Just finished watching this anime and I can't take it… must write

Maka stood staring at the façade of DWMA, thinking about the last few weeks. Construction had finished and the building stood as it once had, overlooking Death City. The only trace of the school's misadventure was the light line carved in the ground in an uneven circle that showed where the school had uprooted and carried itself into battle.

"Feels weird being back," Soul said as he caught up to her after waking up late. Maka nodded, but didn't glance in her comrade's direction, for fear that when she looked back the school would be gone again. A silly fear, but a valid one. Or maybe she was just tired of looking at him after spending two weeks together nonstop. At some point the short vacation from class had stopped feeling like a necessity in order to heal and more like being under house arrest. Breaking away from whatever concerns turned in her mind, Maka realized that they were the only ones left in the courtyard.

"Come on," she sighed, still anxious about what greeting they would receive inside. She stumbled inside, taking care not to step on the crack.

In the classroom, the absences that she had missed were obvious. At least a third of the room was missing, some dead, and others still recovering. Even with Death calling an emergency break in the middle of the semester for funerals and bed rest, most of the kids who had shown up seemed to be in a stupor. Some might have been mourning, but several seemed to be under the spell of pain medications. Maka and Soul sat down quietly in the middle row, Soul leaning back in his chair and Maka leaning forward intently.

Ms. Marie stood up and slammed her hands down on her desk, stirring several students and causing a few to fall out of their chairs. "I ask that anyone unable to fully concentrate during class due to pain or medication leave now, please." The last word seemed an afterthought and although she directed stern looks towards a few individuals, nobody left. Soul, who fell under both the pain and the medications categories, mumbled something along the lines of "Is that a threat? Not cool."

Ms. Marie sighed and began a lesson that few, if any, would recall later. A few minutes into her lecture on the history of DWMA, the intercom screeched to life.

"Good morning students," Death cheered, "we will be meeting for an assembly in the courtyard shortly." Ms. Marie sighed again, and Maka felt a pang of pity for her. She was supposed to head back to Oceania after the Kishin was dealt with, but with Mr. Stein acting as doctor for the entire town her hopes for marriage were put off again.

Students clustered in the courtyard, gossiping half-heartedly about the assembly. Death finally floated into view, followed by Death Scythe, who waved eagerly at Maka.

"Hello, students!" Death began, "First I'd like to give a moment's silence for our absent faculty and peers." It seemed as though everyone was already holding their breath… "I would like to thank each and every one of you for persevering through the erm…" he raised his wide white-gloved finger as if the purpose of this speech had just occurred to him. "Yes, and I hope that despite our losses we will all be able to focus on our studies and become better weapons and meisters!" He paused and waited for clapping, then realized what he had forgotten. "Oh yes, and the school's reopening will be celebrated with a small get together tomorrow night!" There was still no applause, but Death didn't seem disappointed. A few people did seem to at least attempt to smile.

"Soul…" Maka murmured, her dazed eyes gaining some life.

"Yeah." Not a question, but a statement. Soul already knew what she was thinking. His pointed teeth twisted into a wide, half smile. There was one way to get the entire school back to its lively spirit: a party. The last one had been for the anniversary of the school, and had coincided with the revival of the Kishin.

"SOUL!" Cheered someone unseen. "HA HA HA!" Maka and Soul glanced up and saw Blackstar, standing triumphantly on the tip of a spike of the school and raising a fist into the air as though he had just finished a rock concert. He leaped to the ground, his blue hair billowing back with the speed of his descent, and landed a few feet from the duo. Soul and Blackstar grasped each other's hands in their usual way.

"Hey, how's it been?" Soul stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket and listened to Blackstar's excited banter. Tsubaki stood smiling behind him, quiet and attentive, her long hair pulled back. Maka gave a small smile, but the strain was evident and Tsubaki's face crinkled in concern. Soul, either noticing Tsubaki's expression or out of habit, glanced back at Maka.

"And then I jumped down from the building and they all looked up and started running away! I started chasing them but Tsubaki was saying how I shouldn't have shouted when I was attacking and then they escaped… running away out of fear of the GREAT AND POWERFUL BLACKSTAR, THEIR GO-

"Hey Blackstar, we should get Death the kid and those guys and shoot some hoops tonight."

"Huh? Oh, Yeah!" Blackstar shouted back at Soul, not noticing his divided attention. "but don't be surprised when I beat you, cause it's gonna happen when you play against the guy who's gonna surpass God!"

The rest of the day passed fairly monotonously. Soul, when he wasn't nodding off, watched Maka tap her eraser against the desk, her face growing more and more somber. He had fallen into this habit lately simply out of concern, though he wouldn't admit it. Maka had been strangely depressed lately, even though they had just had the greatest victory of their lives. She hadn't gotten any postcards from her mother recently, and Crona was still out recovering, but neither of these constituted such a dreary condition. He had caught her more than a few times staring at her hands in concentration, or at the ceiling with pink cheeks. Today was no better. After a few minutes he had to take the pencil away because the tapping gave him a headache. Meanwhile Ms. Marie struggled.

Actually holding a class had seemed impossible that morning with so many absences, but all hope was lost when they returned from lunch to find another half of the class gone. The remaining students were sent home early, all ten or twelve of them.

The whole group showed up at the courts half an hour later. Maka immediately sat down on the bench and cracked open a book. Soul had basically dragged her there, despite her desire for some alone time. Liz had managed to avoid the situation once again though, and in the end Maka would have no choice. Soul pulled her off the bench, letting her book fall in the dirt. Does Liz do this intentionally to screw me over? She thought with a groan.

"WOOHOO!" shouted Blackstar, obviously pumped up. The teams from last time remained the same: Maka, Blackstar, and Patty vs. Soul, Tsubaki, and Kid.

"Hey, same bet as last time?" Soul asked. To Maka's protestations he rolled his eyes, spinning the ball on his index finger. "Okay, so what then?"

Tsubaki chimed in in Maka's silence. "What about this: If we lose then Soul will play the piano at the party tomorrow night, and if you lose-"

"Maka gets severely punished if they lose." Soul stared Maka directly in the eye, watching her fume.

By the end of the game Soul's team was just barely in the lead, and they had time for one more play before the sun unwillingly went down. Maka had learned at least a few of the rules, so she took the ball and passed it to Soul. He smirked and passed it back with more force than necessary. Maka winced but kept her grip. She tossed it up towards Blackstar, who jumped to catch it, put the throw was short. It started to drop and Tsubaki smacked it down and dribbled it towards the hoop. Maka scampered forward and stood in front of Kid, with her hands up. Tsubaki had passed to Soul, who went for the shot. In the next second Patty was there, slapping the ball away. Maka grabbed it and dribbled for a few seconds before trying to run at the same time. Blackstar was at the other end of the court, his arms in the air for the pass. She could feel the bounce of the ball slowly getting out of sync with her jog. She came to a stop and clutched the ball to her chest when Soul wheeled around to stop in front of her. Maka felt her heart beating rapidly against her ribs, her face flushed with effort. She moved to toss the ball over Soul's left shoulder, but just as his hands followed she twisted around and threw it back to Patty. Patty rushed forward and shot… the ball sailed too high for anyone to stop its trajectory… it hit the backboard and a second later a moan could be heard… Maka kneeled over and panted in exhaustion. The ball had bounced off the top of the backboard and gone back into the grass. Soul still stood in front of her snickering. She glanced up at his jagged grin and devilish red eyes, catching her own exhausted reflection in his ruby gaze.

"Well that's it then," mumbled Tsubaki. "So what is this big punishment anyway?" Maka silently thanked her for asking. If she had asked, she feared it would have come out scared or at least breathless.

"Not sure yet… but I'll let you know." Maka's heart dropped at Soul's sly response. It could be as simple as Maka making dinner for the next few weeks, or it could be as humiliating as… well knowing Soul, he could think of something horrible. Like cleaning his room. Maka straightened, her anxiety slowing her heart to a normal rate. She glared at him, her hands tightening into fists. Unsure how to respond to his apparent tranquility, she turned on her heel and stomped off in embarrassment.

~later~

So perhaps trying to avoid someone isn't really an option when you live together Maka thought, lying on her bed with a pillow over her head. She had been holed up in her room since they got home, and Soul hadn't tried to cash in yet on his victory. It was probably just his way of milking it for what all it's worth, giving her the added concern of when along with what. In retrospect of this, she would wonder why she didn't just flat out refuse to do anything, or better yet, rebel against the bets before the game began. But at the time and place no one really consciously considers going against the group, especially when one of the group members is Blackstar.

Maka sat so still and silent that she heard the soft footfalls of a cat's padded feet against the carpeting, which then morphed into the monotonous and dull tap of high heels just outside her door. Blair let the door creak open and peered in, a Cheshire cat grin spread across her cheeks. "Nya-hi Maka!" Her golden eyes opened and blinked as she took in Maka's disheveled fetal position. Blair sauntered in and sat on the bed, letting her knees sink into the mattress. "Why so down? " Blair's smile hardly faltered as she spoke.

"Just mad…" Maka muttered, "don't wanna talk about it." She sniveled, her eyes red from lack of sleep. The truth was, losing the game hadn't bothered her. Rather, it reminded her of something she had been dwelling on for several nights. When you got down to the gist of it, her concern was somewhat childish. Where was her place? Not in the world or course, because few have the right to claim they have changed something that all-encompassing. More like her place in this second, in this city, in this… madness. Blair turned and sat next to her, half her body hanging off the bed. She wrapped an arm around Maka, half to comfort her, half to make sure she didn't fall off. Maka clutched her knees closer to her chest.

Blair sighed, "Well?" Maka didn't move, she was still thinking. Basketball isn't a purpose, but what good was she? She recalled the final fight with the kishin, which she barely managed to win. She remembered Soul lying crushed against the ground. She remembered her first few failed attempts at getting a hit in. Then there was that expanse of time that Soul filled her in on later. Had she really become a weapon? It was plausible considering her heritage, but it all just made her feel worse. If she had something like that inside of her, why hadn't it been revealed sooner? What part of her conscious mind held her back? Was it really fear? She was obviously stronger than she had known, though still not strong enough. She had to find that part and destroy it. A meister shouldn't hold back her weapon like that.

Blair was getting annoyed. She had really only come to ask Maka to make her some food, but this was taking too long. She jumped up from her spot next to Maka and was about to slip through the door when Maka stopped her. "Thanks… Blair." Blair looked back at the pathetic heap and shook her head but muttered "yeah," in response. The door closed tightly behind her and Maka was left once more in the semi-darkness with the moon's slanted beams streaming through her blinds.

Okay so I'm stopping it there because I don't want it to get too long… I know it's starting kind of slow, but it'll get livelier next chapter! Please review, leave a comment, favorite, whatever you like. I'm not sure how regular this will be cause school is starting back up soon, but I'll write faster the more you comment. =)