Chapter 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What do you wanna play today?"
"I wanna play ball!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Several weeks had passed since our fight with Remus, our first soul capture, as well as Jeff's Buster form. Thanks to Shinigami-sama, we'd gone out on a few more missions, and successfully collected four more Kishin Souls. Each time we got one, Jeff found a bizarre way to eat it, which both made me laugh and kinda grossed me out. We'd also been able to spend a little more time with Maka and Soul every week, and this week we were all supposed to have dinner together. Things were turning out great for me!
Unfortunately... Poor Jeff didn't have that luck. Ever since he stood Tsubaki up on their first date, he hadn't lifted his head around her. It's like he's muted and powered off when she comes within eyesight. One of these days when it's just me and her, I'm going to talk with Tsubaki and figure out how she feels, since it was a mission and all...
We were, once again, in class after yet ANOTHER dissection lab that I quietly left alone and let Jeff dissect for me (which he seemed all too happy to do), I found myself gazing into space with Jeff quietly feigning sleep on the desk to avoid Tsubaki's eyes, which were locked on to him.
"...Anna? Did you need something?" Soul said from three seats away. I zoned back in and realized that when I was staring into space... I was staring at Soul.
"Um... er... No..." I said, smiling weakly. "No, not at all!" I blushed bright red. I rummaged through my bag trying to find a book, but surprisingly enough, I didn't have one!
"Where's my-" I started, panicking.
"I pulled it out so you'd be more social." Jeff said from his spot on the desk.
"Look who's talking, you hypocrite! You're lucky I don't have the book!" I snapped, maybe a little too loudly.
"My point exactly." I could see his jagged smile from where I was sitting.
I grabbed the collar of his coat and hoisted his head off of his desk. I held him at my eye level, grabbed his screw, and began to quickly tighten it.
"What do you think you're-" Jeff stammered but stopped as his face clenched up just as it became tougher to turn the screw.
"Ow! Owowowowow!!! Okay, OKAY!!! I'M SORRY! JUST! STOP! SCREWING! WITH! MY! SCREW!" He yelled as he jerked his head away from my hand. I started shaking him back and forth.
"Why'd you even take my book out?! You should've known this would happen!"
"I wanted to avoid further chops......" he said weakly, as he began loosening the screw, finally pulling it out.
"Maka....." Maka began, and I was surprised to see her behind Tsubaki... holding a book.
"CHOP!!!"
She swung the book into Jeff's head twice as hard as I had with a textbook some time back.
Jeff fell next to my chair with a book-shaped groove in his head and a blood splat from where his face had hit the floor.
I glanced at Maka, scared.
"There's no forgiveness for stealing a book, period." Maka said, grinning evilly. She walked over and took Jeff's seat.
"Soooo... are we still on for Friday night?" I asked, trying to ignore the body next to my chair.
"Yep. No changes in plans just yet, and hopefully, ever," she said, smiling.
"That's good~" I said, grinning back.
"Wow. What's with this asymmetrical mess next to my seat?" said a voice behind me, but I tried to ignore it. The three seats to my right were always empty.
"Hey, who's this girl? Her hair's pwetty, like yours, big sis!" said a voice that sounded like a little girl, and I turned around to see quite a sight.
There were three people: one a boy, the other two were girls. The boy had on what looked like a tuxedo... with a skull in the place of a tie. He had black hair... or, almost black hair. He had three white streaks along the left side of his hair. He had ringed yellow eyes, and a very distinguished look about him.
The girls were a bit different. One was shorter than the other, although both were taller than Jeff, but just by a little for the shorter one. They both wore red midriff tanktops... or, something. I'm not sure what to call them... but they also wore blue short shorts, although the taller of the two had hers a lot tighter than the shorter one did. Finally, the shorter one had shoulder length hair, while the taller had hers go to the midpoint of her back, and both were blond.
"Umm..." I said, confused.
"Oh. We've been on leave, and we've just gotten back. We sit in these three seats. By the way, since your new, we clearly haven't been introduced." The boy offered me his hand.
"I'm Death the Kidd."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up to find my face on the floor, Maka in my chair, and Anna talking to some new guy. I slinked off of the floor and wiped most of the blood off of my face. Damned Maka! Between her and Anna, I've lost 90% of my brain cells!
"Okay class, I have something special for us all! Something exciting!" I heard my uncle declare to the whole class.
"Is it another dissection lab? If so, it'll have to wait. Jeff's still on the floor..." Anna said, then muttered to me. "...and you'd better stay that way until class ends if it is a dissection!" I grimaced.
"No, no, less exciting than that. Today, Lord Death requested that I get you kids out for a little fresh air. So, we're going to do a relay!" He said, spinning in his chair.
I slowly peeked over the desk and stared at my uncle.
"Uncle... are you insane?! I mean, more than usual!"
He hit me in the face with an eraser, knocking me back on the floor.
"You kids could use some fresh air, and even Lord Death's son is participating!"
"SHINIGAMI-SAMA HAS A SON?!" both Anna and I yelled.
"A-hem!" said the boy sitting next to Anna's right side.
"When'd you get here?" I asked.
"While you were a bloody mess on the floor." He replied, and I went back to ferret mode, staring over the edge of the desk.
"Anyway, get to the locker rooms and get changed, then meet me out in front of the Academy. I'll see you all then!" He said as he kicked off of the desk and sailed out the door in his chair.
"Well, Liz, Patty, let's get going." the young Death said, as he stepped down with the two girls following him.
"...a relay? What's uncle thinking?" I muttered as everyone started to leave. I stood up and bumped into somebody's arm, and as I turned to apologize, I saw who it was...
I'd bumped into one of Tsubaki's... lungs.
I started yelling sorry as fast as I could and scrambled over the desk and jumped from the fifth row up to the bottom floor, and even though I was one of the last to get up, I was first out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeff blasted out of the door before I'd even reached the end of my row. I glanced back at Tsubaki as she blushed, but she also looked kind of upset... but not angry... just, sad. I sighed and tried to walk toward her, but the kids flowing past whisked me out of the row and down the stairs before I had a chance to. I sighed again and left for the locker room, knowing I'd see her there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**********************************************************
I shook my head as I walked back toward the locker room. We'd ALL gotten ready for a relay and gone outside, just so that we could get out there and have my uncle yell "There's your fresh air! Class dismissed!" I would NEVER understand my uncle.
I met Black Star and Soul outside of the locker room, waiting for me.
"What's with your uncle?" Soul asked as the three of us went in.
"Shall I list them alphabetically or in the order I found out?" I replied, grinning.
"Ah... hey, after this, wanna come over to my place? I need a little help with a... feline problem." He replied.
"Nah, I can't. I promised Anna I'd take her to a movie."
"Are you sure you're 'just partners'?" He laughed.
"Hey! Watch it, or should I delve into your world with Maka?" I said, grinning.
After we'd gotten changed, the three of us stepped outside, and Black Star looked down the hall.
"Hey guys... wanna sneak into the girls' locker room? I bet we'll see all kinds of-"
"No." Soul and I said in stereo.
"Aww, come on! I'm sure Anna looks really hot under all of her... Anna-ness."
"No." I said, but Soul just blushed and shook his head vigorously.
"But Jeff... I've seen Tsubaki unclothed~ Very much worth the effort~" He said, nudging me.
I turned bright red and punched him in the face.
"I-I left something in the classroom!" I stammered, trying to find a reason for me to leave.
"What'd you leave?" Soul asked.
"My... erm..." I rummaged through my pockets to make it look like I was looking for something. I then realized, I'd ACTUALLY dropped my wallet.
"My wallet! I think I dropped it when Maka Maka-chopped me!"
"Well, then, run back and grab it!" Soul said. "I'll see you outside when you do. Let's hang out before your not-date with Anna."
"Fine! I'll be right back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I pulled my shirt on after finally getting out of my P.E. clothes. Tsubaki was still fumbling with her bra, trying to get her normal one back on after changing out of her sports one. I walked over and helped her with the clips in the back.
"Th-Thanks..." she stammered, still looking kinda sad.
"Happy to help! By the way... What's bugging you?" I said, standing on one of the benches so I could actually talk to her face to face.
"Oh... well, I guess..." She pulled her dress on and tightened the belts, then reached into her locker and pulled out a picture. "It's because... well..." She showed me the picture.
It was a picture of Little Stein, and it actually had that caption in the corner.
"Black Star snatched it from Stein-sensei's desk, then offered it to me. Unfortunately, I was so...so..."
"Into him that you couldn't say no?" I said, and she blushed... but nodded.
"Yeah... and, well... I'm upset because he hasn't looked me in the eyes since our last date... attempt. Until today... and all I saw was just sheer terror in his eyes." She looked back at the picture one last time, then put it back in her locker. She closed it and locked it.
"I-I think he thinks I'm mad at him because he missed our date..."
"You knew it was because of a mission?"
"Well, at first... no, I thought he just wasn't that fond of me... until Soul and Maka told me that they had met you two on their mission. Now, I just want him to be brave enough to ask me again..."
I looked down, then smiled. I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a small piece of leather that was white and had stitches through it. I offered it to her.
"Wh-what's this?"
"Jeff's wallet. I snagged it earlier today~ He's probably in the classroom looking for it. Why don't you go give it to him?" I said, winking at her. She smiled brightly and gave me a hug so tight, I thought my breasts would pop.
"Thank you! You've given me the card I need to get him to open up again!" She laughed as she ran out of the locker room.
I stepped outside and Soul was waiting for me.
"Did you give it to her?" He asked.
"Yep. Did you grab the class key from Stein-sensei?"
"Yep."
"Good. Now we'll have to follow her and get to the class when she does for this to work~"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I crawled underneath the desks of my entire row, back and forth, searching relentlessly for my wallet. I'd worked hard for all of the money in that thing! If I lost it, Anna would kill me! That also had my only picture of her in it, as well as one of Uncle, Tsubaki, and a group pic of all of us! I needed to find it!
I sighed in frustration as I leaned back, hitting my head against my chair. I gave my screw a few quick twists and lurched forward, where I found myself looking at somebody's knees and they were offering me a small object...
My wallet.
I grabbed it out of their hands and pulled them into a hug.
"Thank you thank you thank you!!!" I babbled, absolutely thrilled to have it back.
"You're welcome, Jeff-kun~" said a cute voice I'd come to fear.
I pulled back, and it was Tsubaki.
I leaped, staggered backward, fell over my chair, and cartwheeled onto and down the stairs. The massive pain I was in was healed with a few quick turns of my screw, seeing as how nothing was broken.
"Jeff-kun, what's wrong?! I'm not angry with you!"
"B-but I stood you up!" I stammered. "Of course you're angry!"
"But I'm not!" She pleaded as she helped me to my feet. The moment I was on my feet, I ran, tripped, then crawled into a corner.
The door slammed shut.
"What was that?" Tsubaki asked as she walked over to the door. She tried to turn the handle, but it wouldn't budge.
"I don't believe this... it's locked!" She said, nervous.
"No way... let me try it." I got to my feet and tried to turn the handle. It refused to even slightly move. "....locked. How?!" I messed with the handle some more.
"I guess we have to wait until someone unlocks it." Tsubaki said, as she sat on Uncle's desk and crossed her legs.
My eyes widened.
"I got it!" I morphed my right arm into my buster blade. "I'll get us out of here!" I got ready to slice the door down, but Tsubaki grabbed my left arm and held me back.
"Wait! Do you know how much these doors cost?"
I stared at her blankly. "...nooooo....."
"Look at the details in this door! All cherry wood, gold plating and a gold knob... it's worth a LOT. If you broke it, you'd have to pay for it!" She smiled weakly. "Am I really such horrible company that you can't wait for anyone to unlock it?"
I sighed and returned my arm to normal. I then crawled back into my corner and gave my screw a quick few turns.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the door.
"Tsubaki just stopped him from breaking down the door." I breathed out. Soul sat down next to me.
"Good. So, when will we let them out?"
"Once he can talk to her without being afraid. If that takes three days, so be it~" I smiled evilly. "Hey, do you know where the thermostat for this room is?"
"Yeah, why?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I curled myself into the fetal position and cradled myself in the corner. I wonder when my uncle will come back... he has to bring the chair back eventually. Of all the people I could've been trapped in a classroom with, why Tsubaki?
"Jeff-kun, why do you refuse to look at me?"
"I can't bear the shame of looking into your eyes and seeing the soul of the beautiful girl I'd stood up..." I curled myself up even further... If I had ever had my own personal rain cloud, it would be now that I had it.
I heard a slight rustle to my left, and I felt a soft hand slide its way into mine.
"Jeff-kun... you may be a Stein, but I know you would never stand me up on purpose. Soul and Maka told me you were sent on a mission that night."
I slowly lifted my head. "Th-They did?"
She giggled- something I'd never seen her do. "Yeah! They also told me that after the fight, when you realized you'd stood me up, you took off, straight for the academy, screaming my name~" She tussled my hair with her other hand.
I uncurled myself and looked right at her eyes. I found myself looking at two absolutely gorgeous brown eyes... and they looked like they'd just dried up.
"Tsu-" I stopped, thought for a second, then continued. "Tsubaki-CHAN, were you crying?" I said, turning myself to face her a little more. Her eyes widened, then she tried to pull her hand free to wipe her eyes.
I kept a firm grip on her hand, then wiped her tears with my own.
"I-I thought you would never look at me again... I was afraid I'd lost every chance I'd had with you..." Her eyes began to water again.
I did something I never thought I'd do.
I kissed her on the forehead.
"There's no need for that~ I've seen my errors... I'm a very bad scientist..." I smiled weakly. "Scientists should be more observant."
"Jeff-kun... I've been waiting for a certain question..."
"Tsubaki- erm, Tsubaki-chan..." I took a deep breath. I didn't need to be afraid. "-would you like to try another date? This... Saturday, maybe?" I said, trying to smile proudly.
"I'm... kinda busy Saturday..." She said, blushing.
"Well, then, how about tonight? I have a movie trip with Anna, but afterwards I'm free! Are you okay with that?"
"Sounds great!"
"Let's see... I'm going to the movies with Anna at about five-ish, so maybe seven?"
"Let's say seven-thirty, just to be safe~" She smiled.
"It's a date~" I said, grinning from ear to ear. As I stretched out on the floor, Tsubaki cuddled close to me and leaned on my chest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It sounds like they're finally able to talk to each other now. Ready to let them out?" Soul said, as he nudged me.
"Nah, not quite yet. I've wanted to toy with Jeff-kun for a long time now. I'm not wasting this! So..." I put my hand on the dial. "... this is the thermostat?"
"Yeah. Uh-oh... what are you going to do?"
"90 degrees seems fine, right?" I smiled evilly as I turned the dial.
"Good god, you're evil!" He laughed. "I'm next!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What's your favorite food?" Tsubaki said, leaning back on the desk as I took off my labcoat.
"Dessert or food-food?"
"Both!" She said as she stretched, crossing her legs.
"Dessert is apple pie, all way! Food? That would have to be... tacos, I guess! Or bacon. What're yours?"
"I'm really fond of Rice Balls, but dessert? I guess I like it all!" She stretched out across one of the rows and looked right at me at the row below, with the same cutesy grin on her face.
"Holy crap, it's hot in here..." I pulled my sweatshirt off and tossed it on my labcoat, then loosened my screw, pulled it out and added it to the pile.
"I hadn't noticed~" She said, tossing her sleeves at me. I pulled them off of my head, but in the process, I fell onto the row below.
"Jeff-kun?" She said with a hint of concern in her voice.
"I'm okay! If I'd had my screw in, it might've hurt more..." I said, rubbing my head. "They need to get us out of here, pronto. It's way too effing hot in here."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, Anna, I'm gonna tweak this, and then we've got to let them out, okay? They've been in there for an hour and a half now."
"Awww fine. Meanie..." I said, pouting.
"Don't give me the puppy-dog eyes. It won't work!" He said laughing. "Besides you'll like how this ends~ I set it at 105 degrees."
"And you called me evil!" I laughed as we both sat against the door again. I rested my head on his shoulder and started to fall asleep.
"Oh, dear, what are you two up to?" I glanced up and saw Kidd staring at us.
"Messing with Jeff and Tsubaki. Wanna listen?" Soul said.
"I'd rather not be affiliated with you..." He said, looking at the wall. "...but I'm in." He sat next to us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I pulled off my shirt and sat there, looking at my pile of clothes. I need to stop layering so much. I still had my jeans and my shorts on underneath, as well as my undershirt, but it was still freaking hot. Tsubaki was still sitting up a row higher than me, but I was contemplating just sitting in my undershirt and shorts, and I figured I'd run it by her first.
"Hey, Tsubaki..." I said, focusing on my pile of clothes.
"Yes, Jeff-kun?" She replied, with a slight rustle behind me.
"I'm wearing shorts underneath my jeans, so I'm extremely hot right now..." I flushed red, trying to think of how to word it. "...and well, I think I should just be in my shorts, but I'm kinda iffy on it..." Her only answer was a rather large piece of cloth being flung at my head. I struggled with it, and finally managed to get it off of my head. I held it out and looked at it.
I twitched. A lot. It was Tsubaki's dress.
Every drop of blood in my body ran to my head, and decided to funnel its way out into the open... in the manner of a very large spray directly out of my nose.
I fell off of the desk and hit my head against the desks behind me.
"Jeff-kun?! I didn't realize you had that much blood in your body! Are you okay?" She hopped down to the row I was on, and bent over, offering me her hand. Normally, that probably wouldn't have bugged me... except that she was in her underwear.
My face once again became a geyser of blood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Alright, our fun's over. Let's let them out and fix the thermostat." Soul said, staggering to his feet. Kidd stood up and offered me his hand, which I gratefully took and stood up. Soul turned the thermostat back to normal, and I pulled out the key.
"Hey, have you guys seen Tsubaki? I can't find her anywhere." Black Star walked up to us from the hall. He saw me at the door, and before I could stop him, his eyes lit up.
"Oh! She's in there, isn't she? I'll go get her!" He pushed me out of the way and shoved the door open, and we followed him.
On the bottom floor was a pile of clothes: a shirt, sweatshirt, labcoat and a screw. Clearly Jeff's. But then, two rows up, Tsubaki's dress was draped over the second row of desks, not to mention there was a huge cone of blood sprayed across the first four rows of desks. Tsubaki's head popped up from behind the fifth row of desks... and she was dressed only in her underwear.
Jeff's bloodstained face popped up next to her, with the biggest expression of fear I'd ever seen. I clenched my teeth.
"I can't get mad at him! I can't get mad at him! This is my fault! I locked him in here!"
"W-wow... Anna, I don't think this was quite what you had in mind." Soul muttered.
"I-I'm stunned..." Kidd said.
"A-Anna!!! Th-This REALLY isn't what you think! Look!" Jeff stood up, and his jeans were still on, with his undershirt as well. "It-It just got REALLY hot in here... Sh-she did that herself!" He stammered and Tsubaki nodded, and they were both the brightest shade of red ever. Tsubaki scrambled down to get her dress, and she quickly slipped it back on and retied the belts.
"Wow, Tsubaki! That was really kinky!" Black Star laughed, and Jeff's nervous expression changed to a very solemn one. He calmly stepped down the stairs and put his shirt back on, as well as his sweatshirt and labcoat, plugged the screw back in, gave it a few quick twists, then grabbed Black Star by the collar.
He started shaking him back and forth very viciously.
"What is wrong with you, you blue-haired punk?!" Jeff said, grinning with annoyance and joy at the fact he got to finally strangle Black Star! Black Star punched Jeff in the stomach and pushed him off of him, and of course, Jeff tackled him.
We sat there for close to fifteen minutes, watching Jeff and Black Star wrestle in the middle of our classroom, and we couldn't help but cheer them on! Even Maka joined us eventually.
This Academy got better every day!
