Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater. Just a bunch of shiny medals.

No Matter What…You Never Stop Learning

Whenever I'm alone with you,

You make me feel like I'm home again,

Whenever I'm alone with you,

You make me feel like I am whole again...

~Lovesong performed by Adele

Within the mansion that Shinigami's son and his weapons resided in, the door to the study opened for the first time in several days.

The younger Death stepped out of the door, his pressed jacket removed and the sleeves of his white button up shirt rolled up to above his elbow. His usually pale face seemed paler and his golden eyes seemed tired and unfocused. He had spent sleepless nights catching up and finishing his paperwork, and here he was, finally done.

Though his body didn't necessarily need sleep, it did help his mood and appearance dramatically. His goal was to now reacquaint himself with his bed…after he had seen to his weapons.

Patty wasn't too hard to find. Kidd easily found her in a room that he had long ago declared was for the sole purpose of the hyper and enthusiastic personaility of the two guns. Though now and then, newly drawn crayon giraffes could be found on his pristine white walls, Patty had taken to drawing any variance of giraffes or other animals on the walls of this room. Patty's room.

It was literally as if he was stepping into a young child's dream world with all of its finger-painted pictures and various stuffed animals thrown haphazardly across the floors. It was in this chaotic asymmetrical mess that Kidd found Patty sitting in.

"Hiya Kiddo!" Patty got up from lying on her stomach to squeeze her meister in a tight hug. He thought he heard a few of his ribs crack at her inhuman like strength, nonetheless, he patted her head tenderly taking a moment to absorb in the warmth. It had been awhile since he had such contact. It almost felt alien to him. "Is Kiddy gonna play with Patty?" she asked pulling back from him slightly to look him in the face. She frowned slightly at his the small signs of fatigue hidden on his face. "You should go to bed first though," she said in a moment of rare maturity.

"I will," Kidd nodded stepping back. "But I wanted to check up on you and Liz first." He looked around the room noticing his other weapon wasn't nearby. "Where is Liz by the way?"

Patty bit her lip. It was rare to see her like this which caused the young death god to instantly worry.

"Where is Elizabeth, Patricia?" he asked sternly.

"Out…" she said vaguely.

"Out where?"

"On a date…"

Kidd blinked, startled. "With whom?" he persisted.

Patty rolled her eyes as if he should already know this information by now and as if he shouldn't be surprised when she said, "Her boyfriend, Kilik"

-NO MATTER WHAT-

She found it slightly adorable how he made sure she was always in his line of sight, though it made going to the bathroom and changing very awkward, at least for the tall raven haired weapon.

She noticed the slight shifts his body made when she moved, his now larger and taller frame acting as shield in the most ironic of role reversals. It was endearing and yet, so humiliating at the same time.

Never one to be easily swayed by her pride, Tsubaki could no longer take his constant hovering. With fierce determination she turned her head from the neatly written calligraphy she was practicing to her unrolled futon in preparation of giving her meister a firm talking to when she realized the man was fast asleep.

Soft snores seemed to roll out of his slightly parted lips as his limbs lay splayed in a restless position on his back. All the prideful fury within her seemed to drain as she found herself kneeling over him. She sighed softly, making sure not to disrupt him.

He was worried about her. She understood that. If the positions had been switched she would have been constantly hovering over him too, his weapon for his sole protection and disposal.

But that was it.

She was his weapon, not the other way around. He had gotten hurt, not her. What good was a weapon who had to be protected by her meister instead of protecting him? She hadn't even changed into her weapon form since the incident on the roof with White Star. She still shivered at the cold resemblance between the phantom assassin and her own loudmouth one.

They looked so much alike that while on the roof, she didn't even notice the man she was going to wasn't her meister until it was too late. Holding back tears, she bit her lip, vision blurred and not noticing the sudden surge of her partner's wavelength as he was awakened by her quiet sobs until he pulled her down against him.

"Hush," he ordered softly brushing her inky tresses as she cried into his shirt as if a dam of suppressed emotions broke free and escaped in the form of her tears. It took awhile for her to collect herself and by that time her partner had positioned himself so his back was leaning against the wall behind him and hers against his chest. "Are you done now?" he asked.

Tsubaki held back a laugh. His voice was confident and collective but his wavelength could never deceive her. She bit her lip again. She was causing him to worry again and they had been through too much together for her to just become a coward again.

"I'm sorry."

Surprised, Tsubaki looked Black Star who was staring out the window, his face strategically hidden by shadows caused by his hair.

Tsubaki shook her head as if trying to clear it. She couldn't have heard right but his tight grip around her waist increased as he buried his face into her neck. "I'm so sorry," he murmured like a mantra, rocking them both like a child. "I'm so sorry. You were hurt because of me. I-I froze. He-My father…I-…"

This sudden and uncharacteristic change in her blue haired assassin caught her off guard before her more maternal instincts kicked in. Turning around, she raised on hand to his cheek and his larger hands instantly enclosed around hers as he nuzzled into it, taking in the scent of her hand.

And with a soft smile, she simply said, "We're okay." She tried to pour his soul out into his; reassuring him that she never saw him as the son of some insanity driven assassin; that she never once thought he would become something like that nor did she blame him for what happened. She just poured her soul out to him, showing him the pure, unadulterated love that she had felt for him since they had first met. And in response, his soul embraced hers, speaking the same.

His eyes that had closed at her hand's soft touch opened again, the bright spark of determination rekindling in them. "And why wouldn't we be?" he smirked tugging lightly on her pony tail. She pouted, swatting his hand away; her heart stalled a beat when he laced his fingers with hers. "I am the Great Black Star," he chuckled deeply before adding, "and I know I wouldn't be without you, Tsubaki."

She smiled, kissing his forehead. Yes, they were okay. They would be, together.

-NO MATTER WHAT-

She smiled, laughing as he opened the door of his slightly old but trusty blue convertible for her. She took his offered his hand, helping her out, watching as she giggled girlishly; the grinning moon watching as her sandal clad feet tripped, falling against his chest and into his warm embrace. It had been awhile since she had laughed so carelessly.

Looking up at him, Liz couldn't help but give a slight peck on his cheek before she pulled away from the pot meister, Kilik.

"Thanks for today. I had fun. Seriously," she smiled, before tackling him with a tight hug before pulling away once again.

"I'll call you later," he said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, fingers lingering just a little longer then necessary. "Next time maybe we can do something with Patty, Fire, and Thunder."

Liz agreed. "It's a date," and with that that she walked towards the door of Death's mansion, waving one final time before entering. When the doors closed behind her, she felt a slightly angered soul flare from behind the collected expressions of her meister.

Squaring her shoulders, she ignored his molten amber gaze that followed every move she made, walking wordlessly by him. He watched until she turned the corner, out of view. He would interrogate her later. Instead, he pulled the curtains of the window aside, his gaze returned by the dark steady gaze of his fellow meister who was leaning against the offense to symmetry that was called a car.

Kidd narrowed his eyes as he felt Kilik's own soul flare controlled as if challenging the death god.

"A fool's mistake," Death's son thought as he closed the curtains and walked away.

-NO MATTER WHAT-

The sky above was a crimson red. Blood dropped from the lips of the maniacally grinning moon. The buildings of Death City were either demolished or missing huge chunks. The broken streets were filled with litter and the once lively and bustling neighborhoods were devoid of the life and laughter that usually occupied it.

He chuckled, sprawled out on the ground, pale eyes not really looking at anything in particular. His chuckling grew louder, echoing across the empty space sounding like a crowd of many instead of just one as his chuckles turned into insane laughter.

He laughed at the insanity of it all, at the pointlessness of it all. At the utter cruelty and unfairness of it all.

After seeming like it had been hours, his throat felt dried and his madness induced laughter ended. The insane grin on his face slowly faded as he turned his head to the side, the cruel wind blowing a discarded newspaper away to reveal a pale face hidden behind curls of blonde, hazel eyes staring unseeingly back at him.

His head was turned away from the corpse as lips of another, rough as snake skin caressed his. "You're mine," she sang against his un-responding lips. "Mine…"

Pale eyes stared behind from broken spectacles as gray gnarled hands twisted a large bolt protruding from his temple. His eyes came back into focus from a trance like state as his soul felt the intrusion of others. "Maka…Soul…tardiness for my class is not accepted," he smirked, pushing himself down the dark hall of his new abode, the wheels of his rolling chair squeaking in protest.

And you guys thought you were going to have to wait long. XD

Anyway, I wanna say this first, if you've just recently started reading this I know there's issue with switches between scenes. Originally, there were breaks but apparently everytime FanFic does something to improve the sight that means formatting gets change and the scene breaks that were once there now go bye-bye, thus I have to now put -NO MATTER WHAT- as the page breaks. I will try to fix previous chapters but it's going to take awhile so please, you do not need to tell me about this problem in review any longer.

Um, so yeah, working a little bit more on the relationships of the original characters. Don't worry, Soul and Maka will get some fluff. Also trying to figure out if I should use some characters from the Soul Eater Not! manga. Personally, I'm not really into it and haven't really liked any of the new students yet. What about you?

Nothing more to say so...PLEASE REVIEW!