Author's Note: Hello this is my first actual fanfiction story even though I have been reading fanfiction for many years now. This is my first actual try at making a story so I look forward to hearing what people think of this idea I had in mind for so long. This story takes place about a year or so after the events of the manga so hopefully none of the characters are too OOC.

Italics=thoughts

Masquerade: A Soul Eater Fanfiction

Chapter 1: Music is my Weakness

"Why did I bother to stay here again?" Maka thought to herself as she listened to the ongoing conversation happening between Soul and Liz over the one subject she could never master: music.

The day had started out normally enough with Soul and Maka out running simple errands (with Soul having to be dragged out by Maka) when they had ran into the twin pistol and somehow one way or another, the subject of jazz music and the newest bands had been brought up.

Maka couldn't help but sigh faintly her breathe as she watched Soul and Liz fervently discuss musicians and different genres. "I swear it's like their speaking another language sometimes." she thought trying to mask her frustration as best she could.

Not that Maka would ever admit it out loud, but she longed to be able to somehow find the same appreciation and understanding of music that Liz and even many of Soul's fan-girls could easily gain with Soul that she could not. 'There's no reason for me to be jealous though, but I really thought I had gotten past all this after dealing with the book of Eibon, but I guess I'm just fooling myself. Maka was so wrapped up in her thoughts she didn't even notice the sudden question Liz had sent her way.

"Hey Maka, are you even listening?" Liz asked looking at Maka with slight concern.

"Huh?" "Oh yeah sorry I just have a lot on my mind right now." Maka answered, trying not to let both Soul's and Liz's staring bother her as she looked down at her drink uncomfortably.

Soul snickered at Maka's spaced out expression, showing off his sharp toothed grin before tauntingly adding in "Of course she wasn't paying attention Liz you know Maka knows next to nothing about music!"

Maka immediately lifted her head to throw a glare at Soul, the nagging desire to hit him returning, even if what he said was true.

"Okay that's it I need to find some way to get away from this situation." Maka thought angrily to herself, trying to calm herself down. Right now Maka's main priorities were escaping from this conversation and from the bitterness at being reminded of her shortcomings. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head for the perfect excuse she could use to get away.

"Ah sorry Liz, I just remembered I still need to do the grocery shopping since it is my turn to cook tonight."

Liz frowned, she and Soul must have spent so much time talking about music that they must have inadvertently made Maka feel like the third wheel in their conversation this whole time.

"Well okay, I guess I'll see you at school then." Liz stated with a slight shrug of her shoulders, knowing that any tries to get Maka to stay would probably end up futile.

Soul on the other hand didn't seem so quick at letting her go.

"Come on Maka, you don't need to get the groceries yet. You know I was only joking." Soul scoffed. 'Maybe I took my joking too far this time though.' He thought, cringing inwardly.

"No, No it's getting late and the store's going to close soon. I'll just get the last items on the list and meet you back at home." Maka explained in a rush and before Soul could make a retort back, Maka headed off in the opposite direction away from the two of them.

~X~

'It's not like I was having any impact on their conversation anyways. Why would he want me to stay there?' Maka mused with a huff, double checking to make sure she had all the items she needed before heading for home.

The sun was already beginning to set, fading gleams of orange passing against the nearby buildings as Maka began to clutch the paper bags to her chest.

"Well today could have gone a whole lot better." Maka grumbled to herself.

The last thing Maka wanted to do now was head straight back to the apartment and have to deal with Soul probably telling her how "uncool" she acted today, but the way things were looking now that seemed inevitable.

As Maka walked along the usual path that she took home a sudden sparkle caught her eye. Turning towards the shimmer, she noticed in bright red sign with glittering letters that read: GRAND OPENING!

'Hmm a new store opened up here. I wonder what they sell; maybe it's a new bookstore!' Maka pondered to herself, feeling a bit happier at the thought of a new place to buy books. Taking a quick glance at her watch it read around 7:30 pm.

"I should have enough time to just do a quick glance around and then just head home and make dinner." Maka concluded quietly, making up her mind as she walked across the street to the store.

A few minutes later Maka realized that maybe it would have been for the better if she hadn't looked after all. She was completely surrounding by instruments off all types. Glancing back at the front of store, Maka scowled at the name of the store she had completely overlooked in the midst of her thoughts: MUSIC MANIA for all the finest instruments and CD's!

'Of course I would end up walking into a music store after everything that's happened today.'

"I didn't know you could play an instrument." A sudden voice stated, startling Maka from her thoughts.

Maka turned towards the person addressing her, eyes lighting up in surprise to see the owner of the voice was Hiro of all people.

"Oh hi Hiro, what brings you here? And no I don't play an instrument." Maka answered awkwardly, feeling slightly uncomfortable. She rarely spoke to Hiro outside of school and even then, it was barely but one or two sentences and now she was talking to him in a music store of all places.

Hiro didn't seem to take notice of Maka's troubled demeanor and continued prattling on.

"I was just looking for another instrument I could play." Hiro replied back, gazing around the lines of instruments placed neatly around them.

Maka frowned. "Great, even Hiro of all people seems to understand music way better than I do." Maka thought grouchily, but this time though Hiro seemed to pick up on Maka's emotions and commented on them.

"Were you looking to try and learn how to play an instrument?" Hiro asked kindly, slightly surprising Maka.

"Well actually, I'm not really good at music. I don't really even understand it to be honest." Maka admitted feeling, embarrassed over her predicament.

"I can help you tutor you in music if you want me to." Hiro mused cheekily, gaining a Cheshire-like grin that made Maka narrow her eyes.

"Oh really, what's the catch that you of all people would want to help me?" Maka retorted with a roll of her eyes. "He probably wants me to help him do something perverted knowing Hiro; I wouldn't put it past him." Maka mused still suspicious.

Hiro remained determined though and continued on with his proposition.

"Well since you think there's a catch, how about I help you learn how to play an instrument and understand music and you help me stop being the DWMA's punching bag."

Maka just stared at him blankly, where exactly was he going with this?

"How on earth do you expect me to help you stop being a punching bag? The only way for that to work is for you work-out and stick up for yourself and I can't help you with that." Maka explained tiredly, realizing that she was wasting her time now. Glancing back at her watch, it now read 8:05 pm. "Great Soul's going to be pissed now and wondering where the hell I was this whole time." Maka inwardly groaned and clutched her groceries back to her chest.

"Sorry Hiro, but I really need to get going now. I'm sorry I can't be of help to you on that issue." Maka stated, already turning to leave out of the store.

"Are you sure you really want to give up on an opportunity to understand music?" Hiro slyly uttered a smirk coming onto his face.

Maka sighed, stopping in her tracks and turned back to face Hiro. Did she really want to possibly lose out on an opportunity to understand music? 'Even if the person helping me is Hiro…' She trailed off internally.

"Think about it, I mean you would finally be able to appreciate music the same way the rest of Spartoi does and they would all stop making fun of you or teasing you about it. Plus, you could even do a duet with Soul once you finally became good at it!" Hiro urged, grinning even more when he noticed Maka blush at his Soul comment.

"I hate to admit it, but Hiro does make a good point. I would finally be able to know what Soul and Liz are talking about when they discuss musicians and whatnot and then even being able to play and instrument alongside Soul …" Maka contemplated quietly.

"But it's not like I can really help you with your punching bag problem. It doesn't seem like a fair trade off in my opinion." Maka said, after mulling over everything after a while.

"Don't you have any ideas you can pass along? Surely you must know someone or something that at least can get people to respect me the same way they did when I had Excalibur with me." Hiro asked.

"Hmm, well actually I do have these old workout videos that Black Star gave me for my birthday last year which he thought would supposedly make me closer to 'reaching his God-like perfections.' Maka stated. "I think it would take more than just that alone to help you though." Maka added on.

Hiro beamed. "Well, I guess that's something we can both help each other out with: our weaknesses. So what do you say, do we have a deal?" Hiro asked holding his hand out.

Maka stared at his hand for a second and contemplated for a second what she was getting herself into. This could either lead her to have more stress in her life or bring about a change she never thought could happen. Deciding for the moment that there were more positives than negatives, Maka came to a conclusion and smiled.

"Okay Hiro, you got a deal."

A/N: Alright I feel like that's a good place to leave Chapter 1 at. I've had so many ideas for stories for Fanfiction but this is the first one that I really wanted to post and get feedback from. It's thanks to my brother that I finally actually got the courage to actually post this story. This story will be Soul X Maka please don't think it's anything else even with all the side characters that will be coming in. Make sure to Read & Review and leave suggestions on how you think I can improve the story!