11: Meteor Showers (Manga)

"Come on Soul, this a rare chance! I can't pass this opportunity up when over the last couple of years, it's been way too cloudy or rainy to see the event!" Maka stated once more by his ear.

Its early, probably not even 10:00 am yet.

And to top it off it's the weekend; supposed to be that lucky one time of the week where he can sleep in.

But it's hard to resist Maka's crooning for him to get up…or ignore the fact she's positioned herself compromisingly on top of him.

"Maka, isn't this storm event or whatever only happen at night? And not for another like another good couple of hours?" Soul griped, moving his sheets down just enough to meet her eyes.

He shouldn't have looked.

Verdant eyes glimmered in the morning light that slipped through his blinds and he gulped, almost wanting to sink his head back under the covers at her knowing smile.

'I can't keep letting her tease, smooth talk, or guilt me into things…' He reminded himself.

Even if that was easier said than done.

"Why can't you ask Tsubaki or Black Star to come with you on this, huh? The two of them are more of night owls than I am." He remarked.

Maka shook her head, smile fading into a scowl. "You know that wouldn't be the same Soul." 'And I was hoping to be able to watch it with you for once this year...'

But she dropped the topic for now, climbing off of him to go get breakfast or perhaps lunch ready. She should've known that Blair's advice to 'come on' to Soul wouldn't exactly work.

Soul sighed at the loss of her warmth, tossing his covers off as he watched her go.

Why was this meteor shower so important to her anyways?

He hated to admit it, but now he was mildly curious.

Maka was stirring at a bowl of eggs as he approached, concentration focused on blending the ingredients until he tapped her shoulder.

She jumped, mix of the goopy combination spilling onto her blue apron. "Geez, Soul you could've announced your arrival instead of sneaking up on me!"

He simply grinned crookedly in return, ignoring the waft of spices and Maka's scent at being so close to her.

"So…what is it about this meteor shower that makes you so badly want to see it?"

Maka scoffed, turning her attention back to the bowl. "Why does it matter? You made it clear that you didn't care to see it."

Great, she was pissed.

But, he could fix this; he just had to use a bit of that easygoing charm she secretly loved so much, right?

He wrapped an arm around her waist, smirking at the rise of goosebumps and flush that gave way at his touch. Her hands tightened against the wooden ladle and for a second he wasn't sure if she was about to use it as a weapon.

"Let go." She huffed.

"No, not until you tell me why this is so important to you." He replied, pulling her in closer.

Maka gave him a side glance, smiling curving at her lips for a moment and he relaxed briefly in the belief maybe she wasn't as mad as he originally thought.

Until she jabbed him with her elbow to go away.

Looks like he was making that trip to the library.

-X-

"Soul? What are you doing here; especially on a Saturday afternoon?' Kid questioned.

Well, at least he could be thankful that it was Kid who caught him here and not Black Star. He would never hear the end of that…

"I can't spend an afternoon catching up on homework and my studies?" He attempted casually.

Golden eyes narrowed as he furrowed a brow. Okay, he supposed there was no chance he could fool the Shinigami.

"Alright I admit I'm a bit lost in here, I'm trying to find books on space and astronomy stuff." He grumbled.

He could tell Kid was truly trying not to laugh at him, lips quirking to attempt to keep a neutral expression.

"I'll lead you to that section, you won't find it in the fiction section where we're currently at." He regarded, guiding them to the other side of the library.

He would never understand how he or Maka could navigate themselves so easily around here. The DWMA's library was like a maze, shelves brimming with books up to the ceilings. It was dark and quiet considering it was the weekend too, dim lights at each aisle barely helping him to see what was in front of him.

No wonder he always felt so sleepy when he was here with Maka.

"Might I ask why you're so suddenly curious to read about the science of space and what not? I never picked you as the type to enjoy that genre…if you were to actually enjoy reading that is." Kid asked conversationally.

Soul frowned, burying his hands deep within his leather jacket. He could feel his cheeks getting warm and hoped the darkness of the room was enough to perhaps hide it.

"It's not for me, it's for Maka. Just wanted to research some event to figure out why she was so curious about it." He muttered.

Of course that just made Kid smirk, knowing his clear intentions.

'So they got into some type of argument again, huh?'

He brushed off the dust of an array of books as they reached the proper section, pushing about 3 books Soul's way as they took a seat at a nearby table.

"I figure this might involve the upcoming meteor shower, correct? I think you'll gather some clues from going over these." He explained.

Soul stared long and hard at the textbooks, they weren't particularly thin.

And Kid knew that.

But for once he didn't gripe, grabbing the first one off the pile to begin reading (aka skimming) through it.

"Are you sure you can't just tell me what's in these books that will give me the answer?" He asked after reading only 1 page.

Kid shook his head, laughing lightly. "Now where would the fun be in that?"

-X-

It's approaching 3:00 pm when Soul realizes he's blanked out.

He's been reading the same page over and over for the past 30 minutes. Kid has already left him alone over an hour ago, but not without reminding them they have death scythe training following by a monthly meeting on Monday morning.

Now his head hurts.

'Alright, alright. Surely I wrote down something pertinent or was able to retain something out of all that reading.' He told himself.

He glanced down at the scrap sheet of paper he had brought along with him. The most he had written down was that the meteor shower was categorized under the Leonids: a period of annual meteor showers that came for around a week in November or close to this time of year.

Definitely not enough to figure out why it really irked Maka that he didn't want to go; there must've been something more significant behind it.

"Maybe getting some lunch might help me think." He considered, closing back all the books and stretching out his arms.

It was nice to get up and move about after sitting for so many hours, even if the cool breezes made him shiver. Though it was a nice change of pace after the scorching summer months that had just passed.

As he neared the usual bistro where he liked to eat or pick up a quick snack, he paused in his stride at the sight of crimson hair.

Spirit. And he wasn't alone.

He pressed his lips into a thin line, discreetly walking backwards until he was shrouded under the cover of some bushes. Next to Spirit was the typical type of woman he liked, busty blonde with wavy long hair and clothes that were much too tight and short.

But what surprised him the most was Maka's presence across from the duo at the table with them.

Maka huffed, hugging her gray jacket closer. Her pigtails were messy from being tossed by the wind and her cheeks were quickly growing flushed either from the cold or the embarrassment of potentially being seen in such a situation.

"Papa, you honestly forgot; didn't you?" Maka started, not bothering to hide the ire from lacing her tone.

The woman hanging off him politely excused herself to get some coffee, leaving the pair alone. Spirit shifted, twiddling his thumbs nervously.

"Of course I didn't forget sweetie! It's just that I thought you- "He started only for Maka to hold up a hand to stop him.

"Never mind. If it's not important to you anymore, then it shouldn't be important to me." She grumbled, abruptly standing up and leaving.

Spirit cried out for her to stay, haphazardly moving to follow after her only to trip over his chair in the process. Soul watched as she hurriedly passed by him, unknowing of his presence.

Tears were brimming in her eyes.

She was swept up in the crowd before Spirit could even get close and he decided then to make himself known by getting into his viewpoint.

Not the best time to, but still.

Spirit looked the epitome of sad, nose runny with fresh tear streaks running down his face that would've looked funny if hadn't already known the meaning behind them.

"I'll talk to her; don't worry." He began.

Spirit wiped his face against the sleeve of his shirt, sadness quickly turning to anger. "You were just standing there spying on us?!"

Soul simply shrugged in response.

"Humph, I don't get what Maka sees in being with a jerk like you, watching her yell at her own Papa like that!" He scoffed.

"It isn't anything I haven't seen before." Soul responded, restraining an eye roll.

He hadn't come to start fighting or arguing with him, he needed more answers after all.

"Listen, Maka has really be interested in seeing this upcoming meteor shower. At first I maybe thought it was just one of her nerdy perks related to science, but it goes beyond that; doesn't it?" He related.

Spirit grunted, expression becoming serious as he gazed upward. It was a relatively clear day, only thin streaks of white clouds amid the cobalt sky.

"I…I didn't think it was important to her anymore. I shouldn't have been so stupid, it's just the past years it's been either rainy or cloudy so it was hard to see the meteors when nightfall eventually came."

Soul clearly had no idea what he meant, so he sighed and went on.

"Back when Kami and I were still together we made it an annual event to watch the meteor showers every year. We would travel out of Death City and watch them for an hour or so before heading back home. Maka would always try to stay up as late as possible or get up early to try and see it, setting alarms and hurrying to wake us up before it ended. I guess…as she got older and then the divorce happened…I didn't think she cared about events like it anymore, especially since we haven't done the tradition in a long while." He explained.

'It should be clear tonight; the forecast doesn't call for rain, fog, or any other weather event that could mess up not seeing the meteor showers. Maybe she wanted to start the tradition again with me…' Soul realized.

"Well, you've already pissed her off enough. I'll take her to go see it." He resigned.

Spirit snorted, opening his mouth to retort but closed it at seeing Soul's sincere expression.

"I know you will."

-X-

'Stupid Papa, stupid Soul, stupid everybody!' Maka hissed repetitively to herself.

And why hadn't Soul answered any of her texts or calls all day?! He had disappeared soon after breakfast saying he was going to go play basketball and video games with Black Star, but said visit to his and Tsubaki's apartment brought up no mention of either events occurring.

"Ugh, I'm ready to be done with this day!" She growled, scrubbing the dishes with more force than necessary. She stopped as soon as heard the crackle of the plates beginning to snap due to her pressure.

'Where is he though? He should at least tell me if he had other plans come up…' She pondered, gazing outside through the kitchen window.

It was getting late, already close to 10 o clock and she was left alone to her wandering thoughts with Blair gone for the night to work at Chupacabra's.

Maybe she should just go to bed early, at best that would hopefully keep this worrying ideas of Soul's safety at bay.

But she was awoken again hours later to the bleary light of her lamp on and Soul hovering over her, grin much too wide and excited considering the time of day and who he was.

"Come on; get up!" He said urgently, already tossing her bedspread off.

Maka shot him an infuriated look, tossing the nearest book by her bedside straight at him. "What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you know what time it is?!"

Soul effortlessly dodged her attacks in her drowsy state, even able to help her undress before she realized what he was doing and actually landed a strike on him.

"What's going on; is there some emergency?" She yawned, shoving his hands away as best she could when he began tickling her awake.

Soul stood from her bed and pushed her curtain open, the orange glow of the streetlights poured into her room, but she looked upward past the buildings to where he was pointing and saw it.

A faint streak of light.

"Hurry up and get changed. I was a bit late on coming back because I had to get gas for my motorcycle and I knew I would need some sleep if we were going to drive far enough out of the city to get away from the light pollution." Soul regarded.

Maka blinked, taking in his words slowly. "You…you want to see the meteor shower?"

Soul shrugged, feeling embarrassed at the slow grin she began to send him. "I just figured since it had been tradition with you and your parents before that it could become a tradition of ours as well…"

The beam and squeal of delight Maka let out made getting those whole 3 hours of sleep worth it.

"Don't fall asleep on me before we get there, remember you were the one who badly wanted to see this." Soul grumbled.

Maka responded by simply poking his sides, leaning her head away from his back. "Shut it."

They both went silent though as they finally reached a good place far enough from the city, Soul cut off the lights and engine of his bike to follow Maka's gaze upward.

Streaks of bright flashes raced over them, brief flickers of green left in their paths. Maka hummed, snuggling into Soul's side. Neither of them had prepared for this type of cold though and she wiggled at her toes and fingers to keep them from going numb.

Soul would probably use any potential sickness they got from being out here as an excuse for a sick day come Monday. (And perhaps she would too)

"Thank you Soul." She breathed out on the ride home.

"Anytime."

~x~

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