Reflex

By vivalarapture

Authors note- I'm currently obsessed with writing Soul Eater: New Vegas and not getting anything else updated. So I figured, hey! You're writing one shots, eh? Let's make a SE:NV one shot! There's not a lot of fluff in SE:NV, it's mostly action and a lot of bloody battles, but I wanted to write some cutesy nonsense going on between Maka/Girl and Soul/Boone. So never fear, if you haven't read SE:NV this will still make sense, but I'm also hoping this will peak some people's interest in the real story.

Chapter five, All Over Again

It had been a long few weeks of travelling, and Girl felt downright grimy. She attempted to wipe her bloodstained hands on her jeans, only to accomplish making the blood an almost muddy consistency after it mixed with the dirt on her pants. She growled angrily, flinging a hand out and smacking Soul in the shoulder.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

He tripped on a crack in the destroyed highway they were trekking, rubbing his aching shoulder, "I didn't even do anything!" Girl huffed and stomped her feet a little harder,

"I'm sick of you being so cheap! The next time we come across a town we are going to spend some caps and get a room to rent for the night!"

Soul rolled his eyes and shifted the rifle on his back around to avoid hitting previous battle wounds that were being irritated by his companion, "You never care about that, what does it matter anyway? We should be spending our caps on important things, like food and water that isn't irradiated beyond belief."

Girl pouted, agreeing that eating the pre-war food they had been forced to eat the past few days had been pretty awful, "But didn't we just get a ton of caps from that last mission? We can afford some purified water, fresh food and a place that has a shower!"

Soul shrugged, shading a hand over his brow and surveying the vast desert that surrounded them, "Well I don't see a town anywhere near here, but whatever. You're paying for the room out of your half, though."

Girl stuck her nose in the air, just happy she had won the argument, "Well then that means I'll be the only one whose sleeping in a bed and actually getting clean."

Soul chuckled, choosing to ignore her threat. He was actually looking forward to getting clean and sleeping in a bed for once and not the dusty bedroll he carried on his back. He resisted the urge to sniff himself, knowing it had been at least 3 weeks since he'd gotten a decent cleansing.

He glanced over at Girl, who was walking slightly faster with the knowledge that she was going to get the gunk out of her boots at the next town. The edges of her hair were still stained black from the last nightkin they had killed, the dark colored blood staining nearly every surface it spilled on.

Soul ran a hand through his hair, happy that his white locks were still adequately clean, other than the film of dust that had settled there since they started walking. He nudged Girl with his hand as he spied a small group of shacks bundled together in the distance,

"Hey! There's something. I just hope they're friendly and not another settlement of raiders.."

Girl nodded enthusiastically, bounding forward and leaving Soul in a cloud of dirt.

"Wait up! It's not going anywhere, there's no need to run!"

Girl laughed and called out over her shoulder, "What, you can't keep up with me? OX could always stay right on my heals! Are you going to let a floating robot one up you?!"

How dare she compare him to that hovering hunk of metal?! If OX was there at the moment and not getting repaired in New Vegas, he was sure the AI would have beeped in a smug manner, smacking Soul with his antenna as he sped past him to catch up with Girl.

Soul scowled at the tiny woman getting increasingly farther away from him, pushing his legs to catch up to her. It wasn't his fault he wasn't made for rushing headlong into battle like she was! He was a sniper, his job was to stand back and guard, taking care of things from a distance.

But this woman! This infuriating, beautiful, strong, violent and kind woman was making him rethink everything he had previously thought about himself. She was a contradiction in every way possible, but he couldn't help falling a little more in love with her every day.

When he broke down one night, soon after they started travelling together, trying to hide his tears over the loss of his brother, Girl had simply wrapped him in her arms and held him until he could recover his apathetic attitude and mutter a gruff, "Thanks."

She never brought it up again, and her eyes never looked at him with sympathy, only respect.

One minute she could be plowing down enemies with her rifle, all ferocious blows and calculated fury, the next she was cooing at their robot companion, OX, patting his metal frame and gushing about how strong he was for a pre-war artificial intelligence.

He couldn't seem to wrap his head around the enigma that was Girl. She had lost all her memories, barely knowing how to inject a stimpack, but had braved the vicious Nevada desert all alone.

She was so good a dealing with people, something he was eternally jealous of, and everyone who met her was in awe at the small creature that was so dedicated to fixing everyone's lives. The moment he met her up in the mouth of that snipers nest, he knew she was someone he wanted in his life.

Maybe it was the way she ignored the red eyes and sharp teeth most people avoided like the plague, positive he was a monster created by radiation and best to not get too close to.

Maybe it was the way her eyes flashed when she was confronted with danger, how they seemed brighter, clearer almost. How determined and confident she was, like nothing could touch her.

Maybe it was the careful touch of her hand when she wrapped up his wounds after a fight. She was cautious with her movements, always giving him a gentle brush of her fingers over his face to make sure he was still alive and with her.

With all the factors that went into the reasons he was falling in love with his companion, the one he was most sure of was that it was because she trusted him. No one besides his deceased brother had ever really believed he wasn't a monster.

For all of the fighting that surrounded the Wasteland, the people sure were skittish about anything out of the ordinary.

But not Girl, she had held out her hand, that wonderful smiled lighting up her face, and asked him to travel with her. She had been right, people worked better in twos, and the way her fingers hung in the air, just waiting for him to take, pushed him to take the first big leap in his life.

"Alright, I'll go with you, but this isn't going to end well."

At that time If he had only known the trouble they would get in together, he probably would have turned her down in a heartbeat, perfectly content to waste away in sorrow and blood as he hunted down Asuras Legion on his own.

If he had only been tipped off to how twisted and dangerous their adventures together would be, he would never have taken her hand and agreed to be her spotter.

But he wasn't informed about any of that, only feeling a soft flutter of his heart when he wrapped his hand around hers should have warned him that his pessimistic retort would someday come true.

As he finally caught up to his exuberant companion, who had slowed down substantially so he could keep up, but he wasn't going to let her know he knew that, one thing was solidified in his mind.

Knowing what he does now, he would have done it all over again.

Slowing down to a walk, Girl grinned at him, her calm breathing in stark contrast to his exhausted pants.

"How do you do that?! You're making me look really uncool right now."

Girl chuckled as they walked into the small town, happy to find that it was devoid of raiders or any mutated enemies.

"You need more cardio." Is all she replied, her sunburned cheeks flushing from his underhanded compliment. She called out to a man leaning against a shack, his cowboy hat pushed over his eyes. He looked up and smiled, waving her over.

"Do you have any place we could rent for the night?"

The man nodded, pointing to a shack towards the south end of town, "Sure, 50 caps for the night. That also includes the outdoor shower we've got."

Girls face nearly split in two from smiling so big, "Great! We'll take it! Thank you!"

The sun had long set, and a slight breeze whipped around the dirt surrounding the town, bringing a cool relief from the heat of the afternoon. Other than the occasional howl of a coyote in the distance, the small town was quiet. It was a peaceful interlude to their usual danger filled lives.

Soul was not going to take this time for granted.

He curled up on the dirty bed in the corner of the shack, sighing contentedly now that he was finally in a bed and free of the crusty cover of dirt and grime on his skin. Girl walked into the room, using an old shirt to dry her ashy locks still wet from her shower.

She smiled and plopped herself down on the bed, motioning for Soul to scoot over. His eyes grew wide, and he stuttered for a moment, "I-It's totally fine if you want me to sleep on the floor, you did pay for the room."

Girl simply brushed him off, getting comfortable and pressing her back against his chest, "Don't be a baby, I don't care."

Soul bit his tongue before he said something that ruined this golden opportunity he was rarely blessed with. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close and reveling in the softness of her skin. For someone who spent her days fighting for her life, she was still relatively feminine.

His fingers traced her shoulder, counting the scars that lined her body. She exhaled heavily, happily letting him touch her, "It feels so good to be clean and safe."

He hummed his agreement, too distracted by the way she sighed to really answer.

She grabbed his hand and pulled it up to her face, and he could feel her smile, "I'm glad you came with me."

He chuckled, finding great pleasure when she shivered against him,

"Me too."