Wow, it's the tenth chapter already! *a tear drop rolls down my cheek* They grow up so fast! *sniff*

But seriously. I'm so happy I decided not to delete this, even though I betrayed myself and re-read it. But I figured that I'm ten chapters in, and I might as well keep going. I was thinking about starting other stories, but I'm afraid that I might forget to update this one if I do that. Or I might just loose interest. That happens a LOT.

Forget me and my flawed constitution. On a related note, the fact that this is the tenth chapter and still not much has happened proves that I am a slow writer. But ever since I read a story that basically crammed two years worth of content in like five paragraphs, I've been terrified of throwing too much information into my readers' faces. But, then again, the first chapter did go kinda fast. But I intended it to be like that. SO NO HARM DONE

Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater

Not that he had much say in the matter, but Asura knew for certain that he blew his first day of school. He lied face-down on the couch ever since he ran out of the classroom, still trying to process what had happened. I should have just given it back to her, then none of that would have happened. But...I had to know. My life was on the line. Trying to assure himself didn't work out much better. He felt like he was making excuses for his own behavior. I need to rethink my life.

He turned on his side, letting his right arm dangle over the edge and onto the floor. He studied his light blue skin tone that he hadn't lost since the battle, and the bandages that covered his body. Such an ugly color, blue. It looks too much like the boring sky. Blue looks so much better when its covered in red.

He resisted the temptation to let a little more madness into the city; he wasn't going to risk giving an excuse for Maka to attack him. He grinned. Not like a twig like her could do anything to me. But the memory of the young meister making notes on madness returned, and once again he felt the same prickling sensation of fear creeping up his spine. Why can't she just leave it alone? Why can't she just leave me alone?

He brought his hand up to his face. "As long as I am what I am, no one can ever forget about me..." Perhaps if Maka sees that I am no longer a threat, she'll stop this conspiracy of hers. Yes. All I need to do is behave for a while, and let things play out the way I want them to. Deep in his mind, his logic was screaming at him that it would never work, that he was wasting his time, and that he should kill everyone before they killed him. To hell with logic, he thought, frustrated. I don't need such a thing.

He sat up, his hair flipping over his eyes. He hated the way that it had grown longer in the past eight hundred years. The apartment was dark, since he had closed the curtains and turned off the lights. But it wasn't as dark as he preferred, since the curtains were thin and sunlight still filtered through. Small shadows of birds fluttered past. Things are peaceful here. Too peaceful.

He was about to stand up, having it in his mind to poke around the apartment for something to do, when the front door burst open loudly. The kishin flinched unconsciously, gripping the couch with all limbs. Maka stormed inside, slamming the door shut behind her. She glared over at Asura for a moment, blushed, then started to shuffle toward her room with her head hung. That's a lot of emotion coming off one girl, he thought, watching her walk past. Should I say something?

His instinct roared 'no', but he was beginning to question his first instinct. I wanted to start making changes, so maybe this is a good time to start.

One scarf reached out to stop her, but years of living solitary got the better of him. He let the meister go, his eyes closing when he heard Maka's door slam shut. Way to keep your own promise.

Pathetic relief washed over him now that he denied himself social interaction. He wasn't good at it, and he preferred to live without it, but a small part of him felt guilty for not apologizing like he was supposed to. Then he felt confused about why he even cared. He then felt angry that he was feeling all of this within a few seconds. Which of course made him upset. Then...you get the picture.

He grabbed the nearest object to him – one of the couch pillows, and threw it across the room, where it smacked harmlessly on the fridge in the kitchen. He snatched up the next pillow and dug his fingers into it, pulling it apart with barely any effort. Feathers and stuffing flew everywhere, getting into Asura's hair and eyes. He clenched his teeth and pawed furiously at the invading feathers, looking very much like an angry cat. And speaking of cats, a small purple shape emerged into the living room, eyes going blank when she saw the kishin, God of Insanity and Madness, clawing at feathers furiously.

She made a face, wondering What the heck is wrong with this guy?

Gentle hands picked up the cat from behind, and the blonde scythe meister who had come out of her room to check on the kishin held Blair in her arms, frowning when she saw Asura's shower of feathers. "What the hell are you doing?"

The kishin froze, letting the rest of the pillow's insides fall to the ground. Talk about wrong place, wrong time. "Um...I can explain."

Maka put Blair back on the floor and walked over to pick up half of the torn pillow, holding it out in front of her accusingly. "Looks to me like you just tore a pillow in half."

"Well, yes, but– "

She cut him off by hitting him upside the head with it. "Bad kishin."

Despite the fact that Maka had just scolded him like a child and hit with half of a pillow, he couldn't suppress a smile.

"Those were expensive, you know! And if I don't get another one to match the one I already have, Kid will go berserk the next time he comes over and lecture me on symmetry for the next century!"

She hit him again, just for good measure.

"I'm sorry." he apologized.

She suddenly felt as if she had somehow hurt him, non-physically. "No, it's okay. There's a furniture place down the street that sells them for half-price anyway."

He shook his head. "Not that. I mean I'm sorry for what I did in the classroom. I was being childish and I shouldn't have taken it in the first place. I'm...sorry."

She gave him a look that seemed as awkward as he felt. It was the first time he'd apologized for anything, and the first time Maka had heard him being remorseful. He wasn't sure that he was completely sorry, but he felt like she needed to know that he did have some sense of right and wrong. Whether he chose to follow it was a different story.

She blinked. "Oh. Like I said, it's okay...and, I'm sorry I uh...jumped on you."

His face reddened a bit when she mentioned it, and he tried to cover it by moving his hair over his face. "I-It's alright."

The meister thought for a bit, then turned to head back into her bedroom. While she was gone, Asura tried to rub the blush off his face, but then realized how stupid he looked and stopped. Blair the cat was still in the living room, now balanced on top of the bookshelf. They met eyes and Blair smiled widely. "You like her." she purred, saying it as a gossipy first-grader would.

He turned away. "As if."

Blair didn't buy it. "Aw, come on. I know a crush when I see one."

"Just because humans fall over each other to mate doesn't make you an expert."

"Denial."

"What?"

"The more you deny it, the more true it is!"

He almost threw his hands up in exasperation. So if I don't deny it, it's true, but if I do deny it, it's also true? Isn't there any aspect of society where I can win?

"I'm not denying it. I'm saying that there is nothing to deny."

"Denial."

"It is not!"

"Denial."

"I will murder you if you say 'denial' one more time!"

"Why don't you just admit that you like her?"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you do. Think about it. She's smart, and pretty. And she seems to be all over you." she winked, as if she knew what had happened in the classroom. Asura pulled one scarf over his face. "Don't look at me! It was an accident!"

The cat burst out laughing, almost rolling off the top of the bookshelf. "Denial! Denial!"

Asura was about three seconds from blasting her away with Vajra, when Maka came back into the living room. She saw Blair killing herself laughing, and Asura looking like he was suffocating himself with his scarf. "...I don't want to know."

She walked over and sat down on the edge of the couch, next to Asura. She carried a notebook; the same notebook that Asura had tried to take from her twice. "Listen, Asura. If...if it makes you feel better, you can look at it."

Asura peeked out from behind the scarf. "...really?"

She held it out to him. "Y-yes. I mean, I'd prefer not to, but since you seem to be interested, here."

He reached out for it, but drew back. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to be surprised when you kill me."