Blackstar leaned back in his chair after eating his fill. He burped and Maka wrinkled her nose.

"Say excuse me."

"You're excused." Blackstar gave her a shit-eating grin.

Maka rolled her eyes and pushed her empty plate away from her slightly then glanced over at Soul who was picking at his food. "You haven't eaten at all..."

Soul glanced up at her and shrugged, unable to explain that it was because he didn't want anyone to see his teeth.

He was starting to regret ever speaking to her, he should have stayed a mute. He should have kept silent and just...

No, he didn't want his partner in battle to believe such a lie.

She decided he either already ate, and was being polite by staying, or he was really uncomfortable around people.

She figured the latter.

She smiled over at Tsubaki and Blackstar. "Hey guys, I'm sorry to leave so soon, but Soul and I have some talking to do. You know, build that soul connection!"

Blackstar shrugged. "Whatever. You can go and bore the crap outta him if you want."

Tsubaki smiled at Maka as she stood up and Soul stared up at her. "Well, are you coming?"

Soul nodded and stood up, putting has hands into his pant pockets. He nodded once to the partners at the table then followed Maka out of the establishment.

Tsubaki turned to Blackstar with a questioning gaze. He lost his playful demeanor and stared after the pair, nodding to Tsubaki's silent question. "Yeah, I saw it too."

Meanwhile, Soul and Maka were heading back towards the plaza. She let out a breath of relief, sensing the tension leave his body as soon as they left her friends. She figured this was a good a time as ever to ask. "So what's wrong?"

Soul glanced at her briefly before returning his gaze to his feet. He shrugged. "I dunno. I'm just not that social."

Maka stopped him as they neared the fountain. "Soul, that was more than anti socialism..."

He shrugged again, frustrating her to no end. But she could understand his hesitation to spilling out his life story.

She sighed quietly. This would be a good time to try and expand their connection. She chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to think of something to say.

As though he read her mind, he saved her by asking his own question, "What are the classes here like?"

She paused and brought a hand up to her chin, comparing the academy to what she'd heard about normal school. "Well, we have kind of the same structure as a normal school, I suppose."

"And what structure would that be?" Soul asked. She glanced at him and he averted his gaze. "Home schooled."

She nodded and linked her hands behind her back as they wandered. "Well, since the students pair up into weapon-meister pairs, the students are broken up into classes. They usually try to make sure all the classes are about the same size. I don't have a weapon yet, so I'm in one of the smaller classes and there are still about forty-five people."

"Damn," Soul breathed. That was a large class... With a lot of people. "Are the class rooms big then?"

She grinned. "They're as huge as a college lecture room."

Soul let out a breath of relief. It should be easier to keep a low profile if the classes aren't cramped.

"Anyways, since you're new and you aren't familiar with our kind of lifestyle, we're probably going to be a little behind the other students. But don't worry, with my help, we'll be hunting pre-kishins with the rest of them in no time!" She giggled with excitement and he chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

She smiled sympathetically at him. "I know it doesn't sound so appealing to you, but it's what I've been looking forward to my whole life. You know, my mom's a meister."

Soul's brows rose. He was surprised that she was so forthcoming about her background. And the fact that her mother knew about the life, she still let her daughter join the academy.

He was surprised any of those kids were allowed to battle.

"Yeah, she's amazing. One of the best meisters of her time." She smiled with pride, her eyes softening. "She created the current Death Scythe, you know."

He hummed, not really knowing what she meant but knowing it must be a great accomplishment.

Maka laughed. "Right, okay, I'll explain. A Death Scythe is what a weapon becomes when he or she collect ninety-nine damaged souls and the soul of the witch. That scythe becomes the right-hand of Lord Death himself."

"Cool," Soul says, a small smile on his face. It sounds pretty awesome but, "Ninety-nine souls? That's a little specific."

Maka snorted. "Yeah, I think he's just trying to make things more difficult than necessary. Each soul is supposed to give the weapon more power, and the witch's soul seals it all and enhances it. This way a Death Scythe can be wielded by anyone, even Death himself."

Soul felt his mouth spread into a smile. This was sounding way too cool, way too romanticized.

But hey. It's better than freaking out.

"It's great that you're curious and all, but we're going to learn this in class, and Sid can probably explain better than I can," Maka said, not worried she might mess up some facts, but worried she was explaining it too formally. "So, where are you from?"

"Ontario, Canada," Soul replied. He knew she would question him further, so he turned it on her. "You grew up in Death City?"

"Yup, born and raised. I've never even left the city, but I will soon enough. For missions and such," She explained.

He interrupted her when she opened her mouth to ask him a question, "You said your mom made the current Death Scythe?"

There, she's off his tail and going down Memory Lane. She smiled down at her feet and brushed her bangs to the side. "Yeah. She did it all on her own."

"What about the weapon? Isn't he, or she, part of the team?" Soul asked innocently.

Maka stiffened and stood still. Soul stopped walking and turned back to her to see her hands glued to his sides and her eyes covered by the same bangs that were pushed aside a second ago. "No. The current Death Scythe is worthless."

"Then how'd he become Death Scythe?" Soul asked, wondering what made her mood turn so rapidly.

"Sheer luck," she sneered. "Don't waste your time idolizing him, he's a rotten pervert."

"Do you know him?" Soul knew the apparent disdain she held against this man had to be personal.

She looked up at him and shook her head vigorously, plastering a fake smile on her face. "Oh no, only through my mom. She told me about him."

Soul eyed the clenched hands she held at her sides and the bright smile she was forcing. She was close to breaking, he could tell.

"Are you sure?"

Soul didn't know what compelled him to push her. He knew she was trying to avoid this apparently sensitive topic, but he still did. He tried to take it back, but couldn't bring himself to reopen his mouth. Anything he said now would only make things worse. Soul looked away and waited to be told off.

But she didn't break the way he thought she would.

Maka opened her mouth to tell another lie, only to realize what she was doing.

She was keeping things from her potential partner in battle, and effectively pushing him away. They were supposed to be building up their connection, proving trust.

She took a deep breath. Her hands went limp and her shoulders fell with her smile. "No, actually."

His brows rose with surprise and he met her eyes, encouraging her to continue sans words.

Maka looked around at all the people and looked back at him sheepishly. "Do you mind if we go somewhere private?"

Soul nodded. "We can go to my place. I live alone."

Maka grinned. "That's cool."

Soul smiled and shrugged as they began walking side by side in the direction of his apartment. "I'm cool."

She laughed and elbowed him a little roughly. "Sure you are, cool guy."

Maka looked around the apartment with awe. It wasn't too odd to see a kid Soul's age living in an apartment without parents around here, but usually they had partners to share the rent with. And this apartment was pretty large for a kid on their own.

"How are you going to pay rent?" Maka asked.

Soul paused. "I have some money stowed away..."

Maka smiled and poked him. "You do know we get paid for missions, right? Just another reason for you to be my partner, that's all I'm saying."

Soul grinned at her attempt at subtlety and rose a brow. "We get paid?"

Maka took a breath, thinking of a way to explain it. "Well, Lord Death would call it positive reinforcement. He gives us a budget for each hotel, based on the difficulty, and we get to keep the remainder if we have any. Not to mention he puts a little more than necessary to make us take missions more often. You're only allowed to take missions after the first year though, when they teach you the basics and safety procedures. They make you do a few obstacle courses, then once they've deemed you fit, you can take your first mission! They want to make sure you don't die."

"And we're behind a whole year?" Soul asked, feeling a little guilty for holding Maka back.

Maka rose a hand of dismissal. "Don't worry about it. I'm pretty advanced as far as the textbooks go, and I've done a few practice courses with regular weapons. The only test we have to worried about is when they monitor the way you magnify my wavelength, but I can help you with that. I'd say we'll be taking missions in a few weeks!"

Soul was reassured by her words and decided to get back to the reason they'd come back here in the first place. "So, you wanted to talk."

Maka's mood dropped almost instantly and she let herself flop onto the sofa. She looked up at him and pat the cushion next to her in invitation. He took it and sat down next to her, keeping his gaze on the coffee table in front of him. Maka turned on the sofa, pulling her feet up next to her and facing Soul completely. "The Death Scythe that's currently Lord Death's number one is Spirit Albarn.

"Spirit Albarn was my mom's partner, they fought together for years. They'd met in what would usually be considered highschool, but the academy doesn't have grades. They have levels, one star, two star, three star, and four star. When my mom was a three star meister, she partnered up with Spirit. She was incredibly advanced at her level and was at the top of her class." Maka smiled at this with pride. "I want to be just like her, smart and brave and strong."

Soul smiled and felt himself relating to her. He wanted to be like Wes, however impossible that was. "She sounds pretty cool."

"Yeah. She is..." Maka shook her head a bit and her smile vanished, much to Soul's disappointment. "Anyways, she and Spirit became partners. After she turned him into a Death Scythe, she found that she was in love with him. So she proposed to him, and he said yes."

Soul frowned, sensing the tension building in Maka.

"They got married, and about a year later, they found that they had a baby coming. Let me tell you now, they were nineteen. She was one of the youngest meisters to make a Death Scythe, at seventeen." Maka grinned for a split second before frowning again. "So they had me, and for awhile everything was fine. We were all happy..."

She went silent for a bit, losing herself in her thoughts. He reached over and grabbed her hand. She broke out of her reverie and looked at him. "You don't have to tell me, you know."

Maka shook her head. "No, I do. I need to tell you, for our soul connection."

Soul frowned. This was not coming out for the right reasons. She was opening up out of obligation, out of her sense of duty. "Screw the soul connection. I think you should tell me when you trust me fully."

Her eyes widened and she looked down at their hands. "But..."

"No, you shouldn't feel like you have to tell me anything. It's not right. Besides, I haven't told you anything." Soul smirked. "Equivalent exchange, Maka."

Maka blinked. Soul was right. She was going about this all wrong, there wasn't any trust building. She was just telling him a story.

A sad one, but a story none the less.

She smiled at Soul and let out a breath. "Okay... Okay, let's start off light."

Soul rose a brow, but mirrored her smile. "How do you mean?"

"Just get to know each other a little. Nothing deep." Maka grinned, pushing thoughts of her worthless father to the back of her mind.

Soul grinned back. "Alright... How do we do that?"

Maka shrugged and looked around the apartment. "When'd you get here?"

"Yesterday."

Maka gaped. "Wow. Well, welcome to Death City."

Soul chuckled. "Thanks. Yeah, I haven't gotten to see much of Death City yet. I need to go get some new clothes, so-"

"I can take you! I know Death City like the back of my hand, not to mention I know all of the uniform policies of the DWMA. There aren't many, but still." Maka stood up. "C'mon, I'll show you around and we can get you some new clothes."

"How about later? I'm kind of hungry..." His stomach growled loudly as though on cue. Yeah, he hadn't eaten since yesterday at lunch.

Maka laughed, thinking of their time at the buffet. "I wonder why."

Soul frowned and walked over to the door. "You just shut up. I have my reasons."

"Alright, sorry. What'd you eat for breakfast?" Maka asked, following him out the door.

"I didn't." Maka gave him a look and he rose his hands in defense. "I only woke up at eleven."

"We ate at one, Soul." Maka grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the apartment. "Alright, food, clothes, then groceries."

"Groceries?"

"Yeah. We're going to get you stocked up on food." Maka smiled slightly at him. "I can't let my partner starve."

Maka wrinkled her nose as Soul started on his third roll of sushi.

Soul chewed and swallowed, thankfully, before asking, "What're you looking at?"

Maka pointed at the sushi on his plate with disdain. "That stuff you're eating. It's gross."

"It's food and it's good," Soul said with finality as he continued the roll.

"It's raw. And we're in the middle of the desert," Maka gagged a bit. "Who knows if that's even fish?"

Soul snorted. "It's called importing."

Maka rose a brow. "Then that means it's been sitting for a while."

Soul opened his mouth to retort then sighed and closed it. "Shuddup. Let me eat in peace."

Maka shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not the one who might contract mercury poisoning."

Soul rolled his eyes and leaned back as he finished his food. He pushed his plate away and stifled a burp. She narrowed her eyes at him and he snickered. "S'cuse me."

She gave him a sly smile and put her hand up. A waiter came over and she asked for the check as Soul pursed his lips and looked away. The check arrived and he reached in his pocket for his wallet only to hear a thud on the table. Maka stood up as Soul stared at the cash on the table that she'd laid down. "It was my treat."

Soul pushed the money her way and set down a card on the table face-down. A business card belonging to a certain Evans family. "I got it."

She scoffed. "A card? Soul, the food was fifty bucks, I don't think they'll-"

"It's covered." Soul stood and picked up her money from the table, holding it out to her. "Take. It."

She snatched the money from him with a small scowl. "Fine. I was just trying to be nice, you know."

"Well, I don't need your money," Soul said, trying to get out of the restaurant before the waiter saw the card.

"You're weird." Maka said as he pushed her along.

"Says the girl with pigtails and a chest as flat as a board." Soul said dryly.

"Why you-!" Maka pulled out a book and his eyes widened. "Makaaaaa-"

"U-uh, I was just, um-"

"CHOP!"

She picked up his arm and threw it around her shoulder. She pulled him along as he groaned and rubbed his head. She smiled wryly at him. "Congratulations. You've just received your first chop."

Soul raised a hand in false celebration. "Whoopee."

"Well you shouldn't talk about women like that," she said matter-of-factly.

He pushed himself away from her. "Yeah, got it."

She laughed and started skipping off. "Come on, we have shopping to do! Let's get it done."

Soul found himself smiling despite his irritation. "Fickle girl."

Soul threw the stuff down with a loud sigh. "Remind me never to go shopping with a girl ever again."

"Hey, I'm not as bad as most. Besides, it's only because you were being indecisive," Maka commented as she set down the stuff she was carrying. She started shifting through the bags and carrying them to the kitchen. "This should hold you off for a few days till we can head out again."

Soul picked up the clothes bags and took them to his room. It was true. It wasn't as though Maka had forced clothes upon him and kept him there for hours. She was trying to help him decide between a shirt and another, and he just couldn't bring himself to give a damn.

So, he'd ended up buying more clothes than he probably needed.

He spent some time hanging up his clothes, assuming that Maka was just packing the food in the fridge.

He hung up his last shirt when he finally realized he could smell food.

Good food.

He wandered out of his room to see Maka in the kitchen, hard at work cutting up vegetables. She looked up and smiled. "I'm just making a few meals so all you have to do is heat them up."

Soul rubbed the back of his head. "You didn't need to do that..."

"I know, but I felt like it." Maka went back to the preparations, flitting from the pots on the stove, to the vegetables on the cutting board, to the oven.

He felt a little lost. And very useless.

But he wasn't gonna do anything about it.

"Well, thanks." He wandered over to the couch and looked over at the TV he hadn't noticed. He reached forward and grabbed the remote on top of the small TV and turned it on. He started flipping through channels, more focused on the drool-worthy smells coming from the kitchen.

He heard the fridge open and a while later close. He heard soft footsteps pad over to the couch then felt the cushions dip a bit. "Ha, are you drooling?"

Soul tensed and rose his hand to his mouth to find that he had, in fact, been drooling. He wiped off the spit and glared at her. "Only cause your food smells."

She smiled. "Thanks, Soul."

He frowned. He'd just insulted her. Pathetically, but still. "What do you mean 'thanks'?"

"You think my food smells nice." She pointed at his mouth. "The drool tells me you wanted to eat it."

He huffed and brought his attention back to the TV only to feel a mug being pushed into his face. He pulled away sharply and turned to her. She was smiling innocently, holing a mug out to him and a mug to herself. "Hot chocolate."

"In the desert?" He took the mug anyways. It smelled really nice.

She shrugged. "It's chocolate and it's good."

He chuckled and they sat there, only the white noise of the TV and their quiet slurps filling the air around them.

Maka's eyes snapped open. She felt Soul next to her snoring. Maka rose her head from his shoulder slowly and turned to look at him. His mouth was open, and he was drooling. He looked pretty content.

She giggled softly and rolled her shoulders, trying to relieve the stiffness that came from falling asleep on a couch. She stood up slowly and stretched. She tried to scratch her head and cursed inwardly when she felt that her pigtails were still in, and extremely tangled.

She pulled at the band and winced at the pain she felt when she ended up pulling out a few hairs. "Ow..."

She repeated the process with the other tail and sighed in relief as she rubbed out the soreness. She then made her way to his kitchen and grabbed a cup, filling it with some water for her dry throat.

Okay, today's schedule. It was Sunday. There was school tomorrow, and now she had a semi-partner. So, she should probably try to teach him a thing or two today. Maybe try out some of the moves she'd learned with normal weapons. Let's not forget that they had to go shopping again. He desperately needed more utensils and some school supplies.

But before any of that, she had to make sure he ate.

She opened the fridge and grabbed the milk. Huh, it looked a little emptier than it was when she used it last...

She shrugged and pulled out the pancake batter she'd bought. She grabbed a pan from the cupboard above the sink and and a bowl from the one next to it. This place was pretty well-stocked despite the lack of clothes and food. Sure, she'd bought some of the containers, but still.

She started mixing the batter and made a note to herself to make some pancakes from scratch one of these days.

When she was cooking the fifth pancake, she heard some groaning behind her. Maka turned and saw Soul stretching out all four legs from the couch.

"Good morning, Soul!" She giggled when Soul froze and turned to her. She rubbed the back of her head with embarrassment. "I accidentally fell asleep and ended up spending the night. Weird, huh?"

He grunted and rubbed his face. Evidently, he was not much of a morning person. "I need to stop falling asleep on the couch."

She hummed, figuring that trying to engage was just a bad idea. She finished up the last few of the pancakes and put the plate on the small table in the kitchen. "Eat, Soul."

He groaned and walked into the kitchen. "You made food again."

"Yes I did. You can yell at me later for using up your supplies." She pulled two pancakes off of the pile and put them on a plate for herself, then handed Soul a plate and fork. "Have as much as you want, there's more batter left over. I want you to be well-fed."

"Why?" Soul asked, trading his plate for the one with six pancakes on it.

She snickered at his action. "Well, besides the obvious, I kind of wanted to try using your weapon form today. If that's okay with you, I mean."

Soul faltered in his chewing and looked up at her. He shrugged, nodding slowly. "Yeah. Sure."

She grinned and started to cut her pancakes with a fervor. "Great! I wanted to try some of the moves I learned, and maybe see if I can determine our resonance rate. I know this great area in the academy we can go work in, it's pretty private so you don't have to worry about people."

Soul smiled as he ate. She seemed pretty pumped about being able to try him out, and it was kind of rubbing off on him.

Maybe being crazy wouldn't be too bad. Because you'd have to be a little off to look forward to being swung around by an underdeveloped girl.

A/N: Okay, I know you all hate me, and I know this chapter was not that good. Writer's block is a BITCH. I hate it, it's annoying. But I pushed myself and after awhile banned the use of 'backspace'.

So this is the shit that came out. Next one shouldn't be too far behind, but who the hell knows anymore.

If you looked at my profile, you saw my half-assed apology for being bad at updating. If not, I'll just apologize now: SORRY! It's just, I don't like pushing myself. It makes the writing come out forced and sloppy like this chapter.

But here we are.

Thank you Guest and Professor Maka for reviewing, I really appreciate it.

Guest: Thanks! Yeah, that's a great idea, I'll see if I can work that in or do something similar. As far as their development goes, I already know that I'm trying to make them shift slowly. I think there was a lot of progress in this chapter already, but I like the idea with the walls breaking. Maybe Kami has a hand in it? Hehe...

Please review!