Love of Music

Sometimes Soul really wondered if Maka was bipolar. The girl would go through so much trouble to assure everyone around her that she did not care about anything than accomplishing her mission as a Technician. Still, despite her assurances that she could not care less about clothes or "other useless things", Maka would have moods that Soul could only describe as being girly.

That day was shaping out to be one of those days, Soul noted when the apartment door closed with a loud bang behind Maka as the girl took off to go clothes shopping with the Thompson sisters, the older one of which was the greatest specimen of girly that Soul knew. This meant that Maka would end up coming back with something frilly. Well, things could be worse, Soul mused. He might have ended up having to accompany them. But no, he ended up baby-sitting the sister pair's OCD Technician.

Speaking of which, Kid was currently strolling around the apartment, most likely looking for something to arrange and then rearrange. Soul would have to stop the raven-haired teen before the other messed with Maka's organization, which the girl would most likely blame on Soul.

"Hey, Kid, don't tinker with the apartment", Soul called to the boy who was studying the bookshelf intently. "Maka will Maka Chop me if she comes back to find the place out of order."

"But I'm putting the place in order", Kid insisted as he turned to give Soul a helpful smile. "That's completely different."

"Yes, but Maka prefers things out of order", Soul spoke. 'Out of your kind of order.' "If you rearrange her things while she's gone, she won't find what she needs anymore."

"But I need something simulating to do", Kid complained and jutted out his bottom lip in a petulant pout that reminded Soul of just how spoiled his friend could at times be, despite how mature and intellectual he tried to act.

"You can arrange my room if you leave Maka's stuff alone", Soul conceded with a sigh. "Come on." He grabbed a hold of Kid's elbow and pulled the other away from Maka's alphabetically arranged books. Soul's own room did not have any order at all; he did not even read his books, so he might as well let Kid play with them. That should keep the Shinigami distracted for a short while.

When Soul brought Kid into his room, it was not the bookshelf that caught the taller boy's attention, but the guitar hanging on the wall. Kid was looking curiously at the instrument before turning a querying gaze towards Soul and asking: "Do you ever play this?"

"I play it for the moon every midnight", Soul grumbled out sarcastically, not appreciating questions like these. He did not like to talk about his playing, or lack of thereof.

"Meaning you don't", Kid murmured and looked back at the guitar. "It's a pity, really, if it's anything like your piano playing." There was genuine sadness in that tone, a wistful tint, that actually had Soul hesitating as he thought. If anyone in Death City could appreciate his music, it was Kid, with his picky nature.

"You can be the judge of that", Soul spoke and walked beside Kid to grab the instrument. "Go sit down and I'll tune this thing." Soul grabbed the guitar and leaped at his desk chair, rotating it around to face the bed before starting to measure the sound each of the guitar strings let out. Kid, in the meanwhile, was seated on the edge of Soul's bed, sliding himself first left and then right and repeating the movement a couple of times as he tried to position himself exactly in the middle. By the time the Shinigami settled down, Soul was finished with his tuning and so the Weapon could start the piece immediately after Kid's attention was on him.

The song Soul chose to play was not one of his brother's; it was his own piece, previously only played in moments of isolation and away from judging ears. But he was still proud of the song, so maybe Kid would like it. It was a leisurely tune, much like both of their personalities, with seemingly spontaneous bouts of speedy notes that still followed a pattern, something that actually reminded Soul of the boy sitting opposite of him.

As his thoughts slipped towards Kid, so did his gaze. He saw a relaxed expression on the usually taunt face and the golden gaze was slightly dazed. But those eyes were still focused, settling on Soul's fingers on the instrument. It was like Kid was not only hearing the music but seeing it too, and it make Soul feel like he was the focus of more attention than he had ever been given before. And that slight upward curl of lips told Soul what Kid thought of his music.

The expression had Soul's own mouth turning into a smile just as Kid's gaze moved upward, settling on the new expression, and Soul's cheeks flushed slightly from embarrassment. But Kid's smile only widened slightly, its enjoyment never changing into anything condescending. That calmed Soul's mind again and the Weapon was able to meet the other's eyes as he grinned.

There was power in music, Soul mused. Within a person's soul it could strengthen the bonds to others, and bring everyone involved to a new level. But this melody was in the world around them, and was making its way into their hearts. And perhaps there was some power in that as well.

The End

Author's Notes: The idea for this story came from episode 14 of the anime, where it's shown that Soul has a guitar in his room. I then remembered how in the manga Soul is very self-conscious about his piano playing and that Kid really appreciated his skills. So then this story was born.

Also, I really consider Kid as needing constant supervision. His weapons work double time as his baby-sitters.