Soul heard the shuffle on the engawa, the door sliding open as Maka stood there in a simple yukata. "What're you doin' here?"

"You weren't going to come tonight, were you?"

He shifted, but she moved closer until she was kneeling at his bedding.

"And now you're not going to take off your mask?"

His hand floated upward, fingers touching at the edge just above his lips.

"It's not like I don't know what you look like." Her playfulness weakened just as his hand did, falling back to his lap with a short slap. "Soul, please…"

He only looked away, showing her the seam between the darkness of the mask and his tan skin.

Her fingers tightened into aching fists as she rubbed her knuckles against her thighs. Her yukata barely took the punishment but that pain was necessary to roll the words off her tongue. "Take it off."

Soul grunted, lowered his chin slightly, but gave nothing else away.

"Take it off," she urged, not a plea but an order. After another beat of silence, Maka lifted up on her knees, her hands reaching firmly for the edges.

His hands met her wrists, snatching them away just as they almost reached him.

"Take it off." Frustration blared off her tongue, the words tainted heavily. "Tell me what's wrong! Tell me why– why you acted like that in front of Medusa! You know you should have come with me, but you–"

The building scream caught in her throat as he pushed her back, both of them toppling onto the tatami mat. Soul pinned her wrists under his hands, flattening them to the floor just as he straddled her. There was no fight between them, just stillness. It was then that the tension in his grip relaxed, allowing for her hands to slip out of his holds. Quick fingers got away to their real quarry, reaching for the seam to tug the mask free as it slid up and over his hair.

Relieved of his covering, his eyes still focused away as the muscles along his jaw popped.

"Look at me," she snapped.

Red, gleaming eyes refused.

Tossing the mask aside with a clatter, Maka's fingers came back to his face, grasping his cheeks to turn him. A grimace grew at her touch, but his eyes finally crept along her jawline to lips pressed thinly together. He watched the words form slowly with that building anguish. "What do you want?"

"Lie again," he murmured, mouth barely moving to force the words.

Her brow furrowed as her hands dropped away from him.

Soul's eyes followed her fingers, watching as they hung loosely next to his palms still pressed to the floor. "Lie to me this time. I want to hear it."

With the storm that lay before her, there were multitudes to name. "You said keeping my secrets wasn't lying…"

His hand raised before his fist crashed against the floor, his skin starting to ache with the threat of blades to come– of the dark fear that wanted to pull him under. "I can't stop hearin' it in my head, so if you say it– if you say it again–" I can see it in your eyes. I'll be able to see the lie in your eyes and I can let this go. I can let you go.

"I don't know what you want me to say," she murmured.

"Lie to me." For the first time, his voice petered off into a lamenting moan, more hateful blades itching under the skin of his hands, hoping to puncture the wood underneath. Each strike matched the beats of his heart, his control wavering as he towered over her. "Say that you love me again."

Maka's eyes widened, the air stale in her throat. "Soul, you heard that?"

Forget it! He barely kept it from bellowing it with the breath that filled his lungs as he scrambled off of her. As his heart and mind clashed, fighting one another in a desperate battle that he'd never win, he was trapped by her hands grasping into his kosode. Her touch was no longer gentle, yanking him to keep him on his knees before pulling him towards her.

"Soul, listen to me."

His hands tried to grip into the tatami in vain. Instead, she managed to turn him.

"I can't say that again if you're asking me to lie," she whispered as her hands now clenched over his chest in hopes he wouldn't fly.

"We're a lie," he muttered with all the strength he had left.

"The show is a lie," she laughed dryly. "What I feel isn't." She knocked a weak fist against his sternum. "Maybe it's time to tell you the truth– the secrets I've kept."

His sigh trembled in acquiescence as she pulled him close enough that their knees met.

"The reason I came here is not the reason I stayed–" She hiccuped another laugh so the tears wouldn't take her. "I-I know that maybe at first I felt sorry for you." Her hands unclenched to smooth down the front of his kosode. "But the more you showed me who you truly are, the more I–"

Soul couldn't keep the flimsy plea from leaving his throat: "Stop."

"Stop what?" She dipped her head, letting it rest on his shoulder so her words warmed his neck. "Lies are everywhere about you, and they're easy to believe when you look at the outside and let only what you used to show people be the entirety. But the hidden pieces that you finally let me see–"

"Stop." His hand trembled as he placed it on her neck. He had hoped to push her away, but all he could feel was the warm pulse, the tickle of her hair. "Please, Maka."

"Tell me what you want me to stop." As soon as her voice stilled, her hands moved, tenderly embracing him so that they could drift across the fabric on his back.

"Everythin'." He filled that word with uncertainty. "I don't want to put on this act anymore. You'll leave tomorrow."

Maka pulled her hands instantly away, uncovering her face and stealing her heart away from him. "You said going was up to me, so look at me when you threaten that."

I can't. He tried to grab her elbows and pull her away but she only tangled tighter.

"Look at me and tell me you don't feel the same way." She was an unrelenting storm, raging enough to leave him unable to squirm away. Instead, her lips dipped closely to his, whispering warmly: "If you say it– if you tell me you don't feel anything for me, I'll leave on my own. But I want you to stop telling yourself that when I look at you I see a beast and not a man I want to stand beside."

Dismay and terror wrinkled his face, a sick smile passing over his lips as his chin turned to the ground. His mouth gaped and for a moment he was sure he could do it—birth those terrible words into the world—but all that came was the utter death of his breath.

Maka placed a firm hand on his cheek, moving him back. "Look me in the eyes, Soul, and tell me whether or not your fear outweighs what you feel for me."

Reaching for her was in no way instinctual, his mind calculating every iota of the touch before it happened. It was an eternity before his hand cupped her cheek, another millenia before his thumb smoothed along the curve there. Pink blossomed on the skin under his touch and his eyes trailed along the color until he could no longer keep himself from following her order. Their eyes met and his voice cracked as he murmured, "That's the worst part– it's so bad that I'm sure I'd risk anythin' just to have you. I-I would risk hurtin' you, lettin' you get hurt, just to–"

"What do you think you're protecting me from?" Her hand moved over top of his, keeping it pressed warmly to her skin as her fingers searched over his knuckles.

"Me," he answered with a rueful laugh.

"Idiot…" Maka reached for the seam of cloth and skin, daring fingers dipping to touch the warmth of his chest. His breath hiccuped and his hand weakly reached for hers. Instead, her palm drifted upwards out of his slow reach, tucking into the collar of his kosode. "I'm not leaving you."

His exhale trembled over his lips as her hand reached his neck to tuck into the rogue white hairs that had stuck there. "I don't want you to, but it's too much for you to stay here. Medusa… she's been too interested in you."

Her teeth toyed with her bottom lip.

"Don't start makin' some plan," he grumbled.

"What?" Her mouth reflexively turned to a pout.

"Your lip– you bite it when you're thinkin' of a way to get out of things." His hand came up and grasped her wrist, trying to part her warm fingers from his hairline. "Medusa's not gonna stop until she figures out exactly what you are– if she hasn't already. That means you won't be able to stay here."

She allowed him to remove her hand but slid her fingers into his, grasping tightly. "Then come with me."

He scoffed.

"Come with me," she repeated without the bat of an eye.

"That's your plan?" he practically yelped. Soul tumbled back as Maka shifted her weight to tackle him. As if their connected hands had passed the message, she pinned him closer as the warmth of her body was no longer an illusion between them.

"I don't think you should be scared of me getting hurt because together, Soul, I know. I just know that if we stand together there's nothing that can break us apart." Excitement oozed off of her in waves, almost pulling him into the dream that was drifting off her lips. "You don't deserve to live like this."

Instead, his muscles ached as he turned his head, eyes forced towards the wall. "What I deserve…" drifted off in a bitter murmur.

Maka was there to catch it, the hand joined to his coming up to knock him in the cheek and force his head back to her. It was a beautiful vision– her hair cascading over her shoulders as she dipped, green eyes disappearing behind calmly closing eyelids as she tilted enough to let their lips meet. It was chaste, fleeting, but it was enough to unlock every last bit of want inside of him.

Still, he lay frozen, his breath desperate and shaking between them as she parted their lips.

"If you can't think of what you deserve, then at least think of me," she pressed as her body did the same to sink into him. Her face fell into the crux of his neck. "Anyone I've ever loved has left me. I don't want the same thing to happen with you."

Soul detached their fingers only to let his arms engulf her. The murmur scraped up the back of his throat: "I just want to protect you."

Even with the softness of her touch, the way her hands were moving feather light over him, her words came with fierceness: "You can't do that if we're apart."

His sigh rattled between them in their embrace. "Stubborn," he muttered with all the sweetness in the world as one of his hands moved into her hair. Gently, he pulled back her head, revealing obstinance shining in those jade eyes. "You…" There were so many accusations to be charged, but all he could do was tilt closer to finish what she started.

Originally, touch was a sin– something that maybe Soul remembered from his youth. That first time he'd caved to her, crumbling to pieces with her hand on his cheek, he had begun to accept that there was healing in the pads of those fingers. Now, with her lips hungrily stealing warmth and breath from him, Soul realized the depths that need could reach. No, I can't let you leave. I was a stupid to even–

She pulled away, fingers suddenly working nervously into the collar of his kosode. "I'm not going."

Soul cracked a grin. "That's what I'm supposed to beg, isn't it?"

"No," she corrected quickly. "I'm staying with you tonight."

Suddenly he was too aware of the way her heart seemed to be beating next to his, one chest instead of two in their closeness.

"I have…" Her voice started as nothing more than a drifting whisper, but the next she forced with that same spirit he often heard tinging her sweet lilt with pride. "I have watched you blossom a hundred nights."

That old vow from the book… He wanted her eyes but he was so struck with the fear that in a moment he'd awake, that none of this would be real and he'd be in that dark room.

"I have enjoyed the bloom, untainted and beautiful in the divine light of a hundred moons."

"Maka…" His weak murmur was overcome by her finger placed gently to his lips.

"No other has fallen to your charms, enraptured by your heady perfume for evenings without end." Her fingers dipped to his lower lip, plucking it slightly open as if the next should come from him, but serving the sentence with just as much delight as the last. "Tonight, I declare my powerlessness, my captivation by you and all you are. Allow me to take that which I have so wanted, and in return, I will pledge to forever protect the rare treasure I have found."

Soul's heart fluttered in a frenzy as he gently tugged her head away, seeing jade shining with a soft glint of tears. "You do not take what I freely give," he joined her in a shaking whisper, "for I am just as much yours as you have become mine." His smile came easily now, his fingers running from her hair to catch the only tear that dared to fall down her cheek. "Stay with me tonight. And the next night, and–"

She caught his promises with her kiss, drawing him in to make more under their hundredth moon.


The ache of her body only echoed the one in her heart as he stared quietly at her in the pale moonlight. Soul's tender fingers were still searching over her, toying with stray strands before tracing her collarbone to her shoulder. "Did I hurt you?" he murmured, that sweet bit of worry lining his brow.

"No." Maka smiled as she shifted her legs. "Sort of sore like using muscles you haven't before."

That didn't alleviate the pained look, bringing him up on his elbow to peer into her face. "I'll take you to the bath, then. You can soak and… clean up, I guess." A little flash of pink peppered his cheeks.

"Wait." Maka caught the next gentle stroke of his fingers, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek. "I'm sorry."

A soft blink of his eyes was his only answer.

Maka folded her lip between her teeth but his thumb flicked down, leaving enough of a gap that the words could continue to spill. "What we are now– I never imagined–" A breathy, trembling laugh broke her voice before she could start again. "I came here ready to hate you." While that felt anything but tender coming from her mouth, she made her hands spell the opposite as she lovingly fluttered fingers down his chest. "I came here looking for my papa and if I found out that you had him, I was willing to kill you to get him back."

Soul's eyebrows crinkled. "Why would your father be here?"

"A man named the Scythe..." Maka hated the way the name still made him wince. "My papa's just like you, Soul. He's a scythe too."

The tightness in his forehead dissipated before he was still again.

"I think that's why I was able to–"

"No." He cut easily into her explanation before dipping his lips to hers, dusting a gentle kiss before whispering, "Maybe havin' it in your blood helped, but it was more how you made me feel for you."

"And that's why it feels like I've been using you…" That was the real pain, multitudes more weighty than the ache of letting him between her legs. To her, her hands spoke nothing more of betrayal as she grasped at his shoulders. "Not telling you any of this– pretending makes what I've done tonight just–"

"Do you love me?" His trembling fingers dipped under her chin, caressing gently at her neck.

"Of course," she whispered hoarsely, the burn of tears almost choking it before she could bring it to life.

"Then when were you pretendin'?" His question was so delicate, but before she could even answer he was murmuring back the answer for her. "None of it, not a moment from when you were Masao to now did I ever feel like you weren't bein' true to what you wanted. I told you before that you were allowed to have secrets—I had mine—and havin' those didn't change what you did for me."

"But–"

He caught any terrible excuse she could give with another sweet kiss, one so gentle that it spurred the warm tears down her cheeks. Her hiccup of a sob broke the kiss, ordering his fingers to her face to clear the deluge. "I-I'll only regret this if you tell me now that those vows weren't for me."

She felt the pull of air into his chest as it rested against hers, the way he held it tight for the impact. While his sternum lay still, her breathing came easily. "Well, if you count all that time as a page, we've done more than our hundred nights…" She drifted a soft caress from his shoulder down his back. "The only thing we had left was this before we were husband and wife…"

His forehead dipped to hers. "You mean that? Husband and wife?"

"You said you didn't mind being a delicate flower, Soul," she chided gently.

"Maka…" His call for her was laced with desperation and love. Even if she had entertained fantasies before, there was no comparison to the way his lips worshiped her skin, grazing along her neck as he sank against her.

She sighed sweetly, letting his hand tangle into her hair again as his kisses made a comforting journey along her skin. "Which means you have to come with me." She dug her fingers into his shoulder, holding him to her. "I want you to come back home with me. To meet the other weapons and… to have a life there. Where you can be happy."

"Leave here," he murmured against her ear, hand stroking lovingly towards her neck as his fingers lingered under her chin.

"I know it might be hard to leave your brother–"

"No–" The mournful admittance came with a quick sigh. "I don't think it will be. But the thing about my uncle, my grandmother…" He lifted his head, finally focused on the task at hand rather than the one he wanted for his lips.

"We'll focus on finding them as soon as we're safe." She tenderly ran her palm down his arm. "You'll get to meet the people I consider family and they'll help us find yours. I promise."

"So we'll leave." His chest inflated but the air caught while he stared down at her.

"Yes." Maka hoped more loving touches would kickstart his breath so she moved her hand to his chest, toying with the tender skin of his sternum. "I hate to say it, but I'm going to let Star plan this one. He's already threatened we'll leave in a week."

Soul laughed weakly, expelling what was left of his held breath. "You sure he can handle this?"

Maka smirked. "He's not great at entrances, but exits…" She let the giggles take her for a moment, finally letting the relief dig into her heart. "We'll be fine. I trust him. And I trust in us."