Cousins {Discontinued for now}

Prologue

"On TV or computer"
'Talking'
*thoughts*
~lyrics~
(The day and time skips)
[How many days have passed]
{Peoples prov's}
:AN:
<dream>
#flashback#
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{Maka's prov}

'Hmmm. Let's put this Excalibur book right where Black Star can find it.' Maka Albarn mumbles, placing the book in his section of 'Godly People,' he forced her, as the librarian, to put up. It was mainly so he could have a suitable spot for his autobiography.

He wrote it while Tsubaki and Maka worked at their new job at the library. Both Black Star and Soul had begun to run out of money, of course, as boys do, and automatically turned to their partners for help. It wasn't nearly as boring as she thought. It was especially rewarding when she discovered a new book or got extra time to study and do homework.

*Anyway, I should probably get some homework done,* she thinks sitting down at her desk.

Pulling out her homework, she finds her assignment for Stein. An essay on the ever exquisite Jabberknolls. The Jobberknoll is a small, blue speckled bird that never makes any noise until the moment before it dies. It then lets out a long scream, which consists of every sound it ever heard backward. Absolutely bizarre, in all honesty, but it certainly fit Stein's usual standard of oddness when it came to dissection.

*Professor Stein,* she reminded herself.

She was just about to start on the body diagram when all of a sudden, a strange yet familiar feeling fell across the entirety of the large room. The same feeling, she felt when the unidentified witch released their soul protect a couple of months ago. The real question was:

Why would any being with such magical powers, reveal their soul to, not only a miester who can detect souls but one whom they had done so to recently? It was absolutely idiotic, to say, for lack of better words.

Maka looked across the room with narrowed green eyes, hoping to find a figure that could match such powers. Not only to find the witch but to see if anyone else had noticed. It was then that she realized that the soul was completely different from the one she detected a while ago with Professor Stein. It still had the small touch of- well, she couldn't exactly put a word to describe it, but it was similar to the feeling you get when you feel a snake slithering around your shoulders, an action she regretfully experienced as a child in kindergarten. Cold, sneaky, and powerful. Maka's caution levels went through the roof at this realization. If this witch was as big, powerful, and dangerous as the emerald soul made it seem, she would have no chance of winning a fight against them.

Quickly reaching into her pocket for the small pocket mirror she always kept in the pocket of her long black jacket, Maka took a breath and prepared herself to fog up the little sheet of reflective glass and call Lord Death for reinforcements. She hadn't even opened the mirror compact before a large sound caused her to flinch and lookup.

'Err, sorry for scaring you, Miss...?' A quiet female voice said, coming from the other side of her desk.

Maka looked up to see a small and young girl, appearing no older than five or six, with a mop of black shoulder-length hair and emerald green eyes that resembled her own, peering at her from just over the desk, as that seemed to be just where her head reached.

'Albarn.' Maka supplied, one hand gesturing to the gold plaque on the desk, the other hand still clutching the circular frame with desperation as her heartbeat rang quickly and loudly in her ears like the beat of a drum.

Tsubaki had mentioned this girl several times after her shifts at the library, always mentioning how polite and adorable this young child was. Maka could now say with certainty that she agreed with the level of cuteness, the politeness levels still clouded from the accidental scare.

The unnamed girl started once more.' 'Gain, 'm so sorry. I just wanted to ask you some questions, Miss...Albern.' Her voice was still high pitched from her youth, and she spoke with the eloquence of a well spoke and intelligent child.

Ignoring the slight mispronunciation of her name, Maka said 'Ask away,' and gestured her to begin, still slightly on edge because of the presence of the witch. This girl, who was probably drowning in the over cushioned chairs mere minutes before, needed to be protected. The witch could be within a one-mile radius of Maka's current position, as her precision was off with her lack of sleep, and going on her restricted knowledge on the speed of witches, she had brief time. Stein should be here any minute.

'Okay. Um, what's a birthday? I mean, my cousin Dudley has them all the time. All of his friends too. I was hoping you could tell me what they are and what the point of them are. '

'You're not from around here, are you?' Maka said, ignoring the original question for a brief period of time, no matter how odd it was. The unnamed girl's English (British) descent was easy enough to spot, and being an American, although, with decidedly Japanese origin, the accent was quick to notice.

'Nuh-uh,' Was the odd sound of agreement, followed by a reassuring shake of the head. 'Aunt 'Tunia says it's cause her parents used to lives here or something.'

'Hmm. Anyway, birthday is exactly how it sounds. It's like the anniversary of someone's life. Their birthday. It's often celebrated for attention, but also as a jubilee for someone's birth.' Maka said quickly, then brought the mirror up to her face, cupping it, and then blew on it, causing it to fog up. The small redhead looked confused, but said nothing, before quickly speaking again.

'What's a 'jubilee?''

'A party of sorts. Haven't you celebrated a birthday before?' She reasoned distractedly, smearing her finger across the glass to make out 42- 42- 564 under the table. Death's number. If Professor Stein didn't notice the soul, Lord Death should be notified. Despite the odd and disrespectful ignorance, the little girl looked surprised for a different reason.

'Me? No. Celebrations, parties, those are for normal people. I thought all grownups knew that.'

'Normal people,' Maka repeated, thinking she heard wrong. She waited for Lord Death the response to her call.

'Yeah. Well, thank you!' The unnamed girl said and starts to walk away.

'Wait!' Maka needed to know who this girl was. Tsubaki would kill her otherwise. The said girl turned around to look at her.

'What's your name?' The ravenette looked puzzled for a moment at the blonde but recovered with a smile with holes of missing teeth.

'My name is Harry.'

Exiting the library, Maka wrote the girl's name on a sticky note before looking down at the remains of her homework, then looking at the mirror.

Damn. Death didn't answer.