"Alright, Robin. What's the first thing we do?" Maka whispered to the small boy crouching next to her in the bushes.
"Make sure you're down wind." He muttered, stuck his finger in his mouth, pulled it out to test the air, and then nodded.
"Good. Now, what do you aim for?"
"The head, ultimately. But since I lack in strength, I make up for it in speed. I first aim for the Achilles tendons, let it fall, then use all my strength to push my blade as hard as I can through the eye socket, the softest and easiest way to the brain." The small boy recited, all the while twisting the handle of his knife around in his hands in anticipation.
"Excellent." Maka encouraged.
It had been about a week since the three had met up with the twin pistols and Staz. The group decided to stay put in their camp for as long as they could, considering the lack of Rotters in the area. Luckily after completely running out of commercial food items and bottle water, they were able to find several wild growing fruits and vegetables; fishing and water gathering became a daily event as well. Life had been relatively good for their current circumstances; even Liz had gotten a knack for bait catching. Unfortunately, little by little the Rotters began to return and the teens all agreed it would be best to train in hand to hand combat while they weren't overwhelmed. Today, Maka had decided she should teach Robin a few other techniques besides ambushing from trees, seeing as that advantage may not always be around. Even at his young age, Maka was astounded by the learning capabilities of the child. She had only given the boy a few tips before they left, though she didn't even think he was fully listening at the time, and here he was; reciting them word for word.
Now, the pair of them stalked, down wind, a dormant lone Rotter who had taken to pulling bark chips off a tree. "Now remember, touch it as little as possible. We still aren't sure how easily the disease can be transferred other than through a bite. I'm almost certain a scratch could have the same effect." Robin nodded and looked at the green eyed girl for approval to go. Once she nodded, he slunk to closer bushes. Maka watched his every move, an impressed expression on his face. She had expected the eager child to run at the Rotter, no strategy in mind other than to kill, but he seemed to be taking his mission seriously and with great precision. The scythe meister watched as he snuck from cover to cover until he was so close to the Rotter, a single jump would cause them to be face to face.
Robin let out a long, silent breath as he ran through the strategy in his head. In an instant, he shot out from his place in the bushes and was able to easily slice through the beast's tendons before even being discovered. Unfortunately, the creature fell face first, leaving his eye sockets unexposed. Not prepared for something like this to happen, Robin though quickly and jumped on it's back and drug his knife blade through the back of it's neck as hard as he could, hoping to sever the spinal cord. Robin grinned as the writhing body went limp.
Maka nodded at the smiling boy as she came out of the bushes. "Good job." She praised. "Nice quick thinking. A quick mind is one of the best things to have in battle-" Her praise was cut short when the nearly decapitated head on the ground began to gurgle. With a slight frown, she nudged the head, being mindful of the mouth, to turn it over. Rapidly blinking blue eyes and gnashing teeth revealed themselves as the Rotter continued to fight his losing battle. Robin made a snort of disgust and jabbed his knife through its eye, silencing it once and for all.
He looked up at Maka with a curious filled gaze. "How could he survive that? His head was nearly off…" He pondered, not particularly fishing for an answer to his question, which was convenient, seeing as the blonde meister didn't have one.
After a few more flawless killings, the meister decided to call it a day, much to the young boy's dismay. He rather liked killing things. Upon returning to the camp, Maka was persuaded by the twin pistols to accompany them in washing up by the stream. The blonde meister had to admit, it was particularly nice to get away from the guys and indulge in a few creature comforts. That is, until the older sister began to bring up a few less than comfortable topics.
"You know, Maka. Despite the guys always taunting you for a lack of chest, you honestly do have nice curves." Liz said casually, wading into the chilly stream water with her sister. Luckily it had warmed up a bit, and the water wasn't unbearably cold, but it wasn't exactly your average bath water temperature either.
Maka blushed lightly, now feeling self conscious as she followed in pursuit of her friends. She knew Liz meant nothing by it other than to compliment her, but it still sounded a bit strange. She hardly ever got any compliments other than about her fighting skills or good grades; but defiantly not about her body. "Uhm… Thanks?" She muttered.
"You know, actually I wouldn't be surprised if you had guys falling for you left and right back at the academy." Liz pushed. Maybe she wasn't able to get in her meister's mind, but Maka was a girl and Liz liked to think she had a better understanding of how a woman's mind worked. She figured if she got Maka to realize her feelings for Kid, then the reaper would catch on and follow her in pursuit. Her plan was fool-proof.
"Not really." Maka muttered, not exactly wanting to get into that topic.
"Well is there any guy you would like to be all over you?" Liz smirked, looking over at her shy friend.
And there it goes; the conversation went fro one extreme to another. "No, not exactly…" She sighed, taking her hair down from their ponytails.
"Not exactly?" Liz led on.
"No." Maka said blankly, combing through her dirty hair with her fingers in the chilly water.
"What about you and Soul?" Liz pressed, she had to make sure Maka didn't have a crush on her scythe before going any further. That could just completely sever friendships.
Maka winced inwardly at the mention of her weapon, but thought through the question, trying to keep her mind off the white haired boy's whereabouts... Or condition."Me and Soul? No… I don't really have any interests in him like that…" She said, her cheeks turning slightly pink; though she believed her answer to be the truth.
"O…k…" The older sister drug out, acting like she was thinking while avoiding the vicious splashes from Patty. "What about… Kid?"
"Kid?" Maka paused, letting her fingers fall through her hair and into the water with a lame splash.
"Mhmm." Liz grinned. "I see you two being all cute and flirty." She prodded, dipping her own hair into the water but quickly returning to the surface to receive an answer; which to her surprise, came almost immediately.
"Nah, we're just friends."
"Let's play marco polo!" Patty squealed, obviously taking no interest in the other two girl's conversation.
"Really? Huh. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought the two of you had a thing or something…"
"Marco, Polo!"
"Like I said, we're just friends. Besides, I'm pretty sure he would only ever see me as a friend… Not that I would see him as anything more, either." She tacked on. So that was it, Liz concluded. She was in denial. And had a lack of confidence.
"Hmm… Maybe…" Liz mused, letting her voice sound as if she was losing interest. All part of the act. "He just seemed so happy. And I can't remember the last time he ever giggled."
"Marco!"
"He giggled?" Maka asked, amusement dripping in her voice.
"Polo!"
"Like a little school girl." Liz grinned deviously. Maka, herself, giggled at the mental imagine of the serious young death god giggling. What she didn't notice was the dark tinge of pink forming again on her cheeks; unfortunately for her, the elder Thompson sister did. Liz grinned greedily as she turned to her sister who gave up on the idea of Marco Polo and busied herself with a rollypolly floating on a leaf. "It's too bad, really. You guys would make a cute couple."
Maka was silent for a minute before answering. "Even if we did consider it, which we won't, things are just… too hectic." She sighed, only partially committed to her answer. Liz let the conversation go at that; she knew she had planted the idea in the innocent scythe meister's mind. Now all she had to do was wait.
Not long after, the girl retreated from the chilly water and attempted to dry off as best they could before putting their clothes back on. In mid-button of her she, Maka paused and tilted her head.
"What is it Maka?" Liz questioned.
The girl's green eyes widened to the size of saucers. "I-I think I'm sensing more souls…" She whispered in disbelief.
Mhmmm… Yep. Kind of a lame ending, but if I continued, I'd have to launch into a whole different thing and it would take forever to get this chapter out. This was supposed to be finished yesterday.
I expect this story's chapters to go well into the twenties, maybe even hit the thirties; but I have decided there will NOT be a sequel to this, but that doesn't mean I will stop writing KiMa after this; quite the contrary, actually. I already have a new fic planned and plotted, ready to go, once Beyond Help is finished.
Replies~!
Evilkatnyah- I just love Liz as the little match maker; because you know that's just how she is! She seems like the big sister who wants to make her little brother perfect for some girl. And yeah, she is pretty tom boy; but that's just kind of how I perceive her, I mean she fights basically for a living and she plays basketball (even if it was just that once, she didn't act like she didn't want to play, she just didn't know the rules.)
Mikaela- Yes, Kidd is absolutely brilliant, but I have a feeling when it comes down to those sort of things, he's completely hopeless! Good thing he's got big sister Liz to help him along XD
Checkered Brooke- I know! Everyone kept screaming at me in the reviews for the rest of the cast and in my mind I was just like 'wait a sec! wait a sec! Liz and Patty are coming soon, I promise!'
DeathTheKidsDionsaurRawr- Gaaaaaaaaah…. Imma take your dog! :D haha just kidding, but no, really, I've always wanted a husky/wolf mix. But I just like big dogs in general ^^'