The Red Hood : Chapter 5

She was awoken by a quick nudge to her left shoulder, eyes slowly cracking open to reveal a worried Tsubaki. Ignoring the pain in her side, she concentrating on the words the person beside her was saying.

"Maka? Wake Up! Something's happening!" The brunette whispered loudly, her eyes dead set on something in the distance.

Makas' gaze followed her companions, to a small shack about a hundred yards away. A guard toppled out of it, swaying from side to side and singing words that she couldn't understand because of the slurring. He was drunk.

The ale bottle he was holding, spewed its contents all over the dirt ground, as he slowly made his way over to the rusted cage. She recognized the man, his name was Golem.

When he finally reached their position, he grabbed the bars for support, and grinned, showing off his mossy teeth.

"Ya know," he slurred, pointing a chubby finger at Maka, "I don lick you one bit! Your too . . . too," he grabbed his unshaved chin in thought, trying to find the right word, "Ah, I don't know, but your sometin', all right, sometin' I don lick!" Maka wished he could speak properly.

"If I was the boss, I'd have you killed, bu- we ain't supposed to lay a finger on ya!" Golem spat out some kind of brownish liquid.

Maka spoke, "Why can't you hurt us? Everyone else is."

He hiccupped, "Oh, they aint hurtin' ya!" A wicked grin spread across his face, "You don't know what real pain is." He paused, "But your friends will."

A cold chill ran through her spine, as her eyes flickered to Tsubaki. "What do you mean by that?" She whispered.

A menacing, evil laugh escaped his chapped lips, "We know 'bout your doggie friends, and we are purdy sure we know where they are, too!"

Maka held in a gasp, but continued to speak, "I don't know what your talking about."

He ignored what she said, and continued to rant, "We ain't puttin' 'em in no cages though! We'll kill 'em! Skin 'em! And eat 'em for supper!" He bellowed another laugh.

"And you two," continued , "The boss has plans for ye."

He started humming another tune, before stumbling away to his house (Maka guessed) .

Her back hit the bars of the cage, sliding down them to the floor. Tsubaki crawled toward Maka, as she began to speak.

"What are we going to do?" Tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

"We have to warn them." She turned her head toward the brunette.

"How? We are trapped in a cage! We don't even know where the key is! Oh, Maka, I'm so worried! What if they actually do get hurt?"

"Tsubaki."

"What if they are skinned, or eaten? Maybe both!"

"Tsubaki!"

Tears ran down her face, "I can't lose Black*Star! He's all I've got!"

Maka grabbed her shoulders, "Tsubaki!" Their eyes met, "It's going to be all right! I promise, that nothing will happen to them! And, you have me! Tsubaki, do you hear me? You. Have. Me."

*Soul Eater*

Sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep.

Sleep.

That word was all he could think about. But he couldn't sleep, not at a time like this. Maka's missing and he has no idea where she is.

He spreads the map on the tree stump, smoothing it with his fingers, as his eyes run all over it. So many places she could have gone. So many places she could have been taken.

The image kept flashing through his mind of her blood. Her pure blood. Her blood that probably should have never been shed. He should have protected her better, cared for her better, treasured her better.

And now she was gone.

Who knows when he would get to see her again? It was all his fault . . .

No. He couldn't sit here and drown in self pity, when Maka needed him. She saved him from himself, and now it was his turn to save her.

Sleep would have to wait.

*Soul Eater*

She lifted her head out of her arms, and squinted due to the morning sun. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, before getting up and picking various food items the peasants had thrown, for her breakfast.

Her friend woke soon after that, and repeated the process. If this town was going to punish them by starvation, they shouldn't have thrown food at them.

Ignoring the pain that still throbbed in Makas' side, they ate in silence, neither even bothering to throw the other a glance. They just stared at the floor, chewing rhythmically, thinking of ways to escape this horrid place.

Both were too caught up in their own thoughts to notice a bucket of water had been placed inside the cage. The guard who put it there cleared his throat to get his attention.

The girls turned their heads toward his direction as he started to form words in his thick accent, "Clean yourselves up," He threw a couple of rags in the cage, "Make yourselves presentable to the boss, he wouldn't like your stench."

"Wait," Maka began, "Is your 'boss' coming to see us or are we going to see him?"

The guard, obviously a bit slow, pondered over her question before snapping his fingers and replying, "Your going to see him of course! Now, scrub yourselves real well so you don't smell so bad!" He ordered.

What, did he expect for them to smell like roses? They hadn't taken a bath in days! Maka shook her head as the guard went back to his station.

Tsubaki went over to the bucket, and splashed some of the water on her face, making sure to wash all the dirt and grime off. Her eyes wondered to Maka, whose eyes were glazed over in thought.

"Maka? Are you alright? Are you feeling faint again?" She questioned.

Maka tilted her head up, a smile blossoming on her pretty face, "I got it!" She nearly shouted, causing Tsubaki to lean back a bit.

"Um, Got what exactly?"

Maka's eyes glistened with hope as she stared at her friend, "How we can warn the pack! We can save them!"

The brunette formed a smile of her own, 'How?"

"Look, since we're going to see the 'boss', and not him us, guess what the guards are going to have to do?"

The wolf thought for a second, "I don't know, tell me!"

The blonde laughed, "They are going to have to let us out of the cage!"

Tsubaki gasped, "They will! And then we can- wait, that won't work out."

Makas' smile disappeared, "Huh? Why not?"

"Well, there are probably going to be a lot of guards surrounding us, considering that they think we're wolves and all . . ."

Makas face twisted into a slight grimace, "That's why I'll distract them while you'll run . . ."

Tsubaki whipped her head up, "What? That's crazy! I am a wolf, I should be the one whose distracting, while you run-"

"It also means that your faster than me." She cut her off, "If you distract while I run, then they will surely catch up to me, and our whole plan will be ruined. We can't take that risk and you know it."

"But-"

"We will do what's best for the pack, not me. Okay, Tsubaki?"

A minute of silence went by, and the guards started to approach the rusty cage. Tsubaki, finally giving in, gave a small nod of her head, causing Maka to form a weak smile.

"When will I know to run?" Tsubaki asked quietly as the guards approached them.

"You'll know, trust me."

The guard named Aaron, walked up to the gate of the cage.

"Do something for me will you?" Maka whispered to her friend.

"What?"

Tears started to build in Makas' eyes, "Tell Soul that he was the best friend I ever had, and to not forget me."

Tsubaki grabbed one of the blondes shoulders, "You'll tell him yourself, when you get back."

Maka nodded before adding, "And something else."

"Yes?"

"Don't come back for me."

The gate slowly opened, as Maka took out at full speed, landing straight into Aaron, causing him to tumble to the ground, as Maka stood up on top of him.

She kicked another guards shin, and started yelling out insults at all of them. They all turned toward her ,slowly advancing, and had disgusting looks on their faces from her violent words.

Once they guards had their full attention at Maka, Tsubaki ran. In one swift motion she was in her wolf form, paws thudding against the ground, and heart burning like fire.

"Eh?" One of the younger guards shouted, "She's escaping! After her!"

Maka ran toward the young soldier, knocking him down with one brisk kick. Another guard grabbed her waist pulling her toward the ground.

"RUN TSUBAKI!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, "RUN! AND DON'T LOOK BACK!"

The guard kicked at Makas side, trying to get her to be quiet, but it did the opposite. She screamed a blood curdling scream, causing all the guards who were chasing the lone wolf to stop and look to see what happened.

Tears streamed furiously down Tsubaki's face, and loud sobs escaped her lips, before she whispered in the wind,

"Good-bye my friend."