Chapter's 46-48 had to be edited and re-posted because I totally left out something. :( I sincerely apologize for any inconveniences.
Kid was sitting in bed late one night. He'd felt kind of restless that night, so he decided to stay up and read. Ame was curled up on the bed next to him, reading over his shoulder every so often. She put her head in his lap, letting out a wolfish whine, and Kid smirked softly. He put a hand on her shoulder, scratching her back softly. She sighed contently.
"I love it when you're home," she said.
"Yeah, but school will be starting again soon," Kid said. Ame raised her head and gave him a protesting look. "Don't give me that look. You know I'd have to go back to school sometime."
Ame frowned, wrapping her arms around him greedily and crushing him with a clingy hug. Kid sighed, rubbing her between the ears again.
"I know, I know," he rolled his eyes. He liked it when she acted like a wolf. "Hey, why don't we go to that onsen I promised you? The others could come too. How'd you like that?"
"…Yeah, okay," Ame smiled quietly. "And Crona should come too. I like… him."
Last Drops of Summer; Magnificently Rejuvenating Onsen Adventure?
The next day, the others packed their pajamas and spare clothes for an overnight trip to a hot spring that Kid had promised, yet forgot, to take Ame to. The travel by train was only a few hours, so they got there in good time. They rented two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. Ame settled in immediately; claiming one side of a fold-out futon for herself and glaring demonically at anyone who tried to go near it.
It was already late enough in the day by the time they got settled, so they all decided to take a bath before dinner.
Ame wrapped herself in a white towel before walking outside with the other girls. The evening air was crisp and cool, and the steam rising from the hot pools made her skin tingle with ecstasy.
"Come on, Ame! Don't be shy!" Liz's voice broke her out of her trance. Ame shook her head once and stepped to the rocky edge of the pool, dipping her feet in cautiously before dropping her towel. She was about to slip into the water gracefully, but her foot slipped on some algae and she fell clumsily underwater.
"Ame!" the other four cried in surprise. The little wolf darted above the surface once more, coughing and gasping quietly for air. The others sighed in relief.
"Even in death," Maka muttered. "You're still too cute to take seriously."
"Is everything alright?" they heard Kid call over the bamboo wall separating the boys' spring from theirs.
"Fine!" Liz called back to him.
"Sure they are," Kid muttered, rolling his eyes and propping his arm on a rock near where he was sitting in the hot water.
"You know, you really shouldn't worry about her so much," Soul told him. Soul was the only quiet one, other than Kid himself; Blackstar wouldn't shut up and Ragnarok wouldn't stop harassing Crona. It was chaos. Kid turned to look at Soul.
"Who?" he asked.
"Ame," Soul continued. "Seriously, summer vacation's almost over. The least you could do is stop worrying for just one day since we're on a holiday."
Kid sighed. Soul didn't have anything to worry about; he was lucky.
"So what's wrong?" Soul asked moving closer. Kid sighed again, this time a little louder.
"Ame, of course," he replied.
"She hasn't made your life any easier, has she?" Soul guessed. "Maybe that's why you haven't made a move on her yet."
"No, that's not it," Kid said quietly.
"You're not even going to argue with me?"
"I've been thinking about asking Ame out for a while now, but I just don't think I have the courage to. I can commit myself to her, but there are things even I can't do; it feels like I can't do anything. I've been hesitant ever since she left. Father told me that Inochigami have a special endearing power, that whoever meets them longs for their presence always. He told me it was the worst pain Shinigami can endure. Soul… Ame's not immortal like me. If she dies, I'd lose her forever. I'm worried about not being able to protect her because she's so reckless all the time."
Soul chuckled slightly. "That's exactly how I feel with Maka. She's so twisted; you've seen how I risk my own life to save hers. But I see how it's different with us. Maka and I fight as one; we are meister and weapon. You and Ame, on the other hand, are two separate entities—a human and a wolf. At least you two could have fought together, if you had chosen to stay a wolf."
"That fate would have been wrong," Kid insisted. "As long as anyone can remember, Inochigami and Shinigami couldn't correspond with each other and work like a flawless one like meister and weapon do now. That's why Ikiru had to leave… that's why Ame left."
"Like I said, you worry too much," Soul said, putting a hand on Kid's shoulder. "Listen, Kid, you have to take a few chances. No Inochigami or Shinigami have ever come together in this way, don't you think that has to do with it?"
"What do you mean?" Kid asked.
"Take that chance," Soul insisted. "Ame won't just die carelessly on us if you tell her how you feel. Just think of what happened in the cave of the Twin Demons. Got it?"
Kid smiled. "Yeah, thanks. I'll try that later."
On the other side of the wall, Ame, Maka, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patti, were all enjoying their bath. Patti's eyes snapped open and she pointed at Ame's neck.
"Hey, wait!" she said. The others looked up and glanced at what Patti was pointing at. There was a fair-sized lock of Ame's hair, which had fell out of the bun she'd twisted most of her hair into, draped down her shoulder. Ame frowned and picked it out of the water, trying to twist it back into her bun without collapsing the entire thing.
"I hate having long hair," she muttered.
"Then why haven't you cut it?" Liz asked.
"To make Kid happy," Ame replied. "I just find it easier to please him when I can instead of arguing with him over stupid things."
"You're the one being stupid now," Liz said, tugging one of her ears. "You don't have to give into anything Kid says. He's just being picky."
"If you need reasons to cut it, just tell him it's too hot out," Maka said. "And that you'd like to cut it short to keep cool."
"Or for cosplay," Tsubaki added. "I know you took a job at that café in town. You could say they want you to dress as a specific character and cut it then."
"That's a good idea," Ame nodded, smiling. She turned around halfway. "But don't you think it's kind of obvious that I cut it short to make it look like his?"
.
.
.
"No, not at all," Tsubaki lied.
"Hey, Ame…" Liz trailed off, staring at Ame's back. She saw two red marks on Ame's back. They were faint, like scars, almost unnoticeable, but they were there. "Is the water burning you?"
Ame looked back at them, perking her ears slightly. She took notice of their fascination immediately.
"Oh, those are just the crimson markings you see in my wolf form," she replied. "They appear on my back in my human form."
"They're very symmetrical. I'm sure Kid wouldn't mind."
"Why would he care?" Ame asked. "It's not like he'll ever see them, right?"
"…"
Liz exchanged a glance with her friends before nodding passively.
"Yeah, okay. Keep thinking that."
Soul Eater
After their baths, they all dressed in yukatas and met up in the common area. Ame moved to sit on the ground next to Kid almost immediately. She didn't say anything as she knelt next to him and waited for him to rub between her ears. He did so.
"Did you enjoy your bath?" he asked. "Your fur is so silky now."
"Hm." Liz mumbled.
"What?" Kid looked up.
"I've never seen you in a yukata before, Kid," Maka spoke up. "You look different. But in a good way; I just never thought about it with Ame looking so natural in hers."
"He does look good, doesn't he?" Soul asked, leaning closer to Kid with a mischievous grin.
"Get away from me," Kid leaned away from him as Soul grabbed the collar of Kid's yukata down to expose his shoulder and a bit of his chest.
"Yukata fanservice!" he shouted. Maka and Tsubaki blushed and looked away sharply. Liz and Patti did the same, snickering under their breaths as they did so. Kid glared at Soul. Ame fell backwards with a scream, a fountain of blood spurting from her nose.
"Looks like Ame likes what she sees," Soul laughed.
"Soul, I will kill you if you do that again," Kid warned.
Ame sat upright again, wiping the blood on her sleeve, which was a bit too long for her arms anyway. Her tail wagged madly about as she stared at Kid.
"You have a nice body, Kid!" she panted.
Kid put his knee against her back to give himself leverage and pulled her ears a bit too hard.
"I WILL RIP THESE EARS OFF YOUR HEAD IF YOU SAY THAT AGAIN!"
Meanwhile, out in a field of corn, several children were standing in a circle around a scarecrow.
"Exalted is he who walks behind the rows," one of them said. "Who grows the corn and wears a cloak of death."
A black shadow appeared behind the scarecrow. The figure let out a dark laugh.
"Please, children," it said. "As of this night… call me God."
It reached forward and consumed the scarecrow.
It was late at night when everyone was finally able to get to sleep. Well, almost everyone. Kid awoke. He sat up in bed, looking around slowly. Something was wrong; he just had a feeling. He got out of bed as quietly as he could and put his yukata on over his pajamas before sneaking out of his room.
At first, he saw nothing out of the ordinary as he walked the porches and walkways of the onsen. He came to the fountain in the front, and stopped. Ame was bent over the drinking fountain, gulping down several handfuls of the water. Kid shifted his weight, making her perk her ears and look up.
"Can't sleep?" she smiled at him, narrowing her eyes. She looked drunk; her face was flushed and her eyes were unfocused. She turned back to the water, frowning again. "No matter how much I drink, I just can't quench my thirst…. It's inconvenient."
She reached out to take another handful of water, but Kid put a hand over hers.
"I think you've had enough," he said. "Are you feeling alright?"
"Um…" Ame winced, clenching her free hand against her stomach and sinking to her knees. Kid knelt next to her.
"See, I told you," he said, putting a hand against her forehead. She felt warm. No, she was burning. "What's wrong with you? Gods aren't supposed to get sick."
"My brothers are waiting for us," she said, turning her head and pointing out to the dark forest. "We have to go tonight."
"What are you talking about, Ame?" Kid inquired. "You need to rest if you don't feel well."
"The children of darkness did this," she said. "They're trying to lure me there by consuming my soul and body. We need to go."
Well, things suddenly got kind of serious. All of a sudden. So yeah I got a plot idea, which resulted in ABSOLUTE SCREWING OF THE CHAPTERS! Ugh, tedious -_-#
