Soul had insisted on carrying her up the stairs to their apartment as well. He unlocked the door and set her down in their living room. Blair was out somewhere, probably seducing some poor schmuck into providing her with fish. Maka sighed as she realised what was coming next. It had to be hands down the most irritating thing Soul had ever come up with.

"We're alone. Strip." He instructed.
"Soul" she whined "Why do you make me do this?"
"Because if I don't then you just hide everything from me!" Soul retorted with a scowl.
"I only hide it because if I let you see you insist on massacring whoever I was working with!"
"If some other weapon let you get hurt, then they deserve it! A weapons' duty is to always protect their meister!" He growled, his voice low and dangerous and just a little enticing. "Now strip before I do it for you."

Maka looked into his scowl, saw the determination in his red eyes and decided he probably was serious about stripping her. She weighed the risks for a moment before deciding it was marginally less embarrassing and certainly less risky if she undressed herself. Maka reluctantly unbuttoned her coat and stripped down to her underwear. She hated doing this. It always made her feel like such a flat-chested child, and his steady gaze never failed to make her blush.

Soul concentrated on his self control as Maka quickly and efficiently stripped for him; or rather, for his inspection of her. She really was oblivious to how attractive she'd gotten over the past few years – hell, how attractive she'd always been. But those kinds of thoughts would not help his self control, so he focused instead on searching her for any new scars. He froze when he spotted one on her upper thigh.

Maka shivered as his warm fingers caressed the new scar on her right thigh. She'd hoped that Soul would somehow miss it and she could go on without him tearing some poor weapon to shreds.

"How did you get this?" he asked, concern seeping into his voice.
"It was about a month ago. I was sent after a witch who was, um, well, she was built like Blair. The weapon I was working with was a bit slow to transform and I was late with the block."
Maka winced as his fingers dug into her flesh. He was mad. A mad Soul was not a nice Soul to be around.

"Who was the weapon?" he ground out between clenched teeth.
"Soul-"
"Who?"
"Soul, listen-"
"Who was the weapon Maka?! I'm not going to let some idiot get away with letting my meister get hurt because he was too busy ogling a goddamn witch!"
"Stop it Soul! Every mission is a risk! It's hardly the first time I've gotten hurt!"
"Being late with a block because your weapon was too busy being a horny bastard isn't the usual risk! Now you tell me who let you get hurt before I go through your mission logs."
"You can't go through my mission logs."
"Your crazy old man could." Soul threatened, hating that he had to resort to this to make her tell him. He was her weapon – why didn't she understand that? "Damnit Maka, why are you fighting me on this?"
"It was James Partridge." Maka muttered, looking away and blushing.

Soul understood why she hadn't wanted him to know. Partridge had tried to come on to Maka after a few too many drinks at the last Shibusen anniversary party. Soul hadn't appreciated having to pull a drunken lout off his meister, to say the least.

"Why were you working with Partridge?" He asked quietly, hiding his anger away for now.
"We were compatible" she said with a shrug "and . . . apparently he'd requested me."
"It's ok. Thanks for telling me" Soul said, hugging her again "But next time don't make me work so hard to get the story ok?"
"Ok" Maka said quietly, looping her arms around his back, so happy he hadn't gone storming out of the apartment in a blind rage. "Can I get dressed yet?"
"Will you chop me if I say no?" he asked with a smile in his voice.

He got his answer with typical speed. He lay twitching on the floor as Maka stormed off to her room. It was worth it though, he thought, she was just so damn cute when she blushed. Not to mention that he could freely ogle her behind through the haze of pain as she stalked off.

The next day at Shibusen, James Partridge got a very unpleasant surprise.

He was just turning away from his locker when he was slammed violently into the wall. He shivered in fear as the demonic face of Maka's famously protective weapon partner was shoved into his own. Soul's red eyes were aflame with fury and his sharp teeth were bared in a snarl as he bunched his hands in Partridge's jacket and slammed him into the wall again.

"Guess what Partridge? I got home yesterday and Maka tells me she's got a new scar cus you were too busy ogling a goddamn witch to do your goddamn job!" Soul hissed in his ear.
"S-Soul! That's not what-"
"Are you accusing my partner of lying?"
"No! No-"
"Do you even know what the duty of weapon is, you bastard?"
Partridge's mouth flopped open like a goldfish, now too terrified to speak.
"Always protect your meister." Soul spat in his face. "If I ever find out you caused my Maka another new scar, then I will skin you. Understood?"
"Y-Y-Yes." Partridge stuttered.

Soul dropped his jacket and Partridge collapsed on the floor in a terrified heap.
Soul strolled off coolly. It was good to be back.