Soul leaned back in his chair at the kitchen table. Far enough back to see a curled up Maka on the couch, but far enough forward to stay in balance. Soul sighed. Maka was sobbing quietly, shaking with each cry. And as much as Soul wanted to comfort her, he knew it would be a waste of his time and of no help to her. That, and he was unsure of exactly what she was so shaken up about. When he attempted to ask an hour ago, she threw a book at his face and told him to go to hell.

Sitting at the table wasn't really helping too much, either. But Soul couldn't help but feel like a jerk if he left her alone like this. So, even though Maka was being the jerk and not speaking her mind, Soul, who had done nothing he was aware of, was STILL the jerk. This pissed him off to no end.

"This is freakin' stupid! Not cool at all, Maka! I don't see how even though I didn't do anything, I'm still pinned as the jerk!" Soul blurted, mostly out of frustration, but he soon regretted his words as the room went silent with the disappearance of Maka's sobs.

"I hate you! I hate dad! I hate men! Just go die in a hole so I can live peacefully for once! DIE IN A HOLE!" Maka retaliated, her voice strained from hours of crying.

"...Maka, I understand that your dad isn't the greatest guy, but-"Soul started but was cut off by Maka, "NOT THE GREATEST GUY? HE'S THE EVIL DEMON SPAWN FROM HELL! IT"S BEEN PROVEN! YOU'VE SEEN HIS HAIR!"

"-BUT," Soul continued, "I have to protest with you using your dad as a stereotype for all men. I'm nothing like your father, I don't see why I have to die with him." Soul tried to use a loose tone, so as to not upset Maka any further.

"BECAUSE," Maka started, "You're dense and distant and cold and a jerk and I hate you!...and you wonder why resonance is SO hard..." Maka mumbled the last part.

Now Soul was angry. He got up from leaning in his chair to be more direct with Maka, "WHAT? Are you seriously blaming that on ME? It's because YOU don't TRUST me that we can't resonate! If you would just stop imprinting your father on me, maybe we wouldn't be have a problem!" This outburst Soul also regretted, for he knew that he had just fed the beast it's aggressor.

"YOU KNOW WHAT? I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, BECAUSE ALL MEN ARE JUST LYING, CHEATING-!" Maka began to retaliate, but suddenly stopped with a thud on the floor.

Soul was shocked. His partner had just fainted mid sentence. What just happened? Did she die or something? He ran to her side and gingerly turned her on her back. Watching her stomach, he could tell she was still breathing, which means she must have fainted. Putting his forehead to hers it was realized that she had quite the fever.

"Maka...seriously….only you can still hold that strong a defense while sick…" Soul muttered as he moved Maka back on the couch that she had fallen off of.

Soul plopped himself down on the coffee table, the only place he could find to sit to be able to keep an eye on Maka without disturbing her. It seemed to Soul like she was asleep, dreaming away with that typical little scowl on her face. This was something Soul had noticed early in their partnership, and it didn't matter what Maka would dream about, she always had that same look on her face. By now it was more like one of her endearing factors than anything else, and Soul enjoyed looking at it. There was one difference this time though, and it was something Soul had learned to watch for when decerning what type of dream she was having. Her eyebrows. They were crunched together, Soul could tell them from anywhere. She was in pain. Not physical pain, but that kind of internal pain that was always unbearable for Soul to watch her go through.

There was a faint knock on the door, "Uh….Maka? You there? Look, I know you're mad at me, but can we just talk about this?"

The voice was Blaire, she seemed timid and insecure, which was definitely not the norm. Soul answered the door at this point, "Blaire? What's all this about? Why would Maka be mad at you? What's wrong with her? Ugh…" Soul was very confused now, "I'm gone for three days and everything falls apart…" He muttered.

Blaire basically ignored all of Soul's questions, "Is Maka here? I need to talk to her…" She tried to get through the doorway to look through the house, but Soul stopped her forcefully, now grateful how was finally taller than her.

He glared angrily down at her and grit his teeth as he asked again, "Blaire, what did you do?"

Blaire seemed uncomfortable as she she wriggled about and hesitated to answer, "...It's not my fault!"

Soul's eyebrows wrinkled together in frustration and confusion, he was tired of not getting anything out of these girls, "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Maka groaned from the couch, placing a palm to her forehead in discomfort.

Soul walked himself and Blaire out of the apartment and into the hall, an attempt to not disturb Maka any further.

"Explain. NOW." Soul demanded as the door shut behind him.

"Let me talk to Maka first, then I'll tell you. Better yet, ask her." Blaire was starting to get back into her mischievous mode, and Soul didn't have the patience for it.

"Look. I get home, Maka's bawling on the couch, throwing books at me and refusing to tell me what's the matter, then she faints while yelling at me! Now you show up all apologetic, completely ignoring everything I ask! If someone doesn't tell me what's going on soon, there's some black blood in me that is sure to get the answer out of someone!" As much as Soul liked to keep it cool, this was getting nowhere and he was cracking.

"What's she doing here?" Maka glared coldly at Blaire. Soul barely noticed she had even opened the door, let alone was out in the hallway.

"Maka! Please talk to me! It was all just a huge misunderstanding! Please, we didn't mean to…" Blaire began to plead, but Maka wouldn't hear of it, "Shut the hell up, Blaire. I don't need excuses. Just leave, I don't want to see your face."

"But Maka...I live here…." Blaire seemed to lose her usual demeanor again.

"We let you stay here! And as of now, you are no longer welcome. Go away." With that, Maka went back in the apartment, no bothering to even think about Blaire's reaction.

Soul couldn't believe it. He stood in the hall, still with shock, just as Blaire was. He couldn't figure out what could have possibly happened between the two of them that she would kick Blaire out. She was usually quite the forgiving person, it just seemed out of character for her. There were many other musings, but they were interrupted by Blaire's sobs. She was on the floor with her knees tucked up near her chest, and her hands covered her face in an attempt to quiet her cries, "I'm sorry...Oh, Maka, I'm so sorry…" She wailed.

Great, Soul thought. First Maka, now Blaire...will anyone not be crying their eyes out today?