A Maka for All Seasons
By DarkAngel
Disclaimer:Alas, none of it belongs to me. It all belongs to Atsushi Ohkubo, who by the way, totally reduced me to gibbering squeals with Chapter 63. Coherency? Whut?
Author's Notes: I always thought the kanji in Maka's name were very fitting. It's not by any standard a typical Japanese girl's name; it just makes her that much more kick-ass awesome, in my opinion.
[36. Truth]
"What kind of a name is 'Maka' anyway?"
Within moments of first meeting Black Star, the words had come tumbling out of his mouth.
He didn't mean anything by it. It was just a child's natural curiosity. But Maka hadn't been able to answer, and even for the five year old Maka Albarn, being unable to answer any question put to her was akin to being caught with one's pants down.
Her first stop in her quest to put an end to her ignorance was Papa. It was his turn to pick her up at the end of the school day. Maka was about ready to burst when she caught a glimpse of his red hair just outside the classroom door. Forgetting that she wasn't supposed to run indoors, Maka launched herself into her father's knees as soon as the door opened. "Papa, Papa!"
Spirit Albarn laughed, picking his little girl up in a swooping motion, spinning her about once before settling her, bag and all, on his shoulder. "My darling Maka! How was your day? Was it inspiring? Was it full of new discoveries?"
He always asked her this, like ritual. Maka nodded excitedly, the question she'd been preparing in her mind spilling from her mouth before she even had a chance to settle. "Papa, what does Maka mean?"
Spirit paused, Maka swaying gently at the stop in his movement. He moved his head up. "I'm sorry honey, could you say that again?"
"What does my name mean?" Maka wrapped her arms more snugly around her father's neck. "Black Star asked me today and I want to know too."
The thing about Maka at that age was, she thought her Papa knew everything. And the thing about Spirit was, he didn't want to shatter that illusion for her. He laughed, a slightly nervous titter. "Black Star asked you that?"
"Yes." Maka dropped her head down so she could get a better look at Papa's face. "What does my name mean? What does it mean?" She jiggled atop her perch on his shoulder, her excitement growing in proportion with her need to know. Black Star had told her he wouldn't tell her what his name meant unless she told him what hers did first. Well, she would have something to tell him tomorrow, of that she was sure.
"Well, you see Maka..." There was a pause. "I think that's a very good question. And it's one you should ask your mother."
Maka frowned at this. "Why can't you tell me?"
"Well, um, it's just that your mother can explain it better than I can." He pointed at something just outside the school gate. "Maka, why don't we stop at that shop over there?" Maka's gaze followed his. She felt her heart jump.
"The bookstore?"
"Yes. They have a whole selection of new books in. Why don't we go take a look?"
And so Maka's quest to find the meaning behind her name was temporarily abandoned.
---
That night after dinner, Maka got right back on track. It was her bath time, and Mama was here with her now. Papa had gone out, saying he was going to get some fresh air. Mama had frowned at this, but had said nothing, only taking Maka's hand and sitting her down on top of the toilet seat while she filled the tub with water.
When the water was filled, Mama helped her out of her clothes, folding each article and laying it down on the towel rack. Maka raised her hands. She let out a breath when the water hit her skin.
"Mama?" Maka looked up at her mother.
"Hm?" Mama was tipping a shampoo bottle over, watching the liquid pour into her palm.
"What does Maka mean?"
Her mother raised an eyebrow. "Your name?"
"Uh huh. Black Star asked me what my name means today and I want to know."
"Ah." Maka closed her eyes as she felt the shampoo get worked into her hair. Maka smiled. She liked moments like this with Mama, when it was just the two of them, talking. "Well, your name isn't like any other."
"Really?" Maka opened her eyes, excited, but closed them again when her mother pushed her head down. Moments later she felt warm water on her head, spilling down her neck. She shook her head and opened her eyes when it was done.
"Really." Mama smiled, wiping Maka's face clean with a towel. "There's not another Maka in the whole world."
Maka gave this some thought. "I'm glad." She put her arms up as Mama started soaping them. "But what does my name mean?"
Mama laughed. "I'm not sure you would understand it –"
"But I would!" Maka interrupted. "I'm a whole five years and one month old now! I'm old enough to know!"
At this her mother laughed. "I suppose you're right." She paused. "To be honest, I had a hard time coming up with your name." She poured some more water on Maka's arms and back. "I knew that I didn't want you to be just any girl. So I had to be careful in my choice, you see."
Maka nodded. Her mother wouldn't just pick her name for no reason. That much even the five year old knew. "I'll show you after your bath."
At this, Maka frowned. Show her? Why couldn't she just tell her? But she said nothing. She knew Mama wouldn't try and put her off. She would know after her bath.
---
They sat in Maka's room, on her bed. Mama was brushing her hair for her. Maka was reading one of the books Papa had bought for her that afternoon. He was supposed to be reading it to her soon, but he wasn't home yet. Maka knew by now that it wasn't a good idea to ask Mama what was keeping him. She didn't know why, exactly. She just knew not to ask. It was just as well that her mind was on other things at the moment.
"There. All done." Mama patted her on the head, smoothing her hair down with her hand. She set the brush on the bedside table. "Now, do you want to hear a story, or do you want to know about your name?"
Maka set the book down. Of course she wanted to read her story, but she wanted more than anything right now to fill this gap in her knowledge.
Mama stood up and reached for a pencil from Maka's desk. She took up a sheet of drawing paper from a drawer. She sat down once more at her daughter's side. "I don't know all that much Japanese," her mother started, drawing out a series of strokes with the pencil. "Just what Grandma told me when I was growing up. But I did look up the characters." She paused, frowned, erased part of what she'd drawn, and let her pencil slide over the paper again.
"See that first one?" She tapped her finger against the etching. "It means to polish something." She smiled, looking a little embarrassed. "Or, well, something like that. And the second –" She tapped the pencil against the character, "means to discipline, or scold".
Maka blinked. She wasn't sure just why her mother looked embarrassed. That didn't really sound like a bad thing at all. When she asked her mother, she would only laugh. "I named you what I did because I wanted you to be strong. You'll understand in time." There was something Maka couldn't identify; something underneath the surface of her mother's words, but Maka, even at a whole five years old, wasn't able to digest it yet.
At least she could turn around tomorrow and ask just what kind of a name Black Star was.
---
"I see. So that's what happened." Tsubaki folded her hands neatly, one on top of the other. "I wondered. Your name does sound vaguely like it comes from Japan, but it's no name I'd ever heard of." She smiled. "Leave it to your mother to be unique."
"Yep!" Maka grinned. The smile soon faded. "I wish I knew just what she meant by that comment, though." She perked up. "Hey, I still have that paper Mama wrote on. If I showed it to you, do you think you could tell me what it actually means?"
Tsubaki giggled at the way Maka was jumping on the balls of her feet, her hair bouncing with the movement. "Of course, I'd love to."
"Great." Maka ran off to her room. She came back moments later with a piece of paper that looked as though it had seen a lot of years, but was well-preserved nonetheless. She thrust the paper at Tsubaki. She older girl glanced at it. Her eyebrows furrowed. She looked back up at Maka, who was still bouncing on her heels in her excitement.
"Well? Is there some other meaning behind it?"
Tsubaki's response was to stand up and go into the foyer where she'd put her bag. After some moments of rummaging, she came out with a thick book with many thin pages. Maka recognized it immediately.
"A dictionary?"
Nodding, Tsubaki opened it up. Maka tilted her head. Why was Tsubaki walking around carrying a dictionary? The other girl must have caught her look because she laughed embarrassedly. "Black Star wanted to learn some new words."
Maka's eyes widened. Black Star did? Her disbelief was clearly there on her face because Tsubaki blushed and shook her head. "You know that one time I taught him what 'axis' meant?" Maka remembered. For weeks on end, Black Star had spent a lot of time spinning on the spot, as though he could change the location of the earth's axis with his sheer willpower.
"Well," Tsubaki continued, "he said he wanted to know more words that would fit a big man." She tittered, her cheeks flushed pink. "I think it's kind of adorable."
Ah. Maka settled for nodding. The thing about Tsubaki was, she was very proud of Black Star. All of his achievements, no matter how minor (and sometimes, Maka privately thought, no matter how stupid) merited encouragement from the weapon.
No matter, though. Tsubaki had found the right page and was showing it to Maka. "This is the first character your mother wrote."
Maka took up the book, her eyes darting eagerly to where Tsubaki's finger was. Her brows furrowed as she honed in on the fine print. Her mouth worked out the words.
Scrape. Polish. Chafe. Okay, so this obviously wasn't the kind of polish she thought her mother had meant. This was the hardcore kind of polishing needed to smooth out a rough diamond or something. She gave the book back to Tsubaki, who flipped the pages to find the second character. When the book was handed silently back to her, Maka again followed where Tsubaki indicated.
So that part had been right. Maka blinked. Chafe and scold.
She should have felt insulted. But the only thing she could do was smile. Tsubaki glanced at Maka's profile, her face nervous. "Maka-chan?"
Maka turned to look at her friend. "Thank you, Tsubaki." She handed the dictionary back to her friend.
Tsubaki paused. "Are... you all right?"
"Of course!" Maka beamed. "Why wouldn't I be?" And really, why shouldn't she be? As far as she was concerned, this discovery was right up there with learning how to fly: it felt just as exhilarating, as though she was up on the very clouds themselves. Mama had wanted her to become strong. And this was something Maka could do. Was doing. It just confirmed in her mind that no one knew her as well as Mama did.
Thank you, Mama. I promise, I'll live up to your legacy.
She was going to make her Mama proud.