Inside Maka and Soul's Apartment
Soul was lazing around in the living room slouching on the larger of the apartments two cushy orange couches. He propped his feet up on the coffee table after turning on some jazz; he promptly started shaking his foot in rhythm with the music like a metronome. He was enjoying the peace of not having anyone around to bother him. It was a comfortable Saturday afternoon in Death City and both of the girls he lived with had decided to go out for the day; Blair was gone to strut around the city in search of free food and men and Maka was spending her day at the library like a typical bookworm. Soul was appreciative to have some alone time where he could just listen to music, eat, and do absolutely nothing without worrying about Maka coming and breathing down his neck.
A while back Soul and Maka had gone on a mission to Italy to find an evil human soul and after they had found and defeated it Maka had detected another unusual soul nearby. The soul was inside a church and assuming it was another meister and weapon the two of them investigated. That was a mistake. Inside they encountered The Demon Sword Master ,Corona, whose weapon ,Ragnarok, resides permanently inside of his…her…its blood. The pair put up as good of a fight as possible against the strange meister but ultimately the two were cornered as they attempted to flee. They were overpowered because of Corona's ability to use black blood; an artificially made black blood cell which gave Corona the upper hand during the battle since Corona's blood hardened to defend against all of Maka's attacks and Ragnarok was able to injure Soul even in his weapon form. The situation was looking bleak and Maka feared for Soul's safety but he told her he was willing to die for her, and refuses to back down. He lived up to his word as he shielded Maka with his own body causing him to receive a blow to his chest in order to protect her. Soul had only retained enough consciences afterward to urge his meister to try and escape when Professor Stein and Maka's father Spirit appeared. From what Maka had told him the adults had defeated Corona and Ragnork but they got away when a witch appeared and allowed them to escape but Soul didn't remember any of this since he was lights out up until some time after Stein had operated on him back at the DWMA.
Soul gripped at his orange shirt right in the middle of his chest where underneath a large scar now stretched diagonally down his torso from his left shoulder to the right side of his waist. He remember his adrenaline pumping as the searing pain shot through his whole body when he sustained the blow and tried to think of something else. It had already been a little over a month since the incident but it seemed like it had only happened a day or two ago to him and he knew Maka felt the same way. She had been annoyingly clingy and overly concerned over every little thing possible since he woke in the hospital but the worse part of being around her now was that she never was able to look at him anymore. Every time they talked or he caught her staring at him he knew she was thinking about that day and was picturing his scare. Maka blamed herself for everything and has not been able to over come her guilt which Soul could not understand. To him bothering to dwell on what happened was ridiculous and a waste of energy that could be better used to gather souls. It's his life and he will always be willing to die if it meant sparing Maka's life at the drop of a hat ,since after all that was his job as a weapon. Maka just couldn't get it through her head that she was never going to stop him from making that same decision again in a heartbeat if he chose to make it so why couldn't she just try and forget this even happened? But Soul knew he and Maka were not going to see eye to eye just yet. It was going to take time for her to come to terms with everything so he would suffer through her smothering a while longer and not take for granted the few hours of solitude he had today.
This was the first day he had gotten a chance to enjoy the tranquility of being on his own in a long time and he wasn't about to waste it thinking about Maka's issues. He and Maka lived together, went to school together, ate their meals together, and hung out with their friends together so there was never much of their time spent apart. And now there was Blair the cat living with them and she decided he was her human play thing so there was never any peace with her around. Somehow though everything worked out well with all of them living together and they had been trying to assimilate back into their typical routine since Soul came home from the hospital. But with Maka being so touchy over every thing lately he didn't have the heart to mention that it didn't seem to be completely healed just yet. While his chest wound had closed Stein had told him that his bloodstream had been invaded by the black blood during the fight against Corona; his condition was stable but Stein was not sure how long that would last. Once a person was infected with black blood it fills the infected soul with madness, great power and any number of other consequences could be ahead. He hadn't bee too worried about anything going wrong until he started to feel slightly off for the past few weeks and some other strange symptoms. For the moment nothing seemed to be bad enough that he had to bring it to anyone's attention but he was unsure how much longer Maka, Blair, or the others would go without noticing.
The boy turned his head as he heard a key turning in the lock, "Soul we're back. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" Maka strolled in carrying a handful of books and a bag of groceries with Blair trailing close behind her in her cat form.
"I feel the same as I did the last time you asked me. Fine. And if I need anything I can get it myself."
"I was just checking is all. You were by yourself all day so I didn't know if you were ok or not. Did you eat anything? Blair and I got food." Maka went and put her books on the kitchen table and started unpacking the groceries as Blair jumped on the couch besides Soul.
"Yeah," was all Soul could manage to say as he felt his stomach start to gurgle and tense up. "I'm going to jump in the shower." Soul tried to casually make his way to the bathroom as both Maka and Blair watched him till he had closed the door behind him. The young meister stood looking at the bathroom door as Blair came and leapt onto the counter.
Maka called out to Soul , "Ummm…well what do you want me to make for dinner tonight then? I will make anything you want, it's no big deal." There was no answer so she called out again, "Soul? Did you hear me?" but she went unanswered again as she heard the shower turn on. The girl sighed as she started washing some vegetables in the sink ,feeling slightly rejected.
She couldn't help but notice that she and Soul had been becoming distant lately and because they were somewhat forced to be together all the time it only made the situation more awkward. Their apartment was not very big and while she knew she had been a bit overbearing lately Soul seemed to be trying to find more ways to separate himself from her and taking a shower was something new he had started doing.
"There he goes again. As many showers as he takes you would think the boy had germ phobia or something." Blair looked up at Maka, " Go on, tell me what your thinking."
" I know I have been a bit much to deal with lately but him avoiding me like this is just plain rude. I wish he could just talk to me." Maka started chopping the vegetables as Blair nodded her head and curled up on the counter.
Soul had heard Maka talking to him through the bathroom door but answering her was the last thing on his mind as he went to the shower and turned it on full blast before vomiting into the toilet. He had been attempting to still eat what he considered to be a regularly sized meal but he was finding this difficult because he found out the hard way that when he ate too much he usually vomited it all up soon after. This only happened every once in a while until about a week ago where Soul now would have to pretend he needed to take a shower so he could be sick without either of the girls knowing. He felt bad about being rude when one of them would ask him something and he would be unable to answer but he didn't want them to know anything about this. The sound of the running water covered up the sound of him gagging so whenever he felt the need to throw up he would just get up, even in the middle of a conversation, and act as if he was taking a shower. It must have seemed like he was at times avoiding Maka and Blair but what other option did he have?
When he finished being sick he sat on the toilet seat to catch his breath as the room started to fill with steam. Usually he would puke, feel better, take a shower for real ,and go back to whatever he was doing but right now he was feeling worse. He sat for a long time until the entire room was like a sauna and he decided to take off his clothes and get in the shower leaving his clothes scattered on the tiled floor. The hot water trickling across his skin relaxed him and he closed his eyes to let it run down his face. He hadn't told anyone how he had been unwell lately, not even Stein or Dr. Medusa the last time he had his wound looked at. He had never been the type of person to talk about his problems and what if he was going to hear something he didn't want to? If he told the Professor how he had been vomiting everyday for a week or how he felt physically drained all the time the Professor would check him out along with Dr. Medusa and he was unsure if the diagnosis would be good. He did his best to convince himself that it probably was just an effect from his body trying to heal itself instead but moments like this made him wonder. It was just better to be quite about it, he was going to get over this soon he just knew it.
Soul quivered as his stomached gurgled more, "Ugh, not…cool." he moaned as everything started to spin and got out of focus.
His legs wobbled and he had to brace himself to keep from falling but luckily it passed just as quickly as it had happened and he was able to finish his shower but he was slightly shaken. Soul put a towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom letting the steam from the bathroom spill out after him. He dripped water as he made his way to his bedroom door that was on the other side of the kitchen opposite of Maka's but stopped halfway as Maka turned from the stove to lecture him.
Maka stood brandishing a wooden spoon, "How many times do I have to tell you to dry off after you take a shower Soul! I am sick of having to mop up puddles every time you get out." Her eyes traveled down his half naked body and she turned her head away from him," And is it so hard for you to at least wear a robe or something?" Maka blushed as she said this.
She and Soul had been living together for quite some time but she still never felt as comfortable about it as he did. He could lay around in his under wear in front of her or walk around practically nude like he was at the moment without a second thought but in her mind it was some what inappropriate. Not to mention Soul's scar was staring her straight in the face and made her have to hold back some tears as she remembered it was her fault he had been hurt so badly.
"Aww Soul is that nasty little girl yelling at you again? That is why you should forget about her and become mine! I would never yell at you the way she does. Huh Scythe-boy doesn't that sound nice?" Blair had turned back into her human form and was in her typical barely there attire of a too small tank top and panties.
The tall sexy woman rubbed her chest against Soul's bare back as she started to slide her hands down his torso toward the front of his towel making the boys nose bleed furiously before he made a dash toward his bedroom. He slammed the door behind him before wiping the blood from his nose on the towel as he listened to the women argue in the kitchen. If anything he could never say his life was dull. He went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of blue boxers with bones on them before flopping onto his bed. For no reason he suddenly felt drained of energy, that was a worsening problem he had been facing the past few days besides the sudden burst of dizziness. One moment he would feel fine the next he could hardly keep his eyes open and had to rest or felt like he had just gotten off of a merry-go-round. He laid down on his bed staring at the ceiling trying not to think about how strange he had been feeling lately while listening to Maka and Blair bicker about Blair's lack of decency before drifting off to sleep a few moments later.
In the kitchen Maka was busy finishing making dinner after she and Blair finished their squabble but her mind was elsewhere. She decided to make stew which she knew was one of Soul's favorites. She was thinking about how she knew she was smothering him with affection and how it had to be weird for Soul since she had never treated him like this before but it made her feel just a little bit better to do so. She was happy he was putting up with her for now till she could get over herself but from how he had been acting lately his patience must have been wearing thin.
She left the food to simmer and walked over to Soul's door, "Soul, dinner is going to be done in a minute so it's time to get up." she knocked a few times on his door but he didn't answer, "Soul?" Maka peeked inside and saw him asleep on his bed and went inside to wake him up but stopped next to his bedside.
He was laying on in his back with his mouth slightly ajar, Maka looked from his face down to the scar and felt her heart drop as her mind replayed that terrible moment once again for her. She went back to the door and looked out to see Blair was also napping in the living room and went back to Soul. She gently passed her fingertips across his chest as it slowly rose and fell ,this was the second or third time she found herself doing this while her partner was asleep. It was strange how tired he seemed to be nowadays but she was sure it was just his body trying to recover. The skin beneath her fingers was warm and rough and she couldn't help but smile as Soul started to snore a little but then she noticed his stomach seemed to be protruding.
She crouched down beside the bed, "Maybe I should cut back on how much food I give him, it looks like he his getting a bit of belly." she gently poked it and saw Soul's face grimace with discomfort. "That doesn't seem good I barely touched him."
She pressed her right hand into his stomach while applying just enough pressure not to wake her partner but to conclude his stomach was giving him a great deal of pain as he groaned in his sleep. This wasn't anything she felt she should fly off the handle about just yet but she was defiantly going to be watching Soul even closer from now on to see if there were any more problems he was not telling her about.