Almost Beautiful

It was a bright and early morning for the young meister, Maka Albarn. The sand was wet and covered with bits and pieces of shells that the tide had brought in. She walked along the strip where the ocean was lapping at the shore and closed her eyes. Maka had needed this. Just some time to herself. The mission they had been assigned was finished quickly, the Kishin egg was a gang member, and they had an extra day to relax and enjoy a short vacation. Soul was still sleeping in but Maka had woken up earlier than usual because she heard the good seashells are gone by the afternoon.

Her ashen blonde hair was down and wavy (she had slept with braids in), blowing in the salty breeze. She was barefoot and had some black athletic shorts, a green sports bra, turquoise tank top, light green hoodie, and some black sunglasses atop her head. She was facing the ocean and her eyes were closed. She stayed there for a minute or two, just standing in the breeze with the feeling of water seizing and receding around her feet.

But eventually, something disturbed her tranquility. She felt the dull point of something press against her foot when a particularly large wave rolled in. Her eyes gently fluttered open and looked down, where a beautiful conch shell was beside her foot. It was beautiful. Pearly white with accents of an iridescent orange painted the small phenomenon. She examined it and thought it was beautiful, perfect, and wonderful. But when she turned it over,

It was horrific.

There was a huge, gaping hole through the side of it, and the bottom part of the edge was shattered off. You could see the inner spiral, voiding all of the mystery it was supposed to have. No longer holding the secret sound of the sea when you held it to your ear. It was nothing short of tragic. It was now ugly, flawed, and pathetic.

Most people would've let out a disappointed sigh and thrown it back. But not Maka. She had a small smile and bent down to the water and washed off the sand. She shook it off and shoved it into her pocket. Maka then turned around and headed back to the seaside hotel. She walked through the back way, cleaned her feet, and went inside on the elevator to get to her shared room.

When she walked in, Soul was awake and moving. As she closed the door he was walking back in from the balcony. She took the shell out set it on the table next to the T.V. Soul turned around to close the balcony door and then looked back at Maka with an unamused expression.

"It would've been nicer to have left a note or something than to let me sit here and freak out about where you went." Soul said dully. He was worried about me? Maka felt a little bubble of happiness inside of her, but she wasn't sure why.

"Maybe you should've looked a little harder." Maka countered with a bit of playful sass as she pointed to the mirror. Soul walked over to the mirror and pulled the taped note off of the mirror.

"Went to the beach. Be back later. Oh," Soul's face scrunched up and looked back to Maka, "You've gotta pretty whack signature."

Maka just laughed and laid down on her bed, "Shut up." She whined. It was muffled by the pillow but she knew he understood. She heard the water turn on and the sound of a luggage zipper zipping. She closed her eyes for a few minutes knowing Soul was taking a shower. 'Cool guys are fresh, deal with it' He'd say to her, and the reminder made her sad.

To him, she was probably like that shell. Decimated, broken, and unworthy of any value. He teased her relentlessly and he couldn't make it any more obvious that he didn't feel the same way she did for him. He wanted something perfectly intact and valuable, and he probably deserved that too. Nobody want a girl who's pieces are missing and most likely never be found.

So, she laid there. Letting her depressed thought stay on the same lines of how she would never have her fairytale ending. She was probably laying there for about 15 minutes until she was startled by a voice.

"What's this?" Soul asked. He was finally dressed and had the sad seashell in his hands.

"It's a shell. I found it on the beach this morning." Maka answered.

"It's kinda pretty." Soul concluded and he looked at it, even after seeing the broken part of it.

"But it's broken." Maka reminded him as she stood up from the bed.

"So? It doesn't have to be flawless to be pretty."

"But isn't that what beauty is defined by? How perfect it is?" Maka inquired.

"To some people, but not me. If you think about it, it's kind of like us." Soul said. This sparked Maka's interest.

"How do you figure?"

"I mean, sure, it's gotta couple problems, but most of it is still put together. And finding something like this is way better than finding the other broken parts of shells that are destroyed completely. It's not utterly horrible it'- uhh," Soul struggled to find the right words.

"Almost Beautiful." Maka finished. Soul looked and her and nodded.

"Yeah. Kinda like you." Soul said casually as he looked at the shell again.

Maka's eyes shot open and a blush stained her cheeks. "Please. I'm far from being remotely pretty."

Soul looked up at her and had the faintest smile. "Well, if it's any reassurance, you're beautiful to me. And it's you who would make me do something like this." He confessed.

Maka was confused and blushing like crazy. "Wait, do wha-" but she was cut off when a pair of lips met against hers. At first she was shocked, but eventually she let her eyes flutter shut and kissed him back. Soul was enjoying the feeling as much, if not more than she was. He'd been wanting to do this for years and wanted to make it count. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her with more force. She returned the favor by circling her arms around his neck and lightly tugging on his hair. They eventually fell back on the bed with Maka on the bottom. Maka thought he was gonna kiss her again, but instead leaned down to whisper something to her before resuming his actions.

"Beautiful."

A/N: Hey guys! I decided to take a little break from Summertime Secrets and write this little fic really quick. Hehe, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it. But I was on vacation in Florida when I wrote this and got the idea when I was collecting shells on the beach. I was inspired by the beauty in the flaws that the shells had, so when I saw one that was almost intact, I kept it. I will update S.S. soon, but leave a review or P.M. me!

Christina