So unlike a lot of stories that are random collections, this one is going to go in chronological order. Last time, I had Kristen enter their lives. This time, they're going to bond with her and we'll establish relationships between characters. I have special plans for one Mr. Spirit Albarn. Tsubaki, Maka, and the Thompson sisters, too.
A quick rundown on Kristen's story, for a recap: After four years of no contact of any kind with her older brother, Kristen found out that she was a Weapon and headed off to Death City, where she now lives with Soul, Maka, and Blair. She's twelve years old and a hopeless romantic, meaning, yes, coolgirl, she playing matchmaker. That will come into play the next couple chapters, since I have plans. Other than that, the story's pretty open. Also, something I want to point out is, yes, Kristen is slightly ADHD (a lot, actually) and she has issues, but who doesn't?
Onto the second chapter!
Kristen awoke to the sound of her brother yelping in pain. Alarmed, she hopped out of bed and ran to his room, where she found Blair wearing nothing but a bra and panties, Maka looking annoyed and holding an encyclopedia, and Soul with a large, book-shaped dent in his head.
"Um…" she said, surveying the scene. "What happened?"
"Oh, morning, Kitten!" Blair greeted her, turning into her cat form before becoming human again, this time dressed decently. "We just had a teensy disagreement. Nothing to be worried about!"
"I think I should know what happened, if I'm going to be—" Blair started pushing Kristen out of the room.
"Let's get you some breakfast, Kitten! Leave them to work it out!"
In the kitchen, Blair began pulling out ingredients to make an omelet.
"Okay, seriously, Blair. What happened?" Kristen asked.
"Well, we sort of have this ritual," Blair replied, cracking an egg using magic so she could face Kristen. "Every morning, I just want to have some fun with Soul and he gets all flustered and Maka hits him with a book."
"What do you mean by 'fun'?"
"…I actually have no idea, because he never wants to do it!"
"I have a feeling what you think is fun and what my brother thinks is fun are two different things…"
"Oh, I know. I'm just trying to make sure he has an understanding of what makes a woman—"
"Ahem!" Maka coughed, standing in the doorway.
"Hi, Maka! Kitten and I were just talking about you and Soul!"
"Yeah, I heard." Soul exited his room and headed for the bathroom.
"So, what are we doing today, big sis?" Kristen asked Maka, trying to diffuse some of the tension.
"Oh, well, we were planning on hanging out at the park with some of our friends, but if you don't want to, that's okay."
"No, I want to meet your friends!"
"No fair!" Blair whined. "How come Maka's your big sis?"
"You're more of the mom type than the sister type."
"Oh, that makes sense. Don't you worry, Kitten! Mama Blair's going to protect you!"
She put the omelet on a plate and handed it to Kristen.
"Thanks, Blair." Kristen practically inhaled it.
After the three kids got ready, they said goodbye to Blair and headed to the park. Kristen talked a mile a minute about how excited she was to be spending time with them, making Maka feel guilty about how they'd woken her up that morning.
Upon reaching the park, of course, they heard their friends before they saw them.
Namely, Black*Star.
"HEY, MAKA! SOUL!"
The blue-haired "ninja" was waving to them. He hadn't even noticed Kristen, who was suddenly feeling painfully shy. She lingered behind Maka and Soul, waiting for them to introduce her.
"Hey, who's the stalker?" joked Liz, noticing Kristen.
"This is my little sister, Kristen," Soul replied.
"SISTER?!" they all yelped. Kristen nodded.
"Well, I can definitely see it," Kid commented, walking around Kristen. He was looking her up and down, making her self-conscious. "Kristen, I can say with certainty that you are perfectly symmetrical! It's beautiful!"
"Thank… you?" The white-haired girl felt incredibly confused.
"You'll get used to it," Liz assured her. "Anyway, you're so cute! How old are you? Eight? Nine?"
"Twelve."
"Damn. I was way off."
"It's fine."
"How come you've never mentioned your sister before?" Tsubaki asked Soul.
"I was just trying to avoid the rest of my family. Kristen's cool, though."
"YES!" cheered Kristen, making everyone else laugh.
"So, you're enrolling at the DWMA?" Kid inquired once they'd all calmed down.
"Yeah. We found out I was a Weapon last week. Wes insisted I had to go to Death City immediately so I could learn to control it."
"Who's Wes? He sounds cute!" giggled Patti.
"He's my oldest brother."
"GOT ANY MORE SIBLINGS YOU HAVEN'T TOLD US ABOUT?!" Black*Star yelled at Soul.
"NOPE! JUST ANNOYING BROTHER AND WAY-TOO-CHATTY SISTER!"
It had been two weeks since Kristen had enrolled at the DWMA. She had yet to find a Meister, but that was fine with her. Soul and Maka were teaching her all the basics, most importantly how to transform on command. She struggled at first, but her brother proved to be the best motivator by pointing out how much ass she could kick once she got a Meister if she could learn to do that kind of stuff.
Then there was the day she met Maka's dad.
Ooh, boy.
"C'mon, Soul! Please?!"
"I said no, Kris. I have work to do."
"Ugh!" She crossed her arms defiantly.
For a person four-and-a-half feet tall, she could be very intimidating.
"Hey, Soul," Spirit spat with his usual if-you-so-much-as-touch-my-Maka-I'll-fucking-kill-you air.
"Hey, old man," Soul replied, turning around. Kristen let out a huff of annoyance at her brother.
"You're gonna be late if you don't hurry up. Your little girlfriend can wait."
"EW!" Kristen gagged. "Who is this guy?!"
"That's Maka's dad."
"What—how is she his kid?!"
"Who are you?!" Spirit snapped. Kristen rolled her eyes.
"Watch how you talk to my sister!" Soul growled.
"Your sister?!" Suddenly, Kristen's exclamation of disgust made complete sense. "I'm sorry!" he told Kristen. "I had no idea you were his sister!"
"I only moved in with him and Maka two weeks ago!" She puffed out her cheeks. "Speaking of which, I've got to help her make dinner since I can't work on training today." She shot a ruby glare at her older brother before skipping off down the hall.
Now, logic would dictate that Kristen would help Spirit be less smothering and overprotective of Maka, since she served as a natural sex deterrent (not that Soul and Maka were having sex, mind you), but remember, this is Death Scythe Spirit "Papa Loves Maka More Than Anything" Albarn. He doesn't operate on logic.
He operates on instinct, which is why he began stopping by regularly—not to smother Maka with attention, but to make sure that she, Soul, and Blair were keeping an eye on Kristen. He knew that Maka and Soul were both responsible, but they weren't there all the time. They still had missions and extra lessons, meaning Kristen was by herself a lot of the time.
Then she got sick.
Really sick.
"Kristen!" called Spirit as he knocked on the apartment door. There was no answer. "Kristen?"
Finally, he heard the tiny footsteps that belonged to the youngest member of the Albarn-Evans household, much slower than usual. She opened the door and immediately he knew something was wrong. Her face was pale and streaked with sweat, her eyes glazed with fever. Not to mention her normally hyperactive and cheerful personality had been replaced by one more… sluggish and quiet.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm f—" She broke off in a coughing fit. Immediately, Spirit felt her forehead. Like Soul, she had an abnormally warm body temperature, but she felt even warmer than usual.
"Kristen, you're sick. Where are Maka and Soul?"
"On a mission… Blair had already left by the time I—*cough*—got up."
"Well, you need to just sit tight for a minute. I'm going to call Stein and have him take a look at you, okay?"
"Okay…"
"It's a nasty case of streptococcal pharyngitis."
"What the hell is that?!"
"In layman's terms, it's strep throat. It's perfectly normal to have a case of it at this age."
"Are you sure?"
"Yep. The test came back positive."
"Jeez… I haven't dealt with this since Maka was eight."
"Well, Kristen's still adjusting to life in Death City. I'm not surprised she got sick."
"She needs someone with her at all times, right?"
"That would be ideal, yes. However, before you think of volunteering for the position, remember that you have a job. I'd suggest Blair to take care of her until Maka and Soul come back from their mission."
Until Soul and Maka returned from their mission (which took a rather short amount of time), Spirit took care of Kristen. She was asleep when the two teenagers came back. Spirit was asleep at the kitchen table, drooling just the tiniest bit.
"Wonder what happened," Soul commented, waking up Spirit.
"SHUSH!" the older Death Scythe hissed. "Kristen had strep throat and she's still recovering!"
"What?!" Maka whispered. "But she was perfectly healthy when we left!"
"She's a little better now, but she still needs someone to keep an eye on her and make sure she takes the antibiotics Stein prescribed."
"Thank you, Papa."
Though Spirit maintained a straight face on the outside, on the inside, he was screaming, "See, Maka?! Your papa is the best papa in the world! He takes care of sick children he cares about, whether they're his or not!"
"Good night." Spirit waved as he left the apartment. Soul knelt next to his sister and felt her forehead.
"Her temperature's normal," he declared. Maka was looking on the shelf and found what she was looking for: the medical encyclopedia Stein had given her two Christmases ago.
"Let's see…" she muttered as she flipped through the pages. "Here it is. 'Streptococcal pharyngitis, better known as strep throat, is a bacterial infection of the pharyngeal tissue, causing the localized inflammatory reaction of the throat and tonsils. It most commonly affects school-age children between the ages of 5 and 15. Several types of antibiotics can be used to treat strep throat, including penicillin, cephalosporin, and macrolides. Symptoms include sore throat, swollen tonsils, fever, white spots on the tonsils, and an ill appearance.' Sounds like she has it to me."
"Of course she has it! Weren't you listening when your old man said she had it? He said Stein gave her antibiotics."
"Oh… right… well… I tend not to listen to what Papa says."
"Guess I can't blame you. Your old man thought Kris was my girlfriend the first time he met her."
"He's an idiot."
"But he did make sure my baby sis was okay, so I guess I owe him one."
Maka grinned.
Once Kristen was given the all-clear by Stein to go back to her normal life, Liz declared that Kristen was going to join them on a Girl's Day. The youngest Evans child had never been on one, owing to her lack of consistent female figures in her life before moving to Death City. Soul muttered something about workaholic mothers, bitchy seven-year-olds, and rapidly-changing babysitters when Maka had asked what Kristen meant.
"So, let's start by giving you a makeover!" Patti cheered as they sat Kristen down in front of Liz's vanity.
"Um, why me?" Kristen asked.
"Because your hair is soooo pretty!" Patti ran her fingers through Kristen's white locks. "It's so long and soft and silky!"
"She's not wrong," Maka giggled. "Come to think of it, I've only ever seen you with your hair down or in a ponytail."
"I like it simple. I follow K. I. S. S. Keep It Simple, Stupid. Well, that's what Soul always told me when I complained about my hair."
"Yeah, it's a miracle he ever got Maka to fall for him," teased Liz, looking at Maka, who blushed. "He's soooo tactful."
Once they'd finished Kristen's hair, Kristen insisted they braid Maka's. Although Maka initially protested, she soon relented once Kristen gave her the puppy-dog eyes.
"We're back!" Kristen called as she and Maka walked through the door.
"Hey, how was it…?" Soul asked, his tone drifting off as he looked at Maka. She looked so freakin' cute, with her hair wavy from the braid and down instead of in pigtails.
"It was fun," Maka replied. "We'll be doing it more often, that's for sure."
Kristen watched as they talked. A feeling began to settle in her stomach, one that told her how natural this was.
As the youngest of three children of a prominent couple, she hadn't seen much romantic love in real life. Her parents were rarely home and Wes's girlfriends seemed to change every other week. Even when her mom and dad were home, they rarely spent any time together. Instead, her dad went outside the house (she suspected he had a mistress somewhere) and her mother was either rehearsing, sleeping, or shopping. Obviously, the love that had made them get married and have three children had faded with time, making them almost strangers.
Still, from everything she'd ever read or seen about romance, communication and chemistry were key. Soul and Maka had both; they literally combined souls sometimes. They were perfect together, like peanut butter and Nutella or macaroni and cheese. The only problem was that Maka thought Soul wasn't interested and vice versa.
Kristen's eyes scanned the kitchen, coming to rest on an invitation attached to the fridge.
The DWMA Anniversary Ball, slated to be two weeks from that day.
Slowly, a plan began to form in the twelve-year-old's mind. She had to get Maka and her brother together. She just had to.
And that concludes chapter two. Sorry if it's choppy and all over the place, but there was a lot I wanted to put in the story that wouldn't have made very good chapters all on their own.
Now, before I end the chapter, I wanted to clarify on a couple of points.
First of all, yes, everything listed as part of strep throat is actually true. I had to Google it because I'm not a doctor nor do I intend to become one. I didn't want to give her something life-threatening or go with the safe answer of the flu or chicken pox. No, I chose to go with something I haven't had in years. I'm seventeen now, so I'm out of the majority. Also, try to tell me that Stein wouldn't give Maka a medical encyclopedia for Christmas. I will fight you.
Secondly, I wanted to set Spirit up as essentially a second father for Kristen, since her birth father is a horrible person. Their mom is nice, but she has a very demanding contract and isn't able to spend much time with her kids.
Finally, the next "arc" of the story may be split into two parts, depending on how I feel about it.
In other news, I need some help thinking of a better title than "Little Sister". It's too on-the-nose, so if anybody has any ideas, PM me or leave a comment.
So long and thanks for all the fish!