I do not own soul eater …..

Chapter 15

Miley's deep fear

Stein's unwavering understanding?

Miley covered her head with the blanket. She didn't feel like going class. She didn't really feel like doing anything but lying in bed. She wasn't sure what was making her feel this way. She lay there numb but not numb. She sighed and really didn't want to move. She felt Joanie standing over her. "I'm not going to breakfast, I don't feel like it."

"You sure?" the girl asked. "You want me to cover if you dad asks where you are?"

"Could you," She muttered thought the fabric. She closed her eyes but was unable to go back to sleep. Her mind on Mason. She sighed and pulled the blanket tighter around her. About ten minutes later, the door opened. Miley knew that it was Stein. Miley sat up and pulled the sheet off her head. "Why do you have to be a doctor?"

"Fate is cruel. Do you feel sick or you in pain?" He placed his hand on her forehead.

"I'm not really sick, it's hard to explain. I guess I just feel miserable!" She fell against the bed again.

"Really it's really a little early. You are really missing him aren't you?" Stein the Miley and Mason had a very different relationship from most weapons and Meister. He noted the pale pink cheeks, which she covered with the sheet again. He forcefully pulled the blanket away.

"What do you mean?" She asked while fiddling with the blankets. She didn't want to think that Stein knew how she felt about Mason.

"It usually takes about a month you to start missing him. Have you tried calling him?"

Miley just wanted to die, Stein knew about her feelings. She couldn't bare the idea. "I didn't want to bother him, with classes..."

"Miley I do believe that's why he bought you a cell phone. He would you to call if you needed him. The boy would drop everything and get on a plane for you." He watched her. He knew the back of her neck was on fire. "I'm guessing you aren't going you are not going to classes today."

"With or without your permission." She muttered.

"Alright, try calling him, if that doesn't work, we're go from there. I'll come to check up on you after lunch." He came back to find Miley still lying in bed. She hadn't bothered to change out of her pajamas. He noticed she was holding tightly to Mason's photograph. This could be a major issue. Miley and Mason couldn't be separated for any longer then a month or Miley started getting depressed, Stein wasn't sure about Mason. He had always been with Miley during the times they had been separated. He shook her shoulder gently. "Miley," Then was a whining noise from the small girl and she rolled away from him. "Wake up, you need to eat something." He told her.

"I'm not hungry." She muttered while sitting up.

"I don't care, you need to eat something. You have to stay at a healthy weight Miley."

"You act like, I have an eating disorder or something." She muttered darkly.

"Miley, you have a bad habit of being under weight. I have to keep that in mind. You might be here for the academy, but I will not allow you to slide. I can't keep an eye on you all of the time but when I'm able I'm going to yell at you." He said sitting on the bed next to her.

"I wouldn't call this yelling." She pointed out.

"You haven't really pushed any of my buttons that much. Hopefully you never will." He said pushing his glasses back up in nose.

"So starting another fight in the hallway." She stated.

"Would be a very good example. Have you talked to Mason yet? It might make you feel better. I'm surprised you haven't called him every night."

"What's wrong with me?" She asked while fiddling with the blankets. Stein didn't like the way that sounded.

"Repeat and explain." He inquired.

"What's wrong with me? Why does this happen when Mason and I are separated?" She sighed. "Maybe Molly is right, I am a freak."

"Alright first off," He smacked her hard on the back of the head. "You're not allowed to say that anymore." He decided that now was as good of time as any. It would do her any harm.

"What?" She asked rubbing the painful spot.

"Don't say that again." He said simply.

"Where did that come form?" She asked, it was rather out of the blue even for Stein.

"Marie actually," He chuckled. "I haven't said it in twenty years." Most people would find it strange but that was Marie.

"Really the word freak?" He smacked her again. "Ow, dad!" She held her head.

"Then don't say it, because I'll smack you in the head every time. But even more careful around your mother she may not smack you head."

"What?" Miley felt really embarrassed.

"I've warned you."

"But why did she make you stop saying it?" She said. "Seems rather odd, to me anyway."

"Anyone who doesn't know the full story it sounds odd." He said. "It was just after my parents died. I would listen to everyone around me, and would call myself that daily and she had about enough of it. Then one day just told me I wasn't allowed to say that any more."

"Just like that?"

"Well of course not. To me it was stupid, that when I didn't agree, she somehow got Spirit to agree. Now my partner and my girlfriend wanted me to start saying it. Well, I'm stubborn so they brought their case to Lord Death who agreed with them. So I haven't said the word in twenty years."

"So you decided to take it out of my vocabulary?" She inquired, wondering what this story had to do with her.

"You're starting to sound like me, so I wanted to cut you off before you get as far as I did."

"Did you cut yourself?" Miley asked.

"No I just cut other things. My madness started taking over, or I just stopped fighting I guess." He didn't really want to talk to Miley about that. The less she knew about his madness the better. A buzzing noise started echoing thought the room. Miley grabbed her phone that was sitting on her bedside table.

"Hey Miles, I've been thinking about you." Stein heard Mason's voice coming from the phone. He watched Miley glance at him.

"You always know when I need you." She muttered. Stein left the room. He didn't need to hear what they had to say to each other, it was none of his business. He was glad Marie had passed the message along to him.

The next day Miley was looking better. Stein was keeping a close eye on her. He found that later he should have really kept her close. He was finish grading some papers. These girls where smart he would admit that. The lowest score he gave out was an eighty-five. He liked giving high grades if meant everyone could learn at this pace. Suddenly there was a knock and then the door flew open. Joanie was leaning against the door frame panting. He looked at her rather surprised.

"Professor, there's been a fight outside." She gasped. He brain clicked into that middle mode between teacher and doctor.

"Was anyone hurt?" He inquired. "Take a few deep breaths." She followed the suggestion.

"No, but Miley was involved." She sighed. "I thought you want to know."

"What?" He was going to kill her. That was the last straw. There is no need for fighting, especially here. He was going to make her think twice before throwing a punch again. When he reached the front door of the dorm the fight had already broken up. It looked like it just dissolved. Miley was standing face to face with another girl. Neither girl looked very injured. Miley had a swollen cheek. The other girl had a split lip.

"You are a freak Stein, you and your father!" The girl yelled. Stein didn't recognized her. He had only been there a month so he didn't have a name to every face.

"Oh, yeah. Come back and I will show you how much of a freak I really am!"

"That's enough." He used the tone, he used when broken up other fights. He knew it would work for this one. Both girls flinched and back away from each other. He was glad they got the idea to get back. "What is going on here?"

"Miley, just started freaking out and punched me in the face." She gestured to her split lip.

"That's a fucking lie!" Joanie snapped from behind him. You pushed her frist, you wanted she if she got some fight in her." She stayed close to Stein. "You're just pissed that you got your ass kicked."

"Alright Joanie, your dorm. Go cool off, Miley you to, I'll speak with you both in a few minutes." He watched both girls enter the building before turning to the other girl. He had a feeling he was going to get a great deal of attitude from her. "What is your name?"

"Bella." She snapped while flicking her hair.

"Alright then Bella, where's your dorm?"

"Why in the hell should I tell you?" She demanded. Yep, there was that attitude he was expecting.

"If you don't I'll just bring you to the headmaster instead."

"Over in Dorm 6 floor 2. Professor Dilation is charge." Great now on top of everything else he had to deal with her.

Miley was in a panic. What had she done? She had blown everything. He wouldn't want her after this. He was going to be so mad. What could she do now? She couldn't go back to the dorm she would be too upset. Joanie would ask questions that she couldn't answer. She quickly headed out the back door. She needed some time to herself right now. It was going to be a miserable trip from here on out. She finally found a place to hide.

Stein arrived back at the floor. He quickly headed down the hall to check on the girls. He opened to find Joanie but no Miley. He raised his eyebrow. "Where's Miley?" She looked up at him with a look in her eyes. The look clearly said I have no idea. "No seriously where is she?"

"I don't honesty know. She didn't come into back to the dorm. Also I'm sorry about losing my temper back there. I just really hate her. She's just a bitch who wants all of the attention. She does this to everyone she needs to prove she's big girl on campus. I heard her saying that she was going to attack Miley and see how well trained an academy student is. She's jealous because she wanted to go but her parents said no."

"I understand, just keep you're cool next time. You are sure you don't have any idea where she could be?"

"Professor if I did I would tell you, she seemed upset about something."

"Alright, don't worry about it. Get that homework done."

"Do you want some help looking for her?" He turned and smiled at her.

"She's not that hard to find, if you know what to look for." He tapped the rim of his glasses and closed the door. He found her quickly. She was sitting under a large ash tree. She looked so small, even smaller then usual which was saying something with Miley only standing four feet eleven inches, she was curled into a small ball. Miley was crying he knew that, why she was crying he wasn't sure. "Miley?" She didn't seem to hear him. "Miley answer me." She scold. Still no response. He hated to be stern with her when she was like this but. "Miley Annette, answer me young lady." She looked up at him, her eyes fulled of tears. "What's the matter?" She shook her head. "Miley, what is it."

"I don't want to hear it." She sniffed.

"Hear what, what are you talking about?"

"How much I made you angry," She muttered. "How much trouble I am and how you don't want me anymore?"

"When did I say that I would abandon you if you got into trouble?" He thought he had made that clear. "Miley it doesn't matter what you do." He hoped this was coming out ride. This was much more of Marie's department. Then again she did need to hear it from him. Plus Marie would be upset if Miley ever said that to her. Stein wouldn't be sure how Marie would reach to this. He really hoped what he said next was the right thing to say. "It doesn't matter what you do, I'm not going to being your dad." It sounded right."

"You said if I pushed you buttons." She started.

"We would talk about it. Then decide if anything was needed." He reminded her. She looked so miserable, Stein saw the Miley he known over the summer. A Miley he never wanted to see again, a terrified, confused, and lonely Miley. Stein would admit he wasn't a sociopath, he could feel, and understand how others where feeling just dealing with it wasn't his strong point. But this little girl could make him start. He was shock to him. He only met one other person who could do that, and it was Marie. He wasn't sure why only they could do it. She was still looking at him with her large sad eyes and sniffed. "You a kid, that what is kids do they mess up sometimes. That's why I'm here, I help you, and make sure you stay safe."

"So you aren't mad?" She hiccuped. "I would have thought you would have been furious we just talked about not picking fights."

"True I am a little annoyed, but has more to do with you not going back to your room. I've already talked to you about wandering off alone." He scolded.

"I'm sorry!" She wrapped her arms around his waist, she was crying into his chest. He could feel her whole body shaking, from the tears. "Please don't be mad any more."

"Miley didn't I ready say that?" He said.

"I'm sorry, I really am." She sobbed.

"I know Miley I know." He said stroking her hair. He really hoped that he doing this right. He was mostly acting on instinct the only thing he really had when trying to deal with Miley. Logic was useless. "Calm down, Miley." It took her a good five minutes to clam down to they could head back to his room. He wanted to look her cheek over before getting to the lecture. When they arrived he gestured from Miley to sit on the bed. He straddled his chair and rolled over. It was clear it was going to be sore for a few days but nothing serious. He was glad about that. He knew they needed to talk but could he handle it what if he said the wrong thing? He sighed while he didn't really have a choice. "First off you are grounded for a week, you'll be spending your evenings with me." He said turning straight to business.

"Okay," She muttered, wondering if that was really all she was going to get after getting so upset. She felt rather stupid. "I'm guessing that's not all." She said.

"No, come closer for a second." Miley followed the order wondering she should have. She felt his hand collide with the back of her head. She flinched, that one had really hurt. More then usually, she rubbed the spot. "Also the next time you throw a punch, I'll spank you understand?" Where had that come from? It was too late to take it back now.

"Wait, what?" Miley asked surprised. She hadn't thought that he would go that far. She really needed to be careful. She never really been afraid of Stein until now.

"You heard me." He really couldn't believe he had said that to her. Sure he was playing the role but he hadn't really considered ever spanking her, but she seemed to think it a very serious threat so he ran with it. He thought back to what happened in Paris. True he would have to tell her eventually but He wasn't sure now was a good time. "Any more fights and I'll have you over my knee. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," She sighed. She couldn't believe this. Would he tell Mari...mom? What would she do if she found out. She sighed and try to keep it out of her mind.

"Now that's out of the way." Once again to Miley he seemed back to normal. How did he just jump back and forth like that? She didn't understand. "I want to know what happened and the whole story Miley. I don't want to find out missing parts later."

"Well," She muttered not really looking at him.

"Miley," He scolded.

"I was walking back from class, when I heard some one call for me, and I turned around to see who it was. The next thing I know I am on the ground at that girl's feet and I'm surrounded. At first I wasn't sure what was going on then she started running her mouth. She called you a..." She stopped not wanting to say the word. She wondered how he gone without using it for twenty years, she couldn't go twenty-four hours.

"I figured that's where you threw the punch that split her lip." She only nodded at him wandering if she would get another smack upside the head. "Alright, go get your homework." He told her.

"Why?" She inquired.

"Your grounding starts now, and Joanie is also in trouble so I am keeping both of your social contact to a minimum. I know it will do you some good."

Wow that was emotional. Ohh what will happen next? Another fight? Let's hope not.