Chapter 3

(Death the Kid)

"Kid? Kid! Come on we're gonna be late for school!" Liz yelled on the other side of the door.

Death the Kid was carefully combing his hair, "I'll be out soon, girls." He squinted at himself and sighed, 'This DOES get pretty tedious after a while.'

He calmly walked outside the door. Patty and Liz greeted him. "Hee, hee, morning Kid! We have a surprise for you~!" Liz rolled her eyes, "Patty, can't you keep ANYTHING a surprise for once? This lasted, what? Twelve minutes?"

"LOL, sorry~!"

"Lol?" Kid asked as he raised an eyebrow. Liz sighed, "Laugh Out Loud, she just learned it today. But besides that, we set up something for you."

"And that is?"

Both girls smiled wide, "SPEED DATING!"

Kid blanched, "Wait…WHAT? Speed dating, are you insane? Why would I want to do that?" Liz smiled coyly. "It's right after school, you won't BELIEVE how many girls, weapons and Meister's alike signed up!"

'This…isn't going to be a good day….'

Liz and Patty opened the door for him, "Come on Kid! Today you won't be lonely ever again!" Liz announced. Kid sighed, "Oh joy…"

-First period-

"YAHOO! Black Star is in the house!" Yelled the assassin Black Star as he entered Professor Stein's class. Kid barely looked up at the assassin, Black Star's weapon, Tsubaki, entered the room more quietly, her high ponytail swished from side to side.

"Black Star, please calm down."

"HAHAHA! A star as big as me can't calm down."

Kid rolled his eyes and focused on his book on symmetry and tried to block out the noises, Professor Stein entered the room. His large screw glinted as he twisted it to the left once.

The strange stitched up professor groaned as he took a seat in his wheeling chair.

"Alright class…how about we do some dissection today? It could be a lot of fun." Stein said as he coolly pushed up his glass up on the bridge of his nose.

The class groaned in boredom as he lit a small cigarette.

Kid heard someone slide next to him on the chair next to him. "Phoo, just in time. Oh, good morning Kid, eight a.m. and we already have to dissect something." He peered to the side and saw Maka smiling cheerful at him, his heart swelled at the mere sight of her.

"Uh…yeah, eight…"

Maka frowned, she looked cute like that, "Something the matter?" Kid blushed, 'Cute? Since when did I think ANYTHING was cute? I must be going insane.'

"No. I'm fine."

"Ok."

Professor Stein blew out a cloud of smoke in the shape of a misshapen skull, "Pair up students…we will be dissecting a rare species of fish."

Maka raised her hand, "Uh…professor, I don't think we're allowed to do that, since it's almost extinct and all." The Professor grinned madly, it was the type of smile that made Kid question his teacher's sanity. "All the more reason to cut it up before it does. Now then, pair up."

Kid just yawned and sank back into his book, analyzing pictures of different patterns and shapes. 'No one ever picks me anyway, I'll just work solo, it seems better anyway.'

He looked over, expecting Maka to be gone, instead she cracked open a book and started to read.

"What are you reading?"

Maka looked up from her book and grinned, "It's called King Arthur and the sword of Excalibur." Kid made a face at that.

He remembered the weapon Excalibur all too well. Full of 'power' but in actuality it was lame and boring, no one but a REAL hero could possibly be compatible with the weapon. Excalibur's favorite saying was, "FOOL!", even if no one said anything the weapon would bellow it anyway.

Maka widened her eyes, "Kid, you ok? You made a weird grimace at me. Did I do something wrong?" Kid shook his head rapidly, "No, no, of course not."

"Maka, Kid, since you two are so engrossed in each other, you two can pair up."

The two teens yelped at the sound of Professor Stein's voice, the five stars Meister looked at them as cool as a cucumber, his cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

He threw a fish and a scalpel on the table. "Have fun."

Kid looked at the fish and handed Maka the knife, "Here, I don't touch anything that looks so imperfect." Maka rolled her eyes but took the scalpel anyway to begin the assignment.

It was simple, find the crest of the DWMA somewhere inside the fish in order to pass before class ended.

Maka delicately ran the blade in a quick straight line, cutting the fish in half. She pulled on some gloves and dug into it, wrinkling her nose. Kid looked at the fish once, then concentrated on her. The odd tingling sensation was back, he straightened his skull tie nervously.

Maka scowled at him, "Hey, you could help, you know?"

"Fine."

Maka passed the scalpel to Kid. Kid bent over the fish, but his hair fell in his face and he had to keep pushing it back while he worked.

Two gentle hands pushed the hair away from the boy's forehead and held it in place.

Maka giggled, "There, just keep working, I'll make sure that your hair won't fall in your eyes, ok?" He blushed and turned towards the fish again without a reply. His hand was shaky as the feeling of Maka's hand clouded his senses.

'Stop it…STOP IT! Concentrate.' His mind scolded.

-One hour later-

Finally class was over, Maka and Kid were the only pair that managed to find the DWMA crest inside the fish. Maka closed her book with a sigh and stood as she gathered her things. She smiled, "I'll see you around, Kid."

Death the Kid smiled a bit, not too much and waved, "Bye."

Liz and Patty ran up to the young reaper, "THERE YOU ARE! COME ON!" Kid looked bewildered, "Huh? For what?"

Liz smiled, "Time for your speed dating."

" I thought you said it was afterschool."

"We lied so you would let your guard down."

Patty grabbed Kid's arm and raced out the door, "YAY! Let's go!" Kid groaned, "Stop tugging on my sleeve, it's going to be uneven."

-The speed dating room (Death Room)-

Kid had never seen so many girls in his entire life, they were all crowded on different tables, waiting for him. Lord Death saw his son and glided over, "Hey kiddo. I let the girls use this room for your speed dating. I'm very proud of you, oh you might find your future bride in here."

Kid sneered, "Father…why are you letting them use your special room? Shouldn't you be preparing for the battle against Asura?"

His father chuckled, "Already on it Kid. I have all of my death Scythe's out looking for him."

"Even Maka's father?"

Lord Death sighed, "No…Death Scythe is still at Chupacabras I'm afraid. I suppose he's passed out after a hard night of, drinking and partying."

"Tch, figures."

"Anyway, I'll just be in my mirror keeping an eye on things and updating the mission board, bye~!" His father waved before dissolving into his mirror.

Patty grinned, "Let's begin!"

-Two hours later-

"OOG…I need a break."

After two hours of this madness, Kid got up from the table and walked towards the doors. The girls all giggled and waved goodbye, though Kid didn't want to see any of them any time soon. All of them all wanted the same thing, 'All they care about is beauty, and they don't want to connect on a perfect symmetry of intellect, such airheads actually existing in my father's school…pathetic.' He thought to himself.

One of the blonds didn't even know what symmetry was and he snapped at her angrily, making her cry.

He walked to the school garden and spotted Maka, sitting by herself as she watched Black Star and Tsubaki fight.

"TRAP STAR! YAHOOOOOO!"

"Black Star! Please, you need to be quiet if you want to be an assassin."

"A star as big as me needs all the attention I can get, HAHAHA!"

"Oh Black Star, try and concentrate."

Kid sat next to Maka on the stone bench, she turned and acknowledged him. "Oh, hey Kid. Where've you been?"

"Trust me, you don't wanna know."

He leaned forward on his elbows and watched Black Star and Tsubaki, "So, what's going on here?" Maka sighed, "Black Star is trying to use the enchanted sword technique again. Tsubaki is trying to talk him out of it though, he's so stubborn though."

She dug through her bag and pulled out a small box of sandwiches cut into perfect triangles.

Kid noticed that all of the ingredients were in perfect order and that the bread was toasted just right. The sight made his stomach grumble, he cleared his throat and looked away.

Maka slid him a sandwich, "Here, you want one? You look like you missed lunch." Kid widened his eyes and took the sandwich, "Your sharing with me?" Maka grinned, "Uh-huh, eating lunch is more fun when you eat it with someone. Go on, dig in, I made it myself."

Kid hesitated before sinking his teeth into the sandwich, it was warm and tasty. The flavor was a symphony on his tongue as he swallowed.

"This is delicious!"

"Really? Thanks! Soul normally hates this kind of lunch, he's more of a noodle fan."

Kid smiled warily as he continued to eat the sandwich. He eyed Maka when she wasn't looking, and noticed that one of her pigtails was higher than the other, he started to gag on his food. Maka raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Your (cough) pigtail is higher than the other, it's IMPERFECT! DISGUSTING- oops..." Kid practically screeched.

At the look on Maka's face, he felt ashamed, this girl had just given him a part of her own food to share and he just had an outburst. 'Oh no…why did I have to say THAT? But it bothers me so frickin much, it's off by at least in inch. And I'm THIS CLOSE TO HER!"

Instead of getting upset or running away crying (Like most of the girls in the speed dating room did), she laughed, "Oh, I'm so stupid. Thanks for pointing that out, Kid." She fixed it so that the two sides were even.

"There."

"You're not upset ?"

Maka giggled, "No, why would I be? You were just trying to help. Actually, I think that every symmetry tantrum you have is just the fact that you want to fix it."

Kid widened his eyes in astonishment, 'She's spot on. When I see something I don't like, I wanna fix it.'

Maka frowned at his expression, "Hey, you ok?" Kid swallowed and blushed a bit, "Can…Can I tell you something, Maka?"

"Sure, we're friends after all."

"Why do you, Black Star, Tsubaki, and Soul talk to me? Or even pay attention to me to be honest."

"That's easy. We want to be closer to you. Because, under the school, we would've won if we knew each other better, we all figure that we should stick together, that way when we meet Asura, we'll be able to defeat him."

Kid frowned, "But it's near impossible to defeat a Kishin, even my father lost to him, he was lucky to get away with his life intact."

Maka then reached out and laid a hand on the young reaper's hand. Kid's face flamed with embarrassment. "That was then, this time we'll be ready, and then we'll help your father kill Asura once and for all. I promise."

"Yeah…"

Maka removed her hand from his and opened her arms wide, "Now come over here and give me a hug." Kid blushed, "Huh?"

"Come on, you'll feel better."

Kid gulped but allowed Maka to hold him, he shakily hugged her back, and his face felt like it was on fire. Maka was a head shorter than him, so her head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck. Actually…her whole body was a perfect fit for his, like a piece fitting in a space of a puzzle.

Warmth and comfort flooded him, filling him with a small happiness.

Maka pulled away and Kid almost remarked at that. Maka blushed playfully as she smiled, "See? Don't you feel better?"

Kid gave her a small smile as he clutched the spot where his heart was beating, "Yeah."

The bell began to ring, Maka packed up her things and stood, "Well, see you later, Kid I have my last class of the day."

Kid meekly lifted a hand in farewell and dropped it when the Scythe Meister disappeared from sight.

Liz and Patty ran up to him, "KID! THERE YOU ARE!" Liz yelled irritably, "All those girls were disappointed that you left without making a decision."

Kid stood and shoved his hands into his pockets, "It won't be necessary, I already made my choice."

Patty squealed, "You have? Who is it? The funny black haired one? Ooh~ or maybe the redhead, or that dirty blond one? I hope not, she smelled like a smoke bomb weapon."

Kid blinked slowly and looked away from them, "No…none of them. Actually none of those girls in the Death Room." Liz and Patty both widened their eyes, "WHAT? THEN WHO IS IT?"

Death the Kid smiled a bit to himself, "It's a secret."