A/N : This is my Valentine's Day gift to Kittenintheden who is a brilliant writer herself! I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day

"Maka? It's already ten A.M. At this rate, we're going to hit traffic on the interstate. Maka?"

Soul's nagging couldn't have come at a worse time. She answered him with annoyance in her tone but nonetheless picked up the pace, rolling her towel in a loose ball and throwing it underhand into her duffle bag. She knew that her weapon meant well, but Maka was in the middle of a persuasive phone call. Her entire trip's experience rested on that very line.

When he poked his head in, Maka threw her backpack of toiletries at him, pointing at her phone then flashing him two fingers. Two more minutes. Soul scowled but nonetheless shouldered her pack and crossed the room to retrieve the suitcase next to the duffle. He left the room with the two and left her alone to finish, mumbling about how slowly, as well as how inefficiently, women packed.

Maka shifted her phone into a more comfortable position, and cupped the mic end with her left hand while she punched her clothes with her right to flatten them into her bag. "You got it, Kidd? I will personally fly over and cut your dick in half," she hissed into the phone, pausing to zip the bag with both hands before continuing, "vertically in a zig zag pattern."

"This is highly unnecessary and completely vulgar. I swear an oath on behalf of the group that we won't be anywhere near the border of California." Kidd lifted both his hand from his crotch to massage his temples. He peeked at his phone when the screen lit up and vibrated on the table. His hand immediately darted forward to reposition it and to fix the wire of his headphones. "Patty reminds you to not forget the buckets that she lent to you and Liz wants a selfie once you get into the car. I'll talk to you when you get back."

"Later, Kidd. Thanks." The screen flashed again as Maka's phone call ended.

He scooted back from the table and removed the ear buds just before Black*Star snatched the phone. He chanted 'come on' as he jabbed the password into the screen, failing several times. "ARGG! KIDD YOUR PHONE LOCKED ITSELF! NOW WE CAN'T CHECK WHAT SOUL SENT."

Tsubaki gently placed her hand over Black*Star's, "Use your inside voice. You just have to wait one minute, then you can try to press eight four times again." She pried the phone from his hands and handed it to Liz.

The demon gun wiggled it up and down. "What did Maka say? You looked pale—er, paler than usual." She leaned on the back of Kidd's chair and let the tips of her hair tickle his forehead.

"The usual. More likely than not, Soul probably sent the same message by text."

Another phone binged, prompting Patty to fish out her sister's phone from her back pocket. "Look guys! They're finally on their way!" She lifted the phone up to Liz's face first, then circulated it around the room.

"Looks like Maka is driving first, they'll probably switch to Soul once they're out of California though." Tsubaki smiled at their peace signs in the photo then passed it to her partner. "Maybe we shouldn't have taken Maka's bribe. I mean, we weren't planning on going with them anyway."

Patty glanced to her sister slyly, "But now we get cool gifts to make up for it. From both of them." Liz ruffled her hair and smirked openly. "What'd she promise you, Black*Star?"

"BWAHAHA! We're brawling next weekend, if I win, and I WILL be, she has to record herself saying that I am the greatest meister in the academy!"

She bounced over to Black*Star and fist bumped him. "Whup 'er ass!"

Liz entered in Kid's password on his phone as Tsubaki tried to stop Black*Star from challenging Patty to another hand-to-hand battle. Her nails clicked as she swiped right then pressed on the messages app. She handed to phone back to Kidd, "Looks like he's threatening your dick, too."

"I swear to father… Those two think so similarly, you'd think they're in resonance twenty-four seven—And they are." Kidd typed in a quick response and sent it on its way. "I hope their trip is worth threatening Death's dick." His phone vibrated once more. The message was significantly shorter than his first.

"Relax, Kiddo. If they both came to us separately, willing to set aside their pride for eternity, something has to be happening this weekend." Liz wiggled her eyebrows. "It's Valentine's Day, you know."

Soul unlocked his screen to read what Kidd replied as Maka pulled out of the parking garage and onto the street. His previous message had been aggressive, but his weekend's fate rested in his friends' hands. Not a single person was allowed to go anywhere near them and that was final. He scrolled up to reread his first text.

"Remember our deal, bro. If I see one odd colored weapon or a bright blue nuke, our deal is void. Plus, you'll have the option of getting your dick sliced like sashimi or getting my blade shoved up your urethra—" Soul glanced up from his phone to glower at his meister. "Maka? Geez, slow down, you're going to get us arrested before we even get to the beach." The car eased back to fifty miles an hour.

Even if it was a commercial road, Maka had a need for speed and drove as fast as she liked to fly. When she'd first suggested that they flew to California, Soul had to explain just how impractical it was without mentioning how much he wanted to go on a road trip with her.

She'd always flown, whether it was on a plane or with her wings, to any place she needed to travel to. If it was close enough to drive to, she would insist that the motorcycle was more than capable of making the trip. Maka loved the open skies and the wind in her face, but Soul finally beat her with cold, hard logic. One simply cannot carry four bags of clothes and beach toys on a flying scythe no matter how powerful he is, and same with his bike. A plane trip was too much of a hassle to take just to visit California. Nope, a rental car would do just fine.

He looked back at his text from Kidd, "I got you the first time. I'll talk to you l8r, keep your end of the deal."

"Thx, man, I owe you." Soul's forefinger reached to the side of his phone and locked his phone.

"Hey, who was that? You rarely reply back immediately." Maka eyed the phone but made no movement towards it.

"Uh, remember that only weapons project? With the group work on how other weapons function?"

"The one where you guys study each other to get some ideas and inspiration for yourselves?" She was already starting to grip the wheel, excited to find new ways to make him stronger.

"Can we not talk about school when we aren't at school?" Soul stuck his thumb at her box in the middle of the back seat. "You didn't have to bring your entire collection about philosophy and rhetoric, either. Do you think that I can't entertain you for one weekend?"

She slammed the breaks forcefully at the next stoplight, the one just before they got onto the freeway. "It's just for light reading, you know, at the beach?"

Soul crossed his ankles on top of the dashboard. "And what will I be doing?"

"Fretting over your sensitive skin," she snickered as he pulled his mouth into a scowl. "Your face is going to get stuck that way."

He swatted away her hand as she reached over to pinch his cheek. "We've got an hour until we reach the border. Wanna play some car games?"

"Alrighty, I spy with my little eye… something green."

"A tree. I spy something light-golden brown."

"The Pinus Ponderosa on the left. I spy with my little eye, something with a young avian predator."

"A tree. I s—"

"No, Soul, which one?"

"For death sake, you literally just sped past it."

"But which one?"

"Maka, I swear—"

"Which one."

"Half a mile, north east… there."

"Does your metal point you to magnetic north?"

"I spy something shaped like a dick."

"… I'm pulling over."

"PUNCH BUGGY."

"QUIT PUNCHING ME, I'M FUCKING DRIVING, YOU CRAZY SHE-STEIN!"

"OH HELLO THERE, SLUGBUG."

"WE ARE GOING TO DIE, CALM DOWN, YOU LITTLE SADIST."

"WELL SORRY YOU'RE SENSITIVE."

"YOU WERE PUNCHING MY KIDNEY."

"BUT ARE YOU DEAD? HAVE YOU ROLLED OVER AND DIED? DID I FLATTEN OUT YOUR INTESTINES?"

"KEEP IT UP AND WE'LL FIND OUT THE ANSWERS TO THOSE QUESTIONS REAL FUCKING QUICK."

"…"

"OH RIGHT, YOU AND BLACKSTAR PUNCH EACH OTHER IN THE WINDPIPE FOR FUN. SILLY ME! MY BAD, I WASN'T RAISED LIKE A PACK OF WO-"

"PuNcH bUgGy!"

"JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!"

"I love that song."

"Enough."

"-one kishin souls in my mouth, seventy-one kishin souls. Take one out, confiscate it, seventy kishin souls in my mouth. Seventy kishin souls in my mouth, seventy kishin souls. Take one out, confiscate it, sixty-nine kishin souls in my mouth. Sixty-nine ki—"

"Are you done?"

"—shin souls in my mouth, sixty-nine kishin souls. Take one out, confiscate it, sixty-eight kishin so-"

"Sou-ru, yamete kudasai. Matawa… watashi wa anata o koroshimasu..."*

"Yes, my meister! "

*Soul, please quit. Or… I will kill you…

Maka fiddled with the car window button, squinting at Soul as she clicked it up and down. Even if he had locked the windows, she could still irritate him with the clicking noises. Eventually, she will break him. "Just admit that you have no more "i" foods to list so that I can win."

"Inca berries."

"Saganaki."

"This is hardly fair."

She abandoned the button in favor of tracing a short scar on the back of her hand. The conditions were perfect. Soul was worn out from driving for the past two hours and there was just one more hour left to go before they arrived to the beach.

It'd been a while since Maka had been in a car so she kept her eyes plastered outside her side window. Nothing in California looked like it was going to lead to the ocean. The state seemed to be a never ending road of cows, farm, hills, cows, cow poop, farm, and more cows. Maka had studied google earth and her maps before but she was still unprepared for just how long their ride was, and how smelly the cows were.

Her partner drove more carefully than her by a landslide, keeping the speed at a constant sixty-five miles per hour, even when she urged him to pull up to an eighty. She could feel his impatience taking its toll and his demeanor chipping off slowly.

Sitting at the shotgun granted her the best spot to study her dear old partner carefully. It's time. "So I won?"

"Only if you can think of another "i" food," Soul smugly retorted, "which I already knocked out a majority of."

"So winner gets to choose the next game?" Her eyelashes fluttered as she tilted her head towards him. "We'll play Twenty-One Questions?"

Soul tilted the wheel lightly to the right as the road bent, and Maka felt her body lean a little closer to his arm. As they straightened out, Soul huffed a quick agreement.

"Ipoh laksa," Before Soul could protest, Maka continued, "They're spicy noodles from Peranakan cuisine, except this one is from the city of Ipoh, which is still technically Perang."

"You make me regret telling you to watch more cooking shows."

"As you should, because there was nothing wrong with my food in the first place."

"As you say, my meister. Which game was Twenty-One Questions again? The one where we guess what thing the other person is thinking of?"

Maka tapped the button absentmindedly as she leaned against the coolness of the glass, "You're thinking of Twenty Questions, different than Twenty-One. This is the one where we get to know each other better through some questions."

He snorted, "Get real, there's nothing that I don't know about you."

"We'll see about that." It was like hunting for her prey. First, she had to lure him out. "So are you an animal, mineral, or plant?"

"Aren't we playing Twenty-One?"

"Just answer."

"I'm sure as hell that I'm not a plant."

"So, mineral?"

"Well, my rod is pretty hard."

The glass cooled her forehead just as her face flared with red. Maka tilted her head to face him just in time to catch the last wave of his eyebrow wiggles. "Was that really necessary?"

He held in laughter long enough to respond, "Is that another question?"

"Come on, at least treat this game seriously like all the others."

"Like I said, there's nothing that I don't know about you."

She turned away as the corner of his lip rose, feeling him watch her from the edge of his vision. "Well, we could make this themed, so that we can dig deeper on that subject. I bet you don't know everything about me."

From her side of the car, she watched as the hills whizzed by, running endlessly as far as the eye can see. The golden state didn't disappoint their visitors. A few birds were perched on the telephone lines above them while others seemed to be following them. She activated her soul perception just enough to see the outline of the glowing orbs around them, which shone brighter than the Californian sun. Soul's heart seemed to beat just a little faster when he suggested their theme.

"Well, today's Valentine's Day…" He took the bait.

"Perfect, so you can ask the next question."

The car leaned a little closer to the outside of the lane but Soul caught himself just before they crossed the white line. "Wait no, why am I going first? What am I supposed to be asking?"

"Love questions, but there's nothing you don't know about me, you say? Well then, you can skip this turn."

"No way." Soul mulled over his words carefully until he questioned, "So, what would you be doing today if we didn't have this trip?"

She squinted at a faraway tree with a vulture perched at its tip. "I probably would still be with you, laughing at the dumb couples and seeing if we can get discounted crap."

"Figured. We do that every year."

"Then why'd you ask if you already knew the answer?" She turned to look at him.

"Well this year could've been different. Maybe you would've finally gotten a date." His mouth was smiling but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

It was an art to get the other person to admit what the other wanted, but Maka wasn't as good with words as some of her friends, including Soul, were. Still, there were questions that she needed to ask and answers that she needed to know. "Do you have someone special to spend the day with, too?" She felt the car swerve again and Soul took his eyes off the road long enough for her to see his boiling suspicions that surfaced in them. "I mean, like a Valentine?"

"Y-yeah, I guess I do."

Her heart smashed down to earth, through the ground, and into Hell. This game started because of her undying curiosity but it was quickly backfiring. The plan was supposed to be simple, to figure out if Soul had someone in his heart and who it was. She didn't realize that it would hurt so much when he answered with "yes". In her own heart, there was only Soul, Soul, and Soul. There wasn't any room for anyone other than him and she'd dared to hope that today, of all days, was the day she could confess her feelings.

A few days before, when she admitted her plan to Tsubaki, Jackie overhead and decided to input her wisdom. "But what if Soul already likes someone else?" Maka silently cursed out her friend but her innocent question had been a real game changer.

As she suffered in silent turmoil, Soul asked his second question, "So do you have a guy like that, too?"

Without putting much thought into it, Maka bobbed her head twice before retreating back into herself, stopping the brainstorm only when she noticed waves of anguish radiating from him. A train of thought started to take off. Why was he upset about it if he already had a target for his affections?

She shook off her doubts in favor of the game. "Have you ever had your heart broken? If so, how?"

He took his left hand off the steering wheel and propped his elbow at the base of the window as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Pass."

"Are you kidding me? This should be an easy one."

"Well, I don't have the answer."

"Then say no."

"Whatever, I'm passing this. Tell me about Mr. Lover Boy here. Do I know him?"

"Oh my Death, Soul. You can't just ask me something like that without warning." She crossed her arms as Soul stared down the road.

Just before she started to form her answer, he sighed in defeat. "I take that back. The question is: How would you describe me to other people?"

"You?"

"Yeah, me."

Maka almost groaned at the irony of his question. "Well, who am I supposed to be talking to?"

"Lover Boy."

His mouth was set in a grim line and their speed was nearing seventy-five mph. She mentally punched herself before continuing onward. "He's… my weapon…"

"Mmhm."

"He's prideful and arrogant, but he's allowed to be because of his ranking."

"Damn straight."

"He's smelly in the morning and he's smelly even after he showers."

"Watch it."

"He's the best and strongest weapon that I've had the pleasure of working with, and we get stronger together because we're partners. He's been with me through my brightest days and darkest nights. His hair is as white as his soul and his hands are as strong as his heart."

"Go on."

"He's my best friend and I'm his," her eyes met his as she finished, "and there's no one else I'd rather be with than him."

They sat in silence while the air grew a little thicker. He seemed to relax after she had answered though, which was relieving to her since she didn't want to deal with his pissy attitude.

Soul cleared his throat, "Next question?"

She tapped the side of her jaw, "What should I do for you that I don't do for you now?"

"Where are you getting these lame questions?"

"I looked them up online."

"You could wash the dishes with me instead of making me clean up by myself."

"If you cook, then you don't clean."

"I dunno, we could split it half and half on some days. You could help me separate colors from whites when the basket is full."

"Why, are you colorblind?" It almost sounded like he wanted to spend more time with her.

"We could be finishing chores a lot faster if we shared the work, alright? Next one: Let's say that you're Cinderella and you lose your glass slipper, who would you want to find it?"

"I guess it would be you, out of convenience. Let's say I'm a genie, if you could have three wishes from me, what would they be?"

As they moved their conversation further away from their theme, Maka couldn't help but to feel like had she lost control of her battle. She only managed to figure out that Soul had someone special but there was no way of asking who it was without revealing her intentions. As the blue waves of the sea appeared before them, she squeezed in one last question before their road trip ended.

"Do you see yourself with the girl of your affections in the future?" It was a struggle for her to ask but the nagging sensation in the back of her mind compelled her.

When Soul had finally unlocked the windows only moments before, she rolled them down and stuck her head into the open, listening to the wind and the water as they came together in the shore ahead. Valentine's Day and feelings be damned, she was at the beach with Soul and that was good enough for her.

She barely heard his reply when it came. "I'd follow her to the ends of the Earth."