Chapter 28: Afterglow; Shameful Sleep?
My eyes open and for a moment I'm disoriented. The light of morning is beginning to creep between the trees painting the world a hazy grey instead of midnight black. I smell cedar and the dampness of the forest and I sense Maka's soul close by me and then as though I've been shot by a bolt of lightning all the memories of the previous day hit me. The raspberry jelly, the creepy spaghetti-armed demon, and the sound, scent, and taste of my meister's fulfillment.
I grin. Never in my wildest fantasies had I ever imagined messing around with her like that! God, she was hot. I can't believe we did that. I can't believe how…oh, I'm sure those vocab lessons had a word for this… lascivious we were. Wow, she would be so proud; she's gonna make me sound like a book nerd yet.
I roll over and see her laying beside me facing me, but with only the top of her hair outside of the sleeping bag.
Yesterday was great. I loved all of it, but I have a bit of morning-after regret. Not about the things we did, but about my role as her protector. I've been asleep. She and I have both been asleep at the same time. That's not supposed to happen when you're on assignment. We're trained to take shifts so that someone remains on guard duty to prevent any kind of sneak attack from witches eager to take out Lord Death's forces. Maka and I know, but I let that awesome post-cumming glee overtake me and we both drifted off to sleep. I am ashamed that I let her down. It doesn't bother me to have deviated from standard operating procedure, but it eats at me that I put her in danger. The whole reason I'm here is to protect her. I'm the support person and sometimes that support comes in the form of muscle, sometimes it comes as a differing viewpoint, and sometimes it comes as me putting myself in harm's way before someone malevolent can reach her.
I partially unzip our sleeping bag vowing that I will not be returning to it but instead will assume the post that one of us should have been filling. It is chilly this morning and I wish I could dress inside the sleeping bag, but I don't think I'm talented enough to do that without disturbing Maka. I step out of the warmth of the blankets and mouth the words, "Fuckin' cold!" and pull on fresh clothes from my pack. The inside of the clothes are cold and I find myself longing for the warmth of my meister's body close to mine. I pull a hoodie on over my t-shirt and stuff my hands in the front pocket. I walk to the edge of the ledge over the creek and enjoy the view while contemplating what today may bring for my partner and me.
Right now we are no closer to finding Falconer than when we were in DC. All we've really managed to accomplish is taking out that one mysteriously misshapen demon in the industrial area. What was that about?
I find a dry spot at the base of one of the park's namesakes and start composing music in my head. Every note is for her; love songs for the girl still passed out from last night's passion. Love songs that won't be heard by her. I'm far too shy to serenade her with some crappy song I've written. That's not my style, though I have to admit that saying, "I love you" at random moments throughout the day was never something I thought I would do, either, and I've found myself doing that.
I want so badly for her to understand the depths of my devotion to her and I need her to know that my heart's a more fragile thing than I let on. She needs to be careful with me. I will never mistreat her the way her dad did her mother, but I need the same. The mere thought of being without her or seeing her with someone else is devastating to me. Yet, I fell asleep leaving her unguarded. That was super dumb, an amateurish mistake. What am I a newb?
I take a deep breath. I'm worrying again. That happens when I think too much. I try to refocus my thoughts on the moment and the beauty of the forest and the love I share with my partner.
"Good morning," Maka has rolled over and is looking at me from our makeshift bed.
"Mornin'" I answer feeling a wave of heat burning my face. I knew I'd blush when I next saw her in the light of day. It's one thing to be that carnal in the dark, but a completely different thing to have to face your best friend after making them have a screaming orgasm the night before. There's no doubt that she enjoyed herself, but that doesn't stop my cheeks from simmering.
"Come here," she instructs. She intentionally orders rather than asks knowing that right now I'm awfully self-conscious, but we both know I'm usually good about taking orders…or rather orders from her. I walk over to the head of the sleeping bag and stare down at my meister's smiling face. I'm not sure what she wants from me. She slithers out of bed and stands before me without a shred of clothing on. I avert my eyes out of habit.
"Soul, why are you doing that? Why aren't you looking at me?"
I don't know what to say. How do I explain that I badly want to see that body I have touched in the dark, but fear it'd be like gazing directly at the sun. It's a beauty I'm not meant to see. She takes my hand and brings it to her chest placing my palm over her heart.
"Soul, please don't be embarrassed. I love you and now my body is as much yours as your own. I'm yours body, mind, and soul."
Her declaration startles me making my eyes snap back to her and without meaning I take her in. She is gorgeous. It's like staring at a piece of art. I feel unworthy compared to her. She's captivating with curves and mounds and I'm a dude. It's pathetic.
"Soul, you're putting yourself down again. I can sense it. Why do you do that?"
I sigh. Sometimes we know each other a little too well. "I failed as your partner. I didn't take first watch."
"We lived. It's OK, Soul. You don't need to be perfect to be with me."
I grumble. It seems like I do. There's nothing she's bad at, not really.
"I fell asleep too, you know. Keeping watch is a duty we share. We let each other down, but it's done now. We'll be more careful next time."
I say nothing. I even ignore her comment about 'next time' which should entice me to flirt with her.
"What am I going to have to do to snap you out of this?" she grumbles rhetorically to herself. "Fine, I'm going to get dressed, but when I'm done you will not be in this mood."
While Maka gets dressed I dig out granola bars to curb our hunger. A few moments later she skips back over to me wearing purple leggings under denim shorts and an orange hoodie that has a picture of a sunset on the back. She looks adorable.
"Maka, why do you love me?"
She smiles. "Because I do. That's all that's important."
I grunt. "That's not a real answer."
"It isn't?"
"No. It isn't."
She assumes the appearance of one considering a serious question. "Because from the moment I first saw you I was fascinated by you. You captivate me. I want to know everything about you and I want to always be with you."
My heart aches. Does she really feel that way about me? Am I really going to be able to keep her? Won't she grow tired of me someday?
I start to voice my worries, but she exclaims, "Oh, for Shinigami's sake! Soul, quit ruining the fucking moment!" and her lips aggressively start tangling with my own. "Soul," she whispers directly into my lips. "You need to trust that I know what I want and that's you. Now kiss me."
I sigh. I don't know why I know I shouldn't be like this, but sometimes I get in these moods. I wrap my arms around her and halfheartedly kiss her.
She stops and stares into my eyes. "Kiss me for real, Soul."
My eyes meet hers and my shame and fears become overwhelmed by waves of desire and passion I couldn't fight even if I wanted to. I kiss her as though my life depends on my lips conveying all the love I have for her inside me.
"That's better. Now, Mr. Grumblepants, please quit worrying about silly things and make some more hot cocoa."
We take our time packing up our camp. I'm sad to leave this place. I'd be happy to stay here with her forever, but, alas, there are ass holes we must fight.
We spend half the day in the general vicinity of our camp site and then we ride Brunnie to the opposite end of the park and explore that area. We find no evidence of a secret hideout, bird people, or any other demons. By dinner time we are exhausted and decide to stay in one of the park's designated campgrounds so that we can have a fire.
I'm having a hard time getting the tinder to catch the way I want it to and am starting to get frustrated when she senses a presence near-by.
"Demon?"
"Yup."
I grin.
"It has that same weird feeling the other one had."
"Yuck! I'm not eating it then," I stand up, raring to go kick demon butt, but much to my surprise Maka comes running over to me rather than in the direction of the demon.
"Thank you for being the best partner," she says and kisses me before grabbing my hand and shouting, "Come on!"
We find this evil-doer in a very small clearing not too far from the campground. It was probably attracted here by the increased concentration of human souls in this part of the park.
This one does not heckle and its arms match, but it's still odd and short. Its face is stretched and seems almost flattened and the way it stands on its legs remind me of some kind of hoof stock rather than a human.
"Hey, Evil Munchkin!" I shout at it and in answer it doesn't turn it's body but twists its neck around further than a person should be able to so that it can see me. It's creepy as hell. "Gross! Maka, let's kill this thing fast. It's weirding me out."
She nods and I become her weapon.
"Charging Release" it says as it lowers its head and comes running at us like a bull to a matador.
"What the fuck?" I shout. This is a new one. We haven't seen this technique before and I'm not sure if blocking or just getting the hell out of its way is better.
Maka holds me behind her and jumps out of the way. It's a narrow miss.
She takes a couple steps backward to ensure that our eyes never leave what the demon is doing and when she feels confident that she will not be charged again she says, "Soul Resonance." It's only then that I realize that we defeated the last demon without resonanting with one another.
As our soul wavelengths match I feel the usual sensation plus a warmth I've never experienced before. "Maka…? What is that? Is everything OK?" I'm not sure what is going on or if it's supposed to happen.
"Ah…I think so…I'm fine and if you're OK let's just keep going. OK?"
"No prob. I'm pumped up to end this creep!"
The little monster swings back around and shouts "Balls and Jax" and fireballs shoot out at us, followed by spikey things resembling toy jacks. A couple hit Maka and me, but they don't do much more than burn tiny spots of our flesh.
"Demon Hunter!" I gain my more fancy form and she straifs left as the monster once again does his charging maneuver.
"Where are you from?" she asks the demon.
"Don't know. Don't care. Must destroy you and partner."
"Why?" she questions.
"Maka, I'm not sure this thing is going to be able to tell us anything valuable."
"I know," she tells me. "But I think it's worth a try. We don't have a whole lot to go on."
"Ball and Jax," it shouts again and Maka covers her face with her hands so that her arms and legs get the worst of it.
She manages to deflect a stray jack back at the thing and it yowls in pain when it's hit and then starts to suck its thumb. Mercilessly, Maka swings me and I slice through the demon like it's butter.
I congratulate her, "Good one!" and transform back into human form before she puts me down so I end up materializing in her arms like she's been holding me bridal style. She laughs as she sets me on my feet, but I notice that a couple of the burns on her arms are worse than I expected.
"Maka, we better get some sauve on those."
She nods and walks up to cradle the soul in her arms. "You sure you don't want to eat it?"
"Naw, I'll pass."
We walk back to our camp site and she opens her pack pulling out a soul collection chamber. It's a pop-up plastic jar that can hold up to fourty souls. We've never used ours because I normally eat the demon souls, but I'm in no big hurry to repeat the experience I had last time.
It's dark now and I never managed to get the fire going. I apologize and Maka says it's no big deal because she's pretty tired anyways and she climbs inside the tent and is asleep within a few minutes.
