Chapter Nine

"I wouldn't leave you in the woods by yourself... You should know that..." A smile broke through her pout, and she swam over to hug me. Eyes wide in surprise, it took me about ten seconds to hug her back.

"That's so sweet..." She said softly. I felt the heat return to my face. 'At least she can't see...'

"Uh... Well yeah... That's what cool guys do... For... People..." I stammered, desperately attempting to put the mask on. She pulled it right off when she let go of me and looked into my eyes, brow furrowed. 'So much for the mask' i thought as my expression softened. "Well... 'Sigh' I would always do that for you. No matter what, I'll never leave you alone..." I whispered, averting my eyes from hers. She smiled, hugged me again, then glided to the water's edge, climbing out and drying off.

"We should head back to the apartment," she said as she toweled her hair, "So I can make breakfast."

I climbed out after her. "Ok." She glanced at me, then at my chest. 'Crap she saw the scar...' She looked down, angrily? then walked into the foliage. I looked after her, then followed. I helped her gather our things, then put my shirt back on. She walked away without saying another word all the way back to my bike.

Back at the apartment, she walked into her room and shut the door in my face. 'Whats the matter with her?' I listened to her getting changed. When I didn't hear anything else, I quietly knocked on the door. "Maka?"

"Go away." She said quietly but sternly.

"Normally, I'd listen to you, but I hate it when you're upset..." I spoke softly through the door, trying to get her to calm down." Can you tell me what's wrong?" Suddenly, the door swung open and she pushed me backwards with a shove to the chest.

" You!" She screamed, walking angrily towards me as a backed away, hands up in surrender." You care too much about me and not enough about yourself! You could've died and it would've been my fault! I would've lost you, all because you didn't care about how I would feel with you gone! All you cared about was protecting me, and that was incredibly moronic!" She had me up against the wall now, screaming inches from my own face. "Why the hell would you do that to me?! You're just like my dad! You only care about how you feel, what you want! My dad doesn't care if I don't want to be near him, he only cares that he wants to be near me, so he does what HE wants! You don't care about what it would be like for me if you died, only how YOU would feel if I did! I HATE you!" At those last three words, my heart shot up into my throat in broken pieces, and my knees felt like they were going to collapse underneath me.