Rated K because meh? O.o

Disclaimer: Psh, me own Soul Eater? No way.

Chapter 17: Sparring Dirty

An eye for an eye makes the world go blind.
- Mahatma Gandhi

"Winner of the fight, Maka Albarn!"

The ash-blonde meister smiled in triumph as she stared down on the bespectacled man that was out of commission thanks to hers truly.

In her defense, he was constantly throwing crude jokes about her only being 'good in bed but dumb in the head' which pissed her off because she expected him to have a bigger vocabulary after knowing that he was one of the smartest in class.

If anything, Ox Ford really lacked imagination and talent to insult others.

She couldn't help but let the exhilaration of the fight course through her veins, seeing the man's thick glasses awkwardly positioned on his face and his nose bleeding. From the groaning he was doing earlier, it certainly seemed to her that her hits had hurt him quite a bit. Whether it was physically or egoistically speaking, she wasn't sure.

"Maka, your next opponent is Black*Star." Stein said lazily, tilting his head back slightly to generalize the place of her next fight.

She simply nodded and moved towards her bluenette friend who was just grinning at her crazily. Unable to help herself, she gave him a wide smile too, knowing that it brought back slightly happier memories of the time they practiced sparring one another to increase their chances of survival.

"Is this even safe?" Soul asked his professor with wide eyes, knowing that when the pair got onto fighting, they could really wreck havoc. He had seen their practices – no edge in the cage was safe with the way they flung one another and he had been the victim of their body mass and their abrupt slams that knocked him square out.

Looking impassively at the albino whose soul quivered slightly, he turned back to the scene of the pair preparing to spar. "Maka probably wouldn't last long." He admitted. "But, she'll last as one of the longest out of all the students here. She knows his fighting style and makes up for the lack of brute force that Black*Star has with speed, agility and the knowledge to strike at vital points."

Soul could only wince at the thought of his meister's jabbing. Screw him being her weapon, her arming a book was lethal enough to make the toughest criminals scream in fear. It'd be like the American Psycho all over again, except it was a green-eyed female delivering your demise.

The sparring pair ignorant to the rest of the world nodded at one another in affirmation before Black*Star lunged at her. It was expected by Maka of course, for she easily dodged the oncoming blow before driving the first hit into his stomach.

The bluenette barely reacted to the blow and sent an upper cut to her chin, knocking her back as the ash-blonde's jaw crunched in pain. That did not deter her as she allowed her body to fall backwards to perform a back somersault, her feet hitting his chin hard in the process and Black*Star grabbed her leg on instinct before she got away, flinging her to the other side.

Maka had to admit that she liked the swing more than she should as her arms flayed in the air, but definitely not when her body collided onto the ground. Maka made use of the fact that he still held her limb and clamped onto his arm, twisting her posture and his arm into an awkward position.

She then yanked him onto the ground before he could react, sending him thudding onto the mat after her.

The bystanders had a look of grimace on their face as they imagined the pain, knowing it had got to hurt. Yet, they could barely look away despite the moments they had flinched, their awe outwardly expressed onto their face.

Even the grey-haired scientist admitted to himself that their fighting style was a tad bit crazy, for both parties weren't afraid to get dirty or hurt themselves more in the process to bring their opponent more pain. Perhaps he could work on that with them.

Maka, seeing that Black*Star was still on the mat, jumped to her feet and landed a kick on the side of his ribs before she backed off once more as his arm made a wide arc in attempt to make her trip. She merely smiled innocently at his glare as she wiped the blood off her chin.

Just as the bluenette stood up, she went for it again. She threw a punch at him where he knew his face would be heading, only to gape in shock when it narrowly missed due to him tilting his head slightly.

She could barely make a protest before he went for the counterattack and yanked her arm forward. As she stumbled off balance, he bent his frame slightly and rammed his elbow into her gut making her let out a groan of pain.

Not missing a beat, he darted behind her and pulled her neck up with his arm that had looped around her neck seconds prior and went for the headlock.

Before he could tighten his grip completely, the ash-blonde meister that was wheezing from the pain had already recovered stepped onto his foot and pressed her body weight against him, making him fall once more. When the choke hold had loosened, she had already shifted her body into a dominant position such that her knee pressed against his bruised ribs and begun an assault of blows onto his face.

Black*Star grunted at the damage she was causing, he ignored the pain and kept his posture rigid still before he placed one palm on top of the other before landing a blow square in the middle of her chest. Taking in her faltering hits, he sat up slightly and grabbed her shoulders and sent her weight flying over his body and crashing onto the ground head first.

By then, Maka's head was ringing in pain from the amount of times her head had crashed onto the ground. "That was underhanded." She croaked.

Her friend chuckled slightly and staggered to his feet, making a victorious fist bump and winced slightly at his sore ribs. Had she landed a few more blows as she wanted, his ribs and face would have been done for.

"Well you've got to play dirty with dirty."

Maka rolled her eyes. "Pick me up you idiot."

He gave her a cheeky grin and helped her up and instantaneously, the entire room burst into applause. The green-eyed girl sent a mortified look towards Black*Star only to bury her face in her hands in embarrassment as the bluenette basked in the spotlight.

It was a new reaction she had to admit, getting cheers instead of screams for more blood to be shed. Scratch that – it was so much more comforting to have such an audience than the ones she used to have that were just out to see them get hurt.

Tsubaki and Soul walked over towards them all-smiles, complimenting them that it was a good fight as always. Still extremely violent, but there was more polish to their current fighting style after receiving official training at the DWMA for weeks instead of having to wing whatever moves they had thought of on the spot.

The fact that Soul purposely stepped on Ox who was still passed out at the side of the training hall did not go amiss though and she appreciated that they shared the same animosity for the same people as always.

"Where are Liz and Patty?" Maka quipped, rubbing the sore spot on her head slightly.

"Patty is fighting Katakana while Liz is probably ironing out details of their partnership. Last time I heard, she was complaining about his symmetry obsession with an amused smile on her face."

"She clearly likes how weird he is as a person." The ash-blonde meister mutter as she looked over at where the younger Brooklyn sister was fighting at.

Unlike her fight with Black*Star that rivaled the styles of savage beasts, Patty's fight was more of professional fisticuffs and kicks. Maka couldn't help but be proud of her friend. Out of all of them, she had come the longest way.

She had been left in a weak state after a near-death experience and she had to do double of what they had to achieve results. Her moods were more erratic and it was often hard to control but more than anyone else, she wanted to get better.

To a normal person, she would be fine. However, no one but the gang knew of her struggles to be whatever she was right now and it truly made them appreciate Patty more as a person. Liz and Kid had been helping her significantly, well when Kid wasn't trapped in his aesthetics but the young Shinigami had brought immeasurable laughter to them after joining their social circles.

'Well at least her fighting style isn't as wild as—' Maka allowed her thoughts to go into a pregnant pause when Patty hooked her harms onto Katakana's legs and lifted her up slightly before slamming her back into the ground like her opponent was doing the worm. Maka sweat dropped at that.

'Never mind,' she thought as she walked away. Their savage behavior was more influential than she had presumed.

The gang did notice that their fights often garnered more attention than the others and there were people who would challenge them to fight after the first few days of sparring lessons. She wasn't sure if they had any ulterior motives behind their challenges or they fought like kishins because she had never faced one herself.

She shrugged off the thought.

Their challenges would meant more practice for her, so who was she to complain? Being in tip top shape was better than rotting away in the decay of skills.

Just as she was about to go towards Patty who seemed to be doing a victory lap around the training hall, the ground beneath her shook, followed by a loud explosion.

Then there was an ear-piercing scream.