SOUL EATER: ~AFTERMATH~

Chapter 11 - No Tears for Those Slain... The Hardest Thing a Person Could do?

The Kishin souls of her parents swayed gently in light breeze. Dani had reverted from weapon form and was observing them silently. Jake couldn't think of what to say, but that was probably because there was nothing to be said. He walked up behind her and tried to refrain from touching her or making eye contact. Dani looked at her parents souls for a while longer then walked into the house without saying a word a sat down on the couch. Jake entered behind her and when she sat down he accidentally looked her in the eyes. He quickly glanced away but couldn't forget what he saw... It was combination of pain, sorrow, and lifelessness. He went into his room and laid on his bed. Jake couldn't fall asleep. He kept thinking about Dani and how she was handling it. He finally couldn't help himself and drifted off without a sound. The next morning he awoke to Dani cooking breakfast.

"Hey Jake, do you want bacon with your eggs?" She asked Jake like nothing had happened.

"Uh... sure." Jake replied not know what to say.

"Okay it should be done here pretty soon. If you don't mind waiting..."

"No, that's fine..."

Jake began to question the events of last night. Was it just a dream? He saw the cut on his arm and was aware that it might not have just been some dream. After Dani was done cooking they headed to school. Once there they went through their day like they normally would. I wasn't until Black Star approached Jake that he was one hundred percent certain it had happened.

"That was a really great party last night. I'm sure Dani enjoyed my picture and performance." he boasted stupidly.

"Uh... yeah it was really good." Jake said to humor him.

"Yeah I'll be sure to give an even better one at your birthday."

"That's fine buddy I'm not planning on having a party this year. I'll talk to you later." Jake walked away to get to his next class and ran into Messor and Ryder clearly skipping.

"What are you two doing out here?" Jake asked as if he didn't already know.

"There's no point in us taking that class. We're way too good for it." Ryder answered right away.

"Is that what you think?"

"No! It's what I know you dumb ass!" Ryder began laughing.

"Hey... Jake I want to ask you something." Messor cut in.

"Uh, yeah what is it?" he asked.

"Ryder... don't you have to use the bathroom?" he said looking at his partner.

"HELL NO! ...Wait a minute... kinda... now I do... WHAT THE HELL KIND OF BLACK MAGIC IS THIS!" Ryder was getting hysterical.

"Just shut up and go..." Messor shoved Ryder in the direction of the washroom. Once he was out of sight Messor turned his attention back to Jake.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked afraid of what the topic would be.

"How are you two doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"I saw your battle last night. I was rather intrigued when vanished briefly, even more so when you reappeared and your opponent was devastated."

"So you saw the whole thing?" Jake felt angry but didn't know why.

"Yes... who were those two?" Messor asked him keeping his voice at the same pitch as usual.

"They were Dani's parents..."

"Wow... and I thought I was twisted..."

"THEY WERE TRYING TO KILL HER!" Jake knew he was mad now. Mad because Messor didn't even know him but was talking to him about this as if it were a casual topic.

"You did good Jake... I can tell you're angry now too. That's not good. You can't let emotions control your actions... You struck down the enemy before they struck you down... that's how it should be."

"Hey! I'm back! What the hell were you two talking about without me?" Ryder began interrogating the two of them.

"Nothing... just be quiet." Messor had seemed to have lost interest in speaking with Jake. At the end of the day Jake walked home with Dani, still curious as to why she wasn't behaving differently. Did she fight their battle unconsciously? Once they were inside Jake worked up the courage to say something.

"Dani can I talk to you?" he asked her trying not to sound concerned.

"Yeah, what about?" she replied sitting on their couch.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine why do you ask?"

"Well... you seem to be handling things well after last night..." he continued.

"..." Dani said absolutely nothing.

"Are you really okay?"

"Am I okay?... Am I okay?" she had finally began to show some emotion.

"I'm just-" Jake began but she cut him off.

"I HAD TO KILL MY PARENTS LAST NIGHT! I CUT MY OWN FATHER AND MOTHER DOWN, IN COLD BLOOD!"

"What are you talking about? They were trying to kill you!" he tried to reason with her.

"THEY WERE TRYING TO KILL ME BECAUSE I DESERVE TO BE DEAD! I was supposed to be born a Kishin but I wasn't. I'm not human! I'm not Kishin! WHAT AM I?" she was shouting and Jake could tell she was on the verge of tears.

"Dani you're-"

"I'M A MONSTER! I'M A HIDEOUS FREAK! I SHOULD HAVE LET THEM KILL ME! I SHOULD HAVE-"

This time it was Jake who interrupted her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and smacked her hard across the face.

"...You... you just hit me..." she was stuttering and had already started crying.

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

"Jake-"

"NO! YOU'RE CONSTANTLY CALLING YOURSELF A MONSTER! YOU'RE CONSTANTLY COMPLAINING THAT THERE'S ALL KINDS OF PROBLEMS WITH YOU!"

"But I-" she tried to get a word in.

"You want to know the only problem you have Dani? It's thinking that there is something wrong with you. There's absolutely nothing flawed about you!" Jake continued not giving her room to speak.

Dani sat there quietly looking into his eyes. Jake sat down on the couch next to her slowly unzipped the top of her coat. Dani did absolutely nothing to stop him as he leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. He paused for a moment then changed his entire attitude as though he realized what he had done.

"Oh my god... I'm so sorry Dani..." he began apologizing to her.

"Jake, I-"

"I'm so sorry I hit you. It's just that you wouldn't listen to me and-"

This time it was Dani who kissed him. She slowly sat back in her place and looked him straight in the eyes. He had completely forgotten the look of pain, sorrow, and lifelessness she had yesterday.

"It's okay Jake... Thank you..." she leaned forward and hugged him tightly. Jake hugged her back and felt like he never wanted to let go...

Chapter 11- FIN