Eventide
Chapter XI
"No, no, Maka." Soul sighs impatiently. "You have to use it like it is an extension of yourself, not like a damned stick." Soul rubs the bridge of his nose. "I have gone over this plenty of times. Shouldn't you be able to do it by now?"
I pant heavily, lying on the ground inside of the sparing ring with my dagger lying beside me forgotten. "It isn't easy!" The poor excuse for clothes he'd chosen are drenched with sweat and I stink worse than the toilet in the morning after my father has thrown up in there. I still can't believe how he managed to convince me to wear short and tight shorts which practically shows off my butt. Not to forget the short tank top that ends above my belly button and shows off my greens sports bra that peeks up from the hem. Damn perverted Soul. "I have never dealt with any weapons before! It was the first time I held a sword in class! You can't blame me for sucking!"
Soul breaks out laughing and he kneels down in front of me, putting his dagger away. "Maybe I'm not motivating you enough." A large smirk spreads on his face. "For every time you manage to block and counterattack, I will give you a kiss―"
"Deal!" Okay, maybe I agreed a little too fast.
Soul chuckles and offers me his hand. "You were very eager." I grab his hand and he hoists me up on my feet. "Just because you were so eager you will get a sample of your success." Soul's lips meet mine in a quick kiss. Obviously teasing me. "Now, show me you can do it."
When I walked inside of the barn today, I had no idea it would be this hard to handle a dagger. The way Soul and Hiro had handled their knives back outside of the restaurant, it was amazing. They were so calm and collected, they knew exactly what to do, when to do it. I never thought it would be this intense just to learn how to handle a dagger. I can't even learn the basics without running into a wall.
As expected, when Soul comes at me with his dagger, he moves too fast for me to even react to and he end up holding his dagger toward my neck. "Are you even trying?"
I look away from him and slap the dagger away from my neck. "I try but you move way too fast for me to even react to."
Soul chuckles while he gently shakes his head. "Maka, I'm moving really slowly. You should be able to react, you managed to dodge the Kishin's attacks and they were a lot faster than mine. You aren't focusing at the moment." Soul's hand touch mine and he gently takes the dagger from me. "Let's take a break and we will move on to soul control then. Go and drink plenty of water. You need it." He then turns away from me and walks away with both of the daggers.
After all of that training, I really do need the water to sooth my dry throat. I walk toward the drinking fountain. I hold down the lever and quickly drink the water. It feels really good when the water run down my throat.
"You know you aren't welcome here." I straighten and look behind me, and what a surprise, Jaqueline stands there. "No one wants you here. Not even Soul. You are just a nuisance to all of us."
If you want to go there then game fucking on. "You can say whatever you want but I won't believe you. Soul wants me and you are just jealous that he wants me instead of you."
Jaqueline narrows her eyes and cross her arms over her chest. "Oh, if you didn't hear, I fucked him good plenty of times when you two were together." If she wants a fight, then I'm going to give her one.
"I know that is a lie. I believe Soul more than you and the fact that he is rather with me than you shows me that he doesn't feel anything romantically toward you." I move toward her. "And you know what?"
I didn't believe she could narrow her eyes even more, they are small slits. Can she even see or are her eyes shut? "What?" She sneers.
"You are out of his heart and I'm his girlfriend who he actually loves." I may have bent the truth a little.
Jaqueline snaps. She let out a high pitch screech and bares her nails. She jumps at me and we tumble against the drinking fountain before I hit the ground hard with Jaqueline on top of me. Quickly she straddles my stomach and her fist smashes into my jaw. She isn't kidding.
At least I got a reaction from her.
My fist connects with her stomach and the air in Jaqueline's lungs is forced out of her lungs. I take the opening and quickly grab her hair and flip us around so I'm on top. I raise my fist and without getting a single punch at her, I'm ripped away from Jaqueline.
"Calm down Maka." Soul whispers into my ear as he presses me against his chest.
Kilik holds Jaqueline and she screeches loudly. Her eyes are glistering with tears and a large frown on her face.
My stomach drops and I realize in that moment, she is still very much in love with Soul. She loves him and she hates the fact that Soul is with me now. And I rubbed it in her face and hurt even more.
"I'm sorry Jaqueline."
She looks utterly surprised, but it is quickly replaces with anger. "I don't care about your stupid apology." She rips herself away from Kilik and quickly walks away from us.
"What was that about?" Soul asks while he releases me from his grip.
I meet his eyes. My body melts deliciously just looking into them. It is almost like his scarlet eyes were heaters which warm up my frozen body. "It is stupid."
"I still want to know."
"Okay." I sigh loudly. "She said I wasn't welcomed here and it all turned about you, I said some very stupid things and she was mad and sad. That is why we fought."
Soul chuckles and he crosses his arms over his bare chest. So he has dumped the shirt. Damn tease. "As hot as it is to have two girls fighting over me, especially with one of them being you, this isn't good. She is right. You're new in our group and you are fresh to this world. They aren't sure they can trust you with their lives." Soul sighs and moves closer to me. "I was going to talk to you about this later, but I guess right now is as good as later."
I raise my eyebrow.
Soul grabs my hand. "People doubt you. They don't think you are as dedicated as the rest of us. They aren't willing to put their lives in your hands and quite frankly, if I let you out at night, I'm afraid you would die."
My eyes widen. "What?! My mother died because of a Kishin! My father is an alcoholic because of my mother's death! He hates me because I failed to protect my mother! My family is broken because of that Kishin! My whole life has been in isolation and in sadness because of that Kishin! I think I'm damned motivated to fight them!" My eyes prickle with tears and I don't even realize that everyone inside of the barn is looking at me. My tears spill over and I quickly wipe them away. "I'm sorry." There is no use, the tears keep coming. "I need a moment alone." Turning on my heel, I rush out of the barn and slam the door shut behind me. The tears trickle down my cheeks and a large lump grows in my throat. I walk away from the barn and into the forest that surrounds the barn.
I had snapped. I don't even know where I found the strength or whatever it was to just pour everything about my family life and my past. Everything had just come pouring out of my mouth.
I cross my arms over my chest. I feel so cold and exposed. It doesn't help with the cold wind and the lack of warmth in the air. The sun offers no warmth and neither is the shelter of the forest. How am I supposed to deal with this now? This sudden confession of mine. Everybody will definitely question about my family, especially about my father. I can't take that, my father doesn't deserve to be involved in this.
My eyes widen. The crowns of the forest did already block out a lot of light, but it has suddenly grown darker, way too dark. My eyes snap up toward the ends of the trees and my heart stops. I see the sun slowly setting and the moon is growing more visible.
This isn't supposed to happen! It is just afternoon! It isn't supposed to grow dark until a couple more hours!
A loud roar echoes throughout the forest. My blood freezes in my veins and two bright red eyes light up the darkness as soon as the sun disappears and the moon looms over me sinisterly through the tree tops.
"Maka…"
My eyes widen even more. That Kishin. It just spoke to me.
"Please don't hurt me." I take a step backwards, away from the glowing eyes. "Think rationally, you don't need to hurt me." Am I stupid for trying to talk some sense into a Kishin? Yeah, I am.
The Kishin roars loudly and the eyes move closer to me. I gasp loudly and I start running deeper into the forest. The darkness is too thick for me to see properly. Tree branches slam into my face and claws at the shameful clothes.
The Kishin roars loudly. The sound of a tree breaks and I hear the screech of it and then a large pang as it hits the ground. I pant heavily as I keep running, running as fast as my legs allows me. Branches hit me in the face so hard I can feel they leave scratches behind.
The moon provides poorly light for my eyes and the objects appear a split second in front of me, which leaves little time to avoid them.
My shoulder hit a tree and I stubble a little before I keep running.
The Kishin growls while he keeps chasing me. The claws of metal clatters against each other and I hear it stomp after me, breaking branches and rustling leaves. It sounds so close to me. It almost feels like I can feel it pant in my neck and smell its hideous smell.
I gasp loudly when I stumble on a root and a branch catch the hem of my shorts and rips it. I hit hard on the ground and I must have hurt my knee in the fall since it suddenly starts throbbing with pain and I feel something trickle down my leg. It must be blood. I can't run, not with this knee.
The Kishin growls and I feel something wet drip onto my leg. "Maka…" It sneers and I hear leaves crunch. Just beside me. The Kishin is right over me.
My soul! I need to kill it! I managed before, I can do it again! My soul, I need to feel it. Okay, feel the soft waves of it and hopefully I will stumble onto the Soul Force again.
I close my eyes and focus on my soul, all I can feel is my own heartbeat, not my soul. My heartbeat speeds up as I hear the Kishin growl and move closer to me.
I can't find it! I'm screwed!
"Maka!" That's Soul.
The Kishin roars loudly and I gasp loudly when I feel its large claws pick me up and put me on its shoulders.
"Let me go!" I exclaim, punching it in the back and kicking it in the chest. "Stupid Kishin! Let me go!" I yell loudly.
The Kishin drops me and I tumble on the ground. It roars loudly in pain.
"Maka! Are you okay?!" Soul yells. It sounds like it comes from above me. I hear the sound of a knife or a dagger, something with a sharp blade. The two large red eyes glow in the darkness moves irregular, swinging from side to side before it grows loudly and they move toward the right before they disappear.
"I'm fine." I say and I hear Soul moving closer to me.
"No. You are hurt. I smell copper." I gasp and my eyes widen when I see Soul's hand suddenly spark. Is he going to use Soul Force on me? "I need to do this. It won't hurt that bad. I will see you as soon as you wake up." The last thing I know is Soul's hand connecting with my stomach and I'm out like a light again.