A Little Shy of Infinity

A/N: Hello! Call me nerdy, but I was inspired to write a story like this from something we learned in math the other day xD. I thought it was really clever, that my teacher said the phrase, "a little shy of infinity". Lol, now that I think about it, it's not that special, but it produced this story. Some of the concepts are a bit mature, so heads up. And one or two curse words. Enjoy!

Point One

She caught sight of him immediately. He was slouching against the school desk, arms resting behind his head and jaws chewing on a piece of gum. Soul-Maka heard many rumors about him. He was the liar, the backstabber, lady-seducer. He's hit on every girl in the class, and there are many; she won't be surprised if she's next. She does her best not to concern herself with him, the slacker of the century. The last thing Maka wants is to be associated with the messed up bastard, who undoubtedly sleeps with a different girl every other night. She's learned in Health class all the different ways a kid could turn out like him, selfish and immoral. Abusive parents, messed up siblings, alcoholism, traumatic experiences, she's learned it all, and she's concluded that perhaps Soul has had a bit of every of those causes.

Point Two

Whispers. That's all he hears. Around him, about him, through him. Soul makes the effort to drone them out, but sometimes he is tempted to slam his fist on the nearest surface in the effort to make them cease. He knows all the whispers are concerning his inappropriate behavior, and he tries not to care. It's his life. His conscience. No one is to tell him what's right and what's wrong.

He prefers to be alone, but too often does a girl walk up to him, skirt too high, shirt too low. Well, he doesn't really mind; he doesn't have anything better to do, right? It's either stay at "home" to dodge puffs of smoke at every corner from his brother's disgusting drug addictions or spend the night with a willing girl. At least he would be able to breathe.

Point Three

He always smells like pot. Whenever he passes, Maka holds her breath and looks away. Today, she catches a glimpse of his white hair, and from behind, he looks normal. But, Maka always learned to never trust anyone upon sight, and her father is the prime example. Her father's seemingly professional appearance is deceiving; behind his suit and tie is a violent man only seeking self-pleasure. She often dreads going home to hear yet another woman's moans from the master bedroom, shamelessly loud and lustful. She was glad for only one lesson: Maka's goal is to become anything but her father.

Her mother? Maka doesn't like to talk about her.

Point Four

Maka strolled as slowly as she could down the familiar pathway from the library, hugging books to her chest. She walked close to the buildings of the town, cars zipping by to her right in the busy downtown setting. Her gaze was angled slightly downward, and she paid little attention to where she was going. School was her life, studying was her dream, is what she told herself.

It was getting dark, and Maka had wished that she remembered to bring her jacket. She hugged her books closer to her chest in attempt to generate heat. As she turned the corner, she was abruptly stopped as she crashed into a stiff figure. Stumbling down, her books scattered about, she silently cursed to herself, and looked up, getting ready to apologize.

Point Five

Soul began to kneel down, unable to be angry at the frail-looking girl who just collided into him. Weird, has he seen her before?

He began to pick up some books that the girl dropped. The girl, right, she goes to his school, what's her name? Maka.

He picked up some titles off of the concrete ground: Jane Eyre, A Tale of Two Cities, some physics books...this girl is smart.

Soul finally heard a meek "sorry" from the girl in front of him, and he looked up to bright green eyes and childish pigtails. Soul took a couple of seconds to acknowledge the combination before nodding. This collision obviously wasn't staged, as he would have initially suspected.

Soul, after returning the books to the girl, hastily pulled his sleeves down to his hands.

Point Six

"Sorry", Maka struggled to get out. Maka, blushing, could not have looked any dumber. Sitting on the ground and too embarrassed to look up, Maka's gaze was drawn to the forearms of the person in front of him. As he reached out to get a book, Maka noticed marks sticking out behind bandages on his skin; she was taken aback. Raising her head, she saw the infamous white hair: she had just bumped into Soul. He looked up also, and she noticed for the first time how much more crimson his eyes looked in person than in words. She couldn't smell the pot, she could only hear the whispers radiating from his sad, sad eyes, which was quickly erased by a smirk and a sharp tooth. She couldn't decide if these observations were interesting or threatening.

She felt his aura was oddly mesmerizing, and she could see the slight outlines of a toned body under the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing...no, she can't have such thoughts. She doesn't want to become another one of his sources of pleasure.

But, this random act of kindness seemed unfitting for Maka's characterization of Soul, and for a second, she doubted what she heard from everyone else. She was tempted to touch him-was he real? Was everything that she heard about him true?

As Soul was about to walk away, Maka caught his hand.

Point Seven

She quickly withdrew upon her impulse. Another girl, it seems, ready for a night-though this one seems different. Soul felt the girl pull back his hand as he was leaving, and he quickly whirled around to look at the girl. Upon making eye contact with her, she immediately withdrew her hand.

"...Do you need something?" Soul tentatively asked in a deep husky voice.

"uh.." the girl stammered, "I uh, I'm Maka."

Soul was taken aback by such an introduction. She wasn't at all sexy, she looked nervous, nothing like the girls he dealt with previously.

"Right, uh, Maka," he replied, turning towards her. "I believe I've seen you around...I'm Soul."

"I know," she said.

Soul's eyes drifted off downward for a second, scanning Maka's figure. Nothing special.

Accustomed to being asked for sex, Soul quickly caught on that Maka did not have such intentions. "Well, then, I'll be off-"

"No!" Maka almost shouted. "I mean...wait." She gently reached to one of Soul's arms and rolled up a sleeve before he could pull away.

"What are you…" Maka gasped at the sight of the messy bandages stained red. "We have to get you treated." Great, this situation is getting involved.

"No, no…" Soul said, trying to get away from Maka's grasp, only to be pulled back again.

"Why don't you come to my house so that I can treat you." Maka offered. Soul raised an eyebrow at the suggestiveness, but Maka didn't seem to realize. She felt the heat rise to her cheeks nonetheless, and she said,. "Actually, my house not be the best place…"

Soul shrugged, and said, "No, it's fine. I don't need your help."

As he began to walk away, Maka suddenly burst out, "You're really not what everyone says you are, aren't you."

Soul almost tripped over himself after hearing this, and he said, "I don't really care."

"But you do."

Soul slowly turned his head around and put his hands in his pockets, sighing. "Maybe, maybe not."

Maka bit her lip-Soul couldn't help but notice how cute that was-and she said, "Why don't we just go to my house? My dad shouldn't be home until night."

Point Eight

Luckily, Maka's father wasn't home; he left a drawled note that said, "Off to see some ladies". Maka tried to hide this note from Soul and quickly threw it away. The two sat in the living room awkwardly, and Maka remembered to put her books away. She suddenly felt exposed; she never has guys in the house except for her father, and she felt as if she was betraying all that she promised herself, to stay away from Soul. But she was determined that this was important, not just for Soul's cuts.

"So...you're injured." Maka said plainly. She heard a chuckle.

"No shit." Soul said through clenched teeth. "But whatever." He could smell the faint scent of alcohol in the furniture. This girl didn't look like a drinker.

Maka, retrieving some ointment, returned to the couch that Soul was sitting on. She peeled the bandages off of Soul's wrists, bracing herself for the sight she would see.

"Why do you cut yourself?" Maka asked without thinking. She immediately wanted to take back her words-she was too curious.

"You don't need to know" Soul said back, looking around the house.

"My father has sex with random ladies every night," Maka blurted. She didn't really know why she said that, perhaps if she had told troubles of her own life, he would relent.

"Rough," is all Soul said.

"I don't have a mom." Maka continued, suddenly feeling the intense emotion.

Soul remained silent.

"I'm scared to come home everyday, to the sight of my dad practically raping a woman, raping a woman, who I swear enjoys it." Maka's voice was getting really quiet.
Soul still didn't say anything.

"I need to know, Soul."

Why was Maka talking to Soul as if they were already close friends? Soul looked away and attempted a smirk only to fail.

"My brother does weed all day, my house reeks." He began. "My dad was so demanding when he was...still alive. He was abusive to my mom, who eventually couldn't take it anymore. She killed him. Then herself. In the living room."

Maka paused as she was applying ointment.

"I'm sorry to hear that." She whispered.

"Don't need to be." Soul searched for the green eyes.

The green eyes, as if sensing the gaze of the crimson ones, looked up to meet them. Soul felt himself slowly leaning in closer to those green eyes, lips slightly ajar. He was stuck in those green eyes, and he felt lonely. He reduced the space between the two to mere inches. He felt Maka's hot breath on his skin as their lips were about to touch, when he quickly pulled away.

"Thanks for the treatment." Soul said after an awkward stillness. He quickly turned away and left the house, leaving Maka in confusion and awe.

Soul had forgotten fresh bandages.

One Point

Maka was left aghast at the thought that the person whom she originally thought was a criminal of a child was only a troubled and lonely boy in need of a proper loving family and a purpose-like her. She immediately sprinted out of the house to catch Soul in his tracks. She called his name and twisted his shoulders around to see the surprised look in his crimson eyes before placing her lips on his. Soul was about to pull back when Maka cupped his cheeks with her hands. What was she doing? Expressing the emotion that she should have shown from the very beginning.

Soul's response was reciprocal. He had kissed many girls before, but not with this intensity. The kisses before were all arranged and meaningless. This time, he could feel the genuine feeling of someone like him.

He slowly placed one hand on the small of Maka's back and the other hand behind her head. He couldn't help but smile into her lips.

The two broke away, foreheads pressing together, listening to each other's breathing.

"You forgot your bandages."

"..Thanks," He smiled and walked away.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! :)