CHAPTER 13

A/N – Hello my dear readers! I know, the last chapter may have come as a bit of a shock to some of you... (why would anyone insert some Black Star/Kid yaoi in a KiMa story?) Well my darlings, for the sake of drama, that's why! :) I have warned you about this a while ago and to think that I've given up half the stupid bullshit I had originally planned. So no, Maka will probably not gain any experience before the expected time ;) but Kid must know all the trials of my messed up world. Also, since the last chapter was about Kid (and don't forget the one hell of a cliffhanger , ha!), this one will be all about Maka. Enjoy!

Maka was well enough to begin training again – the wound from the shinigami's sword had indeed miraculously disappeared, while the shoulder one only gave her a slight discomfort. There was very little solace in the fact that there would be some time before her next match, but the blonde reckoned that was about all the time she really had left. Stein had delivered news that Galiel had indeed written off a substantial part of her debt - but not all of it – and the next match would be even more demanding. And most likely deadly. Being now thought of as a House champion – the slayer of Harthgor – things would be expected of her at an entirely different level. That though alone put so much pressure on Maka that she preferred to leave it aside entirely. Especially since much more thrilling things now seemed to haunt her every waking moment.

Stein had sparred with her all morning – because he thought she was still tender and special care was needed – but now the doctor had left and she was taking a break. The others were training in pairs, some new boys to replenish the ranks of the ones lost in the past two weeks and the older ones, having already gained some real combat experience. And there was of course Evans, blatantly wasting his time chatting nonsense together with his good friend Kilik. Or so it appeared, because the scythe boy's eyes never left the blonde's figure. Why he was so keenly observing her though, Maka could not tell. They had not spoken again after Troll Eater had openly expressed his disdain towards her abilities as a fighter and his absolute refusal to comply with her request.

And to think I even fulfilled his stupid challenge! It was fun though and it probably saved my life. Any other fighter of the Star House would have killed me… Not to mention, she would have never met Death the Kid otherwise. Oh, Death the Kid… If the wound had not literally vanished the way it had, the blonde would have thought it had been all no more than a beautiful dream.

"Alright!"

Maka jumped, nearly dropping the water pitcher she'd been sipping from, as Soul plopped carelessly onto the wooden bench next to her, casually stretching his legs. When the hell had he left his place and crept towards her? Sneaky bastard!

"Alright what?" she asked, turning towards him curiously, but the white-haired boy continued to stare at the sparring pairs, his expression unreadable.

"I thought you wanted me to give it a try at being your scythe."

The blonde's eyebrow shot up. "And I thought there was no way in Hell you'd consider it?"

Evans finally graced her with a glance, his face quite sour. "Well I don't look overly eager now either, do I?"

"Then why are you here?!"

The white-haired boy examined his boots thoughtfully for a few moments, allowing her irritation to increase. "I'm bored and I want to try something new, maybe. It won't kill me to give it a try, after all you did do your best to comply with my challenge (which you willingly brought upon yourself to begin with, let's not forget that). It was of course exquisitely idiotic, but in the same time no one has ever done it before, so I suppose I felt flattered to some extent… "

"Okay." There was a vague scowl on Maka's face as she agreed to the little experiment, something felt off about Evans' explanation. She really hoped he had not planned any sort of bad joke to embarrass her or anything. And then it hit her – to wield him as a scythe they would have to establish a mental connection, which pretty much meant… that Soul would be entering her thoughts and she his. The realisation sent a shot of panic through her stomach – she'd only done that with her father and she trusted her parent, kept nothing from him and there was no fear, no barrier between them. In a way, it was a very intimate thing to do and Maka had failed to consider that entirely when asking Troll Eater to be her weapon.

"Be sure not to drop me on the ground, I really wouldn't appreciate that," Soul stated bluntly as he stood and held out his hand to help her up as well. Hell, that was odd too!

Suddenly Maka was horribly nervous, to the point her feet felt wobbly, but she made an effort to stand anyway, gulping. She realised Evans had never touched her like this, had not hold her hand before (not that she'd ever entertained such a wish), but it felt weird. Yet his strong, calloused fingers had a warm, reassuring grip for once.

"Okay, here goes nothing..." the white-haired boy murmured, releasing her hand and launching in an upward jump. He transformed in midair, a huge scythe with long silvery handle and a wide, red-and-black patterned blade.

It was nothing short of magnificent and the blonde got a hold of the handle in awe. Somehow she'd expected him to be smaller than her father, but maybe her memory was hazy. Something cold crawled up her arm as she spun the weapon tentatively, causing a jolt in her stomach. The odd sensation spread, clutching at her chest and seemingly at her very heart and before she knew it, Maka realised she was trembling.

"I thought you have done this before...?"

The blonde nearly jumped at the voice resounding inside her skull all the sudden. "I-I have..." This was crazy, how could she possibly be so unprepared for this? Had she forgotten everything from her practice with her father? This was so important! Why on earth couldn't she focus fully?

"Then relax."

At least Evans did not appear to be mad at her - if anything the bastard must have been amused by her lack of skill (probably what he had been meaning to point out all along, now that she thought of it) – and the blonde found the idea quite irksome. Maka weighed the weapon in her hand – it was much lighter than a regular steel scythe, at least she had been right about that – and steadied her grip. The feeling of having her soul and even body invaded by someone else, by something foreign, gradually subsided, allowing her to feel more and more self assured.

"See? I told you I could-"

"Here I stand, apparently witnessing the impossible," Franken Stein observed, breaking Maka's newly found concentration. "You two look good in this formula, I must say. But do you think you can beat me?"

The blonde scowled, her mentor was asking too much too soon, when she was barely getting used to her new weapon. Not to mention, Evans had not even accepted it yet. "Do you think we can beat him?" she mentally asked the scythe boy, curious if he was really willing to stand by her side.

"I know I can beat him, if I really put my mind to it," came the calm reply," but of course the question now is whether you can beat him. You're the one making the moves now. I am the best weapon you could possibly get as it is, but if you fuck up it's basically your fuck-up..."

Well, that's reassuring... but I suppose he's right. Evans is a good weapon, no, he's a great weapon! "Yes, Dr. Stein, I think we can beat you!" she said determinedly.

"Very well, let's see how that one goes, shall we?"

Franken Stein shed his stitched coat and rolled his shoulders, continuing with a few more stretches as he headed towards the weapons panel. "Now, if I wanted to defend myself against a scythe wielder, I'd probably choose... this," he decided at last, picking a halberd. "Long range against long range, I think it's reasonable."

Oh, okay... Maka couldn't help picturing Troll Eater just standing there expectantly, with his arms crossed. But darn, her father had never really explained this part, not how it really worked in practice. Back then he would direct her arm, instruct on her every move – he had made her feel skilled beyond her actual knowledge. But now it was no longer that way, Evans wouldn't tell her anything, it wasn't his job to do so. The blonde suddenly panicked, realising that she probably sucked at fighting with a magic scythe just as much as she'd sucked manoeuvring a regular one. And to think I made all this fuss about how I would be so much better with him as my weapon...

She really ought to stop thinking that much, because now Stein was attacking her, the small but wicked blade relentlessly seeking an opening while all she could do was to block his moves rather clumsily. She wasn't showing any skill, barely a vague handiness in holding the scythe right. By the Gods, Maka was so embarrassed that she wanted nothing else but to give up the fight and run back to her cell, to rummage on her failure and endless disappointment at herself! Thankfully, soon enough the doctor picked up on her predicament and stopped the match.

"Maka, I think you have strained yourself enough for today. And it's clear that you're not ready for this yet, it will take some practice if you two want to pull this off. But don't be upset, Evans is not Spirit and you must know that each weapon is different," he stated kindly.

Stein wanted to say something else in addition, but before he could continue his lecture the blonde was already rushing out of the training area, hardly containing her sobs.

The rough cloth of the mattress was scratching Maka's tear-stained cheeks as she laid face-down in her small cot, in the foulest mood she'd ever experienced since becoming Galiel's property. Now all hope was lost and all because she had played everything on a card she'd not had to begin with. Maybe she could have gotten the hang of it eventually, just like she'd learned to fight with swords and other weapons (she did not doubt Stein's willingness and ability to train her as thoroughly as possible), but now she had only proven Evans that he was right, that she was a shit fighter. Now he would never give it another try, now he would never help her. She was alone.

"Okay so... that went well," she suddenly heard the scythe boy's voice coming from somewhere close and nearly jumped up in fright. "But Stein is right, I knew this couldn't have worked from the first time."

Maka sniffed helplessly, trying to collect and compose herself before turning to face him. She was rather surprised not to catch up any irony in his words - after all if he sought to humiliate her, then this was the best opportunity. But no, Evans looked serious for once, in a way which almost got the blonde worried.

"As if there'd be a second time..." she grumbled morosely nevertheless, crossing her arms defensively.

Soul took a deep breath as he examined his nails thoughtfully. "Maybe there will be, it all depends on you," he said as a matter-of-fact. "After all, it appears that everything is about you."

"Wha-... What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Maka jumped, slightly irritated. "And how does it depend on me?"

"I don't know, do I?" the white-haired boy replied, crossing his arms in turn. "But something must be up, because you have killed the Stars' magic monster and yet you live, you even challenged the prince's shinigami... and still you live. And that's not all – your otherwise deadly wound (yes, I happen to know that black blood blades are quite deadly) has miraculously, mysteriously disappeared. And now I discover that you are completely... smitten."

"W-what...?" Maka was sure she must have been blushing like mad, because her cheeks felt burning hot all the sudden. How did he...? Bastard! He must have sneaked into her thoughts, while she had been too preoccupied with their experiment to think of reading his.

"The question isn't 'what', but 'who with', I think," said the scythe boy, "And since it's not me, I believe it's safe to assume it's the shinigami."

The blonde froze – no! Her secret could not have been discovered so easily! Besides, Death the Kid had specifically told her that no one was to know what had happened that night. Her fingers clutched at the rough bedcover helplessly as she struggled to find something to say. Anything.

"You said it yourself," Soul went on, "he called you 'his little emerald'... Now that's interesting. Why the pet name? Not to mention... he was here, wasn't he?"

Maka snorted. "You really have a wild imagination, don't you? The shinigami? Seriously? Do you really think I'd ever be smitten with someone who wears a black shroud and a skull mask? Yes, I wanted to fulfil your challenge, so that's why I challenged him in turn, but that wasn't the only reason..." The blonde was genuinely surprised with how easy the words were now flowing to her, once the idea had come to her mind. "I saw how the prince looked at me, I knew he wasn't going to let his guard hurt me too badly, let alone kill me. Prince Black Star just wanted to tease me, that's why he offered to fight me himself. And yes, he did send some medicine, through Dr. Stein, but it's a secret. So you'd do well to keep your mouth shut."

Evans scowled lightly, as if he were mulling over what he'd just heard, chewing thoughtfully on a thumb nail. But then his expression changed, his sharp toothed mouth widening into an ever growing grin, before he burst into laughter. In fact, the scythe boy laughed so hard that he almost doubled over, as if this had been the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Hohoo-ooh, I'm sure this must be the explanation!" he replied, "And since you were so quick to tell me, it must be a big secret too!"

Oh. Darn... Maka frowned, placing her hands on her hips in an angry pose, but said nothing else.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, tiny tits," the boy warned, shaking his finger in the blonde's direction."There's something going on and I'm going to find out what."

To be continued