Maka and Soul observed the fight happening below from the helicopter Professor Stein had piloted to Japan, Maka having demanded to come see how Black Star and Tsubaki were doing. Soul, being her Weapon partner, agreed to come along in order to look after his slightly reckless Meister.

"Their Soul Resonance is weaker than before," Maka commented, activating her gift of Soul Perception.

"Indeed, however, they've got a few personal issues to work out," Stein replied from the pilot seat. "But even at full resonance, with Black Star fighting the way he is..."

"You think they stand a chance?" Soul asked, glancing up at the professor.

The silence that followed was answer enough. Maybe if they were fighting Eruka, but both her and Free together spelled bad news.

"We have to go help them," said Marie, Stein's co-pilot and Weapon for the trip. "I can't just sit here and watch while–"

Stein placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head."We merely came here to observe. That was the deal, remember?"

She sighed and nodded, her kind eyes looking away from the ongoing fight below. It pained her to watch her students get hurt, and right the, Black Star was getting his ass handed to him on a platter by the werewolf.

Just as Maka was about to leap out of the helicopter to save her friends from the humiliation, something surprising happened: Free called for a retreat and the two disappeared into the shadows.

Stein didn't bother to stay and check if Black Star was okay before steering the helicopter away. The rest was up to Tsubaki.

After a moment of silence, Tsubaki met her partner's gaze. It was one she couldn't read.

"Why'd you follow me?" he asked simply.

"Because..." she trailed off, at a loss for words as he looked at her expectantly. "Because I... You left without saying anything. I was worried about you."

Black Star sighed, shaking his head. "Seriously, Tsubaki. I can take care of myself."

"Yes. I understand, but..." Her voice faltered and she turned her gaze to the ground. Now that she was here, she wasn't sure what she was going to say.

"C'mon. Let's find you somewhere to stay before someone decides to pick a fight with me again," her Meister said, leading the way down the street and towards the heart of the city.

"What about you?" she asked, trailing behind him.

"I don't have any money on me right now and I can't help you pay for the room, so I'm not staying," he shrugged.
They found a small hotel and went inside to get a room. Tsubaki asked for a room with one bed.

The clerk raised an eyebrow, glancing at Black Star before wordlessly handing her the key.

They rode the elevator up to the 42nd floor in silence and found their room, Tsubaki all the while thinking about how to phrase everything she wanted to say. She never considered herself very good at this sort of thing, but she didn't think she was this awful at it.

However, as she stepped inside and closed the door, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

Black Star plopped onto the bed and looked out the window at the city lights. "I'm gonna miss DC big time. You can't get any peace and quiet, so it's hard to get people's attention."

Tsubaki smiled to herself as she sat down beside him. "You can come back, you know."

"Nah. Not until I find out what I came here looking for, he responded. "I mean, I did spend all my savings on the plane ticket so I might as well, right?"

"Look, Black Star there's something... There's something I've got to tell you," said Tsubaki, gazing over at her partner.

Everyone seemed to think he was childish, obnoxious, and somewhat unreliable, but she knew better than that. There was a lot more that met the eye when it came to Black Star. He just has a different way of showing things.

"If you're gonna beg me to go back with you, it won't–"Before he could finish the sentence, Tsubaki had turned his face so he was facing her and pressed her lips gently against his.

"You can do whatever makes you happy," she stated after pulling away. "But please, let me stay with you."

Black Star blinked, still dumbfounded from the kiss. He couldn't process what had just happened. Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, his Weapon partner and one of the only people he put above himself...had just kissed him.

Finally snapping out of it, he shook his head. "It'll be dangerous as hell. Besides, you'd make a great Deathscythe and maybe then, I'll find you and ask for your autograph."

Tsubaki sighed, hanging her head. She'd half expected this response, but it still stung a little.

There was a moment of silence before Black Star sighed, giving in. "K, fine. You can stay if you really want."

"Thank you," beamed Tsubaki.

Her Meister looked away. He would have said it was her he should be thanking, but...

As the silence dragged on, the realization of what she'd done slowly dawned on her and Tsubaki could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. She was glad Black Star wasn't looking at her as she was positive that her face was becoming more and more flushed with every passing second.

"Hey... I'm going to go wash up," she announced, getting to her feet.

"Okay."

Retreating into the bathroom in a hurry, she shut the door and leaned against it. She, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, had actually kissed her Meister on the lips...and she'd enjoyed it far more than she should her eyes, she thought back to when she'd spent the night curled up on the couch beside him. Had that been his way of saying goodbye? Or...was it something more?

Taking a deep breath, Tsubaki undressed and stepped into the warm shower, letting the water run over her skin, calming her hyperactive nerves. It wasn't wrong that she might have feelings for him as more than a friend, was it? It was pretty obvious that Maka and Soul liked each other, and everyone urged them to become a couple. So why couldn't it be the same for her and Black Star?

After cleaning herself up, Tsubaki picked up the fluffy towel on the counter and attempted to wrap it around her body. However, the towel was smaller than expected and wasn't long enough for her to tie it in front so that it would stay on while she went out and retrieved new clothes from the backpack in her room.

She mentally yelled at herself for not bringing her clothes in with her as she pulled open the door and poked her head out to look into the bedroom.

Black Star was on his back and looked as if he was asleep. That was a good sign.

Tiptoeing out of the bathroom, Tsubaki went over to her bag, which was by the TV and moved to swiftly open it, only to find that the zipper was stuck! As she attempted to hold onto her towel with one hand and fix the zipper with the other, Black Star stirred in his sleep, causing her to jump.

"What're you doing, Tsubaki?" he asked, drowsily sitting up. "And what's with the mini towel?"

She blushed and explained that the zipper on her bag was stuck.

"Well, you can't fix it with one hand," Black Star pointed out.

Holding the towel up with her arm and prayed that it wouldn't fall as she worked to get the zipper loose. After a minute of concentration, it finally slid open.

Triumphantly pumping her fist in the air, Tsubaki momentarily forgot that the towel wasn't secure around her body until it slid down to almost her waist.

Black Star, who'd only been paying attention half the time gaped wordlessly as the scream got stuck in his throat. He couldn't look away and it seemed like Tsubaki was frozen in terror as well.

Luckily, she wasn't facing him directly, but she was so shocked she couldn't make her muscles move.

"Uh...Tsubaki?"

His voice snapped her out of the trance and she immediately pulled her towel up and grabbed some random clothes from her bag before racing into the bathroom and shutting the door.

A single thought ran simultaneously through their minds: That did not just happen.

Soul and Maka lay on their bed, staring up at the ceiling. Because Maka insisted that Marie and Stein should use the majority of the hotel money on getting a big room for the two of them, her and her Weapon partner were stuck in a one-bed suite a few rooms down from Tsubaki and Black Star's.

"You're spying on their souls, aren't you?" Soul, who was laying so close to her she could feel his warmth, questioned.

"So? What if I am?" Maka responded indignantly. "Tsubaki's my friend and I don't want any of...that stuff...going on."

Soul propped himself up with his elbow and gazed over at his partner, her emerald green eyes meeting his crimson gaze. "What's so bad about said stuff? You know they like each other. I know they like each other. The entire Shibusen is counting on them getting together."

"I just don't want to see her getting hurt, that's all," Maka replied, trying to ignore the fluttery feeling her stomach got whenever she was so close to Soul.

"Black Star can be an idiot sometimes, but I can vouch that he's okay."

His Meister sighed and propped herself up on her elbow as well so they were looking directly at each other.
"I know he's not. I've known him since we were young. But..."

"Your dad?"

The one thing Maka liked and, at the same time, hated the most about her partner was the fact that he seemed to be able to read her deepest, darkest thoughts: The ones that she tried to keep hidden and even deny they even existed. And he'd bring them to light. It made her feel like a shitty person, but at the same time, she appreciated the fact that he knew her so well.

"I know it's wrong to compare every guy to my dad, but..."

"Hey, you've been living with one for over a year, Maka. Do I really seem that bad?" Soul asked gently.

"No, not that bad," she replied with a small smile. "We should get some sleep. I want to go sightseeing tomorrow. It's the first time I've been to Japan."

"Oh, so Miss Bookworm actually wants to do something fun for once," her partner teased with an easy grin.

"Shut up and go to sleep," Maka giggled, tossing a pillow at him.

They both lay back down and after a few seconds of silence, Maka glanced over at Soul. "Do you think they'll come back?"

Soul gave her arm a reassuring nudge as he smiled at her through the dim light. "'Course they will. We just gotta let them do what they have to do. They'll come back to Death City when they're ready."

"I just hope Black Star doesn't get too reckless," sighed the Scythe Meister, closing her eyes.

"With him, you never know," Soul Eater replied.

A/N: I'm so sorry I took so long to update. School just started back up and I barely have a spare minute. I hope you guys liked the chapter, though, and I'm already working on the next one. I'll update as soon as possible. It'll probably be more action oriented since this one was pretty much all fluff.