Maka

I had never really thought myself a sexual creature until I saw him in nothing but a towel, body glistening from head to toe. Sure, I'm his meister and he is my weapon—and we live together, but it's Soul. We've been partners for years. I had seen him in a towel many different times; I've seen him with his hair soaked. We go to beaches and pools, for crying out loud! But this time, this instant, things were different.

His hair was just damp, his torso partially toweled. I could see faint definitions of his abs where the kitchen fluorescents created dim shadows on his body. I watched him pad from the hallway to the kitchen whistling some tune that I couldn't place. Probably a piece he was working on. "Oi, Maka. When are you going shopping? We're outta milk." He called as he stuck his head deep into the fridge, looking for something edible.

Slight irritation marked my face as my brow furrowed. "It's your turn to cook, how about you go get the groceries?" I retorted as I closed my book and got up from our couch. I headed over to peek in the fridge with him, pulled out some leftovers from last night's dinner and popped it in the microwave.

"Well I'm not dressed," Soul shot back at me as he closed the fridge. His hair fell into his red eyes as he straightened out and popped his neck.

"I can wait for you. It's your turn to cook, so you're doing the shopping."

We walked around the shop looking for ingredients for the easiest dinner he could think of: spaghetti. "You get the tomato paste and pasta. I'll get the tomatoes and bread," he ordered, peering at his list as he walked over to the produce section. Once we had everything we checked out and stuffed the groceries that didn't fit in the compartment of the motorcycle into a knapsack I carried on my back as he drove us home.

My senses grew more aware of the close proximity of our bodies. I could feel my thighs against his body, the veil of heat conjured between us. I breathed in heavily as I pressed my cheek into the buttery leather of his jacket. I felt him turn to look at what I was doing. I smiled to myself, wondering if he could feel the electric pulse that I felt from the contact. I didn't want to speculate on it much, however. I just wanted to think of him in the towel again.

The flights of stairs were daunting as we carried everything up. The air conditioner in the hallway corridors was broken again and maintenance still hadn't fixed it. I paused a few steps before the landing on the last flight. "Soul… Go on without me," I panted as I set my bag down hoping he would pick up the rest of the groceries.

"Kay. Don't let the milk curdle," he said as he pulled the apartment door keys from his pocket. I felt my eye twitch as I caught my breath. If I weren't so weak from the heat I would have Maka chopped him, even from this distance.

After a few more minutes I got up and carried the milk and other perishables over to our apartment, keeping the spaghetti ingredients out for Soul to work with. By the time I got in Soul was already working on the sauce. He grabbed the tomatoes out of my hand and started chopping. "I need you to put the pasta and spread this on the bread." He handed me a pan with bits of garlic, melted butter, and green stuff in it and a brush. He picked up the sharp blade and continued chopping ingredients. His eyes were focused and his head bobbed to the classical music playing in the background. Every so often he would stop working on the sauce to play a few measures of music on the cutting board. He lightly moved his fingers to different keys. He lifted his head; eyes closed and kept going. I watched the muscles in his arms flex as he picked the cutting board up and moved to add the ingredients to the pot of crushed tomato and tomato paste in the pot on the stove.

Soul walked over to me and grabbed the bread and brush from my hands. "Oi, what are you thinking?" he lightly thudded me on the head with the brush. I looked down to see my hand covered with butter and garlic.

The heat rose to my cheeks and I started to wonder if Soul knew the only thought in her mind was of him buttering her bread. "Sorry Soul. I guess my mind's somewhere else today…"

"I'll say. You've been acting strange ever since I got out of the shower." I blushed even harder at that statement, but he couldn't tell. Or at lest that is what I hoped when I noticed he was placing the bread into the oven. I sighed and pictured him walking back towards me, taking my chin in his hands and leaning in to kiss me. "Maka are you listening at all?"

I jumped at the sound of his voice, smacking my forehead against his. When did he get so close to me? And why hadn't I noticed? "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" I said as I placed my palms against my forehead. "Are you okay, Soul?" He nodded and turned away from me. I felt like such an idiot and wished those fluttering feelings would disappear. I decided my attentions would be of better use for extra reading. I picked up a book Papa had brought me about a lovelorn maiden who falls for her unknowing best friend and sidekick. Obviously even my books were out to sabotage my thinking.

"Dinner's done. Come and get it," Soul called from the kitchen. I was thankful I had reason to put the book down. When I sat down I heaped half the pot onto my plate and took two pieces of bread. I watched as Soul brought the fork to his mouth. His lips looked red and torn. He must have been biting them again, I mused. I wondered how his teeth would feel piercing my lip, his tongue darting around in my mouth. I'd never been kissed aside from when I was little and I kissed a neighborhood boy on the cheek. Papa had run out from our house and told me that my innocence was a treasure, something I couldn't give away at such a young age and to such a terrible hoodlum as Maurice Clovis. I rolled my eyes as he picked me up and carried me inside.

"Oi, Maka. Seriously. Why are you spacing out? It's so un-cool."

I looked down at my plate. A huge batch of noodles had been circling my fork, the ends cascading over my hands, which were covered in red sauce. "Sorry," I said as Soul wiped my hand with a wet towel. His proximity was so apparent to me and I could feel the heat crawling up to my face. His strong hands were delicate on mine. The action that I knew was only taking mere seconds felt like eternity. And as soon as I had noticed that I started leaning closer to him I jerked my arm away, trying to make sure I wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"Maka, what the hell? I'm trying to help you out here and you just keep freaking out on me. Really, what gives?"

"Nothing," I replied. "I think I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed," I added as I scratched the back of my head and plastered a cheesy grin on my face. "Maybe I just should relax with a good book or maybe some TV? After dinner?"

Soul nodded and dipped the garlic bread into the remainder of sauce on his plate. "I have a movie we can watch," He said smiled holding back any information about it.

After closing the blindes and turning off the lights, Soul placed the movie into the player and took his usual seat next to me. I tried to keep my mind off the way he always kept his legs spread apart, propping his right foot on the coffee table. It just barely grazed the skin of my leg, shooting electricity from my leg to my stomach. He grabbed the remote from my hand and changed the television input.

He tried to skip through the previews, but the screen would light up a blue box that said "function not available". He growled a little and I nonchalantly smacked him in the chest. I felt his had come across my neck and he tugged the pigtail furthest from him. To his surprise I gave him a small Maka-chop.

"Maybe you really did just need to relax," he quipped as he touched the tender spot on his head. He left his arm on the back of the couch making it hover just inches beyond my shoulders. I smiled and lead my head in closer to his chest and crossed my legs as I stretched them so the heel of my foot rested on the table about a foot away from his. This time I couldn't keep focus on the movie.

I was fixated on the way his chest rose and fell as he'd breathe; the way his body jerked when he tried to wake his legs that were falling asleep. I pressed my ear closer to his chest, snuggling into his warmth. To my surprise I heard his pulse quicken. I looked to the movie, wondering what I had missed that caused his reaction. The screen was dark save for a bluish tint hitting the wall, illuminating the heroine's hair slightly.

I pressed closer, thinking at maybe I was wrong about his heartbeat. That time it seemed normal. I sighed. I must be losing it, I told myself. I lifted my head a little and peered at Soul whose gaze was intently staring at the movie. I shifted more, sliding my closer to my body and curling up closer to him. All of a sudden the heroine was grabbed from behind and dragged into the cellar with the masked killer. He stabbed her once, twice and I cringed into the crook of Soul's neck. His pulse was so audible it was like the base line of a song. The opening credits started to continue and I let go of him.

"Nice opening, don't you think?"

"Wonderful…"

His red eyes glinted with amusement as I grabbed a pillow and placed it between us. His arm fell from the back of the couch to my shoulder , keeping me close to his body. Instead of resisting as I normally would, this time I placed my head back onto his chest and closed my eyes.

Soul

It was weird that she placed her head on my chest right after I made fun of her. Normally I'd be Maka-chopped for that kind of behavior. But it felt nice to just have her submit me. She hardly ever does that. Then again, she'd been acting funny all afternoon. Her mood still wasn't completely back to normal I was pretty cute when she was like that, her eyes closed and her body relaxed.

Normally she was so intense you could barely remember she was a girl. Lately she had been changing though. I wasn't the only one to notice it. Tsubaki had pointed out that Maka was beginning to gain more feminine qualities. Not just in looks, but in personality as well. Maybe spending time with Liz and Patty wasn't so bad for her after all. She was less prone to dealing out Maka-chop's lately, a much appreciated difference.

We watched the movie together in silence. She kept squirming closer and closer to men when the hacking started. It was nice and kind of like a physical soul resonance. Her body finally forming so close it was basically like another layer of clothing; my ease calming her nerves. She kept closing her eyes and I figured she was listening to my pulse. She'd been starting to do girly things like that whenever we'd watch movies together. It was kind of cool, but I wouldn't dare tell her that. I kept those kinds of things to myself.

I continued watching the slasher flick and she started to dose off. When she was finally asleep I pulled her hair free from one of the bands and ran my fingers through it. Her hair was so soft and long. I wondered if she ever questioned why half her hair was always down after our movies, but she never once asked me. She probably figured it was a comfort thing or something I did to keep my arm from falling asleep. She'd never figure it was just my play at being able to touch her.

When the movie was over I tried waking her up, but she wouldn't move. Instead of shaking her awake I took this opportunity. I traced the outline of her ear with the tips of my finger and watched as she moved into my touch. She clutched my shirt and let out a little gasp. Dammit, she's so cute.

She rolled over so that her back rested against my legs and I pulled the other half of her hair out of the other hairpiece. My fingers raked through the golden wheat of her hair and I stopped. What would I say if she wakes up? My mind went through every scene I could think of. Each scenario ended with a Maka-chop that'd put me out of commission for a good month at least. I hesitated when her voice uttered my name. I had heard her talk in her sleep before, but normally she would be saying things to Tsubaki , Kid, or Chrona.

Her voice made little whining sounds as after my name and I tired to get close and closer to her mouth, trying to figure out what she was dreaming about. I placed my hand on her stomach so I could lean in closer.

"Soul…." She quietly moaned again. Her body faintly arched into my hand. I didn't know what to do. I was staring at her. I wanted so badly to touch her to feel what more of her would be like; to hear her say my name louder. I thought about it for a minute. It would be totally un-cool of me to try to do anything to her. She was my meister. I couldn't do anything that could potentially harm her in any way.

At that I did the gentlemanly thing and carried her to her room.