A/N: Chapter 4! I was just re-reading chapter 47 of the Soul Eater manga and I couldn't help but point something out...
When Kid sent the soul of that monster back to Shibusen and Soul says, "Hey...just now, there was something lighting up from Kid's butt."
…
Why were you staring at Kid's butt Soul? Hmmm? I think I know why. Ahe hehehe. -sly look-
I'll shut up now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater but I wish I did. I also do not own Clue and if you've never played it go buy it now.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Clue
"I'll leave you two alone, shall I?" Maka croaked, her hand covering her nose as she rushed out of the room.
"What's her problem?" Soul asked, looking up at Kid.
"No idea." Pause. "Your hair is lopsided. It's unsymmetrical."
"Shut up."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Mrs. White was dead by morning.
Maka and Black Star found her in the kitchen, laying on the floor with blood everywhere. She was covered in multiple stab wounds, a knife lying discarded on the floor. A few bloody footprints trailed towards one of the kitchen doors. A message was left on the wall, written with her blood:
The pawns will fall one by one
Until all that's left is none
Open your eyes and you will see
That all is not as it seems to be
"What...what kind of sick, twisted game is this?" Ms. Scarlet whispered once the corpse had been removed.
"Why weren't you with her?" Maka asked Mrs. Peacock. "We were supposed to stick with our partners."
"I-I was asleep! She must have left to get a glass of milk or something!" Mrs. Peacock cried, tears streaming down her face.
"I've had enough of this. It's obvious who is behind all this!" Professor Plum announced, looking around at everyone in the room. "Soul was always breaking the rules. Father and mother were disappointed with him. They weren't going to give him the inheritance so he's taking it for himself! Isn't it obvious? He can't be trust-"
BAM!
"Go Kid, go Kid!" Patti squealed, clapping her hands together and jumping up and down.
Professor Plum's eyes were wide as he looked up at the shinigami towering above him. Kid's knuckles were bruised but he continued to stand there, glaring at the man before him.
"I dare you to say one more word." He hissed, narrowing his eyes.
"That's enough!" Maka demanded, standing between the shinigami and the Professor. "So far, none of our plans to stop this psycho have worked. We need to stick together, no one leaves without someone with them. During the day, we all stay together in one room. At night, you stick with a partner."
"But-" Ms. Scarlet began but Maka cut her off.
"This is your life at stake here! If you have to go to the bathroom, get a glass of water, anything in the middle of the night you will wake up your partner and make them come with you. Is that understood?"
"So long as all of us are together, there's no way they can kill one of us without someone else seeing something." Black Star agreed.
"Alright, let's stay in the ballroom." Soul said, carefully picking up the bloodied knife on the floor and leaving the room, sending the Professor a glare as he left. Ms. Scarlet helped Plum up and the rest of them followed the weapon.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Onee-san, this is boring!" Patti whispered loudly, bouncing around behind her sister and unknowingly flashing everyone within the vicinity.
Patti obviously wasn't used to wearing a dress.
Liz sighed, shoving some paper and crayons at her sister to hold her attention. Patti squealed and began coloring various animals. The older Thompson sister really hated babysitting duty sometimes.
Ms. Scarlet, Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock were gathered in the far corner, whispering to each other and occasionally glancing over their shoulders at the others.
Kid, Soul, Maka and Black Star were huddled around the bloodied knife, the four of them scouring every inch of it for clues.
"Go over again how you found Mrs. White." Kid requested, turning his yellow eyes on his fellow meisters.
"Black Star and I had woken up early. After the...incident yesterday, neither of us had slept very well." Maka began, wringing her hands nervously. "We were planning on making coffee for everyone else when they woke up so we headed for the kitchen."
"We could hear something in the kitchen as we got closer." Black Star continued, frowning. "It was...a gurgling noise. We quickened our pace and burst through the door but we were too late."
"The other door into the kitchen was still swinging, as though someone else had been in there and left in a hurry. We both tried to find the person but we didn't want to split up and give the killer another opportunity to attack." Maka finished.
"We shouldn't have rushed." Black Star said remorsefully. "Maybe they wouldn't have heard us coming."
"It's understandable. You wanted to save her." Soul replied, examining the knife. "We all would have done the same thing." He paused, frowning at the knife. "What's that there?"
"Where?" Kid asked, leaning over his shoulder.
"Right here." Soul answered, pointing at a tiny engraving on the handle of the knife. The group of them leaned in, squinting.
"It looks like...a symbol." Maka said, tilting her head slightly. "No way!" She exclaimed suddenly, jerking her head up and hitting Black Star in the chin.
"What?" Soul asked, watching as Maka apologized profusely to the ninja meister.
"It's Shinigami-sama's symbol." Maka replied once Black Star had calmed down. "See? It's the same shape as the mask he usually wears."
The rest of them looked back at the symbol, frowning.
"Why would the murderer have a knife with Shinigami-sama's mark on it?" Black Star asked, looking at the others. The meister had dark bags under his eyes. Soul wondered if he'd ever return to his usual outlandish self.
"The message on the wall." Liz answered, surprising everyone with her sudden appearance. "It said that 'all is not as it seems to be'. Maybe...maybe this isn't about the inheritance at all. Maybe this is revenge against Shinigami-sama."
"These people don't know who Shinigami-sama is." Soul pointed out. 'Or maybe it's something else entirely.' A tiny tendril of a thought niggled at the back of his mind.
Everyone was silent.
"Well, it looks like that's the only clue this knife is going to give us." Kid sighed, putting the knife down. "Black Star, Maka and Patti, can I get you three to check out those footprints in the kitchen?"
"We're on it." Black Star said, jumping up. His eagerness to catch the killer was infectious. They left the room and Kid motioned to the remaining Shibusen members to follow him as they headed towards the group huddled in the corner.
"Where are those three going? I thought we were supposed to stick together?" Professor Plum asked, watching the others disappear into the kitchen.
"They are investigating the footprints left behind by the killer." Kid replied neutrally.
"I'll go join them then." Professor Plum stated, standing up. "Who knows what they might be up to in there."
He headed towards the kitchen.
"Nice black eye." Soul jibed, his smirk showing off his pointy teeth.
Professor Plum glared at the weapon. It was hard to look threatening when one eye is swollen closed, but he tried. With a huff he turned on his heel and entered the kitchen.
Today was going to be a long day.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
After everyone had a chance to inspect the footprints and the knife (everyone except Ms. Scarlet who couldn't stand the blood), they all took a break in the ballroom for lunch.
"The footprints are too smeared to get a good look." Maka sighed, stirring her cup of coffee. "They had an odd shape to them."
"Well at least now we know the killer left in a hurry. This is our one chance to get clues they may not have meant to leave behind." Kid replied, carefully slicing his sandwich into perfectly symmetrical triangles.
"I don't think they meant to leave the knife behind." Black Star supplied, wrinkling his nose at the taste of the coffee and adding several spoonfuls of sugar to it before drinking it in one gulp.
"We'll just have to scour the whole area after lunch." Ms. Scarlet nodded, sipping her drink. "...Is there any salad?"
"Yeah, I'll go get it." Soul grunted, getting up. Kid joined him in the kitchen, unwilling to leave anyone alone in the house. They stepped carefully over the footprints, Mrs. White's body had been removed and placed with all the others in the abandoned room.
"Soul..." Kid began, nervously.
"Yeah?" Soul muttered, opening the fridge and rifling around for the salad. He placed it on the counter before searching the cupboards for something to serve it with. Kid's hand grabbed the weapon's wrist, stalling his movements. Soul turned towards the shinigami, a questioning look in his eyes.
"There's something I need to tell you." Kid said quietly, stepping closer to the other man.
Soul stepped back, practically sitting on the counter. Kid had this look in his eyes that caused Soul's heartbeat to race. He swallowed reflexively, licking his lips. "And that is?"
Kid hesitated for a moment as though unsure if he should continue. He was so close to the weapon, standing between his open legs as Soul leaned back against the counter.
"I'd rather show you."
Kid leaned forward, one arm braced on the cupboard above Soul's head, the other on the counter, still holding the weapon's wrist.
Soul held his breath, sure that his pounding heart would burst out of his chest. He moved his free arm back along the counter to brace himself, knocking over a small bottle sitting there and causing it to rattle loudly and roll onto the floor.
Kid jerked back, the moment broken. He moved back near the small kitchen table, looking everywhere but at Soul.
The weapon sighed before glaring at the object that had ruined the moment. Grumbling obscenities under his breath, he grabbed the salad before bending down and picking up the white bottle, trying to remember if it had been there previously when they were examining the bloody footprints.
Kid was trying to calm himself down, wondering what had gotten into him. He glanced at Soul who was reading the bottle. Blushing profusely, the shinigami looked away, the wall suddenly becoming very interesting indeed. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud crashing noise as Soul dropped the bowl holding the salad, his eyes wide.
"What-?" Kid began, stepping forward.
"Shit!" Soul cried out, stepping over the broken salad bowl on the floor and rushing out of the kitchen, back into the ballroom. Kid blinked and ran after him.
Everyone was where they'd left them, sipping coffee and eating sandwiches in tense silence. They all looked up as Soul blasted into the room, the white bottle clutched in his hand.
"STOP!" He yelled, causing everyone to jump.
"What's the meaning of this?" Mrs. Peacock asked, looking startled.
"I don't feel so good..." Black Star said suddenly, causing everyone to look at him.
"What's wrong? Stomach ache?" Maka asked from beside him.
Black Star opened his mouth to reply and blood suddenly poured out of his mouth. He slumped forward, his hand clutching his chest as he began to cough up blood. Ms. Scarlet and Mrs. Peacock screamed as the meister slid to the floor, shivering and continuing to cough up his blood. He convulsed once before suddenly falling still.
It was over in less than a minute.
"Oh God..." Liz whispered, looking green.
"W-what was that?" Ms. Scarlet whimpered, clutching onto the Professor.
"Arsenic." Soul responded quietly, holding up the bottle.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Soul and Maka walked down the hall, eyes scanning for any signs of life other than themselves. No one was sleeping tonight, they were going to try and catch the killer in action. Black Star's death gave them a feeling of urgency, unwilling to lose any more friends. They'd split up, Kid with the sisters and Soul with Maka. Kid had seemed unwilling to be alone with Soul ever since the incident in the kitchen, much to the weapon's annoyance.
"So...how's it going with Kid?" Maka asked, as though reading his mind.
"It's fine." Soul replied shortly, opening one of the abandoned rooms and peeking inside.
"Doesn't seem fine, you're grumpy." Maka smiled knowingly. "You don't like being separated from the one you love, hm?"
Soul twitched violently. "I don't love him."
"Sure you don't." Maka grinned, opening another door and poking her head inside.
They continued on in silence, checking all the rooms over and over again, listening for any odd sounds or movements. Soul's thoughts kept drifting to the shinigami, wondering if he was okay and pondering over the situation in the kitchen. Just when Soul thought she'd let the subject drop, Maka spoke up again.
"You're thinking about him right now aren't you?"
"I'm not...I just...shut up!" Soul spluttered as Maka laughed at the expression on his face.
"Busted."
"You..." Soul started, his fingers itching to strangle his meister. He didn't get to finish his sentence as he heard a shuffling sound around the corner. Maka and Soul froze, looking at each other. They crept forward silently, poking their heads around the corner and squinting in the darkness.
"Where are they now?" Ms. Scarlet's voice whispered, her dark form shifting uncomfortably.
"They're downstairs. Mrs. Peacock is sound asleep and my dear brother is sneaking around up here with your girlfriend." Professor Plum's voice replied just as quietly. "We should move on before they find us."
The two shadowy forms moved forward down the hall, heading towards the stairs. Maka and Soul nodded to each other before quietly following at a safe distance.
Ms. Scarlet and the Professor split up at the bottom of the stairs and the Professor slipped into the library. Maka and Soul hesitated before splitting up, the female meister following Ms. Scarlet, and Soul looping around to enter the library through a different door via the study.
Was this the moment they'd been waiting for?
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Kid sighed in frustration. He'd hung back for a moment to tweak a lopsided picture frame and had managed to lose the Thompson sisters in the process.
You'd think they'd be used to his random OCD moments by now.
Soul would have hung back to laugh at him.
Kid knew he was avoiding the weapon and he was sure that the other man knew it. It was just that, when he was around Soul, he couldn't think straight. His body would act of it's own accord and it was mildly unsettling. He wasn't used to feeling this way about anyone and he just needed some time to decide whether it was a good thing or not.
Maybe his heart would stop pounding whenever Soul was near.
"Patti? Liz?" He called out, rounding a corner and squinting in the darkness. 'Where did those two go?'
He was just passing the door to the library when it shot open and a hand darted out, pulling the startled shinigami into the room and closing the door behind him.
Someone shoved Kid up against the wall and the shinigami winced as he was slammed into a picture frame, the back of his head shattering the glass. He kicked out at his assailant, his foot connecting with the attacker's shin. He heard a grunt of pain before something cold and metallic was shoved up against Kid's throat, choking him.
"I'm not going to let you and your boyfriend kill any more people." Professor Plum snarled, pressing a lead pipe harder into Kid's throat. The shinigami struggled, his vision getting darker.
"I'll be fine with just you." Came Soul's furious voice.
A fist lashed out, punching the Professor in the face and knocking him over, causing him to let go of Kid. The shinigami sank to the floor, gasping for breath and clutching his throat. Plum recovered quickly, swinging the lead pipe at the scythe weapon, blood trickling down his obviously broken nose.
Soul dodged the attack, a feral grin on his face. The Professor lunged again wildly and the weapon ducked, plunging an elbow into his assailants abdomen. Plum stumbled backwards, falling into a bookshelf and toppling it over, books flying everywhere. Soul stalked after him, pulling him up by the collar of his shirt.
"We've killed more monsters than you can count." He hissed, his red eyes boring into the Professor's brown ones. "But we haven't even attempted to murder anyone here. Which is more than I can say for you." With that, he slammed the Professor into the floor. Plum did not get up again.
"Kid!" Soul called, rushing over to the shinigami.
"Soul." Kid answered breathlessly, still recovering from his near asphyxiation. "Thanks."
"Just doing my job." Soul smirked, helping the shinigami to stand. "Where's Liz and Pa-" The weapon was cut off as a book came flying out of nowhere, striking him in the side of the head where he had been hit the day before. Soul grunted in pain, falling to the floor.
Kid dodged another book the Professor sent flying in his direction, kicking a small table and causing it to slide forward, hitting Plum in the side and knocking him over. Kid vaulted over the table and landed next to his assailant, kicking the Professor in the side as he attempted to get back up again.
"Stay down." He said coldly.
"Fuck you." Plum spat, smashing Kid's shins with the lead pipe.
The shinigami stumbled backwards. Plum lunged up, attempting to hit Kid in the head with the pipe but the other man blocked it with his arm. A sharp, searing pain jolted Kid's appendage, causing him to cry out. He held his place, grabbing the weapon with his other hand and tossing it aside, kneeing the Professor in the stomach. Plum doubled over in pain and the shinigami shuto chopped the carotid sinus in the Professor's neck, causing him to fall unconscious.
"Fuck." He heard Soul swear and the scythe weapon stumbled over to Kid. "Are you okay?"
"I believe my arm might be broken, but I will live." Kid replied, looking at Soul. "You?"
"Heh," Soul smirked, glancing at the shinigami. "My head is used to getting hit with books."
Kid smiled. "I imagine so."
He let Soul gently poke and prod at his arm, checking it over. "It doesn't look like it's broken." Soul announced after awhile. "But you probably shouldn't be using it to ninja chop anyone for awhile."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Soul walked over to a lamp that had fallen to the floor during the fight. He ripped out the cord and used it to bind the Professor's hands. "They set this up, we should go make sure Liz, Patti and Maka are okay. I'm worried about what Ms. Scarlet was up to."
Kid nodded but before they could leave the room the three girls burst through the door, fists raised and ready for a fight. Kid and Soul blinked simultaneously, the shinigami from his position by the bookshelves and Soul from his position sitting on top of Plum.
"What...are you two okay?" Maka stammered, taking in the mess that used to be the library.
Soul got up off the Professor. "Just a mild misunderstanding is all." He said casually, kicking some books out of his way. "Where's Ms. Scarlet?"
"Right here." Liz said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder and pointing to the tied up lump behind her.
"Ahe hehehe she was trying to be sneaky, sneaky!" Patti giggled, poking Ms. Scarlet on the cheek.
"Alright, let's lock 'em up." Liz grinned.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
It was decided that Professor Plum and Ms. Scarlet were to be locked in separate rooms. They would not be allowed out unless absolutely necessary and even then they were to be watched carefully at all times. Mrs. Peacock was startled by the story of what happened, having managed to sleep through it all.
Soul wouldn't have been surprised if she had been drugged.
Maka called him paranoid.
The Shibusen group were dead on their feet. None of them had slept well after Tsubaki's death and with Black Star's passing causing them to patrol the halls at night, they'd been awake for well over 48 hours.
After they locked up their 'prisoners', Mrs. Peacock and Maka had made breakfast.
The six of them sat in the lounge while they ate, a roaring fire blazing in the fireplace. Kid munched on his toast, nursing his arm. A large and ugly bruise had already started to appear on it and he knew it was going to be a thorn in his side for the next couple of days. Luckily, being a shinigami, he healed faster than most people.
Soul was sitting beside him on the love seat, fast asleep with his head propped up on Kid's shoulder. He was drooling on Kid's suit, but he ignored it, enjoying the comforting warmth radiating from the weapon beside him. Maka was giving them a fond smile and Liz was wiggling her eyebrows at the shinigami suggestively.
Kid decided to ignore them all.
Soul needed some rest.
"We'll take turns sleeping." Maka suggested quietly. "We can't keep going on without sleep."
The others readily agreed.
Kid stayed with the sleeping Soul in the lounge as the others left to inspect the kitchen, leaving the shinigami to examine the bottle of arsenic. The poison came in the form of dissoluble tablets. They apparently weren't completely tasteless, which would explain the look on the male meister's face when he drank the coffee.
The shinigami sighed, running his hand over his face tiredly. To lose two comrades in as many days...
'How many more will die before we find the killer?' He couldn't help but think.
Kid glanced at Soul out of the corner of his eye. He didn't know what he would do if he lost the man beside him. Somehow the weapon had made himself a necessity in Kid's life. Their secret musical rendezvous had escalated into regular coffee outings and lunch engagements. Suddenly he was spending more time with Soul than his own weapons!
Did Soul feel the same way about him?
He found himself desperately hoping so.
Soul mumbled quietly in his sleep, his hand reached out as though trying to grab something and he latched onto Kid's shirt with a happy sigh. The shinigami blushed, trying to get his mind focused back on the bottle in his hand.
It was difficult.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Maka walked into the lounge, intent on making sure that Kid got some sleep too. She stopped in the doorway, blinking at the sight before her.
Soul's head was still on Kid's shoulder but the shinigami's head was resting on Soul's, both of them fast asleep. Both of their hands were entwined together, and the weapon's arm that was not pressed up against the shinigami was gripping the other man's shirt. Soul was still drooling slightly and Kid was lightly snoring.
"They're so kawaii!" Patti whispered behind Maka, giggling.
"They'll figure it out eventually." Maka agreed. "Go ahead and stay with Liz and Mrs. Peacock, I'll watch over these two."
Maka decided that, if there was one good thing to come out of this, she hoped it would be the two young men's happiness.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
A/N: And that's the end of chapter 4! I made a goal for myself this chapter. It was to make sure that it would be longer than the last one.
I failed miserably.
I promise the next one will be quite long, there's a lot about to happen! Even though I hate killing people off, it makes it so much easier for me to keep track of all the characters. Does that make me evil?
R.I.P
Black Star
You're godliness will be missed.
Chapter Five Sneak Preview:
Maka nodded slowly, tears welling in her eyes as she took a slow, calming breath. "Alright. Soul, listen to me." She said sternly, drawing Soul's eyes to her. "You did the best you could-"
Sorry, that's it!