Chapter Forty-Three

~ Death the Kid ~

James stayed out there a while longer, but to my surprise not once did he place that of the drug he obviously longed for against his kiss-snatching lips. He sat there shivering beneath the moonlight, his head tilted back to face the star consuming sky.

Laughter grew thicker in the air around me, the smell of pizza and Chinese food contaminating my existence within the moment. But all I could focus on was the black haired boy who remained sad and lonely on the bench outside.

"What's up with James?" Soul asked, pointing towards the direction of the balcony.

Liz quickly slurped away the noodles she held in front of her. "No idea, he was fine when I was out there."

I stared towards Maka out of the corner of my eye, watching as she held her sparkling green eyes to the carpet in front of her, her teeth quivering at her lip as she felt she were the one to blame for his sadness.

Soul brushed the pizza crumbs from his hands, "I'll go talk to him."

"No," I protested, abruptly standing to my feet. "I'll go."

Maka was now staring directly towards me, her soft gleaming eyes looking up at me with slight concern as well as possible fear.

I bent down to press my lips against her forehead. "I'll be back in a minute."

~ Maka ~

The cold quickly seeped through the gap of the glass door as Kid slid it open. It's icy grasp eager to grip at my skin as I remained perfectly still, staring towards the two boys who were now locked outside together, and captured within that same icy grasp.

"What are we going to watch?" Liz asked, placing her box of noodles on the table in front of her.

I watched as Soul eagerly turned round to face her. "Nightmare On Elm Street?"

Liz's blue eyes immediately lit up, "yes!"

I tried my hardest to engage with the two before me, but every few seconds it seemed as if I couldn't help but look towards the two scarily motionless boys that still sat outside.

I didn't want to hurt James, I wanted anything other than that due to how kind and sincere he had been to me since the day I first met him. So when he kissed me, I had never experienced that kind of feeling before in my life, that particular kind of betrayal.

My nails lightly scratched at the collar of the top Kid had given me, as if the pressure from my sudden situation was causing a tightness in my throat, and anything around it would increase that suffocating pressure.

"Maka!" Liz exclaimed, waving her hand in front of my face. "Are you listening?"

"Sorry," I whispered, placing my hand to my head. "What did you say?"

Soul crouched down in front of me, "she asked if you were okay with the film."

"Oh," I stammered, wiping my dry staring eyes with my hands. "Sure..."

Soul looked from me then to the brown haired girl who sat on the sofa beside him. Their shared gaze only lasting for a few seconds before they both turned back round to face me again.

Liz's blue eyes watched me with nothing other than concern. "Is everything okay?"

I held my breath slightly, feeling my heart slow down with every second I held it, as if I could possibly feel myself drifting away from the moment.

But I had come to far to let myself fall down again.

Soul slowly lifted his coke bottle to his lips. "You can tell us anything."

I looked from them to the two boys outside, and then back to them.

Watching their eyes ever so carefully, I felt a subtle amount of air seep into my mouth as I slowly parted my lips.

"James kissed me."

Soul choked on the liquid that swiftly passed its way through his lips.

Liz mouthed, "shit."

~ Death the Kid ~

I watched the tense boy who sat silently beside me, his thumbs twiddled round together, as if he needed something to focus on rather than my presence beside him.

The moon beamed higher than ever before, its rays streaming down throughout the sky and landing on top of my existence, as if it were signalling for me to say something to the saddened boy beside me.

I sighed, "I know she reminds you of Tsubaki..."

His thumbs suddenly stopped turning, and froze within the depths of his lap, as if he were consumed by the icy cold around us and it had frozen every nerve within his body.

And just when I thought he might not ever move again, I watched as he slowly reached his right hand into the depths of his pocket, pulling his fag packet from the pit of its suffocation, and unclasping the box.

He grasped one between his thumb and index finger and didn't hesitate before pressing it between his lips.

The fire was instantly inflamed from his lighter, and set to ignite the end of his addiction, then bring him the satisfying release he needed within the moment.

I turned my head away from him, "I remember the things she went through to try and stop that dirty habit of yours."

He inhaled as much as he could, "kissing other peoples girlfriends?"

I turned to face the black haired boy once again, his dark brown eyes fixated on the fag he held in front of him. Watching as every speck of ash was stripped from its existence.

Before I could think again, I reached for it. Stealing it from his grasp and capturing it into my own, in which I too placed it to my lips.

He watched me carefully, his eyebrows raised and eyes filled with a slight amount of confusion towards my current actions.

I inhaled the drug I held before me, feeling its eerie smoke fly around the depths of my suffocating lungs, wishing that I had decided against this idea completely.

It rose up inside me, the smoke quickly desiring to escape my existence, pass through my cracked lips and wonder through the outside world that existed only on the other side of my mouth.

A cough formed quickly within my throat, causing for the smoke to slip from my grasp and leave me choking on its previous existence, leaving me to gasp for the fresh air that existed around me.

"Easy," James whispered, taking it from my possession into his.

I inhaled deeply, "I'm fine."

He quickly placed it back to his own lips. "Aren't you completely against the whole smoking thing?"

"Yeah," I chuckled. "And I'm also against the kissing other peoples girlfriends thing..."

He slowly lowered his fag away from his lips, his eyes fixated on my presence so sternly.

I looked back to him also, my eyes half expected to be filled with nothing other than rage and anger. But as I stared up at the broken boy I had known for so long, I felt nothing other than sympathy instead.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You can punch me if you want."

I chuckled, "I'm not going to punch you."

"You're not?"

I slowly shook my head, feeling the frozen wind grip tightly at my hair with every strand that moved.

"I know you hurt," I continued. "Because Maka will always remind you of Tsubaki."

I watched as he stressfully tipped his head back to face the sky.

"I know that you kissed her because you thought that maybe it would feel the same as when you kissed Tsubaki."

Another second, another lug.

"But," I sighed. "It didn't."

His dark eyes sparkled for a second, either because the moon desired to be caught in his perspective or the stars reflected off his tear stained iris.

"I'm not angry that you kissed Maka," I continued. "I'm angry that you blame yourself for what happened to Tsubaki."

He sniffed, "I do blame myself."

"Don't."

The cars below us echoed up to our existence within the silence. Every horn and every skid of wheels creating some form of weight to be lifted from the tension that lingered in the air around us.

His tear stained eyes grasped hold of every star and constellation that rested silently in the sky above the both of us.

"You were not driving that car that night," I hissed. "You were not the reason she died, regardless if you were the reason she left the house."

His fag was now nothing other than the existence of decaying ash within his fingertips.

I placed my hand against his shivering shoulder. "You are not the one to blame."

And just like that, that water that beamed across the surface of his eyes was now the water that bled across his cheeks, and the water that stained his palms as he quickly buried his head in his hands.