Chapter Eight: Kai: This Is Embarrassing; Is Lord Death a Closet Pervert?
After my somewhat awkward discussion with my meister, I wandered back over to Tsubaki and laid out my own towel to relax in the sun. My pale skin was likely to get burnt quickly, but for the moment I wasn't too worried. Sooner or later I would track down some sunscreen so that I could avoid the terrors of being likened to a lobster, as well as the pain that ensued when I was burned. For the moment I relaxed with the sunshine easing my tense muscles. Sighing softly, I lay back and chatted easily with the Japanese weapon and her African counterpart, discovering how they had been doing since the obliteration of the Exchange Program. I learned that not only had Tsubaki been welcomed into the African DWMA with open arms since their return, but also that they were said to be the strongest team in their class. Snow didn't say anything during this portion of the discussion, and I realized that even though Tsubaki was known to be somewhat reserved and quiet, being with Snow had made her much more talkative and expressive. Perhaps it was because he lacked the desire to talk, and she felt like she needed to make up for his silence. Still, it was nice.
I also learned of the different types of kishin they generally saw in the African savannah. It turned out that many kishin took on grotesque animal forms, or the guise of witch doctors. There were even kishin who had been posing as the shaman of African tribes before the DWMA had established a base there, and had been preying on their villages for years. Though a glance around told me that all the others were entertaining themselves with lighter matters, I couldn't help but be fascinated by the differences in kishin forms across the globe. Many kishin, I knew, took on the names and attributes of local legends and famous killers, and it seemed different biomes affected their forms as well. Not to mention the personality and the degree of madness the soul had sunken into.
After a while talking about our studies got boring, so we got up and wandered over to the group with Snow trailing behind. I couldn't help but notice the differences between how Snow, a fellow assassin, acted from Black*Star. His footsteps were lighter, and he always seemed not-quite-there, as if I would glance back and he would suddenly be gone. A few times I looked just to make sure he hadn't actually disappeared. He was so silent it was impossible to tell just by listening.
Black*Star was impossible not to hear, though on missions he could be ever quieter (I knew this from experience). All of our training in the time I had been his weapon had greatly improved his skill as an assassin. While he still stomped around like a herd of rhinos – and announced his presence to roomfuls of strangers – he was quicker on his feet now, and his overly large ego and abundance of confidence gave him nerves of steel when it came to stalking a target. Patience was what he lacked, which I could tell Snow probably had that particular skill honed like a sharp knife. I wondered if maybe a few weeks of hunting in Africa might not just do my meister some good.
"Hey, Kai!" The bluenette bounded over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, grinning hugely.
"Whats up?" I asked coolly, smiling at his exuberance.
"Lord Death is ready for us all to start taking pictures now. I was gonna say we could just start, but I figured the weapon of a future god should probably be in them!"
Smirking, I followed him towards the group that was gathering. Lord Death was bouncing around enthusiastically while Stein stared out at the ocean with detachment. Marie was standing by his side, looking smitten, while Death Scythe moped beside a smooshed sand castle. I raised an eyebrow at the photographer, taking a quick glance at their soul and realizing that he's a regular human. Immediately I began getting suspicious and my walls went up, my mouth shutting into a grim line as I inspected his soul for anything unusual. All in all, his soul was pretty weak, but I wasn't taking any chances. I pressed my shoulder into Black*Star's, standing a half step behind him: a silent sign from weapon to meister of my distrust of the situation.
I distrusted all new situations, so it wasn't as if this action was very alien to us.
"Alright kids, why don't you all get to know each other a little better while we have some fun! The Shinigami chirped. Immediately we all began to look at each other, sizing up the ones we weren't familiar with, investigating differences in the ones we did know. This was different than a pre-fight study, however, and everyone knew it. Underlying was a current of a strong competition: testosterone vs. testosterone, estrogen battling it out in the beauty department.
I, however, took the time to take stock of those that would be surrounding me for the next few hours.
Of course, there was Black*Star and I, Kid and the Thompsons, Crona, and Tsubaki and Snow. Then there was Merle, but the other five were mysteries to me. Two were a brother and sister pair from the states, but no one I knew. The remaining three were all from the Russia outpost, a beefy-looking pair of boys who I was sure could break Crona's toothpick body with a twitch of their pinky, and a self-wield wood ax who'd been hitting on all the girls – rather desperately – all day. It had been amusing to watch him only because he was so persistent. I mean, the guy wasn't even bad looking, and I found the rough Russian accent to be a refreshing change from the smooth vowels of the bitch, Merle's, French. I had plans to rearrange my look-alike's face.
My eyes narrowed on each unidentified individual until, finally, I saw the American girl squirm. She shakily waved at the circle before introducing herself: "Howdy, everyone. My name is Katelynn and this is my brother, Aiden. We're from the DWMAA." A slight country twang suggested that she had been from one of the southern states before joining the academy, maybe Kentucky.
One by one, we went around the circle and told each other our names and where we were from. It suddenly occurred to me, somewhere in between the steroid twins, that the DWMA had three weapon/meister pairs that had made it to the next round. Somehow that made Maka and Soul missing out feel that much worse for me. Those two should have owned the competition, yet a fight got in the way. Luckily, they had gotten it sorted out and were already back on the kishin-hunting job, but it didn't take soul perception to see that things were not as they once were. It would take time for the Golden Duo to regain their confidence in each other.
Personally, I felt slightly bad that it had all happened. This was exactly the reason that relationships between partners was discouraged. Too many partnerships had fallen apart because of 'lover's squabbles', and if that had happened to Maka and Soul… who knows what could have happened? So far they were our year's best – they weren't called the Golden Duo for nothing! But what would have happened if they weren't so attuned to each other? Maka and Soul would have been finished, but not only that: Team Maka would be done. Without Soul to play the piano or Maka to lead us through the fight we wouldn't be as formidable. Sure, Death the Kid and the Thompson sisters, plus Black*Star – the last surviving Star Clan member – and the Kishin Blade were all pretty damn strong but… somehow it felt as if without Maka and Soul we wouldn't be quite so…
Sighing, I did my best to laugh and have fun with the others, but I couldn't help my instincts; I moved with Black*Star like a shadow. Luckily, my meister didn't mind at all. In fact, he did his best to include me in his ego-fluffing antics. I was dragged through two games of volleyball, a water fight, and a competitive Chicken tournament that made me blush so much I wondered if my cheeks might get stuck that color. Finally, after an exhausting day, we collapsed onto the sand and lay there for a few minutes, both spent of energy. Being this tired after a few hours with Black*Star was nothing new to me, however, because it was the same way on missions. The boy had the habit of nearly always moving – and always overcompensating in his movement. You say jump? He breaks the cloud cover. You laugh? He's got to be heard down the block.
In other words: he didn't have to just surpass god, he had to surpass everyone else too.
For now, though, he was oddly silent.
It was a little creepy.
"Black*Star?"
"Yeah?" His voice was quieter than usual. I could barely hear it over the sounds of everyone else continuing on with the shoot.
"This is pretty fun, huh?" I asked, staring at the clouds and wondering when exactly I had started having fun. It was surprising, since generally it took me ages to let my guard down enough to relax, but it was nice at the same time. Even though there was sand stuck up to my knees and I had kind of started sweating under the same – damn, I forgot sunscreen! – at the same time I was enjoying myself. Maybe it was just because Black*Star was here, or maybe I had just never allowed myself to be in these kinds of situations before…
After a moment, my meister laughed: "Of course it's fun, you're spending the day with a god!"
I groaned. "Fuck, Black*Star, you ruined the moment!"
Guffawing, he rolled over so that he was hovering over me, his body weight on his elbow. I felt my breath stop for a brief second as I looked up into his star-filled eyes and…
Click!
"You two are so cute!"
Blushing a deep red, I couldn't handle the amount of embarrassment that crashed onto me like a wave so I channeled it into anger. Pushing up off of the ground, I stomped over to the photographer. On the way there the middle finger of my right hand flashed in a blur of dark pink and – just as I was about to destroy his camera – a pair of arms wrapped around my torso to restrain me. With a growl I began twisting, protesting, trying to escape from within the confines of the bluenette's embrace while the photographer just got more pictures. Black*Star, as I was slightly distracted with cussing out the guy with the camera, suddenly burst into motion and ran us both into the water. My head went under and I popped up, spluttering and murderous.
"Oh my Death, you two are naturals!" The photographer gushed as he filmed our fight. I, for one, was using the water to my advantage, but Black*Star's fighting was as playful as a retarded puppy. Suddenly I was getting poked every time he came close enough to end it: a soft jab to my stomach, a knock on my forehead, a bop on the nose.
Lord Death was eating it up, too.
On the sand, the great Shinigami was sitting there with such a doe-eyed expression I wouldn't be surprised if he had already picked out our ship name. KaiStar? Blakai? (Alright, so there was a reason I didn't participate in this whole 'shipping' business.)
In the end I just waded out of the water and sat there with a pout on my face.
Boys sucked.
Author's Note: Alright, so... hope you guys liked the last two chapters! I actually wasn't planning on going any deeper into the whole photo shoot, but it was a nice filler chapter before the next round, which will begin the next chap and span for a few of them! I'm super excited! Anyways, I ended up writing this because of a review... so please, leave your comments so that I know what you guys are looking forward to! And don't be shy! Constructive criticism is good too!
Anyways, you guys know the drill! Review, favorite, follow! And, as always, stay cool, little ducks!