I got the idea from Avatar: The Last Airbender. So, I guess it's kind of a crossover, not really?

Disclaimer: Pshh...

22. Mother Nature

"Hey, Soul. Have you ever heard of elemental bending before?" Maka closed her book and looked up at Soul, who was sitting on the couch.

"What kind of elements are you talking about?" Soul glanced at Maka.

"What other kinds of elements are there, Soul? I mean, Earth, Fire, Water, and Air." She sighed. "It's some type of mythological legend. It sounds really amazing, actually. Supposedly, people from the past could bend these elements and manipulate them to do what they wanted it to do."

Soul sat there and thought about it for a while. "That sounds really cool. I wonder if we could learn something like that?" Soul smirked and looked at his partner, who was glancing back at him. His smirked then transformed into a frown.

"Soul..." Maka looked at her partner in worry. "What are you thinking?" She hesitated to speak.

"Nothing, really. Just, the thought of manipulating elements... I wonder if people could manipulate others people into doing things?" His eyebrows were raised in a questioning manner. He got up from his seat and turned to walk towards the kitchen window. The rain was starting to fall. The pitter patter of the drops were landing on the windows in a hypnotic pattern. Maka noticed that he was looking outside. She also got up from her seat and walked over to Soul. When she reached him, her hand found its way onto Soul's shoulder in a comforting way. She lightly squeezed it and sighed. Maka stood there for a couple of minutes before retreating hand back down.

"Do you think there are people out there who can still bend the elements like their ancestors could?" Soul asked, never taking his eyes off the rain. "I mean, not just those elements, but things that have the elements inside of them."

"What are you trying to say, Soul?" Maka looked up at him with worried eyes. She could feel his soul and it wasn't pulsating with life like it normally was.

"What I mean is..." He breathed in and out. "Do you think people can bend blood? Black blood, to be exact."'

Maka's eyes became wider at his question and her mouth hung wide open. She put a hand to her mouth and leaned against the counter. She tried not to laugh at Soul's conclusion to what she had just said. She looked down toward her feet trying to stop herself from smiling at the prank she was pulling. Then she looked up at Soul and opened her mouth to speak. "I suppose that could happen. If someone was really determined to learn something like that." She paused. "But I don't understand how they could learn something like that. Bending was used to save human beings, not witches."

"It's possible that witches could have taken humans as prisoners and taught them how to bend. I mean, it's not impossible." Soul unconsciously fingered the scar underneath his shirt. "It would also explain why the black blood becomes out of control when Medusa is near Chrona."

Maka noticed that Soul was rubbing his scar. He must be intensely thinking about this as a possible solution to his problem. I wonder if he'll catch on soon enough to my joke. Sometimes Soul is so dense Maka though. She continued to humor him by asking more questions. "So what if it's true? What could we possibly do to counter her ability to bend...blood?"

Soul stood there for a good minute before answering. "What else, dummy? We learn how to bend." He now turned his attention to his partner and once again put on his all-knowing smirk.

"I told you, Soul. It's just a legend. No one actually believes in that stuff. And even if it was true, we would never know where to find a master to learn any of the techniques!" Maka looked at him with disbelief.

"You never know until you try, right? So, let's go and find ourselves a master." Soul instantly perked up and grabbed Maka's arm and headed towards the entrance of the apartment.

"Soul, where are we going?" Maka tried to stop him from dragging her towards the door.

"We're going to the library to research some more about this "bending" you speak of. Then we're going to ask Shinigami-sama what he knows about this. I mean, who knows. Maybe Shinigami-sama is hiding it from us, like he was with that Kishin who was living underneath Death City." He grabbed his coat and rushed to put it on. He then grabbed Maka's coat and handed it to her. She refused by yanking her arm out of Soul's grasp. "Oi, why are you being such a pain right now?" Soul cocked his right eyebrow up at her.

"Because! It's midnight, Soul! Nothing is open." Maka gave him a "duh, you idiot" look and put her coat back on to the coat hanger.

Soul looked at his watch and it indeed was midnight. He felt his cheeks heat in embarrassment at his sudden outburst. He scratched the back of his head and cheesy smile "Sorry about that. I just got a little excited. We'll...just go tomorrow! So, goodnight! See you in the morning." He patted Maka on the shoulders and ran to his room, instantly jumping onto the bed, waiting for tomorrow to come.

Maka closed her eyes and shook her head while smiling. She waited for him to come out of the room and start yelling at her for using the story of one of the cartoons they watched not too long ago on TV. She giggled a little at the thought of Soul actually taking this stuff seriously. She stopped short of her thoughts when she realized that Soul was standing in the hallway, watching her giggle. She put a hand to her mouth and ceased her giggling any further. Soul's eyes were covered by his bangs and his breathing was ragged. His thoughts were blocked from Maka, so she couldn't tell what he was feeling.

"Oi, Maka..." Soul's voice was dark, and laced with velvet. "Come here, will you?" Soul continued to shelter his view from her.

Maka cautiously walked towards Soul and stopped an inch away from his face. She looked at his bangs and tried to decipher was he was feeling by sensing his soul. It wasn't working. He completely blocked her out. "Yes, Soul?"

"That was so uncool of you, Maka." Soul smirked from underneath his bangs and then looked directly into her eyes. "Did you really think you were going to get away with that trick of yours? I'll admit, it was good, but... not good enough to fool me." He raised one eyebrow at Maka and waited for her to respond.

"I... well... um..." Maka tried to think of an explanation to tell Soul. She was drawing a blank.

"I see. So, you just though that by playing a simple trick on me, I wouldn't do anything to you." He chuckled. "Well, you're wrong. Very... wrong." He started walking towards Maka, and she started to back up. When Maka's back hit the wall, she was cornered with nowhere to go.

"Soul, you know it was just a joke. So, why don't we just... laugh this one off? Ehehehe..." She tried to lighten the mood. But it only fueled Soul's fire.

"Oh, no. I think we let this one go a little too far, don't you think so?" He put one hand against the wall beside Maka's head. Then he put his other hand on the opposite side of Maka's head. He towered above Maka and continued to smirk down at her. His shark teeth were gleaming from the moon's glow, and his breath was mingling with hers. He leaned over her face before taking his right hand and delicately tracing her jaw with his fingers. She was breathing in and out, trying not to concentrate on how Soul's touch was making her knees wobbly, and making the pit of her stomach light on fire. He grabbed her chin and prevented Maka from moving her face away from his view. Soul hovered over Maka's lips and he hesitated for a second before crushing their lips together in a passionate kiss. Maka was too shocked at was Soul was doing, that it took her a couple of seconds before she could process what he was doing. At first it confused her, then it made her more adventurous. She leaned into the kiss, closing her eyes, and automatically circled her arms around his neck. He smiled into the kiss and angled his face so that he was pressing their lips together further. This elicited a moan from Maka as she desperately tried to get more than just a kiss from Soul. He slightly opened his mouth to trace Maka's lips with his tongue, begging for entrance. She opened her mouth and gladly accepted his hot tongue into her cavern. They were in heaven, their tongues were battling for control, and so were their souls. Soul then broke the kiss and looked at Maka. She slowly opened her eyes and then she lazily smiled up at him.

"So, did you learn your lesson? Or do I have to teach it to you again?" He smirked down at her for the millionth time that night.

"Um, I'm not sure. Could you tell me again, just to make sure I don't forget?" She looked up at him with innocent eyes. He picked her up bridal style and took her into his room for some much needed teacher-student lesson. The hard way.

And that's it, folks! Sorry, I don't write lemons. I'm not any good at them, and I'd probably be blushing left and right. I changed my story over and over again until I ended up with this. I gotta say... the beginning doesn't compare to the end... at all. Oh well. Review, please.