At dawn, somewhere down in the yard, a rooster crowed.

This was no ordinary declaration of morning though.

This rooster was plucky, prideful, and he ruled the nest.

And bloody hell he was ready to let the world know it!

He was probably the loudest rooster Maka had ever had the misfortune of hearing.

He was squawking good morning to the whole world. Only... it wasn't really a good morning for Maka.

Everything hurt. Her arms, legs, back, neck. Was it even possible for her eyelashes to hurt too?

Maka groaned loudly as she threw the covers off. She needed to get up. Soul hadn't barged into her room since the last time, but she didn't trust him. If he thre he thre her out of bed this morning she would have probably stayed on the floor in a boneless heap.

She tried to move, but failed. She couldn't even jackknife into a sitting position. Instead, she slid out of bed, like a limp noodle to the floor.

After carefully rubbing salve on and dusting her binding with the burnt flour, she wrapped herself up tight and struggled into a shirt.

Lifting her legs into her trousers made her muscles quiver and strain.

Once dressed she hobbled down the hallway and stopped at the stairwell. It was doing to take a pure miracle to make it down without falling.

Taking a deep breath she inched her way down, all the while keeping an eye out for fright train Evans.

Despite her caution it ended up being not needed. He was already at the breakfast table, reading the paper and drinking coffee.

He looked so normal sitting there, his face and hair freshly washed, dressed in a crisp blue button down.

He seemed deep in thought as he read, his intelligent eyes scanning. He could have been considered handsome even if one tried really hard to look past his personality.

Maka knew better though...

Above those eyes, hidden beneath the white scruff of his hair he probably had permanent frown lines etched between his brows. The way he always scowled had Maka convinced.

There was nothing normal about the surly cowboy sitting at the table.

As if on que he glanced up from his paper and gave her a sour look. "Kid, you look like shit this morning."

"Thank you, I hadn't noticed." Maka huffed as she gingerly eased onto her chair.

She tried hard not to grimace as her muscles protested.

He must have noticed though because he gave her a knowing look.

"You hurtin' kid?"

His wry tone made her head shoot up. She didn't want him to think her weak.

"No, it's nothing I can't handle."

Her answer must have pleased him, that or he just didn't have any brassy comebacks this early.

He half grinned and went back to reading his paper quietly.

Tsubaki bustled in from the kitchen, the smell of cinnamon buns following her.

The smell made Maka think of yesterdays visit with her and Black Star.

Being a hopeless romantic, she secretly hoped they had spent the wee hours of the morning together, sharing sweet cinnamon treats and shy smiles.

Maka smiled kindly at Tsubaki as she set a plate of food and a big steaming cup of coffee down infront of her.

Tsubaki smiled in return.

"Mornin hun, drink up that coffee before it gets cold."

Maka who didn't much care for the way Americans drank their coffee black and bitter none the less snatched up her mug with great zeal this morning.

If she was going to survive the day she needed every ounce of caffeine she could get. Lord only knew what Soul had in plan for her today.

She took a big gulp and it scalded every bit of her mouth.

Heavy heat coursed through her veins... Only it wasn't the normal heat from coffee.

She set the mug down on the table with a loud thump as she sucked in a sharp breath.

"I'm sorry hun, is the coffee too hot?" Tsubaki winked at her from behind Soul's line of sight.

On rare occasions back home, unbeknown to her papa she had stolen a few sips of watered-down wine from her friends at parties. Otherwise, Maka had never been very keen on drinking.

Whatever Tsubaki had secretly added to her coffee could melt steel.

Tsubaki had the audacity to look very pleased with herself.

Odd, though, that one mouthful made her feel warm all over and muted the streaks of pain she'd been suffering.

She took another tentative sip, willing to try anything to relieve the aches.

It tasted horrible, but she fought against the fumes that tried to make her eyes water.

Every sip seemed to relax her body more and more.

"Thank you." Maka mouthed quietly to Tsubaki who sat down next to her.

Tsubaki threw her a quick sly smile and turned to her own plate of food.

"Better eat up kid. We've got a full day's work ahead of us." Soul gruffed as he set his paper down.

Afraid she couldn't hold her fork and knife steady with her shakey limbs Maka decided to abandoned all modesty and etiquette.

She slid her egg and bacon onto her toast, picked it up with her bare hands, and crammed a good sized portion into her mouth.

Soul looked up from his own food with astonishment and his mouth slightly agape.

Good.

She rather enjoyed being able to bewilder the man.

"I thought I'd take a note out of your book of cowboy wisdom."

She smiled at him cheekily, her mouth full of egg.

She didn't even care if it was rude.

He chuckled softly and rolled his eyes, but left her alone.

Obviously if you wanted to stay on his good side all it took was a days worth of sore muscles and eating like a wild heathen.

She could do that.

She couldn't contain her mirth so she smiled down into her egg sandwich, hoping he wouldn't notice.

Tiny victories.

After breakfast Soul took her straight out behind the house to the garden plot.

There were several horses tethered in the area, all peacefully munching grass.

Soul tried to ignore the groan of protest Maka made at the sight. The ground was covered in steaming horse piles.

Soul gave the kid a sideways glance. The look on the kid's face was thoroughly entertaining.

"You don't want grass growing in the garden. It'll choke out whatever Tsubaki plants here. You're looking at the best way to get rid of unwanted grass, plus now you don't have to haul over any manure. It's freshly delivered."

The kid gave him a dubious look. "I suppose I should be thankful for that time saving trick?"

"You're catching on."

The kid wrinkled up his tiny nose, but didn't complain.

Maybe there was hope for him yet.

"What am I supposed to do now Mr. Evans, spread it around?"

The kid punctuated his last name heavily and with an accent.

The little shit knew he hated being called by his last name, yet he continued to do it.

It was meant to rile him up, and by George it did. Though he'd never admit it to the kid.

Instead he shrugged it off with a flash of his canines. That usually bothered people, but the kid didn't seem to take notice like most people did by his strange appearance.

Whatever.

"No kid, you're going to be plowing all that manure into the ground." He pointed toward the barn where Black star and Justin were unloading a monstrous peice of metal from the wagon.

The kid looked intrigued and started that way to get a better look at it. As they walked Soul noticed that the kid was moving a little stiffly.

Good.

At least he wasn't fluttering about anymore.

A few more weeks of hard labor would continue to improve his muscles.

The kid had actually eaten with gusto today, instead of just picking at his food and barley eating. That was a big improvement in Soul's opinion.

"Oh very impressive! Is it ours?" The kid ran his hand lightly over the plow.

Soul didn't like how the he used the word 'our', like he was implying his stake on something. The kid had only been here a few days and he was already taking ownership of Forsaken.

Soul frowned down at the kid and shook his head.

"No, this plow belongs the the Thompsons. We raise cattle here more than vegetables, but they're kind enough to let us use it twice a year."

"The Thompsons?"

"They're our closest neighbors, a few miles to the east of us."

"I didn't think we had neighbors near by."

Both Black Star and Justin snickered.

"I wouldn't call them neighbors." Black Star chuckled.

Justin who was normally a very quiet man nodded his head enthusiastically. "They're more like bears."

"Or vultures." Black Star chimed in.

Soul shot them a heavy warning glance and they both stopped their jeering.

Black Star scurried inside the barn and Justin cleared his throat before trotting over to the garden plot to untethered the horses.

"Is there something wrong with our neighbors?" The kid asked, his head cocking to the side.

"No. Well, maybe. They're just a little too friendly sometimes."

The kid threw him a perplexed look that made him feel uneasy.

Sure he wasn't explaining himself very well, but the kid didn't have to look so damned judgmental.

"I'm returning the plow to the Thompsons after we're done with it. You'll be joining me, so you'll have the pleasure of meeting them yourself."

The kid's green eyes lit up at that.

"It'd be nice to take a trip. Even if it's just up the road."

"Yeah, why's that?"

"After traveling so much in the last month I've gotten quite the taste for it. Before now I'd never left London, not even once. I've lived in the same home and grew up on the same estate my whole life. So it's nice to get out and see these new places."

Soul frowned at that. "That's no way to live kid."

Then kid had the gall to look offended. "Its not like a had a choice in the matter."

"Kid everyone has a choice. It sounds like you were just too coddled. You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth and there was no need for you to leave. Why leave when you were born with everything?"

The kid's face turned a bright shade of red.

"You know nothing about my life!" His voice cracked an octave higher. "Not everyone can just leave their home and family. That's absurd. Who the bloody hell does that?"

"I did." Soul spat, his own anger rising. "And I'd go back and do it again."

The kid opened his mouth to say something, then clamped it shut.

Shit.

Had he really just said that outloud?

The last thing he wanted to talk about with Fancy Pants was his childhood.

This spoiled English brat had an uncanny way of making him say the dumbest shit sometimes.

He glared at the kid and his stupid immature face.

This kid was born wealthy, and for that he could almost hate him.

The kid would never understand people like himself who had to fight and sweat through life for everything.

Soul continued to hold his gaze, almost daring him to ask more questions.

Luckily the kid seemed to have the common sense not to broach the topic futher.

After a long uncomfortable silence Black star shambled back with a stocky mare in tow.

"Did I miss something boss?"

"No." Soul barked as he swiped the reins from Black stars hands.

C'mon kid. We've gorbwork to do."

Unknowingly she had made a huge mistake.

She could see it in the set of his rigid shoulders and his contemptuous gaze.

Obviously she had struck a nerve. A big one.

She had wanted so badly to ask him more about his family, or to at least apologize.

Although she didn't know what to apologize for...

He was the one who had brought it up. Not her.

Still, she bit her tongue, wanting to avoid any more of his dagger sharp looks.

Why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut?

She had made so much progress with him this morning, they had been quite civil at breakfast.

Any sign of commodity or acceptance was now gone... if it had even been there in the first place.

Three steps forward, five steps back.