Chapter 1

*a/n Alright guys, this is my very first Soul Eater fic, so don't be too harsh. I'm writing this for a friend of mine, and, per her request, this is going to be a Soul x Maka type of thing. I myself am extremely fond of this pairing, so this is going to be absolute blast writing. Sorry if the title and description suck. And sorry if the rest of this story sucks. Just so you know, before the chapter, I will write whose POV it's in. And by the way, I don't own any of this show or these characters.

*Soul's POV*

"I have got to be the worst weapon in the history of weapons. God, why am I so stupid? If it hadn't been for me, Maka wouldn't be hurt right now… I can barely stand to know that I failed to protect my Meister."

Soul was so deep in self-pitying himself that he didn't register the fact that Maka's eyes had fluttered open, indicating that she had woken. He also forgot the fact that he had been mumbling to himself, rather than just silently pacing.

"Soul, it's okay. I'm fine, see?" Soul nearly jumped at the damaged sound of his Meister's voice. Still, he flung his body around to see Maka's strangled smile and her pleading eyes.

"No you're not." His voice was barely a whisper and he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eyes. Instead, he slipped his hands into his pockets and wandered over to the edge of her hospital bed.

"How do you know that?" Maka asked stubbornly, eyeing Soul as if daring him to look at her. He pretended to be oblivious to her stare as he walked over to the wall and leaned against it, closing his eyes gently and sighing.

"Maka, you're not fine, you want to know how I know that? Because you nearly died out there today, and it was all because of me. You can't possibly tell me you're fine, when just three hours ago, you were lying unconscious out in God knows where, not to mention, without me."

Soul's words sounded colder and harsher than he had intended and he heard Maka sharply inhale upon hearing them. It was just another reason for him to feel incredibly guilty inside.

"Why didn't you tell me where you were going?" He questioned when Maka had remained silent. She didn't answer him right away, so for a short period of time, a silence hung in the air that Soul struggled against. With each passing moment, the lack of noise only seemed to grow stronger, that was, until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Dammit Maka, answer me." He whispered to himself with his eyes still closed. He was not going to break down; he would not succumb to his stupid emotions. Cool guys didn't do that.

"I'm sorry Soul…" Maka finally stammered, causing Soul's eyes to snap open. He sighed exasperatedly before moving closer to her bed and sitting on the edge of it, facing her.

"Don't apologize, it wasn't your fault." He tried to shrug it off and play it as if it wasn't that bad, but there was a growing pain inside of his chest that made him feel otherwise.

"Besides, what kind of cool guy would I be if I let you blame yourself for something like this?" He motioned with his head then to Maka's arm that had been embraced in a cast the exact same shade as her lovely green eyes.

Maka didn't seem phased by his subtle mention of her injury, and she continued to stare deep into his eyes for a moment longer.

Soul cleared his throat then, slightly embarrassed to have been looking back at Maka with such a tiny hint of emotion in his eyes. What was his problem?

"You need to get your rest…" He trailed off rather quickly, sort of inching towards the door. Maka looked a little disappointed, and again, the feeling of pain inside his chest only seemed to grow.

"Soul, please stay with me…" Sometimes Soul could never understand why Maka always needed him by her side, but he couldn't blame her because he frequently felt the same way.

"Anything for my Meister." He said with a nod, trying so hard to suppress another smile. He was always more than willing to stay by Maka's side, no matter what situation she was in.

Maka visibly brightened when Soul had agreed to stay with her. She was quiet though, and for a little while, all you could hear was the two breathing in sync.

"Can I ask you something?" Maka was the one to break the silence with her fragile voice.

"You just did." He always loved to be technical with her. Smirking, Soul looked down at his Meister and wasn't surprised to see her staring back up at him with an exasperated look on her face.

"Soul…" She whined, clearly not finding his antics funny. It only made him want to chuckle, so he decided to do it again.

"That's what they call me." When Maka reached out to kinda-sorta punch him with her good hand, Soul moved so she just barely missed him.

She started squirming and whining more and he sighed in response. Sometimes she was just so damn difficult to deal with.

"Geez, Maka, why do you want to punch me so bad?" He was only teasing her because he honestly didn't care that much. She had broken her arm and it was his fault, the least he could do was let her punch him.

"Because Soul, you're being so technical!" Maka said in an annoyed tone as she bickered with him. He laughed again, not sure why it was such a big deal. He was always technical with everyone, even if he was more so with her.

"And you're just now figuring this out?" His laughter had turned to tears and his eyes closed as he held his sides to keep from falling over. Unfortunately, he missed the glare that Maka had sent his way.

And, like she normally did, she got a random book out of nowhere and hit him upside the head with it.

"God Dammit! Maka, why'd you do that?!" He would forever wonder why on Earth his Meister always felt the need to hit everyone with books when they didn't listen to her.

"Because you weren't listening!" Her face looked hot as she sent her high pitched screams in the air. Soul paused for a moment; did he really want to argue with his Meister like that over something so stupid?

"Gee, send me to jail." He mumbled, rubbing his fingers along the place on his nose where Maka had thrown the book. There was a dull sting, but nothing too terrible. Still, he probably deserved it.

"Do you think Lord Death with still let me fight with this stupid cast?" Maka asked, completely ignoring Soul and his seemingly meaningless comebacks.

Soul thought about it for a moment. There was no way she could fight like that. He shook his head slowly, feeling pained to have to tell Maka what she didn't want to hear.

"It doesn't matter though," After seeing the frown on her face, Soul desperately wanted to make her feel better, but he had no idea how.

"How can you say that?" Oh great, now she was close to tears. God he was such an idiot. There had to be something he could say.

"SOUL?!" Abruptly, Maka grabbed onto his arm and shook him back and forth, willing him to answer her.

"Relax, Maka. It doesn't matter if you can fight or not because I'm not leaving your side until you can!"

Her grip on his arm didn't loosen but she did stop shaking him back and forth. To be honest, it made him slightly dizzy and just the fact that she was holding her arm made his mouth go dry.

"Oh, Soul, thank you!" Before he could object, Maka had thrown herself into his arms. Like any cool weapon would do, he returned the hug. After all, it was his job to protect his Meister.