Jugo's POV

Two hours later Kazuma slid open the door and walked in, with Ren behind him. They sat down on either side of Ayano.

"Well, I don't know what you said to her, but you pissed off Maka. Badly." Kazuma said. "What did you say to piss her off that bad?"

"She was mad?" I asked.

"Yeah. She was really mad." Ren said. "It was bad enough that it scared Kazuma."

"It did not. You were the one that was scared." Kazuma said, ruffling Ren's hair.

"So, what did you ask her?" he asked, looking back to me.

"I asked how close the weapons and their partners were. They told me about an oath that the weapons had to take before they can go on a mission. The weapons had to promise to protect the meister with their life, and to be ready to die for their meister at a moment's notice, if needed." They were all speechless. "Then I asked if that oath was taken seriously. Then Soul took off his jacket, and lifted his shirt to show me a scar that he had. It went from his left shoulder to his right hip. Maka told me that they take that oath very seriously, and then she turned around and walked out."

Tsubaki's POV

"If me having a scar means that you are still alive then I'll deal with it!"

"I should be strong enough that you shouldn't need to protect me!"

We could hear the shouting through the door of the room we had locked them in. After we left the Kannagi estate, Maka and Soul had been fighting non-stop. When we got to our hotel rooms, after we had gotten the rooming arrangements settled-Kid with Liz and Patty, BlackStar and I together, and Maka with Soul- everyone with the exception of Maka and Soul had removed all books from their room. Then we locked them in there. Kid had grabbed Soul, Liz and I had grabbed Maka, and pushed them in the room, with Kid yelling, "You can come out when you can get along!" Then he turned to us, saying, "Hopefully this will be over quickly."

It had been an hour. After about thirty minutes, the crashing noises stopped and the shouting started.

All of a sudden, Ren popped his head in the room. "Hey guys. How're you guys doing?"

In response, we all pointed to the room where Soul was beating on the door, yelling, "Let me out! She's got a book!" We all looked at each other.

"Oh boy, Soul's gonna get it now!" BlackStar yelled from the kitchen, where Tsubaki was desperately trying to teach him how to cook, or how to cook enough to keep him from burning down the building.

"Why?" Ren asked. A thud echoed from the other room, followed by the door being kicked in by Maka. Behind her was a very pissed-looking Soul getting up off the ground. Kid looked at everyone else.

"Run."

An hour later, we had managed to calm Maka and Soul down enough to where they weren't so dangerous anymore-meaning that we wouldn't get Maka-chopped or cut in half.

Maka's POV

"I swear to God, if you let me fall Kid, I will kill you." Currently Kid and I were on his skateboard, one hundred fifty feet off the ground. I was clinging to his jacket with a death grip.

"What, scared of heights?" he asked, laughing.

"No! I'm scared of falling." I said.

"Don't worry!" Kazuma yelled from where he was hovering about ten feet to our left with a map in hand. "If he drops you, I'll catch you."

"Wait. Hold up here." I told Kid. "There's another one," I called over to Kazuma, who marked an X on the map. Thank god for my Soul Perception ability, or this would be impossible. We had found at least eight so far, and we weren't even halfway through the city. This meant there could be twenty or more Kishin eggs.

When we got back to the hotel, I said goodnight to Kid and headed to my bed. I was exhausted from fighting with Soul and looking for the eggs.

The next morning, we-including Kazuma, Ren, and Ayano- all met in Kazuma's room to discuss what we would do about the Kishin eggs. Kid had talked to his father last night about the situation, and Spirit, Stein, and Marie had come up with the idea of having us split up, and team up with one of Jugo's people.

It was nighttime, and we had decided that Kazuma should go with Kid, seeing as he was the only one who could keep up with Kid's skateboard. Ren would go with BlackStar. Ayano would stay with me.

"Are you ready to fight if we need help?" I asked Ayano.

"Are you kidding? I've been practically tied to a bed all week going crazy. Point me in the right direction and set me loose." She replied.

"Good. Okay everyone, we all know what we're up against. BlackStar, no showing off. Kid, try not to worry about symmetry too much. Everyone, try to remain subtle. Right now, if you can get them into an alley to kill them, do it. But if you have to interfere to save an innocent, do it. Try to stay out of weapon forms, except for Liz and Patty, since it'll be easier for you to stay with Kid that way. Good luck, and be careful out there." I said. Everyone nodded, getting up.

"Hey, BlackStar?" Kazuma called to the blue-haired assassin.

"Yeah?"

"That's my little brother. Take care of him."

"Don't worry, Kazuma," Tsubaki said, laying a hand on Kazuma's shoulder. "We'll make sure he's safe. If we're lucky, you guys won't be needed, aside from making sure we don't get lost."

Kazuma looked a little calmer with Tsubaki's reassurance. He jumped out the window to where Kid was waiting on his skateboard with Liz and Patty- already in weapon form- in his hands.

The rest of us took the elevator down to the lobby. As we exited the building, I put a hand on Tsubaki's shoulder. "Please try to keep him somewhat in line, Tsubaki. If anyone can, it's you."

"Don't worry Maka, I'll make sure he behaves. And I'll keep an eye on Ren while I'm at it." She said, looking behind us to where Ayano was talking to Ren.

"Listen to Tsubaki, and behave yourself Ren," she said, giving him a hug.

"Of course I will," Ren replied, running to BlackStar. "Where are we going first?"

BlackStar looked around, then pointed to the left. "We'll go this way."

"Hey, BlackStar?" I called. He paused, causing Tsubaki to almost run into him.

"Yeah?" he asked

"You'd have a better chance if you headed that way. I've got one about two or three blocks down." I pointed to the right. "Kid was headed straight ahead with Kazuma, so you might stay away from there."

"Alright!" He turned to Ren. "Looks like we're going this way. Should be fun, huh?"

"Yeah!" Ren agreed.

"As for us, we'll go this way," I said, pointing left. We started walking that way, with Ayano on my left and Soul on my right.

"He seems to be enjoying himself," Soul remarked.

"Yeah," I replied, "I think that having to look out for Ren will be good for him. Might make him tone down the theatrics a bit."

"Hey, I have a question." Ayano said, looking confused.

"Yes?"

"You told him," she hooked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate BlackStar, "that there weren't any this way."

"No, I told him that he would have a better chance in that direction." I said, pausing to look at her. "But when Kazuma, Kid, and I flew around the city last night, they were all over. So we could go in any direction and find one. But since I can somewhat track and find them, I thought I would let BlackStar take that one."

"Oh, that makes sense, actually." She said. "How far away does it work?"

I shrugged. "It's different for each case. Depending on how close they're to becoming a Kishin, in can range from about two hundred yards to a half-mile." I turned to Soul. "How far away was it when I found Crona and Ragnarok?"

"About a half-mile." He said with a smirk. He rubbed his hands together. "Now, are we going to get down to business or what?"

"Of course." I used my soul perception ability, scanning the area around us. "Alright, I got one, about a quarter-mile from here. And he's in an alley. If we hurry, we can get him before he leaves." With that, I took off running towards the alleyway that I had sensed the Kishin in.

We turned the corner, and I turned towards Soul. "Is is just me, or does that thing look familiar?"

He nodded. "It looks like that Jack the Ripper we fought in London. Either way, his soul's a Kishin egg, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It needs to be taken down." I looked at him. "Let's go to work."

"Alright," he said, transforming into a scythe before spinning in front of me. The blue glow he gave off for a few seconds while he transformed attracted the creature as I caught him.

I walked towards the creature, intently watching its every move. Once I had got within fifty feet, it charged-the exact same way the thing from London did. I spun Soul in front of me, and when the thing jumped over me, I angled Soul to be right in front of him.

The creature fell to the ground in two separate sides. Soul dropped to the ground on his feet, with his arm still as a scythe. He turned to me. "Is is just me, or does that," he pointed to the Kishin egg in front of us, "just not look right?"

"You're right, it looks more…..faded, I guess? And that was way too easy." I said.

Ayano came up behind us. "That was awesome! And what should it look like, if that's not how it's supposed to look?"

"It's supposed to be a brighter red. More…" Soul struggled to find the right word.

"Intense?" I asked.

"Exactly." He grabbed the soul and put it in his pocket. "I'll show it to Lord Death later."

We all turned toward the sound of gunshots.

"Looks like Kid found one. I wonder how he's doing." I said, trying to pinpoint the sound.

A loud crunching sound came to our ears over the sounds of the city. Then there were more gunshots, but they were more spaced out, almost like Liz was using Patty to fight.

"That didn't sound good. Come on!" I said, running towards where I could feel their souls. "Kid's out cold." I said as I ran.

"You can tell that from over here?" Ayano asked as we ran.

"Yeah," I panted back.

We turned to corner to see Kid unconscious, with Liz standing over him holding Patty in her hands. She was shooting at what looked like a giant Egyptian mummy with what looked like a blue and gold candy cane in its mouth.

"I'm so sick of this thing!" Liz yelled as I grabbed Soul, who had already transformed, and ran towards one of the legs, planning to cut it off. That plan disappeared as it was picked up by a gust of wind, lifted into the air, then dropped from about one thousand feet. I looked up to see Kazuma standing on a building overlooking the alleyway. The mummy dissolved into shadows to leave a soul that looked like the one Soul had put in his pocket.

"What happened?" I asked as we walked to where Kid was unconscious. Kazuma floated down to us from the building.

"I'm not sure. He was shooting at these weird looking mummy things when that one," he gestured toward where the mummy's soul floated, "jumped up and swatted him out of the sky. It hit me too!" he said as I glared at him.

I sighed. "Okay, does your brother have a cell phone?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" he asked, looking confused.

"Call him, and tell him to tell BlackStar that I said that I need all three of them at the hotel ASAP."

Kazuma called his brother and passed on the information while Soul and I checked on Kid. "How is he?" I asked Liz.

"He's out cold, but I can't tell much else at the moment. I can feel a huge bump on his head, though." She said, running her hands over his head. "But I think that's just from hitting his head. His Shinigami side will take care of any concussions without a problem. What I'm worried about," she started running her hands down his sides, "is a broken rib. If a broken rib punctured his heart or one of his lungs, we'll have a really hard time keeping him with us."

"They're on their way back to the hotel right now," Kazuma said. I turned to him. "Okay, now I need you to do something."

"What?"

"I need you to carry him back to the hotel room for us. It'll be faster and easier on him. We don't know how bad he's hurt."

"If we take him back to the Kannagi estate, we have a doctor in the family that I'm sure would have no problems taking care of him." Ayano said.

"Fine. Kazuma, you got that?" He nodded. "Good, we'll meet you there."

Kazuma knelt to slide his arms under Kid's motionless body while we all looked on, feeling helpless. He stood up and started rising in the air before shooting off towards the Kannagi estate. I turned to Ayano.

"Call Ren and have them meet us there."

Once she had done that, we all ran to the Kannagi estate. We got inside to see Kid sitting against a wall without a shirt on, looking around. The doctor seemed to be checking his ribs to see if they were broken. Kid winced, and the doctor stopped.

"You're lucky. From what Kazuma told me happened, you should have five or six severely broken ribs and maybe even brain damage. But it looks like you just have one or two fractured ribs and a concussion. You should be fine with about a week of bed rest." She paused at the look of defiance on his face. "I mean it, young man. You need to rest for your body to heal." She turned to look at Liz and Patty who were practically bouncing up and down looking at Kid.

"Relax, you two. I'm fine," he said, putting his shirt back on. He reached to his left for his vest and winced.

We just rolled our eyes. We had all played the same card before.

"Well, if you're fine, we need to get to the hotel so we can report to Lord Death." I said.

"I'm sure you would appreciate a ride back to the hotel?" Jugo asked. "I can have a few of my family members take you back, if you would like."

"That would be nice. Thank you, Jugo." He smiled.

"If you need anything, merely tell me and I can provide it." He turned to Kazuma, who had just walked in.

"I'm going home, if you need anything before I leave." He looked at Kid. "Sorry about earlier."

"Don't worry, I'm fine," he said as he got up, putting on his vest. Everyone in our little gang mouthed the words along with him, rolling our eyes.

"Yes, I do need something from you, actually," Jugo said. "I need you to give them a ride back to the hotel."

"No problem. Let's go." We followed him outside to the car. Once we were in the car, BlackStar turned to me.

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Earlier, you told me that you could tell that there was a Kishin egg a few-as in two or three- blocks away from the hotel. We walked for half a mile without seeing anything." He glared at me. "So, again, why did you lie to me?"

"What? I didn't lie. There was one! And there were two or three humans close by! That's why I sent you that way. I knew that you would have it taken care of, or at least distracted, before anyone got hurt!" I had no idea what he was talking about.

"They where did it go?" BlackStar asked.

"I don't know. By the time we were finished with our first one, I thought you would have at least found that one!"

"Guys, stop arguing!" Soul yelled. We looked at him. "Obviously there's something off about this whole thing. All of us that got in a fight fought something that we had beaten before. And there's the thing about the weird-looking souls. Liz grabbed the ones from the mummies."

"You're right. As soon as we get to the hotel, we need to find a mirror." I said.

"How about the one in the bathroom?" Patty asked.

I nodded. "That would work."

"42-42-564, whenever you want to knock on Death's door," I said as I wrote it in the fogged-up mirror.

"Well, hello Maka. How are you doing?" Lord Death's chirpy voice asked in the mirror."

"Fine, but we've had a few unexpected problems."

"Oh, like what?"

"Well, Kid got hurt tonight. Nothing too severe," I said, noticing him looking as worried as he could with the mask on. "He has a few fractured ribs and a concussion. The doctor said it could have been much worse, that she expected multiple broken ribs and maybe even brain damage."

"Is he alright?"

"He'll be fine. The doctor said he needs to rest for a week." Liz and Patty came into the room.

"He's finally out. He'll sleep for a while," Liz said, joining us at the mirror.

"With Kid out of the picture for at least a week, and the large amount of Kishin eggs in the area, you will need some backup. I'll send Stein with Spirit, and Crona. I need Miss Marie here to help teach classes, and to keep some of the other students in line."

"Anyway, there's something else. When we killed some of the Kishin eggs, their souls looked….. off?" I turned to Soul and Liz. They pulled the souls out of their pockets, holding them in front of the mirror.

"I don't know what to make of this at the moment, but when Stein and Spirit get there, you can discuss it with them."

"Speaking of them, where are they?" I asked.

"They're packing. I had already decided to have them ready to leave to help you guys, but now it's even more important. They'll be there tomorrow around noon. For now, get some rest. You've all had a long day." Lord Death ended the call. I turned and walked out of the room to Soul and I's room next door. Tsubaki and BlackStar were on the other side, since Kid had pitched a symmetry fit when we were setting up the rooms.

"You hungry?" I asked Soul as I unlocked the door with the card, walking into the room.

"Yeah. Do we have anything to eat?" he asked, following me into the kitchen. It was only 9:30. I looked in the cupboards and in the fridge as he plopped on the couch.

"Well, we've got all the stuff for spaghetti. You want that?" I asked.

"Yeah!" I laughed.

"Can you go see if anyone wants to eat over here for me?" I asked. He grumbled, but got up and walked out of the room. He walked back in with everyone but Kid behind him.

"I guess that was a yes?" I laughed.

"Yeah!" BlackStar walked into the mini-kitchen.

"Oh, no you don't!" Tsubaki said, grabbing him by the back of the collar, dragging him back out. "Don't want you burning down the hotel," she said as she maneuvered him onto one of the couches next to Soul.