Author's Note: Hi everyone this will probably be the last daily update to Masquerade for a while since next week I'll be on vacation with my family. I would love to hear people ideas for what they might like to see happen in story or what they think of it so far it's been great hearing from you guys I really appreciate it!
Chapter 8: Preparations
"It's about time you showed up brat you know some of us have important places they have to be!" Spirit snapped as he watched Soul walk in.
Soul just simply rolled his eyes at Spirit's antics. "Oh I'm sorry; I didn't know going to ChupaCabra's was so damn important." Soul said sarcastically.
Spirit became even more pissed at Soul's tone of voice and stood up prepared to strike him when Kid suddenly cut in with a cough.
"Alright, that's enough now out of you two. Now that all the death scythes are here I can make my announcement. As you all know, I haven't been a Shinigami for that long and I figured the best way for me and everyone to get better acquainted with each other was to hold a gathering at my mansion next Saturday not only to celebrate our accomplishments over the past few months', but also discuss plans for how we can continue to keep peaceful relations on a global level." Kid explained.
"That sounds like a good idea to me, you seem to be handling your new duties nicely Kid. I'm you're your father would be proud." Marie said with a smile.
"I have a question. Are we allowed to bring any guests along with us?" Spirit asked becoming slightly bored at how dragged out the meeting had gotten, especially with the time that had passed with them waiting for Soul to come.
"Well for right now, I just want it to keep it death scythes only with maybe only a few select guests since some of the information we might discuss could be classified." Kid replied back.
Spirit frowned and just sunk further in seat. Everyone else talked casually amongst themselves until Kid finally announced the meeting was over.
"Remember everyone, the event starts at 8 pm, but it would be best to probably arrive by 7:30." Kid called out as everyone departed from the area.
"Oh hold on, Soul I wanted to have a quick word with you." Kid mentioned as he noticed Soul trying to sneak off amongst the crowd.
Soul groaned, but stopped and turned around to face Kid.
"Any particular reason why you were over 30 minutes late to today's meeting? I know I reminded you about it." Kid inquired; slightly annoyed that he had had to prolong the meeting longer than necessary.
"Yeah I'm sorry. There was another matter that came up that I needed to take care of first." Soul grumbled.
Kid arched an eyebrow at Soul's quick answer. "Is it anything that you might want to talk about? We will be working together a lot more from now on after all." Kid reasoned.
Soul didn't reply back immediately, instead he thought back over everything that happened in the past hour and a half that had made him late to the meeting in the first place.
FLASHBACK
'Man I'm glad I got a quick soda from the vending machine before I have to head off to that meeting Kid has planned. He can go on forever when he really gets passionate about a topic.' Soul mused to himself as he turned down the corridor of DWMA's halls when suddenly heard a familiar voice echo down the halls.
'Isn't that Maka's voice?' Soul thought. Confused, he peeked down the hall and sure enough he saw his meister talking with a guy he didn't know.
"Wow that was unexpected, but thank you for the help." Maka spoke towards the guy.
Soul surveyed the scene with a frown. It was odd for Maka to just randomly talk to guys outside of their own group. It wasn't that she wasn't friendly enough to talk to anyone though, but it was still strange. 'What exactly did that guy do that would cause Maka to thank him?'
Whatever this mystery guy had done obviously was important because Maka looked relieved and still slightly tense from what Soul could gather from afar.
Soul continued to eavesdrop on their conversation and crushed the soda can he had been holding a bit in silent displeasure when he heard this guy flirt with Maka and even get her to blush a bit. Maybe they were just being friendly with each other, nothing for him to get annoyed about.
It was finally this guy straight out asking Maka out that pissed Soul off enough to break away from his hiding spot and pull Maka away from the situation.
Soul glared over at the guy before he left. 'I don't know who he thinks he is seeing as he's only a NOT student, but he's up to something and I'm not letting Maka get involved in it, no matter how mad she gets at me for interrupting.' Soul thought angrily to himself.
FLASHBACK ENDS
In retrospect, Soul still had no idea what that guy truly wanted with Maka or even what his name was. And anyways, he had ended up mostly distracted and forgetting about him with the time he had spent with Maka afterwards.
"Soul did you hear me?" Kid questioned trying to pull Soul out of his thoughts.
"Huh? No you'll have to repeat yourself I just have a lot on my mind." Soul stated trying to pay attention now.
Kid smirked. "You've been just as distant as Maka lately it seems. Is something going on between you two?"
Thoughts of their brief kiss immediately invaded Soul's thoughts, but he pushed them away before Kid could take notice of his embarrassment.
Kid just grinned knowingly at his silence before continuing on. "Well, I was just saying you could invite Maka as a guest to the gala if you wanted to."
"What you mean as my date? I thought you wanted to keep this as death scythes only?" Soul stated, ignoring Kid's smug look.
"Even though you technically aren't Maka's weapon anymore, she has helped out the school and has abilities that have proved to be very useful on past missions. Besides, we all know how much you two mean to each other and how much it seems like have some ongoing private affair." Kid asserted.
"Whose is this 'we' have you been hanging out with Black Star too much or something? And what makes you think Maka and I are having some secret relationship?" Soul said trying not to get too angry with his assumption.
"The 'we' would be the rest of Spartoi, and no I've been too busy to hang out with Black Star, and I personally just thought you guys liked to keep it a secret because her Dad likes to go crazy over anything involving her." Kid finished calmly answering Soul's questions.
Soul just sighed. How was he supposed to reply back to that when Kid was semi-right?
"I'll think about it I guess, but Maka may be too busy to go in my opinion." Soul grumbled. 'She's still been keeping something hidden from me. If anything, she's the one with her own secret relationship going on.'
Kid just chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."
~X~
"Hiro, I don't think it would be a good idea for us to go to the Gala, I'm still only a mediocre player when it comes to the sax and I think this is too big of an event that we aren't properly prepared for." Maka reasoned.
"I think you're only saying that because you personally will know some of people there. Trust me, they won't recognize us after all we are going to be addressed as our stage names and be disguised." Hiro coolly explained.
"It's not our disguises I'm worried about. I'm worried about my playing. Even though I feel like I've gotten a bit better from practicing some smooth jazz and classical jazz, I don't want to mess up in front of all those important people!" Maka snapped back.
"Geez, do you always worry this much? Your sax playing is fine and with me on the guitar we will be okay. Plus, we still have a little over a week to prepare for the event. It isn't until next Saturday, remember?" Hiro said.
"I swear sometimes it seems like you care more about the money and popularity." Maka stated with a sigh, rubbing her forehead to prevent a headache from coming.
"So, do you want to agree to this or not? I need to call Kid or at least let Jessica know soon." Hiro asked, ignoring Maka's statement.
"Well I guess it would be nice to play at a new area besides the Pub…" Maka mused.
"Great, I'll call Jessica when I get home! I think you should do some dress shopping and we should at least meet back up on Wednesday again to practice before the event." Hiro said, already thinking ahead.
Maka gazed at him warily. "Why do I need to go out and buy a dress now?"
"This is a formal event. We can't just dress casually like we did for all our other shows." Hiro answered.
'Crap he's right, but I don't really own any dresses that would be appropriate for the event! Guess I'm going to need to get help from an expert.' Maka realized to herself.
~X~
"So Maka, tell me again why you suddenly decided you wanted to go out shopping?" Liz asked mischievously. It was currently Friday afternoon and Maka was hanging out with Liz, Patty, and Tsubaki for a shopping spree that Maka had abruptly suggested after class had ended.
"Um no reason, I just noticed that a lot of my clothes were getting a bit old and worn out and I thought it would be fun to just chill out with you guys." Maka stated nervously.
"What kind of stuff did you want to shop for? Tsubaki asked kindly.
"Err; well actually I didn't really want to change up my clothing style so I was just thinking of shopping at the usual stores I frequent." Maka replied back.
"That's bull and you know it Maka! Since when do you ever want to go shopping anyways? Mostly you like to go to the bookstore and buy novels, not buy clothes you're hiding something, aren't you?" Liz retorted as Patty laughed next to her in agreement.
'Guess there's no use in really trying to hide it.' Maka mused to herself. "Okay, you got me Liz. I actually wanted to go dress shopping and I wanted to get advice from you guys on what would look best on me."
"Oh, well why didn't you say so earlier! I know the perfect dress boutiques that we can go to, but first tell me who's the lucky guy you're getting all dolled up for, it's Soul, right?" Liz questioned with a grin, squealing a bit.
"Ooh sis, you think Soul was the guy Maka was thinking about at lunch the other day?" Patty asked starting to grin and tease Maka also.
Maka blushed and tried to deny Liz and Patty's accusations until luckily Tsubaki spoke up.
'Oh thank goodness Tsubaki will calm Liz and Patty down for sure!' Maka thought in relief trying to hide her flushed face.
"Maka, I think it's sweet that you are finally allowing Soul to see more of your girly side!" Tsubaki stated in approval, happily in support of her friend.
Maka sighed and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. 'Well guess all my friends think I'm going out with Soul now and we aren't even technically dating.' Maka mused internally.
After Maka managed to calm all her friends down, she decided to tell them about what happened the other day and how she was still unsure of the nature of their relationship at the moment.
"What?! I can't believe you two kissed and you didn't tell anyone! Though I am surprised Soul at least had enough courage to ask you out." Liz contemplated after Maka finished her story.
"Soul didn't ask me out yet. I just wanted to buy a dress because well I- um." Maka frowned unsure how to finish the sentence without giving away she needed the dress more for her alter ego to attend Kid's gala than for herself.
"Say no more Maka. You wanted to buy a dress so that you could impress Soul enough with it that he would ask you out and have his eyes only on you for the entire night, am I right?!" Liz stated becoming excited again.
"Uh, yeah I guess that's why." 'I would prefer that Soul not know that it is me when I actually go to the event. I just want him to think I'm some random music Kid picked out to perform. Maka thought.
"Alright well what are we waiting for girls? Let's help Maka get her man!" Liz said pumping a hand in the air.
xXx
The next few hours Maka spent with the girls trying on a variety of outfits. After deliberating and thinking over which one would best go with her mask, Maka was able to narrow it down to three options: A navy blue ball gown with sequins across the bust line, an emerald colored sleeveless gown, and finally a violet colored gown with ruffles along the bottom.
"I think I want to go with the emerald colored one it matches with my eyes after all." Maka stated, coming to a decision.
"Good point and it's not too expensive either." Liz mentioned as she glanced at the price tag.
"Thanks you guys for helping me out today, it means a lot to me!" Maka cheerfully said as she went over to the checkout and purchased the dress.
"No problem Maka just let us know how your date goes!" Liz laughed as Maka pouted a bit.
"So where have you been this whole time?" Soul asked noticing Maka looked exhausted as she walked into the apartment and closed the door.
"I was out shopping with Liz and the others for a dress." Maka replied back tiredly.
'Why does Maka need a dress? Don't tell me Kid already invited her to the Gala! No wait, he wouldn't go behind my back and do that. Unless she bought the dress for a date, but who would she be going out with?' Soul pondered to himself.
"Well I'm going to go set all this stuff down. If you need me I'll be in my room." Maka said, gaining back Soul's attention.
"Wait Maka, I need to ask you something." Soul stated causing Maka to turn back around.
"Yes Soul? Did you need something?" Maka asked, putting the dress over her shoulder to keep it from falling.
Soul frowned, feeling a familiar anxiety and nervousness buildup in pit of his stomach, before he just decided to spit it out:
"Maka, Kid is having a Death Scythe gathering next week at his house; do you want to go with me as my date?"
A/N: That's it for Chapter 8, I probably won't update again until around the 19th or later since I'll be away (I'll probably get more ideas for the story anyways between now and then). But besides that I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! I always enjoy getting feedback and as always thanks for reading!