Of Music and Meister Ch 16

Ch 16

Another hot day. Soul guessed it was just Nevada's way of announcing that Summer was on its way. He stood outside beneath the intense sun in the back lot of Shibusen facing a fellow student. She was younger than him, maybe a year or two behind him. He had seen her around the school but she was not in class Crescent Moon so he still wasn't really sure who she was. She had approached him in the hallway while he happened to be without his meister asking him to meet her back here. Now that he was, he wished she would get on with it. She just stood there before him, fidgeting nervously in a very uncool manner. Soul sighed. She wasn't speaking and he wanted to go back inside and find Maka so it was up to him to break the ice.

"You called me out here."

"…"

"… So, what's up?"

"Um… that is… urrr" She mumbled, not making eye contact with him.

"Yeah…" He pressed gently. Cool guys didn't force conversation but he really wanted to finish whatever this was.

"Please be my partner one day!" She blurted out suddenly; shocking Soul and making him lean back slightly from the force or her outburst. Immediately she spun around and ran, yelling back over her shoulder "I'll be waiting!"

Forgetting all about the sun beating down on him, he stood for a few moments, blinking and trying to figure out what had just happened. She had confessed so suddenly it had thrown him off. He honestly felt bad for the poor thing. After all, not all of his fan girls were so brave. He knew she would be expecting a response but he knew he wouldn't give her one. He never did. He had nothing to give them. Nothing to offer the seemingly hundreds of girls who he had no desire for yet whose hearts he'd somehow seduced. His own heart had been stolen by a petite blonde in steel-toed combat boots and to her he would forever be enslaved; even if she didn't know it.

Feeling a little depressed, he wandered through the mostly empty Shibusen hallways to his locker. He sighed again as he turned to face his locker, trying once more to shake the thoughts and feelings dogging him. His locker opened easily but brought him back completely from wherever his mind had wandered as it delivered a stack of love letters which tumbled forth to flop pathetically at his feet *Much like their owners* he thought darkly as he looked at the pile with distain.

This was all he needed! More people who didn't get him yet throwing themselves at him anyway like cats in heat. At least Maka wasn't here to see. He always felt insecure when she saw the letters but after last week's flight training he felt anxiety and even fear about it. She had hinted then that she may leave him, even yelled that she wished she hadn't picked him for a partner. With that in mind it may not be as far fetched as he thought that Maka would see the steady flow of love notes and confessions as a green light to find another partner. Especially if she ever actually got any of the love letters sent to her. For years he had been 'acquiring' the letters from hopeful weapons and 'delivering' them to various shredders and fires but it was beginning to get hard to keep up.

Thankfully, she still had that grudge against men and believed that all men eventually cheat which helped his case some. She did seem to trust him but it was difficult to defend his "I'll never cheat" platform if he constantly had women lusting after him. *Better get rid of these* He thought to himself.

"Hey, neat!" Maka's voice caught him off guard but he kept his cool composure and lazily turned to look at her.

"Maka…" He acknowledged in his usual affectionate way.

"Popular as always." She teased with a sly smile. Soul felt unnerved as well as a strong urge to defend himself.

"They're partner request letters. Popularity's got nothing to do with it…"

"You used to get a lot of letters before, too, but that doesn't begin to compare to the avalanche you're getting now." She observed, causing Soul to feel defensive.

"I'm telling you it's because I've become a Deathscythe, so the number of those approaching me has increased, is all." He said trying to wave it all off as nothing.

"Sheesh…" She responded with obvious exasperation, stopping just short of rolling her eyes at him. She seemed to get what he was trying to do but she also wasn't buying it.

"Ok, let's go home!!" She teased. She slapped him hard in the center of his back causing a seriously uncool yelp to escape his lips and echo down the hallways.

"What was that for?!"

*

"I, too, should be getting application-for-partnership letters since it was I who made you a Deathscythe, After all…" Maka remarked as they walked out into the hot sun. Her words stabbed Soul's heart but he had thought about this and had prepared. It was time to put his plan into action.

"Is that so?" He replied a tad too quickly. He paused for half a second, repaired his cool aura and continued in a bored voice.

"In other words, if someone where to choose a partner, it wouldn't be a girl like you, Maka, with no sex appeal whatsoever… They'd prefer a girl more like… like…" He glanced around looking for the skankiest example he could find. "Like this!" He said gesturing towards the cabaret girls standing at a distance in front of them.

He didn't have to look at her to know her reaction. He could feel waves of doom and imminent Maka-chops coming off her body. *perfect* he mentally congratulated himself. *Step one for keeping Maka – destroy any and all love letters… check. Step two – make her think she's not desirable enough to attract another weapon… check.*

"In other words, all guys need is breasts and asses that are whipped like pudding!" She growled dangerously at him, unknowingly adding to his mental celebration. He was so pleased with himself, he almost missed that the three women standing before them were Blair and the two Chupacabra witches.