CHAPTER 11

A/N – Dear all, once more I have to apologize for delay in updating this… Writer's block + screwed home internet connection+ pure laziness = delay… Oh, damn my unfortunate fate :)))

I suppose we'll have to start practicing… Those few words tormented Maka throughout the day as she went about doing her usual tasks. Kid had said that he was well enough for a first attempt at training, so there was no avoiding it now. In truth, the blonde was quite aware that delaying it any longer was a very bad idea, since their marriage had only been (and it was obvious now) a temporary solution. The Older One asking questions could only mean that he was somehow suspicious of what was going on, after all – Maka thought – a Death God marrying a mortal woman must have been something quite out of the ordinary.

Although the old beggar said she was married to a Death God as well… Could there be any truth in all that? But why would a shinigami take a mortal wife when they cannot die? Out of a need for companionship? Out of boredom? And aren't there any shinigami girls? If Kid was born out of fragment of Lord Death's soul, does that mean there aren't any? Or maybe the 'fragment of his soul' thing is just a metaphor…

The blonde meister shook her head, folding the silk garment neatly and placing it in her basket. Was this really the issue now? No, the issue was practicing the whole damned 'weapon thing' and then finding a way to defeat the three Kishins so that they could return home. And get 'an equally valid divorce'… Great, I'll be barely sixteen and already divorced! I'll be a 'divorced woman'. Just like mom… Maka facepalmed. Oh, enough of that, I can't keep thinking of that! So… back to practicing… Oh, by Death!

Maka threw a fleeting glance to the edge of the terrace, where the old beggar was sitting, on her way back to her room. But no, she could not be seen talking to the woman again and what was she supposed to ask her anyway? And why did these questions bother her all the sudden? Maybe she was desperate to think of anything else but the matter at hand, the meister told herself, sighing.

Her hand was already sweating and trembling as she pressed the knob and pushed the creaking wooden door open. Just as she'd thought, Kid was back too from his daily duties and rummaging through the trunk on the other side of the bed while muttering something unintelligible. Maka instantly noticed that his white shirt, as well as the jacket and trousers of his suit seemed freshly washed and had been put out to dry. So what the hell was he wearing now?!

"Hey!" the young shinigami said softly, looking up at last and lowering the trunk lid. Much to Maka's relief, he was wrapped in a black cloak.

"Hey…" she managed weakly, unable to refrain from fidgeting as she set the dinner tray on the table. "So… what do you think is with the lack of spare clothing thing?" the blonde asked at last, pointing at his clothes. "I couldn't help noticing they haven't given you any either…"

"What? Oh… " Kid scratched his head. "Well, actually I've got plenty of spare clothing"

Maka's eyebrow shot up in confusion. "What do you mean, you've only got… several cloaks. Right?"

The young reaper cleared his throat, sort of avoiding her gaze as he stood up. "Well, not to shock you or anything, but I'm not actually supposed to wear anything else. You see, for a very long time reapers did not wear human clothing and here they are still keeping that custom, it seems. But then again, everything is pretty ancient here, I guess…"

Not supposed to wear anything else? What the hell, is he teasing me or something?

The blonde took a deep breath, hoping that her cheeks weren't by any chance reddening or something. "Anyway, Kid, I've been meaning to ask you certain things…" she let out before she was able to stop herself, as she sat down and picked up a bowl of stew from the tray.

"Such as?" Kid picked his own bowl and eyed it with infinite disgust, while muttering something along the lines of 'if I eat this I'm going to die' under his breath.

"Well… I couldn't help thinking that, you know, if the Older One has begun asking me questions, he must be suspicious… And, I mean… um… I'm just thinking… um… that perhaps this whole marriage thing is rather unusual? I mean the old beggar told me once that she was married to a Death God but I just thought it was plain crazy, because why would a shinigami marry a mortal woman or something, you know? I mean, um… aren't there any shinigami girls, you know, out there?" Maka muttered quickly before stuffing a piece of bread in her mouth, not knowing what to make of the young reapers expression. He didn't seem offended in any way though… Gah, why did I have to go and ask him all this bullshit!?

Kid blinked. Well, if he wasn't offended by her questions, he was certainly surprised.

"Look, I… I'm only asking these questions because I'm afraid of what else he's going to ask me and I'm afraid I won't know the right answer, that's all!" the blonde hurried to explain, fidgeting again uncomfortably and this time she could clearly catch a hint of amusement in the shinigami's golden eyes as he poked at his stew.

"Well, I don't mean to sound negative Maka, but my father was never married – or not that I know of – and I surely have never been married before, so if there are any… um… particular issues related to a shinigami marriage, we most likely won't know the correct answer anyway, in case they ask," he said, smiling. "But just to put your mind at ease, I shall answer your questions, to the best of my knowledge"

I suppose he does have a point Maka thought, but did not dare to look up from her plate this time.

"I guess such a marriage could be considered somewhat peculiar," Kid went on, "because shinigamis were created to be… um… how to put this? I think 'self-sufficient' is the word – so theoretically we are in no need for a mate or anything of the kind. But I have heard of cases where certain shinigamis did have… um… let's say relationships with humans, so I suppose that a marriage is not that extraordinary… Are there any shinigami girls? Huh… I don't really know. I mean I've only met just one, but she is only half shinigami. Her father is a reaper"

"And her mother is human?" Maka wanted to know, suddenly feeling an anxious twist in her stomach. A half-shinigami?

"Heh…um… no. Her mother is a witch, actually," Kid replied with a wry smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

The other meister's jaw dropped. What? "WHAT? But I thought reapers and witches are natural enemies or something!"

Kid laughed openly this time. "That's it, Miss Albarn, no more 'juicy' stuff for you. I think it's dark enough outside now not to be seen by anyone, we should go and begin our practice"

Maka dropped her plate as well and followed him out in the corridor with a flustered expression and her cheeks burning. "Were you just laughing at me right now, Mr. Death the Kid?" she demanded angrily as she struggled to keep up with his long strides.

"Absolutely not, I told you nothing but the truth," the young shinigami replied, his voice regaining its usual serious, dry tone."And don't give me that look, it's not like I'm her father… He is officially a loon, by all accounts though"

Bah! By Death, he's definitely teasing me! Damn you, Kid!

Okay, okay, I can do this, everything's going to be alright, everything's going to be alright! Maka told herself, taking a deep breath and extending her right arm to the side. She breathed some more, steadying her nerves and focusing, as her arm gradually morphed into a dark grey, razor sharp scythe. The moonlight shone wickedly on the blade as the blonde experimentally swung it back and forth.

"Well, at least this part seems to be working," she observed with a small smile, but to her surprise Kid looked rather reluctant eyeing the blade. "What's the matter?" A frown crept onto her own face as she recalled Soul and Black Star's disastrous attempt at fighting together. She had laughed then, just like everyone else, but now it was definitely less amusing. "Are you afraid… that we're not compatible?" Okay, so she had to ask.

"No," Kid said in a low voice, leaning against the stone wall. "Theoretically reapers are compatible with any weapon, so nothing should go wrong in that department"

"Just like Excalibur is theoretically compatible with any meister?" Maka asked innocently.

If Kid was by any chance hit in full by the uninspired comparison, he deftly concealed it. "Oh, no, I think that the holy sword Excalibur is quite unique. There is absolutely no one like him," the young shinigami said seriously. "Fortunately… but no, I don't think we're incompatible, after all team soul resonance has worked just fine in the past… I am a bit afraid of scythes though, to be honest," he added with an awkward shrug.

What? He's actually afraid of… me? And here I thought I was the one being afraid, I thought he feared nothing… Thinking about it, Maka resumed her practice by morphing each of her limbs into blades in turn. It was still a bit weird, but she was slowly getting the hang of it. "You're afraid of scythes? Um… would you care to expand on that?"

Kid eventually peeled himself off the wall and drew closer, reaching out to run his fingers over the blade of her currently morphed arm. It tickled a bit. And funny thing, he didn't seem so afraid now… Maybe he was only trying to make her feel better by a bit of commiserating?

"Back when I was still at the beginning of my work as a meister my father had this fantastically bad idea to bring several scythe girls he'd selected especially so that I could choose one of them as my partner. Long story short, it went very badly in more than one way and I got a nasty cut too, good thing I'm a fast healer. It was quite a dismal affair, but then I found Liz and Patty and everything was great because… heh… you can't cut yourself with pistols"

Yeah, flawless logic… you can't cut yourself with pistols

Maka didn't really know what to say to that. A weapon and a meister were supposed to be close and that closeness involved knowing (most) things about each other – in fact barely keeping any secrets - but there were so many things she still didn't know about Kid and she could never as much as hope to intuit them. Like this, for example! While he was strong and resilient he also appeared to have a vulnerable side in need of understanding and protection. And she could never tell what the hell he was thinking, since he was very adept at not showing any emotion unless he wanted to. That was extremely frustrating, especially since the blonde suspected that the other meister had no trouble guessing her every thought.

"Um… well, there's nothing to be afraid of and I promise to be careful… "Maka muttered at last, pulling away from his touch. "Okay, okay, so I'm going to try the 'real thing' this time," Oh, by Death this is going to be sooo awkward! She glanced up at the star dotted night sky and gulped. "Just try not to catch me with your head…" she grumbled under her breath.

"I shall do my best," Kid replied with a brief smile, but for some reason he didn't sound very convinced. At least to Maka. Hell no! I can't think like this! He's my meister, if I don't trust him this will never work! So I… I have to trust him! He'll do just fine, after all he is a reaper, not just any meister.

Taking a deep breath, the blonde launched herself and soared upwards, feeling her whole body morph into a strange, immobile shape. It felt far more bizarre than she'd ever imagined it would be. Unable to move at all, Maka instantly panicked as she began to fall back, already imagining the pain coming next as she would hit the ground. She assumed it would not be that bad in weapon form, but still… and she couldn't even scream. Well, technically she could, but a screaming scythe would have been somewhat ridiculous.

But then a firm hand caught her handle in mid fall and she was lifted upwards in a swinging motion. "There, I've got you!" the young shinigami pointed. "Maka? Are you okay?"

Phew! "Y-yeah, I am… quite okay. So how does it feel? I think it is a bit… um… weird?"

Kid weighed the scythe in his right hand thoughtfully, then switched to his left, a morose expression gradually creeping onto his face. "Huh, weird doesn't even begin to describe it… I mean you definitely make one very fine weapon, Maka, it's just that… just that it's just one." He sighed and relaxed. "I suppose I'll just have to hold you with both hands then"

"But… that technically means that… you don't really know how to wield a scythe?" the other meister realised out loud. Well, he just said he's never wielded a scythe before or something, right?

The shinigami resumed holding her with only one hand for the moment and gave her a wide spin which looked pretty expert. "Nah, that's not a problem. Any weapon is kind of intuitive for us, we know how to wield it just fine. Which doesn't make this any less weird, of course…"

"Okay," she said, obviously relieved. "I think it's enough for tonight, as far as am concerned. Please throw me upwards so that I can change back to human form!" And hopefully not fall flat on my face…

But she did it – she landed quite gracefully and turned towards her new meister with a big satisfied grin plastered on her face. Kid smiled back at her and the blonde couldn't help noticing how the pale moonlight illuminated his porcelain face and his golden eyes, while a gentle breeze played in his hair. Suddenly, without knowing why, her heart simply sank in her chest and for the briefest moment she felt like she was suffocating.

Oh, why the hell am I getting so worked up on this? I don't even like anyone! And Kid probably likes that half-shinigami girl - she must be beautiful…

Just like him

To be continued