A Promise Is A Promise

Chapter 1

A/N: I am quite obviously procrastinating on "Acquired Taste". No need to accuse me of it.

It's cold. Her breath comes out in puffs of little, translucent clouds. Her shoulders quake in the freezing air yet the two pools of vivid red in front of her keep her chest warm.

"Promise me."

...

"... I promise."

"Soul you liar.."

"What'd I do now?"

Maka's eyes fly open. The field of ice is gone, replaced by a squashy couch and the sound of an overly-abused heater. Her body is frozen in tense surprise except for her eyes which swivel to where Soul sits in between the coffee table and her temporary napping zone, staring at her with a nonchalant yet not entirely aloof gaze.

"Bad dream," is all she says after momentary silence, rolling on to her side to not be intimidated by burgundy spheres that resemble the earth's core. She tries to tune out the sound of Soul setting the controller to his game down and the shift of his clothes so he can give her his full attention.

He's worried, she can tell from the undercurrent of his voice though he drawls in a bored tone, "Figures I'd be in your nightmares."

She snorts, rubbing a finger over her tear ducts, "Can't exactly picture you frolicking through a field of roses."

"That sounds like a nightmare to me."

She groans and nuzzles her temple in the curve of her elbow, "Just shut up..tired.."

Soul doesn't respond and she thinks he's given up prodding her for information until she feels his hands dig under her torso. Her eyes fly open and she squawks while her arms automatically grab around his neck.

"That was an interesting sound," he comments with thinly veiled amusement and proceeds to carry her to her room.

"You'll forget you heard that." she hisses and blames the flush of her cheeks on her embarrassment. She also blames her heart racing on him practically ambushing her when she was on the verge of sleep.

She is too tired to properly smack him so when he places her none too gently on her fluffy yellow bed she only grumbles and worms her legs under the covers.

"It's not even dinner time. What are you, 84?"

"If I'm 84 you're 170." Maka's voice is muffled by her pillow littered with duck imprints but he hears her anyways and smirks.

"Only 170?"

"Fine, you're dead. Now shut up."

She doesn't realize she's holding her breath until the rectangle of light disappears, and breathes out in relief. A hand finds its way to her chest and curls in to a fist as her heart pounds out in ragged thumps.

She squeezes her eyes shut in a pitiful attempt to rid herself of the images of Soul but they've already spread through her mind like a virus, and her body was only encouraging the infestation.

'What the hell is wrong with me?' she thinks with a frustrated groan and attempts to drown out her brain's hyperactive state with music. She blindly grabs for her CD player on the nightstand before jamming the earphones in to their respective places.

Quiet, violins sound dimly before followed by an orchestra.

It's no good, she can barely hear it past the mental notes of a piano jazzing out in an eerie tune, and chucks the CD across the room before rummaging around for a different one. This time, after inserting the disc, she turns the dial to max volume.

'Come on...' it's hard to tell if she's mumbled this or not.

Spastic drumming and deep bass blow full force in her ear drums and she concentrates hard on the beat of the melody. There is a harsh undercurrent that fuzzes her mind and she sighs in relief even though her ears are aching.

Finally...

"Morning," a gruff voice mumbles out along with the scraping of a chair.

Maka turns her head briefly in acknowledgement before returning back to the sizzling pan where two eggs roasted. She can hear Soul yawn, scratch something, and adjust his clothes.

"What classes do we have today?" his sleep subdued voice drawls and Maka already knows he's laid his head down on the table before she turns around.

"History of Souls, separate training classes, and Meditation." she answers promptly while sliding an egg with some toast on to his plate. He digs in while pondering something.

"We going to take any missions soon?"

Maka frowns, and accidentally shuts the fridge door too hard. She cringes at the sound of muffled objects falling off their shelves. "Don't think so."

"We haven't resonated lately either," Soul seemed to hum this more to himself. Maka warily watches as he stares vacantly at the ceiling for a moment, before he starts wolfing down his breakfast.

Maka follows suit at a more safe pace while mentally paging through the collection of books in her bag. She's unconsciously waiting for some sort of choking noise from her partner (as he was eating too fast) and jumped when the loud sound of the chair broke through her thought process.

"Mind if I head to school early?"

"..." She waits to see if he's kidding. Or she's dreaming, "..Why?"

He gives her a frosty stare in response to her disbelieving face, "I'm meeting up with Black Star."

She isn't fazed by his glare, although she's seen many fall prey to the evil eye, "If you're planning some sort of prank-"

He scoffs, yanking his bag off the counter and trudging to the door, "You have so much faith in me."

Slam.

Maka takes time to assess the closed door, wondering if he really was going to pull jokes. But no... he hadn't done anything remotely childish since...

Well, yesterday.

She hurries off after him.

+New story because I can't stick to one story to save my life.

+Once again, asking ideas for this.

+General plot line so far: Maka likes Soul, but she doesn't want to admit it. For what reason? Only God knows.