Chapter 7: Judgment

Tsubaki loved her husband. She adored him honestly, but sometimes she really wondered what she had gotten into when she had fully accepted him into her life. They were older now, but apparently there were certain things that just would never change. For example, his work out regiment. That never changed. If anything, there may have been something added or revised, but he stayed faithful. Another would be his eating habits. He could eat like no one she had ever met in life. She remembered being pregnant and hoping to everything holy she would not give birth to a child that ate like its father. Their budget wouldn't be able to handle it. All that aside, Black Star was an amazing man and always full of surprises, so nothing prepared her full for when she entered their home and found him sitting at the coffee table with papers spread across the table and a focused look on his face. She opened her mouth to comment but he had perked up once the door closed behind her.

"You're home. Great! I need your help!" he informed, gesturing to the stacks in front of him. She walked over and raised a brow when she noticed the familiar handwriting on the clearly old documents. "These are records that I managed to scrounge up earlier from Kid's office about my Clan." He informed. Tsubaki took a seat across from him, trying to put some order to the documents.

"Why were you looking through the files in Kid's office?" she asked, allowing her eyes to roam over a sheet in her hand. It looked to be adoption papers. Black Star's name was on them.

"Well those visitors got me thinking," The assassin started, wrinkling his nose at some documents before tossing them haphazardly to the side, not acknowledging his wife's attempts at cleaning up the damage. "Ayame doesn't know much about the rest of her lineage, you know? She knows about the Nakatsukasa clan fairly well thanks to your parents, but she knows very little about her Star blood aside from having an amazing being for a father!" The dark haired weapon paused and considered the man across from her.

"So you intend on telling her about the Star clan?" Tsubaki asked. She remembered when she was pregnant how Black Star had once stated that he simply wanted their child to understand the proper path of the warrior, or weapon, and that no matter what others said, their child was above petty judgment and criticism. Ayame always took great pride at being Black Star's daughter, but as far as they knew, she also never faced the scrutiny and harsh judgment her father faced when connected back to his clan. Pushing the pile of files away, Black Star stretched his arms over his head and allowed himself to yawn widely before responding.

"I want her to understand her roots before these people dig up whatever they plan on finding out about us and I figured if I'm gonna do it, I need proper information." He answered. "I've only been told the basics about how they strayed and all, but I never knew what my clan was before they went down the wrong path…" Tsubaki smiled slightly and leaned across the table, grateful he was receptive enough to lean in as well, and gave him a soft kiss.

"Why don't we put all this away and get ready for dinner? It's putting you in a strange mood." She informed gently and smiled when her partner let out a loud laugh and beamed back at her.

"Eh, guess it comes with old age." He hummed and Tsubaki rolled her eyes.

"We're barely even in our late 30s and you're claiming old age." She laughed and moved to get up, but Black Star grabbed hold of her wrist, stopping her. The dark haired woman raised a brow and a different grin crossed his face.

"Aya is coming over for dinner… Let's have some fun before she comes, yeah?" He raised an eyebrow suggestively as his wife blushed in return. It was interesting how he still gave her such an effect. She cleared her throat, trying to regain her composure.

"You didn't tell me Ayame was coming for dinner tonight." She informed, giving her nonchalant husband a pointed look. He shrugged a shoulder, releasing his hold on her and leaning back on his palms.

"Eh? Well yeah. How else did you expect me to tell her all this important information?" Black Star asked, indicating to the documents in front of him. "I didn't necessarily read everything, but I've got a good idea of what I want to tell her." Tsubaki raised a brow.

"You don't intend on giving details?"

"Like what?" The pair stared at each other as if trying to read the other's thoughts. Tsubaki reached out and opened one of the files, eyes roaming over the page. The one she read looked to be the report from the day of the Star clan extermination.

"Black Star… Why exactly do you feel the need to tell Ayame all of this, aside from wanting her to know of her lineage?" The chain scythe looked up at her husband who was staring blankly at a closed file in front of him. He furrowed his brow slightly, as if processing what he had just been questioned before closing his eyes and letting out a slow breath.

"I don't want things to come out that she doesn't understand and for people to judge her the way I was judged." Tsubaki's face fell in confusion. "Star clan has a negative history attached to it no matter what I've done to change it. People still cower when they see this mark on me in certain territories. I don't want her to go through the same thing… She has so much pride in who she is and where she's from, you know?"

"She gets that pride from you." Tsubaki informed with a fond smile. He glanced at her and a bright smile crossed his face as well.

"When its all said and done, Aya will be able to face the world with her head held high no matter what!" he informed and stretched his hands high over his head. "Just like me and you. She's our girl and there's no reason she should allow herself to be less than amazing because of others." Tsubaki nodded in agreement and watched as Black Star, fully regenerated, made his way to the bathroom to handle some 'godly business' before their daughter arrived. Cocky or not, she couldn't help but love that man.

0

O

0

Ava was watching her partner carefully. He was seated in front of their TV, video game controller in hand and focused. He was like this one weekends. He liked to stay in and just unwind in front of the television in some form. Every so often he didn't mind meeting up with their friends for fun, but he was never one for crowds and Ava couldn't blame him. Since she met him, Rion had never really been one for crowds and mostly because of what he endured before coming to Shibusen. She felt herself tense at the reminder of the scars on his back.

"Ava?" Snapping from her thoughts, she noticed her was now looking back at her expectantly. "Are you ok?" She nodded swiftly.

"Yeah!" she practically squeaked before climbing over the back of the couch and joining him. "I was just remembering when we met. You're not as much of a weird pipsqueak anymore." She teased, bumping her shoulder to his. Rion wrinkled her nose at her in response.

"What do you mean by pipsqueak? I'm younger than you guys." He informed. His partner shrugged, hugging onto her knees and watched his game.

"Yeah… I know…" There was a silence between the two of them. He was focused on his game and she would occasionally glance from the game back to her partner. He didn't have on his hat, so his messy golden hair stuck out entertainingly out in different angles, some random locks crossing his forehead and just barely into his eyes. She reached up distractedly and touched his hair. His eyes never left the game.

"You ok?"

"Hm?"

"You're being super touchy." He answered and glanced at her with a raised brow. "And feely. Something you wanna say to me?" Ava blinked.

"Like what?"

"I dunno," He shrugged a shoulder distractedly. "That you're realizing this amazing growth spurt on me and the awesome results of the training of been doing with Black Star Star and Sid." Ava rolled her eyes and gave the side of his head a playful shove as she scoffed.

"Hardly." She snorted and sprawled out on her end of the couch. "You're still a pipsqueak."

"Maybe, but others have noticed it." He informed sending her a small grin that caused her to wrinkle her nose skeptically.

"Noticed you spending too much time with a teacher and a zombie?"

"No! My growth!" Rion argued. "I had a girl from NOT class ask me to be her partner a couple days ago." Just as soon as he said it, the weapon hesitated. At this, Ava frowned.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't think it mattered since I rejected her."

"But girls are approaching you."

"So?"

"I think I should know."

"You're only my partner."

"Doesn't matter! I wanna know!"

"Ava c'mon!" Rion yelled back, dropping his controller in defeat. "I didn't think it was a big deal. It's just nice to know people stopped seeing me as some weird kid that ran away from the circus! Is that alright with you?"

"I never saw you as that." Ava blurted out and the pair stared at each other in silence. They never argued. In fact, whenever Rion was annoyed, Ava would do something that cancelled out any need to argue and the fact she was even getting heated over their discussion was confusing to her as well. She huffed, hugging her knees to her chest. "You're not some weird kid. You're the coolest kid I know. You're the best partner anyone could ever have and I've always known that." Rion looked away.

"You're not half bad yourself." He muttered after a moment of silence. She stared at him.

"You judging me?"

"No…" The weapon considered his meister for a moment. She had always been a little weird, just like him, but there was more than her than meets the eye. "You mad at me?"

"No…"

"Wanna go get something to eat?"

"… Yeah."

Who would have thought growing up would be so troublesome… since when did they argue about petty things?