Absence
'Today I feel kind of lonely.'
Maka sighed but couldn't shake off her 'foolishness.' She stepped in front of the mirror in her room and inspected her appearance. Her spartoi uniform was impeccable as always and not a single hair was out of place. Her gaze met her reflected eyes and she found herself wishing she were looking at red eyes rather than green ones. She tried telling herself she didn't look sad.
It was obviously a lie.
She looked down at her feet and let out another sigh, knowing perfectly well as to why she felt subpar these days. She had woken to a silent apartment (apart from the evil blaring alarm clock, that is), ate a silent breakfast, and dressed for school in silence.
She had to admit, in the beginning, she had basked in the peaceful solitude. Maka was human after all and like any other human she tired of constant company. The worry she felt when Soul was sent on an important mission subsided when she discovered her newfound freedom of playing the music she liked at the volume she desired, cooking her favorite food, and finding the quiet free time to curl up on the sofa with the book she had been dying to read. All this without complaints from Soul. Paradise.
But as time passed, the advantages to her alone time began to fade. Soul's vacant space at school and at home became more and more evident to Maka. It didn't really help that everyone around her was seemingly happy. Black Star had declared himself to Tsubaki and the two were in a strange (somewhat obnoxious on Black Star's part) bliss. Kid, Liz, and Patti were inseparable and although not one of them was romantically involved the three of them had enough admirers to never feel alone.
Maka bit her lip and caught the tears in her eyes before they slipped out. She was being silly, foolish. Soul wasn't in any danger. (She hoped.) He was on a mission and would be home any day now. She wouldn't want him to walk in on her crying…
A pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind and a head buried itself onto her shoulder and neck.
"I home," a low voice murmured softly.
Maka's head snapped up to look in the mirror to see that Soul had indeed somehow managed to sneak up on her.
The second Maka had ensured Soul was cleaning up his blood off the carpet (she had chopped him for startling her), she sat down and watched him smile in spite of himself.
Seeing that she had completed her revenge, Maka let herself smile back.