I walked outside of the hotel, and saw Maka waiting for me. She had her hair down, was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and smiling.
"Hey Maka." I smiled, walking up to her. I gave her a one-handed hug, and she tried hugging me and bumped into my arm that was in a sling. I gasped, and she frowned.
"Sorry." Maka said.
"It's okay." I said. "How're you doing?"
"Me? You're the one that has a broken bone." Maka said.
I shrugged as much as I could without moving too much. "I'm used to being in a hospital. You're probably not used to picking out my clothes, though."
"Hey, you're the one that bought them." Maka said.
"Not necessarily." I said. "Why do I get hurt so much?"
"You're extremely caring. You can't help but save others." Stein said, walking up to us slowly.
"Were you listening?" I asked.
"Yes." Stein said, pushing his glasses up. He tossed a bottle of pills at me, which I caught with my good hand.
"What are these for?" I asked.
"Take one before sleeping. They will slowly rid you of the black-blood. Or, should." Stein said. "I'm not sure."
"Great." I sighed. "Hey Maka, d'ya' want to go out and get something to eat?"
"Why do you ask me to a date each time you leave the hospital?" Maka asked.
"'Cause I figure you're going to go after me. That, and getting injured helps put my priorities in order." I said, which was true. Every time I left the hospital I usually hated that I didn't ask Maka to a date more often, or that I didn't talk to Ma more often. So, after I went on a date with Maka, I called Ma, or whatever else I regretted not doing. But there was a small part of me that said 'what happens when you don't get to make up what you regret? You can't keep getting injured like this.' But I usually forced that voice down.
"And I'm high on your priorities?" Maka asked.
"Yeah. Top o' the list." I smiled, and leaned in to kiss Maka. No matter how many times I kissed Maka, or how many times I hugged her, or talked to her, it still blew my mind. I didn't really think about it at the time, but I was in love with Maka. Not 'high-school' love; I was in 'I-want-to-get-married' love. Maka and I were making out when I heard Soul's motorcycle coming down the street. Both Maka and I stopped, to not gross out Kylie, but I still put my head on Maka's, smiling. "So, dinner and a movie, then?"
"Yeah." Maka said, then randomly said "Remember when you talked to papa?"
"Don't remind me." I chuckled.
A few weeks after I woke up.
I rolled over to Maka's dad, and said "Spirit?"
Spirit looked at me, and immediately knew who I was. "You're the kid who's dating my Maka!"
"Err...yeah." I said.
"If you hurt her, I'll kill you!"
"If I hurt Maka, I'd want to kill me too."
"If you get her pregnant you'll marry her."
'Hey, I might marry her without getting her pregnant.' The voice in the back of my head that knew I loved Maka thought.
"Okay." I said.
"If you aren't good to her I'll kill you!"
"Why are you shouting death-threats?" I asked.
"I love my Maka." Spirit said.
"I understand." I said. "She's a special girl."
"Yeah. I have to admit, I figured that she'd end up going out with Soul." Spirit said.
"Soul's going out with my little sister." I said.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I acted pretty much the same way you did just now." I said.
"Why? That's how you act if you daughter's going out with somebody, not your sister going out with somebody." Spirit said.
"Truth be told, I act like Kylie's father almost as much as her brother." I admitted.
"Really? You'd better tell me your story." Spirit said.
And for the next hour, I did. And that's how I got a date with Maka without getting killed by her father.
Kylie
I walked over to Rye, hugging him (careful not to bump into his arm.) Soul walked over and high-fived his good hand.
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
"Good." Rye said, imitating a shrug. "A lot better than not being able to move my lower-half. That sucked. 'Course, then I didn't have to go to school, and I got to watch anime all day."
I have to admit, that was fun for me too. Rye bought a whole bunch of anime DVD's, like Code Geass, Full Metal Alchemist and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I hardly got any sleep I was so busy watching them.
"You also learned, remember?" Maka said.
"I do." I said. "I ended up being the official Maka-Riley Truth Machine. I got asked so many rumors about you guys...It was really embarrassing."
"I would honestly like to know what rumors they were saying." Rye said, with a devious smile. "I mean, the lower half of my body didn't work."
Maka playfully slapped him, her face red.
