Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater. I do own the plot.

Chapter Eleven

The little vial fell to Kid's desk with a noisy clatter, scattering a few of his pens, forcing him to glance up from his computer monitor and raise an eyebrow at his guest. The other pantomimed hanging the phone up, pointed at the vial and then held up a familiar packet of documents. "Yes, I understand, Father. I'm terribly sorry to have to end the call early but something came up and it needs my immediate attention. Yes. Thank you, Father, and I'll let Elizabeth know to keep her schedule open so we can do a family dinner on Sunday," He hung up and let out a small sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. He then turned and looked at the other, eyes narrowed in slight annoyance. "Well, Timp, what have you got for me this time?"

"I found something that can get Mosquito and his trio of lackeys taken out permanently; and I mean something that is illegal in both realms. This is big, Kid, and we're going to be blowing the lid right off of it," The older demon said seriously. That got the young Shinigami to jolt up and glance at the door. Thankfully, it appeared his associate had taken care to make sure it was locked.

With that he picked up the vial and examined the contents through the glass. It took him a moment but then he realized what the silver dust reminded him off. "Is this…?" He dared not say the name of one of the most outlawed drugs that demon-kind had ever made, even knowing that there was no way they'd be overheard.

"Yes. I realized it when I went in to talk with him. He ordered us mermaid fin stew, and then I saw the eyes of his female human workers. Mermaid fin cannot be eaten with the scales still attached, but that works out well. The scales can be ground into a fine powder and used in other things; such as what I was able to get a small sample of here," He said, tipping his head toward the vial. He was very grateful that Alex had been willing to sneak into her bosses' chambers and locate what Timp had asked; and it would only cost him dinner and a trip to the opera for two, a small price given his comrade was a beauty beyond compare. "This drug is too potent to be used under either human or demon law; long time exposure leads to addiction. And with this drug, quitting cold turkey can lead to severe brain damage, seizures and typically death. Withdrawal symptoms, even when weaning one off of it slowly, can still cause serious issues. The consequences outweigh the perks of the drug and Lord Satan himself has made it clear it is never to be used."

"It doesn't surprise me that someone like Lord Mosquito would use this, but it does surprise me that we're the first to notice," Kid commented, sliding the vial back across the table to the other. Holding that accursed poison made him feel like he needed to take a hot shower.

"I doubt that we are, but we're also the first ones that have probably not tried to use it to their advantage stupidly," Timp scoffed, grabbing the small vial and returning it to his coat pocket for safe keeping. He settled into one of the seats and crossed one leg over the other in thought. "Other demons of a higher standing such as us would most likely have noticed and tried to blackmail him with the information. There in which lies the trick; we are going to go straight to both the human police forces as well as the demonic ones."

"Getting the human police involved won't be hard but the demonic authorities? You'd have to get to Satan himself to get this handled as quickly as you want and that's next to impossible to do. You have to be a Reader in order to get in without waiting on a long list just to get an appointment,"

"I know," Timp said bitterly, scowling out the window. There was a bird sitting on a tree, a cardinal, that was watching them with a cocked head. "I've already called ahead to Medusa and asked her to talk to William on my behalf. Hopefully he won't mind offering me his help."

He was left sick and annoyed at having to ask that pathetic excuse of a demon for help, but it was all for the greater purpose. After all, Maka was a client and this could also get Mosquito out of his hair. And Arachne and her crew, since he had no doubt in his mind that she had a hand in helping to make the banished concoction, would be forced to pay for their sins against Masumi and Wesley too.

"As long as you tell him that it will help Soul's girlfriend it shouldn't be an issue, right? After all, he just wants Soul to be happy, right?" The younger suggested evenly.

Timp let out another muffled noise of annoyance. "Well, I'm not sure if they can be called that. They haven't exactly put a label on it, and when I asked Soul about it, he said he hadn't asked her if that's what they were. They certainly kiss and cuddle enough for me to be unable to view them as anything else," He grumbled bitterly. He wasn't necessarily as angry or bitter as he liked to play it off, really. After all, Soul seemed genuinely happy with Maka around, and the young blonde was good at reining him in. The two interacted well and, despite having sworn humans would never serve any purpose other than playthings and quick snacks, Soul had warmed up to her.

Maka was feisty, quick-witted and wouldn't take any of Soul's crap. On top of that, she had a pure soul; something that called to the instincts of Soul's less-than-nurtured Reader blood.

"Regardless of titles, however, I'm surely going to play it off that way when I talk to William. I need him to help me with this and I'm not against lying to make it happen," He shrugged, standing and walking toward the window. From his pocket he produced a small coin, flicking it into the air casually. "Taking Lord Mosquito and his little pals out will be a delight, so consider it the reward I'm looking forward to. Acts of demons killing other demons are not something the law cares to try and regulate so Giriko never had to pay for what he did to Masumi and Wesley. This will assure he gets punished and that I'll be able to uphold the deal we've made with Mr. Albarn about his daughter's safety."

"Two birds with one stone, correct? It's a tried and true method of business, I assume," Kid agreed patiently. The young Shinigami reorganized his pens into a neat little row with a small, content grin. "Then again, you've always been one of the most intelligent and lethal of the old demons. It only makes sense that you would be able to make this all work for your gain in every aspect of the situation."

"I assume you are correct," The other answered absently, narrowing his eyes at the bird. If he was truly as good as everyone said he was, and as he once thought he was, though, would his apprentice have fallen for the human girl in the first place? And, even farther to question, wouldn't Masumi still be alive if he was as great a teacher as he was praised to be?

…

The plan had been simple enough, really. Maka had needed to go back to the college today to get her books replaced and handle some last minute things with her scholarships and such. It would only take an hour or so, and since Soul didn't want a repeat of last time, he had settled for wandering around the campus while she was busy. Originally he planned to stay with her, but there was actually a line and they were toward the end, with roughly nine or ten people ahead of them. She had promised him to stay in the office until he came back and, deciding to trust her to her word, he had gone exploring.

He was left frozen, heart racing with emotions he thought he'd gotten over years before, when he saw a grinning purple cat watching him.

She was sitting atop the fence like she herself owned it and she slowly rose from her rest. "There you are, my precious little Scythey Boy! Has that mean old human of yours let you off your leash for a little bit?" She crooned merrily, stretching and hopping down. In a small plume of grey smoke, she appeared in her human form. Not much about her had changed, it seemed; same hair style, same tight black dress and funky black hat. Looking at her eyes, however, brought all those emotions back as if it were the first time all over again.

He was not used to the sharp, stabbing jolt that made him feel like he should sit down. After all, he had never been in a relationship that ended because of an affair. Then again, maybe he should have known? After all, Blair had seemed distracted in the weeks leading up to this, as if her mind was elsewhere. Of course it was another man; he should have seen it coming and just accepted it.

But the trick of it was he really didn't see it coming. No matter how he viewed it, it was never obvious to him.

That was then, though, and now she was just a hindrance to what he was doing with his life. She was a risk to him and the people that had come to mean something to him again. Like a light switch, his instincts to fight and win and kill sparked to the forefront of his mind. Soul's arm turned into a blade and he took a step toward her, eyes narrowed in a suspicious glare. "What do you want, Blair?"

She held one hand against her heart, plastering on a hurt expression. "Oh, you're being so mean to me~! What have I done to make you so angry nyah? I left you five years ago, like you told me to," She said softly. Her eyes darkened as she walked closer, clearly not intimidated like he'd been hoping. "The Old Imp has poisoned you against me, but I can forgive all this meanness from you. After all, Bu-Tan has hurt you, too. So how about you and I just leave and start all over again, in another city far from here?" Her index and middle fingers lightly walked along the flat of his blade, eyes watching her own hand before looking up at him pleadingly through her lashes. "Bu-Tan has just been so lonely without her Scythey Boy to help keep her safe and warm at night."

"You should have thought about that before you fucked my brother," Soul snarled lightly, yanking his blade and twisting. The fish hook-esque curve at the tip caught Blair's wrist a touch, leaving a sizable cut. He smirked at the displeased yowl she released, yanking the limb back to herself and lapping at the blood slowly swelling from the tear. He lunged at her, aiming a swing at her side, only to have her side-step away from his attack. "You should have thought about that before you fucked Giriko! You should have used what little fucking brains you have to not tell Giriko who else you were sleeping with! Maybe if you'd done that he wouldn't have killed my brother and my mother right in front of my eyes!" He bellowed, coming at her again.

"Pum-Pum-Pumpkin! Smashing Pumpkin!" Blair cried in retaliation, her hands glowing with her magic. A glowing, Jack-O-Lantern like blast came careening at Soul but he didn't back down. Instead, he knelt and held his blade up in a defensive position. It cut the energy ball in half, sending the now split burst in opposing directions. Two trees took the brunt of the explosion in his stead, both catching flame and releasing earth-shaking crackling noises at the moment of impact. The she-cat took a small step backwards, eyes wide with fear.

The deep ruby orbs fixed on her were not the eyes of one of the many men she'd loved in her life; they were the eyes of a man ready to wet his hands in blood. Or, in specific, her blood.

He glanced over his shoulder at the twin blazes and let out a hollow little laugh. "Oh, would you look at that? It seems you've actually been working on increasing your powers. Well, so have I," He chuckled lightly while turning back to her. She stepped back again, glancing around frantically in hopes of an escape or a witness.

There was no one in sight. Blair gulped nervously, ears twitching downward and twisting up like horns in anger. "It seems you want to play rough. Well, that's fine. Bu-Tan will simply have to knock you out and move you to a more suitable location to discuss our situation," She snarled warningly, her hand starting to glow again with her powers. She threw another blast at him, rushing toward the left in hopes of getting him while he was distracted.

Instead, Soul twisted his blade toward her, the side of his blade facing the blast and directing it toward her. It slammed into her side, a yowl of pain coming from her as she slid along the ground. "We're not going anywhere. Well, I'm not… But I'll be sending you back down to Hell in a less than pleasant way. And this time you won't be coming back," He shrugged before launching at her again, his blade catching her shoulder and tearing down to her elbow when she tried to leap away.

Blair screeched in a mix of outrage and pain, grasping at the now gushing wound and watching Soul with contempt. Had that little red bastard really caused Soul to hate her this much? Had he really been this thoroughly brain-washed against her? Well, Lord Mosquito had given her something for this! She let go of her injured limb, narrowly skirting past another angry swipe from her ex-lover, and reached into her pocket frantically for the little needle she'd been given. Her nails clicked lightly against the little plastic case that guarded her from accidentally injecting herself. She pulled it out and jumped away again, this time getting a small scratch along her cheek from taking too long in evading.

Soul paused, staying where he was, watching her suspiciously. She yanked the top off the syringe with her teeth and spat it at the ground, her ears twitching back to their usual standing point. She could hear people starting to clamor toward them from the commotion they'd caused, meaning she was going to have to pick up her pace just a little bit. She paced the syringe in her mouth sideways before a puff of smoke enveloped her. Soul snarled lowly, rushing toward the smoke cloud, knowing what she had done.

She was transforming into a cat. And he was pretty sure whatever was in that syringe was meant to be given to Maka.

He stabbed his scythe toward the ground, just as the smoke cleared, only to be left startled to find the area was rather vacant. "What the Hell?" He mumbled, turning to look left and then to the right. On his right side, however, he was blindsided by indigo fur just before a sharp, quick stabbing sensation tingled up from his neck. He reached up and grabbed Blair, flinging her to the ground roughly, but not before she was able to empty the contents into his systems. "What was the shit you just put in me?" He bellowed angrily.

Blair merrily giggled before stretching herself out on the ground, making herself look weak and limp. "This is going to be a guessing game nyah~! Let's see how long it takes you to figure out nyah~!" She sang before she closed her eyes. When she opened them, they were filled with pain and fear.

Soul was just about to question it when he heard loud gasps and shrieks of terror. "You've gotta be kidding me," He groaned, turning around to face a crowd of horrified young people staring at him. Some of them were demons, some of them human, but what got Soul was when his eyes locked with a pair of all-too-familiar green eyes.

Oh, yeah, he was about to have to explain. And fast, judging by those angry stomps she was taking toward him.

"Soul, what the Hell is all this?" She snapped, pointing around her. She then paused when Blair released a pathetic, shaky mewl of pain. She covered her mouth with one hand and darted over, carefully looking the fluffy attacker over. "Oh, you poor thing!" She then glared back up at Soul. "A cat, Soul? You were attacking a cat?"

"You don't understand, Maka! She's no normal cat; she's-!" And suddenly, just like that, he couldn't talk. It wasn't that he didn't want to, or he was afraid of the feisty blonde human, nope. He honestly could not speak, no matter how hard he tried to force the words to come out of throat. He stood there, trying so hard to speak, but he simply looked like a sharp-toothed stooge with his mouth hanging open.

Maka sighed lightly before looking at the burning trees in the background. "I didn't know, nor did I want to know, that you could summon fire too," She mumbled while carefully picking Blair up and cradling her close. Of course the damned beast started purring as soon as Maka was coddling and cooing at her like she was a baby or something else innocent and deserving of such treatment. "Poor dear. Did that mean old Soul come after you and give you all these injuries? Well, don't you worry! We'll take you home with us, get you all patched up and then get you some fish. Doesn't that sound nice?" She mused while starting to walk away, carefully rolling a shoulder to reset the strap of her messenger bag without disturbing the hurt animal in her arms.

"Are you kidding me, Maka?" Soul snapped, chasing after her.

He was answered with a glare. "When he get home you are going to help me clean up the wounds and bandage her all up. And then you're going to get her something to eat since you started this whole business," She said blandly before resuming her irritated march to his bike. Blair glanced briefly over Maka's shoulder at him and sneered, golden eyes glinting with malice.

End

Notes:

I'm sorry this update is so short. Let's just say that me and college… Yeah, we ain't getting' on so well just yet. Plus there's a whole bunch of other stuff I'm kinda stressing over that'll be happening in the next few months. But I promise I will try to get on a normal updating schedule!

Next Chapter:

He couldn't help but laugh, rubbing his head where the girl had delivered the blow to his cranium. "My, you certainly are an interesting one, aren't you?" He laughed lightly. Despite his friendly tone and easy stance, it was clear this girl was not having any of it; he was still a demon in her eyes, after all. "I didn't mean to frighten you, dear. Please, take a seat and put the book down and we can talk. How does that sound?"