Author's note:
Hi! So another Kiwi fic, featuring our newest conspirator (and Soul Eater addictee) Strawberry! :) ( Don't judge, we happen to love the fruit names)
I honestly have no idea where this story came from, but the amount of hours we spent slaving over it is enough to make any person go nuts.
So enjoy, and please review so I can know if it's crap-tastic or not. Yay! Kiwi is just gonna go sleep now. *dies*
Soul was alone for the night. The apartment he shared with her was quiet aside from the half-muted sounds coming from the television and the soft breathing from the curled up purple cat sleeping beside him.
Maka had been out almost every night for the past couple weeks, coming home in between the times of midnight and 2:00am. She always left the apartment wearing fancier outfits than usual, more dresses instead of jeans, blouses aside from tank-tops and often came home looking rather disheveled, with her hair out of it's signature pigtails plastered slightly to her neck with sweat and sticking up in odd spots.
She claimed to be going to "night classes" or "studying at the library", Soul however, had his own suspicions about her whereabouts and what she was up to almost every night
She was seeing someone.
And it made him absolutely furious.
Sighing, he put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, bowing his head and running his fingers through his hair. He sat like this for several minutes, his brain whirling and unintentionally sorting through every other possible scenario.
Finally it landed back on the one of Maka with another man... One who was unbearably good-looking and romantic, one who could express how he felt about Maka with confidence and assurance and in turn have her realize that he was everything she could want in a man.
Everything that Soul was not. He watched the forming image in his head with mortification and some kind of disturbing fascination. His instincts told him to put the thought away, to lock it in a safe in the back of his consciousness, but at the same time his minds eye could not be torn from it. It continued developing against Souls will.
He watched as Maka and the imaginary man slowly and deliberately moved towards each other, their forms vividly contrasted against a stark white background, eventually entangling themselves in each others arms and engaging in a deep passionate kiss. Soul's gut churned violently and he was forced back to reality. He looked around the empty apartment and decided he couldn't take it any longer. He needed the truth and he would get it, even if it didn't come from Maka herself.
Standing up, he grabbed his black leather jacket that was hanging over the arm of the couch, picked up his keys and walked out the door.
He hurried down the stairs and out to his bike, powering it up and speeding off to the next best source of information... After all, girlfriends told each other everything did they not? It was like some uncontrollable urge they had. If they had secrets, their best girlfriends inevitably knew them, after-all what fun is a secret kept a secret? Soul smirked bitterly to himself. He knew just where to begin his interrogation... Tsubaki.
Tsubaki was doing the dishes when she heard the knock on the door. Putting the plate down, she grabbed a towel and began drying her hands with it.
"Black Star! Can you get that?" she called into the small apartment. She cringed as she heard a small crash and said boy walked out of the bathroom a few seconds later, his clothes and hair completely soaked, leaving a small trail of water.
"What happened?" She asked, slightly alarmed. He shrugged.
"The shower rod couldn't handle my Godliness." he stated simply, and continued walking towards the front door, leaving a very confused Tsubaki in his wake. She went back to her dishes as she heard the door open and her partner shout in glee.
"SOUL! What's up man! Whatcha doing here so late? Come to visit your God?" he exclaimed. "Come on in."
"Not now Black Star." She heard Soul reply, "I need to talk to Tsubaki."
Tsubaki still had her back to the boys, but she was now very still. A surge of panic shot through her body and her throat constricted. She had been afraid that she would eventually have to face this situation. Sometimes, she wished Maka didn't tell her anything.
"Tsubaki?" Black Star yelled, "Why would you want to talk to her? I'm the awesome one here!" He casted a bewildered and slightly concerned look upon his partner and turned it once again to his best friend.
Tsubaki, now facing Soul, composed herself and turned her pretty face to Black Star. Taking a deep breath , she asked sweetly ,"Black Star, would you mind going to Stein and asking for the information about our next mission. I'm dying to know about it and you are the ONLY one who can ask him!"
Black Star was still slightly suspicious but she had played to his ego and that worked every time.
"I guess so..." he said hesitantly, "I mean Professor Stein would have to give me the information because I AM the greatest and I will surpass god, so he can't deny the great Black Star... But why do you have to know now? He's giving us the mission in the morning! That's less than 12 hours from now!"
"Please Black Star?' Tsubaki pleaded, "I really want to find out now, and your the only one who can convince Stein to tell us about it early!"
Black Star considered this for a minute and made up his mind. "ALRIGHT, of course I'll do it! I like a challenge, although this won't be much of a challenge, Stein will have to give in right away! But it's more exciting than anything else going on tonight. Alright Tsubaki, you got it. Stein, I'M COMING FOR YOU! YAHOOOOO!" And he sprinted out of the apartment at a speed that Soul and Tsubaki's eyes could barely follow.
Tsubaki, still looking at the door, was slightly regretting sending Black Star away. She felt Souls eyes on her before he spoke.
"You know Stein will never tell him about the mission early, he will be there for hours. But that was your intention obviously."
Tsubaki turned her eyes on the white haired boy. "What do you need Soul?" she attempted to sound as innocent as possible.
He glared at her with his piercing red eyes. "I think you know why I'm here Tsubaki." he replied flatly.
Tsubaki faltered slightly under his gaze and instead averted hers to look down at her hands. "No, I really don't Soul."
Silence ensued, Tsubaki kept her eyes on her hands while Souls eyes bored into her, she could feel him willing her to crack and spill Maka's secret like she would a glass of milk. He knew she was a terrible liar but Tsubaki had made a promise to Maka not to tell Soul, or anybody for that matter, and she NEVER broke a promise.
"Tsubaki..." Soul whispered, she could hear the pain in his voice and her heart wept for him. Why did she make these promises? "Where has Maka been going at night? I know you know, she must have told you something." He was silent for a moment. "Is...is she...seeing someone?" he finally asked.
Tsubaki looked back up at Souls face and saw there were lines of exhaustion and deep emotional torment etched into it. She couldn't help herself, with a desire to ease at least some of the pain he was obviously feeling, she spoke up.
"Listen Soul, I made a promise to Maka that I wouldn't tell you what she was doing specifically. However, to be as unspecific as possible...Maka is NOT seeing anyone... She is however using certain... Shall we say talents... Of hers to make some money. She was embarrassed about it so that's why she didn't tell you." Tsubaki finished compassionately.
A few seconds later, she realized that her choice of wording was very very wrong. Soul's eyes widened in horrified shock.
"Talents?' he choked out, "Is she a PROSTITUTE?"
"WHAT? No! Soul that's not what I mea-" She was cut off by Soul's groaning.
"Maka... This is so not cool! GAHH!" He had his hair clutched in his hands and he definitely looked like he was ready to pull all of it out. It was quite frightening, Tsubaki backed herself up against the wall and tried to make herself as small as possible. 'I really need to learn to choose my words more carefully' she told herself. Soul was still pacing around her apartment muttering Makas name combined with several profanities and some very inappropriate words. All of the sudden he stopped and stood panting with his back to Tsubaki. Slowly he turned to face her and after what seemed like an hour met her eyes.
He was very angry and when he spoke his voice was menacing and low.
"Some friend you are. How could you let her do something like this?"
Before she could even muster up a reply he was out the door and gone. She stood in silence and contemplated whether to be offended by Soul's comment but she decided that he didn't mean what he said in the heat of anger ,or at least he wouldn't once he found out the truth.
'Boys' Tsubaki rolled her eyes 'were such drama queens'.
Soul was back out on the streets of Death City, his level of distress had elevated impossibly to an even higher degree than it was at before his little "chat" with Tsubaki. Again his mind began whirling and churning, showing Maka doing things far worse than kissing. These images made him feel wretchedly ill. He needed to see her, talk to her but at the same time he knew he couldn't face her.
'I need a drink.' he thought to himself. No, correction, he needed a LOT of drinks. He turned in the direction of the D.C Lounge and walked, his shoulders hunched and hands shoved deep into his pockets, looking very defeated and depressed to the few people he passed. Even though in reality the trip to the lounge was three minutes it felt to Soul like three hours, simply due to the torture his mind inflicted upon him.
He entered the lounge, walking right past the bouncers who didn't dare question him even in his current fragile state, he'd been here before. Although the lounge was generically named, the lounge itself was a far cry from it. It was lavish and intoxicating, the lights were dim and the murmuring people created a dull warm buzz in the air. He let himself feel a particularly partial connection to it because the main color scheme consisted of a deep blood red and black.
His favorite colors. The long bars were stationed at both the right and left side of the lounge. The counter tops were a gleaming black marble with red veining through the stone and the bar stools were black with silver hardware and red cushions. The walls were also red although deeper than the bar stools, Almost a red-black. The carpet was a deep burgundy. Beautiful black Victorian style pillars supported the structure lending both aesthetic and structural function. At the back of the lounge was a large stage framed by long draping red velvet curtains, and equipped with a black grand piano and a microphone. A massive crystal chandelier hung center stage, throwing shards of white light all over the room. Someone was obviously performing later tonight judging by the men on the stage doing set up.
Soul veered towards the bar on the left. He sat himself between a middle aged man with bald spots wearing a suit and a touchy- feely couple who had shoved their stools together and were whispering in each other's ears. He sighed and waved the bartender over.
"Tequila please." he told him as soon as he had gotten his attention. The bartender raised an eyebrow but didn't question even though it was painfully obvious Soul was still underage.
Soul waited as he fixed his drink and slid it in front of him, then lifting it to his lips he took a sip of the strong liquor. It was bitter and made his mouth taste awful, but it took away some of the tightness in his chest, so he took another.
"Hey kid," Soul looked up to see the bartender addressing him, "You here to see the Angel tonight?"
Soul simply shook his head and immediately ordered another shot. After his sixth or seventh shot, an announcer came on stage. Soul was hardly listening, his back turned to the stage. He was still very much intent on drowning his sorrows.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" the announcer exclaimed vivaciously, "Please welcome once again, the extremely talented, and exceedingly lovely... ANGEL!"
The entire room burst into ecstatic applause, but Soul, in his stupor, snickered at the stage name.
"Lameeee... Who calls them self Angel?" His voice took on a mocking falsetto tone on the last word. "Hey Bar Dude! Gimme another shot." he yelled gesturing at his empty glass. But the bartender wasn't looking, he like everyone else in the room, had his eyes fixated on the stage.
The music started, smooth piano chords and a jazzy sound overtook the room. Then a woman's voice floated beautifully out into the lounge, singing with a smooth soothing voice.
"Strong affection, a warm and sweet regard,
Infatuation, fire burning in your heart.
So many ways to say, how I know you're feeling,
What makes you hesitate, there is no rhyme or reason."
Something stirred inside Soul, this woman's voice, it was entrancing, delicate and
beautiful, but also somehow ... familiar.
"What's got you shaking, quaking the most?
White as a sheet like you've seen a ghost.
Time to admit you've found what keeps this whole word spinnin' round."
The siren continued singing. Soul had to turn around, he had to see the source of thebeautiful voice that had him so hypnotized. So he turned, and what he saw on stage blew himaway. Angel wasn't just any girl.
Angel was Maka.
But a Maka Soul had never seen before.
She was enrobed in a deep green satin dress that off set her eyes perfectly, it fell to a couple inches above the knee, showing off her stellar legs. It was a halter style and very fitted at the torso emphasizing her elegantly muscular build. The skirt flowed loosely out at the hips and intricate black beadwork was masterfully woven throughout the dress. Her ash blonde hair was curled and pinned back with some expertly placed loose strands framing her delicate face. Her eyes were made up heavily with smoky eye makeup giving her an extremely sultry appearance and sheer pink lipgloss graced the lips that had crossed Soul's mind so often.
Maka was always the most beautiful girl he had ever seen but tonight she transcended even that title. She was a goddess in her own right, and he was deeply under her spell.
She was singing, her eyes sometimes closing and hips swaying to the beat. Her backup singers and pianist were perfectly in tune with her series of notes and pitches and she was completely absorbed in her song.
She loved doing this, being in front of an audience, whisking people away on her voice to where ever it took them, she loved the energy and surprisingly, she loved being center stage, the focus of everyone in the room. She hadn't planned on that, she had only taken the job because she had wanted to understand her partner's love for music better (and it never hurt have have a couple extra bucks for rent), she had never planned on developing a passion for it.
But she had, and it was deep.
This passion however, was vastly different from her passion of being a meister. Though they both came inevitably with the adrenaline, her passion for being a meister came from being able to serve under the great Death god and prevent evil from overcoming the world. It came from her love for people, and her belief that she made an impact on making the world a better and safer place.
Her passion for being a meister also came from another source... her weapon.
Soul made all of it worth it.
The feeling in her music came ultimately from him too, her feelings and raw emotions all piled together in a series of phrases and notes. She still felt ashamed for not telling him about her job... but she knew he would think it was stupid and self-indulgent.
Once the song ended she snapped out of her reverie and scanned the crowd, taking in and greatly appreciating the expressions of awe on each face. Some of them even had tears in their eyes. She revelled in the beauty of the idea that she could touch a person so deeply with something as simple as a song.
She stepped forward to take a bow but before she left the stage, a flash of vivid white in the back by the left bar caught her eye. She turned her head slightly as her own viridian eyes clashed with crimson. Her breath caught in her throat.
The expression on her weapons' face was indescribable, his maroon eyes were burning into her, a mixture of confusion and awe was swirling in their depths as he stared.
She blinked.
What the hell was he doing here?
A wave of shame suddenly overtook her. She broke eye contact with him and stared at the ground, then turned abruptly, thanked the piano player, and left the stage with the other singers as calmly as she could.
As soon as they entered the back room, she grabbed the nearest girl by the wrist.
"Lauren," she breathed as the pretty black haired girl blinked her gray eye's in confusion, "You have to help me."
"What's up Maka?" Another girl, Sam asked her as she slipped on her coat.
"I...I need you to switch jackets with me." She asked, letting go of Lauren's wrist and clasping her hands together a mock plea, her expression hopeful.
"Uh..." the other girl looked slightly taken aback, "Sure I guess. Why?"
"I..can't tell you. But I swear I'll give it back to you." Maka bit her lip as Lauren handed her the jacket. It was much larger than her own, and had a hood too. Perfect. She slipped it over her slight frame and took off for the back alley door.
"Thanks!" she called, waving at the still confused group of girl's who were left staring after her in her wake. Pushing open the back door, she was met with a gust of the chilly nighttime Nevada air. The small heels on her shoes clattered with the stones of the alleyway as she made her way around to the street, pulling the hood over her head of curled hair as she went.
Lot's of people were streaming out of the lounge now, it was easy to blend in to the crowd when she began her trek home, praying that she would make it there before her partner did.
Thinking of him, she glanced to her left and right quickly, making sure he wasn't anywhere near.
She breathed out a sigh of relief and suddenly went rigid again when she heard a low drawl come from behind her.
"You know... If you're trying to look inconspicuous, I'd suggest losing the hood."
She whirled around to find her partner leaning against the side of a lamp post, hands shoved deep inside his pockets. He was smirking slightly as he looked at her shell-shocked expression, red eye's glittering with mirth.
"How..." she choked, "How did you know it was me?"
He shrugged, pushing himself off the post and sauntering over to her. "Just figured you'd be trying to conceal your identity by doing something stupidly obvious."
He was lying. He recognized her by looking at her legs, though he'd never admit it. Only Maka would have creamy, well-defined long legs like that.
She was sputtering in indignation as he made his way over to her, stopping just a couple feet away. Noticing their closer proximity, Maka stopped her muttering, turned around, put her hood down and began walking in the direction of their apartment, Soul falling into step beside her.
There was a long moment of silence between the two as they walked through the streets of Death City, their path illuminated only by the street lights and glowing grin of the moon. Their footsteps clattered on the stoned streets, in perfect sync. It was a while before Soul decided to speak up.
"So..." he began nonchalantly, "Mind explaining all the sudden mendacity lately?"
Maka cringed, but continued walking, refusing to meet the stare she felt burning into the side of her head. Instead she focused her eye's forward and answered.
"What do you mean?"
Soul scoffed, "Yeah right. You know exactly what I'm talking about." He watched as her jaw became taut and her eye's steeled as they gazed forward. She took in a deep breath as he waited patiently for her to answer.
"What do you want to know?" She asked through clenched teeth.
Soul turned his gaze up to the stars, "I don't know, maybe why you've been lying about going to the library when you've really been going to sing at a club almost every other night?"
Maka was surprised at the calmness of his voice, she stopped walking and turned to look at him.
"You're not angry?" she asked hestitantly.
He brought his gaze down to find her looking at him with big, confused eyes. Sighing, he shrugged.
"Not really, what you were really doing is much better than any scenario I had come up with." He answered truthfully, gauging her expression. Her brow furrowed as she tried to decipher what he meant but he spoke again before she could think about it any more:
"But what I still wanna know is WHY you had to lie about it."
Maka bit her lip, looking away from him again. "I...I was afraid you'd laugh at me. Or make fun of me." she said finally, peeking at him to see his expression. He looked extremely confused and taken aback at her statement.
"Why would you think that?" he asked her.
"Because..." Maka sighed, if the truth was coming out, she might as well tell it all, "I was doing it to try and understand music better. To understand YOU better."
There was another moment of silence before Soul threw back his head and started laughing. Maka looked at him in shock as he pulled his hands out of his pockets and put them behind his head, face settling into a grin and began walking forward again.
She gaped then shook her head, jogging after him to catch up with his long strides. When she reached him, she rounded to his front and placed her hands on her hips and setting her feet down in an accusing manner.
"And that is so funny because?" she seethed at him. He just grinned and stepped around her, the two falling into step again.
"Well, considering Tsubaki made it sound like you had become a prostitute," he ignored her little gasp of disbelief, "I think the whole singing thing isn't so bad."
"So...you're really not angry then?" she asked him, temporarily putting aside the thought of gutting Tsubaki for nearly spilling her secret AND making it sound like she was doing something much, much worse.
"Nope." He wasn't angry at all. In fact, he was a little thrilled she had gone to so much effort just to try and understand him better. "Not at all."
Maka sighed in relief, glad that the unveiling of her secret had gone a lot smoother than she expected and the two settled into a comfortable silence once again. It was only when they had rounded the corner on the street their apartment was stationed at that Soul spoke up again.
"Hey Maka?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I come to your next show?"
"Not a chance."
The song Maka was singing is called L.O.V.E by Crystal Cote. I first heard it on a Telus commercial (the one with the cute little piggies) and soon scoured the internet to find it. It's actually a really great song, and it was categorized under the genre of "Soul"
so i thought it was even more fitting D check it out!
Oh, and you see that little button down there? Please click it and leave a review :)
They are very much appreciated.
LEMON HERE WITH A PS TO KIWI: I always knew you wanted my jacket ;)