AN: Less of a chapter and…more of a segway.
Time passed, as the group grew stronger. Maka no longer had that scary dream. However, she did start dreaming about Crona again.
The non-binary human floated in front of her, like a ghost. Their eyes were blank, but eventually Crona's dead face curled into a warm smile. A slit formed on their head, opening into an eye. Everything glowed white instead of black now, and Sakura awoke to the sound of a cranky baby.
It was the middle of the night, and after nine months of puking, and binge eating, and a growing bellies, a baby girl was introduced to the Albarn-Evans family. This baby girl also liked to cry because of a dirty diaper, and Maka slammed a pillow on her face in a groan.
"Makaaaa," her shark-toothed husband mumbled, "Your turn."
"Nuuuuuuuuuuuuu…" she whined, as she sat up. Putting on her game face, she raced to the baby's room.
"It's okay, Angel!" she cooed, "Mommy's here! OH! Oh…you've left me a present. How…thoughtful."
The crying calmed to a low burbling as Maka quickly changed the girl's diaper. She rocked the small child a few times, and it fell quickly back to sleep.
Maka fell onto the bed, which woke the new father up a little.
"Hey, Soul?" she murmured.
"What," he groaned.
"No more carrots at dinnertime," she instructed, "I think that's what's making her poop so bad."
"Sounds great," he mumbled into the pillow, "Wanna know what else is great?"
"What's that?"
"Sleeping."
"Agreed."
Maka drifted back to sleep.
Morning hit them like a train, as Soul made the both of them coffee. Angel was sitting in Maka's lap, as she fed the tiny newborn girl her bottle. As soon as she finished giving the little tyke a burp, Maka finally took a sip of coffee.
"So…it's carrots…" Soul muttered, "Figures…I never did well with carrots either. That's what my brother tells me."
"Yeah, and she seems to cry for food around five, so that will be her dinnertime, instead of six," Maka planned out, half awake, "We can eat dinner after she's done. I figured out that much…and it's only taken me two weeks? I feel like fucking Einstein."
"Hey now, what your language in front of the baby," Soul teased. Maka stuck her tongue out at him, knowing she said that to him before.
"Thank Death he gave me this paid maternity leave," Maka sighed, "Quite a miracle, considering what the rest of the country does."
Soul nodded. Teaching wasn't a huge income for them, and they needed a jumpstart while they were taking care of the baby. Soul was able to go out and teach while Maka recuperated. As much as she wanted to go back and teach, prove that she didn't need special treatment as a woman or a mother, giving birth proved to be exhausting, considering how tiny she actually was. She tried going back the first week, but she ended up passing out.
"How's the Star team doing?" Maka asked. She surprisingly wasn't referring to Black«Star and Tsubaki, but to Sakura and her friends. It was their nickname she gave them.
"They're doing great, actually," Soul told her. He pulled out his teacher file as he munched on his cereal. Maka trotted over to Angel's baby carrier, and placed her inside. Placing the carrier on the chair next to her, she rocked it and listen to her hubby tell her what was happening at DWMA.
"Sakura's grades are improving a little," he began, "No more Cs. Meiling isn't improving as quickly, but she's getting more Bs in her classes. Syaoran and Tomoyo are the same as usual, the overachiever and Little Ms. Prodigy.
"They're doing well catching souls. Sakura and Syaoran have punched in that they caught ten kishin souls. Meiling and Tomoyo have caught eight."
"Pretty good for nine months and two weeks," Maka nodded, "And this is the first time the academy's done this since Kishin Asura, so…this is great. How're the other kids doing?"
Soul gave reports on the souls collected from each pair of kids. He shared stories he heard, funny classroom incidents, and what the other teachers were up to. Maka smiled and laughed quietly so as to not wake up Angel. However, one story had Maka in stitches, and she laughed louder than she should have.
Strangely, Angel didn't stir. Checking to make sure she wasn't dead, Maka saw the little baby sleeping soundly.
"Huh…she sleeps like you, Soul," Maka smirked. They both laughed at this, as the baby slept peacefully.
They agreed to have Maka come back to teaching next week. The new mother was going to keep teaching, even if she had to carry the baby in a sling down the hall, such was the ways of the stubborn Maka Albarn.
Despite some staring, Maka did surprisingly well. The baby was surprisingly well behaved, living up to her namesake. Many of the girls and a few boys would come and hold Angel.
Sakura was one of the few that did it every time the baby was in class. The baby seemed to like her the most, aside from her own parents of course. After a while, Sakura became the Albarn-Evans babysitter.
Sakura buttoned the last button down on her white dress shirt was a flared collar and tucked it in her pink, pleated skirt. Pulling a black, V-neck sweater over her head, she brushed everything down on her uniform and checked everything in the mirror. A pink cherry blossom patch was placed on the right side of the sweater.
She turned around. Sakura loved her new uniform so much that Tomoyo sized it or made new piece anytime she grew. Her figure seemed to change a lot over the time she was reaping kishin souls. Her hips were wider, her legs were longer, and her chest was only slightly more pronounced. She was well endowed like Tomoyo was, but they were still noticeable.
"Sakura? Breakfast is ready!" Syaoran called from the kitchen.
"Be right there!" she called back.
She took one last look in the mirror. She was sixteen now. It was April 1st, and she felt like she was glowing. She fixed up her still-short-as-ever auburn hair, which still had a piece of hair standing up like some sort of cowlick. With a smile glued on her face, she skipped out the door to be greeted with a full birthday pancake breakfast.
End of ACT 1.