CHAPTER 1: Clumsiness Rules!

I was running across the volleyball court, sweating like a pig, on the point to faint. It was my third match in a row, and I mean a match is composed of 2 sets! So it's as if I played 6 matches with only 15 minutes break between each match!

I desperately tried to catch and hit the ball to pass it to someone in my team, but ( to my bad luck) my shoelaces decided to untie in this exact moment AND my vision gave in, at the same time. So I landed face first on the ground, air borne for about a half a second... Then all became black. I didn't hear the excited, cheering voices of the audience anymore, I didn't hear the worried voices of my teammates asking me if I was okay. I didn't see and didn't hear nothing.

Everything was so black around me that I almost thought that I saw colors and moving forms before me. I saw here and there a flash of red, blue, white and even an odd color of purple... as of it was some attraction in a circus or something.

I slowly, really slowly managed to get my eyes to open. At first everything was a blurred, colorfu,l incomprehensible thing. I blinked and my eyes began to focus on where I was.

I blinked a few more times, sinking in the information about the room. As I finished scanning it, I finally recognized the school's nurses office. It was a big room with white walls and black furniture. On the shelves there was a handful of books about healing plants and all kinds of diseases and drugs and also little bottles of all height and shape with some strange colored liquids inside of them.

- Oh! She's awake! Nygus! - called out a husky, bored male voice

I looked around again to find the owner of the voice... only to lay my eyes on an odd, I guess, naturally tan boy about my age ( 14 years-old) leaning against a bookshelf looking at me with his burgundi gaze. He also had white hair ( that's one thing that made him odd) and, as he smirked at me with his bored eyes finding something utterly funny, I saw his shark-like white teeth. I began to wonder if he had more than one layer of teeth like real sharks... I once read a book about a man who was really half shark, because that's the only way they could save him... Ah, whatever!

"Boo!" he said mimicking a monster

I looked at him funny, why does he think he scared me? I'll ask him.

"Why did you do that?"

Now, it was his turn to look at me funny.

"What? You're not afraid of me?, I shook my head no, H-how is that possible?"

What's with this guy? Why is he thinking this? Wait! I know!

"D-do people tell you look scary?" I asked him slowly

He nodded than he looked down at his feet, his bangs shadowing his dull, lifeless eyes. When I started to talk to him again he flinched and his head shot up looking at me wide eyed, his eyes not anymore dull and lifeless, but bright and shiny ( and also surprised).

"I don't think you look scary neither weird. Well... It's true that you look a little odd, but don't everyone have some "oddness" with them? I mean for you it's your looks, for me it's my obsession about books. I know someone who thinks he's god... Well, sorta... And someone who looks all nice and innocent... But if she wants to she can become really though and quiet forceful. Don't worry! I think you look pretty cool! I mean I'd love to have shark teeth and red eyes! Maybe if I had them... When I was small, I wouldn't have gotten bullied..." as I was finishing my last sentences, my voice became slower and slower, to become completely silent at the end

I looked at my hands and started to fiddle with my fingers, my not-so-happy memories that I thought I had forgotten long ago had started to haunt me again, remembering each and every single detail of it. I shrugged, wanting to get rid of them and bury them somewhere far in my head, to never ever remember them.

" ... Thank you. It makes me feel better., I looked up at him washing away the unshed tears in my eyes and giving him a bright smile, ... Sooo... Does your head hurt? I mean it looks like Ny- ... erm... the nurse isn't here, so I might as well help you.. since that's why I'm here. You know, I need to help out the nurse, because it's her that brings me home... Well... Um ... Because she's my... um sorta guardian... So anyway, does your head hurt?"

I thought about that a bit, touched my head and felt a big bump on my forehead. I poked it and hissed at the pain. I sighted and told him.

"Well, you see it's only the bump that hurts. So I'm guessing I need to put some ice on it..."

He just nodded and turned around to come back with an ice pack in his hands.

"Oh, and by the way... My name is Soul Eater. It's a given name, since I don't know my real name..."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Maka Albarn... Wait. How come you don't know your real name?"

He hesitated a bit, probably feeling really embarrassed and wondering why he told me this. He let out a sight and gestured if he could sit on my bed. I nodded and the bed made a screeching sound as he sat down. He looked up at the sealing as if he was trying to memorize every inch of it. He sighted again, now looking at his hands. I waited a little longer and when I finally had enough of the silence and was about to speak, he opened his mouth, his eyes still focused on his large bony-looking hands.

"It's not easy to talk about stuff like that... Since you will be the first one that I tell... So here I go! If you have any questions you want to ask while I speak, don't hesitate. I ... Kinda have the feeling I can trust you, and you obviously have nothing better to do than listening to me..." he chuckled looking up straight into my eyes as he began his story

"When I was about... What? 3 months-old, I was abandoned in a park really close to here. Nygus found me in February, so that means that I was born somewhere in mid-December, between the 16th and 21st since she's a nurse/ doctor she can tell. It was the 19th of February, to be exact, and it was snowing. You know, even if we're here in Death City, in Nevada, strangely, we still get a lot of cold months and a lot of snow and even blizzards. That day, wasn't that bad. Nygus (the nurse) found me lying in a thin black blanket with thin summer clothes on, on a bench in the middle of the park. Noone noticed me besides her... She picked me up looking around to see nobody. She looked at me closely and found a little note wrapped in the blanket. It said... it said... : ' You, who find this child can do anything you want with him. He isn't worth for this family.'..."

I interrupted him.

"WHAT?! This is soo stupid! Why would anyone do this to a perfectly fine boy like you?!"

I saw his cheeks become a bit pink, but he still continued his story.

"There was nothing else attached to it, not even my name... Nygus decided to take me home with her so that no bad pervert could take me. She just found out a few weeks before that she could never have a child, so she was really happy that she found me. She swore she'll take care of me. She went to registrate me a few days later. She named me after the park she found me in. Its name was, and is, Soul Wind. And she gave me her last name which was 'Eater'. So that's how I became 'Soul Eater'. It might sound funny, but I like my name and am very grateful of Nygus. Since I never knew my real mother who rejected me, Nygus really is a mother to me, he smiled a sincere smile, unlike the earlier smirks this smile reached his eyes, I really like her... I'd like to call her "mother" or "mom"... but I'm afraid she might get angry at me..."

"Nonsense, Soul! She had taken care of you for a long time now! I'm sure she'd love that if you called her that! I mean, I would if I was in her shoes!" I told him gesturing out my words to put more feeling into them

He glared at me for a moment and then we heard the door ope. From where we were, we couldn't see who it was, because of a big shelf. The footsteps came closer, and a woman in a white doctor's coat appeared. She had bandages all over her body... Like as if she was a mummy or something. She had a dark skin, but had piercing light blue, gleaming eyes that looked like they knew everything. 'She must be really smart...' I thought.

"Oh, hi Soul., she said supposedly smiling since her voice was happy and soft. She then turned to me, Do you feel better? You had an awful fall."

"Yes, I feel much better since Soul got me an ice pack. Thank you... Wait! At least did we win?! I mean it was a big tournament for the big cup! How did the match end?!" I said as I realized it

"Don't worry, sweetie., she smiled (I think), You guys won. Your final score was 36 points. When you fainted it took another 15 minutes to win against that last team. So you won 36:34! Since the scores were too close, they couldn't finish it at 25 points."

I froze... Since I started playing, at the age of 10, we always got in the finals... but never ACTUALLY won.

"YIPPEEEEEEEEEEY!" I jumped on the bed, the ice pack forgotten... and also that Soul was sitting on the bed

I jumped up, down, up... and... DOWN. I landed on Soul the second time. He lay on his back as I fell flat in his chest. I lifted my head up only to meet his surprised burgundy gaze... which was WAAAY TOO close!

T-thump, t-thump, t-thump...

I heard my heartbeat in my ears feeling under my hands that his did too. I felt heat creep on my face and saw his face light up the same way... I found myself glaring at his sharp jaw line, wanting to touch his cheeks, my gaze travelled to his odd white hair which seemed to be really soft, I had a really hard time to restrain myself from touching it, my eyes then met his wide ones that were like little doors to his soul, showing every bit of his feelings, then... my olive gaze dropped at his mouth... it was slightly open hinting his sharp teeth...

'What if I were to move even closer?' I found myself thinking.

We glared at each other for an oddly long 5 seconds, then we heard a light "khm!" in the background. We instantly got back to reality, and jumped to the 2 ends of the bed as far from each other as possible. Both of us as red as 2 tomatoes.

Nygus pulled down the bandage from her mouth and smiled at us. She shook her head and still smiling, slowly walked out of the nurse's office.

This wasn't a really good idea since we sat there, all alone, in a REALLY awkward silence.

"Uh... um..." Soul tried to say, but instantly gave up

"I- I guess it was... nice to meet you..." I said standing up and deposing the ice pack on the night table

Soul instantly shot up from his seat on the bed and grabbed my wrist.

"C-can we... see each other... Another time? L-like become... Friends?" he asked stuttering here and there

I smiled at him nodding.