*Separated*

Here lies Chapter 3!

*S*

The ultimate test of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

~Martin Luther King Jr.

*S*

Chapter 3: When Things Get Tough

It's been almost four months since I moved to Japan. Three months since Hiro had come to me and we started exploring around Japan on the weekends. It was fun, working with someone other than Soul, and with someone as powerful as Hiro, but I missed working with a scythe. Hiro, unsurprisingly had turned out to be a Katana, and it had taken me a week to be able to handle him at all, and another week to master using him. Not that it was necessary, there were no Kishin in Japan, for whatever reason. And for the other Asian territories, he had his own meister.

Ever since he had shown up at my house, Ichigo and Rukia stopped talking to me. I shrugged it off, I didn't know them well, and Tatsuki and Orihime easily became my best friends in Japan. True to her word, Tsubaki was keeping an eye on Soul, and giving me updates on him when she could. It was still hard getting ahold of them, but sometimes Lord Death would let them into the Death Room and they'd call me on the personal mirror that I now carried around everywhere. It was this way that I got to meet Death the Kid, Liz, and Patty for the first time.

*S*

I was patiently waiting for Tatsuki and Orihime after school one day, they were still in the locker room when I heard voices coming from my pocket. I sighed, I had told Soul and Black*Star when I was in school and had told them, well more like threatened them, to not call me during that time.

"I thought I told you I had school from—," I stopped, in the mirror's surface, was a boy I'd never seen. He had neat black hair with three white stripes on one side of it, and he was dressed smartly. The most striking feature about him however was his eyes, they were golden.

"Oh, sorry," he said looking slightly taken aback at my tone. "I wasn't aware that you were still in school."

"T-that's okay," I said swallowing. "Um… No offense, but who are you?" I tore myself from his eyes and noticed two blonde girls staring over his shoulders and realized immediately who this must be. "Oh! Oh I'm so sorry!" I said quickly before he could respond to my question. "I didn't realize who you were."

"It's no trouble," he smiled slightly. "We haven't been introduced at all, though I hear a lot about you. I'm Death the Kid."

"I'm Patty!" One of the girls over his shoulder said shoving her hand towards the mirror and waving.

"I'm Liz, nice to meet you finally," the other one said smiling.

"Will you two knock it off?" Kid asked them slightly irritated. I laughed and smiled brightly. He straightened his tie and composed himself. "You are Maka Albarn right?"

"Yeah, that's me," I said nodding slightly. I peeked up hearing Orihime's voice coming closer and I shoved the mirror in my bag with a rushed apology.

"Sorry we kept you waiting Maka," Tatsuki said as they exited the locker room.

"It's no problem," I said smiling at them. "I should go straight home today though, I'm expecting a call from my dad." It was a lie of course, but they didn't know that.

"No problem," Orihime said. "We'll see you tomorrow." We parted ways at the corner and I waved. Once they were out of sight I dug in my bag for the mirror, slightly surprised to see Kid waiting patiently.

"Sorry," I apologized. "Normal friends and normal people around here." I explained.

"It's no problem, father doesn't need the mirror anytime soon," he said smiling slightly. I could hear muffled voices behind him and raised my eyebrow.

"Not trying to sound rude again, but… Why did you call? Usually its Soul or Tsubaki," I said, there was a slight pause. "Or my father." I pulled a face and rolled my eyes.

"Well, yes, but," he hesitated, looking to the side where someone else must have been standing. He frowned and sighed slightly. "They elected me to be the one to tell you."

"Tell me what?" I asked. My heart started beating faster. "Is something wrong?" I clutched the mirror tightly and looked up to check where I was. I was almost home, just a few more houses to go.

"Soul decided to take a mission on by himself," Kid said. "Theoretically it should have been an easy mission on its own, a low level Kishin Egg, which he took out with no problem." He paused again, as if he were gaging my reaction.

"So? He took a mission on his own," I said slowly, not understanding how this was important. "I've been working with Hiro for a while."

"It's what happened after the mission," Kid said quietly. "He wanted to sight see, and he stopped at a church." He paused and looked to the side again. "Am I really the one to be doing this?" He asked someone standing to the side. I heard a sigh, which shocked me, I couldn't hear anything over my own breathing and heartbeat. When I looked up again, I was in front of my house, but my hand shook as I held the mirror in one and my key in the other. On the mirror, Kid was moving to the side, an older man with a screw in his head taking his spot. I knew from talking to my friends that this was the new teacher, Professor Stein, my father's first partner.

"Soul is a case of wrong place at the wrong time," he said as I finally got my door open. I swallowed again, my throat felt so dry, as I dashed up the stairs to my room, not even bothering to take my shoes off. "He stumbled upon the Demon Swordsman. Your father and I tried to reach him in time." Blood rushed in my ears… The way he was talking…

"Soul…" I said quietly. "Is he… He?" I tried to take a deep breath as my heart started beating faster.

"Maka?" I faintly heard Blair ask.

"Maka, you need to breath," Stein said from the mirror. "He isn't dead, but he isn't exactly okay right now either. He took a slice to the chest and it would appear that he's been inflicted by something called Black Blood." He watched my face. "He hasn't woken up since it's happened."

"I'm starting to think you weren't the person to do it either," I heard Kid say from out of view. I pushed the mirror into Blair's hands and just sat there. Soul was hurt… and I hadn't been there… If I had been there…

"It's all my fault," I said quietly. I could feel the tears streaming down my face. Blair tsked and shook her head.

"Maka will call you all back," she said placing the mirror face down on my desk. She came over to me and put her arms around me. "Maka it's not your fault. Even Stein said it was a wrong place at the wrong time kind of deal. I sniffled and shook my head.

"He has a hard time fighting without a meister," I cried. "If I hadn't been gone this wouldn't have happened!"

"And it might have happened to where you got hurt too," Blair countered. At times she could be serious and understand what was going on.

"But…" I sniffled yet again and sat up slightly, wiping my eyes. "I'm not there, I won't be there when he wakes up. He's going to think I don't care." It broke my heart knowing that Soul was hurt. Part of my own soul seemed to ache. Then there was the Black Blood business, I didn't even know what that is. But Stein's tone suggested that it wasn't anything good.

*S*

That had been a month ago. Soul had woken up two days after I'd received the news. I had called Lord Death every morning and every night to get an update. I was eventually given Stein's home phone number and told to call him or try and speak to Nurse Medusa. I opted for calling Stein whenever I thought he would be home. But since then, I'd drug around, I had refused to work with Hiro and I knew he was getting frustrated. I could also tell that Tatsuki and Orihime were getting worried. I didn't hang out with them outside of school anymore. I no longer supplied updates of what was going on back home. And of course, I had my mirror wherever I went, just in case something went wrong and I was needed.

Blair called it separation anxiety. My grandparents called it being a teenager. I called it being homesick. But maybe all of these things were true. I did wish I could go home, however I hadn't been able to get ahold of my mom since she left me here. And she hadn't called once to supply where she was or to ask how I was adjusting. Sometimes, it felt like she didn't even care. Kid would call every now and then, when he had finally figured out a symmetrical time to call me. I still wasn't sure what that meant, but, oh well.

I sighed and sat up in my bed. It was the weekend and I had finally agreed to hang out with Tatsuki again. Orihime, Uryu, Ichigo, Rukia, and Chad had apparently taken a trip for the long weekend. I knew back home they would be celebrating the DWMA anniversary tonight. I slid my overcoat on and went downstairs to slip my boots on. Just as I was pulling the last one on, a knock sounded at the door.

"Hold on!" I yelled looking around. Blair had disappeared earlier today, and my grandparents were out doing who knew what. I opened the door. "Hi Ta— Hiro?" The Death Scythe stood on my front steps with a grim expression.

"Come on Maka," he said grabbing my hand and pulling me forward. I barely had time to close the door before we were running. At the corner we were joined by an older Indian woman. "Maka, my meister Tamara. Tamara, Maka Albarn."

"Hi," I squeaked out. Tamara nodded at me. "So what's going on? I was expecting a friend to come over."

"Too many things," Hiro said, we turned a corner and Blair shot out of an alley in her human form. She kept pace with us easily and I just wondered even more what was going on. "Right now you only need to know that the Other Powers have decided to confront you and now isn't a good time for that." He paused for a moment, swinging me around to face him. Above them the sky grew darker. "We lost contact with the DWMA earlier this evening."

I felt my heart drop to my feet. That wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. No wonder Soul hadn't contacted me. We started forward again. We were just about to turn another corner when Tamara held her arm out and Hiro ran into it, bringing us all to a crashing halt.

"They found us," she said softly. Hiro ground his teeth and Tamara held her hand out to him. He transformed without being asked and she stepped around the corner. Sharing a glance, Blair and I followed them. In the street were three figures. All three had powerful souls, and one of them I recognized as being Rukia's.

"We just want to talk," the figure in the middle said loudly, but not angrily. He had shaggy silvery-white hair and a teal scarf wrapped around his neck. There was a sword strapped to his back, matter of fact, all three people had swords strapped to their backs.

"We don't have time to talk, we have a problem to deal with," Tamara said just as loud. It was the most I'd heard her talk so far. Blair clutched my arm in her hands. I knew I could count on her magic to get us out of here if needed.

"Unfortunately you don't have a choice," the other unknown person, a woman with twin braids, said taking a step forward.

"I think we do," Tamara said bringing Hiro up in a defensive position. Rukia placed a hand on her own sword and looked at the silver haired boy. He took one look at her and shook his head.

"Your kind aren't supposed to be here, yet you've had one living here for the past four months and she and the man have been gallivanting around Japan for the last three months," he said. "Did you think we wouldn't notice? And now your Lord Death would not answer when we tried to inquire about the situation earlier."

"We lost contact ourselves," Tamara said not relaxing.

"Why don't we go somewhere and talk about this," the boy said. "It's always easier to get things done right away. I promise no harm will come to any of you." His soul spoke true, I could see nothing but sincerity in it. Tamara turned to look at me and I realized she must be waiting for my verdict.

"He speaks the truth," I said. Even among those who could use Soul Perception, there were only a select few who could read souls. Apparently I was one of them and Tamara was not. She lowered Hiro, but he didn't transform back. The dark haired woman took the lead and the silver haired boy walked to the side while Rukia fell behind us. I kept my gaze forward, and felt Blair sink her nails into my arm when the silver haired boy came too close. "Blair, loosen your grip please. I don't feel like having claw marks all down my arm."

"Sorry Maka," Blair said letting go of my arm.

"If you want, I'll carry you," I offered. I could feel Rukia's gaze on my back and her soul pulsed a tiny bit.

"Oh thank you!" The cat cried turning immediately and jumping into my arms. I didn't trust myself to not squeeze her out of nervousness so I placed her on top of my head. Her favorite riding spot anyway. I glanced up at the sky and the first few stars were coming out. I peeked around and realized I recognized this place from the first day I had met Rukia and the others. We were heading to Urahara's shop. I took a deep breath once we got to the store and went in. The woman led us to the same room that I'd been in before and she went to stand in the corner, glowering at us.

I glanced at Tamara, but the Indian woman's face was set in stone, not giving anything away, but her soul was a nervous wreak and that didn't help my own nerves. I knew that my hands were shaking and I wished Soul were here. He could always calm me down when no one else could. I stuck a hand in my pocket and clutched the mirror in there, hoping for a blast of courage.

"Please sit," the silver haired boy said nodding to the cushions placed around the table. Then he too went to stand in the corner, beside the still scowling woman. I glanced at Tamara once more, used to taking orders from the oldest and more experienced person. She nodded and we sat down, I grabbed Blair and sat her in my lap, while Tamara lay Hiro on the table in front of her. The look she gave the others in the room clearly told them to stay away from him. Blair sat up straight in my lap and glared at the people in the corner as only a cat could.

"We're here, now talk," Tamara demanded. No one said anything, and I realized that Rukia hadn't followed us into the room. But a door slid open opposite us and Urahara and a purple haired woman walked in, followed by a man in a straw hat and a horrible pink haori and a younger looking woman with a serious expression that was quickly hidden by her glasses.

"Now now," the man in the hat said. "There's no need to be hasty. Everything can be explained without violence, hopefully." He glanced at the woman with braids who just shrugged and looked away. The man sighed and came to sit down in front of us. I regarded him in wary silence, his soul was different than the others. More powerful, slightly sinister even. He surveyed us for a moment and smiled slightly at me. The door behind us opened and from the corner of my eye I saw Rukia and Ichigo walk in the room before taking seats on either side of Tamara and I. All of these people, excluding Urahara and the purple haired woman, were dressed the same.

"Look, I understand that you feel your tail has been stepped on with Maka's presence in Japan, but we have an issue going on at our headquarters and we really need to figure it out," Tamara said. I looked at her sharply, oh sure, blame the clueless girl. The man looked at her and then sighed.

"Why don't we start with introductions," he said. "I'm Shunsui Kyorakou, Head Captain of the 13 Court Guard Squads." He pointed at the woman standing behind him. "This is one of my Lieutenants, Nanao Ise." He then pointed at the silver haired boy. "That is Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad 10 and beside him is Soi Fon, Captain of Squad 2 and leader of the stealth force." He looked at me then at Ichigo and Rukia. "I believe you already know Ichigo and Rukia?" I nodded politely, this man worked directly with Lord Death, I didn't want to piss him off.

"I am Tamara, 3 star Katana Meister," Tamara said drawing herself up with pride. On the table, Hiro's image appeared in his blade. "You can transform back now," Tamara said looking around. There was a swirl of blue light and Hiro was standing behind Tamara.

"I'm the Death Scythe in charge of Asia, Hiro Higurashi," he said bowing his head slightly. All eyes turned to Blair and I.

"I'm one star Scythe Meister Maka Albarn," I said confidently. "This is Blair, she's a cat." I held Blair up for them to see and I saw the looks of confusion pass around.

"Maka, why did you bring your cat?" Ichigo blurted out.

"She didn't bring me," Blair said indignantly. "I go where I want." I rolled my eyes when everyone stared.

"Honestly, those three act like they didn't see you transform on the way here," I muttered scratching her behind the ear. The purple haired woman beside Urahara smiled and shook her head.

"How old are you Maka?" Shunsui asked me, recovering quickly.

"16," I replied looking him in the eye. I was getting twitchy, as were Tamara and Hiro. Across from me everyone blinked in confusion.

"I wasn't aware that the Academy recruited people so young," Shunsui said. I stared blankly at him.

"You must not know much, I've been going to the DWMA since I was 12," I said, I sat up straighter, that's right. I was a representative of the DWMA. I reached up and clutched the pendant at my neck.

"You're right, neither of us know much about the other," Shunsui said smiling slightly. "Death likes to keep it that way, both organizations separate, yet working for the same cause. Perhaps we can change that." Nanao coughed slightly behind him. "Ah, yes, of course. After we find out why you are here. Death did promise no Meisters or Weapons, is that the correct term?" At Hiro's nod he continued. "No meisters or weapons would cross into Japan."

"I've already explained this to Ichigo and Rukia," I snapped. I didn't exactly feel like giving out my life story to strangers. Shunsui looked at the two of them and Ichigo scratched the back of his head.

"Well," he started sheepishly. "Rukia and I figured it was a cover story for why you were here." He laughed nervously. I narrowed my eyes and my hand twitched into a fist.

"Being here wasn't my choice and by all means I would love to be anywhere but here!" I shouted standing up. "My partner is back at home unable to fight without me, and he's injured and I haven't gotten to see him. Yet you think I would lie about being here!" Tamara clutched my hand and Hiro grabbed my shoulders, forcing me back down into my seat. I continued to glare at Ichigo, whose whole face was red.

"Ahem," Shunsui coughed awkwardly. "Yes well… That doesn't explain you and, Hiro was it, running around Japan at night."

"That is partly my fault," Hiro said thoughtfully, from the look on his face, I could tell that he hadn't been aware that we were being observed. To be honest however, neither had I, and I was the one with Soul Perception. "I was curious about what kinds of evil souls you took care of and wanted to see for myself that no Kishin Eggs were appearing here."

"And the other part?" Soi Fon demanded.

"Back home in Death City there are lots of stairs to keep fit, matter of fact in order to get to school you have to climb this giant staircase daily," I said smiling slightly. "Obviously I don't have that here, and I've never worked with a weapon that wasn't a scythe and that wasn't Soul." I frowned as my heart tugged at the mention of my weapon. "It was a valuable learning experience that I wasn't passing up." I sat back and crossed my arms. I was startled by Shunsui laughing.

"Sorry," He said after a moment. "You just reminded me of Nanao-chan." The woman behind him blushed slightly and narrowed her eyes at him. I watched as he composed himself and looked at the four of us with a serious expression. "That settles the matter of why she's here and why she was doing what she was doing, but why hasn't Death contacted us back. We've been trying to reach him for most of the evening." Tamara and Hiro exchanged worried glances and I realized the situation must be even more dire then they had led on.

"We… we don't know," Hiro said looking down. His soul felt heavy with disappointment. "We lost contact with the main headquarters, or the DWMA, earlier this evening. Which is surprising. The anniversary of the DWMA's founding was today. Someone should have answered. Lord Death or Spirit at least, one of them is always by a mirror to answer. Just in case." I almost scoffed when he mentioned my father, but what he said was true. Papa was a womanizer, but he did take his job as Lord Death's personal Death Scythe seriously.

"Hmmm," Shunsui hummed. "Kisuke," he said looking over at Urahara, how soon can you get a Senkaimon to Death City open?" He asked. I watched the blonde man rub his beard.

"Less than an hour if one of them helps," He said nodding at us.

"Start, start now," Shunsui said. I fidgeted as Hiro and Tamara both got up to help Urahara do whatever it was he was about to do. Toshiro and Soi Fon followed them out of the room. After a few moments, Shunsui and Nanao followed them, leaving Blair and I with Ichigo, Rukia, and the purple haired woman. The silence was deafening.

"I'm sorry," Ichigo said suddenly. I looked up at him, having been staring at my hands. "I realize how hard this must be for you now. Of course the age thing isn't that bad." He smirked.

"Black*Star and I started at the DWMA at the same time," I said. "I started because I knew I wanted to be an amazing Scythe Meister like my mom. Black*Star was made to start by Sid, to get rid of all his leftover energy." I realized it was almost random what I just said, but it was just there and had to be spoken. "Kids of all ages come to the DWMA, each for their own reason. Some are weapons and have to come at least until they can control their transformations enough to not hurt anyone. Others are like me, going because their parents went. Everyone has their reasons." I saw Rukia nod out of the corner of my eye.

"Sounds about right," she said. I looked up at the purple haired woman, who had been mostly silent this whole time. She was studying Blair, who was curled up on the table in front of me. She looked asleep, but I wasn't fooled, she was hardly ever asleep when something was going down. The woman looked up to see me looking at her.

"Ah, sorry, my name is Yoruichi," she said. "How did you come by a cat like her?" She asked.

"Um…" I blushed as Blair sat up and laughed. "Well, it's kind of a long story that ended in endless humiliation and failure."

"She and Soul thought I was a witch," Blair said. "They came to take my soul. How many times did you fail Maka?" She asked innocently, but I saw her whiskers twitching.

"Too many you stupid cat," I muttered. "99 souls confiscated… It took me three years to do that, and all gone in one night." I slumped forward and banged my head on the table. "And now it'll take even longer to turn Soul into a Death Scythe."

"About that," Ichigo inserted. "How can Hiro be a Death Scythe if he isn't a scythe?"

"Oh," I said. "Well any weapon can become a Death Scythe. It's the goal of most EAT class meister and weapon pairings. It's the only way to become a three star meister. Matter of fact, the only Death Scythe that's an actual scythe is my father."

"How does one become a Death Scythe?" Rukia asked.

"You have to collect 99 Kishin Egg souls, and one witch's soul," I said. "Which is what led to Soul and I meeting Blair."

"Kishin Eggs?" Yoruichi asked.

"Human souls who have strayed from the path of good," I said with a sigh. It felt like I was back in the NOT class with Sid teaching. "A human who devours pure souls will eventually become a Kishin Egg, and if let go it will eventually become a full Kishin, which is why the DWMA was founded in the first place."

"So you fight evil souls," Rukia said eventually.

"Mhm," I nodded, my eyes trained on Blair, who was staring at me.

"That's basically what we do, Soul Reapers," Ichigo said. "Except the souls we fight are already dead and aren't always necessarily evil." He finished as the door slid open and Hiro stuck his head in.

"Come on Maka," he said. "Let's go find out what's going on." I scrambled to my feet, even though I had more questions for Ichigo and Rukia about what Soul Reapers were exactly, and followed him as quickly as I could. Behind me I heard a soft pop and then a loud exclamation of surprise from Ichigo signaling that Blair had transformed into her human form.

"Maka wait for me!" She called. I paused just long enough for her to catch up before starting after Hiro again. Behind us I could hear Yoruichi laughing as they followed Blair and me. I caught Hiro heading down a stair case, so I followed him into the biggest room I have ever seen under a store. It actually reminded me of the Death Room. Everyone was gathered in front of two huge white pillars. 'This was it,' I thought. 'I'm going home. I'm going to see Soul and the others.'

"Alright, I've been instructed to give the bare minimum explanation in order to save some time," Urahara said swinging his cane around. He tapped the pillar he was standing beside and a black void opened up between the two. "This is a Senkaimon equipped with a spirit particle converter. If we had more time I would go into depth on the importance of it, but we do not have time. You have four minutes to reach the other side. Run fast and don't touch the sides."

"Do I even want to know what happens if we don't make it out in four minutes?" I heard Blair ask quietly behind me. She received a few curious looks from those who had not been able to see her transform.

"Hitsugaya, Ichigo, and Rukia will be going along with you," Shunsui said. "It's merely a precaution. If nothing is wrong then they can present our monthly report in person. If something is wrong they are to assist in any way possible." The three mentioned nodded and grouped together in front of the void. I turned to see Blair frowning, she hated running.

"You can use your pumpkin," I suggested. "Like you did during our fight."

"Good idea Maka!" She said beaming at me. She closed her eyes and held her hands out in front of her. "Pum Pum Pumkin!" With a pop, her flying pumpkin appeared in front of her. This drew even more startled looks from those who were not associated with Blair.

"Alright everyone ready?" Urahara asked. I straightened my coat and set my face in determination. Beside me, Hiro transformed, landing in Tamara's waiting hand. "Good luck." Toshiro led the way into the senkai-thingy and then we were running.

*S*

Whoo, I hit a good writing streak with this. Hope you guys are still enjoying this story as much as I am.

As always, any questions, concerns, or comments can be left in a review or you can pop me a PM.

Shimmerz