Hello everyone. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy.

I do not own soul eater or any of the characters.

Maka and Soul stood in the hallway looking at the mission board. It was the one year anniversary of their partnership.

"Maka, just choose one already." Soul groaned. "We've been standing here for like, 10 minutes."

"Yeah, and I want to make sure we pick a good one."

"Come on Maka. Can't I just pick it and be done with it?"

"No." she replied curtly "Remember what happened last time you picked?"

He did remember. It wasn't the coolest day of his life. He had chosen something cool sounding much to Maka's protests. They hadn't been prepared for it and had to run away; and in the process ruined a three week investigation.

She kept staring at him expecting an answer.

"Ugggg," he groaned at the ceiling. "I picked one that was too difficult and we blew an operation, and you were right."

The girl nodded and looked back at the board. "What about this one?"

"Too boring." he answered. Maka was the leader in their partnership but always got his approval before going ahead with anything. He had never told her, but was secretly very grateful. He had seen a few people get over run by strong-willed partners. Speak of the devil he thought as he saw his best friend coming down the hallway. I love the guy, but I have no idea how Tsubaki puts up with him.

He high-fived his friend as Black*Star and Tsubaki stopped in front of the mission board as well.

"Good morning" Maka greeted them. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing great!" yelled Black*Star way too enthusiastically for this early in the morning. "Today is the day we are going to complete out first real mission!"

"That's right Black*Star." Tsubaki said sweetly "I believe in you." she smiled at her boisterous partner.

Black*Star scanned the board for mere moments before snatching one off. "This one will certainly be big enough to show off my talents!"

Tsubaki took the page and looked it over herself. "Take down up-and-coming gang boss Al Capone. Defeat him and his close advisers - up to100 well trained men. Third Star Meisters suggested." she looked from the page to her partner "Black*Star, are you sure about this one?"

"Of course I am! It's perfect!" he yelled as he jumped down the hall toward the cafeteria for breakfast. "Yahooo!"

The meek girl smiled at them and took her leave after her partner.

"Oh boy. Taking on a three star Meister job and they have yet to complete a single combat mission as a team. Talk about enthusiastic." sighed Maka.

"Well, if anyone can do it, it's Black*Star and Tsubaki." said Soul rubbing the back of his head.

Meister was simply the name for any member of the DWMA. The star level indicated members rank and experience. The more stars, the better the meister; and there were only three ranks. They were all solidly in the one star category.

Soul sighed and returned his gaze to the board after the whirlwind encounter.

"What about this one?" he asked as he moved some pages to reveal one half hidden.

Maka took it down. "'Stop Jack the Ripper. Mad man attacking and murdering women out late at night in the lower east side. Please stop at any cost. Experienced one star Meisters suggested.' Yeah. I think this looks good. I'd say we're ready to take on one mad man." She nodded at her partner.

Soul nodded back at her. The hunt was on.

Soul and Maka sat in a run down little coffee shop in the bad part of town. They leaned over their cups of tea and discussed what they had learned about Jack the Ripper.

"Let's see," said Maka reading out of her notebook. "He is either a man or a demon. Slender or fat. And a doctor, butcher or something else entirely. Well, we have no reliable information on this guy at all. All we know is that he is strong and vicious." she finished, dropping the notebook on the table.

"We'll have to be careful I guess." Soul studied Maka as she flipped though some picture they had managed to steal from the coroners office. It is laughably easy going anywhere if people think you are a couple teenagers writing a report for school he thought. He pondered something else as he took a sip of his tea.

"Hey, Maka. There's something I've been wanting to discuss with you." He really didn't know how to start taking about it, so he decided to just barrel through it.

"What is it Soul?"

"I think we should move in together." She gave him a quizzical look so he kept going. "As in, find our own place. You hate living with your dad and I'd like out of the dorms. You mentioned that sometimes partners are allowed to live together and are subsidized by the Academy."

"You're right. Some partners are allowed to live together. It's an interesting idea..." She trailed off as if unsure how to phrase something she clearly wanted to add.

"But, you're worried that things might get awkward. Or people might assume inappropriate things." he finished her thought for her. He had thought about them too. "Look, I think we'd make pretty good roommates and I just really want my own place."

"We'd have to make an official appeal to Lord Death."

"I know. I asked Sid a couple questions while I was at Black*Star's last week."

"Alright. Let me think about it for a little bit."

"No problem."

They finished their drinks in silence; each wrapped in their own thoughts. The little shop closed as the sun went down and they were kicked out into the dusky streets. It was a bad part of town, garbage was strewn, street lamps flickered, and the occasional window was shattered. If they had been normal teens walking around at night, they would surely have been mugged or worse. As it was, they felt reasonably comfortable. They were well armed with their favoured weapons and lots of training to boot. Soul had trained hard over the last year to catch up with Maka. She still took the lead in missions and in fights, but he could at least keep up with her. Plus he had the advantage of being taller and stronger.

"It's still quite early for him to be out yet." mentioned Maka. "Where would you like to wait?"

"In bed." Maka just laughed at that. "But the park might be good for now. It at least has benches." Soul finished.

They sat huddled on a dimly lit bench watching their breath form clouds. Maka clapped her hands together trying to get some more blood circulation. In the distance, a church clock rang out; it was now 12:30. They both got up to start their directionless meandering in hopes of finding Jack the Ripper.

"Hey Soul?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it would be awkward? Us living together?"

"Naw. I think we'll be fine."

A moment passed between the pair as they walked the shifty streets.

"Alright." decided Maka. "Let's move in together."

After an hour of walking, a blood-chilling scream pierced through the silence of the night. The pair froze and looked at each other, green eyes meeting red. They nodded and sprinted toward the sound. The teens barrelled around the corner to a small, dark alley just in time to see a shadow disappear around the corner at other end. Maka rushed over to the fallen form sprawled on the ground. She checked for a pulse knowing there wouldn't be one. The pool of blood was too big, the wounds visible through the clothes were too extensive. The girl had seen death before, but not like this. Whoever Jack the ripper is, he is going to die she thought viciously. She rose, noticing there was now blood on her gloves and her boots. She looked to Soul, who looked visibly white and shaken. "Come on Soul. We can freak out later, right now we have to catch this sick fuck."

Soul took a breath and nodded, then followed after the shadow – Maka hot on his heels.

They rounded another corner, bringing them into a well lit main path. A row of closed shops spread to their left and right and a large set of stairs leading to a park rose in front of them. Half way up the stairs a bent figure hobbled up. Two sharp curved blades glinted from each hand, fresh blood still dripping from both.

"Serial killer Jack the Ripper!" Maka screamed out at the retreating figure. "Your murdering days are done. Your life is mine." the figure stopped and turned toward them.

Soul already had his daggers out. He had taken to them right away and become proficient with them. The long, sharp blades extended from his hands as if extensions of his arms. He darted up the stairs to engage. Jack, sensing danger, now rushed down at them.

Maka, needing a few moments to get her weapon assembled, got to work immediately. She grabbed the foot long tube attached to her side. Finding a latch at the bottom she opened it, pulled and twisted. Sections came sliding out until she had a 5 foot pole in her hands. She tucked the tab back into the bottom of the pole, securing it until she chose to collapse it again. Concentrating back on the original section, she unhooked a different latch and pulled gently. A wickedly sharp curved blade eased and clicked into place; she unfolded it again to double the length. The whole process took less then 30 seconds. Her weapon was now a total of 6 feet tall with a 3 foot blade. The scythe was a work of art.

Maka stood and charged into the fight swinging the scythe in a huge arc. Soul noticed the approaching blade and dodge rolled away. Jack managed to block her blade just in time. Maka never eased up or let the murderer attack, only block and dodge. She drove him back and if he tried to stray, Soul was right there to put him back in line. She had him lined up perfectly. She swung with all her might, aiming for his stomach. Unable to block this time, the blade made contact and easily sliced through layers of flesh. Blood sprayed over the street. He looked down in surprise, dropped his knives and unsuccessfully tried to hold himself closed. The body crumpled to the ground in the middle of a quickly growing pool of blood.

Maka reached into an inside pocket of her jacket and brought out a card. It had a skull and the word 'Judgement' on it. She threw it down on the body and collapsed her weapon.

The pair took the short cut through the park and managed to get almost to the other side before Maka had to stop. The adrenalin left her body and she was shaking so badly she had trouble standing; she leaned against a tree for support. Realizing his adrenalin no longer fuelled him, Soul dove behind a tree to throw up. He had never seen anything quite that horrifying. It was the first time he had seen Maka kill a person and he was so grateful that he didn't do it.

"Is that the first time you've killed someone?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

They walked back to the Academy HQ in silence. The church clock stuck two on their journey. They reported to Lord Death. Concerned about the pair of 15 year olds, he ordered them to see Nygus in the morning; they had just murdered a man. With a weary nod, they both went to bed.

I hope you enjoyed the story thus far. Please look forward to more updates coming soon.

I would like to thank SierraJE, Shizuka Taiyou, BlackcatSkye, and Mudaship39 for following or favouriting last chapter. All your support means the world to me.

Until next time,

~Tanima