Sorry it took so long to get up. It was harder to write than it looks. Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 3: Burning Horizon
Tsubaki was startled awake by the sound of a crash that came from the kitchen. She quickly sprung from her bed and went to take a look as she slid her slippers on. When Tsubaki peeked her head across the entryway, she saw Black Star doing something in front of the stove. Ingredients were strewn all across the floor and the walls; everywhere she looked there was splotches of food, spices, and black things that she didn't even want to know what they were. Do I even dare to look? Tsubaki thought with disdain. She closed her eyes and hesitated before she looked up at the ceiling. There were splatters of some strange, almost alive looking items, that seemed to be crawling above Black Star's head.
"Good morning, Tsubaki! Look! I'm making eggs!" he said and tilted the frying pan to show Tsubaki little golden blobs that almost seemed to want to escape from their fiery death. Suddenly the eggs looked like they were starting to expand. Tsubaki looked a little harder and noticed that they seemed to be expanding because, well, they were. Tsubaki took cover behind the wall just before the eggs completely exploded in Black Star's face and the rest of the kitchen. Tsubaki was still behind the wall when she heard Black Star say, "Dang it! Not again!" She peeked in again and saw him staring angrily at the pan like he was going to kill the inanimate object.
"Black Star! What happened in here?" Tsubaki asked completely shocked at the sight of the room. She walked into the kitchen and up to Black Star. She went up to him and took the pan away as she turned off the burner on the stove. She looked at him with her 'You're in big trouble' face.
"I was cooking breakfast. I was hungry and didn't want to wake you up so I started cooking!" he said defending himself, confident as usual.
Aw, he was thinking about me. "That's sweet Black Star, but the last time you cooked you almost burnt my parent's house down," Tsubaki told him as she started to clean up the counter with the washcloth that was hanging on the handle of the oven.
"I was sure it wouldn't happen again! Besides, nothing caught on fire this time," Black Star replied as he attempted to get the pan back from her.
"You still made a complete mess of the kitchen," she said. She had her arm outstretched so that is was out of Black Star's reach. "Don't worry, I'll cook breakfast. Go ahead and get cleaned up. You have egg…or something all over your face,"
"But you always make breakfast!" he whined completely ignoring her advice.
"I know, but I like cooking that's why I do it. If the same thing happens again just wake me up, I won't mind fixing breakfast," Tsubaki smiled at him. She put the pan down and grabbed a few un-cracked eggs out of the egg carton in the refrigerator, avoiding the peculiar goo that was all over the floor as much as she possibly could. "Now go clean up while I cook breakfast," she repeated.
Black Star pouted before he put a fist on his hip as he pointed and told Tsubaki, "Fine, but you're going to teach me how to cook later,"
Tsubaki quickly turned to him as she was beating her eggs in surprise, "You want to learn how to cook? I never thought you'd want to learn how to do that,"
"Yes! And you're going to teach me at dinner time," he said running off to shower, and get ready for yet another day of rigorous training before Tsubaki could even respond to him.
Tsubaki shook the shock out of her face and continued cooking by pouring her beaten eggs into the pan to make some scrambled eggs. Once she finished cooking Black Star his morning meal, she placed it onto the table and headed for the cleaning supplies that were hiding underneath the sink. She began cleaning the floor first of all so that neither of them would slip and fall in or on the mysterious goo that Black Star managed to get everywhere. It was when Tsubaki wrung out her cloth for the second time that Black Star came back into the kitchen, smelling a lot nicer than he did earlier. "Your eggs are on the table Black Star. I'm just going to clean up and then get ready so we can go to train later," she told him as she moved to the other side of the stove.
"Awesome!" he replied and immediately began scarfing his food down as fast as he could; barely chewing as it flew down his throat. Tsubaki noticed and quickly took action. She stood up and took his plate away as she sighed, "Black Star, you're going to choke if you keep eating like that. I tell you that almost every morning. When are you going to start listening?"
"I won't choke! Can I eat please?" he asked, reaching for the plate. Tsubaki sighed in response and gave him his plate back. He sort of took her advice by eating slower than he previously was but he still looked like he was going to choke. Tsubaki shook her head again and finished cleaning the floor. It didn't take any time at all for her to move to the counter tops that had the same strange substance.
Tsubaki has always liked cleaning though. It's never bothered her in the slightest; in fact, she enjoyed it. When she's cleaning, she zones out and just thinks. She thinks about anything and everything that came to mind. Right now she was imagining about how she would tell Black Star her feelings. She's pictured it in her mind a thousand times over and over again.
It would be right after a training session. Tsubaki would be standing not too far away from a shirtless Black Star while he was wiping down his glistening face with a rag. She would call his name and he would respond with that cute blank stare of his. She'd blush and fidget a little before saying that she had something to tell him. He would step closer asking her what it was. Tsubaki would blush even more and put her head down in embarrassment. Black Star would take one more step closer and grab her chin very lightly and lift it up so that he could see her whole face. Black Star would tell her that it was okay and that she could tell him anything. Her eyes would shift away but then look in his eyes again and shyly say "I really like you Black Star" without any stuttering or hesitation in her voice. He would seem shocked at first but then he would laugh and give his signature smile that simply told her that everything was okay and that she had nothing to worry about. She would join in his laughing and they would hug, just enjoying the fact that they were together.
Tsubaki snapped out of her fantasy, knowing full well that Black Star wouldn't really react like that. Scratch that - at this rate, she would never even be able to tell him. She was more afraid of ruining their friendship than actually being rejected. She didn't want him to turn her down and then things get awkward between them all the time. They were partners; a meister and weapon. If things were awkward between them, they'd never be able to get any more souls for either her or Shinigami-sama. No. I shouldn't think like that. I'm probably overreacting about all of that. I should just tell him like how Maka said. It can't be horribly bad. But I have to find the right time to say it… Is now a good time? Maybe not...Should I? I don't know…Sigh. All right. That's it. I'm going to tell him sometime today no matter what. I will tell him.
Before Tsubaki even realized it, she was almost done cleaning the countertops. All she had left to do was to scrape the weird stuff Black Star somehow managed to stick to the ceiling, whatever that substance may be. Speaking of which, Tsubaki noticed that Black Star was gone. He was in the kitchen a minute ago. She figured that he was off training outside waiting for Tsubaki to catch up with him. Because of this, Tsubaki sped up her cleaning process by quickly grabbing one of the chairs and began cleaning the substance off. She was surprisingly done within a couple minutes since it was fairly easy to get off.
When Tsubaki glanced out of the window as she was heading for the sink, she found her previous theory to be correct. Black Star was doing some stretches outside in front of their apartment. When she finished putting her cleaning supplies in their proper place, she opened the window and called out to Black Star. "I'll be right out, Black Star. I just need to get ready really quick," she told him. Black Star turned around and smiled replying, "Okay! I'll wait for you out here," Tsubaki smiled in response and closed the window back up again.
She practically ran into her room and tried to get ready as fast as she could without rushing, thus ending up forgetting something. Tsubaki took a quick shower to clean the muck off and got dressed in her normal khaki-based wear. She put her hair up in her traditional ponytail and went outside to meet up with Black Star. He gave her a smile and they headed off together.
"Yahoo!" Black Star yelled as he jumped into the air after their very successful training session. Tsubaki giggled at him. He was holding her in her twin scythe form. They had spent almost the rest of the day training. The two had just noticed that the sun was beginning to go down when they completed training for today. Tsubaki distractedly looked over at a glimmer that had caught her eye in the dimming sun's direction.
"Amazing! Take a look at that Black Star! It's so beautiful," she told him. Black Star turned around to face the burning horizon and gazed upon it. It was the horizon itself, burning with orange, red and, yellow.
"Wow, that's so cool!" he said in awe.
"Would it be all right with you if we go watch it?" Tsubaki asked happily as she began to change back into her human form. She really loved watching nature at it's finest. It really made her appreciate the natural beauty of the world.
"Sure! Why not?" he responded happily as well. He started walking towards a nearby open green hilltop. Tsubaki followed him excited they could watch it. They settled themselves on the top of the hill that was not too far from Shibusen. The two of them sat down next to each other on the green grass. Tsubaki sat down gracefully with her knees to one side with a hand holding her weight. Her other hand rested in her lap as she gazed at the multi-colored sky. Black Star, on the other hand, had just plopped down on his bum most inelegantly onto the ground to watch the horizon burn with warm colors.
It was moments like these that remind her of home. When there were beautiful sunsets like these she would sit and watch with her parents and elder brother. Tsubaki missed those special moments with her family but her brother went rogue, so it wasn't possible for them to have those moments anymore. She was thinking about the fun times she used to have with her brother when she felt a warm object suddenly touch the top of her hand. She looked down and saw that it was Black Star's hand that she felt. She immediately blushed at the sight of it. Tsubaki looked up at him shocked but he was almost lazily staring at the sunset with that big grin of his on his face; however this time he wasn't showing his teeth, he just looked incredibly cheerful. The extremely embarrassed girl quickly turned her attention to the hand in her lap, which was clenched very tightly in a fist. She figured that it was an accident and that he didn't realize that he had put it there. She blushed like a newly blossomed cherry. Now! I need to tell him now! I don't care if it's an accident that his hand is on mine. Now's the only chance I can tell him!
"Bl-Black Star?" Tsubaki stuttered as she continued to stare down at her hand.
"Hm?" he asked confused. He turned to her with the cutest puzzled face. His mouth was open just slightly, which made it all the more adorable. It made Tsubaki blush even more.
"There…there's something I want to tell you…" she said, looking up at him ever so slowly. She met finally eyes with him when he responded, "What is it, Tsubaki?"
"Um, well you see…um," she sat for a moment contemplating how she was going to tell him. She was so frustrated at herself for not figuring something out before she spoke.
"Hm? Is something wrong?" Black Star asked in his own way of expressing concern, which was a cross between a statement and a question.
"No! No, it's just…I…sigh," Tsubaki paused for a moment to gather whatever courage she could manage before saying, "…I-I like you Black Star," She looked down slowly almost as if she were confessing to a serious crime.
"Huh? …Hahaha! Of course you like me! I am the Great Black Star!" he said laughed confidently.
Tsubaki's head jerked up in shock. She hadn't expected him to say something like that but then again it was Black Star we are talking about here. He's known to be occasionally unpredictable, especially when he goes to jump off of the top of buildings. Tsubaki sighed after her shock wore off.
"Black Star… That's…That's not what I mean…What I mean is…I…I really like you. As in like you like you…a lot," Tsubaki explained to him shyly.
"Because I'm the Amazing Black Star! Why wouldn't you like me?" he replied as if any other answer were strange.
"No, Black Star. You do not understand what I'm trying to tell you. I like you," she said emphasizing the word like as much as she could. As she was speaking, she was leaning towards him as if it would make him understand what she was telling him. She was getting frustrated with him now. She was finally telling him and he didn't understand what she was saying at all.
"What do you mean?" he asked awfully confused now.
Tsubaki gave a slight growl in frustration. Before she even realized what she was doing, she cupped Black Star's face in both of her hands and brought his lips to hers. She quickly become conscious of what she just did and rapidly pulled away from him, redder than she's ever been before in her life. "Uh, I, I didn't mean to do that. I-I'm sorry! That wasn't supposed to happen!" she said frantically. She turned her head down and away from him in embarrassment. She heard no response from him so she immediately thought the worst-case scenario. Tears started forming in the corners of her eyes. Tsubaki squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to prevent herself from crying.
"Tsu-Tsubaki?" She heard Black Star say from almost behind her since she had almost turned all the way around. He sounded like a combination of curiousity and shock more than anything else. Tsubaki didn't respond but Black Star continued on anyways. "Tsubaki, don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be sorry…I-I had no idea that…" he said getting quieter until he just stopped talking entirely.
She slowly turned to the point where her head was turned towards Black Star but not to the point where she could see him. "I'm-I'm sorry Black Star. I shouldn't have…I didn't mean…I'm sorry," she said to him. A hand hesitantly but gently was placed onto her shoulder. It surprised Tsubaki when she first felt it but it for some reason made her feel relaxed even with the given situation.
"It's my fault so stop blaming yourself, Tsubaki. I'm the one who didn't realize how you felt. I should've expected it though, no one can resist me!" he said trying to lighten the mood as he started to chuckle.
Tsubaki gave a slight smile in response, glad, he was trying to make her feel better but she still had the feeling that because of his actions, he was rejecting her. Tsubaki's smile started to fade again when Black Star started speaking again.
"It's alright, Tsubaki. I hope you know that," he told her as he smiled. "Cause I like you too." A light rose color ever so slightly showed up on his cheeks.
Tsubaki faced Black Star completely shocked. Her eyes were almost as wide as they were before. "Wh-what did you say?" she said breathlessly. She thought she heard wrong. There's no way he would say that, right? Why would he? He's Black Star. He only loves being the center of attention; at least that's the impression he gives everyone else.
"I like you. And I don't care what you think because there is nothing you can so about it. So ha!" he said as he stood up almost defensively. He put his arms akimbo and turned his head away in a pout-like way.
"…ha…haha…hahahahaha!" Tsubaki started laughing.
"What? What's so funny?" Black Star asked concerned looking at Tsubaki like she was broken.
"Hahaha! I-haha-I got myself so worked up for nothing! Hahaha!" Tsubaki said still laughing. She was trying to cover her mouth as a strange attempt to make herself instantly stop laughing.
"Worked up?" he asked confused.
Tsubaki took a moment to calm herself down before she started talking. "I was trying to figure out how to tell you and kept thinking that you wouldn't, well, like me back. So I ended up coming up with all of these bad situations between us…Most of them ended up so that it would be awkward between us…I don't want that."
Black Star just gave her a blank look before he started laughing again. "Tsubaki!" he said laughing, "I would never do that! You're my partner! We do almost everything together. Even if I didn't like you like that I would still be the same towards you. Nothing would've changed!" he said happily with a huge grin on his face.
Tsubaki smiled as Black Star spoke. Her smile getting wider and wider with each word he spoke until she could barely hold it in anymore. She started laughing once more as Black Star squatted down next to her smiling as well. She wiped away her tears of happiness before she practically jumped on Black Star as she gave him a huge hug.
"Thank you, Black Star," she said to him still smiling. "Thank you."
After a few moments like that, they pulled away from each other, both smiling. "Now teach me how to cook!" Black Star said excitedly and completely changing the subject. He jumped up and started running for their house impatiently.
Tsubaki giggled and got up to follow him. She took on last look at the horizon before she took off after him before he could mess up the kitchen for the second time today. Thank you…
