Disclaimer: Soul Eater is owned by Atsushi Okubo. If I owned it, Giriko would still be around.

2: Plain Curry and Citrus

I Just Want Dinner

Soul's nose twitched and he fought the urge to sneeze for the umpteenth time. His eyes crossed, glaring down at the irritation disrupting his usual act of breathing normally. The offender brushed against his left nostril again, and he gave an annoyed sigh, dropping the bag of groceries so he could rearrange the contents inside. He was positive if the leaves of the bundle of carrots tickled his nose one more time, he'd whip them into next January for an army of snowmen.

The scythe was walking back to the apartment he shared with Maka and the well-shaped cat that had taken an interest in living there just a few weeks earlier. After he and his partner had once again started up the who's-turn-is-it-to-get-groceries argument, Soul had been crowned loser and sent out to one of Death City's many markets. The boy found it fishy that on the one evening the list looked the longest, Maka seemed keen on winning the fight at all costs to stay home.

Stuffing the carrots into the depths of the bag between the boxes of pasta and a jar of peanut butter, Soul exhaled slowly and stood again. Whatever Maka's making for dinner had better be good…

A barely noticeable tug caused him to look down at his pant leg, eyes narrowed a fraction. Much to the weapon's surprise, Kilik Rung's partner, Pot of Thunder, was gripping onto the fabric of his black sweat pants, blue eyes wide with two, pearl sized teardrops near the corners.

Soul looked around, puzzled, before turning his attention back to Thunder. "Uh…hi?" He began awkwardly, and the small child proceeded to try and shake his leg back and forth, her small mouth in a tight frown. Soul crouched down, setting the bag of groceries to the side as he looked into Thunder's distraught face. "What's wrong?"

The young shaman shook her head from side to side and began hopping up and down, stomping her shoes against the cobblestone street.

The scythe opened his mouth in a 'huh' expression before glancing around himself again. "Where's Kilik and Fire?"

That got the short weapon going.

Much to Soul's surprise, Pot of Thunder began feebly pulling the white haired boy's pant leg left and right, closing her eyes tightly. When Soul tried to grab a hold of the student's shoulders, she forcefully butted her head against his leg, sending him off balance so he toppled ungracefully onto his rear end. Before he could get up, Thunder had thrown herself at him in a death grip of a hug, sobbing helplessly.

What the hell…?

Soul blinked a few times, attempting to pull himself upright, but when he tried, Thunder only clung to him tighter, like a bur. The older student didn't have the heart to dislodge her, so he uncertainly patted her shoulder, trying to calm the weapon down. He was never the one Fire or Thunder ran to whenever they were upset. It was always Kilik, Maka, or Tsubaki. One time it was Liz, and even she did a better job of acting sympathetic opposed to his robotic way of soothing.

After a few long, crying minutes and the weapon still hadn't released him, Soul asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"

A rapid shake of the head a loud sniff answered that, but Soul didn't exactly have to ask. He didn't even know why he had, and he mentally slapped himself for doing so. "Um…okay…"

Soul tapped his free hand against the cold street, continuing to look around and finding the street suspiciously empty. Looking back at the trembling head of Thunder, he inquired again, "Are Kilik and Fire around this area?"

He'd never heard either of the shaman twins speak before, and he assumed he never would; he guessed the closest thing he would ever get to an actual word or statement was the high, shrill whine Pot of Thunder now released into his shirt.

"Ah… okay, so Pot of Fire and Kilik aren't around." The scythe bit his bottom lip, stuck on what to do next. "So, um… do you know where they are?"

The child shook her head from side to side.

Ah-hah! So she's lost Kilik and Fire and is upset… Soul felt the small sense of accomplishment for figuring out what the problem was. Feeling a little more confident, he pulled himself farther upright and carefully removed the shaman from the fabric of his shirt, now damp from the flood of tears.

Grimacing just a fraction, Soul awkwardly patted Thunder on the head before saying, "Alright, we can find them. It won't be too hard with the two of us, okay?"

The weapon nodded shortly, still looking distressed and Soul stood, looking down the street. "Where did you last see them?"

Pot of Thunder put a paw like hand to her chin, pondering the question for a moment before motioning in the direction Soul had just come from.

"The market?" he inquired, and Thunder nodded quickly. "Okay. We'll find them, so don't worry."

The two began their search, striding in the direction of the market. Soul balanced his bag of groceries under his arm and glanced down at Thunder, deliberately slowing when he saw the poor shaman jumping huge steps just to keep up with his longer ones.

"So, were you guys shopping when you were separated from them?" Soul inquired, uncomfortably shifting the paper bag of food to dislodge the rogue carrot trying to stab him in the ribs.

Beside him, Thunder nodded shortly before releasing a loud sniff.

Soul bowed his head in understanding and continued on, beginning to wonder if maybe Kilik and Fire were searching for the lost Thunder as well. If only Maka had gotten the groceries … He thought, exhaling slowly. Then she could have found them both with her soul perception in no time at all.

As Soul pondered the idea of going back to the apartment to recruit Maka's help, he felt Thunder brush against the side of his leg briefly. Snapping out of his thoughts, he looked down at the younger weapon. "What's up now? Did you see them?"

The earth shaman shook her head no before outstretching her short arms into the air in the scythe's direction.

Soul narrowed his eyes suspiciously, hefting the lumpy sack of groceries onto his right shoulder. "What?"

Thunder shook her arms at Soul, a little impatiently with a determined look on her face. With the way she was reaching up to him expectantly, it was almost as if…

"Wh-What?" Soul exclaimed in a baffled voice. "You want me to carry you?"

Thunder nodded vigorously, looking more eager than the albino haired boy had seen her the whole evening. Releasing an exasperated snort through his nose, Soul crouched down, careful not to let the ingredients for his late dinner fall from the bag and scatter across the street. Thunder leaped into his open arm and Soul straightened, pulling the young child up so she was sitting on his shoulder before continuing onward.

The market still had quite a few residents from Death City when the two weapons and slowly tearing bag of groceries arrived. A few glanced at the strange scene of the boy who was breathing hard from the weight of vegetables, pasta and peanut butter on one shoulder and the young weapon from the DWMA on the other.

Thunder's stomach snarled viciously into his left ear, startling him just as they conveniently walked by a fruit stand loaded high with apples. Soul glanced at Thunder out of the corner of his eye, eyebrows furrowing when he saw the hopeful look on the child's face. "…Fine…"

It was no easy task trying to accumulate the right amount of change from his pocket to pay the fruit vender with a hungry child and sack of food on his shoulders. By the time he did manage to hand over the money and grab the best apple he could find, his headband had been tugged over one eye by Thunder who clung to it with no intentions of letting go.

"Here," he muttered, handing up the apple. "Just give me the core when you're done."

As they continued onward, Soul's feet were beginning to drag with each heavy step. His shoulders were aching, and he just wanted to find a place to sit for the next fifty years. His neck hurt from looking from side to side for Kilik and Thunder's twin. He doubted they were even in the market anymore. They had probably left to search for the missing weapon that sat perched precariously on Soul's shoulder.

Turning to his right and scanning the slowly parting crowd of heads again, he released a deep moan when he failed to spot Kilik for the umpteenth time. "I don't know if they're here…"

Thunder stiffened against his neck, clutching half of her apple close as her eyes began to water. Soul flinched when the shaman began trembling and weeping softly. Gazing around sheepishly, he raised his free hand to pat Thunder on the head. "Hey, if we can't find them tonight, then perhaps tomorrow morning, hm? You can stay with me and Maka; we can call Kilik to see if he went home."

Just when he thought the young weapon was about to stop shaking, Soul gave a cry of alarm when she suddenly dove from his shoulder, almost sending him toppling to the side from the unbalanced weight of the groceries. Half of an apple came flying back at him, colliding with his forehead before bouncing off and rolling away across the cobblestone street. Soul wobbled back onto two feet and held his head with a shocked expression before looking up to see what had sent the shaman shooting from his side.

Among the residents of Death City that milled around the vegetable stands crouched Kilik Rung, arms outstretched with a relieved smile on his face while Fire jumped up and down in excitement beside him. Thunder crashed into the meister, and he wrapped his long, dark arms around her in a tight, protective embrace.

Soul aimed for a smile but only managed a grimace when his left temple began to throb from the fruit projectile of before. Squinting his pulsing eye shut, he watched through his right one as Kilik stood with both twins, happy to be reunited, hugging on his shoulders. Seeing Soul, the meister grinned. "Hey, thanks, man," he murmured, clapping his hand against Soul's when the scythe extended it. "We were just trying to find stuff for dinner when Thunder wandered off. Thanks for finding her and bringing her back."

"Ah, she kind of found me," Soul admitted, giving a nervous chuckle. "She showed me where to go, so…"

"I hope she didn't cause you too much trouble. Do you want to have dinner or something with us, as a thank you?"

"Nah, I'm good," the white haired boy replied, perhaps a little too quickly when he thought of just going home and sleeping. "Maka probably thinks I was kidnapped by a witch or something by now, so I should probably get back home."

"Oh, okay then," Kilik said, smiling sympathetically at him. "Perhaps I can return the favor at school or something. Again, thanks." As Kilik turned with a wave, Thunder leaped from his arm into Soul's chest, wrapping her stubby arms around his neck in a tight hug of appreciation. She stayed like that for awhile until Soul began feeling lightheaded from the lack of air he was receiving and gently passed her back to Kilik. "Yeah, you're welcome…"

When Soul returned home, his head was pounding, his neck was tender from turning side to side, his shoulders and arms were shaking from exhaustion, his feet were burning, he was tired, and he had even managed to lose some mutinous carrots during the whole adventure, not that he really minded losing the orange, edible blades of death.

Naturally his meister knew nothing of this, and a hefty Maka-Chop as well as a shrill scolding was the first thing she did immediately when he entered the door. The scythe hit the ground in a heartbeat, sending vegetables, fruits, boxes and jars skidding in all directions across the floor, irritating Maka even further. Soul remained silent and motionless as she began muttering angrily, picking food off the cold floor with quick jabs. His stomach didn't even growl when the aroma of pasta and a spicy smelling vegetable sauce filled the air. In fact, it wasn't until Black Star tripped and flattened him the next morning (bruising his shoulders even more) he realized he had slept in front of the door the whole night.

-/-\-|-/-\-

A/N: Second little crack pairing of mine. I thought it'd be amusing to have poor Soul trudging all over Death City with Thunder on his shoulders, only to have his head Maka-Chop massacred when he got home.