Soul pulled his scarf tighter around his neck, the winter chill causing goose bumps to form up and down his arms even hidden under his jacket. Shoving his hands into his pockets he reminisced about a time before spartoi when his jacket was plush and warm and could withstand even the coldest of countries. Currently he and Maka were in England, she was sitting at a little café down the road, waiting for him to come back from his, far too long, search for a parking space. The road was slippery, layer upon layer of ice having formed on the uneven streets. As he rounded the corner he could see the sign for the little coffee shop, hand painted on a piece of wood, a picture of a steaming coffee cup speeding him on towards his destination.
He opened the door and Maka looked up at the sound of the bell ringing. She smiled as she saw him, her green eyes crinkling. A young boy sat across from her. Not someone that either of them knew, but he stared, shocked at Soul's appearance.
"Hey Maka, who's this." He asked apprehensively.
"Uh, don't worry about it, I was just leaving." The boy got up slowly, and tried very hard to walk casually out of the shop. Maka started laughing as soon as the door closed behind him.
"Didn't have to scare him like that now did you?" She flashed him a toothy grin, her eyes full of mirth.
"I wouldn't have to scare these guys away if you didn't attract such weird ones." Soul replied, a smile slipping out of his façade against his will.
The words had barely left his mouth before a leather bound book had impacted with his skull. "Shut up Soul, besides he was kind of cute."
Soul bled silently on the floor, as the other patrons of the shop suddenly found the winter scenery outside to be extremely interesting. He got up slowly, rubbing the always tender spot on his head thinking that it was no wonder he always failed his tests. "God Dammit woman, why do you always have to be so violent?" Soul scowled, secretly hoping that he had gotten blood all over her book.
In response she simply narrowed her eyes, tapping her book softly with one finger. Cringing Soul backed away, deciding to leave this battle for another day. Sensing her triumph Maka simply smiled and leaned forward, effortlessly changing topics as though she had not just tried to brain him with a limited edition encyclopedia for the letter X. "The kishin has been spotted on this street the last three nights in a row. The locals think that a ghost has been roaming around, and lord Death wants us to check it out in case it's our guy. Soul nodded, his scowl fading into a somber frown. This kishin was particularly nasty. It had killed one of their own.
It was later, the moon had risen, its demented grin helping to set the moon as meister and weapon sat upon the rooftop of the same coffee shop that now had Soul's blood, forever immortalized on their carpet.
Maka stood, pigtails blown out behind her, with her eyes closed, her soul casting a net over the area. The wind stirred her hair, but she herself did not move. Soul waited in her hands, tense. He believed in his meister, and she had never let him down, but every battle was one more chance to lose in her constant battle with Death.
Suddenly she moved, shaking him out of his trance as she leapt across the roof tops. He could feel the kishin's presence through her. When it came into view, Soul took a mental step back, recoiling from its grotesque imitation of humanity. It was large, and bulbous, arms and legs sticking out at random from a center mass that was constantly changing shape the limbs holding a macabre of weapons, from swords to hedge cutters. A head like object sat atop the mass, two eyes, that were startlingly natural peaked out from each side of the head. It had no mouth, yet it maid noise, panting as it moved slowly between the buildings.
The two students flew above the monster, silently trailing it, soul making sure they were just out of its sight line as Maka tried to find a place where they could kill the beast without any casualties. She spoke in just above a whisper, "This road leads out of the village and into the forests. I'm assuming it hides there anyways, so as long as we can keep it from harming anyone tonight then we can attack it as soon as it hides away for the day time."
"Roger that" Soul answered back.
So on it went. Maka sat upon Soul as they flew through the village, sensing for anyone who was out a little too late at night and quickly escorting them away before the beast could get to them. It was nearly morning now, the air was touched with the stillness that comes before the dawn, and though it was still dark, the crisp cool air spoke of morning to come. Both meister and weapon were tired after their night's escapades, so in truth neither one really new how it happened, but soon they heard the piercing scream of a woman as she encountered something that could not be dreamed of in nightmares.
Maka was on him in a second, swinging soul in a wide arc as they fell through the sky, her momentum allowing her to cleave nearly in two, from shoulder to hip. Its head turned slowly, somehow leaving behind the rest of its body. They had been tracking the thing the whole night, watching its slow movements and listening to its heavy breathing, neither one of the students had expected a charge like the one that had come, and it was only pure instinct that saved Maka's life. Jumping up at the last second, all Maka felt was a brief burst of pain in her left shoulder before she was aiming her scythe once more at the horror. This time it moved out of the way, bringing up one of its feet and kicking Maka into a wall.
"I'm okay soul" The girl answered before the weapon could comment, but both had heard the distinct crunching of bone as the meister connected with the solid brick. The weapon let out a growl wondering how, after all the books he had survived to the head; she was the one with the thick skull.
The pair jumped back into battle again, this time each releasing a feral yell as Soul's blade glowed and transformed. The kishin turned to face them, rushing forward once again, arms flailing dangerously as the sky turned gray to match the dull metal glinting in the kishin's hands. It moved its arms towards the girl, each one connecting with the ground. There was a brief moment of silence as the upper half of the kishin's body floated above the two students, shock clearly visible in its oddly human eyes. Then the silence ended, and each piece condensed and remerged as a glowing red orb. Soul transformed back and quickly slurped up the soul, delighted at the small victory in the long, long war.
Maka was checking the pulse of the woman who was currently passed out on the side of the road. She gave him a quick thumbs up sign before proceeding to fall against the fall, letting her body relax against its cool comfort. The adrenaline was starting to leave both of their bodies and he could too was starting to feel the effects on his own body.
"Maka" he called before he gave in to the exhaustion.
"I know" she called, opening her eyes and glaring at him through her now messed up hair that hung in mangy strands in front of her face, sighing the both of them got up and carried the girl between them. It was awkward, because of the large height difference, but one could not go along without the other, the two limped along the uneven roads, leaning against each other a stranger supported between them.