Eventide
Chapter XIV
The day quickly came to an end. Soul kicked my ass at the barn when we trained. He moved a lot faster from the day before and I barely had time to react. There was one time I managed to block his dagger, but that was only once. Even though it was only once, I got a kiss and Soul was actually proud I managed to progress in my training.
Soul drives me home and as soon as I get off, I hand him my helmet, or his helmet but a helmet he never uses. "I will pick you up for school tomorrow. I will give you further details about the plan then."
School. I had totally forgotten about it. I still haven't done all of my homework. I have been too busy with Soul, Hiro, Kishins and other Meister drama. I haven't heard anything from Hiro since the Kishin attack at the restaurant. I wonder what he thinks, if he has even thought about me at all.
"Okay, I will see you." Soul drops me off at a fake address and I walk inside of my house three houses down and I see my father passed out on the couch as always, the vodka bottle I gave him yesterday is empty. I don't feel like him storming inside of my room wanting alcohol, I walk to his bedroom and grab a bottle of vodka. I leave the bottle on the coffee table and walk up to my room and as expected, my desk is full with unfinished homework.
The joy of doing my homework is completely gone out of the window. I'm so tired and all I want is to take a shower and go to bed, but that isn't an option until I have gotten all of my homework done.
Opening my math textbook, I find pages of problems I need to solve. This will take at least two hours to do and then I have seven more homework to do.
I groan as I start to solve the first problem. This will be a very long night. Hopefully I will have the energy to take a shower in the morning. I stink with sweat and I still haven't changed out from the shameful clothes Soul seems to have a thing for. Stupid idiot. He just has to get me those kinds of clothes. I have told him I can just bring my gym clothes I wear at school, but then he says it is better to have separate clothes for school and to train at the barn. Unfortunately for me, since my father hates me, I only get the money from school that is all I have to use to live on. I can't spend my money on clothes, I need to make sure my father and I have food to eat and he has booze to drink.
So, I have no other choice but to use the clothes Soul has provided for me, even though they are skimpy.
After hours of doing two and a half of my homework, I can't do it anymore. The fatigue is wearing me down and I can no longer keep my eyes open. My eyes are heavy and I find myself slouching over my books. I need to go to bed, if I go to bed now I can get up earlier and―
The window suddenly shatters and glass litters my bed and floor. My eyes widen and I snap my head. In through the window comes a Kishin, it seems to grow larger and larger.
The Kishin is much larger and powerful than the previous one. It has fangs sharper than Soul's and claws more deadly than knifes. Green scales cover the Kishins body, providing a metal armor impenetrable from sharp objects. Its eyes are a vivid shade of red, it almost moves with life as fire. It is almost like the Kishin captured pure fire and inserted it into its eyes.
It grows loudly as it swings its mighty claws toward me. I gasp loudly and barely dodge the claws. A Kishin isn't supposed to be able to get inside! How can it be inside?!
I land in the shatter of glass and it cuts up my legs and hands really well.
It growls under its breath as it steps on the glass like it was nothing at all. It tilts its head and its eyes gaze at me. I know those eyes, I have seen those eyes before. Those are the same shade of red eyes that was inside of the forest. This is the Kishin that tried to grab me!
The glass crack under the force of its feet, the claws disappears underneath the skin of the Kishins palms instead of fingertips. It lower as it reaches out for me.
"No!" I exclaim and try to dodge the Kishin's hand. "Get away from me!" The Kishin grabs a hold of my foot and drags me through the glass, cutting me up in the processes. It grabs me with both it its hands and jumps out of the window. I let out a cry of pain when it squeezes me a little too hard, surprisingly, the Kishin releases its hold on me a little, although the damage was already done. My ribs have definitely suffered from it.
The cool air hits my skin and the moon mocks me with its presence.
"Damn you!" Someone yells and I find myself soaring through the air before I land roughly on the grass, forcing the air out of me. A pair of arms wraps around my shoulders and hoists me up from the ground.
"I got you." Tsubaki whispers.
"Take her to my place. Black*Star and I will take care of this." Soul hollers and everything turns to a blur. I feel myself being carried away from my house, but I don't know where. I can't even concentrate. My eyes are open, but yet it feels like I can't see anything, nothing at all except for these spinning colors. It feels like I'm about to throw up.
It doesn't take long for everything to turn darker and darker until nothing is there.
Slowly, I drift back to my senses.
"Will she be okay?" I hear Soul say.
"A couple of ribs were broken. They messed up her lungs, but she will be alright. Stein has fixed them so she should be alright, but she shouldn't be training for today. Give her the day off." That's Tsubaki.
Slowly I open my eyes and I find Soul and Tsubaki beside my bed or, Soul's bed since I'm in his bedroom.
"Maka." Soul says and I find him smiling toward me. "Please, tell me everything that took place." Something squeezes my hand and I find it is Soul's hand. Oh, I should have noticed that.
I groan and explain everything to them, about the sudden attack and how the Kishin went through the window without hitting the invisible barrier. I tell them how the Kishin took away its claws and instead grabbed me and jumped out of the window. Soul listens and nods occasionally, squeezing my hand when I tell him the wounds that the Kishin caused me.
"This Kishin is definitely a nuisance." Soul says and he fists his free hand. "The Kishin disappeared as soon as Tsubaki took you away from your house. It ran away with its tail between its legs." Soul leans toward me and he holds my hand with both of his, squeezing it. "You aren't going to leave my side. Ever. You aren't going to return home. You are going to stay in my apartment."
"What about my father?" Oh geez, I know how he would act. He wouldn't give a rat's ass if I suddenly disappeared. "Never mind."
"Just so you know." Soul caresses my hand. "We got you covered. Your father woke up from the window breaking. All he saw was Black*Star and I in the garden. He made up an assumption on his own. He thought Black*Star and I broke the window and you came with us. He thinks you ran away."
As much as I want to deny it, it hurts. My chest clenches and aches with pain. My father never liked me and I bet he was celebrating at this moment with a drink. I want to be a part of my father's life, but he doesn't want me. Maybe it is time to let go? Being around him only puts him in danger and with this Kishin that can enter houses, it is much better to be off without him.
"Please." Tears prickle my eyes. "Can I have a moment alone?"
"Of course." Tsubaki nods and walks out of the room, closing it behind her.
"I'm not leaving." Soul says, squeezing my hand. "Not when you are sad. You need support and you know I'm always here for you."
I can't stop my tears from falling. I end up crying and Soul gets up from his seat and crawls into bed with me, pulling me close to his chest. "Let it all out." Soul whispers into my ear, caressing my shoulder. "There is no use keeping it locked up inside. Let it all out and move on."
Move on? As much as he hates me, he's still my father. My only father and parent. After all these years, he has always been the one to be there, even though he was drunk and verbally abusive, he was still the one who put a roof over my head.
Now, I'm on my own. I don't have any parents to watch over me, but I do have Soul and Tsubaki. They are my new family and I need to stay close to them. I don't want to leave him. I really like him.
"You know you are too good for me." I sniffle, sobs into his chest.
Soul chuckles, his chest vibrating nicely. "Too good? I would think of myself as bad. I pulled you into all of this. I could have taken care of the Kishin outside of your house and then you would have lived a peaceful life. It would have taken a lot for anyone to find out about your Grigori soul, so you would have been safe."
"I would rather live like this than my previous life." I confess. "I'm of use now, even if I have been more of a burden. I have friends now and my father is safe, that is all that I care about really." I lift my head toward Soul and I wipe away my tears. "But I do want to know, how did you find out where I lived? I never once told you where I lived and I showed you to a fake house."
Soul chuckles and flashes his smirk. "Who do you think you are talking to? As soon as I had my eyes on you, I got Lord Death to show me your profile to get your address. I have known about the Kishin and your home for quite some time."
"Wait." I look confused at Soul. "Lord Death? The headmaster? How did you get him to show my profile to you?"
"By Kid of course. He knows about our… situation and abilities. He supports us all out by excusing us from class and faking some of our grades. The only condition is for us to study when we have the time."
"Do you actually study?"
"Nope, never find the time. Either it is Meister stuff or I want to blow some air."
"What do you do when you 'blow some air'?"
"It all depends. Sometimes I go to a bar and just enjoy the environment, but I never drink." Soul smirks. "Who knows what kind of trouble you can stumble onto and then you want to be as sober as you can be." Soul's hand runs down my back. "Other times I train extra to keep myself fit or I simply take the day off and listen to some music."
A small smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. "I got to know you."
Soul's smirk turns to a gentle smile. "I guess you did." Soul snuggles close and kisses my hairline. "So what do you think about the infamous Soul Eater; the school's bad boy?
I rest my head on his chest and I smile. "I really like what I'm seeing about you." I trace my hand along his chest, "But I do want to know how you got the scar."
Soul's smile slowly melts away and turns into sadness. Gently he puts his hand over mine. "I don't like to talk about it." He caresses my hand with his thumb. "But I do want to tell you about it. Only Wes knows about this because he was actually there when it happened." A loud sigh escapes his mouth. "It was one night, my parents were going to go out to a social event and since I could see the Kishins, I was afraid. I was fourteen and my brother was eighteen. I never shut up to my parents about the Kishins. I constantly talked about them to my parents and they thought I was crazy, only Wes believed me since I had shown him evidence of their existence. That night, my father had gotten enough, he snapped and he hit me in the jaw. He beat me to the ground before he threw me into a mirror. I was bleeding badly and Wes ran up to me. He took me to the hospital while my parents left for the social event. They did survive, but me and my brother never returned home. He said it was too dangerous for me to stay there and I would end up in a mental hospital. Since then we have been living on our own."
"Soul" I gently wrap my arms around his waist. "I had no clue… I'm sorry."
How can I only think about myself? I keep thinking that I'm the only one who has family issues and that everybody lives happily with their parents, how could I have been so wrong? It was selfish of me to feel this bad about myself when the other could have had worse lives with their parents. My father never put his hands on me, but Soul's father abused him and hurt him badly.
I couldn't be a brat about my family life.
"Don't apologize. I'm over it." Soul kisses my hairline.
"I'm sorry for being selfish about my home life. I should have considered that you guys might have had a rougher life than me."
"Don't apologize. All I want for you is to be happy and now you need to accept the situations. There are very few Meister who manage to keep their family intact and unfortunately, we aren't the lucky ones, then again, we would be more vulnerable if we had our parents in our lives."
"You have a point."
I'm not going to let my sorrow weighting me down ever again.