"This is the last box," Maka wiped a roll of sweat from her brow. "Guess I should start unpacking. Where should we start, Blair?" Blair rubbed against Maka's ankles, purring loudly. The companion was small in nature, but always found a way to make her presence known. Playing gentle fingers between Blair's ears, Maka pet her lovingly before stepping away to open the first box. Blair quickly lost interest, wandering off into the jungle of box towers to explore. Most of the boxes were undoubtedly filled with books, leaving Maka silently cursing herself for not just purchasing a kindle like her father recommended. It wasn't her fault, not really. He was the one that would bring her to the library every weekend, surely securing her love for the smell of old paper and the feeling of textured pages flipping under her fingers. In truth, she was simply weak for a hard copy.

A dozen boxes and a solid knot in her neck later, Maka felt the need for a break and some fresh air. As she opened the doors to the balcony, the first thing she noticed was the proximity of her neighbor. If she wanted to, she could climb over to their balcony with ease. The gap between the 2 was hardly a foot across. The second thing to catch her eye, was her neighbors apparent lack of a green thumb. They had 3 plants lined up along the railing, all of them withering terribly. It could almost be a crime.

The lights in the apartment suddenly flipped on and Maka could see the mysterious plant killer in question. His hair was curiously white and, from what she could see, he seemed to be listening to music. She watched him mouth the lyrics, though she couldn't make out what he was singing along to just by reading his lips. She lost herself in thought, thinking about what kind of people he and her other neighbors were. She wondered if she would truly meet anyone at all, or if she was doomed to read books to her cat for the rest of her life. Her first encounter came much sooner than she had anticipated. Curiously red eyes matched green, and before she could run back into her apartment he was out on his own balcony with a grin. "I'm guessing you're the new balcony mate?"

Handsome. Handsome was the perfect word to describe the man in front of her. Though, his appearance was strikingly absurd: red eyes, white hair, and fascinatingly sharp teeth. Fascinating because she was curious, that's all. Harmless curiosity is nothing to overthink. "Uh… yeah. I'm Maka." The balconies were close enough together that they could reach across and shake hands.

"Soul." His hand shoved itself into his pocket not a moment later. "So Maka, is there a reason why you were staring? Not gonna rob the place, right?"

Maka scoffed, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "At least I'm not a plant murderer. Look at these poor babies. You should be in jail. It's basically a sin." He glanced at his plants with a grimace. They were in rough shape: the leaves were turning brown and crisp and the ends and one of the plants had even lost the majority of its leaves. He turned his gaze back to her and was met with a quizzical brow. "Shouldn't they have flowers too?"

"Geez," he ran his hand through his hair and laughed nervously. "I'm feeling so attacked right now. Not cool."

"You wouldn't be if you watered your plants."

This girl was snarky. Soul kinda liked snarky. "Alright , alright. Don't you have something better to do than berate your neighbor you just met?"

She leaned forward and let her arms drape along the balcony. "Yes, I do." She paused, nudging her head in the direction of his sad excuse for plants. "But I can't ignore the injustice before my eyes."

With a snort, Soul leaned against his own balcony to match her eye level.

So green. Like mint.

"The injustice before your eyes? Well Sherlock, if you're so keen on plant care why don't you take care of them?" She reached across and roughly poked his chest.

"You can't just pawn off your babies because you can't handle the responsibility of caring for them, you know."

"Babies? They're plants, Maka." She gawked at him, feigning offence to his words.

"I will have you know they are living creatures, thank you."

"Uhuh." He pointed back to her apartment and pushed himself off from the balcony. "I'll leave you to your own errands. Seems you've got a lot to unpack."

Behind her she could see the piles of boxes still in place, with Blair sleeping on top of a rather unstable looking pile. "Yeah, I probably should." They both turned to head inside, but Maka stopped in her tracks for one last remark. "While I'm at it, I'll try to find you my book about plant care. You could probably use it."

Laughter filled the air, and Maka felt something she couldn't quite place. A thought of a very familiar shade of red flashed through her mind for a moment, and then it was gone.

Kind of like strawberries.

A week went by, and Soul came to the realization that he had forgotten to water his plants. Again. He rushed outside to see the damage, but was met with a different sight entirely. Luscious green leaves greeted him from the edge of the balcony, a note attached to one of the pots.

"I watered them for you. You really are bad at this."

"Heh." Gentle drops of water still remained on a few of the leaves, leaving him captivated. "Now that's just not fair."