Chapter 10

It had been two months since the intense snow storm. Maka and Soul were currently planning their vacation, like Soul had promised her. A lot of different destinations had been brought up during their planning—Egypt, France, Japan, Argentina. When Soul had told Maka anywhere she wanted to go, he meant anywhere.

"Are you sure?" Maka asked hesitantly as they stared at the computer screen. "It's kind of expensive."

"I can afford it, Maka." Soul smirked. "Don't worry."

"O-okay." Maka stuttered turning back to the screen.

"So you've decided, then?" Soul asked looking at the screen from behind her.

"Yes," Maka smiled. "This is where I want to go."

"All right, then." Soul smiled. "Get out of the chair, so I can make reservations."

Maka stood up from the chair and kissed Soul on the cheek. He chuckled as he sat down and got to work setting up the flight and hotel reservations. Maka stood behind him watching while bouncing on the balls of her feet. After about half an hour, Soul had finished everything. He turned to Maka and smiled.

"There, all done." He said and shut down the computer.

Maka grinned, "This is so exciting."

Soul chuckled, "C'mon, let's get to bed. We have a mission tomorrow."

Maka nodded and followed Soul into his room. They had started sleeping in the same bed as neither of them liked sleeping alone anymore. The two laid down and got comfortable; Soul wrapped his arms around Maka's waist and pulled her to his chest.

"Good night, Soul." Maka whispered.

"Good night." Soul breathed against her neck.

-X-

Maka rushed around her room packing as much as she could for a one week vacation. It had been a month since they set up their plans, but they were finally leaving tomorrow morning. Soul had warned her to be prepared to travel a lot. She had never gone anywhere for herself and she was too excited to care about how long they needed to travel to get there. She paused in packing when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.

Soul stepped into her room and smiled. "Done packing yet?"

"Not yet." Maka said resuming her packing.

"Good God, Maka," Soul's eyes widened seeing the mess that was her room as she packed. "We're only going for a week; how many clothes do you need?"

"I need to be prepared for anything." She said as if it was the obvious answer.

Soul sighed and shook his head, "No, you need a good pair of shoes, enough shirts and shorts for the week, and a swim suit; that's it."

Maka stared at him, "Is that all you packed?"

"Yeah." Soul said giving her a look.

Maka stared at her suitcase that was stuffed with clothes. She closed her eyes and took a breath.

"I guess you're right." She said.

"No, I am right." Soul clarified. "You're not going to need all this. Just pack what you need."

"Okay." She said quietly taking everything out of the bag to start over.

"Do you want me to make dinner since you're busy packing?" Soul asked his hands in his pockets.

"That would be great." She smiled.

Soul nodded and left the room. Maka sighed again and stared at her clothes deciding what exactly she needed for their trip.

-X-

Maka was shaken awake early the next morning by Soul.

"C'mon," He whispered. "We're leaving soon."

Maka smiled starting wake up; she stretched and got up. The excitement flooded her veins. She left her room and saw that Soul had already placed their bags at the front door. She smelled something nice coming from the kitchen and saw that Soul had started making a small breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs for them.

"Soul, you're so sweet." Maka said grabbing her plate and beginning to eat.

"I just wanted to make sure you ate something before we had to leave." She smiled at her before taking a bite of his toast.

Maka finished the small breakfast quickly and dashed to her room to get dressed for traveling. Soul had reminded her to dress comfortably because they would be traveling for about twenty-four hours. When she stepped out of her room and finished grabbing the last few things she needed, she saw Soul sitting on the living room couch. He turned when he heard her leave her bedroom.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yes." She smiled.

"Okay, let's go." Soul grabbed his bags and allowed Maka to leave the apartment first. He locked the door and they traveled to the front of the building where a taxi was waiting for them. Within half an hour they arrived at the airport. Soul paid the cabbie before following Maka through the sliding glass doors to check in.

Being a Saturday morning, the lines for checking in were extremely long. Soul was glad they had arrived more than two hours before their flight left. It took almost an hour to check in and then another half hour to get through security.

Maka followed Soul quietly through the airport as they searched for their gate. They found it easily and Maka was relieved to sit down again. It was still early in the morning and she hadn't been able to sleep very well being so excited for the trip. She heard Soul chuckle and looked up at him.

"Still tired, huh?" He asked sitting down next to her.

"I was so excited I couldn't sleep." She told him.

"Well, you can sleep on the plane." He said draping his arm over her shoulders.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to." She sighed.

"Why?" Soul asked. "You'll be too excited?"

Maka bit her lip, "No, not that. I just don't really like flying."

This was a surprise to Soul. In all the missions they had gone to foreign countries for, Maka had never shown any fear of flying.

"Maka, you've flown plenty of times before."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I like it."

Soul rolled his eyes and smirked. His meister always found a way to surprise him.

He looked at his watch—only half an hour until take off. The woman behind the desk at the gate started calling for people in first class to board the plane. Soul leaned back to relax; they were near the front of the plane and would therefore be some of the last passengers to board.

Ten minutes later they were in their seats, Maka staring out the window of the plane. The sun had finally risen and was lighting the sky with pleasurable warmth. Soul could feel Maka fidgeting next to him. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She had pulled a book out of her bag and began reading.

"I thought you were tired." Soul commented.

"I am," She said not taking her eyes off the page. "But I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"Whatever you say." Soul said not believing she wouldn't sleep at some point during the journey. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

Soon, one of the flight attendants was getting ready for take off and walking down the aisle explaining safety procedures. Soul felt himself drifting off to sleep as he listened to the plane powering up and getting ready to take flight. As he felt the tingling sensation of taking flight his eyes snapped open when Maka grabbed his hand.

"I don't like taking off." She muttered.

Soul squeezed her hand and kissed her temple trying to calm her down. He laughed on the inside—a meister who had faced the kishin Asura and many witches couldn't handle flying.

They were only on this flight for an hour and a half until landing LAX in Los Angeles. The pair ran off the flight and headed to baggage claim to grab their bags for their next flight. They hopped on their next flight two hours later, heading to Hong Kong.

Maka had finally fallen asleep on that flight and Soul had lifted the arm rest so she could lay her head in his lap. Four hours into the sixteen hour flight, Maka woke up. Soul had been running his fingers through her hair as she slept.

"What time is it?" She asked sleepily.

"It's about three thirty in the afternoon." Soul answered. The flight attendants are starting to come around with meal orders. Do you want anything to eat?"

Maka nodded and Soul handed her a small menu. Nothing really appealed to her, but she knew that if she didn't eat now she wouldn't be able to eat for another five or six hours. She decided and told Soul what she wanted. When the flight attendant came around, Soul told her what they would have and then he turned back to Maka. She was staring out the window, nothing but the ocean below the plane.

"How much longer is this flight?" Maka asked looking at Soul.

"Twelve more hours." Soul groaned. "I'm tired, but I don't want to sleep. And I'm bored, but I've already listened to half the playlist in my iPod."

Maka kissed his cheek. Soul turned to her and smiled. She laced her fingers in his and opened her book again. Soul leaned back again and fell asleep with Maka's hand in his. He was woken up an hour later by Maka when the flight attendants were delivering meals to all the passengers.

"You know," Soul said through a mouthful of food. He swallowed. "Airplane food isn't so bad."

"You don't complain about much anyway, Soul." Maka giggled. "You'll eat almost anything if it's edible."

Soul shrugged and continued eating. Maka poked around her food. It wasn't awful, but she didn't really feel like eating. She just wanted to get to their destination as soon as possible. After they landed in Hong Kong, they had a nine hour lay over until their next flight. Their last flight was another five hours. Maka groaned and Soul looked at her.

"Something wrong?" He asked licking his lips.

"It's going to take forever to get there." Maka whined.

Soul laughed, "I told you it was going to take over twenty-four hours to get there."

"I know, but it's hard to judge time." Maka said taking another bite of her food.

Soul nodded and looked out the window. They were still over the ocean. He sighed and leaned back into his seat.

-X-

Maka was asleep on the bed. They had gotten a room in Hong Kong for the night before their flight in the morning. Soul wasn't really tired; he had slept a lot on the plane. Instead, he laid in the bed listening to his iPod and running his fingers through Maka's silky blonde hair. She slept quietly and seemed to be in a deep sleep. Soul smiled to himself; he couldn't wait to see her reaction when they finally got to their destination.

-X-

And they were on a plane…again. Soul was getting just as sick and tired as Maka of flying. Luckily, this was their last flight and then they could just relax for an entire week. Soul could tell Maka was really excited. She couldn't keep still and she kept staring out the window of the plane.

"It's not going to go any faster, Maka." Soul said. "You should just relax. We still have four more hours until we land."

"But we're almost there!" Maka all but squealed.

Soul couldn't help, but laugh. She wasn't normally this excitable, but he understood. He felt the same, in a way. He sighed; he couldn't wait to get off the plane. He was tired now, though. He hadn't been able to sleep and now the sun was up and all he wanted to do was sleep. The time change was going to be hard for him to cope with. He tried his hardest to stay awake, but sleep took him over.

The next thing he knew, Maka was shaking him awake. They were getting ready to land. Soul leaned over Maka and peered out the window. The island was visible, but that was about it. Twenty minutes later, they were landed. Soul and Maka got off the plane and headed to baggage claim. Thankfully their bags were some off the first on the conveyer belt. Soul looked at the signs, but they weren't much use as he couldn't read the language. He could follow the pictures on the signs, though.

Soul led Maka through the crowds of people and out to the front of the airport so they could catch a taxi to their hotel. Luckily, they had found someone who could speak English. The man helped them get a taxi and told the cabbie where to take them. Within twenty minutes they were standing in front of their hotel. Soul paid the cabbie and the two stepped into the lobby to check in. All of the service members were able to speak English, which Soul was grateful for.

Maka led Soul to their room, key in hand. She was so happy to finally be here. Maka slipped the key card into the slot an when the light flashed green, she swung to door open. Her jaw dropped; the room looked even more beautiful than the pictures online. It was cozy, but sexy at the same time. Soul followed her in and looked around.

"It's nice." He commented.

"It's beautiful." Maka said quietly. She placed her bag next to her bed and went to the French doors. She unlocked the latch and pulled the doors back to reveal a magnificent view of the island. Their room was on the fourth floor and the hotel was on a hill overlooking the ocean. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. The scents of sea water, fruit, and curry filled her nostrils. She stepped fully onto the balcony and leaned her elbows on the railing.

Soul came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He had to admit, the view was worth the price. The island was gorgeous and the beach was very close to their hotel. Soul nuzzled his face into Maka's neck. She leaned into him as he kissed her neck up to her jaw line. She turned her face to him and captured his lips.

Soul pulled back and let his lips hover next to her ear. "Welcome to Bali, Maka."