Woohoo! I met the deadline!
I made this one longer for you all so you don't hate me. For info on upcoming chapters, visit my profile. I'll be updating it more regularly now, so if you like my stuff, you can find out about news in my fanfic world.
I do not own Soul Eater blah blah blah I'd be sued if I didn't say this blahblahblah.
Chapter commence!
"Hey, Maka." Koria greeted her.
"Hi." Maka gave back, not being unnecessarily familiar, but not trying to be rude to her colleague.
Koria smiled. "As unsocial as ever, I see." She started walking. "Loosen up. We have strategies to plan, and a short amount of time in which to do it."
Maka started to stride along with Koria as the chopper that had just dropped her off began to start up again, making her clothes and the hair in her ponytail snap painfully against her skin. "That's exactly why I won't relax."
"Well, it's good to work with you again, anyhow. We're the only females here, by the way, so be careful."
Maka looked sideways at Koria. "I can handle myself."
"Oh, I know." Koria smirked, "They don't hire us girls on these kinds of missions if we can't. I'm just saying be careful with all the 'players' around here. You wouldn't want to lose your heart to someone other than your ser, would you?"
Maka scoffed and looked ahead of herself at her awaiting base camp. "You know as well as I do where I stand on that crap."
"Hm, yes. I guess I do." She looked away. "Anyway, this will be a quick, in-and-out type deal. After we successfully complete the mission, you'll be relocated as quickly as possible to another country, and wait for orders on your next mission."
"After we succeed, huh?" Maka smirked. "As ambitious and cocky as ever, Koria."
Koria showed a thin line of her teeth slyly. "I could say the same thing to you, Maka."
"I really don't care about the speed of the mission anyway," Maka said, "I'm just glad to be in a place where I can speak goddamn English again."
Koria laughed. "I wouldn't know the feeling. My language only exists and prospers in one country."
Maka turned to Koria, and smiled a very small, very kind smile. "True."
The doorbell rang.
She certainly wasn't expecting it. No one knew where she lived. None of the neighbors seemed to give a damn that someone new had moved in nextdoor, so it couldn't be them. She checked the clock on the house's thermostat that hung on the wall. 6:48. Almost 7:00.
Maka looked at the hallway leading to the front door. Her senses were on alert now.
Who the hell . . . she thought. She kept her hand rigid against her thigh. She walked slowly down the hallway to the door. Damn it, she thought as she looked at the door, There's no peephole. She gritted her teeth, grabbing the doorknob. The fingers at her thigh twitched.
She threw the door open, and froze.
Soul was outside the door, looking like he was about to walk away. He turned back as he heard the door open. Maka's hand relaxed only slightly.
"Maka . . ." he said, standing there awkwardly. "Hi." She nudged her heel backwards into the hall as he took a step forward. He stopped. She didn't reply. "Maka? Hey, are you okay? You look really pale."
"I'm fine." she snapped back, taking her hand away from her skirt hem. "Go home." She didn't feel the need to ask him why he had come to her house in the first place. It clearly wasn't important, seeing as how he only planned on staying after he rang the doorbell once. She just wanted him out. 0
"Maka, wait." Soul said firmly, going quickly up to the door and placing his hands on either side of the frame. She turned back, glaring at him. "If we're going to teach together, it can't be like this. You don't want me to touch you in any way." Maka just pulled her lips together, refusing to answer him. She didn't realize until then that she was shaking. Soul stared at her, and then he said gently and carefully, "You look so scared."
He reached up to gently skim the side of her arm with his fingertips.
She gasped and flew back, grabbed the door and tried to shut it. Soul caught it with a hand, giving him a foot of space to talk to her through. They fought against each other, Soul desperately yelling her name to calm her down, and Maka trying with everything she had to get him to leave. Out of her new life. Out of her mind.
"Maka! MAKA! MAKA! Maka, I won't do it again!" he screamed. Maka froze and looked up at him, her eyes wide with shock, and fear dancing off her pupils in the light. The pain and guilt in his face wrapped around her heart and squeezed. "I promise." he breathed out.
She panicked. This wasn't good. This couldn't be happening. She had worked so hard to avoid it. Everything for nothing! What could she do?
Her pupils dialated.
Adrenaline kicked in.
"CHORO MUJHE!"
Soul stared down at her, shaking in the doorway, her eyes screwed shut. Then they flew open in shock. She gritted her teeth, looking like she was holding back tears, her face flushed. She seemed to have realized what she had just said.
"Just - Just go away, Soul," she said quietly. The door closed.
He was too shocked to stop her. He let the door slip from his grasp as she pulled it closed. He stood looking at the door for a while, thinking about Maka.
She was about to cry just then. She looked like an abused child, bracing themself for a strike. It hurt him to see that. It was his fault. And what she had screamed at him. It was old Hindi dialect.
What the hell happened to her on that mission?
Soul barely slept that night, but he came to the school the next day. He was suprised to see that Maka actually came to teach as well, but in a way, he wasn't. She had never been one to skip her job entirely just because of some personal issues.
It was still early in the school day, so Soul was helping a few different teachers out in their classes, bouncing from room to room. He walked into the next one down the hall, and upon entering, saw a familiar face.
"Soul! Hiiii!" Patty squealed, waving childishly at him. She turned back to her class briefly. "Grab some paper and some yellow crayons from the back, 'kay?" She smiled giddily. She got up from her desk chair and bounced over to Soul who walked towards her as well.
It really was nice to see Patty again. It had been a while, and it was always a stress relief when the school's art teacher was around.
"Need any help?" Soul inquired calmly and naturally.
"Nope!" Patty giggled, "This is something I'm real good at!" She turned excitedly towards the students holding their crayons and paper. "Everyone! Today we're making paper giraffes! You can make it however you want now, as long as it's cute!"
Soul sighed knowingly. Of course. Giraffes. How did he not realize?
He turned to leave, saying bye to Patty, but she stopped him. "Hey, wait." He turned back. She smiled at him. Not childishly, though. A polite, kind smile. "You know you were the one who inspired me to make my first paper giraffe, right?"
Soul just looked at her strange. "Uh, thanks. I guess."
Patty laughed. "What I'm saying is, you have more influence over people than you think. Especially if you truly believe in what you do. Just try your best with Maka. I know her. And I know you. Trust yourself."
Soul relaxed slightly. It really was a stress relief to be around her. "Thanks, Patty."
Suddenly, Patty's face morphed into an evil sort of grin, as she reached for Soul's neck and grasped it tightly in her fist. "But my advice doesn't come free, y'know!" She slammed Soul cheek-down on the teacher's desk as she announced proudly to the class, "Now I'm going to give you an example of the perfect giraffe neck!" She then proceeded to pull painfully hard on the back of his shirt, making him stretch his neck to impossible lengths.
The class cried with laughter as they watched their combat teacher get abused by the art teacher. "LONGER!" Patty growled as Soul howled in pain.
"Patty, I swear to - OW! Patty, stop! Please! Pattyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
Soul stood in front of Maka after school. She stared back at him, her face expressionless. He couldn't tell if she truly didn't care or if she was just in shock.
"I'm sorry." he said. He knew Maka so well, he could tell when she wanted him to say more.
She was asking, About what?
"About everything." he answered. "I just really want this job to work out. For both of us. I was thinking maybe we could figure out some plans for future lessons."
Maka continued to glare at him in silence for a while before she turned and walked to the door. Soul watched her go wondering what the hell it meant. Was she just fed up with his crap? Was she silently telling him to come with her?
She stopped a few feet away, and turned around. She didn't smile. She didn't scowl.
"Drive me home." she said. "I live kind of far."
Yay, I'm still so happy I got this chapter done before the deadline! Check my profile for upcoming chapter info. Review please!
All the best! Love is sent! XD