Chapter 7: Burrito supreme

Kid fell to his knees after fully taking in the state of his room. Picture frames were scattered across the floor in what looked like Patti's pitiful attempt to clean her mess but instead it only made it worse. The young Thompson was seated on Black*Star's shoulders as she tried to grab a particular frame that was placed out of her reach.

"PATTI!" The volume of Kid's voice must have shocked Black*Star, because he lost his balance which in turn caused Patti to topple off of his back and thankfully onto the safety of his bed….that was until Black*Star landed on top of her. She giggled and tried to roll him off of her, but instead she just tangled the once perfect covers (to Kids horror) which made her laugh even harder. From Patti's perspective a distressed Kid was the best type of Kid.

Trying his best to ignore the two, he began to feverishly pick up the picture frames and put them into a perfectly straight stack. It took 30 minutes to complete this task and by that time the bed that Patti had taken a liking to had been stripped of its sheets and Liz's presence was still absent. Kid wanted to check on her of course, but he was afraid to repeat the events of that morning in case she was taking a shower. With his newfound emotions he highly doubted he would be able to control himself and act like a respectable Shinigami and a responsible meister. He involuntarily sighed, knowing that there was no possible chance they would ever be together. He was her partner, her friend and that was it.

Patti let out a high squeal as Black*Star rolled her into a bundle of sheets and created what looked like a Patti-Burrito.

"HEHEHE, I'M A BURRITO BLACK*STAR! COME EEEEAAATTT ME!"

Black*Star smirked, but then paused for a second. Burritos were pretty badass, he couldn't be outshone by a fabulous Patti-Burrito! With an unexpected leap, he burrowed himself into the excess sheets and rolled right up next to Patti – his face about two inches from hers.

"HA!" Black*Star bellowed. "Now we're a double-layer burrito supreme." His face reddened a bit as he realized that his face was very close to Patti's.

"You're right Black*Star," Patti said surprisingly quiet. "You do make this burrito more supreme." She smiled shyly, and blushed a bit.

Black*Star smiled genuinely and accepted the out-of-character compliment from Patti. It gave his stomach a kind of a happy, gurgly feeling – as was expected of a great STAR like him. Black*Star began to think of himself again and the moment had passed, but to Kid, it only looked as if Black*Star was grinning madly in the small weapons face whilst she blushed as looked at him admiringly.

"PATTI! WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?"

"Look Kid! We made a burrito supreme!"

The color left Kid's lips and he trembled with anger, "GET OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW." Kid's mind was spinning with images he did NOT want in his head.

Both Patty and Black*Star blinked at him before pointing to each other, "(S)HE STARTED IT!" Then they both turned to glare at each other, "NO I DIDN'T!" before sticking their tongues out, crossing their arms, and turning the other way.

Kid frowned and facepalmed, "I don't care who the instigator was. Black*Star, out." he replied as he pointed towards the exit.

Black*Star's eyes widened and he smirked upon glancing towards the door, "Sup Tsubaki? Thought you were still in class."

Tsubaki smiled slightly and a tint of pink crept onto her pale cheeks, "I was wondering where you were Black*Star and I went looking for you. It wasn't that hard to find you really." Tsubaki let out a slight giggle and attempted to muffle it with her hand.

"Figures you'd have no trouble finding a great star like me! How'd you do it? Followed the trail of awesomeness I left behind?"

Tsubaki cleared her throat meekly and apologetically looked up into Black*Star's eyes. "N-no, actually...I followed the trail of crumbled food..."

Still laying beside him, Patti burst out into peals of laughter that caused her to roll around on the bed in a wild, thrashing-about manner. Even Kid allowed himself a small smile, given the humorous circumstances, of course it wasn't long before his attention was drawn back to his weapon and whom she was in close quarters with, very close quarters.

"Patti, come here now." That single sentence was all it took to send the slightly disoriented blonde scrambling from the bed.

"Sir yes sir." She replied while hastily making way to his side, tugging her clothes back into their proper positions and attempting to smooth out the wrinkles that she knew Kid detested.

Black*Star pushed himself into an upright position, fighting against the mass of tangled sheets that attempted to restrain him. His hair was a disoriented mess atop his head and his eyes were unfocused and darting around the room as if he was dizzy. Finally, Black*Star was able to focus on his Tsubaki; she was always the thing that brought him back down to Earth. The first thing that came into focus were Tsubaki's warm and concerned eyes that were trained intently on Black*Star's very own; her hair, wardrobe, and other...compelling...parts came into focus slightly afterwards. As the world shifted in and out of focus between Tsubaki and the objects surrounding her, Black*Star stared blankly in her direction, blinking his eyes as hard as he possibly could to try and snap himself out of his dizzy spell. This is weird, Black*Star thought, why does an all-powerful star like me fall victim to his own body? Black*Star couldn't concentrate his thoughts, nothing like this had ever happened before to the all-mighty God that he was, and it was deeply concerning. Before he knew it everything was tilting severely to the left and Black*Star fell, face-forward, off the bed and onto the ground.

"BLACK*STAR!" Tsubaki and Patti yelled at the same time, both extremely concerned. Realizing that they had both just screamed out Black*Star's name, their heads whipped towards each other. Patti gave Tsubaki a puzzled stare and noticed a flash of emotion run through her eyes that was unrecognizable. They both started for Black*Star, but Kid's arm wrapped around Patti's waist and silently pulled her to him.

"Let her go," Kid whispered into Patti's ear as Tsubaki rushed hurriedly to Black*Star's side.

Patti stared blankly at Tsubaki rolling over Black*Star and tenderly examining the left side of his ribcage, which he was clutching tightly. She noticed Black*Star look up into Tsubaki's eyes and give her a small, appreciative smile amidst the pain. A flash of hot, quick anger coursed through Patti's blood.

"But he's my friend too," Patti whispered back angrily through clenched teeth, restraining the thing inside of her that pounded her brain, telling her to have a fit. No, she told it intently, not now! Now's not the right time. She began to clutch her head - fighting the thing - and pressed against the sides of her skull that she felt could burst open at any moment. Tightly shutting her eyes, she sank to the ground, remembering what Liz had told her to do when they were children.

The alleys were wet and dark and hollow. Patti had always hated the empty darkness that filled them. She had always been a chipper person - thriving under the vibrant sun - but every time she and Liz staggered down the alleys where strange women waved their chests in their faces and the old man's eyes pawed at Patti's slender legs and the darkness seemed to consume everything that she thought she was...she transformed into a different person. It was her theory that "the alley" was where the thing was created.

Patti intentionally blocked out portions of her childhood that she couldn't handle intruding upon her happier, more sunny thoughts. She filed them away in a dark, far away corner in her mind, choosing which memories she wanted to keep and which to terminate. It was for this reason that, at the age of a mere six years old, Patti became an emotionally grounded child. In other words, though her body continued to grow and mature - due to the traumatic and horror-filled childhood experiences - Patti's brain did not age past her current years. Therefore, leaving her behaving as if she was still a six year old into her teenage years. And the result of those memories that were cast away, the result of ignoring those horrific times, was what created the thing, Patti's split personality.

The thing, as Patti so quaintly named it, is an entirely separate being that acts as a parasite inside of her mind, sucking energy when it can and slowing making her weak enough to take over her entire body in short bursts of time. It is solely comprised of dark memories and thoughts from Patti's days in the alley's and consists of every unadmirable quality she contains. While most bursts are at random, there are times, such as when her sister will ask, that she channels it purposely for the sake of others. At times like these, though she hates to admit it, Patti is almost grateful that she can make it useful for something. Almost.

The thing, the thing that inhabited Patti was all-consuming. She remembered a particular moment very clearly and prominently, in which the thing had begun to show itself more and more frequently…

"Patti, Patti please! You need to calm down!" She could faintly hear her sister's calls to her, but the words didn't register. Her focus and attention was turned to the man (though he shouldn't even be considered anything other than scum) she was currently in the process of, well, disposing of.

The man was limp, drifting in and out of unconscious from lack of air. Every few seconds she would loosen her grip on his tie to give him a few breaths of air before she cut him off again.

"Patti! He isn't worth it!"

"...Patti!"

"...tti? Patti!"

Patti shook her head and turned towards Tsubaki, who was staring worriedly back at her.

"Yeah?" Patti said, shaking off the remnants of her flashback. She watched as Tsubaki gave the slightest sigh of relief at seeing Patti return to normal after a very long zone-out.

"I was just wondering if you were feeling okay? You seem a bit, uh, tired…" She responded.

"Pfft, I'm totally awesome Tsubaki! S'all cool~"

But sometimes, it really wasn't.