A/N: I still *sigh* do not own Soul Eater. I do own my fic! So that's cool right? Maka and Soul hanging out in this chapter. We get more background on Maka in this one. And Tsubaki! Enjoy!

As soon as Soul stepped out of his car, he regretted not bringing a heavier jacket. The traces of summer where starting to go gradually away from their town. Wisps of wind were more frequent and cooler, the rain was harsher, the ground less baked by the sun, and the days were shorter. Autumn wasn't Soul's favorite season, but he didn't mind it too much. It was a hell of a lot better than winter.

The cost of everything went up in winter, part of it the weather and the other part of it being holiday season. Sometimes if they were really lucky, the cold would still around weeks after the first official day of spring. Lucky them.

Soul shook his head and tried not to think about the weather too much. He could see Maka ringing up a customer through the front window. As another gust of wind tore its way through the street, Soul ducked through the front door. He was already freaking cold as -

Well, he was cold. No need to start thinking foul thoughts before seeing Maka. Soul smiled as Maka lifted her eyes up and met his. The book nerd was dressed in a blouse with a cardigan that went down to her skirt. She still had the boots on, and her bag laid behind her on the rack. Once she finished ringing up the customer, Maka turned to a girl standing next to her. The girl wore a purple long sleeve shirt and a skirt. She had her long black hair pulled up in a sharp ponytail, and her eyes were a sort of crossover shade between dark blue and light purple.

"Hey Tsubaki, I'm clocking in now. See you tomorrow," Maka said as she put her card in the slot.

Tsubaki smiled kindly as she nodded off towards Maka, "Bye Maka."

Maka walked over to Soul as she fastened her bag strap around her shoulders and placed her name tag on it.

"Hi Soul!"

"Hey Maka."

The bookstore was connected to the rest of the mall through an arch on the right side. Instead of heading back out into the cold, Soul opted to walk around the other shops for a bit. Maka didn't have a problem with this, seeing as how she needed to pick up some more materials for her classes.

"So you go to school?"

Maka nodded.

"I'm guessing you don't," Maka said.

Soul slouched a little, "Well I did use to go to school, but things changed."

"Like dealing?"

Soul raised his eyebrow at her.

"So?"

"What?"

"What does it matter," Soul asked her, a bit annoyed at her sudden questions.

Maka shrugged, "Besides that it's illegal, I wouldn't know. Except I highly doubt your roommates would try socking you in the face."

Soul stopped in his tracks.

"Wait, how'd you know I got in a fight?"

"The makeup over your eye. I'm a girl, I've seen makeup before idiot. I know you got a shiner under that cover up," Maka pointed out.

Soul looked worriedly into one of the shop windows, eyeing his reflection. His cover was still there, and no one else seemed to notice his black wouldn't be able to get away with much with Maka around. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Soul was still weighing the pros and cons when she pulled him away and dragged him into a store.

"Here, how about you get a cart and I'll lead the way," Maka offered.

"How come I get the cart? Why can't I lead?"

"Soul," Maka said irritably.

"But I like to lead too, you didn't even ask me what I want to do and-"

"Maka CHOP!"

Pain bursted through his head and crept all throughout his body. For a moment all he saw was white, and he nearly passed out.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT," Soul exclaimed as he got his balance back.

Maka stood unimpressed with a thick book in her hand.

"You don't have the list, so you don't know where we need to go. I do. Please just get the cart Soul," Maka explained tiredly.

Soul shook the remaining pain from his head as he retrieved a cart. He muttered a few curses under his breath directed at that damn book of hers. Seriously, what the hell was that? How could a person cause so much freaking pain with a damn book?!

"Thank you," Maka said as she took the cart and started to walk.

She propped the list up against the seat where people usually put their kids, and led them to the office supplies aisle. Soul trailed behind, slouching a bit with his hands tucked into his pockets.

"So what do you need to get," Soul asked, rubbing the still sore spot on his head.

Maka checked her list before letting her eye wander across the racks of pencils, paper, markers, etc.

"I need three spiral college rule notebooks, two more packs of mechanical pencils, and another binder. Plus another bag for school."

The two scouted out the items placing each respectively in the cart.

"What do you even study at school anyways," Soul questioned.

He knew she lived on her own in an apartment, that she was going to school, had a job at the bookstore, and was friends with a girl named Tsubaki. There was still clearly some other things he didn't know about her, and there were a lot of things she didn't know about him.

"Well ... I'm kind of just going through everything right now. The basics you know. I'm a bit torn between majors though."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen, I'll be nineteen next semester. How old are you exactly?"

"Nineteen."

"You're pretty young to be a dealer."

"Can we not talk about that right now?"

Maka shrugged and starting pushing the cart towards another aisle.

"Only because you're not dealing right now," She sighed.

Soul was confused as to what she meant exactly.

After they finished getting Maka's supplies for her classes, Soul offered that they head to the food court. Neither had eaten since the morning, and their growling stomachs made it even more reasonable. They headed over to the central part of the mall where the food court was at, and from there decided where they would eat.

The two did rock, paper, scissors and Soul ended up winning which meant he got to choose. Maka preferred the Chinese place in the corner or the sushi shop by the arcade, but Soul decided they would go to a burger joint instead.

After getting their food -which was two fries, a milkshake, and a burger for Soul, and a regular meal and also a milkshake for Maka- they scanned the court to see if there were any open places to sit. Most of the tables were large enough to seat two groups depending on size, but Soul could already see some people shooting stares at him from the corner of his eye. There wasn't a chance a parent was going to let him sit by them and their kids.

Soul shifted uncomfortably into more of a slouch, which Maka noticed. It was difficult not to with all the people staring at him.

"How about the bench," Maka offered.

"You sure they'll let us just sit there and eat?"

"It's a bench. People sit and eat on benches all the time when places are crowded and they got nowhere else to sit. What are they going to do? Yell at us for sitting especially after we paid for food from their mall? Come on Soul, don't worry about them," Maka assured him.

Soul sighed but followed her to the seat on the bench. They ate there while making small talk in between bites. With Soul's sharp teeth he chewed through half of the burger in one bite. Maka only had a small bite mark on hers however.

"So do you have any hobbies besides piano," Maka asked before she ate a fry.

Soul shrugged as he sipped his milk shake.

"Not really. I mean I don't even really have time for piano, so it's hard to make time for other things too," He explained.

"Oh, I see," Maka said.

"Do you have any hobbies besides reading," Soul asked her.

"Writing. I like to write poetry sometimes when I'm a bit troubled," Maka answered.

Soul couldn't help but let out a laugh at the confession. Maka however didn't find it funny. She narrowed her eyes at Soul as she reached for her book.

"Maka CHOP!"

Soul nearly split his fries everywhere. Where'd she even get that damn book from?

"Did you really have to hit me?"

Maka sipped her milkshake.

"I don't see what you're talking about," She said nonchalantly.

Soul sighed and continue to eat his fries despite the throbbing pain in his head. He didn't know what he was getting himself into by befriending this girl. Then again, he did that to himself a lot.