The class bell rang ending the lecture Professor Stein had been giving on soul resonance, and most of the students had left in a hurried rush with Black Star leading the way. Maka stayed behind to discuss the homework assignment with the teacher, while Soul waited by the door to walk her home. Everyone looked up as a crimson haired man burst threw the door and ran into the room. "Maka, Maka, Maka!", he yelled. "I am so glad I found you. How is daddy's little girl?" All this was said with a goofy grin on his face.

Maka rolled her eyes with disgust, "Uh! What do you want dad? I told you to never bother me here at school."

"But Maka...look at what I have." Spirit held up two pieces of paper and waved them at the girl. "I happen to get two tickets to the circus that arrived last night. I remember how you use to love it when we went to the circus together." He thought back on the laughter and delight Maka would show as she watched the clowns and the awe when she saw the trapeze troop flying through the air. Those happy memories brought tears of joy to his eyes and a smile to his lips.

"Dad! I am not a kid anymore. I have more important things to do than spend my time with you!" The smile on Spirit's face slipped. "Why would I want to go to some stupid circus with you? Anyway I'm sure you would rather spend your time at Chupa Cabra with some of your...women. Just leave me alone." Maka flounced out of the room with Soul following her. As he passed the older man he just shook his head sadly.

Spirit stood alone in the room with his head hanging down. His smile of happiness wiped from his face. As his hands dropped limply to his side, the two tickets floated gently to the floor. Suddenly a pair of shoes entered his field of vision.

"Mr. Death-Scythe, sir?" A hesitant voice asked. He dragged his gaze upward till he saw the girl standing in front of him; she was about Maka's age. She was wearing a simple yellow dress with her long, straight black hair pulled away from her face. The only decoration she wore were the two hair ties, one on each side of her head. They were shaped like delicate flowers made from crystal that glittered in the light. The young girls face could only be called stunning; with gently arching eyebrows and high delicate cheekbones. She smiled down at him. "Since Maka doesn't want to go with you can I have one of those tickets?"

Spirit staggered a few steps back till he hit the wall and slowly slid down to the floor. "Sure.", he said with a defeated voice. "Why not? Can't let them go to waste." He responded with a voice void of any emotion.

Jasmine looked down at the man with concern. No one noticed she had still been in the room after most of the students left, but that wasn't too unusual. She had spent the last 5 years here at the DWMA and many of the Meisters still didn't know her name. Of course most of the weapons did. She had never found a partner, for some reason she could not resonate with any of the current weapons that resided here at the school. So any new weapon were teamed with her till they could find their partner. During her years here she had witnessed this same type of scene between father and daughter, and it made her sad each time.

When Jasmine was 8 years old her parents divorced. Like Maka, her father had been unfaithful to his wife; but unlike Maka, her mom taught her that even though he cheated on her, he never cheated on his daughter. She spent every other weekend with her father till his death 2 years later. He had been killed during a robbery when she was only 10. His death left a gaping hole in her life, and she would give anything to tell him "I love you." again. Jasmine picked up the tickets and sat down next to the defeated man. She held one out to him, "I only need one. There is no one for me to go with...I don't suppose that you would want to go with me?"

Spirits head jerked up in surprise. "A-are you sure? What about your friends or family? Surely there is someone else you would rather go with you?"

"No one. I use to love going to the circus with my father before he died." A sad smile showed on Jasmine's face. "That was 5 years ago. I remember laughing at the monkeys and eating cotton candy, but that is all I have...memories." Her eyes watered thinking of the times she spent with dad.

Spirit rose to his feet and bowed gracefully to the young girl, "My lady, would you do me the honor of attending the circus with me tomorrow?"

Jasmine laughed and held out her hand so Spirit could pull her to her feet. "Gladly kind sir, I would be delighted to.

Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki sat next to each other on the beach as they watched the antics of the clowns piling out of a tiny car. They laughed while eating popcorn and cotton candy. Suddenly Black Star leaned over to Maka and pointed to the bleachers on the other side of the ring. "Hey! Maka isn't that your dad?" They all looked and saw Spirit buying a balloon and handing it to the girl sitting next to him. The black haired girl laughed and threw her arms around the Death-Scythe, who hugged her back. Maka didn't say anything, but inside her she felt a strange twitch of emotion. It did not occur to her that it might have been jealousy, so she merely turned her face back to the performers.

"Yea...that's him." Soul answered for her. "I wonder what he is doing here with Jasmine. I didn't know they knew each other."

"Who is Jasmine? How come I've never heard of her." Black Star asked, as usual he was unaware of Maka's sudden silence.

Soul glanced at his meister with concern. "She is a meister in our class. She doesn't have a weapon yet so she is usually paired with all new weapons till they find a partner. She is really nice and pretty quiet and she."

"Huh, I never noticed her before. I wonder what she is doing with Maka's dad? They seem to be having a lot of fun."

"Black Star," Tsubaki interrupted with a glance at Maka, "just look up at the trapeze. They sure can't beat you when it comes to acrobatics."

"Of course not! I'm Black Star, and I will surpass God after all."

Throughout the rest of the show Maka kept glancing at her father. What was he doing here with a girl her own age? And he is even treating her how he use to treat me. Soul merely watched Maka with growing concern of his face.

During the next few weeks Maka kept seeing her father around Death City with the girl Jasmine. She even took to watching the girl during class. The strange pair would show up together at the movies, the park, and other places Spirit use to take Maka. She even saw Jasmine sitting between Professor Stein and Spirit at the ice cream parlor one evening.

Soul had turned to her, "It really bothers you, doesn't it, to see your dad spending time with another girl."

Maka had shrugged him off. "I see him around women all the time. He can't seem to help himself...the perv."

"But he isn't spending treating her as a women. He is treating her like a daughter." Soul had said gently.

"She is only a replacement for me. If she wants to be treated as a fill in...fine. She is welcome to the old pervert." Soul just shook his head.

This continued on for another 4 to 5 months. Spirit approached his daughter less and less, but when he did he always told her he loved her. Maka only ridiculed him and treated him as a pervert. Many people noticed the change in the weapon, it seemed the less his daughter interacted with him, the calmer he seemed to become. Spirit Death-Scythe was more in control and less likely to cry and fall into a depression. It started to become the norm for people to actively keep them from running into each other, and not just for Maka's sake.

Maka and her friends were out practicing one day when they heard sounds of battle in the clearing next to theirs. Looking at each other, they silently crept through the trees to see just who was practicing. Their eye grew round as they saw Professor Stein and Jasmine face off against each other. They recognized the weapon Stein was using as one of the other teachers, Marie; and Jasmine's weapon as Maka's father. The movements of the combatants, not to mention the speed, shocked them.

"Wow! She's really good. Almost as good as I am." Black Star mumbled.

"She has been at the DWMA longer than the rest of you." Death the Kid interjected logically. "The only reason she has been held back is due strictly to her s, she is equivalent to a 3 star meister." The other meisters and weapons turned to look at him. "They no longer count her grades in with the rest of her class, the teachers say it would be unfair to the other students. My father usually uses her to run errands and solve problems here at the academy." A small smile turned up the corners of his lips. "Just the way she moves is grace in motion."

"Oh man! It's really nice of your father to help her train and all. He sure knows his stuff, but he is a Death-Scythe after all." Black Star could not seem to take his eyes off of the circling pair. All of the other kids could take their eyes off of Maka.

"That's it! This has gone far enough!" Maka muttered darkly. "Someone needs to tell that girl he is simply using her. I'll talk to her after class." Soul closed his eyes just imaging the pain his meister was going to suffer.

Maka was quiet throughout the rest of the day as she tried to think of the best way to let the poor girl down. At the same time she tried to forget the pain she felt whenever she witnessed the two together. It was just like dad to betray an innocent girl like this.

All of the students had left for the day except for Maka and her friends...and Jasmine. Maka waited for Professor Stein to return to hes office before approaching the black haired girl.

"Um...Jasmine?" Maka offered hesitantly. The girl looked up at her cautiously. "We need to talk. You see I know my dad is just taking advantage of you and I just wanted you to know too." She blurted out in a rush. "My dad is a real pervert and all, but I never thought he would stupid to using an innocent girl this way. I do not know if you are aware of the situation between me and my father, but he is just using you as a stand-in for me. He doesn't really care about you." Maka said with concern and understanding underlining her words.

Jasmine looked at the other girl. "Really?" Maka nodded sympathetically. "How odd. I thought I was using your dad as a stand-in for my father."

Maka's smile faltered. Did this girl really say what I think she said? She tried again, "I just don't want you to feel hurt when he stops paying attention to you."

A cold look appeared in Jasmine's eyes and any sibilance of a smile left her lips. "You really are a stupid, selfish girl, aren't you?" Maka took a step backwards in surprise. "Boo-ho. Poor little Maka. Her daddy cheated on mommy so it's perfectly OK for her to treat him like trash. You are a pathetic excuse for a daughter. Spirit cheated on his wife...not you! It is not your place to punish him for what went on between those two. Divorced is an everyday occurrence, and cheating is the number one reason behind it; and that goes for both spouses, not just dads. That means you are nothing special. It is about time for you to grow up and realize how good you have it."

Soul steeped forward between the two girls, "Everyone needs to calm down. Let's not say anything that could hurt someone."

Jasmine sneered at him. "You are not doing her any favors by treating her with kid gloves, she needs to grow up and give up on her infantile whinnying and you know it. Everyone is suffering one way or another and this idiot has a lot more than most. She needs to get her head out of her..." Jasmine's face colored faintly. Then she rounded on the others. "Kid doesn't have a mom and his dad is stuck here running everything. I'm sure he doesn't get to spend as much time with him that he would like. Liz and Patty grew up on the streets. What about you, Soul? Your parents through you out of the house because you wanted a different career than the one they picked out. I don't know about Tsubaki's parents but her brother turned into a demon sword. Most of all...look at Black Star!" The boy in question stopped moving. "They had to take him away from his parents when he was just a baby. They became demons. Do you see him whinnying? No...instead he is going to surpass God one day. Everyone has had it hard one way or another." Turning back to Maka, Jasmine pointed her finger at the silent girl. "You have two parents who love you very much, and what do you do? You threw one of the away like garbage. Well don't moan and complain when someone else decides to pick him up." Jasmine's face softened slightly, "My parents divorced when I was 8 years old. My dad cheated on mom, too. But my dad loved me and he never cheated on me. I loved him greatly. I looked forward to every other weekend that I would spend with him, but he died when I was only 10. I will never see him again...never be able to tell him how much I love him. I will never understand how you can treat your own father the way you do."

Maka found her voice at last, "..but he cheated..."

"...on my mother." Jasmine finished for her. "Grow up! Did you ever ask them about it? I bet you never did. Yes, Spirit cheated on your mom, but it was her own fault."

"That doesn't make any sense. If he cheated then he is the one at fault, right?" Black Star questioned.

Jasmine gave a small smile. "Spirit was in a stable, if warped, relationship and he was happy, in a weird sort of way. That was until SHE swooped in all holier-than-thou. Breaking them up, confusing him, and then marring him. What did she think would happen? There was no way she could keep him satisfied sexually, and she knew it; unless she was as stupid as Maka is."

"What the hell do you mean by that? My mom is a great meister!" Maka yelled. No one had ever spoken to her that way before. She had never asked her dad about that time of her life. All she had were the arguments she heard between her parents when she was 11 years old.

"Any woman who marries a gay man and expects him to be faithful is, simply put, stupid. She doesn't have the proper equipment to keep him satisfied." Jasmine said with a lopsided smile.

"M..My dad is...gay?" Maka stuttered, and Jasmine simply rolled her eyes.

"Your mom confused him so much that till this day he is searching for happiness with another woman. I just hope her realizes it and maybe get back together with his ex-lover. Maybe Spirit can finally be happy. I don't know who has it worse. I love the time I spent with my dad, but I will never see him again; or Spirit who puts up with all your crap, but he lives for the day that you may forgive him. When it is you who should be asking for forgiveness. I'm not ashamed to be second best when it means I can have a father again. I am out of here." Jasmine picked up her books, turned her back on the silent girl, and left the room.

No one spoke for a few minutes. "Liz. Patty. Let's go home." In a quieter voice they could hear him mutter, "I just want to stop by and see my dad before we leave." The two weapons followed their meister with several looks behind them.

"Come on Black Star." Tsubaki pulled the blue haired assassin through the door. "We have to head home, too."

Maka just stood in the middle of the classroom with tears running down her cheeks. Soul moved up behind her and wrapped both of his arms around the her. "I...I'm sorry Soul. I didn't know about your parents."

"That's all right, after all it is uncool to talk about them." He slowly turned her around till she faced him. Lifting her chin gently with one finger, he leaned down and brushed a kiss across her forehead. "Let's go home and talk about it."

"You don't seem very surprised, Soul. Did you know about my dad being gay?"

Soul smiled apologetically, "It was kind of obvious. Let's go home and talk." He leaned down and looked his meister in the eyes. Maka nodded and they left together.

Just on the other side of the door to the teacher's office, unknown to any of the students, a pair of men were listening to their conversation. The crimson haired weapon knelt on the floor, shoulders shaking in silent sobs, head bowed in defeat. "Did Jasmine need to be so ruff on my Maka?"

"Maybe she did. It was time Maka got over this. She is a full meister now and her missions will only become more dangerous. If she cant handle some words, how do you think she can handle a real battle?" Stein moved up behind his old partner and laid his hand on the others shoulder.

Looking at the closed door, Spirit said in a small voice, "Where you really happy with me when we were together?"

Stein smiled at his weapon. "Why else would you be my favorite test subject?" The doctor leaned down and pulled the crying man into an embrace.

Several days latter in the death room, Shinigami-sama and Jasmine sat in front of the mirror and watch a scene unfurl. Maka and Spirit were sitting in the park next to the academy and surprisingly enough, they were involved in a conversation that involved no yelling.

"Hide-hoe! It looks like you pulled this one off! I'm really surprised; after all, this has been going on for 4 years."

"Don't you mean 15 years." Jasmine smiled. Remembering the scene of Spirit and Stein as they both arrived at the DWMA this morning. It appears as if they just might be able to put their relationship back together.

"Hmm, yes. I don't like to get involves with my people's personal lives, but I did wonder how this was going to turn out. I must say that I like Spirits new handle on life. He doesn't seem as high-strung as he use to be, more able to concentrate on his job like a weapon should." The Death God looked down at the girl sitting next to him. "But how about you? Are you going to miss having a father again?"

Jasmine looked up with a large smile. "Oh, we are going to the movies tomorrow night. Maka and I talked and came to the descision that I can still have her dad every other weekend. You know, when she is thinking straight, Maka is not so bad after all. So what did you call me here for Shimigami-sama?"

"Well, there is this other little problem that I have been having recently, and I was hoping that you could help me out."