Disclaimer: Don't own

She's eleven when her parents announced they were splitting up.

She's not surprised at the news. After all, she had made it a habit of following Papa around the city, curious to find out where exactly he went late in the evenings after work. When she found out he was hanging out at raunchy hostess clubs and going on dates with random women…well, needless to say Maka lost all faith and trust in her father.

Her mother did as well. So, after getting permission from Lord Death himself, she told her daughter that she had decided to travel the world and assist the many other Death Scythes with their missions in order to eradicate kishin activity.

Maka wasn't upset with her mother about this at all. Mama was strong and deserved to get away from her cheater of a father. Maka would be fine. She was proving to be quite the gifted individual and passed the early admission exam into the DWMA along with her childhood friend Black Star.

The plan was simple. While the divorce was being finalized, Maka would start at the academy, find a weapon partner, and then move in with them so she wouldn't have a reason to stay with her father. Papa didn't take the news well, but Maka didn't care. He hurt Mama. He didn't deserve any sympathy from his daughter.

She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for in a partner. She was hoping for a scythe so she could be just like Mama, but she knew she shouldn't get her hopes up. With so many forms of weapons showing up over the last few centuries, it wasn't very common to find a demon scythe nowadays. The only reason her useless Papa was stationed in Death City by Lord Death's side was because he was the first real Death Scythe in a long, long time.

She was also hoping she would partner with a girl. While she didn't hate all men, Maka couldn't bring herself to trust them completely. Black Star was alright…but he was proving to be a pervert as well and it wasn't helping her opinion that all men wanted were big boobs and asses.

The other reason why she wanted a girl was because there would be a less likely chance she'd fall in love with them.

She didn't want to repeat her parents' mistakes. She didn't want to fall in love ever if she could help it.

When her first day of the DWMA began, she was nervous.

Everyone around her was nice, and she was getting along well with them…

But no one seemed to…click with her. Not like how she thought a partnership should start off as.

Black Star had just entered the classroom and announced in his big voice that he had already found his partner—a shy looking teenager named Tsubaki Nakatsukasa.

Maka tried to force down her jealousy. Black Star—who her mother once told her had a soul that was painfully hard to get along with—found a partner mere minutes into their first day. And there Maka was, still trying to get a feel of everyone around her.

There was an unattractive snort next to her before a new voice drawled out, "What an obnoxious kid."

She turned to the boy next to her. Granted, he wasn't the strangest person she had ever met, but there was something about him that made her glance over him. He had snow-white hair that stuck up in all different angles (Maka assumed he used hair gel), deep red eyes that rivaled her Papa's hair color, and sharp teeth peaking out of his slightly open mouth. There was drool hanging from the corners, which caused Maka to cringe in disgust.

"That's Black Star," she told the boy. "This is normal for him."

The boy grunted in acknowledgement but didn't say anything more. Maka eyed him in wonder. He wasn't wearing a DWMA issued uniform. Students weren't obligated to wear it, but still, Maka felt it was more professional to follow a school dress code. His attire was rather atrocious if she was being honest, but in a way it appeared to suit the boy.

He noticed her gazing at him and raised an eyebrow at her, teeth bared as if in defense, "What?"

She frowned at him. Honestly, there was no need to be rude (she ignored that she was being rude in the first place for staring). Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with a peer, though, Maka decided to approach him.

"My name is Maka Albarn." She said, giving him a polite smile. "I'm a meister. What's your name?"

He blinked at her. Maka was almost feeling awkward with how long it was taking him to answer. Finally, he gave her a lazy looking smirk.

"Soul Eater." He introduced with his thumb pointing to himself. "Demon scythe."

Maka's breath hitched. Demon scythe? What luck! She had wanted to pair off with a scythe and it seemed like her wish was granted!

Only…he was a boy. A male. Therefore a pervert by nature. It wouldn't be a good idea if she—

Maka did away with those thoughts. Wasn't her goal to be just like Mama and become a skilled scythe meister? So what if her weapon was a boy as long as he fit the bill! And if it turned out he was a creep and their soul wavelengths weren't compatible, well, then she could always terminate the partnership, right?

Mind made up, Maka practically jumped him as she latched onto his arm.

"Be my partner!" she demanded.

If she weren't so focused on her mission, she would have laughed at Soul's dumbfounded expression. "Huhhh? You've only known me for, like, ten seconds and you already want to be partners?"

Maka nodded, "Yes! You see my Mama's a scythe meister. She made Lord Death's current Death Scythe," (she didn't want to reveal to him her connection to said Death Scythe just yet…), "so it's my goal to be just as strong as her. I'm gonna make a better Death Scythe. One stronger than the current one! So what do you say?"

She's not sure why he looked so uncomfortable. His eyes squinted at her and his gaze averted from her own. He shrugged away from her hold on him and Maka tried not to feel offended by the action.

Soul hummed a, "Maybe…" before Professor Sid called everyone in the room to settle down and take a seat so they could begin their introductory lesson. Deciding not to be beaten down just yet, Maka followed Soul to a row of seats, plopping herself right next to him. She could tell he looked a little annoyed with her but she didn't care. She wasn't going to give up on having a scythe be her weapon of choice.

When the bell rang indicating class was over, Maka was about to speak to Soul again in order to convince him to be her partner when he managed to beat her to it.

"If you're serious about being my meister then there's something I want to show you first." He said without much preamble. "Can I take you somewhere?"

Maka tilted her head in confusion. What on earth could he possibly want to show her? And he had to lead her somewhere else to do it?

Her mother and father's warnings of stranger danger briefly flew through her mind and that small seed of doubt and distrust started to grow a little in her heart. Soul did dress somewhat like a delinquent; maybe he wasn't as nice as she had originally hoped for?

He must have seen her apprehension because he gave her a small, easy smile. "It's not that far from here, I promise. And it won't take long. It's just…let's just say you might have a better idea of what you're getting into if I show you this."

Despite how reassuring he sounded, Maka was not easily convinced his actions were innocent.

But partnerships were all about trust, right? If Soul was to be her partner, then this was the first step to trusting him.

She hoped she didn't regret this…

Turned out the place Soul wanted to take her was a café located down the street from the DWMA. In a back room of the building was a sleek baby grand piano. Maka almost felt bad about distrusting him earlier.

But it was still strange, though. Why would he take her to a piano?

"Think of this as my introduction," he told her. He then sat on the bench and opened the lid to reveal the black and white keys. The boy sighed before lacing his fingers together and stretching them outward, his knuckles audibly cracking.

Maka stifled a giggle. So despite his lazy demeanor, Soul was a pianist? It seemed unreal. She wrote him off as conceited. She may not understand music, but she was sure he was probably an amateur. He might mess up some notes or something before flying off the handle in embarrassment.

However, once Soul's fingers hit the keys all thought left Maka's mind as she stared transfixed at him. He wasn't an amateur at all. No, he was amazing! She couldn't help but be mesmerized as she watch his fingers skillfully move across the keys, producing such a strong melody.

She wasn't knowledgeable enough in the art of music. She didn't know the right words or phrases to describe a song. She didn't know how to express what it was about Soul's piano playing that was drawing her in.

The first words that came to her mind were "dark" and "strange" but that didn't perturb her fascination with his playing. She found she liked it. And the more he played his haunting melody, Maka found a third word to describe the song. One she felt best described it despite its eerie vibe:

Beautiful.

She was finding herself getting lost in the music, almost like it was drawing her into something. What it was drawing her to she couldn't say. She just knew she liked it a lot and didn't want it to go away just yet.

She was so lost in the music she didn't even realize Soul had finished playing.

"Well? What did you think?"

Maka's eyes sprung open (when had she closed them?) and looked to the demon scythe. She was surprised to find that his eyes weren't meeting hers. He almost looked…embarrassed? Why on earth would he be embarrassed?

Coming back to her sense, Maka immediately began clapping enthusiastically. She beamed at him, "That was fantastic! You play so wonderfully!"

He blanched at her before scoffing and rolling his eyes. Huh, that wasn't what Maka was expecting…

"Obviously you don't know a thing about music." He grumbled.

Maka pouted at the boy, feeling her cheeks burn. Saving face, she fisted her hands as she retorted, "Well, no, I don't. I don't get music. But I'm being honest, here! I really did like your song! You really are talented!"

Soul whirled around to face her, his jaw slack and eyes wide in disbelief. "Y-You mean that? You thought it was good?"

Maka didn't know why he sounded so shocked. Had someone told him he wasn't a good pianist? Whoever that person was Maka found she didn't have a high opinion of them. Not if they made Soul look so surprised that someone would actually genuinely enjoy his playing.

"Yeah," Maka nodded, "I thought it was pretty."

That must not have been the right thing to say because Soul snorted before breaking out into loud, raucous laughter. He was laughing so hard Maka got a good view of every single pointed tooth in his mouth. She felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. What was so funny about what she said about his song?

"P-Pretty?!" he chortled. Maka felt the beginning of a blood vessel bursting. "You actually called my music pretty? Oh, man that's rich! I can't believe you said that! You're so lame! What a nerd!"

As he continued to mock and laugh at her, Maka felt her fingers twitch. Before she knew it she was reaching for the book she always kept with her at all times…

"Maka…Chop!"

It was second nature, really. It felt right to hit him with the spine of her trusty book. Seeing his reaction to her attack also gave her some sick satisfaction.

"OW! What the hell?! Did… Did you just hit me with a book?"

Maka harrumphed. "That's what you get for making fun of me."

Soul stared at her incredulously as he rubbed his sore head. After a few beats of him contemplating her, he let out another breath of laughter before closing the lid of the piano.

"Man, you're one crazy chick," he said and Maka felt her fingers reaching for the book again. Before she could think about giving him a second hit, she heard him say, "But I guess you're cool. So…does the offer still stand?"

She looked to see he had turned around on the bench to stare at her. His grin was lopsided and he still had drool dripping down the corner of his mouth but there was a fire in his red eyes. His hand was held out to her. "Partners?"

She stared at the proffered hand before returning his smile. Maka allowed her hand to grasp his in a firm handshake.

"Partners."

This, Maka thought, was going to be the start of a beautiful partnership.

They moved in together the following weekend.

Apparently Soul already owned a place in the middle of the city. When she inquired about it, he simply shrugged and said that he wasn't from Death City and instead of living in the dorms, he wanted an apartment complex instead.

"Did your parents help with the initial payment?" she innocently asked. From what she gathered he had moved to the city a week before classes started so there was no way he had earned the academy's issued allowance yet to help pay for the rent.

She couldn't figure out why he avoided answering her.

Once Maka was moved in (purposefully ignoring Papa's wailing as she left what would now be his bachelor's pad), she figured it was time for her and her partner to go over some ground rules. Or, rather, the one rule she lived by and hoped he would too. A golden rule, if you will.

Soul raised an eyebrow at her when she broached the topic to him while they were eating lunch in their kitchen.

"Golden rule?" he asked, "You mean like respecting your privacy or whatever?"

Maka hummed, "Well, yeah, but that's not really what I'm talking about."

Soul sat in his seat, patiently waiting for her to elaborate.

"I have one rule in this partnership. One I hope you respect enough to not violate it. If you do go against it, then I don't think we can continue to work together." She said diplomatically.

Soul snorted, "Geez, enough with the serious atmosphere and just tell me already. And do I need to sign a contract with my blood while I'm at it?"

Maka growled at him in irritation but fought off Maka Chopping him. Taking a deep breath she said, "So you know how my parents are getting a divorce, right?"

At this point she had told Soul that the Death Scythe her mother made was the Death Scythe currently in use by Lord Death. After hearing the entire story of how her father cheated on her mother and her reasoning for wanting to make a more powerful Death Scythe for Lord Death, Soul readily agreed to help her meet her goal. Something about how what her father did wasn't "cool" and it'd be awesome to knock him down a peg or two.

"Yeah…?"

"Well, they were partners before getting pregnant with me and then marrying young." She continued, "I don't want to end up like them, having to dissolve years worth of a partnership over something as stupid as a relationship. So, my one rule of this partnership is this: I don't ever want us to fall in love with each other. Does that sound like something you think you can handle?"

It seemed like a ridiculous thing to ask of him. They're both not even teenagers yet—barely interested in frivolous things like dating and kissing—and here she was asking him to never have any romantic feelings for her, ever.

Soul waved his hand in a flippant manner, "Alright, sure, whatever." He then barked out a laugh, "You really have nothing to worry about. As if I'd go for someone with tiny tits like yours—"

"MAKA CHOP!"

Maka sniffed in disdain as she marched out of the kitchen, leaving her weapon partner prone on the linoleum floor. Honestly, even though she had chosen Soul to be the one she wanted to wield, it didn't changed the fact he was a boy—all crude remarks and bad attitude.

Never falling in love with him was not going to be a problem.

There was a problem…

Maka didn't know how it had happened. She didn't know how she could have let it happen. It crept up on her. Performed a sneak attack and landed a clear hit right in between her eyes.

She was in love.

With her partner.

She loved Soul "Eater" Evans.

She was so screwed.

One rule. She made one rule and she couldn't even follow it!

Don't fall in love with your weapon partner. It was simple. Anyone could do it.

And yet she couldn't.

At the beginning she simply wrote it off as strong platonic feelings. She and Soul were surprisingly compatible with each other. Their Soul Resonance was impeccable, impressing even the likes of Doctor Stein and Lord Death himself. Soul became someone she could trust with her life. Of course she cared about him.

But as the years went on, the stronger her feelings became. She had started to crave more of his attention. She started to look forward to those quiet moments where it was just he and her lounging in their apartment just basking in each other's presence. Her heart thudded against her ribcage painfully whenever he was near her. It didn't help that puberty was being very good to him. She had never found a boy so…so damn attractive before!

She didn't find out the true nature of her feelings until she was talking with Miss Marie. She became semi-retired after the birth of her and Stein's daughter. Semi-retired because she felt too attached to the students of the DWMA to completely leave them just yet. It was during one of the days she came to teach a class that she and Maka met up to have tea together.

"How's Soul?" she had asked.

"He's good," she replied. "Kid has been training with him recently. Since he's a Death Scythe, he should be learning how to be wielded by a Death God."

Marie nodded, "It must be hard for Kid, though, considering he has never been good with using just one weapon…"

Maka giggled, "He's gotten a lot better. Though it did take a long time before he could hold Soul completely without going blue in the face. He thought about wielding both Soul and my father, but Liz and Patty had to convince him that it wouldn't be practical carrying around and fighting with two scythes."

Marie laughed with her. She finished up her tea before changing topics, "But you and Soul are still partners, right? You haven't been seeking a new weapon?"

Maka shifted uncomfortably. A lot of people have asked her that same question recently. With Soul potentially becoming Kid's new weapon, what was going to be left of the scythe meister who made him a Death Scythe? She had tried to broach the topic with Soul a couple of times but he always evaded it. He told her that he considered Maka his true partner, and him being a Death God's weapon was just in case another powerful foe like Kishin Asura were to come back into existence.

"Besides," he had said to her, "if that were to happen, then it'd be you and me all the way. Kid would be more comfortable using Liz and Patty to fight."

His logic was sound but Maka still wasn't too sure. She relayed all this to Marie.

Marie nodded in understanding, "I can see why you're both hesitant to change. You've been together for so long now. How long has it been exactly?"

"I joined the DWMA a couple of months before I turned twelve. So…it would be five years now."

"Wow…five years together. No wonder you two are so in love with each other!" she said, breathing a tinkling laugh.

Maka's world froze as her beloved professor's words knocked the air out of her. "Wh-What?"

Marie's laughter cut off, her expression frozen in shock, "You… You and Soul love each other, right? That's why your resonance is so good. Am… Am I wrong?"

It took almost half an hour for Marie to calm Maka down, who had started to hyperventilate. She couldn't believe this. Not Marie's mistake in her and Soul's relationship status, but the fact that no matter how many excuses Maka tried to come up with, she knew it in her gut to be true. She really, truly was in love with her weapon.

And she didn't know what to do about it!

She was thankful pre-kishin activity was low since Crona trapped Asura on the moon, thus containing madness. Otherwise, she wasn't sure how she and Soul would fare in battle with her emotions being all over the place.

Even without missions Soul was catching on that something was up with his meister. After all, their bond was so strong they could sense each other through their wavelengths without Soul Resonance activated.

She would brush him off though, saying she just wasn't feeling well. Soul, in turn, would respond to this by cooking dinner for her, buying her the type of candies she liked to eat, and even giving her shoulders a massage to help relieve some of her tension.

These random acts of kindness were not helping reduce her attraction to him. In fact, it was the opposite! His consideration of her wellbeing was making her love him more if possible!

Dammit!

Maka groaned into the throw pillow on the couch. What was she going to do?

She had told herself that if things went wrong between her and Soul then she would terminate their partnership. After they managed to make it through their wavelengths mismatching during the fight with Free, Maka thought their partnership would be invincible.

Now feelings of love were thrown into the picture and Maka felt like crying. Of course love would ruin everything. Love always managed to ruin her life in some way.

And she wasn't even feeling distraught because she had broken her own rule. No, it was because…well, as tragically girly as this sounded, she was upset because her love for Soul was one-sided. She just knew it was. Soul had never given her any indication that his love for her was any deeper than that of a devoted weapon to his meister. He followed their golden rule perfectly, no problem!

Ugh, she should just bite the bullet and break things off between them. As much as she wanted to be selfish and stay with Soul despite her unrequited love, she knew in the long run it'd hurt her.

And Maka never wanted to be hurt by a man, no matter how much she trusted said man with her life.

"What's going on in that big brain of yours this time?" came a voice she both loved and hated right now.

Maka gave another groan into the throw pillow, "What do you mean 'this time'?"

Soul snorted, "You always get this way when you think too much about something. I also bet it's not as big of a deal as you're making it."

He made her sit up on one end of the couch so he could perch on the other end. Maka tried to avoid his questioning but patient stare. She didn't want to give anything away to him with her eyes.

"You're right, it's really not a big deal," she said, hoping her voice wasn't betraying her. She bounced up from her seat, "Well, it's been a long day. I'm gonna shower and get some studying done before bed—"

"Hold it." Soul commanded, grabbing her wrist so she wouldn't move another inch away from him. "You've been acting so off these last few weeks. Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?"

Maka frowned at him, avoiding those red eyes she had come to realize make her melt into a puddle of goo every time she looked into them. "I'm sorry if I worried you. It's just…dumb."

Soul returned her frown, "Maka, you're always telling me that keeping secrets from each other won't do our partnership any good. You listen to me when I've got something on my chest, now it's my turn. Tell me what's been eating at you. Please?"

She can't help but giggle at him adding a "please." It was kind of adorable of him. That line of thought sobered her as she sighed.

"You'll just laugh at me if I tell you."

That or be utterly disgusted with her before declaring their partnership finished for breaking their rule. She had just come to terms with these feelings; she couldn't bear it if she revealed her heart to him only for it to be shoved back into her hands before he walked out the door…

"Okay, then I won't laugh." Soul said, as if it were that simple. He gently tugged her back onto the couch with him, "Just tell me what's wrong, Maka."

A whine tore it's way from the back of Maka's throat as she buried her face in her hands. "I messed up."

Soul's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "Messed up? You? How could teacher's pet Maka Albarn mess up?"

He was trying to make things light, trying to maybe make her laugh, but when his words didn't elicit a reaction Soul knew that whatever was bothering his meister was serious.

"I broke our rule…" she mumbled. Soul had to strain his ears to hear her.

"Huh? Rule? What rule?"

Maka's head sharply rose as she glared at him. "The Golden rule, Soul! The one we were never supposed to break! I broke it, and now I'm a nervous wreck because of it!"

There, it was out there now. She had pretty much confessed her love for him.

But instead of Soul's eyes widening in realization before giving her the inevitable rejection, the boy just blinked at her. His eyebrow rose as he tilted his head in confusion. Maka could have screamed. Surely Soul remembered the one rule they made when their partnership started, right?

"Are… Are you talking about the rule about going against Lord Death's List?" Soul hesitantly asked, "Because other than when you refused to kill Crona, I'm pretty sure you didn't go off anywhere to fight a bunch of random citizens in order to take their souls…"

"Maka Chop!"

"What the FUCK, Maka?! Why'd you hit me?!" Soul snarled, nursing his poor head.

"You absolute moron! I'm not talking about that! Why on earth would I be talking about Lord Death's List of all things?!"

"It was the only rule I could think of! We don't make a lot of those, you know!" he argued.

"Well we did!" she snapped, "At least, we made one. And I broke it!"

"Would you stop being vague and tell me what rule you broke already?"

"The one we made when we first moved in together! When we decided we weren't going to fall in love with each other!"

There was an awkward silence as Maka's words sunk in. She was panting due to her outburst, the truth coming out both releasing and putting a great weight on her shoulders. She waited anxiously for her weapon to say something to her confession.

Of all reactions she imagined Soul to have, him smacking himself with the palm of his hand was not one of them.

"Oh, crap, that rule. I can't believe I forgot about that."

Wait…what?

"You…forgot?" How could he forget? It was kind of a big deal. At least, it was for Maka…

Soul's cheeks took on a red tinge, a finger coming up to scratch his cheek. His eyes were looking everywhere but at Maka.

"Well…yeah. Now that you mention it, I remembered agreeing to that. But at the time it felt like such a stupid thing to worry about, so I kinda pushed it to the back of my mind and then never thought about it ever again. I guess it was a good thing I did forget, otherwise I probably would have been freaking out too after I found out…" he trailed off.

Maka's eyes widened at his admission. She felt her mouth go dry as she asked, "Found out? When you found out what?"

Now it was Soul's turn to groan as he hid his red face in his hands.

"Ugh! You're gonna make me say it, aren't you? Fine!" he removed his hands and turned to face Maka. Taking a deep breath, he confessed, "I broke the rule too. Like, smashed it into a million, gazillion pieces broken. That rule was so broken it had to be cleaned up with a vacuum cleaner. So…yeah."

Maka blinked at him. She processed his words slowly in her head so she could make sure she wouldn't misunderstand. When she felt like all the pieces clicked together, she turned her gaze back to her weapon.

"You… You love me?"

He barked out a laugh, "Have been for years but thanks for noticing."

Maka's jaw dropped. So it wasn't just her? Soul really broke the rule too? And he had known about his feelings for years?

"Wh-What? Really?" she asked. Considering Soul spent most of their adolescence making fun of her flat chest, the thought that he had been in love with her for a long time just didn't sound right to her ears.

"Yeah." Soul said, "In the beginning I wrote it off as a crush. I mean, you were the only girl I was ever close to. I thought my brain was just…I don't know, making a default connection or something? Anyway, I realized my feelings were the real deal a year later when they didn't go away."

"Oh…" she said. Then hesitantly she asked, "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

After the question came out of her mouth, she knew it was a stupid thing to ask. Considering the dilemma she put herself through, she had a pretty good idea why Soul kept his mouth shut.

Soul shrugged, "I may have forgotten about your rule, but I didn't forget what happened with your parents. I knew you weren't crazy about meister and weapon relationships. I didn't want to ruin what we had by admitting that I was stupidly in love with you. The last thing I wanted was to freak you out. It wouldn't have been cool of me."

Maka nodded. He knew her too well. Biting her lip, she said in a soft voice, "I'm still afraid though… I do love you Soul. I do. But there are so many things that could go wrong. What if we're doomed to repeat history and be just like Mama and Papa?"

Soul sighed, frowning. Reaching out to her, he held her hands in his. He rested his forehead against hers, holding her gaze as he said, "Maka, I understand. I know you're scared—hell, I'm scared. But we've faced worst things in life than this. I'm not saying it's going to be easy because it's not. I trust you. I trust us. I'm willing to make this work if you are."

He then gave her a soft smile—one that Maka knew he only showed her in his most sincere moments, "If you aren't comfortable with the idea of a relationship right now, I understand. I'm willing to wait. I mean, I've waiting this long, right?"

Maka felt her eyes water. How could she deny him? He's been so good to her. True, things weren't always perfect but nothing was meant to be perfect. She loved him. Love him so much. From the very beginning she was drawn to him. It was as if her soul knew before she did that he was the one for her. She wanted to be with him.

She was scared, though, but wasn't she supposed to be the courageous one? What was courage if not marching forward even when faced with fear? She could face off against a powerful Kishin; it'd be stupid to not attempt the whole love thing with her best friend.

Cheeks burning and nerves steeled, she squeezed his hands. "I want to! I want to try! I want to be with you!"

He grinned at her, the sharp teeth she loved so much glinting back at her.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

They sealed their decision with a kiss.

AN: This was originally going to have Soul freak out for breaking the rule, but figured it'd work better if it were Maka since she'd be more hesitant about dating her weapon than anyone else.

Thanks for reading! Review if you enjoyed it!