Life and Death

Unestable

"What's all the screaming about?" Soul asked, coming back from the bathroom. Maka laughed as the bell rang, making them start to walk towards the class.  Maka tried to act as normal as she could during the whole class, but feeling every pair of eyes on her made her nervous. Everybody looked at her and treated her like a baby, since they know her mama died and she was 'fragile'. It made her sick. Even Stein treated her diferently. She didn't want that. Something Stein said captured her attention. "You guys have had a lot of days off, and I want to know if all of you are still well to fight. I'll choose two meisters with their weapons to fight here." a lot of people raised their hands, but slowly put them down as they saw a very decisive Maka raising her hand. Stein looked at her, then smiled proudly. "Okay, Maka and Soul. And...?" he said. "You don't have to do this." Soul whispered next to her, she looked at him. "I want to." she smiled. Soul showed her sharp teeth as he realized his partner was coming back to normal. BlackStar tried his best to be chosen, but Stein selected the presumptuous Ox Ford and his weapon. Maka smirked at the challenge, as she stood up and walked towards the front of the class, Soul following. Maka looked at him, and he winked. Then, Soul transformed into a scythe and Maka grabbed him, moving and spinning him easily. God, she missed this. "Let's beat them up." Soul said. Ox held his weapon and sprinted towards Maka, who protected herself putting her scythe in front of her. She started to fight Ox with all the strengh she could give, but in a minute, she felt weak. She felt her knees shaking and her breath harder to catch. Maka shook that away, as she tried once again to hit Ox. She had to win this. She needed to. Everybody already looked at her like a weak little girl who lost her mommy. No. Maka had to look strong to them. 'I'm not weak. I'm not.' she thought, over and over again. Ox hit her with the bottom of his weapon, making her stand back, almost falling. Her body's strenght dicreased as her anger increased. Soul and Stein realized this. Ox Ford didn't. "Maka, stop fighting." Soul said to her. Maka shook her head. "Shut up." She demanded, running towards her oponent, but just when she was about to touch him... she felt it. Her knees going numb. Her mind driving her out of that room, out of that world. Then a strong light, very strong. Then darkness, complete darkness. She felt herself falling, but she couldn't see anything, everything was black. Maka started to make out images in the blackness. Images of her mama, with her. Hugging her, playing with her, singing to her. She smiled weakly. Then, Maka saw her mama above her. Oh.. she was as beautiful as Maka remembered. Kami held her hand out to her, and looked at her daughter with eyes full of serenity. Maka thought that if she was there, everything was going to be okay. She tried to grab her hand, almost reaching it. Suddenly, her eyes opened as she sat up. Maka looked at her surroundings, she was at the school's nursery. "Shit." she cursed under her breath. It was very silent, and no one was here. Her eyes trailed over the room until they landed on a white-haired guy, sitting beside the bed, asleep. Maka slowly got out of the hospital bed she was lying on, and crouched in front of her sleeping partner. She studied his face minutely. He looked so peaceful. Then, the scythe started to move his lips and make little sound that didn't make sense. Maka couldn't help but giggle silently. What is he dreaming about? The meister shivered. 'Why is so cold in here?' she thought. She looked at the wide open window, then walked towards it and closed it, making a loud sound that woke Soul up. Maka turned around to be greeted by a pair of tired red eyes. "Hey" she said innocently. Soul shook his head and stood up, stretching. Maka sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. I just really wanted to beat Ox and I didn't care about anything else." she explained. Soul leaned against the bed, still not saying a single word. Not even looking at her. Maka felt her heart aching, he was really mad at her. "Soul." she called. "Please, talk to me. I made a mistake and I'm sorry. Please." she said, and Soul noticed the pain on her voice. He sighed, still ignoring her. Maka looked down, as they heard the door opening and Stein coming in the room. "Well, hello there." He said, sitting on his usual chair. Stein asked Maka to sit down, as he started to examinate her. Five minutes later, Stein sat down again. "It looks like you just need to rest a little. Keep coming to school, hang out with your friends, do the things you like to do. But stay away from fighting. I'll watch your progress in class and I'll talk to you when I think you're ready to fight. You're okay, you're just emotionally unestable." he explained. Maka smile sadly as Stein said they could go home. It was almost five! Maka couldn't believe she passed out that long. As they made their way on the hallways, Soul was ignoring her even more than before. She started to think how she was gonna get him to talk to her. Then her mind made up a little plan. As they walked down the stairs of the academy, she sighed deeply, making sure she had caught his attention. Then, she tripped on her feet purposedly. Maka was about to fall down the stairs, when her partner's strong arms caught her just in time, picking her up bridal style. Maka's arms welcomed his neck as she felt happy that her plan was working. She looked at him. "I knew you'd catch me." she said sassily. Soul sighed annoyingly and put her down. Of course I'd catch you, he thought. I will always catch you. Maka looked at him as sweetly as she could. Soul's gaze started to look less angry. "I'm not mad at you because you didn't listen to me." he spoke, making her smile. "I'm mad because you knew perfectly that something was wrong during the fight, but you still tried to force yourself. Do you know why you did that? I'll tell you why." he said. "Because you didn't want to look weak." Maka frowned. "I didn't-" "Oh, come on, Maka." he interrupted. "You've always looked like one of the strongest meisters of the academy, and today you had an emotional breakdown during a fight. You knew that, but you couldn't let anyone else know that. You've always looked strong, and you just couldn't let them think you were weak. Look how you ended up." he said. Maka looked down. Soul realized she was truly sad, as he cupped her face with one hand, making her look at him. "Do you know how worried I've been lately?" he asked, putting his hand down again. "You lost your mother, another man who says is your real father appears, and now this. I know it's a very hard time for you, though I can't help but feel worried." Soul decided to talk to her, heart to heart. Now that he had her full attention. "You cry... all the time, in your room. I hear you, and it hurts. It hurts me that you're feeling that way, but it hurts me more the fact that I feel completely useless. You're right there, and I can't do anything to make you feel better. Nothing at all." he said softly. Now it was Maka's turn to bring her two little hands up and cup his face, making his red eyes meet hers. Then, she looked at his eyes deeply. He really cared about her, it really hurt him what she was going through. Maka brought him closer to her, and connected their lips together. Soul was beyond surprised, it took him a little to kiss her back, but when he did, he hugged her waist, bringing her little body closer to his. This was the first time they kissed, but both of them had imagined how it would be before. Maka felt all the bad things she had inside going away. Pain, confusion, impotence, it all disappeared. She felt Soul smile through the kiss, and she felt relieved. Relieved that all this time, all she needed was her partner's strong arms and comforting eyes to make her realize that everything was going to be okay. And it was true: Soul was always there, even when she told him to leave her alone, he knew that she actually didn't want to be alone. He was the only one who could make her sadness transform into hapiness. That's when she realized; she had fallen in love with her scythe a long time ago, but didn't realize it until now, now that his lips were comfortingly pressed with hers, giving her infinite feelings, each more beautiful than the last. Soul, on the other hand, felt the coolest he had ever felt. Feeling her fingers shake lightly on his neck, he realized that ending this would be hard to do. Like a drug, he was now addicted to her wet lips. He knew if he pulled away that he would be sucked right back in. He felt something else, something in their inside. They were resonating, as if kissing was making the link between their souls stronger. Maka felt this as well, as she felt Soul's lips getting apart from hers. The weapon pressed his forehead against Maka's, as he looked at her. Their lips were a few millimeters from each other, yet it felt so far. Soul was still hugging her waist, as Maka's arms were still around his neck. It was a comfortable silence, not a single word was needed to say, they've already said it all.
"Let's go home." Soul was the first to talk, grabbing her hand and taking her down the stairs. That's when realization hit both of them. They just kissed. Was it going to affect their partnership? Was it going to make it stronger or... was it going to break it? Actually, it was a relieving thought that they had already kissed, but then again, it was terrifying thinking that everything may change forever. Those thoughts joined Soul's mind as he felt Maka's grip on the motorcycle stronger, and her head resting on his back. Soul knew he would always stay by her side, no matter what happened, and as long as she stayed with him, everything was going to be okay.