A little of the why behind this little bit o' writing
Mostly it's due to watching a lot of Soul Eater anime lately. Just discovered it! Good stuff... I like it a lot better than the manga, actually. It just seems to do a good job of breathing life into the characters and it also takes out a lot of the 'pantie' shots of the girls, which I can always do without :)

So this is a bit of a diversion from my usual writing but it was really itching at my brain, so I thought I'd get it out 'on paper' and share it. It might be a lot like other fics about Stein and Spirit meeting, who knows? Not I, because I still haven't gone digging through Soul Eater fics, but I intend to. I'm sure people will let me know with their yawns in reviews =D If there is some positive reaction, I might continue on with this in public. If not, I'll keep it to myself. (Edit: As it turns out I received enough contact about this that I've continued to publish)

Enjoy?

"Hey, what are you all talking about?" He had found a group of kids gathered, chatting amongst themselves in whispers out in the quad of the school between classes.

"Albarn. C'mere." One of them broke out of the circle to bring him in on it, "There's a new kid. He came today. We heard he's crazy and he looks totally creepy."

"Huh? You saw him?"

"I did! He's skinny and pale lookin' with creepy eyes."

"I heard he killed some kids at his last school."

Gasps came as the kids in the circle kept upping the ante with this new kid's supposed weird-factor.

"Sounds like you guys are full of crap." Spirit scoffed at last and everyone stared at him with gaping mouths.

"Whhhaaaaa?"

"It's all rumors and imagination. There's no one as scary as all that in the world. Chickens." He made a face and gave one of the closest boys a friendly shrug before heading off to his next class.

"You'll be sorry when you end up getting eaten, stupid!"

"Blah blah blah. I'm so scared! Ha ha ha hahahaha!"

The rumors continued to swirl around for the next couple days, but everywhere he went there were only grandiose descriptions of the new kid. He never caught a glimpse of him, and he started to doubt that there really was any new kid at Shibusen. Out in the hallway he heard more kids talking about it and laughed, pulling on his sneakers to go out and play soccer for a while with friends that he had to tell to shut up and play. It was all getting really stupid as far as he was concerned and he had better things to do than listen to all this… mostly checking out the cute girls that were watching them play.

"Albarn! Get over here!" He heard and stopped chasing the ball.

"Huh?"

"You're being asked for. Hurry up!"

"Ooookay…" He shrugged and jogged off the field over to the student teacher of their class, "What's up, Sid?"

"That's 'sensei' to you."

"So you've got a little title. You don't have to get all serious about it."

"Yeah, I do. It's important."

"What's going on, anyway?" He fell into step as they headed toward the main school building.

"Shinigami-sama wants to see you."

"Me? What for? What'd I do?" His heart started to hammer in his chest more than it had from running around.

"Calm down… Seems like they found you a meister at last."

"What? Seriously?" He grinned, skipping a few steps at the notion.

"Yep. Seems so. There's finally someone that has a compatible wavelength with you. I thought it'd never happen, personally."

"Hey! Shut up! There's nothing wrong with my wavelength! I'm just… unique!"

"Right. You're unique, all right." Sid laughed at him.

"Tell me she's cute… She has to be cute." He clasped his hands in prayer, "I want a cute, sweet meister. Preferably blond. I'd be like putty in her lovely little hands."

"Uh huh… Just keep quiet and try to be respectful for a change."

"I'm always respectful of Shinigami-sama."

Once they were inside the mirror, they both bowed down to the head of the school, the Shinigami responsible for North America.

"I've brought Spirit Albarn as requested, Shinigami-sama."

"Yo! How's it going, Spirit-kun?"

Even if the dark god's tone was always casual an upbeat, Spirit didn't mistake that for thinking the guy was anything less than he was and it still made him nervous.

"I… It's going fine, thanks."

"Oh, you're in shorts!"

"I was playing soccer, sir."

"So nice and a nice day for it too… Did Sid-kun tell you why you're here?"

"He mentioned you'd found me a meister?"

"Ho ho! It wasn't easy, but yes! Are you excited?"

"Yeah!" He clapped his hands over his mouth and bowed again to apologize for his outburst, "Sorry…"

"It's good to be excited. You're young, after all."

Sid had gone off somewhere, leaving Spirit alone with the death god and bursting with questions. Finally, he'd be able to be paired and be able to fight. It was all very exciting.

"Spirit-kun?" The death god tilted its upper body, seeming to be trying to understand the expressions that were flowing across his face.

"Yes!" He snapped out of it.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm just very excited. Thank you for working so hard on my behalf."

"You're welcome! It's very exciting for me, too. You are a very strong weapon, Spirit-kun. It is a shame that you have had to wait for so long. Ah! Here we are…"

Spirit cast an excited look toward Sid where he had come back into the room… with a pale, ash-haired boy wearing strangely stitched together clothing.

"Spirit Albarn, meet your new meister, Franken Stein. He's German!" The death god introduced them merrily.

Spirit's jaw dropped. This wasn't the cute little girl meister he had dreamed of… but instead the creepy kid everyone had been talking about.

"Him?"

"Yep. This is your new partner, Albarn." Sid patted the skinny kid on the head.

"But… He's the one everyone's talking about! They said he's crazy and sadistic and he killed people at his last school! And I don't speak German!"

"Stein speaks English very well. As well as many other languages." Sid rolled his eyes, "And the rest of it is all rumor and nonsense."

"I do have sadistic tendencies…" The boy finally spoke, face remaining emotionless as it looked at him with unusual light olive eyes.

"Oh?" Sid raised an eyebrow, looking down at him, "You don't say…"

"It's true." He nodded.

"Stein-kun is the perfect match for you and I'm sure you will learn a lot from each other." The death god continued enthusiastically.

"How's that possible? How's he a match?"

"For one thing, he has an extremely flexible soul. He can wield just about any weapon that he's interested in learning about."

"Any weapon?"

"Indeed. That is why he's perfect for you. There have been no others that match your wavelength. He can alter his to match yours as he chooses. It's really very amazing!" The death god really was very cheerful about the situation, even if Spirit wasn't.

"Shinigami-sama, if he objects I will be perfectly happy to stand aside. I don't need a weapon, after all." The boy spoke again, still staring at Spirit steadily.

"What do you mean, you don't need a weapon? Every meister needs a weapon, you stupid kid!" Spirit snapped at him out of frustration.

"Oh, my…"

"I… don't need a weapon. I can fight perfectly well without one. This isn't my choice. I'm perfectly happy on my own… but Shinigami-sama asked me to come here because no one else could match your difficult wavelength, and so I did. I didn't realize you would be so rude."

"Why you… I'll teach you!"

He was upset by this turn of events, enraged by the cocky kid and he turned his frustration it into an attack, ignoring Sid's telling him to back off. The blade in him just came out, his feet rushing to close the space between them and striking. An ear-shattering clang stunned him. The boy hadn't moved except to raise a hand to block the strike from Spirit… however his hand was untouched and crackling with an electrical glow. Spirit's blade was an inch from his pale palm.

"What the…" He found himself looking into those odd green eyes—eyes which had a cold look to them. Stein's lips suddenly cracked into a wicked smile.

"You see? I… don't need a weapon…" He hissed and suddenly Spirit found himself flailing on the floor, sliding away from the boy. Something had struck him hard and sent him flying. He hurt all over.

"Ooh… Very nice, Stein-kun." The death god clapped for him.

"He doesn't want me to be his meister…" The boy said.

"But he needs you to be. Will you do it? Hmm?"

"If you wish it, I certainly will."

"I do, I do! You two need each other, really. You'll see!"

The boy wandered over to Spirit, looking down at him where he lay stunned on the ground, "I can amplify my own soul's wavelength without a weapon. Weapons will make me stronger… but I don't need one."

"How… How can you do that? It's not possible!"

"It's just not heard of. It's certainly possible." The boy tilted his head, "You're interesting. I want to learn about you…" Stein held a hand out toward him.

"No way…" Spirit shrank at the invitation.

"Transform."

"No!"

The pale boy rooted himself firmly to the spot, fingers splaying wide, "Transform!" His young voice commanded, sending ripples of energy through Spirit which caused him to shift into his weapon form, being caught neatly by the boy's unusually firm hand, "A scythe… I've always wanted a scythe." He mused, pale fingers stroking along the black surface, "You're really beautiful this way, Senpai."

Deep inside of himself, Spirit shivered with an unknown sensation. He realized quickly that it was the feeling of their souls meshing together, being sewn together bit by bit. Stein was adjusting himself to match his wavelength rapidly. It was frightening… but at the same time it was an incredible relief. He was finally partnered and experiencing the deep bonding that weapons had with their meisters.

"You may be older than me, you may be bigger than me, but I am stronger than you and I am smarter than you." The energy was soothing him while telling him this at the same time.

"I understand."

Spirit stopped struggling completely and let it wash over him. Stein didn't mean to provoke him or threaten him, just to let him know that he was capable and worthy of being his meister. That sort of deep comprehension of another person's motives was nothing he had experienced before. Thoughts and emotions of all kinds were coming loose and flowing. Stein's hand relaxed and freed him, gently commanding him to resume his human form. He sat there dumbly for a moment, body relaxed, no longer in pain, but a little confusion still running through him.

"Sid-kun. Please take Stein-kun to his new home. I'm sure he's tired. I'd like to talk to Spirit-kun alone."

"Yes, sir. Come on, Stein. I'll show you where you're going to live."

Spirit's eyes watched them leave. Mostly, they watched Stein leaving. It felt a little painful that he was moving away, taking his energy away. A small whimper escaped his throat, surprising him.

"Spirit-kun… Please try your best to get along with Stein-kun. You are a very powerful weapon and it is a shame to have you without a partner. This may not be permanent. One day there may be another meister for you… but for now…"

He nodded, "I will."

"It is important for both of you. He is a very intelligent boy and works hard at his studies. He is also an extremely powerful meister, for any age. Help him make friends and do more than study. Let him help you learn to focus your energies on something other than girls for a change!" He laughed for a moment, "Are you all right?"

"I think so… Is that really what it feels like? When you have a meister?"

"It's different for everyone, but you are probably feeling a bond forming."

"Yeah. That's it, I guess." He picked himself up wearily, "Can I go?"

"Go have a nap. You look tired. Goodbye!" He vanished cheerfully.

Spirit dragged himself back to his dorm room. Mostly he wanted to go find Stein and explore that new bond. It was like an itch he couldn't quite scratch and it made him ache all through to his soul. He flopped on his bed and stared up at the familiar ceiling. He had been there so long, the last of his classmates to have a meister and be able to move into the paired apartments and on to combat training. It was all stuff he'd looked forward to and felt left behind, though he had tried hard not to show it. This had completely changed everything.

He whined, rolling over and hugging the blankets, hoping that sleep would claim him for a while just to stop thinking about everything. In the end, it didn't come to him. Instead he slowly started to pack his things to move. Sid came and joined him, sitting down on the bed and watching for a while.

"You look like a mess."

"I feel like a mess." He slumped and hung his head where he was kneeling on the floor over a box of his things, "Am I really moving?"

"Yep. I'm here to help… You could be a little happy about it. You're finally going to be moving on with the rest of your classmates. Finally going to get a chance to fight and grow. Right?"

"Right… And I am excited about that and I know that Shinigami-sama did this just for me… and I appreciate that. I didn't think he'd take an interest in me."

"Well, you really are a strong weapon, Albarn. You've got a good shot at being a death scythe… with a meister."

He smiled weakly and raised his head, "Who would have thought it could be me?"

"Not me, that's for sure." Sid laughed at him but Spirit ignored him, plenty of other things on his mind.

"So he's really from the European branch?"

"Yep. I'm not gonna kid you, he's a little weird… but I think it's just because he's so smart. He already speaks like 6 languages and has a master's degree."

"What?" His jaw dropped.

"Yep. Working on a doctorate or two."

"But he's just a shrimp!"

"He's a shrimp with a big brain. Shinigami-sama is very interested in him because of his strength as a meister. I can wield two weapons now, but man it's hard. I definitely mesh better with Mira because she's the right wavelength for me. This kid just picks up weapons like it's nothing… What was it like? It looked like he pretty much forced you into weapon form."

"Yeah. That never happened before. It just felt like… I couldn't resist him. I had to do what he told me to… And once I transformed everything changed. I just gave in and it felt really relaxing—a total relief. Everything I've been worried about just kinda left me. I felt like I could just trust him to lead. But he's a little kid, for god's sake!"

"I think you're just pissed because he's not a cute girl!" Sid smirked at him.

"There's that, too." He admitted.

"And you're still a brat yourself, so don't look down on him cuz he's a couple years younger."

"Yeah well…"

"Do your best to help him be a normal kid. Looks to me like he doesn't have a lot of 'normal' in his life, so…"

"What about his family?"

"Doesn't look like he's got one. His family's pretty much been Shibusen Europe. Even they had a hard time with him. I guess it takes a genius to understand another genius… so you're pretty much screwed, aren't ya?"

"You're pretty funny, you know?" He scowled at Sid's mocking smile.

"Yeah, I know… I'll help you pack."

"Thanks."

A couple people stopped by and looked in on them. By the time he was finally hauling his stuff out of the dorm piled up on a moving cart, Sid pushing from behind, there was a group of kids gathered around.

"You got a meister? For real?" One of them asked.

"Yep." He nodded.

"Who is it?"

He laughed ruefully, "The creepy new kid everyone's talking about. That's who."

"Woah!"

With that, everyone went running off to spread the news.

"Congratulations. You're famous." Sid laughed at him yet again.

"Super. I'm so happy..."

At the apartments on campus, he was greeted by even more curious on-lookers that must have seen Stein coming in earlier, because that was what was getting whispered as he went by. A swarm of kids from the dorms were coming up behind them, ready to fill in the blanks for the others. Spirit was officially a campus spectacle.

Sid left him with the keys to his new place. "I think he's sleeping. Good luck."

"Yeah. Thanks." He sighed and shut the door.

He dragged his cart into the open bedroom to start unpacking. A couple hours later the door across the hall opened and his new apartment mate came out, yawning and rubbing his eyes. All the while Spirit had been unpacking, he had felt that energy close by and it was pulling at him. From the kid's expression it hardly looked like he was doing it on purpose. He looked like he was still half asleep and his ash hair was sticking up on the side, not even noticing Spirit.

"Hey…" It really annoyed him. Maybe he was the only one who was feeling that connection and the thought of it being one-sided just bugged him.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?"

"Going to get water." He pointed toward the kitchen.

"Oh..."

Stein waited for him to follow up with something but when it didn't come the kid just turned and walked away without another word.

"Shit, that was so uncool." Spirit moaned.

How could this kid put him so far off his game? Now that was eating at him, too. On top of that, he was hungry and was pretty sure they'd have to go out to the school's supply shop to stock up on food for their new apartment. If not that, they'd have to go to the dining hall. One way or another, he'd have to be seen in public with that little creep if he wanted to eat again… and his stomach was complaining loudly to be filled.

"Shut up stomach. Shut up, shut up!" He punched it a couple times as some sort of futile punishment.

"What are you doing?"

He looked up to see Stein standing there in the hall again, looking at him with a glass of water in hand, "Uh… Nothing…"

"If you're hungry, you should eat something." He walked away again.

"Augh! I did it again!" He whined to himself, grabbing handfuls of his hair, "This isn't good. It's not good at all!" He jumped up and stomped across the hall to Stein's doorway. He seemed to have already made himself at home, sitting there at his desk amongst many books, "Hey!" Spirit blustered, figuring out that he really didn't have anything to say to the kid beyond that. He was just agitated and needed to let it out somehow.

"What is it?" Stein didn't even turn to face him.

"Shit… I have to say something." He trembled with frustration, "I'm starved! Let's go get dinner." He gulped, realizing what had just come out, "Shit! Not that!" But it was too late.

"Hm?" He turned around to look at Spirit then.

"Uh… Yeah… There's probably not anything to eat here, right?"

"True."

"Then we'll have to go to the dining hall. Hurry up!"

He snapped his gaze away and stomped off down the hall toward the main entry, hearing Stein's footsteps falling behind him as he reached for the doorknob. Spirit sighed heavily and tried to steel himself for the journey ahead, guiding the weird kid out into the open campus with him, followed by curious stares and whispers.

He glanced toward the kid who didn't seem to notice at all. No, that wasn't it—he did notice. Spirit felt it. Stein was just ignoring all the attention. Maybe he was just used to it. Nothing had changed from his time at his school in Europe. Suddenly Spirit felt less annoyed about his situation. Stein had it a lot worse, after all—a new kid in a new country at a new school, already being badmouthed by everyone on campus. He frowned and sighed, patting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't mind them. They just like to talk. You'd think nothing interesting ever happened here."

"Understood, senpai." He nodded.

Almost as soon as his hand had hit the kid's shoulder he'd felt a shift in Stein's energy toward relaxation. It felt pretty good to know that he'd managed to change something in this high-powered shrimp.

"Okay, so I can look out for him." Spirit nodded for his own satisfaction.

In the dining hall he directed Stein toward the food in a hurry and didn't waste any time eating once they were seated. Stein watched him shovel the food into himself, still ignoring the stares of the other kids.

"It's so good! I love eating!"

"I see…"

"Eat something! You're too skinny."

He started to eat slowly, Spirit watching him for a switch. He seemed harmless enough, but that look on his face earlier told him otherwise. He already knew how to fight, and what was more he sure seemed to like it.

"Hey…"

"Hm?"

"You've fought with other weapons before, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you get any souls for your weapons?"

"Yes."

Spirit was only a little surprised, "How many?"

"Ten."

"Ten?"

"Yes."

"That's amazing… Was it hard?"

"It was a way to learn about the weapons. Research."

"How many weapons did you use?"

"Ten. One soul each."

That was pretty staggering. Spirit shut up and went back to eating for a while. This kid really was something else. His curiosity was still brewing so he couldn't keep quiet for long.

"So… Those other weapons… What was it like to use them?"

"Interesting. Every one is very different in terms of power and energy."

"How do I compare?"

"You're very strong, senpai. Much stronger than those others. I could tell right away. It's just as Shinigami-sama said."

"Do you think… I could become a death scythe?"

"Absolutely. With hard work, we will make you just that." He nodded slightly, starting to concentrate on cutting into his piece of chicken with surgical precision.

Spirit grinned, "You seem pretty confident."

"I am very confident… Sid told me that we'll be joining the rest of the group tomorrow, so we will get to work together. You will start to become confident as well."

"I've never been able to fight before."

"Trust me to show you how."

"Yeah… Thanks, kid."

"You're welcome. I'm looking forward to learning how to best wield a scythe. It shouldn't take me long."

"Cool." From anyone else, that comment might have sounded cocky, but it just seemed that Stein was being factual instead of a braggart.

After dinner they wandered back to the apartment where Stein resumed his studies and Spirit finished unpacking and arranging his possessions.

He felt like things were not so bad now, even if the meister he'd finally gotten wasn't a cute girl and even if he was on the short and skinny side. At least he was going to have a strong and dedicated meister. It was time to move on at last. Tomorrow, he'd get to fight for the first time and that was about the best thing in the world for him to think about at the moment.

"I'm finally gonna be able to show everyone what I'm made of. Yes!" He practically giggled as he settled down to start reading about combat techniques for a while. He definitely wanted his first showing to be a good one.

End of Chapter 1 - Enough reviews came in to encourage me to publish more, so read on to the next chapter(s)!