A/N: It took some time, and REDEADED, to get me moving again, but here's the latest chapter. Coming back from a hiatus and switching those writing gears back on is always a challenge! This is Lord Death's reaction to Kid and Maka's bonding - I really wanted him to sound like a typical parent yelling at a kid for doing something stupid. In this case, unsafe sex, Reaper Style ;)

Rage

Liz caught sight of herself in one of the hall mirrors and groaned out loud. Her eyes were still puffy from her crying fit the night before and she'd had a terrible time trying to get to sleep. In fact, she'd had so much trouble that she'd finally gone down to the library to knock back a few shots of Lord Death's whiskey and she was feeling it.

She was the last one to breakfast; even the usually impossible-to-wake-up Kid had beaten her to the table. Not only that but he was alert and, even more disturbingly, smiling at her over the top of the Death Times.

"What are you so happy about?" she grumbled, sliding into her chair. Kid poured her a cup of coffee and passed it over with the society pages before continuing a good-natured debate about invasive foreign policies with Maka.

Patty rolled a sausage up in a chocolate chip pancake and took a bite out of it, making Liz' already jumpy stomach churn dangerously. "It's the besmirching!" she said sagely, "He's mostly always happy now. Maybe you should try it, Sis!"

Liz stared at her in dumbfounded amazement, but was spared from replying by Lord Death's appearance in the doorway. He jabbed his finger at his son and everyone at the table flinched.

"My office. Now."

He left as abruptly as he'd arrived and Patty turned wide eyes on Kid.

"You're in trooooubbble." she drawled, looking scared.

"I believe you're right, Patty." Kid folded the paper, laid it neatly beside his plate, and put his hand on Maka's shoulder. She looked at him questioningly as he stood but he shook his head, walking out without another word.

"What the fuck just happened?" Liz asked, "Maka, I want to know what's going on."

Kid barely got the door to his father's study closed before the tirade began.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell you were thinking?" Lord Death demanded, "Oh, that's right, you weren't thinking. Not with the right head, at least."

"Dad, I-"

"Don't you Dad me. I specifically told you, told both of you, not to use perception or resonance with each other and the minute I turned my back, you went right ahead and did it anyway."

He started pacing, shoving a chair at Kid as he passed by.

"Sit."

"No thanks, I'll stand." Kid kept his voice cool, but winced inwardly when his father turned blazing eyes on him. He was suddenly and forcefully reminded that the furious man in front of him had already skinned one of his children alive.

"SIT. DOWN."

Kid sat. He'd expected consequences for forming his bond with Maka, but he hadn't been prepared for the full extent of his father's rage.

"I've been too easy on you since your mother went. Trying to make it up to you. I've let you run wild." Death made an angry gesture and Kid leaned back in the chair as far as he could, afraid for the first time in his life that his father was going to strike him.

"How so?" he asked meekly.

"How so? You wanted to go to school and play human, and I let you. You wanted to make your own weapons, which is a colossal waste of time for a Reaper, and I let you. I didn't even put my foot down when you came home from a retrieval mission wanting to make those weapons out of a couple of pre-kishin street punks."

A rush of anger made the tips of Kid's fingers itch and he dug his nails into his palms to keep the purple sparks of energy safely tucked beneath his skin.

"And that turned out just fine, didn't it? Are you telling me you regret having Liz and Patty here?" he asked, gritting his teeth. He no longer cared if he took a blow for his insolence; in fact he might just fight back.

"No, I'm not. You know I'm not." Lord Death softened for just a moment and began to pace again. As taken aback as he'd been when Kid came home with a couple of angry thugs trailing behind him, he'd never regretted his decision to rehabilitate them and, eventually, to make them a part of his family. He loved those girls like his own. Right at this moment, he loved them quite a bit more than his stubborn brat of a son.

Kid was glaring at him defiantly, "Well, I made that call and it turned out to be the right one. How do you know that I made the wrong decision last night? You trusted me then, why not now?"

"That's right, I trusted you, Kid. I trusted you to do the right thing, to make good decisions. How am I supposed to trust you with the kind of power you have if you can't even commit to having safe sex?" Lord Death pounded his fist on an end table as he passed it, sending a china shepherdess tumbling to the rug.

"We are having safe sex!" Kid yelped, offended and embarrassed in equal measure. His father carefully picked the shepherdess up and inspected her for damage, using the distraction to calm himself.

"That's not the kind of safe sex I'm talking about and you know it." he paused for a moment, "Although I hope like hell you're not throwing caution to the wind there, too. That's all we need right now."

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Only an idiot would ask a question like that right now." Lord Death replied dryly, "An unplanned baby would be mild in comparison to the shenanigans you've pulled this weekend. Why on earth did you do it, Kid? I know what kind of euphoria resonance adds to sex, and once you've had it must be hell trying to stay away from it, but you don't have the luxury of being careless with yourself."

Frustrated to the breaking point, Kid leapt out of the chair, "Because losing the heir is all that matters, right?"

"When you get right down to it, yes." Death jerked his head toward the wisps of magic leaking from his son's clenched fists, "You have almost as much power as I do, and that's a responsibility you have to put before your own interests. What you did last night has permanent consequences that you didn't have the right to inflict on yourself or Maka. I know you were worried about your relationship, but couldn't you have waited at least twenty-four hours before making an uninformed decision?"

"If I'm uninformed, whose fault is that?" Kid let the fury in his voice go unchecked, "How am I supposed to make all the good, trustworthy decisions that you expect when you always keep me in the dark? I have no idea how to be the next Lord Death. I don't have a full picture of what taking over from you entails. I don't even know the extent of my responsibilities. You treat me like a child and then berate me for acting like one. What I have with Maka is more important to me than anything. Maybe I made a rash decision last night, and maybe there are things that are more important than our relationship, but I have no idea what they might be because you never tell me anything!"

"I didn't think I needed to tell to you obey a direct order. Apparently your personal life is more important than your sense of duty."

"Maka thought-" Kid began, but his father cut him off with a sarcastic snort.

"I'll just bet she did. if Maka told you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?"

Kid didn't hesitate for a second, "Yes."

"See, I-wait, what?" Lord Death was taken aback.

"If Maka asked me to jump off a bridge, she'd have a damned good reason for it. She's made some wild decisions in the middle of fights, but they've always paid off. Our resonance team is one of the best weapons the DWMA has and keeping it intact is a duty that I do understand. I trust her implicitly, and it has nothing to do with her being my girlfriend." Kid's voice rose in conviction and he stood face to face with his father, who sighed and put a weary hand on his son's shoulder.

"She's a lot more than that now, Kiddo. Do you have any idea what you've done to that girl?"

"I...think I do, yes."

Death stopped and looked long and hard at his son. When he spoke it was deliberate and slow.

"Okay, maybe you do know. I suppose the big question is, does she?"

Responses!

REDEADED: This chapter would literally not exist without you. Thank you, my dear friend, for your support, your friendship and your excellent stories!

Wordfiend: Of *course* I had to use the "would you jump off a bridge" line. Didn't we all promise ourselves we'd never say things like that when we had kids of our own. And then twenty years later, out it pops, right?

Xenohawk: Well, I'm sure you got bored waiting for me this time! Hope all is well and that Angry Death Dad was worth the wait.

Ubiqitouch: The Liz/Soul buildup will happen in the sequel. I wanted to hint at it here and then use it as a subplot in the second story. I feel like Liz and Soul often get hooked up in KiMa fics as a sort of consolation prize, and I wanted to give them their own time to shine!

Enecs: I have learned to love Patty. She terrified me at first, but she's become a joy to write. Almost too much of one - sometimes she pops into places I don't want her to be! I'm so glad you thought that last chapter was good!

Sim: Thank you for reading and letting me know you like it - I appreciate it so much :)

Riot-Artist: One of the best KiMas you've ever read? Really? Come here and let me give you a big hug!

Yami: What lies in store is more yelling, but things will settle down after that. Fear not - I'd never let a fellow KiMa shipper down.

Nini Hearts: Writing those mad scenes was a *pain*, and I'm glad you liked them. They never seem coherent when I'm writing them. Same rule applies for entire scenes full of angry yelling, like this one. I just sit back and hope like heck that it makes sense to somebody besides me!