Soul Mates

Summary: From the time they meet to the birth of their child and then on. HM: A New Beginning-Rachel/Neil

Chapter Two - Black Heart

Ninian walked up to Neil's house and knocked on the door. When no one came to the door after a few minutes, Ninian shrugged to herself and turned away. She was about to walk away when she heard someone arguing within the house. Curiosity got the best of her and she opened the door and let herself in. She saw a blue hair man arguing with Neil and walked forward a bit to listen.

'I wonder what they're arguing about..?' Ninian wondered.

Neil looked angrier than usual as he glared down at the blue haired man. "Like I said, it was a mistake to sell to you!"

'What…?' Ninian blinked.

"Hah! Some shopkeeper you are!" The blue haired man yelled. "I'll never buy animals from you again!"

Ninian saw Neil grit his teeth and close his eyes in frustration. "That's fine by me. I'll never sell animals to someone like you again!"

Neil turned his back to the blue haired man.

"Gah… what a waste of time this was." The blue haired man muttered angrily.

The blue haired man turned around and almost ran into Ninian. "Hey, out of my way! I'm leaving!" He yelled and shoved Ninian aside.

Ninian landed on the floor with a yelp and a slight whimper. Tears came to her eyes. The man huffed and left. Ninian got up from the floor, brushed her clothes off, wiped the tears from her eyes and walked hesitantly over to Neil.

"Neil…?" She asked softly.

Neil jumped startled and whirled around. He relaxed from his tense posture when he saw it was only Ninian. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"What were you and that guys fight about?" Ninian asked in her usual quiet and soft toned voice.

"This has nothing to do with you. Just leave me alone." Neil demanded.

Ninian huffed, glaring at Neil and stood up straighter. He blinked in surprise. Usually Ninian wouldn't stand up to him. Normally she'd start tearing up when he spoke in harsh tone at her and then run off, leaving him by himself. He always felt a guilty about how he treated her and always wondered why the heck she hung out with him and gave him so many presents when he would usually scowl at her or be mean to her. He really hated making her cry but due to his anti-social-ness he didn't know how to talk to her.

"No! That guy just shoved me to the ground. I want to know why he was angry enough to do that!" Ninian demanded raising her voice slightly. Tears came to her eyes again and she whimpered again.

Neil looked alarmed and nervous so he stammered out, "Don't make that face! You're acting like I was picking on you!"

"Then tell me what wrong…!" Ninian sniffled.

"Okay. Okay. You win!" Neil sighed with unease and looked at Ninian warily. "You'll leave me alone if I tell you about it, right?"

Ninian wiped away her tears and nodded smiling.

"That guy with the bad attitude who was in here before is a customer of mine." Neil explained. "He came to complain about a cow I sold to him."

"Why?" Ninian asked curiously.

"You want to know why?" Neil asked incredulously.

Ninian nodded. Neil sighed.

"It seems the cow I sold him got sick." Neil answered. "He seems to think I sold him a sickly cow on purpose."

Ninian furrowed her brow. "Did you?"

Neil shook his head no, "I asked him how he's been looking after the cow, and it turns out he's been treating it really badly." He ignored Ninian's gasped of horror. "So it quickly descended into a fight. Pretty bad of him, right?" Neil gave Ninian a reassuring look. "But he's gone now, anyway, so everything's okay." Neil looked thoughtful suddenly.

Ninian still looked troubled though, "What about the sick cow?" She asked worriedly breaking Neil out of his thoughts again.

"Huh? What was that?" He asked

"What about the sick cow, Neil? She'll die if she doesn't get any medicine!" Ninian said looking on the verge of tears again.

Neil's eyes widened in realized.

"Argh, you're right! I need to give some medicine to the poor thing or it'll be done for! How could I overlook that?" Neil said, then looked determined. "Right, if I run, I can still make it!"

Without another word he grabbed some animal medicine off the self and dashed out of the house leaving Ninian, who blinked twice.

'Might as well wait for him to come back.' Ninian thought.

She started pacing in front of the kitchen table and a few minutes later heard the door open again. Neil came in and muttered to himself not realizing Ninian was still there. "Phew, I'm worn out!"

"Neil, you're back!" Ninian said smiling.

He jumped startled and looked over at Ninian. "What, you're still here?"

Ninian rolled her eyes in annoyance, "So how did it go? What happened?"

"Huh? You want to know what happened?" Neil asked.

Ninian nodded excitedly. Neil sighed.

"I took some animal medicine to him, that's what happened." Neil said flatly.

Ninian pouted at his tone. Neil rolled his eyes again.

"I also gave him some advice on how to better look after the cow. It might not make a difference but at least I tried." He further explained.

Ninian gave a soft smile. "I'm sure it will make a difference."

Neil scowled and blushing, looked away. "What're you smiling for, eh?" He mumbled.

He looked back at Ninian with a faint blush, "T-Thanks for that, anyway."

"Oh… Um, for what?" Ninian blinked looked confused.

Neil closed his eyes stubbornly and explained, "If you hadn't been here I don't think I would have given that poor cow a second thought. I was so angry!"

"Ohhh! Well, okay, you're welcome!" Ninian said tilting her head to the side and closing her eyes with a grin.

Neil blushed at how cute she looked and sputtered out, "Y-You've got work to do, too, right? Go on, get out of here! I'm busy too."

"Alright, alright! See ya later, Neil!" Ninian giggled.

"See you later." Neil nodded in agreement with a small smile.

He walked away from Ninian and towards the back of his house. Ninian smiled and left, heading back to her farm to play with her animals.