A/N: YAY! Chapter 3. Read my churros! READ!

Chapter 3: Five People in a Two Person Apartment

The next half hour went by in slow motion for Maka. She held the door open for Soul and Terumi, they both sat on the couch while Maka made tea, then she seated herself across from them on the recliner. It was all really slow. And blurry. Their voices were fuzzy, like she couldn't really hear them. Not that it mattered.

They didn't talk to her anyway.

Seeing as they didn't need her, and she needed some time to think, Maka got up quietly, ready to go unpack Soul's clothes.

"Oh, Maka dear, we completely forgot you were here!" Terumi said then. She lightly grabbed Maka's arm as she passed, trying to run away. She smiled sugar sweet up at Maka and pulled her into the couch next to her.

"Please forgive my horrid manners. When I get talking, there's no stopping 'Steamroller Terumi,'" she laughed at her own joke, a giggle like tinkling bells on Christmas, but Maka didn't laugh. She only smiled calmly as though Soul's exuberant and genuine laughing didn't bother her. Not at all. Not in the slightest. Why should it? Sure, he's never laughed at her jokes before, but that's only because she wasn't funny.

Somehow, she couldn't find the joke in Terumi's words.

Terumi sighed as her laughing died down, and wiped tears from her eyes. "Well, now," she said and patted Maka's hand, "I want to hear aaalll about Soul's dear friend."

Maka smiled again out of courtesy, but couldn't find her voice. Luckily she didn't have to. Terumi really could have a full on conversation by herself.

"The first day Soul and I met, all he'd say was 'Maka this' and 'Maka that.' I couldn't help but want to meet you," she smiled again, that infuriating smile that you just cant hate!

This creature was so beautiful and just so graceful! How could she not be all high and mighty? Maka was seriously confused now. How can she be so pretty and yet so down to Earth. When she said she wanted to meet Maka, it sounded genuine. Whenever she said Maka's name, it sounded like she was greeting a long lost friend.

She was so pure and innocent, that Maka couldn't help but love her. And it pissed her off!

Coming out of her ranting thoughts, Maka noticed Terumi was looking at her expectantly. Crap! Did I zone out again? What did she say?

Sensing her sudden distress, Soul bailed her out. "Uh, she likes reading. A lot!," he said.

Terumi shot him one glance and smiled before turning excitedly back to Maka. "Really now? Oh, I do love a good book myself, but I simply couldn't handle being cooped in all day. Tell me, what kind of books do you like?"

Come on Maka think! It's not a hard question. Just say it. Mystery novels. You like mysteries! Oh, why is it so hard to talk to her?

"Mystery," Soul answered again. "All she reads is mystery-Well! With the occasional historical fiction." Since Terumi's back was to him, he took this chance to glare at Maka. Why was she being so rude to his guest? What, she's too goodto talk to Terumi?

But she wasn't looking at him. All she could do was stare at that perfect flawless face and ogle.

Wow…I wish my skin was that soft. I wonder what she uses. I should ask her. Yeah! Ask her! That'd be a nice ice breaker…right? Hell, it's better than staring like a moron!

"Face!," was all she blurt out. Terumi was taken aback by her sudden words and a little confused. Face?

Seeing the confusion, in Soul as well, Maka used her new found voice to explain. "Uh, I mean your face. It looks so soft. What do you use?"

Soul smacked his forehead and dragged his hand down slowly. This is so not cool. What's wrong with Maka today? She's just embarrassing him.

But Terumi blushed, flattered by Maka's compliment. "Oh! Well, I uh…Aha! I've never been complimented so forwardly before. You're very straightforward, I admire that. And it's about time you found your voice!," she laughed again as she patted Maka's hand vigorously. Funny, whenever she did that, she reminded Maka of her grandmother who died a few years ago.

Come to think of it, she acts a lot like Nana.

"Oh my!," Terumi suddenly exclaimed. She was looking down at her watch. "Oh darn! Time to go pets."

She stood up and walked to her bags by the door. Soul followed her and offered to help, but she shooed him away. "Are you sure you don't need help?," he asked before sitting back down next to Maka.

"Yes I'm sure," Terumi huffed as she pulled clothes out of her bag. Was she leaving already? I thought she was staying with us.

"Well, now." She turned and sighed as she looked at Maka. "It was so lovely to finally meet you, Maka dear. I hope to see you very soon."

Then she turned and opened the door. "Oh! Soul!," she turned back and asked, "Is it alright if I um…in the hall?" She jabbed her thumb to said hallway and winked at Maka. Soul nodded.

"Wait!," Maka yelped as she watched Terumi step into the hall with her clothes. But she didn't stop, she only waved her hand and closed the door.

Maka sank into the couch. I wouldn't be surprised if she's leaving because of me. Soul's not gonna be happy.

She sneaked a peak at him next to her. But he wasn't glaring or showing his shark teeth or anything. Actually, he was smiling!

"What?"

He shook his head and looked at the clock on the wall. "Don't worry, she'll be back."

"Oh…okay."

It was quiet as they listened to the clock tick. Outside, Maka could faintly hear shuffling, but brushed it off. Finally, Soul broke the silence.

"So you like her, right?"

"What?"

"Terumi," he clarified. "Ya like her, right?"

She sighed. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. Yeah, Terumi was great, it was just…

"Yeah, I like her."

Soul scowled. "You don't sound like you like her."

Maka rolled her eyes and shifted on the couch until she was facing him. She matched his Indian style sitting and looked him in the eyes.

"I. Do. Soul. I do like her. I really do. It's just that-"

"Just what?"

"Well," she hesitated, "I didn't really expect my 'surprise' to be a person…"

"Oh…," he looked down at his hands. Now Maka felt bad. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but he wanted to know!

"Sorry," she whispered.

"No, it's okay. I only brought her cuz she really wanted to meet you." Now he looked up at her. "If you don't want her to stay here, I'll take her to a hotel-"

"No Soul!," Maka exclaimed. As if the first impression she gave wasn't bad enough, now she was gonna kick her out? NU-UH! "She can stay!"

He smiled at her and her insides melted. It was that stupid grin he reserved for their private moments like this, when he was really happy. It made her happy too, but it was bittersweet. It was because Terumi got to stay that he was smiling.

But she pushed that thought aside and smiled back. He looked at the door. "Sounds like she's done," he whispered.

Maka looked at the door too, curious. The shuffling from before had stopped. She looked back at Soul. "Did she never leave?," she asked. He shook his head, full on smirking at her. Obviously he knew what was going on and enjoyed her totally lost face very much. "Sit tight," he winked at her and patted her head before standing up. He braced himself as Terumi knocked on the door.

"Who is it?," he asked.

'Who is it?' Why would he need to ask? Obviously it's Terumi.

"OPEN THE GODDAMN DOOR, EATER!"

…Or not…

Funny, it sounded like Terumi, just a little gruff. Like she was loosing her voice. Still pretty though. But it couldn't have been the same girl. Terumi would never have said such a thing. Oh god, I'm already talking like I've known the girl for years!

Soul laughed once and bounded too the door, ready to open it, but he wasn't fast enough. Whoever was on the other side got impatient and kicked it open, narrowly missing Soul's face.

Maka's eyes widened and she jumped up into a fighting stance out of instinct. This person, if it even was that, was not friendly. And they did something with Terumi. If they touched any hair on her head…

Wait, why do I care? She's obviously after Soul!

Regardless of the reason, Maka embraced herself for a fight. But Soul just stood there. Since he was blocking her view of the door, she couldn't really see who it was. Slowly, still keeping her guard up, she leaned around him. Just enough to get a glance of the intruder.

It was Terumi…

She was still exactly the same, same angelic face, tiny frame, goddess like build, but her clothes were different. Instead of the frilly blouse and pencil skirt she had before, it was now ripped jeans and a band t-shirt. Her previous clothes roughly thrown in Souls face.

"The hell'd ya keep that damn door closed, ass wipe. Ya knew it was me!," she said angrily as she breezed past him, stomped past Maka, and into the kitchen.

Soul laughed an apology and walked over to Maka. She was still in her fighting pose, but was staring off at nothing, her face in total disbelief.

I don't get it. I just don't-she was so nice a few minutes ago. What happened?…SOUL!

"Explain. Now." Maka whipped her face at him to give her the best death glare she could muster as he just set her back down on the couch. In the kitchen, she could hear Terumi roughly scouring the fridge's contents. Obviously not finding what she wanted, she slammed it shut and stomped back into the living room, cutting Soul's answer off.

"How hard is it to buy a goddamn case of beer before I get here, Soul? Ya gonna make me go out and buy some myself. You know Terumi's the money maker, I ain't gonna do no job!," she huffed, before slumping into the recliner.

Maka watched yet again in disbelief as Terumi spread her legs as far as they would go (the complete opposite of the lady like legs together pose she had before) and scratched…some rather unattractive areas.

WHAT THE HELL?

"…Terumi?," Maka asked cautiously. If Soul wouldn't tell her what the hell was going on, maybe this new side of Terumi would. Maybe it was a joke. Maybe they just wanted to freak her out. It wasn't like they were gonna do anything to her…right?

Looking at this person now and the way she stared (hard) at her, Maka started to doubt that there would be no 'anything.'

"My name," the girl said in a tight clipped tone, "Is. NOT. Terumi…It's Teri. Terumi loves ya to bits, but you annoy me. Oh, and you've got the tiniest tits I've ever seen."

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds before she could blink. Had she heard right? Was this seriously the same person? Maka turned her head, eyes still on Terias she turned on the tv and started surfing the channels, to Soul.

"Are you ready to tell me now, what's going on?"

He sighed heavily and Maka turned her full attention on him. Nervously, he ran his hand through his white hair, a habit of his whenever he was uncomfortable.

"It's kind of hard to explain," he started, not looking at her. "But seeing as you've read a lot of books, I'm sure this has come up somewhere."

Maka just stared at him with owl eyes, waiting. He huffed and finally looked her in the eyes, totally serious.

"Have you ever heard of people with multiple personalities?"

A/N: ….TA-DA! You have met just met Teri, Terumi's first split persona! Obviously shes a little rough around the edges. I'm sure Terumi's gonna give her a good wooden spoon beating after she hears of the rude comments made towards 'Maka dear' by her!

Teehee, be prepared, I have one more split persona in store for you to meet before the real story begins.

I wuv you my churros, I hope that chapter lived up to your expectations!

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