Unfortunately I don't own Soul Eater or Dance Inside. They belong to their respective owners.

You can say you own something only so many ways until you run out of ways… Hm.

GAH! I just finished the Soul Eater anime! I didn't think the ending was all that great. I guess I was expecting an HUGE fight… I hope the manga has an actionier ending…

Sunday came and went and Desmond didn't have to explain anything to anyone about her hair. She was happy to be able to relax.

Monday morning Desmond woke up earlier than Rain to make breakfast as usual. Fifteen minutes after she had started to make breakfast, Rain opened his door and walked out, dragging his feet. He sat down at their kitchen table as Desmond put down plates of eggs and waffles. Rain began stuffing his face but slowed down when he noticed his meister just staring at her food. "Get over it," he said with a mouth full of waffle. Normally he wouldn't talk to her like that but it was early for him and he was getting annoyed with the way she was suddenly down on herself because her hair is gone.

Desmond looked at her "brother" and sighed. "Yeah," she said as she took a waffle. "I guess I should." She put some butter on it and started eating her breakfast.

After a moment of silence Rain spoke up. "So how do you think Death Scythe is going to react?" he asked.

"What makes you think he's going to find out?" Desmond asked nonchalantly.

Rain paused, afraid of her reaction when he told her, but decided to continue anyway. "We have to report to Shinigami-sama today about our mission."

Desmond's fork froze in the space between her plate and her mouth.

Black Star, Tsubaki, Rain, and Desmond walked into Shinigami-sama's room to report on their mission. While walking down the hall Desmond pulled her hood up and covered her hair like she did on Saturday.

"Someone is going to find out sooner or later. Instead of letting them take the spotlight from you, why don't you just show it off and tell the story proud. I'll share the attention with you until it blows over," Black Star said.

"Yeah, well I've never been much of an attention whore," Desmond responded adjusting her goggles.

"What?" Black Star asked getting antsy, ready for a fight.

Desmond turned to where Black Star was standing. "All I'm saying is I don't like attention. I don't like unnecessary attention, I don't even like necessary attention half the time," she explained.

"Then why are you a meister at Shibusen? You're bound to get attention with your abilities and talents," Tsubaki asked.

Desmond put her hands in her jacket pockets and shrugged then walked away.

"So I take it the mission was a success?" Shinigami-sama asked with a hopeful tone. Spirit stood behind him, eyeing Desmond suspiciously. He could tell something was wrong, but he also knew that she wouldn't outright tell anyone. To get Desmond to tell you something she didn't want to tell you took a massive effort. He recounted times he got the steel trap of a girl to tell him what was on her mind and started to devise a plan, but soon realized he either needed his ex-wife with him or Maka, however neither would be willing to come and help him find out what was on his goddaughter's mind.

"All according to plan," Desmond said flatly, her expression as flat as her tone. Spirit could see her hands moving in her pockets. That was her tell. She moved her hands when she lied about something small like that. It kept her from smiling like most other little kids did when they lied. She developed that trick while living with them five years ago. Spirit was concocting a plan to get her to tell him without Maka or his ex-wife when Black Star spoke up.

"… Well not everything…" Black Star started, even though she had just told him she didn't like unnecessary attention.

Desmond looked at the spiky blue haired boy out of the corner of her eye, silently begging him to shut up unless it was something about him. Say something about my hair. Go ahead, I dare you, Desmond threatened in her head. She shortened her neck and pulled her head back as if to make sure her hair wouldn't be exposed at all. Spirit saw automatically and assumed that she either got a piercing or a tattoo. If this girl got a tattoo she will be in some deep shit! Spirit thought becoming angry with what could have happened in Japan. If Desmond knew what he was thinking, she would have been thankful that he had no clue about the rose on her arm.

"Well you see… Desmond…" Black Star started as he reached up to Desmond's hood.

"Don't," Desmond said sharply and quietly causing his hand to retreat slightly. However it was soon on its path to her hood again.

"She…"

"Black Star!"

He grabbed her hood and pulled revealing her short black locks. "That," he said.

"BLACK STAR!" Desmond yelled whipping her head to him, causing her hair to fly in the air to defy any possible hopes Spirit had of it just being styled differently. After she realized fully what had happened, she turned to Shinigami-sama and Spirit sheepishly.

"I think it looks good on you Desmond!" Shinigami-sama said holding up two fingers.

"Desmond…" Spirit said, trying to get a grip on his anger.

That was when Desmond took Rain's advice. 'Just walk over as proud as Black Star would and pretend that it's the same length that it was before we left.' She swallowed hard and turned to her godfather fully. "It's my hair! So shut up and deal with it!" she yelled before turning away and walking out of the room.

The three didn't see Desmond until their first class. They walked in and she was sitting in her seat, hood down, paying no attention to the world around her. No one was in their seat yet, however, the group came in shortly after Black Star, Tsubaki, and Rain sat down. The four sat quietly while the others took their seats, staring at Desmond. After a while she looked up from the book she was reading. "What?" she asked to what seemed to her the world.

"U-u-um…" Maka stumbled to find the right words to say.

Patty, who was sitting in front of Desmond, put her arms on Desmond's desk and rested her chin on them. "I like it!" she happily chirped.

"I like it too but…" Maka trailed off trying to figure out what she was trying to say. "I thought you liked your hair long," she finally said.

Desmond rested her cheek on her knuckles. "I do," she simply said.

"Then why did you cut it?" Maka asked her childhood friend.

Desmond locked her fingers and leaned her forehead on them. "Well…" She started. She noticed Liz was picking up locks and letting them fall in disbelief. She also saw out of the corner of her eye Kid was contemplating doing the same thing. "Have you ever seen Naruto?" Maka nodded so Desmond continued. "Well have you seen when that pink haired one cuts her hair in the forest?" Maka nodded again but it slowed down when she realized what Desmond was saying.

"You were almost killed!" Maka shrieked.

Desmond opened her mouth but was unfortunately cut off by Black Star. "It was amazing Maka! The guy had a knife to her throat and everything and as he pulled away to kill her she grabbed Rain's blade that he dropped and cut all of her hair off and got away with barely a scratch! Then she took him out with one quick shot! It took less than a second for her to kill him! If I blinked I would have missed it!" Black Star yelled, boasting about his friend while miming pulling an arrow and releasing it. If she wont bring attention to herself then I'll bring it to her, he thought, thinking he was doing the right thing. Everyone needs attention!

Maka sat in her seat shocked at the story Black Star just told her. "A-are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Desmond said flatly. "Are you?" she asked Maka

"Oh! Um, of course I'm fine," Maka said before looking back at her book. Soul on the other hand kept an eye on Desmond the whole class. He could tell she was lying about something, he just couldn't tell what. Why does Maka trust and care about this girl so much? I think she's nothing but bad news, he thought.

After class Desmond walked out of the room without waiting for anyone, not even Rain. She left the school and went straight to the park that was nearby. It was still too early for the little kids to be there because they were still in school so she sat down on a swing and sighed, looking at her shadow. She was used to seeing the long hair flowing behind her as the wind blew, but now, barely anything moved around as the wind blew. She felt tears well up in her eyes but held them back the best she could. Desmond decided to sit on the swing until the little kids came over, or it was dinnertime, which ever came first.

BOOM!

The sudden clap of thunder and flash of lightning startled Desmond, but she didn't move. She stayed in her swing, even when it started to rain. She sat staring at her shadow, gripping the chains holding her swing tightly. Once she had gotten used to the rain falling on her and got over the fact that the falling rain was making her shoes all muddy, she didn't care much to her surroundings, so she began to cry to herself. She had always had long hair; it was part of her identity, what made her Desmond. And now that it was gone, she felt slightly empty. She closed her eyes and cried silently with her head hanging down, letting the tears fall down her cheeks and blend in with the rain. Desmond was surprised when the rain suddenly stopped falling on her, but heard it hitting everywhere else. She opened her eyes to see a pair of black shoes standing in front of her. She looked up and her eyes were met with golden, concerned eyes that were slightly blocked by black locks. Kid was standing over Desmond holding an umbrella, obviously worried about her. She started to shrink back into her shoulders, hoping it would make Kid go away, it only made him take a step closer to make sure she was okay. She looked down to the left and asked quietly, "What?"

Kid didn't answer for a few seconds. "Come on," he finally said. "Lets take a walk."

Desmond didn't want to at first, but reluctantly got up and walked with him under his umbrella. After a few minutes of silence Kid looked at her, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

Desmond shook her head and remained silent, looking away from him. No one other than her father, Rain, Catherine, and Maka had seen her cry and she intended to keep it that way. When Kid stopped walking though, she had to turn to face him to see what caused him to stop. He was looking at her not believing what she told Maka earlier in the day. "I-I'm fine. I'll be fine," she stammered out.

Kid looked at her, "This is 'fine'?" he asked using air quotes.

After a moment of silence, a few tears fell from her eyes and a few sobs escaped from her throat. "I'm not fine," she admitted defeated.

Kid placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lets bring you home, 'kay?" he asked.

On the walk back Desmond shoved Kid's shoulder slightly. "Hey. Welcome to the club," she said quietly.

"What club?" he asked looking at her.

"The 'I have seen Desmond cry' club. If you tell anyone, you're going down," she said simply.

Kid smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it."

The rest of the walk back to her apartment was quiet. When they got there, as Desmond was unlocking the door, Rain opened it from the inside and saw Desmond all wet. Desmond thanked Kid for walking her home and went inside to change into dry clothes.

"Where the hell have you been?" he asked her.

Desmond turned to face her partner, "It's raining."

I'll be fine,
You'll be fine.
Is this fine?
I'm not fine!

Thank you MidnightDreamAngel and yayaloves for adding this to your favorites! =]
Reviews are appreciated!