Disclaimer: I do not by any means own Soul Eater.
*
"Ohhhhh..." Maka groaned as she slumped over to her bed and fell face first into her awaiting cushions. Not even bothering to remove her clothes, she let herself drift off to sleep. Right before she was pulled into an exhaustion induced dreamland, she felt her boots being tugged gently off her feet, and her coat being eased over her shoulders. I guess Soul isn't as tired as I am.... And then Maka allowed herself to fall into the waiting depths of her sleep deprived mind.
*
"Maka....Maka.......MAKA!! Wake up now! If you don't get up we're going to miss our first morning class!" Upon the suggestion of missing school on her account, Maka sat bolt upright and her head collided with his. Both winced in pain, but Maka cried out because she already had a headache to begin with. "Ouch, Soul...wait what time is it?"
"Close to 8:00am." He seemed calm, but he watched as the horror started to grow in Maka's tired eyes.
"Oh no! I have to get up right now." This however was probably not the most intelligent thing to do at the moment. As her feet hit the ground, her vision hazed. If Soul hadn't noticed his meister start to tip sideways, she would have fallen right to the hard wood of the floor.
"Ohhhhh...." She could only groan as Soul began to shake her gently.
"Maka, Oi Maka! Are you okay?" The concern in his voice is what eventually began to rouse her brain into gear again.
Blinking, Maka could only clear her throat as she tried to complete a coherent thought. "I'm fine Soul, just a little bit groggy." Her head cleared more as she spoke, and she slowly eased herself out of his grasp. Leaning back onto her bed, Maka looked into Soul's eyes. She tentatively noticed that there was concern laced in with his usual "too cool for school" attitude.
Unable to face such attention for much longer, Maka looked down and noticed that she was no longer wearing entirely what she had been the previous day. Her tie, sweater, and skirt that she wore had all been removed leaving her with her blouse and shorts she had chosen to wear underneath. Recalling back memories from the previous night, Maka only remembered Soul removing her boots and coat. Her calm visage was soon replaced with that of a scowl as she pieced together what must have happened.
Noticing his Meister's rapidly changing move, Soul narrowly missed a half hearted Maka chop. "Soul, might I ask why I'm only wearing half of what I was yesterday?" Becoming eerily silent, Soul was afraid to answer.
"It…would have been awkward to sleep in so many layers…I thought you would be more comfortable that way?" He formed it as a question, closing his eyes, waiting to be impaled by another one of Maka's large tomes. Instead, Maka sighed and said, "You're probably right."
Blinking, Soul watched in confusion as his Meister went to her dresser, grabbed another set of clothes, and headed off to the bathroom. That girl never ceases to amaze. He thought as he wandered back into the kitchen.
*
Soon enough both were ready to leave the apartment, and rushed to school via Soul's motor cycle. Normally Maka would just hold onto the seat to stay on, but this time she cautiously put her arms around Soul's waist and rested her head on his back. Surprised by her actions, but far from objecting, Soul merely nodded to himself and drove to Shibusen.
While driving, he pondered his Meister's further odd actions from that morning. When given the option of breakfast, she flat out refused, and without further explanation returned to her room. A few moments later he had heard a crash, but when he knocked on the door she professed that she was fine, and refused to let him in.
All too soon they had arrived at their school. Soul parked, and was about to get off the bike when he found that he was being kept in place by a rather drowsy anchor. Turning his head, he looked down at his partner. He didn't know whether to smile, or frown in worry. She had fallen asleep, and was now putting her full weight against her weapon.
With a small sigh of hesitation, Soul turned around and put his hands on her shoulders. Lightly shaking her, Soul managed to wake Maka from her short nap. Groaning, she pulled a face and looked around disconcertedly. "Are we here already?"
"Yes, and if we don't hurry up, we're going to be later than we already are." For the second time that morning, Soul watched his friend's eyes light up with horror.
"Well we better hurry then." With a great deal of effort on Maka's part, she hoisted herself off Soul's bike. Pausing as she leant on it for support, Maka closed her eyes, then turned around and headed up the steps to the school. Following behind her rather than beside, Soul made sure to watch her every move, lest she loose her footing and fall. He knew it would be impossible to keep her from school, but he would have to keep a close eye on her all the while.
*
They had not entered the room with much dignity, but that was of no concern to their teacher. He only cared that they had showed up. Missions had been quite hard on the pair as of late, and he was becoming concerned with their well being.
"Ahh, well I guess you two finally decided to show up. Take your seats quickly, and I will continue the lecture." Stein turned around and wrote more notes on the board for the class to copy down.
As the two walked to their seats at a slow pace, Maka caught her foot on nothing and stumbled. Had it not been for Soul, she would have fallen down the steps of the many levelled room. All eyes turned, and many faces lit up with surprise. Maka Albarn was known for her grace and poise.
Thoroughly embarrassed of herself, she silently thanked Soul and took herself out of his arms. "Sorry Stein Sensei, I must have slipped." Clearing out her throat, she walked to her seat, followed closely by Soul.
At a loss for words, Stein merely cleared his own throat, and continued with the lesson. Maka focused all her attention on the lesson, completely unaware that she was being watched not only by her Weapon, but by five other pairs of concerned eyes.
*
Barely managing to make it through the day without any further intimate meetings with the ground, Maka walked ahead of her friends and paid little attention to their typical outrageous banter.
"Black Star, could you please calm down? We're just going to play basketball." Liz turned to said hyper Meister, and frowned at him.
"No way! I need to get fired up if I want to win!"
Suddenly Maka zoned back into reality. She by no means had enough energy to be able to handle physical activity of any kind. Maka gained the attention of her companions and spoke, "Actually guys, I think I might just go home. I didn't know your guys wanted to play sports." It was typical of Maka to refuse to play sports, but this comment still made her friends worry of her well being.
Tsubaki was the first to reply, "Umm Maka-are you feeling alright? You've seemed…distracted all day."
"I'm fine, just a little tired from all the missions. You know that Soul and I have been really busy lately." Even with knowing how busy Soul and Maka were, it still didn't account for her change in attitude, and constant drowsiness.
"Even so, we would be much happier if you would accompany us to play basketball." Kid looked at her with his unreadable expression, and waited for her reply.
Sure that she was going to regret her decision, Maka finally agreed to go with them. When they arrived at the basketball court, the group of friends split into two teams. Maka was passed the ball initially, but quickly threw it to her nearest team mate, Patty. Laughing manically, Patty enthusiastically received the ball, and proceeded to complete a lay up.
They had played for a total of twenty minutes when Maka started to feel dizzy again. As she stumbled, heading towards to side of the court, someone passed her the ball. Unable to realize this until the last second, the ball hit her in the side of the head, and knocked her to the ground. Still awake, but refusing the move, Maka lay on the cement wondering how she ended up there so quickly.
Frightened by her fall, her friends quickly ran to her. Soul reached her first and turned her over. Placing her head in his lap, he called to her repeatedly. After a few moments of more unclear thoughts, Maka opened her eyes and watched as her friends faces focused slowly into view. "Ohhhh…what happened?"
"You fell Maka-Oh, I'm sorry for passing you the ball! I thought you were paying attention." Tsubaki apologized profusely, but was silenced when Maka spoke again.
"It's alright Tsubaki, it wasn't your fault. I was just getting a drink of water, and wasn't paying attention. We can start playing again right now once I get up…" Her friends remained unconvinced of her quick recovery, and watched as she struggled to get back on her feet. She only managed to get as far as shakily kneeling, before falling back into Soul's waiting arms. "…Or maybe not." Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes for a few mores seconds before trying again.
This time Soul held in place. "Maka, you're clearly not okay! Tell us what's wrong!"
Opening her eyes again, she looked into Soul's face, and watched him frown uneasily. "I…I'm just tired…"
However she was quickly cut off as her other friends began to voice their opinions on the matter. "You're obviously not Maka! Who can collapse, and say their okay one moment later!" Liz and Patty looked at each other and nodded decidedly.
"No more basketball. If you're really this tired, then you need to rest." Soul helped her to her feet, but kept supporting most of her weight.
"But I have homework, and it's my turn to make dinner and-" Maka protested, but was cut herself off as she felt another wave of fatigue wash over her. This time it was laced with nausea, and she had to reluctantly pull herself away from Soul and towards to nearest garbage can.
As she released what little she had eaten that day, Soul ran over and comforted her as much as he could. The rest could only watch with increasing concern as Maka trembled and shuddered from sheer exertion.
*
This will be a two shot, so not very long, but I hope it's interesting.
-Pink Pagoda