I can't remember if I ever posted this here or not, so if I didn't, here's a little Tsustar drabble.
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Tsubaki tapped her fingertips into the impossibly deep, but oddly shallow depth of her soul, it was like sitting on a pane of glass that covered the ocean with a tiny crack somewhere in the expanse that was leaking ever so slightly to create a sheen of water on top. The deep expanse below her was a calming, darker blue, the sky above a bright, clear blue...a familiar shade, she noted with a smile.
This thought caused her to look around, seeking the other presence in her soul...well, one of the many, if she was honest, but easily the most recognizable. She spotted her Meister in the distance, walking towards her at a leisurely pace, hands in his pockets, starkly white against the bright blue backdrop of the Uncanny sky. He wasn't looking at her, he seemed to be deep in thought while looking off towards the endless horizon to his left side. He did this sometimes, she had noted, wandered off in her soul as if he might find something new on the limitless ocean. Perhaps that was what he was seeking: the limit. That sounded like him.
She could easily feel the emotions his soul wavelength was putting off and she smiled to herself when she found nothing there but a calm; reminiscent of small waves lapping at a sandy shore. It was a rare thing, this calm, in a soul so intense as Black☆Star's, so she kept silent to allow it to continue as long as it could, and she let the feeling wash over her as well. He had always been that way; his wavelength, even when calm, was a constant presence that intermingled with her own. She remembered very well the first time she had felt it, and that had been nothing at all like this.
His wavelength back then had slammed into her like a tidal wave, large and powerful and overwhelming, but that was precisely why she had chosen him. He would always tell people that he had picked her over the other Weapons, but she didn't have the heart to correct him on it. She had chosen him because she had to defeat her brother, that was her entire goal, and here was a Meister strong enough to get her there. However, the first time they trained and he had gripped the handles of her chain scythe with solid confidence, their connection was immediate. They hadn't even attended the Soul Resonance lessons yet and they were able to do it without any difficulty. They were a perfect match.
Looking back now, she still felt a bit of guilt for having used him for that first year of their partnership. But he had assured her it was no problem, that he didn't mind, because she could always lean on him when she needed to...and he had admitted for the first time that he relied on her as well. Something had clicked for her back then in that moment, she knew then that she would remain a student at the DWMA if she won the fight for the Uncanny Sword. Because he needed her with him to surpass the gods.
Black☆Star had reached her by now and he dropped into the "water" without a care in the world, falling straight down onto his back with a splash as if falling back into a swimming pool, hands behind his head, green eyes closing as he sighed.
"Find what you were looking for?" Tsubaki asked him quietly.
"Not yet," he admitted, and then he sat upright to give her a small smile. "I keep thinking maybe there's a soul here from your family I haven't discovered yet...someone who can teach me something that would let us get that idiot Crona back."
Tsubaki nodded in understanding, this was an answer she had expected. She knew the defeat on the moon, Crona's sacrifice, had affected them all very deeply....but Black☆Star was a sore loser and he had taken the loss very personally. He had gotten his dream of godhood, even the kishin itself had acknowledged he was no mere human any longer, but he was still constantly working himself harder, pushing further, to find the power to return and pull Crona out of there.
"You'll find a way, I know you will." She assured him easily, and she wasn't just saying it to soothe him. After all, he had accomplished every single goal he had set for himself. This would be no different. "I know we will."
"Damn straight."
She giggled, but they fell into a comfortable silence. This was something that no one else got to see besides her, this thoughtful, reflective side that he had developed after his decision to follow the Warrior's Path. The first time he had shown this side of him had been under that starry sky in Japan, she had never seen him so unsure and lost before...and she never had since. That had been another moment of change in their partnership, she realized, when he had let an uncharacteristically soft sentiment leave his usually boisterous mouth, comparing her to the stars. That was, maybe, the moment she realized they were more than just Meister and Weapon.
She scanned the horizon as she thought about these things, remembering the way the landscape had looked when her brother's soul was being drawn to the Demon Path, lifeless and pale pink with a sickly, bleeding black moon overhead. Her own wavelength had cleansed it once, clearing a way for light and color, but the sword had bounced back again, pulling her Meister's soul into it piece by piece and tearing it apart like all the others before. When Black☆Star's wavelength had cleared it a second time, she knew the blade would never take another soul into those empty pink depths to suffer an endless cycle of regret and misery. She would be forever grateful for that.
She glanced over at him out of the corner of her eyes and smiled softly. He leaned back on his palms, tape wrapped fingers wiggling in the "water" as she had done only a few moments earlier. It was a childish urge, she admitted to herself, but they were far from children anymore. He was only eighteen and she had just turned twenty one only a month prior, but they were aged beyond their years from the things they had been through in just the six years they had been together. They had matured more than she ever thought possible. Well, she supposed, she had always been mature because she had to be.
That was another thing she loved about him (one of the many), he had brought out the child in her that she had never gotten to be. His recklessness had made her worry at first, but now she was happy to go along for the ride, reveling in his simplistic way of seeing the world. Have fun but work hard! Never take things too serious if you don't need to! Eat junk food and go on walks or runs with no real destination! Be loud and be who you want to be. He had brought that side of her to life and where others might have felt overshadowed by his larger than life presence, she had kept up with him and bloomed like a camelia blossom in the bright light he was always shining with. She thrived in his chaos.
"Hey, whatcha thinkin' about? You keep smiling like all dork-like." Black☆Star's voice interrupted her train of thought and she blinked blankly at him for a moment before laughing and giving him a delighted smile.
"Why, you, of course!"
"Of course." He agreed, but she didn't miss the blush that colored his cheeks before he turned his head to fake interest in the edge of the white scarf he wore.
"Black☆Star." She said this somewhat imploringly, wanting him to face her so she could show him a glimpse of her own bare soul. He did, head cocked slightly like a curious dog, and she leaned across the small space between them to press a soft, but heartfelt kiss to the scar that crossed the bridge of his nose. "Thank you."
"Heh...for what?" There was no hiding the blush this time.
"For being you."
