Author's Note: Thanks to A reader for pointing out that Maka wouldn't order Salmon back in Chapter 17 I can't believe I forgot about that! (That's what happens when you forget to double check your information and you write the chapters at 1 am) Malon Garynite: The other fangirls and possibly fanboys will come back in during future chapters I haven't forgotten about them! Anyways I enjoy the feedback it's good to hear new ways I can try to improve the story!
Chapter 19: Behind the Façade
"Are you sure it's okay for me to stay here?" Maka asked Hiro wearily.
Hiro took in Maka's slightly disheveled appearance, not sure what would cause her to want to visit his apartment at this hour of the day.
After thinking it over for a minute, Hiro let out a sigh and moved out of the doorway to let Maka in.
Maka took a seat on the sofa and wiped away a few stray tears from her cheeks before sitting up.
"I'm sorry to bug you at such a late hour, but I just didn't feel very comfortable going back home right now." Maka stated with a sigh.
Hiro squirmed in his seat, not sure what he could say to maybe help Maka feel better.
"Uh so can I assume that you possibly got into another argument again with Soul or something?" Hiro questioned not wanting to pry too much into Maka's personal life.
Maka sighed before nodding her head.
"To be honest though, this isn't really about Soul. It's about the people who constantly keep trying to make my life a living hell." Maka said in frustration rubbing her aching head.
"You must mean Soul's fan-girls right?" Hiro guessed.
"It isn't just Soul's fan-girls now. It's been all the problems that have come out of me being Emerald." Maka stated thinking over the past few months.
It was quiet for a few minutes, until Hiro spoke up again.
"So do you want to quit being Emerald then?" Hiro asked unsure of what Maka wanted to do.
"No, I'm not going to quit, but I do need to reevaluate how I've been handling keeping it a secret though." Maka mused laying her head back.
"Well alright then I guess you can sleep on the sofa for tonight. I'll get you a pillow and a blanket." Hiro stated getting up to grab the materials from his closet.
"Thanks Hiro, sorry I'm being so bothersome!" Maka said with a laugh. 'Though I probably won't be getting much sleep tonight, not with the way my head is aching right now…'
Hiro just shrugged his shoulders and yawned. 'I'm not sure what Soul did this time to get Maka to not even want to go home, but hopefully they make up soon. It's really awkward to have her here when we aren't even practicing.'
~X~
The following morning back at Soul and Maka's apartment, Soul found himself awakened by the sunlight that crept in through his windows.
Soul sighed and glanced at his clock. It was currently 8:40 am.
'Crap class starts at 9 am; I'm going to be late! Usually Maka has woken me up by now or even Blair bothering me, but it seems like neither of them are home right now.' Soul thought in irration as he quickly got ready.
As Soul walked out of his room and hastily made some toast he could take with him on the way to school, he noticed Blair in her cat form looking down at her empty dish bowl in confusion.
"Hey Soul where's Maka? Usually she fills my bowl before she leaves for school. Speaking of which shouldn't you have already left by now too?" Blair asked with a pout.
"Err I'm running late I'll just fill up your bowl." Soul stated grumpily as he hurriedly filled Blair's bowl and grabbed his toast.
"Hey wait you still didn't tell me where Maka is! Don't tell me you got into another fight again; where is she?" Blair questioned becoming annoyed as she followed Soul to the door.
"I'll explain later, but right now I'm about to be late!" Soul snapped out as he ran out the door and slammed it behind him.
Blair huffed and walked back to her bowl. 'They definitely must have gotten into some fight; Maka should have definitely returned back from her trip last night.'
As expected, Soul did not make it to class on time and Professor Stein made him stand out in hallway for the first 30 minutes of class.
Soul groaned under his breath as he slouched against the wall.
'Now that I think about before Stein kicked me out, I noticed that Maka wasn't in class either where is she?' Soul thought in confusion.
Once Soul was allowed back into class, he noticed a crumpled up piece of paper by his chair.
Soul glanced at the paper for a second; he wasn't sure if it was meant for him, but he decided to open it once he made sure Professor Stein wasn't looking in his direction.
Hey Man where's Maka at? It's not like her to skip class is she sick or something?
Soul could tell by the handwriting that the note was obviously from Black Star.
Soul gave him a side glance and shrugged his shoulders. 'Even I don't know where he is.' Soul thought, starting to become a bit worried.
After class ended, Soul met back up with the rest of Spartoi.
"So you really don't know where Maka is?" Black Star questioned just wanting to make sure.
Soul sighed and nodded his head. The rest of the group looked concerned for Maka's safety.
"We just saw her yesterday. Where could she have gone?" Liz asked aloud.
"Soul did you happen to say something to Maka that might have caused this?" Kid asked suspiciously.
Soul frowned and thought back over the events that had happened last night.
"We did get into an argument, but I didn't think it would upset her this much. I just wanted to give her time to cool down." Soul stated quietly.
Kid just shook his head in dismay while Liz glared at him.
"Couldn't you have at least called her or texted her to see if she would have responded back?" Black Star asked.
"I did during break, but she never picked up." Soul replied back beginning to feel annoyed by everyone's constant pestering.
Not too far away down the hall, Hiro watched the group continue to discuss options of where Maka could possibly be.
'Wow they are really pressuring Soul for questions! I tried to get Maka up this morning, but she was too busy writing a bunch of notes down that I couldn't understand. I should head back home now just to see if she's already left…'
~X~
As Hiro trudged back up to his apartment door, he heard the faint sound of a saxophone playing behind his door.
Frowning, Hiro opened the door and found Maka sitting on the ground playing her sax.
Maka had been playing a soft jazz melody, but stopped once she heard Hiro come in.
"I'm surprised you're still here. You know your friends are looking for you." Hiro stated as he set his textbooks down on the table.
Maka sighed and stretched. "I know they probably are, but I didn't want to go to school today and become distracted by the problems I've been having with Soul."
Hiro arched an eyebrow and huffed. "Well it sure doesn't look like you've been doing much here either except playing your sax."
Maka ignored Hiro's sarcasm as she took out some notes that she had written earlier.
"I've been only playing the sax for about an hour just to take a break and relax. I've spent a majority of the morning and afternoon now doing some research." Maka stated as she read over her outlines.
"What have you been researching that was so important you couldn't go to school?" Hiro asked curiously.
Maka smirked and set aside her sax. "Just some information on Travis's background. I'm getting tired of the tricks and schemes he's been doing with Rachel."
Hiro looked confused by this, so Maka continued on.
"Look I know you seem to think Travis is this great guy in all, but he's not. He puts up a front so nobody seems to notice that anything is odd about him until it's too late." Maka said.
"How do you know all this? I mean Travis hasn't done anything to you besides flirt with you from what I've seen." Hiro stated still not believing Maka.
Maka laughed bitterly. "Oh he's done way worse than just flirt with me, but that's not the point. It took me a few hours having to put in all those phone calls to the faculty and search through online articles, but I finally got what I needed to know." Maka said with a smug grin.
Hiro was about to question just what Maka had gotten when a sudden knocking at the door interrupted them.
Hiro looked through the peephole of the door then stepped back in slight surprise.
"Who is it?" Maka asked standing up.
"It's Travis. Should I let him in?" Hiro asked a bit unsure of how Maka was going to react.
'Well speak of the devil. As soon as we talk about him, he decides to show up. This time though his appearance isn't really a surprise to me.' Maka mused to herself with a smirk.
"Sure why not? He was going to find a way to annoy me at some point so I rather as well get it over with now." Maka said as Hiro opened the door.
~X~
"So you're still choosing to ignore my phone calls huh Maka?" Soul grumbled to himself as he glared at his phone.
It was about 2 pm in the afternoon and Maka still hadn't responded to any of the calls or texts he had sent her.
'Maybe Maka is out on some assignment, but that doesn't explain why she hasn't picked up her phone yet. It's possible maybe Professor Stein knows something, he is after all apparently the one who assigned her the case involving Travis.' Soul pondered to himself as he got up and walked over to Stein's office.
Stein was about to dissect a still alive rabbit when he heard the knock on his door.
Stein sighed and placed his scalpel down. "It's your lucky day. I guess you get to live for now." Stein whispered to the rabbit as he placed it back into its cage.
"You can come in." Stein stated as he sat back down and watched Soul come in and take a seat across from him.
Stein stared at him blankly. "What brings you to my office Soul? You're not the type of person who likes to stay after school unless you have to."
Soul eyed Professor Stein with the same blank expression he was giving him. "I wanted to know if you knew why Maka was absent from class today."
Stein shrugged, but then smirked slightly. "I don't know where she is, but from Black Star's yelling in the hallways earlier it seems like you're the reason she has disappeared."
Soul sighed, but kept his stern expression. "I know we have our fights here and there, but Maka never usually stays mad for this long. Do you think that possibly Travis did something to her?"
Stein rubbed his chin thoughtfully before he shook his head. "No I doubt Travis did anything to her. Sid informed me that he was in class today and besides that Maka did call my office phone to ask about him."
Soul's eyes widened at this piece of information. "Wait Maka called you earlier?! What did she say to you that she couldn't say to me?"
Stein sighed not wanting to repeat himself, but Soul wasn't going to leave until he told him.
"All she asked about was files on Travis' background and history. When I told her that information was classified and that I couldn't just give it to her unless the situation was serious enough, she explained to me how Travis had been stalking her and messing with her. I figured I would help her out a bit and I gave her some basic information on him and let her find her own way to look up the rest." Stein finished hoping that would appease Soul.
"So what exactly did you find on Travis anyways then?" Soul questioned after taking in everything Stein had said.
Stein grinned. "You'll have to ask Maka for that. I gave you what you wanted to know."
Soul groaned, but then Stein spoke up again.
"We both know Travis is a dangerous person, but let's let Maka handle it for now. I don't know much about what you guys do outside of school, but I think Maka feels as if she doesn't get to experience much challenges ever since the Kishin was sealed again and you became a death scythe."
"That's stupid of her to think that way. Maka and I have gone on missions even after I became a death scythe so why does she feel such a need to handle this one guy alone?" Soul grumbled.
"I don't know. You should be asking Maka these questions instead of me. I don't want to be involved in your odd love/hate relationship." Stein stated before turning back around to stare at his specimens.
'Well I guess that's all the information I'm going to get out of him. It's time now to look for Maka and hopefully make amends.' Soul thought to himself as he exited the DWMA.
~X~
"Hey Hiro what's up and oh Maka what brings you here?" Travis asked as he walked into Hiro's living room and made himself comfortable in chair.
Maka rolled her eyes. "We both already know that you just came here to find me."
Travis smiled and leaned back in the chair. "Well I did hear people talking around the school about how you didn't show up to class and I couldn't help but assume it was because of your broken heart."
Maka grinned and laughed at that. "Who said my heart was broken? I already know you and Rachel like to work together to try and make my life miserable."
Travis feigned confusion and put on an innocent face. "I don't know about that Maka. I mean I didn't force Soul to go out with Rachel, he went out with her on his own."
Maka shrugged, but continued to smile. "It's funny how you like to continue to pretend that you're not up to anything or that you're the only one who can go snooping around, especially after I read about what happened to you at your last school."
Travis's smile immediately began to slip as he turned his full attention to Maka.
"How do you know about that?" He asked coldly.
"Oh I have my methods, but do you really want to talk about it here?" Maka asked with a side glance towards Hiro.
Travis frowned and stood back up. "Alright then, let's take this someplace quieter."
After walking for about 20 minutes, Travis and Maka stopped inside a library.
"So what's this you say about knowing about my past school life?" Travis stated once they were both seated and in a quiet enough area of the library.
Maka shrugged, but kept a serious expression on her face. "Only that you liked to commit acts that ended up getting you expelled. It is one thing to stalk and use people for your own gains, but that wasn't enough for you so you just had to- Maka was suddenly cut off by the slamming of Travis's fist on the table.
"Okay that enough! So you know one of my dirty little secrets; that is not a big deal to me." Travis growled out.
"Oh, but it is a big deal. After all would you like the rest of the NOT class to know what type of person you truly are behind that smile? I'm certain Rachel would definitely like to know what you've done to the past women you've hanged out with." Maka questioned with smirk.
Travis sighed and brushed a hand through his hair in agitation. "Okay so I see that you can play games too Maka. I'll leave you alone like you want me to."
Maka shook her head, not pleased with Travis's answer.
"Not only just me. I want you and Rachel to leave me and my friends alone. The only time I interact with you is as Emerald and that's only once a week. Got it?"
Travis looked like he was ready to argue back, but then just nodded his head in agreement.
Maka smiled and stood back up and strolled out of the library.
As Maka left the area, Travis gritted his teeth in anger. 'Well I underestimated how much I thought I could pester Maka until she eventually leveled the playing field. Even with the blackmail I have on her, she know has her own blackmail on me! I guess it's only a minor setback though, after all she'll eventually succumb to the effects the pill has not just on her body, but on her mind too…'
X~
Soul frowned as he walked out of another bookstore that he knew Maka liked to frequently attend.
'She could possibly be at the library. She does like to do a lot of studying and reading there and it could possibly be the place where she made the phone calls from.' Soul reasoned to himself as he walked in the direction of the library.
As Soul was crossing the street to reach the library, he noticed Maka push open the doors of the library and head down the stairs with a triumphant grin on her face.
Soul quickly moved across the street and hid behind some nearby bushes before Maka noticed him.
A few minutes after Maka walked out the doors came Travis who looked displeased and bitter.
Soul smirked a bit at Travis's frustrated expression. 'I don't know what happened back in that library, but Maka must have done something to finally get him off her back at least for a while. I guess I really didn't need to worry about her.'
Soul smiled to himself and was about to get up and go back home, when suddenly he noticed Maka was no longer standing in front of the library.
"Whoa where did Maka go? I swear she was just standing in front of the library." Soul mumbled to himself looking around.
"You should be more aware of your surroundings Soul." Maka stated standing right next to him.
Soul jumped back in surprise before settling down.
"How long have you known I've been here?" Soul asked.
Maka smirked and laughed a little. "I've known you were hiding behind these bushes since I walked out of the library."
Maka sighed and let out a yawn. "Well I'm tired it's been a long day. I'm going to head home now."
Soul glowered and grabbed Maka's hand before she could walk off again.
"Wait a minute Maka. Where have you been all day? We were all wondering where you were and I suddenly just see you come out of the library like you haven't been missing." Soul stated.
Maka frowned and broke out of Soul's grip. "I had business I had to take care of. I know it's odd of me to miss school, but I had to put some priorities in front of others."
Soul scowled at Maka's answer, but decided not to push it for now.
"Well because you decided to skip class, I had to actually force myself to stay awake and take notes for you."
Maka smiled and relaxed a bit. "Oh I'm so sorry that must have been so difficult for you! You didn't have to do that you know; I could have gotten the notes from Kid or Tsubaki."
Soul shrugged and scratched the hair behind his head. "Well it wasn't that bad just doing it for one day, but don't expect me to do it again!" Soul finished looking away with a blush.
Maka just sighed and shook her head before taking out her usual book to slam against Soul's head.
"Hey what did I do to deserve Maka-chop?! I did something nice for you and you hit me?" Soul questioned angrily as he rubbed his sore head.
Maka only chose to glare back at Soul as she put the book away.
"You deserved that chop for spying on me and going out with one of your fan-girls!" Maka snapped back just as mad as Soul.
Soul frowned and calmed down as a few minutes of silence passed between them.
Suddenly, Soul reached out and grabbed Maka's hand again and pulled her in the direction of their apartment.
"Come on let's go home now. I'll make it up to you by cooking your favorite meal!" Soul stated with toothy grin.
Maka only huffed and looked away in annoyance. "I'm still mad at you, but cooking dinner AND cleaning up the living room would be a nice start!"
Soul groaned before eventually letting out a sigh. "Don't push your luck Maka."
Author's Note: That's it for Chapter 19, let me know what you think with a review and as always thanks for reading!