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Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
"OH, NO! NO! THIS WILL NOT DO!" Kid yelled while he grabbed my arm and dragged me away.
"Kid! Where the hell are you taking me?" I tried pulling away but he held on, and I looked back at a dumbfounded Liz, Char, and oblivious Patti for help. They came running behind us, trying to keep up.
What in the world has gotten into him? Char and I were minding our own business, going to Shinigami-sama's office when Kid passed by. He took one look at me and that's when he started freaking out!
"Wait up!" I heard the three girls call from behind.
"What that hell Kid?" I yelled, wanting him to stop dragging me around already. We were passing by large houses and I again wondered where he was taking me.
"Look at your hair!" the disgust was dripping from his tone, and my stomach tightened uncomfortably at his attitude.
Without anything to see my reflection, I touched the ends of my hair and almost screamed. Sometime during the battle, my hair must've gotten touched by the acid. On one side, a large chunk of hair was burned off and singed.
"Are you kidding me?" This must've crossed Kid's line; I was surprised he even tolerated the scar on my face.
"We need to fix this. Now." He said, stopping in front of a huge mansion. The girls managed to catch up and followed close behind as he dragged me into what I assumed was their home.
"Whoa." Char and I said in sync, and after he let me go we explored the foyer.
"Why're we here?" I asked, picking up and extravagant white and black vase to take a closer look at it.
"We're here to fix your hair!" he said, hurrying into a bathroom and came back with a comb and a pair of scissors. He pulled me by the arm, which made me lose grip of the vase, and Liz had to dive to catch it. I was dragged to a bench in front of a large vanity and watched as Kid took in the current state of my hair. It was hideous.
"Shouldn't we just go to a hairdresser?" I asked, a little nervous about having Kid do my hair.
"Don't worry about it," I heard Liz from outside the bathroom, "He does our eyebrows. Lucky for you, the state your hair is so bad he's fixing it now instead of drafting a design."
"Besides," Kid added, "They wouldn't get anywhere close to symmetrical perfection!"
Liz and Char watched in silent amusement while Patti sat somewhere singing her giraffe song over and over again.
"That bastard pre-Kishin; to think your hair could've gotten any worse!"
"Would you just fix it?" I crossed my arms and eyed him in annoyance. At least I didn't have three random white lines in my hair!
"It's true." he muttered while cutting a few strands. Liz and Char got bored after about ten minutes of him staring down my head and went to join Patti.
"Not too short!" I exclaimed.
"I will cut it at whatever length I see fit!"
"It's my hair!"
"It's your asymmetrical hair!"
"KID!"
"Okay, okay…" he grumbled and used his finger to show me the length he'd cut it at, "Is here fine? The burned ends stop a little below the shoulder." I nodded and waited the murderously long hour for him to see that my hair fit his symmetrical standards. I almost fell asleep at one point. "Done!"
I got up and eyed my reflection in the mirror. It was a little shorter than what I was used too, but it would do. As expected, it was as symmetrical as can be, but it wasn't too bad. He gave me bangs, too.
"I like it." I said, kind of surprised. He did a good job. "Thank you." I smiled at him and he gave a soft one to me.
He cleared his throat suddenly and turned around, taking a broom from the pantry a few feet away, "Well," he began sweeping the floor, "At least I can stand seeing you now."
"Hey!" I narrowed my eyes at him, but I could see the corners of his mouth twitch upward. I rolled my eyes, realizing he was teasing. Well, at least half-teasing.
"So how's that haircut going?" Liz asked, peeking through the opened door. She eyed me, and then gave an approving smile, "Not bad!"
"I didn't even have to draft a picture." Kid said, impressed by his own work.
"Come on, let's show Char and Patti." Liz said, beckoning me.
"You go on Kuro. I'll clean up." Kid said, sweeping the hair into one big pile.
I followed Liz into the large living room where Char was watching TV and Patti was coloring.
"Kuro, Kuro!" Patti grinned once seeing me, but then it faltered, "It's so much shorter now! I liked playing with Kuro's long hair…"
"Don't worry, it'll grow back." Liz reassured Patti.
"Yay!" Patti giggled and continued coloring and humming to herself.
"Nice." Char said at the sight of my hair.
"Now why didn't you tell me one side of my hair was burnt off?" I inquired Char, who blinked in response.
"I didn't notice…" she gave me an apologetic smile, "Sorry."
I began looking around the area and found a staircase. Despite not wanting to be nosy, I wandered over to it.
"Feel free to explore, just don't ruin any symmetry." I heard Kid, who walked into the living room, brushing his hands off on his pants.
"Sweet!" Char started jogging up a second flight of stairs upon finding out it was okay to be nosy.
"And don't get lost!" Liz added as Kid plopped onto the sofa. I padded up the stairs to come into a long hallway. At the end was another flight. Identical paintings hung on the larger walls, and small chandeliers were hung from the ceiling. Just before the second flight, there was a bathroom, and I had just remembered I never told Shinigami-sama that we accomplished the mission. I went inside and stood in front of the mirror.
"Forty-two, forty-two, five-six-four," I recited and wrote the numbers onto the mirror after fogging it up, "Good afternoon, Shinigami-sama!"
"Hello, hello Kuro!" he waved as his image faded in, "What can I do for you?"
"I was supposed to report to you once the mission was over, but I got dragged here by Kid once he saw my hair. I'm sorry this is so late, sir."
"It's quite alright." He smiled, "I watched you and Char's performance and I'm very impressed. Great job you two."
"Thank you!"
"Send my regards to her, yes?"
"Of course! Have a nice day."
I went back into the hallway and up the second flight of stairs. I couldn't help the tiny gasp that came out of me when I saw the room I came across. It was a library; an immense, gorgeous library. The bookshelves reached the ceiling, and a wheeled ladder reached the ones at the top. He had everything: novels, poetry, atlases, encyclopedias, and dictionaries; some I've never heard of before, and others in different languages! I walked around the black couches and to a random shelf, taking a book out but always remembering where to put it; knowing Kid, he had this place super organized.
A book title caught my eye, but it was too high for me to reach for it. I rolled the ladder over and started climbing to the book, I grabbed it and looped an arm around a bar. I ended up not buying it at the bookstore, but who knew Kid would have a copy? I sighed and pulled another book half way out of the shelf, remembering why I didn't buy the one in my arms at the time. All I heard was his voice in my head, telling me the sad story about a girl who died in the snow.
"I hope you're not disorganizing my books."
He surprised me so much that I jumped, causing the wheels to move and for me to lose grip and fall over. I was expecting the ground to catch me, but I ended up falling straight into Kid's arms. I could hear him snickering before I even opened my eyes.
"You can open your eyes now."
"You almost killed me, Death The Kid!" I blushed in embarrassment and narrowed my eyes at him.
"You almost killed yourself! It's not my fault you got startled, and how about a 'thank you'?"
I never fully put the second book back, so when the ladder jerked abruptly it eventually tipped over and fell like I did. Only, it landed on Kid's head and he dropped me in the process.
"Ow!" we said in sync. I glared at him and he glared at the book.
"Damned book..." he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
"What're you doing here anyway?" I asked him as he stuck his hand out to help me up.
"Excuse me; it's my house." he teased, and once he saw the look I gave him he breathed a laugh and answered seriously, "I was afraid you may have gotten lost."
"Seriously? It's a house; not a forest."
"You'd be surprised." he smiled, "So what do you have there?" he gestured to the book in my arms while picking up the one on the floor.
"A book." I smirked and glanced at him.
He rolled his eyes, smirking just as much as I was, "I meant "what's the title?". Smartass." He peered over my shoulder at the cover, "The Little Match Girl?"
I nodded, "Have you read it?"
"I've read just about every book in here." He said, setting the second book on the coffee table then reaching his hand out to take it. I handed it to him and he started flipping through a couple pages, "It's a rather depressing story. Have you read it yet?"
"Well, not exactly." I gazed at the cover for a moment, the pause causing Kid to look over at me questioningly.
"What's that mean?"
"I just, um, didn't exactly read it. My former partner used to tell it to me… it was his favorite story." I could feel his eyes on me as I stared at the book, but I didn't know what to say. My mind was in so many different places at the moment.
"Why do you always get like this when someone mentions him?" he suddenly asked, and I blinked before looking at him.
"What?"
"Last time you spoke about your partner, when Char was asking you a bunch of questions, you started shaking and you got tense. You looked like you wanted to collapse; that's why I intervened." He paused, "You're doing it again. You're spacing out and you're tense. You're not the easy-going, relaxed Kuro I'm used to. I don't like it when you're like this; it's not like you."
I knew he was right, and I knew where he was going with this. Kaori used to say "if you have troubles, talk to someone about them and you'll feel a lot better", but I didn't like reliving that night, talking about it meant remembering, and remembering meant pain. I wanted to listen to Kaori, but I kept stopping myself.
He sighed resignedly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone there. I told myself I would wait until you were ready to open up to me, but it just bothers me how much you keep to yourself." He shook his head, looking frustrated with himself and he handed me the book before going to the one on the coffee table, "Just forget I said anything."
"Kid…" I muttered, watching him pick it up and walk past me to the ladder. Before he could start climbing though, I grabbed the end of his coat. He turned around and looked at me. I stared at my hand, clutching the book in the other tightly. Time heals all wounds; that's what I learned over the course of my life. This guilt, however, was something that ate me alive. There was a lot more than just the fact that I didn't run far enough. Would he think badly of me after I told him of my selfishness? Everything in me screamed to end the subject, but I was so tired of keeping everything to myself that I decided to try my damnedest to ignore those screams. I actually felt confident for a few moments until a wave of uncertainty flooded through me.
"Kid-" I tried keeping my voice steady, but I could barely breathe, "His- his death. It was my fault."
End of Chapter XII
Angst, angst, angst! SORRY! IT WAS COMING. xD
Thanks for reading!
- Limiterlys