A/N: Just read Volume 16 of Soul Eater… LOVE! I was really touched of Kid's confidence and overall worry for Maka when they send Gopher after her. It lead to a lot of inspiration for this chapter, but at the same time I have stopped following the manga and anime for the purposes of this story. Mini ramble was because in the near or far future I might write something based off that, we'll see. ;)

Odds and Ends

Morning Excursions?

Maka blinked a few times as the sun outside the nearby window streamed in and brushed across her face before growling and slamming them back shut. The light annoyed her and wouldn't let her fall back asleep. An awful stench clung to the air and a few muttered curses were in the distance, which she assumed was Kid and what had woken her up to begin with. She refrained from groaning and stretched out her body, working knots out with slow rotations. Gentle cracks and pops were the only noise her body made. She liked mornings where she could take her time waking up; with no immediate schedule or plan besides training for the next few days with Kid she had no reason to rush about. It had now been six days since they had departed from home and it was the first night where Maka had slept soundly. Her body felt recharged and ready to go. Grinning she sat up, ignoring the slight stiffness, and glanced around the room.

Kid was in the kitchen bending over what appeared to be breakfast. Black smoke wafted into the air around him, only being able to see his back, Maka was strongly reminded of the professor that had sent them on this mission and refrained from giggling. Tuffs of his hair were sticking on ends as he bustled about, all the while muttering curses. She would have been impressed that he was able to focus on cooking like this, only based on the smell of things she doubted he was worried about that.

"DAMN PANCAKES, BE A PERFECT CIRCLE!"

Kid's affliction was normally something she didn't laugh at, but rather she found herself annoyed with at times. His need to be perfect reminded her of herself at times, but to an extreme she couldn't understand. Today however she found a chuckle escape her as she threw her legs over the side of her bed and stood. Her quiet laugh wasn't enough to catch Kid's attention, so she crept over to peer over his shoulder.

The pancake (or that is, what she assumed it was supposed to be) was charred beyond recognition. The corners were peeled up unattractively and of course, unsymmetrically, as Kid used the spatula to try and smooth the burnt corners. He seemed to be adding more batter to the pan in an attempt to round out the sides but it just added to the figure's misshaped appearance.

"At this point I don't think that is edible anymore," she commented and smirked as Kid jumped slightly. He glared over his shoulder at her for a fraction of a second before he turned his attention back towards the fried food.

She had been waiting for six days to have this argument with Kid. Honestly she had expected it a lot sooner. Before they had even left school the pair had a moment where Maka made it clear she wouldn't tolerate his insane behavior all the time. If he remembered that then he had done a good job keeping it in check for so long. She might be able to understand where he was coming from, but that didn't mean she would let him fuss over such small insignificant things for hours on end.

"Of course it isn't edible. Nothing so unsymmetrical could possibly be edible," Kid hissed in frustration as he poured more helpless batter out of the bowl he was holding and to its death… or ummm to the pan to be cooked.

"Being charred to a crisp wouldn't have anything to do with it either," she said with an eye roll. She moved around Kid and started digging around in the cabinets. Kid didn't even look to see what she was doing until he felt the bowl being tugged out of his hands and a firm hand pushing him away from the stove.

"Hey—"

His protest died as Maka swiftly moved the pan into the sink and turned on the water, washing away the evidence of the unsymmetrical breakfast in one motion.

She pointed to something on the counter before he could start mumbling over how he was garbage and couldn't even fix breakfast. At least that was what she would assume he would say. Most times she ignored Kid's little tangents, and she wasn't sure if she could handle dealing with them. Her patience wasn't one of her best qualities.

"It's a waffle iron. Pour the batter in there and it'll come out perfect," she told him stiffly.

His eyes lit up for a fraction of a second before he cleared his throat and held out his hand for the bowl that she still had confiscated.

She had chosen the waffle iron because Kid wouldn't be able to see inside it while it cooked the pancake batter, and since he had already made the batter she didn't want to waste what could be a perfectly good breakfast. Their resources weren't that low yet but she didn't want to deplete them early either. Otherwise she would have just poured a bowl of cereal and told Kid to get over himself.

She timidly handed him the bowl before clearing her throat, "But if it doesn't, just cut the sides. There might be a few drips but it won't make it any less worthy."

"It is waffles, Maka. I'm sure I can handle this," he told her taking the bowl firmly from her and flapped his arm in dismissal. "Go take a shower and get ready. I'll finish breakfast," he told her when she still stood there staring at him questioningly. He pushed her gently towards the bathroom, "Go on. I won't burn down the kitchen."

"Yes, because you already got close enough earlier," she said drily. She relented though, allowing him to guide her to the small bathroom, hand her a towel and then close the bathroom door behind her.

It was quiet in the small room, even if she could barely hear Kid humming some tune in the other room she felt alone. She shrugged, pushing the feeling away as she turned on the warm water. Stripping down she climbed in and let out a deep sigh.

She had grown over the years, and filled out. Her chest was still small in comparison to Tsubaki or Liz, but that never bothered her knowing that at least they had grown. Other than that Maka hadn't changed much, her hair was a little longer (she kept it trimmed to around the same length), and she still wore her infamous combat boots and mini shirt as part of her school uniform.

Her tugged out her pig tails and lathered some shampoo into her hair, letting out a tense breath. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the water swirling about her feet. The water hitting her head and then racing down her body was soothing as well.

Kid hasn't changed much either, she mused. The biggest factor was that he had grown several inches, along with the rest of the guys. He still had his freak-outs (which were thankfully fewer and farther apart) and had the same moral outlook on life.

Her hands captured a bar of soap and she started to rigorously scrub her body. She didn't want to think of Kid, because she was sure her thoughts would turn traitor against her. They have a mission they need to complete. They can't spend all their free time making out with each other just because they think the other is cute.

Not helping, she growled to herself mentally. She started to think of training exercises and what she could do to help her concentration. She wanted to be able to fight without a meister or a weapon, if she was ever in a pinch where she was caught by herself. Her thoughts turned to how Soul was able to turn just his arm into a blade as he battled hand to hand. She might have to give him a call later to see if he had any tips.

She winced and turned her thoughts away from him. She missed him a lot, and she had pushed aside a lot that had happened between them right before she had left aside. Their last conversation hadn't been pleasant at all…

"Maka, I'm still not seeing why you have to be alone with Kid…"

"I told you why Soul. Professor Stein said that only a Lord of Death would be able to bring out this ability in me and I want to be stronger. This way you won't have to worry about me all the time."

"I'm always going to be worried about you, idiot! Especially going off alone with Lover Boy, who knows what will happen?"

"What are you saying?" she had snapped. "You don't trust me or Kid?"

"I'm saying it's obvious he's into you, and you flush like a little school girl every time you see him."

Part of her wanted to yell at him 'I am a school girl' but that would only make his point stronger. She instead growled.

"That might be the case, but it is none of your business Soul," she had hissed.

She shivered, despite the warm water and pushed the thoughts away again. She didn't want to think of that right now or think of the rest of that conversation. Both had said some rather harsh things to one another and she wasn't sure if she was ready to relive it yet. Maybe later she would call him… and see if he would give her any advice.

She turned off the water and quickly toweled herself dry before she noticed that she hadn't brought any clean clothes in with her. She was tempted to redress in her clothes that were lying on the floor but dismissed that away. She had been wearing that same outfit for longer than she wanted to admit and was in dire need of fresh clothes. She was thankful that for whatever reason the small shack they were in had a running heater and pluming. She might inquire about that later, now though, she wanted to be wrapped up in a nice clean set of clothes. She poked her head out to check and see if Kid was still fixing breakfast, which thankfully he was, before securing the towel firmly around her and shooting out. She made it to the closet, threw open the doors, scooped up her bag, and was just about to run back into the bathroom when Kid called out to her.

"Do you like blueberries?"

"Yes," she answered curtly glad that he hadn't turned around.

She adjusted her bag and tried not to let her panic overtake her as her towel slipped slightly, not low enough to reveal anything but enough to show more flesh than she was comfortable with. Kid still hadn't turned around and she found her feet edging closer to the bathroom door again.

"Oh good I just wanted to –"

She would never know what he was going to say because of course that was the exact moment Kid decided to turn around to look at her. If she hadn't been so preoccupied with getting back to the bathroom she would have probably laughed at how Kid looked too. Earlier she hadn't paid much attention to how disheveled his appearance was, and the look of utter shock on his face seemed to complete the look. The shocked expression however, was because of her naked body covered in only a slim towel as she seemed to parade around the small shack.

Blushing furiously Maka leapt back to the cover of the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Forgot my clothes!" she hollered out.

Kid didn't respond, but she heard some dings and bangs coming from the kitchen as she dressed. Her heart hammered in her chest as she tried to tug on her turtle neck to complete the process. After several moments of struggling, Maka found that her head was stuck. The air inside the sweater was stale and stagnant; she hated the feeling of her hot breath being recycled. It was stifling. She struggled until she felt a sharp pain of hitting the counter on accident. Being unable to see she hissed in response and then fell back into the wall, only to feel the towel rack collide with her shoulders. She panicked for a good minute before she blindly reached for the door and called out for Kid.

"Ummm… Kid?"

"What are you doing Maka?" he sighed.

She was glad, for a brief second, that the sweater was stuck because she was blushing in embarrassment and this hid her face from Kid.

"I'm stuck," she mumbled, and flopped her arms around in a hopeless gesture. "Could you help me?" she continued timidly when Kid didn't say anything.

She is rather ashamed to admit, but she squealed in surprise when she suddenly found herself pinned to the wall. Warm hands wrapped around her wrist and held them over her head. There was a sharp tug at her naval, which pulled her head down, and then suddenly she was free. Despite herself she found that she sucked in a deep breath of the fresh cool air and in doing so raised her head. She hadn't been aware of how close Kid was until that moment.

"Better?" he asked.

He was smirking at her in amusement and for whatever reason it peeved her. Hadn't he been the one struggling all morning? And then suddenly as if by magic he's amused by her ONE stupid action (leaving out the fact that she had forgotten her clothes earlier)? She gritted her teeth together and moved to push him away, only he still had a firm grip on her hands which he had pinned above her head.

"We can't," she whimpered, again ashamed at how utterly weak she sounded. She lowered her gaze away from her friend. "We can't be caught up in these situations. We have a mission to complete," she continued, her voice firmer as she tried to lock away her emotions.

"I would normally agree," Kid breathed as he tugged her chin up so that their gazes locked. "But I don't see why we can't do both?"

She couldn't think of a good response to that. She couldn't see a reason why either, but she knew they shouldn't be doing this. This isn't what they were sent out on a mission for, this isn't good for their friendship, and this sure as hell isn't professional. They hadn't even talked about where exactly they stood relationship wise, and despite the fact that Maka thought it was rather girly and silly she still wanted to know where they actually stood before she went around kissing him every five seconds. She isn't that kind of girl, and she refuses to be anything like her papa.

If anything Kid's question only further irritated her. She found herself shoving his chest back away from her, glaring at him, and stringing together an unintelligible shout before storming out of the shack and into the cool Greenland summer air.

She heard Kid shout after her, telling her to wait and asking what exactly was wrong, before she started sprinting into the nearby woods. She wasn't in any real danger, she could still sense Kid and while his soul perception might not be as sharp as hers she knew he could still sense her.

Why did that bother me so much?

She kicked a tree, and spun around to slam her shoulder into a rotten one effectively knocking it over. She wanted to cut things apart; angrily she slammed her fist into a boulder.

"…Especially going off alone with Lover Boy, who knows what will happen?" Soul's voice haunted from within her mind. She hissed and angrily hit the boulder again.

Nothing bad had even happened! They had just shared a few heated stares, and a few kisses! There wasn't anything wrong with that!

"He's Lord Death's son!" she shouted to no one in particular as she lunged to her feet and slammed her arm into the nearest tree.

It wasn't necessarily the fact that he was Lord Death's son; it was the fact that he was god of Death and she was supposed to be a meister, a tool to the Shinigami. She wasn't supposed to have feelings for him. She was supposed to carry out their will, strike down those who couldn't live by their laws, and serve to the best of her ability. In so many ways this was supposed to be wrong, yet she had never felt so alive with emotions. Out of her age group she had always been the least interested in sex, or the opposite gender. She wasn't one to get all hot and bothered from just a few kisses. Kid had awoken something foreign in her. She wouldn't say it was love per say but it was different for her. This yearning to be touched by him, to keep kissing him…

Hissing she slammed her arm into the tree again, only to frown down at the appendage when it was left unchanged. Her arm throbbed painfully as she sighed and glared at the stupid tree.

Why can't I transform without him?!

The air around her changed as she sucked in a deep breath and plopped herself unto the ground. Frustration bubbled inside her, but she pushed that aside. She felt something in the air move. Something, or someone was much too close. Normally she could detect a soul from miles away, and she was alarmed when she heard a twig snap and something heavy start to breath in rasping breaths behind her. She spun around, her arm drawn back in a defensive pose.

"Who's there?" she called out when she didn't see anyone directly there.

The breathing silenced for a moment before another twig snapped to her right. She turned sharply her eyes narrowing as she scanned the forest.

She couldn't find any hints of there being a soul, there was no life in the forest, and it was a red flag that something was off.

Then out of the shadows of the forest stepped the beast that Stein had sent them to claim.

It was very grotesque. Its body was disfigured, as it bent in unnatural looking poses, and the coloration was a deep blue hue that in places looked black. Its face looked like a squashed cat's, with its fangs bared out as it sucked in deep labored breaths. Its body though, was covered in scales, and at the end of its back a long spiked tail swatted the ground impatiently. Two wings were folded haphazardly along its back, giving them the appearance that they were broken, while it stood as high as it could to size Maka up. It towered a good 5 feet above her, as it reared back and let out an ear piercing scream.

In legends and stories it was often called a Wyvern, not quite a dragon but a similar beast. Since Stein had created it, it was in a different class all together, but he found it easiest to call it that for them.

The scream the monster had let out deafened Maka, to the point where she had to crouch down and cover her ears. She recovered just in time to avoid the spiked tail as it swung down and clobbered the ground beside her. Leaping back to give herself some space she leered at the monster.

"Wyvern, Stein's monster. I'm here in Lord Death's name to collect your soul," she told it in a firm command.

She honestly could have sworn it chuckled at her, before it lunged forward.

A/N: I did have a little rant down here... but I decided to drop the issue haha. Patience for me please everyone. I do have a lot of school work in the next few weeks so updates might not be a frequent. Until next time~