DISCLAIMER:
I DO NOT own Soul Eater! It is a kickass storyline that is owned only by Atsushi Okubo, Square Enix, and Bones. The title, by the way, is a song by Skye Sweetnam that fits this story and the MakaxSoul pairing almost perfectly. So I don't own the title either. I take absolutely NO credit whatsoever! However…
ATTENTION: WARNING! VERY IMPORTANT! (This is Required; everything else is optional)
Before you even think about reading on, I want to make it perfectly clear the first time so that I don't end up with flames, angry readers, or ignorant readers or something. The characters are being put in a situation and world that is almost entirely different than the one they were born in, so they will inevitably stray from their personalities, sometimes a little, other times a lot. Some of the elements from the original story will remain the same, but most of them will be tweaked, twisted, and changed around. For example, in the original story the age range of the main characters was 12-16, but here it will be 14-19. BTW, I'm going to put them in a school similar to American schools because I know virtually nothing about Japanese high schools other than what I've learned from anime and manga, and that isn't much, so if nothing else, I will try to combine the two somehow (suggestions are welcome and some info would be awesome). Also, for those weak of stomach, underage, or find profanity intolerable, I suggest you stop reading now, because I'm not going to hold anything back. There WILL be full-on uncensored cursing, gore, and there is a strong possibility of explicit sexual content (could be rape, could be just sex, who knows, my stories usually write themselves). Everyone else, just kick back and enjoy! Story Rating may change depending on new chapter content. Reviews are strongly encouraged, suggestions are always welcome, critique is just as appreciated as compliments, flames will not be tolerated, and if you notice any errors at all (grammatical, sentences, wording, spelling, storyline, or otherwise), please don't be afraid to say something (I don't bite, I swear on my addiction to the scent and flavor of vanilla).
Here's the deal: Basically this story exists just to fill my satisfaction. I got the idea from a youtube video of soul eater which was MakaxSoul to the song "Love Story" by Tayler Swift, which is how I discovered this awesome anime/manga (both are awesome, which is rare). I originally thought it was a love story where Soul was a Shinigami or something who falls for Maka who is a simple high school girl with a life that's nothing but plain, but not like some chick flick for pansy cheerleaders or a slapstick movie for potheads. It gave me the idea of a dramatic action-filled supernatural romance, though at the time I was only aware of Soul and Maka. However, now that I've become acquainted with the other characters, I feel it's only fair to include them as well, and to put you at ease, this will be a strictly cannon character story. No made-up people from out of nowhere like I usually do, except for a few minor faceless/nameless characters that you'll probably never see more than once or twice (just for the record, btw, Chrona is going to be a girl). I'm not really sure exactly how this story will turn out, although I think its going to follow a dream or two of mine. I don't even expect it to last for more or less than 20 chapters, but we'll see as I try my damned hardest to make this the best fuckin' romance, drama, paranormal, action story you ever read.
Well, hopefully that should serve as a more decent summery. Obviously the main pairing is Soul and Maka, but there's also Black Star and Tsubaki and one other surprise, just don't get mad at me. I saw some pictures of it and I thought this rather interesting pairing was really cute, so I'm using it. There might be more pairings, but I don't know yet. Anyway, here it goes!
Chapter 0.5-A
Prelude Part 1 (Maka POV)
BAM! Right into the lockers. God, locks hurt, especially if they hit you in the back.
I cringed as my spinal chord sang with pain, but the only protest I uttered was a single grunt. Immediately after that, I sucked in air to hold my breath and keep the cries to a minimum. Somehow, I managed to remain standing at the same time. Even though it was true, I did not want to look like a weakling in front of them.
"Where are your little imaginary friends, now?" The boy's gray eyes flashed with something like amusement as he said it. "Shouldn't they be coming to your rescue or something? Oh, wait! Haha, silly me! Their not real anyway! Bad luck, huh?" The circle of people around us who were his friends and minions chuckled spitefully at his comment.
I didn't answer him, even when his hand suddenly shot out and violently struck the locker so close to my head that I almost jumped out of my skin. I had no doubt that he was going to hit me again, but still I glared at him defiantly, my gaze flickering to each adversary, checking to see who would make the next move so that I could steel myself for it.
"Hey, nutcase!" One of the boys behind us bellowed with a tone of frustration. "The guy asked you a question! I think you'd better answer or we might have to-!"
"Nah, let her stay silent," the gray-eyed boy sneered maliciously, "I wonder what else we can do to her before she'll cry and scream?"
His eyes flashed again, signaling to me that another attack was coming, so I tensed and waited. This wasn't the first time I had encountered these jocks, nor was it the first time that they had wanted to 'put me in my place', or so they called it. I was usually able to avoid them or dodge their battering, but they liked to catch me off guard, which was successful 5 times out of 10. When they did, they were too strong for me to fight off, so I had no choice but to take it. To make me shed tears or cry for help was their goal, and after about the third or fourteenth beating, I discovered that if I didn't want to give them what they wanted, it was easier not to struggle. I just hoped I wouldn't have to see a doctor again. To my disgust, if he had learned that he would need a new approach to catch me off guard, he did something that was totally unexpected.
"You know, freak..." He murmured as he leaned in close to smell my long hair, "You smell kind of nice..." one hand reaching out to stroke my pale skin from cheek to collar bone, "...And your skin is so soft... I wonder..." Something cold grazed the flesh of my neck, followed by a tiny pain with a sharp sting, and I realized that he was holding a blade to my throat. "...What would happen if I-?"
"What the hell, Marcus?" I cut him off, a very bold move on my part, but I had to distract them and get away somehow before this ended badly, which it undoubtedly would if I continued to be so submissive. "A blade? Gimme a break! There is no way anyone like you would be that stupid, not to mention this into a girl as undesirable as me." I happened to glimpse what appeared to me as a figure a good distance down the hallway. If that was help on the way –and I decided to play it off as though it was for my own peace of mind– I needed to keep my attackers on their toes. "You're the quarterback of Shibusen's football team, you've got a hot cheerleader girlfriend, you've been nominated for Homecoming King, just about everyone in school knows who you are, and you're actually willing to throw all that away? Just how much of your time do you really think I'm worth, anyway? No, seriously-!"
It was his turn to cut me off now, but instead of using words, Marcus decided he would act out his frustration by taking a tight hold of my throat and lifting me off the ground. It was actually no surprise to me, but I still spluttered and gasped in his cruel grip. By the rather shocked and pissed off glint in his eyes, I knew that I had been a little too bold. But now that he had me totally focused on trying to breathe, I did not expect him to smash my body into the lockers so hard that it felt like something might have fractured. Hell, he was probably putting a dent in the metal with me. He did this at least 6 more times before help finally arrived in the form of a little blue-haired monster.
"HYAHAHAAAAAA!" Was the sound he made just before his giant sneakers collided with the side of Marcus' face, delivering a devastating blow that would have knocked any athletically unfit person out cold instantaneously, which was probably the only thing that saved the jock from utter disgrace. One would never predict such power to come from a boy so small, nor such energy to annoy the people around him. "YAHOOOOO, look out world! The great Black*Star is in the hizzouse! Yes, I know I'm big! I just take up the whole school, don't I? Ha, ha, ha, HAAAAA! God is a boundary, and I will surpass it! You know it! I know it! God knows it! Huzzah, everybody ROCK ON!"
Once the brute had been struck, he only held onto me for what seemed like an eternal 1 second, no longer, before the sheer force of Black*Star's merciless blow sent him flying across the hallway and almost out a window at the other end. I didn't go nearly as far. By the time I was able to breathe again –after much hacking and wheezing and senseless shouting from the Black Demon– I found that I had only made it about ten feet from the original locker that Marcus had shoved me into.
Still trying to catch my breath and wincing with every throb of my injuries, I wiped the tears of pain from my eyes and looked up to watch Black*Star frighten and annoy the rest of Marcus' posse away with words of shocking hubris and egotism, every one of which made no sense at all no matter how they were phrased. But as much as I disliked and sometimes detested his presence (especially when he opened his mouth, which he did constantly), I had to admit that in times like this one, I found myself surprisingly grateful for it.
"HAH! Oh yeah! That's right! Don't mess with the underling of someone bigger than you, douche bags!" Black*Star bragged as soon as the jocks were finally gone, the energy of his over exaggerated enthusiasm seemingly taking over the entire hall. I almost felt suffocated by it. There was only so much of the Great Black Demon as even the principle could take, and there was way more than plenty to go around.
I scowled at being called his underling, but I knew all too well what a waste of time it was to argue with him about it. So I just sighed and decided to let it slide, but I couldn't hold back my annoyance. "Thanks, fuck tard."
Totally oblivious to the fact that I'd just insulted him, he turned to look at me with a huge proud grin of such epic proportions that it could make small children run away screaming. "No trouble at all, little one! It's all smooth sailing!"
"...Right..." I found no other suitable answers to give him. In fact, words themselves were practically irrelevant compared with the blinding radiance of his hideously self-absorbed nature, to which they could build monuments bigger than the white house, name countries after, dedicate entire cults to, and right whole bibles with 100,000+ pages. In fact, the more time I spent around the idiot, the more I found it increasingly possible that the idea of Gods probably came from people like Black*Star. Sometimes I really wished I could complain to his face, but it would all go in one ear and out the other.
He did seem to catch my frustration toward him, but he simply interpreted it in the usual way. "What? Jealous that you're not as big as me? Don't worry, you're not the only one! I'm just bigger than most!"
"The only thing I'm jealous of you for is being as intuitively perceptive as a dead door nail." I retorted as I spit blood from my mouth and finally worked up the courage to try and stand up.
Somehow, though he may have been one of the dumbest people I knew when it came to intellect, he still caught the hidden message behind my words. "Were they picking on you for that, again? Why don't you just ignore the spirits or ghosts or... whatever the hell they are?"
I snorted at that suggestion. "You have no idea how impossible that is." I'd tried it a several times before, so I was 150% sure. It really was impossible when invisible entities left and right are trying to gain your attention in some form or another, especially if they were trying to cause you harm.
"Well, tell them to go away then." You didn't have to be a genius to hear the disbelief in his tone, which he tried to hide with a half-assed effort. Like many other people in school, he simply thought that I was either crazy, hallucinating all the time, or a druggy. I had yet to hear his personal theory and I didn't care to know, but he was one of the few who actually tried to be nice about it. That was one good thing about the Black Demon.
However, I wasn't going to bother trying to explain it to him. He could never understand what I went through every day, or night for that matter. "God, how I wish it was that easy..." No matter what I did or where I went, I couldn't get rid of them, and I was pretty sure I'd tried everything I could think of. Always I found myself surrounded by them, every second of every hour. Even now, though I couldn't see them at the moment, I could feel that they were there, some of them hurting, some of them oblivious, some of them angry, the list went on. It was a lot to constantly live with. Sometimes it even made me feel sick.
"Hey, Maka..." Black*Star asked as he watched me attempt to rise to my feet with little success. My ears could have been deceiving me, or it could be some mischievous entity messing with my head again, but it almost sounded like he was concerned. "You, uh... need help or anything?"
It was kind of humiliating to struggle just to stand in front of someone who pretty much had no enemies to speak of, but that was the least of my worries at the moment. I was aching all over from rolling with the punches. My back was killing me, my jaw was sore, I had a terrible headache, and I was pretty sure that my neck had a nice red hand mark on it, not to mention a neat little slice from Marcus' knife which was probably bleeding. Thankfully it was shallow, so although it stung like hell, it was nothing horrible. I was a little more concerned about my windpipe to be honest. "...No..." I replied in a strained voice, trying not to sound or look as though I were in pain. I had a feeling I wasn't doing a very good job of it. "...I'm good."
Black*Star may have been a frustratingly arrogant asshole, but he was not insensitive. If nothing else, he at least noticed that I was not having as good a time as he was, because when I failed to make it to my feet, I sensed his immature carefree attitude quickly shift to a more somber mood as he approached me and thrust a hand in my direction. "Do you want to go see the nurse?"
"Dammit..." I cursed, realizing that although I would rather hang out with this Black Demon all day nonstop than pay the nurse another visit, mostly out of fear that I might get sent to the hospital again –something that I seriously did not want to become a frequent routine– my condition was too serious to ignore. "I think I'm gonna have to." There wasn't much choice at this point.
Sighing again, I took his hand and reluctantly let him sling my arm over his shoulder. I hated being catered to like I couldn't take care of myself, but regardless, I allowed myself to lean against him and be supported by his body, which despite being so small was incredibly strong, and it showed. He waited until he felt me relax before gently lifting me from the cold tile floor, and I felt and saw rock hard muscles rippling beneath me as he worked not to cause me too much pain while helping me to reach my destination. At least he had finally gotten the message that I did not want to be carried like some hapless princess unless I was either unable to sit up by myself or out cold.
What was even more humiliating was that as the bell rang to signal the end of break, the whole student body began to gather and accumulate within their designated third period classrooms, and I had to walk passed most of them like this to get to where I needed to be. Don't get me wrong, its not that I didn't trust or want Black*Star to help me –or to protect me by driving away anyone who might ask questions or make fun of me with his Black*Star-ness– I just hated letting anyone see me while I was this weak, and I do mean anyone, especially a certain BFF of mine. It wasn't long before that certain someone finally tracked us down.
"Yuuki-chan!" Her voice and the sound of running heels reached us from all the way across the hall before her face did, and once she was fully in our visual range, everything about her spoke of distress. "Yuuki-chan, are you okay? My God, you look horrible! What happened?"
"Marcus happened," growled Black*Star angrily before I could say anything, "Again. Next time I see that mother fucker, I'm gonna pound his ass into the ground so hard that he'll never want to even glance at Maka again."
I huffed heatedly and gave the Black Demon my personal evil eye, not that he even noticed. There was nothing I could do or say to him that would even come close to a reprimand in his mind, so all I could do was put it behind me. I turned to my friend and gave her my best 'it's nothing, I'm fine,' smile. "I'm okay, Hana-chan. It's nothing to worry about. Black*Star's taking me to see Nurse Nygus, so he'll be late for biology and I'll be absent. Could you let Mr. Stein know for us?"
Black*Star wasted no time adding his own words and piling them right on top of mine like they were more important. "Don't sweat it, Tsubaki, my delicate flower of love! If I'm there to take care of her, she'll be just fine, trust me!" I had a strong feeling that he just liked hearing the sound of his voice, and probably getting the last word in, almost as much as he loved being right or being the center of worship.
I really hate you sometimes... I thought irritably. It took some effort to keep from glaring at him. For whatever reason, his words seemed to work Tsubaki like a charm. I would never understand just what she saw in him, but if it worked in situations like this, I wasn't complaining. "He's right, you know; you worry too much! I'll be fine with him. You just get to class, ok?"
It was hard to escape that dark violet whirlpool of worry that was Tsubaki's gaze. Though she continued to appear anxious, she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as though trying to trust us and go along with what we were telling her. Even so, I could feel the turmoil in her heart. "Well, alright, but I'm going to come and check on you after fourth period and your going to tell me everything, right? No lying this time?"
"I promise." I nodded earnestly. I hated lying to her. The last time I had tried, it turned into a disaster. She hadn't held a grudge against me, hated me, or stopped being my friend or anything, but I could still see the disappointment in her face that just tore me up inside like nothing else could. Afterward I had decided that there would be no more of that. Ever. "In fact, I swear on my near-future driver's license!" Just the thought of being able to drive cheered me up a little.
This time her smile was more genuine. "Deal. See you at lunch." She leaned in and gave Black*Star a loving peck on the cheek –rather close to his lips, I noticed– as though making a silent promise with him. "And I'll see you in class, my champion."
His dark myrtle green eyes met hers, and he gave her a small suggestive smirk that her adoring eyes slanted at slyly. "Is that an invitation, angel flower?"
She grinned sweetly at him and shrugged as she sauntered away, her long raven black hair gently billowing behind her. She just managed to make it into class before the bell rang again, the signal that class had begun, and whoever was not in their class by that exact moment was officially tardy.
"I am never getting in a car with you behind the wheel ever again." Black*Star muttered as we resumed our route to the Nurse's office, the hallway suddenly very quiet and empty.
"Shut up, dumbass," I spat indignantly, "You knew it was a lesson and that I wasn't experienced yet, so why did you even get in the car in the first place?"
"I wanted to make sure you didn't kill Tsubaki or the instructor, why else?"
"Don't give me that, the two of you were making out in the back seat and distracting us the whole time so you have no legs to stand on, buttfuck!"
"Someone's in a bad mood."
"Well, duh! I just got beat up, so of course I'm not up in the clouds where everything's bright and happy like you are all the time! Stop being a dipshit and hurry the hell up! Those rocks you've got packed under your skin are starting to add to my collection of bruises."
"Oh, stop complaining. If you want to go faster, then you know what has to happen."
I knew exactly what he was talking about. If I wanted our pace to hasten, I would have to let him carry me like we were newly weds the rest of the way, and I was as opposed to that idea as I was to his extreme self-indulgence. Not only that, but I really didn't want to see the nurse's face for the second time this week. And so an awkward silence fell between us the whole way there, and it seemed like a long ass trip.
~Later that Morning~
The pain had finally begun to fade by the time lunch period rolled around, so I was able to relax and rest comfortably. I had an icepack on each sore spot that Marcus had attacked, which included my jaw, back, neck, and surprisingly my left knee, which may have happened when I fell from my assailant's grip after Black*Star's "grand" rescue entrance.
As it turned out, Nurse Nygus recommended that I go home early as soon as I was able to walk by myself. It was nothing serious, thank God, but I decided I might take the nurse up on her suggestion, anyway. I was in no mood to run into Marcus again. However, getting up after lying in a fairly ample bed for so long –for the duration of both third to fourth period, which was about 2 hours– might prove to be somewhat difficult. A slight drowsiness was already setting in. Noting each ghost or spirit that drifted by was starting to become hypnotic.
"Hey," said a familiar voice from the doorway, "How are you holding up?"
It had been mostly quiet in the room until then, so the sudden sound woke me with a jolt from my day dreams. I turned my head to the side and saw first and foremost Mr. Stein, my biology teacher, coming toward my bedside. It was after he moved out of the way that Tsubaki came into view, along with two other good friends of mine.
"Heard it was Tai Marcus again," said the younger of the boys, his eyes concealed by a thick pair of old man's glasses and the only hair on his shiny bald head two triangular towers rising from either ear like ox horns, "I told him off for you last period."
"And the only reason Ford didn't end up at the Principle's office for it was because I decided visiting you was more important," Mr. Stein interjected disdainfully, "And a more fitting punishment."
It was hard not to notice the bruise on his cheek, probably the place where Marcus had struck him for losing control of his tongue. "You didn't have to do that, Ox." It always concerned me when he tried to stick up for me or anyone else he cared about. Though Ox was physically stronger than I, Marcus proved the strongest as did many of our other adversaries. I knew first hand that to fight back made the situation worse, and that was Ox's specialty.
"Of course I did!" He replied angrily. "What right does that bastard think he has to tear us down just because we can see things that he can't? He has no power to dictate what's real and what isn't!"
I frowned at him, but otherwise said nothing more. It was hard to argue with someone who was as stubborn as Ox was, not to mention he was one of the only people I knew who shared my abilities, if only on a much less powerful level (or sensitive as I preferred). I shot a fretful glance at Tsubaki, who shrugged silently in response as though to say that she'd tried to stop him, but we both knew that it was pointless.
"Calm down, man," said the older boy, though his dark brown eyes burned with the same rage as Ox felt, "We'll get back at him later, ok?" His charcoal black dreadlocks were plastered with sweat to his dark skin, which told me that he had also tried to take a swing at Marcus for me.
"Maybe you just shouldn't do anything, Lunge." Mr. Stein said in a tone of authority, but his warning went ignored, even though such a response was expected.
"Kilik..." Again I held my tongue. Just like Ox, Kilik was also very stubborn, hard-headed, and had a fiery temper when provoked, but on the other hand, he also had a cool and collected head on his shoulders. He knew that there was a time and a place for everything. I always felt a sense of maturity from the aura of his soul, which probably had a lot to do with the pair of little helpers that were always at his side.
I could see them standing behind him now, two very energetic little twin brothers with big ocean turquoise eyes, short sun gold hair, and skin like the light brown earth of tropical soil. They looked like small 5-year-old children with the abilities and wisdom of very powerful nature shamans, one dressed in orange for fire and the other yellow for thunder. Wherever Kilik went, they followed closely in pursuit. Neither of them spoke, but they didn't need to. I could understand them perfectly through their very animated body language and the thoughts and emotions that they mentally projected into my mind. Simultaneously, they both noticed me looking at them and gave me a gleeful grin followed by a rather enthusiastic wave of their arms in greeting for the second time that day.
"Nakatsukasa informed me of the incident," Mr. Stein said from the foot of my bed, and I noticed from under his graying strands of hair that his amber gaze was examining for himself the physical damage I had sustained, "And that annoying brat Black*Star let me know that you couldn't walk by yourself when he escorted you here. Looks like Miss Nygus took good care of you, but how are you faring now, Albarn?"
"Better, but it still kinda hurts if I move too much." I felt the soft probing of his consciousness as he requested permission to enter my mind and evaluate my emotional and mental state of health with his own powerful psychic abilities, which I allowed without protest. It was nothing extensive anyway, but the main reason I accepted was because whenever he entered my consciousness, he projected a soothing wave of comfort that left me feeling relaxed and refreshed. He had told me before that it was a special healing technique meant to help strengthen my general well-being overall against the toll that my powers took on me every day, but I simply liked the feeling of it, and so I welcomed it every chance I could. "I'm pretty sure that I can walk now, but Nurse Nygus told me to go home early, anyway. I don't want to have to look at Marcus again, but should I go?"
"That's probably a good idea. I'll walk you home, Yuuki-chan." Tsubaki said, gently brushing a stray strand of hair from my face.
"Unless you think you can make it 'till sixth period," Mr. Stein said matter-of-factly as he finished his examination and treatment of the state of my inner well-being, "Otherwise the two of you can feel free to leave. I'll excuse your absence, but if I do, Nakatsukasa, I expect you to take good care of Albarn."
"Of course!" Tsubaki replied as though the fact that Mr. Stein could even think that she would do anything less was ridiculous. "She would do the same for me."
"Thanks, Mr. Stein; Hana-chan." I gave the two of them a smile of gratitude, then turned to Kilik's spirit guardians for their jurisdiction on the matter, for in a case such as this one, they would know best. Without the need for me to say anything, they vigorously acted out in a strange jitter-bug dance that they felt I should leave because I still needed to heal, which was the main concern in my condition. To emphasize the point, they jabbed a thumb at the doorway and nodded to me. With less spry movement, I imitated the gesture questioningly to ask if leaving was really the wisest course of action, and they happily gave me a big grin and a thumbs up in approval. Being nature spirits put them deeply in tune with the earth and made them very wise in the ways of healing be it body, heart, spirit, or mind, so I trusted their judgment. After making the decision final in my mind, I turned to Tsubaki, who was giving me a confused look. "Well, Thunder and Fire think I should go, so I guess I will."
Suddenly understanding, Tsubaki smiled and nodded, then gave a thumbs up to the spot where she thought the twins were. "Like I said, good idea!"
Both Ox and I shared a momentary glance, for the twins were not positioned in the spot that she was looking in, but we kept quiet. She and Kilik were two of the only people without psychic abilities who believed we really could see things that everyone else thought was imaginary, and we appreciated that more than we could ever express to them. Maybe we should have corrected her, but it was just too damn funny to watch her try to be like us. Even Kilik thought it amusing, and he had no distinct idea of where the shamans were either. Mr. Stein, on the other hand, looked on with bafflement, as though trying to understand why she would want to be able to see things that weren't there. The twins blinked twice, exchanged a quick side glance toward each other, then shrugged and gave a brisk thumbs up back, even though they were fully aware that Tsubaki couldn't see them.
"They, uh... are glad for your support." Mr. Stein carried the message loosely, and Tsubaki seemed happy with that.
~A little while Later~
It felt strange to be out in the open, beyond the vicinity of Shibusen campus so early on a weekday. Strange, and yet somehow satisfying, if not a bit unnerving knowing that it was against school regulations. Breaking the rules was not normally my cup of tea, but that was where I found myself, traversing the route I usually took to go back home with Tsubaki beside me.
"I'll be okay without you, you know."
Tsubaki turned to look at me as though I were out of my mind just for thinking such a thing. "I know that you're capable of making it by yourself, but you don't always have to tough it out alone. I won't let you." She wasn't offended by my statement, and if she wasn't so worried about me she might have agreed, but she wasn't about to leave me when I was hurting.
"I won't be alone," I protested anyway, "I've got Blair. She might be an airhead, but she has my best interest at heart." It wasn't that I didn't want Tsubaki to be there or that I didn't trust her. It was just that things were a bit messy in my apartment, and I usually cleaned up before anyone –even a close friend– ever came inside. But that wasn't the only reason.
"Bu-chan is a cat spirit; she can only do so much," Tsubaki replied persistently, "And you've said so yourself that she's impulsive and doesn't always know what she's doing. Sorry, Yuuki-chan, but you're stuck with me for now."
I held back a groan of protest. My biggest concern was that lately, my power had been attracting more and more unexpected or unwelcome visitors, and things were getting a bit out of hand at my place. I really didn't want Tsubaki to get caught in the middle of it. Some of the unwelcome ones tended to be a bit violent and unpredictably dangerous. I sighed knowing that trying to battle Tsubaki when it came to protecting me was like trying to catch air, but I had to at least give it my best shot. "Hana-chan–"
I had what was left of my already failed argument planned in my head, and I pretty much knew how it was going to end… until I swerved to avoid colliding with the shoulder of someone walking in the opposite direction. I caught sight of his face and received a small but sharp vibe that felt like that of an agitated soul aching for deliverance, as though the body that housed it was no longer an adequate host, and I promptly lost everything that I was going to say.
I turned to glance at him, a boy roughly about my height and possibly my age with spiked silvery-white blonde hair and eyes of an unsettling red pigment that reminded me of blood. I detected a sour state of mind from him, as though he was upset or nervous about something, possibly both, and it almost seemed like he was purposefully avoiding my gaze. Either that or he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even realize Tsubaki and I were present. In my mind formed the letter 'S' with a very specific meaning attached, but whatever it was escaped me before I was able to grasp it. For only a fraction of a second, I had a powerful urge to turn around and ask him for his name, but it passed me by so fast that I almost thought I was imagining things.
"Hey, Hana-chan..." though the surge of curiosity was long gone, I had a feeling that I should ask anyway, "Did you see that guy just now?"
But Tsubaki didn't seem to have noticed a thing. "What guy?" Her puzzled tone and gaze practically suggested that she hadn't seen anything except cars and buildings pass us by for a while.
It didn't bother me too much. I was used to noticing people that no one else knew was even there. He was probably just another of those invisible entities I was always sensing or seeing. I watched him walk away for a minute, noticing how he almost looked semi-translucent and that he seemed to cast no shadow on the pavement, but quickly decided that it was nothing worth getting caught up in. I had enough on my mind to deal with for a good long while, and that was without adding more to my plate than I could handle. "Er... never mind."
Holy crap, that turned out to be really really fun to write. Chapter 0.5-A, just in case you're wondering, just basically means this is half a chapter (code for part 1). Just another pointless little tid-bit for those of you who don't know, Hana is Japanese for "flower" and Yuuki means "courage" (I did my best research to make sure of that, but if its still wrong… oh well, I guess. I can always change it). Whether you cared to know or not, there you go. For whatever reason, I decided to have Tsubaki and Maka address each other by using affectionate nicknames using those two words. Not sure why… probably to demonstrate the closeness between them as best friends.
Anyhoo, part 2 of the prelude is next, and no offense meant but if you haven't already figured out or at least have an idea of who just passed Maka and Tsubaki by, you either know nothing about Soul Eater or you're an idiot. That was probably the biggest dead give away, I think, but Part 2 will answer that question in any case. Enjoy the crazy making!