Maru's sentences slowly back single words as she bobbed her head up and down, to stop from passing out.

Her efforts were futile, because she fainted, landing in Tsubaki's lap.

"Maru!"

x-x-x-x-x-x

Well, Maru's down! I like torturing characters :)

TBC