Soul was currently sprawled out on his living room floor in his newly rented apartment. He was finally done unpacking and arranging his stuff that was off the storage truck. The only thing that remained was a box filled with slightly wrinkled sheet music and family pictures.

'It's not like I need this stuff anymore.' He thought to himself as he shoved the box into the back of his closet and mind.

Upon moving into his apartment three weeks ago Soul was pretty damn relieved.

No too big, too quiet mansion, nobody to tell him what to do or where to go, and certainly no one to remind him of his own goddamn mediocrity.

But Soul couldn't shake the feeling of fear that plagued him for several nights.

Hell, he even contemplated calling or writing to his mom.

Tonight was the school's mixer, which meant everyone was in a scramble to get a partner. After the (extremely short) greeting and speech made by the (extremely weird) headmaster every other student in all their well dressed glory had practically latched themselves onto another person.

That was when Soul decided to skip out on all the formality and went to go wherever his feet took him. After a bit of loitering through a maze of hallways and stairs, he stumbled into a music room. The thought of why there was a music room in a school that was meant to get rid of evil at the root didn't cross his mind at all. At the moment he didn't care.

It was a bit dark in the room, the only thing lighting it was the smooth, soft light of the moon. In the low light he saw the once satin turned velvet sheen of a black piano. Seating himself on the bench, he put a finger onto a key. Despite the film of dust, and a missing pedal, he supposed it sounded nice enough.

Both hands settled onto the keys, the beginning of a song.

It was a mess, that sounded as pleasant as falling of a cliff and getting skewered by the sharpest of rocks. His hands were moving out of their own accord, sound bouncing and resonating in his ears. It was all nonsense to him.

Soul's playing came to an abrupt halt, arms held slack at his sides.

There was clapping.

'Whoever liked that has to be deaf.'

It continued for several agonizing seconds, quick and polite.

"That was really good."

Soul didn't weather he should laugh or scowl at the praise.

Soul turned around in his seat to face the doorway. Standing there was a girl. She had blonde hair put up in pigtails and was wearing a long overcoat over her dress. The sight looked more than a bit strange, but Soul figured nothing was normal in this school.

"If you say so."

In an attempt to make it less awkward for both of them she introduced herself.
"I'm Maka, I'm a meister."

'Oh so she's a meister.'

"What's your name?" she asked.

His lips curled upwards. 'Better make a decent impression.'

"Soul... I'm a weapon."

"What are you?"

It took him a few seconds to figure out exactly what "what" was.

"A scythe."

"Oh wow."

A thoughtful look sprang onto her face and her eyes somehow shone a little brighter. She stood there thinking to herself for a bit, then walked toward the piano.

"Do you think... we could be partners?" she asked extending her hand.

'She wants me to shake it?'

"Why not." he said taking her hand in his.

Soul stood on a balcony facing Death City. The dry desert air blowing wisps of hair out of his face. It was six months since enrollment, yet he couldn't bring himself to get used to anything.

There were three minutes 'till class, but he couldn't bring his feet to move.

He was counting buildings until he lost count and started over again.

56.
42.
77.
'Who cares?'

He gave up, staring until his eyes strained to see the horizon line.

The quiet was shaken by the crisp footfalls coming from one pair of feet.

Maka.

The closer she got, the louder she became.

She came to a stop, silently standing next to him, Soul's train of thought crashed, the thoughts of a Maka chop and a lecture drowned in the silence.

Maka glowered at the ground, hands were clenched into fists.
"Soul," her voice was soft, though.

He raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

She sighed, puffing air out of her cheeks.
"Theres some... stuff going on at home."

Soul felt twinges of memories flickering within him after he heard "home".

"I was wondering if... I could... live with you."

He put a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah." he said giving her a smile.

He could understand what she was going through.

I originally tried incorporating Green Day's "Welcome to Paradise" in this, but I don't think I did that great and I just went off course after the first part (Oh well). There will (most likely) be more one shots I'll write in here, just don't expect updates occurring regularly.