Chapter IV

I know she's not perfect, but she tries so hard for me. And I thank god that she isn't, cause how boring would that be?

"Maka."

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"Ugh! Once more!"

"Hey, Maka?"

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I sighed and walked over to where she knelt. "Maka, I think it's time you took a break." She shook her head and grit her teeth.

"Soul, I can't just give up. I know I can do this, I just have to be more vigilant!" I offered her my hand and after staring at it for a moment she caved and took it. I pulled her to her feet and squeezed her hand.

"I know you can too. You do need to relax now and then after all." I yawned dramatically and scratched my head. "Just watching you do all this is making me tired." She gave me a withering glare.

"Soul! If you're going to yawn in my face, go home and take a nap or something. I never asked you to watch me fail." I sighed and crossed my arms.

"... This is about Black*Star isn't it?" She growled angrily and whirled around, swinging her fist into the practice dummy so hard I could have sworn I felt the hit myself.

"No, it's not." She continued to pummel the dummy and I sighed and took a few steps back. I glanced around the training field and plopped down on a forgotten box labeled equipment.

"Maka, you have been out here for like…" I counted under my breath and sighed. "Three hours! So what if you got your ass handed to you again? That really doesn't make him better than you. It also shouldn't require this amount of training." She aggressively kicked the dummy and turned my way, her hands flying to her hair to retie her loosened hair into a messy bun on top of her hair.

"I can't believe you! Why are you so infuriating!? The annoying punk made a fool of me… Again!" I squinted when my ears started ringing as she practically screeched the last word.

"Maka, please, everyone knows Black*Star is 90% muscle and 10% Stupid. No matter how hard you try there's not really a point in trying to stoop to his level." Her green eyes flashed dangerously and she marched right up to me and grabbed my collar. With almost no effort she yanked me up to her eye level. In that moment a few things happened, I probably got whiplash and a jolt of electricity and heat shot through my body and settled in the pit of my stomach.

" .Evans. It would be foolish of me to neglect training. There is always room for improvement. A meister must always hone their skills! It's quite different than a weapons obligations. If you spend the rest of your life doing nothing you'd be decent enough to be of aid when and if a disaster hits. Me? I'd be useless." She tightened her grip and pulled me closer till her nose touched mine. "Besides, There's nothing wrong with aiming for perfection. If I can possibly knock Black*Star out in a fair fight someday, well that'd probably be one of the best moments of my life!" I shifted slightly, a bit uncomfortable with how much I was slouching in order to stay at her eye level. Gone were the days where I matched her height. There was also another problem I was trying really hard to will away. I cleared my throat and started off slow, I didn't want to provoke her anymore than I did so I made sure to keep my voice low.

"Maka, you don't have to be Perfect."

"Yes, I do. If I don't aim for the best how can I be positive I can help my friends when they need me?"

Alright, alright. Look I think you're perfectly imperfect...Just… Let's go home okay? It's getting late and I know you're hungry." She narrowed her eyes at me slowly and I couldn't help but get lost in their depths. 'At least she knows how to get what she wants…' After another tense beat of silence she finally released me, along with a dramatic breath of air and any visible tension in her demeanor.

"You're right…" She grumbled and turned to grab her gym bag. I fidgeted and ran a hand through my hair, thoroughly relieved she hadn't noticed anything… unusual or out of the ordinary about me. I couldn't face that embarrassment. Her suddenly chipper voice ripped me from my current mental garbage field. "I DID promise to make spaghetti today anyway… I can't break a promise now can I?" I laughed awkwardly and fell into step behind her.

"No, I wouldn't let you live with such a failure." I couldn't help but notice how her skin glistened in the sun, obvious evidence from her intense workout. She shook her head, all traces of her previous frustrations lost in the wind.

"Mhm, yea you would… you'd force me to live through it."

"You know me sooo well." I tossed my arm around her shoulders when we passed a group of guys who were all too obviously gawking their eyes full of sports bra clad Meister. I hated the way guys stared at her so much lately, though I hated myself more for being such a coward… I sighed and sent the group a dark glare. One of them flinched back enough that he tripped over a garbage can and toppled over with a huge bang. Maka jumped, startled, and I tightened my grip on her shoulder.

"The heck was that?" She craned her neck back to look at their retreating forms.

"Dunno, they probably saw a bug or something." She turned her attention back to the sidewalk in front of her and shrugged.

"Weird." It was rare when I was actually glad for her sometimes oblivious tendencies. However she probably didn't care too much about the incident to consider other options. Or she was dense as a brick. That could be it. Though if that was the case I certainly trailed close behind.

She practically skipped into the apartment, leaving her shoes neatly by the door. "Hey, I'm gonna take a quick shower okay? I'll start dinner as soon as I'm done." I nodded once and plopped down on the couch.

"I'd say take your time but, we'd probably eat tomorrow if you did that." She entered the room, her bath towel in hand.

"Watch it. Or I might actually consider letting you starve." I snickered and put my arm on the back of the couch, craning my neck to see her.

"You'd never."

"Hmph." She glanced around and swiped up a small box of tissues, a moment later it was sailing through the air right for my face. Years of experiencing just that had made me at the very least mildly skilled at judging her movements. I couldn't help the grin that split my face when I caught the offending object and she gasped, which was promptly followed by a tsk. She turned around and left into the bathroom. I placed the box on the coffee table and rubbed my neck experimentally, she really had given me whiplash. I winced when I tried to stretch it and a small jolt of pain shot through me. Great. I muttered under my breath and went to the kitchen, fetching an ice pack from the freezer and placing it on my neck.

"Shit." I shivered when the cold touched my skin but grit my teeth and left it there.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I flinched when she popped in the kitchen, I hadn't even heard her come back in. I turned to her with s shrug.

"Nothing, just got s crick in my neck." She smirked seemingly amused and rose her brow.

"Getting old?" I laughed and shook my head,

"Never." She hummed and walked over to me, I couldn't help but notice how her damp hair clung to the back of her shirt. I mentally scolded myself for being so unnecessarily observant. It did little good especially now. I was so distracted looking at her that I missed how she took the ice pack from my neck.

"Don't put it directly on your skin dummy, it could give you a freezer burn." She gently placed her palm on my skin and I flinched away, the sudden warmth of her hand throwing me off. "Oh sorry! Did I hurt you?" I shook my head and forced a laugh.

"Course not, just startled me. Your hands are uh...warm." She nodded once and placed her other hand in the middle of my shoulder blades and firmly guided me to a chair. I automatically sat down and tried to to turn to look at what she was up to. She squeezed my neck slightly and shook me lightly.

"Stay still Soul, or you'll make it worse." I sighed and stilled, though a chill ran down my spine when she started to rub my neck gently. "Oh, you got a knot here. The heck happened?"

"Uh, nothing, I dunno, I forgot." I had no idea why my brain was failing me, it's not like it was the first time she did this for me but, it was certainly rare.

"You were fine earlier today...and you didn't do anything so…" I could almost hear the gears in her head moving and I struggled to come up with a way to shrug it off.

"Ehh, just happened when you grabbed me earlier. No big deal really." She frowned and placed both thumbs on the back of my neck, applying pressure as she massaged in small circles.

"Oh...I'm sorry. Why'd you let me manhandle you?" I screwed my face up at that, why the heck had I? And on top of that it certainly wasn't cool.

"Manhandle Maka?"

"Yes!" I scoffed, when I tried to shake my head her hands tightened around my neck.

"Maka, there is little you can do to me that could make me feel manhandled." 'Though I'd love to see her try...wait.' I grimaced and sighed heavily, I really should not be thinking like that now, especially when she could easily snap my neck at the moment. She moved her hands to the side of my neck, keeping up a constant pressure.

"Sure Soul, you don't have to pretend. I'm aware that I'm not…" She sighed and loosened her grip on me. "I can get carried away…" I felt a small. tug, followed by a warm buzz, our wavelengths had once again fallen into sync. Something I noticed happened a lot as of late, I wonder if she thought it was peculiar. I leaned my head back against the chair so I could look at her.

"What's wrong?" She kept her hands on me but was now scratching the base of my neck gently with her short nails. I could only hope she didn't notice the shiver that ran down my body or the heat that flooded my cheeks. She leaned her head down closer to me, her voice a soft whisper by this point.

"Where do you see yourself in five years?" I remained silent for a few heartbeats, that question had certainly come out of nowhere, though I was more concerned with the turmoil twisting in her eyes.

"Where'd this come from?" She pursed her lips and sighed, the way her breath fanned out across my face sent my pulse into hyperdrive.

"Just answer the question." I bit my lip to stop the compulsive answer that assaulted my brain, 'Right by your side of course. Where else in the world could I ever possibly go?' I mulled over it a few more moments before shrugging lamely.

"I dunno, never thought about it, why?" She stared at me a moment longer and suddenly she was gone from my view. With her she took the thick atmosphere that had been weighing on my chest, but also the warmth of her hands. Which I found myself missing too much, the abrupt absence of her soul ink was also quite jarring. I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and sat up, she was already starting the food.

"No reason Soul…"

A/N: I just have two more chapters. I'd love to get feedback from my readers. It inspires me to write more!