"I hate you," she screamed.

Soul looked down, away from her. Maka had flew off the handle. She had flew off the handle because of him. "I'm sorry."

"You've already told me that. Can't you say anything better?" She stomped out of their small living room and into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Soul sat still on the couch for ages, staring into his lap. Eventually, he stood up. He slid his dress jacket off, leaving it to wrinkle on the couch. He walked into the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets. They'd left before they'd have dinner, and Soul was sure Maka wouldn't come out of her room for hunger.

The cabinets were empty. Completely empty. Soul groaned. Hadn't they gone to the grocery store just the other day? He checked the fridge. It was empty too. He walked out of the kitchen and to Maka's door. He dared himself to open it. He was a coward.

"Maka," he called.

There was no answer.

"I'm going to order takeout from somewhere. For dinner. Where would you like me to call?"

He waited a long time for her response. When it came, it was testy, "It's Christmas Soul. Only the Chinese place will be open."

Oh. That's right. He had forgotten. They had been at a Christmas party. "I'll order Chinese then. What do want?"

"Nothing."

He decided to order her egg drop soup for her. He knew that she frequently ordered it when they were at the restaurant. He retreated to the living room and turned on his cellphone. Then he called the Chinese restaurant, dialing the number he knew by heart.

"Hello?"

"Hi. I'd like to order takeout. Is that possible?"

"Yes. What would you like?"

"I'd like an order of egg drop soup and an order of chicken teriyaki."

"We cannot do egg drop soup tonight."

"Isn't it like a staple of Chinese restaurant food though?"

"...We can do chicken teriyaki."

Soul sighed. "In that case, I'd like two orders of chicken teriyaki. And an order of Chinese donuts."

"Okay. Total is $15.59. You'll pay when you pick up?"

"Yes. How long is it going to take?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Thank you."

"What's the name?"

"Soul. Uh, Soul Evans."

"Your order will be ready in fifteen minutes, Soul Evans."

Soul hung up the phone. He slid it into his dress pants's pocket. He fiddled with his tie. Then, once he was at her door again, he called, "Maka?"

"...What!"

"I'm going to go get the Chinese takeout. I'll lock the door on my way out."

"Don't think I can protect myself?"

He groaned. "Maka, you know I know you can."

"Do I? I thought a woman needed a man to protect her?"

"Maka—Tsubaki's a woman and she protects Black Star all the time."

"Oh! So it's because I'm a meister? Not a weapon?"

"I'm not going to argue. I'm going to go get Chinese takeout. Maybe things will look better on a full stomach." He fled before she could yell anything back at him.

He got back to their apartment with the Chinese half an hour later. After calling out to Maka, just to make sure she knew he was home, he started dishing up their plates. He gave Maka the larger share of the Chinese donuts.

Once her plate was ready, he walked to her door. He grabbed the doorknob and called to his meister, "I'm opening the door. Please don't-" Something hit the other side of the door and Soul jerked back. From the sound, he guessed it was a book.

"You set foot in here and I'll castrate you."

"Maka. I know you're mad. You have every right to be. What I did was wrong...Strangely uncharacteristic, but wrong."

"How was it uncharacteristic? You're male."

The last thing he needed was her dad to be brought up. "It was wrong. Maka—I just want to bring you some food. Please don't throw anything at me."

"...Fine."

Cautiously, he opened the door and walked into her bedroom. Her dress from the party was pooled at the end of the bed. She lay on the bed, in shorts and tank top, reading.

"Leave it there." She pointed to her desk. Soul walked over and put down her food. He turned and started to walk out of the room. "Why are you still dressed up?"

"What?"

"Why are you still dressed up? Hoping to go to the party and meet up with...what was her name again? Jessica?"

"Maka-"

"Get out of my room."

Soul didn't remember sleeping. He never remember sleeping, not anymore. He only remembered the time between Maka eating breakfast and Maka going to bed. She started not waking up before him. She started sleeping in. She started sleeping through the alarm clock he set for her. She started doing a lot of things. She stopped doing a lot of things.

Her grades at school started dropping. She still did better than him, but Ox no longer bothered competing with her. She started getting better at sports. She beat Soul at basketball. Soul had been stunned.

"But you actually beat me."

"Why are so surprised, Soul? Because she's a girl?" Black Star demanded.

"No!" Soul said. "Because it's weird."

"It's because she's a girl, isn't it?" Black Star looked at Maka. "Want me to beat him up for you?"

Soul looked at all the angry faces around him. He turned and ran. Ran away from Maka. It was something he seemed to be doing a lot of recently.

He was sure this was all because he had kissed some girl at a Christmas party and she was still angry at him. It wasn't like he and Maka were an item, although close as they were it still felt like cheating. He had proved himself to be a scumbag, just like every other man. Soul didn't care that many people would regard her actions in the past weeks as spiteful. He just wanted the old Maka back.

He was sure that if they could try to resonate he could convince her of his regret and guilt, but Stein hadn't given them any assignments where they needed to try and she refused his requests after school. He even tried talking to Stein, which was always a terrifying prospect.

"So you're telling me you're not all concerned about her falling grades? About her weird attitude in class? About-"

"Many teenagers change, Soul. Their bodies change and their personalities."

"Stein! Maka's seventeen! She's already went through puberty. Believe me, I've made lots of late night trips to the grocery store to buy tampons and choclate."

"Soul-"

"That's another thing that's changed," Soul said, his voice growing louder, more emotional, "Her requests before were always from behind doors, now if she has bad cramps, stains on the bedsheets, she lets the whole world know."

"Does it make you uncomfortable?" Stein asked.

"No—you don't understand. Maka is a prude. The Maka I know is a prude. She's afraid of all intimacies that involve taking clothes off. She probably bathes in her swimsuit."

"Maybe you don't know Maka as well as you think."

"Bullcrap."

But maybe Stein had been right. After all, none of their other friends acted like anything was wrong. Maybe she was going through some sort of second puberty, because her body was changing too. Soul had never known anything about bra sizes, but he learned that as Maka's breasts grew, she changed from a 32A to a 32C and even that was getting snug.

The boys at DWMA started hitting on her and she started flirting back—and not, Soul noticed, in the nerdy yet adorable way he had assumed she would eventually grow into. She even started flirting with Black Star, even Soul was still pretty sure that her feelings for that meister were completely platonic.

The last straw, however, was when he got back to their apartment to discover that Maka and Blair had gone lingerie shopping. And that Maka had been trying on the stuff they had bought. And some creeper followed them home and now had Maka cowered on the couch. Soul knocked him out with a single punch to the temple.

"Maka! What the hell is wrong with you? Why couldn't you fight against some two-bit thug?"

"Soul," she whimpered, "Stop yelling."

He ignored her. "What was that about? Tell me!"

"I couldn't think. When he talked to me. I had to do what he said. Or else he'd hurt me." She pointed to the switchblade the thug had held.

"You couldn't think? Maka, you're the best thinker I know! You can be dense, but-"

"Soul, you don't have to compliment me. I know you want to yell at me."

Soul fell onto the couch and covered his face with his hands. Quietly, he muttered, "I need a drink."

A few moments later, he heard her say, "Soul, sweetheart?" He took his hands away from his face and saw Maka standing in front of him, still dressed in lingerie and holding out a beer. "I bought a six pack at the grocery store with my fake ID."

"Sweetheart! Fake ID! You can't be Maka Albarn."

"My dad's that cheating bastard, isn't he."

"...I don't want the beer."

Maka twisted and put the beer on the living room table. Then, she leaned her body closer and closer to his. "Then, can I help you another way?"

He pushed her off of him and stood up. "No! Maka? What is this all about? Growing boobs? Becoming the biggest flirt in school? Forgetting how to think? Don't tell me this all revenge for that damn Christmas party!"

"No, of course not," she purred, "I don't blame you for that. After all, we both know I had no sex appeal back then."

SOUL!

He rubbed his head; he was getting a headache."As if that mattered to you! I mean, I know you were self conscious about your body, but you would never sacrifice your brains and your principles! Besides, you did have sex appeal, but if I had let you know, you would've done more than threaten to castrate me!"

Maka looked away from him, as if she couldn't bear to contradict him. She said softly, "Well, that's how I was, Soul, before I met you."

"Me?!"

"I wanted you to notice me, Soul. I knew you'd never notice me, never want me, if I stayed a bookworm who was as dull and flat as a washboard."

"You only care about me? Of what I think of you? Not that we have a fucking job to do?"

"What job, Soul? All the keishans are dead. They won't come back."

"Dead? Won't come back?"

SOUL!

"I went through all this trouble for you to see me as attractive! And you still won't!"

"Attractive? You're attractive enough, but you belong in a porn magazine, not in Maka Albarn!"

"But-"

"Listen here: You...You are not the Maka Albarn I fell in love with. You are not the Maka I'd die for. You are not the Maka I'd become a keishan for if I wasn't sure that she would find that the most repulsive thing ever! My Maka would never win a basketball game! She'd never not bother to study for even the smallest test! She knows there are more important things than appearances. She values people for who they are, their souls, not their looks! She thinks keeping the world safe and keeping me safe are both far more important than giving me a nosebleed! Besides, she's so stubborn," he grinned, "even if she were the ugliest girl in the world, she'd convince me that warts are actually really, really attractive."

The other Maka, the one that he didn't love, looked up at him, crestfallen, "She sounds like a wonderful girl."

"Yeah, she is. That's not to say you're not wonderful to someone too, but I don't think our souls would resonate too well."

"No. I don't think they would."

He looked down at her, "Do you think that if I kissed you, she'd wake up, like Sleeping Beauty or something?"

"I don't know."

SOUL!

"Do you hear something?" He asked.

"No. Do you?"

"Soul! What are you doing with that woman?"

Both Soul and the other Maka turned to the new voice. Maka was standing just inside the apartment, dressed in regulation pigtails and miniskirt. "...Looking for you," Soul answered, half of him the amused, the other half completely confused.

Maka marched over to him. "I've been here the whole time, Stupid."

"You know, your evil twin over here thinks I'm the clever one."

Maka looked up at him. "No nosebleed. I'm surprised. You've gotten better. Good boy."

"If that's a joke, it's not very cool."

She sniffed. "As if I cared about what was cool." She turned to the other Maka, "Well, it's been nice meeting you, Evil Twin, but I've got to take Soul home now."

SOUL!

Maka was crying. That wasn't right. He reached up to wipe the tears off her face. "What's wrong, Maka? Did Black Star nearly get himself killed again?"

Maka chuckled faintly and wiped the tears away herself. "No, Silly, you did."

He could see the room he was in more clearly now. It was the all too familiar school's nurses office, aka Stein's newest laboratory. Stein was in the room as well. Soul wasn't sure that he wasn't any less creepy as a school nurse than Medusa. He stepped forward to speak. "We were worried you wouldn't make it. One of the drugs I gave you for that fever had a hallucinate agent that you reacted...rather violently to...It was interesting."

Soul's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you were experimenting on me?"

"Of course," Stein turned the screw in his head, "Maka, you need to go home. Soul's okay now." Looking at Soul, he said, "She hasn't slept since the night before yesterday. She's been here the whole time."

"Maka," Soul groaned, "You need to go home, get some sleep."

"I know. I know. I'm going!" She stopped at the room's doorway. She was already beet red. "But Soul, just so you know, I'd turn into a keishen for you too." She ran.

Soul stared after her, completely startled. "Should I be worried?" Stein asked.

"Did I say a lot out loud?"

"I don't know," Stein answered dryly, "I haven't been counting your pulse for the past two days. I've had specimens to repair. But, Maka has been blushing a lot in the past twenty or thirty minutes."

Soul groaned and sank into his pillows.

"I want to keep you here a bit longer, but nothing unexpected happens, you should be able spend tonight at home."

"Stein?"

"Hm?"

"Never use those pills on me again."

"Oh?"

"I never want to have a nightmare like that again."

A/N: If you enjoyed the story, tell your friends. If you hated it, tell your enemies. (Though I would also appreciate knowing what you thought of it.)