Disclaimer: All characters are created and owned by Ohkubo Atsushi. I do not claim ownership over any of them nor the world of Soul Eater.

This one is AU, separate from the plot so far. The whole human into weapon ability doesn't exist, making Ragnarok non existent. Also, they're a bit older, around 20 years old. This is the story of how they meet.

10. Opportunities

I'm staring. I'm not supposed to be, but I can't help it. My eyes are shamelessly wandering over her face, and I can feel the heat starting to burn my cheeks. Why does she have to be so… pretty?

The way she sits, cross legged, alternating which leg is on top of which approximately every ten minutes. The way her lips purse from time to time as she reaches a particularly interesting part of the book she's reading. The way she sits slightly hunched over the book, wondering what will happen next. The way her dainty fingers flit across the book to flip a page. The way her free hand will twirl around one of her pigtails when she's thinking. And her eyes. The way they sparkle as they roam over the words, the way they light up when she smiles, the way they widen when she realizes I'm staring at her- Oh shit.

I snap my attention back into the book I'm reading. Except I can't make sense of the words. Oh, because it's upside down. The heat explodes on my face as I mutter some sort of apology to the book, flipping it right side up. You're reading, you were reading this entire time, I tell myself. That's what a library is for. You were reading this fascinating book on… knitting? Knitting! Yes, you were most definitely NOT staring at the pretty bookworm over there just now. No, you were reading your book and not noticing her at all, oh, who am I kidding. I can't handle this! Where's a corner when you need one?

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I realize that she's walking towards me, oh crap what do I do, I can't deal with girls! I stare at the book, sweat collecting in droplets on my forehead. Why, why, why, why was I so careless?! Why did I have to keep staring?! Because she's oh so pretty… Stop that!

The girl takes a seat at the table I'm sitting at, across from me, silencing my panicked thoughts. I'm too stunned to think, to stunned to speak, too stunned to do anything but stare stupidly at her.

She quirks an eyebrow and raises up the book she was reading threateningly. "Any particular reason you were staring at me just now?" And suddenly my thoughts are kicked into overdrive. Oh god, her voice is like honey, how is that even possible? Is this meant to torture me somehow? Is this my punishment for staring at her today, and if so I'm not sorry, just please keep talking forever and ever, whatever your name is. Wait! I don't even know her name!

"Well?" She raises the book a little higher.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry…!" I sputter. "I-I-I j-just…. Y-y-you…. I c-can't d-d-deal with this…!"

I bury my face into my arms, praying that I could just die on the spot. A hand landed on my shoulder and I tensed.

"Look up," the voice made of silk commanded. I lifted my head, only to find the spine of a book within a hairsbreadth of my nose. "Start talking."

You're never going to get this opportunity again, I tell myself. Either you screw up now or you get to know this beauty. Your choice.

"I-I was staring at you," I start and the hand holding the book tenses ever so slightly. "Because y-you're ve-ve-very p-p-p-pretty…" I look down, ashamed. Most girls don't like to be ogled, I assume. And I was ogling her like there was no tomorrow. I deserve whatever fate this girl has in store for-

WHACK. Something hits my head really hard and I cry out. Just before I black out, I hear her say, "Men. They're all the same!"

I come to, and the girl isn't at the table anymore. Panicked, I lift my head up quickly to look for her and immediately regret it. It hurts! My thoughts wail. Did she hit me with the book?! My hand tentatively begins to prod at my aching noggin, finding a book spine sized dent in it. Yep… that was the book.

A part of me thinks that this girl is absolutely insane for karate chopping my head with a book of all things, another part of me loves her boldness in doing that, but all of me agrees that I deserved that. I sit there, wallowing in self pity until a thought strikes me. "What if she's still here?" I mumble. I caress my head gently and look at the table she was sitting at before. She still sits there, reading the same book. She glances at me, and I squeak, scared. I quickly turn my attention right back to the book, ignoring the protests my head is giving me for moving so quickly.

And yet… I still find her so very attractive and find myself longing to have a decent conversation with her, preferably without any hitting with books. I still have an opportunity to make a good second impression. I remind myself. I want to talk to her at least, and apologize for staring.

So, I summon the courage I didn't even know I had and start walking towards her, step by stumbling step. My hand finds my arm and holds on to it so tight, I lose some sensation in it.

This was a bad idea, this was a terrible idea! You should have just been grateful she didn't report you to the police or something for staring at her. That has to be a crime, right? Save whatever dignity you have and turn back now. Turn back, turn back, turn back…!

And then I'm at the table she's sitting at. I sit down across from her. This is probably the boldest I've been my entire life, and it makes me nervous beyond belief. The girl peers at me over her book, her expression becoming irritated.

My heart starts pounding in my ears, my thoughts screaming at me to turn back, but I've gone too far. I have to say something….!

"…Hi…" I mutter.

"Hello," the girl says icily. She returns to her book. I receive the message loud and clear. Go away, you perverted creep, I can imagine her saying. You're not wanted here.

All of the courage I had melts away in an instant, and I'm sitting there, shaking in my shoes. I want to turn back so badly, or crawl under this table and die, but I have to apologize. I have to, at the very least.

"I'm s-s-sorry," I mutter. I regain the girl's attention and her emerald gaze burns me. Oh no, it's not her gaze that's burning me. It's my blush. "I j-just w-wanted to get to kn-know you, I g-guess… An opport-t-tunity to m-meet you… You a-are very pretty, b-but th-that was no e-excuse to s-s-stare… I-I-I'll go now…" I stand up, just about ready to run out of the library and go home to my faithful Mr. Corner.

"Wait," she sighs. I freeze, looking at her. She shifts in her chair. Is she embarrassed? "Maybe I was a bit harsh on you…" She glances up at my forehead and then back down. I don't blame her. I must be sporting a rather impressive looking bruise on my forehead, from the attack. It hits me. Oh, I think. She feels guilty.

I shake my head, which was a bad idea, cause it still really hurts, but I ignore it as best as I can. "I d-deserved i-it…" I mumble. "I-I-It's my fault…"

"No." She stands up defiantly, startling me. "I need to control my temper better. I had no right attacking you like I did."

I don't understand, but it was my fault entirely, I was the one staring at her perversely, I deserved to be hit like that, she doesn't have to apologize at all because-

"You said you wanted to get to know me?" Her voice interrupts my inner rambling. She extends her hand and I stare at it. What is she-? "My name's Maka. Maka Albarn. What's yours?"

I look back up to her face. She's smiling and my face tints pink. I take her hand and shake lightly. "Crona. Crona Makenshi."

"Well then, Crona…" She draws her hand back to grab the book she was reading. I involuntarily flinch. She holds it up. "Do you like Shakespeare?"

This one is mainly for the fan girls' necessity for fluff and practice for me to get back into the groove of things after a long hiatus. Constructive criticism always appreciated!