Eventide

Chapter XXI

The next morning, I couldn't avoid school and the pile of unfinished homework I had. Returning to school was weird and all the stares I had gotten when I arrived with Soul, it was priceless. Their jaws hung wide open and their eyes were wide, we had been together before and I bet they hadn't expected us to get together again.

"How are you doing, with the whole Hiro thing?"

Yesterday when Soul had returned home, he was very tense and he had lashed out on me, accusing me of betraying him by taking Hiro's side. He claimed that Hiro is his archenemy, but we both know that isn't the case since Hiro doesn't even rival him at all.

"I still don't like that dickhead." Soul curses, squeezing my hand. "But I know you are right and we need his help." We walk inside of the school and toward my locker.

It took some time managing Soul and with the help of Wes, I got him to sit down on the couch and have a civilized conversation instead of screaming at each other. Two things got clear in that conversation, Soul was very jealous of Hiro since I had stood up for him instead of sticking to Soul's side, second, he was the jealous type of guy. That night, Soul and I had slept peacefully in the same bed, holding each other lovingly.

I smile and squeeze his hand back. "I'm proud of you." I go up on my toes and kiss his cheek caringly. "He can help us and I'm confident that you two will be friends again. Nothing is going on between Hiro and I. I don't think of him in that way, you are the only guy."

"You better, or Hiro will get it." Soul's hand escapes mine and it snakes around my waist. "You are mine and I'm not going to let you get away." Soul lips descend on mine as soon as we arrive by my locker. The kiss is very plain and simple, we wouldn't want to do anything lusty when we are surrounded by gossiping students and the last thing we need is them twisting the moment into something untrue and exaggerated.

Soul pulls away and rests his head on mine. "I will see you at physical ed."

"Yeah, see you." I watch Soul walk away with his back hunch and his hands stuffed in his pockets after leaving my hand.

After I got my books from my locker, I walk to my classroom and Tsubaki sits at her usual seat beside my empty chair. "Maka!" She smiles wide. "How are you feeling?"

"A lot of mixed feelings."

Instead of driving directly home to Soul and Wes's apartment, Tsubaki and I went and got some ice-cream to have a girl talk. I told her everything that had happened in the past few days, about Soul and Kim's relationship which she had no clue about, the kiss Hiro and I had shared and with the day at the meadow. When I told her about Soul and I getting back together, she was ready to throw a party. She wanted to literally know everything that happened at the meadow and she was content when I told her about the strawberry part since she said he had never been into the whole romance part in his past relationships.

I know I shouldn't be comparing his past relationships to ours, but I can't help it. I guess I'm still feeling a bit insecure about us and I really want to have a healthy relationship with him since I really do like him.

"Good or bad feelings?" Tsubaki asks concern as I take my seat beside her.

"Good and bad I guess. I'm happy things are going so well between Soul and I, but I am a bit concern about Soul and Hiro. They used to be so close and I can't help it but wanting them to be friends again. I mean, yesterday Soul was livid when he came home and he was all over the place." I sigh and run my hand through my bangs. "I just― Hiro is my best friend and I want them to get along."

"Have you told Soul about the kiss?"

I shake my head. "No, and I'm not planning to. We weren't together so it wasn't like I was cheating on him. It was barely even a kiss and immediately afterward we agreed it was weird and we were going to stay friends."

"Did you hold more than friend feelings for Hiro when you kissed him?"

"Of course not! I just felt that he was a cool guy and he was nice and caring. I was way too down with Soul I couldn't look at anyone in that light to really having a relationship with any guy."

Tsubaki smiles and taps her pencil on the desk. "I just wanted to make sure, I mean if you did feel something, your relationship with Soul would get really complicated."

Complicated? No shit. Soul would murder Hiro slowly, ripping his flesh from his bones and then eat it. He would kill Hiro in pure jealousy to then clutch onto me like crazy. With Soul's new jealousy, he would throw a fit if he even knew Hiro and I kissed!

"Yeah, but you have to promise to never tell Soul about the kiss. If he knows, then he won't ever want to be around Hiro and they won't be able to fix their friendship."

Tsubaki nods. "Consider my lips sealed."

The day went way too slow for my liking, the teacher nagged at me for not completing my homework and just because of my "stomach flu" didn't mean I could skip on all the homework. So they gave me even more homework in order to make up for the homework I didn't finish. School just turned rougher than it had ever been and I knew my grade would definitely take a huge toll.

When I met Hiro, he was surprisingly still intact and no bruises or cuts on him. Soul had only given him a piece of his mind and given him the bad boy attitude I had seen him plenty of times give obnoxious students and teachers. Soul had swung his fist into the wall next to Hiro's head, and that is the only physical thing that happened.

The lunch had been very awkward since Soul had glared at Hiro the whole time and held me very close to him. Soul couldn't even keep a proper conversation with me or anyone else in the gang since he just sat there and glared at Hiro. His eyes had said enough, he was very much threatened by Hiro's presence at the table and at one point, I thought he would break my hip since his hand gripped it so tightly.

So, when physical ed finally came, we had a lot to talk about.

"You were acting weird at lunch today." I say as I jog beside him.

"No. I wasn't." He doesn't even looking at me. His eyebrow did narrow and his lips tighten. He is obviously bothered by the subject.

"Yes you did. You can't deny it." I struggle with finding his hand while I keep up his pace. I give his hand a squeeze. "You left a bruise on my hip and you were glaring at Hiro. You were obviously bothered by something."

"I'm fine." Soul says, pulling his hand from mine. "It's just, it's stressful."

Stressful? That isn't the word I would use. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yeah. I do." Soul confesses and he stops running, looking down at the ground. "It's just, the Hiro situation along with the lack of people. More Kishins are coming to the area and more people are dying and on top of that, this special Kishin which can come at any time. It is stressing me out since it feels like, wherever I go, I will miss something and someone will end up either hurt or killed."

"Soul." I pull him into a hug, feeling his shirt against my cheek. He finally came to his senses and wore one, although, I kind of want him without one now. I'm a hypocrite. "You can't protect everyone. It is physically impossible. People will end up hurt and die, just think about the good things, you are saving thousands of lives by eliminating Kishins. You should focus on that instead of blaming you for their deaths."

"You have a point, but it is just so hard to deal with it." Soul wraps his arms around my waist and gently hugs me back.

"No, you just focus on the people you do save. You should be proud over yourself for saving their lives."

Soul shakes his head again against my head. "It isn't only that, it just, it feels like when I put my duties as a Meister before you, it feels like I hurt you and it makes me sad. I don't like to be separated from you."

I grip his shirt at the back. "You know you don't have to ever be apart from me, you could guard me all the time. I would feel safer if you were the one with me instead of Black*Star or Kilik or whoever you would push me onto."

"If it just was that easy." Soul sighs heavily. "They need me on the field."

"Then let me come and fight with you. Then all of you could protect me and we would be f―"

Suddenly the sky darkens and the sun goes behind two large clouds. When were there clouds in the sky? The moon comes out and mocks us with its presence and I swear I can see two large red eyes glare at us from the end of the track.

"Maka." Soul says and his grip on me loosens, slowly backs us away. "There are a lot of people here. You see that all of the students get inside safely while I keep the Kishin occupied."

I shake my head violently and clutch his shirt. "No, I can't just leave you here―"

"Yes you can. I will be fine. You need to get the other students to somewhere safe." Soul gently starts pushing me behind him. "I need to protect you, I can't let it hurt you."

We both know that the Kishin is after me and if I stay among the students, it is more of a chance that it will hurt them. I need to get away from the school. That is our best bet.

I rest my head on Soul's back when I hear the Kishin drags its claws on the track. "I like you a lot, Soul. I can't have you hurt because of me." Everything becomes a blur, I switch into my spiritual form and go right through Soul. I hear him scream my name as I run toward the Kishin as fast as I can. I jump high over the Kishin and I land on the other side of it, taking off quickly away from the school. It roars loudly and I hear it run after me.

Without any weapon, fighting it is out of the question. All I can do for now is prove as a distraction so they can get all the students away and cross my fingers that the Kishin won't get me.

At least I know I won't be killed, it has proven that it wants to take me away, but where?

That theory I will have to get to later, right now, I need to focus on running.

I throw myself into the forest that surrounds the school and the Kishin isn't far behind me. I force myself to run faster than I already do. The trees flash pass me and I feel the chill running through me as the branches and the trunks go right through me. The Kishin roars loudly and I feel its large mighty body slam into mine. We both collide with the ground and my head hit the ground hard.

The Kishin quickly retrieves its claws into its palms and grips me tightly in its hands.

"Get away from me!" I yell loudly as I struggle to get away. "Soul!" I scream as loud as I can. "Help me!" It is quite pathetic to yell for help like this when I threw myself into this situation and I can't event keep myself out of harm's way.

My eyes lock with the Kishin's eyes. They radiant red and the Kishin only holds me in its large metal hands, not bothering with my scrabbling. It keeps looking at me with its large eyes and for a second, its eyes shimmer for just a micro-second, turning into a green shade.

I inhale loudly when the Kishin roars loudly and it smacks me down to the ground and everything turns dark.

Damn Scrap Metal, I'm pathetic.