Soul Eater characters will never belong to me *weeps*
Chapter 4: Who's Your Daddy?
"Please come again!"
The salesgirl chirped happily as her slightly embarrassed, but very contented customer bowed, pushed open the door and lightly stepped out onto the streets.
"Wow, it's already evening. I didn't know I took so long."
The girl opened the crisp paper bag to marvel at her new purchase. It was wrapped in dark silver rice paper, and tied up with a beautiful lush purple ribbon. The boutique she had visited was opened by one of the designer students in Death City University, and from speaking to her once, she got to know that the industrious student only created no more than one type of outfit for her shop.
Which meant you would never run into a scenario where some other girl was wearing the same outfit as yours.
"Just what I prefer."
Maka Albarn nodded to herself with a small level of pride, happy that she remembered where to get a decent dress. She was sure this would impress Soul, who thought she was utterly clueless on things like these.
"Well, better get going before that idiot starts hassling me."
Maka had slipped out quietly when Soul was having his usual afternoon nap. It was the weekend, and they were going to attend the piano concerto that Soul had invited Maka to. It was going to be their first formal date, especially after their newfound status together. Maka wanted it to be special, something both of them could remember fondly.
"Geez, they do sell these things for exuberant prices though. I'll have to be pretty thrifty for the next few weeks."
The last orange streaks in the sky retreated, and the bloodthirsty moon was now in sight. Maka wished she hadn't taken so long to decide between 2 dresses. She wondered how some women actually enjoyed shopping. It was way too tormenting.
As she turned into a quiet street, Maka stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes.
An aura.
She turned around promptly, her fingers tightening their hold on her precious purchase.
A shadow grew longer as it approached her.
Who is it? Don't hide in the dark.
A stork bulky man was revealed as he walked into a lighted area underneath the street lamp, some distance away from Maka.
His eyes… insanity huh.
"Oho! Look what we have heeeere!"
The slur in his voice caused Maka to conclude that he was either drunk, or very crazy. She immediately hoped it was the former. A drunken guy could be taken down with her Maka Chop, but an insane guy could cause some problems.
"Helloooo, little girl! I'm booored, come and have some fun with meeee, pleeeease?"
The man clasped his thick fat fingers together, putting on a mock-pleading expression which almost made Maka retch in response. She remained stoic, body poised with alertness and ready to respond to anything.
Still, she was uncertain. Truth be told, she had never really gotten into much fights without her partner.
What do I have with me? Pepper spray? Oh shoot, it's in the other bag!!
Maka silently cursed the day she decided to have more than 1 bag. Why, oh why? Now she was in real trouble without something at least to keep this creepy man at bay.
And he was inching closer.
Gotta retreat!
Turning around swiftly, she dashed past the houses, all whirling into a blur. She easily jumped and skipped past little obstacles, and was even agile enough to run up some short houses. As she came to a stop on a roof, she turned around to see…
… that he was catching up!
Shoot, he's not drunk.
He was also not quite the man he had seemed. Part of his back had split open, allowing a great mechanical gadget to wave around madly. Without needing a second look, Maka was sure he was one of those irritating followers of the Kishin.
Can I get back in time??
Maka picked up her speed, but she also knew she could not really outrun a Kishin follower who was already expanding his soul power.
Think, Maka! Think!
"Where do you think you're going, Misssssssssssy!?"
Her pursuer made a gigantic leap over her, and came crashing down some distance in front of her. He slowly looked up, eyes filled with pure murderous intent.
It all added up now.
He's out to get ME.
As she watched him stand up to his full height, Maka took a deep breath and prepared herself to fight tooth and nail.
It would be useless, but at least I tried. Soul…
Before she could even blink, the assassin had flown right next to her, and slammed his entire arm into her lithe body.
"Guh-"
As Maka felt the sensation of being thrown into the air, she squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for the impact.
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Soul woke up with a start, bolting hurriedly from his bed. He took a few deep breaths to calm his erratic heartbeat, but he knew it wouldn't work.
What the hell?
He looked around in confusion, momentarily trying to clear his head. He seemed to have dreamed of some strange fuzzy scenes which he couldn't make out of, and all he felt was anxiety, nervousness and then…
"Maka."
Soul walked straight into her bedroom, flinging open the door only to find her missing. He looked distractedly around the apartment, sensing that she was not in at all.
He threw on a black leather jacket hurriedly and grabbed his bunch of keys.
He wasn't sure what was going on, but he heard her call his name, and he needed to find her.
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Maka felt her body connect with something, but it didn't hurt her in the least. No, in fact, it seemed to have cushioned her from any impact.
"E-eh?"
As she gingerly opened her eyes, she was at a loss for words.
A person had caught her squarely whilst she was in mid-air. With some quick adjustments, he managed to hold her now, one gloved hand cradling her shoulders and the other propping up her legs.
Who… who are you?
Before she could focus on soul perception, she felt herself being lifted up rapidly. The person had jumped to avoid an attack from the assassin, and said assassin was still cracking a wide creepy smile.
"Why, you're lighter than I thought."
Maka turned her attention back to her rescuer, peering hard to see his face but failing because he happened to have his back against the moon. Despite the situation, she found herself feeling insulted.
"Hey, this isn't what you're supposed to say to- ARGH!!"
On instinct, Maka embraced the man's shoulders and clung onto the back of his neck since he was moving around at top speed, avoiding and dodging the increased frenzied attacks. Her beloved bag was swinging around like a ragged doll.
She could hear him click his tongue.
"Hey, that bag is not helping, it's moving everywhere behind me. Do you mind?"
"No! It's very important and if- YELP!!"
She grabbed onto him tightly as he leapt across roofs easily, his hands still holding her up securely. As she peered from behind his shoulders, she could see her attacker pursuing them hotly.
"He's still not giving up…"
"Of course, you're a huge threat to them."
Maka regarded the man closely, realising why she couldn't see his facial features properly. He had a mask which shielded his eyes, only revealing his mouth and chin. She still couldn't make out the details of the mask.
"Who are-"
"Oh, it seems you have a visitor."
"Eh?"
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Maka realised she had not fully appreciated how much Soul had really grown over the years.
Until now.
Standing casually on a high roof with the moon just behind him, his silhouette was lean, tall, imposing and breathtaking. His white hair contrasted against the sleek black jacket, his dark blue jeans with a studded belt and silver-buckled boots made him the epitome of coolness (without even trying).
As Soul took one step away from the chimney he was leaning against, his crimson red eyes took a turn for a bloodthirsty hue. He now faced them squarely, hands still jammed into his pockets.
"Hand her over."
"Ah… Soul."
This caused a flicker of reaction within the respondent's eyes. Soul pondered hard as he focused on this tall mysterious figure, completely draped in a rich black colour, and with a white mask hiding his face and part of his head.
Who is he? I've never seen a figure like his around, and he's almost as tall as Black Star and me. How come he knows me?
"Well, it's time we part ways, Miss Albarn."
Maka stepped onto the roof as her rescuer placed her down gently.
"Wait-"
The crazed assassin had jumped into the night sky, preparing to land a blast on the three of them. At this point, the man smiled, almost arrogantly.
"I'm sure you'll do fine now."
He bowed slightly and leapt away from Soul and Maka, disappearing from their view.
"Who are you!?"
As Maka ran to the edge of the roof in pursuit, she found no traces of the figure anymore. Soul, in the meantime, transformed his arm into a scythe blade and began to engage in battle. As the sounds of scythe cutting into mechanical gadgetry rang in the air, Maka had to turn her attention to the issue at hand reluctantly. Whipping around and placing her worn-out bag in a safe corner, she took a deep breath and looked up to her partner.
"Soul."
His smirk was all she needed.
"Ready as you are."
A blinding flash lighted up almost half of the city area as Soul morphed into Weapon Mode. As it fell neatly into Maka's outstretched hand, a soundwave followed, as physical manifestations of their soul waves emitted from them in a circle, spreading themselves outwards in a faint blue hue.
Without wasting much time, Maka wielded the scythe with trance-like familiarity and grace. There was no need for intentional soul resonance, their souls had already resonated from their first touch. The impact had created that soundwave, such was the strength of their shared power.
With only one hand clutching onto her partner's scythe form, Maka sprang upwards, directly meeting her assassin eye-to-eye. A flicker of fear reflected in its expression, and she licked her lips almost excitedly.
It never saw the quick slice of the transformed Witchblade.
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As Soul helped himself to a tasty soul meal, Maka gingerly picked up her torn and dirty bag, sighing as she did so.
Oh, please let it still be in ONE piece!
As she opened the bag, she was relieved to see that the rice paper was still whole. That meant her dress was safely cocooned inside.
"Oi Maka, what's up with that fella?"
"Hmm? I don't know either… I'd been trying to find out his identity, but he didn't make it easy."
"Well, with you tightly embracing him the entire time, I'm amazed you didn't spot any clues."
"W-what's THAT supposed to mean!?"
"A fact."
"For your information, he was moving around too much and I felt like I was going to fall out of his grasp. It was INSTINCT. Everything happened so quickly, I couldn't even make much sense!"
"What were you doing by yourself anyway? This isn't the best area to be in when it's dark."
"This."
Maka lifted up her bag sheepishly, biting her lower lip as she did.
"BASIC? You bought something from a boutique? Wow."
"For a shop called BASIC, it's really expensive."
"Is that for our night out tomorrow?"
"Yes."
"Well… then I can understand why you sneaked out by yourself. But it's not really worth the time and fright, on hindsight."
"Hey, I never expected to be attacked!"
"It just means you're taking things for granted. Remember, you're still a target in their eyes. They want you extinguished."
"Oh, and thank you for telling me that."
Maka gave a long exasperated sigh, and crossed her arms in frustration. Soul grunted in response and scratched the back of his head apologetically.
"Look, I was worried and I tumbled out of bed because of you."
This caused Maka to look at Soul curiously, despite trying to put up an angry expression.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we can continue to look into this in depth at home. And I want to see that dress."
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"So, you heard me say your name?"
"Yep."
"It's true, I did say your name, but it was more like a whisper than some desperate call."
"Really? There were some fuzzy images before then."
"Hmm, I was running at top speed whilst trying to shake that crazy fella away."
"What… you mean now I can experience what you're going through, in real time?"
"It's worth looking into it. I'll call Professor Stein tomorrow."
Maka scribbled some notes down into her book and played with her pencil thoughtfully. They were warm and cosied up in Maka's bedroom, she lying down on the carpet with her book opened before her while Soul was standing next to her, fiddling with Maka's new dress.
"Hey, I like this. It's very elegant. Good choice."
Maka looked up to see that Soul had held up the dress at its full length to marvel at it. She blushed slightly, pleased that Soul liked it too.
"Thank you."
"Well, I do like you in any outfits… or none."
"SOUL!"
Maka threw her pencil at Soul in an embarrassed retort, the latter deftly dodged without even looking.
"Argh…"
Dumb me. Now I need to retrieve that pencil.
As Maka lifted herself off from the carpet and stood up, Soul gently tossed her dress onto her bed and snaked one hand around her waist, drawing her close to him possessively.
"Soul?"
"I don't want you so near another man. Ever."
She reddened rapidly as Soul whispered authoritatively into her ear, nibbling on her earlobe slowly.
"I-I didn't want to…"
"I know. I just wanted to say it, because this hurts."
Her white-haired lover looked at her intensely, placing his other hand over his heart. Maka slowly covered his hand with both of hers, closing her eyes and smiling warmly from his heartbeats.
"Soul, you know I love you."
As she reopened her eyes, she was momentarily awestruck with Soul's open surprise at her confession. He was genuinely taken aback, since Maka struggled with admitting her feelings. As his gaze turned loving and thankful, she blushed and squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating his touches to heat up.
And they did.
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Editor's Notes:
I'm sorry for the long delay! I am still alive, and this time, I'm not writing that in jest. My room got burnt down in March this year, and I lost all my possessions, documents and wot-nots. That also meant every single digital picture, neoprints, documents, identifications, gifts, and memories since I had a computer (back in 1997). I lost bags, clothes… I literally escaped only with a bathrobe on my back, and that was all I had. Recuperating all my MP3s, anime, manga and other collectibles was painstaking, but I'm glad I'm still here. I suffered burns to my face, ear, and the entire length of my left arm. I'm recuperating well, and if I wear long sleeves, no one can tell that I am a burn victim.
Despite the horrific nature of the accident, I never once cried, despaired nor become depressed. I had great support from friends, colleagues and even strangers. I live away from my parents and long-time friends in another country, so I told my friends in June, and have yet to tell my parents and relatives. Yes, they will KILL me. I'm flying home to visit on Saturday, and so… *gulp*
Well, if you wish to donate because you like my stories, you can via my account at matsuri [at] gmail . com. Of course, it's completely obligatory! I've learnt that there is a lot to be thankful for, after this huge turnaround of events.
The fact that life is fragile is overstated, under-appreciated and cliché. However, it is true. Sometimes, I wish I can strike that same revelation in me into my friends, because I want them to feel the significance of living, the fact that we breathe and move, feel and touch. I appreciate them all, and I've been living my life very differently now. I've always been a believer in God, and much as this may already sound daggy, I know who I owed my life to, when I was stuck in a burning apartment with no way out. I know, I knew.
If you're reading this, know that you are lucky to be sitting there, comfortable and accessing a computer. I lost everything but recuperated much more in essence, in experience and in spirit. If you feel less fortunate, depressed, unloved and unlucky, know that life is what you make out to be. I dressed my wounds, patted the smoke and soot off my back and moved on, with His help and strength.
You are blessed, if you're reading this. You're alive!
Thank you for reading thus far, and I will continue to write because I can. =)
Oh! No prizes for guessing who this mystery man of this chapter is. More to be unravelled soon.