For a while, they were just standing there. Uncomfortable and tense, Kid looked around and asked Lizz if she wanted to walk the same path that she and Crona took. She simply nods her head, keeping her eyes on the ground. After some time, they each attempted to say something to distract the awkwardness. They had a brief small talk about the weather, the people, the food, and occasionally one or the other shared something interesting that they learned from exploring around. A couple of hours passed and the mood was still weird for both, but otherwise was beginning to show some improvements. Lizzy finally looked at him and gave him a few shy smiles. Kid held back from mentioning last night although he was tempted to at least hold her hand.
"Listen, Lizz"
She shook her head at his request.
"Please let me say what I need to say first" she asked, determine to get things right again. But what could she possibly say?
Kid nods his head, waiting for her to finally start speaking her mind.
She wasn't very sure on where to begin, 'Maybe I could try to explain that I wasn't upset about last night's incident and that it was mostly because he was gone.' Mentally she shook her head to that. He might not believe her and think that she's trying to put on a brave front.
"Umm-" A thought crossed her mind to several days ago before he disappeared for a short while. 'I guess I could start by apologizing for not letting him explain about the supposed misunderstanding that involved Soul and Maka.' Besides, you know what they say 'Eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves,' and she definitely was eavesdropping. For some reason, thinking way back to that day dissolved her spirits again. She glanced sadly at him and noticed that he seems concerned but still remained calm and collected. When he made eye contact with her, he soften his features for her reassurance. No judgments. No anger. No blames... No holding back.
"I love you"
Ragarok, emerged from Crona's back. The pain caused Crona to flinch but he still bared it. "Is something the matter?" Crona asked the morphed being attached to his back.
"Yes! Every time you go near that bratty girl your blood boils! Did you forget that I am a huge part of you?! It gets hot within your body!" The morphed being complained and Crona made a hopelessly apologetic look to his long time partner.
"I can't help it" he said in a weak defensive tone.
The morph being bullied him, telling him that the next time he 'knew' that his blood was boiling then he needed to jump into a cold cold shower immediately.
"Oh~ okay" Crona agreed although he wasn't sure why a cold shower was necessary. The morph hit him again and began complaining and harassing the poor boy like he had always done throughout the previous years. But it's because he knew Crona for so long that Ragarok gussed that his partner most likely has no idea why those cold showers were necessary. He punched the boy again partly out of irritation and mostly out of habit.
"You are changing" the morphed being crossed his arms and glared at the boy.
"Changing?" Crona looked confused and it irritated the being even more, to the point that he punched him again.
"This whole time I hit you, you haven't said "ow" once! What!? You think you got stronger? You think you could take me on now!?" Ragarok challenged Crona.
Crona simply raised a single brow, he knew that he was being bullied, he just hasn't realized that he was actually ignoring the inflictions. Come to think of it, lately he's been standing a lot straighter and holding up his composure better.
He lift his hands to look at them, he just realized that his arms wasn't crossed in front of his chest like he used to out of fear. He can't recall the last time he hugged himself to control his shivers. 'Has he truly changed?'
He wondered what happened to the coward that was him. His mind was swirling with a curiosity that he's never known before. He recalled getting out of bed this morning with the sense of excitement and adventure filled in his mind. Wasn't it his idea to go to the beach anyway?
His eyes grew wide, what changed about him?
Something delicious waltzed its way to Ragarok's nose, he quickly scanned the area and saw that the smell was coming from the direction towards a public park next to a boring looking building.
"Hey! Let's go there! Over there!" He pointed excitedly like a child.
Crona threaded looking in the direction that his partner was pointing towards. "But I don't wanna go over there," he said, still uncomfortable with too many people. How odd that he wouldn't have mind it too much if Patty had been here.
"Don't suddenly revert back just because I reminded you that you are a coward!" The morphed being yelled. Crona shrugged his shoulders and started to walk the opposite direction.
"Quit being a brat and take me to that foodstand now!" The black morphed-being (more or less) charged to the busy park. Forgetting completely that he wasn't supposed to be out where humans could see him. Nonetheless, he dragged Crona while scaring majority of the locals and tourists on the way to where the snack station was.
Tsubaki spent the last hour walking from store to store, window shopping. Although she had the urge to purchase several small souvenirs, she resisted the temptation. She didn't want to shop unless she had one of the girls from the group as a female companion to share these wonderful and fun experiences with.
'Ring ring ring!' a melodic chime buzzed from her purse. 'Ring ring ring!' She stopped her walking and quickly reached inside her pocketbook to retrieve her cell phone.
Blackstar freaked out so bad about her disappearance that he went and bought her a simple track phone. She was still learning most of these digital devices but Tsubaki made sure to at least figure out how to make and receive phone calls.
"Eh- Hello, this is Tsubaki" she answered, unsured. "Oh! It's you, hehehe" she gave an embarrassed laugh, still unsure how to behave with the portable communicator. "What? Oh okay... Tonight? Okay, I will do my best!" She briefly reassured her caller that she knew where to go and that she would be just fine. "6:30, got it!" She ended the call and happily placed her cellphone back in her purse and made her way back to the beach.
*Meanwhile*
At the museum, Maka seems to have forgotten about Soul as she walks around observing artifacts and enjoying the calm atmosphere of the place.
Twice Soul got into trouble with the security for leaning against objects with a "Do Not Touch" sign on them. He'd been trying to keep up with her but she's been too excited to wait for him.
"Where did she go now?!"
Thanks to that security guard, he'd lost her again.
Shaking his head, he resumed his search. She actually can move really fast whenever she gets this excited. 'Heck!' He thought to himself. 'Forget the bus fare to get here from the beach. Her speed walking would put cross country runners to shame'. Feeling mildly annoyed he somehow managed to get outside of the building and onto a somewhat of a busy park area where families were either walking around with brochures or playing outdoor games. An aroma made its way to his nostrils as he inhale deeply to the smell of something tasty. Several yards from where he stood, he located what seems to be an Hawaiian version of a hotdog stand except it didn't seem to sell any hotdogs.
As he got closer for a better view, he briefly looked at the sign above the food stand on wheel. It was a simple white cardboard handwritten with a black sharpie that reads "Manapua". Curious, he observed the items on the food-cart and took a sniff of the smoke in the air coming from the grill station to the right side.
"Eh bruh, what chu like eat?" Soul was greeted by a local; average in height and seemed to be in his mid-thirties. His hair was spiked and dyed blonde. He wore a pair of shades, sleeveless shirt, shorts, and sandals.
"What's good?" Soul asked the local clerk.
The man speedily reached down to grab out an item from underneath the counter.
"I bet chu never went try dis!" The gentlemen proudly held out a pinkish slice of meat on top of rice wrapped in seaweed. "It's a local favorite, it's called Spam Musubi!" He offered.
"Hey I've heard of those!" Soul mouth watered "That the mystery meat thing!"
"One dollar!" The man said "but I'll let you try it for free because you are new."
"Really!? thanks man!" Soul accepted the food and ate it whole in one bite "Dude! This is amazing!"
"I thought I'd find you here" Maka casually made her way to where soul was. "I followed my nose" she said, not at all surprised to find Soul at a snack bar.
"You need to try this Maka!" Soul exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Erm-" her steps faltered "it's not seafood is it?" She asked shyly to the sells man.
The local man laughed, not taking any offense to her obvious distaste in seafoods.
"Nah sistah, it's spam!" Again he reached down to pull another out to show her.
"What is spam?" She asked, reaching out to accept the strange food.
"It's a mystery meat! Don't ask questions, just eat it!" Soul rushed. Trusting him, she opened her mouth to take a bite.
"Yummy!" A muffled voice said.
"Wha- huh?!" Maka bite into nothing. The food that was on her hand had been snatched by Ragarok.
"Woah!" The local clerk eyes were wide at the freakish looking being attached to some boy with girlish color hair.
"Say, do you have anymore?" Ragarok somehow made that question sound a bit demanding.
Momentarily the local salesman managed to overcome his surprise. "You like it huh?" He smiled nervously. Feeling ashamed that he'd been rude to his customers. He observed Crona and Ragarok once more before deciding that they must be a birth defect. He kindly offered another to the black being and to the insanity pale boy.
"That was mine!" Maka punched both Crona and Ragarok, snatched away one of the musubi and puffed while turning her back to them.
Soul hugged his stomach and began laughing.
"Excuse me, why did I get hit too" Crona asked weakly from the ground, both of his eyes were in the shape of an 'X'.
"Little brat" Ragarok uttered begrudgingly beside Crona.
Maka just finished her food and made a peaceful sigh. "Mister" she turned her head to face the man again, "This is good. Mind if I buy a few for my friends?" The local clerk happily complied and generously let them know that he will be stationed at a popular beach tomorrow if they wanted some more."
Soul paid for everything including some more different kinds of food that the clerk promised to be just as or more delicious.
"Hey I thought you were with Patty?" Maka asked as she looked around for her friend.
"She said she needed to do something and that she'd be back in a couple of hours" a dreamy smile displayed on his face and was instantly replaced with a painful twist because of the blow he received from Ragarok. "Ow! Hey what was that for?" He whined.
"That's for letting your blood boil again!" The thing yelled.
"Well I am heading back to the hotel. If you run into anyone, let them know to meet us at the lobby at 6:30 sharp. I have an place in mind for dinner!" Maka said excitedly. She had gotten the idea from her visit at the museum. The guild lady informed her of a restaurant that was inspired by the ancient Hawaiian lava goddess known named Pele.
"Oh... Okay" Crona said, feeling extremely self-conscience of the odd stares he was receiving from a small group that walked by. Ragarok was getting bored anyway so he fused into Crona's back again as soon as the group looked away.
"Here Crona" Soul offered a different food item that he got from the snack stand. "Eat this while you wait for Patty" the look Soul gave him made him feel uneasy. Soul behind his friendly offering had a mischievous grin playing on his eyes and lips.
"No thanks" was his blunt reply.
"Com'on! It tastes great" Soul urged.
"No" Crona bravely stood his ground.
"I said take it!"
"I said no!"
Electric sparked between the two. Soul threatened to beat him if he didn't accept the food and Crona dared to say "Make me".
"Tsubaki!" Blackstar jumped down from above and landed on Soul. "Have you guys seen Tsubaki?!" He yelled towards Maka and Crona.
Soul threw him off and punched his head. "You lost her again!"
"I didn't loose her! We got in an argument and she stormed off" he shot back.
"What were you two arguing about?" the question came from Crona.
"I don't know! All I said was that from now on she is not allowed to talk to anyone without my permission and she freaked out. Saying something about it being her business. Ouch! That hurts Maka!"
Maka then proceeded to kick him. "Idiot!" She screamed and left the three boys where they stood.
"Ah! Tsubaki said that too before she left! What are you two planning!? And where's Tsubaki, it's too late to switch partners you partner theif!" Blackstar ran after Maka. Soul took the opportunity to stuff the food down Crona's throat then held him in a headlock until Crona swallowed it.
"What was that stuff?!" Crona gasp.
"Heh" Soul released him.
"That looks like fun!" Patty skipped towards the boys. In half a second, Crona noticed that she had most definitely went to do something- 'different'. Her clothes had changed from outdoors attire to a modestly beautiful white spring dress covered in purple butterflies and pink flowers, and matching purple pump heels. However the transformation didn't stop there, today her hair was up in a small ponytail to one side of her head with a pink flower clip to hold it in place. Lipgloss was her only makeup. She was the image of an angle, even locals stopped to stare and Soul let out an impressed whistle.
"Have fun you two- oh and Crona" Soul's face displayed a dark humor, "I hope you will be able to control yourself, try not to give in to any urges."
With that he laughed evilly and left.
The sound of a woman's sweet laughter filled the air. However, this was not just any woman's laughter. This was Elizabeth Thompson's laughter, the very one that occupies a special place in the heart of a young reaper known as Death the Kid. Although he does love the musical sound of it, today he is a bit dumbstruck with her reaction to his sudden confession.
For a moment he lost his composure as he recited Coronas favorite line in his head 'I don't know what to do in this situation'.
In between fits of giggles, Lizzy was actually able to apologize. A few more long seconds went by and she finally started to calm herself. Wiping the single tear from her eye, she used her other hand to reach up and touch his face. Gently, she placed the tips of her index finger and made small circles that traveled to the back of his neck. The smoothing feeling caused Kid to lower his eyelids very slowly. When his eyes finally shut, she then proceeded to speak.
"I forgot to mention, I learned something neat today on tv." Her soft breath was caressing his face as she said that in her low and secretive voice. The smell of spicy cinnamon filled his nostrils. She inched her face closer, "Ka honi mai me ke aloha".
'And with love is a kiss' Kid translated what she said in his mind. His heart did a jump start to a faster pace. As if it wasn't already going too fast.
Lizzy knew that he studied some common phrases for the trip at some point. It's just something that he would do while no one was looking. She wasn't sure if he understood what she said, which was fine with her either way. She had every means to show him what those words meant.
"Come on already!" Tsubaki's irritated voice interrupted the moment. "Oops!" She quickly covered her mouth with both hands. She knew it was wrong to watch but she couldn't help it. She came back to the beach to let them know that Maka had called her to let everyone know about meeting up at the lobby later in the evening and well...
Kid and Lizzy's face were a flamed. They realized that Tsubaki wasn't the only onlooker. There were cameras and cellphones around them, taking in the romantic gestures of two young lovers right there on a populated beach. At that moment, a familiar old couple that occupies a room on the same hotel walked by.
"Ahh to be young again" the old man said to the old woman.
"How precious" she giggled, she up-turned her face to her husband of 68 years to receive a kiss that she knew would be coming.
I am sorry that it's been ages! I promise to stop slacking off and that I will finish this story!