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Chapter 2 Shinigami’s First Kiss part 1
The weather outside was fantastic: with the laughing sun perfectly aligned high in the sky and a number of clouds drifting lazily about the sky, all was perfect in the young Shinigami’s eyes. Kid, Liz, and Patti strolled to Shibusen, the school for meisters and weapons established by Shinigami-sama so many years ago.
“Ah, what a wonderfully symmetrical day it is,” Kid observed.
Liz looked up at the sky and smiled. “Yeah, today is pretty nice, isn’t it?” she said.
The three began to walk up the stairs but suddenly were interrupted by a ground-shaking thud.
“What the hell was that?” Liz shouted.
“It came from the school!” Kid said, and he took off running toward the school. Liz and Patti followed not too far behind.
They reached the top of the stairs only to find their view blocked by a crowd. Kid began to push his way through, Liz and Patti behind him. The trio finally managed to reach the front of the crowd and discover the cause of the commotion: the blue- and spiky-haired ninja Blackstar.
“Yo ho! It is I, Blackstar, the man who will surpass god! I am here to announce that I have done it again!” he shouted. The trio stood before the crowd, dumbfounded.
“What exactly has he done again?” Liz asked. She turned to Kid and was taken aback by the expression on his face. She recognized that tell-tale look of horror: Kid only made that face when something was horribly asymmetrical. While Liz tried to figure out the source of his concern, Patti looked in Blackstar’s direction and noticed that he was standing on something odd.
“Hey, Sis, does that thing Blackstar is standing on look familiar to you?” she asked. Liz and Kid looked under Blackstar’s feet and saw a large red spike with a piece of broken metal on it. Kid’s jaw dropped.
“Don’t tell me that’s…” Liz looked at the top of the school and saw the damage. Blackstar was standing on the same red spike that he had broken on Kid’s first day at Shibusen -- the same one that had provoked Kid into fighting him. Liz looked back and found Kid shaking.
“Now, Kid, just calm down,” Liz said, but her words never reached his ears.
“BLACKSTARRR!” Kid shouted, running toward him.
The shout got Blackstar’s attention. He looked down to see Kid below him and flashed a toothy grin.
“Morning, Kid!”
“Don’t you, “morning, Kid,” me! Get down here right now!” Kid replied angrily. Blackstar jumped off the spike and landed before Kid.
“Hey, Kid, have you come bear witness to my greatness?” he asked.
“Greatness… greatness?! You’ve ruined the school’s symmetry once again! This is the third time you've done it! It would be slightly better if it the tenth time but that’s not the point. Why must you keep destroying its symmetry?” Kid asked.
“Foolish Kid! My godly greatness is more important that your symmetry,” Blackstar said, laughing. Kid stared at him for a second, his eyebrow twitching, then grabbed his collar and began shaking him violently.
“You stupid star! You are not more important than symmetry!” Kid seethed. As this continued, some of the crowd began to disperse, leaving just Liz, Patti, and Tsubaki. Liz covered her face with her hands while Patti rolled around on the ground, laughing madly. Tsubaki watched the scene, slightly embarrassed.
“I’m so sorry that Blackstar is causing trouble again,” Tsubaki said to Liz.
“No, it’s okay. If it’s not him, it’s Kid,” Liz said.
“Morning!” came a voice from behind. Liz and Tsubaki turned around to see Maka, Soul, and Crona.
“Good morning!” Tsubaki said with a smile.
“What’s going on with those two?” Soul asked, pointing to Kid and Blackstar.
Liz sighed. “You know, the usual. Blackstar wrecked the school’s 'precious symmetry' and Kid, of course, freaked out about it." She turned to face the boys. "Hey, Kid! You can stop shaking Blackstar now! I think he’s passed out.”
Kid stopped and, seeing Blackstar’s spirit was leaking out, abruptly dropped him. As Soul walked over to greet Kid, Patti, wiping tears from her eyes, noticed something odd.
“Hey, Maka, why does Soul have a lump on his head?” she asked. Maka closed her eyes and frowned.
“He... insulted my cooking,” she answered.
“I thought that your cooking was pretty good, Maka,” Crona said.
Maka stopped frowning and smiled. “Thank you, Crona!”
“That’s total bullshit!” Ragnarok shouted, appearing out of Crona. “Stop lying, Crona! The bitch’s cooking sucked!”
“What did you just say?” Maka asked, glaring.
“You heard me! Your cooking sucks!” Ragnarok replied. Maka hastily grabbed out one of her books and chucked it at him, but missed.
“Man! Not only does your cooking suck, but so does your aim!” Ragnarok gleefully exclaimed.
“Maka, calm down,” Tsubaki said, but Maka didn’t hear her. She charged at Ragnarok, but he pulled himself and Crona out of the way at the last second, then got behind Maka and shoved her in the direction of the boys. Soul was helping Blackstar off of the ground as Kid turned away, rubbing his eyelids in irritation.
“Kid, watch out!" Liz shouted. Kid lowered his hands and opened his eyes only to see Maka a body’s length away from him. At that moment time seemed to slow down as Maka’s face got closer to Kid’s. He tried to make a gesture to catch her, but it was too late, Maka’s lips touched Kid’s. Their eyes grew wide at contact. They quickly pulled away from each other, looking bewildered.
“Oh my god! I just kissed Kid!” Maka thought.
“Maka just kissed me!" Kid echoed in his thoughts.
Kid and Maka’s eyes slowly shifted to the others. Soul’s eyes were as big as saucers and his jaw had dropped. The look on Blackstar's face screamed, “What the hell just happened?” Liz mirrored Soul’s shocked expression, Patti looked like a deer in headlights, and Tsubaki was blushing slightly. Crona just kept looking back and forth at the two of them.
“I really hope nobody else saw that!” they both thought at the same time.
But unfortunately for them much of the student body, still lingering from Blackstar's spectacle earlier, had clearly seen what had happened. Kid and Maka faced the other students and the students facing them, the entire school yard silent.
Suddenly a voice from the crowd shouted, “Oh my god! Maka Albarn just kissed Death the Kid!" The silence was swiftly replaced with loud chatter.
“Wait! It wasn’t a kiss!” Maka said.
“That’s right! It was merely an accident!” Kid added, but no one was listening. Everyone seemed to be in their own respective groups, discussing the kiss. Some people even left to go tell others about it.
“I think it’s time that we get out of here, Kid,” Liz suggested, as she and Patti began to push in him away.
“Good idea!” Soul said, grabbing Maka’s arm and pulling her forward. Both groups went in different directions. Blackstar and Tsubaki followed Maka and Soul, but Crona decided to follow Kid (as it was after all Ragnarok’s fault for causing the accident).
“It’ll be okay, Maka." Tsubaki said. "Things will probably blow over before class starts.”
However, Tsubaki’s optimism was for naught. Word travels fast in a school full of teenagers. As Maka’s group walked through the halls on their way to class, people would stop what they were doing to shoot glances at her. Occasionally, Maka could even hear people whispering about the incident.
“Did ya hear Maka kissed Kid?”
“Yeah, she was all over him!”
“Really?! I heard it was the other way around and Kid was coming on to her!”
Maka closed her eyes and let out a long, exasperated sigh. “I can’t believe that this is happening.”
“Maka!” a voice called out. Maka turned around to see Kim running toward her, Jackie in tow.
“What’s going on, Kim?” Maka asked.
“Is it true that Kid kissed you and then proposed to you?” Kim asked loudly. Several students nearby heard this and began to discuss these new developments.
Maka and Soul both flared up. “What?! No!”
“Kim, that’s not what happened,” Tsubaki said.
“This is getting out of hand,” Soul said.
“How could this possibly get any worse?” Maka asked. The intercom suddenly came on with a loud screech.
“MAKAAA!” Everyone else covered their ears, but Maka could only stand dumbfounded with a horrified look on her face. She knew that voice very well -- the voice of her father, Spirit Death Scythe Albarn.
When Spirit again spoke, his words were wracked by sobs. “Maka... my poor baby... whyyy!” he cried out.
Maka took off running in the opposite direction. Soul started to go after her, but Tsubaki grabbed his arm.
“I think we should let Maka handle this by herself,” she said with a gentle smile.
“Alright,” Soul said reluctantly. Tsubaki let go of his arm and continued walking with Blackstar, Kim, and Jackie. Soul took one last glance in the direction Maka had ran off to, then turned and followed Tsubaki to the classroom.
Meanwhile in the Death Room, Spirit was curled up on the floor next to the intercom system, sobbing. Shinigami-sama stood beside him, trying (in vain) to console him.
“Now, now, Spirit, this is all probably just a misunderstanding,” he said.
“My baby’s been tainted!” Spirit wailed, covering his face.
Hurried footsteps and the door slamming open announced Maka's arrival. “Will you cut that out!” she shouted, and pulled out a dictionary. “Maka chop!” She swiftly brought the dictionary down upon Spirit’s head.
Spirit recoiled from the blow, a dent in his head, and Shinigami-sama took this opportunity to shut off the intercom. Spirit looked up from the ground to find his daughter glaring at him. Tears filled his eyes, but a second later they flared with anger. He jumped up from the ground and towered over Maka.
“Who’s the bastard who tainted you?” he demanded.
“I wasn’t tainted!” Maka shouted.
“It was that Soul, wasn’t it?”
“No, it wasn’t Soul!”
“Soul or not, whoever it was, when I find him, I'm gonna kill him!” Spirit shouted, extending his scythe blades.
“For the love of Shinigami-sama! It was Kid! And it was just an accident!”
“I don’t care if it was Kid. I’m still going to ki--” Spirit stopped, registering Maka’s words. The three stood in silence for a moment.
“Maka, could you please repeat that?” Spirit asked.
“It was Kid and it was just an accident,” Maka said flatly.
“Do tell us what happened,” Shinigami-sama said.
“We were in the school yard. Ragnarok was making fun of my cooking. I got angry and tried to hit him, but he pushed me into Kid and... we kind of kissed,” Maka tried desperately to hide the blush appearing on her face.
“You see, Spirit, it was all simply a misunderstanding,” Shinigami-sama said.
Spirit retracted his blades. "Well, at least it was Kid and not that Soul,” he said, venom dripping from his words at the mention of Soul’s name.
All of the way across the school in the Crescent Moon class, Soul was sitting at his desk when a chill ran up his spine.
Blackstar noticed him shaking. “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t know. This is the second time this has happened in the last few minutes,” Soul answered.
“Maybe you’re sick or something?”
“You know, somehow I don’t think that’s it.”
Back in the Death Room, Maka asked, “Now that you know what happened, may I go?”
“First let me discuss a few things with you, Maka,” Spirit said.
“Oh, here we go,” Maka said, rolling her eyes.
“Even though it was an accident, you shouldn’t be kissing boys all willy nilly like that,” Spirit said. He glanced at Shinigami-sama and continued, “By the way, when you see Kid tell him to watch his back.”
“Shinigami chop!” Shinigami-sama shouted and chopped Spirit over the head. Spirit collapsed to the ground, and Shinigami-sama turned to Maka. “You head on to class now, and I'll take care of this idiot.”
“Thank you, Shinigami-sama. Have a nice day,” she said, turning to dash to class.
“You too!” he replied, waving. He glanced at the unconscious Spirit, then shook his head and faced the mirror. “I wonder what Kid is doing?" he wondered aloud.
Maka shortly arrived outside the Crescent Moon classroom and reached for the doorknob, but paused and took a deep breath. “Alright, Maka, if anyone says anything, just ignore it.”
She opened the door. As soon as Maka entered the room, the chattering ceased. All eyes turned to Maka. Her gaze drifted over to Kid, who made eye contact with her. They stared at each other for a moment, both blushing slightly, before they each looked away. The whispers started again. Kim, Jackie, Crona, and Tsubaki approached Maka from their seats.
“Maka, Tsubaki told me everything. Sorry for jumping to conclusions like that,” Kim said.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“Kid’s been getting an onslaught of questions while you were gone,” Jackie said.
“He’s managed to convince a few of them that it was an accident, but as you can see some aren’t so easily swayed,” Tsubaki said.
“Maka,” Crona said, her voice hitching. “I’m sorry for causing this mess.”
Maka just smiled. “This isn’t your fault Crona,” she said sincerely, and Crona returned the smile. “The only one that should be blamed, really, is that idiot partner of yours.”
“What did you say, you ugly girl?” Ragnarok exclaimed, bursting out of Crona.
Maka placed her hands on her hips and stared Ragnarok in the face. “You heard me!”
Tsubaki took the liberty of getting between them. “Calm down, you two. We don’t want a repeat of this morning, do we?" she asked, looking to Maka.
“You’re right. I don’t need anymore rumors spreading about me," Maka said, backing down.
“Excuse me, but I do need to get into the room,” said a voice from behind. The girls turned around to see Professor Stein. Only then did they realize they were blocking the door.
“Sorry, Professor Stein!” they said and returned to their seats. Stein entered the room, pulling behind him a cart covered in dissection trays, kits, and covered cages. He took his time getting situated, allowing the students to puzzle over what the cages contained.
Finally, he looked up and smiled. “Good morning, class!” he said pleasantly.
“Good morning, Professor Stein,” the students replied.
“We are going to dissect something special today,” Stein said.
“Special? What do you mean, special?” Ox Ford asked.
“How about I just show you?” Stein's smile suddenly took on a more devious quality. He grabbed the drape covering one of the large cages and ceremoniously unveiled the contents.
The class gasped.
“Is that really a...?” Soul began, trailing off in disbelief.
“Yes, I think it is,” Maka said.
Inside the cage was an American Bald Eagle, looking quite ruffled. The class was shocked.
“We can’t dissect a bald eagle! They’re endangered!” Jackie said.
“More importantly how did you get that? I'm sure you would have to go through all sorts of legal proceedings to obtain it," Harvar said. "And I really doubt that someone would give up an endangered species for dissection purposes.”
“I have proof!” Stein said, sounding a bit offended. He pulled a sealed document from his lab coat and tossed it at Kid.
“Tch! It’s probably fake!” Liz said.
“He probably stole the eagle from somewhere,” Soul added. The class muttered in agreement to Liz and Soul’s explanations.
Kid opened the document. As he read it, his eyes grew wide.
“What is it, Kid?” Kilik asked.
“It’s... legit!”
“What?!” Outrage flared among the class again.
“But why would you want to dissect a bald eagle?” Crona asked.
“Why not? I mean, just look at it,” Stein said, approaching the bird cage. The eagle eyed Stein nervously as he drew nearer. “Inside this eagle is such information that people have yet to discover,” Stein said, a smile spreading across his face. The eagle looked desperately from side to side. “And the only way to get this information is to cut it open and examines its internal organs,” Stein concluded, the grin growing wider. The eagle flapped its large wings in the cage, wanting to escape.
“Why not? I’ll tell you why not," Maka said. "Not only is it the national bird of the United States but it's endangered to boot!”
“Furthermore it is a godly bird that will live in my kingdom after I surpass God,” Blackstar declared.
“We simply won’t dissect the eagle,” Maka said.
“You don't want to see the glorious insides of this majestic creature?” Stein asked.
“No!” the class yelled.
“Alright, alright! None of you can take a joke. You’re not dissecting eagles; you’re dissecting ducks,” Stein said, and covered the eagle’s cage, almost disappointed. The class sighed in relief.
“Listen for your groups for the dissection,” Stein said, pulling out a list. Ignoring the students' groans, he began to read. “Kilik and Kim; Tsubaki and the pots; Ox and Jackie; Blackstar and Harvar; Hiro and Crona; Soul, Liz, and Patti; Kid and Maka--”
“Uh," Kid began, interrupting Stein, "Professor Stein, I don’t think that such a good idea,” Kid said.
“I don’t see a problem. You’re both on the same team,” Stein said, staring blankly at Kid.
“Things are a bit... complicated,” Maka added.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I don't really care. But if you two don’t do this experiment, you’ll both get zeros. You don’t want that, do you?” Stein asked.
“No,” Kid and Maka both replied, dropping their heads in defeat.
“All right then, everyone, get into your groups and begin the dissection. I’ll return in a few minutes,” Stein said, and left the room. Everyone started getting out of their seats, except for Kid and Maka.
“Everything will be okay,” Tsubaki said quietly as she passed Maka's desk. Maka didn't look up. As everybody formed their groups, she and Kid were still rooted to their seats.
Several moments passed. Finally, Kid slowly stood up and sat in the empty seat next to Maka. There was an awkward silence, during which they did not look at each either.
“We should probably start on the experiment,” Kid suggested.
“...yeah.” Maka nodded shortly. The silence persisted. Suddenly, Kid and Maka both jumped up from their seats.
“I’ll go get the equipment!” they said in unison. The pair stopped, looked at each other, and realized they had both said the same thing.
“It’s all right, I’ll go get the equipment,” Kid said.
“No, I’ll go!”
“Really, its fine!” Kid said as he left the desks and headed for the equipment.
“No, it’s not fine!” she said, slightly annoyed. Stubbornly, she followed him.
“Both of us don't need to go, so just wait at the desk!”
“Then why don’t you go--?” Maka didn't finish her sentence as she suddenly tripped over Blackstar's foot, carelessly stuck out in the aisle.
“Oh no, not again!” she thought as she fell forward. Before Kid could even fully turn around, Maka fell on him.
They both yelped as they hit the floor, and, unsurprisingly, their outbursts caught the attention of the entire class.
Maka pushed herself up and came suddenly face to face with Kid. She felt a slight blush color her cheeks. Kid opened his eyes only to find the blushing Maka over him, and felt his own face grow warm.
The room was unusually quiet, Maka noticed. She looked back to see her classmates staring at the two of them, not with amusement but with shock. Soul stared as well, and Maka noticed that his shock even seemed tinged with anger. Avoiding their stares, she looked back at Kid, but then realized the position they were in. She hastily separated herself from Kid and dusted herself off, blushing even more.
“Wow, way to go, Maka! First you kiss Kid and now you try to seduce him with your body!” a boy named Davis said, snickering.
“With what little body she has!” another boy named Will said. Several of the classmates started laughing, while the few who weren’t laughing remained silent. Hurt by the cruel laughter, Maka lowered her head in shame.
“Maka, I’m sor--” Kid tried to apologize, but he was quickly interrupted.
“Why didn’t you go back like I asked?” Maka turned and faced him angrily, actually shaking. She grabbed a dissection tray from a nearby desk, and Kid’s eyes grew wide as she raised it above her head.
“Kid, you idiot!” she shouted, tears in her eyes.
“Maka, wait!” Kid said, taking a step backward, but it was too late. Maka hit Kid on the head with the tray, and the laughter in the room ceased. Kid went down like a pair of socks.
“Kid!” Liz and Patti jumped out of their seats and dashed to Kid's side. Maka tossed the tray to the floor and ran to the door. Just then, Stein returned and opened the door, but Maka ran past him without a word. Crona and Tsubaki got out of their seats and also ran past Stein.
“I'm sorry, Professor!” Tsubaki called over her shoulder to a rather confused Stein.
“Man, that girl is a violent one,” Davis said.
“Seriously-- ow!” Will began, when both boys were suddenly smacked one the back of their heads. It was Kim and Jackie, acting in unison.
“That was uncalled for,” Jackie said.
“Yeah! Grow up you jerks!” Kim said. She and Jackie turned around, and marched past Stein and out the door.
Stein watched them go, still confused, then turned to the survey the remainder of his class. He found Kid unconscious on his floor, a dented dissection tray lying next to him. He wasn't a fool; he put two and two together and surmised most of what had occurred. He sighed and began to slowly turn the screw in his head.
“Class is... dismissed, so I can figure out what exactly is going on here,” Stein said. Several of those left in the room cheered and started to leave.
Kilik approached Ox and Harvar at their desks. “Should we go after Maka?” he asked.
“No, I think we should let the girls handle it. Let’s help Liz and Patty get Kid to the infirmary,” Ox said.
“Hey, Blackstar! Soul! Help us out with Kid!” Kilik said as he and the other two boys headed down the steps. Blackstar got up from his seat to join the others, leaving Soul by himself to think about what had just happened.
“I do feel bad for Kid... but why I am happy that Maka hit him?” he wondered.
“Soul!” Kilik returned and knocked loudly on his desk, pulling him from his thoughts. “Are you going to help or not?”
“Oh, right. Coming!”
To be continued…