I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock, which sounded blurry through the thick haze of sleepiness. 'I'll get up in a second…' I thought to myself, reaching over to silence the ringing. Colorful flashes of light danced across my vision as I rubbed my eyes and yawned, attempting to shake the drowsiness from my body. A shiver ran down my spine, 'It's cold in here…' I thought, 'Maybe I'll just lay under the covers for a little while longer.' I pulled the blankets up over me, allowing them to engulf my being in their warmth. 'Just a few more minutes…'

"Maka…Maka…Maka…" I heard a voice calling to me from what sounded like a far distance. "Maka…Maka!" I heard the voice grow louder, and I snapped open my eyes. Soul was standing over my bed, giving me a confused and annoyed look. "Oh, hey, good morning." I yawned, finally feeling a bit more awake than before. I glanced around my room, and my eyes caught sight of something that made my heart skip a beat. The big, red, fluorescent numbers displayed on my alarm clock might as well have spelled out the word 'LATE'. "No, no, no, this can't be happening! I have to get ready! Get out!" I jumped from my bed, ushering Soul out of my room and slamming the door in one swift movement. I ripped through my closet, hastily dressing myself before snatching my bag up from the ground and grabbing a couple of hair ties from my bedside table. "Come on! I can't believe I overslept!" I exclaimed, bursting through the front door while tying up my hair into my usual two ponytails.

"Jeez, Maka, you're always on time, what happened?" Soul inquired, trying to catch up to me as I was practically running down the street. "I don't know…I was just so comfortable!" I frantically responded, "But there's no time for explanations right now, we're going to be late for class!"

I ran up the stairs and through the doors of the DWMA with Soul leisurely trailing behind me. Panting and trying to catch my breath, I took a glimpse at my watch. "Five minutes to spare! We're not late!" I celebrated the small victory. Soul chuckled, "Thanks to me, for waking you up in the first place." I rolled my eyes. That Soul, he's so cocky and arrogant sometimes. But, I laughed anyway. "Yeah, yeah. You're welcome. Let's get to class before Stein makes us volunteer for something weird." I responded as we continued on our way.

"Good morning, Maka, Soul." Dr. Stein greeted us as we walked into class. "Good morning, Dr. Stein!" I smiled, thankful that we didn't get volunteered for one of his…interesting lesson plans.

"Hi, Tsubaki! I haven't missed anything have I?" I asked, setting my bag down and taking my seat beside her. "No, you're just in time! We haven't started yet. Were you running late this morning? That's unlike you." Tsubaki giggled softly and gave her typical sweet smile. I laughed back, embarrassed, "Yeah, I overslept a little…" My cheeks flushed slightly.

I turned to see Soul and BlackStar goofing off as usual. Near them, a visibly annoyed Death the Kid sat, with Patty and Liz on either side of him, both trying to tell him to relax in their own unique ways. "C'mon, Kid! It's okay!" Patty giggled and patted his head repeatedly, while Liz simultaneously tried to reason with him and get her sister to quiet down.

"Hey, Kid, what's the matter anyway?" I questioned over my shoulder. He lifted up his new notebook, which had a design running down only the left side. "Look at this. It isn't even close to symmetrical. This is disgusting, how am I possibly going to do anything with such a piece of garbage?" Kid exclaimed, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes in frustration. Even after the victory against Asura, Kid is still concerned with everything being symmetrical. His dedication was admirable, however trivial the issue may be. "Hold on, I might be able to fix this for you." I responded, rummaging through my bag for one of my recently purchased notebooks. "Here, we can trade!" I offered, showing him a plain white notebook, which had no designs other than the line in the center for the owner's name. His honey-colored eyes glistened with pure joy as we swapped our notebooks. "Thank you, Maka! You're a life-saver!" Giggling, I turned back to face the front of the classroom, and began taking notes as usual.

"Class dismissed, enjoy your day, students." Dr. Stein announced to the room, before everyone filed out. BlackStar, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty, Soul, and I walked out together, and stopped in the hallway to talk about what we wanted to do today after class.

"So, what are we doing today?" Tsubaki asked. We all looked around at each other, just waiting for someone to offer up some sort of game plan. "Are you guys down for a game of basketball?" Soul offered, receiving approval from the rest of the gang. I personally didn't want to participate, but since everyone else seemed excited by the idea I agreed to tag along.

"YAHOO! WHO'S READY TO LOSE?!" BlackStar exclaimed in his usual boastful fashion. "Don't speak too soon, BlackStar!" Soul retorted with a competitive smirk. "Alright, let's get started!" Kid said, as they gathered into their respective teams. I watched as Liz, Patty, and BlackStar got ready to play against Tsubaki, Kid, and Soul in what I anticipated would be an intense game. I settled down into my typical place on the bench, getting a book to read from my bag. "You're sure you don't want to play, Maka?" Liz asked from the court. "No, I'm okay! You guys go ahead!" I said with a smile. Basketball is fun and all, but I just don't think I'm in the mood for it today for some reason.

I was lost in the pages of my book, until I heard BlackStar screaming. "YOU CHEATED! WE'RE PLAYING AGAIN." He was glaring at Soul, completely unwilling to accept his defeat. "No way man. You're just bad at basketball." Soul responded, laughing hysterically at BlackStar's frustration. BlackStar was fuming at the loss, with smoke practically pouring from his ears. "BlackStar, it's okay! You'll do better next time!" Tsubaki laughed nervously. I grabbed my bag and calmly walked up to the two idiots on the court, book in hand. Neither of them noticed me, since they were so busy arguing with each like children. I took a deep breath and yelled, "MAKA…CHOP!" before slamming my book over each of their heads. Patty fell to the ground, giggling wildly and pointing at the boys as they rubbed their heads.

"It's getting kind of late, guys. Maybe we should all go home?" Tsubaki said. "I agree." Kid replied, motioning for Liz and Patty to follow him as he headed off the court. "See you all later! Bye!" Patty waved. Tsubaki and BlackStar quickly followed suit, waving goodbye to Soul and I, who still remained in the center of the court.

"I'm sorry about doing that, Soul. Is your head okay?" I asked, reaching up and running my hand over the spot where I hit him. "Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it." He chuckled, gently removing my hand from his hair. I smiled, and we walked over to his motorcycle.

Soul climbed onto the bike, and I followed suit, wrapping my arms his midsection. I rested my head on Soul's back, enjoying the peace and the cool breeze the night had to offer for the first time in what felt like forever.

Soul walked up and unlocked the door to the apartment. "Ladies first." He joked, holding the door open for me. I rolled my eyes with a small laugh and walked inside, and Soul trailed behind me. I let out a deep, sincerely tired yawn and rubbed my eyes while walking toward my bedroom door. "Hey, Maka, can I ask you something?" Soul questioned, stopping me in my tracks. "Sure, what's up?" I turned toward him; trying to think of all the things he could possibly be asking me about. "Are you okay? You've been acting kind of different since the fight with Asura." I froze up a bit. Honestly, I didn't think anyone had noticed that I had been acting a bit different. "Different? How so?" I played dumb. "You've just been kind of distant, and not really acting like yourself. Like this morning, you're never late. Or after class, you didn't want to play basketball with us." He walked closer and placed a hand on my shoulder. I stared at my feet; I felt so embarrassed. I really didn't think anyone would think anything of this. "Soul, I really don't know why I've been acting this way. I think I'm just worried…the peace right now feels too good to be true…" I revealed, holding back tears. Soul wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. "It's okay…I'm just worried about you."

Hearing those words opened up the floodgates behind my eyes, and I pulled myself closer into Soul's embrace. He ran his hand through my hair as I cried in an effort to comfort me. "You should go to sleep, maybe you'll feel better in the morning." He said, pulling back a bit before wiping the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. I nodded, and returned my gaze to the ground beneath me. I began to walk towards my room to go to sleep, and as I placed my hand on the doorknob. Soul said, "Hey, Maka?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, okay?"

A/N: Kind of getting back into writing, haven't done it in a while due to lack of time and motivation. Let me know if I should continue?
- cza