"A sound soul dwells within sound skin and sound cuticles." -Elizabeth "Liz" Thompson
I turned my head to look at my alarm clock. It's time to get ready for school. I'm still so groggy. "aaaaaawwwww," I groan into my pillow. It feels like I didn't get any sleep at all last night. I guess I'm going to have to wear more makeup today. At least that way I'll look alive. Hmm, I wonder what kind of look Kid would like.
My face turned a slight pink at the thought.
Well, I better get up now. I gather up my strength and make my way to the bathroom. My body feels heavy, but I'm excited at the same time. When you have someone that you like, it seems that every day is a little more interesting. I'm just wondering if I'm going to learn something new about him or see him.
I didn't think that things would be this good. I actually have friends here. I suppose I have my cousin to thank for the start, but now I get regular texts and calls from the gang. It's nice. Agh, this is too deep a thought pattern for this early.
After showering, I part my hair down the middle, like usual. I wear my usual semi-formal clothes, but I add some cute earrings that I got while shopping. They look like clock hands with black crystals. They mirror each other and give the look of symmetry. I figured it couldn't hurt. I've heard about how much Kid likes that. I wonder if that's all he would like. This is stupid. It shouldn't matter so much; I'm having fun either way. I wonder into the kitchen and munch on a bagel.
That's right. I'm going to just take it easy today. I'm determined.
"Mai, snap out of it. We gotta go so bookworm can be early," Soul said over his shoulder as he and Maka headed out the door.
Kid POV
I have one hour before classes start. Perfect. I knock on my father's office door as I straighten my coat.
"Come on in Kiddo~!" Lord Death adoringly calls to me. He always knows it's me. I push the doors open and walk in. "Father, I have a request. I'm sure that you are aware of the situation in South America." He nods his head. "I would like to take that extended surveying mission to make sure that no one is cloning animals."
"That's all well and good, but it's a two team mission. It's also one I didn't think you'd find interest in," he says thoughtfully. "I would like to request that Mai Albarn and Terrance Lovell join my team for this mission."
"How did I know you were going to suggest them," Lord Death mumbles under his breath. I just barely caught what he said and looked up at him questioningly. "I have no problem with the simple mission itself. I also have no problem with the two teams taking this mission. You match very well. I would just caution you to not get sidetracked-" "Father, with all due respect you can stop there. I would never get sidetracked on a mission and potentially let anything happen to my friends," I interrupt him in order to assure him. However, this is slightly new to me.
I don't usually interrupt someone, let alone my father. He looks at me sternly, and I begin to wonder if he'll scold me. Then his mood shifts completely. He starts laughing and says, "I guess I'll but your two teams as preferences to take missions together. With that kind of attitude I don't think you'd ever fail." I turn a bit pink in the face; this has gotten strangely awkward for some reason. "Father, you haven't been keeping an eye on me during any of the times I've seen Mai, right?"
"What's that about Mai? Isn't she just the bestest little niece anyone could ask for?" Spirit skips in with some papers. A deer in some headlights, yes that would describe my look perfectly right now. I suddenly remember how protective Spirit is of his daughter. Oh damnit, I bet he's close to that protective of his niece. "Thank you for your time Father. Good morning Spirit," I bow to both of them and walk calmly out.
"Hmm? I guess I heard wrong," Spirit says blinking, "Here are the files you asked to see."
Mai's POV
Before the day starts, I head to the art room to ask about joining the club they have. I didn't expect to see Crona there. "Hello, what are you working on?" I ask politely, hoping that I don't scare him. "Oh, hello, ummm. I'm doing some painting," he says nervously. "That's beautiful," and it was, "I love the trees swirling at the tips and the flowers look like orbs of light that are light dimly with different colors. It's fantastic!" "I'm not really sure how to take this kind of praise, but thank you," he said shyly. I'm glad that we have something in common. I show him some of my sketch books and we chat for the remaining time before class.
Later that day
"Aggghhh, this class sucks!" Black*Star moans. Our survival class is trying to teach us how to cook using wild resources that we gather. Black*Star is on my team. "Well, after you challenged everyone to make the biggest servings of food, you better go get some more stuff," I say bluntly looking at the meager bunch of wild onions and mushrooms he's gathered. I already threw out all of the poison and psychedelic mushrooms he accidently gathered. I wish Tsubaki or Terrance had this class too.
"I know, I'll defeat the biggest wild animal and get some big meat for you to cook! Yahooo!" he rushes off. "Wait, why does it have to be just me cooking!? I caught a fish and picked berries… and he can't even hear me now, sigh."
I started a fire and cooked the fish and made a sort of berry jam. Black*Star finally made his way back to our base, with a huge furry thing on his back. "You killed a bear." "Yeah, so you can cook that right?" He looks at me with complete seriousness. I just start laughing to the point of tears. We managed to pull off the biggest meal out of everyone, not the best, but it was certainly the biggest.
After that class, I walk to the girl's locker room. I'm so glad they give us enough time to shower between classes. Some of them can be messy as hell. I head out after drying off and see a familiar reaper down the hall. He turns his head away from the bulletin board that he was reading and looks right at me. He starts calmly walking towards me with his hands in his pockets, and I maintain my calm demeanor. After all, his is my friend.
"Hello. How are your classes going?" He politely asks. "They are going well. I do like classes and assignments, but I prefer traveling and going on missions. This is more of a trade school after all," I smile and thoughtfully reply. His face brightens up a bit and he says, "That works out well. It just so happens that your team and my team will be leaving next week for that mission in South America, if you are interested of course." "I'd love to," I say while tucking some hair behind my ear. I suddenly stopped when I saw that his expression looked a bit unsettled. His right eye was twitching as he gasped, "Your ear…" "What? Oh shit, I lost my other earring," I curse, embarrassed that I seemed to have triggered his OCD. He shakes his head and walks up to me. Then, he gently removes my remaining earring. "I'm sure it'll turn up. Until then, I'll hold on to this one. If that's alright?"
"Well, alright." I'm slightly confused about him doing that, it doesn't seem to be a normal thing to do. However, I don't want to trigger a break down and if that means losing my last earring then so be it. "Can I meet you at the library after school?" He asks me, snapping me out of my confusion. "I doubt it's for study help," I joke, "But I'll see you there." He smirks and nods. Then we part ways.
The rest of the day goes by a little too slowly. That didn't stop me from noticing something odd in the hallway earlier. I was talking to Terrance while on my way to the library, and we passed Liz and Patty on the way. We all said 'hi', of course, but it seemed like Liz and Terrance look away embarrassed as soon as they made eye contact. I guess he really does have a thing for her.
I open the door to the library and see Maka and Soul laughing together in the corner. I swear, it must be the season for this sort of thing. "Oh, Mai, I had something I wanted to ask you," Soul waves as he walks away from Maka and ushers me out into the hall.
"Hey, I know it's uncool to ask you, but Maka's my partner and I don't want things to be weird. I knew you'd understand, so could you please tell me if she has a crush on someone that's not me?" "She doesn't have a crush on someone that's not you as far as I know," I say slightly surprised. He sighed and smiled. It was obvious that he was relieved. I respect him for not directly asking if Maka liked him. Of course I wouldn't have betrayed her confidence by telling him, but this way it wouldn't create an awkward situation. He gives me a pat on the arm and says, "Thanks buddy, I owe you one."
I walk in and sit down by Maka. "I didn't expect to see you here twice today," she laughed, alluding to our earlier study hall class. "Well, I'm waiting for someone, and this is where he wanted to meet." She looks up at me and asks, "Mai, do you have someone you like?" I look away and say, "Yeah, I do. I think that Kid is smart and capable. Let's face it, smart is hot as hell, especially when he looks good too."
Maka giggled a bit and said, "I hope things work out with that. He's a bit odd in my opinion, but I guess odds attract." "Oh, hahaha," I laugh sarcastically. "Well, he is odd. He's been in the woods for most of today on that skateboard. It doesn't seem a very logical place to do that. Well, I'll see you at home, have fun," she waves as she walks off.
Not sleeping last night has caught up with me a bit. I dose off with my head on the table before I can stop myself. Thankfully, just fifteen minutes pass before I feel a light shake of my arm. I open my eyes to meet amber ones looking gently at me. "Oh, I'm sorry!" I say as I sit up quickly. "It's quite alright. Anyway, here are the mission details," he says gently, "Oh, and I happened to find this." I reach out my hand at he places both of my earrings in my open palm.
Wait, could he have been in the woods looking for this?
Notes:
PM me if you have any requests. I like to hear ideas for missions.
All suggestions welcomed.
Thanks for all the views and reviews :), I'll start using this space here to address reviews instead of sending private messages from now on.
