Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater or any of the characters. Shame, Soul's real cute...and a badass scythe...

Prompt #1: Bicker - People thought they wouldn't last long enough to nail one pre-kishin.

Words: 667

When it got around Shibusen that Maka Albarn, meister child of Kami and Spirit "Deathscythe" Albarn, had partnered with newcomer Demon Scythe Soul Eater, several people called shenanigans. All the meisters could clearly remember the surly white-haired punk who rebuffed all attempts at socializing, and all the weapons recalled how Soul didn't open up about anything while they were waiting to meet their partners. Nobody could understand how that antisocial stick-in-the-mud could have landed himself a prodigy like Maka.

But she had, and he had, and there it was in the registry.

Lessons with them were like watching a dog try to bait a cat into a fight. Maka would snap and snarl at Soul to pay attention and contribute; he'd just sleep or daydream or mess around with Black*Star all class long. When they did interact, it always ended in a bad argument. She'd yell and threaten him with a large hardcover book. He'd yawn and insult her lack of feminine figure.

Nobody expected them to stick with the other. Maka's infamous intolerance of the male race was already legendary. Who could blame her? Everyone knew about her father's indiscretions. The split of Spirit and Kami Albarn was gossip in Death City long before the final papers were signed. And Soul was an accomplished loner, secretive about his past and not willing to open up to anyone about anything. Why would he stay with an outgoing person like Maka?

Besides, they were complete opposites. She was bookish, no-nonsense, and strove for excellence all the time. He was a slacker who exuded an aura of "no hurry, no rush, no pressure" that could only be described as cool.

But she was going to prove herself capable, and he was going to prove he was cool, and so they stayed partners.

Their first mission was a fairly low-level one; take out a pre-kishin that was terrorizing a city. Almost a local case. People watched the bickering pair climb on Soul's orange motorbike and take off in a cloud of dust, and they couldn't help but think: Well this is gonna end badly.

They stumbled back into Death City five days later, exhausted and not a little injured, the little red soul safely in Soul's belly. For a rookie pair, they managed to do quite an efficient job, with no added loss of life and no life-threatening injuries to themselves.

But it wasn't the fact that they were alive that stunned people. It was something far, far more surprising than that.

Maka sniped about how sloppy their teamwork was, but her voice wasn't as cutting as it had been before. Soul griped about how uncool he'd been saving her hide, but his tone wasn't as cold as before. The distance between them wasn't as noticeable. Their interaction didn't seem as forced or as hostile as before.

That's when people know that they are looking at a pair that would make Death City history in the years to come. Something had changed between them, and now, for better or worse, they were bound to each other by their very souls.

Creating a Soul Resonance for the first time leaves an indelible mark on both parties involved. Boundaries are shattered, shields are lowered, and a person's fundamental state of being is forever altered from the act of completely resonating with another person's soul. They don't realize it themselves, but the act changes both the meister and the weapon in every way.

Maybe that's why Maka held out her hand to the white-haired boy that night after hearing his strange, dark music.

Maybe that's why Soul took the hand of the pigtailed blonde meister that night after she said she liked his music.

They had found that one person who could complete them.

Even if they hadn't known it yet.

Here we go!

You know the drill! Please review!