notes: OMG WTF RAWRCHELLE ISN'T WRITING NARUTO? don't worry; i will definitely return to it. it's my forte. i was actually so uncomfortable writing this, 'cause i wasn't too sure of their characters. i'm used to being familiar with writing the characters, like sakura and sasuke. so tell me if the people are ooc? and this could stand on its own, really—but if you can't tell from the summary, there are thirty prompts. here are just five. tell me what you guys think so far, and i'll write according to the feedback. SO IT WILL BE TEMPORARILY COMPLETE. YEEE.

i wonder how many of my naruto readers also read soul eater? HM.

dedication: this one guy, who's kind of to me what soul is to maka. but not really. but he's still special. SO THERE.

"Valentine's Day has got everyone excited, hasn't it?" Tsubaki mused as she walked with Maka down the hall.

"Yeah." Maka looked around as students—mainly females—clutched their love letters and scurried about. Kid was seen in the classroom earlier, giving perfectly identical letters to Liz and Patty—no doubt with tutorials on push-up bras and how to trim eyebrows perfectly, without any hint of love confessions at all in them. "Has Black Star given you anything?"

"N-No…" Tsubaki smiled shyly at this. "I'm not expecting anything from him, really. He's kind of…"

"Thick," Maka finished for her, laughing. "So are you going to give him anything?"

"I don't think so…He can go without knowing anything." Maka smiled a little at her friend's introvert personality. "It doesn't matter, really. What about Soul?" She looked away at this, thinking about the letter she had written, but didn't plan to deliver.

She shook her head. "Nah. He's not the kind of guy." He was too cool to write love letters. Not that he'd give her one if he did.

"Don't say that." Tsubaki smiled. "You never know."

"I suppose." Locking her hands together behind her back, Maka breathed in deeply. "Well, I'm heading home now. I'm really tired."

"Alright. I'll see you later, Maka!"

She wasn't surprised when the house she shared with Soul was empty. He was often playing basketball with Black Star or Kid—or both, even—after school. After finishing her homework and making herself a small dinner, slipping Soul's share into the fridge, she sat on the couch alone, watching the television.

It was around midnight when he returned, in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Where were you?" she asked, hugging a pillow. "I made you dinner."

He shrugged. "Out. We were playing basketball, and got…carried away."

"Oh. Well, are you hungry?" She stood up and playfully threw the pillow at him. With his hands still in his pockets, he dodged it.

"Nah. We ate already." He wasn't even looking at her when he said this; his eyes lingered on the door of his room, as though he really wanted to go there.

She smiled cheerfully. "Well, okay. I was just staying up to make sure you came home, but now I'm heading to bed." They had school tomorrow; she should've been asleep a long time ago. She made her way to turn off the television.

"Maka—" Soul stopped suddenly when she turned around, hand reaching for the remote on the coffee table. He was looking at the floor, and she gave him a funny look. "The guys and I have been talking tonight, and they said I should give you this." From his pocket, he pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "Even though it's not cool at all."

She accepted it slowly. If it was what she thought it was, she was somewhat disappointed; it wasn't even in an envelope. It looked like it was hastily written on a scrap piece of paper.

When she unfolded it, she read it slowly, and read it again and again, even though it was a little silly, because there wasn't much on it.

Maka,

Happy Valentine's Day.

Soul

And even though it was simple, she felt that the message went through. It went something along the lines of "thanks for being my partner and dealing with my bullshit all of the time". And maybe hints of something more, but she wasn't going to hope. She contemplated on giving him the page-long letter she wrote to him, but decided against it. It wasn't written for him to read, anyway.

She found a smile on her lips, even though she didn't remember putting it there. "Thanks. I didn't get you anything, though."

"It doesn't matter. I think that dinner would be nice, though."

The smile immediately widened into a grin. "I'll get it right away!"

They sat side by side on the couch with the television on, but neither of them was really watching it. Soul ate the food she had prepared for him, and she listened to the comforting sounds of him chewing and swallowing.

fall from grace.

"Totally not cool at all…" Soul laughed thickly as he regarded the slash on his thigh. "Where'd she go?"

"Let her run," Maka said, not even thinking about the witch anymore. "We'll find her again soon. Let's get you back to Shibusen!" His wound was bleeding pretty badly; if it didn't get fixed soon, he might die from blood loss or infection.

"I must look pretty stupid, depending on a girl." He had his arm around her shoulders, resting the majority of his body weight on her as they walked slowly, step by step.

"Shut up—this isn't the time the talk about that." Maka wasn't afraid that Soul would die—lately, she realized that she wasn't afraid of anything anymore. She and Soul had gone through so much together; something like this wasn't going to tear him away from her.

"Do you know how far away Shibusen is? We're not going to make it."

"Fine. I'll take you to a local hospital, then."

This wasn't the first time she had stayed by his side as he slept in a hospital bed. His breaths were even, features looking peaceful. The machines around them were beeping endlessly, the IV stuck in his arm. His hand was warm in hers.

When his eyes cracked open, she immediately pulled her hand away. But as he gestured towards her, she glanced down, and realized that his open palm was facing her.

She took his hand back in hers, their fingers interlacing softly.

library archives.

"Hey, Soul," Maka said as she flipped through the ancient books in their library, "what do you think our life would've been like if we were born in a different world?"

"Different world?" he asked, sliding into the seat next to her at the table.

"Yeah." She pushed one of the open books towards him. "Apparently, people used to live like this until natural resources went scarce and we went back to the old way of living. Look at these huge buildings!"

"That's a lot of vehicles."

"I know, hey? Imagine the technology and the convenience. It must be pretty cool."

"I think I like the way we're living now." With his hands stuffed into the pockets of his sweater, he leaned back in his seat, staring idly up at the ceiling.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

"I like being a weapon. I like being able to eat souls, and the feeling I get when I swallow them. And if we lived in a different world…" He paused, as if thinking. "Then I wouldn't have known all of these great friends. Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz, Patty, Blair—you…" His voice trailed off, and he closed his eyes.

Maka pulled the book back, realizing the truth of his words. It didn't matter if she lived in the past or in the future—nothing would be the same without her friends.

Without Soul.

"I think you're right," she said with resolution, shutting the book. "C'mon. Let's go and do something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Anything." She grinned. "Everything."

His grin matched hers. "Sure."

kiss a frog.

Liz looked incredulous. "You haven't had your first kiss yet?"

Maka shrugged. "It's not really a goal in my life."

"So what, you're going to live your life with virgin lips?"

"I…suppose? I really don't know how to answer that." It was an awkwardly worded question. And anyway, kisses weren't the most important thing. What Maka was set on was making Soul into a death scythe—she couldn't wait for that day to come. It would be amazing.

Kid speculated Soul, who was sitting in the seat next to her. "Please tell us you've gotten more action than her."

Soul yawned. "What, are you saying you've kissed someone before?"

Kid and Liz immediately shared an awkward moment. "It's…not something we like to think about," Liz said uncomfortably.

"It was an accident."

"Yeah." Liz nodded, all too eager to affirm this. "An accident."

Soul eyed them both. "I see."

"And anyway, don't change the topic!"

He shook his head, shrugging. "Haven't kissed anyone. It's not cool to be popular with the ladies anymore—haven't you heard?"

"I think you've got it wrong." Black Star snickered. "Everyone probably thinks that you're a loser, because no girl wants to get with you." Maka could tell Soul stiffened a little at this; an action so small that only she could catch it. "You'd better find a girlfriend soon!"

"Don't say that when you're single too," Soul snapped, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

"Heh." The other teenager rubbed his nose smugly. "Tsubaki and I have got something going on." At this, the dark-haired female blushed a deep crimson, finding great interest in her feet.

Soul looked at Kid pointedly. "Don't tell me you've got some 'friends with benefits' thing going on with Liz and Patty."

"As the shinigami's son, I have far too much pride for that," Kid said stiffly. "Liz, Patty—let's go. We have better things to do." And with that, he shoved his chair back and stalked out of the classroom, his two weapons following him.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think there's some technician-weapon love going on," Black Star said, a little too loudly for Maka's taste. She was sure her cheeks darkened a little, but it wasn't too noticeable. "C'mon, Tsubaki. Let's leave them alone so they can actually do something productive." And with that, he dragged his partner out of the classroom, leaving her and Soul alone, sitting beside each other at their table.

"Sometimes, I think I should just get that first kiss thing over with so they'll stop bugging me about it," Maka grumbled, resting her chin on her hands. "It makes me feel a little stupid and left behind."

Soul shrugged. "It doesn't matter what other people think."

"I know, but I kind of I want them to leave me alone." Maka gave him an exasperated look. "Maybe I'll get Dad to kiss my on the cheek and say it was my first…"

"He'll probably faint before he can do that." She laughed at his sarcasm. The smirk was faint on his lips, but it was there. "Uh—this is just a suggestion, but maybe…?" He didn't finish his sentence, but she got the gist of what she meant. Blinking, she wasn't sure of what to say.

"I thought you didn't care what people think," she finally said, rather lamely.

"Well, I don't." Leaning back, he placed his feet on his desk. "But if you're going to get it over with, I might as well. It's not cool to have them tease me about it for so long."

"I…suppose?" An awkward silence fell over them. "So…are we going to…you know?"

"Sure. Whatever." He didn't seem to be moving, however, so she turned in her seat so she faced him. Her gloved hands sat in her lap as clenched fists. It came as a surprise when she realized that she was nervous. She shouldn't be nervous, right? This was Soul. Her closest friend. The one she could talk about and do anything with.

Swallowing, she leaned forward. He turned his head so he faced her and leaned forward a little as well. It almost felt like she had gone numb in the rest of her body; all she could feel was the close proximity of their faces, his breath on her lips, and how her breathing was cut off once their lips pressed together.

Was the kiss over yet? Was she supposed to pull away?

It didn't take a genius to figure out that neither of them knew what they were doing. Maka reminded herself that she should close her eyes, because that was what people did when they kissed on television—and this couldn't be that different, right?

Her eyes closed the moment his lips opened to part hers as well. She could feel Soul leaning in closer to her, and she immediately panicked. Shutting her mouth, she pulled away, watching as her partner fell out of his chair, his hands still in his pockets. Hers were still clenched, her fingers digging into the palm of her hands.

"Not cool," Soul muttered, picking himself off the ground and falling back into his seat. Their eyes locked for a moment, before both of them looked away.

"That was kind of awkward," Maka said, playing with her gloves.

"Yeah."

"Let's never do it again."

"Yeah."

scythe.

Maka could feel the surge of victory the moment the soul disappeared through his lips.

They were done. They were done.

After years of collecting souls and surviving battles and the dangers at Shibusen, they were finally done.

"How does it taste?" she asked Soul, who looked positively ecstatic, despite his signature pose with his slouched back and hands in his pockets. The grin was wide across his face, revealing his oddly sharp teeth.

"Amazing. I can still feel it tingling in my throat."

Beaming, she ran towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. His went around her waist, and he held her close, as if there wasn't going to be another moment for this. "We're done," she said disbelievingly, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "We're finally done."

"Yeah." She could feel his heart beating erratically in time with hers. "We are." Even moments, seconds, minutes after that, they didn't release their embrace.

The moment was too perfect to break.

"So, what now?" Soul was the first to shatter the silence. She felt his grip loosen around her, but she only held on tighter.

"We report to Shinigami-sama, I suppose," she said, voice considerably softer, now that the initial shock had worn off. She could still feel her hands shaking from the adrenaline. Both of them were dirty from the fight with the witch—but they'd faced Medusa before, and they'd faced the Kishin before—what was there to be afraid of?

Soul sighed. "It's still kind of unbelievable. I don't think it's sunk in yet."

"Me neither." Slowly, reluctantly, she pulled away from him. "This means that…you'll be working with Shinigami-sama now, right? With Dad."

"Yeah. And you're free to do whatever you want."

She felt a bitter taste rise from her throat. Now that she thought about it, she had never considered what would happen after they'd collected all of the souls they needed. It had always been such a faraway goal, something that wouldn't happen for a long time—but now it was here. And it was the oddest feeling ever.

It was weird, and a little empty, knowing that she wouldn't be working with Soul anymore.

But what would she do, then? If she wasn't with Soul, if they weren't doing missions together—what would she do?

With slight horror, Maka realized that there wasn't much of a life without Soul.

"Oi, Maka—are you okay?" Soul waved a hand in front of her face, and she snapped out of her reverie. A smile immediately stretched across her lips, but it felt fake. Artificial. And she was sure he saw right through it.

"Fine." Her voice was hoarse, her throat tight. "C'mon. Let's report to Shinigami-sama."

"Wait." Just as she turned to find a window or a mirror, he grabbed her arm. "Let's wait a while first." She wasn't sure why he wanted to wait, but she was more than glad to. He led her to a nearby bench, his hand never leaving her arm once.

They spent the entire night talking about anything and everything, from that one time he walked in on her while she was showering, to what would happen after this. She fell asleep on his shoulder just as the sun began to rise, and she figured—maybe it was okay like this. Just maybe.

Because, really, she and Soul had made it through everything. Who said they wouldn't make it through this?