So not exactly revolving around the reunion but it has one in it! Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater. This may be slightly OOC but I hope that you still enjoy.

Eye of the Storm

The problem with keeping one's brain active, was that it was hard to slow back down afterwards.

When Maka got in her study mood, it was incredibly hard for her to take a break. She knew that if she actually did manage to get her brain to stop working for even just a couple minutes, her studying would become so much easier. But when your brain feels like it's going to implode the minute you stop reading, it's a lot easier said than done to take a break. Maka understood this concept more than anyone.

If one was to look at Maka's routine from the outside, they would simply call her crazy. There wasn't ever a moment in her day that she wasn't doing anything. She cooked, cleaned, attended class, studied, trained, and read in every moment of every day. She was a machine. But it was only because the moment that she stopped, she was itching to do something again. She never just sat in silence thinking, unless it was reviewing what she had just learned that past week in class.

She didn't even waste time when it came to sleep. She studied almost every night until she passed out, and then the moment she awoke in the morning she was up and moving, even if it was before her alarm went off. Her body and mind was wired to do something at every moment in every day. She always carried a book with her, just in case she had a moment to herself.

Simply put, Maka was never bored, but neither was she ever relaxed.

Then he had come along. Soul Eater Evans, her partner, her roommate, her best friend.

While Maka was constantly moving, he seemed to never move at all. Their apartment was like a tornado with her whirling around doing as much as possible, while he merely sat on the couch the eye of the storm, calm and tranquil.

Maka hardly ever saw him do something of his own free will. Contrary to popular belief, he was actually quite smart when she bugged him enough to study. He was clean too, probably more so than Maka, although she was always rushing around picking up after the two of them, but the few times she had peeked in his room she had found it immaculate.

He had once asked her right after they had first paired up and moved in together, if she ever stopped. She hadn't understood the question at the time. Stopping was what happened when you died. Maka didn't have time for that. It wasn't until much later that she would understand, and even wish that she could stop. But she didn't know how.

She would never admit it out loud, but she was a tad jealous of the way he could just sit and do nothing, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. She didn't even know what her own thoughts were anymore. Having read so much, she always felt like she was just regurgitating what someone else had written before her.

However, there was one thing that Soul did. He made her slow down.

Part of it was simply the nature of their relationship. She was constantly nagging him to do things, and therefore she had to stop what she was doing to try and make him do something.

But the other part was Soul entirely. It had started out with that stupid game, basketball. She had never actually learned the game just because she was always doing something else. She didn't have time to learn some silly game, much less actually just sit and watch it on the TV. She didn't even own a TV until he came around. She didn't see the point in it, it wasn't like she was ever going to use it.

No, but he made her play the game. He made her stop all her reading, studying and rushing, and just play a game. Sure, she hated it, who wouldn't when they didn't even know the rules. But the way he had smiled at her confused expression, it made her feel warm.

Then there was socializing. While Soul seemed to hate parties, she suspected something to do with his past, he did like making friends. Before, everyone Maka had talked to was purely because she wanted to be on good terms with them in case they ever had to synchronize their souls, even if it was other already paired up partners. You never knew what could happen in a battle.

With Soul though, she was forced to make friends just because it was fun. Maka understood having fun, but before it was simply reading a good book curled up in a big chair at home. Now she had girl friends who forced her to do things like shopping and talk girl talk simply because that's what girls did. She tried to convince herself that she hated it, but honestly, it was nice to slow down a bit and just talk to some girls. She remembered the first time that Soul had practically pushed her out the door to go hang out with Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty, so that him Black Star and Kidd could have an all-day videogame marathon in their living room. At the time she hated him for it. Now, she saw that he wasn't just trying to get rid of her, he had been trying to help her.

Then had come the aftermath of missions. The first time they had come home from their first successful mission Maka had immediately headed to the bathroom to shower. Maka didn't ever take long in the shower. She didn't see the point of it. Showers were made to clean you off, and once she had done that she was right back out and doing something else. Except that Soul wouldn't let her out. Perhaps he had thought it just a joke. Maybe he didn't believe that she could shower so fast. Then again, maybe her partner just knew that she needed to slow down and stop moving for a while and unwind.

She had yelled and cursed at him through the door, but Soul didn't let her out for another hour.

He continued to do this after every mission.

Soon enough, Maka found herself taking longer showers or even having a soak in the tub as she waited out Soul moving the chair from outside the bathroom door so that she could get back out and give him a good Maka-chop.

It wasn't until they had been partners for about six months that Maka realized that Soul had stopped putting a chair in front of the door to the bathroom, and yet here she still was taking long showers just enjoying the water against her skin. The next mission she tried to take a short shower seeing it as a waste of time to do anything more, but for the whole afternoon afterwards she felt itchy and dirty. After that, she started taking long showers in general. Soul didn't say a word, but he smirked at her a few times and she was sure that he could read her thoughts.

There were little things like that all over the place. He tried to make her play videogames with him, or watch movies with him sometimes at night. Sometimes he just made her talk to him and put up the books. Then he had made her just listen to the rain one particularly gloomy night. They had just sat in silence next to one another and listened to nature's music.

The first time that Maka realized that she had been carrying around the same book for the past month, still not done with it, she had felt embarrassed. But then she realized that she also felt happy. She had more than just her books and studying now. She had friends, and more importantly, she had Soul.

However, time moves on and so do people. When Black Star finally made Tsubaki a death scythe they were stationed in Japan, and Maka didn't see them except for once or twice a year. Kidd eventually took over his father's position, but Liz and Patty were no longer in Death City very often. Maka saw them more often than Tsubaki and Black Star, but most of the time the twins were fighting alongside one another all over the continental United States. She watched as many of her other classmates graduated and moved on to different areas all over the world. But no matter what, Soul was always at her side. He actually became Kidd's most trusted Death Scythe and as such, he was stationed in Death City. Maka had then taken on a job as an instruction at DWMA academy, and she was well known among the student population not only for her accomplishments but her skills at an instructor as well.

Maka and Soul still lived together, and she couldn't have been more thankful for that. He kept her balanced, and she continued to kick his butt until he actually worked a bit. Often he tagged along to her classes. That was the first time that she had received any hints that he might have some sort of feelings for her beyond that of her partner, roommate, and best friend.

He touched her often in class, which always drove the boys to groaning as their female classmates would squeal. Maka would glare at Soul, but had to admit to herself that she was squealing right alongside the girls in her classes. She didn't know how many times they asked her if Soul and her were together, but she always told them the same thing, they were friends and partners, nothing more.

She didn't tell them the way Soul balanced her out. She made him work harder, and in turn he made her relax. No, those were the type of lessons her students needed to learn on their own time with their own partners.

"I got a mission from Kidd," Soul said one night, interrupting her reading. She didn't mind though, she always enjoyed their talks. It made her feel closer to him, and there was nothing more that she wanted, even if she never would have admitted it aloud.

"What kind of mission? You haven't been assigned one for a long time," she commented smiling.

"I'm going to Spain tomorrow," Soul said running his hand through his hair, and Maka realized that he was annoyed with the situation. "Apparently there's some Witch there wreaking havoc, and he needs me to take care of it."

"Well that doesn't sound too bad, right?" Maka asked, unsure why Soul was upset.

"I'll be gone for at least a week," He said rubbing his face with his hands.

Maka bit her lip. Honestly, she didn't like it. But what say did she have against Kidd. Sure, from the moment she met Soul they had pretty much never been apart. Of course they had both slept over at other people's homes and things like that, he had even taken missions before for Kidd and his father, but at most they were only a couple of days. She remembered once Soul being gone for three straight days in a row and the whole time feeling restless. She hardly had slept on the second night. A whole week though…

"I don't want to go Maka," Soul admitted aloud face still in his hands.

She wondered if he had the same worries that she did about being apart for so long, "Well, you have to go so there's no use complaining about it."

"Yeah," Soul admitted slowly, "Just wanted you to know though."

She smiled at that, reached out, and grabbed his hand giving it a small squeeze. "I know, and I don't like it either," she admitted back. That was the closest they ever got to 'I love you.'

The next day, Soul packed his bags and was gone before noon. At first, it wasn't too bad for Maka. She had her classes to busy herself with, and she had just bought a new book a week ago, so she even had something to keep her busy when she came home that night. The worst part was night time. Even though her and Soul still slept in separate bedrooms, it always comforted her be able to feel his soul as she slept. Now, there was only emptiness.

Blair had moved out ages ago, and Maka couldn't even remember the last time she had seen the cat lady. She was pretty sure that the woman was even married now. But without her or Soul there, there was only silence, and it was deafening.

Maka woke up the next morning after a long nights sleep of tossing and turning. She immediately got to work not wasting a minute. She didn't have to stop and bug Soul about getting up, and therefore, she found herself at her desk at school ready early for a change. It was strange, sitting there unable to think of anything to do. So she wrote a to do list. After all, there were only so many hours in a day to get things done, might as well use as much of them as possible.

It was until that night that she even realize how much she had reverted back into her old ways. She didn't know how to slow down… not without Soul guiding her.

It made her feel weak. It made her feel like a child. She understood that it was alright to lean on someone from time to time, but this was getting out of hand. She had to learn how to slow down on her own.

The next day, she made a conscious effort to do so, and for the most part she achieved it through actions such as just soaking in the bathtub. Still, she felt unsteady, and sleep that night was even worse than the first.

It wasn't really until the fifth day that she actually felt like she was learning how to slow down on her own, even if she still wasn't doing well. Liz and Patty had shown up in Death City, and she had immediately insisted on them going out together that night. While the sisters had been slightly surprised at Maka's insistence, they were up to the idea and they all agreed where to meet and when.

That night Maka thoroughly enjoyed herself. The three of them were constantly chatting, joking, and dancing at the club they were at, and Maka found herself completely distracted by Soul's absence.

"So where's Soul?" Liz asked at one point when they had all sat at their table drinking a few cocktails. "Normally he doesn't let you come out and do this sort of thing without him here to keep guard."

Maka laughed at Liz unwilling to let herself think that Soul was still that protective of her, "He's on a mission in Spain."

"Ohhhh!" Patty cooed in the background and Maka watched as Liz smirked to herself.

"What?" Maka asked confused.

"That explains why you wanted to come out so badly tonight, you're trying to distract yourself from his absence," Liz said grinning and then taking a large gulp of her fruity cocktail.

Maka simply rolled her eyes, "I'm not trying to distract myself," she said, "I was just a bit excited about going out tonight that's all."

"Whatever Maka," Liz commented while Patty giggled in the background.

A few drinks later and Maka was willing to divulge to them just why she had been so excited about going out, "I just wanted to stop doing so much and enjoy myself. I'm terrible at slowing down and relaxing without Soul," she admitted smiling brightly rosy cheeked from dancing and drinks.

Liz and Patty had laughed at that, "Yeah we know," Liz commented surprising Maka. "Before you were partnered up with Soul, do you know what everyone called you behind your back," Liz asked. "Maka the Machine." Patty made a whirling noise that Maka supposed was supposed to be machinery, as Liz continued on. "You were this unstoppable force that just kept going no matter what, it was exhausting to watch."

Maka blushed, embarrassed that people had thought of her in such a way.

Liz took another sip of her drink, "I didn't know how human you could be until Soul introduced you to the crew and we saw how you reacted with him."

"I didn't realize I was so bad," Maka sighed.

Patty laughed cheerily and Liz realized that she needed to clear things up, "Ehhh, don't worry about it, everyone watched you grow up and you learned how to balance out your life to the point that we did see you learn to relax, we were all weird back in school."

"Yeah, but I still can't slow down without Soul!" Maka wined practically slamming her head down on the table.

Patty couldn't help but imitate Maka and giggle incessantly afterwards. Liz merely rolled her eyes, "Maka, you're out with us right now relaxing and having fun without Soul, I'd say that shows you don't actually need him to slow down."

"Don't need him!" Patty chanted loudly punctuated with some more giggles.

"You think so?" Maka asked looking up at Liz.

Liz laughed, "I think that you are just trying to distract yourself from the fact that Soul isn't here by saying you need him to be able to relax."

Maka blushed, "No, that makes me sound like me and Soul are…" she trailed off unable to say what she was thinking.

Patty giggled even louder at this, "Maka's RED!" she squealed followed by even more giggles.

Liz even chuckled lightly, "I don't see how you two can be so close and not be like that, at least admit that you like the guy!"

"I just miss him," Maka shot back quickly. A little too quickly.

"I think the lady doth protests too much," Liz said a tad singsongish.

"Protests! Protests!" Patty chanted behind her.

"You know that everyone was betting on when the two of you would get together right?" Liz asked calmly sipping her drink.

Maka's jaw dropped at that, "NO!"

Liz smiled to herself, "Yeah, everyone thought you would get together it was just a matter of time ya know?"

"No, I don't know," Maka said shaking her head in disbelief.

"Yep, but it turns out that nobody won because you never got together within the timeframe that anyone betted on," Liz admitted.

"Good, serves you right for betting on my life of all things," Maka said downing the rest of her drink. She didn't want to think about this anymore, and what better way than getting shit faced.

The next morning was not a good one for Maka, though she was relieved to have woken up in her own bed. For a minute, she just laid there, trying to ignore her pounding head. She didn't want to go to school today and teach; she just wanted to lie here and do nothing.

Realizing what she had just thought, she sat up with a start, only to wince in pain. Why had she decided to get so drunk last night?!

Oh yeah, because she would do anything to distract herself from Soul being away. At least, that's what Liz and Patty had thought, and now she had to admit that they were probably right. It made her wonder if they were right about anything else. Maka found herself getting ready for the day shoving those kind of thoughts back out of her head.

However, as Maka proceeded through the rest of the day doing the best she could despite being horribly hung over, the idea of her and Soul being more continued to penetrate her thoughts. Admittedly, she hadn't ever thought much on the topic. Yes, her students were constantly asking her about it, but she always dismissed that idea without much thought. Sure, those moments that Soul touched her hand in class, she actually found herself hoping for more, but she never really thought about what more would be. More than friends.

It seemed almost silly to say something like that about her and Soul. They were partners and their souls had practically completely intertwined over the years. They were at the deepest connection that they could be… right?

It hurt her head more than she wanted to admit.

She needed to talk to Soul. But that idea only made her blush. Did he know that people were betting on them having a relationship back in school? She couldn't imagine him knowing about it, but maybe he had. Maybe he had laughed at the idea. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"Miss Maka," one of her students called out suddenly, "Is Mr. Soul gonna be visiting us anytime soon? We haven't seen him all week," he complained loudly.

Maka knew that her female students loved having Soul in class, they made it obvious their delight with seeing the primary death scythe. She tended to forget that the males in her class liked it just as much, thinking he was cool, but just never being quite as vocal about it as the females.

She heard other whispers of agreement travel throughout the class and she smiled, "He's on a mission currently, but I'll see if he can stop by sometime soon after he gets back." The class seemed to be content with her response and soon enough everyone was back on task.

It wasn't until the end of class that she found herself surprised by someone's question.

Sara, a little soft-spoken tiny weapon girl in her class came right up to her desk when she dismissed the class. "Do you miss him?" she asked rather perceptively.

Maka started at the question. She knew exactly who Sara was speaking of, but she just wasn't sure how to answer.

"I won't tell anyone," the girl quickly added looking almost embarrassed.

Maka couldn't help but smile at that, "Of course I do, he's my…" she trailed off once again unsure of how to finish now.

Sara smiled brightly, "Well I hope he comes home soon then," she said before practically bounding out of the room.

Sighing, Maka leaned back in her desk, she hoped so too.

Thankfully for Maka, the witch that Soul had to deal with was easily enough taken care of. Neither knew why Soul had to go of all people for this particular mission, but neither asked knowing that was Kidd's business.

The day that Soul was set to come home was a Saturday, and as such, Maka found that she had ample time with nothing to do. She tried to just sit around and watch TV, but she found that she couldn't focus on much of anything much less TV. After that, she wasted time with taking a shower, but even that couldn't distract her from Soul's impending return. In the end, she had started deep cleaning the apartment, unable to think of anything else to do much less focus on it.

"Geez Maka, I leave for a week and you can't help yourself can you," Soul commented loudly as he walked in the front door and caught Maka washing out their sink.

She whipped around immediately, and was unable to hold back the grin on her face. "You're home!" she shouted, and with two quick bounds she was across the kitchen and in his arms, almost knocking him over in the process.

He quickly enclosed his own arms back around her giving her a small squeeze. "What a welcome," he chuckled in her ear, and Maka tried to ignore the way her heart felt like it was speeding up.

"Well, I missed you," she admitted honestly pulling away so that she could look at him better.

His cheeks were pink. In all the years that they had been partners, she couldn't ever remember seeing Soul blush, much less at something she had said. "Missed you too," he admitted softly as he leaned his forehead against hers. She could tell that her cheeks were heating up as well.

For a moment they just stood there in silence, it was comfortable for the most part, until Maka remembered how people had been betting on them. Suddenly the room felt too small and much too warm for her taste. Soul was too close, his eyes felt like they could see her thoughts and the way his hands were resting on her hips felt much too intimate. She couldn't help but tense.

"Maka?" Soul asked releasing her and taking a step back, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Maka tried to answer, but her breathe was shaky and it was easy to see through her lie. Therefore, she wasn't the least surprised when Soul took her hands in his and quietly led her over to their couch to sit down with him.

"Now what's bothering you, because the last thing I want is to get random Maka-chops for messing up something that I didn't realize was messing up at all," he said cheekily.

Maka couldn't help but stick out her tongue at him in retaliation.

"But seriously Maka," he said, smile dropping from his face and he looked her in the eyes, "What's got you so tense." As if to demonstrate his point he gently traced up her arm with his fingers causing her to stiffen and blush even more than before.

"I found out something about when we were back in school," Maka said looking down embarrassed.

"Damn," he said sharply cursing under his breath. She looked up only to have Soul looking away from her, his cheeks still stained pink. "Look Maka I didn't want anything between us to get uncomfortable, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," he said rather quickly, still not meeting her eyes. "It's just how could I not you know? I mean we lived together and really you've helped make me the man I am today, and you're so beautiful Maka."

Maka was frozen in shock, what the hell was he talking about?! But she couldn't seem to open her mouth she was so surprised. Then again, she couldn't help but want to hear more, hear was Soul was talking about.

"I mean I had a crush on you back then but don't worry, I would never make you do something you didn't want to, nothing has changed Maka," he looked up right at that moment and saw the shock in her eyes.

"What are you talking about?!" She said feeling as if her mind wouldn't stop spinning.

"What do you mean what am I talking about?" he asked slowly looking confused and almost a little afraid.

Maka blinked and decided to stick to what she knew, "I just learned from Patty and Liz that apparently the whole school was betting on when we'd get together back in school."

"Oh."

"Oh?" Maka questioned, suddenly really annoyed. "How can you just say oh Soul, did you know this."

"Well," he paused realizing that he was in trouble, "yeah."

"And it doesn't bug you?" she shouted.

"Guess not?" he answered looking nervous.

Maka's head hurt. She rubbed her temples pulling out of Soul's reach.

"Maka," he said softly reaching out for her hand. She snapped it back without thought.

"You liked me?" she suddenly asked eyes wide as her brain finally caught up with Soul's previous words.

Now he was the one frozen, he opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out. Instead he just nodded silently.

"Then why would I worry about it changing our relationship if it was in the past?" she questioned trying to keep a smile from her face. She didn't want to hope if she was wrong.

Soul spluttered at her question. He threw out a bunch of thoughts but nothing complete enough to make much sense. It was adorable.

Maka couldn't help but giggle, causing Soul to look even more confused. "It's okay, I feel the same," she said reaching out and grabbing Soul's hand, intertwining their fingers. "I didn't know or I would have told you sooner."

He could have asked her if she was referring to his own feelings or hers, but he seemed to know that she didn't know which either honestly. Instead, he leaned forward and gave her a small peck on the lips. However, as he started to pull away, she followed kissing him softly in return.

Soul was her rock. He kept her centered and relaxed. She could relax without him, but that didn't mean her whole life didn't revolve around him. But it was okay, because his whole existence revolved around hers as well.