Authors Note: I apologize for the delay, been busy with school.

It was a very real challenge for Maka to keep the small boy from darting off into every room they passed by and to keep him from bothering any of the students they walked by. He was young and excited and was clearly happy to finally be out of his room for once. Once or twice while Maka was taking him back to the classroom to meet up with where Soul was hanging out in detention, she wondered if she should have asked for a leash for the boy.

But it was kind of nice seeing how his eyes sparkled with innocent joy, it was hard to believe he was a sorcerer. He was clearly so pure and innocent minded it was impossible to put him in the same category as the destructive and selfish beings that filled the ranks of magic.

He chatted on, some words that she didn't understand, some that might not even be real words, and some that she could decipher. Even if it was difficult to understand, and half the time she didn't have a clue what he was saying, Maka did her best to keep smiling and nodding along to him as he talked as though she understood him as if he were speaking perfect English.

It was almost like what you'd do with a babbling baby.

At one point, he grabbed on to her hand and started walking so close that he may have been clinging to her. She took a look at the hall and the way several of the students were watching them warily, she could assume they were students who had been developing Soul Perception and could recognize him as more than just a child. She didn't blame them at all for being distrust him, it was only a few months since their own school nurse revealed herself to be a witch and attacked the academy.

It was pure luck that they were able to stop her in time to prevent the resurrection of the Kishin. Maka didn't want to think of what might had happened if they hadn't made it in time, if the Kishin had been revived. What kind of chaos would their world have been thrown in? Would Death have been able to stop him? Would any of them have been capable of beating something that was essentially a god in its own right?

Just the thought of how close they had been to losing, it scared her.

No, it was best not to think about. They had won, after all. Asura was still sealed under the school, never to be revived. Medusa was defeated. There was nothing to worry about, they just had to do their jobs as they had before; hunt down evil humans and witches and keep the world safe.

She closed her eyes and took in a breath to calm herself when she realized she had began to grow agitated. Then she turned her attention to the child at her side.

"So, Maleko," the boy snapped his head over to her, looking at her with big eyes and a curious expression. Maka smiled, what an innocent face. "How are you liking the academy so far?"

The boy gave her a wide toothy smile, and she had to note that his teeth were pretty sharp, they reminded her of Souls, but not quite as shark like. He giggled a little before answering, "Really cool!" Maleko decided. "Can see—'avid wanna join!"

His way of speaking was a bit hard to understand, but, Maka felt like she could make sense of it, so long as he didn't start talking too fast. When he did that, it just sounded like babble. She assumed that this David person was probably a friend of Maleko's from back home, one who apparently wanted to become a student of the academy.

"You'll be able to see a lot more once you're all better," he was no doubt limited in what he could do or see while under constant watch, "I'm sure you'll like it even more when you can see more of the school!" she smiled enthusiastically, it was best to help cultivate a positive relationship between the school and the boy. If he had respect for the academy, wanted to be a part of it, than he was less likely to be a threat when he grew up.

Though, Maka felt worry in the back of her mind for what might happen when the boy realizes that hunting down witches and sorcerers—his own kind—was part of what the DWMA did. She couldn't imagine he'd take that well at all.

They had to make sure he didn't learn it any time soon.

"The school is really great. We help maintain order in the world, kind of like superheroes, you know?" Maka explained with a grin, feeling Makelo watch her excitedly as they walked the halls of the school. "Though the DWMA isn't just this school building, did you know that?" Maleko gasped and then shook his head. Ah, he probably didn't know much about the school, then. "Well, there's the school here which you can consider as the main part. But there's branches all over the world led by top officials in the DWMA.

Maleko had his mouth open, "Aah?" he asked curiously and slight amazement. "'eally?"

That got another smile from the meister, "Yes, really. Marie for example? She's the Death Scythe that oversaw the branch over in the Oceania region," Maka brought up, knowing that the boy would really like knowing that with how fond he seemed of the woman. "Some things happened, though, so she's working as a teacher here for a little while."

"Marie really cool!" Maleko cheered, throwing his free hand into the air.

Maka laughed a little, "She really is," she agreed. A lot of things had happened in such a short period of time. Medusa's failed invasion had forced several Death Scythes to come to the DWMA to discuss how to prevent this from happening again. Marie had chosen to stay while the others returned to their posts, and now she was part of the investigation in Maleko's mother.

A part of her wondered if Marie was going to leave once things settled down again. She hoped not, she had taken a liking to the kind teacher.

When Maka finally reached the classroom, she chuckled a little as Maleko walked into her leg, stumbling back before looking up at her with a smile. She ruffled his hair a little before pushing the door open and stepping into the room with the little sorcerer at her heels.

There weren't any teachers in the room and the only other person inside was Soul who was resting his head on his arms and snoring lightly, a thin trail of drool coming out of his open mouth. Looking at him, a bit of irritation flashed through Maka's mind and she took a deep breath.

What part of detention involved sleeping?

Maka started up the steps to the row he was seated at with Maleko following behind him. She could feel the boy watching her intently as she grabbed a closed textbook from beside Soul and lifted it into the air. Her mouth was curled into a frown and brows scrunched up.

Then she brought the book down quickly and hard down onto Souls head. The sound the connection made echoed in the room and she felt a bit of guilt when Maleko flinched back, but when Soul jerked up, howling in pain, the boy leapt back, landing on all fours and watching in fear.

"What the Hell, Maka?" Soul demanded, rubbing his head and glaring at her.

Maka just put the book down and gave a huff, "You're not supposed to fall asleep in detention," she answered as though it was obvious.

Soul grumbled something and stood up, "You didn't have to hit me," he muttered as he took his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. As the boy pushed his chair back into it's spot, he finally noticed the child who had scampered up to hide behind Maka's legs, raising an eyebrow at the boy and then looking back up at the girl.

"Um, who's the kid?" Soul asked, pointing a finger at Maleko, "You didn't go and adopt someone while I was in here, did you?"

She could tell he was joking there and chose to ignore it, instead, stepping to the side so that she wasn't quite between Soul and Maleko. "This is Maleko," she introduced, placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's the one everyone has been talking about, the sorcerer that's currently in the schools care."

"Wait, what?" Soul crouched down so that he was level with the child, "You're the sorcerer? You don't look like some big bad person."

"That's because he's not a 'big bad person'," Maka pointed out as she looked at Maleko, who was holding onto her legs like a shy child. "Since the teachers are going to be busy for a little bit, I offered to watch over him for today," she added so that Soul knew what was going on. She turned her attention to the child, "Maleko, this is my partner; Soul."

Maleko tilted his head to the side as he looked at him, "So… Soul?" he asked.

The scythe gave a nod and an easy smile. "Nice to meet you, Maleko," Soul said, pushing himself to stand back up onto his feet.

Maka was glad that he was taking the situation so well. Well, it was Soul, after all. She hadn't been worried at all that he might respond negatively to hanging out with a sorcerer today. He just wasn't that kind of person.

"I'm surprised you've been able to last this long with Maka, most would have died of boredom by now," Soul added, "she's not exactly the queen of fun."

"Soul!" Maka chided, shooting him a glare.

"Just telling it as it is."

"I can be fun if I want to!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

The two went back and forth with banter, only coming to an end when Maleko broke out in laughter, bringing both hands to cover his mouth, muffling his giggles only a little. Maka felt herself clam back down and offer the child a gentle smile, an expression that she noticed Soul had as well.

Bringing his hands into his pockets, Soul trudged forward past the two, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am starving. How about we go catch some lunch now?" he asked them pausing as he reached the door, "I'm in the mood for pizza."

Before Maka could answer, Maleko chirped and darted forward to where Soul was waiting at the door, and she gave a light laugh.

"I think that answers your question," she said, hiding a smile behind a hand and then went down towards her partner. "Come on, let's go eat," she held a hand out to Maleko who took hold, practically bouncing as he walked. However, the moment they set foot outside of the DWMA's property, a new challenge arose:

Keeping Maleko from running off into every shop he came across.

It was something else to be able to be outside for once in what felt like forever, to feel the fresh air from more than just a window and to feel the sunlight directly on his skin. It felt amazing, no, it was beyond amazing! Maleko felt like he was being rejuvenated just by being outdoors once more, and the joy he felt couldn't be contained. He babbled excited as they walked, with him between Soul and Maka, holding his and Maka's joined hands with every few steps.

A few times Soul chuckled, nodding his head and giving simple responses as though he could understand what the boy was saying as clearly as if he was saying English. Though he was speaking actual English half the time so it wasn't completely terrible in Maleko's opinion. He couldn't help it, though, he was just excited and found it harder to focus on his words when he had so much he wanted to say in such a small frame of time.

The only reason Maka was holding his hand as they walked and he was placed between her and Soul was because the boy had darted off in an eager exploration to see as much as he could, completely forgetting about the promise to stay by Maka's side no matter what with his curiosity. The two had to run after him over and over again, catching up rather quickly and giving him a brief scolding on not to do that again.

But he was still curious and excited—he was a child after all, and everything was new and different—and had kept wandering away from the two to look at every little shop and group they passed. Eventually Maka got tired of having to go after him and steer him back in their direction so that she just took his hand to keep him in place, and Soul just took to his other side just to grab him in case he managed to slip out of her grip and dash off again.

Though he was perfectly fine with this, he liked holding hands,

"Still going to the same place, right?" Soul asked as they walked, his hands in the pockets of his black jacket, his stride lazy.

As they turned a corner Maleko was hit with a wave of scents of various foods. Were they close to where Maka had said they'd go and eat at? He hoped so, all the different smells were making his mouth water and his stomach growl.

Maka gave a nod, "Yep. Unless you wanted to eat elsewhere?"

"Nah, I'm good."

Quickly after, Maleko was steered by the two into a small shop full of dim lighting and red cushiony seats that were easy to slid off of if he wanted to. He would have liked to say that was the first thing that Maleko took in when he entered the little restaurant, but that would be a lie.

Instead, the moment that Maleko had entered through the doors with Maka and Soul, he was hit with an intense wave of scents. Different foods, different drinks, so much more intense than he was used to at home. It all smelled greasy, kind of off. Maybe some of the scents would have been really nice if they weren't all merged into something awful. It was so overpowering and hitting him all at once that it made his head spin a little. It wasn't even the food, the scents of the people themselves were just so different and some of them so overpowering.

"Oooaah," Maleko mumbled, head down and feeling just a little queasy at the rush of scents. It was moments like these that he really hated having a sharper nose than other people. He lagged behind the teens a little, a tad uneasy about going deeper into the wall of not entirely pleasant scents.

Maka paused and looked at him, was that concern in her eyes? "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

His first instinct was to say no, to ask if they could go somewhere else. If he stayed here too long he felt like he was going to die, it was certainly making his head hurt. And his headaches made his stomach flip and flop in unpleasant ways. But, no, Maka was taking him out to eat with her and her friend, and this was where they had wanted to go. He didn't want to be rude, they might not like him if he asked to go someplace else.

"Uh-huh," Maleko answered with a smile, shaking off and hiding his queasy feeling as best as he could. It was all a lie, of course, he was good at pretending to be fine. He pretended all the time after playing with David so mama wouldn't be upset.

It worked because Maka didn't press it, instead she smiled and turned to talk to a lady who had come up to greet them. Maleko kind of tuned her and Soul out, trying to find a way to mentally shut off his nose, and so he completely missed Soul grabbing some crayons and a coloring sheet, and would have missed Maka walking off if she hadn't nudged him forward with their still interlocked hands.

He didn't really want to follow her, not really. Because as they went to their table, a little booth by a wall, the scents only got stronger in the worst way possible. He could barely distinguish any specific food from the mess. Maybe some tomatoes, but they didn't smell right. His stomach was churning, but he hid it behind a smile, the anxious way he was looking around the restaurant being mistaken for excitement.

Maka took a seat at the booth and Maleko slid in next to her, with Soul taking a seat across from them. It was only then that the boy noticed what Soul had brought when the weapon slid the coloring sheet and crayons across the table to him.

"Knock yourself out while we wait," Soul had a lazy grin when Maleko shot him a curious look.

It'd be a good distraction, and the boy liked coloring. His eyes sparkled as he looked at the colorless turtle under a sea, just waiting for Maleko to fill its world with color. He shot Soul a toothy smile as he reached out to swipe a green crayon from the pile and got to work.

Coloring was one of the few activities that the boy was still allowed to do in the infirmary room because he wasn't at 'risk of straining himself' or whatever as the grownups had put it. And it was an activity that he enjoyed, there was so much freedom to it, he could give things colors that they normally didn't have, and mama always taped them to the fridge or put them in a folder to keep safe. Though, Maleko would always get in trouble when he tried eating the crayons—he'd yet to find a color that tasted good—so mama always watched him when he was coloring.

The image of the turtle and the sea, it was impossible not to think of mama as he worked on it, and it was even harder not to feel homesick. But, no, he couldn't show how much it bothered him, not in the company of such nice people. So he just forced himself to keep smiling as he worked on giving the sea of the coloring page a nice blue color. Maleko was going to keep this, it'd be a perfect present to give to mama when they found her.

He was so engrossed in his drawing and his own thoughts of mama that he didn't notice Maka and Soul talking to the waitress and ordering, or the woman leaving. He'd just finishing up the blue sea of the turtle picture when he was startled by a tall glass of orange juice being placed in front of him. His head snapped to the side and the waitress offered him a gentle smile as she gave Maka and Soul their own drinks, sodas, a smile which he readily returned as the woman left.

The more that the boy focused on his coloring, the easier it was to ignore the overwhelming scents in the building. He couldn't completely block out the scents, but it was easier not to notice them when he was focused on something else, so it helped ease the churning feeling of his stomach and soothe the dull throb in his head.

"That's looking pretty good so far," Soul commented as he glanced at the coloring page and giving an approving nod.

Maleko beamed with pride at the praise, "Kawela," he answered as he pointed to the turtle on the page, "Kawela turtle," coloring it had made him remember all the stories that mama would tell him of the mythical creature.

"Kawela?" Maka asked slowly like she didn't understand what that was, but then her expression eased up, "Ah, Kauila, from the turtle myth, right?" she asked and Maleko nodded his head quickly, glad that she knew of the myth too, or at least knew of it. "Well, I think you've made her look beautiful, I'm sure that if she saw it, she'd appreciate it."

Maleko grinned, chirping happily as he began coloring with more enthusiasm, finding a green crayon from the pile to go to town with the turtle. He'd never met Kauila before, at least he didn't think he had. Mama said that she could turn into a girl and watched over kids playing at beaches, so maybe he had met her without knowing. That'd be super cool, he might have met a mythical turtle woman and never knew it!

Kauila was the mother of all turtles too, if he remembered what mama said at least. He had to be super nice to turtles, treat them with respect. There were lots of turtles who were magical, mama told him all about them. Like Kauila's parents; Honupo'okea and Honu'ea. He didn't understand why they named their daughter after a tree, though. Though, mama said that her full name was 'Ka Wai Hu O Kauila' so it wasn't like she was named after a tree entirely.

He liked it when mama told him stories like the ones about Kauila. She knew lots of good stories, like Maui and Pele and of Kamupua'a who could turn into a hog. Even David's mom had said that his mama knew more stories than anyone else! Well, that wasn't her exact phrasing, but, it was close enough.

Maleko had just gotten to coloring the finishing touches on the coloring sheet when the waitress had returned, and with her was a face full of the very scents he had been trying so hard not to notice. It took every bit of willpower not to make a face at the food he was presented with, not wanting to offend his new friends.

The woman had slid a small steaming pizza and a basket of breadsticks onto the table. Of course he'd had pizza and breadsticks before, mama had made them a few times at home, but they never smelled like, well, this before, and it made him a little worried.

The waitress asked if there was anything else she could get for them, which Maka said no, and when the young woman left for another table, the teens began placing slices and sticks onto their plates like it was nothing. There were a lot of slices even though the pizza wasn't that big because of the weird square shape that they'd been cut into.

He stared at the food warily, watching the two taking bites from their portions.

Soul looked over to him, noticing that Maleko hadn't made a move to touch anything besides his juice, and pointed at him with a breadstick. "Go on, eat up. You don't need to be afraid, it's not like it's going to bite you or something," he remarked, taking a bite of the slick looking stick and then adding after a swallow. "You're hungry, right?"

There was a hesitant nod that was accompanied by a soft stomach growl.

Even though Maleko's gut told him not to, the boy reached out to grab one of the pizza slices. Several strands of cheese hung off the edges of the slice when he pulled it from the rest of the pizza, and he could feel the grease on his fingers as he held it precariously. Seeing the way the grease glistened on the cheese, pepperoni and sauce, it hardly looked appetizing and his stomach felt like it was trying to crawl up his chest just looking at it. But, looking at Maka and Soul, it looked like he was the only one who was bothered by it.

Well, nothing's gained if you aren't a little adventurous. The others seemed to enjoy it, so it couldn't be that bad, right?

Maleko took a bite, it was small and slow, and he didn't mind how hot the slice was as he chewed. It tasted… weird. But, not exactly a bad sort of weird. It was different, left a weird taste on his tongue that he didn't really like or dislike. It was hard for him to explain how he felt about the food.

But, it wasn't too bad because he quickly gobbled down the rest of his slice at record speed. He was hungry, after all. And as he started eating more slices of pizza and a few of the breadsticks, the taste bothered him a little less.

However, it quickly became apparent that he really should have listened to his body when it told him he was better off not eating the greasy food. He was onto his second breadstick when his body decided to reject his lunch and the nausea from earlier returned at full force. Soul dropped what he was eating and rushed him to the bathroom where Maleko found himself throwing up everything he ate.

Maleko never ate anything that greasy before, and he'd never vomited in a public bathroom before, either. He really didn't recommend the second one.

Soul was rubbing his back as the boy found himself on his knees in front of the toilet, crouched down beside him in the tight stall. "There, there, let it out," he said, though it sounded awkward, like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. Maleko appreciated it anyway.

He felt horrible.

Even when Maleko had thrown up everything he could, to the point that he wasn't even puking up food anymore but just stomach juice or whatever it was called, he still felt awful. Soul helped clean him up, wiping his face clean with a damp paper towel and helping him rinse the acidic taste from his mouth at the sink. His body felt warm in a way he didn't like and his left felt like they could barely support him.

It had to have been five minutes at least that he and Soul were in there, though he wasn't sure. But when he felt like he had enough strength, and nothing left in his stomach to regurgitate, Soul helped usher him out of the bathroom. Once the door opened, the smell of pizza and other foods hit him hard.

His face paled and he put a hand to his mouth, hunching over as he felt like he was about to puke again.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Soul muttered, scooping the child into his arms and hurrying out of the restaurant.

The fresh air was a well wanted respite from that awful building, and Maleko may have gasped a little as he buried his face against Souls shoulder. He felt the teen rubbing his back still, as though to offer him some comfort, talking to him but by this point Maleko couldn't even think straight with how sick that restaurant had made him feel.

He barely noticed when Maka had rejoined them outside after paying for their meals. Soul and her exchanged a few words, he thought he heard them mention the academy, but he wasn't sure. They started walking and Maleko was glad that Soul was still carrying him, he wasn't sure he could walk on his own just yet. His legs still felt like jelly, and his stomach was still churning.

If there was anything he'd learned from this little trip was that he was never eating at that place ever again. And that he was now afraid of pizza.

At some point, Maleko found himself dozing off in Souls arms.