SOUL EATER: ~AFTERMATH~

Chapter 9 - Happy Birthday Dani... Surprise Visitors Spoil the Party?

It was finally Dani's birthday and everyone was excited. Patty had bought Dani a new dress but she told her she most likely wouldn't wear it because it doesn't cover her entire body. Death the Kid got her two plates with pictures of his father's mask on them. Soul and Maka baked an amazing cake and Black Star gave her his picture with an autograph.

"Wow... these are all really nice things. Thank you so much." Dani said bowing her head.

"Yeah. My gift is the best! Where's Jake's present? He's your meister isn't he?" Black Star was speaking louder than he needed to.

"Uh, dude I'm letting her live with me." Jake explained.

"That's a terrible gift, you should've gotten her some more pictures of me." he started laughing.

"Oh, well I was going to... but the store was all out." Jake said sarcastically.

"Well I think that it's really nice that you two are living together." Maka smiled. "Me and Soul have been for a while. Dani use this to your advantage and make him cook as much as possible." She leaned close as to whisper in Dani's ear.

"Yeah man, that's a cool thing to do..." Soul was sitting on Jake's couch eying the cake.

"Well I'm just glad she's out of my house now... I FOUND THE PAINTINGS THAT YOU MOVED! IT WAS TWO THIRDS OF A MILLIMETER! HOW COULD YOU?" Kid was shouting. Patty started to laugh and Dani hid behind Jake.

After a few hours the party began to die down. Dani wouldn't take the first bite of her cake because she thought even though it was her birthday that it was unfair to her guests. Black Star put on a show for everyone which lasted a good five minutes before Jake ended up tackling him off the table. Once the party had lost it's buzz Jake showed everyone out.

"That was an awesome party, but MINE will be one hundred times better!" Black Star was saying on his way out the door.

"Yeah. Too bad nobody is going to want to go to it." Soul chuckled heading out behind him. Patty had fallen asleep and was being carried out by Liz. She was walking behind Kid when she stopped.

"Now that we're all going the real fun can begin, huh?" she said snickering.

"I- Uh- Er-" Jake was stuttering.

"Hurry up Liz. I want to get home and rearrange my wrapping paper. You made me leave so fast that I wasn't able to put them away!" Kid was complaining.

"Yeah, yeah... You can give me the details later." she winked at Dani.

Once everybody was gone Jake began to clean up. Dani insisted he let her help but he told her she would be doing absolutely no work on her birthday. He sat down on the couch stretched out.

"Whew, I'm really worn out." he said cracking his back.

"Yeah that was quite a party... a lot more than I actually wanted." Dani said sitting next to him. He looked at her for a moment but was distracted when the doorbell rang.

"I got it." he said getting to his feet. He opened the door to find Stein standing on the other side.

"I wanted to wish Dani a happy birthday. Is she in?" he asked politely.

"What? Uh, yeah. She's sitting on the couch go on in." Jake motioned Professor Stein into the house.

"Hello Dani. How was your big day?"

"Well, it's not over yet. I have until midnight." Dani said giggling.

"Yes, I understand. Milk it for all it's worth right? Well I just wanted to talk to you about how you were feeling." he continued.

"Why is that?" Dani asked him.

"Well it's just that I know your parents left you as a child and that can be really hard. Most traumatic can be troublesome if not dealt with properly. I was simply going to tell you that if you ever need some sort of psychosomatic surgery that I'm here to help."

She knew he was just trying to be nice but the awkwardness of his statement made her cringe.

"Um... Okay, will do Professor Stein?"

He began to head for the door but stopped suddenly.

"Oh... and happy birthday!"

With that he headed out the door. Jake shut it behind him and joined Dani on the couch.

"Well... that was weird." he said looking nudging her.

"He was just trying to be nice... I think. Anyway, I'm just ready for this day to be over."

"Aw why is that? Tired of being the center of attention already?" Jake kidded.

"No, not that. It's something somebody said..." she was thinking back to the reoccurring nightmare she had been having. She thought of the witch Cecilia and how Jake always attacked her in the end. Before she could give it too much thought there was a knock at their door.

"Who is it now..." Jake moaned.

"Let me get it, please?" Dani gave him a sympathetic look and headed towards the door. She opened it only to see a tall man in a dark coat and a beautiful woman, clearly in her later years but still attractive.

"Um... Do I know you?" she asked them trying not to sound rude. The man looked at her and then the woman. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and in a calm but sarcastically saddened voice asked her a question.

"Oh, Dani... How could you forget your own father?"

Chapter 9- FIN