*Separated*
Annnnd shocker! There's actually a chapter 2! I want to thank everyone for their kind words on the first chapter and hope you continue to enjoy this!
*S*
Being a new character is like going to a new school. You have to try to maintain your autonomy and your own personality.
~Mia Maestro
*S*
Chapter 2: School and Hiro
I stared at the ceiling for as long as I could the next morning, idly stroking the top of Blair's head while she lay curled up asleep next to me. Eventually I knew I would have to get up and get ready for school. I sighed and gently moved Blair so I could get ready. The cat blinked and sat up yawning.
"Morning Maka," she said sleepily.
"Good morning Blair," I said smiling over at her as I got dressed in my uniform. All in all, it wasn't too much different than the uniform I wore back home. The neck tie, bow thing however was different and I wondered if I could just do without it. I stuffed it in my school bag and decided that I'd put it on if something was said.
"What can I do while you're at school?" Blair asked blinking at me innocently.
"Well, my grandparents won't be here, so you can lounge around in your human form if you'd like," I said pulling my socks on. I grabbed my bag and smiled regretfully at her. "I'm sorry I have to go so early."
"It's okay Maka!" Blair said. "I'll just go walk around town if I get bored."
"Okay," I chuckled. "Just stay out of trouble okay?" She nodded, but you never know with Blair. I skipped down the stairs and called goodbye to my grandparents as I slipped my shoes on. I slipped out of the door and spotted Ichigo and Rukia waiting for me in front of his house. There were two younger girls standing with them.
"Good morning Maka," Ichigo said politely. Rukia muttered a quick good morning and turned her attention to the phone in her hands.
"Morning Ichigo, Rukia," I said eyeing the girls behind them.
"Oh," Ichigo said. "These are my sisters Karin and Yuzu. They're twins, even if they don't look it." He pointed to the dark haired one first and then the lighter haired girl.
"Hi," the one he pointed out as Yuzu said brightly.
"Hi," her twin said looking slightly bored.
"Hi, I'm Maka," I said waving at them slightly.
"Come on, we need to get going, I don't like being late," Ichigo said. We parted ways with Karin and Yuzu, who were both in middle school, at the corner and met up with the rest of Ichigo's friends at the next corner. I found myself laughing at their antics and smiled slightly, they reminded me of my own friends back home. Suddenly my chest started aching… I missed them all… Every last one of them. Even Black*Star, strange as that may be.
"Come on Maka," Orihime said. I hadn't realized that I'd stopped until she said something.
"Sorry," I muttered catching up with her at the back of the group. We had entered school grounds and were approaching the main doors. "I was just thinking about everyone back home."
"Did you read the letters?" She asked me as she led me to our classroom.
"Um, no actually," I said shaking my head. I rested my hand over my bag. "They're in here actually. I was going to read them when I got the chance."
"Hope you plan on waiting until lunch then," Ichigo said as we walked into the classroom. "Not sure about your old school, but we work through everything. If we finish our things for one subject we just go onto the next."
"Like science and history and stuff… Right?" Maka asked. Sure they taught Math and science at the DWMA, it just wasn't studied in depth like at other schools… After all, most people were only there to fight. Heck, the only history I'd actually been taught in school was the history of weapons and meisters. My mom made sure to teach me everything that I was missing at home. Hopefully I wouldn't be too behind.
"Yeah," Ichigo gave me a strange look and then looked at Rukia who gave a barely perceptible shrug. "And literature, math, some of us take English classes. Electives are cool too. We also have gym last period of the day." I blinked a few times. It finally hit me though. I was attending a real school. Like… a normal school. I felt somewhat excited, but I was also miserable.
"Gym sounds fun," I said. So it did. In order to stay in shape, the DWMA had the giant staircase in front of the school. Here I would have to find some other way of doing so. Tatsuki shot me a grin but before she could say anything, the teacher walked in.
"Alright everyone, take your seats," She said surveying the class. Her eyes caught onto me and she smiled. "Right, everyone we have a transfer student. Please come tell us a little bit about yourself." I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders.
"Hi everyone, my name is Maka Albarn. I'm from Nevada in the United States, um…" I said looking at the teacher uncertainly.
"What was your old school like Maka?" She asked. I laughed and realized she was being serious.
"It was… different… I guess you could say I was mostly homeschooled," I said scratching the back of my head.
"You can take the empty seat next to Mr. Ishida," she said waving me towards the dark-haired boy. I hurried to my seat and was glad to find myself at a window. I sighed quietly as the first lesson of the day started.
*S*
Lunch couldn't have come sooner for me. I followed everyone up to the roof and sat down at the edge of their group with my lunch. I wanted to focus on my letters instead of food or awkward questions at the moment. I took my four letters out and smiled, I opened my dad's first, ready to get it out of the way.
Dear Maka,
Papa misses you so much! If you need anything please don't hesitate to ask. I tried to get Lord Death to assign me closer to you but he wouldn't budge… Being the only Death Scythe that's a scythe I have to stay here. Well… I guess that's it then. Hmmm… I feel like I forgot something… Oh well. I love you Maka! Don't forget about me!
Love,
Papa
I rolled my eyes and carefully folded the letter up before putting it back in my bag. Leave it to Papa to make things weird by asking Lord Death for a reassignment. I shook my head and unfolded Black*Star's letter. I stared at it for several minutes before realizing… It was just his signature.
"That idiot," I muttered crumbling the piece of paper up. I set it to the side and looked up to see everyone's eyes on me. "Oh, sorry." I laughed. "Just a friend of mine back home… He has a god complex and thinks everyone needs his signature."
"Sounds like someone I know," Rukia said looking sideways at Keigo. The brown haired boy was clueless and continued to talk to poor Mizurio. I laughed again and grabbed my letter from Tsubaki.
Dear Maka,
I miss you so much! It sucked being the only girl left in our group for a while. I'm sure Blair already told you, but Soul and Black*Star got in a fight with Lord Death's son the other day. They tried to be a weapon and meister pair… But as you can imagine it didn't turn out very well. All in all, they were fine afterwards. I think Soul had a little bit of hurt pride, but you know Black*Star, nothing gets him down.
I think you'd like Lord Death's son, his name is Kid. Well, Death the Kid. He's a tad strange, but he's very nice and his weapon partners are pretty cool. Patty and Liz Thompson. They're twin pistols. Liz is the older sister and Patty is younger. I think you'd like them too. Maybe we can take a field trip. I'll have to ask Professor Stein.
OH MY GOSH! That's right. You weren't here… Sid died. It was dubbed as the "Statue to the Forehead" incident. No one knows what really happened though. Then he was zombiefied by Professor Stein who is our new teacher. He's… Pretty strange. Apparently he was your dad's first partner. He's really good.
I wish you were still here Maka. I miss my best friend. Write soon okay? Let me know how school is going for you. And don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on Soul.
From,
Tsubaki
At the bottom of Tsubaki's letter, there was a crayon drawing of a giraffe and beside it there was a sloppy note written.
"To Maka from Patty," I read the words out loud and laughed. It made me wonder just how old Patty was. But I guess it was nice that she decided to say hi… Sort of. The others shook their heads and ignored me for the most part. I guess they realized that I was in my own world. I grabbed Soul's letter next. I noticed it was heavier than the others and frowned slightly. I opened the envelope and tipped it upside down. Along with the letter, a necklace with a Lord Death mask pendant on it fell out. The symbol of the DWMA. I picked it up and cocked my head. It confused me as to why he sent this. I opened the letter with one hand and held the necklace with the other.
Maka,
Your idiot dad forgot to send this to you. Lord Death said you would need it if you wanted to get in with the Death Scythe that reigns over Asia. He knew you didn't have anything and apparently that is somehow official… I think it has Lord Death's signature on the back or something. I wasn't really paying attention.
Don't let Tsubaki worry you. The fight with Kid was easy as pie. Though I wish my meister had been there. I can't do anything without you. I have to take remedial lessons to make up for the missions I can't go on. Remedial lessons with Stein Maka. The man is insan-
Miss Albarn,
Can you please tell your friends to write letters to you outside my class? Next time they won't get off so easy.
Sincerely,
Professor Franken Stein
Oh, and Soul
I frowned at the letter and sighed. So much had already changed in the short amount of time that I'd been gone. I fastened the necklace around my neck and tucked it down my shirt. I saw Ichigo and Rukia eyeing where I'd just hidden it and wondered if they had seen it. I shrugged it off. Even if they had, it wasn't like the DWMA was some super-secret. Most people knew about it, even if they had just heard rumors.
"Everything okay back home?" Orihime asked politely. I went to nod then stopped.
"One of my old teachers died and my friends got in a fight with the son of the headmaster at my old school," I said.
"Ouch," Ichigo muttered.
"That's awful!" Orihime gasped. "Did they get punished? How did the teacher die?"
"Um… Not that I know of and I don't know," yeah… cause telling them he took a statue to the forehead would go over so great.
"What was with the necklace?" Rukia asked. "You don't particularly look like the kind of girl who would like skulls."
"You know boys," I said laughing. "They always pick something they like out and think that we'll like it too." I chuckled nervously.
"Boys? What boy? You have to tell us about him!" The other girls surrounded me and I was grateful when the bell rang for us to go back to class. Now I just had to make it to gym class.
*S*
After changing into my gym clothes, I followed Tatsuki, Rukia, and Orihime out to the track. I stretched my arms above my head and smiled. This… I could do this. Each year at the DWMA we had physicals that included several physical sports that we had to maintain and improve on throughout the year. It was part of being who we were. The NOT class was lenient, they wouldn't be in combat, so they weren't expected to be able to do much, but the EAT class was expected to be at the peak of physical health. After all, a sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body. Looking over at Tatsuki and Rukia, I deemed that both of them would be in great health, and probably be the most competition I would have here.
"Line up!" The teacher yelled walking over to us. The class had split into girls and boys when we'd entered the gym. That was another thing that was new. I was used to having the boys mingling around making rude jokes. It was strange… To not have to yell at Black*Star and Soul. I couldn't decide yet if I like that. "Girls, you'll be running the track today." He glanced over at me. "Miss Albarn, you don't have to participate if you don't want to."
"Oh please! I want to!" I said a little bit louder than I anticipated. I blushed slightly when people around me snickered.
"Alright," the teacher gave me a skeptical look and eyed me then looked at Tatsuki. He waved us over to the track and grouped us up in groups of four. And I guess luck would have it that I was paired with Rukia, Tatsuki, and Orihime. I glanced to the side where the boys were standing. I saw Ichigo shake his head at something the boy they'd introduced to me as Uryu said. "Get set," the teacher called raising a hand the held a stopwatch in it. "Go!"
I wasted no time, sprinting forward. I was shorter than Tatsuki and Orihime, but the latter had a bit more baggage to slow her down. Rukia and I seemed to be about the same height, but the dark haired girl fell back early on, leaving Tatsuki and I. I gritted my teeth in determination. I was a meister, I fought evil souls on an almost daily basis. I had to run up almost 100 flight of stairs to get to school. I could beat her. I imagined the familiar weight of Soul in my hands and closed my eyes. Getting distracted would cause me to lose focus and slow down. I opened my eyes and pulled up once we passed the specified end point. Tatsuki was fast, coming in mere seconds behind me, but… I have been attending the DWMA for a while.
"Man," Tatsuki groaned breathlessly. "You were running like there was a fire behind you or something." She grinned at me and straightened up. "I haven't been beat in forever. Good job."
"You too," I said smiling back. "You proved to be more challenging than I thought." I chuckled. What had surprised me however, was that Rukia had dropped back so early. I figured she would have been right there with us. I was used to seeing people with her build and muscle at the DWMA, the run should have been easy for her. I puzzled over this for the rest of the class period while keeping an eye on the boys when they ran. I wasn't shocked to see Ichigo come out in first, with Chad right behind him. For a big boy, he sure was fast.
"Good run Maka," Ichigo said after we had changed and were heading home. It was just him, Rukia, and myself.
"Thanks," I mumbled as we turned the corner to our street. Standing in front of my house was an older man with shaggy looking black hair. In his arms was Blair. Oh Death… I hope she hadn't gotten in trouble.
"Isn't that your cat?" Rukia asked narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Yeah, but I don't own the man," I said narrowing my own eyes. I activated my Soul Perception, and relaxed slightly. His soul was normal, and it wasn't giving off any angry vibes. So Blair was off the hook for now. The man looked up as we approached Ichigo's house. His eyes skimmed over them and landed on me.
"Maka Albarn?" He said walking over to us. Blair jumped out of her arms and ran towards me. I bent down to pick her up and she purred slightly.
"That's me," I said nodding slightly.
"Hiro Higurashi," he said sticking his hand out. I shook hands and smiled widely, this was the Death Scythe who presided over Asia then. He looked like he had just woken up. "Sorry that I just showed up unannounced. But I had an opening and couldn't resist coming to meet the daughter of Spirit and Kami Albarn." He looked over at Ichigo who were fidgeting awkwardly.
"Ah, Mr. Higurashi, this is Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki. Ichigo lives here, they go to my school," I said. "Maybe we should head over my house to talk." I suggested. "My grandparents aren't home until later."
"Hmmm," Hiro surveyed Rukia and nodded. "Perhaps you are right Miss Albarn. It was a pleasure to meet your friends," his tone suggested to me that it was anything but.
"I'll see you guys in the morning," I said quietly. This whole situation puzzled me, and after glancing over my shoulder, I could see Rukia on her phone. I led Hiro to my front door and unlocked the door quickly, hurrying inside.
"I do apologize about my behavior," Hiro said as we took our shoes off and I set my school things aside. Blair jumped down and turned human, Hiro didn't even blink. Then again, in our line of work, there were things that were a whole lot more strange than a cat who can turn human.
"Oh Maka," she said turning to me. "I chased off a black cat that was snooping around your open window." I sighed. Great… I would have to figure something else out for Blair.
"Thanks Blair," I said with a sigh. I was suddenly tired. "I'm going to go change, I'll be right back." I said to them both as I took off up the stairs. I locked my door and noticed that Blair had shut my window, so I pulled the curtains shut and changed quickly into my old clothes, even digging my boots out from the back of my closet. I carried them down in one hand and touched the skull pendant with my other. The look Rukia had given me earlier… It was almost as if she knew what this pendant implied… But that was almost impossible. "I'm back." I announced, setting my boots down in the doorway.
"Good," Hiro said smiling slightly. "Lord Death contacted me as soon as he found out you would be in Japan and that there was no getting you out of it. Usually we try to get weapons and meisters out of here as quickly as possible. The er… other forces at work here don't like it when the DWMA intrudes into things and Lord Death had long ago given them complete control over Japan unless things started to slip around here."
"Other forces?" I asked in confusion.
"That's all we ever call them. I don't even know if they have an official name," Hiro told me apologetically.
"So… Then Rukia?" I asked uncertain.
"Part of the deal with us staying out of their way is that they were to give us the list of names for the people in charge," Hiro said sliding a list over to her. "We were given a list of 26 names. And Rukia Kuchiki is a recent update to said list."
"So why is she here in school?" I asked, this whole situation had me confused.
"Probably stationed here…" Hiro shrugged. "Who knows, Lord Death won't tell us anything about these people. Who they are, how they work, nothing. All I know is that this guy right here," he pointed to the name at the top of the list. "Reports once a month to Lord Death." I blinked and sighed. More things to add to my growing list of stuff that I could be mad at my Mama and Papa about. Throwing me into the middle of a seeming turf war. "Anyway, it's my job to make sure you stay out of their way and not cause any problems. At least until we can get someone else from the DWMA over here to do it for me."
"Yay," I muttered sarcastically. A knock at my door had me bolting up to answer. "Hello?" I said practically throwing the door open. Orihime and Tatsuki stood there smiling at me. "Oh… Hi guys," I said taken aback. I certainly hadn't expected them to show up. "No offense, but what are you doing here?"
"Oh, well, Tatsuki wanted to come over and hang out, and I suggested that we come see what you were doing," Orihime said smiling.
"Oh, um," I looked over my shoulder where I could just see Hiro waiting patiently for me. The paper showing names had disappeared. "I have company." I said quietly, hoping my face was just the right amount of apologetic. In reality, I was extremely disappointed that I wouldn't get some time to get to know Tatsuki, she'd make a wonderful meister, but something about Orihime threw me off a little bit.
"Oh, well that's too bad," Orihime's face fell and I felt bad. These people had only known me for two days and they were being really nice.
"Maybe I can get away," I said quickly. "Let me go find out. Would you like to come in?" I asked opening the door wider. Too late did I remember that Blair was sitting at the table in her human form. I panicked and flew back to the table and heaved a sigh of relief to find her laying in Hiro's lap as a cat again. She picked up her head and winked at me as Tatsuki and Orihime entered the room.
"Oh, hello," Hiro said spotting them. "I wasn't aware that Maka had friends coming over. I do apologize." He looked from them to me a few times.
"Sorry," I said. Why on Earth did it feel like I'd failed a test? "This is Tatsuki and Orihime, they go to school with me as well."
"It's a pleasure to meet more of Maka's friends," Hiro said smiling. This time he was sincere, I could tell.
"Tatsuki, Orihime, this is Hiro Higurashi, he worked with my mom and dad for a while," I said. It was a good enough excuse, because he'd obviously heard of my parents, even if I was just hearing about him.
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Higurashi," Orihime and Tatsuki said bowing at the same time.
"Please, just call me Hiro," Hiro said laughing. "Mr. Higurashi makes me feel old." I watched as he looked down at his watch. "Ah, Maka I have to go for a while. Duty calls of course, I'll be in town for a few days, be sure to come find me." He never mentioned how I would find him, but I knew.
"Of course, it was nice to finally meet you," I said leading him to the door. We said a final goodbye and while I was standing at the door watching him walk away, Rukia and Ichigo exited his house and started to walk the opposite way, not looking back once. I sighed and closed the door. I walked back into the living room/dining room area to find Orihime and Tatsuki seated at the table waiting patiently for me. Blair was curled up on the couch in the background pretending to be asleep.
"So Maka, where did you learn to run like you did today?" Tatsuki asked once I sat down across from them.
"I was really into running back home," I said shrugging slightly. That of course, was an understatement. "There were also a bunch of staircases in my town so, I got used to running up and down them."
"That's all seriously? No sports or anything?" Tatsuki asked, her face shocked.
"Um no… I was always too busy with school to do sports," I said. That and the fact that the DWMA doesn't have any sports teams. Soul and Black*Star were always playing basketball, but I always opted out, I would rather read than play sports anyway.
"Do you have any interests?" Orihime asked suddenly. I'd thought she had spaced out, apparently I was wrong.
"Well, I like to read," I said, feeling like a dork.
"What about karate?" Tatsuki asked excitedly. I must have made a face because hers fell.
"I'm not very strong, hand-to-hand things weren't really my strong point," I hurried to make things right. "My friends Black*Star and Tsubaki were always the good ones at that." I noticed Orihime frown slightly before she smiled again.
"I like to sew," she supplied. I almost laughed, she was so simple sometimes.
"I've had to sew a lot, fixing holes in mine and Soul's clothes. It's always easier than going out and buying new ones," I said. Which of course is true. The only time I ever had to go replace things was when they were covered in blood.
"Oh most definitely!" She agreed, nodding so hard I'm shocked she didn't hurt herself. Tatsuki placed a hand on her head to stop her.
"Easy girl," she said laughing. "As you can see, she's easily excitable."
"Tell us more about your friends Maka," Orihime said. "You always get this look of sadness in your eyes when you mention any of their names."
"Orihime," Tatsuki hissed.
"No, its fine," I insisted. It was really. I loved talking about them. Somehow I felt like it would keep them in my memory better. "First off is Black*Star, he and I grew up together. He swears he is going to be a ninja one day. Honestly, he reminds me of a blue-haired Naruto." I shook my head. "He's always so loud you can tell when he's 'sneaking up' on you."
"This is the friend with a god complex?" Tatsuki asked. "Because he sounds too much like Keigo for me to even halfway think of liking him."
"Oh no, Black*Star really isn't like Keigo," I said hurrying to defend my friend. "Sure he's an idiot, but he's an extremely loyal friend. This one time some kid pushed me down the stairs and a few days later Black*Star picked him up and threw him down them." That had been our first week at the Academy. We were both placed in the NOT class and neither of us had partners just yet, but even then we'd been determined to be the very best. Tatsuki smirked, and Orihime gasped.
"That sounds like something you would do!" The orange-haired teen laughed.
"Yeah," Tatsuki admitted.
"Then there's Tsubaki," I said continuing on. "She's really shy but very nice. She's a few years older than us, and has always been the sort of mother and peacekeeper in our group." I smiled. Debates between Black*Star and I could get pretty heated, and they did usually end with Tsubaki separating us.
"That sounds almost like our Orihime here," Tatsuki said smiling.
"You are very alike," I said. "Tsubaki always wants to please everyone, but she isn't afraid to speak her mind and put her foot down." She had to, to be partners with Black*Star.
"What about Soul?" Orihime asked. "You've talked about him the most out of all."
"Soul is… my very best friend," I said closing my eyes. You don't resonate souls with someone and not expected to be connected with them afterwards. "He is obsessed with trying to be cool, but he's always there for me if I need someone. And while he hates school and his grades aren't the best, he does try to study hard because he knows that it would make me happy." I opened my eyes and smiled at them. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, he always puts me first, no matter what."
"Wow," Orihime said.
"Sounds like you're in love with him," Tatsuki said teasingly. I felt my whole face heat up.
"No! No," I said waving my hands around as Blair sat up, even from here I could tell she had a smirk on her face. "You've got it all wrong. We're strictly friends, I promise!"
"Mhmmm," Tatsuki hummed not believe me at all. I could feel myself pout and my eyes were drawn up to the clock.
"Oh," I said frowning. "My grandma will be home soon and I haven't done any of the homework that I should have done."
"Okay," Tatsuki said standing. "We'll leave you be, don't want you getting in trouble. See you at school tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow!" Orihime said after I walked them to the door. I watched them walk for a moment before shutting the door and leaning against it with a sigh.
"Does Maka love Soul?" I heard Blair ask from behind me. I jumped and squealed. I had forgotten about her for a moment.
"No, Blair, you should know that," I said frowning at her as I turned around. She was in her human form again.
"Okay," she sang. "Put your boots on, we're going to meet up with that Hiro guy." She said.
"Hey who let you decide where we go?" I asked, moving to put my boots on nevertheless.
"Because he told me he wanted you to come find him tonight, he told you almost the same thing when your friends were here, remember?" Blair asked.
"Well, okay," I said putting my hands in my pockets. I felt an object in one of them, I pulled it out to find a pocket mirror. "Hmmm, I don't remember putting that there." I said frowning. I'd just had this coat on yesterday and I don't remember that being there.
"Oh yeah…" Blair said scratching her head while laughing. "Soul called while you were at school. I was supposed to tell you to call him back but… I kinda forgot. You'll probably have to call him on a cell phone now though."
"Obviously," I said with another sigh. "One that I don't have." I'd just have to call him back later and hope he answered me.
"Sorry Maka," Blair said apologetically. "With all the excitement I forgot." She pulled open the door and looked both ways before leaving the house. I locked the door behind us and activated my Soul Perception, Ichigo had never made it home it would seem, but three other souls were in his house. His sisters and father I assumed. I cast my reach out further and found Hiro's soul waiting outside the school.
"Come on," I said quietly. Just before I let my Soul Perception go, a soul that was like Rukia and Blair's both caught my attention. It was behind us. I turned around expecting a person, but all I caught was a black cat. "Um, Blair, is this the cat you chased off earlier?" I asked frowning. The cat realized I had seen it and took off in the other direction.
"Yup," Blair said watching it leave. "It was kinda strange wasn't it?" She said looking at me.
"Yeah," I said shaking my head slightly. My head hurt from all these strange souls around here and again, I longed for the comfort of Death City. "Let's go meet up with Hiro." I said starting to walk again. This is the way things were now. Like it or not, I was just going to have to get used to them.
*S*
And that's the end of Chapter two! So yay!
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments you can leave a review or pop me a PM.
*Shimmerz*