Usual disclaimers apply~
enjoy your read~

SOUL----

A fever in a desert.

Wow. That has got to burn.

Well it was the middle of November; it gets really cool even in the deserts of Nevada.

He gazed at his friend and former meister as she stood at the entrance of her doorway, drowsy eyed, her hair tangled so much that it looked like a bush on one side of her head and her cheeks and neck flushed red. The clothes she was wearing were a combination of a green and white striped pajama bottom and a plain white spaghetti strapped t-shirt, her black bra straps seen peeking out underneath the spaghetti straps. Her feet were bare, devoured by the long pajamas.

"A fever?" Soul asked incredulously. Since she didn't knock on his door at the usual time, he decided that she either went to school before him or she overslept and needed waking up. Or it was a day off. He had shaken his head at the last thought. It was a Thursday and there weren't any special holidays today. Deciding to check if she did oversleep, which was low in probability, he took the route that crossed their old apartment, only to find himself facing a pitiful looking Maka.

Maka would never allow herself to get ill for the sake of coming into every single lesson at school. The last time she was absent from school that wasn't caused by accidents from missions was because she had to take care of him when he was sick - afterwards she'd catch whatever sickness he had. And that was almost two years ago.

"I think…so. I just…want to…sleep…more…" Her speech was slow and slurred, her tone hoarse since she only just woke up from her slumber. A small hand reached up and slowly rubbed her half-lidded right eye.

He couldn't help it. Immediately, his hand shot up to encompass her forehead, her warmth being absorbed by his hand on her skin. Slowly, her weight on his hand increased - she was leaning towards him. Was she that out of it?

"Hey!" At that Maka twitched her head up to look at him, regaining her earlier balance. Deep down, he suddenly regretted calling out like that when he felt her weight on him lighten. "Come on," he whispered gently as he carefully laid a hand on her back and led her back inside of her apartment.

"Aren't you gonna be…late?" She quietly uttered in a slow pace as she sat herself down on her bed. Looking around, her room was the same as ever - neat, organized and plain. Her walls were painted a pale yellow hue, and a few splashes of colour found here and there, like her bed sheets that were apple green in colour and the tub of rainbow coloured pens on her desk.

"Y'know I might not go to Shibusen now…" he said randomly as he knelt in front of her knees, inspecting her green irises that peeked from underneath eyelids.

"Why not?" Her eyebrows knitted in disapproval yet her eyes remained drowsy and half lidded. Really. That's Maka for you. Education of others was as important to her as her own education.

"I have to take care of you. Come on! What if you get hungry or something? Or what if you get thirsty and you can't get the water by yourself?" Okay. So he was overreacting a little bit but it was propelled by his want to just take care of her.

"Maka CHOP!" It was unexpected, but her hitting strength was the same as normal. The book buried itself into the top of his head and the spot painfully throbbed. He didn't even do anything wrong!

"What was that for?!" The white haired weapon complained as he clutched the painful spot.

"I only have a fever…I'm not disabled!" The ill meister chided gently as she started to bury herself underneath her blankets. "Go on, Soul, before you get late."

"I don't even need to go," he grumbled to himself as he sat on the floor beside her head, cross-legged and slouched in manner.

"I heard that. What if Shinigami…sama needed you there?" Her tone was muffled as the blanket covered her mouth. Soul saw that her eyes were now closed - she was probably tired and here he was bothering and keeping her from her rest.

Although he didn't want to, he should really leave her alone for now. So he stood, brushing off invisible dust on his thigh and straightening his orange shirt underneath the leather jacket. Going into the kitchen, he tried to remember where they had kept the medicine kit and he hoped to find a cold compress - one of those non freeze ones that he could just stick on Maka's forehead.

Finding the object he needed, he decided to grab her some medicine as well. Re-entering the room with a few things stacked in his arms, he laid everything he had on the bedside table noiselessly and started to peel the sticker off the cold compress. Brushing her bangs gently off of her forehead, he gently laid the cool sticker on the spot, noticing that she hadn't reacted from his touch - he deliberated that she was probably asleep so she won't be able to take her medicine. Or she was possibly feigning sleep.

The green blanket was covering her mouth and nose, obstructing his view of his fiancée's face.

To fulfil his want to rid the obstruction and to allow the sleeping girl to breathe - it was pretty uncomfortable to breathe in the warm trapped air since the blanket wasn't thin - he replaced the blanket to slide it underneath her chin. As he did so, he chanced to trace his knuckles against her unusually warm and soft skin lightly, so that just in case she was only pretending to sleep he would have a ready reason to explain the 'accidental' contact.

Seeing her in such a relaxed state, he was unable to suppress the urge to just watch her - to just memorize the unfamiliar and yet comforting sight. The want to stay by her side was overpowering, considering her currently fragile predicament, but it seems that he should at least alert Shinigami-sama of his absence.

Standing slowly and feeling his joints crack with relief at the movement, he decided to go to Shibusen but return as quickly as he could. Just half a day at school would be enough.

To him, Maka's health was more important than anything else at the moment.

----------

He arrived at Shibusen just as the bell for first lesson reverberated loudly across the halls. This was because he kept stalling at Maka's apartment; kept changing decisions whether or not to go. Now, here he found himself grumpily sauntering through the now quiet halls of the infamous school, towards Shinigami-sama's chambers.

Passing by and swiftly peering into his form room through the small window on the door, he noticed Professor Stein introducing two girls in the front of the class - one girl just a tad taller than the other, both blonde, the taller girl's hair longer compared to the other who was donning a bob.

Tearing his attention away from the two possibly new classmates, he saw Black*Star lounging in his place as always beside Tsubaki, both seemingly intent on the new people as much as the others in the class. As another person caught his attention, he smirked - Kiel was sitting alone in their seats. Maka won't be shared today; just this day, she was only his alone.

Swiftly, he swivelled around to continue his casual gait, walking towards his boss' room. Thoughts swirled in his head spurred by that single thought from a minute ago - just what did he feel for her? He cared for her of course, since they were friends. Protective - he guessed that that feeling never went away even after their bond of meister-weapon ended. Attraction - a sort of admiration; he knew that he had felt this as he got to know her. Maka was strange. Different. Strong.

He simply smiled at his line of thinking as he turned a corner and entered the corridor, which leads to the entrance of Shinigami-sama's room. Unbeknownst to him as the thoughts still clouded his mind, he didn't notice the presence of a familiar someone exiting from the entrance of his destination. The visitor's presence only occurred to him when his name was called out, snapping the weapon out of his thoughts.

Snapping his head up to focus on the origin of the amused sound, he found himself facing an unexpected person.

"Kid?!" Dumbfounded. He didn't expect him to arrive this early! He was told that the student exchange programme would last until February… Why was he two months too early? "Y-you're back…"

Half turning to Soul, Death the Kid hadn't changed since he left five weeks ago - his hair was, as usual, well kept, the three half Sanzu lines stark white against the dark shade of his hair. Clothing style remained quite…symmetrical although he wasn't wearing his usual black attire but was instead wearing a white military jacket-like top with one side mirroring the other perfectly. His features had matured a little since they parted, golden eyes glowing in greeting.

"Soul…you look like you've seen a ghost. And your asymmetry makes it even worse. Is that how you greet your roommate? Couldn't you at least comb your bush of hair in a symmetrical order?" Same old Kid. Same strange old Kid, Soul thought and laughed out loudly, walking to stand by his friend's side and clapping him on the shoulder.

"Welcome back, man! I didn't expect you so soon!"

"So did I. I'm currently on a mission though and I won't be able to stay long," he said using his usual energetic yet sophisticated tone of voice. "I have a person to deliver."

"That's a pretty rare mission." Protecting clients weren't really missions meant for students from Shibusen since their only goal was to create a Death Scythe by undergoing multiple missions to destroy the pre-kishins. "If you need any help, I can lend a hand."

"Thanks, Soul." Since the two were friends, a Death Scythe and a Death god, they found it easy to resonate wavelengths and were possible to team up in a mission. "But I have found my weapons."

The last phrase shocked the Death Scythe - although the person in front of him was his classmate and a death god, he didn't own weapons since he could use a number of them. To them, resonating with others is easy, hence why they wield Death Scythes. But Kid wanted his own weapons just like a normal Shibusen student does although he hasn't found any favoured weapons - up until now.

Wait- "Weapons?"

"Oh yes. I wouldn't allow myself to wield anything despicably unsymmetrical - and I apologize for that Soul - but I have found myself two perfect weapons!" A scythe was pretty unsymmetrical, yet Soul didn't seem to care about that small unknowingly offending comment. What could Kid's weapons possibly be? Well… a clue would be that they were and must be symmetrical.

"Uh-huh. So you're not staying long? The guys surely want to see you."

"Unfortunately, my client at the hospital needs to be immediately sent back home--"

"Hospital?" Soul interrupted rudely.

"The guy's in a coma. Attacked whilst doing his research in Egypt. Actually…" Soul looked at Kid with a puzzled expression since the other boy was intently eyeing Soul's features. Breaking off the scrutinising, he continued, "Actually, the guy's pretty unsymmetrical. His right eye is covered by medical gauze… maybe I should cover both eyes to make it look mirrored…"

"You shouldn't, you symmetry maniac." Soul chided and then laughed, the earlier discomfort evaporating within seconds.

"So how is everyone? Black*Star, that idiot. Tsubaki-san… Maka…?" A pang reverberated in his chest as he watched his friend's features transform softly as he said the meister's name. He didn't know why, but the sight of it provoked a slight possessiveness in Soul… But he tried not to let it show… Both Maka and Kid were his friends; he wouldn't do anything to lose the bonds they have.

"Oh, they're all good. Same as always, y'know," he answered nonchalantly. At this the Death god only smiled. It looked forced. Hurt?

Then Kid breathed in deeply, sighed and faced Soul once again. "I have to go, my client is waiting. I'll be home in a few days though so make sure the place is symmetrical enough."

Soul only snickered, still puzzled by Kid's earlier minuscule action. "Yeah, 'course I will."

At that Kid started to walk away silently, raising a hand to calmly wave behind him. It seemed like he's changed a bit, thought Soul.

He entered Shinigami-sama's chamber, thoughts of Kid's strange expression crossing his mind.

----------

Twelve forty-three pm.

He entered Maka's apartment carrying a bag of food, lucky enough to still have the old apartment's keys on him.

What greeted him was the pleasant silence of the apartment and the subtle scents of chocolate and mint once again invading his senses. Maka was nowhere around so she might still be asleep.

Entering her bedroom, he had guessed correctly. There she laid peacefully, the green blanket only covering her shoulders as it clung to her, slowly slipping off and onto the floor. Soul placed the bag he held on the floor where he crouched next to Maka's sleeping face.

Seeing Maka, his immediate thought flickered back to Kid, and he was quite thankful that she wasn't at Shibusen today or else… What could happen when they meet? Would they fight? Or maybe make up? Does she still harbour feelings for his friend?

The thoughts saddened him. What if she still does? Knowing that he himself had growing feelings for her, what would he do? He couldn't exactly keep the childhood friends as they were now. They had to become friends once again, even if it meant that she would grow to love Kid once again.

Waving the thoughts off, he decided to let them decide. He would do nothing. Only watch from a distance and hope. Hope that in the end Maka would come back to him.

KID----

The hospital corridors looked too much alike. It was easy to get lost in a place like this. Yet Kid loved it here - the halls looked so symmetrical.

White, bland but symmetrical.

He could stand in the middle of the corridor forever, if not for the train they needed to catch in half an hour.

Turning down the halls, he found the room where his client was and he confirmed it by looking at the small label by the door. Looking at it, he thought of his unconscious client and suddenly remembered his scythe friend. Eyebrows knitting in thought, he found something between them to be similar...

The thought was temporarily discarded as he quietly entered the room.

'ROOM 243 - CHARLES EVANS'

A/N: its AU right? so another AU thing would be how Kid had only just found his weapons Liz & Patti
awright~ i have a few chapters ready once again so i think i'll post the next chapter in two days 8D

nothing much to say...
except that i have survived =w=~
camping was fun...boiling but fun~
and ive been posting drawings on my profile~
hope you guys take a look 8D

thanks to all of the reviewers once again, as always, for all the support C8~
please dont forget to leave your reviews :D~