Black*Star groaned and sat up in his bed with as his cell phone rang on the night stand next to his bed.
He grabbed it, dragging himself out of his bed yawning, and stepping into the hallway as he rubbed his eyes.
"Hello?" he murmured into the phone.
"Black*Star?" the person on the other end asked.
"Yeah, who's this?" he mumbled into the phone.
"It's Pops, I got to ask you a question." Pops said.
"Oh, of course Pops, what's up?" Black*Star mumbled leaning against the wall with a small yawn.
"Black*Star? Is Jared there with you?" Pops asked him, a worried tone ringing in his voice.
"Why would he be with me?" Black*Star asked, pushing himself away from the wall and made his way to the kitchen.
There was mumbling on the other end of the line so Black*Star took the chance to tuck the phone between his ear and shoulder as he reached up into one of the cupboards and pulled out a plate to pour cereal into.
"Hello?" he said into the phone when he began to think they forgot to hang the phone up.
"Black*Star, did Jared call you yesterday?" Pops asked again.
Black*Star reached for the cereal that was on top of the fridge and poured some into his bowl, setting the box on the table.
"Look, give it to me straight Pops, what's going on?" he asked him, starting to get annoyed as he searched for a spoon in the drawer, once he found one, he reached into the fridge and grabbed the milk, pouring some into the bowl before putting it back in the fridge.
"Black*Star answer my question." Pops demanded.
Black*Star rolled his eyes and took a seat at the table, dipping the spoon into the cereal and bring it to his mouth. "Look, he called me at fucking four in the morning okay. Now tell me what's happening." Black*Star said through a mouthful of cereal.
"We've lost touch with Jared." Pops said.
Black*Star froze for a second and then rolled his eyes, eating another spoonful of cereal. "Dude, it's fine, as long as he has his backup with him." Black*Star said with his mouthful again.
"Black*Star… he didn't take backup." Pops growled into the phone.
Black*Star rolled his eyes. "Idiot." He mumbled. "Look, I'll call you back if I find out anything. Bye." He said and hung up, remembering the conversation he had with Jared. "He better not have done what I think he did." Black*Star mumbled to himself as he took another spoonful of cereal into his mouth angrily.
"Who is this Pops you were talking to?" Tsubaki asked sitting down next to him, a worried look in her eyes. She had woken up when the cell phone rang and couldn't go back to sleep, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Black*Star froze and looked up at her, swallowing his mouthful of cereal. "It's rude to eavesdrop Tsubaki." Black*Star told her, a warning in his eyes.
Tsubaki saw the warning but she was worried for her meister. "Black*Star… tell me what's wrong, you've been gone an awful lot lately." She mumbled, reaching over and setting her hand on his shoulder.
Black*Star looked at her and sent her a small smile. "Family problems Tsubaki, don't you worry." He mumbled taking another spoonful of cereal.
Tsubaki blinked, worry rushing through her as her grip on his shoulder tightened. "Black*Star… your family was killed." She told him with wide eyes.
Black*Star froze. He had slipped. "Uh… my point exactly Tsubaki." He said hurriedly.
"Black*Star, tell me the truth." Tsubaki said grabbing his chin with her free hand and forcing him to look into her eyes
"Look, Tsubaki, I just need to be alone." He mumbled, yanking his chin away from her grip and quickly finishing his cereal and running to change out of his pajamas.
Tsubaki sighed. "What are you hiding from me Black*Star?" she mumbled to herself.
-Page Break-
Jared groaned in pain and brought his hand to his neck where it throbbed. "Kami?" he called out into the room, his voice a little off.
When he opened his eyes he saw that he wasn't at his home, his wife wasn't next to him in their bed. "What the hell?" he mumbled to himself, his voice a few octaves lower.
He felt the ridges of the scar underneath his finger, his eyes widening as the memories came back. "Damn it." he growled to himself as he looked around the room trying to find a phone but found nothing.
"What have I gotten myself into?" he muttered to himself.
"Oh, you're up."
Jared's head snapped in the direction of the voice to see it was the white haired boy again. Jared stayed quiet and leaned back into the bed.
"I don't know if I told you before, but my name is Soul." The boy said introducing himself a small smile on his face.
"Look, kid, I'm not here for you, in fact, I'm not even supposed to be here. I need to call Pops." He murmured to himself and then looked up at Soul. "Do you have a phone I could use?" Jared asked, letting his hand go up to his throat.
"I need to know how Maka is doing." he said, completely ignoring Jared's question.
Jared looked at him and smirked a little. "You have the same scar as she does, just on the other cheek." Jared said, pointing to the scar on Soul's cheek.
Soul's hand went to touch his scar, a slight from gracing his face. "I know, I've seen it." he mumbled.
"Look, you seem like a good kid, but move on, trust me; you don't want to be a part of her life anymore." Jared warned him with a small frown.
Soul glared at him. "Of course I want to be a part of her life. She was the one that walked away from me." Soul growled walking towards the bed.
"Then leave her alone. It's for your own good." Jared responded. "Now if you don't mind, I need to leave, I don't want to worry my family any more than I need to." Jared said standing up and making his way towards the door, but Soul pulled him back and sat him down.
"I need to know where she is." Soul growled at him.
"No you don't, you'll be better off if you never see her again." Jared told him.
"What are you talking about?" Soul asked him.
"You don't want to know." Jared said.
"Is she hurt? Is she dying? She's dying isn't she?" Soul exclaimed, jumping to conclusions.
"No, she's very much alive, I'll tell you that." Jared said pulling at the hand that was gripping his blood stained shirt.
"Then what's the problem?" Soul demanded, shaking him a bit.
"Get away from him!" they both heard someone call out from the door way.
Jared groaned, he knew that voice anywhere and really, he would rather be saved by anyone else.
Soul looked from where the voice was coming from. "Black*Star, I could handle myself." Soul said and went back to glaring at Jared.
Black*Star closed the door behind him and walked up to them and set his hand on Soul's shoulder.
"I said I could handle myself Black*Star. What're you even doing here?" Soul asked him, not letting go of Jared.
"Let go of him Soul." Black*Star growled and flung Soul across the room with a loud bang.
Soul felt pain shoot up his spine as he hit the wall. "What the hell Black*Star?" he growled.
Black*Star ignored him and glared down at Jared.
"Why did they send you here Black*Star?" Jared asked.
"Blair got to you didn't she?" Black*Star said pointing to his scar with a small chuckle. "That's what you get for not waiting for me, or at least bringing fucking back up." Black*Star said slapping him upside the head.
"Why did they send you here?" Jared growled again, rubbing the back of his head.
"No one sent me here; they are still trying to track you down. What do I get for saving your ass? Nothing, not even a 'hey cousin'. You're lucky I wasn't in the mood to confront Tsubaki." Black*Star said childishly sticking his tongue out at him.
Soul watched with wide eyes the scene going on in front of him. "What the hell is going on?" Soul murmured to himself.
"Should we kill him? He knows too much." Jared said looking over his shoulder to look at Soul.
"No! No, we are not killing him." Black*Star growled.
"You are way too soft, fine, we'll take him hostage." Jared said, cracking his fingers and walking over to a stunned Soul, knocking him out easily with a blow in the back of the head.
Bending over he threw him over his shoulder and winced. "Let's go." Jared said through clenched teeth.
"Soul, Mr. Law told me to-" Dagger said walking in to the room and freezing in his place when he saw an unconscious Soul and two other guys. "It's always me isn't it?" he cursed to himself and made a mad dash out the door.
Black*Star stopped him though, right outside the door, tackling him to the ground, holding him in a chock hold until he passed out.
Grabbing Dagger, he threw him over his shoulder and turned to Jared. "Come on, let's go, we'll have to foot it a couple of blocks and then get on the bus to the nearest airport."
Jared glared at him. "Let's just call Pops." He mumbled as they made a mad dash towards the exit, surprised that they weren't caught by anyone.
Blair was smiling, sitting on top of her floating pumpkin on top of the school, watching them run towards a nearby alley. "That's right, lead me straight to Maka." She murmured a huge smile on her face as she let out a few giggles.
-Page Break-
There was a knock at Maka's door causing her to sit up in her bed and lose the page she was on. With a sigh, she put the book down on her bed and grabbed her crutch to help herself up and off of the bed.
There was yet another knock on the door.
Maka rolled her eyes. "I'm coming, hold up." Maka called out but took her sweet time to get to the door.
"Maka, Pops said to take care of you while he was gone." Carlo said leaning against the door frame.
Maka paused and then laughed. "That's funny, like I need a babysitter." She said.
"According to Pops you do." Carlo smirked.
"Shut up." Maka pouted and opened the door wider for him to walk in. "Does my mom know you're here?"
"Yeah, don't worry, she trusts me." Carlo said with a laugh as he let himself fall back onto her bed, taking up most of the space.
Maka rolled her eyes. "Men." She mumbled and hobbled over to her desk chair, sitting down, setting her crutch down next to her.
Carlo laughed. "And you call me sexist." He said chuckling.
"You tend to overdue it." Maka said, a slight blush filling her cheeks.
"Women." Carlo muttered a slight smile on his face.
"Where is Pops anyways?" Maka asked, spinning around in her chair.
"He said something about going to pick Jared up." Carlo said with a shrug.
Maka nodded and looked over in his direction. "Why are you not insulting me every other second?" she asked him after a pause.
Carlo looked up at her a smiled. "I don't know, I guess it's because I told you what happened." He said with a light shrug.
Maka smiled and let out a small laugh. "This means that you don't hate women after all." Maka said pointing at him childishly.
Carlo frowned. "Don't push it."
"I'll stop once you admit it." Maka said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Carlo rolled his eyes and pulled out an IPod, putting in the ear buds and blasting the music, ignoring Maka.
After a few minutes of trying to get his attention, Maka blindly reached over to her desk, her hand thrashing to grab a book, anger rolling off of her.
She found one of her heavy text books and after a few light slaps on her own hand she held it above her head and let it crash down on Carlo's skull.
"Shit!" he called out, his hands going to his head, cradling it. He glared up at her after several minutes of intense pain. "What the hell?" he yelled out, ripping out the ear buds.
"That's what you get for ignoring me." Maka said with a huff, setting down her text book on the ground.
"Women." Carlo mumbled, sitting up and putting his IPod away.
That's when Maka decided to take a good look at him. His red hair was messed up as if he had just gotten out of bed, his sleeveless shirt showing off the tattoos he had on his arms. There were a few snakes, a few words, but most importantly, the star.
His ears were pierced multiple times. He had a nose piercing… but there was no lip piercing. Maka remembered him saying something about that last night.
"Earth to Maka? I know I'm hot, but really, don't go overboard." Carlo smirked, waving his arm in front of her face.
A blush found its way to Maka's cheeks once again. "Shut up." she grumbled slapping his hand away and leaning back in her chair. "Where's the lip piercing?" Maka asked before she could stop herself.
Carlo's smile vanished. "I don't have it anymore." He murmured.
Maka understood, nodding. "Oh." She mumbled, an awkward silence settling between them.
"You wanna go to the movies?" Carlo asked, trying to brighten the mood.
"Sure." Maka said grabbing her crutch.
A/N: I needed to distract myself, hence why this chapter is a bit longer than the others. I just had a huge exam and I'm trying to forget about it. This is really working actually. X)