Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.


Chapter 8: Symbiosis

"Did you have a nice sleep last night?" the young shinigami asked as they were walking on the streets of Death City already. He kept his hands in his pockets and he casted a concern look at the person next to him. His companion, the demon sword wielder glanced up at him but kept her head low as she clutched her upper right arm, stunned at his question. She wondered why he asked. It shouldn't be such a big deal.

"Y-yes, I did," the pinkette replied, trying to be polite. Her gaze dropped to the stoned ground. The citizens' stares around them kept her uncomfortable as well as the thought floating in her head about what Kid probably did last night now that he mentioned something related to it.

"I was worried about you," Kid said without looking at Crona who flinched and arched an eyebrow in confusion. "What?" It was all she managed to say and her voice was as soft as usual, giving Kid a signal that he should take it easy in talking to her, or else he might frighten her. "I saw you crying last night in your sleep." An arrow of fear shot through Crona's heart as she glanced at Kid with wide eyes. "You said sorry to me and I still don't know why you did." Kid's eyes became half-lidded. He knew Crona won't tell him why and it disappointed him but something changed his mind.

"Do you wish to know why?" said Crona, making Kid quickly glance at her, astonished at the unexpected words. He smiled. "It's alright, Crona, you don't have to tell me if you don't want." Crona returned her gaze at the ground. "Oh, okay," she said. "By the way, I hope you don't mind that I carried you to your room last night."

Crona looked downcast. "So Ragnarok was right," she thought. "I didn't want you to sleep on the sofa for the whole night," Kid said. "Also, Liz and Patty changed your clothes while you were asleep so you probably wondered why you weren't wearing the same clothes you wore last night. I ordered them to stop but they protested. They badly wanted to know your gender."

Crona sweatdropped and her face darkened. "I-i-is that so?" she stuttered. "I told them you're a girl but they still didn't believe me." Kid chuckled a little. "They're such naughty girls but don't worry. They never do something like that to me." Crona smiled. "That's because they respect you." Kid looked away. "Well… most likely." He cleared his throat. "So much for that, let's focus on buying you clothes now, okay?" Crona just nodded. "Maka and Soul will be joining us at the store." The pinkette's face brightened up, knowing that she'll get to see her bestfriend.

"Dude, I'm glad you wanted me and Maka to come," Soul said. "I just can't imagine you buying underwears for Crona." He and Kid were now looking at dresses for girls. "There's no way in hell Lord Death's son can ever do something like that," Kid thought as he sweat dropped. Then he tried to keep his face serious. It's like he wanted to laugh even though he was somehow embarrassed.

"And that's exactly why I wanted you guys to come. Thank you for coming." Soul smirked as he closed his eyes and dug his hands into his pockets. "Don't mention it. Cool men help their friends." Kid smiled then he spotted a Classic black and white Lolita with a black ribbon near the colar. "Soul, do you think Crona will like this?" He pointed at the dress. "Hmm?" Soul uttered then he looked up. "Yeah, I think she'll like it," he said.

"What? They prepared a romantic dinner for you and Kid?" Maka said, sounding shocked. She was carrying some clothes for Crona to use at home and school with some underwears while she made Crona carry a pair of sneakers, sandals and boots. Crona nodded meekly next to her. They were on their way to the counter. "I thought Kid's the only one who cooks in that mansion."

"K-Kid-kun said he doesn't want Liz and Patty to cook."

"Hmm. He probably wants the food to be perfect so he doesn't let them cook. We can't really expect two girls who were abandoned by their parents to be experts in cooking, can we?"

"No, I guess not. B-but, Maka. Medusa-sama didn't abandon me but she never t-taught me how to cook."

"Oh, but at least she didn't. Kid can teach you how now that you're working in their house," Maka said cheerfully.

Crona smiled. "He is."

The scythe technician and her bestfriend disappeared from the aisle and continued their way to the counter.

Black Star was doing one hundred push ups near their dining table after he took a bath. Tsubaki came in and was surprised to see him still doing the same thing he had been doing a while ago. She was just finished cooking for lunch.

"Uhm, Black Star, don't you think you're overdoing it?" she said as she smiled and sweat dropped. She sat down on the floor not far away from her partner.

"… Ninety eight, ninety nine and one hundred…!" Black Star exclaimed as he pulled himself to his foot and stood up firmly on the floor with hands on the hips. "Yosh! I finally did it in less than twenty minutes! How's that Tsubaki?" He grinned and glanced down at Tsubaki's smiling face.

"Less than twenty minutes?" Tsubaki said. "That's great, Black Star. You never did that before."

"I know." Black Star folded his arms in front of his chest. "That's why I'm so proud right now."

Tsubaki giggled and stood up. "Well, I'm proud of you too," she said. "I bet you're hungry already. Come on, let's eat lunch already." She patted his head went into the kitchen.

At the table, Black star crossed his arms behind his head, closed his eyes and sighed in relief and satisfaction. "That was delicious as always, Tsubaki!" he said.

Tsubaki smiled. "I'm glad you liked it," she said.

"Liked it? No! I loved it."

"Oh," she uttered then she smiled even more and looked down. It was like she fed her very own hungry lion and she savored its appreciation to her. She started cleaning up the table.

"Hey, Tsubaki." He opened his eyes and held his lower legs that were crossed on the ground as he looked into his partner's eyes.

She glanced back at him. "Yes?"

"You were cooking a lot yesterday but I didn't bother to know why but now I'm curious… why were you doing that?"

"Liz and Patty asked me to help them prepare a romantic dinner for Crona and Kid."

"Romantic dinner? But I thought they just met each other. Isn't that too much?"

"I don't know, Black Star," Tsubaki said softly as she cleaned the table. "Maybe the sisters just wanted them to have a pleasing atmosphere."

"Oh. So Liz and Patty wanted your help but I didn't see them here helping you." He sounded suspicious.

Tsubaki sweat dropped. "It turns out that they're not good at it. It's okay if they didn't, Black Star. It gave them time to clean the mansion anyway before Crona arrived."

Black Star smiled. "You're always being too nice."

"You hate it?"

"No." He stood up. "I just wish that you'll never change." He placed his small white towel on his shoulder and walked out from the room, leaving Tsubaki with a smile on her face.

Maka and Crona had been sitting by the fountain in Death City's square, waiting for Soul and Kid to come back.

"So, Crona, how are you at the mansion?" Maka asked.

"I-I'm doing fine," the pinkette replied but how she said it didn't prove the truthfulness of what she said. "All is well."

Maka could see her friend's ambivalence. She could tell there's something bothering her even though she has a good life now. "It's good to heart that. But Crona, if there's anything that's troubling you, I'm here to listen."

"Yeah… Thanks, Maka," her friend said calmly as she looked down at her shooes. Her hands kept cupping her knees.

"By the way, are you in good terms with Kid?" Mentioning Kid's name made Crona face Maka. "Because he can really be pissed off by asymmetrical things and considering the fact that your hair's not symmetrical, don't you think it bothers him? I'm afraid that might trouble you."

Crona smiled hesitantly. "I think it does but he doesn't tell me," she said.

Maka giggled. "He finally has the guts to tolerate asymmetrical things. Soul told me that Kid was acting strange. He doesn't react too much to asymmetrical things anymore, not like before. He didn't even care that the polo shirt they saw back in store had only one pocket.

"Uhm… is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Of course it's a good thing." She smiled. "And you know what… we think he's changing because of you." Crona just stared at her, feeling skeptic. "This is probably why Lord Death decided for you to stay with Kid. And in return, he can teach you things you need to learn that will lead you to the right path. I can actually do it too but you know Kid, he's more knowledgeable than me." Maka let out a hesitant laugh.

"Really?"

"Yeah. They say that he doesn't even need to go to school already because he's a shinigami and he had been studying ever since he was young so we can expect that he knows more than any of us. If he wasn't bothered by the letter K of his name during our supper written exam, he could have beaten me to top one."

Crona sweat dropped. "A-all because of letter K?" she said in disbelief with a lazy expression. Maka just nodded in response. Crona thought she might help Kid someday if ever they have another test. She would like to remind him to answer first before writing his name so it won't slow him down. She always loved it when she and Maka talked. It's like her burdens are lighten up. They both heard familiar footsteps.

"Speaking of Kid," Maka whispered. She sensed the souls of Kid and her partner not far from them with her soul perception.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Kid said. He was holding two chocolate ice creams while Soul held one strawberry and mango ice cream. They both stood in front of the girls. "No worries, Kid," said Maka. "It's like you two went away for only a few minutes."

"Great." Kid smiled. "Here, Crona," he said as he sat down beside Crona making her heart throb. She didn't understand the feeling whenever Kid comes close to her. It's like she likes his presence but there's always something that makes her uncomfortable for a reason she wasn't sure what. It was probably guilt and fear. It always was. But every time she gazes at those gold eyes of his, her anxiety always seem to fade like now when she looked into them as he mentioned her name. She quickly looked down at the chocolate ice cream in a brown cone being held by Kid's pale hands. She slowly tried to take it away. She slightly trembled. She hasn't had an ice cream before. She feared that if she takes it away from him, it might fall on Kid and make him angry.

Kid noticed Crona's shaking hand. "Am I making her uncomfortable?" he thought. He took a deep breath, held Crona's hand, the one that's supposed to hold the ice cream. It made the pinkette flinch. She could sense the stares they were receiving by the strangers around them and by Soul and Maka. For a second there, she didn't understand why he held her hand. Using both of his hands, he placed the cone with chocolate ice cream on her hand and made her hold it tight, but not too tight. The sensation of his palm on her fingers made her stiff.

Soul and Maka, who were now eating their ice cream, kept looking at them. Both of them smiling, especially Maka. She surmised that Kid really does care for her bestfriend though she wasn't sure why. She thought it might be because he already found about Crona's true nature, her past and hidden melancholy. If ever her hypothesis wasn't null, wouldn't it be so fast for Kid to understand Crona in just one day? She wondered. They just met so she can't help but be astonished that they seem to be close already. Maybe if they were so different, maybe there was something that still draws them together. And she was right.

What Maka didn't know is that Kid already met Crona when they were little. He already had the idea that Crona was living a terrible life and he felt guilty that he couldn't do anything about it since she was in the hands of her mother and since Kid was still very young. But now that he's older, knowing that if Crona returns to her mother she will return to the dreadful days, he simply can't allow it and will try to prevent it even when he has no legal rights. Maka cleared her mind and just kept smiling at her bestfriend who was now enjoying her ice cream, who was being told by Kid that she should just lick it and who was being wiped on the face and hands with a handkerchief by Kid as they got stained by the ice cream.

"S-sorry, Kid, next time, I'll bring my handkerchief," Crona said, feeling embarrassed. Kid was still wiping her hands with his handkerchief. Crona could have done it by herself but Kid actually found pleasure in caring for the pinkette. It's like Crona was his baby sister he never had. He didn't want people to look at her hands and mouth having chocolate ice cream stain and since he's such a perfectionist, he just had to do it for her. "It's your first time to have an ice cream, right?" he asked without looking at Crona as he wiped her fingers thoroughly while Soul and Maka had their own conversation started a while ago and haven't ended yet.

"Y-yes," said Crona whose pale face was becoming light gray as she looked at her hand being wiped. "Did you like it?" This time he glanced at her making her blood rise even more. She nodded as she bit her lip to keep her from making unnecessary sounds she might suddenly make. "We can get you more of that. Then you'll eventually learn how to devour it neatly." He turned the handkerchief and faced Crona who looked at him shyly. She thought he was already finished. "Thank y—," she said. Her words were cut off when Kid suddenly wiped a stain hear at one side of her mouth.

Kid can clearly see Crona blushing but he ignored it and focused on wiping her face. Her face having stain wasn't the only thing that bothered him but also the fact that the other side of her face didn't have stain while the other did. "There," he said, finished wiping her face, sounding relieved as he smiled. He looked into her innocent light blue eyes with a smile. "Perfect."


A/N: I think I'll enjoy making the next chapter. It's late here already so I had to end this chapter already. I know I used three couples here but since I'm focusing on Kid and Crona, I didn't give more emphasis on Soul and Maka. And since I'm not really addicted to TsuStar, it was also fun making their part because I don't usually make something for them. I wanted to show in this chap about how Crona and Kid help each other. I hope that wasn't a fail. Well… that's all. Next chapter will be about the museum and other places.