Life and Death

The Funeral.

Fifteen minutes later, she was hearing her friends talking. Maybe they would forgive her for running away like that. She heard a knock on the door. "It's me." she got up immediately to open the door to her childhood friend. "Hey" BlackStar said, closing the door behind him. "Hey" she said back, then looked at him. "I know it hurts you too. You don't have to act so tough with me." she said. He sighed sadly. "She was a nice person in all ways, Maka. She was nice with everybody." he told her, she nodded. "She loved you so much, BlackStar, like her own son." Maka said honestly. And it was true. Kami loved that blue-haired guy's way of thinking. She loved how he would never ever lose the faith on himself. How he would always try his best to get whatever he wanted. He always thought he was the best, and she admired that. Nowadays he was exactly the same person as he was. "Yeah. She was like my mother. Sometimes I wonder if I would be the same if I hadn't had someone like her." he looked down. "Spirit told me to go to the funeral." he said. "Great. At least I don't have to go through it alone." Maka stated. Yeah, BlackStar should be there. "Don't worry. The all mighty BlackStar is here." he said, but not in a loud voice as always, but a tired and sad one. He was so sad. Maka walked towards him and gave him a hug. He hugged her tiny waist tightly, feeling better of the touch of her sister. He considered Maka her little annoying sister. He pulled back, and messed her hair.
She put her tongue out at him, and theu both chuckled at their silliness."You can go outside whenever you feel like it." he offered. Maka nodded, and watched as her brother left the room.

Maka didn't leave the room during all Tuesday. She couldn't find the strength to stand up. Sometimes Soul would come and force her to eat, but she would bury her face on the pillow and sob. He would leave her food on her room, but she wouldn't eat. It was 16:00 and she hasn't eat anything. She stood in her bed, thinking about her mother, about how caring and loving she was. About how much she wanted to be like her. Maka wanted to become the best meister and she wanted her mama to witness it. But no. Some asshole had to hit her car with his truck. Every time she thought of it, she felt like throwing up, and it stopped her from eating. Soul appeared on her room again. "Maka. You have to be starving, you haven't eat anyhting during all day. You have to eat." he demanded. She looked at him with sad eyes. She gave him an I'd-prefer-to-die glance. Soul sighed as her face came back to her pillow. "I know it's hard, okay? I know it's not easy for you. But you are starting to worry me. I know you are sad and I understand it, but don't let it get to you this hard. Please, try to be strong. For me?" He pleaded. 'For me?' those words were the ones that made Maka think. She was sad and depressed, but she hated making her partner worry. She tried her best to sit up, and Soul smiled. He gave her a soup, and she looked at it. "Please?" he said. Maka looked at his eyes. He was so worried for her well-being, she could see it. She took the soup. Soul watched her as she started to eat it slowly. "You know, your eyes still remind me of mint." he said, smiling. "Yours still remind me of strawberries." she confessed. Man, this soup was so good, or maybe it was that she was starving and she would have eaten anything. Maka remembered when he first said that to her, being little kids. "Woah, is that a smile?" he said surprised. She was smiling slightly at the memory of them meeting for the first time. Soul smiled back, proud that he was able to make her smile in a time like this, but her smile faded slowly. "I saw that man again. On my dream." she said. He thought for a moment, he realized she was talking about the man who was standing on the front door in that party, the party when they first met. "What happened?" he asked. "He said, 'life asked death, 'why do people love me, but hate you?'' and then he asked if I knew the answer. I said no, and then he just... disappeared. I think I'm going nuts." she joked, and Soul chuckled. "Seriously!" she chuckled. "I'm pretty sure it'll make sense soon. You're smart, you'll figure it out." he said, Maka finished her soup and put it back on her nightstand. "Thank you, Soul." she said honestly, putting her hand on his. Her eyes watered a little. He smiled, squeezing her hand. "It's okay." he assured her. Maka felt safe and protected, having him by her side.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Tsubaki asked again. It was sad seeing BlackStar on a black suit and a sad face. "I told you I'm okay. I have to go, I'll be late." he said, not wanting to talk. Tsubaki hugged him, tightly. Those kind of hugs that make you feel better. He hugged her back, then pulled away, sighing deeply. "Give Maka my condolences." Tsubaki said. He nodded, then left for Kami's funeral.
There wasn't a lot of people there. Spirit, Stein, Lord Death, Miss Marie, and the rest of the death scythes. They were all Kami's friends, since she made Spirit a death scythe, she met the others and made friends with them. They all looked so sad, and some of them were crying. There were also several people he didn't exactly know. His gaze followed the place until it stopped on a girl standing up on the top of the stairs. Spirit said something to her, and she answered back, but he couldn't hear anything. Then, Spirit entered the place were they were gonna make the funeral, but she stayed there. BlackStar climbed up the stairs, until he reached her and he stood next to her. "Hey" he said.
"I can't bring myself to go in there. I just can't." Maka answered, her eyes glued to the floor. He sighed.
"I know. I hate funerals too. But we have to do this, for your mom." he said. Maka sighed, and started walking. BlackStar followed her as she watched every face on the place, until they sat on the second row. She glanced at her right, and her body went numb. He was here. The man was here. He wore a black suit, his brown hair was on a perfect quiff and his blue eyes were sad. Maka couldn't stop staring at him until her friend touched her arm, calling her. "You okay?" he asked. She nodded, then looked again at him. 'Oh, now I got you.' she thought. She was definitely going to talk to him when this was over. She was going to discover who he was. She was going to resolve the mistery of the man. And now there was no way he could escape. The funeral started, and Maka let out lots and lots of tears. The way the talked about her, made her remember how honest and joyful she was. She saw as the all mighty BlackStar let out a tear too. He was crying. She had never seen him crying, not even when they were kids and he would fall from the treehouse, which had a considerable height.
No, he didn't cry back then, but he cried now. She held his hand, letting him now that it was okay to cry. He squeezed it and smiled a little. The funeral finished, as she sighed, drying her last tear and standing up to go to the place where she was going to be buried. She made sure The Man was going to be there, always keeping an eye on him. Yeah, he stayed there. Maka watched the coffin descending and Spirit sobbed next to her. "Goodbye, Mama." she whispered.

"Wait right here, okay? I have to do something." Maka told BlackStar, who nodded gave her thumbs up. She walked fast towards the man, doubting. What was she going to say? This may be the only opportunity she has to talk to him. She was going for it. Maka approached him, and she tapped his shoulder. "Excuse me" she said. The Man turned around. "Yes?" he answered. His eyes were full of something she couldn't tell. Maka was good at telling how people were feeling by looking at their eyes, like back on the funeral when she saw his eyes full of sadness. But now... "Um, I'm Maka Albarn." she said, her voice shaking. 'Snap out of it!' her mind told her. "I know. I'm Kai Etsuko." He shook her hand. Kai. Well now she knew his name. "You know?" she asked. Of course he knew who she was. "I've been looking foward to meet you." he said. "Perhaps we've already met, Sir." she said, in the same confident, sassy tone as him. He smiled, knowing she wasn't playing games. "Your mother was a great person. So strong and beautiful." he said honestly. "I know. How did you meet her?" Maka asked. He looked at her, sadness on his eyes again. "You think you are ready to know that, Maka? There's a lot you don't know." he said. Maka frowned. He was hiding something? of her mama? now she wanted to know. She sat next to him on a bench. He didn't look sassy anymore, he looked sad, like he was going to do something he didn't want to do. He pulled put three folded papers before start talking.
"I met yout mother eighteen years ago. I was a nineteen-year-old guy who didn't give a crap about anything in live. One day I met a girl at a little party. She had blonde hair and grey eyes. She was beautiful, and she had a great personality. The only downside was that she was getting married in one week, with a death scythe. I was surprised because she was so young, but she told me she loved him and that she didn't want to wait. But we still hung out several times after that, as friends." then he stopped. He didn't want to talk anymore. "But that's not the end of the story, is it?" Maka asked. He shook his head, and he gave her the papers. "I'd like you to read these when you're alone, and you'll figure out the rest." he said, and stood up. "Kai" Maka called. "You can't leave! I mean, how do I know we'll never meet again? maybe you'll run away." "I don't think so, Maka. I can't leave you." he said. Her eyes widened. What did he just say? "Why?" she asked. She was facing his back, as he put his hands on his pockets and sighed deeply. "'Because I'm a painful truth, and you're a beautiful lie.'" and with that, Kai walked away.