Maka was in heaven.

Heaven was a three-story Borders bookstore, with Soul's credit card, and the boy had agreed to carry the bags, though it was because he had lost a bet, but still. She practically ran from shelf to shelf, looking like a child on Christmas day.

Soul watched her, staggering along with a library in his arms. He was in complete awe; for the first time in years, he didn't hurt. His heart didn't feel like it had been put through a wood chipper. She smiled again and tossed another book at him. His aching arms wobbled and he tried to remember if she had been this obsessed with Stephen King when they lived together.

"Don't you think we should be looking for the Zodiac?"

"No, not yet. He only strikes at night, We'll get him; we always get them," she said, dazedly staring at a murder mystery by Dean Koontz. She giggled when he sighed at her, adding the book to the stack.

It was dark before they started back to their hotel. Maka skipped ahead, obviously on cloud nine. Soul staggered on, his face turning as red as his eyes. "Maka, couldn't you carry at least one bag?"

"Nope, the deal was you carry all the bags, not most of them," She laughed, walking ahead.

Soul glared and sighed, "I wouldn't complain if you hadn't bought enough books to file the Grand Canyon, three times over."

"It was your idea for us to come, Soul. If I had had it my way, I would be here on my honeymoon with Dominic."

You could practically hear his mind snap. "Just shut up, won't you? No one wants to hear about what you and him do!"

"I didn't-"

"I said, shut up; you're acting like an idiot!"

"At least I'm not a jackass!"

"I'd rather be a jackass than a whore!" As soon as the words were out, he regretted it. Maka took a step back with a look on her face that tore his soul in two.

"Soul, you're such a bastard! I can't believe that…." She looked at the ground with her hand over her heart, and then took off down an ally, leaving a trail of tears in her wake.

He tried to go after her, but the bags weighed him down. Soul dropped some of the bags, knowing that he was going to get an earful from Maka when she found out about it.

The chase didn't last long; the girl ran down onto the BART train. Why does this seem familiar? he wondered, as the train took off, leaving him pounding on the passing doors yelling.

After retrieving the books he'd left behind (most of them were still there), he headed back to the hotel. Soul sat all the books on the bed, then went down to the lobby to wait.

v

Maka got off the train at the next stop. Or at least she thought it was the next stop, but she had been crying so hard she couldn't be sure if she had cried through one or two stations.

The moon was hidden behind black clouds and a drizzle fell. She couldn't believe that he would say that right after she had figured it out. She had finally remembered what Dominic's crooked grin had always reminded her of.

His.The mischievous gleam in their eyes, the crooked grin, their manner of talking. Their personalities had seemed so much alike that she had been able to transferred her emotions from one boy to the other. Apparently, she had been completely wrong. If Dominic had called her that, he would be dead. He wasn't nearly as essential to her; she didn't need to know that he was out there, somewhere, happy.

Thinking back, that wasn't the only place that they differed. Soul had always been real with her, he never sugar-coated anything. Dominic would try to be careful with her, like she was porcelain. Something in her memory didn't match up; why was it that Dominic seemed a little too polished? She couldn't think of one time were he had severely messed up. Never had he offended someone. She couldn't even remember if he had ever shared a secret.

Soon, Maka found herself outside a library. It was closed by now, since it was almost one in the morning and raining. She looked around; the street was completely empty.

She had a very bad feeling when she saw a shadow in the ally next to her move. Liz was right: for valedictorian, she was an idiot.

v

Dominic and Liz sat in the café near the DWMA, trying to stop laughing. "And then," he gasped between giggles, "She- she tried to storm off before realizing that I was standing in front of the only door on the balcony. So she jumped over the edge and onto a tree!"

"In her mini-dress?" Liz put her head on the table, holding her sides when Dominic nodded.

He had to admit that he had been skeptical when she had proposed spending the day together, but it had went well. Liz had showed him all the places Maka and her friends had used to unwind and the memorial that had been built to commemorate the battle against Asurea, the Kishen. The others had filtered in and out, and overall it had been nice. But I bet that Maka is having way more fun in San Francisco.