Star knew that sour look all too well, the pout of Maka's lips along with the completely undignified wrinkle of her brow. "So you're the new page!" All his bravado earned him more of a scowl from that normally angelic face while Soul turned and gazed at him with little interest.
"Who let you in?" Soul grumbled.
"Your brother, of course." He continued his jovial jaunt towards the pair on the engawa, the exhaust of Soul's pipe reaching a grey finger towards him. "Introduce me."
"No reason to," Soul muttered but a bit of a grin was starting at the corner of his mouth.
Star kicked up some dust before snapping his tongue. "This one at least looks like he ain't gonna run." A joyful smirk washed his cheeks as he turned his amusement towards Maka. "Too scrawny to do it."
There was enough satisfaction in watching Maka bite her lip to keep back the curse, but even more blossomed as Soul finally sighed and waved towards Star. "This is Black Star, from far beyond the sea, a lord in his own right–" Soul cut off with another exhausted roll of his wrist. He leaned closer towards Maka, but still far enough to maintain that orb of safety always around him. "My brother insists on me ' getting to know him .'"
"And the best way to get to know each other is to spar," Star crowed to break the two, watching as Soul's lean snapped straight. "C'mon, I didn't bring bokken for nothin'." He reached into the sling on his back, pulling out two wooden swords. "Unless you're outta shape? All that sittin' and smokin'–"
Soul's free hand disappeared into the sleeve of his kosode, but the way his muscles corded along his arms spoke of the fists hidden inside. "I don't fight."
"Anymore," Star added as those scarlet eyes sizzled with fire in return. "Bet not everythin' I've heard about you is a rumor." A blustering bit of disappointment churned his gut as he watched Soul refuse to break against the challenge.
"If you want a fight, your lordship, then will I do?" Deviousness was a halo shine on Maka, already getting to her feet to pose with a little bit of victory.
"A page who can fight?" Star let the scoff come with just enough haughty realism. "Aren't you lucky, Whitey." He particularly savored the look of disdain that name brought both in the party. Maka'll give me a tongue-lashin' for it later, I'm sure.
"Give me that sword," Maka grumbled at him as she strode to snatch it.
Star lifted them victoriously overhead, a deep cackle starting in his chest. "Pretty mouthy for a page! You have to beat him yet?"
"Masao–" Soul started, but a flash of jade eyes back in his direction was meant to wither whatever comment would come next. Instead, a hint of a grin started on that usually blank face. "Give him a beatin'."
Damn, look at that! The thought added to his snickers as he lowered one of the swords for Maka. "Well, just know I won't take it easy on you."
"I wouldn't expect you to, your lordship ," she snapped back quickly as she grabbed the weapon.
This wasn't anything new and most certainly not exciting. They had fought with anything from words to swords since they could manage either, so the interaction was nothing more than a well-practiced dance between the two. The same old tune started, Maka's recklessness only surpassed by Star's bravado, turning what should have been practice swipes into concussion-creating strikes. There was no clatter of swords, only cracks and rumbles that threatened to break even the heartiest of wood.
Star lazily kept the corner of his vision on Soul, watching as the man tried to seem more interested in his pipe than the battle unfolding. He had smoked it down to the dregs, pulling every last bit of smoke from the embers before placing it on the engawa next to him. Without it to busy his fingers, Star spied Soul's knuckles starting to whiten as he gripped into the wood.
"You fight like a girl," Star sneered. Maka only snapped her tongue in return, now possessed to take a lunge that Star knew wasn't going to end in her favor. He stole her momentum, tossing her past him into the dust that billowed as she twisted along the ground. "It's all over you little–"
Star had brought the strike in high– sure that he had given Maka more than enough time to at least block the deadly blow. Instead of the hollow crack of wood, a meaty thud greeted him as Soul's arm blocked the path.
Is he insane? Star couldn't help but grin with a speck of momentary appreciation.
"This is over." As his other hand clenched over the wooden blade, it snapped under his fingers, letting the piece fall to the ground.
He is! He couldn't help but let the cackles fall off his tongue as he flipped the useless hilt in his hand. "Sorry, Whitey. Didn't mean to bruise your goods."
"Not my goods," he hissed as his arm finally dropped.
Star gave it as much focus as he could manage without drawing attention, wonder continuing to perk at the idea he could hold his arm so casually. That hit shoulda broke a bone at least, but he's acting like it's not even bruised.
It continued not even to occur to Soul as he tossed his head over his shoulder to Maka. "You alright?"
"I didn't need your help"—that prideful little chirp which Star was so used to sounded from the ground—"and you could have broken your arm!" The blonde head finally popped up, snapping around Soul's arm to glare at him. "What did you think you were accomplishing?"
"Keepin' your head from bein' bashed in," he hissed without hesitation.
Huh … Star raised an eyebrow.
"I was fine –" she pressed back before her hands started to hover between them as a threat. "Now show me your arm."
"I'm fine ," he muttered back as he slid any sight of the wounded area into his kosode.
Star watched one of those wild rolls of Maka's eyes before interrupting: "You sure this is your servant? Sounds more like your wife ."
Maka snapped frigid eyes Star's way, catapulting him into further laughter.
Even Soul offered a quick chuckle. "He's pretty pushy, huh?"
"Yeah, he is…" And you don't have a fuckin' clue, do you? Star shook his head slowly. "Then I guess practice is over for today. See you tomorrow?"
Maka's glower had done nothing to the stone of Soul's back, finally leaving her with no hope but to stomp over to the engawa to sit at his side. He'd been staring out into the yard for the past hour– thinking or dreaming of what she couldn't tell, but it still irked her to no end. "Show me your arm."
He sighed as he simply settled it further into his kosode, eyes remaining trained on the dirt baking in the sun.
It should be broken. That idiot never swings with anything less than full power, so it should at least be a shade of purple I've never seen before. "Show me your arm."
"Why?" he murmured.
"Because it probably needs to be dressed, salve or something, or maybe even amputated with the idiotic way you took that blow." For some reason, more threatened to surge from her chest, an anxiously hot wave burning up her throat.
While the movement spoke of calm, cold calculation, when Soul's eyes hit her she saw the storm behind them. "I took it because I had to."
Maka scoffed, watching that stoke the flame. "He wasn't going to hurt me!"
"And how do you know?" Soul shot back sharply.
Normally she'd snap at such severity but the bitterness that laced his words caught her tongue for a moment. I shouldn't. I'm supposed to have never met Star before this moment so fighting with him like that– I shouldn't know that while he's reckless, he'd never hurt me on purpose. "I assumed if you knew him–"
"Barely," Soul pressed back with another flash of fire in his eyes. "Assumin' gets you hurt. Think next time."
Think! She wanted to spit the word in his face.
"I-I don't want you to get hurt." His whisper was almost lost in the turn of his head, those searching eyes back to the garden.
Is that really it? Maka bit into her lip until the not so unwelcome sting sprang from her skin. You took a blow meant for me so I wouldn't get hurt ? A page boy? The monster– the Scythe risks his skin for that? "At least tell me if it hurts."
"Why?" he risked repeating himself.
"So I can forever be grateful for your foolish heroism"—she huffed—"or at least I can go to the physician and get you something for the pain."
A weak smile drifted under the mask, unsettling her more than the way his eyes shone before. "I don't feel it."
"You don't feel pain?" she offered quietly while her stare lingered over him as if she could catch sight of the abnormality.
"The smoke…" he motioned absently towards the kiseru he'd abandoned earlier. "I don't feel anythin' after the smoke."
That settled in her like a nettle. "And you smoke every day."
He nodded.
Maka wanted hesitation to steal the words, but they still slipped off her tongue: "Are you… in pain all the time?"
A bitter laugh rumbled in his chest as his only answer.
Pins spurred in her side, another trembling muscle in her stomach tightening. "Please, show me your arm."
A sigh drifted weakly off his lips before he slipped out his arm. The display was fleeting, only enough for Maka to catch the blackening under his skin.
"Soul–" she lurched forward but he sprung away.
"If I say it's fine, it's fine." All points of contact disappeared, his body an unyielding wall. "Don't think about it again."
It's black ! How is that fine? How is he not in agony? Maka barely resisted the urge to grasp at his sleeve. "The physician–"
"Would say the same thing." He let out a miserably sigh, his head falling into the hand of his injured arm. "Just let it go. Please."
Please? That spun in her mind, scraping at the rim of her sanity. Please what? Forget that you risked a limb for me? Forget that you play such music that bares your soul? Forget that you treat a child so gently that she might as well be your own? Forget that you– you–
His mutter and the start to his feet broke her thoughts: "I'm gonna lay down." He refused to even grace her with a glance before moving to his bedding, flopping down as if to reiterate his immunity to injury. "I don't want dinner."
Maka barely held back whatever bitter scream wanted to escape her. Instead, the same old refrain drowned her mind: what kind of man are you?
The missing patches in the roof let Star examine the sky as he stretched out on the floor that had mostly given way to dirt. Maybe at some point in history this place had been a home with a hearth that warmly welcomed family, but now it was a husk. Star knew this way served him better anyhow.
Maka slipped in through one of the misplaced boards, the door a crumbling mess that still attempted to cling to its hinges. "Are you sleeping here?"
Star shrugged. "How's this different from how we usually camp?"
"Well, if you're lording around, you should at least look like you haven't slept in a sty." She moved to his side, settling down on her haunches so he could catch a glimpse of that obvious displeasure on her face.
"I'll wash up in the river," he complained before shutting his eyes against the renewed glare from her. "Not like your little lord notices all that much as it is. As long as I'm clean when I meet with his brother–"
"Wes actually likes you?"
"Wes knows how to have a good time," Star chuckled. Suddenly, he was up on his elbows, narrowing his own gaze at her. "Hey, what did you say to Whitey?"
"Soul," Maka corrected sharply.
" Soul ," he mimicked.
Her arms settled firmly over her chest, chin uptilted with that signature defiance. "I don't know what you mean."
Could she be a bigger pain in the ass? He jutted a hand out to slap her knee, forcing a hard seat that clacked her teeth. "Never seen the guy so much as bat an eyelash at someone else, but he takes a blow for you?"
Maka pretended to be busy rubbing her backside with a sour frown.
He jostled her again. "You got in good with him. How?"
That deadly, pleased smile broke across her cheeks. "Oh, is that a compliment to my skills? Am I hearing someone say that I've somehow outdone him and won over the Scythe in a few short days while it's taken weeks –"
" Blah, blah, blah, " he crowed over her. "He's soft on women, so it's not surprisin'."
"I'm his page," she hissed back. "So being soft on women doesn't factor in. Though, I'm not sure it's just women. He is… gentle."
Star let out a long whistle, watching as it crinkled her brows. "You like him."
She scoffed.
"Nah, you're the quickest draw when it comes to faults, but you just said somethin' nice without shittin' on the guy first." He started to devolve into amused cackles, especially as the flustered pink came to her cheeks.
"There's plenty wrong with him," she spat back quickly, fingers suddenly popping out with each justification. "He's stubborn, lazy, can't take care of himself to save his life, has no taste whatsoever–"
"Guess that explains why he likes you!" Star snuck in with a flick to her forehead. "But what happened to 'he's stolen my dearest papa!' ?"
That greyed over any of the amusement, sending thoughtful jade eyes to the dilapidated flooring. "He is hiding something, but…" Her head shook as if to banish the thought. "Like I said, I'm staying. I want to know what's going on and if Papa is here, I will find him. I don't like Soul or trust him."
"Sure"—Star let another round of chuckles interrupt himself before raising his eyebrows inquisitively—"but that doesn't mean you're not gonna make him like you– trust you."
Maka huffed. "Isn't that my job? The more he trusts me, the more he tells me, and the less time we have to stay here until we both get what we need."
"Yeah, and you're comfortable usin' him." He eased back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Again, my job ." She wafted that away with a dismissive hand that only withered after the action. In a second, it was gripping into her hakama as her stare refused to come back to him. "Can you tell me what your hunch is now?"
Star tumbled the rest of the way back into the dust, easing quickly into fake sleep after a half-hearted yawn.
"Star," Maka complained.
He produced a snore.
There was a shuffle, her feet definitely connecting back with the haphazard flooring. "When you come back tomorrow, no more fighting."
"Buzzkill," he muttered.
Her foot connected with his side, but nothing more than a nudge. "His wound– it was black. Does that have something to do with your hunch?"
"Nope." He shrugged, lazily opening his eyes to see the dismay in hers. "But we both know that hit shoulda broke his arm."
"He's stronger than he looks," Maka murmured with a sigh. "Keep your ears and eyes open about the black. I think the physician might know something about it too."
Star rolled his eyes before shutting them again with another snap of a yawn. "Physician's a dead end– trust me."
She dug her heel into his side once more, this one nipping at his ribs. "You follow your hunches, and I'll follow mine."
