Title: Cavernous
Author: Sierra (XFiercexxx)
Pairing: Tsubaki/Mifune.
Note: I'm so sorry to the person who wanted Mifune/Marie but by the time I realized it would work for that pairing too I was too attached -sob- sorry. I hope this is close enough though because really Tsubaki and Marie have REALLY similar character traits. Anyway...on with it!
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You stack your books ever so neatly and set them in your leather briefcase. Snapping it shut you look around the classroom and sigh happily. This is the place you were meant to belong in, of that you're sure. Children everywhere, smiling, happy and safe. You teach them and flourish in this enviroment. You wonder why you never did this sooner.
"Mifune-chan," A high, squeeky voice breaks through the internal soliloquy going on in your mind. Little Angela is there holding the hand of a fellow teacher. Your colleague smiles her sweet, serene smile and ushers the tiny witch towards you. "I got lost on my way to visit Patty-chan and Liz-chan but Tsubaki-chan found me so it's okay!" Angela hugs your leg and beams up at you while you laugh.
"It's very strange Mifune-san," Tsubaki says, "You are so different now than you used to be."
You shake your head and humor the young woman, "Tsubaki-sensei, I am no different than before but with all due respect ou and your young ... partner were my enemies then." You think of the blue haired boy who once wielded the Death Scythe. He was obnoxious, selfish, rude. Oh so different from the sweet tempered woman you've come to know and see before you.
She becomes flustered and red and you laugh because she is what you think Angela will one day grow to be. So similar the two girls, but Angela was luckier than Tsubaki you think; she had someone quieter and more understanding who listened to her once in a while whereas Tsubaki had him. A selfish brat of a boy who couldn't care less what she wanted. It was unjust and he wondered just how she could have done it for five long years.
"Why did you do it?" you ask her, never pushing or accusing, coming off as simply curious. Angela looks up at the two of you blinking, innocent and ignorant.
"Do what Mifune-san?" She had been about to turn to leave but turned her back to the door now.
"How could you stay that boys partner for so long?"
She looks at her feet, again blushing red. "I've been asked that before." you sense the stinginess even if it doesnt show in her tone. "After all, who else would? But he was a good boy, sweet in his own way and I found that I liked to listen."
"He was selfish," you declare, "he betrayed you and the rest as well. How do you speak so highly of him when you should resent him above everyone else?" It outrages you what he has done.
Her fingers trace the scar of a once present tattoo on her skin, mingling with the remains of a blade slash. "You forgive the people you love." she pauses and looks out into the rows of desks, not really seing them but a far away memory no doubt. "I couldn't really blame him. No one believed- they all thought he would turn out like his father. In a wa I think it was his way of getting bitter retribution, divine judgement from the Great Black Star himself. In his mind I think he was just proving them right."
"He didn't deserve you." Or Maka-hakase, Soul-sama, Shinigami Kid-sama, Liz or Patty, but most of all her. "You gave him far more than should be right."
You wonder why life is so unfair, why when you meet such a kind, selfless person with so much baggage you just want to help and yet you're too late. You know that there was probably nothing you cuold have done in the face of an angry, self righteous, determined man such as him. But you could have tried and then maybe that guilty ache in your chest for Tsubaki-san would feel a little less hollow.
She approaches you slowly, each step and movement deliberate and sinuous as a ribbon blowing in the wind. Her comfortingly cool hands touch your cheek and she presses a sweet, chaste kiss to the corner of your mouth.
"Thank you for worrying about me."
She leaves quickly, blushing red, stumbling on his forgotten suitcase on the way out. And you wonder at how the hollow, guilt ridden, cavernous ache in your chest that you feel each time you encounter any of the faculty members retreats just a little bit into a much quieter echoe.
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Note 2.0: Critique and requests are still allowed.