TIME SKIP. TIME, TIME SKIIIIIIIP.

Body And Soul

Chapter Four

Old Friends, New Enemies

~TIIIIIMMEEEEE SKIIIIIIP.~

They glare at each other relentlessly, each feeling their anger and hostility growing with each passing moment.

It has been so very long since she has felt anger like this. It simmers in the pit of her stomach, seizing at her heart and thumping it against her rib cage. The fingers of infuriating rage inch up into her throat and squeeze it tightly so that her breathing becomes ragged and her jaw clenches with the effort of keeping herself from lashing out at him.

This is not what she had expected when she had searched him out for another training session. Their practices so far revealed that there is little hope in them ever being able to use Soul Resonance ever again.

His mistrust of her and the belief that she would run away without an excuse again is too much for him to bear, and sets his soul out of whack, clashing against hers.

When she had found him, and offered a truce so that they can try and be a real team again, he had lost it and had begun to insult her left and right, and she couldn't hold hers back either.

Which, of course, has put them in this particular situation.

"It shows your lack of maturity and skill as a weapon to be unable to perform a proper soul resonance with your meister."

She spits the words out, knowing that she really shouldn't, because she doesn't mean it. In the few times they have practiced together in the last month she had come to realize that he has become quite powerful indeed, even on his own.

It's slightly depressing to her. She had wanted to be the one to watch him develop, to help him become the strongest scythe in the world. And yet, she has been…

She narrows her eyes as he makes a rude noise and offers her a rude gesture, his voice growling out in a warning.

"What about you? All you have shown us is that you have endurance. You haven't gotten any more powerful at all, damn hypocrite. Why don't you go crawl back into whatever hell hole you decided to pop out of?"

In her mind, she is stunned, but she does not show it outwardly. She and Soul had been in their fair share of bickering arguments before she had 'left' but never has he said something like that to her, with such malicious intent.

Her mind reels in outrage, her soul flaring in indignation, and even before she knows what she is saying, she spits out the words in frustration, letting whatever little control they both have left slip away like running water.

"And why don't you go crawl back to daddy and brother and admit that you should never have left home!"

Snap.

Soul launches himself at her, making a strangled noise of barely suppressed hatred, swinging at her with a force she does not want to be hit with.

She darts backwards, skittering a few steps before pouncing towards the right, rounding him and charging him from behind. He twists away from her, bringing his foot up as if to catch her with the back of his heel but she ducks down close to the ground, skittering away once more.

It continues like this for too agonizingly long, each of them unable to catch the other with a blow, their chests heaving up and down as they pant and pause, regarding each other with calculating eyes. Finally red meets green and, as one, they move forward.

Soul swings with his right fist, and she catches it with her left, fingers curling around his wrist as she jerks him in that direction, trying to make him off balanced as she shifts her left foot against the ground and twists her body. Her right foot comes off of the ground as the upper part of her body leans back, the perfectly aimed kick heading right for the side of his face.

She is certain that it will make contact, but to her astonishment, her shin connects with something incredibly hard before her foot can reach his face. She blinks in surprise and her eyes dart to the blunt side of a scythe that her shin has connected with.

It takes her a moment to register in her rage hazed mind what has happened. It has been so very long since she has worked with a partner, with Soul, that she had forgotten the smallest detail that before she never would have forgotten.

He –is- a weapon. And just because he is not in scythe form does not mean that he cannot transform parts of his body. Perfect example, right now, his arm.

All of this happens in the span of a second, and soon she finds herself flat on her back, the back of her head smarting from where her skull has cracked back against the hard stone ground. She blinks back the spots threatening her vision, realizing that Soul is straddling her hips, and his fist is pulled back as if to strike her, his other arm back to normal.

She clenches her jaw and narrows her eyes. "Cheap trick, partner."

His eyes widen in fury and he strikes out at her. She is able to brace herself before his fist connects with her cheek bone, but she can feel the small snap of something as it connects. Her head butts once more against the ground, her vision swirling, eyes fluttering as he draws back again, snarling.

"You –left- me! You have no right to call me partner!"

Slam. Another searing blow, this one connecting with her cheek in agonizing force. She makes a noise, reaching up to try and get a hold of his throat, tasting blood on her tongue. She feels the incredible urge to let loose even more, but that is something she had promised –her- she would never do.

And the words are out of her mouth before she can stop them, even though she had been told never to tell anyone outside of the three that already know.

"Death –sent- me away!"

Her head snaps to the side as another blow connects with her face just as the words are off her lips, but there is an eerie silence as she closes her eyes and makes a sound of pain, even though she has been trying not to show that the blows actually hurt. A lot.

Absently she wonders how long he plans to bash her face in with his knuckles. Really, she feels almost as if she deserves it, which is a great part of the reason that she is not putting her best effort into getting out from under him, if any at all.

The throbbing pain makes her lips twist into a sardonic smile, her eyes staying shut as her thoughts flow away from the present.

….

OK! I promise you, you will understand. The next chapter is going to be a flashback, so it will explain this time skip thing. For the most part. 3 Review.