Blind Faith
By. Poisoned Scarlett

This happened every once and a while.

She lost things.

She doesn't usually lose things but when she did, she could be assured she would spend hours just trying to find it. It was painstaking, trying to remember where she had last been when she had it, what she had been doing, or if she had left it at the office or it was simply in the house somewhere. She spent it blindly (literally) searching for it and usually came out empty handed, just as she had this time. Usually she called Soul and asked him and, for the most part, he helped her puzzle out where that particular lost item was. Except that evening the lost item was her cellphone and she did not have Soul's number memorized so she couldn't call him using her home phone. He had recently switched companies and, with it, came a different cellphone number to her bad luck.

She wished she had taken the time to memorize it like she said she would.

She had wanted to call him to ask him if, later, he could drop by to take her grocery shopping because she was out of orange juice and a couple of other things. Today was one of her days off so she used this time to ensure her kitchen was well-stocked since Soul used everything in her fridge to his hearts content. But now how was she going to go grocery shopping if no one could take her? She was half-way hoping Soul would drop by later regardless but today was a Thursday and Thursday's meant Soul would sloth over to his apartment and sleep until the next morning. He awoke earlier on Thursday's and was generally very busy but, she figured, taking her to the market for some things wouldn't tire him out too bad. He'd certainly done it before and it usually came with a reward: he could make anything he wanted the next morning and, certainly, he had taken advantage of it before by cooking a big breakfast that had him and her full until dinner came around.

Maka's hand paused, hovering over the sofa cushions. She squinted her eyes and squinted again, blinking away the dots that had consumed her vision. She sat down and rubbed her eyes out, her head stuffy with a dull throb in the back, and before it could get out of hand, she stood up and touched her way to the bathroom. She popped two pills and leaned down to gulp some water from the open faucet to swallow them down easier. That would take care of any incoming headaches, she thought, and rubbed her eyes out again.

She'd been getting these sorts of strange dots in her vision for a while now. It was usually accompanied by dizziness and an assortment of other symptoms that would convince Soul to take her to see Dr. Stein if he knew. But it went away with a few pain pills, sometimes even regular Advil, and Maka had the hope that her vision was returning. Dr. Stein had told her that she had been showing significant progress in her eyes and he'd assured she was doing fine...

But I still can't see, she thought grimly. And knowing Soul, he won't drop by until tomorrow...and I really wanted him to make some strawberry chocolate chip pancakes! I haven't had those in forever! Maka gnawed her bottom her lip as she weighed the pros and cons of going to the market on her own. She could get all she needed from the small market a few blocks down but that meant being extremely careful crossing the roads. Amongst other things. She could make out shapes, at least enough where if she neared an object she could go around it, but there would be no way she could spot an incoming car.

But she had always had good hearing.

"I can do this!" Maka told herself, smiling. "It's just grocery shopping. And there's no rush!" She nodded and made her way back into her room where she dug through her closet for a sweater. She slipped on some sweat pants and shoved her feet into sneakers before she was off, locking the door behind her with a quiet gulp and hoping she didn't get herself killed because she was sure Soul would find her in the afterlife and strangle her himself for being such a reckless idiot.

The first problem came with which way she would take to reach the store. But she was sure it was down her left-hand side; even she hadn't been kept inside enough not to know that. The second problem was the crosswalk. She had forgotten there was one in the first place but luckily there had been cars so she had been able to gauge just when she could walk and when she couldn't. The third problem had been finding the store because it was squished between a few other stores down the block.

It took her five tries to find the store.

She walked into a pet store the first time.

Then a shoe store.

Then she walked a few steps and turned into an herbal tea store.

Then she worried about having taken the wrong turn and she would have turned back had she not heard the familiar sound of grocery bags being carried. But she still walked into an accessory store first before finally walking into the grocery store.

Then came the next problem: finding all that she needed without making a total idiot out of herself in the process. She would say she didn't totally make an idiot out of herself but she did blush a horrible red when she picked up an apple and it caused a rain of apples to fall down. Too many for her to find, she was embarrassed to know that she couldn't find all of them without crawling on the floor with her hands out.

She would have inched away and pretended it never happened had a nice boy not asked if she needed any help.

"Are you okay there? You look kinda'...lost. Here!" He offered cheerfully and Maka paused, her hand held out until she felt him push the apple into her hand with wary slowness.

"Oh, thanks! Um, by the way, would you know where the strawberries are?"

"Ah, they're right beside the apples."

"What, really?" Maka squeaked and turned, her fingers feeling apples, more apples, and more apples until she felt the washed, fresh, strawberries underneath her fingertips. "Oh! Thank you!"

"Uh. Are you...I mean..."

"Yes, I can't see," she answered evenly and he cleared his throat, shuffling. She sense him, could practically hear his inner struggle, about whether or not to let the blind girl wander around the shop looking for things that were otherwise right in front of her. Maka dropped her useless sight to the bags in her hand bitterly before she dismissed the thoughts. She was blind and, well, there was not much she could do about it until her vision decided to come back. It was coming, slowly, slower than she wanted, but it was coming and soon she would not be stuck in these sorts of situations. Soon she would be able to grocery shop all by herself and look for her cellphone and actually find it and not have this childish urge to drop her things and sit down and bury her face in her knees and wait for Soul to come and pick her up. She didn't want to feel that, she didn't want to rely on him so much because it was days like Thursday that reminded her of how much of his time she was really consuming. It was days like today that reminded her of how much responsibility he was really shouldering.

He worked. He worked long hours on days she had off from work and shorter hours on days she didn't so he could pick her up from said workplace and cater to her at home. He did so much, she realized with a heavy heart, and here she was throwing fits because she couldn't find goddamn strawberries. Compared to him, she thought grimly, she really had nothing to complain about. Her life could have turned out a lot more miserable than it actually was...

"Eh, y'know, I've got some time to spare, if you need any help! It's not that big of a store but, uh, if you really need it I can help you out..."

"No, it's fine. I can do this," she smiled at him and she only reached the end of the aisle before she paused and realized she had no idea where she would find chocolate chips.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" the guy shouted, sounding a tinge teasing.

"I..." Maka turned back sheepishly. "Do you know where the bags of chocolate chips are?"

"On the other side of the store."

"Right or left?"

"Left...no, wait, my left! My left!"

Maka growled in frustration, setting a hand on her hip. "Don't you mean your right?"

"What?"

She heaved a sigh. "Would you mind taking me to where the chocolate chips are? I don't think I'd get anywhere with your directions," she added dryly and waited as he approached her with a sheepish sort of laugh, patting her shoulder and nudging her in the right direction. It turned out his name was Hiro and he had been looking for a job in the grocery store. He had just come out of what he hoped was a successful interview with the manager when he caught her wandering about, looking as lost as a foreigner in a new city. He was nice enough, she supposed, even though he was a lot more touchy than she pegged him for. It had to do with the fact that, like others and even some of her friends, he felt the need to hold her hand or grab her shoulder lest she bump into things or hurt herself. It was a sort of anxiety people who had never dealt with the blind had and Maka didn't blame them so much as she was simply exasperated by them.

She didn't need as much help as they thought she did.

Soul knew that. She knew he did but he still held her hand not to guide her like most people thought but to reassure her. She needed his reassurance that things were alright and she was alright more than she needed his touch for guidance in the physical world. Because there was more going on inside of her than outside, she had learned quickly. The only times she held his hand for real guidance was in unfamiliar places and, she hated to admit, in the mornings when she woke up because she was usually too groggy to remember where everything was.

He knew that, too.

And he never failed to point it out, smug grin and all.

"Well, thank you for helping me!" Maka chirped after she checked out, clutching her grocery bags close to her. She could feel the suns warmth on her skin and she smiled, happy that at least she managed to save Soul some time from taking her grocery shopping. Maybe now he could sleep more and rest up for tomorrow, she thought optimistically. She wanted to do her part and not let Soul carry her entire weight.

"Yeah, sure, no prob! I didn't have anything to do after this, anyway!" He laughed in reply.

Maka smiled. "I have to get back home now, before the sun goes down."

"Yeah, you still have another hour or so before it goes down completely," Hiro replied, cheerily as always. Maka nodded her head and said one last goodbye, turning on her heel to head down the way she knew would lead her back home. She caught the familiar sounds of the pet store and, reassured, she quickened her pace. She would have gone home like that, using her heightened hearing and other senses like she had last time, had Hiro not stopped her and grabbed her arm again.

"Er, wait, Maka!" He rushed back to her, grabbing her arm. "It's me, don't freak out!"

"I wasn't going to," Maka muttered to herself, irked, and moved away from his touch. "What is it, Hiro?"

"Erm, how about I walk you home? Y'know, it's getting pretty dark and there's a lot of traffic!" He blurted and Maka heaved a sigh.

"It's okay. I can go back by myself."

"But...I'd feel a lot better if I knew you got home safe. Please, just let me walk you home?"

After a seconds thought, Maka nodded and she rattled off her address as she adjusted her fingers on her groceries. He seemed familiar with the neighborhood as he led the way and he had said that he drove by her place all the time when he worked as a cashier at the mall not too far away. Hiro stood a lot further from her than Soul did and she was relieved by it. It was bad enough he kept grabbing her arm to stop her or kept badgering her about carrying her grocery bags for her. She didn't think she would be able to keep her temper if he hovered around her like Soul did.

Soul could hover; she was okay with his hovering.

Hiro just...couldn't.

I wonder if Soul got home safely, Maka thought as Hiro did an admirable job of supplying enough conversation for the both of them. He better call my house phone so I can ask for his cell phone again. Hmm knowing him, he'll get home and knock right out without even bothering. She sighed softly but smiled. She had been about to ask Hiro if they were close when the roar of a motorcycle caught her ears. She stopped abruptly, whipping her head towards the sound, and her gut did this ice-cold plunge to the floor when the noise sped past her before stopping suddenly ahead. She was pretty sure there was no stop sign or light ahead, too...

"Hey, you alright? You look kinda' pale," Hiro asked, curiously.

"Um, that guy, on the motorcycle," Maka began, knowing she was screwed. Here she thought he would just go home and pass out and he would be none the wiser to her admittedly reckless attempt at independence. "Did he have white hair - no, is he coming this way? Hiro, is he coming this way?"

"...Yeeeaaah, why?" He cocked his head. "His hair is really...white and spiky and stuff. It's kinda' cool..." he trailed off, more to himself than Maka, watching the guy park his bike on the curb and approach with increasing speed.

"Crap," she muttered and stopped walking, holding the grocery bags to herself with a visible pout. Hiro watched her for a few seconds longer and then turned his sight to the intimidating delinquent that walked down the sidewalk with purpose. He was taller than he thought he would be, with broad shoulders and hands fitted into fingerless black gloves. He had a leather jacket thrown over him and he would swear his boots thundered with every step he took. The look on his face was murderous and for a second, Hiro thought about patting Maka on the head and running off in the other direction with a you're on your own! echoing over his shoulder. But that would just be plain embarrassing so he sucked it up and turned to Maka, setting his features in what he hoped was seriousness. Or at least calm. Calm was good, too.

"I-is he bullying you or something, Maka?" Hiro asked, ready to stand up for her even though he was sure he'd back down the instant he was within ten feet of them. "Want me to call the police or - !"

"What? No!" Maka laughed, snorting because she caught the tremble in his voice. "No, don't do anything like that! He's just...He's my caretaker," Maka admitted with a happy but sheepish beam. "And he's probably more than mad that I went out all by myself."

Turned out she was right.

"Maka!" Soul snapped once he was in ear-shot, looking every bit as intimidating as Hiro thought he was. His decidedly gruff voice didn't make things any better. "What the hell are you doing all the way out here, you idiot? Don't tell me you actually went out to buy groceries all by yourself - you could've gotten hit by a car or something! Why didn't you call me?!"

"I was going to except I don't remember where I left my phone! And I don't know your new number so I couldn't call you using my house phone, either," Maka argued. Soul was only partially pacified. "But I'm fine! Nothing happened to me, I was careful!"

"Just because you were careful doesn't mean some bastard on the road is, too! This was really reckless of you, damn it," Soul grumbled and shifted his eyes to Hiro, who stiffened at being acknowledged. He thumbed over to him with a risen brow. "Hey, who's the pansy?"

"P-p-pansy?!" Hiro sputtered, more of a whine than real offense.

"Soul, be nice!" Maka chided and let the grocery bags be taken from her by Soul. Hiro noticed with some curiosity that she let herself be touched by him freely as well. Every time he patted her shoulder, it became hard like stone. "His name is Hiro and he was nice enough to guide me around the grocery store for my things and even walk me back!"

Hiro felt cold sweat break out on his forehead from Soul's even stare and he had the brief thought that the next few hours were going to be painful. He knew that look, he got it from the guys at the gym a lot whenever he ran his mouth. So he was thoroughly flabbergasted when Soul smiled all of a sudden, going from a delinquent thug to a regular guy in less time that it took to blink.

"Hey, that was pretty cool of you, man," Soul grinned, stepping closer to Maka and ruffling her hair with a visibly fond gleam in his eye. He shoved her head down a little in what resembled a messy bow despite her protests, his smile faint on his lips but bright in his eyes, and said to him, "Hopefully she wasn't a handful, she can be really temperamental when things don't go her way."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Maka whined, poking his side viciously until he let her go.

"Like that," Soul muttered and smiled crookedly at her dignified huff.

"Uh, no, not at all! She was really nice the entire time! I was happy to help her!" Hiro hurried, unsure of how to take being thanked so sincerely like that. He wasn't that bad of a guy, Hiro realized with a more confident smile, he just looked the part of a bad guy but surely -

"Good, because if anything had happened to her," Soul looked at him directly with a smile but his eyes were flinty and dangerous, holding the promise of something a lot darker. They spelled out everything very clearly for him and once more he found himself sweating cold. Soul might be a nice guy but that didn't mean he couldn't act the part of a bad guy, Hiro weakly thought. "Well, let's not talk about that right now. It isn't cool."

Hiro managed a weak laugh in reply.

"Talk about what? Nothing happened to me!" Maka scowled, not taking lightly to be ignored. "I'm fine and look!" She held the one bag she had insisted on carrying to Soul. "I got strawberries! Can you make some of your strawberry chocolate pancakes tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, sure, if you want," he smiled softly when she smiled widely, holding the bag close to her chest.

Hiro was more than a little perturbed to find his entire view on cool bad guys so skewed by this one guy. Here he came dressed down all the way to his shoes in clothes which one would otherwise label as cool and rebellious but he was caring for this tiny girl with beautiful green eyes and the prettiest smile he's ever seen, who dressed more casually in sweat pants and an off-the-shoulder sweater, and whose voice was highly feminine and a stark contrast to Soul's deeply masculine one. She was also intelligent, rather sharp of tone now that he thought about it, while this Soul guy held a sort of casual drawl to his words. Every thing about both of them exclaimed different yet they worked so well together, he thought to himself with awe, just looking at them made him think, well...

Hiro quirked a smile. "Well, now that your boyfriend's here to take you back home, I guess I'm not needed anymore!" He chuckled and he blinked when Maka squealed and shook her head, her cheeks reddening, while Soul cleared his throat, his face set gruffly although there was the faintest trace of red on his own cheeks.

"We're not together," he stiffly corrected.

"He-he's my caretaker!" Maka flustered.

"Oh...I thought that was just some kinky pet name," Hiro admitted innocently and this time Soul did flush.

"Dude, I don't know what you're into but, when someone says they're someone's caretaker...I think that they're just someone's caretaker," he deadpanned and Hiro laughed, sheepishly.

"Eh, I guess. My bad!" He looked at Soul and smiled a bit. "It's just, you guys somehow...work together."

Soul shifted his eyes away from him as Maka shook her head fervently, that trace of red on her cheeks brighter than ever, and he withheld a chuckle of fondness at her own sputters. He ruffled her hair once more before he bid Hiro another friendly thanks and goodbye, ignoring Maka when she growled to stop doing that, I hate it when you do that! and nudged her down the sidewalk towards his motorcycle. Not really fitting for grocery shopping but she didn't have much on her, anyway.

"Some adventure you had today, eh?" Soul remarked, letting Maka cradle the bags of groceries between them as he revved his bike. He waited for her to get adjusted as she replied:

"Mm!" Maka smiled. "It felt good, though, to be able to do something by myself for once."

"You're a lot stronger than you believe, y'know," Soul commented and when she didn't reply, nudged her with his elbow. "Don't get too down on yourself. You'll get your sight back and then...you'll be able to do stuff like this all the time," he added hesitantly. "You won't, need me anymore." He tried not to let it get to him too bad, the idea of being unneeded anymore, of being unneeded again, and before she could reply he revved his bike one more time and kicked off, heading back to the apartment with a troubled ache in his chest and a furrow between his brows.

It was good. She thought that this was good, this was good although Soul had a point. The day would come where she would not need him anymore but that was a good thing! It had to be a good thing. She was being good, making a real effort to be more independent rather than dependent. Being dependent was never a good thing, she told herself, just look where it got her father. Her father had become dependent on her mother because with her help, he had succeeded in his career. He relied on her too heavily, though, and let her shoulder too much of his weight in the long run. Although, Maka admitted, if there was once thing her mother couldn't influence it was the way her father flirted around with other women, which eventually lead to the divorce when he was caught red-handed in the worst of ways by her mother...

But this was good, she thought, this was a good start for her.

She could do this. After she regained her vision, she would be able to go along her life on her own. It was okay, she told herself firmly, everything was going to be okay. There was no need to feel so stricken at the thought of not having Soul around the apartment anymore, of not hearing his faint snores when he dozed off on the couch or of not hearing him poke around in the kitchen in the early morning. She tried to tell herself it was a good thing but she found it only made that ache in her chest a lot heavier, a lot more painful.

"Hey, smart one, phone was on the coffee table!" Soul's voice drifted in from the living room, sounding a lot more smug than it should. Maka broke out of her broody thoughts, instinctively tilting her head towards the sound of his voice. "Didn't think to check there, did you? Geez, you're hopeless...I'm gonna' charge it and when it's done, put it in your bag and, for the love of all that's holy, don't take it out. Cuz if you lose it, I'm not getting you another one!"

"You don't have to!" She snapped back.

"Uh, yes I do because you need it!"

"But you just said you wouldn't get another one!"

"I won't."

"Then?!"

"I won't but I will so your argument is invalid."

"Wha-how...? Ugh, SOUL!" Maka closed her eyes at his cackling and took a deep breath to reign in her temper, making sure to place the cup on the counter before she broke it in her fist. "One more word," she shouted back warningly, "and you're dead!"

"If you can find me," was his clever reply. So he was in a playful mood, was he? Maka thought with a tinge of deviousness. Two could play at this game. Maka moved to grab one of the coasters Soul had picked up from the coffee table to wash. She peered out of the kitchen and, zeroing in on the direction of his snickering, tossed the coaster with frightening accuracy and smiled with satisfaction when it hit him dead on the back of his head. Bulls eye, she sang to herself as she returned to the kitchen counter.

"Ouch! What the - how the hell do you do that?"

"Magic," was her clever reply.

"Ha ha, very funny, Maka," he grumbled back, rubbing his head. "By the way, your shows on. You gonna' watch it or not? Cuz if you're not, I'm gonna' watch basketball!"

"No! Don't change it, I'll be right there!" Maka hollered back and finished her glass of water. She squeezed her eyes shut when she thought she caught sight, real sight, of the glass and she opened them again. No, it was real. She could see the faint outline of the glass she was holding. She peered closer, her eyes widening when she realized she could almost...see it. A sort of opaque surface, gleaming. She could not see it well, there was a profound darkness that clouded the majority of her vision, but a sliver. It was only a sliver but she could almost see...

"Maka?"

"I'm co...coming," Maka answered a little unsteadily and placed the cup in the sink, taking only a second to breathe before she headed to the living room and let herself fall on the couch right beside him. He wiggled out his arm from between them and let it rest on the top of the couch behind her neck, settling in to watch her melodramatic show while she listened to it. They were back to proper routine, with him adding commentary and her defending her soap opera. Back to proper routine, she thought, but for how long?

Maka tentatively reached over to his lap, flipping her hand quietly. He replied kindly, pressing his free hand over hers and squeezing it, letting her hold it without any questions as they both watched the soap opera with troubled thoughts.