Chapter Sixteen

~ Maka ~

"I'm falling in love," I tapped my feet against the headboard of the bed. "But it's falling apart."

My eyes were closed as I stared longingly up to the ceiling. Watching as the world around me slowly disappeared as music was pulling me into the pit of its consumption.

And I was willing to go with it.

Slowly, my heart thumped inside my chest. Feeling the peacefulness of my surroundings all by itself. And for what felt like the first time in forever - I didn't feel afraid.

Warmth was everything around me. I felt comfort and protection just lying in the walls of this particular room, as if not even the air around me could bring harm to my body.

My feet tapped against each other. "I need to find my way, back to the start."

"Uh..." the door closed behind me. "I'm not interrupting am I?"

Quickly ripping the earphones from my ears, I span around to face the doorway. Feeling my heart squeeze greatly as the golden eyed boy came into my view.

He stood there in his black skinny jeans and another white t-shirt, standing apprehensively as he struggled to remove his hands from his back pockets.

I hesitated, "hey..."

He stepped deeper into the room. "You okay?"

Despite the sealed wounds against my wrists I stared up at him and nodded. Feeling everything inside me tingle with the numbing sensation of happiness.

"I'm great," I smiled. "And you?"

He nodded back towards me. "Yeah, I'm good."

Suddenly it was just the both of us. The world of the hospital had been shut off as soon as he had closed the door behind him. But as he stood there watching me - I couldn't possibly want anything else.

He stepped slowly around the paper cranes that were sprawled out across the floor. Walking round them slowly as if they were the most fragile things in the whole world.

"You sure like paper cranes don't you?" He smiled.

I nodded again, this time placing a loose strand of blonde hair behind my ear, feeling extremely embarrassed as I realised how messy my hair looked.

As he stepped beside the bed, I couldn't help but catch a whiff of his sent, and as I did - it was easily the most amazing thing I had ever smelt.

It was like vanilla mixed with men's aftershave. Sweet with a hint of delicate power, which made the butterflies in my stomach burst to life once again.

He sat in the chair beside me, leaning forward and holding his hands in his lap as he looked back up at me, on the bed where I sat ever so nervously.

"Paper cranes..." I stammered. "They're the only memory I have of my mother, before she passed away."

He squeezed his hands sorrowfully. "Oh... I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," I smiled. "That was a long time ago."

The I-pod sat on the bed in front of me, the earphones streaming away from it like an ocean and its rivers. Rivers that travelled the world in order to grace people with the oceans sound.

I took it in my hand and held it out towards him.

I tried not to look at him as I did so, "thank you."

He took the silver I-pod in his hands, brushing the button as he did so, watching as the screen came to life just before his eyes, revealing the title of the song that still hummed through the earphones.

"The Maine," he grinned brightly. "You like 'em?"

"Yeah, they're great..."

My thumbs twiddled as the song continued to whisper between the both of us. Defying the space with every word that escaped the singers lips.

Paper cranes danced as the wind seeped through the window, as if to force the papered beauties into making some kind of beautiful use with their paper wings.

"Keep it." He passed it back. "I want you to have it."

My heart stumbled. "I can't, its yours..."

"It probably means more to you than it ever will to me."

Butterflies were something that could no where near begin to describe the feeling in my stomach. It had risen so high that it was twining itself around my chest, and pressing at my heart.

Holding the I-pod in one hand, I quickly used the other to comb through my hair. Catching knots and not hesitating to rip them out as they stumbled into the gaps between my fingers.

"Thank you," I gripped it tightly. "That means - a lot."

~ Death the Kid ~

She looked so fragile. So beautifully delicate as she sat there, being devoured by the wires that wrapped themselves around her.

Her blonde hair filled with despair, tears and hours worth of loneliness. Her skin bleached by the dark nights that she was forced into neglect.

But right then, I was so determined to make that all disappear. I was sure that I could be the reason she would smile again, I was beyond sure.

Bandages bound themselves against her wrists. Specks of red seeping through the threads and attempting to stain her from the outside. Trying to destroy her more than it already had.

The red signalling the trouble she was to me. The trouble that Soul had tried so very hard to keep me from, but I had decided to ignore him, and chase her anyway.

"I'm..." I hesitated.

She looked back towards me, blonde strands of hair slipping from behind her ear and bouncing against her displayed collarbone.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling up at her. "I'm glad that you're okay."