BAM!

"A little more the right."

BAM!

"Your other right."

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Don't waste ammo on emotions, it's pointless."

Soul let out a gusty sigh that turned into a growl as he turned and let the lifeless pistol drop to thump against his thigh pitifully. The object of his annoyance, however, just ignored him and blew on one handful of perfectly manicured nails nonchalantly, leaning against his bike.

"Maybe I wouldn't miss so much if you were actually over here teaching me how to do this thing right." He pointed out bitterly, knowing what the answer would be already, since they'd engaged in this argument about six times so far during the long hour they'd been out in this desert.

"You have to hit the non-moving, large, perfectly visible cactus first." Liz blinked impassively and pulled out a file to work at some nonexistent flaw on one finger while Soul snarled and turned to bare his teeth at said hittable cactus.

It was all that nutty professor's fault in his opinion. Including the fact that he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

"Maybe you should try using a scythe sometime…" He muttered and raised his arm to fire another round in the direction of the obnoxious plant. When he was done, he squinted at it and rolled his eyes at the sky when no holes were evident, letting out another loud growl.

"I did, and as I remember I managed to get my balance and hit something within twenty minutes." The weapon sniffed and moved on to file the other hand. "A twelve-year-old Patty could've hit this target in the amount of time it takes you to load."

"Patty has been shooting guns since she was seven." He pointed out.

"Patty has been shooting me since she was seven. There's a major difference." She shot back. "I meant that she could do it with the hunk of metal your holding."

"Then could I try firing you?" He huffed, already knowing the answer to that too, and watched as she leaned down to pull two water bottles out of the cooler at her feet.

"Put a hole in the cactus first. I refuse to be welded be someone who can't even hit a plant." He caught the water she threw him and glared at her as he unscrewed the cap.

"Maybe I refuse to hit defenseless wildlife." She just shrugged and took a swig of her bottle.

"Then you can deal with your partner when she learns that you failed this assignment." Soul's eyebrows pinched together as he took a drink from his own bottle, but he knew she was right.

Once again, it was all Stein's fault. A couple of days ago, the scientist had gotten it into his head that he wanted to see if weapons would be just as efficient in battle if they were being wielded by other weapons. The result: Soul being partnered with Liz Thompson, of all people, and being forced to learn how to shoot a gun within a week.

"You remember that this grade counts for meisters as well as weapons, right?" She nodded in reponse, putting the file away again.

"Yup."

"Maka will kill me if I fail."

"That is probably true."

"It'll be your fault."

"I'll make sure to have it written on your tombstone. Now, go shoot the wildlife." She then proceeded to pull clear nail polish out of nowhere and make herself comfortable on the seat of his bike. Soul snorted and decided to ignore her, focusing on the distant target instead.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

He fired off a complete magazine and sighed at the completely unharmed shape sitting twenty feet away.

"Wow, that was truly amazing." The demon scythe instantly stiffened in surprise as the voice sounded from right behind him, but managed not to scream and jump away un-coolly. "Now that I'm close, I can see why your not hitting it."

"That's what I've been try-" The boy choked and stopped mid-sentence as his hand holding the gun, that he'd been waving for emphasis, was caught in a tanned grip and suddenly there was another warm body pressed snuggly up against his. He could hear her chuckle as he stiffened uncomfortably, but she didn't let go.

"First of all, don't hold the thing with just one hand. I'm surprised you haven't knocked your brain out yet." She instructed, then grabbed his free hand and brought it up so that it was folded with his other one under both of hers. "Second, don't just fire off randomly."

Soul tried not to jerk away, but felt a blush building on his cheeks as she leaned foreword to set her chin on his shoulder and press their cheeks together.

"You have to look down the barrel and make sure it's pointed at the thing your trying to hit." Soul honestly didn't know how he was supposed to be sure of anything with her standing that close to him, but it turned out he didn't have to as she maneuvered the gun into position for him. "Tighten your muscles. If their lax it's either going to kick like a bitch, or go wild."

Soul foggily obliged and felt her grip tighten over his as he looked down the barrel.

"Then shoot." At the last moment, Liz pulled away a second before a shot rang out. Surprisingly, the scythe missed the warmth despite the desert heat surrounding them. "And there you go."

Soul blinked and then turned his head to stare for a few second, in awe, at the perfect little hole cut straight through the center of the cactus. The same stupid cactus he'd been trying to hit for nearly an hour and a half now and never even gotten close to. How did she-!

"You better hurry up, or I'm leaving you." He was shocked out of amazement by that, and swung back around to watch her swagger away with his keys dangling around one dainty fingertip.

"Hey, what about getting to shoot you!" He sputtered and couldn't help patting the pocket of his jeans that she'd obviously just emptied without permission.

"You know, now that I think about it, that sounds way to dirty." Soul blanched and she kept walking. "But, I guess you'll get to 'shoot me' after you can manage a normal gun without help."

…

Later that day, Soul would begin to wonder why the concept suddenly seemed so appealing.

Ahhh, that was very fun. And full of innuendos. Unless you're not a pervert. Then I guess it was fluffy. Thank you Eurwen de Vrill, blackbloodbaby, and 2random4words for reviewing! And thanks to those who alerted/faved! *bows*

This coupling was requested be Eurwen de Vrill and was done in record time (for me) because I was attacked by a rabid plot bunny.

…I really wanna write one with Liz wielding a scythe now.