Eventide

Chapter XXII

My eyes slowly flutters open and I awake by the worst way possible, by vomiting.

"Holy shit!" Black*Star curses loudly and I feel two large hands hold back my hair as I keep emptying my stomach.

"Tsubaki, can you get a bucket?" Soul asks and I bet it is his hands since I feel the person's thumbs gently trace circles on my temples.

"Right."

With the sound of everybody making disgusted noises and their movements, it makes my head spin out of control and I find myself hurling again, this time, I find a bucket beside the bed I puke into.

"The concussion must be worse than I thought it would be." It is Stein's voice. "She must be taking it easy for the rest of the day. Tsubaki will treat her head every hour. By the next morning she should be a lot better."

My head twirls again and I barf into the bucket. "Just please shut up!" I yell and immediately a new round of vomit joins the bucket. "Just please, there are too many noises." Soul's hands wanders from my temples to cover my ears. The sound isn't completely cut off, but it does relieve the headache and the dizziness.

I can barely make out the sound of the Meisters leaving the room and the sound of voices, although, I can't hear exactly what they are saying. I keep my eyes closed in order to shut out the spinning world all around me and I try to concentrate myself on Soul's hands, the one touch in order to, hopefully, get the spinning to wear off, although, I'm not getting any better. I still feel like I want to puke and I bet I will puke as soon as Soul uncovers my ears.

I was right.

When Soul uncovers my ears and gently says my name, I hurl into the bucket. As the great boyfriend Soul is, he holds back my hair and gently kisses my head, resting his head on mine in order to show sympathy and concern.

"Do you think you can manage with my voice?" He gently whispers.

I shake my head and I hurl again, my legs uncomfortably squirming since I start puking up bile. His hands gently covers my ears again as I rest my head on the edge of the bed, not having the energy to lift my head up.

I stay like that for a few minutes until Soul takes his hands away and a pair of more feminine hands puts on my temples. A soothing heat then envelops my head and I feel the pain in my head lighten and the world stop spinning out of control. The urge to puke reduces and I find myself feeling better, but far from being back to normal.

"Do you think you can listen to my voice now?" Soul gently grabs my hand and caresses it with my thumb.

The hands on my head slowly disappear and I nod tiredly. "As long as I don't have to open my eyes." I say and Soul's masculine hand gently cups my cheek. "If that will make you more comfortable and make you feel better, then keep them closed." Soul's grip on my hand tightens. "Do you have any idea how much you scared me?"

"A lot?"

Soul sighs annoyingly as he gently presses my hand to his mouth. "I thought I was too late. The Kishin had already started to take off with you when I arrived. It almost got away when Hiro came along. Hiro got stabbed pretty badly, he was the only one injured."

My heart skips a beat. "Is he okay?"

Soul's lips feel tense against my hand. "Yeah, Stein had to practically sew him back together since his upper body was almost detached from his legs. Stein is most likely checking up on him now. As weird as it is, he is doing better than you. With Stein's help, he will be ready for tonight's battle."

"Are you crazy?" My intention was to sound pissed off and surprised, but it sounded more like a tired moan. "You can't send him out after almost getting ripped to pieces."

"Maka, it was yesterday it happened. You have been out for a day."

A whole day? Wow, that is something.

"What happened to Scrap Metal?"

"Wait, you have named the Kishin Scrap Metal?" Soul says baffled.

"Yeah, it is easier to imply on it if it has a name. It isn't like he is my pet and I give it a lovey dovey name. I thought the name was fitting since it is a large piece of metal, you know."

Soul chuckles and he kisses my knuckles gently. "I think you are abnormal in a good way. I guess Scrap Metal is a good name for it since we will dump the rusty piece of scrap in the dumpster." Soul snickers sinisterly.

Slowly I open my eyes and I see the shape Soul is in. I want to gasp and curse at Soul for not taking care of himself because that is exactly what he hasn't done. His hair is a greasy mess and he has two large purple bags underneath his eyes. He smells of sweat and his clothes are ripped and dirty. He is in need of a shower and a new change of clothes. Even though he smells so bad, I still find myself very attractive to him.

"You look terrible."

Soul chuckles while he gently caresses my hand. "Speak of yourself, you should look at yourself."

I blush and close my eyes again since the world is still spinning, but much less than it did. "You should go and take a shower and get some sleep. I will still be here when you wake up."

"I'm fine." Soul says. "I would just be worried about you if I weren't with you. I want to make sure you are fully healed before I leave for tonight's battle."

"Soul." I gently squeeze his hand. "You won't even be able to stand if you don't get some sleep." I make more room for him on the bed and I tug his hand toward me. "There is room for you too and I feel like I want to cuddle."

"That is an invitation I can't reject." Can I hear Soul smirking? "Every reason to touch the person you love can never be a bad idea." The springs of the bed squeak as Soul takes a seat on the bed before he lies down beside me. His arms wrap around me and he hugs me gently, making sure not to hurt my head. His lips gently kiss my forehead, snuggling his head over my head.

These are the moments I will treasure the most.

Soul and I must have fallen asleep like this, he probably fell asleep as soon as he had set his head on the pillow, but when we both awake, we were startled awake.

"Soul!" Tsubaki slam the door open and I almost jump out of my skin. "You have to get out here immediately!"

"What?" Soul says tiredly, I bet he is rubbing his eyes.

"We got problem! It is Stein." Tsubaki sounds very stressed and uneasy. What is going on?

Soul curses as he sits up on the bed. "I will be out in a minute." He says and his hand finds mine. Tsubaki must have left the room since the door closes. "I will have to go. I will be back when this mess is over." The next thing I know his lips are on mine, my still unclean mouth, but he doesn't care. He kisses me long before he pulls away and rests his forehead on mine. "I love you, I will be back as soon as I can."

His hand disappears from mine and I feel a slight panic hit me. I don't want him to go, I don't want to be alone. I want him to keep me company.

"Soul!"

He must have picked up on the panic in my voice since he stops dead in his tracks and grabs my hand again. "Yeah?"

A smile spreads on my face. I didn't think he would actually stay. "I…I―" I gulp loudly. Why is my throat running so dry? I should be able to say it. "I… I just… want to tell you…" Pull yourself together! Just get the words out already! I must be worrying Soul since my hand is shaking madly. "I just want to say that I really like you!"

In the end, I couldn't say it.

"Take your time." Soul says gently. He must know what I was trying to say. "Don't force it out. I'm still going to be here waiting for you." Soul's hand slips from mine and I hear the door open and closing.

He is gone.

There was not much I could do. I was alone and with my head still spinning, the only thing I could do was sleep some more. Even though I had already slept for who knows for how long, I'm still very much tired. It must be because of the concussion.

Sleep wash over me and as before, my sleep was interrupted. My heart flutters happy and when I open my eyes disappointment washes over my body. It isn't Soul who is standing at the door, it is Hiro.

"Judging by the look of your face, I'm not the one you wanted to visit you." Hiro says as he gently limp toward the chair beside me.

"How are you holding up? I heard you were badly hurt." I ignore his statement.

Hiro holds his stomach. That must be where the Scrap Metal's claws dug into him.

Hiro chuckles as he gently rubs his stomach. "I have felt better." Hiro then sighs loudly. "There is something I have to tell you."

Oh, that voice doesn't sound good. Whatever he has to say, it won't be good news.

"What is it?"

"It is about Soul." Hiro says, running his hand through his hair. "Stein came and threw a fit. You know his daughter Kim, she is a Meister as well and in some strange way, she has found out about Kishins existence."

My eyes widen. This can't be good. What will happen to the agreement Stein and Soul came up with? Will he leave? If he does, then we are screwed!

"Take a deep breath. I don't want you to pass out on me." Hiro says and I inhale deeply. I hadn't even realized I was holding my breath. "Stein won't walk out on us. After Stein calmed down and was able to hold a civilized conversation, they managed to come to an agreement, but I don't think you will like it." Hiro sighs and shakes his head. "I thought he wouldn't agree to it since it would jeopardize your relationship, but he did it."

"Just get to the point!" I yell.

Hiro nods. "Alright. Kim wants to join the gang and Stein still wants to protect her, but he can't convince Kim to forget about the whole thing. So, the deal is that since Soul is the strongest Meister with the most skills, he will be her bodyguard. I'm not talking about just during the day or something, he will be glued to her twenty-four seven."

I lost my heart. I really did. It jumped straight out of my chest and ran away. Tears burn my eyes and soon the flow down my cheeks. "Why would he accept such a deal? He just completely destroyed our relationship."

"You know why." Hiro says and leans toward me, wiping away my tears. "His duty will always lie to the gang and their safety."

I keep crying and I lean into Hiro's hand. "I still don't get it. We just managed to get our relationship working and now he goes and does something like this? He said he loved me…"

Hiro gets up from his seat and takes a seat on my bed instead. He wraps his arms around me and gently rocks me. "You know he will still love you, it will just be harder for you to be together since he will have another girl glued to him."

"One that is his first love and his first girlfriend and the girl he lost his virginity to." I cry into his chest. "How am I supposed to compete with that?"

"There isn't a competition." Hiro says as he gently caresses my hand. "You already won. He is your boyfriend."

There is a knock on the door and my spirit lifts just to be crushed in disappointment again. Tsubaki walks inside of the room and closes it again. "I guess you know about the deal." Tsubaki says as she walks up to my bed. "I'm sorry Maka, I tried to talk them into coming up with a different deal, but they were already set on that agreement."

What am I supposed to say? I'm going to be fine? I'm not hurt at all and we will just keep going as if this deal doesn't affect us at all. With this deal, our relationship is doomed to fail. Soul and I will be over and most likely, he will get together with Kim. She knows now about the Kishin world and they are going to be together from now on, they will definitely get together again.

"It's time for a healing session." Tsubaki says and she gently puts her hands on my head and the familiar warmth soothes my head.

Even though she is a medic Meister, she can't heal the pain my heart feels and the agony in my soul.