A full week had gone by, school had started, and no sign of Maka.
"She must be busy..." Kid mumbled, staring out the window at his father's school. Just then, the mirror rang, and Shinigami popped up. Kid jumped a little, surprised.
"Chichiue?" Kid asked. "Why are you calling?" He wanted to add, 'you never call', but felt like that could be rude.
"I'm gonna have to skip coming home for a while, sorry Kiddo." He apologized, and Kid frowned.
"But...you promised. You said you'd be home tonight. It feels like forever since you came home." Kid admitted, finally letting his disappointment show.
"...I know. I'm sorry. Another time, k?" He said, and the call ended. Kid's fist curled, and he smashed it into the wall. Wincing, he saw blood spring from the fresh wounds. A decent size hole was now in the wall, and he cursed himself.
"When are you coming home?!" He yelled, exasperated. He gave a heavy sigh, and decided to go for a walk.
The breeze ruffled his hair, and he stuck his hands in his pockets. He shuddered; the wind was chilly this night. Shouts caught his attention, and he veered towards the park. He proceeded cautiously, wondering who was around. Laughter pierced the air, and the sound of a basketball being dribbled rang through the wind. Kid peered around a corner, keeping himself in the shadows. Kids were using the basketball court lit by floodlights. There were around 10 or so, he couldn't tell. A familiar shade of light brown caught his eye, and he almost called out her name.
"Maka...?" He said, his voice trailing off. Other kids surrounded her around her age, and they looked like they were having a good time. A stocky, muscular boy with blue hair was running around, cheering as if he had won the championship. A tall, pretty girl with black hair was trying to quiet him down, but with no luck. Maka was hitting some guy with white hair and red eyes, yelling at him and collapsing into a fit of laughter. A small girl with short pink hair was trying to avoid a love-struck boy with crazy glasses and two strands of hair sticking out. One tall boy with dark skin was practicing his boxing, acting like he was going to attack the wall. Kid shrank back into the shadows, not wanting to disturb them. As he turned, his foot caught a loose stone, and it clattered across the pavement. He winced, and heard shouts.
"Hey, I think someone's there!" The boy with blue hair screeched, and started running in that direction, his friends trailing.
"Good thing I brought a cloak." Kid muttered, and he wrapped a cloak tightly around him, hoping the hood would conceal his face. He dashed through the streets, running down back roads and alleys. He looked over his shoulder and saw people chasing him. He ran harder, gaining a lead. Suddenly, something jumped down from the roof, landing in front of him. He cursed and took a hard left, barely avoiding the person's grasp. After a few minutes of hard running, he slowed to a fast jog. Nobody was following him anymore. He breathed in relief, and stared towards his house.
A flicker of movement caught his eye, and he wheeled around just in time to avoid a punch.
"Found you! Where yah going?" The boy with blue hair yelled, throwing punches at him. Kid merely avoided them, trying hard to conceal his face. "Come on, you can't just sneak around and not expect me to follow you! If you want my autograph that much, you could just ask..." The boy exclaimed with a snicker. Kid rolled his eyes; he could already tell this one was going to be annoying. He really didn't want a repeat of what happened many years ago with that one boy named "Desmond".
The boy became more persistent, throwing harder and harder punches. Kid had enough, and he blocked a poorly aimed punch. Swinging his leg around, he roundhouse kicked the boy in the chest, sending him flying back. All of the other friends tensed, ready to jump in, but the boy sprang up and laughed.
"You're good! Nobody's ever caught me off guard!" He commented, and then ran towards him. They danced around in circles, blocking each others attacks and aiming ones of their own. Kid could see that the other boy was getting antsy. He obviously had a reputation, and suddenly Kid had threatened it. He had to hold out long enough and hopefully the boy's anger would get the best of him.
He was right; the boy started attacking with brute strength. Kid avoided the wildly thrown kicks and punches. One caught him on his side, and he sucked in air, gasping. Kid quickly recovered, feeling a dull pain in his side.
"Like that? I just hit you with my wavelength!" The boy boasted, and then tried again. Kid was ready this time, and he sidestepped. With a powerful lunge, he brought his foot up, and it connected with the side of the boy's face. Kid then quickly gave a few rapid punches to his stomach, and watched in satisfaction as the boy fell to the ground, groaning. Kid gave a small bow.
"If you'll excuse me." Kid mumbled, and walked hastily away.
"Not so fast! Tsubaki!" The boy yelled, and the tall girl with dark black hair materialized into a short sword, almost like a katana. "Who are you?" He shouted, jumping for an attack. Kid realized he was aiming for his hood, and he didn't have enough time to side step. The boy's plan was to cut the hood off, hook it back, or rip it off. Either one would work. But then Kid raised his arm to block the sword, and the boy could only reduce the power. With a cry, Kid fell down, feeling blood pour out of the wound. It was deep, he knew. The boy landed, and dropped his weapon.
"Hey...hey! You weren't supposed to block! Are you ok?" He panicked, running to Kid's side. The rest followed. Kid scrambled away, clutching his bleeding arm. He just ran away into the dark streets. They tried to follow, but Kid seemed to disappear into the shadows. The crew stood, watching. The boy shook his head.
"He wasn't supposed to block...!" He said. The tall girl came over and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It wasn't your fault, Black Star. I'm sure he'll be fine." she reassured him. The boy grinned a bit.
"Thanks, Tsubaki." He answered quietly, regret coating his voice. They started to walk back to the courts, but one girl remained.
"Maka? You coming?" The boy with white hair called. "Maka?" He beckoned, and the girl snapped out of her daze.
"Oh...sorry Soul. I'm coming." Maka called back, walking towards him.
"You ok?" He asked.
"I'm fine, I just thought..." She started, and then trailed off. He gave her a quizzical look, but she waved her hand. "Never mind, it's nothing." She mumbled, and Soul shrugged.
I could've sworn I saw gold eyes. She thought to herself, but then shook the thought off. It couldn't be Kid…
Meanwhile, Kid had made it back home, his vision blurry from blood loss. Taking deep breaths, he sat down and held his head in his hands. "You're fine, you're fine." He whispered to himself. His healing started to kick in, and he felt the wound closing. He knew it would leave a nasty scar, though.
"Dang, I can't wrap this arm without wrapping the other one, it would be so asymmetrical!" He grumbled, and decided just to leave it. The mirror rang, but he ignored it. He didn't want to talk to his father at the moment. Walking slowly upstairs, he suddenly felt tired. He crawled into his bed and fell fast asleep.
I was going to delete this chapter, I didn't really like how it came out. But I'll put it up there anyways. Black Star had no intention of hurting Kid, he's not like that. He just claims to know everyone and when a new face pops up he's determined to know who it is.
