By the Stack of Potatoes

She found him at the grocery store, sitting by the pile of potatoes. She was probably wondering why he was just sitting there, he mused. But he was glad at least one person in this cruel world that approached him.

"So what're you doing here all alone? Shouldn't you be with your mommy and daddy?"

She asked him that. When he didn't reply, she asked a different question.

"Are you lost?"

He was always lost: lost in his thoughts, lost in his own little world, his cheerful little land…

He likes being lost.

"Do you want me to help you find your mommy?" She continued asking even when he never opened his mouth to speak. He wasn't shy, no, he wasn't used to strangers talking to him, especially a little girl of his age like herself. Girls like her didn't know when to shut up.

"Are you going to talk or not?" Not anytime soon. He couldn't help but notice the irking fire in her curious jade eyes; the same eyes that lit up when he finally opened his mouth.

"If you're gonna stand there like an idiot all day, then sit down." He said. It wasn't very nice to tell a girl that, especially someone like her, but he was never the one to be polite. She complied, anyway, without any further complaint (or word for that matter), so they waited by the potato rack until his mother came to pick him up.

He didn't even know her name.

(509—509)

The second time he met her (or when she found him) alone was at a conert.

He was fifteen years old and at that time his favorite band, Spartoi Souls, was having a rock concert just near the mansion he was living in. it just so happened that the Spartoi Souls were sponsored by their school, Shibusen-Grigori Academy (since all Spartoi Souls members were once students at the school he was attending) and was given a free ticket when entering the stadium. By that time, people were crowding the area and before he knew it, everyone was howling to the music. It was the moment he decided to leave when he saw her.

The first thought that came to his mind was her bright jade eyes…

…and her pigtails.

After all these years, he can still recall the way those irises sparkle (does that even really happen?), those cute pursed lips that dared to open a spitfire of questions and those strands of her ash blonde hair tied in pigtails…

…was she ever going to change that hairstyle? She's more likely his age and she still manages to look like a grade student.

As he was still contemplating on her pigtails, he could now feel those sparkling irises focused on him. For a fraction of a second, his ruby eyes widened before looking the other way and left, hoping she wouldn't recognize him.

He was wrong.

By the time he arrived at the exit, he found her standing right in front of him.

Under the moonlight.

"Hi!" She smiled. Soul shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at anywhere but her face.

"Still silent as ever, huh…" He rolled his eyes. Even when he couldn't look at her, he could still feel her smiling t him.

After all these years, she still remembers him.

A few moments later, he heard a sigh. "Look, it's been years already. By now, you shouldn't have to be so silent and awkward."

"And what makes you think I would change?" This time, he finally forced himself to really look at her, "We don't know each other, pigtails." For a fraction of a second, the girl in ash blonde hair frowned at her nickname before huffing another sigh to say, "I know. But it's been what? Seven years? Seven years can do a lot to a person."

"Like you know a lot about me." Soul once again rolled his eyes at her statement.

"Well sorry if I want to know you better." She apologized with a tone of mockery.

"Well sorry if I think you're a weird pigtailed little girl who follows strangers for her own amusement."

"Following? I wasn't the one who was staring at a certain stranger a few minutes back at the concert grounds." Soul immediately opened his mouth to retort back but decided against it, as he pursed his lips and averted his eyes from her smug face.

"Was not." He muttered in response.

"Was too~" She sang out loud, "You really should know me by now. I'm the smartest kid in your class, after all." At this, he looked up at her and furrowed his eyebrows.

Smartest kid…?

In his class…?

Once again, he mouth opened to say something but she cut him off saying,

"See you someday, Soul 'Eater' Evans."

(509—509)

The next day, he met (noticed) her for the third time in his classroom. It was his least favorite subject, Physics. Usually, he sits in the back row so the teacher wouldn't catch him sleeping.

The teacher never notices, anyway.

And as he placed his bag beside his favorite seat by the last window, someone else sits beside him.

"Hi, Soul." His shoulders tensed before turning his head to the voice that whispered in his ear.

"Hey…" his lips slowly drew out the words, his ruby red eyes staring right back at her jade ones. Her lips curved upwards and the two took their seats as the teacher began the lesson.

Like the first time they met, no words had been exchanged. All throughout the lesson, he could hear the noises his seatmate makes. With the muttering of words and the scribbling of her pen, Soul couldn't help but look back all those years ago and compare the innocent little pigtailed girl who found him by the stack of potatoes to the teenage pigtailed smart-ass whispering intelligent guesses at a Physics problem.

She certainly did change without him knowing her entire life, he mused as he kept his curious gaze on her. Unaware of his presence, the girl boxed her final answer and moved on to the next problem.

They kept at it until the end of the class.

(509—509)

"Are you fine on your own?" The eldest brother of the Evans family asked Soul. The said boy shook his head and replied,

"Yea, I'm cool here. You go on with your date." Wes sighed, deciding it was best he didn't intervene in his little brother's affairs and strode off to the other side of the room, where his date was waiting.

It was a debut of Wes's friend's friend's best friend's cousin, Kim Diehl, who was a current girlfriend of Ox Ford, who was the number one rial of a certain girl with pigtailed hair. And so, because Wes was Kim's cousin's best friend's friend's friend's friend, he was invited, along with his brother, Soul, who was once classmates of the two. Being Ox Ford's strongest rival and Kim's acquaintance, the girl with pigtails was probably attending this debut.

The sole reason he was here.

"Hey Soul!" he looked at his left to see two blondes, one with long hair, the other with short hair, both dressed in a silky lavender gown, and both latching one arm on a boy with three white stripes on his head, wearing a tuxedo.

"Hey." Soul sourly replied back, obviously not in the mood to engage in a conversation. The blonde with long hair quirked an eyebrow and asked,

"So watcha doin' here, goin' all emo and shit?" to which Soul replied with a sneer,

"Fuck off, Liz. Don't wanna hear your crap today." To which the blond in short hair intervened with,

"Hee hee! Soul's probably love sick!" to which the said boy retorted with,

"Shut up, Patti!" to which Liz shook her head with a knowing smile and said,

"I'll catch you up later, alright? Kid, Patti, and I need to go somewhere to chill." Thus, the conversation ended and the trio left without Soul having to say goodbye.

Some odd couple they were.

"Soul, my man! How are ya?!" A boy of his age came to greet him with a smile on his face.

"Hey Kilik! What's up?!" The two slapped hands in greeting.

"What brings you here? Don't have a date?" asked his friend.

"Nah, just chilling around!" Soul replied with a toothy smile, and Kilik laughed along with him.

"Seems like you're looking for someone, eh?" He said, "Who's the chick?"

"I don't know hat you're talking about." Soul denied his words as a pool of red blush tainted his cheeks.

"Uhuh, sure there isn't.." Kilik playfully rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't you go back to your chick?" Soul asked, immediately attempting to change the subject. His plan succeeded, as he saw his friend's mouth curving downwards.

"Don't have a chick to go back to. She left." At this, Soul's eyes widen. Sighing, Kilik placed a hand on his shoulder, "Anyways, I gotta find Ox and Kim to chill with. Catch ya later, Soul!"

"Sure! Catch ya later…" Soul replied half-heartedly, as he watched his friend was a boy with blackweave in and out of the crowd.

"Ah, Soul, a pleasure to see you!" In front of him was a boy in weird bald hair-cut and glasses, wearing a black tux holding arms with a girl in short pink hair in a red gown. Beside the two was a boy latching his arms on a girl with long black hair in a magenta cocktail dress.

"Hey, Ox." Soul gave a small smile before saying, "Kilik was looking for you. Said he had to make sure you wouldn't fuck up."

The said boy scoffed, "Hmph. I never "screwed up" today, as you can see. Things are pretty swell around here." To which his date rolled her eyes at.

"Please, you couldn't even take me to the dance floor properly." The pinkette muttered under her breathe.

"Kimmie-chan, it was an accede-"

"Accident my ass! You don't even know how to dance!" She cut him off with a shove on the chest.

"So Soul, any girl that caught your interest?" the girl with black hair asked, attempting to strike a conversation before Ox Ford embarrasses himself in front of his date again. Soul nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders in reply and said,

"Nah, it's not my thing."

"Speaking of girls, a rival of mine asked me for you." Ox said. At this, Soul had his eyebrows raised.

"Oh?"

"Yes! She wanted to know if you were coming today!" He replied enthusiastically as he clasped his hands together, "Something like meeting her for the fourth time already."

…oh. This was probably the sign that he was looking for. This was what he had been waiting for the whole debut.

"If you could find her, tell her I'll be waiting right at this place." Yes, Ox Ford. Tell her that he'll be waiting here. It's been long time since he moved from the same spot for the past thirty five minutes. But before Ox could say something, another voice intervened.

"No need. I'm right here, if you were wondering." All eyes trained on her, as if she were Frankenstein's bride-to-be.

"Goodevening, Albarn." Ox Ford formally greeted her with a stiff nod.

"Hey Ox!" the girl in pigtails chirped a reply, "Hey Kim, Jackie and Harvard!"

"Hi." Kim waved a little as the other girl named Jackie smiled and the other guy gave a slight nod.

"We'll go ahead to the dance floor, if you wouldn't mind." Ox gave another stiff nod before hooking his arm around his girlfriend's waist.

"Catch ya later, Soul." Harvard said and the four of them strolled off towards the said dance floor, leaving the two all alone.

"Hi, how're you doing?" Of course, she would be the first to start the conversation. It had become a habit between them.

"Took you long enough to show yourself." He muttered in reply.

"You were looking for me?" Her eyebrows were raised and her eyes seemed to brighten with curiosity. She looked a lot more noticeable with that silky black dress.

"Hmph." He closed his arms over his chest; a sign that he didn't want to answer her question. She knew that, anyway, regardless of him knowing that she had been watching him all this time.

Or so he wishes to think.

"Well now I'm here. What do you wanna do?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

A pause of silence.

"Wanna dance?"

…

Another pause of silence ensues.

He held his hand towards her.

"Sure." There was another pause of silence, before the girl in pigtails took his hand and the two slowly walked their way to the dance floor.

He never liked dances. Ever since he was seven, it had been a requirement in their family to know everything about balls and quiet parties. In every formal party, there was always dancing involved. He hadn't danced for in awhile. He rarely attends a ball with his family.

"You lead, okay?" She placed a hand in his shoulders and held his hand, "I'm not good with this, you know."

"It's fine." And he snaked an arm around her waist and tightened his hold on her hand.

As ruby red eyes clashed with jade, the two waltzed in slow, rhythmic movements, carefully matching the beat of the song. Both spoke nothing, as each were dazed in their own thoughts, silently swaying their hips to the music. The only noise they heard were their footsteps now that the crowd had stopped to watch them.

"What's with all the people?" he asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"I guess we're pretty amazing." She laughed, "But it was probably because I'm dancing with one of the most famous piano composer of our time."

He rolled his eyes. "Hmph." And she laughed again.

"You don't have to be so grumpy about it." She said.

"A little privacy would be nice…" he muttered back. He twirled her around and his eyes danced around the curves of her figure as his hand was now completely aware of the silky fabric that hugged her small frame. It felt so smooth, so soft, so… enticing…

And the song came to an end. He pulled her to him and their bodies meshed together. For a moment there, he felt their hearts beating as one harmonized symphony. Quickly, he pulled away, muttered his thanks and left.

(509—509)

He met her again for the fifth time when he was lining up at the cashier with his cart. He was texting his brother when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned around and there she was with her sparkling jade eyes and small frame, only this time her ash blonde hair was hanging down on her shoulder.

"Hey." She smiled.

"Hey."

"It's been awhile." Not really. It's been three days since the debut and he just couldn't stop himself from ogling those damned curves of hers. He looked away and muttered in agreement. From the corner of his eyes, he could see her smile widen and noticed the small of space between them.

"So." She began.

"So." He repeated.

"We haven't officially introduced each other yet." She said.

"We never really talked that much." He laughed, suddenly giving in to the urge of looking at her. He had to admit, she was pretty attractive for a girl with pigtails.

"Well, we could start now." She said, stretching out her hand. Soul shook his amusement and clasped his hand around hers.

"The name's Soul. Soul Evans.

"Maka. Maka Albarn."

And they shook hands.

And that is a wrap! I hope you guys liked it! It felt a bit off in my opinion, but I kinda liked the idea that they met in a grocery store. Not how I envisioned it originally but here you go! Read, Review, Favorite, Follow! :3

Killling Kunoichi