Best Way Not to Get Your Heart Broken

Chapter Twelve - Admitting

Soul wasn't surprised when Maka finally gathered up the courage to ask about the room she wasn't allowed to enter.

Hell, he'd expected it. Her curiosity was ridiculous and she was one of them people that just had to know everything. It pissed him off but what could he do? Risk getting his in the cranium with a hardback? No thanks.

Ironically, it was the day after he'd went in there on that day. It was Soul's turn to cook and Maka, as usual, was impatient and bounced annoyingly on her heels and she waited in the door frame, whining that she was hungry while Soul scolded her with a roll of his eyes.

"Jeez, what are you five?" he mumbled as he stirred the rice to keep it from burning at the bottom of the pan.

"No, I'm wasting away!" she moaned childishly, drawing a groan from Soul.

"Ugh," he turned the hob and faced Maka, his eyes stern. He pointed at her. "You - Get out. Men only." He gestured to the living room and shooed her away as he turned around, leaving the rice to cool and he pulled out the vegetables.

But Maka didn't leave. As she went to exit the room her eyes unintentionally landed on the neglected door beside her own. Curiosity gnawed in her stomach and the question echoed in her mind. Slowly, she turned slowly on her heels to make her way back into the kitchen to rest her palms on the table that separated herself and Soul.

"Hey..." she began slowly, her voice cautious. Soul, not being used to her careful manner of speaking turned around to face her slowly, his eyes suspicious.

"What?" he drawled, his drooping crimson eyes narrowing into slits as Maka eyed him like a science project.

The words caught in her throat before she asked. Soul rolled his eyes and went to turn his back again when she finally uttered out the question that played in her mind.

"What's in that stupid room?" she blurted, not missing how Soul's shoulders visibly stiffened. She cringed.

"Hmm?" he offered lamely as his hands clenched to fists on the counter top. Yeah, he expected this. He also assumed he'd find a way out of this. But now it was finally happening he was coming up blank.

Maka narrowed her own eyes and circled the table to stand beside him, eyeing him warily.

"I'm... curious." She began, squinting her eyes as she looked at his clenched jaw, his eyes hidden by his bangs as he hung his head. "I thought about how you gave us no... reason. You didn't tell me or Tsu why we couldn't go in that room, all you said was that we couldn't. Then I realised. Soul, I don't know anything about you," she tilted her head up to look at him closer as he winced.

"You know everything about me. My likes, hobbies, dislikes, my past." She shook her head. Soul gritted his teeth. "And yet, I can't name one thing I know about you. It's jus-"

"What do you want me to say, Maka?" he asked suddenly, his voice louder than he intended. He turned to face her, his red eyes ablaze. Maka fell a step back and narrowed her eyes.

"The truth," she replied, frowned when Soul barked a laugh.

"There's nothing to tell. My family were just normal people. They work a lot so I don't hear much from them but we catch up every now and again."

Maka didn't miss the strain in his voice. Her eyes narrowed into slits. "You're lying," she accused.

It was hopeless. She knew him too well. She'd been with him, what, 5 weeks now? 6? And she knew him more than anyone, and he her. How could he expect to keep this from her?

Didn't mean he wouldn't try though.

"I don't want to talk about it." He said in a taut voice.

"Too bad."