Partners

Sunset

The last time Maka actually sat down and watched the sunset was so far behind her that it seemed like it was ages ago. She leaned against the wall that held her back from falling off of the roof of the school and she stared at the sun as it tiredly lowered from the sky and got closer to the horizon. At this point in the day, it was exhausted and it couldn't laugh for very much longer. Drool spilled from its mouth and it heaved in deep breaths while it struggled to keep its eyes open. It would have been a strange sight for someone that grew up in a world without this sun, but to her and everyone else, it was a completely normal sight—if not, it was absolutely hilarious.

"What are you doing up here?"

At her Partner's voice, she perked up and turned to see that he'd finally found her standing by herself on the roof balcony. "I was watching the sunset." She answered truthfully, but there was still a hint of a white lie behind her words. She had actually left the group and gone up to watch the sunset to get her mind off of a few things that had been bothering her the past few days. "Sorry if I worried you. Nothing's wrong." Lies. It may have been harmless, but her mind had been all over the place for hours on end.

Soul looked at her skeptically, not too convinced and she spun around to lean on the railing again. "What's wrong?" He went ahead and asked her anyway, because he knew his partner well enough to know that when she went somewhere by herself like that, it was either because she wanted to do something involving her academics or because something was on her mind. "Liz was mumbling about something distracting you." Damn it Liz. She knew she shouldn't have told her earlier that morning. "Mind sharing? You can talk to me, you know."

"I know I can." Maka turned her head so he couldn't see her face. "I was…I'm stressed about the next test coming up." Soul burst into laughter and she felt her body jump in surprise. "W-What? Why are you laughing?!"

"Oh please." Soul leaned his arms on the balcony and looked out toward the setting sun with a small smile. "You've never stressed about a test." Ah, she was caught red handed. She puffed out her cheeks stubbornly as he continued. "You're too busy being confident about how awesome you'll do to stress about it. You can't trick me." Without looking back at her, he raised his hand and poked his finger between her eyebrows. "Come on Maka. Spit it out. What's bothering you?"

"…I don't normally think about this sort of stuff." She held her hands together in front of her and turned her gaze down at them. "I'm just lost. I feel conflicted." Soul looked at her and watched quietly as she then reached up to start tugging on one of her pig tails. "Ever since you, uh…punched that guy the other day, I've been wondering all kinds of things." Soul felt his shoulders tense at the memory and he looked back toward the sun as it painted the sky with orange and reds that normally weren't seen until this time of day. "He was just giving me a letter. I don't even know what it was for since you tore it up. What was up with that?"

Soul let out a dry chuckle and she looked up in time to see a bitter smile flash across his lips. "You're so dense." He relaxed into the side of the balcony wall and sighed under his breath. "I heard him talking about the letter in the locker room. He was planning on asking you out. Wanted to put his feelings into a note, I guess. How lame."

She felt blood rise to her cheeks at the new information and bit down on her lip.

She sort of figured it was somewhere along those lines, but the thing that was bothering her was why? Why did he tear the letter up? Why did he threaten the guy and then assault him when he didn't back off right in front of her?

"That still doesn't answer my question." She lifted her foot and kicked it against the side of his. "Why'd you hit him and then proceed to get rid of the note?"

"It's not obvious?" Soul questioned her immediately, bloody pools still stuck on the setting sun in the distance. "Are you really that oblivious?"

She kicked her boot against his shoe a little harder. "Don't beat around the bush. Come on, tell me!"

"I like you."

"Wh—" Maka visibly flinched back when his eyes were suddenly looking at her and her fingers clenched around the edge of the wall so hard it could have crumbled beneath her grip. Had she heard him right? That didn't make any sense. Soul Eater Evans didn't like flat chested bookworms. He had to have been joking around with her just to cover up for what he did to that boy the other day. However, the more she thought about it the more things seemed to add up and make sense. The only reason someone would react to that sort of thing in such a hostile way would be because of a jealousy that fueled them to take action. Soul had always been there to step between her and jerks she came across in school, and even now he was punching people and showing them out the door whenever they seemed to like her. It all added up. It made sense. So why did it seem so surreal?

"U-Uh." She darted her eyes away from his to keep from melting under his gaze. She looked at the sun and held her finger up to point. "Ah-ha. Doesn't the sun look so funny? He must be so tired."

"Maka."

"Eep."

Maka's shoulders jumped and she looked at her Weapon again to find that he was still staring at her with a certain tranquility she'd never seen before. She relaxed and leaned into the wall with her side so she could fiddle her fingers together nervously. He was serious. That expression he wore on his face meant that he hadn't been joking around. He was dead serious and he was going to keep looking at her like that until she gave a response.

"…I…I don't—" She choked on her words and looked down at her feet. She could feel the air become tense but she didn't dare look up to see if his face had changed or not. "I mean…I do too. I just…" These sort of things were never on her mind. Being a Meister at the DWMA meant that she didn't have time to mess around with love and romance. She had a job to do. She had to keep the world safe from evil souls and the kishin that lay dormant somewhere on the moon. Yet she still fell. She still had feelings. She knew that she liked him too. She knew that she trusted him more than anyone with more than just secrets and her life, but she trusted him with her heart too. "But I'm just…scared—"

"That we'll end up like them?" Soul didn't have to say their names for Maka to know what he meant. She nodded her head slowly and was surprised to hear the smile coating his tone of voice. "Don't worry about it. I'm cooler than your rotten old Father. Cool guys don't cheat on their Partners, remember?"

Maka finally managed to peer up to see him and felt her heart flutter when she saw that his lips were spread in a genuine smile for once. She sprung up in a standing position and smiled brightly in response. He was absolutely right. Even if she still had a bit of a fear in the back of her mind, she would pull through as long as it was Soul. She and Soul could do anything. She made him into a better Death Scythe than her Father, and she was sure he would make a much better—dare she say it—boyfriend if he tried hard enough. Sure he was a little rough around the edges, but his loyalty and faithfulness to her surpassed even Black*Star's trust in himself.

"Does this mean you'll buy me books?"

"Don't push it, Maka."

Maka giggled light heartedly and came a little closer to her weapon as her eyes were drawn back to the sun as it finally began to hide behind the distant horizon. "You're almost there…" Her voice was in a soft whisper and as if the sun could actually hear her, she continued. "Just a little longer, then you can sleep." She was almost too distracted with that to notice that her Partner had leaned over and kissed her while her attention was elsewhere. That was enough to confirm any other doubts in her mind, and she happily took his hand and dragged him back inside to find their friends and continue on with whatever it was they were doing at the school so late. She had completely forgotten when the events on the roof between the two of them first went underway.

Oh well. It was worth it.