Guilt

"Watch out for my daughter, Soul."

He'd promised that he would. It wasn't cool to break a promise. But how could he watch out for Maka when he was as dangerous as he was? Soul could hardly control his transformations yet. How could he hope to protect her from other dangers if he couldn't protect her from himself?

Soul shook his head, sighing. He'd gotten himself into quite the mess this time. He trudged to the couch, collapsing onto the cushions as Maka headed for the kitchen. The air conditioning had been on while they were gone, thank Lord Death, so it was cool in the apartment. Running in the heat hadn't been pleasant, but mostly Soul was just bitter because he'd lost the race. And he'd only lost because he'd been so distracted.

The smell of food cooking brightened his mood a little. He waited a reasonable amount of time, then went into the kitchen to get some. He discovered that they were eating some lasagna for dinner. He must've spaced out longer than he'd first thought, judging how long it took to make that stuff. The pair mostly ate in silence.

At the end of the meal, Maka took his plate for him. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, getting lost in his worried thoughts again.

Soul was so distracted that he literally jumped slightly when something touched him. He froze in shock as Maka wrapped her slender arms around him.

"What…?"

"You looked like you needed a hug," she whispered, her head resting on his shoulder.

The unexpected show of affection was still surprising to him. After another moment of hesitation, he leaned his head against hers. "Thanks."

She smiled and straightened back up. "Come on, I'm not doing all these dishes by myself.

As they worked in comfortable silence, Soul was still lost in his head, but his thoughts were much less dark than they had been all day. It was finally dawning on him that he had a partner now, someone who he could actually learn to trust. Maka wasn't just a responsibility; she was there for him too. He'd always pulled away from human contact, but she was so gentle that he didn't mind her. He found himself grinning slightly at this realization.

"What is it?" Maka asked, breaking his thoughts.

He looked into her emerald eyes and a wave of relief washed over him. He wasn't alone anymore.

"S-Soul? Are you feeling alright?" she asked as he continued to stare at her.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Mm-hmm. C'mon, let's finish these so we can relax."

They continued working, but Soul felt a bit more at peace.

He caught himself gazing at her more often in the days that followed. Once he caught on to it, it scared him a little bit. He had to stop that before Maka noticed. He had to stop because a) staring wasn't cool, and b) she'd probably think he was weird once she noticed.

Too late he realized this. Maka had caught him staring for the thousandth time while they were at lunch. She had already finished eating and was reading a book, Black*Star chatting away on the opposite side of the table. Tsubaki was probably the only one who ever really listened to his rants. Soul, bored out of his mind, stared off into space. That space, unfortunately, was occupied by Maka. She snapped the book shut.

"Any reason you're staring at me?" she asked, trying to be polite but her irritation shone through.

"No."

"Then why do you keep doing it?" Oh shit, she had noticed!

"Because you're there, I guess," was his weak attempt to get out of trouble.

Her look turned skeptical, then her face darkened. "Oh no."

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You don't…you don't have a-a crush on me or something?" Her face turned a deep shade of pink after she finished her statement.

Soul sat up straight, something he rarely did. "What? Where the hell did that assumption come from?"

Maka huffed with annoyance. "Well, what other reason is there?"

Deciding to avoid the question, Soul instead mumbled, "Like I'd go for someone with your flat chest."

Maka turned even redder, and their conversation was finally picked up by Black*Star and Tsubaki. "Makaaaaa…"

Soul stared at her in confusion. His question was answered when the book she'd been reading met his face with surprising force. "CHOP!"

"Damn you're violent! What the hell was that for?!" he yelled, rubbing his forehead where the book had connected.

"That was for being an insensitive jerk."

"Insensitive? You're too sensitive!" he shot back.

Maka glared at him, and he was surprised to find hurt in her eyes. "Just forget it."

She turned away from him, burying herself back in her book.

"How can I when there's going to be a welt on my forehead the size of a grapefruit?"

"Makaaaaa…" she threatened.

"Fine." He huffed and leaned heavily on the table. He knew he'd dodged a bullet by insulting her, but that didn't make the comment any less hurtful to her. He didn't want to rely on rude remarks to talk to people the way he had in the past. He couldn't afford to lose the only person that trusted him.

"Um, are you two alright?" Tsubaki asked, quiet as usual.

Maka didn't even bother to look up from her book as she and Soul said in harmony, "We're fine." Embarrassed by Tsubaki's horribly hidden giggles and Black*Star's confused stare, Soul focused on eating his food and ignoring them.

Soul must've replayed that scene in his head fifty million times in the next week. There were so many things he could've said, so many things he shouldn't have said. He couldn't bring himself to talk to her about the mini explosion. Without really realizing it, Soul started to drift away from her. Their conversations were short and filled with tension. They bickered frequently. Maka spent more time around Tsubaki than Soul. He hated the distance between them, but he didn't know how to fix it.

On Friday night, Soul got fed up with the whole situation. He wasn't really mad at Maka as much as at himself. He got a movie that night and decided to just forget reality for a while. As he was putting the disk in, Maka muttered something about doing some studying. That was all she ever did anymore, so it was no surprise to him.

He sat down heavily on the couch with a sigh. The movie started and he fast forwarded through some of the ads at the beginning.

"What are you watching?" Soul jumped. He hadn't even heard Maka creep out of her room to peer at him from around the corner.

"Back to the Past. It's a movie about a Death Scythe whose family got killed, so they, uh, time travel to the past to stop it." He cringed inwardly at how dumb the movie sounded when he described it. To his surprise, Maka padded over to the couch and sat down.

"I'll watch it with you. If you don't mind," she said quietly.

"Sure."

He hit the play button, and they were both focused on the movie. Within the first few minutes, there was a suspense scene. A family was walking down a dark street after their car broke down, and they were being followed. Soul could tell that Maka was tense, so it wasn't surprising when the stalker popped out from the shadows and Maka squeaked. What he wasn't expecting, though, was what she did after that. She scooted over to his side of the couch and frantically grabbed his arm.

"You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Y-yeah," she said. She was still shaking a little, but she let go of him.

"A lot of the movie's going to be like this, you know," he warned.

"I can handle it!" Maka said confidently, though her voice shook.

She jumped again as something else jumped out on the screen. Soul wasn't watching the movie now. He was more interested in Maka's reaction to it. He tried not to laugh when she squealed with terror as a person was beheaded. His sniggering was audible, though.

"Hey! Don't poke fun!" She prodded him in the chest, and he started laughing. She started pouting, so Soul gently pulled her closer. She leaned against him, her head on his shoulder. The next time someone was killed brutally, she still squeaked an averted her eyes.

Soul didn't want to cross any boundaries, but he didn't want her to be uncomfortable during the whole movie either. Tentatively, he put his arm around her shoulders. She froze up for a moment, and Soul's heart pounded louder than the movie. After a second of hesitation, Maka leaned into him. She rested her head on his chest, and he fervently hoped that she couldn't hear his racing heart. She stopped shivering, and Soul couldn't help the warm feeling he got from her being so close.

They stayed that way throughout the movie, and both were reluctant to move when the movie was over. When Maka got up, Soul felt like a piece of him was missing. As he put the DVD away, Maka said she was going to bed. He nodded in reply. As he was changing into his pajamas, he still couldn't believe what had happened. He and Maka had basically just cuddled for the last hour and a half.

He slipped under the covers, feeling more at peace than he had in over a week.