So Scandalous
by. Poisoned Scarlet

Summary: They thought they were so sly – and they probably were, all things considered. But Tsubaki saw it all. Too bad Black Star did, too.
Rating: T for minor sexual implications.
Genre: Romance/Humor.
Pairing: Soul/Maka.
Authors Note: Heh. It was funnier in my head 'cause Black Star said a lot of things I did not have the guts to write in this fanfiction.
Story Notes: Post-Soul Eater anime.

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.

It started off pretty subtle.

Tsubaki didn't even know anything was amiss until she spotted them making their way out of Professors Franken Stein's class by themselves: Maka digging around in her backpack for something or the other and Soul just slouched beside her, restraining a yawn with little success.

The sight would have been normal if it weren't for the way Soul glanced at her from the corner of his eye, smiling and not smirking or grinning. The fondness that glinted in his usually bored ruby eyes wasn't missed by the shadow weapon – nor the way Maka noticed his stare and responded with a smile of her own.

It was so grossly out of character for him, Tsubaki nearly dropped the stack of xeroxed papers Professor Sid had politely asked her to drop off in another classroom.

She tried not to think about it too much but the subtle looks of affection became more and more frequent and, eventually, curiosity won, and Tsubaki gave up trying to give them privacy and watched them like a hawk for the following weeks.

She was surprised her friends had missed so many signs – like the small, longing, sighs Maka would breathe during class or the way Soul would coolly regard her in public but attentively heed her out of school.

But all hope was not lost.

Liz had, apparently, seen it coming for a while – even before she, herself, had noticed.

"They've been like this since I can remember!" Liz exclaimed, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Even Kid's noticed it but he just thought it was normal meister-weapon admiration – pfft, yeah, right! Those two have more sexual tension between them than Sid and Nygus!"

Of course, Tsubaki doubted Sid and Nygus were even in a relationship – much less enamored with each other by the look of things – given that Sid was the living dead and Nygus was some sort of mummy—never mind, Tsubaki decided it might just work out.

But that was another story...

And thus, Liz and Tsubaki took it upon themselves to analyze and note every single detail their dear friends Soul and Maka did that could qualify as "something more," as the demon gun had smilingly put.

It was no easy task, that's for sure.

Tsubaki could only recall three instances they had let their guard down...

She jerked back when Black Star hollered her name and threw the basketball at her. She caught it, bouncing it as she ran before passing it to Patty, who laughed madly while she gave it two firm bounces and aimed it at the basket.

It missed and Soul's team cheered in victory before stealing the ball once more.

"Yo, Kid, catch!" Soul yelled, throwing the ball to the Death God, who caught it and calculatingly looked at the basket. He dribbled past Patty and Tsubaki, eyes set on the target ahead.

He poised the ball for a perfectly symmetrical throw and made it by a hairs breadth before Black Star tackled him to the dusty floor.

"Get off me, you brute!" Kid snapped, shoving the laughing blue-haired fiend from his person. "This is basketball, not football!"

"Same difference!" Black Star stuck his tongue out at the Death God, causing him to glare in response.

"Well, that's ten to nine." Soul grinned, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "You're buying dinner tonight, Black Star!"

Black Star frowned, not taking the idea of losing very well, but instantly brightened. He set his hands on his hips smugly. "Of course, I only LET you guys win. Ya' know, I wouldn't want my faithful disciples to get TOO down because they couldn't match my GREATNESS!" He cackled loudly, Tsubaki smiling at her best friend's optimism.

"Humph." Kid huffed haughtily, still dusting off his casual wear to avoid asymmetry.

Tsubaki was about to walk toward Liz and Patty, who were both standing off to the side speaking in quiet tones, when she saw Maka through the corner of her eye and noticed that Soul was standing right beside her, too.

Maka was sitting languidly on the bench with a book splayed on her lap like normal. They were talking, as they usually did after a heated basketball game. But it wasn't the otherwise normal scene that caught her eye – it was the fact that Soul was bent over her, gripping the back of the bench to support his weight, and tilting his head down at her as she spoke.

Then he leaned, far too close, and whispered something in her ear that made Maka sit straighter. Tsubaki saw her face redden all of a sudden before she shot up and loudly stated "c'mon, then, I'm starving, too!" and stalked toward Kid and Black Star, Soul's lazy grin converting into a devious smirk.

Tsubaki glanced at Liz, who shot her a bright thumbs up.

She didn't even WANT to know what Soul had meant about being starved...

Another instance was at school...

"Good morning, Maka!"

"Oh, good morning, Tsubaki!"

"Did we miss anything important for Professor Stein's class during our absence?" Tsubaki asked, as she took seat beside the girl. Both her and Black Star had just gotten back from a three-day assignment last night.

"Nope, we didn't take any notes this week. We just preformed dissections." She looked a little green when she said that. "I think we're doing another one today..."

"Oh, my." Tsubaki sighed in woe, resigning herself to a few hours of having to cut open a dead animal as their professor ranted on and on with utter glee about cutting something open and poking around its insides...

Half an hour passed, and just as Tsubaki was shutting her eyes, holding a scalpel over the stiff chest of a bird (one she couldn't remember the name of because she was chiding Black Star to keep quiet), she heard an irritated sigh come from beside her.

Tsubaki watched Maka prod Soul in the ribs with the back of her scalpel, the boy raising his head and opening one lazy eye to regard her.

"Wake up, Soul, do you want to fail this class, too?" She hissed at him. "I already have to take after school classes because you failed History of Souls 101!"

"Relax, Maka, it's just one class." Soul yawned. "It's not so bad."

"Not so bad? Not so bad! Do you have ANY idea how much this makes me look bad? I'm top of the class yet I have to take after school tutoring just because YOU'RE too much of an idiot to pass a simple history class!"

"Hey!" Soul snapped, defensively. "The only reason I didn't pass the class was because I never went, stupid. It's not like I can't pass it if I actually TRIED..."

"Then TRY!"

Soul rolled his eyes. "That's not—!"

"I swear on my A, that if you say 'cool', I'll knock you out with this book on proper dissection faster than you can transform into your scythe mode!" She threatened darkly, fingers inching closer to the thick volume.

He was silent for a second. "...that's not socially acceptable."

"MAKA CHOP!"

"OUCH—DAMN IT, I DIDN'T SAY COOL—URGH!"

Tsubaki paled while Soul K.O.'d and Maka dusted her book off in satisfaction.

But instead of going back to her dissection as per usual, Maka reached forward and gently laid his head in a more comfortable position on his arms, fingers lingering a second too long on his cheek before moving away; that same fond smile playing on her lips...

But the third time was what really convinced her.

It was the deal maker; the one that confirmed the thought Tsubaki had been playing with for the past few weeks: dating.

Oh, they were dating alright – unless taking detours from home and to Shibusen's narrow hallways was a normal thing between meister's and weapons.

And she assured you: it wasn't.

Black Star has been rather loud these past few weeks, Tsubaki mused quietly to herself, giggling at her thought. Well, LOUDER than usual, that is. I wonder why... But she knew why: it was because he had finally managed to withstand holding her in Demon Sword mode for more than two hours before succumbing to the overbearing power and crashing to the floor in a heap of limbs.

She shifted the box of textbooks she had kindly decided to deliver to her History of Souls 102 classroom for Professor Sid in her arms. She liked doing little jobs for her teachers – she always transferred the extra credit she received to Black Star's grade, thus rising it up to a decent score.

She was about to pass a hallway when voices stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Soul! Quit it! Let's just go home already!" Maka's worried voice came from around the corner.

"Would you stop worrying so much? No one uses these halls anyways. We're fine."

"But, what if someone—!"

Tsubaki felt her face slowly redden when she caught the faint sound of a moan. The box clenched tighter in her grasp and she felt terribly awkward just standing there like some creep, listening to her close friends partake in the most intimate of actions – well, at least to her it was far too intimate.

Especially in public.

Although, she rationalized with herself, they WERE in the most isolated part of the school, shoved into a usually empty hall, eating each others faces off, so it was TECHNICALLY justified as private—!

"Can't we just go home?" She sounded breathless, like she hadn't taken a breath since forever, and Tsubaki had the unnerving feeling this hadn't been the first time they had done this...

I shouldn't be here, she found herself thinking, eyes wide with panic. I really shouldn't be here...

"But we're having so much fun," came Soul's husky drawl, before Tsubaki heard the smack of lips against skin. "You're just being scandalous..."

"WHOSE being scandalous?" Maka grounded out.

Tsubaki could just imagine Soul smirking lazily at her indignant face.

He took on a dangerously teasing tone. "You heard me."

Tsubaki was appalled to hear equal deviousness in Maka's usually friendly and strong voice. It was something she wished she had NEVER heard. "I'll show YOU scandalous..."

Tsubaki made a strangled noise in the back of her throat when she heard the – no doubt – slam of a body shoved roughly against a wall before she hightailed right out of there, the box of textbooks be damned for she would rather listen to a 5 hour story-telling on Excalibur's life than have to listen to her friends make-out in the hall.

Tsubaki sat peacefully on the ledge of the roof at Shibusen, watching the bruised skyline slowly grow dark with nightfall as she mused about her scythe meister friend.

Black Star stood beside her on the same ledge, watching the sunset with an easy smile on his face.

Despite popular belief, Black Star was actually far more calm when it was simply the both of them than when he was in public; he had an image to keep when he was in viewing-range but with her, the person who coveted his secrets and practically lived with him, there were no pretenses needed to be kept.

He was himself.

And Black Star was quite the silent type when they were alone.

"Hey, is that Soul and Maka?" Black Star squinted, squatting down for cover in case Soul decided to look up.

Tsubaki beamed at the action.

He was becoming a better assassin every day!

She made a mental note to cook him his favourite dish tonight as a reward before answering.

"I think so." Tsubaki peered down, at the two people she recognized as Soul and Maka, who walked out of Shibusen side-by-side. "Maka told me she had to stay behind in Sid sensei's class with Soul for extra lessons since he failed an exam."

"Oh, yeah!" Black Star grinned in remembrance. "That was the day we ditched class and went out for burgers!" He rubbed his belly, nearly drooling at the thought.

Tsubaki just sighed. "Didn't you fail the exam, too?" Although it wouldn't matter – she had more than enough extra credit to cover him if he did bomb the test.

"Nah!" Black Star hopped back up to his feet, cracking his neck with a sigh of relief. "The great Black Star has no time for humanly things like exams!"

"You failed it, didn't you?"

"...Kind of, yeah." He sheepishly laughed, scratching the back of his head.

Tsubaki smiled wearily. "I'm surprised Sid sensei hasn't made us make it up yet." Even though Black Star received her extra credit, Sid usually made them take extra lessons after classes in order to shove some intelligence into the loud-mouthed ninja.

Tsubaki didn't necessarily care – she was fine with taking extra lessons; it merely helped her grasp a clearer understanding of the subject.

Although, she could do without the blue-haired boy's whining whenever it happened...

"Eh, who cares about that rotting piece of meat!" Black Star scoffed. His eyes gleamed suddenly. "Unless he's finally realized that God's have no need for—WHOA!" His eyes went to the size of saucers and Tsubaki started when Black Star gawked in the direction of Soul and Maka, pointing wildly at them. "No way! No way! They're an item now?"

"Huh!" Tsubaki exclaimed frantically, snapping her head down to them, blinking when she saw Maka was clinging onto Soul laughingly while he held her by the waist, looking exasperated although the slight grin on his face stated otherwise.

The petite girl leaned up and pecked him on the lips, earning, from what Tsubaki could see, an embarrassed groan.

Maka just laughed.

Tsubaki would have cooed at the scene if it weren't for her partners loud mouth.

"WHOOOO!" Black Star hooted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "GO SOUL! THE ALMIGHTY BLACK STAR KNEW YOU WERE TAPPING THAT ALL ALONG!"

Tsubaki covered her face in embarrassment when Soul and Maka whipped their heads up to see them on the ledge, Black Star grinning madly and shouting out things Tsubaki would much rather not hear – much less say.

The shadow weapon whimpered when Black Star began cracking bad bedroom jokes.

She glimpsed Soul flipping him off through the gaps of her fingers, which only made the assassin burst into peels of laughter.

This was going to be the scandal of the week, by the way Black Star kept yelling...

She wondered if Maka would knock Black Star out before the day was over.

She dearly hoped not.

Not only because she hated seeing Black Star in pain, but because he would be heavy to carry back home all by herself.

Conclusion of Observation: Maka and Soul were, indeed, dating.

Result of Observation: Fifteen hours of extensive care for Black Star, whom had been beat to a bloody mess with three different types of textbooks by one furious Maka Albarn.

Tsubaki made note to be extra careful when conducting these types of investigations: she'd have to distract Black Star with something least the boy get himself into more trouble than he was worth...