Shadow hunter 12

[In the death room]

Maka looks up at lord death who towers above her, Black Star is at her side and kid is behind his father with spirit standing near death's right hand. She clears her throat and asks what she came here to ask, "Please tell us what you know about soul and Tsubaki." Maka bows her head low as she asks.

"Maka chan, while I realize that your purpose was noble, you left the city without permission in order to pursue Tsubaki, which is what led soul to her and has caused our current predicament. Your judgments are rash and illogical. I will not tell you anything regarding Mr. Evans or Ms. Natatsukasa. Both of them are now regarded as criminals of death city. Tsubaki is charged with murder and treason, and soul with aiding a felon. Both will be dealt with by the proper authorities, and a team has already been dispatched."

She gasps, "but lord death!"

Spirit speaks up, "I'm sorry Maka but Shinigami sama is right. We tried letting you do things your way but this has been proven to be beyond your capabilities. Why don't you just go home and rest?

Maka's glare is piercing, "your doing it again! Your abandoning me just like you did mama!" she screams at him as tears stream down her face. "I thought you said you loved me! I wonder if this is how mama felt when she realized that you were lying to her as well?"

"Oh come on Maka you know that's not how it is!" Spirit reaches out to his daughter.

Maka slaps his hand away as she step back. "No! I'm not going to let you fail me again! Soul needs me and you're in my way!" she runs out of the room tears streaming down her face.

Spirit makes a motion to go after her but death puts a hand on his shoulder and shakes his head.

Death turns to other guest of his room. "So Black Star, what do you plan to do."

He stands quiet for a moment before looking at death with steel in his gaze. "Maka and Soul are my best friends and Tsubaki is my responsibility. I don't understand how you can expect me to just sit by and let this happen. 'They'll be dealt with by the authorities'? What kind of bullshit is that! Why won't you let us go after them? With Kid's help I know we can defeat them! We can save Soul and make Maka happy again! Isn't that what we all want?" he looks specifically at spirit, "Isn't that what you want."

Spirit looks like he's about to answer before looking at his feet. Death retorts in a slightly more serious voice, "Of course that's what we all want. But you seem to be suffering under the illusion that you're the best person to make that happen. I've dispatched professors' Stein, and Marie to apprehend them. Soul and Tsubaki have powers that you can't comprehend. You are a great meister however without a weapon you are no match for them. As you should know based in your recent defeat. I advise you to go home and wait for further orders. Neither you nor Maka are permitted to exit the city at this time. I suggest you use this as a vacation of sorts."

Black Star shifts his glare to Kid, "and are you okay with this? They're our friends, this is our fight!"

Kid simply looks back to black star apathetically. "My father is Shinigami. His decisions built this city and have kept it safe. He has nothing but everyone's best intentions in mind with this plan. I intend to follow him."

Black star stares at kid before, before scoffing and turning towards the exit. He slams the door on his way out.

Shinigami turns to his son. "Don't worry about him son. He is only misguided and fueled by emotion. He will soon forgive you."

Kid smiles back at his father, "I know. The lost are often unable to see the folly of their decisions or the damage they may cause, both physical as well as emotional. And as a Shinigami it is my job to lead lost souls from the darkness. I'm going to go talk to Black Star."

Death watches his son leave the room with pride in his heart.

[Tsubaki]

When I wake up the first thing I notice is the humidity in the air. I blink as I take in my strange surroundings, the last place I remembered being is in the middle of the desert. So why are there so many damned trees here? I try to stand up but I feel a tugging on my arm. I look to the right and see Soul still asleep holding onto my hand. I close my eyes as I try to piece together what happened.

When Soul transformed and we resonated I pushed my soul to the max creating wings and flying off into the sky, I didn't have a set destination, but I needed to get away from Kid. Maka and Star I could take but if I had stayed there any longer Kid would have killed me. It's only because of Soul that he didn't. After we got in the air everything else is a blur. Next thing I know I'm waking up with Soul next to me.

After all these weeks of training and fighting so that I could get Soul, it's nice to see my prize laying next to me on the jungle floor. Although I don't know exactly what drove me to my actions. I've never felt so complete in my life. It's as if he's a piece of my soul, almost like my other half. I'm aware that I sound like a deranged fan girl here but that's truly what I feel.

However that's not exactly right. While I feel more complete than I ever have, I can still tell that something's missing. Something small, but it's supposed to be here, it should be mine.

I feel Soul rousing next to me, bringing me back to my original topic of query. Soul. As he gets up and looks at me I can see the expressions on his face change as he himself recollects our previous actions. He lets go of my hand and looks at me with an expression I don't recognize. Does he regret coming with me? Is he going to ask me to take him back?

He finally speaks up, "Do we have anything to eat?"

I almost fall over. "Um, pardon me?"

Now he looks at me with annoyance. "Didn't you hear me? I asked if you have anything to eat? I'm freaking starving over here! How long have we been out anyway?"

I look at the rays of sun shining through the canopy. It seems to be sunrise. "Considering when I fought if I had to guess I'd say about six or seven hours. And as for food I'm sorry I have none. I only woke up a minute or so before you."

He sighs and stands up, "Alright I guess I'll go look for some food. You should stay here and see if you can get a fire going, and maybe figure out where we are. Also um..." he looks away from me with a red face. "Maybe you could see if you could make some clothes or something."

I look down and cover myself as I realize that my shirt was barely more than a few threads after fighting with Kid and Mifune. "Alright you go look for food, considering our environment there should be wild pigs or something around here. I'll uh, figure something out."

Soul nods and leaves with a tiny flash of red still on his face. He doesn't seem to be trying to deceive me, although I have to wonder why he isn't, considering what I've done to get him.

[Soul]

What the fuck am I doing! Why am I cooperating with this psychopath? She killed Mifune and Angela, seemingly just to get to me! I don't know how I sounded so cool earlier when right now I am freaking out!

I take a deep breath. For now working with her seems to be my best option. We're in a foreign place with no food or water and she doesn't seem to be hostile. Also with the abilities she showed during her fight with Kid I don't think I'd get very far if I did try to run away. She is without a doubt stronger than me.

Although I did show a strange power during her fight with Kid. I begin to think as I wander the forest. Right before Kid would have killed her I was able to somehow move fast enough to stop him. And after I transformed and Tsubaki was holding me I could feel my self using that power again before I blacked out.

I hear leaves rustling to my left and look over to see a large boar with black hair staring me down. I grow a scythe blade out of my right forearm and gesture with my left, beckoning for a fight. Lets see if I can test out this power.

The pig charges at me head bent low with sharp tusks aimed at me. I close my eyes tight and try to will my power to activate. I open my eyes hoping to see the boar moving in slow motion. Instead I see it moving in very fast motion. "Oof!" I fly back a few feet as it nails me right in the stomach. I brush my self off and stand up again."You think you can take me piggy? Ill shows you what a death scythe can do! Come at me again and we'll see if you get lucky again."

As if acknowledging my challenge he backs up to his starting position and begins pawing at the ground with his front hoof. I back up a little as be both stare at each other waiting for the other to make a move. He begins his charge and I feel for my soul trying to bring out that power again. After a moment nothing happens so refusing to be beaten by a wild animal, I charge forward blade arm low. After I take my second step, he can't be more than six feet in front if me. That's when everything slows down. As soon as it happens it becomes obvious to me. I doubt that I'm powerful enough to affect time so I must be moving faster, much faster. It only makes sense that I would need to be in motion for it to work. Now if only any of this made sense. I feel a weird sensation pulling at me to turn to my left and go south but I shake it off to focus on the task at hand. With my extreme speed my enemy didn't stand a chance. Without much effort I slice the boar down the side. It was dead before it stopped moving.

I've always viewed my abilities as a way to protect people and vanquish evil while looking cool. I've never actually reveled in killing another living creature. But using that power to kill the boar felt good. To be honest it scared me a little.

When I arrive back at the clearing with the boar hoisted over my shoulder with a branch, Tsubaki's back is turned to me as she tends to the fire she must have built.

"Yo I'm back." I grin at my cool entrance. "You got any idea how to cook this thing?"

Tsubaki turns to look at me and it takes all my will power to hold back the oncoming nose bleed.

She smiles at me, "Oh Soul, that didn't take long. I used the leaves and the remaining thread from my shirt to create a top from the leaves. Do you like it?"

Her leaf top is little more than a teeny tiny leaf bikini barely covering her chest. I feel a small drop of blood escape my nostril when she spreads her arms to showcase her handiwork.

I feel my face heating up as I answer. "Yeah whatever I guess it's cool, anyway I'm still hungry so can we eat this or not?"

[Kid]

I find Black Star in an alley near Maka's apartment. He's standing there waiting for me. Before I can say anything he has me up against the wall. His eyes are angry as he intensely looks at me, his eyes are filled with fury. "What the hell do you think your doing here?"

I smile as I answer, "I'm here to help you and Maka."

Black star backs up for a second and looks at confusion before switching back to anger. "Ha you expect me to believe that! You already proved which side you were on!"

"Because if I didn't then I wouldn't have been able to get this." I pull a file out of my jacket.

Black Star looks at the file suspiciously, "and just what the hell is that?"

"It's everything my father knows about Soul and Tsubaki."

[Maka]

I'm glad that I had a little time to recuperate before Kid and Star walked in. After they walked in and Kid explained everything we immediately began pouring over the files which at first seemed useless until my eyes landed in a file created two days ago. "Hey guys! Come look at this!"

Black Star and Kid crowd around me as I read the report out loud "Through extensive research and Shinigami sama's wisdom there have been several new facts revealed about Tsubaki Natastukasa and Soul Evans. The first is that Soul Evans is a descendant of king Arthur known more commonly as Excalibur." there's a second where we all stop and look at each other.

Black Star looks a me and asks, "You don't think he means 'that Excalibur' right?"

I turn back to the text and continue reading. "I speculate that some of the weapon's power might have been passed on to soul which could explain why he is able to assume weapon form even if no one else in his family can. The second is that the Natatsukasa and Arthur families are linked. It appears that one of the early Natatsukasa absorbed a portion of Excalibur's power. While there is no conclusive evidence I hypothesize that resonating with Evans awakened some of Excalibur's power within her. This may be the cause of her possessive nature towards him. While dissection is the only true way to tell I believe that she is acting on some sort of primal instinct to complete her self. It is entirely possible that she may not even know why she's doing what she is. While I don't know how this will manifest itself, it is likely that she will attempt to 'consume' Soul in order to complete her self."

Silence. Finally Kid speaks up in a shaky voice, "Maybe its not as bad as it seems. You know, I don't think he meant consume as in like eating his body. If she wants power that lies in his soul she will likely just be after that."

I gawk at kid. "So your telling me that she wants to eat his soul! Is that supposed to calm me down?" I stand up yelling in kids face. "How are we supposed to save Soul when he could be already dead!" tears stream down my face.

Kid takes a step closer and puts his hand on my shoulder. "Hey I think that he's probably ok." I give him a questioning look. "That report was almost all conjecture. And even if it is correct he mentioned that she might not know why she's doing what she's doing. If she doesn't realize what her motivations are we may still have time before she can uh, hurt Soul."

I finally manage to calm down. "But it's only a matter of time right? What can we possibly do?"

This time Black Star stood up, "Hey do you really think a great god like me would let anything happen to Soul? Don't worry we'll save him!" Black Star flashes me a reassuring smile.

I wipe my tears as I read the last part of the report, "If that is indeed her intention it is most likely that she won't realize it until the she has absorbed the origin if her power. It is most likely that she will attempt to hunt Excalibur him self. Although again, dissection is needed to confirm." I read the end of the report feeling a little better about the situation.

Kid puts a hand on my shoulder. "Even though I may not like it. At least now we have a plan of action."

I stand up, the tears gone from my face. "That's right. You guys should go home and prepare. Tomorrow we're going to go find Excalibur."

[Tsubaki]

After we ate I used my power to fly above the trees and saw a nearby town. Not wanting to fly in and scare the town's people we decided to simply walk towards there. On our way we decided to take inventory.

Soul finally finished rummaging through his pockets, "Thankfully my wallets in tact so I have about fifty dollars in there. That should be enough for a couple days in a shitty motel before we figure out where we're going. Any ideas on that yet?"

I put my hand on my chin as I continue walking. "Hmm I feel like we should be heading that way." I point towards the south.

Soul looks at me a moment before asking, "why?"

It was a question I wasn't entirely prepared to answer but I articulate my self the best I can, "Well for a while now I've been feeling drawn towards that place. When I flew up into the sky I could tell that there is something there for us. Like we're missing something. Do you understand what I mean?"

He sighs, "Surprisingly, I do. I don't feel it now but earlier when I was hunting that pig I felt that there was some presence in that direction that was drawing me in. What do you think it is?"

Before I can stop myself I say, "Mine." Soul raises an eyebrow at me, "Well what I mean to say is that it feels like a part of me. Maybe something that I'm missing? Regardless I want to have it."

Soul just shrugs his shoulders as he keeps walking, "Whatever floats your boat I guess. As far as plans go that's good for now." he puts his hands behind his head as he walks ahead of me. " I just want to make sure we're on the same page. Don't take my helping you out as a sign that I'm with you now. You're my friend and I'm helping you so that you don't get your self hurt. It's the only reason I intervened back when you were fighting Kid. I'll go with you to this presence. But after that I expect to go home. Understand?"

He turns to look back at me as I smile at him. "Of course, I'll make sure you get back to death city after this!" he turns away satisfied at my answer.

He doesn't see the grin on my face after he turns. 'Yeah right! Now that I've caught you, I never plan on letting you go!'

Hope you liked it! I felt it was pretty solid. No big fights but I did set up the next two and have even given you a possible reason for Tsubaki's craziness.

For any fans of Something Unexpected, sorry no update today. Ive hit a bit of writers block. But don't worry I'm not quitting it!

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