It had started when he'd grown tired of the bitching. Soul wasn't even really sure what exactly she was on his case about this time, but she had been frustrated and bossy. She was being extremely bossy. Nothing he did was right, and he couldn't even begin to process through the things that could possibly had pissed her off this time. Whatever it had been, her tension had been riding high. Enough to make the wavelength between them tremble. She'd finally given up on training and they'd headed home in silence.

It wasn't until he'd taken the last bit of food that he finally spoke up. "Does it ever bother you?"

"Does what ever bother me?" Maka stabbed at an uneaten piece of dry chicken. Cooking never went well when the two were at odds with each other.

"Being that uptight?"

She snapped her head up and dropped her fork. She put her hands down on the table and glared at him. "You want to start something with me? Cause I promise you, I'll win."

He smirked. "Nevermind." He couldn't help it, he loved that passion. They'd crossed a sexual line, months ago and now there were things that she could do that just set his body on fire in a new way.

She stood up from the table, shoving the chair back. "I'm going to bed. You do the dishes. That's an order." He let her storm off to her bedroom. He cleaned up. Did the dishes and closed up shop for the night. Something was still bothering him though, that stirring sensation that her fiery temper had given him. He debated whether or not to go to her, or let her have the time to cool off. The problem was, she'd been like this all week and he wasn't exactly clueless as to why.

In their final year of school, the pressures were heavy on her shoulders. She was the best, supposed to be the best. There were tests to take, decisions to be made and battles to be fought. The Kishin might have been destroyed, but it didn't end there. Maka took every compliment as a challenge to better herself. She took every concern or suggestion as a heavy strike that she probably wasn't as good as she should be. He watched her work herself into the late hours of morning. He'd wake up to find his bed devoid of her presence and the light in the kitchen burning. During the day she demanded as much of him as she expected of herself. His meister was a warrior, but people didn't really understand how hard she could be on herself. Being like her mother was an unattainable goal in some ways, after all…her mother wasn't exactly around to model after. The idea of her mother's abilities drove Maka, but it always left her empty. He could hope that graduation could bring a sense of peace and accomplishment…and certainly it would in some ways…but it would also bring more challenges and more expectations. She was set on a path of never ending search for a perfection that simply did not exist.

When he came to stand in her doorway, he watched her milling over notes, probably the speech she was writing.

"Hey…"

"Busy." She didn't even bother looking up. Tension lined her face and she stared at the papers with a fixed look somewhere between focus and insanity.

"If you keep your face like that you'll get wrinkles early."

"Go away."

He sighed and stepped into the room. Moving over to stand behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders. Knots. There were so many knots that were the final straw of proof he needed. He bent down to place a kiss against her neck. Sex was a way that she could relax, an intimate act that seemed to pull her away from stress. Another kiss, as his hands began to gently massage those knots. Maka pulled away.

"Not right now, I'm working on something, and I'm still pissed at you anyway." Something inside of him snapped, and he spun her chair around leaning onto the armrests and staring at her.

"No. You are not. You are done." He saw her swallow, watched the knot move down her throat. Her eyes were wide and her legs were spread just enough so that he could put his knee between them on the chair. "This is getting out of hand. It's time to let go." There was another swallow. He smirked, there was something incredibly desirable about the look she was giving him. He'd caught her off guard, and she now looked vulnerable.

His eyes caught sight of her blouse, at least she had tugged it out of her skirt, but she hadn't even bothered to loosen the buttons. "Damn Maka, your entire body is tied as tightly as this stupid tie." He fingered it, smoothed it through his hands. The idea struck him. She was the one who was always in control, the one who made decisions. For fuck's sake she tended to top him in bed, even when he was on top of her. He wasn't even sure how that was entirely possible. He loved her and he would let her have whatever she needed, even in the bedroom.

Not tonight.

His fingers worked at the knot. "It's time to let it all go. Right now, you don't belong to school, you don't belong to training, you don't belong to Shibusen. You belong to me." He pulled the tie off, unpopping the top two buttons. He put his hand on her throat. His knee pressed between her legs, parting them farther, and allowing him to feel that maybe, just maybe…the thought of being out of control aroused her a bit. He leaned in, those large green eyes bore into him with the wide range of emotions that Maka Albarn was capable of. Part of him expected a book to the head at any moment, but she didn't move. He took the tie and leaned up to wrap it around her head, covering her eyes.

"…Soul…" It was a breathy whisper, expecting…maybe even challenging.

He leaned over to place his lips to her ears. "Forget the rest of the world and just feel, because I'm going to fuck you senseless." He shifted, and from her blinded position, she could only whimper. Somehow he was pretty sure that school was becoming a distant thought. He pulled his leg away from where his knee had been edging against her heat.

It didn't take much effort to lift her up into his arms. Strong as she might be, she was lithe and easy to carry. He took her from her room and to his, where the now larger bed resided. He'd bought it a couple years previously when the nightmares had started to get to her and she was spending more time sleeping against him. He hadn't minded it, it quieted his own bad dreams. He bought it with a shrug of his shoulders and the excuse that a twin bed was too short for his legs now anyway.

She elicited a delightful gasp when she was dropped down on the bed. He was immediately over her, legs pinning her to the bed. If the tie slipped, he readjusted it to cover her eyes better. His hands proceeded to work at the rest of her buttons, then at the flesh underneath.

Maka was definitely taken with the moment, each touch made her skin feel like fire and every kiss made her fall farther and farther away from the reality of schoolwork and being a meister. She couldn't let go entirely though and her hands were soon reaching for his clothing, undoing the buttons from his shirt. She was soon pushing to take over, hands reaching in the darkness for his skin, for the spots that she knew brought such pleasure to him.

Soul may have been apt to let her have her way, because it felt so good to feel her against him, and he was throbbing against his pants, pushing to be set free. If she had her way about it, soon she'd have him in her mouth and crying out for her. He knew she took the greatest of pride in that talent, turning him from as strong level headed man into a desperate and needy male. He couldn't allow her to take him there. He grabbed her wrists in his hands as they worked to get inside his unzipped pants.

"I don't think you understand how this is going to go." He leaned forward to pin her hands above her head. He took a quick note of how perfectly her breasts seemed to swell above her with the arch of her back, and didn't stop himself from running his tongue from her navel to her neck. "You might be my meister, but tonight, I'm doing the bossing around." He let go of her hands and stepped away from her.

"Soul?" It had gone quiet in the room and she felt nervous and vulnerable in the silence. Control was something she was good at. She was the leader, the person who took charge. It was comfortable to have everyone else doing the following. Somehow her fears of not being good enough had turned into a strict regime of never letting anyone else run the show. After all, when she trusted people, they had a tendency to let her down. Unfortunately it made it difficult to relax and step back, even with her trusted weapon and lover. The bed moved and a feeling of relief, and excitement washed over her. "Where were you."

"Finding something."

"What is it?"

"It's okay to not know everything Maka, you really should learn that one of these days."

Soul didn't have a lot of formal clothes, they weren't exactly his favorites and he'd often thought that ties would provide more fun ways other than being a noose around his neck. He took both of her wrists and shifted them up against the rungs of the headboard. Then he wound his tie around them. He kept them loose enough, but there was no way that she was going to pulling her hands free.

He leaned down and took her mouth in his, cutting her off just as she was starting to ask another question. He didn't really care what she was going to say. He leaned down to her hear and sucked on the lobe of it. "Stop talking…and just feel. Let go Maka, give me control you know you can trust me."

Whatever fight that they had been having earlier was forgotten and as his lips worked on her neck and collarbone, she began to wonder why she ever even bothered to fight with him at all. She desired being powerful, and yet she was at the moment completely under his control. The boy could do whatever he wanted to her and she didn't have much of a chance to fight back. Fine, if her weapon wanted to run the show, she'd let him.

As soon as she gave up trying to fight for control, she felt the tension start to leave. Her last effort to control the situation disappeared with her skirt. It was hard to even remember what it was that she always clung so desperately too. Was any of it really important? As his teeth scraped against the corner of hip, she decided that no, the rest was not really all that important.

He layered the love upon her. There was teasing and touching, the brush of his lips as he licked against the curve of her thigh, working his way up. He slid his finger against her center and was glad that he'd at least let her unzip his pants. She was so wet and achy and he grinned against her thigh as her hips jerked into the air. His meister was turned on and sensitive to every touch that he gave her. They'd been making love for months now, reveling in the newfound way to bind themselves together in body as well as mind and soul. Still, this was the first time that he'd had her completely under his control. He decided that he liked her like this, tied up and aching; blinded and unsure what was coming next.

There was soon begging and pleading. He reached out to let the edge of his tongue slide against her clit. Again she jerked, a positively delightful reaction. He waited for a long moment until she cried out that he do it again. And he did, but he only gave the slightest lick. He tortured her like that for several long minutes.

"Soul…I swear to the Shinigami that if you don't put your mouth on me right now I'll break through these ties and strangle you…" Well, what could he expect, she was still Maka. He smiled and leaned down and started to devour her. His movements were heavy and his tongue worked against every corner of her center that it could reach. She was crying then. He'd turned her from a strong and leading woman into a desperate and needy woman. His fingers judged how close her could bring her. He wasn't going to let her go, no she wasn't going to come until he demanded it. The same way she had stood over him earlier and demanded he improve his performance.

Payback was definitely a bitch.

She was losing it, an unsteady boat of emotions and feelings that were being wracked by tumultuous waves. She was lost in this storm and all she wanted was to let the boat tip over and the waves of pleasure she knew were coming wreck her body. But he always pulled back just when she thought she had it. The damned man knew her too well. Damn her vulnerable soul that stretched out to let him know just how much of a mess she was in his hands.

He let the wetness slide down his lips, let it coat the bedsheets below them. "I don't think I've ever seen you this aroused." She could only respond in some animalistic tone , this raw sound that made his lower half roar with fire. He was loving this, loving having her writhing underneath him. No one saw her like this, not a single other person knew that the badass woman that enemies feared and students envied could hit such a completely feral point.

Suddenly he jumped away from her and she felt that emptiness. It wasn't for long. His hands were on the tie at her wrists and she felt relief, sure that he was going to set her free. He'd come to his senses and was going to make love her.

"On. Your. Knees."

"Huh…?"

"You heard me." She obeyed, rolling over. She reached for the blindfold, but he took her hands away. "Tell me you didn't think it was going to be that easy…my meister." She shook her head. There was nothing threatening about what he was doing, in fact the demanding and yet somehow still cool tone he used made her want to take charge even less.

His hands smoothed down her arms, and he guided her hands to the headboard, letting her grip onto it. He was still hungry for her, and nipped at her back, her shoulders, her neck. He'd definitely be leaving marks, but he couldn't damned. Tomorrow, she'd have a high collar and green and white stripes to hide them. His hands parted her thighs, sliding the juices around her. He wanted to cover her in her desire for him. He slid moistened hands up her stomach, leaving a trail against her chest. One hand came to grip her breast. The other pulled her down further and parted her thigh.

Somewhere in the madness of her desire she could feel him push against her. There wasn't movement though, he stayed there torturing her entrance with the promise of soon to be fulfillment. Something between a growl and beg erupted from her lips and he caved, letting her have what they both wanted.

There were dozens of ways in which they had connected over the years, but the intimacy of no longer being two people and merely one body blended together was their favorite. Her body jerked against him and he had to stay still for a moment to collect his thoughts. It would have been easy enough to lose it right there and she wasn't far off, but he wasn't about to let his relief come first. It was the only thing that he was going allow her to take the lead on tonight. So he focused on her pleasure, bringing his hand to her stomach and pulled her back against him. She clung to the poles, her hands locked on them so tightly that he wasn't sure he'd even be able to pry them off. Her rocked his hips against her, feeling the way she tightened around him, accepting him.

Both were positive that they would never grow tired of such a feeling. He loved the way she felt around him, she loved how deeply he could push inside of her. This position seemed to allow him an even greater reach to the depths of her body.

"Tell me you love me…?" Her voice sounded soft and vulnerable in the heavy moment and he had to stop for a second. "Even though I'm so bossy. Even though I push too hard." He leaned over her, covering her body with his. His hand rested underneath her neck, pulling her sweaty chin upwards, just enough to place kisses against her cheek.

"More than anything. I love you more than anything. That's why you need to let go, because you need…" It was so hard to think like this. "…you need to let me take care of you." He rocked harder against her, wanting to show her physically what he couldn't really put into proper words. She was tightening, getting closer and it took just a couple more thrust and a final soft nudge of her clit to send her flying over that edge. She took him with her and they fell together.

It didn't matter then who was in charge or what the rest of the world was doing. It didn't matter that tomorrow there would be more schoolwork. That this coming weekend they were heading on a mission. It didn't matter who led or who followed, who yelled and who listened, because they were complete and absolute equals to each other. Meister and weapon always worked as one, but as lovers they took that resonance and that unity to another level. One that was the reason for such envy at Shibusen, because their connection required that passion and love.

Reality came back too quickly, but reality was softer than it had been before. He reached out to finally take off the tie that covered her eyes and she smiled at him. She rolled over to bury herself against his side. He dangled the tie in front of her. "Don't tie this so tight tomorrow."

Smack. It was a little half assed.

"Hey…"

"Don't tease me." But she nestled against him again. "Maybe you're right though…" She trailed off.

"Oh? About what?" He tossed her tie to the side, damn it was going to be hard to look at her in that without his thoughts making wearing pants uncomfortable. He reached down and pulled the sheet up. She was exhausted, it didn't take much to read that from her weakened body. She'd been exhausted before they'd made love, but he knew from experience that now she'd be able to properly sleep.

"Maybe I'm a little too bossy." She smiled and pushed her nose into his neck. "I guess I can let you boss me around…sometimes."

"I'll remember that." He kissed her forehead. "Now sleep." Her eyes closed, all that worrying just wears a person out. He always knew exactly what she needed. "And that is an order."

Maka simply obeyed.